Once again, the weather cooperated for my long run! Yeah, it was about 31 C by the time I finished, but it was shady/overcast for the first two hours, and then it was sometimes cloudy, with a slight breeze here and there. Can't beat that during summer! I also ran the sprinkler during hour three.
Total: 16 miles solid jogging, no walking.
I'm so happy with that because it was supposed to be just sunny, which means almost full sun by 9 or so. Also, to minimize sun exposure, I'd planned to start running at 6:30 am, but because I stayed up until about 11:30 pm watching UHF last night, I barely made it out before 7 (6:57 hahaha). During the first hour or so, I wasn't sure how long this run would be. However, I was feeling good and my husband was home to help our son, and make coffee for me...it was my day.
So, what are my goals? I'm still not sure how long many more weeks we'll be down here, and thus what my longest run will be before I move back to where running conditions won't be as suitable for really slow but reeeeaaally relaxed jogging. Can I commit to a marathon distance? Or beyond? I think I can pull off a 20 miler at least, at any rate.
Meanwhile, 16 miles is my longest run since having my son in 2015!!! what?!! Yeah, I got back up to 14-ish miles by about 14 months postpartum, at which point I got pneumonia (!!!) and it's been one struggle and/or illness since then, until March when I started social distancing (I think I've been sick only one week since then). So I'm hoping to push the miles until I have to go back.
I'm also trying to get back into posting music tracks; I'm listening to ah/fm right now, and I've also been enjoying Delta Notch, but I'm not dealing with "Track ID??" these days :( Oh, well, something has got to give.
Admittedly, I've been listening to podcasts and not music while running: Office Ladies, Fake Doctors--two of my favorite shows discussed by some of their main cast, with various guests! It would be amazing if Peri Gilpin and Jane Leeves did a similar podcast about Frasier btw.
Also, it's Trump and his administration/supporters, and not Obama, who is/are "the Great Divider." I could write loads about what is happening in this country right now, but I'm going to try to incorporate something, anything, as much as possible, off this list in Real Life because this seems to be a good resource for us white people who want to help make things safer for people of colour. I've lived in various parts of "Trump country" even pre-Trump, if that makes sense, because that's where military bases tend to be--and I've had a few awkward convos, but that's it. I could be doing more.
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Monday, June 1, 2020
!
I jogged 12.7 miles in the backyard yesterday. Yeah, we're still here. Anyway, I wasn't planning to run so long, not after such a lackluster month. Since my last "long" run in April, my longest run had been 3-5 miles, something like that. I was sick for about a week (not COVID-19), the weather didn't cooperate, I didn't get up early enough so had lots of interruptions especially early on which wrecks my warm up and thus makes the entire run a struggle, etc.
But, yesterday, everything went right. I got up early enough to get a good 1/2 hour in before the first interruption, and clouds came. The temp got up to 29 but it was overcast by then, plus I turned on a sprinkler. If I had planned ahead and put my fuel on the patio, and thus not had to go into the house and get waylaid by something for a few minutes (long enough for my legs to decide "that's a no, dawg"), I think I could've kept going, but I'm still really happy with the run. I'm still really slow in the backyard, particularly since I am trying to avoid the 3 tracks I've worn in the yard so far, so it took me almost 3 hours (!). Yeah, 9:30/mile is like tempo effort. Whatever, these are strange times.
However, I managed a lovely ~3 mile recovery run out there today, and that might be the true turning point. I've gotten into this habit of running 2-3 times a week (okay, sometimes closer to 1) that whenever I do manage a "long-ish" run, I don't do a recovery run the day after. But recovery runs really help!
I think we'll be down here for another month at least--I'm still figuring things out. well, everyone is! To document my present real-life knot of knots would take more time than I have, but these days I'm applying and cold-emailing to find places to rotate at for the next year, and meanwhile my school decided to change my email address this past weekend. I think stuff is migrating where it should now, but ehhh, timing sucks. Also, the testing centre where I'm supposed to write my board exam in August had a major fire and is supposed to reopen in June, no July 1st, no, July 31st....and writing in August was already kind of messing my timeline, but now my August school-mandated rotation is no longer mandatory, but I haven't heard if I'm still going or if I was even accepted in the first place (it's complicated) so I've applied to a couple of virtual rotations because since my son's school is reopening now (he's not going back yet, no way), they'll probably take the usual first week off in August and I'm SOL with childcare. Yeah, I could pay someone, with maybe a little extra virus on the side? So every month is kind of like this, but August smells the worst. However, I think it'll all pan out. A while back, I was freaking out because I couldn't get a seat for my boards in July, but then the place caught fire.
But, yesterday, everything went right. I got up early enough to get a good 1/2 hour in before the first interruption, and clouds came. The temp got up to 29 but it was overcast by then, plus I turned on a sprinkler. If I had planned ahead and put my fuel on the patio, and thus not had to go into the house and get waylaid by something for a few minutes (long enough for my legs to decide "that's a no, dawg"), I think I could've kept going, but I'm still really happy with the run. I'm still really slow in the backyard, particularly since I am trying to avoid the 3 tracks I've worn in the yard so far, so it took me almost 3 hours (!). Yeah, 9:30/mile is like tempo effort. Whatever, these are strange times.
However, I managed a lovely ~3 mile recovery run out there today, and that might be the true turning point. I've gotten into this habit of running 2-3 times a week (okay, sometimes closer to 1) that whenever I do manage a "long-ish" run, I don't do a recovery run the day after. But recovery runs really help!
I think we'll be down here for another month at least--I'm still figuring things out. well, everyone is! To document my present real-life knot of knots would take more time than I have, but these days I'm applying and cold-emailing to find places to rotate at for the next year, and meanwhile my school decided to change my email address this past weekend. I think stuff is migrating where it should now, but ehhh, timing sucks. Also, the testing centre where I'm supposed to write my board exam in August had a major fire and is supposed to reopen in June, no July 1st, no, July 31st....and writing in August was already kind of messing my timeline, but now my August school-mandated rotation is no longer mandatory, but I haven't heard if I'm still going or if I was even accepted in the first place (it's complicated) so I've applied to a couple of virtual rotations because since my son's school is reopening now (he's not going back yet, no way), they'll probably take the usual first week off in August and I'm SOL with childcare. Yeah, I could pay someone, with maybe a little extra virus on the side? So every month is kind of like this, but August smells the worst. However, I think it'll all pan out. A while back, I was freaking out because I couldn't get a seat for my boards in July, but then the place caught fire.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Back in the saddle 2.0?
So much to sum up: well, I never did run from work but did plenty of walks.
Coronavirus might exempt me from my last weird-hour rotation too, we'll see...meanwhile, I've taken up the sport of backyard running (and will have to lay down some grass seed if/when it rains tomorrow because I've worn a track and this is a rental....).
Anyway, because I'm jogging ~100 metre loops on a combo of suffering/dead grass, deer poop, these weird berries that I don't recognize, and this weird slime/mold plant that I don't recognize either, and mainly because I'm somewhat out of shape and slightly too heavy for peak performance, I'm slow. Plus, I'm not into breathing even remotely moderately hard these days because I'm still getting used to having "seasonal" allergies all the time, which puts that nomenclature in question--well, point is, I'm extra slow.
However, I've been enjoying being in the zone, perhaps for the first time in years. My dog isn't into running past a few miles usually, and since it takes about that long to get the endorphins going, it just hasn't been happening.
I didn't expect it to happen in my backyard, either.
Backstory, I don't actually have a backyard at my primary residence, but the day after I was told "What are you guys doing here? We don't have enough masks," I loaded up the car with the kid and the dog, and drove 2.5ish hours to my husband's house, which does have a backyard. For the first week or so, I ran on the streets, but because this is the suburbs, it kind of got old quickly After the second week, it became clear that I wasn't going to be going back any time soon, so I made a track.
Running that thing sucked at first. There is a tiny slope, magnified by my deconditioning--in the beginning, I was like, ok, I ran 3 loops and need 7 more to make a km???!?!! YUCK
And then something clicked. I remembered the little I remembered of Maffetone training--keep that HR under control--and that was enough to give my laziness carte blanche. If I had to walk up the ridiculously minuscule slope, so be it. Whatever.
Well, after 2-3 more weeks of this, I actually wound up doing a tempo effort for about a half hour, I think. We hiked in the morning, almost 10K, and then I decided to do one last "long run" on the old track before I reseed it and kill more grass elsewhere in the yard.
I was optimistic: yeah, 10 miles, double digits! My longest run to date has been about 8 miles, so that seemed doable.
Spoiler alert, I increased my PB by about 0.2 miles--but, after 50 minutes of feeling like crap, the lamb curry and coffee I had for lunch kicked in, and I started pushing the pace and breathing harder, like an easy 2:2. My mental game turned ON, I was counting loops in 8 loop chunks, and I wasn't feeling the desperation of so much more--I got comfortable with the discomfort.
Honestly, I probably could've gone longer, and my original plan was to do 2 hours easy pace, but my phone got down to 4%. Maybe that's what inspired me to pick up the pace? Because there's nothing worse than escaped data.
Coronavirus might exempt me from my last weird-hour rotation too, we'll see...meanwhile, I've taken up the sport of backyard running (and will have to lay down some grass seed if/when it rains tomorrow because I've worn a track and this is a rental....).
Anyway, because I'm jogging ~100 metre loops on a combo of suffering/dead grass, deer poop, these weird berries that I don't recognize, and this weird slime/mold plant that I don't recognize either, and mainly because I'm somewhat out of shape and slightly too heavy for peak performance, I'm slow. Plus, I'm not into breathing even remotely moderately hard these days because I'm still getting used to having "seasonal" allergies all the time, which puts that nomenclature in question--well, point is, I'm extra slow.
However, I've been enjoying being in the zone, perhaps for the first time in years. My dog isn't into running past a few miles usually, and since it takes about that long to get the endorphins going, it just hasn't been happening.
I didn't expect it to happen in my backyard, either.
Backstory, I don't actually have a backyard at my primary residence, but the day after I was told "What are you guys doing here? We don't have enough masks," I loaded up the car with the kid and the dog, and drove 2.5ish hours to my husband's house, which does have a backyard. For the first week or so, I ran on the streets, but because this is the suburbs, it kind of got old quickly After the second week, it became clear that I wasn't going to be going back any time soon, so I made a track.
Running that thing sucked at first. There is a tiny slope, magnified by my deconditioning--in the beginning, I was like, ok, I ran 3 loops and need 7 more to make a km???!?!! YUCK
And then something clicked. I remembered the little I remembered of Maffetone training--keep that HR under control--and that was enough to give my laziness carte blanche. If I had to walk up the ridiculously minuscule slope, so be it. Whatever.
Well, after 2-3 more weeks of this, I actually wound up doing a tempo effort for about a half hour, I think. We hiked in the morning, almost 10K, and then I decided to do one last "long run" on the old track before I reseed it and kill more grass elsewhere in the yard.
I was optimistic: yeah, 10 miles, double digits! My longest run to date has been about 8 miles, so that seemed doable.
Spoiler alert, I increased my PB by about 0.2 miles--but, after 50 minutes of feeling like crap, the lamb curry and coffee I had for lunch kicked in, and I started pushing the pace and breathing harder, like an easy 2:2. My mental game turned ON, I was counting loops in 8 loop chunks, and I wasn't feeling the desperation of so much more--I got comfortable with the discomfort.
Honestly, I probably could've gone longer, and my original plan was to do 2 hours easy pace, but my phone got down to 4%. Maybe that's what inspired me to pick up the pace? Because there's nothing worse than escaped data.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
back in the saddle?
My first jog since June, I think: almost 2 miles very slowly.
In my defense, it was about 32 C, and I've been recovering from a heavy workload in July. I still have some early mornings, but not super early, only about 6:30ish am--and for these I wear site scrubs so I don't have to show up totally pressed and presentable. ~~living the dream~~~ So when I got off early today, and there was a decent breeze and not too much humidity, I went for it.
I'm going to try to run again Saturday morning because the highs of 37-39 are finally starting to dip into the mid 30s, and I want to hit the ground running* when the temps become reasonable. I have another dream: my rotation in Nov-Dec might be 5:30-6:00 am to afternoon "sometime but not late", and it's definitely 4 miles away on a suitable route for running. And, facility scrubs are available and permissible (I think). Sooo....we'll see....
and to sum up since 2018: boards, basically.
*haaa
In my defense, it was about 32 C, and I've been recovering from a heavy workload in July. I still have some early mornings, but not super early, only about 6:30ish am--and for these I wear site scrubs so I don't have to show up totally pressed and presentable. ~~living the dream~~~ So when I got off early today, and there was a decent breeze and not too much humidity, I went for it.
I'm going to try to run again Saturday morning because the highs of 37-39 are finally starting to dip into the mid 30s, and I want to hit the ground running* when the temps become reasonable. I have another dream: my rotation in Nov-Dec might be 5:30-6:00 am to afternoon "sometime but not late", and it's definitely 4 miles away on a suitable route for running. And, facility scrubs are available and permissible (I think). Sooo....we'll see....
and to sum up since 2018: boards, basically.
*haaa
Sunday, November 4, 2018
~
A perfect summer day, because summer is now gone.
The dog and I jogged a short relaxing run this morning, 13 C and windy and sunny. The weather has been amazing this week, lows in the low teens and highs in the low-mid twenties. Consequently, I've run every day except Thursday, and I've also been consistent with other workouts.
I didn't go through Helltober this year, but last week was a bit rough* What a relief to shuck off that cocoon of stress.
*Although, I got to spend two hours of it in a cath lab (not as a patient this time!) and it was really cool to see from a different perspective what I sort of went through almost ten years ago. Plus I could ask all the questions I wanted, and the questions I got asked were very mild. No hardcore "pimping."
The dog and I jogged a short relaxing run this morning, 13 C and windy and sunny. The weather has been amazing this week, lows in the low teens and highs in the low-mid twenties. Consequently, I've run every day except Thursday, and I've also been consistent with other workouts.
I didn't go through Helltober this year, but last week was a bit rough* What a relief to shuck off that cocoon of stress.
*Although, I got to spend two hours of it in a cath lab (not as a patient this time!) and it was really cool to see from a different perspective what I sort of went through almost ten years ago. Plus I could ask all the questions I wanted, and the questions I got asked were very mild. No hardcore "pimping."
Friday, October 19, 2018
Now I know I don't want to live in Seattle
Maybe.
It's been raining all week, although I ran with the dog yesterday during a break. That was my only run this week. It's cold rain and I have a cold.
Fortunately, this weekend will be nicer and drier.
I think I'll miss the sound once it's over, though!
It's been raining all week, although I ran with the dog yesterday during a break. That was my only run this week. It's cold rain and I have a cold.
Fortunately, this weekend will be nicer and drier.
I think I'll miss the sound once it's over, though!
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Caught in the rain
5.17 miles today, not bad! Originally I was going to do just my usual 2-3 (sad, I know), but it was only 17C and lightly drizzling. It felt amazing.
It was just me and the dog and we just kept going, until we were caught in a thunderstorm.
The thunder and lightning was never close, and the dog was starting to smell kind of doggy, anyway, so it's all good.
It was just me and the dog and we just kept going, until we were caught in a thunderstorm.
The thunder and lightning was never close, and the dog was starting to smell kind of doggy, anyway, so it's all good.
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