Sunday, March 02, 2008

Loose Ends

This is a "loose ends" posts - answering questions that have popped up in comments, further thoughts and a question of my own.

The question. A while back there was a post with a link to a blogger who had figured out how to charge his garmin while running. I can't find it again - can anyone help me out? I want to give it a shot at Pac Rim and I need to know the charger type.

Blisters, toes and stuff. Yes, I still have them - blisters and toes. I even have blisters on my toes, but that's old news. They are better or at least not of the spectacular sort that I was sporting a while back. I'm still missing toenails, and every weekend produces another level of irritation, but really, it's so much better than before that I mostly ignore it. But the good news is that my chronic bunion blister may be a thing of the past. I'm going to credit Arthur and Eric with the solution. Eric suggested it long ago, but I was trying something else at the time and didn't follow through. Arthur mentioned it last week at the 6 hour run, and when I told Eric about it, I got the look. Anyone who's married knows what I'm talking about - the kind of eye roll, exasperated sort of glare that instantly reminds you that your beloved spouse had suggested the same thing previously and that you chose to ignore their sage advice and are now taking it from someone else and that is just so frustrating for the beloved spouse - look. That one. Of course my beloved spouse has to put up with a lot, so after watching me ruin one pair of superfeet, he took over and made the modification for me. And I think it is working! He whittled away the area under the bunion till there was just a thin layer left. So simple, and yes, I should have tried it long ago.

The Brooks shoes. You know, after last week, I was ready to take them back. I don't know why, but I put them back on Tuesday morning, and suddenly, they are fine. I ran 25 miles in them over the week, took a break from them yesterday and wore my Asics for my long run, then ran in Brooks again today. They feel great, everything seems good. I guess that I just had to adapt to the stiffness. I think I'll buy another pair of Asics 2120s (if I can find them) and rotate between them.

New Runners: Our 5K training plan for new runners is going great. We are beginning week five and have a solid group of nine adults and three kids. I thought yesterday's sporadic wind and rain and general gloominess would be the true test of their dedication and guess what? They all made it (except for Mom and the kids, but they had a swim meet). It's pretty fun running with a group that is brand new to running and loving it.

Charts and graphs. I didn't realize so many people used charts and graphs! Eric and I worked up a training plan for my first marathon and I followed it faithfully. That was my last one - over 16 months ago. Since then, I just run merrily along. I figure on getting somewhere between 4-6 miles on week days, and anywhere from 5 to 25 on weekends and call it good. If I have a marathon or series of them, I'll kind of look at the calendar and our schedule and lightly pencil in the long runs. It's pretty loosey-goosey but it works for me. No charts, no formal plans. If someone is doing a race or long run that looks like fun, I'll scrap my planned run and go for it. So the plan and bar graph last week were kind of new and fun for me. Remember - I don't like training. I like to run enough races to keep me from having to lay out a training plan. That's why summer is hard for me - I can't handle the heat, so I don't marathon from June-ish to October. That means I have to keep my miles up without racing and that's just not as much fun.

Headphones. A while back I accepted a pair of AirDrives to test. Since I never listen to music, I passed them around the running club. Four runners tested them out for me. The general consensus was a reduction in sound quality but an increase in safety. All the runners found it irritating to have to cinch the wires up under the chin to keep them on. They could all hear the music fine, but found that the outside noise interfered with the music. One runner commented that he accomplished the same goal wearing just one of his regular ear buds rather than both.

Work. I've completed two of three big events in the past two weeks. One was bringing eight kindergarten teachers from six districts together to discuss kindergarten entry with parents from the co-ops and college. That went very well. Yesterday was our annual children's concert and a celebration of 35 years of parent education at our college. It went well too. Next up is the statewide in-service that I am hosting in two weeks. That will conclude all the big events that I am responsible for this year. I'm looking forward to an easier spring quarter!

That's it - that's my data dump for today. Oh, and I did meet and even exceed last weeks 40 mile goal. I got in 42 miles - the two extra by running with the new runners yesterday. Now for this week's 36 or so...

22 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't think I can keep track of how many times I have suggested something to Jessica and she has to hear it from her mom, dad, sister, or someone at work before she believes it. I am sure I always listen to everything she says :)

One quality training/taper week and then it is time to rest up for Pac-Rim. I'll probably have to do my 10-12 on Sunday since Jessica goes in early on Saturday.

Sarah said...

I haven't really followed a training plan in a long time. Sort of like you, I just plan to run a certain amount during the week and a certain amount on the weekend. That is, when I'm running.

Glad you figured out some of the blister problem!

lizzie lee said...

I like your attitude of "just go and run". I want something like that. I tried for 2 months and can't do. So needed to go back and plan. But it is a double-edged sword. My "strict" plans kill me and stress me out. I was stressed with the dream because 10 min before the race I wasn't super ultra ready.

need to work on that. I'll have you as my mental model.

Sunshine said...

Nice detail catch-up.

I agree that it is more fun to get the miles in when there are races!!

King Arthur said...

ROTFLMAO!!!

That "look" is great, I've used it many times. I give charts to Jenn all the time, but she's just not a chart using type person.

Anonymous said...

I moved from Asics to Brooks recently. They are stiffer. But my toe nail is now growing back. Of course I had a few weeks where I didn't run. But the new shoes seem to fit differently and the toe seems to like it.

I'm looking forward to celebrating your success at Pacific Rim

Joe said...

Always fun to clean out the closet, so to speak. glad you still HAVE toes...and you are making progress there!

Great work, professionally, Michelle...some very lucky parents and kids in your area!!!

Jon said...

I remember seeing something about that charging your Garmin while running, but can't remember if it was via solar-powered cells that you place on the top of your hat or if it was using a hand-crank flashlight that has a charging adaptor that comes out of the side.

Regarding the training plan structure, I "try" to still have some kind of structure but it seems to cave in on itself. But I'm attributing this to adjusting to other things (job, sleep patterns, schedule, etc). But I'm sure I'll find my groove soon enough.

Anne said...

I've never been good at creating training schedules, maybe because I never seem to keep to them. So I get what you're sayin'...and am delighted to hear the bunion blisters may be a thing of the past.

Sunshine said...

Oh Thanks for good words of encouragement.
I'm getting my mantra going: Love to run.. love to run.. love to run.

wendy said...

hey michelle,

I can't imagine Eric giving you anything but positively angelic looks... =)

Way to go on the high mileage weeks as of late. And you're getting faster! I am so impressed at how you manage to balance it all...

Darrell said...

I thought only us men did that, the not listening to sage advice from our beloved spouse thing.

How very nice to have your big work projects out of the way in the first quarter. I'm so jealous.

Scott McMurtrey said...

i give lots of looks too. it's one of my specialties.

Ms Eva said...

I found my 2120s at Joes...

and I get 'the look' all the time. :D

Olga said...

In my former family I was the one giving "the look"...go figure, who wore pants in the house?
Hope the combo of shaved insert and new shoe work for you. At least my blisters only come because I kick things with my toes! OK, my forefoot blisters come because I land on this part of my foot...whatever.
I used to be more strict about miles planned, and now just go and run, hoping to fit in as much as possible. I only plan my long runs and the type of either speedwork or hillwork that is required for this particular period of training season (depending on big race). That's all, the rest is: wake up and run, take Stephen to boxing and run more.
42M is great, way to pile up!

Anonymous said...

mountain man steve charged his garmin on the run... the link is on my blog under bloggers I know/I've met....

E-Speed said...

I definitely know that spousal eye roll!

runliarun said...

You don't like training? I can't believe you said that. You are always so enthusiastic about every run.

Glad those toes are doing better.

Dori said...

Ha, ha, the "look". I'll have to tell my husband that I'm not the only one who does that. :-)

Thanks for the tip on your sore arch. I did think that maybe my everyday shoes were causing a problem, so I got new shoes. I'm wearing the old ones today as a test, though, cause I really like them.

Legs and Wings said...

Oh, I hate the look. I get it all the time. UGH.

Anonymous said...

So many topics, I'm not sure where to start. . . I guess I'll just say that I'm glad all seems to be going well for you. Keep up the good work! ;)

Sunshine said...

Absolutely loved your empathetic, delightful, supportive comments!!
After 5 years of smoldering, not-quite myeloma, I think it is going to take me a little feeling like running, screaming (as you so aptly decribed) for me to believe that Don does really have myeloma with bone leisions.

Thanks for being there. You are dear.