 |
People are always talking about making lists of adventurous things they'd like to accomplish during their lifetime. Here's my list, and what follows are notes about what I'm currently up to.
David Blaine 17:04
May 17, 2008
One of the most riveting things I've ever watched on television was David Blaine trying to break the world record for a static apnea breath hold back in 2006. He had been submersed in a tank of water for several days, he had liver failure, his skin was disintigrating, and there he was, bound by chains no less, holding his breath for 3, 4, 5, 6 minutes and counting. At the time, I could only hold my breath for ballpark a minute and a half, and so seeing his pained expression at 6:30 and counting, it was hard to imagine what he was going through. In the end, he failed to break the world record and had to be rescued. I wasn't surprised at all. In fact, I expected that to be the outcome, but it was still hard to see him fail after training so hard and for so long, in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
I remember for the next week or so, I would even wake up in the middle of the night and I had evidently been dreaming about it. It gives you a whole new appreciation for the air we breathe.
And so, a few days ago, I was amazed to read this headline: "David Blaine breaks world record for holding one's breath". What? Could it be possible?
Indeed. The twist is that he wanted to break the record which involves breathing pure oxygen before hand, but they're much the same feat. Seventeen minutes and four seconds. Wow. Congratulations and well done.
|
 |
Working from a beach
May 17, 2008
Something that I added to my life list this week is working from a beach. It's something I've always wanted to do: Get set up with a big umbrella on a warm summer day with a light breeze, a reclining beach chair, and a laptop with a high speed Internet connection. Oh, and a cooler full of drinks. The day would start at about 8:00 AM and span about 10 hours, involving a short swim every couple of hours, and a break for lunch, and I'd want to get a full 8 hours of work in. How sweet would that be?!
|
 |
Go for liftoff: Let's try this marathon thing
May 15, 2008
Thankfully, the last week of training has gone really smoothly. Last Friday, I set out before work to try 12k, which was a pretty big test of my foot. The run went really well, and so I set my sights on trying 16k, 5 days later. I got up at 5:30 yesterday morning and headed out at 6:15. The run went quite well, and it felt to be out in the country again early in the morning.
I wore my heart rate monitor, and it was quite interesting to observe my heart rate lower than what it typically would be. As I was leasurely jogging down Laurelwood, my heart rate was actually below 130, which I've never seen before while running. And many times throughout my route, I'd look down and see it in the 140s. Again, usually I would be in the low to mid 150s.
Although my watch-to-PC link is broken these days, the watch was able to tell me my average heart rate, which was 145. My time was 1:57, and the distance was 17. So:
Heart beats = 145 * 117 = 16965
Distance = 17000 m
Weight = 184
Efficiency = 16965/17000 = 998 millibeats per metre
Efficiency normalized for weight = 5.424 millibeats per lb-m
Past numbers:
May 2007: 21 km in 2:04:44 at 165 bmp and 180 lbs:
980 millibeats per metre, 5.444 millibeats per lb-m
January 2008: 12.3 km in 1:27 at 148 bmp and 190 lbs:
1040 millibeats per metre, 5.445 millibeats per lb-m
All of that being said, it looks like my efficiency numbers are pretty good, it's just the endurance of my legs after a three week period of no running that remains worrisome.
With this 17k run behind me, I'm nervously starting to process what all I need to do to get myself to the starting line on the 25th. Eek! For example, I haven't even looked up where the race starts, where to pick up my bib number, what the route looks like, etc.
And I wonder how the actual race will go. Will I finish? If so, will I limp across the finish line? Only time will tell. Let's hope for the best.
Here are is my final training graph, with the last week and a bit projected rather than actual:
/img/training5.gif
Here are is my "max weekly run" graph, with the last week projected:
/img/max5.gif
And here is my current weight graph. Looks like I'll be at about where I was hoping!
/img/weight5.gif
|
 |
older >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
