Project 365 Be safe
Filed under blogging, Photography
Abbreviated run and read
I hope a lot of you are enjoying the holiday weekend. I look down from the nineteenth floor of the building where I work, watching people turn to puddles, and averting my eyes from Facebook where everyone is sharing pictures and status updates of pools and cook-outs.
Though I posted one post on read and runs today already (around 3:30 a.m.) I still thought it would be nice to share a bit of what I’m reading today on my dinner break (it’s six and I have six more hours of work left).
Your post work-out recovery ritual
Writer and athlete Cassandra Corum shares her tips for bouncing back after a run. Her ritual includes the big three: food, stretching, and my personal favorite, sleep. She details the importance, and how much, of each. It took me a while to learn these and I don’t always follow them completely (example: when I get an ITband flare up I stretch until it goes away, then stop. Bad news and I’m starting to learn to stretch more often).
At the very least Corum’s article is a great reminder for me to look back over what I’ve been, and not been, doing. Do you have any recovery habits or secrets you’d like to share?
A New York Times whodunit
I probably would have read more run related material if I had not started this piece on the New York magazine website. I love a good whodunit, so that drew me in to the piece about the dismissal of New York Times CEO Janet Robinson earlier this year. It’s a testament to storytelling that I went through all six webpages of this story to reach the conclusion. I cannot fathom the politics and pressures of sitting where those named in this story are. Nor do I think I would care to. I’m hot sharp enough or ruthless enough for the politics and insight involved to reach such corporate heights. Still, it was sort of fun reading about those who are.
* I did manage a 1200 meter freestyle swim, planks and some lunges before work today, so that’s a bonus as well.
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No morning reads, no run then redemption
So my idea of posting each morning what I’m reading and what is going on in my fitness and world sort of blew up Friday.
I worked until 2 a.m. I didn’t sleep until 3:20 a.m. I was up at 8 a.m. I dropped over $400 on car repairs by 9 a.m. I was pissed at the latter and then remembered the repairs I paid for on the vehicle that was serviced was given to me, free. So, really I couldn’t be that mad.
Still, no morning reads and no morning run either on Friday.
And it’s getting harder to get out there and run anyway because it is getting hot, hot, hot in Cincinnati. Luckily the running group picks back up in a few weeks and then I will feel guiltily committed to running the miles with others crazy enough to suffer the sweltering summer temps right along with me, all with hopes of marathon glory in the fall.
And my rotten Friday picked up a bit, as I was able to sneak in a 45 minute swim and still make it in on time for another day of work. (I was a little bleary eyed. Sacrificed a nap for the gym.)
Saturday saw a treadmill run (again, me talking myself out of an outdoor run because of the heat) and more work and eating. Lots of eating. This weekend is the Taste of Cincinnati. On my dinner break I walked the few blocks to sample some seared pork tacos, ribs, hanky panks, and locally churned ice cream. And if I hadn’t run out of cash I would have eaten more.
So, yeah, after racking up 40 miles a week just a few short weeks ago I eked out 12 miles this week and my carb intake was ridiculous. I feel am bloated.
Still, I have managed to read and plan and scheme for better race times in the fall since the last post.
Portobello and Asparagus Pasta
If you couldn’t tell one of the most passive, yet important, aspects of fitness and training I have to deal with (well okay, besides running in heat) is diet. I’m just not good at it, or more importantly I am not good at planning healthy and impulse control. For any healthy person out there, if I told you my Taste dinner was not the exception, well, you’d probably shudder or be grossed out. I’ve been the size of a bus in the past and it’s why I have to run more than 12 miles a week if I expect to fit in my pants tomorrow, much less next week. I think it’s why I continue to gravitate towards recipes and pins dealing with health recipes on Pinterest.
This meal looks good and sounds complicated and health and perfect for the next time I’m carbing up for a race. This is not to mention that I love pesto. Pesto is our friend.
The State of Running 2012
Finally got around to reading this speculative and opinionated piece on the state of humanity and running. The author delves into rather the popularity
of running has contributed positively to humanity and where technology stands in all of it. Pretty heady stuff, but I can see some of his point. Discussions of GPS, heart rate monitors, head-gear to run to, etc. are all worth discussing (and how much is their worth). For a few runs since my marathon I left the GPS at home. I’ve thought of the appeal to run just to enjoy the run, not to plot it and analyze it on my home computer. How much happier would I be with myself and my runs if I was simply dependent on my gut telling me how well I did? At the very least it’s all worth considering.
WTF, Marc Maron
So, my unrelated running read for the day contradicts the above post in terms of technology. Being a Facebook thief (and fortunate follower of some pretty smart people) I came across Marc Maron. Ever heard of Marc? Me neither, but he does this podcast appropriately called WTF. Marc is classic neurotic as explained in the linked Grantland article. He’s explained as this stream-of-conscience, self-absorbed and painfully awkward comedian with a podcast that’s highly entertaining. I listened to his interview with Craig Ferguson, my absolute favorite late night tv host and the verdict was sold. So yeah, tech is bad, but it can also be good, at least so when you are not moving. Subscribe to this podcast. (And buy flowers, which Marc does a ridiculous amount of pimping for in his show.)
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Project 365: B is for Building
The sky was big and blue and beautiful on my way into work today. I could not miss taking this photo.
And then there was this letter ‘B’ taken from where I ate lunch.
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Filed under blogging, Photography
Morning run and reads 5.24
I love to swim. It ranks right behind running in terms of stress relieving activities. Whenever I can get to the gym and slip in the pool for any amount of time my day is better.
I grew up at a swim club too, so there is just a certain sense of familiarity to the activity that I don’t really have with running.
As an adult the best lesson in swimming I ever received was from this triathlete swimming next to me. She watched me and asked if I would like some tips. I wasn’t a bad swimmer, I just wasn’t necessarily efficient in my free-style stroke either. Her approach was great. You could tell she didn’t want to embarrass me in the water. She just casually worked in some “this will help” type of remarks.
Since then I’ve gotten better at pivoting from the hips and breathing out of both sides of my stroke.
I’m still not a sprinter in the water. My swims are laid back events, a nice alternative to running that works more of my upper body.
That said, I’m always looking to improve. I see people constantly with little notebooks or pieces of paper with lap information written down to maximize their workouts.
This morning I read this article with some real swim instructions I might try.
I also came across a brief read on biking and another that has something that’s not fitness related, work.
World Class Workout 15
This article provides a workout routine from swimmer Klete Keller. I’ll be honest, no idea who Klete Keller is, but he’s wearing a lot of medals around his
neck, so he must be good (insert tongue-in-cheek). More than anything the read does what I wish more articles would do, put down in plain English a set of instructions I can attempt to follow the next time I am in the pool. Typically I swim a straight 1600 (as I mentioned before). This will help break that up, and perhaps increase productivity, even if I only incorporate parts of the routine.
10 reasons to bike to work
I wish. I wish I could bike to work. I’ve often thought about it. I live about 4 miles from where I work. I’m in an urban setting that would make travel by pedal relatively safe. There is even a shower where I work, if I got a little sweaty from all that pedaling. Problem is, my hours. Driving to work would be fine. I go in at 3 p.m. The problem would be coming home at 1 or 2 a.m., driving past bars with drunk drivers streaming out on certain nights, and some of the neighborhoods. More than a couple of blocks are sort of, um questionable. Still though, this article was interesting to read, and I may be ill, but I do find it appealing to live in a carless world.
New Orleans Times-Picayune to cut staff, reduce production schedule
Speaking of work . . . the above headline is happening more and more, and it is sad. Today newspaper industry website, Romenesko, confirmed that the Pulitzer winning Times-Picayune is going to a three days a week production schedule. Detroit’s paper has done something similar for a couple of years now. I grew up in a house where my dad read the afternoon paper religiously (p.m. papers have been a thing of the past for a while now) and I work for a paper. Ironically, my work is online, but the news of print going away still saddens me and scares me a little. Cheap print for readers still serves a purpose I believe, and if you can get it into a person’s hands (which is happening less and less I know) it does a better job at holding one’s attention, I believe. The distractions online are too great. And this isn’t to mention the economy of having to afford a device (computer,tablet,smart phone) to get access to news if paper’s go away. I’m sure humanity will survive and adjust and print will survive in some way, for at least a small and engaged audience, but still. There is always a price to be paid for progress and cannot be predicted.
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Project 365: Tiger Lilly
Still trying to catch up on posting all my photos, but this bloomed in my front yard today. I decided to go ahead and post. Enjoy.
