Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Run #4/?

That was good. I woke up a few times overnight and my lungs sounded and felt pretty dire, but I slept for twelve hours total (for the third night in a row!) and when I woke up both my lungs and my self felt much more human. It's borderline too cold for me to run (tender lungs!), but I think 31 is allowable - just got out for 25 minutes in my bit of the park in the last bit of light.

Staying home this evening and pretty happy about that, though I may go out in a bit to procure modest quantities of alcohol and chocolate!

:25 easy

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Run #3/?

Ugh, that was tough to get out the door, but running has a near-magical effect on my mood: I feel cheery and alive for the first time all day!

My lungs don't feel good, and I am also at the annual low ebb of energies: I know if I look back at old blog posts from this time of year I would see that I always only want to be huddled in bed in late December, but that doesn't stop it from feeling like an authentic desire to be put in a medically induced coma for a week or so just so that I don't have to get through so many days! I suppose the process is that once I am better rested, I will be able to get down to the work I enjoy, but I'm still some days away from that (a bit more end-of-semester stuff I've been lagging on finishing, plus general rest and recovery). I do feel momentarily as though I can imagine being able to do some work again!

:35 as 6:1

Monday, December 29, 2014

Run #2/?, or "What goes down must come up"

Good thing I am trying for a streak, too, as otherwise I am sure I would not have done anything today. Alas, last night it dawned on me that I was experiencing the warning signs of a minor lung ailment: I slept for twelve hours, as I was very tired, but ailment is proceeding as one might imagine, and I expect it will be a bit worse tomorrow.

Couldn't get myself out the door this morning (it was almost lunchtime in any case by the time I got up!), then had sandwich and pastry with B. and M. mid-afternoon and had to wait for it to digest. However it is still 40F at 7pm and there was no reason not to get out for 30 minutes on my evening route (run downhill along Riverside Drive to 95th St. and back up the hill home).

Very glad I did, too. Am hoping that lung ailment will remain minor enough that I can keep on doing at least 20min/day (Coach Dave asserts that 12 minutes is the minimum that counts for a run, but in my opinion the twelve of a fast runner converts into the twenty of a slow one!).

:29 down/uphill

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Run #1/?

First day of a projected STREAK. Good thing too as I really didn't feel like getting out there: it's rainy, my apartment is squalidly chaotic and messy, I owe B.'s mom a phone call and I need to be on a train to NJ in the not-too-distant future. However it was quite pleasant once I was going. My legs are like blocks of wood from yesterday's spinning.

:40 as very slow 4:1

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Double spin!

I had hoped to run yesterday, but I got home from Philadelphia around 2 or so and basically just fell into bed for a 3+hr nap. Slept pretty long and well last night too but still feel as though now might be a good time to go back to bed! Double spin with Joanna made me happy: I've been running enough that I'm aerobically good for it, I think, but I have no cycling legs and the saddle also seemed phenomenally uncomfortable. Looking forward to what I hope will be a much better fitness stretch than the last few months have been.

2hr spin!

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Run!

Beautiful weather. Rain cleared up and it is very mild. 1hr easy: 10min down the hill and then 20min further along the river towards town (4:1). The toil back up Midvale Avenue is mighty- only made it as far as the library before slowing to walk for final five-minute cool down. Very nice!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Waterlogged!

Hahahaha, it was MUCH rainier than I thought - very mild, not unpleasant - but I got completely waterlogged, including puddles of water in the tips of the gloves....

A modified version of the lizard run (and an inappropriate name it is, too, on a day that would be anathema to lizards!). :32 easy. Very nice!

Off to Philadelphia momentarily, in minor chaos and disarray - ugh, still haven't unpacked properly from Cayman. Looking forward to getting home on the 26th and then having a couple of MONTHS in which, barring unforeseen calamity, I will be sleeping every night in my own bed....

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Run!

Last day in Cayman. 40min as 4:1 (15min warmup, then last :20 hard at the end of each run interval)

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Run!

Not a long one - really just trying to get out there every day. 40 min as 2 x (6min jog, 1min walking recovery), 3 x (4min jog, 2min hard, 1min walking recovery), 5min jog cooldown

Friday, December 19, 2014

The "vanity of human wishes" theme....

I am laughing at myself, I am an idiot - on Wednesday I was telling myself and Coach Dave that I was going to shoot for a mini-streak and run every day between now and the end of the month. Then on Thursday I overslept, didn't go to hot yoga and didn't get out at the end of the day either for a short run! (I was a little underfueled, and it is also very hot here by late afternoon - couldn't quite face it.)

This morning I was not full of vim, and idiotically although I never did go back to sleep kept on resetting and/or snoozing the alarm. Did finally get up, in knowledge that it really would be too hot if I left it till later, and had a nice little run after all.

:36 as 3:1 jog-walk, with :16 warm-up and then 5 x (2:30 jog, :30 hard, 1:00 walking recovery)

Much better start to the day, really, than not exercising! B. will be home soon so that we can go and pick up Coach Jerry from The Pines and take him out for a good breakfast at the Waterfront Diner....

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Hot yoga!

That was slightly overwhelming - seemed far hotter than yesterday - but I seem to have survived it!

1hr hot yoga

Run!

It seemed dreadfully early to get up - it's not so hot at this time of year (a phenomenon known as the "Christmas breeze" - alas, there is also the phenomenon of "Christmas beef," those nice reddish-brown cows I see on my long bike rides during the summer now going into the pot!), but still high 70s, so I am huffing and puffing pretty quickly. Just did 40min as 4:1, will go to midday hot yoga as well.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Hot yoga!

Got safely to Cayman yesterday, only completely exhausted and temporally discombobulated: I never sleep much the night before that early flight, took a huge deep nap here in the afternoon and then slept solidly again overnight only with spells of wakefulness. Snoozed the alarm a couple times, but had the sense to realize c. 8:15 or so that my day would go much, much better if I got up and made it to 8:45 hot yoga than if I continued to lounge.

It was great to be back at Bliss - the 1hr class is also a good way of easing back into it.

1hr hot yoga

Sunday, December 14, 2014

10K yesterday, easy 30min today

Overwhelmed now with tasks to do before leaving town very early tomorrow morning for the week! Beautiful 10K in Prospect Park yesterday (Joanna's fundraiser); just did 30min easy just now in the park, would have gone longer but waited too late and wasn't warmly enough dressed to stay out after dark....

c. 6.8mi (c. 1:20)
+ 30min easy jog

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Glorious Paris run-walk!

I took a very impractical route, because I just had a burning desire (I do not know how to make accents in blogger) to run down the Champs Elysees! Which is immensely crowded particularly once one encounters the street fair.... I was on the clock while jogging and basically then just stopped it whenever I had to walk for a while. Did then get to the running path along the river, which is very nice - hit the base of the Eiffel Tower, crossed back across the bridge of locks (they are starting to accumulate again - they were cleared last year as the bridge was so overladen it threatened to collapse!) then back up towards the Arc de Triomphe and 'home.'

Tomorrow I should be able to have a more consistently running sort of an expedition - I think getting to the river and going along the path is the way to go. But it was beautiful today: 50 and sunny, I wasn't wearing gloves and I wasn't cold at all (though now I really must get in the shower!).

c. 50min jog, c. 90min total

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Short Invalides run

No internet where I'm currently staying, so this is a brief and belated update, but it was nice that I actually did get out this morning for a scant half-hour run - just down the hill from where I am near the Pasteur Metro to Les Invalides and back up the hill. The dissertation defense was today and I was anxious to leave downtime in case I got lost, had other logistical trouble, etc. etc. but tomorrow I am more leisurely and should be able to take the next step and get to the Eiffel Tower!....

:30 easy run (with random pedestrians offering "Bonne chance!" and other comical words of exhortation)

Monday, December 1, 2014

Lizard run!

Sundays don't seem to have been good for me for exercise this semester: too much work and general feeling of fatigue. But I am pleased that I made it out just now for a short easy "lizard run" (christened as such by Coach Dave): vent-to-snout loop in my bit of park. It is 62F and I was much too warm in a long-sleeved shirt!

Dismayed, in other random planning-related news, to realize that my spring course which I thought I was teaching Thursdays 11-12:50 has unbeknownst to me been moved to Thursday 4:10-6, which will prevent the rare books librarian from sitting in with us and will also mean I can't do Thursday sessions of this class I was hoping to sign up for!

Feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the needs of the next couple days: I should just focus on getting today's stuff done (observe a class, do office hours, teach my graduate seminar, write and submit one letter of recommendation) and worry about tomorrow tomorrow morning!

:31 lizard run