Just Like Starting Over

So, D3’s track coach says that skipping a week of running is like starting over. Coach may be right. I skipped three weeks and I’m paying for it. Sure, my knee feels better, though it still hurts after a run, but 5 miles was hard Thursday morning.

2012 RR Days 10K finish. This inspires me. I CAN do it!

I’m on a running roller coaster. Started the year strong, got soft, tried to pick it up again, took three weeks off to heal a bum knee… Now, six weeks out from the Galesburg Half Marathon Express and I’m worried. I’m reluctant to assign percentages, but running is a mental game as well as a physical game. I’m noticeably lacking in both capacities right now. What will it take to get back in the game? Do I have the mental toughness to do it? The determination? The Willpower?

And what about the physical side of the coin? I started with a stretching walk today, on the advice of a friend. After a couple blocks I started jogging. It felt great. The feeling continued until about the halfway mark. A little after that point I slackened my pace to a walk for half a block. I needed the break. Later I stopped dead at a traffic light. No running in place. Stood still. Then I walked the final block to my door.

So I have questions. Doubts. Do I need to run 13.1 miles before I actually do a half marathon? Must I go the distance first? Or can I do a few 8-, 9- and 10-mile runs and figure I’m ready to push through come race day?

Tonight I expressed my fears to a running friend, one who has inspired and cheered me for a couple years now. Here’s how the conversation played out:

Me: I'm getting scared about the half.

Her: oh come on chicken butt

don't make me lay the smack down on you!

Me: Took off three weeks to rest my knee - patellar tendon pain. Feels much better, but I'm way out of training now. Five miles was killer today.

Need to get my head straight.

Her: I'm in a don't give me no bs mood, not that your feelings aren't important or valid....but you ARE capable of this!

You have plenty of time. The race is not tomorrow

or next week

Here I am before the start of last year's Run Galesburg Run
Half Marathon/5K. This year I'm doing the half.

Me: OK. Yes, ma'am. God, you're a great cheerleader. I know I can do it. Just self doubt.

…

Me: Don't do well with training regimens. Need to do it on my own schedule, own terms.

…

Her: I hate training plans! Queen of do it yourself training right here

OK. So no excuses. I can and will do this. Just as I’ve told other friends who expressed doubt about their ability, I have in turn been bolstered. Belief is at least 50 percent of the recipe to success. If the ingredients don’t go sour, I’m already halfway there.

Today's Stats

Temp: 54 degrees F

Distance: 5 miles

Weekly Total: 8.29 miles

Treasure: Water, water everywhere…

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Put Your Lights On – Santana Feat. Everlast

Ready to Love Again – Lady Antebellum

Problem Girl – Rob Thomas

Bad Blood – Neil Sedaka

Memory – The Call

All I Want Is You – U2

Say – John Mayer

Love Me Do – The Beatles

Stickshifts and Safetybelts – Cake

Only the Good Die Young (live) – Billy Joel

Give Me the Night – George Benson

It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me – Bill Joel

Max’s Theorem (live banter) – James McMurtry

Levelland – James McMurtry

Goodbye – Avril Lavigne

Zuph-woof, zuph-woof

OK, I've been doing it all wrong.

I knew I wasn't breathing right, but I thought I was trying, so it was OK. I figured I'm hamstrung in the lungs anyway because I grew up in a house with two smoking parents — no, not supermodels. When I run, I huff and puff like the big, bad wolf that I am, er, I mean... Oh, never mind. The point is, when I'm on the verge of passing someone on a race course or a walker on the sidewalk/path/street where I happen to be running, he or she invariably turns to see what imminent danger is approaching. I sound like a freight train, all right? It's embarrassing. It's another reason to wear earbuds with loud music; I don't have to hear my thudding footfalls or my labored breathing.

Sidebar

Speaking of earbuds, I’ll admit hear and now that I have an obsession bordering on fetish for earbuds. Looking for that ultimate pair that combines great sound with good environmental sound capacity. Meaning I want to have great music sound while still being able to hear the goings on around me. Noise-blocking buds are great, but because I wear mine when biking and working, I need to be able to hear the ambient audio.

Anyway, I will wear noise-cancelling buds when I run. I know, I know… But the Phillips sport buds I bought last may be durable and sweat-proof, the sound quality leaves much to be desired. After a casual comment about that fact, I was treated by a dear friend to a birthday gift of some fine Bose http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/sport_headphones/index.jspbuds designed for runners. Even came with a nice Reebok arm-case for a phone/mp3 player. Tried it for the first time today (now yesterday). Pretty sweet!

Return

Frankly, I'm lazy. I don't like to work at things. I played piano for several years as a boy. It came pretty easy for the first few years. Then, when it started to get harder, to require more effort, more genuine practice, I kind of lost interest. (I am not proud of this trait; simply stating self-awareness.)

You might not believe it, but I do about enough running to gain a little benefit, but I don't really stress my body over it. Other than the sore knee and the ER visit last summer. Oh, I've pushed myself now and again. But I've never bothered to really read about it and practice techniques for improvement. I just want to go run. While that may sound like I'm some sort of purist or go-getter, I'm really just lazy. Reading about it and practicing breathing and following a regimen is too much like work.

Sure, I followed the Couch to 5K program when I started three years ago, but that was different.

Or was it?

Runner's breathing techniques

www.active.com/running/Articles/Breathing-Tips-for-New-Runners

www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/lung-power?page=single

 

Confession: This blog is weeks in the making. And I still haven’t read the information in the links above. Not fully. Seems too much like work and I already work for a living. But shouldn’t I be willing to work for living?

The crux of it is that with just a little reading I’ve discovered some things about breathing, about breathing from the diaphragm and not the chest. I tried today to work on that. Not sure I really have it yet, but I did work on pattern breathing and I’m a good beginner there. So I think I’ll dedicate a little more learning to this lifestyle.

Anyway, while I’m thinking of the time it took to make this happen, I am reminded about the need to write. Yesterday or the day before I came upon this link through one of the pages I follow on Facebook. For my writing friends:

http://justinemusk.com/2013/04/11/11-quick-dirty-things-you-should-know-about-writing/

Today's Stats (April 15)

Temp: 52 degrees F

Distance: 3.29 miles

Weekly Total: 3.29 miles

Treasure: Fresh air.

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Notorious – Duran Duran

Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2

Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks

Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel

All You Reasons – Matchbox Twenty

Dig It – The Beatles

Smile – Avril Lavigne

Afternoon Delight – Starland Vocal Band

Here We Go, Let’sRock & Roll – C+C Music Factory

Paradise – Bruce Springsteen

What’s Write With the World? Or, ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’

OK, so what do you write about when the theme of your blog is sidetracked? I know, “one” is the appropriate term. As in, “What does ‘one’ do…,” but you know, this is personal. I can’t stand all that impersonal writing.

So, I’ve kind of sworn off scavenging while I “train” for the upcoming Run Galesburg Run Half Marathon Express half marathon. You see, even the briefest of pauses on a run – to pick up, say, a pop can – serves as quite the refresher. While that may sound great – it is – it is a cheat. It allows the body to recuperate. And while that may be necessary on the upcoming half marathon, I need to train as if I cannot have such a respite. No rest for the weary – or the wicked.

So I’ve given up treasure hunting when I run in hopes of conditioning my old body to do without all those little rests. As much as they might help, I think they’re a hindrance when it comes to preparing for a half marathon.

Ha, that’s a joke. This is turning into a sporadic online journal. Not my intent. Not my purpose. Not gonna stay that way. The joke is that I’m training for the half marathon. Oh, I’ll run it, if it kills me. But my training regimen, such as it was, is out the window. Here it is almost two weeks later and I haven’t run since March 23^rd. That’s going on two weeks ago. What started out as laziness and lack of motivation became an unintentional but needed rest period for my perpetually lame left knee (it’s that pain-in-the-ass patellar tendon still).  

Being doubly sidetracked (blog-wise and run-wise) my mind is scrambled. And scrambling. But mostly scrambled. My latest rumination:

Ah, the wisdom of the Internet.

You see them all the time on Facebook, those pithy words of encouragement. "I am alone, but I'm not lonely" and crap like that.

I get it. More than a kernel of truth exists in those words.

Being alone does not (necessarily) equal loneliness. Just as being in company does not equal togetherness. And if you're alone but not lonely, great. I am happy for you. Sinceriously (I’m trademarking that word, by the way). I find myself there sometimes. Not often enough, I'm afraid, but it's not a foreign concept to me. And I am honestly making efforts to get there. Everyone says it’s important and necessary in life. Be comfortable and happy with yourself before you look for a relationship and all that.

As you might suspect, my loneliness manifests primarily within the confines of my apartment – perhaps because I spend so much time there, having given up the bar scene except on rare occasions. Oddly the primary alone time when I don’t feel lonely is when I am biking. I am doing better at home, though.

But frankly, I am more often lonely than simply alone. And much of the time that I feel lonely I am in the company of others, friends and acquaintances, family, random patrons of a bar or the video store or the grocery store or Target or some other public space.

Look, this ain’t no pity party (I know that’s not grammatically correct and I don’t care; it’s poetic license, exercised in prose, so bugger off). Point is, I’m not looking for sympathy or empathy. I just need to write and I haven’t been writing and a personal journal no longer does it for me. Call me an exhibitionist, but I need to know someone’s reading me. Maybe that’s the cue for the pity party. 

OK, let’s pick it up a bit. I’m watching “When Harry Met Sally” – call it a peculiar prelude to “Cabin in the Woods” – and there is so much here that speaks to me. And I’m not saying that scene does, but it is hilarious. You know that scene? The diner. The fake-out. Yeah. H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. And well, I’ve confessed before, rom-coms do it for me. Hey, nothing wrong with being in touch with your feminine side. Try it guys (especially if your single – haha).

Finally, for a real laugh: Some dilweed has been hogging the dryer all night and my clothes are lying wet in the basket, waiting for a good, warm tumble. I think said dilweed is poking his or her head out the door and listening for the dryer to determine when the load is done. Well, genius, since they “fixed” it, the dryer now spins and blows warm air seemingly indefinitely; I’ve been drying two loads for the price of one for the past month and a half. That’s only fair, considering it used to take two rounds just to get a single load dry before.

In conclusion: It’s my turn!

Today’s Stats (March 23)

Temp: 45 degrees F

Distance: 3.92 miles

Weekly Total: 8.92 miles

Treasure: Nothing

iPod Playlist (Shuffle) 
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Soul – Matchbox Twenty

Downbound Train – Bruce Springsteen

If I Knew Then – Lady Antebellum

The Lazarus Heart - Sting

Oooh Baby – C+C Music Factory

The Wanton Song – Led Zeppelin

Corazon Espinado – Santana feat. Mana

Clocks - Coldplay

Today's Stats (March 20)

Temp: 20 degrees F

Distance: 5 miles

Weekly Total: 5 miles

Treasure: Nada

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Animal – Neon Trees

Wild Boys – Duran Duran

What the Hell (Bimbo Jones Remix) – Avril Lavigne

When Love and Hate Collide – Def Leppard

Got to Get You Into My Life – The Beatles

Miracles – Jefferson Starship

Fraulein O. (live) – James McMurtry

Only the Good Die Young (live) – Billy Joel

Brick – Ben Folds

Dig a Pony – The Beatles

Big Log – Robert Plant

College Days – The Great Divide

Smile – Avril Lavigne