February 9, 2010
Last week in Deliverance and Endurance, with little depth but considerable breadth, I applied the confict between nature and civilization to endurance running. At the end of the blog, I promised to run into the woods, which I did on Saturday morning, venturing into the Wagon Wheel section of the trail system adjacent to Branford’s Supply Ponds, above Queech Brook, where development has been delayed by this deep recession. Wasn’t a soul up there other than me, so I surely was on the lookout for backwoodsmen.
Instead of hearing dueling banjos or chain saws, I though of another set of ideas just as opposed to one another as the difference between life in society and life in nature: what is right compared with what is just. Let me warn you runners: this is applied dialectical materialism, better than Karl Marx ever managed on his own. It is right in our system, with its protections for indivdual property, for the private owner of those woods around the Wagon Wheel to develop McMansions in accordance with land use regulations serving the common good. Just take a run out Route 146, east of Wightwood Hill and across the tracks, to see the finest example of the exercise of this right on all of the Shoreline. I think that house has been for sale for four years. The driveway is where we used to come out of the woods.
But what is just? It is perhaps a great error in our recent history, a great mistake in the recent evolution of values in our system, that lands such as the Wagon Wheel cannot more easily be set aside as treasure for the perpetual enjoyment of all. Rather, the enormous monetary and political expense of taking in eminent domain is required. It was not always so: the great system of national parks was created little more than a century ago as our forefathers contemplated the same set of issues.
The novelist Thomas Hardy occasionally wrote two endings for his books: the way the story should end and the way it does end. This blog should end with my declaring that if the Constitution were amended to require all elected officials to log at least 20 miles a week, I would be in favor of reverting all private property to public ownership without compensation, the synthesis of the problem of the right versus the just. But the way the blog does end is that I see no easy solution, and that as I age I may have to be content exercising my increasingly limited mobility through an increasingly limited range of options.
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February 9, 2010
Recently I wrote about the moisture managing properties of technical fabrics. Not tricky, I explained: a simple application of the principles of physics. So, too, with temperature regulation: the easiest way to stay warm is to keep a thin layer of air at body temperature next to the skin, kept dry by applying the lessons learned by last week’s gentle readers.
The Inspiration
The Fabric
There is no finer physical form for keeping the form warm than waffles. Waffles are not only the ideal form for the outsoles of racing shoes: just sew a bunch of these together and voila! The ideal structure, with voids for air and contact surface for moisture management, is at your service. Polyester waffle-weave fabric is not nearly as good with syrup, but it is lighter, more durable, and available in a variety of colors.
Other weaves also create interstitial space between the fibers, trapping air next to the body. Because the synthetic fabric does not absorb moisture, the air remains dry and “sensible,” or related to temperature alone, eliminating the influence of the “latent” energy contained in perspiration.
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February 6, 2010
I ran this morning in Branford. There were about 6 in my group…and a couple of new people…the newest was Ben…He is an architect…tall guy…used to run years ago, and now he wants to get back with running. He is what I like to call a “lapsed runner,” similar yet different to a “lapsed Catholic’s.”
Anyway, by Ben coming out to run this morning, it reminded me that speed and distance vary (we talk about it, but everyone reading this needs to know we do it).
Just because we run in a group setting doesn’t mean we are fast. Yes, there are days, during training, when people do run fast…but remember this is a social setting we offer in all of our stores, to encourage people come out and run, no matter what their ability is.
So, I ran with Ben for about 1 1/2 miles and then he headed back to the store. I gave him a few things to think about on his way back…here’s one, if you’re tired and you want to walk that’s fine…but define it, “When I get to that telephone pole I am going to walk for one pole then run for 2 poles.”
Hope you come back Ben! On Wednesday, March 3 we start our RUNSTART program, in all 3 stores…
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February 6, 2010
This morning at 9:30 in our soundRUNNER Branford we were fortunate to have Meg come in a help us kick-off Heart Health Month at soundRUNNER. We provide these kinds of talks because it’s a great way to get information…and it’s free.
On the edge of their seats
As active individuals it is important that we pay attention to what we eat, duh! I know there are a lot of people that drink “sustain,” take GU, or shotblocks…which is fine during and after your run. But what are foods that you can eat during the week that can enhance the “long run” on the weekend. What foods should you eat to help repair your muscles after the track workout?
Meg will be in our Madison, soundRUNNER location at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 20…after our run. If you missed her in Branford come to Madison…if you came to Branford and have some other questions…come to Madison.
Some stayed to get their picture with Meg
THANKS MEG, YOU WERE GREAT
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2.20.10 IN MADISON
MegRD doing her thing
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February 4, 2010
Welcome to the Home Page for the Leprechaun 5-Miler, a fun St. Patrick’s Day race tradition!!!
We’re building off of a successful race last year and are hoping you can help us grow it even bigger this year! All proceeds from the race go towards the Exchange clubs pioneering work in the prevention of child abuse along with all of the other Community Service work the Madison Exchange Club engages in. The race tracks Madison’s picturesque shoreline on Middle Beach Road for one of the flattest and fastest 5-Milers around. Not up for 5 Miles? Try our 2 mile fitness walk along some of the same famous coastline. Got kids? Get them started on a lifelong path of healthy activities by getting them away from the TV and outside for an exhilirating race with their friends with our 1/2 mile Kids Fun run!
PARTY AFTER THE RACE!!!
What would a St. Patrick’s Day Race be with a ‘spirit-filled’ celebration of the holiday! If you’re of age, please join us for a beer after the race courtesy of one of our long time sponsors. Your soul will also be warmed by some local clam chowder donated by another one of our long time sponsors, Lenny & Joe’s. We’re excited for another great race this year and look forward to seeing you there!!!
Want to become more involved?
Sponsors: The people who run and walk in the Leprechaun 5-Miler are a great group of people to reach out to. Contact our Race Director, Jonathan Snyder for opportunities to enhance your business.
Teams: Want to band together as a group and go above and beyond the call of duty for either work or school? Help us raise additional dollars to help prevent child abuse by getting people to sponsor your team! Check back here or contact our Race Director for details.
Volunteers: Want to help out but can’t run or walk on race day? We have many volunteer opportunities both before and during the race day and we’d appreciate your involvement. Check back here or contact our Race Director for details…jonathan.e.snyder@yahoo.com
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February 4, 2010
We are now running on the same days in all 3 stores:
Wednesday-630 p.m.
Saturday-8:00 a.m.
As always times and distance vary.
P.S. Please come out…if you think you’re too slow…you are wrong…it’s all about the social experience…right now anyway!
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February 4, 2010
I had not expected to run in Madison tonight, but there I was with an audience…newbies!
Actually, it was really great. Bill a radiologist with New Haven Radiology Associates (I hope that’s the right practice) who just moved with his wife Rebeccca and three children (baby daughter almost 2 and two boys 4 and 6) from Milford. Jill, a Hopkin’s High School senior…she thinks she wants to go to Barnard…what a very cool young woman.
I know that we have recently changed our running nights in Madison…I hope that everyone will try and come out on Wednesday’s too. All of you would have loved tonight…not too cold.
I‘ll be in Branford for the run this Saturday at 8 a.m. I hope you will all come out on Saturday for the run and then stay for the nutrition talk presented by Meg Moran, RD.
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February 3, 2010
I promised before Deliverance to explain the wicking property of polyester-based technical fabrics. The disappointing truth is that moisture management relies on very simple physical principles, not the incantations of the mojo-man. First, physical phenomena like moisture and heat move naturally from areas of high concentration to low. The greater the difference between two points, the more rapid the movement. Thus, perspiration evaporates faster the lower the relative humidity. Second, synthetic fabrics absorb only a small percentage of their weight in moisture, while natural fibers can hold up to two-thirds of their weight in moisture.
The purpose of the image is to show that woven textiles have two surfaces, an inner and an outer. When perspiration comes through the skin’s pores into contact with the inner surface of the fabric, the moisture molecules are drawn away from the saturated skin toward the less-humid outer surface of the fabric. This is vapor pressure. Perspiration at body temperature is drawn away from the warmer skin to the (usually) cooler outer surface of the fabric. This is thermal pressure. With polyseter-based fabrics, the capillary effect of the movement is not impeded because synthetic fibers do not grip the moisture molecules in an effort to absorb them. Once the moisture molecules reach the interstitial space between the inner and outer surfaces of the fabric, the skin is dry. It ain’t nothin’ but a thang.
The Orlons
Because the principles of synthetic fiber performance are so simple, singing groups like The Orlons began to adopt synthetic textile names in the 1960s to distinguish themselves from natural rivals like the Cashmeres.
So Don’t Hang Up…coming next: temperature regulation. It’s as easy as trapping air.
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February 2, 2010
Deliverance: The Plot Thickens
The guy next to me on the train Sunday night was watching Deliverance, so I did too, up to the point in the plot when the four campers capsize and lose their provisions in white-water rapids. Literature and film often address the theme of civilized man, stripped of the trappings of society, and forced to survive in the wild. I have always been interested in the mental process we runners intentionally engage as we systematically strip ourselves of those trappings through endurance sport. And I think there is an element of this process in the natural running movement. Will the real Tarzan please stand up?
From the Western States 100
Thomas Hobbes observed that life in the wild is nasty, brutish, and short. Certain plays by Eugene O’Neill, like the Emperor Jones, explore the psychology of breaking down. A film about the Western States 100 explores the process by which the environment breaks down runners. The difference between the experiences is that the runner intentionally engages the process of breaking down, while the break down is thrust suddenly and unexpectedly, for example, on the cast of Deliverance.
Each of us, I believe, wants at some point in life to be like Tom Sawyer, kick off our shoes, and go back into the woods. I won’t have earphones next week as I go for a run in the woods, but I’m sure I will be able to hear Dueling Banjos in my mind.
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February 1, 2010
Wanna Dance?
I got a surprisingly strong response to the blog on Greenwashing. The question on the lips of those three people was “What is polyester, and why is the fabric now better than the blue, double-knit bell-bottom suit with the light blue top-stitching I used to wear with a white belt and white shoes to imitate John Travolta’s dancing?” I’m glad you asked.
Polyester is a category of polymers containing the ester functional group in the main chemical chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term “polyester” most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is the basis for the fibers in technical clothing. Polyesters include naturally-occurring chemicals derived from plants, as well as synthetics derived from petro-chemicals. Natural polyesters and a few synthetic ones are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyesters are not.
Fabrics woven from polyester thread or yarn are used extensively in apparel and home furnishings, from shirts and pants to jackets and hats, bed sheets, blankets and upholstered furniture. Industrial polyester fibers, yarns and ropes are used in tire reinforcements, fabrics for conveyor belts, safety belts, coated fabrics and plastic reinforcements with high-energy absorption. Polyester fiber is used as cushioning and insulating material in pillows, comforters and upholstery padding. While synthetic clothing in general is perceived by some as having a less-natural feel compared to fabrics woven from natural fibers, polyester fabrics can provide specific advantages over natural fabrics, such as superior water, wind and environmental resistance.
In the next blog, we’ll explore how these materials wick moisture and regulate temperature.
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