0-30 and Then to 50

Inching ever closer to the thirty mile mark for a week is where I currently sit in this little endeavor. Not to pat myself on my back but I am very happy with myself. It doesn't seem like that long ago when I couldn't run two miles without my lungs burning. Onward and upward. 

Helpful Hints

I learned or had verified three important facts in the past 24 hours. Let me hip you to 'em.

1) According to the great soothsayer John Tesh based on a new report from the Harvard School of Medicine using using the snooze alarm is HORRIBLE for your sleep patterns and thus your training and/or health in general.

2) Cross training burns more fat and builds muscle faster than cardio training alone. (Most people I believe already know this but its worth mentioning.)

3) The belief that we are innocent until proven guilty in the United States is simply that a belief. As we see from the multitude of court cases where people are tried and convicted in the court of public opinion the situation is quite the opposite. Most people are believed to be guilty until proven innocent and even when found innocent the damage to their personal persona and reputation has been done. The seal has been broken. I bring this point up due primarily to the idiocy of post-death persecution of Michael Jackson. He was never convicted of anything and yet the majority of us are insistent that he's been touchy feely with the kids. None of us will ever know at this point and it seems that its best that way. We are simply left the memories of his music. Let it go people and just dance.

The Simple Things

Perhaps I'm simple at heart or perhaps I have learned with age to appreciate the simpler things in life. In a week that has seen people killed in the streets of Iran just for the right to vote in a fair election. Our president taking his healthcare message directly to the American people. People still falling prey to swine flu and Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcet and (maybe) Michael Jackson all dying, all I can think about is that I really love my wife Michelle because she loves and understands how the simple things really excite me. I have been preoccupied with web design, Chirunning, and watching the grass grow. Yes I did say watching the grass grow.

As you know we built the wall and landscaped the "new" backyard. In the last two weeks in the midst of the monsoon rains we spread topsoil and seeded the lawn. I feared that the little fellas would not make it through the monsoons but lo and behold its growing. I couldn't be happier.

I Eat Therefore I Ran

Guess what? Its raining again. Whatever you say...I concur. Its old news. As much as it rains its still not deterring me from running and now also from biking. Things are going well, so in a shameless plug directed at everyone who refuse to get out of their own way when it comes to their health. I urge you to go find where the following film is playing and SEE IT. In my humble opinion at least half (probably more) of the health problems that manifest themselves in people's lives can be directly attributed to the food we eat.

So one again. GO SEE THIS FILM and make some changes.

Oh My Aching Back...I Mean Neck

Well, the road bike has finally made a new appearance. I ride a Specialized Allez. Blue. Its quite nice and has served me well through good rides and bad wrecks. Of course none of my wrecks have been close to what my friend Joe has gone through but of course I never want to compete on the pain and agony scale. Anyway I took the road bike out for the first time since last year before the ankle/knee...before the wall, before the bacterial infection. It was quite eye opening.

Its not like I haven't been riding. We have a trainer in the basement. The problem with that is Michelle does not like the clip pedals so we go old school inside. That being the case we attach her bike which is a hybrid. Nice ride but totally different than a road bike. So for the past few months since I got off the I.V. I have been riding down in the basement. It was good to get my legs back up to speed before beginning running. I thought my legs were in pretty good shape for riding. Indeed they were. The problem was/is my neck muscles are very, very, very weak. Leaning out and over the bars on the road bike means you have to hold up your head. I guess I have a lot of rocks in my head because it felt like it weighed about 10 pounds more than it used to.

Oh well, one more tiny hurdle to overcome. The bike helps the run...without a doubt.

This is the newest version of my bike (in the wrong color of course).

Not To Jinx Myself But...

I woke up today to not quite sunny skies but of course it wasn't raining. Not only was it not raining this morning but it even held out all day. A typical June day. A little humid. Chance of thunderstorms. About 78 degrees. I put in my miles (which now include about a quarter mile uphill run at about  a 25 degree angle.) Worked out and then yogafied myself.

A pretty damn good day if I say so myself.

Stop Asking Fogerty

Quite simply the question I have been asking myself for some time now. The answer is, I have seen it. You have seen it. The whole freakin' northeast of the United States has seen it. It just won't stop.

I think we are being punished. But I still gotta run.

Going and Going and Going

The good weather continued today and I couldn't have been happier. I stayed up a bit later than normal waiting for Michelle to get in. She missed her train and had to wait on another. Nevertheless I had every intent of getting up and putting in my miles but the sandman had other plans. I was just too tired and ended up getting some extra Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

I had a bit time of time though during the early morning and took advantage of it by going out for a little six mile jaunt. Instead of feeling a bit tired from the six from the day before I felt like the energizer bunny. I could have kept going and going and going. Its a great feeling and it makes the cruise right on by (another plus).

Yeah Bono Couldn't Have Said It Better

The rain has subsided. I m ahead on my work for clients. I have gotten into a steady grove to finish off the company website. Best of all between the work out in the yard and the steady increases in my workouts. I am getting into pretty good shape.

My endurance is increasing and soon I will put the road bike back out on the road. I had planned to do it sooner, perhaps a week or two ago, but of course its been raining like the great flood. So by my best guesstimate Thursday will be B-Day (bike day). Its been way too long.

Last September or October was the last time I had the bike out. The ankle and the knee injury last September halted the riding. That of course was followed by the building of the wall and the cake was iced with the 4 months of illness. 

As I have gotten stronger I have also noticed that my core temperature is slowly climbing. My wife is generally cold and I am like a furnace, but during and after the 12 weeks of IV that was getting pumped into my arm and then into my chest cavity my core temperature dropped and stayed low. I was cold almost all the time and even when the weather started to get warm it was still too cold for me. But now things are very different. I'm warm, getting stronger and its a beautiful day...everyday. 

OK I Give Up

I have begged and pleaded and it just won't stop raining. So I'm done. If I have to have soggy shoes everyday then so be it. Its really not so bad. I mean having wet shoes, socks and wrinkled toes is everyone's dream. It will just hasten my neck shoe purchase which is always a fun time.

The more pressing problem is that I am very close to finishing the backyard with MIchelle, but all the rain is turning the barren landscape into a mudbath. What fun! Plus there's also the bonus of mucking up even more shoes. Ah the rain. Exceptionally good times.

Noah

My prayers have been answered so to speak. The rain has stopped and the sun is actually out. Dry ground is on the way and with it puddless and mudless running. A small victory against the forces of nature. OK a little overly dramatic but it made me smile. 24 hours and I will have a nice low impact ground for a long run.

How quickly things change right. I would love to get out there and put in some miles today buts like a bog everywhere I look and street blocking puddles everywhere else. Wait.....oh no. Oh no!

Its raining again!!!!!! Sheesh whats the deal?!? Should I be building an ark?

Rain, Rain Sheesh Go Away

I may have wished for it, but c'mon already. Its been raining for what seems like two weeks. Now I know that I have written once maybe twice that I enjoy running in the rain. It is quite fun, but not everyday. How many pairs of wet shoes can one person have? (Luckily I have three pairs of shoes.)

Its good for the grass yet to be planted as well as the garden plants that just went into the ground recently. But the powers that be I am begging just for a few days of dry ground. Mud slows you down.

Tight

Another tell tale sign that you're actually doing something (not necessarily right or wrong but something in general) is that your muscles get tight. This week as I applauded myself for cracking the 26.2 mark for the week I also added some hill work. In the middle of my "normal" six mile run there is a hill that is almost half a mile of inclined running. So half a mile up and half mile back down. Very dramatic sounding right. Well it puts a whole other set of strains especially on the quads.

After doing this Sunday morning about Tuesday the quads got tight and have remained so. So tight I might add that it was making the glutes as well as the lower back muscles tighten up. Oh yeah its all connected people. So I have been using some trigger point technology to relive the tension.  We use the "Baller Block" which is basically a yoga block with a ball to sit on as well as two cylinders to massage the calfs as well as quadriceps. Modern technology.

Little Milestones

I have officially crossed the marathon mark for a weeks worth of running. It has taken me a while but nothing good comes from rushing of course. Haste makes waste as the old adage goes. From the end of April until now I have gone from 0 miles per week up to a 26 or 27 consistently. It might seem like a lot to some, and it might seem like nothing to those who actually can fathom what running 50 miles might be like, but to me its a true milestone.

I used to put in 30+ weeks regularly back in the day (say about a year ago). Then of course all hell broke loose and I was, with all of you in tow, back at square one and moving forward. I like to think that things will now get easier. technically they should if history is any indicator. I never had a problem adding a half a mile or mile to my runs as I was training and it seemed as if the more I ran the easier it became since my body settled into a good groove.

I can only hope...and pray. There's many miles ahead.

Splash and Dash

Hopefully everyone, at least once in their life, has run and played in the rain. When you're young more than likely you were told not to. You would get a cold or ruin your clothes. Now I don't doubt that some of us did not get a cold or ruin many clothes but none of us died. At least none of us reading (or writing this).

For the first time since early in 2008 I ran in a full on downpour today. It was wonderful. It makes you feel like you're breaking a rule, even if you're the one setting the rules now. Its quite liberating and at many points sensory overload. The rain ins much louder falling through and on tree cover. It also somehow unleashes a lot of forests fragrances you really don't pick up on during the bone dry times.

Its really, really, really fun. I also think I run a bit faster through puddles an mud.

Just Do It...If You Can

I must admit being a former/semi advertising guy the Just Do It campaign for Nike by Wieden and Kennedy was one of my favorites of all time. It came out when I was in high school and to this day anyone around that was cognisant of advertising in the mid-late eighties realizes this one was influential. It put an impetus for the masses to actually take a product and use it...to its fullest.

Let me be clear I have always been, except for a few times I strayed, a Saucony man. There is no other campaign I can think of that really made you want to go outside. Now that being said there is a little thing that separates those that go out to do and those that go out and actually do it. That my friends would be endurance. Its something you can learn and its definitely something that can be laughed at. See below and enjoy. You gotta love Japanese TV.

Fart...Lick

Slow and steady wins the race, or so its been said. Putting in miles builds muscle endurance as well as aerobic capacity. Basically running long and steady teaches your muscles and lungs to peacefully coexist. There's really no other way to really be able to run far other than running far. Likewise though, there's really no way to be able to run fast other than running fast.

Fartlek, a funny name for a sound running principle is what my speed sessions are based around. Up until this week, (its about to change this Friday) the time of the workout has been about 20-25 minutes and a total mileage of about 1.5 to 2 miles. Michelle has been running with me. She hates it, well strongly dislikes it, since it burns the lungs. Not that its the point but its kinda the point. You want to work the lungs and the fast twitch fibers of the muscles. It may seem like being able to run fast is counter intuitive to running long but ultimately they work hand in hand. They both make your body run more efficiently ad who wouldn't want that when you're running 50 miles or so.

By the way, one of the best songs to get you hyped up to do virtually anything is up above. Enjoy.

Getting Your Ass Kicked By Friends

Is there anything like getting your ass kicked? I know I know very few of us walking the planet have actually been in a fight we are a kinder gentler society if you look at the BIG picture. So taking that out of the picture what about the proverbial ass kicking? You know the exercise to the point of exhaustion or soreness ass kicking. Well I got one yesterday. My body is sore. I was not completely spent but I am sore in a few places that I haven't been sore, in years. Its good, its welcomed its appreciated.

I got the "ass kickin" from one of my oldest friends Joe Heslin. I hadn't seen him in 20 years and recently we found each other. So after months of debate (and recuperation by me) we planned out this weekend and Michelle and I went up to see Joe, Heidi and the little one Hana. It was as fun as I expected and more cathartic than I imagined. It felt really good and everyone (I hope) had a great weekend.

Joe over the past 20 years has been all over the world and has picked up one very impressive skill (not that he only picked up one skill) mountain biking. He's very skilled. I am not. He took me on one of the best bike rides of my life. I loved it. The town is awesome and the trails are hard but not deadly...if you know what I mean. We rode for about 2.5 hours and I felt good. Only one spill due to some rocks and some thick boggy mud. Afterwards we relaxed and I felt good. After the three hour ride back to Nyack I got out of the car feeling like someone had kicked my ass. I knew the reason and all I could was smile.

You know you've done something when you're tired and sore. It might not seem like something to appreciate but if you plan on running 50 miles (i do, I do) you quickly learn the mantra "you can sweat now or bleed later". I prefer the sweat.

Thanks Joe.