KrishMD

New Beginning

2008-02-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

18 miles this week.

A 5 mile tempo run and a slightly longer than 13 miler on Sunday with a chef and a writer.

My goal is to be running 20-25 mile per week with quality until I begin training for my fall marathon.

Testing...Is this thing On

2007-08-14T06:14:00.001-07:00

So, my last post was after LBCM 2006.

I don't expect anyone to still be reading this, but if there is, i will update my training so far.

LBCM 2006 - Building to the Future

2006-10-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

How can I best describe my training this year? A Roller coaster. I had high hopes of lowering my PR and qualifying for Boston (3:15). Who knew that a turned ankle in March may have started a cascade of events that would totally alter my training this year. After I turned my ankle, I had a series of injuries that never let me get traction with my training. Left ankle sprain, then left toe issues, plantar fascitis, left quad issues, then right calf and right shin issues. I had 6-7 good weeks with Pfitzinger and then it was up and down from there. Glimmers of hope followed by a week of marginal runs. It culminated in almost no mileage 4 of the last 5 weeks of training, except the long runs. Then the last week of taper, my wife and son come down with a cold and I start to feel sick the Wednesday before the marathon and started antibiotics to prevent a full blown cold. It may have done the trick.

This may all be ‘laying the mattress”, but these are the facts. In fact, I was very close to just not running this year, and I decided that wasn’t me. It may not have been my best training, but I invested the time and I was going to get to the finish line, even if I had to walk it in. This was the first year I have had some major adversity with training. You learn a lot about people when things don’t go right. It’s much easy to have a great training cycle and go out and hammer PRs. I did that 3 years in a row. The mind is much stronger than the body, and mine was letting me down at the wrong time.

Pre Race

We had a nice TM happy hour on Friday. Many of the Chicago people were there and several new folks. It was truly a pleasure to meet everyone and I can’t reiterate strongly enough how we can meet on an Internet board, but somehow act and feel like old friends.

Race Day

I was staying downtown for the race and woke up to make my usual pre-run breakfast., bagels, peanut butter and honey. Except the honey I got from my m-i-l was “fake, sugar free honey” You know what they say, nothing new on race day. I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide on apparel. I finally decided on a long sleeved shirt, shorts, gloves, and a hat. It turned out to be just right. I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen and got dressed.

I took a cab to the start, and as usual arrived too early. I walked around trying to stay warm, used the facilities and stretched. I then checked in my gear, and headed to the start line. I saw Chad and Paul and wished them luck. As I reached the area where the preferred corrals entrance was, I saw some elites running laps and warming up. I decide to test out my leg and run a few laps. The pain was still there despite 2 weeks off. I thought, at this point I can’t not run. I have the rest of the off season to recover. I could see into the elite tent with everyone stretching, talking and applying Body glide. I entered into my corral and had some fun watching the “bouncers” trying to prevent people from jumping the fence and entering the corral. I think 9 out of 10 people make it over, with the 1 person who gets caught, just running about 50 yards down, trying again and getting in. After the usual pre race stuff, we were off. I was across the start within a minute and 15 seconds or so. This race more than any other one I have done was all mental. I knew I didn’t have my A-game physically, so I tried to break the race down into chunks, defined by people I would see along the course. My wife, son, m-in-law and my wife’s cousin would be at mile 4-ish and 10. I have some friends from work that would be at 8, 18 and then run with me from 21-26. So, here’s how the race went.

Miles 1-4 (See family)

8:58/8:27/8:23/8:08

I felt like my right shin was acting up and slight calf pain from the beginning. I seriously though about giving up here, but from experience this year, it has taken 5 miles for me to get loose. So I decide to reevaluate at 5. At mile 3 I shed long sleeved shirt and ran in my technical long sleeved shirt. As expected, seeing my family at 4 really gave me a boost. I stopped and went over to my son, all bundled up in the stroller and gave him a big kiss. He was so excited to see me. He had apparently been practicing his chant “Go, Daddy, Go”. I took a pee break at Lincoln park (before mile 5) and somehow had an 8:08 mile with the break.

Miles 5-11 (See friends from Work and family)

8:17/8:27/8:14/16:30 (mile 8,9)/ 16:15 (mile 10,11)

I saw my friends around mile 8 and It was at this point that I started developing a blister on my right instep. Several of these miles were going south with and the pace was pretty effortless. Ironically my calf/shin hurt less, either b/c they hurt less or I was focused on my expanding blister.

I didn’t see my wife at mile 10 as planned which was very demoralizing given my mental state. I turned on my Ipod Shuffle at this point, knowing that I wouldn’t see a familiar face until mile 18. The miles weren’t difficult based on my effort, but the pains were increasing, both in my shin/calf and my blister.

Miles 12-18

8:15/8:05/8:26/8:31/9:06/?/?

The blister was starting to get worse and I was now forming one on my left foot. My calf was hurting now. I stopped to use the bathroom again, just after mile 15, accounting for the slow mile. Two of my 4 marahtons, I have needed to use the facilities at this point. Each time the same thing happens. There is virtually no line, but all the stalls are occupied. I position myself near one side of stalls and wait. A fraction of a second after I leave my prior spot, one of the stalls on the far end opens and some runner who just showed up at that instant runs in. I react and move to that side, when a stall opens on the side I just vacated, taken by some guy who just showed up at that moment. I finally decide a tree was getting watered. At mile18, I popped another 600 mg of Ibuprofen, hoping to limp in from there. I was noticeably slowing at this point. It was from here where I encountered the wall. I was just hoping to get to mile 20 when I would have some company to help me take my mind off the pain. The music was stuck in a stretch of slow Coldplay songs that just wasn’t doing it for me and I was trying to find some upbeat music.

Mile 19-22

8:44/8:42/9:21/9:24

All Iremember is the sweet smell of Torillas. I have very few mwmories of this stretch of the marathon, maybe b/c I am so zone din or b/c I don’t drive this area of the course much. Whatever it is, I remember tortillas.

I have 2 friends from work who really wanted to run with me. I was initially resisting the idea, but as the marathon got closer, I had a feeling that the company would be needed. I am so glad I did. I was cycling through my high energy music. My first friend was supposed to meet me after mile 20, but I didn’t see him there. Since I was using these meeting points as mental motivators, I started to get angry that they had changed the plan on me. But this is when I started to turn it around. This is why I will claim that the timeclock will not accurately measure what I did. I was slow for this mile. Then my friends showed up at mile 21. I had to stop to stretch and massage my calves which were really bad by now. We started picking up the pace. I started thinking about how pain was temporary and how Lance Armstrong has a high pain tolerance and I could suck it up for 3 miles. Also, near Chinatown, I may have hallucinated a big picture of a wall. What was odd in this hallucination was that unlike the Murals on the Kennedy expressway where the picture is of runners breaking through the wall. This was just a picture of an intact wall. I thought was cruel to see and got a little angry. I got some of my really upbeat music and kept cycling through them.

Miles 23-26.2

8:50/8:47/8:40/10:45 (1.2 miles)

Consistent miles. Not my fastest, but my most consistent. This is usually where I break down during my previous marathons, but I found a way to keep it together, despite my body rebelling. I would focus on the feet of someone ahead of me and just listen to my music and go into a trance. I told my friends I don’t want any water, just tell me when I am at a mile marker. This worked for me, since I was pleasantly surprised when the mile marker would arrive and my speed was steady or increasing. I really hate the stretch up Michigan avenue. It seems like an eternity. I especially dislike seeing McCormick place and knowing how far that is while driving a car. Then to see the big buildings Downtown seemingly stationary despite my forward motion. For all these reasons plus the headwind this year, I really hate this section. I think that is why the staring at the feet worked. I didn’t spend all the energy obsessing about how much further I needed to go. I also used some mind tricks from mile 18 in, thinking about my familiar routes from home and thinking, I just need to get from home to the Glen (my 6 mile loop), or from the glen to home (3 miles), from Glenbrook Hospital to home (1.2 miles). I saw my wife during my ascent of Mt. Roosevelt and got a mini-kick into the finish. It is cliché to say that that is the best part of the marathon, but I really love that turn onto Roosevelt. I wanted to have that feeling again and that helped me make the decision in mile 5-8 to not give up. That turn and all the people cheering reminds me to be thankful for finishing the marathon, despite the time. Once inside the chute, I got medaled by Julie Jam and saw Bob who had finished a few minutes ahead of me and David K. Does it get any better than that?

I hope this report doesn’t come across as some “against all odds” report. It isn’t that dramatic. It represents a milestone for me and my mental attitude. I was not at all taxed aerobically at this pace. So I know that the added miles this year did its job. I just didn’t have the wheels to go with the engine this year. I know that when I can get through my next training cycle without injury, that I have a good shot at a PR, maybe even Boston. Talk is cheap, and it will remain to be seen whether it will happen. But, I am stronger mentally from this marathon and the training was working. I found ways to get through tough mental stretches and ways to block out pain. So I am encouraged for the future. The building blocks are in place and when it happens, I’ll look at this seemingly un-distinguished marathon finish as a big part of what got me there.

So, Is it possible to be happy with a marathon that is not a PR?

I say yes.

Final Pre-race Blog

2006-10-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, nothing left to do but deal withteh mental demons.

Lets break things down by system and status:

Physicial:

1) calf/shin. they feel better. Not totally back to normal, but well enough to run, maybe even decently. Whether I have lost fitness is another story. There is nothign I can do about it at this point.

2) Cold- my wife and son are still coughing, but better. I thought I might be coming down with something on Wednesday, and even startedd taking antibiotics. I haven't gotten full blown sick, but think I may have averted it. What effect this will have on my endurance is unknown.

Mental:

I'm all over teh place. As my calf gets better, I start thinking I may be able to Pr this race, but then I start getting negative thoughts that I haven't run much in the taper, and haveno business even trying. The biggest problem will be picking a plan and sticking with it.

Weather:

Obviously out of my control. It will be colder than it has been and probably windier. It will be in our face for the first several miles and the last stretch up michigan avenue. I'm not too worried about the wind, as long as it isn't in my face teh whole time. If I have to deal with it from mile 23-26, i can handle that. If it is at my back for those race defining miles b/w 7-20, It may be a boost.

We had a Taper happy hour yesterday in Downtown. It was really exciting to see everyone. I'm not sure whether I am more excited for my race, or for what will be accomplished by others. Every year seems to bring new stories and new accomplishments. I can't wait to see how it unfold tomorrow.

Good Luck everyone running, here at Chicago, or elsewhere. (Texas!!!)

Let the chips fall where they may.

2006-10-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Week of October 9-15

No running until Saturday

Saturday - massage. My legs are more painful. I went to the gym and ran 3 miles
on the treadmill with some strides and some MP time.

Sunday - 6 miles. I was supposed to run 12. I got to my 3 mile point and decided
that with the pain I was having, running the extra 6 was not going to do me any
good. All I could do was get worse.

Week of Oct 16

I made the painful decision that I do not know what I am going to do on race
day. I have opted for a rest and recover and finish the marathon strategy,
rather than push for a BQ (3:15). My wife is sick with a cold, my son is sick
with a cold. I'm avoiding them like the plague. It will be a miracle if I make
it to the start line without a cold. If I do, I want my leg to be as pain free
as possible. I know I will have pain. I will medicate myself with Vitamin I for
it this week. If I get to the start line with minimal pain, I think I can run a
3:45. If I feel really good, maybe a 3:30. But 3:15 will require divine intervention.

I was reflecting on my 3 previous marathons:

1) My first. All training runs at 9:00 pace (my goal was 3:59:59) My son was
born 2 weeks before the marathon. I did very little running the 2 weeks prior
to the marathon. I ran my final 3 miles of that marathon, as my fastest miles,
finishing in 3:58. Training was fairly easy with some mild ITB issues.

2) Started speedwork. Had a goal of 3:30, but really didn't know what I
was doing. I bobbed and weaved at the beginning alot, expending a lot of energy
and aggravating an ITB issue. 3:44). Hit the wall around 20-21, and gradually
slowed to the end. Training was more difficult, with shin splint issues. Long
runs run at 9:00 pace.

3) Better speedwork group. More miles, but some downtime due to shin splints
and a cold. Ran a better race, running with the 3:30 group, albeit fast (we
were on a 3:25 pace). I crashed at mile 23 and ran home with my final mile at
10 min/mile plus. (last 4 went 8:00, 8:35, 9:20, 10:30) - I finished in 3:31.
Long runs at 8:30 pace.

4) Pfitzinger 55 mpw. Tough plan to handle with life. I gave up formal
speedwork to make this plan work. I had a series of injuries all spring. I
turned my ankle in March. A month later I was having toe and plantar pain on
that side. That resolved by the time marathon training started. I then had
groin and quad pain on that same side, which eventually left and was replaced
by calf/shin pain on the other side, which I am still dealing with. I took off
several runs to get healthy and didn't have consistent weeks where I put in all
miles after about week 8 or 9. That is not a recipe for success. However, I ran
some long marathon pace runs that kept the sliver of hope alive. A few weekend
trips prevented me from doing some runs as well. My long runs were not run at a
consistent pace I would run at a comfortable pace, often at 8:30-9:00 pace.

What will I do different next year?

1)Ramp up to the 55 mpw program a little slower.

2)Work speedwork back into my plan and find a run to eliminate from Pfitz’ program

3)Run my long runs closer to 30-45 seconds slower than MP.

4)Run a few races to get my confidence and practice MP.

5) Do all the other bs I say I should do, but don’t- core strength, weights, etc.

(this I will do in the off season)

I’ll see everyone on October 22^nd. It will be
interesting and I will write a report about my experience. That will conclude
this blog until I start running again, which may be a while.

"Hope for the best, expect the worst" and other musings from an eternal optimist

2006-10-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

Runs

Last week

Saturday - 4 miles
Sunday - 20 miles - 8:46/pace

Last week: 49 miles

This week

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 5 miles with 5x600 at 6-6:30 pace on the treadmill. Evening flight to Minneapolis
Wed - 3 miles on the hotel treadmill, evening flight back to Chicago
Thursday - rest. Evenign flight to Boston
Friday - 10K
Saturday - Rest. Evening flight back to Chicago.
Sunday - 16 miles

Total - 30.2

I do not travel for a living and am very thankful for that. I do not enjoy living out of a suitcase, eating out and sitting in a hotel room. This week was a heavy travel week for me with two business trips. It threw my workouts for a loop, but I got most of the miles in. My 16 miler was about as good a run as I have had in a while. I'm paying for it today with some right shin/calf pain.

I may take several days off in the next two weeks to let this heal again before destroying it on October 22nd. I'm going by the adage of "It's better to be undertrained, than overtrained" and that there is nothing I will be doing now that will significantly impact my performance in a positive way. All I can do is show up hurt if I don't give my legs soe R & R. I think I will do some biking to keep up some aerobic fitness and run sparingly.

I had high hopes of a BQ this year. I don't know where teh confidence went. I think it went away once I started getting injured. I have been able to keep up a majority of the mileage and I haven't skipped many of the key workouts. But I was much more confident last yer with less mileage and regular structured speedwork. This year has been much more solitary. Few group runs. Slower long runs. No formal speedwork. Lots of "pseudo-speedwork" with strides, 5x600s, 5x1000s, 5x1200s. Several MP runs mixed into a long run. What I feel I have missed most is the tempo runs. When I did speedwork last year, usually once a month, we had a tempo run. I have seen the Pfitz plan work for others and I am not convinced it won't work for me, but I do not have the confidence I had with my other training programs.

At this point, for the next 2 weeks I'm hoping for a recovery of my leg and to catch lighting in a bottle, to use a sports cliche', that I really don't understand. I think I can get close to last years time of 3:31, but if my leg hurts, I'm not sure I can hit 3:15.

I needs to get seriously lazy on October 23rd.

2006-09-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Last Week

After my wednesday speedwork, I took the rest of the week off. I was still having pain in my legs. We travelled to San Diego and due to a hellacious travel evening, and many family committments, I didn't get my 17 miler in.

This week

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 5 miles with 6x100 m strides
Wednesday - 10 miles with 4x1200 at 6:30-6:40 pace (treadmill)
Thursday - 10 miles
Friday- rest

I am not missing any runs this last hard week of training. During taper, I think I may need to give my legs a little more TLC than Pfitzinger allows for. I will keep the integrity of the system, but I may drop some of the short 4-5 milers for extra rest. At this point, I see no use in doing a 4 mile run, as long as I get my speedwork run and long run in.

It's getting harder to get up in the morning and do the runs in the dark and chilly weather. I feel good once I start, but it's the first step that's the hardest.

We made our airline reservations for a short trip to Italy in November. I am going to visit a hospital that has a noted expert that performs a particularly new procedure I do. I hope to get some insight on how he does it and improve my procedure as well. We will be going to Venice for a few days before returning to Milan for my observation. In all, it is one week.

This may be my last marathon for a while

2006-09-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Runs (some overlap from last week's blog)
Mon- Rest
Tues- 5miles
Wed- 9 miles, (2 warm up, 5x1000 at 6:45 pace, 3 cooldown)
Thurs-12 miles (great run, ran many miles in the low 8s)
Fri-Rest
Sat- 5 miles-recovery effort
Sun - 17 miles, 14 at MP (avg 7:33, many into the wind miles)

Total: 48 miles

Mon:- Rest

Tues: - Rest- my legs felt trashed from Sunday and I got out of work too late to do my run.

Wed: 8 miles (4 warm up, 5x1000 at 6:20 pace, 2 cooldown) - my legs still feel tired, but I was very encouraged that my pains get better at faster speeds and that I was able to keep splits of (2:26, 2:18, 2:23. 2:26. 2:22 after running 4 miles)

II was very encouraged by the fact that I was able to do 14 miles at very close to MP. My MP is 7:27, and I averaged 7:33. My slow miles were into the wind, but I didn't speed up to compensate when I was withteh wind. The only negative was I took Ibuprofen before the run. I did that with my first marathon when I had ITB issues. I didn't need it for marathons 2 and 3. Ideally I wouldn't do it, but seeing the glimmer of hope that I can get a 3:15 makes me think that I will use Ibuprofen to get through the hardest runs (mainly the long runs) and take some extra days off during the taper.

big news soon

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DWD Week

2006-09-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Runs
Mon- Rest
Tues- 4 miles plus strides
Wed- 8.2 miles, (4.25 warm up, 5x600 at 6:30 pace, 1.25 cooldown)
Thurs-11 miles
Fri-Rest
Sat- 14 miles - DWD- Hills
Sun - rest

Total: 37.2 miles

Mon:- Rest

Tues: - 5 miles (supposed to do 8, but just felt tired)

Wed: 9 miles (2 warm up, 5x1000 at 6:30-6:20 pace, 3 cooldown- on the treadmill)

I bought new shoes (Trusty Brooks Adrenaline GTS-6 in a bright yellow) and I have been religiously stretching and occasionally taking ibuprofen. The pain is much less when I am running fast and more when I am running slow. Also, I stopped wearing my dress shoes to work which have little cushioning. By wearing shoes with more cushioning, I don't feel the thigh pain during the day. I think I will be able to overcome this, but my pace is still a question mark. My 1000m repeats this week were really great. I was able to keep teh pace without too much difficulty or pain. I finally se a glimmer of hope that some speed is developing. I have a 12 miler tonight (I slept in this morning. My son climed into bed with us and I just couldn't get out and run.) this weekend I have a definign run. A 17 miler with 14 at Marathon pace. This will tell me a lot.

Garden:
We are still getting some tomatoes. Some of the Heirloom varieties are becoming ripe now. It is really nice. We made a Thai Stir Fry and used some Thai Basil from our garden. My favorite vegetable, okra, has been disappointing this year. I have one okra to show for my gardening work.

Next week is N's 3rd birthday. We have a little family party for him and then a few weeks later, teh big kid frenzy at the local Little Gym. Should be loads of fun. I haven't figured out what to buy him yet.

I have a lot of travel in the next few months and it will impact some training. Some will be after the marathon.

San Diego
Minneapolis
Boston
Milan/Venice
New York City
Dallas

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I guess I have my answer- Quad pain isn't leaving and neither am I

2006-09-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

Runs
Mon- Rest
Tues- Rest
Wed- Rest
Thurs-Rest
Fri-Rest
Sat- 5 miles
Sun - 20 miles

Total: 25 miles

Lots of rest. I have come to the conclusion, that whatever I have is going to be around. I'm just going to have to deal. I missed a really important week with alof of speedwork. I have put in alot of slow miles and I have no idea when or where the speed will come from. I'm going to trust the program, get all my runs in and go from there. I have bought new shoes and my wife bought me a massage as an anniversary gift. The groin pain has stopped completely, but the nagging quad muscle tightness is still there.

The 20 miler was good for about 14 or 15 of it. It was pretty smooth. After the turnaround at the 0 mile marker, heading back for the final 6, I started gettting really sore. My right ITB started acting up, which is "new". I was extremely sore for the rest of the day.

Plan: next week is DWD. With some reduction in mileage for the weekend, I should hit around mid 40s.

Today is A and my 7th wedding anniversary.

Garden:
Lots of tomatoes. 18-20 in the last week alone. We canned much of the tomates with some friends who bought about 70 pounds of tomatoes. We made many quarts of Salsa and some tomato sauce. Should be really awesome to open them up in the winter.

1 Eggplant
Some butternut squash
Many peppers
No okra

Doubts are creeping in

2006-08-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Runs
Mon- Rest
Tues- 8 miles
Wed- 8 miles, 5x600m V02 max run
Thurs-Rest
Fri-Rest
Sat- 8 miles with Striders
Sun - Rest

Total: 24 miles

As you can see, It is the second week in a row where I have not reached my mileage. My nagging thigh and groin pull seem to be staying put. I have lsot alot of confidence. This Pfitzinger program has not had much speedwork adn I do not feel that I am getting faster. I have logged many more miles than I ever had, but I have not had the fast runs work out yet. The only 2 MP runs I have had have not gone well. The first was 12 with 5 at Half marathon pace and I could barely keep it at marathon pace for 5. The scond was the 15 miler I didn't run this Sunday. It was supposed to be 15 with 12 at MP. I got a half mile from my house and my thigh didn't loosen up like it normally does. I bagged the run.

I have decided to take Ibuprofen and intensive stretching and maybe a massage this week. In addition, I may get some new shoes. If these do not improve things, then I'm just going to run my self into the ground. Either, I'll overcome this and improve, or I'll make my injury worse and won't reach my goal. Either way, taking alot of time off is going to be counterproductive to reaching my goal, so I have nothing to lose.

Every year I have run, I have had some issues. ITB, shin splints, etc. This year has been my healthiest, so I am more angry that I am having issues. In reality, I'm actually better than I have been in any training cycle and have gotten use to the lack of pain.

Garden:
Lots of tomatoes. 18-20 in the last week alone.

It's hot as Hades in Texas

2006-08-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Runs

Mon-Rest
Tues - 6 miles, Recovery
Wed- 14 miles, General Aerobic
Thurs - Rest
Fri- Rest
Sat- Rest
Sun- 14 miles

Total - 34 miles

I had a very busy week at work, coupled with a nagging pain along the the lower inside of my left thigh and a mild groin sprain (go ahead with the jokes), i decided to utilize this "stepback" week to rest even more. Plus, a trip to visit my parents in Dallas was already making the thought of a long run in teh 100+ degree heat seem like a bad idea. The pain in my thigh/groin does not stop me from running and infact my pace seems quite ok. My "recovery" runs are getting faster at a simialr level of effort.

I did a 14 miler at River Legacy PArk in Arlington, Texas. It is a shaded 7 mile point to point trail. It is a cement trail with alot of bikers, but off to the side is a worn path from teh few runners using the trail. The parking lot to this path enters teh trail at mile 1.2. After studying the trail map, I realized, water was not going to be plentiful, adn mapped out a couple of out and backs. I first went from mile 1.2 back to mile 0 and then came back to mile 1.2. I then went out toward mile 6/6 and turned around. I intended on going back to mile 0, return to my car for an even 14. It was hot as hell and I saw alot fo animals and reptiles. Small snakes, lizards, and frogs. As I was running the final leg back to mile 0, Isee a BOBCAT on the runnign trail, walking toward me. I don't know much about wildlife, but I didn't think running by this animal was a smart thing to do, so I turned around and high tailed it back and did my final 2 miles on a different route. A BOBCAT. In suburbia. walking on a trail. Pretty cool, unless I got mauled.

This week, I will get back on track. The pain has not gone away, but i'll deal. I switched my 15 mile with 12 at marathon pace scheduled for last week to this week to avoid doing it in 100 degree heat.

If I lived in Texas, I would never do a fall marathon. The training would be too brutal.

Wisdom tooth watch- A has dry sockets. not fun times in our house. Plus United lost out luggage. My Garmin, sunglasses and my glasses were in there.

Get busy running or get busy sitting on the couch eating chips and salsa

2006-08-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Runs

Mon-Rest
Tues - 6 miles, Recovery
Wed- 12 miles, General Aerobic
Thurs - 9 miles, Threshold Run (See below)
Fri- Rest
Sat- 5 Recovery
Sun- 20 miles

Total - 52 miles

Another 50+ mile week. The body is holding up well, while the mind and psyche is faltering. My Thursday run sucked. It was a pace run. It was supposed to be an 11 mile run with 6 at Half marathon pace. I did 2 warm up, then did 3 at hmp. I stopped to take a gel and gte a drink of water. When I started back up, I felt nauseous and came back on the pace a bit and finished the next 3 at a slower pace (about 30 seconds/mile slower than my MARATHON pace) I bagged my cooldown by 2 miles (1 instead of 3). I really lost alot of confidence in that run. With all these miles, I am running more, but I don't feel like I have gotten faster. I am seriously thinking that turning my speedwork over to Pfitzinger may have been a mistake. There is speed built into this schedule, but as evidenced by my run on Thursday, I am in no condition to run a 3:15 yet. I'll keep doing the miles as prescribed. Others have shown great benefit from this plan, and I have as well to some extent. I'm 30-50% more mileage than I have ever done at my peak and my body isn't rebelling. That accounts for something.

The stomach issues weren't gel related. It's that feeling after you have sprinted a mile and you feel like you are going ot puke.

My 20 was nice. I felt good, without the usual soreness post run. I think If I wanted to run a slow marathon today, I'd have no problem. The problem is I want to run a "fast" marathon.

I have 10 weeks to get my mind in gear and go Emeril on this plan and kick it up a notch.

A had her wisdom teeth extracted on Friday and is in a lot of pain. Life ain't too much fun at the homestead right now, but in the grand scheme of life, this is nothing to be concerned about. Friends of mine are going through way tougher fights right now and that puts life into perspective. I'm not an overly religious person. However, when bad things happen to good people, I don't know how to resolve that spiritually. I could either look at it as God couldn't exist and let things like this happen, or I could look at it that God has to be involved and has a master plan for us. I don't have an answer. I never will. All I know is that it sucks, but from what I have read of this friend's family, they have the strength and faith to conquer this.

More mileage, yet not feeling confident

2006-08-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

July 24-30
This was Badwater week. I counted my run/walking in Death Valley in my mileage, but it wasn't all running

M-12 miles (badwater)
Tues- 9 miles (badwater)
Wed- 0
Thurs- 0
Fri- 0
Sat- 3
Sun -12

Total - 36 miles

July 31 - Aug 6

M-Rest
Tues - 10 miles (4 at race pace: 7:20)
Wed- 4
Thurs- 11 miles. On the treadmill due to rain
Fri-Rest
Sat - 7 miles- with strides
Sun - 18 miles at the lakefront

Total - 50 miles ( A new high by 8 miles)

It has been a little let down since Badwater. Most of my excitement and energy was focused on that. Now it is over. I'll copy my race report in another post. I now must focus my energy on the marathon. I am handling much higher milege than I ever did before, but I don't feel like I am faster. The heat and humidity has made the runs seem harder than it should be. I hope this starts to click soon.

Tranquility- Accepting your fate.

2006-07-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

July 9-16

Monday- Rest
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 5 miles on the treadmill in St. Paul, MN
Thursday – 10 miles – general aerobic
Friday – Rest
Saturday – 15 miles in the heat
Sunday – 5 miles

Total: 35 miles

I skipped a run on Tuesday b/c I thought I was coming down with a cold. My son and wife have been sick and it will be a miracle if I stay healthy. I thought with what I needed to be healthy for next week, the better decision was to rest and see if it was really a cold. It turned out not to be and I was ok the rest of the week. It has gotten really hot here and the humidity has made it very uncomfortable. I did well on my weekend runs, but the humidity is what bothers me the most. After running 15, I spent the rest of the day in the hot sun at an n Indiana Hog Roast. I’m a vegetarian, which should provide some frame of reference as to the irony of me attending a hog roast. My wife’s close friend has a biannual hog roast that all their old college friends attend. It’s a carnival. Popcorn and cotton candy machines, Water slides, Air filled rooms for the kids to bounce around in, a DJ, drinks. It was good heat training. I realized that even when I think I am hydrating well, that I really am not. I can get away with it for a 15 miler, since I spend the rest of the day recovering and drinking water. Next week, if I don’t stay up on the fluids, I won’t have time to just lounge around and recover. I need to be in control from the start.

Badwater

The preparations reached a fever pitch last week and this week things have calmed down. I have a staging area in a room in my house where I have all my gear. I have purchased everything I need and most of it has arrived. Some are en route. If we weren’t climbing Mt. Whitney, this would be a lot easier to pack for. I have clothing to span 30 degrees to 130 degrees. Our crew teams have been picked. We have lists for food. One computer geek on our team has made a remarkably detailed spreadsheet of the mile markers, pace and location points. I have that calm Zen feeling that I used to get in Medical school. I was never one of those people who crammed the night before a test. I studied like crazy until the last night and the last night I would spend a little time going over things I thought would be useful. But then I would get this incredible calm feeling. I had prepared. My fate was sealed. Let the chips fall where they may. Nothing I do in the last few minutes before the test will make a big difference. That is how I feel now. I feel that we have prepared well, physically. Running an extra mile or two isn’t going to be the difference. Our Runner is prepared. We hope that we are prepared well enough mentally and logistically that we can execute our plans. Wherever possible, we have tried to take human calculations and judgment out of the equation. When you are sleep deprived, you can’t make complex calculation on pace and finish times. It’s like in Apollo 13 when Kevin Bacon’s character put a piece of duct tape over the button that would jettison the Lunar module so he wouldn’t push it while his fellow astronauts were in it. And if all that fails, I keep reminding myself, don't act like you are doing something major here. I'm not the one runnning this. I get to rest. I get to sleep.

I’m just happy to be part of this. I hope that we can get Nattu his belt buckle.

I leave for Vegas on Saturday morning. We drive out to Death Valley that morning and the race starts Monday morning at 6 am (Wave 1). When he finishes in less than 48 hours it will be early Wed. morning. Thursday morning, we climb Mt. Whitney. Friday we return to Vegas and party (or sleep). Most of us depart on Saturday.

Garden:
The plants got a lot of water this week with the rains. The peppers are yielding abundantly. The tomatoes are still a few weeks away from fruit.

Culinary
I have not had much time to make anything interesting. Last night we had some friends over for dinner. I made some drinks that A and I had when were in Vegas last year. We ate at Olives, in the Bellagio, and they made a dring called the “Ginger Mint” It’s lie a Mojito with ginger.

I made asimple syrup and mixed it 2:1 with lemon juice. I muddled 15 mint leaves and 5-10 ginger slices with 2 oz of Belvedere Cytrous. I them added 3-4 oz of the syrup/lemon juice mixture and stirred.

In two weeks, We'll have started Badwater

2006-07-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Runs
Mon – Rest
Tues- 8 miles, 4 at 7:20 pace
Wed- 4 miles- Recovery
Thurs- 10 miles
Fri – Rest
Sat – 4 miles
Sun – 14 miles

Total: 40 miles

Badwater
The preparations are really heating up. It’s palpable and real now. The travel arrangements have been made. We’re compiling crew strategy now. Decisions, on who the crew teams will be, the amount of time each will crew and run before resting, shopping lists for food and supplies, hotel reservations, spreadsheets keeping track of food, hydration and weight. Where are we filling up gas and getting ice? How are we getting to the start line? Short or long sleeved shirts? Short or long pants? Ice hats, Ice Bandanas. Sunglasses SPF 5000 sunscreen? Insect repellent. Snake repellant? Log books. Computers. Satellite phones. Rental car contracts. Needles, scalpels, gauze, betadine, alcohol swabs, benzoin, tape and other blister care products. Articles on heat illness, dehydration and hyponatremia. Books on footcare.

This is a stream of consciousness partial list of things running through my brain. I’m making lists, checking them 100 times. I’ve been on the REI, Moosejaw and zombierunner websites 50 times the past week, making sure there wasn’t anything else I could buy.

Garden
The plants are starting to take hold. I suspect in a few weeks, the tomatoes will be really growing. The okra have a while to go. The peppers are coming along nicely.

T-3 weeks until Badwater

2006-07-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Mon- Rest
Tues- 8 miles with 10x100m strides
Wed- Rest
Thurs- 10 miles general aerobic
Fri- Rest
Sat- 13 miles outside. Humid.
Sun - 5 miles- Recovery.

Totals - 36 miles

It doesn't seem like I'm running much. Maybe it's the early morning runs or the 3 rest days. I'm sure it will pick up soon. Next week is a 5 day running week. So far my body is adjusting to this fairly well. Knock on wood, I am not having any aches or pains that are concerning.

N has an ear infection again. He probably needs tubes in his ears, but our ENT has been very conservative. We see him again in a few weeks and I think that it's time to do it. He has had way more ear infections than average. My parents were in town for my cousin's son's birthday party. My son did all those things that melt a grandparent's heart. Telling them he loves them, without being prompted. Wanting them to put him to bed rather than his parents, etc.

Badwater:
The obsessing is beginning. I have started making lists and have a room set up at home as a staging area. My biggest worry, personally, is forgetting something important. I will be reading and rereading books and websites to make my lists.

N (our runner) is totally dialed in. Our job is to make sure we support him but not screw him up. Hydration, Nutrition, Companionship, health and blister control are our primary goals. If we can anticipate his needs and address them with little effort on his part, I think we will have a successful run. My goal is to not cause him any undo frustration or cause him to waste any physical or mental energy. If he drops anything, I'm picking it up for him. If he needs something, I'll get it for him. The only time I'll exert my will, is if I really think he's in bad shape physically and needs a break. Otherwise, he's the boss.

Pfitz- Week 1

2006-06-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Mon- Rest
Tues- 7 miles with 10x100m strides
Wed- Rest
Thurs- 9 miles general aerobic
Fri- REst
Sat- 4 miles Recovery
Sun - 12 miles on the treadmill due to thunderstorms. The most painful run if the week.

Totals - 32 miles

I think this plan is going to work. the only negatives are not being able to work speedwork, formally into the plan and not being able to sync my long runs to the long runs of my running group, who used HH's programs.

Extreme Dehydration

2006-06-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Runs

6/12 - 6 miles 55:10
6/13 -
6/14 - Speedwork 2x2400(6:52, 6:45/mile), 4x200, - 6 miles total
6/15 -
6/16 -
6/17 - 15 miles: 2:25
6/18 -

total : 27 miles

I was still sore early in the week from my garden work. On Saturday I ran 15 around 8:30 am. I guess I am not ready for the heat. It was 75 degrees at the start and 85 by the end of my run. I was pretty dehydrated and had lost 6 pounds. I felt horrible for the rest of the day. It was the worst I have felt outside the end of marathons.

A was in NYC from Friday until Sunday. So I had baby duty the entire weekend. I had help from my father-in-law and a cousin. N was pretty good, only crying for A a few times. He seemed to be mad at A when we picked her up from the airport. He screamed, as if to voice his extreme displeasure for having been left with me for the weekend.

Culinary

Not much this week.

Garden

Most of the plants are surviving. The ones grown from seeds are more fragile. Out of the 12 seed grown tomatoes, I think only 3-4 are going to survive. That plus the 6 store bought plants will give us a decent amount of tomatoes. The cucumber plant is also showing signs of not making it. Outside of that all the okra look good. All the store bought plants look good and the basil, cilantro and oregano look well as well.

I'm really sore and not from running

2006-06-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Runs

6/5 - 8 miles with 6x100 strides
6/6 -
6/7 - Speedwork 2x1200/2x1000/2x800, 6.25 total
6/8 -
6/9 -
6/10 - 3 miles
6/11 - 14 miles

total : 31.2 miles

I reached a high in mileage for this year. The runs are slower, but I feel like I'm making progress. I still have a nagging left toe pain and tight hamstrings. My shins are slightly sore, like they get during training. I am ready to start Pfitzinger

Culinary

I made my patented veggie/tofu fajitas. On satudray morning, I made an interesting dish. I took a couple of tortillas and sauted them in some oil. I placed a fried egg(over-hard) on each tortilla and smothered one in a Green salsa and one in a salsa roja. It was actually pretty good. On Friday night, I went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants. My buddy from college, who lives in Bejing, finished his executive MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Business. His graduation was in Evanston. WE went to dinner to Osteria Via Stato. They have a Prix Fixe menu with all you can eat food(except the actual entree)

Antipasti
Beet salad
Baked onion with parmesan cheese
Watermelon, arugula and shaved Parmesan
mozzarella balls in olive oil with red pepper flakes

Pasta
Gemelli in pesto
Some other pasta with olive oil, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes

Entree
Eggplant Parmesan- Sicilian style

Dolci
Burnt Caramel Gelato

Garden

I spent 3 hours of back breaking work, planting 40 vegetable plants and several herb potters. B/c if timing, A couldn't help and I had to do it myself. Here's a breakdown
Cucumber -1
Squash - 1
Eggpalnt -1
Beans -2
Peas - 1
Okra-7
Peppers - 8 (Jalapeno-4, Chili-2, garden salsa-2)
Tomato - 18 (Heirloom-12, regular-2, roma-2, grape-2) I can't remember all the Heirloom varieties (Tigerella, Arkansas Traveler, San Marzano, and 2 others)

Herbs- Basil, thai basil, oregano, cilantro)

Graduation

2006-06-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Runs

5/29 - In KC, travel - no running
5/30 - Heavy rains when I came home from work - no running
5/31 - Speedwork 3x1 mile repeats, (6:50,6:45,6:32) 3 miles warm/cool - 6 miles total
6/1 -
6/2 - 12 miles - 1:52
6/3 - 3.1 miles :Lew Blond Memorial 5K : 27:00, ran with a jogging stroller
6/4 - too tired no running.

total : 21.2 miles

This was not a great week for training. Little things got in the way of running and I didn't plan my week very well. In this stage of training, I'm not running based on a real schedule. The only 2 runs that are set are my long run and Speedwork. All the other runs are filling in the blanks. I had hoped to run >26 miles this week, to build upon my 26 miles last week. I had hoped to run 6 on Sunday, but I stayed out late on Saturday night and didn't get to sleep until after 2 am. In the morning, A had plans to take N to the Lincoln Park Zoo early, thus I didn't get to sleep past 6 am. When we got back home after the zoo, I napped until 5 pm. Sunday night was the annual "graduation" party for the Cardiology Fellows at our hospital. It's a small dinner and reception and to thank the fellows for their hard work and to formally acknowledge them. In a month they will be finished with their training and be practicing in different parts of the country. I like going, since I am only 4 years removed from that time in my life as well. It's a wired feeling, finishing training. Not unlike Brooks from the Shawshank Redemption, once you're free, you don't remember what it was like to not be free. For me, if you count my time after high school, my schooling/training have encompassed 15 years. In those 15 years and especially the last 7, you have always had someone more experienced who you could ultimately rely on. Then all of a sudden (for me July 1 2002), when you're in a tough case, you look around, and their is no one. It's just you and you're training. Hopefully, In October, I'll be looking at 3:15:59 on the clock knowing that my trust in Pfitzinger ultimately allowed me to rech my goal.

Culinary

Not much this week. I did make a nice Pasta dish. I'm not a huge fan of non-tomato based pasta hishes. However, A really did not want a tomato based sauce, so I concocted a primavera-type dish with some Indiam spiced mixed in. It had roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, some other veggies, all sauted. It was then mixed with bow-tie pasta and EVOO. The only missing ingredient was Parmesiano Reggiano and/or some Panko bread crumbs.

Garden - (New addition to blog)

We have decided to start a garden again this year. Last year was generally a sucecss with bountiful crops of tomatoes (12 plants, 5 varieties), okra, peppers and cucumbers. The marginally successful plants were beans, radish and carrots. The failures were Eggpalnt and zucchini.

This year, i have started several plants from seeds (Heirloom varieties of tomatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers) plus several herbs (basil, oregano, cilantro and italian parsley)

We bought a few plants from Home Depot, some more tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, eggplant and some squash.

Our lawn service will be bringing some dirt to level off our garden area and we will plant this coming weekend. If I could grow avacados, I'd have everything I care to make- pasta sauce, salsa and guacamole.

I am so not ready for this heat

2006-05-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Runs
Mon 5/22 - 7 mi 1:01 "Pace"
Tue 5/23 - 3 mi 27:30 "Recovery"
Wed 5/24 - 6 miles Threshold run 2x15 miles intervals @ 7:20 pace
Thu 5/25 -
Fri 5/26 -
Sat 5/27 - 10 miles 1:33
Sun 5/28 -

Totals: 26 miles

We went to Kansas City this weekend for a wedding reception. My cousin got married a few weeks ago in NYC. My aunt and uncle wanted to throw a reception locally for their friends and family, since the NYC reception was much smaller. It was a fun time seeing family from all over the country and world. I can keep using that term "world" since my one cousin from London showed up. It was hot and humid and I was hoping that my friends in Madison would somehow be the beneficiaries of some freak cold front that passed through, but alas that was not in the cards.

Back from Boston- See you in about a year

2006-05-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Runs
5/16 - 6 miles
5/17 - Flight to Boston. 6 mile run from my hotel, around the Charles, passing MIT and BU. Wonderful weather and run. I was breaking in my new shoes, Saucony Grid Omni 5 Moderate.
5/18 - 3 mile son the treadmill due to rain and my conference schedule.

Miscellaneous

I have broken from My Brooks adrenaline fetish If you have read my blog, you know that I have not been very happy with my GTS-6s. The guy at the store tried to convince me that they are the same as the GTS-5s. I don't think so! The Saucony fit pretty well, but feel more cushion-ey. So far they are working ok.

I was in Boston for a medical conference for my particular specialty, cardiac electrophysiology. The conferences are a great way to catch up with what's current in the field as well as enjoy some time with people I haven't seen in about a year. These are people that I spent more time with than my own wife, when I was a resident and fellow. It's a lot like the military. Long hours, working together during tough and stressful times. You develop a bond that stays forever.

Wed- Flight into Boston. Dinner at Grill 23. I know it isn't the ideal place for a vegetarian, but I had some great wine and an ok meal. The one from Darioush was particularly excellent. I was up until 3 am talking with friends.

Thursday - slept in and ran on the treadmill. The rest of the day was spent at the conference. The evening was spent at Tapeo reminiscing with former colleagues from St. Louis.

Friday - a full day at the conference. Dinner at Ristorante Lucia in the North End and two bottles of wine- a Silverado Cab and a Joseph Phelps- Insignia. Really outstanding. After dinner, a few of us went to a bar where mostly 20 somethings were. It was like Coyote Ugly, and several women dancing on the bar. My friend was getting hit on by 21 year old women (He's 36) I had way too much to drink - Lots of wine, 2 glasses of port, 3 Heinekens, a Kamikaze shot, and the topper- Red Bull and Vodka. I had no business NOT being hung over the next morning, but somehow I wasn't. I actually woke up after 3 hours of sleep (3 am-6am) b/c I forgot to close the shades and it gets bright really early. I actually woke up, without any real signs of a hangover. I thought I must not yet be sober and that must be the reason. But clearly the Red Bull is a magic potion. During the day we wandered around Harvard Square and had dinner on the north End again that night.

5/20 - Drove up to Marblehead, MA and had lunch on the coast. Flight back to Chicago.

Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Runs

Saturday
12 miles - combination of treadmill and indoor track. I sorta wussed out b/c of the threat of rain. The clouds looked like there was going to be a torrential downpour, so I decided on running indoors. The gym was moderately crowded, and I try not to hog the treadmill if it is crowded. However, It really isn't practical to stay on for only 30 minutes. So, I gauge the need to get off based on the number of empty mils. If there are some empty ones, I stay on. If it is full, I get off and get back on after re-signing up. Today, after 6 miles, there was an overhead announcement about the time limits and several people walking behind my mil to see my time. So, I got off after 6 miles, and went to another mil on the other end of the gym. I ran 3 miles there and decided to try the indoor track. I have never run on this 1/8th mile track, b/c I feel I will lose count of laps easily. This almost happened a few times, but fortunately, my pace was just under 8:00/mile, which made each lap, just under 1 minute. Thus when I lost track, I could easily tell what lap number I was on. The track is full of walkers and there are three lanes. The outer lane is supposed to be for runners, but the walkers often use it to "pass" people.

Sunday
5 miles, again on the treadmill. Same weather issues. A and I were supposed to run a 5K for the Y-Me Cancer organization. However, we didn't want N to be out in the rain, so we bagged the 5K. My legs were pretty tired from my run yesterday, and it took me about 55 minutes for this 5 mile run. I just didn't feel like pushing myself. I did catch up on Sportscenter though. Now that I listen to Podcasts in the car, I don't listen to Sports Radio anymore.

Culinary
Saturday night we went to some friend's house for dinner. I made some really kick ass Guacamole. I add cumin and Cayenne pepper for a slightly different flavor.

I am planting my garden seeds this week. I have about 35 little pods set up and will plant them in the ground in a few weeks. This year, from seed, I am planting:

5 varieties of tomatoes- most are Heirloom varieties
Okra
Beans
Peas
cucumbers
Jalapeno Peppers

Herbs
Basil, (Genovese, Thai and Greek)
Cilantro
Italian Parsley

Depending on what grows, I'll probably buy some plants to fill out the garden (Tomatoes, Peppers)

GTS-^6 You're dead to me

2006-05-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Runs
M/T - toe recovery

Wed - Speedwork
2x2000 = 8:34 and 8:43 (~6:58 pace)
4x400 = (1:34, 1:31, 1:31, 1:23) - (`6:18 to 5:33 pace)
1 mile warm/cool

-The home schoolers were there in force. For those who don't know, there is a family of 6 or 7 kids, all home schooled, varying in ages from around 13-14 to 5. They all come to Speedwork and the three oldest sons are all pretty fast. They don't always run all the repeats. They run the first one fast, take a few off, and then save themselves for the last one. However, when their Dad shows up, they give it their all. I was able to catch the third fastest kid on my 2000 repeats, but not the 2 fastest.
- On the 400s, I would get passed near the end by this very thin Asian woman. I got annoyed b/c she's overtake me really close. The last repeat (as you can tell by my time) I really smoked her. She pulled up even after 200m, and then I gunned it and she couldn't keep up. It turns out she is really sweet, and I am portraying her as some bit#$, when she isn't.
- I used my older Brooks GTS-5 and had virtually no pain in my toes. So, either the issue is gone, or it really was the shoes. GTS-6, you're dead to me.

Work has been crazy busy. My boss has been on vacation for 2 weeks, which not only makes me very busy, but creates more work in the long run. When he is on vacation, he sits around and emails Chairmen, volunteering my time for projects, etc. He starts off the email like it's going to be me and him, but by the end, I'm the one left holding the bag.

Next week, I'll be in Boston for a medical conference. A will join me for the weekend, and my in-laws are taking care of N from Fri-Sunday.

I think I understand why Football Players hate Turf Toe

2006-05-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Runs
Sat 5/6/06 - 5.17 miles, 44:36, (8:37 pace)
The ankle is holding up well. It is almost completely healed. The left middle toe continues to hurt.

Sunday 5/7/06 - 11 miles, 1:40 (9:06 pace)
The run was a little slow. My legs felt tired, probably from my "faster" run the day before. I can tell that I haven't built upon my gains. For example, just when I was turning the corner a few weeks ago, I turned my ankle. Hopefully, this toe issue will go away. I'm beginning to think my shoes may be playing a role. I have never really liked the Brooks GTS-6 that I bought before LBCM last year. I had been a faithful fan of the GTS-4 and 5. The 6 seems to be slightly different in its fit. It is lighter, and that is a plus, but there is something about this shoe that I don't like. I have nearly 300 miles on this and I'm giving up on them. The will be my short run shoe, maybe. After 3 1/2 years of All Brooks, All the time, I'm going a different direction. ?Asics, ?Mizuno, ?New Balance.

One of my friends had a baby girl and had the naming ceremony (Brit Bat) yesterday. His wedding was the first Jewish wedding I had attended and his daughter's naming ceremony was the first Brit Bat, I have attended.

I went to another kids birthday party yesterday. Too Funny.

The Big Apple

2006-05-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Runs:

5/3/06 - First Speedwork Session of the year
5x1000m repeats at 5K pace. 1 mile warm/cool= total 5.1 miles

First repeat was too fast. 3:45 (6:00 pace)
2-5 were better at 4:17-4:10 ( 6:40 pace-7:00)

Part of the problem is I don't really know what my 5K pace is. I've only raced a 5K once in the past 5 years. I'm a little sore. My ankle feels no different after this workout and my toe issue is not much of a problem. So, I think I'm good to go for returning to training. I'll try to get in another 15 miles this week.

Since my last post, we went to New York City for my cousin's wedding. We stayed at the Residence Inn, on the corner of 39th Street and 6th avenue. I recommend this hotel very highly. Free breakfast, large rooms with a kitchenette. It's close to the subway, and Times Square. The weather was great, and if I wasn't letting my foot heal, I would have had some awesome running weather. I would love to have spent some of my younger years living in NYC, but at this point, the drop in lifestyle to live there isn't worth it. Whenever I visit NYC, I realize Chicago is not NYC. Chicago is great in it's own way and in many ways, superior. But NYC has something special, that I don't have the ability to put into words.

N and A had a great time. N played in this very cool park in Central park with a very large stone slide. He was getting nudged out of the way by older kids who took a shortcut to get back to the top of the slide. This annoyed and frustrated him, but he didn't lose his cool, surprisingly.

The wedding was at the Brooklyn botanical Garden. Apparently, Manhattan cab drivers do not know how to get there. Many people attending the wedding has similar problems and my Dad arrived 5 minutes before the bride walked down the aisle.

I had my favorite Pizza in the world and some Indian food called "Kati Rolls" which were awesome as well.

Toes

2006-04-24T06:05:00.001-07:00

Runs

Saturday - 10 miles 1:27

I have been nursing this ankle sprain and for the most part it is getting better. I decided to give it a run on Saturday. I woke up and it was raining, so I though- OK I'll wait until tomorrow. Then the rain went away and it was beautiful outside. Sunny, 55 degrees, with the ever present, constantly-in-my-face wind. I thought, I couldn't pass this up. I ran in my Zensah base layer and an REI pullover and shorts. My anke held up very well. I was way ovrdressed, but I'll chalk it up to Badwater heat training. I generally don't drink on my runs of 10 miles or less. Not because I think it's a smart thing to do, but b/c I run through mostly residential areas without water fountains. Plus I no longer like to carry water with me. I'm going to need to figure something out. As the summer wears on, my perfromance will definitely suffer. I'm usually a few pounds lighter after one of these 10 milers.

While my ankle did well, I now have a pain under the base of my 3rd ad 4th toe, right where the toes meet the base of the foot. My guess is that it's either that cancer spreading, or I altered my gait and I sprained my toe.

I really feel that outiside of my toes/feet, I'm making really good progress, this early in the season. I need to get my ankle and toe feeling 100% before I start training again. There's no point in going 1 step forward and 2 steps back. We're going to NYC for a Wedding on Thursday. I'm giving my feet until next week to heal, or sooner if I'm pain free.

Culinary:
Friday- went to this place. It was listed as one of the top new restaurants of 2006 by Chicago magazine. It was really good. I LOVE Mexican food and Tex-Mex.

Toes

2006-04-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

Acute ankle cancer

2006-04-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Runs

4/17- 6 miles
4/18 -0
4/19 - 0 (see below)

During this period of base building, I'm too lazy to wake up any earlier than I already do, to run. Thus I run in the evening. This happens to coincide with family time. One of N's pleasures is going to the park and going on slides, etc. When the weather warms up and the days are longer, we indulge him as often as we can. The side benefit is a tired kid., more apt to sleep through the night. To make this happen and cause the least ripples at home, I have proposed that we pick a park and I run one way, from home to the park and I meet A and N there. I usually start 20-30 minutes earlier. I meet them there, play with N and we drive home together. This has been working fabulously for my runs of 5-6 miles.

On Monday, we chose a park about 5 miles away, despite closer ones. I took a new rout to get there, knowing that I wanted to do 6 miles. As I pass the 3 mile mark, I need to cross a major intersection. I was watching traffic, as I stepped off the sidewalk onto the grass near the traffic light post that has the walk button. My left foot falls into a rut and turns violently. I hear a snap and I have a lot of pain. I try walking on it and I decide not to continue. I had my cell phone (which I don't often run with) and called A at home. She wasn't there. I thought she must have left home. I call her cell, no answer. She often keeps it on silent/vibrate mode. No answer. I'm half way home and half way to my destination. The only logical choice was to walk towards my destination, hoping that A would see me hobbling and pick me up. As I walked across the street, my pain lessened an I felt like I would at least jog. Somehow I ran the remaining 3 miles without a lot of pain and kept my pace. When I got to the park, N was on the slides. B/c of the previous day's rain, his jeans were soaked. It was 49 degrees with a stiff wind, so we decided to come home.

The next morning, I was in a lot of pain. Not much swelling. I actually thought it was fractured. I went into first year med student mode, where I thought every new disease we studied, I had the symptoms of. Plague- yes. Polio- yup. Smallpox- eradicated from the earth- I think not.

Today the pain is almost gone. It hurts with lateral motion , but not with forward motion. I'm taking it easy until Friday or Saturday, when I'll test it again.

I was just getting into a groove.

I'm invigorated

2006-04-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Runs

4/11 - 6 miles 52:15
4/12 - 3 miles 25:12
4/13 - 3 miles 27 min
4/15 - 10.3 1:32:15

This marks the first real consistent week of training I have had in a long time. I am aligning my runs into the Pfitzinger plan, but running Tu/Wed/Thurs and Sat/Sun, with rest on Monday/Friday.

This will work reasonably well for work, since Monday and Friday are often early days, and running before work will be harder. Now that I have made the decision to stick with PF as close as possible, Speedwork after mid June is out.

No aches and pains despite a quick ramp up.. I'm going to gradually work towards 30 miles per week until mid June. I'll try to make my long run 12-13 miles and alter my tu-wed-Thur to come up with the balance. Sunday will be a short, slow recovery run of 3-5 miles. This schedule will also work better on the homefront as I do not want my training to come in the way of family time. If I ever become so obsessed with running that impacts my marriage or children, then its time to stop, or cut back. Running should be a fun, enhancer of life.

Culinary

Sorry to say, I haven't done any real cooking since my French Bread baking last weekend.

I went and saw Thank You for Smoking last night. It was amusing and reasonably well done. I wasn't;t expecting something great and it met my expectations. If anything, it made me more disgusted with lobbyists, primarily ones that lobby for tobacco, etc.

Blah

2006-04-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Runs

one 5 miler and a 6 mile run yesterday. Nothing spectacular except the weather.

I am bad at remembering things in the past. Here's a recount

Dell computer, still not fixed. Finally, they have allowed me to send it in for servicing.

Apple laptop came back fixed, but with an erased hard drive. A was PISSED. I have made the investment in an external hard drive and like most. learned the hard way to back up data.

N is recovering from a cold. A feels crappy with her allergies. She actually asked me if she could be pregnant. She said this is how she felt when she was pregnant with N. Okey Dokey. TMI.

Insanity is a 2:1 computer to adult ratio

2006-04-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Runs:

Saturday morning
10.15 miles, 1:37- If you recall, I ran 36 hours ago (8 miles in 1:09). As you can tell by my times, my legs weren't there. That's ok. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to have that tired feeling in my legs to get them to get used to being somewhat fatigued. My general aches (piriformis) and hamstrings are still there, but seem to be better or I have not noticed it as much. I hope to do a slow 4 or 5 miler tomorrow morning to make this week over 20(8+10.15+4 or 5)

Culinary
Last night, A, N and I went to Barnabys' Pizza. Self Serve Chaosville. Like Chuck-E-cheese, without large rodents. I had a Beck's Dark.

This afternoon, for lunch, I went to my favorite grocer and bought some fresh bread, veggies and cheeses. I made some veggie sub sammiches for my wife and her cousin. Mine had mustard, lettuce, cucumber,avocado, hard boiled egg, red onion, Roma tomatoes and a slice of cheddar, swiss and mozzarella. I toasted the bread adn cheese before adding in the fixings.

On my trip to Puerto Rico, my Apple Powerbook's DVD drive "broke". I took it in the Apple Store, where they will fix it under warranty. They said there is a "small" chance they would end up erasing my hard drive. A was PISSED. I had downloaded all of our Puerto Rico pics and erased them off the camera. Pray for me that the computer comes back with the data intact. There are some pics of N as the ring-bearer that she is very attached to.

My Dell laptop, still under warranty, is having screen issues, so it doesn't work as well. WE're down to 2 functioning computers. One is my wife's work computer, that shares a Keyboard, monitor and mouse via a KVM switch with my home desktop. You would be right to assume we are insane for having 4 computers for 2 adults.

B/c of all this turmoil, it is time for me to have a network hard drive to back up files in the event something like this occurs again. I purchased this today. will create a networked hard drive to store files and perform routine backup. This redundancy will help in the event we have a computer malfuction on our Mac, which houses all our pictures and music.

$14 mojitos

2006-03-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. Mostly laziness and travel have kept me from blogging or running.

Runs:

March 20-26

2, 3 mile runs (Friday and Sunday) on the San Juan beach on Isla Verde. Running on this sand was very difficult. The sand near our hotel was flat and packed near the waves, but as I ran east, the packed areas either became very slanted, or the sand was very loose. Thus, I had to run on the loose stuff, further away from the water, which was much harder. The temperature was 85 degrees and at least that % in humidity.

March 27-30
8 miles in 1:09 on 3/30. This was my longest midweek run. I wanted to get used to this, b/c that Pfitzinger seems to relish in making you run long during the week. One thing Old Higdon did, was make a program that conformed much nicer for working folks. Does Pfitzinger think that everyone can run 12 milers before work when we aren't running 5 minute miles?

We were in San Juan Puerto Rico for a wedding last week. We stayed for 5 1/2 days total and it was glorious. It was nice to do nothing. I sat on the beach. I drank my body weight in Mojitos. (The Ritz made teh best ones, however they were $14, ouch) I ate and lounged some more. Old San Juan is much more compelling as a tourist area, with the forts and the cobblestone streets, restaurants and nightlife. Unfortunately, we were a 20 minute cab ride from there. The running would have been much better there.

The first 4 nights we stayed at the Ritz-Carlton.
My wife works for Marriott, who owns the Ritz. Thus, we got a rally sweet $89 rate. The going rate was over $500/night. Unfortunately, the rate wasn't available the final 2 days, so we moved to a Courtyard. Nice by most standards, but not the Ritz. The real kicker was the Marriott rate at the Courtyard was $159/night!

I ended up paying bellman $15 to bring 3 bags to my room. The day we got there, there was a room screw up. I gave the bellman $5 as we got out of the cab, assuming that he was bringing up the bags. However, due to the screw up in the rooms, A different guy brought it up 30 minutes later. I tipped that guy $5. Then while we were at the Wedding rehearsal (my son was the ring bearer), there were supposed to move the bags to our new room. They didn't. So when we got back from the rehearsal, I had to tip another guy $5 to move the bags from our smoking room to the nonsmoking room we requested. I will say that they were all VERY nice to us. Actually, they were really nice to my wife. Hmm. I wonder why? "Ms. A, nice to see you today" "Ms A, how was your dinner" Not unlike the SNL skit where the Italian waiters fawn over the female diner, in front of her husband.

Ritz: Perfect hotel. Lots to do without leaving. Sports, food, drinks, pool. But at a price.
Courtyard: Adequate. Nothing fancy, but a good value. It shares the same beach as the Ritz. (Within 5 minutes of arriving at the Courtyard, there was a fight in the lobby. 3 ten year olds were punching each other. I was thinking, I ain't at the Ritz anymore!

Hills suck

2006-03-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Running

3/19 - Cary March Madness Half marathon 1:49. Last year I ran it in 1:51. It is a very hilly race and I have come to the conclusion that my body was not made for hills. My pr is over 8 minutes better on flat ground. Additionally, I am clearly not at my peak, but I was better prepared for this race than last year. Last year, I didn't appreciate how many hills were at the end and didn't pace myself. This year, I realized all the people yelling "This is the last hill" were all lying.

Lunch at Tracks. The same place we went last year. Realized that weekend was the first time I met many "V-teamers" and also met RFS and his wife N. In fact we all went to dinner the night before. Good times.

Life:
3/16 - lost my first patient on the table. Details are not appropriate for a blog. But just remember that life is short. And, that there are probably very few people that had a shi$$ier day than I did on Thursday. Mind you, I've had patients die. That comes with the territory. But, I have never had one die during a procedure.

I'm a wuss

2006-03-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

Running
3/10- nothing.
3/11- the nicest day in Chicago since Fall, and I spent the day (a) at a children's' museum (b) at Walker Brothers eating large quantities of breakfast food (c) running around trying to find fresh produce and a pasta maker- , successful on one of those only

3/12 - New, low. Wussed out of running. We went to an engagement party for the couple's wedding we are attending in Puerto Rico next week. When we got there, N was still asleep in his car seat. So, I sat in the car for 1.5 hours, with nothing to read and an ipod without the headphones.

3/13 - No running

3/14 - 5 miles on my inlaws treadmill. 45-ish minutes.

I feel like buying a new car when we really don't need a new car. My wife's car is 3 years old and mine is 2.5 years old. I think that GM may not be supporting my wife's car brand much longer. She won't get an SUV or minivan. She would consider a stationwagon (logic please?)

I have been considering trading my car in for something with better gas mileage. I commute 50 miles roundtrip each day and my car was not made for great gas mileage. It I will be paid off in December, and I would like to have some time with either 1 or no car payments.

Culinary:
Sunday, I made an awesome Marinara sauce with fresh zucchini, mushrooms, onions. I bought some fresh basil and Italian Parsley from here. It is an awesome little produce store with very fresh stuff. Small mom an pop place with a tremendous variety. The food tastes so much better when you use fresh ingredients. I used canned whole tomatoes, but in the summer, I'll use tomatoes from our garden.

I'm making the same thing for my father in law for dinner tonight(his birthday). We also bought him an Ipod Nano. I hope he likes and uses it.

Eminem is the perfect running partner

2006-03-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Running:
Tuesday - 6.3 miles - 52:40. I ran a new loop and had a good run. It had flashes of what I used to be able to do.

Thursday - 5 miles on the treadmill before work in 47 minutes.

Thanks Steve Jobs. Ever since the most recent Itunes commercial has featured Eminem's Lose Yourself, I have wanted to download it. I finally did, and found that it had an almost perfect beat for my running cadence.

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

Me and 20 mpw are back together again

2006-03-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Runs

Thursday - 5 miles on the treadmill in 50 minutes. A progressive from 5.0 mph to 10.0 mph at the end. Most were between 5.5 and 6.0

Sunday - 10 miles in 1:36 with Bob and Sonny at Waterfall Glen. Nice run. It started snowing a mile into our run. It was peaceful, and picturesque. No plantar fascia issues.

20 mpw (miles per week) and I are like an old couple that always seem to get back together. I can try and spice things up with 30 mow or even 40 mpw, but my body tells me that I was made to be with 20 mpw. That's the mileage that I can sleepwalk through without trying. During the summer, I am going to make an effort to do the Pfitzinger 55 mpw plan. My body has never handled much more than 40 mpw so we'll see. I think I am ready for this new mistress.

Culinary
Friday - had dinner at Francesca's hole in the Wall. It's a small, Italian place that doesn't take reservations. It is small, and the owners walk around and mingle with the customers like old friends. They have a daily menu and can make anything you want. I had a Cappelini with tomato arrabiata sauce with Spinach and Artichokes. Out of this world. We eat there about 1x/year- which makes no sense since it is one of the best places we go to. We went and saw Syriana afterwards. I really liked this movie. I was a big fan of Traffic and Crash, both of which have similar styles of moviemaking. They follow several storylines that seem to be unrelated, but are actually very intricately connected.

Saturday - I made 2 loaves of wheat bread, mixing the dough in our new KitchenAid. I made white bread last week. Later that day, I made corn tortillas. They were all very good.

Sunday - I made some Pizza dough. We made 2 pizzas
Pizza #1: Sun dried Tomatoes, Fresh Buffalo mozzarella an basil
Pizza #2 - mozzarella (Buffalo), Roasted red Peppers and Artichoke hearts

I bought some unglazed quarry tiles from Home Depot to serve as my pizza stone after our "Authentic" stone broke. The tiles I bought from Home Depot cost $2.75, for 2 12 inch tiles. The "Authentic" stone was $30 or 40. Good move, if I say so myself.

Wunderlich Test

2006-03-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

Did you hear that Vince Young scored really low on his Wunderlich test at the NFL combines. Apparently, this means he has the mental capacity of a piece of burlap. Never mind that this guy is MONEY. He dominated two Rose bowl games. He went into Ohio State and single handedly willed his team to victory.

Yesterday, we had a meeting with our Son's speech and occupational therapist. N was not talking much at 2 years of age and the state of Illinois has an early intervention program to provide services. Turns out we don't fall into the income level to be able to utilize this program, so we have to pay out of pocket. No problem, anything for my son. This will only be the beginning of a long and expensive money train that will end up with me hopefully paying for him to go to college, grad school, etc. I'm happy to do it and that's how I was raised.

in addition to the speech delay, the OT thought he had Sensory aversion disorder, since he likes crunchy foods way more than soft foods. This was all based on "standardized testing" This is where I got off the train. But, if it doesn't hurt, then ok- it's only money.

Fast Forward 6 months. N won;'t stop talking. He can count to 10 in 6 or 7 languages. He can put together 6-7 word sentences. He is basically caught up with other 2.5 year olds.

We had a 6 month status report- Speech- "7% Delay". What the Fok does that mean? Apparently, based on standardized testing he has a 7% delay- which means he qualifies for continued speech therapy. Whatever- it's only money.

The whole point of the OT, however, was to get N to eat better. He has a very narrow range of foods he likes and doesn't eat much else. He doesn't even try new foods, unless you sneak it. For example, we went to a pizza place. He never eats pizza or the crust. He ate 2 pieces of crust, until he saw my m-in-law cutting another piece. Then the wall went up. The OT was meant to "help" him overcome the sensory issues he supposedly has in his mouth that causes him to favor hard foods.

I told the therapists, that I thought the speech was fine. If they felt he might benefit from more therapy- fine. I made it clear that the food stuff wasn't improving and now he is in full Terrible Two year old mode and his resistance may be all defiance issues now.

So, like Vince Young, testing says my beautiful son is "messed up" a little. I don't think so and only time will tell.

Ctrl-Alt-Del

2006-02-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Running:
Finally. I ran. 5 miles in cold and windy conditions. This is my usual 5 mile out and back.

5 miles 43:00

9:39/9:04/9:05/8:04/7:15

Can you tell that I had the wind at my back on the return trip?

I had a not so great week at work. In my line of work there are going to be complications. There is a finite complication rate for every procedure I do. It's a fact of life. If you haven't had a complication , it just means you haven't been doing it long enough. I had 2 complications this week. The rate of this complication (fortunately, not a major complication) is 1-2%. I happened to have 2 in one day. It just so happened that one was a 17 year old and the other was a family that made my life miserable about it. In the end, everyone was fine, they all went home and did well. But sometimes, you have a combination of patients that are Type A and a complication, and that is never a good combo.

On a different note, I had a bad interaction with a patient's wife who acted very rude towards me.

So, I really am glad that week is over. My chakras were aligned in different directions. I'd like to have a do over on last week. A ctrl-alt-delete for the entire week.

On Saturday, my sister-in-law, who was visiting from Boston, and several friends went to dinner at a restaurant we went to exactly one year ago for my birthday. This time the food really was lackluster. The Wine was not good either. I had a Worldly Reds flight. The Malbec and Shiraz were good, however, the Cab tasted like the barrel may have had a smelly sock fermenting with the wine. In addition, my gnocchi with Arriabiata sauce had Pancetta in it. I am vegetarian, and when I realized I had been eating Pancetta, I lost my appetite. I'm sure that Pancetta is perfectly delectable pork product, but not for me.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

2006-02-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

I am ready for winter to be over. The reason for the long delay in my posts is that I have done no running.

After my 10 miler 1.5 weeks ago, I came down with Laryngitis. We then went to Dallas for a few days and am working my arse off whil my boss is sunning himself in Maui.

Dallas- arrived on Saturday morning to 30 degree weather. When we left Chicago it was -9. It was downright warm, yet my parents looked like they were dressed for the ascent to base camp. Dallas was hit by a arctic blast that left a thin layer of ice on roads and this resulted in total chaos. I remember this from my youth. Dallas is ill equipped for this type of weather, utilizing sand as a traction enhancer on the roads. Within seconds, all the sand moves from where your wheels meet the road, to the median and lane divider. Thus to get a grip, one had to drive on the median. There were people driving 80 miles an hour on this stuff. I don't claim to be some weathered Chicagoan, but driving on ice is very different than ice with no salt on it. I saw a bunch of my friends at a birthday party at "Pump It up". I regaled them with stories of Badwater.

Since returning to Chicago on Monday, I turned 36 (Tuesday) and my son has a bilateral ear infection. Good times.

Birthday gifts:
Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer- Imperial Grey
All-Clad-3 Quart Saute Pan
Cabela's D2 Mini-Griptilain
Issey Miyake Cologne

Maybe I'll break out of my funk and run this weekend. It's just not happening for me right now. No problem. I'll just watch more lame Olympic coverage.

Laryngitis

2006-02-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

I guess 4 years of medical school and 7 years or residency/fellowship learned me sumpin.

I do have a cold. I predicted it. I can hardly speak. I don't feel really bad, but I know I am sick. Lung butter. Congestion. Cough.
Busy at work.
Leave for Dallas on Saturday
Boss is on vacation in Hawaii which will double my load for a week.

Nose Wax

2006-02-13T05:34:00.001-08:00

Running

Saturday
I woke up and looked outside. Sunny. The weather was supposed to turn colder and snow, later in the day. I felt a little tired for some reason and thought it might be better to do my long run on Sunday. A and N were going to my in-laws for lunch, so I pulled a Pam Reed and said, I'll run and meet you there.

10.6 miles - 1:37 (9:14 pace)

Sunday
Woke up with a sore throat again. I don't know if it is from running in the cold air or whether , I am really just on the verge of getting sick, with each long run, being the knock-out blow. Whatever the case, I did not run today. Instead, I didour taxes and went to a 3 year old's birthday party at Gymboree. If you have never been to one of these parties, it's worth it for the entertainment value alone. The kids running, jumping off things, throwing things at each other. The politics between the moms. (A telling me who she doesn't like, etc).

There is one mom, who has a child in N's class and an infant. The process of picking up kids at N's school is very structured. The parents walk in, one by one, from the front door, pick up their child, and walk out the back door. The mom that A dislikes, always tries cutting in line and makes a big stink about how she can't wait, since she has an infant in the car. A thinks she should just wait until the line is shorter and then come in, rather than cut in front of 5-6 parents, or not leave an infant, unattended in a car in the parking lot.

My mother-in-law happens to run the school that N goes to and teaches the 3-6 year olds. N is in the under 3 class now, but will be in his grandmother's class next year. We haven't gotten our application in yet, and a lot of N's classmate's parents were telling me they were going to enroll their children in her class. There are only 8 slots. My wife got panicked and went home and filled out all the papers.

I did the taxes- REFUND. I also watched the Olympics. I really like short track speed skating and was pissed that Apollo Anton Ohno got greedy in the qualifying race and ended up 4th. (Only the top 3 advance to the gold medal round)

I think I'll let my body recover fully from whatever it is trying to fight before resuming working out. I have built up my fitness to a reasonable level. While I do not have my speed yet, I can run 15 miles and that is about where I feel I need to be during the winter season.

If you made it this far, I'll clue you into the title. I was getting N ready for bed and cleaning him up. I told him I was cleaning his nose since he had some Buggers in there. He kept calling it "wax" I kept telling him wax was in his ears. After a few days, I gave in and told him it was "nose wax". Now, he calls them "biggers". Now he giggles and says "Nose wax, biggers".

Overheard at school tomorrow, by some parents

"Yes, that is the doctor's son. Pity, isn't it?"

Boring Running Post

2006-02-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

Running

Wednesday- 5 miles - 55 minutes on the treadmill. HR avg. 145

Thursday - No running. Rest. Went to Tiffany to buy a valentine's day gift. Some small earrings.

Friday - Rest

Sat- plan 10-12 miles. The weather is supposed to be crappy.

Shut down cylinders 7 and 8 Sir.

2006-02-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday - 30 min on the bike and 20 min in the sauna.

Monday - Nothing. Made Spinach Risotto. This was the first time it has come out perfect. Usually, something funky happens. Either the rice is over or undercooked or the choice of vegetables is poor. This was just right.

Tuesday: 6 mile pace run
9:10, 7:26, 7:54, 8:10, 8:08, 8:07 --the 7:26 was when I thought this was a LT run, realized that I didn't have that speed in me today, and shut it down for a slower, pace run. It was a little dark and cold, but with the headlamp and my new Zensah shirt, I was alright. On Sunday, I felt the tickle in the throat that precedes a cold. Zicam and Cold-EZ, came through again. I'm pretty much back to 100%, but not quite, otherwise I would have had 2 more miles at 7-7:30 today. Oh, well, ho harm done. I'm healthy and it was a good run, nonetheless.

Not much going on in my world to report. Life, Work, Running. I'll be in Dallas for a few days in Mid February. Then Puerto Rico in March for a Wedding, NYC in April for a Wedding, Boston in May for a medical conference, Badwater in July, and a possible Italy trip (Firenze) in September.

Lights... Will Guide you Home

2006-02-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday - No Running. Nik has a cold again. This first year of school has been a monthly cold (in the winter) after another.

Friday - No running. I was busy at work and just didn't have it today to run.

Saturday - 14.5 miles, in a light snow and strong northerly wind. It was a great run. I intended on only running 10, but I just felt it and wanted to capitalize on that. Who knows how long I'll be dialed in like I am now. I wore a new piece of clothing. It is made by Zensah. There was a 50% off coupon making it reasonable. I wore it as a base layer. It is tight and I had absolutely no nipple chafing, which I get with all my long sleeved shirts for runs longer than 1 hour. My first impression is that it is very good as a base layer.

I started and finished my run with a song by Coldplay, "Fix You". I was already in a very spiritual mood. I was thinking that it was early, cold, windy and snowing, but I was out there pounding the pavement. I fast forwarded in my mind, to the end of Badwater, when I will have the priviledge of watching N.N. cross the finish line, knowing, I played a small role in helping him get there and that that is why I was out there on a day like today. Or, when I cross the finish line at Chicago this year in 3:14:59 and know that it was days like today, that got me there. The reason that the Coldplay song hit me so hard is the line "Lights will guide you home". This line made me think of a passage from the movie "Apollo 13" where Tom Hanks character is describing a flight where all his electronic equipment went out while he was flying over the ocean, trying to find his way back to the aircraft carrier. Without the lights, he was totally lost. However, because all his lights went out, he was able to see the phosphorescent algae Being turned up in the wake of the carrier, and it guided him home. So, you never know what events will transpire to guide you home. Then that got me thinking about the movie in general. As a former engineer, that movie embodies what I loved about engineering. The fortitude and perseverence to come up with solutions that had life and death repercussions under extraordinary time and mental pressure. They came through. (I know, very disjointed thought process to start withColdplay and end with Apollo 13)

So in my philosophical mood, I used that movie and Coldplay's song as a metaphor for my running right now. Don't give up. Keep plugging. You never know what events will transpire to get you to the finish line.

The finish line is an illusion

2006-02-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

Wed: Threshold Run at night, using the headlamp I received for Christmas. This was the first time I used the lamp. 1 mile warm up and cool down. 3 miles at threshold. Miles 2.5-5 were into a stiff headwind.

Mile 1 - 9:20
Mile 2: 7:48
Mile 3: 7:45
Mile 4: 7:43
Mle 5: 8:13

I was reading a blog of a very talented runner, writer and "introspector" that got me thinking, today. Why do people desire things based on what others have. Why can't we look at our needs, satisfy them and be satisfied with that. Why is there a feeling to always want more. Does it make us feel better to compare ourselves to others? I don't think so. If anything, I contend you feel worse. There will always be someone better, someone with more and others not as "good" and others with less. It's a continuum. Does comparison give you something to strive for? Are you striving to reach that goal b/c you want to be there or does that just lead to another goal with no appreciation of the accomplishemnt.

I have many of these questions and no answers.

Squave

2006-01-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

Running:
4 miles in 41:00. Avg HR 145-150 (75-78% max) at 6.1 mph (This same run used to be at under 5.5 mph)

15 minutes in the sauna. Death Valley is going to be hot.

I'm amazed at how a child's brain works. If I could have 10% of the learning capacity that my son possesses, I could be so much better at almost anything I do. He can remember words from books we have read, and although, I have read them several times, I wouldn't be able to recite anything from memory. He is a sponge. He picks up on everything. He is at such a fun age. I'll miss it when he wants nothing to do with me.

Before my son could say "Square" he would ask us to draw shapes. Square, came out as "Squave" and Circle was "Kir Kir Kir"

Rain Run

2006-01-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Barrington Run with Tapirs 12.5 miles in 1:55. The run started with a light mist and ended with a steady rain. I came home and did virtually nothing productive.

Fennel a la Kri@#$

Fennel
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Coarse Black Pepper
Parmesiano Reggiano
Panko
Garlic-one clove

Heat oil with garlic. Add sliced Fennel. Saute with salt and pepper. Take care not to overcook the fennel. It should still have a crispy crunch when bitten into.

Plate the dish and top with Parmesiano Reggiano and Panko to taste.

One Fennel bulb serves two as an appetiser. It serves one of you like to supersize things.

my wife saw Brokeback Mountain today. Review in the future, if i feel like writing what she said.

Fennel

2006-01-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

No running, as planned. I'm about 90% so I'm a go for Sunday's 12 miler with Tapir friends.

Parent-Teacher Conference- 30 minutes of overly positive comments about our son. We live in an age of no one losing or winning. No one is below average. The average is superior. The thing is I bet there are parents cause a lot of trouble if their kids are criticized. The world is a hard place. Might as well get used to the fact that everyone can't win. I guess they can learn that when they are 3 or 4.

I went to Whole Foods and bought a (an) fennel. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I thought it was about time I bought some. I'm 35, soon to be 36 and have never cooked with fennel.

I then went to Moosejaw to check out things I do not need. I found 2 things that will be handy during my crewing of Badwater. One is for my daily coffee fix (This and this) and the second is in case I need to cut some rope or kill a snake.

Homeopathy

2006-01-27T09:55:00.000-08:00

No Running. - Zicam/Cold-EZ seems to be working to either blunt the full fury of this cold or It's just a mild one. I'm back to about 80%, having not dipped really low into a real illness.

Wednesday night, I flew to St. Louis for a quick one day conference/meeting with a company we are contemplating buying some equipment from. We watched a live case from Milan, Italy on Thursday morning and I flew back Thursday afternoon.

I think I'll take off from running until Sunday and run the 12 miler planned in Barrington if I feel better.

Other things for the weekend:
1) Parent teacher conference Saturday , for a 2 year old. Bonus, we get to sit on those small little kid chairs while trying to have an adult conversation with the teachers.
2) Nik get's his hair cut. Picture the crocodile hunter with his mates wrestling a 20 foot croc. That's about what it takes to give Nik a haircut. I wouldn't bother, but his sideburns are giving Spock a run for his money.

Misery in Missouri

2006-01-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

Monday - 30 minutes on the bike. core/ab work and 20 minutes in the Sauna.
Tuesday - throat hurt. Feel like I'm coming down witha cold. Zicam and ColdEZ
Wed- leave for St. Louis for a 1 day business trip. Ireally don't want to go. I am feeling worse, but still hopeful that I can shake this before the weekend run on Sunday.

A and N are back in town. Nik is really at a fun age, but there is little free time at nights until he goes to sleep.

I am soooo glad I am married.

2006-01-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

More mundane musings

Running:

Saturday

10 miles- treadmill, 1:30-ish. My gym has a 30 minute limit on CV equipment. I stayed on for 1:30. I’m bad. I know it. That was a very boring 10 miles.

Sunday:

5 miles in 54:31 (HR avg 142). 20 minutes in the Sauna.

No kid deserves that

While running, I was listening to CNN present a piece on a town in the mountains of Pakistan that was devastated by an earthquake. The people that live there have not left, due to their poverty and fears of their meager land being taken from them if they do not stay. It happens to be the middle of winter, with no heat and barely any shelter. That’s if you call a small piece of tarp that is falling over from the weight of several inches of snow. Everyone there is suffering with little aid. Children don’t have enough to eat. They are cold. They are sick. There is no medicine for their illness. Mnay have died. It physically makes me hurt to see that. As a parent, the thought of seeing your child hurting or dying with no power to do anything makes me ill. I went through a recent thing with Nik (coffee burn0 that wouldn’t even share the same universe with the suffering these people experience. I feel hypocritical, since this is going on in many places and NOW I’m outraged b/c it was on CNN? Money doesn’t seem enough. Can we all agree that no matter what politics are in play, that these children should have a chance at a better life?

I want a plasma. No Sir, you want a LCD.

I was set to buy a TV today. Plasma. Went to ABT Electronics. This is where I want to go to when I die. They convinced me that LCD is the way to go. Now I have to go back to doing research.

I like being married a lot more than being single. I’m only 24 hours into my bachelor weekend. It’s boring. It’s nice for a short while, but if this was my life 24/7. No Thank you. Saturday night: sitting in a smoky bar with very nice people, but waking up smelling of smoke, dry burning eyes, sore throat. I’m glad I don’t do that much anymore.

Gimme the Damn Pizza

2006-01-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

All I wanted was one simple Margherita Pizza.

The Wall Street journal had an article on pizza. In this article, they recommend the new "hot spots" for pizza in several major cities. (They glaringly omitted metropolises in Iowa for some reason) in lieu of the old favorites. I decided to go to this place. I even google mapped this place prior to leaving work.

The weather in Chicago was turning very bad by the hour. When I left work, it was raining fairly hard, but turning to ice/snow during my drive. WE were supposed to get 5-7 inches of snow. Thus, time was of the essence since I normally have a 40 minute commute, and on Friday at 5 pm with snow, almost certainly much more.

I get to the exit, I think is the one I am supposed to take at 5:45pm. I call in the order by phone, and they say it will only be 10 minutes. As I come to the intersection, I realize, I have been mistaking the street I'm on, for the one I needed to be on. I have a vague Idea where I need to go, but since I was in my wife's car (it has the baby seat and I dropped them at the airport this am), I didn't have access to the GPS system that I have in my car. I eventually get to my destination after making an ever widening spiral, at 6:30. I go to the bar to pick up my order, and they look inside their little Dominoes insulated box, and I can see there ain't no pizza!. They huddle together and come back to me with "It'll be ready in a few minutes" to which I gave a death look of Shiva. I said I ordered it 40 minutes ago. The look in the box again. No Pizza. "It'll be ready in a few minutes"

I ask "Do you mean it's already in the oven and it's almost ready, or you haven't made it yet and it will take another 10 minutes"

"We haven't made it yet"
Me: "Forget it. I'm double parked outside and I can't wait"

So, I go to another place, eat dinner, come home just as we really start accumulating snow around 8 15 pm.

I watched Mystic River and had a beer. Pretty exciting start to Bachelor Weekend 2006.

Make me cry, Dammit

2006-01-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

I actually have some people reading my blog. I guess, you don't really start a blog without the expectation that someone would read it. It isn't like a personal journal with a lock on it that you hide under your bed like a 15 year old girl. However, it still leads to some apprehension and "performance anxiety" knowing that to some extent, people read your blog for entertainment. I hope it won't be too boring. While it will chronicle my preparations for my marathons and Badwater, those are later in the year and for now, it will be more heavily weighted towards my life and as the summer rolls in, will become more running-centric.

Last night, I finished watching Running on the Sun. I guess it was ok, but I was hoping for more personal and human drama. I was hoping for more storytelling. The overcoming of odds. The sacrifices to get to Badwater. Not just the agony shots of the run and blister popping. I needed some reason to root for these people. While I may know what went into their preparations, most would not. Even for us lowly marathoners, how many of us have colleagues or friends that can't fathom the sacrifices one has to make to train for a marathon. If they saw what we do as our close friends and spouses do, they would have a different perspective. That is what I wanted to see. I wanted a reason to cry when they reached the finish line.

My wife and son left for Boston this morning. I have until Monday by myself in the big city. So many options that I am paralyzed into indecision.

Running on the Sun

2006-01-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I took my son to the "Little Gym". This is a class my wife usually takes him to during the day. Occasionally, we take him to the 6:30pm class, which I can attend. Imagine a huge room with mats, and gymnastic equipment, all padded and 15 2 year olds running around the room, running into each other, bouncing off walls and equipment, screaming, crying, thuds, crashes. The teacher had everyone sit in a circle with their kid. My son doesn't sit for more than 1 second, so fortunately we were first. She goes around and asked my son "What's your name" He answers "My name is Nik"

The teacher goes to the next person. By this time, my son is running circles around this circle. But, each time the teacher asks another child their name, my son comes rushing back in front of the teacher like a laser guided Patriot missile, and says "My name is Nik".. He seemed to think this teacher wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer by having to ask his name 15 times. It was amusing. Yeah, he may need medication some day.

I watched, Running on the Sun. ( 1 hour of it). It chronicles the running of the Badwater Ultramarathon. It gives an inside view of some of what we will be encountering. I don't think that I'll get the full effect, until I get there. But, so far it seems more manageable than my imagination had made it out to be. It's easy for me to say that, since I'm only crewing it.

Another full night of sleep for my son and wife. The leave for Boston tomorrow morning.

Our hospital hired some outside consultants to help "rebuild" cardiology at my institution. I spent from 7-8am with them. They'll probably repackage all the info we gave them into a nice 300 page binder and make it look like they came up with some groundbreaking information that the institution could have gotten by just asking us in the first place.

Selling the Sizzle

2006-01-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

Tuesday: 4 miles on the treadmill, abs/core and 15 minutes in the Sauna
Wednesday morning: Upper body weights and Sauna.

Yesterday, we had a photo shoot in our EP Lab for a new brochure, promoting our department's electrophysiology services. We were gowned and gloved and had masks on as we would for a real case. One of our nurses played the role of patient. The photographers put my fellow and I on opposite sides of the table. In addition, the monitors had images from two completely different types of cases that we do. We look totally gay, looking longingly into each others eyes from across the table. Plus, anyone who knows anything about EP would see that the room is set up only for photograph purposes. It looks good though. I guess it's the sizzle that sells.

Bonus- Our son slept through the night. My wife likes sleep, so she should be in a good mood today.

This morning, I knew that my first case wouldn't start until at least 10:00am. So, instead of getting to work by 7:15 as I usually do, I went to the gym and took the train in.

Free At Last. Thank God We're Free At Last

2006-01-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Rest Day.

MLK- what can I say that hasn't already been said. I cannot fathom what it must have been like to be an African American in this country in the 60s. I've lived in Dallas and atlanta and have seen remnants of the old attitudes. The incredible strength to take on a system, while wrong, that was populated by people who were not going to give in to you, no matter what. On top of that, your life was always in danger. When you think of the holidays we celebrate, It's a shame that this one isn't universally treated as a holiday.

At work, I did a case and has some bad veggie sandwiches. My stomach was a little upset for the rest of the day, while I worked on my database. I picked up Thai food on the way home and had a fun evening of playing with Nik. He is at the really fun age where he can talk to you, is learning new words and really engages you in his activities. I really have to watch what I say around him now. A leaves for Boston with Nik on Friday and returns on Monday.

2006-01-15T19:50:00.000-08:00

9.5 miles at Waterfall Glen with some friends. Easy relaxed run. The rest of the day was spent watching football:

Colt vs Steelers- Choke artists again. The Colts almost had a gift handed to them. Cowher's bonehead move to go for a touchdown almost backfired. I guess running the bus isn't considered a high risk play. How exactly didn't;t a cornerback outrun or out-juke a quarterback? Vanderjagt? no VanderSux.

Bears vs. Panters. Steve Smith-WOW. If I thought the Bears would score 21 points, I'd have thought they would win. too bad the defense sucked today. Grossman showed me a little bit of what he could become if he actually makes it through a season.

I must save $2

2006-01-14T18:46:00.000-08:00

Friday-Saturday Training:
3 miles on the Treadmill
30 minutes on the stationary bike while reading "Microsoft Access for dummies"
15 minutes in the Sauna

Nothing on Saturday

Friday-Saturday, Life
I went to the library to get a few books on Microsoft Access, which they had. I also wanted to get "On the Edge" by Kirk johnson and "Running on the Sun"(A DVD about Badwater). Neither was available. in fact, my attempt to be cheap and not buy these from Amazon has created much more frustration than financial savings. Sometimes, I'll spend inordinate amounts of time to save 3 bucks and other times drop a hundred like I am the US Treasury.

Saturday, my wife woke up and went to the Gym. Nik was fine until about 30 minutes after she left. He keeps saying "Mommy's coming?' I answer in the affirmative and he starts crying. I have no clue what he is asking. It turns out he is running a fever and whenever he is sick, he gets very clingy to my wife. We went to my inlaws and had lunch. Nik napped there while my wife and I went to Barnes and Noble and Whole Foods. Barnes and Noble did not have either the book or DVD, but was able to order the DVD for me. The book, they claim, does not exist. I will have to buy it from Amazon now. Later, I went to REI, since they are having a sale. there was alot of cool stuff, but I already had a lot of it and would have been buying duplcate shirts, jackets, etc, so I left empty handed. I do want to buy a good pocketknife for our Badwater crewing effort. It may come in handy.

My wife (A), was supposed to go to a bachelorette party this evening, but due to Nik's ear infection, she opted to say at home. We make homemade chili and cornbread with cheddar cheese and jalapenos. It was really good.

Football games consumed the remainder of my night. I'm running 10 miles tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, then watching more Football.

Overall weekly reportcard:
Training- B( most mileage since LBCM - 18, with some cross training)
Life- D (Nik is sick)

Joke's on you- I'm not going to write or say anything interesting

2006-01-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Work went well. Did 2 cases and if it weren't for some scheduling issues, I would have been done by noon. We went to a local bar for a going away party for one of our nurses and I didn't get home until 7:30. Just in time to eat and put Nik to bed. A little Dimetapp and Motrin and he made it through the night without waking up. Today the doc confirmed he has an ear infection.

My morning has been consumed by creating a database on Microsoft Access. It will make it much easier for me to advance my agenda with the decision makers if I have data. "Waaaaaah, I deserve more, just doesn't cut it in the real world"

Cheerios at 3am

2006-01-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday:

5 miles on the treadmill, trying to keep my HR below 145 (Maffetone Formula 180-age). I ran roughly 5.5-6.0mph, slowing it at the end to keep my HR lower. In preparation for Death Valley, I spent 15 minutes in the sauna. It gets hot in there. The chain I wear around my neck almost burned my chin.

Spent much of the evening confirming the lunacy of the Badwater Ultramarathon. It's amazing how much pride I am deriving from this despite not running it.

Not much sleep last night. My son is coming down with a cold. He was cranky and my wife slept with him in our bed. He wanted cheerios at 3 am. I slept in our guest bedroom. Then for some reason, a clock that we never set an alarm on, went off at 6:00 am downstairs. I ran into a door trying to figure out where this was coming from. Fortunately, I needed to get up at 6:10 anyway.

All Journeys begin with a first step

2006-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

This blog will chronicle my life in 2006. It will be heavily weighted towards my running goals. These goals include:
1) Qualifying for Boston this Fall
2) Crewing a friend at teh Badwater 135 mile Ultramarathon
3) Possibly running 2 other marathons (Indiana Thingy in December adn another one in Oregon in June)
4) Great Midwest Relay
5) Dances with Dirt
6) A few half marathons (Cary Mardh Madness, Chicago Distance Classic)