I've been in a fun lately. Not a good kind of fun either. The kind that saps the energy stores and just makes me want to curl up in a ball in bed. The only thing that is keeping me going is just how beautiful it is outside, and how could I not want to enjoy that, right?
My project lately has not been a lot of fun at all. Some projects fill me with energy and I work hard and train hard and exhaust myself into the most restful kinds of sleep. And some projects leave me feeling physically and mentally drained before my eyes are even fully opened each morning. My current project is the later and its becoming hard to motivate around the rest of life. But I am trying.
Last week was particularly hard and by the time Friday rolled around, I needed a physical and mental break from the world. Truth is this holiday weekend has not been the level of athletic I had hoped for. I can't decide if its good or bad. I think I needed a break, but at the same time, I always feel better when I am training like crazy and I know that has slipped a lot on this project. It impacted my first marathon and I need to really prevent it from impacting the second. I need my groove, so I decided to go for a bike ride.
I haven't ridden much post injury. My beautiful yellow bike hung in my bedroom begging me to ride her, but you could tell it had been a while when she, quite literally, had no air left in her tires at all. I had gone from 120psi to under 10. Yikes. Bree had told me when I was recovering that I needed to avoid any "mashing" on the bike for fear it would impact my knees really badly. While I had done my cycling training class, however, overall, my biking had been on a trainer and with careful regard to my knees. And the truth is, it kind of sucks the joy out of it. Cycling indoors on a trainer is about as much fun as running on a treadmill (and we all know my prowess on treadmills). So today, I took the old girl out for a spin.
I put on my Spongebob jersey. Man, I love me some of that Sponge. Truth is, people love the Spongebob jersey-- I get comments on it every time I go out. It's just fun to wear. So it was step number 1 in making me find a groove again. I hit the road and heard my cleats lock in and just felt good and strong. I remember a few times going out on my bike and feeling my quads pulling against my knee and just knowing things weren't like they were supposed to be (and usually just ignoring it and keeping going). This time, I felt good and strong. I hit the park and next thing you know, my speed was popping up into the low 20s and I felt the whistle of the wind in my ear and just settled back and enjoyed myself. God, it felt good.
The park was pretty crazy, all in all-- I expected as much for Memorial Day. I kept my speed very in control-- for one I didn't want to go all out because I promised Marisa we could go for a run together tonight, but for two because I wasn't up for the drama of the close-call that can happen on days like today. So I kept it to about 12 miles and about 15mph average speed. I mostly just wanted my groove again. I found a hint of it. And now I don't want to take my cleats off. :)
This afternoon/evening Marisa and I will do a run together and then tomorrow I head back to Hartford for a very short week-- I come back on Wednesday night so I can spend Thursday in celebration of Marisa's birthday. I missed it last year and was determined not to miss it this year, at any cost.
So there... more later, post run.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Getting Hit Head-On by a Bike Really Sucks
I live in the heart of one of the busiest places on the planet. And life here in New York City is a constant contention for space and resources. You get used to it after a while and even start to miss it in its absence, but sometimes, some days that contention for space hits you, figuratively, and sometimes literally, a little harder than you expect it will.
Today, as it was just stunningly beautiful outside, I decided to go for a run. I knew there would be a lot of people out and about, but the truth is, we are all used to working around each other. Its not until you get into places like Times Square or the Brooklyn Bridge that the outsiders try and join in our well orchestrated and oft-rehearsed interaction with each other. But this wasn't going to be one of those. Nay, I was sticking to my borough and enjoying the lesser known, and in this Brooklynite's opinion, far more beautiful, park. Things should be fine.
I was in about 2.5 miles in what I was expecting to be 4 and change. I had a great pace going. I was down around the low nines, which has been tough for me in my post injury world. So with all the focus on finding my speed again, this was a good place to be and well on the way to being the run I really needed to have today. As I am passing a woman running the other direction, out of nowhere, going significantly too fast for the level of crowd, and at that in the designated walk/run lane, came an 8-10ish aged boy, far more interested in watching the picnic by the pond than at what lay before him-- namely me. It all happened so fast and I could see the kid see me at the very last second and not know what to do to avoid it. There were no brakes, no swerves, just a look of startle at what was about to go down. And I am sure I looked little different.
I remember stopping hard with one leg ahead of the other, kind of bracing myself against the impact and locking my arms at my elbows out ahead of me and thinking I had a chance at catching his handlebars and keeping us both upright and no worse for the wear, so I just went for it. And caught him at full throttle knocking me back a step but keeping him from going down and me from being thrown back. And before I knew it, we were parting ways again. The problem becomes diffusing that impact knocked a heck of a lot of wind out of me, and try though I might, the run kind of fell apart with the sharp stabbing pain in my ribs that often comes from running beyond where your heart and lungs are ready to be. I stopped and caught my breath, but it didn't quite come back to me and the remainder of the run was very stop and go. I kept going the remainder of the way, but minus a lot of the energy I had before and when I got home I threw up. I am not sure if it was entirely the wind getting punched out of me so abruptly or the burst of adrenaline mixed with this overwhelming need to not have this kid's injury on my conscious or what, but whatever... all is good now.
The real bummer is looking at my time now. 10:32. I am half laughing and half crying at that number. My pace pre-crash... under 9:00... looks to be about an 8:50. My pace post crash... all over the map. The good news is all is still right with the world and the little crisis was mostly averted. I just hope the kid learns to look ahead when he rides. I have a feeling he learned that lesson fairly well today.
Today, as it was just stunningly beautiful outside, I decided to go for a run. I knew there would be a lot of people out and about, but the truth is, we are all used to working around each other. Its not until you get into places like Times Square or the Brooklyn Bridge that the outsiders try and join in our well orchestrated and oft-rehearsed interaction with each other. But this wasn't going to be one of those. Nay, I was sticking to my borough and enjoying the lesser known, and in this Brooklynite's opinion, far more beautiful, park. Things should be fine.
I was in about 2.5 miles in what I was expecting to be 4 and change. I had a great pace going. I was down around the low nines, which has been tough for me in my post injury world. So with all the focus on finding my speed again, this was a good place to be and well on the way to being the run I really needed to have today. As I am passing a woman running the other direction, out of nowhere, going significantly too fast for the level of crowd, and at that in the designated walk/run lane, came an 8-10ish aged boy, far more interested in watching the picnic by the pond than at what lay before him-- namely me. It all happened so fast and I could see the kid see me at the very last second and not know what to do to avoid it. There were no brakes, no swerves, just a look of startle at what was about to go down. And I am sure I looked little different.
I remember stopping hard with one leg ahead of the other, kind of bracing myself against the impact and locking my arms at my elbows out ahead of me and thinking I had a chance at catching his handlebars and keeping us both upright and no worse for the wear, so I just went for it. And caught him at full throttle knocking me back a step but keeping him from going down and me from being thrown back. And before I knew it, we were parting ways again. The problem becomes diffusing that impact knocked a heck of a lot of wind out of me, and try though I might, the run kind of fell apart with the sharp stabbing pain in my ribs that often comes from running beyond where your heart and lungs are ready to be. I stopped and caught my breath, but it didn't quite come back to me and the remainder of the run was very stop and go. I kept going the remainder of the way, but minus a lot of the energy I had before and when I got home I threw up. I am not sure if it was entirely the wind getting punched out of me so abruptly or the burst of adrenaline mixed with this overwhelming need to not have this kid's injury on my conscious or what, but whatever... all is good now.
The real bummer is looking at my time now. 10:32. I am half laughing and half crying at that number. My pace pre-crash... under 9:00... looks to be about an 8:50. My pace post crash... all over the map. The good news is all is still right with the world and the little crisis was mostly averted. I just hope the kid learns to look ahead when he rides. I have a feeling he learned that lesson fairly well today.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Quick Post
It's a tough week. Project is nuttifying, for sure. But the weather is making me itchy.
Monday night I got a "rave run" in... found myself some paths along the Connecticut River, up into some wood trails, some rock climbing towers and a lot of thick smelly river mud. I was in heaven. I came back to the hotel with mud spray up the back of my legs, my shoes dropping dried mud chunks all over the place, my face redder than all get out and the biggest grin on my face. I could get used to a run like that. The rest of the week thus far has been a little more challenging. My soleus muscle was tight and hurting a little yesterday, so I did a half an hour on the elliptical instead with some decent tension... and then had some fun with physical therapy. Tonight I had to take one for the team and go out to eat with the crew. My run will have to be back indoors and early in the morning so I can still do my morning repack and head over to the office by 7:30. Taking today off means I will try and do a run every day this weekend... at least something small. Should be do-able.
I love me spring and fall runs. Thank god I have been blessed with no allergies. But man, I wish I was tromping in the mud tonight. I could use a muddy rave run again. The clay-ish mud smell just puts me in a good mood.
Monday night I got a "rave run" in... found myself some paths along the Connecticut River, up into some wood trails, some rock climbing towers and a lot of thick smelly river mud. I was in heaven. I came back to the hotel with mud spray up the back of my legs, my shoes dropping dried mud chunks all over the place, my face redder than all get out and the biggest grin on my face. I could get used to a run like that. The rest of the week thus far has been a little more challenging. My soleus muscle was tight and hurting a little yesterday, so I did a half an hour on the elliptical instead with some decent tension... and then had some fun with physical therapy. Tonight I had to take one for the team and go out to eat with the crew. My run will have to be back indoors and early in the morning so I can still do my morning repack and head over to the office by 7:30. Taking today off means I will try and do a run every day this weekend... at least something small. Should be do-able.
I love me spring and fall runs. Thank god I have been blessed with no allergies. But man, I wish I was tromping in the mud tonight. I could use a muddy rave run again. The clay-ish mud smell just puts me in a good mood.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
It Was a Good Week
I had a goal for last week. Reign crazy project in. The life of a consultant, however, makes this a wee challenging. Don't play the game, you don't get ahead. Play it too much and you wind up dead on your feet. My goal this week was just find that balance a little bit better and hope like hell I could hang onto it.
Week 1 went well. I managed to not only leave the office while the sun was up, but leave the office, hit the hotel, throw on running clothes and give myself some time out on the streets. Actually, I should amend that... one day it was still bright enough to run outside. The other 2 it was on the treadmill, but that's better than nothing. I think switching the runs from the morning to the evening is better. And with a little negotiation, I was able to offset some of the fear that I was leaving at 6 by working after my run. Cool. I did have the requisite team meeting at 9pm again, but was able to work my negotiation skills once again to allowing me the run buffer between office and meeting. I don't feel too bad about this since we all start work at 7:30am each day. One week down... whether I can hang onto this and walk the fine line of caring about myself and my project equally (you can never be better than the client, afterall) is something we will have to discover over time.
So I got in my runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday... Wednesday being my outdoor run. I am never in glamorous places that I can run through... I always seem to be in a hotel nestled into an office park. This client is no different. So the run was not very exciting scenery wise, but it felt good to be off the treadmill. I also managed to get in my stretching after my run, which is a lengthy endeavor post physical therapy... but then again, its a small price to pay to never have to lose a year and a half of running again. Cause that plain sucks.
Right now I am working hard on increasing my frequency of runs... one of the problems with marathon training in this crazy little lifestyle is that consistency goes out the window. There were a lot of weeks where I had just one short run in during the week and then my long run on the weekend. This isn't the best way to pull off a marathon and I knew it. But I had the luxury of not needing to worry about time, given it was my first run back from that year and a half. Now I have something to prove and I need to do it right. So I need to be consistent. I need to have at least 5 out of the 7 days spent running. I've given myself Thursday as my off day because of the commute home. The rest are supposed to be run days. This week, however, I missed Friday. Fridays tend to be a lot of non-client work and this Friday a lot had accumulated, so I had to just suck it up.
Yesterday Marisa and I did a run together. I consider this my aerobic run because its very low intensity for me while she is getting back into running. I know that once she is a little more settled into running again, she will give me a run for my money, so I can enjoy this now. Today I will take one of her yoga classes and then do a run by myself which will be back to redeveloping the pace I lost. It's funny how I see flashes of that old pace... that day I was hitting my 7:23 pace in my last marathon training run. I just don't have the cardiovascular system to support it anymore. No sooner had I found that cardio support for that pace to begin with that it all fell apart. So I am trying little by little to bring that back. A little speedwork, some fartleks, some hill training and hopefully we will be there. And maybe, just maybe, come marathon time I will be back to my old self. Yea!
Ok, that's all I got for now. More later.
Week 1 went well. I managed to not only leave the office while the sun was up, but leave the office, hit the hotel, throw on running clothes and give myself some time out on the streets. Actually, I should amend that... one day it was still bright enough to run outside. The other 2 it was on the treadmill, but that's better than nothing. I think switching the runs from the morning to the evening is better. And with a little negotiation, I was able to offset some of the fear that I was leaving at 6 by working after my run. Cool. I did have the requisite team meeting at 9pm again, but was able to work my negotiation skills once again to allowing me the run buffer between office and meeting. I don't feel too bad about this since we all start work at 7:30am each day. One week down... whether I can hang onto this and walk the fine line of caring about myself and my project equally (you can never be better than the client, afterall) is something we will have to discover over time.
So I got in my runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday... Wednesday being my outdoor run. I am never in glamorous places that I can run through... I always seem to be in a hotel nestled into an office park. This client is no different. So the run was not very exciting scenery wise, but it felt good to be off the treadmill. I also managed to get in my stretching after my run, which is a lengthy endeavor post physical therapy... but then again, its a small price to pay to never have to lose a year and a half of running again. Cause that plain sucks.
Right now I am working hard on increasing my frequency of runs... one of the problems with marathon training in this crazy little lifestyle is that consistency goes out the window. There were a lot of weeks where I had just one short run in during the week and then my long run on the weekend. This isn't the best way to pull off a marathon and I knew it. But I had the luxury of not needing to worry about time, given it was my first run back from that year and a half. Now I have something to prove and I need to do it right. So I need to be consistent. I need to have at least 5 out of the 7 days spent running. I've given myself Thursday as my off day because of the commute home. The rest are supposed to be run days. This week, however, I missed Friday. Fridays tend to be a lot of non-client work and this Friday a lot had accumulated, so I had to just suck it up.
Yesterday Marisa and I did a run together. I consider this my aerobic run because its very low intensity for me while she is getting back into running. I know that once she is a little more settled into running again, she will give me a run for my money, so I can enjoy this now. Today I will take one of her yoga classes and then do a run by myself which will be back to redeveloping the pace I lost. It's funny how I see flashes of that old pace... that day I was hitting my 7:23 pace in my last marathon training run. I just don't have the cardiovascular system to support it anymore. No sooner had I found that cardio support for that pace to begin with that it all fell apart. So I am trying little by little to bring that back. A little speedwork, some fartleks, some hill training and hopefully we will be there. And maybe, just maybe, come marathon time I will be back to my old self. Yea!
Ok, that's all I got for now. More later.
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