Back when I was training for the LA Marathon I recall posting here every couple days or more. Now that I'm not training for anything in particular, I'm now 3-for-3 for posting every 10 days. And I think that's fine, really. It's not because I'm not training or running. Far from it - I'm running great, and have seriously gotten myself into practicing yoga.
Let's see, I go to 2 yoga classes a week, and study privately once a week. That private session occurs on Sundays, which is now the same day as my "long" run. (Long is relative - I'm only sub-20 right now, and that's fine too.) However, I don't feel like it's enough; rather, I feel like I want more. I'm putting energy into incorporating mat time at home every day, somehow. The benefits I'm realizing in the amount I practice now are inspiring me to practice even more.
I'm going through an exciting inner change. My health is good, my head is clearer than it has been in a long time, and my heart is generally buoyant. In the past I'd be paranoid or trepidatious, waiting for the negativity. Now, I'm not concerned about it.
I do have scheduled running "things" coming up. I'm looking forward to them, as markers or perhaps indicators of my overall state of (perhaps physical) being. There's the 10-mile Lakefront run next week, sponsored by the wonderful people at Universal Sole. There's the Chicago Distance Classic (a half marathon) in August, and the Chicago Marathon in October. But, I don't really have a running agenda for those events, except to run them as well as I can. I expect my current "training" to only continue and evolve in a suitable way to allow me to perform well. I do have some desires, like "maintain a certain pace" or "finish within some timeframe," but those are not my ultimate goals. For me, the race *is* the prize. What a pleasantly unstressful way to go about them. For what it's worth, I'm certainly ready for the first two, and probably able to do Chicago right now.
My day job involves a lot of market data. Having been in that industry for a number of years now, data awareness seeps in. I do geek out when I run, wearing a Polar and a Garmin. I like looking at my splits (and they've been steadily improving since LA!) and work output, and I think looking at my courses on maps is interesting. It's all a profound curiosity to me, as I was never athletic in school or whatever. I also enjoy learning about my machine, my body. It fascinates me to see how my performance reacts to how and what I feed it, for instance.
All in all, I feel myself changing in profound ways. Deepening, or perhaps "waking up." I feel like I'm growing, and some patterns in my life may fall away while others continue to deepen and evolve for me. I like the flow.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
And the sleet goes on...
What can I say to this? Sigh. It's like training in February.
Bright side ... it's not less-than-zero out there.
I guess all the stuff I've collected (cold-weather running clothes, for instance) is money well spent. Evidently I'll be using them for the better part of any 12-month stretch.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Catching up, and moving right along.
I've been running around so much lately! I can't believe it's been over 10 days since I've written anything, and the time seriously has flown.
I seem to be intensifying my running. Not only that, I've found some regular yoga practice sessions that I look forward to. I'm realizing that the bigger picture seems to be one of personal growth, learning how to improve my health overall, as well as how to improve my running abilities and now yoga (it's definitely "sticking" to me).
My runs for the last several days have pretty much consisted of my regular routes at the usual evil early hours of the day. There have been a couple standouts, though. Last Wednesday things were all "on" for me. I don't know what it was - a good pasta lunch, the right amount of fluid, the addition of Gu2O to my now-habitual water bottle strapped to my hand, or the nice air that night.... I was tight for time, so I was only doing "4 maybe 6" as I told my neighbor as I ran into her. I cranked out a great 8 miler that night for some reason. Everything was just sync and flowing. This is one reason why I do this, without a doubt.
The Gu2O was added because I had a lousy 10-miler (10.85 per sporttracks) the Sunday before. When I got back in, I did some reading and learned that I had pretty much encountered classic dehyrdation (it was a mid-70s humid day). I'm learning a lot about how my body likes to be fueled. I picked up the powder on Tuesday night and was going to try it on a quick run Wednesday morning, but lightning in the AM killed that idea....which of course brought me to my smooth Wednesday night cruise.
Today (Sunday) I had a great lakefront run, even going out around the Montrose bird sanctuary for the truly stunning view of the city to the south. The wind was seriously howling out there, as the weather was threatening the whole time. Some sun, big dark clouds, and wind were the ingredients. It was a nice low-60s temperature, though. I didn't have a set plan for how much I was going to run, but I knew I wanted to go farther than last week. At the decision point (Fullerton) I could go in for about 12, or continue south and get a couple more or so (I wasn't sure at the time). I decided to go for it, and I'm glad I did. I realized at that moment I'm not going to improve my endurance by running the same distances (ok, not entirely true, but still). I was rewarded with 14.5 for the day. Also, I didn't take any walking breaks (i.e. to down a gel shot). In the interest of training I figured out how to get the shot and dispose of the wrapper while on the move. I even refilled my bottle while on the move. I carried a couple of 10oz bottles in this Amphipod belt, and dumped them into my handheld when it was empty. I guess that's cool to me because I did the whole run running. I mean, that's the point, ultimately...I don't think there's anything wrong with walking, but personally it seems like an improvement.
I had a yoga session with Jody a couple hours later. I'd not done a run of this length and then gone in for yoga, so I was a little nervous about burning out. Happily the opposite happened, and I'm hooked. I got a great workout, some excellent stretching, and I feel pretty close to fully recovered. I did a headstand, too!
Finally, I have to mention that I went to a hydration seminar on Friday night, presented by Krissy Moehl and the Piper's Alley Fleet Feet. I was actually relatively familiar with what she was talking about, thanks to the reading I'd done since my near-bonk from the week before. What I *really* liked about the presentation was hearing her talk about the ultrarunning that she does. I keep saying to myself that "I have no goal but to run," but I honestly want to be able to perform (which is to say "survive," perhaps) at those levels. To be able to run those distances. I'm very glad I went. She was a great speaker, had cool pictures and interesting stories, and provided an awesome inspiration. Wow. Thanks!
I seem to be intensifying my running. Not only that, I've found some regular yoga practice sessions that I look forward to. I'm realizing that the bigger picture seems to be one of personal growth, learning how to improve my health overall, as well as how to improve my running abilities and now yoga (it's definitely "sticking" to me).
My runs for the last several days have pretty much consisted of my regular routes at the usual evil early hours of the day. There have been a couple standouts, though. Last Wednesday things were all "on" for me. I don't know what it was - a good pasta lunch, the right amount of fluid, the addition of Gu2O to my now-habitual water bottle strapped to my hand, or the nice air that night.... I was tight for time, so I was only doing "4 maybe 6" as I told my neighbor as I ran into her. I cranked out a great 8 miler that night for some reason. Everything was just sync and flowing. This is one reason why I do this, without a doubt.
The Gu2O was added because I had a lousy 10-miler (10.85 per sporttracks) the Sunday before. When I got back in, I did some reading and learned that I had pretty much encountered classic dehyrdation (it was a mid-70s humid day). I'm learning a lot about how my body likes to be fueled. I picked up the powder on Tuesday night and was going to try it on a quick run Wednesday morning, but lightning in the AM killed that idea....which of course brought me to my smooth Wednesday night cruise.
Today (Sunday) I had a great lakefront run, even going out around the Montrose bird sanctuary for the truly stunning view of the city to the south. The wind was seriously howling out there, as the weather was threatening the whole time. Some sun, big dark clouds, and wind were the ingredients. It was a nice low-60s temperature, though. I didn't have a set plan for how much I was going to run, but I knew I wanted to go farther than last week. At the decision point (Fullerton) I could go in for about 12, or continue south and get a couple more or so (I wasn't sure at the time). I decided to go for it, and I'm glad I did. I realized at that moment I'm not going to improve my endurance by running the same distances (ok, not entirely true, but still). I was rewarded with 14.5 for the day. Also, I didn't take any walking breaks (i.e. to down a gel shot). In the interest of training I figured out how to get the shot and dispose of the wrapper while on the move. I even refilled my bottle while on the move. I carried a couple of 10oz bottles in this Amphipod belt, and dumped them into my handheld when it was empty. I guess that's cool to me because I did the whole run running. I mean, that's the point, ultimately...I don't think there's anything wrong with walking, but personally it seems like an improvement.
I had a yoga session with Jody a couple hours later. I'd not done a run of this length and then gone in for yoga, so I was a little nervous about burning out. Happily the opposite happened, and I'm hooked. I got a great workout, some excellent stretching, and I feel pretty close to fully recovered. I did a headstand, too!
Finally, I have to mention that I went to a hydration seminar on Friday night, presented by Krissy Moehl and the Piper's Alley Fleet Feet. I was actually relatively familiar with what she was talking about, thanks to the reading I'd done since my near-bonk from the week before. What I *really* liked about the presentation was hearing her talk about the ultrarunning that she does. I keep saying to myself that "I have no goal but to run," but I honestly want to be able to perform (which is to say "survive," perhaps) at those levels. To be able to run those distances. I'm very glad I went. She was a great speaker, had cool pictures and interesting stories, and provided an awesome inspiration. Wow. Thanks!
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