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
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
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)
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)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
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.
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.
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