Some similarity is nice, even if it's the kind that doesn't involve too much running.
9/20/2010 - QFT
9/21/2010 - QM
9/22/2010 - A few laps easy around Cambridge commons at night with Jeff. Foot felt fine, although legs felt like shit.
Miles: 3.5
9/23/2010 - 4.5 miles kinda fast to the Charles. Foot didn't really hurt, but it was clearly too fast. Then Berklee center jazz concert and college night at the museum of fine arts with Gugs, Janine, and Margie! Felt awkwardly old at a college night for the first time ever. Foot clearly sad from today.
9/24/2010 - Stress. Wrote a song, built a confocal microscope, and lost a cell phone in a NYC cab. Foot is sad again.
9/25/2010 - It's hot in New York. The 4 hours south makes a big difference. Columbia to central park to the Met to Rockefeller center to Lincoln center (NY phil with Itzhak Perlman!) to Times Square to downtown rooftops. Saw Guglielmo, Ed, Joops, Amy, Peter Liu, and Domenic. Foot kinda sad but seems to tolerate the walking.
9/26/2010 - Traveling back to Boston. Pretty sleepy from the weekend. I'm not cut out for staying up to 4 a.m. every night anymore. I guess I'm getting old or something. Maybe I should have stayed an extra few hours to watch the 5th Ave. mile. I watched it online on the bus back. It got me pretty excited, reminded me of the days when I could spit out 25 second 200s and out kick any distance runner. Got some good piano practice in and was generally productive upon returning. Foot is a bit sad but not terribly so.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sets and Feet
So there is thing, you know, that you do when you go to school. Yeah, homework, that thing. So you stay up most of the night for a couple night solving physics problem, and then you feel really tired. How bout that? Getting used to problem sets at Harvard, and in grad school in general, will take some getting used to, especially with running involved. Not sleeping much this week, combined with that run that was too long last week, led to some interesting complications.
9/13/2010 - Exhausting day of class with 2 big sets looming. Would have ran but had class until 7 pm, so that was that.
Miles: 0
9/14/2010 - Nice run to the river, to the Harvard track, and around back with fellow G1s in the Chem dept. Janine and Juan Pablo. Still beat up from Friday - a bit of pain in the left hamstring tendon.
Miles: 4.5
9/15/2010 - A rather nice run out west along the charles. Still nagging hamstring tendon pain, but felt very good during the run.
Miles: 5.5
9/16/2010 - Legs, for some reason, completely out of energy today. Absymal jogging. around Harvard square. This was entirely made up for with a trip into Boston to see free live jazz at Berklee college of music with Janine, Guglielmo, and Margie.
Miles: 2.5
9/17/2010 - Went out to Boston commons for an easy run, legs still beat. 4 laps. A bit of frightening foot pain reminiscent of the demons that plagued my collegiate career. I guess a few days off are in order. No biggie, as I don't have any seasons or races looming over my head!
Miles: 3.5
Weekly Miles: 16
9/18/2010 - 9/20/2010 - Off. Some walking to Central square made my foot sad but otherwise pain free. Strange since I've been running for 4 weeks now and only 30 miles per week. I caught it early, it'll heal up in no time.
9/13/2010 - Exhausting day of class with 2 big sets looming. Would have ran but had class until 7 pm, so that was that.
Miles: 0
9/14/2010 - Nice run to the river, to the Harvard track, and around back with fellow G1s in the Chem dept. Janine and Juan Pablo. Still beat up from Friday - a bit of pain in the left hamstring tendon.
Miles: 4.5
9/15/2010 - A rather nice run out west along the charles. Still nagging hamstring tendon pain, but felt very good during the run.
Miles: 5.5
9/16/2010 - Legs, for some reason, completely out of energy today. Absymal jogging. around Harvard square. This was entirely made up for with a trip into Boston to see free live jazz at Berklee college of music with Janine, Guglielmo, and Margie.
Miles: 2.5
9/17/2010 - Went out to Boston commons for an easy run, legs still beat. 4 laps. A bit of frightening foot pain reminiscent of the demons that plagued my collegiate career. I guess a few days off are in order. No biggie, as I don't have any seasons or races looming over my head!
Miles: 3.5
Weekly Miles: 16
9/18/2010 - 9/20/2010 - Off. Some walking to Central square made my foot sad but otherwise pain free. Strange since I've been running for 4 weeks now and only 30 miles per week. I caught it early, it'll heal up in no time.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Some running.
9/8/2010 - Easy run to Danehy Park. Static contraction again in R leg, making the run kinda miserable. Today's sign of the apocalypse- yelled by 14 year girls by the local high school. 2 laps around the park and back, trying with futility to relieve the calf pain by stopping every so often.
Miles: 5.4
9/9/2010 - Jeff mentioned last night that he wanted to run a sub 6 mile, and that he had never ran faster than 730 in a mile for time before. I told him that today we'd go out and break 7 for the mile. Nice warm up to Danehy park, which has a pretty nice community track, and some striders. Despite a 3rd lap fade, Jeff surged strongly at the finish to finish in 7:03. Next week, we'll go for 6:40.
Miles: 5
9/10/2010 - Met Rosen at the statue of John Harvard and we headed off to the Charles for a nice, easy run out. After an epic bathroom stop, and 3 or 4 "well why don't we just go to the next light/corner," and some solid 7:30 miles, we ended up turning around at Charles River Rd. and Mt. Auburn. The trail was superb quality with 30% possible on grass and another 30% on gravel/dirt and with little historical markers, "European colonist first landed in Boston at this spot at 1630." Started bonking on the way back pretty hard. Initial estimates for the distance of the run as 6-7 vs. 8 were way off: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4030571 Felt wonderfully tired for the first time in months.
Miles: 10.7
9/11/2010 - Holy smokes I'm tired. Visiting the campus bar last night(Queenshead) was fun but didn't exactly facilitate recovery. Short recovery jog East of Campus with Jeff.
Miles: 2.5
9/12/2010 - Delightfully off.
Miles: 0
Weekly Miles: 33 or so.
Miles: 5.4
9/9/2010 - Jeff mentioned last night that he wanted to run a sub 6 mile, and that he had never ran faster than 730 in a mile for time before. I told him that today we'd go out and break 7 for the mile. Nice warm up to Danehy park, which has a pretty nice community track, and some striders. Despite a 3rd lap fade, Jeff surged strongly at the finish to finish in 7:03. Next week, we'll go for 6:40.
Miles: 5
9/10/2010 - Met Rosen at the statue of John Harvard and we headed off to the Charles for a nice, easy run out. After an epic bathroom stop, and 3 or 4 "well why don't we just go to the next light/corner," and some solid 7:30 miles, we ended up turning around at Charles River Rd. and Mt. Auburn. The trail was superb quality with 30% possible on grass and another 30% on gravel/dirt and with little historical markers, "European colonist first landed in Boston at this spot at 1630." Started bonking on the way back pretty hard. Initial estimates for the distance of the run as 6-7 vs. 8 were way off: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4030571 Felt wonderfully tired for the first time in months.
Miles: 10.7
9/11/2010 - Holy smokes I'm tired. Visiting the campus bar last night(Queenshead) was fun but didn't exactly facilitate recovery. Short recovery jog East of Campus with Jeff.
Miles: 2.5
9/12/2010 - Delightfully off.
Miles: 0
Weekly Miles: 33 or so.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
My life is modal
The ancient Greeks used a modal system of harmony, i.e. a system based on different sets of scales. This is in opposition to the classical western theory of harmony, in which music could be understood via progressions of triads - simple chords. The ancient Greeks believed that each mode evokes certain emotions and it was through emotion that sense could be made of music. While modal music fell out of use during the baroque era, it has re-emerged in modern music from Debussy, to jazz, and even some of modern rock music. That is not to say modal music was not extinct for some several hundred years - folk music has always been based on modes. Today, I finally sat down and played every mode in every key on the piano, and I realized that what has ended up being the biggest discriminator for my enjoyment of music is how many modal harmonies it uses. Pop tunes with canned ever-fresh harmonies are typically more classically based. Classical harmony is smooth and easy to listen to (particularly that in major tonalities). If you were going to make a song that was agreeable to the most number of people possible, why stray from classical western harmonies?
But the ancient Greeks, they had it right. Modal harmonies couples music to emotion. When you listen to "Impressions" by Coltrane - in the Dorian mode, you feel unbridled freedom. When you listen to "L.A. Woman" by the Doors, in A mixolydian, you can feel the restlessness and playfulness so much so that you don't even need to know the lyrics to figure out what kind of energy is being conveyed, although "driving down your freeway" is pretty clear. For me, there is no other reason to listen to music. I've recently run into a problem where I cannot hardly listen to any of my favorite songs anymore. Many of them are so strongly correlated with particular periods in my life, that I fear that over listening to them will destroy this correlation. For instance, when I listen the the Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime, memories of Fall of 2009 come to my head so strongly, I feel transported back to that time in an instant. I can remember watching "stop making sense" with Jordan in the shed on midterm movie night, I can remember Ed and I working on Stat Mech sets in the afternoon a few hours before they were due, I can remember doing laps at Central Park for 3 on- 2 off workouts, and for some reason, driving down a stretch of Western Del Mar Ave. with the most distinct and bright autumn-in-Pasadena smell in the air. When I listen to Dancing Days by Led Zeppelin, I am transported back to a fall of my senior year of high school, while if I listen to Radiohead's lucky, I can feel my life falling to pieces just as it felt on the afternoon of one June 12th 2010. As far as I can tell, the only solution is to simply find more music to listen to so that I can associate this radically different period of time in my life with something a bit more concrete. In the mean time:
9/2/2010 - Last day of the heat wave. I give up, it's too hot to run. You win this one Boston.
Miles: 0
9/3/2010 - Hurricane Earl moving in, to not much effect. Ran to Fresh Pond and around Danehy Park with Rosen (!! :) :) ). Started at 8:00 pace and down to 7:30 pace at times, feeling pretty good. What was I saying about feeling distant from being in shape?? Rather taxing but felt great.
Miles: 6
9/4/2010 - Various wanderings around the Charles with Jeff Lee and Kevin Ma (downstairs). Started slow, felt great at the end. Finally did 2 barefoot laps around the grass field next to my dorm - Conant. Had dim sum in downtown Boston today none other than 8 tech alums, followed by exploring a bit of downtown Boston and Boston commons.
Miles: 4.5
9/5/2010 - A bit tired. An easy 3 miles up to and past Porter square on Mass Ave. A nice day, although the sun seemed worryingly low in the sky for this time of year. Watched Dr. Stangelove for the first time. Great movie!
Miles: 3
Weekly Miles: 25
9/6/2010 - Lost my ID and was locked out of everything all day. No run. IT band felt a bit tweaked near the knee. "It is atoms and stars. It is the nakedness of earth before the first human being, and the burnt cinder after that last." Any guesses to what this beautiful poem is describing?
Miles: 0
9/7/2010 - Relaxed nighttime run to the Charles and west. Nagging static contraction in my right Soleus, but still felt ok. Ran in progression with slow early pace and finished around 8 flat pace. Also, I used "via orthochronality" in a proof today. My life is pretty much complete.
Miles: 4.5
But the ancient Greeks, they had it right. Modal harmonies couples music to emotion. When you listen to "Impressions" by Coltrane - in the Dorian mode, you feel unbridled freedom. When you listen to "L.A. Woman" by the Doors, in A mixolydian, you can feel the restlessness and playfulness so much so that you don't even need to know the lyrics to figure out what kind of energy is being conveyed, although "driving down your freeway" is pretty clear. For me, there is no other reason to listen to music. I've recently run into a problem where I cannot hardly listen to any of my favorite songs anymore. Many of them are so strongly correlated with particular periods in my life, that I fear that over listening to them will destroy this correlation. For instance, when I listen the the Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime, memories of Fall of 2009 come to my head so strongly, I feel transported back to that time in an instant. I can remember watching "stop making sense" with Jordan in the shed on midterm movie night, I can remember Ed and I working on Stat Mech sets in the afternoon a few hours before they were due, I can remember doing laps at Central Park for 3 on- 2 off workouts, and for some reason, driving down a stretch of Western Del Mar Ave. with the most distinct and bright autumn-in-Pasadena smell in the air. When I listen to Dancing Days by Led Zeppelin, I am transported back to a fall of my senior year of high school, while if I listen to Radiohead's lucky, I can feel my life falling to pieces just as it felt on the afternoon of one June 12th 2010. As far as I can tell, the only solution is to simply find more music to listen to so that I can associate this radically different period of time in my life with something a bit more concrete. In the mean time:
9/2/2010 - Last day of the heat wave. I give up, it's too hot to run. You win this one Boston.
Miles: 0
9/3/2010 - Hurricane Earl moving in, to not much effect. Ran to Fresh Pond and around Danehy Park with Rosen (!! :) :) ). Started at 8:00 pace and down to 7:30 pace at times, feeling pretty good. What was I saying about feeling distant from being in shape?? Rather taxing but felt great.
Miles: 6
9/4/2010 - Various wanderings around the Charles with Jeff Lee and Kevin Ma (downstairs). Started slow, felt great at the end. Finally did 2 barefoot laps around the grass field next to my dorm - Conant. Had dim sum in downtown Boston today none other than 8 tech alums, followed by exploring a bit of downtown Boston and Boston commons.
Miles: 4.5
9/5/2010 - A bit tired. An easy 3 miles up to and past Porter square on Mass Ave. A nice day, although the sun seemed worryingly low in the sky for this time of year. Watched Dr. Stangelove for the first time. Great movie!
Miles: 3
Weekly Miles: 25
9/6/2010 - Lost my ID and was locked out of everything all day. No run. IT band felt a bit tweaked near the knee. "It is atoms and stars. It is the nakedness of earth before the first human being, and the burnt cinder after that last." Any guesses to what this beautiful poem is describing?
Miles: 0
9/7/2010 - Relaxed nighttime run to the Charles and west. Nagging static contraction in my right Soleus, but still felt ok. Ran in progression with slow early pace and finished around 8 flat pace. Also, I used "via orthochronality" in a proof today. My life is pretty much complete.
Miles: 4.5
Thursday, September 2, 2010
I'd start with the manual
Research and classes started, faces are starting to become familiar, names are becoming etched in memory, I can find my way around campus and Harvard square, and things might be settling into a rhythm.
8/27/2010 - Run at night, easy, heading west along the Charles. Got a bit disoriented and ended up turning around and retracing. The river at night is peaceful and pretty, illuminated by various soft lights along the banks. Met Rosen for beer at John Harvard's afterwards.
Miles: 4.5
8/28/2010 - Afternoon run out towards fresh pond. Hot but windy. I was trying to find Duhaney Park, a rumored land with miles of grass fields, but visions of shimmering sun off the lake water drew me to the loop around fresh pond. The path around the lake is mostly asphalt with options for up to 50% on dirt trail. Did a lap and came back. The route there/back, while on brick and concrete sidewalk the whole way, is actually somewhat charming. The heat and distance got to me though! Being in shape never felt further away, especially when I remember night time winter runs along the Huntington median in December of 2009- cruising along at 7:30 pace, mist in the air, grass between my toes, and the moonlit shadow of a snowy Mt. Baldy in the distance.
Miles: 6
8/29/2010 - Off. Hot and bored(!). Watched arrested development on Hulu. One of the little muscles nestled deep against the outer edge of my left shin was pretty sad. I guess my ankle still has fundamental biomechanical problems.I will try to be more careful.
Weekly Miles: 23
8/30/2010 - Quite Hot, afternoon run with Jeff Lee (across the hall) and Helen Hou (down the hall) to the Charles and east. Very relaxed. Being out of shape means I can go for jogs with fitness runners, enjoy it, and get something out of it athletically.
Miles: 4
8/31/2010 - Midnight laps around Cambridge commons. Bums and black guys on single speed bikes laughing and cheering me on, running by cannons and revolutionary war barracks. The main statue in the center is surrounded by trees filled with those white Christmas lights that are also on the trees on Green street.
Miles: 3.5
9/1/2010. Very hot - 98 degrees today. Miserable evening run with Jeff along the Charles. Felt like hurling the whole way. I can't wait until the heat wave is over.
Miles: 4
8/27/2010 - Run at night, easy, heading west along the Charles. Got a bit disoriented and ended up turning around and retracing. The river at night is peaceful and pretty, illuminated by various soft lights along the banks. Met Rosen for beer at John Harvard's afterwards.
Miles: 4.5
8/28/2010 - Afternoon run out towards fresh pond. Hot but windy. I was trying to find Duhaney Park, a rumored land with miles of grass fields, but visions of shimmering sun off the lake water drew me to the loop around fresh pond. The path around the lake is mostly asphalt with options for up to 50% on dirt trail. Did a lap and came back. The route there/back, while on brick and concrete sidewalk the whole way, is actually somewhat charming. The heat and distance got to me though! Being in shape never felt further away, especially when I remember night time winter runs along the Huntington median in December of 2009- cruising along at 7:30 pace, mist in the air, grass between my toes, and the moonlit shadow of a snowy Mt. Baldy in the distance.
Miles: 6
8/29/2010 - Off. Hot and bored(!). Watched arrested development on Hulu. One of the little muscles nestled deep against the outer edge of my left shin was pretty sad. I guess my ankle still has fundamental biomechanical problems.I will try to be more careful.
Weekly Miles: 23
8/30/2010 - Quite Hot, afternoon run with Jeff Lee (across the hall) and Helen Hou (down the hall) to the Charles and east. Very relaxed. Being out of shape means I can go for jogs with fitness runners, enjoy it, and get something out of it athletically.
Miles: 4
8/31/2010 - Midnight laps around Cambridge commons. Bums and black guys on single speed bikes laughing and cheering me on, running by cannons and revolutionary war barracks. The main statue in the center is surrounded by trees filled with those white Christmas lights that are also on the trees on Green street.
Miles: 3.5
9/1/2010. Very hot - 98 degrees today. Miserable evening run with Jeff along the Charles. Felt like hurling the whole way. I can't wait until the heat wave is over.
Miles: 4
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