Book Review: Full Tilt - Ireland to India with a Bicycle

I like books that engage you. And this one does just that. To add a twist, this has become somewhat of a multimedia affair. As the author describes here journey through France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Slovania, and Bulagaria (as far as I've gotten so far), I've also followed here travels on Google Earth.

It's been quite educational seeing the towns, roads, mountains, plains, and rivers that she crossed by visiting these sites virtually on the computer.

So far, it's been a lot of fun tracking her journey, even though it occured in 1964.

20 Miles from Poinsettia

This was the second time I ran from Poinsettia train station to work. Pace was 10:47 (3:39 total over 20.3 miles). Probably could have used a little more recovery time from the 1/2 ironman I did last weekend.

Left train station at 4:30 am. Used head mounted flashlight which worked out pretty well. It was dark for the first few hours. Drank 3 8oz. cytomax and 1/2 bottle of water. 2 gels. Ate banana and cliff bar before leaving.

Temp 43F in morning. Long sleeve, vest, shorts, could have used light gloves as hands got cold in some areas, particularly through Cardiff and 3/4th through run.

Although I ran the whole way, time was not that far off from run/walk strategy. I believe time was ~3:45 when did it earlier.

Hope to improve in time next time when more recovered. Will be doing 15-20 mile runs every week through December in prep for the Carlsbad Marathon.

Luminosity Brain Training

Found an interesting site today.

http://www.lumosity.com/

Lot's of interesting stuff to make you more smarter.

Ran 18 Miles to Work

I ran 18 miles to work last Thursday. This was a new personal best for distance. Pace was 10:43 with a total time of 3hrs 13min.

It like pushing into new territory when running. Much like my previous 14 mile run, aching of the legs becomes a bit more pronounce during the last 3 or 4 miles. With longer distances, however, the pains your body experiences are new and you learn new limits.

This incremental improvement seems wise. The feeling of fresh legs at say miles 7-10 and thoughts of being ready for a marathon, quickly dull into miles 15 and on. It will interesting to see what happens at miles 20+, the distance I hear the mental battle with yourself begins to peak.

Next day recovery was not too bad. Fatigue on the bike ride the next day was more pronounced on the ride home. It may be better to do long runs on Fridays to ease recovery.

The next distance goal will be running in from Poinsettia train station. It should be about 20 miles. The Jeff Galloway program now moves to long runs every 3 weeks. The shorter runs are now 5 or 7 miles with 2 other 30 min runs through the week. I suppose this will work out in preparation for the SD Intl. Triathlon on the 28th of this month.

Ultimately, I'd like to run from home once a month or so. This is 24 miles and would optimize my body for marathon length distances. This will be good run training for a full Ironman in 2010.

Strengths Finder Results

My Top 5 Themes

Input - People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Connectedness - People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

Belief - People who are especially talented in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

Intellection - People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.


Developer - People who are especially talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements.

Careers Anchor's Self Assessment Results

Your career anchor is that combination of perceived areas of competence, motives, and values that you discover you would not give up if you faced a career decision that might not allow you to fulfill it. The higher the number, the stronger it influences your actions.

1. Technical /Functional Competence - 14
2. General Management - 10
3. Autonomy / Indepence - 23
4. Security - 13
5. Entreprenurial - 11
6. Service / Dedication to Cause - 23
7. Pure Challenge - 12
8. Lifestyle - 34

Values List

We recently compilled a list of our family values that came from Dawn and I. Here they are:

Accepting/tolerance
Altruism
Awareness
Balance
Communication
Compassion
Compromise
Family/Love
Forgiveness
Harmony
Independence
Integrity
Learning
Listen
Loyalty
Mindfulness
Punctuality/Timeliness
Respect
Responsibility/Ownership
Simplicity
Sincerity, Kindness
Trustworthy/Honesty
Wisdom

See if you can figure out who listed each value.

Pic from dim sum

Getting Ready to Ditch the Training Wheels

This Sunday Morgan biked all the way around the block without her training wheels. I'm even gaining confidence that she is able to stop without assistance by braking and putting her foot down.

She is now 4 years 4 months old. She likes the recognition from neighbors and family that is doing a great job.

Now, we need to start working on slow flight, I mean slow speed biking and turning.

Ran 12 miles

New personal best. 10:20 min miles. Perceived effort - easy. La Jolla Cove to Mission Bay and back.

Exerpt from Simpleliving.net

As we master the art of living on Earth, our mastery will be evident in the simplicity of our way of living. Simplicity does not mean turning away from progress; to the contrary, it is an expression of a maturing civilization. We can gain insight into the relationship between simplicity and progress from the eminent historian, Arnold Toynbee, who invested a lifetime in studying the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history.

Based on his voluminous studies, Toynbee summarized the essence of a civilization's growth in what he called "the Law of Progressive Simplification." He wrote that a civilization's progress and growth was not to be measured in its conquest of land and people; rather, the true measure of growth lies in a civilization's ability to transfer increasing amounts of energy and attention from the material side of life to the non-material side — emphasizing education, psychological maturity, spiritual depth, cultural and artistic expression, and the strength of democracy and society.

http://www.simpleliving.net/main/custom.asp?recid=1

Just Ran First 9 Miler

Nice and slow... 1hr:32min. Took train from Carlsbad Poinsettia to Solona Beach, then run to work. Much easier to run up lusk than bike. Temp 50. Winds calm. Carried two 8oz. waters, plus drank 1 12 oz on train prior. Ate 2 bars before leaving house (bananas not ripe) and took 1 gel at bike path. Hydration was fine, maybe even too much. Nutrition was fine, no hunger, felt strong the whole way.

Can't wait to do again and build up miles so can start from Encinitas.

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