Catchup: On Trips and Exercise Books and… and… and…
Wow. I do this. I go through long periods where I don’t post. Here’s to being better about it! Can’t promise I won’t immediately relapse. Past performance is likely an indicator of future results.
Anyway. Here’s a big update, just for kicks.
It turns out, Houston and Western Louisiana are both hot. I know this is shocking news. But we just returned from visiting my family in the south, and seeing some old classmates, and the trip was delightful. But while I acclimated and even did my runs after a couple of days, my northern flower busily ducked from air conditioned human container to air conditioned human container to avoid the sometimes-over-100-degrees-and-hey-we-haven’t-factored-in-humidity-yet crazyweather. The trip was good. But I kept thinking we were in a heat wave because I haven’t really lived there in over 10 years. No. It’s just, that’s the way summer is down there. It’s unusual when there’s a break in the heat. You end up wishing for a cool wave, which sounds much less poetic than a heat wave for some reason. Or a slip and slide. Either/or. You are more likely to get the slip and slide. You will REALLY want it in 6 to 8 weeks so order it right freaking now. Maybe pay extra and get it tomorrow.
Did I mention running? Oh yes I did. I’m still doing it. That’s notable. Not doing the distance work I was planning to do at this point, but… I’m doing it. I’m feeling MUCH better physically right now, though. So I may start ramping up distances soon. But I’m doing half hour workouts every other day and just getting things right in my body. Weights are also in there somewhere. It’s a health-recovering area that I needed and I need to remember that after the next half-marathon.
The runs in the south were… slow. Very. Slow. I. Was. Running. Kind. Of. Like. This. With. The. Out. Of. Fashion. Two. Spaces. After. A. Period. Typing. And. Everything. (And in preview it seems like Wordpress is removing my anachronism but rest assured - I hit the space bar twice after every period that ends a sentence like a CIVILIZED HUMAN BEING.) But in a way it was a good thing, because I know that the thing I need to do most is just SLOW DOWN. Many people tell me this. I’m currently browsing through this book and, among everything else in the world that you may want to learn about running, it also references the tried and true axiom that I ignore again and again. Train first for distance, second for speed. But man do I like seeing 8 minute mile times on my garmin. Discipline - it shouldn’t be just for breakfast anymore. I’m resolving to be better on this point. Let’s see how I do!
It strikes me that one can build a routine for almost anything. Travel, for instance. I don’t even think about the fact that all my pocket-stuff goes into a bag pocket while I am in the line for security, so that there’s little to no chance I’ll set off the metal detector. At some point my brain just started doing this stuff for me. The only real concern is that at some point, I’ll be doing this stuff at the wrong place and time. That may be the definition of senility. “Sir, why did you put your keys in your bag before you got to the front of the grocery check out?” “Where are the Burns-O’s???”
I had a fifteen year high school reunion while I was down in the south. It actually was really good to revisit and reconnect with people. Other than one guy who is over in Germany currently, I am the furthest out. I sometimes wonder what is it about myself that made me go so far away from any semblance of roots. I’d like to say it’s because I felt a need to go out into the world and prove I could be self sufficient. There may even be some truth to that. But mostly, other than specifically choosing Charlotte North Carolina to start out my career, many of my choices were binary or (uh) trinary (??) in nature. And never, after that first one, did I think… “I have to get further away to prove I can make it!” I went where they would pay me to go do things. One can try to be philosophical about these things as one ages, but doesn’t it sometimes seem, in retrospect, that whatever decision one made was the only truly logical one?
But family in the south would say moving up to Yankee-land is the furthest thing from logical.
The Book That Eats Like A Meal. I finished Neal Stephenson’s The Confusion while on vacation. I would tell you how long it took me to get through that book, but I am a little embarrassed by it and I also don’t remember back far enough, to a time when I was not reading it. Thoroughly wonderful book. But so dense. I interspersed lighter reading (comic books!) into it, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
After finishing it, I immediately started a short story collection my wife had on her person. After reading The Confusion, it was like some sort of brain candy. I seriously could skim entire paragraphs and not miss much! With Stephenson, I’m sometimes circling back because I missed something, and it didn’t seem important, but it was. Or maybe it wasn’t important but it just got interesting. With this new book, the pages melt away! It’s the difference between reading a technical treatise on which I have great interest but also on which I must pay attention to detail… and fun words. It’s a delight and a great reminder of Why I Need A Cleanser After A Stephenson Book.
I’ll be craving that last book in The Baroque Cycle soon enough, though. I’ll be embarrassed by how long it takes me to finish System of the World too. Don’t worry about that.
That’s all. How’s that for a mess of an update? As we might say in the south. You know. “I just went out and picked a mess of peas.” It’s great too because you don’t know if I mean it as in, well there’s a big old bunch of words in this update or… man, what a disjointed piece of junk this update is. Great fun! Fun words are fun. (I am in an odd mood as I write this).
Thief 4 Confirmed
I hope the game is better than the logo. Thi4f? What the hell?
General Catchup: Trip to NYC, Running and Excercise
This post is a general catchup post. Two tags, no waiting.
Travel
We took a trip to NYC on Tuesday of last week. Ali procured tickets for The Colbert Report. If I had not been an idiot and clapped with my arms up at the start of the show, I would have even had an image to prove it. As it is, that image there will have to suffice.
It was a blast, but it was preceded by tons of waiting. We got into line at around 5:00. They didn’t let us into the theater until about 7:00, and they didn’t start filming until 8:00. This, I believe, is not normal. They indicated several times they were late. I think they were doing heavy re-writes right up until the end.
We stood in line and then was eventually shuffled through a security check and into a room. There were some chairs, but those were for ‘vip guests’, and how do you get the vip tickets anyway? According to the internet it’s mysterious… but likely involves knowing someone.
Anyway, we stood in that room for a while, and then were permitted into the studio. It’s small. The guy who brought us in said that the Colbert studio holds a little over 100 people. To compare, Jon Stewart’s holds 200. Letterman - 400. It’s smaller than it looks on tv, definitely.
A comedian came out and warmed us up, and we seemed to be a good audience. Then Mr. Colbert ran out, high energy, high fives, a standing O, the whole nine yards. He spent a really good chunk of time out of character, answering any questions that the audience wanted to yell at him. This was my favorite part, I think.
Then, the show. He was great. The guest was not only a bit dull but also kind of an idiot. They spent less time with the main guest than they usually do, maybe because of that?
Great experience. We had lived in northern Jersey for 5 years and had never attended any taping. Despite the wait, it was so very worth it. Even if we didn’t get one of the many GOOD guests that appeared on the show at around the time we went.
Training
Currently sucks. Something about turning 33. Sure, that’s what it is. My body feels like nothing gets 100% ‘right’. I’ve taken the last week off, and I’m about to recast the plan that I had made to pick up again soon, but it is definitely frustrating so far. I’m thinking for the next few days I might just run outside the plan to try to ease back into things.
So there’s your general catchup.
4 Mile Run
I skipped Wednesday but did my weights on Thursday. Then, today, during lunch, a coworker and I went out for a run. It was a 3 mile pace run on the chart, but again, I’m a bit faster so it wasn’t a pace run. The extra mile MAY make up for that. I kind of ran off and left him on that mile too.
It’s a beautiful day here today, so the run felt great. I’m modifying my plan to do 5 this weekend since weekend runs have been difficult for me to get in thus far. I will do it too, even though I have to work a half day tomorrow. Have to get serious about sticking to the plan.
One benefit of ramping up the weights along with this: the tweak I felt in my back during the end of training for the Miami half marathon seems to be positively affected by doing core workout. It is stretched out and hasn’t made itself known since starting ramping those core workouts up. I MUST remember this. Especially on days when I’m supposed to do weights/core after a run. It really does help.
Workout Catchup Post
Just logging here that I did, in fact, do my Monday and Tuesday runs as expected, and did my weights after the Tuesday run.
That was tough mentally. A tempo run is… not my favorite workout. It’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a challenge.
Committing to the plan was the hardest part. After that, the weights and stretching actually felt pretty good. And I think the deliberate stretching definitely helps. It’s a good plan. Sticking to it… I just need to remember how it felt during and afterward, not in the middle when I just wanted to lay down.
3 Mile Run
Who: Coworker
What: 3 Mile Run
Where: Office Park
Noon run with a coworker. This was listed as a 3 mile pace run, but he’s slower than I am, so we did the first mile in the 8:40s (my fault), the second was more in the 9:30s, and the third was a bit more than 10. He has a 10 mile run in a few weeks, where he wants to run 11 minute miles.
It was more of a recovery run for me than a pace run, but it was a good exercise in modulating my pacing downward, and in fact somewhere in the second mile was the pace at which I really should be doing my longer runs to build proper endurance.
It was also refreshing to be reminded I actually am faster than many people. For some reason recently I’ve been around people and read things that made me feel slow.
Stretch / Weights
Who: Alone
What: Stretch / Weights
Where: Planet Fitness Downingtown
Beautiful day out today. Quick walk up to the gym, then core and arm work along with stretching. Then a quick walk back. Nothing too taxing, cardio-wise, but that’s why Thursday is there. I have a feeling I’ll be sore from the work. We’ll see.
45 Minute Crosstrain - Elliptical
Who: Alone
What: 45 Minute Crosstrain - Elliptical
Where: Planet Fitness Downingtown
I had not done anything for a few days. I had every intention of running while in Washington DC, but it just never worked out. Then when I got back I wasn’t feeling so good. So this was my first day back at it since Friday, which… I’m not thrilled about.
But it went fine, and I’m back on the wagon.
A New Thief Game Coming?
Is it possible that a new installment from one of my favorite game series is coming? And is it possible it may be coming from NORTH OF THE BORDER?
(Ominous drums)
Rumors abound that a new Thief game may be announced by Eidos Montreal very soon.
The Thief series is a series that I like very much. Next time I am in Montreal I may stealthily try to sneak into their building and lightly caress the development machines, if this is true. That’s not illegal in Canada, is it? At least between a consenting man and machine?
Washington DC
We did a quick jaunt down to Washington DC last weekend. One of the nice things about living on the eastern seaboard is that quick trips like that are possible.
We visited friends in the DC suburbs (and played video games with their kids!), drove around the city a whole lot, watched every free parking space that we were trying to get disappear from a block away, and visited the Air and Space Museum.
I had not been to the Air and Space Museum since I was a kid, and it was still very good fun. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff. I would sleep in a rocket ship if it were socially acceptable.
Anyway, pictures are up at flickr and viewable on the sidebar of this journal.
