CAF Fundraising Update
As an update to my efforts to my CAF fundraising efforts, so far I’ve raised $5,505, not including some matching gifts that haven’t been received. (If you want to donate, click here to get to my donation page. The link is also in “About Me” in the sidebar.) I have to note that I’m very impressed that there are companies that match employees’ donations (unfortunately, it seems that very few companies actually do it). It’s a very generous act and I imagine its serves as a nice incentive to those employees. Special thanks to The Baupost Group and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for your matching gifts. So far, I’ve received 29 donations from friends and family – thanks to everyone for their generosity. I’m feeling pretty lucky to have such supportive people around me.
I had another good (read: pain free) run yesterday evening and a solid swim this morning. It’s been a relatively “easy” week – scheduled recovery week and just slowly testing out my hip.
For the first time in months (probably since last summer), I ran on a treadmill. I’m not sure why I decided that the treadmill made sense – sure, it was cold out, but it was warmer than it has been for many of my runs this year. I’m trying to keep my intensity somewhat in check this week and the treadmill seemed like an easy way to regulate that. Also, I wanted to get some hills into the run and unless I go all the way up to Central Park, there just aren’t hills around. Running on the treadmill was fine – I watched a little basketball and played with the speed and hills. There’s no way I’m making it a habit though. It gets hot and stuffy in the gym and I’d much rather brave a little cold and be outside. Hopefully, we’re quickly getting to the point this year where “braving the cold” will be a thing of the past. What’s likely to happen, though, is that we’ll go straight from “braving the cold” to “enduring the heat and humidity”. Please, give us some spring!
My leg is still bothering me a little bit. I’m not sure really how to describe it. It’s fine under normal circumstances and didn’t even bother me while I was swimming. It’s all in my groin now, on the left. It’s just certain movements that cause pain – if I step laterally too wide it hurts for a second. It feels like the connection between my leg and the inside of my hip is a little weak. During my strength training today, I added some of those adductor exercises to see if I can strengthen the muscles. The exercises didn’t hurt it, so I think that’s a good sign. This morning’s swim went well. I felt better than I did on Wednesday, but still not as fluid as I’ve been feeling recently. Maybe my arms are just tired. Today’s main set was 3x6x100 with 10 seconds rest between 100’s. My times were pretty solidly in the low 1:30’s, which is great for me. I’ll never, ever be swimming 1:20’s, but I’ll be psyched if I can pull 1:30’s on a consistent basis. I’ve only been swimming laps consistently for about two years now, and except for my one lesson in January, have never had any instruction, and it’s only been the last year that I’ve really been emphasizing lap time, instead of survival, so I can’t really complain – and definitely shouldn’t even begin to compare myself to life-long swimmers. As for my tired arms, I’m not swimming over the weekend, so I have at least a couple days out of the pool coming up.
Bike – March 8
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 123
Indoor ride:
Run – March 8
Distance: 3.75 miles
Time: 31:18
Average heart rate: 138
Treadmill run
Swim – March 9
Distance: 3,100 yards
Time: 1:09
Strength Training – March 9
Time: 25 minutes