Thursday Reflections

Another day of non-running.  Seems so strange.  At times when my thigh felt okay, I had to resist the urge to test it.  But other times, I could feel the slight twinge or find the tender spot when massaging it, so I knew the wiser thing to do was lay off and give it as much time as possible.  With the 10K only days away, any running now would be of little to no benefit anyway.

So I did 1500 yards in the pool followed by the hour of spinning.  The cycling motion uses the quads in a different way from running, so there was no stress on the strained muscle.  But I did seem to lack energy.  I was only 20 minutes into the spin session and already feeling spent.  I managed to gut it out, but not without a couple of relenting short rest breaks.  It was embarrassing, actually.  Perhaps I had just not eaten enough beforehand?  I don't know.  I've done the swim/spin/run gym routine before.  I wasn't even doing the run this time, but I still had trouble getting past the spin cycle.  (Spin cycle...hah.)

One cool thing: I met this women, Renee, (not instructor Renee) in the spin class who had participated in the San Diego 100 endurance run in early June.  It was fascinating to talk with her about the experience and the course.  I hadn't even been aware that there was such an endurance event in San Diego county.  She finished in something like 22 hours, over a course with 6000+ feet of elevation change.  Wow.  And when I looked it up at some endurance runners Web site, they refer to the course as a modest one.  Yikes.  I find that stuff like that and the Ironman fascinating, but I don't aspire to it myself.  At the moment, tackling the marathon is about as high as my sights are set.

I've got the bulk of the week behind me now and I've done a good job meeting my cholesterol-reducing dietary goals.  I also think I've cut into the little bit of fat that accumulated during the marathon wind-down and post race recovery period.  It's so insidious how that sneaks back onto the waistline.  I didn't even really notice it at all until I stepped on the scale.  Backed up by the tape measure, the fat did ease it's way back in there.  Simple cardio burning isn't all it takes.  I have to remain alert to not letting my nutrition get lax.

We're only talking about 2-3 pounds though.  I'm pretty happy to have stayed within 2-3 pounds of 145 for over a year now.  I think I've established a fairly solid habit pattern and lifestyle routine that, I hope, will carry me through the rest of my life.  I know I felt that way back in my early 30s yet let it get away from me.  So I know it can happen again.  For some reason, though, this just feels different.  Maybe I felt more immortal back then?  I don't know.

I spent a lot of time stretching during the evening while watching TV ("Band of Brothers"...again).  Tomorrow's a strength-training day with just a little bit of cardio.  No dedicated exercise planned on Saturday.  Please let me be repaired and prepared for Sunday.  I'd really like to not have to suffer.  I want it to be fun.