before turning

I haven't made it to the Y in what feels like forever and wow can I tell. True it's only been a week or so, but I really miss it.

I'm frustrated that I can't seem to get trips to the Y into my schedule before Saturday, but that doesn't quite explain why I am almost craving it.

Then for the past 3 days I have been also been craving veggies. Last night I actually had salad instead of the fabulous fries I usually get with my sandwich at Sun Street.

Suddenly I want to revise my fiction writing. Did I 'sit' on it long enough to hatch it or what?

This is all fine and at the same time a bit strange.

I feel like I should buckle up for the next turn of the wheel.

plans changed due to crowds

Word count = 8064.

I am hoping today will be a good for writing, I already have over 1000 words. I got up fairly early and did a quick intense work out at the Y first thing. Then I attempted to go to one of my favorite cafes for brunch and writing but I didn't even get in the door. It was packed!

That was disappointing and I was so hungry by the time I got back home needing to cook myself something. Still post food everything seems to be working out fine for now. I am certainly ahead of last year's pace.

One of the downsides of writing is all the extra inactivity, my body hates that. So I am going to try to insert my mini intense workouts several times a week. It was be especially challenging this week at work. Extra time in the office for training means extra sitting. I'm sure it will work out somehow with some luck.

Oceans of good luck to everyone's challenges!

stopped waiting

It was silly but apparently I was waiting for the heat to break so that I could feel better. With my brain on molasses mode it took days [and days] for me to realize:

a] not exercising was making me feel really crappy [and crabby]
b] perhaps it would be useful to figure out a way to exercise in spite of the heat thus feeling better sooner

It took awhile but finally I gave up on the expectation 'summer = exercising outside' and headed indoors to the Y and started running there.

Much better. It makes me giggle to think of my slowness.

first outdoor run of 2011

It was hard to convince myself to leave the house.

Work had been a bear and even though I was almost sure that going for a run would make me feel better or at least sleep better, I was resistant. Even though half of me thought it sounded like fun especially since chilly temps are due to return swiftly, I almost didn't do it.

But I did and it was great to run outdoors, the first time running at all since my chicken pox. The sanctuary where I run looked totally different with all the trees bare. It felt so open. All the ice is off the water so there were lots of birds and some of the trees had urgent buds poking everywhere.

I ran and walked the 2+ miles and felt content and lucky. Especially since they are saying April snow on Friday!

missing my bike

As soon as I wrote post's title I realized it could be taken in two ways.

I do miss my bike, the one that was stolen last summer. It's been over 6 months and because I spent so much time running I never did replace it or decide exactly what I was going to do about having a bike. I rode my wife's the few times I needed to get somewhere.

Now we have snow on snow here and for the past week or so I have been missing biking. Even though I don't winter bike normally, still I am just missing it. The activity itself.

I tried out the super quick ignition cycle class on my lunch break today and that was nice [and a great work out], but in a way it made me miss biking more. I guess it's more than biking. I miss being outdoors and sunshine and clear streets and smells of vegetation.

Oh well Imbolc is next week which means spring is coming and soon it will be clear biking weather. Until then I'll keep doing spin.

so that running thing? report already

As at least some readers know I started running last April. Those who have known me long hit the floor in a resounding thud of disbelief. The idea of me running still seems goofy to me as well. But I have been keeping at it in a very modest way the past 7 months.

However for the past 3 months I have kept it around the 2 1/3 mile mark. While this is huge for me there really wasn't anything to report. It was a static state of running, and yes I know that doesn't make much sense.

Now with the early and beautiful snow I am back to running indoors completely which I do not find as comfortable. I am attempting to run on the treadmill, which still feels so awkward. Part of me insists that I need to worry about shooting off the back of it. Hopefully I will get used to it at some point.

The indoor track is more tiring than running on dirt outside, or is it that it's just more boring? I have to wonder. Either way I am spending time on the elliptical machine which does not seem like running to me at all and getting the odd mile or part of mile in around the track or treadmill. I may not make the 5k mark until sometime next year when the weather warms up....I'll reassess after the holidays.

In the meantime while working out today I realized, you know I think I kind of like running. Perhaps not all the time but way more than I would have ever guessed. It's easy. It's good exercise, I just need to do it more often. I need that happy pill that exercise gives.

I hope everyone gets to participate in their favorite de-stressor this weekend.

My apologies to those who hit the floor again when they read that I actually like running. I know it's freakish sometimes how we surprise ourselves [and others]. peace out

finally on track

Yesterday for the first time this entire month I was above where I needed to be for nanowrimo, no longer lagging behind.

word count = 43,581

That means the end is really in sight. It also means I wrote over 9000 words yesterday and my brain is rather numb.

But no matter, I'm sure by December I'll be able to pithily sum up my experience from this year's nano, now all I can do is sit with a blank look on my face.

It's early Saturday morning and I am off to workout. Hopefully that will help me get these last 6K words written this weekend before my next week explodes with work and fun. Although at this moment it doesn't seem very likely... I think I was writing something but I only have the vaguest recollection of it and really no idea what I was going to write next. huh

perhaps more coffee would help?

challenge thinking

word count = 7249 and I am not done writing for the day yet. I am hoping to get to 10K today.

I have been thinking about challenges. Although nano is not new to me this year, it is certainly still a challenge. In fact looking in the archives on November 14 last year I was at ...hmmm I don't have a snippet for this day last year. But on Nov 12th last year I was at about 12000+ words so I am certainly off that pace. Being challenged.

Part of me wants to panic a bit and part of me keeps thinking 'let's see what happens, I think I can do this.' Well, whatever the outcome it feels great writing today and more time is planned for it tomorrow.

You know I haven't run a 5K yet, but I am still running. And even figuring out how to do it on the treadmill. More challenge. Makes me wonder how I can bring a bit of challenge joy to my work. Hmmm

Yummy challenges to all who need them.

running nowhere week 8

My running at the festival did not go as I had hoped. In fact my whole 'week 8' got derailed.

First every time I tried to run my 28 minutes it just didn't work out, my podcasts kept on cutting out on me, which would throw me off. I was left not really knowing how long or far I ran. Just small challenges but enough to confuse me.

Then there was the muggy blanket of humidity that wrapped all of us in MI. In order to run in some comfort and have time to shower I would need to get up very early before it got totally oppressive. But most nights were quite noisy until late. Even with earplugs it was hard falling asleep. Getting up at dawn just did not seem like good self care. I couldn't prepare.

So I just let it go. I was getting tons of other exercise just walking everywhere all the time. I think I only took the shuttles once the whole week. When I woke up on Saturday/race morning it was cooler but that was the only time all week. I wasn't prepared to run though. And the 8 am starting time just seemed too late, it heated up so fast.

I realize now that it wasn't meant to be this year. A race during August heat was too much of challenge for my new self. I think I'll shoot for late September or October if I can find one not on asphalt. Meanwhile life is returning back to usual, the heat looks like it may be breaking for at least the next few days and I am hopeful I'll get a few runs in. Send me good luck and happy exercising all!

running report week 7 and Argentina

Week 7 was interesting.

Two of my 25 minute runs were fine. But the middle run showed me how little my mind and body communicate.

When I did my first 25 minute run in week 6, my brain was amazed that my body could do it. So for week 7 mentally I was comfortable, it was more 25 minute runs. So I was surprised that during my second run of the week that I dropped into a walk without any conscious thought after 15 minutes. My body just took the break. I went back into my jog after a minute or so but soon I dropped into another walk, this time I walked 3 minutes or so until my body really felt like moving again.

In spite of feeling fine in my head, my body only ran 21 minutes or so. It showed me again how different my head space can be from my physical space.

My end run for week 7 which I did this morning was nice. Body and head space were aligned. Weather at 7 am pretty pleasant. Bugs not too bad. I do miss the autumn breezes though, we have had a lot of calm, buggy weather this summer.

My ankle was feeling much better than earlier in the month. All my runs were outside so I am still not sure how far I am going. 2+ miles for sure. Hopefully I'll make it to the track for my Wednesday lunch break and get a good idea how far I am running.

Here's to a great week 8, and my attempt at a 5K in less than 2 weeks. I guess it will depend on the weather and my body how far I make it running that day. It will be something new. Best wishes to everyone's summer projects.

Not running related-- I noticed this blog had it's first visitor from Argentina, and that reminded me to express my pleasure and delight at the July 22 legalization of marriage for all adults in that country. Good to have wonderful news to celebrate. Did you see the ad?

running report week 6

There has been a lot of heat, bugs and humidity the first 11 days of July until today which is beautiful and not sticky. Still even with fascinating company in the house I did 'week' 6 of the C25K program.

Although my running days are more spread out, I did do week 6 exactly as specified otherwise.

Run 1 was a 5 min run, 3 min walk, 8 min run, 3 min walk, 5 min run.
Run 2 was a 10 min run, 3 min walk, 10 min run
Run 3 was a 25 min run.

Again there were outside factors that made this challenging. Mostly the heat, humidity and bugs. There were a few times I seemed to be getting a stitch but then it would subside.
I also had internal challenges, especially today. 25 minutes seems so much longer than 20. I really felt doubtful that it was going to be possible for me today, but I guess I still have a lot to learn about my body. Perhaps it can do all sorts of stuff I am not aware of...
My left ankle that I broke many years ago has been stiff and painful this month, so I am trying to give it a lot of tlc.

I did all runs outside so I am not precisely sure how far I am running. The loop I am doing is 2.2 miles long. I keep waiting for the endorphins that everyone raves about, but although some minutes are certainly easier than others I don't seem to be hitting a 'happy rush' yet.

I am feeling more confident about the race I'll do on August 7th. [unless it is very hot or something] Hard to believe that is less than 4 weeks away. Everyone has said that running in a race is easier, that the energy of the crowd carries you along so I think it will be fun. Again it will be on nice sandy trails that I prefer, and who knows maybe I'll be able to run the whole way.... Although I don't know that I would say I 'like' running, I do enjoy having an exercise I can do almost anywhere as long as I have the right shoes and bra. I certainly don't hate it.

So onto week 7, which is more of the same, I hope to run indoors at least once and get a better idea of how far I am going. Best of luck if you are currently challenging yourself with something new, you can do it!

running report week 5 [a,b,c]

I am still running .... but my "week" 5 was stretched out even more than I anticipated. Not only were there 3 different types of runs on the schedule but other events really interfered at times.

So first run was 3 intervals of 5 minutes of running. I did this 3 times. I really struggled to get running in, it was so humid outside and my gym had re-varnished a floor and the fumes just killed me for over a week. I felt stuck, when I tried to run I would start feeling sick after 10 minutes or so. It was pretty miserable but somehow I managed to stumble along and get some running done. Then last week I managed to get outside when the weather was decent and ran at the wildlife preserve and at our cottage, the dirt/sand paths were comfortable and I did 2 runs of 2, 8 minute intervals. It went well. And the week 5 podcast had great music luckily.

So this morning I did the 5 minute warm up, 20 minute run, and 5 minute cool down. I really didn't know if I could do it. It seemed like a huge leap going from 16 minutes total running in two separate intervals to one interval 20 minutes long. An increase of 4 minutes and no walking. I had to step out in faith and try it but I was so proud of myself when I was done. Perhaps even though mentally it seemed like a big increase my body didn't see all that much difference?

Here it is almost the end of June, I have been running almost 3 months and I can run 20 minutes. It is feeling pretty awesome. So onto week 6, it also is several different run types in one week, I may just see if I can do it they way the suggest. I'll be doing my 5k first race the first week of August when I am in Michigan. More running updates to come.

the end of the week

So glad this week is ending because it has not been all that fun.
My bike was stolen Thursday between 5 -6:30 pm. I reacted in the typical way; feeling confused and wondering if I perhaps just misplaced it somewhere. There was feeling of unreality all around. I felt just more confusion then sad then vulnerable, violated, bummed and just plain old weird.

That was the first bike I ever picked out and bought. It was partly a gift from my 2 closest friends, I am going to miss that bike. hmmmm

Then Friday morning I woke up with a migraine. Which still seems totally weird to me. I was fine when I went to bed but somehow while I was sleeping I got sick. It basically wrung me out all Friday and Saturday, which coincided with my wife getting some nasty virus with a temp of 102 and white blood cell count of 2000. This coincided with rain, humidity and more rain, we were quite the dank and unhappy pair who canceled all plans for visiting the lake this weekend.

Now it is Sunday. Things are looking a bit brighter. I tried to run at the Y and semi-succeeded, although the humidity and fumes from the redone floor made me less effective. My wife no longer has a fever, it is still rainy and humid and three people have offered to loan me bikes. So slowly the clouds are lifting at least metaphorically and our health induced breaks seem to be winding down.

I know there are people out there who had wonderful bright and sunshiny weekends. I love to think of that and live vicariously. Here's to a happy next week for all.

running report week 4

We all hear that time is relative and my running certainly proves that. Here I am with 'week' 4 finished and I have been running for 2 months. Most of my weeks last 8 days minimum

My own pace is enough though.

Week 4 was a nice gentle increase of over my week 3a. I was doing the full 3 minute and 5 minute intervals, my running distance increased over the week from 1 mile to 1 and 1/8.

I ran outside here in the city for only the second time. I was only on the sidewalk for a couple of blocks. Concrete is really nasty on the hips. But the sky and flowers were all lovely. For the first time the podcast had a musical choice that I found odd, but is certainly distracted me from the effort of running while I tried to figure out if the song was suppose to sound like that.

I have really missed my heart rate monitor which snapped and broke in a spin class almost 2 weeks ago. I am still waiting to hear if it will be replaced by the maker, it's less than a year old and was not cheap.

Week 5, has 3 different types of running going on, supposedly culminating in one 20 minute run, no walking, at the end of the week. I understand the purpose of this but I think it's going to take more than 2 running sessions for me to build up to 20 minutes. So I will be doing weeks 5a and 5b then trying 20 minute run sometime around the summer solstice before moving on to 'week' 6. I am feeling fine but still waiting for that increase of energy that regular exercise is suppose to bring. I hope it's coming.

Running report week 3a

Well that was a waste of a good rant. But it certainly set up a good laugh for me.

Full of glowing self care I did running week 3A of my own devising. Since I didn't have the podcast to give me timed cues, I did it by distance.

So the good [great] news is I have been running a whole mile [not continuously], a modest increase of a quarter of a mile [or so] from the week before. But something changed when I started paying attention to distance...or perhaps it was just a super tiring week so I ran slower?
Imagine my wonder, chagrin, then amusement when I looked at how long it took me to run my 1/6 and 1/3 mile intervals. About 2+ and 4+ minutes, which gave me an estimated total of 14 minutes total. That was quite the surprise

Those of you who are into numbers and have good memories are probably thinking; hmm, 9 to 14 minutes is in itself a pretty big jump and also 14 is really not that much less than 16. You are right. This was the source of my laughter. Fueled with righteous indignation at C25K asking too much of me, I made up my own week and then it ended up not being all that different.

It also made me realize that I am going way slower than the average C25k runner. My pace certainly not up to 1.5 miles in 16 minutes yet.

I do think week 3A was a good thing. Those 14 minutes [1 mile] pushed me a lot and I don't think I could have done more. It ended up being a good increment for me. Perhaps I can do more than I realized. It's so hard to know when to push and when to take care of yourself, especially when you are doing an activity where you could injure yourself.

We spent some time up at the cottage the past week [one of the reasons for lack of blogging] and I ran outside for only the second time. The packed dirt/sand, barely traveled roads were comfortable for running. The humidity was not though. I need to be much more aware of the weather if I am going to run outside, do it earlier. So onto week 4. I am still a bit nervous about it [not sure why] but I'm going to see what happens.

Running report wk 3

It was a strange 'week 3' [8 days] in running land. I had my first almost stitch. ow. Also I hadn't paid attention to what the interval change was going to be for week 3 so the first time I listened to the podcast I almost walked into a wall.


2 [90 sec] intervals and 2 intervals of 3 minutes?! Basically my totals don't change, I am still only running for 9 minutes total but the duration of the interval doubled for 2 of them. I am thinking my notion of gradual increase is not the same as other people. The whole 5 minute warm up I grumbled to myself 'why not an increase of 5 intervals of 2 minutes' but then I went for it. It was hard but doable. It felt fairly discouraging though to be working so much harder and to not see my totals really change, although I think my distance went up from 2/3 of a mile to 3/4.

After the first grueling week 3, run one, run two was fairly easy. At least I knew what to expect. I had a nice long rest between them so that helped. Week 3, run 3 I did yesterday and it was back to grueling. I was also conflicted, 'should I start week 4 the next time?' 'should I keep at this pace for awhile?'. I knew I couldn't handle another big surprise so I went and looked at Week 4.

2 intervals of 3 minutes and 2 intervals 5 minutes in length, increasing the total running minutes from 9 to 16 [running about 1.5 miles] and decreasing the amount of walking recovery. In fact by the end of week 5 I am supposed to be running 20 minutes [2 miles] with no break at all.

This is when I knew that C25K's idea of gradual and mine had widely diverged. So I am moving on to week 3.a of my own devising. Since I will no longer have the wonderful podcasts to time things for me and tell me when to run or walk I will need to pay attention more to distance than time, although I will keep track of my over all time. [if I can remember it]

So I'll start with a 5 minute walk and then do my intervals by track length hereby referred to as TL. I'll run =1TL, walk=1TL, run=2TL, walk=2TL, then repeat those intervals, then cool down walk. That should have me running about a mile, and each interval is a slightly longer run. This is more my idea of a gradual increase. I hope I'm not aiming too low, I do want to keep on with this, but I am just not ready to jump to their week 4.

I am really going to miss those podcasts this week. Wish me luck implementing this, it requires way more brain power.

Running report wk 2

So here I am all set to give the week 2 running report. It's been rather cool and rainy, wonderful spring.

The first thing I noted was that week 2 didn't really change my totals too much. It seemed like a nice incremental increase. Week 2 is 5 minute warm up, (90 seconds running followed by 2 minutes walking) x 6 followed by the 5 minute cool down. 9 minutes running instead of the 8 in week one. And when I calculated my distance about 2/3 of a mile up from a half. Seriously it seems so strange to type those numbers. Me? really? I am running 2/3 of a mile? That must mean I ran 2 miles last week. huh.

The 'week' only lasted 8 days this time, so my body is either acclimating better or I am just handling all the strangeness better. I stopped lifting weights with my legs, I am going to hold off on that until I feel stronger. Upper body weights continue. I have structured my exercise more carefully so as to not double up on stuff on the wrong day. I had a fabulous massage where she worked out the pain in my knee by rubbing quad muscles. That gave me more confidence that any knee discomfort was muscle related. Knock on wood there has been way less of that this past week. I also did a vigorous 3 mile walk with a friend, dancing one night, and a fun spinning class without burning my body out.

So basically I am very please with my level of awareness and self care with the whole running + other exercise in 'week 2'. I appreciate how no matter how sluggish I am the running seems to get my heart rate up to the zone I need. Makes my life a bit easier. The podcast was motivating and all went well. So I am onto week 3's challenges. Perhaps I'll get a run outside if the rain periods cooperate.

Of course I have no idea still if I like running

Running report wk 1

Those of you with internal calenders or good memories looked at the title of this post and thought WTF? surely more than a week has passed since we were all stunned by the running announcement made on this very blog the 4th day of April. ahem.

You are correct of course my 'week one' stretched out way longer than even I could have pessimistically predicted. They encourage you to not move onto the next week until you feel that your body has adjusted. At this rate who knows how long week 2 will be but I will update as long as I continue the experiment.

So Couch to 5k, week one consists of 3 runs [or more] with one rest day in between in which you warm up with a brisk walk for 5 minutes, [run for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds] x 8, cool down walk for 5 minutes. About 30 minutes of exercise and I do minimal stretches before and after.

To say my body was shocked by this new activity is a paltry understatement. To say that some days I hated it would be true. To say I was proud and amazed when I realized I was running for about a half a mile would be accurate. oh and the learning. I can feel new neurons connecting every time mostly when a part of my body gets woken up by the activity and says 'what on earth do you think you are doing to me?' I have only run outside once, but that will change, especially when I am traveling.

I love the first 2 podcasts, blessings on you Robert Ullrey. It is such a relief to not have to try to remember when an interval starts or stops. I am also realizing that I need to be sure to get recovery time built into my week and listen better to my body. This is all great stuff, although I still do not know if I like running. Stay tuned.

non coherent triumph

I finally realized that if I wait until I can string 2 coherent thoughts together this blog may languish for even longer, so here is my random smattering.

What I have been doing: my taxes, exercising, first bike ride of the season [finally], dancing with my wife, the newish sax player in Roxy Hall is so awesome, coughing [still] and work, work, work. Banging up my knees and trying to be patient as they heal.
What I have been reading: Kim Harrison's latest.
What I have been writing: my novel. word count = 71,122 My partner and I have a 3000 word challenge to ourselves by next Monday [who's with us?]
What I have been knitting: Not much but I have a sleeve to finish on god daughter's sweater and another swap! Eek, only 6 weeks left on that swap. I am totally intimidated or something.
What I have been thinking: Why am I so tired? Tail end of illness or a bit of allergies? Did I actually ever like my job? What would it be like to have a job I liked? Is that even possible?
What I am planning for the immediate future: More biking, circle tonight, Y with wife tomorrow, OT for work Saturday night, concert on Sunday. Listen to Tara Brach dharma talks.

What I wish for us all: Rest and ease.

fever induced insanity perhaps

ok, I don't think this running thing is a fever induced fantasy world. [but if it was would I know at this point?] I am fairly clear on my process to get here after all.

But I am still really new at this. So first lesson learned. if you combine this new [high impact] exercise with your normal ECD dancing and we dance 3 hours the first Sunday of the month, the same day, you are probably going to be feeling it a lot in your body the next day. Seriously couldn't I have thought that through beforehand? Can I get better at knowing when I am pushing too hard? Oh wait- this I can blame on my fever - you know from last week- huh. Nope can't make that fly. Why is it so hard to say 'no' sometimes? How can the space needed for me to hear myself get created?

Anyway can I remember that icing is good and should be done asap? Seems doable.
Safe growth all!