Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
GWTC 30k
Oh, boy, was that 30k a rough race. I got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning (I handed the party responsibilities over to Andrew around 2:30 and I went to bed) and drove about a half hour out to Bradley's Pond. It was freezing. Actually, below freezing. For the entire race. Worse if you count the wind chill. I've never started a race with so much clothing. For upper body, I had a Under Armour skull cap, handkerchief around my neck, UA sleeveless compression T, FSU tri jersey top, Pearl Izumi arm warmers, a long sleeve Starter dri-fit T, and gloves. For lower body, FSU tri jersey bottoms, RaceReady running shorts (because they had pockets to hold food-stuffs), sweat pants, 2XU calf compression guards, Thorlo socks, and some baseball socks. Phwew. I ended up having to take off the handkerchief, skull cap, bandana, and gloves. Lucky I had pockets.
If I had to describe the course in one word, it would be "hilly." It is an out and back course with the first (and last) 2.25 miles on pavement and the rest on packed red clay. Every mile on the course is marked (for both races), leading you to have many references to let you know where you are on the course. Since there's also a 15k, you know where the 1/4 and 3/4 points in the race are. Also, due to the way the turn-arounds are set up, you know where the .3 and .6 marks are in each mile that is also a part of the 15k course. You also know where the .6 miles are in the 30k course. This would all be VERY helpful if you were trying to pace yourself.
I was not trying to pace myself. I had no idea what time I would run. This is the longests I've ever run continuously. I started off at a reasonable 6:35 per mile, but ended up averageing 8:06 (finishing in 2:30:57). It was the last few miles (and the previous night's drinking) mixed with the hills that really slowed me down. I was feeling fairly strong up until the turn around. In fact, I was in 15th place at the turn around but finished in 28th. I only passed one person on the way back.
Near 14 miles, I took a gel. I've never felt a gel hit me so hard. About 5 minutes later, I noticed that my eyes were open wider and that my strides were quickening and lengthening. Maybe I should have taken one earlier. I haven't had the chance to experiment much with gels on my training runs since I'm not carrying water. I took one once and felt like I was dehydrated. In fact, I didn't eat hardly anything before the turn around because I was feeling like my system had too little water. I guess that's what happens when you drink power smoothies before the race. Let me give you a recipe for my power smoothie. Realize that I only drank half of this before the run: 1 bag frozen mixed berries, 1 6oz package of yogurt, 1 scoop Hammer HEED, 1 big squirt Hammer gel, 1 scoop protein powder, 2 bananas (and ideally a serving of FRS concentrate which I was out of). Ya, that smoothie will get you going.
After finishing, I was thinking that the Tallahassee Marathon on February 1st would be a disaster for me, but then I heard a seasoned runner mention that the hilly 30k course was harder to run than a flat marathon. The Tally course is flat. There is hope for me yet.
If I had to describe the course in one word, it would be "hilly." It is an out and back course with the first (and last) 2.25 miles on pavement and the rest on packed red clay. Every mile on the course is marked (for both races), leading you to have many references to let you know where you are on the course. Since there's also a 15k, you know where the 1/4 and 3/4 points in the race are. Also, due to the way the turn-arounds are set up, you know where the .3 and .6 marks are in each mile that is also a part of the 15k course. You also know where the .6 miles are in the 30k course. This would all be VERY helpful if you were trying to pace yourself.
I was not trying to pace myself. I had no idea what time I would run. This is the longests I've ever run continuously. I started off at a reasonable 6:35 per mile, but ended up averageing 8:06 (finishing in 2:30:57). It was the last few miles (and the previous night's drinking) mixed with the hills that really slowed me down. I was feeling fairly strong up until the turn around. In fact, I was in 15th place at the turn around but finished in 28th. I only passed one person on the way back.
Near 14 miles, I took a gel. I've never felt a gel hit me so hard. About 5 minutes later, I noticed that my eyes were open wider and that my strides were quickening and lengthening. Maybe I should have taken one earlier. I haven't had the chance to experiment much with gels on my training runs since I'm not carrying water. I took one once and felt like I was dehydrated. In fact, I didn't eat hardly anything before the turn around because I was feeling like my system had too little water. I guess that's what happens when you drink power smoothies before the race. Let me give you a recipe for my power smoothie. Realize that I only drank half of this before the run: 1 bag frozen mixed berries, 1 6oz package of yogurt, 1 scoop Hammer HEED, 1 big squirt Hammer gel, 1 scoop protein powder, 2 bananas (and ideally a serving of FRS concentrate which I was out of). Ya, that smoothie will get you going.
After finishing, I was thinking that the Tallahassee Marathon on February 1st would be a disaster for me, but then I heard a seasoned runner mention that the hilly 30k course was harder to run than a flat marathon. The Tally course is flat. There is hope for me yet.
Keg Without Ice
I had a hobo themed party at my house on Friday night (bad planning on my part due to having a 30 kilometer race on Saturday morning). It was pretty cold outside, so we had a trash can fire to keep everybody warm. I think the most novel thing for me was that we never put ice on the keg. We picked it up about 3pm and it was so cold outside that we didn't need any ice. I mentioned something about the lack of ice to Tony and he said that that's nothing new to him, since he's from up north and all.
You probably know that I like my beer really cold. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, the outside temperatures were below freezing for the entire duration of the party. I was happy with the temperature of the beer. No rock salt needed (I guess rock salt is pretty much worthless without ice).
Also, not having to get ice cut the costs substantially...normally we spend about $12 on ice, but on Friday it was pretty much $60 to throw the entire party. Divided by 3 roommates gives a price of $20 each for a night of fun. I think we might have had close to 60 people throughout the night which equals out to a dollar per person. Luckily we had someone lend us the trash can for the fire.
You probably know that I like my beer really cold. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, the outside temperatures were below freezing for the entire duration of the party. I was happy with the temperature of the beer. No rock salt needed (I guess rock salt is pretty much worthless without ice).
Also, not having to get ice cut the costs substantially...normally we spend about $12 on ice, but on Friday it was pretty much $60 to throw the entire party. Divided by 3 roommates gives a price of $20 each for a night of fun. I think we might have had close to 60 people throughout the night which equals out to a dollar per person. Luckily we had someone lend us the trash can for the fire.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Computer
I just built a sweet new computer. This is my first post written on it. Here are some of the specs:
mobo: ATX XFX/Nvidia nForce SLI MCP
memory: 6GB
processor: AMD64 Phenom quad-core @ 2.20 GHz
hard drives: 1xSeagate 1.5TB (with heatsink), 1xWD500GB, both SATA
Optical drives: 2xHP DVD/CD burner with LightScribe
gigabit ethernet (although that doesn't do me so much good at my house)
2x120mm fans: 1 on front sucking air in, 1 in rear blowing it out
650W power supply
all kinds of (currently) unused expansion ports
6 integrated SATA controllers which are giving me problems right now
integrated video (DVI, HDMI, VGA)
plenty of space to add more.
The case has a clear side and some vents in the clear side so I can see what's going on. Currently, I had to install an IDE hard drive in order to install the OS. I'm using Ubuntu on this computer and I'm currently loving the OS and I imagine it will only get better as I grow more used to it.
Overall, I thought the computer would be faster. I thought that applications like OpenOffice would load faster. Don't get me wrong, it's way faster than my old computer, but I don't think it's what I thought it would be.
mobo: ATX XFX/Nvidia nForce SLI MCP
memory: 6GB
processor: AMD64 Phenom quad-core @ 2.20 GHz
hard drives: 1xSeagate 1.5TB (with heatsink), 1xWD500GB, both SATA
Optical drives: 2xHP DVD/CD burner with LightScribe
gigabit ethernet (although that doesn't do me so much good at my house)
2x120mm fans: 1 on front sucking air in, 1 in rear blowing it out
650W power supply
all kinds of (currently) unused expansion ports
6 integrated SATA controllers which are giving me problems right now
integrated video (DVI, HDMI, VGA)
plenty of space to add more.
The case has a clear side and some vents in the clear side so I can see what's going on. Currently, I had to install an IDE hard drive in order to install the OS. I'm using Ubuntu on this computer and I'm currently loving the OS and I imagine it will only get better as I grow more used to it.
Overall, I thought the computer would be faster. I thought that applications like OpenOffice would load faster. Don't get me wrong, it's way faster than my old computer, but I don't think it's what I thought it would be.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Pick #109
Stone Temple Pilots - "Lady Picture Show" from Tiny Music, Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
Thursday, January 8, 2009
A Good Alarm Clock
A good alarm clock is a great investment. Just think: it could pay for itself if it saved you from missing one job interview. Depending on how you look at it, it could also pay for itself by helping you not miss a test. Or, if it got you up and at 'em 5 minutes earlier every day...
If you're going to get an alarm clock, why the F*** would you ever want a plug-in one? You know, the kind that flash 12:00 when the power goes out... Get battery power. The batteries last so long that it's not a hassle to replace them and you get the benefit of never losing the time when you lose power.
If you're going to get an alarm clock, why the F*** would you ever want a plug-in one? You know, the kind that flash 12:00 when the power goes out... Get battery power. The batteries last so long that it's not a hassle to replace them and you get the benefit of never losing the time when you lose power.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
