Two Friends: Sleep and Rain

Much to my relief all I needed was a good night's sleep and rain to get back to normal.   I can run 20 miles on Sunday then play golf all day the next day but I need sleep to do it well.   Trying to get by on less than 7 hours while maintaining a high activity level is asking for trouble and I got it.  I did me some good to lay around and watch baseball yesterday.  

I had a solid 8 hours sleep Tuesday night and felt much better for my resistance training workout yesterday.  Then I took a lazy day yesterday, thanks to the rain, and watched some baseball.  It was raining hard this morning so I rode my stationary bike for 45 minutes in lieu of running.  The cross training will do me some good and biking expecially will help me get my ski legs back.

Here's a good article from the Mayo Clinic on sleep needs:

 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/AN01487

Worth Reading

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-10-07-nyc-moves-to-take-soda-off-the-food-stamp-shopping-list

Rain Tomorrow? I hope so.

I need some rest.  I had a light workout yesterday.   Then, I walked 18 holes.  Tired.  Skipped my run today.  (It would have been short anyway.) Walked 18 holes in Woodstock & drove for 4 hours. Still tired tonight.   I don't know if it's the very hard run on Saturday atop the golf (or just being old or an undermined problem)  but I'm still tired.  The rain tomorrow could mean a day without golf.  Depending on how I feel, I may have a light workout tomorrow and then chill the rest of the day.   I've got to be rested and recovered for that marathon in 12 days.  

So, I hope it rains because apparently I don't have sense enough to just take a day off and  rest on my own.  Either that or I'm not quite concerned enough yet to take some R&R.  

Tomorrow will tell a lot.

Really Useful Info: Rinsing Your Veggies

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/rinsing-your-vegetables/?ref=healthupdate&nl=health&emc=healthupdateemb2

Last Hard Run - End Game

Two weeks to go.   Yesterday I opted to work on speed rather than distance.  I've put in the miles.  I ran hard last week at the marathon relay and I didn't really feel fully recovered from that.  A 20 miler might have been too much.  Over training is more of risk right.  I can't imagine another 20 miler doing much for my marathon race results.  So I opted to run a 10 miler and do some hill & speed work.

Now, I'll start going shorter and easier as I taper and build energy.   I did a half hour on my stationary bike this morning, nice & easy.

From Harvard Medical: Defining Moderate Exercise

It doesn't seem so difficult.  It certainly doesn't seem like too big a chore.

http://view.mail.health.harvard.edu/?j=fe6916747c64007d7517&m=febb15747d630d7a&ls=fdb11570776102747c13767d6d&l=fe5f15767363007e7115&s=fe551c737263017c771d&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe2d16787365077c7c1474&r=0

Rain Run

It looks like I was lucky, yesterday.  I managed to get in a nice 8 miler well before the skies opened up.  Actually, it did rain on me.   It was a relatively light rain and there was almost no wind so I actually enjoyed it.  

I'm still feeling the race I ran on Sunday but each day brings improvement.    I had a good workout this morning. My strength is nearly 100% back.  I'm about one pull-up shy of where I was.

I'm still deciding whether to run one more 20 miler or not.   I know I'm fit enough for the marathon.  What I don't know is if I'm recovered enough from last week's race to risk running 20 miles.   The 26.2 mile race is two weeks from tomorrow.  I want to be rested but fit.  

Still thinking about it.