Saturday, November 03, 2007

Workin' Saturday

Usually I wouldn't post on my blog on a day like today, because the only fun part of my day will be watching Spiderman 3 tonight and eating pizza, and by the time I do that I probably won't be in the mood to post anyway. But, as part of my dedication to naBLOpoMO this month, I am going to post anyway.

Today was a big WORK day (working on a paper from grad school). As a break from all the work I am doing, I get to go run ten miles. We are about to head out right now actually. Sorry Eric, I know your schedule for me said to do 12-14 but I'm afraid that might kill me since 8 miles almost killed me last week. The half-marathon is in three weeks so we still have some time for more distance and hill runs.

The good news is, I made some progress on the paper and sent off some revised changes 5 minutes ago to my old boss in Minnesota to look at. Unfortunately that was only about 1/4 the total amount of work but at least it's something. It's been hard getting motivated to work on this, partly because it's on a project I stopped thinking about over a year ago and partly because the changes they want are of the most heinous variety: statistical recalculations, new graphs, tighter sentences, etc etc. Ugh. At least it's all easy to do from my remote location way over here in Seattle.

3 comments:

Eric said...

I thought it was 10 miles this weekend?... Sounds like you're absolutely correct to do what your doing. I don't mean to let you off the hook as "Not your Training coach" but I'd rather see(virtually) you run 3-4 times a week than anything, and adding some hills.
The Rule book says try and increase by 10% every week(going from 8 miles to 10 miles is 20%(you're super smart, you probably could do that math(I think I'm just proving, I can.)), and when you add in your other weekly runs, I bet you're over doing it.).... and I always stress that word "try". I've never fully lived up to my schedule... Never, Not one week, in 3 years of having a "Program", With the exception of getting out and exercising 3-6 times a week(that I always do.(unless I don't make it out tomorrow.)

Also it would be a 10% increase to your Weekly miles, I'd imagine if you have been running twice a week for the past weeks, Jumping right into a full on Training regiment is going to be difficult, and way more than a 10% increase. I think your doing great. You have increased the number of times you ran this week. You're adding hills, which is giving you more fast twitch muscle fibers. You have started to modify your diet by implementing "Recovery" potato chips(this is how athletes justify pigging out post exercise.). That is a huge week!! You're doing Great. This was a huge Gain this week, it's very impressive. Keep going and you're going to amaze yourself at your improvement.(It's a relative measure of improvement that is impressive.)
(I remember In High School, doing 12-14 Minute miles, I find my current fitness unreal.)

I am sensing some tension/stress.. I'd increase your vitamin B. Maybe I'm being sensitive, but if you find yourself being excessively tense/agitated, it can be a sign of overtraining, which can be as detrimental to your "Program" as becoming injured. I'm lucky I have a heart rate monitor and keep track of my resting heart rate. When I'm overtraining it goes from 40bpm to 50bpm, and I know I need to give it a rest.(It also could be that you need to get out and get your exercise "Fix")

Go!!!!! Team Pistachio!!!!!

J-Funk said...

Eric -

Thanks for the encouragement! I was stressed because of that paper and the looming ten mile run. Now that it's all over, I feel much better. Nevertheless, I ate a bunch of Brewer's Yeast this afternoon to get some extra B. Also, I have a heart rate monitor so I'm going to measure my resting heart rate from now on for sure - that's an awesome idea!!

We had some juice after our run today, your suggestion from last time. It really helped!!

Eric said...

When your ready. some Protein powder, in some juice in the morning/maybe post run will also help your body repair some of the daily damage you're doing, Especially if your like me and don't eat as much meat as normal people do(normal Americans).

There is some debate about as to consuming protein powder either in the morning or as part of recovery... the thought is if you do it as recovery, you consume it for energy, more than for it's protein value.

I'm super Proud of you, and you may be even inspiring me.

Time to take a break

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