So yeah... I'm not doing a very good job of updating this regularly. I'm going to try get better at that (I promise!), and hopefully I'll be able to do at least two each week (slightly wishful thinking, but we'll see how much time I have). My plan right now (that I literally just thought of) is to do one random one during the week, and then another one sometime on the weekend recapping my marathon training for the week. Seeing as Saturdays are my long run days, we'll see if I have the energy to do it afterwards, so I reserve the right to put it off until Sundays (it's my blog damn it and I'll do what I want).
Anyways, today is Monday, but not just any Monday, it's the end-of-the-NFL-lockout-Monday! Finally, after listening to ESPN update us daily (was that really necessary??) on the current situation with the lockout, it's finally over and the owners and players have agreed to a new CBA. And now we get to listen to ESPN talk about it 23.5 hours a day! They would be covering it 24/7, but for some reason unbeknownst to me they continue to put Sportsnation on the air. I'm sure Colin Cowherd will have some unintelligible thing to say about it, but seriously, that show is the worst thing on television (well, at least on ESPN). I would tell you what I think of Colin Cowherd, but I'd like to keep this a PG as possible and I'd rather not spend the entirety of this post about him, but suffice it to say I think he's a worthless POS and never has anything important or intelligent to say about anything.
Back to there finally being football again. The one good thing about there being a very abbreviated "offseason" is that free agency is going to be ridiculous. In a good way. By this I mean that instead of weeks (even months) of speculation about players signing new deals or being traded, it will all happen in a matter of hours or days, which for me - being the impatient person that I am - is awesome.
I was recently introduced to a band called The Joy Formidable (thanks Johann!). They're a three-piece alternative band from Wales, and they make enough noise that you'd think there were at least three times as many people in the band. They're one of the most original bands I've heard recently and though they only have one full-length album, it's an amazing album. They're definitely a band worth looking into. Here, I'll even put one of their songs right here so you don't have to waste the two seconds it would take to look them up on Youtube (hopefully it works):
For those of you on the West Coast (the best coast), you've been lucky enough not to have to endure the heat wave we've been experiencing for the past week+. Upper 90s with humidity through the roof and the heat index consistently near or waay over 100 = awfulness personified. Today, it rained A TON (for about an hour), which cooled everything down nicely. ...Unfortunately the forecast says it's going to be back up towards 100 by the end of the week.
The new Old Spice commercials with Fabio are ridiculous. That is all.
X Games 17 starts this week. Super stoked.
For those of you not brave enough to sit through an entire 90+ minutes of Spanish broadcast, or didn't know or don't care, Uruguay won their record 15th Copa America, thus proving that last summer's World Cup semi-final appearance (and but for a Diego Forlan free kick off the post at the end of regulation, very nearly a WC finalist) was no fluke. But seriously, for a team with Uruguay's pedigree (2 World Cups and now 15 Copa America titles), it shouldn't be that surprising that they've done as well as they have in recent tournaments.
Well, that's enough for now. Hopefully by Saturday afternoon I'll have run over 20 miles this week and I'll let you know how that all went.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Running...Shoes...
So after running 6 miles today, I'm officially 12 weeks through my preparation for the Baltimore Marathon (10 weeks of pre-marathon-training, essentially to get me into shape for marathon training, and 2 weeks of a 16-week marathon prep cycle). I haven't been doing the best job of getting all my runs in each week, mostly for two reasons. There have been several occasions where I have woken up to run and promptly gone back to bed with the intention of running in the evening, and then not doing it when the time comes 15 hours or so later. I have also skipped runs in favor of rest because I was suffering from the aches and pains of getting back into running shape (no major pain or discomfort, so if I had just kept at it, it probably would have gotten better much faster than stretching it out over several weeks). I attribute most of these difficulties to my choice in running shoes.
A few weeks before I was going to start my pre-marathon-training training, I went to the store to find myself a pair of shoes. After trying on several pairs of Asics, New Balance, and Nikes, I decided on the Nike Free Run+. I had heard a lot of really good things about running in these shoes, and when I tried them out in the store, they felt great. As they are supposed to give you a barefoot running feel, there isn't a whole lot of heel support. What had felt like pretty decent cushioning when I tried them on proved to be virtually non-existent. I think they would be great to run in if I was running on a more forgiving surface than cement or asphalt. To be honest, I probably wore these shoes for too long in hopes that they would get better, mostly because Nike released a newer version that was available to be customized on nikeid.com, and I thought it would be really cool to have a spiffy pair of kicks for my first marathon. Finally I realized that I needed to worry more about the comfort of my shoes rather than the appearance.
So, before I bought a new pair of shoes, I tried running in the shoes that I use to work out in, the Nike Lunarglide+ 2 which by nature, are supposed to be running shoes. The cushioning on these shoes is ridiculous. It feels like you're basically running on air, which is awesome, but after a while, I decided that they weren't firm enough and started looking for a replacement.
I had had my eye on Saucony's ProGrid Kinvara for some time, and everything I had read about these shoes (including what I had read in my friend Jason Leman's blog here) had been very complimentary. I thought, if someone who runs 50k races for fun (which by the way is nuts) thinks these shoes are great, and so many reviewers had called them "the best shoes they've ever run in" I figured that I should at least check them out. My decision was made a very simple one when I found them on sale on Zappos.com, and with free shipping both ways (I can be very impulsive when buying things online, especially when free shipping and no sales tax is involved).
A quick note about Zappos, not only do they have free shipping no matter how much (or little) you order, they also have amazing customer service that upgrades your shipping service at no extra cost. So basically I payed the price of the shoes on sale, and got the shoes the next day for no extra charge. That's great customer service.
Ok, back to the shoes. Immediately when I pulled these shoes out of the box and put them on, I could tell why everyone had been so high on them. For starters, they're incredibly lightweight (8 ounces), but also surprisingly cushioned and supportive. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I've ever run in (I don't have much of a track record in this department, but that's besides the point). The fit of these shoes is pretty snug, which I personally like because I don't like my feet sliding around inside the shoe while I run. If there's any complaint I can make about them is that they don't have the best arch support, but that's a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, after several weeks of running in these shoes, I decided to buy another pair so I could cycle them in my training and thus prolong their life, and wouldn't you know it, they were still on sale on Zappos, and once again, I got them the next day with no extra cost. I love Zappos!
So there's the story of my running shoes experience. More to come on my training progress once I've logged a few more miles...
 |
| Nike Free Run+ |
 |
| Nike Lunarglide+ 2 |
 |
| Saucony Kinvara |
A quick note about Zappos, not only do they have free shipping no matter how much (or little) you order, they also have amazing customer service that upgrades your shipping service at no extra cost. So basically I payed the price of the shoes on sale, and got the shoes the next day for no extra charge. That's great customer service.
Ok, back to the shoes. Immediately when I pulled these shoes out of the box and put them on, I could tell why everyone had been so high on them. For starters, they're incredibly lightweight (8 ounces), but also surprisingly cushioned and supportive. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I've ever run in (I don't have much of a track record in this department, but that's besides the point). The fit of these shoes is pretty snug, which I personally like because I don't like my feet sliding around inside the shoe while I run. If there's any complaint I can make about them is that they don't have the best arch support, but that's a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, after several weeks of running in these shoes, I decided to buy another pair so I could cycle them in my training and thus prolong their life, and wouldn't you know it, they were still on sale on Zappos, and once again, I got them the next day with no extra cost. I love Zappos!
So there's the story of my running shoes experience. More to come on my training progress once I've logged a few more miles...
Friday, July 1, 2011
Half-Way There
It's halfway through the Giants' season, and they're 2 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West. When you take into consideration all the injury problems the Giants have had, it's pretty remarkable that they're a) winning on a fairly consistent basis, and b) that they're in first place. Yes, the NL West isn't the strongest division in baseball, but the pitching from top to bottom is pretty darn solid, and when you couple that with the Giants scoring the third-fewest runs in the majors, it's even more impressive for them to be in this position.
So how are they getting it done? Well, basically, the same way they did towards the end of last season and into the playoffs: solid, sometimes-dominant starting pitching, timely hitting sans the two best hitters on the team and the team's leading RBI man from last season hitting below last season's numbers, and a mostly air-tight bullpen. Is it pretty? No, not usually, but then again, Giants Baseball never really was. It is, and always has been (in recent years anyways), as Duane Kuiper so famously dubbed it, "Torture".
When Posey went out for the season, it didn't look good. Panda was already out 4-6 weeks, and there was no knowing how he'd return from a broken bone in his hand. To make things worse, Freddy Sanchez went down with a pretty serious shoulder injury about 2 weeks after Posey's injury. Luckily, Sandoval returned the series after Freddy went down, so there was some hope that his return would provide an offensive spark. Unfortunately, there's only so much one play can do to enhance the offensive production of a team. Even if said player were to hit .400, the rest of the team would still have to get enough hits to either set the table for that player or to drive them in.
There has been some speculation that the Giants could be interested in a trade for Jose Reyes from the Mets, and while this would be a positive move for the offense, I don't think it's a good idea. First of all, they would have to give up a fairly substantial amount of talent (potentially Jonathan Sanchez or Zach Wheeler plus a couple prospects). Reyes is having a phenomenal year, there's no doubt about that, but he's also been rather injury prone the past few years, and there's no predicting whether or not he'll be able to remain healthy for the rest of the season. There's also the problem of him becoming a free agent at the end of the year, which begs a couple questions. First, is he really this good, or are his numbers slightly inflated by his motivation to sign a big multi-year deal in the winter? Second, if the Giants were to trade for him, would he be a half-season rental, or would they really be able to re-sign him in the offseason? I think he is this good, if he's healthy, and so far he's been able to maintain his health, and his numbers are a reflection of that. Whether or not he'll be able to carry on at this pace for several years to come is another question. If they Giants traded for him, I don't think there's any way that he would be able to re-sign him. Other than Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, I think there's a pretty good chance he gets one of the biggest contracts in the offseason, likely something to the tune of 5-7+ years at over 100 million dollars. There's no way the Giants would be able and/or willing to give him that kind of money. Plus I think that the Giants would be very reluctant to part ways with either Sanchez or Wheeler, even with Sanchez being as inconsistent as he has been of late.
Miguel Tejada has been one of the more disappointing players for the Giants this season. I was pretty skeptical when he was signed in the offseason. I really wanted them to bring back Juan Uribe not only because of his bat, but because he can basically play every position in the infield. Unfortunately the Giants were not able to offer him enough money, so he left for LA. Although Tejada brings the same versatility in the infield, his range has vastly decreased and he has become somewhat of a defensive liability. To add to those troubles, he isn't hitting all too well either. .227/.257/.304 with 2 HR and 20 RBIs just isn't getting it done.
Brian Wilson is having another solid year and leading the MLB in saves and is exactly on pace for the number of saves he had last year (48). And this is with him starting the year on the DL. He's pitching well and his beard is stronger (and more ridiculous) than ever.
One of the major surprises this season has been Ryan Vogelsong. When Barry Zito went down, he was brought in to fill in as basically the 5th starter the expectation was as long as he could pitch decently well and give the team a chance to win each time he took the mound, he would be doing his job. Well, to put it simply, he has exceeded every one of my expectations, and has been arguably the Giants most consistent pitcher since being added to the rotation. In 12 starts, he is 6-1, with 77.2 IP, an ERA of 2.09, and a WHIP of 1.15. In addition, 8 of his starts (75%) have been quality starts. What this all means (for those of you not privy to the statistical lingo of baseball, it basically means that pitches late into the game (giving the bullpen less work and therefore more rest for when they're needed), he doesn't give up a lot of runs, he walks or allows a hit a little over once every inning on average, and he generally puts his team in a good position to get a win.
Although the Giants haven't necessarily been all that impressive when you watch them, the more I think about it, the more I think that they'll be able to hold onto the division lead and possibly run away with it. I'm not buying the D-backs remaining serious contenders in the second half of the season, and the Dodgers and Padres don't have enough offense to make any sort of run. The only team that really worries me is the Colorado Rockies. While they may not have stellar pitching, but they have some pretty solid starters and Houston Street is one of the top closers in the NL, and when you play in Coors field for 81 games a year, you're going to score a lot of runs (and give up a lot as well). It always seems like year after year, the Rockies make a second-half-of-the-season-run, so if they're anywhere within striking distance come August, there could be some cause for concern.
That all being said, I am fairly confident the Giants will be able to maintain their division lead. Am I saying they're going to repeat as World Series Champions? No. But anything is possible, and as we've seen, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.
So how are they getting it done? Well, basically, the same way they did towards the end of last season and into the playoffs: solid, sometimes-dominant starting pitching, timely hitting sans the two best hitters on the team and the team's leading RBI man from last season hitting below last season's numbers, and a mostly air-tight bullpen. Is it pretty? No, not usually, but then again, Giants Baseball never really was. It is, and always has been (in recent years anyways), as Duane Kuiper so famously dubbed it, "Torture".
When Posey went out for the season, it didn't look good. Panda was already out 4-6 weeks, and there was no knowing how he'd return from a broken bone in his hand. To make things worse, Freddy Sanchez went down with a pretty serious shoulder injury about 2 weeks after Posey's injury. Luckily, Sandoval returned the series after Freddy went down, so there was some hope that his return would provide an offensive spark. Unfortunately, there's only so much one play can do to enhance the offensive production of a team. Even if said player were to hit .400, the rest of the team would still have to get enough hits to either set the table for that player or to drive them in.
There has been some speculation that the Giants could be interested in a trade for Jose Reyes from the Mets, and while this would be a positive move for the offense, I don't think it's a good idea. First of all, they would have to give up a fairly substantial amount of talent (potentially Jonathan Sanchez or Zach Wheeler plus a couple prospects). Reyes is having a phenomenal year, there's no doubt about that, but he's also been rather injury prone the past few years, and there's no predicting whether or not he'll be able to remain healthy for the rest of the season. There's also the problem of him becoming a free agent at the end of the year, which begs a couple questions. First, is he really this good, or are his numbers slightly inflated by his motivation to sign a big multi-year deal in the winter? Second, if the Giants were to trade for him, would he be a half-season rental, or would they really be able to re-sign him in the offseason? I think he is this good, if he's healthy, and so far he's been able to maintain his health, and his numbers are a reflection of that. Whether or not he'll be able to carry on at this pace for several years to come is another question. If they Giants traded for him, I don't think there's any way that he would be able to re-sign him. Other than Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, I think there's a pretty good chance he gets one of the biggest contracts in the offseason, likely something to the tune of 5-7+ years at over 100 million dollars. There's no way the Giants would be able and/or willing to give him that kind of money. Plus I think that the Giants would be very reluctant to part ways with either Sanchez or Wheeler, even with Sanchez being as inconsistent as he has been of late.
Miguel Tejada has been one of the more disappointing players for the Giants this season. I was pretty skeptical when he was signed in the offseason. I really wanted them to bring back Juan Uribe not only because of his bat, but because he can basically play every position in the infield. Unfortunately the Giants were not able to offer him enough money, so he left for LA. Although Tejada brings the same versatility in the infield, his range has vastly decreased and he has become somewhat of a defensive liability. To add to those troubles, he isn't hitting all too well either. .227/.257/.304 with 2 HR and 20 RBIs just isn't getting it done.
Brian Wilson is having another solid year and leading the MLB in saves and is exactly on pace for the number of saves he had last year (48). And this is with him starting the year on the DL. He's pitching well and his beard is stronger (and more ridiculous) than ever.
One of the major surprises this season has been Ryan Vogelsong. When Barry Zito went down, he was brought in to fill in as basically the 5th starter the expectation was as long as he could pitch decently well and give the team a chance to win each time he took the mound, he would be doing his job. Well, to put it simply, he has exceeded every one of my expectations, and has been arguably the Giants most consistent pitcher since being added to the rotation. In 12 starts, he is 6-1, with 77.2 IP, an ERA of 2.09, and a WHIP of 1.15. In addition, 8 of his starts (75%) have been quality starts. What this all means (for those of you not privy to the statistical lingo of baseball, it basically means that pitches late into the game (giving the bullpen less work and therefore more rest for when they're needed), he doesn't give up a lot of runs, he walks or allows a hit a little over once every inning on average, and he generally puts his team in a good position to get a win.
Although the Giants haven't necessarily been all that impressive when you watch them, the more I think about it, the more I think that they'll be able to hold onto the division lead and possibly run away with it. I'm not buying the D-backs remaining serious contenders in the second half of the season, and the Dodgers and Padres don't have enough offense to make any sort of run. The only team that really worries me is the Colorado Rockies. While they may not have stellar pitching, but they have some pretty solid starters and Houston Street is one of the top closers in the NL, and when you play in Coors field for 81 games a year, you're going to score a lot of runs (and give up a lot as well). It always seems like year after year, the Rockies make a second-half-of-the-season-run, so if they're anywhere within striking distance come August, there could be some cause for concern.
That all being said, I am fairly confident the Giants will be able to maintain their division lead. Am I saying they're going to repeat as World Series Champions? No. But anything is possible, and as we've seen, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.
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