Blog Devices that never get old

I hit the pool tonight for the first time in a while. The pool was good – I think, after three years of attempting self drowning, that I’m finally developing a little bit of muscle memory. No attempted drowning at this return. Bilateral breathing was working well, and while I was painfully slow, at least I didn’t feel like I was drowning. 25 laps or so – just over 1K. Nothing earthshattering, but nothing to shake a stick at.

Jake got his first book report back from second grade. His teacher gigged him for leaving out a comma in a sentence that doesn’t need a comma. I’m pretty spun up about it – dangling prepositions aside, I care greatly about grammar and good writing. Even the greats who took liberties with the English language knew how to write properly before they bent it. Missy’s not so worked up about it, though she agrees the teacher’s wrong. In her defense, the rest of the comments on the paper were ones that Missy and I made to jake when he was writing, so the teacher’s up overall in our book. The comma, I think, was added just ’cause second graders generally don’t think about things like that.

My kid’s the exception. He’s smarter.

(Just like yours are).

((And, for the record, almost all of my parenting decisions are made out of a pathological fear of being “that parent”))

Anyway, I finally came up with an idea for a blog meme. I haven’t googled it, so I’m sure that it already exists, but for a brief moment let me think that i had an actual original thought, instead of reprocessing things that I read half awake and forget that I read. The theme is:

Literary Devices that you use in your blog. Here’s my favorite five:

  1. Run as a song. Pick your current favorite song. Dissect your run as an embodiment of the song. My favorite use of this personally was when I used jazz as a metaphor for trail running.
  2. Invoke old girlfriends. This one is more dangerous than I give it credit for. Luckily for me (a) None of my old girlfriends read my stuff; and (b) Missy didn’t go to high school with me
  3. Stuff as a solution. We know it’s not really. But stuff gives us something to blame for our failures besides ourself
  4. Dialogue. It’s as old as people trying to fill pages – enlisting someone as a literary foil to make the protagonist (and, in a blog it’s always one’s self) look handsome, erudite, and sexy.
  5. and finally The list of 5 things. Pick a topic. Make a list.

So, what did I leave out?

Chicago Rant

So, by now I’m sure that y’all have read up on the disaster that was the Chicago Marathon – closure of the course after 3:30 or 4 hours, depending on reports, no water for the first 10K for anyone running less than a 3 or so hour pace, etc. Wicked hot.

Frankly, that blows, especially the reported shortages in at the first aid stations.

I crunched a couple of numbers for an email exchange that Mark and I had, and pulled the following numbers:

Marathon Finishing Tims
Race Finishers Under 3H Under 4H

NYC 2006

38,000 900 12,000

Houston 2007

5,300 125 1650

Chicago 2006

33,600 900 11,700

Even with the extreme heat, the planners should have realized that fewer than a third of the field is going to finish under 4 hours, so there should have been SOMETHING at the first aid stations for those runners. I find it hard to believe that even with the increased heat, the front of the pack third consumed three times as many resources as they have in the past.

Honestly? My take? There’s a move afoot in elite running circles to discourage average runners – mid to back of packers – from racing. Hence the iPod bans, hence poor support at a marquee race.

The solution? Get faster.*** But moreso, get involved. (Pot, this is kettle) One of the beautiful things about running for me is that it’s all a personal challenge – can I improve upon my last performance? Races are a dispassionate judge of that. I can always fudge whatever timing/mileage device I’m using. I can’t fudge a chip.

*** EDIT/Clarification – this is meant to be tongue in cheek.

Camping




Camping

Originally uploaded by billjank.

So, where have I been? Busy, and took the boys backpacking again over the long weekend. They’re awesome – Jake made the entire mile back to the campsite without a grumble at all, and Nate has no issues sleeping in the woods.

I am still amused by both of them insisting that it’s time to get in the tent “now, daddy” as soon as the sun goes down.

What’s with the headphone ban?

So, I’m actually in the habit of reading the small print when clicking “accept” on End-User License Agreements, and on waivers for races and such, and I noticed that the Oklahoma City Marathon, and almost all USATF sanctioned races for next year have a clause saying “headphones strictly prohibited”.

And, yes, I know that traces back to USATF rule 145 or liability, but c’mon – does it really matter if runners outside of the top 100 in any race are listening to iPods or dressed with different colors on the front and back of a shirt (violation of rule 143)?

A closer reading of Rule 145 reveals it would also ban GPS receivers (such as the Forerunner) and Heart Rate Monitors, as the rule is broadly written to ban video or audio cassette recorders or players, TV’s, CD or DVD players, radio transmitters or receivers, mobile phones, computers, or any similar devices in the competition area shall not be permitted. If you wanted to be really strict, complicated digital watches could probably fall under the category of “computer”…

In any case, I fired off a question to the OKC Marathon to see how strictly they were going to enforce the rule before I sent in my entry fee.

I also wrote to Carmen Triplet, USATF’s Sanctions Point of Contact (Sanctions being getting a race approved) and Jill Greer, USATF’s Communications and PR person. The text of the email is below:

Ms. Triplet –

I’ve been running for several years – nothing serious, but a solid 20 mile per week guy. It’s been good for me – I’ve lost about 20 pounds, improved productivity, etc. What hooked me was the ability to have a half hour to an hour at a time with a series of music players – getting absorbed in whatever my tunes du jour were, and recently in listening to podcasts – making my running time not just a physical release but a critical and essential part of keeping current with the world.

More importantly, my music player helps me with my training. I’ve been using a device that not only plays music, but it keeps track of pace and distance while I’m running. Streamlined the process of keeping a training log, and giving me more incentive to run.

However, as I’ve been looking to do a third and possibly a fourth marathon in 2008, I notice that many registration sites in their race waivers are stating that headphones are “strictly prohibited”. A little bit of research leads me to believe that this is due to a strict interpretation of USATF rule 144.3.(b), which states “The visible possession or use by athletes of video or audio cassette recorders or players, TV’s, CD or DVD players, radio transmitters or receivers, mobile phones, computers, or any similar devices in the competition area shall not be permitted.”

Is this the reason behind the language in the waivers?

If so, why is similar language prohibiting devices such as GPS receivers (radio receiver) or heart rate monitors using wireless heart rate sensors (both a transmitter and receiver) included in the waiver?

I don’t think that I am in the minority in finding that using a portable audio player greatly enhances my running experience – a rough survey of runners that I pass in Mystic and Newport shows that about half of the running population prefers to train with a little bit of audio accompaniment. Similar observation at the races I’ve done this year yields similar results. If you include the number of runners in the races that are using devices such as wrist-held GPSes (such as the Garmin Forerunner devices) or HRMs, the number of non-compliant runners would be closer to 75%.

Strict enforcement of the rule makes sense for the less than 1% of runners with any realistic chance of winning a given USATF sanctioned event. However, for the other 99+% of us whose entry fees subsidize the sport of road running, this sort of wording is a disincentive to paying our race fees and participating.

I am eager to see the early 2008 marathons, and the vigor with which the headphone ban is enforced. If it is enforced on the huge body of mid-pack runners, I will be interested to see how race registrations and revenues are affected. I know I will be much less likely to run in USATF sanctioned events if the ban is strictly enforced.

Thank you for your service to the sport. Running is a great release for me, and I hope to pass the love of sweat and effort to my two sons. We are not genetically gifted athletes who will ever be in the 1%, but the chance to see the 1% run in open events, like this weekend’s Mystic Places Half Marathon in Niantic, CT (where my wife broke 2 hours in preparation for the Hartford Marathon, with headphones this year), is a great inspiration to us.

Very Respectfully,

Bill Jankowski
Mystic, CT
runmystic.jankowskis.net

I know there are a ton of purists out there who think that I’m evil for racing with my iPod – a risk to myself and others. But where are the statistics about the number of injured people at races with iPods? And as far as the purity of the sport – what’s the harm if someone’s iPod gets them out the door, or gets them under 4 hours, or gets them to a Boston Qualifying time (actually, that one might raise my hackles, as they are getting some tangible reward for athletic performance with something that violated the rules…)

This wouldn’t bug me so much if it weren’t for the selective enforcement, focusing on headphones but not frisking people for GPSes or HRMs. No, sorry, it would still bug me as it does seem sort of arbitrary and capricious, trying to limit participation in a sport that’s a remote-click away from irrelevance in a nation where the average mass of an adult is rapidly approaching 200 lbs without a substantial change in the average height.

Story of my life (Part 1)

Frazz rocks

I love my wife and all, but this is how our conversations are going these days. Which, in and of itself, rocks, as I’m into my second year of staying under 175, the longest I’ve been this skinny (though still above the “normal” BMI – still have work to do, hence the “tuber”) since before I went to college and discovered beer (mmmmmm – beer). (It also doesn’t help that the Frazz homepage says that Jeff Mallett, who Jon says is a quality human being, swam the freakin’ Strait of Mackinac for charity.)

Before I get into my paean to late summer, an admin item – Missy’s running the Niantic Bay Half Marathon on Sunday as her last hurrah before Hartford. The boys and I will be there as soon as church lets out. Michelle will be there selling Bondi Bands, which are so cool I’m thinking about getting one to keep my ears warm in winter. Should be good – an early fall afternoon at the beach. Hopefully they’ve kept the chowder despite getting rid of the Marathon.

Now – Late summer.

Dianna nailed the beginning of fall this week. I broke out of my rut toady after work (at an undisclosed location) for a freakin’ great run. Freed of the normal time constraints by a loving and patient wife, I set out and, much like Mark, I embraced “Run, Billy, Run!” and ran, ran, ran, ran, ran. I took the iPod with me for Nike+, but didn’t plug in the headphones.

And, man.

There’s nothing like a fall run on an Indian Summer day. A little bit of warm and humidity had rolled in – should have great thunderstorms tonight. The sun was getting low on the horizon, and the light of the “golden hour” was amplified by the strong hints of color on the trees. Blissfully little traffic, and I surprised myself by finding some wonderful rail-trail.

So I ran.

I knocked out about 3.5 before I came to a big hill. Paused Nike+, and walked for a little bit. Kept walking, exploring the area, and wondering about those who’d been here before.

Rural New England is the absolute greatest. There’s a history here unlike much of the rest of the country. Business empires and factories built and forgotten. Roads and rails and whole communities slowly disappearing under blankets of rotting leaves, thick oaks and maple roots tearing up the hopes and dreams of a century ago.

I wandered past an abandoned reservoir, wondering who’d built it, and if they’d known that it’d be choked with lilies and marsh grass someday instead of providing power for their water wheels. Flushed a covey(?) of grouse, and got a flashback of the quickening of the pulse and sharpening of the senses that is the draw of hunting upland game. Came across a pond, crept up over a hill, and jumped a couple of dozen ducks. They’d carved paths between the lilies and duckweed, and made a ruckus as they flew off.

Ran another mile and a half, and walked for about an hour or so in addition. Nike+ gave me credit for 5 miles running, so I figure I did between 8 and 9 miles total with the walking. Just what the body needs.

This weekend, I’m going to plow through “Run less, run faster”, and actually chisel out a training schedule for OKC. 7 months to go. Which translates to 3 months (12 weeks) to drop 10 pounds (completely plausible, ‘cept for Thanksgiving and Christmas), and 16 weeks to go from an 8 mile long run to 26.2 again.

Man, I’m psyched.

Story of my life continues below the break.
Continue reading Story of my life (Part 1)

Amazon MP3 Music Store

So, it’s been a while since I’ve found something nearly so cool as iTunes. I used eMusic for a while, and was pretty satisfied with it. The caveat with eMusic being that you’ve got to like obscure stuff. Me, that was no problem – I picked up a ton of jazz and blues there, as well as bands I’d heard on the Oxford American Samplers* – My Morning Jacket and Alejandro Escovido spring to mind.

What got me off of eMusic was having to do my 30 or 40 downloads within any given 30 day period. Yeah, cry me a river, but seriously – it was hard. If they’d given like a 5 day warning – say, an email that said “You have 20 downloads set to expire next week”, I’d probably still be with them.

So, I’m pretty psyched to see Amazon’s new MP3 downloads. Here’s the pluses:

1. Pretty decent selection based on a couple of searches I’ve done. If you’re looking to download HUGE name bands, you might be out of luck, but they had Wilco, the Beastie Boys, Hendrix, great jazz selection (‘Trane, Monk, etc), and I finally picked up Dread Zeppelin’s classic Un-LED-ed.
2. Nifty software app to bring your downloads directly into iTunes. I installed it for OSX, and it works as advertised. Plus, you get a free song! when you install it. Dunno if “Energy” by the Apples in Stereo is going to last, but it’s a neat demo.
3. The site is fast if you’re on broadband. Samples of songs start almost immediately, and the web pages go quick. My subjective opinion is that it’s faster than the iTunes Music Store, but I’ve got nothing but gut to go on.

and lastly – 4. The songs are high quality (256 MBps) MP3 – meaning they’ll play on anything (assuming you’ve hacked your Ubuntu install to include the restricted stuff). WHile I’m thrilled with Apple at the moment, I’m all about portability. I unpacked a decade’s worth of .pst files once when I switched platforms, and I’m not going to go through that again. For the record, I am one of those communists who has been burning my iTunes buys to CD and re-importing them as MP3 (until I found DRM Dumpster which automates the process with a CD-RW).

So, I’ll give the site a thumbs up if you absolutely have to have a song right here, right now (not available, by the way). If not, I’m still a hearty endorser of CD’s – get the track and a high-quality backup all in one fell swoop.

* I haven’t been waiting by my mailbox so eagerly for anything other than the OA 2007 music issue since I was in High School and my girlfriend went away to summer camp for a month and promised to write. Well, at least until I hooked up with that other girl, and then felt guilty when the letters started rolling in. But it’s not like that with the OA, honest, I promise!

Dean Kamen can eat this guy

Wow – so I mock the Segway, and then suddenly, I’m provided with a personal transporter so unbelievably cool I’m tempted to call in sick for the next week and build one.

So, this guy and this guy have built, posted code and blueprints, and shown that it can be ridden without dying.

This I can see replacing the car – imagine thousands of folks in WWI helmets with long leather jackets and messenger bags slung over their shoulders ripping on the way to work.

Wow.

via

Sunday Morning

Last week ended up being a wash for me. The trip I was on somehow sucked the life out of me. The class stinks, and I was more than a little bummed by the hotel, which looked to be in a promising running location, but had slightly more traffic and slightly taller hills than I’d anticipated. So, the running’s been miserable, and by miserable I mean mostly non-existant.

I had a great weekend at home – finished a home-improvement project I’ve been studiously putting off for a while, and had quality time with the boys. But, amazingly, I managed to blow off running.

Missy and I even had a little tussle about that. I’d mentioned that I was thinking about running on Sunday morning before church. I even went so far as to set an alarm and make sure my shoes were in the bag. But, ultimately, I woke up in the night to pee, turned off my alarm, and slept until the boys bounced on me. She was a bit cheesed, as she’d been planning on heading to the Y if I hadn’t run.

So, the takeaway is that I need to do what I say I’m going to do. Take a page from the wife, and stick to a plan.

7 months until OKC. 20 mile base is established. Now the training begins.

Landis is Guilty

If you’ve had your head under a rock this weekend, you may not have heard that Floyd Landis has been found guilty of doping at the 2006 Tour de France, and will be stripped of his title, and suspended for two years, retroactive to January, 2007, when he said he’d stop racing professionally while the case was sorted out.

Me? I’m not sure how I feel about the decision. Trust but Verify has both the decision documents themselves as well as summaries of the dissenting arbitrator. He’s much more interesting than the two that voted to support the test.

I’m of a split mind. There are enough inconsistencies that have surfaced about lab process to make me want to side with Floyd. Being a recovering Navy Nukeular Power Officer, procedure and documentation are near and dear to my heart, and especially when someone’s life is on the line, there is absolutely no excuse for having paperwork that is anything but perfect. I’ve seen guys kicked out of their career (one a 17 year veteran, 3 years to go to retirement) for falsifying records. The testing lab needs to be held to an amazingly high standard, ESPECIALLY if cycling is to be kept clean. Even the suspicion of impropriety on the part of the lab makes booting real dopers less of a right thing to do.

Plus, there’s motive on the part of the French lab. 8 straight American wins? And an amazing comeback on the part of Landis? Incroyable! Sacre Bleu! N’est pas possible…

On the other side, getting off on procedure is complete and total BS, and identifying problems with the lab is something that teams should have a vested interest in BEFORE the racing season starts. An example (possibly too effective) is the interface with doping authorities that the Baseball and Football players’ unions have in the US. The tests and conduct are a part of their labor negotiations. Shoot, the scientists’ and engineers’ union that represents me has a say in the drug testing that we have on our jobs. Cyclists should have the right to have a say in the process too.

But, that’s BEFORE a positive result comes back. After the test comes back – well, sometimes the best thing for everyone in the long run is to take a bullet. Is a clean sport worth a couple of ended careers? Even assuming Floyd’s guilty, isn’t it possible that a couple of folks who popped positive have really been innocent? That’s a tough call.

In any case, it’s in the history books now. Landis’ legal bills are staggering; I’m considering a donation to the Floyd Fairness Fund. I’m really still not sure if he’s a doper or not, but I do know that he’s been publicly outspoken against doping, and is a heck of a rider. He’s also a human being, and it’d suck to be fiscally ruined by a mistake. Plus, I’d kind of like him to appeal to keep the media scrutiny on the world’s anti-dope testing labs. They need to be cleansed of any suspicion that there could be a false positive.