Training, Week of 7/31

Not much blogging at all recently... I've been really busy and I'd like to go to bed reasonably soon tonight, so this post will be brief (but on time!).  I did manage to run 7 days this week, covering 51.6 miles in 6:19:11 (7:21/mile average).  The Thursday Track Workout went very well, a ladder from 200's to 800's and back down with two bonus 400's at the end.  Like the last workout I attended, I ran the final 400 as quickly as I could and again only managed to run in the 61-second range.  I think this workout was quite a bit harder, so I'm still happy despite the fact that I believe that I should be able to run under 60 seconds.

As far as total mileage this week, I started out well but my legs weren't recovering so the run length suffered towards the end, resulting in about a 10-mile shortfall.  I think that if my bad weeks can be in the 50-55 mile range, I'll be happy though and despite the fact that I put in 7 days I still count this as not the greatest week of training.  I've been hearing rumors of another corporate 5k on the 11th so we'll have to see if I get involved in that (I probably will) and how it goes!

-Lane

Racing?

I know that Lane gives weekly updates about his training (and, in fact, just gave one this evening), but I haven't been doing that for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that I really have not been running much or consistently this summer (or for a while for that matter). A bit of background: in December of 2009 I was at the start of an awesome indoor track season. We had our first meet and I had a huger Personal Record (PR) in the 5K (16:56). This was finally an indication that I was headed in the right direction. Training had been going excellently and I was pumped about the rest of the season. However, an issue arose shortly after we went home for our winter break. While out doing a hill workout my right knee started to bother me. The next day when I went running it was pretty painful, but I could still run on it. By the third day I could not run on it at all. It just felt like a knife was stabbed into the side of my knee. After a month, a bunch of doctor visits, and an MRI it was finally determined that I had IT band friction syndrome. Basically, the large tendon that runs from my hip down the outside of my leg to my knee was tight and was rubbing over a bone point in my knee, causing pain. That ended my season and set me up for the last year and a half where, other than a brief return in XC last fall, I have been either unable to run or slowly rebuilding fitness.

That brings us to now... I am currently back in the process of rebuilding fitness and trying to get both my knee and the rest of my body back in shape. The approach that I had planned on for this recovery involved focusing on slowly building a base back and avoiding speed work/racing. However, this recovery has not been going as smoothly as I would have hoped. The first reason for this was that at the end of May I was tapped to fill in on the first leg of the Vermont City Marathon. I figured it couldn't hurt to at least tempo the leg since my team wasn't gunning for an incredibly fast time, so I ran the leg (there goes the no racing bit...). The second reason is that I have been fairly inconsistent in my running, especially now that I have started work. Some days I just can't kick myself out the door when I get home, other days I simply get home to late.

Finally, that brings us to the real point of the post. Today, I ran a 5K race in a neighboring town. While my recovery plan was pretty clear that I did not want to do fast stuff or race, I also wanted to meet people around where I live who run. So, while searching for running groups I found a series of Tuesday night XC races nearby. I figured this would be a good way to meet some of the local runners. I headed up after work and found the park (which was really nice, I am probably going to go back just to do training runs). There I met a scene that was very much like the old Tuesday night XC races I used to run at the Catamount Family Center back in VT. I registered and got out and ran. I didn't run a great time (20:25), but I had fun, met a few people afterward, and got some pointers to websites to find other races and gatherings of runners.

So, with that race it seems that the best way to meet other runners around here is to go to the races. I figure that I should plan on attending a few of them over the next weeks and meeting people. Even if I don't race them all out, I can use them as training/tempo runs and a great chance to meet people.

Well, out with the no racing bit I guess, in with meeting new people and setting up a new life.

~Alex

Training, Week of 7/24

As promised, here is the weekly training summary only one day late (though it is quite late on that one day).  Although I promised Dan that I would run each day, I did miss a day due to a car accident in which I was fortunately unhurt.  Nevertheless, I did run 50.2 miles in 6:08:02 (7:20/mile average) with a 5k race in 17:07 in there, too.  As a point of correction, I only got 6th place at the race, but it was still good enough to help my new company take the prize!

Other than the race, this week was pretty much characterized by only two runs of decent length, a 10-miler and my weekly long run.  The rest were shorter and more restful.  It was a good start towards getting back into training, but it's a long way from where I'd like to be.  My long run involved taking a less direct route to the top of Castle Craig which is always a cool place to check out.  Plus, running to the top of a mountain in the middle of a 16-miler is never shabby.

The final thing that happened on the running front occurred over the weekend.  On Friday I was talking to my project manager and mentioned that I was only running about half of what I used to.  He asked how far I used to run and I mentioned that I had spent quite a bit of time running 80 miles/week.  I saw him in the parking lot on the way in to work and the first thing that he said was that that had stuck with him all weekend and that I must have a "life-long devotion to running".  At first I didn't like that characterization because I like to think of myself as multi-dimensional, but later I realized that he said I had a life-long devotion to running, not that I had devoted my life to running, which I think is true.  I think I'm starting to get a bit hungrier towards running success after this week.  We shall have to see what happens.

-Lane

I Has a Happy

Unfortunately because I have written this post after Alex's more coherent, information, and better organized post about his super-exciting life, mine appears above his.  If you would rather skip the post that follows these comments, by all means, please skip it and go directly to Alex's post on New York City (you will come back and read this, won't you?).

I had an eventful weekend!  Saturday I met my family at a hotel nearby and we enjoyed a nice lunch.  The most exciting thing is that in this case, I can include my Uncle Bryan, Aunt Mikiko, and my two cousins in the phrase "my family"!  Even more exciting was that more family was on the way and that we were all headed to the wedding of another cousin of mine!

It was a very beautiful wedding.  I suspect all weddings are beautiful in their own way, but this one definitely made sitting outside in the record heat worth it (by far!).  There was a great party afterwards with lots of good food, dancing, and fun.  I was lucky enough that my fiancé was invited as well and though I joked about my extended family being on "double-secret probation" based on their behavior, we did see things that we liked and were able to get some ideas about what we like.  It also upped the level of excitement, both for the two of us and the whole rest of the family.

I stayed in the hotel with my family and returned to my apartment after a big, noisy, fun brunch with everyone who had come from out of town.  It made me really happy to see everyone but it's always a little sad to see them go.  Fortunately I get to see them again soon!  Now I have to go grocery shopping and do laundry... the return to real life is always a little disappointing.

-Lane

p.s. the fantastic picture at the top of the page comes from a webcomic called nataliedee.  There are all kinds of images like this one.  I would have liked to make a link directly from the picture but am unable with my level of computer ineptitude.

p.p.s. the usual "Training, Week of..." post will happen tomorrow.  I haven't run yet (I need to do that too!) and I don't want to post twice in one day, so I promise that will be up after work tomorrow.

The Big Apple Post

So, finally, the big summary of my first week in NYC... I'm going to go on for a while on this one, but, I'll make sections to keep it organized.

The Final Weekend

Last weekend was my final weekend in VT. It was great fun, but really crazy. I had a bunch of friends from both college and high school as well as some of their parents over on Saturday. We started by going to the Vermont Brewer's Festival. This festival is a great gathering of many of the excellent brewers in VT at the waterfront in Burlington. Admission gets you tickets to go around to the brewers and sample the beers. It's a great opportunity to try beers that you wouldn't necessarily buy a six pack of, or that are not bottled. After the festival was over, we returned to my house and had a cookout through the evening. It was really hot all day, so most of us were pretty well fried by the end of the day. But, it seemed to me that a good time was had by all. For me, it was a great way to end my residence in Vermont.

The Trip to Connecticut

On Sunday I packed the last of my stuff into my car and Lane and I drove together (separate cars, same route) to his apartment. I got to check that out and grab a bite of dinner with him. I then continued along the way to my apartment. I got all my stuff moved in, my computer set up, and went to bed to be ready for the start of what was sure to be a crazy week.

Orientation Starts

The first day of orientation was a bit disappointing. It essentially amounted to a set of ~30-45 minute sessions punctuated by two hours of unplanned time in which we could "explore the city." While this might have been fine for the people who had been flown in from other sites and were staying at the hotel. These people could just go up to their rooms and take a nap, watch TV, read a book, go out and about--basically, lots of options. However, for those of us who are NYC based and had to commute in for the day, it left us with a lot of downtime and not much to do.

Once we got through this though there was a bus tour of Manhattan scheduled for the evening, and I figured that since I am not from NYC I might as well go and learn some of the area. Additionally, it was a good way to meet some more people, and dinner was included to boot (Pizza, salad, cheesecake, and an open bar). So, it was definitely worth it. The major downside though was that I didn't get back to my apartment until ~11:15PM. Since I had to be back in the city by 7:30 the next morning for breakfast I had to get up at 5:30. So, not much sleep to kick the week off...

The Rest of this Week's Orientation Program

Once Tuesday started we managed started on a schedule that would be relatively consistent through the week. The morning is set as a hard skills time, essentially financial training (amounting to Finance 101 as I gather). For some people with a heavy finance background this time is excruciatingly boring and repetitive, but for the relatively large portion of us who have a technical background (engineering or computer science, generally) it is a really useful session. The afternoon is then soft skills training. These training sessions have been on a mixture of topics. The first day was building a roller-coaster for a marble in a very large team, the second was on generational differences in the workplace, the third was about working in global and virtual teams, finally today's session was about you Professional Brand (business etiquette, dress, networking, introductions, etc.). All in all, these have also been interesting and informative. My understanding is that this pattern will continue through next week as well.

Where am I again?

One of the strangest feelings that I have had during this orientation is the feeling that I am back in Australia. A bit of background, during my junior year of college I spent two months completing a project in Melbourne, Australia. Now, you might wonder why being in NYC would make me feel like I was back there, but it really does make sense. When I was in Melbourne I was experiencing a few things for the first time in my life. First was spending significant time in the center of a large city. Second was commuting by train to and from work everyday. Third was being surrounded by people with Australian accents almost all the time. By the time I left Australia, I actually found my self thinking in an Australian accent. So, how does this add up to me feeling like I am back there now? Well, the first two should be obvious, I commute by train to and from Manhattan everyday and I spend significant amounts of time in downtown Manhattan (thus, the first two points are covered). It is the third point that I think really seals it for me though. When I first got to orientation I tried to find a group to at least start to talk to, and I happened to find a large group of guys who will be based in London. So, obviously they speak with a British accent (well, except the two Scottish guys, but like the Australian accent it is close enough). Additionally, the instructor we have for our finance training is British. So, for much of the day I am hearing accents that are close to an Australian accent and doing activities that I have only ever done in Australia before. The result? I feel like I am in Australia, and have started thinking in a British accent again. Strange...

Did I live in the Right Place?

I came home on Tuesday night and was wondering if I had actually picked the right place to live. Maybe I should have lived in the City after all...my commute would have been shorter and I would be where all the action was. I was worried about it for a while, but also had to accept that I have signed a one year lease here, so I won't be moving for a year anyway. But, when I went out for a run and it cleared the issue up. I drove about 10 minutes across town where the city gives way to a far more country like feel. There I was able to start a run in a nice little park and run for a few miles entirely in trees. I even ran across a dirt road at one point. That helped my remember one of the main reasons that I did not want to live in the city: I wanted to be able to get out of it. Mission successful on that count. Though, it does segue well into my next topic...

Running

Running has been interesting since I started my job. Most notably because I haven't had much chance to. I haven't been getting home before about 6:30 at the earliest (and most times much later than that). This doesn't leave that much time to run. I was able to get out for 3 miles on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but did not manage to get out either yesterday or today. I don't know how likely this is to change. There will continue to be less daylight as the year progresses so I don't expect to get much outside running in. There is a fitness center in my building that I am hoping I can use to get a little bit of running and also start lifting to work on general strength. Additionally, I have found while I am not able to run much I am walking for 40-60 minutes a day, both to and from the train station on both ends, and sometimes around to other parts of the city as well. So I figure that should help keep me moving some in the very least.

Anyway, I think that is plenty for now. NYC has been crazy so far, but I am at least starting to get used to being down here and am settling down. Ivan is coming down for the weekend, so I am hoping to explore Stamford a bit more with him.

So, here's to my new place, new job, and new life. I'm looking forward to learning much more about finance and the city and I can't wait to share the experiences here.

~Alex

Math, The Way it Should Be (Unit 2.4: Trigonometry)

It's been a while since the last math post but that's an important one for this lesson, so if you missed it go ahead back and check it out.  As usual, the first post in the whole series is here and the first post in this unit is here.  This post is going to be a very brief overview of trigonometry.  This is usually a subject covered over the course of a semester so it would be rather silly to try to cover the whole thing in one post so you'll get the highlights.  There's going to be a lot in this lesson.  Ready?

First off, trigonometry is basically the study of triangles.  Remember those?  There is a basic refresher here.  It also talks a bit about radians which will be really important now and are covered in the first post of the unit (link in the first paragraph).  Now there are some special functions that come about in trigonometry and they're aptly named, the trigonometric functions.  The first three are fairly basic: the sine, the cosine, and the tangent functions. They are usually seen like this: \(sin(x)\), \(cos(x)\), and \(tan(x)\).  What do they do?  Well they map the angles to ratios.  Let's look at the triangle we had last lesson:

In this case, let's say that the letters represent the length of the sides and they can also serve as the side's name.  Let's also label the angles (the names will also represent the measure of that angle in radians):

Now we're in business.  When we start with trigonometry, we usually start with a right triangle.  Therefore, let's assume that \(Y = \frac{\pi}{2}\).  This angle won't factor heavily into the discussion but this is an important step to take.  Now, let's put these definitions to work defining the trigonometric functions.  The sine function takes a given angle and spits out the ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse of a hypothetical triangle with that angle.  For example, \(sin(Z) = \frac{a}{c}\).  In the same way, \(sin(X) = \frac{b}{c}\).

The cosine function is equally easy.  It takes the angle and spits out the ratio of the adjacent side and the hypotenuse.  In this case, \(cos(X) = \frac{a}{c}\) and \(cos(Z) = \frac{b}{c}\).  The observant reader will notice that \(cos(X) = sin(Z)\) and this will always be true for any two positive angles that add up to \(\frac{\pi}{2}\).  You'll also notice that \(sin(X) = cos(Z)\) and the exact same logic applies.  This is not necessarily true for all angles as the functions are extended to all real and complex angles!

The last of the basic trigonometric functions is the tangent function.  It returns the ratio of the two legs of the triangle (in other words, the two sides that aren't the hypotenuse).  \(tan(X) = \frac{b}{a}\) and \(tan(Z) = \frac{a}{b}\).  And there you have it, the first three trigonometric functions.  They are the ones that are seen most often.

What about the others?  There are many many many.  The next three return the inverse of their basic counterpart:
secant:
\(sec(x) = \frac{1}{cos(x)}\)
cosecant:
\(csc(x) = \frac{1}{sin(x)}\)
cotangent:
\(cot(x) = \frac{1}{tan(x)}\)

The last ones that I'm going to cover now are the inverse trigonometric functions.  They basically take the ratio of two sides of a triangle and return an angle.  In other words they do the opposite of their inverse,
\(Sin^{-1}(\frac{a}{c}) = Z\)
\(Cos^{-1}(\frac{a}{c}) = X\)
\(Tan^{-1}(\frac{a}{b}) = Z\)
These functions go by many names, but the ones I hear most often sound like "inverse tangent" or "arcsine".  Just stick either an inverse or an "arc" in front of the original function name and you're good to go!  That's all for now on trigonometry.  The potential homework here is enormous (there is a lot of fun you can have playing with trigonometric functions).

Homework:

• Prove that for any \(x\), \(sin^{2}(x) + cos^{2}(x) = 1\).  (Hint: try starting with the pythagorean theorem).
• Convince yourself that for any \(x\), \(\frac{cos(x)}{sin(x)} = tan(x)\).
• Convince yourself that \(sin(\frac{\pi}{2}-x) = cos(x)\)

-Lane

Sometimes it just takes one...

Life has been seriously crazy recently.  A lot has been packed into the days since last Sunday.  I was involved in an accident yesterday on the interstate on my way home from work.  I won't say much more other than both the other driver and I are all right.  I also participated in my first corporate 5k, a road race in Middletown.  It was really fun and I was able to run with 33 of my co-workers and we even managed to take home the team trophy!

It was warm and hilly, but I optimistically estimated that I'd be able to run about 17:15 given the shape that I'm in and the conditions.  The race started out quickly: the leaders passed the first mile in 5:05 and I was about 12 seconds behind.  I thought that was a bit too quick but at that point it's too late.  I gritted my teeth against the imminent crash.  The second mile was hillier and quite a bit slower, as I passed it in 11:07.  At that point, I decided that I felt quite a bit better than I really deserved to, despite the burning in my quads from the previous hill.  I started to pick it up and managed to pass another runner in the last 1.1 miles to finish in 17:07 and 5th place.

What did I learn?  I am in better racing shape than I expected which I think is due to the fitness I built up in the past couple years rather than any training I've done (or haven't done) recently.  I missed running yesterday due to the accident, but I am still confident that I can hit 50 for the week.

My life is crazy and busy and things are always cropping up but I know that if I keep my nose to the grindstone and try always to do the right thing that everything will always work out.

-Lane

First City Post

First, the awesome news. Someone besides Dan, Lane, and I read this Blog! I actually got a text from a friend earlier today asking where my post was since I had said that I would write posts about my time here in NYC. Well, here is a post of sorts.

As far as a comprehensive post on my experience so far goes, it will probably have to wait for a bit. As it is my orientation has been insanely busy so far. The first day was Monday and I didn't even get home until 11:15 PM. This was not good because it meant I didn't get into bed until about Midnight. Now, in college going to bed at Midnight wasn't a big deal, but I didn't have to get up at 5:30 to catch a train to work. Yesterday was much more reasonable, I was home by about 6:00, and today was an ok 7:30. Though, tomorrow night I have a reception that runs until 7:30, so I doubt I'll be home until about 9:00. Anyway, what this all adds up to is that I haven't had time to sit down and write all my observations up, but I will get to it soon. I have already seen and learned so much in the few days I've been here and I can't wait to get it all down.

So, basically this post is an excuse for not writing a real post since it is basically time for bed. But, expect a big post soon!

~Alex

Training, Week of 7/17

Calling the running that I did this week "training" is a little generous but I suppose that can't be helped.  I only ran 4 days, managing 22.7 miles in 2:46:45 (7:21/mile average).  The positives of this week are few and far between.  I got a lot of rest that I don't know that I necessarily needed but did have one good workout at the Thursday Night Track Workout.  It was an 8x400 workout with a 2:45 "constant send-off", meaning that no matter what pace the 400 repeat was run at, you had to start the next one 2:45 after you started the last one.  For me, this workout was a little too easy; I started with a repeat just under 70 seconds, did several at 70, and then cut all the way down to 61 seconds.  It was good to get some "speed" in before the upcoming race on the 20th.

As far as the three days off I took, I feel like it's hard for me to get motivated to actually run and then I'm bummed when I don't.  I am going to be joining the club associated with work.  The price is very reasonable and I'm just going to go as soon as I'm done at work and then run to get it done as soon as possible and also avoid some of the rush-hour traffic.  I also just need to get hungry again!

This upcoming week I agreed to run 7 days (Dan will also be running 7 days) and participating in the corporate 5k that's coming up.  I'm looking forward to being back on the right track!

-Lane

Vacation's Almost Over...

I guess I should come back and give another post...it has been long enough anyway. Since I have generally been sitting on my butt and enjoying my time off, I haven't found that I had a lot to write about.

But, that all changes soon. Lane, and some other friends from college are coming up this weekend for the Vermont Brewer's Festival. Basically, we all get to go to the waterfront of Burlington, VT and sample beer brewed by the many Vermont brewers. We went last year and it was a blast, so we are all looking forward to a repeat. But, after that, I drive to Connecticut and prepare to enter the Real World. My new job starts on Monday in New York City, and with that my days of lounging around screech to a halt.

As my start date approaches I've been thinking about what it means and what new things I will encounter and experience. I've realized that it has been really cool to be able to read Lane's posts on this blog and follow his adjustment to life in the working world, and I hope to be able to follow a similar process of documenting my transition here over the next few weeks.

The strangest part of this approaching change has been the fact that I don't actually start work on Monday...I know, it sounds strange, I start my job but I don't start work? Well, as with most jobs (especially entry level positions), there is orientation, but unlike many jobs, mine is three weeks long. Three Weeks! The whole process sounds like it will be a bit like school where I am basically attending training sessions all day and some networking sessions on some evenings. The nice difference though should be no homework (at least I hope not). I suppose it is all well and good though; since I am starting a job in finance, and have little to no experience in the field, it will be a good way to get up to speed on securities trading and the like. Besides, I get paid for it anyway, which is good.

I hope to have much more to share in the coming weeks as I adjust to work and life in New York City. But, until then I will be spending the last precious days of vacation celebrating the many wondrous varieties of beer at the VT Brew Fest.

Bottoms Up!

~Alex

Sometimes I Just Know Things and Am Never Wrong About Them

First, some background: the project that I have been investing most of my time in at work (since I started!) almost completely unraveled today, setting me back weeks.  I also found out that several other people had spent months trying to get this project to work and had failed before I was hired.  I'm not sure that anyone has a good handle on exactly what the problem I'm facing is or how to solve it, though there are some very promising avenues that I'm going to be following in the days and weeks to come.  In short, this task looks extremely difficult and many would throw their hands up and say "impossible!"

Second, some clarification: I have a very strong sense of intuition.  Ideas, convictions, and other thoughts will sprout into my head with very little set-up or thought.  Typically they take two forms: the first form is that a hundred facts will coalesce into something truly profound and the second form is a strong confidence in my ability to carry out a task.  An example of the first form came during a car ride home from my grandmother's house.  The car was silent when I began laughing.  When asked what was so funny, I replied that my father's password to the family computer had just occurred to me.  I don't know if it was changed when we got home, but I didn't bother trying it.  I had no reason to be sneaky and I just knew that I was right.  Years later, my dad told me that I was, in fact, correct.  The other form came this past winter.  The previous winter I had run the mile twice in 4:20 and change but didn't seem to be quite as sharp heading into a meet at Boston University.  Somehow, I knew that I could run faster than 4:20.  The track coach said that he thought I should run conservatively to put myself into position to run around 4:20 in two weeks.  The cross-country coach told me he didn't think I could do it.  I just knew I could.  Sure enough, I ran aggressively and ended up with a 4:19.70 that will likely stand as my PR for a long time.  Sometimes, I am wrong about things, but never when I just know.

Third, the pieces come together: This time around, I just know that I can overcome this challenge and complete the project.  Intellectually I am sure but the intuitive knowledge that I can is comforting.  I don't expect it to be easy or always fun or pleasant.  But I expect success because I know I can deliver.

A Very Long Day!

Today was a long day.  I got to work a bit before 8am and left around 7:30pm.  I spent nearly the entire day in the "flow lab" which is actually not a bad place to work except that it's uncomfortably warm and the radio was on all day and I noticed that "Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga played at least 5 times.  It's a good project and the data collection part is over (for now) and I can get back to my regularly scheduled projects at work tomorrow.

Luckily I ran before work and made enough dinner for tonight when I was making dinner last night!  I try to act like an adult and it feels like a major triumph when I see far enough ahead in the future to make my life just a bit easier!

Training, Week of 7/10

This report will be a little unusual... to start with, I took not one rest day, but two, ending my streak at 49 days (a personal record).  Only running 5 days in a week makes it difficult to continue increasing mileage over 7-day weeks, so I also had a somewhat drastic decrease in mileage, to 41.2 miles in 5:02:12 (7:20/mile average).  It was a week where I learned a lot about running as a part of the "real world" though, so I don't mind the decrease in mileage.

The first rest day came on the 4th of July.  The road race that I normally participate in (a downhill mile) was canceled due to construction on the course and so I planned to get up and run before the parade.  I got up in time but couldn't get myself out the door and so I took the whole day off.  The second came on Friday where I got caught late at work and then again in traffic and didn't get home until very late.  This pretty much killed my motivation to run.  I should perhaps have had a little more willpower on one of these days but hopefully I'm back on track due to a decent weekend of running (7.55 and 15.75).  I have already mentioned the Thursday Night Track Workout that I experienced and the long run this weekend was pretty decent.  I got out a bit before 10 and stayed to the shade so I didn't get into any dehydration/over-heating trouble.  When I pulled my sock off, however, I noticed this:

Unfortunately, those are my feet and there was some pretty serious bleeding from the second-smallest toe.  I don't know what the deal is because my shoes weren't rubbing on it.  In fact, I wasn't even aware this was a problem until I took my shoes off.  The funny part of the story was that this picture was very difficult to take.  Due to the whiteness of my feet, I had to turn the flash off or the reflection off my skin caused the picture to be washed out.

This upcoming week is going to be challenging: I have a couple long days at work coming up and then I'm returning home this weekend to visit my parents.  Hopefully I'll be able to make time for running and stay focused on getting back into the 55-65 mile range.

-Lane

A Very Busy Day!

Today was a very busy day but I'm very excited about the results.  First off, I went for an easy run in the morning to get loosened up and put some mileage in for the week.  I'm planning on an 18+ mile run tomorrow so I wanted to go easy to get ready for that.  Then I headed to the bank to deposit some graduation money, a paycheck and my signing bonus, which pushed my bank account in a direction I like to see it going.  Then I started the really fun stuff.

First I went to Michael's, a store that I rarely have a need to go into.  For those not initiated into the wide world of craft stores, Michael's is a craft store and more importantly, they have custom framing, which is pertinent to this particular story.  When I was younger, my dad gave me four comic books about dinosaurs.  These are cutesy, cartoon dinosaurs but instead a series documenting a bloody feud between a pack of velociraptors and a clan of T-rex's.  In any case, I thought they were awesome then and I think they're awesome now.  So I brought them to Michael's and talked for probably half an hour with the framer there about matting and she made some suggestions and I ended up leaving them there to get matted and framed.  It will take about two weeks, but I can't wait!

Then I went to BestBuy.  I have been considering an extra monitor for some time now and I decided to at least go and look at them.  I ended up buying a 23" Acer monitor which I'm very excited about.  I can now multitask like nobody's business and enjoy movies and TV shows posted to the internet even more.  It looks a little silly next to my laptop because it dwarfs the screen, but I figure I'll get used to it!

Then I headed out the door to go to the grocery store but locked myself out.  Luckily I hadn't put on the dead-bolt and was able to credit-card my way in (with my old Price Chopper card... I knew that would come in handy!).  This just reinforces the need to use the dead-bolt all the time because by and large the regular door lock is not very secure.  I eventually made it to the grocery store and the rest is history and not very interesting.  The crazy thing is, despite everything I did today, I still didn't get everything done!  I have an oil change and a long run scheduled for tomorrow plus a long day of cleaning around the kitchen and apartment in general and doing laundry.  I will need to go to work to rest from this weekend.    A grown-up's work is never done!

-Lane

Thursday Night Track Workout

Yesterday I had the opportunity to join about 50 other people at St. Joseph's college in West Hartford, CT for the Thursday Night Track Workout put on by Fleet Feet in Hartford.  I usually don't like big group events like this but I'm hoping not to have to run by myself for the rest of my life, so I decided to check it out.

Initially I was worried that I would immediately be the fastest person and have to run by myself anyways.  Perhaps that's a little cocky, but at my speed there are lots of people younger than I am who are still in school and not too many people who are working and on their own and likely to be at a big group track workout.  Luckily, this wasn't the case.  I got to run with the local fast-guy, Duncan, who is actually a very speedy guy and we traded off leading the hard intervals during a 30 minute fartlek on the track.  I have raced Duncan once before at the 8 Furlongs Road Race where I beat him but it turns out he was just coming back after a marathon, so that victory rings a little hollow.  In any case, I felt very welcomed and it was awesome to see so many people of so many different abilities out there running their hearts out.  I will definitely be returning as often as possible.  I even met another guy who runs and works where I do, so that was pretty cool.

This is just another reason to keep running (though I took today off because of a super-long day at work and a very long commute on top of lightning, thunder, and pouring rain!).  In any case, if you're in the area you should definitely check out the workout (it's at 6:30) and maybe even stop by Fleet Feet.  I bought shoes there, which was a very positive experience.  They don't even pay me to say this stuff, I am just that impressed!

-Lane

Math, The Way it Should Be (Unit 2.3: Functions)

As per usual, this is the latest (and late, sorry) installment of the Math, The Way it Should Be series.  The first post explaining what the point is exists here.  The first unit is here and the beginning of this unit is here.  This unit is all about functions which are pretty cool objects.  Basically, they're boxes that you can put something into and it gives you something else.  Functions are important because if you put the same thing into it twice, you'll always get exactly the same thing back out.  We say that a function maps a domain to a range:

The domain is all of the things that can go into the function and the range is all of the possible things that can come out.  They don't necessarily have to be the same size.  We'll come back to this in a second.  But first, how do we write a function?  Usually it looks a little like this:

\(f(x)\)

The function's name is "f of x" though the x is just a place-holder, really.  To fully define a function, we say what it is and then what its domain is, though this is sometimes omitted when the domain is all numbers.  For example, we could define f this way:

\(f(x)=x^2\)

\( -2 {\leq} x {\leq} 2 \)

This means that whatever goes into f gets squared and only numbers between -2 and 2 may be put into f.  To find out what happens when we put 1 into f, we just write \(f(1)\) and then carry out the function on 1.  We then have:

\(f(1)=1\)

So we know what the function is and it's domain.  What about it's range?  The best way to figure this out is to graph the function.  How do you do that?  Recall the lesson where I introduced the Cartesian plane and said that anything could be put on either axis?  In this case, you put the domain on one axis and the function on the other, like this:

The red line represents the function values.  To find \(f(x)\), just find x on the horizontal axis and then draw a line up to the red line and then over to the vertical axis.  You then have your value.  To make a graph like this, you just come up with a couple examples and write them into pairs in the form \((x, f(x))\) and then put them on the plane.  If you don't remember how to do this, please see the lesson in the link above.  Finally, draw a line through the points and you have your function.  We can now find out what the range of the function is.  The range is the collection of all of the possible outcomes of the function.  In this case, you can see that the lowest value is 0 and the highest value is 4.  So the range is \(0 {\leq} x {\leq} 4\).  And that's all you need to know about functions (for right now)!

Homework:

• Practice with functions.  Start thinking of things in terms of functions and then think about graphing them.  For example, position as a function of time (\(x(t)\)).  Think about what the domain and range might be.  Only one assignment for this lesson!

-Lane

This Blog Affects Real Change

There aren't very many readers of this blog quite yet, but at least one of them must be very important and/or influential.  Let me explain:

A while back, I wrote a post on the state of I-89 in Vermont.  I went to Connecticut and have been working up until Thursday night when I returned to Vermont, once again taking I-89.  This time, however, it was great!  I can see that a lot of effort has been put into re-surfacing the road and I definitely appreciated it.  I look forward to returning home on I-89 again.

So thank you, mystery influential blog reader.  Keep up the good work!

Also: Happy Fourth of July!  Let Freedom Ring!

-Lane

Training, Week of 7/3

Week 7 and the streak continues to 49 days!  I covered 60.2 miles in 7:07:26 (7:06/mile average).  There were a couple really good runs in there, including a run to the top of Castle Craig which is a nearby mountain (about 1000') a couple miles from my apartment, a hilly steady run at 5:59/mile, and a long run of 16.84 miles in less than two hours.

Generally I wouldn't regard a long, fast run as impressive but not particularly noteworthy but this one is unique.  I drove back to my parents' house for the long 4th of July weekend and there is a long loop that I have always wanted to run in less than two hours but my previous best was 2:00:16.  It doesn't require a particularly fast pace (only ~7:08/mile) but the run is challenging because of the elevation profile:

Over the years, I have decided that it is quicker to go up the giant hill on the steep side and then try to make up time on the ensuing down-hill than try to run quickly uphill and then bomb down the steep side which can really tear up ones quads.  If you can't read the numbers, the steepest part of the run includes just under 800' of climbing in just under 2 miles.  In any case, this Saturday I decided to go for it.  I averaged well under 7:00/miles for each segment of the run with the exception of the hill, where I averaged about 8:14/mile.  I ended up finishing well within my abilities in 1:58:20, which I am proud of.

I have found that I'm running a lot more hills than ever before and I hope that this will translate into more strength and speed later on.  I intend to stay at this training level of ~60 miles/week with a faster workout and a long run.  I think that it's paying dividends and I look forward to reaping the real benefits!