How to run indoors without loosing your mind

Weather sucks; time for a run on the treadmill.  But Treadmills suck more.

            I’ve got the perfect idea to make a treadmill running enjoyable, that will bring Nike+ a huge amount of the gym runners, and will expand the happiness of the already tried and true Nike+ runners.  Lets call it the Nike+Treadmill, or N+T.

Yeah I know treadmills suck… As someone who has trained for a marathon coming off a few injuries, I spent a lot of time on the treadmill.  Longest run on a treadmill 14 miles, longest enjoyable run on a treadmill 15 minutes, so the math isn’t in anyone’s favor.

Now I was born in the Pacific Northwest.  I have run in rain, snow, sub freezing temps, above 100 degree temps, above 11k feet elevation, on trail, on sand, on gravel, on cement.  I’ve run: hood to coast, Epic relays in 3 states, a 17 min 5k, a 37min 10k, and a sub 3hr marathon.  Long storey short I’ve run a lot and a lot of different ways, and pretty much all those runs were better than any treadmill run anyone has ever done.  So why would I be pitching the next big thing in treadmill technology?  Because it can be a better, it can be revolutionarily better it can be interesting, it can be exciting, it can even be fun.

The two experiences in my recent life that gave me this idea are something that any athlete will understand.

The first, I need to feel competitive.  Due to ankle injuries I have spent a lot of time biking in the past few years.  And the big word in cycling is Strava.  Strava is Nike+ for cyclists.  It’s pretty much the thing that makes amateur biking and training fun/competitive.  Any training ride, any commute to work, any sprint to a stop sign can be a competition; against yourself, against a colleague, friend, training partner, or even just to see how you stack up against a local pro.  You can make a new segment (section of your ride to compete on), or share your ride on Facebook.  I know running has Nike+, and that’s what I’m counting on to make this treadmill awesome.

The second big piece of this idea I experienced was a computrainer.  If you don’t know what that is, for me it came in the form of a stationary machine that hooks up to the back of any road bike, and has the ability to control the amount of drag you feel while doing an indoor workout.  These are incredible workouts.  They allow you to ride next to your much slower friend, or your much slower significant other, and do the same workout, but based on your ability.  These machines can have any program you want.  You can ride courses from the French Alps of the tour de France, to a time trial course that is part of the Hawaiian Iron Man.  The best part is that it knows who you are and what you are capable, so it will tailor all your workouts to your abilities.  How does it know your abilities?  Well either you can slowly dial it in through a workout or two, or you can ride a basic calculating test, where it pushes you to your limits and then saves, and uses that information to make your new workouts perfect for you.

How do these ideas combine to make the perfect treadmill?  And why would we want it?  Well it all starts with the most significant statement in the biking community.  If it’s not Strava-ed (GPSed) it doesn’t count.  I know that a large amount of true runners run unplugged but what about the day to day grinders, the city runners, the runners in Phoenix AZ, who can’t run out doors all summer, or Alaskans all winter.  How can we apeal to them.  There are hundreds of thousands of people who have no use for Nike+ system today, but this treadmill can connect them to it.  The N+T miles are proof of action, your friends will see your miles, and they can count towards monthly competitions.  The N+T will take the best of Nike+ and the computrainer and put them together to make an entertaining run.  There are so many sub categories and tangents that you could do that can and will make the N+T better, but for now, the basic.

The ability to sign into your Nike+ on the treadmill.

This is the bread and butter of the N+T; you can access your Nike+ profile from anywhere.  This gives you the ability to go home and see you run, to show your buddies your new fastest mile, or to just analyze how you performed.

The ability for the Nike+ data to be converted into practical data the N+T can use

This is what is going to revolutionize the treadmill.  Lets say that you’re someone who is a mid level to novice runner.  You jump on the N+T and want to do a hard run.  You can pick that with the click of one button on the N+T, and it will tailor a hard workout level for you, based on how many miles you run a week, and based on how fast your fastest mile, 5k, and or 10k has been.  Your accuracy can be greatly increased by a heart rate monitor too.  If you want to do an easy day then you push that, and the N+T will keep it at what is a slow pace for you.  Treadmills already have built in basic workouts, so why is the N+T that much better?  With N+T, you can choose a workout the night before, have it ready on your account, and just sign into the N+T, and push go.  Maybe you like a longer warm up, maybe you want a few strides to loosen up the legs, it’s all dialed in ready to go.  Then you share it!  You say hey Spencer look at my killer run I did.  Then Spencer says, wow that run looks hard, I want to try it.  So next time Spencer goes into the gym he signs into his Nike+ on the N+T and does the same work out.  But wait, his fastest 5k is 3 min slower than yours, this workout will suck for him.  By the time he pushes start, the N+T has already done the math, so Spencer’s intervals, and rests are at a slightly slower speed than yours were.  And even better, the N+T can convert GPS data into a treadmill work out.  Say you did an awesome trail run when you were vacationing in Colorado, well click on that run on the N+T, and it will simulate all the hills, and fast or slow sections you did.  Or you can do any run that has been GPSed anywhere on the globe.  But running’s social.  Well then we will put a group function on the N+T.  This will give you and your friends the chance to start the same workout, at the same time.  Your killing your 6x2min 110% effort at 6 min mile pace, and you look over at Spencer who is working just as hard doing his 2 min 110% effort at 6:30 pace.  Every sprint or rest perfectly timed so you start or stop together.  Or you can run a GPSed course with him and see how much farther ahead of him, or behind him, you are. 

Then there’s the marketing and extra money you can make off this N+T.

There will be a giant influx of people on the Nike+ sight.  That means add time and space.  You could start a gym franchise, or partner with one, or just sell them to gyms, hotels, colleges, or even at home use.  With the ability to have group starts, you could have large groups at gyms do the same work out like a cycle class, with an instructor pushing them to go harder, or hold on for just “10 more seconds!” you can sell these in higher volume to gyms, or even new run specific clubs. There isn’t a gym in this nation, or any 1^st world country that wouldn’t be drawn to these treadmills.   And you would pretty much have a monopoly.  Sure it will take some money to design and build a treadmill that can do all these things, but the base really isn't much different than any treadmill in any gym in America.  The thing that you have that no one else does is the social network.  That’s it.  Sure you will have to revamp Nike+, and you will pretty much have to double or even triple the options on the sight.  But you will be causing about 10x the eyeball time on your sight, which is the best marketing anyone could ever ask for.  Having the advantage of following every mile these people run, indoors and out, gives you the ability to say “hey”, you have put 300 miles on those shoes, maybe its time for a new pair.  And since you have run primarily on cement, you should buy these ______ shoes, the best Nike shoes for high cement miles, and since they are connected into their Nike+ account, they can order them right there without even stopping running.  Or the program could notice how many hours the runner runs outside at night, and then suggests the Nike flash jacket.  You could offer training programs, for a fee, and not just ones for runners.  You already have Dirk Nowitzki giving you kudos on your runs, why not have him coach you through a few running workouts that will help make basketball players better.  Have Michael Phelps be the voice of a cross training running work out for swimmers, or have George Saint Pier talk you through a good running work out for fighters.  You could go as obscure as having Apollo Anton Ono talk you through a running workout for speed skaters.  Hell I’d try that one, I mean who wouldn’t want a multi gold meddle athlete talking you through a cool new workout.  You could have 3-6-9 month programs to train for a 5k-marathon; the N+T will plan it with you.  If you run out side your Nike+ knows about it, so the N+T knows about it, so your that much closer to your race goal.

I could go on and on about all the little things that could make this idea better, but its just banging my head against a wall unless someone’s listening.

Buisness Idea 1

Idea #1 for a small business.

           I’ll call it “Patching a Life”.  Or P.A.L ha! No…

Idea:  The idea is to make money for/off the “unemployable” (original idea homeless, or ex felons, or just people on unemployment).  My idea would be centered on the customer, and what they want.  They want to help people get money to progress, but they don’t want to pay taxes for them to get unemployment, or other services.  The customer I’m looking at also wants to be “green”.  This business idea doesn’t work unless people are willing to recycle.  So main ideas: paying the unemployed, and recycling.

            Product is, bike tubes.  Biking is becoming the fastest growing mode of transportation, and one of the fastest growing sport/pastime.  So there are a lot of tubes out there.  And everyone flats.  That’s where we come in.  I would go around to all the bike shops in town, and ask them to give me all their flat tubes.  It’s a waist of their time, and their customers time to patch a tube.  So they have a few lying around.  Here in Eugene there are about 6-10 bike shops in town, and plenty of tubes that get thrown away.

            So we have the tubes, now we need to patch them.  My thought would be that we would take the size and type that is least used, and cut it up, so its rubber can be used for patches.  Only thing we need to buy is some rubber cement to glue the patches on.  We could even use old paper from somewhere, as long as one side is blank, to use as tags to show what size/valve/ and so on these tires are.  Maybe we would print off a label, that explains our motto and idea or web sight, and that they are patched so quality is somewhat compromised.  I would build a web sight that shows how we patch and check our tubes, and that they have to hold air for 24 hrs before they are considered ready for sale.

            Who’s going to buy these?  Not racers, the cool kids.  Being green is popular right now.  My thought is to sell these tubes at every hip pub, or brewery, or coffee shop.  They will just sit on the counter next to the register.  Bike shops are only open a little later than business hrs, but what if you get a flat when your out and about hanging with friends, or heading to out for an all night cram sesh with your classmates.  Well then just stop at almost any corner, because my product will be there.  Why?  Because going green is cool.  Best part, if the businesses are willing to, we will take the blown out tube to recycle!  We might even be able to get the racers to donate their old tubes, cause no one want to race on a compromised tube.  Sure Dick or Jane could keep it and patch it themselves, but why do it when they can get a new/used one for $3 and support a cause?  Other best part, the type of tubes most used in the community will be the ones that keep showing up to be recycled.  Perfect.

            So as far as money goes.  If we keep it local, we keep it simple.  I figure we pay someone, an “unemployable” a dollar a tube.  I figure a group of 3 people can create an assembly line and crank them out pretty fast. I would assume that I could patch at least 10 an hr.  So not too bad an hr for pretty easy work.  But as far as local goes there isn’t a huge market.  So we wouldn’t have many more than 3 total people employed.  You wouldn’t want to just had out tubes and say patch these and bring them back to sell.

            Since there isn’t the biggest market, marketing on a bigger scale could be good.  Maybe sell on line.  But that creates its own problem with adding shipping and handling into the mix.  Unless people were buying in very large quantities it would be more worth their time and money to just go down to their local bike shop and buy a new tube for $6.  So the only way this idea can go bigger is franchising.

            I figure the best idea is to pay the ex felons to work all winter patching tubes, then cut our employees during the summer.  I know there are a lot of roofers and other contractors will hire them for the summer, but cut them for the winter.  So make a bunch of product during the winter and sell sell sell all summer.

            So the tubes will come to me damaged for free, I will patch them or get them patched for $1 each, then sell them to a coffee shop or pub for $2 each, so they can sell them for $3.  That leaves $1 a tube that goes to me or back into the business.

            I’m debating on weather this would work better as a non-profit.

            Well anyway, this idea could work pretty well in a few places, around here.  Maybe Portland, Eugene, Ashland, Bend…  pretty much any city with a big bike population, and people wanting to recycle.  Maybe I’m over thinking the “unemployable” employee part of it.  I’m just thinking of more marketing.

Sandbag the Clydesdales 2014!

Sandbag the Clydesdales 2014!

I’m a 6’4.5” tall guy.  I weigh, on average, 185-190.  I’m a pretty fast biker, averaging in the top 25% of the B’s in cyclocross.  And I’m debating on gaining 10-15lbs of, I hope, muscle, before cross season next year.  Why you might ask?  Well you probably wont ask, because you read the title to this blog.  I’m going to sandbag the Clydesdales!

Flash back to my 1^st year of bike racing.  I did pretty well in the beginners, after crashing or flatting out of my 1^st couple races, but then wining the 1^st race that I kept my wheels to the mud, and didn’t flat.  I was excited to try and win a big Portland beginner race later that week, but was quickly shamed by Spencer Bushnell.  He said and I quote, “there’s no honor in winning a beginner race”.  So I registered as a C in my 1^st more than 15 person cross race.  This one had about 110 racers.  I was very nervous, and rightly so, as a person who had put more miles on my bike in the last 3 weeks than I had in probably the last 5-10 years…  I was the epitome of a newb.

(I thought this was a bike race)

The race started, I was pretty close to the back, feeling tentative about passing, it took me almost 2 laps to hit my stride.  I was finally passing people and feeling fast and strong.  I was getting to the point where I was wondering how far off the leaders were, and if they were close enough to catch in our final 4 laps.  I was riding hard, and shooting for my new goal.  All of a sudden a strong and fast guy pushed passed me.  He was killing it.  How could this fast guy be so far back?  Did this guy have a mechanical?  Before I could ponder it further another guy blew passed me and then another.  By the time the race had ended I estimated that the top 5 guys had lapped me…  I felt like shit.  I felt ashamed…  I was this big fish in the little pond of Eugene getting 1-3^rd in little races, then getting lapped in the Portland big pond races.  What business did I have even coming up here to race?

Now I’m no slouch, I have been racing, running racing, since I was 14.  I have been to districts or state every year of high school, and I was going into this cross season after just finishing the Portland marathon, placing 75 out of thousands,  (second marathon that year) in under 3hrs.  I was no slouch to racing.  And I was ready to hang up my clip in shoes, give up this biking stuff, and go back to running…

(see I'm a skinney runner)

It wasn’t until hours later on the ride home with fellow teammate, veteran racer in the B’s Taylor Bushnell, that I was informed with a laugh that I was just getting passed by the Clydesdales!  I felt so much better.  But over the season it made me think, why are these fast guys racing in the Clydesdale race?  What’s the point?  Where’s the “honor”?  I couldn’t find an answer, but it kind of pissed me off.  I decided the category was even more of a joke than it was supposed to be.  So I started trying to pack on the lbs.  Mind you this was about half way through the season, so I didn’t have much time, and I was, coming off a marathon, where every lb counts, and running 70 miles a week, so I was a svelte 175.

I almost did it.  I gained 23 lbs in under a months (almost a lb a day!).  I had to try really hard too.  Luckily we (Tensegrity) were sponsored by Ninkasi, and we had all the beer we could drink.  So I would stuff my face meal after meal, plus drink protein shakes in the morning and then after my workouts, as well as drinking at least 3 pints a night.  But before I could hit that magic 200lbs the season was over.

  The next year I was doing too good in the C’s, winning some races and then being force upgraded into the B’s too frivolously put on weight.  So my plan was put on hiatus.  This year came and was a frustrating year, this time struggling with having the time to train, and a little miss training, kept me fighting to break into the top B’s.  I have decided to not worry about the B’s and have fun next year, so gain the weight over the next 9-10 months and join the Clydesdales.

Now I’m not sure if I will be able to beet those fast Clydesdale guys, but I will try really hard.  I kind of want to be heading for the finish line obviously in 1^st, and then at the last minute DNF.  Or maybe win and just rant about it… Am I just being a dick?  My goal is to hopefully get OBRA, or whoever make the decisions about how the categories are decided to completely reform the Clydesdales qualifications.  I mean as a 6’5” guy I could easily be 200+ lbs and have less than 10% body fat.  That’s not right.  I have been in races (as a C) with the Clydesdales that seemed super fun. Guys getting bacon hand ups, riding fat bikes, getting lapped 1-2 times by the top C’s (and Clydesdales).  This should be a purely fun category.  There shouldn’t be guys who could be winning B races in there.  I mean if you win the series your get a plate of hamburgers that could make Wimpy ask for a doggy bag.  Am I just being a jerk, and seeing a problem when there isn’t one?  I don’t know if it’s just the “fairness alarm” I got ingrained in my mind from my kindergarten teacher mom.  All I know is that I don’t think that it’s set up fair.  Do the heavier set fun loving bikers have a problem with it?  I don’t know…  Would some of them have more fun if they felt more competitive?  Beats me…  But I’m going to bull headedly jump in with both feet.

(Me feeling like a super hero!)

Here’s my idea of how to make it fair the easiest.  Do a height to weight ratio.  What’s wrong with that?  I’m pretty sure it’s on the honor system already if you want to sign up as a Clydesdale.  So if you put in a new system you don’t really have to do any work. Other than the Clydesdale national championships in bend where they actually weigh you, I’m pretty sure they can set up a ratio chart, and a measuring stick next to the scale.   I mean unless your under 6’ tall 200lb shouldn’t make you a Clydesdale.  Maybe even 5’10”, the average height for a man, should be the 200lb mark.  Have the ratio go 5lbs per inch either way.  So if your 5'6" you only have to weigh 180lbs.  I as 6'5" would have to weigh over 235.  Thats 50lb more than I weigh now.  Whatever it is I shouldn’t be allowed to race at just 200lbs.  So that’s why I will try to race as a Clydesdale next year.  Maybe this blog will get the standards changed before then, but I kind of hope not.  I mean who doesn’t want to try and live out an idea?  I will feel so unfulfilled if Kenji and crew fix the glitch before I get to play with it.  For all I know, as I write this, the rule could have already been changed.  I should probably check before I post this.

Long story short.  I don’t think some people should be able to do something, so I’m going to passively aggressively try to ruin it for them.  Who’s with me?

Cheers.

(I checked on OBRA’s sight, and they don’t seem to even recognize Clydesdale as a Cat, there for no rules, so I guess I’ll have to make my beef with the promoters!  Either way, I don’t think they are trying to keep the big man or woman down; I’m just too lazy to make a petition, or even email them directly.  I mean what are blogs for if not to bitch about stuff?)

The worst Poison

After the death of an icon, Nelson Mandela, my Facebook and I’m sure yours too, was flooded with many of his most memorable quotes.  So many were epic one liners about peace, and turning the other cheek, that none of us affluent people with Facebook could ever hope to grasp.  But one quote, not really born of different blood, hit me right in the glabella. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”  The perfect quote for this Facebook nation we live in.

It’s so simple, and yet so powerful.  The energy I hold in my body, saved for that wonderful dark minute in every day when I skulk off to a corner and furiously flip through the rolodex in mind searching, calculating, then pulling out the names of those who have slighted me, burning holes through their eyes, and drawing horns, tails and pitchforks.  It’s the truest form of “poison”.  I hate!  You hate!  We all hate together, and now can share it on the Internet!  I mean look at that senator from _____!  What a jackass he/she is, trying to force me and all my like-minded friends to do that thing we so desperately don’t want to do!

Its sooo much work…  I just can’t do it…  I’ll rant about stuff as much as the next guy, but when it’s all done it done (as much as it can be for a human mind).  I can’t hold a grudge.  I don’t know if it’s just that I’m afraid to really admit to my emotions, or I just don’t want to.  I guess a lot of it is just from learning social sciences.  I mean I took a few 200 and 300 level psych classes, so I preeetty much have a doctorate in it, and I’ve learned that everyone has their shit.  I mean everyone has his or her shit.  We all have shit that were dealing with on a day to day basis, that chip on our shoulder that makes us short and snappy with whomever doesn’t cower at our feet.  So what?  We all have experienced things in our childhood that was not ok, and shouldn’t have happened.  We survived.  We all have toxic secrets that we hold deep inside that we avoid like the plague.  So why are we so quick to judge someone?  Why do we feel entitled to pass judgment, and spit venom on people for such menial reasons.

I’ve found that with little to no effort, I can replace my “resentment” with pity.  I try to live my life on the up and up, I do what I feel is right, and refuse to do things that I know to be wrong.  You got nothing on me!  I won’t try to hurt you, and if I do I will feel bad.  I’m not caught in any Hatfield/McCoy feuds.  So if someone does me wrong then it’s on their shoulders not mine.  After I get over the initial spurn felt, I clear my head and come up with about 10 scenarios that explain why the person is such a vindictive bitch! And then my resentment turns to pity.  We all have our shit.  And thats my rant.

A blog only a parent could finish.

Just like everyone else in the world, I’m starting a blog.

Just like everyone else in the world, I plan to write at least once a week.

Just like everyone else in the world, I will eventually fail.

            Now that we have that out of the way, what do I want to talk about? There have been so many thing happening in my life that I could blog about.  I just hosted my 1^st thanksgiving dinner at my house with my wonderful fiancé and her daughter, soon to be my stepdaughter.  I could talk about helping raise an extremely bright (I know everyone says that, but mines true) two year old.  I could talk about the meetings I’ve go to in trying to get a modified product patent.  I could talk about being unemployed “in this economy”.  I could just continue talking about what I could talk about…

            Well I’m and athlete, so of course I want to talk about that.  What does the word athlete mean to me?  It means I greatly enjoy using my physical abilities and testing them against like minded others.  I was a runner in high school.  I didn’t apply myself, so I was merely an above average runner.  I pretty much quit doing anything athletic from the end of my senior year of high school till I hit the ripe old age of 25.  I had pretty much been the same 6’4” 195lb guy that whole time, but then I stepped on the scale and it read 220… I was in the final months of a “wrong for me” relationship, and it showed.  So I did what anyone who has put on a few extra pounds does when they want to get rid of it, I went to the track to run.  Now remember the last time I had run was when I was young(er), fit and fast, so I jumped on the track and started to stride like I still was.  It 10 meters at 6min mile pace quickly turned into 20 at 7, then 50 at 8…  I barely made one lap around the track in under 3:30 (just over 10min mile pace).  I was thoroughly destroyed, both physically and mentally.  So I did what every person who is over weight and just hit a big hurtle does.  I quit.  A few months later I got a bike, cancelled my car insurance, and started commuting 3 miles (each way) to work.  It also happened to be a fixed gear, with no breaks.  With the one gear, I would kick my ass two and from work, each slight incline like a mountain to summit.  It only took me a month or two to realize that I was quickly getting in better shape.  I felt better and decided to try running again.

One of my friends kind of challenged me, and said I couldn’t run a half marathon, so I of course accepted, only to find out the one I had agreed to run was 2 weeks away.  So I kind of trained, and by the end of the 1^st week put in a 10 miler at a slow pace, with a few shorter runs in between.  So the day came, and I ran.  I finished, but at a cost.  I wore my trail running shoes with big tread, and got huge blisters on the pads of my feet.  I also had a mortifying last 3 miles.  I had been running strong and fast, too fast, up until that point, and I emptied the tank… I hit the wall.  All of a sudden I was going a mile an hour and everyone around me was going a mile a minute.  I look up to see a couple of fans staring at me doing a slow clap, and I swear they were talking in slow-mo yelling to me and only me, pointing me out in the sea of sprinters as the lone jogger.  “You can do it man!”, “Your all most there!”, “Just a little further!”.  It took me forever to get past them.  I don’t know if my embarrassment gave me a second wind or what, but I did eventually finish, and like the criminal who hadn’t paid for the organized event I had poached, I stepped into the crowed mere feet from where all the finishers were getting there pats on the back, and reward chocolate milk.  I wanted that milk, and I vowed one day to be one of those that got it!  No I didn’t really care; I just wanted to get home.  So I headed to my car, only to find I had left the lights on, so it was dead…  A few of the most excruciating pushing steps of my life later, and I got my car going and headed home.

After that race, I have run countless others; many 5ks a few 10ks, a smattering of 15ks, a handful of half marathons, 2 marathons, and one Olympic distance triathlon.  Due to a reoccurring injury in my right ankle, I pretty much retired from running, and joined the biking circuit.  I may not be as good of a biker as I was a runner, but I really like it, and I’m getting better.

Well for now, I guess that’s my 1^st blog… and I’m proud of myself, even if it’s a blog that only a parent could finish.  Hopefully I think of something better to write about next that gets people all fired up, and I can get some discourse in the comments.