Saturday, May 14, 2011

Anxiety

Good morning! I am currently experiencing some pre-race anxiety. As previously mentioned, the Bay to Breakers total distance is 12K, about (7.46) miles. I plan to alternate walking and jogging. I even have a "workout" loaded on my Garmin GPS watch so it will ping me at the different intervals, i.e. when to walk, when to run. The workout only had room for 20 lines, so hopefully that will carry me all the way through to the finish line. If not, the last line of the workout is "Cooldown," which goes until I hit the Lap or Stop buttons.

I bought a light running jacket a couple weeks back at Sports Authority. It's polyester, and only a size "Large," but i am shrinking to fit it. I have running socks, double-layer, synthetic, i.e. the Wright Sock that I have mentioned in the past. I have covered the distance of the B2B in the park at least once on foot, and most of it was walking, but I had no blisters from that, so I should be fine. The path I use in the park when cycling is (8.86) miles, which is less than the B2B.

I am expecting rain during the Bay to Breakers tomorrow, based solely on Weather.com, and temperatures during the the day are expected to be between (48) and (55) deg.F. [Maybe I should have checked an almanac before I signed up for this.] I believe there may have been some light drizzle from time to time during the 1984 Bay to Breakers, and I do recall there was fog in the Panhandle once I got there. At the time it was a great relief, because it had warmed up since the start of the race, and I was mighty hot from all the running and walking. I have no running rain gear, so i am hoping just adding a layer (the running jacket) and wearing a ball-cap will help some. I also have my Under Armor ninja hood, and a neck gaiter to keep the breeze off my neck. [I always get a cold, or something, if my neck is exposed when it's cold out; or when I am sweating and get too much evaporative cooling.]

And, I don't have a waterproof container for my iPod. The running jacket has a small zip pocket, though, which appears to fit my iPod nano hard-case. I have a fanny-pack I may be able to use to carry my cell-phone and sport gels, but I haven't run with it yet, so I'm not sure if i should use it, or not. I would need to snug it up a bit to minimize bouncing, and probably move it around so it bounces on my fanny and not my bits; that would be mighty uncomfortable.

Bib Number: (51572)

Corral: G (brown)

-Lancer!!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Sweat Encrusted

Thursdays workout was a tough one. I didn't want to overdo it, but I really needed to get out and just do it, anyway.

DC Bike Path: Cycling. Distance: (8.84) miles. Burned: (583) Calories. (42)min.(59.62)sec.

DC Bike Path: Walk/Jog/Walk, 4x. Distance: (5.54) miles. Burned: (621) Calories. (1)hr(37)min.(57.15)sec. Jog: (1.15) total miles; walked the rest. Forgot  iPod==no music.

Now that's out of the way I really need to stretch out completely and maybe ice my knees and take some ibuprofen. I almost turned around and came back before I got too far from the house: I left my iPod at home. Curses! I decided to persevere without it. Next time, I must not forget the iPod. My jogging training is so much better with music that I almost can't understand how I made it through today's workout sans iPod.

-Lancer!!

From: 2011-05-12 [delayed due to Blogger Maintenance issues]

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sunburn

So, aside from the wonderfully exhausting jog/walk through the park yesterday, I picked up a sunburn, even though I used SPF (50) sunscreen on my exposed skin. Oh, well. Now I can get on with the post-burn tanning over time. I thought my new running shirt was supposed to have some sun blocking properties, but apparently not so much. The burn is just enough to notice, but not uncomfortable. Today was a slack day, otherwise. More running, i.e. walk/jog/walk, tomorrow.

Marathon: And during the course of reading other peoples blogs, I was inspired to try and pursue a marathon, or maybe just a half marathon, in October. Someone mentioned a marathon in Long Beach on 2011-10-09. I was reading about a (20) week training plan for running a marathon (26.2 miles), which also includes a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in the middle of the plan.

More later.

-Lancer!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tuesday Run

Recipe: (1) cup almond milk + (1) banana, peeled + (1) large dollop of honey == Tasty post-run treat. B-) Despite my slacker nature, I did get out for my training "run," which was a couple of days late:

DC Bike Path: Walk/Jog/Walk: (8.62) mi. Pace-avg: (18:03)min./mi. Speed-Max: (5.0)mph. Burned: (963) Calories. [I really hope that is correct.] Total Jog distance: (1.12) miles.

Okay, for some reason during my last training run last week I did something that put my knees back in "continuous ache" mode. Even after I stretched out, took some ibuprofen, and iced my knees, they continued to ache all the way up to my run today. After troubleshooting a bit the last couple days my conclusions are these:
1.) Due to anxiety to just get out and run, I warmed up badly by jumping straight into squats with (20) lbs. of weight on the curl-bar; I usually warm up with unweighted squats, then another set with an empty weight bar.
2.) Somehow, I completely forgot about my post-run calf-stretches for the last two (2) weeks. I always do hamstring, and quad stretches post training, especially when I use the "Fit in 30" room at the gym, after I bicycle, and after my training runs pre-San Diego trip, but I had somehow completely forgotten about the standing calf-stretches. After trying some yesterday, I immediately felt just how tight my knees (and surrounding muscles) were.

Last night (about 0200 hrs.) I did some weight-lifting at home with my empty weight-bar, my curl-bar with (30) lbs. of plates, plus a dumb-bell with (11) lbs. of plates. After several sets of squats (plus other exerises) with the different weights, then stretching out, my knees finally felt more loose, and much less achy and tight.

Today's training run was so-so. My speed was lower than it has been in the last two (2) weeks. Now that I have diagnosed my current knee issues I hope I will be able to pick up the pace again. *fingers-crossed* On the plus side, I now know it takes almost forever to walk just less than half of the B2B distance of (7.46) miles.

Garmin TC: To save time on calculations, I copied my entries from today into a new folder so the software could just do it for me. (I make too many simple arithmetic errors when I do it by hand, or even with a calculator.) To make room, I deleted the two (2) entries from 2011-04-29. That was a mistake. Even though the entries appeared to have been "duplicated" so that one set was in the month folder, and the other was in the temp folder I was using, once I deleted the entries, the originals were gone, too. *sigh* So much for working smarter. I would not have worried, except that I already deleted the entries from the FR305 watch. Dumb-ass. Now I know one more thing not to do with my Garmin watch. [The first is not to let the history get completely full, because then new entries are not recorded, obviously.] Voomaxer still has the mileage data, thankfully.

Mother's Day: On Mother's Day [2011-05-08] my brother talked Mom into finally taking her bicycle out for a spin. She bought it a couple of years ago at Wal-Mart, but had yet to use it. She says it has been about thirty (30) years since she last rode a bicycle. My brother and I had to help her adjust the seat height and angle, and he took off the front fender because it kept rubbing against the tire, no matter how tightly it was attached to the frame, then we had to take off a piece that was rubbing against the right-side crank arm. Once the adjustments were made Mom took off for a a few laps around the block. We were expecting her to just ride up and down the street, in case she fell off and hurt herself, and which she kept joking she just might do, but happily she did no such thing. We would have taken her out to breakfast, but she has been on a medical liquid diet since February, and won't be able to eat regular food for a couple more months. She is very happy with the weight she has been losing between the diet, walking around the neighborhood and working out at the gym. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

-Lancer!!

Friday, May 06, 2011

Friday Funday

Since I'm a recovering slacker, I worked out twice today. First at the gym:

MCR: Stationary Bike: (3.77)miles. Burned: (99) Calories. Weight Machines: for legs and abs. Almost wanted to ralf.

Then in the park: 
DC Bike Path: Cycling. (8.83) miles. Pace-avg: (5:28)min./mi. Burned: (504) Calories.

It feels good to get this much exercise for a change. I have been woefully slack about using the gym the last couple weeks. I warmed up on the upright Stationary Bike for (13) minutes to try and get my knees loosened up and my heart going. I used the Leg Curl machine at the gym for the first time ever, and pulled a muscle in my left rib-cage area using only (40) pounds of weight in the process. I managed (2x) sets of 10-15 reps each. Next time I use it, I will go with the lowest weight, (20) pounds, I believe. The pulled muscle caused a sharp, stabbing pain. I managed to use the Leg Press, Seated Leg Press and Leg Extension machines successfully, i.e. without aggravating that sharp, stabbing pain; I was happy.

After the leg machines I proceeded to the core workout section: Ab Crunch machine, Back Extension machine, different Ab Crunch machine, then the Lateral/Oblique Machine. By the time I was done with that, I actually wanted to ralf. I even felt weak enough that I might soil myself; I did not. Yay! for intestinal fortitude. This need to hurl may have been from not actually eating anything more than a GU Pineapple Roctane before my workout, but I got up late and wanted to use the park after the gym so I could also get some time in the sun, so I pressed on regardless. (Yes, I did hydrate before, during and after the gym.) My legs felt mighty noodle-like by the end of my workout, and I had to stagger slowly down the stairs like an (80) year old man afraid he's going to slip and break his hip.

Once I got home I ate a banana and an orange, chugged some water, put on my cycling shoes and hit the trail, so to speak. Pretty windy this afternoon, but the ride in the park was good all the same. I did have to wait for a couple to direct their toddler out of the way (so glad I am in the habit of announcing myself when approaching pedestrians in the park; LEFT!), then I nearly ran over a dog that just stared at me and blithely walked straight at my front tire. Dummy. I am pretty sure his keeper was the knuckle head jogging along-side him without a leash. Sheesh. I wish these dogs would keep their pet humans under better control.

Still counting down to the Bay to Breakers next week. Gotta' get my run on tomorrow for sure, and at least tree (3) more days next week.

Better shower and eat before it gets later.

-Lancer!!

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Wacky Wednesday

After two (2) rest days in a row I finally got out and jogged some more:

DC Bike Path: Walk/Jog/Walk x4. Distance: (5.23) mi. Pace-avg: (16:34)min./mi. Speed-avg: (3.6)mph. Speed-max: (5.7)mph. Burned: (635) Calories.

I really should have gone for a bike ride at a minimum the last two (2) days, although I also desperately need to get back in the gym and do some weight training. The last couple times I rode my bike and then went jogging, I believe I did much better aerobically and did not feel like I was gasping for air continuously during the jogging phases of my workout. I really am babying myself a little too much. I also got some more sun today, so that's always a good thing; I am much too pale.

I broke my third (3rd) pair of sunglasses on Sunday. I took them off at the far end of my run, and the right sight ear stem snapped right off at the pivot point. *sigh* The first two (2) pairs cracked in the same spot: the right side ear stem at bottom side the pivot point. The first pair cracked, I believe, when I dropped them in the gym lobby, but the cracked piece stayed in place till I got home. The second pair broke when I got back from my jog in the park; I pulled them off and crack! *sigh* I lost the piece that cracked off, but I was able to snap the stem back on, and they seem to be functional enough for now. *fingers-crossed* So, that's like $90.00 work of broken shades. I like them so much because the lenses are polarized. I bought them at Rite-Aid: StyleScience PolarVision Gold (Hi-Def Polarized). I should definitely buy a better pair of shades.

I was looking at the Ryders Eyewear sunglasses that a friend mentioned in her blog a while ago, but Fleet Feet Stockton stopped carrying that brand, and the Ryders website does not show any other stores in the Central Valley actually carrying that brand. Amazon does carry them, however, so I may buy them there. FF Stockton now carries Tifusi Optics sunglasses instead. Be warned, the Tifusi website is pretty slow. In fact, it looks like it is hosted in Germany, so the trans-Atlantic link is clearly the cause for the slowdown:

Mac-mini:~ lharrison$ traceroute tifusi.com
traceroute to tifusi.com (46.4.48.187), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.597 ms  0.527 ms  0.343 ms
 2  76.127.100.1 (76.127.100.1)  30.025 ms  22.568 ms  19.996 ms
 3  te-4-3-ur01.modesto.ca.stockton.comcast.net (68.85.120.9)  9.474 ms  9.208 ms  9.014 ms
 4  te-9-1-ar02.stockton.ca.stockton.comcast.net (68.87.202.29)  13.849 ms  11.190 ms  9.622 ms
 5  te-8-3-ar01.stockton.ca.stockton.comcast.net (68.87.202.1)  9.181 ms  8.785 ms  9.622 ms
 6  te-0-1-0-3-ar03.sacramento.ca.sacra.comcast.net (68.87.202.86)  11.562 ms  13.880 ms  12.911 ms
 7  pos-0-2-0-0-cr01.sacramento.ca.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.221)  12.686 ms  13.227 ms  14.026 ms
 8  pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.losangeles.ca.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.85.190)  21.392 ms  21.609 ms  21.802 ms
 9  pos-0-9-0-0-cr01.dallas.tx.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.87.254)  56.308 ms  55.876 ms  55.411 ms
10  pos-0-10-0-0-cr01.atlanta.ga.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.86.130)  78.963 ms  78.142 ms  94.323 ms
11  pos-1-9-0-0-cr01.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.87.193)  92.155 ms  92.225 ms  90.821 ms
12  pos-0-2-0-0-pe01.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.86.70)  92.797 ms  92.399 ms  92.415 ms
13  ahbn-s1-rou-1001.us.eurorings.net (134.222.248.9)  92.963 ms  96.176 ms  90.988 ms
14  ahbn-s1-rou-1041.us.eurorings.net (134.222.226.54)  93.241 ms  91.472 ms  94.386 ms
15  nyk-s2-rou-1021.us.eurorings.net (134.222.227.133)  105.368 ms  98.591 ms  99.367 ms
16  nntr-s1-rou-1022.fr.eurorings.net (134.222.226.162)  178.425 ms  182.732 ms  177.951 ms
17  ffm-s1-rou-1022.de.eurorings.net (134.222.231.145)  189.118 ms  187.599 ms  186.537 ms
18  ffm-s1-rou-1021.de.eurorings.net (134.222.231.141)  187.861 ms  187.448 ms  186.765 ms
19  nbg-s1-rou-1001.de.eurorings.net (134.222.225.26)  244.443 ms  191.728 ms  204.038 ms
20  kpn-gw.hetzner.de (134.222.107.21)  199.109 ms  189.771 ms  193.332 ms
21  hos-bb2.juniper2.fs.hetzner.de (213.239.240.147)  201.685 ms  193.658 ms
    hos-bb2.juniper1.fs.hetzner.de (213.239.240.146)  192.052 ms
22  hos-tr1.ex3k1.rz14.hetzner.de (213.239.224.130)  195.444 ms
    hos-tr4.ex3k1.rz14.hetzner.de (213.239.224.226)  194.959 ms
    hos-tr1.ex3k1.rz14.hetzner.de (213.239.224.130)  193.608 ms
23  sub1.srv3.hostjewelry.info (46.4.48.187)  192.884 ms  194.508 ms  193.003 ms

Couldn't resist an interjection of nerd-fu. B-) I miss working in IT, but I still remember a few of the simpler things I learned about network troubleshooting when I worked for an ISP.

Time to stretch out and get some food.

-Lancer!!

Sunday, May 01, 2011

May Day

Today has been a good day:


DC Bike Path: Walk/Jog/Walk 4x. Distance: (5.95)miles. Pace-avg: (15:24)min./mile. Speed-max: (6.5)mph. Burned: (697) Calories. Nice.

And, not only did I get my training run on, but also: "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" has returned with Goren and Eames in Season (10), "In Plain Sight" has returned for Season (4), and Osama bin Laden is cooling his heels in a morgue somewhere as Americans everywhere rejoice in the streets. Sweet. Happy May Day everyone!

-Lancer!!