A 10 mile run along Harbor Drive July 29 2014

Today I went to Harbor Drive close to the San Diego Airport to run. This run was inspired by a suggested run at www.walkjogrun.net. I parked on Harbor Drive close to Hawthorne. I first ran towards Seaport Village. I passed by the cruiseship piers, USS Midway museum. I had been meaning to run in Seaport villager for a long time, so I got my wish fulfilled today. I made many stops to take pictures. It's a hot day with temperature about 30C. I did not plan to run as long as ten miles, but I started thinking about the opportunity to keep running in this scenic setting, so I kept on going. What we measure, we improve. today's run is longer than last week's run in Del Mar. For fueling, I drank a bottle of MusclePharm Amino1 and a bottle of Hammer Nutrition Perpeteum. I had two packs of Accel gels. I had three pills of Hammer Nutrition Energy Surge. I felt the most tired in my upper legs. I am just so glad I finish the run. This is something to be grateful about . Long distance running is a joy to me. When my heart is beating hard and I am breathing hard, I find the most peace within myself.

A short run on July 28, 2014

I did a short run today, going down to the canyon. I used to do this run often. Today's run is about 3.5 miles, including some hiking up a steep hill. The GPS watch usually does not pick up GPS until a couple minutes later. Hence, the log distance is a bit short while the run time is right.

A run in Del Mar and Torrey Pines July 25, 2014 11:30am

Last night I received the New Balance NX950 GPS Runner. So I was so excited and had to try it out today for a run. I picked Run #8 in the late Jerry Schad's book entitled Trail Runner's Guide San Diego. The run makes a loop between Del Mar and Torrey Pines State Reserve. Schad's statistics for the run are 8 miles long for 1.5 to 3.5 hours with elevation gain/loss of 800 feet. My NX950 shows a run statistics of 1 hour 42 mins, 13.62km (8.45 miles), and 984 Kcal. I parked near the intersection of 14th and highway 101. The initial climb up 15th street to Crest Road felt a bit hard as I was not warmed up. I followed the recommended route to Torrey Pines State Reserve. Along the way there's residential area, the Mar Scenic trail, state beaches, etc. There were a lot of visitors at the beach. I then worked my way up the steep climb in the Reserve. When I got to the restroom, I freshened up a bit and then took the Beach trail down. But I accidentally took a wrong turn and had to put in a bit more distance to go down to the beach. Then I ran across the beach and got back to the visitor center. Today's tide is kind of high, so Schad's recommended return route to Del Mar through the beach did not seem possible, so I took highway 101 back. All in all this has been a nice work-out. It got long enough distance and a bit of everything in the terrain and scenery. The sun is not full on as there're some clouds in the sky. I am really happy with the NX950. I had been wanting to buy a GPS watch for a long time. After reading some good reviews in Amazon and the comparatively good price (in contrast to Garmin), I went for it. The software from New Balance in www.nbmonitors.com is pretty easy to move. In fact, even navigating through the menus on the watch is rather intuitive. I look forward to doing more runs with the watch.

A run at Mission Bay and Fiesta Island in San Diego, CA July 22, 2014

Today I ran for 1 hour and 5 mins which I have not done for so long in the past three years. I went to Mission Bay to run. I recall running here many years ago as I was preparing for my second AFC half marathon. I had a pack of Hammer gel before I started the run. I drank water and MusclePharm Amino1 along the way. I felt that the hydration did give me additional endurance that I would not have had for the run. Running is quite a solitary experience. I think about various things when I run. I forgot to bring along some music for the run. At 50 mins mark, I ate another pack of Hammer gel to take me to the finish. There're quite a few people relaxing at the bay and Fiesta island. I need to get out more to some quality runs. Ever since the twins were born three years ago, I have not been able to do my morning routine run, or weekend hiking, or pretty much many other things that I used to enjoy doing so much.

Running

I ran today (July 16, 2014) for 26 mins around 5:20pm. I listened to Rocky music as I ran today. It's such uplifting music and great for working out. In fact, I go as far as saying if Rocky music does not motivate you to exercise, no music will. My route today was the dirt trail across from building WT. I ran down to the canyon and back up behind building R. The return uphill trail is very steep. I had to walk up most of it. Yesterday I played table tennis for one hour with Jerry and Lijun. Today I played for about 40 mins with Lijun and Yu. I juiced some vegetables today so I would have some to drink tomorrow. I spent 20 minutes spray painting some parts for the 1/12 Shelby GT500.

running and table tennis with Stiga Tour-S rubber

Today July 14, 2014 I played table tennis at noon for about 45 minutes and again for about 30 mins around 4:45pm. After table tennis, I ran for 19 minutes in a dirt trail across from building WT. I want to get a more intense work-out when I play table tennis, so I try to play hard by looping more and moving around more. Since I am playing with lower ranked players, I must try to beat them by a larger margin to show my own improvement. I am using Stiga Tour-S rubber on the forehand. Somehow this rubber seems to have a lower throw angle than Xiom (sigma 1, 2, Vega Japan) and Donic Blue Fire (M1,M3). Some of my forehand loops went into the net, and it's more difficult to loop inside the table. So I tried tuning the rubber by using Dandoy Sports bio tuner. Now the rubber has increased its throw angle, and I am looping better with it. The top sheet does not have enough grip yet. I'll try the Life Expander tomorrow.