In our last exciting installment, we hadn’t even started racing yet. Well hold onto your Baby Wipes, kids, because this is where the party starts. Incidentally, did you ever notice that Baby Wipes smell like jelly donuts? We did. Van 1, being Van 1 (a tautology, to be sure), started first. Since our two co-captains [...]
Filed under: eating, humor, physiology, racing, travel | 17 Comments »
Last night I did my second track race, again at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. The weather was considerably more amenable than last time, although it was still on the windy side. Fortunately, it was a swirling wind and gusty rather than steady. It was warm, but not at all humid, which also helped. We [...]
Filed under: physiology, racing | Tagged: 1500, icahn stadium, tuesday night at the races | 9 Comments »
I make it a habit of worrying about things far in advance. Unfortunately, this often has the effect of obscuring my view of what’s happening right now. Or, rather, what’s going well. While I’m not yet collecting any PRs at shorter distances this season, I am having a great time running all these races. I [...]
Filed under: physiology, racing, recovery, training | 11 Comments »
I was recently sent a doohickey called the ithlete from the developer, a very nice gentleman named Simon Wegerif. The doohickey in question attaches to an iPod and when connected to a heart rate monitor feeds heart rate variability (HRV) data into an iPod application, also called ithlete. The problem is, neither of my digital [...]
Filed under: clothes and gear, physiology | Tagged: hrv, ithlete | 4 Comments »
Doing a “look back on 2009″ post seems to be all the rage among running bloggers this month. Although I normally purse my lips in disapproval at such conformity, I’ll jump on the bandwagon. Now is as good a time as any to reflect upon the past year, which from a marathon racing perspective was [...]
Filed under: basebuilding, central park, coaching, eating, injury, physiology, racing, recovery, training | 9 Comments »
Training, tapering, whatever. All I know is that the race is now close enough for me to check the weather for race day. With the exception of a couple of quicker workouts, I’m firmly established in the holding pattern of a pre-race taper. The run on Tuesday, a little under marathon pace, actually didn’t go [...]
Filed under: injury, physiology, racing | 16 Comments »
I used to suffer from chronic anxiety. This illness took many forms, the most pervasive of which was my compulsion to worry constantly, envisioning the worst possible outcome of any situation or endeavor. I would also brood, spending hours, days or weeks blowing up the smallest negative interaction into some sort of globally applicable proof [...]
Filed under: everyday life, physiology | Tagged: anxiety, depression | 16 Comments »
It’s the last month or so before my goal race and, as typically happens, a host of physical issues are suddenly emerging on the horizon like thunderclouds only to recede just as quickly and mysteriously, having spared me from a soaking, or worse, a lightning strike. Where have I seen this before? Oh, right. During [...]
Filed under: injury, physiology, training | 4 Comments »
The next couple of training logs are more for the record than for extensive analysis. I knew my training would be compromised on the trip to South Africa. Doesn’t that make me sound humorless and obsessed? I know! If anything, I’m amazed that I managed to run as much as I did, considering that I [...]
Filed under: everyday life, physiology, training, travel | 2 Comments »
My bathroom sink is beginning to resemble a geriatric’s. But it’s not quite as bad as the one foot square, multi-compartmented “pill pallet” an HIV-positive friend once showed me. In the morning, I take: 4000 mg (or “four grams” — stupid Americans) of vitamin D and 400 mg magnesium citrate. In the evening is when [...]
Filed under: physiology | 3 Comments »
