Training Log Archive: W

Ran to the shop for the ol' Sunday shift. Super icy in places, again, not comfortable run in either, its rock hard and unstable. Going to make a horrendous base if it ever snows again. Had time to prep my new skis for the hot box, woot!

Well, a run to, requires a run fro, so ran home from the shop afterwards. Have to cut it short since my partner was having some achilles issues. Still, not as short as I thought, I would have thought the extra loop around Hawrelak would ahve added more than just 1K. Probably GPS wonkiness, that just doesn't sound right.

Today I learned about:

Seal of New Hampshire

No, not the animal, the random symbol that someone came up with many years ago that has absolutely no meaning to any resident of the state now under the age of 85. I found it most amusing that apparently the rules governing the design of the seal were kind of sketchy, so in the original there were rum barrels on the deck of the ship, but when the Governor of the 1930s found out he ordered a new design be made so that it was "devoid of controversy". The State seal law also said that it could only be a GRANITE stone in the foreground.

Because you definitely don't want to tick off the Igneous rock crowd.

21 minute out and and 21 back at best aerobic pace, which today appeared to be about 4:15/km. (it got me about 4.95km at an avg HR of 151. I still think I could go a tad faster and still be comfortable, alternatively, I could easily keep that up for quite some time longer. Theoretically, though, based on my approximate max HR, I should lower that HR to maybe 145-ish?

Buggered up my watch after forgetting to restart it, so I had the entire session to try and do the math in my head of when I'm supposed to turn around. Math is hard.

A probably lighter run than I was planning on, but that's okay. The trails are super icy and unstable, so running is wobbly and inefficient. My legs will definitely not be a fan of running all winter if doesn't bloody well snow. On to lesson three of learn Swedish, which means at this point, I can confidently say (but not write properly) I understand a little Swedish . Which would make for awkward conversation when I tell a Swede that, because that's literally ALL I can say:

"Hej!"
"Hej"
"Jog forstar lita Svenska"
"[random simple small talk in Swedish]"
"Forstar du Svenska?"
"[Yes, idiot, I'm speaking it right now, you said you understood a little]"
"Um.... Hej da!" (I proceed to run away)

This is going real real well.

Trainer workouts x 2. Wanted to go in the evening before the office dinner, but had to fix the furnace instead (result: I didn't). So, it was back on the trainer since I didn't have time for anything else. Bummer.

Today I learned about:

Ernie Simms

Now this is a feel good story. Mr. Simms was a regular ol' football player, until he went of to the first world war, and got a "savage" leg injury. They booted him out of the army, so he went home and still wanted to play football. Every night he would sneak onto the football pitch in the dark and run stairs and laps, until he got busted. Then he went on to be the leading scorer of a division three team and played one match for England, and is still the only player of the division III team to play for England.

How has this NOT been made into a movie yet?

8 x 6 minute intervals at.... well, not 10k pace, significantly slower than that. The problem is, my 10k pace is, I would say, more strenuous than the aerobic zone that these intervals are going for. When I do them with the FT crew, I could hang with the guys at the front who are hammering way too fast, but then I'd be one of those guys hammering way too fast. And I make fun of those guys. I suppose if I paid more close attention to my pace v. HR, I could get a better sense. But I'm a run by feel kinda guy. I also make fun of those that are married to their GPS/HR monitor.

Today, on wikipedia:

Llansannan

I was particularly amused by the editorial tone of the description of this town. Someone noted that the population was "1291 in 2001, with 67% able to speak Welsh but should be more". Its hard to know if this person is referring to the population, or is ticked that more people in this town don't speak Welsh. Its those damn kids. They also probably skateboard on the sidewalk. Coincidentally that edit was made just today, weird!

Also, like most small towns in the UK, this place looks adorable. I bet it has a pub named The Cross Keys. Almost all of them do.

A pretty darn slow run with some buddies. Decided to go straight for some impressive christmas lights, which included some bushwhacking. In my haste of bushwhacking I forgot I was wearing my nice new pants and some of the seams frayed a tad. Have I forgotten how most of my orienteering pants look after one race? Stupid.

Today, I learned about:

The Sunday Times (Western Australia)

It would seem poor old Perth, Australia must suffer through just one tabloid newspaper, owned by none other than Robert Murdoch. Somehow it enjoys a competition-free status, and with a joint venture, it and another publisher pretty much own all the local newspapers. Awesome journalism standards, there Australia. However, the biggest nugget of information comes at the beginning. The newspaper was initially founded as means for harassing C.Y. O'Connor. Then, 12 years later, O'Connor killed himself .

Conicidence? Legally, turns out no. But, come on. I mean, Come. On.

Initially planned on going for a run, but.... didn't. Some days the fact that I do most of my training alone doesn't bother me. Today, it bummed me out. So my friend the television and sports highlights were happy to keep me company on the bicycle. Bonus: I actually worked up a sweat.

After last week's post-soccer run debacle, I decided to go home and drink some FRS before heading out for a run. In this case, I still felt a tad fatigued, but not nearly as awful as last week. I tells ya, I'm going get the rep's contact for FRS from the shop and send him an e-mail. I like this stuff.

Today I leaned about:

"And He Built a Crooked House"

Hm... interesting. Given that the entire article is just a plot summary, I am going to download this short story to my eReader (I was bullied into getting one, I swear), and will read it tomorrow and give an update. Somehow I doubt that saving on real estate by building a house in the shape of an unfolded net of a tesseract will turn out well, but, we shall found out!

Short story update: Well, that was a fun little story. Slowly morphing from regular story of a wacky architect into an amusing science fiction plight. If you're vaguely aware of a early-2000s not-very-good Canadian horror-esque movie, you'll have a general idea of what's going to happen. Still, a pleasant 15-minute read.

C • No idea how that'll go for you 3

Went for a pleasant light run on the pavement. Tried to get other people to come, but they're all pansies, so 'twas another lonely workout Calves were most definitely grumpy throughout the entire thing, so some epic stretching and rolling afterward occurred. Status update: still sore. Also started listening to some "Learn Swedish" .mp3s I downloaded. Because.... why not. And I learned how to say "I don't understand Swedish". And now I can't even remember that. Awesome. Well, that's what tomorrow is for!

Bitumen of Judea

Some real learning gems lately. Initially I thought, why would I care about Bitumen in Isreal? Turns out, its just a weird name for what is "possibly" the first photographic technique. It uses Bitumin which apparently becomes insoluble and hardens in oils when exposed to certain types of light. They'd coat copper plates with the Bitumin, stick it in a solvent, and voila! A printing plate.

Tell THAT factoid at parties. Guaranteed to mark you as the smarmy know-it-all.

C • Svenska 101 2