Running Makes You Smarter

I remembered I read somewhere in the Internet saying that running will make you smarter. That article seems to be written by some sort of authoritative expert in the subject and it has lot of supportive arguments to support that notion though I can't quite remember what those are.

Anyway, I would be more than happy to buy that as I do run quite a bit during the recent few years (but I am not so sure whether I run entirely to get smarter.) However, the empirical result of my experiment of one doesn't quite seem to fit...


xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After 5 laps of warmup and some light stretching, KW and I lined up in the common start line of the track. It was dead silence between us. We both knew what laid ahead, a grueling 20 laps tempo run, targeting 2:00/lap each.

As my sixth sense (I do have some of those, in case you don't know) told me I might run into trouble counting 1 to 20, the plan was simple, just count 1 to 5 for four times instead.

The first 2K was a breeze. Every time I crossed the common start line, I pressed that BIG RED button and the Polar clocked faster time than 2:00, every time without failure.

BEEP...ONE ..Good, 1:58 ...
BEEP...TWO ..Not bad, 1:59...
BEEP...THREE ..Well done, 1:58...
BEEP...FOUR ..Yes! 1:59...
BEEP...FIVE .Yeah, right on target, deadly accurate, 2:00...


Somehow, after the first five laps, things got a little harder. The Polar seemed to refuse to show anything faster than 2:00.

BEEP...ONE ..Hmm... 2:01 ...
BEEP...TWO ..Oops, need to pick up a bit now... 2:01...
BEEP...THREE .. just push a little faster, you dump aXX...2:01...
BEEP...FOUR ..WHAT? I thought I told you to go faster?...2:03...
BEEP...FIVE ..Damn! still've got 10 more laps to go... 2:02...


The effort of the second half of the time trial was definitely tripled that of the first half while the lap times were getting much slower.


BEEP...ONE ....2:01 ...
BEEP...TWO ......2:03...
BEEP...THREE ......2:03...
BEEP...FOUR ......... 2:05...
BEEP...FIVE ............ 2:05...


After six ks running at the tempo pace, things were getting blurry. At this stage, I was really struggling. My breathing was heavy, I was clearly panting. And the target of averaging 2:00/lap was a long long goner. All I cared at this stage was counting how many more laps to go.


Endure, endure and make it to that starting line and I've got 1 more down.

Now, only five more laps to go, I can handle that.

Just hang on, forget about that darn thing of 2:00, just hold on and finish the damn run.

BEEP...ONE ..OK, four more to go....2:05 ...

BEEP...TWO ..OK, 2 down, three to go, hang in there....2:04 ...


All the while, KW stayed silently somewhat 1 meter behind me (Hey, KW, that's called drafting and that is cheating, just in case you are reading this.) At this point, he must had figured out that I wasn't anywhere near to be able to clock 40:00 for 20 laps, so he started to pull away from me.

As he smoked me, my competitive instinct was awaken and I started to push really hard too. The consequence of that reckless response was quick to show, my right calf started to pull immediately and that must be due to the lactate accumulation.

Now that was the beginning of a different ball game. It wasn't so much about achieving 2:00 per lap or chasing KW anymore, it was just a matter of survival and finishing of the run.

Having not option at hands, I slowed down and fortunately, the cramp settled down.

Just three more to go, hang in there....

At this point, the lung and the legs really started to hurt like hell. All I wanted was just to finish the 20 laps and pack the run. All my mind was thinking at that moment was just making it to the finish line again one more time and I would stop there (it amazed me that I could keep cheating myself to repeat that again and again, though I am not sure that I am too smart to cheat myself or I am too dumb to be cheated.)

I couldn't care less for the lap time so I didn't even bother to look at the watch anymore.

BEEP, two more to go ...

BEEP, YEAAHH..ONE MORE, let's just pump up a bit ...

As I started to lap on the final, KW was already some 100 meters ahead of me and the gap was gaining fast. Though I tried very hard pushing my legs, they didn't quite seemed to response. As I turned into the last straight and started to sprint, I saw KW just crossed to finishing line. Somehow, he did something really strange. He didn't stop there as usual and continued to run. That puzzled me a lot and I thought may be he was trying to cool down a little.

As I crossed the finishing line finally (what a relief pressing that BIG RED button, BEEEEP! So soothing!) I saw that KW was not way cooling down. He was clearly pushing harder and faster.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.. Don't be such a jerk. You don't have to run an extra lap to show off how good shape you are...

As he finally came to the finish line again and stopped running after that(puffing and panting like hell that his lungs almost dropped out, I am sure!), I asked whether he had run 21 laps. He seemed to be a little puzzled and not too sure himself, as he replied "...Ughh....may be...I think I did!"


xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When I sat down in front of my desktop computer and looked at the log of the Polar Pro Trainer, I noticed a time of 38:40 for the time trial.

WHAT? How could it be!


I started counting the lap.

"1..2..3..4..5......19".


19! There was no 20!!!

The plain fact of knowing that not only I failed miserably at the task of doing an average of 2:00/lap, but also failed mysteriously at the simple act of counting 1 to 5 four times really hurts. What relieved me a little was the fact that KW also shared the same problem (even though he had gotten the counting right, obviously he wasn't too sure himself too.)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Now, to that wise guy somewhere in the web who claims running make you smarter, I have got a question for you.

"Of all those more than 13,000 kms that I have run in the last five years, how come I still couldn't count straight from 1 to 5, correctly, huh?!"

Crank on.

TCX2HRM UPDATE2

This version has only minor fix that solve some parsing error of file.

Download at tcx2hrm update2.

Happy using.

You've Just Made My Day

Have you ever been psyched out by an old runner who is much slower
than you?

I just did!


Last Sunday, when I was running toward the Bkt Aman car park on the
returning trip of the Hartamas loop, just right after crossing the
highway junction, I saw an old runner "jogged" in a turtle pace about
tens of meter ahead of me. Not wanting to cause any embarrassment
or paying any disrespect, I passed him silently and swiftly by
picking up the pace a few notch.


But after running pass that long stretch of undulating hills stored
after Selangor Property, fatigue set in rather quickly. I was
totally running out of steam, somehow, I just didn't feel like
running anymore (heck, I was supposed to be still in the Rest &
Recovery phase scheduled after that marathon race that almost
squeezed every last drop of performance out of me).

I took a quick glance around, making sure nobody was nearby, and
decided to take a walk (I am sure you know how embarrass it could be
for a runner to get caught walking.)

For the first time, I took the time to smell the rose and
seemingly thought that it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Just as I was fully engrossed in enjoying the beautiful scenery
along the way, someone approached me fast and startled me by staying
way too close.

It was that same old man that I passed some time ago.


"Didn't you just overtake me a while ago?!"
(Something strong must have compelled him to approached me and asked
me this question, though I was't sure it was a question mark or an
exclamation mark. He was on the opposite of the road shoulder which
is two-line wide, mind you. May be it was that swift passing stunt
that I did a while ago really taunted him.)


"Ugh...I..I... ugh.., I just crashed and burnt"
I reply stutteringly.


"HeHeHeHe"
He literally laughed out loud while running ahead and
crossing the road onto the opposite site of the road shoulder,
leaving me with consternation.


And if you think that is the worst, you are wrong.

Just as I dragged my sorry ass slowly entering the car park entrance
after walking the remaining three km or so, Mr. Old Man was driving
out of the entrance and obviously saw me. He must have arrived 20
minutes or so ahead of me as he appeared to have taken a bath and
fully changed.

Though I pretended I didn't see him, I did notice that he was
shaking his head and was having that disdainful look on his face.
Somehow, I couldn't hold up my head.

Well, no doubt that he just made my day!


Crank on.

TCX2HRM Update

A newer version of TCX2HRM has been released.

It now handles PAUSE in exercise, so that the total execise time
is accurate within a second.

It also implement a moving average filter to smooth the
rather "JUMPY" Garmin Speed/Pace Curve, so that the graph is much
smoother showing in Polar Pro Trainer.


Download the new nersion by clicking

TCXHRMv2.



Crank on.

TCX2HRM a Garmin Forerunner to Polar File Converter

For those who owned a Polar HRM long ago and recently just couldn't resist

the temptation and have migrated to Garmin, but still want to keep all

training information with the Polar Pro Trainer,

and

for those who have Garmin Forerunner, but would like to take advantage

of the rich analytical capabilities offered by the Polar Pro Trainer,


below is the tool that could just be the right solution.


Actually someone have already coded a tool and hosted it on the web

http://converter.gps4sport.com/.

But somehow, I am not too keen to go online converting a file and moreover,

I need some extra features, like keeping the lap time after conversion.

So, I ended up coding my own converter.


Click
download tcx2hrm to download the tool.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE LATEST RELEASE AS THERE ARE SOME FIXES, PLEASE REFER TO NEWER POST


To use the tool, first unzip the file, edit the tcx2hrm.ini file accordingly.

Basically, you want to edit the parameters like weight, resting HR, MaxHR, and

also the various HR zone so that Polar Pro Trainer can display it according to

your setting.


Copy the tcx2hrm.ini to WINDOWS directory and copy the tcx2hrm.exe to your DESKTOP.

From Garmin Training Center, export the exercise that you want to convert to a

TCX file.

Then, click the tcx2hrm.exe to run it, enter the pathname to your tcx file and the

tool will output the converted data to a file named YYMMDD01.hrm,

where YY is the year, MM is the month and DD is the day.

Copy the hrm file to your Polar Pro Trainer data directory, for example,

C:\Program Files\Polar\Polar ProTrainer\Yourusername\2009, then start Polar Pro

Trainer, click on the appropriate day and add a new exercise, click on the "Attach

an exercise file" to attach your newly converted file and that's it.


Below are screenshots for a workout displayed both in

Polar Pro Trainer and Garmin Training Center .




Polar Pro Trainer



Garmin Training Center




If you encounter any problem or would like to report any bug,

feel free to email to me, but I will be able to work on this

only when I have free time.

Hope this help.

Crank on.

You Will Laugh

You will Laugh.

School Sports Day Part II

Javelin Throw




Hurdle Accident




How not to Hurdle


Crank On.