Marathon training is a journey

Last night I got in the best quality training run I've had in the last two or three weeks. It was a 15 miler with the last 13 miles at marathon pace effort, and I managed 1:37:22 for the marathon pace segment which is right on track for a sub-3:15 marathon.

It got me to thinking that marathon training is usually a journey. Sometimes it is a journey filled with surprises, some of them happy ones, others disappointments. I know over the years I've been up and down during the training, and oftentimes marathon training involves a lot of doubts and second guessing.

Just a cursory glance at various marathon training discussions at online running forums shows that there is a lot of uncertainty involved for most marathoners and marathoners-to-be. Am I running enough, is the training plan I'm following right for me, how fast can I expect to finish the marathon, and so on and so on... If you look at marathon training in this light, then it isn't just the lead up to running some predetermined distance, marathon training is also a journey of self-discovery. We can learn a lot about ourselves, about our mental and physical capabilities, when we undertake the journey involved in preparing for a marathon.

I also believe the act of marathon training itself forces us to live in the moment, something that in this modern world we are not as accustomed to as we are either too worried about the unknown future or waxing nostalgic for the golden days of the past. Marathon training involves focusing on today's workout while building on your past running history and fitness in an effort to grasp a possible future goal.

However, instead of being full of anxiety, we should enjoy our journey and experience whatever this journey has in store for us. Get out there and just do it! In this regard, the poet Antonio Machado wrote some words that are pertinent:

Caminante, no hay camino
Se hace camino al andar

which roughly translated into English would be:

Traveler, there is no path
The path is made by walking

Don't fret but make your own path, and hopefully our paths will cross at a marathon or another shared crossroads down the line somewhere!

Running from colds

After the last couple of blog entries, I was thinking today I had some more to say along those lines because I was feeling in a philosophical mood. But now I feel that's too many posts in a row, so I'll write something quick about running related stuff.

Ever since I became a runner, I have gotten sick a lot less than I ever did before. I might get a cold once a year, and that's it. And even if I am sick, I usually feel a lot better than I used to feel before I was a runner. I think that being a runner -- and all the things that are tied into that for me which include strength training, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, etc. -- has in general increased my overall health.

However, it's been noted that a lot of runners get sick after a period of heavy training or after a particularly strenuous race, especially marathons. One study supposedly showed that runners who completed a marathon were about 2 to 6 times more likely to come down with a cold soon after the race than runners who had trained for the marathon but were then unable to run it. You can see the article I read that from at the link below from the New York Road Runners' Club website:

http://web1.nyrrc.org/divisions/training/immunity1.html

It's a pretty good article written by Shelly Glover who has a Master's degree in exercise physiology and is a running coach.

I started off with a sore throat on Friday, and it's now Sunday. I think yesterday was when I felt the sickest, but it wasn't enough to make me lounge around in bed all day but just enough that I skipped my usual Saturday run. When I woke up today I still didn't feel 100%, so I decided to take my third day in a row off from running, which is a very rare event for me! I usually run even when I do feel sick because I never feel all that bad.

I'm pretty sure that I got sick as a result of racing the Newnan's Lake 15k very hard in combination with having been worn down from so much running at the beginning of the year. My average mileage for the start of 2008 was just over 10 miles day, which would've put me on track to run over 3600 miles this year, a substantial increase over the almost 2900 miles I ran in 2007. So I think with the stress of having done so much running as well as running a hard race opened the window for me to get sick.

Getting sick is something that seems to happen to me only after I've reached a new higher level of training. For example the first time I ran over 60 miles a week twice in a row, I think I got a sore throat for a couple of days the week afterwards. But until now, it hasn't stopped me running as I never felt sick enough to stop! This time, I think it was the heavy training in addition to the race that knocked my immunity low enough that I finally felt sick enough to take three days off from running. However, I'm hoping that taking these few days off will let me recouperate fully and get back on track right away. Taking a few days off was a matter of sacrificing some sub-par training and resting up so I can get back to it strong next week. I'm already feeling better and looking forward to running my usual 10 miler on Monday. It's a matter of looking at the big picture rather than fretting about getting off the routine.

Stupid junkie thoughts...

Since I was sitting around yesterday thinking about jazz, I picked up a number of books from my bookshelf about jazz and read some passages here and there. One book mentioned how many of the jazz musicians in the 1940s and afterwards were heaviliy influenced by bebop saxophone pioneer Charlie Parker. Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are probably the two most famous jazz musicians of the bebop era, and they are acknowledged as pioneers of the artform. Unfortunately, Parker was also a well-known junkie or heroin addict. This lead to a lot of young impressionable jazz musicians as well as jazz fans to take to heroin thinking that was the secret to great jazz, whereupon a fair number became addicts.

John Coltrane was another famous jazz musician who, as a younger musician, also developed an addiction to heroin and alcohol which almost cost him the ability to play music, as he was fired more than once from jazz bands due to unreliability stemming from his addictions. After being fired from Miles Davis's group -- one of the greatest small group jazz bands of the 1950s -- in 1957 Coltrane locked himself in a room for two weeks to quit heroin and alcohol cold turkey. In the liner notes to A Love Supreme, which is considered by many to be his greatest recording, he wrote of the aftermath of this experience:

During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which has guided me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD.

But the interesting thing to note, as in relation to the subject of addiction, is that after kicking his habit, Coltrane became obssessed with woodshedding, practicing his music, and exploring the directions that his music could take. This was even seen when he played live as he and his group of musicians could end up playing and obssesively exploring only one song for the course of an entire hour.

So I got to thinking (dangerous ground there heh heh) that some folks like me have addictive personalities. Something about our brain chemistry makes us addicts, and when we kick a destructive habit, oftentimes it is a matter of substituting a healthier alternative habit.

Now, I believe that everybody probably has their own obsessions, but I don't see that as equal to being an addict. Most people who say, "I am addicted to chocolate!" usually aren't addicts, in my eyes. To me, an addict is somebody who spends an inordinate amount of time and energy thinking about when and where they are going to get their next hit, and when they go without their special something they undergo mental and/or physical anguish and suffering. Most so-called choco-holics would probably be fine if they did without for a week or two, though they might be a little sad about the fact. But that feeling isn't the same feeling that an addict has where their every thinking moment is tied up with trying to get a hold of that next hit. I think there is something in the addict's brain chemistry where the focus of their addiction gives them a thrill or feeling that they can't live without, so they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to reproduce that feeling again and again. Some addicts may do it with drugs and some may do it with thrillseeking.

Probably most of my life, I have had one type of addiction or another. Luckily, none of them were ever addictions to drugs or alcohol, but nonetheless I think I could call myself a junkie of a different sort. I have had a number of addictions which include: collecting music CDs, collecting comic books and artwork, working long unpaid overtime hours, and running. As I look back, I can see how parts of my life roughly divide up into different phases like when I was a comic book addict, a work addict, a running addict. Like most addicts, I built up a tolerance for my addictions. Tolerance is when you need larger and larger doses to get the same effect.

I guess I am lucky that my addictions haven't led to outright destitution or destruction of my good health. But at one time or another, I do feel that they have had the ability to throw the overall course of my life off the track I would like to be on. I guess I have been lucky that the tolerance that built up for each addiction was at a level before it became purely destructive. For example, with collecting artwork (which I still dabble in) it got to a point where I felt a lot of what I would acquire in the future would be below the level at which it would satisfy that addictive thrill. Somehow I had reached the ulitmate high, and most things afterwards would be a bit of an anti-climax. With work, I finally realized that other people were benefitting much more than I from all those unpaid overtime hours that I worked. And not only that, but that work was actually hurting me directly by siphoning off time and energy that I could use in personal self-improvement and fulfilment, a.k.a. the stuff of life itself. Instead of pouring all my time into work, it was more important to use that time wisely. On the other hand, maybe I've just been saved by "burn-out"?!? 8^)

Running would have to be the primary addiction in my life right now, as the daily run is one of the most important activities I engage in every day. I must know the weather forecast for tomorrow because I have to know which running clothes to bring to work so that I can do my daily run after work. It is a real bummer for me to miss the weather forecast!

However, with running (and possibly just from getting older and wiser hopefully) I finally feel more grounded. It literally reinforces the contact between me and this world as every step is in direct contact with the world, every gasping breath draws life from the air around me. Even though I schedule one day a week off from running, most people would still call me a running junkie. I don't feel right if I take an unscheduled day off from running. Today is the second day in a row I did not run, and that was because I had a sore throat and a bit of a cold. I know objectively it was good to rest, but I still feel somewhat bad that I didn't run today. However, that didn't change the fact that I chose not to run and did not run, so today I controlled the little demon instead of the demon controlling me. With the passing of time, I am slowly seeing the little demon inside transform into a little guardian angel. Then I will be 100% free to do the best I can in this lifetime -- that is the responsibility that comes with the gift of being alive. I think the ultimate miracle is that there is something instead of nothing. So I'll be glad to experience the universe, life, god, whatever-you-call-the-truth-of-existence without the small-focus distortion of a junkie's viewpoint. All praise to the universe, to everything that was, is, and will be...

The mind wanders...

Something interesting about human beings is how we have time to let our minds wander. We have the time and energy to think about things that are totally unrelated to surviving in the world and perpetuating our genes through future progeny and descendants. While I am pretty new to the practice of blogging, it seems like it is an exercise in blithely spilling out the non-essential contents of our minds. Does anybody really need me to tell them about mixing up different breakfast cereals, no matter how cool it actually is? 8^)

On the other hand, it's kinda cool that we have this capability to just relax and make connections between totally unrelated things. This probably doesn't make any sense, but here is a concrete example. Every weekend, I usually do a run with a local running group, and I met the infant son of one of the runners at the post-run breakfast. His name was Ayler. My mind then made the jump to Albert Ayler, a relatively famous (some would say infamous) free-jazz saxophone player who helped revolutionize jazz in the 1960s. He along with Ornette Coleman, another pioneer in jazz music, were two musicians who played at the funeral of another famous and pioneering saxophonist, John Coltrane.

While I really enjoy jazz music and consider myself a jazz fan, I am a music fan in general, one of those crazy people who have a ton of CDs. It felt like I hadn't been listening to much jazz at all the last few years, so just meeting this kid named Ayler got me all excited about listening to the jazz CDs I have in my collection. Then when I started going through to enjoy some old favorites, I picked some books about jazz and jazz musicians off my bookshelf to read.

What's the big deal? I dunno, just rambling today. But I thought it was neat that meeting this little kid who couldn't even talk to me sent me around to something totally different and unrelated like reading about jazz and what various jazz musicians go through to create their music. And that led to me writing on my blog, which is somewhat related as this entry was totally improvised and off the cuff, like a jazz performance. Sometimes you create something beautiful, sometimes not. Like one of our greatest living jazz musicians, Sonny Rollins, you just go for it trying to utilize your life's experiences and whatever chops you've built up over all those years of practicing. There's no safety net, and in some ways that's true not only for music and blogging, but also for the way we live our lives in general. I guess I am reaching here, but that's what happens sometimes. (I am feeling somewhat more scatterbrained than usual.) Anyhow, maybe I can think of something more cohesive next time, but until then, I hope you enjoy whatever the day brings!

Cooking with cold breakfast cereal

Some people like cold breakfast cereal -- as a bachelor, I love it! It makes for a quick breakfast in the morning when you're trying to get out the door as quick as possible, and it is also a quick and nutritious midnight snack as well. In fact, I can eat breakfast cereal any time of the day.

Unfortunately, some cold breakfast cereals have gotten a bad knock because a lot of them are just too sugary and too low in fiber and protein, especially the cereals aimed at kids. On the other hand, many of the cereals aimed at adults are geared toward the dieting set and often contain very few calories per serving. None of these are particularly filling, which is something I look for in what is basically a staple food. Another factor confounding things are the nutritional value of different cereals, as some are fortified with vitamins and minerals, but often the "natural" or "organic" cereals have little in the way of these essential nutrients. And sometimes they just don't taste all that great either.

So as a cereal connoisseur, I developed the idea of "cooking" with cold breakfast cereal. This involves "recipies" which are essentially mixing different types of cold cereal together in the same bowl. The cereal that started me along this road was Kashi GoLean. It is a cereal that is low in sugars and fairly high in fiber and protein (in comparison to other cereals), but it is fairly low in calories and can be bland tasting. So I ended up mixing it with Kashi GoLean Crunch, which is a much sweeter cereal. That way I ended up cutting the sweetness of the GoLean Crunch while upping the palatability of the original GoLean cereal.

But then, I looked at the nutrients, and neither of the GoLean cereals offers much in the way of essential vitamins and nutrients. So I ended up adding in Kashi Heart to Heart cereal which is fortified with various vitamins and minerals. After this revelation, I started to realize that I could extend this idea of "cooking with breakfast cereal" to many other different breakfast cereals. The idea is to moderate the sugary cereals that may taste good with some other cereals that include higher levels of fiber and protein. That way you can still enjoy the taste of a sugary cereal without its drawbacks.

The basic rules that I use for cooking breakfast cereals together are:

1. Match a sugary cereal with a non-sugary cereal.
2. Include a cereal or group of cereals that will offer a decent amount of fiber and protein.
3. Include a cereal that includes or is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.
4. Match cereals with tastes that will complement each other.

The fourth rule is the one that is most open to experimentation, as everybody's tastes are different. Here are a few other breakfast cereal recipies that I really like.

• Cracklin' Oat Bran plus All-Bran plus Life
• Frosted Mini-Wheats plus Smart Start Antioxidants
• Kashi GoLean plus Fruity Cheerios
• Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds plus Kashi Heart to Heart

And of course, there are plenty of other variations that I've tried out. The possible breakfast cereal recipies are almost limitless. It's basically up to your imagination and your palate as to what you can come up with. The main thing is you can tailor the recipie to your tastes but not have to compromise on nutrition. You can still enjoy the sugary cereals you might've liked as a kid but without having to give up eating a nutritious breakfast or midnight snack! Give it a try and let me know if there are any particular breakfast recipies you really like. Oh, and don't forget, you can even easily add in some fruit like banana slices, blueberries, and sliced strawberries to add some flavor and include some fruit in your breakfast.

2008 Newnan's Lake 15k Road Race

The 2008 edition of the Newnan's Lake 15k race was on Saturday, January 19th. The weather forecast was for a 90% chance of rain, and during the night the storm was pouring down rain like crazy. Personally, as long as there is no lightning, I actually like running in the rain, even if it is a heavy downpour. And in a race, I feel that it is somewhat of an advantage for me since I usually train through all types of weather including heavy downpours. While it's not ideal for a race to be held in the rain, I feel like it helps me place a little higher up since I have trained in the conditions, and it also causes some folks to skip out on the race which usually leads to placing a little higher as well.

I have only run Newnan's Lake once before in 2003 and have volunteered as an aid station worker or finish line worker at all the other races until now. Looking back at the results I wouldn't have placed in my age group at any of those, and I didn't feel that I had much chance this year either. For those of you who are unfamiliar with running road races, many of them give out what are called "age group awards". Since in general the older you are, the slower you run, and the less likely you are to win or place, they create a "race within a race" by giving out awards based on how you raced versus people in a certain age range. For example, if you are a 46 year old female, then your finishing time is compared to all the females 45 to 49 years old, and if you are in first place among them, you would win first place in the 45-49 female AG (Age Group). If you came in second, you'd get the second place award for the 45-49 female AG, etc. Typically in the local races, the age groups span 5 years, e.g. 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, etc. And in the local races, sometimes it just depends on who shows up any particular day -- if none of the speedsters in my age group showed up, then I could snag an AG award even though I am a solid runner in the pack and not one of the speedier runners.

The morning started out very dark before sunrise with the rain still drizzling down and the temps just about 50 degrees F when registration started at 7AM. I stood around helping out with registration, taking entry forms, filling out people's race number forms (remember to pin your race number on the FRONT of your shirt, NOT the back because race officials need to see your number as you finish and they don't have x-ray vision!), and collecting their registration fees. About 5 minutes before the start I zoomed off to put my warmup clothes in my car and put on some gloves for the race since I get cold hands when it's below 55 degrees or so outdoors. I never got a chance to warm up except one lap around the parking lot and then it was time to race.

Lining up at the start, I found a place a few feet back from the very front but at the very side of the pack of runners. I find that it is better to be out on the edge so I don't get boxed in by slower runners at the very start. After a few instructions about not using headphones and being aware of our surroundings while running, at the sound of a little air horn we were off!

This past week I felt kinda fatigued and had tried to cut back a few miles on Wednesday and Thursday, but I still felt sluggish early in the race. I felt that the weather conditions were great with the exception of the high humidity, so that meant a good chance of running what would be considered a good time for me, maybe just under 65 minutes total in my case. That meant running about 7 minutes per mile (7:00/mile) pace. I ran hard trying to get into the groove and in position among the various other runners. At the first mile marker my split -- a split is an intermediate time at any point in a longer race, like say your 2 mile split in a 4 mile race would be about half the total finishing time -- was 7:22 which was 22 seconds too slow. The bad thing was that it felt a lot faster! What I mean is that it felt like I was running 6:45 pace when in reality it was only 7:22. That was a bad sign, and maybe I went out too fast at the very beginning which often leads to a quick slowdown after the too-fast initial blast. But I wanted to race hard today, so I kept going.

The Newnan's Lake course is really nice as it runs on Lakeshore Drive by Newnan's Lake. It's really pretty out there, and the traffic is light at 8AM on a Saturday morning. So we runners really had a great view to ourselves that morning. No matter how well or poorly you may be racing, you can still enjoy the scenery. For some people, it is their favorite Gainesville area race, and I can definitely see why they might feel that way. For somebody like me who is almost always in town, it is a great change of pace, running among the trees, by the lake, enjoying the birds and the scenery.

In a road race, after the first mile or two, the position of runners kinda sorts itself out with the fast folks at the front and slower folks in descending order of speediness drifting back from there. I passed a bunch of folks on the way out from the start, but around the end of the first mile to the second mile, a few runners caught up and passed me. Usually from that point on, I would go from being the hunted to the hunter, as I would look up ahead and try to see if I could slowly reel in the runners up ahead. But today I felt sluggish and slow.

In the United States, we typically have a marker by the side of the road at the end of every mile in the race, so with the use of a watch, you can pace yourself to run evenly throughout the whole race. This race strategy is often seen as the most economical and thus the best way to run a fast race. I didn't see the mile 2 marker, but at mile 3 the last couple miles had taken 15 minutes even, so 7:30/mile pace. Well, this was not the plan! I just figured that I was fatigued from marathon training, and the 3 days that I tried to rest up by cutting some mileage wasn't enough to refresh my legs. But instead of giving up, I would just push on and let things play out.

While it was still hard going, after a while it seemed like I got in a groove, and some of the miles passed by a lot quicker than expected. I probably didn't look so great with my eyes squinted in concentration, my mouth open to gather in as much air as possible. But on the plus side, I wasn't slowing down and instead was speeding up!

This race course was an out-and-back course where you run out to the halfway point and turn around to run back the way you came. This can be fun as you get to cheer on the runners faster than you as they come back before you get halfway, and you can cheer on the runners slower than you as you head back yourself. While there were a few spectators cheering us on, the out-and-back nature of the course meant you got a chance to encourage and be encouraged by the other runners on the course. I had a fun time as I saw a bunch of running pals and acquaintances out there: West, Diane, James, Gay, Ron, Kevin, Becca, Oscar, Robin, Patrick, Edwin, and apologies to anybody I forgot but my mind was barely functioning except for the part that controls running!

That brings me to a thought: that to race well, you probably need to shut out almost all thought except the brain processing required for body monitoring, race strategy, and race tactics. You need to monitor your body to see how it is functioning. Is your breathing good; does the pace feel too fast, too slow, or just right; is there a mounting feeling of fatigue; is that pain something that is normal for the effort or is it a serious injury coming about? Then you need to stick to your race strategy. If you want to start out slow and finish fast, don't blow it by running too fast at the start; if you know the course is hilly, then remember to conserve energy on the uphills and cruise the downhills. Race tactics involve how you run in relation to the other runners in the race. If you want to pass somebody, you are more likely to do it successfully if you continue pushing past them in a strong manner; if you are running into a headwind, run in the windshadow of a runner in front of you to conserve your energy until you are ready to pass him; when you run a curve, run the shortest route instead of following the centerline of the road which is longer. Some people are not mentally strong and are easily discouraged when you run by them, so tactics can help you move up through the placings.

Anyhow, this post is getting way too long! Here are the per mile splits I had recorded on my watch (some times might not add up properly as my watch doesn't round up the total but drops the decimal points):

Mile - Time (Time to cover this mile)
1 - 7:21 (7:21.79)
2&3- 22:21 (14:59.85)
4 - 29:33 (7:11.92)
5 - 36:07 (6:33.54)
6 - 43:07 (7:00.33)
7 - 49:47 (6:39.73)
8 - 56:47 (7:00.73)
9 - 1:03:42 (6:54.65)
9.32(15km) - 1:05:45 (2:01.82 last 0.32 mile)

So, while not a complete success (I thought I had a chance of a sub-65 minute finish), I had a pretty good time all things considered. And my finishing time was nice too! 8^) I think my sluggish start had to do with standing around in the cold for an hour helping with registration and not getting warmed up properly before the race.

I had a nice time at the finish. After getting a quick drink of Gatorade, I slipped into my car and did a quick change routine in the front seat to slip out of my racing clothes into some dry warmups. I had to kinda time it right so there wouldn't be a lot of people milling around the parking lot to catch me sitting in my car without any pants on... But after the race it was fun to stand around eating some race-provided munchies and talking with people. In fact, I think I talked to more runners after Newnan's Lake than after any other race I've ever been in. Runners tend to be friendly folk, and it's usually fun to hang out afterwards and chat.

At the awards ceremony, I was happy to find that I picked up a 3rd place in my age group, something that I didn't expect, so it was a nice surprise. This year's AG awards were Florida Track Club cooler bags -- an insulated bag with the FTC logo printed on it. Just the right size for a big lunch or a six pack! Well, in the end this race reinforced the idea that you should never give up because it's not over until it's over. Plus, it was fun which is the main reason to do something like wake up early on a stormy Saturday to run!

I almost forgot... I have a good memory for food that I've eaten when it's associated with some kind of event, a vacation, or plain ol' good times. Here's the rundown for that morning's food intake:

Pre-race food:
One slice of cinnammon raisin bread
Cup of water

Post-race munchies:
Fruit punch flavor Gatorade
Half of a banana
Half of a blueberry bagel with cream cheese
Half of a chocolate chip granola bar
One slice of an orange
A handful of animal cracker cookies
One crumb topping cake donut (from Entenmann's Bakery)
One strawberry flavor Twizzler

My Asian food market visit

While I prefer to stick to more positive thoughts on my blog, I am somewhat miffed after my visit to the New Asia Oriental Market here in Gainesville. It is located on NW 23rd Avenue just a block east of the intersection of NW 13th Street and NW 23rd Avenue. While I would like to say that they have a pretty good selection for an Asian marketplace, I was charged more than the sticker price on one of the items I purchased. It was only 80 cents more, which won't break me, but I am still somewhat displeased about that in particular.

I like to be treated fairly with respect and try to do the same to others. That's why when I get too much change back from a cashier, I make sure to return the excess to them and tell them. Usually that results in a bug-eyed look that seems to say, "Are you CRAZY?" I might be crazy, but if you get shorted, wouldn't you expect the cashier to make that right? So it is only right to do the same when the error is in the other direction. I am not a saint, but I do try and treat other people the way I would like to be treated.

Anyhow, here is a scan of my receipt:

The items on the receipt in order are:

1. $2.49 charge for Wei-chuan Pickled Cucumbers 16oz, $2.49 sticker price
2. $3.29 charge for Kimlan Chili Radish 14oz, $2.49 sticker price
3. $1.49 charge for Asian Taste Roasted Eel 3.5oz, $1.49 sticker price
4. $1.58 ($0.79 x2) charge for Taisun Lotus Mixed Congee 370g, $0.79 sticker price each
5. $0.99 charge for Golden King Pearl Milk Tea 11oz, no sticker price
6. $2.00 charge for 6 I-Mei Red Bean Jellys 40g each, 3 for $1.00 price listed at store
7. $2.49 charge for Chimei Taro Buns 13.75oz, $2.49 sticker price

Here are close up photos of the price stickers on the items (click to zoom in):

As you can see, I already busted out the roasted eel... I was hungry! But anyhow, now that I got that out, I'm not as teed off as I was previously. I'm not happy about it, mind you, but at least I know to check my total charge more carefully in the future. Ironically, when I shop at a supermarket like Publix or Albertsons, I always add up the bill in my head as I shop so I know how much the bill will be in the end, but this time I was lax about it because I was more interested in exploring the variety of items offered for sale at New Asia Oriental Market. To be perfectly honest, maybe the price sticker on the bottle was an old price, but they should at least tell you that when they ring you up, that way you can decide whether or not you still want the item. But if that was not the case, then I have to say that I feel a bit ripped off.

Normally I wouldn't be driving out of my way to go shop at an Asian market, even though I love some of the food that you can only find at an Asian market (like chinese sausages!!!). But I happened to be out at the storage unit of the Florida Track Club where there were club members getting ready for setting up tomorrow's race, the Newnan's Lake 15k road race. No running today as I am somewhat tuckered out from the last 3 weeks worth of running, probably more from just the mileage -- my running log shows 172.5 miles in the 17 days of 2008 so far -- than anything else. I am a little wishy-washy about the race as I am not sure whether to jog it for fun or try to run it hard to get a good time. I usually say I'll do the former, but half a mile to a mile into a race, I end up switching to the latter. The weather should be great for racing with a temperature around 50 to 55 degrees F and a slight chance of rain (depending on which weather forecast you believe). Other than the rain, it would be ideal running weather, and I've really enjoyed the cooler running weather recently which has been a very refreshing change from the usual heat and humidity of Florida. Weather is funny in Florida because in the middle of winter the temperature could shoot up to the 80's with high humidity or it could be below freezing, all within the same week!

That's all for now. I'm outta here to get some food into my belly!

Can you tie your shoe laces right?

Holy smokes! I just learned that I've been an idiot for over 30 years and been tying my shoe laces the wrong way! Check out this website about how to tie your shoelaces:

Ian's Shoelace Site:
http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm

OMFG!!! It took a while to figure out what the heck the diagrams were showing, but I realized that I've been tying the "granny knot" ever since I learned how to tie my shoes. Luckily for running I usually double knot the shoes, so the laces never come undone, but it is amazing that I finally learned how to tie my shoelaces so the first knot and the finishing knots are balanced and thus less liable to come untied, unlike with the granny knot...

Okay, that probably made NO sense whatsoever to 100% of you out there. But you gotta believe me. Check out these pictures below.


THE BALANCED KNOT (correct, unlikely to come untied)

THE UNBALANCED KNOT (incorrect, more likely to come untied)










Quoting directly from Ian's website:
Whilst there's only a subtle difference in tying technique, there's a big difference in security. This is not simply an "Old Wives Tale"; it's based on millennia of established knowledge. In fact, there's even a poem taught in Scouting, which goes something like:

Right over left, left over right,
Makes a knot both tidy and tight.

The difference arises from the forces of friction on adjacent contact points within the finished knot. In simple terms, this means that in the balanced knot the adjacent bits pull in the same direction and actually tighten the knot. In the un-balanced "Granny Knot", the adjacent bits pull in opposite directions and tend to work the knot loose.

Wow, I am amazed...! No matter how long you live, there is something new to be learned... about tying your shoelaces! Ha ha ha! I think I will stop surfing the web anymore because I don't want to learn all the other things I've been doing wrong all this time. Just let me grow old and crotchety, happy in my know-nothing-ness...

Spirit of the Marathon and Yokan...

Just a heads up for anybody interested... There is a documentary film about the marathon entitled Spirit of the Marathon about 7 marathoners and the story of their preparation and races at the Chicago Marathon. I haven't seen it yet, but it has been in the works for a few years, and I am looking forward to seeing it. It is showing in theaters for a special engagement on one day, January 24, 2008. You can check out some info on the film at the website:

http://www.marathonmovie.com/

I have rarely seen any documentary film about running that I didn't enjoy. Well, I haven't seen a whole bunch of them, but one of them called Running on the Sun is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's about the running of a 135 mile ultramarathon which goes through Death Valley (lowest elevation in the continental US) up to Mount Whitney (highest elevation in the contiguous 48 states). The PBS science show, Nova, also had a special episode entitled "Marathon Challenge" that documented the training and physiological changes that first time marathoners went through when training to run the Boston Marathon.

I think these types of documentaries are interesting not only for marathoners, but are probably of general interest to all types of runners just because you get to see the kind of struggles that occur when training for such a long distance running event. Even non-runners can find the inherent drama of long distance running interesting as I have watched Running on the Sun with a non-runner who really enjoyed it. So maybe if you ever felt like it would be cool to run a marathon, maybe these movies are something that can get you motivated or inspire you. Even if you don't feel like ever running a marathon, maybe it will get you out the door to run a couple of miles around the neighborhood.

While in general I love reading or watching almost anything about running and racing, there's something about these documentaries that gets my blood pumping. I guess maybe they remind me that I'm not the only crazy person out there running in the streets, that maybe there are people who are even crazier than I am! Probably it's just the old saw that "birds of a feather flock together". People just like to see and be around people who they perceive are like them.

Maybe that's why it's usually fun to be out there at a local running race. Usually people who show up to run a road race are a pretty friendly bunch. Even if you don't know anybody, chances are it would be easy to strike up a conversation with anybody else who happens to be wearing a race number. And there is a sense of community too, as there seems to be a lot of good will that reaches from the fastest to the slowest and vice versa. If you're a runner but never ran a race before, I highly recommend experience. And even if you weren't thrilled the first time, give it a few more shots because you never know when it might catch on with you.

On a different subject, today's cool food item is green tea jelly or green tea yokan. That's the stuff that's in the picture to the left. It's a Japanese treat that's made from beans, sugar, and agar. It's kinda like Jello, but instead of using gelatin which comes from dead animals, it uses agar which comes from plants, usually seaweed I believe. The consistency of the yokan is not as soft as Jello, but it's more like the inside of a Three Musketeers candy bar but not as dry.

I usually prefer the red bean jelly which is made from azuki beans, also called hongdou (red bean) in Chinese, but the store I went to only had these huge blocks about the size of a Snickers candy bar. The jellys on the left are flavored with green tea and are actually made from some type of white bean instead of the traditional hongdou. Each jelly is about 1 1/2 inches by 1 inch by 1/2 inch large and approximately 100 calories each.

Going back to running for a moment, the size and calorie content of these jellys make them almost ideal for carrying around for long run nutrition when training for a marathon. In fact, I have used them during long runs for energy and they seemed to work good for me. Plus they are yummy any other time too.

Tuesday is here!

Another day, another entry... Not much to say today as usual!

I was at the LifeSouth headquarters today -- they are a regional non-profit blood bank -- and I bought a can of soda out of their soda machine and was rewarded with two cans instead of one. So I kept one and returned the other because it would be unethical to do otherwise.

Also, today's run was 7 miles in just over 55 minutes. The weather was nice and cool, enough so that I got to wear some gloves today. I like running in the cool weather because we don't get that much of it here in Florida. The forecast for tomorrow is cool with 90% chance of rain, so I don't know yet whether I will run in the rain or head to the gym and do some miles on the treadmill. Is there anything good to watch on TV on a Wednesday?

I updated my profile, and I listed my interests in alphabetical order... I guess I probably have more stuff I like, but it's always hard to come up with this kinda stuff off the top of my head. You'd think it'd be easy since it's just stuff you like, but I guess it's harder when you think you need to think about it, if that makes any sense...

On the food side of things, today's lunch was from California Chicken Grill. Tasty grilled chicken cubed and placed over a bed of seasoned yellow rice, served a choice of savory sauces (I got the curry mustard, but the teriyaki is excellent) with a side of my choice (today I chose steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, though I usually have the mashed sweet potatoes). The food is pretty good here and usually very fresh, especially the salads. A disclaimer though, one of the owners is my best friend, but I still wouldn't eat there if it wasn't any good. As good as it is, I still would have to say it can't beat the stuff you grill at home maybe because do-it-yourself is the ultimate in freshly prepared food.

Another pre-run procrastination...

Yup, it's time to wrap up work and get out there to run. But it is 42 degrees F and I gotta wear some gloves to keep the mitts warm. So... I am debating whether to head out on the road or head to the gym to run on the treadmill and watch the next episode of the Terminator TV show. I wonder why the machines keep sending back just one robot to kill one guy when they could send back a whole army instead.

Anyhow, more running stuff: Saturday morning was a sleepy 12 miles in the morning and Sunday's long run was 21 miles on the treadmill watching a very good New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys playoff game. One great thing about having a gym membership is being able to watch the game while running on a treadmill. Hurray for modern multitasking! Being able to run and watch TV simultaneously is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern times.

Okey doke, I gotta split and get in an easy 9 or 10 miles...

Just another day

Another day, another dollar, another run... Since I am too tired and it is too late to talk crap, I will just offer up some running stuff...

Wednesday evening was 15 miles in 1:55:58 which felt slow and kinda crap for what I intended. Thursday evening was 10 miles in 1:20:56 which was way faster than I should've ran in order to recouperate from Wednesday's fiasco.

I guess it just goes to show you that things don't always go the way you want them to! But at least the world keeps spinning, right?

Upcoming races I hope to run:
Five Points of Life Marathon in Gainesville, FL
Boston Marathon (can't wait -- very excited!)

Where does the time go?

Hey y'all -- and when I say "y'all" I basically mean my sister Maisie, who is just about the only person I told I started this blog -- long time no write...

But I've been on vacation for the winter holidays, and it was nice to be away from work and away from other things like the computer. No computer, no blog entries. Not that I really had anything of substance to say anyhow.

Which brings me to the point where I wonder where does the time really go? It's almost 11 PM and I'm still at work, albeit just goofing off by writing this blog entry instead of doing some honest-to-goodness research at the moment. But I should've gone on a training run an hour ago, but I just found myself procrastinating. Sometimes I wonder why do I have this bad habit of being late for everything, but I shouldn't wonder because I really figured it out a long time ago. I am selfish! Time is precious, and I want to spend it doing things I am enjoying at the time, which I would characterize as selfish. Maybe not in the current circumstances, but when getting there late involves other people, it is definitely my own selfishness that keeps me from being on time.

Oh well, nothing but the musings of a crazy person here. Move along, nothing to see here! I gotta run...