4.7mi, 41:15, 30 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Journey, "Only The Young"

WX at 0600: 48.0 (8.9) 43.0 (6.1) 30.06 (1017) SE 9 RH 82

Odometer 1: 139.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 159/176

My general lack of energy has manifest itself in its old "choose between exercise and sleep" dilemma. I desperately want more sleep, but I know I'm starting to get fat and even if I were to exercise ironclad discipline at the eating table (which I know better than to trust) it'd still not be enough. My fat ass is just too efficient at storing energy.

I wanted to sleep in badly this morning, but I knew I needed to run more than I needed to sleep.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:34 08:34 08:34 08:34 1.00
1.00 17:28 08:54 08:54 08:44 2.00
1.00 26:23 08:55 08:55 08:48 3.00
1.00 34:59 08:36 08:36 08:45 4.00
0.73 41:15 06:16 08:35 08:43 4.73

8.56mi, 77:19, 27 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Go! Team, "Huddle Formation"
Journey, "Only The Young"
Bear McCreary, "Wander My Friends"

WX at 0900: 64.0 (17.8) 55.0 (12.8) 29.68 (1005) SSW 12 RH 73

Odometer 2: 25.0mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 159/180

Last night was strange. I woke up at 2:15am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. After trying unsuccessfully to sleep for an hour and a half, I decided to eat something and started reading about the Napoleonic Campaigns. After about 45 minutes, I was ready to go back to sleep, and then ensued some truly bizarre dreams, some about being at work and not getting breakfast before the food court closed. The others I don't remember (and didn't write down) but they were strange inasmuch as I don't remember going back to sleep but I knew it whenever I woke up because I was still beat.

Today was almost a nonstarter. After this morning's fucked-up sleep pattern I decided to force out a run and got one in. It started out as some light wogging, and then I was warmed up enough where I decided to take it up a notch. This is a slight different course than the ones that take me up Riverside Drive, which is always a killer. The uphills were more distributed, so they weren't as brutal. I might do this one again for a long run as I don't think 7.4mi is really long enough and I'm not ready to take on the hills that come with the Nine Miles of Suck yet.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:28 09:28 09:28 09:28 1.00
1.00 18:30 09:02 09:02 09:15 2.00
1.00 27:34 09:04 09:04 09:11 3.00
1.00 36:39 09:05 09:05 09:10 4.00
1.00 45:22 08:43 08:43 09:04 5.00
1.00 54:07 08:45 08:45 09:01 6.00
1.00 03:14 09:07 09:07 09:02 7.00
1.00 12:27 09:13 09:13 09:03 8.00
0.56 17:19 04:52 08:41 09:02 8.56

4.0mi + 3.2mi + 1.2mi, 75:25, 25 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
R.E.M., "Carnival of Sorts"
R.E.M., "Wolves, Lower"
The Smiths, "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"

WX at 0600: 53.1 (11.7) DP 51.1 (10.6) BP 30.12 (1019) SSW 3 fog RH 93

Odometer 2: 16.4mi

Z3 ingress, Z2 formation run, Z3 high return.
Average/max heart rate = 154/180

Today was a command-drected formation run. I knew better than to expect a large formation run of the same caliber I normally associate with the 82d Airborne Division, but today wasn't ridiculously bad either. There are some officers who can't run in formation at a relatively slow speed (about 9:50/mi), and I find that somewhat troubling - but none of those officers are my students. I guess I should be somewhat gratified at that.

I made sure to get in a 4 mile detour before showing up, though.

The R.E.M. attack this morning is from a YouTube video that I saw yesterday, returning me to when Nickelodeon was really a kid's network instead of a forum for pablum. I do think of the albums, it's a tossup between Chronic Town and Reckoning for which I liked the most. I didn't really much care for R.E.M.'s stuff after about 1986.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
4.00 33:43 33:43 08:26 08:26 4.00
3.20 64:54 31:11 09:45 09:01 7.20
1.21 75:25 10:31 08:41 08:58 8.41

4.5mi, 38:23, 23 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Journey, "Only The Young"

WX at 0600: 57.0 (13.9) DP 54.0 (12.2) BP 30 (1015) NNW 7 RH 89

Odometer 1: 134.7mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 152/173

First run in a few days. The amount of reading I did (for grad school) in the last few days beat me down to the point where I wasn't concerned with much other than sleep, so I didn't do anything but eat. (And read.)

Today was surprisingly quick for how little exercise I've done, but I'm sure there's a payment made somewhere that I'm going to reap (in a bad way) later this week.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:35 08:35 08:35 08:35 1.00
1.00 17:05 08:30 08:30 08:32 2.00
1.00 25:41 08:36 08:36 08:34 3.00
1.00 34:12 08:31 08:31 08:33 4.00
0.50 38:23 04:11 08:22 08:32 4.50

4.5mi, 38:53, 18 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Bear McCreary, "Laura Runs"

WX at 0600: 55.0 (12.8) DP 52.0 (11.1) BP 30.16 (1021) NE 5 RH 89

Odometer 1: 130.2mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 153/172

I woke up at 3:20am this morning and was unable to sleep for another half hour, so I decided to get up in earnest and get some much-needed reading done for grad school.

I also went out for a run, the first dedicated run since this past Sunday.

The calculus of sleep vs. exercise + grad school is driving the hard fact that I need my sleep and I have a little bit of wiggle room for fitness that I can afford. I have no such wiggle room for my doctoral courses.

It's sad that I have to look up what the standards are to pass, but I routinely run those speeds even on my easy runs, so I'm ok.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:25 08:25 08:25 08:25 1.00
1.00 16:56 08:31 08:31 08:28 2.00
1.00 25:44 08:48 08:48 08:35 3.00
1.00 34:38 08:54 08:54 08:39 4.00
0.50 38:53 04:15 08:30 08:38 4.50

3.0mi + lift, 27:07, 16 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Caulfields, "The Kitchen Debate"

WX at 0600: 63.0 (17.2) 60.1 (15.6) 30.1 (1019) NNE 9 mist RH 90

Odometer 1: 125.7mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = no reading.

I woke up surprisingly earlier than I thought - and it was easier, so I decided to quickly drink some water and head out while I still had some momentum.

Unfortunately, my upper back hurts for some reason, which didn't stop me from going to the gym and hitting the upper body workout, less the single arm pulldowns in the interest of time.

But there are other things weighing in on my mind right now.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.51 13:16 13:16 08:47 08:47 1.51
1.51 27:07 13:51 09:10 08:59 3.02

7.4mi, 65:00, 13 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Michael Kamen, main theme from Band of Brothers
Dos Gringos, "Going In For Guns"

WX at 0800: 64.0 (17.8) DP 60.1 (15.6) BP 30.12 (1019) NE 8 mist RH 86

Odometer 2: 7.4mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 157/181

I intended to go to sleep earlier than usual last night. Not so much. Nothing that some Pimm's No. 1 cup and Crown Royal couldn't fix...although I was up a bit last night watching some back episodes of Mad Men.

But I hadn't done a long run and I needed to do it to abate my incipient case of the ass this morning. That might be the very reason as to why I don't switch to doing CrossFit and other similar high intensity disciplines.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:39 08:39 08:39 08:39 1.00
1.00 16:58 08:19 08:19 08:29 2.00
1.00 25:54 08:56 08:56 08:38 3.00
1.00 34:43 08:49 08:49 08:41 4.00
1.00 43:30 08:47 08:47 08:42 5.00
1.00 52:36 09:06 09:06 08:46 6.00
1.00 01:18 08:42 08:42 08:45 7.00
0.42 05:00 03:42 08:49 08:46 7.42

4.23mi, 35:50, 11 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Peter Langston, background music to the game Ballblazer
Dos Gringos, "Jeremiah Weed" (thanks to all the guys out on the track in Air Force PT uniforms getting ready to take a PT test, blocking the outer lane where I was running)

WX at 0600: 64.0 (17.8) 61.0 (16.1) 30.13 (1020) E 3 mist RH 89

Odometer 1: 122.7mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 149/171

This has been a week of almost no physical activity because of the ripple effects from pulling staff duty after about two weeks of being in the classroom teaching every day. That wouldn't be bad by itself, but it's not by itself, as I grind through the reading load for my doctoral work.

It's a bad sign when you get three days of 7+ hours sleep and you're still tired. I also haven't much felt like working out, which might be a flareup of an incipient case of the fuck-its.

I briefly toyed with sleeping in, but today is September 11th, and eight years ago, I was a cavalry troop commander in the 82d Airborne Division, and wondered after the attacks, whether I'd have to actively join the Close Combat Industry.

That didn't come to pass, and I suspect my brigade combat team was being saved for something else. I don't think the planning for Iraq had happened yet, but there were other things that required the Division Ready Brigade to be in the chamber, ready to fire.

So, I didn't sleep in, although I didn't think much about the events of that fateful day, either. But I rolled out because it was the right thing to do.

I wonder what the rest of America thinks, but I'm not sure if I want to know the answer to that question since, to quote a board in Anbar Province a few years ago: "America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall."

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:40 08:40 08:40 08:40 1.00
1.00 17:11 08:31 08:31 08:35 2.00
1.00 25:31 08:20 08:20 08:30 3.00
1.00 33:41 08:10 08:10 08:25 4.00
0.23 35:50 02:09 09:21 08:28 4.23

10,000m on Concept2 Model E, 43:28, 7 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: none

WX at 1000: 68 (20) DP 64 (18) BP 30.12 (1019.3) fog/mist RH 87

Odometer 1: 118.4mi

Z4/5 intervals, Z4 finish.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

Today was unremarkable were it not for my initial split. I decided, after listing on Saturday, to crank much harder than usual for the Concept II, and cranked out my personal best for 2,000m, namely 8:02. This started slow (about 2:08/500m) and culminated with sizeable stretches of 1:55-1:57/500m. I think if I were really to do 2000m time trials, I could get sub 8 if I applied myself, but I also would probably be prepared to woof after doing that.

I played with some stroke combinations, but I keep settling at 25 or 26 strokes every 200m. That's less accurate at stroke rates faster than 29 or 30 and when I'm firing away at paces in excess of 2:00/500m, that rule of thumb doesn't really work, especially when paired with a stroke rate above 30 spm.

Still, that's the only substantive PT I've done in the last two days since I was the installation duty officer last night and I got a grand total of 3 hours and 25 minutes of sleep in three installments. Fucking awesome.

Splits
First Distance: 2000
Time: 00:08:02
Avg/500m: 02:00
Drag Factor : 112
Per Mile: 00:06:28

Final Distance: 10000
Time: 00:43:28
Avg/500m: 02:10
Drag Factor : 112
Per Mile: 00:07:00

How to think, not what to think

I was reminded of something I'd bookmarked a long, long time ago, about an elaborate hoax that Alan Sokal, a professor of physics at NYU, had done...and it reminds me of an ongoing debate about humanities and the sciences (and to an extent, social sciences also fall in this category), the latest discussion of which I saw on the New York Times.

Another take on the Social Text affair is here.

In the same vein, I also found the following.
The Post-Modernism Generator
The Computer Science Paper Generator

There are two things lately that have lead me to think about this.

One is that I see some field grade officers who have the technical skills in one or more disciplines, but utterly lack the intellectual underpinnings of why they do what they do. Those who can only visualize according to their own models are, from my own observations of general staffs over the last few years, not very much goddamn value added to their organizations.

The other is my coursework towards a Ph.D., which is challenging, to say the least, but makes me wonder how we can make detailed study and analysis appealing enough (or at the very least, accessible) so that its knowledge is part of the public memory. I don't care much for Tom Clancy's writing, but if it leads someone to study engineering, or military theory, or even history, then it has value as a catalyst. I find that particularly compelling after working a combat assignment where intellectual rigor came at a premium, and then returning to the American Idol universe, which I find stultifying in a really dangerous way.

3.0mi + lift, 27:07, 6 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Dust Brothers, "Stealing Fat"

WX at 0900: 64.9 (18.3) DP 62.1 (16.7) BP 30.19 (1022) ENE 5 mist RH 90

Odometer 1: 115.3mi

Z4 in, Z3 easy out.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

I think I've settled into lifting once a week or so. I think that's good enough given other demands on time. On the other hand, I'm the staff duty officer, so instead of a long run today, I'll crank on the Concept 2 tomorrow.

Walking around the Sparks (Kansas) Antiques show yesterday was another reason I decided to back off the long run today. I'm continuing to use slightly heavier weights and do assisted pullups on the gravitron, and the relative difficulty of today's workout reflects.

I'm not sure why I was thinking of the music from the opening credits to Fight Club, but I was also in Qatar about this time last year and for whatever reason or another, I (somewhat) associate that with a trip I took to Al Udeid Air Base there, which, never failed to deliver on the fact that it was truly a parallel universe separate from anything else I've ever seen in the military.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.51 12:33 12:33 08:19 08:19 1.51
1.51 27:07 14:34 09:39 08:59 3.02

4.0mi, 32:50, 5 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Dubya Project, "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
The Moog Cookbook, "Rockin' In The Free World"

WX at 0900: 64.0 (17.8) DP 63.0 (17.2) BP 30.15 (1020) NE 6 fog RH 96

Odometer 4: 376.0mi

Z4 high.
Average/max heart rate = 157/179

First run in a while. This week at work has been busy enough (and with trying to do homework for my Ph.D. classes when already mentally cooked) where I realize that of the four things in my life currently, namely work, home, school, and physical fitness, it's the latter that's starting to slide off.

Today was fast to get one in, I'll save a longer slow run for tomorrow. I was gratified at speed, but I'm not sure if that's a function of not having run in a while and feeling froggy on a first run.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 07:55 07:55 07:55 07:55 1.00
1.00 16:29 08:34 08:34 08:15 2.00
1.00 24:53 08:24 08:24 08:18 3.00
0.97 32:50 07:57 08:12 08:16 3.97

The baggage of planning

I'm glad that an outraged Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has weighed in on a photo of Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard, who was mortally wounded in an ambush in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

I'm not including the photo (if you want to see it that badly, you'll be able to find it) but this is from the memorial service for LCpl Bernard.

Seeing the photo, though, reminded me of the basic fact that in my previous work, I had a part in bringing him to where he died.

I was reminded, as an aside, of a brief passage from the the film The Lost Battalion:

CPT McMurtry: We lost over 60 men to our own fire today. We have less than 200 able troops left. I don't know how they keep doing it.
MAJ Whittlesey: Don't sell them short, Captain. Two days ago we had a Chinese working our field-phone, an American Indian for a runner; they're both dead now but that's not the point. These Italians, Irish, Jews, and Poles, they'd never hire me as an attorney; we wouldn't be seen at the same events. But we will never, in our lives, enjoy the company of finer soldiers or better men then we do tonight.

The Coolest Thing Ever

My cousin returned from Japan where he picked up some Sunshine Buddies for the Princess and the Sledgehammer.

Now I'm tempted to try to find one.



With apologies to the Verve...

5.0mi, 43:07, 1 SEP 09, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Smiths, "The Draize Train"

WX at 0500: 55.9 (13.3) DP 50.0 (10.0) BP 30.25 (1024) ESE 6 RH 80

Odometer 1: 112.3mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 150/170

Couldn't pass up the day - as much as I was tempted to sleep in, the temperature being what it was meant I needed to go out and step it out.

I'm not sure where the random Johnny Marr attack came from.

I was a few hundredths of a mile short, so I finished it out to make it an even five. I'm still disappointed at times, but I'm hoping this'll improve later as my knees don't hurt as much.

Also trying to get back into ab work, doing a 12+4 this morning after the run.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:43 08:43 08:43 08:43 1.00
1.00 17:14 08:31 08:31 08:37 2.00
1.00 25:49 08:35 08:35 08:36 3.00
1.00 34:30 08:41 08:41 08:37 4.00
1.00 43:07 08:37 08:37 08:37 5.00