I'm putting this blog on hold for a while. I might reinvent it and bring it back once school starts - tales of an overage student, or something like that - but as an exercise blog, I think it's done.
I don't know that I make such an interesting subject for this topic. I set goals and do what I have to do to meet them. Woo hoo! Not interesting. At least, not interesting to write about. That side bar I used to keep, logging my workouts? I could do it from memory because I JUST DID THE WORKOUTS. *yawn* The run mileage might change, but in the end, I run on my run days, lift on my lifting days, go to the dojo on karate days, and rest now and again.
My current situation is a bit different than usual in that I'm coming off an injury, but it's still pretty dull stuff to write about. And that injury? As it has turned out - and no, I never asked the doctor about it - I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but I'm sure it's NOT what I originally thought it was. I know the median nerve was affected, either directly or due to swelling; I know I have left triceps atrophy. I sometimes still have pain in the back/trap region. But everything is improving steadily; I don't feel compelled to ice as often, I rarely take NSAIDs, and I can even sleep on my left side again. Presses involving the left arm are still on the pathetic side, but I keep seeing progress in the right direction.
Should I have gotten a diagnosis? Probably. Do I care? No. I don't believe a diagnosis would have changed the treatment plan any - although I do think it would have been nice to have had e-stim early on for pain.
As for my workouts - they are a bit of a mess, by my standards. I don't have a formal strength plan going; I'm currently doing two leg-oriented circuits a week plus two upper body workouts, and adding some rehab/PT work for a mini third upper body workout on either a leg day or an off day, however the schedule goes (and even than has been highly variable lately; I've been picking up extra shifts at work, which translate to 12 - 13 hour work days, which mess up the best laid workout plans of mice and men). I've been running 2 - 3 days a week. I'd like to make it 3, but that doesn't always happen, due to work. I've been missing more karate than usual, due to work and school. (Which is going fine. Holding steady with B's in both labs.) I have a part of a marathon relay to run in two weeks for which I am suddenly unprepared - suddenly, because one of the team runners has just dropped out and I'm going to have to run a much longer leg than what I've been training to do.
On top of all that, getting my ducks in order for school is not so much time consuming as it is in need of constant attention. During the past three weeks I've had four doctors appointments, which have included one physical, two PPD (tuberculosis) tests and two "reads," two blood draws, and three vaccinations. Plus there's financial aid paperwork, other paperwork and consent forms, and just - stuff - of which I just received another packet yesterday.
I guess it's all better than being bored. And, the End is in Sight. Physics ends May 2; I leave my job on May 11; school starts May 28. The stack of paperwork is getting hammered through. And I will relaunch this blog, probably with a school focus (and an exercise minor), at some point in the near future. Stay tuned!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
So, what next?
A very good question.
For a change, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I'm following a BAD shoulder day with a very good shoulder day, which tempts me to do more... but I don't want to jump the gun. For what it's worth, while I keep characterizing this as a shoulder problem, it's more correctly an upper back problem; I have no problems on the rotator cuff tests - I have no loss of ROM and can do things I wouldn't be able to do if I had an RC tear. But the weakness extends into my arm, and lack of left arm strength is basically what's killing my UB workouts at this point. In fact I was doing some light benching yesterday - just what I could handle with perfect form (and it's the weakness that kills the form, not pain) - and what I found really disturbing was how my upper back felt asymmetrical. That is, I could feel the atrophy in the left upper back. Not a great feeling, but it cemented my grasp of my situation - there is not a damned thing I can do besides back up and rebuild.
So that's where my thoughts are today. I am accepting that I'll have to use machines for leg workouts for a while; hopefully not too long since they're going to get boring, fast. The UB stuff and the core stuff, I will just have to play by ear, although the goal will be to hit the weakest points three times a week. What this will probably look like is a total body Monday, UB Wednesday, legs Friday, UB Saturday. Except - there's always an exception, damn it - this week I will be getting about 1,000 shots for school so I may just be playing it all by ear. Again, nothing I can control so nothing I will sweat. If I'm sore, I'll work the unsore parts.
Speaking of school - got a lot of paperwork done today; everything that is due, besides my medical papers by the end of this month is in, and I should have the medical stuff that's immediately due done by end of my appointment on Tuesday. (Hopefully. It's just paperwork, right?) I still have to do my state taxes - had hoped to get them done today but the state efile site is down so it'll have to wait. Got the feds done, so as soon as I get confirmation back from the IRS I can put in my student loan stuff. Hopefully I should be able to do THAT this week, too. All that plus orientation Friday and I will feel on track, at least at the moment. I feel as if I'm looking at a giant countdown clock - it's a mere 10 weeks until school starts. Holy shit.
For a change, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I'm following a BAD shoulder day with a very good shoulder day, which tempts me to do more... but I don't want to jump the gun. For what it's worth, while I keep characterizing this as a shoulder problem, it's more correctly an upper back problem; I have no problems on the rotator cuff tests - I have no loss of ROM and can do things I wouldn't be able to do if I had an RC tear. But the weakness extends into my arm, and lack of left arm strength is basically what's killing my UB workouts at this point. In fact I was doing some light benching yesterday - just what I could handle with perfect form (and it's the weakness that kills the form, not pain) - and what I found really disturbing was how my upper back felt asymmetrical. That is, I could feel the atrophy in the left upper back. Not a great feeling, but it cemented my grasp of my situation - there is not a damned thing I can do besides back up and rebuild.
So that's where my thoughts are today. I am accepting that I'll have to use machines for leg workouts for a while; hopefully not too long since they're going to get boring, fast. The UB stuff and the core stuff, I will just have to play by ear, although the goal will be to hit the weakest points three times a week. What this will probably look like is a total body Monday, UB Wednesday, legs Friday, UB Saturday. Except - there's always an exception, damn it - this week I will be getting about 1,000 shots for school so I may just be playing it all by ear. Again, nothing I can control so nothing I will sweat. If I'm sore, I'll work the unsore parts.
Speaking of school - got a lot of paperwork done today; everything that is due, besides my medical papers by the end of this month is in, and I should have the medical stuff that's immediately due done by end of my appointment on Tuesday. (Hopefully. It's just paperwork, right?) I still have to do my state taxes - had hoped to get them done today but the state efile site is down so it'll have to wait. Got the feds done, so as soon as I get confirmation back from the IRS I can put in my student loan stuff. Hopefully I should be able to do THAT this week, too. All that plus orientation Friday and I will feel on track, at least at the moment. I feel as if I'm looking at a giant countdown clock - it's a mere 10 weeks until school starts. Holy shit.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Better? Or not...
Hard to tell. Last night was the first night in about a week that I slept through without the shoulder bothering me. I think that's good. However I also haven't tested it much, so I don't know if there's a bit of strength recovery to go along with that.
Tuesday I modified the leg workout to use machines so I didn't have to carry weights in my hands for any exercises, or rest the bar on my shoulders. I cannot tell you how - frankly - embarrassing it felt to be using machines instead of doing real exercises. I guess I have some more getting over myself to do, eh? The most frustrating part was trying to find a core exercise that worked. I definitely thought bar rollouts, the exercise prescribed for that workout, were a BAD idea, so I tried planks, but they hurt the shoulder, so I tried one ab machine, and THAT hurt the shoulder, so I tried a second, and it felt wrong - too much completely unsupported lumbar flexion. I couldn't pull a rotational exercise from memory that I thought would let the shoulder alone, so that was that. I guess a bit more research and experimentation is in order.
Wednesday, I had planned to hit the gym and take a yoga class, since it's spring break and I didn't have class. Instead I got a call at 6:30 am, asking if I could work. So, I did, since money is good and my shoulder is bad, anyway. I usually run Thursdays before work but after working 12 the day before and facing a 12 that day as well, I just let it go. I guess I could have been upset about this but these are truly rare circumstances for me so I didn't see any sense in sweating it.
Today I'll be modding the LB exercises as needed - no deadlifts (*snif! I really do like them), no heavy lunges. Broad jumps, which have been on the Friday menu, are off today, but I might do some box jumps for the heck of it. Definitely no Palloff presses (hurts just thinking about them). Maybe a substitute if I can find one that works. I will add some very light shoulder work, mostly stretches, and extend the cardio because I want to. Heh. Sorry, Eric. I miss running, and the more I think of getting back to it the happier I am. Tomorrow is a UB day which I plan to do since I will probably take off jiu jitsu and karate. (I have control of the UB workout, whereas I don't always have control of what happens in karate and obviously have no control of my partners in jitz.) The plan will be to do the preordained workout with mods as needed, with extra shoulder exercises (light db and theraband) at the end. I'll see where things sit on Sunday, ROM, strength, and pain-wise, and go from there.
What I'm guessing I'll do (because I DO have to guess these things - farbeit from me to leave my workout future unplanned!) is return to at least three days of running a week (long, interval, tempo), plus 3 - 4 days a week in the gym featuring machine heavy (ugh) LB, core as possible, and UB rehab. I think at this point my goals are to 1) do well in my marathon relay and 2) arrive at grad school with a pain-free shoulder.
Tuesday I modified the leg workout to use machines so I didn't have to carry weights in my hands for any exercises, or rest the bar on my shoulders. I cannot tell you how - frankly - embarrassing it felt to be using machines instead of doing real exercises. I guess I have some more getting over myself to do, eh? The most frustrating part was trying to find a core exercise that worked. I definitely thought bar rollouts, the exercise prescribed for that workout, were a BAD idea, so I tried planks, but they hurt the shoulder, so I tried one ab machine, and THAT hurt the shoulder, so I tried a second, and it felt wrong - too much completely unsupported lumbar flexion. I couldn't pull a rotational exercise from memory that I thought would let the shoulder alone, so that was that. I guess a bit more research and experimentation is in order.
Wednesday, I had planned to hit the gym and take a yoga class, since it's spring break and I didn't have class. Instead I got a call at 6:30 am, asking if I could work. So, I did, since money is good and my shoulder is bad, anyway. I usually run Thursdays before work but after working 12 the day before and facing a 12 that day as well, I just let it go. I guess I could have been upset about this but these are truly rare circumstances for me so I didn't see any sense in sweating it.
Today I'll be modding the LB exercises as needed - no deadlifts (*snif! I really do like them), no heavy lunges. Broad jumps, which have been on the Friday menu, are off today, but I might do some box jumps for the heck of it. Definitely no Palloff presses (hurts just thinking about them). Maybe a substitute if I can find one that works. I will add some very light shoulder work, mostly stretches, and extend the cardio because I want to. Heh. Sorry, Eric. I miss running, and the more I think of getting back to it the happier I am. Tomorrow is a UB day which I plan to do since I will probably take off jiu jitsu and karate. (I have control of the UB workout, whereas I don't always have control of what happens in karate and obviously have no control of my partners in jitz.) The plan will be to do the preordained workout with mods as needed, with extra shoulder exercises (light db and theraband) at the end. I'll see where things sit on Sunday, ROM, strength, and pain-wise, and go from there.
What I'm guessing I'll do (because I DO have to guess these things - farbeit from me to leave my workout future unplanned!) is return to at least three days of running a week (long, interval, tempo), plus 3 - 4 days a week in the gym featuring machine heavy (ugh) LB, core as possible, and UB rehab. I think at this point my goals are to 1) do well in my marathon relay and 2) arrive at grad school with a pain-free shoulder.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
So, crap
I'm really kind of annoyed at myself. Strike that. I'm VERY annoyed at myself.
I let ego get in the way in the weight room, and have messed up my shoulder. I feel stupid and I think that hurts more than the shoulder itself.
I really let the aims of this program get to me and perhaps cloud my judgement a bit. Yes, what I did is my responsibility but when you're encouraged to lift as much as you can and there's nothing external telling you "Uh, genius? You were using plenty of weight ten, twenty pounds ago - back off!" I guess shit happens.
I don't know exactly what is wrong, although my guess is a strain to the intraspinatus and possibly some of its neighbors. I do know I have pain mostly in the upper back over/under the shoulder blade extending in to the arm and neck, plus weakness in the shoulder and left arm. I believe the cause has been allowing my shoulder to wing out during pressing horizontal pressing activities. Vertical press is also affected. Horizontal pull doesn't seem to be affected, nor does vertical pull.
So, I know what I should do, and I'm not thrilled. Yeah. Rest it. Stop Max. Strength. OK, the real answer is to go see someone about it, but that's not going to happen just yet. It gets time off and if it doesn't improve, at least in terms of decreasing pain, I'm going to be seeing a doc about some pre-grad school vaccinations in about ten days, anyway - I'll bring it up then.
This really pisses me off. It'll piss me off even more if this doesn't just turn out to be a lesson learned and does turn into a chronic thing. So - I say to myself - it's time to do the smart thing, and resist the damned urge to finish the rotation, no matter what, because that's what I do. Pressing it and delaying healing (at best) or making it worse IS STUPID. It's not worth it. It's really not. One look at the shoulder patients I see every day at work tells me it's. not. worth it.
Why is this so fucking hard??? After all, and on the bright side, we seem to be having an early spring and NOT doing this program will give me leave to start running at will. Given the degree of shoulder weakness I'm experiencing (I can't even do a pushup), it would surprise me greatly if this won't need a good solid four to six weeks or more of recovery time, and I think that's more of an interruption than I can take without restarting this program, since the phases are progressive. In answer to my question, this is hard because it kills my experiment, at least for now, barring some miraculous recovery.
*Sigh. So. Time to reassess and make a new plan. This is supposed to be an "easy" week at the gym, plus my usual schedule is going to be adjusted some due to my working a 13 hour day on Monday (hey, I'm not complaining, just noting, since it moves my rest day around), so I will probably do some experimenting to see exactly what I can/cannot do in terms of leg exercises and hence what compromises I have to make for now. If I can tolerate weights for step ups, lunges, etc., I think I'll be fine. Not sure about squats/which squats. Full deads are probably a very stupid idea. Worst comes to worst, I'll have to use machines for a few weeks. UGH. For upper body it's all rehab exercises within pain free tolerance/ability.
Well, this sucks. But - I guess it's time to just get on with things and stop feeling sorry for myself. Felt good to write this all out. Seems to me whenever I feel like shutting this blog down, something pops up and I really need to write it all out to make sense of it to myself. I could well do that in private, but who knows? Maybe this will help someone out there who finds him/herself in the same situation. If I can get over myself enough to do the right thing, so can you!
I let ego get in the way in the weight room, and have messed up my shoulder. I feel stupid and I think that hurts more than the shoulder itself.
I really let the aims of this program get to me and perhaps cloud my judgement a bit. Yes, what I did is my responsibility but when you're encouraged to lift as much as you can and there's nothing external telling you "Uh, genius? You were using plenty of weight ten, twenty pounds ago - back off!" I guess shit happens.
I don't know exactly what is wrong, although my guess is a strain to the intraspinatus and possibly some of its neighbors. I do know I have pain mostly in the upper back over/under the shoulder blade extending in to the arm and neck, plus weakness in the shoulder and left arm. I believe the cause has been allowing my shoulder to wing out during pressing horizontal pressing activities. Vertical press is also affected. Horizontal pull doesn't seem to be affected, nor does vertical pull.
So, I know what I should do, and I'm not thrilled. Yeah. Rest it. Stop Max. Strength. OK, the real answer is to go see someone about it, but that's not going to happen just yet. It gets time off and if it doesn't improve, at least in terms of decreasing pain, I'm going to be seeing a doc about some pre-grad school vaccinations in about ten days, anyway - I'll bring it up then.
This really pisses me off. It'll piss me off even more if this doesn't just turn out to be a lesson learned and does turn into a chronic thing. So - I say to myself - it's time to do the smart thing, and resist the damned urge to finish the rotation, no matter what, because that's what I do. Pressing it and delaying healing (at best) or making it worse IS STUPID. It's not worth it. It's really not. One look at the shoulder patients I see every day at work tells me it's. not. worth it.
Why is this so fucking hard??? After all, and on the bright side, we seem to be having an early spring and NOT doing this program will give me leave to start running at will. Given the degree of shoulder weakness I'm experiencing (I can't even do a pushup), it would surprise me greatly if this won't need a good solid four to six weeks or more of recovery time, and I think that's more of an interruption than I can take without restarting this program, since the phases are progressive. In answer to my question, this is hard because it kills my experiment, at least for now, barring some miraculous recovery.
*Sigh. So. Time to reassess and make a new plan. This is supposed to be an "easy" week at the gym, plus my usual schedule is going to be adjusted some due to my working a 13 hour day on Monday (hey, I'm not complaining, just noting, since it moves my rest day around), so I will probably do some experimenting to see exactly what I can/cannot do in terms of leg exercises and hence what compromises I have to make for now. If I can tolerate weights for step ups, lunges, etc., I think I'll be fine. Not sure about squats/which squats. Full deads are probably a very stupid idea. Worst comes to worst, I'll have to use machines for a few weeks. UGH. For upper body it's all rehab exercises within pain free tolerance/ability.
Well, this sucks. But - I guess it's time to just get on with things and stop feeling sorry for myself. Felt good to write this all out. Seems to me whenever I feel like shutting this blog down, something pops up and I really need to write it all out to make sense of it to myself. I could well do that in private, but who knows? Maybe this will help someone out there who finds him/herself in the same situation. If I can get over myself enough to do the right thing, so can you!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Funky week
Yes, yes, yes, I haven't been keeping up with the blog all that well. It hasn't been anywhere near first on my mind; my schedule is a bit crazy right now. For the next couple of weeks I'm working a 13 day on Mondays, which has necessitated my shifting my workout schedule a bit. It's all good, I'll take the $. Might not be The Plan as Cressey wrote it, but it's either go with the flow or - what? So, I pick go with the flow.
Speaking of the flow... I forgot until I was nearly at the gym today that this is the third week of the program. This has deep meaning because the third week of each phase is Very Heavy week; heavy weights, fewer reps, more sets. (Or, in some cases, just more sets.) Of course this also means that next week is light week - something to look forward to!
I'm sure you're probably wondering (or not!) - why no Superbowl chatter from a sports fan? Well, it's because I frankly hated both teams that played. In the end I was thrilled the Patriots lost, but I would have been equally thrilled had the Giants lost. Fuck 'em both. And no, I didn't watch the half time show. Favorite commercials: the boy who peed in the pool, and the ad with Motley Crue and Chuck Liddell. And that's a wrap!
Speaking of the flow... I forgot until I was nearly at the gym today that this is the third week of the program. This has deep meaning because the third week of each phase is Very Heavy week; heavy weights, fewer reps, more sets. (Or, in some cases, just more sets.) Of course this also means that next week is light week - something to look forward to!
I'm sure you're probably wondering (or not!) - why no Superbowl chatter from a sports fan? Well, it's because I frankly hated both teams that played. In the end I was thrilled the Patriots lost, but I would have been equally thrilled had the Giants lost. Fuck 'em both. And no, I didn't watch the half time show. Favorite commercials: the boy who peed in the pool, and the ad with Motley Crue and Chuck Liddell. And that's a wrap!
Monday, January 30, 2012
One week plus
So, I finally hit the mother of all leg workouts (well, so far!) last Friday. I mean, holy shit. The lifts included front squats - always torture, pin deadlifts (meaning, short range dead lifts that start at knee height), Bulgarian split squats - another perennial form of torture, and some ab/core work. Because the pin deadlifts are such short range, you can really crank up the weight, so I was lifting my conventional DL 1 rep max, plus, for reps. Between that, the front squats, and the warmup sets for both, I lifted a LOT of weight, and I was really leg sore on Saturday. Saturday's workout, in turn, was upper body and plenty tough in and of itself. I think I'm starting to get in tune with this program!
Sunday I went for a run with the dojo running club. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be running, but I am making this compromised of my own volition to keep my sanity. My plan is to keep the club runs under five miles (and I did) and to keep the pace tame (which it was by my standards, although not as tame as I think Cressey would like). But, there you have it.
Today I started the second week, which is an "easier" week than last week, meaning we do one less set of a couple of exercises. Next week is a very hard week, and looks brutal. Yay.
Sunday I went for a run with the dojo running club. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be running, but I am making this compromised of my own volition to keep my sanity. My plan is to keep the club runs under five miles (and I did) and to keep the pace tame (which it was by my standards, although not as tame as I think Cressey would like). But, there you have it.
Today I started the second week, which is an "easier" week than last week, meaning we do one less set of a couple of exercises. Next week is a very hard week, and looks brutal. Yay.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
School daze
So I officially started the last semester of my undergraduate career today. Yes, grad school is making me take TWO physics labs, because my college physics courses did not include a lab. I don't know why not - we had bio and chem labs, as well as labs for non-traditional science courses - but that's the way it was, and now my acceptance into grad school is contingent on my passing these courses.
Make no mistake - I WILL pass these courses, hopefully with excellent grades. But we did a practise pre-test today in one of the labs and it is clear to me that I remember very little from my past course work. It's only been 25 years (shit, did I just type that?) so you'd think I'd recall SOMETHING, but - well, this is going to be interesting. Challenging, I meant challenging!
----
Yesterday was an interval cardio day; I opted to run (I will in all likelihood always opt to run, barring complete shit weather) and did HiiT as prescribed. Today was an upper body workout at the gym. These upper and lower body workouts conclude with 10 minutes of steady state cardio, which for now I will be doing on cardio machines because it's a lot easier than changing and hitting the road. Today I ran on the treadmill for the first time (Monday I walked on a steep incline) - also ran in five fingers for the first time, as they're the "shoes" I wear in the gym. I imagine it's different running in them on real ground; however I could feel a difference in my stride even on the mill. Could be a good thing?
Make no mistake - I WILL pass these courses, hopefully with excellent grades. But we did a practise pre-test today in one of the labs and it is clear to me that I remember very little from my past course work. It's only been 25 years (shit, did I just type that?) so you'd think I'd recall SOMETHING, but - well, this is going to be interesting. Challenging, I meant challenging!
----
Yesterday was an interval cardio day; I opted to run (I will in all likelihood always opt to run, barring complete shit weather) and did HiiT as prescribed. Today was an upper body workout at the gym. These upper and lower body workouts conclude with 10 minutes of steady state cardio, which for now I will be doing on cardio machines because it's a lot easier than changing and hitting the road. Today I ran on the treadmill for the first time (Monday I walked on a steep incline) - also ran in five fingers for the first time, as they're the "shoes" I wear in the gym. I imagine it's different running in them on real ground; however I could feel a difference in my stride even on the mill. Could be a good thing?
Monday, January 23, 2012
MS - Day One
Things got off to a good start to day with the first leg workout of Phase One. It took a little longer that I'd have liked, but I think things will go a bit faster as I learn the routines (soft tissue work, meaning foam and tennis ball rolling; warm-up; strength; then short cardio). There weren't that many exercises in the workout and I don't think I had the weight dialed in perfectly for the first one (box squats), but the learning curve should be a short one and for all I know, come tomorrow I'll think I made the prefect weight selection. I even STRETCHED after the workout, so yay, me!
Went to work today not sure what, if anything, I'd be saying about getting in to school, as one of my co-workers applied to the same school. Turns out he was accepted as well, so I will go in knowing one of my classmates! About mid morning, he said to me, "Hey, just think, four, five months from now, we'll be cutting up dead bodies!" And you know, he's right. (One of the first semester courses is human anatomy, and you do corpse dissection.) Something to look forward to?
Went to work today not sure what, if anything, I'd be saying about getting in to school, as one of my co-workers applied to the same school. Turns out he was accepted as well, so I will go in knowing one of my classmates! About mid morning, he said to me, "Hey, just think, four, five months from now, we'll be cutting up dead bodies!" And you know, he's right. (One of the first semester courses is human anatomy, and you do corpse dissection.) Something to look forward to?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Maximum Strength
Yep, it's time for a change of pace. Since I last posted, I've completed another ultra, a 33 or so mile trail run in North Jersey. It wasn't supposed to be that long, but I went seriously off course near the end and added about a mile to my total distance. Oops. I was slow, slow, slow and found the race a real mental challenge. My hamstrings were very tight and my stride was annoyingly short; my guess is my complete disregard for that stretching thing has finally caught up with me. I'm naturally pretty bendy and I've always taken that for granted, but either age or mileage or some combination thereof has most definitely bitten back, and hard. Hence, my lone resolution: stretch after every run. (I've already broken it once, but the fact that it's ONLY been once is actually quite good, I think.)
So... on to my winter project, which is to finally make a go of Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength. Yes, something completely different! I've put this off several times as Cressey recommends against doing any serious cardio when doing the program, and it's hard to train for distance runs without doing serious cardio. I'm finally willing to take that step back and stick to his recommended cardio guidelines, specifically, limited cardio that includes up to two HiiT sessions a week and short (by my standards) steady state sessions at 60 - 70% of max heart rate. Most of those steady state sessions are 10 minutes and take place immediately after strength training. I'll add one more on Sundays that will probably be a bit longer; that will be done with the running club I'm trying to start at the dojo (we've already had our inaugural run).
In other news, I am going to be offered a place in the Physical Therapy grad school program of my choice!!!! I expect to get the written offer this coming week. There are a few hoops left to jump through, including vaccinations, a background check, and some additional coursework (specifically, two physics labs), plus who knows what else - but the big hurdle is done and assuming all goes well between now and the end of May, I'll be starting school around Memorial day. Holy shit.
So... on to my winter project, which is to finally make a go of Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength. Yes, something completely different! I've put this off several times as Cressey recommends against doing any serious cardio when doing the program, and it's hard to train for distance runs without doing serious cardio. I'm finally willing to take that step back and stick to his recommended cardio guidelines, specifically, limited cardio that includes up to two HiiT sessions a week and short (by my standards) steady state sessions at 60 - 70% of max heart rate. Most of those steady state sessions are 10 minutes and take place immediately after strength training. I'll add one more on Sundays that will probably be a bit longer; that will be done with the running club I'm trying to start at the dojo (we've already had our inaugural run).
In other news, I am going to be offered a place in the Physical Therapy grad school program of my choice!!!! I expect to get the written offer this coming week. There are a few hoops left to jump through, including vaccinations, a background check, and some additional coursework (specifically, two physics labs), plus who knows what else - but the big hurdle is done and assuming all goes well between now and the end of May, I'll be starting school around Memorial day. Holy shit.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
It's getting to be about time
to send in grad school apps.
Yikes.
I've been working on my "personal statement." I found that part of my law school app to be incredibly challenging, and I'm finding it to be so in this case, too. What do I say? I need to talk about why I want to go into the field, my education, my work history, my current work status (PT aide experience), my experience as a trainer and instructor... I need to be concise and yet thorough, somehow pack the last 25 years in to two highly relevant pages.
However, the real rub for me has become, where to apply? One school is a lock. I've visited it; it has a good rep. It's local, which means a smaller life interruption. (Side question: is that a good thing or a bad thing, and would I know, either way?) Downside? They only take 30 people per year, so if I don't get in, what next? The other schools I'm interested in are out of state and therefore automatically more expensive. One is just across the bridge in Philly; another is in Pittsburgh. Pitt is the best school of those I'm considering, and the hardest to get into, and would be the greatest life interruption if I DID get in and go. Would that I were 22 and that whole severely displaced lifestyle thing was not a factor. But I do have a life and it's hard to imagine putting it aside - even for the short term.
Perhaps I need to get over that. Because right now I'm putting a lot of stock in Plan A, and I know I need to be flexible and willing to roll with plans B and C if necessary. It's like planning to fly by instrument rules: you file your flight plan, hope air traffic control gives gives you the routing you asked for, and deal with it if they don't.
-----
So as usual, I'm taking a bit of mental refuge in my exercise program. I've picked out my next race, a 50K in January, and after that I'm looking at a 50-miler in February and/or a pick your distance (up to 100 miles) in April. The entry fee for the 50-miler is a bit steep considering the ambiguities of winter training in these parts (what if I can't prep?) so I may go with the pick your distance, which is FREE but runs over a flat 8 mile asphalt loop in Philly which is considerably less interesting than a hilly trail in North Jersey. Or, not. Heh. I'm sure about January, but after that, it's a bit up in the air. I keep finding new sites with different races to consider so we'll just see how things develop. What is for sure, though, is that I do plan to keep training and racing - that little dilemma - to train/race or have a Winter of Strength - is over.
Which is not to say I'm not strength training. In fact, I'm revisiting NROL/Abs, with some changes. For starters I'm just doing each workout 4 times (instead of 6 - 8); this allows for two workouts a week and puts completion of this trip through the program concurrent with the training schedule for the January 50K. Very tidy. I like tidy. I'm keeping the exercise templates but using more difficult variations of the core work, and swapping out some of the exercises for similar ones (i.e., a front squat for an overhead squat, etc.). I'm also changing the set/rep ranges in the various phases, plus I'll be adding the "extra strength" option to Phase 2 and moving Phase 2's metabolic work to Phase 1. These changes are all suggestions from the book, so I don't feel as if I'm breaking any "rules" by making them. I think the structure of this program serves me very well, so depending on how things look post next race, who knows? I may make some different swapouts and run through the program yet again.
Yikes.
I've been working on my "personal statement." I found that part of my law school app to be incredibly challenging, and I'm finding it to be so in this case, too. What do I say? I need to talk about why I want to go into the field, my education, my work history, my current work status (PT aide experience), my experience as a trainer and instructor... I need to be concise and yet thorough, somehow pack the last 25 years in to two highly relevant pages.
However, the real rub for me has become, where to apply? One school is a lock. I've visited it; it has a good rep. It's local, which means a smaller life interruption. (Side question: is that a good thing or a bad thing, and would I know, either way?) Downside? They only take 30 people per year, so if I don't get in, what next? The other schools I'm interested in are out of state and therefore automatically more expensive. One is just across the bridge in Philly; another is in Pittsburgh. Pitt is the best school of those I'm considering, and the hardest to get into, and would be the greatest life interruption if I DID get in and go. Would that I were 22 and that whole severely displaced lifestyle thing was not a factor. But I do have a life and it's hard to imagine putting it aside - even for the short term.
Perhaps I need to get over that. Because right now I'm putting a lot of stock in Plan A, and I know I need to be flexible and willing to roll with plans B and C if necessary. It's like planning to fly by instrument rules: you file your flight plan, hope air traffic control gives gives you the routing you asked for, and deal with it if they don't.
-----
So as usual, I'm taking a bit of mental refuge in my exercise program. I've picked out my next race, a 50K in January, and after that I'm looking at a 50-miler in February and/or a pick your distance (up to 100 miles) in April. The entry fee for the 50-miler is a bit steep considering the ambiguities of winter training in these parts (what if I can't prep?) so I may go with the pick your distance, which is FREE but runs over a flat 8 mile asphalt loop in Philly which is considerably less interesting than a hilly trail in North Jersey. Or, not. Heh. I'm sure about January, but after that, it's a bit up in the air. I keep finding new sites with different races to consider so we'll just see how things develop. What is for sure, though, is that I do plan to keep training and racing - that little dilemma - to train/race or have a Winter of Strength - is over.
Which is not to say I'm not strength training. In fact, I'm revisiting NROL/Abs, with some changes. For starters I'm just doing each workout 4 times (instead of 6 - 8); this allows for two workouts a week and puts completion of this trip through the program concurrent with the training schedule for the January 50K. Very tidy. I like tidy. I'm keeping the exercise templates but using more difficult variations of the core work, and swapping out some of the exercises for similar ones (i.e., a front squat for an overhead squat, etc.). I'm also changing the set/rep ranges in the various phases, plus I'll be adding the "extra strength" option to Phase 2 and moving Phase 2's metabolic work to Phase 1. These changes are all suggestions from the book, so I don't feel as if I'm breaking any "rules" by making them. I think the structure of this program serves me very well, so depending on how things look post next race, who knows? I may make some different swapouts and run through the program yet again.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Blues Cruise 50K Race Report
When I was in college, I took a meteorology course. Now, I've been a weather geek since kidhood - when my peers were checking out Dr. Seuss, Nancy Drew, and the Little House books from the library, I was checking out every book they had on the weather - so in a lot of ways the class was a bit of a gut course for me, but it was nice to have a real meteorologist confirm some of the things I had long suspected, one of which being that a long-range weather forecast is worth the paper it's written on. So perhaps it was a bit naive of me to latch on to the extended forecast for race day (sunny, upper 50's - really, perfect) and more naive still to remain optimistic after it started going to pot, where it stayed. Hey, I'm an optimist - so shoot me!
Fortunately, it only rained at the beginning and end of the race; most of the day was cloudy (which isn't bad, really) but rain-free. Not that that would have made much difference on the course, much of which was apparently under water during the unusually heavy August/September rains we had. The going was on the slow side, even on what should have been the faster trails, due to mud; the overall winner was about 25 minutes over the race record.
I arrived about an hour before the start time and picked up my package and spiffy entrant's jacket in a nice light rain, then headed back to the dressing room (my car) to change. I had the foresight to pack a variety of options for race wear in my gym bag and ultimately went with a long sleeve tech shirt, my new Soloman trail shorts, and my Phillie's hat - because, you gotta represent during the playoffs! (It was a hit with the guys at the aid stations.) This was the inaugural run for these shorts, which were a combination of a light compression short under a light tech short. I decided to try this type of short after finding that regular running shorts, once soaked, as mine inevitably become during trail races, chafe, no matter how thin your thighs. Big win for me here - they were very comfortable and worked brilliantly.
Prior to entering this race, I'd heard that the course was pretty tough; lots of vertical gain and some pretty tough hills. For this reason, I was concerned, going in, with making the time, and my goal became just that - to finish the race within the time allotted. The first ten miles of the race, however, contained very little up and down. I didn't walk much, except where necessary due to mud, but wasn't exactly blazing along the trails. No, I was more or less staying with people I thought were going at a conservative pace, which was part of my strategy on the day. The strategy, suggested by an ultra runner's blog, went something along the lines of, go slower than you think you need to during the first third of the race, do what you have to during the middle third, and go hard during the final third. Sounds good, right? I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the time until around mile 7, when the person I had been chatting with for the past few miles suddenly said she thought we were going too slow to make the cut-off in time (if you weren't to mile 17.5 or so in four hours, they'd pull you off the course).
Well, that galvanized the casual right out of me. I didn't think she was right but for some reason, any semblance of mathematical ability suddenly took leave of my brain, so I couldn't confirm or refute what she was suggesting. What became crystal clear to me in that moment was my determination to FINISH the race; no way in hell was I NOT making the cut-off and no way in HELL was I not running harder now, where despite what I'd heard about the course, the going was relatively easy and I could make time. Fire lit under my ass, I left her behind and powered on. This became my theme for the rest of the day; go hard where I could, chill where I couldn't, and the Strategy of Thirds be damned. I got to mile 10 in about 2 hours, which eased my worries considerably; I had two hours to do the next 7.5 miles, which was in my mind doable regardless of the terrain.
Heh. Which was good, because immediately following the mile 10 aid station, the terrain got interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean in couple of places, I just looked up and said out loud, "Really? O.K." And up we went. And then down, and over innumerable wooden bridges (which were slippery), and through a 20 foot, thigh deep water crossing (which honestly felt fantastic).
The course was a mix of dirt trails alongside farm fields (!) and wooded trails, with a few short stints on gravel and paved roads. One of the nice things about the trail was that in a few places, it was actually relatively safe enough that one could look around a bit and enjoy the scenery, which was beautiful PA farmland. Thanks to this, I'm sure that if the course hadn't been so muddy, it would have run much faster for all, myself included. The aid stations were stocked with just about anything you could want, from bananas and oranges to various types of cookies to sandwiches to bacon. I stuck to fig newtons and bananas for the most part, with a couple of handfuls of M&Ms tossed in here and there. The volunteers were fantastic; I can't compliment them enough. There were enthusiastic and helpful and encouraging faces at every stop.
Somewhere within the last two miles - back in the steady, light rain that started the day - I knew I was going to meet my goal and I knew I was just loving what I was doing. I don't know why; my legs were yelling at me at the same time my mind was saying, "Go, GO!" and cheering me on. Throughout the race I was doing a lot of positive self-talk; my mantra was what I heard a fellow karateka, also a wrestling coach (subject of another blog post entirely) telling his kids - you look good, you feel good, you got this. No, I didn't set any records, I didn't place in my age group, I didn't set the world on fire. But at the day's end, I killed my goal, I learned new things about myself, and I was happy as hell.
So my plan from here is to take it a bit easy this week. For all intents and purposes, my 2011 race year is done, although I might still do the Dirty Bird 15K in November. Might. I think I'm finally starting to accept the idea that what I really love is this trail racing, trail ultra thing; much as I like strength training, I need to start looking at it as an integral part of a plan and not so much as a separate interest, into and of itself. This sort of paradigm shift is something I've been reluctant to make, I suppose because I take pride in my strength and don't like to compromise it. However I've never had a running season like this one; I've never run courses where strength really does make a huge difference in a practical manner (strong legs, strong core) and not so much in a numbers manner (looking just at the lifts at date A vs. date B). At my age I've put in my highest running mileage, over the year, perhaps ever and aside from a few lost toenails and an ugly blister (I'm sparing you the photos of this one), I've been running-related injury free. I'm seeing what supplementary activities make a difference for me (both strength training AND yoga), and it's falling into context. I think what I started to feel during the end of the race was a sense that I really belonged out there, and that I wanted to stay.
Fortunately, it only rained at the beginning and end of the race; most of the day was cloudy (which isn't bad, really) but rain-free. Not that that would have made much difference on the course, much of which was apparently under water during the unusually heavy August/September rains we had. The going was on the slow side, even on what should have been the faster trails, due to mud; the overall winner was about 25 minutes over the race record.
 |
| Entrant's jacket and finisher's hat. |
Prior to entering this race, I'd heard that the course was pretty tough; lots of vertical gain and some pretty tough hills. For this reason, I was concerned, going in, with making the time, and my goal became just that - to finish the race within the time allotted. The first ten miles of the race, however, contained very little up and down. I didn't walk much, except where necessary due to mud, but wasn't exactly blazing along the trails. No, I was more or less staying with people I thought were going at a conservative pace, which was part of my strategy on the day. The strategy, suggested by an ultra runner's blog, went something along the lines of, go slower than you think you need to during the first third of the race, do what you have to during the middle third, and go hard during the final third. Sounds good, right? I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the time until around mile 7, when the person I had been chatting with for the past few miles suddenly said she thought we were going too slow to make the cut-off in time (if you weren't to mile 17.5 or so in four hours, they'd pull you off the course).
Well, that galvanized the casual right out of me. I didn't think she was right but for some reason, any semblance of mathematical ability suddenly took leave of my brain, so I couldn't confirm or refute what she was suggesting. What became crystal clear to me in that moment was my determination to FINISH the race; no way in hell was I NOT making the cut-off and no way in HELL was I not running harder now, where despite what I'd heard about the course, the going was relatively easy and I could make time. Fire lit under my ass, I left her behind and powered on. This became my theme for the rest of the day; go hard where I could, chill where I couldn't, and the Strategy of Thirds be damned. I got to mile 10 in about 2 hours, which eased my worries considerably; I had two hours to do the next 7.5 miles, which was in my mind doable regardless of the terrain.
Heh. Which was good, because immediately following the mile 10 aid station, the terrain got interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean in couple of places, I just looked up and said out loud, "Really? O.K." And up we went. And then down, and over innumerable wooden bridges (which were slippery), and through a 20 foot, thigh deep water crossing (which honestly felt fantastic).
The course was a mix of dirt trails alongside farm fields (!) and wooded trails, with a few short stints on gravel and paved roads. One of the nice things about the trail was that in a few places, it was actually relatively safe enough that one could look around a bit and enjoy the scenery, which was beautiful PA farmland. Thanks to this, I'm sure that if the course hadn't been so muddy, it would have run much faster for all, myself included. The aid stations were stocked with just about anything you could want, from bananas and oranges to various types of cookies to sandwiches to bacon. I stuck to fig newtons and bananas for the most part, with a couple of handfuls of M&Ms tossed in here and there. The volunteers were fantastic; I can't compliment them enough. There were enthusiastic and helpful and encouraging faces at every stop.
Somewhere within the last two miles - back in the steady, light rain that started the day - I knew I was going to meet my goal and I knew I was just loving what I was doing. I don't know why; my legs were yelling at me at the same time my mind was saying, "Go, GO!" and cheering me on. Throughout the race I was doing a lot of positive self-talk; my mantra was what I heard a fellow karateka, also a wrestling coach (subject of another blog post entirely) telling his kids - you look good, you feel good, you got this. No, I didn't set any records, I didn't place in my age group, I didn't set the world on fire. But at the day's end, I killed my goal, I learned new things about myself, and I was happy as hell.
So my plan from here is to take it a bit easy this week. For all intents and purposes, my 2011 race year is done, although I might still do the Dirty Bird 15K in November. Might. I think I'm finally starting to accept the idea that what I really love is this trail racing, trail ultra thing; much as I like strength training, I need to start looking at it as an integral part of a plan and not so much as a separate interest, into and of itself. This sort of paradigm shift is something I've been reluctant to make, I suppose because I take pride in my strength and don't like to compromise it. However I've never had a running season like this one; I've never run courses where strength really does make a huge difference in a practical manner (strong legs, strong core) and not so much in a numbers manner (looking just at the lifts at date A vs. date B). At my age I've put in my highest running mileage, over the year, perhaps ever and aside from a few lost toenails and an ugly blister (I'm sparing you the photos of this one), I've been running-related injury free. I'm seeing what supplementary activities make a difference for me (both strength training AND yoga), and it's falling into context. I think what I started to feel during the end of the race was a sense that I really belonged out there, and that I wanted to stay.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Why do I do this, again?
Wowza. Wound up getting the day off work, which isn't exactly good - don't work, don't get paid - but isn't exactly bad, as I've been getting some college app stuff organized, deadlines on the calendar, etc.
Of course, it also means I've been on the interwebs, and my mind had gotten to wandering, and... I'm looking at two early 2012 ultras. What on earth is wrong with me??? OK, nothing - I'm a runner, we DO this - but what happened to the Winter of Strength I've been thinking about? Didn't happen last year; is it destined not to happen this year as well? Why is it so darned easy for me to keep putting that stuff off in favor of new races? Is this just a stage of my life?
Seriously. I had the rest of the year - frankly, pretty much the ENTIRE time between post October 2 race and my hoped/anticipated start of grad school planned as successive strength rotations - a second pass through NROL/Abs followed by Maximum Strength. I kid you not. It all fits perfectly, with enough extra room for some needed recovery and the possibility of an interruption here or there.
I guess I should look at this as a happy dilemma; I am healthy and injury free (if happily anticipating taking a week off after this next race) and have the luxury of choosing exactly what I want to do. Working in a PT office perhaps helps me appreciate this all the more. The problem, as always, is that I want to do everything. I know that trying to fit as much in the schedule as I do probably compromises the quality of any one thing - i.e., I would be stronger if I focused on lifting, faster if I focused on running, more bad-ass (or whatever) if I just did martial arts - but I enjoy them all, so that doesn't seem to be an option. And, so far, the balance seems to be working for me... I'm just abjectly curious about what would happen if I ran this strength experiment, and to do it I need to seriously cut back the running.
Except some really insistent part of my brain doesn't want to do that just now. Especially now, with the weather turning more favorable for running. Bugger.
Oh well. Enough thinking on this today. I can't stop the mind from bubbling away, but no decisions until post race!
Of course, it also means I've been on the interwebs, and my mind had gotten to wandering, and... I'm looking at two early 2012 ultras. What on earth is wrong with me??? OK, nothing - I'm a runner, we DO this - but what happened to the Winter of Strength I've been thinking about? Didn't happen last year; is it destined not to happen this year as well? Why is it so darned easy for me to keep putting that stuff off in favor of new races? Is this just a stage of my life?
Seriously. I had the rest of the year - frankly, pretty much the ENTIRE time between post October 2 race and my hoped/anticipated start of grad school planned as successive strength rotations - a second pass through NROL/Abs followed by Maximum Strength. I kid you not. It all fits perfectly, with enough extra room for some needed recovery and the possibility of an interruption here or there.
I guess I should look at this as a happy dilemma; I am healthy and injury free (if happily anticipating taking a week off after this next race) and have the luxury of choosing exactly what I want to do. Working in a PT office perhaps helps me appreciate this all the more. The problem, as always, is that I want to do everything. I know that trying to fit as much in the schedule as I do probably compromises the quality of any one thing - i.e., I would be stronger if I focused on lifting, faster if I focused on running, more bad-ass (or whatever) if I just did martial arts - but I enjoy them all, so that doesn't seem to be an option. And, so far, the balance seems to be working for me... I'm just abjectly curious about what would happen if I ran this strength experiment, and to do it I need to seriously cut back the running.
Except some really insistent part of my brain doesn't want to do that just now. Especially now, with the weather turning more favorable for running. Bugger.
Oh well. Enough thinking on this today. I can't stop the mind from bubbling away, but no decisions until post race!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Howdy
Been a while. I'd love to say there's a reason I haven't been updating besides that I haven't felt like updating, but there isn't. I was planning to post a race report after the 12 hour race, but decided to wait until I got my finisher stuff, which they said would be mailed to us, to do the post. Well, I'm still waiting...
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Super quick update
Yeah. So, the last time I was here looks to have been - at least two weeks ago. Since it's almost end of the month, I've updated my workouts (why not? I'll be erasing August in a few days - lol). Just haven't felt much like writing lately; no particular reason. End of summer blues, I'd say, except I'm not feeling particularly blue - I'd just rather spend free daylight time reading than writing, I guess. So, the news, in a few words:
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dodging lightening bolts
Hard to believe, but the hard part of training for the 12 hour race is done.
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
Monday, August 1, 2011
File this under "Weird Dreams"
You'd think (well, I'D think, anyway) the night after one did a really long run, a person would sleep like a frickin' log. Well, naturally, I never do. I have my scientific wild-assed guesses as to why this is so, the foremost being that my core temperature probably remains elevated for a looooong time after such a run, particularly since it's summer, and that always interferes with my sleeping, but whether that or any other SWAG is correct is irrelevant, since I suspect there's not much (aside from an ice bath - yikes!) I can do about it, and it resolves after a day, anyway.
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
Friday, July 29, 2011
At long last
I finished New Rules of Lifting for Abs today! The last phase took for-freaking-ever due to my decision to go the longer route (8 times for the A & B workouts instead of 6) and the need to drop from three workouts a week to two, due to the running workload.
On the whole, I really liked the program, and there's no doubt in my mind I'll do it again. There are sufficient progressions and variations built into the program or discussed in the book that I'm sure it could feel entirely different going through a second time, particularly if I stick to the 6 trips through A & B plan. Next time through I'll add the "Extra Strength" section to Phase 2, as well. I'm thinking I may do this as soon as October, although I'm getting ahead of myself as usual with the planning.
My goal for this rotation was to strengthen my core all around and to improve my strength overall, and I have to say, mission accomplished. Although there is a weight loss/leaning out element to the book, I don't need to lose weight. If anything, I MAY have gained a pound for the second rotation in a row, and I am starting to suspect it really is muscle. My body fat %, as I measure it, hasn't changed, and I can SEE the changes under the skin and in the mirror. However I claim this with what I hope is not false optimism; for all I know it's just the usual carry-more-water-in-summer thing and it'll vanish by the second week in September. On the other hand, I've been working damned hard, I've been eating in a way I hope maximizes the physiological responses to exercise, and while I've always considered myself a hard gainer, even hard gainers do, well, gain. So, here's to a rotation well done, and hopefully more lean body mass!
Which leaves me with a bit of a strength training programming gap. Next week will be a big time unload week, so I have some time to think a bit. Assuming all goes reasonably well at the 12 hour race, I will in all likelihood do a second ultra distance race (a 50K) in early October; that will be it for the high mileage stuff for the year. If that happens, it won't be until early/mid October that I start another serious strength training program - which may be that second go through NROL/A, to be followed (finally) by Maximum Strength. So that leaves me with the August - September time frame to work out.
Which I will, but not today!
On the whole, I really liked the program, and there's no doubt in my mind I'll do it again. There are sufficient progressions and variations built into the program or discussed in the book that I'm sure it could feel entirely different going through a second time, particularly if I stick to the 6 trips through A & B plan. Next time through I'll add the "Extra Strength" section to Phase 2, as well. I'm thinking I may do this as soon as October, although I'm getting ahead of myself as usual with the planning.
My goal for this rotation was to strengthen my core all around and to improve my strength overall, and I have to say, mission accomplished. Although there is a weight loss/leaning out element to the book, I don't need to lose weight. If anything, I MAY have gained a pound for the second rotation in a row, and I am starting to suspect it really is muscle. My body fat %, as I measure it, hasn't changed, and I can SEE the changes under the skin and in the mirror. However I claim this with what I hope is not false optimism; for all I know it's just the usual carry-more-water-in-summer thing and it'll vanish by the second week in September. On the other hand, I've been working damned hard, I've been eating in a way I hope maximizes the physiological responses to exercise, and while I've always considered myself a hard gainer, even hard gainers do, well, gain. So, here's to a rotation well done, and hopefully more lean body mass!
Which leaves me with a bit of a strength training programming gap. Next week will be a big time unload week, so I have some time to think a bit. Assuming all goes reasonably well at the 12 hour race, I will in all likelihood do a second ultra distance race (a 50K) in early October; that will be it for the high mileage stuff for the year. If that happens, it won't be until early/mid October that I start another serious strength training program - which may be that second go through NROL/A, to be followed (finally) by Maximum Strength. So that leaves me with the August - September time frame to work out.
Which I will, but not today!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Down & Dirty Mud Run
Although I have a few trail runs under my belt, some of which have involved more than a little mud, this was my first official Mud Run. Mud Runs seem to be exploding these days; they're one part run, one part obstacle course, and one part - spa treament? What made this one fun and different for me is that I actually did it with friends. This was a nice change of pace from going off alone, running alone, and coming home alone - not that I really mind any of that, but it was great to have someone to chat and laugh with after all was said and done.
I headed out with my karate sensei, his wife, and another student from the dojo (A) at 5:30 am. Our scheduled race time was 7 am, and some of us still needed to pick up our race packages. A and I had gone the day before, and both that pick up area and the one on race day were quick and well organized. I am actually the only one of the group who has been putting in any real miles lately, and while everyone encouraged me to just go ahead and run at whatever pace I wanted, what I actually wanted was to run WITH people, so we agreed to start together and to run more or less together through the race. As it happened, it was actually A's first race ever! She's an experienced soccer player so it's not like she's a stranger to competition, but picking a 10K mud run as your first race is, IMO, pretty cool.
The start was very well done. The sent groups of runners off in three minute intervals, presumably to avoid "bunching" at the obstacles. That worked very well over the course of the run; I don't think I waited more than half a minute anywhere to do an obstacle, and generally didn't have to wait at all. We started fairly well back and probably weren't off much before 7:30.
The first obstacle was netting, set about 2 feet over the ground - you had to crawl under the netting. Good warm up, and a hint of things to come! The second obstacle was a ladder-style climb - the thing looked like a saw horse on steroids with extra slats. Again, somewhat of a warm-up obstacle. Then it was off into the woods on a pretty nice, wide trail. Even though the hour was early and the weather was, relatively speaking, pretty comfortable for July - the current heat wave hadn't started yet - it was nice to be in shade! In the woods it was up and over a four foot wall, then back on the trail.
At this point, the trail was pretty open, compared to what I've been running on in actual trail runs. There was all kinds of room to move and groove, and it was even split for a while, as you used a small section of the trail as in out and back fashion. After a pretty good climb, there were that they described as "Marine hurdles." These were three connected, very large saw horse style things with no slats, just a series of three crossbars. I think you were supposed to cross over the bars; however, as they were all well over my head, I crossed at the connection, as did many other people. In fact, at first I thought that was how you were supposed to do them; half way over, I realized it wasn't. Oh well; there were no points for style, so it was what it was. Up until this point, which was nearly halfway through the course, I had been running with sensei; here we switched off, and he ran with the Mrs. and I ran with A.
The race continued on more traditional single track trail, with the types of "obstacles" you generally can expect to encounter on a normal trail race; some downed trees, and a couple of creek crossings. Next obstacle was a pile of straw bales; we had been warned that this was a particularly tricky obstacle, but as an old farm girl, I didn't find them so, and it didn't seem that many others did, either. Then came what was easily the dullest part of the course - a straight flat stretch out maybe half a mile to a set of crawl-through tunnels (which I hated! I kept finding the wires with my bony knees - not fun) then back in along side the out trail. Dull, dull, dull - but A and I were having a great chat, which totally saved it. From there it was back into the woods and over a cargo net set over an a-frame, which, naturally, brought to mind Ninja Warrior.
And then we got muddy, part 1. This was a crawl through a mud pit, under ropes set about two feet over the mud. It was fairly short but you came out covered; fortunately there was a water stop right afterward so you could splash off any really bad bits (mud in the mouth, for example). Then it was back on the trail, and headed for home, where there were four quick obstacles before the finish. First was a 10' rock climbing wall. I've never done one, other than a little kiddie one at the playground (and only then mostly to act as a safety net for one of my nephews), so that was interesting, but not really a problem. From there it was on to mud pit #1 - this one was a waist-deep muddy water crossing that actually served to knock off some of the mud you still carried with you from the first mud crawl. A and I paused at this point to wait for sensei and Mrs., who were a couple of minutes behind us, so we could all cross the finish line together. Group intact, we headed for the next to last obstacle, a slippery wall set at a low (maybe 30 degree) angle. The idea was to use ropes to pull yourself up and over; you probably could have walked it, but there were volunteers (in military garb!) there yelling at you to go over it, belly down, so you did.
Last obstacle was, of course, the long mud pit! Here the ropes were set only six inches or so above the muck, and as you will see in the picture, we basically complied and got the thorough mud treatment:
All in all, it was a great day. Between the obstacles breaking things up and the camaraderie on the course, the time flew by (although we were most definitely not going fast!). It was a nice change of pace from more serious racing. Adding a couple of these things to the calendar each year definitely seems like it could keep things fun and interesting.
I headed out with my karate sensei, his wife, and another student from the dojo (A) at 5:30 am. Our scheduled race time was 7 am, and some of us still needed to pick up our race packages. A and I had gone the day before, and both that pick up area and the one on race day were quick and well organized. I am actually the only one of the group who has been putting in any real miles lately, and while everyone encouraged me to just go ahead and run at whatever pace I wanted, what I actually wanted was to run WITH people, so we agreed to start together and to run more or less together through the race. As it happened, it was actually A's first race ever! She's an experienced soccer player so it's not like she's a stranger to competition, but picking a 10K mud run as your first race is, IMO, pretty cool.
The start was very well done. The sent groups of runners off in three minute intervals, presumably to avoid "bunching" at the obstacles. That worked very well over the course of the run; I don't think I waited more than half a minute anywhere to do an obstacle, and generally didn't have to wait at all. We started fairly well back and probably weren't off much before 7:30.
The first obstacle was netting, set about 2 feet over the ground - you had to crawl under the netting. Good warm up, and a hint of things to come! The second obstacle was a ladder-style climb - the thing looked like a saw horse on steroids with extra slats. Again, somewhat of a warm-up obstacle. Then it was off into the woods on a pretty nice, wide trail. Even though the hour was early and the weather was, relatively speaking, pretty comfortable for July - the current heat wave hadn't started yet - it was nice to be in shade! In the woods it was up and over a four foot wall, then back on the trail.
At this point, the trail was pretty open, compared to what I've been running on in actual trail runs. There was all kinds of room to move and groove, and it was even split for a while, as you used a small section of the trail as in out and back fashion. After a pretty good climb, there were that they described as "Marine hurdles." These were three connected, very large saw horse style things with no slats, just a series of three crossbars. I think you were supposed to cross over the bars; however, as they were all well over my head, I crossed at the connection, as did many other people. In fact, at first I thought that was how you were supposed to do them; half way over, I realized it wasn't. Oh well; there were no points for style, so it was what it was. Up until this point, which was nearly halfway through the course, I had been running with sensei; here we switched off, and he ran with the Mrs. and I ran with A.
The race continued on more traditional single track trail, with the types of "obstacles" you generally can expect to encounter on a normal trail race; some downed trees, and a couple of creek crossings. Next obstacle was a pile of straw bales; we had been warned that this was a particularly tricky obstacle, but as an old farm girl, I didn't find them so, and it didn't seem that many others did, either. Then came what was easily the dullest part of the course - a straight flat stretch out maybe half a mile to a set of crawl-through tunnels (which I hated! I kept finding the wires with my bony knees - not fun) then back in along side the out trail. Dull, dull, dull - but A and I were having a great chat, which totally saved it. From there it was back into the woods and over a cargo net set over an a-frame, which, naturally, brought to mind Ninja Warrior.
And then we got muddy, part 1. This was a crawl through a mud pit, under ropes set about two feet over the mud. It was fairly short but you came out covered; fortunately there was a water stop right afterward so you could splash off any really bad bits (mud in the mouth, for example). Then it was back on the trail, and headed for home, where there were four quick obstacles before the finish. First was a 10' rock climbing wall. I've never done one, other than a little kiddie one at the playground (and only then mostly to act as a safety net for one of my nephews), so that was interesting, but not really a problem. From there it was on to mud pit #1 - this one was a waist-deep muddy water crossing that actually served to knock off some of the mud you still carried with you from the first mud crawl. A and I paused at this point to wait for sensei and Mrs., who were a couple of minutes behind us, so we could all cross the finish line together. Group intact, we headed for the next to last obstacle, a slippery wall set at a low (maybe 30 degree) angle. The idea was to use ropes to pull yourself up and over; you probably could have walked it, but there were volunteers (in military garb!) there yelling at you to go over it, belly down, so you did.
Last obstacle was, of course, the long mud pit! Here the ropes were set only six inches or so above the muck, and as you will see in the picture, we basically complied and got the thorough mud treatment:
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| Us, in our post race glory. I'm second from the right. |
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| Race shirt and finisher medal. |
Thursday, July 14, 2011
So you think you can trick me?
I tried, I really did.
I'm not the world's biggest fan of reality shows - probably the most popular ones I've ever watched are Project Runway and Top Chef. I've never watched Idol, Survivor, Apprentice... I just don't care. So You Think You Can Dance has been at the periphery of my interest for a while (actually, a very long while, it turns out - I had no idea it was in its 8th season!), mainly because dance can be incredibly athletic and I can get sucked into pretty much anything that involves physicality. So last night being a vast wasteland of TV nothingness (one of the downsides of the All Star Break), I though I might check it out.
Wow. And I don't mean that in a good way. It was a 2 hour show, six couples, two dances each. The dances, as it turns out, take less than two minutes each, so let's do a little math, eh? We'll give them the full two minutes, which means there's 24 minutes of action spread over a 120 minutes slot. And what takes up the rest of the time? Judges and the host yammering. I frankly couldn't STAND to watch them - they were so annoying, it was almost surreal - and was vigorously channel surfing within the first 15 minutes. I flipped back to the channel and managed to catch parts of three more dances, but gave up totally well before the first hour was out. What a shame; the idea has a lot of promise, but then the judges think they're the stars... it's a fail. (Same sort of thing goes for certain sports announcers who can't get over themselves and just call the game - not that I'd mention any *Joe Theismann Joe Buck Tony Siragusa for starters* names. Makes me watch sports with the TV on mute half the time.) I suppose I could watch the performances on YouTube but I'm not invested enough in the series to bother. So much for a midsummer night's diversion.
I have a week left to inform Law School of my decision one way or another. As it stands, I will almost definitely not go; as much as I'd love to do law school, I can't wrap my head around spending the rest of my working life as a lawyer. OTOH, physical therapy seems like such a natural fit to me, I think I'd really, really regret giving up on it this easily, going for the law thing JUST because I can. So... that's pretty much it, honored as I am to have actually gotten in to school.
Training is going pretty well, although this past Sunday's run was not fun. I've been starting the long runs before dawn, but I still wind up finishing them well after sunup. Most weeks it seems I've been lucky enough that it's been hazy our outright cloudy (one morning I ran in thundershowers!), but this past week the sun was full out right away, which after a spell made for less than pleasant going. I've been wondering if this all really will be sufficient for me to make my goal in - wow, just over seven weeks now - or if I should pass on this race and do a 50K in October instead. Of course I remember all too well my doubts about my September half last year (although they were related to time, not distance), and that was pretty much the heat talking. I suspect this is that to some degree as well.
I have a couple of off schedule weeks coming up, what with the mud run this Sunday and Special Training next Sunday. I'm just going to take this next week as a welcome step back week and not make up the missed long run; the following week is a bit more up in the air. Tentatively I plan to make up THAT missed long run on Monday, take Tuesday off and just feel out the schedule from there; however the Special Training is a beach training, and I seem to recall last year's beach training being pretty tiring, so I guess I'll just play that one by ear. As for strength training, believe it or not I'm STILL on NROL/Abs. Doing just two workouts a week has really extended this last phase and while it's clear from my workout logs that I'm still getting something out of it, I think I'd be getting even more out of it under different circumstances - not that I'd change anything at this point. That said, it's been six weeks on these two workouts with five workouts left in the program, and they're wearing a bit thin on me right about now. But I will finish it out, and that will actually leave me with a question of what to do NEXT, or more accurately, between the end of NR and the 12 hour race, since I'm sure I won't want to start a new program just then. I'm leaning toward just taking the TRX to the gym and messing with it, along with one heavy lift per workout. Just a thought.
Funny, I have no plans for AFTER the 12-hour... Feels odd! I'm sure I'll come up with something...
I'm not the world's biggest fan of reality shows - probably the most popular ones I've ever watched are Project Runway and Top Chef. I've never watched Idol, Survivor, Apprentice... I just don't care. So You Think You Can Dance has been at the periphery of my interest for a while (actually, a very long while, it turns out - I had no idea it was in its 8th season!), mainly because dance can be incredibly athletic and I can get sucked into pretty much anything that involves physicality. So last night being a vast wasteland of TV nothingness (one of the downsides of the All Star Break), I though I might check it out.
Wow. And I don't mean that in a good way. It was a 2 hour show, six couples, two dances each. The dances, as it turns out, take less than two minutes each, so let's do a little math, eh? We'll give them the full two minutes, which means there's 24 minutes of action spread over a 120 minutes slot. And what takes up the rest of the time? Judges and the host yammering. I frankly couldn't STAND to watch them - they were so annoying, it was almost surreal - and was vigorously channel surfing within the first 15 minutes. I flipped back to the channel and managed to catch parts of three more dances, but gave up totally well before the first hour was out. What a shame; the idea has a lot of promise, but then the judges think they're the stars... it's a fail. (Same sort of thing goes for certain sports announcers who can't get over themselves and just call the game - not that I'd mention any *Joe Theismann Joe Buck Tony Siragusa for starters* names. Makes me watch sports with the TV on mute half the time.) I suppose I could watch the performances on YouTube but I'm not invested enough in the series to bother. So much for a midsummer night's diversion.
I have a week left to inform Law School of my decision one way or another. As it stands, I will almost definitely not go; as much as I'd love to do law school, I can't wrap my head around spending the rest of my working life as a lawyer. OTOH, physical therapy seems like such a natural fit to me, I think I'd really, really regret giving up on it this easily, going for the law thing JUST because I can. So... that's pretty much it, honored as I am to have actually gotten in to school.
Training is going pretty well, although this past Sunday's run was not fun. I've been starting the long runs before dawn, but I still wind up finishing them well after sunup. Most weeks it seems I've been lucky enough that it's been hazy our outright cloudy (one morning I ran in thundershowers!), but this past week the sun was full out right away, which after a spell made for less than pleasant going. I've been wondering if this all really will be sufficient for me to make my goal in - wow, just over seven weeks now - or if I should pass on this race and do a 50K in October instead. Of course I remember all too well my doubts about my September half last year (although they were related to time, not distance), and that was pretty much the heat talking. I suspect this is that to some degree as well.
I have a couple of off schedule weeks coming up, what with the mud run this Sunday and Special Training next Sunday. I'm just going to take this next week as a welcome step back week and not make up the missed long run; the following week is a bit more up in the air. Tentatively I plan to make up THAT missed long run on Monday, take Tuesday off and just feel out the schedule from there; however the Special Training is a beach training, and I seem to recall last year's beach training being pretty tiring, so I guess I'll just play that one by ear. As for strength training, believe it or not I'm STILL on NROL/Abs. Doing just two workouts a week has really extended this last phase and while it's clear from my workout logs that I'm still getting something out of it, I think I'd be getting even more out of it under different circumstances - not that I'd change anything at this point. That said, it's been six weeks on these two workouts with five workouts left in the program, and they're wearing a bit thin on me right about now. But I will finish it out, and that will actually leave me with a question of what to do NEXT, or more accurately, between the end of NR and the 12 hour race, since I'm sure I won't want to start a new program just then. I'm leaning toward just taking the TRX to the gym and messing with it, along with one heavy lift per workout. Just a thought.
Funny, I have no plans for AFTER the 12-hour... Feels odd! I'm sure I'll come up with something...
Friday, July 1, 2011
Doctor, or Lawyer?
That is the real question.
Because the question is not, do I want to go to law school? I do. Unquestionably. I absolutely relish the very thought of the challenge and think I would thrive in that atmosphere. But do I want to spend the rest of my working life as an attorney? That, I can't answer as quickly or as definitively. Part of me relishes that thought, and yet...
...the past year has been all about my getting into a physical therapy school. That, frankly, IS something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. But will I be able to get into school? If I were looking at two acceptances, the choice would be clear. Maybe. I think. Doesn't matter, though, because I'm not. I wonder if I can defer my acceptance, or if this is a one shot deal? If so, do I blow the shot, in hopes that I'll also get into a PT school? If I don't get in, will I be kicking myself in the ass for passing this up?
Lots of thinking to do, so for the moment, I'm just relishing the fact that I actually got into Law School. While I'm sure that's not the world's most earth-shattering accomplishment, it ain't half bad, either.
Because the question is not, do I want to go to law school? I do. Unquestionably. I absolutely relish the very thought of the challenge and think I would thrive in that atmosphere. But do I want to spend the rest of my working life as an attorney? That, I can't answer as quickly or as definitively. Part of me relishes that thought, and yet...
...the past year has been all about my getting into a physical therapy school. That, frankly, IS something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. But will I be able to get into school? If I were looking at two acceptances, the choice would be clear. Maybe. I think. Doesn't matter, though, because I'm not. I wonder if I can defer my acceptance, or if this is a one shot deal? If so, do I blow the shot, in hopes that I'll also get into a PT school? If I don't get in, will I be kicking myself in the ass for passing this up?
Lots of thinking to do, so for the moment, I'm just relishing the fact that I actually got into Law School. While I'm sure that's not the world's most earth-shattering accomplishment, it ain't half bad, either.
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