Training Log Archive: cedarcreekIn the 7 days ending Jul 11, 2008:
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Thursday Jul 10, 2008 #
Event: WOC 2008
Sunday Jul 6, 2008 #
Running (track) 48:00 [4] 5.2 km (9:14 / km)
shoes: Brooks
A set of 8x400m runs with 200m walks. I was trying to do something at the track. I meant to do 3 mile repeats, but I felt like crap on the first 400m, and decided to scale down the distance. Running fast is fun, so I thought I'd just do a bunch. I didn't know I did 8 until I looked at my lap times (on the Forerunner so it's easy to determine distance).
200m warmup 2:00
400m run 2:35 (intended as a mile pace)
Pause for 3 min
400m run 2:04 (intended as a fast lap)
200m walk 3:07
400m: 2:08 (fast lap) Pulse peaking out around 190
200m: 2:22 (the realization struck that I'm not gonna be able to do many of those fast ones, so I'm just going to try to run smoothly with good turnover.
400m: 2:56 (back to my 10 min per mile pace---crap---pulse max 167)
200m: 2:50
400m: 2:33 (a little faster, but pulse about 180 at the finish)
200m: 3:07
400m: 2:25 (felt pretty smooth, again 180 or so)
200m: 3:05
400m: 2:27 (getting tired, last 100m sucking air bad)
200m: 3:29
400m: 2:28 (started about 130, ended about 180)
400m walk: 6:30
Now sore and tired.
Spike asked me about Nudge a few weeks ago, and I wrote a little bit about it and promised to write more when I finished it. I finished it about a week ago, and I have had a lot of trouble thinking about what to write. The first thing I wrote might be a better review than this.
It's a fascinating book. It has changed the way I look at political debate. The authors call their idea "Libertarian Paternalism", and the point of that idea is to give people both the ability to make their own choice and at the same time, to protect people who can't, won't, or are not able to make that choice. When I write it like that, it sounds like a bad idea. But having read the book and thought about it (a lot), it provides a middle ground between liberal and conservative legislation strategies. In that sense it is revolutionary.
The typical stereotype of a liberal legislation strategy is to prohibit some action that has been determined to be bad, and/or to propose ideas that might be called "one size fits all". On the other hand, the typical stereotype of a conservative legislation strategy is to propose ideas that favor laissez faire market strategies to a fault.
Nudge offers a way of thinking about proposed legislation that will tend to stop bad behavior, allow choice for people who wish to make choices, make choices for people who can't, won't, are are not able to, and still maintain a market strategy (but somewhere short of laissez faire) that automatically balances the equation when better ideas come along.
One thing I learned was that one of the market ideas that was implemented by Bush 1 (I'll try to fill in details---It's related to power plant pollution, but I don't think it's carbon credits---Maybe sulfur related? Something to do with scrubbers in the exhaust?), was very successful. It was one of those market ideas where my initial thought was that the market was there to be exploited, but this book says the market was an incredible success story. It acted as a nudge to get plants to upgrade way more than it was a way to let rich plants pollute. I think a lot of times political rhetoric overwhelms the actual success stories because politicos simply don't want to believe the truth when it conflicts with their political ideas.
The last section of the book was the most difficult for me to read, primarily because the ideas were so out there that I pushed away so I could digest the thoughts for a while. I was repeatedly amazed that ideas that I initially thought would never fly in Washington actually started to make sense to me. I'm talking about some crazy ideas. You won't believe me until you read them.
The very last section was a chapter of arguments against the book. I love it when authors take the time to address the criticism they've received.
I loved this book. I've been using the ideas for maybe a month now, and it has changed the way I look at things. I've used it at work, at club meetings, at home. It has helped me get my retirement planning in better shape, my cholesterol and blood pressure more under control, and got me to make some fitness decisions that I had been letting slide. I don't know if the effect is going to wear off eventually. If it does I might have to reread some chapters to see if the magic works twice.
200m warmup 2:00
400m run 2:35 (intended as a mile pace)
Pause for 3 min
400m run 2:04 (intended as a fast lap)
200m walk 3:07
400m: 2:08 (fast lap) Pulse peaking out around 190
200m: 2:22 (the realization struck that I'm not gonna be able to do many of those fast ones, so I'm just going to try to run smoothly with good turnover.
400m: 2:56 (back to my 10 min per mile pace---crap---pulse max 167)
200m: 2:50
400m: 2:33 (a little faster, but pulse about 180 at the finish)
200m: 3:07
400m: 2:25 (felt pretty smooth, again 180 or so)
200m: 3:05
400m: 2:27 (getting tired, last 100m sucking air bad)
200m: 3:29
400m: 2:28 (started about 130, ended about 180)
400m walk: 6:30
Now sore and tired.
Spike asked me about Nudge a few weeks ago, and I wrote a little bit about it and promised to write more when I finished it. I finished it about a week ago, and I have had a lot of trouble thinking about what to write. The first thing I wrote might be a better review than this.
It's a fascinating book. It has changed the way I look at political debate. The authors call their idea "Libertarian Paternalism", and the point of that idea is to give people both the ability to make their own choice and at the same time, to protect people who can't, won't, or are not able to make that choice. When I write it like that, it sounds like a bad idea. But having read the book and thought about it (a lot), it provides a middle ground between liberal and conservative legislation strategies. In that sense it is revolutionary.
The typical stereotype of a liberal legislation strategy is to prohibit some action that has been determined to be bad, and/or to propose ideas that might be called "one size fits all". On the other hand, the typical stereotype of a conservative legislation strategy is to propose ideas that favor laissez faire market strategies to a fault.
Nudge offers a way of thinking about proposed legislation that will tend to stop bad behavior, allow choice for people who wish to make choices, make choices for people who can't, won't, are are not able to, and still maintain a market strategy (but somewhere short of laissez faire) that automatically balances the equation when better ideas come along.
One thing I learned was that one of the market ideas that was implemented by Bush 1 (I'll try to fill in details---It's related to power plant pollution, but I don't think it's carbon credits---Maybe sulfur related? Something to do with scrubbers in the exhaust?), was very successful. It was one of those market ideas where my initial thought was that the market was there to be exploited, but this book says the market was an incredible success story. It acted as a nudge to get plants to upgrade way more than it was a way to let rich plants pollute. I think a lot of times political rhetoric overwhelms the actual success stories because politicos simply don't want to believe the truth when it conflicts with their political ideas.
The last section of the book was the most difficult for me to read, primarily because the ideas were so out there that I pushed away so I could digest the thoughts for a while. I was repeatedly amazed that ideas that I initially thought would never fly in Washington actually started to make sense to me. I'm talking about some crazy ideas. You won't believe me until you read them.
The very last section was a chapter of arguments against the book. I love it when authors take the time to address the criticism they've received.
I loved this book. I've been using the ideas for maybe a month now, and it has changed the way I look at things. I've used it at work, at club meetings, at home. It has helped me get my retirement planning in better shape, my cholesterol and blood pressure more under control, and got me to make some fitness decisions that I had been letting slide. I don't know if the effect is going to wear off eventually. If it does I might have to reread some chapters to see if the magic works twice.
Strength 20:00 [2]
About an hour working to add rocks around the new air conditioner condenser unit. Rain hits the ground and gets mud into the fins. I'm pretty sure the rocks will keep the condenser clean. Most of the effort was digging the trench and getting it sloped to drain properly. I didn't buy enough rocks.