Back in January I started doing P90X. Well, let me rephrase that. I added P90X workouts to my workout regimen and created a kind of hybrid P90X/FIRST marathon training program. I didn’t do the aerobic workouts espoused by P90X because I was already doing my 3 running workouts a week. I used the upper-body workouts of P90X to primarily tone up and lose weight, and I didn’t use the leg workouts because, frankly, my legs weren’t responding well and I didn’t want to injure myself before the Shamrock Marathon. I wasn’t shooting for being “ripped” or getting extreme, I wanted a decent workout. P90X delivered that, although I have since switched to circuit training in the gym with several exercises inspired by P90X still in the mix. I just got bored with the same workouts in my bonus room.

One thing I took a shine to was pull-ups. I bought a pull-up bar off eBay. You’ll want to be careful about which kind you buy, as there are some made with lighter gauge steel that I wouldn’t trust. The one I ended up with is stout and heavy. I’ve added some felt around the ends that touch the doorway to limit the damage that it does. It works flawlessly. Having so many grip positions is fantastic. Mixing things up is simple.

So now I find myself doing pull-ups and chin-ups at random times during the day. When I have a free minute I’ll head upstairs to where the bar is and do a set of pushups. Any kind will do: standard, wide, diamond, decline. Do a set to failure. Then pick a grip and do a set of pull-ups or chin-ups. Mix up your sets: reverse grip, wide grip, hammer grip. That’s it. 1 minute and you’re done with both. On an average day I’ll get maybe 40 extra pull-ups and 100 to 200 pushups sprinkled throughout the day.

Pull-ups are fantastic upper body exercises, but they’re hard. “I can’t do a single pull-up! How am I going to do this?” When I first got my bar earlier this year it was my weakest exercise. On standard width, front-grip pull-ups I could maybe do 2 with anything approaching correct form. Reverse-grip chin-ups are easier and I could do perhaps 5. Now I’m up to over 10 of any kind. So, how do you improve if you can’t do any? 2 primary ways:

1. Work the negative. If you can’t pull yourself up even once, use your legs and push with your legs or jump to the top to the finishing position. Then let yourself down slowly. By going slowly downward — “working the negative” — you’ll work the same muscles. Eventually you’ll be able to pull yourself up.
2. Do “assisted” pull-ups. Get a chair and put it in front of you when you’re standing at the bar. Grip the bar and use one leg to help yourself pull up to the top. Only use as much leg as you need. Need to increase the difficulty? Move the chair a bit further away. You can use this chair to increase the number of reps you perform as well. When I first started I would do as many as I could without the chair, then use the chair to get an extra few reps.

Combine those and soon you’ll see incremental improvement. And you’ll definitely notice a difference in your arms and back.

I needed a run last night. Sure, I’d just run a 5K the day before but I was off all day for no good reason. Irritable, with just a heaviness in my heart. I mean, it’s not like there’s nothing going on, but regardless… I needed a run. I was scheduled for a “long run” anyway — if you can call any run in a 5k training plan “long” — so I figured I’d go out and knock out 6 or 7 miles after I put Julia to bed and clear my head.

I got everything on, kicked on the Clip+, put my reflector vest on and headed out from the house. I was going to cruise my old stomping grounds in a nearby golfing community. I used to do night runs there frequently the last time I got on a running kick so I know it well. I crossed one of the main drags and thought about my 5K and my desperate need to improve my hill running. Looking to the left there’s a long incline of almost half a mile that I knew would be “fun” so I decided to make it a hill repeat night.

I maintained my pace quite well. Scheduled for 8:22 and keeping about 8:00 flat even on the incline. My wind was better than during the race, too, with a glorious 60 degree evening and a light breeze. I reached the top of the hill feeling good and righteous, congratulating myself on getting out on my first night run this year. I felt secure in my reflector vest, listening to music quietly so I could still hear things going on around me, and if something did occur I had my Road ID right there on my…

Wait. Where the hell is my Road ID? I almost stopped dead in my tracks but I could actually picture it sitting in the drawer where I keep my wallet, keys, phones, etc. How stupid can I be? The first time I could really use and need my Road ID and I get 2 miles from the house before I realize I don’t have it.

Then my mind started working at me. This is Murphy’s Law writ large. There’s a pickup with my name on it somewhere that’s bearing down on me right this second. I’ve seen the marks on the sidewalk, the missing signs and shrubs from vehicles plowing off the road and into the landscaping. It happens. My wife, comfortably ensconced on the couch will look at the clock and start to wonder in about 45 minutes. In an hour she’ll start getting concerned. In 90 minutes she’ll be asking a neighbor to house-sit since Julia is asleep while she tries to find me. Of course I had deviated from the course I told her I would be on just so I could do my hill repeats. I’ll bleed out in a ditch before anyone finds me.

I got down the hill and did one more repeat back up before heading back to the barn. My pace kept solid but I only got a little under 4 in before my anxiety at an ignominious end became unbearable.

Yeah, it’s great having my brain.

I don’t think too much about mortality. I think about it more now that I’m married with child but still manage to keep it at bay. But I recognize that were I, say, 10 miles out on a long run along the Tobacco Trail and I keeled over with a heart attack or somehow got hit by a car or a ravenous pack of rabid goats descended on me it would be hard for anyone to know who I was or anything about me. Cat always has a nagging worry when I go out on my long runs that “something will happen” and there would be no way for her to know. I began carrying my cell phone which is a moderate pain but would suffice for me to contact her if something happened, but it still doesn’t help too much if something really bad happened and people were trying to help me. Sure, they could check the address book on my phone but they’d have to unlock it. Etc, etc.

Road ID solves that problem. It’s stunningly simple as all good ideas are. Mine came in yesterday and I’m wearing it around just to get a feel for it. Obviously I’m not used to wearing things on my right arm, but still it’s not obtrusive and it’s everything you could ask for. Their site is well-done as well, giving tips and hints on precisely what to put on it along with accepted abbreviations for medical conditions you might wish to include. If you have space save the last line for a snappy slogan to peek down at during races. I chose “One mile at a time” which is about perfect for me.

They have different styles including dog tags, ankle bracelets and little shoe pouches so you should be able to find something that resonates. I chose the standard, original version over both the rubberized one and the new-fangled “online” version. To my mind having all the important information right there on the bracelet is better than an 800 number to call to get the information. Sure, you can fit more information online which is a benefit. The online version is also dynamic so that if I change my phone number or I suddenly develop an allergy to goats I can update my info immediately, but I’ll just fork over the cash for a new one if that happens.

You can use this coupon code to get $1 off for the next 30 or so days: ThanksBrian632690. There’s no limit of these coupon codes out there, they give everyone a “tell a friend” code when you order. And no, I don’t get a red cent of it. Also they donate a portion of the proceeds to an organization of your choice which I thought was cool.

I’d seriously recommend this to anyone that exercises outside with any regularity. You just never know when that unchecked goat population will literally bite you on the ass.

My rather short-lived 2nd gen iPod Shuffle won’t sync anymore. It won’t even attach over USB. It attaches, detaches, attaches, detaches, etc, forever. It’s not the cable since I can unplug mine and plug in Cat’s just fine. It’s started doing this recently and I was able to recover it previously after futzing with a few hours. No joy this time. I got it last year to run with because it’s tiny and worked. The whole “working” part is a relatively important requirement that I have with my devices, so I needed an alternative to the non-working one.

I almost ordered a new Shuffle, complete with asinine cable-mounted controls which precludes using anything but Shuffle-oriented headphones. Then I sat back and thought. I don’t need an iPod. I loathe the Apple-mandated “thou shalt sync with one computer” since I’m regularly on either my home machine or my work machine and if I want to jam a new song on there at either place Apple would rather I did not. I simply need a small MP3 player.

Enter the SanDisk Sansa Clip+. I got a 4G one (because Best Buy doesn’t carry the 2G one) for less than the cost of a 2G iPod Shuffle. And for my money I get a player that has a (small) screen, has an FM tuner (useful for those YMCA workouts when I want to listen in to the TV feeds), has a programmable equalizer, can be expanded with SD cards, can be used with any earbuds known to man, is compatible with Rhapsody 2 Go if I ever want to go back, and which is mountable on any PC.

And yet the Shuffle outsells it by some insane factor, I’m sure. Oh well. I for one welcome my new workout buddy.

I need a nook. I need one. This is not merely whim or technolust, this is dire need.

Or technolust.

Seriously, how does one survive extended stays on dreadmills without an ebook reader? I did an hour. That’s chump change. Were it not for the Y being closed due to the Snowpocalypse this weekend I was considering putting in about 3 hours on one since I didn’t relish running on icy trails. I can do that outside, there’s the whole damned outdoors to watch. There’s progression. There’s that nice bridge over the swampy area, there’s the lovely bridge over the wooded creek, there’s hill one followed by the bare bridge, there’s the stretch where you try not to be killed by golf balls from the driving range, there’s the underpass… there’s things to see. On the dreadmill there’s two tvs — invariably Fox News and ESPN, equally invariably talking heads and basketball — and a bunch of kids running around in the downstairs gym. God the boredom.

But with a nook I could be reading the book I’m currently reading. Yes.

Maybe I’ll have to buy myself one in celebration of finishing the Shamrock Marathon. There’s some motivation for me! Finish in under 4 hours and I get a nook. Tempting!