Very inspiring story about former NBA player Wayman Tisdale and his fight with cancer.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Terminal Time
So it’s been a while since I posted on here, but I am stranded in BWI waiting for another two hours before my delayed flight leaves for Boston. I am ill prepared for that much terminal time and I figure that putting an update on here is my best option for filling the time. (Editor’s note: this post was typed as a word document and placed online at a later date due to the author’s inability to rationalize paying money for a few hours of internet use)
Long story short, I found out in early September that I had mono and Lyme disease. I was on antibiotics for three weeks to get rid of the Lyme disease and the mono just went away on its own.
My original plan was to run the New York City Marathon in the fall. That changed when I started to feel tired in August (I knew something was up!) and I thought I might just run some cross country races. Those plans also fell through but I was thankfully able to resume running by mid-October and enjoy the fall weather. I am pretty busy between teaching and taking graduate courses, so my new plan is to build up to between 80 and 85 miles per week. Ideally, I will keep my mileage in that range through the end of May when I will have a lot more time to train. Additionally, I am not going to run any intervals until late January at the earliest. I feel completely recovered from the mono and Lyme, but both of them can be problematic if you don’t recover fully. There is no reason for me to push the envelope at this point. I’ll leave you with an awesome answer from the most recent science test I gave my 8th graders.
What are the three properties used to tell the difference between ionic compounds? Please briefly explain each property.
The three properties used to tell the difference between ionic compounds are Amy doesn’t know, Amy needs to study, and please let Amy make up the points lost. Amy doesn’t know means that after sitting for 15 minutes and thinking she can’t figure it out. Amy needs to study means that she needs to be prepared for tests. Please let Amy make up the points lost means that you should be a nice young man.
I almost wanted to give her partial credit. Her answer sure beats the heck out of IDK.
Long story short, I found out in early September that I had mono and Lyme disease. I was on antibiotics for three weeks to get rid of the Lyme disease and the mono just went away on its own.
My original plan was to run the New York City Marathon in the fall. That changed when I started to feel tired in August (I knew something was up!) and I thought I might just run some cross country races. Those plans also fell through but I was thankfully able to resume running by mid-October and enjoy the fall weather. I am pretty busy between teaching and taking graduate courses, so my new plan is to build up to between 80 and 85 miles per week. Ideally, I will keep my mileage in that range through the end of May when I will have a lot more time to train. Additionally, I am not going to run any intervals until late January at the earliest. I feel completely recovered from the mono and Lyme, but both of them can be problematic if you don’t recover fully. There is no reason for me to push the envelope at this point. I’ll leave you with an awesome answer from the most recent science test I gave my 8th graders.
What are the three properties used to tell the difference between ionic compounds? Please briefly explain each property.
The three properties used to tell the difference between ionic compounds are Amy doesn’t know, Amy needs to study, and please let Amy make up the points lost. Amy doesn’t know means that after sitting for 15 minutes and thinking she can’t figure it out. Amy needs to study means that she needs to be prepared for tests. Please let Amy make up the points lost means that you should be a nice young man.
I almost wanted to give her partial credit. Her answer sure beats the heck out of IDK.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Reformulating Plans
I am not even going to bother with the typical format for this post. The past two weeks have been much of the same. A few days a week I doubled and put in around 120 minutes. Other days, I only ran 30 minutes or completely took the day off. I was around 50 miles for each week. From Friday to today, I didn't run a step.
Part of the problem is that, despite the decreased mileage, I have been feeling very tired. My favorite part about running is being able to go out for a 90 to 120 minute run, cruising along at a quick pace, and have it feel completely effortless. I honestly can't remember the last time I wasn't hoping to just get home during one of my runs.
Another part of the problem is that I get tied up with this mindset that if I am not running 100 to 110 miles a week, I might as well not be training. It is very hard for me to get out the door on Saturday and Sunday to finish up a 60 mile week. I know it is absurd, because there are obviously training benefits from running 80, 70, or fewer miles a week, but I just struggle with motivation when I am not running as much. I think it goes back to the whole sense of purpose idea where each run in a big week is building towards a larger goal. I just don't get that feeling when I am not running as much.
My plan was to run the New York City Marathon this fall, but I am starting to think that it might be in my best interest to defer my entry for a year and run a cross country season. With work and grad school, I am not sure that I will be able to train for a marathon the way I would like and I feel like I might be setting myself up for frustration.
I am hoping that my upcoming vacation will be a good chance to get stuff straightened out a little. Who knows? Maybe doing cross country and indoor track would help me out to come back and run a spring or fall marathon in 2009.
Sorry for the pity party of a post, but it's all I've got right now.
Part of the problem is that, despite the decreased mileage, I have been feeling very tired. My favorite part about running is being able to go out for a 90 to 120 minute run, cruising along at a quick pace, and have it feel completely effortless. I honestly can't remember the last time I wasn't hoping to just get home during one of my runs.
Another part of the problem is that I get tied up with this mindset that if I am not running 100 to 110 miles a week, I might as well not be training. It is very hard for me to get out the door on Saturday and Sunday to finish up a 60 mile week. I know it is absurd, because there are obviously training benefits from running 80, 70, or fewer miles a week, but I just struggle with motivation when I am not running as much. I think it goes back to the whole sense of purpose idea where each run in a big week is building towards a larger goal. I just don't get that feeling when I am not running as much.
My plan was to run the New York City Marathon this fall, but I am starting to think that it might be in my best interest to defer my entry for a year and run a cross country season. With work and grad school, I am not sure that I will be able to train for a marathon the way I would like and I feel like I might be setting myself up for frustration.
I am hoping that my upcoming vacation will be a good chance to get stuff straightened out a little. Who knows? Maybe doing cross country and indoor track would help me out to come back and run a spring or fall marathon in 2009.
Sorry for the pity party of a post, but it's all I've got right now.
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