Almost an ice bath:

Plugging up part of a koi pond, probably unnecessarily.  Yeah, I'd thought about covering the screws on the bottom drain top plate before I put the water in, but the instructions said....blerg.   And the instructions were probably fine; the bulkheads on the settlement tank are leaking, and probably not the drain at all except through the intended lumen.   Just covering all bases.

Anyway, we've had great running weather this week, lows near zero, and so that water was frigid.  The koi (yeah, they're in there already) didn't do much while I was in there; they were already on the other side of the pond and they're close to torpor.  I have thought about a dip before because it would be so cool if they swam up to me while I was in there--but they don't extrapolate very well.  They know my hands, and usually my voice, but the rest of me?  Freakout!

Anyway, the water came up to my mid-thigh, and I lost feeling in my toes, but not before I used them to mush marine putty into the probably innocent screw wells.  I wasn't sure my arms would be long enough, but I knew they would get cold and I really knew I really didn't want to put my face in there too.

Anyway, I haven't made much use of the awesome brisk weather.  I can't believe how quickly it's turned, but I'm not complaining!  Meanwhile, I am this close to completing a major project, and this week has been 12-14 hr days of pixel pushing and things are clicking together amazingly and I'm deep down the rabbit hole of synergy, obsession, and ingenious shortcutting, and TONIGHT's THE NIGHT!  I'm sending it off no matter what.  It is getting out of my hair at long last.

Anyway, eye strain made today's run interesting.  When it comes to something not on a screen or not through lenses, my eyes don't play nice together, but usually I use one at a time, I think.  Not sure.  Today, however, was dueling (retinal) banjos.  Which one is the real branch?  I couldn't tell where anything was.  I didn't fall, but I had a few good trips, and a bunch of smaller stumbles and faulty landings.  We jogged (with a few short walks up the worst hills) for three hours and fifteen minutes and it felt crappy by the middle of the second loop, and mostly numb and dumb during the third.

Anyway, it was good practice.  My eyes are going to be tired by the end of the race (experience) anyway, plus it's going to be dark when I start.  And I really needed to step away from the computer screen for a bit.  Does it show?

~

Short walk, jog, and then weights.
And I think I've (re)cracked the code of the power clean: it's all in the wrists...at least for now, until I get hung up on something else.

A lovely summer day

A few months late.

My husband, the dog, and I jogged (with a few walk breaks) for 3 hours and 10 minutes or so.  I felt tired from yesterday's run, plus we ran in the afternoon when my energy levels were nice and low.  Thus I'd invited an adequate amount of suckage, the whole point of back to back "long" runs.

However, the temps made things easier.  18C, sunny, not too humid...seriously top shelf stuff.  If summer down here could throw in a day like that every so often, I wouldn't be so crabby.

And my husband saved my life!  Probably!  Either mine or the dog's.  The weather was cool enough for the snakes to seek sunlight, and gotta hand it to copperhead cammo, it really blends in nicely with dried leaves and shadow-mottled sand.  My eyesight isn't the best, I've said this before; I have stepped on a snake already here, but it was dead.  This one would have been a pissed off and venomous number 2.  But my husband was running ahead of me and he saw it and stopped in time!  My hero!  He coaxed it off the path with a really long branch.  It didn't want to go.

There was a bit of snake-jumpiness after that, but I took the lead on the 2nd loop and picked up the pace a bit.  Yeah! 

And then my husband saved my life again on loop three.  We ran up to two ladies pushing strollers, and one of them asked us "Is it ok that my dogs are loose?"  Lady, please, what does my disdainful silence and cocked eyebrow tell you?  There are plenty of signs in the park saying that all pets must be leashed.  No exemptions for mommies.   Don't plead for a "Sure, no problem" that will absolve you.  However, my husband is polite, and he made small talk while I quietly tried to coax the loose dogs to run with us.  Got "Mordecai" to go a few yards before he wussed out.

Without my husband's honeyed charm, these ladies might have hulked out on my ass, considering they were out pushing strollers in sand and over roots and debris, and probably a copperhead or two.

~

"Train like a Dog",  by Mackenzie Lobby, quotes a pro dog trainer, Jt Clough: "There's no bad time of day for them; they're always ready to go."

I suppose these are the same dogs that wake up their owners at 5:30 am, so I should count my blessings.  Especially since my dog's reluctance to run is predictable: sleeping in is better, especially when one of the humans is likewise doing so.  Whenever I leave before my husband, I haul an anchor out of the house.  Ok, not really, but I have to employ enough honeyed coaxing to make me wonder if I need to pick the green M&Ms out of the candy bowl backstage.  LOL

But today was one of those foggy days without incipient jacked-up heat.  The humidity was uncomfortable, but there was no rush.  My husband left to get a haircut, and we set out without issues.  Average jog, 2 hr 15.  We had one loose dog, but the owner earned a gold star: she apologized, ran out and withdrew her dog, and apologized.  She was doing yardwork and accidentally left a gate open.  I reassured her.  I should have told her that she's the first dog owner I've met here who has behaved decently during this sort of thing.  Accidents happen, but failing to run out and grab a loose dog is deliberate.

The rest of the day will be devoted to Art--that deadline is starting to loom, EEEEEEEE--eating, and resting for a 3+ hr jog tomorrow.

weights

squats (still front squats w/ clean)
deadlifts
delt raises (side, front, back)
clean and press
iron cross
pushups
pike situps
clamshells

I added the iron cross because there's something beguiling about that exercise...it screams my shortcomings yet whispers promises...

And I switched to pike situps because I'm bored of doing umpteen regular situps.  I also narrowed my grip on the pushups because I'm bored of doing umpteen wide hand pushups. 

~

80 minute run, and then some cleans with light weight...still chasing that evaporating mass feeling~

ehhhh

Running?  I put on my running clothes, but the dog didn't get pumped, unlike the water in the upper filtration unit of the koi palace...the waterfall has a leak.   Didn't use quite enough silicone.

After that setback, at which point the temps seemed kind of too warm for comfortable running, I decided to get pumped myself.  However, I quickly got reacquainted with an annoying back tightness.  It's on my left side, and I've followed its journey: left achilles tightness => left hamstring tightness => left butt tightness => left back tightness.  This has been going on for a while but I wasn't concerned because I've had past issues dissipate in a similar fashion.  It hasn't affected running as far as I can tell, or life in general.

But that twinge really got in the way of lifting this morning.  Even during delt flies.  I quit, and then I reconsidered.  Sometimes total rest is best, but I've never done anything that major to myself, and have found it best to keep active.  So I cut back the weights and kept going.

This is an "opportunity" to work on form and go deeper.  And I'll keep stretching.