Category: Big Ideas

Round

Lake Manicouagan as seen from Earth orbit. Image courtesy NASA.

So, I’m looking for something on Google Earth, and what catches my eye but this ring way up in the Great White North (Which is inhabited, entirely, by guys wearing “tooks” and trying to get free beer by growing mice in beer bottles. Or, so says this educational film that we watched in High School.

Manicouagan Reservoir is an annular lake in northern Quebec, Canada, the remnant of an impact crater made approximately 212 million years ago, towards the end of the Triassic period. … The island in the center of the lake is known as René-Levasseur Island.The crater was created by the impact of a 5 km diameter asteroid which excavated a crater originally about 100 km wide although sediments and erosion have since reduced its diameter to about 72 km.

(More at Wikipedia)(Which is probably the understatement of the year)

Anyway, it looks like an absolutely cool place to take the kayak – something like 40 miles side to side.

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Paula Sums it up

So, I’ve been fuming for going on two weeks now, ever since Floyd popped positive. Which is why I was thrilled to read the following:

What we really need is a Doping Control system in which the world can believe and trust. … (Doping) not only cheats other athletes, but also promotors, sponsors and the general public. Being caught in possession of performance enhancing drugs should carry a penalty.

Paula Radcliffe gets it.

*** Edit: Or at least claims to. Man, that’s the whole, crappy thing about doping – How do I really know that she’s not on the sauce, and just has a really, really good doctor? Stupid cynicism. I choose to believe. I choose to believe…

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Excuses

Monday – Didn’t run, ’cause it was an “off” day on the schedule. Plus, I broke my iPod working on the house, and was waiting for a new one (If you’ve got $130 to spare, go to the Apple Store online scroll down the page, and click on the big red tag on the right hand side where they sell refurbished stuff – 1 GB Nano is $109, 2 GB Nano is $129, 4 GB Nano is $169) so I could keep using the cool chip.

Tuesday – Didn’t run – Not on the schedule, plus it was HOT

Wednesday – Didn’t wake up early enough to run before the wife left for Hartford. Spent the day playing with the kids – Beach in the morning (Watch Hill, if you’re keeping track. Man, was that nice – 65 degree water keeps a nice, cool breeze over the sand. We walked out to the ruins of the WWI fort at the entrance to Fischer’s Island Sound and back); fishing in the evening, 3 hour nap in between. Missy had book club Wednesday night – Whole day with the boys! Can’t be beat. They were angels the whole day, too, which shocked me…

Thursday – Picked up some sort of stomach bug. Just feeling all gassy. POwer went out about 7 PM as a cold front rolled through. Absolutely worse things than spending an evening hanging out on the deck with the wife in the cool, wet evening with all of the bugs knocked out of the air.

Friday – No power yet. Went to buy ice before work instead of running. Still feeling ill in the tummy.

Today – Drilling. Power came on late last night. May run this afternoon, but don’t want to push it – the tummy is still kind of sensitive, and I haven’t eaten anything yet.

 So, there it is – a week down the tubes. New Haven is going to stink.

I’m not exactly down about training – I actually have been really, really enjoying the run this year. But, on the flip side, I haven’t been nearly as ambitious as I was last year, and it kind of shows.

BUt, July was almost 75 miles for the month, which was better than I would have thought without actually checking the logs.

THis is when I tell myself that it’s all coming together according to plan – get just a little bit rolled into my lifestyle while stepping up performance at work. Next step is to get the eating under control – weight’s been pretty static at 168 all year, this winter I intend to drop poundage. Next summer is when I start thinking great things about fitness – faster, longer, farther.

But I’m green reading about other’s big races, and marathon season is going to really, really rase the green monster of envy’s head. Not that I don’t want great things for the RBF. I just miss the whole aspect of “Look at me! Look at me!”

F***

F***

“The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by (world cycling body) the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France,” Phonak said in a team statement.

Freakin frogs, trying to destroy cycling. If Floyd’s a doper, then he should be strung up by his nether bits, no question.

But there’s a part of me that wonders if the elevated testosterone might have just been a natural physiological reaction – fight or flight, whatever.

(Insert French Joke Here – I’m too livid to make one up)

What is it? Is there too much money tied up in sport? Have we invested too much in the big stage?

Actually, that’s probably part of the problem. We expect others to provide excitement, instead of doing it ourselves. The solution is to get off our butts and enjoy the summer. Enough moping for me.
Are you part of the solution? Who are you racing? Who is being thrilled vicariously through what you’re doing?

Once more, with gusto

Another post that may or may not have been abandoned at some point…

———-

The boy (6 yrs) is taking soccer camp this week. More accurately, the boy is going to soccer camp this week. But, he’s also going through a phase where all he wants to do is act a bleeding fool all the freakin’ time. His mom is on the verge of trading him in, and the coach at soccer camp is on the verge of leaving him at backfield, which, for 6 year old soccer is the equivalent of being the kid off in left field picking daisies. (I remember it vividly)

Anyway, after bath, I decided we’d try something a bit different tonight. It was cooling off, about 70, so I decided that it’s time that Jake learns to run.

Yeah, you read that right – “Learns to run”.

‘Cause I’ve come to realize that distance running isn’t a skill that comes naturally to most people. It really isn’t. We’re set up, physiologically, to sprint. The whole “Fight or Flight” response, and that instinct is what’s honed in us for most of our lives, especially in a world of fast twitch video games, sound bites, and deep philosophical discussions summed up in a 30 second ad on television.

So I said “Hey, let’s practice running down to the end of the block and back” – a trip of all of about half a mile. “Sure”, says the boy.

The out went like this – Jake would sprint as fast as he could for as long as he could without breathing, then stop and watch as I jogged by. Then he’d sprint again, laughing hysterically.

At the turn he was really starting to drag, so I summoned up the good parts of the OCS Battalion runs, and we started making up and singing jodies all the way back to the house. Next thing we know, we were passing the driveway – more than a quarter mile without me saying “C’mon, Jake…” I was happy, he was happy, the bees buzzed, the birds sang, and the last rays of twilight beat down on our ears.

Which is when it hit me – people do need to be taught how to run. As silly as that sounds, there is some level of skill involved – regulating pace, regulating breathing, etc. For a lot of us, being stubborn and working through pain is enough to learn those skills. But for others (and looking back, I’m in this category), rhythm, pace, and breathing don’t come naturally at all.

Which is another thing that might come in handy with the whole portable music player thing – running with tunes can be akin to having someone call cadence in your ear. Doesn’t do much for the breathing, unless you try to sing along.

What would you do if you weren’t scared?

It’s a blog meme that hasn’t been recycled in too long – what would you do if you weren’t scared.

Weren’t scared of losing your job
Weren’t scared of losing your house
Weren’t scared of losing your reputation
Weren’t scared of anything

What is your big idea?

I ask, ’cause I’m scared right now. There’s a big idea we’re working at the office, which is interesting, ’cause the lab I work at doesn’t do big ideas. Sure, we do “change” and we do “improvements” and we do “new technologies”, and we do good jobs with all of that.

But we don’t do big ideas. They’re not written into the DoD 5000 procurement model. We’re engineers on the career track.

What would you do?

I ain’t skeered. GTBMS. There’s work to do.

Hola Amigos

Wow – Sunday night already.

If you haven’t checked out David and April Anne’s reports, we had one heck of a run trying to dodge the rain. I’d elaborate, but David pretty much nailed it. Well, with the exception of April Anne trying to drive me into heart failure as we raced over the state line and back.

Were I half a good writer, I’d work in the classic joke about “Crossing staid lions with immoral porpises”. But, it’s late, and I’m tired.

The run was outstanding, BTW. Trails are great, and AA has a way of suggesting “just a little further” that’s impossible to resist. I think I was still carrying the endorphin buzz when I had a bit of delayed elective surgery on Friday. So no running this weekend. The doc said I should take at least a week off – we’ll see. The legs are dying to go.

New Haven is, what 6 weeks away? And I’m halfway thinking about heading down to Mystic Places Marathon again, but on a lighter training schedule – work up to a 15 or 18 miler, and then just suffer, suffer, suffer through the race. We’ll see. More likely is I’ll run the 10 miler there. The wife’s doing the Tarzan Brown 5 miler the first weekend in November, and also the Old Saybrook 5 miler in two weeks.

But, mostly my mind’s on getting back into tri. The swim has been a complete and total bust this summer, other than cooling off after runs. I need to focus on that next winter, but as I’ve been telling anyone who will listen, this year’s focus on just getting out on the road, without stressing about results, has likely done way more long-term good than anything else I could think of.

But, one of Missy’s women’s fitness magazines mentioned the Josh Billings Triathlon on 17 September – Kayak, bike, Run. Wow. Sounds like a perfect weekend in my book. 34 mile bike, 5 mile paddle, and a 10K. I am so there if the wife says OK.

Other than that, I’m ready to lose some weight. The scales are down to 167 again, which is way positive. The hunger’s not raging, since I’m not creating two hour training deficits.

Oh, one other thing to mention: I’m going to be going to all Linux for recreational computing for the month of August, with the exception (AFAIK) of using OSX to send my runs into Nike. Unless I can figure out how to hack that. Follow the action over at (Site in need of a decent name). Part of the whole big idea thing I’ve been meaning to push for a while. I’m still planning on buying a MacBook in the fall/winter, but am really, really intrigued by Ubuntu – it’s the first Linux distro I’ve tried that really comes close to “just working” by design, not accident. Vista, schmista – grow your hair long, stir up the mulch pit and plant some organic veggies, and do something out of the goodness of your heart.

Them’s got ears but can’t hear,

Them’s got eyes but can’t see.
Turn your eyes to the Lord of the Skies,
and take this airline plane.
It’ll take you home again

So, I was all ready to get broken up about not having run since Monday, when suddenly the evening opened up – we got back from taking Missy’s mom downtown for ice cream and watching the river roll out to sea, it was 8, and there was just enough sunlight to roll out 5 miles or so before bed.

Wow.

Weather – perfect. Shuffle kicked out a Wilco tune about a mile into the run, and I remembered why they’re the best band to come out of the post ’80s. Shifted the iPod over to do songs just from them, and the miles flew by. Life is good. Nothing like a big bass drum and a slide guitar to make your heels kick up, the heart rate peg, and give you reason to run until the sound of your heart resembles the sound of the drum.

Finally caught up on blogs – What a summer y’all are having. Now to bottle up this energy for the winter.

I’m completely behind on my consumption of Tour de France coverage, largely due to not having OLN in the house this year. Also, I’m still caught up in the World cup fever – Can’t wait for “DOMINGO, DOMINGO, DOMINGO!”. We’ve been watching the Univision coverage of the games (Don’t have ESPN either), and that’s been absolutely the best choice ever. My wife was fluent in Spanish at one point, and I’ve had 3 semesters in college (with a solid C average, thankyouverramuch), so it’s not just watching it with the sound off. I’ve been getting a team roster before watching a game, which gives me an edge on translation, since I can cue on the names.

And, let’s face it – even without speaking the language, sports commentary is pretty easy to follow once you figure out the players’ names. ‘Tain’t rocket science.

But back to the Tour – I’m excited to see Tommy Boonen and Thor Hushvold swapping the jersey in the first week, thrilled to see how Johan Bruyneel is, indeed, a tactical mastermind, and kind of excited to see a race that’s active from Day One, without waiting until the mountains to crank up.

But here’s what I’d like to make the Tour easier for me to follow:
1. A podcast of the same quality as Guardian Unlimited’s World Cup coverage.
2. Video coverage that’s (easily) accessable on a Mac or Linux box.
3. OLN at the house (which would mean we had the will to subscribe to basic cable, which we don’t, which is, overall a good thing)
4. A new MacBook with the chops to handle video podcasts in iTunes (plus Windows via Parallels)
5. A Fullbright Fellowship to take the family to Europe to study the UCI pro tour (Hey, if we’re dreaming)

The MacBook will probably happen this fall – I’ve been saving my pennies despite us putting a new roof on the house, and planning to get me a new car (complete with a useable back seat for the kids and 25% better mileage than my venerable Subaru in the summer.

The other thing that is giving me somewhat waning interest in the tour has been my lack of time on the road bike this year. Largely, that’s by choice – I am committed to becoming a runner first and foremost this summer, and a large part of that is getting my weight under control. Step by step. I can’t say I’ve missed the bike as much as I thought I would when I decided to skip the Tri season, but large part of that is just due to prioritizing work and family over recreation, but not wanting to completely fall off the rec wagon.

So – Pshew! It’s a great time to be a runner. The song’s Wilco, obviously, from Kicking Television among other albums. Check it out.

Wow

Warren’s comment is so good, it needs to be reprinted in its entirety:

We’re creatures of comfort. We usually enter into activities with a reasonable expectation of completion, and put in a reasonable, safe level of effort. Not that we don’t work hard in our relationships, our work, and mowing the lawn; it’s just that if we don’t do everything we feel we could, we have some confidence that amends can be made, tomorrow.

Some people walk up and run a marathon with the calm knowledge that their existing athleticism will carry them through to the end. For them, there’s no life-changing moment. They never doubted, they put in a reasonable effort, they accomplished.

Some people, though, never really know for sure if they can complete a marathon, until they do so. Some sign up at the last minute, and limp across the finish line, but again, their lives don’t change. Many, though, approach the very real possibility of failure by putting extraordinary effort into training. For these people, I will believe that they may experience a life change. While, symbolically, this comes at the finish line, in reality the life change happens somewhere before that.

Good stuff.

As if to make my point

Charles Schultz speaks from beyond the grave:

Mark was right in his comment last night – for some people the marathon is life changing. I’d actually flagged the article ’cause I thought it was brilliant; somehow I’d skipped over “life changing”, and that just set me off. Sorry.

I’ve been running – almost 7 miles yesterday. New Haven is only 9 weeks or so away!