Kafkaesque TV viewing choices

The Presidential Debate
Escape from L.A.
Whale Rider

I'm going to have some obscenely mind-bending dreams tonight.

It was interesting to bounce between Whale Rider and Escape from L.A.

Escape from L.A. got the most airtime. Of course, I could probably watch A.J. Langer in skin-tight leather and spandex all day long. Blame it on My So-Called Life.

7.2mi, 60:56

Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hotrod"

WX at 0600: 66(19), DP 64(18), BP 29.99(1015), winds N 2 mist, RH 93%

Odometer 1: 108mi

Z3-Z4 most of the way. I decided to leave my heart monitor at home. I'm not sure I would've gotten much more out of instrumenting the run since I was going about as hard as I thought I could short of having real competition.

Shitty mood = catharsis run. My goal was to break 60, which didn't happen, but I didn't miss it by that much. I would have had to run about 8 seconds/mile faster to do it. This will probably be my penultimate hard run before the Fort Bragg post cross-country meet next week. I know I'll get at least a day off during the weekend, but that'll be at least partly offset by the expectation that I'll be carting my kids in their Radio Flyer wagon up and down all over the hills of the North Carolina Zoo.

I usually step up for races anyway - running next to people gives me that much more incentive to run harder. I also tend to use things like energy gel packets for races as well. I'm debating whether I want to do that or not for just a 10K, but I probably will.

Splits:
1.4: 11:51 (11:51)[08:28]
2.0: 29:14 (17:23)[08:42]
1.4: 41:06 (11:52)[08:29]
2.4: 60:56 (19:50)[08:16]

~5.0mi, 44:01

The Ocean Blue, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"

WX at 1300: 71(22), DP 69(21), BP 29.64(1003), winds SSW 12 light rain showers, RH 100% for all intents and purposes

Odometer 2: 59mi

Z2 first half, Z3 second half. Heart rate not to exceed 160, which was mostly the case. There were small segments, not more than 30 seconds worth, where HR topped out around 164. Today was supposed to be an easy day, so I stacked it by not running any sand.

No significant splits today. First 4km was done around 22 minutes. I think an easy (and I mean "intended as recovery" easy) run at what amounts to 8:48 pace, to include some sluggitude going up hill to keep the max heart rate from going over, is a good sign.

~6 mi, 60:45

The Smiths, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hotrod"
Cookie Monster, "C Is For Cookie" (yes, the one from Sesame Street)
Lemonheads, "Tenderfoot"

WX at 1200: 75/24, DP 71/22, BP 30.00/1015, winds ENE 7, mist, RH 88%

Odometer 1: 101mi

Z2-3 most of the time.

Today was supposed to be an easy run. I'm not sure if today was easy enough. Running on sand is always hard work, regardless of pace. I may end up taking another "easy" day tomorrow, based on how my legs feel.

7.2mi, 58:51

The Ocean Blue, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
The Smiths, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
Death Cab For Cutie, "This Charming Man"

WX at 0800: 60(16), DP 60(16), BP 30.06(1017), winds NNE 2 mist, RH 100%

Odometer 2: 54mi

Z3-4 throughout. Average HR 165 in first three miles and around 173 for the remainder.

Damn, today was another unintended personal best! Today didn't feel like it was going to be fast. Today started later than usual. Prep for today included drinking a Young's Oatmeal Stout the night prior. I don't think I'll repeat the stout (I'm a wheat beer kind of guy - as in Hoegaarden and its ilk). Today's start was "just slightly uncomfortable." When that pace netted me my first split, I decided to turn on the jets. Today marks an accurate description of what I think it might feel like to go at race pace. I would definitely consider this a time trial for training purposes.

Splits
1.4: 11:50 [8:27]
2.0: 28:36 (16:46) [8:23]
1.4: 39:56 (11:20) [8:05]
2.4: 58:51 (18:55) [7:52]

7.75mi, 65:23 (corrected)

I'm revising this figure, because I finally did the correct arithmetic on what the real run distance was, and I was off by about a mile. Based on that, average mile/time was 8:26. This is not particularly shabby considering the monster fucking hills on this particular course.

The Cure, "Taking Off"
The Cure, "2 Late"
Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No 9 in e minor, "From The New World." All of it.

WX at 1400: 77(25), DP 64(18), BP 30.14(1020), winds ENE 8, RH 65%

old shoes, so no odometer figure.

Z3 most of the way. Average HR about 170. A little higher on hills.

Today was rough. Two factors. I was running in the middle of the day when I've been used to running while it's still dark and about 65 degrees (or less). The other is that the location I ran was mostly sand. Smoother finish, but I find that the first 20-25 minutes of the run just hurt while I'm waiting to soak my T-shirt through enough to get the heat exchange process really going.

7.2mi, 61:24

Metallica, "Orion"
Juliana Hatfield, "Perfection"
J.S. Bach, some random organ prelude whose name I don't remember
General Public, "Tenderness"

WX at 0500: 57(14), DP 53(12), BP 30.24(1024), winds N 2, RH 87%

Odometer 1: 95mi

Z3 most of the way. Average HR about 170.

I woke up in a shitty mood this morning, so rather than boot the run (which I felt mildly tempted to do), I went out hard. Surprisingly enough, it didn't feel as hard as it might have. Tomorrow needs to be easy, and maybe short.

Splits were fine but nothing exceptional. I wouldn't expect it now that I'm on my third consecutive long run this week.
1.4: 12:09 [8:40]
2.0: 29:26 (17:16) [8:38]
1.4: 41:20 (11:54) [8:30]
2.4: 61:24 (20:03) [8:21]

7.2mi, 65:53

Marilyn Manson, "The Beautiful People" (Full Metal Jacket Remix)
The Smiths, "Rusholme Ruffians"
The Police, "Truth Hits Everybody"
The Police, "Synchronicity I"

WX at time:53(12), DP 50(10), BP 30.27(1025), winds N 2, RH 87%

Odometer 2: 47mi

Z1 throughout. Average heart rate was about 150 throughout, which was the goal. A nice, slow, fat-burning run.

I realized the reason why my 2.4 splits are disproportionately faster today when I realized there is a huge straightaway on pavement that happens to be very slightly downhill. I may do this again tomorrow before going hard on Thursday instead of doing a straight on-off cycle.

Splits
1.4: 13:21 [9:32]
2.0: 31:48 (18:26) [9:13]
1.4: 44:50 (13:02) [9:18]
2.4: 65:53 (21:03) [8:46]

7.2mi, 60:44

Hilary Duff, "Come Clean"
Metallica, "Orion"

WX at 0500: 51(11), DP 48(9), RH 30.22(1023), winds N 7, RH 87%

Odometer 1: 88mi

Z3 most of the way. Average heartrate about 160 in the first 4 miles, averaging 165-170 in the last three.

Today was the first of at least four 7.2 mile runs. This should be a last surge week before I start to do some more sharpening runs in preparation for the Fort Bragg post cross-country meet (10km), which my boss managed to cajole me into running, and my semiannual physical fitness test (which includes a two mile run).

Obviously, the 2 mile is a very different race than 10,000m, but I'm not that concerned. Yet. I traditionally race better at longer distances since I have very little raw speed. I should probably resolve that partly by hitting the weights, but I'm too lazy to leave my building during the lunch hour and do so. Maybe that'll change in the next few weeks.

Splits were quick as befitted the weather and sleeping in for the last two days:
1.4: 12:00 [8:34]
2.0: 29:01 (17:01) [8:30]
1.4: 40:52 (11:51) [8:27]
2.4: 60:44 (19:51) [8:16]

This is my fastest time on this particular loop; this tops my earlier best of 60:56 back in August, which was done in very similar WX conditions. This begs the question of whether I could've tried harder, although I'm not sure how much more work I'd have done today. The other possibility is that I'm not getting any faster regardless how much I work on distance work and I need to try something else. Tomorrow needs to be an easy day, so I'll shoot for a max of 160 heartrate and see if that works for an easy day at the same distance. The WX should be about the same.

The Master Plan In The Wake of Ivan

This is a week for yet another ambitious GFI (Good Fucking Idea).

Time to rehash the idea of running 7.2 consecutively all week. I plan to get at least four iterations in. Friday is iffy, mostly because I'm trying to swing getting on a jump that day. If I can pull it off, it'll trump any run I attempt to do that day. If that happens, it'll be a day off.

Now that my heart monitor is back up and running, I'll be checking relative effort in conjunction with split times.

This week's weather promises to be good. Tomorrow's weather forecast calls for low 50s, low humidity. It can't get much better than that.

Given that I slept in the last two days, I'm hoping I'm rested enough to attempt to do such a stupid fucking thing as the one upon which I'm about to embark.

3.8mi, 35:48

The Cure, "Lament"
Hilary Duff, "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" (something I attribute to my wife's most recent CD purchase)
various songs from the PBS cartoon Dragon Tales

WX at 0700:77/25, RH 75/24, BP 29.84/1010, winds SE 9, RH 94%

Odometer 1: 81mi

Z1 in intent, Z1 in execution, Z1 in feeling.

I'm sure two consecutive gangbuster days were going to come to roost, and it did today. Slow, slow, slow. On the other hand, I've put a new battery in my Polar heart monitor (which I hadn't used in about 3 years) and I knew I wasn't overexerting myself.

Also particularly notable was today's temperature, which was about 10 degrees higher than yesterday. That's probably another reason why today was an exercise in suck. Typically my best speeds are during the late fall when the temperature sits around 50 degrees. My fastest long run ever was the 1990 Charlottesville Ten Miler, which was at 38 degrees with residual ice and slush on the ground. I don't like running in high humidity and heat.

I've found a heart monitor particularly useful in two ways:
1. When you have easy days, if you don't go over a certain heart rate, you're doing the right thing and not going too hard on an easy day. If you're actually disciplined and run easy/hard the right way (unlike what I've been doing lately) then it works.
2. There have been times that I felt like a complete weenie and thought I was working a lot harder than I actually was. I remember one particular run I did where I was doing fartlek intervals with a friend. I thought I was killing myself, but the 180 heart rate said otherwise. I wasn't working THAT hard if the heart rate during those intervals was only 180.

Only split today was at the 1.4: 14:15

7.2mi, 62:11

Billy Idol, "Rebel Yell"
Chris Stamey, "14 Shades of Green"
Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 in e minor, Op. 95 ("From The New World"), Adagio - Allegro molto

WX at 0700: 68/20, DP 68/20, BP 30.10/1019, winds ENE 2 mist, RH 100%

Odometer 2: 40mi

Z2 most of the way. Some Z3 but remarkably, not much.

Today was not intended to be a particularly quick run. If there's any indicator that's starting to emerge, it's that I'm getting progressively faster times for less effort. This is a great sign, particularly when the weather was not necessarily the best for such an effort.

Of particular note is the relatively slow starting split. That was definitely done at Z2, almost Z1, but for whatever reason or another, I ran it under 13 minutes, which is significant. When put in the light of yesterday's fairly hard 4.8 run, splits 2 and 3 are particularly significant. It's not that unusual for me to run negative splits all the way to the end on long runs, but what is perhaps more instructive is the difference in splits.

Throw in the hilly nature of the course that I normally run, and that illustrates real progress in the last few months.

Or as jwer has been known to say, "That's really bold."

Or, should I say, "STAAAAAAAAUNCHHH!"

Splits:
1.4: 12:49 [9:09/mi]
2.0: 30:10 (17:21) [8:40/mi]
1.4: 42:02 (11:52) [8:28/mi]
2.4: 62:11 (20:09) [8:23/mi]

4.8mi, 40:43

Chris Stamey, "Stupid Pop-Rock Song"
Velocity Girl, "The All-Consumer"
The Connells, "All Sinks In"

WX at 0700: 64/18, DP 64/18, BP 30.16/1021, winds N 3, mist, RH 100%

Odometer 2: 33mi

Z3 for the most part with some stretches of Z4.

I almost slept in this morning. I certainly didn't expect to run the fastest short loop I have in a while instead, which was a pleasant surprise. It was cool, which helped, and while it was humid, it was humid and cool, not humid and warm. I firmly believe weather has a lot to do with today, since I did run 7 yesterday.

Splits:
1.4: 12:08
2.0: 29:16 (17:08)
1.4: 40:43 (11:26)

7.2mi, 63:45

Beatallica, "...And Justice For All My Loving"
Joseph Conlan, opening and closing credits to Tour Of Duty
The Bats, "Courage"

Yes, Beatallica. www.beatallica.org.

WX at 0600: 66/19, DP 64/18, BP 30.16/1021, winds NE 5, light rain, mist, RH 93%

Odometer 1: 77mi

Z1-Z2.

Today was a "get back in the saddle" kind of run; I've either felt too tired or too lazy to get up early and actually run. Waking up at 5:00am to get out the door is rough, but provides a useful gut check. The other benefit to being up this early is that after running for over an hour, I'm definitely awake. I also have a little more latitude to eat fat pills at work should I so desire.

Splits:
1.4: 12:53
2.0: 30:55 (18:01)
1.4: 43:23 (12:28)
2.4: 63:45 (20:21)

Jump 52, Ste Mere Eglise DZ, A/NT

Drop altitude 1250 feet AGL, time of drop approximately 1030.
WX at 1100, 75/24, DP 60/16, winds NE 12, clear. RH about 70%.

Today was supposed to be a jump from a Black Hawk helicopter, but it was being repaired. Thus, it turned into the usual Casa 212 kind of jump. No problem.

Harbinger O' Bad Juju: Two days prior to the jump, I had a dream of watching two jumpers come out of an airplane and have cigarette rolls. For the uninitiated, a cigarette roll occurs when the canopy fails to open combined with a spin, causing the parachute to not inflate and instead, rotate along itself, making it look like a giant joint. Couple that with the usual result of the parachute actually catching on fire (from wind-induced friction on nylon) and you have a very short margin of error to deploy your reserve before you "streamer into the ground," as the expression goes. It's not quite "burning in," which is to impact at terminal velocity because you have nothing but your fat ass to retard your downward flight, but it might as well be.

In Reality: Today was a goddamn windy jump! I stutter-stepped on the ramp going out because I didn't want to catch the preceding jumper's static line, but in doing so, I bumped off the side of the tailgate and spun out the plane, causing me to have twists in my suspension lines. It took me a little longer to get canopy control than some of the others, though.
I knew something was going to be up when I saw guys noticeably drifting in the air at altitude. This is a baaaaaaaaaaad sign, although the true determinant is winds at surface level. Initially, there were almost none, but that was not to be for my particular chalk.

As I descended towards the ground, at a very noticeably faster speed than last time, same drop zone, same type parachute, I passed over the flight landing strip (FLS). This was probably a good thing. If there's something I didn't want to land on, it was hard-packed dirt capable of taking the stresses of a plane. The upshot is that if I was going to drift to my rear in spite of the forward penetration of 9 knots by a MC1-1 series parachute, there was still enough wind to send me backwards at about 2-3 knots). The last thing that came to mind as I was about to hit was "damn, the ground is coming up fast."

I knew it was going to be bad when I had to activate my canopy release assembly to recover from the drag. I landed hard and started getting dragged along the pack tray by my reinflating parachute. I wouldn't have guessed 12 knots from the NE. I'm wondering if there was a gust right before we hit. Either way, one thing is certain - properly executed, parachute landing falls work. Correct execution of one saved my ass at Charleston AFB on jump 32, some four years ago, when I landed on asphalt rigged with a rifle and assault pack. I was trying to get away from the runway and landed on the white stripe. Literally.

The one good thing about today is that I landed in open ground and took very little time getting my parachute stuffed in its aviator's kit bag. I then ran across the FLS as fast as I could get with 68 pounds of parachute over my back, which leads me into the next point:

Dufus Patrol: Apparently some dudes thought it might be easier to get back to the assembly point by walking on the FLS. That's fine, but when an airplane with its two turboprop-driven spinning food processors is attempting to land, the first thing that came to mind was "move your ass, you stupid motherfucker." The airplane did three very visible climbs on final approach to avoid Cuisinarting guys who had just landed and were rolling the dice (by walking on the live FLS) with any potential contributions to the gene pool.

estimate 5.7mi, 53:19

Hans Zimmer, "Gortoz A Ran J'Attends"

WX at 0600: 68/20, DP 66/19, BP 30.16/1021, winds NNE 2 mist, RH 93%

Odometer 1: 70mi

Z1 until the last 1.4 split, which I clocked in 12:21.

For a run where I felt like utter and complete shit, that's a quicker-than-expected final split. I'm almost wondering whether it's because I went out so easy. About 36-38 minutes into the run, I started picking up my second wind, so I was either burning fat (possible, but probably not), or I had finally warmed up. The last part of the 1.4 split was done probably at Z4 starting uphill, leveling back to Z3 on the approach back to my start point. Chances are if I'd caught my relative pace before 8:30 into the split that I probably would've made it under 12:30.

7.2mi, 61:12

Chris Stamey, "Stupid Pop-Rock Song"
Inspiral Carpets, "Gimme Shelter"
Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, "I Want To Break Your Heart"

Odometer 2: 28mi

WX at 0700: 73/23, DP 71/22, BP 29.88/1011, winds SSW 6, RH ~94%

Z3-Z4. I hadn't run since Sunday, and it showed - taking the last few days off not running (or for that matter, not doing anything physical) allowed me to run the fastest splits I've run in a while...until the end.

The word that comes to mind is "craptacular," because it damn near was--to the point where I almost turned back to take care of business. The last split is misleading because I had to stop to walk on two instances.

First time in a while I've run positive splits, though:
1.4: 11:58 [8:32/mi]
2.0: 29:00 (17:02) [8:31/mi]
1.4: 41:08 (12:08) [8:40/mi]
2.4: 61:12 (20:03) [8:21/mi]

approximate 9 miles, 71:46

Descendents, "My Dad Sucks"
Descendents, "Coolidge"
G.F. Handel, Alla Hornpipe from Water Music
Corrosion of Conformity, "What(?)"
Corrosion of Conformity, "Negative Outlook"

I have no idea what sparked my outbreak of Descendents songs!

Odometer 1: 64mi

WX at 0700 in Calabash NC: 72/23, DP 70/21, BP 30.05/?, winds N 5, RH 94%.
Overcast at start with clearing by the end.

Z3 throughout. Relatively steady-state run at the limit of oxygen debt with one hell of a kick at the end. I would conservatively estimate I was going about 7:00 or below in my last mile. Today's course was very flat, but I'm currently in the coastal plain, so that might have something to do with it. No hills equates to no drag going uphill, so today's run was going to be fast. Why I was able to kick with as much speed as I did at the end, I'm not sure. I think that energy would've been better spent up front since I only need those kind of finishing kicks at the end of races...and I haven't raced in a while.

4.8mi, 48:26

Goo Goo Dolls, "Just The Same Old Reason"
Goo Goo Dolls, "Hate This Place"
James Horner, "Hymn"
R.E.M., "Driver 8"

Odometer 1: 55mi

WX at 0700: 62/17, DP 62/17, BP 30.16/1021, winds NNE 5, RH 100% but it sure didn't feel like it today. Weather was just about perfect. It doesn't get much better than it did today.

Z1 throughout. I very nearly slept in. There were two factors at work in today's abbreviated run. The first was that most nights this week I was getting around 4-6 hours of sleep. Normally this is not a big deal. I routinely go off 5 hours without a hitch. I routinely don't go 7.2 miles for four days in a row getting that kind of rest, however. The other, of course, is mileage. I think I might've come close to overtraining and probably would have had I attempted to grind out a 7.2mi at what I thought should've been an appropriate pace.

The lesson here is to listen to your body. I have a heart monitor, but I need to get the batteries replaced in it before I can start using it again. That might not be a half-bad idea in the coming weeks.

Splits were slow as to be expected from a Z1 run.
1.4: 14:08
2.0: 34:16 (20:08)
1.4: 48:26 (14:09)

Jump 51, Ste Mere Eglise DZ, A/NT

I realized that there's one other thing I attempt to do frequently, and that's falling out of planes. When I think of the huge folklore that exists in the airborne community of fucked-up jump stories, I realized this afternoon that maybe I should start logging mine as well. I'm pretty sure I'll never jump into combat, so I don't have to worry too much about that one.

With that introduction out of the way, my goal is to get to 65 jumps before I leave my current job so I can get master parachutist rated. I'd really like to get them out of the way before the end of the calendar year but I don't think I'll make it quite that quickly. In the interests of operational security, I'm leaving unit identities out of these narratives.

I am including in my title the type of jump as it gets entered in my jump log.
A/NT = administrative, nontactical
CE = combat equipment
MT = mass tactical
T = tactical
N = night
J = jumpmaster

Drop altitude 1250 feet AGL, time of drop approximately 1430.
WX at 1400, 80/27, DP 60/16, winds NE 10, clear. RH about 70%.

What makes today's jump stand out was my discussion before boarding the plane about how I always fall like a rock. Today I ended up catching a temperature inversion and watched most of the rest of my stick land as I undertook the slowest descent I've ever had in any parachute, ever.

As an indicator of just how slowly I was descending, I watched the guy who had exited in front of me land as I continued to descend, some six hundred feet above him. I've never had occasion to pull both toggles of my main at once until today. Normally, that's not a very good idea; most of the time the last thing I need to do is to reduce the size of the canopy and its attendant drag. Doing so is called "dumping air" for a reason - it makes you fall faster. While I had a slow descent, I hit harder than I usually do for an MC1-1D parachute.

7.2mi, 65:46

W.A. Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C major, Molto allegro
W.A. Mozart, Symphony No. 40 in d minor, Andante
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Easter Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Scherzo, Allegro molto

Odometer 2: 21 mi

WX at 0700: 66/19, DP 64/18, BP 30.16/1020, winds ENE 3 mist, RH 93%

Z2 throughout. This is a goddamn recovery run! Splits follow:
1.4: 13:20
2.0: 32:08 (18:48)
1.4: 44:50 (12:42)
2.4: 65:46 (20:55)

Based on these times, my body is starting to break down (gradually). This is okay so long as I don't do anything really ambitious or dumb. I think in a week or two there will be a more significant turnaround, so I may continue this experiment into next week...after taking a day off at minimum. If my body were really starting to break down I don't think times would be what I got today on relatively moderate effort.

I think my work over the last month has given me enough foundation where I can now sustain this without worry of really overtraining. The aggregate mileage this week would've been problematic had I not had a solid mileage base to work from.

This still doesn't address my general lack of raw speed. That'll take speedwork, which I don't relish. That'd make me white meat, not dark.

7.2mi, 62:44

Journey, "Only The Young" (jwer, this one's for YOU!)
Goo Goo Dolls, "Hate This Place"
Cub, "Voracious"

Racing shoes today for time trial...which wasn't much of one. Estimated racing shoe odometer is around 20.

WX at 0500: 73/23, DP 71/22, BP 30.10/1019, winds variable 2, drizzle. RH 100%.

Z3-Z4 mostly. I think three days of 7.2 back to back is starting to take its toll, but on the bright side, I dropped below 179 for the first time in over a year. This is significant as the weight at which I don't have to get taped for body fat percentage.

I always like to have a few extra pounds below just as insurance, but the intense pain of trying to get down to that weight (the last time I weighed 170 was after four months in Kuwait of running 35 miles a week, seven years ago) implies industriousness that I sometimes just don't have.

Today reiterates the philosophy that racing shoes are almost as much mental as physical. They are lighter, at the cost of foot protection (although I have pretty normal biomechanics). The mental boost I get just from wearing them is significant in itself. There's some value to feeling faster because of wearing a pair of funky fresh shoes that weigh less than 7 ounces. The most insane shoe I ever wore in that regard was the Nike Duellist, which I wore for a season of indoor and outdoor track in 1989. The Duellist weighed 5.1 ounces. They were also completely trashed and for all intents and purposes, squashed flat by the middle of spring track. I had transitioned back to cross-country spikes by the end of that season, which may have paid off when I got tapped to run the 4x800m relay and ran a 2:23 PR. Yeah, I'm that slow. Bite me.

On the other hand, if I can sustain running 7.2 regularly, versus the 7.2/4.8 on-off cycle I've been doing, I may realize that goal with comparatively easy effort.

Tomorrow needs to be a day of intense sluggitude, much like yesterday.

Splits:
1.4: 12:14
2.0: 29:40 (17:25)
1.4: 42:11 (12:31)
2.4: 62:44 (20:32)