Training Log Archive: Becks

Today was much cooler and as a result I felt way better. Legs were moving, still slow up the hills but mostly able to move. As a consequence I made more mistakes, nothing mega, and route choices good, but I was wobbling around in the circle on 2 or 3 of them. Need to get back into the routine of descriptions and APs properly. Think I was getting the hang of orienteering in this place today, and I had much more fun. A great meet, really glad I came down here!

Route here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/faintgirl/5462720268/...

Event: Box Canyon 2-Day Classic B Meet
 

Wowzer! This was cool. Good map, interesting course, area like nothing I have run on before. Was only tripped up once by the valleys and corrected quickly, glad to see I can remember how to orienteer (because it has been way, way too long). Unfortunately found the running really tough today, my body was doing it's usual "But this is warm. You don't like warm. Can I hurt now?" act and apparently I was probably feeling the elevation a bit too. So slow, although improving by the end. Really rubbish uphill though. Will need to rectify that before the season starts.

Edit: Quickroute is really very cool. Someone remind me to donate at the start of March. My route is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/faintgirl/5459895466/...

Funny story. I got to Tucson and decided that after eating crap all day I was tired but should still try and get my run in. Plus it was WARM and there was NO ICE so it would really have been silly to miss the opportunity. So I ask Taco A where I can run, and she says the bike track round the golf course. I think this is slightly strange, but get to the golf course and there's a group of teenagers without any golf stuff wandering around the outer path, and things are pretty strange here in general, so I go with it. The golfers are very friendly and saying hi and I'm thinking "this is cool.." and then some guy catches up with me on his golf cart and tells me he's been chasing me for a while "you're pretty fast" and that I can't run here but should be on the bike track outside the fence, (which when I see it is massive obvious) and I had to switch on the uber Britishness and he was utterly charmed, and gave me a ride in his golf cart to the nearest exit. Turns out I had crossed the actual bike path around the perimeter of the golf course when it was a cross walk, not noticed it's massive obviousness and run straight over it. Still, the man was very nice, asked me if all British people were this polite (only when they've been caught trespassing) and wished me a good day. The ride in the golf cart was fun.

Did a 12 min marathon pace wind up in the middle and apart from stomach gurgling with all today's crap inside, it felt alright, considering I've been awake since half midnight Tucson time. Pretty much bedtime I think!

(In a side note, the bit of Tucson around the university is really cool. And I am very excited by the crazy birds and plants. Surprisingly enough Rosie doesn't like me much, but despite insane tiredness, first impressions of this place are super cool).

C • you made it! 6

Anyone ever get the CT Limo from Phelps Gate? Their instructions say this:

I-95 North (Bridgeport, Stratford, Milford area)
Take I-95 northbound and merge onto CT-34 via left Exit 47 towards downtown New Haven. Get off first exit for downtown New Haven. Take a right at the second traffic light onto Church Street. At the third traffic light, take a left onto Chapel Street. At the next light take a right onto College Street. Phelps Gate will be on the right hand side.

I-95 South (From over the Q-Bridge, East Haven, Guilford area)
Take I-95 southbound and merge onto CT-34 West via Exit 47 towards Downtown New Haven. Take a right at the second traffic light onto Church Street. At the third traffic light take a left onto Chapel Street. At the next traffic light take another left onto College Street. Phelps Gate will be on the left hand side.

Which is the same route essentially, yet apparently opposite sides of the road. Just wondering what side it might actually be? Don't want to miss this limo as then I am screwed.

C • Gate 4

Shifting my rest day, slept dreadfully and am scratchy throated and tired today. With a 3.30am start tomorrow, tiring myself out more doesn't seem like a good idea. Hopefully go for an easy session when I hit Tucson. Orienteering for two whole days at the weekend! Amazing! So excited!

Paper proof done and resubmitted - check! Protocols written for while I'm away - check! Cloning project finished in record time - check! Lab book written up - check! Poster ready to print - check!

What a day! I have pulled it together this week and everything is ready a day early. Stayed late to get it all done and then took a really easy jog back. Very relaxing, and not too cold out. Tomorrow I can have an easyish day workwise in preparation for my stupidly early start on Friday. I can't wait to go away!

It struck me today whilst writing "things that must be done while Becky is away that are vital for this grant" that without me the lab would be totally screwed. In both the last two grant proposals I have designed simple, quick experiments that move towards causation in a sufficient way to hopefully secure more funding. Advisor's answer to everything is "let's get a mice with x, y, z knocked out, then forget about it and get another mouse, then forget about that one, and if I ever remember we'll do another observation study which tells us very little". Mouse work takes forever and is very complex, and definitely not a short term solution to anything, it's a long term investment. I am hoping these steps mean I can rectify the poor publication record of the lab (I can feel three in the pipeline already), get them out there over the next six months and start applying for baby grants of my own. A bit more independence would be excellent. I want to head back towards schizophrenia, aging is less inspiring. I'm of the opinion that there's only ever going to be so long you can put off the inevitable decline, and that lifestyle factors are probably a way bigger contributor to healthy cognitive aging than any drug we could come up with. Finding better drugs for schizophrenia means a better lifetime for 1% of people worldwide. I know more about it, and it's way more inspiring. I am also hoping to help out with recruiting a new Post Doc when Kelly goes, so we can get someone really good. And I'm finally getting a summer student to supervise. Excellent. I am working hard and it's still not much fun, but I can see real goals building and an exit route. Which I guess is a good thing.

C • Planning 7

I hate Tuesdays. Wake up to a full inbox of "you know that thing we said we'd finish for you in December, well it's still not finished in time for your conference," and "That experiment that I took out of your hands to try and rush through failed entirely so you need to start again at the beginning and now you're three days behind where you could have been" and "congratulations, here is the proof of your article but your graphs aren't good enough despite your following our precise instructions so please correct and resubmit in 24 hours (Australia time of course, sent in the middle of the night)" and "here is the graph for your poster which is not the graph you asked for."

I should have gone running before I checked my e mail this morning.

Yey for me for making it out! Strapped on my rucksac and ran home from the lab. It felt great, legs happy to be moving, shoulders slowly relaxing despite bag, and brain calming (also helped that I nailed everything I had to do today, thanks go to sidekicks Rob and Kelly). Did 2 x 5 mins what I think was marathon pace, too dark to see HR but felt about right, easy job all the rest. So glad I got out.

C • Well done getting out! 7

Morning jog round campus on Csaba's map, with a course drawn focusing on crossing gaps which I didn't know actually existed. Most of them did, which was exciting, and I found lots of extra ones too. Really good fun, but the map needs a lot of work. Had better get cracking!

Exactly the same as the last Friday session I did. The gym was hipster central this morning. I hate men that wear silly vests showing all their chest hair, that do the orgasm grunt even when they're squatting the same as me and more to the point, squat really badly.

Jog back home for shower time and work!