Pottruck

5mi on the 'mill: 3.5mi warmup in 25:2x, then 1.5mi in 10:20; lifted upper body after (bench, rowing, presses).

VB

Couple hours of volleyball with BE kids: Matt, Darren, and Steve. First IM game is Thursday.

Morning 10

Well, maybe not 10. Home to Strawberry Mansion along the W River Drive, then back on Kelly Dr and around the Art Museum and down 22nd until South St. Total time was 1h10m and I certainly was not doing 7min pace.

I left the house at 8.30, but it didn't feel like a morning run. The sun was too high in the sky. Still, it is a beautiful morning and holy shit... do I actually have the whole day in front of me? Crap. I forgot what that feels like.

Recovery

Took a delicious nap this afternoon... and slept through the rest of the daylight I was going to run in (damn this time change!) Swapped my 10 miler for tomorrow's recovery run: 5mi in 36:17 on the treadmill at Pottruck.

Eschenbach announced this week that he is leaving the orchestra. Am I really the kind of person who cares about such things? Lordy.

Last Long Run!

Friday: played vb with the Wharton crew.

Saturday: Ran my last peak distance run with Blitzer. We set out from Pottruck, went up W River Dr to the Wissahickon, to Forbidden Dr, to the same stone bridge as before. Then he caught SEPTA back from the station at Ridge Ave and I returned along Kelly Dr. Close to 3h total. Walked the last 5 blocks back to the gym from Chestnut and 33rd. It was a good run. Slower/longer than my last time, but that's good: part of the point of these long slow runs is to get out there for a span of time comparable to the time for the full marathon. This being the last long one, the taper begins now!! I'm glad that the big boys are all behind me. I like the running, but it has taken over all my free time. I ran today, and that's about all I did (besides getting ready to go and recovering after). Next week's long run goes 0down to 12mi, then 8mi, then the race!

Two musical oddities:

• Today is Homecoming at Penn, so all the frats are having parties. The building at 34th and Walnut had a band playing... a cover of Wagon Wheel! It was a nice surprise.
• The house band on Prarie Home Companion just did their old timey Powdered Milk Buscuits ad and did a little bridge where they playhed with the theme from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto... on a banjo!

Thursday

Speedwork day. 2mi warmup in 13:30ish. Then 8x800s. Started at 9.4 then went up to 9.8-10.2 depending on how the set was going. So 6mi total. Then did 3 circuits of leg press, quads, hamstrings, dumbell lunges. I think I might be a little sore tomorrow.

Pottruck

5mi in 35:15, then lifted upper body (bench, pulldowns, raises, curls).

Strawberry Mansion

An epic, blustery day. I like days like this. The swelling winds make me feel like I'm in some battle with nature, and also keeps the riffraff off the trail. Pushed it hard today: whatever Pottruck <-> Strawberry Mansion is in 71min. Legs are sore, but not hurting; knee is great--I hope it's the rest, new shoes I've rotated in, and maybe the Jello (is it possible that eating horse hooves actually works?)/joint support supplements I've been taking all kicking in...

Pottruck

Ran 5mi in 36:25, then lifted upper body (it's been a while since I did that!). Legs were sore after yesterday's long run.

Long Run

Same run as earlier this week, but my knee didn't act up so ran back instead of taking SEPTA :-)

Don't have mileage or accurate clock (stopped it a few times for road crossings / to stretch and forgot to start it back up). But around 17-18mi, 2h20m. Will plot it, write more later.

Princeton, G-Ho -> US Grant -> Rittenhouse

Nice visit to Princeton: sushi and a nice evening of Catan (sadly, no wins for S) + J's delicious ginger cake + pots and pots of tea, great for my scratchy throat and leaving me with that nice bloated-with-milky-tea feeling. J and I were going to do a run along the Lake Carnegie towpath but everyone slept in and her cornmeal/blueberry pancakes were above running on the agenda. Worked the afternoon away at the Small World Cafe, then took the Dinky + SEPTA back to Philly.

The rest and overeating did me good I think. I don't notice how worn down I am getting during the week. Or rather I notice, but don't put two and two together and identify cause. Rest days are good!! Running felt great today: fresh legs, sturdy joints, strong lungs. I ran up to US Grant then back down the Parkway to Logan Circle and into Rittenhouse. First mile was too-fast (6:40 to the RR bridge), then slowed it down to a steadier pace for the rest. 45min total for 6.2mi according to Google Maps.

Pott-ruck

Speed day; 40min run: 15min warmup, then 800s to fill out the rest. Zonked, but felt strong. Last set finished @ sub 6min pace (and felt like I might puke). Knee did fine today, but icing just to be safe.

To Tigertown tomorrow (the one 40min away, not the one near any Great Lakes, unfortunately) for a workshop and weekend with friends. Received their warranty replacement wedding gift. It came accompanied by a catalog--i.e., Bodum-porn. Trying to resist buying yet more devices for preparing teas and coffees in beautifully-designed (and far from modestly-priced!) receptacles.

Long run-ish

Set out for a long run at 5pm. Did the W River Dr loop, the extension down to Ridge Ave, through Wissahickon to the dirt road I like so much. Turned around at the second stone bridge, a little farther than last time, and started back... the downhills started to make my knee act up again and by the time I got back to Ridge, it was in serious pain again. SEPTA'd back to Penn. 1h40m, should be about 13ish. Am dissappointed: my muscles and lungs both had lots more and would have happily finished off the last 7. Damn these joints!

Bottom line(s): (1) I need to get a couple more of the genuine article in during the next few week; time is getting tight, but not impossible. (2) it's also important to listen to my body. I'm just not sure how to balance (1) vs (2). Icing now, I'll try again for a 20miler thils weekend and to get into the physio at the sports clinic in the next few days.

Rain

Running 20mi on a treadmill sounds as least as bad as the sixth circle. I did an easy 40min run (5 1/4) and postponed my long run again. Sigh.

Catching up

Exhausting weekend in Brooklyn celebrating the Morikawa wedding.

Sunday: Allyson made it her mission to ensure that I did not do my 20mi. I conspired against myself by claiming that tequila 'makes me sober'. We were all out carousing until late, and I didn't get up until 10, didn't feel well enough to run until 11, and therefore only did ~7mi.

Monday: Even more exhausted after the actual wedding revelry. Made it back to Penn in time for Algebra, then got my list of papers assembled for WPE II (which officially starts Wednesday), then ran 3.5mi around the Museum. Boys are over for MNF + dinner tonight.

Making up my long run tomorrow .

Let's do 10, again

This has been a sparse running week. I guess it's a measure of how far this traning program has come when I did 3x10mi runs and am feeling under-exercised.

Friday: started out down Chestnut to do hill repeats at Lemon Hill. My knee started acting up immediately so I turned around a mile in and went to Hutch to bike; got there arne remembered that they have no good bikes, but then saw Peter, Joe, and Sergei playing volleyball so I went down and played for about 45 minutes. First time in months (and it showed!) This knee thing is bothersome, but still low grade--the pain is low enough that I could just run through it, but I don't want it to get worse. I think I know how to manage it. I just need to be careful to do my stretching, and ice it down after runs. Also my shoes should have about 300mi on them each, but pair #1 feel dead while pair #2 feel ok. I just got my new pair in the mail this week, so I think I'll rotate them in right now and rotate the dead ones out. Also, no more long runs on treadmills. My knee always hurts after those, but not so much after running on pavement/trails. Or if I need to take some more days off, I can lose some of the 4-5mi recovery days and just do the longer runs.

Saturday: woke up early and ran Strawberry Mansion. I was ready go to at 6.50 but decided to wait for the sun to rise a little higher and burn off more of the frost. Finally left the house around 7.45. Beautiful morning for running and the drives are shut down for some regatta so had the pleasure of running sans cars.

Now off to NYC for the Morikawa wedding!

Let's do 10.

First 8.1 at, uh, 8.1mph, then up the ladder to do the last 1.9 in 13:20. Hooah.

5.5mi

Raaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnnn. Actually, it's all good: the paper went off last night, but I am still recharging my batteries. I slept 11hrs last night and just ate a huge dinner. Did 5.5 on the 'mill at Pottruck. Hoping I can do my 10 tomorrow on the river.

5mi

Got my workout in today: 5 treadmiles right on pace, in one chunk, for 35:09. Chances of me getting a run in tomorrow are next to nil. I'm making the last push on this PLAN-X paper. Only 23 hours to go!!

Is it just my current state of half-zombieness, or is this hilarious?

Sunday Run

Did my Sunday "long" run. East Falls loop, although I walked back from Cherry St. My knee was starting to have that twinge again, a little sharper than usual, and I don't want to take any chances. But otherwise, the run felt good! A little less than 12 then, call it 11?

US Grant

Ye olde training plan calls for six on Saturday and twelve on Sunday. These distances match up perfectly with my favorite river rules: US Grant and once arond the East Falls Loop.

Well rested (slept in until 11) and well fed (mashed up some bananas and made flax-yogurt-walnut muffins), today felt great. I didn't time it, but I pushed a bit, so I hope my mile splits were around 7:15 for most of it? The last mile was not fast; I took the alternate route back--around the museum and back down 22nd--and had to stop at just about every crossing and traffic light.

I ordered another set of 2110s today:

so, after breaking them in for a few weeks, with the fancy Nike shirt and Asics shorts I picked up at the 50% off sale, I'll be all ready for the race.

This last bit is completely random, but I just love the civil war. So in honor of today's turnaround point, and the concert I went to on Tuesday, I leave you with Union Maid, another one from Woody Guthrie served up by a great contemporary alt-country band.

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.
She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,
And when the Legion boys come 'round
She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise to the tricks of company spies,
She couldn't be fooled by a company stool, she'd always organize the guys.
She always got her way when she struck for better pay.
She'd show her card to the National Guard
And this is what she'd say

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me;
Get you a man who's a union man and join the ladies' auxiliary.
Married life ain't hard when you got a union card,
A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife.

Stationary Bike

Very tired--was up until 4.30 working on results for paper and PLClub, then up at 7 to receive new toilet.

Still, did an angry bike workout: 30 hard minutes of cascades, then 20 minutes of foothills (i.e. LifeCycle Cascades® and Foothills®).

Easy weekend: 6mi tomorrow, 12mi on Sunday.

My sentences are even shorter than usual. I think I shall eat tilapia and watch baseball. And then sleep.

Speed, Hot Hot Heat.

Thursday is speed day, although I haven't been doing my workouts very dilligently. My typical week for the last little while has seen my long run get pushed back to Monday or Tuesday, and then everything just stacks up behind it. Well, finally, everything fell into place. 1.5mi warmup, 5x800m: first 400m at about 6:15 pace, then took it down to 6:05 or 6:00 depending on how the set was going, with 1:30 recovery in between. After this thing is over, I think I'm going to train for some 5 and 10Ks in the spring. I like these workouts better.

Oh, and this pisses me off. When the Yankees win, it's 'this is what happens when the varsity playing the jv'; when the Tigers bring the heat its 'yanks beat themselves'?

Blech. Who care's what stupid sports writers think. Go Tigers, let's shut them all up by wrapping this thing up in Detroit.

Pottruck

5mi on the mill, but in increments. 2mi warmup in 14:20. 1.5mi in 9:55, 1.5mi in 10:23. I like trying to push a little again. And damn. I'm slower than I was last year. No more marathons.

OCMS and the sublime?

I took the Art History survey course my senior year at Williams. I've always been glad I did, but the kind of knowledge that it imparted to me, even at five years distance, is strangely like the flash cards I used to quiz myself with: mention a term, and an image, a period, or even a decade instantly springs into my head. The word 'sublime' always triggers this image:

and then the name, Friedrich, and then maybe the title, Morning in the Riessengebirge. I realize this whole preamble is random, but it made me laugh as I was biking back down Walnut from 3rd St because of how that word and those three facts are hard-wired into some fold in my brain.

Back to the sublime. There have been times in my life when I've experienced things sublime. Some of those moments were predictable high-art or high-altitude induced experiences: Bach's chroales; Hélène Grimaud playing Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra; my friend Cynthia standing up and stealing the show doing a Porgy and Bess number at the one-man Girshwin act; the last part of compline at Genesee; summiting at Chamrousse, totally spent, and seeing the Isère and Drôme valleys spread out below me. Others have been downright ordinary: running on that beautiful, deserted dirt road in the Wissahickon Sunday, being one of a dozen or so voices singing (not very well) Grosser Gott at 8am, waking up and hearing the sound of a river churning by, or bouncing around with a bumbly polka band until 3am with my teammates in Maribor. But each gives me that feeling--a tingle of the spine sending a buzz all the way up through my hair--and for an instant makes me feel connected to an idea, a person, or--indulge me with total new-agey gobbly gook for a moment--to everything at once.

I doubt if bluegrass has ever been associated with the sublime, at least not in the academic sense, but I had that tingly feeling many times at the tonight at the OCMS show. Part of it was being right down near the stage, bopping around with a bunch of their old fans (a group that I am not a member of: I've only known them for a few weeks, but have been listening to their albums non-stop) and belting out the words and clapping our hands over our heads on every number. Part of it was just their coke-induced energy for the second set. It was pretty blatant, they did a mediocre, tired 30min set, went off for ~25 minutes before the WXPN broadcast started, and came back flying high. But it made for an awesome show. Part of it was just civic pride or something, shouting "I met a trucker out of Philly had a nice long toke!" with a few hundred people in unison. Anyways, I'm already writing more than I intended to, but they totally rocked. A different band live than they are on their albums, and I like their albums just fine! My favorite tunes were Union Maid, (of course) Wagon Wheel, Minglewood Blues, Fall on my Knees, James River Blues, and (how could you not give it up for the fuel behind the show?) Cocaine Habit.

Oh yeah, this is a running blog. I did some of that today too, hitting Pottruck for a midnight workout. I felt like running hard--treadmill workouts are best when they are short and intense--so I let myself go beyond what I could sustain for the whole time. It broke down like this: 3mi warmup @ 8.6mph for 21min, then 1.5mi at 8.6-9.0mph for 10m15s, then 1.5 going up the ladder from 8.7-10mph for just under 10min! I'd love to do that 1.5mi in 9:30. Maybe on Thursday.

Recovery Run

4mi on the 'mill at Pottruck, 28:30 total. Then lifted arms (bench, lifts, rowing). Slept ~4hrs last night. Sooooo tired. Can't wait for OCMS tomorrow night!

Long run

I have lots to write, but zero energy. I ran for 2h30m (total elapsed time was a bit longer with a few breaks for water, stretching, and bathroom). I hope that puts the distance up around the 17-18mi range; I'm not going to GMap it, but using my watch I must have run 2m+ past the parking lot where I turned around during my 15 miler on Monday. That would put it at 19mi, but then I cut off the last mile-ish by walking back from the Art Museum. So I'm still falling short of the mileage assigned in this training plan, but my long run is getting longer and my legs are surviving. Deo volente, I will actually do this!

I started out from Pottruck with Blitzer. He set the pace up W River Drive and all the way to the start of the Wissahickon. The pace was slower than I usually run it, but a slow start was good--I always go out too quickly and then fade late in the run. At Ridge Ave he turned back towards Center City and I went up the trail. It's AMAZING. I'd never gone more than a mile or two in, but this time I went for a solid 45 minute run. Once you make that left at the Lincoln/Forbidden Dr parking lot, you really feel like you're out in the wilderness--no sounds, no cars, just a dirt road, a gurgling stream, a few runners, bikers, and horses (I saw one today!). The picture above is a satellite photo from near where I turned around. I was telling Blitzer how I almost went to Cornell for graduate school and that I missed the wilderness, but some approximation of wilderness has been right under my nose for four years!

The run back was rough. I stopped at the gas station next to Kelly Dr at 1h50m to get a Gatorade, drank it too quickly and quickly cramped up. I kept running and made it to the Art Museum, but then was truly pooped, so I just walked it back to Chestnut.

Total mileage this week (OK, it's skewed because last week's long run got bumped to Monday but still... using an estimate--conservative!-- of today's mileage): 15+4+0+(4+10)+3+10+17=63!