Endorphines rock!

“Congrats Birch. At least some people are still fit.

Hurt my lower back 2 weeks ago...haven't done any exercise to let it heal. Then yesterday I hurt my right knee (I think I squatted too low, to pick up something Fri)...Stan the Man is breaking down. It sucks.”

“Congratulations Birch, that sounds like a fastastic day you had. And you are not even in that much pain afterwards, that indicates a lot as well.”

“Well Birch, that's great. You're in way better shape than I'm in!”

“Sounds great Birch. Seems like it's the week for knee injuries. I've got one too and have been out of action since Fri. I thought it was getting better and could ride through it, but it made it worse. Rest is the only thing that will heal it now, I hope.”

“Thanks for the kind words. I am really tired today and my legs are a bit stiff. I spent lots of time up and down ladders which hasnt helped much. I did see the official results in the paper today, in my bracket we were 10th outta 47!

Richb, I know how hard it is to push through pain, hopefully you have the discipline to rest up and heal, I struggle with that myself.

Stan, low back pain...ouch! That is something I dread. When it comes its awful.”

“10 out of 47, that's awesome! Great job!!!! :-)”

“Birch, there's nothing like races to really become strong. Wait until you see how strong you feel on your next run when you recover. That's the good thing about racing, you push yourself to heights you'd seldom reach in training.”

“aaaaahhhhh, the buzz, or is that a burn?
ran, swam, lifted, ran some more, and went on a little bike ride tonight. tomorrow, im chillin.
well, not really, got tons of housework to do but im gonna take it easy.”

“richb, too true about reaching a new level during a race. The thing I love most about really hard physical stuff is actually the mental side. I love being a part of the way the body and mind can be in conflict and how the mind can push the body to limits that are further than it has gone before.

Part of the reason I want to run a marathon is that I want to experience the "wall" that runners hit around the 18 mile mark. I want to feel the inner struggle and I want to see who will prevail, the body or the will.”

“I think you eventually develop an ability to put some of the pain out of your mind when pushing really hard and you get used to the rest of the pain of hard efforts to some extent. That's really where you make the greatest gain in training at an effort level at or just below anaerobic threshold or 85 or 90% of maximum heart rate. Race pace forces you there more often than just cruising in training. About 2 times per week of this output is about all anyone should do without the risk of burnout or injury. I usually just do these workouts when I feel good and if it's not there and I'm tired I just back off and cruise at a lower rate. I found out your body will tell you when it's ready to push hard. For a marathon you'd have to do a lot of long runs at a lower rate to prepare, I suppose.”

“Just got done with my first run since the neck injury, did my 3.7 mile "Hills of Death" route in a decent time. ZOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!!!!!! Felt goooooooood!”

“Glad that your neck is feeling better, Artex! That healed up pretty fast. Now just don't do what you didn't know that you did, again.”

“I won't! :-)”

“Give me some motivation. I'm a we bit out of wack.”

“That's great Artex! It's always nice to get back into the routine again.”

“Thanks richb! Yeah, it feels great!

Distance Dude, over the longer term running will: trim you up, lower your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, lower your respiratory rate, increase metabolism, allow you to hike farther, allow you to hike easier, give you cool endorphine buzzes, relieve stress, allow you to set goals for yourself and increase your self-esteem when you reach and exceed them, and a gazillion other reasons.

Unless you have really bad knees or some other health problem, there's no reason not to! :-)”

“Good for you Artex!”

“Thanks Birch! I remember you saying you run quite a bit, how many miles do you average each week?”

“Check this site out for some hardcore training for hiking.”

“I am trying a 4 week rotation.
week 1) easy 15m
week 2) moderate 17m
week 3) harder 19m
week 4) hardest 21+m

Do I do this regularly? No. I run 4-5 days a week usually 4-5m unless I am hiking or ill.”

“BTW I have slowed my pace considerably the last month or so. I was running 6m in the low 40min range but have slowed to a 10min/mile pace to work on endurance. My goal is to slowly mix some speed work back in and gradually increase my weekly totals to the low to mid 20 mile range with a 30m wk every 4-6wks. But I started smoking again 7wks ago so that needs to go.”

“SMOKING?!?! Egad Birch! QUIT NOW!”

“SMOKING????

Just what every aspiring Adventure Racer needs!

YOU BAD, BAD BOY!”

“SHHHHHHHH! Sass might hear you.”

“SASS! Hey Sass! Lookie over here! Oh, Saaaaa--aaaaass!!!!!

You gotta smack that boy around and straighten him out, but QUICK!”

“d@mmit fritz, I think she heard you.”

“OK, but seriously Birch...you made all that progress towards fitness...had loads of fun doing some races...had your heart set on doing even better...I don't get it.

Would love to see you smoke-free...but of course it is up to you. I wish you the best with it, my friend.”

“Just got done running 6 miles in 33 degree weather. ZOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM! I think the cold weather brings on a bigger endorphine buzz. Sweet!!!!”

“i ran 7 miles of trail in the smokies early this morning before headin back to ohio. oh yea, dude, it was cold. i did catch a pretty phat buzz. i was tinglin halfway home.”

“has anyone seen that new nike commercial? i love it.
i catch a half buzz every time it comes on. it makes me want to go running.”

“The one with the "herd" of people? Yeah, that is a cool commercial. On a somewhat seperate note, New Balance makes better shoes. :-)”

“haha, i just bought the 805's. the left one is a little constricting. it wasn't like that in the store. maybe it'll loosen up.”

“I have the 751's. Got them for only 55 bucks. Great shoes. 805's kick in even more arse.”

“5 hours XC skiing/day X 4 days.”

“spent 3 hrs in the gym tonight. went earlier than usual and was half worn out when my liftin buddies pulled in.
i pushed it pretty hard tonight. my butt's floatin a couple inches over my seat still.
who needs drugs when you got hormones?”

“Way to go ductape! I miss working out with weights, can't afford a gym right now. Keep it up!”

“i ran for a solid hour tonight, harder than ever before. i love those days when i just got it together.
i knew it was gonna be a good night.”

“I just ran 6 miles and it's 26 degrees out. Zooooooooooooom!!!!!!! Feels great!

I also ran with my Aurora headlamp (upside down so the hinge dosen't flap down), helped me see the pavement better for irregularites and helped cars to see me as well.”

“Good deal santartex!”

“Sounds great! Consider getting one of those flashing LEDS to clip on your belt so cars can see you better if your running near a lot of traffic in the dark. I use one on my bike for night riding and it clips on the seatpost. Cars can see you for quite a distance with these lights.

Because we had some ice spots around, I've been riding my bike on a wind trainer in the house for the last few weeks. It's boring as you can imagine, but a hard workout since you get no rest when your on it. After the rain we get Friday, I think it should be OK to ride outside as long as we don't get more snow.”

“Thanks for the tip, Richb. The ice has melted where I live, it was nice to be able to run in the dark without worrying about slipping over arse-backwards. Hope you get to ride the bike outside soon.”

“Wal mart sells them with red, yellow or white LED's for about $2.50 each. They last 200 hours on 2 AAA's.”

“So I started browsing some adventure races for next season. Oh man are there some good ones out there! Gonna have to get back in motion soon. I still run 4-5 days per wk but havent been on the bike since sept. Maybe some snow-trail biking is in order.”

“Yah, Birch! Running, riding, and...um....not smoking. :)”

“Wow, that's cheap! NY metro area dosen't have Wal-Marts, much to my chagrin. I'll check out Target.”

“The batteries are included too.”

“i got tingly all over before i even started my workout.
i had the girl at the counter check how many times i've been to the gym this year-241.
im on my way to 250. i was pretty pumped about that. had no idea i spent that much time up at that place. been going almost every single day since back on my feet, plus running 3-4 times a week after a little break.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS:
ductape's weight dec. 31, 2001,
a whopping 248 pounds.
ductape's weight dec. 18, 2002,
a mere 192 pounds.”

“Congratulations Ductape! I bet you feel a lot better than last year too.”

“unimaginably”

“Josh - that's great! Really terrific!

RichB - I'd like to ride with you sometime. Need to learn how to ride off-road, some technical stuff.”