DON'T BE DUMB

I was able to swing by practice last night and have Jenna "worked me over." She definitely isolated some areas of pain in the soft tissue of my shin. Now I know where to focus my icing and massage efforts. She also recommended stretching my soleus muscle. This morning I made an appointment at her clinic for Friday to receive someultra-sound treatment too.

I managed 5 miles over lunch today. My injury felt a lot more like a sore muscle today. What took 10-15 minutes to warm-up yesterday only took 5 minutes today. Not surprising, 6 days off has left me well-rested. I averaged 7:50 pace when I thought I was running 8:20 pace.

Like I mentioned the other day, I’ve been re-reading Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear. If you’re not familiar with this book, it’s a year (or season) in the life of the Colorado University cross country team. It’s a story of triumph and tragedy that’s really well written with lots of great – as they say in the business world - “take aways.” Rather than go into great details regarding my injury and my limited running, I thought I’d share passages from the book that I really like. Just for clarification, Wetmore refers to head coach Mark Wetmore and Goucher refers to their top runner, Adam Goucher. Other names will most likely refer to other CU runners.

You’ll hear no splits, and you won’t see any mile markers. You’re running by feel. Pay attention to your sensory data. – Wetmore addressing the runners before the NCAA x-c championship meet

“This guy clearly made a jump from being inconsequential to being a dominant force in the conference.” – Scott Anderson (Princeton alum) talking about Brock Tessman

“To see Goucher, the top dog working with me, I know I’m going to run well. There’s no reason not to run well.” – Brock Tessman

“Park of his quirkiness is that he’s known for how he can speak under a crowd, not over one. In a race you’ll hear him say ‘You’re fine,’ in a conversational tone, and you’ll hear that.” – Shawn Found on Wetmore.

He mutters a thought that has most certainly occurred to all the harriers, “Fuck this shit!” and starts to walk. – Steve Slattery during a steady unrelenting ascent where he was dropped by Goucher.

The barometer Wetmore uses to gauge a successful season: did his team run their best at NCAA’s?

He (Wetmore) set about creating “an Edge City of physical wellness, always with a purpose” where he and his athletes would “suffer as much as we can to see how good we can be, safety be damned.”

“When it’s time to work, it’s time to work. They’ll find out on their own.” – Goucher regarding Wetmore and the upper classmen not addressing the freshman regarding their first run up Mags (Sunday’s long UPHILL run – at altitude)

“If someone has a bad day, we all pull together. A lot of people get distressed after one bad day, but we’re there to stabilize each other. We’ll say, ‘Don’t be dumb, you’re fit. There’s no way you can’t be fit.’” – Goucher

“‘The right stuff’ on this level, is some combination of these four qualities: talent, durability, determination, and courage. Not everyone needs to have a monster four, but everyone has to have some combination of the four of these. You need some level of all four, and not having one will kill you. If I came out for my own team, I’d cut me. I have no talent.” But a lack of talent can be made up for by an overabundance of courage. “You’re not gonna die. This isn’t jousting, but some people are just petrified. They can’t do it.” – Wetmore

Quote of the day:
“Batliner’s restraint is admirable. In a sport that demands compulsion, sometimes the hardest task is having the confidence to rest.” - Chris Lear in RWTB