Monday, April 20, 2015

It doesn't look like much

But it's a LONG way from St. John's Wood to Battersea Park and back. The rest of the running club ran 10 to Greenford via the Canal, but since I didn't have that "I know where the public toilets are" peace of mind, and this was an important run for me, I elected a route I've done before. The first time I did it, though, I only went 9 miles, then bussed the remainder back home. This time...I did the whole enchilada and I'm completely thrilled beyond words. And my calves ARE SO SORE.

Two days after this run, on March 11, I massacred something in my hip (it was my glute medius tendon at my hip joint) after only 3 miles and it stopped me dead in my tracks. I was devastated! The first two weeks I couldn't walk without a cane. The next two weeks-ish that followed was an enjoyable and relaxing tour through Denmark and Norway with my brother and his family. There was a lot of relaxing, self-massage, and kinesiology tape involved. Fortunately for me, The Nieces walk slowly so I was saved the embarrassment of being THE slowest one. I was only the slowest some of the time. That trip is a whole post on it's own to come. At any rate, then I came back and started a tiny bit of running and met with a doc and had an MRI done to make sure there wasn't a stress fracture. He injected the tendons with corticosteroid last Friday and I tried to take it easy over the weekend. That stuff stings.

I'm absolutely terrified of going too far too soon, which is probably the thing that got me in trouble in the first place. I had doubled my weekly mileage, quickly, instead of going with a slow steady increase. The urge to "keep up with the gang" is strong. I also didn't allow myself enough rest.

This is now a running reboot, and today I did 3 miles without pain using Jeff Galloway's run-walk-run approach. So far, so good. Will I be able to do the Hackney half-marathon next month, which I paid for the day of my wonderful 10-miler? To be completely honest, probably not. Right now, ten more miles of this morning's run - without pain - doesn't seem possible. There's always the Royal Parks Half this autumn, for which I will shortly be begging for donations. It's a lot further off, and offers enough time to do the slow steady increase I need.

In other news, I made that ivory warp my bitch.

I know that sentence only makes sense to a weaver, but I stand by it. I measured out 12 yards of warp using miscellaneous natural-colored natural fibers from stash, then tied it on to the previous honeycomb-threaded warp, got the little knots through the heddles with less breakage than anticipated, and started winding the little bugger onto the warp beam. I got several yards on before I gave up on that insanity. Kerry's first warp was 12 yds. It, too, was insanity. I was there for it and I don't know how she did it. Also, I ran out of packing sticks.


This warp turned out to be fiddly in a way that I loathe. I did the weaving in this image before my hip went wonky. After the wonky, I had to reduce my weaving to more plain weave so I could use one leg (right) on the two plain weave treadles. The first section is approximately 20 inches. The next section is also about 20 inches, but I included some weft inlay for fun. But that's not the fiddly part. The fiddly part is having my warp threads break so regularly!! The warp beam is so decorated with cones it looks like a Christmas tree. If I only have fifteen minutes to weave, I don't want to spend five of it messing with broken warp threads. I've decided on the use for this warp, though, and it's to be a gift so I can't show anymore of it. 

I also used some mill ends that are lovely in a weft but complete rubbish as warp. Very breaky-breaky. I also used a bit of Lopi which would be beautiful in a weft but it's just not strong enough for warp, and it frays like crazy. My plan all along had been for a rustic monochrome weave and to use up odds and ends that have been in the stash for some time, and I've succeeded. It's rustic. It's monochrome. I used odds and ends. It will make lovely whatchamacallits (I'm not saying). I think I'm the "get it on the loom and go" type of weaver, though. The inlays are fun and pretty, just little random blocks of colors, but they slow things down a great deal. 

I know what is going onto the loom next and I think I'll start measuring it out this week. Mwahaha. Another secret!

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Can We Be Frank?

(Yes, and don't call me Frank.)
(Yes, it's not perfect but I had to do it.)
(Also, fair warning: topic is about gross and disgusting things today, like poop)

There is something that I never hear other runners talk about in polite company, but many of us (and especially those of us with digestive disorders) have experienced: running-induced gastrointestinal distress. Diarrhoea, as it is spelled here in Sunny England. By the way, this is where you should either stop reading or carry on at your own risk. 

Some of my running pals have probably dealt with it at one time or another. We don't really discuss it. I carry a small pack of anti-diarrhoeal on every run, especially runs greater than 6 miles. Just in case. Primarily for myself but I'm happy to share if anyone else should find themselves in a pickle, because I know what it's like. If I get hit, however, I'm sidelined until the anti-diarrhoeal du jour kicks in. For me that's about 90 - 120 minutes. Most recently this happened on a hill run and I camped out at the O2 "mall" on Finchley Road for almost two hours before I was able to finish the run. 

IBS-related diarrhoea is another story altogether. I can usually tell shortly after my first sip of coffee in the morning if I'm going to have an issue during the first few miles of my run - or before. Once or twice I've been surprised, but most of the time my gut lets me know. No two IBS sufferers are alike: coffee doesn't bother my gut. 

For me, running-induced diarrhoea is compounded by IBS, and it's more likely to occur if I've eaten something questionable within 24 hrs of the run. There is generally a small window of opportunity if I'm going to be nutritionally naughty - by which I mean, for example, eating anything with yeast, grains, or chocolate. On the other hand, I'm not bothered by my gels which contain a small amount of cocoa. There are certain combinations of foods that I've just discovered my gut doesn't prefer. Eggs + Xylitol are a problem. 

These days I do have the luxury of waiting it out. No job to get to (yet), and today no appointments. It's a game of trial and error. I've landed on a nutritional approach that seems to work for me 90% of the time although I think I need to tweak it again. I know where most of the clean public bathrooms are on my run routes. Today was supposed to be a track run and fartleks in Regent's Park. It still can be and I'll tackle it on my own because my gut just wasn't ready when the club run was scheduled this morning.

Maybe now it's safe to leave the flat...

----------

UPDATE on the presentation for Company Not Named: they elected to go with someone else. There were eight (!!!) people in that presentation, not including myself, and the feedback I received from the recruiter was that the majority felt my perspective was too "big business." I just shake my head. Fine. There were two red flags that popped up that day in the prep meeting with COO and HR.

  • Red Flag 1:  The focus of the role would not in fact be the integration of the three software platforms they'd been talking about throughout the interview processes, but basic management software and platforms internally. Wait, whaaaaat? I had prepped myself for a month on the former! 
  • Red Flag 2: The COO had not briefed the folks in the room about the scope of the role, which kept getting bigger and bigger. Tieing up eight high level people to be on a panel interview for an hour without briefing them IN ADVANCE on the scope of the role, and giving them a chance to ask questions of the COO themselves, is a huge miss and a waste of everyone's time, including mine.  
I have mixed feelings about not getting this job but it was probably a good thing they thought I didn't have enough small business perspective. But dammit. Lessons learned. 

Monday, February 16, 2015

What does pork smell like?

Well, not much, turns out. Not ground pork, anyhow. No wonder there are mass quantities of seasonings in the meatloaf cooking away in the oven. Pork mince (in Brit parlance). Onions. Shrooms. With bacon on top.

Ah. Bacon. Bacon. A perfect food. Everything is better with bacon. I get Homer Simpson-drool going on when bacon is cooking. Today I put "lashings" of bacon on top of ground pork meatloaf or, as Nom Nom Paleo calls it, Super Porktastic Bacon-topped Spinach & Mushroom Meatloaf. Fun blog, awesome recipes, and oh damn I forgot the nutmeg. 

Crap, I forgot to add the nutmeg! I can't even blame my martini for that miss because that happened waaaay back before noon. And it's now waaaay past noon. Shoot. Well, probably it'll be okay without it. 

"Lashings." I don't really even know what that is but it is also a decidedly Brit word which seems to indicate some kind of schmear of something, or stripes or strips of something. On my meatloaf I have strips of bacon across the top, which I think qualifies as "lashings of bacon." Meh. 

I might forever associate this meatloaf with writing a presentation on what I can do for Company Not Named. Next week I am to do a panel interview (as in, the subject is ME and the panel is several of the company execs) in presentation (PowerPoint) mode. I'm not particularly thrilled and I'm totally anxious and the presentation isn't done and I'm pretty sure I've completely overthought this and I have one day to rework it before we go out of town. I want it DONE by the time we get on the train. So. Ugh. I keep asking myself "how badly do I want THIS specific job?" It happens that I'm a pretty good fit. But if, after all this, I don't actually GET the job, "do I want to bother continuing to look?" The first interview as January 14. Start date is April 1. 

So, pork smells like my presentation to Company Not Named. 

As Kerry says: le sigh. 

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Mo' Running

Yes, it has been some time since I posted, and I'm not going to make excuses. I'm just gonna jump right in to it. Can I keep it up? Maybe, maybe not, we'll see.

Mo' running, mo' running, mo' running. I'm up to about 20 miles per week. It's an astonishing milestone for me and one of which I'm incredibly proud. It feels good. Feels right. Feels like I could tack on a few more miles on a 4th day, especially if I'm mindful about massaging my achy calves after the Friday hill run with the running club

Speaking of the running club, I owe all my miles to them. I don't have words for how grateful I am for their support and encouragement. Many of the women are training for a half-marathon in April, in Italy. Groovy! I'm going to a half-marathon a few weeks later, closer to home, and decided to train alongside because, hey, it's a PLAN. I like a plan. Plus, I'm six months overdue for a half-marathon because of the move across the pond and not getting to run in the Rock 'n Roll Virginia Beach Half. 

I'm anxious that once I'm working again I won't be able to allocate as much time to running as I have been for the past two months. I'd like to say "I'll deal with that when the time comes" but those who know me know that I just can't let it go at that. I have to have a PLAN! At least the outline of a plan, at any rate. 

Yesterday morning on the aforementioned Friday hill run, the lovely woman I was running alongside wondered aloud how it was that some people ran so much faster. Mentally, I dug deep into the all the reading I'd done but I couldn't come up with a ready answer. Mostly because we're all built differently, we all have different levels of cardio fitness. One thing I remember reading from Matt Fitzgerald's writing is that, among other things, distance can improve a runner's speed over time. I'm certainly proof of that! I ran my first 10k, last May 2014, at a 14:00 min pace. With no effort at increasing my speed but just increasing my distance over the last year, I ran a recent 10k this month at a 12:00 min pace. However, I was reminded this morning during some bathroom reading that aerobic fitness is another key component, and I think the two are intrinsically linked. As I am running I'm building aerobic strength. Yay! 


from "The Little Red Book of Running" by Scott Adams


So, this is one answer from one author to that question. I can accept that. I think this is the same guy who wrote that some runs aren't perfect. Accept it and move on to the next run.

Cheers, y'all!