Saturday, January 31, 2009
FAITH: Remembering the Giver
Running is something I've thrown myself even more into, finding joy in losing myself in the thrill of training and straining. (I mention "losing myself" because I once read this definition of happiness that I liked, that it was losing yourself in something greater. For example, when you lose yourself in God, you are so overwhelmed by his love and power that you forget yourself and all you see and care about is him.) Running has kept me going, kept me motivated with something to look forward to and a goal to press onward with. It's been with some apprehension that I've done this, though, since I know I'm sort of making an idol of it, but it's the only thing that keeps me going when I feel all else is lost. During the workout today, though, I thought of it in a new light. Running is a gift from God. I have enough health to do it (which isn't always the case), and the fact that I'm able to enjoy it shouldn't be taken for granted. And with gifts, it's important not to forget the Giver and to direct one's love to Him instead of directing it so much to the gift itself. He's given me something that can keep me going and in good spirits during tough times. I think Sheehan coined the phrase about "be[ing] a good animal." As I ran, I thought of myself as running for God, devoting my efforts to him, for the first time in my life. I've used the thought of running for him as a way to deal with the pain of running in the past, but this was a little different. Eric Lidell talked about feeling God's pleasure when he ran. This was something like that, although not quite as grand or happy. It was more like the knowledge that I was doing something that I was created to do at that particular point in time.
Jan 31
FIT:
It was "feels like 10 degrees" as I did a BM Track workout with stops after each leg starting from the first 400. I kept having my throat congested, maybe due to the cold, which made breathing difficult. The spit I cleared out froze less than a minute after hitting the grass - a sign that it's pretty cold. Including the warmup, about 5 miles. So much stopping, though. Felt out of shape. Maybe the intermittent sleep over the retreat? My arms really felt the strain of effort.
It was "feels like 10 degrees" as I did a BM Track workout with stops after each leg starting from the first 400. I kept having my throat congested, maybe due to the cold, which made breathing difficult. The spit I cleared out froze less than a minute after hitting the grass - a sign that it's pretty cold. Including the warmup, about 5 miles. So much stopping, though. Felt out of shape. Maybe the intermittent sleep over the retreat? My arms really felt the strain of effort.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Jan 25
FIT:
My longest training run in my life! A 13.1er. I'll be on a retreat for the next 5 days, so I wanted to get a run in, especially since I didn't do anything yesterday and did just a low-key 7.5 the day before that. I also wanted to see if I was in shape and un-injured enough to pursue the Marine Corps Marathon, which I've made my goal for October 2009. It's one of the top 10 best marathons, and what could be more inspiring than running past monuments in our nation's capital, being cheered on by real-life heroes?
Splits: 10:37 t, 9:13 h, 4:49 b, 8:09 w, 7:47+0:50 b, 4:54 h (where I stashed my pack, which had been holding about 1/2L of water, a fleece, a camera, and a cell. I just kept my race belt, which held 2 Gu's. It was 46:22 at this point, which is the recommended Gu-ing time, but I hadn't run 6 at that point and was still going strong, so I figured that I'd take some later on instead.), 4:24 p, 4:26 t (turned back like a suicide... a 1.5 mile suicide), 4:26... p (LOOK AT THAT SPLIT! BAM!), 4:28 h, 5:39 b, 4:40 x, 3:06 w, 3:16 x, 5:21 b, 4:50 h (took Expresso Love Gu during this leg. Tasted rather good. I was going to take my Black Cherry w/ Caffine Clif Shot Blok, but it was as solid as ice, since it left its packaging 3 months ago and had endured the cold run with me [it was around 22 degrees], so I decided to go for the Gu. I ate half the pack. It was sweetish, sort of like Molasses. It was probably more solid than usual due to the cold, so it went down nicely without sticking in my mouth or anything. I had to wait until I reached the hill where my pack was stashed to down it with water and dissolve away remaining sugar. No stomach issues.), 4:34 p, 15:38 2+ a bit extra to wring out that extra 0.04 ish to round it out to 13.1 miles in 1:52:16, well under my half time of 2:00:19, before which I had slept 0 hours and run only twice in the previous 6 weeks because of an ankle sprain. I'm now more optimistic about a reasonable marathon time. Maybe 4:30? Note: I did stop to take pictures along the way on the first leg. The time with the heavy pack was evened out by the middle 5.5 miles where I only had the belt. And I just calculated: the wm->tow->wm splits were 22:23 and 22:21... nice, huh?
As for the injury report, at around 1:26, I think... somewhere around the bridge either on the last way there or back, lower kneecap issues in both legs. Sort of went away as I maintained form, though. That's the secret to stopping emerging nagging pains. Also, chafing from tags and seams on my orange pullover. The ball of my left foot hurts, starting from the way back, starting from my last run on the trail. It started going a bit to my shins. Probably no big deal.
Cumulative mileage: 45.5+13.1 = 58.6. That did a lot to boost it. Next week will be a downer, though.
My longest training run in my life! A 13.1er. I'll be on a retreat for the next 5 days, so I wanted to get a run in, especially since I didn't do anything yesterday and did just a low-key 7.5 the day before that. I also wanted to see if I was in shape and un-injured enough to pursue the Marine Corps Marathon, which I've made my goal for October 2009. It's one of the top 10 best marathons, and what could be more inspiring than running past monuments in our nation's capital, being cheered on by real-life heroes?
Splits: 10:37 t, 9:13 h, 4:49 b, 8:09 w, 7:47+0:50 b, 4:54 h (where I stashed my pack, which had been holding about 1/2L of water, a fleece, a camera, and a cell. I just kept my race belt, which held 2 Gu's. It was 46:22 at this point, which is the recommended Gu-ing time, but I hadn't run 6 at that point and was still going strong, so I figured that I'd take some later on instead.), 4:24 p, 4:26 t (turned back like a suicide... a 1.5 mile suicide), 4:26... p (LOOK AT THAT SPLIT! BAM!), 4:28 h, 5:39 b, 4:40 x, 3:06 w, 3:16 x, 5:21 b, 4:50 h (took Expresso Love Gu during this leg. Tasted rather good. I was going to take my Black Cherry w/ Caffine Clif Shot Blok, but it was as solid as ice, since it left its packaging 3 months ago and had endured the cold run with me [it was around 22 degrees], so I decided to go for the Gu. I ate half the pack. It was sweetish, sort of like Molasses. It was probably more solid than usual due to the cold, so it went down nicely without sticking in my mouth or anything. I had to wait until I reached the hill where my pack was stashed to down it with water and dissolve away remaining sugar. No stomach issues.), 4:34 p, 15:38 2+ a bit extra to wring out that extra 0.04 ish to round it out to 13.1 miles in 1:52:16, well under my half time of 2:00:19, before which I had slept 0 hours and run only twice in the previous 6 weeks because of an ankle sprain. I'm now more optimistic about a reasonable marathon time. Maybe 4:30? Note: I did stop to take pictures along the way on the first leg. The time with the heavy pack was evened out by the middle 5.5 miles where I only had the belt. And I just calculated: the wm->tow->wm splits were 22:23 and 22:21... nice, huh?
As for the injury report, at around 1:26, I think... somewhere around the bridge either on the last way there or back, lower kneecap issues in both legs. Sort of went away as I maintained form, though. That's the secret to stopping emerging nagging pains. Also, chafing from tags and seams on my orange pullover. The ball of my left foot hurts, starting from the way back, starting from my last run on the trail. It started going a bit to my shins. Probably no big deal.
Cumulative mileage: 45.5+13.1 = 58.6. That did a lot to boost it. Next week will be a downer, though.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Jan 23
FIT:
My longest run so far this year - 1:06:31 (plus a post-fueling run across campus of maybe 2 minutes - call it a cool-down except it wasn't calm, since I was rushing off to PLESS to make $8 in 20 minutes for pushing buttons when I saw dots). Splits: 10:03 (tow), 4:27 (pebble), 8:58 (bridge), 5:08 (path), 2:57 (wal), 5:28 (wf), 4:55 (bridge), 4:48 (hill), 9:01 (tow), 10:40 (2d). Now to calculate distance... If I do a 26min 3.1, 37min (time to wf) would be 4.4. Add 3.1 to get 7.5. It felt more natural and doable going up the final long hill to campus due to Tuesday's sprint workout. My legs were used to that feeling. Yay sprint session!
Cumulative mileage: 32.9 + 5.1 (speed session) + 7.5 = 45.5. Over 23 days, that's 1.98 mile per day on average.
My longest run so far this year - 1:06:31 (plus a post-fueling run across campus of maybe 2 minutes - call it a cool-down except it wasn't calm, since I was rushing off to PLESS to make $8 in 20 minutes for pushing buttons when I saw dots). Splits: 10:03 (tow), 4:27 (pebble), 8:58 (bridge), 5:08 (path), 2:57 (wal), 5:28 (wf), 4:55 (bridge), 4:48 (hill), 9:01 (tow), 10:40 (2d). Now to calculate distance... If I do a 26min 3.1, 37min (time to wf) would be 4.4. Add 3.1 to get 7.5. It felt more natural and doable going up the final long hill to campus due to Tuesday's sprint workout. My legs were used to that feeling. Yay sprint session!
Cumulative mileage: 32.9 + 5.1 (speed session) + 7.5 = 45.5. Over 23 days, that's 1.98 mile per day on average.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Jan 21
I was happy to find myself very mildly sore today from yesterday's track workout. The sprinting muscles are getting a good tune-up. That means a faster next time :)
I finally started working on my thesis today. The tough part is getting the raw data into usable form, since I'll have to write java programs to do it. I think I'll have something working soon, but new java tricks can be a pain to learn.
I'm missing Lost right now, but dude, I've worked nearly 30 hours in this 2-week period! That's enough to cover the basic ski trip. I'm excited.
I finally started working on my thesis today. The tough part is getting the raw data into usable form, since I'll have to write java programs to do it. I think I'll have something working soon, but new java tricks can be a pain to learn.
I'm missing Lost right now, but dude, I've worked nearly 30 hours in this 2-week period! That's enough to cover the basic ski trip. I'm excited.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Jan 20
FIT:
Despite feeling a bit unstable in the legs this morning, I ended up feeling a bit better in the afternoon, so I ended up doing the BM Pyramid, with a water/walk break in the middle, but with jogging. It took about 40 minutes to complete. I ran a total of 5.1 miles, we'll say, with 2.25 of it being at sprint effort. To recap, a BM Pyramid is 4x100, 3x200, 2x400, 1x800, and back down, with jogging in between - no stopping (I stopped today and regretted it after about a minute :( ). What's great is that afterwards, I felt like I could still go on. Those last short sprints made my legs feel leadishly empty on fuel, but jogging was easy. It probably means I could've gone faster on the jogs, but it's a good thing that I'm accustomed to this distance now and can do more.
I'm looking into doing a marathon. The only difference between marathon training and what I've done in the past is the inclusion of long runs, which work their way up from 6-milers to 20-milers. Seems kind of reasonable at first glance (like, I've run 13 and could probably do 20), but then I visualize it and realize that it would involve doing 3 trips to WF/M plus an extra two miles! Yikes! I tried doing 2 once and stopped at 11 miles, but lots ofthat fatigue was probably because I had multiple walking breaks when I was shopping/meeting up with a friend. If it had been continuous, it might've been better. Then again, people often take walk breaks in real marathons as a means so stay fresher. Dunno.
I'd probably go for it, except I don't really have one I could sign up for as that important motivator. None during dead week were closeby.
Despite feeling a bit unstable in the legs this morning, I ended up feeling a bit better in the afternoon, so I ended up doing the BM Pyramid, with a water/walk break in the middle, but with jogging. It took about 40 minutes to complete. I ran a total of 5.1 miles, we'll say, with 2.25 of it being at sprint effort. To recap, a BM Pyramid is 4x100, 3x200, 2x400, 1x800, and back down, with jogging in between - no stopping (I stopped today and regretted it after about a minute :( ). What's great is that afterwards, I felt like I could still go on. Those last short sprints made my legs feel leadishly empty on fuel, but jogging was easy. It probably means I could've gone faster on the jogs, but it's a good thing that I'm accustomed to this distance now and can do more.
I'm looking into doing a marathon. The only difference between marathon training and what I've done in the past is the inclusion of long runs, which work their way up from 6-milers to 20-milers. Seems kind of reasonable at first glance (like, I've run 13 and could probably do 20), but then I visualize it and realize that it would involve doing 3 trips to WF/M plus an extra two miles! Yikes! I tried doing 2 once and stopped at 11 miles, but lots ofthat fatigue was probably because I had multiple walking breaks when I was shopping/meeting up with a friend. If it had been continuous, it might've been better. Then again, people often take walk breaks in real marathons as a means so stay fresher. Dunno.
I'd probably go for it, except I don't really have one I could sign up for as that important motivator. None during dead week were closeby.
RECIPE: Smoothie
I used to think that smoothies were way overrated. Then, I stumbled upon just the right ingredients after practice tonight, and I realized how great it was. It's an awesome blend of coolness, hydration, protein, and vitamins/Aox. No picture, but it was so easy and delicious. This one's a keeper. No immersion blender needed, either! Just a spoon if you so desire.
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup thawed out frozen berries
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 cup plain soymilk
2 tbsp vanilla soymilk or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Stir, and enjoy.
Food has been tasting so good (at least I always seem to be going aaaah soooo delicious in the blog lately). Isn't exercise wonderful, making food always taste so good? By the way, I've been eating like a madman. I've mentioned it already, but probably over 50% of the day, I'm constantly eating. And I'm not even doing that much. I might train for a marathon - will it be 75% or more if I do?
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup thawed out frozen berries
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 cup plain soymilk
2 tbsp vanilla soymilk or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Stir, and enjoy.
Food has been tasting so good (at least I always seem to be going aaaah soooo delicious in the blog lately). Isn't exercise wonderful, making food always taste so good? By the way, I've been eating like a madman. I've mentioned it already, but probably over 50% of the day, I'm constantly eating. And I'm not even doing that much. I might train for a marathon - will it be 75% or more if I do?
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