solar squirrel

When I was on the Youngstown half marathon website I checked out the times from last year and realized that I should be able to beat last year’s time.  I almost had a 9 min. pace - 8:46 - so hopefully I’ll be faster than that this year.  I’m not sure, though - my training has been pretty lame since I got sick and the longest I’ve ran since the 50k was 10 miles w/ SERC this past weekend.  So, we’ll see.  The main thing is I’ll be out with my friends.  E-speed is a freak and says she gets slower every year - watch her bust out a 7:30 pace this year.  Oh - and Todd is being his usual modest self and thinks he is out of shape, blah, blah, blah.

So - having said that, my goal is to be better than last year - even if it’s only by a few seconds!

I’m going to try to post a summary of what I did for workouts/training every Sunday. This way I can look back and see what did (and didn’t) work.

Monday: 1-hour Aerobic / yoga / kick boxing class
Tuesday: 4 mile run easy at lunch
Wednesday: Swim aprox. 1 mile
Thursday: 5 mile medium run at lunch
Friday: 45 min. cycling class at work during lunch
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 10 mile medium run w/ SERC in Solon

Weekly totals:

run: 19 miles
bike: 12 miles
swim: 1 mile
other (aerobics, etc):  1 hour

(sheesh…compared to the other blogs I read this is pretty lame…oh well.)

-H. G. Wells

Running on Thursday Joe and I were discussing our plans for biking to work this year. He has a goal of riding at least once per week. Hmmm, I thought…that is easier said than done. My route is only an hour and a half each way, but the biggest problem I have is being afraid of someone running me over with their car. The majority of my ride is through the park, but I’m still really afraid of getting hit. We discussed the possibility of meeting somewhere to ride in together, which would make me more comfortable - safety in numbers.

Regardless, biking to / from work really gives you a sense of freedom and independence. It’s one thing to go riding for training and exercise, but it’s a totally different feeling when you actually are using your bike and your strength to get you somewhere you need to go. It’s freeing, actually. Almost as if you are being sneaky or cheating or something…hard to describe. You’ll have to try it for yourself to see what I mean.

This week I decided that I would start taking better advantage of my Bally’s membership so I headed to the Beachwood Bally’s for an hour long “Bootcamp” class Monday after work.  You know…going to a new class for the first time made me realize how difficult it must be for someone who is overweight or out of shape and is going to the gym for the first time.  It’s really an intimidating experience.  You wonder if you’ll be the fattest, or the most out of shape, or if you’ll be able to keep up with what the instructor is having the class do…  I mean - I was hoping for a super hard core workout - like - please - give me what you’ve got.  But it made me really think about what it must be like for someone to start.  I sure give those people credit.

So - having said that it was an AWESOME class!  An hour long - kind of a combo between yoga, aerobics, and kick-boxing.

Tuesday I ran 4 miles with Joe and tonight I swam for 40 min. with Brian and Frank.  Brian and me and this other kid at the pool did a ladder which was pretty good.  I like doing the ladders with Brian.  He and I swim at about the same pace and it definitely pushes me.  So I think I’m back on track!  I’m hoping to go to the Solon Sunday run this week because I miss all of the girls!

Sheesh…after being sick for what seemed like FOREVER I think I am finally back.  At least I have slowly started to ease back into working out after my near-death experience with the flu.  On Wed. I did 40 min on the eliptical and realized that no, I am not completely over being sick, but there is NO WAY I will allow phlegm to dictate my training!  Thurs I ran the 3 miles easy w/ Marina, and today I did my 45 min cycling class.  Next week I plan to start going back to Bally’s since I pay every month but never go.  I found a couple classes that look good - one is some type of aerobic boot camp and the other is a cycling class.  Katy wants to tone up, so she said she’s game for the classes, too.  (It’s always more fun when someone you know is going to be there - especially my sister who is a freak).  I’m also going to start trying to get to the pool on a regular basis.  I’ve chosen Wed. as the day to consistently go to the pool.  We’ll see how ‘consistent’ I am with that.  Thursday’s are completely out of the question to plan anything since I have class, but I’m hoping to run consistently every Thurs during lunch like usual.  I need to recruit more people at work to start running!  I am so lucky to have a gym with showers at work.  75% of my training takes place at work / close to work / because of work perks.  I am able to swim at the Mayfield highschool pool because of Philips; I have cycling classes that I teach and take at work; I run in N. Chagrin reservation during lunch because it’s ~1 mile from work. 

So many people don’t have the ability or flexibility to workout during the day.  I am definitely thankful that I do. 

Oh - and I’m sure no one will get the t-shirt - but it’s from a Scooter song.  I LOVE SCOOTER!  Always HARDCORE!
Tribute to our fans - Tour 2006

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So much for training.

I woke up Wed. am w/ a migraine. No biggie - it’s not like I’ve never had one before. I went to work hoping that caffeine would keep it at bay - but by my 10 am meeting it was obvious not so. I left work around noon, went home and headed for bed after taking one of my magic migraine pills. About 3 hours later I woke up - migraine mostly gone - but sore throat and FREEZING cold. Great.

From there it was a sad state of affairs that continued into Thurs, Fri, and Sat. I seriously have not been that sick in YEARS. I had a terrible fever and I kept waking up every several hours to change my clothes because I had drenched them with sweat. My sister had been sick, too, so luckily she had ibuprofen, cough drops, soup, juice, etc. stocked in the apt. Otherwise I don’t know what I would have done since I normally NEVER take any type of over the counter crap. It got so bad that when I was laying on the couch (had to take a break from my bed - I think I was getting bed sores, even though Todd said you can’t get them in that short of time…) I started to see faces in the fabric design on the cushions. Hopefully the fever didn’t cause any long-term damage. I asked Todd to ask me some questions that would determine whether or not I had sustained any long-term damage to my brain. His response: “What’s the square root of 83?” Ugh. Like I would know that down to the decimal. Freak. That’s what I get for asking.

The migraine returned in full force Thursday and I don’t think I ever got rid of it fully until today - even still I can feel a faint throb of teasing pain letting me know I’m not fully through with it. The pain was incapacitating. I had body aches, fever, chills, coughing, stuffy nose, and the worst part - a non-stop horrendous headache. That headache was out of control. The pain would come in waves and it was like I could feel the pain surging through the veins in my head and when it would finally hit full force my head would almost recoil in response. The migraine pills could only do so much to dull the pain. And with all the other drugs I was taking I didn’t want to risk taking them unnecessarily. I didn’t want to risk brain damage and liver failure.

So that’s the story. Let’s see if I can get things together and get my workout routine back on track ASAP.

Actually, not really…but as we always said in the good ‘ol USMC “false motivation is better than no motivation at all!!” Today on the drive into work all I kept hearing on the radio was ’super Tuesday’ blah blah blah. Got to work around 8:30; meeting; then ran 4 miles at lunch w/some other NM folks; more work; testing; failed testing; then ESpeed called and I decided it was time to leave work.

ESpeed informed me that the Greater Cleveland half iron I’m planning on doing costs $130, so I might have to scratch that one. I just don’t see paying that much money for a race that I don’t care that much about doing. I’ll see what Toddykins says and go from there. (’Cause you know, I can’t make any decisions on my own!!) For now I’m going to keep my eyes open for another half iron that is around the same time but costs less. I wanted to do Greater Cleveland since it’s part of The Beast, so we’ll see.

Yes, it may seem a bit optimistic, but I’ve added at least the events that I truly do want to do.  There are a few that I’m willing to skip, but for the most part I really do see myself doing everything that I added to the list.  (Most of them I did last year anyway, and I think I’m in better shape this year anyway.)  I would like to place in my age group, but my main goal is to improve my past times.

So you’re probably wondering when I’m going to add my training info.  Well, you have to train in order to have info to add.  I have been a complete fat, lazy slacker since the 50k.  Tomorrow I will attempt to resume training and it definitely helps that the weather is supposed to be ‘warm’.  I did hit the gym after work tonight for a nice fat-burning 40 min. on the elliptical, though.  (Hey, it’s better than nothing!) 

…or so I thought. When I arrived Gret wasn’t even there - she had gone off to the mall with her friend. Dub wasn’t there either - she decided that her evening would be better spent with the recliner and the fireplace. So it was Katy, mom, me and Todd. We hung out for a bit, had some pizza, and I got my nails painted.

I think I might be the last person on the planet to start a blog, but never mind that - I need something to do with the 100 GB of space I have on solarsquirrel since I can’t seem to make the time to maintain it.  The main scope of this blog will be training (running, etc) and renewable energy.  Of course this will also serve as a spot for friends and relatives to keep tabs on my incredibly fascinating life.