Marc's Public Blog - Exercising

Knee Injury

2008-09-26T15:00:00Z

About 3 months ago, just before my work leave, I ran to work for the second time (took about 1h for 7.3 miles). This turned out not to be a great idea because that was the last time I was able to run, or significantly bike until this week, 3 months later.
I turned out to injure both my knees because they were somewhat wobbling left and right while I was running due to a muscle imbalance, and my being low on cartilage around that area to start with, caused a double injury on my tissues around my knee cap.

The obvious first thing I had to do was to stop any kind of running, and go very easy on biking or any other exercising that could stress my knees so as to allow for the tissues to heal. Then, I've been doing physical therapy which has mostly been training my side muscles so as to offload the knee itself by having the muscles carry the shockwave around the kneecap while keeping it centered.
At least, that's the idea :)

Time will tell how things work out. I started going to boot camp again (which means some running) and biking as well.

action marc: improving running time to work

2008-06-06T02:11:00Z

While I won't be doing this every day, I ran to work today.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the magic time under 1h, it was only 1:02:22 for 7.29m (11.7km).
At least, I maintained a 8:33mn/mile for the whole distance, which is respectable I guess. (average heart rate 156bpm).
At least my average speed for each subsequent mile didn't vary too much along the run: 8mn10, 8m08, 8mn12, 8mn49, 8mn59, 8mn37, 8mn58, 8mn21. I guess you can see that I'm used to running 3 miles, not 7 :)
Still, let's see if I can get this down under 1h next time :)

Biking to work

2008-06-03T02:14:00Z

I've been biking to work on and off as time and wheather permits (and when I don't have to bring back a huge box of toys Patrick shipped to my work address :) )
Because google is about at sea level and our house at 280ft altitude (80m), biking to work with the extra weight I carry on me (typically around 20kg/42lbs) is a lot easier and faster on the way down than the way back (even if I typically have a pretty strong headwind when biking to work, it somehow doesn't push my fat ass back up the hill on the way home :) ).

I think this morning I scored my best time to work so far:
12km/7.56miles in 27mn12s, or 27km/h / 16.7mph average with an average heartrate of 140bpm and a max speed of 35kph/22mph

Times home haven't been as stellar so far, all over 30mn, but I'll see what I can do tonight if boot camp doesn't entirely kill me :)
Just got home: 30mn34s. I suppose I can get that under 30mn if I don't come out of 1h of bootcamp where I already ran 3 miles plus sprinted, lunged, and some other fun stuff, but I'm not sure I'll get much below 30mn with the weight of my backpack.

Then again, the goal is not to get home 1mn earlier, but to burn calories, so I guess it's ok :)

Up Montebello to Skyline and Ridge Winery

2008-06-01T11:46:00Z

Jennifer and I went biking up Montebello Road from home, via Stevens Creek Reservoir. It was a reasonable 2800ft climb which took me about 1H to ascend (I'll have to time it more carefully next time).
Although it was a sunny day, the top was foggy, windy and cold, which wasn't that pleasant on my sweat (it actually got quite cold and sucky on the fast ride down due to the relative wind. I should have taken a jersey/light jacket).
At least, it was cool: it was my first time not only biking up that high, up to Skyline, and from home no less :)

At the top, I looked at what the options are so that I can come back, and do a longer ride with Xav up to skyline and down to Stevens Canyon or Pagemill.

On the way down, Jennifer and I stopped at the Ridge Winery for some tasting (well, tasting was mostly for her :) )

A few more picts

Bike Ride around the house towards Skyline and Fremont Older Space Reserve

2008-05-04T01:52:00Z

Since we now live pretty close to the skyline mountains, we went to bike to the Stevens Creek Reservoir, which happens to be the source of the water that flows down in our backyard.
From there, we first went up Montebello to 1500ft or so, and around a private road, through some wineries, and road called peacock drive with actual peakcocks on it, and then we went back down around Stevens Canyon, Mt Eden Rd, through a winery, and through Fremont Older back home (Fremont Older was somewhat challenging without a map, it had trails that split in all directions. Thankfully my GPS and trails I premapped was good enough to get us home as the sun was setting.

The Stevens Canyon Reservoir is only 15mn biking distance

we went to visit a winery on the way up Montebello

We biked 1000ft up Montebello (which was only half way), and it made for some nice views

One of many wineries we biked by

Ok, it was a bit too much uphill for Jennifer's taste :)

And we headed home through Fremont Older Space Reserve

The other pictures from Fremont Older and the Stevens Canyon Reservoir

Beat my lap time again, against expectations

2008-01-15T12:52:00Z

I'm not too sure how that happened, while I still felt remnants of my cold, boot camp was "long run" today, so I ran a couple of times around the google block, as usual. I started a bit late since I went back to my car to get my heard rate monitor and GPS.
Maybe it's because of that and my trying to catch up with someone who left a good 4mn before me, that I had the drive to run a bit faster.
The stats were:

total:3.2 miles, 22:54, 7:11mn/mile, heart rate: 174bpm
1st mile: 6:59, 167bpm
2nd mile: 7:32, 169bpm (getting a bit tire)
3rd mile: 7:06, 180bpm (pushing like crazy to catch up with, and pass my foe)
3 miles:  21:37
3.1m (5k):22:18
3.2miles: 22:54 (full two laps of the block, by then I was at 186bpm)

By the end, I was absolutely tired, my throat was dead from the cold and laboured breathing, but I had made it :)

Another exploratory bay bike ride?

2007-10-15T13:24:00Z

Jennifer and I went to explore another piece of the bay trail between Sunnyvale and Moffett. As we went past the Sunnyvale SMART recycling station, the trail became iffy. Basically, it split in to multiple options, and became a real maze.
Then again, even getting there was "interesting", due to the water level behind high, and riding the water trail under hwy 237 was quite dicy: muddy, sideways, and we were afraid of sliding down in the water :)
The problem was that more than half those paths were dead ends. Some you could get out of by crossing mud or taking questionable paths, others, outside of swimming for a few metres, there was no way out, and you had to backtrack all the way.
First, we took a path that got us smack against the gate and restricted area from Lockheed, and when we went away from it, our "reward" was being on the wrong side of a "restricted area" fence, that we managed to go around.
After finishing a loop around the salt pond, I opted to take what looked like a more official trail back, and we ended up on the wrong side of the fence below. By that time, I was fairly pissed off: we had ridden a fair amount and just wanted to go home. We already had been tricked on a road that didn't connect and teased you by being almost there, but on the wrong side of a small channel of water. After crossing at a dubious point, pretty far away, we headed back and got stopped by that gate.
The stupid thing was that the gate was supposed to stop people from getting to where we were, and we were just trying to get out. What a moronic design! It wasn't hard to get where we were without crossing any gates, and that gate was so tight that it looked like it was meant to stop cars, bikes, and even people.
At this point, I was annoyed enough that I decided that we were going to scale that gate as I really didn't feel like turning back. While it's not obvious from the picture, I was able to lift the bikes above the gate, which was no easy feat, then managed to separate them enough to climb between them on top of the lock and without being stuck by the barbed wire. Jennifer managed to sneak between the gate and the ground.

An FAA radar used for the south bay

Jennifer was smiling after having crossed the gates, but not during

Summary: whoever designed those gates and roads that don't connect and then fence you in, should be shot :)
Anyway, the rest of the few picture are here

Biking from San Francisco's Pier 39, through the Golden Gate Bridge, to Saulsalito

2007-10-01T14:26:00Z

Since we were already in San Francisco Saturday, we slept over in a hotel there, picked up my burning man bikes and our stuff that had been trucked back from burning man, and used the bikes to ride from Pier 39 to the Golden Gate Bridge. Once on the other side, we did a nice climb to see the bridge from up high (> 1000ft), before going back down towards Saulsalito.

Saulsalito was a nice old city to see for a couple of hours while we were waiting for the ferry from Saulsalito back to Pier 39, to finish with a nice dinner on Fisherman's Warf with view on the water during the sunset.

Here's a link to the GPS track of our biking and a link to all the pictures of our little trip

A new 3m/5k/3.2m record

2007-09-26T10:15:00Z

After getting back into boot camp a bit, I took some diet rockstar energy drink, and went running for a couple of laps around the building (3.2 miles).
I don't know if it was the caffeine or just my shape, but I was able to beat 4 of my personal records today: sub 7mn mile for two miles in a row (6:55mn and 6:59mn)

3.0miles: 21:13
5k (3.1m): 21:57
3.2miles: 22:45
avg speed: 7:05mn/mile

I did run out of steam around the 3rd mile though, and I wanted to stop and walk the end more times than I ever wanted before, but still managed to shame myself into finishing. I guess it was worth it :)

Marina Run to Golden Gate & Golden Gate Park Rollerblading

2007-06-20T12:12:00Z

After visiting San Francisco, I met Jennifer after her conference and we went for a run of 8.2 miles through the Marina, the Golden Gate, and back to the hotel, in a pretty strong wind.
It turned out to be the longest distance that Jennifer had run so far, and she did great. While we only averaged speeds of 10mn/mile, or a total of about 1h20, we made it from end to end, which is what matters.

The few remainting pictures are here

The next morning, I went rollerblading the Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, it's not a very good layout, nothing close to a loop, but there are nice things to visit (except for the fact that half of them prohibit rollerblades :( ), and it's reasonably rollerbladable (some pieces have so-so pavement and require riding on the street). I ended up with the path below, totalling 11 miles.

I took a fair amount of pictures of the Golden Gate Park

Northern Baylands / Steven's Creek Trail / PAO ride

2007-06-18T03:54:00Z

Jennifer and I did another ride around the Baylands, but this time northwest bound, close to our rollerblading trail, but using nearby trails that were mountain bike only.
It was a good time in the season to see all the little birdies, and we finished the ride by taking the trail around the PAO airport.

And here are the other pictures of the bike ride

Little ride around the San Francisco Marina

2007-06-11T08:03:00Z

Jennifer and Anna were going to the CA winemakers thank you luncheon (which ended up being fairly poor food and free wines to taste), and since we'd be up there, we took the opportunity to go rollerblading first.
We ended up rollerblading with the SF Marina all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. It was a nice little ride (6 miles)

More picts here

action-marc: Best run times

2007-06-06T11:22:00Z

I ran around the google block twice before boot camp today, and set my best times yet:
3m: 21:45
5k: 22:28
3.2m: 23:00 (that's exactly twice around the block)
avg speed: 7.13mn/mile for 3mile (I can likely do 6:30mn for just a mile, but never tried since I usually run longer than just a mile)
heart rate: 170bpm avg

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with those numbers for a change :)

Biking the John Christian GreenBelt, Alviso 9 mile bay loop, and San Tomas Aquino Saratoga Creek Trail

2007-05-20T14:58:00Z

Jennifer and I went for a local bike ride to check out a Sunnyvale John Christian Greenbelt bike path I didn't know about (suggested by my coworker Eric).

Thanks to the Satellite map, you can actually see the trail

Once we connected it up to the bay, we rode to Alviso (North San Jose) and did a 9 mile loop there. I had more or less seen Alviso a bit before but hadn't stopped there and paid enough attention on what was there, nor did I really find the long trail that was there before I had a GPS and a picture of where the trail was supposed to start.
Turns out Alviso is actually a quite interesting place as it was meant to be a major port of entry for the South Bay about 100 years ago (it's the furthest point south that boats can reach when they've come from the bay or the ocean), and it had connection with a railroad that's still there. They even came up with the name 'New Chicago' for it, but in the end things didn't quite work out. There were also some leftovers from the gold rush.
While the area has a yacht club as it's the closest place to have a boat at if you're in San Jose, the rest of the area looks pretty run down. Odds are that it'll get cleaned up and improved in the next years, maybe ten, maybe more, but people are going to be building nice houses there sooner or later I think.

In the end, it made for a nice 24 mile ride, with wicked wind around the Alviso bay trail
You can get the rest of the pictures of the Alviso Bay Trail, and the Green Belt as well as a collection of biking maps I photographed .
You can also get the Garmin GPS GDB track of the Alviso Bay Trail, Green Belt, and the San Tomas Aquino Saratoga Creek Trail

Montebello Biking...

2007-04-29T07:13:00Z

It had been a while since I went mountain biking, snow, travelling, and all, so as Xav had recently gotten a new mountain bike, we went to Montebello.
Due to my fault, we started around 10:45, and it was a bit warm by then already. I'm not sure if it was the only reason, but we all sucked getting up Grizzly Flat (26:xxmn for me, and more for them). I guess that even if I'm generally in shape, I need to get more practise climbing that thing again (back to my sub 24mn times).
Either way, it was nice to go again and see how we were doing on it, and at least I didn't suck as much as the previous time I went a few months ago.

5k run at google

2007-03-08T15:14:00Z

Today was one of the occasional google 5k runs. It was probably my worst time yet, 25:22 for 3.12 miles, or just over 5k (although it did include running uphill). Well, at least it gives me an easy benchmark to beat :)

Hadn't gone mountain biking in a while

2007-02-20T12:03:00Z

Jen and I went to the usual montebello loop. While the drive up and down Pagemill was fun, the bike loop was tough for me, I ended up with a bad sidepain almost as soon as I tried to bike up Grizzly Flat, and did my worst time ever: over 32mn vs my usual less than 25mn.

In the process, Jen kicked my ass on the way up :)
In a nutshell, it was my worst day of biking ever, quite humbling :)
... just like the class on how to cross a small river without getting wet :)

Baylands Biking

2006-08-05T15:58:00Z

It had been a while since we had biked around the Baylands, so we went back. One moment was funny because of the birds that circled around us because of their kid that was still on the ground, closeby, and unable to fly
(a few other pix here )

San Francisco Midnight Rollers

2006-08-05T13:27:00Z

As a surprise, Jen took me for crêpes in San Francisco, and we went to the weekly SF midnight rollers ride, which was indeed a nice ride around San Francisco. The ride was 17 km for 1H40 of actual rollerblading (and good breaks in the middle, giving a ride from 21:30 to midnight)

The rest of the pictures are here

Lost Gatos Creek Trail

2006-06-19T10:44:00Z

Current Music: AvB - Asot 253
Current Mood: Fair

I had been a while since I (well, we too :) ) had gone rollerblading to Los Gatos Creek Trail, which is a shame considering the yummy French bakery that is at the end :)
This reckon mission was to plot the route and set a GPS waypoint on the target, as well as evaluate the calories necessaries to make it there vs how urgent your pastry intake need is :)
Time was about 1H one way, and 47mn the other way (more leisurely on the way there, and a bit uphill)

As usual, the GPS track is here, and you can also look at the pictures taken along Los Gatos Creek Trail