Monday, September 27, 2010
Writing: Corporate Governance and Competition Policy
Fall is the season when I try to wrap up a decent draft of my summer project. This year is Corporate Governance and Competition Policy. As Larry Solum would say (but never so far in connection with my pieces), "Download it while its hot!"
Like running and triathlons, there is a training cycle for scholarship. For me it begins in the early part of the calendar as I focus on topics and ideas for the summer. Over the spring semester, I have my research assistant gather the prior literature for me (I will save for a future post my inability to use r.a.s for anything other than hunting/gathering). Over the summer, I read and begin my writing often spilling into the fall. As the manuscript takes shape, I share with internal and external readers and incorporate their comments. I generally post the draft on SSRN whenever I send to outsiders.
When I plan ahead, I like to workshop the piece (hint, hint) a few places. While there are always a few specialists in my area at whatever school I visit, I am looking to be able to explain and sell my ideas and approach to an audience of smart non-generalists (not unlike the law review editors who will be shortly reviewing my submission).
I do my final polish over winter break and wait for any last minute comments. I then sit back and wait for the "spring" submission cycle to begin which now seems to start to early-mid February. Then I fret and annoy my friends and wife until I hear something. Then rinse and repeat for the next cycle.
Like running and triathlons, there is a training cycle for scholarship. For me it begins in the early part of the calendar as I focus on topics and ideas for the summer. Over the spring semester, I have my research assistant gather the prior literature for me (I will save for a future post my inability to use r.a.s for anything other than hunting/gathering). Over the summer, I read and begin my writing often spilling into the fall. As the manuscript takes shape, I share with internal and external readers and incorporate their comments. I generally post the draft on SSRN whenever I send to outsiders.
When I plan ahead, I like to workshop the piece (hint, hint) a few places. While there are always a few specialists in my area at whatever school I visit, I am looking to be able to explain and sell my ideas and approach to an audience of smart non-generalists (not unlike the law review editors who will be shortly reviewing my submission).
I do my final polish over winter break and wait for any last minute comments. I then sit back and wait for the "spring" submission cycle to begin which now seems to start to early-mid February. Then I fret and annoy my friends and wife until I hear something. Then rinse and repeat for the next cycle.
Mixing it up -- a response
If I understand Ted's dilemma, it's that after a few months of running long Saturdays, tempo on Mondays and intervals on Thursdays; riding long Sundays and fartlek on Wednesdays and swimming Tuesday and Friday -- every week -- it's tough to see continued progress. I agree. Ever wonder why the postman, who walks 5 miles a day delivering mail, somehow has a gut?
I differ from the repetitive approach in a few ways. One is precisely Ted's recent solution. Build in blocks devoted to one event or another. This summer, partly for vacation and partly for training purposes, I drove out west, riding 2-4 hours every day in the unique conditions each state offered (and bricking most rides with a 30' run). The climax of the trip was the RAMROD ride in Mt. Rainier National Park in July, with my brother.
After a trip like that you need a real recovery week. Swimming is great recovery from the joint stress you get riding and running, so I spent several days in the pool. Like Ted, the 50-meter pool. If you're going to be racing in open water, there's no better approximation. (No flip turns -- they mess up your breathing.) And if you spend several days in the pool, you need to mix it up to preserve your sanity. No reason you can't do speed work in the water, like you can on land -- try a short warm-up, 3-4 sets of 5 50-meter sprints, and a short warm-down. You'll have 1500 or more quality meters in without realizing it happened. (And speed work is surprisingly important preparation for the swim leg of a triathlon, which seems like a steady-state effort, but in reality is fartlek -- think of escaping the guy climbing up your back during the starting jumble, or getting back up to speed after sighting somewhere mid-race.)
And then comes the best week -- the run block.
I think my program has a few such blocks built in, usually during the build-up phase. As I approach the race, the need for specificity of training makes rotating through the events every week more important.
The other important way to mix things up is to go through periods of sprint work, tempo work, mileage-building work and back to interval work in the few weeks before the race.
Or so I hear. I've been pretty faithful to a program with these elements since January, and I am generally (although not completely) pleased with the results. I'm also getting tired, and I am really looking forward to hanging up the bike and goggles after one last race this Saturday, and wearing the rubber off the soles of my shoes this fall.
I differ from the repetitive approach in a few ways. One is precisely Ted's recent solution. Build in blocks devoted to one event or another. This summer, partly for vacation and partly for training purposes, I drove out west, riding 2-4 hours every day in the unique conditions each state offered (and bricking most rides with a 30' run). The climax of the trip was the RAMROD ride in Mt. Rainier National Park in July, with my brother.
After a trip like that you need a real recovery week. Swimming is great recovery from the joint stress you get riding and running, so I spent several days in the pool. Like Ted, the 50-meter pool. If you're going to be racing in open water, there's no better approximation. (No flip turns -- they mess up your breathing.) And if you spend several days in the pool, you need to mix it up to preserve your sanity. No reason you can't do speed work in the water, like you can on land -- try a short warm-up, 3-4 sets of 5 50-meter sprints, and a short warm-down. You'll have 1500 or more quality meters in without realizing it happened. (And speed work is surprisingly important preparation for the swim leg of a triathlon, which seems like a steady-state effort, but in reality is fartlek -- think of escaping the guy climbing up your back during the starting jumble, or getting back up to speed after sighting somewhere mid-race.)
And then comes the best week -- the run block.
I think my program has a few such blocks built in, usually during the build-up phase. As I approach the race, the need for specificity of training makes rotating through the events every week more important.
The other important way to mix things up is to go through periods of sprint work, tempo work, mileage-building work and back to interval work in the few weeks before the race.
Or so I hear. I've been pretty faithful to a program with these elements since January, and I am generally (although not completely) pleased with the results. I'm also getting tired, and I am really looking forward to hanging up the bike and goggles after one last race this Saturday, and wearing the rubber off the soles of my shoes this fall.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
A Fall Run
Wednesday was 88 and humid and I foolishly ran 5-6 miles on a day when I had to teach until 9 PM. Needless to say, I paid the price as the day wore on and the details of teaching Class Actions and FRCP 23 became more jumbled. Somehow I rallied to teach what felt like one of my better night classes of the semester.
Today (Saturday) was a different story. I woke to temperatures in the low 50s and the seasonal dilemma and what to wear. I ended up in regular shorts a long sleeve shirt and tied a pair of lite weight sweats around my waist because of the gusty winds on the lakefront and my promise to meet Laura at the organic farmers market in Lincoln Park by the zoo. Ran to Northwestern Law School and then back to the farmer's market seeing just about every permutation of shorts, pants, and tops possible. Even saw my first gloves of the season. While others may bemoan the dropping temperatures I rejoice (at least until about January).
5 miles with a bit of speed work ended with a delicious egg and bacon sandwich at the stand run the woman who also runs the Sunday Night Supper Club. Shopped the market and then walked home the 1 1/2 miles with Laura grateful for the long pants.
Today (Saturday) was a different story. I woke to temperatures in the low 50s and the seasonal dilemma and what to wear. I ended up in regular shorts a long sleeve shirt and tied a pair of lite weight sweats around my waist because of the gusty winds on the lakefront and my promise to meet Laura at the organic farmers market in Lincoln Park by the zoo. Ran to Northwestern Law School and then back to the farmer's market seeing just about every permutation of shorts, pants, and tops possible. Even saw my first gloves of the season. While others may bemoan the dropping temperatures I rejoice (at least until about January).
5 miles with a bit of speed work ended with a delicious egg and bacon sandwich at the stand run the woman who also runs the Sunday Night Supper Club. Shopped the market and then walked home the 1 1/2 miles with Laura grateful for the long pants.
Friday, September 24, 2010
The 50 Meter Pool
Okay, one of the side effects of training for Triathlon is that an injury doesn't actually reduce your training time. I haven't run in over a week, but I've biked a bit, and I've been swimming a lot. This week, I've done swim workouts 6 days out of 7. This has allowed me to work more variety into my swimming than usual. My typical swim workout involves slogging through somewhere between 1000 and 2000 meters, freestyle, at a moderate pace. That, after all, is what tri requires. This week, I've mixed it up. I've been working on back stroke, breast stroke, and even, in moments of insanity, butterfly. Best of all, on Tuesday morning, I got to swim in a 50 meter pool. I may be fooling myself, but it feels like my mechanics have improved more in the last week than in close to a year of steady work. This raises a question about cross-training. I've gotten quite happy with a constant routine of rotating workouts. The problem is that I've hit a plateau. Should I be rotating week by week, focussing on one thing, then the other, etc. Max, what is your experience??
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Running: Injury
Runners get injured. Marathoners, more so. The constant pounding of the long runs magnifies the effect of our improper form and structural issues. The marathon itself rarely fails to leave me without an issue that takes 3-6 weeks to heal. Phil and Spencer both know this from hard experience. Spencer started the Dublin Marathon injured. Phil finished it that way. None of us are as young as we used to be. It's hard to know when to push through, and when wisdom is the better part of valor. I've made both decisions in different years. I skipped the 2001 NYC Marathon because of a last minute spasm in my ITB (or at least I think that's what it was). I missed the 2005 NYC Marathon due to a bruised kneecap (don't train for a marathon and play squash). On the other hand, I ran the 2002 NYC Marathon, even though my left calf went into spasm on the Verrazano Bridge, and ran both NYC (2007) and Dublin (2009) notwithstanding injuries during the taper (what's that about anyway)?
Anyway, I've hit an injury decision point again this year, and I think that the injury has won. I don't know exactly what it is. After the NYC Tri, I noticed what felt like a bruise at the top of my heel, near the Achilles insertion. It didn't seem like much, and it seemed to come and go. I decided to rest it for a week, limiting my training to hiking and biking. It got tighter. Now, it seems to have blossomed into a full blown case of (choose one: (1) a bone bruise; (2) achilles tendonitis; (3) a stress fracture in my heel). I don't really know which one it is, but I've managed it since then with cross-training and ice. It always feels better after a bike swim workout. It always feels worse after a long run.
I thought I was training for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21. That's eight weeks away. I've managed to do a few 15-16 milers, but if I'm serious, it's time to start running long, and racing half marathons. That just doesn't look like it's going to happen, so there you have it.
Okay, so what to do next? All of a sudden I don't know what my next goal is. This is very disconcerting. My current thought is just to have fun with the swimming and biking while I wait for the darn thing to heel, but that seems too amorphous for a goal directed person like me. Hmmm. .
Anyway, I've hit an injury decision point again this year, and I think that the injury has won. I don't know exactly what it is. After the NYC Tri, I noticed what felt like a bruise at the top of my heel, near the Achilles insertion. It didn't seem like much, and it seemed to come and go. I decided to rest it for a week, limiting my training to hiking and biking. It got tighter. Now, it seems to have blossomed into a full blown case of (choose one: (1) a bone bruise; (2) achilles tendonitis; (3) a stress fracture in my heel). I don't really know which one it is, but I've managed it since then with cross-training and ice. It always feels better after a bike swim workout. It always feels worse after a long run.
I thought I was training for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21. That's eight weeks away. I've managed to do a few 15-16 milers, but if I'm serious, it's time to start running long, and racing half marathons. That just doesn't look like it's going to happen, so there you have it.
Okay, so what to do next? All of a sudden I don't know what my next goal is. This is very disconcerting. My current thought is just to have fun with the swimming and biking while I wait for the darn thing to heel, but that seems too amorphous for a goal directed person like me. Hmmm. .
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
City Races
I eschewed city races for many years. I refused seriously to consider the Marine Corps Marathon -- who wants to run with 30,000 of your closest friends over concrete, breathing smog? My marathons have included one out-and-back along a canal towpath northwest of Baltimore; another (my personal best) starting and finishing in Carlsbad, California, north of San Diego, with the first half winding past Legoland and the return following the Pacific Coast Highway; another out-and-back along a remote bike trail from Athens, Ohio. I'm a big fan of trail runs. Triathlons tend to be remote, because they shut down whatever 10-mile-square area in which they are run. I even spent many years refusing to race.
2010 for me has been the year of the city races. (It actually starts in 2009, when I joined Spencer, Ted, Philip and others for the Dublin marathon. I still chuckle over the cheers of "Go, Laddie, Go!")
In March I ran the St. Patrick's Day 8K in downtown DC, the unofficial kick-off to the spring race season.
Then came the National Marathon, which starts by RFK Stadium, passes the Capitol, runs down Constitution, up 18th, Connecticut and Calvert Streets through Adams Morgan, out past Howard University, down North Capitol, east on H Street circling back to RFK, where you lose the 1/2-ers, circling back past the Capital and down Constitution to 9th, where you follow the commuter tunnel out to what is I think Maine Avenue, then double back along the South-West Waterfront, passing the magnificent new baseball stadium and crossing the Anacostia at mile 20. You then head North/East along the Anacostia River, take a jog on Pennsylvania Avenue South East, and hit a series of nasty hills starting at mile 22. At mile 25 you head back across the Anacostia and find an uphill finish at RFK Stadium. The city turns out to cheer in good number. I have lived in DC for 11 years now, and the National Marathon was a tour of places I've never been (and some I wouldn't go without a few thousand others!). What a way to get to know my town.
The Cherry Blossom 10-mile is run in early April, a perfect time of year for racing. We had 65 degrees, sunny, no wind, and a flat course back and forth along the Potomac, including a trip across Memorial Bridge toward Arlington Cemetery. The hardest part of that run is out to the end of Haines Point and back, between miles 7 and 9. I've done the Haines Point run myriad times, but it's a long lonely slog at that point in a mid-distance race.
Still to come this year: the Army 10 mile (Oct. 24) and the Marine Corps Marathon (Oct. 31).
The best, though, were the DC Triathlon and Nation's Triathlon, in June and September, respectively. They shut down Independence, Constitution, 17th Street, Whitehurst Freeway, Canal Road, Clara Barton Parkway, and Rock Creek Parkway up to the Calvert Street exit, and give you license to hammer yourself senseless over the busiest and prettiest roads in DC.
I've been working on a refinement to my theory of why I race. One reason is that it makes me feel like King for a day. A good city race does that better than any other.
2010 for me has been the year of the city races. (It actually starts in 2009, when I joined Spencer, Ted, Philip and others for the Dublin marathon. I still chuckle over the cheers of "Go, Laddie, Go!")
In March I ran the St. Patrick's Day 8K in downtown DC, the unofficial kick-off to the spring race season.
Then came the National Marathon, which starts by RFK Stadium, passes the Capitol, runs down Constitution, up 18th, Connecticut and Calvert Streets through Adams Morgan, out past Howard University, down North Capitol, east on H Street circling back to RFK, where you lose the 1/2-ers, circling back past the Capital and down Constitution to 9th, where you follow the commuter tunnel out to what is I think Maine Avenue, then double back along the South-West Waterfront, passing the magnificent new baseball stadium and crossing the Anacostia at mile 20. You then head North/East along the Anacostia River, take a jog on Pennsylvania Avenue South East, and hit a series of nasty hills starting at mile 22. At mile 25 you head back across the Anacostia and find an uphill finish at RFK Stadium. The city turns out to cheer in good number. I have lived in DC for 11 years now, and the National Marathon was a tour of places I've never been (and some I wouldn't go without a few thousand others!). What a way to get to know my town.
The Cherry Blossom 10-mile is run in early April, a perfect time of year for racing. We had 65 degrees, sunny, no wind, and a flat course back and forth along the Potomac, including a trip across Memorial Bridge toward Arlington Cemetery. The hardest part of that run is out to the end of Haines Point and back, between miles 7 and 9. I've done the Haines Point run myriad times, but it's a long lonely slog at that point in a mid-distance race.
Still to come this year: the Army 10 mile (Oct. 24) and the Marine Corps Marathon (Oct. 31).
The best, though, were the DC Triathlon and Nation's Triathlon, in June and September, respectively. They shut down Independence, Constitution, 17th Street, Whitehurst Freeway, Canal Road, Clara Barton Parkway, and Rock Creek Parkway up to the Calvert Street exit, and give you license to hammer yourself senseless over the busiest and prettiest roads in DC.
I've been working on a refinement to my theory of why I race. One reason is that it makes me feel like King for a day. A good city race does that better than any other.
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