Episode 143 Sherpa John runs across NH

The RunRunLive Podcast Episode 143 – Sherpa John runs across NH

[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi143.mp3|titles=Episode 143 – Sherpa John]

epi143.mp3

Show intro by:

Jennifer – http://www.Jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.com

Intro:

Hello and welcome to this episode of the History of the World in 100 hairs from the BBC, that’s the British Border Collie… I seriously don’t know how that dog is able to insinuate hair into everything I own, do and eat.  It’s uncanny.  It’s like his super power.  That and smelling like a dead fish when I leave him in the car – but I suppose that’s just his version of quid pro quo for leaving him there.

This is Chris and, regardless, or as they say in Wisconsin, “irregardless”of what Jennifer says I’ll be your host tonight, thank you very much, and this is the RunRunLive podcast where we wax and wane poetic about long distance running and the endurance super-hero inside each and every one of us.

It’s been a weird week of training for me.  I totally failed a couple of workouts this week but they weren’t total losses and I think my legs are coming around.  I actually skipped a track work out Friday night.  I was feeling awful, I think because of a flu shot, and I think I remember that happening last year when I got the flu shot.  It was gusting 20-30 mph and raining sideways and I decided it would not be in my best interest to play the super-hero that night.

I tried to make it up on Saturday but still felt horrible so I bailed out half way through and went for a long run in the woods with Buddy the Wonder Dog in the woods.  I was still close to 50 miles for the week.  I had a nice long surge run Sunday morning early, 2:16, and then worked the water stop at BayState until noon.

If you have never worked a water stop at a marathon, you should. It’s an awesome experience.  It’s a whole different perspective to be on that side of the event.  If you can swing it work a water stop late in  the race – after the 15 mile mark – because that’s where you see some real theatre!

Tuesday I did a long race pace run, I don’t know exactly how long, because I screwed up the buttons on the Garmin  – but a good strong effort.

You probably heard that the Boston Marathon registration opened on Monday morning and sold out in 8 hours!  I think I’m in.  This is amazing.  I can remember being able to run the Hyannis Marathon in March to qualify for the Boston Marathon in April of the same year.

And of course we got all sorts of commotion from people saying the standards should be tightened, or the charity runners should be thrown out, and expecting big changes from the BAA.  But that’s all just a big dust cloud.  It is what it is folks.  There is no fair solution whenever there is situation involving scarcity of any type.

I would be surprised if the BAA made any drastic changes.  You have to remember that these guys were late to allow women to run the race and they were late to have prize money and late to have charities.  This is an organization that has historically been very change resistant.  It started as a rich-guys sporting club in Boston in the 1800’s and they inventing the marathon, not to run in, but to have something interesting to bet on.

I would recommend an interesting book called “100 years of the Boston Marathon” by Tom Derderian – he has a short chapter on all of the races from 1896 to 1997.

I wrote a fun blog post about this over at RunRunLive.com.  Go over there and also check out the GoHeadBand contest. Read the comment-entries we have so far they are inspirational.

Sorry – got a bit off track there!  We have a great interview for you today.  I finally found John Lacroix, who is a local ultra-runner from NH.  I ran with John in the VT50 and I remembered a few things about him vividly.  First he was a nice guy, second he was a young guy for the ultra-scene and finally he had brightly colored gaitors on when he passed me like I was standing still late in the race.  Then a couple weeks later he was in the paper for running across NH.

Well he’s doing it again this weekend – and he’d love some company – so check out the show notes for his contact info and see if you can jump in with him.

That’s it my friends – toss it high and hit it hard – on with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Pre-Baystate Marathon

Post-Baystate Marathon

http://www.baystatemarathon.com/

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

The Eddie Marathon Unclassified show.

http://eddiemarathon.blogspot.com/

Story time:

Text here

Equipment Check:

What’s the etiquette for wearing a shirt from one race at another race?

From Connie – @OHCowgirl – http://www.ulctribal.com/forum/

Connie – thanks for calling this in – you’ve got such a nice voice – I want you to be my alarm clock in the morning.  You know “Chris, honey, time to get up…” very soothing.  See – there’s a million dollar iPhone app idea for you.

You question actually surprised me.  There are no written etiquette rules in race running and I’m sure they change with geography and time.  I’ve heard, and generally I believe, that it’s bad form, if you are a runner to wear a race shirt from a race you haven’t run.  But that being said – I see plenty of people wearing Boston Marathon gear around here.  (There I go talking about the marathon again I’m a one trick pony these days!)

Seriously – As far as I know there are no strictures official or implied about wearing one race’s shirt in another race.  I do it all the time.  I saw lots of 2009 and 2010 Boston shirts at both WineGlass and BayState this year.  It’s perfectly ok.

You should be proud of your accomplishments and if they give you a nice tech tee shirt – that’s all the better!  Wave it like a proud flag.

And it’s a great conversation starter.  If I see a shirt from a race I’ve run I’ll chat that person up and compare notes.

Thanks for dialing in Connie – don’t be a stranger – I expect you to read the intro now that we all know how sweet your voice talents are.  And keep collecting and wearing those shirts.

Featured Interview:

Sherpa John Runs across New Hampshire – Again!

http://sherpajohn.blogspot.com/2010/09/2010-run-across-new-hampshire.html

long address I know but… if it’s easier they can go to www.sherpajohn.com and there is a link right under the countdown

and www.conservationnh.org

http://sherpajohn.blogspot.com/2010/10/ranh-route.html

thats the post that tells EXACTLY how they can join up

Quick Tip:

Got this message from Kevin – one of our marathon friends.

Hi Chris,

I’m a 27-year-old guy from the Kansas City area and a religious listener of the runrunlive podcast.  I love the tips you provide, especially your BQ series.

I’ve recently completed an unsuccessful 2nd attempt at qualifying for Boston last weekend at the Chicago Marathon.  I tried running even splits and was on pace until mile 22 when my race was sabotaged by massive quad and calf cramps.  I think I should have left the Thermolytes in my pocket.

Anyways, I’ve decided to go on a suicide mission and run another marathon on Nov. 21 here in the KC area in an attempt to qualify for Boston.  Am I delusional?  Am I being completely unrealistic?  I’ve tried to research maintenance training plans online but it’s hard to sort out the good from the bad.  Most of the information I’ve been able to sort out through various google searches says not to do a long run over 14ish miles and to focus completely on speed and tempo.  Would you agree with this?  Are there any recommendations you can pass along my way?

I know you are extremely busy and travel constantly but I’d be extremely grateful for any wisdom you could throw my way.  Keep up the good work on the podcast and I’ll be a loyal listener for life.

My response:

Love this question.  I have on 2 occasions run 3 marathons over the
course of 6 weeks in the fall to get my BQ on the third one.  This
assumes that you are in race shape and did not totally croak yourself
in the first attempt.
Disclaimer-> I’m me, you’re you – no guarantee you won’t hurt yourself. 🙂 Most of the time I do stupid stuff with my body because I have a big ego and a small brain.  But, if you really want to ‘double down’ on your marathon try, here’s how.
What I do is treat the failed marathon as a peak week in the training
cycle and just extend the training cycle.  So your normal training plan will go easy, medium, hard, by weeks, then taper, taper, race, So just treat that race week as a cycle and keep going.  Back schedule from your next race.  So if your next race is in 4 weeks go medium, hard, taper, taper, race. Just treat that failed marathon as a long run, a peak week in your training.
You’re absolutely not going to lose any fitness over a month.  So the trick is to recover quickly, stay healthy and do fine-tuning.
Focus on race day execution because your fitness aint gonna change.
Eat those Endurolytes and find a cooler day!
One of the huge advantages of this methodology is that it totally takes the emotional content out of the races.  By the third try you’re totally in the “I don’t give a crap anymore” phase of the training and it frees you to go at it with a certain detachment that can help your inner game immensely.

But folks please remember that what I do, may not be something you want to try at home.

Good luck folks, make for great stories to tell your running friends and oh-by-the-way qualifies you as a marathon maniac if you’re into that kind of thing.

Outro:

Well folks that is it you have held that tempo pace and zone 4 heart rate through another amazing adventurous episode of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Episode 143 in the can.  Coming up I have Kavitha Kanaparthi on for an interview about her ultra running events in India! Amazing stuff.

I’m also going to chat with Jay Newton who we talked to a couple months ago.  He hammered his qualifying attempt on 10-10-10 with a 3:09 and change and we’re going to get from him his secrets of success.  I’m going to get a runner who had some issues in their attempt on wit Speedy Sasquatch too and we’ll diagnose what went wrong and what to do.

I have feelers out to a bunch of other folks as well – all good stuff.

I’ve been listening to a podcast by the real BBC about the history of the world.  One of the objects that they discussed was the Oldavi hand axe.  This is a stone tool from 2.5 Million years ago found in the grand rift in Kenya’s Oldavi Gorge.  2.5 Million years ago some homo-sapiens, essentially the same as you and I made this beautiful tool out of green volcanic stone.

What really struck me about this was that this is a great example of what makes us human, what gives us our humanity.  Not the ability to make or use tools, heck my dog can do that, but the ability to imagine the tool within the stone.  The ability to see the sculpture within the rock.

This is what makes us the restless and creative tribe that we are.  This ability to see things that are not.  This ability to imagine entirely new things.

The other interesting thing that struck me was that they tested what part of the brain was used in flaking a stone tool and it turns out to be the same part of the brain that is used for speech.  Cool huh?

Speaking is creating the physical form of ideas.  When we speak, when we write, we build, we create tools from the ethos.

And it move beyond that.  What I’ve found is that when I talk to people who have run these marathons or run across the country or any other grand act it only became real once they imagined it could be.  Once they plucked it from the ether and gave that imagining life with their courage and their acts.

A greater man than I once said that if we can imagine it, it can be done.  So what are you going to imagine today?  What are you going to do to reveal the work of art inside the stone that you have been granted in this short life.

Start carving my friends, and I’ll see you out there.

Chris,

Music:

Music from Music Alley chosen by Jennifer – jeff_coffey-back_to_you.mp3

Music Sampled in this episode:

Cake – Mahna mahna

Wall of Voodoo – Mexican Radio

Beastie Boys – Sabotage

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Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com

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