All Too Familiar...
Last night I was entertained by MTV's True Life: I'm a Gamer which was altogether way too strangely familiar. I'm glad to say never in my life have I reached the mental state of a couple of the guys they featured, one of whom was addicted to and the world champion of Pac Man (hello this isn't 1985 anymore) and the other who would spend hundreds of dollars gambling on Golden Tee. Least the games I tend to seriously play don't cost money by the game, and I tend to stay up with the times. So yeah the most interesting segment was the one where they followed around the world CPL champion now three years running, Fatal1ty. The fact that I've actually played against him (and gotten my ass handed to me) is just kind of a neat thing. One of my female friends was watching it as well, and I'm sure was definitely finding trouble understanding how people can get so worked up over a game. During the segment Fatal1ty is playing at the world championships in Texas in the UT2K3 tournament finals, and after winning leaps up with a big OH YAH BABY THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT and pumps his fist as the forty or so cameras flock in and surround him. He ended up pocketing a cool 10 g's off that tournament, and was quoted as saying he makes somewhere around 100k a year through tournaments and sponsorships. That's right, sponsorships. Pretty amazing eh? Being paid to just play games ten hours a day every day, and be the best. Only problem is when you're the best everyone is gunning for you, and probably a hundred thousand people think they can own you if they ever got the chance. Losing to some random twelve year old must really suck.
I saw in someone else's blog that they used the world "ergle" in a time of frustration. I think that will now become my word of the week. This day hasn't gone too well, with me oversleeping, then forgetting I had a movie due back at Blockbuster at noon until 11:45, then dropping my ice cream all over my desk after lunch while trying to put down my apple. Oh then there was the parking ticket I got because I was supposed to go out later last night with some friends, and they flaked, and I forgot I'd left my car in the meter spot because I thought I was going out again before this morning. First ticket since 2/9/02 according to my checkbook. Man I had a streak going. The good news is you can pay them online now, but only 24 hours after the ticket was given. Least it's less of a pain than wasting a stamp and having to troop all the way to a mailbox.
Guess the party's over and it's back to studying. Today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day, and the next day will all be pretty hardcore devoted to it. Lovely.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Finals Begin...
In about three hours with my first and probably easiest, Geography 150. Nonetheless I've been in the books all day and going over the study guide making sure it's as easy as it should be. Managed to get off my ass this morning and go hit the track after class... Was originally going to do a 3 mile pretty decent pace run, but upon arriving was in the mood to just haul ass, so I decided to run a timed mile for the first time since August. The mile is really at a different level than any higher distance. Normally you have a quick opening couple laps, a bunch of mediocre middle ones, and a couple quick finishing laps in a race such as the 2 mile. Unfortunately the mile isn't that long. You basically sprint the first lap, try to maintain the same speed through the second, when you feel like dying on the third continue to fit in surges whenever possible, and then even though your legs are falling off make sure to try to make your last lap the fastest of the four. Easier said than done. Had been quite a while since I ran at that pace for any extended period of time. Managed a ninety second opening lap which is pretty ridiculous, then managed to hit the stop button instead of the lap button on my watch and thus had to skip a lap's time, then finished with a pair of 1:45 laps. Judging by what it felt like, the second lap was at least as fast as the third, so I gave myself a 6:45 overall time.
For those who have been following my forays back into running, you'll notice that's way below ordinary. The last timed mile I ran at the same UCSB track was an 8:26, giving a 101 second improvement. Pretty much unheard of. Then again I wasn't in the best of shape at that point, and later in the summer as the first half of a 2mile I notched an 8:02. Still never under 8, until last week's first half of a 2mile was 7:37. But a full minute off of that is pretty impressive. I'm actually improving at a speed faster than I expected. Since one mile wasn't a very good workout after a few minutes rest I tagged on an 800 which I completed in 3:10, although I didn't input the full on sprint second lap that I usually do, and was treating it more as a workout than a race. Again though, still faster than previous. One of these workouts I'll probably make a set of 800s, with the first one being treated racelike to see how far under 3:00 I can take it. With this race much like the mile though, high school is a whole nother stratosphere, with my personal bests being 2:15 in the 800 and 5:05 in the mile. My lap averages in the two races at the moment are about 95 seconds and 102 seconds, whereas in high school I was at 68 seconds and 76 seconds. Chipping away here and there is easy, but 25 seconds a lap is like, an entire straightaway and part of a turn at high school speeds.
These last few days I've really been feeling optimistic about my gains though, and through prolonged stretching before during and after I've avoided all leg pain outside the occasional general soreness after running my ass off, and even that disappears shortly afterwards. Running on the UCSB track in Air Max's is like running on foam, I always look forward to getting there, strange as it may be. The itch to get to five days a week is growing stronger, but I'm going to hold off until at least Spring Break, maybe adding a fourth day next week as a test. I will see a lot better gains in workouts when I'm able to intermix speed work with distance runs on an every other day basis, still taking the weekends off.
It would be so sweet if I had some sort of holographic image of my high school self running with me on the track at the same speed I ran my PR's at. Not that I'd be able to come anywhere near competing at this point, but trying to avoid being lapped would be fun, and it would be a great way to gauage where I was at when it comes to improvement.
In about three hours with my first and probably easiest, Geography 150. Nonetheless I've been in the books all day and going over the study guide making sure it's as easy as it should be. Managed to get off my ass this morning and go hit the track after class... Was originally going to do a 3 mile pretty decent pace run, but upon arriving was in the mood to just haul ass, so I decided to run a timed mile for the first time since August. The mile is really at a different level than any higher distance. Normally you have a quick opening couple laps, a bunch of mediocre middle ones, and a couple quick finishing laps in a race such as the 2 mile. Unfortunately the mile isn't that long. You basically sprint the first lap, try to maintain the same speed through the second, when you feel like dying on the third continue to fit in surges whenever possible, and then even though your legs are falling off make sure to try to make your last lap the fastest of the four. Easier said than done. Had been quite a while since I ran at that pace for any extended period of time. Managed a ninety second opening lap which is pretty ridiculous, then managed to hit the stop button instead of the lap button on my watch and thus had to skip a lap's time, then finished with a pair of 1:45 laps. Judging by what it felt like, the second lap was at least as fast as the third, so I gave myself a 6:45 overall time.
For those who have been following my forays back into running, you'll notice that's way below ordinary. The last timed mile I ran at the same UCSB track was an 8:26, giving a 101 second improvement. Pretty much unheard of. Then again I wasn't in the best of shape at that point, and later in the summer as the first half of a 2mile I notched an 8:02. Still never under 8, until last week's first half of a 2mile was 7:37. But a full minute off of that is pretty impressive. I'm actually improving at a speed faster than I expected. Since one mile wasn't a very good workout after a few minutes rest I tagged on an 800 which I completed in 3:10, although I didn't input the full on sprint second lap that I usually do, and was treating it more as a workout than a race. Again though, still faster than previous. One of these workouts I'll probably make a set of 800s, with the first one being treated racelike to see how far under 3:00 I can take it. With this race much like the mile though, high school is a whole nother stratosphere, with my personal bests being 2:15 in the 800 and 5:05 in the mile. My lap averages in the two races at the moment are about 95 seconds and 102 seconds, whereas in high school I was at 68 seconds and 76 seconds. Chipping away here and there is easy, but 25 seconds a lap is like, an entire straightaway and part of a turn at high school speeds.
These last few days I've really been feeling optimistic about my gains though, and through prolonged stretching before during and after I've avoided all leg pain outside the occasional general soreness after running my ass off, and even that disappears shortly afterwards. Running on the UCSB track in Air Max's is like running on foam, I always look forward to getting there, strange as it may be. The itch to get to five days a week is growing stronger, but I'm going to hold off until at least Spring Break, maybe adding a fourth day next week as a test. I will see a lot better gains in workouts when I'm able to intermix speed work with distance runs on an every other day basis, still taking the weekends off.
It would be so sweet if I had some sort of holographic image of my high school self running with me on the track at the same speed I ran my PR's at. Not that I'd be able to come anywhere near competing at this point, but trying to avoid being lapped would be fun, and it would be a great way to gauage where I was at when it comes to improvement.
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
A First!
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever we have a guest speaker to the blog!
I have no editorial control over what follows:
Hi. Matt has some interesting songs on his winamp playlist. Many come with interesting dances. Perhaps he'll dance for you if you come visit him; i suggest requesting Sisqo's "Thong Song" . . . :)
Hm. Note to self refrain from using guest speakers in the future. Not my fault the guest took so long I was having to entertain myself using other methods. What's wrong with interesting dances anyway! Hmph.
Hung out with the same person for obscene amounts of time today. Was very strange. Way more than average. Cannot explain. I think they put something in the water.
Ran all the way down to the end of the pier today. Lot further than it used to be since I'm way over on this side of campus now and have to run across the island to get to where I used to start from in years past. Definitely the longest run time wise since I've started, going to have Mondays be long slow distance days. Hopefully within a few weeks will make it over towards the airport, and maybe in a few months run all the way around the airport. Should be fun. The two day weekend was good for my legs I think, I hadn't had a two day break in a few weeks.
Today I started actually studying. Actually reading even. Made up a schedule breaking it down over the next ten days, what I'm reading when, when I'm reviewing, etc etc. Even working on the weekends. It's gettin all crazy up in this.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever we have a guest speaker to the blog!
I have no editorial control over what follows:
Hi. Matt has some interesting songs on his winamp playlist. Many come with interesting dances. Perhaps he'll dance for you if you come visit him; i suggest requesting Sisqo's "Thong Song" . . . :)
Hm. Note to self refrain from using guest speakers in the future. Not my fault the guest took so long I was having to entertain myself using other methods. What's wrong with interesting dances anyway! Hmph.
Hung out with the same person for obscene amounts of time today. Was very strange. Way more than average. Cannot explain. I think they put something in the water.
Ran all the way down to the end of the pier today. Lot further than it used to be since I'm way over on this side of campus now and have to run across the island to get to where I used to start from in years past. Definitely the longest run time wise since I've started, going to have Mondays be long slow distance days. Hopefully within a few weeks will make it over towards the airport, and maybe in a few months run all the way around the airport. Should be fun. The two day weekend was good for my legs I think, I hadn't had a two day break in a few weeks.
Today I started actually studying. Actually reading even. Made up a schedule breaking it down over the next ten days, what I'm reading when, when I'm reviewing, etc etc. Even working on the weekends. It's gettin all crazy up in this.
