Flashback Friday: Faster, Weaker

My arms were powerless. My body hung squirming from the bar. There would be no more pull-ups today. Had the urge to rediscover the puke threshold sabotaged the rest of the workout? Or was it that these weeklong breaks between workouts keep forcing me to take a step back after a step forward? Maybe it was just the heat.

Yesterday's visit to the Sand Run Parcours Trail occurred on Northeast Ohio's return to summery weather, with a temperature in the high 70s, which is probably the hottest it's been during a run this year. Can you say "sweaty mess"? I knew that you could.

Although running the par course has become a weekly event this month, breaks of five or more days between runs remains a fairly regular thing, because obviously these short runs are really tiring. My own frustration over my lack of consistency sometimes causes me to do something really stupid like seeing if I can get myself to puke by starting off the workout in a near sprint. By the time I got to the pull-up bar, my body felt wobbly.

It seems those prescribed walk breaks along the course help you recover from each exercise before getting to the next station. Furthermore, I had forgotten my watch, which I use to time my recovery between each rep at the pull-up bar, and I know I usually spend a good five minutes there. Instead I rushed myself and wasn't able to match my previous outings. My arms crapped out after six pull-ups. OK, maybe it was more like five and a half.

By this time, sweat was spurting from my brow. My  body sagged like it had a sad. My mind wandered to cope with the total bummer that were the remaining exercise stations. Do you know what this nice weather reminds me of doing? Running barefoot. I haven't done that in a really long time.

Doing 10 push-ups felt the way it would if you were William "Refrigerator" Perry but had the arms of Kate Moss. Leg lifts seemed to be rupturing my quadriceps. Forget about not embarrassing myself on the balance beam. In the end, though, it was another course record, shaving a full three minutes off last time. Sadly, the puke threshold eluded me.

Boozy Book Club No. 11

Pull up a chair and pour yourself a soothing beverage because it's story time. Better weather always brings about a lull in my reading, but I've been slowly plodding through my stack of library books and comics.

Civil War Reading List
The Civil War books are on the way, way back burner, but I'm sure I'll get back to it later this year. Unfortunately, a freak accident resulted in my bookmark falling out of the big ass Battle Cry of Freedom, but hopefully I'll find my spot when I return to it again.

Unlisted Reading List
I finished Call of the Wild, but have yet to start White Fang in the Jack London collection I got from the library. Call was a good story and quick read. I was surprised to learn that the book is told from the perspective of the dog, Buck. I'm taking a break from London's writing right now, but I'm looking forward to reading White Fang, as I remember really liking the 1991 movie with Ethan Hawke.

In the meantime, I'm reading Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, an alternate reality set in the West during the 1950s, after the Axis powers defeated the Allies in World War II, and Germany and Japan have split control of the United States. The story centers on six (or so) interconnected characters and an author who has written a popular but subversive novel about a world where the Allies won.

There are three other novels in this collection, but I don't think I'll have time to read them before the book is due back at the library, but I'm hoping to also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was the basis for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Comic Book Pull List
Not a lot to get excited about since last report. DC just announced the cancellation of Dial H, a kooky riff on superheroes by science fiction writer China Mieville, and Batman writer Scott Snyder ended his run on Swamp Thing and has been replaced by Charles Soule, who has returned the character to his roots (pun intended).

Until now, I had not heard of Soule, but his original graphic novel Strange Attractors came out yesterday, and I'm tempted to pick it up. The story focuses on a young graduate student who discovers that his aging professor has been saving New York City from collapse by a series of "adjustments." I've requested my library buy it and then reserve it for me. We'll see how that goes.

That's everything I'm reading. Now, how about you? What's keeping your nose inside a book these days?

Thoughts on Training

This week's running keeps getting delayed. Hanging out with friends, playing music, plans to cut the jungle that is my yard after breaking my reel mower and getting boatloads of rain: These things get in the way. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about the running I'd like to be doing.

Despite my decision to DNB the Akron Marathon this year, there's still a strong desire to crack the 20-mile threshold at some point this year. And so that's how I started to build my loose training plan for the Leave No Trace half marathon in August.

The problem is that my buildup has be a little quicker than I'd usually like, but hey nothing's perfect. Going with more of a "15 percent rule" and three days a week, because let's face the fact that I'm barely getting two days a week of running right now.

I'll be honest, the idea of training is freaking me out a little, just as the idea of parenthood freaks me out a lot.

While these two events don't align on an apples to apples comparison, they are both forms of creation. Both require sacrifice, nurturing, consistency and reigning in chaos to produce the desired results. Am I ready to bring this high-tuned running specimen into the world?

Mrs. Viper and I talk a lot about how we want to be good examples for our child. We agree part of that means being fit and active parents.

Some of my fondest memories of my dad are of watching him race the annual 10K in my hometown. I'd go with him to pick up his bib before the race. We'd see him off at the start line. I'd wear the T-shirt while he ran. We'd eat breakfast at the Friendly's that was on the final hill of the route. I can see him waving backwards as he left us behind and how sweaty-gross he was when he returned.

Not that those memories played a part in my becoming a runner, but the importance of sport was always part of my life. When I did start running when I was 26 and decided to enter my first race, I wanted to run that 10K with my dad.

But he wasn't my only influence. Other early memories were of playing in the lobby of the local ice arena while my older brother played hockey. My sister played basketball, then field hockey. My mom used to be a pretty savvy tennis player. I played little league baseball and ice hockey growing up. Until writing this post, I didn't realize how active we were as a family.

With a kid on the way, I want to encourage exercise no matter what activity it may be, and it starts with me and Mrs. Viper. Right now, I may struggle with the fear of training again, but it's important that I find the will to overcome that anxiety. If you scroll down the right column of this blog, you'll see a quote by Dr. George Sheehan, which seems appropriate here.

"Success rests in having the courage and endurance and, above all, the will to become the person you are, however peculiar that may be," he wrote in On Running & Being. "Then you will be able to say, 'I have found my hero and he is me.'"

Damn Cold Snap

The temperature dropped, some hail fell, and we turned the heat on again. This weekend looked more like November than May, but from freeze warnings last night, it'll climb back up to 80 degrees by Wednesday. Ah, the Midwest. You really do have to love it or leave it.

The good thing about the recent cold snap is it likely delayed the plague of cicadas due to hit us this summer. The bad, however, was my overall "f#@k it" attitude Saturday evening when the rain cleared and the sun came out at last for what could have been a pleasant run. Instead, I walked the dog.

Sunday was more of the same cold and dreary weather and filled with Mother's Day gatherings and repeated encounters with very long lines. Running trails was usurped by running around, buying greeting cards and plants, then fending off the urge to punch a manager at Panera Bread in the face, or rather coaxing my "hangry," five months pregnant wife not to do the punching.

We visited with Mrs. Viper's family in the morning and early afternoon and then mine in the early evening for dinner. It was enjoyable, albeit slothful weekend. You'll have that.

[Ed. note: Not sure how universally understood is the word "hangry," a portmanteau of hungry and angry, but there you have it.]

Flashback Friday: Finishing Under Par

Maybe this is becoming a regular thing. Maybe pull-ups are addictive. Maybe there's hope.

Another crack at the Sand Run Parcours Trail yesterday resulted in a new personal best for the course this year. This was the third time in two months and the second consecutive week that I've run the exercise trail.

After last week's doughnut trial, my time this go around was 38 seconds faster, which looks even more impressive when you compare the paces of 22:21 vs. 19:10 per mile.

The par course is a few hairs under two miles and features 20 exercise stations, two of which I skip because they're dumb. (Stretching? Pfft! And I don't even know what "Leg and Arm Hop" means.) The course is on the side of a steep hill, so running involves some decent climbs, mostly the second mile. The pull-up station comes early in the second mile, and it's here where I eat up a lot of time standing still.

Pull-ups and chin-ups are one of those great, all-around body exercises, and they're really danged difficult to do. I can do two in a row, but then I need to take breaks between repetitions. So far, I'm up to eight chin-ups and seven pull-ups, and I think I'm hooked.

Awhile ago, I mentioned the possibility of buying a pull-up bar for the house, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. The Sand Run Parcours Trail is close and free. Aside from running the complete course, I've also stopped by just to hit up the bar.

It takes me about five minutes to finish my reps, so there's a lot of time I could save by improving my prowess. Overall, the par course is just a kick ass workout. By the time I get to the final exercise station, a three-tiered balance beam, my limbs are wobbly from the effort that I feel like I'm walking the line for a DUI test. Today my legs, arms and chest are pleasantly sore. I gotta get back and do it again.

Back Talk
Wherein we talk about waffles

Miss Zippy, Al and Carolina John want to know: So what did I decide after all the waffling about running the Akron Marathon this year?

Answer: Despite saying I'd wait to make a decision, it looks like the Leave No Trace trail half marathon is in my future. As much as I would like to run the Akron Marathon this year, I don't think I'm ready to climb back onto the marathon horse this year and the concern over my pregnant wife makes this the more responsible choice.

Happy Hour is nearly upon us, teammates! Have a finely brewed weekend. Run well and drink well. Cheers!