Steve and I jokingly refer to my fledgling freelance-writing business as “Amy Incorporated.” I serve as both the CEO and janitor of this company, and I took advantage of my CEO post today to make a new company policy: No work on powder days!
Steve and I drove up to Whitetail late this afternoon, as the [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Uncategorized’
February 10, 2010
I don’t work on powder days
February 9, 2010
The joy of motion
It’s so obvious, the idea that we can get more enjoyment out of working out remembering that, as this month’s Runner’s World puts it, “Athletic movement provides pleasure. Enjoy it.”
We do things like swim and run because they feel good—obvious stuff, right? Still, I realized in the middle of my warmup for a 4,500-meter swim [...]
February 8, 2010
Motivation Monday: The ‘ready for anything’ edition
Saturday, one of my happiest days in recent memory, started with 45 minutes of manual labor.
Steve and I left Silver Spring for our regular weekend shift volunteering for Whitetail’s Mountain Safety Team around noon on Friday, just as the first flakes of what turned into a record-breaking snowstorm started to fall. We skied all night [...]
February 5, 2010
How swimming translates to running
You had me at Alberto Salazar.
By “you,” I mean Running Times, which featured a great spread about cross-training a few months ago that included this great nugget about swimming: Alberto Salazar qualified for the Olympic team in the 10,000m in 1980 after taking a two-month hiatus from running, relying on swimming as his primary activity [...]
February 4, 2010
Warm, fuzzy fixes for a convenient excuse
Even now that I’m back in the routine of swimming regularly, having spent some time getting my head in the right place about tackling the workouts, there’s one excuse I can’t seem to beat: It’s cold, and my usual remedy for cold is not jumping in a lukewarm pool.
My first swim back was especially rough—it [...]
February 3, 2010
Mind games help me establish a swimming routine
I am such a creature of habit. Once I decide to do something on a regular basis — like my group runs with Pacers Silver Spring Fun Runners on Tuesday and Thursday nights — I am almost ridiculously committed to maintaining that routine.
Which is why I’m particularly proud of the brand-new swimming routine I’ve carved [...]
February 2, 2010
Runner-friendly recipe: Homemade Larabars
I first fell for Larabars about a month ago, when I somewhat subconsciously amped up my efforts to eat in a more Michael Pollan-esque manner (eat food, not too much, mostly plants). Most Larabars contain just a few ingredients, with dates and nuts forming the bulk of their ingredient lists, so I wondered if I [...]
February 1, 2010
Motivation Monday: The Bay Bridge Swim edition
*Note to self for next time I’m unmotivated to take the time to drive to the pool, suit up and swim: The stationary bike is NOT the same. Don’t even pretend, because you’re just lying to yourself. The cardio workout isn’t as good, even when you’re really pushing it. It won’t do anything for your [...]
January 29, 2010
Back in the pool again
My recent bout of peroneal tendonitis, compounded by an unfortunate twist of the tendonitisy ankle on Tuesday, has left me with a running-free few days. This means I’m stuck facing my longtime friend and foe, swimming.
A brief recap: I started swimming competitively at age seven, was swimming on a club team year-round by the time [...]
January 28, 2010
An ankle twist, a lucky break
It’s a runner’s worst nightmare: A misplaced footfall, a twisted ankle, a bruised and swollen foot.
I’ve had this sickening sensation three times in as many years. The first time came after a friend’s wedding in 2007 (lesson: When you’ve got a glass of wine in one hand, your high-heeled shoes should be in the other). [...]
