Howdy, folks! I just wanted to take this opportunity and let you all know how things are going in the Magical Land of Beej.
New Subscriptions by Email
Over the past few weeks, I decided to start really focusing on Geek Fitness. I mean, I work out more and feel better when I’m writing here, so I figured that I need to step it up and try to boost the blog’s readership and subscribers. There are a lot of issues with RSS these days (including the shutdown of Google Reader), and the WordPress email subscriptions leave a lot to be desired.
So after a bit of research, I decided to start using MailChimp. All you guys have to do is opt in, and you can get every Geek Fitness post delivered to your inbox. So click here to subscribe (please!), and let me thank you in advance for joining me on my–our–quest to health and fitness.
Upping my Running Game
Since last week, I’ve been trying to up my weekly mileage. The humidity has been nasty here in Tennessee (90+% at 6-7am), so it’s been a real struggle, especially since I’m fighting asthma, too.
But I’ve done it. I’ve been running over 10k each time I go out (the last two runs have been 6.6 miles and then 7.5), and I think I’m okay to sit here for a week. I think I’ve found my glass ceiling at 7.5 miles. But that’s okay.
I know that the humidity and heat really sap me. I just have to tell myself, “Suck it up princess.” So today, I’m going to suck it up. I’m hitting a running store for energy gels to pop when I feel empty.
7.5 miles at a stretch is great, but that’s still 5.7 miles away from my goal distance for a half-marathon. I think that between interspersing walking with my runs (thanks, Nazaniel!) and bringing some pick-me-ups in the morning, I’ll do okay to hit that 13.2 miles well before fall.
Legacy is (almost) a Novel
Geek Fitness isn’t my only writerly focus. After a couple of false starts and stops and a pretty substantial restructuring, Legacy, the third book in The Technomage Archive is sitting at 48,000 words. At 50k, it’ll break the lower threshold of what’s considered a novel. That will happen tomorrow.
Even as a first draft, the book is nowhere near done, but after tomorrow, at least I will be far enough along that I won’t feel too bad to settle in and do some major editing on Book 2, Lineage.
I think that’s about it for me. How is your summer treating you so far?
P.S. – Don’t forget to subscribe to the shiny new email list. 😉
You’re doing great! The best part about running is that every time you think you’ve hit a glass ceiling, you train a bit more and discover that you haven’t 🙂 The first time I tried to run 10km I thought there was no way I would ever run further – but the next week I ran 11km, and the week after I ran 12km, and then I finished my 19km run cheering, and two weeks later the half marathon.
The humidity is tough – remember that it really slows you down. Have a look at the numbers he gives in this article: http://running.competitor.com/2013/05/training/ask-the-coach-should-i-adjust-for-heat-humidity_11857 . Make sure that you do slow down – I thought I had slowed down enough on Sunday running a min/km slower than usual, but still ended up with heat exhaustion, which was awful.
Just keep getting through the miles 🙂 It will all come together.
I’ve finally really gotten it into my head that it’s ok to slow down for the summer. I’ve slowed down a lot more than that article suggests, though. I’m a good minute per mile slower. But, where B.J. and I live (this is his wife), “high humidity” means 90% or more. This morning when I woke up, it was 98% (thankfully the temp was only about 63, so I was able to make it, but the thick air still slowed me down). I always remember when we went to Texas, and people were complaining about it being humid at about 55%. That’s a dry, crisp day for us 🙂
The heat and humidity are gamechangers. It’s so hard, knowing how hard you’ve been working, to be slowed down by something out of your control.
Congratulations on the books! That’s a tremendous accomplishment and you should be proud.
Summer has been ok. I had my tonsils out on the 27th, so I’ve been recovering. However, we’ve had some awesome time with family and a trip to Disney so I can’t complain too much. 🙂