Boo!

I live in a town with a link to ghouls. The cartoonist, Charles Addams, lived in my town as a boy, and the Addams Family's house is still extant here. This morning, one of the things I heard was an interview on NPR with an author of a new book on Addams.

I also wanted to post the Google art for today, but Blogger kept burping when I tried to upload it.

Happy Halloween!

Panicking about Title IX

On his "Flashes of Panic" blog, PJM has an excellent discussion of Title IX's impact on a school and the uproar, much of it misguided, that it's created. I could rehash what he says, but couldn't possibly say it as well as he did. Please see his post here.

Peeling Off

I spent much of yesterday getting trained to instruct and belay on the climbing wall at the YMCA. I'd backpacked a bit when young, and as a result had come in contact with a fair number of climbers. The emphasis on safety didn't surprise me, but some of the little nuances did. Making the knots right isn't very tough, but making them right, fast and redundant gets pretty tough. Also, keeping the belay line taut, especially at the bottom of the climb is critical. This is because the stretch in the line can be hitting the floor (mats) until a certain height is achieved.

As someone who's afraid of heights, climbing wasn't very easy. Also, under my weight, one of the holds spun. It didn't cause me to fall, but got the adrenaline going pretty good. Once up, it came time to be lowered, and I had to let go of the wall. For someone with a fear of falling, it was very tough to do. I had to peel off the wall and let myself ride on the rope. Never mind the fact that all the equipment is strong enough to support a small car. Never mind that everything is designed with a degree of redundancy. Letting go of the wall is hard. I did it, and it got easier with practice, but it was still very unnatural. It's about as different from running as it can get.

A Predicament

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I coach a youth running group. I need your help with some suggestions regarding an athlete. Here's the situation:

A young girl on the team is having trouble racing, that may even be the wrong way to describe it. I've found out that that she came to the team because of self-confidence issues. She's a twin, and her sister is the dominant one. The result is that she seems to have a psyche that is brittle. It seems to take very little to rattle her confidence. Further adding to her problem is the fact that in attempting to be social, she often walks in practice, reducing her effective training and diminishing her prospects of running well in a race.

Her sister is apparently a pretty good athlete, so I think with training, she can be, too. The problem is that if she doesn't train well, she starts a cycle of greater discomfort in the race, racing badly, and loss of self-confidence as a result.

My thought is to send her a note by e-mail through her parents. I've had this OK'ed by her parents, and here's my note, as it stands now:

(her name),

You've gone through your first season of running. I hope you've enjoyed it. I've seen you laugh and cry, but hope that it was more fun than not. You've probably gotten some inkling what running competitively is about. I hope you continue to pursue your running with joy and passion.

Like school, running is very much about training. In school, to do well on tests, you must do your homework and pay attention in class. In running, training is like class. You are teaching your body to do what you ask of it. If you don't work hard at your training, doing the things that the coaches ask, then your body doesn't do the learning it will need for the test, which is the race.

A little more than two years ago, I ran the best race of my recent past. I had been coaching the Flyers track program all spring, and in trying to set an example of effort in training, had been doing speed work on the track with them. I was also training heavily in order to prepare for a marathon. Prior to this race, most of my 5K's took me about 20:30 to run. On this day, I started my run, and tried to find that sweet spot of hard effort, without overtaxing myself. My first mile usually took about 6:25. I passed the clock at the first mile in about 6:05, and my reaction was, "That clock is wrong." The race didn't hurt enough for the pace the clock said I was running.

Since I felt OK, I figured I would keep running at that pace and hope that I didn't come apart. I got to the clock at mile 2, and instead of the 13:05 that I usually saw, I saw something like 12:45. I continued onward, working to keep my pace. When I got to the finish, I was spent, but no more so than in races at my usual pace. I finished the race in something like 19:36, having set a (recent) PR (personal record) for the distance by about 50 seconds.

After the race, the guys who usually finished right near me came up to me and asked me, "What happened to me today?" They raved about how well I had done. It felt really good. I didn't really know how to answer them, but afterwards, when I thought about it, I knew. In trying to set the right example for the kids in the track program, I had worked harder at running than I had since high school. I'd done my homework diligently. When it hurt, I didn't back down. I faced the pain, and when race day came, I raced better than ever, and with less pain than before.

Running isn't easy. Racing is harder still, but careful preparation makes racing well possible, and the result feels really good. As you continue to run, you must ask yourself if you are doing all your homework and doing it well.

Coach "Scooter"

Please let me know what you think about this. I'm especially interested in getting some feedback from women, but please comment regardless of sex.

My Experiment with Caffeine

For the past couple of years, I haven't been sleeping well. I thought it was just part of the aging process. After hearing some stuff about caffeine, I decided to give a try to cutting my intake of tea in order to find out if it was causing my sleep trouble.

I generally didn't care much for water, as it tends to taste of chlorine. We have a Brita jug, and it does a pretty good job of getting rid of the chlorine taste.

My experiment seemed to be working. Having spent most of two weeks at much reduced levels of tea, I slipped up on the day before yesterday and followed it with a bad night's sleep. That clinched it, my problem was the caffeine.

I seem to tolerate it OK in moderate amounts, but if I take in much in the evening, then I'll sleep badly. As a result, my plan is limited amounts of caffiene during daylight hours, and none in the evening.

Like a Scared Deer

On Sunday morning, I volunteered to lead the 8 & 9 year olds in the mile cross-country race that they run. They run the first half-mile of the 5K course at Holmdel Park, then turn around and run it backwards. The job of the leader is to make sure that the kids get turned at the right spot. We try to use a redundant system, having someone posted there, plus a runner in the lead. It generally works pretty well.

Holmdel Park is significant, because it's the big meet course for New Jersey, and the home course for much of Monmouth County, NJ. I've had a very good runner tell me that it's a rhythm course, that is, while it has some difficult and intimidating sections, it's mostly open running, without a lot of hard or long breaks to one's rhythm.

I took about 150 yards lead at the start. That's a bit more than half of the gradual uphill field at the start. There's then a short, steep uphill followed by a section called the roller-coaster, a series of dips and rises in quick succession. The goal as you run this is to stay ahead of the kids, but not so far ahead that they can't see you, so you generally want a 30-50 yards lead. I was running pretty comfortably until the turn, then the need to turn and re-accelerate took a bit of a toll. I was still fine heading back through the roller-coaster. I tried to control my speed on the steep downhill to avoid beating up my feet. The kids, well at least the two in the lead, closed most of the gap, so I entered the field at the finish with about a 5 yard lead. Suddenly, honor was at stake. I did my best to put the hammer down. I kept having to glance back to see if I was holding my lead. Into the last hundred, I'd pretty well spent myself, now I was running on fumes and these kids were kicking for all they were worth. Finally, with just 25 or 30 yards to the finish, I was able to wave them past and into the finish chute.

I'd held them off, but just barely. It was a good run, but it took a bit more effort than I expected. In the finish field, I was feeling like a frightened deer being chased by a predator. (All of which reminds me of the old joke with the two lawyers on safari getting chased by a lion...)

Unwanted Neighbors

A few weeks back, I noticed some yellow jackets flying into a hole in my front yard. I expected to have to buy some poison and spray them with it. Then, a week or so later, I heard a report on NPR about yellow jackets. It pointed out that they're beneficial insects, and actually protected by law in Germany. (Un)Fortunately, this isn't Germany, so I can get rid of them. The NPR report had a method of destryoying them that was environmentally less impactful, pour a pint of alcohol into the hole and close the opening. I guess I'll be getting some yellow jackets drunk.

My son was very impressed with the photos I took. There are actually two of the yellow jackets in the photo, the one flying (though it's hard to tell) in the center of the shot, and a second sitting on the side of the hole. I shot these from a distance of about 4 feet using flash in the late afternoon.

An Accidental Spectator

We went up to Saratoga, NY this past weekend to celebrate my in-laws 50th anniversary. It happened that we stayed at the Gideon Putnam Hotel. I had been aware that somewhere in Saratoga they were holding the USATF Masters 5K Cross-Country National Championship, but had no idea where. On Friday morning, I looked up the details and found out that it was going on at New York's Saratoga Spa State Park. As we travelled up, I got the information on the hotel, and found that it was in the same park.
I got up on Saturday morning and headed out to take a walk. I promptly came upon a cross-country race. It was a big high-school race. This was my first real clue that the race might be VERY close by. I then tried to check out what was going on, and found that sure enough, the big race was starting just yards from the hotel.

The last activity of the celebration was breakfast on Sunday. I headed over to the races while my wife and son went to town to shop. They were to come back in about an hour. I quickly bumped into some runners from my club, Shore A.C., and also some from one of my other clubs, Raritan Valley Road Runners.

So, how was the racing? Here's my answer: I can run a 5K in about 21 minutes right now. In the men's 40's race, the leaders finished in about 15 min. All but a few stragglers were done by the mid-18's. I put a post on the Shore AC blog about how the women's 40's team did (well!). Another clue to how good some of the competition was is that there was one competitor in the men's 50's race who came off the line noticeably slower than the rest. He hadn't finished with the rest of the pack in about 18-23 minutes. He didn't show up in the five minutes or so that the last few stragglers arrived in, nor did he show in the five minutes after that. When the clock got to about 36 minutes, he came into sight. It took him another minute and change to finish. His official time was 37:10. Not that impressive until you find out what his age group shown on his back was, M90! Yes, that means he is 90 years old, but he moves better than most 70 year olds.

Two

Last night, we had some rain, we also had practice for the kids. It was fairly heavy rain, so I wasn't surprised that the groups was smalljust two kids. I had them run short - it was just too miserable to keep them out in it any longer. They did a quick warmup, then 2 laps of the 0.8 mile park, then stretching.

I made it a point to stay out in the rain, though I used an umbrella. I felt it would be weasely to jump into the car while the kids were running.

I think both kids enjoyed it. My son got pretty wet. The other boy took it to a whole other level. He aimed for the deep puddles! I'm not sure how thrilled his Mom was when he got in the car soaked.

Laufrad

Several years ago, when teaching my son to ride a bike, I waited until I thought he was ready, then took both the training wheels AND the pedals off his bike. Why the pedals? I didn't want him working hard to move himself, rather, I wanted him to get the feel of balancing the bike as he glided. Once he seemed to have that down, I reinstalled the pedals and had him try to ride. He was riding almost immediately.

We recently got some new neighbors, Americans who had been living in Germany. I was chatting with them one day when their son zipped by on what I first took to be a bike. Then, it was pointed out to me that there were no pedals on the "bike." It was essentially a kids version of the velocipedes of the early days of biking. I realized then that the Germans taught their kids to ride in the same way that I taught my son. A bit more conversation explained to me that the Germans call this vehicle a Laufrad, which would translate to "running (lauf) wheel(rad)." Here's a picture of my neighbors' son on his Laufrad.

(Note the lack of pedals)

Congratulations And An Amusing Plot

I want to publicly congratulate Duncan Larkin for winning the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon. He did it ugly, but he did it. After taking an early lead, he was passed at mile 11, but at mile 21 managed to retake the lead. He was disappointed with his performance, but in my book, a win is a win. You can read more about it on Larkin's blog here. Larkin tends to be a cynical observer of most things running. It's often a refreshing change from the feel-goodism that is so prevalent.

I don't know precisely what caused it, but Larkin has been conducting a campaign against Dean Karnazes and the Dean Karnazes media machine. He describes part of his campaign against Karnazes in his post. I'm unsure if the cause is the attention that Karnazes gets, while Larkin toils in relative obscurity. Regardless, I find it amusing. I think there's a real possibility that Karnazes has found the
Official Bill Rodgers Wonder Food

Kids Meet Today

Today, the kids I coach had a meet. I should preface this with the information that the meet is about 45 minutes away, it occurs on Sunday morning, and this is a school holiday weekend (Columbus Day). The result is that we had just two kids there, my son and a girl a couple of years older.

That said, due to a conflict with soccer, we needed to leave before result were fully compiled, so we don't have final results. It was a great morning for running. Day broke at about 45°F, but good sun drove temps up to about 60°F by race time. I'd warmed the kids up with a half-mile or so, run on a dirt road to keep their shoes from bring saturated with dew. I try to pay attention to little stuff like that, because added weight due to moisture in shoes can make a difference in the ability to accelerate their feet. I may be hyper-attuned to this stuff, and you might think I'm a wacko by even paying attention, but little things make a difference. I'm currently reading David Halberstam's The Teammates, and he recounts a story of Ted Williams taking several bats and teammates to the post office to have the bats weighed after an argument about whether the bats gain weight from sitting in damp grass.

The upshot of today's meet was the the kids went 2 for 2, each setting PR's for their respective courses. We think my son PR'ed by about 15 or 20 seconds (on a mile), and the girl by about 2 minutes in the 3km. I'll update this when I have precise details.

Diesel Spill

This morning, as I walked my son to school, we passed a spot in town where they're shooting a movie. As we turned to walk the final block to school, we saw two police cars. I asked the crossing guard at the corner what was going on. It turned out that some diesel had spilled from one of the production vans. If I had to guess at the amount, it was probably about a half-gallon. The cops had thrown rolls of paper towels into the spill to slow its movement. We continued on our way, and started hearing firetruck sirens. We turned onto the approach to school, and moments later, the firetruck turned onto the road. It was then that I realized the firetruck was responding to the spill. After leaving my son, I returned, and the firemen were shoveling absorbent material onto the roadway to gather up the spill. I don't know for sure, but I suspect a bill will be delivered to someone for this.

It was a very minor thing, but it was good to know it was being handled aggressively.

Walking To School

Today was Walk Your Child To School Day at my son's school. It's an international initiative to improve health, reduce pollution, and build awareness of students walking to school. We walked with a neighbor, her son, and their dogs. On arrival, she needed to leave, dogs aren't permitted on school property. (She walks most days and hadn't realized it was Walk to School Day.) I headed over with my son so he could sign the big "I Walked" poster and get his "I Walked" sticker.

Once there, I ran into a friend from back in my son's daycare days. He's also a runner, but more of a track guy. We chatted a bit, and he said he'd informally bring his kids by the youth program I coach. We decided to forego the coffee and doughnuts in the school. I then cruised home.

JS½M

I spent Sunday AM working at the Jersey Shore Half Marathon and Lighthouse 5K. I had to lead the 5K on my bike. There was a wheelchair at the race who'd gone out ahead. The weather wasn't ideal, and there was a fair amount of sand on the parking lot we run through. I'd have felt more comfortable on my (road converted) mountain bike than on the road bike I was on. Fortunately, the wet conditions meant the sand didn't move as much as if dry.

Aside from one area where I needed to go around cars while the runners went between them and a curb, there were no real problem spots, but the slowest participants cause a bit of trouble since all the courses overlap. There was a 5-minute gap between the start of the half and the start of the 5k. A few of the 5kers were still on the course as the leaders of the half came to the turnaround. At that point, the half-marathoners were well past the 6-mile point...closer to 6¾. We take pride in being inclusive, but the slowness of some poses interference for the leaders of the half.

Similarly, the finish is near the turnaround, so the 2hr+ gang was still on the roads heavily when the leaders were making their way to the finish. I never cease to be amazed at the number of runners with headphones on, and by shutting out the world around them pose a risk to themselves and those around them. I'm becoming more convinced that races must enforce the no phones rule. All this said, the races came off pretty well, and in light of the rain, the fact that entries were on track and participation was only slightly down should be considered a success.

I always get pumped up by the wheelchair racers. On Sunday, each race had just one, so each was assured a win, but each put in a fairly hard effort. I watched the 5K competitor make a tight turnaround by flinging her inside arm up several times as she cranked the outer wheel. It was an interesting display of practical physics. Watching wheelers always gets me jazzed. There's something about getting out there with a body that only partially works and getting it done that really inspires me.