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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

Today’s plan is to run a few miles, fix lunch/dinner, and then head into work at 3.

My typical schedule also includes doing some Internet browsing with my coffee (I spend waaaay too much time online).

Here are some reads I found interesting:

The Magic Marathon to 5K conversion

Running Times has this piece online now on how to use all that marathon training and turn it into new PR for short races. Interesting and quite possibly something I try in the next couple of weeks here as some local 5K’s gear up. I already missed one I wanted to run, the GO OTR 5K because of a little tenderness in my ITband that is just now going away.

5 Minutes with Laura Kleppin

Witty headline for a Q&A with a college athlete who runs brutally fast. She ran a 10K in about 31 minutes. That’s just ten minutes shy of the time I ran my best 5k (21.23 minutes). It amazes me the mileage she and others put in (80 plus down season, 100 plus on season). Then there is the snowboarding and rafting. I mean I need to stay busy, but I’ve never been able to hold on to that level of activity. I just read the article and was in awe. I was also reminded of my wasted youth – smoking cigarettes and drinking and not doing what I should have done while in college.

Bill Murray: The ESQ+A

I love Bill Murray. I was once told I would grow up to be Bill Murray. Well, at least his character from Rushmore. Anytime I can read an interview with him is a good thing. This one is a good one. His discussion of committing and dying and going all out, well let’s just say its applicable to a lot of things in life if you let it.

A complete weight training workout can be performed with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a set of weight disks (plates). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I get a bit older I am starting to realize that my life is sort of like setting sail and going to sea to discover a new world.

You have your compass. You are guided by what’s come before and maybe you have some idea the direction you would like to head.

For long stretches the sea looks the same, but if you truly are embarking on a journey of discovery, well then, you will eventually stumble across some undiscovered, and perhaps unpredicted country.

With running, I ran; I had a plan; I discovered. Now I’m itching for the next big deal.

Actually, not having something to work on is driving me a little nuts. I watched a Sally Field marathon on Turner Classic Movies the other night. I’m struggling to stay focused. I’m waking up at 5:30 a.m. from dreams of running.

The first thing I’ve started doing is swimming more, lifting, and attempting to come up with a routine of improvement. I like routines. The cornerstone of that routine will be the running group that picks back up in June and building up around that now.

At the moment my days look like this: Monday, running and some light lifting if I can fit it in; Tuesday, hot yoga, swimming 1600 to 1800 meters and chest and back workout; Wednesday, running and arms and shoulders; Thursday, swimming 1600 to 1800 again,  chest and back again (or combination of one or the other with arms/shoulders); and Friday will be more running, short, with some weight training with my legs. Saturday or Sunday will be biking, depending on what I can fit in my work schedule.

Of course, I have to get this all down on my calendar and make sure it will actually work, or that I am doing enough of the right things, and oh, yeah, living a life and seeing family with my second shift job.

In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away and try to distract myself with some more Springsteen, another kick I seem to be on.

To non-runners, impressive. To a lot of people, not too shabby at all. And I know the time and the finish is not.

Still, like any runner I know I am driven. My ‘I’ll be happy goal’ was under 4 hours. My super secret goal was 3:40. From either perspective, I failed.  And I knew I failed long before I crossed the half-way point.

Climbing up the hill that is Gilbert Ave. into the scenic Eden Park my stomach began to roil. After I made it to the top of the first set of inclines that mark mile 7-8 of the course I knew I needed to make an unplanned pit stop. I stood  with other poor runners, many other poor runners, waiting their turn as my stomach churned, watching lines of people trot past and feeling the clock tick. I lost about 5 to 6 minutes on the venture, and my pace group.

My whole plan was pacing with one of the official groups. I foolishly tried to play catch up after the detour. I never did. My stomach made itself known again right after mile 13. I lost another 6 minutes. And I cursed myself for overeating the day before.

I sucked it up after this and got back on the road, running too fast for pace trying to make up some finish time. By mile 18 or 20 (they blurred) I hit my wall. The thing is I don’t think the wall was anything more than facing self defeat. I kept seeing time from the big digital clocks along the route and I knew my 4 hour goal was sliding away quickly. And with no one to push with I finally started the run-walk routine — for at least five miles.

I finally found myself striding up beside the 10:30 pace group about a mile and a half out and stayed with them until I realized I had more than enough left to finish strong(er). My family cheered at the finish line.  That big digital clock also signaled how much time went by since the 6:30 a.m. race start. I already knew, but it made me just a little more pissed.

It’s been hard to not whine a little (okay, a lot), or come up with excuses. I ran a faster race on 4 stress fractures than I did healthy!

My second marathon experience in the end, was what it was. Either I am not as fast as what I think I could be, or I need to figure out how to avoid the ‘wall’ and enjoy the pain of those last six grueling miles. Oh, and maybe watching what I eat and drink pre-race as well.

My start to answering some of  those more pressing questions is to focus on my next marathon in the fall. I have four races I’m considering. The Indianapolis Marathon and Columbus Marathon are both relatively flat, and on the same weekend. Other choices include raising money for the Marine Corps Marathon ($500 to get in for charity registration) or Detroit. The last two are races others are targeting for the fall.

In between making up my mind there, I’m contemplating a million little ways to improve.

I signed up for hot yoga. I am swimming 1200 to 1600 meters at least twice a week. I’m considering adding spin classes to my run regiment. I am trying to cobble together a strength training routine, while not knowing what the hell I’m doing at the gym. Basically, I am trying to move beyond just running as part of getting ready. All the cool kids seem to be doing it.

I want to add enough new conditioning, to change my training just enough that I might get faster, that I might leap over that wall.  And if I do not, well I will probably keep trying, or I will find, realistically, where my fitness sits.

Of course there is also the mental aspect of it. There is always the mental aspect of it. To get beyond the wall, I must see beyond the wall. Very zen, so to speak. And I know it has only been two weeks, but that’s been rough.

Each short run I attempt (three total as of this writing) has been me grumbling and stomping and saying “I don’t wanna” in my head. All the little negative voices, all the insecurities, creep in and whisper along stride with me. I’m not saying I will ever qualify for a race like Boston, but I at least want to know I can run a sub four-hour marathon with confidence. That’s all.

Of course, is there a training program to combat a negative mentality?