Deep Thoughts by GSisler

Well, the first cycle of the new year is over and I'm tired, but excited. Three weeks of hard work, followed by a week off and now, back to the hard work. Some things that I have learned, aka, some deep thoughts.
Speed comes back a lot faster then endurance. So much easier for me to get running fast then to get out and to the long slow runs.
Running a race at a HR of 150 is very, very humbling. There are just so many times you can hear the words "on your left" before you begin to debate throwing your watch at the next person who says it to you.
Week 3 sucks. You've been going hard for two weeks and now the hardest week is looking right at you.
Week 4 is awesome. Rest is awesome. Rest might be my favorite word.
Thursdays are dirty, dirty days. Lifting the legs and then doing hills sprints is a dirty, dirty day. I used to think that Monday's were the worst day of the week, but not anymore. Monday is a rest day (see my thoughts above on rest) so it can't be a bad day, but Thursday is not.
It's hard to find people who want to come and run with you for four hours at a slow pace. Surprisingly, "Hey, want to come on a 4 hour run" is not normally met w/ a sure, that's a sweet idea.
People look at you funny when you are running on a treadmill wearing vibram 5 fingers. They also look at you funny if you are doing sprints at a 12 % incline on a treadmill (stupid rainy weather). They won't say anything to you, they'll just look at you funny.
When you think that you are going to puke, but you do the exact same thing again (with the same puking feeling) why is it confusing when no one wants to come and run with you.
I love the new Inov8 hat that they made for the rain. I didn't think that you could ever love a hat, but I do. I don't love it enough to want it to rain, but I do love it enough to actually run in the rain.
EVERYONE seems to be talking about pose running, barefoot running, etc. Does this mean that people won't look at me funny when I'm running in my Inov8s? or make comments like how are you going to run an ultra in those? Man, I hope so.
OK, out of deep thoughts, and need to get some rest as the training has begun again.

AR Navigation Supplies at the Giro Epico

Here is a great video of AR Navigation Supplies at the Giro Epico.  It was a great day out with a 2nd place finish in 5 hours and 22 minutes.  This was one of the best bike events I've done in recent years with a great group of people and a fantastic course.  This is a must do for 2011..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0JnKMpgo7g

www.ARNavSupplies.com

Deep Thoughts

When you can't find your weight at the gym on the rack because the girl sitting next to you is using it, you know that you haven't been to the gym in way too long.

Deep Thoughts

When you think that a good way to "kick start" your training is by doing the Quad Dipsea, you know that you have some serious, serious issues. Regardless of my mental state, the good news is that I have friends who have just as many issues as I do and sure enough, the weekend of the Quad Dipsea, Shibby and I lined up for 28.4 miles of what was certain to be a lot of pain.
The best thing about the Quad is when it is held. Every weekend, Thanksgiving weekend. I will never, head into the Quad hungry. Thanks to a seriously good meal provided by my new father in law, I was fat, but happy and ready to run.
The game plan this year was three pronged. 1. Don't get hurt. 2. Finish 3. Be able to move and hopefully continue the training by early next week. In the past the goal was 5:30, or if I was feeling really, really ambitious, 5:00 (which has never happened, but is still a goal).
So, there we were about to embark on my longest run since my failed 12 hour run around Chrissy Field (it lasted 3 hours and a whopping 17 miles before I ended up curled in bed w/ a fever and something resembling a mean flu). That run was in Oct. so if you take that out, my training for a 28.4 mile hilly run was a 1 hour run that I do around the Presidio, which I had done about 4 times in the past 4 months. Not good.
We started off and I'm not going to lie, it was fun. Knowing that I was in horrible shape, and knowing that Shibby was in horrible shape we went slowly, really, really slowly, but it was a ton of fun. I got to talk to people, watch my friends tear it up in the front (Taylor, Jon and Matt) and all in all, I enjoyed the first half. Then, well then a complete lack of training caught up to me and it was painful.
You can't fake 28.4 hilly miles, you just can't do it. Luckily I had my inov8 Roc-Lites on because my feet were the only part of me that was comfortable. Even if I had wanted to drop my buddy Shibby and sprint the last half, it just wasn't going to happen. I was amazed that you could move this slowly and still get cramp and have you legs hurt, but sure enough, I proved that you could.
Good news, I accomplished 2 out of my 3 goals. Bad news, I wasn't doing a lot of training after that. Ouch...

Volume 2 of the Navigation Challenge Book from AR Navigation Supplies.

Volume 2 of the very popular Table Top Adventure Race and Navigation Challenge Book from AR Navigation Supplies is now available for order.  The latest edition is designed as an Expedition Length Race and includes some more difficult challenges involving triangulation, magnetic declination and route choice as well as speed, time and distance calculations.  You will also find the traditional UTM and bearing plotting techniques found in the first edition.  

Volume 2 contains 12 navigation challenges in an Expedition Race format based in the Lake Tahoe region of Northern California.  The goal is to find your way around each map by following the rules of travel, plotting the route and answering the questions presented for each CP.  If you get lost there is a help section that will guide you through the common navigation techniques and adventure racing terms to get you back on track.

The book is designed to allow navigators to practice and improve their navigation skills while at home, in the office or traveling.   All you need is a compass or protractor, UTM tool, a pencil and you're ready for a table top adventure that will test your skills and improve your navigation regardless of your current expertise.  

Challenge your friends to the table top competition and see who should be the team navigator at the next race, it may surprise you.

For all the details on the Navigation Challenges and a preview of the first volume follow the link below.  

http://www.arnavsupplies.com/product_pages/nav_challenge/nav_challenge.html

Great news for Adventure Racers in Texas and Colorado

Great news for Adventure Racers in Texas and Colorado. AR Navigation
Supplies products are now available from MapsCo stores. This includes
the Basic Roamer AR both US and Metric versions, the Rotating Mountain
Bike Map Holder, the Waterproof Pedometer and the new Table Top
Adventure Race and Navigation Challenge book.

MapsCo has stores in Addison TX, Austin TX, Dallas TX, Denver CO, Fort
Worth TX and San Antonio TX. A list of all MapsCo store addresses
and contact information can be found here: http://www.mapsco.com/stores.aspx

Please support MapsCo as they help us bring the tools for adventure
racing to their stores and the local racing community.

MapsCo can be contacted at 1-800-781-4MAP or at www.mapsco.com

Mark Manning
www.ARNavSupplies.com

Team AR Navigation Supplies/ INOV-8 Win Overall at SF Oyster Race

Team AR Navigation Supplies/INOV-8 took the co-ed division and the
overall win at the 2009 San Francisco Oyster Urban Adventure Race on
September 26th.

Follow the link below to the full story and pictures.

http://www.arnavsupplies.com/news.html