Yay! A Running Update!

For the first time since I started running in 2006, I'm training through the winter. Well, sort of. I've kept up running, even though I'm not training for anything in particular. I've mostly been running on the treadmill, including a fun interval workout that I've outlined below for your training pleasure. This morning I ran a 5k in Prospect Park. (Yes, a week before I leave this fair city New York Road Runners starts having races in Brooklyn. Bitches.) Anyway, it turns out that no matter how much you'd like to think your 5k pace is 8:30/mile when you're running on the treadmill, the great outdoors has a harsh reality for you. And that reality is hills, and also temperatures in the 30s plus wind chill.

I averaged 9:33/mile this morning to finish in 29:37. I was feeling OK about it, too, until my friend Kerner, who had also run this morning, texted me to see how I'd done. He then told me that he "might have won [his] age group" - which of course prompted me to look up his finish time and HOLY SHIT - the dude ran 5:32 miles!

He finished in 11th place. I finished at 2711.

Here's that interval workout I mentioned (from the March issue of Runner's World.

Run intervals of decreasing length, from 7 down to 1 minute. Run the first interval at your marathon pace and work your way up to your 5k pace. Recover at an easy jog between each interval for half the length of the previous interval. For me, this means starting at 10:30/mile for 7 minutes, and increasing my speed by 20 seconds per mile until I hit 8:30 for the 1 minute interval. The whole workout takes 42 minutes plus cooldown, and it has kicked my ass every time I've done it!

But maybe you should ask Kerner what he's doing, because apparently it's working.

Geriatric

When I showed my friend T the picture of my hot hot sock, he immediately laughed and said, "Oh my God, you're SUCH a geriatric!" Then we ran home from work tonight, and oh my God, I am *such* a geriatric.

I haven't run since the half-marathon last month, save for 20 minutes here and there on the treadmill, which doesn't really count. For the first two of tonight's four miles, I felt like I haven't run in a year or more.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: That ain't me no more. Hotbody November is ON, People! In fact, I'm off to the gym for a little lifting and then a yoga class. Stay tuned.

Random Evening

When I left work this afternoon I had a pretty low-key evening planned: Recycling, laundry, water plants, pet Memphis. General domesticity.

Instead? I just spent an hour in the basement with my upstairs neighbours, taking a kick-boxing lesson with a private trainer who travels twice weekly from Long Island for training.

When I got home I called my neighbour, T, to belatedly thank her for feeding the beast while we were away on the weekend.

T: We're about to start a kick-boxing lesson. Come work out with us!
G: Oh, no, thanks, I worked out this morning.
T: So did I! Come on!
G: Oh, I... maybe I will sometime.
T: Come on!
[Note that T and her girlfriend were already warming up, and were dressed in sweats and tank tops that showed off their intimidatingly hot arms. I'm not exaggerating - these girls are TONED.]
G: Well, OK. I'll go change.
T: Really?
G: Yeah - are you sure it's OK?
T: Yeah, for sure! Hurry, we're starting at 8!

And so we spent an hour punching and kicking, with a set of abs thrown in for good measure.

I feel pretty righteous.

Hit the Ground Walking

This morning, for the third Wednesday in a row, I got up at the crack of dawn -- and not just because a small furry creature was poking me in the butt. I've started training again, this year for the Berlin Marathon at the end of September. And let me tell you something: It is much, much easier to get out of shape than to get back into shape.

I don't like running in the winter. Used to be I didn't like running at all, so I consider this an improvement. In the winter, I like sleeping and eating cheese. These activities, it turns out, do not preclude going for a tempo run as soon as the temperature is above 40°F/10°C at 7 a.m.

So, I'm easing back into it. Two of the past three weeks I've run with my friend Jim, who has been entirely supportive of my emergence from hibernation. He has yet to mock me for my untoned (read: flabby) thighs and shortness of breath after only 2 miles at an easy (read: slow) pace. He's very kind, but he's also a coach, and I still have flashbacks to last summer when he stood at the top of the hill in Prospect Park yelling, "Is that as fast as you can go?!" as I ran toward him.

While I'm enjoying the Special Olympics treatment FOR NOW, I'm also really looking forward to running longer, faster, and stronger as the season progresses -- not to mention getting my hotlegs back!

Home Again Home Again

I saw the inside of 8 different airports last week. Some more than once. Remind me not to become a traveling salesperson.

Things I learned in my travels:

1. I know way more Stevie Wonder songs than I thought.
2. Waterloo is a significant technology hub (give me a break, I haven't lived there for over 10 years).
3. The martinis at Pantages Martini Bar & Lounge in Toronto are small and overpriced (and damn that strong Canadian dollar!).
4. The martinis at Vault Martini in Portland are generous and cheap.
5. Portland has the largest number of strip clubs per capita in any American city. It also has a naughty and delicious doughnut shop whose slogan is, "The magic is in the hole."
6. The weirdos on the West coast are way weirder than the weirdos on the East cost. Seriously. West Coast Weirdos (WCW) want to be weird WITH you, or to you. East Coast Weirdos (ECW) are just off being weird to themselves. I much prefer the latter.

Now, onto the holiday season - which, for my Canadian readers, begins here in the US of A this weekend with Turkey Day - yes, people really call it that. In fact, I heard one woman this afternoon say, "Happy gobble gobble" and had I been drinking something I'd have spit it all over my monitor.

I've decided that this will be the Winter of Dance! On Saturday night I went with some friends to a Salsa lesson/dance evening in Seattle, and it was super fun. Tonight I attended my first belly dancing lesson, where I learned that I have mad pelvic skills (a fact that will go on my dating resume) and how to make figure-eights with my breasts (a fact that will NOT go on my dating resume). I'm going to try to find a super, ultra beginner hip hop class, too, and maybe when I go to Argentina next month (oh, did I mention I'm going to Argentina next month, and you're not? SUCKA!) I'll try some Tango.

I've also acquired a set of Pimsleur Spanish CDs - who knows, perhaps UFF will become multilingual.

Don't Make Me SPAM You

It's already July (how did that happen?), and in less than 4 months, I'll run the NYC Marathon. A few weeks before that, I'll be in SF to run the half at the Nike Women's Marathon (the very race at which I popped my 26.2 cherry last year).

And now, as I mentioned back in April, it's time for me to raise some fundage for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Loyal UFF readers, I implore you: Surely if I can run a combined total of 39.3 miles in two races for this excellent organization, you can throw a little money at the cause? Just think, the more generously you give, the less guilty you will have to feel when you think of me running around Brooklyn on Saturday mornings.

Give here. Or here. Give early and often. Maybe, just maybe, I'll post sweaty post-workout pictures.

Only if you ask nicely, though.

Run Like A Girl

I'm back with Team in Training - this year as a mentor for the Nike Women's Marathon (yes, the very one that was my first marathon last year) and the NYC Marathon. Since they're only 3 weeks apart, I'll only be running the half in SF.

I can't wait.

On The Mat

While recent UFF postings have been sporadic, I'm sure that my faithful readers (both of you) are keeping up using the wonders of modern technology (Praise RSS!) and you'll be happy to know that I have many inspiring entries in store. That pesky day job keeps getting in the way of blogging. Donations are welcome.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

During my recent trip to California, I had the opportunity to attend an introductory Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class at the Ralph Gracie Academy in Mountain View. I'm pretty sure that had such an excursion been suggested to me a few years ago, my response would have been a firm "Thanks but no thanks." However, given my recent forays into athleticism (see: Triathlon, Marathon, and Boxing), and safe in the knowledge that knowing nothing about martial arts AT ALL meant that I'd have nothing to prove, when MFD suggested it to me, and I believe somewhat to his surprise, I enthusiastically agreed to try it out.

The Academy is located in kind of a strip mall on El Camino Real in Mountain View. I borrowed a gi and changed in the bathroom, in which hung the sign: "Please! If you must throw up, do it in the toilet, not the sink. Thank You." Heh. And, ew.

I warmed up a little, and then one of the resident black-belts, Gumby, came over to help with my introductory lesson. He explained the principles of jiu-jitsu, and showed me a number of moves, including the oopa (mount escape), guard pass, and posture in guard. I practiced each one a bunch of times. I was kind of meh at some of them, including the bridge, which is strange because Urdhva Dhanurasana is one of my favourite yoga postures. He also showed me three attacks: the cross choke, the Americana shoulder lock (that's a good instructional video, but remember kids, these are trained professionals. Don't try this at home), and an armbar from mount. Watch out: If you lie still and don't defend yourself at all, I could really annoy you.

Both Gumby and MFD (who goes by Canada in these parts) were incredibly patient and encouraging, and the experience was surprisingly unintimidating. After about half an hour of instruction/practicing, Canada asked Don (whose nickname, if he has one, I didn't catch) to spar with me. Ack! So much for unintimidating. I kind of didn't want to do it, but hey, I was there, so I tried out my new moves.

In sparring that first time I learned something valuable: Jiu-jitsu is *hard*. Don, a brown belt, was very nice to me, and I'm quite aware of the fact that he could have kicked my ass from here to Sunday (read: effortlessly choked me unconscious and/or broken one of my limbs). Don, should you ever read this, thanks for not doing either of those things. I really like having two functioning arms. I tried to apply some of the stuff I'd learned, but in the moment, it was difficult to remember which hand went where and when. The technique seemed logical but complicated, and I really appreciated the amount of work these guys put into training.

To round out the experience, I watched Canada and Don spar for a while. To my untrained eye, these guys looked amazing. I also extra-want to keep both of them on my good side (see: unconsciousness, broken limbs).

Big thanks to everyone at the academy, including Batata (who runs the place), Gumby, Don, and Canada. I felt very welcome and would love to come back next time I'm in the Bay Area. ('Course then I wouldn't have that whole "know nothing" excuse to fall back on.)

Postscript: At lunch afterwards, almost immediately after we sat down, Don asked me how much I weigh. I told him, and he replied, "Yeah, you're pretty robust for a girl." I'm totally taking that as a compliment.

Round 2

This morning I met with John again for Boxing Day: The Sequel. He kicked my ass even harder this time. I shadow boxed! I jabbed! I uppercutted! I hit the speed bag! I did sit-ups and crunches and tricep dips!

Last week I picked up the book The Gleason's Gym Total Body Workout for Women, and learned that I was correct about the 3 minute rounds with the 1 minute rest in between. The point of this is to get your body used to going all-out for 3 minute intervals (the length of an actual round). It's really cool to learn about a whole new sport!

John told me today that his favourite boxing movie is Rocky (which I haven't seen!) and that The Champ made him cry. Another one I'll have to see is Raging Bull, which was filmed at Gleason's.

I'm going back on Friday. I hope I get to jump rope and try the sand bag soon!

Boxing Day

In Canada, December 26 is Boxing Day. This year, I celebrated Boxing Day on December 29 with my first trip to Gleason's Gym for some real, honest-to-god boxing training.

Since my office moved to DUMBO in May, I've been thinking about going to Gleason's. But there was that whole marathon thing going on, and time was at a premium, so I didn't do anything about it.

On Wednesday, after a nice long holiday break filled with wine and cookies, I caught up with a couple of my co-workers, one of whom told me he'd been to Gleason's and thought I'd really dig it. He gave me his trainer's card, and I called him immediately to set up an appointment.

This morning I met the trainer, John Douglas, for the first time. On Gleason's Web site, John says, "I like training ladies because of their never say die attitude and I would never deny them the opportunity to box." Right on. I'd told him on the phone that I've never boxed before, and he was really reassuring. When I walked into the gym today I felt a little nervous and giggly about it, and John was super nice the whole time. I warmed up for 10 minutes on the treadmill, then got down to business. First, John wrapped my hands (which made me feel totally hardcore), then we climbed into an actual ring (!) and he talked me through some basic combinations (just into the air for starters). A bell rings every few minutes (I'm not sure of the exact timing, but around 3 minutes), and during the "on" time, people are training, and in between "rounds," everyone rests. There's a 40-second warning bell before the round ends.

After a few rounds of air-punching, I donned a pair of white 14 oz. gloves, and John held up pads for me to punch. That part was really fun, and really exhausting. We moved next to a bag that's suspended from the ceiling and floor, and John instructed me to left-right jab it for the next few rounds. I kind of started to get the hang of that. We then moved to the speed bag, which was tricky to get the hang of. I did get better after a few minutes of practicing, and I'm looking forward to trying that again. We ended with a few dozen situps and crunches.

The cost is really reasonable - today I paid a $15 gym fee, and $25 to John for an hour of training. If I end up going more than once/week, I'll join the gym for $80/month. I loved working with John - he called me "Champ" a lot and was really supportive.

And as I write this entry, I've finally settled on a New Year's Resolution:

Kick Some Ass.

Photographic Evidence

Around Mile 5 (near Ghiradelli Square)



Rounding the bend out of Golden Gate Park



Still smiling!



Where's my necklace?


More pictures on Flickr.