After falling during your run, walk past a young girl. She looks at your knee and says, 'You're bleeding!' You answer, 'Oh yeah, I know' and walk off nonchalantly.
Bonus points: be wearing your Half Fanatics singlet at the time.
PS - If you're curious, running has mostly been going well, apart from a slight cold that I had last weekend. More updates to come soon.
Showing posts with label Half Fanatics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Half Fanatics. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Getting back with the program and shaking off the grizzly
Probably if you are a devotee of any sport, you have had good times and bad times. Maybe your training plans got derailed at some point. Maybe life intervened. Maybe you were injured.
I have to say that other than my running fallow period last spring, I really have been lucky for the most part. Usually, I don't get sick very often. I have yet to be injured in any significant way (I did once have the blackened toenail thing). Generally, I am pretty consistent with my training plans.
Except for the past month.
The past month was sick and tired and not good. If I had to sum it up, I think the one word that I would use is frustrating. And now that I am trying to get back in the swing of things, I feel like I am starting from scratch. Nothing feels right. My abs have seemingly disappeared. My legs appear to get all of 2 centimeters off the ground when I run. I feel like I have gained 800 pounds in the last month. That's right. I went from being somewhat zaftig to adding the weight of a grizzly bear, all between Thanksgiving and now. This is not an exaggeration. Okay, perhaps it's more like 5-10 pounds.
Grizzly or no, getting back into the swing of things is proving difficult. However, I am gradually getting back into the swing of things. Which is the point. Because no matter how much I whine about my running, it's weird how the whining seems to have little to no effect. Somehow, though, the training works.
Today was speedwork. I'm not going to lie: I was worried. It was similar to what I did last time around, mostly because I am basically using the same plan as last time around. However, there was a little less and more at the slower of the two speeds (10:30 mile split versus 10:00 mile split). It's still somewhat early in this training plan. I decided to go to the treadmill, since it's easier to ensure that you stay at pace, I find, when a treadmill is involved.
Also, I wore my Half Fanatics singlet, which arrived last week. On the one hand, I was a bit embarrassed since I feel like I am the size of a grizzly bear plus a zaftig person and I don't think I look like someone who ran an impressive, singlet-deserving number of half-marathons. On the other hand, I was all like, 'I'VE RUN AN IMPRESSIVE NUMBER OF HALF-MARATHONS AND HAVE THE SINGLET TO PROVE IT!' This mindset did help a bit. Although I have to say that getting through tonight's workout was less difficult than I thought it would be.
And that is the point: workouts are probably not as bad as I am anticipating. Even if they are, they will be over soon. And the only way ever to get better at them is to keep on training.
I would give myself encouragement by saying something like there is only one half to go, except that I got talked in to signing up for another half at the end of June. So maybe I am worthy of this singlet after all.
Oh, the other thing that I am doing is cross-training. I found a not-too-hard plan thanks to Runner's World that I can do in the comfort of my home. Except that skipping and ab-work is involved, neither of which are particularly comfortable. Skipping is really hard! How did I not notice this when I was a kid?
I have to say that other than my running fallow period last spring, I really have been lucky for the most part. Usually, I don't get sick very often. I have yet to be injured in any significant way (I did once have the blackened toenail thing). Generally, I am pretty consistent with my training plans.
Except for the past month.
The past month was sick and tired and not good. If I had to sum it up, I think the one word that I would use is frustrating. And now that I am trying to get back in the swing of things, I feel like I am starting from scratch. Nothing feels right. My abs have seemingly disappeared. My legs appear to get all of 2 centimeters off the ground when I run. I feel like I have gained 800 pounds in the last month. That's right. I went from being somewhat zaftig to adding the weight of a grizzly bear, all between Thanksgiving and now. This is not an exaggeration. Okay, perhaps it's more like 5-10 pounds.
Grizzly or no, getting back into the swing of things is proving difficult. However, I am gradually getting back into the swing of things. Which is the point. Because no matter how much I whine about my running, it's weird how the whining seems to have little to no effect. Somehow, though, the training works.
Today was speedwork. I'm not going to lie: I was worried. It was similar to what I did last time around, mostly because I am basically using the same plan as last time around. However, there was a little less and more at the slower of the two speeds (10:30 mile split versus 10:00 mile split). It's still somewhat early in this training plan. I decided to go to the treadmill, since it's easier to ensure that you stay at pace, I find, when a treadmill is involved.
Also, I wore my Half Fanatics singlet, which arrived last week. On the one hand, I was a bit embarrassed since I feel like I am the size of a grizzly bear plus a zaftig person and I don't think I look like someone who ran an impressive, singlet-deserving number of half-marathons. On the other hand, I was all like, 'I'VE RUN AN IMPRESSIVE NUMBER OF HALF-MARATHONS AND HAVE THE SINGLET TO PROVE IT!' This mindset did help a bit. Although I have to say that getting through tonight's workout was less difficult than I thought it would be.
And that is the point: workouts are probably not as bad as I am anticipating. Even if they are, they will be over soon. And the only way ever to get better at them is to keep on training.
I would give myself encouragement by saying something like there is only one half to go, except that I got talked in to signing up for another half at the end of June. So maybe I am worthy of this singlet after all.
Oh, the other thing that I am doing is cross-training. I found a not-too-hard plan thanks to Runner's World that I can do in the comfort of my home. Except that skipping and ab-work is involved, neither of which are particularly comfortable. Skipping is really hard! How did I not notice this when I was a kid?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Half-marathon #3: done
I successfully completed the third of four half-marathons in the Halfathon today. Whoo! So what if it was my slowest half on record? I had to tackle two bridges....twice each! So make that four bridges. One of which was sheer evil (Sand Key).
Another reason that my time was slow: at around the 11-mile mark, I noticed that there was a dead-looking fish on the ground. A lot of people fish near the Clearwater Causeway, so I think that it fell out of someone's fishing bucket. I felt bad for this poor, dead fish who was living out his last moments on earth in the bright, harsh sun. So I picked it up and dropped it into the water. Burial at sea for a fish during a half-marathon? That, for me, was a first. And likely a last.
I ran the race with a friend (the same friend who kicked my butt a few months ago at the 5k). We decided to take things at a leisurely pace. Since it was her first half-marathon, she was guaranteed a personal record provided that she finished. And we did, so yay for her!
I do admit that at one point it looked like we might be last. But we were not. We overtook at least 3-4 people during the second half of the course. Yes!
Weather: not ideal. The humidity was not lower than around 75% for the whole race. Ew. The temperature, in and of itself, was okay in the high 50s/low 60s. But the humidity made this not so pleasant. Particularly since it was in the 97-98% range for the first hour. It's winter, Florida! You can abate with the humidity! In case you are keeping track, that is nearing the threshold of ick (humidity + temperature > 160), as in the threshold of ick that we measure for summer conditions. Also, Mr. Florida Sun came out to visit for much of the course. Some of it was not very shady. Actually, much of it was not very shady. This means that the temperature was probably closer to 70, putting it even closer to that ick threshold.
Only one to go! Also, I am now officially a Half Fanatic. This makes it worth suffering through the last half-marathon and going over the evil bridges and everything. Almost. Hey, I get another t-shirt (well, a singlet) to celebrate.
Another reason that my time was slow: at around the 11-mile mark, I noticed that there was a dead-looking fish on the ground. A lot of people fish near the Clearwater Causeway, so I think that it fell out of someone's fishing bucket. I felt bad for this poor, dead fish who was living out his last moments on earth in the bright, harsh sun. So I picked it up and dropped it into the water. Burial at sea for a fish during a half-marathon? That, for me, was a first. And likely a last.
I ran the race with a friend (the same friend who kicked my butt a few months ago at the 5k). We decided to take things at a leisurely pace. Since it was her first half-marathon, she was guaranteed a personal record provided that she finished. And we did, so yay for her!
I do admit that at one point it looked like we might be last. But we were not. We overtook at least 3-4 people during the second half of the course. Yes!
Weather: not ideal. The humidity was not lower than around 75% for the whole race. Ew. The temperature, in and of itself, was okay in the high 50s/low 60s. But the humidity made this not so pleasant. Particularly since it was in the 97-98% range for the first hour. It's winter, Florida! You can abate with the humidity! In case you are keeping track, that is nearing the threshold of ick (humidity + temperature > 160), as in the threshold of ick that we measure for summer conditions. Also, Mr. Florida Sun came out to visit for much of the course. Some of it was not very shady. Actually, much of it was not very shady. This means that the temperature was probably closer to 70, putting it even closer to that ick threshold.
Only one to go! Also, I am now officially a Half Fanatic. This makes it worth suffering through the last half-marathon and going over the evil bridges and everything. Almost. Hey, I get another t-shirt (well, a singlet) to celebrate.
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