Working smart the Jeff Boele way

6/26/10

5:30 AM and I here the front door close. Wally and Max have left to do their long run because they have work at 7:45. Sam, T.J. and I get an hour and a half more sleep and then get up to run. As we leave for the cars an exhausted Wally and Max walk in the door. Their run was a success as they both averaged sub 7 minute pace for the 90 minute run.

Run

I drive Sam and T.J. to Bobolink trail head where we meet Jeff Boele for our long run. Our first mile is slow, real slow but no one complains. We go through the mile in over 8 but the pace quickly drops to 7:10. The whole way out we talk with Boele and the run is controlled. At the 25 minute mark we reach the place where I turned around the last time we ran Bobo. The next 15 minutes are on uncharted territory and takes us on a hidden path that Jeff knows about. For the entire run we have been climbing at a very low grade however, now we are climbing quick. After the run Sammy shows me the elevation chart off of his Garmin and it shows a steady ascent over 6 miles eventually hitting a peak at 5700 feet. From miles 4 to 5.5 we are in a valley, which overlooks the marshal mesa where we ran on Thursday. The view is breathtaking and so is the climb. Coupled with the wind the run is starting to take its toll on me and we are only 40 minutes in… wait 40 minutes in time to run around!! Sam, Jeff and I turn around and begin running downhill. T.J. keeps going on the ever increasing climb and later tells us that it got real steep real quick. The way back is faster than the way out as we run downhill the whole way. On the way back Jeff offers some good advise about work ethic.

“I would tell my kids (athletes at Greenville College), ‘Id rather have you work smart than work hard,’ where working smart is knowing when to work hard and when to recover. Recovering can sometimes be the hardest thing to do when your competition is out there doing a run and your inside taking a nap. In the long run that 40 minute run will not make you that much better, but saving your legs and letting your body rebuild itself will help you prepare and run better at the next workout or race.”

He also ads his thought on runners who compete during workouts:

“A lot of guys at CU are real bad about it, one stepping that it is. They are always sitting 5 meters ahead of you and then when you get back on their shoulder they pull ahead again and this only ads onto an increasing pace that wont slow down. That’s definitely not the way to keep a team together and it’s definitely not the way to train. If you gave me the choice of winning a workout or getting to travel with the team because I race well, I’m picking to travel every time. Its just not worth racing every run and trying to prove that your better than everyone.”

All of this is paraphrased of course but it sums up Jeff’s main points of the run. Jeff and I end our run at 80 minutes while Sammy and T.J. go for 90 minutes. We say goodbye to Jeff and head back to the creek for some ice bathing.

For the rest of the day we watch USA blow it in extra minutes and head over to Costco in a rainstorm to bye a civic load of food, literally it didn’t fit in my car. For dinner we go to a pizza place that Wally and T.J. saw on T.V. The restaurant is famous for its monster 14 pound pizza challenge. Yes that’s right Wally is not satisfied with his wing king title and now wants to conquer this monster. The challenge is two people one hour 14 pounds of pizza. Its 75 dollars if you fail and you get 100 dollars if you complete it. You have to make reservations one day in advance to attempt this challenge so we wont be doing any food challenges tonight. On the wall there is the record board of the 14 teams who have attempted this monster challenge… none have succeeded the closest still had 2 pounds to eat. Even with this Wally still says that he can do it, he just needs a good partner who can match his seven pounds. I tell Wally that this challenge is literally impossible and that no human can do this, to which T.J. corrects me saying that, “Dude if kobiashai and Chestnut teamed up they would fuck this shit up.” There is no arguing there. Wally will keep his options open and begin his training for this monster. Another day in boulder and we are still feeling fly… like a G6.