Going negative

One more step to the marathon is complete. It's not quite as motivating as that fast 5k from last month, but not to shabby. The Pirate and I did a simulator half-marathon to see what running downhill for an extended period of time would be like. I did the race in 1:30:10 and it puts me in good shape for a sub-3hr marathon. How does that work? you may ask: I'll explain. The point of the race was just to go and have fun and see where I was at; there was no taper, no getting to the front at the starting line, and enjoying the aid stations, do negative splits through the race, and save some energy for the drive home. Oh and we were also supposed to do another 6 miles when we got home to stay on the training schedule. The last race I did negative splits at was the Sioux Falls half-marathon forever go when getting ready for my last marathon. It makes the event super fun because you pass people the whole way. It's also a good way to practice not blowing up early. In any case the first mile I did was 7:55 and the next 7:30 all because I didn't push to the front. I didn't think I was that far from the starting line, but with all the people it took 90 seconds after the gun just to start my watch. Normally I wouldn't stop at an aid station (usually just sloshing as much as I could into my mouth). Today though, I stopped at miles 4, 6, 8, and 10 and also stopped to tie my shoe. The time for all that was about 4 min. Given all that I think I probably should've had a time 5 min faster. Running downhill is brutal on the shins: I'm still sore 5 days later! The plan here is to run downhill on the easy days. The coolest part about that half-marathon was the Pirate PR'd again! She's averaging less than 1-minute behind me now and she was feeling well enough to way out train me in the last few days. That's the norm usually, but I didn't know how she'd be after a long PR. Apparently it's nothing so, how far, how fast can she go? We'll see.

Was thinking about making a GUI in Flash player this weekend. That's way down the road, but their graphics are just so smooth. By the time I get ready for it I'm sure Java will have something just as fancy. Didn't make a lot of progress this last weekend; my body was just too broke down to get motivated.

This weekend we're off to a Warrior Dash (my birthday present to myself) and then we might try and check out the end of the Leadville 100 which will be going on just up the road. Our good buddy Mighty is running that and I'll be curious to see what he looks like when he's tired. 100 miles should do it right?

On that trail

This weekend gave some indications that my training is definitely on track. On Saturday I ran a 5k in 18:18, which is faster than I've run since high school! Sure the course was downhil, A LOT, but it was great to know the legs still had the ability to go fast. Incidentally, in my little world, sub-6:00 miles for any race qualifies as fast, sub-7:00 min miles qualifies as pretty fast, and up to 8:30 is moving pretty good. Oh, for the other side anything between 5 and 6 min/mile is smoking fast, with anything sub-5:00 qualifying as DAMN! That's not DAMN fast, that's just DAMN!! These qualifications change given distance but I think they hold true for anything from 1 mile up to a 10k, I'd probably add 30s for a half-marathon and I think I'd probably add only 1-minute for females at all distances. For the marathon I'd go with Boston's qualifying standard indicating fast. I'm only newly being introduced to ultras and aren't quite sure what fast would be because courses vary so much. Based on my limited experience, it sounds like 20-hr/100-miles would mean fast. Aside from the St. George marathon, the real test for me will be in late September when we do a local 5k cross-country course and I'll have been spending a couple weeks tapering. We also just found a half-marathon that is almost exactly the same conditions as St. George. It'll be nice to know where I stand on breaking 3 hrs. If this last weekends results were any indication and Yasso 800s hold true I should be golden.

Over the last couple weeks I've been working on coding up Darcy's law in Java. It seemed like a pretty great place to start since it's simple and provides a way for me to learn lots of little things about software development. Once I get some of these basics down I thought I'd code up as many elements of the hydrologic cycle I can think of. This gives me the double bonus of teaching me Java and refreshing myself on all the hydrology I've forgot over the years. As part of this I'll code up some GIS, statistics and maybe even some chemistry with the idea that at some point (teams of experienced programmers do this kind of thing over years) I'll have a real model I can use. I also plan to spend a lot of time on documentation so that anybody wanting to use the code could readily have a textbook style summary of what they're doing. My within code documentation should resemble that used by Jo Wood in his book "Java Programming for Spatial Sciences". It's a bit outdated, but it provides a great introduction into planning and organization.

Lastly I think I may restructure the blogs so that I have one for sport, one for science, and one for miscellaneous day-to-day thoughts. Something to think about.

Ace!

Yesterday was one of those quality days where I felt useful and productive work, had the best disc golf game ever, and finished it off with some uproarious ping pong. The highlight was the disc golf: I finished the first 3 holes at -2, which was a first and I would've been more than happy if that was the best part of the game. I was at -5 by the last hole, the 12th. To date, -5 had been my best round ever and I was pretty happy, but hopeful for something better because usually I can get the 12th hole in 2. The 12th is about 250ft and a little downhill and definitely aceable (I actually threw one right through the chains last week, but it didn't stick). I let it fly and new I'd get my two and have the best game ever. I put my head down to pick up my bag and immediately thought, "that felt really good. I should watch where it goes" It landed about 5 ft from the basket and skipped right in. YEAAAHHH! Not clean, but it all counts the same. Finished at -7 in 12 holes: not too shabby.

Training schedule is on track

Just realized I hadn't updated this in almost a month. The marathon training schedule is still on track with last week being the toughest so far. Here's how it finished: 7 mile tempo run on Friday and 14 mile long run on Saturday: brutal. The legs were still not recovered for the Monday tempo run, but I struggled through. Weds. will be the toughest speed workout with five 1200s at 6min/mile scheduled. Yikes! At least we've only got a 10er in the plan for this Saturday.

Outside of running I've been working through my Java programming coursework and am still on schedule to be a certified programmer. I'm shooting for the end of October. On almost an hourly basis I realize things that I could build programs around to make my life easier. Basically, anything I do more than once I feel I should have a program ready to go. I'm pretty set on transitioning from NetBeans to Eclipse as a development environment and think I better get used to Git for version control (course I'd have to have a version of something first!) It's tough to think about the best way to develop while teaching myself so as to optimize the time I spend. It's way too easy to think of all the possibilities rather than sitting down and actually coding. I think I just made a new goal: on a weekly basis I'm going to write some simple GUIs to help practice all the coding I do as part of the class. Some folks go to church on Sunday because they believe that by doing it they're making themselves a better person. I'll program on Sunday's because I believe making myself a better person makes me a better person. Peace!

So had a pretty good week of training last week. Speedwork was rough and I got pretty horrible stomach cramps just as I started the last mile. Until then I was able to run 7, 90 sec, 400s with 200m of jogging in between. Pretty exciting for a guy who hasn't run fast in a while. On Saturday we raced a local 5km and won it! Yep, the Pirate and I won our first race and got some nice little trophies for the effort. Monday we found out we won the lottery for the St. George Marathon in October. This course is a ripper, some say the fastest anywhere. As soon as we get back from Europe it looks like it'll be a long summer of running.

Last week the Pirate and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We couldn't be much happier and really enjoy spending as much time with each other as possible. It helps that she's wicked fast. Je t'aime mon petitie Pirate!

It's beginning

Hmm, seems like I lost a couple posts when Google updated their stuff??? Ah well, I don't imagine there was anything too mind-blowing. So what's been going on since January. The Pirate and I trained up for the US 'Other' Half in San Francisco which starts at Fisherman's wharf and runs out to, over, and back across the Golden Gate bridge. That was the most fun I've had in a half-marathon maybe ever. It was pretty euphoric to go that far with no pain and still have enough left in the tank to spend a great afternoon in S.F. I got my wake up call two weeks later when we did the Desert R.A.T.S. half-marathon here on the Kokopelli trail system. One big climb and my knee went to shit in a hurry. The downhill was shear agony. The last mile of fire road was relative bliss and I could focus on my form and get my knee back in line. I took it easy all week except for the Weds. speedwork where my goal was to focus on form and just get some miles in. Turns out I was able to do 8 400s at 6:00 pace, which is faster than I've gone in a long time. Super proud that I was on my way back to fast, when I got home I found out that the Iron Lady had just qualified for the Olympics running that same pace for an entire marathon! So amazing for her and definitely well earned (I really hope her dad can enjoy her Olympic day). Knowing my way back to fast isn't going to happen overnight, I'm just happy I've found speed again. It's that strength and endurance part that keeps the going slow. Last night I was able to do 3 1-mile intervals at under 6:30 pace, which is my goal pace for the end of the month. Given the degradation of my form through the workout I'm thinking that might be expecting a lot. I figure for the race I'll strap on the heart rate monitor, keep the throttle on at 180 bpm and see how much gas is in the tank.

I'm feeling good enough that I've even started keeping a training log. With all the knee, heel, and tendon problems I felt so inconsistent that it wasn't worth recording anything. Now I think I can write it down and not have to worry about those blank pages. The Pirate and I put in for a marathon in the fall. If selected it'll be my first marathon since Boston in 2004! I've done three marathons: the first I never ran more than 15 miles prior and it was my fastest time. The second one I trained a little more seriously, but didn't really have any plan, never ran more than 18 miles and did no speedwork. For Boston I tried to train to have a plan and train seriously, did way too much way too fast and that's when all the knee troubles started. This time I've been doing my reading, have a plan, and have a great group to do speedwork with. Now I just need to get that diet under control.

Lastly, I hate election years. The hate just pervades everywhere. I don't have cable so at least I can avoid all the snarky, low brow, mud that get's slung, but now I can't even avoid it on the internet. A part of my ethos is that any child can identify a problem, but only mature people work directly toward finding a solution. The problem goes way beyond politics though. Its far too often, in my opinion, that the conversations I have or the TV I watch when I get the chance, devolve to horrific, judgemental bitching (Fox News, which I prefer to call the Nazi News or the Hate and Fear Channel, has got to be the worst). Bitching does not make me a better person or help me figure out how to move more efficiently through this life. Everybody's got issues and if you want help figuring out how to solve your problem, ask.  Admittedly, I can't say I don't stray into that negative world because everyone needs to vent, but anymore I'm pretty good about trying to look for a solution mid-bitch. If I can do it mid-bitch, and anyone who knows me knows I'm not conversationally gifted, it seems to me that a politician, whose job anymore seems to be more about talking than anything else, should be able to at least give even time to identifying a problem and finding a solution. Unfortunately, their strategy seems to be: bitch, bitch, bitch, this ad payed for by .... It's nice to know we have such eductated and mature people vying to run the free world.

My super soup recipe

Apologies for the post: this one is more for me so that I remember how to make when sooner or later I forget. This soup is pretty much our staple to make sure we get tons of good stuff in our bodies. It may seem like the kitchen sink, but it's pretty tasty. I'll put some guestimates at quantities, but I measure using my hands and caps from my spice jars. Oh, and pretty much everything here is fresh and organic; excepting of course that Keilbasa: just too damn tasty and I'm not overly concerned about hormones in my turkey.
1/2 pound turkey keilbasa sausage (chopped into bite size tasty morsels)
1/2 pound chicken (ditto on the size and tastiness)
1 cup of fresh green beans (sugar snap peas work just as well)
1 cup of carrots (we've also thown in parsnips of late)
1 cup of celery
1/2 an onion (usually red, but I'm not racist)
1 can of small artichoke hearts (diced until I'm satisfied. I've also used cabbage and brussel sprouts)
1 can of white kidney beans
1 can of lentils
3 bay leaves (cuz when you make a vegetable soup it's a must)
1 tbsp Mrs.Dash Garlic & Herb (Lady changed my world)
1 tbsp yellow currie powder
1 tbsp ground corriander
1 tbsp fennel
2 tsp of salt
Sometimes I'll add a bit of parsley or rosemary depending on what I'm jonez'n for.
4 cups of chicken bouillon
4 cups of beef bouillon

Put all into a big-ass pot, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for an hour (Makes about 4.5 qts.
We experimented with different types of carbs and mostly they just turn goopy in the soup after a while so we usually put our carbs in just before we eat (This amount of soup will last the two of us 3 or 4 days). My personal preference is Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wha according to the Sailor) which you can actually leave in the soup from minute one. A close second is Couscous, preferably made with a blend of grains. Potatoes or wild rice seem to do well, but I'm usually too lazy to bother cooking them. That's it. That's our soup. If anyone tries it I'd love to here suggestions or different variations.