Day 43 - Super Duper Day Yestiday and Today

Up late fooling around and settling down for rest.

Yesterday was my birfday and had a GREAT DAY. Cake, good friends, fun, ended the day with a fabulous dinner at one of my fave places to go. Yay.

Not a significant number, but just grateful teh lawd sees fit to throw me another year to try to do better. I shall try.

Running:

Yestiday: NOTHING! It was my BIRTHDAY, fool. You eat, you drink, you go....ahhhhhh....

Friday: 45 minutes on the treadmill with speed work...boy was I tired. It was laborious.

Thursday: 40 minutes on the treadmill. Same

Wednesday: 60 minutes on the treadmill. Atoning for one or two diet faux paux

Tuesday: 40 minutes on the treadmill. Speedwork.

Monday: 40 minutes on the treadmill. Same-O

Sunday: 60 minutes on the treadmill. Blah. Same.

Week prior to that, since 21Sep, actually....55, 50, 45, 40 minute sessions in and out.

Whut happen wuz....I got REALLY REALLY sick on Monday 21Sep. Flu. Dang.

I'm just, as of about 4 days ago, feeling 100% again.

The good news is that I think my immune system must be really rolling along well because I spent two days in agony and then after that just a residual cough and nothing too much else. Lots of people I knew were complaining of the same shit - so it was going around. I'm just glad to be done with whatever it is and on we go.

You may see a bad trend, however. Treadmill. Yes, I admit it. I've been logging some pretty long hours at work and just not wanting to go out after dark. Soon, the time is going to change and I'm not going to have the choice one way or the other. I do need to log more road time. Really.

There is nothing intrinsically WRONG with treadmill workouts, but there is also nothing like good old wind resistance and, furthermore, a road race is run ON THE ROAD. That is why outdoor workouts NEED to get in there frequently.

I resolve: outdoor runs this week.

Starting with a LOOOONNNGGG run tomorrow. It is the week for it. 2 hours and 25 minutes.

After a lovely post-birfday sleep-in tomorrow, I will attack this project. Pre "ugh", but a good "ugh".

-All else is well. I am working on the "my future project" that I have mentioned and it's going along. I am working - lots. I am eating VERY low carbohydrate and seeing some results. I am reading. I like Outliers. Good book, indeed. I am going to see Dinosaur Jr on 23Oct. I am very happy about this. 3 amp J Mascis aural assault. I am considering Alice Cooper next week. Never seen him live. Hard to believe. Melt-Banana is coming back on 7Nov. Excellent. I am tending dogs. I am preparing for the move.

The usual lovely stuff. Have a good week all.

Day 57 - The Long Run

Got her done!

2 hours and 25 minutes.

I feel TERRIBLE.

No injuries or anything like that, but I am sore and stiff and it just didn't feel good when done like previous runs have been.

I do not know. I might need more stretching BEFORE. I am a "before" person. Some people are "after" people. I do stretching after, too, but a few more things before I head out sometimes help me.

It just wasn't a good one for whatever reason.

On the bright side, KC and the Sunshine Band popped up on the MP3 player shuffle during the run and it almost never does. Good times.

Day 59 - The Weather Outside Is.....

.....GREAT!

I predict a lot of outdoors time in my future for the next several days (until the late October/early November monsoons come....which they will. Better than a hurricane, though, so bring it on, barney!)

Yep, it is very nice outside. Especially in the morning hours. We are loving the change from the 105 degree days.

Running this week:
Thursday: running late in the morning and meeting in the evening so NOTHING.
Wednesday: Nothing. Pure and simple unadulterated laziness.
Tuesday: 40 minutes on treadmill with hill work.
Monday: "Official Rest Day" - though most of the week turned out to be a wash.

Friday - tonight: I will be doing 40 minutes outside because tomorrow or Sunday is long run day (every other weekend) and this week it is 2 hours and 25 minutes.

There's really not much to report with the overall mechanics or how I am feeling. My "speed" is getting better and I've been feeling physically able and you can't ask for more than that.

- I got Outliers quicker than I thought and I am going to dive into that this weekend. I also got this one. I'm about 40 pages into it and it is FASCINATING. I don't think anyone is going to be shocked to find out that copious amounts of sugar, fat and salt are the problem, but it bears reminding.

Yes, I read a lot of books about food and exercise. I enjoy reading books about nutrition, diet ideas and such. Call me a weirdo (which I am) but I always learn something new and find these type of books very helpful. We should always be learning about areas of interest. Right? :-).

- The meeting I attended on Monday In Regards to My Future was AWESOME! I am so excited. I am getting things together to move into this step as we speak and I could not be more inspired than I already am with this idea. Info to come, but let me tell ya'.....I haven't felt this good about something in a good long while. Yay!

Jim Carroll, Aug. 1, 1950 - Sept. 11, 2009

One of my heroes. Couldn't even really explain to you why aloud, but I know why in my head and heart- where it counts. RIP

"The gravity here is just sick for revenge

It's like my lungs are filled with chains . . .

The sky seems so low, It hasn't moved this slow

Since the virgins, since the virgins went dancing for the rain

You know the stars in the night

They're like the holes in the cave

Like the ceiling of a bombed-out church

But gravity blocks my screams

It's like an enemy's dreams

My guardians quit

They quit before they started their search

I want a world without gravity

It could be just what I need

I'd watch the stars move close

I'd watch the earth recede

I wanna drift above the borders against my will

I wanna sleep where the angels don't pass

But now my lips are blue

Gravity does it to you

It's like they're pressed against a mirrored glass

I want my will and capability to meet inside the region

Where this gravity don't mean a thing

It's where the angels break through . . .

It's where they bring it to you

It's where silence, silence can teach me to sing

I wanna lay beneath these sheets and never turn blue

I wanna hold you, hold you tight but never touch

I want some pure, pure white; hey, we can nod all night

We can do it without thinking too much

I want the dilettantes and parvenues to choke on my wrists

They think the pearls I wear are pills

I want their gravity to shatter . . . but it really doesn't matter

I got something in my eye that kills!

Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked gravity . . .Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked gravity . . .Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked."

Day 64 - Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved

Sort of. Maybe. Kind of. Mostly I just like Bobby Byrd (RIP) and James Brown (Double RIP), but that could be my motto for the week if I wanted it to. Makes perfect sense.

Doin' the running stuff:

Today: 60 minutes. Nice run. Pushed it as much as I was able

Saturday: REST. Nada.

Friday: 55 minutes on the treadmill. Put some hills in there to shake things up.

Thursday: 40 minutes on the treadmill. Some intervals to make it happenin'.

Wednesday: 40 minutes on the treadmill. I forgot what I had for breakfast today so I have no idea what happened with this run on Wednesday. That's a million years ago.

Tuesday: Nothing. Moved back home from dog sitting job and that's always a huge transition.

Monday: Nothing. Still resting from 2 hour 15 minute jag on Saturday.

Sunday: Nothing. Claimed holiday weekend and sold it down the river.

And that catches me up.

- This last week was good but busy and I was dog tired every single evening by the time my light went out. I'm still working on "Early To bed Makes Me Less of A Grouch" experiment and getting to bed at a decent hour in as much as I can. Distractions are a drag, but not always. Sometimes you gotta give in to the siren call of staying up an extra 30 minutes for wahtevers.

- I did a lot of home maintenance and cleaning last week in preparation for Mr. Move, but have not yet started the painting chores. I'm getting it all cleaned down and prepped and I'm hoping I'll have a peaceful weekend this week and can get to a couple of doors. I'm also procrastinating "a little" with that but I have PROMISED myself not to let time get away from me.

- I have a meeting tomorrow night that promises to reveal some interesting information about a turn in my future. I shall impart more information down the line, but I am super duper excited about the meeting and can't wait to go.

- I started reading this. Now I really need to catch up my stack before I go back to the library for anything else.

The Botany of Desire is OVERDUE and I refuse to turn it in before I am finished because there are about 42 holds on it. Shouldn't be past Tuesday because I do not want to be unthinking about the needs of other readers, but I don't want to have to wait for it again either.

It is an OK book, if you want to know the truth. I'm not blown away by it. It's thought out and researched, but it reads a little dry and, therefore, I am not sure what all the fuss over it has been about. I'm guessing Outliers, when I finally get it - seeing that I am hold number 47 or such right now, is going to be much the same.

Charlaine Harris, on the other hand, has it GOING ON. She is so damn funny. I love those books. TV show good. BOOKS MUCH MUCH BETTER! (as is per usual).

- The dogs are fine, BTW. I don't talk about them much lately. They are just humming along and that is EXACTLY how I want it to be. No drama, no pain, just happy days with the structure and routine that they like.

I don't have a foster right now. There just has not been anybody that has spoken to me as needing to come home and be with us for a time PLUS with all the dog sitting I have been doing to make ends meet, it wouldn't be the easiest thing to be juggling a foster in the mean time.

I'll be back at it soon, however, since the major holidays are approaching. I do love it so (and I miss Foster #5,135,356...he was my sweet baby. V.V. happy in his new home though!).

Day 71 - Do Not Feel Good

Ugh. I think I am coming down with something. Trying hard to fight it off.

I am a tad heartbroken that I can not muster up the energy to get to The Cult show tonight, but I have watched some recent You Tubes and Ian Astbury barely moves these days (though they still rock it like nobody's bidness!) so that will have to do.

I'm going to need to turn in shortly in order not to let this get to far.

Saturday - completed my 2 hour and 20 minute long run in the neighborhood of the house-sitting without incident though I did have to repeat several streets due to the grid aspect. Not a big deal, just nothing to "see".

Friday - did a 50 minute interval run.

Thursday - a wash because, as I predicted, getting over to the house and getting settled in was an hour or two of exercise within itself.

Not much else of note besides dog walks, feeding, and care. Throw some reading and basic cable TV into the mix - and some MUCH NEEDED sleep - and we'll call it a winner.

The other "show prohibit er" was finally paying The Phone Bill That Ate Manhattan. Yikes. I'm going to be scraping the proverbial barrel for a few weeks because of THAT ONE, but it's always good to have done with it.

Hope all enjoy their Monday and that you do not have to work.

Day 75 - Odds and Ends

This week has been very busy with lots of little things, but I'm doing a good job, so far, of keeping up with the runs.

Sunday - did the full 60 minutes of running and free weights
Monday - took the evening off with NO GUILT. I just felt like hanging out, so I did.
Tuesday - 40 minutes and free weights

Tonight: need to do a lot of stretching and some yoga and then I am planning on 45-50 minutes of running with some intervals thrown into the mix.

I have a dog-sitting job starting tomorrow and am going to do my VERY BEST not to let the consistency fall off just because I get yanked out of my routine for a few days. That tends to be very hard in those circumstances, however.

The first day of the job is ALWAYS the worst because of getting everyone settled in and settled down, fed, turned out, getting along, and then figuring out the lay of the land. As a result, I may end up being in and out on the treadmill at home quite a bit. It is ok, however. Whatever gets the job done, and keeps me consistent with my training, is fine for the short-term.

Work is busy this week, too. It's always good to be busy at work since work pays the race entrance fees.

- I have added this to the reading stack. And this (and I know I said one time I would NEVER read this, but curiosity killed the cat. The cat is well and truly dead...meow.....The verdict is: it's ok. It doesn't rock my world, but I didn't projectile vomit, either. I figure if I can get through a Black Dagger Brotherhood book, what's the harm? It's all silly x 750. I can check mark it off the long list at the least). I also have this going. There is a reason I am reading this which I shall share later on down the line.

- I think I am going to see these guys on Sunday. I missed them the last time through here. Have never seen them live and have been a fan for eons. I listen to "LOVE" almost every week as have it loaded on my MP3 player.

- That's all that is on tap for the long weekend as of this writing. I'm certain something is going to pop up further on down the line. The doggies are my first priority, but I am not opposed to further fun and will work it in as it arises.