New Bedford

New Bedford

Friday, July 29, 2011

Work Week Part 1

July 26: Woke up and planned on jogging a few miles. Exhausted from the weekend so I slept in and ate a big breakfast before work. I had a bowl of Go Lean Crunch, 3 eggs and a piece of toast with jam. Packed a double decker PBJ, a mini Clif bar and an applesauce. As I am gathering my things for work, I am having trouble locating my wallet. I slowly go into panic mode for two reasons; wallet is not being found and it is now 6:45 and I need to be to work by 7. It's only a 3 minute drive, but I just can't stop looking for my wallet. I begin ripping through my house and began to think it might of slipped out of my back pocket when I was downtown the night before. Hmmm. Would it still be there? It started to rain when I drove back to my house and it's nowearly in the morning, maybe no one has passed by it yet. Please be there. I had cash in there. My drivers license. These are some of the thoughts rushing through my head as I am driving downtown. I tear up a little realizing losing my wallet in New Hampshire would be a stressful next few days or few weeks replacing things and such. I yell in my head, "This is why you carry a backpack (a murse) so you don't lose things." I have lost multiple possessions out of my back pocket such as my student ID and money. Maybe it because my pants are too baggy and I have no butt to fill them out. The combo might be working against me in these situations. Whatever it is, I was on a mission to get downtown the fastest way possible without getting pulled over (about 7-9 miles over the speed limit). It was no where in sight when I reached my spot from the night before. Now I really freaking! It was 6:50am and I couldn't go to work without knowing where my wallet is or without canceling my debit cards before work. I went back to the bunkhouse to make a one last final effort to find it. I check everywhere; bed, laundry bag, bathroom, shower, refrigerator, and all my clothes I had worn the day before. I glance at my night stand and it's just chillin at the base of the black lamp secretly slightly tucked underneath a piece of paper. Seriously? A take a huge sigh of relief and make it to work 2 minutes late, which is nothing. Another coworker arrives anywhere between 7:05am and 9am, or not at all. That is exactly what happened. Virginia did not come in today so it was just Jean and I weeding everything. The day went by fairly quickly. It started to rain and thunder around 1:45pm. We escaped into the truck (Steve, our boss, is okay if we sit in the truck to let the rain pass). Jean needed to leave at 2:30 for her other job so we both called it a day after the rain picked up. I headed to the Pease Public Library after work to update my resume and make some progress in the job application process. Did that from 3:00-4:30. Ran after that. Calves mad sore from the race still. Got in the mileage and stretched a bunch after. I was excited to do some major cooking this night. First, I sautéed some yellow squash in butter, olive oil and seasoned with pepper. I let these cook for a 6-8 minutes because I knew they took the longest. I cut up some chicken and cooked it butter, olive oil, worcestershire sauce, chili powder, cayenne pepper and cumin. I cooked up a bag of white rice pretty much at the same time as the chicken (boiled the water from the beginning so it would be ready at any time). I cooked everything at the right time to be done at all the same time. Ca-chang! I sometimes have trouble with this aspect of cooking. It was delicious and a huge amount. I split it up into two servings. You know the normal proportions of a chicken salad or chicken parm, there is almost never enough chicken for every bite. Well, my proportions are slightly, pretty much, most definitely the opposite of this. I had just enough rice for each piece of chicken because that is how I roll.  Rest of the night was relaxing and my normal night routine of being in bed before 10pm. This is because I have no television or computer to keep me up after hours. It works out. 

Summary: I ended up running 14 miles (94:27). It was an enjoyable run. I did wear my calf sleeves because they were still wrecked from Saturday racing. Mostly the soleus muscle (lower calf) on the right side. I have been icing religiously and sticking my leg to work out the soreness. I probably should of doubled today instead of one longer run or only 10-12 miles. Oh well. Long run tomorrow. Not sure where.

July 27: Woke up at 6 to make myself another big breakfast. 2 bowls of cereal, 2 eggs, and a piece of toast. I was pumped to have leftovers for lunch today at work. I still made a PBJ (single, no double decker) for 9 o clock break. Today was something new for work. Pruning! We got a mini lesson from Steve and then got to work for the rest of the day. The only tough part was getting to the middle of the bushes and the fact that it poured the night before. Within the 10 minutes of pruning, my shorts were soaked and the bottom half of my shirt. I luckily had a few layers on because it was chilly in the morning. I wasn't soaked to the bone. My shoes and socks definitely were, but it was supposed to warm up by the afternoon and it did. We hit up the president's house to do some pruning and I threw my long sleeve thermal and t-shirt to dry on the hood of the truck. I pruned in my beater. I felt naked, but it was much easier. Plus, I had a dry layers for the rest of the day. I did whack the back of my head on the corner window sill. It jostled me up a bit, but no blood. Jean left at 2:30 again and the last hour of work was weeding at the blueberry bushes. Virginia showed me this edible weed I could eat (no, not marijuana). It was tasty, but I felt like a rabbit chomping on the stuff. No worries. A little snack before the end of the work. I headed home to relax and fuel up the long run (peanut m&ms and honey roasted peanuts Sarah gave me, perfect). I decided to be smart and turn my bedroom into the KSC training room. I made a homemade heating pad (a wet towel in a ziploc bag and nuked it for 5 minutes) and threw a shirt on my calf to prevent burning. Sat there for 15 minutes, stocked, foam rolled, stretched and was on my way. I had passed by this old railroad bed that is now gravel and dirt. I decided to see where it led. I checked gmap-pedometer.com to ensure it ended up some place runnable. It did so an exploration was in store. It was 4 miles on the roads. I turn onto the trail. Its scenic and good footing. Within 5 minutes, I approach an electric fence so I did what I do best. Jump it and head into unchartered territory. I then had to climb a metal gate into somebody's front yard aka farm. I see the railroad bed continues on the other side so I was too intrigued to just turn around. I cross safely without any gunshots or barking dogs chasing me through the yard. I reach the other side after passing some cows to come across another electric fence/metal gate combination. This time they are very close together, but I felt I was nimble enough to carefully step over the electric fence and climb over the gate without falling or slipping off to receive some shock. I continued down and reached a road. I continued on this until about an hour and turned around. I ripped open my vanilla bean Gu packet at 45 minutes and I thought I was eating some Breyer's vanilla bean (extra creamy edition). Damn, ordering a bunch those in the near future. As I was making my way back, I decided to run around the farm with the electric fence since there was a sign posted on the gate stating "STAY ON THE TRAIL OR STAY HOME." I didn't feel like getting shot or something. I made it around and hopped back onto Bog Road. I came across the path I originally turned onto. The trail continued on the other side of the road and I decided it would be beneficial to check it out (and it wasn't pavement). This worked out to my advantage very nicely. The main reason being was a started to chaf on the worst part of the body. My ding-a-ling. It the first time, but I have only heard of the horrifying stories. Since the trail was secluded and I couldn't see a soul in sight in front of me. I let it free to relief myself of the chaffing. It was remarkable mostly because I was pain free. This lasted about 2 miles until the trail ended and turned into a dirt road. It was deserted as well, but I didn't want to take my chances of being arrested for indecent exposure. The dirt road was Moit's Place, which is off of Loon Lake Road. I knew where I was and cruised home. As soon as I got back, I started feeling a bit nausea. I think it was the fact that I was a dehydrated and the long run does that to me sometimes. I didn't have much of an appetite for serious food so eventually I made some Belgium waffles. I topped it with my homemade jam and bananas. Hit the spot and relaxed for the rest of the night. Slept like a rock.

Summary: I mapped out the run and it came out to 18.3 miles (2:07:46). 7:07 for the last uphill mile, but overall pace was 6:57. The calves were less sore by the end of the run and the heating pad made a huge difference. A fairly smooth long run and I was glad I didn't concentrate on the speed of the run so much. Somebody asked me what I think about when I do these long runs. So I started to think about it on my runs and what I see is usually dictated by what my eyes are seeing. Especially in new areas. This long run was filled up with commenting (in my mind) on the houses and buildings I passed. Not much else going on with my runs. At times of course, I think about running when I am running. For example, I have been trying to envision my marathon race on the long runs and even the 10 milers and shorter runs. It works out and I never find the necessity to use music. It throws off my breathing and pacing. I can't do my normal body check to make sure my form isn't breaking down. 

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