Still Sick!

I ended up with a fever yesterday afternoon - looks like going to the gym was NOT a great idea. Luckily it broke around four.

Needless to say, this will be one of my rare days off.

For those that are in town, go to LPSkater's New Year's Eve event at the speedskating oval tonight! You can read about it at her blog and the Lake Placid News website.

Have a safe and happy New Year everyone!

Swimming and Skating

Helloooooooo people!

Yesterday I managed to run outside - it was wicked cold, but just barely warm enough. I had a time of 25:46, which was actually kinda fast for being in maintenance mode. It just had been so long since I pushed myself that I couldn't resist. I figure one semi-near tempo run a week or so won't kill me.

Today I got a free swim lesson at the gym. I worked on getting comfortable with keeping my face in the water while swimming, something I've always had trouble with. I'd love to take more lessons, but they're expensive - $95 an hour for private lessons.

In other exciting news, the Oval has been flooded and is looking ready to go. YAY! Now if only I can find someone to sharpen my skates. *LOL*

Tomorrow will be legwork and running at the gym. No karate tonight since Dr. Z is out of town.

Between Seasons

Once again, I haven't updated in a while because nothing much is going on. I've been doing a three mile job either on Dr. Z's treadmill or outdoors (as the weather permits) about three times a week. Just enough to kind of keep my hand in it during the off-season.

Karate's been the usual. I've missed a few classes due to work being absolutely hectic.

In winter sports news, I just found out yesterday that the Speedskating Oval won't be opening until the 20th due to budget cuts by our esteemed governor. BOOOOOOOO!!! It should already be the season - it's cold enough, that's for sure. Between that and John Dimon closing up shop, it's just not a good year for speedskaters in Lake Placid.

Still Slow

Not many updates lately, but there's also not much going on. Running is over and I'm doing the bike at the gym to let my lower legs heal, canoeing is over and we put the canoe away for winter storage a couple days ago, nothing new at Karate, and no speedskating yet. (Although we DID just have our first snow of the year - half a foot of the wet, heavy stuff fell last night.)

Dr. Z and I did do a quick hike up Mount Baker on Sunday. We would have done a longer hike but the weather was supposed to be really terrible in the afternoon so we didn't think we had a lot of time. Turned out to be gorgeous the entire day, but what the hell. You can never predict the weather in Lake Placid.

Don't worry, a couple more weeks and not only will I be running again (low-key, offseason stuff but running nonetheless), in a month the speedskating oval will be opening and I will once again be attempting to NOT fall on my ass.

Nasty Ice

Running didn't go that great last night. I'm still eeking out a ten-minute mile for a 5K distance. I think what got me was having McDonald's for lunch. Evidently I haven't learned from The Great Post-Race Popcorn Hurl of 2007.

Went skating this morning. The ice was terrible. All pebbly and no glide whatsoever. It's been worse, but what gets me is that on cold days like this, all they have to do to fix it is flood the Oval and it's fixed in an hour. The reason ORDA didn't do it? The guys where too busy TEARING UP THE BASKETBALL COURT FLOOR. What the fuck EVER.

Anyhoodle, I have Karate tonight. Anyone want to bet that Sensei WON'T spend 90% of the class on bunkai? Yeah, didn't think so.

I was hoping to skate tomorrow, but found out they'll be closed in the morning and am not sure that I'll be able to make the 4-6 timeslot. We'll see.

Okay, I'm done bitching now. Man, I DO need to go on vacation.

Time Flies

Didn't realize it had been almost a week since my last post. I went to Karate on Wednesday - we spent the entire class reviewing the bunkai to the first four or so moves to Nahanchi Shodan. And that includes the set. Talk about mind-numbing.

Thursday and Friday were speed-skating, which went really well. I did my usual "2 pace laps one rest lap" for an hour. Friday also included a kata review at the dojo with Dr. Z.

Saturday I spent time with my family, so that became my de facto rest day.

Sunday I went to the gym, where I amazed myself with my distinct lack of any cardio fitness right now. Dr. Z says to not worry about it - I'll get it back in time for the running season.

Yesterday was Karate, where we continued to work bunkai on Nahanchi Shodan. Once again, SNOOZE. The one item of interest is that Sensei plans on testing me when I get back from vacation. Don't know how many stripes I would be up for - we'll see.

I also went for a walk of my 5K route, figuring that because it was 50 and rainy the Oval would be closed. Silly me. There were speedskaters out there when I passed by at the end of my walk. Oh well.

Tonight is the gym. Hopefully my run will go a bit better than Sunday. Like Karate, I have to get serious about running when I get back. It WILL be March, after all.

Karate Klass

After two days in a row of running, I decided to take yesterday off from it. I went to Karate instead. We did a lot of kata review, which is exactly what I needed. I actually felt like I had snap, which was nice. It's funny - there's a new student who, like me, studied Tae Kwon Do for years and he's having all the same style issues that I had when I first started - too much bouncing and jumping and telegraphing kicks.

Tonight I'm planning on doing some light speedskating at the behest of Dr. Z. (I was originally planning on giving myself the day off because my legs are sore.)

Zoom!

It was even colder on the Oval today thanks to a strong breeze, starting out at a windchill of -15 when I got there. Even now Weather.com lists a windchill of -4. Once again, I sacrificed speed for endurance and bundled up in my ski gear. Even today I ended up having to take my ski parka off.

The upside of it is that with all this supercold weather, the ice is AMAZING. I had John Dimon sharpen my blades yesterday and...DAMN. ZOOM.

I followed yesterday's workout and did another hour of 2 pace/1 rest laps. I didn't want to expand yet since yesterday was my first real workout in a while and I'm adding Karate tonight. (Which I haven't been to in weeks.)

Speaking of which, I need to go off and write a note of apology to Sensei so I can patch things up with him before showing my face tonight.

Tomorrow is the gym, assuming Dr. Z is feeling well enough to go. I must admit that it will be nice to have a warm indoor workout after the past couple days of cold.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Brrr...windchill of -4 at the Oval today. It was surprisingly warm once I got going though. Having the sun out definitely helped! There was a nasty wind coming down the "front" of the Oval, but otherwise the ice was hard and fast with great glide. At least, for those of us who DIDN'T have to drop off their skates for sharpening afterwards. I was skidding all over the place!

Olympic Mike complemented my crossovers, which, well, when he gives you a complement or hell, even constructive criticism, you take it. In any case, I was stoked. I managed almost an hour of 2 pace/1 rest lap training. Considering how out of shape I am right now I am very happy with that.

Well, off to watch the playoffs. Speedskating and Karate tomorrow!

Misery

Ugh. Didn't do much this weekend at all. Spent a lot of time with Dr. Z, who spent the entire weekend pretending everything was back to normal, which was very aggravating. I'm starting to wonder whether it's even worth it since he seems to have no interest in making changes.

Pulled a muscle or something running on the treadmill after work on Friday. That means although the skating oval is back in commission after being closed all week due to unseasonably warm weather, I won't be able to speedskate. Combined with my not being ready to deal with Sensei yet, I'm looking at another week stuck in the fucking house. I am going to walk so I get some fresh air.

Can I exchange this life for what's behind Door #2?

Yay! Weekend!

Went skating last night for the first time in over week. It felt good, but I could definitely tell I had lost some of my leg muscle. A middle-aged woman introduced herself to me telling me that someone had told her about me. I can't believe I'm already a name at the rink.

Dr. Z arrived at the rink earlier than expected. I saw him watching and promptly did a faceplant on the ice. I am Teh Suave and Sexy. I did a few more laps so he could watch and then packed it up so we could go to dinner. We ate at Pasta la Vista, and I finally got to use my gift certificate. The prices on the bill were much higher than on the menu, which was weird. If I hadn't had the certificate I would have raised a stink, but I let it go.

Dr. Z and I had yet another tough discussion. Well, it was mainly me laying some ugly truths on him, but yeah. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

In other news, today is going to be ten degrees higher than yesterday. And the next four days or so are going to be even warmer - yay!

Christmas Eve!

Well, it actually doesn't feel too Christmasy - I'm working today and since the fam isn't getting together until Saturday I haven't done a lot of shopping yet. At least today's the only day I'm working until the 2nd.

Went to the skating oval this morning (they have morning speedskate hours this week), but they were closed due to bad ice. (It was ridiculously warm yesterday - almost fifty - and then it dropped FAST overnight, ruining the ice.) Between that and no Karate due to the holiday, I'm going on the rare trip to the prison gym with Dr. Z in a couple hours.

As I mentioned, it was wonderfully warm yesterday, allowing some of the built-up snow to melt. It's cold and snowy today, which is appropriate for Christmas Eve.

Received a box of cookies from one of my college buddies. Last year was Lindt truffles, this year a tin of Mrs. Fields. She always outdoes herself.

At least there's The Patridges' most awesome Annual Christmas Eve Bash tonight. I'm really looking forward to it!

Heh...

...the first two titles I picked for this entry (Almost Friday and And So it Goes) popped up in the autofill, which means I had used them before. Man am I losing my creativity.

Went running yesterday for the first time in over a month. Took a ridiculous 31:30 to run 5K, but I'm so out of shape I shouldn't be surprised. I'm also paying for it today - boy are my legs sore! I'm going out again today though - have to take advantage of this weather while I can. (Not that it's even above freezing, but around here we consider upper-20s a heat spell this time of year.) If it were going to be this warm regularly I'd ease back into running and take today off, but I don't dare.

Speedskating is going well. James told me I'm picking it up very fast. Another regular (can't remember her name) told me that my short, powerful build actually makes me better-suited to short track, which I had never considered. Something to think about, anyway.

Karate is meh. I'm getting sick of having to teach, never sparring anymore, and all the refocusing on bunkai, which I thought we had finally gotten away from at least a bit. I'm also sick of looking at FakeDaughter's three stripes while I have none. Not that Sensei ever seems to want to promote me. I mean, seriously. He always seems to put up as many obstacles as possible and then grudgingly gives me a belt long after it's due. The only reason I'm as far as I am is because of Dr. Z.

Not much else to talk about. Work's been exceedingly quiet this week, which isn't surprising this time of year. Next week will be even deader, but I'm only working Monday. (More just to use up my vacation time I will otherwise lose than to actually go anywhere.)

"I Have a Skater Here..."

...yes, this was in reference to ME. As of yesterday, I am a speedskater. Awesome. Expensive, but awesome.

I had been saying for awhile that I wanted to take up speedskating, as I miss blading and am in desperate need of a wintertime aerobic activity. Also, I live a two minute walk away from the skating oval in one direction and a two minute walk away from the skate store in the other direction.

So, I went to the store yesterday afternoon all, "I'm totally clueless here, but heard you were the guy to see." And by "the guy to see," I mean the owner, who's skated competitively for thirty years. He spent an HOUR with me trying on different skates (except the $975 Olympic model), going over the equipment, technique, what to wear, the skate hours at the Oval, and just EVERYTHING. Not only that, he had the blades sharpened and rocked in under two hours so I could skate that evening. He rocked.

So. The actual skate. I fell, of course. I have terrible technique right now, of course. But I LOVED it. I just can't wait until I feel as comfortable on skates as I do on blades. (Of course, I haven't put on my blades in years, so that doesn't help.)

Also? The people there were few, but they ROCKED. Here's to you, James, for helping me with my technique out on the Oval. And here's to you, P, for commiserating with me as a "newbie" although you had just made the upgrade to Olympic-style skates. You guys rock. And here's to the Olympic wannabe and the former Olympian for showing up just as I finished so that I wouldn't have the embarassment of sharing the ice with them.