Marathon Monks

No, not a new Shaolin Soccer targetting runners, but something far more bizarre:

The monks, known as Kaihigyo, are spiritual athletes from the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, based at Mount Hiei, which overlooks the ancient capital city of Kyoto.
snip
The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days.

Read the full story
Humbling stuff.

Days 4 & 5

Been a little slack in regular updating, so here's a "compilation" entry
Day 4: (week 2, Tue) 10 x (200m in 58 secs + 200m recuperation trot)
These "fractions" (AKA Fartleks) are always the first session of the week, and I'm happy to get them out of the way for the week. They're over quickly, but
Day 5: (week 2, Thur) 2 x (3000m in 17 mins + 1200m recuperation trot) followed by 1000m in between 5 mins 20 secs and 5 mins 30 secs.
We sort of worked out a street course corresponding to the distances involved - not sure how accurate it was. In any case, I didn't make the target times - in particular, the final 1000m. I thought I was going to be ill after the 2 3000m circuits, but thankfully that feeling passed.

Tomorrow, more pain.

Training Day

Continued roadrace training coverage...

Day 3: (week 1 - Sun) 4km @ 8km/hr + additional 30 mins at increasing pace to finish at 11km/hr
Surprisingly, though the guts of 10km, this was not as difficult for me as the 5km two days previous. Could this be progress already??

0 to 20 in 6 weeks

I've signed up for the Paris 20km road race (20km de Paris) and as I write this, there's a little over 36 days left until the starting gun. I went for a couple of ice-breaker jogs (30mins - very easy going) last week, but last Wednesday was the first day of the training program. I'm going to document my progress here over the coming weeks.

The program (actually intended for a semi-marathon, but let's not quibble about 1.095km at this stage) is based on 3 training sessions per week. The fiancé's no stranger to jogging, having completed her first marathon earlier this year, so I'm really glad to have her as personal trainer and motivator.

I've just completed Day 2, and it was tough.

Completed to date:
Day 1: (week 1 - Wed) 8 x (200m in 58 secs followed by 200m walk/easy jog)
A gentle enough start - tiring for sure, but doable.

Day 2: (week 1 - Fri) 5000m in 28 mins 30 secs
This was daunting, and it took willpower to "keep it together" for the final kilometer or so. I was a bag of jelly when I finished. But it was definitely an achievement.

More anon...

You guys have no idea what's down there

From the guardian.co.uk:

Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement.

Patrick Alk, a photographer who has published a book on the urban underground exploration movement and claims to be close to the group, told RTL radio the cavern's discovery was "a shame, but not the end of the world". There were "a dozen more where that one came from," he said. "You guys have no idea what's down there."

Link (hat tip: bro)

iCan't wait

What with the (hopefully) imminent arrival of iBook, herewith some useful links:

• Server Logistics Software (Apache 2, PHP, MySQL builds ready to go)
• Konfabulator (until Tiger's Dashboard comes into land)
• NetNewsWireLite (free newsreader)
• Adiumx (libgaim-based multiple-protocol IM client)
  
• RBrowserLite (Free FTP client)
• Poisoned (P2P file sharing)
• Fugu (Free SFTP client)
  
• Missing Keystrokes in OS X
• Magical Macintosh Key Sequences
• Mac OS X Hidden Files
• Open Firmware Quick Reference
• Indispensable Mac OS X products
• Ted's Macintosh Tips and Tricks
• Ranchero Software's Cocoa Source and Tutorials