Training in San Diego: The Good and The Challenging

Hello from the West Coast!  I'm in San Diego for the week to help welcome my brother's first child into the world.  It would of been nice to take a week off from work and training but unfortunately that isn't the case.  There is no rest from marathon training.  Its a half a year commitment!  The most I'm changing with my current routine is my marathon training diet (and of course, sleep, once the baby gets here).  I have to have In-N-Out while I'm here right?!

The Good

Its been nice to have a little break from the crazy humidity of Virginia.  But staying with my Brother and Sister-in-law definitely have other perks:

My home away from home for the week.

The view outside of the pad.  Wait.  What is that behind the gate?

Is that a lap pool just 20 feet away?  Why yes!  I believe it is!

The Challenging

With the combination of struggling through Tuesday's 8-miler and traveling all morning on Wednesday I thought it would be best to give the legs a break on Wednesday.

I woke up early Thursday morning and decided to try out the local roads for a brief 4-miler.  I went over to the USATF site and mapped out a quick run.  I knew the neighborhood we were in was on the side of a hill, but I remembered, "hills are your friend".

I came out of the neighborhood and took this first right, and started my run down the hill.  Not too bad so far.

Most of mile one was down hill so I thought, no problem.  I knew I was going to have to run back up but on the way down the hill was so steady I figured it wouldn't be too much of problem.  I felt so good that I decided that I would take a parallel path back up the hill to finish up my run.  Big mistake!  This is the BEAST I encountered at mile 2.5.

I know hills are our friends, but what about mountains?  This climb was insane!  I really wanted to stop and walk at the top of it.  I powered through, but after a quarter mile I got another shocker.  I was going downhill again!

After some personal motivational talk (most of which can't be repeated here) I eventually finished up the remaining inclines and my run.  Overall, it was a good time.  I'd have to say that I felt more challenged than when I did my Half.  I'm sure the benefits will outweigh the sheer torture I put my body through.

I still have to do a 10, a couple of 8s and a couple of 4s while I'm here, but its safe to say I'll be avoiding the BEAST.

Just for kicks, here's the elevation profile of yesterday's grueling run:

Work on Your Strategy Already!

I went out for an 8 miler yesterday morning and by the time I got to mile 5 my legs were dead.  I could of used the excuse that I had just run a Half on Saturday.  Or that I didn't allow any rest for my legs on Sunday (I actually played a little football and did a half mile in the pool).

The truth is, after my race I decided to splurge on junk food and have some taco bell, movie theater popcorn, and soda.  What's the big deal about all that?  I mean we're doing these long distances so we can eat whatever what we want, right?  Wrong!

For the past six months, while training, I've figured out what does and does not work for my body.  I've tweaked my diet and determined the amount of sleep I need to have a good run.  If I don't at least follow these habits then my run is just about guaranteed to blow up.  I'm amazed how many people haven't figured this out.  That's half the point of the training!  It's like they're just asking to bonk on race day.

So how about it guys.  Have you figured out what routine/habits works best for you?  (I know there's only a handful of you, but I'm sure you've got excellent information to share!)

Figuring Out Blogging

This is a comic from xkcd that appeared a couple of weeks ago.  I found the strip to be particularly funny because on the very day I saw it, I had considered doing yet another blog post that apologized for never updating.

What's even funnier is that at the time I only had one follower and she was my cousin.  So even if I wrote that post, at most only two people would be reading it.  For me, that was a make or break moment for this blog.  I had to get back to the roots and figure out why I was doing this in the first place.  What I found was rather surprising.

For one, I realized that I'm a web newb.  Not in the sense that I just started using the internet but in the sense that I never really picked up the social power behind using the web.  I've been on the web for over 10 years and I just figured that out?!  I've never really used forums, done online gaming, or met random people online (via chatrooms, social networking, etc).  What's worse is that I have a computer science degree.   For some crazy reason I excel at face to face communication but when it comes to social interaction I'm like one of the shyest guys on the net.  Its like I'm some kind of Bizarro Computer Scientist.

The other thing I realized that at no point during the lifetime of this blog or my other currently stagnant blog did I ever really think about why I did blogging in the first place.  That's crazy!  It's one thing to do a proof of concept really quickly but you eventually got to iron out the details.  I haven't 'ironed out the details' for like four years!

So I decided that I needed to think a little about this blog.  Think about whether it made sense for me to just scrap the whole thing or to actually commit to blogging.  I even did a google search for "blogging beginner".   I found the post, 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers - Is a Blog Right for You which covers just about everything you should consider before you start blogging.

So with that, I'd like to announce the relaunch of Caveman Ramblings.  I'll still be talking about random things but the focus will be on how I try to live an overall healthy lifestyle.  More to come on this soon!

UPDATE: I now have two followers, so we're about to rock this thing out!

Patrick Henry Half Marathon

"Send me your race review.  You've got some valuable information.  This is the kind of stuff people want to read."

Was something my Ate Joy said to me as we talked about my race.  She wanted to post the review on her ever popular blog and share how proud she was of me with her followers (or how much she hated my time).  I thought it was a nice gesture as she is infinitely better at this blogging thing than me, but what the heck!  I'll go ahead and give it a shot here.

Just to recap how this running craze in our family started.  Ate Joy finished her first marathon last November.  Our family can be competitive so naturally trash talking eventually ensured.  We lightly debated who could run the fastest, who could run longest, and who would look best in a pink tutu.  It was decided a family challenge be laid out so everyone could put their running where their mouth was (I know it doesn't make sense).  We decided that a year be allowed for training and that we would meet up at the following year's (now this year's) Richmond Marathon.  Ate Joy's advice to all the men?

"Shave your legs. Pink tutus look better on smooth legs."

Since then, I've already:

• Gone through two pair of shoes.
• Completed my first 10k.
• Joined the Richmond Marathon Training Team (MTT).
• Fully converted to all aspects of running gear (shorts, technical tees, technical socks, a garmin, GUs, a palm holder water bottles, body glide, and a road ID).
• Given Ate Joy a preview of what the Richmond Marathon would be like if we ran together.

The Patrick Henry Half Marathon is the first race in my training for a marathon.  For those of us participating with the MTT, this race is supposed to serve as a benchmark of our training.

Day Before

I went out to Ashland, the day before the race to pick up my packet.  Ashland is a small town a little North of Richmond, which gets really country, really fast once you get out of the town.  Since I was going to be all the way out in the cut, I decided to take the time to drive the course.  In the process, I had the ingenious idea of recording notes to myself as I saw hills and other particulars about the course.  Sure, the course and elevation was available online but this way I could record¹ all the details I would find beneficial or hazardous to me during my run.  The other benefit was that by the time I was done driving through the course and recording my notes, I found I was actually really excited about the race.  It was like a weird epiphany; for the first time I actually admitted to myself that maybe I was into this whole running thing after all.

I got home that night and did all the stuff I learned from my previous race.  I put my bib number on my shirt, tagged my shoe, and laid out everything else I would need for the next day: shorts, socks, my Garmin, a GU, and course map.

Race Day

I woke up at 2:30 to eat breakfast.  I used to eat an hour before races/training runs but when it started to get humid, I started cramping up in the middle of my runs.  To alleviate this problem, I stopped eating before the shorter runs.  For the long runs (10+ miles) and races, I wake up 4 hours prior to the run to eat a carb loaded meal².   I learned this from a nutrition clinic I went to earlier in the training.

This morning in particular my goal was to take in about 200g worth of carbs.  I had a bagel (50), a banana (27), an orange juice (26), an almond butter and jelly wheat sandwich (60) and a hand full of pretzels to round it off.

As I ate, I listened to my self recorded notes for a couple of chuckles and made a couple of key notes about the course.  Where the SAGs were going to be, where multiple porto-potties were going to be, the major declines in the run, the major inclines in the run, and where the rolling hills were going to be.  I noted all this information so I could have a mental strategy of where I could pick up the pace or cut it back in case I needed to do so.  After all the planning and the food settled in, I went back to bed for another hour.

The wife and I woke up at 5:15 because 1) we were carpooling with James (a MTT buddy) and his girlfriend and 2) Ashland is in the cut, despite its claim that its in The Center of the Universe.  On our way there, our suspicions were confirmed, because of the parking limitation and the back country roads, the 25 minute trip there was actually taking more than an hour.  We were on pace to be late to our first half marathon race!  At quarter till race start time, James and I decided it was best to bail the car and do our warm up jog to the start line.  This was at the assumption that our just introduced significant others would be fine parking the car, get along for a couple of hours and be able to find us post-race.

Fortunately when we got to the start line, the race coordinators acknowledged the problem with traffic and the start time would be delayed a good 15 minutes.  I decided to take the time to get one last bio break before the run.  It was funny, while in line for the porto-potty I heard a lady say (I'm gonna paraphrase this):

"This sucks, because all of these men in line are not waiting to go pee!"

Just to confirm her suspicion, its true.  If the race is in the middle of the cut, where there is plenty of room to stand and drain, then we are not waiting in the line of the porto-potty to go pee (sorry ladies).

As I stood in line, I started remembering all the things I had forgotten in my haste to get out of the house.  I forgot my camera, which blew, but this is why I'm writing this very descriptive blog post (sorry again ladies) but more importantly I forgot my body glide!  Now I have never had the pleasure of severe chafing or bloody nips but those are experiences I plan on living life without.  I know we still haven't figured out why men have nipples, but I'm pretty sure no kind of liquid substance should be coming from them.  With this logic very engrained into my identity, I decided to run bare back for the first time.  After getting my shirt off and hastily attaching my bib number to my shorts, the race was starting.

The Race Itself

You would think this is where the meat of my post happens but as you've noticed, I'm a preparer.  Once the run starts I just let the mind loose and do it.  But I do have several thoughts about my race strategy and specifically about the Patrick Henry Half Marathon itself:

• The race actually starts, with a canon.  Did I already mention we were in the cut?
• On races and this one in particular I take it reeeeeeeeaaaaallllly easy in the beginning.  I think this particular strategy upset some people because someone actually told James and I, "you guys are having way too much fun" around mile 6.
• I always grab the last cup at a SAG, quickly get to the side and start a fast walk while taking my time with the water.  My thinking is that we're doing long distances here, so the time I loose making sure I take in good drinks of water, far outweighs the couple of seconds I loose to walking. (No, I don't do Galloway Running)
• Another thing I learned at the previously mentioned nutrition clinic is that once you start providing your body with carbs (ie - GUs or sports drinks), you have to constantly provide (like every 20 mins) it to your body afterwards.  So on training days I don't GU until an hour and a half into the run, so my body is learning to more efficiently use its stored glycogen (which comes from the  carbs). On race days I start a little after the one hour mark.
• The way I like to run is to change up the pace depending on the environment (ie - hills, crowds, etc) and to always have a reserve for my last kick. I also save some in the reserves because I just don't like the idea of dying to finish.  This is actually evident in my splits.  You'll notice where I'm taking it easy (M1 - M4, we hit the major decline and incline at M4), where I'm picking it up (M5 - M9, this is where it flattened out and ran through downtown Ashland), where I'm kicking it back (M10 - M11, had small, frequent rolling hills here), and where I'm using my kick (M12 - End, with a max pace of 4:57).
• My splits.  M1: 9:52, M2: 9:08, M3: 9:13, M4: 8:58, M5: 8:53, M6: 8:46, M7: 8:36, M8: 8:41, M9: 8:30, M10: 8:38, M11: 8:32, M12: 7:53, M13: 6:52
• For me, running is a humbling experience.  It is a sport that does not discriminate against race, gender, size or weight (these last two matter more when you're elite).  Anything can happen on any given run that can mess you up (ie - weather, potholes, bad sleep, etc) regardless of runner status and preparation.  I saw some elites walking on race day.  So just enjoy it.

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¹What would have been even more awesome is if I somehow put my camera on the dashboard of my car and took of a video of the course while recording my notes.  Maybe we'll do that for PDR!

²The Nutrition Clinic recommend high carbs, low fat, and low fiber before races (you don't want to have your tummy grumbling in the middle of a race). The number of carbs you eat is dependent on the number of hours you eat before you race.

Some Things Learned from Behind the Spurs' Bench

For our one year anniversary the wife and I decided to go all out and leave the East Coast's random weather for sunnier days in Maui and then San Antonio.  Maui itself is self explanatory. But why San Antonio?  Simply put, the wife is a huge Spurs fan.

Since she's been pounded down and tested by work in her first year of residency, I decided it was best to lift her moral and help her live out one of her all time dreams: to sit court side at a Spurs' game.  Some of the cooler things we saw/learned from our seats.

• These guys love their coach.  I always thought that Coach Pop was one of the best.  But these guys really listen to him.  Its amazing.  As big as egos are now a days, the Spurs seem to have the combination of great team guys and a great coach.
  
  
• Drew Gooden is a bonehead.  Its confirmed.  I've always suspected it.  He always seemed like he was doing his own thing in Cleveland's offense a couple of years ago.  I watched this guy drool at the Spurs' dancers as they performed their routine.  Then to top that, he spotted my wife and blatantly checked her out top to bottom for several seconds.  The nerve of the guy! The wife was a bit taken aback to say or doing anything but once she regained regular thought she asked if she could wave next time.  Whatever!
• From this down low you can see everyones faces but you also risk your view being blocked by a coach or referee.
• You don't have to get up for food because you have your own waiter down here.
• We could actually hear some of the conversations, like Coach Pop yelling at Tony Parker and a little bit of trash talking between Chris Paul and Coach Pop (all playful though).
• The so called basketball statisticians seem to just talk on AIM the entire time.  NOTE: not entirely sure if this was the stat guy or not but there was a lot of talking on AIM going on.

It was a great game overall. We lucked out and it went into overtime. The wife says its one of the best experiences of her life, falling behind our Wedding Day of course! Mission accomplished!

UPDATE: Bill Simmon's went ahead and confirmed my suspicions of Drew Gooden. In his own words:

Know when I knew it was over for the Spurs? When they signed Drew Gooden. Good rebounder, decent inside scorer, total knucklehead. He grew a mini-beard on the back of his neck three years ago. He let down LeBron so many times that LeBron developed an actual "Drew Gooden disappointed me yet again and I might have to kill him soon" frown. When he went to Chicago, Cleveland immediately became a better team. The Bulls dumped him and they immediately became better. He's exactly the type of player the Spurs NEVER sign: someone who looks better on paper than he actually is. I just thought it seemed like a desperate move. And it was.

What Books Would Be Good For Self-Study in Bioinformatics?

Despite my lack of commitment to this site, it seems that I'm still getting comments every now and again. And I appreciate the interest. It really helps me realize the potential interest in the kind of things I've written about here.

Most recently, I got a comment from Sudhang requesting books for the computer programmer who wants to self-study in the field of Bioinformatics. The following is my list. It may seem like its a bit everywhere but that's kind of what you get with the field of Bioinformatics.

• Molecular Cell Biology. One would get glossy eyed trying to read through this book, but you need to have a good reference to some of the Biology that is described in Bioinformatics. Of course, wikipedia is becoming more and more of a reliable source now a days as well. You could also ask the questions here at biowhat so that we all learn together, but the getting the answer is dependent on my time. 4/19/09 UPDATE: Madunca has recommended Alberts’ “Molecular Biology of the Cell” in the comments for aspiring Bioinformaticians. You may want to check that out as well as its always good to have options!


• Biostatistics: The Bare Essentials. When I started my Masters of Bioinformatics, taking statistics was one of the requirements. Personally, I didn't have a great experience with it in undergrad so I was a bit intimidated. A friend of mine, who is an MD/PhD, recommended that I freshen up my statistics knowledge with this book. It was a great recommendation! With this book the authors attempt to make learning Statistics an entertaining experience. Though this is a daunting task, they are highly effective.


• An Introduction to Bioinformatics Algorithms. This is probably my favorite book on this short list. It gives a little bit of everything. It gives a brief Biology Primer and then dives into what I love as a computer scientist, Algorithms! The authors look at various important Algorithms and how they apply to Bioinformatics.

Well, this is my list. Its short, but it gives you three books to what some may consider to be the cornerstone of Bioinformatics: Biology, Statistics, and Computer Science. If anyone has more recommendations, please leave them in the comments. Keep the questions coming!

The Fuss About Cotton and the Monument 10k

NOTE: I wrote this about a week ago, but since life has been rather hectic with work, my birthday, and vacation planning it wasn't a priority to finish the post.

Lets Talk About Cotton

Since my Ate Joy decided to show me what she calls "link love" (ie - the practice of linking to one's blog) last week, there was quite a bit of fuss about me wearing cotton sweat pants during my runs.  Actually most of the fuss was from Ate Joy.

I justify my running in my sweat pants for several reasons:

1. Running gear is expensive! I just started my running a couple months ago and didn't want to waste my money on something I wasn't sure I was going to commit to 100%.  And if that isn't enough, think of the economy people!
2. They're comfortable.  I love being comfortable.  Some of my best work gets done when I'm wearing sweats or a hoodie.  This is especially key, when I'm starting something new and uncomfortable to me (ie - running long distances).
3. Its been cold the past couple of months.  This point relates to my first one.  Its been cold, so I've pretty much compensated by throwing every piece of clothing I had on.
4. I'm old school.  I love physical play in basketball, strong defenses in football, Galaga, Transformers, the Original Trilogy of Star Wars, the click noise old keyboards make, etc.  Forget all this new school updated stuff!  I mean its not like running was invented with the tech/dryfit clothing lines.  People still ran in cotton 20+ years ago.  Heck, the first Marathon was before 1 century AD, you think people were worried about running in cotton back then?!

This is what I ran in a couple weeks ago:

Now some of you new-age running extremists (this is mostly directed at my Ate Joy as she is the only one that reads this blog) might cringe at the sight of this, but it fits my basic criteria: cheap, readily available, and warm.

Now, I ran 5+ miles with this on.  You know what my pace was?  8:45 mins/mile.  This may not seem fast to some people, but I've only been doing this for a couple of months.  So I think a time like that is awesome.  I'm awesome!  I'm not doing this to look cool or run extremely fast.  I'm doing this to finish something I said I was going to do.  Will I wear this kind of thing on race day?  Heck no!  Time matters on those days.

Monument 10k

This past weekend I ran the Monument 10k.  It was my first race.  Well first race as a distance runner, I used to run sprints in high school.

My wife, the Doctor Lady, and my cousin David (AKA JoyCuz-D) were in attendance.

I wasn't nervous at all.  This is probably because I just thought of the event as a benchmark of my progress towards completing the Richmond Marathon with my cousin, Ate Joy in the family challenge.

What made it especially relaxed were the numerous costumes at the event.  I saw ninja turtles, a swimmer (in just a speedo), and best of all Indiana Jones (scroll down to see the pic from the link)!

The run itself wasn't too bad.  I was in the wrong coral for the time I wanted, but I think it helped my confidence more than anything.  For the first part of the run I was well below my usual pace but this was recommended by my training group as they noted that zigging in and out of people tends to waste a lot of energy.  I just took my time and waited for the gaps to open.

Towards the end of the run (about the last half mile) I decided to kick it in a higher gear and finish strong like I've been practicing.  This is the part when my mind was tested the most.  It was especially disheartening when a kid who had to have been 10 years old kicked it into an even higher gear and made me look like I was standing still.  I like to justify this with the thought that he started in a much earlier coral, but I have no proof for this.

What was my time for the race, you may ask?  I ran a 52:58 or what is equivalent to around a 8:31.3 pace.  That's about 15 seconds faster than my usual pace per mile, and I was stuck in the wrong coral!

So in my strong opinion people should train in whatever clothing they want.  I mean its running.  Its supposed to be as low maintenance a sport as they get!  For those fashion police out there, I challenge you to run in cotton for a couple of weeks.  You'd be surprised how much a little change of clothing can help improve your time.

As a bonus for actually reading this blog.  Here's my morning race day dance, courtesy of the Doctor Lady.