Learn | Make | Fix | Run

Last week I needed to complete a base run, and the weather was not cooperating with my schedule. I headed out into the cold, windy night with a long-sleeved pullover, shorts, a baseball cap, and a headlamp. My GPS watch was set to alert me if my heart rate was over 143 beats per minute and was under my sleeve. Because of the cold, I used the thumb holes in my cuffs. The cold, windy, rainy weather made it uncomfortable to push my sleeve up. In the first half mile of my run and after a quick pace and heart rate check, I realized I would need to run by feel. It took three miles before I triggered my first heart rate alert. The wind and the rain picked up during the fifth and sixth miles. Before I knew it, I completed the last mile of the run. Over the last 39 days, I learned I can dial in the effort needed to stay in zone 2 and not look at my watch. Even though I run with the heart rate alerts turned on, I probably subconsciously look at my pace too much, which causes me to speed up and a...

It took multiple experiments, but I determined how to make coffee from a pod without a single-serve coffee machine. A communal single-serve coffee maker was in the breakroom at my last job. I had purchased a case of coffee pods, and when I decided to leave the position, I took my pods with me despite the fact I do not have a single-serve machine at home. Determined to use the remaining 40+ pods, I experimented to determine how to prepare single-serve coffee pods without a single-serve machine. Attempt 1 – Vietnamese Coffee Press In this attempt, I emptied the contents of one coffee pod and poured it into a Vietnamese coffee press. I placed the plunger on top of the grinds. I heated water in an electric kettle and poured some water into the coffee press to bloom the grinds. Then, I poured the rest of the water into the press. The result was a gritty cup of coffee. The fine grind of the pod coffee made it through the metal filter. Attempt 2 – Vietnamese Coffee Press with Pod inside In th...

I found a way to make my low heart rate runs more manageable. Initially, I manually watched my heart rate on my Garmin Forerunner 620. I would run and look at my watch, then continue to run and look. Inevitably there would be a period when I did not look at my watch, and suddenly my heart rate was well into zone 3. This constant looking up and down and remembering to monitor my heart rate was taking a toll. Finally, it dawned on me to use the built-in heart rate alert on my GPS watch. At first, I set the high alert to 144 beats per minute (BPM), the upper limit of my zone 2. I quickly learned that by using the upper limit, my heart rate would drift to 145 BPM before sounding the alarm. Adjusting my heart rate to 143 (one less than the maximum heart rate for the range) did the trick. Since then, I have started using my heart rate alerts for my zone 1 recovery runs. My watch has a low heart rate alert as well. I have not used it yet, but I am thinking about it. Sometimes while deep in th...

Today’s post is a little fix that most experienced IT professionals could figure out quickly, but I share it for those who might have some knowledge but are puzzled by some odd behavior. I was helping a non-profit organization set up a copier that a copier technician installed with the help of the IT service contracted by the non-profit. Simply put, print jobs to the copier were not working shortly after the techs left. To further complicate matters, the web GUI for the copier was only loading half the time. Ricoh made the copier, but a web GUI for an Aruba unit was coming up sometimes. It took some time to sort out that the Aruba unit was not part of the copier using a different port but rather a VOIP phone. Once that was determined, it became clear that two different devices were using the same IP address. The IP address manually assigned to the copier matched the IP address distributed via DHCP to the VOIP phone. Looking at the error logs in the Meraki switch confirmed this behavior...

This week I passed some milestones in training for the marathon in May. On Thursday, I completed my 25th day of training which means I was 100 days out from the race and 20% complete. Sunday’s recovery run marked the fourth completed week of training. The week started with a three-mile recovery run. I am falling into the groove of these slow runs and starting to get closer to the prescribed 13:11 min/mile pace. My first recovery run of the training cycle, on January 16, was completed at an 11:03 pace. Tuesday’s pace was 12:49. I never thought I could run that slow (from the beginning of a run), but by staying in Z1 and breathing through the nose, I am slowing down the pace of my recovery runs and reaping the benefits. Wednesday’s speed workout was hill repeats. I don’t know why I avoided the Hal Higdon plans with hill repeats in the past. They have been a good addition and allow me to get run fast during the week. Thursday’s six-mile base run in Z2 was another consistent effort to add ...

I offered to help break down pallets that accumulated at a non-profit organization. First, I researched companies that recycle pallets. Based on what I found, most companies want a large quantity of standard-sized pallets in good condition. However, these pallets were odd sizes and decaying. The next best option was to break down the pallets so they could be disposed of. I started with a wonder bar pry bar and a hammer. The process was very slow, and it took a lot of muscle to break apart the deck boards from the stringers. The next attempt involved cutting the deck boards off the stringers with a reciprocating saw. This process also took a long time. The remains of the deck boards still attached to the stringers were so fragile that they would break apart from the stringer and leave exposed nails.  On the third attempt, I borrowed a Halligan bar from a neighbor. I used it like the wonder bar and crammed the fork between the stringer and the deck board. The work started to go faste...

Week 3. Stick with the spirit of the plan. In last week’s post, I addressed following the spirit of the plan rather than the exact numbers. I advocated permitting oneself to be slower than the listed paces if the run was supposed to be easy. I referenced the adage of keeping the “easy days” easy and the “hard days” hard. This week, I realized I may have taken the “hard days, hard” a little too far and did not account for the spirit of the plan. On Friday, a 6-mile marathon pace run was on the schedule. I like these days in my plan because it allows me to run faster and doesn’t constrain me to heart rate zone 2 (Z2). The idea of running some training runs at my marathon pace makes sense. Unfortunately, it felt too good to run fast. The suggested pace was 9:45/mile, with a range of 9:20-10:10/mile. My first three miles were 9:27, 9:26, and 9:20. My fourth mile, which was uphill and I might have been a little gassed from my 9:20 split, was 10:00. I followed it with 9:41 and 9:34 miles. Af...

Many of us have been indoctrinated by the phrase, “measure twice, cut once”. Recently I was repairing a gate for a trash enclosure. It was falling apart, needed some structural support, and, as astute readers might notice, the bracing was installed in the wrong direction. There was abundant scrap wood from discarded pallets, and the stringers were used for the frame. Following the “measure twice, cut once adage”, all were successfully cut to match the other gate.  However, during assembly, I put the stiles outside of the rails. The gate was now 3 inches shorter and three inches wider than needed. The dimensions did not allow me to rotate the gate. The gate needed to be disassembled and remade. This week’s lesson is to “Measure twice, and assemble once.” When working with builds that have a front and a back, or other asymmetric designs, it’s essential. A secondary lesson is that a Halligan bar makes for quick disassembly of wooden gates. Have you ever measured twice and assembled tw...