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Em ơi! #341: The Shiba Inu, part 2

Apparently our condo has thick walls. Thank goodness. This was also the longest conversation we’ve had with our neighbor since she moved in (she lives on the other side of our duplex), so it’s a bit random for her to give us a dog toy. Maya has really been enjoying chewing on the bully stick though. It is a great toy.

This comic is filed under
SF429.S63 L86 2011a, which stands for:
Animal culture–Pets–Dogs–By breed, A-Z–Shiba dogs.

So to give you some idea of what my training schedule has been like since I last posted:

Week of March 7th-March 13th

Monday: Biked 19.5 miles
Tuesday: Ran 10.3 miles
Wednesday: Ran 8.1 mi
Thursday: Ran 10.5 mi
Friday: Swam 2550 yards
Saturday: Ran 22.6 miles
Sunday: Ran 10.5 miles
Total: 19.5 miles biked, 2550 yards swum, 62 miles run

Week of March 14-March 20th:

Monday: Swam 3100 yards
Tuesday: Ran 10.3 miles
Wednesday: Ran 10.2 miles
Thursday: Ran 10.4 miles/Ran 2.4 miles as second evening run
Friday: Swam 3200 yards
Saturday: Ran 11.1 miles
Sunday: Ran 24 miles
Total: 6300 yards swum, 71.5 miles run

And this past week:

Monday: Swam 2000 yards
Tuesday: Ran 10.3 miles
Wednesday: Ran 8.1 miles, plus about 2.3 miles evening run on the elliptical
Thursday: Ran 10.3 miles, then 3.1 miles in the evening
Friday: Day off.
Saturday: Ran 20.2 miles
Sunday: Ran 11.6 miles
Total: 2000 yards swum, 65.9 miles run

So if you see me looking tired, that’s why.

During the 20-miler this past Saturday, I managed to take a header and scrape up my right knee and apparently bruise my left foot. So far it doesn’t seem to be anything serious, but I’m keeping an eye on it.

Taper begins now, by the way. I’m excited.

Em oi! #340: The Shiba Inu, part 1

I’ll admit it, I’ve been a little tired lately, a little depressed. For various reasons, comics are not getting done as quickly as I’d like them to. But that’s all going to change (I hope). I’ll be able to officially announce why in a few weeks.

For now, here’s what I’ve got on the docket: a race. This race, in fact. It’s April 9th at 8:00 in the Arb. I’m doing the 50k. If you’ll be in the area, come say “hi.” If you come around 13:00, maybe we can do lunch.

I like lunch.

I’m sure you’re wondering how one trains for a 50k. Let me show you my last two weeks, because they are illustrative:

This was a “cycle down” week, so the longest run was 10 miles (well, 11).
Monday, 21 Feb: Swam 2500 yards.
22 Feb: Ran 8.1 miles (9.4 min/mi pace)
23 Feb: Ran 7.2 miles (10.2 min/mi pace), then 3.4 mi with Bryan in the evening
24 Feb: Ran 8.1 mi (10.3 min/mi pace)
25 Feb: Swam 2500 yards and lifted weights (legs)
26 Feb: Ran 11.3 mi (11.1 min/mi, plus about 1 mile with dog)
27 Feb: Ran 10.8 mi (11.4 min/mi)
Total: 48.9 mi ran, 5000 yards swum

This was a normal week. My weeks will look about like this until the race:
Monday, 28 Feb: Swam 2750 yards
1 March: Ran 8.1 mi (9.5 min/mi)
2 March: Ran 8.7 mi (9.4 min/mi pace) plus 3.4 mi with B in the evening
3 March: Ran 8.9 mi (9.9 min/mi pace)
4 March: Swam 2250 yards
5 March: Ran 22.6 mi (10.6 min/mi pace)
6 March: Ran 10.5 mi (10.6 min/mi pace)
Total: 62.2 miles ran, 5000 yards swum

My training plan has two elements which are quite different from my usual marathon plans:

1. Two days off per week (Monday and Friday).

2. Back-to-back long runs (in the 2nd week here, 22 and 10).

This takes a lot out of a body. I’m running about 10.5 hours per week, give or take, and swimming about 2 hours. If I added in another hour of swimming and maybe 5 hours of biking, I could be doing an Ironman. Of course, B would never get to see me, which is a problem. And already I’m starving all the time. I hate to see what would happen to our food budget if I upped my mileage any more.

Anyway, the situation around our house is calming down somewhat. Kali has decided that Maya is not terrifying (more annoying) and is sleeping at my feet as I type this (having the heating pad on doesn’t hurt). Maya is…well, she’s a handful, but things are getting easier. And as for me, I can’t say I’m exactly used to getting up at 6:30 to take her out every morning, but I’m resigned to it, and I’m getting in the habit of getting to bed early enough that I’m not totally non-functional.

Apparently shiba inus are not necessarily recommended for first time dog owners, and shiba puppies have a certain reputation for being hellacious bundles of fur. Now they tell us. Because she’s a rescue, we don’t really know what happened to Maya before she came to live with us, but she doesn’t really have any bad habits (unless you count being kind of reserved around new people as a bad habit). And the screaming is getting better. A little better, anyway. I have to hope it will eventually be totally better, or else I will run mad. Mad I say!

Ok, maybe it’s bed time.

All in all, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend getting a puppy, although there are some benefits (see the aforementioned no bad habits thing). But in general we’re pretty happy with Maya.

This comic is filed under
SF429.S63 L86 2011, which stands for:
Animal culture–Pets–Dogs–By breed, A-Z–Shiba dogs.

Em ơi!#328: Metacomical

I had originally written that I was only seven inches shorter than Bryan (he is six feet even, I am 5′ 3″). That is clearly wishful thinking. Luckily (?) he caught it before we went to print (or, before I went to school and scanned this).

I’ll file this comic under BF697.5.S43 L86 2010 for Psychology—Differential psychology. Individuality. Self—Special aspects, A-Z—Self-perception. Sadly, if LC has a heading for “Napoleon Complex,” I can’t find it.

In other news, I’m back to running. Don’t tell my PT guy.

I’m kidding (sort of). I’m just running more than his “build up” plan would want me to be doing…but I am taking it relatively easy. Considering that I could do more than a half marathon without feeling sore before all this started, I’m pretty surprised when I’m aching after a five miler. My muscles and lungs are still in shape…my ligaments are evidently now used to biking. I guess it’s not about what I could do, it’s about focusing on the fact that I am allowed to run and have been doing so pain-free. But this is pretty hard.

Em ơi! #327: That is its Purpose

This comic gets filed under RC567.5 L86 2010 for Internal medicine–Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry–Psychiatry–Psychiatric aspects of personality and behavior condition–Drug abuse. Substance abuse–Caffeine.

CLEARLY.

In other news, Bryan and I are famous. Check out this email I got promoting a local 5k/10k:

I was trying to figure out a way to do the 5k this year. It just isn’t going to happen. The good news is, I went for my first run in two weeks yesterday (and my second today) and my foot seems to be behaving itself.

Em ơi! #325: I Did Say That

I really like this one, art-wise.

As I mentioned on Facebook, I won’t be doing a marathon this season, or at least not an official one. My PT guy has diagnosed me with a depressed cuboid bone and told me to stay off running for two weeks, then follow a slow program of building back up to running 30 minutes at a time for another two weeks. Given where my training is, there’s no way I can be ready for even the Middleton Marathon at the end of October, and that’s pretty much the end of the season, marathon-wise. So I guess I’ll train hard over the winter and come back fighting at the Mad City 50k or the Madison Marathon or something. We’ll see how it goes.

This comic is filed under RC1220.R8 L86 2010, for Internal Medicine—Special situations and conditions—Sports medicine—Medical and physiological aspects of special activities. By activity, A-Z—Running. This is much the same classification as last week (last week was RC1220.M35), but since shin splints are common to more than just marathon runners, I thought this was more appropriate.

Em ơi! #324: Marathon Misery

I know I’ve been posting little snippits concerning my marathon training. Last week I didn’t do one for a very simple reason – I ran Monday, and then not again for the whole week. Apparently, I’ve injured my foot, though the PA I saw didn’t actually give me a diagnosis other than it was “some muscle thing.” (Thanks.)

Yesterday I did 7.3 mi, and the upshot is I need to keep taking time off until my foot is completely better. I’m really upset about this, but there’s nothing to be done but wait. I keep telling myself that I may yet make it to the marathon (though I probably won’t be BQing (i.e., Qualifying for the Boston marathon) – I haven’t run farther than 15 miles in one go in several weeks), and I can always run 26 miles any day I want to when my foot allows it. But somehow that doesn’t make me feel much better. In the meantime I’ve been biking, both on my regular bike and the spinning bike at the gym, which helps for calorie burn (a little), but just doesn’t make me happy the way running does.

So it’s rough. I have to continue taking this one day at a time, which for someone who plans things like I do is painful. My foot aches when the weather changes, makes strange clicking noises when I go down stairs, and sometimes feels better…only to start hurting again when I’ve gotten my hopes up. Intellectually I know it’s just one marathon and there will be others…but I haven’t really come to terms with it yet.

This comic is filed under RC1220.M35 L86 2010, for Internal medicine — Special situations and conditions — Sports medicine — Medical and physiological aspects of special activities. By activity, A-Z — Marathon running.

This week in running: Week eight

It was a week: 16-22 August

Monday: biked 17.1 miles, lifted (chest)

Tuesday: AM – 3.3 mi (9.1 min/mi)

PM – 4.4 mi (11.2 min/mi)

Biked 17.1 mi

Wednesday: 3×2 mi at MP with 1/2 mi recovery (total 7.3 mi, avg. 8.4 min/mi); biked 17.1 mi; lifted (biceps)

Thursday: AM – 3.3 mi (9.4 min/mi)

PM – 3.3 mi (10.4 min/mi)

Biked 17.0 mi

Friday: Biked 31.3 mi

Saturday: half marathon – 13.1 mi in 1:46:02 (8.1 min/mi) – 19th in my division.

Sunday: AM – ~6 mi in 1:00:14

PM – 4 mi (11 min/mi)

Total running: 44.7 miles in 6:56:05 (9.3 min/mi, slightly faster than last week)

Total biking: 99.6 miles (This is the largest number of miles I have ever biked in a week. Yikes.)

My goals for the half marathon were a) do it in the Vibrams, and b) try to do it at marathon pace or better, to see if doing my marathon at that pace is tenable. MP is 8:25, so I was well within the “or better” part – 8.1 is about 8:05. It is clear that I’ll have to pay careful attention to pacing myself so I don’t go out too fast. I used to run very consistent splits, but as I’ve gotten faster that has faded somewhat. For example, my splits on Saturday ranged from 7:54 to 9:00 (at least!). So I will have to watch myself. My feet and calves are sore from running in the VFFs, but though I was worried toward the end that my feet were bleeding or something, I only had one major blister, which is pretty good.

I’ll try to post the before/after pictures from the half tomorrow; they’re quite droll.

Running log, week 7

I had to take my cat to the vet to get her teeth cleaned. I scheduled it for Monday because I usually take Monday off running. Is this:

a) Weird.

b) Good planning.

c) Stop running already.

Don’t answer that.

This is what I did last week:

Monday (9 August): Ran 3 mi (9.6 min/mi); biked 17.4 mi; lifted legs.

Tuesday: AM – ran 7.5 mi (10 min/mi). PM – ran 3 mi (10.9 min/mi).

Wednesday: 2x3mi with 1/2 mi recovery between – first 3 mi at 7.8 min/mi, second 3 mi at 8.3 min/mi; biked 16.5 mi.

Thursday: Ran 7.8 mi (9.9 min/mi).

Friday: Ran 10 mi (9.4 min/mi – this was split between the track and treadmill – I had been planning to do 15 before it rained. Oh well.)

Saturday: Ran for 1:09:09 on the Lakefront Trail in Chicago (about 7.6 mi).

Sunday: Ran for 49:55 on the Lakefront Trail (about 5 mi). Ran 3 mi (10.4 min/mi) in Madison.

Total: (approx) 54.4 miles in 8:39:12, 9.5 minutes per mile. That’s exactly the same as last week’s pace.

So I failed to take an off day, and after Wednesday’s combo of speed work plus bike my knee (left) started to play up and I had to tape it on Thursday/Friday. But today it feels fine. I took today off from running and I’ll probably take Friday off too – I have a half marathon on Saturday. Hopefully it will predict the marathon time I should be aiming for (I’m hoping I’ll go sub two hours, which would give me a shot at a sub-4 marathon). Whee. A lot will depend on the weather, though – I do all right with wind, and decently with heat, but humidity, especially when combined with heat, really slows me down.

Em ơi! #320: Bears, bears, bears

Finally another comic. This one files under QL795.B4 L86 2010, for Zoology — Animal behavior — Stories and anecdotes — Special. By common name of animal, A-Z — Bears. You can read some articles about the bears here and here. It turns out black bears are pretty harmless (they like to eat fruit, not runners), and there haven’t been any mentions of them in the paper since the beginning of the summer, so I’m probably safe.

My favorite new classification is officially HQ76.965.B42, for The Family. Marriage. Woman–Human sexuality. Sex–Sexual minorities–Homosexuality. Lesbianism–Gay and lesbian culture–Special topics, A-Z–Bears. I just found it while I was looking the QL795 one up. I will have to come up with something to file under that.

Continue reading “Em ơi! #320: Bears, bears, bears”

Em ơi! #317: Highlights From My First Triathlon

Sorry about the sketchiness/relative badness of the art on this one. I have not had what could be referred to as “free time” lately.

So, the triathlon. When I first started running, I was kind of overweight and not really very good at it. In my first 5k, which I ran with my brother Daniel, his then-girlfriend Claire (I may have mentioned them once or twice), and a couple friends of theirs, I finished almost last. Not just last in my division, but last. It was great in some ways, because it was a lot of fun to run with everyone, but coming in so close to the end was a bit humiliating. I didn’t run another race for about two years.

I’ve since got to be a much better runner and recently I’ve been placing in the top 20 in my division and much nearer to the top overall. People who have met me AFTER a lot of weight loss and hardcore training seem to have this idea of me as a natural athlete, and that just isn’t the case. I always remember where I used to be…and sometimes, I get to revisit those times.

All in all, I didn’t have a terrible race (except for the swim portion, which was terrifying). I inhaled about half the lake, and coughed for the rest of the day. Despite this, I did finish. Will I do another? I don’t know. I might. I’m off swimming for a while and just relaxing before I have to throw myself into marathon training in earnest. Of course, the purpose of a race is not to win, and how I placed is largely unimportant compared to how I felt during the race. But this was definitely a challenge. I still have somewhat mixed feelings about it. Glad I tried it though.

I should add that in panel 3, that orange pyramid is the buoy I’m supposed to be swimming toward. Panel 5 did actually happen. And I did actually shout “REALLY?” The guy holding the flags to direct us all around the turns didn’t seem to get it.

Here are two photographs Bryan took of me, one before the race, one after the swim portion. For two more fun photos, click the “photos” link at the top of this page and put in my number (1354).

Continue reading “Em ơi! #317: Highlights From My First Triathlon”