Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Cycle, Cycle Too

Today was supposed to be a rest day.

But.

It was one of those days. I couldn’t focus ’cause I was spun up over life in general. So this afternoon, I decided to hit the road. ‘Cept (D’oh!) I had no warm top And the temp, as promised, fell rapidly after noon. Thankfully, there’s a discount clothes store near the office, so I picked up a groovy new henley, headed back to the office, and strapped on the sneaks.

I’d been doing out-and-backs along the highway access road on the north side of the interstate where the office is, but another runner from the office told me that it was a good loop to head under I-95 and come back on the other side. He was right.

I’ve posted a picture of the giant hill on the north side before; there was a similar hill, ‘cept better on the south side of the freeway. Great run.

What blew me away, though, was a field I ran past. 100 yards off the interstate, down an embankment, was an entire herd of deer just sitting there grazing. Good stuff. Not sure why a mid-sized unglutate can make me so happy, but they do. (Hungry, too, but that’s an easy reason)

3.3 miles, 28:37 minutes. 22.8 miles for the year. 977.2 to hit 1,000 human powered miles for the year (Just kicking around potential goals).

4 good miles today at just under 8:40 per. The warm snap didn’t materialize before I headed out, so it was misty and 40’s. Listened to a little Gillian Welch while I pounded out the miles – suprisingly good music to run to on a grey day.

Got to the pool tonight. For whatever reason, while the 5:30 AM lap swim is packed to the point where every lane is being shared, the evening lap swims are usually pretty empty. Last week it was me and one other guy, tonight it was me and two/three other guys. And the hot lifeguard.

I’m sure it was my imagination, but it felt like something had clicked in the pool tonight. Maybe it was taking Monday as a rest day, and the worry-free run on Tuesday, but the first half of tonight’s workout felt almost effortless, and the second half where I really pushed felt not awful. Well, except for supper trying to revisit once – two hours may not be enough digestion time, especially for someone who ships enough water while trying to breathe to sink a small ship.

But it felt good, and I swam for almost 50 minutes. My personal triumphs (kind of like Chris’ chin-ups were
1. Doing a set of 10 laps with good flip-turns at each end.
2. Doing a flip-turn that did not end with me sticking my head completely out of the water and gasping.
3. Actually lapping someone (Small dog rears his ugly head) who looked of similar fitness. He lapped me later, too, so it was probably just warm ups for him/cool downs for me.

I stopped by a pub downtown to catch the end of Trivia Night with some friends who were hanging out there, and completely undid any good the swimming did with some nachos. Mmmmm, nachos (no beer, though). One thing at a time, I guess. This 21 days is to get back into the swing of fitness, maybe the next 21 days will be working on diet (not as in restricted calories, but as in avoiding eating crap).

Long day at work yesterday. Late night. 5 AM came early, early, and I really thought about texting Christian to tell him that there was absolutely no way that I was getting out of the warm bed to go jog. Because I know that Chris would have read the message, happily rolled over, and not mentioned it at all.

Then, I thought of you, RBF, and the sullen post I’d have to make.

So I dragged out of bed, started the coffee pot, threw on clothes and shoes, brushed my teeth, grabbed a mugga’ joe, and headed to Christian’s. He seemed somewhat drowsy, so I’m guessing he’d figured I’d be bailing. But, we headed out.

About halfway to Chris’s house, I realized I’d left my ForeRunner at the house. Crap. Since I’d been using it, I’ve stopped wearing a watch – the ForeRunner captures my running times, my cell has a clock, my car has a clock, my computer has a clock – you get the picture. It’s been a while since I’ve been running in Newport, so I’ve forgotten the measurements on most of my routes.

(An aside: Another thing to love about the ForeRunner is that it completely frees me from having to have a “route”. It counts mileage, so I can make up routes on the fly. See a good hill? Head up it. Never been around that corner? Go. Feeling a little draggy? Take the low road. It’s a training tool for short attention spans.)

But I had my iPod. iPod, have I told you I love you? Fired up Wilco’s ‘A Ghost is Born’, which if you haven’t listened to, you are missing the final step in the evolution of the garage band. It explains most of the current crop of bad knockoff garage bands. Skipped the first track, and kicked it to “When the devil showed up, he did not wear red, he had chrome on his head”. Checked the clock – 6:29, did the math – turn around at 6:44, finish at 6:59, and that’d be 30 minutes, which at a conservative 10 minute mile meant I’d do 3 miles, on plan for the year.

The first half of the run was absolutely perfect; probably the first time since I’ve re-dedicated myself that it has been. Even the hill up Memorial from the feet felt good; it wasn’t until I started heading back that there was even a hint of tired.

So it turns out that my hypothesis about humidity making it feel much, much colder on Saturday was true: I did my 3.0 miles for today outside in weather that was probably 5 degrees colder than yesterday afternoon’s run, and it felt about 5 degrees warmer. Go figure.

But, the first mental milestone is past – I made one full week on a program! My optimism at eking out a little extra may have been misplaced – Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday’s runs were not in the pantheon of “good” runs, but neither were they bad runs. They were tough, and rightly so – It’s been probably a quarter since I did more than 10 miles in a week. I’d pull it up off of the Forerunner, ‘cept I dumped the memory to start fresh for 2005.

Speaking of fresh starts, it made my day to see that April-Anne jumped back into her shoes last week, too.

Today, I set out to do the bare minimum for the program, and finished 3.02 miles in 26:39, average of 8:50/mile.

For the week, I did 9 outside and 3.4 on a treadmill, for a total of 12.4, .4 ahead of plan.

Here’s to weeks 2 and 3, and the old college psychology class rumor – if you can do something for 21 days, it becomes a habit that takes at least 21 days to break.

Went out on the roads this afternoon. 3.6 miles in slightly less than 32 minutes. Yippie! But, man, it was cold. I swear that today, at just above freezing and rainy, felt colder than days when it was 20 and clear. Kind of the nasty, humid days of summer in reverse.

But it’s all good – I’m back on schedule mileage-wise for the year (transcription error had me a week behind in my planner, and rather than scratch it out, I added a mile to this week, split between 2 runs), and feeling pretty good. I probably should have done the treadmill, but I dunno – it makes me feel 1) like a wuss, and 2) wasteful for using electricity to run when the good Lord has made all of this good ground and hills that don’t use any extra energy.

Not that I haven’t had my love of treadmills in the past – one of the joys I experienced going to sea on an aircraft carrier was the “gerbil gyms” loaded with treadmills. See, submarines don’t have room for treadmills – they usually only have bikes, rowers, and stair-climbers because that’s what fits. So being able to actually run underway was nice. But it’s not like there were roads and fresh air as options…

Dianna (AKA the Running Chick) has written a Paen to Running itself. Very nice.

At least that’s what I called myself.

Wednesday Night I got a call from Christian saying “Hey, why don’t we run Thursday at lunch instead of at the crack of dawn?”

“Sure, fine, whatever” I say. It was snowing, and Thursday Morning was supposed to be a bear.

So I get to work on Thursday, and Christian says “Hey, why don’t we go later this afternoon.” With which I was cool, ’cause I was wrapped up in meetings.

So the end of the day rolls around, and I go park myself by Christian’s desk until he is ready to go. Then the wuss factor rolls in: We head to the base gym and jump on the gerbil wheels.

Yep, Thursday’s run was on a treadmill. I feel dirty. But I did it.

3.4 miles, 30 minutes. Still on plan.

My longsuffering wife was stir-crazy this evening. Why, you ask? Well, here along the Connecticut coast, they cancel school as if we lived down south – threat of snow sends the kids home. Consequently, Jake’s pre-school was canx this afternoon, and with the threat of snow blasting from every media outlet, the prudent choice was to stay home. Hence, the stir-craze.

In any case, we finish supper, and she decides to run to the bookstore for a little cuppa and some sanity while I get a little insanity from the boys (Yeah, bathtime!). Today was a running day off, and I’d completely intended to go swim this morning, so I mention to her that I might head to the Y after the boys are in bed. Fine, whatever, she says over her shoulder as she zips down the porch stairs.

8 PM, the boys are clean(ish), in PJ’s, and Jake is safely tucked in his bed. Nate and I are snoozing on the couch waiting patiently for my bride to return, when she does. She throws me the key, and says “Hey, can you fill up my car on your way home?”

I look at her through half-lidded eyes and mumble “I kind of decided to blow it off tonight. I tried to call on your cell.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh.”

She bends down to pick up the baby to feed him and put him to sleep. Half a beat too late, I get the message. “Hey, I guess I will go swim.”

I run into the bedroom, pull on the swimming shorts and pull my pants over them. My gym bag is downstairs in my car, so I can get it on my way out. “Where’s the key?” I ask as I head towards the door.

She mumbles something, and I stick my head in the living room where she’s got the baby. I ask “What?”

“No, don’t bother … I’ll fill it up tomorrow.”

“No, I changed my mind again, I want to go.”

“I rushed home for this. You’ve mentioned in the past that I don’t seem supportive, and I know you really want to get in shape this year.”

Did I mention I love this woman? Cabin fever, crappy weather (rained all day, so it’s not like she could kick the boy outside to play), and the New Year’s blues, together with the aftermath of 2 weeks of company over the holidays, and her driving concern for the evening is my goals.

I can be a heel sometimes.

I don’t know if my workout tonight was inspired by luv or what, but the swim was really, really nice. Started with 10 laps of breaststroke that just seemed smooth. A lap with the kickboard (straight legs), 10x freestyle, another kickboard, another 10X freestyle, kickboard and 5x breast to finish. The first set of freestyle felt great – the first time I’ve ever felt like I was swimming, as opposed to flailing. The last set of freestyle was back to my ugly self, but I think a lot of that is a lack of upper body strength.

Swimming is amazing, BTW. It may just be my imagination, but after about 2x a week for only 2-3 weeks, I think I can start to see some definition in my arms. (Probably not, but it makes me feel good to think it.) It really uses a bunch of muscles that running and cycling don’t, especially in the upper back and abs.

Finally made it out of bed in time to get over to Newport and run with Christian in the morning. 40 degrees, wet, and misty. And me without my hat and gloves.

Oh, well.

I misread the training plan this morning, and thought I was up for a 2 miler. Decided I could fudge it a little bit, so I set the Forerunner for a 20 minute run, figuring that most folks starting a beginner program will be doing about 10 minute miles, so I could convert the mileage figures into minutes, and do a little extra without killing myself.

Whiz, bang, 20 minutes later, I”m done with 2.4 miles, and happy as a clam. Head over to the gym for sauna shower and shave, and get out my planner. D’oh – today was supposed to be a 3 miler. Ah, well, such is life. Guess Thursday will be a 3+ to make up.

It felt good to be back out. I could tell that I haven’t been really committed for the last couple of months. Not so much because I got winded or sore. But the rhythm and flow wasn’t quite there. I felt clunky. But in a good way.

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