Friday Night I ran a quick mile and half because it was all I had time for. It felt strange running late in the day and I realized I have not run that late (5:30) for awhile.
Sunday the 5 mile day I got up at 6:00 and set out to a beautiful morning. I ran the opposite my normal route which is an easy down slope from mile 1 to 3 and then a “crazy ass” hill from mile 4 to 4.5. (Crazy ass means any fool out there running up this hill must be a crazy ass). This run was disappointing because I could never “feel” my hips relaxing enough to really let my swivel power me. A friend of mine whose been running longer described it well when he said you have to get out there long enough for your body to say “Oh Okay I guess there is no getting out of this so I will relax and do this running thing.”
For me that point is currently somewhere between 3 miles to never. I have felt that “body acceptance” about 3 or 4 times so far. My friend says it gets closer to the beginning the more you run. Of course this is the same friend who is telling me I should run a 15 mile trail run at altitude. Why am I so gullible? I have agreed to run that trail run. Because it is my personality to say “Hey if I think I might have bit off more than I can chew, then the natural solution is to take two more bites and prove it!”
Back to the Sunday run. I really wanted to feel that swivel when my hips relax and let go. When you get that feeling it is MAGICAL. It feels similar to doing your fastest walk in front of a life guard at the pool while your running. It is a great feeling because you really feel you’re the entire “Chi Running” concept in action. Your feet are just getting picked up and your lean is helping you fall forward allowing gravity and your nature core swivel power you onward. It is as close to effortless as I have been so far. I really want to get that feeling back. I could hang on to that feeling I think I could run a long long way. The problem is I can make myself do it, It only comes when I am able to relax my ankles, knees, hips, low back, shoulders, neck. Trying to make your body move in a specific way for me is not successful for anything other than back ache or shoulder ache or Achilles ache.
Today’s Swim was a lot of playing around. I went at it without much enthusiasm but once I got in the pool it turned out very nice. I am now reading the book “Triathalon Swimming Made Easy from the Total Immersion” website. I began today with some of the balance exercises. These are really simple but it revealed that I still need to work on Balance. One exciting thing I realized is that my swimming is pretty efficient. I can do the 25 meters length in around 18 strokes. That is a pace with no heavy breathing and while the other swimmers on either side of me are doing the same length in 22 strokes. They are both faster than me and I expect they know what they are doing because they look like decent swimmers. I have no real idea what I look like as I churn through my self-taught practice lengths.
Anyway the balance drills helped me understand why breathing has been really difficult lately. I have not had balance and that creates a very inefficient body struggling to stay alive. If I had balance I would not have my survival instincts kicking in. I painfully went through the drills. I say painfully because my vainty gets in the way and I don’t want to look foolish in the pool. Is that silly or what? I can hardly swim and I feel like I should be embarrassed because I am slowing going down the lane and not racing up and down the pool. But if I am going to do this by the book (which is a better way then by myself) then I need to get back to balance drills. This is the foundation, I need to build a good foundation. Then speed will come later (so the book says). So after I did the balance drills for 3 or 4 lengths I began swimming a little and wow I noticed a difference right away. I a real difference in the way I breath and how much more I could relax my head into the water. On a couple lengths I realized how much resistence having my big fat melon out of position creates. It was a nice work out and I look forward to my real teacher provided lesson Thursday night.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
156 training days left.
Wed Mar 3rd
I only have 156 training days until the day of the event. ACK ! I haven’t learned to ride a bike yet. I am two thirds the way there because I have learned to swim ½ mile (maybe not well but I can do it) and I have learned to run 4 miles (maybe not well but I can do it) and those are two of the three sports. Next up is the BIKE part but first let’s recap. Last Weekend was a “prove it” weekend I had to prove I could run 5 miles again. See I did it once the first time it was very exciting and rewarding. Then in some ways it is easier the first time because it is setting personnel best and you are not sure you can make it but when you do you get all chipper. So it is the 2nd and 3rd times when you have to run the same distance without the glory that are tough. Those are what I call the “Prove it” runs for myself. Prove it was not a fluke, prove the bar is raised and you didn’t just clip it with your but like a high jumper. This last weekend I proved it on Sat and Sun when I ran 5 miles each day. Then on Tuesday I ran another 4.7 which leads to another point. There are no “gimme’s” in running. Every tenth of a mile counts you don’t get to run 4.7 and call it 5 miles. No no MR. if you don’t run it you didn’t run it so no counting it. This is no pus pus golf or horseshoes where almost is good enough to get some points. You don’t run almost to the finish line and then say I would have made it in another 2 minutes.
You don’t get to stop the clock until you cross that line.
I want to give this shout of congrats to my old stair walking friend Andy who completed his last day of training. Nice work and if you can do that at your age I can do this at mine. Just kidding he he he. Wahoo!
My next race is going to be the “Beat the Bridge” in May. My cousin who is a mad skills marathon woman and could fit right in with the SWIM posse. (SWIM = South Whidbey Iron Momma’s). This race is another 8K charity race. I think calling it an 8K is a neat trick, I think it means 8 people were killed trying to run this far the last time they did it. See that’s how you know how dangerous the event is. Someone may try to tell you it stands for kilometers Pah! Hell we all know that isn’t true. It is politically correct maybe to call it kilometers but when you are out there running it you know what it really means.
Heck I am a team player so I will play along. Now that I am a runner I will live the lie. Why not, everyone is doing it how else did I end up here.
Using Kilometers fools new runners such as me into not really understanding how far it is. This 8K description also makes it sound farther when I talk about it afterwards. My oh my! I just checked out the race map and the course is very close to my old high school so I recognize the neighborhood. As I run I will see all the places we used to smoke during high school. What a shitty time High school was. The race is for Juvenile Diabetes Research so I will be asking people if they have an extra $5.00 to give it up for research. I am not running for nothing.
So anyway back to the bike, I am in need of some serious bike skills. Lots of people have told me (by that I mean a lot of people told Amanda and she told me) the biking is the part that is underestimated and plays a big part in your over all time. It also is the hardest part of the course because it has the big holes hills and you have to go up them twice, (just like our parents did walking in the snow to school). I will be prepared and I will ride like a land shark. Ah HA that’s it; if I have a silly costume on as I ride others will laugh and point at me. Maybe they will slap my back and try to push me in the midst of their guffawing. This would mean I had to pedal less and I get everyone to push me a little just because I dressed up like a land shark and rode a girl’s cruiser bike with streamers off the hand grips. Best idea I have had in awhile, because Amanda already has a purple girl’s cruiser bike I just need to add the streamers and maybe a red flag. I could attach a Shark fin to my helmet. Maybe I could also attach one to my wet suit so when I am swimming in the lake people would move out of the way as I glided up to them. I would be the “Shark of Goss Lake”. This merits some further thought.
Swimming today worked me I am soooo tired and I think I tweaked my back. Bummer
I only have 156 training days until the day of the event. ACK ! I haven’t learned to ride a bike yet. I am two thirds the way there because I have learned to swim ½ mile (maybe not well but I can do it) and I have learned to run 4 miles (maybe not well but I can do it) and those are two of the three sports. Next up is the BIKE part but first let’s recap. Last Weekend was a “prove it” weekend I had to prove I could run 5 miles again. See I did it once the first time it was very exciting and rewarding. Then in some ways it is easier the first time because it is setting personnel best and you are not sure you can make it but when you do you get all chipper. So it is the 2nd and 3rd times when you have to run the same distance without the glory that are tough. Those are what I call the “Prove it” runs for myself. Prove it was not a fluke, prove the bar is raised and you didn’t just clip it with your but like a high jumper. This last weekend I proved it on Sat and Sun when I ran 5 miles each day. Then on Tuesday I ran another 4.7 which leads to another point. There are no “gimme’s” in running. Every tenth of a mile counts you don’t get to run 4.7 and call it 5 miles. No no MR. if you don’t run it you didn’t run it so no counting it. This is no pus pus golf or horseshoes where almost is good enough to get some points. You don’t run almost to the finish line and then say I would have made it in another 2 minutes.
You don’t get to stop the clock until you cross that line.
I want to give this shout of congrats to my old stair walking friend Andy who completed his last day of training. Nice work and if you can do that at your age I can do this at mine. Just kidding he he he. Wahoo!
My next race is going to be the “Beat the Bridge” in May. My cousin who is a mad skills marathon woman and could fit right in with the SWIM posse. (SWIM = South Whidbey Iron Momma’s). This race is another 8K charity race. I think calling it an 8K is a neat trick, I think it means 8 people were killed trying to run this far the last time they did it. See that’s how you know how dangerous the event is. Someone may try to tell you it stands for kilometers Pah! Hell we all know that isn’t true. It is politically correct maybe to call it kilometers but when you are out there running it you know what it really means.
Heck I am a team player so I will play along. Now that I am a runner I will live the lie. Why not, everyone is doing it how else did I end up here.
Using Kilometers fools new runners such as me into not really understanding how far it is. This 8K description also makes it sound farther when I talk about it afterwards. My oh my! I just checked out the race map and the course is very close to my old high school so I recognize the neighborhood. As I run I will see all the places we used to smoke during high school. What a shitty time High school was. The race is for Juvenile Diabetes Research so I will be asking people if they have an extra $5.00 to give it up for research. I am not running for nothing.
So anyway back to the bike, I am in need of some serious bike skills. Lots of people have told me (by that I mean a lot of people told Amanda and she told me) the biking is the part that is underestimated and plays a big part in your over all time. It also is the hardest part of the course because it has the big holes hills and you have to go up them twice, (just like our parents did walking in the snow to school). I will be prepared and I will ride like a land shark. Ah HA that’s it; if I have a silly costume on as I ride others will laugh and point at me. Maybe they will slap my back and try to push me in the midst of their guffawing. This would mean I had to pedal less and I get everyone to push me a little just because I dressed up like a land shark and rode a girl’s cruiser bike with streamers off the hand grips. Best idea I have had in awhile, because Amanda already has a purple girl’s cruiser bike I just need to add the streamers and maybe a red flag. I could attach a Shark fin to my helmet. Maybe I could also attach one to my wet suit so when I am swimming in the lake people would move out of the way as I glided up to them. I would be the “Shark of Goss Lake”. This merits some further thought.
Swimming today worked me I am soooo tired and I think I tweaked my back. Bummer
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