Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Pool time today. I think my knee is feeling better, but I'm going to play it safe for a while and do a lot more cross training than I used to. I'd hate to blow my race schedule before it even starts.

I shared a lane with Catherine. I tried the water jogging thing, but I just wasn't getting it. Maybe a four-foot-deep pool isn't deep enough for me. Or maybe I'm just incompetent. Either way, I'm not sure if I'll try it again. If I do, I'll have to watch some of the videos Bonnie linked to first.

I ended up swimming for 30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of kicking (Catherine wanted her goggles back). Now I smell like chlorine.

This morning we were late to the bus stop, so Catherine dropped me off and I ran over to get on the bus before it left, but I tripped as I ran over the snow bank between the parking lot and the loading zone. I stumbled, and because I was carrying an unbalanced load I couldn't steady myself and I hit the deck. Hard. I skinned my knee, bruised my hip, cut my hands and tore my jeans. And now I can't tell if my knee is sore from running or from falling on it. I think it's the latter.

Then, when I went to Subway for lunch I slipped and fell on my butt as I was leaving the law school. Stupid fake Sanuks have less traction than a pair of banana peels. I still love them, though. But seriously, kind of a bad day for Eric.

Anyways, I spent 75 minutes on the stair stepper at the gym tonight. For 60 minutes I did 3 minutes on, three minutes off. Then I kept a steady pace for 12 minutes, cranked it to the maximum level for 2 minutes, and cooled down for 1 minute. Also, I was watching Glee.

I was hoping to watch the BYU game at the gym, but they didn't have the right channel, so the best I could manage was to watch the score updates at the bottom of the screen on ESPN. Looks like a good game. Unless you like SDSU.

As for the run, I just put in an hour, with 20 minutes tempo-ish in the middle (about 6:40).

I came up with a new variation on the stair stepper for my hour tonight. Four minute blocks--Three minutes easy (180 watts for the first ten, 160 watts for the last five), one minute at the maximum level (430 watts). The first few reps weren't so bad, but I was feeling it by the end. I was drenched in sweat, too.

While I was going, I watched some alarmist "news" report on Spike TV about gangsters in the army--you know, the kind where the narrator explains that the problem may seem small, but shows how big it really is by speaking in a menacing voice about an isolated event or two. Journalism at its finest, yo.

Late night, and I didn't even hit the road until just before 11:00. By then there was no spring in my step, and I just kind of slogged my way through. Also, I stepped in a mud bog up to my ankles. My trusty Launches aren't so pretty anymore.

50:43

A late night last night meant a late morning today, and by the time I'd done some other things that needed doing, it was past 2:00. Energy levels were low, but  ran up the bike path to American Fork Canyon, throwing in five repeats on a short but brutally steep golf-cart road, and then followed the highway back home.

My miles suck lately. Unfortunately, the time isn't there as much as I'd like it to be. Plus, I think my knee is still tweaked, although it's hard to say what I can attribute to my tendon and what O can attribute to my skinned knee. Either way, the fear of injury really screws with my motivation. The Buffalo Run could be ugly this year, but I hope I can pull it together before then.

1:25:36