BQ or Bust

A Fresh Coat of Paint

I wish I could say I spent my Labor Day weekend resting or barbecuing, but instead I transfered Running Is Funny to a new host, updated the theme, added a new color, and generally took care of a few housekeeping items. Naturally, it didn’t go smoothly, but all’s well that ends well.

I ran 10 miles this week at an average pace of 8:55, concluding with a 2.4 mile run at 8:26 pace. That means it’s time for another boost in mileage. I’ll be running 5ks this week. Four more weeks until my next race.

I’m now swimming three times a week and gradually improving. I need to build stamina to the point where it makes sense for me to sign up for lap swimming at the local 25-meter pool. Right now I’d just be an obstruction to anyone else in the water.

The Carnival of Running returns on Wednesday!

24 Hours in the City That Smells Like Pee

Yes, I’ve had one full day in my old hometown, New York City. It rained most of this morning, and I had to get my running in on the hotel treadmill, rather than risk my life trying to jog my way up to Central Park from midtown. Apparently there was some sort of cycling event going on just outside our hotel.

I love the city, but it smells as bad as it did 35 years ago. Maybe they could hang a giant air freshener from the top of the Empire State Building.

Anyway, I got the most important tasks done: a couple of toasted coconut Dunkin Donuts and a pair of vanilla egg creams. If you don’t know what an egg cream is, click here for its history. It’s a typical New York concoction in that it contains neither egg nor cream.

Alas, I’m on my way out of town already. I’ll let you in on my mystery destination tomorrow. You got a problem with that?

Swimma Cum Laude

Eight miles this week at an average pace of 9:20. Stepped up to 2.4 miles yesterday and today and managed a 9-minute pace. Everything is proceeding according to my non-plan plan.

I completed my swimming lessons on Thursday, and although we didn’t get certificates and gold stars like the kids did, the instructor said my progress over two weeks was “amazing.” I have to agree, if I do say so myself. I started with virtually no mobility at all in the water and finished with technically sound freestyle laps back and forth across a 25-meter pool. I can side-breathe, though this is still my weakest skill, but I’ll continue to practice until it becomes as natural as, well, breathing.

If you’re a non-swimmer, don’t wait as long as I did to learn. It’s worth your time and effort. I will say, however, that swimming lessons and overcoming your fear of water are really two different things. It’s probably better to wait to attempt the former until after you’ve done the latter. Fortunately, there are programs designed specifically to make you comfortable in the water before you get to the details of kicks, strokes and form.

Check out the Miracle Swimming Institute and its programs if just the idea of putting your head underwater gives you the heebie-jeebies. But if, like me, you’re comfortable in the water and just never bothered to learn to swim, your local parks and recreation district probably offers beginner lessons for adults.

I now have a cross-training sport that I enjoy, plus a cardio activity if (God forbid) I get another running injury. The next step is to look for local indoor pools so I can continue to practice during the winter.

The Best $54 I Ever Spent

It was a good running week, as long as you ignore my getting lost on the No Boundaries route for the second time in two weeks. I ran a two-mile loop instead of the 1.75 mile loop. This made for a better workout but it’s getting embarrassing.

It was a seven-mile week at a 9:16 average pace, but this morning I ran my regular 1.75 mile loop at 8:29 pace, so it’s time to increase mileage. Next week I’ll run the prescribed distances with the NoBo group on Tuesday and Thursday, and 2.4 miles on Saturday and Sunday.

The improvement in running is noteworthy because this week I also began my swimming lessons – four days of a half-hour each. Monday was spent getting acquainted with the water, which wasn’t a problem for me, but some of the other students have a primeval fear of it.

Tuesday was kickboard day, and I was having a tough time of it. No matter how much kicking I did, I remained in one spot. It was frustrating but I had a major breakthrough on Wednesday when I did one simple thing – I got rid of the kickboard.

Suddenly I was moving through the water like this guy:

OK, maybe not, but everything worked as advertised. On Thursday we added arm strokes, and although I thought tying it all together would be difficult, it was actually easier. The arm strokes and leg kicks worked in unison, I had my head down in proper position, and I swam across the pool.

You might think it’s hard to get excited about doing something that eight-year-olds are doing better than you at the same time down at the other end of the pool, but I was overjoyed.

I spent the rest of the session practicing my newfound skill, and worked further on my own on Friday. The instructor was able to give me pointers on side-breathing, and I need more practice not lifting my head to breathe, but really, everything went… swimmingly.

If I had known I could progress this far after two hours of instruction and a $54 investment, I would have done this, oh, about 30 years ago.

I have another four lessons this week, but I think I finally found cross-training I can enjoy. I find it’s easier on my muscles than I thought, but it’s a lot more cardio than I thought, too. It feels kind of like running intervals.

I’m not going to turn this into a swimming blog, but it was a nice reminder of the feeling I got when I first started running. We get so caught up in PRs and training plans that we forget how neat it is just to do a sport.

No Boundaries, But No Map Either

Tuesday was opening night of the No Boundaries couch-to-5k training program, which I joined in order to avoid reinjury. There are about 60 people in the group, with about 20 runners. The male/female ratio is about 1:10. After a few form drills, we set out on our one-mile run through the park.

I wanted to be strictly low-key, so I tucked into the fifth position and held it. We worked our way around the first loop at about 11-minute pace. I was happy to shuffle along, since the temperature was in the upper-80s. As we began our second and final loop, the folks in front of me started to flag a little. I couldn’t slow down anymore so I gradually eased past them into the lead. I was comfortable, so I started looking around, thinking about my form, and trying to make sure I didn’t slam into any runners who were coming in the opposite direction on the narrow trail.

Pretty soon I’m running past the baseball diamonds and thinking to myself, “This doesn’t look familiar.” I turned around and found myself all alone, not a runner in sight. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 1.21 miles. Ooops. Somehow I missed the finish line and just kept going. I circled back to catch the tail end of the group, but no one seemed to have noticed.

We then did about 20 minutes of stretching, which seemed excessive to me, and that was it. We did 1.5 miles on Thursday night, but this time I stayed in front and ran no further than I was supposed to. I ran on my own yesterday and today, completing a six mile week at an average pace of 9:23. That’s still pretty slow but I’m trying to be patient.

Tomorrow my swimming lessons begin. It’s eight half-hour classes over a two-week period, so we’ll know pretty quickly if I sink or swim. I spent a lot of time in the pool this week, getting comfortable. I’m still not breathing properly, but I expect the lessons will improve my technique.

It’s going to be a busy two weeks, with swimming in the morning and running in the evening – and, oh yeah, I still have to work – but it beats sciatica to hell anyway.

Waiting to Exhale

It was nice to get back out on the road again, even in a limited way. I ran a total of 7 miles this week, averaging a 9:20 pace. For the foreseeable future, I’ll run only four days a week, but I have added two days of cross-training – one of light weights and one of swimming.

Well, I can’t really call it swimming yet because, hard as it may be to believe, I never learned to swim. I can float without a problem and I have snorkeled in deep water while wearing a vest, but my “swimming” can just about get me across a pool, frog-style, as long as I can hold my breath.

Once out of your teens, you’re too embarrassed to try to learn to swim because you think you’ll look stupid. But now that I’m 51 years old, I look stupid trying to do anything, so I might as well learn to swim. I signed up for adult swimming lessons. They begin next week.

I don’t want to go in completely clueless, so I did a a little Internet research on swimming. I learned that in order to swim properly you have to exhale into the water and turn your head to inhale. Apparently this is the biggest hurdle for beginning swimmers and I understand why. Air in your lungs makes you float. Air out of your lungs makes you sink. Mentally overcoming that calculus is a challenge.

So I headed out to the pool – early, before anyone else showed up – and I practiced breathing. Even though I’ve been doing it all my life, it turns out I need some work on it. I have to break my bad habit of holding my breath underwater, then trying to exhale and inhale in the short time my head is out of the water. Chlorine is so tasty.

Anyway, I learned you can get a pretty good aerobic workout simply by lying face down in the water and blowing bubbles out of your nose. Twenty minutes of that and I felt as though I had been doing hill repeats. Still, there is a little spark of excitement whenever you try something new, even if you stink at it. I’m looking forward to my lessons.

You might think I am now on the long road to triathlons, and I could be, except for one thing.

I never learned to ride a bike.

Why Did the Chicken Cross-Train?

And so begins my 39th comeback.

Thursday I completed a slow jog of my favorite 1.75 mile loop. I ran gingerly but comfortably. I spent the rest of the day anxiously waiting for the pain to begin, but I felt fine. And all day Friday, too.

It being 103 degrees yesterday, I moseyed over to the fitness center and did an easy circuit with minimum weight – biceps, triceps, row, lats and shoulders. I didn’t want to risk anything that might strain my back. Then 20 minutes of low speed on the recumbent stationary bike. One more set of weights and done. Wow. Turns out cross-training doesn’t have to be excruciating after all.

This morning I got up early for another 1.75 mile loop. I managed a 9:30 pace but I am badly out of running shape. In order to avoid overtraining and reinjury, I’m going to sign up for one of those Couch-to-5k training programs – the No Boundaries program sponsored by Fleet Feet and New Balance. Following the training plan we’ll keep me from building up mileage too fast, and running with newbies will keep me from trying to speed up too much. Cross-training is built into the schedule so it should be perfect.

“Staying injury-free” isn’t a sexy goal, but it’s one I’ve overlooked too many times. Better to be a 5k guy who runs than a marathoner who can’t.