44:30 and out.

Couldn't decide if I wanted to save my legs for tomorrow's crack at the Chamrousse, or if I wanted a full workout. Set out for the 4 mile loop and felt great at the halfway, so I decided to stretch it out a little longer. Kept along until the Bois Français sign, where I turned back (@ 22:30). Made it back in 22:00. I'm not sure of the exact distance, but I know where two miles from home is, and the first last/two miles were 14:20 and 14:00 respectively, so something like 6 miles?

River run

The river path, newly paved, hard, flat, and fast, was a nice change from yesterday's bumpy, hilly run. I went out fast--:30 faster after 10 minutes to the big bend in the river, and another :25 faster at the turn around than the last time I ran this route. I returned along the farm road, for 38:00.

I just finished this book. It's depressing, but gives a really intimate look at contemporary family life in Afghanistan. The book has been criticized for simply re-inforcing western stereotypes about Afghan culture, and the real bookseller now claims that the book has ruined his life; he is currently writing some kind of reply and preparing to sue Seierstad in the Norwegian courts. But even with all these flaws, I still think it's worth a read. I tore through this book, partly because it was well-researched and well-written (err, well-translated), but also because my dad and his family lived in Kabul while he was in 3rd and 4th grade. They travelled the Khyber pass, watched Buzkashi, and ate lots and lots of lamb. It was interesting to compare my family's stories from that time with how the same period, the 1960s and 70s, are described in modern Afghani memories. In the book, it is either remembered as Afghanistan's last happy time (the history since then has been nothing but war: civil, with Soviets, the cultural war imposed by the Taliban, and the American/Northern Alliance coup of 2001) or as the period of sinful modernism/westernism (by the fundamentalists). Thanks to DV and AK for a great travel gift!

Just hills

Ran for 35 minutes: warmed up with a slow run down to the river road, then up, up, up to St Victor. Then 5X intervals on the last part of the hill there: about 45 seconds charging up, then easy on the way down to recover. 10 minutes run home to cool down.

River + Hills

Tried a new route: the 2mi down to the bridge then back across the A41, up into the hills of Montbonnot, then back across behind the ZIRST, back the Chemin de Beausoir (sp?) and back into the 'hood. It took me just over 40 minutes, so I'm hoping it was at least 5 miles?

volleyball

I am a firm believer in blogging the highs and the lows. Today was another low. Played VB with the ESMT boys. We have 14 this time, and though I started out hot (first 4 or 5 attacks were all strong kills) we faced two strong teams in our next two games and everyone kind of lost it. Then it sucked for the rest of the time. Yuck. Next week will be better, if only because it can't get much worse!

Bridge run

Easter Monday is a holiday in France and Alan invited me to go to Annecy with his family. Woke up early to do a leg stretcher: 4 miles down to the bridge and back. Didn't take my watch, but the pace was slow, plodding; my legs are sore!

Joyeuse Pâques

I did a long Easter morning bike ride today. Last week I climbed into the Chartreuse Massif, just north of Grenoble; this week I checked out Vercors, the range to the east. Last week I felt a little unsafe: out of food and water, up above the snow line, and nothing warm for my legs, so this week I was over-prepared: my wonderful ColdGear tights + ziptop, fleece, and shell; 2.5L of water, 2 bananas, 2 apples, tuna, yogurt, bread. After getting out of town I climbed for about 40 minutes, straight up, to the Tour Sans Venin, and then on to St. Nizier du Mourcherotte. In St. Nizier I stopped briefly to eat some fruit and check out a WWII memorial. The town sits under this mountain that is topped by an amazing cluster of rock-spires. They shoot right up like oversized organ pipes. Anyways... back to the ride; 40 minutes may not sound like much, but to my poor legs, which are more accustomed to running along the Schulkyill or worse on a hamster wheel in Pottruck, it was more than enough for the day. Having climbed about 600m, I was tempted to turn around and cruise back the way I came. But the route I'd planned for the day had me going out to Lans-en-Vercors, so I changed into warm clothes (I was up at the snow line again) and trucked on for another 6-7 miles. Lans is a cute little Alpine sports town with a bunch of cute small hotels/lodging houses and food for active, outdoorsy types (pizzerias! creperies! and a few hunting-lodge-style full-blown restaurants). Then it was time for payback: having climbed to just over 1000m, I had a swift downhill from Lans and through amazing gorges--sheer rock face towering up hundreds of feet overhead. I zoomed back into Fontaine, around the Bastille, and finally back out to Meylan.

All told it was a really fun day! I was really glad that I continued on to Lans: it's a really cute town and seeing the gorges was an unexpected bonus. Next weekend, I think it has got to be the Chamrousse (the other big collection of mountains, situated to the south west).

No pictures (my camera is still broken and sitting completely unassembled on my desk... trying to get the gears that extend the lens to work again, but no luck yet, sigh) but here's a Google Earth view of my route into Lans on the right and the gorges on the left.

5.4

Did a reasonably quick (36:00) 5.4 miles along the river today. I came home and discovered that Saïd, a Moroccan guy who rents the other room from the family I'm staying with, had made an awesome tangine: potatos, onions, peas, lemons, beef, all cooked in the clay pot, the juices carmelizing and covering everything with a wonderful tangy sauce. I just ate the leftovers on a bed of hot eggs (whites)... absolutely delicious.

10 minutes (!)

It was not meant to be today. I tried to go out for a quick trot and felt like crap (actually, more like puke, but who wants to get into that?!) So, I just packed it in and jogged home. Grand total: 10 minutes on the trail.

Long run!

Longer than I wanted, over 70 minutes. Crossed the river to explore new territory. Made it two towns over, then ran up some hills, then back along the river. Started out running on uneven ground--muddy, bumpy paths through farmer's fields, then a forest trail--but then pushed hard from the turn around all the way home on the hard, packed towpath. Not sure of the distance but I hope 8+!?

Lifting, Sleep!

I did a quick upper body circuit at the INRIA gym, then headed home planning to do a short, intense run. Instead I fell asleep for approximately 9 hours. The reason? I've been reading like crazy. I've already plowed through all my copies of The Atlantic, 1776, and about half of Collapse. But two nights ago I was up late tearing through this (grabbed during our visit to Ann Arbor from my step-dad's pile of throw-away books before their big move to Boulder):

At the age of 37, bestselling author and journalist Bill McKibben stepped out of the ordinary routine of his life to spend a year in "real training" as a cross-country skier. With the help of a trainer-slash-guru, McKibben took on a regimen equivalent to that of an Olympic endurance athlete's, running and skiing for hours every day in preparation for a series of grueling long-distance ski races. What prompted this successful writer with an admitted aversion to competitive sports to push himself so hard, for so long? Partly it was pure selfishness; after a decade as an environmental writer and activist, I needed a break from failing to save the world. But mostly it was curiosity that drove me. By year's end I hoped I'd have more sense of what life lived through the body felt like.
If Long Distance begins as a story about the transformation of the body and what it means to challenge one's physical limits, it evolves into a thoughtful lesson about a wholly different kind of endurance. Halfway through McKibben's training, his father was diagnosed with the most virulent form of brain cancer. As McKibben was reaching peak condition, his father's life lurched toward an end, forcing McKibben to snap out of his self-inflicted self-absorption. He had tried to think of endurance as "the ability to fight through the drama of pain. But now I understood it, too, as a kind of elegance, a lightness that could only come from such deep comfort with yourself that you began to forget about yourself." And the elegance of Long Distance is in its ultimate lesson that each of us has a mind, a body, and a spirit, and we must find our strength in all three realms.

I was captivated by it--not for the athletic bits, which are a somewhat disappointing, but for the bits where he talks about the 6 months from when his family finds out his dad has brain cancer to his death. So many of the descriptions and emotions were things that I felt and saw felt two winters ago when I was going down to Rockland house all those weekends to be with my grandfather in his last 5 months... and it makes me want to take up skiing. Anyone up for doing a loppet? I love cowbells.

VB

i played 3-on-3 with the boys from ESMT again tonight. i felt much better than last time. maybe regaining some speed, more more importantly just playing with a bit of focus/smarter. legs are already feeling it again, but that's good--means they'll get stronger!

i feel the need to add an underwear report to dispell certain myths that are going around about a certain favorite pair of (if you believe the myth, probably also toxically bacterial) underarmour microfiber boxer briefs. aujourd'hui: les grenouilles verts, et sans chaffage!

quick one

after 11.5hrs at INRIA, did 4 miles along the river: 1 mile warmup, 1 mile pushing hard, 1.5 miles short sprint intervals, jogged back from the river to the house.

Update: I finally got caught up with my YTD tracking. I'm through Pittsburgh. As the satellite image shows, when I reach Ohio, the scenery will aparently turn from brown to green. Well I've been there, and let me tell you, this is flat out wrong; Ohio is the armpit of America. The only reason to go to Ohio is to pass through to Michigan. Or Indiana.

Slow Sunday run

Wanted to have an easy day but still get some miles in so I ran the west river loop at a nice easy ("conversational", I think your man Hal would say) pace. Listened to wonderful slow music (Wilco and Sufjan) and just watched the river go by as a gloomy Sunday turned to dusk. Total distance: 7.9 miles in a little less than an hour...

My first two Cols!

Went for a long bike ride today around the mountain that sits behind Grenoble. I'm too tired/hungry to give a full debrief now, but (a) I was high enough that there were still snow banks on the side of the road at the top (b) hitting the little sign marking the Col at the top and seeing that it was more than 1100m was AWESOME!

Biking is the new black.

Update: the bike i bought last week at the "bourse aux vèlos" is a liberia brand (french) from ca. 1983. it looks like it still has many of the original components (e.g., the pedals are those heavy shiny metal kind popular back then). but it was also very well maintained / it looks like it probably sat unused for years in someone's garage. there's a nice english language grenoble cycling page that has details of all these local climbs. i decided to start with the easiest one: a tiny 600m climb over the col de la clémencière, about 15km from my house. i looked on a map and it looked like there was a loop where i'd do the climb, decend, pop out between two mountains west of grenoble, and head back home. so i hammered up the col, stopped at the top to admire the view, eat a banana, and drink some water, and then i flew down the decent. then the road started to climb again! i stopped to look at my map and realized that i'd missed the turn off (it was a tiny road) and that i was headed for the next town (dèviation!). i kept climbing and climbing and climbing... then the trees turned to pines, i noticed snow banks by the side of the road, and worst, the sun started to set... i was getting a little bit worried but i'd remembered the story of my mom and step-dad's frozen day biking in france last fall (they spent all of september climbing in provence including le mont ventoux!) so i'd packed my ziptop, a fleece, and a shell (though no pants, should have brought running tights). i just kept going and hoped i wasn't headed off towards switzerland (you know how there are signs pointing to the next city on the freeway? here those signs say geneve)... at one point i tried to slip into my lowest gear on the rear shifter and the chain shifted right off the gears. i stopped to fix it and another cyclist came up behind me right as i re-mounted. he asked me "ca va?" and i said (in french), "i'm fine, but the bike is lousy". he, riding a fancy look-brand bike glanced down and said "ah! liberia! i used to have a bike like that. then i got this real bike". i laughed, and told him that the real problem was the state of my legs! he laughed, then told me that i could get home by going over the next pass... so i ended up doing a second col (i think col de porte... about 1100m? when i finally got to it i glance at the sign and elevation and can't remember now what it's exact name was). i hit the top right as the sun was about to slip behind the vercours range and flew through several small ski towns down the long, long decent back into grenoble.

Sundown trot

Did the loop to the second bridge = 7 3/4 miles. Going to bed!

Biking around Grenoble

My legs still feel stiff so I decided to mix it up and bike. Did about 90 minutes of riding, but it was stop and start through town with all the traffic lights. I went around to north edge of town to the Bastille, back through Gieres, and a pitstop at Carrefour for some groceries. Hit one nice hill going up towards the Bastille. There's a real Col a few miles further, I'm gonna go back when there is more sunlight.

The skies cleared up today and as I was cycling back to Meylan (west) the view of the sunset hitting the mountains was magnificent.

Did you know that "Mr Clean" is "Mr Propre" in France? Heh. That cracked me up. I know laughing at stuff like that means I'm a wide-eyed tourist (I used to sneer at the Americans noting silly things like that in England).

Two, two, two days in one

Yesterday: played 2.5 hours of volleyball with four guys from the Meylan club. We played beach on an 8m x 8m court. Having not played much in the last few months, I was quite rusty yesterday and sore today. They were really friendly though, and I'm looking forward to next week!

Today I did the same upper body circuits after work as on Monday, then ran 4 miles at sundown to loosen up my legs. 1 mile very slow/easy warmup then pushed as fast as I could go to the turnaround at the bridge. Then on the way back I did a hodge-podge of invervals at varying lengths (~100-300m?) for the first 1.5 miles and jogged the last half mile in as a cool down.

Mixing it up

Lifted arms after work (bench, rowing, curls, military press, tri raises) then ran 5k and jumped around a bit.

First volleyball with the Meylan club is tomorrow night!

soixante-trois minutes

Ran along the river, not very fast for about 8 miles, I think. Legs were hurting from biking straight up hill to church this morning... I'm weak! I need to work more resistance training into this blog.

Quick One

Ran just over 4 miles (if GMaps is accurate! I wish Mappy had a pedometer!) at a hair faster than 6:45 pace, for 27:50 total. This time I was faster going out (13:38) than coming in (what's that leave, 14:12?). It was a beautiful, crisp late spring evening. Maybe I was distracted by the beautiful view of the sunset over the mountains behind Grenoble on the way in?

Tomorrow I launch Operation Vèlo. The local cycling club is having a huge bike sale down at the high school so I'm going to take my 50 euro and see if I can find a scrappy road bike to toot around on for a few months. I'd like to have something light enough to do some of the local climbs. The Tour goes just south of here in July and it'd be fun to go ride on some of the same roads. (Alpe d'Huez is only 65km from here, but I don't think I dare...) Is it silly that my helmet cost ~3X more than either of my bikes will be worth?

Hills again

"Ran" or something, about 5 miles straight up through the low-hanging clouds up the Chartreuse plateau again (a little more than 40 minutes). I went further than last time, all the way up to where the last house is at the top of the road overlooking the Isère valley, and didn't stop to sprint, just chug, chug, chug. I got to the top right as the sun was setting in the west, leaving a beautiful alpenglow on the range to the east, not unlike the photo.

I can't plot my route on GMaps or get an accurate distance measurement because I can't see the road on the low-resolution satellite image, but check out the elevation change!! YTD

River Bend

Ran towards Grenoble proper today, around the big bend on the river, then back into town to buy some groceries. 6.9 miles total. YTD

Long run

I discovered that good ol' Google Maps works in France too! Who knew?

I did 7.76 miles flat, fast miles along the river to the second bridge east of Montbonnot.

YTD

hills!

ran for 38 minutes, straight up the road going up the Chartreuse. Did 17 minutes then had to take a breather. ran the next 3 by sprinting up the straightaways and walking around the hairpin turns. only 14 Minutes down, but that says more about my lack of pace on the way up than anything!

Montbonnot

Ran just over 30 minutes the other way along the river this time. 16 out and 14:40 in!

une demi-heure

Just a leg stretcher today. Half an hour, medium pace/effort. I got caught in an unpleasant downpour on the way home so I was glad that it was a short one. The photo shows the bend of river I've been running.

une heure

actually, only 57 minutes... got a little lost. no idea about distance. have a nice post to write, but not tonight, not on this funny french keyboard!

Update: Ugh. The home I'm staying in has broadband, but something changed and I can no longer hook my laptop up to it! Typing on a french keyboard is painful (the 'q' is where the 'a' is, 'm', is way off to the side, you have to hit shift just to type a '.' or any number. talk about crazy!)

After taking a week off I planned to ramp back up into running slowly; I thought maybe do a few 3-5 mile runs for a week before trying anything longer. Last night didn't quite go to plan...

I didn't leave work until after 6 so by the time I'd gotten home, undergone a little glucose therapy to get ready to run (these delicious little butter cookies from Nantes! I'm going to have to start importing them), and changed it was already 7. It gets dark between 7.30 and 8, so I thought I'd do 5, maybe 6, miles tops. I ran down to the river path, avoiding the detour through farm fields that I took last time, and got to push a bit further down the beautiful wooded dirt trail that runs alongside l'Isère. The scenery was stunningly beautiful: the sun had finally come out yesterday afternoon and burned off the cloud cover that's been hanging over us all week, and for the first time I could see the peaks of some far-away mountains over Grenoble (Chartreuse, the giant massif in the photos from last time looms over Meylan; I live in its shadow). I ran down to the end of the trail, looped around, and saw another beautiful scene: Grenoble and Meylan, a giant dark trough separating me from the lights of the cities, built up on the hill. It's weird, the Isère valley is quite wide here, but from where I was it seemed like the cities wanted to be as far as possible from it. Or maybe the land close to the river has always been farmland, to take advantage of the wet silty soil. Regardless, it gave me the sense of being far away from the busy city and reminded me of running in Western Massachusetts: Gale, Ide, Blair, alongside the Deerfield on Rt 2, up and down the Oxbow...

Came back towards the city on a different path but, at around 40min, found myself on the wrong side of the A41 motorway. Ran alongside it, going away from home still and finally found a path going under it but it left be in the median between the A41 and the 87 (an even bigger motorway!) Ugh. Kept going further but didn't see ANY more openings. Quelle disastre! With the sun now completely gone and dressed in black, I decided it was time to double back. Ran alongside the A41 until I found a bridge over the motorway, and made it back to the house in just under an hour.

La Poste

Early morning (7.15am) 5km into town to the post office and back pour acheter des timbres.

Some stock photos from around Meylan and an aerial photo of the bend of the Isère I ran yesterday:

Running in Meylan

Did my first run in a week! In that time I've moved out of my room and traveled to London, Cambridge, Paris, and Grenoble. Note sure of the distance, but by my watch and with a conservative estimate of my pace, I'd say 6 miles (=10km, since we're in Europe)? The route is BEAUTIFUL. About 1km out of town you go under a bridge and find yourself next to the Isère river (yes, the one that starts at Val d'Isère). There's a running/biking path that goes alongside it, evidently for many miles. The kms are marked off but I got a little lost today so I spent more time running through farmer's fields than on the official path. I'm very excited to be running again! Next I want to investigate some hillier routes.

River shiver

Windy day on the river. Ran 5mi up to the bridges and back. Thought it was warm and headed out in shorts and a t-shirt. Am quite cold now! Had major wind-assistance for a fast trek home.

Catching up

Been a while since I blogged.

Thursday: played VB at Washtenaw County Rec Center, then lifted arms

Friday: 4-5mi run through Bird Hills Park, up Huron River Dr, up Foster Rd, back down Newport

Saturday: same run again

Monday: 5mi run up past boathouse row to the second bridge (Girard Ave?)

YTD

River run

Did a 5.5mi loop up to US Grant and back on the river path. Wish I was doing BSR!!

Evening run

Ran 5K+ up 22nd, around the Art Museum, back on river trail. Took first mile slow (legs a little stiff from sitting all day) then kicked the last 2. YTD

Morning run

Got an early start this AM. 4 miles at Pottruck to start the week @ 1.0 incline in just under 27 minutes (so, ~6:45min/mile pace).

Despite my early start, I ran into an even early starter--the chair of my upcoming my prelim--coming out of the locker room as I was on my way in.

Not a slacker

I'm not actually as much of a slacker as this blog suggests. I was working on this and only slept 4 hours on Tuesday night and 3 on Wednesday. Then I slept all day Thursday and 10 hours on Thursday night. But didn't have time to blog. Anyays, here's the rest of my week.

Tuesday: ate at Rembrandt's with Mike, Meredith, and C in lieu of workout.

Wednseday: Ran 4mi with C @ Pottruck. Was a zombie. Hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, but did 4 miles @ 1.0 incline in ... can't remember but it was around 7min/mile pace.

Thursday: Slept, slept, and slept some more.

Friday: Gym date with C. Ran 4 miles @ 1.0 incline in 26:40 = 6.40min/mile pace; did 3 sets of leg press (15 reps of 255, 255, 275); wrapped up with 3 sets of jumprope circuits (100 jumprope, 20 block jump, 10 attack jumps)

Saturday: did an early morning run on the river with Pavol and Jack's Yacs. About 7.25-7.5 miles up past the rowing shell about 1/2 way to Strawberry Mansion bridge at around 8min/mile pace.

YearToDate

Pottruck

So sad. Everyone else gets to start their training plans, and I have nothing to train for (I will miss BSR, though maybe I will join this). Went to the gym. Ran 5K in 20:44 = 6:41 pace. Then did 12 minutes stairmaster and 3 jump rope circuits (jump rope for 90 seconds, block jumps, attack jumps). Then pigged out on leftover stromboli. Yum again.

YTD

Frozen

OK. I feel like it's only honest to blog my fitness failures also.

I tried to go running yesterday but was turned back by the weather. I have no hat. Gary gave me a wonderful US Ski Team fleece hat that I loved but lost sometime last winter. Then I lost my little fleece ear band. Then TSA lost/stole my TurtleFur hat (though I did get a $700 check from United last week compensating me for it, and everything else that I had stolen from my luggage at Christmas! hooray!). So now I have nothing.

Anyways, long story short, I went out for a river run just after sunset last night. Got to the river and the wind was gusting. My ColdGear kept me warm enough, but without anything to cover them, my big honkin' ears were like little sails catching each gust. I went for about a mile, then it just got too painful so I ran with my gloves over my ears for another 1/8 of a mile. Then I realized that trying to run with my hands on my ears was absolutely ridiculous, so I turned around and came home.

Came home to make and stuff my face with spinach/feta/mushroom/roasted red pepper/BACON/stromboli. Yum.

Pottruck

Gym date with C. Ran 3 miles on the treadmill in 20:30ish? My hamstrings and back have been sore. Ick.

YTD is up into the mountains. It feels like cheating to be logging these miles on a treadmill @ 1.0 incline. Only have to run half-marathons tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday to reach my mileage goal for Feb. Heh. Right.

Pottruck

Ran 4 miles, did 10 minutes stairmaster. YTD

Cheeky 5K

There's always time to squeeze in a quick 5k loop. Did it in reverse this time: up 22nd, around the museum, back down by the river. Good times. YTD

Have been filling my ears with Illinoise, Sufjan Stevens second album (the first was a compilation of songs about the greatest state in the union, Michigan! His project is to do an album for all 50 states) It is soft, sweet, sad music... definitely folksy (banjo, mandolin?). Reminds me of things celestial. Favorite track: Casimir Pulaski Day.

River Run

6mi, up to US Grant statue and back via the Art Museum, Parkway, + 22nd. A little stiff from yesterday so nothing fantastic, just miles. Actually forgot my watch AND iPod today. A PR in forgetfulness :-) YTD with yesterday's cooldown mile.

This blog needs more photos. Unfortunately my camera lens is broken so I'm stuck with other people's pics. This one features at least four fellow bloggers busting some moves at the Foxy wedding.

Hutch VB

Played with the Wharton kids + Mike, Tasha, and Junmin. It was lots of fun, though I was making errors left and right. Want to play more.

Did a quick leg lifting circuit upstairs, ran 1mi to cool down. Weather is warm again. Maybe I'll run outside tomorrow.

Pottruck

Went to the gym early. 30 minutes of cardio (3 mile run @ 7:00 pace, elliptical to round out the rest). Love having the rest of the day in front of me! YTD

Pottruck

Miss Bertozzi phoned me at 8.30 this morning to see if I wanted to run. I checked the weather and it was 15 degrees out so we decided to go to church early instead. Would have liked to do a long run this afternoon but it got cold again as the sun went down and Dimitris and AK were cooking "bunny" for us, so had to keep it short. OK. All of that is a long prelude to saying that by the time I got to the gym, changed, etc., I only had time to do 25 minutes of cardio at Pottruck. Boo!

Hutch

Foiled twice. On Thursday night, the women's club team booted Mike, Cara and I from Hutch. On Friday the gym was set up for a gymnastics meet. It is so difficult to find a court to play on here at Penn! The reason? The Palestra has a court, but well, I wouldn't expect to be able to use it. Weightman, with its beautiful pair of courts is off limits to everyone except varsity teams (and club teams when the varsity coaches are feeling generous). Pottruck has several beautiful new courts, usually at < 50% capacity, but the floor wasn't built strong enough to support volleyball net standards. Which leaves Hutch as the only viable option for non-varsity and non-club grad student "teams" like the Pigs, SWAT, and ISSVC. Unfortunately Hutch is also used for fencing and gymnastic meets, local high school cheerleading jamborees (I'm not kidding) and pretty much anyone in West Philly who wants a pickup basketball game (unlike Pottruck, security is not tight at Hutch which, I suspect, is why the nice new basketball-only courts at Pottruck are barely used but Hutch is constantly crammed with players who get pissed off when our balls fly into their court, or we kick them off the ONLY COURT ON CAMPUS). Hmm. I guess I'm a little annoyed. Oh well, soon it'll be summer and I can play at Drexel or with my grass net. Hooray. Or maybe I'll find a team in Grenoble to practice with.

Yes, I don't know if I've mentioned this: I'm going to INRIA Rhône Alpes for either 6 or 12 weeks in mid-March. Woot.

OK. Today's workout: 20 minutes of hills on the elliptical, then 3.5mi on the treadmill. 44 minutes total cardio. YTD

Anyone up for a long group run this weekend? Meet at the Art museum and do Strawberry Mansion (~5mi) or the full Falls Rd (8.4mi?) loop? It would be fun to run with a big group...

Morning Run

Did an early run of a little more than 4mi up the river path with Pavol. YTD

Pottruck

Did 6mi on the treadmill. I don't normally run more then 3-4 miles inside--too boring and the miles click by so slowly when you are forced to sit in front of Dr. Phil. But the one thing I like about the treadmill is the ability to dial up a pace and go right at that pace for a fixed amount of time. Today did a ladder of sorts: 1.5mi @ 10.30, 1 mi @ 6.20, .5 mi @ 3.10 then back down again once more: 1.5mi @ 10.10, 1mi @ 6.15, .5mi @ 3.30. Much more fun than slogging for 40 minutes straight! Saw Lainie on my way out for a drink between ladders.

YTD

Catching up

Played volleyball @ Hutch on Friday night for a little over an hour.

Ran at Pottruck this morning: 4 miles @ 7min pace and 1.0 incline. Biked to cool down and round out 35 minutes of cardio.

Frosty 5K

Ran 5K along the river as per the training plan. It is COLD out there--32 degrees F. Wait, that shouldn't be so cold for a boy from Michigan. I've played baseball in colder (HBP = no fun!). Pushed a bit on the second half, came in at 20:56 = 6:45 pace.

YTD zips through Gettysburg (pictured). Need to run 82 miles in 21 days to reach monthly goal. Seems a little unlikely given all my weekend and work plans.

Pottruck

Hit the gym with my special lady friend. Some beginning speedwork on the treadmill to prepare for BSR: 9 minute warmup, then 4 sets of .5mi run at 6:00 pace with 1:00 jogging in between to recover, 5 minutes to cool down. Then lifted arms. Fun!

YTD enters Gettysburg.

Baby it's cold outside!!

Another frozen outdoor run. Thankful for ColdGear! Ran up to Leif then back by--gasp!--another route. Yes, I am getting bored with the river path. Swung around the museum, down the parkway, then down 22nd to finish it off. Nice change of scenery, though stopping for the lights at Race, Market, and Spruce was annoying. It's hard to get your sprint on when the same taxis who try to mow you down on your bike during the day are speeding around corners and through red lights... oh yeah, and you're wearing all black. Speaking of my black getup, by far the funniest moment of my run came in the first 5 steps. I ran across 22nd, up over the curb and hopped over a little tree box. Standing on the sidewalk near that box was a short, petite blond girl. She was staring at something on the ground when I hopped and looked up as I was mid-leap. I imagine having a 6' boy, dressed in black, mid-jump coming towards you is a little surprising. She jumped out of her shoes and gave a little yelp, then started laughing. I laughed too, apologized and ran off.

With today and yesterday YTD inches ever slowly towards Gettysburg.

Move along, nothing to see here

Ran 2mi (in 13:14!) on varied virtual treadmill terrain, and lifted legs (leg press, hamstrings, quads, calves, lunges).

Cold! No really, it's freakin' cold!!

Woke in my new smaller, and hence well-heated, room to a view of beautiful blue skies out the window. My mind was tricked into thinking that the weather would be mild. Hit the river trail for my "long" run woefully underdressed. Did a loop out W River Dr to Strawberry Mansion then back on Kelley Dr to the Art Museum where I gave in to the cold wind on my bare skin and snuck inside to warm up. Walked back down 22nd. 7.25mi total running. Not the 9-10 I was hoping for, but miles nevertheless. Forgot my watch, but I think the pace was OK (after a 10ish minute slow warmup). YTD

Pottruck

Today was a very exciting day. I got to do JERM circuits with JeRM himself (in town visiting because his fiancée had an interview for the PhD program at Temple this morning). Warmed up with slightly less than 2.5mi of running on the treadmill in ~16:30, then biked for 5mi (about 10 minutes). Didn't feel great running, but it's OK--I wanted to save up for a long run this weekend and my legs have felt toasted for a few days now. Then upstairs for quick JERMs (bench, row, shoulder press, triceps)!! Saw Nolan and Lainie lifting on the 3rd floor. YTD

US Grant

Up to US Grant and back = 6mi on the nose in 42:26. Felt fast going out, then turned around and realized I'd had a strong tailwind the whole way out. Slogged back down boathouse row in the same (now) headwind, then turned the corner at the Art Museum and it lessened for the last 1.5mi. Saw Heidi running the other way at the top of the little rise at Spring Garden Bridge. YTD

Groundhog's Day Eve

So everybody and their mom has a fitness blog now (sorry Becky, I know you're not a mom but you're the only Mrs. with a fitness blog that I know).

Started February off with a bang. A 7mi bang up to the rowing shell and back. Still feeling sluggish from lack of sleep, but my pace wasn't as bad as I thought it was: 7:10 minutes/mile. I did the bit from Leif to home pretty quickly and basically sprinted from Market... which helped. Fun things from this run: the stillness of the river and the lights from the west side reflected under the SEPTA bridge at mile 2.5, the funny runner singing at the top of his lungs and doing intervals around mile 3, the brand new, shrink-wrapped Vespoli shell on Boathouse row begging me and 7 friends (and one short, light, loud friend) to put it in the river and put it to use (not that I know how to row).

YTD stops smack in the middle of York.

So tired

Haven't slept much in a couple days. Would have liked to hammer out a long run and tack on some mileage to January's total, but only had time/energy for a 5K on the river path. Weather is cold and windy. All the fair-weather weekend runners ("freakin' pansies" as Matt put it) have evaporated.

YTD for month one = 81mi. Hope to bump it up and reach 200mi by the end of February.

Pottruck

No lazy Sunday this week so easy Monday workout. Hit the gym and ran 3.12 treadmiles (har har) = 5K in 20:45.

YTD

Shakedown

Ran an easy 5mi with Dimitris, up to the first set of bridges after Boathouse Row and back. Saw Prof Michael Kearns at the turnaround.

YTD is to the Susquehanna!

Bookends

Yesterday ran 1mi at Hutch, then lifted arms again (wasn't sore from yesterday, too few reps for the weight I was doing.)

Today did another long run to round out the week. I ran the Falls Bridge loop = 11mi @ an easy, 7:45/mi pace.

YTD is through Lancaster, almost to banks of the Susquehanna. Then on to York!

Pottruck

Hot gym date. Ran for 25 minutes (3.75 miles) on the treadmill, lifted arms briefly. YTD

Brr!

Another cold one and not quite as fresh today. Just 4 miles, up to Leif and back. YTD is slowly closing in on Lancaster.

Lazy Sunday

...equals long run on Monday. Ran up to just past Strawberry Mansion bridge = ~9 1/3 miles at 7:25 pace. YTD

Lifting

Ran just enough to sweat, then JERM circuits.

Brr!!

Cold 7miler up to rowing shell and back. YTD is starting to get somewhere:

Pottruck

Slow 5K (can't remember exactly... it was 20:50-21:00 or so?) YTD

Hutch

Played VB then did 10 minute warmup on treadmill and lifted upper body.

Legs

Ran 5.25 miles on the river, then did a legs circuit at Pottruck. YTD

Thurs, Sat

Thursday ran 4+ miles on the river path. YTD

Saturday went to the YMCA in NH. Erged a 2K and did a hurried upper body Nautilus.

Pottruck

Ran a 20:40 5K on the treadmill, then did a leg circuit.

Virtual YTD:http://tinyurl.com/9fseh

YTD

new fun gmap idea (stolen from another blog): i'm going to plot my progress on a virtual run west using google map pedometer. here's my year-to-date mileage: http://tinyurl.com/crvsh

Rowing Shell

First long run of 2006, just under 7mi. Today's blue skies, clear sun, warm air added up to a day made for running; and running was made for days like today.

Pottruck

Only ran 2.5 miles, JERM circuits, still late for dinner :(

My favorite

Early morning Sunday river run. In a hurry so could only go up to Lief. About 3.5 miles?

Pottruck

late trip to gym. ran just enough to break a sweat (~10 minutes), then leg circuits.

Pottruck

45 minutes cardio

Pottruck

Ran a little (2mi) lifted a little (JERM's circuits)

Catching up

Put the computer away for Cara's visit to the Hood Canal. The running shoes went away too. Did the same run again once, played ultimate once, and did 35 minutes cardio at the Olympia YMCA. Otherwise sat on my butt.

Squamish Bay Run

Same run, with C-Dog.

Squamish Bay Run

Same run, 36:00.

Squamish Bay Run

Ran 5mi at slow pace along the Hood Canal. Felt OK for the first two miles. Then rounded a corner and saw three hills, reminiscent of the trio at the start of the Blair Road run at Williams. The third hill was a wall; short but very, very steep. Topped out, then down the back side of the same hill, out to the water's edge then back the same route.

Trail

Wet, muddy run through (surprisingly nice) pine forest trail in suburbia. Had to do two loops, still only 3.5mi.

Issaquah

Ran 3-4 miles. No watch, unsure of the turn around.

Issaquah

Ran a little more than 5mi near MS house. In the rain. Yuck.

Thank you Microsoft

Did 50 minutes cardio at Dad and Susanne's sports club. Very, very swanky. 20:40 5K and 30 minutes elliptical. Woot.

Sunday Morning River Run

Ran another fun loop that brings back nice summer memories: out to the rowing shell and back. Just a hair under 7mi, though I ran it at a quite slow pace (forgot my watch again so nothing to tell me just how slow, happily). Lots of Sunday morning sights and sounds: familiar faces of runners and bikers from the summer still out on the river path, though now clad in hats, gloves, and tights, smells of wood fires near Fitler square, nice view of the roof of Memorial Hall in Fairmont Park through bare trees just after the turnaround, Clare's hip-hop hookup in my ears.

5K river run

Ran an old friend: just up to Waterworks and back. Didn't have my watch, but it felt fast and I went all out from JFK to the Locust tracks.

Hutch VB

Played volleyball last night with a Pigs/SWAT mixed crew (Mike, Patrick, Leslie, Cara, John, Chris). Felt incredibly slow/inept and am quite sore today.

Foiled!

Another gym date, of sorts. PennRec is doing free classes during finals as a stress reliever. Wanted to do a spinning class but whilst [that's for you, Clare Bear] changing in the locker room dry air and forceful pre-workout nose blow caused gushing nose bleed. Ick. By the time it stopped and I got upstairs, spinners were already spinning quite rapidly so I just did 25 minutes cardio + lifted instead.

Pottruck

40 minutes cardio.

Pottruck

55 minutes cardio: 27 minutes running (4 and a little miles), 18 minutes elliptical, 10 minutes bike.

Pottruck

Another gym date. 25 minutes running, 10 minutes on bike. Run did NOT feel good.

Pottruck

This week was a clean sweep. 35 minutes (3mi run, filled the rest with elliptical).

Pottruck

40 minutes cardio (25 running, 15 elliptical).

Pottruck

30 minutes cardio, JERM circuits.

P'ruck

30 minutes cardio, leg circuits.

Pottruck

40 minutes cardio (25 running, 15 elliptical)

Pottruck liftage

Post party Pottruck run. No energy for good cardio but did 20 minutes of light running + stationary bike, then lifted legs and did JERM circuits.

Hutch Stinkage

Played IM semis and finals. Beat Twelve but lost to ISSVC 2-1 in a close but completely frustrating match. Both sides sort of stunk it up and the Pigs stopped playing in the 2nd and 3rd set because of some co-ed rotation malarkey. Totally frustrating. I want to play better.