SF Enduro II events results

Received this from Strava this week!  Great news that I won the first KOM at the recent Enduro II 

This was a great event but next year I'll do it on a hardtail MTB.  After 5 flats on the CX bike I had to abandon due to lake of tubes, CO2 and patches.

From: Strava Support <support@strava.com>

Date: March 26, 2010 1:09:33 PM PDT

To: Mark Manning <cosworth66@yahoo.com>

Subject: SF Enduro II events results

Hi Mark,

Thank you for participating in the SF Enduro II-event on Strava. The results are in (http://www.strava.com/events/sf-enduro-ii) and we are happy to inform you that you have won the "Old railroad grade"-stage. The prize you will receive for this is 1 year free subscription (starting today), 1 Strava T-shirt and 1 pair of socks.

We have already taken care of the subscription and hope you will enjoy and use it as much as possible. For us to be able to send you your T-shirt and the socks please send us your size, color preference for the T-shirt (blue or orange) and shipping address.

Again, congratulations and keep riding on Strava.

Deep Thoughts by GSisler

Stop staring at my feet. If you want to know what I'm wearing on my feet (they're Vibram 5-fingers) then ask me, but don't stare at me like a circus animal. Also, yes, I have read Born to Run, I do know about barefoot running and NO, I didn't get the Vibram's after reading the book. I've had my Vibrams for 2-3 years now and I have been injury free since! I train 1x a week in my Vibram's and I do the rest of my running in my Inov-8 shoes. So... if you want to know what I'm wearing on my feet, just ask me, but stop staring, it's rude.

Deep Thoughts by GSisler

Have I mentioned how much I like rest weeks? Finally, the rest week is here and man did I need it. After three more solid weeks of training the body was starting to break down. Now, granted, it could have a lot to do with the lack of sleep, the cold, the drinking all added into the running, but I needed a break and I'm happy it's here.
Three months into things and 4 months away from the beginning of the Grand Slam and I'm very satisfied with where I am. Starting the first weekend of March I'll be up to running a 50km each Saturday with a 25km on Sunday. I decided to top out at this distance and not keep increasing it by 10% each weekend. The goal is to be able to run/recover well and I think a 50km/25km is a good enough distance to get the body ready without putting too much stress on it. Plus, I have a 50 miler at the end of March, another one in April and a final one in May before the big 4. I SHOULD have plenty of mileage under the legs, now it's just a question of staying healthy.
We'll see how it goes!

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...