I've run a lot of miles since I last posted about training. I gained a lot of fitness, lost some of it, and am now somewhere between not fit and really fit. My last training post came in July, after I had been using the Flotrack running logs for the previous month. In April through June of 2014, I probably averaged about 15 miles a week. In July, my weekly totals were 15, 17, 18, and 12. In August, 17, 17, 14, and 19. In September, 10, 19, 26, and 17. In October, 23, 30, 30, 33, and 26. In November, 40, 27, 26, and 27. With an 11 and a 13 in December. Then I took a break because my legs were way past beat up. Then I continued the break because it was the holiday season. Then my Mom passed away and there just wasn't any joy to be found in running for a while. Then I wanted to start back but felt ashamed I had stopped. But now I'm in the middle of my 11th week of running again. Weeks 2 and 3 were cut short due to a wisdom tooth extraction, but in the other 9, I've managed to get in 17, 14, 16, 19, 17, 19, 19, and 19 miles. I've increased my daily run length by nearly 2 miles now, but I went from 7 days of running to 5 days because of hectic travel and injury concerns.
Looking back on last years cycle, I am amazed to see I ran in the 30s several times and even managed a week of 40, but there was a no progressive build up to those totals, which I believe sacrificed my ability to maintain health. This time, I hope to be more conservative in my build up to peak mileage. One difference in this cycle from the last is that I am only doing easy running, as opposed to intermittent workouts like last year. I've also reduced the number of strides I do after a run, and not added in a long run yet, but I do surge up a 250m hill a couple times a week, as well as do a couple strides up the steepest 100m section.
While I didn't have many interval workouts last year, I have a few I want to try again once I end my base phase. First, I did a 4 x Mile session, averaging 7:27 with 2:15 rest, in mid-October. In early November, I did 12 x 700m averaging 3:13 (7:24 pace) off 65 seconds rest, and felt very strong, though it did make me very sore.
I look forward to posting more regularly about my training from here on out!
Monday, May 18, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
On Loss
I'm going to skip the part where I reintroduce myself to you and fully explain my absence from the digital writing scene. We all know where that post leads. (hint: To a subsequent reintroduction and explanation of further absence.)
Rather, I'm going to talk about what it's like, for me, to miss someone who is truly gone. On January 14th, my mother passed away at the age of 57. While she had been varying levels of sick since 2004, her death shocked me. She had gone in to the emergency room for a painful albeit non-life threatening condition on January 5th, when they discovered the toxin levels in her liver were high. On January 6th, she underwent her third liver stent placement, which was successful. I sat with her in post-op and later in her room until they delivered her dinner, at which point I kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her, and she told me she loved me too.
Those were the last words my Mom spoke to me, and the last time I saw her awake. The following day, while I stayed home to clean up the house for her return, she became increasingly incoherent. Despite a blood transfusion that night, she was worse on Wednesday morning when my Dad went up, and they had to move her to the IR, where she was placed in a coma, one that she would not wake up from.
I spent countless hours by the Mom's side over the course of the following week. But I can't quite picture her in that state, a mental block I'm glad I have. I don't want to remember her like that. When I think of my Mom, I think of all the television we watched together, the walks around the yard admiring nature, the adventures in Lumberton. Those are pleasant memories, ones that brings a smile to my face. This is part of missing someone, missing the shared experiences and happy moments. But it is not all that you miss.
Most painfully, you miss the future moments you could have had. Things you wish you could say, things you have to learn to do alone, moments where you desperately want that person with you. Luckily, these are usually in passing or else I'd be tortured on a daily basis just doing the dishes or watching crime dramas. While I certainly wept when she passed away and I wept when we buried her, I haven't since. Nothing has brought me to that level of sadness, as each day has been equally bad as the previous one. However, I do think that there will be monumental days in my life in which her absence will bring me to tears. When I get married, and when I have my children, I will surely be a wreck, as I promised my Mom I would make her an integral part of those events unlike my older brother.
I wanted to share this with you simply to get it out of me. I don't expect any of these feelings and thoughts to be shocking, but as someone who had never experienced the loss of a loved one before, I was unaware how I would react. And for those of you who have and continue to support me through this new chapter in my life, I can not thank you enough, you have been invaluable to me.
Rather, I'm going to talk about what it's like, for me, to miss someone who is truly gone. On January 14th, my mother passed away at the age of 57. While she had been varying levels of sick since 2004, her death shocked me. She had gone in to the emergency room for a painful albeit non-life threatening condition on January 5th, when they discovered the toxin levels in her liver were high. On January 6th, she underwent her third liver stent placement, which was successful. I sat with her in post-op and later in her room until they delivered her dinner, at which point I kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her, and she told me she loved me too.
Those were the last words my Mom spoke to me, and the last time I saw her awake. The following day, while I stayed home to clean up the house for her return, she became increasingly incoherent. Despite a blood transfusion that night, she was worse on Wednesday morning when my Dad went up, and they had to move her to the IR, where she was placed in a coma, one that she would not wake up from.
I spent countless hours by the Mom's side over the course of the following week. But I can't quite picture her in that state, a mental block I'm glad I have. I don't want to remember her like that. When I think of my Mom, I think of all the television we watched together, the walks around the yard admiring nature, the adventures in Lumberton. Those are pleasant memories, ones that brings a smile to my face. This is part of missing someone, missing the shared experiences and happy moments. But it is not all that you miss.
Most painfully, you miss the future moments you could have had. Things you wish you could say, things you have to learn to do alone, moments where you desperately want that person with you. Luckily, these are usually in passing or else I'd be tortured on a daily basis just doing the dishes or watching crime dramas. While I certainly wept when she passed away and I wept when we buried her, I haven't since. Nothing has brought me to that level of sadness, as each day has been equally bad as the previous one. However, I do think that there will be monumental days in my life in which her absence will bring me to tears. When I get married, and when I have my children, I will surely be a wreck, as I promised my Mom I would make her an integral part of those events unlike my older brother.
I wanted to share this with you simply to get it out of me. I don't expect any of these feelings and thoughts to be shocking, but as someone who had never experienced the loss of a loved one before, I was unaware how I would react. And for those of you who have and continue to support me through this new chapter in my life, I can not thank you enough, you have been invaluable to me.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Training in July
I wanted to share my training for the month of July. Since my last post, I've started using the running logs on Flotrack, and now I don't know why I hadn't started before, they are pretty awesome. Yesterday, I wrapped up my 4th week of logging my mileage:
On the 29th through the 1st, I felt pretty sore and tired, so after pushing through two days of training, I decided to take two complete rest days. Most of the other non-running days still have bike days, including an 82 minute ride on the 14th after a long day of travel. I'm starting to feel more fit, though I'm still a while away from being able to break my personal bests. My strides have been between 800m and Mile pace, and I will soon start running little bits of 5k pace work. I want to run some hills, but it is pancake flat around here for the most part.
With cross country and fall road race season (for us non-elites) swinging into gear now that it is August, I hope everyone stays healthy and can get some good training in!
 |
| July's Training (Aug 2nd is 2.7 miles at 8:38 pace, with six 100m strides at 5:32 pace) |
With cross country and fall road race season (for us non-elites) swinging into gear now that it is August, I hope everyone stays healthy and can get some good training in!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Improvement Albeit Slowly
I am officially an alumnus of East Carolina University, with a double major in political science and history, just waiting on the diploma to prove it to you. Feels great to be able to say I've completed my undergraduate, but I find myself wishing I would have been able to stay healthy and complete my military training so my career would be more certain. As of now, I'm home with my parents, soon to begin the job search and work on getting my license. Yes, I know, how do I live without it at 23. Luckily I love to run and bike, and that's all I've been doing lately.
I had to take about two weeks off running, but with my final finals, an achilles flare up, and then a sinus infection, I had good reason to rest. Now that I'm not sick and my achilles is fine, I am back in the short shorts and dirty shoes getting in tiny bits of mileage. 15 minutes and a few 60 meter strides may not be much, but after months of not running, I have a great appreciation for what I can do. I've also been hammering out half hours on the stationary bike in the living room while watching World Cup games. Not sure which of those causes the higher heart rates though.
As I progress with my training, I will continue to include a hefty dose of intense cross training for weight loss and the fitness benefits. In terms of the running, I continue to read about different training methods and plans to further understand the entire process. Lately, I've been reading a lot about how Steve Magness trained high school athletes, which I think is very applicable to me as I too have a lack of foundation.
I'm hoping to interview some friends about their running in upcoming posts, thanks for reading!
I had to take about two weeks off running, but with my final finals, an achilles flare up, and then a sinus infection, I had good reason to rest. Now that I'm not sick and my achilles is fine, I am back in the short shorts and dirty shoes getting in tiny bits of mileage. 15 minutes and a few 60 meter strides may not be much, but after months of not running, I have a great appreciation for what I can do. I've also been hammering out half hours on the stationary bike in the living room while watching World Cup games. Not sure which of those causes the higher heart rates though.
As I progress with my training, I will continue to include a hefty dose of intense cross training for weight loss and the fitness benefits. In terms of the running, I continue to read about different training methods and plans to further understand the entire process. Lately, I've been reading a lot about how Steve Magness trained high school athletes, which I think is very applicable to me as I too have a lack of foundation.
I'm hoping to interview some friends about their running in upcoming posts, thanks for reading!
Thursday, June 5, 2014
An Update of Sorts
I'm going to skip over some things really quickly because there's honestly no point in freaking myself out over my uncertain future, and you aren't here to read a sob story about my life.
I will tell you the important details; I finished up physical therapy in November, and throughout the winter became pain free, with still some limited flexibility in my hip and hamstring. I took part in the Spring Commencement Ceremony and will officially graduate at the end of this month after 1st Summer Session. I have no idea what will happen next. It's a scary thought.
Now for the fun stuff, prepare yourself. I AM RUNNING AGAIN! It's pretty awesome, albeit slow (10min pace). I've been doing 30 minute easy runs about 5 days a week for about 3 weeks now, plus strides after most runs. I've been doing some light lifting too but I need to increase my time spent training to lose some weight and get fit.
Look for an update soon as I continue training!
I will tell you the important details; I finished up physical therapy in November, and throughout the winter became pain free, with still some limited flexibility in my hip and hamstring. I took part in the Spring Commencement Ceremony and will officially graduate at the end of this month after 1st Summer Session. I have no idea what will happen next. It's a scary thought.
Now for the fun stuff, prepare yourself. I AM RUNNING AGAIN! It's pretty awesome, albeit slow (10min pace). I've been doing 30 minute easy runs about 5 days a week for about 3 weeks now, plus strides after most runs. I've been doing some light lifting too but I need to increase my time spent training to lose some weight and get fit.
Look for an update soon as I continue training!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Working Hard, or Hardly Working?
I'm taking a break from watching my Redskins get beat up on by Dallas to update you all on the past few weeks of my life and preview the next few as well. To start off, I had a fantastic albeit long trip to and from Clemson, but they put on a great show and I got to enjoy some quality time with a close friend so that did a lot to give me an emotional boost. Physical therapy has also been going great for me and I've had some noticeable progress in terms of my strength and movement capabilities. I'm still far from where I want to be, but I'm glad that the exercises have been working. My doctor at Fort Bragg put me in for some more weeks so I will be able to continue to progress under their supervision and guidance. I can't thank the kind folks at Viquest enough. Sadly I can't be in Clemson this upcoming weekend to see them take on the 'Noles, but I'll definitely be cheering them on!
Both Damarius and myself have seen some gaps in our training lately, but my travels to Clemson and then Fall Break are to blame. Let's call it a Fall Training Break. Before the break, he had two good sessions and then a fantastic one. First I had him 4 x 1k @ 4:00 with 2:30 rest, followed with 4 x 400m @ 1:15 with equal rest. The following day, I had him do 12 x short hills, followed by 4 x 200m @ 33 with 60 rest. Of course he went a little fast but those were both quality mixed sessions. That Wednesday before break I had him repeat a previous session; 6 x 300m @ 800m pace off 2:00 rest followed by a 150m fly @ 400m after 3:00 rest. Previously he had averaged 51.5 and ran 19 low. I wanted him to average 50 and hit 18 high. He averaged 48.5 and went 17 high. Very good session.
As for myself, I took a break from the elliptical but I started back Thursday. I didn't go over the weekend but I'll be sure to get in plenty of sessions during the week while I'm on campus. I'm back to doing 30 minutes per session but I think I'll be able to get in several double days over the coming weeks, so that has be excited about improving my fitness slowly, but mainly maintaining and dropping my weight down. In addition to getting in more weekly training hours, being here consistently until Thanksgiving will allow me to do my physical therapy exercises on a regular basis, to improve and speed up my recovery. A lot of the things they have me doing will benefit me even after I'm fixed, as it focuses on strengthening your core, sometimes dynamically.
My diet should be an easier thing to improve. I've been drinking water like a fish and an striving to cut out junk foods and fast food when at all possible. I picked up some weight loss shakes and shake mix this weekend but I'll be getting a non-soy powder next, as research on soy protein has shown to have some negative side effects. While obviously shakes are usually used for muscle gain, I'm looking for meal replacement and additional ways to get nutrients. It will be difficult cooking more regularly and turning down all the fast food and restaurant requests from my friends, but I need to work on self discipline in this regard. However, cutting out sweet coffee isn't going to happen. I'll just to have work harder on the elliptical to counteract my obsession for Starbucks. I need to work hard or this plan will be hardly working.
I had two midterms last week in my history courses, but I feel like I did pretty decent on them, BECAUSE I didn't study and stress out about them. I actually relaxed over Fall Break and let my mind unwind and just took the tests cold, preventing my mind from being stressed. Hopefully my strategy works out. I have to start planning out what should be my final undergraduate semester here at ECU, as well as start my graduation preparations and start work on applying for graduate school and taking the requisite tests. While I don't want to get started on all that, it will be well worth it when I have my diploma in hand and an headed to my first Masters course.
Well it looks like the Redskins are making a bit of a comeback, hope you enjoyed the read, catch up with you later!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Stress and Eating
Today was a stressful day for me. I had to discuss the Athenian General and Archon Aristides in my History class this morning, despite not actually reading the passage on him (oops). Following that dreadful situation, I had a 55 questions multiple choice test in Introductory Anthropology. I'm not used to multiple choice tests, and having to decide on an exact answer was a little different but I felt like I did okay enough. I checked my grade and seeing a 78 revealed just that. My second test of the day came in Western Civilizations, in which I wrote a 4 page essay about Minoan and Mycenaean culture, the Greek 'Dark Ages', and the transformation of political systems in Greece, namely Athens. As I have a class on Greek History, that essay wasn't too terrible but it definitely had me stressed out. I also had 7 identification terms to write a sentence or two about on the test, but those were quite simple and straightforward.
As soon as I got the essay test, and even more so after I completed it, I felt like a load had been taken off of my shoulders and all the stress and anxiety I had been experiencing over the weekend went away. Just before the test I even began to feel nauseous (though that could have been them having the heat on in Brewster -_-). While I was able to get a healthy breakfast in of two servings of oatmeal, the rest of my eating today has suffered as I've tried to calm my nerves and give myself energy. For lunch, I had a Sun Drop (soda), a french vanilla, and a king size each of Reese's, Twix, and M&Ms, and some chocolate cake donuts too. Lunch of Champions. Not to be topped, for dinner I had 7 soft tacos from Taco Bell, and a large Baja Blast (delicious). I'm on a dietary roll!
I need to in general, eat healthier and smaller portions, but also limit my binge snack eating, as days like today don't provide me the energy I want and don't actually improve my emotions the way I want them too. I think I'd have been a lot happier and felt better had I hydrated better throughout the day, and had a sandwich and water for lunch. As I'm now up to 185 pounds from the limited exercise and slowly improving diet, I need to make more concerted efforts to control my weight and improve my fitness.
Speaking of that fitness improvement, two weeks ago I started using the elliptical. I was able to get 4 days of work and 30 minutes each day. Last week I did 3 days, doing 40 minutes each session. Thursday, I put it on the interval setting, 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off, working my rate up to 160 and building to 190 during the on, and bringing it back down to 120 or so at first, but later only to about 140. Hard, but fun session. Friday, I did a 30 minute tempo, slowly increasing the difficulty as my heart rate climbed from 150, to 160, to 170, to 180, and finishing the last 3 minutes or so at 190. Very hard but a great feeling afterwards. I'm hoping to get four 40 minute sessions in this week, but that might be difficult looking at my schedule.
Wednesday, I have my first physical therapy session in the afternoon, with my second one on Friday morning. Last Monday, I went over and had my evaluation. While taking the bus to Brody School of Medicine was easy, I didn't expect it to be a 3 mile walk to the clinic. I definitely need to look into the Vidant bus schedule before I head back Wednesday afternoon. They told me after my evaluation that they noted I still had a lot of strength, but a severe inability to flex my leg. They could visibly see the bulge in my back, and corresponding inflammation on the right side of my spinal cord. The PT student who actually did my evaluation, under supervision of course, said that she wanted to do a lot of core strengthening exercises, not only along my posterior chain, but also in my abdominal and oblique region to stabilize my core. So I'm pretty excited not only about improving my condition, but strengthening my core for my (Don't Call It A) Comeback!
As I wait to get healthy and cleared to do my own running, I've continued coaching Damarius in a variety of workouts, ranging from Mile pace ladders on the track, 1000 meter repeats on the grass, to running a 400 meter time trial. He's definitely improved his running fitness and is adapting to the workouts. I'll probably cycle through them again soon to see how much he is improved since we have begun. Today I had him do 3 sets of (400m, 300m, 200m). He averaged 75 seconds, 54 seconds, and 33 seconds. The rests varied a little but averaged about 75 seconds after the 400m and 300m, with 3 minutes after each 200m. Tomorrow we are going to do some stadiums or some short steep hills, they take him about 6 seconds to go up and are about 40 meters long. Wednesday, the last day he will workout this week, we are looking to do a workout on the fields behind the Belk Building across from the track, probably doing 8 x 400m averaging 1:20 with 1:40 rest.
I'll be headed home Friday afternoon and heading to Clemson this weekend to catch my first ever Tigers game in Death Valley. While I'm a massive Notre Dame and East Carolina fan, the Tigers are fun to watch and I'll get to spend some quality time with one of my closest friends and favorite people. Hopefully my physical therapy sessions have me feeling a little better so the long car rides won't kill me.
Look for me to update you guys on things in about 2 weeks over Fall Break as I begin figuring out the rest of my semester, next semester, and my future school plans!
As soon as I got the essay test, and even more so after I completed it, I felt like a load had been taken off of my shoulders and all the stress and anxiety I had been experiencing over the weekend went away. Just before the test I even began to feel nauseous (though that could have been them having the heat on in Brewster -_-). While I was able to get a healthy breakfast in of two servings of oatmeal, the rest of my eating today has suffered as I've tried to calm my nerves and give myself energy. For lunch, I had a Sun Drop (soda), a french vanilla, and a king size each of Reese's, Twix, and M&Ms, and some chocolate cake donuts too. Lunch of Champions. Not to be topped, for dinner I had 7 soft tacos from Taco Bell, and a large Baja Blast (delicious). I'm on a dietary roll!
I need to in general, eat healthier and smaller portions, but also limit my binge snack eating, as days like today don't provide me the energy I want and don't actually improve my emotions the way I want them too. I think I'd have been a lot happier and felt better had I hydrated better throughout the day, and had a sandwich and water for lunch. As I'm now up to 185 pounds from the limited exercise and slowly improving diet, I need to make more concerted efforts to control my weight and improve my fitness.
Speaking of that fitness improvement, two weeks ago I started using the elliptical. I was able to get 4 days of work and 30 minutes each day. Last week I did 3 days, doing 40 minutes each session. Thursday, I put it on the interval setting, 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off, working my rate up to 160 and building to 190 during the on, and bringing it back down to 120 or so at first, but later only to about 140. Hard, but fun session. Friday, I did a 30 minute tempo, slowly increasing the difficulty as my heart rate climbed from 150, to 160, to 170, to 180, and finishing the last 3 minutes or so at 190. Very hard but a great feeling afterwards. I'm hoping to get four 40 minute sessions in this week, but that might be difficult looking at my schedule.
Wednesday, I have my first physical therapy session in the afternoon, with my second one on Friday morning. Last Monday, I went over and had my evaluation. While taking the bus to Brody School of Medicine was easy, I didn't expect it to be a 3 mile walk to the clinic. I definitely need to look into the Vidant bus schedule before I head back Wednesday afternoon. They told me after my evaluation that they noted I still had a lot of strength, but a severe inability to flex my leg. They could visibly see the bulge in my back, and corresponding inflammation on the right side of my spinal cord. The PT student who actually did my evaluation, under supervision of course, said that she wanted to do a lot of core strengthening exercises, not only along my posterior chain, but also in my abdominal and oblique region to stabilize my core. So I'm pretty excited not only about improving my condition, but strengthening my core for my (Don't Call It A) Comeback!
As I wait to get healthy and cleared to do my own running, I've continued coaching Damarius in a variety of workouts, ranging from Mile pace ladders on the track, 1000 meter repeats on the grass, to running a 400 meter time trial. He's definitely improved his running fitness and is adapting to the workouts. I'll probably cycle through them again soon to see how much he is improved since we have begun. Today I had him do 3 sets of (400m, 300m, 200m). He averaged 75 seconds, 54 seconds, and 33 seconds. The rests varied a little but averaged about 75 seconds after the 400m and 300m, with 3 minutes after each 200m. Tomorrow we are going to do some stadiums or some short steep hills, they take him about 6 seconds to go up and are about 40 meters long. Wednesday, the last day he will workout this week, we are looking to do a workout on the fields behind the Belk Building across from the track, probably doing 8 x 400m averaging 1:20 with 1:40 rest.
I'll be headed home Friday afternoon and heading to Clemson this weekend to catch my first ever Tigers game in Death Valley. While I'm a massive Notre Dame and East Carolina fan, the Tigers are fun to watch and I'll get to spend some quality time with one of my closest friends and favorite people. Hopefully my physical therapy sessions have me feeling a little better so the long car rides won't kill me.
Look for me to update you guys on things in about 2 weeks over Fall Break as I begin figuring out the rest of my semester, next semester, and my future school plans!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)