Timex Ironman Triathlon Shock

前に使っていたタイメックスのバンドが切れて、やっと新しいウォッチを手に入れました。サンタさんからのプレゼントでした。まだレースペーストレーニング はしないけど、するようになったら役に立つでしょう。
Yes, I know, Christmas is over. But I was without a computer for the last month so I am posting this now. I didn't get a lot for Christmas, which is fine since I'm 35 now but my kids did get plenty of new toys and children's educational DVDs from my parents and their aunts and uncles and great grandmothers. As for my wife and I, we both got pretty much what we asked for. What other time of year can you expect that someone will buy you something that you want?

The band of my previous Timex Ironman watch, which I just loved, broke after over two years of use. Timex does not sell replacement watch bands. So I put this watch you see here on my wishlist for Christmas and, look what Santa brought me! A new one! Yeah! Of course, this isn't the same watch as my old one, which was much cooler, but I can replace the band on THIS watch with a band from Voguestrap. However, for the life of me, I could not find a replacement watch band for my old Ironman.  Vogestrap's watch bands are also available at Target and Walmart in the US, so if you have one of those stores nearby buying one there could save you a bit on shipping. However, when you order one directy from Voguestrap they come with a special tool for replacing the watchbands.  Also, the watchbands for the Timex Ironman watches are more expensive than the one's for the Casio sports watches but the one's for the Casio watches also fit the Timex Ironman watches and look fine.  I got a Casio replacement band at Walmart first to use instead of the velcro watch band that came with it and it looks like it is the band the watch is supposed to have.  Later I found a watchband at Target for my watch and it was 5 or 6 dollars more but I bought it too.  So now I have three watchbands for this watch should one break and I will dutifully keep them out of the sun in hopes that they will still be good when I need them.

Note:This watch takes an 18mm watch band. 

Update: I found the Casio replacement band on the Voguestrap website too.  The band I bought that was sold for my watch broke when I was trying to put it on and have been using the Casio band ever since.  It has been almost a year since I got the band and now the rubber in the band is starting to get stiff.  I can tell that it doesn't have much life left in it so now it is time to think about getting a new strap, or a new watch.  

My new watch is a Timex Ironman* Shock 30-Lap Full and it came with a Fast Wrap Velcro Strap.  With the other one, I could not find a replacement band for it. So, I carefully put watches on my wish list that I knew I could get replacement bands for. It is not the color I wanted but beggars can't be choosers and I will cherish it and my extra watch bands for as long as they will "take a licking and keep on ticking"!

It is water resistant up to 200 meters, shock resistant, has a timer and a chronograph with a 30 lap memory. It also has two time zones. Just a few less functions than my old one. It is also slight less bulky and a lot less cool. But one of the things I like about this one is that it reminds me of the original Timex Ironman watch, the one that I really wanted as a kid. It just looked so cool back then. Now, I know there are a lot of more advanced watches out there from other brands, watches that have GPS and heart monitors and watches that can store many runs and as many laps as you want, but I'm a simple runner and this watch meets all my needs.

My new watch
Timex Ironman* Shock 30-Lap Full

My old watch

Timex Ironman Triathlon Shock 30-lap Full with Flix System

Voguestrap

http://www.voguestrap.com/

第2回 北海道・十勝トレイルランニング

日曜日に第2回北海道・十勝トレイルランニング大会に参加してきました。トレイルランニングというタイトルをもつ大会だから、トレイルでランニング（running)する大会でした。

手短に言えば、とっても楽しかったです。18キロのコースを走りました。順位はわかりません。楽しもうと思って走っていたら、、自分でもビックリするほどいいタイムが出ました。

登り坂、下り坂、泥道、水辺を渡り、ミニミニ仙郷を飛び越えたり、私にとってはチャレンジいっぱいのコースでした。普通のロードレースよりずっと面白いし、すっごくいい運動でした。タイムがよかったのはおそらく下りが多かったからだと思います。 いい運動になりました・・・というよりも、かなり筋肉痛になりました。これで筋肉が少しは鍛えられたでしょう

ただ、刈った笹の上に走るのはちょっと危ないんじゃないと思いました。笹の上に走って靴にたくさん傷が出来ました！転んだら危ないなとあとで靴底を眺めながら思いました。

去年のしかおいトレイルランと一昨年の十勝トレイルランニング大会を含めると、トレイルラン大会に参加するのは3回目でした。

ハーフウェイマークまで走ったときに最初の距離標識が現れました。ここまでくるどほとんど一人で走っていました。で、脚がコンニャクのように力が入らなくてパンパンでした。

下りで気づいたことがありました。コアの筋肉を鍛えるのはとても大事です。反省しました。これからもっと腹筋などを鍛えます。

自分が住んでいるところでトレイルは近くにないと思います。あるのかな。おそらく、車でどこか遠いところに行かないとないと思います。あったらいいのに。普通のロードランニングよりずっといい運動です。色んな動くをしなきゃ走れないし、ボーっとする暇はありません。

カメラやスマートフォンを携帯しなかったので、紹介出来る写真がありません。妻が少し写真をとったみたいなので、あとでアップ出来るかもしれません。

JOYFIT 北海道・十勝トレイルランニング

Tokachi Millennium Forest Trail Run

I ran the 2nd Annual Tokachi Millennium Forest Trail Run (my translation) on Sunday.

It was 18 kilometers of up and down, mud, rocks, biting flies, mini ravines, water crossings, and bear bamboo grass, called "sasa" here. (kuma zasa)). Luckily(?) I was able to keep out of most of the mud. But the sasa is another problem. They cut out some new trail for the run which left the cut sasa at about 5 cm to 10 cm tall. It was like running on .... what? The sasa stalks are strong enough that they may or may not be crushed when you run on them. And they are hollow like straws. My new shoes have little round circles and cuts all over the soles where there is no rubber and just foam. Depending on your shoes, I can imagine that some people got cut by the grass stalks.

The terrain was all hills with only a few "flat" spots that only lasted 10 to 20 meters or so. Steep uphill climbs and long down hills with a section of mini ravines where event staff were posted to make sure you didn't fall head over heels into them. You had to either jump over them or gingerly climb in and out of them. One had a rope on both ends for climbing into and out of it.

Some areas were covered with grass and golf ball sized lava rock that was for the most part, hidden under the grass.

This was only the 3rd time I've ever run on a trail but it was great fun and a great challenge.

My time was much better than I expected. I don't know if that was because of the downhills or if perhaps, it wasn't actually 18 km. But since the course was different from the previous run of this event, it is hard to compare.

No pictures as I ran without a camera or phone. Sorry, but the view from the top of the mountain there was spectacular.

My legs felt like jello at the half way mark, which was the only distance marker, and my quads were sore by the finish. Today my quads, my shins, my calves and even the bottom of my feet are sore! The bottom of my feet haven't been sore in a long time.

During the downhills I could tell how having a strong core is important. That is my weak spot. Need to work on that.

If they didn't charge for access to the trails I'd drive out there for more regular runnings on the trails. What great exercise. You don't get a work out like that on the road! If only there were some trials nearby.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend. I did.

JOYFIT 北海道・十勝トレイルランニング
http://www.tokachi.co.jp/trarun/

Eat 5g of dark chocolate for more endurance

Everyone knows that I love chocolate. The teachers that I work with know. The students who I teach know. And now I have another great reason to eat chocolate! It turns out that something in cocoa, epicatechin, helps increase time to exhaustion in mice. Mice who took liquid epicatechin can run 50% longer than mice who took an equal amount of water. I read this on the New York Times Well blog. You can find the article link here: How Chocolate Can Help Your Workout.

But here is the problem, we humans could possibly get a similar effect from just 5 grams of dark chocolate a day! Just 5 grams a day! Why not more? If you take too much it doesn't help and may even hinder the effect. 
In another article from 2007, it was said that this compound epicatechin, which is a flavonal, is so important that maybe it should be considered an essential vitamin! OK. I got it! I need to get some dark chocolate and have a bite whenever I go out for a run from now on!

ふくふく29%さんのブログに日本語の概要がありました。
一日5グラム：http://fuku29.seesaa.net/article/218658467.html

「書くことの効果」実証される

    学習し、記憶するには、それを題材にして文章を書くことが一番良い効果があるようです。

時々日本版のwired.comを読みますが、よくいい記事が出てきます。ほとんどが英語で書かれた記事の和訳なんですが、これがいいんです。なぜなら、勉強になりますから。面白くて役に立つ情報が得られると同時に、どうやて翻訳されたかを見比べることもできます。

今日は記事の翻訳について話すつもりはないので安心してください。でも紹介したい記事がありましたのでここで紹介させていただきます。

「書くことの効果」実証される、が記事の題名です。ある研究報告について書かれているのですが、その研究でわかったことをちょっと紹介します。　何かを勉強した後に、その勉強したことについて、思い出しながら10分間自由に書くことが、記憶するには効果的だそうです。何度も読み返して暗記しようとする勉強方法より効果的でした。

社会や歴史などの勉強についてかなり効果があるそうです。それと同時に日本語の作文の力も付きそうですね。それでは英語の勉強はどうでしょう。英語の勉強は特に暗記が大事だと思いますが、単語の勉強や文法の勉強でも、自由に作文を書くことができるのではないでしょうか。単語だったら、その単語を使って自分だけの文(センテンス)を書いてみるのはどうですか。文法だって同じです。新しく習った文法を使って自分だけの文を書いてみるのが、私もやった日本語（を勉強していた頃）の勉強方法です。書くことはもちろんですが、言語の場合は基本は話すことですから、勉強した言葉や文法を口にして使ってみる練習も、ただ繰り返して書くことよりもずっと効果があると思います。

この記事を読み返すと一つの言葉が気になります。それは「検索練習(retrieval practice)」です。勉強した内容を思い出そうという行為が大事だということです。思い出そうという行為が大事です！思い出しながら文章を書くことはその一つの方法ですが、思い出しながら、口にすることも一つの方法です。単語帳や教科書を見ないで最近勉強したテキストや単語を思い出そうとするだけで、記憶が強化されます。さらに、その新しい単語や文法を自分のモノにするために、教科書にない文を作ってみることも効果があるはずです。

言語は穴埋めの問題で取得できるものではないと思います。言語は生きています。言語は創造的なものです。造ってみてください。使わない言葉はただの文字だから。

「書くことの効果」実証される
http://wiredvision.jp/news/201101/2011012520.html

To Learn Best, Write an Essay
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/learning-methods/