One More Week/Lent

So, the legs are feeling much, much better after a week with a total of 2 miles run.

My natural inclination, of course, is to strap on the sneakers and resume 20 miles/week, ’cause I’m dumb that way.

The weather is conspiring against me, too, with today through Thursday expected to be in the mid-40’s F (high-single digits Metric) after a long, long time of cold weather. Man, it’s nice out.

Instead – I’m holding firm and I’ve decided to give myself another  week of rest. This morning, woke up, forgot to stretch while getting out of bed, and was doing the morning business before I realized that I’d gotten up without discomfort. Again, this would be an indication that I should go do something dumb, like 10 miles on Jamestown on the ride home, but I’m fighting them urges.

Another week of rest…

Which translates to time on the stationary bike in the Gym, resuming Pilates (I hope), and hopefully getting in the pool for the first time in 2007.

Went to the church’s weekly men’s prayer breakfast this morning – good times spiritually, and also cycling-ly. Lots of bikers at St Andrew. So, keeping the running in check may not be as detrimental to overall fitness as I fear. Hopefully I can turn it into a weekly ride…

Lent: Jon’s  got me thinking again, and reviewing my past entries show that giving up fast-food for Lent is extremely effective from a weight loss perspective, and pretty effective from a deprivation perspective (I love me some Taco Bell). It’ll also make good with my lovely wife, who is continually urging me to “Take my darn lunch” on a budgetary basis.

So, fast food it is.

I’m going to make a couple of other ground-rules:

1) Fast food is defined as “crappy fast food”. Exceptions will be given, on a rare basis for:

  • Subway, provided it’s 6″, whole wheat, no cheese, no random pressed meats (salami, bologna, pepperoni)
  • Wendy’s salads, provided I get non-breaded chicken and don’t eat the tasty sprinkles

2) Included in fast food are things like:

  • Grinders, especially those from Jim’s Deli, which are the culinary equivalent of high-grade heroin – a thrill to eat, but so, so bad…
  • Any form of greasy burger from a chain resturant or “pub”.
  • Hot Wings
  • And the killer – the weekly dose of Domino’s. I will make a tasty spinach salad to accompany our weekly date with Tom Bergeron and AFV.

I think I’m pretty serious about this: I’ve been stalled, weight and fitness, since the last time I really dug down and reformed my eating habits. Plus, it’s all in support of a culture I’m viewing as increasingly toxic, not necessarily nutritionally, but socially, and I want to work on setting a better example for the boys.

So

So, it’s been more or less a week since I’ve worked out, and the legs are getting worse rather than better. Is it possible that the treadmill is my problem? Man, I hope so…

Anyway, I’m still pretty dedicated to the idea that I’ll start back with 10 miles/week, building to 20 miles/week in about 12 weeks, and supplemented with cross training. I’ve been stretching, and the worst of the PF pain seems to have switched legs.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend! We’ve got our first Blue and Gold dinner with the Cub Scouts this weekend.

Crow Sandwich, Crow Pie, Crow Gumbo, Crow Po-Boys…

So, way back when, I bragged:

I completely blew the 10%/week thing, but haven’t really suffered any physical ill-effects. So, I’m standing by my theory that the mileage increase guidelines are not at all meant for folks who aren’t currently running more than 15-20 miles/week.

I’ve been resting since the first weekend in February, and the Plantar Fascitis seems to be getting somewhat better. Stretching helps, as does riding the exercise bike instead of running. So, I think what I need to do is to re-evaluate goals – not try to get up to 35 miles/week for a long while, and possibly pass on a fall marathon in favor of continuing to get stronger. We’ll see.

I think for next week (starting the 19th) that I’m going to have to pull back to 10 miles/week running, and stick by the 10% rule until I’m back up to 25 – as in actually stick to the plan I had in Nov/December. I will, however, supplement the crap out of it with cycling and swimming.

So yes, consider me chasened. A humble Billy, with his bounce taken away for a while.

At least until I’ve got heated seats…

So, why aren’t you reading Fat Cyclist’s Blog?

There’s no crazier mix of emotions than when you feel you just evaded death. You’re sitting there on the ground, alive. You should be dead, but you’re alive. So you’re elated and relieved. And then you realize that you should be dead or maimed, and you get freaked out and scared. If someone else was to blame, the rage and indignation kick in. If it was your own fault, the shame and humiliation have their say. And this whole emotional cocktail is amped up by more adrenaline than you usually have running through your veins in a month. No wonder you get the shakes and nausea.

Fat Cyclist » Blog Archive » How to Behave When You Know You’re Going to Die

Makes me want to jump on the bike and do something dumb.

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Baby Steps

For David – No, I’m not doing the golf balls with toes thing (though it bears a try).

I found two bits of advice that seem to be working well for me:
1. Wear shoes with good arch support (I’m a high-arch kinda fella) ALL THE TIME; and
2. Do the foot hold that Dr. Benedict Digiovanni researched, described in the LA TIMES; oh and
3. Don’t run so f’n much.

The stretch, if you’re not inclined to click through to the LAT:
1. Sit in a chair, back straight.
2. Take off your shoes, making sure to check out your cube entrance to make sure the creepy guy’s not looking in.
3. Cross your right foot over to your left knee.
4. Grab your right toes with your right hand, and pull ’em towards your shin.
5. Lather.
6. Rinse.
7. Repeat 10 times, holding each pull for 10 seconds.
8. Uncross legs.
9. Do this again for the left foot.
10. Turn around just in time to see boss walking in.
11. Fumble to get shoes back on.

15 minutes on the ‘mill at the gym this afternoon, and another 15 minutes on the stationary bike.

Revisiting February Goals

So, my favorite running maladay, Plantar Fascitis, has reared its ugly head again. WHich means, I think, that I need to revisit my running goals for February, and ramp down to about 12-16 miles/week instead of 20. Plus stretch, stretch, stretch.

The upside is that I can then spend more time on the bike or in the pool.

(Or on the couch, but let’s not go there)

Anyway, hope everyone else is running injury free. I’ve got a good stretch I found that’s minimizing the immediate sympton (stiffness in the ankles when I wake up in the morning); the next key is going to be going short distances again so as not to re-aggrivate it.

Confused

So, going to the monthly view in Nike+ gives me 80.76 miles at a respectable but not speedy 8:43/mile pace for the entire month.

However, I’m not yet getting credit on the resolution display. Which leads me to believe that they’re STILL running light on the server side.

Believe it or not, I almost didn’t make it. Work and a sick kid interfered a bit, but I finished up tonight in the basement watching ’24’. Good stuff, and I don’t feel my mind rotting if I can’t breathe. But other than that, life is good.

Well, while backing up iTunes to DVD (stupid upwards of 7 DVDs … time to purge the collection) I finally got fed up with the SuperDrive on my MacBook. It’s way, way too hard to get disks in and out, so I went on up to the Apple Store in Providence, got the Genius to say “Hey, you’re right”, and they’re sending me shipping containers to send it in for service. Here’s crossed fingers that I’ll get a new PC instead of the old one when they ship it back… Thank goodness for backups.

Well, that’s pretty much it. I’m aiming to run 80 miles in February, which will be only about a 10% mileage increase (based on 3 fewer days in the month), and I’d like to start mixing some biking and swimming back in. I’ve been catching up on Warren’s blog, and getting the tri bug again.

Oh, and I think I’ll run outside tomorrow in celebration of new shoes.

I will wear long pants, though.