Friday, November 28, 2008

The Sickness

I have the sickness.
Nothing terribly bad. Just a little something to bother the throat, cause the body to ache, and make the head ache as well.
Wasn't bad this morning but has progressively worsened throughout the day.

An attempt was made to swim the sickness out of the body.
Leah had a key to the pool, so we headed over there this afternoon. She did a crazy swim workout while I did some aqua jogging and other misc. swimming. About an hour and a half of exercise.
Workout felt good, but the body does not.

Slept nearly 12 hours last night. The body must have been preemptively fighting off the attack. Plan to sleep well tonight and keep the fluids running. The body will adapt, fight, and win. The sickness will be utterly destroyed at its attempt.

The sickness has reminded me of my health, and how well I feel in its absence.
It's humbling to be reminded to what we often take for granted.
This is a good reminder.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Quick Draw

Skrew it. I'm doing push ups.

It's 2 in the morning. I had just finished eating two sets of banana and pretzel, two peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and half a small bag of delicious potato chips. I was feelin' a little lazy, so I hit the floor with what I'm calling, the Quick Draw:

alternating push and sit with <10 sec break in between:
5x20 push
7x20 sit

the two extra sets of sit come from doing sides.

then, inspired by Charles's Mammoth workout, I figured, I should try to push the limit with one set of max fire haulers.
The first 70 felt good. This is when the sting started.
The fire started around 90.
Past 110 was a fight for each extra hauler.
113, c'mon you can do more!
123, if you're arms are still moving then keep counting.
133, you're past your goal. Just do 20 more.
153, holy feck! holy feck!
at this point no matter how much effort I put into the motions the main fight was to keep the hands from dragging on the ground.
160, the hands drag, I stop.
I breath heavily and lay down the arms waiting for the fire to extinguish.
I get up. It is done.

...
...

now it is time for sleep.

let us see what this day will bring

------------------
It's now 11:45am.
Just finished showering and going to go eat soon.
It's a nice day outside.
A low stress and very relaxing day.
HAPPY HOLIDAY to all!

4 easy with Leah. 34:52 (8:05 pace)
The foot pain returns.
Should I keep running under 4 mi. each day, or take more time off?
Advice? Suggestions?

Back in Black

First day back from foot recovery.

Felt FANTASTIC to get back out there.
Ran 2 easy with Leah to test the foot.
It performed well. No pain.
3x[20 sit,30 lunges,20 push]
30 leg throwers

Total:
90 sit
90 lunge
60 push

This was a quick and easy PT. Nothing compared to the Mammoth numbers that Charles is knocking out.
Feels great to get back out there. The legs feel amazing. This break has been the longest break since started running. Plan to gradually increase miles.

A good day.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Thought of the Week

5x20 bed push-ups (push ups in bed while watching a movie)
2x75 arm-bed-haulers (fire-haulers in bed while watching a movie)
2xbanana and pretzels (two bananas with a pretzel each bite)

Here is my Thought of the Week

You ever have that experience, you know, when you’re wearing jeans, and there is that little bulge by your crotch?
When your jeans turn against you and make it look like you have a small erection.

These jeans don’t care if you have a penis or not. They’re going to make it look like you do. Especially when you sit down.

I hate that.
People have tried many ways to get rid of this phantom bulge.
You tried to move it up. You know, by trying to tuck it under your belt. Fuck. That doesn’t work.
You try to pat it down, but that only works until you move, and then, poof. It’s back. Why does this happen?
Do jean makers think people want extra room? Really.
Damn you small crotch protrusion.
You embarrass us.
You make us question ourselves. Should I be aroused right now?
I mean, that’s why it’s there.
Isn’t it?

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Healing

Still healing.

At what point do we stop healing at start deteriorating?

4x50 sit ups this morning.

Stayed up until 5 am this morning watching movies.
It was glorious.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Cardio replacement therapy

Decided to do different types of cardio and workout this week in order to give the foot some time to heal.

Last night, did PT set.
10 sets
6x pull
15 x push
25 x sit
25 x arm haulers
---
3x weighted (5lb) birds.
Calling these birds because I'm not sure what else to call them. They are those shoulder exercises when you lift your arms directly in front and to the side. They are called birds because if you do them really fast it looks like you're flapping your arms.

Also, not really sure how effective arm haulers are with low reps. I'm calling them arm haulers today because there was no fire. Only 25 a set is not enough to get the fire going. Although, they did feel heavy and worked, which is a good thing. I guess they were doing something, but they definitely did not have the burn.

Totals:
60 pull, 150 push, 250 sit and arm hauler, 30 bird front, 30 birds, 30 bird back

------------------
Today, decided to bike.
1 hour bike inside with Leah.
To pass the time we made up a story about a man traveling the world that crashed in the desert. On the second night a small boy found him and took him to the underground city, which was full of children. No adults at all. The man ended up getting all the tools and such needed to repair his plane. He found his way back, fixed the plane, and took off. Then, he fell asleep at behind the "wheel".
It turned out to all be a dream, but it was such a magical dream. There were secret doorways with magic passwords and endless amounts of toys.
We took turns making up different parts of the story.

Good stuff.

Wondering what happened to the third member of our team. He has disappeared.

With ease and patience one can lead.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Relaxing Sunday

Slept in this morning.
Leah texted, we decided to swim and aqua jog this afternoon.

Just finished some sit ups and fire haulers before heading to swim.
8x25 varied sit.
3x90 fire haulers.
The last set of fire haulers held true to their name.
The arms feel wobbly as I type.

Will check back in after swim run.

---------

40 min. aqua jog
10 min treading water
random swimming 60 min.

pool water makes the skin dry.
the lotion is used.

the aqua jog is still awkward.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Long run

30 mi. today.
Hit up FDR island, then found a beautiful trail that went to Rock Creek Park.
Great run.
Hit the wall at 3:20. Finished at 4:43.
Refilled water at a gas station.
Could have used more food.
Legs ached all evening.
Feel much better today.
Foot swollen.

Ran home from a rally, two miles, in pouring rain, soaked head to toe in street clothes, with my backpack. It was freakin' sweet.

Need to cut back on the chips.
They are delicious.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tweak, Bounce the Beat

Do it. Take the beat, and bounce it. You'll be surprised.

Another off day for the foot boo boo.

Super pumped for the 30 tomorrow. So excited I want to skip class. It would be freakin' sweet to wake up at 4 and hit the road, but the plan it to head out after class around 10:30.

Currently, in this stage of life I have had strong desires for a companion. I'm not referring to the "gettin' down" aspect of intimacy, rather, just having a strong connection with someone you can trust. It is, a test of patience.

...

...

...

...

something you just have to wait for.

...

...

can't force it.

...

...

Gandhi was patient.

...

...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Hunger

it is often that the hunger strikes late at night. For example, right now, the hunger strikes. One would think that a cup of pineapple and a banana would fend off the hunger. Sadly, it has not. The hunger can strike with great force and hypnotize one with desires of temping foods. These food will not be spoken of as it may spread the hunger, and cause it to strike YOU!

Day off today. No PT, no run.
However, did get in 30 min of aqua-jog. Although, it is uncertain that today's aqua-jogging would be considered exercise. Mostly, it was a series of awkward kicking and arm-flailing motions. Basically to keep the head above water.
This "aqua-jog" that people speak of is quite a unique and cumbersome task.

Today, muscles of the stomach and arms are blessed with the soreness. This is good news.

Received a call from the brother today saying the Monster, the dog, had suffered a seizure in the early hours of the morning. Having been rushed to the emergency vet he was comfortably sedated. Later in the morning he was taken to another vet clinic. There, he was placed on oxygen and monitored closely. After several hours, his prognosis quickly improved. Currently, he is at home with the brother. Monster is a trooper and has served those he loves with dog licks, refreshing dog breath, and sometimes little squirts of urination. Just to show how excited he is to see you.
We, the family, are quite relieved that he is doing better, and we hope that his time is far in the distance.
We love you Monster Dog.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Forgetting the Days

Today is Tuesday. Although, it doesn't feel like Tuesday. Ever get that feeling where days and weeks blend into one continuous flow?
Feel like I have been getting more sleep lately. 6-8 hours.
Although, I still don't go to sleep until I pass out. Last night it hit at 2am.

No run today. Was inspired by The Duke's blog to take it easy on the smaller runs and focus on priority runs. The foot has temporary halted running. It throb, aches, and every now-and-then spasms. Also, my testicles have disappeared.

PT workout today.

10 sets
6x pull, 12x push, 25x sit
Hit the wall on set 9 for the pulls. Failure at 10. YES!

Totals
60 pull
120 push
250 sit

Happy with today's PT.
Now, eating some cantaloupe and pretzels.

Time to shower and knock out a lab. Are you ready lab? I'm going to punch you right in the face!

Errors are human nature. Only so, because errors are defined by judgment.

Monday, November 10, 2008

The pain

There are different kinds of pain.
Some kinds of pain one can put up with.
This foot pain, is something that can be put up with, but wouldn't be smart.
There is a problem on the foot. The bone that the Achilles is attached to.
It feels like a small grenade blew up in my foot.

It wasn't bad yesterday, and I was walking around with minimal pain this morning, so I figured another run would be ok.
Did The Mall 10 loop again.
Ran in front of the White House but was stopped by security. A lot of people were looking off to the right of the White House. I thought, what the heck are people looking at, the House is over there!
I asked the cop what the deal was. He gave me a BS snobby answer. I went on my way.
I just figured people were waiting for the magic tree to do its thing. There is a magical tree just to the right off the White House that will randomly shoot out loads of colorful butterflies. It's quite dangerous because they are shot out of the limbs of the tree at a high rate of speed, but, it's also very beautiful.

Got back from the run, and limped like I was just kicked in the balls. Ok, maybe not that kind of limp. Maybe more like the grenade thing.
Must not have been a wise decision to run today.
Plan on recovering more this week.
Moving the 30 up to Friday because Saturday is full of class and other school work.



Butterflies, are beautiful, but can be dangerous at high rates of speed.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Sunday Runday

Easy 10 today. 1:23:10. 8:18 or so.
Slept in this morning.
Woke up with the sun shining through the window cooking my unconscious body.
Knew it was going to be a good day.
Great weather outside.
Downed some pretzels, bananas, water, and headed out.
Nice to see all the touristy people out. Keep the mind distracted.
Rolled the left ankle a few times. Kept chuggin'.
You gotta keep chuggin'. No matter what.
Probably same hip-flexor issues and the Duke (Charles).
Stretched it well. Didn't seem to be enough though.
Will stretch more later.
Watched a few movies this weekend.
Makes me want to find a movie-star-looking girlfriend. Damn you movies. Unrealistic.
Now, doing some late night studying and laundry.
Pretzels go great with tasty liquid.
Hip-hop lolly-pop.

Have had the urge to do something amazing lately. Not sure what it's going to be, or when, but I know it must be amazing.

Going to try and recruit some people to run/bike/help out with this weeks long run.
Might head down to The Three Bears again.

Seek understanding with patience and ye shall be enlightened with a gift that cannot be given.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

The leaves...

are beautiful. Changing colors and all. Quite calming.
Great weather here. 60's all week.
Foot still causing problems, or is it my testicles? Hmm, sometimes it's hard to distinguish.
Decided, "F-it, I'm running."
Good run. Heart felt good.
Ultra style. Short easy stride.
10 mi. in 1:24:49. 8:30's or so.
Went past some hippie tents down at the Mall today. There was a protest that had something to do with Darfur.
Saw the White House today. That's a big house. It's like a fancy motel.
It kind of reminds me of the ghetto. Other than the manicured lawn and nice paint.
There are lots of bars to keep you out. There are cops everywhere. And you don't want to f-up because lots of people have guns.
10 set PT when returned.
5x pull, 10x varied push, 20x varied sit
1x20 all sit set
75x2 fire haulers (formerly known as arm-haulers)
Totals:
50 pull
100 push
360 sit
150 fire haulers

Pulls were most difficulty. Sits were great. Felt the effort. Not easy, but feel the pain just they should. Push were easy, next time will do more. Fire-haulers brought on the burn, and lots of it, hence the new name.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Damnations

Well, here's the gist of it. Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being off days. After a stellar sixer Monday I woke up hobbling as if someone had stabbed my Achilles. "Crap."

Stretching didn't seem to help. I'm not really sure what the problem is or how to solve it. Leah thinks it has something to do with my knee. The knee hasn't caused any problems for a while, but the Achilles is doing a wonderful job keeping me from running.

After two forced days rest, I decided to give it a try tonight. I was optimistic. Feeling good, but after a mile I knew it would be wise to stop. I ended up finishing the 2 loop.

Now, feeling like a deflated balloon I decided to go work out. Headed to the gym and decided to a a PT. 10 sets: 5x pull, 15x varied push and sit. Going strong until set 7. Excellent, this is what should happen with a good PT. Finished with plenty of struggle and grunting. It's nice to work out here, you can make as many grunting noises as you want without people looking at you weird. Either they can't hear you, or they think you can't hear yourself. Win Win.

Added in a 20x all sit ups for the extra burn. Lots of fire and burning is the abs.
2x75 arm haulers. Those are perfect for mental toughness. To keep my mind occupied I counted the threads on the carpet--one thread for each 'hauler'. Threw in 25x2 neck.

Hit the weights for some shoulder work. Hoo-cha!
Pleased with the workout.

Lots of his and leg stretching. Hoping that will help dissolve or prevent any hic-ups that might occur.

Total:
50 pull ups
270 sit ups
150 push ups
150 arm haulers

Hope all is well in Nebraska. Word is the blizzards are there.
Hope all is well in Hawaii. Word is perfect weather is there.
Hope all is well on planet 245x. Word is massive butterfly attack.

For those who need strength and steady hand during travel.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Advocating Universal Hearing Screenings

That's what I have been reading and writing about all day today. Paper due tomorrow. Solid 5 hours on it this afternoon, and an on/off evening session. Finally wrapped it up at exactly 12:00am.

There are many aspects of running that can be applied to other situations. For example, writing this paper. The five hours was sort of like a long run. It was a little slow starting, found a nice groove in the middle, had to stop a few times to stretch and rehydrate, and near the end got a little hungry.

The evening section of the paper was just like on/offs. Short durations of work and productivity followed by moments of lag and distraction (like a dog trying to not pay attentions to that delicious bbq flavored pig ear lying right next to him).

Decided to take today off. The hip flexors are a bit tight today, which must mean they were worked well yesterday. However, that's not why I decided to take today off. Mainly, my focus and goal today was to complete this paper. Success! Proud of today. Set a goal, worked hard and diligently, and completed it. Another reason why wasn't too motivated to run today was to give the body rest. The stomach didn't feel to hot this morning, and after putting some food in the belly it was still uneasy. Now, things are back to normal. I talked myself into listening a little more to what my body is trying to say rather than push through everything. Yesterday's run was only the second time where I was really concerend about my health (the first being kidney irritation during the 75er). Even though it's hard to understand for me, but I have been told that rest is just as important as training.

Good news, got over 8 hours of sleep last night and I'm looking to get another solid sleep tonight. Just last night I woke up the one of those half-awake/half-asleep dreams. I though people were coming over and had all of their luggage in my room. I thought to myself, "oh shit, I was sleeping when everyone stopped by and I didn't even wake up when they came in!" After lying back down for a bit I was able to analyize what was going on and that, in fact, there were no visitors coming and that the room did not have a bunch of luggage in it. It was pretty trippy.

Extra bonus points for those who ran today.
Hope all is well west and even farther west.

Happy time change to all!

Peace and comfort

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Equilibrum, Great things only last so long

Interesting run today. Would describe it as the single most exciting solo run of my life that quickly turned into a "death march".

Headed out to the Regan Airport park area and decided to hit up the trail in the opposite direction. Trail was decent, lots of bikers, but then it got interesting when I noticed a little side trail. Naturally, I followed it. At first, it was just a calm and scenic single-track trail. It runs right along the Potomac River. Had the opportunity to test out the trailing capabilities of the Omni-6's as the trail started to develop into a rock path. Only but a brief time later I found myself walking. Why? Because I was climbing over rocks, small boulders, and crossing streams created by water falls. Pretty amazing scenery.

This trail was, by far, the most technically challenging course I have ran on. On more than one occasion one slip of the foot or stumble would have sent me 40 feet over a small cliff onto jagged rocks. Also, more than once I was actually scaling rocks, grabbing roots and all, up very steep inclines that left very little room for error.

There were three larger water falls that had to be crossed. I have decided to name, Baby Bear, Momma Bear, and Poppa Bear. The last of the waterfalls, Poppa Bear, required patience and the sure 'footed-ness' of a Mountain Goat. I literally scaled, hiked/walked up a 1000 foot cliff. The last two miles near Poppa Bear took 30 minutes to cover just over 2 miles. This part was defiantly the highlight of the run.

On the way back, one bad thing happened after another. First off, the left Achilles was extra tender considering its use was maximized in order to get over those rocks. The left knee, felt like exploding from within nearly every time I had to descend rocks, which was quite a bit. Lastly, I would guess it was around mile 8 that I was struck with nausea. I would later find out that this nausea would plaque the rest of the run.

I had run just past Poppa Bear when I came upon Chain Bridge. My predetermined turn around point. The way back was just as exciting. Besides the small list of ailments I was having the best solo run of my life. Just at Momma Bear I decided to stop and try the water. I used my handkerchief to filter whatever bad things it could possibly filter and filled the cap of my bottle. It was nice and cool. Not knowing if the water was good for drinking or not could have been a mistake. What can I say, I just had to. How often does that opportunity come up. For a little bit, I felt like a real Mountain Man.

Leaving the Potomac Trail things started to get ugly. After finding out how far I had gone of the Potomac Trail I calculated that I would have to hit up the Regan Airport Park to get in all 25mi. It was ok. Mentally, it was boring, but physically it things were getting worse. By now, I would do a running dry-heave every 10 min. or so while still dealing with the nausea.

By time I had hit the turn around it was very close to dark, and on the way back I noticed a biker in a slight dilemma. It was an attractive young lady, which subconsciously might have been the main reason for me turning around (I know, it's shallow, but I have stopped for ugly old men too, so I would like to think that I would have helped anyone given the situation). Her chain had fallen off and she was fiddling with it in the dark. Just after I had start to help her another biker, with a light, also stopped and helped. His light turned out to provide a large contribution considering I had no idea what I was doing. I just thumbed around with it until it went back on. Turns out, the young lady was French, or at least, sounded French. She had a sweet accent. With the chain back on, I was back on the path. This little distraction had taken my mind off the nausea, that is, until I started running again.

Just at 3:23 on the watch, I finally gave into the nausea and started a walk, jog, dry-heave cycle. Not fun. Started to think about other options to get home. It was pretty ugly, but I thought of taking it one step at a time and to not wuss out. I found a water fountain at one point and drank a bit. It helped for a minute when I wretched it back up. Several times I had to stop and decorate a tree or part of the sidewalk with my stomach fluid designs.

It took around 4:10 to complete the 25mi, which is a lot slower than I had planned. Although, I did stop my watch every time my stomach wanted to jump out. Even now, as I type, the stomach is mad, but I'm not sure why. I don't think it was the potential hazard waterfall water considering I was nauseous prior to that point.

In the end, I made it home alive!
The run started an a B, peaked at and A++, and ended with a D-.
It must have been a combination of things that all added up. Another night of 4 hour sleep, stress with school, Boogie Fever, an exploding knee, and Kermit the Frog.

I hope this post isn't too depressing. Let's end it on a positive note. The Potomac Trail was a freakin' sweet place to run. I will definitely go back and fine-tune those rock running skills.

Here is a link that has pictures of the trail. It looks just like that, only prettier.
http://www.runningandrambling.com/2008/07/potomac-heritage-trail-chasing.html

Peace, Tranquility, and Buenos Noches.