Tempo Run

With the new half marathon program I had my first tempo run in months last night. Wow, I forgot how brutal those can be. But it felt good to really push myself through the three middle miles of my run. Nice! I have a good feeling about being back on the wagon. Plus I was stagnating without a true goal.

Back to a Program

I haven't really followed a program since I ran a marathon last year. I think as a result my running has not really progressed the way I would like it to. So as of today, I am back on a program and I will be registering for the half marathon section of the Philadelphia Marathon in November. I like the course, even if I did hurt myself running this same race last year. Truth be told, I was undertrained and I suffered the effects of that.

In other news, today is my birthday. I am 41 today. I don't feel as old as the number sounds.

Swimming Makes Me Tired

My swim week is at an end. I should say I am tried. I swam 5 times this week and three days in a row at the end of the week. Swimming just saps my strength, I have a great respect for those that do this on a more constant basis than I do. I needed a nap this afternoon to recover from my week in the pool. This was a good move. My muscles feel worked but without the damage that a week of running can do to your body. I feel ready to get out there tomorrow and go back to my running program.

In other news, I was a dummy for a black belt test on Saturday. I can always go with a good ass kicking so I volunteered to get beat on a bit in the name of school spirit. It is always nice to be there for those moving up the ranks. Plus, as I always say a good deal of what training provides to you as a practitioner is the removal of the shock of actually being hit. If you can get over that you have a much better chance of getting through a fight.

It's About Pain

I have not been as diligent about posting as I should have been. I think that blogging is an ebb and flow sort of thing. I have noticed that I have some nagging injuries these days. Mostly the culprit is my right hip. When I train heavy the hip lets me know about it. I am not sure if it is a result of my body telling me to slow down or the result of some injuries in my "bullet proof" twenties coming back to demand payment. I know I get a nice creak in my elbow from where I elbowed a man in the fist, while he was throwing a punch. (A dumb move on my part but probably singularly impressive to watch). The point of the day, pain management.

So here I sit attempting to battle to stay in as peak of condition I can get while maintaining a successful law practice. It is a hard balance. As I mentioned, I believe I will need to supplement my running with swimming to cut down on the wear and tear on my hip and calf. These are the two problem areas. Tonight I managed another 32 laps. To go with this I do manage to get my martial arts training in as well. To be truthful the running and swimming are tools to make my martial training more effective. That is the point, well for me it is. The running has its own goals but the reason for doing so was to be more effective on the mat. The surprising thing that running has brought is its own little addiction.

There is something that borders on spiritual about tapping the physical. It is the feeling of truly being alive and connecting to the universe. (If that makes any sense). I have never really be a very religious person, but sometimes when I am really in the heart of a great run or flying through techniques and I get that "perfect moment", I think at those times I truly understand spirituality. Because the feeling is beyond simple satisfaction, it is as if I have tapped into something more. To get there through, there is a pain barrier that has to be broken through first, at least for me. It may be because I am now in my 40's and I can't quite get rolling with out a little bit of discomfort. Once I get there it is worth the little pain barrier.

This has been a bit of an affirmation. Why do I beat myself so relentlessly? By most accounts I am a fairly intelligent man, some might debate it but I like to tell myself that anyway. The answer is that beating myself down is worth it. When I can get those singular "perfect" moments it justifies all of the pain. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Happy running or swimming or fighting or what ever your poison happens to be.

Some Time in the Pool

I have noticed that I get some injuries when I train too much. A big suprise but true. To combat the tendencies of my right hip, left calf and right hamstring from yelling too much, I have decided to take a more reasoned approach to my training. This is tough for a guy who at some level enjoys chastising himself for not gritting through the pain. So I have decided to take a 3 week on one week off sort of routine. But my off week is a pool week. I am not a big fan of swimming laps, there is too much isolation in swimming. There is too much disconnect from the environment for me to ever be enthusiastic about it. But to keep injuries in check it is a must. So I did 30 laps on Sunday, 25 on Monday and 40 today. That is a lot of laps and I think it is good for me, even if it is boring.

As to the running, I am getting faster again. I dropped some speed after my illness. I think that lung infection really hit me hard in terms of endurance. I am only now getting back to a 10:00 pace. For a while I was around 11:00 to 11:30 for a time. Now I am back to 10:00 to 10:15. With a little speed work I should be ready for a half marathon in November. Here is to happy training.

Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr.

I read a book, not a big suprise. I read a novel about running, okay a little unusual. I have seen Once a Runner a few times in the book store and I have picked it up and put it down. I was finally intrigued enough to buy it. The book itself has an interesting story. It was out of print but the demand for it reached a critical mass the the publisher put it back on the shelves.



The story itself is simple enough a college runner is quite simply trying to break the 4:00 barrier and to hopefully break a world record. A secret lofty goal and an impressive public one. I got the point of the book pretty early on. The book is about the cost of dreams and running can be seen as a metaphor for what ever your dreams are. If you want to succeed you have to give everything you have to achieve them. For our main character in the book he comes to realize that to achieve greatness he has to foresake everything else in order to achieve it. That is the cost, everything.



I found the book to be equal parts uplifting and grim. It is a triumph of the human spirit and at the same time a slap to those who think they can do it all. I think you can do it all, you just can't do it all well. Excellence equals sacrifice. We all on some level know this. I like this book and how often do you find a novel about running. Give it a try.

I Sit at the Cross Roads

I believe that I sit at a cross roads in my life. Lately I have been looking back as much as looking forward and taking stock of not only who I am, an important endeavor, and how I got to be here. Recently, I was laid off for the second time since January. This was a hard thing for me to come to grips with, I have always been employed. This was since I was 16, always working. I never had an issue with work. It is an odd thing to realize that after putting myself through law school I have less job security than I did doing entry level jobs right out of high school. Odd, truly odd. But it makes you take stock of the reasons that you did things in the first place. The question becomes, why is it that I became a lawyer? How is it that I got to here? I do know one thing, I never wanted an ordinary life.

I know that I didn't go to law school to get a fancy job or a fancy title. I have always been possessed with a sense of justice. It has always been important to me to help people. I think I saw law school as an opportunity to have my life mean more than just collecting a paycheck. More than just showing up. I looked at it as an opportunity to be able to bring my principles into my work life and define my life on my own terms. When I say it that way it sounds pretty terrific. So here I am, a man of deep principle faced with a big decision. I can either go back to the corporate side of law and potentially look at the same soul crushing work or I can make a change. I think I have begun this transition already. However, this is a bit of a mission statement. I am now cutting ties and accepting responsibility for my own security. Truth be told in the legal profession the only security you have is what you give yourself.

So I will be from this point, on for good or ill, a solo attorney. It is going to be a tough road but I think I will have more satisfaction in my life as a result. As I go I have to just remind myself of what is truly important and repeat my mantra, "honor first". Because, in the end how we live is far more important that what we accumulate in life. For me it is "honor first", the journey is far more important than the destination. Here is a toast to the journey, I hope it is interesting.

An Update

Has it been a month, I suppose it has. In that time I have finally picked up my running to 15 miles a week for two weeks in a row. I have been to my martial arts class and got seriously clawed up by a training partner who doesn't seem to understand the wisdom of the finger nail clipper. When doing grabs and locks you have to respect your training partners and that means clipping the nails to avoid unnecessary injury to your partners.

I have been excited over my running as of late. I was able to put in a six mile effort one day last week and that has been my longest run of the year. This is simultaneously sad and exciting. Sad as I ran a marathon last year and exciting to finally get things back on track. Whew!!!

Here's to hoping for better things in the coming weeks.

A Good Week, Finally

It seems that I have been struggling for this entire year to get a good routine together. This week was finally one that I think I can build upon. I was able to get out of the roads four times for a total of 12.5 miles. The milage may not be breath taking by any stretch of the imagination but it was a solid start.

When life is chaotic it can be difficult to get things together. When my life became a bit chaotic my running also seemed to followed the same chaos. I am attempting to get things in a more organized framework and hopefully I will be able to follow up on this.

Currently, I am thinking of doing the Philadelphia Distance Run in September. It is a nice half marathon and I haven't done a race since last November. It feels like too long of a break, probably because it is. Here is to getting another number.

Harsh Conditions

I have been laid up for the last two weeks with a nasty lung infection that really laid me low. There was no running and to be truthful there was little of anything that was not laying my head on my pillow. Over the past week I have been able to get out doors again, I even bought a new pair of shoes. Nothing says summer like new shoes.

I have been running in stability shoes but as I was at a water park on Sunday I noticed that my wet foot print does not match the stability foot print. I decided to go with a lighter shoe and see how I do. So I went from the 12 oz Brooks GTS 8 to the 8 oz Brooks ST 4 Racer. A racing shoe, just so I say. I will use it for my speed workouts and on race days. I have done a couple of quick runs and I would say that I like it. I can feel the weight difference but I also would be afraid to go very long distances in the shoe. It says that a half marathon would be fine but I don't think I would do one in them. Perhaps a race of 5 miles or less, 8 miles tops. There isn't alot of shoe there but there is enough.

Here to hoping for a healthier summer than the late fall has allocated me.