Blog maintenance reviewed

My previously mentioned moved went successfully.. You shouldn't need to unsubscribe/resubscribe (but you can if you want).

Thanks

Blog maintenance

Earlier this week I was discussing FeedBurner. Turns out, they're moving to Google. So, I went and did that whole moving thing.

Previously subscribed folks shouldn't see a change, but you know how that is. The new feed is at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Raulgonemobile.

Once I get this through my old subscription, I'll go and update this saying that it worked.. :)

Update: It worked.

TIART: The Marathon - Explained

Today over at the Runners' Lounge is TIART, all based on marathon running.

I'll preface this post by saying: I have not run a marathon. I haven't even run a half marathon (but I have run that distance before).

What's the draw of the marathon? It's sort of the ultimate racing distance. Sure, there's ultras and whatnot. Truthfully, though, until I started following blogland, I had no idea about such things. I had heard of marathons though. And I knew they were far. Very long.

So, to me, the draw is.. it's kind of the king of racing. Not that I'm going ever to race a marathon and be anywhere competitive. It's more of an endurance test. Can I do it? Can I go all the way? I'm the kind of guy who likes to go to 100% in stuff. If I don't, it nags at me.

The long run draws me as it is. (If you said that to me a couple of years ago, I would have said you had been smoking something.) To go out on a nice day and run for miles and miles... There's just no feeling quite like it. The thoughts in your head clear, you feel great afterward (cardio-wise at least). There's just something about it.

I think it's just the fact that it's such an accomplishment that draws me. I won't be happy if I wind up walking part of it (minus the aid stations). I want to run the whole damn thing. To go from being un-active to a marathoner is something worth noting. I'm not there yet, but I want to get there.

My wife told me this morning that she doesn't know what to make of me being an exercise nut. I don't know what to make of that comment, either. Is it good, is it bad? I guess it's who I am now. I think that since it's completely orthogonal to everything I do in a "normal" day, whether it's working or chilling out, it draws me. Something different. I love things that are different. (Of course, if I run every day, at some point it's no longer different.. hrms..)


I see next week's TIART is about how to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I've got nothing there. Short of using a scooter or something.

I ran outside

I've been a wuss this winter. Feel free to use a stronger word if you want. I just haven't run outside. I have been dutifully going to the gym, running around and around the track, in it's 1/15th of a mile goodnees.

Monday's workout was a hill workout, and I saw no way to get past it. I had to go outside. I thought about going on the treadmill and cranking the incline, but that would only get me the uphills, not to mention the odd momentum differences.

So, thanks to this blog and yesterday's post, I knew I would have to put up some pictures, and I didn't want to disappoint.

First off, the temperature:


It's cold. Not that bad, though. I have run in worse. (Last year).

So, I better put on some cold weather gear:




Oh, and don't forget a hat and gloves:




That's my hoof right there. I was in a rush and didn't properly frame the picture. :)

Off I went....

I ran a little over a mile to a hill nearby:



And I ran up this hill. 4 times.

One of the times, I took a break and took a picture from the top:



That being done, I ran back home, dodging all of the ice patches.


This is what the elevation chart looked like:



So, how did it go? Well, the run was 3.76 miles long. The hill interval portion was .15 miless.
My splits on the hill were like this:
#1 - 7:20/mile
#2 - 7:50/mile
#3 - 8:09/mile
#4 - 8:43/mile

That, my friends, is a terrific example of positive splits. Oh? We're not aiming for that? Sigh.

Yeah, as you can see, as the time went on, my speed went down. (But I was really motoring on the first one). Not so coincidentally, as the time went on, the worse I felt too. :)

All in all, a successful run. However, I do need to learn how to pace myself better.

Keep on rockin'!

Blog notes and long run notes

Right now, my blog comes up as #1 in a Google search for 'what is an experimental fusion vehicle'. Really. I can't make this stuff up.

So, I'm subscribed to my 'FeedBurner' feed to myself, just to make sure everything comes through OK and whatnot. I see that it's been a bit sluggish lately.. Sluggish, as in, I got 4 days of postings all at once..

I originally signed up for FeedBurner just to see how many people subscribe (narcissist?), but the Google Webmaster Tools seem to give you that data. How many of you use FeedBurner? Should I just ditch it? What are your thoughts?

Anyway. Friday was to be a 3 miler. I did one on the track, and was like this.. "ow ow ow ow ow". Repeat. Ad nauseum. I switched to the treadmill and was slightly better. So, there was mile #2. I then went on the bike and did 15 minutes there and called it a day. Disappointing, 2 crappy ass runs in a row. I was worried about my long run.

Saturday morning came. I had to get up bright and early to do my 10. On a chance, I switched back to my already broken in shoes, and went to the gym. (It was really cold and windy. And I'm a wuss.) I was a bit worried, but after about 3 miles, I really settled in and felt great. The last mile I 'ramped it up' (for me) and ran faster, too. Felt great, had plenty to give.

So, I'm hoping the pain is just from the shoes not being broken in yet. Here's hoping... I'd hate to have bought shoes I can't run in at all.

Today is supposed to be a hill run... The forecast is for 21 degrees, so I might be able to do it. If I get out of work at a reasonable time, I'm off to run to a hill. Plus, tomorrow doesn't look much better for a temperature increase, so I think this is it. Sigh. I'm going to try to remember to strap my phone on to my arm so I can take some hill pictures, just for something to put here in the blog for visual interest. You know you want it.


Keep on rockin'... Depending how today goes, maybe I'll finish up the big post..

Beer collection, plus scotch

I've been lax on posting up the new (to me) beers that I've tried recently.

I had a Roxy Rolles from Magic Hat. There was a picture of it, but it magically (har har) disappeared from my phone. I may have taken it from my wife's phone, but she deleted it, not knowing the significance of having research photos. I've got to say, this was fabulous. It was a wintery style of beer in the base, but it was far hoppier than you would expect in a winter beer. Almost an IPA amount of hops. This was my favorite beer from Magic Hat (even better than #9 on draft). A splendid beer.

I also had Winter Warmer from Harpoon. This was a very spicy winter ale. The first one I had, I was so-so on it, but it really grows on you. Certainly, not hoppy, but a good mix of spices. They claim it has a pumpkin pie flavor, but I'll beg to differ on that. You can certainly sense the cinnamon, though. I bet it would be good on draft.

I also went to Outback the other night (first time in a couple of years!) and had two beers from Coopers Brewery. First up was the Premium Lager. Not a bad beer. A little malty compared to what I was expecting, but tolerable. I think I prefer Foster's, though. Well, no. I know I prefer it.

The second Coopers beer I had was the Sparkling Ale. This had a lot of sediment in the beer (which I do like). The taste.. well.. not so good. This was a definite "glad I had it once, but that's about it for me" beer. Can't put my finger on it, why I didn't care for it too much.

Lastly, for the scotch lovers among you, I finally got around to trying Laphroaig scotch. (Pronounced: "La-froyg"). I had the basic 10 year old single malt, and it was amazing. I think I liked it better than the Lagavulin I previously tried. (The problem with trying these things 6 months apart is it's so damn hard to really compare). The Laphroaig was very smokey, and gentle going down. Not as smooth as the Oban I had tried, but it certainly didn't burn or feel rough at all. This is a great scotch if you like the smokey Islay style.

That's all for now.. Saturday is the winter beer tasting festival up in Syracuse, so I'll be hitting that, weather permitting. So, hopefully more tasting notes to come..

Getting ready for the weekend

Welp, I found out that my brother in law does indeed read my blog, at least on a semi-regularly basis.. So, the family readership creep has started. :) (Just kidding!).. So, "Hi!"

Wednesday was a God-awful day of running. I knew it would be before I even took a first stride.. Stuff was just achy. It wasn't even like TFH's 16 miles that didn't go smoothly. I was running a measly 4. Oh well. It was just a bad day, and we're all bound to have those now and again.

I got through it by just imagining it was the tail 25.2 miles of a marathon, and told myself to enjoy the experience. Hah

Tonight is a short 3 miles, and tomorrow is my first double digit run of the new year. Supposed to put in 10. We're going on a short road trip up to Syracuse tomorrow in the early afternoon, so I'll have to haul my ass out of bed in the morning to make sure I can get it in.

W4D1 of the sit-up challenge was good. Harder than week 3, but do-able. Similar with W3D1 of the push up challenge. So far, I'm rockin' them.


Tonight is week one of the new season of dice baseball, so I get to see how my draft picks do. Should be good..

I've got a summary post coming up of some new (to me) beers that I tried and some scotch as well. (Hey, when I said I was cutting back on the alcohol, I didn't say I was giving it up..) Look for that in a few hours.

I think I'll be un-disclosing my currently disclosed item next week.... (That's my lame attempt at keeping the current readership interested :) )

And, as always.. keep on rockin'!