All posts by Brian

Action, Goals, Practice

Perfect vs Good

I’m doing things a little different with this post. I posted a video to my new YouTube channel on this same topic, which will be linked at the end. I won’t double up like this for all future posts, but may do it occasionally. Read below, watch the video, or do both.

 

I’ve put off many things waiting to gather more information, get better gear, the right situation and so on. While being more prepared is usually a good thing, and different circumstances might make things easier, it’s still usually just another form of procrastination.

Last week I was reading something and was reminded of something Voltaire said (though he was likely relating an ancient saying), “perfect is the enemy of the good.” Incremental improvements take increasingly more effort and time the better things become. In economics it’s called diminishing marginal returns.

One form of the Perfect vs Good problem is Analysis Paralysis. It’s really just procrastination under the guise of due diligence, a way to feel productive without accomplishing much of any worth.

When you wait for circumstances to be “right” or “enough” information, you hang the possibility of success on the external world over which you have no control. In the meantime, you could have started, accumulated results over the otherwise wasted time, and learned from your experiences. Rather than reading everything you can about the topic, you can figure out the exact information you need to solve actual problems and further grow.

In the case of any online endeavor that relies on building an audience, like my new YouTube channel (or a blog, e-commerce site, freelancing, etc.), if I started 3 months ago when I had the idea the basic means to get going, I’d already have 3 months in front of people; 3 months of comments and criticisms; 3 months of honing my message, narrowing or expanding my target audience; and so on.

While I waited for the perfect situation to start, no one knew about it, I could only guess about possible obstacles, and I missed any opportunities that may have come about with action. And it’s not like any information that I thought I needed wouldn’t be there if and when I actually needed it. I’d probably be able to understand it better with experience as well.

Don’t let the feeling that you need more information, better gear, the right time, the right circumstances, the right anything be excuses holding you back from what you want. You don’t need to read 50 more articles or blogs on healthy eating to start right now. You don’t need equipment or a trainer to start working on your fitness goals. You don’t need to learn how to build a webpage from scratch to start a blog or online business.

There’s also a real chance that you will fail. Or maybe you’ll figure out that it’s not actually something that you want to do. In either case, it’s better to figure it out sooner rather than later, not waste all that extra time preparing, and move on to the next thing.

How much Good are you willing to give up chasing after a Perfect that may not even be attainable? Get started.

Running, Trail run, Training Log

March 2-8 Practice Running

Monday, March 2, 2015, 5:16 pm

5.22 mi, 275 ft gain, 1:00:17. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

It was kind of rough starting out. My legs aren’t that sore from yesterday, but they were pretty stiff, especially my achilles. I really need to figure that out.

Anyway, I warmed up after about a mile. They’ve been doing some work on the logging roads, including opening a couple that have been very overgrown. I checked out some of what they’ve finished so far.

According to Strava I was not moving for about 12.5 min. But as I was heading back to the car, I saw that I could maybe come in under 1 hour on the clock, so I picked up the pace a bit for the last 0.4 mi. Then with about 0.2 mi to go, I sped up some more. Sigurd was running out in front of me and kept speeding up to stay in front. I kept going faster until just before the gate. I had him for a brief moment. My watch said I was going around 4:20/mi pace when I checked. I felt good, much less stiff but a little more sore when I was going fast.

I forgot to charge my Mio Link HR monitor, so I went without it today.

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 5:03 pm

3.17 mi, 28 ft gain, 30:06. Around town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Kind of stiff and achilles attachments still sore. Legs weren’t really feeling that great. They finally started feeling ok around 2.5 mi. I finished strong. I let the dogs off leash a little early and tried to beat Sigurd home. Almost, but I don’t think he knew we were racing.

Average HR 116 bpm.

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015, 5:04 pm

4.15 mi,  ft gain, 58:09. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#1.

Less stiff than yesterday. Achilles attachments still sore. I made another modification to my shoes. I don’t think it made much difference.

I ran out to Olney creek. My legs were mostly warmed up, but I really wasn’t feeling great. I hung out at the creek longer than I normally would. The dogs enjoyed splashing around.

When I started back the other way, I still wasn’t feeling it. I took a detour wandering into the woods for a while, just looking around and taking a couple photos. I probably spent 10 min or so wandering a bit. I felt a bit better once I got back to the road.

On my way back, I went up the hill to possibly catch the sunset. Just around the small bend at the beginning of the hill, I saw a good sized raptor flying overhead. I couldn’t tell what kind. A little farther up the hill, the dogs stopped and got all excited about something they saw on the side of the hill. I looked up to see a doe with a yearling. I pushed hard on the upper steep climb. I fixed the segment after last time, which did turn out to be a segment pr 1:28. I managed 1:20 today. I was rewarded with a great view of the sunset over the Olympics.

I went harder over the last 0.25 mi again. Sigurd kept pace no matter how fast I tried to go.

I definitely felt better by the end of the run.

Average HR 114 bpm.

 

Thursday, March 5, 2015, 4:47 pm

5.10 mi, 101 ft gain, 1:05:17. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #4, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I suspect my achilles issue might be Haglund’s. I read about things other people have done yesterday. I massaged the painful areas quite a bit, which helped a lot. It actually helped almost immediately. I also started some stretching. I haven’t done much stretching in a long time, maybe a little bit when I had specific problems. I guess I figured I didn’t really need it. I also cut out some foam in my shoes that sits over the affected area. I only had a couple minor twinges during the run today, unlike the usual starting stiffness and gradually warming up.

Cars were parked at the first 3 gates, so I went to the bermed off road instead. I took one of the early turns that doesn’t go very far, but followed a very minimal trail out near the end. I’d call it halfway between a boot path and a game trail. It was pretty fun, but kind of slow going being pretty overgrown. Fortunately, it was mostly just salal and ferns. I turned back when I lost the trail.

From there I went out to the single track cutting through the clear cut. Lots of twists, turns, little logs and fun. I hooked up with the next road and then some more single track through the woods that leads to the closed grassy part of the road from gate 3. I went out until just past 3 mi and turned back.

I caught some nice views of Mt. Persis, Mt. Index and Baring mountain. Right around sunset, the alpenglow on Persis and Index was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to an unobstructed view for a photo in time.

It was a great run.

Average HR 120 bpm.

 

Friday, March 6, 2015, 4:50 pm

8.09 mi, 271 ft gain, 1:12:27. Around town on May Creek Rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I was starting to feel pretty good and wanted a little longer, but still fairly easy test. So I decided take the loop around the outside of town. I started heading up US2, so I wouldn’t have to run on the shoulder later if I was still out after the sun went down.

I kept the pace fairly easy. I had a couple minor twinges, but overall, it went pretty well.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Saturday, March 7, 2015, 5:10 pm

7.28 mi, 1291 ft gain, 1:19:07. Olney Falls DNR rd, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

My achilles were still stiff when I woke up, like they have been for quite a while, though not nearly so bad. More massage and stretching today.

I headed out to the Olney Falls DNR rd. I checked out the falls, then went out the powerline access rd that I found a little while back. I followed it until I came to a private property sign and headed back. I still wasn’t done, so I went up the DNR rd some more.

My achilles were good today. My right hamstring is getting a little better too. It still just has a little tight spot that’s been there for over a month. I keep meaning to get a massage to have it worked on. I can’t seem to work it well enough with my foam roller.

It was a pretty good run. As much as I wanted to go long again this weekend, I’ll probably give it a while longer to let everything recover more fully.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Sunday, March 8, 2015, 6:47 pm

10.24 mi, 1674 ft gain, 1:56:12. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Less stiff waking up today than yesterday. The weather was beautiful as well.

I went the long way around the loop. The logging roads have finally dried out, so they’re not all sloppy muddy. I felt good, so I headed out to the road up the mountain toward Wallace Lake.

I turned onto a side road before making it through the clear-cut. They only left a few trees surrounding the stream down the hill. On the bright side, they cleared some roads that were very overgrown, so I have more areas to explore.

The frogs serenaded nearly my entire run, and horizon was lit up by the setting sun for well over an hour. With the low light obscuring the scarred mountainside, it made for one of those perfect moments, one that lasted much longer than most. One of those times that remind me how much I love running and being outside.

The turns that I took up the mountain took me to a landing just the other side of the ridge from Jay Lake. I plan to go back and find my way over to the lake another time.

I didn’t need a light until nearly an hour after sunset. I had my headlamp with me, but I ended up using my handheld flashlight instead for practice. It worked great. My only complaint is that the button can be hard to find wearing gloves. It’s on the side and not very prominent.

My legs seem to be mostly recovered from Lord Hill 50k and last weekend’s long run. The climbing wasn’t hard, and I still felt great at the end. I’ll still give it a little longer for my achilles and hamstring.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 43.3 mi, 4089 ft gain

Practice, Running, Trail run, Training Log

February 23 – March 1 Practice Running

Monday, February 23, 2015, 3:49 pm

4.15 mi, 160 ft gain, 50:34. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

It was rough starting out. My legs were sore and a little stiff. My left achilles is a bit sore too. I stopped and walked a little on the little hill at about 0.3 mi in. Walking wasn’t really much slower.

I warmed up by about the time I got to Olney Creek. The creek bed has changed a bit due to the flooding this winter. The log jam is gone, more logs moved in on the close side up on the bank, the sand bank in spots has raised about 3 feet and pushed into the brush a bit too.

I spent a few minutes at the creek letting the dogs run around. Then I headed out towards the connector hill. I turned around before getting to the bottom of the hill.

The weather was nice. The sun was out, and I ran shirtless for a while. It wasn’t that warm, but the sun still felt nice.

I was still sore and slow by the end of the run, but I felt a lot better.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 5:12 pm

4.54 mi, 38 ft gain, 39:59. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

The legs were a bit less sore today. My left achilles is still sore. It got a little worse about half mile in before it started feeling better again.
My pace was significantly better today than yesterday. I ran out about 20 minutes and turned around.

On the way back, some guy hanging out on his front porch cat-called me. Something about my legs. I’d guess that I get about 10 guys yelling things or cat-calling for every one woman.

I had a great run, anyway. Now I’m trying to figure out what race or solo adventure to do next.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 25, 2015, 5:58 pm

5.3 mi, 380 ft gain, 56:39. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Again, I didn’t keep up with writing this up until days later, so I don’t remember a whole lot about it.

I went out past Olney creek to where the road meets back up with the loop. I wasn’t sure which way to go. I ended up turning around because the logging trucks made such a mucky mess of the road. Instead, I took the road out towards the hill. I went up the hill a little bit and thought about continuing, but I figured I’d keep it shorter to continue recovering from the race.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 26, 2015, 4:00 pm

8.16 mi, 1119 ft gain, 1:28:50. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

(Writing this days later as well).

I was going to go to the next gate, but there was a car out there. I felt pretty good. I kept the pace pretty easy, though.

I went over the hill and back. I let gravity take over a couple times on the downhills. I enjoy running downhill so much, it’s hard to believe I used to really hate it.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Friday, February 27, 2015, 4:14 pm

8.22 mi, 1264 ft gain, 1:28:50. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

When I pulled up to the gate, I saw a truck coming out, just about to the gate. Before letting the dogs out, I got out and spoke to the guy briefly. I asked if they were going to be logging out there too. He said he was out there to clean up the roads, ditches and such. I got a little more info about where they’re working right now as well.

Feeling pretty good, but still kept an easy pace. I checked out one of the early side roads that’s been grown over for a couple years, and he cleaned up. It didn’t go very far. Then I went out to the little hill before heading over the connector hill.

I still kept it easy over and back, until I got back to the bottom of the steep part of the west side of the hill. Then I turned around and ran hard back up the steep part, about 0.15 mi and 150 ft gain. I setup a strava segment for that climb, but it didn’t calculate it correctly for this effort. It counted the bottom part when I was still going down and the turnaround as well. I guess I didn’t go quite far enough past the start of the segment to “zero out”. I’m pretty sure I did actually set a PR up it, though.

Average HR 130 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 1:05 pm

11.04 mi, 2122 ft gain, 1:52:48. To Upper Wallace Falls (10) & back, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Feeling good and mostly recovered. Still don’t have all my speed and strength back, but that’s ok. Training a little tired will be helpful experience for longer stuff.

The park was packed and the trails were quite busy. I pushed the pace in places, but I didn’t worry about stopping and slowing down for hikers. I think I yielded more than I usually do too.

According to strava, I had my third best time going up the woody trail to the upper falls. With all the stopping and still a little of the race left in my legs, I was a little surprised.

I took it easier on the way back down. The road back home was good.

I planned a longer run, but I thought I needed to be back home by 3pm for something, so I cut it short. It turned out that I didn’t need to be back until 5pm. Oh well.

Average HR 154 bpm.

 

Sunday, March 1, 2015, 2:01 pm

21.78 mi, 3454 ft gain, 4:05:36. To WFSP, RR grade, Greg Ball, Wallace Lake, Jay Lake, uphill turnoff, DNR rd to Woody Trail & down,solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#1.

The plan was for at least 16 mi, and possibly as much as 24 mi or so. I kept the pace much easier than Saturday. I started easy on the roads to the park. I stopped briefly at the restrooms and headed up.

Just as I was getting started, I saw another runner on her way back to the TH. Both our faces lit up when we saw another runner. We exchanged waves and greetings as we passed.

I went up the RR grade to the Greg Ball trail, trying to stay below 150 bpm. It’s really easy for me to get excited and speed up in races, with hikers around and just going uphill in general.

Once I hit the DNR road at the end of the Greg Ball trail, instead of the more direct road to Wallace Lake, I took the road to the right, going uphill. It’s one of the few alternate routes to Wallace Lake that I hadn’t done yet. I liked it, some nice climbing and adds a little more distance to the trip.

Once to the lake, I kept going out to the beach on the north side and took a couple photos. Then I continued out to Jay lake. I saw some flagging tape continuing out past the food storage site, so I followed it. A very minimal path has been cut out a ways. I stopped when it ran into some blowdowns and couldn’t see any more tape.

I took the DNR rd toward the falls, but took a detour up the road I checked out a while back hoping to find a possible route up Mt. Stickney. Last time I stopped where part of the road was washed out. It was really wet and looked pretty unstable. This time it’s been dry and didn’t look like much had moved since then. I decided to go around it on the uphill side, where it looked like some other people had done the same. Either that or some good sized bear(s) with the size of the impressions in the small talus. I went up the road a ways further, up to about where my gps said was 2600 ft elevation. Looking at maps and satellite images, it looks very promising. I’m definitely going back sometime. I wanted to keep going but didn’t really want to run in the dark, even though I had my headlamp with me.

A little further down the DNR road towards the falls, I saw a critter scamper down the road ahead of me then head uphill. I stayed quiet until I got within sight. It was a bobcat, my first time seeing one in years of enjoying the outdoors. It stood there watching as I pulled out my phone and took a couple pictures. I stood and watched for a little longer. Just before I kept going, I waved my arms and made some noise to scare it off. Lots of people hike in the park, including with kids and small dogs. It’s better if it stays scared of people. It was an awesome experience.

I hit Upper Wallace Falls for the 11th time this year.

Even though the parking lot was packed and cars were parked down the road about 0.5 mi when I started, there weren’t many people left on the Woody trail on my way down.

Running the road home was kind of rough. Tired leg training was in full effect. I still finished the last 0.1 mi or so strong.

This will probably be my last long run in this pair of shoes. The Altra Superior is just about the perfect balance of ground feel and protection for me. But after over 600 mi on this pair, they’ve lost a lot of that protection. My feet were not happy for about the last 7 mi. I may still use them for short runs.

Average HR 134 bpm. This isn’t necessarily accurate. I forgot to charge my HR monitor. The battery died, and it missed the last 1.5 hours.

 

Weekly totals: 63.3 mi, 8536 ft gain.

February totals: 187.2 mi, 21420 ft gain.

Uncategorized

10 Years Gone, But Not Forgotten

Today, February 23, is the 10th anniversary of the day my friend Eric was killed responding to an IED in Iraq. Not a day has passed since that I haven’t thought about him and his family.

One of my first encounters with Eric was my first day at 18th EOD, Ft. Bragg. He threatened to make me do pushups if I ever called him Sergeant again. He probably would have too.

We had some great late night conversations on training and temporary duty trips. One night at some fast food place in Huntsville, AL, our conversation turned to plans for after the Army. I don’t remember what I said at all, but I remember Eric talking about wanting to become a cop. He would have made a great cop.

I try to focus on the good memories of Eric. Unfortunately, his death and all the events of that day crowded that out for a long time. They still sometimes flow together through how the mind relates ideas. Time takes the edge off, and experience helps to differentiate. I don’t want to forget, though, because sometimes the the good memories come to the forefront through their relations to the bad.

I’m lucky to have called Eric a friend. He left an impression on me, and I changed for the better having him in my life for those few years.

Thanks for being my friend, Eric.

Running, Training Log

February 16-22 Practice Running

Monday, February 16, 2015, 4:40 pm

4.79 mi, 84 ft gain, 39:13. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Legs still a little sore/stiff starting out, but warmed up by about 1.5 mi. I really wanted to go longer, and still ended up going a little longer than I planned. I went out for 20 min, then turned around and headed back.

HR was a little high again. I ate shortly before running again too. Maybe it’s good practice for longer races, running with a full stomach.

Average HR 143 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015, 5:08 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:01. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

The weather was great again today. It was cooling off a bit with the sun heading down, but still not bad. The forecast is for about the same on race day, Sunday.

My upper legs were just a little sore starting out again, but felt better pretty quickly. The pace was faster than I expected, and felt pretty easy. It was only 2 sec slower than yesterday, but much lower HR.

I’m already over these short runs, but I want to be ready on Sunday. Fortunately, the nice weather has given me a little motivation to also get outside for some yard work. I have a lot of yard work to get done.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 4:24 pm

4.09 mi, 199 ft gain, 39:44. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

I modified my Lone Peaks like I’ve done to my Superiors. This was my first test run with the modification. It went alright.

Another easy taper run. A little sore starting out again, and quickly warming up again. I went up the little hill, followed a couple game trails and went out to Olney Creek.

I don’t particularly feel like my taper has been going that well, but my “easy” pace has sped back up to at least what I think it should be at my level of fitness. My HR was pretty good today as well. It helps to have some time to digest between eating and running.

I picked up the pace for the last 200m or so again. I ended up around 6:30/mi pace for that part.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 19, 2015, 5:52 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 22:39. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Just a quick spin around town today. It was raining a bit, but not bad. I went with a comfortably fast pace, which hovered around my current marathon goal pace and a little faster at times.

My right hamstring was still a little sore when I started, less so than the last few days. I finally feel like the taper is working. I could tell from my pace and effort the last few days that it was working, but I didn’t physically feel much better until today. I might still have a little more to go to physically feel ready. But I didn’t feel that great early in the last 5 mi race on the 7th and ended up doing great.

Average HR 144 bpm.

 

Friday, February 20, 2015, 4:16 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:37. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Feeling pretty good. Bored with the taper.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 21, 2015, 5:04 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 28:53. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

More of the same.

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Sunday, February 22, 2015, 8:02 am

31.33 mi, 5290 ft gain, 5:16:31. Lord Hill 50k. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

Not quite the race I wanted, but happy with my performance anyway. I’ll post a separate race report in the next couple days.

Average HR 149 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 52.8 mi, 5573 ft gain.