MINUS THIRTEEN DAYS: Not Too Bad

It is inevitable that the initial counting/tracking system changes right off the bat, so it's always a good idea to start before the beginning.  With the "Year of the Marathon" in mind, in spite of the fact that it doesn't have to start on the first of the year, it looks like a calendar year this time around.  So, here I am, thirteen days before the beginning...

It looks like the weather is going to cooperate in that we probably will have a green Christmas.  That's not the same as saying it will be warm, but the air temperature doesn't really matter to me.  There should be clear and dry sidewalks and roadways until around the first; I need to capitalize on the conditions and make up for my recent sloth.  (Though in fairness I have to defend myself a little.  It was a rough semester at school.  That's over for now, so no more excuses!)

Time:    8:50 am
Temperature:    45F/23C
Sunrise:    8:09 am
Conditions:    Dry, light breeze
Clothing:    sufficient

Run Time:    17 minutes,  acceptable run
GoogleEarth:    1.73 miles/1.0 km
Rate:    9:50 mpm
Injury Threats:    Minimal:  initial spasm in lower back, worked out after 100yds, tightness in torso

Again, I am surprised at the rate.  Not that it is particularly fast, but that I am way out of shape and can't run more than a fraction of the four to six I was doing in the summer, but I am not slower at all.  I don't know what that means, except that when I get back up to five or six, I'll be greatly disappointed if I am not automatically and naturally faster.

Dinner Previous:    Eastern European Style Goulash (heavy on vegetables, not spicy, added sour cream)
Artery Cleaner:    Two shots Sobieski
Blood Thinner:  350mg Aspirin (morning)
Sleep:  (Transitioning from late night studies) ... 2:30 am - 7:00 am  (target:  7 hrs+ )

Motivation:  est. 146 days to GR River Bank Run (25K)    [best time was in 1980:  1:39]
Considering various marathons.  In November, there is one in Tuscon on Mount Lemon; I told my uncle I would like to visit and run the marathon.  There is one on 30Jun12 in Tromsø, Norway during the Midnight Sun Festival; it's in the middle of a month when the sun doesn't set!  Lots of logistics problems, but we'll see.  I would so like to see our friends in Europe again soon.

DAY FOUR: Cold and Clear

Today was good, not great.  The temperature continues in the range just above freezing, with a stiff wind; large flags are mostly extended.  I doubled up, with a heavy hooded sweatshirt over my running outfit.  I didn't have suitable gloves, so I used two small socks as mittens.  This works until the temperature gets below freezing.

The long haul begins here, I think.  I ran a reasonable pace until I felt tired, then ran back.  I am out of shape, but there is muscle tone lurking below the surface, waiting to be slapped back into shape.  I hope to be back to an hour of running per day within the month.

The college semester will be finished next Friday, followed by a light exam week.  Then, I will gear up more with the running and start the attempt to become a morning person.

Sleep:  2:00 am - 9:30 am
Dinner last:  Chimichangas (home-made by Dorothy)
One Sobieski & Tonic

DAY THREE: Cold and Colder

Grand Rapids is 42.9 Degrees North; that means the sun set today at 5:10 pm.  By the time I got out to run,  it was pretty dark, although the sky was still grey.  Now, I am fully aware that all of my European friends will be able to say, "What, only forty-two North?  That far South?"  I looked it up:  Ljubljana is 46N, Munich is 48N, while Manchester is more than 53N!  OMG!  How do the Brits stand the dark?  Is that a saying up there?  If it isn't, it should be.  (Maybe they store it up from the summer when the sun comes up at 4:30am)  Well, it's all relative; we Michiganders are called the frozen north, partly because we are the last stop in that direction before Canada, and partly because we are known for being an inhospitable state.  (It must be Detroit that's giving us the bum rap.  We are plenty welcoming here in Western Michigan, as long as everyone stays on their side of the fence...uh, oh, I see what they mean...)  Look at it this way, Chicago is almost 42N, but Austin, Texas is down at 32N, and Los Angeles is at 34N, but Miami is way down to 25N.  That is the same as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia!  No wonder I hate Florida; I do not like the heat. 

I was thinking about the track today.  I went out two days ago and did a mile, but it wasn't a friendly experience, like in the summer.  There was something about the track in the summer, under blue sky, track surface noticeably softer in the heat, which rose in waves from the black rubberized asphalt.  This week, it was cold and foreboding.  The wind made odd sounds with the cold metal bleachers, and the track was unyielding.  I think a switch is in order until the sun rules the sky once again.  Along with a switch from the track comes my method of gauging the run.  Until my mileage is high enough to estimate miles from city blocks, I'll count minutes ran.  It's as valid a measurement, and maybe superior to miles anyway.  So, today I went out for twelve minutes.  The pace was pretty solid, but I underdressed and didn't take a hat or gloves.  Temperature is 35F / 2C, so it was foolish to go uncovered, especially after being sick so many times this semester.

I think I am getting mutant "bugs" from the students.  I was told once that as we get older, we don't get sick as often because we don't repeat many bacterial diseases, but I've been sick unusually often since I returned to college.  I told Dorothy today that I realized I have to stop biting my nails.  I can only imaging the things I pick up from surfaces in a school with hundreds of youth.  Yeah, I know.

I read on a USA Track and Field site that if I run any long distance races in the high 5s per mile, I will be able to submit for ranking.  Too cool to be resisted!  That is the current goal.  Now, the question is, can I get to where I was running thirty years ago?  On the one hand, I was young and firm.  On the other hand, I am much smarter and determined now, I think.  I once ran a 1:39 25K, but was not in the best shape I could have been; it was thirty one years ago.  Plus, every generation runs faster than the one before, and college kids run former world record times.  I must co-opt the future and train like they will  in the twenty-second century, if I can figure that out.

Run:  12 minutes
Pace:  energetic
Problems:  cold hands, ears, neck (no hat, gloves)
Sleep:  2:30am - 9:30am  (solid)
Dinner last:  bowl home made chicken soup, hamburger/bean burrito later
Liquid:  still a little dehydrated from the day, a late coffee, two PBRs.
Weight:  201 lbs / 91.2 kilo / about 14 stone (haha I'm just over 14^2 pounds; math humor)

DAY TWO: Rain on a Sunday

Yeah, I know.  I just got started, but it's a rule:  out of shape means no running in cold rain.  The temperature is going to crash today.  It started at 56 F/13 C around noon, but will fall steadily until it reaches 25 F/-4 C in the morning.  I can see I need a hat; my running outfit does not have a hood, except when I use the hooded sweatshirt, but that is not waterproof.  For that matter, I need a winter hat for everyday wear too.  The English "ratting cap" I wear is good until the weather is quite freezing, then my ears suffer.  I don't fancy wrapping a scarf around my head.  It would be nice if I can lay my hands on one of those furry Russian hats.

Sleep:  4:00 am - 9:30 am  (linear algebra was going too well to stop) Midday nap:  2 hours
Dinner:  hamburger/bean burrito with mushrooms and green peppers
Liquid:  a little dehydrated, one beer one shot Sobieski/lime tonic (end of night)
Workout: 55 lbs  shoulder presses, two arm curls + "bathroom" push-ups
Weight:  203 lbs / 92 kilo

I am very excited over the possibility of getting into Europe next summer.  I don't know if I can be in true marathon shape by then, but it certainly stacks up some incentive.  The down side is that many of the cities I want have their marathon in April-May, way too early for me.  On the other hand, cities like Munich have theirs in October, long after I need to be back.  Radenci, Slovenia has theirs in April, but Ljubljana has theirs in October.  I found a really cool possibility in June, in Tromso, Norway, during the Midnight Sun festivities.  If I can be in shape, and I can convince my wife to travel that far north, we can experience twenty-four hour sunlight and a cabin on the Fjords.  Very cool.

DAY ONE: Back in the Saddle Again

It is predictable.  I start a running program where it is vital to run every day, only to fail.  It has been more than three weeks.  Today I started again.  I'll call it Day One and restart.  This is legal because I build the beginning of any program with a false start.  If I want to call a "Year of the Marathon," and define it as the first of January through the last of December, I need to start long before January, so that there are no missing days once the year gets going.  Hence, the beginning this time in October.  If I keep going now, I will be regular and daily by the time the year actually gets going.  The challenge is that today is most likely the last good day before the cold sets in.  I hate getting started in the cold, but that's where I am at, and it's my own doing, so I'll tough it out.

Rules for winter running are varied, largely designed by me to avoid injuries.  Rule number one:  Do not run when the temperature is below zero Farenheit (0 F/ -17 C).  I often find that running between zero Farenheit and freezing (32 F/0 C) is more enjoyable than the few degrees above freezing because it is dryer air.  The variables here are wind and surface condition.  Whereas on a day with no wind at all, a run below freezing can be invigorating, even a light breeze will turn the exercise into a dangerous ordeal.  Also, I will not run when the only surface to use is covered in ice.  This is a great problem here in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I know my Minnesota friends don't understand our native aversion to winter, but they don't have 150 miles / 90 kilometers of lake water to mess with the precipitation.  I am native to a transition zone.  More times than I can count, it rained south of my home, snowed north of my home, and blasted a nasty combination on top of me while at home.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and my lovely wife has so managed our diet in the last half dozen years (while I was working at Laser Dynamics I reached 240 lbs / 109 kilo) that we had a magnificent feast, and I gained only one pound.  The "sergeant" will not allow another feast until Christmas Day, so I don't have the common American holiday guilt.

Next semester I have an early Differential Equations class (8:00 am), so I must somehow shift my schedule.  Currently, I get out of bed around eight or nine in the morning, and study solid between my wife's bedtime around 10:30 until three or four in the morning.  I love the dead of night for studying, but there is no way to manage eight o'clock classes.  The result of shifting my schedule will probably be good, in that I will be able to re-institute my old friend, the "good morning" run.  I anticipate the singular joy of being the first pedestrian on new snow, illuminated in the early winter dark by reflection off the white blanket.  Once this semester is over, I hope to start getting up by about five in the morning, six at the absolute latest.  I can't tell how this will play havoc with my bedtime, but I had better get more than six hours, or I'll accumulate deficit again.

Yesterday:  Thanksgiving left-overs, but went easy on the stuffing.  Ate modest helping of turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, almond tart, and had a good bowl of Dorothy's lovely chicken soup from Wednesday.  (that was the best part)  One PBR at the beginning of study hour, and a vodka tonic near the end. 
Bedtime:  2am 
Weight:  200 lbs / 91 kilo
Today's run:  1 mile on track:  (9:35)

That is another queer thing, the time for my mile.  I hadn't run for over three weeks, and I was winded, only able to run one today, yet I easily covered it at the faster pace I reached in the summer.  When I started rehabilitating after my burn, I could only run twelve minute miles.  By the end of summer I was in the mid-nines, but did not break into the eights.  Here, with relatively little effort, I was right back in the mid-nines.  My theory about how muscle both builds slowly and leaves slowly might be close to the truth.

Day Eighteen: Back to the Beginning

So.  No running.  I have nothing to say about that except it seems this is how my running programs always get started.  The exception is the one in the summer, where I accepted the discipline of the track and built up to six miles a day in couple of months of running at the high school quarter mile facility. 

I started my program on the "100" level, that is, we walked yesterday.  I've often said that walking provides much of the benefit of running, but it takes longer.  Back in 2006, when I lost my job at Laser, I prepared for fitness runs by first walking for several months with Dorothy and Luna, our husky puppy, until we were out for two hours at a time.  Then, the following year, I began running and quickly worked up to 5-8 miles per day.

The weather has broken, and it is actually cold almost every day now, temperatures ranging between "nice" and "just above freezing."  It is imperative that I get up to a few miles a day before it gets any colder or the entire running program is in danger.

Previous Dinner:  Left-over roast beef sandwiches with horseradish, a handful of potato chips (I know, don't scold me), a PBR later.

Sleep:    3:00 am - 9:00 am

Day Eight: Excuses and Laziness

So, it hasn't been raining every day, and I'm not running at all.  I've been mulling over a change of schedule.  When I began staying up late to do mathematics in the quiet, it got a little out of hand.  My bedtime has shifted around between two and four in the morning.  This does not allow any sort of wake-up run in the morning.  Then, at the end of the school day, I nap instead of running, and I don't dare run at the beginning of the study hours.  Bad cycle.

But this is "the year of the marathon."  I have run two marathons before, both of them around 3:30.  Not too impressive, but I knew nothing about marathoning.  These were in '82 and '83.  The 25K is another story.  I ran the Old Kent River Bank Run between 1979 and 1984, my best time coming in under 1:40.  This is what I am looking for.  Never mind the fact that I'm older.  I'm smarter and am invoking my own "future rule." 

My "future rule" is based on the statistical data collected on runners over the past century.  In one era, it is common for runners to come in at times which only the elite, if anybody could run in previous eras.  It cannot be that our bodies are superior to those of only one hundred years ago.  It must be the training.  Therefore, I invoke "future training," that is, to find the things they will be doing in future eras and do them now.  Barring injury, I should be able to at least get back what I had thirty years ago.  As for the skeptics, I'll just prove what I say.

Day Four: At Least I Went Out

So, the weather is temporarily good.  By good, I mean not raining.  Gone are days of t-shirts and shorts.  Last run, the track was locked, and the weather is too cold to walk to and from the run anymore.  I ran to the track and back (there was an event) in about fifteen total minutes.  No kick, no cruise, two traffic lights; at least I didn't walk at the end.

Over the summer, the track was my friend.  Running on the totally flat, rubberized surface was good for me.  I was up to 6mi/day at sub-10:00 pace.  Not exactly race winning strength, but I need to be at least at that point before the really nasty winter weather sets in...my guess around the fourth week of December this year.

Last Dinner:  Spaghetti, Texas Toast, Squash, Red Wine

Sleep:  4:00 am -  10:15am

Day Three: Two Days of Rain

Let's face it:  An out-of-shape person cannot realistically expect to run in cold rain without getting sick.  Tough.  No run.  I must focus on not gaining weight.

TWO: RAIN

So, a break already is not good, but I can't run in the rain at this stage.  It's only in the fifties and the rain is cold.  I can't afford to get sick.

Sleep:        1:30am - 9:15 am

Day One: Pain and Stiffness

I was demotivated and stiff.  I walked to the high school track, but the gate was locked, so I ran a minimal course back home.

Miles:    < 2
Course:    Division/48th...Division/44th...Buchanan/44th...Home.

Weather:    54F    Cloudy    Minimal Wind

Sleep:    1:30am...9:15am

Dinner:    cheese&crackers, chicken tortilla soup, red wine