Mystery solved!

Winter. People hate it, people whine about it, people get depressed (literally) because of a lack of sunlight. I've gotten depressed over a lack of sunlight. For five years in North Carolina I was a depressed, hibernating, lazy mess for all of winter. Sure, Winter in North Carolina lasted like five days, but man was I miserable those five days.

You'll all be happy to know, I've figured it out. It's not the sunlight! It's unwillingness to go outside. Depression over the cold - not the darkness, the cloudy gray skies - the cold. And do you know what? Layers make the cold ok, they make it bearable. They make it possible to go outside and run and frolic through the snow. They make it possible to run 4 miles with your dog, and watch her leap and dive through snowbanks created by snowblowers. They make it possible for people to yell catcalls out their car windows as they drive by. For me, getting out there makes the difference. It can be the middle of a snowstorm in 28 degrees or a gorgeous, sunny, negative 5 degree day. It doesn't matter - if I don't sit on my ass all day - if I don't sit inside and mope - I can thrive in winter.

All figured out. w00t! So here's a little snow for you.

Time rolls on

Hi there.

The past few weeks have been more of the same old thing. Getting started in a new semester with new classes and new projects. It's still winter, both outside and in, and I'm starting to get sick of being cold in my house. Maybe that's why I'm in school again - to one day make enough money to pay for heat. It's quiet here tonight. D's at work, Kona's laying up against my left side, and we're both basking in the glow of the space heater. I'm supposed to be writing (a paper, blogging) but my head isn't in it tonight.

Running is...running. I hemmed and hawed too much this winter over what race I wanted to do, and now can't do the fall back one. Rather, I could do it, I just don't have enough time to train the way I wanted. I could get in up to a 14 mile run, but it would be a higher percentage of my weekly mileage than I want, and I wanted to repeat the long distances a couple times before the race. So, I'm looking for one in May or June, instead. Thought briefly about the one in Traverse City, and found out it's closed already. Thought a whole night long, rather than sleeping, about Coeur d'Alene , and then realized the fortune that would cost. Looked for one close to Seattle around the time of ACSM, there isn't one. Right now, I guess my choices are one in Palos Heights, Il. in May, or in London, ON also in May. I'm leaning towards London just because it's in another country, that'd be kind of a cool thing. Regardless, I can't make up my mind and really need to get going with a training plan.

Or maybe I could just putz around some more and not run a spring half at all.

To lift this downer of a post - here's a fun picture from skiing!

Scratch that.

So, it turns out I do have a brain, and realize that my "coach" is asking more of me than I should just blindly follow. 1:25, two days in a row (which is what it recommended for yesterday and today) when I haven't run for more than an hour in...somewhat longer than I care to admit.

Stay tuned for an actual, well-planned, training plan.

New Year, New Experiment.

Scientists experiment on themselves all the time, right?

I have a new heart rate monitor, the Suunto T4c, which has some nifty functions I'm still learning how to use. The main function is the "coach" - you tell it your activity level, some stats (resting HR, max HR, height, weight, etc) and it gives you bunches of fun information. The standard average and max heart rates (per workout) are there of course, and I can set zones. It also gives me calories, and something called "training effect" which I am still learning. It's on a scale of 1-5, and as far as I can tell, it uses average heart rate and exercise duration to assign a level. Based on that level and the goals you give it, it designs weekly workouts. I started actually paying attention to what it tells me yesterday.

Coach's plan:
Thursday 1/8/09: 40 minutes. Can't remember the goal TE, unfortunately
Friday 1/9/09: 30 minutes, TE 2.8
Saturday 1/10/09: 1:25, TE 2.8
Sunday 1/11/09: rest
Monday 1/12/09: 1:15, TE 2.5
Tuesday 1/13/09: 1:00, TE 3.1

Clearly it thinks I've been running too hard lately and need recovery, as 2.8 is a pretty low intensity. I'll be back later to discuss that more after I've read about it again. In the mean time, I plan to follow this the best I can for the next 4-6 weeks and see where it takes me. We shall see...