A Passion for Running

I wish I had time to say more but have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! All the best and be SAFE!

Yeah, it hurt and yeah I’m outta shape but it’s a new start. I’m going to be sore tomorrow!

My poor little iBook laptop took quite a beating this past few years. When I first bought her she really rocked, but stuff happened since then making it obvious she needed to be put to pasture. First, Apple came out with it’s rockin’ but RAM hungry new operating system – OS X and the little laptop that could had to work harder and harder just to boot up! Second, the hard drive started doing weird clicking things. Sometimes, it was almost unusable and putting a new drive in did not seem worth it for such an outdated machine. Lastly, the kids broke the power plug. I had to rig it up with nails (that’s right – NAILS) and electrical tape just so it would get power!

Needless to say, getting work done became very difficult – especially when using heavier applications like Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver.

So Lori and I agreed this year’s Christmas present to each other would be a new computer. At first, I thought another laptop was the way to go and was considering a 15″ or 17″ Powerbook but have you seen how much those cost? Yikes! Price was not the only consideration but, with kids in the house, durability (among other things) was so I looked around and eventually settled on a spanky new G5 iMac.

It took all weekend to set her up the way I like but man does she ever rock! Everything is so smooth and fast and that’s without the extra Gig of RAM I purchased (it is on backorder). I did some playing in Photoshop and Dreamweaver last night. What a treat that was. My life just got a lot easier, more productive and enjoyable!

And the little laptop that could still can do something (at least till her hard drive dies). She gets to be Cassandra’s playmate! I’ve removed everything except the bare essentials and a web-browser so she can get into kids websites such as Barbie, Teletoon and Sesame Street. Plus, she’ll be able to close her door (to get away from Christopher!) and watch DVDs in the privacy of her own room. How sweet is that for a six year old?

Enjoy your semi-retirement little iBook. You earned it.

Visiting YOU!

If I can’t consistently run and blog about running, then at least I can visit your blog more regularly right? How’s that for a pre-New Year’s resolution? I resolve to do a LOT more visiting than I have been recently!

See you at your blog!

Well, a lot has been going on lately but not a lot of running has been going on – nope, not much running at all.

I was pretty woozy all the way up to last Wednesday so Thursday’s spin class was a no-go since I’m pretty sure I’d have barfed. Instead I planned on a very light run but that didn’t happen due to a workshop going overschedule. Yup, that’s right – work got in the way of my running. Damn work.

Truthfully though, there is a bit of sulking going on with me. Certainly, being injured is a valid reason for not running but it sure doesn’t cut it for not working out or doing other forms of cross-training. So, my admission is that I’ve been a real slacker, am losing fitness and it’s noone’s fault but my own. When I remind myself why I run/stay in shape, I realize how completely idiotic it is that I haven’t been doing so. I run to be healthy in body, mind and spirit and that’s important so I can have quality life and be there for my family. So today I’m getting off my ass, re-aquainting myself with good habits and getting active and nothing is gonna stop me. I’m counting on you to keep me honest.

On another subject, Saturday was Lori’s birthday. I got her this:

It’s a great little digital camera (I got it because Aaron has been very happy with his) that fits into an altoids tin.

I can’t tell you how much fun it was seeing the look on her face when she opened her gift to find two Caramilk chocolate bars (she loves those) and an altoid tin. Hahaha – too funny!

Since Jon asked, here is a link that goes into some explanation about VO2 Max testing. I’m sure there are better sources out there but I find this guy easy to understand.

Well, I sure did not get hit as hard by the puke-fest as my dear wife but it seems like my recovering from this flu is taking longer. I’ve been nauseous just walking around this week!

Tomorrow I’m going to give running a try and just see.

On another subject, I talked to one of my gym’s spin class leaders. His class is Thursdays at noon so I’m thinking next Thursday is as good a time as any to give it a try.

As an aside, Jerry (the spin class leader) is a three-time Ironman. When I chatted him up last week, he mentioned his VO2 max has improved by 5ml/kg/minute in the last three years and he attributes the improvement to spin classes and bike work in general. His VO2 max was 59 three years ago. It’s now 64 – a really tremendous level of fitness by almost any standard.

I’m game!

More bugs are running around our home. That’s one of the yucky things about having a dayhome in your place of residence – there are five or six kids coming and going each bringing their share of germs to add to the mix. Plus, Cassandra is in grade one so she has access to her own set of germs at school.

Wednesday, Christopher began throwing up. Friday, Lori had an absolutely horrible night. I think she was parked in front of the porcelain throne every ten minutes from 7:00 pm till 3:00 am. I have so far faired a bit better. I threw-up once saturday morning but have been nautious and weak ever since.

Two weeks of grossness in our home and very limited running as a result.

I tell ya, the luck has gotta change around here because I don’t think (hope) it can get worse!

Yesterday I was given the most awesome opportunity. Lesley invited me to speak at a Running Room Half-Marathon clinic on the subject of Heart Rate Monitors. Evidently, my frequent talks about good old “Gretchen” convinced her I was the guy to give a down-to-earth talk about running with a HRM.

The title of my talk was 30 Things About Heart Rate Monitors. It was largely a collection of personal thoughts and experiences using a HRM, but it also had some limited technical information (e.g. on HRM Training Zones) and I tried to connect some Running Room teachings (e.g. hydrate hydrate hydrate!) as they relate to heart rates and using a HRM.

Even though I was kind of nervous standing in front of fifty runners, it was great fun. Most importantly it felt awesome to pass something on to folks closer to the beginnings of their distance running careers. I still remember those times very well!

I typed the presentation in MS Word. For those of you who are interested, I’ll be converting it to html and posting it on the Complete Running website.

Thanks Lesley for the opportunity to speak. I was truly honoured!

Yup. Deene’s got it right. I sure have been turning into a sicko lately! The ankle, the flu and this cold…blah blah blah.

Meanwhile, I have all these people telling me all this good stuff about cross-training (spin, water running etc). I’m gonna get on that everyone because something tells me I don’t have a choice…just as soon as I can breathe that is.

Thank you one and all.