day 13 - half way back to a habit

I have been diligent about working out on the schedule I set for myself. I am enjoying the way it feels, remembering the good, even relishing in the sore muscles. I am still excited over this venture yet I am scared too. Accomplishing a 50 mile trek in one day, no matter where it is is a long way to go. I will do this laughing at myself, in spite of myself, and for myself! I was in Lake Placid this past weekend and enjoyed getting back on my long track skates. Its been too long. I have spent this week mostly on my feet. They key I am told is to finish every task with a 5 minute walk. There is a 5 minute passing time between classes, finish each task with a 5 min walk, the miles and time on your feet will add up. Today's agenda? Going for a hike! Tomorrow is intervals. Sat I hope to hit the first leg of the course. (finish every task with a five min walk) Thanks goes to Bob Tysen for the help with great fitting shoes (and the 5 min tip)!

day 5- procrastination lost!!!

Day 5- I had planned on getting out right after school to go for my first trail walk/run interval set then hitting the weight room. I actually caught myself procrastinating. I eventually won! I managed 5 miles with 30 min of running and a full olympic lift workout. I am a bit sore now but totally pumped!

Day 3- Work is definitely getting in the way

Day 3- I woke up at 4:30 planning on attempting to get out before my 11 hour work day. I heard the rain and decided that I just wasn't into getting wet until it was time to take a shower so I rolled over for another 45min. I got up, got myself to work, brought my clothes to work out planning on trying to get out the door right at 2:05 so I could get in a 45 min effort prior to my afternoon class. That didn't happen. I finally arrived home around 8PM and yes, thanks to my wonderful husband I managed to get out around 8:30. It was short and sweet 35min or so, but it was not blown off.

Day 2- inspired by another blog

Day 2: I know I am on a quest that is a long shot, but it has me out there and as my friend Cathy said you never know what tomorrow will bring unless you seek it out. This morning I woke up, pulled on my running clothes, ate a properly sized breakfast (portion control is also part of seeking balance), did some research over coffee (started with trying to find a couch to 50 app- there isn't one). I came across this blog though, that had me excited, especially since I read it wrong and will maintain that what I read is the truth, going from the couch to 50 will be easier than the couch to 26.2. Then again even though I am out of shape I wouldn't exactly call myself a couch potato and there is that fact that I know how to approach training and how to approach the mental side of training. So there you go. I am out the door and hitting the pavement. This morning my goal was to find out just how fast I could walk in the 45 min I gave myself, and how long I could sustain that pace without being more than a step or two above my comfort level. The rule I gave myself was that the pace I chose had to be maintained even if I was climbing or descending for that matter. What I learned 4.3 is the number for 30 min (I lost my focus after that because a friend was walking in the neighborhood at a slower clip and I figured it was better to accompany her as she was just starting out and possibly score more milage than it was to continue on my route and be done in 15min) I walked another 30 min with her then decided after I couldn't regain my pace I would call it a day (I still had to walk home up a monstrous half mile long hill). So there you have it, day 2. Tomorrow presents its own challenge. I have a 7AM-6PM work day with 90 min of commuting. Time to get creative and plan it now. I know if I wait until I get home I will struggle to go out. I also know that being up before 5 is not going to work either. There is the hour between school and when I have to leave for my after-school class that I could spend on the trail? I could also use it as one of my interval days, which means that the overall timeframe can be less. I am thinking...

Day 1- trying to figure out why I am so intrigued

I am planning on attempting an ultra challenge in May, so much so that I will fork over the $150. registration fee on Friday. Why am I doing this? Three reasons: 1. My friend Marty gave me an assignment to chase motivation and find balance to be able to return to myself. 2. Its a great cause. I have said many times before that there is something about that ridge that draws me in. It's my connection to things unworldly. This event benefits the preservation of that open space. 3. Kenny and I have been trying to go on a trekking trip that will involve 10-15 miles of hiking a day in an extreme climate (above the circle). This will get me ready to attempt that. So day one, I figure I am already used to 2-3 mile walks in my hilly neighborhood. Today I changed it up a bit trying to go uphill as much as possible. I also tried to maintain a pace of 3.5 miles and hour uphill (faster on the flats). I walked for about an hour with my leggy husband keeping pace. It doesn't sound like much but it's a start. I plan on approaching this as I would any endurance challenge, train 6 days a week, increase 10% a week. It worked in 1999 like a charm when I went from riding 3 miles on my first training ride to 350 miles 4 months later. I can do this! (who knows maybe I will get tot he point of running) What did we see? Walking is interesting. The world slows down tremendously. For the past month whenever we have walked the neighborhood we have witnessed the changes left by SANDY. Each time we have seen something different. What amazes me is how much cleanup is still left 5 weeks later. Today there are still houses with trees resting where a roof once was, massive amounts of logs in yards, twisted wire still laying all over the place, and piles of wood chips everywhere. Guess we won't need to find mulch this spring.

It is all so surreal. NY is a different place. I left my house at 3:30AM this morning to head to LGA for a 7AM flight. Why so early? First, traffic is a nightmare, especially when there is a mandatory HOV restriction going into Manhattan and the checkpoint is at the airport. Secondly, Kenny needed to get into the city prior to the opening of that HOV checkpoint (6AM). We played it safe. On the way we passed a gas station with a line more than a mile long (at 3:45 AM). We passed two more stations without gas. We didn't hit any traffic, maybe it was due to the gas shortage, maybe it was due to the train restoration? Anyway, as I arrive at LGA 2.5 hours early, I am bid goodbye along with some rumbles of MAD MAX. Not sure I will have a ride home on Sunday, I may have to share a cab into NYC and hop on Metro North. After clearing security, I headed to get something to eat, I waited almost an hour for oatmeal and coffee, the airport sputtering a bit in the aftermath. While I sat and waited to board, I listened to a newly married Hasidic couple, she was pregnant with her first child. She was speaking about how hard this storm was on her sister, with 3 kids under 4. She lives on the top floor of a 15 floor building. Without an elevator she has had to walk up carrying 2 children totaling 45lbs combined, her husband refusing to help her as its deemed woman's work. Matter of fact, he claimed that the elders should shut the elevators in the building for a week each year so the women in the building could get used to such burdens. The reading I happened to be doing this week? Unorthodox so I found this eavesdropping both interesting and SAD. Chalk it up to a different culture. Kenny arrived in downtown Manhattan, still dark, and eerie as he put it. I can't help thinking about the possibility of Post Traumatic Stress as I am sure that eeriness draws up all kinds of post 911 junk (it would in me anyway). Southern NY is a mess, a much wider spread mess than that horrible day 11 years ago, but just the same, a dark downtown has to be heart-wrenching! I boarded my flight and took to the heavens just as the days light was coming up, the electricity of the landscape should have been evident, it was archaically dark, and looked undeveloped. It was hard to get over. People here don't understand, actually I am feeling like I have no right to even claim how bad it was, my neighborhood exploded and several buildings will require being torn down, but I don't live on the coast. I don't live in Long Beach, or Seaside, or on Fire Island. Sea water did not accompany the wind. In that sense we were good. Trees were just chewed up and spit out like projectiles. You know the way HS kids throw pencils into the drop ceilings whenever you have a sub? I am in Milwaukee now, removed from it, but find myself drawn to the pictures that I couldn't see all week. People don't understand,that is unless they experienced the gas lines of the 70's or maybe experienced Andrew or Katrina. I am not sure I will have power when I get back? I am not sure I will even be back to school on Monday? I arrived here a bit battered and so tired. I was not aware of how incredibly spent I was until I was able to relax a bit. Tomorrow, after a good nights sleep, I will finally enjoy watching skating.

our corner of the northeast

Yes we are alive, I think. Its cold this morning in the house (48 degrees)and promises to be even colder tonight. Our camp stove is being put to good use,paper plates and plastic utensils have new meaning, we run the generator for the fridge and the septic and our pre-storm water supply is holding up. Yesterday Ken and I spent the second morning cutting and moving a tree that fell in a neighbors yard then went to our friend Pete's to take a long needed shower. The hot water felt so good I could have stayed in there all day and I was really sleepy when I came out. Watching the devastation on TV was an eye opener, made me think about just how lucky we were despite the destruction I have witnessed here. We stopped at Home Depot on the way home and scored a $72. oil radiator for 40. because it was mis-marked, score! We also stopped at DiCicco's for a beer and heard about Janine's horrifying walk up 118 during the storm from someone else who lived the same thing… Dinner consisted of pizza and BBQ steak with Mikey and Kathleen. We ended the night with Young Frankenstein with friends. Twitter feeds and the radio tell us that LGA just reopened this morning, maybe, and because I don't have school I am hoping to catch a flight out between now and Friday to see Christopher Grizzy Windman race, see friends and escape this mess (the idea of sitting in an ice rink seems tropical) . Life is funny sometimes…laugh until it hurts!