Month: April 2014

New bench is coming together!

I’m using a laminate / mortise and tenon construction method using baltic birch glued up to create the legs and stretchers. The stretchers (tenons) are comprised of 3 strips of 3/4 birch glued (and clamped). The legs are 5 strips of 3/4 birch glued with the mortise created with the gap (last set in the image below).

Everything is ripped wide at 3 9/16 and after gluing I’ll clean up the edges back down to a final width of 3 1/2. The bench top is another piece of 3/4 birch and a piece of 3/4 MDF sandwiched (and screwed) together. I’m planing to drill holes for bench dogs and add a proper cabinetry clamp… maybe a Jorgensen. We’ll see.

It’s really hard to build a bench without a bench (thus all the stuff across the tablesaw, router table, sawhorses, etc.).

If only I were just a simple cabinetmaker.  Maybe if I had been born 200 years ago.

Although he made a living of his craft, Krenov referred to his attitude towards his work as that of an amateur, feeling that the competitive attitude of a professional causes one to compromise one’s values as a craftsman. He avoided calling the conception and creation of a piece as “design,” preferring a more inclusive term “composing.” Composing, explained Krenov, is reacting to the wood, a continual re-evaluation and improvisation open to wherever the wood takes the composer.

Mile 5 in particular;  zip zip –  I attribute it to the lunar eclipse (and the training effect).
http://www.strava.com/activities/130644626

The end of last week through the weekend my motivation was in a lil’ dip. I decided to take Saturday off and not try to push a long run (>15m) on Sunday. I think it was the right move and had a snappy 8 miler on Sunday morning.  Still ended up north of 30 miles for the week, but I’m not sure I had the right mix of runs. It could be that I’m just still a little degraded from the race 2 weeks ago; so I’m not going to worry about it too much.

I call this section “the haymaker”. The grade is somewhere between 20 and 30 %. It’s kinda like getting punched in the stomach. Best not to look at the top of the hill from the bottom – it’s just demotivating.

V02max is on the rise. Yay genetics (thanks mom and dad).

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes]

Alpinist always delivers.

“Perhaps that’s what it takes to become a great climber or a great artist: to be able to force yourself to that threshold where the consequences of your perception seem like a matter of life or death, to let the rest of the world blur — until you can truly learn to see one thing, as close as possible to what it really is. And afterward,  you might realize that climbing or art is just one means to reach that kind of vision.”

– From The Illusion of Control by Chris Van Leuven

In the works.

Strong possibility this will turn into a caffeine-fueled sufferfest to see how much vertical we can grab in 4 days. Happening next month. Stay tuned. Climbing partner is finalizing dates.

St. Helens – Parking lot is open. We’ll need to get permits.. PITA. Super fun climb/ski descent. Mellow, good warmup.

Mt. Adams – South Rib or SW Chutes (looks good but major fall potential… maybe?):

Mt. Hood
We could camp up high…play around Illumination Rock (climb some ice?)… maybe go over to the North side (we’ll need to rope up). Would be fun to explore though. I’m not going anywhere near Cooper Spur.

South Sister – Burly vert.

Things I learned from the Gorge 50k that I need to dial in before Mt. Hood 50. Mostly worried about my stomach. After the 50k I wasn’t really hungry but ate a few small slices of pizza and 2 plain waffles from Waffle Window. I also took some ibuprofen (I never take anything) b/c I wanted to reduce any inflammation and keep blood circulating to heal up my muscles and feet. It completely wrecked my stomach and actually kept me awake that night.

In general, I think my system was kind of shocked and needed a reboot. I need to get better about nutrition on the longer runs and try to eat solid food. I’ll need to do this to finish strong in the 50 miler.

Tailwind
I’ve heard good things and I’m mostly worried about having stomach issues in the 50m. I ordered some samples to try. Cytomax worked for me, but I was eating a lot of gels and Clif blocks too.

S caps
Not sure if I need these, but I’ll try them on some longer runs. They were slinging them at the later aid stations…. 18 and 25 miles. Maybe they work when the metaphorical house is burning down. Not sure.

Pocket Fuel
Kind of like Justin’s nut butter, but made in Hood River. I’ll give it a shot. Again – super worried about my stomach past 30 miles. I’ll need to eat solid food.

Injinji socks
I burned holes in both my socks during the 50k. I think these may help.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goKeotF-7nA&w=560&h=315]

Projects in flight

• super top secret code project (design/build)
• backyard treehouse  (design/build)
• street painting (just painting) bike repair station + little library  (design/build) – VBC project
• new bench in the shop  (build)

Completed projects

• sheetrock up on the shop walls
• a fairy garden (clear cedar)

Upcoming races

• June 8th, Beacon Rock 50k
• July 12th, Mt. Hood 50M

Completed races

• March 29th, Gorge Waterfalls 50k

Good lunch run today (http://www.strava.com/activities/127930166). Full value with ride commute on both ends of the day. I took it easy on ride home and thought about a friend when I rode past these guys cleaning out a big powerboat on a trailer. We were skiing around Durango one year and drove past a house (going toward Silverton) with a “for sale” sign on a boat and another sign with “horses for sale”. Same house.  Lesson: don’t ever buy a boat and don’t ever buy a horse.

My stride felt super rad today, I was pressing hard and it got me thinking about the difference between “pushing” and “pressing”. A push is a static movement, single serving, results may vary. There is no fluidity to a push. A lot of times you think about “pushing” yourself hard, or “pushing through” … but it’s the wrong way to think about it. In endurance sports, it’s more important to “press”. Sounds weird, but when I think about the “press”, it’s a dynamic movement.

pres·sure
1. the continuous physical force exerted on or against an object by something in contact with it.

When you get out of bed in the morning, you press the earth away from your feet, when you run, you’re pressing down to escape gravity. The important thing to learn is to modulate the press. Sometimes you press lightly, sometimes press really hard. To be in motion constantly, you always have to press. “Always be pressin'”.

Running a steep hill, I’m always thinking press, not push. Maybe it’s more a philosophical difference, but it works for me.

This is going to be heavy. Here are some kittens if you’re not in the mood.

Just past 9 miles on my run home today from Forest Park I stopped and had a gel and some drink. I was downtown a few blocks from the waterfront. Legs were feeling really good, bottles were getting low so my pack felt light. I crossed Naito and cut across the grass to the sidewalk and picked up the pace – only 4 miles to home. I could hear someone running close behind me (no tunes as my shuffle died at the race last weekend).

Super fast guy pulled up beside me and and asked, “where you headed this morning?”.
Me: “I was up in Forest Park and now I’m headed up to Tabor.”
Super fast guy: “Have fun!”

Feeling like a bad ass and fast and alive and snappy and solid – the little ego bump made me feel good. Like rolling through an aid station at a race with everyone cheering – no matter how bad you feel, it cheers you up.

As I got closer to the stairs up the the Hawthorne Bridge I saw that the sidewalk had yellow tape across it – fast guy peeled off right to go around it and I followed him. There were some people standing around and then I looked where they were looking. Right outside the public bathroom

A kid. Maybe 16 … 17…18? The paramedics had his clothes cut off – his big baggy camo pants were cut up the front and splayed open. And his 2 sizes too big hoody and his worn out shitty sneakers were laying next to him.

One paramedic is squeezing the oxygen mask and another one – huge guy, maybe 200+ is on top of this kid giving him chest compressions. His limp body is just absorbing the compressions. And the paramedic is not stopping.

Oh no no no no no no no no no. Was all I could think. No no no no.
Fight man. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Don’t go.

Walking around downtown these kids look dirty and grumpy and big with their oversized clothes and backpacks – people cross the street to avoid them. With all his clothes cut off – this was just a skinny little white kid. It reminded me of my kids when they get out of the bathtub. Scrawny and white and pure. Just kids.

I had trouble getting up the steps to cross the bridge. I’ve never cried and run at the same time. It’s difficult. You kind of hyperventilate. So I hyperventilated running across the bridge. And I thought about this kid’s parents.. and his girlfriend…and his friends. And all the stupid choices that culminated to get him to the place where a big paramedic is trying to revive you … with every indication that he’d checked out.

And then I thought about all the people who failed this kid. I got angry. You can fuck up a lot of things in life. You can get physically injured, you can be rich or poor... there are unlimited possibilities. But only one thing that takes away every chance you have is when you’re dead.

I had this visceral sense of a soul leaving and it made me really sad.  Of just giving up and giving in and leaving. I would surmise it was an overdose. Bad heroin. I have no idea – I don’t know if he made or didn’t. Sure didn’t look like it, but maybe he rallied. Hope.

(I didn’t post this over the weekend… I checked the internets for anything that went down on Saturday morning and didn’t find anything).

I’m starting to update http://snowriderproject.org/ before the annual Salmon River watershed clean up in September. The mountains have brought me so much joy and really defined my character. The least I can do is start to give back.

I still have a few other projects in various stages, this will be fun though.

In running news:
Easy 5 miler today – legs are feeling solid, just a little bit sore. Trying to find a time to use the $50 massage voucher that I got at the snowshoe race earlier this winter to get some body work done – mostly my legs. I’m in dire need of some deep tissue work on my calves.

I’ve found getting right on the bike after a long run is the best way to work out the sore spots. Totally works … a pool would be better, but I’ve yet to find an accessible lap pool in Portland. Seriously a major ding for Portland and training for big swims. I’d love to go back and swim the Waikiki Roughwater again, but I have nowhere to train. Running it is.