Thursday, August 25, 2011

Evolutionists don't own ancient man

Some minimalists and paleo dieters are rather scornful of creationists in their midst.  But instead of scorn, they should see the creationist as a strong ally in applying knowlege of ancient man to modern day human health issues.

The evolutionist paleo dieter says that man evolved rapidly before the paleolithic era, lived in utopia during the paleolithic era, and then has not really had enough time to evolve to a rapidly changing world since.  He must toe a narrow line about the speed and practicality of evolution. 

The creationist primitive man dieter says that God created man eactly as he is today.  Agriculture was a curse tossed upon man after he lost the utopia of the Garden of Eden, and he has not changed significantly since except in his collection of knowlege and tools. 

The premise of the existance of a creator God may not make sense to the evolutionist, but the resulting conclusions of the creationist are more strongly consistent with the idea that man has not changed since he lived in utopia, and may be well served by some of the eating and exercise habits of utopian men.

A word from Coach Gordo

We were discussing warmups on Minimalsit Runner, and I mentioned that I run slow enough that I can't really run slower to warm up, but I wasn't really worried about being slow.  Gordo had this encouragement for me:
> If I can get up to regular decently long runs at my slow
> pace, then I'll worry about how to speed up.

+1
Time and heart rate are the goals not likely to get you in trouble.
Step one is to get healthy. Step two is to get fit. Step three is to get efficient. Getting fast might be step four. Or maybe I forgot one or two. ;) It's way down the list and if you never get there, so what?
Gordo

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Long Walks

Did two miles of the Genesee River Trail on Saturday.  It is about four miles from my house to the Mind the Ducks starting line, and this hike was down and back one of the more plesant miles along that route, from the Maplewood Rose Garden to the Ridge Road underpass.  Maybe before winter hits we can cover the whole distance on foot in a sitting.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Resoling time AGAIN...

The deerskin moccasins have developed another hole.  This is in exactly the same place on the pad of my right foot as the first through-hole, but has not progressed as far, only showing as a crack in the leather.  I'm considering making a whole new pair of moccasins out of upholstery leather this time.  I also should get working on a pair of winter boots before winter gets here.

First hole in base layer

Current outsoles, note dark spot over the base layer hole

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

August Update

Goal:
I've gotten over the July slump, and am improving again.  So much so that I've made a bold announcement on dailymile:
I've decided to train for a half marathon in twelve hours next May. Most of you would find that slow, but I currently think a half mile is a good workout, so it is a big deal for me.
The idea grew from a couple things.  In the minimialist runner discussion group, the Big Dog Backyard Ultra was discussed.  In the Big Dog Backyard Ultra, there is a 4.5 mile loop, that must be completed every hour on the hour.  You can run as fast or slow as you want, as long as you finish the loop within the hour, then you rest until the clock strikes again.  Last man standing wins.  (Last man standing probably knows how to catnap on bare earth and awake quickly to an alarm.)

Last May I spectated and photographed the Mind The Ducks 12 Hour race.  The race is to see who can do the most 1/2 mile laps in 12 hours.  I did about three laps of the course over three visits during the race to do my photography. 

So between these ideas, for a beginning runner like me, how about one 1/2 mile loop every hour on the hour for 12 hours?  I'd run/walk for 10 minutes, and have 50 minutes to rest, do photography, or grill up some good food.  Not worth an official entry, I could walk the "wrong" way around the course like one of the racers' support crew did the last couple years.  But wait, I have almost a year to train for this, I could maybe do two laps per hour without regretting it later.  Two laps per hour would be a total of 12 miles, and a half marathon is 13.1 miles.  That's 3 extra laps over the course of 12 hours.  That seems doable, and worth an official entry if I feel up to it when early registration comes up.
Mind The Ducks 12 Hour, 2011
Because of the flexible format of Mind The Ducks, there is no pressure to complete a specific pace or a specific milage.  One half mile loop and I'm officially a race finisher.  I will keep the race as motivation to train, but I will not overtrain to meet a specific race goal.  The run/rest strategy will help me with my goal of staying on the course for 12 hours, but since I'll be coming in last place, it matters little to the racers or crew how many laps I actually complete.

(Minimalist Runner Discussion)

Maybe in 2013 I can do a full marathon that way, 4 laps per hour, with 5 more laps over the whole day.

Training:
What am I doing special to train for this?  Well, not really much, except that it's keeping me motivated to work out more regularly.  My DailyMile goal is set to "Train six days a week, including one long hike a week...".  The race is motivation to train, but I'm still healing and remodeling my body, so pushing it harder to train will only sideline me.  Regular workouts will do the most for the healing process.  The long hikes have been scheduled on the calendar, rest days occur as they will when things just don't work out in my schedule, and if they don't happen by chance will be added in after the long hike days.

Recent Doings:
We had company last week, got to see some of the local tourist attractions, Corning, Letchworth, Taughannock, Dinosaur Bar-B-Q, Broad Street Bridge, Eastman House, Red Wings Baseball, and the Sterling Renaissance Festival.  I let myself off the hook on official workouts, and still managed to overdo it.

After Corning/Letchworth we had a day off and I felt great.

Letchworth Middle Falls
Family at Letchwoth Gorge

(Can you tell I love panarams?)


Me and the pup at Taughannock

At Taughannock I was fine with the campsite to falls overlook hike, then after my noon nap I decided to walk down to the gorge trail.  There is a massive set of large, irregular, stone steps leading from the campsite down to the gorge.  I should have realized I was in trouble when I felt I had to resort to my lopsided right leg leading decent to remain in control, but I stubbornly plugged on, did half the gorge trail, and went back up those horrible steps.  My right calf let me know afterwards that I'd overdone it, but I was mostly able to keep up with company for the rest of the week.  (I sat on the floor a couple times during talks on the walking tour of Eastman House.)

Daniel, Duke of Danger, playing us a little music

At Sterling, I made the choice to wear my soft moccasins over the rough stony paths.  This was a bit of a foot workout, but going slow kept my calf happy.  At the last act of the day I gave in and switched to huaraches, which were slightly more protective.  In addition to taking it easy when walking, we spent much of our time resting on benches, watching our favorite shows.

My right calf is almost better now, although I think I'll stick to walking workouts for a bit.  The gym pool is closed for the week as they get ready for the beginning of fall quarter, and the puppy will appriciate getting out more.

Shovelglove:
Some guy from the shovelglove website
Shovelglove is a small oddity I've introduced to my workout schedule.  When I lack the motivation to go for a walk, I sometimes substitute some shovelglove.  Shovelglove uses a normal sledgehammer as an exercise device.  The "glove" part comes from the idea of covering the sledgehammer with something soft, but I'm not worried about scratching my floors, and no amount of padding is going to make a sledgehammer not hurt if you drop it on your toes, so I'm just sticking with slow, careful, controlled movements.

 I'm not strong enough for most of the movements, but I can work on my core by holding it different ways and bending or twisting gently.  This might not help the running much, but I think it will help develop muscles I need for gardening, and I'm really only using the running to improve my fitness to do more useful and fun things.

So overall, progress is occuring again, and I'm encouraged to keep trying no matter what other people say, and not allow anyone to push me to do more than I should, any more than I will let them discourage me into giving up.  I'm gonna be selfish on this, and do what's right for me.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Strong Ankles Save The Day

Today I stepped in a hole.  It was a narrow hole, but deep enough that the majority of my foot fell into it.  My heel snagged on solid ground, and the point of my foot went deep into the hole.  My foot contacted bottom, and I stepped forward again.  Not too big of a deal, I was just a bit surprised and the landowner was spooked that I might have hurt myself.  I'm not even sore.  I think a year ago if I had landed a foot in that hole I might have twisted an ankle.  I was even wearing the same clunky shoes I last twisted an ankle in, only my muscle conditioning has changed.

Now, instead of sitting on the couch with an ice pack, I'm rushing through chores waiting for my company to arrive.  Speaking of which, break time is over, it is time to get back up...