Dahlia models her new glasses

Odd Week

I normally work 4 10-hour days per week, On weeks that have only 4 weekdays I don't do 3 10-hour days or 4 10-hour days, but rather 4 normal 8-hour days. Due to meetings and the need for late evening coverage, I still come in at 9:00 AM and leave at 7:00 PM. So what I do is take a longer lunch break than usual. This gives me the opportunity for longer runs than the usual 5-miler.

This week I did four consecutive runs of an 8.24 mile course. It was just bad luck that we are having a bit of a heat-wave now. It is only in the mid-80's, but very humid and I do run in the early afternoon.

My times were not great: 8:30, 8:20, 8:21 and 8:12 were the average paces. Normally I am unhappy if things are above 8:00 and really, below 7:30 is what I feel like should be happening.

The heat alone should account for some of the slow pace, but I think there is another cause as well. This route has a section of bike path that is made of packed gravel. I know how long each of the segments are and so I know that the pace before and after the bike path are solid 8-minute miles. At an 8-minute pace, it takes 20 minutes to get to the path, 16 minutes on it and then 30 minutes back to the starting point. All the losses are due to the inefficiency of running on gravel. The heat is somewhat less on the path since it is narrow and wooded, thus shady. There is less of a breeze in the woods though.

Cedarford and Helen Thomas Making a Chicken Dinner

Purple Flowers and Mint

Peony and Chives

Oops

B & W v. Color

The Five Stages Of Stormtrooper Grief

The Five Stages Of Stormtrooper Grief
Originally uploaded by JD Hancock

I am in stage 3

Crystal Head Vodka

12K Race: What did it mean?

Picture from Cool Running

This was my first race since the ignomie of Boston. I have kept track of training runs and times for the last few years, so I did not have high hopes for today. Training has been solid, but nothing like how I was burning-up the track last Summer. I hoped and expected that a solid pace of 7:30/mile would be achievable and this is what I hoped to do today.

It was a perfect sunny morning in New Hampshire--warm enough to be comfortable at the start but not so warm that overheating was a problem while racing. I hit the first mile mark in the 6:40's and I felt fine so I just kept it up. I was still still slightly under 7:00 minutes per mile at the 3 mile mark and felt great. The only problem is that this course is famous for having a big hill between miles 4 and 5, so it seemed prudent to save a little energy for that.

I somehow missed the 4-mile marker and I think this contributed to some lost time. At the 5-mile mark I was a couple of seconds off of a 7-minute pace, but the hill was behind me and so I could open things up a bit. I ran easily to the end, which is roughly 7.5 miles and did it in around 7:11 per mile. This is the same as my best showing in a 10K, which is a bit of a shorter course. Also, I achieved my 10K PR by really pushing myself hard, while today I could have easily kept up my pace for a few more miles.

So, what does it mean? On one hand it is a nice validation that in spite of a feeling of not ever getting back to the level I was at last year, I am actually more-or-less where I was. It does however point to the benefit of racing: Only racing will make most of us put out full effort and without full effort we have no idea what our true capacity is.

235 46/85 M4049 53:27 7:11 David Pecchia 47 M 245 GLRR Chelmsford MA

Nice Weather, Must-Buy-Fruit

We went to COSTCO to buy glasses for the middle daughter--oddly, she is really psyched to get them.

While there, we bought: Grapes, bananas, a pineapple, a box of oranges and blueberries. There is something about when it starts to become sunny and warm--I crave fresh fruit.

Also Mojitos. Which is good since the mint is growing in abundance.

But

We went to a Brazilian place last night and now we (but especially the wife) are craving the Caipirinha--which does not use mint.

A day of minor errands

--Rain was expected today, but when it didn't come I decided to change my oil. This is normally a pain since my oil filter housing is surrounded by stuff and the only thing that works is a strap-wrench that I couldn't find. I did incidentally find my huge pipe wrench that I couldn't find when I had a clogged pipe, while looking for the strap-wrench. I improvised by stuffing some old bike inner-tube along the perimeter of a slightly too large oil filter wrench socket. It worked! Actually, it worked much better than the strap-wrench does.

--I found, while working under the car, that an anti-sway bar bracket was rusted and broken. This may account for why my car wobbles when I go above 50 MPH. I ordered a new bracket since it is only 12 bucks with shipping. I am still on the fence about buying a new car or fixing the large expensive things I know my current car needs.

--Went for a 5K jog with my wife and her dog. I don't get much valuable training out of these runs, but I enjoy the company and she likes my coaching. Plus, it probably helps to loosen me up for the hard run I plan for tomorrow.

Had an open faced chicken and gravy sandwich and a beer for lunch.

Picked-up the middle daughter from school--bumps had appeared on her face. They are gone now that cortisone has been applied and Benadryl given.

Installed the handles on windows in the new study. Slightly amazed that I didn't loose them in the 5 years between the windows going in and now.

Showed a contractor around the outside of the house. Considering replacement of windows, roof and other external repairs.

Burned a small accumulation of boxes that had built-up in the basement.

Made a blog post.

The Burlington Vermont Foot Bridge to Nowhere

Depending on your browser, you will see a city map of Burlington VT, but then it will turn black and you will see the street view of the bridge.

View Larger Map

This is a really substantial bridge which you have access to from the road on the right. If you cross the bridge, there is a path that goes about 50 feet and then just ends with a residential backyard fence. Our hypothesis is that the neighborhood on the left--part of Burlington's North end--insisted on having an access bridge put in when the highway was built. Later, none of the houses at the end of the bridge wanted a right-of-way cut through (or next to) their land.

These were not enjoyed on the same night

Not that it matters, it just happens to be the case.

Last night I had this home made Limoncello which has been steeping for about 2 years in the freezer. Strong in more ways than one and really appeals to my Southern Italian heritage.

Last Sunday was the first warm weekend day in a while--that we were home for--and so I fired-up the outside grill. We have a little hibachi that we use year-round in the fireplace. The short ribs of beef, thinly sliced and with Korean marinade are great, but do take up a lot of grilling real estate. So, they only get done on the big outside grill.

We finally had the last of these sausages, stewed in spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.

New Hardware, Old Textiles

Back in the day, if you finished a race the prize was a race t-shirt. Now you get the shirt just for signing-up for a race and that is that. Marathons now usually give medals for completing the distance.

The first t-shirt is from 1980 and may well be the oldest garment I own. There is a 28 year gap between the first and second shirt.

Sideways Smoke

After roasting some coffee in the oven I noticed a sunbeam. I did not realize at the time that I lack software for rotating the image.

Sorry

You can see a little turbulence from the cold air entering the room through the open window.

Gathering up and spreading out...

I spent the first half of this beautiful sunny Saturday spreading 30 bags of topsoil onto a part of our front yard that has settled. After I finished that, I gathered-up the firewood I had earlier made out of one really large branch that fell and one smallish dead tree I had felled a few weeks back.

My wife had the harder job of taking our three daughters + one friend to "The Mall" for most of the day.

Further update...

I would have never thought that a cramp in my calf would result in a bruised appearance the next day on my shin. The front of my leg didn't hurt at all, even though it looked as if I got whacked with a 2 X 4.

The 20 mile mark, so part of the way up "Heartbreak Hill".

Photo by Ted and Mary Tyler from Cool Running

Marathon After-Action Report:

Everything was going great for about the first three miles, then suddenly I got a giant cramp in my right calf. I had to stop and massage my calf, then when I started back up, it hurt just as bad. I didn't want to quit but didn't see how I could keep running when I couldn't even walk. On the other side of it--how could I quit at three miles? Anybody can run three miles and I trained like a dog for this.

I got back out there and just tried to adjust my stride: In stead of landing on my forefoot and then springing forward, I landed on my heel and pushed-off with it. It was still painful but I could move.

Normally, I will run 20-30 seconds per mile under 8:00 for the first half to two thirds of the way, in order to build-up a cushion of time for when I get tired and have to go slower. The problem with this inefficient stride is that I was putting-out 7:30 - 7:40 effort but only making eight minute miles. So, I got tired out more quickly and at the end of it had no time saved-up. I took about 20 minutes more for the race than I had last year.

So, what happened? I cannot say for sure. I do not usually get cramps in my calf except maybe toward the end of a marathon and then one can get cramps anywhere due to lack of fluid and electrolytes. I normally tie my shoes fairly loosely in races since it is uncomfortable to spend over 3 hours with tight shoes on. Possibly I overdid this. Also, I put glide onto my toes since I had gotten a giant blister in the New York City Marathon. Either of these two things may have caused me to tense-up my calf. I did notice that my feet were sliding around in my shoes and this would be consistent with my theory.

My last marathon before this was effortless (to the extent that a 26.2 mile run can be), so I suppose I was due a hellish one just to even things out. When I resumed running back at the three mile mark, I didn't expect to finish: I figured that I would just get myself closer to the finish and thus make reuniting with my family a little easier.

Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k

0:23:46 0:49:02 1:13:50 1:39:43 1:45:23 2:05:48 2:33:39 3:03:00 3:34:00 0:08:43 3:48:20 11995 8291 1685

In which I commit heresy

Just before the 2 minute mark on the Fleetwood Mac song and just before 1:50 on the Pink Floyd one, there is a strong similarity (these are not the best videos--but the best ones I could find that were embeddable) in the musical progression. Both cases have low, wispery, chant-like lyrics and then the main motif of the song bursts-forth. I'm sure it has been done a million times, but Fleetwood Mac's version was done in 1979 and Pink Floyd did theirs in 1982. I won't deny the obvious differences--Pink's has their usual sinister undertones compared with Mac's sunnier sound. But still, I found it interesting. Until today I couldn't have said for sure which one came first, though I suspected that Tusk came out before The Wall.