COLD
Friday, February 02, 2007
When I moved here after four years in Marquette, Michigan, I scoffed at Madisonians' reports of winter weather.
Snow? Marquette gets more than ten feet a year on average (It's the second-most "snowiest city" in the country). It starts coming down in October and still dots the beaches in May (I wasn't at all surprised one warm spring day to see sunbathers in bikinis sharing a beach with snowbanks). One winter, I had to have my car towed (read: unstuck) six different times. Three were right in my own driveway.
Cold? Marquette is the fourth-coldest city in the country. January averages have been known to hover right around five degrees. In Marquette, you huddle under over sized wool sweaters, wear boots, and try your damnedest to score an apartment with a fireplace, not because any of these things are cute or trendy, but because otherwise, you'll literally freeze your ass off.
Despite all of this, people in Marquette are among the most active -- year round -- whom I've ever seen. They snowshoe, cross-country and downhill ski, skijor, and run...no matter what the weather is like.
It was there that I learned the value of good (read: weather appropriate) running clothes and developed a true love of snowshoeing and winter running.
Strange, but true. The worse the winter weather is, the more I seem to want to be out in it. There's just something about running past houses where people are huddled safe and warm inside. It's a braving-the-elements sort of thing. One that delivers a punch of accomplishment and sticktuitiveness. On days like that, there's nothing like a look from a passing motorist cast in your direction that says, "You crazy, crazy fool. What are you doing outside in this?" and at the same time, "I could/would never do that."
But today in Madison, it's a special kind of cold out -- the kind that makes your nostrils freeze together. The kind that makes your teeth ache and your legs go numb lest they're covered in Carhart. The kind of cold that the winds whipping off Lake Superior dish out to Marquette only once in a while.
It's hard to remember, on days like today, how the sun could possibly feel too hot on your skin. It's hard to look out over Lake Monona and believe that just four months from now, the frozen sheet of ice covering it and the mini-city of bundled-up men with their shanties and poles will give way to warm, lapping water, swimmers, and boaters. It's hard to imagine running in a tank top and shorts.
Such is the miracle of midwest living. Four true seasons. Weather ranging from the unbearably cold to the excrutiatingly hot, and all of the sublime days that fall in between.
Proust said that "A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves." For me, spring begets hope in the purest possible sense. Summer's warmth makes every day feel like vacation. Fall invokes the need for family and hunkering down. And frigid winter days build character. Much like brussell sprouts or a 20-mile run, these cold days are not something you look forward to or wish for. After the fact, though, you survive and you are proud.
And if you're anything like me, not too proud to hop on the treadmill.
Posted by Erin 8:30 AM 1 comments
No Excuses
Thursday, February 01, 2007
As months go, January and February top the list as the hardest. Nothing much happens during these months. There are no holidays to mark the time, no holiday parties to pass the longer nights. More often than not, the days are frigid and snowy. And these two months seem about as far away from the warm, scent-heavy days of spring as you can get -- both in calendar pages and mental health.
Especially in the Midwest. Especially when you're training for an Ironman.
In the last two cases, it's easy to feel down. It's easy to feel uninspired and unmotivated. It's even easier to make excuses.
Too icy to run outside. Too much to do at work. Too much to do after work -- grocery store, exercising the dog, exercising the horse, meetings upon meetings. To borrow a phrase I heard someone say lately, "Too much too much."
A skipped workout here or there won't hurt. It's the middle of the winter, after all. Your life is busy. One can only do so much.
And then you hear about someone like Dick Hoyt, and you're exposed for what you are: a whiner and a wuss.
Dick Hoyt's son Rick has had Cerebral Palsy since he was born, but that hasn't stopped either of them from completing 64 marathons, 206 triathlons (six of them Ironmans), 78 half-marathons, and a slew of other races -- 911 in all. Lest you think that isn't enough of an accomplishment, the pair also biked and ran across the country (3,735 miles) in 45 consecutive days; biked the states of Connecticut,Rhode Island, Massachusetts with "Axa World Ride '95;" and biked from Pittsburgh to Washington DC with "Axa World Ride 95 ."
The remarkable thing is not just the races. It's the training, too. All of the training hours logged for each one of those races. All of the miles Dick Hoyt runs, bikes, and swims -- not only by himself, but with his son. Pushing, pulling, and pedalling his son.
When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly-stabilized boat being pulled by his dad.
And I think my training is "much too much" at times? As Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated says, "Compared to Dick Hoyt, I suck."
Take the time to read the story and watch the short video of this amazing duo here.
Meanwhile -- despite the cold, despite having to entertain a justifiably-bored Vizsla and exercise a cooped-up horse, and despite having to figure out what to do about dinner -- I'm going to get my workout in tonight.
No more excuses.
Posted by Erin 2:08 PM 0 comments
Guesswork be Gone
Friday, January 26, 2007
2006 was a year of life-changing experiences.
There was turning 30 (which I've heard is the new 20).
Then there was gmail, with its snazzy searches and incredibly convenient g-chat feature (Seriously, people, I didn't believe it either at first. But it's that good.)
And finally, there was Map My Run (also a direct result of the genius of Google. Coincidence? I think not!)
For any runner or cyclist, this is, perhaps, one of the greatest inventions of all time. Right up there with the dry-wick gear, bodyglide, and the ipod.
Gone are the days of driving a route in your car and mentally guesstimating the approximate mileage lost or gained by things like cutting through parks. Gone is the guilt and (if you're anything like me) the subsequent tacking on of extra blocks at the end, to make up for that guessing (because, heaven forbid you should run 2.93 miles instead of 3). Gone are the boring days of running only a few calculated routes, or the difficulties of running or biking while out of town.
You can store all of your routes right online and there's a handy little calculator in which you enter age, height, weight, and total time for the route; in return, it spits out your average pace and how many calories you burned.
It's brilliant. Pure and simple brilliance. And, for the Type-A runner, a little bit like crack.
Try it and see. I dare you. You'll be hooked in no time.
Posted by Erin 1:11 PM 0 comments
For those of you new to this blog thing...
I've heard from quite a few people that they wanted to post a comment on here, but couldn't figure out how. So, here's a primer:
- For the particular post (blog entry) that you'd like to comment on, click on the "comments" portion (ex: Posted by Erin 11:19 AM 0 comments Links to this post) at the bottom of each post.
- In the box under "leave your comment," type what you'd like to say.
- Under "Chose an Identity" click on the "Other" button (unless you have undergone the life- changing experience of gmail) and enter your name.
- Press "Publish Your Comment" and, voila! (or as a certain Wisconsin political blogger who will not be named would say, "Wahlah!"). Mission accomplished. Well done, you!
Posted by Erin 12:47 PM 0 comments
What Comes Around...
Friday, January 05, 2007
I could have had a free bike.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Here's the story: I walk into the Trek store in October, pick out a bike and all of the fixings that go with it...which, if you've ever decided suddenly one day to "take up" biking, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Water bottles, water bottle cages, aerobars, spare tires, tire-changing tools, an under-the-seat pack to hold the spare tire and tire-changing tools, a tire pump, bike trainer, shoes, a fitting. I could go on for close to forever. But, you get the picture. Lots o' stuff.
In any case, I open up a Trek card (great deal - no finance charges for 12 months), promise to make good on all the goods by signing my name on the dotted line, and the store clerk realizes there was a shoe fitting or pair of shorts or something that didn't get rung up. So, she runs the card again, and I sign, again. Then, I go home happy.
About a month down the road, I get a statement from Trek. For $36. So I pay it. And, assuming the big whopper of a statement is not far behind, I pay an extra few hundred dollars toward the bike et al.
Two months come and go, and I get a letter from Trek indicating that I overpaid by several hundred dollars and they'd like to refund my money. I just have to call a specified 1-800 number.
After explaining the reason for my overpayment, the customer service representative tells me she sees no record of me having bought a bike and I should contact the store to see if they do.
I hang up the phone and realize I have two options: 1. call the store, alert them to their (rather large) mistake, and pay for my bike the old fashioned way, or 2. pretend the whole Trek-instigated letter/conversation never happened and go about my training a little bit richer.
Now, I'd like to say that I immediately jumped to #1, but I didn't. I don't know if that makes me a morally-marginal member of society, or just plain human. But we're talking a LOT of money here folks. Money that I wouldn't necessarily have to pay if I didn't pick up the phone and alert the Trek store to a mistake that they didn't even know they had made.
At the very least, it was tempting not to. I thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it. I weighed my options. Over and over again.
In the end, one picture keeps resurfacing: me on a dishonestly-come-by bike, on a miserably hot (or, given this year's weather, cold and drizzly) day in September, struggling up and down hills and struggling just to keep my legs moving after 6+ hours on a bike, with the phrase "most difficult Ironman bike course in the world" (not sure where I heard it, but after seeing the Wisconsin course, there's not a doubt in my mind that it's true) narrating the scene.
The Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike, with a marathon tacked on to the end for good measure. It's one hell of a hard race. And, I figured, why make it even harder?
So, I picked up the phone. Because from what I've heard, Karma's a bitch. And I'd really rather not have her tagging along on September 9th.
Posted by Erin 11:19 AM 0 comments
3:25!
Monday, December 11, 2006
That's the time my friend, Patrick Manion, finished the Dallas White Rock Marathon in yesterday. I'm not sure what his previous best was, but I do know that back when I was talking about doing that race with him, we were both aiming for around a four-hour finish. The unofficial results list his time at 3:27, and that's with a detour to the 1/2 marathon finish line. Either way, it's an ridiculously incredible accomplishment (and only 15 minutes off of a qualifying time for Boston...).
Way to go, Patrick! I'm thoroughly impressed, and so happy for you!
Now, get your ass on that bike. I'll see you in Madison on September 9th.
Posted by Erin 2:17 PM 1 comments
Get Your Ass on That Bike
That's what I had to tell myself last night when about the last thing I wanted to do in the whole world was workout.
Surprisingly enough, it worked.
Often, I can get myself out for a run at almost any time, in almost any weather because I really, truly love to run. It's therapeutic and relaxing and energizing. But I've been having serious problems with motivating myself to workout lately for three main reasons: One, I've been really busy lately and, as a result, really tired. Two, I'm having to swim and bike more and more, which I like doing far less than running (see above). And three, I'm having to dedicate increasingly larger chunks of time to working out, which -- when combined with work, extra-curricular meetings, and horse and dog that need exercise -- gets overwhelming at times.
I have little tricks that I use to get myself out for a run -- telling myself I only have to run two miles (I almost always end up going longer), putting on my running clothes to take the wonder dog for a walk...just in case I want to do some hill sprints or intervals (half-way through the gear-up process, I almost always end up gearing myself up mentally to run as well), downloading new music onto my ipod that I won't let myself listen to until I'm out running, or treating myself to a new anything (hat, gloves, shoes, flavor of GU) that I want to try out. These tricks work almost without fail.
I'm still in search of good tricks for talking myself into a pool or bike workout, and I'm open to suggestions.
Until then, I'm just going to have to keep talking sternly to myself.
Posted by Erin 8:48 AM 0 comments