2010-08-28

Half Marathon Training Day 4

After a day of rest, today was a short run (3 mi) in preparation for a longer one (6 mi) tomorrow.  I just ran around some neighborhoods and ran around the Jermantown Cemetery, one of the few peaceful places around here.

Upgrading to Mac OS X Snow Leopard without a CD drive

I just accomplished what I thought was impossible.  Since I found out that the DVD drive in my Macbook no longer works (though it does read CD's), I thought I would not be able to install Snow Leopard.  However, thanks to some online instructions I was able to convince OS X that I was not on a Macbook, but a Macbook Air.  This allowed me to put the OS X Snow Leopard Installation CD into my Windows PC, and install the OS X update over a network connection.  It did take a bit longer, but everything is up and running now.


Here are the steps I followed:


1. Put the Snow Leopard Disc into the Windows PC, and install the CD sharing program.  Enable CD sharing.
2. Go to System Preferences in the Mac and enable CD/DVD sharing
3. Open the terminal and use these commands:

 defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool true
 defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser ODSSupported -bool true
4. Restart the Mac
5. The Remote Disc should now show up in the finder.  Open it, click on install and proceed as normal.  Note that you CANNOT disconnect either computer during the install.
6. It took about 90 minutes

2010-08-26

Half marathon Training Day 3

Today I woke up at 5:15am and was out and running by 5:50.  I ran the same route as the fartlek on day 1, except in reverse.  A bit over 4 miles, at exactly a 10 minute mile pace.

Tomorrow is my first rest day of the program, followed by a short run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.

2010-08-25

Half marathon Training Day 2

Today was a simple training day, just an easy 4 mile run at 6:30am.  My pace ended up being about 9:40 which is good considering the hills.

2010-08-24

Half Marathon Training: 13.1 Day 1

Introduction:

I've registered for the Richmond half-marathon, on November 12, 2010.  This will be my first half marathon event.  Up til now, I have run two 5k's, one 10k, and will run another 10k during my half marathon training.

For those of you unfamiliar with distance running, a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

Today was the first day of my 12 week program.  I hope to be able to stick to it, but things will probably come up.  Injuries may occur, babies will be born, but I will do my best to follow at least 90% of it.

I've combined two plans, the Cool Running Half Marathon beginner plan and the Hal Higdon intermediate plan.  The Cool Running plans are a bit tougher, but based on my schedule they won't work the whole time through.

My weekly mileage:
15, 21, 20, 19, 21, 25, 23, 26, 24, 18, 22, 30 (last week includes the 13.1 run).

So without further ado, onto

Day 1:

I ran at 5:30 this morning. Today was a 4 mile fartlek.   Basically what that is is an unstructured interval.  I ran for about .85 miles as a warmup and then alternated quick sprints, 5k paces, 10k paces, and slower jogging.  I ran the normal loop around my condo.  There are only 2 fartleks in the training program: today and next week.  The rest of this week I'll be running easy runs on W, R, S and a long run on Sunday.

2010-08-23

The Myth of Home Ownership

The NY Times is finally catching up to something I've been saying for the last couple of years: owning a home is not a good investment.  It is not necessarily a bad investment, but don't be fooled into thinking that home prices always go up, or that you will even be able to get out easily.

Those of you who bought houses in 2004-2006 could very well have to wait 15 years before you are in the black again, and that's negating the interest paid.  Homes can and do depreciate; just ask someone who bought a condo in a building that's gone to shit, or someone who bought a trailer.  Its just that now this attribute has crawled up the ladder.