¿Y como vas progresando?

Yesterday was mostly successful, as writing goes. There were an awful lot of breaks for straightening up and doing basic exercises, but that's what kept me going.

Today I need to be online most of the day to attend a workshop, so any business must be attended to before ten AM. And that's why we get up at seven on a Sunday (also to avoid the headaches).

Tess: 0110

Distance: 3.15 miles

Duration: 29:14
Pace: 9:16

Brisk, upbeat tunes from the late 1970s and early 80s. Didn't get particularly invested in the episode. I need a reason to be interested in Runner 8 but I'm not there yet. Missed Steve.

Route: Forest Hill Loop

Temperature: 51°
Climate: overcast, damp & breezy

Mood: good

Gear: jacket, shorts

Hour break in our theater intimacy workshop, so I took the run then. Sometimes I push too hard when I need to get back for something, but that's not why I was going so fast. Just felt good!  

 
Stretches: yes 

Sit-Ups: 70
Planks: 30 sec. (4x)

Upper body: 10 rep. (4x)
Water: yes

Man. What if I did that every day.

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, fresh fruit w/granola & yogurt

Workshop Snack: pudding, fizzy water (2x)

Lunch: pizza (2x)

Afternoon: cheesecake, Mini Swedish Fish, more pudding

Dinner: bean soup, ice cream

Alcohol? no

Reading: tbd

Writing: tbd

Blog: tbd

What's That Lyric?

El Rayo-X - David Lindley

I've got blisters on my feet.

Training says this is a day off, but I already took one on Tuesday. So strange, as I walked out of the office last night at five, it occurred to me that it was the weekend. I haven't had a "weekend" in well over a month. Of course, it feels like much longer.

Distance: 3 miles
Avg Pace: 7:18
Duration: 22:01
Route: Forest Hill Loop

Gorgeous day, quick trip through the park. Running fast. My best time for a half is 1:43.35. That was six years ago. No idea what May 15th has in store.

Temperature: 48°
Climate: sunshiny and cool
Weight: 162.5 lbs.
Mood: okay

1978 Playlist
Thank You For Being a Friend - Andrew Gold
Strange Town - The Jam
Statue of Liberty - XTC
I Must Be In Love - The Rutles
Peanuts (178 bpm) - The Police
Metropolis - Kraftwerk

What's coming round the corner?

This morning I have decided to run first, then do my back exercises. Yes, sure, why not. It has been a low-key, four-day weekend, by design and also accident. And that is all right with me any my wife. Last night was not a late one, spent largely editing a work of Shakespeare and Middleton.

There's a lot of verse afoot, and I am trying not to take any of it very seriously. Right now I am also reading something from K.W. Bromley which I have not picked up before, and that is helping me keep it unreal.

Temperature: 36
Distance: 1.75 miles

Okay. So? Mistakes I have made this morning:

1. I neglected to eat anything first. Making breakfast for the girl and her sleepover friend, I did not think to prepare any for myself.
2. Never had a glass of water. Taking care of the right now.
3. The sidewalks of a sidestreet clogged with icy mounds of snow, I jogged into the street, hit a patch of ice and tumbled to my hands and knees. In the street.

No damage, not even my cold weather pants. You know, I have had this one par if pants for ten years, I think. I think my brother got them for me for Christmas in 2004. They hold up.

What I have not mentioned is that there was a car heading in my direction. It was not close, it was just turning the corner up ahead about a thousand yards. But I saw it as I fell and scrambled quickly to get my feet, to move. I looked up, it was still far ahead, moving slowly, but so what? What if it hadn't been?

The driver slowed to ask if I was all right. I was, except for the fear. And my knees sting a little. My back is okay. I was foolish. I must make such careless mistakes several times during every single run.

1973 Playlist
Travelin' Prayer - Billy Joel
Skokian - Hot Butter
5.15 - The Who
Living For the City - Stevie Wonder
Mother of Pearl - Roxy Music

Look like you running in place.

Weekends mean additional sleep ... and headaches. Headaches from an altered schedule, from drink, from rich food, from additional sleep -- all of which leads to dehydration. I feel it in my sinuses, they close in, it is hard to breathe, and it is hard to think clearly. Simple tasks I can accomplish, intricate ones make me irritated and unhappy.

I take pseudoephedrine, I wear a nasal strip, I pound water. And I consider running.

Week 4 Total: 24 miles
Training to Date: 94 miles

Distance: 4 miles
Route: 5 laps around the block.

Laps are tedious, but in this weather they accomplish two things, 1. I am close to home if the situation is just too miserable and 2. there are no intersections, which is so much safer.

Yesterday I ran five laps, 4 miles, and thought there was no way I could do that again, so I headed out to Green Road to make sure I would finish my requisite 8 miles. I required a point of no return.

Temperature: 26º
Climate: snow. awful, mounded snow.
Weight: 175.5 lbs
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, baked beans & wheat toast
Hydration? yes
Stretches? yes

Damn. Snowblind!

1996 Playlist
The Idiot Kings - Soul Coughing
Wrong - Everything But the Girl
Shoe Box (152 bpm) - Barenaked Ladies
Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Birth-Day (Love Made Real) - Suzanne Vega
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Disseminated - Soul Coughing
Red - Sister Soleil
Devil's Haircut - Beck
The Checkered Flag - Combustible Edison
Local God - Everclear
Tombstone (176 bpm) - Suzanne Vega

Cooldown:
Wannabe - Spice Girls

Everything is going up.
Everything is going as planned, yeah.
Everything moves along.
Everything is fine, fine, fine.