We have this phrase in Argentina for when you get really rank. Olor a chivo. Goat smell. I guess goats smell bad, because the smell I attach with humans and olor a chivo is pretty awful. The thing about climbing is that you lift your arms over your head every time you move.
I climbed pretty hard last night. My regular partner and the one who came back from shoulder surgery for the first time came out. I started on a nice warm up, moved on to the wall I don't like (but I did very well on it) and then proceeded to beat on some 9s and part of a 10. When I say part of a 10, I mean that I was working very diligently and quickly to get this one 10 out that lives on a crack. I like the one hand on a hold and the other on a crack situation. It feels cool. But I couldn't figure out how to move past the crux. I couldn't get my feet high enough and the only hand hold available to me was basically garbage. But it was cool until then.
On this other 9 that I really enjoy (near the 10 crack), I have a really hard time with the last move. It's this greasy jutting out sloper thing, with a long move out to the next high hand. It's doable, but it's VERY static and takes a lot of core to keep from popping off the greasy hold. I can make it, but I haven't been able to make it with out taking, which makes me angry! I have to engage my core to keep on it, but I can't do it without hanging out for 30 seconds. Will have to work on that one.
And finally, I sent this other 9 that had been pissing me off for a while. The crux isn't necessarily that challenging, but you have to think for it - if you get the sequence wrong, you're screwed. In any case, my partner gave me excellent advice. There's a hold that you REEEEAAALLY want to hold. It's angled awkwardly, it looks like you could gaston or pinch or elbow or use your tongue on it. But the truth is, you have to ignore it and reach for the next big hold. And that's not necessarily easy, because it's a little far. But once my partner told me to ignore it, I could actually send the freaking climb. GAH!!
Probably not running today, but I'll take the dogs for a long walk in my new hiking shoes. Should be good.
12 days till vacation! WOO!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Not so good
Well, I didn't do a track workout. It was later in the evening by the time I got my act together, so I opted for a short distance run. 4.2 miles should not hurt. At all. Except if I'm doing hills. Which is what I did. I had done the trail around the Germantown soccerplex a couple times, which has a couple soft hills, but nothing too bad. Well this time I headed to Great Seneca Highway. Truth is when you're driving you don't really pay attention to the inclines. I would say about 3/4 of my run yesterday was a gradual climb. The other quarter was not a downhill, it just got flat. I did the run in 41 minutes, which I would like to be faster. However, given the hills, I feel alright about it.
When I took my brace off, the swelling and pain just smacked me down. Sucks. I was an idiot (or hungry, really) and so I went grocery shopping instead of stretching. Today I regret that. I also didn't have my ice pack, so I didn't even do that.
Tonight, climbing. I'll be at the gym earlier than both of the other girls, so I think I can get in a decent number of climbs tonight. Tomorrow should be my long run, but not likely given the condition my knee is in. Bleah.
The other fun thing I did yesterday was take the boys back to the soccerplex to run around. They love chasing me! And being chased...chasing each other...rolling around... they're so funny. After a certain point they just collapse from getting so worked up and you'd think they ran a marathon. That's the thing about those Italian Greyhounds. Play for 5 minutes, nap for 35 minutes. Also, I tried out my new Merrells on the walk over. They were warmer than I'm used to (given my frequent flip flop use, no wonder) and certainly much more supportive than I'm used to. The only thing I would worry about it that my toes slipped into the toe box a bit much for my taste when walking downhill. And it wasn't really a serious downhill. I think with better socks and tighter lacing, that should work itself out. That and the nasty tick making its way up my pant leg were about the most interesting things I did yesterday. I ended up having to come into work even though it was my day off. Traffic sucked. I can't live in the suburbs for real yet!
When I took my brace off, the swelling and pain just smacked me down. Sucks. I was an idiot (or hungry, really) and so I went grocery shopping instead of stretching. Today I regret that. I also didn't have my ice pack, so I didn't even do that.
Tonight, climbing. I'll be at the gym earlier than both of the other girls, so I think I can get in a decent number of climbs tonight. Tomorrow should be my long run, but not likely given the condition my knee is in. Bleah.
The other fun thing I did yesterday was take the boys back to the soccerplex to run around. They love chasing me! And being chased...chasing each other...rolling around... they're so funny. After a certain point they just collapse from getting so worked up and you'd think they ran a marathon. That's the thing about those Italian Greyhounds. Play for 5 minutes, nap for 35 minutes. Also, I tried out my new Merrells on the walk over. They were warmer than I'm used to (given my frequent flip flop use, no wonder) and certainly much more supportive than I'm used to. The only thing I would worry about it that my toes slipped into the toe box a bit much for my taste when walking downhill. And it wasn't really a serious downhill. I think with better socks and tighter lacing, that should work itself out. That and the nasty tick making its way up my pant leg were about the most interesting things I did yesterday. I ended up having to come into work even though it was my day off. Traffic sucked. I can't live in the suburbs for real yet!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Long time
I wonder how it's been so long since I visited. Plenty of things going on around here, I suppose. I'm going to Costa Rica in a couple weeks (can't wait) and I just got a cool pair of Merrell hiking shoes (not boots...I hate boots) and an EMS rain jacket. We made hotel and transportation accomodations, so, yup, life is good on that front. The trip includes a first and last night in San Jose, two nights at the Arenal volcano, and 3 nights in Manuel Antonio. SWEEEEET!
That doesn't count as my blogging material though. I'm running. I'm biking. I'm yogaing. I'm climbing.
More specifically, I have fallen off my schedule a bit with running - I had a six mile run with my cheetah friend, and a week later, a chill 5 miler... and that was a week ago. Anyway, back to the cheetah. I essentially got run around the national mall with a dude who pulls 7.35 minute miles. I didn't much care for the situation: I felt like I was holding him back and I was irritated that holding a 9.5 minute pace was pretty hard for me. I ate a lot of gnats and I was on the verge of tears by the end of the run from the sheer number of insects on me. This brings me to my next topic, which is the riding. Squishy butt pants ---> excellent for my butt. Riding has been great and I'm thoroughly enjoying having a bike. Of course I went to a bike store and I want some fancy bikes for no good reason other than they're awesome and look fun. Anyway, the most recent lesson I have is don't do stuff at dusk, cause that's when the gnats come out and get sucked into your nose, eyes and mouth. Also, learn to breathe through your nose more...at least those orifices are smaller than your mouth and you decrease the area of inhalation. So, so gross.
I've been yogaing fairly consistently, which sort of accounts for why I've been running less. And I've been good on the climbing. I climbed some fun technical short walls last Tuesday with my partner, and then I climbed like a dumb ass (harder than I can climb) on Thursday with the cheetah. Toward the end of the night it got to the point where I was no longer able to hold onto stuff. Beyond lacking the strength to haul myself up (arms AND legs), I just couldn't hold. But it was fun and was followed by good food. Can't complain too much! Hopefully we can get outside this weekend...
Tonight, hopefully I'll make it home early enough to go run. I'm dog sitting up in Germantown, so I've got quite a trek. There is a track near the house, so I'd like to do some timed track runs. I hate running on the track, but it sure helps for speed and pacing.
Ta ta.
That doesn't count as my blogging material though. I'm running. I'm biking. I'm yogaing. I'm climbing.
More specifically, I have fallen off my schedule a bit with running - I had a six mile run with my cheetah friend, and a week later, a chill 5 miler... and that was a week ago. Anyway, back to the cheetah. I essentially got run around the national mall with a dude who pulls 7.35 minute miles. I didn't much care for the situation: I felt like I was holding him back and I was irritated that holding a 9.5 minute pace was pretty hard for me. I ate a lot of gnats and I was on the verge of tears by the end of the run from the sheer number of insects on me. This brings me to my next topic, which is the riding. Squishy butt pants ---> excellent for my butt. Riding has been great and I'm thoroughly enjoying having a bike. Of course I went to a bike store and I want some fancy bikes for no good reason other than they're awesome and look fun. Anyway, the most recent lesson I have is don't do stuff at dusk, cause that's when the gnats come out and get sucked into your nose, eyes and mouth. Also, learn to breathe through your nose more...at least those orifices are smaller than your mouth and you decrease the area of inhalation. So, so gross.
I've been yogaing fairly consistently, which sort of accounts for why I've been running less. And I've been good on the climbing. I climbed some fun technical short walls last Tuesday with my partner, and then I climbed like a dumb ass (harder than I can climb) on Thursday with the cheetah. Toward the end of the night it got to the point where I was no longer able to hold onto stuff. Beyond lacking the strength to haul myself up (arms AND legs), I just couldn't hold. But it was fun and was followed by good food. Can't complain too much! Hopefully we can get outside this weekend...
Tonight, hopefully I'll make it home early enough to go run. I'm dog sitting up in Germantown, so I've got quite a trek. There is a track near the house, so I'd like to do some timed track runs. I hate running on the track, but it sure helps for speed and pacing.
Ta ta.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Walking is even lame
So last week I missed my Wednesday run due to crazy having to drive from one side of DC to the other. Instead I saw Transformers with a very late night showing. And then I slept with my air conditioner on. It was amazing. Quiet. Fresh. Un-sticky. Whatever, that wasn't the point of my post.
I went for my 8 mile run late on Friday evening, except it was 8.5 miles by the time I got back to where I needed to be. I did a little walking from out of my apartment, then did a warm up from...some point, to 16th and Euclid. I did my awkward "stretching in public" thing at that corner, and from there, I launched through DC. I'm embarrassed to say that living here for over a year, and passing it, if/when I drive...I hadn't seen the White House in person. So, I remedied that. I ran to the side that faces 16th, then around the other side. And I kept going. All through whatever park that it, to the Lincoln Memorial, along the Reflecting Pool, around the Washington Monument, across the Mall, to the Capitol. And then back up to 14th street. It had rained earlier that evening. I had eaten 3/4 of a box of macaroni and cheese. It was humid enough that just walking out of my apartment made me damp. But it was AWESOME. Like, really AWESOME. I enjoyed it on so many levels - the monuments are at their best after dark. There were fewer people out (and far fewer people riding or running, come on, it's Friday night). And probably what saved me - the mall is a good mixture of gravel and pavement. The gravel walkways were close to muddy. I don't know how well my knees would have taken the beating if it had all been on pavement. Given that the run was significantly longer than my norm, I wore my brace and I think that helped a lot. I was able to conserve my fluids a little better than usual (and I did take my watered down Gatorade in the camelbak instead) so that was excellent. It was sort of like setting beverage goals - get to where Obama lives, take a sip, get to the Lincoln, take a sip, and so on. Immediately following, I was pretty sore.
I went to yoga on Saturday morning, hoping to lengthen my ouch a little bit. It was good, but there's always so much emphasis on the working part of the yoga exercises - I just wish there were more stretching! I miss the old Saturday instructor.
I rode to Adams Morgan to pick up spare inner tubes for my bike (so now my bike it all kinds of equipped but if I ever actually need to change my tires, I'm hosed cause I still haven't sat down to learn how to do it...). My friend and I went out to Crescent Rock to climb in the late afternoon - it was less humid but still really hot. Her fluffy, big, black dog was not impressed at the lack of air conditioning. All in all, a good Saturday.
I ran around so much on Friday and Saturday, that Sunday almost fell too lazy. The hike and climb into Crescent had left me really sore, so come Sunday morning, I could hardly walk. My initial plan had been to ride out to Washington's house in Mt. Vernon but that didn't work out. Instead I rode to the Dupont Farmer's Market, picked up good stuff... I came home, did some work and then back out to Whole Foods on wheels. I needed sugar and strawberries to make sour cherry + strawberry jam. Twas good. I had cheese and crackers with jam for dinner last night.
Depending on the hour I get home tonight, I'd like to do an easy five miler. I want to make that effort to keeping my hard run on Wednesdays and my middle run on Mondays. But I'm still pretty sore from Friday. We shall see.
That is all.
I went for my 8 mile run late on Friday evening, except it was 8.5 miles by the time I got back to where I needed to be. I did a little walking from out of my apartment, then did a warm up from...some point, to 16th and Euclid. I did my awkward "stretching in public" thing at that corner, and from there, I launched through DC. I'm embarrassed to say that living here for over a year, and passing it, if/when I drive...I hadn't seen the White House in person. So, I remedied that. I ran to the side that faces 16th, then around the other side. And I kept going. All through whatever park that it, to the Lincoln Memorial, along the Reflecting Pool, around the Washington Monument, across the Mall, to the Capitol. And then back up to 14th street. It had rained earlier that evening. I had eaten 3/4 of a box of macaroni and cheese. It was humid enough that just walking out of my apartment made me damp. But it was AWESOME. Like, really AWESOME. I enjoyed it on so many levels - the monuments are at their best after dark. There were fewer people out (and far fewer people riding or running, come on, it's Friday night). And probably what saved me - the mall is a good mixture of gravel and pavement. The gravel walkways were close to muddy. I don't know how well my knees would have taken the beating if it had all been on pavement. Given that the run was significantly longer than my norm, I wore my brace and I think that helped a lot. I was able to conserve my fluids a little better than usual (and I did take my watered down Gatorade in the camelbak instead) so that was excellent. It was sort of like setting beverage goals - get to where Obama lives, take a sip, get to the Lincoln, take a sip, and so on. Immediately following, I was pretty sore.
I went to yoga on Saturday morning, hoping to lengthen my ouch a little bit. It was good, but there's always so much emphasis on the working part of the yoga exercises - I just wish there were more stretching! I miss the old Saturday instructor.
I rode to Adams Morgan to pick up spare inner tubes for my bike (so now my bike it all kinds of equipped but if I ever actually need to change my tires, I'm hosed cause I still haven't sat down to learn how to do it...). My friend and I went out to Crescent Rock to climb in the late afternoon - it was less humid but still really hot. Her fluffy, big, black dog was not impressed at the lack of air conditioning. All in all, a good Saturday.
I ran around so much on Friday and Saturday, that Sunday almost fell too lazy. The hike and climb into Crescent had left me really sore, so come Sunday morning, I could hardly walk. My initial plan had been to ride out to Washington's house in Mt. Vernon but that didn't work out. Instead I rode to the Dupont Farmer's Market, picked up good stuff... I came home, did some work and then back out to Whole Foods on wheels. I needed sugar and strawberries to make sour cherry + strawberry jam. Twas good. I had cheese and crackers with jam for dinner last night.
Depending on the hour I get home tonight, I'd like to do an easy five miler. I want to make that effort to keeping my hard run on Wednesdays and my middle run on Mondays. But I'm still pretty sore from Friday. We shall see.
That is all.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Do the Hula Hoop
I sort of feel like I should take a little teeny camera with me on my runs and rides. I’d love for you to see the gnarly old man scooter rider with the crazy skateboarder helmet. And I’d love to show you the chick I saw today on my ride into work doing a hula hoop work out. She was standing at a light waiting to cross, hooping away, and then when the cross walk light turned, she kept hooping (hulaing?) her way across the street. Pretty much awesome.
In any case, yesterday I ran from the office south, instead of north. I was trying to get back on the river trail off the GW Parkway but in my effort to find it, I ended up running the loop on Jones Point Park. It was intensely hot and humid, I’d forgotten my camelbak and I had eaten two cup cakes later in the day so that I burned through sugar too quickly. (Moral of the story: plan well so you don’t forget stuff and don’t eat cupcakes before your runs.) I didn’t have my pack, so I didn’t have my distance tracker on my phone with me. I’m estimating the run was a little over 5 miles based on the time I was gone. The trail itself was quite nice…ran south on the river front past King street, then weaved in and out of the neighborhood and onto GW. The park was kind of neat, but I had the same dilemma of running down the 4 mile run toward Arlington: it’s nice and secluded, but at the same time it’s nice and secluded. There are hardly any people on the trail and that makes my imagination run a bit – if I fell in a hole, or got pulled off the trail by a hairy beast, no one would know and that would pretty much be a bummer. The trail was good, although I feel the need to buy some trail running shoes now, to give me a little extra ankle support. It was convenient because my knees were a bit sore and the trail was pretty soft. Headed back to the office was probably the closest I’ve ever come to walking while on a run, but I managed to push through it.
This morning I rode into work and it was the first time I’d seen the kamikaze bike rider trait in myself. I hadn’t ridden into work at rush hour before, and I left home just after 9 AM today, so it was still right in the thick of everything. I was riding between buses and scrambling between cars riding into oncoming traffic – it was all very complicated! I didn’t feel unsafe at any point, but it was the sort of thing where if my mother were watching, her heart would be in her chest. A cab driver almost backed into me through an intersection…I was NOT impressed with that. I now have a rear and front light on my bike, as well as a mini-pump plugged right onto my frame. Still missing is carrying replacements for a flat, and, what I need to address most importantly: squishy butt pants. I hoped my hind quarters would get used to it by now, but it doesn’t seem so.
Tonight is climbing, maybe riding back home if I feel up to it. Tomorrow I’ll be running an 8 miler in DC. It's been a long time since I ran in DC - hopefully I can make it to Rock Creek Park before night fall.
This weekend, I’ve either got some plans to do NYC in one day or do some climbing at Great Falls/potentially ride out to Mt. Vernon to check out Washington’s mansion.
In any case, yesterday I ran from the office south, instead of north. I was trying to get back on the river trail off the GW Parkway but in my effort to find it, I ended up running the loop on Jones Point Park. It was intensely hot and humid, I’d forgotten my camelbak and I had eaten two cup cakes later in the day so that I burned through sugar too quickly. (Moral of the story: plan well so you don’t forget stuff and don’t eat cupcakes before your runs.) I didn’t have my pack, so I didn’t have my distance tracker on my phone with me. I’m estimating the run was a little over 5 miles based on the time I was gone. The trail itself was quite nice…ran south on the river front past King street, then weaved in and out of the neighborhood and onto GW. The park was kind of neat, but I had the same dilemma of running down the 4 mile run toward Arlington: it’s nice and secluded, but at the same time it’s nice and secluded. There are hardly any people on the trail and that makes my imagination run a bit – if I fell in a hole, or got pulled off the trail by a hairy beast, no one would know and that would pretty much be a bummer. The trail was good, although I feel the need to buy some trail running shoes now, to give me a little extra ankle support. It was convenient because my knees were a bit sore and the trail was pretty soft. Headed back to the office was probably the closest I’ve ever come to walking while on a run, but I managed to push through it.
This morning I rode into work and it was the first time I’d seen the kamikaze bike rider trait in myself. I hadn’t ridden into work at rush hour before, and I left home just after 9 AM today, so it was still right in the thick of everything. I was riding between buses and scrambling between cars riding into oncoming traffic – it was all very complicated! I didn’t feel unsafe at any point, but it was the sort of thing where if my mother were watching, her heart would be in her chest. A cab driver almost backed into me through an intersection…I was NOT impressed with that. I now have a rear and front light on my bike, as well as a mini-pump plugged right onto my frame. Still missing is carrying replacements for a flat, and, what I need to address most importantly: squishy butt pants. I hoped my hind quarters would get used to it by now, but it doesn’t seem so.
Tonight is climbing, maybe riding back home if I feel up to it. Tomorrow I’ll be running an 8 miler in DC. It's been a long time since I ran in DC - hopefully I can make it to Rock Creek Park before night fall.
This weekend, I’ve either got some plans to do NYC in one day or do some climbing at Great Falls/potentially ride out to Mt. Vernon to check out Washington’s mansion.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Preference: Horizontal
I should start at the beginning for today. Or maybe the end of yesterday. I got in bed and did my usual post-run routine: I did my knee, thigh, calf and foot massage and then proceeded to ice my knees. This morning, before my alarm pissed me off and before I actually tried to get out of bed, I could tell the general act of rising was going to make me unhappy.
My partner and I bouldered on Tuesday. We got to the gym a bit too late, and nearly walked out when we saw just how packed the gym was. We bouldered a miserable 20 problems (I had been set to do 40, but we failed at keeping to easy problems and ended up playing on things that were beyond our ability). We had fun. I lost some skin, which sucks because it hasn't grown over yet and we're climbing again tonight, but, oh well.
Wednesday I got a late start to the day and took advantage of the overcast conditions by riding from home to the office, and it was a generally pleasant ride. Far fewer people on the trails and generally good temperature. Of course it was absurdly humid, so even though the degrees were alright, I was soaked. I was embarrassed at my appearance and literally snuck into the locker room to shower. It took me an hour from the time I left home to the time I was showered and dressed, so it definitely worked out. It takes me an hour to metro, door to door, so I was pleased with the timing.
In retrospect, riding to work wasn't really the best idea I've had...while 10 miles isn't a lot, my legs are still twitching from not really giving them a rest in the last 5 days, so pushing my run yesterday was excessive. I ran a reasonable run though, and although I was slightly slower than I wanted to be (7.15 miles in 73.5 minutes). I ran down the GW Parkway and then detoured onto the 4 Mile Run, and oh my, was that a poor idea. I distinctly remember the smell of rotting when we rode down the street next to the treatment plant on Sunday, but somehow it didn't occur to me that I'd be running next to that on the 4 Mile Run. The 2.5 miles I covered along that trail gave me the general feeling of running with a mouth full of poop - the kind where you've stuffed your mouth too full and now you can't swallow it. Gross. I finished my run with a good sprint and the rain started to come down immediately as I finished. Lucky me on that one.
Also, the sheer number of bugs I've inhaled through my nose and drowned in my eyes and mouth over the last few weeks is ridiculous. I spend at least half my runs blowing bugs out of my nose, spitting up gnats and picking flies out of my eyeballs. Thank goodness for my glasses.
I'm looking forward to not doing any workout stuff tomorrow, and less looking forward to climbing tonight since both my knees, quads, hams and hip flexors are complaining that I've been beating them up too much. I'll be in MA this weekend for a graduation party, and hopefully will be able to squeeze in my 4 miles on Saturday even though I'm staying with a friend and her family. Is that awkward?
I've committed to running a loop from the Capitol building to the Lincoln Memorial on the mall. I'm a bit competitive and don't like running with people who I know are faster than I am because I'm a sore loser...but...I feel inclined to do this with my friend who basically told me to get over it. It's an opportunity to run with someone who is faster and will push me, so there is that. Plus, I've wanted to run on the mall for a while and look forward to having someone to do that with. Probably next weekend or late one evening next week.
Yay for not working on Monday! Yay compressed workweek! WHEEE!
My partner and I bouldered on Tuesday. We got to the gym a bit too late, and nearly walked out when we saw just how packed the gym was. We bouldered a miserable 20 problems (I had been set to do 40, but we failed at keeping to easy problems and ended up playing on things that were beyond our ability). We had fun. I lost some skin, which sucks because it hasn't grown over yet and we're climbing again tonight, but, oh well.
Wednesday I got a late start to the day and took advantage of the overcast conditions by riding from home to the office, and it was a generally pleasant ride. Far fewer people on the trails and generally good temperature. Of course it was absurdly humid, so even though the degrees were alright, I was soaked. I was embarrassed at my appearance and literally snuck into the locker room to shower. It took me an hour from the time I left home to the time I was showered and dressed, so it definitely worked out. It takes me an hour to metro, door to door, so I was pleased with the timing.
In retrospect, riding to work wasn't really the best idea I've had...while 10 miles isn't a lot, my legs are still twitching from not really giving them a rest in the last 5 days, so pushing my run yesterday was excessive. I ran a reasonable run though, and although I was slightly slower than I wanted to be (7.15 miles in 73.5 minutes). I ran down the GW Parkway and then detoured onto the 4 Mile Run, and oh my, was that a poor idea. I distinctly remember the smell of rotting when we rode down the street next to the treatment plant on Sunday, but somehow it didn't occur to me that I'd be running next to that on the 4 Mile Run. The 2.5 miles I covered along that trail gave me the general feeling of running with a mouth full of poop - the kind where you've stuffed your mouth too full and now you can't swallow it. Gross. I finished my run with a good sprint and the rain started to come down immediately as I finished. Lucky me on that one.
Also, the sheer number of bugs I've inhaled through my nose and drowned in my eyes and mouth over the last few weeks is ridiculous. I spend at least half my runs blowing bugs out of my nose, spitting up gnats and picking flies out of my eyeballs. Thank goodness for my glasses.
I'm looking forward to not doing any workout stuff tomorrow, and less looking forward to climbing tonight since both my knees, quads, hams and hip flexors are complaining that I've been beating them up too much. I'll be in MA this weekend for a graduation party, and hopefully will be able to squeeze in my 4 miles on Saturday even though I'm staying with a friend and her family. Is that awkward?
I've committed to running a loop from the Capitol building to the Lincoln Memorial on the mall. I'm a bit competitive and don't like running with people who I know are faster than I am because I'm a sore loser...but...I feel inclined to do this with my friend who basically told me to get over it. It's an opportunity to run with someone who is faster and will push me, so there is that. Plus, I've wanted to run on the mall for a while and look forward to having someone to do that with. Probably next weekend or late one evening next week.
Yay for not working on Monday! Yay compressed workweek! WHEEE!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Short shorts
I saw this dude running yesterday. He was quite skinny and rather short in stature. He was shirtless and had on a pair of red shorts that were smaller than even some of my fancy underwear. I kid you not. I turned around to see the rear view of his shortness and actually saw crack. WTF? Plus, how is that even comfortable to run in? I feel like it would be uncomfortable for me, and I don't have any equipment that gets in my way like dudes!! WIERD! (I also wanted to write about the little heron I saw, but after the dude in little girl underwear, I felt that the heron was less interesting.)
More importantly, I had an excellent 5 mile run yesterday, hitting my ten minute pace quite accurately. A good day. I used the TrackThing application on my iPhone and was fairly impressed with it. The mapping feature is a bit wonky, but the GPS and timing feature worked fine. My legs are still twitching from the two rides over the weekend, and I imagine they will keep on twitching till I have a day off. I think my general running schedule is turning out to be three runs a week, middle distance on the first day, long distance on the second day and short distance on the third day. So tomorrow will be a 7 mile run again and then a 4 miler on Saturday, and scaling up from there. Next week I'll be hitting my 8.5 mile mark as my long distance run. I need to find a good 10K and eventually a 10 miler to run in the 6 to 8 weeks or so, to keep me entertained, and to ensure that I don't get too excited about things and increase distances too quickly and get hurt.
Climbing tonight - 11 endurance climbs, hopefully a couple 9s and 10s thrown in there? Don't know if my partner will be there...solo climbs go faster but so much more exhausting. Either way, excited to climb. My injured climbing partner is starting to want to come back, but she's still got another month or so before she's allowed to climb. Shoulder surgery must suck...
Back to the grind.
More importantly, I had an excellent 5 mile run yesterday, hitting my ten minute pace quite accurately. A good day. I used the TrackThing application on my iPhone and was fairly impressed with it. The mapping feature is a bit wonky, but the GPS and timing feature worked fine. My legs are still twitching from the two rides over the weekend, and I imagine they will keep on twitching till I have a day off. I think my general running schedule is turning out to be three runs a week, middle distance on the first day, long distance on the second day and short distance on the third day. So tomorrow will be a 7 mile run again and then a 4 miler on Saturday, and scaling up from there. Next week I'll be hitting my 8.5 mile mark as my long distance run. I need to find a good 10K and eventually a 10 miler to run in the 6 to 8 weeks or so, to keep me entertained, and to ensure that I don't get too excited about things and increase distances too quickly and get hurt.
Climbing tonight - 11 endurance climbs, hopefully a couple 9s and 10s thrown in there? Don't know if my partner will be there...solo climbs go faster but so much more exhausting. Either way, excited to climb. My injured climbing partner is starting to want to come back, but she's still got another month or so before she's allowed to climb. Shoulder surgery must suck...
Back to the grind.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Moving on
I had a fantastic weekend. Do you ever have one of those days where you're just like, hm, I love life? Yeah, I loved life this weekend.
On Friday, I stuck to my plan of doing nothing, sort of, except that I stayed up till 11:30 cleaning house. I laid down to sleep at 11:30, and before my eyes shut, it was 6:20 and time for me to head downtown for Race for the Cure. The race started about half an hour late, but there were some 48,000 people there and the whole thing was just awe inspiring. I expected that I'd get less choked up about the whole breast cancer survivors/running in memory of thing, but truth is I got just as choked up. In any case, the race was good, we were down in a little over half an hour and then we just took in DC. The Biden family was there, as well as some royalty (Crown Princes and such) from Syria. Crazy.
I should have felt like it was alright to snooze the rest of the day away, given that it was an early morning for me, but no. I had a ladies party to attend that afternoon, and later that evening I went for a bike ride out to Alexandria. Riding down 14th street was pretty much ok and crossing over the 14th street bridge was a little nerve wracking. It just seems like you're going to bash the handlebars into the bridge railings...or fall into the river even though that wouldn't ever happen. The ride was all pretty light and I sat on the river for a little while before riding to the Braddock metro and riding back home.
Sunday was a highly active day: given that I was sleeping by 11:30 on Saturday night and up at 9:30 on Sunday, I felt pretty good about doing stuff. First off, I went to the Dupont Circle farmer's market, which was FANTASTIC. It was really crowded and busy, and not nearly as big as Eastern Market, but the produce was excellent. I picked up rainbow Swiss chard (gorgeous), little super-sweet strawberries, a bunch of basil, garlic scapes and some excellent all natural soaps. I had never seen garlic scapes before and I was immediately intrigued. The price tag had a little thing that said it was good for making pesto (and if you know me at all, you know I can eat pesto by the bucket load). So, I bought two bunches and went on my merry way. I went on to have lunch with my brother and almost-looking-pregnant sister in law, then went for a light hike at Carderock. I got home to start my experimental pesto making with garlic scapes. One bunch of scapes yielded about 5 jars of sauce, and I made it in two varieties: one with walnuts, pecorino romano cheese and olive oil, and the other with walnuts, pine nuts, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and olive oil. I really prefer pecorino romano cheese because it's saltier; so much so that when I use it I don't have to add any salt to the sauce. I also made the basil pesto and froze that, so, hey, I've got a lot of sauces. And I still have another bunch of scapes that I need to use up but there is nothing left for me to store the stuff in. I should probably sell the stuff.
Anyhow, around 6:30, my friend and I headed out for a ride downtown and it was really excellent. Initially we were just going to ride around the mall and then turn back, but we ended up tacking on a little bit at a time. First the suggestion was to cross over to the airport, so he could see the cross over from DC to VA. Well, we got to the airport and decided to just ride to the metro in Alexandria. And once there, we headed toward the metro and continued on to Pentagon City metro. I think we rode about 20 miles (I forgot to start the GPS a couple times) and I was pretty happy with that, given the general neglect my bike has experienced as of late. My legs are a little twitchy but are otherwise feeling pretty good. What does NOT feel good it my ass. My ass hurts! But hopefully I'll manage to get my ass into "get used to a bike seat" conditions. We ended the evening with an Asian Fusion delivery dinner and the 5th Element. Not a bad way to end the night.
Today I'm scheduled for a 5 mile run (or the gym, if lighting rolls in). I'm not totally feeling a run, which is why I'm keeping it short, but I've got to keep that motivation going.
Also...I wish I could find the motivation to want to be indoors right now, working, when it's beautiful outside...arg. Being a grown up is such a bummer.
On Friday, I stuck to my plan of doing nothing, sort of, except that I stayed up till 11:30 cleaning house. I laid down to sleep at 11:30, and before my eyes shut, it was 6:20 and time for me to head downtown for Race for the Cure. The race started about half an hour late, but there were some 48,000 people there and the whole thing was just awe inspiring. I expected that I'd get less choked up about the whole breast cancer survivors/running in memory of thing, but truth is I got just as choked up. In any case, the race was good, we were down in a little over half an hour and then we just took in DC. The Biden family was there, as well as some royalty (Crown Princes and such) from Syria. Crazy.
I should have felt like it was alright to snooze the rest of the day away, given that it was an early morning for me, but no. I had a ladies party to attend that afternoon, and later that evening I went for a bike ride out to Alexandria. Riding down 14th street was pretty much ok and crossing over the 14th street bridge was a little nerve wracking. It just seems like you're going to bash the handlebars into the bridge railings...or fall into the river even though that wouldn't ever happen. The ride was all pretty light and I sat on the river for a little while before riding to the Braddock metro and riding back home.
Sunday was a highly active day: given that I was sleeping by 11:30 on Saturday night and up at 9:30 on Sunday, I felt pretty good about doing stuff. First off, I went to the Dupont Circle farmer's market, which was FANTASTIC. It was really crowded and busy, and not nearly as big as Eastern Market, but the produce was excellent. I picked up rainbow Swiss chard (gorgeous), little super-sweet strawberries, a bunch of basil, garlic scapes and some excellent all natural soaps. I had never seen garlic scapes before and I was immediately intrigued. The price tag had a little thing that said it was good for making pesto (and if you know me at all, you know I can eat pesto by the bucket load). So, I bought two bunches and went on my merry way. I went on to have lunch with my brother and almost-looking-pregnant sister in law, then went for a light hike at Carderock. I got home to start my experimental pesto making with garlic scapes. One bunch of scapes yielded about 5 jars of sauce, and I made it in two varieties: one with walnuts, pecorino romano cheese and olive oil, and the other with walnuts, pine nuts, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and olive oil. I really prefer pecorino romano cheese because it's saltier; so much so that when I use it I don't have to add any salt to the sauce. I also made the basil pesto and froze that, so, hey, I've got a lot of sauces. And I still have another bunch of scapes that I need to use up but there is nothing left for me to store the stuff in. I should probably sell the stuff.
Anyhow, around 6:30, my friend and I headed out for a ride downtown and it was really excellent. Initially we were just going to ride around the mall and then turn back, but we ended up tacking on a little bit at a time. First the suggestion was to cross over to the airport, so he could see the cross over from DC to VA. Well, we got to the airport and decided to just ride to the metro in Alexandria. And once there, we headed toward the metro and continued on to Pentagon City metro. I think we rode about 20 miles (I forgot to start the GPS a couple times) and I was pretty happy with that, given the general neglect my bike has experienced as of late. My legs are a little twitchy but are otherwise feeling pretty good. What does NOT feel good it my ass. My ass hurts! But hopefully I'll manage to get my ass into "get used to a bike seat" conditions. We ended the evening with an Asian Fusion delivery dinner and the 5th Element. Not a bad way to end the night.
Today I'm scheduled for a 5 mile run (or the gym, if lighting rolls in). I'm not totally feeling a run, which is why I'm keeping it short, but I've got to keep that motivation going.
Also...I wish I could find the motivation to want to be indoors right now, working, when it's beautiful outside...arg. Being a grown up is such a bummer.
Friday, June 5, 2009
I'd rather be climbing
It's been aaaages. I have been doing really well and summer motivation (work out wise) is in full force. I've been running and climbing a lot, and visiting the gym a little less. I found a little courage and registered for a bunch of races, in this order:
- Race for the Cure on the 6th (which is mostly just for fun)
- The Baltimore Half marathon, October
- Marine Corp 10k, also in October
To date, my running motivation has been pretty solid. It's not without challenges, of course. The heat and humidity are already pretty intense. For the first time in years, I felt the desire to wretch on a run the other day just from dealing with the heat. I felt like such a sissy, but it's been a long time since dealing with heat for me. Beyond that, it seems like if it's not a bajillion degrees, it's raining, torrential downpour style. My Wednesday run, at seven miles, started excellent. It was misting a little and the temperature was reasonable. I knew I wanted to hit the 7 mile mark, so when it started raining a little harder, I opted not to turn back. This, in retrospect, was an awful idea. Not only did it pour, but I ended up getting chased down by the lightning. Beyond that, I did about 3.5 to 4 miles in the pouring rain, so my feet were miserably wet and sore. My fingers even got wrinkly! All in all, it was a great run because the temperature was so comfortable, but the fear of electrocution part was a little sketchy. My knees are still pretty sore but I'm managing with icing and stretching. If I were to wish one thing, it would be that I could have a couple extra days in the week so I could actually go to yoga and pilates to do the stretches that help and the core/quad strengthening exercises I ought to be doing to keep my knee pain in check...but alas my schedule is jam packed. Running three days a week and climbing two days a week, plus one day off (Friday) from everything means that I only have one day left in the week to yoga. And there are no yoga or pilates sessions on Sundays. GAR.
Climbing has been fantastic. My partner and I have returned in full force. I've made a lot of progress in getting back to where I want to be and have just started working on some good 5.9s and 5.10s. Tuesdays are endurance training climbs - right now I've been working up to 10 climbs and I'd hope to crank it up over the next few weeks to 15 or so climbs. Thursdays are the play days when we push ourselves to stuff beyond out limit. My partner and I had an AWESOME day yesterday, with a total of 9 climbs, mixing in a few easy 6s and 7s, challenging 8s, and the couple 9s and the lone 10. I was suuuper psyched on the 10, and really happy with the 9s. All of this will hopefully culminate in a trip to New Hampshire or Kamarouska for an awesome climbing trip in the Fall. My partner is fairly set on having me learn to climb trad, which makes me uncomfortable. But I suppose that if I want to climb at Whitehorse or Cathedral in NH, well then it'll have to go. I'm definitely not into the idea of leading (yet, anyway) but I don't even know how I feel about climbing on gear. Sketches me out. Whatever, I'd rather be climbing anyway. I'd rather be climbing now. I half considered bailing on work to go play at the gym.
Tonight is a nothing night, since I've got to be up early for the race in the morning. I hope I'll see the Save the TaTas team, and Save Second Base. Should be a good time.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Hiatus ending
Spring has arrived, and I'm finally coming out of my yearly winter funk. December saw the end of my training for the race, as California resulted in a very different situation. I ended up working a lot from the comfort of the bed, but I didn't have a whole lot of time (or desire) to keep running. Randomly, my knees were hurting a lot even though I wasn't working out, and I was frustrated with the whole thing.
I finally broke down and joined my local gym. As always, my disposition to life in general is much better when I'm working out, so joining the gym was one of my better decisions in a long time. I started in February and it's been great: the yoga and medidation classes are excellent, I do this abdominal work out class twice a week (which is painful but awesome) and I found out that that Masala Bhangra class is awesome. I'm working out there about 4 or 5 days a week, and I've made great use of stationary bikes. Currently, I'm reading Como Agua Para Chocolate on the stationary bike and that is a fantastic way for me to spend my 45 minutes.
Since the holidays I haven't been able to get back into my climbing routine (so annoyed)!!! However, spring is here, the weather is shaping up, and I have about 3.5 months before my climbing partner recovers from her shoulder surgery and starts to beat the crap out of me on the climbs, so I'm starting with that in mind today. Our little crew (broken, lazy, tired, unambitious) went down to Carderock on Saturday for the first outdoor climb of the season and that got me all jazzed up for spring/summer climbing. The weather was excellent but the climbs were way harder for me than they should have been because I can't remember the last time I climbed...but it was all the motivation I need in order to get my act together and start my training again.
I'm still in a bit of "recovery" phase, but I am absolutely climbing tonight. My goal tonight is focused on endurance rather than difficulty to get me set up for harder climbs further into the season. I was so proud of my progress in reaching solid 5.9 climbs...I highly doubt I'd be able to send a 5.8 today. The challenge, of course, will be to balance what I want to climb (5.6s over and over) versus what my climbing buddy with want to climb because she is a much stronger climber than I am.
I took my hybrid bike to the shop to get assembled and tuned up, and hopefully that means I'll be commuting to work sooner than later...I plan to use my dividend from REI to buy a snazzy helmet and a pink camel back. I'm psyched on that one.
And for the running segment of our program...what about the Marine Corps Marathon in October? There's enough time... I could potentially work it out. It's supposed to be an excellent way to see DC. I want to be running...it wouldn't require training through the winter... hmm hmm hmm.
Oh and I'm doing Race for the Cure on June 6. You should too. It's easy and fun.
Ok, I think I'm done rambling.
I finally broke down and joined my local gym. As always, my disposition to life in general is much better when I'm working out, so joining the gym was one of my better decisions in a long time. I started in February and it's been great: the yoga and medidation classes are excellent, I do this abdominal work out class twice a week (which is painful but awesome) and I found out that that Masala Bhangra class is awesome. I'm working out there about 4 or 5 days a week, and I've made great use of stationary bikes. Currently, I'm reading Como Agua Para Chocolate on the stationary bike and that is a fantastic way for me to spend my 45 minutes.
Since the holidays I haven't been able to get back into my climbing routine (so annoyed)!!! However, spring is here, the weather is shaping up, and I have about 3.5 months before my climbing partner recovers from her shoulder surgery and starts to beat the crap out of me on the climbs, so I'm starting with that in mind today. Our little crew (broken, lazy, tired, unambitious) went down to Carderock on Saturday for the first outdoor climb of the season and that got me all jazzed up for spring/summer climbing. The weather was excellent but the climbs were way harder for me than they should have been because I can't remember the last time I climbed...but it was all the motivation I need in order to get my act together and start my training again.
I'm still in a bit of "recovery" phase, but I am absolutely climbing tonight. My goal tonight is focused on endurance rather than difficulty to get me set up for harder climbs further into the season. I was so proud of my progress in reaching solid 5.9 climbs...I highly doubt I'd be able to send a 5.8 today. The challenge, of course, will be to balance what I want to climb (5.6s over and over) versus what my climbing buddy with want to climb because she is a much stronger climber than I am.
I took my hybrid bike to the shop to get assembled and tuned up, and hopefully that means I'll be commuting to work sooner than later...I plan to use my dividend from REI to buy a snazzy helmet and a pink camel back. I'm psyched on that one.
And for the running segment of our program...what about the Marine Corps Marathon in October? There's enough time... I could potentially work it out. It's supposed to be an excellent way to see DC. I want to be running...it wouldn't require training through the winter... hmm hmm hmm.
Oh and I'm doing Race for the Cure on June 6. You should too. It's easy and fun.
Ok, I think I'm done rambling.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Back. Maybe.
It’s been a long time. The course of events over the last few months completely messed with my running. I travelled a whole bunch in October. That was no good for my motivation. The stress fracture in my foot is much better. Perhaps even gone. Then this stupid phantom pain in my left foot started. I have no idea what it was. It’s mainly gone now. I was sentenced to eight sessions of physical therapy for November. In my “last” session, my therapist told me I needed two to three more weeks of therapy. I’m going to choose to believe that it’s because he has a thing for me (one can hope) and that it’s not because my knees are total crap.
My last run before I stopped running was back in San Antonio, where I realized that I can’t put my right foot down at the same straight angle as my left foot. I hate running on treadmills, but the only time I had to run was in the hotel gym and that’s what was available. I watched the positioning of my feet with each step in the mirror and I realized that my right toe area was crooked.
I ran for the first time since I started therapy last night. With the therapy and the heel insert in my shoe (did I mention my left leg is longer than my right leg), I realized that my toe area came down much straighter. I was hoping that I would have this amazing run, with no pain and I’d think that I could run to the ends of the earth. It was only OK in the end – my feet are fine; my knees felt stronger (turns out the therapy is making an impact and I don’t feel wobbly with each step). I could feel the muscles in my legs working so differently last night, and I could feel the pull of my knee caps working. My breathing was absolute crap and I actually had to use my inhaler when I got home. Running in the cold is a whole new thing to me and I hope that it doesn’t always go like that. I liked my new running pants – they weren’t like the tights I had to wear in high school and therefore are much warmer but more technical and regulated my sweat better. I saw a chick running in nylons; I know this because I could see her white granny panties in the street light.
It’s so strange to actually feel everything, since all I have been doing in physical therapy is focus on how stuff feels. The therapist just pokes at my knees and looks at my face to determine if this or that hurts. Fortunately everyone is awesome in the office and I look forward to each session, even if it’s not always pleasant and I have to be polite while someone hurts me. I totally have a thing for the therapist. Every girl I talk to about it says it’s totally normal to have crushes on the physical therapist. My sessions are almost over and that kind of bums me out, although I’d like to walk away with a comment like “go run your ass off and never look back.” The other primary irritation is that I have sessions twice a week, it’s winter, and who the hell wants remembers to deal with leg hair that often…ok I know that’s just me, but it’s certainly something I have to work very hard to remember every time I go to therapy. The guy who does the strength exercises with me reminds me of my big brother in mannerisms and character (he can’t sit still). He’s really funny and makes me miss my brother terribly.
I hope to keep up some very short runs over the next few days, and start back up with yoga next week. I’ve neglected my body over the last 6 weeks (except for my stomach). I leave for the west coast on the 16th and I hope to keep up my running while I’m there. The order of my life is going to be very measured while I’m there. I have to work remotely several of the days, and I am also going to be the designated baby helper – my responsibilities will be to cook like crazy, clean as much as I can and hang out with baby Audrey as much as possible while my brother and his wife visit the baby Alessandro at the hospital. Since that’s what I’ll be doing, I hope that finding the rhythm of my life will be easy enough. There isn’t much I was to do for just me beyond run and get in a couple of climbs with friends out there. I can’t wait to meet the babies. I can’t wait to see my brother. Having family far away sucks.
My last run before I stopped running was back in San Antonio, where I realized that I can’t put my right foot down at the same straight angle as my left foot. I hate running on treadmills, but the only time I had to run was in the hotel gym and that’s what was available. I watched the positioning of my feet with each step in the mirror and I realized that my right toe area was crooked.
I ran for the first time since I started therapy last night. With the therapy and the heel insert in my shoe (did I mention my left leg is longer than my right leg), I realized that my toe area came down much straighter. I was hoping that I would have this amazing run, with no pain and I’d think that I could run to the ends of the earth. It was only OK in the end – my feet are fine; my knees felt stronger (turns out the therapy is making an impact and I don’t feel wobbly with each step). I could feel the muscles in my legs working so differently last night, and I could feel the pull of my knee caps working. My breathing was absolute crap and I actually had to use my inhaler when I got home. Running in the cold is a whole new thing to me and I hope that it doesn’t always go like that. I liked my new running pants – they weren’t like the tights I had to wear in high school and therefore are much warmer but more technical and regulated my sweat better. I saw a chick running in nylons; I know this because I could see her white granny panties in the street light.
It’s so strange to actually feel everything, since all I have been doing in physical therapy is focus on how stuff feels. The therapist just pokes at my knees and looks at my face to determine if this or that hurts. Fortunately everyone is awesome in the office and I look forward to each session, even if it’s not always pleasant and I have to be polite while someone hurts me. I totally have a thing for the therapist. Every girl I talk to about it says it’s totally normal to have crushes on the physical therapist. My sessions are almost over and that kind of bums me out, although I’d like to walk away with a comment like “go run your ass off and never look back.” The other primary irritation is that I have sessions twice a week, it’s winter, and who the hell wants remembers to deal with leg hair that often…ok I know that’s just me, but it’s certainly something I have to work very hard to remember every time I go to therapy. The guy who does the strength exercises with me reminds me of my big brother in mannerisms and character (he can’t sit still). He’s really funny and makes me miss my brother terribly.
I hope to keep up some very short runs over the next few days, and start back up with yoga next week. I’ve neglected my body over the last 6 weeks (except for my stomach). I leave for the west coast on the 16th and I hope to keep up my running while I’m there. The order of my life is going to be very measured while I’m there. I have to work remotely several of the days, and I am also going to be the designated baby helper – my responsibilities will be to cook like crazy, clean as much as I can and hang out with baby Audrey as much as possible while my brother and his wife visit the baby Alessandro at the hospital. Since that’s what I’ll be doing, I hope that finding the rhythm of my life will be easy enough. There isn’t much I was to do for just me beyond run and get in a couple of climbs with friends out there. I can’t wait to meet the babies. I can’t wait to see my brother. Having family far away sucks.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Pressing On
Monday's run was blissful. The air gliding over my skin and into my face felt crisp and inviting and all I could think of was my old horse lease, Cheval. When the temperature cooled and the damp NY summers fell away, you would think that this 19 year old grandpa was a 2 year old. He had boundless energy and excitement to be working with me. The run wasn't entirely like riding on those perfect cool days, but, it felt so good to be floating. I ran a very reasonable distance from in front of my office to each piece of trail where the gravel trail ended on either side of the building. Maybe 2.5 miles? It's difficult to stop myself when it feels so good to be moving and the weather is so great; and it's even harder to know that I could be running 10 or 12 miles if I'd not screwed my foot up. My foot feels fine (and I'm not surprised, given that the distance was short and I was on the gravel). My knees feel very weak and I'm really looking forward to starting my physical therapy. It's encouraging to consider that I could be running without joint discomfort.
Speaking of, I have my first session tomorrow. In a great turn of luck, the therapist is actually right next door to my office so that's very convenient. I've never done physical therapy, so I'm not actually sure what to expect.
I'm in San Antonio all of next week, which means that I'm going to be pressed for time to run and I'll already be missing a week of therapy. I had so much fun in Denver that I wouldn't have had the time to work out, but fewer people will be in San Antonio and that may mean that there will be fewer social evenings. My girlfriend/co-worker who will actually be running the full marathon with me in January (so jealous) will be there; I know she is motivated to do early morning runs and hopefully she will be a little contagious. I imagine it will still be quite hot, so mornings will be the smart way to go.
I missed yoga last night and I feel that I've abandoned Chuck. My boss had asked me to go to dinner with her in DC (Zaytinya, yum) and she introduced me to this chick who actually works in Senator Kennedy's office, focusing on Health Policy. She was pretty much awesome and I'm pretty psyched on hanging out with her. She's also a marathoner, biker, skier, outdoorsy type, etc. I'm definitely going to hit her up for some fun times. (In my tremendous effort to make girlfriends when I moved to DC, I've actually discovered a whole other realm of fun. Coming from a life of only friends who are boys, it's quite a change: I have several girl friends who I'd actually consider close friends). DC has been so good to me.
I was having breakfast at my little table looking at my view of the cathedral, and I couldn't help but feel this incredibly romantic feeling toward DC. It was such a content moment of absolute...perfect.
Speaking of, I have my first session tomorrow. In a great turn of luck, the therapist is actually right next door to my office so that's very convenient. I've never done physical therapy, so I'm not actually sure what to expect.
I'm in San Antonio all of next week, which means that I'm going to be pressed for time to run and I'll already be missing a week of therapy. I had so much fun in Denver that I wouldn't have had the time to work out, but fewer people will be in San Antonio and that may mean that there will be fewer social evenings. My girlfriend/co-worker who will actually be running the full marathon with me in January (so jealous) will be there; I know she is motivated to do early morning runs and hopefully she will be a little contagious. I imagine it will still be quite hot, so mornings will be the smart way to go.
I missed yoga last night and I feel that I've abandoned Chuck. My boss had asked me to go to dinner with her in DC (Zaytinya, yum) and she introduced me to this chick who actually works in Senator Kennedy's office, focusing on Health Policy. She was pretty much awesome and I'm pretty psyched on hanging out with her. She's also a marathoner, biker, skier, outdoorsy type, etc. I'm definitely going to hit her up for some fun times. (In my tremendous effort to make girlfriends when I moved to DC, I've actually discovered a whole other realm of fun. Coming from a life of only friends who are boys, it's quite a change: I have several girl friends who I'd actually consider close friends). DC has been so good to me.
I was having breakfast at my little table looking at my view of the cathedral, and I couldn't help but feel this incredibly romantic feeling toward DC. It was such a content moment of absolute...perfect.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Bleah?
Of course, I'm in the situation where a cute stranger has to touch my feet, my knees and he gets to check out all the bruises I acquire from climbing sloppily (on occasion). I mention cute boy doctor because I went to pay him a visit today for my follow up appointment - I say my foot doesn't hurt, he says great, go to physical therapy for your knees. So, I'll be going to physical therapy 3 - 4 times a week and I'm going to start running again. I asked if he thought I might still make the half marathon in January (and I think it's slightly unreasonable to hope for the full without injuring myself again), and he seemed sort of whatever about it. I believe he wanted me to not run until I had a month of physical therapy for the knees behind me. However, 10 weeks of training just wouldn't be enough for me to get in running condition.
Motivation will definitely be harder to come by. The weather is starting to cool now (last night got in to the 30s). I suspect the day time will still be quite nice, but I realize that if I'm not able to run until 5:30 or 6:00 most days, it's going to be colder and windier. Running on the river on Friday was actually quite breezy too, and it was only like 60 degrees. I'm going to try to run on the gravel path on the Potomac consistently, at least until the knees are stronger. Obviously I'll need to do some pavement training, but it can come later. The problem with winter and no snow, for me, is that I like to ski. If it's cold and I can't play in the snow, then I pretty much just want to hibernate in my awesome sleeping bag throughout the winter. Obviously, that has it's draw backs. Last night I read my most recent Rock & Ice issue and came across an article about getting psyched on what you do. The writer explained that he loves climbing, but once late summer hits, motivation sort of fails and progression stops. Another climber suggested he was just not passionate about climbing and that explained his lack of motivation. The writer disagreed (thankfully) and so do I. I'm passionate about most of the things I do - be in horse back riding or running or climbing...but desire to do those things is so strongly tied to the balance of my life and my world. So, the writer suggested the simplest of things: do other stuff. For him it was cooking crazy, complicated dinners for friends. I might try my hand at that. Consider this an invitation for dinner: polenta, white lasagna, ricotta and spinach stuffed shells, orange spiced tofu, chocolate tiramisu with sliced strawberries, English fools...anybody? I have a sense that I may dig my way out of my little rut if I mix things up a little. I should probably also start yoga at Dupont.
And for my weekend report out: I'd gotten sort of excited about having a nothing weekend. Camping didn't pan out (with the dog in my care) and so I opted to stay in. Except it didn't really happen like that since lately I'm not capable of sitting at home doing nothing for more than two hours. I trained myself to that and now I'm complaining about it. I haven't had a lazy day in a long time, but it's pretty cool, really. Friday I went for my short run, which felt pretty much good. I also went to REI, saw Burn After Reading and ate at a terrible diner in Arlington with a girlfriend. That night didn't end until around 2:00 AM.
I actually managed to sleep until 11 the next morning, which is amazing. The day was gorgeous. I took Melman for a long walk along the river and (very clearly against his wishes) laid in the grass for an hour while he stood around uncomfortably. I don't think he even knows how to sun bathe. I did some work from the apartment in the afternoon, watched crappy Saturday afternoon TV, and went on to Pentagon City Mall in the early evening I don't understand how the mall works as it was insanely packed. It felt like Christmas shopping already. A friend reminded me that if zombie movies had taught him anything, it was that malls are full of potential weapons. I had to stifle my imagination. From the mall, I went on to Georgetown to hang out with my brother and his wife, and their school mates. I let go of feeling lame for not working out on Saturday after I spent 2 and half hours dancing my ass off at Third Edition and Paper Moon.
I ended up getting in bed at 3:00, but I was awake and (not) very chipper Sunday at 8. We went out to Crescent Rock in WV and climbed for a couple hours. The day was fantastic: it was easy to warm up and the hike out was definitely a work out. I have new found respect for the pack carriers! As far as the actual climbing went: I got to be the first one up all day, which is interesting but makes things more challenging for me! My first climb was good (although as is the norm, it's a climb that scares me all the way till the end and only after I've sent it do I breathe again), and the other routes were only eh. The pizza route was still a pain in the ass and I'm thoroughly annoyed that I haven't sent it clean yet - although I got a good piece of beta to just ignore the pizza hold and lay back on the hold that's directly left of the pizza. I did the lay back the second time around and it felt SOOOO much better. I need to figure out how to climb lay backs better, as it's not something I've done much and apparently it doesn't really exist in the gym. I did the 5.8 and the 5.9 variation of the route, and although the 5.9 presents a different set of challenges and scares me a lot at the top third, it's awesome and I'd rather climb it any day over the 8. Next time I go out to Crescent, I'm taking a machete and I'm going to town on the damn briers. It's all quite overgrown.
I'm off dog duty after I pay an afternoon visit to Melman - I'm going to take a short run after work and then head to the grocery store for some real food. And, the best part of my day will likely be getting in my own bed for the evening!!! I'll have slept in my own bed only 12 nights by the 31st of October between Denver, San Antonio and dog sitting. I can't believe October is almost over (or the year, even).
Motivation will definitely be harder to come by. The weather is starting to cool now (last night got in to the 30s). I suspect the day time will still be quite nice, but I realize that if I'm not able to run until 5:30 or 6:00 most days, it's going to be colder and windier. Running on the river on Friday was actually quite breezy too, and it was only like 60 degrees. I'm going to try to run on the gravel path on the Potomac consistently, at least until the knees are stronger. Obviously I'll need to do some pavement training, but it can come later. The problem with winter and no snow, for me, is that I like to ski. If it's cold and I can't play in the snow, then I pretty much just want to hibernate in my awesome sleeping bag throughout the winter. Obviously, that has it's draw backs. Last night I read my most recent Rock & Ice issue and came across an article about getting psyched on what you do. The writer explained that he loves climbing, but once late summer hits, motivation sort of fails and progression stops. Another climber suggested he was just not passionate about climbing and that explained his lack of motivation. The writer disagreed (thankfully) and so do I. I'm passionate about most of the things I do - be in horse back riding or running or climbing...but desire to do those things is so strongly tied to the balance of my life and my world. So, the writer suggested the simplest of things: do other stuff. For him it was cooking crazy, complicated dinners for friends. I might try my hand at that. Consider this an invitation for dinner: polenta, white lasagna, ricotta and spinach stuffed shells, orange spiced tofu, chocolate tiramisu with sliced strawberries, English fools...anybody? I have a sense that I may dig my way out of my little rut if I mix things up a little. I should probably also start yoga at Dupont.
And for my weekend report out: I'd gotten sort of excited about having a nothing weekend. Camping didn't pan out (with the dog in my care) and so I opted to stay in. Except it didn't really happen like that since lately I'm not capable of sitting at home doing nothing for more than two hours. I trained myself to that and now I'm complaining about it. I haven't had a lazy day in a long time, but it's pretty cool, really. Friday I went for my short run, which felt pretty much good. I also went to REI, saw Burn After Reading and ate at a terrible diner in Arlington with a girlfriend. That night didn't end until around 2:00 AM.
I actually managed to sleep until 11 the next morning, which is amazing. The day was gorgeous. I took Melman for a long walk along the river and (very clearly against his wishes) laid in the grass for an hour while he stood around uncomfortably. I don't think he even knows how to sun bathe. I did some work from the apartment in the afternoon, watched crappy Saturday afternoon TV, and went on to Pentagon City Mall in the early evening I don't understand how the mall works as it was insanely packed. It felt like Christmas shopping already. A friend reminded me that if zombie movies had taught him anything, it was that malls are full of potential weapons. I had to stifle my imagination. From the mall, I went on to Georgetown to hang out with my brother and his wife, and their school mates. I let go of feeling lame for not working out on Saturday after I spent 2 and half hours dancing my ass off at Third Edition and Paper Moon.
I ended up getting in bed at 3:00, but I was awake and (not) very chipper Sunday at 8. We went out to Crescent Rock in WV and climbed for a couple hours. The day was fantastic: it was easy to warm up and the hike out was definitely a work out. I have new found respect for the pack carriers! As far as the actual climbing went: I got to be the first one up all day, which is interesting but makes things more challenging for me! My first climb was good (although as is the norm, it's a climb that scares me all the way till the end and only after I've sent it do I breathe again), and the other routes were only eh. The pizza route was still a pain in the ass and I'm thoroughly annoyed that I haven't sent it clean yet - although I got a good piece of beta to just ignore the pizza hold and lay back on the hold that's directly left of the pizza. I did the lay back the second time around and it felt SOOOO much better. I need to figure out how to climb lay backs better, as it's not something I've done much and apparently it doesn't really exist in the gym. I did the 5.8 and the 5.9 variation of the route, and although the 5.9 presents a different set of challenges and scares me a lot at the top third, it's awesome and I'd rather climb it any day over the 8. Next time I go out to Crescent, I'm taking a machete and I'm going to town on the damn briers. It's all quite overgrown.
I'm off dog duty after I pay an afternoon visit to Melman - I'm going to take a short run after work and then head to the grocery store for some real food. And, the best part of my day will likely be getting in my own bed for the evening!!! I'll have slept in my own bed only 12 nights by the 31st of October between Denver, San Antonio and dog sitting. I can't believe October is almost over (or the year, even).
Friday, October 17, 2008
Back to the Grind
I've come around a little bit...I'm exhausted but at least I feel all of my muscles whining and I've done something besides be a slob.
Monday, I bailed on yoga and decided to sit around and do nothing. I needed to do nothing, but I didn't end up sleeping a lot so it didn't really do anything. Tuesday, I went out for my friend's birthday and we had a pretty ridiculously good time.
Finally, Wednesday came around and I hit up the gym. One of my climbing buddies was able to make it, so we top roped for a good portion of the evening. On Wednesday, I still thought I might make it out to Seneca to camp and climb, so I had the notion that I ought to up my endurance a little with two days of climbing in a row. I didn't climb a lot on Wednesday, but I climbed pretty hard stuff. There is this one burly 5.9 that I fought with a lot last time, and this time I was so close to sending it clean. I had to take once and that happened because I just wasn't paying enough attention - the hold that I needed most was sort of hidden from me and it took me all of 30 seconds to realize it. Had I been paying more attention, it would have gone quite nicely. Plus, there is this sweet move on the route where I've got a lot of my weight on my left leg, and I'm holding the arete and I end up heel/ankle hooking on this gross sloper with my right leg...and that leg has to pull me up into a stand to reach this shitty top right hand hold. It's pretty much my favorite sequence ever. Very cool stuff. I also tried the 10 right next to it (again) and I made a fair amount of progress on it. The top of the route juts out at a good angle and by the time I get there I am so pumped out, but I figure in a few weeks I should be able to kick it. 2 of my 3 climber boy crushes were at the gym that night, and I'm steadily more interested in one of them. I shared the information with my buddy and she cautioned me against "shitting where I eat." I love that line. Of course, she's totally right.
Thursday, I took advantage of Spa Week and got a 60 minute deep tissue massage and only paid $50 (half the price). I was so psyched on the massage, but it was basically the worst one I've ever had. Not that I'm a massage snob, but it was just crap. I've always had dudes massaging me, which for a while was weird but I have grown to prefer them. They're stronger and they're better at working out the kinks. The woman who worked on me yesterday didn't do anything with her hands: she just rolled her arm up and down my back like a rolling pin. When it came to working on my knots, she just poked at them repeatedly with her index finger. It hurt. I know deep tissue massages are a little bit painful - it's what I always get. But this was just downright painful and not relaxing. Disappointing. I went to the gym for my day 2 of climbing after the massage and I had to briefly debate between climbing and yoga. I wasn't sure if my climbing buddy was going to show up, but in the end he did and so I bouldered for a little while and then went to yoga. The bouldering was frustrating since they changed up all the routes (like all of them, which is usually cool, but they took down all my projects!). It was a smart thing to stop climbing when I did because my elbows are a little annoyed, to say the least. I hadn't bouldered in a good while, and V2s I could have normally sent were a bit more challenging than usual. None of my boy crushes was there last night, which was a little disappointing but, oh well.
Yoga was absurd...I didn't get Chuck, since he teaches on Tuesdays. Thursday is Liz. She did sun salutations over and over and over and it was just exhausting. She taught a good class and she was really helpful in making the poses the best possible, but it was a total killer. I'm a big fan of pigeon pose...it is pretty much the best hip opener ever. She also did this modified pigeon pose where you point your back foot up, you hook it in your elbow and then you connect both hands overhead. Very cool stuff. It wasn't my favorite class ever, but I can definitely give credit to Liz for one really awesome thing: during savasana she walked around and gave out neck/shoulder massages. How awesome is that? The brief massage was better than what Maria, the Brazilian masseur, had done just a few hours earlier.
Last night after the gym, I went home to pick up some stuff for the weekend, since I'm still out in Alexandria dog sitting. Given the pleasant coolness of the weather, I picked up my running shoes. I'm going to go for a short little jog after work. It's silly to think that I might only run 10 or 20 minutes, but that's what I'm going to need to do. Supposedly, I'm not to be running until I get the food checked again by cute boy doctor on the 20th. (Don't tell anyone I'm breaking the rules; my mother will get mad). I should probably figure out if the foot still hurts anyway, and it hasn't hurt at all in weeks. I felt so happy picking up my running shoes...I just hope shit cooperates. Hope hope hope.
Monday, I bailed on yoga and decided to sit around and do nothing. I needed to do nothing, but I didn't end up sleeping a lot so it didn't really do anything. Tuesday, I went out for my friend's birthday and we had a pretty ridiculously good time.
Finally, Wednesday came around and I hit up the gym. One of my climbing buddies was able to make it, so we top roped for a good portion of the evening. On Wednesday, I still thought I might make it out to Seneca to camp and climb, so I had the notion that I ought to up my endurance a little with two days of climbing in a row. I didn't climb a lot on Wednesday, but I climbed pretty hard stuff. There is this one burly 5.9 that I fought with a lot last time, and this time I was so close to sending it clean. I had to take once and that happened because I just wasn't paying enough attention - the hold that I needed most was sort of hidden from me and it took me all of 30 seconds to realize it. Had I been paying more attention, it would have gone quite nicely. Plus, there is this sweet move on the route where I've got a lot of my weight on my left leg, and I'm holding the arete and I end up heel/ankle hooking on this gross sloper with my right leg...and that leg has to pull me up into a stand to reach this shitty top right hand hold. It's pretty much my favorite sequence ever. Very cool stuff. I also tried the 10 right next to it (again) and I made a fair amount of progress on it. The top of the route juts out at a good angle and by the time I get there I am so pumped out, but I figure in a few weeks I should be able to kick it. 2 of my 3 climber boy crushes were at the gym that night, and I'm steadily more interested in one of them. I shared the information with my buddy and she cautioned me against "shitting where I eat." I love that line. Of course, she's totally right.
Thursday, I took advantage of Spa Week and got a 60 minute deep tissue massage and only paid $50 (half the price). I was so psyched on the massage, but it was basically the worst one I've ever had. Not that I'm a massage snob, but it was just crap. I've always had dudes massaging me, which for a while was weird but I have grown to prefer them. They're stronger and they're better at working out the kinks. The woman who worked on me yesterday didn't do anything with her hands: she just rolled her arm up and down my back like a rolling pin. When it came to working on my knots, she just poked at them repeatedly with her index finger. It hurt. I know deep tissue massages are a little bit painful - it's what I always get. But this was just downright painful and not relaxing. Disappointing. I went to the gym for my day 2 of climbing after the massage and I had to briefly debate between climbing and yoga. I wasn't sure if my climbing buddy was going to show up, but in the end he did and so I bouldered for a little while and then went to yoga. The bouldering was frustrating since they changed up all the routes (like all of them, which is usually cool, but they took down all my projects!). It was a smart thing to stop climbing when I did because my elbows are a little annoyed, to say the least. I hadn't bouldered in a good while, and V2s I could have normally sent were a bit more challenging than usual. None of my boy crushes was there last night, which was a little disappointing but, oh well.
Yoga was absurd...I didn't get Chuck, since he teaches on Tuesdays. Thursday is Liz. She did sun salutations over and over and over and it was just exhausting. She taught a good class and she was really helpful in making the poses the best possible, but it was a total killer. I'm a big fan of pigeon pose...it is pretty much the best hip opener ever. She also did this modified pigeon pose where you point your back foot up, you hook it in your elbow and then you connect both hands overhead. Very cool stuff. It wasn't my favorite class ever, but I can definitely give credit to Liz for one really awesome thing: during savasana she walked around and gave out neck/shoulder massages. How awesome is that? The brief massage was better than what Maria, the Brazilian masseur, had done just a few hours earlier.
Last night after the gym, I went home to pick up some stuff for the weekend, since I'm still out in Alexandria dog sitting. Given the pleasant coolness of the weather, I picked up my running shoes. I'm going to go for a short little jog after work. It's silly to think that I might only run 10 or 20 minutes, but that's what I'm going to need to do. Supposedly, I'm not to be running until I get the food checked again by cute boy doctor on the 20th. (Don't tell anyone I'm breaking the rules; my mother will get mad). I should probably figure out if the foot still hurts anyway, and it hasn't hurt at all in weeks. I felt so happy picking up my running shoes...I just hope shit cooperates. Hope hope hope.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Bleah
I'm having a shitty day, self-wise. I'm not sleeping as soundly as I want to because I'm not exercising enough...and I'm eating out all the damn time so I feel disgusting...gross gross gross. I hadn't had such a hard time getting out of bed to go to work in the morning since I left SI.
I really like the balance of my life where I exercise so much that I can and have to eat like an athlete and it's all good...I do not like the balance of my life where I eat like a slob just because. I don't believe in dieting, really. I believe in exercising enough to offset the deliciousness that I consume. I fell off the band-wagon right when I stopped running. Fortunately, I have my next doctor's appointment on the 20th. Hopefully he'll say something like: "hey your foot looks fantastic - go run your ass off." And then I will. He'll put me into his little physical therapy sessions to make that grinding in my knees less annoying...and I'll essentially live happily ever after. Can't wait. The days just go better when I'm physically exhausted.
I may buy the bike this weekend or early next week. That should help with the disgusting.
I say early next week because we might go camping this weekend. The issue is: I'm dog sitting for this very Melman like character...(remember the giraffe from Madagascar?). Well, he's really pretty weird as far as dogs go, but I think he's chill enough (or uncomfortable enough) that he would do OK on a camping trip. My concern is, if we were to climb at Seneca Rocks, he'd have to hang out at the bottom of the cliff, alone, for like 3 or 4 hours since it's a 300 foot climb. Even then, I think he'd be fine...but if there were a lot of other people around I'd have concerns with him being alone without us. Shame he's not a climbing dog. Side note - when I get my own dog, she's totally going to be the type who comes to the cliffs with me...runs with me (I'm excited about having a running dog) and potentially runs around the farm while I ride. Of course that would mean that I'm going to have that farm with horses one day too.
I'm cool with just camping somewhere else, but I feel like the opportunities to climb Seneca are going to be fewer and farther between as we head into rainy Fall season and I really want to see a few different places before I'm committed to being indoors for the season.
One thing that makes me really happy is the conclusion that I spent enough time outdoors this season: my hair is a little bit blonder. That hadn't happened in a really long time. I suppose I hadn't been outside as much as I used to be in years. Go figure.
I really like the balance of my life where I exercise so much that I can and have to eat like an athlete and it's all good...I do not like the balance of my life where I eat like a slob just because. I don't believe in dieting, really. I believe in exercising enough to offset the deliciousness that I consume. I fell off the band-wagon right when I stopped running. Fortunately, I have my next doctor's appointment on the 20th. Hopefully he'll say something like: "hey your foot looks fantastic - go run your ass off." And then I will. He'll put me into his little physical therapy sessions to make that grinding in my knees less annoying...and I'll essentially live happily ever after. Can't wait. The days just go better when I'm physically exhausted.
I may buy the bike this weekend or early next week. That should help with the disgusting.
I say early next week because we might go camping this weekend. The issue is: I'm dog sitting for this very Melman like character...(remember the giraffe from Madagascar?). Well, he's really pretty weird as far as dogs go, but I think he's chill enough (or uncomfortable enough) that he would do OK on a camping trip. My concern is, if we were to climb at Seneca Rocks, he'd have to hang out at the bottom of the cliff, alone, for like 3 or 4 hours since it's a 300 foot climb. Even then, I think he'd be fine...but if there were a lot of other people around I'd have concerns with him being alone without us. Shame he's not a climbing dog. Side note - when I get my own dog, she's totally going to be the type who comes to the cliffs with me...runs with me (I'm excited about having a running dog) and potentially runs around the farm while I ride. Of course that would mean that I'm going to have that farm with horses one day too.
I'm cool with just camping somewhere else, but I feel like the opportunities to climb Seneca are going to be fewer and farther between as we head into rainy Fall season and I really want to see a few different places before I'm committed to being indoors for the season.
One thing that makes me really happy is the conclusion that I spent enough time outdoors this season: my hair is a little bit blonder. That hadn't happened in a really long time. I suppose I hadn't been outside as much as I used to be in years. Go figure.
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