Extra tapering

Because I'm sick! So it was just a fair bit of walking (to/from work, errands, with the dog) today. And yoga, maybe later. At any rate, the timing of this illness is very good. My body is talking to me: rest! This is when I have to rest! Supposedly, I'm supposed to run about 50 miles this week, according to my coach's taper formula, as derived from my peak mileage, but that's not going to happen, and maybe that's for the best. My body's like 'Ok, you tore me out of my lazy, self-preservation zone, and that actually worked out--but now you listen to me while I fix this mess!'

I'm plowing through a chemistry assignment right now, talk about a steep learning curve with that course. it's been eons since I've done chemistry, and I've gnashed my teeth over it, but lately it's starting to gel together. I can't make a corny pun out of that because I've just covered aqueous reactions so far, but hey~

(actually, gels kind of remind me of a new restaurant opening here in Ottawa--Atelier--molecular gastronomy! I can't believe that we're getting a taste of this stuff here. I've been curious about it for a few years now, and was expecting to have to go to a major city or order a kit, so I'm pumped. It's $75 for a tasting menu, so I'm not sure when I can swing that, but I'll see. Maybe in December.)

And how does all this chemistry segue into running? via burning of fuel, that's how! watch this space. lol

But, yeah, between all these equations and this cold, plus the heat generated by my laptop, I think I'm running a fever.

Well, back to tapering! This cold couldn't have come at a better time. While I'm sitting on my arse and wrangling moles, all those tiny muscle tears sustained during the course of training are being repaired. Incidentally, I had a test which included actin and myosin filaments, but that doesn't quite abate my recent curiousity about muscle tears. Yeah, they're in the muscle, but that's so vague. The problem with all this science studying is that, more and more, I want to see just what is involved in various things, including muscle tears, and so I claw down to the smaller and smaller levels (ie, from the muscle to the fibres to the myofibrils and finally to the individual actin/myosin cross-bridges, which in turn gets me wondering about the molecules involved, but I'm not there yet), and getting closer to the atomic thus leads me to my usual quandary: so much space! How can space tear? ok, I'm being symplistic here, and possibly the tears just occur straight across myofibrils or whatever, totally tearing through my painful intricacies....ie, like I'm fussing over a particular rebar while the whole bridge is going down.

At any rate, part of my interest in muscle tears is due to the oft-repeated assurance that these are part of getting stronger. How? Yes, the muscle rebuilds itself more strongly...how? How does it get stronger? Thicker fibres? more of them?

Ok, I'll get through my assignment, get some sleep, and if this still matters to me after that, I'll look into it.

Running a fever can be so productive, but sometimes it makes me fixate on the wrong things.

At any rate, I'm tapering and mysteriously becoming stronger!