« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 31, 2006
Why My Dad is Awesome
I decided last week that I was not going to submit a publication draft of my journal comment, thereby precluding the possibility of publication. Of course as soon as I had made that decision, I began to regard myself with a certain measure of disdain. I was uneasy; I couldn't respect myself or my reasons for making the decision. Nonetheless, I proceeded to stick to it. But by yesterday afternoon, I realized that I would never be able to not regret making that choice. The draft had to be submitted by midnight to quailfy for consideration.
My Mondays are pretty hectic: I have classes starting at 8:30 am and finishing a little after 8 pm with one sizeable break in the late morning and one shorter break in the late afternoon. I generally use the morning break to run and to prepare for my afternoon class and the late afternoon break to prepare for my evening class. Still determined not to submit my publication draft, I squeezed in a 2 and 1/2 hr. run (19+ miles, I think) in my morning break. It was toward the end of the run that I decided that I was going to submit the draft (exhaustion-induced delirium?), but I also realized that I needed to use my afternoon break to prepare for my evening class. So, I wouldn't be able to start working on the draft until I got home.
I was pretty menatally and physically burnt when I got home, but I knew I needed to truck if I was going to finish the absolutely necessary revisions (I had to reasearch and add an entire section) and submit the draft before the deadline. After finishing the draft and submitting it, with pop tarts for brains, I started doing my reading for today. Sometime shortly before 1 am, I came across a financial issue that I just couldn't understand (though in the sober light of day, it seems fairly simple, if intuitively wrong). Which brings me to my entry title (you had faith I'd get there eventually, right?): without even thinking about what time it was, I picked up the phone and called my dad (a CPA) to ask him to explain it to me.
Turns out it was nearly 2 am back East. Who knew? Nonetheless, my dad, who was born without a patience gene (a trait I unfortunately seem to have inherited), spent 15 minutes explaining to me this fairly simple concept which my brain was just refusing to accept. I personally believe that a middle-of-the-night call for reasons that don't pertain to life or death is grounds for disinheritance. But other than informing me that it was nearly 2 am, my dad didn't raise any objection to my self-involved imposition. I think he definitely deserves dad of the week honors.
Random aside: My horoscope for today basically says that to get what I want I need to adjust what I want to what I can get. Thanks.
Posted by alweiss at 11:21 AM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2006
I should be sleeping...
but instead I'm blogging. I just got off the treadmill and I'm all hopped up on adrenaline, so I won't be able to sleep for a while yet. I opted not to do my workout (6x6:00 tempo w/1 min. jog recovery) between classes today because I had no indoor running clothes and I didn't want to deal with the 30 mph winds outdoors. This seems to be a theme of my running life lately, seeking ways to evade the wind. While this probably makes me a big wuss, I don't even feel like I'm running when it's really windy out -- I feel as if I'm fighting a losing battle with the wind. Plus, it's pretty demoralizing for me to put in a tempo effort and realize I'm running at close to 8:00 pace. The wind is one of the (many) things I'm not going to miss about Chicago.
I did the tempo portions of the workout at 6:39 pace and the jog portions at 8:30 pace. The tempo segments felt too easy, which was encouraging. I should have probably done them one treadmill click faster, but I was being conservative because I spent last week nursing my foot and didn't do any workouts. This week is kind of a do-over. I decided that since I only managed between 30 and 40 miles last week and my foot is still iffy that it probably would be wise NOT to jump into a 90 mile week this week. So, I'm doing the 60 mile week I had scheduled for last week, and its accompanying workouts. I may end up revising my plan and peaking at just 80 miles this training cycle. Right now, since I don't really have any goals for Boston (except to finish), I'm essentially training to get a base level of fitness on which I can build and hopefully end up running a fast fall marathon. So staying healthy and getting fit are my two main objectives at the moment and neither will be serviced by my pounding lots of miles on a sore foot. It's not in my nature to do the conservative, safe thing in terms of my training... but then again, I've never raced up to the level at which I train, and that could be why. Perhaps if I try something different I'll get a different (better different) result.
Posted by alweiss at 12:01 AM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2006
Efficiency
I had a draggy 8-mile run to the tune of the theme from M*A*S*H this morning. The M*A*S*H theme song (extremely depressing song to have in your head while running, incidentally) can be explained by my indulgence in no fewer than eight M*A*S*H re-runs over the weekend. I catch pretty much every one I can and lament over the decrease in quality of network television output. The writing for that show was so good, as was the cast. Plus I get a huge kick out of Hawkeye's simultaneous cynicism and idealism.
And the Dragginess was because I was exhausted for reasons that were entirely my own fault. I allowed myself to slip into a night owl schedule over the weekend, and that coupled with the fact that I decided to go for a run at 10:30 meant that when I crawled into bed around 1 I didn't have a prayer of falling asleep. I was frustrated because I have, of late, increased my sleeping efficiency thanks to my friend E.'s Christmas present (the same one I gave her, according to a tacit pre-Christmas agreement we made) to me, Hot Teddy. For some reason it always takes me a really long time to get warm (as in an hour plus sometimes) when I go to bed at night, so I end up lying there shivering and unable to fall asleep despite layers of blankets, fleece pajamas, sweatshirts, and wool socks. The result is that spending 8 hours in bed nets me about 6 hours of sleep: an hour to get warm, another 20 minutes to fall asleep, then waking up too warm in the middle of the night and another 40 minutes to fall back to sleep after removing layers. With the little heater that is Hot Teddy, 8 hours in bed nets me 7 and 1/2 hours or more of sleep -- no hour of shivering, and no waking up overheated in the middle of the night, because Hot Teddy cools off over time.
For reasons that I suppose are easily explained by biology, most female runners I know complain of being cold a lot of the time. This makes sense, I suppose, because the biological purpose of the female body is to bear children, so when functioning efficiently it stores energy instead of burning it to create heat. Because female runners tend to be leaner than the general female population, not only do they not have as thick an insulating layer of fat, but our bodies are trying even harder to store what energy they can and so are even more loathe to waste it creating heat. Men's bodies, on the other hand, operate most efficiently when they burn excess energy as heat because the male's biological purpose requires a leaner ideal form. I keep trying to persuade my body that since I'm not planning on having a child anytime soon, it would be more to the purpose for it to burn energy to keep me warm rather than trying to squirrel it away as fat, but no dice. I wonder if my system is hard-wired to act in this way or, if the possibility of conception were removed, if my body would start behaving more like a man's (if the survival of the species were contingent upon my survival, rather than my body's ability to nurture offspring). Basically, my question is, if I lived in a world where I was completely surrounded by other females and didn't come into any contact with males, would my body start using energy differently? Studies have shown that when a woman goes from living with just other females to living with males symptoms of PMS increase, a phermonal reaction (I know, I shouldn't make that statement without backing it up with a reference, but I'm tired and feeling sloppy). I wonder if phermones affect to any significant extent the way our bodies use energy. I guess it doesn't really matter because I can't imagine I would ever find myself in a world where I didn't come into contact with men on a daily basis (and besides, I'd probably miss them, at least a little, if I didn't), but to my semi-delirious, sleep-deprived mind it seems like an interesting question.
Posted by alweiss at 10:48 PM | Comments (3)
January 18, 2006
Waiting...
So, my computer is broken, my foot is broken, and bad luck usually happens in threes... so I feel like a sitting duck, just waiting for the coup de grace to fall. I keep checking Toby (my bird) to make sure she isn't showing signs of infirmity, but as far as I can tell she's just as noisy and energetic as always. (Complete non-sequitur: my mom sent me these claw scissors which I got in the mail yesterday. The instructions on the back amused me: "To clip your bird's claws, hold the bird securely (but loosely enough to allow the chest to expand) in one hand and clip with the other." Deceptively simple, as anyone who has ever approached a bird while bearing scissors can attest. A more accurate instruction would read something along the lines of, "Hold bird securely (but loosely enough to allow the chest to expand) in one hand and if you're lucky you'll be able to clip a nail before he/she gnaws a finger off. Release, apply peroxide and bandage as necessary, and repeat. Note: holding a bird loosely enough to allow the chest to expand provides enough wiggle room for the bird to escape before you're able to clip if you aren't lightning-fast with the scissors. Note2: The bird will be successively harder to secure as he/she becomes more frantic or, alternatively, decides you're playing a fun game.")
As for my foot, it started really hurting on Friday in the same place it was hurting when I was last injured. So, I took Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. I was (am) really frustrated because I felt as if I was finally starting to get into shape (had a strong workout Thursday where I did a treadmill fartlek of 5.5 miles of 5 mins at 6 min. pace/3 mins. at 8:30 pace) and now I feel all out of shape again. This is partly due to the fact that I didn't do anything on the days I took off except sit on my couch watching football and feeling sorry for myself. Yesterday I tested the foot with 8 in the morning. It felt a little wonky (I love that word!) afterwards, but not bad enough for me to skip my double. I did another 4 on the treadmill and it tinged a bit at the beginning, but then was ok. It was a little achey last night, then when I woke up this morning it seemed to be hurting in a way that it hurts when my calves/achilles are tight, but not in the way it hurt when I was injured. So, I'm hopeful. I have a tempo workout I'm going to do on the treadmill this afternoon (because while standing waiting for the bus with my heavy backpack this morning I was nearly blown over by the wind... not good workout conditions), so I guess I'll see how much my fitness was affected by my 3 days of total inactivity. I felt terrible yesterday, but maybe that was just shaking the cobwebs out.
As for my computer, the forecast is pretty bleak. I have to have the motherboard replaced and I'm not sure when I'm going to get it back. I have an old computer which I've been using to take class notes, but that computer has no internet access (has a dial-up modem, but I have no dial-up account). I got an ethernet card for it a while back, but while it recognizes the ethernet card, it still won't connect to the internet. I figure that I'm going to be saddled with using it for a brief enough stretch of time that it isn't worth trying to figure out the problem. The other issue is that I hadn't backed up anything on my computer (the one currently in the shop) since my CD burner died (which was sometime last spring). So, not only do I not have access to any of that material until I get the computer back, in the event that they wipe my hard drive I may be in trouble. I'm not too worried about the two weeks of class notes from the quarter -- I can probably get those from classmates -- I'm more concerned about the rough draft of my journal comment. I'm going to be REALLY unhappy if my third unlucky occurrence is the disappearance of that draft.
Posted by alweiss at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2006
Quick Update
Because I spent the better part of the past weekend digging myself a giant hole (I really have no idea what I did with all that time... but I DO know that I emphatically didn't do with it what I was supposed to be doing with it... all my good intentions of being on top of things this quarter died an early death), this will be a really quick update.
After my typical procrastination (ok, also partly because I knew I wouldn't get out of class until 8:30 tonight and didn't want to have to double when I got home), I ended up doing my TL workout today rather than yesterday. For some reason I really struggled despite not running very fast. The workout was 2x12 mins. at T pace with 2 mins. recovery followed by an hour's easy run, which I did along the lake path. Perhaps it was the 6 hours of sleep I got last night catching up with me, but my tempo efforts were pitiful and I ended up battling nausea for the last 20 mins. of the easy run portion. Definitely not one of my better workouts. I'm a little concerned because both of my TL workouts so far have been pretty weak efforts. The next one is a full TLT on the 29th -- already have the date circled on my calendar.
In an aside, I was amused to come across this short article asserting briefly that pets, like their owners, tend to gain weight during the holiday season. My mom and I were making fun of my bird for her visible weight gain (to her complete indifference) while I was home over break (hypothesizing that she might have to stay in New York because by the time we went to return to Chicago she would no longer qualify as a "small bird" eligible to travel on the airplane). She seems to have dropped the weight in the week since we've been back. The problem was that my mom, dad, and I would all eat breakfast and lunch at different times, so she would partake of three breakfasts and three lunches, and then would have the run of the dinner table (a privilege she is only allowed at my parents' house), all in addition to her seed and feed. I don't think she appreciates, though, the healthier lifestyle she leads here in Chicago.
Posted by alweiss at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2006
Tight Turns
I had forgotten, or never really noticed, how tight the turns are on an indoor track. Today I did my first indoor track workout since 1998. And I found myself struggling to keep my balance going around the turns in lane 1. Ungraceful under most circumstances, I felt clumsier than usual re-learning the art of altering my stride as I moved from straightway to turn and back to straightaway, something that was once instinctual. I had also forgotten the more pleasant sensations running on an indoor track produces. I had forgotten how the scale of the track always makes me feel as if I'm flying, and how I'm able to watch my stride eat up distance on the straightaways, an effect that is diminshed on larger outdoor tracks.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the U of C's indoor track, and the extensiveness of its hours of operation. It appears that it is open to use by anyone affiliated with the University between 7 AM and 11:30 PM weekdays, with slightly more limited hours on weekends. I decided to do my workout (6x1200, same one as last week) in the break between my morning and afternoon classes. I considered going after my afternoon class, but I was afraid that the track team might be using the track at that time. I would be embarassed to thrash my pitiful, out-of-shape way through my workout while they were there.
The workout went well, and I didn't struggle on the last couple of intervals the way I did last week. Maybe I just didn't work hard enough. Once again, I didn't time them. Maybe I'll get up the cojones to time them by the next time I have this workout (week after next).
And in the "I can run but I can't hide" category, I bumped into one of my classmates (whom I had never noticed before, but with whom I apparently had a class last quarter) at the track. He actually seemed to be running pretty fast, so I may shoot him an e-mail one of these days to see if he'd be up for a run or two.
Posted by alweiss at 09:47 PM | Comments (2)
January 03, 2006
I Run, Therefore I Am?
For some reason every conversation I've had with acquaintances of late has been about running. Perhaps it's because they can't think of anything else to talk to me about. Or perhaps my law school classmates all think I'm insane (a circumstance exacerbated by my traipsing through the law school in my running clothes since I've been running in the long break I have after my early morning classes) and are trying to determine the extent of my insanity. But for whatever reason, I had four separate somewhat lengthy conversations today that went somewhere along the lines of, "How far do you run each day? Do you run outside? How long do you spend running? Are you going to run a marathon? When? Are you going to run the one in Chicago?" etc. etc. I find such conversations vaguely embarassing and awkward (and try to change the subject, often to no avail) for several reasons. Firstly, I can't imagine that the person asking me about my running has any real interest in the topic. I don't really care about the specifics of anyone's training (as distinguished from what they think or feel about their training and running in general, which I AM always interested in) unless he/she is an elite athlete or I care about him/her personally and/or he/she is asking for advice. Secondly, the person with whom I'm speaking never really gets it -- that I don't run the same distance or for the same amount of time every day, etc. -- and probably doesn't really care enough that he/she wouldn't be bored to tears were I to take the time to explain it, so I generally just make up a number. Thirdly (and relatedly), even if I dumb down and scale down my answers, he/she inevitably goes away thinking I'm crazy, if only for the fact that I do some of my runs outside in Chicago in the winter. Maybe I should go streaking through the library or something so people have something to associate me with other than running, because I don't think I can endure many more of these conversations. Or maybe I ought to draw up a little one-page description of my training and my training goals and just hand it out to anyone who starts asking.
So, today I ran approximately 12 miles. And I ran for approximately 90 mins. ;-) I did about 8 along the lake path in my break between classes this morning, followed by another 4 on the treadmill when I got home. My legs didn't feel as enthusiastic as they did yesterday... day off has worn off already. Yesterday I was thinking it might be a good idea to jump in a race sometime soon and see what I've got. Today... not so much.
I've been listening to Jimmy Buffett a lot while I run on the treadmill, specifically his live album "Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays." I like listening to Jimmy Buffett in the winter because his music makes me feel warm, or at least imagine that there are places where it is warm. I especially like this album -- it has some features that just make me happy. For one, its version of "Margaritaville" was recorded in Wisconsin and I always associate "Margaritaville" with Wisconsin. I was in Wisconsin for a big track meet in college and feeling sick and nervous, on the verge of panic, when it came on the radio. Hearing it made me feel inexplicably better. Also, the timing is such that if I start the album from the beginning and I'm doing a workout on the treadmill, the song "Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season" (and the lines, "I must confess, I could use some rest. I can't run at this pace for very long.") always coincides with the beginning of my first hard or tempo interval, which appeals to my sense of humor. In addition, it has the song "One Particular Harbor," which always reminds me of one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems, "Wild Nights," and the album ends with the song "Love and Luck," which reflects my personal philosophy of life ("with a little love and luck you will get by..."). 'Course 'til I discover definitive proof of the existence of love and luck, I'll continue to hedge my bets with education and hard work. ;-)
Posted by alweiss at 10:02 PM | Comments (2)
January 02, 2006
Random NYE Ramblings
So, I don't think I'm going to do the Midnight Run again after doing a long run in the morning. My legs (along with the rest of me) were just tired, so it wasn't as much fun as it should have been. Nonetheless, there were some classic moments:
Race Volunteer (standing in large pothole and shouting into bullhorn): I'm standing in a big hole. Do not run into me. I repeat, Do NOT run into me.
Random runner, to his buddy (later): He said not to run into him.
Alweiss (to my friend E.): This sucks. My legs are tired. My quad's burning.
E.: Well, we finished the big hill. We're almost to the two mile mark, and pretty soon there's that looong downhill....
Alweiss (testily, half-joking, dragging my right leg): You don't need to pep talk me.
Random Onlookers: Happy New Year's! Good job! You're almost there!
Alweiss: I kind of want to flip them the bird.
E.: Do you remember the last time we ran this, when we were all cheerful?
Alweiss (approaching the finish): I can hear the music... I can see the lights!
E. (at this point experiencing g.i. difficulties): I can feel the poop.
Random drunk guy at the corner of 79th & 2nd (on our way home): Getting an early start on your new year's resolution?
Alweiss & E.: You betcha.
Random drunk guy: Did you ladies just run a marathon?
E.: Yes, and we just won!
Alweiss: Actually, we just finished the one that started in November.
There was also, just after the mile mark, E.'s fiance (who had dismissed the whole Midnight Run concept as crazy and declared his intention to stay back at their apartment and entertain their New Year's Eve guests while we runners went and ran) bursting out of the crowd of onlookers to tackle E. in a bear hug, and E., initially thinking he was just some crazy drunk guy, swerving to try to avoid him. And then, back at their apartment, he did that excited little kid thing where he recapped everything he had seen (describing the costumes worn by runners who had passed him, etc.) even though everyone else had also been there. I was happy that he had a good time partially because I felt guilty about stealing E. away to run at midnight, and partially (selfishly) because if he's into the Midnight Run it means that E. will be able to run it with me in the future.
I was pleasantly surprised that we finished in 31:30, even after the usual hesitation at the start to acknowledge the New Year, because I felt as if we were running at 8:30 pace or slower. I also realized that I haven't ever in my life rung in the New Year outside the confines of the Empire State. And for the past 10 yrs. or so I've either run the Midnight Run, gone and watched the Midnight Run, or shamefully planned to run the Midnight Run and not quite made it out there.
I took yesterday off and flew back to Chicago. Felt GREAT on my 8-miler this morning -- wasn't working very hard and checked my pace at one point and saw I was going at 7:10 pace. I also did the back half a minute and a half faster than the out half. Ah, the benefits of a day off. I'll do another easy 5 on the treadmill tonight.
Posted by alweiss at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)