Week of 10/07//2007 - 10/13/2007 (Traveling Week 1)

A Fat American in Europe – Part the First

Training heads to the other side of the pond. Peter and I hit the road again with Boston, Ingolstadt, Germany and Lake Garda, Italy this week. Tons of traveling, but somehow I was so stressed about mashing in running time where-ever it would fit that I ended up doing my second highest weekly training minutes total thus far. Some off way to spend an off week… its shaping up that next week will end up being really sparse though, which may end up okay with starting a new cycle fresh when we land back in LA.

Lots of interesting new running locations, but much more good food and many more interesting cultural learnings. Beverages are un-refrigerated, hotel rates are per person, the left lane is not for driving, groceries aren’t bagged and bags are not free, and baked bread is purchased daily. At 5 euros per hour, internet time is limited though, so for now I will leave you with the following cultural mystery:

For several days I had been confounded by the creeping suspicion that something was a little bit off about the toilet paper here, until I finally discovered the source of the strangeness. In Europe, the standard aspect ratio of one square of toilet paper is different than in the states. While one sheet of US toilet paper approximately resembles a square, one sheet of European toilet paper approximately resembles a rectangle—like an 8 x 11 sheet of white paper. Why?????

Sunday 10/07: Off. Drive down from Maine to parental unit’s new condo. Feeling crappy and allergic and still jet lagged. Decided to let the body and the legs rest from yesterday. Instead, took a turn around the new neighborhood with Dad. Nice to see the fall colors.

Monday 10/08: 42:12 around the ‘hood. Tried to make it to the old cemetery with the soft grass, but turned back without making the whole circuit because run was already getting too long and the L foot was starting to feel funny. Was fairly relaxing to run in the overcast, cold weather, though a bit consterned about the possibility of rain. Also, woke up with sore throat and tons of snot. Unclear whether this is related to illness, allergy to the family cat, or traveling stresses.

Tuesday 10/09: 28:12 arrived at Peter’s parents house in Germany after staying up doing math puzzles in the airplane all night. Rabbits and grapes and cheese bread, oh my! Tired and cold, but was really excited about the best bread ever. Saw garden, compost pile, rabbit pens, home grown grapes and pears and real live English Granny. Really quaint and nice, but another cat—argh! Still not feeling great, but went for an exploratory fun in the fields/woods behind the house with Peter on bike. Many trails and sights to see, but foot started hurting about 16 minutes in so came back a bit early. Thinking this is related to lack of doing physical therapy (idiotically forgot to pack the stretchy-band on Friday….) so borrowed a theraband to work on the toe in the evening.

Wednesday 10/10: 30:58 slow jogging with Peter. Felt substantially crappier than yesterday. Tired and groggy and even more jet lagged, still with an excess of mucous. Went slow and felt peeved, but toe held up for about 22 minutes this time, so felt good about the improvement—like last time, the physical therapy helps a lot. Saw the town center today, also very quaint and cute, with old buildings, fantastic little bake/bread-eries and cobble stone streets.

Thursday 10/11: 32:23, finally a good run! Trails with Peter on the bike again. Felt quick and relaxed. Toe was okay for almost the whole time. Felt just the tiniest bit tender in the last 2-3 minutes, but discovered that strangely it takes pressure completely off of the pain point if I open up my stride and run faster. Felt good to go at a solid steady pace, but the cardiovascular effort felt too high to maintain for an extended amount of time at this point.

Friday 10/12: 32:37 early morning on the trails again with Peter. Cold, sleep deprived and grouchy. Felt bad, tired, nose was running continuously, and toe started to hurt pretty early on. Not in the habit of running in the morning and did not like it. Feet did not enjoy the < 24 hours of recovery time either. Felt irritated about screwing up all of the rehab effects of the past few days, and also about being up and about in the cold, and about the fact that unfortunately Peter runs with me on the days where I feel slow and groggy (which appears to be every other day recently, and since he jogs with me every other day the cycle never ends). Today we drive to Lake Garda in Italy though, so the morning run and all of its woes were regretfully necessary.

Saturday 10/13: 35:32 random adventuring up in the mountains of San Zeno di Montages near Lake Garda. Found these fantastic soft woodsy trails that were unfortunately a bit too short, but there were some segments of extended climbing that were a lot of fun. Really liked the soft dirt paths and rolling terrain. Toe hurt on and off, but the trails were so fun I just ignored it. Strangely feet felt much better after the run.

Target training total: ~ 2.5 - 3 hours
Actual to date: 3:21:54 hours. Ooops. So much for an off week.