malik's blog

Diablo 50K

2010-10-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

I had never enjoyed a marathon when I decided I wanted to do Diablo 50K. I figured training for a trail run and the event itself would be better. 17 weeks of training paid off in a wonderful day.

I ran for more than nine hours, over 31 miles and a climb that made me feel like Vegeta because it was "over 9000!". But the best part was having friends there. I had friends both there at the finish and running with me. There were times when I was full of steely determination thinking failure was not an option, there were times when I broke down in tears feeling I couldn't possibly continue. But mostly I felt so happy and prepared and good.

I paced very conservatively, keeping my heart rate to around 145 even though I felt like I had a lot more energy. Didn't have 90+ degree heat, although it did get hot enough to slow me down for a while. I paid close attention to food, eating nearly 350 calories every hour. I managed hydration and salt intake well. The descent took the same time both times, but getting up the hill took an extra hour the second time around. First loop took 4:10, Second loop took 5:10.
For several hours my training buddy Enrique ran next me. It's strange knowing someone is the exact same pace as you.. to the minute out of hours and hours. Every single time I got ahead of him he would catch me after a few hours, and vice versa. It was pretty clear that if I was going faster than him I was probably working too hard and the reverse was true as well. Toward the end of the race I just decided to use that knowledge and we just went the same pace.

It was a wonderful adventure. I'm looking forward to doing my second 50K at North Face.

Silly Link

2010-08-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

hehe http://www.noob.us/humor/toddler-fails-at-hula-hoop/

If running long is wrong, I don't want to be right

2010-07-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love the feeling I have after a run. I feel as if I can sit here comfortably all day and do nothing. Like everything is right in the world and there is no pressing reason for me to do anything. I feel like I've been challenged and rose to the occasion.

There were some amazing views from the top of the mountain. I saw San Francisco completely blanketed by fog with only the Sutro Towers poking out. I saw trees and flowers, lizards and birds. I felt the hot sun beating down on me, and cold in the shade. I danced on the downhills avoiding rock outcrops and low hanging branches. I felt the tightness in my legs as I got dehydrated, the soreness of my toes from running the rocky trail, the burn of hard effort as the trail tipped upward, and the refreshment as I stopped at a water fountain and drank deeply. Now I mostly just feel relaxed.

Some people think I'm crazy because of the goals I have, the workouts I do, but I just love the feeling that comes when I finish a run.

EFA Race Report 6/14/2009

2009-06-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Video of the swim start:

http://vimeo.com/5157053

Pics of me at the race:

http://jay.ligda.net/photos/0906C_EFA/med_DSC_0182.JPG
http://jay.ligda.net/photos/0906C_EFA/med_DSC_0600.JPG
http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?54378938

The short story:
I did the swim in 57 minutes. I figure the wetsuit would have been 7-13 minutes faster, based on how I usually place for tri swims. I regained normal warmth after about 30 minutes on the bike. Nothing was numb although I did feel pinpricks in my feet. I finished the entire race.

The long story:
I wanted to do the EFA swim w/o wetsuit as a personal achievement thing. A few short years ago I couldn't swim. my first triathlon I managed to flail for 200 meters and had to had to ask for help after realizing just how hard another 200 meters would be.

My first race w/o wetsuit was last year..Big Kahuna. I brought a wetsuit but the zipper stuck so I threw it in the trash and did it without. I've been swimming off and on in AP for years sometimes with and sometime without wetsuit... but my swims are usually pretty short maybe two buoy lines or a perimeter loop.

Last year I wanted to do EFA without wetsuit but I hadn't really been in enough right before the race to be sure about handling the temps. Last year I did an ironman, but after that I took most of a year off from exercise completely. A few months ago I started getting back in shape and it's been a hard process. My goal has been 3hrs in the water per week. Four weeks ago I found out I might get an Alcatraz slot, and three weeks ago I started getting in AP trying for 3-4 times a week. I started with one buoy line, then two, then two again then three a couple times then four then, perimeter + buoy line where I kinda leveled off. Sometimes I would get out cold enough that I knew I wouldn't be able to bike. Starting last weekend I felt warmer than ever getting out.. The warmer water and sun made it much easier.

The actually swim probably wasn't much tougher than 4 buoy lines.. mainly because I didn't have to fight current. I was lucky to have a warm and sunny day, and I wasn't really affected by the chop. I got kicked hard in the face once, but the advantage of the aqua-sphere goggles is that you can "take a punch". 50% of the time I aimed at sutro tower and 50% I was aiming at 11'o clock from the tower. The variation was due to trying to avoid another kick to the face. I was very scared of missing the beach, but I came near the second yellow bouy and shortly turned to swim parallel to the beach.

Transitioning to the bike I was slow. I saw people run in after me and leave before me, but I wanted to get warm gear on. I had arm warmers, tights, booties, glove, and a helmet liner. I put the gloves in a pocket, put on the armwarmers and helmet liner but skipped the booties and tights. I was not cold so didn't need nearly as much as I prepared, but was afraid my core temp might continue to drop for a while and I would get cold later.

Riding at the back of the pack I passed many people. I wasn't really going fast.. It's just my swim had taken longer so I was around slower riders. I was strong on the hills but made sure to mostly even pace it. The run sucked. It featured a lot of walking as my legs hurt so much. I hadn't done enough prep work and I knew it. I was dehydrated also. Eventually I got my water right and could run at normal speed, but there real time loss for me was more on the run than the swim.

I finished strong and I'm feeling good today.(although slightly sunburnt)

Commute 5/28/09

2009-05-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get out of bed till the last minute. I finally got ready and started off on my bike then I realized I had parked in the wrong spot and would be ticketed unless I moved my car. Went back home got keys moved the car, then went to Ritual Roasters for coffee and called you guys since there was no way I could get over there anytime soon. I started the bayway with one other guy at 6:30. He had an important 9:30 meeting at Google so was in a bit of rush. He Immediately dropped on the first hill, Cortland st.. he was going twice as fast as I was up the hill. I rejoined, but he dropped me on the second hill and I could see how this was going to work.. not so much. When I caught up I told him to go ahead since I knew the route well and he couldn't be late. The rest of the ride I did as fast as I could. It took me 2:10 or so from Ritual Roasters to get to PDI. It was like the hardest ride ever, (not really, but you know).

There is a big difference between what my legs can handle now and what they could handle last year. I'm well on my way to coming back, but still have a very long way to go... Although I don't think I could have kept up with that guy even if I were in shape.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/6241428

Storm Day

2009-02-15T23:23:00.001-08:00

I got in a great day of storm skiing at Alpine Meadows. I had planned on going to Squaw but the entire top of the mountain was closed there. I saw that Sherwood was open at Alpine so went there instead.

Set my alarm for 4:30. At 4:30 I really didn't want to get up and go skiing. I thought the storm might close the mountain wasting a day of driving. I thought it might be too dangerous to drive in the snow going up there. Whatever, I left my place around 5:30.

I made it to the lift around 10:30. I spent maybe 30 minutes at the grocery store and coffee place on the way up. I don't know how long it took to get clothes straight and walk to the lift. Much of the drive had been through the storm at 30 miles per hour. The car is actually great in snow like that, but I wish I had snow tires.

I rented Nordica Hellcat skis for most of the day. I liked them a lot but they are a lot of work! Later in the day I rented Nordica Enforcer's and they were so much less work it was unbelievable. I couldn't see bumps in the low light of the storm but the Enforcers just floated over the bumps either feeling great or dropping me down a making me do a little grunt to recover from the shock delivered from the bump. I was exhaused after the Enforcers so I asked for something really easy. I got the Solomen XWings. Woah these were insanely easy to drive. All of a sudden it felt like I could turn on a dime and the bumps were not shocking me anymore. Probably these skis are too easy for me, but I've got to admit I liked them.

Itunes Playlists

2009-01-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around with itunes... way too much. One of the cool features they have are "smart playlists". Smart playlists let you create a list of songs dynamically based on things like when it was last played, or what type of song it is etc... Here are some of the settings I'm using to make smart playlists:

High Playcount
1. Last Skipped is not in the last 180 days
2. Last Played is not in the last last 30 days
3. Rating is 1
4. Play Count is greater than 4
5. Randomly select 250 MB
High Rating
1. Rating greater than 1 star
2. Last Played is not in the last 30 days
3. Last Skipped in not in the last 60 days
4. playlist is not "High Playcount"
5. Randomly Select 250 MB
Random
1. Bit Rate is greater than 130kpbs
2. Skip Count is 0
3. Last Played is not in the last 90 days
4. Unrated
5. Randomly select 600 MB
Recently Added / Unplayed
1. Artist/Album not blank
2. Play Count & Skip Count are 0
3. Bit Rate is greater than 127 kbs
4. Podcast is false
5. Kind does not contain video
6. Rating is not 1 star
7. Select 500 MB by most recently added
Played but unrated
1. Play Count is between 1 and 5
2. Skip Count is less than 3
3. LastPlayed is not in the last 30 days
4. Last Skipped is not in the last 120 days
5. Unrated
6. Bit Rate is greater than 120kpbs
7. Select 400MB randomly

I have around 250GB/55000 songs. It's enough to play straight for 260 hours. I like to explore it by using the "random" playlist. As you can see most of these playlists drop any music that isn't at least 130kps. This is the bottom limit because I find some audiobooks encoded to that rate and I'd like to exclude them. Also the lower the bit rate the worse the music sounds. I've found some songs that I dislike at a low bit rate but like at a higher one. If I'm exploring around there's a chance of getting a negative impression of an artist I've never heard before just because I heard them at a low bit rate.

If a song gets "skipped" it gets kicked out of most of these playlists for 30 days. That mostly works, but I may bump that up to several months.

For Ratings I mark songs I never want to hear again with 1 star. 2 or more stars and it gets picked up more frequently by my "High Rating playlist". One problem I have with the high rating playlist is that I haven't rated enough songs so it tend to have the same stuff all the time.

Posting from iphone

2008-08-27T16:37:00.001-07:00

It's 97 here in redwood city

I am Ironman

2008-06-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

I raced an Ironman today and completed the distance. Without any permanent damage I believe.

At 16:03 Im a pretty slow Ironman. Really I made a lot of newbie mistake.. damn I could have don e it much faster.

First off I switched flavors on my sports drink. No big deal yo might think, but I think this new flavor upset my stomach and I didn't figure it out until halfway through the ride. This caused me to under eat making me slower.
On the run I didn't clean my water bottle, so it had something else in it with my sports drink. I just dmped it out and figured there would be little residue.. stupid me I think this also bother my stomach
Worst of all I overdrank. Too much water. I stopped at every bathroom on the bike course. By the time I got to the run I was rushing to the bathrooms because I couldn't hold it back. I drank my usual amount.. why was it too much? This killed my run. I tried just sipping and realy reducing what I drank.. no real help. The only thing that worked was that I finally stopped drinking altogether.

More on the Alcatraz swim

2008-06-09T06:21:00.001-07:00

Here is a map of my swim from Alcatraz: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fbbs.keyhole.com%2Fubb%2Fdownload.php%3FNumber%3D1184825&t=k&om=1&ie=UTF8&z=14

I have to say the swim was a lot of fun. It's a real privilege to be able to do something like this. You jump off the boat in a rush, trying not to jump on top of someone and then try to get away from the boat as quickly as possible. It is a bit crowded and hectic at the start with people swimming over you. After a while you relax and it's just you and the currents and the cold water.

People swim at crazy angles, if you look at my gps track closely you can see that it wiggles a lot. I tried to keep the Sutro TV towers at 1 O'Clock or so as I neared shore. This worked OK, but often I would sigh take a few strokes and then look up to see the towers at 11 O'Clock. The waves and current tended to turn me around some. Sometimes another swimmer comes next to you and rather than swimming over them you have to speed up/slow down/change angles.

At Some point I realized I was moving to the right edge of the swim course so I started swimming directly toward the towers. This landed me in a perfect position on the beach.

The GPS did not get as many data points as it could have. It kept on flipping underneath me as I swam. I stopped a couple times to put it on my back but it eventually went back under me so what can you do?

I did this swim with a wetsuit. Next time I think I'll try without one.

My brother interviewed on NPR

2008-06-09T06:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90889674

2 weeks till ironman

2008-06-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

well I'm only 2 weeks away now. I haven't held together well... During training I injured my shoulder/neck, my low back, my toe, and now my latest dehabilition: bum knees.

Clearly the bum knees are related to my new bike.. At first I had a little bit of pain when riding, then I had a lot of pain and my ride distances started coming down. Right now it's a challenge to do an easy spin for an hour.

So even though I planned on doing Escape from Alcatraz this weekend I will only do the swim so that my knees have time to rest. I've been told by people in the know that I will still be able to do the IM, but I need to take things easy.

Oh well the swim for alcatraz should be fun.

Build and Destory

2008-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

In the build phase of IM training. distances are increasing. Today I went for an 18 mile run and was pleased that I could hold a 8:15 pace for most of it. Around mile 13 the infit I was drinking became so bubbly I couldn't drink it anymore. I refilled (duh! with more infit.. I thought that stuff was water) Quickly I couldn't drink it, by mile 14 I was cramped up so hard from dehydration I had to take many walk breaks. Mile 15 I finally got more water, but the damage was done. I had lost the guys I was running with and couldn't return to form until Mile 17 or so.

Yesterday I went out for a 105 mile ride. I started in San Gregorio, and rode to pescadero. In pescadero I realised I had dropped my hat, so I went back over the hills to San Gregorio looking for it. No Luck. Then I rode back to pescadero and on to Santa Cruz. Leaving Pescadero a motorcyclist says to me "I gotta hand it to you, you really know how to ride". I'm still not sure if it was a genuine compliment or if he was being sarcastic. The area I was in was flat and straight and I was in tri position riding along at 20mph, so I don't think I did anything to deserve comment. A truck had just passed me, so maybe it was something related to that. I asked him for directions to Santa Cruz and he said "You sure you want to do that? It's a long way". I said that I'll be fine, but later I cursed myself for not heading his warning.

The wind was with me in some points. I hardly had to pedal to be at 20+ mph. but it was not continuous.

Just outside of Santa Cruz I got a flat. damn it. I changed it but couldn't find the source of the problem. I decided to go into Santa Cruz, find a bike shop and get a new tube. While there I got a couple slices of pizza from next door, then headed back.

Oh My God, what was I thinking! the wind against me was so fierce I could barely keep moving forward. It was a struggle to go 10mph. I had forgotten how bad this was! A quick look at the clock told me it was 5:30 and I had a little under 40 miles or so left to ride. I might not be back at my car until 9pm! damn what was I thinking? I've got no lights on this thing and I'm riding in farmland. Even on steep downhills I can't go faster than 15mph because of the wind. This is the stupidest thing I've done in quite a while. I'm terrified I will not get back before nightfall, when I will not even be able to see the road in front of me, let alone cars be able to see me.

I struggle against the wind for a while.. it's futile.. I knew it would be. I can get up to 13mph or so but that's with me working very hard in the tri position. 6pm, 6:30. Now I can no longer see the sun it's too foggy. I have no idea when sunset will be. 7pm, 7:30 and I notice my speed is back up. Apparently the bad wind is not continuous on the way back either. I made it back to the car with about 10 minutes or so to spare before nightfall. I need to start these rides earlier.

Chico Wildflower Century

2008-04-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had a really great day riding the ChicoVelo Wildflower Century ride. My 2nd year and it reminded me why it was my favorite ride last year.
The first climb warmed me up, the second buttered me up, and the third, well the third took a lot out of me. After that third climb it was entirely flat.

The second descent as we came out of paradise had a long straight second at a -6% grade. When the grade picked up to -8%, I got up to 50MPH . It felt very rewarding after that long climb.

I loved my new Soloist. On my previous bike when I hit sharp turns with lots of speed I noticed the bike would often understeer, then i'd have to brake some or really throw the bike down to make the turn. Attempting to brake while turning is just a recipe for disaster so mostly I tried to brake before the turn in the straightaway. For continuous S turns I was SOL.
Yesterday on my I noticed it did not understeer. I imagined a line I wanted the bike to take and I just went where I wanted it to like magic. At first I didn't notice I was braking as usual. But one time I carried too much speed into the turn, "Ut-OH" i thought... but the bike just did the turn the same as if it were going half the speed it really was. "Hmm" I thought and I let it rip into the next turn... perfect..

I spent a lot more money on this bike than the last one. yeah it's 3 lbs lighter, wonderful. But the ability to turn correctly is priceless.

I was not in the aerobars for the whole 100 miles, but I made myself sit in them as long as I could which was a long time. I feel confident I can use this bike at wildflower.

Only one issue. The thing has been squeeking all week. The LBS said it was because I had old cheap pedals. I took the pedals off and it still made the squeeking sound. Well it's probably nothing. I rode on it. at mile 50 I notice a mechanic supporting the race and he takes a look at it. 'Thats not safe!" hs says. Apparently my crank is coming off and my bottom bracket is sliding out. he tightens it. on my way but the squeeking starts quickly. At the next stop I have another mechanic look at it. He says it's too tight now, lubes everything up and says it's Ok to ride on but I should have my LBS look at it.

Salty

2008-04-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

This pic is from the oceanside 70.3 I did a few weeks ago. I'm encrusted with salt from head to toe. I was even saltier than what this image shows. Although i slow the whole way through on the run I hit a wall i never got through. I ended up walking half of it. I now know that wall to be an electrolyte problem. It can be easily fixed by popping another salt pill. For Oceanside I used my usual salt intake of about 350mg sodium/hour. I really needed much more, witness my legs. I think I was drinking more water than before and that was the problem.

Also I did my 1st rides on the new bike today. It whistles when I go fast. At first I thought it was music playing in the distance, but no it was me. I was comfortable for a while in the aerobars. going up hills was harder than on my bike, and I really notice that I've lost some powerful gears and easy gears too.

The Soloist has landed

2008-04-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Weighing in at 19.2 lbs, I'm unworthy of this machine.

actually the bike is a bit lighter than that, but I've put Aero bars on it so that adds some.

The scary thing about is that I had to lose my granny gear, so my easiest gear is now about 50% harder to turn than the easiest gear I had on my old bike.

I did get fitted so even though it's a road bike I'll be able to ride in as much of a triathlon position as I'm capable of right now. Unlike a real tri bike I can use it at alcatraz.

My 1st ride will be on the trainer tomorrow to shake it down.

Hot Ski Guide/Instructors.

2008-04-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

Taking it easy after my stupid race. It's 11:43 and really I should have gone to bed at 10. I have no intention of following my silly schedule or waking up on time.. I'm going to stay up all night tonight because I have good books that need to be read.

Today, I got in my 2nd day of skiing for the season. Still trying to remember how to ski. I bought 4 tickets to Squaw at the start of the season, I finally used one of them.

I managed to leave SF a little bit after 6, pretty much no traffic going up I80 so staying at speed limit + or - 5 mph I got up there maybe 9:30. I listened to the Harry Potter audio book on the way up.. which works great.

The demo center at gold coast worked well, I probably tried 4 different skis, Nordica Jet Fuel, Nordica Hellcat, Rossignol (some big bandit freeride ski), Volkl AC40. The Hellcat and AC40's were most memorable. Last time I tried skis the Mantra stood out (except for the ankle pain it caused)

At one point I was chatting with a stranger on the lift. Talking about trying out skis, she says she likes her current skis and had demoed them 14 days before buying. I said it must have cost a lot,
"Nah, it's free for cute chicks" she says. Then we're talking about if I'm skiing tomorrow and mumbles something that I didn't catch that ended with an opportunity to ski with hot girls. I must have mis heard her... Nope I didn't mishear her. she's a self described "hot ski instructor/guide" if I want one, and hands me card with picture to prove it. LOL. Who doesn't need a hot ski guide/instructor? She says there are other girls in her company if I wanted someone else.

Actually I do usually get a few ski lessons per year.. not so much this year since I've only been up once before this. She gave me a couple free tips on the run.. "although it was a very controlled run, I was sliding a lot. Be more aggressive, try to feel entire foot from toe to heel" then she went off to film some jumps off cliffs.

I thought it was the funniest thing of the day.

In San Diego

2008-03-28T16:28:00.002-07:00

got up around 3:30 am and finished packing for my 7am flight. Virgin America is interesting.. they show TV, videos etc while in flight.

Hurt my neck trying to read on the flight. Happens all the time, really I need to do more to fix it. I left my cell phone at the rental car place and didn't realise it until I was 40 minutes away. So I drove back and got it eating up 1:30 of chill time.

I put on my wetsuit and swam in the ocean for about 8 minutes.. I couldn't make myself stay in longer. Swimming with ocean waves is interesting. It's not like swimming in the bay even with rough waves. Mostly in the bay waves mean vertical motion. At the beach I had to keep an eye on the waves to avoid getting water shoved into my mouth. Also the big waves tended to turn me side to side as well as up and down. I can't say I liked it.

I spent way too much time on my feet at the expo. My legs felt tired. I bought some of those fancy compression socks, met people from slotwitch, saw Heather Fuhr and other pros, and picked my bike up from Tri Bike Transport. At 6:30 I have dinner with some GGTC people.

Oh I should have mentioned it first but I skinned my big toe on Wednesday. I've covered it with liquid bandage but every step in my running shoes hurts! I'm hoping the endorphins kick in and make me forget the pain during the run... I fully expect my foot to be a bloody mess by the end of the day. I plan on ignoring it.

2008-03-28T16:28:00.001-07:00

2008-03-28 Tapering

2008-03-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm tapering for my next race, Ironman California 70.3. It'll be my first race of the year.

We start in oceanside California. 1.2 mile open water swim in a harbor on the ocean. 56 miles on the bike, 13.2 mile run. I have no idea how I'll do. Last race I placed 122 out of142 in my age groups so I was very much back of pack. I think I beat my previous rank by a solid margin.

I've shipped my bike down to Oceanside. I'll soon ship myself down there. Looking forward to seeing San Diego but the water is expected to be cold.

2008-03-23

2008-03-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

1:15 run in Golden Gate park. I saw a couple lakes I had not noticed before. Golden Gate park is a wonderful place to run.

2008-03-22

2008-03-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

1 hour, 24 minutes on Canada Rd.

Took the day off from work, but my new camera was shipped there.. so I had to go in to pick it up. Afterwards I drove over to Canada Rd and ran 1:24. It was a very easy pace out, I picked it up coming back but my shoulder started hurting and I went back to an easy pace. I'm really bummed that my running isn't very strong this year. Other people who've known me say my running is stronger now than ever.. but I don't see any evidance. Easy runs are pretty hard for me and hard runs are non-existant.

Jumper

2008-03-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Saw Jumper last night with Eileen. Jumper is an OK movie, no major complaints.. but it felt very manufactured, like your typical big budget movie.
Afterwards we ate at the Thirsty Bear.. Fish cheeks and fried potatoes, yum.

Before the movie I was exhausted from my bike ride. I showed up late for the GGTC ride, so maybe I pushed a little harder than usual to catch them. Joehleen, Alan, and some other caught up to me and passed me, I followed them on for about half of the ride, then I headed back pretty much the way I came. I only needed a 2 1/2 hour ride and I think they were going for 60 miles. I followed it up with a short run and saw Rob as I was heading back in. Ate a little bit showered and headed over Eileens. I was completely zapped of energy... was it that I ridding too hard? At the movie I got popcorn and a a hot dog and wolfed them both down in about 5 minutes... I guess I was hungr. no wonder I didn't have enough energy, I hadn't eaten enough.

Treat Williams

2005-06-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

Treat Williams

2005-06-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

my calendar

2005-03-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Ski trip

2005-03-28T07:39:00.000-08:00