Running
Thursday morning cross-training
Another 5am day. High fives! In attendance: Heather (our injured and therefore sidelined coach), Rizzi, John, Patrice, Nicolette, Brian and me.
Cross-training. Met at the Niskayuna High School track. Did a warm-up lap or two, some stairs repeats (x3), jumping jacks, etc. At one point Heather had the grand idea of pairing us up and having one of us carry the other across the infield, then switch off. It was more funny than anything. Well, OK, it was pretty tiring too. (I shoulda given her my camera to take video.)
Some hundred meter sprints for time. (x3) More stairs (x3), some hurdles (tackled in unique and various ways by each of us) (x1, since none of us were willing to put our heart into it and likely injure ourselves). Then two cool down laps. Nope, make that three. Coach is sneaky.
We thought we were done, but Nicolette said “Wait, what about the situps?” H HAD mentioned those earlier, but forgot. THANKS, Nicolette. It became painfully obvious that I have no core strength. I’m sure I looked like a turtle on his back thrashing about pitifully. Nice. I run strong, then finish with THAT. That’s the image I want to finish with.
Anyway… back to the H&R’s crib for another scrumptious oatmeal/strawberry/almond/banana/walnut breakfast. Almost as good as the pancakes yesterday.
All that, AND I’m the FIRST ONE at my office this morning at 7:35ish. Good stuff. I feel great. A tad tired, of course, but energized. 
Ready for a rousing day of IT work (Information Technology, for you acronym-impaired readers). IT work doesn’t exactly get my blood flowing, so I have to supplement my daily activities with stuff like this week’s PRO Team.
Suit up. Get out. And get on the road. Or at least put the remote down.
Five more garbage miles
Miles run: 5.01
Time: 46:52
Pace: 9:19
HR: 170/196
Perceived effort: 8
Temp: 50 degrees
Had to stop twice to let the heart rate subside. Damn. 170 average! 196 max? What the hell is wrong? For a lousy 5 mile run around the comfort loop?
Yet, in spite of it, it felt great when I was done. I remember my Dad joking about a guy who was hitting himself in the head with a hammer and another guys asks, “why are you doing that?” To which the first guy says “Because it feels so good when I stop.” That was today’s run.
Image-inations
Miles run: 5k (3.12 miiles)
Time: 38:28
Pace: 12:19 (This definitely isn’t right. I noticed the Nike+ case had slipped and come undone, so I lost a big chunk of data mid-run.)
Temp: 10°, feels like 0°
HR: 162/179
Perceived effort: 6
On the iPod: Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode
Bitterly cold this evening. A light wind from the North provided the bitter. A clear sky provided the cold. Ran right after work and had daylight up until the last five minutes so that helped. Three more days and then we’ll all get another hour of daylight (at least at the END of the day).
The lower part of the shins and calves were tight, probably from the cold. Everything else felt good. I think I was burning off extra energy from an unusual day at work.
The Day
It was a bit of a chaotic, if not unusual, day. First, I took my department out to lunch and had some delicious Indian food (only the two of us plus our new intern, AND it was on the company tab).
Second, we lost power in the office for about half an hour–at just the WRONG time. ‘Course, is there really any RIGHT time to lose power? Still, I was right in the middle of something, when… slam! No power. Groan. Scratch that. EXTRA groan since I lost what I was working on–had all sorts of windows open–tried but failed to finish an email just before my battery backup died. It’s supposed to last several minutes… I only got several seconds. Time to buy replacement cells, huh? Apparently many, many blocks in Saratoga were out for the duration as well. Not sure why.
So power comes back on. I put out a couple little fires and go back to what I was working on. Then I get a message, a big ol’ fire starts and I have to focus all my energy on it. Something about image quality in the Design department. Luckily it was something I’m good at (I think) and had things well in hand. Applied my tech support mojo and everything came out OK.
Third, a wine tasting! Forgot all about it. My office had a local vendor come in and give a half hour wine tasting seminar at 4pm. I forgot all about it but wanted to try it out–so there goes another half hour of my day. But it was worth it. The two guys were very nice and informative and explained many of the things I learned while watching Sideways recently. I think I could get into wine a little more than I am now. Which is to say, I could start drinking it and appreciating it instead of avoiding it in unknowing ambivalence.
Then home. Then a run. Short one. 5k. (Three miles for you metrically challenged.)
The Image-inations
I got to thinking about images after my tech support issues of the afternoon and, as my mind is wont to do while out on the pavement, wrangled a couple thoughts together and made them sit down and have a chat.
Thought #1 said “I think images you develop in your head from reading or listening or just plain imagining are always better than an actual image or movie or play.”
Thought #2 said, “That’s a load of dingo’s kidneys. The real thing is always better.” He said in a huff.
Whereupon the first thought retorted with “But why do people always say that the movie never lived up to what they had imagined when reading the book?”
Could Thought #1 be right? Is the imagined image always better than the real one? Is the beautiful landscape we paint in our minds forever destined to be sweeter than the one down the road? Is the creativity of the individual’s imagination a factor in this equation? Is the subjectiveness of this whole argument to great to make a generalized statement one way or the other?
What about the vehicle for delivery of the image’s description? Can that be a factor? Meaning, would a vocal description create a more vivid image in the mind’s eye than the written word? Would pure thought, unhampered by language, provide even that much better a method of creating the image in mind?
Seems like deep stuff, and I may be over thinking it, but I don’t think I am really. Basically, what I’m asking is… Is what we IMAGINE a beautiful landscape to be better than how we actually SEE it in real life?
I thought about answering my own question here, but I won’t for fear of muddying the waters of responses from you readers… Let’s hear what you think…
