(Landing in Toronto - CN tower visible in the background)
Sunday, January 11:
Flew to Toronto, got a ride to London, Ontario. Hit the gym after
dinner and got 5.0 in 40:55, 8:11 pace, at 2 degrees of incline. It was
after a big dinner (almond butter & chocolate & cinnamon wrap, plus
salmon, beer, and pretty much a head's worth of broccoli), but I felt
surprisingly ready to run at 10pm. I probably didn't go as long as I
could have because my body was using energy to digest all of that food, but at
least it wasn't an uncomfortable run.
Monday, January 12: My birthday! Didn't run. Just had a
celebratory dinner.
Tuesday, January 13:
Got in a quick run before work – 4.0 in 34:17, 8:34 average, 3 degrees of
incline, breathing through my nose for cardio stimulation. My legs had felt asleep and without proper blood
flow, and my nerves weren’t activated, but I still got the run in.
Had a froyo the size of my head... CAD$15 worth of Menchies.
Wednesday, January 14:
60 minute hotel room strength session in the morning. Hit some records
in rep counts for some of the exercises. There's no particular reason
why, that I can think of. Drove to Toronto, then flew to Montreal that
night.
Thursday, January 15:
Got in a morning run, since we'd probably be going out for dinner that
night... we do it every night, but Montreal would be special, because of all
the French influence on the cuisine, and the prospects of seeing a bit of the
city. I don't recall how French food tasted when I visited in 2000, but
based on this trip's experience, if Quebec's food is any indication, it is all
that they say it is. I tried veal for the first time - very tender, and a
hazelnut layer cake which was great. I normally don't have real desserts,
so you know it was special. Oh yeah, I had also had a dessert on my
birthday - incredible mocha ice cream pie with almonds... worth it.
I kept walking until it was dark, hitting various spots that were
highlighted by my Frommer’s Day-by-Day guidebook. At around sunset, I feared that I had minor
frostbite in my toes. I was wearing trail running shoes meant to provide
ventilation. When I went inside a store,
all of the nerves in my toes were in extreme pain for about 20 minutes, even
after they had fully warmed up.
Fortunately,
it ended up being ok. I also walked
quite a bit through the maze of “the underground city”, which is a neat
solution for the brutal cold. It’s
really a tunnel that connects various malls and subway stops. It took me a while to figure out how to
navigate through it. That reminds me…
real life can be like a computer game or video game, where you have to explore,
pick up skills, etc. Pretty cool. I considered biking or something at the gym
at night, but I wanted to save my energy for cross-country skiing the next day.
Saturday, January 17: Went to Mont Royal, a park on a mountain, similar to
Central Park, originally designed by Olmstead, who designed Central Park,
too. It’s right in the middle of
downtown, and they have lots of things to do and see there. I’ve always wanted to try cross-country
skiing (I did actually try it informally once, at Princeton, on the golf
course) on real tracks. It ended up
being harder and slower than I imagined.
I felt like I was somewhat just walking but by sliding a little bit at a
time, most of the time. I came across
some cool sites, like the Steel Cross, and an overlook that had amazing views
of the city and the St. Lawrence river below.
Towards the end of the 3-hr rental period, I feel like I started doing
better, when I remembered back on a ski trip from long ago, and hearing someone
on cross-country skis do a lunging move.
I tried to replicate it, and it seemed to help me slide a lot further
with each stride. Well… my verdict… as
cool as it looks on TV, and as similar it is to running, it’s probably not
something I’ll get into any time soon.
That night, I signed up for a snow-shoe tour of the park. The English ones were offered on the previous
day, and this night was a French night.
I went for it anyway. I had some
time to kill before then, so I did a driving tour of the cemetery (too big and
too cold to walk it) and hung out in a beautiful chalet. I wanted to watch the city skyline as it
night fell. I’d alternate between
warming up by the radiators, and going out into the cold to take pictures.
When the tour time rolled around, I probably understood about 40% of what
was said. The guide was really nice
about translating again into English for me, for the other 60%. Immersion is the best way to learn. And doing it during a fun sports-related tour
is even more awesome. Snow-shoeing is
definitely more my thing. The teeth on
the shoes give awesome grip that helps tremendously on uphills as well as
downhills, and deep snow is less of an issue.
Even going at a walking pace, I was able to generate enough heat to stay
warm. It was a lot of fun. We heard some stories along the way, saw the
Steel Cross again at night, and had a hot chocolate pit stop. It was only about an hour long, but it was
perfect.
The park didn’t close until
midnight, so I decided to take advantage of being there and do my third sport
of the day – running. I re-visited the
cross, which was a cool spot to say some prayers, and the overlook of the
city. The run wasn’t too long… I
estimate 1.5 miles or something, but it was fun to see the park in a few
different ways, and different times of day, on different trails.
Sunday, January 18: Flew home. I was
supposed to do 14 miles today… but I was too hungry immediately after landing,
so I only managed to get in 6.8 in 1:02:08, 9:08 at the park before it got too
dark. Oh well… next week is supposed to
be a rest week with just 3x6 milers, so maybe I can just swap weeks and do the
14 next week, although that means a 16+18+20 progression right after the 14, in
successive weeks, instead of getting a little break first.
My re-introduction to Canada (since some time in the 1990s) has been
awesome, though. This may be the only
time I visit Montreal, but I feel like I soaked in as much as I could during
the time that I had. It must be a very
different city in the summer, though, with other kinds of activities available,
and much warmer weather. What was
striking to me was that I never once heard anyone even comment about how cold
it was… to them, it’s just another weekend.
Canadians are tough! I don’t
think I’ve ever been that cold before.
(The container of water that I had kept in my car during the day had frozen.)
Training for Boston started on Jan 29th.Since I was at my parents’ house through Jan
2, I thought I’d get in all this training, with high volume, easy runs on the
grass.It ended up not happening.I got 2x6.6 mi runs in during week 1, and
that left me with a 10 miler as the long run.There are 2 versions of the training plan that I like to use – a
“hopeful” one with 4 runs per week, and a more realistic one with 3 runs per
week.Week 1 would be a 3-run week.
After driving from Charleston to Greenville on Saturday, Jan
2, I flew out to Chicago early the next morning (waking at 3am Eastern /2am Central).I was going in for a business trip early, to visit my old college roomie
and her family.Even though it’s been 5
years, it’s like we were never apart.We
played with their adorable 1-year-old, played board games (Dominion – a cool
card game with options for variations in each game; Pandemic – a twist on board
games, where all of the players work together to beat the game, vs. beat each
other; and Princeton Carcassonne), had a luxurious nap, broke out a bottle of
Malbec, and caught up.The next day,
church, a run, and more games and catching up.
It was snowing out, but I had 10 miles on the schedule, and
it was a prime location for a great run.They live really close to the Lake, which has green space running all
the way down to downtown Chicago, which was about 8.5 miles away.My welcome to the shore was the sight of tall
waves crashing up against a snowy beach.There wasn’t much visibility with the snow, so you couldn’t see too far
out into the water.Especially with
Divergent, I was excited about the prospects of making it downtown, to see The
Bean and the Hancock building.
At first, I trudged along on the snow as much as I could, to
avoid the impact of pavement.I had
bought the Salomon Mission trail shoes a while back when I first got into trail
running, but I haven’t run much on trails since.They were perfect for my trips up North, for
getting traction on ice and giving me some un-muddy casual shoes for getting
around during business trips.It’s the
Northern trip version of the minimalist Saucony Hattoris, which I ended up not
using for running, but which made a great, light shoe for getting around
Brazil.
Since I’d be out for a while, and who knew what I’d need, I
took the conservative route and over-dressed.I had a fleece over a long-sleeve tech tee, a buff for my neck, long
warmup pants, soccer socks, mitten-gloves, and a Salomon cap with a cape-like
thing around the back meant to keep the sun off your neck.I figured the cape thing would be equally
good for keeping snow off my neck.It’s
also something that I had rarely used in the past (save during a trip to the
West last year), which will come in handy now.
I went along on the grass for a few miles.As it got warm, I took off my fleece, buff,
and cap.After going through the Nature
Preserve section, the wind started beating pellet-y snow sideways.It was getting colder, and the snow was
stinging my eyes.At this point, I got a
bit demoralized.I put my cap and
clothes back on, though, and felt better immediately.I was going by Google Maps on my phone to
track my progress.At two points,
though, it shut off from being too cold, so I stuck it in my bra, and later, my
fleece pocket, to warm it back up.I
took pictures and video along the way.It
was actually hard to get my mouth to cooperate in forming words, andmy hands to cooperate in pushing
buttons.I guess when it’s cold, its
blood flow is reduced.
I started going along the paved bike path, since it made for
much faster progress than the deep snow.With the weather, it was comforting to see that there were other crazy
fellow runners out there, getting their runs in.I passed some marinas, then a shore where
there were big ice pebbles.Having grown
up close to the beach in Charleston, it was crazy-looking to me.As I got closer to downtown, the city skyline
came into view through the poor-visibility snowy air.It was exciting to see it come closer and
closer.Chicago is like a condensed
cluster of skyscrapers, with the shore on one side, and much smaller buildings
all around on the other side, so it’s pretty striking.
Finally, I got downtown.I saw the Ferris wheel that Tris climbed, from a distance.Chicago was a bustling place, with lots of
people walking around despite the slosh.I finally made it to The Bean, and I took some pictures and videos.I had probably visited it once before, like
15 years ago, during a family vacation, although I’m not positive.At that time, they had “Cows on Parade”
statues scattered around, each one designed a different way, so that was the
part that I had remembered most.It was
getting close to sunset, so I rode the metro back… I only remember just now
that they did that in Divergent, too, with the raised platform and
everything.The metro ride warmed me
back up nicely.8.5 miles in 1:37:36,
11:29 average.
Back at home base, a nice dinner, more games, and
talking.I got to keep reading more of
Sherlock Holmes volume 2, since they had the same book… nearly finished!It was a nice weekend.Even though I was travelling away from home,
it felt in a way like returning home, seeing old friends again.
The next morning, I was supposed to pick up 2 fellow
travelers at the airport, but they got delayed, so I drove out to Watertown,
Wisconsin, by myself.I had a productive
few days there.I didn’t run on Monday
night, since all parts of my legs were moderately sore from the different
muscles that got used while running through snow, and because I was too tired
after dinner.The soreness by itself
would’ve been fine, but one foot felt a bit bruised, too.
Tuesday morning, I went to the hotel fitness room to run,
but the treadmill was taken.I should’ve
gone out at 5:30am like I had originally planned, instead of sleeping in and
waiting until 6am.Maybe it was for the
best, though, to let the bruisy ball of my foot to recover.I did the stair stepper instead, for 35 min,
breathing through my nose after the first three minutes.It was a decent, low-impact alternative to
running.If I had had the time, I felt
good enough to do a short run after that, but I had to get on with getting
ready for work.
Wednesday night, finally got in a run again.In the past week, I had only done the one 8.5
miler, so this 6.0 in 49:05, 8:11 average, was long overdue.I was in Racine, Wisconsin, then, where the
hotel has a very very warm gym.It was a
good run… not too hard, got in the miles.
Thursday morning, while I was running to my car, I slipped
on the ice, haha.I fell on my side, so
it was only a short distance to the ground.I felt nothing at the time, although my right bursa-area seemed to be a
bit bruised.It might’ve been just a
flare-up of my bursa, but I think it was probably the fall.I prefer that it be fall-related, as opposed
to the more chronic flare-up.
Friday morning, I did a strength session.For the past few weeks, I had been feeling
like my kinetic chain wasn’t as strong as it used to be, particularly compared
to how it was when I was training for Obstacle Course Races.What I mean is that the muscle groups aren’t
in balance, so some muscles have to make up for others… like my back and butt
don’t feel as strong.Burpees would
remedy that, though.Whenever my muscles
feel out-of-balance, with some over-used and some under-used, the strength
session does a good job of re-setting everything.Friday night, flew back to Greenville, which
brings us to another story…
I landed at 11:30pm, and it seems like there was something
wrong with the baggage claim, because flights kept coming in, and no conveyor
belts were going.We waited for 1.5
hours, until one finally started going.My suitcase was the 4th one, jackpot – so I got it and headed
home.I had only like 36 hours at home,
so I had to get laundry going for the following week’s trip to Canada.When I opened up my suitcase, though, I
discovered that it wasn’t mine!My
suitcase model has been appearing in various stores in the past year.It looks unique, but apparently, many people
have it.Fortunately, I live close.I felt terrible about not checking, like the
announcements often ask you to do.I had
been so excited to get my luggage.I
dropped it off, then left my contact info so that when mine got returned, I
could pick it up.
That night, I decided on another new year’s resolution:
Everything in its place (putting stuff away as I go along, instead of living in
a tornado disaster area), so that I don’t have to hunt for stuff as much.In the past, I’ve kept stuff out for quick
and easy access.But sometimes, it means
hunting.At the plants that I’ve visited
for work, I’ve seen how they put outlines of tools in the spots where they
belong, so that stuff goes back to where they should go.I won’t go as far as putting in outlines, but
the general idea is there.Another cool
concept I learned at work, is that of “interleaving”, where instead of going to
pick up something, putting it away, going to the next item, and putting it
away, such that you’re only carrying stuff one-way, you can carry stuff both
directions, and put stuff away with almost half the time.I’m not sure whether or not I was already
doing this naturally, when cleaning my apartment, but I certainly do it very
intentionally now.
Anyway, I had to fly out to Canada on Sunday morning, so
that left one day to get my luggage back.I was dependent on the person with my suitcase figuring it out and
driving back to the airport in time for me to make my flight.On Saturday morning, therefore, I started
packing as if I wasn’t going to get my luggage back in time.I decided on another optimization
strategy.Instead of packing and
unpacking my one set of supplies repeatedly, I decided that even if I did get
my luggage back, it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and buy replacements of stuff
like a comb and other toiletries.I
could just keep that stuff in a bag, just to be used for travel, while keeping
my existing set at home.I ended up
getting my luggage back at noon, having gotten the call just as I was driving
home after the shopping trips.So… there
was a bit of drama, but my irresponsibility in not checking the luggage has
prompted some changes that should help me save time in the future!And it’s cool when stuff from work/school is
applicable in the real world.
I got in my long run on Saturday evening.12 miles were on the schedule, and I managed
12.8 in 1:54:59, 8:59 average.Temps
were chilly.Right before the run, I had
an almond butter + peanut butter + cinnamon wrap, plus a mini bag of chips,
just seconds before, because I craved the calories and salt.Didn’t need any fuel or water during the run,
though.
Summary:
- 2014 was a year of lots of travel to Argentina and Brazil. I was abroad for about 1/3 of the year.
- 2014 was the year of Obstacle Course racing, from my first, with my sister and her friend at the Atlanta Spartan Sprint in March, to the Battlefrog Carolinas in June, to the Spartan Carolinas Beast + Super Double in October.
- 2014 was the year that I registered and made it to Boston, by a mere 15 seconds.
- My year as a manager at work - learned a lot. It was a fun challenge, with a different skill set required. I'll be on a different team this year, though.
Stats:
Mileage - it was a pretty low year with mileage - 850.5 total = 2.33 miles per day, on average. I ran a total of 5 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes, 11 seconds, for an average of 20 min and 55 seconds per day. That's an average pace of 8:58. Seems a bit slow... maybe it's from the obstacle course races mixed in.
I did 2 days, 9 hours, and 35 min of body weight strength exercises and biking, which is about 9.5 minutes per day.
In terms of workout types, it was 12% long runs, vs. 16% from last year, since I wasn't training for any marathons this year. 4% was intervals this year, vs. 7% last year... again, not too much serious training... I was happy to get in any kind of workout while traveling. More base mileage (75% vs. 58%) this year.
The status of my shoes... haven't purchased new shoes in a while. I have a supply of them already, when I want to pull out new ones, though. My legs start to feel it when I run in high-mileage shoes, so I'll likely need to pull out new ones once training starts for Boston.
Goal Review:
I wanted to read 12 non-running books in 12 months. I finished Oliver Twist, which I had started in 2013. I got through most of Volume 2/2 of Sherlock Holmes (still need to go back and read Vol 1). I got through 1 chapter of a Tale of 2 Cities. I read/finished/started a few running-related books. This is far from getting 12 books done, though, haha...
2015 goals... hmmm....
- Not getting injured for Boston, so that I can run it.
- Continue traveling
Who knows what the year will bring, so I'll keep it at that for now.
After driving to Charleston where I met my parents and sister, we drove down to Orlando. The next day, we did a ton of walking from 8am to 10pm, visiting Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom. My dad estimated that it was about 13 miles, with his pedometer. I felt kind of depleted by the end. It was fun, though!
(Buzz Lightyear shooting game ride @ Magic Kingdom)
(Shake It, Move It Street Parade)
(Log flume ride)
(Mission: Space - surprisingly fun for the family!)
(Shuttle Boat from Hollywood Studios to Epcot)
(Street performance in "France" at Epcot)
(Epcot ball)
(Giant smoked turkey leg @ Magic Kingdom - our favorite)
(A very cool night show that turns the Castle into a bunch of different things by projecting onto it)
(Main Street USA)
The next day, we went to Busch Gardens. Legs woke up tired, but once we got walking, they got back to normal.
(Cheetah Run roller coaster - pretty sweet! The main part of it looks like a tree, and the back end races through some animal reserves and winds back and forth like a cheetah)
(This thing takes you way up, then turns you 90 degrees so that you're face-down looking at the ground, then drops you - quite a thrill! Probably the scariest ride I've been on, because there's not much keeping you from falling... just the two bars.)
(Cheetah run)
(My favorite - feeding kangaroos! It was cool just to watch them move/jump/eat/interact)
Tuesday, December 23:
4.4 in 35:44, 8:10 average. Got in only 2 laps around my neighborhood before it started raining hard, and it got too dark to make footing easy. Oh well, least I got in something.
Wednesday, December 24:
Pyramid workout at the track! 5.7 in 42:57, 7:32 average. 800 warmup in 4:30, 4x100 with 100 jog, 3x200 with 200 jog, 2x400 with 400 jog, 800 with 400 jog, and back down. Harder than it was last time over Thanksgiving break... got through it mentally by thinking "this is the last time I have to do a rep for this distance".
For Christmas, got my parents some pretty rocks from Brazil...
Played lots of home-made "Princeton Carcassonne"...
Saturday, December 27:
8.8 in 1:12:08, 8:12 average. After drinking decaf and eating a biscotti. 2.25 mi splits. 19:06, 18:11, 17:51, 16:59. My dad biked next to me as I went.
Sunday, December 28:
55 min Body weight strength session.
Visit from a dog friend:
Monday, December 29:
60 min recumbent bike session, followed by some arm weights.
Tuesday, December 30:
6.6 in 1:02:01, 9:24 average. My hammies were sore from doing squats 2 nights ago, I think. Definitely a recovery run. Took it easy, although I did feel back to normal by the third and last 2.25 mi lap. Splits> 22:11, 20:45, 19:05.
Wednesday, December 31:
Needed to get in some runs before traveling again at the end of the week, so I did 6.6 in 57:35, 8:43 average. Ran on tired legs... don't know why they're so worn. Last lap got iffy.
At night, the annual New Year's party at a friend's house.
(I'm on the lower right corner)
On New Year's day, we went to Folly Beach to look for shark teeth, and we came back with some great finds!
(Can you see it?
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It's 1/4 of the way from the top, kind of in the middle.)
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