I never get tired of seeing babies in sunglasses. Much better than dogs in shades (or dogs in shades with hats on).I was bummed to hear about your Western States race, I was rooting for you. I wonder just how much training one can do to guard against the damage of downhill running (and the whole eccentric contraction thing) without just wrecking yourself in training.
Mike: Regarding dressed-up dogs, my wife likes those weimaraner portraits by William Wegman, but I'm in your camp. Regarding your training question, I don't have a good answer. In my case, there's no doubt I could have done more if I had focused on Western States for the 5-6 months leading up to it. However, to _master_ WS-type courses, I'd not only have to do more hill-related training, but get an intensive downhill running form makeover from an expert such as Scott Jurek or Scott McCoubrey. Right now my cautious, braking-filled approach to downhills costs me lots of time and causes lots of muscle damage; I'd have to unlearn my bad habits and develop new ones, which could take months to years. And even assuming that I'd be patient enough to complete that process, I wonder whether my basic personality is fundamentally unsuited for becoming a downhill daredevil.
I never get tired of seeing babies in sunglasses. Much better than dogs in shades (or dogs in shades with hats on).I was bummed to hear about your Western States race, I was rooting for you. I wonder just how much training one can do to guard against the damage of downhill running (and the whole eccentric contraction thing) without just wrecking yourself in training.
Mike: Regarding dressed-up dogs, my wife likes those weimaraner portraits by William Wegman, but I'm in your camp. Regarding your training question, I don't have a good answer. In my case, there's no doubt I could have done more if I had focused on Western States for the 5-6 months leading up to it. However, to _master_ WS-type courses, I'd not only have to do more hill-related training, but get an intensive downhill running form makeover from an expert such as Scott Jurek or Scott McCoubrey. Right now my cautious, braking-filled approach to downhills costs me lots of time and causes lots of muscle damage; I'd have to unlearn my bad habits and develop new ones, which could take months to years. And even assuming that I'd be patient enough to complete that process, I wonder whether my basic personality is fundamentally unsuited for becoming a downhill daredevil.