I've mentioned randonneuring before. I've come to believe that the sport exists for those of us who will never be fast. When you say "I rode 125 miles today," few ask "at what pace?" Randonneuring is non-competitive and there's no glory. At the end of Saturday's ride, D__ and I dropped our brevet cards off at a house in the woods on the shore of Lake Ontario, drove to our motel, ordered a pizza, and drove back to DC the next day. Sometime in October I will get a magazine with my name in a long list of others who did much the same thing.
Randonneuring does have its metrics of success. One is the Super Randonneur distinction, which gets you two things. First, you can say you are a Super Randonneur, and if you do it 10 times, you are an Ultra Randonneur. Second, you can enter a 1200K "Grand Randonnee." You can do the latter also by smooth-talking the ride organizer, which works if the ride is under-subscribed. That's how I was permitted to start the Big Wild Ride 1200K last August, which ended in ignominy with my skull denting the pavement. This year I intend to do it the right way. In fact, apart from another crack at a 3:00 marathon in October, it's become my primary athletic goal for 2012.
I'm now either 3/4 or 3/5 of the way to the Super Randonneur designation, depending whether you determine it by distance traveled (900K in rando events this spring; 600K to go) or by number of events (3 down, 1 to go). Saturday we rode with the Western New York Randonneurs. We cut out early on Friday to drive to a town 5 miles east of Rochester. We woke at 3:30 for a planned 5 a.m. start. Only the start was actually at 6. There were 6 riders total.
It rained on us, hard, for 5 1/2 hours. Then it stopped and was beautiful. Then it started again, just enough to scare us, before becoming once again lovely for the rest of the ride. We left the Rochester area heading east along Lake Ontario. Then south to Auburn, at the north end of Owasco Lake. We bounced around the Finger Lakes until dinner -- south to Monrovia, east to Homer, north past Song Mountain ski area to Jamesville, and back south, this time by Labrador Mountain, to Homer. North to the resort town of Skeneateles at mile 182, where we ate fries and other fried food. Then west, through Auburn and beyond. It got dark when we left US 20 with 50 miles to go, and we rode north at night to Sodus Point on Lake Ontario and east to the finish. On the final 20 miles along the lakeshore, the clouds parted and revealed the Big Dipper right over our heads. We finished the 250 miles at 1 am.
Back to Alaska this month for ride number 4.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
So Long Ray
"Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction." Ray Bradbury
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Drip Mileage
I've been trying to sort through finishing touches to a collaborative article on behavioral exploitation antitrust in subprime mortgages, and my head is swimming with thoughts of pricing techniques for exploiting cognitive biases. I realized I use similar techniques to get myself to work out.
There's a fair amount of discussion on exploiting loss aversion to encourage reluctant gym-goers. Some have experimented with gym memberships with prices that increase for not going to the gym. To avoid paying more each month, a party to that contract would squeeze in the extra workout.
My own technique is different. I've learned that for reasons I can't quite understand the idea of a long workout is excessively daunting. Even in the best of my running shape, a 10-miler at marathon pace is overwhelming. If it's on the schedule, I might just find a reason not to go at all. ("I've been slow in my writing. Maybe I should spend the afternoon at my desk.") Today I planned to swim, but the idea of a fairly mundane 2000 yard workout might have been enough to keep me home.
The same goes for commercial transactions. $500 round trip is too much to fly to California. $30,000 is too much for a car. But the airline or car dealer may need to earn that much to make a profit. It can engage in "drip pricing," whereby it advertises a ticket for $400 (at or below the consumer's reservation price) and makes up the rest on baggage charges, movie rentals, and seat upgrades (airline); or charges $25,000 and earn more on extended warranties, rust-proofing, and optional features (auto dealer). The Office of Fair Trading published a report in 2009 that concluded drip pricing could cause consumers to pay more than they would in the presence of full up-front disclosure for two reasons. First is increased willingness to pay, whereby a consumer becomes willing to pay more once he or she has become committed to a transaction. Second is confusion, whereby the pricing technique obfuscates the actual price being charged. If I budget $400 to fly to California, having bought my ticket I might well end up paying the full $500 for the flight, either because I become willing to do so or because I don't notice that I am doing so.
I've learned that 10 miles or 2000 yards, or even 1 hour lifting weights, exceeds my "reservation mileage." So I plan a much different workout. Yesterday I laced up with the intent of running three miles or so. That got me into Rock Creek Park and past the startup hurdle. From there it was easy to turn left instead of right, heading up Beach Drive rather than back home. For today's swim I convinced myself I just needed to get in the pool to maintain a twice-a-week swimming program. After a few hundred yards, convincing myself to do a few hard 50s was not a big deal. Then a few became many.
I call it drip mileage. Kind of like a low-muse writing day. Maybe I can't think of anything to say, but I can play with the formatting. And maybe I can tackle that troublesome paragraph . . .
There's a fair amount of discussion on exploiting loss aversion to encourage reluctant gym-goers. Some have experimented with gym memberships with prices that increase for not going to the gym. To avoid paying more each month, a party to that contract would squeeze in the extra workout.
My own technique is different. I've learned that for reasons I can't quite understand the idea of a long workout is excessively daunting. Even in the best of my running shape, a 10-miler at marathon pace is overwhelming. If it's on the schedule, I might just find a reason not to go at all. ("I've been slow in my writing. Maybe I should spend the afternoon at my desk.") Today I planned to swim, but the idea of a fairly mundane 2000 yard workout might have been enough to keep me home.
The same goes for commercial transactions. $500 round trip is too much to fly to California. $30,000 is too much for a car. But the airline or car dealer may need to earn that much to make a profit. It can engage in "drip pricing," whereby it advertises a ticket for $400 (at or below the consumer's reservation price) and makes up the rest on baggage charges, movie rentals, and seat upgrades (airline); or charges $25,000 and earn more on extended warranties, rust-proofing, and optional features (auto dealer). The Office of Fair Trading published a report in 2009 that concluded drip pricing could cause consumers to pay more than they would in the presence of full up-front disclosure for two reasons. First is increased willingness to pay, whereby a consumer becomes willing to pay more once he or she has become committed to a transaction. Second is confusion, whereby the pricing technique obfuscates the actual price being charged. If I budget $400 to fly to California, having bought my ticket I might well end up paying the full $500 for the flight, either because I become willing to do so or because I don't notice that I am doing so.
I've learned that 10 miles or 2000 yards, or even 1 hour lifting weights, exceeds my "reservation mileage." So I plan a much different workout. Yesterday I laced up with the intent of running three miles or so. That got me into Rock Creek Park and past the startup hurdle. From there it was easy to turn left instead of right, heading up Beach Drive rather than back home. For today's swim I convinced myself I just needed to get in the pool to maintain a twice-a-week swimming program. After a few hundred yards, convincing myself to do a few hard 50s was not a big deal. Then a few became many.
I call it drip mileage. Kind of like a low-muse writing day. Maybe I can't think of anything to say, but I can play with the formatting. And maybe I can tackle that troublesome paragraph . . .
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Summer Reading
The NY Times Book Review Podcast had different staff members listing their summer reading. So now that grading is finished, I thought I would share my summer reading with the reader. On the professional side, I am diving into Brett Frischmann's book on Infrastructure. On the personal side, I am finishing an omnibus collection of Raymond Carver short stories and then turning to Book 2 in George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones series.
Care to share?
Care to share?
Monday, June 4, 2012
Further and Faster than I Wanted
My cousin and her husband are in town. He's a an awesome runner with pr of 2:30 for the marathon and a 4:24 mile under his belt. He once hung with Great Waitz for 11 plus miles at the NYC marathon in the 1980s. He took a number of years off and returned to distance running and racing a few years back.
His current training schedule called for an "easy" 2/12 hour run yesterday. So I upped my game and did between 10-11 miles with him at a pace faster than usual for me and slower than usual for him. He cabbed to my place and we ran past the north end of the running path, circled the main Loyola campus, and returned via a combination of the park and streets to avoid the bulk of the three day 60 mile Avon breast cancer walkers. He then continued another 6 miles down the lakefront back to his hotel downtown and I dragged my aching calves upstairs for a hot shower and a nap.
His current training schedule called for an "easy" 2/12 hour run yesterday. So I upped my game and did between 10-11 miles with him at a pace faster than usual for me and slower than usual for him. He cabbed to my place and we ran past the north end of the running path, circled the main Loyola campus, and returned via a combination of the park and streets to avoid the bulk of the three day 60 mile Avon breast cancer walkers. He then continued another 6 miles down the lakefront back to his hotel downtown and I dragged my aching calves upstairs for a hot shower and a nap.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
PR (kind of)
Fun, friendly, new and nearly local race in Rock Hall, Maryland (on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake). Beat my previous best by 3 minutes plus. Funny, though, because neither my bike nor my run were my best times, and my swim by only ~30 seconds. Turns out I PR'd because this small race had small transition areas, which took little time to get through.
It also had lots and lots of pizza at the end, and I had a couple of friends make the podium. And I got home in time for a late lunch.
It also had lots and lots of pizza at the end, and I had a couple of friends make the podium. And I got home in time for a late lunch.
Friday, June 1, 2012
I've been wanting to post this . . .
But haven't gotten around to it. Coming back from Blacksburg Va. late Sunday night (maybe it was early Monday morning by then) with D__ and B__, we listened to a podcast of an interview program targeting distance athletes. Someone asked Hunter Kemper, one of two U.S. representatives to the London Olympics in triathlon (and unquestionably the best ever from this country at the mid-course distance), "are you interested in running Ironman"? His answer was something like "never say never, but not soon."
The interviewer then paraphrased a statement by Greg Bennett, one of the all-time greats at mid-course triathlon. Bennett is said to have said "I'm not slow enough to go that far."
Here's a question: if writing an article is like training for and competing in a marathon or mid-course triathlon (a 2-4 hour race), is writing a book the long-distance analog?
The interviewer then paraphrased a statement by Greg Bennett, one of the all-time greats at mid-course triathlon. Bennett is said to have said "I'm not slow enough to go that far."
Here's a question: if writing an article is like training for and competing in a marathon or mid-course triathlon (a 2-4 hour race), is writing a book the long-distance analog?
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