Candidate for Most Mendacious Sport

The "United Powerlifting Association (IPA)" is the new candidate. At https://barbend.com/powerlifter-nathan-baptist-all-time-world-record-equipped-squat-1311-pounds/ they show Nathan Baptist's supposed squat of 1311 pounds. Maybe because it is touted to be an "All Time World Record", less stringent criteria apply. But a basic requirement of a squat is that the top of the thigh at the hip should be *below* (not even with) the top of the thigh at the knee, hence the term "below parallel" meaning that the top of the thigh is below being parallel with the floor. In this video, it is pretty easy to see that the lifter is somewhere around 6 inches higher than parallel, which is to say - NO WHERE CLOSE TO PARALLEL. To give non-lifters an idea of what a legitimate squat feels like, your ribs are touching your thighs at this depth - and - you are working like mad to keep your head up and not bowing down - with your weight on your heels. You need really good hip mobility. What a laughable farce the IPA is if it allows this kind of illegitimate performance (in addition to the drugs).

Quarantine - Something to which we all can relate

 I got out and ran a few hill repeats yesterday. It consists of a Strava segment that's 11.5%, so that's decent.

This comes after 2 weeks of quarantine where I thought I was positive and another 10 days after I tested positive.

To put things on a more positive note, I've been reading about Everesting which has become popular during the pandemic. I think I've only read about bicycling accounts but there are a few who try it on foot. Bikes are much faster on the downhill of course and people will set up their bike especially for the effort - perhaps a single speed with disc brakes.

For running, I'd think you would want

• a long enough climb where one wouldn't have to repeat it 100 times and short enough where you wouldn't have to carry too much food and water. Repetitions in the teens would be preferable. One female cyclist in Switzerland had a route where she only did 3 repeats.
• In addition, I think you'd want it steep so the total distance wasn't up around 100 miles. I have a favorite route which climbs almost 2000' in 5k (which works out to about 90 miles).
• Then I think you would want a nice surface (not rocky) to present fewer chances to trip on the downhills
• Finally, I'd like the start (or top) of the climb to be close to where one parks the car so one can pick up supplies.
• Just one more - there should be a bathroom or something than can serve as a bathroom somewhere on the course. Running in the mountains? No problem. Running through a neighborhood? Time to get surreptitious.
• P.P.S - I don't think it is a good idea for me (maybe it is for you) to run at altitude. Otherwise I can think of a couple of routes up Mt. Baldy that climb 1k per mile.

A Strava feature - Segment Explorer - has been pretty useful for looking for venues. I search on a combination of "Running" and "Steep".

My best candidate (I think) is in the San Gabriels. I've never been on this trail (I usually go up Bailey Canyon) but - Lizzie's to Jones - looks like this:

• Total climb is 2389'. This would take 12+ repeats (I don't know the official rules well enough to say if you can do a partial repeat).
• It is steep - 24% grade. But that's the average. It starts out fairly consistently above 10%, then in the middle gets much steeper. That might be too steep, we'll see. This means a repeat is 3.76 miles. 13 repeats is just under 49 miles.
• I've never been on it so I can't comment on the surface. It's a trail. That should be good enough. Bailey Canyon - which goes up to Jones Peak on the West side of the ridge - is very reasonable with a dirt surface a lot of the time.
• It starts at a store on a city street. The city street is going uphill, but you can park your car.
• Again, I haven't been on the trail but this one may luck out and have a bathroom at the start PLUS be in the mountains.

As with a lot of climbs in the San Gabriels, Lucas Matison has the fastest time at 32:22. Heather Huggins is the fastest female at 44:54. My guess is that I'd be somewhere around 75 minutes if I got in shape, at least to the extent I can get in shape now.

The San Anas seem a little closer and I run in them more often since they are in Orange County, at least the western side. I have 2 candidates in the Santa Ana mountains that each climb about 2k.

• Silverado Motorway - Silverado Motorway is familiar to me.
• ST Climb

Of course the first thing I need to do is get back in shape where I can run these once. That is a pretty good goal for me by itself.

• The aforementioned Silverado Motorway is a nice steep, rocky trail that almost works out to 15 repetitions at a little under 2k. I can park right at the start of the trail. Parts of the trail don't climb hardly at all but other parts make up for it. I think it averages over 12%. The total distance run (very hypothetical) would be around 90 miles. I have run up the entire length recently so this at least is realistic for me. With regard to trippability, it has plenty of immovable rocks and places where your trail leg runs into your planted leg on the way forward. But I guess no steep route will allow one to sleep on the way down.
• There is a Strava segment on the eastern side named ST Climb that climbs just over 2k and averages 16.7%

A Couple of Contrasting Workouts

On Monday and Thursday, I got out the tire and did

• 8 times 25 step tire pull
• 8 times 25 step sprint
• 8 times 25 step tire pull
• 8 times 25 step sprint

On Thursday, I figured that I needed to focus on turnover and leg lift, not power.
On Friday, my left leg (the better of the two) was pretty darn fatigued from the top of the glute to the knee.  So I rode the bike on Friday, tried icing but that didn't work very well.  I put 6 Salon Pas patches on my hip on Friday night.

Got up Saturday and it was still sore and fatigued.  Too bad - I got up and did my usual morning exercises.  That made it feel a little better.  I missed the San Gabriels so I decided to run on the Rincon Shortcut OHV road.  The first two miles felt pretty tough but got better as I went along, finally just having the top of my glutes complaining.  After two miles, no problem.  So I ran up to the saddle where the road first starts looking on the south side of the ridge - almost 6 miles.  Ran down slowly since I still have ITB issues on the right side.

Now it starts getting more interesting from a non-running viewpoint.  I stopped in Azusa and got some beet juice and some diced fruit at a panaderia.  They put something sour and spicy in the diced fruit.  I finished the beet juice which was a little weird - it gets your attention when you drink some.  Got home and had a peanut butter, strawberry preserve and banana burrito, then went to the bathroom.  IT LOOKED LIKE BEET JUICE IN THE TOILET!  Apparently this is a known effect of beet juice but that stuff passed through my body in less than 90 minutes!

OK, otherwise, I felt pretty tired.  Lying on the floor with legs propped up on the bed tired.  Eventually I decided to listen to Stevie Wonder - I Wish.  That got me dancing in bed and up.  Then I listened to Superstition and got up and started fixing noodles with natto and sardines with the left over diced fruit.  Then James Brown and Get Up Offa That Thing.  Then One Nation Under A Groove.  I cannot resist Funk. I makes me so happy!

Track Work

Inspired by Serena Williams and Beau Kittredge (see previous posts), I did a track workout on Tuesday night during the Snail's Pace time on the track.  Reading about Serena Williams assigning herself 2500 backhands got me to think what was the track equivalent.  I came up with about 240x40 yard dash or 100x100 meters.  Lengthening the interval (and lessening the intensity), this also works out to 6x1600m or 12x800m.  I've done close to these last two and possibly could get back to that level of fitness.  I might use those eventually to at least get the volume and then ratchet up the intensity, perhaps alternating with a bunch of forties or hundreds.

What I did Tuesday was what I called a sprint pyramid: 400, 300, 200, 150, 100, 50 and then back again.  I had to complete the last 400 in pieces.  Other than that, I felt ok though exhausted.  Then that night, my left plantar's fascia started complaints.  Alfredson protocol and one day on the bike took care of that.  Then during a hill repeat session on Thursday, my knee got a little sore so I cut that workout short.  Now (Friday), I'm just sore and still a little worn out.

So doing sprints didn't hurt me too much.  I'm going to wait at least until I can get in a 10+ mile run before doing that again.  I might try instead a 12x200 (same distance, same number of intervals).  400 repeats are also tempting since my (lack of) fitness ought to stop me before I get hurt.  Could I do 6?

Dogs on the Trail

When I see someone with their dog more than once, it's the dog I recognise more than the person.  There is a guy with a Dalmation that I see on Rose Hills Road.  At least in this case, I know the guys name but not the dog's.  I also see a couple on Workman Hill with a Bichon Frise.  I'm impressed with the dog because it is so light on its feet.  I used to see a middle aged Asian guy on the Skyline trail with a dog of indeterminate breed that always had its right ear sticking up and the left ear flopping over.  And now there is a guy in the neighborhood who has a couple of friendly pitbulls.

I've felt for a long time that dogs (and people) are better behaved off leash.  There was a young lady at the park the other day with a black shepherd off leash.  I made the usual clicking sounds with my tongue so that neither one would be too surprised.  That dog was actually a little timid.  I have a fond memory of meeting a couple with 3 dogs off leash on the Rincon-Shortcut fire road.  I could see how happy those dogs were because 1) they were with their favorite people, 2) they were out in the wilds where things smell so great and 3) they got to go off leash.  And finally, I remember a black lab running kind of sideways up a dirt road in anticipation of getting petted (by me).

It's A Girl!

Serena Williams and fiance' Alexis Ohanian welcome a baby girl into the world!  Congratulations!
It always brings a smile to my face when I think of this couple.  Both are very interesting people but in much different ways.  Serena is such an incredible athlete and such a dominating competitor.  And of course, with that comes a very strong mind.  Alexis is an internet entrepreneur who started Reddit.  He is also a social activist for selected causes.  It always pleases me to see successful people give back - and not in self serving causes, not necessarily through charity but through activism and participation.  And in a lot of cases, their profession and activism form a continuum, not a distinct set of interests.

Congratulations to both of you and may the three of you continue to prosper!

Resilience

I'm job hunting and got wrapped up in that last week and missed running 3 days in row.  So since then, I've gotten out every day to the park and have run a few miles there.  Running at the park means picking up trash.  The park looks pretty good now.  There were two broken Blue Moon bottles yesterday, one in the grass right next to my path and one on the basketball court.  There was a dishrag by the one in the grass so I just put the pieces on the cloth and threw the collection in the trash.  I wanted a broom and dustpan to clean up the basketball court and luckily, the city workers showed up before I was done and I borrowed a pair from them.

My daughter is the trainer for the San Francisco Flamethrowers Ultimate Frisbee team that just won the AUDL championship in Montreal.  Did you know that there was a professional ultimate frisbee league?  At the end of the game which was streamed live, they interviewed the 3 co-captains, including the well known Beau Kittredge.  Besides his athletic ability, Beau is known for his durability.  He'll jump high for a catch, come down in a pile of bodies and come away unscathed.  In the post game interview, he indirectly attributed his durability to track work, lifting and plyometrics.  How does this relate to me? 

• I've been injured quite a bit recently.
• I've recovered primarily due to specific (non-running) exercises.
• I've done track work recently.
• I've lifted in the past.  I actually competed at powerlifting at one time.

But,

• I've never done plyos, at least not with any regularity, and
• I haven't been lifting recently.

So, I did a second workout last night.  I did jumping jacks (lightweight plyo), some little jumps that I saw my other daughter (the one with the big vertical) doing. And then I went out and pulled the tire.  I didn't go overboard on any of these. 
So the goal is now, get that first workout in and then use the evening workout to fill in the non-running gaps... or track work.