A Fine Day to Run

So how do I deal with a three-day post? Separate posts, one post in sections, many posts cross referencing each other and providing links . . .

It's a real question, and one that has been keeping me from posting at all this evening -- I think I put too much energy into the wrong stresses. I could have just posted and had much more time to worry about global warming, communism, killer bees, et al.

Probably just one post, then:

28 Dec.: I took the day off. From running at any rate. And, largely, from writing. Thing is: I did some volunteer work here and town that took about five hours longer than I thought it would, and that's that. I didn't run, though I did hold a power drill over my head for a long time, and you all know how I feel about doing work above my shoulders (well, if you don't know, now you do: I dislike it). But it felt good to lend a hand, even if I wasn't as helpful as I wanted to be.

30 Dec.: maintenance run: I dragged the crapradoodle for 3.1 miles (31:04). I felt good: I didn't think I'd get a run in today, because I spent a great deal of time with our four-year old. We played Rumikube and Chutes and Ladders and had a vanilla steamer and a heart-shaped cookie at the best coffee shop in Ohio. Then we went to the toy store to spend her Holiday money. We filled the cart, and emptied the cart and filled it again, and emptied it again. All with stuff, we agreed, she couldn't afford, but she wanted to know what her options were. Eventually, she settled on a horse in a purse and some lip gloss. She combed the horse and introduced it to her other stuffed animals, her sibbies, and mommy. She fed the horse its carrot and muzzled and saddled the horse. After being home for about two hours, she turned to me and said, "I've always wanted an animal in a bag." Clearly, today was a resounding success.

29 Dec.: okay, the rub: yesterday's run was designed to be a tempo workout. My regular tempo run is a seven mile loop, most of which follows the bike trail, such that I can run a maintenance pace with 3 miles worth of half-mile or mile intervals. I've also been wondering what the rules are about the local university track, but I've lacked the commitment it takes to contact the university. I have a 3.1 mile loop marked off such that I can run a time trial for a 5K when I'm ready, but I haven't been ready yet. I thought about each of these runs, but, ultimately, felt absolutely exhausted: it was all I could do to drag my tired ass out the door. I ran a mile and felt like poo. I ran a second mile and couldn't think of a thing I wanted more than to curl up on the side of the bike trail and nap. I thought about just finishing a short maintenance run and doing a more intense workout the next day.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the turkey buzzards were all gone, and the dozen or so remaining geese had occupied the opposite bank. I imagined an intense battle, but the truth is, the turkey buzzards probably just flew back to the trees where they live and the geese probably just migrated. Maybe we humans could learn a thing or two from the birds.

Anyway, after that second mile, I sat down next to the river. A rather bland river, by most accounts, not very big, not very swift, not much elevation change. But if anybody out there is at all like me, you'll agree that just about any river is worth sitting beside for a few hours a day for the rest of eternity. I was thinking maybe sitting there would provide some sort of running muse or general healthy inspiration, but I got nothing. I stiffened up a little bit from sitting still, but, like I say, I find limbering up exercises (not necessarily beneath me so much as) appalingly boring. Please don't judge.

I sat there for about ten minutes and watched the wintery brown water seep beneath a well-used railroad bridge and got a touch chilly. I wanted to do an intense workout, but my body just wasn't getting behind me. Nothing was really sparking. I felt guilt for leaving my kids and spouse at home to take care of the house without me. I felt like I should have been writing something, building something, or, at least, relaxing in earnest. I got up and decided to simply run home and pick up the intense run the next day.

When I got to the half-mile marker closest to my house, I thought, in no uncertain terms, "Oh, what the hell," and I ran a half mile hard . . . hard for me: (3:17). I felt good. Normally, I would want to do six half miles, but I decided to take a two-minute walk and simply try a second. I felt good again (3:17). I walked three minutes and decided on a third (3:23). Not awful, and, let's face it, I was halfway there. After a three-minute walk, I ran another half mile (3:21), three-minute walk, another half mile (3:21), three-minute walk, final half mile (3:13). In the meantime, the clouds had broken, the sun had come out for the first time all day. I'd broken a sweat. I felt better than I had all day. In a lot of ways, I got lucky to have a good run. But in a lot of other ways, I wouldn't have had that luck if I hadn't made space in my life for it.

I got home, the house was fine; the kids were fine; my spouse was fine; my crapradoodle was fine. My next big run (a long run) will be Monday -- on the ten-day loop, it should be Sunday, but Sunday has been set aside for family purposes. Today was a fine day to run.

What a Miserable Day to Feel Good about

Maintenance run. Cold. Wet. Rainy. Dark. Damp. (The one thought that kept cropping up while I was running, by the way, was: "At what point does damp become wet and again when does wet become torrential?") Very wet, we'll call it today.

I had dinner plans with my spouse, and I started the run hungry. I know I've said this before, but . . . I did not want to leave the house today. Still and all, I set out on my 3.4 mile loop . . . backwards. No, I don't mean I ran backwards, but I did run it counter-clockwise. I'm going to have to put some thought into this: I wonder I typically run clockwise . . . I don't know.

Meanwhile, I decided to drag the crap-filled labradoodle around the town. She ran faster than usual, but that was good, because I felt a little better than a typical maintenance run. This suggests two things: 1.) I didn't run hard enough yesterday, and 2.) the dog is showing more improvements over these past couple weeks than am I.

Still, we made it back in 31:00 -- overall, a very smooth run, and, thanks to two long-sleeve shirts, I warmed up quickly and even broke a sweat in addition to the very wet rain that kept falling on me.

But enough about the run itself. Just a second to note to myself and the world that this blog is getting me out of the house almost everyday . . . food for thought.

And now . . . food for belly.

Spontaneous Planning

So I totally skipped yesterday's run, and I'm not going to pretend that playing ping pong for three hours makes up for a missed maintenance run. Still I wouldn't trade it. I got to play against each of the kids multiple times, and I can see already that my title as emperor of the ping pong table has a limited run. So I'm going to gloat while I can, and when my reign comes to an end, I'm going to fake an injury and walk nobly away from the table forever.

Today, I drove over to the rec center with plans to run a tempo workout on the treadmill. I like the idea of the tempo run, but, of course, the treadmill still sounds like the iron maiden in a lot of ways. Now I hate to complain, but we have had a family membership since the middle of December and have tried to make it to the gym at least once both weeks since we've been enrolled -- you'd think they'd call us if they were going to be closed on a weekday.

I was disappointment, because, like I say, I prefer an itinerary. If I had a calendar big enough, I'd already know what I was going to have for dinner this time next year. I have, as a result, on many occasions, shrugged my shoulders and walked away from a missed workout, grumping about not being able to run how, where, or when I wanted to, sticking my tongue out at the running universe (I called it the runiverse for a spell, but that never caught on), and watching television instead.

Today, I decided to go out for an hour. It was cold and dark, so I had to chose a route accordingly. I thought about running my hill-repeat workout, but the sidewalk is missing . . . well, it's missing sidewalk in a lot of places, and the run is not very well lit, so I didn't feel safe making that run. There's another hill very close by as well. It's about the same elevation change, but probably about half as long (therefor probably about twice as steep). I could make a loop that is just shy of a mile with that hill, so I thought I would run that loop for an hour, and see how my splits lined up after the fact.

On my first loop, I bumped into a group of young folks, I don't know, late teenish, and they creeped me out, standing next to a graveyard as they were. Had they been smoking cigarettes, had they reeked of beer, I would have felt less put out.

I decided not to run passed them again. Instead, I ran up and down eight hills, some longer than my repeat and less severe, others shorter and steeper. In the meantime, I tried to maintain a pace slightly more intense than my maintenance pace.

It was a great run. Truly great -- I ran all through this little town, up and down a dozen streets in a pattern I cannot normally run (this is a college town, and most of the students have gone away for winter break, so the streets are pretty empty, the bars are pretty empty, uptown is calm). I ran some hills I haven't run for a long time. I ran some hills I've never run. I kept a steady pace.

Before I was done with my run, I'd forgotten all about the rec center, and I hadn't thought once about what I would post on the blog -- maybe it was the total lack preparedness that allowed me this kind of running Zen. I am willing to admit that much.

Still, I prefer the preparedness.

Recovering from the Long Run

Morning run. Maintenance run. Dragged the labradoodle along the 3.4 mile loop (35:49). I feel like a slightly overweight middle-aged guy who ran 15 miles two days ago.

Oh, hello, mirror . . . yes, I see, I am that guy.

The town is quiet, the roads are quiet, two dozen turkey vultures sat on the opposite side of the river, eyeing up what remained of the geese. The river is cold, the roads are cold, it was a fine run.

2nd Half a Long Run

And there's the second half of my run. I avoided the treadmill this evening by promising myself to run this morning's loop backwards. This time I ran the 7.5 a touch slower (1:10:57), but I also added a couple of small stretches to avoid muddy stretches. I'm gonna guess I ran nearly the same pace.

This is the first time I've split a long run in two, and it was a great. Had I waited until this evening to run 15 miles, I'm almost certain I would have turned back early or only completed one loop. Had I tried 15 miles this morning, I would guess I would have been wiped out for the rest of my world after a two-and-a-half-hour workout.

I'm glad I avoided the gym again, too. We are having exceptionally warm 22 December weather -- it's terribly rainy, and, yet, still not so cold that a long-sleeve teeshirt doesn't keep me warm . . . too many double negatives: one long sleeve=warm Jackson today.

I've heard splitting the long run over the course of a day is an effective way to complete such a run. I don't know how the benefits are going to pay out, but I can say this: I'm definitely as sore as I would be had I run 15 in a row.

Post Script: I heard the geese at one point, though it was too dark to see them. I don't know what buzzards sound like. I'm afraid my scavengers have been vanquished . . .

Half a Long Run

I ran my seven-and-a-half mile loop (1:06:22) this morning for the first half of my run. I'm glad I didn't try to take on the whole long run, as I was antsy to get home and get back to work.

It was good to get out again in the morning, a touch colder than I'd like to begin, but a beautiful sunny day.

At one point, looking out over the river, I saw a flock of turkey buzzards on the ground, probably around a hundred of them, and more coming in. I've never seen that many on the ground before. On my side of the river, in the water swam close to the same number of Canada Geese -- I'd like to have stayed around to see what was going down, but, like I say, I have things to do. Anyway, I was rooting for the buzzards. They're an awful lot that folks don't seem to care much for. I say, get 'em, buzzards.

I'll probably take another six or so miles on the tread mill this evening.

Labradoodle Dreams

Ran my maintenance 3.4 mile loop (33:11). In my defense, I was dragging around my crap filled labradoodle as she emptied herself out. It's amazing how much stuff can fit into such a small dog.

Meanwhile, I spent the bulk of today's run trying to figure out tomorrow's run. It's a long run in the middle of the week, and I have a busy day planned.

The problem, in part, is the ten-day running cycle. Like I say, I love the idea of a seven-day cycle, such that the long run comes every weekend -- my problem with this cycle is that my body doesn't recover fast enough after my intense runs to run again two days later. Rather, I need two days off.

What I love about the ten-day cycle is the rest I get after each of my three intense runs. The problem is the Gregorian Calendar, which puts me also on these seven-day "weeks" that are not conducive to my running schedule.

Because I have such a busy day tomorrow, I'm going to try to split the run into two runs. An hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening. Wish me luck.