Cold Running

Bleh…That pretty much sums it up.

I have a cold. It is cold outside. The breeze is cold. Had my mid-week run tonight, was more of a walk/run. I did get the mileage in tho, which I doubted at the beginning. Time wasn’t bad all things being considered either.

Now, just waiting for the nyquil to kick in.

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What comes next?

As my various calendars and emails keep reminding me, the NYC marathon is just a tad over a month away.  I’ve been pretty focused on the training and busy with work, but people are starting to ask me … what’s next?

I don’t have much of an answer.  Partly, I’m so busy, haven’t had much time to think about it.  Partly, cause I really have no idea.  I’ve commented earlier that I’m not especially in love with running.  I can’t say I’d sign up to run another marathon ever again (tho again, some people capture the bug AFTER their first one, so I’m not ruling it out either).  In addition to the time and effort going into training for it, I dislike how I avoid doing other things (rollerblading) because I’m afraid of injury.  I also don’t like the lack of control over my eating I have at the higher mileages (body is just saying – SEE FOOOD!!!!! EEEEEAAAAATTTT ITTTTTT!!!!!!! NOM NOMNOM NOMNOMNOMNOM!!!!).

That said, I don’t mind the half-marathon distances(heck I’ve just done a half-marathon or more each of the last four Sundays all by myself), AND I am in lover with the calorie burn efficiency of running vs other options at my current weight.   The training for half’s is a bit less strenuous for those, so I could definitely see myself maybe doing one of those a year.  So definitely some running just not marathon lengths.

I also was toying with idea of triatholons over the the past few months.  However, I was always a bit concerned about how fiddly it seems to do right, and my re-introduction to swimming due to injury has been a useful reality check on what I would need to do (least of which is pay for pool access).  Also, the thought of swimming in the hudson was never tempting and I recently read A.J. Jacobs book on getting healthy and it just reinforced my feeling of .. ick.   So probably not.

One idea I am toying with is restarting with couch-to-5k with the dog as she could use the exercise and would need the build up.  And as my kid gets better with the bike, I want to go for rides, so I am thinking of getting a bike might be a good idea (and confirming that I only hate the stationary bike, not real ones).  And .. rollerblading!  At least sometimes when the weather permits.

But I still think I need to shake-up my workout routine a bit more than this.  I’ve been plateaued the last few months.  Part of it is the running induced food monster not letting a calorie slip through and part of it has been work, but I think I also need a more radical workout shakeup to shock the system a bit for those final couple of pounds.  One idea I have is to go back to the strength focused program I originally started with but abandoned with the marathon training.

Any other ideas?

Notes From the Sleep Deprivation Experiment

So it’s been a few weeks since I posed anything of note on Wednesday, and I probably haven’t commented much on your blogs either, and even Around the Web Friday’s have been erratic.  Some of that has been I don’t have a lot new to say.  But a lot of it has to do with how busy life has been – between work and training there has not been much time or energy left to formulate a few thoughts into a post.

I’ve spent a lot of the summer in what feels like a medium term sleep deprivation experiment.  I’ve mentioned I work in IT, and we’ve been rolling out a new system to upgrade a fairly unstable existing one.  It’s been tricky work for a variety of reasons I won’t go into, but an important component of the system runs around midnight local.  Between dealing with issues with the old one and keeping an eye on the the new one, plus working hectic days dealing with issues from either there were many a week where by Saturday morning I had racked up enough sleep to count for 2-3 ‘normal’ nights for the week.  Things are calming down (a bit) now that that portion is done (with some fanfare success I add), but marathon mileage is up now.

I’m about 95% pleased with how things went during that time period.  I got my exercise in pretty consistently, tho there were a few times where I was heading down to the gym at 11:30pm (did I mention I get up at 5:40?).  I gave in to a few cravings here and there, particularly towards the end, but even then, they were much healthier.  A fair few mornings, I was dang close to an egg/bacon/cheese/butter/wrap but by the time I got there I talked myself into my current normal breakfast of toast and yogurt.  A couple of times I splurged and got myself the big yogurt with granola (about 250 calories over 80 regular ones), but not too often.  A few other times I treated myself to an extra nice salad at lunch or some bonus fruit.  Only a few times, especially towards the end did I got a little OTT with frozen yogurt a few times.

That said, I’m not too sure if I could hold out a lot longer.  It was a long summer.  See you round all!

Summertime Running

Thankfully the summer has been rather mild for the most part here in the greater NYC area.  So the running outside hasn’t been too bad, but still, I come back rather sweaty.  That’s when this plays out..

Heading to the bathroom for a shower.  Hands grab onto shirt to pull it off (don’t worry this isn’t 52 shades of gray)..

Head:  Humming along tiredly..

Hands:  (partway pulling the shirt up)  Eww WTF this is disgusting!  (Let go of shirt which falls back down)

Body:  (much like a boiled frog, previously ignorant of the disgusting sweat infused material covering it, has been woken up) AAAAAAAAAAA, get it off get it off GET IT OFFFF!!!!

Hands:  No way am I touching that again.

Body:  Cmon cmon cmon it’s gross.  Just grab it quick.

Hands:  Nuh-uh

Head:  Humming along tiredly…

Legs:  Hey knock it off up there.  We’ve been running for miles carrying you lot and we want a hot shower and a sit down.

Body:  (Wailing on the ground gibbering) get it off get it off get it off

Legs:  Don’t make us come up there!

Hands:  Alright alright.  Pull shirt up.

Face:  (suddenly covered in sweaty shirt) (muffled) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!