Irony

Which is most ironic?

Eating Chinese food (take-out) while watching "Top Chef"?

Eating steak and venison sticks while browsing vegan recipes online?

Shooting up heroin while watching "Intervention"?

I enjoy the ironic. The third example I don't have personal experience with, but the story was relayed to me by another person (also not the heroin user). I laughed, because I'm sure they didn't notice their own irony.

Weekly Running Update (11/4 -11/10/09)

Weekly running mileage: 46 miles (planned 66 miles)

Wednesday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). Still chugging away at the first season of "Lost". Very motivating and entertaining.

Thursday: 8 miles at 6.7mph + 8x0.06mi at 10mph (planned 8+ miles). Finished up "Lost". Onward to season 2. I'm not going to talk about the possible signs of over training I might be showing, or the slight calf pain.

Friday: 12 miles (planned 12 miles). Slept like crap the night last night, and for that matter, the night previous to that. After the run, is that MORE calf pain? Does my HEEL hurt?

Saturday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). At about 4 miles in I should have stopped. Probably should have just skipped it because I hurt most of the run.

Sunday: 11 miles (planned 11 miles). Wasn't sure whether to do it or not, but did. Felt fine the entire time and afterwards. You know what I think part of the problem is? I think my shorter runs are WAY too slow, because those short and slow runs are the worst. I feel fine with longer and faster runs.

Monday: 0 miles (planned 6 miles). Had dinner with a few friends after work and didn't get home until 11:30p. Probably doesn't hurt to take a day off.

Tuesday: 3 miles (planned 17 miles). I had to really convince myself to even start this run, as I just didn't feel like doing it. I really think I could have done this run, but after 3 miles I decided to stop. I kind of regret that decision now (at 10:30p), but it just is the way it is.

The main reason I felt like I was possibly over-training was because I slept like crap all week: tossing, turning, crazy dreams, never waking feeling rested. Felt like I was getting a cold, kind of, but not really. The weird calf-pain is probably mileage induced (too much over too short of time).

Plan for next week will be to step back on miles, run the shorter recovery runs faster to see if that helps.

Weekly Running Update (10/28 -11/3/09)

Weekly running mileage: 50 miles (planned 50 miles)

Wednesday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 0 miles)

Thursday: 9 miles at 6.7 mph (planned 6 miles)

Friday: 0 miles (planned 9 miles). Worked all day before taking the camper on a journey up to the Two Harbor's hunting land. I was not going to get up at 4:30 to do this run before leaving.

Saturday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). I give myself a "C+" for camper parking. This involved backing the camper down a narrow rough little logging road, attempting to keep it "level", jacking up and removing the two tires to keep it from running off. Well, I backed it in without breaking anything It's really not level, although could be, if I'd been able to successfully jack it up all the way. Only got one tire removed. I doubt anyone will steal it before RR can fix it location next Saturday and get the other tire off.

Sunday: 10+ miles 6.7mph (planned 10+ miles). Still watching the first season of "Lost". I though I'd already seen it all, but I guess I must have previously only watched the first two DVD's.

Monday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles)

Tuesday: 13 miles at average of 6.09mph (planned 13 miles). Took about an hour break after 1.19 miles to receive some freshly processed mule deer venison, fresh from RR and V's hunting trip.

My runs this week were a little re-arranged from what was originally planned, but I successfully finished the week without having to be up early.

Weekly Running Update (10/21 -10/27/09)

Weekly running mileage: 52 miles (planned 48 miles)

Wednesday: 4 miles at 5.5mph (planned 0 miles). Remember last Monday when I started my planned run very late because I'd had dinner with a friend? And I then let a phone call interrupt and ultimately end my run 4 miles early? Well this was payback. Enjoyable payback, however, as I watched a very entertaining episode of "Top Chef".

Thursday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). I didn't have much selection at Blockbuster. I would have liked to immediately continue with season 3 of "The L Word" but the didn't have it. I decided I'd watch "Lost" instead. I'd watched the first season years ago on the treadmill, but thought it'd be best if I started over again now.

Friday: 9 miles at 6.7mph (planned 9 miles). Did this run while doing some major multi-tasking... baking chicken while running.

Saturday: miles (planned 6 miles). Was up north at Sure Game Resort, northwest of Grand Rapids. Instead of doing my planned run (which I was never really planning on doing) we did about 8 miles of hiking at Scenic State Park and around the Lost 40. I call this at least the equivalent of the planned/unplanned slow 6 miles.

Sunday: 9 miles at 6.7mph + 8x0.6mi repeats at 9mph (planned 9+ miles). This run felt great. I was starting to think that I couldn't/shouldn't expect myself to run comfortable at a 9min/mi pace until I got my running chops back, but this run went very well.

Monday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). I may have to pick up my "slow" pace because it's starting to feel painfully slow.

Tuesday: 12 miles at an average of 6.13mph while moving (planned 12 miles). This run kinda sucked as I was having stomach problems. I blame this on either a) new Omega-3 supplement sample I received and started yesterday, b) "fat burner" supplements I re-started today (had taken w/o problem in the past), or c) 6 rather-small chocolate chip cookies I received from my Grandma (after Boston Market for lunch). I finished the miles, but had to stop too often, dragging the run longer than planned.

I know I'm a real woman because...

... we had a flat tire on my truck up north on Sunday, luckily while still at the resort at which we were staying and not while on the drive home. Until we enlisted the help of the resort owner, I was definitely in charge of the tire-changing process, and I actually felt pretty confident in making it happen. But at no point did it ever occur to me to actually lie down on the wet, cold, pine-needled ground and scootch under the truck. Yes, I did kneel down while detaching the spare, but I put a towel down so I wasn't kneeling on the ground. However EVERY single man who is now helped with the tire immediately was down on the ground. Heck, at the gas station today the tire-man laid himself down on the parking lot asphalt.

(Aside: All this lying down didn't really seem to be necessary or accomplish much more than I could do while squatting. I wasn't going to argue with anyone's technique, however, as I don't need to do any more "man stuff" than I already do.)

Weekly Running Update (10/14 -10/20/09)

Weekly running mileage: 32 miles (planned 36 miles)

Wednesday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 0 miles). Already skipping my rest days. Actually I just preemptively switched my planned Wednesday and Thursday runs as I was giving blood after work on Thursday and didn't want to commit to running after that. I have a history of fainting as I stand and eat my post-donation snack. And also a history of this.

Thursday: 0 miles (planned 6 miles). Successfully shared some of my O+ with the world. No fainting. Forced myself to sit at the recovery table for 10 minutes eating pretzels. My blood pressure prior to giving was 88/58. Does that seem awfully low?

Friday: 6 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles)

Saturday: 0 miles (planned 0 miles). I scored some free tickets to the Home Improvement Expo at the Mpls Convention Center, so Eforce and I headed down there. I bought a book called "Whiteout" by a local author. I think the author is local; the publisher is.

Sunday: 8 miles at 6.7mph (planned 8+ miles). Also did a little speed work: 0.06mi x4 at 9mph (That's for you, Steve... I know you like to see me write in treadmill lingo). I planned on doing x8, but I noticed that although I'd feel fine running the fast speed I would feel pretty crappy for the time between repeats (0.06mi at 5mph... I'm not going to spend the time to convert that to minutes). My heart would feel like it was pounding out of my chest even the I could tell my pulse was racing. And then I started feeling a little faint. After the 4th repeat my world started swimming around me and I decided I really didn't want to risk passing out and flying off the back end of the treadmill. We were supposed to go golfing at Bunker Hills Golf Course in the afternoon. For X-mas about 2 years ago I gave RR a gift certificate for a round of golf that we keep putting off. And we did yet again. Maybe 2010?

Monday: 2 miles at 5.5mph (planned 6 miles). Got together with a friend for dinner (Potbelly's with a chocolate malt) and didn't get home until late.

Tuesday: 10 miles at 6.7mph (planned 10 miles). Finished the second season of "The L Word." Now I need to decide what I'm going to watch next; do I immediately jump to season 3 (which will involve renting it from Blockbuster) or do I watch "The World At War" (which I already have at my house)?

Weekly Running Update (10/11-10/13/09)

Weekly running mileage: 15 miles

Sunday: Watched a "Numb3rs" marathon on TNT and then the Twins. No running.

Monday: 5 miles, rather slow.

Tuesday: 10 miles

Yes, this was quite the short "week" if you count the number of days, but I ran more miles than last week. I'm still plugging away at "The L Word" and I continue to have the same opinion: some of the story lines are SO contrived, but I really do enjoy it. I also have "The World at War" to watch next. My other television watching goals include "Lost". And maybe the last 4 seasons of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". I also think I'm behind on "The Shield" and "24". I had better get running.

Why would I do a mid-week report like this? Well, I'm starting a training plan tomorrow and it will just be more organized if I mirror my reporting week to a training week. Makes sense, right?