Saturday morning, I woke up an hour later than I wanted to, and then spent almost a half-hour with my shoes on, debating with myself whether or not I would actually get up and out the door. I made it to the gym, and hit the track just before 10:30 a.m.
I walked for the next 2.5 hours. I would stop for a few seconds to stretch out a tight muscle, or to grab a couple swigs of G2 (low-cal Gatorade) at every "mile" mark.
56 laps. 7 miles. Another milestone.
I listened to music on and off. Sometimes, if I just wanted time to think, I'd pause the music and just listen to my own breathing. I prayed some, but it seemed forced, like I was using it to distract myself instead of letting it flow naturally. I need to figure out how that will work.
I spent some time imagining ("visualizing" sounds too New Agey) the final 0.1 of the half. What music could be playing? Will I try to sprint the last 500 feet, or will i be too shredded to do more than trudge? Will I cry? (Of course, I'll cry. I'll be a basket-case. Just thinking about it gets me all verklempt.)
One of the songs on my Shuffle that I love running to is Johnny Cash's cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage." It's got a great, quick tempo that keeps my pace up, and Johnny's singing about how he's gonna break his rusty cage and run. Then there's this transition, about 1:20 in--a pause, followed by a key change and shift in tempo. Every time I hear it, I can't help but start sprinting (or the closest thing I can do to sprinting). It's like my own personal "Chariots of Fire" anthem. I don't know why, but it just touches some primal part of me as an athlete.
Here, see what i mean:
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Trev's a Loser, God love him...
Hey there, WBB readers! (I have faith there's someone out there reading.)
Check out my friend Trevor's blog/vlog about weight loss in 2010! Cheer him on!
Trevor is a Loser!
Check out my friend Trevor's blog/vlog about weight loss in 2010! Cheer him on!
Trevor is a Loser!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Yadda Yadda Yadda...
Man, once I stopped blogging on PBB, I got super blog-lazy, didn't I? That's okay, no one is reading this one anyway (yet).
Happy new year, non-existent future readers of the WBB (Waddling Bison blog)! Here's a recap of what's gone on in the last three weeks:
--I attempted a six-miler a week after my last post. Unfortunately, the night before, I didn't eat like an athlete, or someone attempting six miles the next morning. There's a saying that the Penguin says in his books--the problem with carbo-loading the night before a race is that you may have to off-load during the race. So, when I had to stop for a restroom break halfway through Mile 3, I lost time and momentum, and finished Miles 3 and 4 before calling it a day.
--Then came Christmas Week. No workouts.
--Then came New Years week. No workouts still.
--Laziness and lack of sleep abounded.
--I went on a College and Single Adult retreat with my church to Mo Ranch over New Years, and spent three days walking up and down hills, participating in rec-time events, and generally being sore. My leg muscles, my joints, and my back were all bitterly angry at me all weekend. I mean, i was London-tired. You probably don't know what that is. Feel free to ask me sometime. But it's dang tired.
And here we are again. The first two evenings of this work-week were spent with the very important tasks of writing out my goals and action plan for personal growth in the next year (of which health, fitness, and marathon-training are a key part, to be sure), and creating my January budget (so that financial fitness can be part of my life, too). I wanted to make sure I stopped putting those things off, so I gave them first priority. With them done, it's back to the gym, Johnny. (Who's Johnny? I don't know.)
I'm going to the gym in about fifteen minutes, but before I do, I wanted to check in, say hi, and touch on one other issue.
===
This blog used to be the "Big Loser Dave" blog, during my past attempts to lose weight alone and to try to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser. When I discovered an appreciation (it's not quite love yet) for distance-"woggling," I revamped this space to become the WBB. But my weight issue has been the shadow hanging over all this. A wiiiide shadow.
I still want this blog to be about running, training, and eventually getting healthy. But I want it to also be an encouragement to other waddling runners out there. So I want to be real about this part of my training, too, ya dig?
So I'm going to keep you posted on the weight-loss thing. I'm starting back on Weight Watchers point-counting tomorrow, in addition to the training. Hopefully, I can drop a couple dozen pounds at least in the next month before the big race. I think I read earlier this week in Runners World that every five pounds lost is an extra two seconds off your mile pace. That's a heckuva deal, Brownie. (Brownie? Who's got a brownie?)
Time to be honest. Time to own it.
This here bison weighed in yesterday at 488.0 pounds. That's a big ol' boy.
Time to outrun that fat kid and find a new, faster me.
Happy new year, non-existent future readers of the WBB (Waddling Bison blog)! Here's a recap of what's gone on in the last three weeks:
--I attempted a six-miler a week after my last post. Unfortunately, the night before, I didn't eat like an athlete, or someone attempting six miles the next morning. There's a saying that the Penguin says in his books--the problem with carbo-loading the night before a race is that you may have to off-load during the race. So, when I had to stop for a restroom break halfway through Mile 3, I lost time and momentum, and finished Miles 3 and 4 before calling it a day.
--Then came Christmas Week. No workouts.
--Then came New Years week. No workouts still.
--Laziness and lack of sleep abounded.
--I went on a College and Single Adult retreat with my church to Mo Ranch over New Years, and spent three days walking up and down hills, participating in rec-time events, and generally being sore. My leg muscles, my joints, and my back were all bitterly angry at me all weekend. I mean, i was London-tired. You probably don't know what that is. Feel free to ask me sometime. But it's dang tired.
And here we are again. The first two evenings of this work-week were spent with the very important tasks of writing out my goals and action plan for personal growth in the next year (of which health, fitness, and marathon-training are a key part, to be sure), and creating my January budget (so that financial fitness can be part of my life, too). I wanted to make sure I stopped putting those things off, so I gave them first priority. With them done, it's back to the gym, Johnny. (Who's Johnny? I don't know.)
I'm going to the gym in about fifteen minutes, but before I do, I wanted to check in, say hi, and touch on one other issue.
===
This blog used to be the "Big Loser Dave" blog, during my past attempts to lose weight alone and to try to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser. When I discovered an appreciation (it's not quite love yet) for distance-"woggling," I revamped this space to become the WBB. But my weight issue has been the shadow hanging over all this. A wiiiide shadow.
I still want this blog to be about running, training, and eventually getting healthy. But I want it to also be an encouragement to other waddling runners out there. So I want to be real about this part of my training, too, ya dig?
So I'm going to keep you posted on the weight-loss thing. I'm starting back on Weight Watchers point-counting tomorrow, in addition to the training. Hopefully, I can drop a couple dozen pounds at least in the next month before the big race. I think I read earlier this week in Runners World that every five pounds lost is an extra two seconds off your mile pace. That's a heckuva deal, Brownie. (Brownie? Who's got a brownie?)
Time to be honest. Time to own it.
This here bison weighed in yesterday at 488.0 pounds. That's a big ol' boy.
Time to outrun that fat kid and find a new, faster me.
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