August 24-30: John Starts Karate and the Usual Stuff

Yet another week gone by. The folks that evaluated me for life insurance say my heart rate is too low and my EKG abnormal. The price more than doubled and I am off to the doctor. I am not the least worried about the low heart rate, but I have to admit "abnormal EKG" is concerning. I am hoping the doctor says "typical pattern for a runner" just not normal for someone who sits on the butt eating a hamburger while the watch TV. But, alas, maybe I have a problem. If so, better to know I reckon. I visit the doctor tomorrow with EKG in hand. I may get a stress test out of this which is something I have long wanted just to see how I stack up.

A good week for exercise. I swam 600 yards at 14:55 which is fastest yet. I also rode 40 miles with a bunch of folks that I met as a result of John Gregg of Keep Moving Kate (& J.). It was fun and I got to meet a few folks. I backed off a few miles on the Sunday run given this longer ride.

John has started Karate. Here's a few pictures I posted on Flickr from his first official lesson. I say "official" because he has attended a few guest lessons.

These guys rock. I found this on Fixed Gear Blog while checking out one of twitter follower's posts.

Podcast Listening

Phedippidations

• Fdip201: The Dysevolutional Runner
• Fdip202: Running Legend Paavo Nurmi

Cranky Geeks

• Episode 181: Outed Blogger Suing Google, iPhone Legally Unlocked, Facebook's Hiring Spree, WiMax Unchained, and more...

This American Life

• 386: Fine Print
• 387: Arms Trader 2009

Exercise Data

August 30, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	10.05 Miles
Time:	1:37:52
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:09
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-72° Humidity-91%

August 29, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell - Highway 78 - Return Cycling
Distance:	40.48 Miles
Time:	2:24:08
Heart Rate:	128
Speed:	19.9 mph
Weather:	Clear (dense fog at 1 point) Temperature-68° Humidity-93%
Route Rode with what seemed to be about 30-40 riders. I was lucky enough to befriend one named, Laura, that helped make sure I knew the way. I had a flat on the front tire near the 1/2 way point. It was a good ride and it was nice to meet some people too.

August 28, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.2 Miles
Time:	1:01:03
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:50
Weather:	Mostly cloudy Temperature-71° Humidity-90%
YMCA, Birmingham, AL Swim
Distance:	1000 Yards
Workout:	4 X 50 yards even laps-sprint odd laps-smooth, work on stroke 200 yards kick, with or without board 200 yards free, easy! 4 X 50 yards even laps-work on arms, odd laps-work on legs 100 yards sprint 100 yards easy

August 27, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.2 Miles
Time:	1:01:42
Heart Rate:	144
Pace:	9:57
Weather:	Scattered clouds Temperature-74° Humidity-76%

August 25, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	29:24
Heart Rate:	130
Pace:	9:47
Weather:	Clear Temperature-66° Humidity-93%
YMCA, Birmingham, AL Swim
Distance:	600 Yards
Time:	14:55 (fastest ever)

August 24, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim
Distance:	1000 Yards
Workout	4 X 50 yards even laps-sprint odd laps-smooth, work on stroke 200 yards kick, with or without board 200 yards free, easy! 4 X 50 yards even laps-work on arms, odd laps-work on legs 100 yards sprint 100 yards easy

August 17-23: More Exercise and Listening

Another hectic week. You know, the usual. Too much work, too little time, and not enough just pure play and fun. I reckon that is the story of modern life. Drive for maximum efficiency and when that doesn't work, just work harder. I do so wish I could win the lottery, lol. But, in the midst of the hecticness, I do get to play with technical things that I love and learn a lot. So, things certainly could be worse.

I have completed my initial set of swimming lessons. My teacher was patient and I have learned a lot. Now, I just need to practice, apply, and get the techniques I have learned into a smooth, continuous execution. Yeah, I have my work cut out for me. I figure I have all winter. I will work on it and try some tri's (pun intended) next sprint or summer. In fact, I think I will shoot for a couple sprints and 1 70.3 (that 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile ride, 13.1 mile run). I haven't selected where yet, but I suspect the sprints will be Buster Britton Memorial and Mountain Lakes.

Podcast Listening

Phedippidations

• Fdip200: A Goofy Little PodCast

Cranky Geeks

• Episode 180:
  Apple vs. Psystar, Secret Rockmelt Browser, 10 Stupid iPhone Apps, Phones vs. the Kindle, and more...

IT Conversations

• Mark Roettgering - The Economics of Mobility: The Communications Value-System at the Dawn of a New Era

.Net Rocks

• Vishwas Lele on Real-World Azure

Accident Hash (these just don't come out often enough! More C. C., more!)

• Bleu Bleu Bleu

Exercise Data

August 23, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell Running
Distance:	13.08 Miles
Time:	2:05:16
Heart Rate:	138
Pace:	9:34
Weather:	Clear Temperature-61° Humidity-87%
Route

August 22, 2009: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling
Distance:	24 Miles
Time:	1:18:03
Heart Rate:	138
Speed:	18.45 mph
Weather:	Clear Temperature-78° Humidity-64%
Route

August 21, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	27:54
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:17
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-47° Humidity-91%

August 20, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	28:19
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:26
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-77° Humidity-89%

August 19, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.19 Miles
Time:	59:35
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	9:37
Weather:	Clear Temperature-74° Humidity-91%
YMCA, Birmingham, AL Swim Workout
Distance:	1000 Yards
Workout:	4 X 50 yards even laps-sprint odd laps-smooth, work on stroke 200 yards kick, with or without board 200 yards free, easy! 4 X 50 yards even laps-work on arms, odd laps-work on legs 100 yards sprint 100 yards easy

August 18, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	31:54
Heart Rate:	132
Pace:	10:37
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-74° Humidity-82%
I completed 3 workouts in the last 12 hours, so not surprised I was slow today.

August 17, 2009: Birmingham, AL YMCA Swim Workout
Distance:	1000 Yards
Workout	4 X 50 yards even laps-sprint odd laps-smooth, work on stroke 200 yards kick, with or without board 200 yards free, easy! 4 X 50 yards even laps-work on arms, odd laps-work on legs 100 yards sprint 100 yards easy

August 11-16: More Exercise, Listening, + Windows 7

I have had another busy week. I have managed to rebuild a computer based on the KM400-M2 motherboard. This is a Frankenstein machine. It is an ancient Gateway case, the KM400-M2 motherboard, a CD- RW, and DVD-RW from other long since retired boxes. I put in a 500GB SATA drive, booted it up with a Windows 7 installation 7 DVD and now it is running. Oh, it is my 6 year old's computer. So, my 6 year old has the most recent operating system in the house. LOL. I will be using it via RDP to check it out and play. There is nothing like putting your hands and arms in the bowels of a wrangling mess of electronics and coming out the other side with a working machine. Yeah, I still got my metal thumb.

My first impressions of Windows 7 are good. The first being that while it offers a sleeker look on the desktop and offers very readable help along the way, it did not shock me with such large differences I got distracted. Too early for me to say much as I have not yet completed a detailed analysis or a reading of someone else's detailed analysis of the changes from XP or Vista. This particular machine was running XP. I, however, use XP at work and Vista on my main personal machine. I have major hankering for a MacBook Pro. The wife has given me permission and I trying to determine if I really want to take the leap. My Toshiba Portege M200 has been cranky along quite well on Vista since I increased the RAM to 2GB. My XP boxes has to be rebooted several times a week. Meanwhile, the Vista machine could just go on and on and on and on.

Two of my team members for the upcoming USMC Ultimate Mud Run Challenge, Steve and Robin, had to withdraw because she is injured. But, I was able to secure a friend of mine, Perry Chapman and his son to be their replacements. Perry and I have done this before together and I haven't seen him in person in years. So, I am very much looking forward to it. We will still have a solid team. I am sorry that Steve and Robin can not make it. They are great team mates.

I am convinced after last week's Tri that triathletes differ from runners in that most are seriously fit. It seems to me that the spread from first to last is a lot tighter than in a run. But, it could just be my imagination. Regardless, I will continue training in all 3 sports all winter. I am not expecting big changes in my running and cycling. For swimming, however, I do have some significant work to do. I will not be logging distance and time for the most part. My swimming teacher with whom I have 1 more lesson is going to provide some workouts for me to do. This involve concentrating on various components of swimming for subsets of the total laps I will swim. So, I will be tracking distance, but not time. I have got to get my kick and breathing in shape. At least, I know where I need work.

Podcast Listening Update

Phedippidations

• Fdip199: Producing Phedippidations

Cranky Geeks

• Episode 179:
  Apple's Potent Cocktail, The New New Netbooks, Bing On The Rise?, P2P and Private Data, and more...
• Episode 178: FCC Questions Apple Over Google Voice, Microsoft's Windows 7 Gamble, Google Criticizes Microhoo, and more...

This American Life

• 385: Pro Se

IT Conversations

• Harald Prokop - How to Accelerate Non-cacheable, Dynamic Sites Leveraging a Globally Distributed Platform

Exercise Data

August 16, 2009: Birmingham, AL Brownell Running
Distance:	13 Miles
Time:	2:05:49
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	9:40
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-73° Humidity-87%
Route

August 15, 2009: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling
Distance:	24 Miles
Time:	1:19:15
Heart Rate:	140
Speed:	18.17 mph
Weather:	Clear Temperature-80° Humidity-71%
Route

August 14, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	29:00
Heart Rate:	133
Pace:	9:39
Weather:	Scattered clouds Temperature-86° Humidity-55%
Route

August 13, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	29:18
Heart Rate:	139
Pace:	9:46
Weather:	Haze Temperature-74° Humidity-82%
YMCA, Birmingham, AL Swim
Distance:	600 Yards (lesson)

August 12, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.24 Miles
Time:	1:02:35
Heart Rate:	143
Pace:	10:01
Weather:	Light rain Temperature-72° Humidity-93%
YMCA, Birmingham, AL Swim
Distance:	600 Yards
Workout:	Andy Workout 1 4 X 50 evens-sprint, odds-smooth, work on stroke 200 kick, with or without board 200 free, easy! 4 X 50 evens-work on arms, odds-work on legs 100 sprint 100 easy

August 11, 2009: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles
Time:	29:09
Heart Rate:	142
Pace:	9:43
Weather:	Light rain Temperature-76° Humidity-87%

Updated Cholesterol Readings

Date	Total	HDL
August 9, 2009	141	50.2
June 16, 2009	172
April 2, 2009	147
January 6, 2009	171
November 11, 2008	182
July 27, 2008	198
May 8, 2008	231
April 23, 2008	206

Looking Good, but HDL could stand to be a little higher.