Saturday, July 31, 2010

Ten

Just ran ten miles and I feel terrific! Huge confidence booster. I could easily have run another three without feeling too tired, and that's a half right there.

The best part is that I had a headache when I started and (perhaps stupidly) decided to try for my long run anyway. Five minutes in, I had to take serious migraine meds to abort the start of a real headache. My biggest fear going into this was that I'd get a migraine and not be able to take my drugs to stop it (since they work by suddenly dropping blood pressure in my noggin). Turns out that if I take the pill early enough, it can stop the migraine in its tracks and I can (slowly) just keep chugging. So relieved. So cheerful.

I can totally do this.

Friday, July 30, 2010

About to hit the fan

Another hour long run on the bike path yesterday- this time, in the other (better) direction. Awful humidity on the way out, sprinkles on the way in. Then sunshine and lots of additional racing back and forth through the shallow water with doggies trailing behind.

The times of being proud of myself for getting in another five miles are apparently over. I was supposed to do an eight mile run last Saturday, the first group weekend run that I missed for vacation. Oops. No problem. I shall jump right on to the bandwagon with a ten miler tomorrow. And then recover by floating in an inner tube with dead dangling legs. Someone- just make sure I'm holding my head up.

The plan, I've been informed by google group update, is for a long run every Saturday (starting at 8 and ending at 20 miles), "quality" miles on Tuesday (hills, tempo runs, various other torture), and three other runs during the week totallying an additional 8-16 miles.

So, the schedule is:
M: rest day
T: "quality" miles
W: shorter run (cross training or additional rest day if necessary).
T: shorter run
F: rest day
S: long run
S: easier run

Saturday runs are intimidating, especially since I'm jumping into ten, but the rest of the week looks fairly easy, and should be no harder than I'm doing now. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

I'm ready to get this show on the road and make some distance progress. Running five miles all the time really just gets me ready for a five miler, and 26.2  will arrive before I know it. 100 days from yesterday. The countdown begins!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cape Cod














Vacation. (Vacation vacation vacation vacation!)

From everything except running. I haven't even been able to read; not a novel, not even a magazine. I just need to float and walk and stare out over the swells at the horizon. And decompress.

Today, day three, after several 9.5 plus hour nights, I ran. My dad and I spent an hour on a bike path, nice and easy, steady and consistent- as it always is with dad. And as always, half in conversation and half me performing a catch him up with everything monologue and him taking advantage of the time to catch his breath.

The thing is, though, of all people, you just know he's going to finish a run or a race. Not quick, but smart and the right mix of determined and matter of fact. It's how I've been thinking about my training and marathon. It seems appropriate to the circumstance of this marathon fitting into the rest of my life and me trying not to upset the balance that's working for my health. And it's what seems natural to me; it's what I've seen and what I've had explained.

We ran through a beautiful marsh right off the bay. Long grasses lined the best parts of the path, and we could see groups of bright white herons through the gaps. I felt sleepy tired by 45 minutes from the sun and puny pre-run breakfast, but my legs were fresh.

I'm not pushing it with running since, now that I'm rested, this week should be filled with more active play. This afternoon was the first little adventure- a walk through the woods to a warm glacial pond- of many, I hope.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Snoop

Snoop Fighting Lupus

It's a good day when I get to post a link to one of my very favorite news sources.

It's an even better day when there's news that a celebrity is raising the profile of lupus-- and a lot of money. 

And it's better than a kind of sort of maybe maybe not Lady Gaga. Especially since Snoop dressed in a tie for the occasion.

Glad to see that it looks like Snoop's daughter is doing well and her lupus is under control, due in large part, I'm sure, to tough motherly intervention and some top notch medical care.

Not a bad time to say thanks, Mom, for being a pushy advocate, and thanks, Dad, for never ever ever wearing that. Maybe staying away from ties is not altogether a bad idea.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Countdown

Woke up this morning at 7 and felt UP. I think the underlying about to go on vacation excitement has hit the surface. I finally feel over whatever it is I had that was hanging onto my throat for days after I had mentally moved on from being sick, and I'm ready to relax just 'cause rather than to give in to a defeated body.

I did the reservoir loop and tagged a bit onto the end; 45 minutes of running, and at least two-thirds of that in the shade. We've finally gotten a real breeze to cut the humidity. Sweat evaporating is, in that moment, the greatest. feeling. ever.

After a nice warm up, I felt loose, fluid, and relatively coordinated. Until I saw a juggler. There were two men running together, looking completely ordinary and like any other man running date in the park but for the fact that one of them was juggling three juggling balls. I have no explanation. I just know this went on for at least a minute, the time it took for me to notice the circus antics coming toward me, approach and pass them. Huh.

Now I'm focused on surviving the next two days of work. It's the countdown to a 10 day beach vacation, a vacation I intend to fill with sleep, biking, walking and, of course, long runs cause it's time to build up some mileage. And SLEEP.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Rolling

I've started rolling out the major leg muscles. Apparently, it helps break something down and loosen them up? It has something to do with preventing injury, especially knee related. At first, rolling out my outer thighs hurt pretty badly on one side but not the other, so I concluded that I was lopsided, which must mean I have to work to even myself out.

Okay, so there is one person in my household who reads books about sports, fitness, and avoiding related injury. Two guesses who this person is not...

In any case, it feels good afterward, and the leg on which rolling nearly caused tears is now approaching the good leg, so I count that as progress. I figure the sports nerd will tell me I'm approaching this like an idiot if indeed I am.

Summertime

I ran 70 minutes this morning after taking the whole week off to deal with crazy long workdays and then being sick. I felt fantastic, and I think it's because I had a whole lot of built up antsyness and fresh legs. I also had a new playlist of classic rock full of songs that make me think of serenades in my living room and Thursday nights at Max's, and if ever I had happy places...

Waka Waka, which apparently I totally missed along with everything World Cup, kept me bouncing along until I hit a comfortable stride. I intersected some kind of serious race at the top of the park and then again down on the west side, and those people look like their bodies were created to run; the fluidity and speed is just mesmerizing, until I started to feel vicarious exhaustion imagining the exertion as I tried to estimate how long I could keep up with them on my all-out sprint.

By the time I got close to an hour, I felt okay in the heat and had the urge to speed it up. When I know I'm rounding the southeast corner of the park and don't have long to go until my Gatorade and cold shower, whatever energy I have wants to kind of burst out. The last ten minutes felt fast and relatively easy; my appreciation for how much of this is mental has certainly grown.

Got home, drank up, and went in for my leftover chopped salad lunch. I experiment with ingredients, but this is the all time favorite:

arugula
tomato
cukes
red/yellow/orange pepper (which I forgot this time)
strawberries (have to have because they love balsamic; I'm more flexible with the other fruits)
blueberries (antioxidants)
apple or  pear
Gorgonzola crumbles
pecans (toasted in the oven) or marcona almonds for a splurge
olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, ground black pepper

...with a slice of home made flax sunflower whole wheat bread and almond/peanut/regular (if I'm throwing caution to the wind) butter for good carbs.

A giant tupperware full of chopped veggies and fruit left undressed makes me happy for the whole weekend :)

UPDATE:
And for my favorite Susana Homemaker: the healthy bread recipe.

2 tbsp active dry yeast
1.5 tsp white sugar
1/2 cup very warm water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
2.5 tbsp lemon juice
7 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
5 tsp salt
3.5 cups bread flour


1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a little bowl. Set aside.
2. In a very large bowl, mix 3.5 cups of water, the honey, molasses, canola oil, egg, and lemon juice.
3. Add yeast mixture to large bowl wet mixture.
4. While stirring, slowly mix in 4.5 cups of wheat flour and the flax meal. Once incorporated, add flax seed, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds until evenly disbursed mixture.
5. Set aside mixture for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in salt and the rest of the flour, slowly (you might not need all of it).
7. Kneed for at least 10 minutes. Return dough to floured bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for an hour.
8. Kneed dough for another minute. Divide dough into 5 loaves on probably two cookie sheets (which might have to overlap to fit in the oven at the same time-- or you can do one at a time; it won't kill the dough). Let rise for another 15-25 minutes.
9. Bake at 370 for 32-36 minutes.

Eat warm, with real butter and sea salt, or dipped in olive oil that has been heated with rosemary.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Run Down

Not getting enough sleep and working too hard are taking their toll this week. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, saw rain outside, and decided an extra hour in bed was the sensible thing to do.

At least I got a running picture today-- this is me crossing the Dash and Splash finish line- with power, as promised.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Dash

I skipped the splash in the Dash and Splash yesterday for reasons illustrative of the state of my schedule and my mind. First, I scheduled a haircut downtown at noon because if I hadn't been able to fit it in somewhere soon, the shaggy dog look would have just reached some unacceptably unprofessional limit. Second, jumping in the pool required more logistical planning than I had head space to figure out; a lock, swimsuit/towel drop off, or a way home- wet.

The Dash was enjoyable nonetheless. It started at 102nd and headed northward.  I initially felt some tightness in my shins and the little bit of foot flopping which has accompanied shin issues in the past. Luckily for me, the race started with long, moderate uphills, which gave my shins a break and the legs a chance to get warm. By the time we reached 102nd on the west side, my legs were okay, but I really didn't try to speed it up for another couple miles.

I've gotten better at finding someone to tuck in behind to use as my pacer. I feel like a stalker or some terribly noticeable spy, trailing at such a close distance. Since I only stopped at every other water break, I'd often lose my pacer at hydration stations and then spend a bit of time finding a new one. My hydration came from Gatorade strapped around my middle in little bottles, sipped every five minutes or so, and the water cups were used to cool off my neck.

By the time we reached the south end of the park, I felt loose and fell into a comfortable rhythm. I know this means that I should be doing real warm ups before this kind of thing, but that would mean getting up half an hour earlier and, frankly, not gonna happen. I'd rather warm up on the course and have a slower time (my time for the 10k was 1:05:47, or a 10:36 mile pace).

This is nice though, because by the time I hit last fifth of a mile, I can pick up the pace, and by the last tenth of a mile, I'm booking it. So much fun. Everyone standing at the finish line seems to enjoy strong finishers (and care very little about slow whole coursers), so the harder I push it, the more they cheer (and then the harder I push it).  Feels good to finish strong.

I picked up my apple and pretzels and decided to turn my 10k into more of an endurance run by jogging home from the middle of the park at 102nd. I'm also usually embarrassed to get in a cab, soaked from sweat and hydration station showers.

I feel good today; no pain from the run, and more rested after a weekend focused on getting rested. This week is the first Team Life Without Lupus meeting, and I feel ready to start (at least talking about) the real training. My goal up until now has been to get in better general and running shape-- good enough shape that I can easily start building up endurance, that running feels natural, and, of course, that I can do it in the morning.

Flare episode and all, phase 1 goal accomplished. Now the hard part...

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Excuses, Excuses....

If ever there were a legitimate excuse for skipping a run, it's "RECORD BREAKING HEAT" scrolling across weather.com, every news channel, and the mini elevator tv whose job it is to provide inane management tips like "give encouragement; a positive attitude will radiate to the team."

I've been itching to run, but a day off is probably not a bad idea. I ran for 35 minutes Saturday morning, which was strenuous-feeling in the hot sun... and the hot shade, and then did a half hour beach run through the wet sand and edges of the surf on Sunday. Every few minutes, I ran all the way in and submerged everything below my neck for ten seconds or so to cool down my core, and then ran out, dripping and spraying sea behind me. The ocean breeze felt incredible, and I definitely worked a bunch of leg muscles in a way they're not normally engaged.

Gotta run tomorrow, then pilates on Friday, and the Splash and Dash on Saturday. Last call people.... who wants to run this super fun 10k/ jump in the pool with me?

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Noodle Kugel

Woke up this morning with a great attitude about beating the heat-- I'd run slowly and keep chugging, as I smiled and skipped to the music. Then, right before heading out the door, a phone call. Right.... pilates.... 'cause it's Tuesday starting off the week. So I quickly switched gear and proceeded to turn my arms into noodles over the next hour. Apparently, just because weight happens not to be carried on one's arms is not the same as one possessing strength in said arms. Should be good though- for all that arm using stuff I do, like... pumping them as I run?

Good thing I didn't run because 20 minutes on at (2)90 degrees with an overhead heat element sounds more like a recipe for lightly cooking my insides than an appropriate walk to work. Coffee cup heavy.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Dinner of Associate

A pot of quinoa goes a long way...
A full box made sunday night, tupperwared and refrigerated, serves as a foundation for one meal per weekday and saves me from ordering crap or the same boring salads to the office.