January: the good, the bad, & the ugly.

My name is Joshua Pauley. And I’m not sure how I feel about the month of January.

This past week I have been vacationing in Newport Beach, California.  Which was great. Beautiful views. Perfect weather. The only thing that was missing was the trails. But getting to go to Disney Land made up for that. 

A great week of training. Took care of business and nailed everything. I ran a huge hill for Tuesday’s hill workout. And I had beautiful scenery for Saturday’s 24 miler and was back on Texas trails for Sunday’s run. All to wrap up 105 miles on the week.

But now comes January. January has good news and bad news. The bad news first. For the next three weeks I will be working 55 hours a week in order to graduate in May and pay rent! You have got to love college right? But that’s life though. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes running is not convenient. But I think it will be good though. It will make me tough. A lot of early mornings and at least my job is at a desk and not on my feet. If I can make it through the next three weeks then I will be able to see the light at the end of tunnel. But it is likely that I will be a little grumpy when this is all said and done. Oh joy!

But on to good news! With the addition of all the new races in the Texas Trail series I have decided that I will compete in the 2014 series. I am adding two 50k races in the spring: Piney Woods TrailFest (down in Houston) and Neuces 50k in March.  I will be training through these two races as build ups to my peak race in April. The distances fit surprisingly well into my training schedule, and with a few adjustments it will fit perfectly.  I am very excited to get out more and have some practice races.  I am confident that this will only help my cause.

More good news! Starting in January I will be contributing to www.endurancebuzz.com.  I am so stoked for this opportunity. I got a hold of David Hanenburg just to ask about putting a link on his website, and he came back and offered me even more! I only hope I can continue to uphold the high standard that Endurance Buzz has set thus far.

So maybe January won’t be so bad? 2013 was good but perhaps 2014 will be even better? I am beginning to think so. Adios 2013 – I am on to better things.

                                                                         Training for this past week:

12x1’ hill sprints in CA – awesome hill for a workout. Very tough. But the view at the top over looked the Pacific which made it very rewarding.

24 miles on Saturday- I was not sure what I would have to work with going into this week as far as training location. So I just assigned a Fartlek on this run. Nothing too major. 12 miles progressive, followed by 10x2’ hard w/ 2’ easy. And then finished off the remaining distance to get to 24. The fartlek mile splits (miles 13-19) were 5:42, 5:46, 5:36, 5:40, 5:32, 5:38, 5:39. Solid day.

Sunday – 16 miles on the trails. After an hour 2x (1’,2’,3’) on 5’ rest cycle. Great run. I forgot my gloves though. So my hands were frozen the entire time. That was not a lot of fun.  

Sometimes Hard Work Just Sucks.

My name is Joshua Pauley. And I believe hard work sucks sometimes.

Hard work is not all rainbows and butterflies. There usually is not anything majestic or noble about it. Sure, sometimes it can be sublime but usually it is not pretty. I was reminded of this this week.

On Tuesday I had 5x1 mile hill circuits. It was a gorgeous Tuesday morning, with the sun shining and the birds chirping. The circuit is broken up into basically four parts. It starts with what is just beyond half a mile climb at tempo pace. Followed by 2/10 of a mile at relaxed effort and then 2/10 of a mile sprint/hard effort. The circuit ends with recovery down to the bottom. I had done similar circuits to this throughout my college career, and I definitely under estimated what I had in store for me. After the first one I was hurting. The second one got better. But three was rough. At the end of the third rep I realized I was progressing through the workout and the reps were getting faster even though my legs were trashed. I toed the line for number four with the wind in my face, and the chill of the morning on my hands I knew that I would finish ever step of the workout. Not because I was getting faster but because that is just what I do. I set off on rep four and made it half way through and my stomach gave out on me. I will spare you of the details, but it was not looking good for me. I finished it up though. Number five came and went. My fastest one of the day.

Found this guy logging some mileage on the trails.

On Sunday Mary and I had an early flight out of Dallas to California. I also had twenty miles scheduled for that morning. That meant a 4:30 wake up in order to run. It did not feel great. And it kind of sucked waking up that early. But that’s just what I do. The run started off slowly and progressed. I had a fartlek that started after an hour. Nothing to fancy. Just something to get the legs turned over. I was tired the rest of the day. But the day was won.

Sometimes in life it is easier to give up.  Sometimes in running it is easier to throw in the towel as well. But in both situations we have to make the choice. Adversity is going to come – that’s just the name of the game. How we respond to that is what is going to define our success and failures.

It was a great week of training. With a lot of great things going on. Hard work is going to suck sometimes. I accept that though. And I’m telling hard work to come get some and to give me its best shot.

This past week of training:

91 miles total this week. A lot of good running. I finally began to feel the mileage in my legs and the fatigue that comes with it. But that is part of the process. I’m happy with how things went.

**Do better this week: This isn’t really a do better but something I need to keep in mind. I will be in California all of this next week. I need to be aware of what I’m doing and attempt to keep some sort of routine. 

As always, thanks for reading. The support over this past month has been amazing.

Bump the Lamp,

JP

Animal fights, FKTs, and anything but studying!

My name is Joshua Pauley.  And I should really be studying.

As a college student finals are just about unavoidable. Just like taxes and death – it is just something that you have to go through.  I was going to start studying and then I found videos of wild animal attacks in the wilderness. That was pretty interesting.  Then I stumbled upon talk of Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for trails.  And now I am not sure when I will start studying.

Cheese and I at the bottom of the canyon. Isaiah 66:9.

I have mixed feelings about FKTs. I think they are cool, but I’m not sure how legitimate they really are. But I have been given an idea and now I am finding it hard to get it out of my head.  Usually a close friend of mine Jacob A. Phillips (not Jacob H. Phillips who is the coach and mentor) is the root of these foolish ideas.  Jacob a.k.a. Cheese once gave me the idea of running Rim to Rim and sure enough later that year I found myself running across the canyon with him. Of course since then he has convinced me to go back with him and we are planning a trip for 2014. But this time I am concocting the plans.  A FKT would be a good way to start the spring season off.

This will take some more thought, but don’t be surprised if something comes out of this.  Ideas like this have a strange way of materializing. But for now I should really start studying so that is all for today!

Training for this past week: the week started off snowy and cold but ended with me shirtless with sixty degree temperatures.  I hit 85 miles this week in my build-up.  Started re-introducing strides and hill repeats back into my running this week. It is great to practice these things and feel fluid.

Monday- Recovery day mileage and strides.

Tuesday- Hill repeats and weights. Real cold this morning. Got faster as I went along. Happy with the effort that was given this day.

 Wednesday-Twelve miles on the trails today. Snowy and icy run. But it was adventurous.

Thursday- Progressive pace day and strides.

Friday- Easy day with weights.

Saturday- Long run with tempo. 8 miles warm up + 4 miles tempo + 4 miles easy. Good run. Progressed through the first eight miles, and then hit the tempo. My watch died half way through (poor planning on my part). I know I ran the first two miles at 5:33 and 5:35. After that it was true effort which was good to get. I feel like I maintained the rest of the workout. Solid run for the day. Very windy though.

The trails at Big Cedar Wilderness

Sunday- Long run on the trail with fartlek. Good little run. The mud had begun drying up quite a bit so that was a positive. After an hour I began thirty minutes of 3’ up w/ 2’ recovery and finished with fifteen minutes cool down. The reps began to feel more natural as the workout went on.  It is a very interesting sensation running fast on single-trek. A very solid week of running and work put in.  I am hoping to duplicate this over this coming week.

-One thing I did well this week was gauge my effort and not run based on pace.

**Do better for next week eat better when preparing for a run. I paid the price for this on Sunday and felt sick most of the run.

As always thanks for reading and showing an interest in what I have been up too. Training has been a blessing and has been a lot of fun thus far. 

~Bump the Lamp,

  JP

No Freebies

My name is Joshua Pauley. And I am not willing to let someone get a day up on me.

Dallas got hit with a “bad” storm this past week. I put “bad” in quotation marks because I understand that in other states and training environments this would not have been considered much out of the ordinary. But here when there is an ice storm of this magnitude – things go a little bit crazy.  Schools are cancelled.  Supervisors do not come to work.  Athletes sleep in. And runners hit the treadmill.

Mary and I escaped the storm right in time by going to my hometown of Tyler (about two hours east of Dallas) Thursday night.  We did not get in though until roughly 2 a.m. Friday morning. I felt that this warranted sleeping in a little bit. If you know me then you understand why this is a big deal. I don’t typically sleep in.  I’m one of those “The early bird gets the worm” and all that jazz type of guys. My roommates and past teammates can also testify to this as well. I love running in the morning.

The storm that was pounding DFW had missed Tyler, and we were just left with rain.  So I slept in and hit up the trails at Faulkner Park. It’s a nice little trail, not to technical, but not necessarily simple either. The trail’s loop is roughly 6.5 miles and I recommend paying it a visit if you are ever in the Tyler/East Texas area.  I ended up having a pretty solid recovery run.

Saturday morning rolls around and I have a long run workout scheduled (14 miles continuous: after 5 miles 2x (2miles w/1 mile recovery) + 4 miles easy). Unfortunately I did not pack very well and left my warmest running clothes back at my apartment.  I stepped outside at 6 am, preparing to kill this run, only to be slapped in the face with wind and twenty-five degree temperatures.  Like a wimp I tucked tail and went back inside thinking “Oh I’m going back to Dallas later today, I’ll just do it then since I’ll have better clothes.” MISTAKE!

I left Mary with my parents and I headed back to DBU for work and to run. I get to DBU and the entire place is iced over.  It was so bad in fact that it took me fifteen minutes to walk to work (usually it only takes me five). There was no way I could run outside.  I could barely step outside of my car.  Some people suggested I just take my loss and head back to Tyler after work to avoid more bad weather. Others suggested that I do it on a treadmill. I decided I would attempt it on the treadmill. 

Icy Stairs at DBU.
Photo credit: Jacob Setser

This is a big move for me as well. I hate treadmills. And although fourteen miles is not really all that far – that’s a ways to go on a treadmill. So after getting off work I begin the walk back to my apartment.  While attempting to walk down stairs that are covered in ice; I slipped.  Not only did I slip but I fell all the way down an entire flight of stairs (16 to be exact).  I eventually stood up and the only thought I had was “WOW I’m alive!!!!!” That is probably one of the most dangerous accidents I have ever had.  I am very blessed that I was not seriously injured.  But now my leg and hip was all bruised up right before my run. Sweet way to start my evening off. 

I hopped on the treadmill and began to dabble away at my chore.  I covered up the monitor so I would not have to be so interested in pace the entire time (my goal is to run tempos at an effort – not a pace). Things come and go. And I survive. I got better that day. 

Dallas Baptist University.
Photo credit: Mariel Flores

It would have been easier just to say “Oh, I didn’t get it in this morning. I guess I will just take today off.” But as I pounded away on the treadmill I thought to myself, “Timothy Olson is getting better today. Sage Canaday is getting better today. Rob Krar is getting better today. I don’t want to give these guys this day.” Because had I done what was convenient and easier, and not ran, guys I want to beat would’ve gotten a day up on me.  And I’m not good enough to give these guys freebies like that. I need every day I can get. They’re working their butts off – everyone is. And I’ve got to do the same. 

The winter is a hard time to train. And by the looks of it – things are not going to be easy these next couple of months (weather wise). That cannot be an excuse though - because someone is always working.  Someone is always getting better.  But at the end of the day I am going to have to ask myself, “Did I get better today?” 

Training notes from these past two weeks:

Week of 11/25-12/1:  Just eased back into things. Thirty to forty-five minutes daily. Pretty simple stuff.

Week of 12/2-12/8:

Pretty “chill” week (pun intended) at 70 miles total.  Did not integrate Tuesday hill repeats in on this week, still was easing back into it. Saturday’s LR workout went well. I went 11:14 and 11:07 with the recovery mile somewhere between 6:30-6:40 (total time was somewhere around 1:33-1:35. I am not too sure because the treadmill was giving me a hard time). Had I done this workout on the roads like I was originally intending my goal was between 5:35-5:45. I got in a good effort and finished strong. Sunday’s LR was on the trails. An hour easy followed by thirty minutes of two minutes up and one minute down and then finishing with fifteen minutes cool down. That was a pretty sweet workout. I look forward to doing more workouts on the trails as the training progresses.  I believe learning to run fast and hard on technical trails will come in handy later down the road.

-One thing I did well this week was I got in all the little things ie: core and weight routine.

**Do better for next week: Do a better job of staying hydrated. I am kind of lazy with this.  

Thanks for reading and showing an interest in what I have been up too. Hang in there folks!

~Bump the Lamp,

  JP