End of Year Wrap-Up

Wow, has it really been four months since I last wrote? Well, I'm posting now so that I don't end 2008 -- a watershed year indeed for many of us -- without at least one final post for the year.

I've actually been running, believe it or not. I had every intention of running during my working holiday in Singapore back in September, and had even brought my shoes, socks, and at least two sets of clothing -- one to wear, one to wash -- so that I wouldn't have any excuse. I had the motivation, the will and the training behind me.

What I didn't have, however, was the realization of what 95% humidity and such close proximity to the equator would do to even the most devoted runner's good intentions.

Ohhhhh....daaaaaaaaaaaamn. Singapore was more than hot. It was more than sweltering. I'm sure the Chinese and Malays possess a word that adequately describes the Lion City's climate, but it doesn't exist in English. In any case, I did no running at all those three weeks, although I did plenty of walking. I think we walked at least a half-dozen miles each day. The heat was so oppressive that we actually ate less than we normally do, mostly because we were overheating too much to really do much more than sigh heavily and wipe the sweat of our brow. Elegant, huh?

Anyway, I went back to running within two weeks after we returned and remained strong and consistent until about mid-December, when my ulcerative colitis got the best of me and I had to move my running indoors. I've been on the treadmill at the gym ever since, and while it's not always easy to run 45, 50 minutes on a treadmill facing an office park and small, forlorn children's playground, the Sansa mp3 player I got as an early Xmas present to myself helps tremendously.

So here you go. I've done pretty well in my running this year, better than I have the past three or four, and am proud of myself for sticking through weather (except in Singapore), travel and illness. I wish I'd been able to run a half-marathon as I had planned, but I'm looking towards 2009 now. I've some plans for the new year that might involve at least one half and a couple of 10k's, but I'm waiting until late February to finalize them. (I was too late to sign up for the Canyonlands Half in Moab in March, a real bummer as my editor and his wife are running it and it would've been nice to join them.)

In the meantime, the only resolutions I really have for the new year are to do less and finish my novel. By "do less," I mean that I want to suppress the tendency that I have to overschedule myself with projects that ultimately have very little personal meaning for me. I want to finally finish this book and get it out of my plate, out into the world where it will hopefully find a publishing home. And of course, I want to continue my running progress and perhaps run a half-marathon by the end of the year. Small goals, to be sure, but doable, I hope.

4.86 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 1 hour, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 12:21
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 4.86 miles
Miles this week: 20.63 miles
Weather: Sunny, low humidity (~22%), cool at ~68 F.
X-Training: 50 pushups, 80 crunches.
Weight: 117.5 lbs.

That's right. I lost 1.5 pounds. Yay, me!!! Finally, the scale is starting to weigh in my favor. Huh. I guess cutting back on the excessive cheese consumption does help. Go figure.

Good run this morning. Started out rather slow, mostly because I didn't do a long walking warm-up, but picked up slowly and kept a steady pace throughout. My knees are a little sore now, but I'm feeling great otherwise. Always good to have a solid long run behind you.

Pre-run snack: 1 Pop-Tart.
Breakfast: 1 Pop-Tart, 1 glass chocolate milk.

Friday:
Breakfast: 1 mixed berry scone, 1 small skim cafe au lait.
Snack: 1 package Club Crackers w/ cheese.
Lunch: Tomatoes and mozzarella on whole wheat bread.
Snack: handful of M&M's.
Dinner: 2 cups rice, 4 small slices tonkatsu. (Nothing like deep-fried and battered pork to skew the scale numbers, huh?

4.01 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 45 min, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 11:12
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 4.02 miles
Miles this week: 15.77 miles
Weather: Sunny, low humidity (~24%), cool at ~65 F.
X-Training: None.
Weight: 119 lbs.

That's better! I kept up a good, steady pace until about 4:00, then picked it up the last quarter mile. I can keep this up for another couple of weeks, then hopefully I can start inching back up to 11:00. I don't mind not breaking 11:00 steadily yet, as long as I'm healthy and injury-free. (That should be my mantra, otherwise I can really overdo it.)

Pre-run snack: 1 Pop-Tart.
Breakfast: 1 Pop-Tart, glass of chocolate milk.
Snack: 1 small, skim cafe au lait.

Wednesday:
Lunch: 3 chicken Parmesan pieces; sauteed red pepper slices; 1 slice ciabatta bread.
Snack: 1 package granola bar.
Dinner: 1 Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread pizza.

Must. Eat. More. Veggies.

4.15 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 45 min, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 10:51
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 4.15 miles
Miles this week: miles
Weather: Sunny, moderate humidity (~45%), cool at ~65 F.
X-Training: None.
Weight: 119 lbs.

I actually did run Sunday (long run, 1 hour) and Saturday (45 minutes), but never got around to logging either one. Oops! But yes, I did end up missing 2 days of running last week, but s'okay. My body needed it.

Today was definitely my fastest since I started running regularly a couple of months ago, but this wasn't necessarily a great thing. Had to stop a little after mile 4 to walk for 30 seconds, as I was getting a wee bit light-headed. Not the smartest thing to do, run out too fast, but what can I say? It was cool, I actually felt good (funny, considering how little sleep I got last night, about 4 hours), and, well, I was disappointed with my run yesterday (pace about 12:26) and Sunday (~15:00, which might as well have been a walk). Yesterday can be partly attributed to bad allergies -- it was hard to get a full breath at times. Today, I had no problems. I'm on my 2nd day on this new OTC med that my doctor gave me to try and alleviate the allergy symptoms, and whaddya know, it might actually be working.

Got a little too excited today, but I feel good anyway!

Oh, and yesterday I did 50 push-ups! Yay, me!

Pre-race snack: 1 strawberry Pop-Tart.
Breakfast: 1 glass chocolate milk; cinnamon granola bar.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: 1 glass chocolate milk; granola bar.
Lunch: PB&J on whole wheat toast, 1 lowfat Colby cheese stick.
Dinner: 4 pieces Chicken Parmesan; 2 cups pasta with homemade marinara sauce (tomatoes, Anaheim pepper, jalapeno). Yum!

4.1 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 45 min, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 10:59
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 3.96 miles
Miles this week: 8.06 miles
Weather: Sunny, low-to-moderate humidity (~27%), cool at ~61 F.
X-Training: 45 pushups, 80 crunches, 1:30 plank pose.
Weight: 119 lbs.

Wow! I finally, finally broke an 11:00 pace! Woo hoo!

Of course, that's nowhere near my usual 9:45-10:00 pace from a few years ago, but what the hell. I've only been running consistently for two months; although I've been running off-and-on for years, this is the first time since 2002 that I've really stuck to a training schedule. It's not especially difficult, but it's definitely not as easy as it was when I was 29.

I have to admit, this was more challenging today, so I don't know if I can do it again tomorrow, but I'll definitely try. My allergies keep me from getting a full breath, so that doesn't help. But not bad at all.

Pre-run snack: 1 large banana.
Breakfast: 3/4 cup homemade granola; 3/4 cup plain yogurt; 1 half-glass chocolate milk.
Lunch: PB&J on whole wheat bread; half a nectarine (it tasted awful, so I didn't finish it).

3.96 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 45 min, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 11:22
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 3.96 miles
Miles this week: 3.96 miles
Weather: Partly cloudy, low-to-moderate humidity (~30%), cool at ~66 F.
X-Training: 45 pushups, 80 crunches, 1:30 plank pose.
Weight: 119 lbs.

Didn't run Monday, as B. was sick and I wanted to spend time with him. Didn't run Tuesday, as I had deadlines, and I wanted to meet B. for coffee before starting work. That meant 3 straight days of not running (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this morning's run was quite good. I was really worried, as I had a horrible night's sleep last night and probably slept no more than 3 hours, but I thought perhaps a slow run would wake me up. Whaddya know, I was only a few seconds slower than usual, so I'm happy.

Breakfast: 1 cup homemade granola; 1 cup plain yogurt; 1 half-glass organic chocolate milk.
Snack: 1 oatmeal raisin cookie.
Lunch: (late) Angus Beef Sammie at Quizno's; 1 small bag chips; couple of handfuls of homemade whole grain crackers.
Dinner: 4 oz baked chicken parmesan; 1 cup rice; 1 cup corn with pat of butter and Mrs. Dash.

4.57 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 60 min, plus 8 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down, then 15 min stretching
Pace: 13:08
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 4.57 miles
Miles this week: 20.68 miles
Weather: Mostly cloudy, moderate humidity (~45%), cool at ~60 F.
X-Training: Weight training, upper body, 20 minutes..
Weight: 119 lbs.

Yay, me! I finally lost significant weight. Specifically, I lost 1.5 lbs this past week. Finally. I guess my body really does prefer to eat several small meals throughout the day, rather than three-squares-and-a-snack. I do feel better and more energetic, less lethargic, when I adopt that regimen. Much easier on my digestion, that's for sure.

The run this morning was the slowest I've done in a while, but it was still a good pace. B. joined me for this one, which is always fun, and we had a good time. Started out rather slow, and oddly my knee was a little sore at times. I wonder if running too slow can be more detrimental to my form than a faster pace. But it was good, as we were able to keep up a running conversation. Always key when you're doing a long run. I hope that next week, though, we can at least break 13:00. I think that not getting enough sleep last night was the reason behind our slow, sluggish start. We picked it up halfway through, though.

Oh, and I didn't have anything to eat beforehand. Ran out of Pop-Tarts and bananas, dammit!

Pre-run snack: None.
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg; 1 small glass OJ; 1 cup rice with sesame seeds.
Snack: 1 small cafe au lait, skim; 1 Reese's Big Cup.
Lunch: half turkey and havarti panini.
Snack: Twister with M&M's and cookie dough!
Dinner: rice and miso soup; 1 Reese's Big Cup. (What can I say? I love Reese's Big Cup.)

Friday:
Lunch: 1 thin-crust slice of Aegean pizza; 1 small slice Big Kahuna pizza.
Dinner: rice; miso soup; sauteed peppers; hard-boiled egg.