« Lots 'O Training | Main | Power Surge »
October 17, 2007
All Kinds of Stuff
All kinds of stuff going on today. But first, the training...
This morning I woke up and didn't want to swim. It wasn't swimming in general that was turning me off - really anything other than rolling over and going back to sleep would have been troublesome. But skipping workouts for no good reason (other than pure laziness) is not really my deal and is not how one achieves goals so up and off to the pool I went.
The swim? 5000 yds. A big one (for me) with a big long main set that was daunting at first. But I broke it down piece by piece and before I knew it I was nearing the end. And I did just fine. My training has definitely been heavy for the past couple weeks (again, for me) and the fatigue is noticeable so I'm surprised by what I'm still capable of sometimes. But that's what it's all about - stress and rest, stress and rest.
Anyway, after work I headed to the trail on a beautiful fall afternoon for a run. I was pretty excited for this one. It was still pretty warm (mid 70s) but the trail was shaded and running by the creek keeps it cool. I ran for 65 minutes. My hamstring is about status quo. It's hard for me to judge one time from the next if it feels the same or worse or better. I would say that there aren't any appreciable differences - the pain isn't so bad that I can't continue on during the run but I do still feel pain. I think we're holding steady though. Only 3 more weeks - I know the old string can hang in there just 3 more weeks! Regardless, it does feel very nice to run all the same. :)
In other news I've been wanting to mention for some time now about my pick for the upcoming men's Olympic Marathon Trials. Jim Carney (although we called him Jim I see now everyone calls him James...) Regardless, Jim is from around the Pittsburgh area and went to a high school very near mine where we ran against each other relatively often. Back in the day though, Jim was a wrestler and not on the running radar. He then went to a PA state school (Millersville) to run DII where he was very successful. Upon graduation from Millersville, Jim came to Penn State to get his masters where he also competed for 1 year on the cross and track teams with his remaining collegiate eligibility. Jim and I were reunited at Penn State. It's not as if we knew each other that well beforehand but once we were teammates our western PA roots brought us together.
Jim is a wonderful person. Absolutely, hands down the hardest worker I've ever known. In a men's program that was already known for being old school and having "the strongest will survive" mentality, Jim went even above and beyond that! Always the last one to leave practice and always the first one there. He ran more than anyone I ever knew. And he was an incredibly humble guy, great to be around. I can remember on more than one occasion sharing an ice bath in the trainers room only to run to his car where we would blast the heat (in the middle of summer!) to warm our shivering selves up while he dropped me off at my dorm.
Regardless, he certainly has made a name for himself! And I have no doubt that while he is of course talented the main component of his success is some good old hard work and lots and lots of heart. He is definitely my pick and O (who of course also knows Jim) and I will be cheering for him all the way!
And in other, other news, O and I have a gas leak! We had no idea we had such leak but this morning when I was leaving for work I noted a bulldozer digging up our neighbors yard. This bulldozer was from the gas company and I thought to myself - "oh, that can't be good - sucks for them!" Unfortunately when I got home though, the neighbor's yard looked just fine but our yard? Yeah - huge hole in our yard with an equally huge pile of dirt next to it. And then the message on the door - "we've shut off your gas due to a leak, please call...." Oh man!! Long story short, we have a leak, we have to get it fixed, unfortunately that means WE have to pay, for now we have a temporary gas line so that we can have hot water, the gas company will shut off the temporary line though in 5 days if we don't get our new one up and running, we really should have given more serious thought to the "gas line insurance" that our gas company repeatedly sent us info about, UGH! But the good news is is that they found the leak and it will be taken care of and in the mean time our house didn't blow up because of the leak. Yeah, that would have been a lot more of an inconvience. Oh well, such is life!
Posted by beth at October 17, 2007 8:01 PM
Comments
its good that they found the leak... but to have to pay for the fix yourself... thats brutal...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at October 18, 2007 8:24 AM