No title..

The happy inchworm

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Overheard at work today:

"I thought you were giving me a wide berth", said one woman.

"Hey, I haven't heard that expression, for a while," said another. "It used to be one of my mother's favourites".

That's when I piped up. "Well I'd rather have a wide berth, than a wide girth!" I said. 

Then after ten minutes, long after the joke was over and, always a bit behind the mark, I was compelled to share another.  "I know who I would give a wide berth to," I said to Virginia, one of the admin staff. "Who?" she asked.  "A woman in labour having a wide birth!" I said. 

Oh yes, I crack me up sometimes.  Have my own little one-person private parties. 

Then there was this tiny little inch-worm, barely a millimeter long, wending its way along a policy paper I was reading.  Easily distracted, I paused to study it, getting my eyeballs right close to it since it was so hard to see.  It seemed so lost, as it went three or four "steps" one way, stopped to crane it's neck as if to sense a better direction on the vast plane of paper whiteness in which to travel, turned,  went another three or four paces and repeated. 

I knew that if I turned the page, it was certain death for the little critter, so I allowed it to traipse its way onto a 3 X 3 inch yellow sticky note, where I continued to observe its movements for a while.  That sticky note was surely the equivalent of a quarter section of land for us humans, all yellow and flat.  Hardly a place for a self-respecting inch-worm, so I took pity on it and put it outside on our office deck. 

So, like that inchworm on a vast flat plane, lost and brushed away by a thoughtless hand, I did an hour and a half of easy running with breathing exercises included.    Talked to Doug K and his friend for a bit, then was on my way again.   Had a tiny bit of a scratchy throat after a couple of poor night's sleep, and hope to make it all better tonight.

Tomorrow: possibly a run in the morning or at lunch, and a ride in the evening.  Upcoming tales of interest: fascinating article on the language of the Piraha people along the Amazon; thoughts on the Massey lectures on CBC's Ideas - the AIDS epidemic in Africa. 
_______________

"Little fly, thy summers play
My thoughtless hand has brushed away

Am not I a fly like thee,
Or art not thou a man like me?
For I dance and drink and sing
Till some blind hand shall brush my wing.

If thought is life and strength and breath
And the want of thought is death,
Than am not I a happy fly,
If I live, or if I die?"

William Blake

Peak or body bag?

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Legs felt quite good on an easy 1hr 20min ride up the waterfront and back in through UVic and to the waterfront again.  I managed about 20mins of breathing exercises until I crossed paths with Brett B along the way; he turned my way after finishing 10mins of motorpacing behind a truck at 50km/hr and was heading to Mt. Tolmie for hill repeats. 

My legs felt so good - I had to restrain the temptation to go harder than planned. My recovery right now is probably better than it's ever been for the running/cycling combination, due I think to a very good running base to begin the season (in spite of some flatness in the running department as a result) and gradually introducing more riding over late January through February.  So far I'm on track for a peak in May if I don't end up in a body bag first.

On another note, I've located a few very helpful relatively recent papers on sports as complex dynamical systems, which are extremely helpful for my presentation.  I can now competently show that the full range of sports, from endurance sports to team sports to "dyadic" sports (1 on 1 like tennis or squash) exhibit self-organizing dynamics without me having to come up with my own more speculative arguments, especially regarding team sports and dyadic sports.   Prior to finding these papers, I would have been comfortable with arguing for the complex dynamics in endurance sports, but my arguments would have been more weakly supported for team and dyadic sports.  Now that I have that support, it will be easier to extend the discussion into the "philosophical" realm to argue that one of the purposes of sport is for competitors to participate in microcosms, or compressed versions, of natural complex systems; that humans possess an inherent appreciation of universal complex dynamics and seek to replicate them in sport systems.

Lunch of prehistory

Monday March 27, 2006

Legs were rather heavy today, as expected.  Walking to work lacked the usual vigor; even jogging across the street when the light turned yellow was a chore. 

I've often found it interesting how one day we ("athletes") can be in the, say, top one percent of the population in terms of fitness, and the next we are obliterated and hobble around somewhere in the bottom one percent of the population in terms of capacity to, say, escape a predator if we had to!  Especially if you'd just run a marathon - the day of the marathon you might be the last among your non-marathoner friends to picked off by the sabre-toothed tiger, but the day after you'd be the first.

This leads me to believe that the concept of survival of the fittest in evolution is a poor description of what happens - it's more aptly described as survival of the medium fit, since the "fittest" may be super fit one day and, after overdoing their efforts on another day, are sore and stiff the next day  and are picked off by sabre-tooth, while the ones that went a medium pace both days avoided being lunch for sabre-tooth.  Lots of room for arguing the point on a number of fronts, I see, and I won't delve into the nuances!

Nonetheless, I also got into the gym for some light upper-body weights and a reasonably good stretching/massage session in the sauna.

Back on the belt

Sunday March 25, 2006

It was a tough day in the saddle.  There was definitely some weakness in my legs after yesterday's effort, but I decided there was at least enough strength to finish the race out at Mt Newton Heights.  The course is near the Panorama Leisure centre, and I rode out to the course with a nice tail wind to buffet me along.

The race is known as the "hilly crit" and for the A group it was 20 laps on the endless conveyor belt of pain, and for the B group it was 15 laps on the belt.  The loop is about 2.5km long and features about 500m of climbing up what feels like a wall - steepest part about 12% and probably average about 10%. Guys use it as an opportunity to attack, so it's often all out from the bottom to the top - if you leave a gap anywhere along the way up the climb it is a heinous struggle to get back on during the descent on your own.  You might claw back on a couple of laps, but if you keep leaving a gap on the climb it's not long before you're off the back.

There were about 25 in the A race, and about 15-20 in the B race. Graham Cocksedge was out for the B race along with Kelly Guest and other triathletes.  The A race consists of licensed Category 1, 2,3 riders, Mtn Bikers and proven multi-sport riders.  B race is Cat 4, 5 riders and novices.  Graham hasn't done much bike racing and was told he needed to ride the B group to show he was capable of the bike skills and had the strength to compete in the A race.  That wasn't a problem, since he won the B race with Kelly Guest just behind him.  So onward and upward for Graham.

In the A race, the pace began moderately and, with 17 to go, I took a flyer, actually hoping to take someone with me.  When I opened up a small gap on my own, I decided that despite the suicidal nature of such an early attack, I might as well go for it and see how long I could last.  I lasted a mere three laps on my own until Andrew Kyle (mtn biker and winner last week) and another guy caught me and proceeded to pass me on the climb and there wasn't much I could do about it.  A few seconds later the rest of the group caught me and from that point on it was a situation where all I could do was to hang on as best I could. 

Bruce Schlatter took a couple of flyers to catch the two up front, but was unable to bridge and was caught.  With about 4 to go, a small split occurred and about 6 guys put 5 seconds or so on the next group that I was in.  On the final lap, when no one wanted to pull, I took the last pull to the base of the hill - by then I had nothing left to give and they all passed me while I rode up the last climb at the back of my group and ended up 16th.  No shortage of fast fit guys around - many I've never seen before. Our club was rather under-represented - I think I was the only one of the few to finish the A race (Brett had a flat), with a couple that finished the B group.

I rode back with Graham, Kelly, Pat Nesbitt and another fellow whose name I didn't get, taking an excursion back by Sidney and home.  Total mileage - something around 100k or so.

Sometime after a nap and some lunch,  I decided to force my tired butt out the door for my planned mile-repeats.  Questioning my sanity, I remembered the many bike stages races that have two stages in one day - sometimes a road race in the morning and criterium in the evening, or a TT in the morning and a criterium later.  You always feel completely bagged and even wonder if you can do the second stage of the day, but once you begin you discover you can push your body in ways you might not have dreamed possible. 

So with that in mind, it was on with the running shoes and down to Beacon Hill.  There I did 3 X 1 mile with 1 mile jogs between.  I actually felt great during the intervals. Times were: 5.21, 5.07, and 5.09.  Total mileage about 15km.

Legs feel pretty tight at the moment and the plan is for a couple of very easy days followed by longer easier stuff with possibly some quickish sub-tempo type stuff later in the week for both cycling and runing, but few or no high-intensity efforts until the following week.

Song of the Humpback Whale

March 25, 2006

I began the day early with a 20km run around the lakes, beginning my run at just before 7:00am. In crisp air but with a bright sun beaming, the rowers were already on the lakes, perhaps nearly done when I swung around to the boathouse to see them on the water. Of rowing fame was Silken Laumann too, doing a sort of speed walk with her dog.  I passed her three times; the third time she had stopped and was chatting with a group of women runners, one of whom was Lori Bowden.

I managed my breathing exercises for a good portion of the run; tried a few alternative exercises that included brief accelerations at the point of greatest discomfort and lack of oxygen, as well as brief accelerations immediately after beginning my breaths-in; and a few that overlapped the peak discomfort period and the first breaths-in.  Very painful. 

After two laps and just over 1.5 hours, I zipped home in time to get my bike out and join the group ride for 3 hours out to Lands End and back.  There were about 12 of us.  Since many are racing the "hilly criterium" tomorrow, including me, the plan was to not go too hard, but to throw a few efforts in.  The "hilly crit" is the hardest of the courses for the club series races.  More about that tomorrow.

Coming back along the highway from Lands End road, Bob C. accelerated the pace and we maintained a higher speed through Sidney, but shut it down to wait for a few stragglers shortly thereafter.  Back along Lochside Drive we took a jaunt up Claremont road, which is painful at the best of times. It wasn't initially my intention to go hard, but when Jaime and Ezra accelerated up the climb, my competitive juices overwhelmed all reason and restraint, and I passed them both to take my hill-climbing brownie points for the day.

In saying that, I'm reminded of what one of my first cycling mentors, Joe Zombor said.  Joe was originally from Hungary and he, with his wife Cathy, owned the VeloCity cycling shop in Edmonton, the home base for my first racing club.  Joe, who limped around the store but could still ride up a storm in his 50's, lost the ability to walk properly after surgery, for which he had the choice between being able to walk properly, but not ride properly, or being able to ride, but not walk.  He always said that given the choice he would rather ride than walk.  In any event, when I first began cycling, Joe said to me more than once, "brownie points mean nothing, Hugh.  You can take as many as you want, but the only thing that matters is where you are at the end of the race." 

Even so, cyclists frequently have fantastic egos and brownie points sometimes count for a heck of a lot, especially in training!

So with a total training day of about 4.5 hours, I feel a bit knackered, and will no doubt suffer the consequences in the race tomorrow, but it's only a club race and will simply be very good training. If my body is up for it, I'd like to do some running intervals after the race, later in the day.

On another note altogether, below is an article that discusses recent confirmation scientists have made for the language capacity of Humpack Whales, first suggested in the 70's, apparently.  Recently I watched a DVD episode of Cosmos with Carl Sagan, who provided his own renditions (very good ones I thought!) of whale songs and some of their subtleties.  Sagan was a masterful purveyor of science in a manner understandable in layperson's terms and there was no hint of self-consciousness in his portrayal of whale songs.  Never afraid to inject some subjective opinion here and there among the otherwise objective science, Sagan lamented for the interference that the noise of human shipping vessels has created for what was once an exchange of whale songs across thousands of miles of uncluttered oceans.


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8886--whale-song-reveals-sophisticated-language-skills.html

No title today

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Track workout at Oak Bay today consisted of 6 x 800m with 400 between.  Times fell significantly with each one:  2:36, 2:31, 2:29,  2:26, 2:23, 2:21 (!).  The last one equals my PB set in 1994.  I've never actually done a single 800m flat out, but that equals my PB during intervals.  It was nice to feel that good. Total about 13km.  Saw Bruce D with his kids group, but no fast trackies today.

After returning home, I hopped the bike for slightly over an hour that consisted mostly of spinning, but I threw in one 10min time-trial and two hard efforts up Mt. Tolmie.  No breathing exercises during the workout, though I did do some on the way to work this morning. Interesting that my system felt quite sensitive after my HI session yesterday, including upper lungs and throat.  Even during my running intervals I noticed a bit of wheezing that I don't usually experience. 

After a visit to the drugstore, I've also replenished my vitamin stores, including cal/mag which I haven't taken for a while and my favourite liquid vits, Maltevol.

Learned that Kyle Marcotte was 15th in a half ironman in California with whole slew of fast pros, after training through a sucky Calgary winter.

Definitely feeling tired now. 

Interesting article, below, suggesting the benefits of exercise for babies in the womb, "Mum's exercise boosts baby's brain".  Claire and Andrew's baby, Marina, might just be Einstein II, given all the running she did while pregnant.

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060306/pf/060306-6_pf.html

The heights of HI

Wednesday March 22, 2006

So, on my second day of hypoxic inducement breathing exercises, done during a 1 hr 20 min easy run , twice 'round Beacon Hill, then up the waterfront to Oak Bay and back in from there, I noticed an interesting state of perma-whiteness in my peripheral vision for the better part of an hour while I was HI (hypoxically induced).  Near the end of the session my throat was even getting a bit raw from the harshness of my inspiratory breaths after being HI.  Interesting numbing sensation too within the leg muscles.  It was great to have my peripheral vision back too when I finally came down from being HI (ok, I've milked that one for all it's worth, I think!).

And no, I don't think it is a very common form of training - I really know of no one else who has done it regularly.  I think if it does nothing else, it certainly trains "belly breathing", which I know Kyle Marcotte (7th Ironman Canada and Florida) advocates, especially in the second run of a duathlon, and which I too have noticed is important coming off the bike transition to the second run.  It stands to reason, though, that it also stimulates some sort of acclimation response (ie. production of EPO in the body), but I don't have any real evidence of that.

On another note altogether, in reading a book called Deep Simplicity by John Gribbin about chaos/complexity theory, I read again about the ubiquitous occurrences of 1/f noise in nature (large number of small occurrences of some event over a small number of large occurrences).  It occurs to me there is a very simple example of this in team sports: the passing of a ball or puck.  There are bound to be a large number of very short passes compared with a small number of long passes.  Very easy to count and measure - I suspect it is easy to show how this universal phenomenon also occurs in even an arbitrarily constrained system like a soccer or hockey game: a very tidy example of complexity in a team sport.  More fuel for my presentation.

inducing hypoxia

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I was tempted to do no training at all today, since there remains some deep fatigue from the weekend.  But knowing the importance of consistency, even if the effort is gentle, I dragged my bike out from the trunk of my car from where it has not moved since Sunday. I hopped on for about an 1.25 hours of mostly easy spinning.  There is a time to take days off entirely, but for me that time isn't now. 

Before work this morning I took a peek at a couple of articles about the effects of hypoxia (low oxygen) and how it stimulates the production of erythropoietin in the body, which in turn facilitates production of red blood cells.  These reminded me of breathing exercises I have done for various stretches of time over the years.  It may be a coincidence and due to other factors, but I did these exercises consistently leading up to my 2:31 marathon PB in 1994; as well as during my best cycling year when I was 4th overall in the BC Cup road series standings - the same year I won two BC Masters Cycling Provincial championships.  I also did the exercises with some consistency leading to a very good running season last year, but I have not done them at all yet this year.  Of course I can't remember if I did them or not for all those years of bad results!

In any event, I've decided I will begin a regular routine again of incorporating exercises in which I breath out until my lungs are entirely empty (or as close to it as possible), and hold that state for as long as possible before breathing in.  20 minutes a session seems good, along with basically any chance I get during the day while walking.  The exercise is particular good to do, it seems, when doing an easy training effort. 

So, on my ride today I did them as much as possible, for my first session this year.  I decided to try them also while the legs were under a bit more stress as well - by doing two jaunts up Mt. Tolmie doing the breathing exercises both times.  A very tough anaerobic workout without actually exerting a high muscular power output. 

I remember friend Maurice Torano many years ago telling me that professional Italian cyclists would do similar exercies while on long mountain climbing training sessions.

Whatever the case, I don't think they hurt aside from being rather painful in and of themselves and, if taken to an extreme, very nearly result in blackouts and collapsing on the road - not a good thing, especially while on a bike!

Cat, old soul

Monday, March 20, 2006

So, March 20 is apparently the first day of spring now, due, in simplest terms possible, to a counting adjustment, as I understand it anyway. 

My favourite neighbourhood cat greeted me today, marking perhaps the highlight of this first day of spring, because it has been a long time since this particular cat has come trotting out to greet me as I pass by its dwelling place, and in the interim I truly came to miss it doing so.

But today it literally came bounding toward me in a way that is unusual for cats, at least in my experience of them.  I almost thought it was going to leap into my arms, as though it was a lover in a past life finally come home to me again, at long last; as though even in its current shape as a cat it somehow recognized me over centuries of absence.   As odd as I'm certain it must sound, I told it how much I had missed it.  True too, I look to see if it's there every time I pass by.

On another note, my half-marathon yesterday was better than expected.  Initially I thought 1:15 was realistic given my record so far this year.  I held back from going out too hard and felt comfortable through 5km in 16:57, while  Dave Matte, Mark Cryderman and Royd Burkhart took it out much faster - they were through in about 16:30 (Finlayson and Southwell were too far ahead to worry about).  Had I gone out that fast, I'm sure I would have blown shortly thereafter and really struggled through the rest.  I managed to catch Royd at about the half way point; he I ran together all the way back, while admittedly I spent much of the time tucked in behind him while he broke through the headwind. 

When Royd pushed hard in the last 400m, he opened a gap that I thought I couldn't close, until I decided to give it everything I had.  When I started to kick it helped absolutely to hear Ron Bowker shout from the side "quick arms, Hughie!"  It truly made the difference, since the instant I started pumping my arms as he suggested I accelerated and managed to catch and pass Royd.  Ordinarily I'm not particularly concerned about trying to outsprint someone at the line, especially if they've done more work than me into the wind and there isn't much at stake, but this time it was really a test of what I had in me.  I actually surprised myself that I had that sort of finishing speed.  For Royd that was a PB.

I thought my legs would pay the price for that final effort, but shortly thereafter I pulled the bike  from the car, hopping on for about 1:15min (about 35km); my legs felt quite good. 
Some of the countryside around Comox reminded me of my travels through France in 2002 after competing in the Zofingen Duathlon in Switzerland.  Some of the narrow paved roads through villages and farmyards with massive heiffers close by could comfortably have been transplanted 5000 miles away.

Today I did some light upper body weights and some stretching in the sauna.  I think this time my legs feel worse after the sauna than they did before going in, but I do get the feeling the stretching in those very warm conditions will speed my recovery.

Speaking of bells

Saturday, March 18, 2006

I am soon to crowd the space beneath my sheets with my curling presence, but before my feet shuffle beneath my weight to carry me there with eyes half-closed, I have felt compelled to remark on one "bell" of literature that I am sometimes reminded of.

"No one is an island; all are part of the main
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee..."

The notion of human connectedness underlies John Donne's words from a famous sermon of his.

Hmm, unfortunately, I had more to say, and there was something about an easy 8km run and helping Leann to prune some trees, but my eyes are nearly 3/4 closed.  When they are that much closed, there is no more room for the optimist to declare they are but 1/4 open: let them close completely; there will be time enough for opening tomorrow.

Oranges and lemons, said the bells

Friday, March 17, 2006

Best to wear orange on St. Paddy's day...oops... a not-PC statement to stir up some trouble...20 lashes of self-flagellation on left eye-ball with wet noodle; 20 lashes of self-flagellation on right eyeball shortly thereafter to ensure binocular damage. ...Ok, noodle in hand, here we go, let's hope it's temporary...

Notable occurrences:

1) with some self-techiefied moves of near brilliance I managed finally to get all speakers up and running;

2) chatted with Robbie from work at gym about women, life while riding exercise bike for 1/2 hour - his bum knee is finally heeling, but he said it felt better while running on treadmill;

3) after stretching in sauna I felt very sleepy, but legs loved it;

4) still feel sleepy, but have following vids to review for useful segments appropriate for presentation: Winged Migration; March of the Penguins; 2004 Tour de France; 2004 Giro d'Italia. Will seek permission to reproduce short segments.

5) Cousin Lois in England already has itinerary set; may have to negotiate...

Altogether now...

Thursday March 16, 2006

Unusually, I needed to work until 6:00 this evening, facing my first near-crisis in my new temporary position.  Not really much of a crisis, but crap flows downhill and when the Minister's office starts getting anxious, everyone pays.  Fortunately, with no training in the plans today, it felt like a small sacrifice.

Met up with yoga folks for dinner later, and spent some time working on a common "cyclist
peloton/ penguin huddle" formula that describes some of the "rotation" dynamics in both systems.

This is not as strange as it may seem, since penguins lose heat faster while on the outside of a huddle and more slowly on the inside - just as cyclists use energy faster at the
front of a peloton compared to when they are drafting inside a peloton.  I'm looking for a simple formula describing changes in cyclist and penguin positions from the outside to
the inside - two equivalent processes, as I see them.  I've sent some ideas to the author of a journal article "Energy savings in penguin huddles" - hopefully he will offer some insights that will help me.

Ultimately, I want to mention in my presentation some basic universal
principles as between certain sporting events and naturally occurring
complex systems.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it

Wednesday March 15, 2006

After a half hour warmup or so, Cliff and I did 3 X Beacon Hill (1 mile), with 2 half laps to finish up.  We deliberately chose to take the first one comfortably and lift the pace for the next ones.  So it was 5:46 for the first, 5:11 and, deciding that was a bit quicker than we wanted we knocked it back a bit, but still did 5:15 for the third loop.  We put away the watch for the last two half laps, but they were quick and the second of those two we were just short of a full sprint in the last 200m. Total distance approximately 10 miles.

We saw Brad Cunningham in one of the parking lots in Beacon Hill park leading a Frontrunners clinic of about 30 women and 3 men, telling them all how great their form was as they ran by him doing drills.  Now that just has to be one heck of a tough job to volunteer for!  Life can sometimes be so cruel!

My plan is now to take tomorrow off entirely from training, with a couple of easy days leading to the Comox half - possibly a gentle spin on the bike on Friday and about 8km super easily with some strides on Saturday.   I have no confidence that I can run faster than 1:15something for the half, but stranger things have happened, so we'll see.

Emerging geometries

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Cliff kept me in stitches for the better part of the 1 hour 45 min easy run we did up and down the water front.  Never too much need for me to do ab exercises after running with Cliff, since I usually tend to twist my gut up enough in laughter.   Except near the end that is, when he asked me how my legs were and I replied "starting to feel a bit tight and sore", not to mention I was just starting to feel plain tired and a little low on the blood sugar - so, yes, right about then the laughter stopped.  

The plan is to do intervals tomorrow, as it seemed to make sense to do another longish easy day. 

At about 4:00 in the morning last night I awoke with numerous ideas about my pending conference presentation buzzing about in my mind.   I am now confident I can make a really interesting presentation out of this.  Some things will be required such as short video clips of various physical/biological dynamic processes to compare them with the dynamics of specific race/game formations.  It has also occurred to me that as much as I originally thought that a game like baseball lacked self-organizing processes and that players' physical positions were driven by a large body of pre-set rules (counter to the self-organizing strategies of a game like soccer evolving over decades from a simple set of game rules) -- I now see that there are interesting self-organized dynamics that emerge by the movement of the baseball itself when it is thrown in a patterned sequence from hand to hand in order to catch someone out.  So it is not the positions of the players that is so much interesting as it is the geometric patterns that arise by the movement of the ball in a sequence of re-directed lines as it travels from player to player. These formations are short-lived, but they are there (at least so I think at this point). Anyway, one more concept worth developing for my presentation, and I suddenly have more respect for baseball (!).

If a runner...

Monday March 13, 2006

...sets a PB while running in the forest but there's no one there to see it, did it actually happen?

That's my philosophical conundrum for the day, inspired by a recent conversation...

I ran for a shade over an hour easily. Legs felt tight, but are feeling better and better as the evening progresses and I think I'll be up for some tempo intervals with Cliff tomorrow.

On the subject of philosophy, here are some presentation titles for the Philosophy of Sport conference in May at which I will also be presenting, which look particularly interesting to me:

    Doping under medical control: conceptually possible but impossible in the world of professional         sports?  Professor Soren Holm,  Professorial Fellow in Bioethics, Cardiff Law School
    Cardiff University


    Defining the Human: On reaching an ethical judgement about genetic technology in sport.
    Emily Ryall, De Montfort University, Bedford, UK


    Should Sports Stars hold a Special Responsibility to Behave in a Moral Manner?
    Kevin Dixon and Jim Golby, University of Teesside

    Eugenic practices – genetic treatments: A different way to elevate the Olympic Winner? A new         ethical dilemma arises”. Andriana Theodorou (GRE) National and Kapodistrian University of             Athens


    Did Danish Cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen’s Die from Doping During the 1960 Rome Olympics?
    Verner M¯ller Ph.D., Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics

    Aesthetics and art in sport
    Stephen Mumford, University of Nottingham

    Sport and Biotechnology: The increasing space between ideals and fears
    Ivo van Hilvoorde, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands

That's a few of the, about 25, presentations. Obviously the issue of genetic enhancements is  current.  It looks like a fantastic conference.  Admittedly I'm already beginning to stress a bit about my own presentation, since I have a half hour to present and 15 mins for questions. I think I can baffle them with enough bull to fill a half hour, but whether I can answer their questions for 15 minutes is another thing altogether!  I've also asked them to schedule mine in the first two days of the conference, since I'll be flying back on the last day of it to Hamilton for the National du champs the next day (!).  Yikes.

UBC duathlon

Sunday March 12, 2006

The UBC Duathlon Saturday (5km-20km-5km) was an interesting event. Despite knowing that last year Travis Chater missed an important turn on the first 5km run course, Graham Cocksedge and I both made the same mistake this year.  

Unfortunately the notorious turn goes at about the 3.5km point up a little alley way between some bushes and there was no one directing the duathletes to take that corner when Graham first went by about 30 seconds ahead of me, with me following along.  So merrily along we went on the marked 10km triathlon route, wondering when the turn was supposed come.  By the time we figured out what was going on we had tacked on an extra couple of kms to our first run distance (Graham a little more than me, since he turned around at a spot farther ahead of me while I kept running toward him until we crossed paths and then I turned, allowing him to pass me - it didn't seem right to take adavantage of the fact that I could have been ahead of him had I turned earlier.)

Graham was definitely in a class of his own on the runs.  Given that the fellow who ended up  actually winning was recorded at 16:43 for the first 5km, and that I was comfortably ahead of him before we missed the turn, and Graham was already about 40 seconds ahead of me, Graham certainly was through 5km well under 16:00 mins, and I was low 16s.  I thought I was feeling terrible, but in reality Graham was just flying.  Although I caught him on the bike and passed him with the fastest bike split (a mistake in the results shows me as 2nd fastest on the bike, with the fastest at -59 mins), I only put about 10 more seconds on Graham, and he caught me in short order on the second run in 16:22 to my 17:38.   The bike route was cold and windy on the slight uphill section of the course, and I never felt particularly strong, despite hunkering down to catch Graham.  My transitions were pretty slow, as usual, but they could have been worse.  I note there was at least one triathlete who had a faster average speed on the bike for his 40km distance. 

In reviewing the results, had the mistake not occurred, Graham would have had the fastest time, and I second among a crowd of well over a hundred competitors in total (men and women).  As it was he was 5th, and I 6th. The mistake itself doesn't bother me, since I can take comfort in knowing exactly how I stood against Graham, who intends to race nationals and has decided to take duathlons seriously this year.  Great to see some really strong fresh talent in the sport, and he will be competitive for the overall victory at Nationals. 

Ironically I should also still get my Tribc elite points, being the only competitor with an elite Tribc licence.  A bit cheap perhaps...

A fun weekend all around with a lunch after the race, and a visit to Nanaimo Saturday afternoon and a return home today, with an hour and half spin on the bike later this afternoon.

Fish oil and curcumin

Thursday, March 9, 2006

The second article of a two-part series about how to improve brain function and delay its degradation, cites studies that show that fish oils, curcumin, reduced fat diets, and reduced calorie intake preserve brain function.  These things all speed recovery after "percussion injuries" in rats (not sure I like the idea of those...)

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060304/bob8.asp

As a kid, I remember trying to offset the rather extreme discomfort of asthma by banging my head against my bedroom wall, somewhat like a battering ram.  If we're talking "percussion injuries", I think I played the skull-drum with the best of them.  Once my brother Wally, in another bedroom, was frightened by the sound of my head banging, imagining a robber had broken in and was throwing boots down the basement stairs! 

Today I did an easy ride along the waterfront for about an hour, throwing in 3 X 2 min efforts to test the legs and blow-out the lungs a bit.  I felt quite good, and the new super-hard tires ride like a dream.  It's off to Vancouver tomorrow evening.  I see Graham Cocksedge is racing the du - should be interesting.

Ah Rodrigo

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

In an effort to be somewhat rested for duathlon #1 this weekend, I've done no training today, aside from several trips up and down the stairs of my apartment complex for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was to retrieve appropriate utensils to clean my bike, put on new tires and install my tri-bars on for testing tomorrow.  These new tires can handle 140psi, and are certain to be faster (albeit only marginally of course).  They're so hard, that I'm almost afraid that if it's the slightest bit wet I'll be sliding out on the turnarounds.  That may be rather irrational  since, unless it's oily, there should still be plenty of traction.  Whatever the case, I can hardly wait to try them out tomorrow. 

Still don't have all six speakers up and running, but what I do have working is sufficient for some fantastic musical re-discoveries.  The guitar of Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo amazes...

Impeccable timing

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

My timing could not have been more impeccable.  Being required to pay a visit to the Minister of State's office, Linda Reid, this morning, I arrived on the legislative grounds as cameras were swivelling and crowds of schoolchildren and teachers and other flag-bearers were gathering to greet the Governor General on her visit to Victoria, unbeknownst to me before arriving.

Walking up the cordoned corrider between the crowds of kids, I could see the main entrance was also cordoned-off.  As I approached the entrance, a small army of security guards buzzed with more excitement than they had had in ages, I've no doubt.  Seeing it was not going to be a straightforward visit to the Minister's office, I puffed myself up and approached one of the guards.

"I'm from the Ministry of Children and Family Development," I said, displaying my government I.D. "I have important legislative documents to deliver to the Minister of State, Linda Reid".  They weren't really that important, but I had the feeling the guards were going to resist if I didn't make it sound urgent.

One of the guards looked at me quizzically, while another recognized me from previous visits. "There's no access through the main entrance, so come with me," he said.  He led me through the crowd around the side (aka the "secret entrance").

"You can let him in," he indicated to another guard at the door.  But after doing the mutual sideways passing dance (ie. I went one way, and so did he; I went the other way, and so did he), he decided not to take the first guards' word for it, and I was required to explain myself all over again.

Eventually I made it in, to see yet more security guards hustling around the halls with great haste.  I made myself like a ghost and slipped over to the MoS's office to deliver my "important" booty, with govt ID visibly displayed.  But having taken a circuitous route to find the office, I couldn't determine without a lot of aimless wandering which way I had entered. So, I decided to depart through the main public entrance - the one that was cordoned off.   Oh well, I thought, it's the fastest way out.

Departing through the main entrance into the blazing sun, about six pairs of eyes turned on me like I had just emerged from the local al-Qaeda sleeper cell.  Smiling slightly and ready to explain myself should it be necessary and, feeling rather sheepish, I looked over to the left where the red carpet followed the main stairs leading to the entrance under the majestic 20 foot high archway.

For a moment it occurred to me to make myself famous for fifteen minutes (possibly even longer!) and hop the last cordon to the red carpet, run up and down it while shouting "allah akhbar" three times fast.  Of course the thought was a fleeting fantasy since the prospect of pounding the pavement in Iceland looking for work after six years hard time in Guantanomo Bay rather weighed against my 15 minutes of fame. 

Instead, true to form and my impeccable timing, I slipped down just in front of the Naden marching band and led them out proudly between the cordons while all the security guards and flag bearing kids clapped and watched on intently. 

Fortunately, I found an exit and was able to make myself scarce among the crowds and slink back to work.
_________________

In any event, my training consisted only of 6 x 200 at 5km pace with 400 jogs between at the Oak Bay track. Aiming for 38 second 200m intervals, they were: 38s, 40s, 39s, 38, 38,38.  Given my first duathlon this Saturday at UBC, the plan is take this week very gently.   Total distance just over 10km. 

With my workout over by 5:30, I was able to meet up with Roger, Kerri and Fran to see the second movie of the Deepak Mehta trilogy, Fire.  In my opinion, the stories and characters are Dickensian in scope, intricacy and subtlety, full of profound symbolism and commentary on human nature.

Wish I were a techie...

Monday, March 6, 2006

After a light spin and weights at the gym, during which I felt reasonably supple (although my right ham is now a bit tight),  I was eager to install some new hardware in my computer to get my new six-speaker set-up running.  A couple hours later of experimenting with inserting the new sound-card in three different slots and installing and uninstalling the software, there are still only two speakers and a sub-woofer working.  I nearly thought I had it when the "new hardware installed" balloon appeared and I was able to see the new hardware in the right folder, and even had the software installed at that point. 

Oh well, long boring story absent interesting dialogue save for the odd expletive here and there.
I might have to phone a techie.

Even so, the sound quality of what speakers are working is a vast improvement over the standard computer speakers that come with your computer.  For example, listening to the cello piece called the Swan by Camille Saint-Saens, one of my favourite pieces of all time, is darn near a religious experience with these puppies!

Cowichan Valley trail

Sunday, March 5, 2006

Shaking up my usual Sunday run routine, I decided to drive to Shawnigan Lake and commence a run from there.  I had no particular route in mind, but thought to explore roads/trails I hadn't run before.  Parking near some post-office boxes on the west Shawnigan Lk road, I ran back toward the climb out of Shawnigan lk, looking for roads/ paths that could take me up into the hills west of the road.  I soon saw the gravel Sooke Lk road and selected that one to follow.  It ascended gradually at first, tilting more steeply for a bit until I found the point where it was intersected by the Cowichan Valley trail.  A sign indicated it was 13.5km to the Kinsol Trestle, and decided I might as well run straight there.

The trail is overlain with light gravel, and is very easy on the feet - a great trail for a long run.  It descended gradually for a few km and, being an old railway bed, it was largely straight, running roughly parallel to Shawnigan Lk.  A light wind and dark roiling clouds accompanied me, contributing to the sensation that I was observing an ancient and pristine landscape (aside from the clearcuts nearby,  the occasional dwelling place and even the odd picnic table at crossings! - well,  not really so pristine afterall). 

I hadn't planned on running for more than 2 hours, but when I hadn't quite reached the trestle after an hour, I decided to plug on until I reached my objective, thinking to seek a shortcut on the way back, saving some time.   A fellow on a mountain bike passed me a couple of times after stopping and resuming after I'd passed him, and I saw him again when I finally reached the trestle, an amazing structure of disintegrating wood, about 150 metres across and 125ft high (so the sign said).

"I see it's all blocked off," I remarked to the mountain bike man. "I was hoping to run across it."

"Yes," he replied. "It's about 8km around to the other side.  You have to take another trail, that loops around over there," he said, pointing. 

"Well, I think it's the end of the line for me!" I said.

There was a lookout a few metres down, and traipsed down for a peek.  A boy was puffing his way up from the bottom.  "It looks like a long way down," I said to him. 

"No not really," he said.  "But the water is really cold."

"You drank some?" I asked.

"Uh huh. It's clear, and really cold."

"Do you think it's safe to drink?" I asked.

"Uh huh. But there's no fish in it," he said, joined at that point by his older brother and grandmother (so I learned).

Owing to the fact that I was a little thirsty, and eager to be impressed by the trestle's magnitude from the vantage point of the rushing Koksilah River, below, I followed the trail to the bottom.  Just as the boy promised, the water was very cold, not much above freezing, it seemed.  I envisioned that one would die very quickly in water of that temperature if he slipped in and had trouble getting out. The trestle structure itself was magnificent, apparently one of the largest and highest wooden trestles in the world.

Making my way back, I passed the family and assured them the water was as cold as they had said.  "I told you he would pass us!" Grandma said to the boy.

To save myself from a run much longer than I wanted or that was good for me, I took a cross trail back to the main paved road somewhat before Sooke Lk road, for a total of about 28-29km and 2:15.  Although my legs started to feel tired and achy before I hit 2hours, they feel quite good now and I should recover nicely after a fairly hard weekend of training.

We, the pokers

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Today was a double effort.   Firstly, joining the group this morning at the regular meeting place at Straight Up cycles on Quadra and Tolmie, about  ten of us did a modified "Lands End" ride that consisted of a controlled pace out along West Saanich to Lands End, which runs roughly perpendicularly to the ferry terminal.  Along Lands End we did some paceline work, which consists of taking quick 5-10 second pulls before pulling over to the windy side and allowing the following rider to pull through while remaining for as long as possible in the shelter of the rider ahead. 

We returned along Wain Road to W. Saanich and then to Durrance with a jaunt up and over through the twisty and hilly narrow road that connects Durrance to Munns.  Up Durrance, myself Jaime and Vaughn pulled ahead of the rest of the group, with Matt following not far behind.  Up the hard hill on the west end of Munns, I put some distance for a short time on the others before reintegrating on the descent.  The ride was about 3:15, not including stops, and was probably just over 100km.  My legs felt a bit tight from Thursday's longer run and weights on Friday, but the base fitness is so good that I have no problem hanging in when the pace increases.  Many guys are not yet fit, and the fittest among us, like Daniel and Brett, have departed for a stage race in Brazil.

The ride was marred with a couple of flats.   At one point, just past the airport, the Burnside group - which is a separate group ride - or what was left of it at that point, went powering past us as we waited for Bob to fix a puncture.  As they passed, Nick Rowe in that group, who now rides with Espoire Laval (Quebec team), was yelling at us to join them. "C'mon! You guys are a bunch of pokers!" Dave from our group hollared from the roadside, "Yeah Nick!  Go! Go! I want to be just like you!"  Never a dull moment in the cycling world!  Admittedly, there are some interesting attitudes that pervade the sport, but the list is too long to itemize!  Runners are all so very "Canadian" (polite!) in comparison.

My second workout, a few hours later, consisted of 3 X 1 mile repeats in Beacon Hill. After a 22 min warmup, my times were 5:14, 5:09, and 5:06, with 1 mile jogs in between.  After the ride earlier, my legs felt tight during the warmup and the first repeat, but felt nice and loose for the next two repeats.  Times and perceived effort were encouraging, after the moderately hard ride earlier.  Total miles about 10.

I experienced a slight allergic reaction after arriving home from my run.  I am not sure to what - it seems I may have a slight copper allergy since I was carrying my keys in my gloves, and the sweat from my hands may have dissolved sufficient quantities of copper to absorb through my skin -but I'm not sure.  Whatever the case, I experienced generalized itchiness immediately after arriving home and had to get myself horizontal and sleep for a while - not a severe reaction, but uncomfortable nonetheless. 

It felt great to sleep like that though, right after my run, but I'm presently feeling the combination of the "wacked out" feeling that accompanies coming off an allergic reaction and being tired from my efforts, along with no caffeine today! Ran out yesterday morning, and though I bought some more, I haven't bothered to drink any.

Love those neurotrophic factors

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Of course those of us who exercise regularly already knew this, but here's another article discussing the benefits exercise has on the development and preservation of brain cells.  Apparently exercise stimulates the release of chemicals called 'neurotrophic factors'. 

As the article says, "these proteins buffer nerve cells against illness or injury, prompt them to grow and multiply, and strengthen each neuron's connection with other nerve cells."

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060225/bob10.asp

I still think there must also be some loss of brain function (although perhaps temporary only) that occurs when blood sugar levels due to exercise drop to the point where disorientation and a general inability to communicate occurs (!).  Apparently it didn't affect those rats and mice that ran all night long on their little treadmills though! They were still smarter the next day.

So what was my net brain gain/loss for the day?  Let's see: 10,000 dead brain cells due to low blood sugar after a 22km sub-tempo run (1:25); 10,001 stronger connections due to neurotrophic factor release.  On surface, seems like a net gain of one. BUT! if I have that many stronger connections, then the combinations of those connections is exponentially higher than the strict number of lost cells.  Also, because those stronger cells are probably widely-distributed, overall brain gain is incalculable!  hmmm.... Whatever the case, the justice of it pleases...

A wee foray...

Wednesday, March 2, 2006

Today's effort consisted of an easy spin along the waterfront and back with Roger, for about 1hr 20mins, running into Bob C along the way (who is definitely not my uncle), just beginning his ride as we were ending ours.  Saw Meghan Day out running along the way, as well as Jim Finlayson.

During the work day I was tired from yesterday's effort and found myself expelling the occasional heavy breath of air, somewhat like a sigh, seeming rather to be my body's way of reliving in small measure the intense effort I put my aerobic system through the day before.  I can't, in fact, remember the last time I put myself to that level of hurt in a workout.  It makes me realize I have a much greater capacity for work when there is some aspect of the bike involved - if I could train as hard as a runner as I can with the combination of running and cycling, or on the bike alone, perhaps I could be a decent runner.

On another note altogether, I can't help but express my personal dissatisfaction with the federal conservative government's insistence on sending additional Canadian troops on a "seek and destroy" mission.  If it were for peacekeeping purposes, at least ostensibly it would be remotely justifiable.  As it is, Canadian involvement suddenly is vaulted into the realm of American-style disinformation, proclaiming the necessity of preventing and rooting out "terrorism" while in the same breath expounding the necessity of imposing a Canadian "icon" - Tim Hortons - in the middle of Khartoum for the benefit of its homesick troops.  All, in my mind, for the sake of Harper's political expediency and American appeasement.

Ok I'll stop. I'm probably becoming offensive, and my heartrate is starting to increase...I won't make a habit of using this as a forum for controversial subjects...