Saturday, February 17, 2007

Going, Going, GONE!

To say that I'm distracted is an understated. We leave tomorrow morning for Antarctica, by way of Miami, Buenos Aires, and Usuaia. I've been packing and unpacking for a week. I've put things in, taken things out, counted socks and underwear and batteries and flashlights and whistles. Yes, whistles. Fox40 whistles to be precise.

We are part of the landing crew. The marathon is run on King George Island. 6 of us get off the ship two days before the race, spend the night on the island, and then spend all day measuring, marking, and setting up the course. It's exciting, exhausting, and more fun than I can describe.

I've talked and written about Antarctica before. What draws me to it is the sense of being completely and totally at the mercy of the continent. You know what you want to do. You know when you want to do it. And you don't have any idea if you'll be able to.

One year there had been a freak snowstorm the day before we arrived. There were 8-10 foot drifts on parts of the course. We had carve out places to run. Last trip, in 2005, they were experiencing one of the wettest Summer seasons [for them] that they had ever had. The course was muddy, with giant potholes and puddles that we nearly impossible to cross.

And, of course, there was the year of the cyclone. 36 hours stuck in the middle of the Drake Passage.

Did I say that is was exciting??

So, I'll try to get to an internet site while I'm gone, but no promises. Wish us well.

John

ORN: Thursday, February 15. 1.25 miles. I got interupted and had to stop.
Friday, February 16, 4.25 miles, 50 minutes, R5/W1

Monday, February 12, 2007

Back on Top

New week. New opportunity.

We leave for Antarctica next Sunday. There's very few chances to run on the trip, and I think I'm already staring to back away. We will run while we're in Buenos Aires, but once we get on the ship that's it. So, there will be 8 or 9 days where I know I won't run.

So, the "plan" is to run every day this week. That's the PLAN!

John

ORN: 4 miles, 46 minutes, R5/W1

Sunday, February 11, 2007

0 for 4

It rarely happens, but it did this time. Between travel and commitments I missed 4 days in a row. Not good, but truly just one of those things.

John

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Third time's the charm

Now we're getting somewhere.

It's still WAY too cold to go outside. Or at least it is for me. And having a treadmill right here in the house makes the decision all that much easier.

If you've followed this Blog for any time at all, or if you've read any of my other stuff, you may have encountered my "7 day rule". What the 7 day rule says is that your body keeps track of how often you've run on the previous 7 days. Your body doesn't reset itself to 0 just because your logbook starts a new week.

I've seen people get themselves into trouble because they only look at the mileage in their log books. Sometimes, like the past 7 days for me, the miles are stacked on either side of the weekend. I ran on Thursday and Friday, missed Saturday and Sunday, then ran on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. So, that's 20 plus miles in the past 7 days.

ORN: 4 miles even, R5/W1, 47 minutes

**For the newcomers: ORN means Obligatory Running Note, from the old Dead Runner's Society list. R = run interval. W = walk interval. R5/W1 means "run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute" and repeat.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Let it snow

Weather update: It's about 0 degrees, windy, and snowing. How do I know? I can see it through the window as I run along on the treadmill. Actually, it was kinda like running in one of those "snow balls" - I don't know what they're called - that you shake up to make it snow.

Did another 4.25 miles run/walking and a little over 1/4 mile walking at the end for a total of 4.6 miles.

This was the BEST running has felt since last fall. My pace was not world-record, but it was brisk for me, and it still felt good. I even bumped it up JUST A LITTLE towards the end of the workout.

For ME, the more often schedule is really working. I'm not thinking about running long. I MAY work up to running for an hour but not beyond. At least, not anytime soon. But, I'm running 4, 5, or 6 days a week and feeling fine.

ORN: 4.25 miles, R5/W1, 48 min., .35 miles walking to cool down.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Now that's more like it

GO BEARS! The first minute of the Super Bowl was sure fun! Oh well, I'm a life long Chicago Cubs fan, so I believe "there's always next year".

I was careful to check that the elevation was set to ZERO and set out to get in a 4.25 mile run/walk with the added 1/4 mile walk. This is the first week of the "bump", so I took it easy.

There's no getting around the fact that I am enjoying the shorter, more frequent runs. I've even found myself edging the pace up just a little to see how it feels to run "faster" than my normal pace. It's all relative and my "faster" pace is still SLOW. But, the point is that not having a marathon or half marathon on the schedule is allowing me to be more playful in my training.

My current "thinking" is that I may train for a 5K early this spring, just for something completely different, and then maybe a 10K a little later in the spring. It's where it all started for me and maybe it's time to "go back" to the beginning.

ORN: 4.25 miles, R5/W1, 48 minutes PLUS .25 walk

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Well THAT made a difference

Well, I feel even dumber now.

I got on the treadmill with the incline at 0% and guess what? I had NO problem at all. No heavy breathing. No tired legs. No sense that I had somehow gotten out of shape overnight.

What a maroon, as Bugs Bunny used to say.

I was able to stretch the session out to 4 1/2 miles which was what I was trying to do last week before I accidentaly set the incline to 4%.

Sheesh.

ORN: 4.5 miles. 4 miles, R5/W1. 1/2 mile walking to cool down.