Running

2011 Legs!

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I had a great run today.  1.59 miles.  9’28” pace.  I felt like i could have gone further, but i made it up the hill without slowing down too much and decided to quit while i was ahead. Hopefully this will leave me cramp free tomorrow and ready to run again.

It was sunny and pleasant, about 60 degrees and i ran in shorts and a T.  There were several other runners out there doing it and not a few nice looking ladies. Given that this is a little college town, with a high school almost on the campus, it would be wise to verify whether or not these gals could even drive – but i have always been a fan of nice scenery on a run.

I made a change for this running season – headphones! No i did not buy any more equipment, i just used my gear to add music to the mix and i think that helped me out.  I stayed mentally loose instead of focusing only on the run and the pain and the pace.

I used my good ole (new-ish) Dr Dre in-ears. I slapped on my winter ear warmer thingy and that kept the gear secure.  Which looked something like this:

Fashercise!

I made a “running” playlist, loaded that onto the old 120 GB iPod classic and set out with that just in my hand.  About half a block in, i slipped the iPod down my shirt, and that worked great for cord management.  I had no cord or road or footstep noise. I also slapped on the super light Ironman sunglasses i got before Mexico. My Nike+ gear still works fine.

The whole package (but i only ran with one iPod)

Back to the mentality – I enjoyed the ‘now’ of the run and was not trying to escape the experience.  But having something else to help give my thoughts a nudge was nice.  I followed thoughts brought on by the changing tunes.  I am an album guy, but i did something i have never done before and would not ever do under other circumstances – i used “shuffle”.

So far, the “Running” playlist has albums by:

RPG – Ratt – Iron Maiden – Wolfmother (*Note – listen to “Dimension”) – the only two White Stripes tunes i like – T Rex – The Stooges – Soundgarden – Pixies – Nirvana – and Metallica

It kicked off with RPG “Right On”, then The Stooges “Gimme Danger”, into Nirvana’s “Nevermind”.  I had a lot of thoughts of Richmond and being on the road with RPG through the first two tracks and then – with just the first notes of Nevermind, into my head pops, “Because i am crippled and i wanna listen to Nirvana!” Which was interesting since i just re-loaded the first four seasons of Friday Night Lights onto my computer to begin a re-watch in preparation for April 15th, the NBC premiere date for the final season.

Good times!

*Note – we stay spoiler free over here at The Bone of Contention so keep your direct tv season 5 secrets to yourself – for now 😉

Back to exercise…

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I have been doing the stretching and floor exercises every day for a few days now and hope to keep that up. I have not made it into double sessions yet, but once a day is better than nothing. I shall run again soon.  It is largely a weather thing, but today looks promising.

This morning – 15 push-ups, 40 twisty crunches, 45 regular crunches, and 35 leg lifts.

I want to get ready to hike something like this again –

 

Yosemite Falls - Spring 2009

 

 

 

Almost Warm! Exercise!

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As you can probably tell from the lack of talk about running, i have not done any since it got really cold about mid November.  I could have used a trial pass at my folks’ gym, but i am still a little wigged about going to the gym, and i am mot sure that if i do go to a gym, that i want to go to my folks’ gym.

But, i have done most of my stretching routine the past two mornings.  I have also started doing my floor exercises again (also two days now) – the two kinds of crunches, leg lifts, and push-ups. I would like to have this exercise re-start morph into a more rigorous version than last year.  So far, i am hitting 25 on each of the crunches and leg lifts and 10 push-ups.  In addition to doing these everyday, i would like to start doing morning and evening sessions.  It is really not a vast amount of exercise, so i should be able to do that.

The temp has hovered near 40 for a few hours around noon the past few days. There is enough snow melt that i believe i can start running again.  I may try this out today.

My weight has stayed at about 197 through the roughly 3 months of limited exercise (and the 3 weeks of beer drinking in Mexico!).  Again, i am not concerned about the number on the scale, nor i am i too concerned about the image in the mirror.  I want to get healthier and stay that way.  Aside from toning some muscles, i am trying to work up to getting 15 minutes of good cardio several times a week.   I have a few smoke free months under my belt and i know that getting good cardio workouts will help my heart and lungs repair themselves.  Also, as it warms up, the mountains begin to call.  I want to do more hiking this season than i managed last year.  Sleeping in my sleeping bag on my hiking air mattress helps keep those thoughts fresh in the mind.

Of course, job searching is still primary.  Over the past 6 weeks of searching, i have applied for about 12 jobs.  So, i really need to up my numbers. But of those, i was really interested in 4 of them, and two of them i would love to get.  One of those is right here in Lancaster PA and i believe i have a good shot at that one.

Time will tell, and i need to keep focused on applying for more jobs, at least one a day would be nice.

Anyway – to all my fellow runners in hibernation, Let Us Take to the Streets!

 

 

On Thumb Butte - looking at Granite Mountain, Prescott AZ

 

 

 

A little bit of random for you (or welcome to my head)

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I am still here, still doing ok, and still committed to writing in this blog.  I have not run for several days, but i have stayed on the abstinence plan.  I celebrated 4 weeks of cleansing on the 4th with a nice bottle of tap water!  Without thinking about the larger context, i ate a chocolate covered coffee bean in Giant.  It was awesome, but after 4 weeks with no caffeine or coffee – it took about 3 seconds before i REALLY wanted a smoke.

I am currently working on a few different, hopefully brief, personal writing projects offline that i will bring here when they are a little more advanced. {Current difficulties with the running/exercise, why i hate the holidays, the general anxiety/dread/discomfort i feel related to impending life changes, the golf basics project, and a political mash-up (voting, the state of public discourse, the “discussion” about health care reform, taxes, government spending, and more!) that will take a while to untangle into manageable chunks.}

I also still have a lot of my least favorite kind of  writing to do for work (corporate re-branding) involving my least favorite professional subject matter and format (me, my career, the resume, and the short form narrative bio).

Redesigning schematics at midnight

I have made some good progress, but i need a few more hours of dedicated but undirected writing to get more of the broad strokes down.  I will also need another brainstorming session and review of my notes and emails to jog my memory and capture some critical past events and projects.  (For example, i forgot all about developing a TV show in India, and writing and doing the voice-overs for commercials/promotional videos in Doha and India until a short work session this morning.)  Then i have to craft that mess into sections and sift and evaluate.  What should go on the website to describe capability?  What should go into the projects archive? And the challenge for long-winded bastards like me, The One Pagers!!  What gets cut from the narrative bio?  How to mash all this crap into something attractive for a resume?

Sorting out the Tents

I will get there – but i hate this.  The last time i was even asked to submit a resume to get a job was at Borders in 1998 (maybe 99 – i am no good at historical time-lines), so this is not a simple update.  It is really hard to figure out how truthful to be also.  I don’t mean “should i embellish”? I mean “should i leave most of this out”?  Will people hire a dude who has been largely self-employed for 11 years, who founded/or co-founded six companies on three continents, who is still the CEO of three of those, and a Senior Partner in another? But who only has a BA (technically three, but no one really cares about that) and is not in a higher ed program currently?

Enough.  I gotta do some head clearing with the books or the tube for a bit and sleep.

I did golf today.  The first time i played 18 holes in a long while.  I did many things that i have been working on quite well, but i could not put it/keep it all together to avoid a few of the big numbers.  After 7 holes, i was feeling good and thought, “i will break 90 again today”.  But i carded a 101/98 (there was no one out there and i played 2 balls on two holes). My best score ever is still an 82, and i did not think i would beat that, but i feel like i should be breaking 90 much more often.

More practice required…

Return

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I did make it out to run today.  Two days of slack (kinda) turned into three days of no running.  Yesterday we had a memorial service for one of my neighbors.  I really liked this man and he was among the first people in the neighborhood to be nice to me.  And, Guthrey loved him even though he always called Guthrey “Gunther”.  Guthrey did not like a huge amount of people, so it meant something that he liked this man.  It was a very nice service.  He loved golf and the course pro let us hold the ceremony on the (under repair) 14th green.   He sang in barbershop quartets and other choirs most of his life, and a great a cappella men’s choir sang three beautiful songs.  The family said words as well as some of his friends, his ashes were scattered on the course, and then we had a get together at the family’s home.  Maybe it sounds weird to say, but it was the best funeral i have ever attended.

My dad and i had to go back to the mall because the boots we bought for him yesterday were slightly defective.   We have a replacement pair coming to the house by mail this week.  Some days, i look around and say, “Wow it is only three o’clock!” Some days i turn around and say, “Holy Crackers!  How did it get to be 8 o’clock!”  Yesterday was a Holy Crackers kind of day.  {Trivia question – without using reference materials, who knows any of the etymology of “o’clock” (any small piece will do)?  I have one very simple, specific, short answer in mind, but will be pleased to check out whatever you come up with.}

I wanted to get back on track by jumping out of bed this morning and walking with Lucas and then going for a run.  I was foiled by circumstance (and laziness).  Lucas and i both slept in until 7.  I forgot that my mom was playing the Offertory at both services at her church today and that my dad was going to go and stay with her.  I don’t like to leave Lucas alone for any reason, and certainly not while he is still recovering from surgery.  His mouth seems fine and he seems totally fine, except you can tell his stitches are bothering him on his right shoulder and he will try to scratch them if no one is watching.  So, we busied ourselves with other things.  Lucas and i did our walk, had breakfast, cranked up some RPG, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, did 4 loads of laundry, worked on both mom and dad’s computers with updates, backups and file maintenance, replaced the “waist cinch cord” in one of their winter jackets, failed some online trivia quizzes, spread some e-cheer, and then i went running.

Ran 1.43  Pace 9’05” – despite the time off, i ran a decent pace and i made it to the top of that hill again, then i just walked it on home.

No floor exercises so far.  I may get motivated and knock them out, or i may do double duty tomorrow.

After i finally had lunch post run (about 4:30) Vance and i went to the putting green to sneak in a little practice and competition before dark.  We just did an 18 hole challenge this time, and we did a running total of skins instead of canceling each others skins out.  I came out of the gate very nicely, but lost the touch between 13-15.  I rallied a bit the final three.  Vance won, two holes up and 10 skins to 8.  I did chip one in from off the green (after rocketing past the hole on the first chip) in order to not go down another hole.  It was fun and hopefully we will do this with more regularity.  It really helps both your feel for and confidence with the shorter chips around the green.  There are so many cases now where i will chip over the fringe instead of putting through it.  Hopefully i will finish the golf basics intro soon and do some more posting on golf as well.

I will try to think up a good prize, or a longer gaming structure for a better prize…

A little victory

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I made it up the hill again!

Ran 1.41  – Pace 9’03” – I felt good.  My legs felt good.  My breathing was pretty good.  My head was good.  I was rarely even thinking about the run and i did not obsessively look at the watch thingy to see how i was doing.  I found a good pace and tried to stick with it and thought about other stuff.  I was feeling it when i got to the top of the hill and i did walk for the next .2 or so, then ran .2, then walked it in.  It is reasonably level from the top of this hill back to my house.  I think that a few more times reaching the top of the hill at a good pace and i should be strong enough to still run the remaining .6.  It will take as long as it takes, but it was nice to make some progress.

40 of the new crunches/10 of the bicycle twisty crunches (i was better at these today, but it is still an odd motion)/25 leg lifts/ 10 push-ups.

Yesterday i did a good stretch routine around noon, and an even more in-depth stretch session before bed.  Using the information from many sources and then the videos on Runner’s World has really helped.  The dynamic stretches are great as well as the IT Band stretches (thanks Abby).  I am beginning to see flexibility progress after just about 3 weeks of doing this regularly.  I have had the most and the quickest progress from the dynamic stretches.  I am doing 5 leg related dynamic stretches.  3 of them were difficult for me to even do and maintain my balance when i started them a week or two ago.  Now I am raising my knees up to smack my chest.  Doing the hacky-sack stretch i am kicking my hand almost nipple high.  And the swinging leg thingy i can do well with my right leg and better than before with my left (there is no falling or danger of falling anymore).   I did not do my traditional floor exercises yesterday, but in addition to two stretching sessions, i practiced golf for about 3 hours.  I will get more into the golf stories a little later.  I am keeping a bit of an offline golf journal for now because i am not done writing the intro to golf that i want to throw on the site for those who may be interested to read, but don’t know anything about golf.  That is coming along and i hope to have that done, some golf stories posted, and incorporate regular golf entries by the end of November.

I am not just a crazy person or a slacker with my 3 hours of golf, i took my dad. It was good for him to be out there again.  He helped me with a few things on the driving range, and then we both had short chip and putt practice and then 2 – 18 hole rounds of chip and putt competition.  Not only was it fun and informative for us both, as well as great practice, it is another layer of motivation for my dad to keep at the recovery process and to follow the schedule.  He doesn’t have trouble doing that, but i don’t think you can have too much incentive to help you do the right thing.

Another day, another lesson learned?

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I ran farther today than i have the past few runs before i had to walk a bit.  Getting used to the new pace is not easy.

Ran 1.27 Pace 8’52” – – Walked .2, ran .4, walked

I changed my floor exercises a bit as i am trying to expand and improve these.  I am doing a different kind of crunch.  Instead of rocking out 50 crunches, these have a little less total motion and you hold the pose when you reach max crunch for 1-2 seconds.  It definitely feels more intense.

40 crunches

I added a second kind of crunch.  These are a variety of “twisty crunches”.  From standard crunch pose, lift your feet until your calves are parallel to the ground.  When you crunch bring your left arm toward your right knee and straighten your left leg, return to neutral and do other side – right elbow toward left knee, right leg straight. It looks a little like bike riding…It is taking me a bit to get used to this motion and to maintain a focus on crunching and using my abs to bring my torso/elbow toward my knee instead of bringing my knee to my elbow.

10 total twisty crunches (5 each side)

I added the concepts above to my leg lifts.  I am now moving from about one foot off the floor to 2 feet off the floor (instead of 1-3 feet) and i am doing the procedure slower than before – i can feel the difference.

25 leg lifts

10 push-ups

190 lbs.

Today’s run was weird.  I wanted to go, i was excited to go, we have nice enough weather that i ran in shorts a t-shirt, but my legs felt weird.  I did stretch and i added a few new ones, but the muscles around my knees were tight.  Around .8 miles, i had a little internal/mental fight to not vomit the ball of green onions i ate in the yard not long before running (brilliant!).  I shut that down and kept going.  I knew that my pace was still good – still under 9 minutes, but i knew it was not very near to 8 or 8.5.  Since i decided to up my pace, i have been stopping at 1.1-1.2 near the bottom of a hill and walking up that hill and then mixing run walk the rest of the way home.  Today i could not make it to the top of the hill but i made myself run farther than before.  I ran to 1.27.  True, it was only a few more telephone poles up the hill, but i will run up that hill again and at my faster pace if i have to do it one pole at a time!  (It is actually a pretty gentle hill.)

Part of my struggle right now is morale and mindset.  I am not good at not being good at things.  Most things come pretty easily and naturally to me, and when things are more difficult and i can’t figure out why, i have to fight hard to stay focused and learn to achieve.  Not many days ago i was running 1.8-2.2 miles.  Now i am struggling to reach 1.5.  I understand that running near 8 minute miles is different from running near 10 minute miles.  I understand it but i don’t ‘feel’ it.  I am trying to focus on other things and stay positive.  I made progress today.

I learned (or re-learned) that taking a day off in between running days is ok, but those cannot be days of no activity.  My legs were tight today and i didn’t really stretch yesterday or do my other non-running exercises.  That is part of why i spent more time looking at runner’s stretches/exercises/ and core strengthening workouts today.  I have incorporated some of what i found already and i need to continue to add more stuff – not for the sake of volume, but to find the right stretches for me, and to find the exercises and drills that give me the best results.

I should have a good stretch every day and some floor exercise on running days, but i should have some more intensive strengthening drills on my non-running days.  I really would like to be able to run every day (or 5-6 days in a row) and i may try some back-to-back runs again this week.  However my body tells me to handle how many days to run, i need to tell myself to exercise one way or another every day.

Hopefully – lesson learned.

I watched the two parts of “The Runner’s Six Pack” for some of the ideas found above.

Quick Update

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Hopefully i will have time to write more later today, because i am trying to figure out how to proceed – while reminding myself that this is a process and not an overnight transformation.  Skipped yesterday.  Today, mixed Run/Walk again.

Ran 1.2 Pace for 1 mile – 8′ 14″ then slowed, then walked, then ran then walked…

50 crunch/25 leg/ 10 push

more later…

Back in the (new) Saddle (sorta)

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Two days ago, I declared a day of no-running-leg-rest, which was very nice.  Yesterday i allowed myself to be overtaken by circumstances.  About 7:30 ish, i heard my folks upstairs firing up a movie.  They had been talking about it and it sounded like Iron Man 2.  I planned to spend very productive time on the interwebs until 8 ish, start stretching, give Lucas his pill about 8:15 and then run and exercise, and then eat.  But – i wandered upstairs when the movie opened up with some AC/DC – about 2 hours, 1/2 a pound of carrots, a big bowl of pasta, some pretzels, and a chocolate dipped apple slice later, i was not really in running shape.

Today i got back out there.  Not quite as early as i had envisioned, but i had some email to answer, a book to finish and an initial edit sheet to write and send off (don’t ask, i can’t tell you, it is not mine, and it is top-secret – for now).  But i got out there and adapted to the new program.

I can tell you, again without fancy monitors, that i did get my heart rate elevated this time.  I did break this run up with some walking, so the stats are not quite as nailed down as they have been:

Mile 1 – pace – 7 minutes 56 seconds

I kept running for about .3 miles before i had to do fast walk for a bit to recover.  I don’t have exact stats on that, but from glancing at the sportsband while jogging, i think that my pace for the full 1.3 was 8:05.

I walked about .2 then ran about .2 then walked then ran.

50 crunch/25 leg/10 push

I feel real good.  My legs and knees felt good.  That weird pain in my outer quad area was gone (even though i have yet to master the stretches that target that region).  Glad to have gotten back out there, and ready to go back out (tomorrow).  I think this will be the new pattern for a while.  Try to rock the first mile in about 8 minutes (maybe 8.5 if i can find that pace) and do that as long as i can past 1 mile, then mix walk run.  Repeat until i can rock 2 miles in the 8-8.5 minute zone.  Repeat until i feel needy for more distance.

day of rest(ish)

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Running (Smoking and Politics Below)

I decided not to run today.  Not a ‘talk myself out of it’ give-up kinda vibe like i fought yesterday.  This was a conscious decision to let my body rest.  I have gone for a run every day since Oct 6th with the exception of Oct 9th.  That is 12 out of 13 days and 9 days in a row.  I figured i was due for a leg rest.

I did revise my run plan a little further.  I am still planning to stay at about 2 miles for a week or maybe two, but i have refined the reasons.  As i have stated previously, i don’t care about the numbers involved for their own sake, but for what they can represent.  One of my key goals with this running is to get a good and effective cardio workout of 20 minutes or more in each session.  The runs i have done so far are good and necessary steps on my path.  However, i can tell you without any fancy monitoring equipment that running 9:45-10:35 minute miles is not getting my heart rate up.  I am not close to winded or tired nor is my heart beating at an elevated rate when i complete these runs.  My legs are tired, and again, that is why these baby steps are important – to build my body into something capable of extended cardio workouts.  I need to stay at or near a 2 mile length until i can increase my pace to a more effective level.  I think probably 8 minute miles, or thereabouts will get it done.  There is not much point for me to continue to increase the distance i run if i run at my current pace.  I could run 7, 10 minute miles and still not elevate my heart rate.

So there is the new(ish) goal: keep rocking my current route and increase the pace.

Semi-Side Note: Some of you may be familiar with a little television show called The Simpsons.  There is a beautiful moment (one of thousands) in which Homer says “…let us celebrate this occasion with the joining of chocolate and milk.”  I sorta felt like that yesterday.  It was my first moment of ‘i would enjoy to have a smoke’, since i quit about 11 days ago.  It was not one of those ‘this is all too hard to deal with…”, or “i am gonna lose it if i don’t get a smoke’, or ‘i am gonna lose it all over YOU if i don’t get a smoke’ kinda moments.   It was more like a victory feeling.  “I am doing so well with the fitness and the abstinence and getting back into daily writing.  How should i celebrate and commemorate this occasion?  I know!  Let us celebrate this occasion with joining of cigarettes and beer!”

It passed. All is well.  But it goes to show that this stuff is difficult and sneaky and it hits us all in different ways…

I may not get to it tonight, but i have some random thoughts brewing about the pending mid-term election cycle, and in particular, the state races in Pennsylvania!  If you are not registered, it is probably too late (though not definitely too late so look into it!).  And if you are registered, November 2nd folks.  Hmm, perhaps i will have to put together a little voting post.  No judgment or real advocacy one way or another, just good info, like “how do i find out what district i live in?”