Reruns from hell

Words 276

          It’s a great feeling to be done with a workout.  Exhaustion is a welcome respite from the indecision that is rampant in the world. 

          Yesterday and last night, the temp was above freezing so everything was quite wet.  I figured that all would be slippery, so I planned to do

Wait, Wait, the sky is falling!

Words 175

          Another trip on the stairs.  Last night, the earth here was hit with another layer of snow.  With the temp. right at freezing, there is bound to be some water out there and incredibly slippery spots.  I am going to visit my ailing friend in Pokrov this morning, so that best way to handle it was to stay near the apt and run up the stairs. 

2 seconds!!

Words 164

          I started the swim at 10:34.  I thought, “Hmmm…if I do this is under 26 minutes, I will finish before 11:00.  Always good to have round numbers involved.  During the first 50 meters, I needed to stop and adjust my goggles because they were leaking.  

squat machine

Words 337;  one pic

          Today was a great run.  Very cold, but good traction and not much water.  I ran the sprint with gusto.  I was thinking that those records I made a few weeks ago were flukes—like I had not pushed the buttons correctly. 

Snowy stairs

Words 202 one picture

          Today was is the first day all winter that I have allowed the weather to keep me from running outside.  It’s been snowing nearly constantly for 36 hours.   One of my students said this is the most snow that Moscow has received in March for over 100 years. Sounds a little inflammatory, but there

body heat controls the iPod

Words 293

          I made a discovery.  Probably not an earth-shattering discovery to those of you who think about things, but interesting to me, nonetheless.   Today, it is more windy than I have seen in Moscow.  There is a bit of snow coming down, too.  I’m running along and the Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me podcast finishes (because I can play podcasts a double speed—really convenient).  I try to switch to my ‘running’ playlist. Pull out the iPod, gloves off, fingers freezing. 

coincidence: Iowa in Moscow

Words 451

          Steam was everywhere at the pool today and the ladders were covered with the most frost I’ve seen.  Of course, the amount of frost on the ladders doesn’t matter a bit because we enter from a tunnel that goes into the building. 

berries in the NOT spring

Words 386; 2 pics

          Today is another argument for the validity of the “too cold to snow” theory.  After several days of temps within several degrees of freezing, and dustings of snow, today it’s cold as hell with bright sunshine. 

          Spring?  Not really. 

weary?

Words 152

          I began the run up the stairs at something less than full speed.  I thought that I might try to save some energy in the beginning to pour it on at the end.  It’s very easy to maintain the same speed once you start.  Therefore, I don’t think I sped up much.  The resulting time was 3 seconds off my fastest, and the three seconds of effort that I

fat run

Words 76

          I thought I was carrying an extra weight with me today.  I had recently filled myself with some soup, so I should expect nothing less.  It was sloshing around inside.

the plural of roof

Words 476

          We’ve had a heap of snow lately.  When I show the boys the view outside my window, they see all the snow on all the rooves…

(I’ve just spent 15 minutes searching the internet after ‘rooves’ was automatically changed to ‘roves’.  I thought, “What?!?  How do you spell the plural of roof?  

hurt ankle and the bank

Words 123

          This was a very short and slow run.  I had not been hurting anywhere all day, but immediately when I put my running shoes on, my ankle pain began.

soon at the bank

Words 51

          I’m increasing the number of squats, slowly.  I’m up to the number of pull-ups.  And the pull-ups might be going down. 

swimming

Words 65

          Swimming today.  A quick one.  Began with a sprint down the length of the pool—50 m.  A very slow time, actually.  Totally in the mind.  I ended up getting the best time so far, at least during the time that I have been swimming in Moscow,

near collapse

Words 104

          My legs were worse than rubbery today. I could hardly stand up.  I leaned heavily on the walls as I stumbled down.  To avoid cramping because of the legs becoming cool too quickly, I walked back up 3 flights of stairs.  I wanted to keep moving until the legs

breaking the squat bar

Words 131

          Back to the deep freeze today.  -17 is about 2 Fahrenheit.  I started the sprint slowly, feeling unmotivated and a bit sore.  It’s remarkable how much thinking I can do during the 63 seconds.  I thought, “OK, well, the beginning was not great…maybe I will finish strong and be pleasantly surprised.”  Then,

rubber legs

Words 216

          I ran around a park area today.  Snow was all over.  Much of it fresh.  The stair-climb was excruciatingly painful.  At times I would say my legs were rubbery at the end.  True, but they are worse.  I have to lean heavily on the stair walls as if I am a drunk person, stepping over the dried vomit of other weekend visitors.  By the time I walk down the 10 flights

waste

    

Words 172

      I’m not sure how I swam the first 50 meters so quickly, but I guess it was because my arms, etc. weren’t tired.  Each sprint after was slower—not hard to understand.  I swim back and forth 3 or 4 times as I’m swimming.  Then I take it easy once or twice,