Despite my best efforts, I really haven’t been writing much this year, but have to dust off the keyboard to do
my annual marathon retrospective. I detailed this year’s training in my previous post, but had a major setback
three weeks before Chicago. On my last long run of the season, I tripped over a cut off sign post and landed
pretty hard on my right hip. I had jumped off the sidewalk in order to go around homeless guy, and when I tried
to jump back on, I just didn’t see the stub of the post — it was rainy, and there was enough grass growing
around the post that it must have just not registered as an obstacle in my mind. It was one of those situations
where you don’t remember falling, just coming to your senses on the ground and thinking “what the @#$%&! just
happened?” My hip was probably at a 6/10 for pain, but I kept going, hoping that keeping the joint/muscle
moving would aid recovery. While I was able to finish the run, it was definitely not enjoyable. Once my
hip started to feel slightly better, I noticed that one of the toes on my right foot (the one that kicked the
signpost) felt “off” — confirmed broken on my return home. I guess the fortunate part of the whole thing
was that it happened far enough ahead of my schedule races that I felt confident of recovery, and was able
to (mostly) continue with my training taper.
Tripped over this bastardThe end result
Chicago
First race up was Chicago. I took a day off work and drove up with the family — we hoofed around downtown
for two days. The kids had never been, and it had almost been 20 years(!) since I had last visited. We got a
cheap-o hotel near Midway, but train access was pretty convenient, so it worked out. Race morning promised
great weather. There were so many people in town for the marathon, it was just on a different scale than
what I had experienced before. Getting to the starting point and gear check was straightforward. I had so
much time to kill that I sipped on some Gatorade while waiting. This turned out to be a problem later, as
I felt like I needed to hit a porta-potty once I got into the starting corrals, but it was too late by that
point.
Since I’d never run Chicago before, I figured I’d hang out with a pace group for a while and just
try to enjoy the course. The first mile was dead on 7:15, but the next three were under 7:00; not sure what
the pacer was thinking. I was worried about going too fast, so tried to relax and slow down, but ended
up keeping ~7:05/mile pace for most of the race. The 3:10 group never caught back up to me, which was kind of
unfortunate; I felt like I wasn’t really able to enjoy the crowds/scenery as much because I was so focused
on keeping my own pace. I was very pleased with my nutrition strategy, which involved bringing along
4 Maurtens (2 regular, 2 w/ caffeine) and 2 Honey Stinger Golds. They were easy to get down, and had enough
variation that I could look forward to eating the next one. The only hiccup in the race was that I eventually
had to stop for a bathroom break at mile 23 — it was just too uncomfortable at that point. The rest of
the race was really just hanging on; lots of folks were having to drop out and start walking. At the finish
line I had barely enough time to breathe a sigh of relief before having to avoid a dude getting helped into
a wheelchair, while simultaneously stepping over piles of puke. It was pretty savage. My finish time was
3:08:43, about a 4 minute improvement to my PR. Although that is fast enough to apply to Boston, it
probably isn’t enough to actually get accepted
(scroll to the “Qualifying History” section).
Columbus
Even after a pretty hard race the previous weekend, and getting a fairly nasty respiratory illness that same week,
I decided I was going to run Columbus as well. My body felt mostly recovered from Chicago, but I was
still coughing up snot. I took some daytime cold medicine that included decongestants, but blew my nose fairly
frequently during the race. Since I wasn’t in 100% condition, I told myself not to push too hard, and just enjoy
the course. My average heart rate was noticably higher (around 5bpm) than the previous week, which I attributed
to still recovering from sickness. The first mile was slow, due to congestion at the starting line. Since the
Columbus race is so much smaller than Chicago (3,000 + 6,000 ½ marathon vs. 47,000!), runners in the first
corral vary wildly in terms of speed, and I didn’t do enough to move to the front of the group. After the first mile, I was able to
settle back in to the ~7:05/mile pace that seems to be comfortable for my current fitness level. The unfortunate
thing was that I could feel my legs fatiguing much faster than the previous race. A brisk wind blowing from the
north also made the traversal up High Street (around the halfway point) pretty uncomfortable. There were times
when I felt I was going incredibly slowly, but just grit my teeth and focused on putting one foot in front of
the other. Miles 24 & 25 were the worst, but after passing the #25 marker, I realized that I could still finish
around the same time as Chicago (or maybe faster) if I kept a 7:00/mile pace. I felt pretty bad, but somehow
dug deep enough to get that speed and finish 36 seconds faster. I have to say, Columbus’ post-race snacks were
a lot better — Cheryl’s cookies and real chocolate milk instead of waxy donuts and Muscle Milk (bleh).
Finishing the Columbus MarathonChicagoColumbus
Looking ahead
After back-to-back races, I’m going to take a bit of a (well-deserved) break. Looking forward, however,
I think there are a few goals I can work towards:
I’m going to put in the work to make my diet less trashy and try to drop 10 lbs; haven’t really had the
motivation to lose weight, but it’s another factor under my control
Since Boston registration is the opposite of Columbus, the earliest I would be able to run is 2025;
I might try to enter a race earlier in 2024, to get more of a buffer on my best time (Cincinnati?)
This year I was a big wimp, and mainly ran on a treadmill during the colder winter/spring months. The company I was working for at the beginning of the year offered a small stipend to use for fitness-related expenses, so I renewed my membership to the Worthington location of Snap Fitness. Treadmill running is boring as heck, but I found it preferable to the cold/dark. Sadly, my Lung Plus is collecting dust.
VO₂ Max Test
After the training season last year, I found out that the Exercise Science Lab at OSU offers performance testing. Months later, in February of this year, I was finally able to go in for the test. While I was interested in my VO₂ max, I specifically wanted to know my max heart rate, as I would base my upcoming training off that value. I had done an “at home” max HR test (sequential hill sprints, measure HR at the end of the third one), but it seemed low based on most age-based calculators. The test itself was interesting; I got hooked up using the standard heart rate chest strap and respiratory mask, then ran on a treadmill for a while. They increased the speed until I hit 8.5 mph, and then started cranking the incline. What I didn’t realize was that the test ends whenever you want it to. Basically, when you think you can’t go any more, you tap out. Of course, after the fact, you second-guess yourself, and wonder if you couldn’t have kept going for a bit longer. Regardless, my max HR came in at 160 (which is about 12% lower than my age-based calculation), and VO₂ max was 58.2. This was super helpful for targeting an aerobic heart rate during this year’s training season.
2023 Marathon Training
This year I’m using the 55-70 miles per week plan detailed in Advanced Marathoning. I specifically upped my milage in April/May in order to be able to start this plan safely. For the most part, it has been going OK — I did have to visit a PT in order to resolve some IT band pain, which caused me to downgrade about a week and a half’s worth of training in June. Comparing with my speed/heart rate from runs last year, there doesn’t seem to be a marked improvement, even though I’m running about 33% more. I will say that this volume is pushing the limit of what I’m able to integrate into my life, as I’m averaging 10 miles per day at this point, while trying to be a (present) parent and work a full-time job. The mid-week long runs usually have me questioning my sanity.
All that being said, I have plans to run two races this season. I signed up for Chicago — it’ll be my first out of town race. The plan is to take the family and do some tourist stuff, then run the race and head home that same day. My goal this year is fairly conservative — to be able to stick to last year’s target pace and hit 3:10, which is a Boston-qualifying time for my age. In the event that I fail spectacularly, I have a backup in the Columbus marathon, which will be a week later. I haven’t run marathons that close together before; in 2020 I ran two races two weeks apart, so we’ll see how I feel after a single week’s worth of recovery.
Another year, another marathon retrospective! I started training this year using the lowest milage plan from
Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. It had slightly more milage
overall than the “advanced” plan from Hal Higdon, whose plans I’d followed exclusively up until now. It was pretty enjoyable, and the only deviations I
made were due to catching COVID (!) about a month and a half before the race. Really, that was the only hiccup in my training, as you might expect.
My kids came down with it from school, and it spread rapidly through the house. I never tested positive, but was down for the count with a high fever
and lethargy, so not sure what else it could have been. I missed about a week of training, including one of my scheduled 20 mile runs, unfortunately.
Getting back into easy running was concerning, as my heart rate (as reported by the optical sensor on my watch) was 20-30 bpm higher than normal. I
ended up staying conservative in my return to training, as well as buying a chest strap HR sensor for more accurate readings. It took two weeks for
me to get back to “normal,” but didn’t miss any other long runs, so felt I had a reasonable chance of still being able to race.
I thought I was relatively safe from sickness after that, but two weeks prior to the race, my twins came down with colds. Vigorous hand washing saved
me from infection, thankfully. Then, the week before the race, my oldest daughter came back from a school-organized overnight camp with a stomach bug.
My wife proceeded to get sick the day before the race, and my youngest daughter the day of. I was up at 4AM on race day cleaning up barf. Amazingly,
I was still unscathed, aside from running (ha!) on terrible sleep.
Otherwise, race day was mostly uneventful. Traffic to the starting area was terrible, as usual. I made it out of the parking garage with about a half
hour to spare, and thought I’d take my own advice from last year and use a porta-potty, but the lines were so long and slow that I didn’t have time.
There were signs advertising “restrooms are in the starting corrals!” But that was a lie. So I just held it for three hours! I didn’t even really
have enough time for a proper warm up — I was still fiddling with the fit of my shoes when the starting gun went off.
My race was not very strategic — I mainly went by “feel”, even though I was wearing my HR chest strap. I didn’t do enough training at race pace
to have a good sense of how fast I could/should go. I was definitely running faster than most of my training runs, and I was breathing hard, but
the pace felt sustainable. Fortunately my target pace (7:15/mi) was conservative enough such that my endurance was sufficient. I tried
to pair up with other runners who were also trying to hold a similar pace, and ran for a few miles with another guy around my age, but ended up
dropping him even before the halfway point. The rest of the race was a solo effort.
One last-minute change to my plan was bringing along my own gel packets. I watched a video of Floris Gierman’s
Chicago Marathon experience, and noted that he brought quite a few gels. I felt like I would definitely need them, as there are only
two nutrition stations along the Columbus course, but I didn’t know how to carry them. On my long runs during training, I would usually only
bring two gels, which fit neatly into a side pocket on my water flask. Well, I ended up just shoving them in my pockets — I ate one in my car
before the start, then put one in each pocket of my shorts, and carried a third. The additional weight in my shorts ended up not being that big of
an annoyance, even though I’d never done it before, so I’ll probably adopt that strategy again in the future. In total I consumed five gels; four
of my own, and one from a course nutrition station. My one regret was that I didn’t take the last gel packet; I was having a hard time getting them
down by that point in the race and didn’t think I could choke it down. The volunteer handing out the flavor I wanted was offering two, and I
thought “no way I can eat those!” so just skipped. I think if I would have taken 15 seconds to eat that last gel, I would have done better for the
last few miles.
Even after experiencing cramps in the last mile last year, I never really investigated ways to replenish electrolytes during the race. Of course
the same thing happened this year. One amusing thing was being encouraged by another runner during the last stretch to the finish. My hamstrings
were on the verge of seizing up; “I can’t push it too hard, I’m cramping up!” I told him. “So am I!” he yelled as he passed me, then continued to
yell “Ow! Damn!” as he kept on going.
My finish — in the yellow jersey
On the whole, I was pretty satisfied with this year’s race. My official time was 3:12:54, more than 5 minutes faster than last year. Even with
catching COVID, I felt a lot stronger, especially just after finishing — last year I was barely able to hobble to my car; this year I was
even able to walk the dog with my family later in the day. I still have the goal of a sub-3:00 race though, so there’ll definitely be more running
adventures in my future.
Over time, I’ve slowly become a bit of a keyboard nerd. When I put together my very first PC as a teenager, I ended up buying an IBM Model M keyboard from a
friend’s dad. At the time, I didn’t know that it would eventually rise to legendary status among keyboard enthusiasts — I just knew I liked the heft
and the satisfying sound of the keys being pressed. That Model M stayed with me for years and years, but fell into disuse. For a decent chunk of my
professional life, I used Apple’s modern chiclet-style keyboards; at the time, I liked the short key travel and the extra space separating the keys. Eventually
I started working from home more often, and so needed to have two setups for my laptop. At the office, I used quieter keyboards, but at home I dug
the Model M back out. I found someone on eBay who sold me a cable that converted the PS/2 output into USB, suitable for use by a modern computer. And I started
to really enjoy using the old clunker. When you type on a keyboard all day, it turns out that the type of keyboard makes a big difference (see what I did there?).
When I switched jobs in 2015, I decided that I needed a better keyboard “for the office.” From various parts of the internet, I had heard about the Happy Hacking
Keyboard, and was intrigued by the 60% size and Topre keyswitches. I bought one, loved it, and have been using it off and on ever since.
With that experience in mind, when I switched jobs last year I thought I would continue the “new job == new keyboard” tradition, and built a custom split keyboard
from Keebio, the Quefrency. I wasn’t sure
what to expect, having never built my own keyboard before, but the hotswap keyswitch sockets made it incredibly easy to put together. No soldering was required;
it was basically about the easiest possible way to get into the DIY keyboard hobby.
Well, I haven’t switched jobs again, but I recently got the itch to build another keyboard. I was trolling the internets, as one does, and saw
examples of
vintage Apple Extended Keyboardshacked down
to 60% size. My interest was immediately piqued. My keyboard collection at this point included boards with
buckling spring switches, Topre switches, and Cherry switches. I had been wanting to make a board that used ALPS style switches,
but hadn’t been able to find suitable keycaps. Unfortunately, most enthusiasts these days use Cherry-compatible key switches, and therefore most custom keycap
sets are for Cherry switches only. ALPS switches have a different stem shape, and are incompatible. I guess I theoretically knew that it was possible to harvest
keycaps from older keyboards, but it never quite clicked until I saw examples of repurposed Apple keycaps online. Since didn’t want to destroy a working
keyboard, I found a listing on eBay for just a set of Apple Extended Keyboard II keycaps. I’m assuming that they
were salvaged from a dead board, so I don’t have “ruining vintage computer equipment” on my conscience.
The various example keyboards I saw were based off a custom PCB called Alps64, which is made by a keyboard enthusiast named hasu. While it doesn’t seem
like a full-time, professional operation, hasu does take orders for Alps64 boards. The only slight problem
was that hasu lives in Japan, and Japan Post has suspended service to the USA due to COVID, so I had to pony up some extra cash for a botique
shipping company. Fortunately, since the Alps64 is a standard 60% size, it can fit any number of existing cases.
I got a generic case made out of black anodized aluminum.
With the PCB and layout plate obtained, I had to decide exactly what switches I wanted. I decided that I wanted to buy new switches, rather than
salvage them from an existing keyboard. To that end, I bought ALPS-compatible Matias quiet click switches. Since real
ALPS aren’t made anymore, these Matias switches (clones, basically) are the next best thing. The quiet click switches are tactile, with a satisfying
bump. The clicky switches seemed too loud to me, and I want to be able to use keyboards that aren’t too annoying in an office setting. Matias will
sell you a switch tester with free shipping, if you would like to test each type in person.
With all the parts on hand, next came assembly. In contrast to my previous board which used hot-swappable sockets, this keyboard required some
soldering. The PCB came with resistors that needed to be soldered, in addition to each switch. One very cool extra that was included with the Alps64
was a small tool that helps bend the leads on the resistors so that they fit perfectly in the board. Connecting all the resistors and switches was
more tedious than difficult, as there was no delicate soldering required. Screwing the PCB into the bottom case completed the build.
This included tool was super handy. I love it!Soldering all the resistors is still a bit tedious, though.
The only slightly tricky thing I had trouble with was seating the keycaps that required stabilizers. Since I didn’t remove the caps from an existing
keyboard, I wasn’t able to observe how they were originally placed. The space bar was especially annoying, I tried placing the stabilizer in
various orientations before I found a photo of the correct one. Also, the keycaps required more force than I expected in order to firmly seat them
on each switch stem. I had each keycap in place, then realized that I needed to push harder on each one in order to get them really on there.
Easy caps are in place.The stabilizers for the space bar should look like this.Finally got all the caps put on correctly.
Since the Alps64 board is only 60%, it’s missing lots of keys that a full-sized keyboard would have — most notably the escape key. Fortunately
there is an incredibly user friendly firmware editor which allows you to create multiple
“layers” on your keyboard. For example, in my default layer, all keys are taken at face value, but if I hold the right control key,
a second layer is activated, which maps backtick to escape, WASD to arrow keys, 1-9 to function keys, etc. So you can basically
customize the layout completely.
The completed keyboard.
I really like this keyboard so far. The Matias quiet click switches are very satisfying, and the weight of the aluminum case gives some heft which
is missing from my Quefrency and HHKB. The classic Apple font on the keycaps is also delightfully nostalgic. It also is totally fine driving
my Linux box — the command key acts like super. The only downside was the cost; I paid over $200 for the various parts,
which is not cheap. Fortunately (for me, at least) I was able to expense my company to cover the costs. For that small intersection of people between
keyboard nerds and Mac users, I can definitely recommend building off an Alps64.
Well, 2022 is nigh. Been seeing a lot of “end of the year” posts, so figured I’d write my own. Unfortunately,
my memory is completely shot, and I also don’t write in a diary or journal, so this entry’ll probably be a bit
on the short side.
First thing that comes to mind is that we collectively suffered thorugh an entire year of COVID. I have
been permanently working from home since March of 2020, so my own daily routine hasn’t changed much. I
roll out of bed and downstairs to my “office” for a commute. Vigilance in my own social circle relaxed
somewhat with the arrival of vaccines, although for indoor gatherings (church and stuff) we all
still wear masks. I got my own set of shots (Pfizer) in April, which was a bit of a relief. All three
kids got theirs as well, when they were able. My immediate family has stayed COVID free this year,
which I chalk down to both precaution and luck. I don’t really foresee the pandemic getting
any better in the new year, as cases are rising, and folks around here are basically pretending
it doesn’t exist.
While I continue to work from home, the kids have actually started going to in-person school this year.
We kept the twins out of preschool last year, so this is their first public school experience.
Fortunately, there’s not as much contention about making the kids wear masks in our district —
meaning that they all are wearing them. I don’t think I’d feel safe, otherwise. Even with the masks,
we’ve gotten quite a few notices of COVID transmission in our oldest’s classroom, and the kids still
bring home more conventional sicknesses. One silver lining from 2020 was that we all stayed healthy
throughout the winter, which has not been the case this year.
In spite of health concerns, we did take a few family vacations this year: one to the Florida panhandle
in early January, and then to the west coast of Michigan in July. The Florida trip was
based on the desire to go someplace slightly warmer and less snowy. Rentals are cheap
in the off season, and we reasoned that there would be fewer people as well. Well,
there were definitely fewer people — only northern crazies like us would be walking the
beaches in 40-50 degree weather. That being said, it was actually pretty nice. A lot
warmer than Ohio was, plus nice scenery in the form of the beach and ocean. We
also went to as many parks as we could in the area.
We went on the Michigan trip was with my wife’s family. It was basically a chance to
go to some beaches in slightly warmer weather. Similar to Florida, our goal was to
hit the beach every day — with varying degrees of success. One surprising
highlight was a “dune tour” sand buggy ride. The driver went a lot faster than one thought
would be safe, so the kids were initially pretty nervous, but eventually got over
their initial fear and started to enjoy it. They have actually been asking to go back,
so I think it was a success. My favorite location was Tunnel Park.
One bit of sadness we experienced this year was the death of the (almost 13-year old) family dog, Belle.
In October she randomly fell over and started seizing up. After slowly recovering, the seizures started
happening with more frequency, and finally were too much — she stopped breathing one night
while at home. I was sitting next to her while she passed, so hope that my presence was somewhat
comforting. As I told folks afterwards, dying at home with someone you love next to you is about
as good as any of us could ask for. After a brief mourning period, we ended up adopting a rescue puppy
that we named Stella. She’s quite the mutt, but has a good chunk of German Shepherd in her. It’s been
a challenge for both her and us to adapt to the new living situation.
In personal news, I turned 40 this year, which felt like a symbolic milestone. I’ve been dealing with
bouts of ennui, and some of the things I’ve focused on this year have been because I want
to push back on the feeling of being “old.” After running two marathons last year, and not performing
as well as I wanted, I tried hiring a coach for a few months in the spring. I think I was hoping that
I would get some sort of mystical insight into correct running form, or dramatically improve, or something
like that. What I ended up getting was interval workouts every other week, and a weekly running plan that
was similar to what I was already doing. After 4 months, I decided not to continue with the coaching,
mainly because I hate running on a track. I ended up following the same marathon training plan
that I did last year, and had more success at the staffed Columbus marathon (read my race recap here).
I also changed jobs this year, after almost 5 years in my second stint at CoverMyMeds. I think the impetus
was feeling bored/trapped/whatever due to my age, as well as stagnating in career growth at the company.
McKesson, the corporate overlord, also decided to merge CoverMyMeds more closely into its existing structure,
actually renaming their technology arm “CoverMyMeds.” So now that name refers to quite a few more people/offices
than it previously did. The “legacy” employees didn’t really like some of the changes that were imposed,
including changing (worse) benefits, and management basically said “our way or the highway.” So lots of
senior/long-tenured people left. I ended up leaving after my manager left, and I was passed over for both
a promotion and raise. I went to a company called Upstart, a fintech company that had opened a Columbus
office a while ago. It was my first time getting RSUs as part of the sign on process, which was kinda cool.
Unfortunately, my team’s onboarding process is not great, and over two months in I still feel like I don’t
know what’s going on, and am hardly contributing. Hopefully things change in the new year, or else I might
start grinding leetcode again in preparation for another round of interviews.
Tangential to work (at least in my mind) was paying off our mortgage this year. Work -> money, right?
Now this achievement isn’t quite as monumental as it seems, just because the mortgage (and by extension, house)
was pretty small to begin with. However, it does free up a good chunk of change to start investing elsewhere.
Maybe I can stop being a wage slave a few years earlier than I would otherwise. Nothing
like working your pain-free years away and retiring when your capacity to enjoy life has lessened.
I didn’t keep a list of consumed media this year. All I know is that I didn’t read as many books
as I should have, and played more video games than I should have. In fact, one of my goals
for 2022 is to keep better written records of my life. That way I might have the ability
to look back with more accuracy at what I accomplished, rather than guess at the end
of the year. I’d also like to get back into casually studying Japanese next year. I
have no illusions that I’ll ever be fluent, but I do have a decent base in the language,
and would like to continue to expand neural pathways. I’m going to continue to run next year,
with a focus on aerobic base and low heart rate training. I’d like to get a sub 3:00
marathon, but am limited in terms of the time available for training. If I was able
to train for one hour every day, at my current speeds my weekly distance would be in the
56 mile range. Throwing in a long run day could boost that into 60+ territory, which
might be enough. We’ll see what happens. I’d also like to find something enjoyable to do
for work, whether that’s grow into my current position or get a new one. I’m pretty
fortunate in that I can choose from a sizable pool of different companies to work at,
but my problem is that I have a hard time caring about the specific industry that
a company is in. And technology for technology’s sake is usually pretty boring as well.
Maybe I need to get out of web programming.
Thanks for reading this far. All in all, 2021 wasn’t too bad of a year, considering.
Happy New Year, and hopefully I’ll see you all in another 12 months.
