Bob Cummings Family & Friends

Greenfield Middle School Days (25 November 2022)

One thing I learned from my abysmal experience with Facebook–one can’t rely on the big tech companies for fair access to photos that one uploads to their sites. A FB page I created (Soft Power Skills) was evidently hacked, and Facebook permanently suspended my entire 13-year old account with zero input from me, and zero customer service in fixing the hacking problem. One of the things I believe my old school mates appreciated on the account was my scanned copies of our school yearbooks. So, I offer the scanned copies again below, on my own website where I can more easily control the content. I hope everyone enjoys the memories!

Road to Kyoto Marathon Training Day 3 (24 November 2022)

Day 3 of #RoadToKyotoMarathon . Today’s plan called for 1600 m (1 mile) warmup jog, 5 km tempo (tempo = effort of 7 or 8 on a scale of 10), and 1600 m cooldown jog, which ended up as 2km. I took my tempo goal to be at least my target marathon pace (5:20 min/km) or faster. I don’t really have a good feel for how fast I’m running unless I stare at my Garmin Fenix, which isn't convenient. 

So, on tempo runs I concentrate on keeping a steady, fairly quick cadence going, try to keep my stride long, push my speed to a limit where I breathe heavily, and keep “light” on the feet by staying upright and landing as close to the balls of the feet as I can. I notice many runners have a heavy heel-first strike, which can be heard as a flat, plodding sound. I’m no expert, but I believe that is probably less efficient and effective for speed. I welcome inputs from any other runners on how they work on technique!

The constant rain here in Phuket had finally stopped long enough to get out, and the clouds helped make the mid-day run a little cooler. The 4th km was noticeably tougher, but happy that the last was the fastest. It's my fastest 5 km since I've started keeping track on my Garmin. Time for a cooling off break before the rain starts, and a turkey dinner at the Marriott! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! #KyotoMarathon2023   

#BostonMarathon2024

Road to Kyoto Marathon Begins! 22 & 23 November 2022

Yesterday I started my #RoadToKyotoMarathon training journey, and I’ve decided to share it here to open a forum for comments, personal experiences, or questions about preparing for a marathon challenge. 

Event: Kyoto Marathon 2023

Date: 19 February

Goal: Qualify for Boston Marathon 2024 (Age group 60-64 Men qualifying time—3 hours 50 minutes https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify )

I ran Boston Marathon 21 years ago (21!? Where does time go?). My last marathon was 2020 in the Chiang Mai University marathon, with a time of around 4 hours 39 minutes, so I have quite a way to go. Moreover, a 3hr 50min qualifying time won’t guarantee a spot in Boston if there are more registrants than capacity. With a field of around 30,000, the historical time below the minimum qualifying time has been around 2 to 5 minutes.

Having clear objectives is important both for planning and motivation. I’ll modify a plan for running a sub 3:30 marathon from Runners World:

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/marathon/a760129/rws-ultimate-marathon-schedule-sub-330/

I started yesterday after a day’s rest from the #LagunaPhuketTri with some interval training. The fast bits should have been well under my goal marathon pace; although they were not, I’m happy that each of the 4 x 1600 m sets was progressively faster. Today’s “easy run” of 12 km was also a bit slow, but at least it was faster in the 2^nd half than the 1^st. 

What goals big goals are you striving for right now? How do you plan, train, and motivate yourself?

#KyotoMarathon2023

Laguna Phuket Triathlon Sunday 20 November 2022

The last time I ran #LagunaPhuketTri, my 5th try in 2016, I ended the event on an IV in the medical tent, so any result for my 6th run was probably going to be better! (In 2016 I had food poisoning the night before, and ended up very dehydrated in the race). This race went much better, despite flailing arms and feet in the face in the swim, Mt. Everest-type climbs on the bike, and very warm conditions on a mostly shadeless run.

Kidding aside, it's a beautiful venue, and well managed. The swim was slightly slower than my expectations, but the bike went much faster than any of my practice sessions--the most important point being that I stayed on the bike during the brutal climbs. Except for running into another athlete at the top of the first big climb because my head was down and I lost concentration thinking that I had already conquered that challenge.

The final result: 7th in age group of 55-59, out of 22 finishers and 38 registered participants. 152 out of 735 overall.

Triathletes usually make for interesting people, and we made new friends from Belgium (Benny), Australia (Jacinta, Warren, and Paul), and Thailand (Eid). Just listening to stories of multiple Ironman events in their lives made me exhausted! Laguna Phuket hosts a very nice event, and both the pre-race day pasta party and awards party had excellent food and a fun atmosphere. Come join us next year!

Saturday 19 November 2022

Checking in for #LagunaPhuketTri ! A warm day...could be a warm race. Filling up with carbs at the Pasta Party...so much spaghetti, almost couldn't fit my USAFA cadet athletic jacket...but we managed to get the zipper up! Representing the #ClassOf85!

Friday 18 November 2022

A relaxed day shopping, cutting hair, floating, and working on The Scottish Adventures of McRen and McRiku! More to come about our courageous kilted traveling bears on a mission.

Wednesday 17 November 2022

A running start on Had Yao beach ( 6km) with #akirathebordercollie. Off to Phuket for the #lagunaphukettriathlon