Saturday

Modified (lungs are still getting worse) to do 1hr as 4 x 15 (1 x 4:1, 5 x 1:1). I will forego yoga, my lungs don't need any more stress....

Yoga!

Rachel's 8:45am flow class. Packed with visitors! It was really, really good - I felt clumsy and ungainly, it's going to take a while to get back into it, and I was rather queasy for a stretch in the middle (the room was very warm, and the combination of postnasal drip and residual cold meds unsettle the stomach - ugh, the smell of Mucinex!), but it is so immediately and evidently beneficial. I have a fantasy about the fitness regimen I am going to pursue in Paris! Just need to make it through till then without total collapse....

1hr flow yoga!

Friday

40 as 1:1, which was good as lungs are feeling very raw and a bit unstable. Shooting for 8:45 flow yoga I think - hot will be too intense while my lungs are still so tender....

Catch-up

Tuesday: coming down with respiratory ailment, that plus very low temperatures ruled out a run. Wednesday: travel to Cayman! Don't sleep much those nights (car was booked for 4:30am), took a nap in the afternoon (Brent didn't get back from Ottawa till 10pm or so), had long sleep overnight. Lungs aren't 100% but it's really just a minor cold, not a true dreaded lung ailment, and I decided I'd better get out for an experimental 30 easy as 2:1. (David would not be impressed with the argument that my lungs were good enough for yoga but not good enough for jogging!) Cool for Cayman, warm for me, very nice though - pleasant holiday mood, joggers and cyclists greet each other with an amiable "Good morning"...

30 easy as 2:1

Xmas jog!

I add the exclamation point grudgingly, I am not really in the mood, but it was awfully good to be in the park again (the fitness center at the airport hotel in Ottawa is a windowless box with thermostat set at - I am not kidding - 30C!). It's so windy that it's almost scary! But I like that holiday feel - hardly anybody out, but a park worker stopped his truck and rolled down the window to wish me a merry Christmas. Babying my lungs as they are tender from cold and I am eager not to pick up the respiratory infection that had afflicted Brent by Friday, was sorry not to do anything epic but it wouldn't have been smart! Heading to NJ for Xmas feast at my brother's - especially looking forward to sitting with their little pug Gracy on my lap as the worst thing about getting home yesterday was of course NO CATS!

40 as 2:1

Sun

OK, 15 minutes, 3 x (4:1) with odds jog/walk and even incline walk/walk. Got about forty-five minutes before it's time to leave for the airport. Assuming all goes smoothly, I will reunite with Brent in Cayman on the evening of the 27th - fingers crossed...

Fri, Sat

15 mins yesterday, 10 mins today. Pretty darn depressing situation! Not feeling good about stuff, but then that is a rational response to a genuinely difficult underlying set of issues.

Thursday

Had to take a zero yesterday, there was an adequate time window at the end of the day but by that point all I could do was huddle in bed! This morning however things are structured forgivingly, we have a meeting at 10 at our hotel with the head of the caregivers agency at the assisted living to discuss issues for C.'s possible return there (we are waiting to hear whether she'll be admitted to stroke rehab or not), and we also were in bed at 8pm last night and asleep shortly thereafter (i didn't get much sleep Tuesday, it was 12:45am by the time I got to the hotel and I couldn't get to sleep till about 2:45am). So - spirit not letter - 15 minutes on treadmill brisk walk (3mph, 5% incline). Started with a slow jog but it was so slow and I was so breathless that I decided uphill walking would be preferable. Both cold weather and emotional stress trigger asthma - AND the prescription I didn't have time to pick up before I left on Tuesday, I realize, was Singulair, one of my two asthma controller medications - so it is not surprising I should be wheezing like a pug....

Ugh...

But I did do 60 as 2:1, it is nice outside. Have promised David that I will try and do 10 minutes on hotel treadmill each day during Ottawa trip...

Ongoing tough times!

Worst exercise month in living memory. Friday and Saturday I had to take zeroes due to cold temperatures in realistic run windows. Sunday I am happy to say I DID get out albeit only for 30 as 2:1 before heading to Philadelphia for the day (nice but very taxing, took all my willpower as I got back in to Penn Station around 6 not to come straight home but I had to go to Amy's holiday party! Which was really nice, I caught up with some dear friends - but if it hadn't been en route home I am not sure I could have done it...). Almost talked myself out of this morning (got up later than I meant, complicated day of mock-interviews and long grading meeting and various other meetings), but saw David's inspired easy workout of 20 as 1:1 and thought - hahahaha, I am PITIFUL if I can't do that! And I did, and it was lovely, I am sweaty and a lot happier than I was half an hour ago, must now get in the shower and scamper to campus or I am late for first interview....

Catch-up

I think December is really tough for everybody, I am not doing particularly well with it at any rate this year!

Took a stupid zero on Monday (busy day with dentist appointment in the morning, didn't eat lunch, post-lecture could only collapse with a sandwich and it was dark by time digestive interval had occurred, no vim to get out). Tuesday was good, just 40 as 2:1 (shorter than written) but very nice. Wednesday run window was in the morning, I was up due to insomnia but temps were low 20s, no good for asthmatic lungs. Today fortunately I was working at home so I could basically just keep an eye on weather.com and wait for it to creep up near freezing. Snow/slippery in spots but gorgeous bright day, rather chilly (just below freezing I guess), even more of a shuffle than usual due to mildly treacherous footing but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

70 minutes as 2:1

Sunday short run

Just 30 as 2:1, I was game for longer but the footing in the park was very treacherous, and I decided it wasn't sensible.

ASHAMED at having missed three days in a row - Thursday I had time but not a ton of time and woke up to another credit card fraud and a minor emergency concerning book sales at my event next week; Friday I just underestimated the toll that getting the cats to Philadelphia would take, sometimes it really is feasible to do an afternoon run after getting there at lunchtime but this time it was not, especially given that I'd forgotten to bring the dry food and we needed to go out for it in the car; Saturday I got home from Philadelphia around lunchtime, sidewalks VERY slippery due to snow but also returned to find slew of messages about ongoing eldercare crisis in Ottawa (new chapter). Not surprisingly I went back to bed and slept for the whole afternoon!

The whole rest of this month is going to be tough, too many commitments to others and not enough time for myself, but once I am in Paris, everything should get much much better. This year has been so hard - Gene's decline, and the Trump presidency, #metoo and its specific fallout for my sense of my obligations to my department's graduate students, Brent's mother's health issues, too many airports - the fundamentals remain sound, I am leading an absurdly fortunate life, but it has really been a tough stretch!

Tues, Wed

Forgot to log yesterday, but 30 as 2:1 both yesterday and today (switched longer one till tomorrow - it's my last crazy Wednesday of the semester). Wintry in the park, I no longer feel the need to insist that everyone must get out there!

Run!

Weather of utmost beauty! Feeling very fortunate. 30 minutes as 2:1. Have realized it is silly to try and get downtown to lift today, my back and hhip have been bothering me and sudden deadlift session is surplus to requirements, I will go tomorrow and do upper body and clear out my locker and reintroduce myself to the team! Hoping to make some workouts next week, after that it's pretty dodgy (Ottawa, holidays, Cayman, MLA, departure for Paris!)...

Run!

That was good. Gray and a bit damp (good for tender lungs) but still very mild, high 40s and no wind to speak of even down by the river. This is good! 40 mins as 2:1. Trouble area rather stiff and sore but nothing exceptional/worrisome.

Long run!

I am benefiting from really finally having a few calm days. Looking back, it's not surprising I've been feeling so stressed, it has been one horrible thing after another (and political news is not helping!). Ready to start doing better on everything concerning regular habits, nutrition, sleep, etc. (tho with a St. Augustine-ish "but not quite yet" proviso for SUGAR to help me through December craziness in the way of work and Ottawa things). First hour unalloyed bliss, thereafter sore enough at R glute-hamstring that it was not quite so enjoyable, but really pretty good all round.

90 minutes alternating 10 mins as 4:1 and 10 mins as 1:1 (did final 10 as 2:1 as soreness had become pronounced)

Run!

A bit of sciatica woke me in the night, had to apply heating pad and painkillers, but it's not horrible and it didn't bother me while I was out - 40 minutes easy as 2:1. Most beautiful weather - 50F and sunny!

Run!

30 minutes as 2:1. Very nice! AND THERE IS NOTHING WRITTEN IN MY APPOINTMENT BOOK FROM NOW TILL MONDAY. Undecided on the question of whether I should get downtown to lift, but I think I might just have a happy day at home - need to read job applications and make recs....

Wednesday run

Mixed report here. On the good side: a really lovely long run, it's mid-50s and sunny and I wore short sleeves and gloves and was happy the whole time! 70 minutes as 2:1 (actually 72). It is rare for me to be able to do the long one on Wednesday, and that's more the downside - had horrible insomnia last night, didn't fall asleep till after 3:30, and when alarm went off at 8 (I had turned out the lights at 11pm, then tossed and turned for ONE MILLION HOURS) I was still too wired and anxious to do what I usually do, which is set a new alarm and go back to sleep for another couple hours!

Friday and Sunday were write-offs due to travel and fatigue. Saturday I said no to human contact in the morning and had a LOVELY run in Roland Park - hilly, very mild sunny weather, 45 minutes and I appreciated every second of it. Monday should have been OK but I had a morning meetup with a colleague, left run till post-lecture which usually is OK but hadn't reckoned with impact of also needing to do a teaching observation from 6:10-8pm - I got home shortly after 4 and just basically huddled with internet, the idea of getting out and back in to work-acceptable clothes was just too much. Was awake in the night for hours, too many worries and not enough exercise, but did get up and out late morning (needed to be back here by noon for grocery delivery window) for just 30 minutes easy as 4:1. It is GLORIOUS, so sunny and mild, and I felt better and more positive about everything as soon as I was out there. Resolved to make sure I run every day between now and when I need to go to Ottawa again in the days before Xmas.

Tgiving!

Thankful I finally got out for a run! It is GORGEOUS, sunny and 30s but very mild, no wind, I wish I could have just been out there for a long time but it wasn't really in the cards. We were late getting in yesterday (flight delayed, and then we had to pick up rental car at Newark and drive HOURS through horrible gridlock to get to my place - don't need car till Friday, but it is impossible to pick one up in Manhattan then), had lie-in this morning and then the traditional diner breakfast that Brent and I always have when he's here. Digestive interval, minor tasks, then just 30 easy as 2:1. Gotta get in shower now and get outta here to get NJ Transit to Rutherford for Tgiving meal at my brother's (my mother will be there too).

30 easy as 2:1

Sat.

Ah, not optimal, wasted the day (got up normal time - not early- and ate small breakfast, thought I would then run but instead went back to bed and slept till after 3pm, ugh), late getting out, just too beset with minor freefloating anxiety to keep on going when I hit the invisible wall at the c. 20-minute turnaround. Anyway 40 minutes as 3:1 is fine (should have been 70). Haven't thought at ALL about logistics for tomorrow's travel, need to get my act together and sort that stuff out....

Thursday-Friday...

Hmmm, I must not have logged yesterday's here, but it was a glorious and surprisingly WARM (nearly 60!) nice one along the river, 60 as 4:1. Today colder and quite windy, I was shivering on the corner of Riverside Dr. (long-sleeved shirt and gloves, but no windbreaking layer), but it was beautiful once I got moving a little faster. 30 easy as 2:1. Must now get my act together for 1pm book event!

Wednesday run

Underprepared for important noon meeting, generally chaotic, didn't get up as early as I meant to, but the two morning essentials are done: lecture written for Castle of Otranto later this afternoon (kicking myself for adding new book to old syllabus!), short run. Maybe 25 minutes with some bits of waalking; forgot my timer watch and didn't want to go back inside for it, as this is the way one ends up not running at all on a busy day! Looking forward to a more leisurely run tomorrow morning and Friday, that will be good - this week has been really intense.

Soul running

It was one of those days when running was even better for the soul than for the body! Glorious day to be out along the river - an older woman walking in the opposite direction as I went down 115th St. to the park looked very skeptically at my bare calves and lack of layers and said, "You are bold!," but really it was absolutely perfect.

1hr easy as 2:1

Monday end of day

Had a morning class visit that is exactly the sort of thing (would be different if I were truly an early riser) that realistically prevents me from running in the morning. Meetings middle of day, busy office hours, lecture where I felt scattered but it seemingly didn't register to audience. Came home for brief regrouping, then got out in the last bit of light for a really nice easy run in perfect climate conditions (high 40s, damp - lungs really really like the damp air better than the dry when it's cooler). 30 easy as 2:1.

Sunday: got it done! Late afternoon, not as cold, 1hr easy as 2:1. Yesterday was a mixed bag - I think I was just so tapped out from strain of workweek and finishing that essay that I had NOTHING, had 3pm haircut downtown, dressed with possibility of running home, talked myself into it by saying I could walk as much as I wanted - but that turned out to be 99.5%, couldn't really make myself run at all! That said, about 6mi (FREEZING and sorta scarily deserted and dark for last part, not doing that again soon), 2hr brisk walk, perfectly reasonable form of cross-training!

Winter!

Barely above freezing, and super-windy, but also really sunny - I finished my essay and sent it and uploaded my fellowship application and felt LIBERATED! Also, canceled event now safely rescheduled for May 2 with no worries about books not arriving in time (Nov. 30 proved unrealistic). Such a beautiful afternoon in Riverside Park - and shortly I am off to meet up with friends near Lincoln Center for pre-opera drink and Ades. THIS IS GOOD!

30 easy as 2:1

Thursday pm run

Was awake for hours overnight/early morning, so though I slept pretty late I didn't feel rested when I got up. Had massive work session on the essay (it is nearing completion, I MUST finish it tomorrow or my self-reproach will be too dreadful, and the thought of waking up on Saturday and still having to work on it is filling me with dread - cannot let that happen). Finished with what I needed to do around 3:45 and got just the last bit of light and coolth - it's a beautiful day in the park. Something is tweaked in the back of my left knee and my back is reallyl starting to protest at all this computer time, but I will address that in another day or two once I have sent out this essay!

30 easy as 2:1.

Tuesday run!

A very happy one. Had a really good writing session at Nous cafe, then came home and changed and went out into the gray wintry afternoon for a short run. SO GOOD. I have been feeling so low, and yesterday had a few tough external stressors too - I am relieved that normal nice things can make me feel at least somewhat cheery!

40 minutes as 2:1

Monday run

Today and tomorrow are the fall election holiday at Columbia, my only hope for sanity! Had a very good long morning of work on my overdue footnote essay, despite numerous distractions (waiting for a meter reader that never arrived - I havve already been d inged $100 special penalty of some mysterious sort and HAVE to get the reader in this month or else it is a recurring monthly penalty! - and worrying about another piece of worrisome news from Ottawa, etc.). Just did 30 easy as 2:1, the weather is DISGUSTING, well into the 60s and must be 100% humidity - I have just put all the air-conditioners back on to try and strip some of the moisture out of the air. Really s hould do another work session now but may be tapped out.

Sunday run

30 easy as 2:1. I have slept as much in the last 36 hours as is humanly possible, it is one kind of coping strategy! Renewed commitment to run every day even if only for a very short time....

BTW

I did run Tuesday and Wednesday, just clearly didn't have wherewithal to log either one here! I think it was 40 Tuesday, 30 Wednesday. Resolution: every day between now and next Ottawa trip, I will run, even if it's only for 20 mins....

Saturday - minor victory....

Thursday and Friday were zeros, my own fault (I am not firing on all cylinders and as soon as I am in low spirits I get much worse at protecting time for the two restorative things that take some energy, namely exercise and writing - basically 2 days of fairly altruistic and highly worthwhile activities, but I was flattened and had no vim for anything else!). Today is a day entirely to myself, at least until evening, and I had a really really nice run - the weather is back to normal again too, it was well into the 70s these last couple days which as far as I am concerned is TOO DARN HOT - along the river, crisp and cool and sunny. 70 minutes as 4:1.

I knew Friday and Saturday would be hopeless; Sunday I did have hopes, travel went smoothly (3:15am wakeup call is brutal, but I was home by 8:30 in the morning, went back to sleep till midday), spent afternoon lying in bed feeling utterly tapped out and when it came down to it I just couldn't make myself get up and out - the weather was truly atrocious, I don't feel that rain usually discourages me but gale-force winds start making me neurotically worry about falling tree branches in the park!

ANYWAY today it was clear that I had better muster all energy just to get through the work day - two minor disasters, but lecture was fine which is the important thing, came home and huddled in bed finishing a crime novel but could not miss the chance for a run, it is rare for me to miss three days in a row even and a fourth would be inexcusable, especially given how beautiful the weather was by the end of the day (mid-50s, sunny, brisk). So: 30 easy as 4:1.

(I'm hoping to get back to powerlifting next Monday, as I have Monday and Tuesday as a school holiday - I had originally thought today might be the day, but self-assessment yesterday told me that was a very bad idea! As previously noted, the trouble is getting to and fro more than the workout itself - particularly getting there on Mondays immediately post-lecture takes fortitude and focus that I do not currently have.)

Thursday

30 easy as 2:1, finally some seasonally appropriate weather! Car to airport for Ottawa picking me up in less than an hour, I need to get a move on....

Wednesday

More normal temperature today, thank goodness - my hair was so sweat-drenched yesterday evening after my conversational French lesson in non-air-conditioned restaurant that it looked like I had been swimming! 40 easy as 3:1. Underprepared for my heavy teaching day, it's going to be a scramble to get it all together, but a busy and slightly chaotic day is much better for me than a quiet one when I am feeling low....

Tuesday medium

Didn't have vim for the whole thing as written (70 minutes as 5:1 moderate), just did 50 minutes as 3:1 easy, but under the circumstances that still counts as a win!

Monday short & easy

Weekend a total writeoff. Spent in bed testing hypothesis that a person can sleep as much as a cat without ill effects! (My coat is not as glossy as Jose's tho.) Did get out just now for 30 easy as 2:1, it is the single best thing I can do for myself and I will strive to make it happen.

What happened this week?!?! Clearly I am barely keeping my head above water.

- Wrote off notion that I am functional enough to be back at lifting - managing fatigue is about all I can handle, gonna take another couple weeks to try and get myself back on a more even keel. (It's the GETTING there more than the workout itself, it's always a little hard but when I am not doing well it just takes up too much energy.)

- Took a zero on Tuesday due to complete lack of ability to deal!

- Wednesday: 40 as 2:1.

- Thursday: 1hr as 2:1.

- Today (having hard time even getting out of bed - honestly thinking about getting back into it right now!): 30 as 2:1 (had a longer one on schedule, hopefully will be motivated to do it tomorrow - needed the happy exercise chemicals and didn't want to talk myself out of it, best in these circs just to do something short and easy).

Trying to get my apartment sufficiently tidied that I can have a clear workstation to pursue my (overdue) essay on the footnote - if I can't get that mostly written this weekend, I don't know when it's going to happen!

Back at it

Rather halfheartedly I'm afraid. I finished lecture a bit early and took the subway rather than a taxi, immediately regretted it (platform already full of people, first train went by without stopping, etc. etc.) I got to the gym with time to spare but sat in cafe drinking a cup of tea and feeling so tired I was not at all sure it really was smart to have gone! But Josh is really understanding, so I just did a much lighter version of the main set and the subsidiary set, then called it a day, showered and took taxi home (very fast easy ride, mercifully!).

deadlift: 8 x 3 @ 111 (last 2 sets at 151 which was closer to what "real" working weight would have been - 62.5% vs. +-40%)
hex bar: 3 x 10 @ 145

Short run

30 easy as 2:1. Finally some cooler weather! I have a ton of stuff I'm behind on, but in terms of what I strictly have to accomplish over the next few days (i.e. bare minimum requirements of teaching week), I think it's manageable. Can reclaim everything if I have massively productive coming weekend - we will see....

Thursday was a travel day, Friday I had a lovely half-hour in the East River Flats in Minneapolis but then stabbed myself in the eye accidentally with a hairbrush and didn't have wherewithal to blog (did see a doctor later in the day, who diagnosed very superficial scratch that didn't need antibiotics). Saturday was a writeoff again, I was home by 2 or so but I'd had a 6:30 taxi pickup at the hotel in Minneapolis which meant that I barely slept due to the usual irrational anxiety about waking up on early airport days, so I just took a nap and surfaced only in order to eat an early dinner (having missed lunch) and basically go back to bed.

Long sleep and dozy useless day, really I've been overdoing it, I need some downtime. Just got out for 30 easy as 2:1 in last bit of light, feel better now I've done that and showered, gonna go and find something to eat now....

Punched the clock

(as David says). 30 easy as 2:1. Please let the weather get cooler soon!

Short run

Finding considerable comfort in work and cats. Short run just now, 30 easy as 2:1 - yes, it's lower humidity, and yes, it's my own fault for leaving it till the middle of the day - but it's almost 80F again! NOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!

Update

Did run Friday 30 easy as 2:1. (The weather has been DISGUSTING, so warm and muggy.) Didn't run Saturday, was antsy and spent afternoon and early evening keeping a sort of vigil with my mother at G.'s. Woke up Sunday to the news that he died during the night. Did 30 easy (2:1) to get the day started on an OK footing (then went back to bed and slept the whole day!). This morning, 30 easy as 2:1 - that's the agenda for the week, just get the blood flowing and keep moving but don't stress about training. Have a work trip to Minneapolis from Thursday to Saturday but it shouldn't rule out short daily running. Very glad I have teaching and other work stuff to keep my mind focused on other things!

short run

30 easy as 2:1. Thursday is basically my Saturday, which means I am in state of utter exhausting, Wednesdays are so long and demanding this semester. Still feeling pretty feeble, didn't sleep well, too riled up about work and life stuff!

Run!

40 easy as 2:1. Very nice weather (if anything still a bit too warm). Today is my long day and I am slightly dreading it, however that means that this time tomorrow morning I am at least temporarily a free woman...

Very short run!

This cooler weather is such a gift, gingko stink notwithstanding! Just 30 easy as 2:1. Down week to regroup and try and regain my equilibrium.

Catch-up

You know things really got crazy when I lose the daily exercise logging!

I did run Thursday, just 30 easy as 2:1 before packing and leaving for my mid-evening flight. Felt very queasy in the stop-and-go traffic en route to the airport, combination of stress/distress and not eating anything post-run - will have to be a bit more careful, I am at outer edge of stress limits and need to take better care of things!

Friday was always out, I only brought run gear to Ottawa in case something else happened and I got stuck there. Thought I'd be able to run at home Saturday, but early flight was mega-delayed and the rest of the day was a write-off, I was asleep for much of it and then asleep again for 12 hours overnight - really had reached my limit!

Very nice run Sunday when I got up, 90 minutes as 4:1.

Very nice short run just now (usually I take Monday off just now, but having missed a couple recent days I thought it was worthwhile - also I have canceled powerlifting for this week and next week, I have a work conflict this evening anyway but it's the one obvious thing I can cut out to simplify things - if it were right round the corner, it would be different, but it's an hour each way or else an expensive taxi and right now I just don't have the emotional wherewithal!). 30 as 2:1.

Very short run

Had 8am dentist appointment to get an old filling replaced, went to it in running clothes and did manage to go directly after for 20 minutes easy (had forgotten my watch with chrono function so no walk intervals). It is disgustingly muggy, MAKE IT GET COOLER! Today's my long/demanding work day, have just eaten an egg sandwich and now intend to shower and de-squalorify my apartment (we have our teaching meeting here after evening lecture, respectability is in order...)

Short run

I'm hanging in there, but with head barely above the water - time to activate extreme conservation of energy mode! I didn't run this morning, because I really had to reserve all willpower for getting NYPL fellowship application finished and submitted, and reading and prepping my teaching for tomorrow. There was a certain amount of huddling in bed with anxiety stomach-ache after that, but I took a nap and felt better after that, just got out for 30 minutes as 2:1 easy. It was more realistic not to even think about getting downtown to lift (the heat isn't helping, it makes everything mroe taxing than it would be otherwise). Tuesday evenings at 7:30 were the best time we could find for my weekly French lesson, so I needed to save a little vim for that as well (and tomorrow is taxing too, still very hot I think and I have 8am appointment to get a minor old filling replaced - shouldn't take long - and a stressful department meeting 12-2, in addition to subsequent lectures/office hours/teaching meeting). Crazy week - but having that fellowship app in is a great relief. Only one other one after this, and I believev it's not due till the end of November - I have a short essay due the 30th of this month that will havve to be a week or so late, and one other essay to write in the next couple months, but it's not an insane load assuming other stuff quiets downn a little....

DL!

This day seems to have started a very long time ago! But I have survived. Had decided after last week that I'd take a taxi from campus to Chelsea Piers if I needed to, but in the event I was done lecturing at 3:45 (it is incredibly hot! students looked as though they were about to pass out!) and felt that on balance I could cope with the idea of subway and bus travel (not least because of notorious yellow-taxi dislike for turning on the AC). Got to the gym with a good ten or fifteen minutes to spare, that was nice, and had a very reasonable workout. Only did the 2 main work pieces (there was a circuit and some abs), and reduced reps on main set - used rest of the time to stretch, then showered and cabbed it home. (That was the other part of not cabbing it earlier - I am surely not SUCH a fragile flower that I have to take cabs in both directions, and being whisked home is so pleasant....)

Deadlift work set: 1 x 5 @ 144, 2 x 3 @ 180, 3 x 4 (should have been 8, but I could feel a lot of tightness and slight soreness in right hamstring, didn't want to strain anything) @ 180.

Hex bar: 2 x 15 @ 125

+ stretching

Hahaha, what happened to this week?!?! I did run on Wednesday and Thursday - but then minor Ottawa familial cataclysm sucked me in, Friday morning a second iteration of same actually had me stuck by the phone for about 3 hours and after that the only thing I could honestly do was go back to bed! Saturday was better, got some work done at least, but had to go to midtown in the evening (train issues almost gave me a nervous breakdown) and didn't end up being able to fit in a run (heat is making it tricky). ANYWAY no breakfast downtown today, NOT for good reasons but it meant that I could sleep till I woke up and then go out to run on a leisurely basis. It is WAY TOO HOT but I felt pretty cheery and happy throughout, which is nice, tight back and tender hamstring notwithstanding. 2hr as 3:1 jog-walk, feeling really happy about getting that one done! I have another event downtown later (LES, my least favorite, terrible transit options from UWS!) and may be able to stop by G.'s for a quick visit en route there if all is well....

Bench!

Funny overly long day out full of lots of nice things: definitely a good day (ending with merciless dissection with friend M. en route home from this rather dreadful Twyla Tharp evening at the Joyce!). The bench workout went really well - clearly the benefit of not forcing myself to get to the gym yesterday was that I was capable of doing a quality job today. It is possible that my load this semester means that I cannot realistically expect to lift on Monday and Tuesday evenings without penalty! Anyway:

small circuit: 3 x (25 shrugs @ 37.5, 10 lateral and front raise @ 5lb)

3 x 10 @ 60% (75)

2 x 2 @ 80% (100)

3 x 10 rope lat pulldown, 100 rope triceps pulldown

About an hour all told, and I didn't feel unduly wiped out either. Still wrestling with term-time-onset insomnia, and with some other family stuff going on that is exacerbating it (though I think mostly it's the sheer fact of the workload and the human-contact aspect of it).

Tuesday run

Busy/frazzled, almost left the house without posting here, but really I like keeping track as I go! Weather still humid and hazy. 50 easy as 4:1.

Sunday evening run

I did it, about all that can be said (and forgot to blog at the time - posted to my training spreadsheet); 2hr, first hour very hot, second hour better temperature-wise but full of sore things; 1:2 to 1:20, thereafter 1:1.

And Monday has turned into true rest day, I was so knackered by the time I finished lecturing that it was pretty clear I could not get myself downtown to lift, ugh...

Saturday evening run

Out late last night at a friend's birthday (heat and humidity = I was DRIPPING with sweat, ugh), couldn't sleep forever, slept late this morning and figured with ongoing heat and haze I'd better just leave it till evening. I was still slightly dreading it, but the dread of heat is worse than being moderately overheated (at least when you have acclimation which I still do), and it was surprisingly nice with a breeze along the water. That said, gotta strip off these soaking wet clothes and shower!

1hr as 4:1

Th/F update

Yesterday I had canceled powerlifting because of an evening work commitment, but by the time evening came I still needed to run and I just couldn't face the idea of sociability/human contact. Set out to do the longish one for midweek but really I had NOTHING, self-assessment at 15 minutes caused me to turn around and call it quits at 30 easy as 4:1. This morning: 30 easy as 2:1, very nice, only I have some soreness on left inside lower knee (medial collateral ligament?). Will have to keep an eye on that....

T/W update

Term-time workload is overwhelming! I am really barely keeping my head above water. I did run in the morning yesterday, and it was good (40 easy as 2:1), but the day got sucked up in lunch with a colleague (very nice) and a mid-afternoon doctor's appointment in midtown (I greeted with delight the rec a few years ago that Pap smear is not an ANNUAL necessity, but one does need to get it done now and again), then to lift in Chelsea, and about halfway through the workout I was just DONE. We had a circuit first, I was fine for that but used overly heavy weights for first 2 sets of DB floor press, and then when we got to the bench set (the point is that you are doing it with some fatigue already built up) it was JUST NOT HAPPENING - failed at 7 of 10 reps at 85, lowered weight for second set to 80 and failed again after 7, threw in the towel and just did the 2 minor remaining things and fell into a cab home....

This morning had a lot of work to do still for teaching prep, I was just too out of it last night to do anything other than reread some of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year, and was feeling rather dreadful. Got the more complicated class reading and prep done, got out for run midday and do indeed feel rather better now: 40 easy as 2:1. Will do the longer mid-week one tomorrow when I am less frazzled!

DL!

Ah, I overdid it today - not at the gym, but re: work/in general. I could tell I was just pushing too hard (also the weekend was tiring, I finished a big fellowship application yesterday and was also experiencing emotional distress re: death of Michael Friedman and general sense of mortality and loss as it is affecting people I care about including and especially G.); I lecture Mondays 2:40-3:55 which means I need to have all my gym stuff with me and get straight on the subway, at 23rd St. I just missed a bus and decided to walk instead, but as I reached the gym I realized that I subjectively felt so tired that I thought I was about to die! It was better once I'd warmed up and started working out, but once I was done, I was DONE - threw my stuff together and got into a cab without showering and changing as I felt only one change of clothes, into NIGHTGOWN, was in order. Felt rather queasy in cab home, was a little worried when a neighbor detained elevator about whether I might actually be sick, in fact it wasn't quite that bad but stomach only just now settled by seltzer - sure sign of emotional stress and overwork. Hahaha, it's only one week into the semester, this doesn't bode well!

Anyway it really was a good workout, I felt pretty strong - that said, when I left, we were still very gently easing back into proper work and now we're clearly in the thick of it, so I will continue to use my lowball 1-rep max numbers to calculate work....

(1) deadlift 5 x 2 @ 201 (a slightly lowballed 85%) (felt pretty good about this work set!)
(2) hex bar 2 x 20 @ 110 (for ladies - men had 135)
(3) circuit x 4: single-arm row 20 @ (can't remember - 22.5? 27.5?), 20 x 20 farmers walk (just did 12kg kettlebells, nothing heavy)
(4) hammer curls 4 x 15 @ 12.5

95/83

A triumph of the love of running over life reentry stress. Almost didn't get out the door, managed to drag myself out c. 7, didn't talk myself out of doing the whole thing: 80 minutes easy as 2:1. It got dark a lot more quickly than I expected, I need to be better illuminated if I'm running in the evening so that cyclists don't get me!

94/82

Too little and too late, should have been an hour at 4:1 and was instead only 30 minutes as 2:1 in the last bit of light before dusk. Tiring week, I got up and had small breakfast around 9am preparatory to running but instead went back to bed! And then had a bunch of pressing work, so I almost talked myself out of running at all, except that Coach sensibly observes that it is important not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It certainly clears away the cobwebs.

93/81

Just 30 as 2:1. THE WEATHER IS RIDICULOUSLY NICE!

Wed/Thurs

I did run yesterday but was caught up enough in chaos of first day of teaching that I must not have noted it here. Teaching went well, it is exhausting tho!

Wed.: 30 as 2:1, day 91, run 79
Thurs.: 40 as 2:1, day 92, run 80

Home!

The first morning back is always a little overwhelming. 30 easy as 2:1.

Hot yoga!

Decided that hot yoga (plus walk to and fro) was necessary choice rather than a run for my last day (also, I had to bring my mat home - honor system for mat storage at the studio, but they really don't have a lot of room and I probably won't be back until December, unless I can get here for a sneaky fast visit at the beginning of November around the election holiday). It was great actually, I feel like I finally got acclimation - thinking hard about whether/how I can keep hot yoga as part of weekly structure in NYC.

30 minutes walk, 1hr hot yoga

88/77

40 minutes early as 4:1. Might go back to bed now for a SHORT nap - yesterday morning I slept long and deep again from 9am to noon, it may have affected sleep quality last night....

87/76

Was up and out super-early (then slept again from 9am to noon, which I think I needed). 90 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk. Stops back from tightening up (it's a little sore now), hip has been a little sore the last couple days too, I think basically just the nature of the slightly broken middle-aged body.

86/75 + hot

Consolidated sweaty exercise into one session: did 30 minutes early run (2:1) and straight in to 6am hot yoga. Happy now to be in cozy dry clothes in air-conditioning, and no need for a second shower - it is a bit much to have two such absolute drenched-with-sweat exercise sessions within a few hours....

85/74

Lower back rather stiff from yesterday. Forty minutes as 3:1 early (a storm was brewing, there was a breeze and a lot of thunder, it was a little cooler than usual). Then mid-morning hot yoga. It was pretty hot....

84/73

Long mid-week one: 80 minutes, outward leg as 4:1 and then I switched to 2:1 for the return leg as things were starting to get too tight and sore. I think the hot yoga is good for my back, I have to see if I can fit it into the regular schedule when I'm home. No yoga today, want to give everything a chance to settle back down (also, the dreaded cleaner day....)

83/72 and mid-morning hot yoga

The run was nice, early, sweaty - just 30 minutes as 2:1 (just walking out the door from air-conditioning to humidity at 6am is pretty horrendous, but it is not so much absolutely hot, just that nothing will evaporate off the skin for cooling!). Midmorning hot yoga was pretty heinously hot, ugh....

Early hot!

And it was just the right temperature, I didn't have to sit anything out, that's good. 1hr hot yoga (still pretty darn hot honestly) and 30 minutes walk. No run today - trying to let everything settle....

81/71

40 easy and early as 2:1.

80/70

Long one for the week. 90 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk. Highlights included seeing a caterpillar hanging on a thread of its own silk from a tree, 2 tiny dead lizards pressed flat on the sidewalk in front of the Kimpton and exchanging proper introductions with the friend I made this week who rides by me on his bicycle and offers positive exhortations of one kind or another! Was a little late getting out the door, not horribly so, met Brent at the cafe shortly after 7. Note to self: one bottle of water was not quite enough for 75 minutes, and 2 is not really enough for 90 in these climes, I probably need to don the full 2L hydration pack for next week's long run.

Hot yoga!

Because of minor nagging injuries, David suggested a rest day, and I figured it's probably a good idea - was resistant at first until I realized that of course I can walk over to 6am hot yoga instead of doing a run first thing! The early class is good, too, because they don't have time to get the room quite so hot (it's still very intensely hot as far as I am concerned!) - though honesty compels me to admit that when the temperature is perhaps in high 90s rather than the prescribed 105, my hip is sore for much of the standing sequence.

1hr hot yoga, half-hour walk

78/69

30 easy as 2:1.

77/68 and hot yoga

Brent's beneficent influence on me continues, I was up and out early enough to be done with my longer midweek run by 7, the hour when the sun has come up enough that running outside no longer seems sensible or safe! 75 minutes, first hour as 4:1, then switched for last bit to 2:1 (numb hamstring, discomfort around old spinal erector injury - hip felt ABSOLUTELY FINE I am happy to say and so did lower back). Dropped one set of sweat-drenched exercise garb in the wash, showered and donned set #2, did a couple hours of decent work at Cafe del Sol then went to 10:30 hot yoga. Hahaha, today it was just REGULARLY too hot rather than devastatingly so, I was glad I was there, though I was pretty much in a puddle when I was done - I had asked Brent to come and pick me up again, though I think I would have been OK to walk home after some interim hydration!...

75 minutes jog-walk (4:1, 2:1)
1hr hot yoga

Hot yoga!

The exclamation point is not deserved, in fact it was nauseatingly hot and a little horrible - I am questioning my belief that doing hot yoga every day will be the most therapeutic option! And yes, the first time back after a long layoff is usually the most horrible - but it is also possible that it is just TOO HOT FOR ME (especially when the humidity is so high outside).

1hr extremely hot yoga

76/67

Just 30 easy and early, 2:1 jog walk. I have been thoroughly rerouted to Camana Bay!

75/66

Really I'm not counting any more, will take a rest day once a week. Had 1hr as 2:1, pretty good, wasn't inspired as I went out (it's Monday, my hip was a little sore even before I started - I think it's from sitting in airport and on plane Friday), but it started raining pretty hard about halfway through, backed off a little and was then TORRENTIAL for last stretch before home, which I find utterly exhilarating! Hoping the weather system will clear a bit before eclipse viewing later....

1hr as 2:1 jog-walk

74/65

40 easy and early as 3:1. New pedestrian path leading to Camana Bay provides good running route - and even a HILL!

73/64

At this point I just want to get to day 100 only 10 days behind! Worth keeping on counting for that reason alone. Yesterday was a legitimate zero, had alarm set for 5:15 and hardly slept. Got up and out early this morning, just 30+ easy (4:1 - not sure if it's that I'm moving slower due to heat and humidity or whether the heat and humidity actually prevent calf and back fromm locking up so much, but I prefer that to 2:1 here) and met up with Brent at Cafe del Sol. It is good! Maybe yoga later if I get my act together - belongings currently strewn all over as I dug run stuff out of bag last night (if you don't put it out the night before, it doesn't happen), gotta do something about that first...

c. 35:00 easy as 4:1

Strength/stretch/*71/63

A good session with Josh. Some strength stuff but really concentrating on technique and lingering injury issues. Did some box squats with PVC bar, then with chain and bar - concentrating on where things have a tendency to go wrong once I fatigue. Exploratory stuff on floor demonstrated to both our satisfaction that my right glute area is still royally messed up! (Single-leg hip thrusts, some other hip flexor exercises - I think weak hip flexors are one of the culprits on this.) Won't start lifting real bar and weight until this is further improved.

Then not technically a run, but it was 40 minutes brisk walk (about 2 miles from Chelsea Piers to the Brookdale, but needed to get to Gene's in clean dry clothes not sweaty gym clothes!), and I am going to count it just this once - stirred up all that glute/hip stuff already, so this was for the best. And now I need to try and go to SLEEP given morning alarm is set for 5:15.

Have virtuous resolution for Cayman: good nutrition and rigid exercise schedule, run early early, get early ride from Brent to cafe and work from c. 6:45-10:15, then hot yoga every weekday (heat should help loosen up ongoing tightness around this right hip/back stuff) and 40-60 minutes at the gym every afternoon for mix of strength and stretch....

70/62

45:00 with 4 x :40 hills in the middle. A bit lackluster, but I feel good now it's done. Next: make the summer's definitive final work to-do list - I'm heading to Cayman early Friday and need to make sure I have all the necessary work materials with me....

Bench!

That was a good workout! (Hahaha, also had allergy shots beforehand, new set of bottles @ stronger strength, that may also be helping the triceps feel extra PUMPED....)

Bench: 4 x 6 @ 65% (85) (0-3-0)

(2) circuit x 3: (a) single-arm floor press x 12 @ 27.5; (b) band lat pulldown x 20; (c) band face pulls x 20

(3) circuit x 3: (a) shrugs x 20 @ 37.5; (b) lateral raise x 10 @ 5 (6 seconds descending); (c) front raise x 10 @ 5 (ditto)

(4) 100 kettlebell skull-crusher (8kg)

I need to figure out if I can do workouts on my own the next two weeks in Cayman or if I should hire a trainer for accountability. I'm torn - should really try and do it on my own, but I know it is more likely to happen as it should if I get someone locked in!

69/62

Multitasking! 30 easy with some bits of walking (forgot watch with chrono function, also right achilles very tender/tight). Then picked up my BorrowDirect books at the library and got an egg sandwich from the Asian deli en route home. Feeling accomplished....

Sat-Sun-Mon update

I was very busy over the weekend - more human contact over a couple days than I usually have in a month! (Or possibly even a whole summer!) Anyway Saturday was legitimately a day off, left very early for day out at Fire Island with powerlifters (it was great, only I sat twisted around on the train to talk to folks and my hip became quite sore, it's still twanging me more than usual today). Sunday I did run before heading downtown for trip to NJ for family BBQ, ditto this morning - that waasy day 67, run 60 and day 68, run 61 (40 as 2:1 both times).

Rode bike downtown to lift (it was hard leaving the house, I am in need of some serious downtime!), that was the right call, it's simpler and more time-efficient. We are continuing on the slow build:

deadlift work set as 4 x 5 @ 65% (156) with three-second hold at the knee on the way up
ring rows: 4 x 10 with 5-second hold at the top
incline rows (double-arm): 4 x 10 @ 27.5 with 3-second hold at the top

1hr lower body
10mi bike

Day 65, run 59

I'm almost a week behind now - I missed yesterday evening's run, in retrospect it may have been unrealistic (it's not just the lower body, it's the time on bike and general dehydration/underfueling - I had a late afternoon doctor's appointment where I had to wait quite a long time, and by the time I got home around six the ONLY thing I was ready for was a sandwich and a book in bed). Thought I might just be able to drag myself out around 8pm, but given that I wanted to do my long one this morning, I didn't want to jeopardize that. Anyway, the weather currently is a GIFT, so nice - low 70s, low humidity - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Back is surprisingly NORMAL, that's great (I think the regular lifting is very beneficial). Hip and hamstring both acting up a bit, not horribly but I am going to stick with the run-walk for immediate future....

80 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk

Squats!

Ah, that was heaven - as I rode my bike home, I thought probably the only other thing that can lay claim to being such enjoyable morning is the flush of mild discovery in a rare book room! The weather is clement, summer is almost over (that is a good thing) and I set up a session with Josh as I have my annual physical later (overscheduled primary care doc, you take the slot they give you!) and didn't want to miss Thursday's workout again.

I actually haven't squatted since January, due to one thing another (Rome, mega-run training, injury, PT, training cycle), and it was surprisingly good. We just did goblet squats this week and will have a session next Thursday where I put the bar on my back again, I have a bit of a mental block on that. Not sure this is exactly what we did, but along these lines

4 x 10 kettlebell squat (with box), 18lb, 3 seconds tempo + 2 seconds hold at the bottom
3 x 10 Romanian DL, 8lb (?) kettlebell, slow down and pause at the bottom
hamstring curls with ball: 4 x 6 (3 seconds tempo on roll out, keeping hips high)
a knee band thing
possibly one other thing?

Super-enjoyable - no better way to spend discretionary income as far as I am concerned...

1hr lower body
10mi relaxing bike

Day 63, run 58

David recommended a day off due to ongoing minor aches and pains, but really there are too many reasons in favor of running and few against! Just did 30 easy as 2:1 jog-walk. It is 70F at noon! In NYC in August!

DL!

My favorite day of the lifting week obvs. Very nice. I like my teammates!

deadlift set: 4 x 4 @ 62.5% (151 then 155 based on switching to a different bar) with a three-second hold as the bar reaches the knee on its way up

ring rows: 4 x 10 with 3-second hold at the top

circuit: 3 x (15 single-arm rows, 25 shrugs) - used overly heavy weights for first couple sets, my hands wouldn't stay closed after that! (I think it was a set at 37.5, a set at 42.5, back to 37.5) and first 52 then 42 then 37 for the shrugs....

c. 1hr lower body + a bit of stretching

Day 62, run 57

Rainy and in the 60s! This is highly Davidsonian running weather. Only needed to do 20 easy, but I enjoyed it....

Day 61, run 56

Just 30 as 2:1. Need to get my act together and get downtown for dinner with a friend. Had a really nice breakfast with my brother at G.'s - precious but tiring, it is a strain on my system to get to Tribeca on Sunday morning by 9:15!

Day 60, run 55

It was a boon that the temperature stayed low rather later into the morning than the forecast predicted - it's really, really hard for me to get up and out in a timely manner! So it was still low 70s and overcast/windy when I started around 11:30 - only got a little hotter while I was out - glad it was only 80 minutes though. Injury report: hip only a little sore, back actually FINE, but that little spot that as I picture it is where sciatic nerve comes out of the ischial tuberosity is PEEPING at me constantly....

80 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk

Day 59, run 54

Quite enjoyable, actually. Storm brought temps down, it's already on its way back up to hot and hazy (rather unpleasant) but at low 70s rather than low 80s, still preferable to last night. And I felt less overwhelmed/despairing. That said, I seem to have a lot of minor aches and pains - some kind of sciatica hamstring thing made it hard for me to find a comfortable position to sleep in last night, and I possibly shouldn't even think of trying to do a double while that stuff is ongoing. Which is a pity, b/c today and tomorrow are prime days for it - but health before obsessive counting!

30 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk

Day 58, run 53

Tough day due to wrestling with IDENTITY THEFT logistics and implications - no actual harm done, no money stolen (impersonator ran out of the bank when teller was suspicious?!?), but I had to close accounts and open new ones and do all the other stuff etc. Mid-afternoon doctor's appointment downtown, it's super-hot, and by the time I got home from that and did a few more bank phone calls, all I could really do was HUDDLE (I finished #6 in this crime series but will have to wait for #7 to arrive in the mail unfortunately). Knew that a run would make me feel better - it's sort of a human chemical miracle, even a very slow one works - so I dragged myself out towards dusk, pretty warm stuff but now I am showered and watered and fed I do feel significantly more human. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day for me!

30 easy as 2:1 jog-walk

Day 57, run 52

Ah, like Tristram Shandy, I am falling ever more behind in my task - I did NOT run last night (self-assessment 8pm told me it was a preposterous idea), but my one just now was pretty nice, despite heat and haze. Ugh, I hate summer, I am so ready for it to be over!

42:00 as 2:1

Bench

Ugh, haven't done my run yet, it does not seem at all appealing but I am feeling rather low anyway and missing a run will really not help! (Did have a legit reason for not doing it earlier, had 3pm pulmonary checkup and the doc wants to know peak flow without same-day albuterol use, and I shouldn't run without albuterol esp. as I was up a lot during the night with a seeming minor sinus infection and I am down one asthma medication anyway, having run out at end of June and not managed to refill it before going to Cayman - a new prescription is now ready for me to pick up at the pharmacy...)

Upper body workout was nice but it does not give the same flow of happy exercise chemicals you get from running or lower body! Anyway, 1hr:

(1) bench: 3 x 6 @ 67.5% (80 - should have had a heavier weight I suspect), with six seconds descending/eccentric

(2) single-arm row, 3 x 12 @ 32.5 (will move back up to 37.5 next time, hand strength was limiter last time but didn't seem a problem this time round)

(3) DB floor press, 3 x 15 @ 27.5 (did an initial set with the 17.5 which I think I used last week as there are no 22s, but that w as clearly too light, this I think was just right)

(4) 3 x 25 band face pull

(5) 100 band triceps pulldown

DL!

I missed lifting on Thursday - had 7pm tickets to a friend's show in midtown and realized mid-afternoon that it was just not realistic to be scrambling across town in a tight timeframe. But I must try and get there for all three workouts, it is good for my mental and physical health! Was very happy to be there today - took a cab down mid-afternoon and read for a bit in the cafe beforehand. (Tomorrow and Thurs. I have mid-afternoon doctor's appointments, nothing special, just the regular, so I will not be able to languish in bed at home!) Hmmm, what did we do?

(1) DL 4 x 4 @ 67.5% of max (I am using a conservative/realistic 240 for max, so 161) - six seconds eccentric/descending

(2) 5 x 5 ring row (6-second eccentric), sub for pull-ups

(3) 3 x 10 kettlebell Romanian deadlift

(4) 3 x 10-each-leg walking lunges (I skipped prowler it would have been interspersed with - my middle-aged knees do not like doing that sort of weighted exercise in Chuck Taylors)

(5) "stirring the pot" 3 x 10 each side

Didn't seem intense as I did it, but sat in cafe after to drink a protein shake before getting bus and subway home, and when I stood back up I was incredibly (pleasantly, not unpleasantly) stiff! It is more than it seems....

Day 55, run 51

Took yesterday off - slept little and badly on Saturday night, and hip was still rather tender, so I decided it would be better to give it a miss. Today: 20 easy.

Day 53, run 50

2 hours; first 2/3 as 2:1 jog-walk, then switched to 1:1 as running into powerful headwind was causing hamstring and hip to act up. Very nice, on balance - the wind was intense, but it's high 60s and overcast, a true gift at this time of year!

Days 51 and 52, runs 48 and 49

Must have forgotten to post yesterday? Anyway, yesterday it was 30 easy, today 20 easy - it's warm and muggy again, alas. Supposed to be some kind of a storm brewing?

Day 50, run 47

The most beautiful weather! I am in rather low spirits, but it is nice that it's so great outside for once.... Tight R calf, slightly sore R hip (benching activates it, too much of a stretch on the hip flexors, nothing major). Hoping to fit in a double on Friday.

1hr as 4:1 jog-walk

Bench!

At least temporarily feeling like I am back on the track of functionality? Hope it lasts! Rode my bike down to the gym, hour of upper body workout, rode home - so nice that the temperature is cool....

(1) 3 x 8 @ 67.5% (85lb, though I am not sure I could actually press 125 right now) with six seconds descending/eccentric
(2) ring rows (as substitute for pull-up), 3 x 5, 6 sec. eccentric
(3) DB floor press: 3 x 15 @ 17.5 (there's only one 22.5 and 27.5 seemed clearly too heavy!)
(4) 3 x 15 hammer curls @ 12.5
(5) 100 triceps band pulldown

+ 10mi easy bike

Midday run

Should have been earlier, got snarled up in one of these mornings where I rashly scheduled an early grocery delivery, got up to wait for it and then it didn't come till after the delivery window was over, at which point I was hungry and sleepy & ate breakfast and went back to bed! Fortunately still quite cool today. 30 minutes easy in "my" bit of Riverside Park.

DL!

I am going to strive for perfect powerlifting attendance between now and my departure for Cayman - that's qualified by the fact that "100 runs in 100 days" is my highest priority, and G. takes precedence above all other things too, but I should be able to do it as long as I don't languish to much! Right now hand strength is a dreadful limiter, I've lost my calluses and grip is a lot weaker than it should be - ah, that's satisfying, though, something to work on. I suspect back and glute-hamstring will be stiff tomorrow, that was a good workout - I did ten minutes of stretching at the end, but it can't completely counteract....

DL work set: 4 x 4 at 65% (of a conservative 240, that's 156), with six seconds descending (eccentric) on each rep

Incline bench rows: 4 x 8 @ 32.5 (hands really feeling it unpleasantly - hahaha, we only have one 37.5 currently, so I had a good excuse not to be lifting the heavier weight!)

Kettlebell Romanian DL: 2 x 12 slow with 16kg kb

Then some stretching instead of the final prowler set.

1hr total

Day 48, run 45

And a gloriously good one! It is POURING rain (and 67F!) - at first I regretted wearing my glasses, as they fogged up and I had to perch them on the top of my head, but when I turned around and was running back north along the river into absolutely driving rain and wind, I was glad of them, these Oakley sport glasses are pretty good rain goggles....

40:00 as 4:1. Calf rather stiff/sore and some tenderness at R glute-hamstring attachment, better after I was warmed up.

A day off

Couldn't go to sleep till FOREVER last night, and barely could stay under after that - warm exertion in the evening is not compatible with decent sleep! Needed to be downtown at G.'s for breakfast, and the situation there continues to be rather draining (plus one other minor work worry cropped up and required emergency attention, not affecting me directly but upsetting regardless). I am covered with chafing esp. under bra strap from a week of hot and humid running, too; and I think cumulatively it is time for a day off. Gonna try and get in a few doubles over the next three weeks.....

Day 46, run 44

Strange to say, that was the nicest run I have had for quite a while! I decided last night that I was not even going to ATTEMPT to get up early, and it is just SO DARN HOT that running mid-morning seemed stupid. So I was resigned to leaving it till early evening - it is a pity not to get the mood boost at the beginning of the day rather than the end, but so be it. That said, I got out around 7:45pm and pretty much the entire run was enjoyable! It was in 80s rather than 90s, that's a plus. Even more so: no soreness/stiffness/tenderness in any of the usual places until after the first hour, when I started to get some small pings in R hip/hamstring. Still, very good - it's greasy humid weather, not lovely (still 80F at 10pm), but I like hearing the chorus of chirpers and seeing nighttime wildlife (rats notwithstanding)...

1.5hr as 2:1 jog-walk

Day 45, run 43

Somewhat less humid this morning, still warm but not horrible like it has been the last couple days. Need to get myself into a better mood!

30:00 easy

Day 44, run 42

It has somehow been a tough week, I am not bounding with energy! Got up very early (woke half an hour before alarm even - still benefiting from boost of Brent's early schedule), couldn't make myself run, sensibly instead went to office to pick up dissertation and spent morning reading it for defense tomorrow at Fordham. Afternoon stayed home to wait for dryer repair guy (SEEMS LIKE IT IS FIXED, that is good, only took me 2 months to get around to calling for a technician!), could not get myself out the door to get downtown (IT IS TOO HOT) to lift, felt guilty about that, but did finally make myself get out c. 7:30 to run since I knew I would be a pit of self-reproach otherwise. So that's something, anyway...

40:00 as 4:1 very very slow hot jog-walk...

Day 43, run 41

Not quite as planned, but we will count it regardless! Met J. at noon at Chelsea Piers for "run," had not figured on it being quite so hot and it is a terribly sunny route - we did some jog intervals to begin with but devolved to walking for much of the time. Got a cold drink at Chelsea Market (cucumber lemonade, water) and then rode bike home. Drinking a seltzer now to try and cool down some more! Actually Cayman desensitized me to humidity, it doesn't seem bad here compared, and the sun is not nearly as lethal....

1hr brisk walk with run intervals
10mi RT bike

Bench!

Good to ease back into lifting with an upper body day! I had allergy shots at 4 at 14th St. so there was no way I could talk myself out of it - funny how when you miss a couple weeks of something, there is a hump to get over getting back to it even if it's something you know you love. Anyway very nice to see everybody, and it was an enjoyable and not too strenuous workout (I am basically just looking not to "break" anything - all exercise currently for good mental and physical health rather than any specific fitness goals, and must continue to be careful of back).

Bench: 4 x 6 @ 60% (I lowballed it at 70), with 6-0-0 (i.e. six seconds descending) (I really like this kind of set)

DB row: 3 x 10 @ 37.5

DB floor press: 3 x 15 @ 17.5 (only one 22.5 and the 27s felt too heavy for that number of reps)

100 face pull (band)

150 triceps pulldown (band)

About :45 total

Day 42, run 40

Well, partial success, partial failure - set myself up for the latter via various minor choices (getting out latish on an empty stomach, taking shady route although it means I don't have a straightforward out and back and HATE having to back-track or do extra once I reach my start/exit point). Should have been an hour, but only managed 45:00, I was home and ready to stop! But I did do a perfectly reasonable job with my 6 x :30 hill intervals. Will add on the missed 15 minutes to some other run this week.

Day 41, run 39

Arghhhh, I am USELESS the day after travel. Literally got up at 8 intending to run not long thereafter, but in fact spent the WHOLE DAY in bed. Not really sleeping as such, just not able to deal! Anyway finally pulled myself together mid-afternoon and got out for the EASY TWENTY-MINUTE RUN that was the only thing I really had to do (bailed on lifting, annoyed with myself about this as one promise I made to myself at the end of last week was that once I was back in NYC I was not going to let life stress/being overwhelmed stop me from getting to the gym to lift with the team, but actually if the daily run is the non-negotiable I cannot also have lifting as non-negotiable, and hopefully it's better from here on out). Back/hip/hamstring all feel fine, right lower calf very stiff as it has been the last few days, gotta get that stretched out. Proper run tomorrow, and I think I will be able to cope with getting out/downtown to lift....

20 easy

Day 40, run 38

Just 20 rather than the prescribed 30 - I am antsy and anxious on travel day, and there is an OBSTACLE about 10 minutes into my run route that I could not make myself get over the hump of (a major construction project, sidewalk closed on sea side, you have to cross over but the sidewalk on the non-sea side is pretty erratic, and the crossing button isn't working) - not honestly a big deal, more like a minor annoyance, but it is the sort of thing that is off-putting when your mind is already on the next thing (getting sweaty running clothes in the wash, starting to pack, etc.)

Anyway, 20+ easy and warm....

Yoga!

1.5 hr "kriya" yoga. Which I liked very much in terms of the substantive part - but was horrified by some pseudo-scientific guff in opening about how breast cancer results from blockages of self-care and colon cancer from anger - ARGHHHHHHHHH! Not in the mood to hear this foolish stuff!

Day 39, run 37

:45 easy as 4:1 jog-walk.

Day 38, run 36

:30 early, then mid-morning para yoga. GOOD. Going home Sunday - I am afraid the week of re-entry will be a bit rocky....

Short run + power yoga

It was a few minutes shorter than 20 I'm afraid to say - turned around a little early, no good reason (mildly sore back, the usual homebody/agoraphobic dislike for having overshot my actual destination and the feeling of traveling AWAY rather than TO it). Say 15 plus 1hr power yoga. Day 37, run 35.

Day 36, run 34

The dreaded "cleaner day" - I will not do yoga, just hole up in cleaner exile at the cafe doing my work! 1hr as 4:1 jog-walk. Got out pretty early but it is still mighty warm....

Short run/excellent yoga

Hahaha, I am always a LITTLE scared of this class, though it's irrational - thought I'd better get a week of regular yoga under my belt before walking over the threshold of Mark's 6am power yoga! However really it is good, I don't have amazing yoga fitness but I have solid aerobic base and good strength - the only thing that makes me feel hapless is how clumsy I am making my way to the top of the mat or doing quick transitions from things like halfway lift to chatturanga. ANYWAY it was great, I need help kicking my legs up (combination of stiff hamstrings and scared brain) but I got into very reasonable supported headstand and handstand, that was fun!

20 mins run
1hr power yoga!

Yoga!

Keri's flow class is particularly good, I was satisfied (and sweaty), I decided to let common sense beat out obsessiveness and call that enough for the day...

1hr flow yoga

Day 34, run 32

A warm hour, very early, as 4:1. I am hoping to do some double yoga sessions this week, I have been coveting this yoga retreat my friend Alex is teaching at Kripalu at the end of July, only the thought of going away again so soon after I get home is just inconceivable - so, more yoga here instead - but it seems slightly implausible after that warm hour, one further hour of exercise may be enough given that the second yoga would have to be the dreaded "hot"...

Day 33, run 31

Just 20 mins. Beat Brent to the coffee shop!

Day 32, run 30

Ran early: 30:00 as 4:1. Noon yin yoga, which I wasn't somehow in the mood for - grumpily contemplating uncomfortable nature of positions and teacher's failure to give specific helpful instructions about how to use props at the start of each posture to make it comfortable! Which meant for the first class of half I was horribly fidgeting and rearranging midway through, and for the second class modifying in ways that were still uncomfortable and also didn't really seem in the spirit of the instructions. I was frustrated! I am going to do a very strenuous/challenging yoga class tomorrow morning to make up for it.

30 easy run
1hr yin yoga

Day 31, run 29

That was a nice one, I am getting a bit more heat acclimation. I particularly like 40 as it breaks down to run-walk intervals - by the time you are at 8, you are 2/5 done with the outgoing leg, and after only one more intervals you are 3/5 done...

40:00 as 3:1 jog-walk

Day 30, run 28

Fortunately just 20 minutes. It is funny, I can chameleon/shoehorn myself into Brent's schedule because it is such a powerful and rigid template (and I really don't like treadmill running, which in this climate is the reality of anything after about 7am), but inwardly I start to chafe a little bit at its unrelenting monotony. Will be glad to bust out some late mornings and daytime naps with cats when I am back in NYC!

20 minutes easy

Day 29, run 27

45:00 as 2:1 jog-walk. Makes me feel like a slacker, but I can see the benefits - this early rising and running is already starting to feel a little monotonous, it works to (a) make it an easier task (b) give back/hamstring necessary relief (c) make hydration and heat management easier. In general felt better - looser, more mobile - than yesterday, but def. numbness/tenderness along R hamstring right from start and growing more pronounced as I proceed - not horrible, but still clearly important to err on side of caution.

45:00

Core!

A yoga class that integrates some pilates stuff, which I find extremely challenging (that probably means it is good for me - certainly it is the stuff the PT wanted me to keep doing).

1hr yoga

Day 28, run 26

Just twenty minutes on the schedule, that was good, more likely I can do a treadmill one in the afternoon?

Yoga!

Holiday schedule here ("Constitution Day"). 8:45 flow class, not nearly as hard as yesterday's (perhaps fortunately?). Got one more workout this afternoon...

Day 27, run 25

Hahaha, Brent is such a good influence, between him and David's online coaching it would be almost impossible for me NOT to be running daily! Got out early for nice easy 30 minutes as 2:1 jog-walk. Yoga at 8:45 (it's a holiday here and class schedule is somewhat anomalous).

Yoga!

Ah, I love this so much, I have to find a way to have more yoga in my life in NYC!

(I am NOT in yoga shape right now, but two weeks of going every day will kickstart, and I will find a way of keeping it up when I'm home - there is good yoga at Chelsea Piers, only it's not close, but there's another really good studio 10 blocks from my house, so I have no excuse.)

1.25hr apparently simple but in fact extremely challenging flow yoga!

Day 26, run 24

I should get out just a little earlier, but it worked out about right. On Sundays Cafe del Sol doesn't open till 7, so I got there just as Brent was ordering (he is if not the first then one of the first customers).

:48 easy as 2:1 jog-walk

Yin yoga

Deep stretch with special focus on opening lower back! I have to say, that was absolutely excellent. The usual teacher was gone and a teacher I particularly like subbed for her. MORE YIN YOGA! (However sweaty/athletic yoga is good too, I might need to see if I can do some doubles this week....)

1hr deep stretch

Day 25, run 23

Had to take a zero yesterday, I don't really sleep at all the night before that Cayman flight (5am alarm, 6am car pickup) so it is hopeless to think of actually getting out for even a short run when I get here, especially since it's so hot! The missed night of sleep actually helps me transition quickly to Brent's schedule, though, so I was out the door shortly after 6:30am this morning (helped by the fact that we're on EST rather than EDT here) for 30 warm easy minutes. Met Brent at Cafe del Sol afterwards (he brings my Kindle so I have something to read!) for a Perrier and a mixed berry protein shake. Should get out a bit earlier tomorrow. On track for noon yin yoga, and have made my massive work to-do list, but am going to try NOT to work this weekend....

:30 easy

Lifting

Ah, I was overcome with dread beforehand - I haven't squatted FOREVER, and Thursday is traditionally squat day - but it was foolish, really we're in a period of conditioning more than anything else (GPP - general preparation?) and there were no squats scheduled! I love my teammates so much, I really have to make sure I can get to all three workouts in the week - I see why I failed on Monday and Tuesday but we will try and have that be an anomaly rather than a pattern. General prep for at least a couple more weeks still, so that will mean that I'm not missing anything huge while I'm in Cayman.

circuit x 4: (a) 10 med ball slams (b) 10 plank with banded row each side (c) (instead of prowler) low step-ups, 50 each leg

walking lunges: 3 x 15

band hip thrusts x 100

gunshow (triceps, biceps) x 150

1hr total

Day 22, run 21

Yesterday went well (interview at Cambridge UP downtown for forthcoming Austen book publicity, then a day spent with G. so his carer could spend time with his family) but by the time I got home c. 10pm I was just DONE. And a slow start today inevitably. Have not done an iota of packing or tidying (early flight tomorrow, will book a car for 6am pickup I think). Need to get downtown in a bit for allergy shots and powerlifting - it is pretty pitiful that I will have only made it to one out of three sessions this week, that is just the week that I'm having...

:40 very easy as 1:1 jog-walk

Day 21, run 20

:42 as 2:1. Beautiful running weather - first cool and overcast, then sun came out, but NYT website still gives weather as 67F and humidity is low! I should live in a climate where it's like that year-round....

Day 20, run 19

:30 easy, on a beautiful evening in the park (yes, absolutely should have gotten out earlier, but it was a day when it proved hard to get out of bed!). Canceled powerlifting, weekend of so much friends and family just wiped me out. Very good to have day of no human interaction (Brent left mid-morning for airport).

(I did run yesterday, miraculously, before we went downtown for breakfast and thence to NJ to visit my brother's family AND PUG. It was just :20 but without Brent's presence I doubt I would have been able to get up and make it happen - commitment structures/accountability!)

:30 easy

Day 18, run 17

And good example of a day in which I would not have run at all without the double accountability of (a) 100 in 100 and (b) David's coaching! I am ashamed to admit it, but much of the afternoon will now be occupied with the project of Ladyfication for Amy's wedding...

:30 easy but warm/wet (there is SO MUCH WATER in the park! And a lot of damage to trees - yesterday I saw one of the big weeping willowesque ones in the bit of park north of 59th St. completely uprooted...).

double/long

Wait, I never blogged by second one yesterday! Made good choice to stay home rather than going downtown to lift, let me get some errands done in preparation for Brent's arrival and Amy's wedding this weekend and also got out for short SECOND run - Day 16, run 15. Breakfast with Brent, how nice; and got out middle of the day for my long one, as tomorrow is less propitious for it. 90 minutes easy, w ith first hour as 2:1 then switching to 1:1 for remainder. My back d idn't hurt at all! Glute-hamstring thing felt a bit funny at first, then increasingly not quite right (more tender, less numb, and running further down leg), thus pull back to lower ratio. Glad to feel I am so much on the mend tho. That's day 17, run 16. Won't be able to do another double I suspect before traveling to Cayman at the end of next week, but have a plan for how to do a couple each week there (and a LOT of yoga...).

Day 16, run 14

A legitimate one this time. Flying to Cayman a week from tomorrow and really need the reset - intending to do yoga every day. I am not at all in the zone of intense daily writing, unfortunately, and not sure I will have time next week to do the library/prep work that is needed in advance, but will make sure I have SOME kind of daily intellectual/writerly task...

:45 easy

LONG DAY - final PT, walk subbed for run

Ah, I put finishing my index above running earlier, I can't say I regret it though it was probably not the right choice in an absolutely abstract balanced sense. By the time I was done (printed out draft! full of glitches, will fix tomorrow and send by end of day so that I can ignore work for the 3 days Brent is here - he's flying in Thursday and back out Monday for my friend Amy's wedding, and there are inevitably a lot of party and family obligations in any case - but I will be in a better mood if index is sent!), I had to get downtown for PT. Good session - my FINAL PT, I am promoted! Must continue to do core stuff, but being back at lifting is a huge help.

Stopped by for what I thought would be a brief visit with G., but it was the most beautiful day and we sat outside for a long time by the water, went back upstairs and then to my utter surprise he suggested going out for dinner! Which I could not refuse - I really did not think we would ever be able to do that again, wheelchair or no. Anyway, by the time we were back post-dinner, it was 7:45, I was full of dinner and only wearing sandals with no running shoes. So I decided I'd take the one-off "exemption" and do a brisk walk to substitute for the run. Will not abuse this privilege, but today it just had to be that way.

Next week is not propitious for doubles, arghhh....

:45 brisk walk as sub for day 15, "run" 13

Bench!

Josh has us more on conditioning-type stuff, but really I like that. Skipped final prowler (it came, uncharacteristically, on its own at the end rather than as part of circuit). As much as I don't feel currently in good shape (overweight!), I run so regularly that base aerobic fitness is very solid, I can see I cope with the wall-bounce stuff as well as most of the others.

Medicine ball side slam: 6 x :40/:40 plus (only!) :20 rest

Circuit x 5: (a) 10 x bench @ 65 (supposed to be 65%, but I am still lowballing as I get back into it); (b) floor press x 15 @ 17.5; (c) 5 pushups; (d) 15 x medicine ball chest bounce.

Then I just did some stretching.

1hr upper body miscellany

Day 14, run 12

:20 easy. Day for usual grumpy "I hate summer, the weather and the season" sentiment. Much-loved family member's ongoing health situation continues to make me glum, I don't think there's any getting past that! Trying to lower expectations of myself re: work and life in general till times are better.

Monday lower-body workout

Ugh, I have been barely functioning today - I guess I can blame it on the weather? The trouble with running so late last night was then this morning it seemed like I'd just done it and I truly couldn't face going out again into that humidity, took a zero and will have to see where I can make it up (this weekend is not promising in that regard). Felt utterly uninspired for powerlifting - very intense allergies in eyes and nose and face, so much so that I really sorta felt like I was sick - trudged through the workout without enjoying it much. Thunderstorm ongoing, if it's less humid tomorrow everything should seem better....

1hr lower body (circuit of 5 x 15 medicine ball slams, 10 x walking lunges, 10 x each-side plank with band row [I skipped prowler]; deadlift 6 x 3 @ conservative 141 with no miniband; 100 hammer curls with 12.5. Some PT stretching.

Saturday & Sunday

Hmmm, I guess I only wrote in my log yesterday and didn't log here? Anyway: "90 min easy to explore. Mostly walking! JMD: disgusting weather, super-rainy earlier so I kinda ill-advisedly spent day in bed partly reading but mostly napping. However did finally get out - it's not hot, just DISGUSTINGLY humid. Did my normal out and back along the river - outgoing :45 as 2:00/1:00 jog-walk, then switched to 1/1 for wway home. As I walked up hill into "my" bit of park i realized that my right hamstring/glute were by this point really not feeling great (not painful, but with a lot of twinges of the overstretching variety - back OTOH was great!), and decided to just walk the last bit home. So about 100 minutes total, mostly mix of jog-walk, pretty good! Day 11, run 10."

And just now, also better late than never edition - it never did get less humid, it's still utterly disgusting, though nice to still have a bit of light as I finish just after 9pm (and fireflies!) - :30 easy. The daily run ritual is suiting me very well, and new step counter helping as well - makes it slightly more appealing to walk bits and bobs around town that I otherwise might do on a bus or in a taxi...

Day 10, run 9

:30 easy. Lower back rather sore on both sides, maybe from something in yesterday's workout? Very glad I am on the 100 in 100 - currently suffering from a good deal of distraction/lack of productivity/stress re: my elderly dear family member's ongoing health situation, and doing even a very short daily run counters the unwanted (and largely irrational?) feeling of being a useless layabout!

Thursday lower body

I am exhausted! Not from working out as such, just from day out and about doing misc. bits and bobs. Seems like Josh has everyone doing a lot of conditioning stuff right now. He and I are on the same page re: me not overdoing it (PT was stern the other week about not just suddenly doing tons of lunges just because it's how the workout is written, and easing back into things sensibly!). So I skipped the whole middle bit, which was an evil workout (I actually thought Rob was going to throw up!) involving 3 sets of Bulgarian split squats with 8 @ 52.5s then straight into 20 with no weight on the same side. Lethal! Used rest of the time to do my PT exercises - easier to do them properly when I am at a gym-like place, clearly.

1:10 or so altogether, with work as 5 x (10 medicine ball slams, walking lunges x 10 on each leg, 10 x planks with one-arm row with band); 100 hamstring curl swiss ball.

Day 9, run 8

Just :22 easy. No PT later, but squats, so good to keep it light.

Run!

Temperature dropped to more reasonable range overnight, though by the time I got out it was midday at 80F and sultry, so it was still pretty hot, just not sweltering! Finally got Garmin vivosmart HR+ device set up - it took a couple tries, I hate that sort of fiddling! Will possibly go to the gym later for yoga and/or (gulp) Pilates - I need to get more core stuff built into my exercise schedule so that back stays mostly better.

:45 with 4 x 1:00 hills

PT/bench

OK, my day today went much better than yesterday. Good PT session, it was all just me doing exercises and then some heat/stim at the end - John says that I am basically as fixed as he can get me, we'll have one session next week and one the week after but really I'm graduating! This is good not least because it solves the Thursday workout problem - now I can just do regular 5pm squat workout on Thursdays without worrying about trying to do it after back pummeling.

Then a nice hour with the team at Chelsea Piers.

(1) medicine ball tempo wall bounce, 10 x :20 high-intensity, :40 recovery
(2) circuit x 5: (a) bench x 8 @ 60-70% (I went a little lower than that @ 65lb); (b) floor press x 10 @ 17.5; (c) eccentric pushup x 5
(3) single-arm rows, 5 x 15 @ 32.5
(4) gunshow (100 each of banded triceps, curls)

Day 7, run 6

Just :20 (I have PT later and lifting). It is really hot here!

Deadlift!

I couldn't get out to run earlier, I was exhausted from a long day out yesterday at G.'s and just couldn't force myself out the door - in fact went back to bed and felt utterly useless! Did pull myself back together midafternoon and made it downtown (hahaha, psychological emergency mode plus heat wave, I am allowed to take a taxi!) to lift at 5 with the team. Which has made me feel much, much better. I slightly overdid it last week, PT sternly tells me not to feel like I should be doing all reps all sets as assigned, so I tailored workout as needed.

(1) conditioning circuit assigned as 6 x (20-yard prowler @ 50lb, 15 x medicine ball slam, 15 x walking lunges). I did no prowler (it has always bothered my knees and back, and given that it's for conditioning I feel OK just skipping it, generally I am doing more outside conditioning stuff than many of the other lifters), all 6 slams and 3 sets of walking lunges - I can feel the weakness on the right side towards the end of the set, and that is where I really shouldn't overdo it. Did some of my back exercises to fill out the timme (bird dog, piriformis stretch).

(2) DL set. Assigned, appealingly, as (a) 1 x 4 @ 82.5%; (b) 1 x 8 @ 65%; (c) 2 x 10 @ 72.5%; (d) 1 x 3 @ 80%. For future reference! The high reps I am really doing at low weights, I played around with the other numbers as appropriate - I am looking forward to being back in proper lifting shape!

So, anyway:

1 x 4 @ 161
1 x 8 @ 111 (10kg bumpers on bar, this is lowest it goes)
2 x 10 @ 111
1 x 3 @ 161

(3) 100 abs. Did some side and front planks as per PT instructions and finished out the rest of the essential stretches, including using lacrosse ball to open up lower back.

1hr and a bit. Will go home now and ice back, it's not painful as such but that is clearly the best thing to do after using the lacrosse ball so aggressively. I'll lift tomorrow with the team, it's fine having 2pm PT and 5pm bench, but will try and set up a daytimme session with Josh for the third workout - last week showed me pretty clearly that after having back painfully pummeled at PT (whatever we are doing that day, it's going to be something sore that should be following by going home and icing), it will not be sensible to go and squat - hopefully we can do Wednesday or Friday day.

Day 5, run 5

A scant :15 - I was actually up (for me) super-early, but needed the time to finish writing a reader report on a manuscript before heading downtown for breakfast and day at G.'s. It's shaping up to be a scorcher - dogs of NYC already pantingly hot!

Day 4, run 4

Only had time for :25, not the full hour on the schedule - will make that one up over one of the coming days.

Day 3, run 3

Just :20 easy. Gotta shower and get dressed & get to campus for noon meeting and 1pm dissertation defense!

PT!

It was very good. Back is so much better although there is still of course room for further work, including some v painful pressing on top right edge of QL, which was twinging during my morning's run. Decided afterwards (I have grown wiser as well as older) not to go to the gym for the squat workout but instead come home and put some ice on it!

D2R2

:20 easy. Hoping it sticks, but I feel like my mood has turned more strongly positive...

Day 1, 100 in 100!

It's a plan! I missed three days in a row, it's understandable given transition back to lifting this week and G.'s ongoing health situation, but it is so beneficial for my mood, I just can't let the daily running go. It was a struggle to get out the door this evening, but it was lovely once I was out there. You only notice how nice it is NOT to have a sore back when you have had many many months of it always being rather sore and trying to ignore it! Very nice weather, finally stopped raining, sunny, but with a hint of cool. Weekend forecast is for high heat and humidity, ugh - my allergies are also HORRIBLE this week, and I was wheezing the whole jog despite having used rescue inhaler in advance as I always do. Will be careful, would be a disaster right now if I get sick and can't use exercise to regulate mood...

35:00 with 6 x :20 hills

PT/bench!

No run today, my glutes are of course absurdly sore from doing lunges yesterday after several months off from lifting! A very good hour of PT - my back is miraculously almost completely better, I am still slightly amazed, it's really been so sore all this year; no short run, too tired/sore and trying to be cautious; an hour of upper-body at Chelsea Piers. Note to self: use common sense and moderation, do not suddenly try and do everything at once (I had my eye on a sprint triathlon in Cayman in July, but I said out loud to the PT guy this afternoon that I should just be a kayak volunteer if I want to be involved, that's always nice too!), just adding lifting back in and finding some slots for yoga will be plenty for this month rather than worrying about swim/bike.

(1) 8lb medicine ball, 6 x 1min on, 30sec off (this is brutal - the big soft ones, not the smaller harder bouncy ones)
(2) bench bamboo (10lb plate hung via band at each end of bar), 3 x 10 (given as 30-50 total)
(3) close-grip bench, 3 x 6 @ 60 with 6-0-0
(4) gunshow 100 total (band for bicep curls, triceps pulldown)

Back at the gym!

OK, I am really feeling happy - I forgot how important the longer exercise sessions are to my morale, I don't need to be doing anything epic but I spend so much time doing nothing it is very helpful to have these chunks where I'm occupied for a few hours doing things along spectrum from mildly to moderately strenuous! HAPPY HAPPY!

(Took a zero yesterday due to time mismanagement, didn't run today either although I meant to but it was for the best as I did a lot of s tuff later on.)

Most important - back at lifting! Deadlift day, my favorite. Gonna lift really light for a while, no point overdoing it. I have four weeks now before I go to Brent's, then 2 weeks there that will involve more yoga (but I may get a trainer so that I don't just drop off lifting altogether - much more likely to do it with some kind of commitment structure).

10mi RT bike
1hr lower body: 5 x circuit of [I skipped prowler] 10 medicine ball slams, band hip thrust x 20, shrugs x 0; (1) deadlifts, 3 x 10 @ 65-70%, but I just did 110 (less than 50%); (2) walking lunges, 2 x 20; (3) curls, 2 x 10; + PT.

Short run

Just did :30 easy, had a slightly longer one with hills on the menu but nervous stomach has continued to afflict me all week, I felt a bit queasy and figured I'd just do the default.

end of week catch-up

Life is kicking my ass! Survival mode exclusively. Wednesday I had to take a zero, simply no way I was getting out of the door; Thursday I had a pretty good one, 40:00 with 4 x :20 hills in the middle, then an effective and painful PT session (much work on everything, including some Graston on a trigger point at mid-back that was more noticeable to me while running now that lower back is rather better); today, 25:00 only, bruised from yesterday's manipulations!

PT!

Seems like I've been switched permanently to the guy with the painful but effective hands. Feeling quite optimistic that we're finally getting this thing beat!

:30 easy

I am in emergency mode! Survival is the only goal!

:30 easy

:25

Got home last night at a reasonable hour, had a Long Sleep, now ready I hope to face what the week will bring! (It's not an easy one.) Just did :25 easy.

:20 easy, Mass Ave edition

An overwhelming week thoroughly got the better of me. Excellent PT session on Wednesday, painful but seems to have seriously improved both back and hamstring, really happy about that. Have done neither PT exercises nor runs over last couple days, it's just been hopeless/overwhelming, but I did get out just now from my Porter Square hotel room for :20 easy, and I think the happy running chemicals will help...

:30 easy

Weather quite cool in NYC, though rather damp (it rained ALL day yesterday). This week is a bit of a write-off - just trying to get through it rather than add on anything mega-! Allergy shots downtown today, PT downtown tomorrow morning, prep meeting for a podcast interview on Thursday, workshop every day 1-5:30.

:30 easy

Short warm run

Very good evening out last night at the cinema, where the BBC broadcast the Old Vic production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Have read that play many times but never seen a live production, it was great (as the reviews I'd read said, the Player King rather steals the show); forgot how strong the influence of Beckett is in the staging (also always think of Prufrock's "attendant lord"!). Just did :30 easy this morning - would have liked to fit in a yoga too, but it doesn't quite work with the time we need to get to the airport. Brent is traveling with me today, unexpectedly (it turned out to be part of best route to Ottawa, he'll travel the rest of the way tomorrow), so that is extremely nice!

:30 easy

Yin yoga!

I really enjoyed that - deep stretch, pigeon especially beneficial. Couldn't quite face the hot class!

1hr yoga

Short warm run

Ending at Cafe del Sol to meet up with Brent - the Cafe del Sol on Lawrence Boulevard is the BEST Cafe del Sol....

:30 easy

Yoga!

It sounds like it should be easy - holding various pretty standard poses for a long time and concentrating on stillness and breath - but in fact it is extremely challenging, at times the sweat is pouring off me as though from the spout of a pitcher! I really like this class - para-inspired flow yoga - teacher Keri is training now with Rod Stryker. The meditation component is especially helpful to me - I liked the breathing exercise we ended with today and am just going to note it down here so that I can remember it for times I can't fall asleep!

10 x each, even steady breath

(1) inhale at count of 4, exhale at count of 6
(2) inhale at count of 4, exhale at count of 8
(3) inhale at count of 4, exhale at count of 8 plus 2 hold
(4) inhale at count of 4, exhale at count of 10

1.25hr flow yoga

Short run

Alarm went off 5:15 for tentative plan to do my short run BEFORE 6am yoga, GRUESOMELY TOO EARLY, reset alarm for more reasonable 6:15 and just did my :20 easy on its own. Looking forward to Keri's para-inspired flow class at 10:15, my favorite class of the week! (As Brent pointed out when he got back 6:30am from "first office," it is probably not a bad thing only to do one class per day - he is obviously the voice of reason about exercise in this household.)

:20 easy

p.s. If you never lived in a warm and humid climate, you would find it unbelievable how hot and sweaty even twenty minutes of easy jogging can get you!

Hot yoga!

GRUESOMELY hot today! Not sure about factors - partly I suppose I was hot for longer earlier - usually I feel OK once I survive the standing sequence, but today even the mat stuff was a challenge to stay focused for.

Back was sore in the beginning - pinching/tight in the standing postures that put pressure on it - but feels fine now. Sciatica on the other hand reared up afterwards so strongly that I could hardly put weight on that leg! Fortunately wiggling it around and walking a bit seems to have returned it to something more like normal, but as Brent comments (he was there, unexpectedly, to pick me up, and given the pain shooting down right leg and how hot I was I was extremely grateful not to have to walk home in heat!), good thing I didn't do 2:1 earlier!

1hr overly hot yoga

Happy run-walk

The exact words in my training schedule: "1 hour easy (this can be walk:run in 1:1 ratio even)." Have only been doing 20-30 minutes so this was exciting, and I was musing on it to Brent the other day - the words "But I think I'll do 2:1 instead" may have emerged from my mouth, and he gave me a VERY skeptical look! And I had to admit - yes, it is the classic injured runner's logic...

Anyway I stuck to 1:1, with a view to seeing (a) how it felt while I was doing it and (b) how it will feel later in the day. Observations:

- hip is almost totally better, I'll continue to be careful but I'm not much worried about it any more
- back really benefits from walk breaks
- good dose of walking lets me really concentrate on form
- essential form issue: pelvic tilt! Keeping the sacrum "tucked under the pelvis" (as the yoga people say) really lets abs do their job supporting lower back, and prevents tension from building up there; also helps hip move freely in the socket (hip moving with socket rather than independently was part of my initial PT diagnosis - it's a consequence of tight lower back)
- the right glute-hamstring attachment is twingey right from the start (I believe it's where the sciatic nerve comes through the ischial tuberosity - PT is pretty sure impingement comes from there rather than from a disk, which I suppose is a good thing)
- but the rest of the hamstring was fine throughout, I didn't have that all-over tingling/numbness that is so unpleasant

Anyway, will be happy if I can build back up to longer runs, but no urgency to it...

1hr run-walk (1:1)

Short morning run/hot yoga

Must have forgotten to log this morning - just :20 easy. Hot yoga continues to feel very hot!

:20 run
1hr hot yoga

Hot yoga!

Hmmm, seems like the body really does adapt - that was quite tolerable, compared to the gruesome heat of yesterday and the day before. I made a couple other minor modifications that may help: not getting there early to do PT stretches (will have to do a session of those later in the day); wearing unflattering short shorts that let more heat exit through skin of legs. I was actually certain that it must be much less hot in the room today, but I asked the teacher afterwards what the top temperature was, and she said 107F...

1hr hot yoga!

Warm short run!

That was good. Last night I thought the better of my double yoga plan - I didn't need to get up super-early, and I just need to try and fix my back etc., not get SPA-D out to the utmost degree! Will try a longer run tomorrow morning, that's nice. And 10:30 hot yoga which I hope will be not QUITE as hot as yesterday!

:30 easy

Hot yoga!

Hahaha, that really was gruesomely too hot - it was the 1hr class rather than the 1.25hr one I did by accident yesterday, the standing sequence goes by more quickly and I was certainly upright for a higher proportion of it, but the heat just wouldn't stop. (Actually I think it's the humidity - ideal Bikram-style room is supposed to be 105F and 40% humidity, I am sure this really was at least 105 but the humidity outside is 75% and there's no real way of bringing it down - other than BY LEAVING THE HEAT ON FOR LONGER THAN USUAL.) Not sure I am cut out for this, but it is so good for everything, and also I know from regular past experience that if I go 3-4 days in a row, the 5th day will suddenly seem relatively manageable...

1hr very hot yoga

Short warm run

Just :25 or so. Worked hard NOT to sleep on the bursitical hip, and it did seem to help. Hamstring/back not right but not horrible either. Eyes on mega-yoga for the week!

HOT yoga!

Got up to run, but hip was achy yesterday and this morning (not sure if it's from running, yoga or just SLEEPING ON THE WRONG SIDE - I blame the last), so I decided it would be smarter to skip it. 8am hot yoga - I thought it was the 60-minute version, which is less overwhelming when you have no heat tolerance, but unfortunately it was the 75-minute - had to lie down for a bunch of the standing series, was just feeling queasy with heat, but the mat series is always better (not as hot and HR doesn't go as high). I do think it is beneficial for the problem area - will try and do one hot class every day for the rest of the time I'm here...

75 minutes hot yoga