May 26, 2006
Excuses, Excuses
Well, it looks as if all the blog technical glitches have been worked out... which is rather unfortunate for me as it means I'm out of excuses for not updating my blog. Right now I'm in finals mode; this about sums up that condition:
Alweiss (spontaneously, while discussing a practice exam with H.): Wow. I'm so happy right now.
H (in a tone of angry suspicion): Why are you happy???
Yes, no one has a right to be happy during finals. Actually, the source of my happiness was the blood substitute (caffeine) running through my veins. On my way to school to meet H. to do some practice exams this morning, I stopped at Starbucks and picked up an iced latte for myself and an iced tea drink that H. likes for her. H., thinking in a similar vein, stopped on her way to school to pick up a coffee for herself and an iced latte for me. When we met up we looked at one another and half groaned, half laughed. Since I'm not one to let a perfectly good latte go to waste, I ended up over-caffeinated and, consequently, very happy.
Of course all the caffeine came back to bite me about 3 miles into my run tonight in the form of a horrifying case of the runs. Luckily the bathrooms along the lake path are open now (bonus: it's early enough in the season that they're under-utilized, hence have toilet paper!) and after a little trip, I was fine for the last 6 miles. I'm still buzzing a bit from my morning caffeine infusion, but I'm off to read my Bankruptcy hornbook, which should put me to sleep.
Posted by alweiss at 11:09 PM | Comments (3)
May 11, 2006
Booking the Miles
My projected hour-long out-and-back this evening didn't quite happen. The legal aid clinic at school had the annual end-of-year BBQ (indoors because the dreary weather couldn't hold off one more day for us) in the late afternoon. I went to that, then came home, turned on the Yankees game, and, soon after watching Matsui break his wrist diving for a ball (!), fell into a food coma. I have a serious weakness for anything cooked on a grill, especially hot dogs. It was when my friend E. came to visit me earlier this spring that I realized I might have a problem. I informed her, with regret, that the White Sox were out of town for the weekend so we wouldn't be able to go to a game. She seemed to take this news in stride... then she asked me if we could stop by the Cell anyway to get hot dogs. Apparently all my raving about the hot dogs at the Cell (the Kosher Dogs are just... as close to a perfect eating experience as one can find: juicy, flavorful, and topped with onions carmelized in hot dog grease on the grill) had given her the impression that US Cellular Field was a hot dog stand with occasional baseball entertainment.
When I woke up around 7:30 I felt like death. I had that horrible groggy, dehydrated feeling you get when you wake up from a too-long nap taken too late in the day -- when, if you had held off a couple of hours you would have slept through the night. So, instead of dragging my behind out the door, I did some work and watched the Yankees lose, ceding sole possession of first place in the AL East to the dratted Red Sox. Finally, around 10:15, with promises that I only had to do 5 miles if I wasn't feeling well, I dragged myself down to the treadmill. As always happens, once I got going I felt fine so I ended up doing 8. Tomorrow I have 8 in the morning or early afternoon, then I'm in the weight room/on the treadmill in the early evening... in theory.
Posted by alweiss at 11:48 PM | Comments (3)
May 10, 2006
Building Strength
I never cease to be amazed by (and grateful for) how quickly my fitness starts to come back. I think that is part of what keeps me coming back... to running. There is an element of instant gratification: one week of steady running and lifting and I already feel evidence of my work paying off. At the same time, all the little breakthroughs are only data points on the journey to the ultimate goal.
Running is feeling comfortable again, and I've graduated to the 15-lb. dumbbells in the weight room. I'm still galumphing along, but I'm galumphing a little faster than I had been. Today, when I hit the point where I usually turn around on my hour-long out-and-back, I still had a minute to go and I wasn't working as hard as I have been of late. I figured that I had the wind at my back and was worried that I might end up postive-splitting the run (my goal is always to negative-split my out-and-backs), but when I turned around I discovered that wasn't the case. The wind was doing something (I never quite figured out what), but it wasn't in my face. I actually ended up negative-splitting the run by a minute. Yes, fitness is returning.
I think that tomorrow I'll have to go in the other direction on my out-and-back to discourage racing myself. I just can't help it: if I run in the same direction tomorrow that I ran in today, I will have to go further than I did today. I also need to quit eyeing the 20-lb. dumbbells. So tempting, but completely antithetical to what I'm trying to accomplish, as a long distance runner, with my lifting.
Posted by alweiss at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
May 6, 2006
What is an Athlete?
Did you catch the Kentucky Derby? Did you get choked up watching the magnificent Barbaro finish a race that was with himself alone? Did you see, etched in every gracefully straining fiber of his body once jockey Edgar Prado let him go, burning through even your television screen, his competitive desire and his joy? Even so, I started when one of the announcers referred to him as an "athlete." I remember having a debate with my colleagues when ESPN released its Top 50 athletes of the millennium or century (I can't remember which) over whether Secretariat and Seattle Slew were properly included. Can a horse be an athlete? I can't remember now even which side of the debate (which got very heated) I was on. But after watching Barbaro run this evening, there is no doubt in my mind that he is an athlete. His desire and his dedication to winning was palpable; it was also, unlike that of human professional athletes, completely non-cynical. He wanted to win simply to win. And he not only wanted to win, he wanted to win in style -- not to simply glide to a win by a nose, but to give us the best of himself and pull a startling 6 and 1/2 lengths away from the rest of the field. His run today was inspiring in the way performances by the best athletes at the top of their games are.
As I clumsily galumphed through my 8 miles this evening, I kept picturing Barbaro's effortless power. I wanted so badly to feel it flowing through my own legs, as it does (on a much more limited scale, of course) on the good days(the ones that always take me by surprise, and make all the hard work worth it) when I'm in great shape.
I'm still really sore from my return to the weight room. I ended up running 2 miles, doing a modifed circuit using Nautilus machines (because the free weight room apparently closes at 10, a detail I had failed to note), then running another 7 last night. I'm mainly concentrating on leg exercises -- trying to build up some leg strength so when I start doing faster stuff again the workouts will be that much easier. Right now it's hard to wrap my mind around the idea of going to the track and doing intervals since just running feels like a workout.
Ok, I'm off to send some mental energy E.'s way then hit the hay.
Posted by alweiss at 10:13 PM | Comments (2)
May 5, 2006
Run Strong, E.!
My friend E. will be running her first marathon on Sunday. I'm getting excited butterflies for her. I was supposed to run it with her, but due to a combination of the prohibitively high cost of a plane ticket and law school stress, I will sadly be remaining in Chicago this weekend.
E., you've trained so hard and you're so ready. I can't wait to see how you do!
Posted by alweiss at 1:45 AM | Comments (3)
Voice in Your Head?
Yesterday British Astrologer Eric Francis posted an observation about writing. He said that in writing you become a voice in your reader's head. I've always regarded writing as a form of self-expression, or a means of communicating ideas. Somehow the idea of becoming a voice in someone else's head seems more intimate than those abstract ideals. For someone who on a normal day writes many more words than she speaks, this is a reassuring revelation. Lately, I've been feeling somehow disconnected. Due to a combination of the nature of being a law student halfway across the country from where I've lived my entire life and the nature of being me (I choose to have few friendships and invest a lot in those I do have), I just don't often have actual physical conversations. Instead, I spend a lot of time writing: papers, motions, briefs, reading notes, lengthy e-mail exchanges, blog entries (though, obviously, not enough of those -- or perhaps too many, but I guess if you're reading that's your own fault ;-) ), etc. Thinking of all my frantic, lonely typing as becoming a voice in someone's head makes me feel somehow more connected.
It's also a somewhat inspiring idea for my legal writing -- both scholarly and utliltarian. I generally find legal scholarship and legal vocational writing tedious: because of our common law system, there isn't much room for originality. You can't just "write what you think" (an allusion to Bridget's blog entry from last weekend, for those who follow her blog; for those who don't, you really should); every legal statement you make must be supported by precedent, duly referenced. I tend to get so bogged down in finding precedent to support my case or argument, or trying to make my case or argument fit the precedent I lose sight of the fact that my motion or memorandum is my chance to become a voice in the judge's head. Although it will always be constrained by precedent, my writing will be more persuasive if I don't allow my voice to be stifled entirely. The same rhetorical devices I used to employ for persuasive effect in critical essays in college and graduate school will have similar force in my legal writing. Keeping this in mind will make me a much better (and happier!) legal writer.
Sadly it won't make me a better runner, so I guess it won't solve all my problems. However the insidious layer of blubber that has appeared seemingly over night has awakened in me a burning desire to get myself back into kick-ass shape. I've observed that the amount of junk food I consume is inversely proportional to the amount of exercise I do. I suppose I'm just an endorphin junkie, and when I'm not getting enough endorphins from running, I turn to chocolate. Hence the rapid-onset blubber problem.
When it first appears, I find the flab, or loss of muscle tone, somewhat fascinating in a revolting, car-wreck way. But the fascination only lasts for about 24 hours. Then I realize that I don't like being out of shape and I start taking all kinds of drastic measures... like -- gasp! -- lifting. Yup, I made it to the weight room yesterday. I took advantage of the great weather and ran for an hour outside in the afternoon, then in the evening hoisted a pair of wimpy 10-lb. dumbbells (hey, it's been about 9 months since my last trip to the weight room; there were no 12-lbers and I decided I wasn't yet ready for the 15-lbers) through a circuit of 3 sets of 10 military presses, lunges, curls, rows, and toe-raises. I also did a few sets of squats, quad extensions, and hamstring curls. Then I ran two miles on the treadmill in an attempt to prevent the inevitable debilitating soreness that happens when one returns to the weight room after a LONG hiatus. I don't think it had much effect, as I got progressively more sore (but it's a satisfying soreness, a soreness I like) as today wore on. When I hit the treadmill for 8 miles at 11:30 tonight, I was kicking myself for not running earlier in the day when I was less sore (and when I could have run outside). Can't wait to get back in the weight room tomorrow!
Posted by alweiss at 12:37 AM | Comments (4)