My First Marathon

I had a great weekend, with a trip to cheer on my friend's daughter in the Hamptons Marathon.  This was D's second marathon - the previous one was five years ago - and since it was in my old stomping grounds her mother and I decided to go cheer her on.  She had just barely exceeded five hours on the first one, so beating that was her goal.

D was running as part of a team that was raising money for the "B+" (Be Positive) foundation, a charity that supports the families of children with cancer. As part of the team, she had transportation, a place to stay, dinner the night before, and a support group.  Kathy and I were able to feel part of that same team, even joining them all for a lovely dinner the night before the race at Gurney's in Montauk, a legendary spot I had never actually been to before.

It was fun feeling part of the team and cheering her on. This whole scene of athletic folks is not a culture I've traveled in before.  I felt good about my little 5Ks and found this overall very motivating. I still have no desire to run a marathon - its just too much punishment.  But I definitely have the urge to run more and faster and farther than I have been doing.

We had to get up absurdly early to make the 8 am start. But we did.  We saw D who was a bit jittery and connected with her husband, who had gotten a ride from the hotel and thus no transport around the course.

I had studied the map of the circuitous course and had figured out some places we could see D and cheer her on. Of course the road for the start and the finish was closed, but we weren't sure what other roads would be closed.  The mass of runners start out all together, but they split apart after a while and so traffic was allowed to proceed at the same time.

After the start, we set off (via car) for breakfast, and got held up at what turned out to be the five mile mark. We turned off the car and D's husband walked up and saw D and cheered her on, before coming back as the police started to meter cars through.  After breakfast, we drove to the furthest part of the course, where there was one intersection where they passed through three times - between miles 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15.

There were water stations there and we got into handing off cups of water to the runners as they passed by. It was something to do, and the runners seemed to really appreciate it.

This was a relatively small race - "only" 2,500 people (most did the half, not the full marathon) so it was relatively intimate, and we saw the same people over and over.  We saw some of the team members from the B+ group and always cheered loudly for them.

After "our" runner passed the intersection for the second time, she texted back saying her iphone battery was dying, and could her mother please download a certain app so she could have it for when her phone gave out. (Use of the GPS is a well-known iphone battery suck.) As it turns out, I had an iphone booster battery on me which was fully charged, and so when she came back for the third time, between miles 14-15, she chose that instead.  Yay!  I was helping!  I know I can't imagine running without tunes to keep pace to, and she had also a specific app she was using for her pacing and intervals.  I hoped the extra battery would last the remaining time.

We made our way to mile 20, which was near the finish line, and saw the much more sparse and spread-out runners.  The day was grey, and at points a fine drizzle was falling, Some of the runners were clearly really fatigued, but D seemed in great spirits.

So then it was off to the finish line. The announcer was calling off the name of each finisher, often with a little tidbit about them:  "This is his first ever marathon" or "His goal was to beat five hours".  We were so happy when we saw D, and I felt like I been part of something great as she crossed the finish line fifteen minutes faster than her previous time.

After the race, D changed out of wet clothes and headed back to her hotel for a shower. Kathy and I went sightseeing, and then met up for the post race party.  There was free food - four different kinds of pasta! - and sparse drink, but then we had a light early dinner at the bar next door. I marvelled at D's endurance and humor. She said overall she was tired, and a few specific parts hurt, and she needed to keep moving to not stiffen up.  Her husband took her off to the hotel with a stop for some bags of ice and apparently was planning to keep her immersed in ice water.

I have no desire to go the distance, but it still was really motivating and I am looking forward to a bit more of a jog tomorrow.

Control

Time and time again, we've seen when the going gets tough, Nan gets sick. All my dragging on the trail last weekend may have been a precursor to a bout of a virus. Clearly actual germs were involved- both kids had it 10 days before- but just as clearly (to me) the stress made it knock me right out. I went from acting like I had the flu to pretty much having it, and then I got to spend another few days lying on the couch eating noodles and ice cream. I went to the store, and came home with granola and egg noodles and chicken noodle soup and lemon pound cake and naan and pretzel crackers and four flavors of gelato. This was brought into a nearly empty kitchen and was meant to sustain me on my sick bed for a few days.

But eventually the bloom wore off the carb rose and I'm back to salads and chicken. Part of what it seems to take to rouse myself is being able to feel there is something about my life I can control. I'm not completely a victim, I can assert myself.

There is stress reduction and there is stress management. When I cannot control one source of stress in my life, can I take some action to reduce other sorts of stress? I found myself going into survivalist mode: buying solar chargers, making coffee in my woodstove, stockpiling my noodles and other shelf stable foods, refreshing the gallons of drinking water in the basement. I laugh at myself while I do it, but it moved me out of a victim mindset.

I want to think about better stress management practices, so I don't go for ice cream but instead manage those raging stress hormones and resulting inflammation and all the havoc it wreaks on my mind and body. Yoga? Meditation? Biofeedback apps on the iPhone? Guess what folks, I'm likely to try to find the tech based solution, one that doesn't require leaving my house to do.

At least I am emerging from the funk, and I'm off to adventures for a couple of days. I'm going to cheer some marathon runners, and perhaps be inspired by their example.

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Stress

What a bad week. Stress at work was off the charts, and there was little I could do about it. It wasn't hard work that was causing the stress, it was waiting for the negative report from a major mistake we made. It culminated in a high level face to face meeting, 5:30 Friday night, on a day rated 10 out of 10 by the Capital Weather Gang, in an office overlooking the Nats game. All week, working to salvage my reputation, wondering how things would be at work after this airing. I've probably shared too much here, but it's the thing on my mind, and I can't write without including it.

So all week I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted, to lie around and be unproductive at home, just do what i want, basically a pass on everything else. I kept my resolution to leave the building every day, but only to visit the battalions of food trucks on the street just outside-Thai noodle and pork cubano and gyro delights. It was like I had the flu, but without having the flu. Just the "eat all the noodles and ice cream I want while lying on the couch" part of having the flu. (This is how I treat the flu. Don't you?)

Did being self indulgent allow me to cope with the stress any better?

Well, duh, no. Eating badly, not exercising, not taking care of my other responsibilities, just made everything worse. I finally fought off the funk a bit this weekend. My Vespa is finally working, if erratically, and I got a ride in, which makes me really happy. I had a starter fire in my woodstove last night (it needs to start gently each season) and I made some preparations for an upcoming fun trip to Long Island.

I went for a run this morning and didn't have such great results. I managed to keep shuffling along for the first two miles, but then my legs gave out and I walked the rest of the way home. Really? My legs? Of the three things I need to run- heart breath and legs- it hasn't been the legs that gave out before. Huh. I was really disappointed in myself, figuring it was the wages of my lost week, walking home, when it struck me. I ran two miles. A year ago I couldn't do that. So things aren't so bad. I got to just keep moving.

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Nan Tech

I was a bit bemused by all the gadgets I use during my runs. It's part of my motivation. I don't exactly run just so I can use these things, but I definitely get a kick from sitting down afterwards and looking at my maps and graphs and stats. So here is the whole picture (I also am very amused by learning to use my gadgets, so putting this together was a great deal of fun for me.)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Training

I'm signed up for a 5K in 3 weeks. I'm nowhere near ready, but 3 weeks is long enough to make some difference. The thing about training is, you can't cram it all in at once. I know I will be standing on the finish line, regretting the training opportunities I've already passed up.

For running, I need strong legs and good aerobic conditioning, heart and lungs. My training opportunities to run are limited, mostly in the morning, and I need to be realistic about how hard I can drive myself.

I did well this week, though not perfect. The weather is so insanely beautiful I have a hard time justifying not being out side all the time. but for some reason, I'm suffering from some pretty extreme sleep disruptions. I'm doing what I should: out doors often, cut out the computer before bed, eating pretty well, exercising much more than before. I mostly fall asleep as my head hits the pillow, but I'm spending literally hours in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. It's stress, both with kids and at work, and here us big much more I can do about that. I take melatonin as I go to bed, but I don't want to take more in the middle of the night.



This is what a bad nights sleep looks like. The darker grey is sleep, the lighter grey is tossing and turning. The gap in the middle is where I gave up and got out of bed to read- an actual and not terribly exciting book, not the iPad, with its disturbing blue frequency light.

The lack of sleep makes it harder to train in the mornings. I still did well this week. Sunday I did a serious training run outside. Monday I had my gym session, followed by a stolen 15 minutes on the treadmill with three fast sprints. Tuesday I got to the treadmill. Wednesday and Friday were busts for running, but I did another set of interval sprints on Thursday. (The reason the time is "stolen" is because I end up a few minutes late got work. It doesn't really matter, though.)

I'm also taking the opportunity to walk most days at lunch. Only a mile or so, at a brisk pace in this beautiful weather, but I figure it's all helpful for strengthening the legs.

Of course, I'm tracking all this mileage in an app. A good couple of days look like this:



Today, a street festival beckons. More walking. Totally delightful weather for it, too. There is also a pie eating contest..,

iPhone uPdate

Still Trying

I've been thinking a lot about goals and commitments and where and what do I really want in this whole fitness thing.  But, it's very clear, that diet and fitness consciousness is part of the rest of my life.  (Note for future post:  Augusten Burroughs is wrong. To be explained another day.)

I'm reading The Power of Habit.  I'm not very far into it, but I think I got the core message the rest of the book will elaborate on:  "habit" is something that is fundamental to us as people. Habit exists out of conscious memory, and can be very powerful and persistent even when memory has gone away.  To make a habit, you need:  (1) trigger, (2) action and (3) reward. Habits burned into your brain do not ever go away, but they can be disrupted by superimposing new habits on top, with new, more powerful triggers or rewards.

So, I have work to do on my exercise triggers, but it's very clear that my exercise reward system consists of my gadgets and my statistics collected.  Also posting (and boasting) about it here.  I took a little run today, and here are the stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220577240

This is below my performance last April when I was training for a 5K.  I think I'm doing another one (schedule is a tad iffy) and I've got to focus to not embarrass myself.

Off the to rest of the day.  Cheerio.