I missed a week, and yes, it made a difference. I did not run last weekend, and caught a cold (or something with cold-like symptoms) late Wednesday, sniffled all day Thursday, felt better on Friday, and fully recovered on Saturday.
As we know, correlation is not causation, so I don't know for sure that I was under the weather because of missing a workout, but it's hard to ignore the link between an interruption of my normal workouts and my immune system's reaction. If it was a "cold" virus, it was a mild one and didn't last long. If it was an allergic reaction to some unknown airborne agent, apparently I should be on guard next April when things start bursting open in the botanical kingdom.
My way of fighting back was to skip a planned night of drinking with a friend and save my strength for the World Taiji and Qigong Day gathering in Goodale Park on Saturday morning. That initially looked like a very bad idea, as Saturday started out cool and rainy, but I dressed in layers and went anyway. Almost as soon as I got there, the sun came out and things started to look better as people drifted in and things got going. As in years past, each participant led a short taiji or qigong movement, we all practiced in a circle, and everybody made a contribution.
Just getting heated up a bit felt good. I did a little yard work. Gven Golly and I went for a short bike ride. She made guacamole, and I made turkey burgers - delicious! We put in a movie that was virtually unwatchable, and I went to sleep.
Sleep is good. Sleep is my friend.
The Sunday morning gang at Java Central greeted me after my absence last Sunday, and we had a spirited discussion of something or other. You had to be there, and I was. The regulars in the balcony at Church of the Master also missed me, but they accepted the excuse that I was visiting my parents and attended Easter services there. Rev. Todd Anderson was in rare form, and once again I appreciate having had the opportunity to attend his sermons. He will be a tough act to follow, and I hope his successor in Methodistville is half the teacher Todd is.
I started a batch of bread and a new book, Not Always So, by Shunryu Suzuki, edited by Edward Espe Brown (of Tasajara Bread Book fame), and it looks promising. I weeded some more of the back yard and part of the front yard. When the bread went in the oven, I went out for a run, and because the high school track was locked shut, I rerouted up the bike trail and across town to the Otterbein University track, took a lap and headed home in time to take the bread out of the oven.
No news is good news. Four very slow miles, pain-free, adequate stretching before and after, India Pale Ale and Cheez-its. That is all.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Running Journal 15
This is a make-up post, since I didn't get around to writing last week, though I did get around to running. Therefore I will make it brief, although the weekend included complicated highs and lows culminating in a satisfying, slightly longer five-mile run/jog.
I had another optical appointment Friday afternoon, so I skipped out from work a little early and got fitted for new frames. Since there was daylight and good weather, I went for a decent bike ride and felt good. The weather on Saturday was even better, so Gven Golly, my earth mother wife, and I went out to a farm over near Hoover and brought back two loads of nice, ripe horse manure for the garden. Then I went to Clintonville to help Zelda and the Pattycakes move freezers, coolers, mixers and other equipment out of the bakery for the crew to put in a new floor the next day. A day full of hard work and fun.
The Java Central posse was in fine form on Sunday morning, but I was shocked to get the news that Rev. Todd Anderson has been re-assigned to a Methodist church in Hilliard, OH, and will be leaving Church of the Master next month. I am unsure what my next church-related move will be and skeptical whether his successor at Master can hold a candle to this rare and gifted teacher. So I muddled through the day, did a little yard work, and jogged over to the high school track in the waning daylight.
I kept it slow, as usual, and walked 100 meters every half mile or so, eventually losing count of my laps at around 16, so when I got home an hour later I figure it was about five miles at a 12-minute pace, give or take. Not too bad, and no pain to speak of.
I had another optical appointment Friday afternoon, so I skipped out from work a little early and got fitted for new frames. Since there was daylight and good weather, I went for a decent bike ride and felt good. The weather on Saturday was even better, so Gven Golly, my earth mother wife, and I went out to a farm over near Hoover and brought back two loads of nice, ripe horse manure for the garden. Then I went to Clintonville to help Zelda and the Pattycakes move freezers, coolers, mixers and other equipment out of the bakery for the crew to put in a new floor the next day. A day full of hard work and fun.
The Java Central posse was in fine form on Sunday morning, but I was shocked to get the news that Rev. Todd Anderson has been re-assigned to a Methodist church in Hilliard, OH, and will be leaving Church of the Master next month. I am unsure what my next church-related move will be and skeptical whether his successor at Master can hold a candle to this rare and gifted teacher. So I muddled through the day, did a little yard work, and jogged over to the high school track in the waning daylight.
I kept it slow, as usual, and walked 100 meters every half mile or so, eventually losing count of my laps at around 16, so when I got home an hour later I figure it was about five miles at a 12-minute pace, give or take. Not too bad, and no pain to speak of.
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Running Journal 14
One small step for Sven, a giant leap for Svenkind.
Still running only once a week, but now I'm actually running. Not just jogging, and not a heel-toe simulation of running that's more like a fast walk. If you have ever run, you know the difference. And if you have ever been a runner, you know the difference makes all the difference in the world.
For the record, people who know about these things says it takes seven years to become a runner. Many people run once in a while, and some run with regularity for a while, but it takes consistent workouts for years to rebuild the muscles, bones, joints, neurons, and cardio-vascular system into those of a runner - cell by aerobically fit cell.
So you don't become a runner by walking or jogging, although (cliche alert) you have to walk before you run, and you don't become a runner in 14 weeks. But if you're a former runner who didn't even know if he was capable of running, it's a small breakthrough to go from a slow but satisfying jog to a slow but distinctly different phenomenological experience of running.
I think the weather had something to do with it. It was so nice on Saturday that I went for a bike ride before dinner, and I'm convinced that cross-training is magic. The weather was even nicer today, and I went directly to the high school track instead of up the bike trail. Maybe that was the secret ingredient: warm weather and the cushioned surface of the track instead of snow and ice on the asphalt bike trail. It all adds up.
The high school soccer team was having an informal practice, but they didn't bother me and I didn't bother them. Staying in the outside lane, I let my legs call the tune, and after a slow warm-up lap, I walked 100 meters and felt refreshed. Another slow 100 meters and I began to stride out a little for the next 100 meters, slowed to a jog for 100, picked up the pace for 100, and then walked 100.
This quasi-Fartlek workout felt great, so I settled into a comfortable pace alternating between a slow jog and a less-slow jog that I'm defining as a 'run'. Based on that idiosyncratic logic, I am now running. Ask me in seven years if I'm a runner yet.
Still running only once a week, but now I'm actually running. Not just jogging, and not a heel-toe simulation of running that's more like a fast walk. If you have ever run, you know the difference. And if you have ever been a runner, you know the difference makes all the difference in the world.
For the record, people who know about these things says it takes seven years to become a runner. Many people run once in a while, and some run with regularity for a while, but it takes consistent workouts for years to rebuild the muscles, bones, joints, neurons, and cardio-vascular system into those of a runner - cell by aerobically fit cell.
So you don't become a runner by walking or jogging, although (cliche alert) you have to walk before you run, and you don't become a runner in 14 weeks. But if you're a former runner who didn't even know if he was capable of running, it's a small breakthrough to go from a slow but satisfying jog to a slow but distinctly different phenomenological experience of running.
I think the weather had something to do with it. It was so nice on Saturday that I went for a bike ride before dinner, and I'm convinced that cross-training is magic. The weather was even nicer today, and I went directly to the high school track instead of up the bike trail. Maybe that was the secret ingredient: warm weather and the cushioned surface of the track instead of snow and ice on the asphalt bike trail. It all adds up.
The high school soccer team was having an informal practice, but they didn't bother me and I didn't bother them. Staying in the outside lane, I let my legs call the tune, and after a slow warm-up lap, I walked 100 meters and felt refreshed. Another slow 100 meters and I began to stride out a little for the next 100 meters, slowed to a jog for 100, picked up the pace for 100, and then walked 100.
This quasi-Fartlek workout felt great, so I settled into a comfortable pace alternating between a slow jog and a less-slow jog that I'm defining as a 'run'. Based on that idiosyncratic logic, I am now running. Ask me in seven years if I'm a runner yet.
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Running Journal 13
One step forward, two steps back. And vice versa.
Start the weekend by seeing the eye doctor, then go for a bike ride. Pay some bills, eat some pasta. It's Friday.On Saturday, do your chores and get a haircut. Make a crock of bean and bacon soup. Watch basketball. It's the Amerikan way. Sunday starts with a batch of bread, a cup of coffee, and a surprising conversation with my posse at Java Central. Rutter's Requiem at Church of the Master, fixing the fence back at the shack, picking up sticks to stack in the back, and finally go for a run.
Remember Fartlek? It's a kind of workout where you start running slowly, gradually build up speed, and then slow down just long enough to restore your energy and build up speed again, then repeating that cycle lap by lap. My knees and calves were giving me all kinds of mixed messages right from the start, so I let myself into the high school track and minded my own business while the lacrosse players finished their practice and the soccer players started theirs.
Quarter mile jog, 100-meter walk, quarter mile jog, 100-meter walk. Do that six times and feel great. Indulge in a long, slow stretch and a Guinness stout with broiled salmon, sweet potatoes and broccoli. It's not the distance or the speed that matters, it's just the right balance of short duration and low intensity that makes a good workout.
Start the weekend by seeing the eye doctor, then go for a bike ride. Pay some bills, eat some pasta. It's Friday.On Saturday, do your chores and get a haircut. Make a crock of bean and bacon soup. Watch basketball. It's the Amerikan way. Sunday starts with a batch of bread, a cup of coffee, and a surprising conversation with my posse at Java Central. Rutter's Requiem at Church of the Master, fixing the fence back at the shack, picking up sticks to stack in the back, and finally go for a run.
Remember Fartlek? It's a kind of workout where you start running slowly, gradually build up speed, and then slow down just long enough to restore your energy and build up speed again, then repeating that cycle lap by lap. My knees and calves were giving me all kinds of mixed messages right from the start, so I let myself into the high school track and minded my own business while the lacrosse players finished their practice and the soccer players started theirs.
Quarter mile jog, 100-meter walk, quarter mile jog, 100-meter walk. Do that six times and feel great. Indulge in a long, slow stretch and a Guinness stout with broiled salmon, sweet potatoes and broccoli. It's not the distance or the speed that matters, it's just the right balance of short duration and low intensity that makes a good workout.
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