Seafood Watch

Lauren and I took a fantastic day-trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s a magical place for kids and adults alike. While there I learned about the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. As seafood is such an integral part of the diet for many athletes, I encourage everyone to download the Seafood Watch printable pocket-sized guide by clicking here. It can be carried in your wallet and makes recommendations about seafood to buy and to avoid based on how it is caught, where it is from, and whether it is farmed or wild-caught. Example: wild-caught salmon from Alaska is the best choice; wild-caught salmon from California, Oregon and Washington are good alternatives; while farmed, including Atlantic, salmon should be avoided. Our consumer choices make a difference!

Run With It,
J.R. Atwood

Thanks, Santa, for my Garmin Forerunner 205

Santa was very good to me. Yesterday morning I unwrapped a square package which contained a Garmin Forerunner 205, a personal GPS and training tool worn on the wrists of athletes that tracks a runner or cyclists speed, distance, route, and time. I do not consider myself a gadget geek, but I was positively giddy on Christmas morning.

Still full from the mound of holiday ham and cookies we ate the night before and eager to try out my new Forerunner, I rose with the sun this morning and headed out on a favorite route from high school.

I was a bit skeptical about how a super-fancy and glorified watch and pedometer would influence my training, but it was love at first sight. The wrist-mounted device picked up a satellite signal within 60 seconds and I caught myself glancing at it every few hundred yards during the first mile of my run. I was amazed at the stream of data that was instantly available about my performance: my distance, current pace per mile, average pace per mile, calories burned, total time run.

To gauge my internal clock tuned over the course of a dozen years of running, I would estimate my pace per mile and check it against the readout on my wrist. I was surprised how closely and often “in the ballpark” I assumed my pace to be, but was also fascinated about how greatly my pace varied. There was one stretch of road where I figured I’d slow from around a 7:00-minute pace to a 7:30-pace. My Garmin said I was at 6:55-pace, but when I slowed a bit, my pace was reading at 7:55 per mile.

On another stretch of road, I glanced down and saw my pace was around 7:20 (I had guessed it was around 7:30). I decided to pick-it-up to around 7:00-pace and looked down to see I was at a 6:45-pace.

I was amazed at how the least bit of change in exerted effort impacts the average mile of my run. A slightly smaller or longer stride, or a slightly heavier or quicker foot-strike–compounded over the 400-plus steps run in a mile–results in some serious time differences!

At the end of my run I wrote down the information on the screen of my Garmin: I had run for 50:02.99 minutes, covered 6.72 miles, averaged 7:27/mile with a best pace of 4:48/mile, and burned 1216 calories. (There is a way to download, upload, and analyze all of this fantastic information, including a map of the route run, online–I am still figuring out all the bells and whistles of this device.)

Drinking a glass of OJ and smiling at my “watch”, a few things stood out to me. One, I had always assumed the route I ran was around five miles–I was cheating myself out of 1.72 miles when recording my training stats in high school. Two, I am out of high school shape. That “best of” pace–4:48/mile–was achieved during the last few hundred yards of my run when I went into an all-out sprint. An all out sprint! During which, I achieved a pace of only 4:48/mile. Reaching my parent’s driveway, I was winded! But I used to average a near 5:00 mile over the course of a 5K cross-country race. Here, at the age of 24, the best 200 yard sprint I could manage was nearly 20 seconds slower than my best mile time in high school!

The third thing I thought about was how cool this GPS gadget was. And how useful it could be. Knowing my stats–having a way to quantify my effort and output–inspired me to run harder than I would otherwise if out only with my Timex watch. My Forerunner held–and will hold–me accountable with my training. There is no cheating with a virtual personal trainer like this. One’s pace and distance is measured and recorded by global positioning satellites!

While transfixed with the awesomeness of the mini-machine on my wrist during my run, I found my imagination running just as hard as I. Part of this route takes me through a gated community with a bit of a hill in its center. As I charged to its top I noticed, like a distant aid station in a race rising from the far-then-near distance, a speed limit sign posting an acceptable cruising pace of “15.” There is a digital readout of a car’s actual pace that lights up below the sign powered by a solar panel affixed to the top of the pole. I could see it posting a honeycomb-yellow “7.” As I began to crest the hill, it went “8″ then “7″ again… “6,” “8″–the radar gun must be sensitive enough to read my running pace!–”9″ then back to “8″ as I ran past it. For a few moments, that speed limit sign was cooler than my new Garmin Forerunner 205.

I cannot wait to learn how to access and take advantage of the other features on my Forerunner. And with each run, I will share my training information on this site.

Thanks, Santa!

Run With It!
J.R. Atwood

Car-Free Life

My dad forwarded me an article in my parents’ local newspaper about a reporter who gave-up his car for a week in Bay Area suburbia. Click here to read Randy Myers’ account of “A car-less commuting exercise” in the Contra Costa Times. There is also a great resource guide in the article directing interested readers to books, blogs, and transportation guides with tips about how to succeed with your own car-free experiment.

Run With It!
J.R. Atwood

Nothing vs Something

I remember reading a quote from Chris Carmichael, coach for Lance Armstrong during his successful seven-in-a-row Tour de France championship charge. Chris said something along the lines of: People are always a bit surprised by Lance’s workouts. Underwhelmed, even. Because on paper, he is not doing anything super-human with his training. But what makes Lance special and unique, what makes him super-human, is his incredible focus and dedication to his training. Lance never misses a workout. Ever. That’s how he wins. Because he always shows up.

I thought about Lance and Chris when I woke up this morning. Because of some holiday season going-ons and the need to wrap things up at work before next semester, I had a small of time with which to work out: 30 minutes. But I wanted to do an hour-plus hill workout.

To run or not to run?

I would answer: not to run. For I am someone who usually, if unable to do something all the way with 200% energy and passion, will then choose not to do it at all. Especially with sport.

It’s a silly and defeating M.O., but one that sometimes still (de-)motivates me. Few things in life need to be acted upon with utmost urgency, concern, and attention. To let my anal-retentive, borderline OCD, uber-perfectionist tendencies control my daily habits and rituals is ridiculous. Most agenda items or laundry-lists of “to do” actions–at work and in my personal life–simply need to get done, not necessarily with the fine detail and attention that a French jeweler would invest in making a filigree engagement ring for a royal family.

Rationally, I know that it is better to do something that I want to do rather than not do it at all simply because I would prefer to do it better if given more time. But habits are hard to break. And man is not always rational.

I looked down at my Livestrong bracelet and decided to run. My training time for the day might be cut in half, but my effort need not be.

After shaking my legs loose, I powered through a quick 12 minutes, stretched for half-a-dozen, and extended my return loop on a hard charge home. Just like that, literally, it was over. But my lungs were full, my legs worked, and my body loose. And in a way, I felt liberated.

I always envied people who could turn a 15-20 minute free period of time into a workout. I would wait for, or try to create, a 60+ block of time. Balancing a 2.5 hour-commute and 10+ hour workday with a personal life, however… those large slots of time are few and far between. But there are a number of small chunks throughout the day that, taken together, add up to 60+ minutes of time. Utilizing these periods, I can continue to train.

I am going to wrap this up because I need to leave for work in a few minutes–just enough time to do a couple sets of push-ups. It may not be a Mr. Universe-inspired circuit workout at Gold’s Gym, but it’s something. And something is better than nothing.

Run With It!
J.R. Atwood

Dude Looks Like a Lady

Whoa! Filed in the wacky and weird section of sports news, an Indian female runner failed a gender test and may be forced to surrender her (?) silver medal from the 800-meter run during the Asian Games. Click here to read the article.

Awoo!

Monday morning. Seven days till Christmas. At 6:05 a.m., the mercury seems stuck at 28 cold degrees. It’s dark: the sun is not slated to rise for another hour and 15 minutes. Perfect conditions for a run!

Just before my turnaround point past the Legion of Honor on El Camino del Mar, parallel to Lincoln Park Golf Course, a faint orange street lamp allows me to make out a string of six to eight coyotes crossing the street 20 yards in front of me. It is otherworldly still and quiet on this crisp morning except for the sound of their scurrying paws. The proud pack is framed by the midnight blue Pacific Ocean and the deep orange Golden Gate Bridge glittering with red and white traffic lights. It is an awesome and humbling site.

Charging up the last hill on my way back home, with an increase in car and foot traffic lining the roads, I think about the beautiful juxtaposition of wild animals roaming the dark streets of a major metropolitan city. I smile and let out an Awoo!

Run With It!
J.R. Atwood

Jots

…religion is the politics of spirituality.

…remember who you wanted to be.

…making someone think and smile are two of the most important and powerful things we can do for each other.

Running In the House

Heard a bunch of noise from my room in the basement…

Went upstairs and nearly collided with Sandra, one of my housemates, who had opened the doors to the kitchen and the hallway so that she could run laps inside our house. “I didn’t think anyone was home. [Up the back stairs from the kitchen. Down the front stairs and the main hallway.] Too cold and wet outside to run. [Off for another lap.] This is a good workout. [Cat chases after her up the stairs.]“

Sometimes life just makes me smile.

Run With It! (even inside)
J.R. Atwood

The Church of Non-Believers

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is the opportunity to teach a weekly philosophy workshop for high school students. Over the course of the last two months we have studied the philosophy of religion. Of most interest and excitement, for both the students and myself, is the passionate, fascinating, and equally frustrating discussions–the direct confrontation of our previously held values and beliefs by opposing ideas and ideals inspires oft-difficult journeys of self- and spiritual reflection–centered around arguments for and against the existence of God. (The question is to be settled this coming Friday: my students have organized a site-wide philosophy debate as part of their end-of-the-semester Student Life celebration.)

I myself am a confused but dedicated student of religion: baptized as a baby as an Episcopalian; raised in the “spiritual but not religious” San Francisco Bay Area; the product of two Jesuit universities; a hero-worshiper of Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Plato, and Ayn Rand; swayed, though unsatisfied, by the reason of Sam Harris and other members of the “new atheism” movement; infuriated by the divide between preached gospel and practiced lives within organized religion…

Faith. Doubt. Reason. Mystery. Science. Logic.

This is a long prelude to introduce you to a critical and reflective essay by Gary Wolf in the November issue of Wired magazine examining “The Church of Non-Believers.” Click here to read the article.

Wandering and wondering,
J.R. Atwood

D.C. Run

When attending Georgetown I used to make a semiweekly run to the National Mall. Tidal basin, the cherry blossoms, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, all framed by the Potomac and Arlington Cemetery… awe-inspiring landscapes. Yet my favorite “site” was the White House. No matter my momentum, I was slowed to a quiet walk of wonder when near. I could not help but stroll down the block of Pennsylvania Avenue closed to all but pedestrian-traffic and stare through the rod-iron gate, transfixed with the idea that THIS! is where the most powerful person in the world lives and presides.

When leaving Sean’s apartment this morning to exercise, I had no destination in mind. Thirty-minutes later, however, in sub-30 degree weather with a biting wind chill, I found myself there again: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s most beautiful during the winter–decorated with holiday garland, accented with wreaths, stark white against a gray sky. I can’t imagine the pyramids of Egypt having a more powerful effect on me. It’s cheesy and ridiculous, even for someone who holds Aaron Sorkin in the same esteem as Faulkner. But there’s something magical about the White House.

Random observation: when numb, I run really fast and hard. Some of my most intense runs have been in cold weather. Unable to feel my legs or lungs, I can push an intense pace without getting winded or fatigued.

Run With It!
J.R. Atwood