Swimming at the Rec Center

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Lara

Technically my marathon training schedule began last week, but I’m holding out. A few days ago I succumbed to some of the crud my kids have been spewing for the past few weeks and now I’m in recovery mode, not ramp-up-and-breathe-freezing-cold-morning-air mode.

The good news is that the crud never sank deep into my chest, which would have made breathing hard for a few weeks. Instead, it hit my vocal chords and rendered me hoarse for a few days while I tried desperately to not talk much at all.

My voice has returned (mostly) but my windpipe feels bruised from the effort of coughing up a little post-nasal drip that isn’t even worth mentioning. So today, instead of running like my head wanted to, I dusted off my swim gear and cycled myself over to the Rec Center where I bought a 10-punch pass (bringing the total cost to each visit to a cool $4.50). They have a gym and weights, some cardio equipment and even some yoga classes, so I figured this would be a good temporary investment for the remaining cold months of the winter.

Mostly though I realize that I’m just extremely unmotivated to run right now. I like doing it once I’m out there, but the past month has drained me. The cold hits my bones like never before, and even dressed in fleece-lined running pants in 20-degree weather I feel like I’m running around butt-naked. I got chilled to the bone on December 23 and 24 during back-to-back runs in 2 degree and 6-degree weather and now I’m screwed.

So let’s talk about today. Instead of chancing any cold air hitting my windpipe while running, I biked 2 miles to the Rec Center and hit the pool for some cross training. I used to be a regular at the Master’s Swim over in Lafayette a few years ago but haven’t swum in forever. At least a year. Maybe two. I dunno. Time has a funny way of being fluid like that.

The first thing I noticed when I got in the pool was how warm and silky the chemically water felt against my bare arms and legs. And because I’m just a little touchy-feely like that, I pushed the water around for a minute before adjusting goggles on my face and examining the underworld.

I used to be a really good swimmer. Well, maybe that’s stretching the truth a little too much. I used to be a decent swimmer. I can get from one end of the pool to the other just fine, though any swim coach will give me a ton of pointers for my form. I broke my collarbone when I was a kid and now that shoulder tends to want to compensate for some smaller muscle movements that happen naturally on the other side. I’m aware of the problem, I’m working on it but good God, today I was winded. After 10 minutes.

Yup, you read that right. After 10 minutes of doing a few laps of freestyle and then some breaststroke to give me a breather, I was breathing pretty hard. Since I had forgotten to bring my flippers poolside I jumped out and grabbed them from the locker room. This was a good little 90-second break that gave me the oomph to make it another 10 minutes.

Let’s not linger on the fact that I swam for 20 minutes, okay? Instead, let’s focus on what I did in those piddly few moments. I swam 5-6 laps of freestyle, along with another 5-6 of breaststroke, and a few laps of drills for the arms. I guess after not swimming for a few years I can’t really expect to have the endurance I used to have in the water. No matter. I don’t really care. It just felt good to be in the water and focusing on my body and the feel of warm wet stuff sliding around.

Posted in Seasons, Winter 2012 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Last Sunrise of 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Lara

I saw the last sunrise of 2011.

This is a good omen to me.  I bore witness to the last new day of the year that I am thrilled to say, is over.

I drove to the trailhead to meet the gang for the usual Saturday Morning Run.  I arrived, parked the car, and decided not to run.  Simple as that.  I didn’t have it in me to battle 40 mph winds and brave the cold.  After saying a quick hello and goodbye I headed back home, just in time to see the sunrise.  I pulled over and snapped a few pictures, glad that I was warm in my car and headed into the arms of a hot cup of coffee.

the last sunrise of 2011

Now, it’s 10:00 on New Year’s Eve and all is quiet. Okay I lied. Just heard a cough from my son’s room. And a little moan. But other than that, there is a whole lotta quiet around here.

Both kids are sick with the flu and my dog is having a little holiday over at the Emergency Vet Hospital this weekend. I’m sipping tea to combat the tickle in my throat and the slight pressure in my ears.

Tonight we talked a little about setting goals for the New Year, and we made a few notes as we sat down to watch an episode of Glee and sip chicken soup. One of my goals is to take my kids on some serious, kick-ass vacations. I spent a good part of my day calendaring workshops that I’ll be teaching this year, and figuring out where my breaks would fall. This year, I’m committed to taking my kids on more than 3-day camping trips. This year, we’re going to get out and see something of the world.

This year, I’m also committing to taking care of myself. This means getting a massage when my muscles are screaming, or making time to get to a yoga class when my brain and body have disconnected and I desperately need to reattach myself. It means making time to pop in on friends and have a cup of coffee. It means making my life simpler so I don’t have to move so fast. Mostly, it means slowing down.

Over the year just about everyone that knows me well has commented on how fast I make things happen. Apparently I am a master at changing things up and resetting the track that I’m on.

This year, I don’t want to speed things up. I don’t want to go faster, run harder, or squeeze more activity into my world. My world is really full as it is. What I would really like is to slow things down. I want to be more present for my kids. I think I can do this when I have my work and financial situation more secured. Therefore I’m going to spend the time necessary on those pieces, so that I can get them into place and then focus more fully on the people that I would give my life for.

So that’s it. My New Year’s Resolutions are pretty simple, actually. Keep going forward, slow down, work hard, play hard, and love fiercely.

That’s all I got. I won’t be ringing in the New Year at midnight. With any luck I’ll be asleep and won’t get woken up to the sound of someone coughing or puking.

Sleep tight, ya’ll. Happy New Year. See you on the other side.

Posted in Seasons, Sick or Injured, Winter 2011 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Christmas weekend recap

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Lara

December 26 was on my calendar for at least a month. Nico and AJ from DailyMile were organizing an epic trail run that would span Bear Peak and Green Mountain. We were looking at a 19.5 mile loop and about 4500 feet of elevation gain. I was geeky excited to get in on the action.

And then the snow came. And the cold.

On Friday December 23 I ran with a few friends at the Boulder Res in 2 degree temps. My top half was warm, my bottom half went numb from the cold. The next day I ran at the Res again, this time with my Saturday Morning gang. Wary about being cold, I checked the temp in two places before getting dressed. Unfortunately I was fooled again by the extreme fluctuation between Louisville and the Boulder Reservoir, and I ran in 6-degree cold even more under-dressed than I was the previous day.

All this is to say that by Saturday night my body was feeling the effects of the cold. My core still had not regulated back to normal, my legs were heavy with the lactic acid that had built up and not moved out, and I was tired. Bone tired. The tired that comes when your body finally stops working to keep you warm, and relaxes.

On Christmas morning I could barely move. I slept wrong and there was a pinch in my back somewhere. I felt like I had gotten two hours of sleep even though I slept soundly for six. My brain was foggy.

That afternoon I crashed for three hours. I said goodbye to the light of day at 2pm and woke to complete darkness at 5:00. Still hoping to run on Monday, I ate an egg sandwich and drove over to pick up my sister; we wanted to see the 6:45pm showing of Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately it was sold out, so we waited an hour to catch it again. We walked around the outside mall for 10 minutes, looking to see if any place was open where we could get a drink while we waited. As we walked the cold hit my legs and I was instantly shivering. Everything was closed, so we went back to the theater where I treated my sister to a $3 cup of coffee at the over-priced concession stand. I sat with my down coat over my legs, trying to warm them up.

I enjoyed the movie and even laughed out loud in one place. I drove my sister home and headed back to my own warm bed, where I set my alarm for 6:30. We had a start time of 8am on Monday.

The alarm went off at 6:30 and I hit the snooze button. I groaned. This wasn’t really happening. I didn’t even have to get up to know that I didn’t have an epic run in me. Not today.

And yet, I had to try. Maybe I would go and just do one loop. Maybe I had 10 miles in me. Maybe it would be really great to see my friends and get on the mountain and move my body.

But first I had to go to the store. I was out of milk so couldn’t have my cereal. No bananas, my favorite pre-run food. My stash of LaraBars and ClifChews was gone, which meant no nutrition for the run.

I quickly dressed and headed to the store, luxuriating in the fact that I was the only shopper there. What a fabulous change from the break-neck consumerism of the past few weeks. I found my items and was home by 7:28.

The moment of truth had arrived. Was I ready to pull this off? The answer was a resounding NO. I didn’t have a trail run in me today. I didn’t have the energy. I was hungry and dehydrated, my legs were heavy, and even the brief walk from the car to the store chilled my legs. Running up a mountain was not in the cards for me. Not today.

I logged onto DailyMile and sent Nico a note, hoping he would see it before he left his house at 7:55 to meet the gang at the trailhead. It was my only way of getting in touch with him, as I didn’t have his or AJ’s phone number to call or text them.

I decided to make a little lemonade out of my situation and called a friend. He had just put a pot of coffee on so I headed over to partake in the hot beverage. We each drank three huge mugs of coffee and eventually ate some breakfast to sop up the acid in our stomachs.

Upon returning home I decided to vacuum my bedroom. One thing led to another, and I ended up rearranging the furniture and deep-cleaning the room, getting into all the corners, moving pictures and emptying out some clutter.

At 12:30, as my lunch was cooking on the stove, I checked DailyMile to see what people were up to. As luck would have it AJ had just posted about the run. His stats said he ran 11 miles in 3:45. Three hours and forty five miles to run 11 miles. I blinked in surprise and read the post. 30 mph winds in some places. Waist-high snow between miles 5-8. Post-holing in places. Trudging. Didn’t have enough nutrition. Wasn’t expecting the level of difficulty.

And then I was glad that I listened to my gut instinct. If it was that hard for three big guys that have more muscle mass than me, it would have been brutal for this tired runner girl. Instead of running trail on a mountain that would surely have beat me down, I had coffee with a friend and puttered around my bedroom, rearranging and cleaning in the warmth of my house.

This concludes my run report for the Christmas weekend. Here’s hoping for some more rest and recovery. I didn’t run (yet) today, and might just give it another day or two. I might just wait until I’m itching to go.

Posted in Seasons, Winter 2011 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment