Training Log Archive: PG

Trails up on Mt. Toby from home, first time in quite a while. Things are remarkably dry for early April, usually would be quite muddy now with ice and frost pockets, but then we missed winter.

In retrospect, thinking back to the WCOC meet at Ansonia last Sunday, I think that was a day when I had very good legs. It happens seldom enough that it's important to make notice of the event, otherwise the running always seems to just be a slog. Which is what today felt like.

And again today the 305 showed why you don't want to put to much faith in its navigation ability -- 14:42 for my fifth mile, the first half of which was gently down, the second half gently up. I guess I was going someplace between 9 and 10-minute pace. And it you look at the map and compare it with my third mile, there is clearly some sort of time or distance warp going on.

The track looks fine. I guess the electrons were just taking a nap.

C • track 21

Not much enthusiasm, so compromised on a short run. And then, for a little cross training and since I had a little time before dinner, 3 holes of golf. Neither one, the run or the golf, was awful.... :-)

Took a look at yesterday's map from the Pig. Not my kind of terrain, quite happy not to be there.

A little more than two weeks of tax season left. Mostly going fine, seem to be getting more work done without really crazy hours (only one Sunday so far and usually home before 9), which is how things are supposed to be, as long as the brain keeps working. And I still continue to be amazed by the variety of humanity.

C • Interesting GPS route today... 1

Stressful day at work and not enough time, but decided best thing for me was to get out for a run. Which I did. Definitely the right choice. Relaxed pace most of the way, a little quicker the last mile.

C • nothing like a run to chang... 1

Apparently no one (so far) is willing to offer a solution to the GPS issue. Perhaps because it's not so easy unless the solution is simply "anything goes."

There are lots of possible other solutions ranging from occasional to always, from targeted to total. A possible rule would be to ban them at national championships for all championship classes, and at all other A meets for all people under the age of 40 in competitive classes.

The problem is, no matter what the scheme is unless it is "anything goes," how do you enforce the rule? And if you do nothing to enforce it, then it seems like a lose-lose situation -- the honest people comply and aren't happy, the cheaters still can cheat.

And to enforce it requires searches. Are we ready to go there?

C • Enforcement 1

C • enforcement 2

Usual loop on the ridge, once again a mellow pace. Legs felt OK but saw no reason to push the pace.

Didn't feel like a run today, so I didn't. :-)

But I did manage two other accomplishments that I would normally have thought beyond me. The first was changing a headlight in my Subaru this morning. Yes, I have done it before, but it is still quite a miracle that I actually did it again, since memory of prior changes in pretty much non-existent.

And the second was another technical/mechanical feat that I do more frequently this time of year, perhaps every two to three weeks, and that is replace the toner cartridge in my printer. So I should get good at this, and I think I am, but it is not due to any help from the instructions, which in the last couple of years have been diminished from reasonably easy to understand large-scale illustrations on paper to little pictograms molded into the side of the toner cartridge. But it saves a few cents on each cartridge, and that's the way the world works.

Regardless, on an otherwise rather stressful day with less progress than I would like, these were a couple of moments worth celebrating.... :-)

=================

More on the GPS issue....

I think it is a useful exercise to imagine that you were actually the person to decide what OUSA's policy should be regarding GPS devices. What would you decide?

First, I would suggest that the following things should be considered --

1. A ban could cover no events or all events or something in between.

2. A ban could cover some classes or all classes, and this could vary depending on the event.

3. How the ban would be enforced.

4. What the penalty would be for violation.

5. A relatively minor consideration that I mention just because it exists, and seems reasonably well accepted, there is the current IOF ban for IOF events (and I think only for those classes under IOF rules at those events). Another thing I will mention -- we are not talking about rogaines here, where a ban seems well accepted.

So, you are king, or queen, or dictator, or whatever you choose to call yourself. What do you do?

Some more considerations --

6. If you are inclined towards the no-ban side, that may be your own preference, but is that best for the federation under all circumstances? Are there events where the ban should exist for some or all classes?

7. If you are inclined towards the ban-them-always side, again, that may be you own preference, but is that best for the federation under all circumstances? Are there events where the ban should not exist for some or all courses?

8. If there is a ban of any sort, how do you enforce it? Do you search people at the start? If not, if you just expect everyone to follow the rule, then that seems to leave things just as open to cheating as no ban at all. And if you search everyone, well, that's quite the image for our sport....

9. Likewise, if there is no ban, do you do anything to deal with cheating that may happen, or may already be happening? Is it just open season for anyone to get away with whatever they want to try?

I ask this question -- what would you actually do if it was just up to you -- because there seem to be a lot of people happy arguing at the edges, and not much consideration of what solutions there might be, and especially how to make them work.

On the one side there is the stick-your-head-in-the-sand attitude that thinks a ban in silly, even though they may acknowledge that there is a time and a place for a ban and that human nature has its bad sides as well as its good sides. On the other side is the rules-rules-just-give-me-more-rules attitude that can't be bothered with matters such as how they will be enforced or how they might negatively affect the sport, even though they may acknowledge that there are times and places where a ban makes no sense.

So is there a middle ground? And is there a sensible way for enforcement?

You can argue all you want, but at some point the responsible parties have to do something, and it would be nice to help them get to a good solution.

A short outing on the local trails. Didn't have much zip, didn't have much time either, so I suppose that was a good combination. Maybe should have just taken the day off.

Meanwhile, the GPS thread just goes on and on. Is it possible that some APers have a deal to get paid by the post?

C • Gps thread 7

So I downloaded my 305 track from Saturday. Haven't processed it through QR, that would require pulling out the old laptop, or getting QR working on the new one, and that's not going to happen tonight.

And it is quite amazing.

I didn't take any splits. If I understand correctly how things work, if the splits hap been uploaded to AP, then they are picked up when I download my track. But look where some of them are. Among the worst offenders are 4, 5, 8, 12, 15, 16, 19, 23, 26. All should be where the track changes direction.

I assume the WCOC controls are in serious need of synching?

C • synching 2

Not much time, so a quick outing on the treadmill. An easy flat mile (9:50) then two miles at 5 mph with the elevation at 5%, 6%, 7%, and 8% for the four half miles. Felt OK, but need to be at 12% to simulate the Mt. Washington average.

Ailments from yesterday -- especially sore ribs and a bruised knee from a crash just after losing my contact -- were all not so bad. Got lucky.

Interesting morning....

Having an early breakfast and the woman who had the night shift -- my mom needs 24-care -- came out of mom's bedroom and asked if she could talk to me. I didn't know what to expect but figured there was some sort of problem I was going to have to deal with. My guess was that it was going to be about how many hours of work she was getting each week (she currently works about 45-50, would like more).

But it had nothing to do with that, in fact had nothing to do with anything I might have imagined.

Could I give her a loan, or more precisely, an advance on her pay? And the amount she needed was $3,500. What I would call a big number in the circumstances.

The story is that she came to this country from Haiti, I don't know how long ago, and she has a sister still in Haiti. The sister is a teacher, or was a teacher, until the earthquake flattened the school. About a month ago there was a call from the sister, there was a chance she could get to the USA but needed 5K to make it happen. And then a call shortly thereafter that the plan had fallen apart.

But the sister had called again last night, same deal. And my employee wanted to help.

So what do I do? You want to help, you want to be a good boss, but that is a lot of money, roughly 5 weeks pay. Is it a scam? Will she just disappear and I'm left looking for a new employee with no notice?

I make it clear how unhappy I was with the request. I excused myself, thought about it for ten minutes, decided to offer at most 1K.

The conversation resumed. That was not enough, the 5K was needed by Wednesday. My employee has 1.5K saved but that is all. She also has a second job, says she will live off that while I take pretty much all her pay until I am paid back.

What if you say no, that you don't have it now.

I don't know, but I am afraid she will think that in her moment of need I would not help her. And that she will never forgive. And she is my only sibling.

Doesn't she have any money?

She lost her job in the earthquake. There is no work. And all her possessions, when they know you are leaving, nobody will pay much to buy them because they know you have to sell.

And I took another break to think. And to call up the agency I hired her through to inquire about her references when they took her on a year ago. And the references were good (except for a couple of employers who had a problem with hiring a person of color).

And to think some more, what is the right thing to do? And talk to Gail, just verbalizing thoughts often helps.

What to do?

And there was no way to put off the decision. I was already late leaving to drive back home and then to work. The money was supposedly need by Wednesday. Deferral was the same as denial.

You give to charity, often rather large organizations, where the results of a donation are usually impossible to see. And here was a case where there would be a direct impact on a life, or maybe two lives. If it was true. How do you know?

At some point you just have to decide that you trust someone or you don't. She has been a good worker for the two months I have known her.

I sat down and wrote out the check, plus a one-paragraph repayment schedule. Gave her the first, got her to sign the second. She was in tears, gave me a big hug. And I had to go.

On the drive home I was thinking I did the right thing, even though there is no way of knowing, at least for a while.

And also thinking, well, it makes all the sound and fury about GPS watches pretty trivial....

C • Loan 13