Minor ailment!

It is the inevitable consequence of international travel during the teaching semester, I fear: I could tell on the plane on the way home on Sunday that I was having to make an effort to breathe through nose rather than mouth so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by dry airplane air, that is the giveaway. Not a bad cold on Davidsonian scale (3 out of 10, maybe?) but will have to give it some days off from exercise so that I don't turn minor into major ailment. Ugh! A bit grumpy, though feeling ill enough that I cannot say I have an urge to exercise. Slept for twelve hours last night and will do the same again tonight if it is physiologically possible!

Short Dublin run

I am woefully jetlagged - slept all night and then went back to bed after breakfast and slept some more, ugh! Went for just a short run to shake out the cobwebs - it was highly beneficial. Too many places where you have to stop and wait for a light to cross the street, but otherwise really lovely....

c. 45min

Short run!

It was clear to me that I had not the vim to get over to Central Park for projected hill workout, strong psychological need to be running in park immediately which means Riverside - thought I would still be able to do hills on the small one leading up into my bit of park, but self-assessment after the first one told me that there is too much else I have to do today and that I had better just jog home! It was very nice to be out - I need to do a short run in the morning more often....

:31 easy run

Run!

Had a disastrous night of tossing and turning last night, didn't fall asleep till well after 2 - it was partly my own fault for having taken an inadvertent deep nap (2hr) in the afternoon, but really I am just overtired in a fashion that has always made it difficult for me to sleep! I really did want to run today before doing anything else, but I decided to switch out today's scheduled "hard" run (hill repeats) for the smell-the-roses run on the schedule for tomorrow. And in fact it is the most absolutely gorgeous fall day and I immediately felt much much better - it occurs to me that this burning sensation about the eyes must be minor manifestation of fall allergy season (the allergy shots are extremely helpful, they blunt it considerably, but they are not yet fully effective) rather than an actual desire to weep!

1:03 as 6:1 - beautiful!

Spin!

This week really got the better of me. Thursday I had a ton of stuff to do during the day and was genuinely too tired to do much of anything (work OR exercise) by the time I got home. Friday should have been more realistic, but by mid-afternoon when I would have had the time to run, I instead fell into bed for a deep two-hour nap! Had planned to run down to Chelsea Piers this morning for Joanna's spin, but that works best either when it is warm or when I have left change of clothes there in advance; once I saw how cold and rainy it actually was this morning, and assessed ongoing levels of fatigue (even after three decent nights of sleep in a row, I basically feeling like I am toiling uphill just to do the least thing), I decided to take the subway and only do one class.

In favor of doing just short of 1hr of exercise: you really can go all out! It was extremely satisfying: we did a pyramid sort of thing, basically 26 minutes work in 2min blocks - starting out at base of climb, raising gear every 2min x 6, then 2min at the "top" and come back down by the same intervals increasing cadence. It is fun! It is hard....

Did a chunk of Monday's reading in the cafe, then came home (stopped en route for Thai lunch). It is going to be a struggle not to go back to bed; I have a vast amount that needs to get done this weekend, but that is an abstract question and sleepy feeling in the head offers more immediate incentive to act!

:50 spin

Bliss!

Need to get back to work shortly, but have had a really lovely morning off (Monday and Tuesday are my very heavy days this semester, the Wednesday morning break is important - I couldn't have one last week because of letters of recommendation, so this week's is even more appreciated!). I had a complimentary personal training session at Chelsea Piers courtesy of Andia, who persuaded management that the inconvenience we suffered in having a sand workout be moved elsewhere due to scheduling conflict one day earlier in the year merited some sort of compensation. GREAT session! Basically an hour of deep stretch, running form drills, some core - I should be doing a lot of this stuff more regularly on my own....

1hr

Smelling the roses!

That was my rubric for the past week of recovery training (it is a phrase that always makes me think of Ferdinand!). I meant to do this run yesterday, but I was having one of those weekend work cascades: it wasn't until about 9pm Saturday night that I finished and emailed an overdue letter of evaluation, and it was pretty clear when I woke up Sunday that I had better start addressing the huge backlog of minor tasks that had accrued over the last weeks of triathloning & overwork. It is a classic "first-world problem" situation - in fact I have carefully insulated myself from ever having to do any housework or cooking! - but really once I get busy I need something like a concierge to take care of all the tasks that male academics in days of yore used to have secretaries and wives to do for them! What sort of thing do I mean? Well: printing, completing, scanning and emailing a W-2 form to the two of the four places I wrote tenure letters for this year that pay (very modest) honoraria; writing and mailing a belated rent check; booking a ticket to Paris for a work trip in December; booking catsitting for next weekend's work trip to Dublin; returning overdue library books; filling out a work order request for the building handyman to come and replace various overhead lightbulbs that have needed replacing for weeks or months; etc. etc. Plus finishing the reading for Monday and Tuesday classes. Anyway, I was KICKED by the end of the day yesterday, it was clear that a longish run was not on the cards, but I was fortunately able to do it today instead....

My instructions from Coach: "CP loop, at least 90 min on your feet! Gawk at tourists and make note of the funny things you see in the park. I want a bulleted list of 7 things that are weird/interesting/beautiful."

Woo-hoo!

Actually it is such beautiful weather just now - and also weekday mornings in October aren't nearly so crowded as weekends, beautiful weather notwithstanding - that I was more just on the lines of noticing the extraordinary perfection of everything, everywhere. Absolutely glorious! Slightly tight/sore lower back, but otherwise felt great - it is mid-60s, crisp and clear with very little breeze. Some things I saw and liked:

the lines of toddlers in safety vests being walked through the park on a sort of safety rope
the clear blue sky with only wisps of white cloud
the green green greenery with only a hint of the presence of orange and red hereabouts
the dry brown leaves blowing over the path
the cardboard cutout of ice-cream cones on a cart at the south end of the park
the science-fictional glass panels at the back of the Met
the glimpse of gorgeous buildings from the New York of Henry James's era that you see at E. 90th St. (Cooper-Hewitt!), along with the funny/touching statue of Fred Lebow checking his watch
a very fluffy white dog and 2 portuguese water spaniels all walking very obediently together on leashes - their combined hair could have stuffed an ottoman!
regrettably, smelly slippery gingkos, one of which fell of the tree and conked me as I left the north end of the park....

1.5hr easy (jogged over to the park and did the full loop, that was then about 90 minutes so I turned off the clock and walked the last mile home)

Spin!

Nothing too intense, as I am still having this knobbly minor spasm if I'm not careful - I am pretty sure it is this - just did the one class. Fun, though! Good 10 minutes of stretching afterwards - I have to get rid of this so that I can train hard!

:50 spin

Bliss!

Beautiful day. Still a little underslept (very tempted to take a short nap now before getting on with work things!), but got good quality sleep if not quite enough of it & had a lovely run down to Chelsea Piers & then Joanna's spin class. Life is good!

1:06 run (6:1 jog-walk)
:40 spin

Yoga!

Yoga is the ideal activity for evenings during the teaching semester when I'm really too tired to work: I don't think it's always beneficial to do intense aerobic exercise in the evening (particularly when it involves loud music in a cycling studio!), but the yoga is always a good choice. Had to go downtown anyway late afternoon for allergy shots, took the bus to Chelsea Piers afterwards and did the 6pm class. It was a visiting instructor, I'm not sure I'm totally keen on how he taught the class (too many poses that seemed to me to risk injury, few suggestions about modifications), but I felt great afterwards. More yoga!

1.25hr yoga

Lovely run!

Now need to make haste into shower, real clothes & out the door, but it was excellent. Perfect running weather: low 60s, overcast and rather breezy (it was unseasonably warm earlier in the week, very relieved it has cooled down somewhat!).

:53 (4:1)