RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 9

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

I think this week went pretty well for my RnR DC Half Marathon. Well . . . with the exception of some of my training runs. I never said I was a perfect human.

Random Thought: I love how Montgomery County, MD closes a lot of the streets through some of its parks to automobiles during the weekends . . . especially since I live really close to one of these parks (Sligo Creek Trail).

I'll say that this week's long run was kind of awesome. While I'm still a bit slow, I love how I'm getting to point where I don't realize how far I'm running. For instance, I would check my watch thinking that I ran 0.25 miles, but realize that I ran like 0.75 or so miles.

For a bit of different flair, I decided to run from Silver Spring to DC and back. Pretty much 5.5 miles out and 5.5 miles in.

During the run, I randomly found Rock Creek Park (right near the DC/Maryland border), which also was closed to automobiles.

I'm really glad that I randomly found this spot, because there was a pretty steep decline to enter the park, which I would have to climb to exit the park (left picture). Reason #2 while randomly stumbling on this was perfect: my upcoming half marathon also has a steep incline around Mile 7 (right picture).

A major pet peeve around running in this area: These parts are not very pedestrian-friendly. This pretty much was my run: run on the sideway; sidewalk suddenly ends; cross the street (2-6 traffic lanes); sidewalk suddenly ends; rinse and repeat.

Strength Training:

IMy early morning (4am, 5am) strength training has been going pretty well. I will admit that I'm kind of conflicted with some of my workouts. The classic paradox of strength training: high weights, low reps or low weights, high reps? I guess I should ask myself what do I want to get out of strength training to answer this question. For now, I'll just try to stick with hitting the gym on a consistent basis.

LOL During an afternoon workout, this meme hit home.

I mean, there were tons of high schoolers in the gym at 12 pm!! Like how long is school in these parts, 15 minutes a day? Back in my day, our school day was from 8 am to 3 pm.

Dieting/Proper Eating:

Since I'm doing well with strength training (and running), I think I'm going to start focusing on proper eating in March.

Goals for the week:

-Develop some plans for better eating habits to begin in March.

-Look into adding swimming to my fitness routine. It just so happened that a new (I think) pool opened up in the area.

Long run playlist:

I think Rent was the first Broadway musical that I saw as a NYCer.

Me watching Rent as a 22 year old: Yeah! Stick it to the man. Don't pay the damn rent.

Me listening to Rent as a 44 year: Wait! Why didn't they pay their rent?...Those irresponsible bums.

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 8

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

This week has been a little bit of a struggle because I kinda neglected my training runs, but i have been doing other forms of cardio (e.g., stationary bike), strength training, and a couple of HIIT workouts. That said, at least I managed to squeeze in my long run (8.5mi).

Unfortunately, it was a bit colder than I anticipated on Sunday, but that feeling passed once I hit Mile 4. ;)

Random thought: This area is so beautiful when it snows.

A WTF moment. Since my RnR half marathon is coming up in a few weeks, I wanted to check out the elevation profile of the course. Normally, I'll take a peek at a course's elevation profile before registering for a race, but for some reason, I didn't do it with this half. I went to RnR's website, but I could not find the elevation profile for the half marathon. Of course with RnR's "wonderful" customer service, no one responded to my request for the elevation profile of their race. Fortunately, someone in one of my Facebook running groups sent over their Strava info regarding the course.

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Holy crap, I did not realize that there was a huge hill in this race. I've always assumed that DC, which was formerly a swamp, was pretty flat. I guess that I thought wrong. Yikes! Looks like I probably should add couple of hill workouts to my upcoming training runs. Fortunately, I already started with this week's long run.

As well as last week's Kemp Mill (C)hills 10K race.

Strength Training:

Eh, nothing worth writing about.

LOL. This reel about Planet Fitness hit so close to home.

I'll also add that hitting the gym at 4/5am also helps me avoid dealing with the protein powder bro and the general riff raff.

Dieting/Proper Eating:

Eh, nothing worth writing about except that I need to really start focusing on better eating habits.

Goals for the week:

-Actually complete my training runs and incorporate some more hill work.

Long run playlist:

I've been enjoying listening to musicals as part of my long runs because I don't have to worry about putting a playlist together. Also, I don't spend a lot of time fast-forwarding songs that I am not feeling at that particular moment. Prior to listening to this musical, I have seen The Temptations TV movie (I think it was from the 90s) a few times. While I've always enjoyed The Temptations' music, I was not a huge fan of most of the movie . . . and (now) the musical. While I get that the TV movie and musical were based on Otis Williams' POV, I wish both could have had aspects from the other members (or I guess from the other members' friends and family). I've always thought that the TV movie (and now the musical) portrayed Otis as an infallible saint with the exception of him cheating his wife. LOL! During portions of my long run, I remember screaming out "Shut the fuck up, Otis!" while listening to this musical. ;)

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 7

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

I have to admit that my motivation has been waning over the last week; however, I do not think it's running-related. I'm not sure if it's weather- or social-related. God, I cannot wait until Spring arrives. Then again, folks tend to have good and bad weeks when training for an upcoming event. Yike, my Rock n Roll DC half marathon is about 30 days away.

I have to say that I regained some of my running motivation during this weekend's Kemp Mill (C)hills 10K. Although I did not perform as well as I would have liked, this race lit a fire in my ever growing a** to get back on track (pun intended). While the race was this past Sunday, my legs quads and calves are still sore three days later from all of those hills.

Oh, I bit the bullet and joined the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC). Since I hate wasting money, I hope this 'investment' will force me to run some of their upcoming low-key races and participate in some of their training runs.

Strength Training:

Bah, humbug. Last week, I hit the gym only once, but technically, I went twice. Lord, I'm such a mess. So what happened on the other day? I decided to walk ~3 miles to the gym as a way to warm up and get some fresh air. I arrived, changed into my workout clothes, and did three sets of bench presses. Hey! Something is better than nothing. Since I wasn't feeling it, I decided to hit up a local sushi spot. Well, lifting raw fish with two stick counts as a workout, right?

Dieting/Proper Eating:

Healthy eating was a bit of a bust this week, and I'm going to blame the Super Bowl AND the Puppy Bowl. I'll get back to eating decently next week because this week has been a little intense (holiday wise) with the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl (lol), Mardi Gras, and Valentine's Day all within days of each other.

Randomness:

So, I finally got my life together and made some health appointments to see a podiatrist and an internist. Why is it whenever I go to a podiatrist, I always receive different (and sometimes conflicting) information. As some may know, I have a heloma molle (aka a kissing corn) in between my 4th and 5th toes on my right foot.

Some information about these bad boys:

“Kissing corns are calluses or corns that develop between the toes, usually between the fourth and fifth (pinky) digits. The pain happens because the toe bones rub against each other creating little corns that “kiss.” They are also called soft corns or calluses....Because kissing corns are located between the toes, they are generally not as hard as other corns and calluses on the bottom or side of the foot due to the natural humidity in the area. These soft calluses can be whitish or yellowish and tend to look spongy....When the kissing corns are recurrent, there’s a small procedure that can be done in our offices in which we make a half-inch incision and shave down the bone slightly, so they stop their love affair' of rubbing against each other."

Central Massachusetts Podiatry

First podiatrist: He basically made it seem like I needed to get surgery ASAP to shave portions of bones in my 4th and 5th toes. Looking back, had I received this information during the pandemic, I probably would have done it. Recovery involves staying off of your foot for about a month, and most of the world (including myself) really wasn't doing anything during the pandemic.

Second podiatrist: Confirmed that it was a heloma molle, but he said that I really didn't need surgery unless the kissing corn prevented me from doing day-to-day activities. Considering that I've run 4-5 marathons and countless half marathons with these corns, he pretty much said that I didn't need surgery. Instead, he recommended wearing foot spacers and visiting him every 3-6 months to have the dead skin removed.

Third podiatrist (most recent): Didn't mention anything about the heloma molle, the misshapen bones in my foot, or surgery. She did indicate that there was a slight fungal infection deep in the corn. While she prescribed a topical antifungal cream, she said that it probably wouldn't work. Um, then why the hell are you prescribing it? She did recommend a few things:

• Investing Therlo shocks or another brand of non-cotton socks. Damn, she was right because these Therlo socks are kind of expensive at $50 for three pairs.

• Not wearing socks during my work from home days to reduce excess moisture accumulation in between my toes.

• Purchasing an anti-fungal spray for my shoes to kill off the spores from the fungal infection and reduce the chances for reinfection. Actually, this is a great tip.

Goals for the week:

-Although I'm not super religious these days, I like to give up something during the season of Lent. For the next 40 days & nights, I'm going to lay off of the Devil's lettuce and reduce my idleness by doing something productive (non-work related) for at least 1.5 hrs a day. There a few things that I really need to start doing that include: figuring out my professional life in medical communications (e.g., making an individual development plan, connecting with other folks in the industry, figuring out my next career move); updating my social media accounts (e.g., primarily my professional website and LinkedIn); look into getting my project management professional certification; learn a new non work -related skill (e.g., relearn programming with Python and R).

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 6

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

This week has been pretty ho hum in my running world. I'll admit that I skipped my long run this weekend. Fortunately for me, my long run was supposed to be a 5K race. ;) Instead of running a 5K race or doing a long run, I decided to hit the stationary bike for about 60 minutes while singing along to the original Hairspray.

Strength Training:

Strength training (supplemented with HIIT and yoga) has been going ok. Now, I've started supplementing my supplemental training with some exercises from Quick Strength for Running.

While the first week of exercises from the book look pretty easy, boy some of my smaller muscles definitely need work. The few exercises that gave me a run for my money were the adductor leg raises, side leg raises, and windshield wipers.

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Dieting/Proper Eating:

While I have been watching what I eat . . . kinda sorta, I was disappointed by my monthly weigh in. Unfortunately, I did not lose any weight during the month of January. In fact, I gained three pounds, which may or may not be significant. I completely understand that losing weight is 20% exercising and 80% managing your diet (or whatever the real ratio is). Well, I have been drinking these nasty veggie smoothies for lunch. I think the one below was a mixture of an orange, broccoli, spinach, carrots, blueberries, celery, and a scoop of yogurt.

Although I didn't lose any weight, I expected to at leave maintained my current (well, previous) weight since I have been working out. I guess that I need to do a bit more in terms of my diet/eating habits. One thing that I really need to change is my sleep habits. Like my eating, my sleeping is a hot mess for which I blame decades of being a night owl. Most nights (well mornings), I do not get to sleep until 1-3 am and will wake up around 6 am. I'm sure that my ghrelin/leptin hormones are out of whack. In case you are unfamiliar with these hormones:

• Ghrelin tells your brain that you are "hungry"and typically increases during sleep deprivation.

• Leptin tells your brain that you are full.

Goals for the week:

-Try to get to bed by 11 pm at least 3 nights this week.

-Begin meal prepping and planning my menu for the week. I think if I actually have a menu for the week, I'll be less likely to eat random crap.