So say we all

OMFG I laughed my ass off seeing this.

6.08mi, 55:03, 25 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Bats, "Courage"
The Calling, "Wherever You May Go"

WX at 1000: 64 (18) DP 64 (18) BP 29.85 (1010) E 12 light rain RH 100

Odometer 11A: 164.0mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 154/172

Slow run, late morning. I was up very late last night and got a late start, but it was overcast and cool, so I got in a run. Maybe a rest day tomorrow, if not a short run as it gets warmer this week.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:50 08:50 08:50 08:50 1.00
1.00 17:34 08:44 08:44 08:47 2.00
1.00 26:48 09:14 09:14 08:56 3.00
1.00 35:56 09:08 09:08 08:59 4.00
1.00 45:06 09:10 09:10 09:01 5.00
1.00 54:18 09:12 09:12 09:03 6.00
0.08 55:03 00:45 09:23 09:03 6.08

4.6mi, 41:49, 23 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Gin Blossoms, "Until I Fall Away"
The Calling, "Wherever You Will Go"

WX at 0700: 62.1 (16.7) DP 55.0 (12.8) BP 29.89 (1012) W 7 RH 77

Odometer 11A: 157.9mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 146/186

Slow run, but intended as such. I probably went harder than I should have and the uphill portions were particularly unpleasant.

Maybe tomorrow will be a recovery run also. Today's weather was too good to pass up.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:07 09:07 09:07 09:07 1.00
1.00 18:10 09:03 09:03 09:05 2.00
1.00 27:11 09:01 09:01 09:04 3.00
1.00 36:20 09:09 09:09 09:05 4.00
0.60 41:49 05:29 09:08 09:05 4.60

5.95mi, 52:53, 22 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Dos Gringos, "The O.N.E. Song"

WX at 0600: 62.1 (16.7) DP 53.1 (11.7) BP 29.75 (1007) W 12 RH 72

Odometer 11A: 153.6mi

Z3 mid-high, Z4 finish.
Average/max heart rate = 154/176

Good god was I tired this morning. I totally did not want to get up, but I knew that the weather was going to be worth it, so I got out there and was rewarded by a pleasant break from the last two weeks of heat.

It was breezy, but there is rain forecasted for later this week, and the river is just short of flood stage here it at Fortress Leavenworth. As a result, the airfield has been closed as the Missouri River continues to rise. It'll probably go over the levee at the airfield later this week. Whee!

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:12 09:12 09:12 09:12 1.00
1.00 17:57 08:45 08:45 08:58 2.00
1.00 27:03 09:06 09:06 09:01 3.00
1.00 36:13 09:10 09:10 09:03 4.00
1.00 44:51 08:38 08:38 08:58 5.00
0.95 52:53 08:02 08:27 08:53 5.95

3.8mi, 34:23, 21 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: MGMT, "Kids"

WX at 0700: 66.0 (18.9) DP 60.1 (15.6) BP 29.51 (999) SSW 20 RH 81

Odometer 11A: 147.6mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 148/164

Legs were as dead as they have ever felt. My hamstrings are particularly bad this week.

I still needed to get out there, so I did. I was planning on running more, but I left too late. Part of it was the internal debate over how bad my legs felt versus my need to go do something.

Breezy and pleasant, although lately that portends a rain storm.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:56 08:56 08:56 08:56 1.00
1.00 17:40 08:44 08:44 08:50 2.00
1.00 27:18 09:38 09:38 09:06 3.00
0.80 34:23 07:05 08:51 09:03 3.80

3.79mi, 34:14, 19 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Sugar, "Changes"
The Dream Academy, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"
Chris "Vertex Guy" Kline, "Contra Jungle Jam"

WX at 0800: 69.1 (20.6) DP 66.9 (19.4) BP 29.74 (1007) WNW 5 RH 93

Odometer 11A: 143.8mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 152/168

Not long, but my legs were tired from yesterday. I felt better than I thought, but I needed to start earlier. I didn't want to wake up earlier, though.

Also, I'm not sure where the unwarranted attack of the 1980s happened, although the observant reader will note that the Dream Academy's version of the song is the one from the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I like The Smiths, but I love covers of their songs. Especially hardcore covers, although that's not the Dream Academy.

Oh well. At least I got a run in.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:51 08:51 08:51 08:51 1.00
1.00 17:31 08:40 08:40 08:45 2.00
1.00 27:01 09:30 09:30 09:00 3.00
0.79 34:14 07:13 09:08 09:02 3.79

The Coolest Thing Ever

Nothing quite says cutting social commentary as much as owning the living dogshit out of a bunch of popular songs. Woot.

5.0mi, 43:59, 18 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Russell Watson, "Faith of the Heart"
Dos Gringos, "Going In For Guns"

WX at 0900: 69.1 (20.6) DP 63.0 (17.2) BP 29.76 (1007) Calm RH 80

Odometer 11A: 140.1mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 157/176

Faster than I expected, but I dislike running in open sunlight. I slept in this morning otherwise.

After watching the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Twilight, " I was thinking about alternate histories, since the notion of contingency (as it relates to causality) is a big one for me as a military historian. Could it be that what happens in that episode really leads to as catastrophic consequences as occur during that episode? Those are fundamental discussions of contingency and agency that all historians must address at some point. I also like counterfactuals for the same reason.

That episode also brings up some more pointed thoughts about love, and what it means. Or not.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:57 08:57 08:57 08:57 1.00
1.00 17:31 08:34 08:34 08:45 2.00
1.00 26:25 08:54 08:54 08:48 3.00
1.00 35:13 08:48 08:48 08:48 4.00
1.00 43:59 08:46 08:46 08:48 5.00

3.0mi, 28:43, 16 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't Fear the Reaper"

WX at 0700: 68.0 (20.0) DP 55.9 (13.3) BP 29.8 (1009) SSE 10 RH 65

Odometer 11A: 135.1mi

Z2.
Average/max heart rate = 146/169

More wogging. I almost slept in. Then I realized I needed to run.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:36 09:36 09:36 09:36 1.00
1.00 19:13 09:37 09:37 09:36 2.00
1.00 28:43 09:30 09:30 09:34 3.00

Revisionist memory of my childhood

Awesome.

The Coolest Thing Ever

Make your own Atari Cartridge image!

By the way, as a future harbinger of my eventual basic branch in the Army, I totally pwned people playing Tank-Pong in Combat when I was a kid.

3.0mi, 28:16, 15 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: various sundry running cadences.

WX at 0600: 66.0 (18.9) DP 59.0 (15.0) BP 29.81 (1009) WNW 8 RH 78

Odometer 11A: 132.1mi

Z2.
Average/max heart rate = 145/159

First true recovery run I've done in a while. I needed to do it. This offered the chance to revisit some running cadences I hadn't thought of in a while in the wake of yesterday's formation run. Woot.

It's preferable to sleeping in, so it's not junk mileage.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:07 09:07 09:07 09:07 1.00
1.00 18:53 09:46 09:46 09:26 2.00
1.00 28:16 09:23 09:23 09:25 3.00

5.53mi, 49:30, 14 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: none.

WX at 0700: 68.0 (20.0) DP 64.9 (18.3) BP 29.8 (1009) E 14 RH 90

Odometer 11A: 129.1mi

Z4 ingress, Z2 run, Z4 high egress.
Average/max heart rate = 157/187

I did an installation-wide formation run. For a formation run that was composed to military, civilians, family members, and pets, this group ran a full minute faster per mile than the last formation run I did. I attribute that to numbers.

I thought the group was going to run a loose box at own cadence today, but I was wrong. Someone started the cadence, and ran it out. I even got out there, and realized that literally every cadence I could remember was unsuitable for this audience.

Of the ones I remember, I absolutely could not sing about the monkey who jumps up from the coconut grove, or that "napalm sticks to kids," or that "crunch, crunch, crunch is the sound of the grunts in the sprocket going round and round." I definitely could not sing about how "if you ain't cav, you ain't shit." Literally every cadence I could summon was obscene, or specifically derided a group (as a general staff officer, it's bad form to sing cadences about running over airborne rangers with a tank).

Additionally, other cadences I learned were Cold War cadences, so I wasn't going to sing about dying on the Eastern Front, getting buried with a "Russian Grunt," with a "six-disk changer at my head, so turn up the volume and rock the dead." Maybe not.

There is a special place in hell for those who can only sing running cadences that start with a "C-130 rolling down the strip." My usual response was "first pass" and counting upwards for subsequent iterations of the cadence.

Sum total of my cadences were extended 4-count and various combinations of left and right. There's an old expression that people in the Army never learn to count to five. Listen to a formation run, you know that's totally true. At least I still have rhythm. Thank you, music theory and classical violin training!

I realized afterwards that I have not been in a tactical unit doing this shit in nine years. It's been longer than I thought.

I mentally indulged all those cadences on the run back since I had to teach less than an hour afterwards. I have schadenfreude. That is not an epiphany.

My knees hurt. I am not 21 anymore. That's not a big epiphany either.

Ingress to start was amazingly fast. I am not sure how or why I was able to hold such a speed going in (although it's overall downhill coming into the start) and overall uphill coming back, but the egress was surprisingly fast, although my legs were burning by the end. I also took two days off, so that might be a factor too.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.12 08:44 08:44 07:48 07:48 1.12
3.14 39:01 30:17 09:39 09:10 4.26
1.27 49:30 10:29 08:15 08:57 5.53

5.0mi, 44:33, 11 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Gin Blossoms, "Follow You Down"
"Jester" from the PC video game Terminal Velocity

WX at 0900: 66.0 (18.9) DP 57.9 (14.4) BP 30.04 (1017) NNE 13 RH 75

Odometer 11A: 123.5mi

Z4 uphill, Z3 downhill.
Average/max heart rate = no reading. Forgot to charge my Garmin ForeRunner 305 yesterday.

For a day I didn't think I was going to run faster than I did, I ran faster because there was a race on and I was "pulled" along by running in proximity to other runners.

Once I was away from those runners, I ran at a more deliberate pace, which was my intent.

Late start, but I was tired last night, and slept in.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
5.00 44:33 44:33 08:55 08:55 5.00

4.91mi, 44:24, 10 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Material Issue, cover of The Hollies, "Bus Stop"
Tommy Keene, cover of The Hollies, "Carrie Anne"
"Rendezvous with Destiny"
"The All-American Soldier"

WX at 0700: 68.0 (20.0) DP 64.0 (17.8) BP 29.9 (1012) Calm RH 87

Odometer 11A: 118.5mi

Z3 high/Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 153/173

I slept in yesterday, and it felt pretty good. Today's run felt okay at first but felt much better by around the 4-mile mark.

As usual, I felt SIGNIFICANTLY better at about the 4-mile mark. Between that, and the generally flatter terrain (miles 3 and 4 were mostly uphill) I suspect that had something to do with it also.

I had forgotten about Material Issue, which was one of my favorite power-pop guilty pleasures during my college years. I was sorry to hear that lead singer Jim Ellison had committed suicide in 1996. The market for power-pop, alas, has decreased a lot since the early 90s.

I was pondering the politics of what combat service identification badge to wear today, briefly, which sparked the two divisional songs at the end.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:55 08:55 08:55 08:55 1.00
1.00 17:47 08:52 08:52 08:54 2.00
1.00 27:04 09:17 09:17 09:01 3.00
1.00 36:20 09:16 09:16 09:05 4.00
0.91 44:24 08:04 08:52 09:03 4.91

3.75mi, 36:07, 8 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: R.E.M., "Driver 8"

WX at 0600: 78.1 (25.6) DP 64.0 (17.8) BP 29.79 (1008) S 17 RH 62

Odometer 11A: 113.6mi

Z2.
Average/max heart rate = 147/165

Today was a deliberately light run after the last three days. My legs were real beat, so I knew I wasn't getting much out of this other than maybe some junk miles and lard burn.

Meh.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:41 09:41 09:41 09:41 1.00
1.00 19:04 09:23 09:23 09:32 2.00
1.00 29:08 10:04 10:04 09:43 3.00
0.75 36:07 06:59 09:19 09:38 3.75

You have the right to be a jackass...

I guess asshats don't like that whole common courtesy thing. AMF.

2.4mi + 4,000m on Concept2 Model D, 17:35, 7 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Death Cab for Cutie, "A Movie Script Ending"
Linkin Park, "A Place For My Head"
Death Cab for Cutie, "Doors Unlocked and Open"

WX at 0600: 73.0 (22.8) DP 66.0 (18.9) BP 29.85 (1010) S 12 RH 78

Odometer 11A: 109.8mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

After a nice chat with an orthopedic specialist I decided to do something other than just running. So, it was the first time on the Concept in a long, long while.

When the stereo at the gym in which the Concept sits is playing Linkin Park, it's going to stick. Oh well. Could be worse.

The run back after 4km of erg really sucked monkey balls. It always does. At least my knees don't hurt. Yet.

Today was quite pleasant this morning, surprising for a day that's supposed to be craptacularly hot. Summer's here, and she is pissed.

Today: Sunny, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 100. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 12 mph increasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

This is the weather I associate with 20-foot tall sheets of flame going through the plains when grass catches on fire. I saw it at Fort Riley years ago. Nothing like seeing armored vehicles hauling ass to escape a giant sheet of grass fire.

The road to recovery (whatever it is) continues.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.21 11:04 11:04 09:09 09:09 1.21
1.21 22:01 10:57 09:03 09:06 2.42

Distance: 4000
Time: 00:17:35
Avg/500m: 02:12
Drag Factor: 112
Per Mile: 00:07:04

6.9mi, 64:19, 6 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Cure, "Disintegration"
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day"

WX at 0600: 73.9 (23.3) DP 66.0 (18.9) BP 29.94 (1013) SSW 13 RH 76

Odometer 11A: 106.2mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 152/172

Today was likely a day of lard burning, but my legs remain dead even after two days of rest. My lack of speed remains problematic, but I think that's also a function of the extra weight I've been carrying around for the last year.

It is still frustrating to run on dead legs. Uphills are the worst part. There is nothing fun about that.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:14 09:14 09:14 09:14 1.00
1.00 18:35 09:21 09:21 09:17 2.00
1.00 27:50 09:15 09:15 09:17 3.00
1.00 37:23 09:33 09:33 09:21 4.00
1.00 47:04 09:41 09:41 09:25 5.00
1.00 56:12 09:08 09:08 09:22 6.00
0.90 04:19 08:07 09:01 09:19 6.90

6.62mi, 63:52, 3 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Dos Gringos, "Death Cab for Cutie, "Doors Unlocked and Open"

WX at 0700: 77.0 (25.0) DP 68.0 (20.0) BP 29.91 (1012) S 15 RH 73

Odometer 11A: 99.3mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 155/184

My legs were absolutely destroyed today. They started out tired and it sort of went downhill from there. I wanted to do two things, however:

1. Get a run along the airfield berfore it floods (the Missouri River is slated to exceed flood stage Real Soon Now)
2. See if I could get glycogen regenesis going (which I believe happened).

There was a noticeable improvement in how I felt starting at around the 55-minute mark and it wasn't just because I was running on level ground. That improvement stayed in place even on the gentle uphill going back.

I walked some. I didn't want to redline myself (although with a max HR of 184, I did at some point today).

I deliberately didn't pay attention to how crappy my splits were today. That wasn't the point.

I'm taking tomorrow off. Sad thing is that even after all this work, I still ran only about 20 miles this week. Sad, sad, sad.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:23 09:23 09:23 09:23 1.00
1.00 18:31 09:08 09:08 09:15 2.00
1.00 28:15 09:44 09:44 09:25 3.00
1.00 38:02 09:47 09:47 09:30 4.00
1.00 47:43 09:41 09:41 09:33 5.00
1.00 58:08 10:25 10:25 09:41 6.00
0.62 03:52 05:44 09:15 09:39 6.62

3.09mi, 29:19, 2 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
30 Seconds to Mars, "Closer to the Edge"
Unsensored, opening credit music to "Life With Derek" (Yes. No! Yes.)

WX at 0700: 66.9 (19.4) DP 66.9 (19.4) BP 30.06 (1017) SW 5 RH 100

Odometer 11A: 92.7mi

Z2.
Average/max heart rate = 148/170

I felt like crap but needed to get in a run after eating my ass off yesterday.

I have no idea why I had either of the two songs stuck in my head. As an aside, and I never realized this the day after quoting My So-Called Life (a show I religiously watched some 16 years ago) but the lead singer of the band whose song gets beaten to death every weekend in NCAA lacrosse season is Jared Leto.

Yes. The guy with the giant pink mohawk is Jordan fucking Catalano. I was dumbfounded when I read it.

I gotta admit, Claire Danes is pretty hot. No giant epiphany here.

Today was a recovery run of wogging, nothing more. I wasn't up for anything but that. It'll be hot the next few days. Yay.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:22 09:22 09:22 09:22 1.00
1.00 19:06 09:44 09:44 09:33 2.00
1.00 28:26 09:20 09:20 09:29 3.00
0.09 29:19 00:53 09:49 09:29 3.09

5.83mi, 51:00, 1 JUN 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Legion of Doom, "Dangerous Business Since 1979"

WX at 0700: 63.0 (17.2) DP 50.0 (10.0) BP 30.26 (1024) ESE 5 RH 62

Odometer 11A: 89.6mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 157/178

Not sure why I felt better, although I didn't do anything but eat yesterday. I need to get out of the day on/day off routine.

I'm also not sure why I had a screamo song stuck in the back of my head, but I have to be in a certain mood to have that song in the foreground.

"Hatred can become like food. It gives you this energy. You can, like, live off it."

Angela Chase from My So-Called Life

A slightly more pithy take on it is Johnny Lydon singing 'Anger is an energy." Yes, that Johnny Rotten. From Public Image Limited.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:54 08:54 08:54 08:54 1.00
1.00 17:29 08:35 08:35 08:45 2.00
1.00 26:36 09:07 09:07 08:52 3.00
1.00 35:31 08:55 08:55 08:53 4.00
1.00 44:05 08:34 08:34 08:49 5.00
0.83 51:00 06:55 08:20 08:45 5.83

Best. Gift. Ever.

My students were paying attention this past year! Only they would grab onto one of the expressions I said while teaching joint operational art and turn it into the best damn gift ever.

My teaching partner said this class was "challenging" in many ways, and that was an apt moniker. I was glad when my students would take things head on and challenge me - it meant they had taken ownership of the coursework. As a teacher I could not ask for more.

Roll Call

Gone, but not forgotten:

2LT Tom Witt - Fort Hood, Texas, April 1995
CW2 Aaron Weaver - near Fallujah, al-Anbar governorate, Iraq, January 2004
SFC Don Eacho - Ramadi, al-Anbar governorate, Iraq, March 2005
CW4 Matt Lourey - Buhriz, Diyala governorate, Iraq, May 2005
MAJ Matt Worrell - Yusufiyah, Baghdad governorate, Iraq, May 2006
CW4 Bill Engeman - Baghdad, Baghdad governorate, Iraq, May 2006
SGT Jason Swiger - Baqubah, Diyala governorate, Iraq, March 2007
CPT Jon Grassbaugh - Zaganiyah, Diyala governorate, Iraq, April 2007
SGT Eric Holke - Tallil, Dhi Qar governorate, Iraq, July 2007
SFC Gary Vasquez - Yakchal, Helmand province, Afghanistan, September 2008
MAJ Brian Mescall - Qalat, Zabul province, Afghanistan, January 2009
CW4 Niall Lyons - Darreh-ye Bum, Baghdis province, Afghanistan, October 2009
CPT Dan Whitten - near Forward Operating Base Sweeney, Zabul province, Afghanistan, February 2010
LTC Rob Baldwin - Ayatalah, Zabul province, Afghanistan, September 2010

And while I've posted this one before, it warrants repetition:

If you are able, save for them a place inside of you
and save one backward glance when you are leaving
for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them,
though you may or may not have always.
Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.

MAJ Michael Davis O'Donnell, "Remember Them"
1 January 1970, Dak To, Vietnam

A different kind of memorial

I'll post my thoughts on Memorial Day under separate correspondence, but I was, as is my custom, watching the final of the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship, this year between Maryland and Virginia.

I found myself, a diehard Johns Hopkins lacrosse fan, in the unusual spot of cheering for the Maryland Terrapins. The Terps' road was particularly difficult for one player, Ryan Young, whose mother died of pancreatic cancer this past season. While she had been memorialized by the purple shirts the coaching and support staff wore, as well as the MY (for Maria Young) stickers on their helmets, this particular tribute (left) was the most poignant for me. Ryan's twin brother and older brother before him both played for Duke, so they had skin in the game as well.

I was disappointed that Maryland didn't prevail - but one could also argue that Virginia had a bumpy ride to the championship as well. Between relieving two of their starting midfielders for violating team rules, as well as losing other key players along the way, there were few, if any, who predicted that Virginia would go all the way to the national championship. I find it particularly notable that Bray Malphrus, one of the captains of the Virginia team, specifically emphasized that Virginia lacrosse (especially after the incidents surrounding the death of Yeardley Love last year) needed to change its public image. Not too often you see that realization in public among players of a sport normally stereotyped as a sport of sons of privilege.

Congratulations to Virginia and Maryland for their achievements this year.

5.33mi, 48:57, 30 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Lemonheads, "Steve's Boy"

WX at 0900: 75.9 (24.4) DP 64.0 (17.8) BP 29.81 (1009) S 23 RH 66

Odometer 11A: 84.8mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 156/177

Today was a slow run, partly because my legs are still tired, partly because I slept far too late last night. But today's Memorial Day, and I needed to run. I knew I'd start alongside the cemetery, where flags have been placed in front of the gravestones.

I'm preparing an old Win98 box for sale or recycle. I've had the computer 12 years now and it's time to let it go. I'd hung onto it for a while because I wanted something on which I could play Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Wing Commander: Secret Ops. I have an old laptop (a Dell Inspiron 5100) that is running XP and Racer finally works on it after some patching. Time to ditch the old box - not the least of which is that of the video recording capability that was on it I never really used it that much.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:56 08:56 08:56 08:56 1.00
1.00 18:15 09:19 09:19 09:07 2.00
1.00 27:32 09:17 09:17 09:11 3.00
1.00 36:46 09:14 09:14 09:11 4.00
1.00 45:51 09:05 09:05 09:10 5.00
0.33 48:57 03:06 09:24 09:11 5.33

The price of freedom...

...is not just eternal vigilance. (Hat tip to Doctrine Man.)

LTG(Ret) Hal Moore gives the other corollary of this one: "When your men die, and you don’t, you feel guilty. You’re the leader." Or, in my case, the campaign planner.

So say we all.

7.0mi, 63:26, 27 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Death Cab for Cutie, "Doors Unlocked and Open"

WX at 1000: 60.1 (15.6) DP 50.0 (10.0) BP 29.9 (1012) SE 15 RH 69

Odometer 11A: 79.4mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 157/175

Endurance is fine, legs are very, very dead. Today was a rare day off, so I decided to go for a rare long run.

I may sleep in tomorrow. Or go for a really short one.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:38 08:38 08:38 08:38 1.00
1.00 17:24 08:46 08:46 08:42 2.00
1.00 26:34 09:10 09:10 08:51 3.00
1.00 35:31 08:57 08:57 08:53 4.00
1.00 44:32 09:01 09:01 08:54 5.00
1.00 54:06 09:34 09:34 09:01 6.00
1.00 63:26 09:20 09:20 09:04 7.00

More Dakka

One island, two villages, 50,000 handmade rockets.

Ed: corrected for wrong embed code.

(a.k.a. Macross Missile Massacre FTW.)

5.0mi, 44:20, 26 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Tommy Keene, "Call On Me"
The Lemonheads, "Steve's Boy"

WX at 0700: 52.0 (11.1) DP 45.0 (7.2) BP 29.89 (1012) N 10 RH 76

Odometer 11A: 72.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 162/174

Today went faster, but it was cool after the last two days worth of torrential downpours and it was as good a day for running as I'll get in a while.

Taking the first mile over generally flatter terrain led to a faster run overall, I think. This was a reverse of yesterday's run, so the splits are different. I felt better about today's run for reasons unknown.

I've been binging out on Tommy Keene, one of my longtime musical pleasures, after discovering this post from someone who has been listening to TK a lot longer than I have.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:43 08:43 08:43 08:43 1.00
1.00 17:18 08:35 08:35 08:39 2.00
1.00 26:27 09:09 09:09 08:49 3.00
1.00 35:25 08:58 08:58 08:51 4.00
1.00 44:17 08:52 08:52 08:51 5.00

5.0mi, 46:28, 25 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: "Johnny Hopkins On To Victory" (why I was thinking of the fight song for my alma mater, I'm not sure why.)

WX at 0600: 61.0 (16.1) DP 61.0 (16.1) BP 29.48 (998) E 13 RH 100

Odometer 11A: 67.4mi

Z3 low.
Average/max heart rate = 151/175

The festival of Dead Legs continues. I am absolutely toast in the mornings, and today was no exception. As is the pattern, my legs seem to get more tired until about mile 3.

I felt better at the end, but horrible up front.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:08 09:08 09:08 09:08 1.00
1.00 18:36 09:28 09:28 09:18 2.00
1.00 28:03 09:27 09:27 09:21 3.00
1.00 37:50 09:47 09:47 09:28 4.00
1.00 46:28 08:38 08:38 09:18 5.00

5.34mi, 48:48, 23 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Drowning Pool, "Let the Bodies Hit The Floor"

WX at 0600: 62.1 (16.7) DP 60.1 (15.6) BP 29.7 (1005) S 10 RH 93

Odometer 11A: 62.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 153/172

I went to sleep too late last night. When I'm getting 5 hours of sleep before running, I'm going to be a little less inclined to want to wake up to get a run in.

That doesn't change the fact that I need to get my fat ass out there anyway.

Slow today, but not ridiculously so. Time to see if I can build my mileage base back up, so I'll start unambitiously. No long runs yet.

On the bright side, I was running progressively negative splits after mile 2, especially after a short detour for a pit stop. Whee.

I know the Wiggles and Drowning Pool don't usually go together, but I was thinking about the Big Red Car. To Drowning Pool. Oh yay.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:02 09:02 09:02 09:02 1.00
1.00 18:42 09:40 09:40 09:21 2.00
1.00 27:50 09:08 09:08 09:17 3.00
1.00 37:05 09:15 09:15 09:16 4.00
1.00 45:47 08:42 08:42 09:09 5.00
0.34 48:48 03:01 08:52 09:08 5.34

4.58mi, 45:11, 20 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Cars, "Stranger Eyes"
The Cure, "Primary" (in Orange)

WX at 0600: 62.1 (16.7) DP 57.9 (14.4) BP 29.81 (1009) SE 12 RH 86

Odometer 11A: 56.8mi

Z2.
Average/max heart rate = 150/169

I almost slept in today. Today was the most energy-less run I think I have ever done. Just a whole lot of suck.

The first iThink is a consequence of coming across some article about stuff on the film Top Gun, which I saw as an 8th grader, 25 years ago. Woo hoo, old age. At least now I know the name of the song that was stuck in the back of my mind after seeing the trailer.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:48 09:48 09:48 09:48 1.00
1.00 19:43 09:55 09:55 09:51 2.00
1.00 29:45 10:02 10:02 09:55 3.00
1.00 39:32 09:47 09:47 09:53 4.00
0.58 45:11 05:39 09:44 09:52 4.58

4.7mi, 43:32, 18 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Belle and Sebastian, "Like Dylan at the Movies"
The Lemonheads, "Steve's Boy"

WX at 0600: 50.0 (10.0) DP 39.9 (4.4) BP 29.85 (1010) ESE 7 RH 68

Odometer 3: 222.0mi

Z2-Z3 low.
Average/max heart rate = 145/165

I am done for the semester. Woot. I am also done with trying to ramp up for a physical fitness test and I am starting to get some decent interval back in my life. Hrm.

Or some reasonable facsimile thereof.

All wogging today. I suspect my shoes, in spite of their low mileage, are pretty much toast. I felt some extra pain in the knees I don't get with my newer shoes.

Like many Belle and Sebastian songs, upbeat BritPop melody, dark foreboding lyrics. "Steve's Boy" is perhaps more apropos.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:12 09:12 09:12 09:12 1.00
1.00 18:24 09:12 09:12 09:12 2.00
1.00 27:52 09:28 09:28 09:17 3.00
1.00 37:21 09:29 09:29 09:20 4.00
0.70 43:32 06:11 08:50 09:16 4.70

Some interior and exterior remodeling

I decided to bite the bullet and actually do a template upgrade after what I think has been almost 6 years of running on the old template. I realized I couldn't see all of my invective over the years by category, so it was time to fix that.

I saved my old template just in case I decide to revert. I may let go of my descending paratroopers watermark since I just don't know CSS very well and it's been a while since I've had to reverse engineer someone else's code.

Record APFT, 284 points, 16 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Husker Du, "New Day Rising"

WX at 0700: 43.0 (6.1) DP 39.9 (4.4) BP 30.08 (1018) NNW 3 RH 88

Odometer 11A: 52.2mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = no reading.

I ran into the PT test, as is my custom, and got my 200 points on the first two events, as I usually do. I knew this run was going to suck but was surprisingly not my slowest.

I totally weighed in over cutoff, though. I had it coming.

The clear sky and sunrise made this morning's iThink utterly inevitable.

Splits
Pushups: 77
Situps: 76
Two-Mile Run: 15:27

SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 07:33 07:33 07:33 07:33 1.00
1.00 15:27 07:54 07:54 07:44 2.00

The Coolest Thing Ever

As someone who teaches joint command and control relationships and has taught a history of the Unified Command Plan, I think this is funny as hell.

There's no denying it

Women who read Machiavelli make me hot.


And now I have a new Web comic guilty pleasure.

4.41mi, 39:31, 13 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Dos Gringos, "Going in for Guns"
The Lemonheads, "Steve's Boy"

WX at 0700: 57.9 (14.4) DP 55.9 (13.3) BP 29.76 (1007) WNW 8 RH 93

Odometer 11A: 49.5mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 160/178

Time to see if my knees hurt all day like they do when I'm in my other shoes. If they do, time to retire the other shoes, regardless of how much mileage is on them.

The Lemonheads song is deceptive; Evan Dando may be on vocals, but other members of the band include Bill Stevenson on drums and Karl Alvarez on bass. Yes, the ones from the Descendents. Also J. Mascis on guitar. Yes, that J. Mascis.

"Steve's Boy" has been on single song repeat at my cubicle over the last day or so. It has some of the most brutally bitter lyrics I've heard in a long time, so it's consistent with my emotional debridement over the last few years. It also sounds like a Descendents song that happens to have J. Mascis on lead and Evan Dando on vocals, and I've been a pretty faithful Descendents fan since 1988.

Today's run sucked bad until mile 2.5. Easy run tomorrow, then taper for PT test on Monday.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:28 08:28 08:28 08:28 1.00
1.00 17:28 09:00 09:00 08:44 2.00
1.00 26:29 09:01 09:01 08:50 3.00
1.00 35:54 09:25 09:25 08:58 4.00
0.41 39:31 03:37 08:49 08:58 4.41

3.75mi, 33:35, 11 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Killers, "When You Were Young"

WX at 0700: 72.0 (22.2) DP 66.9 (19.4) BP 29.79 (1008) SE 7 haze rh 84

Odometer 11A: 45.1mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 160/174

Today was warm, and ergo, was going to suck. It did, but I didn't feel so bad as I did on Monday. My legs are tired. Time to rest a bit before taking my physical fitness test on Friday, I think, while the opportunity still permits. It's supposed to be in the 50s on Friday, so I might as well get it over with now rather than later.

The road to recovery keeps getting deferred, but maybe this summer.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:43 08:43 08:43 08:43 1.00
1.00 17:41 08:58 08:58 08:50 2.00
1.00 26:59 09:18 09:18 09:00 3.00
0.75 33:35 06:36 08:48 08:57 3.75

2.51mi, 23:56, 9 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Above and Beyond, "Can't Sleep"

WX at 0600: 71.1 (21.7) DP 66.0 (18.9) BP 29.61 (1002) SSE 13 RH 84

Odometer 11A: 41.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 151/167

OHJESUSTITTYFUCKINGCHRIST did today suck giant hairy monkey balls. I know it's going to be bad when I'm killing myself to run 9:00/mi.

On the other hand, pushups and situps are now at acceptable standards (80 and 80). I also ran today after doing aforementioned pushups and situps. I reap what I sow.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:45 09:45 09:45 09:45 1.00
1.00 19:12 09:27 09:27 09:36 2.00
0.51 23:56 04:44 09:17 09:32 2.51

An essential truth

I direct your attention to the penultimate frame: that "...you don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process."

(shout out to XKCD.)

p.s. I also realized that I hardcoded this link, and that as a graduate historian, that I shouldn't be able to remember the A HREF and IMG SRC tags in HTML from memory. Looooooooooooooooooser....

3.29mi, 29:28, 8 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
David Bowie, "Life on Mars"
The Cure, "One Hundred Years"

WX at 0800: 64.9 (18.3) DP 50.0 (10.0) BP 29.85 (1010) ESE 9 RH 58

Odometer 3: 217.3mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 152/174

The iThink had some peculiar tunes for Mother's Day. Oh well. It is what it is.

The average heart rate was deceptively slow - my legs were still tired from Friday's slug-a-thon. I was working very, very hard to maintain speed going uphill for a run I knew was going to be short. On the bright side, I could feel things starting to loosen up by mile 2, a little earlier than usual.

Or I could be deluding myself also.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:50 08:50 08:50 08:50 1.00
1.00 17:46 08:56 08:56 08:53 2.00
1.00 26:53 09:07 09:07 08:58 3.00
0.29 29:28 02:35 08:54 08:57 3.29

The best take on French philosophy ever

Having read Sartre's Huis Clos in my sophomore year of high school, I really appreciated the line at the end. Fucking awesome.

Heretics 'R Us

In Afghanistan, three years ago:
"You want my crucifix?" - a Marine, talking about his stand to hang his body armor and helmet
"Oh, fuck yeah." - me
"Isn‘t that contradictory, that combination?" - another one of my coworkers

SMBC strikes again!


Oh, fuck yeah.

7.78mi, 76:25 aggregate (13:56 ingress, 49:22 run, 13:07 return), 6 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Marilyn Manson, "The Beautiful People"

WX at 0700: 44.1 (6.7) DP 43.0 (6.1) BP 30 (1015) SSW 7 RH 95

Odometer 11A: 38.9mi

Z3 ingress, Z2 formation run, Z4 return.
Average/max heart rate = 147/176

Today was a Fort Leavenworth-wide formation run. It was of pedestrian pace, so I wasn't really concerned. I didn't want to try to find parking, nor did I want to screw with dodging pedestrian traffic on the way in, so I ran as a warmup to the slowest run I've done all year.

I'll credit today's iThink to one of my students, as we were discussing the same tired old tropes that get played every formation run, which include, but are not limited to:

Bill Conti's theme from Rocky
Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
AC/DC, "Thunderstruck"
2 Unlimited, "Are You Ready for This?"

So my student was mentioning Marilyn Manson, and he mentioned that song, which I found curiously apropos to my decidedly non-corporate Army mindset this morning. Gargantuan formation runs do that to me.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.56 13:56 13:56 08:56 08:56 1.56
1.00 24:48 10:52 10:52 09:41 2.56
1.00 34:52 10:04 10:04 09:48 3.56
1.00 45:22 10:30 10:30 09:57 4.56
1.00 56:03 10:41 10:41 10:05 5.56
0.71 63:18 07:15 10:13 10:06 6.27
1.51 76:25 13:07 08:41 09:49 7.78

3.54mi, 31:40, 5 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Michael Nyman, "The Heart Asks Pleasure First"

WX at 0700: 54.0 (12.2) DP 48.0 (8.9) BP 30.15 (1020) SW 8 light rain RH 80

Odometer 3: 214.0mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 158/171

I am somewhat dismayed at my lack of speed going uphill, but I think some of it is just the usual toughening that happens when a fatbody starts getting back into some kind of disciplined workout routine.

I was thinking about how much faster I used to be just five years ago, but I think some of that will come back when I have more time to devote to exercise rather than the fucking incessant grind that working on my doctorate sometimes is.

Pushups are ready. Situps need some work. Still, I guess I'm glad I can get back into sometime resembling form in a week or so.

Tomorrow will be a big-ass formation run of over 4 miles. It promises to be craptacular in a Keystone Kops kind of way.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:31 08:31 08:31 08:31 1.00
1.00 17:55 09:24 09:24 08:58 2.00
1.00 26:50 08:55 08:55 08:57 3.00
0.54 31:40 04:50 08:57 08:57 3.54

4.3mi, 39:05, 3 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: various sundry running cadences

WX at 0700: 36.0 (2.2) DP 28.9 (-1.7) BP 30.32 (1026) N 5 RH 75

Odometer 11A: 32.1mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 159/171

Pushups and situps are improving. Glad to know it takes about two weeks to get back into fighting trim - at least enough to get what I want out of the first two events of the PT test whenever I take it.

Run started out gritty as usual, but the weather was picture perfect. It doesn't get much better than this. I think I was warmed up just after the 3-mile mark, although the uphills seem more painful than usual lately.

My occasional syndrome of dead legs, particularly on uphills, seems to be at hand, although it is the first sustained period I've been back to exercising again.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:45 08:45 08:45 08:45 1.00
1.00 17:59 09:14 09:14 09:00 2.00
1.00 27:16 09:17 09:17 09:05 3.00
1.00 36:20 09:04 09:04 09:05 4.00
0.30 39:05 02:45 09:10 09:05 4.30

Yet another Downfall spoof

But all those variations on this scene from Downfall always make for good grist. This is about all I will comment on current events here, I suspect.

3.45mi, 33:03, 2 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Rush, "The Analog Kid"

WX at 0700: 39.9 (4.4) DP 28.0 (-2.2) BP 30.22 (1023) NE 3 RH 62

Odometer 3: 210.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 155/168.

Today was slow and shitty. I also woke up tired, after a curiously lucid dream that was about being back at Fort Hood, a place I thought I'd never return.

My sentiments of the royal wedding and of children's sleep habits are emblematic of an incipient Case of the Ass that seems to be flaring up periodically. Kind of like hemorrhoids, but much less painful. For me, at least.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:16 09:16 09:16 09:16 1.00
1.00 19:21 10:05 10:05 09:41 2.00
1.00 28:39 09:18 09:18 09:33 3.00
0.45 33:03 04:24 09:47 09:35 3.45

My Anglophilia has reasonable limits...

When asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how much interest I had in the royal wedding, my answer was always "zero."

The Coolest Thing Ever

I am so totally buying this book. I guess my inner Knight In Sour Armor is going in overdrive lately.

4.84mi, 43:03, 1 MAY 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Hüsker Dü, "New Day Rising" (from The Living End)

WX at 0900: 50.0 (10.0) 23.0 (-5.0) 30.11 (1019) N 14 RH 34

Odometer 11A: 27.8mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 158/180

Faster than usual, but I had a day off yesterday. Weather conditions were pretty good.

I was in an early Husker Du kind of mood. The live cut of "New Day Rising" off The Living End has a particularly evocative quality to it.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:05 09:05 09:05 09:05 1.00
1.00 18:48 09:43 09:43 09:24 2.00
1.00 27:18 08:30 08:30 09:06 3.00
1.00 35:50 08:32 08:32 08:58 4.00
0.84 43:03 07:13 08:35 08:54 4.84

4.78mi, 42:48, 29 APR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Husker Du, "New Day Rising"

WX at 0700: 50.0 (10.0) DP 39.9 (4.4) BP 29.91 (1012) E 13 RH 68

Odometer 11A: 22.9mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 162/179

I decided on a less punishing course today, but didn't count on my warmup being slower than usual. I didn't feel fully warmed up until about the 3.5mi mark, a little late by my standards. I felt fine afterwards, but I was working a lot harder to hold 9:00/mi going downhill until then, and on the way back, was closer to 8:30/mi on rolling hills afterwards. Slow day.

My pushups and situps are returning to what I consider acceptable levels. Got in 75 of each this morning, but I need to get up to at least 100 in each before I lay off. Should take about a week.

Snippets of Matthew Sweet's "We're The Same" sneaked in this morning, but I was in a Bob Mould kind of mood, so I ruthlessly suppressed it in favor of one of my favorite Husker Du songs EVER. Nothing warms my heart like a little controlled screaming.

Either that, or I needed an antidote to the royal wedding this morning. I still stand by my assertion that romance novels and porn are responsible for more heartbreak than anything else in the world.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:09 09:09 09:09 09:09 1.00
1.00 17:43 08:34 08:34 08:51 2.00
1.00 26:59 09:16 09:16 09:00 3.00
1.00 36:07 09:08 09:08 09:02 4.00
0.78 42:48 06:41 08:34 08:57 4.78

4.29mi, 39:11, 28 APR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Killers, "When You Were Young"
Anberlin, "Cold War Transmissions"

WX at 0700: 44.1 (6.7) DP 39.9 (4.4) BP 29.89 (1012) WSW 8 RH 85

Odometer 3: 206.9mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 163/180

The road to recovery continues. Today's run felt easier than others. I can chalk that up to my failure to set my alarm yesterday (resulting in a day of no workout), but also to the weather today, which is about as perfect running weather as it gets.

My other pair of shoes (Asics GT-2060 trail) is not quite broken in, I suspect - they sound markedly different than the ones I wore today (Asics GT-2040 trail)

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:18 09:18 09:18 09:18 1.00
1.00 19:24 10:06 10:06 09:42 2.00
1.00 27:59 08:35 08:35 09:20 3.00
1.00 36:40 08:41 08:41 09:10 4.00
0.29 39:11 02:31 08:41 09:08 4.29

My new dream house

On my signal, one , two, three, TURN.

4.89mi, 46:04, 26 APR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
FEAR, "Gimme Some Action"
Tiesto vs. Fannypack, "The So Stylistic Century"
Killing Zone, "All Along the Watchtower"

WX at 0600: 46.9 (8.3) DP 46.9 (8.3) BP 29.46 (997) W 13 light rain; mist RH 100

Odometer 11A: 18.1mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 164/181

Situps to start. No problem. Pushups, on the other hand, were abysmal. Out of gas from the start, so I think I might have gotten in about 20-25, and the rest were on the knees, sucking it out.

Today's run was supposed to be shorter, but wasn't. No matter, it was lots of hill work, which explains the massively elevated heartrate and the slower mile paces. I am assuming that this will have some benefit to run times since if I run speedwork in my current state I'll break myself first due to utter and complete lack of mileage base.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:34 09:34 09:34 09:34 1.00
1.00 19:57 10:23 10:23 09:58 2.00
1.00 28:56 08:59 08:59 09:39 3.00
1.00 37:54 08:58 08:58 09:28 4.00
0.89 46:04 08:10 09:11 09:25 4.89

Admit it. You know it's true.

another shout-out to SMBC.

4.72mi, 42:41, 25 APR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Legion of Doom, "Dangerous Business Since 1979"
Belle and Sebastian, "Like Dylan at the Movies"

WX at 0600: 51.1 (10.6) DP 46.9 (8.3) BP 29.79 (1008) NE 8 RH 85

Odometer 3: 202.6mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 163/180

First run in over two weeks. I suck so bad. The alternative is to suck worse later when it counts, so it's time to suck now later and take the pain.

I took a different route for no particularly good reason, but it was clear enough where I wanted to see a different perspective from the high ground. I paid for that ascent and actually stopped once, which is not encouraging.

Neither was my generalized lack of pushups and situps this morning. Time to work on it again.

The iThink reflected a war between two influences, emo, and Britpop respectively. When I was not sucking monkey balls, it was Britpop. When I was not feeling well and wanted to kill something, it was emo. Whee.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:41 08:41 08:41 08:41 1.00
1.00 18:19 09:38 09:38 09:09 2.00
1.00 27:18 08:59 08:59 09:06 3.00
1.00 36:23 09:05 09:05 09:06 4.00
0.72 42:41 06:18 08:45 09:03 4.72

Some thoughts on my birthday

That's why they were giving most of their commands orally. They were being transmitted to real crews of real ships who followed their orders and fought real battles. Any ship we lose, thought Bean, means that grown men and women have died. Any carelessness on our part takes lives. Yet they don't tell us that precisely because we can't afford to be burdened with that knowledge. In wartime, commanders have always had to learn the concept of "acceptable losses." But those who keep their humanity never really accept the idea of acceptability. Bean understood that. It gnaws at them.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Shadow

6.44mi, 59:16, 10 APR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
"Johnny Hopkins" (traditional fight song of the Johns Hopkins University)
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day"
Cheap Trick, "Mighty Wings"

WX at 0900: 75.0 (23.9) DP 64.0 (17.8) BP 29.56 (1001) SSW 23G31

Odometer 3: 197.9mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 164/182

I didn't run the last two days, mostly due to lack of time.

I got in a long one today that went down hard. Some of it was the temperature, which is much warmer than I'm used to; some of it is just being out of shape.

On the bright side, at least I burned some lard. I didn't walk the parts that I was really sucking going uphill, which I was tempted.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:59 08:59 08:59 08:59 1.00
1.00 17:59 09:00 09:00 09:00 2.00
1.00 27:02 09:03 09:03 09:01 3.00
1.00 36:25 09:23 09:23 09:06 4.00
1.00 45:55 09:30 09:30 09:11 5.00
1.00 55:17 09:22 09:22 09:13 6.00
0.44 59:16 03:59 09:03 09:12 6.44

Nuke the whales

You gotta nuke something.

For my combat engineer friends, always remember, P is for plenty. It's been a while since I've worked with MDI, but that rule works like a champ.

Some eternal truth

Another gem from the folks at SMBC. Right up there with a basic observation from the guys at XKCD.

4.32mi, 36:25, 6 APR 11, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

iThink: New Model Army, "Lurhstaap"

WX at 1800: 55.9 (13.3) DP 36.0 (2.2) BP 29.87 (1011) Variable 3 RH 46

Odometer 3: 191.5mi

Z4 high.
Average/max heart rate = 167/183

I didn't wake up early enough today, although I have to admit sleep has been somewhat hit or miss. Dare I say I think I miss my memory foam mattress. No kidding.

I got at it knowing I was going to have to move out smartly, so this turned into a hard start and by about 30 minutes in, it was time for a burner of a finish. I was fully warmed up or something like it because I was fully fired up on the last mile.

I went markedly faster today, but I think I attribute that to running in the afternoon, which I rarely do, but feel better when I do. Still, it was something I needed to do.

There's a certain aggression I associate with "Lurhstaap," one of the darker songs in NMA's repertoire, although I haven't been keeping up with their discography. I was quite the partisan NMA fan 20 years ago. The song still retains its vigor for me. Of course, I could say that same thing about The Cure's "A Forest" and I've been listening to that song since, oh, well, 1988. Yes, really.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:09 08:09 08:09 08:09 1.00
1.00 16:45 08:36 08:36 08:22 2.00
1.00 25:21 08:36 08:36 08:27 3.00
1.00 33:46 08:25 08:25 08:26 4.00
0.32 36:25 02:39 08:17 08:26 4.32

4.66mi, 40:55, 5 APR 11, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

iThink:
New Model Army, "Lurhstaap"
R.E.M., "Pretty Persuasion"
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day" (Daniel Kandi remix)

WX at 0600: 60.1 (15.6) DP 55.9 (13.3) BP 29.22 (989) Variable 3 light rain RH 86

Odometer 3: 187.1mi

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 166/184

At the Army War College for a conference, and this is the first run in a week. Literally. It was warm, and I sucked. Still, it's always nice to be back in Carlisle, where I've visited (professionally) on several occasions.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:24 08:24 08:24 08:24 1.00
1.00 17:19 08:55 08:55 08:39 2.00
1.00 26:13 08:54 08:54 08:44 3.00
1.00 35:06 08:53 08:53 08:47 4.00
0.66 40:55 05:49 08:49 08:47 4.66

A uniquely American military headgear!

As a lifetime member of the 7th Cavalry Association and 1st Cavalry Division Association, woot.

Too bad the implementation day is a small hint.

4.19mi, 35:39, 27 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Above and Beyond, "Can't Sleep"

WX at 0900: 32.0 (0.0) DP 21.9 (-5.6) BP 30.13 (1020) NE 14 RH 65

Odometer 11A: 13.2mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 168/182

Today wasn't going to be a hard run, but it became one because I had enough energy (and perhaps enough generalized ire) that I decided to go out there and hit it.

My general rule of thumb was not to average less than 9:00/mi, which is harder than it sounds, at least these days. When I look at some of the listings from 6-7 years ago, I realize I was a lot faster then, but I wasn't working on a doctorate then either. Maybe I'll practice better time management skills later.

I will carve out time on the weekends to watch lacrosse. Big kudos to my Johns Hopkins Blue Jays for upsetting Virginia - a game that I didn't expect them to win but have to give a hat tip after a tough third quarter and gritting it out for a win in the 4th quarter. We want more!

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:02 08:02 08:02 08:02 1.00
1.00 16:37 08:35 08:35 08:18 2.00
1.00 25:36 08:59 08:59 08:32 3.00
1.00 34:05 08:29 08:29 08:31 4.00
0.19 35:39 01:34 08:15 08:31 4.19

4.47mi, 38:27, 26 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day" (Daniel Kandi remix)
The Cure, "Disintegration"

WX at 0900: 36.0 (2.2) DP 28.0 (-2.2) BP 29.94 (1013) E 15 RH 72

Odometer 3: 182.5mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 154/178

First run in about a week or so. It's too long, but I have been too tired during the week to run and still try to get graduate school homework done.

I have almost culminated, midway through the semester. I know this is happening because I have to put away almost a liter of coffee any given day at work to keep going, and there are no release valves anywhere else. Bad indicator, but the campaign (so to speak) is not over until early May. It will be a long, shitty spring.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:01 08:01 08:01 08:01 1.00
1.00 16:40 08:39 08:39 08:20 2.00
1.00 25:46 09:06 09:06 08:35 3.00
1.00 34:29 08:43 08:43 08:37 4.00
0.47 38:27 03:58 08:26 08:36 4.47

Some thoughts on my anniversary

He didn't think about the creche much, but it wasn't that he'd had a bad time there. It was a lot like the army. Not great but mostly okay; and anyway you better get used to it because that was life was going to be until you died.

- David Drake, Redliners

2.41mi + 2,000m on Concept2 Model D, time, 22 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Journey, "Remember Me"
Hilary Duff, "Wake Up"

WX at 0600: 62.1 (16.7) DP 55.9 (13.3) BP 29.68 (1005) S 18 overcast RH 80

Odometer 3: 178.0mi equivalency

Z3 run, Z4-5 erg.
Average/max heart rate on run = 153/173
Max heart rate on erg = 180

I went to sleep earlier than most nights so I could get up and get something in.

I have lard to lose. I also saw an opportunity to get back on the Concept2 since I was back in a place that had several. Nothing long, just my 2,000 to get my physical therapy licks in, plus cable work.

I felt slow, though.

I have no mitigation for this morning's iThink.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.20 10:44 10:44 08:57 08:57 1.20
1.22 21:50 11:06 09:06 09:01 2.42

4.75mi, 44:11, 20 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Replacements, "Alex Chilton"
AC/DC, "Hell's Bells" (perfectly appropriate for a Sunday morning!)

WX at 0900: 57.0 (13.9) DP 53.1 (11.7) BP 29.95 (1014) S 21 RH 86

Odometer 3: 174.8

Z2-Z3.
Average/max heart rate = 147/171

I was rediscovering the joys of running slowly, and concentrating on keeping training heart rate down to a reasonable level, rather than going purely for time. This is probably prudent given how little training I've actually done and my notion of easy day has too recently been "do nothing but eat." Hard days turn into "kill self until end of workout."

I was also a little circumspect about going hard because my right ankle has been driving me bat shit crazy the last two days.

First 1.23 was prior to going to the gym and getting in some somewhat overdue cable work for physical therapy as well.

The AC/DC was triggered by hearing bells this morning. Church bells. Yay.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.23 10:43 10:43 08:43 08:43 1.23
1.00 19:57 09:14 09:14 08:57 2.23
1.00 29:49 09:52 09:52 09:14 3.23
1.00 39:25 09:36 09:36 09:19 4.23
0.52 44:11 04:46 09:10 09:18 4.75

3.88mi, 48:12, 15 MAR 11, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia

iThink:
Chicane, "Autumn Tactics" (End of Summer remix)
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day"

WX at 2000: 46.9 (8.3) DP 37.9 (3.3) BP 30.32 (1026) SE 13 RH 71

Odometer 11A: 9.0mi

Z3 high/Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 156/180

I won't get around to this tomorrow, so getting my licks in while I still can.

I deliberately didn't run this hard, but all the uphills were still pretty hard. I walked when I thought I was going to redline. I felt fine, though, otherwise.

Hell no, there won't be any splits on this listing either.

4.66mi, 54:54, 14 MAR 11, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia

iThink: Chicane, "Autumn Tactics" (End of Summer remix)

WX at 1900: 48.9 (9.4) DP 28.0 (-2.2) BP 30.36 (1028) Calm RH 44

Odometer 11A: 5.0mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 159/179

I got new ASICS GT-2160 trail shoes, which certainly feel nice and I'm sure my knees won't hurt like hell like my previous shoes which were going on two years old. I was loath to replace them, but I also realize I don't run anywhere near as much as I used to, so maybe alternating shoes maybe isn't such a great idea until I start running more.

Still, I wanted to run trails, and there's a great trail network at Quantico, which completely ran me ragged. I was running by myself and realized two things:

1 - I miss trail running - few opportunities to do it and it is a reminder of when I was younger, faster, and leaner.
2 - I'm not so proud as to kill myself trying to get uphill in some places. When I feel like I'm redlining, it's time to walk. Maybe I'll feel froggier, but not today, not the first time exercising in literally an ENTIRE WEEK.

Discrepancy is guesstimate since I ran most of one of the trail segments with the timer off. I don't know how long it was, but I know I was out for more than an hour.

That said, I can feel my ankle throbbing, so it's time for the nightly constitutional, otherwise known as Celebrex.

Arthritis at the advanced age of 37, awesome. Better living through chemicals, hoorah, kill.

Hell no, I'm not recording splits from this one. Not with over a total of 3,000 feet in elevation change in this run.

4.0mi, 37:01, 7 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
The Bats, "Courage"
The Cure, "In Between Days"

WX at 0600: 35.1 (1.7) DP 30.0 (-1.1) BP 30.01 (1016) ESE 8 RH 81

Odometer 3: 170.0mi equivalency

Z3 high.
Average/max heart rate = 160/177

I guess I haven't worn these pair of shoes for a run since December, not counting the 50 minutes of elliptimiles last week.

My legs were beat hard after yesterday's run - to go from 0 to over 5 miles at a stretch is doable but I suspected I was going to feel it - and today was the feeling it part.

It wasn't going to be easy.

I also have no idea what made me think of that song by the Cure - not one I have beat to death (unlike "A Forest," "Primary," or "Disintegration"), and not on an album I consider one of my favorites. Strange.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:51 08:51 08:51 08:51 1.00
1.00 18:21 09:30 09:30 09:11 2.00
1.00 27:41 09:20 09:20 09:14 3.00
1.00 37:01 09:20 09:20 09:15 4.00

5.78mi, 50:30, 6 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day" (Daniel Kandi remix)

WX at 0900: 28.0 (-2.2) DP 24.1 (-4.4) BP 30.26 (1024) ESE 9 RH 85

Odometer 2: 311.8mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 166/179

Time to retire a pair of shoes. These are so squashed that I could feel the knee pain that was going to follow. I was still going to get in a long run, so I did.

That might have something to do with the nagging knee pain lately. Duh.

Slow, not fast, but I needed it.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:19 08:19 08:19 08:19 1.00
1.00 17:04 08:45 08:45 08:32 2.00
1.00 25:46 08:42 08:42 08:35 3.00
1.00 34:41 08:55 08:55 08:40 4.00
1.00 43:46 09:05 09:05 08:45 5.00
0.78 50:30 06:44 08:38 08:44 5.78

Woot

One of my unrepentant musical pleasures in my younger days was disappear fear, a folk band from Baltimore. Sonia Rutstein, with whom I had a brief correspondence whilst in college, mentioned Phil Ochs as one of her influences, certainly musically, and I'd warrant socially as well.

While most people don't associate Phil Ochs with a former armored cavalryman and paratrooper, I guess that's a side I don't indulge much.

So...I gotta go see the movie.

3.55mi, 31:45, 1 MAR 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day" (Daniel Kandi remix)

WX at 0700: 33.1 (0.6) DP 24.1 (-4.4) BP 30.12 (1019) S 16 RH 69

Odometer 2: 306.0mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 154/180

Back to my old bad habits of working out once every 4 or 5 days. This will not abide...

1.22mi in, cable work, and extended run back. The longer run helps, especially since I've been taking on extra lard lately that I need to burn off.

That means I need to do more exercise than I have lately, which has been almost none.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.22 10:55 10:55 08:57 08:57 1.22
1.00 19:43 08:48 08:48 08:53 2.22
1.00 28:54 09:11 09:11 08:59 3.22
0.33 31:45 02:51 08:38 08:57 3.55

Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.

Awesome.

2.41mi, 20:43, 24 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink:
Gunther and Samantha Fox, "Touch Me"
The Bee Gees, "How Deep is Your Love" (yes.)

WX at 0700: 33.1 (0.6) DP 30.0 (-1.1) BP 29.98 (1015) NE 15 RH 88

Odometer 2: 302.4mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 162/176

Before I draw the inevitable face shot for having the Bee Gees in my head, I need to preface it by saying it was because of a death metal cover of "How Deep Is your Love" in the back of my mind as I was running back from the gym. Death metal makes disco far more palatable. Really.

Got a later start, but I was up late revising a manuscript. I need to force myself to go to sleep earlier.

I am getting faster to and from the gym, but part of that is because I didn't get on the erg this morning.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.20 10:23 10:23 08:39 08:39 1.20
1.21 20:43 10:20 08:32 08:36 2.41

2.38mi + 2,000m on Concept2 Model D, 21:47 + 8:27, 23 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Above and Beyond, "On A Good Day" (Daniel Kandi remix)

WX at 0700: 39.0 (3.9) DP 28.0 (-2.2) BP 29.95 (1014) SE 14 RH 64

Odometer 2: 300.0mi equivalency

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

I had to force myself to get out there this morning. It was rewarding but it still sucks monkey balls to try to wake up on five hours of sleep.

Still, I need to get out there. So there.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.17 10:10 10:10 08:41 08:41 1.17
1.21 21:47 11:37 09:36 09:09 2.38

Distance: 2000
Time: 00:08:27
Avg/500m: 02:07
Drag Factor: 112
Per Mile: 00:06:48

4.4mi, 39:10, 20 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: The Killers, "When You Were Young"

WX at 1000: 61.0 (16.1) DP 54.0 (12.2) BP 29.63 (1003) S 23 RH 78

Odometer 2: 288.4mi

Z4.
Average/max heart rate = 158/185

I slept in, then went later. No erg as the building housing the Concepts is closed until Monday.

First 1.18 was to get to the gym, get cable work in and some mid-rows, and then back out to the road.

The wind was breezy, though. Great when tail wind, not so great when headwind.

I was looking at listings from 5 years ago and realize I was a lot faster when I was younger. Blinding Flash of the Obvious.

Heart rate was ridiculously high today. Not sure why.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.18 10:08 10:08 08:35 08:35 1.18
1.00 19:04 08:56 08:56 08:45 2.18
1.00 28:19 09:15 09:15 08:54 3.18
1.00 37:13 08:54 08:54 08:54 4.18
0.23 39:10 01:57 08:29 08:53 4.41

Big titanium alloy balls

Landing a Viper with no engine. Note the deadpan delivery throughout. This is a textbook case of a Crowning Moment of Awesome, to include the timing of when the Viper driver dropped his external tanks - ensuring it landed in an empty backyard.

Credit to Fighter Pilot University for this one.

2.38mi + 2,000m on Concept2 Model D, 19:41 + 8:31.4, 18 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, "The Girl from Ipanema"

WX at 0900: 43.0 (6.1) DP 30.0 (-1.1) BP 30.24 (1024) NNE 10 RH 60

Odometer 2: 284.0mi equivalency

Z4 ingress, Z4 erg, Z3 egress.
Average/max heart rate = 166/180 run only

First workout in about two weeks. I slept in because I am tired, all the time. Not for any good reason.

I also needed to get back on my physical therapy exercises because it's been too long and my upper back was flaring up this past week. Erg first, then cable work.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.20 09:53 09:53 08:14 08:14 1.20
1.18 19:41 09:48 08:18 08:16 2.38

Distance: 2000
Time: 00:08:31
Avg/500m: 02:08
Drag Factor: 115
Per Mile: 00:06:51

How I feel about St. Valentine's Day

Just about says it all.

The Coolest Thing Ever

Zach Weiner draws one of my favorite web comics in the form of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. (As you may guess, I also read XKCD too.) Weiner also has one hell of a snarky sense of humor.

Also see Phil Plait's take on it.

Oh, and by the way, NOM NOM NOM...

2.4mi, time indeterminate, 4 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Ke$ha, "Tik Tok"

WX at 0700: 5.0 (-15.0) -2.9 (-19.4) 30.22 (1023) SSW 10 RH 69 WC -9 (-23)

Odometer 2: 280.4mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

I SO almost slept in. Then I found out there'll be flurries tonight. I'll sleep in tomorrow. Short run, then physical therapy work. Yay.

I am embarrassed to think I had a Ke$ha song stuck in my head. Before that, I was thinking of Jeremiah Weed, and realized that "wake up in the morning with a bottle of Weed" doesn't quite work.

No Splits. I'm wearing so much snivel gear (for a -9 wind chill) that clocking the run in is kind of irrelevant.

Feel the Force.

I'll never buy a VW again after my experience with my Passat years ago, but I gotta admit this commercial is catchy.

2.4mi + 30min elliptical, no time reading, 3 FEB 11, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

iThink: Tiesto vs. Fannypack - The So Stylistic Century (dig it.)

WX at 0700: -9.0 (-22.8) DP -11.9 (-24.4) BP 30.57 (1035) SSW 8 RH 86 WC -25(-31)

Odometer 2: 278.0mi

Z3.
Average/max heart rate = no reading

To reiterate my previous post this morning: Frak. It's. Cold.

I needed to get at it, so I did. After putting a few layers on.

Timing the run in would be meaningless given how much snivel gear I was carrying - although I was hoofing it on the way back. Of course, it was cold as hell. The Ninth Layer of Hell.

No Splits.

Frak. It's. Cold.