Training Log Archive: PG

Knee better but still not right. Have an appointment for PT, but first I could get was in a couple of weeks.

Seems like AP has changed some of its format. Initial reaction is I liked it better the way it was. Guess I need to get with the program, but right now I don't have time (or inclination)....

Knee much sorer than I would wish. Need to take a few days off. And way too busy at work.

Amherst 10 Mile, hilly course. Felt tired and slow, surprised the time wasn't worse. Oh, well, better than doing nothing. And at least I broke 80 (plan was someplace between 78 and 80).

7:23, 7:19, 8:23, 8:28, 8:01 (39:34), 7:45, 7:20, 7:56, 7:46 (mile marker was too soon?), 8:10.

Legs mostly ok during the run, a couple twinges around 8 miles. A little sore afterwards. Don't think I did any damage.

A little warm-up.

A short pre-breakfast run at the Smith indoor track, included 5x200, just intended to start trying to get the legs used to moving a little faster, even though the legs felt like I lifted too many elephants yesterday. 46.7, 46.7, 44.5, 43.4, 43.3, all with 200 between. Was planning on 8 reps, but this seemed like enough.

Then a visit with the urologist in Springfield. Biopsy next week to see if anything bad is happening. One step at a time.

Got a ticket last night to go to the Flying Pig, non-stop Hartford-Columbus for $161 round trip. Seemed like a good price, a couple hundred cheaper than flying into Cincinnati.

C • Columbus 4

Actually that's for January. This month should be fewer elephants, but then it's a shorter month.

Internet access at work conked out mid-morning and stayed out for the rest of the day. Glad I don't use web-based software. I couldn't file any returns but I could keep creating them. Hopefully it gets fixed tomorrow, the Verizon guy is supposed to be hand, finally.

It does feel weird to be so isolated. No e-mail, no AP, no news, and even no access to the IRS or a few other places for research. Strange. Just like normal a decade ago.

A very cool drive home down 91 watching the lunar eclipse unfold, significant change in the 15 minutes it took to get home. Perfectly clear night for watching the rest of it.

C • eclipse 3

With Phil, roads north of Greenfield.

Here's what he proposed --"I'd be looking to do around 50-60 minutes at an 8:15 pace."

And so for 55 minutes the only time we ran as slow as 8:15 was on the uphill first mile. And, clearly bothered by that, Phil then pushed the pace the rest of the way, razzing me ceaselessly about how slow we were going, how good this was all going to be for me (under the Nietzsche theory, since it seemed I wasn't actually going to die on the spot), how much I really needed this, and on and on, all the time checking his Forerunner, announcing triumphantly after each mile how much more the pace had picked up. He clearly was having a great time.

And on average we were slightly better than miserable. So that's not so bad!

My only moment of something even close to pleasure was just after we were done, when I realized we were done, I was still upright, and I seemed not to have done any serious damage.

Oops, take that back. One moment of pleasure on the run, when I asked Phil what he was going to run the 10-miler in on Sunday, and he said 71 minutes, good enough to beat my time from three years ago. And he seemed quite distressed when I told him my time three years ago was just over 70. So he has to run a little faster than planned.... :-)

C • Actually, one other moment ... 1

As usual, you pay for having good legs one day by having no legs the next day, especially on any uphills. So it goes.

Or maybe it was penance for watching a soap opera yesterday. Is there some sort of 10% rule that applies to watching soaps, where if you up the hours too fast you pay for it? Just in case, no no more soaps for a while, at least until I'm sure I'm fully recovered from yesterday's overdose.

Todays route.

Just had a client, she must check in at at least 2.5 G, she was working for Yankee Candle (big employer around here), but not any more. I asked her why, she said she got tired of the way she was treated and at some point told them to, go on, fucking fire me. Which they did, except they did it in a way she couldn't get unemployment. And then they went to a judge and got a restraining order to keep her off their property. Seriously.

Except it wasn't serious to her, she was just laughing about it, she seemed real good about just moving on with her life, and a nice person too. And I was laughing real hard, somehow the sight of this big company getting a restraining order against her was just too absurd.

I suppose the real reason they fired her was because she was fat? And that part's not funny.

Went on the treadmill because, although it was about 50F outside and quite pleasant for running, all the rain over and done with, the fog was so thick that visibility in places was no more than 50-75 yards, and I figured the odds of getting run over were significantly greater than zero.

Felt pretty good. Two easy miles to warm up, then thought I'd do what passes for a tempo run these days, 3 miles at 7:30 pace, but it felt a little too easy for a tempo run, so then I did one more mile at 6:40 pace, and that got me breathing hard though still feeling ok. And then an easy quarter mile to wind down. Knee was ok mostly, getting a little sore at the end. But the run seemed like progress. Which is good!

So today while I was on the treadmill the big TV was showing the latest from Days of our Lives, which is one of the classic soap operas, I do believe. I had my earphones tuned to the local radio station, but all was not lost because the TV had closed captioning. And it got me to wondering, are the writers for this show part of the writers that have been on strike? Because if they are, well, my opinion would be that whatever they are getting paid is too much.

Maybe the script sounds good, when you hear it, probably with a bunch of heart-wrenching music. But when the script is laid bare on the screen, it seems like something that I could write pretty easily, as long as I remembered to put in the occasional note, like (deep breathing).

So anyway, the story, best as I can figure it out, is a bunch of people flying a private plane have just crashed, and they are strewn around in the snow, and one by one they sort of come to, though not without their problems. Like the guy who has had one leg apparently crushed by part of the plane, but fortunately it's his prosthetic leg, and some other guy is apparently virtually dead, so his girl friend figures this is the time to tell him they're going to have a baby, and that revives him, and some women who is a doctor has her shoulder dislocated, or something, and so some other guy has to pull and rotate while she keeps going "Ooh" until it gets fixed, and there are a few other ailments, and at some point they try use a defillibrater. The best part is that no one is cold! The worst part was probably the lack of what I assumed would be ample display of skin to compensate for putting up with the inane script.

Meanwhile, there are some other folks waiting back home, showing somewhat more skin, who are slowly finding out that the plane has gone down.

And that was pretty much it. Or at least my version. Here's where they have the daily updates if you want the official version.

Just think what I would have missed if it hadn't been foggy.

C • soaps 3

Flat roads in Greenfield. Not too bad. And then off to the basketball game, where the governor was in attendance. When introduced, he got a loud round of applause and no boos. That sure wouldn't have been the case if Romney had ever showed up.

C • U Mass over St Louis U? To... 4

Well, maybe a little better. Lovers Lane loop from the Body Shoppe. Legs felt better and put out a decent effort, even though the pace still sucks for what I felt like I was doing. I guess that's the way it is. But at least the legs had a little life. Knee is doing a little better, but still sore afterwards.

Went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival in the evening. Pretty good. Had me thinking about going skiing again, it's been more than 20 years. We'll see. Definitely did not have me thing about going BASE jumping or unicycling.

C • skiing 10

New client this morning, first person I have ever met who has had a heart transplant. Very, very nice guy, considers himself the luckiest guy in the world. Takes 179 pills a week to keep his immune system under control.

Wow.

C • That's not quite as many pi... 1

Just not into it. Quit after a while, went off to try the treadmill, quit after about a minute, went to the grocery store.

Adams Road, Log Plain, Lovers Lane, back Adams Raod, from the Body Shoppe. A struggle all the way, but done. One of these a run will feel good, or at least I sure hope so. The usual few minutes on the roller afterwards, quads, calves, hamstrings. Route.

Long day at work, still far from over. Always interesting, latest client educated me on the differences between Harleys, BMWs and Japanese bikes, he's a Harley guy. Never know when this stuff might come in useful.

Almost an hour of shoveling when I got home. Hard work, especially doing the deck, having to throw the junk far enough to clear the railing and the bushes. Glad I've been doing the Nautilus stuff, but there will still probably be a couple sore muscles tomorrow.

I had given some thought to getting up early and going to the Smith indoor track, but my knee was bothering me yesterday, and still bothering me when I got up this morning, so I passed on that. But I brought my running stuff with me and by mid-morning the knee was feeling better, so I gave it a try on the treadmill. And felt not so bad.

A slow mile to warm up, then 4 x 880 at 7:00 pace with 440 at 8:30 pace in between. Time goes quicker doing this than just going at a steady pace. Good little workout.

And left me enough time to go shopping afterwards. So I'm a couple of days early. That's better than forgetting.

Included bench pressing the G three times, though the last rep was just barely successful.

C • Thanks for the stories! 9

Back roads up to Montague Center and back (route). Good test of willpower, the intent was to do this and I stuck to it. Legs felt dead, knee still a little sore, mainly towards the end. Got caught by a heavy snow squall in the last 10 minutes, glad it wasn't like that all the way.

Need to do a lot more before I'm ready to venture out with Phil.

C • training 4

Lover's Lane loop from the Body Shoppe. Amused myself all the way up the hill thinking about weird clients. Ran harder at the time, though you wouldn't guess it by the time.

Not much time. Too many strange clients.

C • Well? 12

A short trip around the local roads, feeling slow as usual, but knee not too bad. Given the slow pace, it seems more appropriate to use a different standard of measurement than the usual minutes per mile.

So on this run I focused on a good minutes per square kilometer pace and the result (26:40 for 1.047 sq. km. = 25:25 pace), which strikes me as quite decent and certainly a whole lot better than what I did two days ago. Excellent!

C • area? 34

Went to vote a little before 8 am, raining but lots of people, had to wait in line for 5 minutes, I was already voter #95 in our little town, maybe 2K registered voters. Being "unenrolled" I could take either a Republican or Democratic ballot. Funny that the R ballots were blue and the D ballots were red, a reversal of current practice. Felt good to take a red one and fill in the oval next to Obama.

C • Obama 5

Knee sore from yesterday, probably overdid it, especially with the rough footing.

On Greenfield ridge, white trail for the first part, then along the top to Sachem Head, back the same way. Mix of snow and ice, not sinking in far but traction only so-so, had to be careful on the sidehills and downhills.

Once again, working hard for a slow pace, but this was a longer effort than anything recently. Knee was just a little sore the whole time.

And in other news -- (1) made an appointment with a urologist for a couple weeks from now, that's good, and (2) I noticed that my t-shirt yesterday seemed a bit snug around the chest. Yikes, am I bulking up? If so will it help either my orienteering or my golf game? As to the former, my skills there have gone to hell so it doesn't matter. As to the latter, one can always hope. And as to one other pastime that I don't normally partake of, if I go to the beach, will I no longer get sand kicked in my face (not that I ever really did, I don't think....)?

Election time is here. Maybe a month ago Gail and I were discussing who we might vote for and I said I hadn't decided between Hillary and Obama. At some point a couple weeks ago, as a result of the campaigning, it became very clear that I would vote for Obama.

So for any Obama supporters, be sure you vote tomorrow. Hillary supporters, make sure you go vote on Wednesday.

C • Obama 8

For some reason I thought I should see if I could bench press 100 pounds (instead of the 70 I am doing now), so I put the pin in for 100 and lifted and it wasn't so hard and I did it nine times before that was enough. And then I thought, I wonder if I can do 1 G, just once, so I put the pin at 140 and took a few deep breaths, and slowly but surely up it went. Back down. Thought I'd see if I could do it again. A few more deep breaths, but only halfway up this time. Still pretty good. Didn't feel like I was straining anything, I hope.

C • For some reason ... 7

C • bench 3

Same loop as a couple of days ago, working hard and going even slower. Knee still sore, though it moves around a bit, which I will assume is good. Hopefully one of these days it will feel a little better.

The nautilus stuff has felt ok, though I'm not sure what good it is doing me.

Today's tax story is not amusing or uplifting or horrifying or particularly interesting. But, as I've said before, it's my log and I can write what I want to....

A guy today, came in with his wife, they've been clients for a bunch of years though this was the first time the wife had come along, I think she was just curious. He drives a truck for a local fuel oil company, also gets called out in the middle of the night to repair heating systems, type of guy those of us who sit behind desks take for granted, and also depend upon.

We're going though his numbers, seeing what the possibilities are, and I point out that his income is down from the year before, less overtime I assume. Yeah, he said, but part of the reason for that is he was out for a while when he was operated on. What for, I asked. My prostate, he said.

So we put aside the tax papers and spent the next half hour talking about all that he had been through, his wife also an active participant in the discussion -- which doctors he'd seen and what he thought of them, the various steps along the way both pre- and post-operation. A good and very open talk, maybe here it is an advantage to being a taxman and feeling that it is ok to ask about just about anything.

I guess this is just a step in the learning process, talking and reading, eventually making decisions, maybe sooner, maybe later. I can't say I like any of it. I have always been one who, if I needed to buy something, bought the first thing I saw that seemed to meet the need (if the pants fit, get them, no need to look at 10 other pairs just to see if one might fit a little better). In this case, however, I know I need to get educated. I just don't really look forward to the prospect. And the process of getting educated is not exactly fun, because you are reminded at every step of the way what the possibilities are. As opposed to, say, the process of deciding which O' meet to go to, where all of the possibilities would be appealing.

But it has to be done. And so I may put things in this log from time to time as a way of forcing myself to deal with this, unpleasant as it is. And there has already been an upside, a couple of good e-mails from AP readers who have already been down this road. Thank you.

The truck driver, by the way, says he is doing very well. His wife concurs. And that was nice to see.

Slimming, 139

Glad I wasn't planning on a run, as there was a mix of sleet and freezing rain and then heavy rain. Better tomorrow I hope.

So the Feb. 1 goal for the G of 139 was missed. Just too much muscle....

C • That's ok. The trend is in... 1