Oh my, it’s hot

Posted on July 10, 2007 by threlkeld

We’re havin’ a heat wave…

Tropical heat wave…

But that has not stopped me from running. I ran 44.5 miles last week, just 1.5 miles shy of my goal. That included a 12 miler on Friday evening, 5 on Saturday afternoon, and 8 in the extreme heat of Sunday. Today was hot AND humid, and I managed to do 7 miles.

So I guess I’m getting acclimated. I no longer get the horrible headaches I used to get when I’d run in the heat. The heart rate training is a joke, though. I’m supposed to be at between 68-72% max heart rate for my base building. I’m lucky if I can keep it below 75% in this heat. So I go by pace, since I’d have to be crawling in this weather to keep it at 68%.

I do miss the winter, though. I love to run in the cold. I’m trying to change my attitude about hot weather running — by making a cold shower my reward. But it’s still pretty awful out there.

I’ve been running every day and this has, paradoxically, helped my legs. There seems to be a lot less soreness between runs. Either the shorter run days are serving as recovery days, or my legs are getting stronger. At any rate, they’re getting thinner. I can see actual muscles under the blubber at last. I knew they were in there somewhere.

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Today’s haiku

Posted on April 14, 2007 by threlkeld

Today on my run
A mad goose chased after me
Vermin with feathers

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Random acts of kindness

Posted on April 14, 2007 by threlkeld

I run through the same park nearly every day on a paved path shared by runners, walkers and bikers. I usually do a loop run that stretches from Bronxville up to Scarsdale, taking me almost exactly 7 miles. The loop can be broken up into mini loops, allowing me to create loop combinations to equal various distances (2 miles all the way up to 26.2 miles). For example, today I’ll do it twice for a 14 miler.

It’s a rare day that I run along the loop and don’t see at least a few other people. Yesterday was one of those days, though, at least for the upper 4.6 portion of the Scarsdale loop. Without people to distract me, I usually notice other things.

Yesterday I started noticing random acts of kindness.

The first random act I noticed was a small log placed on top of a bouquet of flowers. There are dozens of trees planted along the loop, many bearing a small placque in memory of someone. You’ll sometimes see flowers either planted or left around a placque. My first impulse, when I saw the log, was to think, “Look at how that ugly log has landed on those flowers. I should move it.” But it was very windy yesterday, with wind gusting to around 25 MPH. I realized that someone must have thought to use the log to secure the flowers to their spot.

The second random act I spotted was a bright red glove, with no companion. Someone had taken the glove and positioned it on a tree branch jutting out over the path. The glove was waving at me. I hope it finds its sibling.

Finally, there are the odd objects you see lying around. Yesterday was one of the oddest I’ve seen yet: a cracked plastic disk promoting the Fighting Seabees (“We build for the fighters, we fight for what we build.”)

I’ll see if it’s still there today.

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Sunday shut in

Posted on April 1, 2007 by threlkeld

The morning was spent watching the 4 mile and 15K races in Scarsdale. It was weird not to be racing. I have sympathy for “support spouses” I see at races — if you have no interest in running and you’re willing to hang around a race for three hours or more, holding clothes, administering water, etc., that’s true love and devotion.

Jonathan took 2nd place in his age category, garnering him a medal that is so ugly, it’s almost beautiful. If R. Crumb designed a medal, it would look like this one. I’ll update this post with a picture later on.

Now I’m sitting in a comfortable chair, planning out menus for the next three weeks and watching a show, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, about the Black Death. I’m learning that huge numbers of people go completely wacky during things like plagues. Apparently, there were two diametrical poles on the wackiness spectrum: Orgies of feasting and other Bacchanlian pursuits on one end, and an enthusiastic outbreak of Flagellism on the other.

Well, this is a barrel of laughs. I’m suddenly remembering why I rarely watch television.

I’ll turn 42 in a few days. Ever since I hit 40, I’ve cared less and less about my age. In fact, I find I have trouble remembering it. Early senility, perhaps?

My foot is still giving me minor grief. I’ll do an hour of walking on the treadmill later today, along with some icing. I’m thinking of getting a cheap exercise bike, since it’s becoming evident that minor injury is now going to be a fairly frequent component of training. At this point, the number of pieces of exercise equipment in our little house is beginning to rival the number of chairs. In every room, a torture machine. We are very odd people.

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Owwie

Posted on March 30, 2007 by threlkeld

I’ve got some sort of problem with my left foot. I can’t say I’m surprised — in fact, I’m happier that there’s not more wrong with me, all things considered.

I have a sharp pain on the outside bottom of the foot, about an third of the way up the foot from heel to little toe. I did some walking (and, yes, I admit it, a little light running. So sue me.) on the treadmill last night, which seemed to aggravate it. So I’ve put the kibosh on plans to run this evening. I’ll take another day or two. In the meantime, it’s back to ice, elevation and ibuprofen. At least it’s refreshing to be treating something other than my shins.

I have some writing work to do this weekend, but not more than six or so hours. I’ll get it out of the way early tomorrow so it’s not hanging over my head. Other big plans are watching “Little Miss Sunshine” and cheering Jonathan on in the Scarsdale 15K race this Sunday.

I do miss running. I think I’ll buy a new pair of shoes to comfort myself.

Filed under: everyday life, movies, racing, westchester | 1 Comment »

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