Wii Fit

My roommate has a Wii and recently got the Wii Fit game. I found this kind of amusing and made a note to give it a try some day if I found some free time. Today was that day.

i find the concept kind of self-contradictory. To my mind, the best way to get people active is to get them outside, while wii Fit tries to get them healthy by having them play a videogame. At one level I can appreciate that ok, the time they are going to spend playing this game is game they would have spent plaing another game, so this is better than nothing, but that's about it.

The game begins by asking for your age and height, then weighs you and tells you your BMI. BMI is a terrible number but, I suppose, better than nothing.

The game then asks you to set a goal, without giving you any guidance on whether the goal you're setting is reasonable or not.

From there, you get a series of games to play in 4 different areas. Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, Balance Games. The Yoga was fairly instructive, giving a decent intriduction to a couple of poses, then rating your execution based on your ability to balance on the Wii Balance Board (it's pretty sensitive) and giving you a score. This of course feeds the competitive fuel and you can shoot for higher scores to unlock more poses. the more time you spend 'laying' the more poses and other games you unlock as well. I'm not much of a Yoga person, I have enjoyed it when i tried it though and it seemed to be a pretty decent introduction to Yoga.

The Strength Training seemed to work much the same way. I didn't try the Aerobics game... there was a hula hoop looking game and I just couldn't bring myself to try them. The Balance Games were actually the first thing I tried and some of them were surprisingly tricky, others less so, but still got the competitive fire pumping (there is a ski jump game that was actually kind of fun, if simplistic).

Overall, like I said earlier, it's better than nothing, which is what a lot of people do, nothing. It's no replacement for a real workout but I could see it being a good gateway for someone to get into Yoga. Thinking back, having seen some people get pretty darn sweaty playing Dance Dance Revolution, you could probably get a decent aerobic workout from the Aerobic games. I hope it leads to more people going out to work out rather than leading more people to think "Oh, I'll just stay in and play video games for my workout instead".

Fall in NH

I was in New Hampshire and Maine a week and a half ago for my brother's wedding (yes, there will be some pics of that eventually) and got some great photos of foliage. Since a few people have asked for them, I'll put one up today and randomly going forward (I got some good ones).

The Murphy's Law Half Marathon Race Report

"Everything that can go wrong, will"

The Denver Marathon and Half Marathon started this morning at 7 am. I awoke at 7:38. FRAK!

So, what were my options? I wasn't going to make it to the race, it had started and they would have closed the course before I finished. not doing the race at all was an option, but not one I liked too much. While I hadn't been too enthused about this race, I had started my season with a half and finishing it with one made sense. My final option was to do my own Half and that was what I decided to go with.

I grabbed a quick breakfast, as I normally would on race day, prepped a pair of bottles of sports drink and sat down to figure out my route (and let my breakfast settle and digest a bit). About an hour later I headed out with some sport beans in my jersey pocket and a pair of drink bottles. I decided to run along the creek since it provided consistent access to water. I had the bottles of gatorade, but I didn't want to rely totally on them.

I tucked one of the bottles away, warmed up a bit then headed up the creek with one of the bottles. After a mile, I took a swig, hid it away and headed on my way. At the two mile mark, I turned around and headed down the creek. When I got close to my bottle, I did a gut check to see if I needed anything, I didn't, so i kept going. When I got back to my starting point, I picked up the other bottle and dropped it off a mile later, so I wouldn't have to go more than 2 miles without access to a drink (plus having access to the water fountains).

Going into the 'race' my plan had been to start off running by effort, see how I felt and if I felt good enough, shoot for my PR from the Flying Pig. I decided to to stick to this strategy and I felt really good starting out.

Murphy's Law struck around Mile 5 though with a case of "I need to make a pitstop... NOW" unfortunately, I had to wait another two miles and the discomfort certainly slowed me down. Then the pitstop itself slowed me down even further. I got back on the road but two miles later... Take Two! Fortunately I was back in the neighborhood of the public toilets.

I'd had a lot of wind knocked out of my sails but powered on and felt pretty good up until mile 11. I started to feel a loss of intensity and enthusiasm that I partly attributed to fatigue but more to the absence of other racers and any kind of crowd, that energy and competitiveness can do a lot to keep spirits up and relieve the boredom, I definitely missed it today.

I managed to finish my Half in 1:59:56, a disappointing time in some respects, although I wouldn't normally expect to make two long pitstops so it's not too bad in that espect.

Once I had finished, I took a few minutes to sit in Boulder Creek (not next to... IN) for my 'ice bath' then walked a block home. There was no medal, no festivities and my postrace food was some chocolate milk and a trip to Chipotle. I think I made the best of the situation, but I still wish I had made it to the race on time.

Going Green - Pick it Up!

Today was a spectacularly beautiful fall day, one of those days when you're glad just to be alive and living in some place as beautiful as Boulder. Why then is it that as I was out on the creek path for my last tune-up run before the Denver Half tomorrow morning the one thing I kept noticing was the litter on the ground?

Candy wrappers, napkins, assorted bits of paper and plastic... it was everywhere. The Boulder creek path is well maintained, but still, I couldn't help noticing it.

Finally, I decided "I'm going to do something about this." I stopped and picked up the first piece of litter I saw and carried it until I saw a wastebasket and then dropped it in. Then I did it again, and for the rest of my run. Pick up one piece of litter and carry it until I saw a trashbin and threw it out. Such a simple thing to do really and maybe it doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference, but I bet if I did this every day when I'm out running on the trails, paths or roads of my home or while walking to work, it would make a difference.

How much more of a difference would it make if more people did it?

I had a swim lesson with Mark yesterday, my second swim lesson ever with my first being  the one with Mike Ricci when I first learned to swim freestyle.Some highlights and reminders to myself: 

1. I need to remember to keep my head down. Not so much tucked as facing down so as to lift my hips a little higher. I could feel the difference in my hips during the swim so that will hopefully make the adjustment (and catching myself when I don’t do it) easier. 
2. I’ve heard people say to swim from the hips before but didn’t give a ton of attention to it because I thought they were referring to the kick and I think I do a decent job of turning with my hips instead of… well, anywhere else. Mark also told me to swim from my hips, but for the stroke, not the kick. Use the hips as if I were throwing a punch to engage my lats in the stroke. 
3. Mark, Mr. Swimmer, thought the water was too cold in the pool. It doesn’t sound like something that would be that funny, but you’ll just have to trust me that it was. I was fine in the water, Mark had some trouble though. I still laugh sitting here thinking about it. Telling the coach to HTFU… Priceless. 
4. Fist drills are back. Joy to the world. 
5. As a personal thing, I really want to work on breathing on my right side. I feel like a duck with one wing only being able to breathe on one side.
   

Fruit Loops Ride

About two weeks back I went on a ride just north of Boulder with the BTC, what they called the Fruit Loop route. Here are some pics...

Haydee

I've had my bike since approximately May of 2007, over that time, I've tried several times to name her, but nothing I came up with seemed to fit.

Finally, i have found a name though. haydee, Edmond Dantes' princess from my favorite book of all time, the Count of Monte Cristo. If you have never read it, stop what you're doing and read it. not the abridged version either, the full thing. it's long, but it's 100% worth it. The movies are no substitute, they've al been terrible and mutilated the ending. Read it.

Decision '08!

I've had a tough time making up my mind on this over the past year. The field finally narrowed down to two candidates earlier this year and I really couldn't decide between the two of them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. 

One is backed by far more experience, a juggernaut of sorts. The other candidate is a neophyte, inexperienced, but backed by an independent spirit and without the huge corporate ties. I know to some people, they're all the same, the only difference between them being a logo, but to me and to others as passionate about this as I am, this is a momenous decision.

Today, I finally reached that decision. I've chosen... 

The IDT at Plymouth Rock for my first Ironman.