Apologies

Sorry for not updated recently. I'll do a bunch tomorrow, assuming I have enough energy to type after running 21 miles....

Wind

I decided I wanted to get some sort of effort in today, and I wimped out on doing it before work, because, well... running hard before work sucks. I figured tempoing on the Charles would be a good idea. Unfortunately it was about 32 and really windy right after work. My plan was to do about 10 at between 6:10-6:20 pace, which is slightly faster than I'm hoping to run the marathon.

I hit the roads at about 6, and jogged about 3/4 of a mile to the Mass Ave. Memorial Drive intersection and started the tempo. I was immediately greeted with 20 mph winds directly in my face. This sucked. It was getting dark, I was running alone, and the wind made running comfortably almost impossible. Sometimes you have to put in work when no one is watching, and no one cares. Tonight was one of those days. I went through a mile in 6:23 and wondered why it felt so fast. Well, the wind played a big part in this. Once I got past Harvard things started to settle down, and I got into a much better rhythm. Turning around at Arsenal St. I felt great, and I went through 5 miles in 30:25. The way back was great, and I ran 9.7 in 57:54. This is just under 6 minute pace, and I felt very relaxed the whole way. On the way back it almost felt like a training run, which is encouraging. Counting the distance to the Charles and back from my apartment, I got 11.5 on the day, which is good. I also wore my Hyper-Speeds with my orthotics in them. They are going to work out great for the marathon.

For a map of the course, click here.

Noam Chomsky

Brookline this morning with Hog and Bromka. My hip felxor was hurting pretty badly, but I think it will be fine. I got a new pair of DS trainers today and have been on Advil... should be fine tomorrow.

And now, for a review of some rap music. I was going to review Canibus' "Rip the Jacker", but after listening to a bunch of the songs again, I realized it just wasn't that good. Or at least not good enough to dedicate an entire review. When I first heard some of the songs I was blown away. Canibus has a really raspy, aggresive voice, and a similar "flow". (By flow, I mean style, cadence and delivery of his rhymes). Perhaps what I was immediately drawn to was Canibus' references. These are much stronger than his actual raps. Some highlights of the album include "Genibus" and "Levitibus". For example...

"I read through syntactic structure like Noam Chomsky".
"If you can find a better flow, then I can find a dinosaur on the Galapagos Archipelago"

Canibus talks about science, philosophy, and uses big words on a consistent basis on "Rip the Jacker". This is a pleasant change from rappers who only talk about cars and money. It seems pretty unenlightened. (Or, as Canibus would say, "I was created by intelligent design, you are merely a descendant of the unmodified, you diss me out of pride, but when you're finished talkin' bout money and bitches youre simply out of rhymes"). The problem with Canibus it seems that he talks about all this "smart" stuff simply for the sake of sounding smart. Now, some of the stuff I really dig, but after a while it just gets old. Especially after reading some his lyrics, I realized that a lot of it doesn't make sense. The songs aren't cohesive, and there's almost never a story or theme to them. Please don't get me wrong, I really enjoy listening to him, and I think he put out a good rap album. It's just too repetitive and contrived to be a great album.

Speaking of what makes a great rap album, or song, or rapper, I think there are 3 basic elements that define how good a rap song is. These elements are the beat, the flow, and the content.

All of these elements play off each other. A rapper's flow can be complimented by the song's beat, just as the content can be more powerful if it's delivered with a good flow.

To start, the beat provides the foundation on which a rapper stands. It makes a song danceable, or catchy, or angry, or fun. A good beat can go a long way to save a song that would otherwise suck (think Kelis' "Milkshake"). I have a lot of respect for the people who are behind the scenes making beats for rap and hip-hop songs. Timbaland, Pharrell, Kanye (at least back in the day), and Swiss Beats are damn good at what they do, and should be given credit for their craft.

The second element of rap/hip-hop is a rapper's flow. Basically, a rapper's flow is the way they deliver their raps. Their cadence, accent, delivery, and attitude go into creating their flow. A rapper's flow may be their most defining feature. Each one is distinct. Snoop Dogg is fundamentally different from Busta Rhymes (think smooth and calculated versus frenetic and spastic). Jay-Z's flow is cocky and confident, Eminem is angry and irreverent (at least on the Marshall Mather's LP), Dre is steady, Tupac was frantic and syncopated, Biggie was smooth., Kanye is peppy and Ludacris has a Soutern swagger. A rapper's flow is sort of like their footprint... after listening to them, their words and rhymes may fade, but their flow leaves a lasting impression. (Sometimes it's interesting to listen to someone try to impersonate someone else's flow. For a great example of this, listen to Eminem's "Soldier" from The Eminem Show. You'd swear it was Tupac reincarnated....) Flow may be the best example or a rapper's talent too. Anyone can write rhymes (or almost anyone), but it takes a certain amount of talent to deliver these rhymes in a way that people will enjoy.

The last element of rap/hip-hop is content. Assuming that rappers write their own stuff (which may be a totally incorrect assumption) content explains what they're feeling, or what message they want people to hear. I think content is what I enjoy most about rap. Citing all my favorite lines would take much too long, but I'd have to say Eminem and Jay-Z are my two favorite "content" rappers. Eminem is the most vindictive, angry, and intense rapper I've ever heard... or at least he was on his first 3 albums. Some examples.... in "I'm back" the whoel stanza about Jennifer Lopez? Wow. Listening to Eminem rip on people is equally enjoyable. (Now, I realize that women and gays bear the brunt of many of his jokes, and I don't really like this.... oh well.) "White America", "Criminal" "Kill You" and "Run Rabbit Run" are just unbelievable. Jay-Z is perhaps even better at content rap. Some of his metaphors require a double take. You wonder if he really just strung as complex a sentence as you just heard. "Girls, Girls, Girls" is basically metaphor after metaphor. Awesome. Listening to Jay-Z dis people is pretty sweet too. He tears up Nas on "Takeover" from the Blueprint. Almost every song on "The Black Album" is nearly perfect in terms of content as well.

("Four albums in ten years nigga? I can divide
That's one every let's say two, two of them shits was due
One was - NAHHH, the other was "Illmatic"
That's a one hot album every ten year average")

Anyway... yeah, I guess that's it. I really like rap and hip-hop and think it's silly when people don't give this music legitimacy. Just because it's new or mean or has beats that people aren't used to doesn't mean that it isn't creative, or worth listening to. If you have any questions or want any recommendations for good rap music, please ask. Likewise, if you have anything to recommend, please let me know, I'm always looking for music I like.

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays

Man... bad run this morning. Well, not really bad, but tiring, or tired, or something like that. I didn't sleep much the night before, and I was sort of sleepy/tired during much of the run. I guess that's what you get the day after a race (and one you didn't cool down enough after). Anyway, Nate and I ran 9 miles around Jamaica Pond.

In some sense I feel like I've just been treading water with my training lately. I haven't gotten over 70 miles a week yet, and my longest long run has been 19 miles. I realize that I'm in good shape, as evidenced by my good half-marathon... But part of me wonders what I could be doing if I were dropping 80 a week and running more serious workouts. (Probably what would happen would be that I'd get really run down and overtrained). Given my circumstances (i.e. a 9-5 job) though, I feel like I'm doing ok. I have to realize that I'm not approaching the marathon as I approaced races in high school and in college. Before, races were the culmination of a long period of training, and defined a season, or even a year's worth of work. They were approached incredibly seriously, and you'd go as hard as you could from the gun, basically running yourself into the ground right before the finish line. The marathon is not going to be like this. In one sense, it does represent the culmination of a period of training. Obviously I'm training for the marathon, but I have to treat it differently than I've treated races in the past. I have to do this for a few reasons. First, when running, and especially racing a marathon, you risk blowing up at any point past 18 or 20 miles. This can get really ugly, and make the last 6 miles a living hell. You risk not finishing. I don't want this to happen. I want to be rolling down Beacon Street. I also have to approach the marathon with some caution becuase it's my first one. My longest long run leading up to it will only be about 21 miles or so, and I don't know how my body will react to the last 5 miles of the race. Hopefully I'm prepared well enough that I can stay strong during the last section, but we'll see.

Anyway, what does this mean for my training between now and April 17th? Well, not too much. I'm only about a month before the race, so I can't improve my fitness that much in 30 days or so. I'll get some quality long runs in soon, and run a couple of workouts, but then it's taper time. (not to be confused with Tapir time). I'll need to rest up so my legs are super fresh for the race. Hopefully I'm not too stubborn during the 2 weeks prior to the race... I don't think I will be.

Sorry for the rant...I guess it could be more coherent, but if a blog isn't meant to be a place to post stupid streams of consciousness, then what is?

Stay tuned tomorrow for a review of a great rap album, "Rip the Jacker" by Canibus.

Slow poke

Ugh. Bad race today.....

Bromka and I left the apt. at about 6:45 to head over to the World Trade Center (which happens to be my morning commute to work). The half marathon, which Bromka was running, started at 8:15, and the 5 miler was at 8:30. Fortunately we were able to use my office at Foley as a sort of home base. The bathroom lines on the 12th floor were considerably shorter than the port-o-johns right by the start. Bromka and I headed out for a quick warmup. My stomach was feeling a little funny, which I think was due to the fact that I had eaten breakfast relatively recently. This would prove to be a problem later in the day. After the warmup I went back up to the office, changed into my racing gear, and got ready to race 5 miles. The weather was perfect for racing. It was about 47, cloudy, and perfectly calm.

When the gun went off, I immediately noticed 2 things. First, there was a pack of Kenyans (and Ben Schmeckpepper) who were flying off the start line. There were also 3 Kenyan women who were already kicking my butt. I figured I would catch the women pretty soon, as they were going really really hard right from the gun. Joel Anderson (Bates '05) and I settled in about a quarter mile in, and I was feeling pretty good. As we approached the mile mark, I figured we'd be somewhere around 5 flat, since we were rolling pretty well. I went through in 4:52. At this point things started to go downhill. First, the 3 Kenyan women I had past flew by me like I was standing still (and I had gone through in 4:52!! Unreal....). Second, my stomach started to hurt. When this happens in a race, it's pretty bad. You start to focus on the fact that you have a cramp, and not on the race. Needless to say, my next mile sucked, and I ran 5:24 to bring me through 2 miles in 10:16. Joel, his pack, and the Kenyans had gapped me at this point and I was running down Charles Street in no-man's land. My next 2 miles proceeded to suck even worse, as I split 5:36 and 5:33. Totally pathetic. This was the pace I ran my half marathon at, you'd expect that I'd be able run faster than this for a race that's less than half the distance. Oh well. At the 4 mile mark I told myself to stop being such a baby and to actually start racing. I got it going a little bit, and ran 5:14 to finish in 26:45. (ugly).

Overall, this is a dissapointment. I figured I was in good enough shape to get close to 26:00. The combination of a cramp, a 4:52 opening mile, and a lack of competitive spirit added up to a pretty poor performance. Oh well.

2 other things about the race. First, the guys up front were absolutely nasty. 23:00 for 5 miles is pretty ridiculous. That's going through 5k well under 14:35. Wow. Also, the women who ran the race were amazing too. Who runs 26:18?!?! Impressive.

I cooled down a little bit, and watched Bromka finish up the half. He actually ran pretty well... right around 1:14.

In terms of training... this week I'll probably run 1 workout this week, and then do a good long run on Sunday. I'm going to try to go at least 20, and try taking GU packets/drink water along the way....