The teens, finally

For the first time in two months, I hit the teens with my running miles this week. The last time this happened was about the time I decided that miles just didn’t matter; it was a time that running stopped being fun for a little while, too. So I’m here to once again say that miles do matter!

I had the best running week I’ve had in a while — with miles and the way I felt. It’s amazing to me how running hills around Bedford in two weeks have made me feel. I have a long way to get to where I want to be, but this is a great start at a time of the year that running usually dwindles for many people. I hope that I’m setting myself up for a good Christmas Classic 5k in a few weeks. Being able to easily run the course a couple of times a week certainly helps.

I’ve also developed a great running partner recently. My dog, Duke, has been able to last much longer than I thought he could, going for three 3-plus mile runs this week. He’s usually been good for a couple of miles coupled with a mile or so walking, but he’s proven to me that he has much more energy than I thought he had. Makes me wish I was a dog sometimes …

“It” starts (or restarts) now

When it comes to running, October 2009 stands out in my mind as the lowest of the low in my almost six years of running. My few injuries are an exception. I wasn’t injured in October. I was full of excuses. Sure, moving doesn’t make life easy, but in hindsight, why is my workout log completely blank from Oct. 7-12?

I also fell completely off the 100 push-ups wagon, but at the same time I’m reaping the rewards of the program. Moving boxes and furniture in the past few weeks have been much easier than a couple of years ago when I moved. But this is a program I want to finish — I just don’t know when. Tonight, for the first time in a couple of weeks, I dropped down and did 33. I guess I could say I’m 33 percent of the way there. Oddly enough, 33 is what I maxed at in week 4 (after 85 push-ups).

But what do I do? The 100 push-ups Web site actually recommends that I start on week 3 if I do more than 20 in my initial test. Although it wasn’t an “initial” test, I think going back to week 3 is a good idea. That might help me get past week 4 that I never got through after two attempts. But honestly, moving got in the way then and it may get in the way in the next few weeks, but no matter what this is making me a stronger person. I may take a lot longer than some people, but I’m determined to get to 100.

So as I get the 100 push-ups program jump started, I am also determined to get my running back in order too. Tonight I kicked the month off with a 3.6 mile run that included Bedford’s loop. My dog, who usually only runs for a couple of miles or so, joined me. I’m pretty sure it was his longest run ever. It was a nice, cold, full moon run, complete with street lights.

I need these runs and I need these runs to regain my consistency. I need these runs to do well in a couple of small races before the end of the year. I need these runs for next year. I’m starting over, somewhat. I don’t feel like I’m out of shape by any means, but like much of the way the rest of this year has been, I’m not where I want to be with anything — with speed, with weight, with just being happy with running.

It (re)starts now. I’m done with my excuses.

Hello hills, nice to see you again

It wasn’t much, but for the first time this week I went for a run in Bedford today after work … and I ended up tackling a street that had two big hills that I completely forgot about. I was with my dog too, and I think he also forgot what it was like to run on hills. I actually was hoping to run last night, but some heavy rain disrupted that.

It was a nice change to hit these hills and I’m looking forward to more in the coming weeks to help me get back into the shape I want to be in this winter. I haven’t mentioned races in a while, but the 8k in a couple of weeks in Richmond is out — I just don’t have the time with my moving/living situation or money, nor am I in shape enough to do it like I would want. I’m sure I’d be able to run it fine, but I’d be slow and I can run 5 miles somewhere else for free.

My hopes now is to do a Turkey Trot when we visit Ohio at Thanksgiving and the Bedford Christmas Classic in early December, a 5k that I did when I lived around here before. Otherwise, I don’t have much focus on racing — I’d like to just run some hills, get in shape and then focus on, I hope, the Shamrock. If I can build a good base and then start putting focus on that in mid-December, I’ll be able to do what I want to do for that race …  a PR.

* * *

The first couple of days in my new job have gone well. As you know, I don’t talk about work on here too much, but I really feel this is the right thing. It hasn’t felt weird to be back in the Lynchburg area at all — of course it’s only been a couple of days and I’m without my wife and son for a few days, so my main focus has actually been to get to Friday afternoon and get back to Richmond to see them. Once they’re around, it will feel “normal.”

My not-quite 24-hour gym

When my gym moved earlier this year and became a mostly 24-hour facility, I never realized that they closed on Sunday nights for all of 8 hours. I wanted to get a solid cross-training workout in tonight, but when I arrived at the gym shortly after 7:30, I discovered that the gym closes at 8 p.m. They open back up at 4 a.m. Monday and then stay open until late Friday. I know that the gym isn’t a high-demand facility on a Sunday night, but this all just seems weird to me.

I still managed to get in a quick, but intense 20 minutes on the elliptical — a nice way to close off this week. Despite packing, doing a yard sale and spending some much-needed quality time with my almost year-old son, I got in some good runs — 3 runs of 3 miles or more and another 2.2 miler. It’s my first double-digit week in a while since I had put more focus on cross training recently (and a focus on moving).

* * *

Anyway, I have one more day off before I start my new job in Lynchburg and I’ll be staying in Bedford for a short time until my housing situation takes care of itself. Either way, I’m looking forward to tackling these hills this fall and winter to get ready for whatever I do next year. With all this moving around and so much going on, I’m not sure at this point in my plans for next year will still hold. I haven’t signed up for Shamrock yet — I want to do it, but my bank account may say otherwise by the end of the year (when the race usually sells out). I just have to wait and see what happens.

Taking time to breathe

I knew that with taking a new job and getting ready to move that I would have very little time to post on here. Little did I realize that I wouldn’t have time to do anything else too. These past two weeks have been pretty intense. On top of my last two weeks of work being the busiest two weeks of the time I was there, home life was just crazy with getting things set up to sell my house. It wasn’t until yesterday around noon that we finally got to the point of being ready for that.

So, needless to say, it hasn’t been the best running or working out time lately. I’ve still managed to pull off some short runs and a couple of visits to the gym, but nothing like I had planned on doing this fall. That’s what happens when life gets in the way. This week, though, I have a little bit of down time. It’s not much, but I’ll take it.

I first want to take some time to just calm down. I’ve been going, going, going that I haven’t stopped long enough to get in a comfortable night’s sleep. But I also want to exercise and use that opportunity to get rid of the thoughts of my previous job and focus on the future. It started today with a nice 3.1 run around my neighborhood. Who turned on this massive AC on the East Coast anyway?

I’m not sure what the rest of the week will hold, but this is a nice start. The next few weeks will continue to be crazy as I start my new job and go to and from Richmond for a couple of weekends. Eventually I’ll get to a new “normal,” but it’ll take a while. I have to remember though how important running and working out is. As long as that happens a few times a week, my moving and the new normal will be much easier – both physically and mentally.

STUFF

Why do we — “we” meaning humans — have so much stuff? With getting my house ready to sell, my workouts have taken a different meaning — carrying boxes of stuff to my storage building. Trip after trip. Up and down stairs. While I haven’t gotten in a good run in a week, my arms and legs are tired of carrying stuff. It’s almost stupid how much stuff I have. And now that I’m sitting in my house without that stuff, I question how bad I need some of it. We’ll see…

* * *

So in my last post I mentioned that I’m “stuck” in week 4 of 100 push-ups. Well, I think with this gradual process of moving and various things I need to do, I think I’m going to stay stuck in this week by choice. My goal, until I’m ready to move forward, will be to do two days of push-ups a week. And since it’s been good so far, I think I’ll do week 4 days 1 and 2 over and over until the time is right to do day 3 and my exhaustion test.

* * *

I’m not sure yet what my living situation will be in a few weeks, but it’s looking more and more like I’ll be in Bedford for a short time. With running, that will actually work out nice to run the 3-mile “loop” regularly. I’ve written about it before (click here) and would welcome with open arms the chance to run it a few times a week. No matter what happens, I’m really looking forward to tackling hills again. My Richmond neighborhood just hasn’t done it for me.

* * *

Lastly, I have a new look for at least a little while. With the transition to a new job, I decided to not shave for a while. My last full shave was Oct. 2, the day of my interview. With the exception of a few attempts at a goatee, this is the longest I’ve ever gone without shaving.

Stuck in Week 4

The biggest challenge I am finding with the 100 push-ups program is the time to do it. And in the past two weeks I’ve hit a big conflict with day 3 of week 4. Last week was more of an excuse than anything, but if I did day 3, my exhaustion test would have been pushed into week 5 and then I would’ve been all thrown off.

So instead of pushing it, I decided to redo week 4. Besides, my first week 4 involved some “alternative” form push-ups and I wasn’t really happy with myself. My second attempt at week 4 went great on day 1 and day 2. Day 2 saw 118 total push-ups — all good form. But as you read in my last post, I’m moving and the last two days of this week have been all about packing and getting my house ready to sell. That includes moving furniture around to stage the house, packing boxes, lots of cleaning and lots of lifting. And thanks to the 100 push-ups challenge, all that is much easier than I remember it.

At the same time, it’s not easy. I’m wiped out tonight after 4 hours of shuffling around yesterday and a couple of hours of doing things tonight. My arms and the rest of my body do not have more than 100 push-ups in me today.

This isn’t really a bad thing — it shows that this program works. If I had to start moving a month or so ago, I’d be even more tired than I am now. I’ve lifted and moved furniture and boxes without thinking too much about it and without needing a long break. It’s nice. But at the same time I want to do 100 push-ups in a row. So next week I’ll redo week 4 again. I could do week 4 day 3 this weekend, but I’m already planning on some major furniture moving on Sunday, as well as some other finalizing of cleaning and getting the house fully ready to go on the market. That’s on top of heading to Lynchburg in the morning to look for a place to live.

It’s certainly some busy times, along with my last week of work in Richmond coming up, but I think I’ve built in some down time that’ll keep me focused on my fitness a little bit. It’s not easy, but it’s a good time of the year for this to happen. In my move two years ago, I was in the middle of marathon training … at least I don’t have something like that going on right now.

Running in Lynchburg, again

I think I have very few followers who have read this blog since day one, so this may mean very little to many of you. When I started this blog back in spring 2007, it was called “Running in Lynchburg.” I started the blog as a way to document my training for the Richmond Marathon, but my early posts focused on running in Lynchburg, Va.

But then I moved at the end of that summer and changed the name of the blog — I’ve been “Running … Because I Can” ever since, first on Blogger and now on WordPress. And in the two-plus years since the name change I have run in Lynchburg exactly zero times, with the exception of running in Bedford a few times when visiting family. It’s kind of weird actually because I LOVED running in that area. I loved the community races there; I loved the training groups I was a part of. I just haven’t gone back.

That’s all about to change though, as I am about to embark on a new adventure. Without getting into too much detail, I got a new job in Lynchburg. I pretty much avoid talking about work on here for many reasons, but it’s easy to say that Richmond hasn’t exactly been the best experience. I moved here for a job that didn’t work out, was unemployed for four months and have been in a job for a little more than a year that hasn’t really fit me well. With this next shift in my career, I will be working at a college (which is what I’ve always wanted to do) and will be doing what I love (editing).

So the next couple of months are going to be crazy, but in the long run this is going to be a good move. I am pretty sure this will be the last move from city to city too. I like Richmond a lot, but something about it just has never fit me right.

As far as running is concerned, I’m looking forward to Lynchburg’s hills again and the Blackwater Creek trail system. And I’m looking forward to doing the races again that got me hooked on running a few years ago.

* * *

I wanted to give a quick update on the 100 push-ups challenge. Last week I hit a bit of a snafu as I never got in day 3 of week 4. Instead of pushing everything back a day or making excuses, I went ahead and started week 4 over today. My sets were 18, 22, 16, 16 and a max of 25 — all good-form push-ups this time. It was much better than my first attempt last week. I really think my arms needed a bit of a break to help set me up for the last portion of this.

Now that I’ll be moving, I’m really glad I did this program. Boxes and furniture, here I come!

Random Thoughts to Close September

* If you missed my comment, I did go to the doctor on Tuesday. I have no damage to the eye, but I am currently using some eye drops that are like pouring salt onto an open wound … in my eye. I still have some blurry vision, but at least it looks better. It looks like three days after getting punched in the eye instead one day later. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here to read about the incident.

* This fourth week of 100 push-ups is tough. Very tough. Like “girl” push-up tough. But I like the new phrasing — “alternative” push-ups. I would say in my two workouts this week 80 percent of the push-ups have been “good form,” but I’ve had to drop to my knees for some. It’s still one hell of a workout though. I closed out tonight with 30 good-form push-ups and felt great. All told I did 115 push-ups tonight.

* Speaking of 100 push-ups, do a search on Twitter for #100pushupsrva – I’ve started a movement in Richmond. More details on that soon, I hope.

* I haven’t had a solid run in Bedford for almost a year. I’ll get that opportunity this weekend. Looking forward to the “loop” and then some.

* I’m done with monthly roundups. At least for now. I’m tired of focusing on numbers and that’s what monthly roundups were becoming. Looking ahead to 2010, my goals need to become more focused that gathering up a lot of miles. I’m going to miss my mileage goals for this year and I’m really fine with that. Unless I set out to 1,000 running miles in a year, I don’t see why I need to get caught up in all that. Simple numbers don’t reflect how successful I feel. I’ll probably still report out at the end of the year what my mileage numbers were, and I’ll continue to log every little tenth of a mile, but I just don’t want it to be a focus anymore. I want to pay more attention to numbers with speed or tempo runs or long runs.

* Speaking of speed, I had a pretty good session tonight at the gym. Two half-mile intervals that started at an 8-minute mile pace and ended at a 7:30 pace and a 1-mile interval/tempo run at 7:30. It felt great to push myself for that mile and to have a speed workout for a third straight week.

Stung in the eye

I was trying to think of a funny headline for this post or a long bizarre introduction to tell this story, but I can’t. I’ll just come out and tell you the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me while running — I got stung in the eye last night. It wasn’t one of those deals where a bug flies in your eye and you rub it for a minute and it’s gone — I literally got stung in the eye.

I was just starting off with my dog when all of a sudden it felt like someone stuck a knife in my eye. It hurt so bad. I rubbed it for a while and it got a little better, but didn’t quite feel right. I started heading back toward my house, but it felt good enough to continue. So I ran with Duke for a little while longer, dropped him off and then ran a little bit more. When I came home to look at my eye it was red, but when I pulled at my eye a little bit I saw that the bug was still in my eye.

That’s when it hurt again. This story isn’t complete without telling you that I HATE sticking things in my eye. Hate it. You know that little air puff thing at an eye exam? It takes me forever to do because I move too quick. Anyway, I worked this thing out of my eye, tried to squish it and realized it was hard. And it had a little stinger on it. A hard bug with a stinger.

So last night I washed it out a bit and all seemed fine. Then in the middle of the night I woke up and my eye was crusted shut. It was pretty gross. And this morning it’s quite puffy. There’s a nice little white spot inside my eye where I apparently got stung. Looking at this computer screen is like having bad eye sight with one contact in my eye. It sort of feels like something is just stuck in my eye and I can’t get it out.

I’ve had some weird things happen when running, but I can’t think of anything that tops this. As long as things get better within the next day, this will just be a funny story down the road. Right now, though, it’s pretty annoying …