okay – maybe not such a good idea

 

I felt great after my long run on Saturday.  Tired, but exhilerated!  Sunday I felt good, but was still tired.

Yesterday (Monday) I woke up and my left leg was pretty inflamed.  Enough to beg off of a run with my friend Landy, and enough to decide not to run for the rest of the week.  I’m very bummed.

Dr. Scott (my chiropractor) was much more upbeat than I.  He pointed out that I’d run nearly twice as long as he’d recommended, that I felt okay when running and that things got worse a few days later.  This is all consistent with tendonitis.  While it might seem odd to cheer about that, it’s a lot better than some of the other options.  Here’s hoping …

10 muddy miles

I did my longest run in three months this morning, at Cougar Mountain.  The weather was lousy – wet and muddy trails, cold too.  I got myself and my running partners so lost we ended up out there for nearly 2 hours.

It was great.

I’m having some foot and leg pain, and my muscles are definitely tired.  But it’s so good to get out into the cold, wet mud again.

maybe he really is a rocket scientist

 

Personally I’m concerned that he’d do anything requiring a college degree and safety glasses.  You can judge for yourself though.

This picture was lifted from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

an early spring?

This past Saturday was sunny and unseasonably warm (about 60).  Apparently this fooled some of the bulbs in our yard into coming up a bit early.  I used the opportunity to experiment some with my 105 mm macro lens. 

For many of this first set, I used the default macro program on the camera, meaning a very narrow depth of field.  Results are below :

 

 

So – I liked these, but was a bit frustrated at how often I’d fight the narrow depth of field and the wind.  That evening, I did some more experimenting with some roses in a vase in our kitchen.  For these I went up as high as f40 – settling on f11-16 as providing the effect I wanted :

I liked the two above (f16 and f22 respectively), as the blurred outer petals frame the detail in the inner petals.  The wider depth of field allows me to see into the flower enough to make it interesting.  But – then I tried taking another picture at narrow DOF again, this time farther back :

See – I like this one too.  Given the distance to the subject, and the viewing angle, there’s enough detail in range to make the interesting too.  So what I’m learning (again) is that it’s all about composition and technique.  Which is really too bad, as it’s much easier to throw more equipment at the problem :).

running radioactivity

I gained some half-lives today, but just for a little while.  Got a bone scan done, to confirm or deny that I’ve got a stress fracture in my left leg.  It’s been bugging me since October.

Ironically, since scheduling the scan, my leg has felt better.  I’ve run four straight days now, and will probably come in just under 30 miles for the week.  Today’s run was squeezed between getting the radioactive injection for the bone scan, and then getting the scan.  I did between 5 1/2 and 6 miles in the Mercer Slough.  It didn’t feel like I was going especially fast, nor did it feel like I was running especially strong.  However the Eastside Runners web site claims this route is 6 miles, which would mean I ran a sub-eight minute pace, which I don’t believe.

Anyway, it was a pretty nice day out there – about 50 degrees and overcast.  It’s been eerily warm since I got back from NYC.  I shouldn’t complain about that – it just feels more like spring than winter.

I also did a pretty cruddy gym workout this morning.  I’ve been back to lifting weights about 3 times a week since the new year, and am feeling like I’m making slow progress.  This morning however was not as good as some others.  I tweaked a muscle deep in my shoulder a few weeks ago, and have not regained strength there yet.  So I’m wanting to use the machines (to prevent myself from straining any of the supporting muscles), but there are two guys parked in conversation on the decline bench machine.  I watch as they make there way through one or two sloooow sets while I pound out three of them.  They have to be resting three to four minutes between sets – what’s the point?

So I walk up, look impatient, and then ask in my most impatient voice "how many more sets do you have".  In slow motion, they say "well … I …. have … two …. and …. he … has …. one …. more".  Crud.  So I go over and use the free weights for the decline bench.  Of course by then, they’ve moved on to the next machine I want to use.  You get the idea.  And if you’re more well-adjusted than me, you notice how passive-aggressive this all is.

Really, I’m just frustrated that my neck and shoulder hurt, and that I’m having a lousy workout.

On the other hand, are there really any lousy workouts as long as you’re trying your best?

like old times

Went out running with the crew at work today : Ben, Landy, Rob, and two new (to me) faces – Dave and Zhong.  It was a blast.  We did the same old loop – over the Ardmore and Tam o’ Shanter trails, and then back through some nearby neighborhoods.  I was gasping for air most of the way.  But it still felt great to be out there with friends again.

I’ve really missed the social aspect of running.  Swapping stories and giving each other grief over one thing or another.  45 mind numbing minutes on the elliptical trainer just doesn’t do the same thing for me.

Afterwards I had a bit of tenderness in my leg.  But you know – I’m just not sure what ot think about that.  I’m kind of a rolling bag of various aches and pains, due to running, lifting weights, face planting on the ski tracks, or sundry other athletic (or not) adventures.  When I was running today, my right knee and ankle were hurting part of the time, and I never blinked an eye.

So – I’m going to ignore aches that seem to come and go.  And hope that the bone scan I’m getting on my leg Friday will come up negative.  Then I can continue being a medical enigma, with some confidence that I won’t reset the clock on my leg by running hard.

communication, redux

 

This picture is a demonstration of active listening by a person prominent in our local obsessive and overthinking community :

The subject was ‘listening’ to the author drone on about the particulars of a camera lens purchase as she worked the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle.

the key to a strong marriage is communication

 

My wife and I are both a bit obsessive.  We train obsessively and tend to overthink things a bit – remodeling, vacations, and pretty much anything else.

One of the important parts of our overthinking process is "overthinking out loud" to each other.  For example, five minutes ago, my wife arrived home after a triathlon training clinic, and began sharing the various ins and outs of the things she learned.  All sorts of minutia about VO2 max, threshold training, heart rate zones, and (important!) setting achievable goals for oneself.  Just about then I drift back in from the other planet I’m on, and say something unhelpful and hopefully uncontroversial so that it seems I was listening.  Better yet, I’ll occasionally stumble onto a joke that enhances the sense that I’m a caring, actively listening spouse.

Please don’t think I’m a bad person, I’m pretty sure she does this to.  Part of being an overthinking person is that you are often mired in your own inner world of thought, impervious to external disturbance.  And I love her dearly.

Anyway as she spoke, it occurred to me that this may be a common occurrance in other households as well.  If any of you happen to pop up from your own sphere of obsessive overthinking, let me know what you think.

can’t eat anything on the menu

 

While in NYC this week, I went to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, Hangawi.  I always enjoy going there.  The food is all vegan, all pretty unusual, and all very delicious.

 

This time I ordered the Chef Emperor’s Meal, a prix-fixe meal including appetizers, salad, soup, and a main course.  I do not remember exactly what I ate, other than it including lots of mushrooms and roots.  But it was very very good.  I enjoyed some traditional Korean rice wine (nongju) with it too.

 

I’d had a long day interviewing, so I was pretty content to bring a crossword puzzle and magazine with me, for some sedate entertainment.

 

The way the tables are set up a person dining alone (that’s me!) will sit nearby to 2-4 others.  Two young women sat at the table next to me.  It sounded like both were professional actresses, both in the perpetual audition, disappointment, audition cycle.  Then is came time for them to order.

 

One of the women said – "you decide, you’re the one who can’t eat anything".  And indeed that was the case … she ran through a list with the waiter of all of the things she couldn’t eat.  It included wheat, soy, and a number of other ingredients often found in a vegetarian Asian restaurant.  Then she informed the waiter that if any of the verboten ingredients were in her food, he would need to call an ambulance, and that it was quite possible that her death would be on his conscience.  Wow – no pressure.

 

On the other hand, I can’t imagine living with dietary restrictions like that.  You have the constant choice of being a pain in the side whereever you go out to eat, or ending up in the hospital or dead.  I wondered whether there are restaurants for people with dietary restrictions like this.  What’s the menu like : lettuce soup, with a tossed lettuce salad, a lettuce casserole, topped off with lettuce pudding for dessert?

 

I enjoyed my dinner, and left before any ambulance was called.

 

And unless you have severe dietary restrictions about soy and wheat, I’d highly recommend a visit to Hangawi.  You might combine it with a nighttime trip to the top of the Empire State Building, which is right around the corner.

 

 

global warming? not in the northeastern US!

 

Just got back from a quick business trip to New York City.  I always enjoy going there, both to visit family, and to enjoy what the city has to offer. 

 

Sunday, I visited with my cousins in New Jersey and Connecticut.  Got to watch a couple of the kids’ basketball games.

 

I stayed on the Upper West Side in a place I’d been a handful of times before.  They gave me a nice room on a high floor.  The only problem was that the wireless net was flaky.  Eventually I pestered them about to the point that they upgraded me to a king suite with a wireless router in the room.  Flaky wireless aside, it’s so nice staying in this smaller hotel instead of the big corporate places they ordinarily book.  It’s lots closer to work, very close to the park and subway, and in a great neighborhood.

 

Monday and Tuesday I worked.  I interviewed 26 students at Columbia.  It was a pretty good trip, we’ll get a number of good candidates.  One of our competitor companies was also their.  I’m not exactly sure what they do, but I think it involves colorful shorts and lots of advertising revenue.

 

The last interview Monday was interrupted by a fire alarm.  We had to evacuate the building, so the candidate and I found a room in the faculty house across the way.  I’ve had several interviews interrupted before – once by military helicopters!  In this case, we managed to make the best of things though.

 

Tuesday night, I was still reeling from the effects of two things I’d done earlier.  The first was going for an early morning run in Central Park.  It was 11 degrees (-10 with the wind chill).  I think that’s the coldest weather I’ve run in.  Was not as bad as I’d feared.  I kept moving, and wore big woolen socks over my hands.  I stopped for breakfast on the way back to my room, but couldn’t get warm.  I downed two douple-espressos in hopes that this would help.  It didn’t.  I stayed cold for hours.

 

After showering up, I came back down and ordered one more douple-espresso to take up to Columbia with me.  They made two instead, and offered me both.  Against my better judgment, I took them and eventually drank them both.

 

By 11 am, I was flying.  Actually worried that I would rattle myself apart or perhaps have a cardiac event.  The rest of the day I drank lots of water as I tried (in vain) to dilute the caffeine in my bloodstream.  I don’t know when I’ve been that wired.  With the few few candidates I felt like I was jumped out of my seat at them.  Later in the day, I felt more like a rehab patient.  Fortunately, the candidates were pretty good the second day, so I didn’t get too cranky or impatient.

 

In the evening, I took in the Knicks game, got a late dinner, packed, and tried to settle in for some sleep.

 

Not happening.  I think I eventually got about two or three hours before I needed to drag my hollow self downstairs to take a cab to the airport.  Yesterday was kind of a blur.