Michael Keating

Jason to the Principal's Office

2010-01-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

Jason gets called to the principal's office because of a Christmas movie he made.

Space Elevator Games

2009-11-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

From November 2 through November 6, I had the privilege to assist with the running of The 2009 Space Elevator Games. Organized by The Spaceward Foundation, the games were held at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, on the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base. Three teams competed for two prizes totaling $2 million. For the games, I had the best seat in the house: playing the role of Tether Man in each cycle of attempts at the prizes. Here is a sample of what I was doing all week:

Texas Cardio, v 2.0

2009-03-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

At the Academy this morning, the workout was called "Texas Cardio V.2".

The summary: 210 deadlifts at 175 pounds.

The details: Load a barbell up to half of your single-lift maximum. Start a clock. Before the end of the first minute, do one deadlift. In the second minute, do two more deadlifts. In the third minute, three of them. Continue until failing to make the proper number of lifts in a given minute or until form is on the verge of being unsafe.

I made it through 15 rounds (and 15 minutes), but in the 16-minute round, I was able to lift only four times, and then I was too fatigued to continue safely.

Originally posted at Texas Cardio, v 2.0

Phishing Scams

2009-01-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

It seems like some credit card companies do not want to know about phishing scams targeting their customers. I tried to let Discover Card know about a scam running at discovercard-service.com (which is NOT a legitimate site; it is run by fraudsters) but they did not seem to want to talk to me if I was not a customer of theirs. And I could not easily find any place on the real Discover Card site to make a report. Frustrating.

Peanut Butter Recall -- Zone Bars

2009-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

I learned today that ZonePerfect bars--Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor--are subject to voluntary recall. All lots have been tested and no salmonella has been found in any of them, but is it worth the risk? And wouldn't you know that I just got a couple of dozen of them from Costco this past weekend?

Now I am curious: is it safe to dispose of them in the compost bin?

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2009/01/peanut-butter-recall-zone-bars.html

Track Work - 800s and 200s

2009-01-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

I went all by myself to the track this morning for a solo 6:00am running workout. It was a combination of runs of 800 meters and 200 meters suggested by Pat. Following is the combination of runs and rests:

Run	Recovery
800m	2 minutes
800m	2 minutes
200m	200m jog
200m	200m jog
800m	2 minutes
800m	2 minutes
200m	200m jog
200m	200m jog
800m	200m jog
200m	DONE

The workout was interesting, and my legs were a little heavy for most of the day after this, my second track-work day since the cancelled marathon.

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2009/01/track-work-800s-and-200s.html

Wingsuit Base Jumping

2009-01-20T17:56:00.000-08:00

I want to do this, but I feel I would first have to set all of my affairs in order...
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2009/01/wingsuit-base-jumping.html

Corlyn's 300

2008-12-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

Corlyn, who is one of my work-out buddies at Team CrossFit Academy, pulled 300 pounds (136 kg) off of the floor yesterday. Her previous best lift (from a few months ago, I believe) was only around 200 pounds!

Twenty of us lifted our jaws from the floor after seeing sweet Corlyn pull that off.

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2008/12/corlyns-300.html

Winter Solstice

2008-12-21T13:47:00.001-08:00

Mark reminded me that today is the winter solstice. Tomorrow, Pasadena will have three seconds more daylight than today.

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2008/12/winter-solstice.html

Marathon's Loose Ends

2008-12-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

As noted, the Pasadena Marathon was cancelled due to the poor air quality caused by fires on three sides of Pasadena. The dearth of blog posts in the final six weeks leading up to the marathon stemmed from nagging injuries that kept me from following the training regimen through that period.

The most debilitating of the injuries were the pains in my calves. The first occurrence of pain came on a day we were suppose to run three 1-mile repeats. My legs were spent from a CrossFit workout a day or two before, in which we did a large number of med-ball cleans mixed in with push-ups. Laurence and I worked through that one side by side, and we both felt the effects of the squats. My silliness came in trying to run the mile repeats with tired legs. I got through the first two of them well enough: somewhere around 6:20 or 6:30 per mile. But three-quarters of the way into the third mile I felt a pain in the calf and walked the rest of the way in.

After that day, I went through a series of weeks in which one calf or the other would stop me from running anything faster than a seven- or eight-minute mile. This put a serious dent in my mid-tempo training, and speed work was completely out of the question. On one Friday in particular, I tried to run six miles but was able to make it through only 1.5 of the six miles before my calves stopped me. But here is an amazing trick: that Friday night, I got a agonizingly painful calf massage from Beth. Thanks to the massage, I was able to run twelve miles (of 17 scheduled) on the very next day!

During the six weeks, I trained when able, including running the Long Beach Half Marathon with Jeff and Jim and putting in a 20-mile training run three weeks before the marathon. I did some of these runs with pains in my calves and some with pain in my right foot. The foot pain was so sharp (and new to me) that I visited my podiatrist (Dr. Mark Kidon) to rule out any fractures. He diagnosed me with peroneal tendinitis and recommended rest and massage to treat.

Taht worked well enough, and on marathon day I felt just well-enough patched up that I believe I could have completed the 26.2 miles in about 3:45:00. And though my knees, calves, and feet would have been in pain afterwards, I am pretty sure I would not have suffered any permanent damage.

I recently received notice from the organizers of the marathon that they secured a date to run a rescheduled Pasadena Marathon on March 22. I have not yet decided whether or not to run the marathon on this new date, but I am leaning against it. Training for too many other athletic events lies between now and then: Mount Wilson Trail Race, CrossFit Games, Masters National Weightlifting, Caltech Soccer Club.... and marathon training is all-consuming and fairly specialized. If I do not run the full marathon, I will probably run the half marathon. I feel I can run that distance well enough without too much change in my training routine.

Originally posted at http://www.michaelkeating.com/weblog/2008/12/marathons-loose-ends.html

Marathon Day -- Event Cancelled

2008-11-16T05:09:00.000-08:00

The Pasadena Marathon got cancelled because of smoke from wildfires to the southeast and northwest.

I may list later the ways in which this sucks, but I will start with this one: the official web site, one hour after cancellation, does not show that the event was cancelled. They instead relied on Email to let participants know about it. It took over an hour for some of us to receive this message.

I am going back to bed now.

Marathon Week 14, Day 6

2008-09-27T19:50:00.001-07:00

The dreadful ache in my thighs, residual from Tuesday's Good Medicine workout, is steadily making its way out, but Thursday's 1-mile repeats left me with an injury in my soleus that will take a few more days to heal. Because of this, I did not run with the dozen people putting in 15 miles today.

I am not sure how good it was for my mental health, but I showed up this morning anyway to act as support crew for today's runners. It got me just close enough to the action that I really missed running with them!

Everyone looked so strong through the first six miles. After that 6-mile checkpoint, I separated from the course to avoid driving to the Rose Bowl (UCLA home game against Fresno State) and moved to the ten-mile mark. Everyone was still doing well when they got to me, but some of them, perhaps forgetting that they had been running for over an hour and a half, expressed concerned over fatigue setting in. But I am happy to report that they all finished the route in excellent form. I have got to get better soon so I can join them again.

One especially fun part of the morning: a lot of people from outside of our world are starting to run the route in preparation for the marathon. Our crew look at least as strong as any of them.

Also... Ted and Juanita rocked the course today!

Marathon Start Time Posted

2008-09-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe this has been on the marathon's web site all along, but I just found the following at http://www.pasadenamarathon.org/forms/FAQrev.pdf:

Q: What time do the various race-day events start?
A: Bike Tour, 6:00 a.m.
Marathon & Half Marathon, 6:30 a.m.
5K & Fun Run/Walk, 6:50 a.m.

I like the fact that our marathoners and half-marathoners will get to start together.

Marathon Week 14, Day 5

2008-09-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

It is supposed to be a CrossFit/Bootcamp day, but my legs are in as much pain as they were yesterday. So my workout: take the whippets on a walk. The small hills at the top of Lake Ave. were a significant challenge. :-(

Marathon Week 14, Day 4

2008-09-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Despite the fatigue still firmly in my quads, I met Jeff, Jim, and Ted this morning at the middle school to run four one-mile repeats. The stiff legs definitely held me back. Here are my times:

6:33
6:29
Did not finish
Did not even start

With about 300 meters left in my third mile, I started to feel pain in my right hamstring and calf. I tried to handle it by slowing down and adjusting my stride, but when that did not work, I thought it safest to walk the rest of the way. I am glad I stopped; I now have a sharp pain in my soleus and an ache in my hamstring. Time now for a few days of unscheduled rest.

I hear that Tommie is also injured, possibly in his Achilles tendon.

Marathon Week 14, Day 3

2008-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is a Rest Day, and I am glad; those med-ball cleans from yesterday have my thighs extremely sore. I went for a couple of miles' hike this evening in the hope of loosening them up. Maybe it helped, but they are still in bad shape.

Marathon Week 14, Day 2

2008-09-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today's "Good Medicine" CrossFit workout at the academy loosened up all the stiffness in my hip from yesterday. Just the wall squats we did for warm-up worked wonders!

The assignment: complete as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes of

10 Med Ball Cleans (M-20lbs, W-16lbs)
10 Push-ups

Lawrence and I, working side by side, completed 17 rounds together. The mark we set at 0600 would hold up for most of the day--until Tom B. caught us, and then some crazy guy named Steve E. knocked out 20 of them! Full Results

I knew by round 7 that my legs were going to be sore from this one. And for the rest of the day, my quads have been wead from the workout. I wonder whether Lawrence feels the same way. Tomorrow is, I am thankful, a rest day.

Marathon Week 14, Day 1

2008-09-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

I stayed up late Sunday night and slept in a little this morning. When I got up and headed out to warm up for my 5-mile mid-tempo run, I did not feel quite right--a little bit of stiffness in my left hip. And when I saw how much more traffic is on the streets at 6:40am compared to 6:00am, I decided to pack it in without the miles.

Marathon Week 13, Day 7

2008-09-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Liz Goodman Logelin Memorial 5k

A coworker and friend of a close friend of mine went through "life and death. all in a 27-hour period."

Marathon Week 13, Day 5

2008-09-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

Speed Work: After 10-20 minutes of warm-up, run 800m six times with a maximum of two minutes of recovery between runs.

I met Hope and John at Arcadia High School's track for this one. The football team must have been playing away tonight. Results:

2?57
2:57
2:58
2:56
2:58
2:57

Had it not been for the nice rubberized track, these times would have mostly gone over 3:00 because yesterday's Fight Gone Bad still has me pretty tired.

Marathon Week 13, Day 4

2008-09-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Team-9--which meets, of course, at 0900 hours--let me join them at the Academy for today's CrossFit WOD: Fight Gone Bad. This was my third or fourth time at this workout, and I topped my earlier score of 269, posting a 282. Box jumps, as always, were my strong suit; I jumped 40, 40, and 33 in each round. My rowing dropped off each time, going 15, 13, and finally 9.

Good news for me: my other stations held at 15 nearly every round. (On my second set push-presses, I hit only 13.)

Marathon Week 13, Day 3

2008-09-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

I stayed awake too late after Tuesday night O-lift at the Academy, so I did not join my usual early-morning group for today's scheduled six-mile mid-tempo run, which is the first time we have run this far at mid-tempo pace. Instead, I took advantage of the fact that today's workout of the day (WOD) at the Academy is a 5-k run and joined the 1830 crew for that.

My modification: when I was done with the 5-k, I turned around and ran another 5-k. I completed the double in 43:55, a pace of 7:05 per mile. My target pace was 7:10 per mile, so I did OK except for one thing: I plan to drop my marathon goal from 3:20:00 to 3:15:00. The mid-tempo pace for that finish is an even 7:00 per mile, which I did not hit. :-(

Marathon Week 13, Day 1

2008-09-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

A half marathon, 800m repeats, and now today’s MetCon-taxing WOD at the Academy. I am so ready for tomorrow’s rest day!

That is not to say I did not have fun though! If you look at the results for the day, you will notice that a lot of the regular names are missing from the "Standard" heading. Too many of them ached too much from a September 11 Murph session at the Academy.

Marathon Week 12, Day 7

2008-09-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today’s schedule had four 800-m repeats with two minutes of rest in between, and thanks to a rubberized track with no potholes (at Caltech), I was able to complete all of them on time (faster than 3:03 apiece) despite having run a half marathon distance yesterday. Good thing: only after I finished my last run did the "gym is closing" call come.

Marathon Week 12, Day 6

2008-09-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today we had another half marathon, again a marathon pace (7:37 per mile). I considered this the biggest test so far of the training because if I did not feel better this time than I did two weeks ago, the, the actual marathon would be nearly impossible to complete on schedule.

Ten or twelve of us met in front of PCC to run the official Half Marathon route that will be used in November. About half of us shaved off a south-reaching stretch to make it their preferred ten-mile route. We sent Kary and Nadir off to support us at miles six and ten (thank you both for that!), and then headed out. Some notes about the run:

The one-mile stretch up Marengo from Glenarm is not nearly as much of a climb as I dreaded.
The one-block climb on Green Street going from St. John to Orange Grove is as much of a climb as anticipated. (But it is nothing compared to Catra’s climbs).
At the Rose Bowl, we blended in with a 5-K run in progress. It was kind of fun after running over eight miles to be able to keep up with people on their three-mile runs.
If you do not carry a copy of the route map, you had better memorize it well before heading out. We had one person visit the Langham Hotel (formerly the Ritz-Carlton), another take a tour of the Pasadena Civic Center (City Hall, the county courthouse, and other government offices), and a third who missed out on our jaunt through the 'hood at mile 10.5.

I was able to finish in 1:35:45, four minutes ahead of my targeted time at marathon pace. The good news for me about this one (as compared with the run two weeks ago) is that I could have continued for a couple of more miles this time. I was nowhere near being able to do that two weeks ago.