Enginerve's Blog

Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping, and always have a mountain in life to climb

  • Sugru Stops Sound Bar Hanger fr Gouging Wall

    Sugru starts smiles because no matter how much my life has changed being a Maker is always satisfying. I don’t have the same shop or living space, but the need to make hacks to improve everything is always present.

    One step in organizing my Living Room TV mess was to install a generic sound bar hanger. It works great and like any maker it wasn’t long installing before it was determined that mounting the unit as described wasn’t the best method. It might have been the FKT for discarding instructions.

    No matter whether one follow the direction or not, the end result left a small sharp end from the hanger which gouged the wall each time the unit was tilted, so every time the TV is used.

    I purchased this pack of Sugru to mold my own bumpers to solve the problem. I absolutely appreciate Sugru.

  • Training is lonely. With a plan. Without a plan. Track Nights. Speed Workout. Tempo Runs. Long Slow Distance. Recovery Runs. Stair Workouts. Hill Repeats. Intervals. You do these often by yourself. Sometimes with a running buddy and conversations are then held under the cone of silence rules.

    Then there is the Group Run.  These are some of the folks you will undoubtedly meet there.

    1. The ROUTE MAPPER

     

    Ir6hXcQ

    They read maps and grok elevation profiles like everyone else does Game of Thrones.  The know the Gorge, the Coast, and especially Forest Park like the partner it is.  Any picture, any season, they know where they are. They leave piles of rocks and rumor has it have Hansel and Gretel memorized.

    If you show them the picture above they know exactly what trail it is and how many miles you cut off the Wildwood by using the shortcuts, and they have run all of it.  They know it is Balch Creek, the proper name is the Witches Castle (not the Stone House), they know where the Giant Owl is mounted on a tree, where the wood teepee is maintained as well as the trail closure web page.

    It is a role that falls on a veteran member of the group, they’ve run every one of the routes many times.  They will let you get lost if you are having a good time, and they will point the way if you sound tentative, and they watch the front and the back of the group.  Measure how good your group is by these runners.  Great ones check to make sure you get back and go back and get you when you are lost.  A GPS or a trail sign are a wonderful thing, but hold these runners closer than that.

    2. THAT STRAVA NUT

    pause-my-garmin

    If it isn’t on Strava, it didn’t happen.  They wave a hand in the air like a pink flamingo raises a leg.  They won’t budge until the satellites lock in.  Their annual bucket list includes a run where the Strava route draws a shape.  They also have the best run titles and will loan you a file when your run doesn’t record.  It won’t bother them you look identical.

    The technical ones know where the why your phone records differently than a Garmin, and can spend hours discussing the waypoints different watches and phone operating systems utilize.  They can be spotted with a smartphone that isn’t playing music as it is secretly recording and one or more wrist devices as well as a heart monitor.  When the apocalypse happens they will be purchasing a Garmin for their dog who is well behaved and has their own Instagram account.  They never turn on Beaconing.  They could get lost in the running store.

    Then there are the hunters, who are not the sheriffs.  They run whatever pace it takes and sprint like mad over a segment to prove something and you hear from them over post race coffee.  If you are tempted, save it for your training runs.

    3. The ROAD RUNNER

    Speed blur

    They are fast on road runs.  Concrete.  They run so precisely they slow when they step on lines on a track.  On a trail they go nuts.  They are easy to spot as they look constantly at their watch and are sure that real running happens at faster speeds.  They struggle uphill and run downhill like a Prius.

    They will catch on, they are runners.

    Until then they are a pain in ass.

    4. The KLATCH

     

    This is usually a sub group, running slowly near the back of the pack if in touch with the group at all. If there is a regroup point, they can’t make it before everyone is shivering and needs to move on.

    They are friendly and buzz with conversation amongst themselves.  You will not get to know them: you weren’t dancing with them last night, weren’t injured at the same time, didn’t do the last race with them.

    You may not see them again, even at a post run coffee or beer.

    5. THE ANIMAL

    This one has never run with a group or held a conversation.  They run the group run like a training run and go as hard as they can.  There may be people with them; however, they are so far above Tempo they can’t talk.  They compare Strava times at the end and freeze while everyone else comes in much later.  They show up to a group run for the social connection.  They are fun after a beer.

    6. The ULTRA RUNNER

     

    Announces themselves as an Ultra.  Thy are insulted when you call them a runner.  Mentions that they shouldn’t have done those hill reps before the group run.

    They measure runs in hours.

    They usually run a Half to get to the run, and you will never see them again.

    7. The DOCTOR

    They know exactly what is wrong with your running mechanics that caused the problem you are having.  They have had it before, repeatedly.

    Not to be confused with the ER Doc or DPT who is running with the group,  these folks have no idea what salt is for but have a portable rolling device for whenever you stop.

     

    They are up on all the latest treatments, methods, and shoes and you will have to probably let them tape you up.

    9. The always late RUNNER

     

     

     

    This is what waiting looks like. (Credit: Jesse Wild)

    Try telling only them that ride starts at 8.45 when it really starts at 9. Their sixth sense for lateness will probably leave you waiting til 9.20 anyway.

    10. The WOUNDED

     

     

     

    Leave the big rings to Roger

    Just because you’re riding a 54×42 chainset around the South Downs, it doesn’t make you Roger De Vlaeminck.

    11. The TRI

     

     

     

    Leave the big rings to Roger

    12. The PACK

     

     

     

    Leave the big rings to Roger

     

    14. The FAST GUY

     

     

     

    Leave the big rings to Roger

     

    15. The LANTERN ROUGE

     

     

     

    Leave the big rings to Roger

     

    Inspiration for my bit of group humor from Cycling Weekly.  I hope they accept it with grace for all the group rides I have done.

    I am sure I left off your favorite, contact my legal department.

  • I like the idea of “listening to your body” but what happens if it is much better but still a sensation, not of pain, but of stiffness. Does one completely idle? Run hard until stiffness sets in? Try another run and see? Hmmm.

    Wait, going downhill I slowed up and tried for fluidity and no braking as I understood that motion was aggravating to a hamstring and when I noticed it tightening I slowed up more and then on the way in. Still, I am left with something residual. Quick eBike ride to coffee shop and off to run group. It will involve hills and there is no reason to set the pace, can run with the 2nd lead pack as a compromise 🙂

    Fun. Light and Easy.

  • It is hot in the NW and going to get hotter. Understatement of the year, we are in a “Excessive Heat Warning” and while I am going to BBQ this afternoon on my little deck, I am not going for a bike ride or to ride my Zwift as it has no A/C and faces the sun AND the heat just blasts of that pavement. Instead, if the temps dip I will go for a walk.

    Where was I? The Zwift bike! I woke up earlier in the week and the condo hadn’t cooled. That is really not a suprise as there is no cross ventilation in my little place. It is affordable and I am fond of it, but a house and/or a more modern unit…well, it is not those things. As I lay in bed I kept hearing the fan going in the Living Room and recalled that last summer I had two fans….or did I? And created my own breeze or circle of air [n.b. I am still testing the entire strategy of which direction to point the fans and whether they should also be opposite or serial air flow] I simply couldn’t remember where the fan was located. I got up, it was the first day of summer, and even before breakfast I looked under the bed and then taking the storage unit key I looked in there.

    It was so funny when I went out to the garage and opened the door and there, right in front of me, tilted to cool me while Zwifting, was the fan.

    That reminds me that I really need to pick up miles more effectively this summer so I am ready for long rides. I took the eBike and came back with sore legs, neck and view that ride as a great success.

    All the fan news and still practicing writing.

  • The official part number for the feet appears to be #WP9709707 and there is a replacement for this on Amazon. I don’t know if that is precisely the correct P/N for the feet I have OR if the correct one is to replace the rather solid looking alternate. The problem is that the feet are so old and so crumbly and caked with the dirt of decades of use that I can’t keep the counter top clean when they get wet at all.

    After all the years of noticing the problem where the feet track and streak the counter, which I would wash and let the feet dry, I actually took a second and turned the machine over. Remembering that I fix things and that was where my career as a Maker began all those decades ago. Just taking things apart and finding out what didn’t work and putting them back together working as well as they can.

    It came as no surprise that Amazon and even KitchenAid still had parts for these. The original design was built to be used and used and repaired and kept going. There is even replacement gears and other mechanisms to rebuild the inside and I do ponder fixing it so it is quiet and smooth again.

    The outside is worn and aged looking (n.b. I edited out the word rust and yet in the picture I can easily spot it) at the edges and it has made countless batches of so many foods, pie dough, cookies, breads…I believe it came to me in 1980 and here 31 years later I am replacing the feet and taking the care of it that might well have been taken some years ago. Somethings give joy.

    Marji provided the decal a few years ago

    Some things will wear out, but the love that goes into this unit means that I will continue to repair it for as long as possible and then will move on as everything changes. For now it is enough to know that somewhere parts are on their way and for $7.21 I will have clean and usable feet again and the mixer will continue.

    I like this whole process of seeing that I need to attend to things and doing so.

  • I like telling stories. I always figured that telling stories was my way of processing information or events. Or maybe that stories were my way of remembering what it was that happened and focusing on portions of the occurrence. I have also heard that story telling is to allow others to get a handle on the information and to bring them into the event in the retelling. Recently a quote stuck with me that storytelling is a way of validating our existence and establish that we are here.

    Perhaps. I am hoping to work that out. And to allow myself to wander and see if I can create timeless-ness and flow. And just to see where it takes me.

    I joined the #1000wordsofsummer again and it is my great hope to practice writing which I enjoy and to become clear and crisp in what I have to say. Somehow I fear that sesquipedalian-ism or really simply not learning to transfer narrative from oral to written form has hampered the practice and so, here I am, starting a journey, like mediation, that is a practice and will pay slow dividends.

    Whoops, so many tools in this platform that I haven’t used yet. Well, one at a time. The process it not to be rushed

    I wasn’t as nervous driving up to the Mt Washington trail head as I had been earlier in the week and that should have meant something. For some reason the trail had me anxious, it was easily 4 miles farther than I have run since the Pandemic started. Just now, a day after the event I realized it was nearly Feb 2020, actually November 2019 since I have run this kind of distance. So it goes. I just wanted to train up. Up being the word on this route, the hill up was 14.6% (in the interests of checking the precise number on Strava) and so power hiking and walking were the order of the day. The route down was 7.3% and that doesn’t describe the Mountain Bike track with banked corners and swoops up and down as well as it should have. Somewhere in the entire process it became hard to go downhill, it was faster than I was comfortable with and whether the lack of water or the lack of training, or the lack of eating, all of which conspired together to simply shutoff the legs and I was

    [I went back and edited a bunch and I realize that for this day, I am not trying for a good post, or one where I have edited it and cleaned it up, I simply want to write]

    dropped off the back. I am fine with that as the group is fast, faster than I am and yet, I was clearly not running like I can and should have been able to keep up with the group. The most interesting part was on the 2% upgrade on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail I couldn’t keep up with a 9min/mile pace. I seriously ran out of energy on the entire run and need to think through this as a post run exercise.

    I think the water mattered as the rest of the day I felt thirsty. Or the food. But the heart rate was unusually high as well. Perhaps I have to run longer runs with SGLRG and keep moving up the mileage. And now that I come to it, this week was my highest week in some time and there is a price to pay for coming at a week for more mileage both riding and running than I have done.

    Riding it was double the previous week and most likely double the last four weeks although not the highest of the year.

    Running it was double the mileage and double the average from the last four weeks and the highest of the year. So that wasn’t a great jump.

    So many facts and such a small amount of interesting story. What really felt damn good was Christopher (Run Leader) trailing behind the lead runners to make sure I made the last two turns. I had the route in my watch and would have noticed when I overran them. Still it was super nice to be considered even in the back of the group. And now I have to train more seriously.

    Also interesting was that Jodie’s longest run ever and despite no water she was strong. Hmmm.

    All of these little tidbits are swimming around in my head to build a story and a narrative of what the run was, what the run meant, what it felt like.

    Going uphill was fun as always, I am slow on the snow, and that is rather typical, I am unwilling to slip and sprain something running across a surface that I posthole faster than the “elf” weight shorter runners do. The group was discussing their heights at the top of the hill. And like many runners, they are shorter and lighter, and lighter as a percentage as I am running (pun intended) to extra weight coming out of COVID.

    The challenge is to train and to push myself, into uncomfortable roles and distances and situations and then to work on being better and more capable as a result. To that degree the run was an unmitigated success. I am sore, but only slightly, I am uninjured other than a little pride at simply being unable to keep up.

    Sidenote, I could feel the heart rate not keeping down and me not keeping up at the end but I still didn’t reach for my Gu and try something new. I wonder, other than simply the distance, what happened. I will say there was an energy loss the rest of the day and that wasn’t a surprise. I hadn’t planned well for it and that was a surprise.

    Alright, from a storytelling viewpoint this was all the thoughts and the emotions, even simply acknowledged without a discernible story or thread to tie them together. Awkward. But so it begins. I am going to allow myself to “Do It Badly” and determine to attempt a better story on the next one.

  • I liked Manya Whitaker’s piece on How to Find a Writing Routine That Works. I think the relationship of stress to the situation: Your emotional state has a direct effect on brain functioning and the corresponding relationship to marking the end of your intellectual work for the day.