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The Morning Stake | 2019.01.21

The Morning Stake
Seth C

The Morning Stake | 2019.01.21

Leading Off

Marathon Update. On Saturday, January 5th, it was a beautiful day and I needed to get in 20 miles, so I ran with a friend around White Rock Lake twice (plus a little extra) and I was feeling great. I had a nice shake-out run on Sunday and I was feeling good on Monday. So I’ve been doing these 1-minute sprints at about 8 mph on the treadmill (this is fast for me) 10 times. At the 10th sprint, I felt an ache in my knee. Nothing that was debilitating when I was running, but when I got off, I had a hard time walking. Oh shit.

Thanks to Google and the wonderful world of self-diagnosis, I figured out that I had runner’s knee, which is a strain of the IT band (I don’t think that a strain of the IT band is the correct terminology but you get the idea). Having issues with this isn’t uncommon for folks who are over 40 and so I rehabbed for the entire week. I didn’t run for the rest of the week. Stretching and strengthening this IT band, a band that I had not given two thoughts about for any part of my life.

For the entire week I was kinda telling myself that everything was cool, it’s cool, but internally, I was feeling a bit . . . well . . . depressed. I can’t imagine what an actual athlete goes through mentally when they are injured after training for an entire offseason. This is totally dumb and never in my life had I thought about what it meant to be injured and not being able to compete in something that didn’t really mean anything but it meant something to me. I still had about two months before the Tinajas 50k, but here I was, hardly able to walk for more than 50 feet without some sort of pain. By the end of the week, I had rehabbed enough to the point that there was no pain in my knee by Thursday and Friday. So on Monday, I decided I would run for about an hour, at a very slow pace, about 5.5 mph and I was okay. Pain-free. I did the same thing on Wednesday, very slow, and still pain-free. Saturday would be a big day, I was going to run for 2 hours. I tempted fate and tried to run at 6 mph and this did not feel good, so I pulled it back down to 5.5 and finished the 2-hour run and as of today, I’m still pain-free.

Lessons learned?

  • When you get older, things break down and that sucks, but you better be ready for it.
  • Prior to straining this dumb IT band, I had been working out and doing lots of strength training and being very balanced. When I started running earnestly, I sort of had to forget about that because there’s only so much time and I have to do stuff. That was a mistake.
  • Do you know how to keep yourself out of feeling obligated to do something? Don’t put it out there in the world so that you’ve said you’re running a dumb ultramarathon. But once you put it out there, I somewhat feel obligated to do what I said I’d do. That’s a blessing and a curse.
  • I signed up for the Tinajas 50k ultra marathon on Saturday.
  • As of right now, with trying to re-figure my training, the first time that I’ll run 30 miles will be when I run the Tinajas.
  • I may limp through the last 20 miles, but that’s where we’re at. It’s not supposed to be comfortable.
  • Don’t skip leg day. Ever.

Texas Tech Track and Field

Texas Tech Tennis

Lady Raider Basketball

Texas Tech Basketball

Help on the Way. Rivals’ Corey Evans writes about 7 programs that could use some 2019 recruits now and that includes 2019 guard Jahmius Ramsey:

Ramsey is a do-it-all type who can defend three positions, has become better in the shooting department and is one of the top perimeter rebounders in the nation. He is going to be a Red Raider fan favorite next season, but having him this year would only better the chances of the program’s first Final Four in school history.

It should be noted that the 2019 class is pretty stacked offensively with Ramsey, Khalid Thomas, and Kevin McCullar being very offensive players, while Khavon Moore was a high-level offensive player before his injury, a combo-forward who could pass and do a handful of things. I think that Beard recognized that the offensive issues were going to be a problem, but it takes time to fix these things. Recognizing the issue is one of the biggest things for me personally and signing kids to fix the issue is significant as well. And I’d even argue that Thomas is a uniquely offensive player in that he’s pretty much just a 6’9″ outside shooter.

Zeno Overseas. A-J Media’s David Driver writes about Martin Zeno’s overseas career:

Zeno, a left-handed shooter who is 6-foot-5, has spent most of his overseas sojourn in Finland but also played pro ball in European ports of call in France and part of the past two seasons in Romania. The native of Sulphur, La., has also played in Venezuela in South America, in Cyprus and in Erie, Pa. in the D-League early in his career.

“My first year (overseas) it was like, wow. It was a blessing to play basketball as a job,” he said. “But it is not like a (regular) job to me. Not everyone can do what we do. I feel blessed. I have been all over.

“In Finland the people I encountered were some of the nicest people I’ve met and still to this day I talk to a lot of teammates and fans from there.”

Texas Tech Football

Congrats to the Pats. Well, it sorta stinks that Patrick Mahomes isn’t going to the Superbowl in his first year as a starter, that goes to the Patriots who essentially play a mediocre Big Ten schedule in the AFC East for the past decade, but dems da rules. I’m guessing that Mahomes will be back better than ever next year.

Miscellaneous . . . Landgrant Gauntlet’s Josh Cowan has very early Big 12 power rankings and has Texas Tech at #6?!?! . . .

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