small victories, heaving lungs


A wee 4 miler this morning.

Not HORRIBLY painful, but not sprightly and lithe either.  The first mile was like death of 1,000 cuts, but I managed to find a pace of sorts after that.  I wasn't fast, but I was faster than expected.  It was not too bad.  That's the best I can say about it.

The Mets CRUSHED The Giants last night.  A 45 minute, 12 run, 3rd inning that set a franchise record for most runs in an inning. Cespedes hit a double and a Grand Slam in that inning.  Michael Conforto did what Michael Conforto has been doing.   Hitting doubles in the gap like there was a sale on 'em.  Seriously, they beat The Giants like The Giants owed them money.

I thought about this and other things on my run this morning.  Mostly I thought about running etiquette and why the same group of 5 walkers block both lanes of traffic every f***ing morning.  I mean, come on.  Did you learn nothing as a child about manners?  I wished very unhappy, un-tranquil, wishes upon their heads.

I also thought about pain.  I mean, I always think about pain when I run because it always hurts.  I thought about pain, I conquered pain and I considered ending all this pain by switching to another sport, like knitting or checkers.  I also thought about cheeseburgers.

After I finished my run I came home and made my smoothie; Flax seed, Chia Seed, Goji berries, Cacao powder, almond milk, non-fat yogurt, banana, frozen blackberries and peaches.  I then made todays lunch; roast chicken, kale salad & some hummus.  I played with the Captain for a bit and then got on my bike and rode to work.

My ride today was MUCH easier than my past rides.  Maybe its the Amino Acid Supplements I have been taking?  Door to door its about 30 minutes.  I love my new job by the way.  It kind of suits me perfectly.

Man, I am all loopy brained this morning.  More water and more caffeine please.  Until next post!

Ciao.

the lackluster sheen of a spent turtle



I ran 3 miles this morning.

I tell ya, the hardest part was getting out of bed!  I did not want to see what this run was going to have in store for me.  I dreaded getting dressed and the 43 degree temp outside (at the end of April no less) did not help.  I tried these new Nike Compression tights this morning and I must say their large must be for large hamsters, 'cause squeezing into these was like squeezing a holiday ham into an argyle sock.

The run went fine.  I huffed and puffed a bit more than usual and kept at it until I made it to and around the park.  I stopped at 3 miles because my legs are still a little worn down from Saturday and i'm in no rush to start training hard.  I want to build strength and endurance slowly so when I begin to train in earnest I will be ready.

My bike ride was harder today.  I ride to and from work 5 days a week.  Each round trip is around 11 miles.  It's mostly downhill to work and conversly all uphill on the way back.  I go over The Manhattan Bridge which boasts a pretty good climb in both directions.  Today was just tougher than usual.  I felt winded.  I'm pretty sure running and cycling muscles are distant cousins at best.  My legs  did not seem to want to aid my ride in any way.  Dicks.

I had a guilty pleasure for dinner last night.  Pernil with rice and beans.  It's generally enough for two from my take-out place, but I ate nearly all of it.   I housed that bastard for sure.  So this morning I paid for my sins with a very sluggish run, nearly an 11 minute mile.  I am aiming for a run Friday and I hope my legs are in better condition then.

Brown rice and chicken again for lunch.  For my sins....

rundown...



I haven't run really since Saturday.  My legs are SPENT.  I tried to run a quick little 2 miler on Sunday and could barely make it a mile and a half.  This morning my legs felt stuffed.  My calves tight, my quads sore and my knee still the same dull pain.  I definitely may have pushed it a little too much the last 1/2 mile of the race.

I have also managed to gain back 10 pounds and that has REALLY bummed me out.  it definitely happened after I started biking to work. Am I building muscle?  Is my body over the exercise and sticking to its own agenda (getting me fat?)?   It's very frustrating.

I am going to shoot for 3 miles tomorrow morning.  I am going to try and cut my miles down a little and start upping my pace.  I will also include a hill/interval day.  I can start building for the half in July.  Until then I need to work on my foundation.  My fat temple is in a shitty state.

I am still eating pretty good.  I have brown rice with hummus, chicken and arugula for lunch today.  I am going to make a large salad for dinner.  I did have whole wheat toast with 2 eggs for breakfast sans butter.  I am going to try and make the switch to green tea next.  I am slowly turning into a hippie.  Barf.

On the bright side of things The Mets have been steaming right along.  Both Degrom and Syndergaard had rough outings, but managed to get the W anyway. Colon is pitching tonight and that guy gives fat men everywhere hope.  He is half sumo and half ballerina.  What a piece of work is man.

I was thinking that maybe if I do shorter runs I can start doing 2-a-days on my days off....  But maybe that is crazy talk.....

like cattle through a garden hose we ran......


It was an early morning for sure.  I was groggy and my legs felt like water logged salami's.  The Captain looked at me like I was batshit crazy as I dressed for my race.  I gulped down some water, walked out the front door and ran very slowly to the starting line as a warm up for the race to come.

This morning I ran my first race.  In a crowd of nearly 900 participants I felt strangely alone.  I signed in, pinned my number on my new t-shirt (this came with the registration fee!) and made my way to the corral where the rest of the runners mingled.  I spoke to no one and no one spoke to me.  We stretched and shook our legs out waiting for the start.

When the horn blew those of us towards the back had to wait for a full minute before we were actually able to start moving.   We moved as a great mass for the first few miles.  I was very cognisant of one thought; "Run your own race".  I was not going to try and keep up with the lithe and nimble, but would stay at my pace.  My own dumb, slow, mediocre, stupid, pace.

It went better than planned, for the most part.  My legs were heavy and my lungs were strained from lack of use.  I mean, I did take two days off.  I felt strong for about 4 1/2 miles and then my body just went nuts.  My left knee started to hurt.  Not a sharp pain but, rather, a steady dull pain.  My quads started to feel weak, my hips sore.  Just not what I wanted to feel that early in the race.

I pushed through all that though and the last mile I committed myself to speeding up and trying to push myself out of my "comfortable" pace (which in all honesty is not that comfortable) and into a kind of torturous one.  I kept at it until I was done.  I finished having run the whole way.  Never stopping, not even once.

And then I felt sad.

I looked at everyone cheering their runners on and I have to say I felt terribly alone.  No one had come to support me.  There were no signs saying "go dave! go!".  It sucked.  Sniff.

And then I looked at my phone.

And then I smiled.

Texts and messages on the Facebook (and Instagram), messages from far and wide telling me they were proud of me.  Asking me how I fared.  I was relieved that someone out there understood how hard it is to put yourself through this running thing.  It hurts.  All the time.  It's nice to have someone that knows recognize your pain.

I walked home rather proud I must say.  3 months of getting up early, to do something that doesn't feel good, lead to this.  The end of my first race.  As much as I felt nervous doing the whole competition thing, I now wanted to try again.  I want to join the cattle corral again.  This morning, in the misty rain, it felt good to be one of the many.

Maybe because I was so alone. Maybe because everyone was so alone, running their own race, it felt good to be alone with them  Battling our own running (and maybe even personal) demons as a group feels better somehow.

Anyways.  Thats my story.

And i'm sticking to it.

the horror.....the horror.... race day.....


The Mets lost last Wednesday because they couldn't hit a freakin' single.  Sure, they seem to have the long ball down.  More so, it seems, then anyone in major league baseball.  But can they hit when they need to? When runners are in scoring position?  That remains to be seen I suppose, but right now it ain't happening.

My first race is tomorrow morning at 8 am in Prospect Park.  10 K and I am shooting for a 10:00 minute pace time.  I think I could do better, but my knee is still bothering me a little bit, so I am going to see whats what as I run and adjust accordingly.  I would like to finish in an hour, but we'll see.

I am excited for tomorrow.  For dinner tonight I am having brown rice, yams, broccoli, carrots and avocado.  I don't want a bunch of gunk slowing me down mañana.  LOTS of water today too.  I took yesterday and today off and did not ride to work today.  I really want a true rest day today before my race.

I'll post more tomorrow afternoon.  Fingers crossed.

if the Mets can turn it around then so can i



Last night the Mets came through.  The Captain (David Wright that is, not my cat) jacked 2 homers and Noah Syndergaard pitched out of a few jams.  Granted they were playing the Phillies, a skid mark of a team if ever there was was.

I could hear the crowd at Philedelphia's Citizens Bank Park heckling and booing through my t.v.,  louts and troglodytes all.  They were particularly harsh to Mr. Lucas Duda screaming "DUUUUUUUDAAAA" every time a pitch came down the pipe at him.  That is until he JACKED a homer into the upper deck silencing the crowd.  Mr.  Neil Walker stepped up next and crushed another home run, extinguishing any last vestige of hope from the surely mob.

I went to bed feeling proud of my boys in orange and blue and the Captain (my cat not Mr. Wright) purred away in acknowledgment.  I was tired and before I knew it Morpheus beckoned and off I went to the land of dreams.

I had skipped my recovery run Monday and decided to try a short, slow, 3 miler this morning to put some life in my legs and to see how my knee would hold up.  It was a little rough at first, but I found my stride and managed to keep a 10 minute pace for 3.5 miles.  I got home, drank my smoothie, took a shower and rolled away on the foam roller.  

My knee feels a little sore, but it feels firm.  When I wake in the morning there is stiffness everywhere, but I feel like I can chalk that up to my, generally horrible, stretching practices (or lack thereof).  It's another part of a long checklist that I am working through.  Stretching, working out, diet, dating, health insurance..... it's a long list.

We have about 65 cases of wine coming into work today so I imagine I will get my workout wether I like it or not.  I must remember to take my time and not try to haul too much.  I can't risk a f***ed back right now.  I need all parts in working order as my race is Saturday morning.

I am going to run 5 miles tomorrow and then I am going to take off Thursday and Friday.  I am going to rest, hydrate and sleep.  Like my Metropolitans I am in this to win this.  I may suffer some setbacks, but I will come back stronger with better pitching and so-so hitting.... Oy.

Lunch today!  Lentil salad with a hard boiled egg and poached chicken in a yogurt miso dressing.

I'm eating a LOT of lentils.

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

I woke up excited to run 9 miles this morning.  I drank about a gallon of water last night.  I had some pad thai for dinner and a green papaya salad.  I went to bed before midnight and slept well.  I was smart.  I rested.  I hydrated and ate, more or less, responsibly.

I managed 7 miles.  I ran them at a 9:52 pace.  I felt good until the very end and then I felt my legs start to shut down.  My left knee started to feel a little wobbly and my thighs were starting to tighten.  I felt like I could run through it, but I decided to listen to my legs and shut myself down before I did some damage.  

I walked about half a mile and then I was hobbling.  I could barely put any weight on my left knee.  It was painful.  Then, about 100 yards later, I was fine.  I walked home and stretched for about 20 minutes.  I feel fine now. 

I don't have a good idea of how much I should push myself.  I have spoken to a lot of folk who tell me that I shouldn't even consider running 9 miles until I have logged more runs.  That running that far too soon is a sure way to get injured.  I want to build my distance, but I do not want to do it at the risk of being couch bound.  

So I am trying to listen to my knees and feet and lungs and whatnot.

I am not good at patience.  I know this about myself.  I am not good about letting things grow organically.  Sometimes I just want to get to the finish line without running the damn race.  In my experience, so far, running is about being in the middle of it.   Each step is an acknowledgment of suffering and dealing with it.  I see people out in the park experiencing that and pushing through.  It's very inspiring.  

So I will accept the 7 miles today graciously.  As my mother would say; "Its better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.'.