Taper Week

This has been a good taper week, especially given our Vermont-style heat wave.  I am looking forward to the marathon on Sunday and I think despite serious undertraining I will try to run it for time.  All I know is that I'm taking a $20 so I can enjoy a lemonade and sausage sandwich at the finish line.  And, folks, there's only one way to get to the finish line quickly (no, I'm not talking about sneaking on the subway!).  Haul ass, and when you get tired, put one foot in front of the other, and then haul ass some more.

As usual before these big events I have been doing a lot of thinking about the significance of running in my life, and how and when different "lives" come together - work, family,  running, etc.  There will be a nice coming together of these different lives just before the race as Jess and I drop our kids off at our boss's house, and then walk over together to the race start.

Eyes on the weather are not totally reassuring but not terrible either: small chance of rain, 60 in the morning, maybe low 80s for a high.  So, all but the end will be decent weather, and once I'm in it that far a little heat never seems to matter.

Cheers and stay tuned for the race report.


Tuesday - rest / 115 situps
Wednesday - run 4.0 miles / 120 situps
Thursday - PT stretches, yoga 20 minutes, / 125 situps
Today - Run 2.5 miles / 130 situps
Tomorrow - rest (situps?)
Sunday - marathon (situps?)

The race is on

Unexpectedly, at the last minute, we have found someone to watch the kids so that both Jess and I can run in this weekend's Vermont City Marathon.  I am pumped.  Now to decide: run the race as a marathon, or go all out in the first half and then just try and finish...   Either way I'm undertrained so pressure will be low.  I can't wait to get out there!

Still going with the situp contest.

I've also started my own 1-person contest:  the 2010 pull-up/chin-up challenge.
The first day I started with 5 pullups and 5 chinups
I'm now up to 8 and 8.
The idea is to see how far I can go without coming off the bar in either set - so, it's a clean 8, rest, then a clean 8 again but with chinup grip.
Since it's my contest, I do this about every 2-3 days.  Goal is to increase my rep number, I was getting too much into choppy sets that didn't seem to build much endurance...

Yesterday - rest (if that's what you call 4 hours in a hot attic packing boxes...)
Today - 110 situps, 16 pullups (8 std, 8 chinup), 55 pushups, PT back stretches

Keeping it real

This is a day that has gotten better as it has gone on.  Mediocre day at work, fun night with the kids, some evening calisthenics and yoga, and Jess gets home soon.

Today: 14 pullup (7 std, 7 chin); 30 pushups; 100 situps for time 2:50; yoga 30 min.

Barbecue

First barbecue of the season coming up this afternoon, and I think it may be the hottest day of the spring so far (yes, all the way up to 80!). 

In preparation I ran this morning while it was still cool.  What I find amazing is how each run has its own story arc, similar to all past runs but different enough to keep it interesting.   In broadest terms, I guess the arc contains: pre-run/motivation - warmup - running and thinking - post-run.  Today I was quite aware of moving through the story, but barely aware of running.  Some variety of the "flow" state, complete with meta-perception while more or less effortlessly moving through the activity at hand.

Today: run 4 miles, 90 situps

"a little light refreshment"

At the end of a challenging day at work, sometimes a light workout is just the thing to shake off the stress and negative emotion without getting too amped up before bed.  Today is such a day.

12 pullups (6 std, 6 chinup)
25 pushups
85 situps
PT stretches and back exercises
2 sets 8-10 reps each max weight dumbbells:
  bicep curls
  shoulder press
  tricep kickbacks

Excellent Results

So, after a full week of relative rest (excepting a little yoga and the sit up contest) I have given my body as much easy time as it's going to get for now...so, I'm back.  All injuries are showing signs of healing.

This morning was a cool, mellow run in clear high-40s weather, followed by a mild calisthenic warmup and some situps.  Felt great and made my day go smoothly, although it made me realize that after we have left Vermont I'll miss the long summer days (light from 5 to 8:30 currently and not even at the solstice)  In the vein of eating healthfully, I had a "Sashimi Deluxe" platter for lunch with green tea and perhaps the slightest thimbleful of sake.  Work was productive, and I came home to my wonderful family.  So, all in all, a positive day.

Last week: situps and occasional yoga
Today: Run 4 miles, 10 pullups, 20 pushups, 80 situps

At a crossroads

The title of this post may be a bit melodramatic, but I do feel that I'm at a crossroads in terms of fitness and working out.  I already reached, and took, a cross-road several months ago (about the time I started this blog) when I started to pursue a more wide-reaching definition of fitness, including lifting, power-based training, and yoga.  Now, three more or less simultaneous injuries later (knee, wrist, and neck) the crossroads I am at relates to how to pursue these activities in a balanced and sustainable way.  Although some may disagree, it seems no use going for a personal pull-up record if I'm going to sprain my neck and be essentially out of condition for heavy upper body work for months and months; similarly with the wrist and yoga poses that are too advanced.  The knee is different; I've recovered from so many inflammatory running injuries that I am not too worried about this one.

So part of my nature has become to try and push my limits, to delight in exhaustion, and, yes, even to embrace some pain.  How to modulate this to avoid injuries, or at least multiple injuries?  No easy answer here.  Food for thought as I (again) take an easy week.

Yesterday: yoga 20 minutes, 45 situps
Today: 50 situps

On the road

Yesterday: 35 situps, core workout ("ab ripper X"), 20 min bike trainer intervals @ 150W;
Today: Run 4 miles, 40 situps

A new contest

Even though the burpee war is still going on, a cruel reminder of my own lack of toughness, its instigators have started a milder (at least at first) situp war.  So we've been adding five a day for several days, and I feel like I might have a shot at this one.  I've only done a thousand situps a few times but I'll bet we get there.

Otherwise it's been a restful week with a nice run this morning after it rained last night.

Thu: rest / 20 situps
Fri: rest / 25 situps
Today: run 4 miles, 30 situps, 2 x 15 chair dips, 3 sets: (10 wide + 10 std + 10 military pushups) + an extra 10 to total 100 pushups; PT stretches / back exercises.

Traveling, Traveling

Running often grounds me during traveling, and it's a great way to explore a new (or old) place.  It's quick enough to get somewhere, but slow enough to see and experience a neighborhood, a trail, or a feature of the terrain.

I was in Florida last week and had a great time on some old familiar running routes; this weekend I was in Vancouver, BC (an incredible city that is new to me) and got a chance to see a couple of great areas while running.  It was 90 minutes from when my plane touched down to when I had my shoes on and was running -- all I had to do from the airpot was takean  inexpensive and quick train into town and check into my hotel.  I ran a third of a mile on city streets and cut down to the seawall, where I ran for a few more miles along the ocean smelling the salt air and feeling spitting rain and a breeze.  I turned around after reaching Stanley Park, which I explored again two days later on a sunny and calm day.  Anyway, the trip was nice but the running (and other workouts) seemed to enable the enjoyment of dinners, the conference, and other parts of the trip.


Here is  the view from our hotel room (the city streets) and, above,  the view from the convention center (notice the floatplane landing).

Sunday: run 4 miles (Vancouver)
Monday: yoga 55 minutes, core workout, 40 pullups (28 std, 12 chin), 20 situps, assorted pushups
Tuesday: run 4.1 miles (Vancouver), 10 situps
Today: rest, 15 situps