Science is the best thing we can do. And I think it is better for men to seek order in a chaotic manner instead to study chaos in an orderly fashion.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

running - endurance indeed

temperature: 0 - 1 deg. C
target zone: 150-
time in the target zone: 110'00"
total time: 120'00" (warming and cool down included, they were about 11 + 4 minutes)
maximum HR: 167
distance: 21 km (evaluated by approximations, by using Google Earth and a very good Polar product, S625x)
starting hour: 16:15

More than a half of running was made in the dark, that is extra-carefully: of course, that cost me much time. In fact, today I ran about 27 km: Polar pacer needed a calibration.
Today was a day without rain, hence the new area was dusty and the air on the highway was quite polluted. I need a solution for this. I saw a bus in the area and I think I could use it to exit the town when it is necessary. There were also some interruptions: among other difficulties, there is a bushy railway passing.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

running in a new area

temperature: 0 - 2 deg. C
target zone: 150-
time in the target zone: 66'04"
intermediate time: -
total time: 90'00" (warming was made in 12 minutes, thus, the total time was 102')
maximum HR: 160
distance: 18 km (evaluated by approximations, by using Google Earth)
starting hour: 15:40

I started well, on the highway out of town, then I turned left, in the field: running on the grass is almost a mystic experience.
Yet, I finished bad, because I did not turn on the route I came, but another, and eventually I was forced to follow (because I did not know very well where I was, only when it was too late) the same narrow road around the town on which I ran that rainy day. So, at one moment I stepped wrong with the right ankle -- the road is under construction in some places. I could run further because it did not hurt at all. Even today things were fine until I took a walk of 7 kilometers walk. Now I feel pain there when I walk, but I think it is not a serious injury: until the next Thursday when I have to run again things could evolve much better.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

running

temperature: 10-7 deg. C
target zone: 155-
time in the target zone: 30'10"
intermediate time: -
total time: 81'50"
maximum HR: 164
distance: 16.7 km
starting hour: 15:20

I have set a wrong target zone: it should be 150-. Since the heart is now well trained, the HR threshold must be lower.
I can no longer run in the usual area. In the later months, motortrucks or their tracks are everywhere. It is incredible how the terrain was transformed by these monsters: their tracks are, in fact, rivers of mud. Today, the running was interrupted many times because of them.
But I insist: the biggest problem in Romania are the people, not the motortrucks, and unfortunately, they will not change in the near future, that is why I have to leave one day. Until then, I will completely change the zone, hence the route. Today, at one moment I hooked a hidden wire with one foot: I could easily get serious injuries by falling. It clearly became perilous to run there.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

running

temperature: 4 deg. C
target zone: -
time in the target zone:
intermediate time: -
total time:
maximum HR: 162
distance: 16 km
starting hour: 14:45

This day I ran relaxed, almost all the route in town.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

running

temperature: 10 deg. C
target zone: 155-
time in the target zone: 55'30"
intermediate time: -
total time: 65'00"
maximum HR: 172
distance: 12.7 km
starting hour: 14:45

The terrain was very difficult again: loose, slippery, in many places heavily muddy. Of course that I have tried to run next to the country road, because there is vegetation there, but when is dark the terrain becomes treacherous even there. Why dark since the starting hour was 14:45? Because...

Above you have only the data concerning my usual run. Today all turned bad in a way, and marvelous in another. Bad, because it was raining and I lost my keys: it would be some problems here if I could not find them. Good, because I ran about 28 km for the first time. You could imagine that I was back-tracking step by step on my normal route...

Yet, my memory is quite good, and I reviewed the moments when I could lose the keys. Unfortunately, there were more than a few, but some of them were easy to eliminate -- I refer, for instance to those that were in town, because the keys sound when they are dropped. My equipment is new and I was compelled to admit -- though with a small probability -- that they could fall from the pocket, somewhere in the final part near the town, in the grass: on the route I hold them right in my hand, to avoid exactly this kind of situation. After deliberations, I decided that the most probable moment when I could lose them was that at which I had to tie my laces on my shoes: this was at the most distant point in the run, when I turn back on the route.

So, I was not back-tracking. I ran direct to that place, but on another route, this time on roads: it was a mistake. Regardless the distance was quite longer, running on streets around towns in Romania is a nightmare: roads are usually very very narrow -- this one was about 6.5, maximum 7 meters! Everywhere were trucks which replace the good air with a heavy polluted one. Further more, a significantly part of run was raining, and I was not properly equipped for this situation: running for hours in a cold rain could be perilous. An other detail that could make completely useless my efforts was that when I started the second run it was already dark: remember, it's November 15, and in this moment of the year, the day is quite short. Perhaps you would not believe me, but outside of town, in the field, it is never completely dark: and I know those places very well, almost every inch of them. So, I was pretty confident that if the keys were there, then I would find them.

After a long run and having all these problems upon me, I eventually arrived in that point: in the first instance I did not see the keys, as I would expected. I walked around, looking in the dark, looking and thinking that they could not be there, after all. I leaned and touched the grass here and there, and at a given moment, I griped the keys: they were in the grass...

On the second run, I have maintained the mean pulse around 149, because I did not want to perspire too much. It was not a big problem that I was thirsty, but my t-shirt was changed after the first run, and I could not take the chance to get wet again. However, my shoes get completely wet and my feet swam for hours...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Learning

This week I was on the prime numbers and Swedish. I am not very content with the results on learning this new language, but I think I have found a way I could manage with it, a new one: I simply read many-many words (about 11,000), without learning what they mean. I want to visualize them and assimilate their sound first, to create the need to find out more. It is the same way the little children learn to speak: first they mimic the adults.

running

temperature: 5.5-6 deg. C
target zone: 160-
time in the target zone: 66'
intermediate time: 40'
total time: 68'00"
maximum HR: 177
distance: 12.7 km
starting hour: 14:30

The mean pulse was around 165.

It was tough. Almost all the run it was raining, and the terrain was very difficult. Further to that, in the final portion my equipment was almost wet, and because of that, I could not stop. If I would stop running, then I would probably risk to catch a serious cold: my back and t-shirt were hot and heavy perspired and clothes above were wringing wet and pretty cold. So, I ran almost 17 km. Sprints was also difficult, because running on this kind of swampy soil is very demanding for all the body. I was also careful of feet: in these hard conditions it is easy to get joint injuries. However, my right ankle responds well in effort.

Two hours after effort I have a pulse of 77-80, so the heart adapts very fast.

It is Saturday evening, I am alone but I do not feel that, I am tired though not totally exhausted... So, I have learned since I was a child that this mood takes me to the music.

I am listening now to this incredible instrumental music which is often appropriate to my taste and feelings -- I have learned to listen the voice careful only after many years of hearing instrumental music, classical or progressive.
Stanley Jordan is an incredible musician indeed.
Yet, you may want to listen to this first.

Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven


Stairway To Heaven
(Page/Plant)

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

Note.
Plant's own explanation of the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand ... and it softened up after that." (see wikipedia's reference)

Stanley Jordan plays "Stairway to Heaven"


It was often said that black guitarists feel the instrument and it is not needed to have an outstanding technique: Stanley have both.
And because we need a counterpart for comparison, listen to this very good piece played by another awesome guitarist, John McLaughlin: unfortunately the embedding was disabled.

John McLaughlin Trio - Sing Me Softly Of The Blues

I will take you now to a different sound, like smooth jazz, and another damn good guitarist, Earl Klugh.



Finally, here is a good piece of a black guitarist who feels the guitar, George Benson...

George Benson - Love Ballad

Thursday, November 08, 2007

running - in a beautiful day of a late autumn

temperature: 7.5-8 deg. C
target zone: 155-
time in the target zone: 63'
intermediate time: 38'39"
total time: 64'02"
maximum HR: 176
distance: 12.7 km
starting hour: 15:00

So, after a month and a week of rest, today I went for a run. It was not difficult: in fact, the total time was around 73 minutes because I had first a 9 minutes run -- about 2 extra kilometers -- for warming up. In the first minute of running the pulse was over 155, and after other 2 minutes was around 175.
As I was expected, since the heart is the first organ that loses its fitness, the HR was almost all the running around 170 -- normally is somewhere around 155. My ankle was fine in the first part, but on the final portion I felt something there. Now I feel a vague pain but I will treat it with an anti-inflammatory (with ketoprofenum, for instance).
The heart is a very versatile organ because it is also the first that reaches its fitness: after a week or so, I expect that the pulse will be in the normal range. Still, I have to be careful with the ankle, because if it still hurts at the following running (it will be on this Saturday), I should prolong the recovery period.
In this moment, that is two hours after running, at rest, my pulse is around 95 -- normally, after the same effort is 65-70, and when I am very well trained, around 60 and below.

Do you like Peter Cincotti? I know about him for years, and I like his music a lot.





Sway

Monday, November 05, 2007

Interview with Patapievici

Because I have written critically about Patapievici, I have to let him speak on my blog. See the article from Cotidianul. Patapievici is very good, as usual, but he did not convince me. I think he does not have the true reasons for which we, Romanians, do not cooperate.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

When intellectuals become foolish

Interesting article in Cotidianul. I will try to motivate you to read it by this quote:
"Aron says that, along/by centuries, the thinkers and artists did not differ too much from clericals; they had, as the latter, the function of maintaining and commenting the faith in church and that of the city/community. With the secularization tendency and the disappearance of patrons, the intellectuals earn their freedom, as they lose their financial assistance (wealth)".

I would say that the most insidious ideology is that which proclaims the disappearance of ideologies. Because it makes us indulgent/uncritical to those that remain, and which are very prosperous nowadays: for instance, in Romania, the secularization is in a strange process of withdrawing, and saying that with the resounding failure of communism and its ugly ideology we are away from ideologies is a big mistake. Because religion is an ideology too -- a hypocrite loving-kindness --, and because almost all respectable intellectuals in this country are orthodox loving: a representative being a former talented physicist tells us that the science could be theologically founded -- I am pretty sure that this could not happen in west.
As I have already said in other recent posts, religion is an ideology without an epistemological anchor, and that is why it is not reliable for a scientific mind.
Remember, the physics is also an ideology -- indeed, because it proves nothing --, but it is one of a kind: because, unlike most of other ideologies, it constantly improves itself.