Still Running Over Here

But not so much on the blog these days. You will find me on Facebook posting about runs, rants and the other junk you've all come to expect from me.

Calcium Cures Shinsplints

Last year my GI doctor told me to take 2x600 mg calcium with D twice a day because the acid reducers I'm on (permanently - thanks, 1997 surgery?) can reduce calcium uptake. I didn't have shinsplints when I ran years ago, and I probably pronated just as much then as I do now. In The Lore of Running, Tim Noakes suggests that shin pain can be caused by muscle tension on weak bones due to low blood calcium. Yes, it took some outdated running encyclopedia to save me from three years of pain. How's that for sad?

Running has been going so well, I hurt myself. Don't take that the wrong way - it had nothing to do with my shins. I strained a hip flexor (there are about six of them - take your pick) two weeks ago yesterday and took almost a week off. But yesterday I ran 14 miles!! The training chart above covers through today with the weekly and monthly totals, so I think we're covered for a mileage update. Below is the 14 mile route around Binghamton. Any local runners will know how hard the south side section is east of the University Plaza!


Technical question: Who can tell me how accurate Google Maps is when calculating mileages? I've done routes in ESRI ArcMap and they seem to be about 3.5% longer than GMaps. I'd trust ArcMap for geeky projection accuracy reasons, but I'd like to know for sure.

Catching Up, Again

Step one in catching up: check own blog to see How Far Back you have to go. In this case, it's Monday, January 26. Oh boy, two weeks... All runs are on the treadmill unless specified otherwise.

Wednesday, January 28: 0.76/2.0/0.24 for 3 easy miles running at 6.4 mph (9:22 pace)

Friday, January 30: 0.76/1.44/0.3 for 2.5 easy miles

Sunday, February 1: The plan was to do 6 total on the treadmill, but I wanted to make up for missing the last January Freeze 10K, so I ran 6.3 miles. w/u was 0.5, then 6.3 in 59:47 (9:29 avg. pace) mostly at 6.3 mph, with 1 mile at 6.4 mph and 1 mile at 6.5 mile and a strong finish. 0.5 c/d totaled 7.3 miles in 76:08.

Mileage update: 14.88 for the week, 49.12 for January, 56.42 YTD.

Monday, February 2: I needed to recover from the Sunday run so I got in 2.0 miles walking and jogging, which felt great.

Wednesday, February 4: 0.75/2 easy/0.25 totaling 3.0 with 0.5 at 7 mph and 0.5 at 7.5 mph. L tib anterior cramped up - I need to stretch everything!

Saturday, February 7: 0.77/1.93/0.3 for 3.0 total, pyramid up +0.1 mph each 0.1 mi from 6.0 to 6.9 mph, 0.1 mi at 8 mph, back down to 6 mph. L tib anterior still crampy.

Sunday, February 8: 0.65/3.0/0.35 for 4.0 total with 1 mi at 6.3 mph, 1 at 7 mph with break for L tib anterior cramp (will I learn? find out!), fast finish with 0.35 mi at 7 mph, 0.3 mi at 8 mph.

Mileage update: 12 for the week, 19.3 February to date, 68.42 YTD

Tuesday, February 10: Ran modified Lee Barta 5K route totaling 3.27 miles in 29:54, averaged 8:11 pace for last 2.18 miles. Felt pretty good running hard, but R tib anterior tight later.

Wednesday, February 11: 0.75/3.0 at 6.4 mph/0.25 for 4.0 total. R tib anterior still sore. L tib posterior tendon sore immediately after but not lasting. Today, I actually took the day off except for walking about a mile to work. The R tib anterior is better but still pretty shredded. It's a shallow, hard, tight muscle that seems to be undergoing some "training effect" - or it would if I'd leave it alone for a few days.

OK, I swear that's it for now. Go read something interesting.

What a coincidence - something interesting. Author Jason Cohen, who inspired the 37signals post on copying commented on the other commenters thusly, in part:

I NEVER SAID you should never copy or not be inspired or totally ignore successes. I said you can’t copy blindly and expect success. I said you need need to filter rules through your own world-view. I said you should think about having a unique path.

Why do people need to explain these things??? WHY???

Off Topic: Missing the Point

One of the blogs I read regularly is 37signals' Signal vs. Noise. For the roughly six billion people who have never heard of them, they make web-based productivity, collaboration and organization software. It's a very small company from Chicago who break all sorts of business rules, and they are doing great. They run one of the best blogs I've ever read. They just blog about what interests them - often it's business-related, but not always, from technical details to the 50,000-foot view, to "how we did [whatever]" or "how we made this design decision", which is refreshing and open and paradigm-smashing compared to the traditional closed American business model.

They get lots of flak, and it's been on the rise in the last couple of years, for their somewhat arrogant tone, especially in their posts about business philosophy and tactics. One of their principals, like Jason Fried or web development framework guru David Heinemeier Hansson, will describe some aspect of their business - how they find inspiration, how they do customer support (rotate e-mail duties among their dozen employees), or what kind of desks they bought - and some goobers will take it as absolute gospel. "That would never work for us!" they cry. "That would never work in the Real World!" they continue.

[Big sigh.]

37s have even written posts about How It Won't Work for Everyone, and How You Have to Think for Yourself, and Stop Being Such a Dick. Unfortunately, there are people so un-formed that they think every utterance not accompanied by a disclaimer means You Must Do This or You Will Never Be Successful (Also, We Think You're a Loser). Is this a sign that we have totally lost our critical thinking skills? When you start with "This might not work for you, but here's how we [whatever]..." it makes me wonder why I should listen to you in the first place. "But it softens the blow," you might say. Of what? Of someone's opinion? What are you, four years old?

The problem with disclaimers is that they water down your entire brand. For example, who reads those e-mail things any more and takes them seriously? ("This e-mail may contain privileged content... If you are not the intended recipient blah blah blah...") See, if I get this in every message from you, I lose respect for you in an amount proportional to the time I have to spend deleting the goddamn thing from my e-mail replies. I stop getting your message because I'm too distracted by the junk content.

One of today's posts was Why you shouldn't copy us or anyone else. The theme was that you cannot replicate some object or process and expect to also replicate results. Don't think that you can sell X by starting with an exact copy of someone else's X, because you haven't gone through steps A through W to understand X completely and have some idea of what Y might be. Sounds pretty smart, right? Well, out came the goobers.

Once you got past all the commenters trying to explain their version of "I agree!" (a not-so-subtle form of copying, BTW) there were the trolls who Missed the Point Entirely. These folks tried so hard to explain how you couldn't go through life doing every single thing as if it had never been done before. Want a slice of cheese on that sandwich? You're copying! Want to shave your face with a razor blade? Boo! Copying!

[Before you go that familiar place in Copying Theory all by yourself, let me tell you it took only six comments before old Pablo Picasso showed up. You know, "Good artists copy, great artists steal"? I'm not certain what the crazy old man meant, but yeah, when you say it, it just sounds stupid. Then 18 comments later, someone repeated the quote. This was after someone else implied that it was Picasso who cut off his ear, so more psychic energy was definitely wasted there. Good times.]

37s came up with two tags for their blog comments. One is "Royalty" (a crown) for comments that are on-topic, respectful and enlightening. Most of the junk in the middle warrants no tag, and is entertaining or harmless or helpful or stupid. The "Troll" tag is for the bottom of the barrel - people who try to be hurtful for no reason and ruin the entire discussion. Unfortunately, the tags haven't been getting much use lately, but it's nice to know they're there in case of an emergency.

My suggestion to 37signals is to create an entirely new tag for the ones who Missed the Point Entirely. This is for the commenter on the post "Ice Cream Is Good on Hot Summer Afternoons" who can't help himself and writes "That will NEVER work for US! When it's summer there, it's winter here! You're just a bunch of ignorant yobboes!" I suggest that the icon for the Missed the Point tag be an unblemished bulls-eye. I did not intend to get all Aussie on you there. Sorry, mates. G'day.

If you came here expecting a running entry, sorry to disappoint. Get your own blog.

Breakin' In the Shoes

Yesterday afternoon I jumped on the treadmill (or as Steve maligns it, the suckmill). Instead of running for time, which I had been doing last month in the taking-it-easy department, I ran for distance. I warmed up by walking and jogging 1.0, then running 2.0 at 6.3 mph, which included 0.25 at 7 mph, 0.25 at 6.1 and 5%, and 0.25 at 7-7.5, followed by 0.5 cool-down for a total of 4.0 miles in my new shoes. Remember when you had to break shoes in? I'm not sure what sort of evil materials they're using these days, but they're good almost out of the box.

For the week beginning January 1, it's time for a weekly mileage wrap-up. Thursday and Sunday totaled 7.5 miles for the week, month and year. That was easy!

Today I added a ton of races to my training calendar. (For those of you interested enough to check it out, I wrapped up the 2008 stats and started a new page for 2009.) These races are all on the Triple Cities Runners Club calendar for this year or last year. Of course I won't run all of them, but I'm making a New Year's Resolution to run with my club members more than a couple of times. That's why I joined last year - to run with people - and I went to one meeting, and said Hi to a few members, although not on runs.

At the risk of turning this into a run-on post, there's an interesting column in the February Runner's World about runners waving, of course to each other, but with more emphasis on non-wavers. I will tell both of my readers right now that I am a waver. Not a goofy spaz who wants to give you a big, sweaty hug, but just a guy who acknowledges the existence of his fellow human beings with a quick look in the eye and either a slightly upraised hand or a nod of the head. In this area, most people I've come across are strict non-wavers. As responses go, I get an even mix of nothing (usually other runners) and what the hell is that guy doing running on the sidewalk, in my neighborhood, during MY walk? If a person can look confused, disgusted and irritated at the same time, that's Binghamton pedestrians for you. Readers, feel free to explain. Local readers and TCRC members, what gives??

Long Run, New Bike, Short Run

Learned this week: Don't run without the orthotics. Buying a bike can be confusing and expensive. Riding a bike is hard on the legs. Kool-Aid has a tasty new flavor. Damn, it's hot outside.

Last Wednesday I ran 5.25 on the treadmill, including 1.0 mi at 7.0 mph (max HR 183!). The leg pain/shinsplints hover around a pain level of "almost noticeable" most of the time, but as long as it doesn't go above that, I think I can manage things. Slow and steady progress is my new training maxim.

I bought a bike on Thursday night. Say hello to my little friend:


Biking is hard on the knees and quads, especially when you haven't ridden a bike in 15-20 years. I want to commute on the bike at least 3 times a week until the snow files; the trip is about a mile one way, which isn't much, but it keeps me from using the car.

Today I warmed up then did a mile on the treadmill, then ran the 2.08 mile loop around the neighborhood in 16:58 (pretty hard 8:09 pace). Total mileage was about 4.1.

In nutrition news, Kool-Aid has a new flavor - Invisible Watermelon Kiwi. I made some homemade Gatorade with it today and I can recommend it. (The recipe: one 1/2 liter water bottle, 1/4 packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid, medium pinch of kosher salt, small pinch of Lite Salt - for the potassium, sugar to taste - 1-2 tablespoons, water to fill.)

Weekly total: 12.83, 27.83 July to date, 527.81 YTD. 11 weeks to Wineglass Marathon, which is looking less and less likely.

Have Not Died From Running

I owe a couple of run posts, including Sunday's exciting 17 miler. FYI, if you ever ask Binghamton University Telecom to transfer your billing back to Time Warner because you will be graduating (or have already graduated - sshhhh!!), try to make sure they can do it without interrupting your service. In other news, LG's surgery is scheduled for June 3, which will give me some time in the new job, and let us travel for Memorial Day.

Father-in-Law's Memorial, Easy Run

This week's been hard with my father-in-law's death on Monday and traveling up north for his memorial service. The whole town and part of Canada showed up for the service, and the fire department put on a great luncheon. There was three times as much food as we needed but then it wouldn't have been a proper Gagne event. Thank you to everyone who has called, visited, sent a card or food, donated to the Trinity School Endowment, or volunteered at the luncheon. This loving and well-loved man has earned his rest.

Gotta finish this fast before a line of thunderstorms rolls through. After traveling home today and managing a little yard work, I did a quick 4.0 mile run on the treadmill. My legs were tired, probably from not running much this week, but 6.4 mph (9:22 pace) felt good, and a quarter-mile pick-up at the end at 7:30-6:40 pace was easy as well despite the fatigue.

Easy Run Day (Yesterday)

I guess I've been pretty tired all week - three good runs in a row, plus the dog's been on steroids so he has to go out every 2 hours. I've been taking him out at 1:30 and 4 in the morning, and even though I can get back to sleep, it must mess me up. Maybe it's also a side effect of the antibiotic I'm on - it does mention "dizziness" so that's close.

Yesterday I did two 2.08 mile loops around the neighborhood in 37:06, plus I did a negative split (like I always do!) for the second loop - 9:10 vs. 8:40 pace. Overall, everything felt pretty good, but it definitely felt better the faster I went. Yes, I admit that only the first loop was even close to an easy pace.

Looking forward to keeping track of my triathlete blogger buddies who are doing Ironman Arizona on Sunday, running 10 easy miles tomorrow, and watching The Masters all weekend. Can I just tell you how BAD The Masters web site is? You would think that kind of tournament could afford some good web design.

Long Run Day: Plan, Other

The plan for today is to do a half marathon on the treadmill in under two hours. That works out to an average 9:09 pace (about 6.7 mph) which is faster than my training pace of 9:40+ (6.2 mph) so I'm not sure if this makes sense. Last Saturday I averaged 9:23 (6.4 mph) for 12.8 miles outdoors in 2:00:13. Really, what's 3/10 mi over two hours?? Check back later for a full report.

Today was also a race simulation regarding breakfast. Got up with the dog at 6:45, had a big bowl of oatmeal with a banana and a cup of tea, plus a calcium supplement, vitamin E, 2 Advil and lots of water. I'll also weigh myself before and after to check on fluid balance (I was down to 170 the other day!). Time to get dressed and warm up.

I had a dream this morning that I was running a short race, and about 10 minutes before the start, my clothes and shoes were all wrong. So I went to change and nothing was right - it took forever to put my clothes on, and there were racing shoes with laces like fishing line. Then it started raining, and I woke up. :-(

Mud and Guts

I have been reading triathletes' blogs for about a year now, mostly for entertainment but also for inspiration (Duane inspired me to train for a marathon) and training/gear tips (Tea recommended Sportslick). Some of them are regular commenters here, and some are taking the B-Fit B-Day Challenge. They are really friendly people who love their sport(s) and love being healthy and active.

I found GeekGirl (now Iron GeekGirl!) when Googling for distance running. She and her husband Sweet Baboo do all kinds of triathlons in and around their home state of New Mexico, and have started doing ultra-distance runs. Yesterday, they both completed the Black Warrior 50K trail race in Alabama. That's 31 miles, folks, and Baboo was sick. What did YOU do yesterday?