I mostly have work to blame for my 10 month absence. I’ve been working a lot. To the point where I’m so out of shape that running two miles is a Herculean task. But it’s like Thom Yorke says :”you do it to yourself”. So now I begin the task of undoing it to myself… and that’s what really hurts.
The above pic is one on my home studio. I took most of yesterday to acquaint myself with the wonders of GarageBand…wow, great stuff. The fruit of my first attempt:
I only write from airport waiting areas now – it’s a shame that i don’t have a guitar with me. My flight leaves in an hour and it’s already delayed, but it’ll likely work out for the best. It’ll mean less time in Houston. Not that it’s necessarily a good thing (to have less time in Houston) – it’s kind of a hike between terminals/gates in Houston (or anywhere else) when you’re flying from Gulfport/Biloxi. There will be less waiting around though.
I leave Mississippi with a bag that weighs about 10 more pounds and a body that weighs at least half as many less – this is amazing for two reasons:
I’ve already shipped the majority of gifts/souvenirs via UPS
The food here is all deep fried – twice – and the guys at work know all the best places. (we only went to the same place once – or would that be twice – and that’s the place that bills itself as: “The Original Home of Pork Chop Wednesday”. And this is the battered, deep-fried variety of pork chop with sides like cabbage dressing, greens, field peas and rice and gravy – all of these, much tastier than their name might imply)
I’ve also probably run over 20 miles in the last two weeks, so maybe it all does make sense. I’ve run on roads and bay side boardwalks and hotel gyms and these two weeks that have seemed more like a paid vacation in spite of the mentally rigorous work.
In short, it’s all good and I’m very much on track to be very ready for my scheduled half-marathon in November. I feel strong and healthy and most rare of all, happy. If everything goes as planned, I should be in Texas by 10:30 and in my own apartment (and with my guitar) by 4PM. I can hardly wait, but I’ve seriously come to flat out love this part of Mississippi. It’s in the middle of a lot of cool stuff. 90 miles from New Orleans, less than that from Mobile and on average, less than a 6 hour drive from almost any interesting part of The South.
Well whatta you know, the flight is on time again. I wonder how that happens…but I’ll not complain. Also: This airport loves the hell out of A-Ha’s “Take on Me” – I’ve been here four times now and I’ve heard it every time. I would hate to work at a place that only had one CD. I’d either quit or perform harakiri in gate 3 – I can be a little dramatic some times.
Now they’re playing the Cure’s “Close to me” – that’s much better. It might be enough to keep me sane if I didn’t have an ipod with me.
I think I’ll leave you with the musical highlight of the latest run:
I’ve been busy, but I’ve not stopped running. Technically, I start a new job today – but I’ll mostly just be flying and landing through various parts of Texas and Mississippi. The hotel that I’m staying off for the next two weeks has a treadmill, so I’ll have little excuse for not running. There’s also a beach (a possibly oil-covered beach) and many roads that my nikes and I can get acquainted with.
I’m in San Antonio right now, at the airport, and I’m waiting for my flight to board. I’m enjoying the free wifi, but my audiobook will likely not download before 8:45 (darn).
Back to the running though – the runs have been good lately. I think that I’m pretty much acclimated to the summer. I’ve had a couple of 6 and 5 mile runs in sunny 90 degree (and higher) weather. Gulfport probably isn’t going to be much cooler than south Texas has been.
I began this year by running a lot and running often – nearly 200 miles so far. Now, I’m switching gears and running less often (about 3 times per week), but I’m going to run longer distances. I’m on day two of an actual half marathon training program and everything’s working well so far. The training program should last three months, but the half marathon that I’m signed up to run doesn’t happen for another 6 months. I plan to repeat the training program (albeit a more rigorous version of the same program) for the second three month period.
So I’m only running three days out of the week – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I plan to rest on Sundays and use a crappy (but effective) elliptical the other three days. I’ve been using the elliptical for the last week and a half and it gives me a great workout with little to no strain on my joints. I think that it’s making my runs better, but I’m only on day two – so what the hell do I know?
I ran 6 miles today and it felt pretty alright. It took me about an hour and two minutes. It was a hard run because it was sunny (and then not), very humid, windy and hilly. I ran three miles out and three miles back, so it was obviously only uphill halfway – still, at several points it was an entire mile-long stretch of uphill goodness. That’s hard on the legs.
Still, I am surprisingly not hurting. My right knee sort of hurts and my feet and hamstrings (the real hamstrings) cramped up immediately after the run but all things considered, I feel great.
I actually made a playlist this time for the first time in a long time. Looked a little like this:
Well, I’m not either actually – not even a doctor of journalism. With that in mind, it will surprise none of us when I reveal that when I say that I’ve pulled my hamstring, what I really mean to say is that I’ve got a pulled groin (an adductor longus) to be precise. I feel like a dumbass, because as soon as I looked it up I realized that I knew that the hamstring was on the backside of the leg… the more pressing concern now is fighting off the urge to make a bad “pulled groin/blindness/felt so good I pulled it again” joke.
I ran today and the reality is that it feels much better after resting it for a couple of days. I’m doing my best to not make any sudden shifts in direction of abrupt jumps or anything other than very methodical one foot after the next motions. It’s sore and tender, but it’s not so painful that it alters my gait – even after running three miles (that wasn’t the case late last week).
It was raining off and on this evening and that added a little fun to the whole thing. All things considered, not too bad a run. The musical highlight of this run:
Had the best run ever yesterday. Fast, strong, full of fun – I could have run for weeks. Today? Not quite.
My hamstring is really bothering me. I stretch, and it feels alright. I walk, and it hurts a bit. I run and it bothers me for the first two or three minutes. If/when I stop, it bothers me a lot.
I just ran the last two miles in my “2 x 5 no excuses” regimen. I’m going to take the next two days off, I’m sure that’ll help. I plan to move on to “3×4 no excuses” on Monday or Tuesday and the added built-in rest (only running 4 days) should do me good I think.
In keeping with our electronic-y alt-rockish theme, today’s musical highlight: Xx
I had a very painful but enjoyable run. My calves were a sea of lactic acid and they hurt from half a mile in until the end. They alternately felt: four times wider than they really are, and like they were coming apart – as if the muscles were unraveling. That said, I felt strong and in good shape (cardio). I ran about 20 seconds faster per mile than I have been lately.
The ipod was on his game too – cranking out a high energy mix of spoon, jay-z, arcade fire and the musical highlight of the run:
In general, time flies. Specifically, time files when you’re having fun or running hard. Or whatever.
Time is relative and so is pain and right now I have much too much of the latter and not enough of the former.
I’ve stuck to my plan: tomorrow it’ll be 16 runs in four weeks. By the end of the week, I will have completed my goal of running 2 miles, five times per week for a whole month. My legs are tired, my right hamstring (I think it’s my hamstring), my knees, my feet, the soles of my feet, my heels, my calves, my groin muscles, my toes and just about everything south of my belly button hurts or is sore or raw or chafing.
Advil only does so much and Advil’s best is not much when compared to the pressure of many pounds on cartilage, bones, tendons, flesh, and muscle. So why complain? Well, why the hell not? What’s the alternative? Quitting?
Failure is an option, quitting is not.
Musical highlight of the run:
Also: just read the book Jaws. Jaws is a great movie, but it’s a much better book (surprise, surprise). There’s a whole lot more sex in the book, but that alone doesn’t make it better than Jaws the movie… it’s just better, take my word for it.
I’ve run 12 out of the last 14 days. I came up with a new plan. I even came up with a marketing angle on the whole thing. My idea: 2 miles times 5, no excuses. It’s that simple.
Why? Because I had gotten out of the habit of running and because I was injuring myself by attempting to do too much too soon. I was doing it backwards. The plan now is to run 2 miles at least 5 times per week for a month. The second month then becomes: 3 miles times 4, no excuses. I’ll be running fewer days, but increasing the mileage. I’m not sure what I’m doing on the third month, but I’m leaning toward 4 miles times 4 or three miles times 5. I figure that after three months I’ll be:
very much in the habit of running again
in pretty decent shape (endurance-wise)
and at that point I’ll be ready to pursue some more advanced distance training program.
Many of the last two weeks’ miles have been run to the White Stripes’ new live album – I wholeheartedly recommend it:
