Turn your rut into a groove.

pm--2k on the erg w/ progressive splits (2:15-2:05) and stroke rate (24-28). No run for a few days. RHR--49.

I scratched another book off the list and finished Children of the Mind and the Ender Quartet by Orson Scott Card.

One of my old mission buddies recommended Ender's Game eons ago. It took me a while to finally give it a chance. Sure glad I did. Card builds fascinating worlds and has an interesting mind when it comes to diplomacy and power.

Interesting side note, I finished Ender's Game for the 2nd time on the eve of the PVXC girls becoming state champs. There is a real me-against-the-world perspective in that book. If you have any room in your heart for sci-fi, Orson Scott Card is up there with Frank Herbert in my mind.

pm--Erged for 15 minutes (3.4k). Went from 2:20 to 2:00 with a stroke rate of 24 to 30.

pm--8x :30 on and :30 rest on the erg. Most of these I was pulling sub-1:50 w/ a high stroke rate. I can't wait to run w/ the xc kiddos on Monday.

am--3.5 Grapevine out-and-back. First day of xc practice. We had a good tunrout. Hope that the new folks will find something to love and keep at it. RHR--51. 

pm--5 Reverse Loops on the SC Rugby grounds. I think I might double a couple days this week to give me some buffer fitness and stave off the fitness onslaught that is surely coming from the PVXC kids. My achilles, really back of the heel, bugged a bit at the first.  Something in my gut tells me a good workover or two every day w/ the foam roller on my calves would help. 

am--4.25 Obligatory Urie route w/ barefoot grass loops and 6x striders. Decent run w/ a good group. Kids Club after. RHR--49. Easy k on the erg later in the day. 

It took me a few days, but I finished The Animal Keepers by Donn Behnke. It made me laugh and cry. I'm thankful to have put in a few years w/ the xc team. I could see different kids slotting into the Animal's role and others supplying his voice. You never know what you're going to get from another human being. I enjoyed the following quote because it's true that the relationships that are built are far greater than any of the awards: 

"Turning in my seat, I noticed Rob standing quietly in the aisle staring down at the gold trophy in the second row right where Scott had left it. There it was, the object we'd worked so hard to obtain, sitting by itself, alone, sad, and neglected. No one dared touch it, that was Scott's job, and with our teammate now gone the trophy was more a symbol of loss than of victory" (254). 

am--4.75 Tortoise Road out-and-back. I love a decent climb. My body was beat this morning, feeling a bit off--the RHR reflects that--but once we got going, I was golden. It's great getting to know new kids and see the regulars again, but the feel of the team is still nebulous. It takes a few weeks. RHR--59. 

am--4.5 Telegraph to the Parkway and back w/ 8x barefoot striders after. Felt good, and the group hung together. We have some younger girls working hard to be a part of varsity group. I love it. RHR--53. 

am--5.25 Roller coasters around Shinob Kibe w/ a nice pick-up in the pace for the last 15 minutes. We had a good group for a Friday, even Josie came. I love how the girls are showing a willingness to push beyond the comfort zone. 8x :30 w/ equal rest on the erg after. RHR--50. 

pm--5.25 Green Valley Loop w/ 3x 3:00 pick-ups. I got home in the wee hours of the morn, so I slept in and didn't get out until this evening. Starting out, I felt pretty good. 10 minutes in, my throat got to itching, and I coughed and coughed and coughed, almost to the point of puking. Luckily, there was a water cooler in the area. Things settled down, and I was able to run again. The pick-ups were maxed out around 7-min. pace tonight. I coudn't muster any more. Overall, nothing felt very good tonight. Oh well. RHR--46. 

am--7.5 First sesh (20-25 minutes) of dirt-mile tempo for the season. It felt nice despite the wind. We had a decent pack that held for about 13-14 minutes before regrouping. It was cool to see girls battle. The majority of the group finished at 20 minutes. Jacey, J-Rog, and I went to 25. Our tempo pace went from 7:20 down to 7:10. RHR--49. 

am--7.75 A loop around my hood w/ Jesse and practice w/ grass loops after. It was a beautiful morning this morning. I enjoyed running w/ a big group and had a chance to chat for a minute w/ some awesome kids. RHR--54. 

pm--Weights & 2k (8:09.4) on the erg. I think that's a pr for 2k.

am--5.5 Up the road to Dino Tracks. I felt blah starting out but got going as we pushed up the hills. We picked up the pace a bit for the last 10 minutes. Lots of kids are coming out to practice. It's awesome. RHR--55. 

am--8 Church Rocks/Prospector w/ 4x 1-min. pick-ups. I woke up w/ a little headache, and my legs were feeling tired as I went to practice. Nonetheless, if the mind is willing, the body answers the call. We had a small group that was willing to push some today. Fun run. RHR--53.

pm--Weights and 15 minutes on the erg (3482 meters). I like the subsequent soreness of lifting.

am--5 Middleton Trail w/ 6x striders. Nice run w/ some storytelling by Gracie. Apparently, she's one of the many who loves a scary movie. I'm having a lot of fun w/ this crew. RHR--55. 

am--8.25 Old Swiss Days course in reverse w/ an extension into Green Valley. It feels good to get the legs going a little bit. By the end, I was hitting some CV stuff for about 5 minutes. RHR--50. 

am--9 Hell's Hole Loop w/ some pick-ups and a little addition in the dog-pound direction. It was toasty this morning, but we had a pretty good group through the first 3 pick-ups. After that, we pushed to the minutes. Not everyone was feeling great today, but finishing each run, especially long runs, more aggressivley will reap rewards. RHR--51. 

am--4.75 Grass Loops via Urie Cir. w/ 6x barefoot striders. Nice chill run, chatting w/ different folks. RHR--49. 

pm--8x :30 w/ equal rest on the erg. Averaged 130m. 

am--6 Tortoise Road w/ some Parkway added. Kids are starting to group up more on runs. That's good stuff. I also learned some great things last night. RHR--53. 

am--6.25 Out-and-back on the Dino Tracks road. I never know how I'm going to feel when we get going--the achilles is morning-tight, and I'm old--but once we started, I felt great. We had a nice little group, including Josie. Good climb and good finish. We also tried some guided visualization. Hope to get some feedback as we do that throughout the season. RHR--53. 

pm--Erg and weights. I did 15 minutes (3.5k) on the erg and then lifted. 

I also finished another book, Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. It's a story of star-crossed lovers in early 20th-Century Japan. It took a little longer than expected because my reading habits are lax in the summer. Nevertheless, books like this make up about 97% of my travelling. Books are a great way to travel through time and space and get a firsthand account of a culture. 

am--6 River Trail from Confluence Park towards Green Valley. Not too far into the run, we took a wrong turn and got bigmanned by a lawn mower--not Alli, she works at a different golf course. But we got back on course and had a good run. I'm proud of how the girls sing and have fun and then push the last few minutes of every run. 6x striders after (not barefoot today). RHR--54. 

am--8 Moe's and Zen w/ the Cosmic Cruisers. It was a slow burner, but we got to chat about lots of things. This run was also my first run w/ sunglasses. They actually augment the trailrunning experience. We'll see how integral they become. RHR--53. 

am--10.25 A big improvised loop through Green Springs and Washington w/ 5x 1-min. pickups. The run felt pretty good. I'm not sure if it's the duration of exposure to the sun or the compounding effects of the heat that make runs like this a little tougher. We had a bigger pack today because most everybody is back. After, my heel junk has been pretty tight. I'm trying to be vigilant and not seeing much improvement, but I'll wake up in the morning, and it will feel runnable. Repeat struggles and suffering. RHR--54.

I also finished another book--Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness. I enjoyed the book and found that it is a good synthesis of other books I have read over the last year or so--Start With Why, Give and Take, Running Within, The Talent Code, Ego is the Enemy, and Mindset. This is a book for anyone interested in performance, athletic or otherwise. The authors have made it a user-friendly tool for frequent reference. And it was a quick read. 

am--5 Grass loops w/ barefoot striders. Kids' races were fun today. I love seeing people get after it. Oh, and Alli P. came, hopefully, not for the last time. RHR--52. 

pm--1.75 Weights/Heat Acclimation/Erg. The heat really wasn't too bad. (I've been diligent about hydrating this summer.) Erged 2k in 8:34. It's a bit pedestrian, but I started easy. 

am--6.75 Hilly run in north desert. It's fun to do some dirt running w/ silly hills and daring folks. We had some folks pushing themselves today. I always love that. RHR--52. 

am--7.75 Dirt-Mile Progressive Tempo. We had a nice group of athletes today. I wasn't sure how I was going to run because I was tossing and turning all through the night. But, I've found that good things happen when you say "yes" to life. We started about 1:20 off  5k pace and dropped 5-10 seconds each mile, ending in the 6:40s. Great work from the girls and the boys in the group. A day like today is a lot of fun. Maybe, I'm old, but working hard feels good. RHR--54. 

pm--1.5 Weights and a shakeout run. Erged for 15 minutes after (3.4k). Today was a good day. (I think Ice Cube said that.)

am--7 Nice run from Coral Canyon towards Quail Creek. We had a nice group for the first part of the run. Then girls flipped for their minutes. 6x striders after. RHR--51.