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April 30, 2005
46:56/157
Today I didn't plan to run far, just down to the track in Pontcharra and back. I wanted to practice 5 km at race pace (1:42/400 m; 21:20/5 km) at the track. In rereading Hal Higdon's book about marathon training, I notice he has the experts do training at race pace to memorize the feel. Definitely something I need to work at. I'm not good at estimating my speed.
Nothing felt right. My head hurt. I was overheating. My legs were having to work. My breathing was too hard for the pace. My pulse rose to 170. So after only 8 laps I gave up and practiced a 2-minute/400 m pace instead for the next three laps, then ended with 600 m at race pace.
When I rounded the corner coming home from the track, I saw the thermometer at Monsieur Bricolage registering 31 C (88 F). It was about 5 pm. Their thermometer seems to sit in the sun, but even our thermometer at home said 27 C (81 F). So the heat, the headache, and all the time I spent mowing the lawn was probably getting to me.
I'll try to get out early tomorrow for a long run. Metcheck.com predicts 13 C (55 F) at 7 am, rising to 18 C (64) at 10 am. And I'll take plenty to drink.
Posted by Mark at 06:22 PM
Out for dinner
Nath and I went out to eat last night with Vero and Ludo to a place in Apremont. Good company and conversation, and nobody competing for attention!
Somewhere, perhaps in the Guide nutritionnel des sports d'endurance, it is written that the very same food is less liable to make you gain weight or to cause digestive troubles if you eat in a pleasant setting and enjoy your meal, than if you are stressed out when you eat. So we'll have to do this more often. For health reasons, of course.
I'd forgotten how much I liked frog legs breaded and fried in butter with plenty of garlic and chives. Need to try that at home again. Last time we had them here at home my mom was visiting.
Posted by Mark at 06:11 PM
About three hours
Our lawn had started to look like a combination between an alpine meadow and a farm for dandelion greens. So late this morning and early afternoon I cut it.
Had to empty the hamper many, many more times than average. In many spots I had to run over the same spots twice to get everything clipped. All that dust, shredded plant matter, and warm sun gave me a headache.
Posted by Mark at 06:06 PM
April 29, 2005
About an hour
Went for 14 km today during lunchtime. I forgot my watch this morning, so did a sort of jog with fartlek, taking time to stretch after a couple of kilometers. After about 9 km, I started getting dehydrated. Will need to drink more at temperatures above 25 C.
Posted by Mark at 02:38 PM
Hardware bugs
As bad as software bugs can get, hardware bugs can be worse.
Here at work the downstairs toilets have been malfunctioning. For the last 3 days we've had guys on their hands and knees with rubber hoses pumping unwanted liquids out of the building into tanker trucks in the parking lot.
Posted by Mark at 10:55 AM
April 28, 2005
Almost summer in Barraux
It was warm enough today for the kids to wear swimsuits outside.
Not warm enough to fill their inflatable pool, however.
Posted by Mark at 08:51 PM
Competition
During today's ride, by the way, Matt left me in his dust halfway up the hill in Bernin. As we were rolling through Crolles he said, "Ready for the hill in Bernin?" I didn't realize he was throwing down the gauntlet until my heart rate had gone up 10% and was still climbing.
That's was the only stretch today where we rode hard in fact, but he pushed me to ride harder up that hill than I ever have before. If I want to get as good at riding hard as he is, I have lots of training to do. He may have been paying me back for having pushed past him on the steep part of the hill to Rochasson a couple of months ago.
It was a relief to see the sweat dripping of his brow when he slowed and I caught up. Funny how a little competition can push you further that you'd go on your own. Think I still want to get better at running before I switch to cycling, though.
Posted by Mark at 07:55 PM
1:22:03/140
What wonderful weather for a bike ride! Went out with German, Colette, and Matt, up to Tencin and back down the valley. Colette has to race this Sunday, so we took it easy and enjoyed the sunshine.
Posted by Mark at 03:17 PM
April 27, 2005
Early birthday
I don't actually have any still pictures of Diane blowing out the candle on her birthday cake. Colette and Michel wanted to get her a cake early because they couldn't make it until after her birthday.
But there is one of the cake, and another of Diane opening one of her little presents.
Posted by Mark at 08:22 PM
Keyboard cleaning
At home I have a Sun Type 6 US QWERTY keyboard that connects by USB. The "G" got stuck. Last night I was typing extra Gs every time I hit an F, T, H, or B, and sometimes even without touching the keyboard.
Fabio showed my how easy it is to clean out the keyboard. You could probably do it with one Philips screwdriver and thick fingernails, but I also used a flat screwdriver. It took me about 10 minutes and the problem now seems to be solved. Very nice. I could even let the kids eat cookies while playing on the computer.
Posted by Mark at 08:15 PM
1:06:34/159
Riding home, there was a bit of a breeze coming down the valley. But since I had shorts and a t-shirt on, I was a little more comfortable than I've been in a while.
Two hours of riding sure helps me work up an appetite.
Posted by Mark at 08:12 PM
1:02:18/158
Rode into work today with a big pack on my back. At about 10 C (50 F) it was a little cold on the toes and knees, but it felt good to get some exercise after spending the whole day in the car yesterday.
At this point I've been hacking away at my mail for an hour and still have 405 unread messages in my Inbox not to mention all the stuff that got filtered.
Posted by Mark at 08:42 AM
April 26, 2005
Flowers
Two flowers from Colette's garden in Monclar.
Posted by Mark at 10:39 PM
Long drive, part II
Arrived home at about 18h50 after leaving Monclar this morning at 9h35. We were held up by road construction. What a day. Lovely sun and blue sky after a week of rain, but it was too warm to be comfortable in the car.
Posted by Mark at 10:35 PM
April 25, 2005
Uno
At Emma's behest five of us played a long game of Uno today. The children loved it, laughed, and laughed.
It's a shame we didn't have tomorrow's predicted weather today. The yard's been damp to muck-filled since we arrived last week.
Posted by Mark at 07:19 PM
Headache, part VI
Yet another headache, this one almost incapacitating me for the afternoon. It seems unlikely that this would be activated by pollen alone, since it's rained on and off all day again.
Maybe I should go see the doctor about this. The last time I had recurring headaches like this, they resulted from sinusitis.
Posted by Mark at 07:16 PM
High standards
In reading Bainton's biography of Martin Luther, I'm impressed by Luther's high standards. He set his sights on Christ as his role model, knowing that he'd never approach Christ's good mind or even his good deeds. Even though he knew he was doomed from the outset, he never lowered his standards because even though he'd never get there, he knew through faith that God's grace would take up the slack.
A reassuring facet of the biography is the regularly repeated episodes during which Luther is wracked with doubt. The doubt makes Luther's unwillingness to compromise his high standards one iota more human. You can almost imagine how hard he was training.
Posted by Mark at 02:51 PM
1:36:37/157
My legs are not ready to resume regular training yet. A month ago, I could run 19.5 km like this in less than 90 minutes during training with none of the pain I felt today. Maybe I should just slow down for a while, do some jogging as the legs heal completely. Although I might get out of shape from going too slowly, I won't be able to train effectively with tired, sore legs.
The weather was inclement this morning. I got soaked twice during the run. My polar fleece top was heavy like a sponge.
It felt too good to finish today. Will have to take tomorrow off, not just for my legs, but also because we have to drive back to Barraux.
Posted by Mark at 11:43 AM
April 24, 2005
Party
Dad called Friday. He was going up to Ann Arbor this weekend where Debra and Matt are having a party before they fly to Hawaii to get married.
Nath and I were going to go to the wedding. When we discussed it, I learned how upset she was that we don't spend enough time vacationing as a family with the children. So we're not going to Hawaii to my brother's wedding. But we'll see Matt and Debra this summer in the US when we go with the children.
It's better than going to a party. I could sit on the beach yesterday and read Martin Luther's biography with one eye, the other eye on small people going to close to the surf.
Posted by Mark at 10:15 AM
Rock star
Timothee is writing lyrics. He wrote a first song called "Le Rock" about stars in the sky that made him sing. Actually they're making him scream like a poor imitation of Johnny Halliday.
He's now singing along with the soundtrack from Les Choristes. So is Emma. Both of them are slightly out of tune on the long notes, each in his own way.
Posted by Mark at 10:12 AM
Day off, part VII
Although my legs feel fine, I'm taking today off. Perhaps tomorrow I'll run a bit longer. Three laps around the lake would be almost 20 km, enough to see whether everything is in order to resume training.
Posted by Mark at 10:08 AM
Headache, part V
The pharmacist suggested perhaps my headaches come from spring allergies. You can see the pollen as a yellow film on dark cars.
If it is an allergy, I wonder why I don't remember having them in previous years. Maybe there was less pollen.
Posted by Mark at 10:05 AM
On the beach
Yesterday afternoon we escaped the rain in the Gers by crossing the Landes, driving by pine groves and vast corn fields, to go to the beach in Mimizan, which is on the Atlantic. The tide was coming in, so the waves were rolling further and further up the shore.
Timothee looked for shells. Emma fell in promptly as a wave knocked her feet out from under her. Diane dug in the sand and made castles.
Almost nobody at the beach went swimming. The air was comfortable at 21 C. The water, however, is quite cold. One guy was surfing, but he had a full wetsuit.
As we drove back, we caught up with the stormclouds. At Notre Dame des Cyclistes, it was raining so hard we had to brake. Emma searched for rainbows.
Posted by Mark at 09:57 AM
April 23, 2005
1:05:06/159
Ran a bit faster than yesterday, and went around the lake twice (13 km). My legs feel stronger, but my stride remains short and I'm not running too smoothly from the hips down.
Will probably rest tomorrow to give the muscles more time to heal.
Posted by Mark at 12:08 PM
April 22, 2005
Guide nutritionnel des sports d'endurance
Denis Riché told me more than I can recall and as much as I wanted to know about runner's nutrition.
Some of this may explain why I hit the wall early last Sunday, after only 30 km. I'd not carbo-loaded enough for one. The cold weather may have led to extra work, but I shouldn't have been worrying about my weight. Instead I should've been piling on the complex carbohydrates in the last 3 days. I also shouldn't have taken protein the morning before running a marathon.
In general, my diet probably doesn't include enough carbs, but does include too much fat for a distance runner. If I increase the running this summer, I should also increase the carbs. But not sugars. Complex carbs. I should also limit the fats and eat more green vegetables.
Riché suggests an ideal weight for the endurance athlete my size would be in the range of 79 kg, potentially a little bit less. He encourages readers not to diet nor to use vitamin and mineral supplements without the advice of a doctor. If I do want to lose some weight, it's okay to do it as long as it's gradual, and done mainly by reducing intake of extra fats and sugars, though Riché notes it's important to keep eating foods with high nutritive density, some proteins and good fats, with plenty of complex carbs.
Overall the book is too much to absorb in one sitting. I'll have to look more closely at a few of the sections concerning rations of various food types, and I should run through the questionnaires again to look for nutrients of which I may not be getting enough.
Posted by Mark at 09:57 PM
Rain, part VI
Everything's waterlogged. It's been raining off and on since we arrived.
Posted by Mark at 11:34 AM
33:08/154
Another recovery run around the lake. I'd've liked to go further, but my legs have not yet recovered completely. Walked a mile and stretched afterwards.
Saw a stream chock full of catfish. So many they were dying and turning belly up.
Posted by Mark at 11:31 AM
April 21, 2005
35:30/149
Stumbled through 6.5 km (4 mi) this morning, just to start running again, around the lake next to Barbotan.
Tim went with me and was disappointed to find the lake nearly empty with lots of crud around the banks. When I came around the last bend, he was raging about the "pollution."
My legs do not hurt any more when I walk around, but running is still rough 96 hours after the marathon.
Posted by Mark at 11:12 AM
April 20, 2005
Montus
Nath and I went to see Alain Brumont whose St. Bernard weighs 80+ kg and is named after the grape, Tannat, used to make Madiran wine. We bought more Montus 1999 (ready to drink) and 2001 (keep in the cellar a couple of years to let the tannins mellow). We also bought more Vendemiaire 2000, and a little vin de pays "Les Menhirs," which cannot bear the name Madiran as it's only 80% Tannat. Also tasted the 2002 Montus, but it's a bit out of my price range, and would be a shame to keep for 10 years in my cellar unless I close off the room where I keep the wine from the rest of the garage in a more permanent fashion.
Posted by Mark at 08:56 PM
Monclar d'Armagnac
A chilly morning compared to theg other times I've been here. Probably 6-7 C outside. Emma's stirring but staying in her bed. The other children appear to be sleeping, as are the other adults.
Posted by Mark at 07:03 AM
Problems
I tried reading Flaubert, Madame Bovary. Too damning and depressing to keep the mind off life's little failures. A better way to handle life is to blot it out with detective novels, running, books about running, time wasted at work or on the computer. I concentrate on those and the frustrations dim.
I'm less worried about Nathalie's job hunt or our relationship than a few months ago. Seems like she's motivated to handle the first. For the second, we can make day to day progress. It's tough to have an intimate life with three small children.
Posted by Mark at 06:55 AM
Soreness, part II
My legs feel much better than yesterday at this time, despite the long drive. I was able to stay in bed until a few minutes ago. Walking on flat surfaces feels as if I'd just gone for a long run, but not hit the wall.
For my next big bout of training, I'm going to need to work on speed and form, but also on long distance endurance. Somehow I need to learn to run a little faster while conserving my glycogen stores.
Posted by Mark at 06:42 AM
April 19, 2005
Long drive
We spent the day from 9h10 to 17h45 driving to Monclar d'Armagnac from Barraux. The kids weren't the only ones happy to arrive.
Posted by Mark at 06:46 PM
April 18, 2005
Soreness
Yesterday my legs hurt as I just sat there, or lie there as the case may be. I woke up at 3:00 am, having sweat as if I'd had a bad fever. Hobbled down to the couch to read and then fall back asleep.
Here's what it looked like when everyone was fresh:
This afternoon I felt fine sitting down. My colleagues pitched in and got me a fine bottle of Champagne. How nice of them.
I'd avoided the stairs since this morning. Then I walked down a short little incline to get in the car and go home. Excruciating!
Matt and others say tomorrow should be worse. Guess I probably won't be able to run before Thursday.
Posted by Mark at 08:34 PM
Real time
I came in 585 out of 2841:
CRAIG Mark
Marathon - 17/04/05 - LYON (69)
Arrivé(e) 585 eme sur 2841 avec un temps de 3:16:56
Soit 253 eme sur 962 dans la catégorie SEM
Dossard n° 1067
The time is over a minute off. It seems like the only ways that could've happened is if either I'd not been picked up on the way out the chute, or the end of the race was really not the finish line, but the folks waving magnetic contraptions, who waved my number on my way out after I'd gone over to the side and had a bottle of sports drink to start recovering.
Maybe the elite of the elite were running in London this weekend. Or perhaps the horrible weather slowed people down. In any case, the elites weren't breaking any world records Sunday:
MARATHON HOMMES :
1er : Pasteur NYABENDA (BDI) – 2h18'55
2ème : David LAGET (FRA) – 2h19'30
3ème : Micah KIPROTICH (KEN) – 2h23'42
(Sources: http://www.occade.com/pagesasp/marathon.asp and http://www.sport-up.fr/lyonmarathon)
Posted by Mark at 03:49 PM | Comments (1)
Pushing back the wall
In reading Guide nutritionnel des sports d'endurance I learned that anaerobic metabolism of glycogen is 12 times less efficient than aerobic metabolism.
So any of the time I spent going too fast in the cold rain from kilometer 5 to about 25 was also destroying my reserves at an outrageously high rate. A bit more efficiency might result in a huge boost the last few kms.
Posted by Mark at 01:59 PM
April 17, 2005
And the 10k
Stu ran a PR as well, taking something on the order of 2 minutes off his previous best 10 km time. Fantastic!
And let me tell you he looked infinitely better than I felt when we met up just after the finish line.
Posted by Mark at 05:42 PM
Snow, part IX
While I was out running, then jogging, Nathalie and the kids had about 6 hours without electricity, and thus also without heat (gas heater, but electric ignition system). Nathalie went out twice today to shake the snow off the fruit trees. We had two trees with fairly thick broken branches.
The children went crazy, too. Emma decided for example to make mud pies on her night table with chocolate and water. Diane attacked a cake, scooping handfuls out and stuffing herself. Cannot recall now what Tim was doing, but he wouldn't let his sister take a nap.
They're pretty much back to normal now, and the electricity and heating came back before I arrived. What a day.
Posted by Mark at 05:33 PM
3:15:43/167
Well, I didn't overheat. Stu was listening to one of the elite runners being interviewed. That runner assessed conditions for today's marathon as "apocalyptic."
A couple of shots before the race. One riding in, one getting to the parking lot.
At least it wasn't snowing much in Lyon. But I didn't take the camera out of the car. It was too wet.
Until about kilometer 3, I was stuck in the crowd. It took me almost 23 minutes to do the first 5. I was getting warm and decided to chuck my polar fleece top, running in t-shirt, shorts, and thin gloves before it became too late to do so without getting cold.
After kilometer 5 it started raining hard. By kilometer 10, everyone's shoes were sodden. Squelch, squelch, squelch. There were spots where you couldn't avoid the runoff.
At only halfway, my calves were so cold they started to cramp. So I concentrated on running as relaxed as possible. The clock read 1:33 something just after 21.1 km. At that point I realized it wasn't going to be possible today for me to run a 3:00 marathon. Immediately after that I went over a bridge across the river, chatting with a guy running roughly my speed. He was aiming at 3:10-3:15.
On the bridge we watched those big metal dividers they'd used to help mark the route and keep the cars out getting blown over onto the asphalt by huge gusts of rain-laden wind. The guy observed: "Heureusement on l'aura dans le dos de l'autre côté." (Good thing it'll be to our backs on the other side.)
Just before 30 km, I had the typical slight irritations, like a sock getting bunched up under my right big toe. We saw the elite runners coming past us in the other direction. One thin guy was still wearing a ski cap. He looked quite comfortable, striding beautifully.
After 30 km, I was getting cramps I never get, on the insides and tops of my thighs. After about 32 km, I hit the proverbial wall.
My dim understanding of the wall before today was that it was related to getting to the end of your glycogen, and having to burn just fat. I believe it hit me early today partly because my body was having to keep everything warm enough to run, and partly because I didn't start carbo loading early enough in the week. I was too worried about gaining weight and not digesting food before the marathon.
My understanding of the wall now is that it's not something you get over. It just keeps getting worse. So I hung in there, wondering if I'd ever want to do this again. I kept running. I saw guys walking and was sorely tempted, but didn't give in. The 4 kms left at kilometer 38 were sure to be the four longest I'd ever run in my life.
Then we went into the park, getting near the stadium. We went on a path under a bridge and had to run through several meters of unavoidable icewater. How weird that it almost felt good.
All through the 30s I was losing speed. My heart rate was dropping to 78% of my max. I was not breathing hard. From the waist up, I actually felt quite cold, but otherwise fine, as if I had a huge reserve left. I tried to pick up the pace. Just couldn't do it. In retrospect, I realized I'd probably run a little too fast in the second 10 km without really noticing it. Back then I was sometimes almost at my threshold.
Seeing the 41 km sign gave me a big boost, but all I could do was hang in there. At the 42 km mark on the road, I thought, "Two weeks ago, you ran your last of 15 200 m intervals in 36 seconds. Come on, go for it." It was 200 m, but it seemed like about 400.
Stu did say that I looked fairly strong coming to the finish line. He'd seen one guy dragging his left leg along with his arms, and another that crossed the line only to vomit immediately afterward. I noticed the guy I'd been running with around halfway and around 30 km. He was just getting something to drink and a cookie. So he didn't beat me that badly.
In summary, my time wasn't great, but as Stu said, it's unlikely that conditions will be this bad next time. My legs are not yet ready to consider a next time. Right now walking up steps takes about 10 times as long normal, and hurts. But I'm sure with more mileage, speedwork, more long runs, I can beat today next time.
Posted by Mark at 04:54 PM
April 16, 2005
Cold rain, snow, and some wind, part IV
Stu and I took Diane over to Lyon today. We had to pick up our packets and numbers. Mine is 1067.
The fun part was driving there. In between here and Lyon a lot of snow fell last night and today. This morning they had to close the autoroute. One lane was open when we crawled through.
Metcheck.com still predicts 2 C and rain with snow. I've been taking homeopathic medecine and throat lozenges, decided to break down and take ibuprofen for my headache after dinner.
Finishing will not be a problem. I've had worse. Not sure to muster the motivation to run it in less than 3 hours, however.
There's one nice thing about being a novice. As long as I finish, I'll be setting a PR tomorrow for both time and distance.
Posted by Mark at 08:32 PM
Earnings
Haven't listened to the earnings call yet, but I saw the numbers. We managed more or less to break even.
I also see IBM undershot analysts' estimates by a significant margin. Dell stock hit the skids. The market seemed to be having a bad end to the week.
Two writers from the hardware side were visiting the Grenoble site this week. One's from San Diego, the other from the Bay Area. My colleague from the Bay Area says things are getting better than they were. Instead of having to search for a year to get a job, it's now possible to find one in 2-3 months. A lot of seriously overqualified people are competing for junior positions, however. The people who were in junior positions are, "Slinging coffee at Starbucks."
Posted by Mark at 07:52 AM
American Tabloid
American Tabloid is another James Ellroy novel. This one covers the events leading up to the assassination of JFK. Ellroy makes it all sound plausible. To suspend disbelief, you need to accept his well-jaundiced view of social circles near the tops of the power pyramids. Once you do that American Tabloid not only entertains, but also starts to corrode your faith in society.
Janetta lent me Roland H. Bainton's biography of Martin Luther. That should wash Ellroy out of my system.
Posted by Mark at 07:37 AM
Cold rain, snow, and some wind, part III
The snow this morning sticks to the Velux skylight window above my desk here. The thermometer on Tim's window sill registers 3 C. The snow should not stick long.
My throat itches less than yesterday morning. I drank tea and juice instead of coffee this morning. Found some chewable vitamins of Tim's in the medicine cabinet that he stopped taking a while ago. They're full of vitamin C, so I ate two of those. Still crossing my fingers.
In addition to practicing drinking a little every 4-5 km, I should've practiced peeling off layers of excess clothing during the long runs. Usually after you've sweated through a couple of layers, you have to overheat indeed to want to expose the undermost, dripping wet t-shirt and shorts to the cold. At minimum, I'll pack a throwaway fleece top, gloves, and hat.
Posted by Mark at 07:28 AM
April 15, 2005
Too much water
Both Mom and the DRS list noticed the NYT article saying some runners are drinking way too much to avoid dehydration, and are actually putting themselves into danger of having too much liquid in their systems. People have died from swelling their brain cells with water.
"Drink before you're thirsty" is right. "Guzzle gallons whenever possible" is silly.
Last summer I ran half-marathon distance when it was 34 C (93 F) outside. It took me about 90 minutes, and I did it without drinking. That was stupid:
At 1:01:30, I was feeling pretty thirsty. At 1:15, I was drying out. At the end, I was sweating less than when I ran 10k yesterday, even though today was hotter. Need to figure out how to take some water for runs that long.
That day I should've been drinking something. But that doesn't mean I'm going to go out Sunday and drink a liter of water at every stop. My aim is more along the lines of 20-25 cl every 5 km. That works out to 1.6-2 liters over the marathon distance. If I lose 1 liter/hr, that means I'll be 1 liter down over the whole distance. So if I also drink in the morning, then a glass of something right before going out, then a little bit after the race I should be fine. Even after running hard for over 20 mi, my kidneys were functioning normally by lunchtime.
Posted by Mark at 09:12 PM | Comments (2)
Getting fat, part IV
Nathalie checked a book out of the library for me, Guide nutritionnel des sports d'endurance. According to the back cover, it's:
dotée de tests permettant à chacun de déterminer précisément son statut nutritionnel
Gee, I wonder if Denis Riché, the author, is going to remind me that I should eat less dark chocolate and more whole grains.
Posted by Mark at 08:30 PM | Comments (2)
Reading, writing
Emma's learning to read and write now that she's 6 years old. Last night she was reading part of the bedtime story. Tonight she's typing on the other computer:
moto 16 emma timo avril 2005 diane papa mamam
She's running out of things to type, she says.
Posted by Mark at 08:24 PM
Cold rain, snow, and some wind, part II
Metcheck.com now predicts the temperature in Lyon won't rise above 3 C until 1 pm, the wind out of the northeast will blow at over 20 mph all morning, and that a mix of snowflakes and rain will fall until mid afternoon. Yahoo Weather's less conclusively bleak.
I'm hoping Yahoo's right, that vitamins and throat lozenges will beat my sore throat, that my headache will clear up by then, and that I'll sleep more than 5 hours tonight. Maybe I'll just have to take it easy and finish Sunday rather than try to run my first marathon fast.
Mom suggests echinacea for the sore throat. Couldn't get away from work today to go to the pharmacy. Will try tomorrow.
Posted by Mark at 07:59 PM
April 14, 2005
Cold rain, snow, and some wind
Metcheck.com currently predicts a low of 3 C and winds of 28 mph during the night from Saturday to Sunday with rain and snow. Yahoo Weather concurs, expecting a low of 5 C and a high of 12 C Sunday afternoon in Lyon.
Again, I'm crossing my fingers. If the wind could stay gentle, the rain hold off until the last few miles, and the temperature stay around 7 to 10 C, it might even be pleasant for the first half.
Posted by Mark at 08:46 PM
Headache, part IV
Splitting headache by the time I left work today. It's gone now, but I also have a sore throat that crept up on me during the afternoon. Crossing my fingers...
Posted by Mark at 08:42 PM | Comments (1)
Shostakhovich, Symphony No. 5
It runs the gamut from bombastic sfz. brass and tympani to delicate pp. strings and woodwinds. With both bright and eerie melodies, harmonies that make your stomach flutter, dark thunderclouds, dances, Shostakhovich's No. 5 both reminds me of an unidentified black & white film soundtrack and of the kind of violent internal mood swings that come with falling in love.
Unfortunately I was listening to this in the Ax, driving down the autoroute. A better setting would be a dim, quiet room with a comfortable chair, perhaps high quality headphones.
Posted by Mark at 08:30 PM
15:11/150
Slow, short jog with a couple of strides to break a sweat. This is the probably the last until Sunday morning.
Posted by Mark at 03:10 PM
April 13, 2005
Getting fat, part III
Back down to 82.6 kg (182 lb) this morning when I got up. Not sure why my weight varies so much, and I'm not sure what the right weight is. I'm doing my best to hold back this week of low mileage and not eat all the chocolate in the house.
One site suggested I'd be in the right range at about 79 kg, so that would put me only a few kilos overweight. That ought to be possible for Sept. with a little bit of willpower and slightly higher mileage. Another formula Dana once suggested for marathoners -- 1 kg/inch, or about 74.5 kg for me -- would mean I have another 8 kg (almost 18 lb) to lose. That would take a bit more willpower than I can muster at this point.
Posted by Mark at 09:30 PM
Diane's show
Diane was putting on a show, singing for Nathalie and the camera today.
She put the costume together from an old princess costume of Emma's, and an vinyl aligator hat of Tim's.
Posted by Mark at 09:26 PM
Speeds and thresholds
If what I ran today was in fact 6.5 km, the time translates to 3:53/km (6:15/mi), meaning I could run 23 seconds slower per km (37 seconds per mi) and still finish the marathon in 180 minutes. Would be nice, but we'll see.
Boy, I'm really getting obsessive about my time, aren't I?
Posted by Mark at 08:12 PM
25:13/168
Ran 6.5 km (4 mi) this noon at as brisk a pace as I could go comfortably without forcing it. Planning a gentle and short run for tomorrow.
Posted by Mark at 06:33 PM
April 12, 2005
Why not to run
Guardian Unlimited has an article, Running sore, with 10 reasons not to run the London marathon. Number 10 is my favorite, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), "the result of micro-tears occurring in the muscle fibres."
DOMS is one reason why rest days are no fun. The other reason is that instead of being outside wearing out your body and calming your mind, you're either inside wearing out your nerves listening to children on the rampage, or outside wearing out your back noticing how over time you're going to lose the weeds-and-lichen-vs.-grass-and-fruit-trees battle being fought in your yard.
Posted by Mark at 09:49 PM | Comments (2)
Getting fat, part II
Although I'm thinner than I've been most of my adult life, I've rarely felt as fat as I have since Sunday morning. Seeing Salim Kipsang and Paul Biwott finish the marathon in Paris, I'm reminded how much room for improvement is left. Think intergalactic void.
Posted by Mark at 09:33 PM
Limits
I'm reading a rant list on C|Net called Technology's 10 most inexcusable failures. For one of the items, David Berlind writes:
Imagine if 10 years ago software vendors set themselves on a course to turn error messages into interactive software-repair assistants. Using the error dialog box, you would then be able to catalog the error in a log of your choice, forward it to some central repository (either corporate or with the vendor) and generate a trouble ticket for your support staff. Better yet, maybe you would be able to repair the problem with one click.
I'm imagining the situation right now. New managers working for the vendors would still be promising that software their predecessors promised to deliver 9 1/2 years ago, and junior developers hired to place those fired for not finishing would be cursing their managers' promises as code bloated exponentially with error messages in a vain attempt to account for unexpected conditions the software couldn't account for rendered even simple switches thousands of lines long.
Eventually, people would settle on dumping the entire problem in the hands of even more junior support personnel by automatically generating a contact-product-support URL -- i.e. one click -- for anything stronger than a warning. Encouraged by optimistic though incomplete support readiness training, crowds of customer facing youngers would go cynical overnight, confronted one call after another both with bitter IT staff suspecting unfair tactics on the part of product developers and angered by the wait on the phone, and also with second level support utterly at sea with a body of code devoted almost entirely to message logging, no one in the original development team having stuck around after management knotted the "Human readable messages/One-click resolution" must have millstone around their collective necks.
Posted by Mark at 09:11 PM
Solaris 10 on the laptop
Although I haven't had time to look into getting the built-in wireless going, Solaris 10 on this laptop has at least one nice aspect I missed on Linux distributions: the fonts look good and are easy to read, even with applications I installed myself like Firefox and Thunderbird. What is finished seems very carefully done.
Posted by Mark at 12:59 PM
21:48/168
I changed routes, starting uphill to Rochasson, but then coming back down after reaching the national road. All I can say is I certainly hope I measured my route incorrectly, that it wasn't really 5 km (3.1 mi).
Posted by Mark at 12:54 PM
April 11, 2005
Music downloads
Although you've probably heard a lot about people getting in trouble for illegal music downloads, you might also know there's quite a bit of music available for free download. This evening I downloaded a few songs and burned a CD.
What's a shame is that I cannot show up with some sort of proof-of-purchase of old cassettes I bought, digitally sign that I'll use the downloads only for my personal consumption, and thus get back a bunch of music I no longer can listen to in any convenient way.
Posted by Mark at 09:30 PM
Day off, part VI
Today was supposed to be a day of rest. I was off work and didn't run or ride.
It was a busy day, however. This morning Nathalie found the wallpaper she wanted, and also bought some clothes for her and for Emma. Diane wanted to ride around on my shoulders. She calls it riding around on my head. Then we went to the eye appointment, where the doctor dilated Nathalie's pupils, so I had to drive.
All afternoon I went back and forth to the dump in Pontcharra, finally getting rid of all the branches I'd pruned from the fruit trees. At least the weather was okay, no rain today.
The grass has grown so much in some spots already I could've cut it again. Dandelions are starting to take over parts of the yard. But I ran out of time to do anything about that today.
Posted by Mark at 07:44 PM
April 10, 2005
Crafts, part II
Nathalie had Tim learning lace and Emma learning to sew decorations onto the purses Mick and Jeanne sent for her birthday.
Emma did all three today, really applying herself. Tim was proud of his first lace bookmarks.
Posted by Mark at 05:55 PM
Paris-Roubaix
You have to have a deathwish or a screw loose to race the Paris-Roubaix. Wind and rain, sharp cobblestones, narrow, dirty trails. Every 5 minutes somebody has a flat, or goes down.
Posted by Mark at 03:47 PM
54:10/153
Nathalie decided we need to do some shopping tomorrow morning. She wants to redo the carpeting and wallpaper in our bedroom, and she feels I should be there to help her pick it out. Helping her pick it out in this case means keeping Diane from climbing the walls.
As I have some yard work to finish up tomorrow, there won't be a convenient time to bike. Furthermore, the weather's drier and slightly warmer than expected today. It was 7 C (45 F) right before I went downstairs to get my gear on at 1:44. The skies are clear, but the wind is strong coming down the valley from Chambéry.
Probably still a lot more pleasant than Paris-Roubaix. The guys are riding on asphalt right now, and it doesn't appear to be raining. But there are enough cobblestones on that route to knock anyone's fillings loose.
Posted by Mark at 03:06 PM
Video capture, part XVIII
Two more SVCDs from the latest video cassette. Timothee wants me off the computer so he can watch the clips.
Posted by Mark at 10:25 AM
Marathon de Paris
Today is the Paris Marathon. Metcheck.com says it's not as cold there (7 C) as it is here (3 C).
The guys in front just passed 30 km with a time of 1:30:38 or something like that. It's not world-record speed, but it's nevertheless blazingly fast. Some of the folks in front still look incredibly smooth after 90 minutes at 20 kph. I'd love to be able to run like that at 16-17 kph.
One thing I notice is they have lots of bottled water at the refreshment stands, but I don't see the sports drink. Hope I don't have to do Lyon on water alone.
Posted by Mark at 10:16 AM
Building wine, part II
The build with wine-20050310 went fine, but I had to install the RPM with --nodeps. The build was from a source RPM and although everything worked with my earlier version of glibc, the spec file said there was a dependency on a later version.
Tibili appears to run fine under wine. I ran it with the default configuration file. The only additional step -- don't know if it was necessary -- was to put symbolic links to the CD drives.
Then I launched Tibili:
$ wine /mnt/cdrom/Tibili.exe
It came up in 640x480, but Emma and Tim played with it anyway. Emma played for about an hour. Tim then bugged her until she quit and left him the computer. He played to the end of the game.
Posted by Mark at 10:10 AM
April 09, 2005
Building wine
A long time ago I installed dosemu on Linux. Now I'm building wine. It's taking a while.
My hope is to be able to run J'apprends à lire avec Tibili under wine for Emma. She wants to use the program, and the 9-year-old computer in Tim's room is starting to flake out when reading CDs. I'd find a new CD reader, but am not sure it would work with Windows 95, which is the system on that old machine.
We'll see.
Posted by Mark at 10:12 PM
Lace
Nath's getting ready for her afternoon lace class today. It's a shame the weather's not good. Need to keep the three children occupied inside the house.
Posted by Mark at 10:50 AM
Training times, part V
The volume went down a lot this week. My actual times are posted in the usual location.
As Hal Higdon writes, this final upcoming week before the race is "devoted to rest." In other words I'm going to be irritable, frustrated, and worried.
Posted by Mark at 10:46 AM
1:09:43/151
Today's wet and cold outing was 4 laps around my circuit in La Gache, 14 km (8.7 mi). This week I worked on speed Tuesday and Wednesday, stamina Thursday, strength at the gym Monday and Friday. Today, Saturday, I decided to hold the pace at the limit between jogging and running. In other words go as fast as I could jogging, but without running, aiming to keep my heart rate under 80%.
151 average is a bit over 77% of max. heart rate for me. At this pace as soon as I stop my breathing goes to normal. It turns out the pace is 4:59/km (8:01/mi).
It seems like that should be a comfortable pace, but it isn't really. I'm constantly holding myself back. My mind wanders. It even gets boring after about 45 minutes. So why do it? Not sure, it just felt appropriate.
Posted by Mark at 10:22 AM
April 08, 2005
Video capture, part XVII
Speaking of winter...
...a lot of the video is from back when there was still snow on the ground.
Posted by Mark at 08:33 PM
Winter's revenge
Most ski stations are getting ready to shut down, but the temperatures are dropping and so is the precipitation. Both Metcheck.com and Yahoo Weather predict near-freezing cold, snow, and rain.
Metcheck.com also claims there'll be 31 mph (50 kph) winds Sunday. Guess I'll stay off the bike and bundle up for one last Wintery weekend run.
Posted by Mark at 08:27 PM
Video capture, part XVI
We almost finished another video cassette at Emma's birthday party. But there were a few minutes left.
Timothee told me after dinner that he was going to be a film star. So I took him at his word, filming him as he sang histrionically and made up a couple of stories for the camera. We ran out of film only seconds after he ran out of gas.
Posted by Mark at 08:22 PM
Laziness, part III
Solaris 10 runs fine on the laptop. One thing I notice right away is how easy it is to work here at Sun as a user without having to remember much at all about Solaris system administration, like how everything gets automounted...
One thing that strikes me right away is how nice it looks, how much the desktop is like a regular desktop. Yet underneath you have all the power and stability of a Solaris system. Very cool.
Posted by Mark at 04:07 PM
55:23/149
Last workout at the gym before the marathon. I'm taking next Monday and Friday off to rest and heal for the big push.
Posted by Mark at 03:32 PM
April 07, 2005
Independent
Carrie left me a comment, one of the three or four that come from someone I don't know, and that have nothing to do with online gambling or Viagra-like pharmaceuticals.
Carrie took a quiz. I couldn't resist, either.
Does your weblog own you?
Andy says he needs to do more writing and less reading. I seem to be the other way around. Tilly has the right balance. (Americans are either listening or talking. French people are capable of having conversations.)
Posted by Mark at 09:23 PM
38:25/175
Must've been less than 10 km, judging by my time. Yet I ran hard the whole way.
I cut out one of the corners of the run, which would've made it 10 1/2 or 11 km.
After today, I'm starting to ramp down. Healing for the big event. My right calf is a little sore.
Posted by Mark at 09:11 PM
Headache, part III
My head hurt from the moment I woke up this morning. It only stopped hurting either with medication or during running. A long day at work. The medication I took gave me a stomach ache.
Posted by Mark at 09:08 PM
7 hours
7 hours of meetings today at work. Also spent another hour preparing a presentation and doing prework for one of the meetings. And since I was out yesterday, I also spent an extra hour catching up on email.
The most exhausting days are those where none of your accomplishments are concrete.
Posted by Mark at 09:03 PM
Getting fat
The mileage is dropping, but my appetite's not dropping off yet.
I'm getting fat. Was 84.5 kg this morning. Not sure whether that's just a reflection of overeating last night, or the start of a bad trend.
Posted by Mark at 08:57 PM
Gossip
Andy mentioned gossip in an email. That made me wonder.
Is gossip a way of building community? Gossip is, "Notorious for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information thus transmitted." (Source: Wikipedia) But it certainly binds people together. My wife's interrupting me with some right now...
Posted by Mark at 08:35 PM | Comments (1)
April 06, 2005
Headache, part II
My daily headache doesn't start until late morning. Then it gradually gets worse until the evening, when it has me wanting to lie down.
When I got to the doctor's office, it was 18h25. He had people in the waiting room, but had locked the door. I walked over to the pharmacy.
The pharmacist sold me some headache medicine with paracetamol, caffeine, and codeine. It has relieved the symptoms.
Maybe I'll manage to catch Dr. Rantz Saturday morning. If it's an infection, I'd rather take the medication sooner than later. Afraid it might affect my ability to run comfortably in Lyon. For short distances, my headache seems to recede while I run, but I don't think the same will hold for long distances.
Posted by Mark at 09:50 PM
3x1600m, total 17:02
It's supposed to rain starting tomorrow. So I cut the grass for the first time this year when we got back home in the afternoon. Also I hoped to see the doctor for my headache before he closed. I didn't have much time to run, and had Timothee to watch while I did it. I traded tomorrow's 3 miles for today's 6 which I'll run tomorrow.
What I actually did was 3 reps of 1600 m each, each 9 m less than a mile, at the track in Pontcharra. Rep 1 was 5:45/175 max. heart rate, then I stretched and waited until my heart rate dropped back to about 70, which took almost 7 minutes. My pulse drops down to about 100 very quickly, but then takes more time to go much lower.
Rep 2 was 5:39/180 max., and a 5 minute wait. My heart rate dropped only to 90, but I was looking at my watch and worried I wouldn't make it before the doctor closed. Rep 2 felt easier than rep 1.
Rep 3 was 5:38/188 max. The last 400 m of rep 3 felt harder than the last 400 m of rep 2.
I now notice these were faster than suggested at McMillan running for my current fitness. McMillan says to run them in the almost 5:57 to 6:10 range for long distance runners. It's true that to hold today's pace my form suffers some during the last lap as my breathing becomes labored.
Posted by Mark at 09:37 PM
Passport renewal
Today I took the day off. We went to Lyon, all of us, to apply for a new passport for Emma. The American Presence Post there is very discrete. When we showed up we were at the right place, but couldn't really tell. Nathalie wondered why. I figured they're not trying to avoid determined terrorists, but rather opportunistic teenagers with spray paint and bad taste.
The Consul needed both Nathalie and I to sign in her presence. Though I can get my passport renewed by mail, a child's passport renewal requires that both parents show up. Another family was there at the same time. They came from Briançon, which is even further away than Barraux.
Our current Consul at the American Presence Post in Lyon has been here a little over a year and a half. She took more time than either of the two guys that preceded her. She explained to us at length what we'd need to do and how to keep track of the kids' time in the US if they want to be able to pass their US citizenship along to their own children.
Right now that wouldn't make sense to me. They're only American in the legal sense. But if they were to live in the US for several years, transmitting their citizenship might be something they'd want to be able to do. At that point, they'd have to be able to prove presence in the US for at least 5 years in order to be able to pass along citizenship, unless they were to marry US citizens or dual nationals like themselves.
She also suggested I register myself and the three children with the Presence Post, or the Embassy, whomever actually has the records. I figured they'd already have that, since the IRS knows I live here and they have my social security number. Maybe they only keep people they're really worried about on file. Maybe we'll eventually be able to sell some Identity Management software to the federal government.
Posted by Mark at 09:19 PM
April 05, 2005
Degeneracy
My brother got hold of one of those pages of stupid jokes in French that get sent around occasionally in email. They're mildly funny if you're bored.
Matt ran it through machine translation. If you speak both English and French well, you might find it adds a whole new dimension of absurdity:
- Pourquoi les blondes utilisent-elles du dentifrice pour laver les pulls ?
- Parce qu'on leur a dit que le dentifrice rafraîchit la laine et renforce les mailles.
Becomes:
- Why the blondes use do toothpaste to wash the sweaters?
- Because it was said to them that the toothpaste refreshes wool and reinforces the meshs.
Posted by Mark at 09:17 PM
Holst: The Planets
On the way back from work I gave Stockhausen a rest and listened to Holst instead. Every time I hear Mars: The Bringer of War the two climaxes sound like predictions of the wars in Europe, but the piece in its entirety sounds like the soundtrack to a science fiction epic à la Star Wars.
Holst does glory and destruction better than love and beauty. Venus somehow lacks part of her depth. The Winged Messenger sounded to me more like a fountain. Maybe part of my problem with the delicate pieces is the level of road noise in my car.
If you want a good giggle, try the Midi version from AquarianAge.org. I'm listening to Mercury now using timidity. Holst's Planets, the mid-80s Casio keyboard version.
Posted by Mark at 08:58 PM
Laziness, part II
I'm finally getting around to installing Solaris 10 on a Toshiba Tecra M1 at work. The install seems to be going pretty smoothly. It'll be neat to see how it compares to Linux as a desktop OS.
Posted by Mark at 06:25 PM
40:46/137
Went about 6 1/2 km with Karine, Didier, and Eric this noon. We jogged slowly and chatted. I threw in a few accelerations for fun. A nice way to do reps since I could go out several hundred meters, then jog back and come back down to 60-65% heart rate before doing another rep.
Yesterday I spoke with Irene who comes in Mondays to work with Sun people who want to do calisthenics and stretching more than aerobics like we do with Vincent. Irene's running an ultra, 120 km over several days, in the desert soon. She said she'd be glad to coach people who want to run. Just need to get my story straight about exactly what we want from a coach.
Posted by Mark at 01:34 PM
Stockhausen: Aus den Sieben Tagen
It doesn't hold a candle to Stimmung -- you don't find yourself humming it at the coffee machine afterwards. It also sounds dated, like nobody forging sounds would do work that primitive and direct now. What's strange about listening to Aus den Sieben Tagen is how you hear echoes of this in Zappa and King Crimson just a couple of years later.
Posted by Mark at 09:40 AM
April 04, 2005
Ideal jobs
jwz blogged Chrome Fetus comics the other day, and must've updated it, because it came up again on Bloglines.com.
Anyway, some of us have gray flannel lives revising books like the Directory Server Plug-In API Programming Guide, running a fair amount, getting home for dinner with the kids, going to bed early, having dreams forgotten first thing in the morning. Other people remember their dreams, and get dressed up for pictures like this one:
According to the page where that photo came from, Hans "has a small, but devoted following of readers and fans."
Posted by Mark at 09:35 PM
Eagles greatest hits, 1971-1975
This CD has been in the collection for a while. Must've been cheap. The surface of the CD had small scratches that made it skip in the car, so I made a copy. The copy doesn't skip.
I remember hearing the Eagles on the radio when we lived in Ann Arbor. I didn't remember how tame and pop those songs were. True, there are not many songs in 3/4 time like Take It to the Limit on pop radio now. But most of it almost makes you embarrassed it's so slick and 70s. If you don't believe me, listen to One of these Nights.
That said, they had polished their act. Don Henley had a voice that fit the target perfectly. Joe Walsh was effective as a pop guitarist. A few of the lyrics were nifty the first couple of times around. They were poised to do something like Hotel California.
Some Stockhausen should eliminate all the pop in my system.
Posted by Mark at 08:45 PM
Headache
Have had the same headache for three days now, getting worse late in the day. Last night it was bad enough that I had to lie down.
Cannot tell what it's from. Maybe I ate too many cookies at Emma's birthday party and haven't run it all off. Maybe I caught somebody's cold.
Posted by Mark at 08:41 PM
59:52/152
This was the workout at the gym. It involved a lot of bursts, like interval training. I decided not to run to the gym as well, since this is a step back week from a step back week.
Posted by Mark at 08:38 PM
April 03, 2005
Calogero at the Summum
As I mentioned in passing yesterday, I took Nathalie to a concert in Grenoble last night. The singer, Calogero, is from around here, and has become a mainstream pop star and songwriter in France over the last couple of years. His songs are fine and he has a nice voice, which he managed to maintain throughout the night as the band played louder and louder to drown out all his local fans singing along with him at the top of their lungs. He and his band did two encores.
We were on the standing on the floor with almost everyone else. This was a shame, because guys like me (189 cm) could easily see everything but the band's shoes. All the women who turned up, sang along, danced, and generally seemed much more enthusiastic about Calogero's crooning good looks had to stare at the backs of other people's heads a lot of the time. After the show Nathalie told me the woman standing next to her had dragged her husband there, so he was standing by with his hands in his pockets. She was singing loudly and clearly, dancing along with the music.
The mix was okay, but suffered from a bit too much bottom end. The focus of the show is Calogero's voice. He sings a lot between the upper range of his normal singing voice and the point where he goes falsetto, doing the transitions well, but not as well as in the studio. He plays mostly relatively simple bass lines, and that and the drums were mixed up front. Both his guitarists -- one of whom looks like he's sharing clothes and disdain for facial creams with Keith Richards -- were mostly drowned out, as was his keyboard player. By the end of the concert, that was getting to be a shame, since I'm sure those guys could've done some more interesting stuff than what they were paid for.
The opening act, a guy named Matthieu Something-or-other and his band, was a little embarrassing. It sounded like they didn't get any tech support. The guitarist was way to high in the mix, and Matthieu's guitar was imperfectly tuned. The poor guy had a nice voice, managing to sing in tune with only his guitar even when his Am chords set your teeth on edge.
All things considered, Nathalie enjoyed it quite a bit. She craned her neck for so long she thought she was going to be sore this morning, but wasn't. The children were jealous and singing his songs to the babysitter last night and to us this morning.
Posted by Mark at 10:24 AM | Comments (1)
Emma's birthday
Some photos of Emma's birthday celebration. The green thing with ribbons is the piñata post whacking:
The children had a great time. We weren't able to squeeze all the games into the 3-hour slot. We did manage to keep them outside for the entire party.
Posted by Mark at 10:17 AM
1:27:01/152
Ran the 19.6 km (12.2 mi) as a 3/1 distance run, finishing the first three laps around Pontcharra in just over 1:07, then speeding up for the final lap. I didn't eat breakfast or drink sports drink, just water. My original intention was not to speed up at the end, but the morning air was chilly and I felt like burning off the feeling of having been cooped up yesterday.
What I don't understand is why my pulse stayed so low overall. 152 is 78% of my observed max. heart rate, yet I'd moved into the mid 80%s picking up the pace to finish. After the first lap, I had to take my left shoe off to remove a pebble. My heart monitor read 44% (86 bpm) when I got the shoe tied again, which only took 30 seconds, 45 at most counting the time to have a drink and straighten my sock.
My actuals are updated to include the workouts this week. With the biking I did, I still managed to average over an hour of exercise per day. The next two weeks are time to taper, so the volume's going to drop.
Posted by Mark at 10:00 AM
April 02, 2005
Busy Saturday
Spent half the morning getting things ready for Emma's birthday party this afternoon. Nath had said she was setting the limit at 8 kids. We had 14 or 15, cannot remember exactly.
Now we're trying to get them bathed before we go to a concert Nath wanted to go to in Grenoble. Will put the photos up tomorrow.
Posted by Mark at 04:50 PM | Comments (1)
April 01, 2005
Birthday season, part III
Tomorrow is Emma's birthday.
This time the piñata didn't get a flat.
Posted by Mark at 07:44 PM
Magnolia
It's blooming.
A little lopsided from being trimmed at the same time as the willow.
Posted by Mark at 07:41 PM
1:08:33/155
Rode home again, taking it relatively easy. Three frustrations:
- Too much clothing. I wore my winter gear to be comfortable this morning at 6 C (43 F). At about 15 C (59 F) when I started back (uphill to St. Ismier) it felt like a sweatsuit.
- Cars. Commuting at the same time as everybody else is a drag. Not only are they roadhogs, they're also sure to win in a collision so it's up to you to slow down.
- Patchy roads. The first place they patch is down the side, where you have to ride because of all the cars. Hard to keep a steady rhythm when you're bouncing up and down and avoiding chuckholes.
Other than that, it was a beautiful day to ride, despite the headwind coming back.
Posted by Mark at 07:26 PM
1:01:33/156
Rode into work this morning not pushing too hard. My original intention was not to sweat, so I don't have sweaty riding clothes to don for the ride back this evening. That didn't work. My backup intention was not to ride too hard, because my calves hurt a little after the intervals yesterday. That I managed to do.
Commuting unfortunately means you have to slow down sometimes when you don't want to. I even stopped for about a minute at one light. (Actual ride time according to the bike computer: 59:49) I also had to skip the second sprint down from St. Ismier. On the first sprint, I got to a max. of 68.3 kph (42.4 mph). When my speed reached about 55 kph, the cars ahead were slowing, riding too close to the divider on the left for me to feel comfortable passing.
Posted by Mark at 09:41 AM