February 2006 Archives
I'm wheezing terribly which means either that spring has arrived and my asthma is acting up, or I'm getting sick and my asthma is acting up. I'm sincerely hoping its the former because I'm in no position to get sick at the moment.
A rest week just ended. I took this rest week VERY seriously, which is to say that I didn't do very much training. I ran a few times, spun easy a few times, and swam once. God knows I didn't make it to the gym. Were it not for this mysterious wheezyness I'd be all healed up and ready to start hitting it hard for my second "base" cycle. But I fear tomorrow morning will find me coughing and gasping and terribly ill. I'm awfully prone to getting bronchitis and I know how it feels when its coming on. I'm still hoping for spring time and pollen.
The weather was pretty warm this weekend and this week promises to be more of the same. Last week I did three hours on the trainer and I'm hoping that from here on out I can be on the road for the long stuff. And things start getting really long from here on out. I know its getting serious when I have to move the long runs to mid-week. Wednesday, I go long (although they won't be THAT long till the end of this cycle).
I hate to sound completely and utterly girly but I'm also trying to lose a few pounds by race day. I'd love to be in the 120's ... a number I haven't seen since senior year of high school. I'm not entirely sure its possible to do when I'm training hard though ... damn that whole "muscle weighs more than fat" thing.
Heading to bed ... hoping a good 8 hours of sleep will knock this festering wheezyness on its ass!
... or has the Olympics coverage been especially bad this time around??
I can't stand how they switch from sport to sport every 20 minutes or so. I feel like I have no idea what is going on and only get to watch the very best people and the Americans (and if the best people ARE Americans it seems like you don't get to see ANYONE else!)! Its been so obnoxious that I have barely watched much of the coverage. They seem to have toned down the human interest stories this year (which I actually don't mind, once I get over the cheesy over-dramatization), but for the love of god can we please stay on one sport for just a little while?
Of course the one sport they did show all of was women's figure skating. I'm not going to get into the debate about whether figure skating (or half pipe ... or curling ...) is a sport or not. What I'm most concerned about is ...
The cross-country skiing looks like the most grueling sport in the Olympics. Both winter and summer. I hurt just watching them. It looks fun.
My weeks are pretty stacked class-wise Monday through Wednesday, and Thursdays aren't so hot either (but they will be better once my half-semester class is over). Tuesdays are the worst as I have class from 9:30 - 6 (with a few breaks - but none long enough to do anything). Of course, almost every Tuesday since classes started in January has been the best weather of the week. This past Tuesday was no exception and I found myself cursing my schedule when I stopped at the coffee shop midday and saw a couple roadies in full regalia sititng around drinking coffee. Just not fair.
Fridays, however, I have no classes. And the weather today is glorious.
I got up at 7-ish, made coffee, hung out, did some cleaning and then went to the pool. 2,000 yards and a shower later and I was off to run errands. Come 2:00 I had pretty much everything I needed to get done done and its sunny and warm out (but VERY windy) so I decided to take the dog downtown and get coffee. We wandered along Looneyville's fantasticly hip (for the midwest) main drag. We had coffee. We chatted with people, she sniffed every spot on the sidewalk, we walked. We stopped in the bike shop (which we always do - mainly because they allow dogs and god knows I love showing her off!) and then I popped my head into the other gear store and asked if she could come in. I didn't think they allowed dogs in, but it turns out they do, so we hung out there for a while. I have a friend that's a manager there and we sat in the back office and talked for a good half hour. Walking back towards the car I ran into another one of the coffee shop regulars (and a fellow law student).
I love these kind of days. The weather, the people, the hanging out with my dog. It couldn't have been much better.
But now, I must study.
Its Monday and I'm tired and stressed out and crabby and desperately, desperately in need of a rest day. Fortunately, I'm due for a recovery week - not just a puney rest day.
Friday I finally broke down and bought a heart rate monitor. Yes, I'm in my sixth season of triathlon and I just bought a HRM. I hopped on the bike Friday evening and realized just how not hard I have been working on the trainer. That's all fine and good for long rides, but not for the shorter ones. The boyfriend decided to dictate a spin workout to me (my own personal Coach Troy) and the heart rate quickly skyrocketed, as the legs were screaming. Damn, spinning out of the saddle hurts. Saturday was LSD ride day and because it was in the teens outside, I opted for the trainer (I'm a wuss ... and besides, my water bottles wouldn't have stayed liquid for longer than 10 minutes outside). Three hours of somewhat intense (damn the HRM!) spinning and the legs were certainly starting to protest. I'm getting a little tired of the trainer - hopefully it will start to warm up soon. Woke up Sunday morning not feeling at all like running. My legs were totally trashed and the temperature was hovering around 20 degrees. Headed out the door anyway for my 1:20 run. Didn't feel great but got it done. Skipped an afternoon swim and called it a week. And now, I recover.
My training seems to be going so , so well this time around. I'm really excited. I haven't done anything that long just yet - top ride has been three hours, top run has been an hour and a half - but I don't even feel the hint of an injury. The knee problems a few years ago, the collapsed arch of last year - all that seems to be behind me. This next round of training will bump the distances up pretty substantially - hoping to still feel this good four weeks from now.
But I AM crabby. A job that I want SO badly for next year is in front of me and the only thing standing in my way is my pride. Applying for this job means disclosing my lackluster transcript to one of the people who has been most supportive and helpful to me career-wise over the last four years. He's always told me that I would do well in law school, that I'm a good student ... and I hate HATE the idea that when he sees my transcript he will think he was wrong. But I want the job sooooo badly. I need to get out of my own way and just suck it up and APPLY. The only thing I have to lose is my pride, but damn, sometimes that feels sort of important.
Our dog is a bit of a chewer. She doesn't chew on carpet or furniture or anything like that, but she has a thing for fleece, and sweaters, and tags. The tags have been removed from just about everything in the apartment by those sharp canines and I find them chewed up all over. I don't mind much. I didn't have much use for those tags anyway.
Lately tho, she has put holes of various sizes in three different articles of clothing that I'm particularly attached to - my red Patagonia fleece, my white EMS fleece (that I got for $20 at TJMax!) and my Smartwool sweater that I have had forever. All three articles of clothing were left on the bed, and she took to chewing on them while she was lounging. The hole in the EMS fleece is in the pocket and not at all visible, so that's not really a problem. The hole in the Patagonia fleece (which i've only had for a couple months!) is right in the front and about the size of a silver dollar. I'm going to get something red to patch it up with and hope that its no longer noticeable. And if it is, I will chalk it up to my fleece having "character". Now, the Smartwool sweater I had to trash because the whole she ripped was in the back and about a five inch wide square. There was no way that was fixable.
At first I was upset (particularly after the Patagonia fleece incident), but I've sort of gotten over it. I figure that if I'm SO attached to these things that when my sweet puppy chewed them up I cried, I'm probably a little too attached to them. Its a reality check ... or so I'm trying to tell myself.
I'm not one to be super anal about my training. I have a vague knowledge of how long my longest stuff needs to be at any given point in the season and I try to make sure to do that long stuff, along with the shorter bikes and runs that support it. This time around I actually sat down and scratched out a very primitive training plan. It was actually sort of fun putting it all together and making sure that everything was in there and that the progression wasn't too much too fast. Plus, its simple enough that I will actually use it.
To go along with this training plan, I purchased a little white magnetic dry erase board which I stuck on the fridge. Each week I list all my workouts for the week and check them off. Its amazing how much more motivated I am to train for the simple reason that I want the satisfaction of checking off that last workout at the end of the week. Last week I made it. This week is looking a little questionable due to the fact that instead of swimming after class last night, I went out for dinner and a beer with a friend. Woops.
It's cool to start the week and see this looooong list of workouts and think "There's no way ..." and then slowly see them get checked off as the week goes by.
Its not cool to end the week with one of those workouts unchecked.
As I have said before, one of the best things about having a dog is the people you meet.
Yesterday I was in the law library and one of my professors from 1L year came trotting by. I've always really liked this guy - he's funny and engaging and a really really fantastic teacher. We had never really talked prior to this, aside from saying hi when we passed in the hallway. He happened to walk by right as the screensaver on my computer flipped to a picture of the Maddie dog. He instantly stopped in his tracks and said "now THAT is a good dog!", and I, being the dork I am, said "You want to see more pictures?!" I showed him a couple and he told me how beautiful she is, asked all sorts of questions about her, and then proceded to tell me all about his dogs. It was such a random and genuine encounter and for some reason it really made my day. I had no idea he was such a dog person. And now, we're buds. :)
So I entered a contest on the Keen website a few weeks ago. And today I found out that I actually won! I get a free pair of Keen's (which I totally love!)! How cool is THAT?
Ok, so the workouts themselves weren't all that long, but the weather conditions left me feeling pretty good about my weekend training.
Yesterday I headed out in twenty-something degree weather for my "long" run. The wind was blowing and the snow was falling and I felt pretty hardcore. I ran for ninety minutes and my legs felt pretty much fantastic. When I got back it took a good two hours to fully thaw out, but I felt pretty great about my run. It took a whole lot of convincing to get myself into the cold pool a few hours later, but I managed to knock off an easy 2,000 yards.
Then today I woke up with every intention of doing three hours on the trainer while watching the Olympics. It was cold and windy out and I just didn't want to deal with it. But I sucked it up anyway and headed out the door. It was 35 degrees out, which wouldn't have been so bad were it not for the 24 mph wind (gusting to 35 mph!)! When I had the wind at my back I felt downright toasty in my jersey, arm warmers, heavy running jacket, fleece tights, shoe covers, gloves and balaclava. But when I turned into the wind I was bitterly cold. To the point that my shoulders and neck were aching from the constant pounding from the icy wind. I ended up cutting my ride short at 2:20 instead of 3 hours I was hoping for, but I'm not too worried. I'm just proud of myself for getting out and braving the elements. I love running in adverse conditions, but this was really my first attempt at a really cold ride, and I think I did ok.
Its becoming tradition for the Maddie dog and I to head to Looneyville's fantastically sprawling doggie park on Fridays when I don't have class. She runs through the woods like a maniac, romps in the water, chases rabbits and just has a grand old time. Today I decided I would take my camera and snap some pictures. I picked a good day to do so because at one point I looked up and saw a HUGE bald eagle in the trees. Very very cool.
Pictures from today's outing can be seen here.
I've been really really surprised this semester by which classes I find interesting and enjoyable and which seem tedious. I really dig my Secured Transactions class, which I honestly thought I would hate. I like all three of my enviro classes. Much to my surprise, its the class I took for "fun", that I really thought I would dig, that I just can't get into.
I signed up to take International Human Rights thinking I would LOVE the class. I thought we'd be talking about genocide and FGM and all sorts of disgustingly horrible but also very interesting and compelling stuff. We've had five classes so far, and we haven't even gotten close to that. Yesterday we spent the entire hour and a half talking about whether the U.S. ratifiying international treaties and following international law would lead to a lack of respect from the world community as a whole. This whole discussion was based on two journal articles we were supposed to read for class. I just kept sitting there thinking ... this stuff was really published in an academic journal???
It was all very touchy feely to me. Maybe my background in " hard sciences" has given me very little tolerance for "soft science" type journal articles. I don't know, all I know is I found it incredibly dull. I said this to my best friend, who is also in the class and headed to a PhD program after law school, and she nearly pushed me off the curb into oncoming traffic. She loooooves this stuff and doesn't understand how anyone couldn't enjoy it.
I really wish I liked the class more. The professor is an amazing and inspiring woman. She's funny and engaging and beyond intelligent. I'm just having a very hard time getting into it.
Sorry I've been offline for a while! The boyfriend somehow managed to break my publishing program and I haven't been able to post. But have no fear, I'm back.
So here's the quick update.
Things have been CRAZY busy since school started again a couple weeks ago. That being said, I'm really liking every single one of my classes this semester. Including the ones that I really expected to hate (who knew I would like Secured Transactions so much?!)! Makes going to class waaay easier. I've been really good about staying on top of my studies this time around, thus far. Hoping it will make a difference. Last semester's grade frustration has me totally motivated.
Speaking of motivation, Ironman training is now in full swing. I'm not putting in huge weeks yet, but I'm more focused. Workouts are no longer "optional" and they're slowly getting longer and longer. The dog has decided that the appropriate time to wake up is 5:30 a.m., which has actually proven to be incredibly helpful. I'm able to get up, take her for a walk, get my workout in, shower, and review for my 9:30 class. Its been pretty perfect.
The chocolate lab that I posted about last time I posted (forever ago) has fortunately been moved into foster with a lab rescue in New York. I'm sad to say that I had nothing to do with it, but happy that she's out nonetheless. The whole experience taught me a few things about dog rescue. Mainly that there are a lot of people with incredibly big hearts that really want to help, but also that saying you will help and actually helping are very different things. Mostly I learned that I can't wait till I'm in a position where I can actually foster.
