Ummm....

Wow, its been almost a month since I last wrote and I am sorry for not keeping you up to date on my marathon training. I have been running, and alot, but I guess that I have not had the time or the patience (to deal with my computer from the ice age) to write any new posts. Now I have Danielle to point out that I have been lacking in the blog area so I guess that this post is in her honor. Oh, and considering that most of my runs have been solo, there aint that much to talk about. Thanks Danielle.

So what has happened in the last month... A heat wave that has yet to break and humidity that I can not seem to get used to. If I don't take my afternoon nap, I don't make it through the day. I have also taken to sleeping on the floor in my room that has the best possible cross breeze and the tile is soooo much cooler than my bed. There are days when I run at 630 am just before it gets too hot and then there are days in which I run at 9pm after its cooled down some. My best running time is noontime and that is definitely not the best time to be outside these days, so that is when I get treadmill time. There are weeks when all I do is eat and then there are weeks when its sooo hot I can't think about eating anything but ice cream, preferably Ben and Jerry's or Fruitbar frozen yogurt (soooo good with strawberries and granola on top and drizzled with tehina and chocolate sauce) but I'm not picky... Yesterday I ran for 2 hours and burned like 1500 calories and had a can of ice cold Dr. Pepper with my breakfast. I justify that can of soda with the run, kind of like after the Tel Aviv half marathon and the Coke. I have decided that I kind of like running au' naturale - barefoot, not naked, and have purchased a pair of Vibram Five Finger Sprint running shoes. Its a whole new world! Its like learning how to walk all over again. The point of the shoes is to get the benefits of going barefoot with out all the caluses. It builds the muscles in the foot that we don't get a chance to work on while using sneakers, improving stability, balance and proprioception. Plus side, less money and less joint pain. Down side, it takes a long time to break them in and in the meantime, my calves are KILLING me. Thank god for weekly massages :)

Check out the not so socially accepted shoes that are becoming more and more popular. These are the exact ones I have, color and all:Just the other day I saw this really fit looking, all American athlete walking down to Gan Sacher in a pair of Vibrams and I ran to catch up to him so that I could ask him a few questions about the shoes and what his recommendations are for starting out with them. They are really odd looking, I admit, but I'm secure enough in myself that I couldn't really give a shit what people say about whats on my feet... :) I must get that from my mom...

Now, there are 2 new running grounds that I have discovered, Gan Sacher and the Givat Ram track. Since a lot of my training is kilometer based I needed a measured ground in which to run so the track obviously would be the best option and its free! but can get a little monotonous. So I went onto Walla!maps and mapped out the park and found that one of the shorter loops is exactly 1km, which is perfect. Plus they have these exercise machines and a nice stretching area that can really come in handy for after the workout. The one downside about the park in the summer, is this being Jerusalem, it has become a pooling ground for bar-b-qing Charedim, (not in the cannabalistic sense, in the, there is no where to move without being bombarded by 10 children ranging from ages .5 - 12 all wearing the same outfit and eating hotdogs and icepops and not moving out of your way as you try not to run them over, sense). I have run 2x with the vibrams and the first time was Saturday night in Gan Sacher with my friend Eytan. Let's just say that my whole stance was off and it felt like I should have been sprinting the whole time, which would have been able to help me keep up with Eytan since he is a bit faster than me. I'm good at sprinting, just not uphill and especially in new shoes. But we both broke out of our routine, not as hard for me to do, and it was all in all a pleasant experience and opened my eyes to a whole new world of running. (I'm hoping my calves will one day forgive me. It hasn't happened yet.) The next time I ran with the Vibrams was on Monday when I had speed work to do on the track and I figured if I'll be doing 8*100m sprint repeats I might as well wear the shoes since the track is softer ground and sprints require me to run on my toes anyway for maximum speed. It was then really hard to run back up Ramban since my legs were totally shot, but I did it slowly, stopping to buy some apple juice at the kiosk, which prompted the guy there to comment on how long I had been running for and how hot it was outside since he had spotted me run down the block earlier, all while he was getting my juice which slowed down the process to non existant, when all I wanted was a freakin' drink so that I wouldn't die. Anyway, I have a couple of hard training weeks coming up and then a test on how that has improved my running times. Let's hope it all will pay off...

There does seem to be an opportunity to fit in a race before the marathon, exactly 2 weeks before - on 10.10.10, Nike will be have a worldwide run and here in Israel it will be in Tel Aviv. I will be there, Danielle will be there, Noa will be there(!) Will you?