weekly recap, a bit late

Does writing help fuel running?  If not, I will still enjoy the reminiscing later.

So, January 15-January 21: 32 miles, longest run: 12 miles.

It's been warm and I still have extra weight and not enough sleep, plus all of my runs involve the dog at least, and usually the stroller + kid too.  It's not pretty.  However, my fitness has improved enough that I can jog along with the stroller and dog in 20+ C and still breathe easy, even on some hills.  Not every run is a tempo run anymore.  Therefore, occasionally, I get into the zone.  It's not exactly the supremely effective zone that sports coaches discuss--I'm not enjoying elite performances--but it is a sort of bubble in which I forget I have a body and things to worry about, for the most part.  I simply float along.  I love it.  I've missed it.  It takes considerable effort to remove effort, and so I have been without the zone for almost two years thanks to a decreased fitness.

But now I'm starting to get back into the zone :)

I've read that I should be talking to my son as much as possible in order to facilitate his language development, and narration has become somewhat automatic (I recently noticed myself describing stuff to him even though he was asleep and I knew he was asleep!)...but isn't silence also an important lesson?  Does he feel the zone too, and will he eventually remember it and seek it? 

I'm also trying to get the new dog to appreciate the zone.  The old dog understood it, and there were times where I forgot that I was running and was with a dog for upwards of an hour, and I think the mindbliss was mutual because the dog seemed more relaxed too.  This new dog, however, is a social gadabout, and so she doesn't want to be in an introspective bubble.

Oh, well, we will see.

~

Beautiful summer weather right now, highs in the mid-20s C.  Too bad we're in the northern hemisphere.

Anyway, I'm trying to hit 30+ miles/week for the time being.  Last week was 29.1.  Not bad!

I'm also deciding how to track this.  I have Strava, but I mildly dislike it, but I don't have time to do my traditional excel sheets...or maybe I do.  I love the excel sheets because, even though I keep forgetting the sum function for weekly mileage, I put pretty colours all over it PLUS I can plot future training/runs.  I did this for about 8 years and, heck, I need all the help I can get these days so I will try to go old school.

And I will try to write more, like once a week.  

Meanwhile, 3.75 miles this morning with the dog.  The most noteworthy run recently was 10.1 miles on Friday--yay, 2 digits, and in 2016!--in Fort Worth, which is considerably hillier than expected. We also ran by a scrap metal/recycling/junkyard, and apparently the complex bouquet of various burning toxins smelled like Iraq (minus the high note of poo).  There was also a fair chunk of construction on the route, and one part smelled like South Korea (minus the high note of red pepper paste).   I should also mention that Fort Worth kind of sort of looked like Calgary.  And there was another part that kind of almost looked like parts of OTTAWA, mainly Preston Street, same general scale and size/type/situation of buildings on and just off it, same sort of businesses, though not so much little Italy.  It was heartwarming though.  I miss home a LOT. So lots of reminiscing. There was also a bit of off-roading.  Again, more memories, of other off-road runs~

It wasn't the easiest run, but it was reasonably epic.