Just a short post to say that I am around and following you, my lack of comments may not indicate that, but all but my attentions are elsewhere right now. Monday I found out that my contract which was due to be renewed in June and up until Christmas was going to be renewed is actually going to end two months early! I guess this is what happens when you employer posts a $1 billion loss for the year!
So back to drawing board, as you all know the economy sucks and we are having to think outside of the box, so far outside that an interstate move may be required, right now we’re not really ruling too many things out; much as we love SoCal we have no major ties to here. So if you know of anyone looking for a Project Manager/Financial Analyst or something that fits in between let me know, who knows if they’re local to you we could be going out for a run together soon!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Mutiple Hits!
I've been hit on Facebook some ten times in the last week with tag, so in attempt to get the biggest bang for my buck they're doing double duty and being posted to blogger as well (there are a couple of edits here)! Enjoy.
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
1. My wife and two boys are the most precious things in my world
2. I constantly debate what my life would be like if my wife and I had had children younger; it’s an inner dialogue
3. I have concluded that the first twenty five years of my life were me just practicing at it and mostly getting it wrong
4. I have two tattoos, but you’ll only ever see one
5. I have had three motorcycle crashes, I passed my car driving test first time after 3 lessons
6. Both of my knees have dislocated; multiple times, as have my wrists, a shoulder and jaw
7. I have only broken one bone; a toe – in anger!
8. I am a qualified horseback riding instructor, I moved to Holland to work when I was 17, I stayed two years and bought, sold and show-jumped horses in northern Europe
9. I spent seven years in the Territorial Army (National Guard) I reached the rank of Sergeant
10. My first trip to the US was with the Army, we went to, of all places, Alabama where I was awarded and Honorary Colonelship for the State
11. I do not have a Bachelors degree but I do have a Masters’
12. I have lived in California for 6 years and never been in the ocean deeper than my knees
13. I have traveled to six continents: Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia (if you include New Zealand)
14. I leaned to snowboard in June! OK it was in New Zealand, I have never skied and probably never will
15. I collect those fake credit cards that the banks send you, I have over 5000 of them
16. If I could do it all again I would be an architect, civil engineer or would have joined the Army proper
17. I have suffered from altitude sickness twice; both times it sucked!
18. I have been analyzed as being predisposed as a muscle type II (fast twitch) runner yet I choose to participate in type I (slow twitch) distances
19. I would like to run the Western States Endurance Race and The Last Great Race (look them up on run100s.com)
20. I am the eldest of three boys; there are exactly two years, two months 8 days between the youngest and the middle and then the same between the middle and me...spooky?
21. I am the most cynical person I know when it comes to human nature although I am totally open to being proved otherwise, but I doubt I’ll ever be convinced
22. I love traveling but hate being a tourist, I often find the journey is better than the destination
23. I am highly functioning introvert, but once you get to know me that all changes; it’s not as bad as being a dysfunctional extrovert but close!
24. I am not religious or spiritual in anyway shape or form, I am a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac and I do spend sleepless nights in bed thinking about the meaning of Dog!
25. One of the above 24 facts is a complete lie…can you tell which!
I am not tagging anyone here but if you want to play...well you know the rules!
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
1. My wife and two boys are the most precious things in my world
2. I constantly debate what my life would be like if my wife and I had had children younger; it’s an inner dialogue
3. I have concluded that the first twenty five years of my life were me just practicing at it and mostly getting it wrong
4. I have two tattoos, but you’ll only ever see one
5. I have had three motorcycle crashes, I passed my car driving test first time after 3 lessons
6. Both of my knees have dislocated; multiple times, as have my wrists, a shoulder and jaw
7. I have only broken one bone; a toe – in anger!
8. I am a qualified horseback riding instructor, I moved to Holland to work when I was 17, I stayed two years and bought, sold and show-jumped horses in northern Europe
9. I spent seven years in the Territorial Army (National Guard) I reached the rank of Sergeant
10. My first trip to the US was with the Army, we went to, of all places, Alabama where I was awarded and Honorary Colonelship for the State
11. I do not have a Bachelors degree but I do have a Masters’
12. I have lived in California for 6 years and never been in the ocean deeper than my knees
13. I have traveled to six continents: Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia (if you include New Zealand)
14. I leaned to snowboard in June! OK it was in New Zealand, I have never skied and probably never will
15. I collect those fake credit cards that the banks send you, I have over 5000 of them
16. If I could do it all again I would be an architect, civil engineer or would have joined the Army proper
17. I have suffered from altitude sickness twice; both times it sucked!
18. I have been analyzed as being predisposed as a muscle type II (fast twitch) runner yet I choose to participate in type I (slow twitch) distances
19. I would like to run the Western States Endurance Race and The Last Great Race (look them up on run100s.com)
20. I am the eldest of three boys; there are exactly two years, two months 8 days between the youngest and the middle and then the same between the middle and me...spooky?
21. I am the most cynical person I know when it comes to human nature although I am totally open to being proved otherwise, but I doubt I’ll ever be convinced
22. I love traveling but hate being a tourist, I often find the journey is better than the destination
23. I am highly functioning introvert, but once you get to know me that all changes; it’s not as bad as being a dysfunctional extrovert but close!
24. I am not religious or spiritual in anyway shape or form, I am a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac and I do spend sleepless nights in bed thinking about the meaning of Dog!
25. One of the above 24 facts is a complete lie…can you tell which!
I am not tagging anyone here but if you want to play...well you know the rules!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Pop Quiz!
I am a glutton for (a) punishment or (b) food?
So I had to switch my long run from Sunday to Saturday which meant that rest day took the reverse switch (Saturday to Sunday) no biggie thought I. I had planned to go back to Boney Mountain where I raced in January and run the first 13 then add a 5 mile loop on, estimated time three and half hours. My wife was also running Saturday morning; she has a half marathon in March, and so we bumbled around in the early hours finally leaving around 7:20am. I was at the trail head 20 minutes later on and up and running by 7:50am; already running behind the curve.
If you’ve read my race report you’ll know that the course has an immediate downhill to a valley floor and from there you work you way up a small peak and back to the valley floor then up a larger one; Boney Mountain itself topping out at 1800’ with an elevation gain of about 1500’ on the second one. I was making pretty good process up with some walk breaks on the steeper section I reached to top and went to step it up a gear on the downhill and there was nothing, nada, nix! The tank was empty! At this point I was a bit worried as I was only just over half way through. I made my way down and reached the bottom and the 12.5 mile mark with five an half miles left to cover I was feeling, to be honest, like crap, heavy legs, couldn’t catch my breath, I just couldn’t find my rhythm. I started negotiating with myself that I should get to 16.2 miles; 90% of the planned distance, I checked my watch and I was really behind schedule so I agreed with me on reaching 15 miles, so I tacked on a short loop, I hesitate to say quick, headed back to to parking lot which I circled for the final quarter mile and called it quits!
So what went wrong, well I was trying a new gel; First Endurance’s Liquid Shot; this is 4 shot bottle; 400 calories and electrolytes, and I wasn’t feeling the recharged feeling that I normally get with Hammer Gels, it's the second bottle I have used now and I have one left but I don't think it will be replacing my Hammer Gels anytime soon. I also had a hand bottle of Perpetuem (260 calories) and another with Amino Vital (90 calories) (750 calories over three hours is right in the middle of my 200-300 per hour target range) so I wasn’t really underfueling while running. With hindsight I think what was the larger contributing factor was that I hadn’t refueled properly from the night before. The previous night I had run 9 miles at a reasonable pace (average 8:28) had had a lightish dinner, watched some TV and gone to bed, for breakfast I had a bagel and coffee, so I think I was running low when I stated and just ran out.
When I got back to the car I grabbed a couple of bottles of Ensure and drank them, by the time I was in the car driving I could feel my body coming out of the red. Also I hadn’t consciously noticed it but it had got pretty warm and the thermometer in the car said 90f!
So not the best of runs but certainly one to learn from, and it's always better to learn while training rather than on race day.
Here’s the MotionBased data and the photos, not too many as the batteries were going.
Oh and the answer the question is (c) both, but apparently not at the right time or in the right order!
So I had to switch my long run from Sunday to Saturday which meant that rest day took the reverse switch (Saturday to Sunday) no biggie thought I. I had planned to go back to Boney Mountain where I raced in January and run the first 13 then add a 5 mile loop on, estimated time three and half hours. My wife was also running Saturday morning; she has a half marathon in March, and so we bumbled around in the early hours finally leaving around 7:20am. I was at the trail head 20 minutes later on and up and running by 7:50am; already running behind the curve.
If you’ve read my race report you’ll know that the course has an immediate downhill to a valley floor and from there you work you way up a small peak and back to the valley floor then up a larger one; Boney Mountain itself topping out at 1800’ with an elevation gain of about 1500’ on the second one. I was making pretty good process up with some walk breaks on the steeper section I reached to top and went to step it up a gear on the downhill and there was nothing, nada, nix! The tank was empty! At this point I was a bit worried as I was only just over half way through. I made my way down and reached the bottom and the 12.5 mile mark with five an half miles left to cover I was feeling, to be honest, like crap, heavy legs, couldn’t catch my breath, I just couldn’t find my rhythm. I started negotiating with myself that I should get to 16.2 miles; 90% of the planned distance, I checked my watch and I was really behind schedule so I agreed with me on reaching 15 miles, so I tacked on a short loop, I hesitate to say quick, headed back to to parking lot which I circled for the final quarter mile and called it quits!
So what went wrong, well I was trying a new gel; First Endurance’s Liquid Shot; this is 4 shot bottle; 400 calories and electrolytes, and I wasn’t feeling the recharged feeling that I normally get with Hammer Gels, it's the second bottle I have used now and I have one left but I don't think it will be replacing my Hammer Gels anytime soon. I also had a hand bottle of Perpetuem (260 calories) and another with Amino Vital (90 calories) (750 calories over three hours is right in the middle of my 200-300 per hour target range) so I wasn’t really underfueling while running. With hindsight I think what was the larger contributing factor was that I hadn’t refueled properly from the night before. The previous night I had run 9 miles at a reasonable pace (average 8:28) had had a lightish dinner, watched some TV and gone to bed, for breakfast I had a bagel and coffee, so I think I was running low when I stated and just ran out.
When I got back to the car I grabbed a couple of bottles of Ensure and drank them, by the time I was in the car driving I could feel my body coming out of the red. Also I hadn’t consciously noticed it but it had got pretty warm and the thermometer in the car said 90f!
So not the best of runs but certainly one to learn from, and it's always better to learn while training rather than on race day.
Here’s the MotionBased data and the photos, not too many as the batteries were going.
Oh and the answer the question is (c) both, but apparently not at the right time or in the right order!
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