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| Makiko and I, reunited at the Twilight Ultra Challenge I was volunteering at - her husband was running! |
I've just finished Charles Stross's 'Glasshouse', on SF Road Warrior's recommendation. Sure, it's scifi, but all good scifi contains a kernel or six of incisive social commentary, and this one says a lot of things about gender norms, identity and 20th century society despite being set in the centuries-distant future. It's bubbling over with ideas and is a pretty fast, fun read.
Also just read Jonathan Black's 'Making the American Body'. I feel like the publishers didn't do a great job of marketing this book...or editing it, because it could have been so much more. It's a nice packaged history at a glance of the fitness industry, from Arnold to Zumba. You'll meet Abbye 'Pudgy' Stockton of 1940s Muscle Beach, who at 115 lbs could lift her 180lb husband and wrote a column called Barbelles; and the business-savvy founder of Jazzercise, Judi Sheppard Missett. (Yep, before there was Zumba, there was Jazzercise.) But I feel like the author didn't push deep enough into exactly who these characters were and what their motivations were - or draw much of a link to modern-day fitness trends, cultural neuroses, body dysmorphic disorder, gender, or obesity.
Gold Coast week 5 of 18 - training log
Monday - 8km to/ at the gym, plus hot yoga. I have the world's best yoga instructor - zero nonsense, nothing faux-spiritual, just a good stretch in a warm room. Short, sturdy, loud, and hilarious are not things one typically associates with yoga teachers. I'm a regular. This is a good class.
Tuesday track - 5km time trial in 25:49 (not my best time, but now I'm sure Venus Run was probably not a fluke. Dear lord, do I hate time trials. Does anyone ever do better in a TT than in an actual race?)
Wednesday - a warmup jog and strength work
Thursday - 10km of very painful, miserable, appalling tempo attempt; you could have melted down my legs for solder. This week I'll try doing my strength work AFTER the tempo run and have Wednesday as a true rest day.
Friday - 8km easy
Saturday - skipped my planned 10km because I was working
Sunday - The longest long run I've done in a while, and the most successful in terms of sticking to plan. 20km: 8km easy (in the neighbourhood of 7min/km), 6km tempo at 6min/km around Pandan Reservoir, 6km easy all the way home - hooray! Fuelled by shot blocks and overnight oats (oats soaked in cold soymilk overnight because oatmeal keeps me full longer than anything else, but trying to eat a hot breakfast when it's 30C in the morning is just too much to ask). Who says I never learn?
Total: 52km
Your workouts are amazing! May I ask where you get the shot blocks from? And also... how do you ever motivate yourself to work up to a time trial? The days I run my timed 2.4 are the ones I dread most!
ReplyDeleteShoe! Please don't take these as any sort of benchmark for distances or paces at which to run - they're just my personal training log. I don't usually post training logs (I have a notebook for that) but I thought someone else thinking of training for a marathon on the same plan might find them a useful reference. Also, training for longer and longer distances has totally broken my perspective on what I think of as a 'short' or 'long' run. And they're not that amazing. Sometimes, like Thursday, they SUCK. :)
DeleteOh gosh, the dreaded time trial. Er, I make myself go to track where I know my coach and the rest of my running group are waiting for me...so major props that you motivate YOURSELF to do it. If I had to do it solo, I'd use a little bit of visualisation - before and during the run, imagine the time you want to hit on each lap - and a little bit of chocolate afterwards.
Oh and the shot blocks - online! I have a whole carton to get me through the next few months. Generally half to one package per long run and one or two during a full marathon. Nom. Would you like some?
DeleteYeah! My brother has started cycling long distances, so we were thinking of getting a couple packages to try and share... I'll google around to see where I can get some. Thank you! And hope this week's runs go smoothly :D
DeleteGreat work! And I want to hear more about the ultra challenge you were volunteering for!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Heh, we'll get to that! I'm just lagging, so I put up a placeholder photo first.
DeleteTime trials are a form of sadistic torture designed by hateful coaches. You have to put in all the effort of a race but without the shiny trinket reward at the end.
ReplyDeleteA 5K time trial sounds like THE WORST. I can barely get myself to do a timed mile every month (my 2014 goal) -- at least I know it will be over relatively quickly. I doubt anyone would do better during a TT than during a race -- TT's are much more of a mental challenge, I'd think!
ReplyDeleteGaaaaaah I can never make myself run a time trial. I have to sign up for a race so that it feels, y'know, real. On the track or whatever, my body is like, O EFF THIS MESS.
ReplyDeleteNice week!
I see everyone commiserates on the time trials :) If I wasn't doing them with a running group, no way I'd be doing them on my own every quarter. That's what races are for!
DeleteI cannot fathom early morning runs at that temperature! Ugh.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the 80% humidity!
DeleteThis is why I'm always a puddle when I run, no matter what the distance is. You just kind of get used to it...