Taroko Gorge Half Marathon

I ran the Taroko Gorge marathon last weekend. There were some magnificent views to be had, but I was mainly concentrating on the race. The weather was not good; raining at the beginning. I had hoped for a 1.55 time, but I went out too quickly (54 minutes for the first 10k) and it hit me hard later on.

Running up the hills destroyed me. I was practically walking in places, but looking around, I wasn’t the only one. The steep incline was immensely tough, and it seemed like forever until I would make it to the turnaround.

I think overall my preparation was good, save for the lack of sleep the night before. But once again, my knees were in huge pain after the race, to the extent that I could barely walk. I’ll need to look into my running technique and see a doctor.

Anyway, I missed out on the 2 hour mark by a frustratingly small 30 second margin – if I hadn’t made a few of those water breaks, I certainly would have made it. I think this time means that it’s highly unlikely that I will make my 4 hour target time for the Taipei International Marathon in December. I’m sure the run through the city will be much flatter, but I’ve never run so far before!

Hurting Knees and Running Injuries

Just another update on the running. I ran 17 miles recently, and it’s really taking its toll on my body. My knees are really beginning to seriously hurt after the run, not to mention my calves and tightness in my hamstrings. I think this is the lesson in stretching that I’ll finally start to listen to.

I found this ’sports spray’ in order to help my healing, and it works great! So, hopefully I’ll be able to do a few more 5km/10kms before the half marathon next month.

Marathon in 12 weeks!

The marathon training seems to be on schedule, although it’s starting to get difficult. The 22.4km run took a lot out of me, and I’m going to have to start preparing for these long runs the day before, for example, loading up on carbs. The main problems I experience during the run are hunger, and a feeling that I’m really running on empty. I’m sure I’m not quite eating enough before the run.

I’ve heard a lot about ‘the wall’ and I expect that it will be a very similar feeling. My hope is that it never comes at all- I’m terrified of it! I’ve been lazy on the shorter runs during the week, and I’m going to step up the training on those in order to prepare better for the long runs, which really worry me!

After the run, my knees begin to hurt, and it’s difficult even to walk around. I’ve had this problem for the past three long runs, and I know it’s very common among runners. I’m not quite sure what to do, other than suck it up, and try to keep my running motion as smooth as possible. I won’t do any running over the weekend, and hopefully I’ll be okay for next week.

Training Update

Running is starting to get tiring. I was sick, and didn’t keep up the training for a while. Even so, I’m up to 19.2km, and even though such a run is both exhausting and requires preparation, at least I’m still on track.

I’ll be running a half marathon in November, and then the full marathon will take place in December. While I know it will be difficult, it’s a challenge that I know I can complete. I’m looking forward to running outside in these months, as it shouldn’t be nearly as hot as it is now. So, all I’ve got to do is keep on going!

Third Semester at Shi Da

This is now my third semester studying Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University (Shi Da.)

After two semesters, I can’t say I’ve learned too much Chinese, in terms of what I wanted to learn, namely speaking and listening. I know that my reading has improved quite a bit, but my speaking ability has pretty much remained the same. Writing is still pretty tough for me, but I never saw that as a priority.

Learning Chinese is time consuming and frustrating. Going to class has been pretty dull, and I’m sure that I could learn much more by myself. The teaching standard has not been particularly good, although in fairness, my needs don’t really match the majority of the Shi Da student population. Unfortunately, I have to attend class in order to stay in the country. I signed up for an easier class this semester in following the ‘Shi Da book’ or Practical Audio Visual Chinese. This book goes at a very slow pace for me, but at least now, I won’t be struggling to learn the abundance of words.

ProVoc is still my preferred means of learning Chinese, although I have also developed some conventional flashcards, although I don’t use them regularly enough. I feel with just two sessions of ten minutes (or less) a day, I can review/relearn around 100 words, which is great. This constant repetition is the only way to learn a language, I believe.

Area Contest: Post Mortem

So, I lost the Area Contest, not much that I’d like to say other than I’m bitterly disappointed. There’s nothing else I even want to write, seeing as it will just seem like griping. Anyway, I’m proud of my performance, for once, which makes a change, as I’m my harshest critic. I worked very hard for this contest speech, so there’s nothing I need to regret.

All’s well that ends well. There are more important things to worry about.

I lied…

I wasn’t really a vegetarian. Rather, I was a pescotarian, which meant I still ate fish. That is, until now. Starting from this month, September, I’ll be trying to go without fish, in addition to the meat.

If this shift goes as expected, I’ll be a lacto-ovo vegetarian. It’s the convenience of tuna that makes it a hassle to give up, but I much prefer eating meat to tuna. So I think that should be an much easier change than making the initial shift to pescotarianism. Without tuna however, my beloved subs are going to get a lot more bland. My morning egg and tuna burger costs me only 30NT dollars, but without the tuna, I’m not sure what else I’d eat. I already eat far too many eggs! That breakfast meal is the only place I’ll really miss the tuna though, so I should be okay.

My main reasons for giving up meat have been the undeniable environmental reasons. Reading The Food Revolution by John Robbins has really cemented in my values and reinforced my decision. I was comfortable continuing to eat fish, because as I understand it, fish aren’t nearly as bad as meat products with regards to their environmental impact. I used to believe that we can’t farm the ocean in the same way we do the land, and we can’t use the ocean for growing crops. Still the book has changed my thinking somewhat and opened my eyes to the realities of fish farming, and the inevitable freak feeding of these fish. But I certainly don’t feel as motivated to give up fish as I did meat; having said that, the process will still be easier, as I don’t particularly like fish!

The concern I have over giving up tuna are with regards to my health. I’ve heard that protein isn’t as necessary to development as the bodybuilding/meat industries would have us believe. Still, I think that tuna is a very convenient source of protein, and I do need to consume a lot of protein for my muscle development. I shall see, I suppose.

So far, becoming a pescotarian hasn’t really affected my health one way or another. I can’t honestly say there has been too much difference on a day to day level. I’m kind of disappointed actually, as I’d hoped all this sacrifice would have some benefit. I’ve heard that the health benefits really take off when you make the shift to vegan. This however, is a bigger shift than I can see myself making at this point in time. If I do make this change, it will come after another two month adjusting period, so I won’t think about it too much just yet.

But veganism deprives me of eggs and dairy products, which pretty much cover all of my favourite non-meat foods! Without eggs, breakfast becomes a major problem. I’m back to English/continental breakfasts – toast and more toast, which I love, but isn’t that nutritious, especially coupled with butter alone. Eggs are just the most convenient food there is, so much goodness in a small package. Plus, not eating eggs turns me into that guy, I start to cross the line where veganism just starts to inconvenience everyone, and most of all myself.

Yesterday, I ate three double egg burgers for breakfast, and was still hungry. I can put some of it down to the weight training, but I’ve always been a big eater. Without eggs, I seriously have problems getting enough nutrition.

I adore cereal. But due to the cost, I’ve never consistently eaten it in Taiwan. Cereal goes with milk, and milk alone. But I have gone for months at a time without cereal, and without cereal, I don’t have a huge desire to drink milk. So that should be okay.

But… the huge problem is cheese. Cheese for me is one of the greatest inventions in history. I adore cheese even over meat, and for me, it compliments any Western meal – although I’m not a big fan of cheesecake… No cheese means no more pizzas, lasagna or toasted mozzarella sandwiches from [one of my favourite restaurants in Taipei]. Or even the cheese curry that I enjoy here in Taiwan. Cheese is also a good source of protein, although I do know it’s not altogether good for you.

As I said, I can’t imagine being a vegan just yet. I could probably do it for a month, but the thought of depriving myself to that extent just seems almost masochistic to me, and unnecessary too. In fairness, most people feel the same way about giving up meat . I will probably try it though, but I’m almost hoping that the health benefits don’t exist so that I can continue to eat pizza and cheese in blissful ecstasy.

Are you a vegan or vegetarian? If you are, how did you make the initial jump? What was the hardest food to give up? Feel free to share a comment or two!

A1 Speech: Post Mortem

It’s been a while since my last speech. My A1 speech was my first ever humorous speech. Whilst I’ve always tried to work humour into my speeches before, this speech was different in that I really had to keep the audience laughing. It didn’t really work.

Around the middle of my speech, I began to get a little self conscious. I looked down, and then thought to myself, “Why am I looking down…?” Big mistake. I lost my place in the speech, and my performance was a shambles, even by standards other than my own. Why did this happen? Well, as always, my speech was too long, and I was struggling to stay on time. As a result, I couldn’t implement the pauses that are necessary for a humorous speech. Without the laughter, I lost my confidence.

In terms of what I can learn, I engaged in a ridiculous amount of procrastination whilst preparing the speech, which is something that I’ve been doing since the beginning. I continually beat myself up for doing that, but that is definitely counterproductive.

Still, I have a few more attempts to get it right. I can’t be too hard on myself, because my perfectionism is what is causing much of the procrastination. I’ll just pat myself on the back for having made it this far in Toastmasters so far, and keep pushing on. I have the humorous speech contest coming up soon, so there is a lot of preparation to do.

Training Update

My training has been going okay overall. I’ve increased the weights I’ve been using steadily, and have also been making good progress on the cardio front. Last Monday, I ran 14.4 km, in line with the marathon training, although I nearly killed myself doing so. My runs are getting a bit long, and as I go to the gym without having eaten, and also doing weight training beforehand, it’s going to get tougher and tougher.

At least I learned from that mistake, and I’ll definitely be eating and not weight training before my long runs from here on out. Unfortunately, Shi Da gym is only open Monday through Thursday, which is terrible for my progress. I might have to move the long run to the night time, but I really dread the humidity in Taipei.

As long as I follow the training program, I can’t see why I won’t be able to make it for the marathon. It’s important not to push too quickly on the long runs, but they are taking up a lot of time, and I get pretty bored during them. As they cross the two hour mark, I’ll have to think of a new strategy. Learning Chinese is an option, but I can’t see myself paying attention for that length of time.

My weight gaining target is not going well though. Not only have I not gained weight, I’ve lost weight. I couldn’t believe it! I eat a ton, going to the gym, pretty consistently, but I can’t seem to put on the weight. I know I’m getting stronger, because the weights are feeling less heavy, so that must mean that my muscle mass is increasing, and my fat is decreasing. Nevertheless, the clear drop of around 1-2kg is demoralising since I’m trying to move in the opposite direction. Perhaps what they say is true – that cardio training and gaining weight are at odds.

Anyway, I have to be eating much, much more. Despite being a vegetarian however, eating lots of greens doesn’t appeal to me. I’m a ‘hard gainer’ type, and I’ve heard I shouldn’t worry so much about eating ‘good’ carbohydrates – just eating will be good enough. Still, all this eating is hard work, and time consuming.

August Goals

I think the goal setting thing is working out for me overall, but I want to keep things very simple for this month.

So I won’t set any rules for myself, and the only thing I want to keep to is sleeping on time and consistently – making it to bed by 11pm each night and getting ready with reading.

The main goals I will set should be very attainable.

1. Continuing on from July, and having completed my 12km run, I’ll move on to the 10.5 mile, 16.8 km run according to the marathon training program. This shouldn’t be too tough, though it may take me around 2 hours… [gulp!] I also aim to complete the 10k at the end of the month in under one hour.

2. I want again, to be waking up before 7.30am every day, starting today, which I didn’t manage last month.

3. I don’t read enough, especially fiction. I want to read one book a week from now on, and I’ll begin this month. So four books this month! I’m currently reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.