Saturday, October 28, 2006

I've been contemplating getting Terri a new coffee grinder and now she's talking about it too. This could be problematic as she has more time than I do in the next few days since the corgi nationals start today.

I want to get her one that truly grinds the coffee instead of chopping it. (I had a friend give me a tutorial on the various ones.) Coffee places have them and I'm sure Sur la Table has them too. I just have to find time to get one.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Treadmill Run

stretch hamstrings, thighs, calfs 30 seconds each

R 1.0m 15:00 4.0 145
break
R 1.0m 15:00 3.8-4.0 150-155
short pause to walk with deliberate right leg flexing
R/W 1.25m 22:00 3.0-4.0 130-150

Total 3.25 miles

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Well I banged up both my knees, by hitting the ground while pulling Yoshi out of an altercation that he caused. My knees are pretty bruised, but I don't thing that anything horrible has happened to them. Though my climbing pants have a hole in the knee now (grrrr.)

So given that I rode a recumbent exercise bike for an hour instead of running. Did a hill course mostly at level 7 and dropped down to level 6 at the end. Pulse rate was around 115-120 but at times I could push is up to 130-135.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Treadmill Run
My hamstring appears to have strengthened over the weekend (didn't climb this past weekend).

stretch
R 1.6m 25:00 3.8-4.0mph 145-155bpm
5 min break
R 1.0 15:30 3.8-4.2mph 145-157bpm

I found that I could last longer if I made myself try to keep my heart rate at 150, hence the slow down to 3.8 after running 4.0 or 4.2 initially. If I slowed down ever so slightly I could keep my HR a bit lower.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Treadmill Run

Changing tactics. I'm here to learn to run so I really want to concentrate on running and not walking. I know how to walk, I know how to hike. I need to practice running. Though only running means that I go a shorter distance total; however, if I don't walk but just pause, then I can spend more time running.

If I start to get sore doing this then I'll go back to running/walking. For now, psychologically, I need to do this.

dist time mph ~HR
R 1.27 19:00 4.0 150
pause 5 min
R 0.76 11:25 4.0 155
pause 5 min
R 0.49 7:22 4.0 157
Total
R 2.52 37:47

4.0 mph (15 min miles) is starting to feel a little slow which is encouraging. My foot started to drag the last .4 mile or so. My knee is a little sore, but likely will go away. I have gone back to taking Voltarin (an NSAID that I have no side effects from) so I've been almost entirely pain free and my hip has been giving me no trouble at all.

It's irksome that you only get a minute when you pause though you can hit enter and then immediately pause again. Since I'm writing the values down I should just hit stop and then I wouldn't feel pressured to start running again until I was really ready.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Running at the Gym
Trying something different. I'm having trouble keeping up with the specific details and it matters to me right now, so I'm writing it down on cards which is difficult, but has good info.

R/W Dist Time MPH HR
R 1.07 16:00 4.0
W 1.22
R 1.33 4.0 154
R 1.69 26:30 4.0
W 1.89 30:50 3.0
R 2.22 35:24 4.0 136

5 minute break

W 0.1 2:00 3.0
R 1.0 17:06 3.6

Total 3.22 52:30

My left middle toe is a little sore and my knees might be sore tomorrow, but I'm of course feeling just fine right now. I haven't run (or mostly run) 3 miles in years so I'm quite thrilled.


Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Went running Monday at the gym.
Ran for a mile.
Walked for 0.2 mile
Ran for about 0.5 mile
then alternated running and walking
total mileage was around 3-3.5 miles
I need to figure out a better way to keep track of the running and walking segments as they all tend to run together in my mind after a while
While I'd rather not have to deal with a pencil and paper, but it's probably the simplest and cheapest rather than the equivalent of a blackberry.

Found out something cool completely by accident. My hearrate monitor shows up on the heart rate display of the treadmill. I was wearing the monitor occasionally looking at the wrist watch display of my HR just to check on it. I dropped my hands on the handle of the treadmill and noticed that the machine's HR was diplaying, which I found interesting as it seemed to appear much faster than it usually does and it seemed to stick on. It must have taken me 2 miles to realize that the display wasn't going away and that it was the same as what the wrist watch monitor said. The implications of this are really cool. It means that I don't have to spend time looking at the wristwatch display, in fact I don't even have to wear the wristwatch.

I showed it to Michael (the rep at the gym) and he noticed that the Life Fitness treadmill had the Polar logo on it, so they clearly have worked out some sort of compatibility deal. Cool.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Went climbing at Bladium yesterday. I swear that place is a giant playground.
Did the 5.8 route ("black pearl" taped black and green I think) that I've been struggling with by lifting up my right foot to a placement I knew I couldn't stand on right then, but it gave me just enough arm length to reach that large green/yellow left hand hold that had previously just been out of reach. Using mostly my arms (something you're not supposed to do much of but sometimes that's the only way to do it, I was able to lift myself high enough to get weight over my feet. Did this route twice.

Also did most of the black taped 5.9+ route that I've had a hard time with too. I was able to get all but the last two holds mostly because the rope was pulling me sideways. next time I'm going to use the rope to the left. It's tricky as that route is essentially inbetween two top ropes. Also did a sort of white/silver taped 5.10 route that was poorly taped so the middle part of it I was using most any hold. So it wasn't really a 5.10 route, though it did have a section that leaned back a little which was fun.

Going to run there today after work.

Friday, October 13, 2006

MS Presentation
Lastt night went to see Wendy Booker do a presentation. She's a mountaineer and marathon runner who has MS and she's on "Team Copaxone" which is where I first heard of her. I've traded email with her once when I was looking for a trainer who knew something about MS (she unfortunately didn't have time, fortunately Courtenay Schurman at Body Results (doesn't have MS but has worked with those who have it) did).

The talk first started off with Eric Collins MD who is the head of Neurology at Summit and he gave an excellent presentation on reading MRIs, and a simplified view of what happens in the body with MS, and how lesions are formed and how the various medications work.

Then Wendy talked about deciding to do the Boston Marathon after being diagnosed with MS and having never run a marathon before, and then how that inadvertantly got her started on her quest to be the first woman with MS to climb the 7 summits. She's already done 3 of them so she's well on her way.

While she stayed on her therapy during the climb, it was tough to keep the medication temperature controlled (it was hot and freezing on the same climb). I asked if she had to get the climbing team to do any compensating if she was having trouble and she said no - that she only goes if she's in top form and completely ready. Given that she's now doing this full time I'm not surprised.

Her message was simple. Push back against the limits that MS places on you in any realistic way you can. No we're not all mountain climbers but we all have goals that we can reach for.

I wore my K2 Aviation shirt and she instantly recognized it. "Oh, you must be Wendy." I said.

While she was mainly talking, at the end she did show some photos and the one's of the glaciers and tents covered with snow were highly familiar.

I asked what getting sponsorships was like and she said it was like doing college applications all over again. She's to the point that she has someone else do it. Her current sponsors are Teva (Copaxone), Brooks, Garmin and some others.

She's pretty dedicated. I mentioned that I was having issues with altitude and she said that she was moving to Boulder, CO for the altitude since some of the mountains she has left are really high.

Her web site is www.wendybooker.net

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Running at the Gym
2 mile runs this week. Sticking to 4.0 mph for a while.
Ran 1 mile paused for just under 2 minutes
ran approx 0.5 mile
paused
ran another 0.5 mile
walked 0.18 mile at 3.0 mph to try to cool down
but got bored and felt ok so ran for another 0.25 mile
2.43 miles total 2.25 of it running
Right hamstring is a little stronger though still weak. With work, it should continue to get stronger. I don't know whether pausing is better or not but if I feel I need to I should probably do it as I'll no doubt improve in either case. I do get the feeling that if I pause I can go longer.

I've been watching The Amazing Race and Sarah who runs Ironman's with a prosthetic leg is reminding me that I have it easy. I've watched her do two climbs in TAR which I would find challenging and not only do I climb, but I have 4 mostly working appendages.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Went running at the gym.
It was hopping with lots of league play going on. (Fortunately the fitness area wasn't very crowded).

Warm up. Walked 0.25 mile at 3.0 mph
Ran 1.75 miles at 4.0 mph
My right foot started dragging at 1.5 but I struggled through the last 0.25

Took a break and worked on doing stationary foot raises.

After about 5 minutes or less my leg felt strong enough to jog some more so I was able to jog another 0.25 at 3.7 mph.

My leg is very, very tired now and may be sore tomorrow but hopefully it will rebuild to be stronger in a couple of days.

Hopefully I will be able to do some climbing this weekend.

Afterwards went down to the roller hockey rink to watch for a while. I am envious. They skate so well. I want to get better at skating but I want to find a place I can work on skills without feeling self conscious. I suppose a really slow time at the gym is one option. The parking lots around work during the weekend is another.

I'd love to learn how to stop without a brake, but I don't know of a safe way to learn. I guess the way to start is to leave the brake on but stop using it. Easy to say - much tougher to do.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Ulysses is now getting truely kinky in a fascinating way given that we're talking about a 1922 work. Bloom is now in a bisexual S/M scene and being topped by a guy. My my. I had been thinking it was Victorian and was really amazed then. It being written in the experimental 20's makes more sense.

One good link I found is:
http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/

I just love this quote:
Ulysses has been labeled dirty, blasphemous, and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it sufficiently unobscene to allow its importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession."
[endquote]

cloaca is sewer or the common chamber into which the intestinal and urogenital tracts discharge according to http://www.m-w.com.


From the same site is the first paragraph of Joyce's biography
(http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/):
James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish novelist, noted for his experimental use of language in such works as Ulysses (1922) and Finneganns Wake (1939). Joyce's technical innovations in the art of the novel include an extensive use of interior monologue; he used a complex network of symbolic parallels drawn from the mythology, history, and literature, and created a unique language of invented words, puns, and allusions.
[endquote]

No wonder I'm lost most of the time. He makes trying to understand Camile Paglia's writing seem easy (though he's certainly more artistic that Paglia). (And I've long since decided that it wasn't worth the trouble to grasp what Paglia was writing about save as a checklist of things I should be more familiar with - like various works in Greek literature.)

Joyce is really base as I'm sure I've noted before. Though having sexuality addressed (sort of) as early as the 20's is refreshing, but you can find it also in Virgina Woolf's Orlando or works by E.M. Forster like Maurice or The Life to Come.

I'll stick it out till the end of Volume 2 and then I'm going to move on to other things as I think I've gotten what I wanted to learn about the book. (Mostly what's all the fuss about?) Since I like Dedalus I think I'll try Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (which I may have already read but it's been a while.)

Monday, October 02, 2006

Frustration with Ulysses.
I've gone from understanding only about 10% of Ulysses to hardly any at all. After looking at a SparkNotes analysis, Joyce apparently is experimenting with different narrative styles as the book progresses (starting around chapter 9). They're not kidding. I was seriously lost for many sections and only now that it's come back to a more usual style do I have any chance at all.

My limited observations:
  • Joyce loves to pun and play with the language a lot especially through the voice of Stephen Dedalus. This is why I think of him as a Robin Williams of sorts.
  • Ulysses is apallingly crude - mostly through the actions, obsessions, and interactions of Leopold Bloom. I don't mind explcitness, but this is just so coarse in places. Of course those would be the parts I understand. :)
It's funny I was looking at the SparkNotes analysis and they seem to think that Bloom is the more well rounded and sympathetic character, but he seems to me to just be sex obsessed. Dedalus, on the other hand, is funny though I'm sure he holds people at a distance with that humor also.

I'm on Volume 2 of 3 and am nearly finished with Vol 2 and Vol 3 isn't nearly that big, but I don't think I'm going to continue. I love Joyce (I liked Dubliners), but I think I'd get more out of his other works.

Refs:
http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~kershner/bioe.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ulysses/
Went running today at Bladium with much trepidation as my hip was sore this morning. Fortunately it was fine for the run though I did take it easier.

Ran 0.85 or so mile
paused
ran another .35 mile
pause
walked briskly/jogged on for another 0.66

Just under 2 miles of mostly jogging.
Speed 3.3-4.3 mph

4.0 mph is getting a little slow now at times.

When my hip is feeling better should go back to trying to run 1.75 miles continuously, then pause and run/walk for another 0.5.

My foot did start dragging after about a mile+ despite my concentrating on not dragging it but it may be getting better. Time will tell.

I spoke to Mark about other good exercises for the inner quads besides the machines or the exercises I was doing when training for Shasta, and he suggested skating and said that I could skate at Bladium if nothing else was going on in the ring. I asked about this at Bladium and it's true and different from what we thought you don't have to have indoor only wheels though if you have a brake (I do) then you have to put tape on it to keep it from marking the floor. I'll have to search around and see if there exists a non-marking brake.
I'm not the best of skaters at all so I'm pretty dependent on my brake,

The only thing is that it means skating with an audience, but I just should get used to that. I climb with an audience and that doesn't bother me. Wonder if I should get a hockey stick just to fit in, or just to have something in my hands as a Dumbo's magic feather of sorts (it might help some with balance - or maybe not.)

Sunday, October 01, 2006

I've been having some balance issues and while they're minor and I can compensate for them, now that I'm a member of a guy I can address them directly.

It's mostly when I get up from lying down or sitting my legs aren't as stable and wobble some. I spent some time recreating it and it seems like perhaps my inner quads need to be strengthened. This is all kinda new as I'm usually biking which is a good quad exercise. It's always been more of a hamstring issue with me as I haven't been running that much, but now that I'm running more and spent last year doing a lot of hiking it shouldn't be too much of a suprise. Solutions would be to bike more and/or work those muscles out in the gym. Today I'll work them some at the gym and see if I can pinpoint the weakness better.