Training for 4/30/20

Yesterday, after Clark and I did another HIIT class, I went out for a few miles. I did 3.7 miles along the river trail and the Strand at an 8:54/mile average.

All that stuff in the ocean that makes it glow blue at night doesn’t look as pretty in the daylight.

Clark said it’s redder farther south, like in Carlsbad, which is also where the blue glow is more visible at night.

I thought it looked kinda gross, but it wasn’t stopping all those surfers out there.

They have to get their fill in, because as of tomorrow, ALL state beaches are closed until further notice, per the governor, thanks to the huge crowds that flocked to hang out at some of the beaches north of us in Orange County last weekend. Freaking morons.

Speaking of the pandemic that’s still going on, today, it was finally officially announced Eagleman in Cambridge is not happening June 14. I was waiting for that, because other Ironman events the same weekend have already been postponed.

I wasn’t participating this year, but I was still looking forward to it, because it was the next time Clark and I were planning to go home. (He was going to do the swim leg for a relay team with a couple friends.) So who knows when we’ll see the East Coast again. Hopefully this summer?

But in better news, NASCAR will be back May 17 at Darlington in South Carolina! No fans will be allowed, but it’ll be a real race.

NASCAR announced today a highly condensed seven-race schedule over an 11-day span (four Cup, two Xfinity and one Truck series race) at Darlington and Charlotte. They haven’t announced yet what their plan is to get in all the other tracks’ races that have been skipped during this shutdown.

One of those will be Dover’s spring race, originally scheduled for May 3. They’d already moved the “fall” race to Aug. 23 this year, which is going to be miserably hot and humid. Imagine if they do a double-header weekend there, running the postponed spring race the day before, and fans have to sit through two late-August afternoons in the blazing sun and humidity. Gross.

Anyway… today is my cousin Corey’s birthday, so Clark has arranged a virtual happy hour for all of us cousins that starts at 5:15 p.m. our time, right after our usual HIIT class wraps up.

That means I won’t get in one last run for the month, so I can post my April summary now.

Spoiler alert: It was nothing exciting.

Mileage:

• Week 1 (April 1-4): 14 miles
• Week 2 (April 5-11): 25.4
• Week 3 (April 12-18): 27.7
• Week 4 (April 19-25): 20.7
• Week 5 (April 26-30): 18.7

Total: 106.5 miles

Almost exactly 100 miles fewer than I ran a mere two months ago!

I definitely took a step back from running this month. Shamrock getting canceled right at the end of the first training cycle I really committed to in years sucked the wind out of my sails. And with all races canceled until who knows when, and therefore nothing to train for, I have been having the worst time getting motivated to run any more than a few slow miles.

There were some positives though. After I do this afternoon’s HIIT class, I can say I did one every single day but one they were offered in April (there are no classes on Sundays.) This is by far the most strength training I’ve done in years!

Also, I took my bike out for the first time since I moved here. It kinda sucked for the same reason running outside does right now — there’s always a crowd out there, so it’s impossible to maintain 6 ft. without getting run over by a car, and everyone seems mad everyone else is there — but it was nice to ride again.

Tomorrow is the first day of May. I don’t have much hope any part of this quarantine will end any time soon. I will keep strength training and running daily, try to get my bike out a couple more times and keep my fingers crossed I’ll be able to put a fall marathon date on the calendar.

Training for 4/29/20

Yesterday afternoon, Clark and I did another virtual HIIT class, and then I went out and ran an easy 5-miler. The leftover pizza I had for lunch made its presence known about a mile and a half from home, unsurprisingly, so that slowed down that last bit enough my overall pace was 9:25/mile.

Last night, we went and saw something cool!

All that rain we got between mid-March and mid-April washed a ton of stuff into the ocean, including these single-cell organisms that produce a flicker of light with movement — like when they’re in a breaking wave.

At night, it looks like a neon light show in the ocean from Carlsbad down.

We drove down to Carlsbad last night to see it. The beaches there are still closed, as is much of the public parking, but we parked at Clark’s office and walked to one of the bluffs above the beach along Coast Highway to see it.

I tried to take some pictures, but they don’t look like much, so here’s a much better one by a local photographer:

Credit: Scott Murphy, Studio Serra Photography

So there was a silver lining to that month of depressing rain after all!

Anyway, today, we’re doing another virtual HIIT class and then I’ll go run a few more miles.

Training for 4/28/20

Quarantine Day 43:

Even Pepper is getting sick of this!

Yesterday afternoon, Clark came home on his lunch break so I could run earlier in the day.

I went right to the Strand. Lots of other people had the same idea.

There aren’t supposed to be any groups hanging out on the beach, but that wasn’t stopping some people.

I mean, when you lay down a towel, that’s a pretty clear sign you’re not “actively exercising,” you’re just hanging out, but whatever.

I ran the length of the Strand and then ran a little of the river trail. The wildflowers are really blooming there.

I ran 3.6 miles at a 9:07/mile average.

Later that afternoon, Clark and I did another HIIT class.

Today will be more of the same.

Training for 4/27/20

Here’s Pepper, just casually hanging out on the couch Friday evening:

We’ve spent so much time on the couch over the past several weeks, he seems to have forgotten how to use it. Like when you repeat a word so many times it starts to sound weird.

Anyway, we had another not-so-exciting weekend here.

Saturday morning, Clark and I did our gym’s Weekend Warriors workout. It was the last workout of the four-week virtual challenge, and it was coached by the guy who owns the gym. I think he tried to kill us. We did 10 minutes of bicep curls and rows, which left my arms absolutely burning since the only dumbbells we have here are 20 lbs., and then he announced the finisher — a five-minute plank. I kept having to switch between low, high and side planks, but I got through it.

Later that afternoon, I went out and ran a few easy miles. It got pretty warm here, warm enough I really wished I’d gone out earlier. It was about 80 degrees and sunny. I just did four miles along the river trail at an 8:46/mile average.

That evening, Clark and I went to a beer festival. Well, the “virtual edition” anyway.

We each got a 10-pack of local beers (and a couple hard seltzers and one hard cider.)

Then, at 7 p.m., they released a two-hour YouTube video, interviewing some of the brewers, hosting some games and playing live music.

Enjoying an Abnormal Beer Co. Abnormalweiss, while the brewer talks about it on the video.

There was some good stuff in that box. I really liked this Hefeweizen especially. Still not onboard with the hard seltzer craze, though the ones in these boxes were better than the White Claw I tried a sip of last year, which was way too sweet.

Sunday morning was supposed to be the next race I was planning after Shamrock, the La Jolla Half Marathon. We all know what happened to that — the same thing that has happened to everything fun over the past several weeks — but I did have a “race” on the schedule after all.

It was our running club’s virtual 5-miler. We technically have until May 31 to complete it and post our times, but a lot of us did it yesterday.

When I took Pepper out at 7 a.m., I noticed it was already warm and thought I should probably get out and run as early as possible. So naturally, I put it off another three hours. Sigh.

Part of the delay was so Clark could run his 5-miler first. Then I went out to run mine.

I did a mile to warm up first, along Pacific Street by the beach, which was, of course, packed with other people.

I finished it in 9:38, just as I got to the entrance to the river trail. Perfect. I stopped, saved that mile as a separate run on the Garmin, and then restarted it just for the 5-miler.

Remember a couple months ago, when I was doing pace runs up to 10 miles every Saturday in marathon training, and easily cruising under 8:00/mile pace?

Well, that was two months ago, and that pace is considerably harder for me now, but I still wanted to keep my average pace under 8:00.

It was a STRUGGLE. I wanted to stop every step of the way. Yeah, it was warmer than it was in January and February, but it’s not hot yet. I didn’t feel uncomfortably warm. Just not into it. Virtual races are hard! There were no other runners to fall in with, just a ton of cyclists to dodge.

In the end, I got in five miles on that trail at a 7:56/mile average. Just made it. I walked the whole half-mile back to the building from the end of the trail.

With the finisher’s coin they mailed to us for after we completed it.

With that done, we tried to enjoy the warm weather. The patio area in our building is still open as long as we stay away from each other, and no one else was down there at the moment, so Clark and I took a few beers down there and soaked up some sun.

Pepper was there too, of course. He started slobbering about 30 seconds after we got there, and insisted on flinging as much of it as possible on Clark haha.

We also called some of our families. Everyone’s hanging in there.

Today, I’m gonna go for a short run at lunchtime, and then probably do a strength training class later.

On the bright side, the beach is open again as of today! For exercising, anyway. Surfers are allowed in the ocean, and runners and walkers can use the beach and the Strand. The pier is still closed though.

Training for 4/24/20

Yesterday, Clark and I did another strength training class. His parents have been doing these virtual workouts too, and yesterday, his dad was the only other one signed up for the class we did. It was an all-Andrews session.

After the class, I went out and ran a few more miles. It was one of the better runs I had this week — I at least didn’t have to use the bathroom until I was almost back home, anyway. I did 4.5 miles at a 9:07/mile average.

Since yesterday’s post was kind of mopey, I’d like to share a couple of the fun things I’ve found on the internet because of all the extra time I’ve spent on it during this quarantine.

First, I found my favorite review on the Yankee Candle website.

I’d perused the reviews before, where I learned people are REALLY into how much “throw” a candle has. (That’s how much the scent fills a room.)

But a deeper dive dug up my favorite one-star review of French Vanilla:

I didn’t think anyone could hate vanilla-scented candles, but clearly I was very wrong.

I will say, the reviews for scented candles are surprisingly useful. Even before non-essential businesses were closed, I was too lazy to go to a store myself and sniff them all in person, so I read some reviews, and that’s how I found probably my favorite scent, Juicy Citrus & Sea Salt.

It’s bright and clean-smelling, not too sweet, and it’s got amazing throw!

Next, I found out about wind skating. OK, so this first came to my attention in an episode of Baywatch, when a couple weirdos roll by in the background on either Rollerblades or skateboards, holding these giant sails, but the internet provided a lot more information.

It was invented in the 1970s, and looks to have hit its peak popularity in the late ’80s or early ’90s. There’s still a WindSkate shop in Santa Monica. At least, they have a website.

There’s an article about the inventors wind skating 1,440 miles from Seattle to Santa Monica in 1979, to drum up awareness of their new “sport,” and some clips from local news broadcasts.

This is my favorite find though. At one point, it was cool enough to be featured in a Mountain Dew commercial!

That’s enough for today.

Today, Clark and I are doing another strength training class. Then I think I’ll take the day off running.

This weekend, we’ve got the Weekend Warriors workout tomorrow morning, and I’ll probably run after that. Sunday is the virtual 5-mile “race” put on by our gym. I don’t know what to expect out of that. As I’ve documented here, I haven’t been feeling very peppy lately.

Training for 4/23/20

I didn’t get around to posting yesterday, so to recap Tuesday evening, I went out to do an easy 5-miler after our strength training class.

I had yet another crappy run at a 9:31/mile average. I had more digestive issues in the last mile and a half (seriously, evening runs are dicey for me) but even before that I was plodding along, fighting the urge to throw in the towel and go home every step of the way. I am just not feeling it right now.

It’s not fun. There’s always a ton of people out there, and we’re all packed onto the same roads that are still open, trying to stay far enough away from each other while not getting in the way of cyclists, who, by the way, seem to be the biggest assholes. I’ve been personally yelled at by one while running because I wasn’t on the sidewalk, and when I was riding my own bike Sunday, I saw another cuss out a guy walking on the side of the bike lane, obviously trying to avoid the other 50 pedestrians on the sidewalk.

The river trail is usually better, but it’s just… getting old.

There are all kinds of virtual races out there right now. The Seashore Striders, who put on most of the races I used to run in Delaware, held a six-pack this month. Participants were supposed to run 1 mile, 5K, 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles and a half marathon between April 1 and April 30, and email the race director a screenshot of their tracking app or Garmin.

I almost signed up for it, but I kept putting it off. Now I’m really glad I didn’t. I’m struggling to get in 3 to 5 miles at a slow pace right now. I can’t imagine trying to “race” a half marathon on my own.

But there are plenty of people who are crushing it, because I see the selfies and Garmin results they’re posting to the Seashore Striders’ Facebook page. On the one hand, good for them. On the other hand, shut up haha.

Anyway, I’ve been doing this long enough, I know it’s just a low point. Hopefully it’ll swing back for me when all these restrictions are lifted and it doesn’t feel like we’re all taking our lives in our hands just walking outside and being within shouting distance of other people.

On the bright side, the strength training classes are going well! Clark and I did the final fit test for this virtual challenge yesterday, the same fit test we did three weeks ago when it started. I took about 40 seconds off my time, and I think he did the same.

Then I went out and struggled through another 3.6 miles, at a 9:39/mile pace, because of, yes, more digestive problems.

This particular virtual challenge ends next week, because we all thought this stay-at-home order would be lifted by the end of April. Ha. So they’re starting another virtual challenge for May sometime soon.

This afternoon, we’ll do another strength training class, and then I guess I’ll go put in another few miles.

Training for 4/21/20

Yesterday, as soon as I got done with work, Clark and I did another HIIT class, and then I went out for an easy 3.6-mile run at a 9:07/mile average.

When we stopped by the gym Saturday morning to pick up our raffle prizes, we also finally checked out a pair of dumbbells, so we’d have something to lift at home when doing these workouts. All they had left were a couple of 20s. Clark and I used them for the first time yesterday, and I could definitely feel the difference, using weights again!

Anyway, today, we did another HIIT class, with our dumbbells, and now I’m going out to run, probably five miles.

Oh, here’s something we never had to deal with before we moved here — when Clark took Pepper out this morning, he found a homeless guy sleeping in one of the elevators. Nice. Someone used to close a gate to the parking garage entrance at night — we could still get in and out with our parking passes or electronic key fobs, but non-residents couldn’t walk in — but for some reason, they stopped doing that weeks ago. Maybe they should start again.

Training for 4/20/20

Friday evening, after our strength training class, I went out for a short run. I did 4.5 miles at a 9:00/mile pace that felt super clunky. But the view was nice.

Saturday morning, Clark and I did our gym’s virtual Weekend Warriors workout again, and just like last week, we both won something in the raffle after the class. In fact, we were randomly selected twice each — but they just did a re-spin the second times. Neither of us have ever been this lucky in any kind of game of chance! As soon as it ended, we went to the gym and picked out a couple shirts.

In the early afternoon, I finally went out and ran. It’d warmed up enough I went shirtless for the first time this year. Felt great! And I got waved at on the river trail by a whole line of teenage boys riding their bikes shirtless too haha.

The run itself was the best one I’ve had since I donated blood last Tuesday. I still didn’t feel quite up to trying to run the sub-8s I’d been doing as my lazy attempt to keep up a little bit of speed work, but I wound up running an 8:35/mile average.

Later that afternoon, Clark and I joined a Zoom “virtual happy hour” set up for our entire high school graduating class. There were only about 10 of us on there by the time we joined, a few hours into it, but it was a fun time. It was also a very long Zoom meeting; some people were on for more than seven hours!

Sunday morning, I really didn’t feel like another run. But I wanted to get outside. So I did something I haven’t since I got here in December.

I took out my bike!

Man, bike rides are so much more prep than runs. It didn’t help that I had to find a lot of stuff — bike shoes, padded shorts, my helmet — and charge up the bike Garmin and blinky tail light I hadn’t used since the last time I rode in October.

It took a while, but I got everything together and headed out. I started on Pacific Street, running along the ocean, and then got on Coast Highway, which I rode through Carlsbad to Leucadia and back.

It was fun, but also a pain in the ass. There’s so much more traffic here, and so many more people also on bikes or running or walking. It was hard to get in any kind of rhythm, because I kept having to stop for lights or pedestrians.

Anyway, here’s my bike where I turned around in Leucadia:

I rode a total of 21 miles in 1:20, a 15.6 mph average, a few mph slower than I used to average on my nice flat, wide-open roads back on Delmarva.

Best of all, everything still worked on the bike and the tires held air after I pumped them up from almost flat, so I had no mechanical issues. And now my bike is no longer just a fancy wall hanging in our utility room haha.

The rest of the day was spent talking to Clark’s and my families and some friends.

Today, we’re doing another strength training class this afternoon, and then I’ll go for a short run.

Training for 4/17/20

Yesterday, Clark and I did our usual strength training workout with our gym, and then I went out for another run.

I did 5 miles at an 8:58/mile average along the river trail, which seems to be the least-crowded option around here.

Today will be more of the same, strength training and a short run.

This weekend, there’s the Weekend Warriors workout with our gym tomorrow morning, and I’ll try to run both days. Not much else to report!

Training for 4/16/20

More scenes from the pandemic that will look really weird (I hope) someday:

The face mask I got in the mail for registering for our running club’s upcoming virtual 5-mile race.

That mask came in handy when I went to Walmart later, where I FINALLY found this:

Pepper did not understand why this was worthy of a picture!

Seriously, it’s been a month since we could find toilet paper anywhere other than the liquor store across the street, which was selling its own restroom stock by the roll (no panic-hoarding allowed.) I don’t know what we’d have done without that, but I’m very happy to have Angel Soft back in our lives!

Oh, another note — yesterday, after the Walmart Supercenter I ordered pickup from didn’t give me several essentials that had been available when I made the order three days ago, I stopped at the little Walmart Neighborhood Market, closer to our apartment, to see if they did.

I put on my mask, grabbed my reusable bag (since we have to pay for plastic shopping bags otherwise) and was walking toward the entrance, when an employee posted just outside the door yelled at me I couldn’t bring that in.

The bag. Reusable shopping bags are now banned in stores in this county. But they’re still charging for the store ones. Just another annoying thing to deal with for the foreseeable future.

At least that Walmart had everything the other one didn’t, including that magical toilet paper.

Anyway, Clark and I did another strength training class yesterday afternoon, and then I went for a short run, the same 3.6-mile route I ran Monday. It felt considerably harder than it had two days earlier, when I hadn’t donated blood yet, but I managed a 9:00/mile pace.

Today, we will do another class, and then I’ll go for another run.