Wonder Of It All!!

This is Audrey... A 1989 Mercedes 560SL...you may have seen her this morning. She is what I want to be. Older, but a classic beauty. And when you hit the gas petal...she is a rocket!

The repeated attempts (and successes) of my squirrel buddies to jump onto the bird feeder are truly amazing...running Spiderman up the wall, super squirrel leaps from the potted plants... unreal. I have increased my squirrel food lay outs today (it is cold and windy!!) because I understand needing a little perk now and again...

My own repeated attempts at getting my running grove back are seeming more and more Herculean as the road blocks just keep on a comin'. I have added & subtracted miles, googled, relaxed, and whirlpooled. I have gymed, Happy Office Houred, blogged, and Meredithed. My last resolution was to work on sleeping and I have had some successes at 7 and 8 hour nights in the last couple of weeks. Still, I cannot seem to recover.

So... while maintaining my watch items above (and buying NEW SHOES - which are certainly a necessity,) I have decided to toy around a little with vitamin or mineral supplementation. Been there once before... with a little iron depletion so I know some things are indeed necessary. I don't actually know what I am doing with this AND I know you can cause yourself some problems with this but damn... don't have any other ideas at this point!!!!

Since having the flu (or whatever) a month ago, I have had a UI (TMI!!) and now have an abcessed tooth. SOMETHING is going on with my bitching (and not in a good way!) body!!! All my running in this month has been a test in pain management...cramping, fatigue, etc... I don't think the health issues are the cause. I think it is the other way around. So, after much research (again!) I am contemplating Magnesium supplementation. If any of you have any input on that I would be interested.

There is a lot to learn about one's own physical body. Geez!!! I won't even attempt to figure out my mental side...don't have that many years left for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just trying to be like Audrey...that's all...

Sleep my Pretty! Sleep!

heh, heh, heh, heh... Is what the Wicked Witch said as Dorothy walked through the fields of poisoned poppies. No wonder we all have screwed up ideas about sleep.

Last night I got 8 hours! No Hospice patient today either so I am lounging about drinking a really good Americano and NOT doing my homework. Gosh, maybe sleep makes you sassy. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so.

To Thyself Be True...

Or just know yourself. My comment from Steve this morning about my upcoming birthday (on Soul Buster day no less!!!!!!!!) was that maybe this would be the year (or decade) that I learn how to train effectively. So after the tempo run this morning I went to him and told him what I should have a week ago... I am exhausted. At first I thought it was just from being sick (and I am sure that did not help) but he (once again) pointed out how easily I overtrain. "Don't go back down in that hole you were in," he said to me.

So...dammit...to Hell...here I am thinking about how to get unexhausted. I am not pissed (well, not too much) but why does my body send me no clues until I feel (in the words of Seba) like I have been beaten by angry, drunken midgets wielding large wooden mallets???? Perhaps, as I have heard before, I don't listen?? So... next mission in my training education (the last one was LISTEN to the coach) is to try to listen to myself.

I am a horse trainer and riding teacher by trade... I have been at it for SO long that I am confident and good at my job. I always try to revert back to that thinking when I run into these stumbling blocks in my "new athletic career" as a runner. So I thought about my horse training methodology. And, despite the fact that most horses are more self aware (and perhaps smarter) than I am, I just considered the application.

7 tips to training:

1. Know horses
2. Know YOUR horse
3. Get its attention
4. Reward and Punishment
5. Repetition
6. Consistency
7. NEVER lose your temper

So I thought about this and applied it to myself. Know about training runners. Know about ME. Pay attention to ME. Realize that it is ok (and necessary) to rest. Don't repeat stupid things, do repeat what works. Be consistent in training for the big picture and stay in focus on that. And, as for never losing your temper...to thyself be true.

So today I am sore, tired, and pissy. But maybe this is the warning I have to listen to. I am not who I was yesterday and not who I will be tomorrow. I am not any of my team mates...no matter how much I feel connected to them... I am me and I am responsible for my own training which has to be special for me. As a kid, I got bucked off many, many horses and always got back on. As I got older (and kinda smarter) I figured out how to not get bucked off (since it hurt more than it used to!!) I am gonna run like that...I am gonna try to minimize hitting the dirt as much as possible!

Time to go now... I need my rest!!!

Darwin Day

It is Darwin's 200th bithday today...and about 150 years since he published his "Origin of Species" book with his theories of Evolution. I find this quite interesting for two reasons... first of all, 150 years is not so long ago, about a lifetime and a half...second of all, I was raised (with a strong set of morals) but completely devoid of any type of religion. I was introduced to many world religions in my travels - both as a kid and as an adult - but my homelife never included any indoctrination into one. So...CNN's article on Darwin states that their independent poll on the subject shows that only 14% of Americans believe in Evolution. I find this fasinating and I wish it wasn't such a politically incorrect subject to discuss. Just the fact that this surprises the Hell out of me, tells me that I still have a lot to learn about human nature. Another topic for the long runs?? I dunno. Have we evoled enough emotionally to discuss subjects like this? I can't help but be curious...respectfully curious...

Slogging good time...not!!

Today was my first run post fever and chills week. I did 10 miles of the long run and it was pretty yukky! So much for having fresh legs from not running all week! I think my body fighting infection made me more tired than any of my training! Anyway, it was not pretty (or fun!) but I got through the gale force winds to do it. Hopefully I will have a little better "sea legs" before the marathon next weekend. I am still hacking like a smoker but it is better. I have to say... I was never sick this often (or this bad!) when I did not eat meat. Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

School has also been busy for me. Math sucks (still) and I am trying to get through it without shooting myself. The only upside is that it makes my Physics class a little less painful (at least that isn't ALL math.) And I am sorry Sadie...I know you think math is cool. Ugh... I like poetry.

Two more weeks til my birthday. I was planning to do a big shindig but I haven't had the energy for it... esp. now that there is a mandatory Soul Buster that day! I am gonna be 50 this year. That seems a little weird still. I mean, I am ok with it and stuff. And, I know that it really isn't THAT old but... I just don't really know how it happened! Last thing I remember I was about 19! Anyway, just thinking about it. Downside...my dad died at 62. Upside...I am in a new age group now :)

Looking forward to next week and getting back to normal...whatever that is!!

Missed Workout

I did not do my long run today. It feels weird... I rarely miss a workout. But since our Thursday workout, I have been sneezing and wheezing. Finally last night I had to resort to sleeping most of the night in a chair, pumped full of Benedryl and Pepcid (it is an anti-histamine too!) Around 3am I was finally able to lay down and keep breathing at the same time. The alarm rang at 4:15 (a reminder that I was going to miss my time with my friends) and I shut it off so I could sleep for another few hours. Already this morning I am sneezing so I am wondering if it is headed back into my lungs. I am getting really tired of this! Never have I had such allergy problems! Certainly, I have never had the whole lung shut down symptoms until the last couple of years. Maybe I have finally just become allergic to Texas... Guess I better start a savings account for a visit to the Allergist...

Flying!

No, I am not talking about how I felt after taking on the hills yesterday...and I am not talking about HOW I took on those hills either (although it wasn't half bad!!) I am talking about my little animal neighbor friend... a squirrel.

Now, I like squirrels (and I know that Ken does too!!) I enjoy watching them and how acobatic they are. BUT...they do steal food from the birds. Bad, bad! I put food out for them of course AND I put different food out for the birds in a little feeder. I have hung the feeder in trees at all heights and angles and have found nowhere that the squirrels can't raid it. I hung it on the house, under the eaves so they couldn't just slide down the roof (yes, they've done that too.) After much trial and error I finally found a spot that worked for a week, until they figured out that they could hand on to the window screen with 2 toes and reach just far enough out to grab the hanging chain with their little hand. Ok, now I was losing patience.

So I hung the feeder next to the glass part of the window...voila, no more climbing. Then today, a few weeks later, I was sitting on my couch (studying PHYSICS!) and suddenly, "BLAM!!!" the spinning feeder with a squirrel securely attached to it rammed into my window! I yelled at him to get off of it and he gulped down a couple mouthfuls of BIRD seed and jumped off. Stupid squirrel. Soon, "BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!!!" It was happening over and over! The cardinals were pissed. I was getting a little perturbed. My window was vibrating from the repeated impact and yet the squirrel pressed on. (He should be on our team!!) So, I put my books down, got up, and went outside to survey. This is what the little thief was doing:




He was jumping from the chair back onto the feeder... a good 4 feet. I moved the chair. The cardinals jumped on the feeder. And, the squirrel is in the tree screaming obscenities at me...just waiting for Ken to run by...