Training Log Archive: PGIn the 1 days ending Dec 13, 2009: |
| « | » |
| » now | ||||
| Su |
Sunday Dec 13, 2009 #
Note
Lots of mild soreness -- mainly quads and tendons inside of left knee (these got croaked at the end of Valley Forge two years ago) -- but nothing terrible, which is a pleasant surprise. Hopefully this will disappear in short order.
So this allows a little thinking ahead. I have no idea what my 2010 schedule will be, but I think the first order of business is just getting in some regular but not too stressful training. Like running very regularly, if only for 30-45 minutes at a time. Need to start back getting a base, which will need a lot more than 30-45 minutes a day, but you have to start slowly.
And while the G will need some significant downward movement, there is no reason to rush into it. Though it would be nice not to get any fatter in the meantime.
Still quite pleased with yesterday, even though the time seems slow, almost 30 minutes slower than the same distance at Valley Forge. But I think this was a slower course (for me), more across the fields, which were not easy running, more hills, not good for me, and much much less pavement (which I do relatively better on). So maybe the time is about right.
Finally, the most revealing numbers from yesterday. First number is time from 21-22, second is from 45-46, third is the difference --
Ross 2:24, 2:44, 20 seconds slower
Clem 2:25, 2:49, 24 seconds slower
Samantha 2:50, 2:30, 20 seconds faster <-----
Jim Rayburn 2:35, 2:29, 6 seconds faster
PG 3:28, 3:35, 7 seconds slower
David Onkst 2:47, 3:41, 54 seconds slower
Ben Ahlswede 3:14, 3:30, 16 seconds slower
Joe B 3:18, 3:50 32 seconds slower
Jeff Saeger 3:29, 3:53, 24 seconds slower
Pavlina 3:53, 4:22, 29 seconds slower
Of course these were the same leg, right at the end of each loop, gently uphill across a field.
At the end, Sam was clearly motivated and feeling strong. I was, well, faster than Joe.... :-)
So this allows a little thinking ahead. I have no idea what my 2010 schedule will be, but I think the first order of business is just getting in some regular but not too stressful training. Like running very regularly, if only for 30-45 minutes at a time. Need to start back getting a base, which will need a lot more than 30-45 minutes a day, but you have to start slowly.
And while the G will need some significant downward movement, there is no reason to rush into it. Though it would be nice not to get any fatter in the meantime.
Still quite pleased with yesterday, even though the time seems slow, almost 30 minutes slower than the same distance at Valley Forge. But I think this was a slower course (for me), more across the fields, which were not easy running, more hills, not good for me, and much much less pavement (which I do relatively better on). So maybe the time is about right.
Finally, the most revealing numbers from yesterday. First number is time from 21-22, second is from 45-46, third is the difference --
Ross 2:24, 2:44, 20 seconds slower
Clem 2:25, 2:49, 24 seconds slower
Samantha 2:50, 2:30, 20 seconds faster <-----
Jim Rayburn 2:35, 2:29, 6 seconds faster
PG 3:28, 3:35, 7 seconds slower
David Onkst 2:47, 3:41, 54 seconds slower
Ben Ahlswede 3:14, 3:30, 16 seconds slower
Joe B 3:18, 3:50 32 seconds slower
Jeff Saeger 3:29, 3:53, 24 seconds slower
Pavlina 3:53, 4:22, 29 seconds slower
Of course these were the same leg, right at the end of each loop, gently uphill across a field.
At the end, Sam was clearly motivated and feeling strong. I was, well, faster than Joe.... :-)
Note
And I was also very pleased yesterday on my longer-term project, this time an interesting chat with David Onkst about our demons (anger and moodiness), and how to deal with them, even if it seems like you are hard-wired from birth to suffer them.
There are still choices that can be made, and one of the choices is to just refuse to go down that well-traveled road. It is a hard choice to stick to, but it can be done. It would have been nice to start figuring that out a little sooner in life, but better late than never.
There are still choices that can be made, and one of the choices is to just refuse to go down that well-traveled road. It is a hard choice to stick to, but it can be done. It would have been nice to start figuring that out a little sooner in life, but better late than never.
Note
Still in the Mid-Atlantic region, but at least north of the Mason-Dixon line. Bad weather, no rush to drive north. But mainly, the forecast is for good weather tomorrow and I have my clubs with me, so heading north won't happen until Monday evening.
Took a short tour of Newark, Delaware, where Gail's mom lived, went by the old house, then headed off towards Atlantic City, since it seems like that is where the weather will be warmest tomorrow. Took a less-traveled route, Rt. 49, about as far SW in Jersey as you can go. Totally depressing area, flat, dreary, the woods were all dark green, raining steadily, but it was my first time there and that always makes a place interesting. Stopped in a tiny diner for a real breakfast at midday, I seem to crave such after a race of sufficient length. The diner and its inhabitants (workers and customers) were also dreary, but the food and service were good, I got called "Sir," and there were multiple thank-yous after I left a $2 tip on a $6 order.
Drove on the AC, raining harder. I'd reserved a room on the outskirts, $35 and it wasn't a dive, it is fun to travel in the off-season. Spent the afternoon napping and watching the tube, then decided at about 6:30 that I should get my act together and head out, both for some dinner and also to pay a short visit to a casino. Hey, I'm traveling solo, got to take advantage of the opportunities. :-)
Drove into the city, past an area of motels that I would assume were dives, $16 was the lowest rate I saw and I'm pretty sure that was the nightly rate, not an hourly one. Parked, walked a bit, eventually headed for the nearest casino, the Tropicana.
Quite a place. I haven't been in a casino for a long time, so maybe this was pretty low-class (actually, I pretty sure it was quite low class, I mean I didn't feel out of place). Slot machines as far as the eye could see, plus a bunch of tables for the various other games. Not so many customers. The machines all looked very complicated, took a while to figure out how they worked, even longer to see where the money went in. Watched three ladies working on two machines, they claimed they were hot, and perhaps they were, but in 5 minutes their credit was down to zero and they moved on.
Well, I thought, I suppose I should try this. I didn't have any pre-set limit I was willing to lose, but I wasn't keen on investing one of my 20s, and all I had beside them was a couple of 5s. So I fed a 5 into a machine and within a couple of minutes it all belonged to the casino.
Hmm, not so good, time to move on. And I walked around some more and settled on another machine and figured out more or less how it worked, and then fed in my other 5. That gave me 20 "credits," worth 25 cents each, and I started off by betting one credit a spin. And so my balance went down 1 each spin, because I was winning nothing. And after a few spins I changed to betting 2 credits a spin, and therefore my balance was going down twice as fast, because I was still winning nothing. And pretty soon I was down to 3 credits, so I bet all 3 on my last spin, 75 cents, and what to you know, a bunch of 7s came up and by the time the machine stopped flashing I had a credit balance of $61.25.
It took me about 5 seconds to push the "Cash out now" button. :-)
A coupon emerged, good for my $61.25. I wandered off to try and cash it. Found a friendly black female employee. "Right over there, babe," she said. I was clearly no longer in the land where people called you Sir.
Got my cash, so a net profit of $51.25. Everything was right with the world. Wandered around a little more, checked out the gaming tables, had no interest in that. Checked out the eating places, including a Hooters, never been to one of them, didn't go to this one either. Eventually walked back to my car, drove back out of down, found an Italian place for a beer and a plate of spaghetti, tasted just right, and the waitress there, she too, kept calling me babe.
And so a day of doing virtually nothing still brings quite a few smiles. :-)
Took a short tour of Newark, Delaware, where Gail's mom lived, went by the old house, then headed off towards Atlantic City, since it seems like that is where the weather will be warmest tomorrow. Took a less-traveled route, Rt. 49, about as far SW in Jersey as you can go. Totally depressing area, flat, dreary, the woods were all dark green, raining steadily, but it was my first time there and that always makes a place interesting. Stopped in a tiny diner for a real breakfast at midday, I seem to crave such after a race of sufficient length. The diner and its inhabitants (workers and customers) were also dreary, but the food and service were good, I got called "Sir," and there were multiple thank-yous after I left a $2 tip on a $6 order.
Drove on the AC, raining harder. I'd reserved a room on the outskirts, $35 and it wasn't a dive, it is fun to travel in the off-season. Spent the afternoon napping and watching the tube, then decided at about 6:30 that I should get my act together and head out, both for some dinner and also to pay a short visit to a casino. Hey, I'm traveling solo, got to take advantage of the opportunities. :-)
Drove into the city, past an area of motels that I would assume were dives, $16 was the lowest rate I saw and I'm pretty sure that was the nightly rate, not an hourly one. Parked, walked a bit, eventually headed for the nearest casino, the Tropicana.
Quite a place. I haven't been in a casino for a long time, so maybe this was pretty low-class (actually, I pretty sure it was quite low class, I mean I didn't feel out of place). Slot machines as far as the eye could see, plus a bunch of tables for the various other games. Not so many customers. The machines all looked very complicated, took a while to figure out how they worked, even longer to see where the money went in. Watched three ladies working on two machines, they claimed they were hot, and perhaps they were, but in 5 minutes their credit was down to zero and they moved on.
Well, I thought, I suppose I should try this. I didn't have any pre-set limit I was willing to lose, but I wasn't keen on investing one of my 20s, and all I had beside them was a couple of 5s. So I fed a 5 into a machine and within a couple of minutes it all belonged to the casino.
Hmm, not so good, time to move on. And I walked around some more and settled on another machine and figured out more or less how it worked, and then fed in my other 5. That gave me 20 "credits," worth 25 cents each, and I started off by betting one credit a spin. And so my balance went down 1 each spin, because I was winning nothing. And after a few spins I changed to betting 2 credits a spin, and therefore my balance was going down twice as fast, because I was still winning nothing. And pretty soon I was down to 3 credits, so I bet all 3 on my last spin, 75 cents, and what to you know, a bunch of 7s came up and by the time the machine stopped flashing I had a credit balance of $61.25.
It took me about 5 seconds to push the "Cash out now" button. :-)
A coupon emerged, good for my $61.25. I wandered off to try and cash it. Found a friendly black female employee. "Right over there, babe," she said. I was clearly no longer in the land where people called you Sir.
Got my cash, so a net profit of $51.25. Everything was right with the world. Wandered around a little more, checked out the gaming tables, had no interest in that. Checked out the eating places, including a Hooters, never been to one of them, didn't go to this one either. Eventually walked back to my car, drove back out of down, found an Italian place for a beer and a plate of spaghetti, tasted just right, and the waitress there, she too, kept calling me babe.
And so a day of doing virtually nothing still brings quite a few smiles. :-)