Saturday, August 05, 2006

If this is Saturday, it must be time for an LSD

No... not that kind of LSD - a Long Slow Distance run kind of LSD.

I'm starting to build up mileage for a long run - so today I ran a 3.5 mile "long" run. Yes, it was only a half mile more than something I'm getting used to, the 3 mile run, but it makes a difference. It didn't help that I spent about 2 minutes giving instructions on how to get to the other part of the running path and estimating the distance to a landmark to a stranger with a smooth British accent instead of doing my recovery walk, but I made the whole distance with only two recovery walks.

The first one (which I ended up giving directions) was just after I crossed the street at the scary traffic corner. The second was at the 3 mile mark and it was more of a "see, you can do this," sort of reinforcement... a sort of, "I'm doing this to show I don't need to do this," sort of gesture to myself. I literally had to force myself to walk the full minute instead of running early - again, I was trying to prove to myself that I didn't need this, so I needed to push it.

One other thing that changed this morning - I forgot Mr. Pi took the body glide with him to LAX camp. Oops! Good thing I still have half a tube of A&D ointment in the drawer (what I was using before I bought the glidy stick) so I'm not all chafed. Of course that stuff is a bitch to get off - which is supposed to be the point of it. So add "glidy stick" to the list of stuff I have to pick up today.

I ran a 14 minute pace - not great but not bad. I'm pretty steady and I made the distance, so I'm good with it. I want to see it start to get faster, but first things first. First I have to be able to run the distance before I can make the time decrease.

I also downloaded a new playlist for myself. iTunes has a new section to compliment the Nike+ chip that works with the nano, so I downloaded the 10k list from there. It was different than what I'd normally pick for myself but still a lot of stuff I like. Of course I didn't download it from there, I went over to Napster and did it there so I wouldn't have to pay for the songs. (I have Napster to go - so I pay a monthly fee and can download anything. Once I stop the subscription, my access to the music stops... sort of like Netflix for your mp3 player.)

It was interesting to run to new music - I couldn't do the "here's the marker, I should be on this song..." evaluation, which kept me on my toes. Sometimes I had to rely on the beat to keep me going - which is a good thing - and it did help me keep pace pretty well. I'm might give Lance Armstrong's playlist a try at some point. If nothing else, I'll keep my eye on that section of iTunes and see if anything interesting comes up in the near future.

Yesterday I actually got a swim in! It was Friday and there wasn't a thunderstorm - what a concept! Unfortunately, by the time I got there, I estimated I had enough time before the swim team took over the pool to get my laps in. Unfortunately they have a big meet today and the pool closed 10 minutes early when I had 3/4's of my laps done.

Damn!

Stupid swimteam. ::mutter mutter snarl::

I only needed another 5 minutes - if that - to finish too. Feh!

Tomorrow's a rest day and I'm glad I'm on a plane most of the day or I know I'd be itching to get out and do something. I'm excited about going to a Padres game, of course it will be the 3rd time I'm seeing the Nats play this year... which is weird in itself. But I'm going to a Padres game, so I'm excited.

By the way, I just got through watching this week's "Who Wants to be a Superhero" and I can't say I'm surprised at the twist Iron Enforcer just got. In fact, I said that was going to happen after seeing the first elimination round last week. I also called Tyveculus' slap on the wrist as well.

I think if I were on that show, I'd be Super LAX mom... able to drive the kids to practice, do the household chores, meet my deadline, pick the kids up and still make a nutritious dinner without breaking a sweat. I'd carry a lacrosse defense stick (one of the long ones) and my battle cry would be: It takes balls to be a mom.

That show is growing on me more and more.

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