Friday, June 29, 2012

It's happening tomorrow...

...and I'm nervous! (?)

In the two weeks since the Phish shows, I have continued on the path of the Hal Higdon Advanced program.  My legs ached.  When my left leg did not feel like lead, my right leg was in agony.  I took my Thursday rest day and on Friday felt only a little better.

But I was sure of one thing - this was no injury.  Not a pull or a tear or anything like that.  It was simple overuse.  I was pushing hard and I was feeling the effects.

Funny thing, though - I still managed to do my three days of speed work each week.  Even through the pain, I was knocking out 400 meter intervals at 1:26, miles at sub-6-minute pace, and tempo runs of up to six miles.

And so, with a blessed and well-deserved TWO rest days before I finally get to do my first short race of the year, I can feel the sweet relief of repair in my legs.  Two days ago, I could barely walk.  Today, I am filled with stored up energy - some of it is potential energy just waiting to be kicked into kinetic energy in 13 hours.

But some of it is nervous energy.  After dozens of races, I still get nervous.  Why?  

Well, for this one, it is because I have been training extra hard.  I want all of this pain to have been worth it.  All I need to do finish in less than 18 minutes of 30 seconds tomorrow, a mere 18 and a half minutes of pain, for it to be all worthwhile. 

See you tomorrow at the Include Me 5K in Montville, N.J.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Short run and mile repeats in Atlantic County

It was a late night after the Phish show on June 16. I spent the wee hours roaming the Boardwalk, taking photos and enjoying a cool night at the shore, so Sunday morning, I ate breakfast at the hotel and promptly went back to sleep. In the early afternoon, I did a very slow five-mile run as my leg was in great pain, thanks to the previous day's long run plus dancing like crazy at the Phish show (not to mention leaping with joy at the climax of "Fluffhead") and walking around all night.

Monday, I had to check out of the hotel by noon, so I could not be so leisurely. Instead, I woke up after about five hours of sleep and tried to do speed work along the highway (Route 30). Using the posted mile markers, I did three fast (5K pace) mile repeats. Because the markers were not at every mile or half mile, I did one-and-a-half miles for one of the intervals.

Either I was more wiped out than I had thought or too full from another big breakfast (or both) because while I blasted out the first one at 5:47, I rapidly declined. The 1.5-mile interval was 9:21 (a 6:14 pace) and the last mile was 6:26. Averaged out, that would make a 19:04 5K. Not bad, but that was done with a half-mile jog between each interval. I know that I am definitely capable of running faster but my leg still felt like lead.

More than two months since the marathon and less than two weeks until my hopeful first 5K of the year, I am still unsure of whether I will be able to perform.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Phish at Bader Field, night three - "Now I'm on my way"

When the final chorus of "The Mighty Quinn" was joyously sung by band and crowd last night, it marked the end of the Phish's Atlantic City semi-festival weekend and, as if there were any doubters left, practically proclaimed loud and clear that Phish 2012 was going to blow minds all summer long. Unlike the full-on fests of the past (excepting Camp Oswego), this did not mark the end of a tour or even a leg of it. It instead capped a triumphant beginning, following two arena shows and a Bonnaroo performance. Summer tour is underway, and it is so, so good.

The show started in traditional 3.0 Father's Day fashion, with all the band members' kids onstage in a tub during "Brother", before kicking into the dog-themed duo of "Runaway Jim" and "Dogs Stole Things". It was another set that leaned heavily on the oldies with the near-perfect rendition of the decade-old epic "Walls of the Cave" being the newest among a set of songs that otherwise dated between the 1980s and 1997.

If one of Trey's fears when he broke up the band in 2004 was that they would become a nostalgia act, one listen to a set like this proves that playing old songs does not necessarily equate to nostalgia. When songs like "NICU" and  "Foam" are played this well, they maintain their freshness. And there was nothing stale to be found in the dirty funk of "Boogie On Reggae Woman" or the far out jamming in "Timber". The audience chanted along "Wilson" and sang out the coda to "Character Zero" so enthusiastically, I think the latter is more popular now than it was in 1996.

But it was "Fluffhead" that destroyed the crowd. The song that died with the hiatus of 2000-02 and was reborn like a phoenix from the ashes of the 2004-2009 breakup, was played with the kind of precision that negated the 33-year-old Trey's claim in the movie 'Bittersweet Motel' that he didn't care if he missed some changes in a song and that the energy was more important. The wiser, well-rehearsed 47-year-old professional Trey knows that he can have both. So when the triumphant climax comes, it is that much more powerful. It's why you can't get an audience to leap with exuberance by merely playing those four big chords at the end. It is the intricately winding journey to get there that makes the release what it is.

After starting magnificently with the frequent second set opener "Drowned", Phish went back to recent fun of placement switching. No longer can you expect "2001" to come an hour into the set, "Reba" to be a first set monster jam, "Chalk Dust Torture" to be a set opener or "Bug" to be a second set closer. Instead they were mixed around this set like an iPod on shuffle and (unlike the previous night's "Backwards Down the Number Line" misplacement) none the worse for it. 

The biggest surprises were "Silent in the Morning" without its usual predecessor "The Horse" (which was aborted Saturday night) and a set-closing "Down with Disease" which, lyrically, makes a hell of a lot more sense there ("This has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way") than in its typical set-opening slot. And they made sure to leave us with an incredible jam on that song that actually came around to the ending. Most of the great "Disease" jams end up leaving the song unfinished.

That 2011 feeling of getting in and getting out, leaving little space for stretching out, carried over in last night's 3:56 "Prince Caspian" and 5:15 "Roses Are Free", but those were well-balanced by the expansive jams elsewhere.

We in the crowd tried to guess what the encore would be - someone near me said "Bold as Love", I called "Shine a Light" - but I am sure that none of the thousands in attendance could have predicted "Gotta Jibboo", a song that had not been played as an encore since its 2000 heyday when, interestingly enough, it usually was played as a set opener. It felt odd, but the groove was good and we danced some more, knowing it could not end there - that a bigger, more powerful song would come.

"Quinn" did the job excellently and we all left happy. Everywhere around me in the long walk out of the venue, people were talking about their plans for the rest of the tour. It felt good to finish such an epic weekend knowing there is more to come.

So yes, this has all been wonderful but now I'm on my way...to Jones Beach and the SPAC. See you there!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Long run in Atlantic City

In addition to the experience of the Phish shows at Bader Field, this mini-vacation also afforded me the opportunity of a long run in a new locale, which I always welcome. Some people probably can not imagine wanting to work out while on vacation, but I love running, and experiencing it in places other than the usual routes keeps it fun.

Unfortunately,there was nothing fun about the pain in my leg last week, but I was determined to get out there and do my 13 miles on Saturday. Like so many times before, I promised myself I would keep it slow, steady, and effortless. 

This time it was easy to keep that promise because there was no reason to rush. I had nothing to do that day except go to the Phish show. 

The route I mapped from my hotel - the Comfort Inn in Absecon, a mile from the Atlantic City limit - took me on Route 30 eastbound into the city's outlying residential area. It is a heavily trafficked highway and did not always have a proper shoulder, but it was only for the first few miles. 

Once in the more peaceful residential area, I took Ohio Avenue straight into the Tanger Outlets shopping section known as The Walk. With the downtown casinos and Boardwalk to my left, I was dodging pedestrians across Arctic Avenue, but was keeping the pace easy so I was in no danger of plowing anyone down. I headed straight into the Phish foot traffic as I hooked around Bader Field as the phans were already making their way in. That marked the halfway point as I proceeded past the field onto another highway into the West Atlantic City section of Egg Harbor. 

Eventually, there was a sidewalk as more businesses appeared around me and I entered Pleasantville with a turn onto Main Street. Only three more miles to go, I made a right onto Delilah Avenue which took me back to Route 30 and the home stretch to the hotel.

The fact that the landscape is entirely flat in that area was a big help to my ailing leg. I exerted little effort beyond simple forward motion and finished the  13.6 mile course in approximately one hour and 42 minutes, a 7:30 pace. It was a beautiful day - sun shining, low 70s, and I felt good, despite the twinge that continued in my leg. It was no better, but no worse, either.

And it was time to go to the show and dance.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Phish at Bader Field, night two - a second helping of greatness

I do not know if it is true for anyone else, but every time I get a show-starting "Mike's Song" (Coventry excepted), it is a harbinger for a hell of a good show like at 8/10/2004, 12/27/2010, 5/29/2011.  This one followed the rule, not the exception.

I should probably not be surprised that last night's show was so good. Have I turned into such a jaded vet after 78 shows since 1993 that I can not bring myself to expect two great shows in a row? I saw some of Phish's years of mind-blowing consistency - the days in the '90s when the thought of seeing a bad show never entered my mind - and I was there for the years when Trey struggled not to flub in song after song, though I sat out most of 2009 because I found it too painful.

But this is a new Phish - focused and rehearsed. And while the playing is not as fiery and barnstorming as in 1994 and the jams are not as out-there and spacey as 2003, there seems a renewed passion and...ahem...joy in the playing. Or maybe it is in me.

Last night, the new vibe pervaded the old tunes, starting with classic trio of "Mike's", "I Am Hydrogen" and "Weekapaug Groove" to set the tone. I was still in the lot and decided to stay there a while because the people were so great and the sound was fine, entering the venue and roaming the outskirts for the second half of the set.

If you took out "Ocelot" and looked at the setlist for set one, you could easily mistake it for a show from 1994 as they cranked out oldies like "Gumbo", "Halley's Comet", "Punch You in the Eye", and the excellent set-closer "Suzy Greenberg" with full precision. But while 1994 was prime Phish, full of excitement and vigor, songs like "My Friend My Friend" and "Wolfman's Brother" never sounded so good as they have in the 3.0 era, and especially last night. The laser-pointed focus of the way Trey built the former to its climax was perfect for those of us who grew up with the band from it's heyday. The wild abandon of the old days was great for the old days, but we are all a little more mature now and like our freakouts controlled and our climaxes huge. Just listen to last night's peak in "Possum" and you will see what I mean.

OK, so the flub monster did attack Trey once in the show - he began playing "The Horse" but screwed it up. But instead of soldiering on in awfulness as he may have in the 2.0 era or in 2009, he stopped, made a joke and turned it into a funny and special moment - an onstage conversation that ultimately led to everyone's favorite Page crooner, "Lawn Boy".

As for the "Ocelot", I can only say that never in the three years of its existence would I have expected it to be a set highlight, but Phish still manages to surprise me.

As soon as the set ended, I walked forward while most folks walked back to head to the port-a-johns. I managed to get right up to the rail, albeit far off to the side, under the speaker cabinets. Except for when he stood to play his clavinet during the killer funk of "Sand", I could barely see Page, but I could see everyone else, especially Fish, perfectly. And the sound was right in my face, so it was perfect. Set Two's "Crosseyed and Painless" opener was once again a gauntlet thrown down, hearkening to last year's Super Ball IX. Of course, EVERY "Crosseyed" last year was amazing, and this one was no different as we danced and sang the "Still waiting" chorus. 

And the jam! Look, if you were at Big Cypress, you know that the late night "Crosseyed" will never be topped, but this jam was still stellar as it rocked in various directions for several minutes before landing on "Slave to the Traffic Light".

I have a complicated relationship with "Slave". I have felt its four-chord transcendence in its finest moments (the Great Went and Big Cypress) and have been let down and deflated by its worst (the directionless 12/30/1998 and the god-awful mess of 6/25/2000). But last night's was top-notch - maybe it works best at outdoor festivals - despite its odd placement.

The real transcendence came through "Light", a song I will forever regard as the jam that brought me back home to Phish. 

I wanted no part of the reunion in 2009. Trey said five years earlier that they were done and I accepted it and moved on, clinging to the good memories  of a great decade. I turned 30 shortly after and it felt right to leave Phish with my 20s. In the late summer of 2009, a friend gave me some discs of that summer's shows and, though there were good moments, I winced regularly at the ever-present screw-ups. There were a shadow of the band I once knew. Then 'Joy' was released and they proved that they could still make studio albums that you want to keep in the car and put on repeat. So when they came to Madison Square Garden in December, I figured I would go once for old time's sake. 

That show was superb through and through, but "Light" transfixed me. This was the new Phish that I wanted to keep hearing and so I found myself going back again. And again. "Light" has become the theme to my renewed love of Phish and last night's jam took it to the edges of face-melting, mind-blowing wonderment, even calling back the "Still waiting" chorus of "Crosseyed".

As with last night's gentle "Billy Breathes" comedown, the only place to go after that monster jam was to the quietude of "Theme from the Bottom" which built nicely into the climax to start the rocking again with "Golgi Apparatus".

The only placement mishap came with putting a less-than-stellar "Backwards Down the Number Line" three quarters of the way into the set. After all the energy  swirling through the previous hour, it landed with a thud and I think the band knew it. Trey couldn't get out of the solo fast enough and Page did not even bother with the backing vocals most of the time. Nice to see Trey pull the ripcord with good reason!

The best thing to do then was fall back on a can't-miss set-ending "Run like an Antelope". The jam was reliably awesome and Chris Kuroda's lights were dazzling (especially with those new rings of LEDs). Even the progression into the final chorus that often falls into disarray was tight and punchy leading to glow sticks being flung from every angle as the crowd went wild.

Speaking of reliable, the Zeppelin classic "Good Times Bad Times" as the encore gave us seven more minutes to rock hard as Trey let it all out while Fish hit the skins with brutal authority, propelling another excellent show to its close.

Two for two in 2012. Is the old rule that became the exception now the rule again?

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Phish at Bader Field, night one

Maybe it is a word that the kids today throw around a lot, but I could not stop hearing the word "Epic" among the crowd after last night's Phish show at Bader Field in Atlantic City.

The whole vibe and presentation of the Bader Field run is interesting. Like the three-night run last year in Bethel, N.Y., or the upcoming run at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., it is three shows at one outdoor venue that requires fans to leave after each show instead of camping on site and choose if they want to come to one, two or all of the shows. 

But like the big weekends of yore, from the Clifford Ball to last year's Super Ball IX, there is a festival vibe to it - you could purchase a three-night pass, the stage sits on an open field with no seats and the venue is fully created from the ground up by the team the band hires to do so. And I am pretty sure it is the same team as before because I saw one of them, Russ Bennett (his big grey/white beard gives him away!) in the crowd last night. 

Both of these elements combined with Phish's top-notch playing to create an amazing show, excellent in its own right, but serving as a taste of what is to come - the opening third of a blowout weekend.

It was a fun, but shaky, start. Though "The Sloth" was a great, well-played opener, it gave way to some bad three-part disharmony on the intro to "My Sweet One". But with that out of the way, I counted only one more "ouch" moment, later when "It's Ice" almost fell apart at one spot.

Other than that it was good times and well-rehearsed playing on shorter tunes like "Camel Walk" (only my third in 77 shows!), "Cities" and "Ginseng Sullivan". Fan favorite "Tube" was happily stretched out more than what has become the norm, especially after last year's performances in which Trey was said to "pull the ripcord" on it just as it got going. Clocking in at 6:33, it was the longest "Tube" since 8/1/2009 (Red Rocks).

Set One really heated up with an incredible "Stash" - jammed out but focused and rocking. From that point, the band was unstoppable. "Simple" kicked butt, "The Wedge" was dead on, "Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan" was tight and climactic, and "The Squirming Coil" had that festival set-ending vibe a la the Great Went, where the band leaves the stage while Page plays a beautiful solo coda and tells the crowd they are taking a break.

From the moment they hit the stage for Set Two, it was ON. Like freakin' Donkey Kong. Another one of my Great Went favorites, "My Soul" kicked it off in high bluesy gear, but "Birds of a Feather" quickly became the night's MVP. The jam shot upwards in pointy peaking solos from Trey and outwards from awesome band interaction. An absolutely sick, impossibly perfect segue into an excellent "Back on the Train" kept things moving nicely into a 'Farmhouse' mini-set that also included "Heavy Things" and two more examples of why we keep coming back to see this band. 

"Twist" had enormous energy emanating from the band. The "Woo!"s were emphatic and celebratory. When the band finished it, they kept going "Woo!" as they sometimes had in the past. But the audience was feeling it, too, and we started "Woo!"ing right back. So as the opening strains of "Piper" began we were trading "Woo!"s with Trey. Much to Trey's apparent delight, we continued our happy dialogue with the band as they began to sing the words, so it sounded like this:

"Her words were words I sailed upon..." "WOOO!!" "...Piper, piper, the red, red worm. Woke last night to the sound of the storm. Her words were words I sailed upon..." "WOOO!!"

I hope that comes through on the soundboard recording because I would hate for it to have been a you-had-to-be-there moment.

And the fun did not stop there. The "Piper" jam went way out into the stratosphere, climaxing and then falling into beautiful ambience that included a bass bomb from Mike that was so heavy, I thought my bowels were going to let loose.

In classic form, they eased back after such a rocking high point, delivering the first "Billy Breathes" in almost two years and playing it with lovely grace and precision, delivering sweet, harmonious vocals. But as if the set was not diverse enough already, they brought the funk with "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley" before closing with a huge "David Bowie" that included six teases of songs previously played in the show during the intro and a monster jam at it's conclusion.

When they kicked into "First Tube" for the encore there was still so much energy being transmitted between band and crowd that we picked up the "Woo!"s again on the downbeats of every other measure. Trey was beaming as he gave us an "Oh yeah!" kind of raised elbow fist. And when the lights stopped flashing and swirling as the final chord brought the show to a close, everyone was satisfied. We were still "Woo!"ing as we left the venue, some heading to the casinos for some late-night gambling, some to hotels, some home.

A girl near me in the crowd said it was her first show. I told her to immediately go to the casinos because luck was clearly on her side to get a show like this as her first. Or maybe this is Phish in 2012 - melting faces on a nightly basis like in their young prime.

Epic, indeed.

Always on the brink

As I type this, it is Friday, June 15, and I am on a Greyhound bus from New York City to Atlantic City for three nights of Phish. I am ridiculously excited, but that is not what I want to address right now. Instead, I want to talk about speed work and training for this 5K race.  If you know me, you know that I tend to push just a little too hard. If I run a good race, I will only want to run a better one. While I think I have a couple more marathon PRs in me, this desire to keep topping myself, I think, has reached it's limit in the short game. Since the disastrous Gansett Marathon in April, I have been trying to get back into 5K shape. I tortuously dieted down to a lean 145, but every time I ratcheted up my training, I got injured. And even now, with my twice-postponed 5K still two weeks away, I feel on the brink of pulling some muscle, tendon or ligament.  I do not want to face the notion that the Hal Higdon Advanced program is too much for me to handle, but with six days of running per week and half of them involving speed, I wonder if I am in over my head. There are only two easy run days for recovery. By the time my Thursday rest day comes around, I can not even enjoy it because I am so fatigued. I can not even get the usual joy out of long run day because I feel so damaged. On the other hand, the effort is clearly showing results. This week's track workouts included six 400-meter intervals that I blasted out at an average of 1:20 each and three one-mile intervals that averaged 6:05 a piece with some gas still left on the tank. But what good will it do if I can not make it to race day...again? In the last 10 minutes of today's 41-minute tempo run, during which I tried to do 10K pace or better for nine minutes in the middle, something in the back of my left leg did not feel right. It was tight, pulling, straining. Like I said, always on the brink. Even now, as I sit on the bus, it hurts. And I have a long run to do in the morning (not to mention a lot of dancing to do tonight!). It is going to be a rough two weeks.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

You are a terrible driver

An open letter to drivers in northeastern New Jersey (and Long Island, too):

You suck.

Seriously, 90 percent of you are horrible drivers. And it is not even because you are dumb or ill-informed (which would at least be somewhat forgivable). No, you simply do not care. Thus, you are jerks and I hate you.

Before you start thinking that you belong to the minority of good drivers, I assure you, you're not.  And the fact that you would think you are among the good 10 percent makes you even more of an ignorant jerk.

Let me ask you three things:

1. Do you drive at or under the speed limit? 

2. Do you actually come to a full stop at a stop sign?  And then do you look both ways before proceeding?

3. Do you stop for pedestrians that are trying to cross a crosswalk?

No.  You don't.  Don't even try to lie to yourself.

And it is because of you that I come close to getting hit by a car almost every time I go out running.  Usually the only thing that saves me is that I have superior intelligence and I can tell just by the way your car is moving or, if possible, the look on your face, that you are not paying attention to the fact that pedestrians are around. 

It's not like I come out of nowhere, either.  Cars are traveling at 30 to 50 miles per hour and you usually manage to see them.  But here I come at 9 miles per hour on a good day and I may as well be nonexistent.

So shape up, northeastern New Jersey drivers. If you don't, we're going to end up in a newspaper article together about vehicular manslaughter and a runner cut down in his prime.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Postponed yet again

It has been one crappy month.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the first couple of weeks after the Gansett Marathon. Then I accidentally smashed my Achilles tendon with a shopping cart, which prevented me from running for four days. After that, I got sick with a fever, which prevented me from running for two days. I eased back into it with a slight pain in my knee which went away during following week, but during my long run on May 19, I pulled a hamstring. That knocked me out for six days.

All the while, the days that I actually could run, I was running slowly and doing short distances. It seems most of my runs since the race, now more than six weeks ago, have been recovery runs. By now, I should be in the middle of a raging short race season. I should have tons of speed work under my belt - 400 meter intervals galore and seven-mile tempo runs. Instead, I am stuck doing three-milers at slower-than-marathon pace. I could not even begin my season on the already postponed date of June 2.

So I will set my target date for a third time for my opening race of the season - June 30, the Include Me! 5K, which benefits Pathways for Exceptional Children.

That is, if I do not suffer some other injury in the meantime.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Three days until Phish tour begins...

...and I am champing at the bit, foaming at the mouth and generally getting hysterical.

There is nothing, NOTHING, like the beginning of a new Phish tour. 

And I'm not even going to a show until the June 15!

But I will be downloading those suckers as soon as they're available, starting with the tour opener at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Spending an extra $247.45 to download the shows that I won't be attending makes all the sense in the world.