Keeping it Going

This weekend was all about getting my miles in while testing out my injured foot. I've refrained from running all week, so I was hopeful it would settle down. I did an 8 miler on Saturday at a sub-8 minute pace and didn't feel it until the last two miles, so that was good. Then this afternoon I met some friends to do a steady 10 miles of hills around Ladera Norte. While I was fine on the uphills and flats, the steep downhills killed me. I really need to carefully manage this injury because it's derailing my plans to run a fast marathon at Little Rock.

I managed 116 running miles this month, much less than the 200+ miles I regularly churned out last year, but that's ok - I'll get there.

Next weekend's going to be interesting and super busy. First up I'm going to be camping outside Austin ISD overnight on Friday to get a transfer request in for Gavin (he starts school in August). From there I'll drive up to Round Rock to take my road group on their last coached weekend run of the season and wish them all the best (they're training for the Austin marathon).

But I'll need to get home early because I found out a few days ago that BBC America will be showing the England vs Wales rugby international live on Saturday morning. For Welsh rugby fans this is one of the biggest games of the year, so I'm really happy to be able to watch it.

And as soon as it finishes I'm going to jump in the car and drive up to Huntsville (about 3 hours away) to pace a friend throughout the night for the last 40 miles of his first 100 mile trail race. I'm looking forward to it and am honored to be able to help him achieve this amazing goal. We'll have a long time to chat and catch up.

Sunday I'll drive home, fall into bed and sleep!!!

Wolf Moon

The January full moon is known as "wolf moon", and tonight it will be closer to earth than any other full moon in 2010. That means it will be the biggest and brightest display of the year.

I hope it stays clear enough that we can enjoy it.

10 Things

I was tagged by Clea to list out 10 things that make me happy. It's not in any particular order, just the first 10 things that popped into my head. So here they are:

1. Nancy. Call me an old romantic, but after being married for nearly 11 years I still look forward to seeing my wife after work every day. Maybe I need some professional help!!!

2. Gavin. I see so much of myself in Gavin (even if Nancy claims he looks more like her) - he's so cheeky and mischievous. But he's also very sweet and affectionate (ok, less like me, haha) and thinks his dad is the greatest thing in the world. Playing with him, reading him stories, watching movies together or cuddling him up definitely makes me a happy bunny.

3. Dylan. When I creep up to his crib in the morning or pick him up from daycare and he sees me for the first time, his little face lights up with the most amazing smile I've ever seen (though if mummy's around then daddy becomes a poor second). When I blow raspberries on his belly or "bench press" him he becomes a little gigglebox. I love that kid.

4. Cooking. I love to experiment and get creative in the kitchen. Sometimes my experiments work out, other times not so much :-) My favorite kitchen tools are my pasta machine (which I recently retrofitted back to handcrank - much more satisfying than using a motor IMHO) and my Kitchenaid mixer. I think my most satisfying cooking moment was when I recently managed to recreate an elusive mushroom soup dish after 10 years of trying.

5. Running with friends. Is there any better way to pass the time while ticking off the miles than shooting the breeze and catching up with friends?

6. Setting and achieving goals. I am definitely goal-oriented, be it either solving a problem at work or crossing the finish line of an ultramarathon (especially a 100 miler). The feeling of achievement when you finally realize that goal is amazing.

7. Being in the zone. I've had portions of runs and races where I've been so completely in tune with myself that it's almost as if it was somebody else running and I was just hovering overhead watching myself skim the ground. There have been core, aerobic and weights workouts where the burn has been so sweet that I felt I could go forever. Likewise with work (or home projects), I have sometimes gotten so focussed on a problem that I've been up until 4 or 5 in the morning working on it without realizing. Yep, the zone is a great place to visit.

8. Designing and building stuff. I love to take things apart to figure out how they work, then find new and interesting ways to use them. I need creative outlets, and in the last few years I've built some cool things including several jukeboxes and a DVR which we use regularly. My latest build project (which I'm still designing) is an arcade machine "for the boys" (though I know Nancy enjoys a good game of centipede). There's something extremely satsifying and primal about building something from scratch and see it come together.

9. Reading. I've always been an avid reader and still enjoy it. Most lunchtimes I will close my office door and have a good read (or sometimes a good nap).

10. Mountains. Growing up in Wales I was surrounded by hills and mountains. They always struck me as wonderfully mysterious and lonely places and made me think of Middle Earth - I could imagine Gandalf sweeping down out of them.


So there ya go - pretty boring, hey? But while I'm at it I'm going to tag you folks who have been known to lurk here (unless Clea has already tagged you). If you're struggling for ideas for your blog, why not make up a similar list and post it?

Brenda
Sharpie
Steve
Ashlee
David
Jeff
John

The Day After

I've had a lot of good advice from several friends to give my foot a rest from running, and I have - I haven't run since Sunday. Not because I've turned over a new leaf and become sensible, but because I'm still sore from Monday night's tabata workout!!!

But my cross training is still going great guns. Yesterday I did some core and tonight some strength training. Both days I was feeling my hamstrings - they were especially noticeable while doing some bridge pose routines. But when I finished tonight I was feeling nice and loose, so the little devil on my shoulder suggested I do another tabata workout - this time with bicep curls.

And it went pretty well - over the 4 minutes I managed 152 bicep curls with a score of 17 (and high of 21), so I was nice and consistent. But you can be sure my arms were getting rubbery by the last few sets - and I bet they'll be sore in the morning.

I love this tabata thing.

4 Minutes is a Long Time

I did 6 miles at Walnut Creek yesterday so I figured I'd give the foot a rest today as it was a little sore. Tonight I did some core work which left me nicely warmed up and loose, so I decided to give a tabata workout a try.

The exercise I decided on was dumbbell squat thrusters. Basically you stand upright holding two handheld weights at shoulder level with your arms bent at 90 degrees. You go down into a squat and come back up straight into a shoulder press. That's one rep.

So I found a great online tabata timer and was all set. Now I figured that the tabata workout itself would be pretty simple - after all, it's only 4 minutes.

But it wasn't - oh my God it was hard. The sweat and fatigue levels just built the more sets I did - the 10 seconds rest between sets seemed like nothing and the 20 seconds of all out effort seemed much longer. But I'm happy to say I did all 8 sets and managed 125 squat thrusters in the 4 minutes with a score (the least amount done in any 20 second set) of 15.

It's been quite a while since I came away from a workout with both my arms and legs feeling like rubber, but it feel's kinda good. I think I'll come up with a workout that layers about four tabata intervals back to back.

Now that would be intense.

22 Miles of Buttercups

I've never been accused of having too much brainpower when it comes to some of my running decisions (and actually the less the better for some of the races I've run), but even so, deciding to go ahead and run 22 miles on the road with a niggling foot injury will probably not get me inducted into the IQ hall of fame.

Nevertheless I found myself in South Central Austin this morning just before dawn about to recreate the last 22 miles of the Austin marathon with my road group. Now I know this route really well - part of it encompasses the old Danish run (both North and South) - so I knew most of the hills came in the first 5-10 miles.

And they went pretty well. In fact it took a good 8 miles before my foot started complaining. And then, oh boy, did it start complaining. I dropped off the pace and my group started pulling away. At one point I briefly considered calling it quits and taking a short cut back, but I'm nothing if not stubborn. Now that's a good thing when you're pushing to finish a 100 miler, but not such a good thing when you're carrying an injury. All I could hear in my head was the phrase "suck it up buttercup". Over and over again.

So I did. I gritted my teeth and completed the run. It was about 30 minutes slower than I would run it at my peak, and I walked a bit, but I finished the damn thing.

Coming down Duval, just where it meets San Jacinto, I spotted a friend enjoying a coffee on one of the outdoor patios, so I stopped and sat chatting to her for a few minutes. And that seemed to help because I ran the last 3 miles with a lot of purpose and the foot eased up. I even started passing people again.

Coming back over the Congress Bridge I caught up with the other coach from our group. It turns out that he was also having injury problems and we mused how ironic it was that both coaches were crocked. We must be getting old!!!

When we finally got back to TxDOT I broke the habit of a lifetime and jumped into the ice barrel. I figured that as my damn foot had tormented me for 14 miles, it was only fair I exacted some measure of revenge on it.

So I'm back home sitting on the couch writing this and my foot feels fine. Which makes me angry (in a completely illogical way). I'm half tempted to go back out tomorrow and rerun the entire course, but luckily I've promised some friends I'd take them on a trail run.

So I think I'll go lift some weights and work some of this frustration off.