reminder to self

don't eat tomatoes like this while driving. messy. 

there's a squirrel in the chimney

rope for squirrel to escape

I ran a good mile today

 I'm in Harrisonburg and I went to the EMU track to run a 1600 time trial. I was pretty sure I could break 5 but there's always a bit of uncertainty when I haven't done it in a while. My workouts have been good but not great and I didn't feel particularly springy on the warm up. But I told myself that's to be expected when I know I'm going to be doing a hard effort. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be but still no where near the humidity of a few weeks ago. When I got to the track there was another girl who looked like she was an EMU track athlete.

I was doing my warm up stretches when I heard thunder and there were some dark clouds in the distance. The wind was picking up just a little bit but the sun was still really bright. 

Better get this over with soon.

I rushed the warm up since my legs didn't feel particularly good anyway and if started storming then I would have to bail on the whole thing. As I was putting on my spikes there was a particularly loud roll of thunder and I said to the girl who was doing drills on the track, "That doesn't sound good."

She said, "Yeah, I didn't think it was supposed to rain today" with a concerned look on her face. I took two strides that felt okay and then after a bit of walking I went straight into the hard 1600.

The night before I predicted I would run somewhere between 4:57 and 4:51 or so. Anything close or over 5 minutes would have been a sub-par day. During the warm-up I predicted my lap splits would probably be something like 73-75-75-73.

Off the line my legs felt pretty good. I'd been dragging my feet on the warm-up but I had good turnover and bounce once I started in earnest. My breathing was fine coming through the first lap and I was right on 73 pace. Everything was going to plan at that point so I eased up just a bit and let myself come through halfway in about 2:27 or 2:28. I was still feeling good so I decided to surge a little and I could feel that my legs were going to be able to respond. Coming up with 500 to go I told myself to push now and get ready to push even harder for the whole last lap. I came through with one lap to go in 3:41 which means I ran the the third lap in 73. That was a good sign that I was able to get faster on the hardest lap. With one lap to go I told myself to push the whole way but without someone to race or pace off of I don't feel like I really went to the well. I checked with 200 to go and I was at about 4:17 which means I could slow way down on the last 200 and still break 5. I drove reasonably hard down the final stretch, like an 8 or 9 in terms of effort and finished in 4:53. 

I'm pretty happy with it in hindsight. I know it's a long ways off my absolute best but I wasn't far off what I thought I would run on a great day. It's a starting point to be checked off and I know I'll approach the next time trial with more confidence. Another thing I was reminding myself during the warm up was the importance of confidence. I really wasn't feeling very good but I knew (or hoped) if I could act like I was definitely going to break 5 then it would probably go much better.

Anyway, I was breathing pretty hard and walked for about half a lap before jogging a bit and then walking more. I did 2 laps of very slow walking and jogging and decided to do a fast 400 that I thought I would run in about 68 or 67. Previously when I had tried to run all out 400s I could only manage about 68. I felt really good in the first 200m of the 400 and surprised myself by splitting a 31 and feeling like I could still push. I tried to get a little faster and managed a 64.09. That's the fastest 400 I've run in months by several seconds. And only a few minutes after a near all-out mile attempt. It's getting back to the speed I had before the summer when I was doing a lot of really hard track efforts. 

Then I did a 300, 200, and 100 all with walking rest and managed to split 200 in 31 seconds for each of them. So that's kind of where my hard effort speed is right now. The splits were 47, 31, and 15. The storm never really materialized and other than some light rain and a little bit of thunder it passed without incident. 

Maybe that's kind of a weak metaphor for the whole experience. This time trial was an ominous test that if I failed would have been very discouraging going forward. But then, no, it actually went fine and it turns out I am in decent shape. Sometimes the storm just misses you. Or something like that.

Yay for a good run.

i got hungry again :)

I spoiled my appetite

by cramming trail mix in my face the whole drive home from coaching:(

posted late

This app sometimes doesn't let me post so that most recent post was supposed to be yesterday. But anyway, today IS the equinox. 

It was a good day. Climbing practice was fun. My run went really well. I was telling my roommate that even when people know they're taking a placebo (the iron supplement I took yesterday), the placebo effect still happens. And the placebo effect is like crazy powerful. 

I worked on 4 pieces of art today and listened to a lot of The Marías. They're really good. 

It rained a lot and that was nice. 

happy equinox

I think it's the equinox. Let me check. 

Nah. It's tomorrow :/

I prefer it being on the 21st. It's a better day.

Anyway, I had a good workout today. 20x400m. 

Last night I thought about what I want out of life and roughly in order is:

-to create

-to make connections/community 

-to improve/ get stronger

-to have new and interesting experiences

I think I do a pretty good job of that most days. Therefore, I am happy.

My roommate is anemic from all his running.  His ferritin levels are like crazy low and he started taking a supplement. My other friend who runs also has low iron. I probably have low iron. I looked at a lot of the things I eat and most things have like 6%-8% of daily iron per serving size. But that's for a 2000 calorie diet and I think requirements go up for high activity levels. Anyway, it's probably a safe bet that my iron levels are low and the high range is pretty high so I bought the same supplement as my roommate and I'll take it for a month or two and see if I notice any difference. I've also upped my protein intake and that has helped me feel less sore. The biggest thing is always hydration.

So yeah. Good workout. Hopefully I have low iron and then the supplement will help and then I'll start running super good. Either way running is going well!

today was a much needed rest day

 I didn't run or climb or lift or do much of anything except work on some art and a few projects. Mostly I sat around the living room and relaxed. Then I started too feel a little too isolated and restless so I called my parents. It was good to talk to them and catch up. I was getting kinda sad and moody from lack of interaction I think. But it was good! And then I did laundry and got groceries and was productive. Thanks Mom and Dad.

my friend chris on youtube!

https://youtu.be/PX3DvmYsjB0

my friend chris started making videos. they are really good and do a great job of describing what hanging out with her is like. tons o fun!

I realized that

at no point in the last post did I specify that I went to the dentist. 

I guess the context could be assumed. 

perfect teeth boiiii

they said i was a perfect teeth boiiiiii

I've been really into Toots and Maytals

 Pressure Drop and 54-46. Bangers. I whittle to them. I'm whittling a bird. I love whittling birds.

a tree just fell

a tree in my backyard just fell in my neighbors driveway. luckily she decided to park her car on the street, which she normally never does. crazy. The tree wasn't too big and very dead so I sawed off the part that fell over the fence and moved it. That was fun. 

whoa!

I didn't think I'd gone that long without blogging. Anyway, I didn't up making the tomato sauce but I DID eat all but one of the tomatoes raw. And they were delicious. 

AND I ate my one baby tomato that grew on my plant. It was delicious. 

This has been my tomato update.

this cucumber is so good

my mom gave me this cucumber and I took a bite out of it and said, out loud, uncontrollably, "oh man."

I'm sitting on the couch

but I want to go upstairs and lie down but I can't because I have clothes in the wash and they're almost done. my feet smell BAD

salt dissolves in water

what is it trying to hide??

the whole ocean is one giant cover up.

it goes all the way to the top. sea level.

on some roustabout energy today

roustabout energy is when you feel tall

Flexor Digitorum Profundis

I only got one question. Are you flexor digitorum profundis or are you flexor digitorum SUPERFICIALis?

I hate neoliberal gym bros

get out of here. this is a climbing gym weight room. the only discourse I wanna hear is feelings and beta.

it's impossible

to unannounce me.

once I'm announced, that's it. game over.

look at me

getting excited about eating my little protein bar. 

what an athlete. 

somebody went peepee on top of the hike I did

and I put my hand in it.

disgraceful. 

here comes the boy

 I'm not on tiktok but it created here comes the boy and I will always be grateful for that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khyRyFQ5S7c

I switched my keyboard from qwerty

to azerty. I don't know why. My phone just let me. I'm making do many mistakes now lololol

I just took the best mid day nap of all time

that's it. that's the post.

pleachers

 The fingernails on my right hand are getting pretty long. I should probably cut them after writing this. The left hand is okay though. But I should probably cut those nails too just so my hands aren't on different schedules. What a hassle that would be. 

Whenever I climb and my hands won't hold on to tiny holds anymore I say, "looks like my fingers are all out of grip juice." And today I was running in thin shoes and my calves started getting tight and I thought, "looks like my calves are all out of bounce juice." And in general I try to be a good person and be kind to people but sometimes my brain is all out of...thoughtful juice.

A thing I like about camp is I feel like people appreciate my presence. Maybe that's a really pretentious way of saying that. I'm not trying to say that I found it annoying when people don't appreciate my presence. Like, I totally get it. You do not have to buy what I'm selling. But, it is nice when people like having you around for being yourself. Or even getting to be a heightened version of yourself. That feels nice. 

Today I was running on a high school track during school hours and when I first got there there was a gym class on the track so I kinda hung out for a little and stretched and luckily they headed back inside really quick so I thought I could sneak on between periods and get in some quick 100s. I was starting the 4th 100 when the next class came out and normally the kids in this situation all yell and make fun of me and the adults ask me to leave because it's school hours but this time was different! I finished up the 100s and I went by the class who was walking laps and the teacher was like, "what races do you run?" And I said I was a distance runner. And he said he liked my sprints and the kids were like "can you flex your quads?" and they asked me if I was in high school and I said I was 30 and they were like "whoa". 

And I was like, "I thought you were going to kick me off the track." And the teacher was like, yeah, I'm supposed to but I'm in a good mood because it's Friday. 

That felt really good.

really beautiful video

I love the way Joel puts words to things that are hard to talk about while still showing his emotions. 

https://youtu.be/yxNVatSyyuk

Gotta Bunch of Extreme Tornado Warnings last night

 That was fun. Nothing happened though. A lot of lightning and thunder.

We're gonna have fun with training today and run an 800m time trial. The goal is to break 2:20. I'd like to run the first lap between 68 and 70 seconds and then see how hard I can close. Which will probably not be very hard. But that's okay for the first outing. 

One of my favorite shows of all time is the Eric Andre show and they started doing this thing around the 3rd season or maybe they've always done it but the host, Eric Andre, drastically changes his appearance between seasons. So like for one season he never went outside, never washed, never cut his hair or fingernails. He was this pale, smelly, dirty, gross person. 

And then for the next season he got a spray tan, shaved himself bald, gained a lot of weight, wore a bright white suit. A complete 180. I think that's pretty funny. 

I'm thinking I'll do something similar for camp next season. I'll have really short hair and stop shaving my legs but grow out my facial hair. It will be a totally masculine Andy. We'll see. My facial hair is...lacking.