tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70883528658968720272024-02-06T19:09:21.268-08:00Cookie's on the Go...Againsarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-3702249983087118482020-04-29T00:23:00.000-07:002020-04-29T00:23:40.751-07:00FU, PFI made 36 incentive charts today, chronicling the next 72 weeks of my life: recovery, with the goal of returning to an actual running program.
I've been fighting through yet another round of plantar fasciitis since last year, it now being a chronic enemy twelve years in the making. The first bout struck in NYC in 2008, after naively changing my daily commute from taking the subway to sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-33699057217482804892014-12-10T09:52:00.001-08:002014-12-10T09:52:23.536-08:00Forward MotionI finished my (possibly) last marathon last month, in conditions brutal enough to make seasoned NYC marathoners quit the course before the halfway mark. For those of you who have been following the blog for these past 7 (seven!) years, I won't bore you with the mile-by-mile recap. Suffice it to say the course was spectacularly wonderful and cruel, as only marathons can be, and there sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-30057787796266833362014-12-05T06:28:00.002-08:002014-12-05T06:28:29.726-08:00Food is FuelIt's a weird thing, to motivate your muscles with your mind.
It's a lot like that scene in that Tarantino classic 'Kill Bill': Uma Thurman, just out of her coma, drags herself (using only her arms) through a basement-level parking lot, and hauls herself into a truck to audibly concentrate on re-animating her body, simply by saying aloud to her toe "wiggle your big toe"... despite having been sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-28744914756153973102014-08-03T10:50:00.003-07:002014-08-03T10:50:31.019-07:00Getting NowhereI surrendered to an indoor run last weekend, on a treadmill, because humidity.
During the hour and forty-three minutes I was treading along, the lack of scenery made me acutely self-aware of the aches and pains of continual running, suddenly illuminated by having to stay in one spot.
I don't think the mind is made for stasis. Or static. There's something in the motion of running that sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-8712756747180465512014-07-22T14:40:00.001-07:002014-07-22T14:40:32.752-07:00Breath BowlingI recently visited the pulmonologist, to check on my lungs. I've reached a point in my tempo runs where the bottom of my lungs constrict, and the back of my throat gets tight. Makes it a little harder to breathe, but nothing I haven't really dealt with before. However, with the amount of running I've been doing, I expected that I'd be seeing a marked improvement in my lung sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-25304236480285870552014-07-09T08:43:00.000-07:002014-07-09T08:43:02.505-07:00Throw in the TowelCross-training.
It's a lovely thing.
When you're tired of running, you can go work out in some other way.
Like in a swimming pool. There's nothing quite as fulfilling as swimming through the crisp, cool waters of an Olympic-sized pool on a bright day, swiftly gliding through the water instead of pounding the scorching pavement.
I was lucky to grow up around outdoor pools. Clean, outdoor sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-80838412613506961332014-07-02T07:03:00.000-07:002014-07-02T07:03:57.343-07:00Hunger GamesRunning almost every day makes you hungrier, and at weird times. And by weird times, I mean, like all the time. It's a logical enough equation: expend calories, get hungry, refuel body's caloric deficit, resume life. But I think my body is confused about when it's okay to get hungry, and when it's not okay to get hungry.
It feels sort of like having a sugar-drunk toddler hangingsarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-49721919092985413192014-06-25T12:59:00.002-07:002014-06-25T12:59:54.266-07:00Free Breadsticks at Olive GardenThere's this joke about elite athlete heart rates...
Question: What does (insert Olympic athlete's name here) heartbeat sound like?
Answer: Boom. (pause 5 seconds)...Boom.
The joke being that it only takes one heartbeat every 5 seconds to circulate the blood instead of the regular-human, two-beat cycle every 2 seconds.
Let's talk about heart rate.
The basics:
Heart - the boom-boom thingy in sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-51521676487575141722014-06-16T11:59:00.001-07:002014-06-16T11:59:06.711-07:00Typed OutI have a tiny notebook calendar I carry in my gym bag. If you leaf through it, from now until November, each day has a note written on it. The note, in my handwriting, tells me what type of workout (or rest) is on tap for that day. Each day. For the next 20-something weeks.
I leafed through that tiny notebook calendar this past weekend, reviewing that little piece of stapled-togethersarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-71232212657267140382014-05-21T10:23:00.001-07:002014-05-21T10:23:41.793-07:00HIIT Me Baby, One More TimeI've been doing base training before I kick off the official marathon training. Base training has consisted of some running, a bunch of rest days, and recently, some HIIT workouts - which some people may know as "High Intensity Interval Training", but should actually be called "Horrifically Insufficient Inhalation Trials."
For those of you who are not familiar, HIIT workouts are sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-44973521980181201892014-05-02T09:58:00.000-07:002014-05-02T09:58:02.236-07:00Walking is a Strategy, Not a Surrender"You ran how many miles? For how long?"
I'm still surprised when people are awed by the idea of running of marathon. Granted, 26 miles is not a short distance, but after you've run that far for that long, the shimmer of the feat wears dull. The truth is, the race is only shocking when you imagine how much time you have to spend doing one thing repetitively, sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-87270368782623470702014-04-14T10:33:00.000-07:002014-04-14T10:33:02.864-07:00Spring AwakeningI sat in front of my computer last night, diligently plotting out my daily workouts for the next 7 months in preparation for the marathon. In writing, this may seem ludicrous. However, it's a necessary step in mentally and (eventually) physically preparing for the race.
Let me be clear: the marathon training is a 20 week endeavor, and tacked on beforehand is a necessary 6-8 week "sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-82645129338015240072014-03-28T06:43:00.001-07:002014-03-28T06:43:31.328-07:00...All those bridges will surely kill meSeems fitting that the last post I did was nearly two years ago, to the anniversary of the NYC Marathon. Here I am, returning to these pages of my personal running history, documenting the beginning of the journey to the 2014 NYC Marathon.
The effect was not lost on me when I got the email congratulating me on my lottery-drawn win - I was standing near Astor Place, about to hop on the 6 sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-36104980166442600812012-11-03T11:52:00.001-07:002012-11-03T11:57:50.419-07:00New York State of MindOn my way to the San Francisco airport this morning, I was the first passenger to be seated in the familiar blue Super Shuttle, which arrived an characteristically 15 minutes early. (Last time I had ordered a shuttle, I had been en route to JFK and nearly missed my flight. I assumed this morning was starting earlier than usual because the company has still not figured out how to remedy tardinesssarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-77193185830857262282012-10-01T12:47:00.002-07:002012-10-01T12:47:58.610-07:00Hooray, You're 30. I mean, 80.
I have had trouble putting on pants for two days because that involves a very tricky bend of the legs. I haven't been able to descend stairs properly for 48 hours. I don't want to talk about what it's like to try to sit down on a toilet. My quadriceps simply won't cooperate; I have suddenly gained the future knowledge of what it will be like to get around town when I'm 80 sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-2178576186424743962012-09-18T20:16:00.001-07:002012-09-18T20:16:35.892-07:00Let the Countdown Begin!"There's 10 days left. Oh dear."
That was my first thought upon starting this long, long, immensely long-overdue post.
In short explanation, I'm fighting off plantar fasciitis, and had no motivation to gripe about it on this here blog. Just know that, yes, I've been taking it easy, trying to find cardio-workout substitutes for running that involved low/no-impact and as little time as sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-42137630169336084562012-08-15T20:05:00.001-07:002012-08-15T20:05:50.335-07:00Thank God for Whomever Invented A/CIt's been a while since my last running post, but I will say I finally broke down and joined a gym...for the A/C. It was the most glorious Saturday run I've had yet. (Mind you, I ran this past weekend outside, thinking it was going to be nice, but it wasn't and it still didn't compare to the thrill of my treadmill experience.)
I've griped in the past about how tedious it is to run in sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-90349057620015767642012-07-18T21:44:00.000-07:002012-07-18T21:44:24.737-07:00Running is Hard, Running is Easy.Running is Hard.
I will say, training in New York City in July's best (re: worst) weather is grounds for temporary insanity. But once you can master the art of talking yourself into/out of the run, you've got the craziness handled. A friend told me it helps to have a mantra: Running is Easy. And Running is Hard. When the going gets tough, you can pick whichever one you want. &sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-28978090534208740272012-07-11T20:50:00.001-07:002012-07-11T20:50:18.180-07:00LimitsMediocrity has been on my mind lately. I've been waging a debate with myself about how comfortable I am with being average. (By average, I mean a personal average. I think there's average on a social level, and then there's average on a personal level. Let's say personal average is an equal division of the sum totals of your achievements from birth to present, with a sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-46353503846032788152012-07-04T20:19:00.001-07:002012-07-04T20:19:13.626-07:00GitsThe humidity has not let up.
These past two weeks have been a reintroduction to the perils of running in New York City weather. I got a taste of it when I was training for the half-marathon about a year/plus ago, in the dead heart of winter. I think I might prefer to be running out in the cold with 15 layers of moisture-wicking clothing than in the relentless sweat-inducing humidity sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-19005511047829011012012-06-27T22:08:00.001-07:002012-06-27T22:08:27.862-07:00Pace and DignityRunning this last week was a dream. It suddenly got easier by Friday (but I was on a treadmill, so it was like finding fool's gold). However, for a short 30 minutes in that tiny Maryland hotel fitness room, I remembered what it was like to feel great about running, and that was all I needed to re-ignite my motivation. I ran in(to) three different states this past week/end: New sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-48642197750088682592012-06-19T22:24:00.000-07:002012-06-19T22:24:42.362-07:00From the Beginning, Again!This week was a beginner's lesson.
The problem with undertaking a second marathon is that you take for granted the past effort you put in to achieve the initial result. I've forgotten how much effort it takes. I vaguely remember it being difficult in the beginning, but never like this. I literally go out for my runs and think, What is wrong with me?! This week sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-20444761642266967082012-06-11T19:10:00.003-07:002012-06-11T19:10:38.981-07:00Stop Whinging and Get On With It AlreadyThe first week of training. Was. Tough.
On Tuesday, my alarm went off at 6:30am. The first thought in my head was "Dear sweet baby Jesus, this is not happening." I forgot. I forgot what it was like to wake up that early, to tell my legs that we were going for a run, to try to shake and stretch some energy into my limbs, and to groggily push out the door and get moving. But I sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-31777457069082167452012-06-03T21:53:00.001-07:002012-06-03T21:53:55.472-07:00A Bang and a WhimperHello again, Marathon Fans.
Well, I never thought it would happen, but I got the urge to run another marathon. 5 years after the inception of this little blog, here I go again! I'm registered for the Hamptons Marathon in September.
The idea to torture myself through what I now know to be a grueling training process and demonic effort of physical exertion transpired from a sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088352865896872027.post-59140166080077642192011-04-04T17:50:00.000-07:002011-04-04T17:50:09.756-07:00Winter RunsThe past few months have passed quickly and slowly at the same time. Some days flew by without my remembering what exactly I did from dawn until dusk. Other days seemed to toil away from second to second, measured almost in breaths. I've been away from the blogging since Grandma passed away, but the running has been somewhat consistent. Here's what's been happening:
I sarahbearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463983898272209650noreply@blogger.com1