Monthly Archive: August 2008

Running log: 2008/08/31

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Sun. August 31, 2008

Today, more than anything I just needed a good run. The last two Sunday runs have been less than desirable. As a result, my confidence level in terms of running has been flagging. If I can’t get these distances down, how can I expect to do 21.1K?

Anyway, I completely behaved this time around. I hydrated well yesterday and I ate a good bowl of oatmeal an hour or two prior to my run. I purchased two gels to bring along–one vanilla and one strawberry. I planned to take one every 40 minutes or so to get some quick carbs back into my body.

For the most part, the run went all right. Everyone was far ahead of me leaving me to my thoughts. You might expect that to be boring, but it really isn’t that bad. Without my iPod, I was actually imagining CDs in my head. How can I explain? I know the playlist for some CDs and I just imagine the songs: melodies, instrumentation, lyrics, etc. It’s actually more effective than it sounds, honestly! I ate my first gel at around 43 mins. As I went along, I could actually feel it kicking in. At one point I actually felt a small boost. It faded after a while, but despite that I felt some comfort in knowing that the darn things actually worked.

When I got to the police station situated along the route, I saw a couple of people in my group stopped there taking a small break. People were using the washrooms and refilling on water. I decided to take the opportunity to fill my water bottle as well. The weather was starting to get hotter, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to spread half a bottle over the remainder of the distance that effectively. After filling up, while the others were waiting around for the rest of the group I decided to just go ahead–I figured that I’d end up trailing anyway, so I’d save time by just going. I was sure they’d pass me somewhere along the way anyway.

I ate my other gel at about 1:40. I hoped that it would be enough to carry me through the rest of the distance. The others did catch up and eventually passed me. The heat was really hitting me after two hours out there. I could really feel myself slowing down. I remember looking at my watch and seeing that I’d done 13K. I happily thought in my mind: 5K to go! Whoo! However, man, that 5K really did stretch out. I was really feeling worn out. As I approached an intersection, I saw the group that passed me. They were stuck waiting so I used that chance to catch up to them. I was still kind of far away when it they started crossing. I somehow managed to draw on some energy reserve to make it across the intersection before it turned red. However, after that burst I was completely tapped out. Once again I bonked out–fortunately this time it came at 17K with only 1K to go.

I tried several times to get back into a slow pace, but I just couldn’t manage to eke anything out. So, I slowed down to a walk. The others pulled out far ahead again, but I had no intention of attempting to catch up. With about 600m left though, off in the distance I could see them stopping and waiting for me. I could tell the others were worn out almost as much as I was. They happily used my catching up time as a break. I didn’t want to keep them waiting needlessly so I again tried to pull energy out of nowhere, but this time it was a real struggle. I eventually made it to where they were, but I couldn’t help but feel like I’d failed somehow. I set those thoughts aside though as I worked hard to make it back to the store. In that last bit, I wanted to stop a couple of times but forced myself to continue just so that I could stick with the group. When we made it to the end, I was just about ready to collapse into a big heap on the grass.

In the end of it all, when I put it into perspective, 17K out of 18K is rather respectable. Despite feeling like utterly worn out, I consider this past run to be successful. Sure, it’s not fully what I wanted, but I say I came damn close. I think maybe next time I should bring a third or fourth gel to replenish my carb levels for the late part of the run: since I’m heavy I burn through my stores pretty quickly. Next week I’m expecting that we’re going to do the same route. I’m hoping that I will improve on today’s performance.

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A farewell memento (of sorts)

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Sat. August 30, 2008

Yesterday, I stepped out of the office for a quick break. On my way back I saw someone who just finished their last day of work standing in the entrance way. I didn’t really interact with him at all in the workplace, so I wasn’t really on any friendly terms or anything. I excused myself and walked past him to get to the keypad. As I did, I got a whiff of something horrid. Apparently, I’d just walked into a cloud of flatulence that he’d let go in at the entrance. Fuck!

Now, I’m sure that he had no intention of letting that bomb go off if he knew someone would be entering his sphere of influence, but damn it man–it’s the entrance to the building. Not like it matters to him, but it’s sort of sad that now my final memory of the guy is the fact that I had to walk through a cloud of his flatulence on his last day. Awesome.

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Get the tweezers!

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Fri. August 29, 2008

I managed to get out of work relatively early so I dropped by the mall to feed the consumerist urges. Over in the fitting rooms at H&M, as I was trying on a few shirts, I spotted something in the mirrors that really surprised me. The mirrors are angled such that I can get look at different views of myself. It was through those angles that I spotted the hair at the back of my head. I was just shocked at how many grey hairs I spotted. I’m not totally going grey yet, but the black of my hair was certainly, umm…peppered. Though in this case I suppose it would be “salt & peppered.”

Shit, that’s sad.

Well, it’s certainly not the first time I’ve gotten grey hairs. I’ve had the occasional ones since high school. Every time my father saw one he’d call out to my mother “get the tweezers!” They’d then be summarily plucked. I think I remember reading something long ago from the book of Proverbs about grey hairs, so back then I joked that grey hairs meant that God loved me.

These days, there’s no plucking. He’d still ask my mother to get the tweezers, but no one would be so inclined to actually get up and get them for the purpose of removing greys. I think recently he said that I’m getting a lot, but I’ve ignored it thinking that he’s actually exaggerating things. I guess he wasn’t.

In the morning when I’m styling my hair, I don’t notice any greys. It’s hard to see any with the glare of the bathroom lights. And really, I don’t see all that many in the front areas. On occasion there’s one that really sticks out and is really obvious. I’ll make the effort to pluck it out by hand. Otherwise, I just leave things as they are.

I guess the greys age me a little bit, eh? I’m not sure I mind too much, after all, I’m getting older. Frankly, considering my stress levels, I’m surprised there aren’t more. Interestingly enough, I know that several people in my department have gone grey in the duration that they’ve worked there. Coincidence? I can only make assumptions. I don’t see myself really going full-on grey way too early, but hey, if I do I can always dye–or go the other route and fully embrace the silver fox attitude. That’s how life goes!

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Time to put on my disgruntled face!

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Thu. August 28, 2008

And so it went:

I went out to lunch with a couple of my colleagues. I think my watch said that it was beer o’clock. Anyway, on the way back to the office, up the stairs, I jokingly announce to my colleagues: “aaaaall right then, time to put on my disgruntled face!” That drew a few laughs. Just as I finished though, we crossed paths with someone heading down the stairs. I felt a really quick moment of panic, thinking “oh shit, what have I done?” He sort of just glared at me, and I glared back. The fortunate thing is that it wasn’t anyone from the company. I got a few comments from colleagues saying “man, what if that was the CEO?” All I could muster was a curt “meh.”

The persona of Jay spewing bittercakes is intact!

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Katamari on the commute

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Wed. August 27, 2008

I had a bit of an unreal moment this afternoon. I was rushing up north to make the run club. I hit some traffic along the way setting me back 10 minutes or so. I could feel my stress levels rising as traffic was just being uncooperative. I had my iPod plugged in and playing in the car on shuffle. Over on the last stretch, the theme song for Katamari Damacy came on.

Ever play Katamari Damacy? It’s a quirky video game where you’ve got a ball that you can push around to roll up stuff. It all sticks to the clump. At first the clump is small so you can only pick up small things but as it grows you can pick up larger and larger things. You might start off rolling up thumbtacks and get to the point where that same ball of stuff is large enough to roll up skyscrapers. I enjoy the strangeness of the concept and it’s been fun just seeing what I can roll up along the way. I have the soundtracks for the two PS2 Katamari games on my iPod. I picked up the CDs while I was in Japan. Here’s the opening for the first game:

Anyway, back to my commute. When the theme song came on, I started imagining a big katamari in front of me. As I drove, it would roll the ball along, picking up all the cars in front of me. Hell yeah: what better way to clear the road when you’re in a hurry? As I imagined it rolling along, I started singing along:

Na na, na na na na na na na, na Katamari Damacy! Chu-chu-chudu-chu-chu-chuchudu…

I imagined it rolling up trees and some bystanders walking on the sidewalk. As I did, my stress levels came back down. Everyone can use a bit of silliness in their day, no?

Alas, katamaris don’t exist in real life. I suppose it’s for the best. I would imagine that if I was rolled up I’d end up feeling mildly violated.

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PLONK

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Tue. August 26, 2008

I woke up this morning feeling in a better state than last night, so all is well in that respect. Lucky! Earlier, just after lunch though I experienced a physical problem that I haven’t experienced in a very long time. As I was programming, I had my left leg tucked under my right thigh. As I relaxed and got my left leg out from underneath, suddenly…PLONK. A sudden acute pain attacked my knee area. It was all too familiar. I still don’t know exactly what it is, but from what I’ve read I think it’s some form of subluxation.

My knee basically locked. All of my leg muscles were contracting due to shock. I grimaced at my desk and grabbed my knee. I wanted to put the heat of my hands on the area. I also massaged the area in hopes that my muscles would relax. I’ve had this happen enough times to know not to panic (as much as I wanted to). As I massaged, I tried to get my leg to straighten out from its bent state. Every little movement was strange because it seemed like my leg just wanted to contract back into a bent state with each nudge. I persisted though and tried to get it straight. For about 30 seconds it felt like I couldn’t because I really felt that somthine wasn’t in the right spot there. I eventually did ease it into a straight state and…PLONK: something moved back into place. Suddenly all pain was gone. Everything was back to normal. I waited a few minutes before attempting to get up again, but all was well.

I really can’t remember the last time this happened. Actually, it might have been in bed a year or two ago–I just straightened my leg out and all was well. In any case, this used to be a common occurrence when I was younger. Genetically, I’m typically very flexible. This leaves me a little bit more prone to injury. Back then, I could have just been sitting cross legged or with legs bent in some odd way, then all of a sudden I just wouldn’t be able to get up because my legs would be locked. I’d be crying scared because legs aren’t meant to do that! Can you blame me? Each time, I’d eventually calm down and straighten my legs and all would be fine. I remember this actually happening once in the swimming pool. Jesus. That could have been dangerous. This pain was just part of my life. It’s one of the things that drilled into me the fact that I just wasn’t meant to be terribly athletic.

So what about today? My leg muscles have gotten so much stronger in comparison to back then. All of that strength helps keep things in place. Also, I’m not sitting cross-legged or putting my legs in awkward positions. Once in a while though, something like what happened earlier today will happen and it acts as a reminder that I have to always be conscious of my limitations. That being said, I know that I won’t let my limitations keep me from achieving what is possible. I will be strong.

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The onset of something

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Mon. August 25, 2008

I feel the onset of some sort of illness coming on. A colleague at work was out for one week with a sudden virus of his own. I’m seriously hoping that it’s not the same thing because the timing would be absolute shite–though there really isn’t a great time to become sick, is there? It’s more like the issue is that there’s so much that I want to be in good health for. In particular, I want to be in great health to continue training for my half. I mean, right now I’m determined to get it right and I can’t afford to be derailed for an extended period. I’m also working on part of a project at work. I don’t want to be the guy holding up progress due to an absence.

Yes, I get it: if I’m sick, I’m sick. In my mind that doesn’t really make it any better. Hopefully I can sweat it out while I sleep: a better morning will come.

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Running log: 2008/08/24

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Sun. August 24, 2008

I should have known that yesterday’s bout with pizza, wings, fries, a deep fried chocolate bar, Swiss Chalet and beer would cost me today. For the second week in a row my Sunday run was far below my expectations.

I woke up late and crammed down a peanut butter flavoured Clif bar. Holy shit, that didn’t feel good at all. The weather was a whole lot more hot and humid than I was anticipating. I mean, I checked the weather report in the morning and thought: “Hmm, 21 degrees. Nice!” I wore a t-shirt instead of a tank, and really that hit me hard. The weather was downright nasty. Very quickly, I got to a point where I was just dripping. I already sweat a lot, but that was a bit much–even for me. I had to slow down significantly because the heat was causing me to breathe hard and my heart rate was higher than where I wanted it.

As I ran, I could feel the energy bar sitting around not heading down. Very frequently, I was belching up peanut butter, and that was horribly horribly disgusting. I tried to wash it down with liquid, but I was having trouble. See, my water bottle had a mix of water and orange flavoured carb powder. The drink was never an issue before, but today I was suddenly very sick of the mix. Gross.

All of these factors combined together to make a ridiculously tough run. I had to take some long walk breaks just to be able to make it through the distance. It wasn’t that long of a run–13K. So, now I’m worried about whether I’m going to be able to manage next week’s run which will likely be around 19K. During today’s ordeal, I was fortunate enough to have one of the run leaders accompany me. All along the way she was giving me encouragement and suggested a lot of things to try for next week. I’m really going to concentrate and focus on making next Sunday a good one, because so many bad runs in a row are bad for the ego, know what I mean?

This all brought something to my attention though: just how serious am I about this whole training business? Right now, my attitude is just that this is a purely recreational thing. I’m not watching my food intake far too closely. I’m not terribly focused on being the best or speediest out there. Just maybe though, I have to actually shift my focus. It would have been fine to leave things as is at the lower levels, but at the half-marathon level? I think I need to “respect” the distance. Does that make sense? That’s not to say I’m not working hard now. I just need to think about the process more and not do too much that will sabotage my efforts.

Craaaaazy.

One more month.

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