Race Day: Saturday

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The Rowdy Run 5K at MMC

It’s the end of the semester, and stress is high. Between finals, reports, lesson plans, and releasing two separate novels in the last few weeks, I feel like I’ve been running like mad–and not just in my Asics.

Luckily, there’s a goal. This Saturday–weather permitting–I’ll be running in the Rowdy Run, a 5K that my school is sponsoring. I don’t know how I’ll do, and I certainly don’t expect a PR, but I’m going to get out and run it.

I’m actually very excited because having a race set and paid for is a great motivator. I can go out and run a 25-27 minute 5K almost any day, which sometimes keeps me inside. I know I can do it, so…meh.

But with a race set, I have to. I have to go run, and I have to maintain my ability to run it.

And since it’s not my first-ever 5K like the UCP one was in October, I’m not going to be stressing out about the overall experience. For once, I’m just going to be able to put on my running shoes, turn on some ridiculously upbeat music, and see how my legs handle that many hills.

In addition, my wife (who is now on Twitter as @jbkeeton13, by the way!) is going to be running, as are multiple of my colleagues and friends. So really, it’s just a friendly get-together where we all get sweaty for about half an hour.

So with all the stress that comes with this time of year, it’s nice to know that there’s a good, no-pressure race set. And with all the hubbub and tragedy that’s going on with the Boston Marathon yesterday, a no-pressure race is something a lot of us in this sport could use.

Do you ever use a race as a way to de-stress, or are they always a way to push yourself?

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Help Star Wars Author Dave Farland by Buying His Books

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One of my lifelong aspirations is to contribute to the Star Wars EU in some way. I want to write at least one media tie-in novel for Star Wars before I die.

So when I hope on Twitter this morning and see that Star Wars scribe Dave (Wolverton) Farland needs help, I wanted to do what I could. Even if that something is as small as Tweeting, Facebook sharing, and making a blog post about his needing help.

You see, Farland’s teenage son is on a coma, and his family is in need of help with medical expenses. So they have asked for fans to help through a BOOK BOMB. All you have to do is buy one of his books to help out.

Personally, I bought Million Dollar Outlines, but there are plenty of other options–including his Star Wars novels. So if you’re interested in helping, grab a book or spread the word.

It’s for a good cause. And really, the guy created the Nightsisters who live on Dathomir. They’re badass. That’s worth at least a few bucks, am I right?

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Five Geeky Songs on my Running Playlist

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Running Geek T-Shirt

When I run, I need music. I’m nowhere near advanced enough in my running to let the sound of my footfalls hypnotize me. I can’t just fall into myself and run in silent bliss, letting my body tell me what I should be doing.

No, I need headphones and blaringly obnoxious pop and metal songs to motivate me to keep moving.

And like a good geek, I have some real treasures on my list that make me run faster and better–and also make me glad other people can’t hear anything through my earpieces.

“The Avengers” Instrumental Theme

Alan Silvestri did a magnificent job with the theme for The Avengers movie. There’s just something about the piece that makes you feel heroic and important when you hear it. As soon as the song comes on, I feel like a superhero–and I start to run faster. I puff my chest up and pretend like I’m Captain America.

Don’t judge me.

“We Used To Be Friends” by The Dandy Warhols

If you don’t know this song, you should. As the theme for Veronica Mars, “We Used To Be Friends” will always hold a special place in my heart. Whenever it comes up on my playlist, I smile, think of Kristin Bell, and push myself just a little bit harder.

After all, you have to be in tip-top shape if you plan on solving mysteries around your home town, am I right?

“Scotty Doesn’t Know” by Lustra

Oh, Matt Damon. Of everything you’ve ever done, playing the skeezeball punk singer in Eurotrip will always be my favorite. With a singalong track on the DVD’s special features, I can’t count the hours at college parties my friends and I would wail into the night about how oblivious Scotty was–and just how awful Fiona was to him.

“This is Halloween” by Marilyn Manson

When Halloween rolled around last year, my wife and I put together a Spotify playlist of superhappyfuntime Halloween music. And on there, we put Marilyn Manson’s cover of “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas. As it turns out, it’s a pretty decent song to run to, and no matter what time of year it is, you should be paying homage to the Pumpkin King.

And keep in mind, this isn’t just a song from a favorite childhood movie. This is a heavy metal cover of a song from a favorite childhood movie. #geektastic

“Motherlover” by The Lonely Island

In my mind, no running playlist is complete without a few tracks by my boy JT. Sure, I have the obligatory “SexyBack” and even a semi-ironic “Bye Bye Bye” by *Nsync, but the best and geekiest Timberlake song I have on there? “Motherlover.” I mean, it’s easily the second best idea that I’ve ever had. ;)

What are your favorite geeky songs on your running playlists?

Problems with Active’s 5K-to-10K App

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Problems with Active 5K to 10K App

I’m a quitter. I gave up. After around a month of trying to stick with the training plan that came with Active’s 5K-to-10K app, I gave up and went back to my own running regimen to get myself ready for running a 10K.

That’s not to say that the Active app didn’t help or isn’t worthwhile–it did and it is. But there are some definite issues with the program that doesn’t work for how I exercise.

The Good

The best part about Active’s program is that it really does ease you into running the longer distances. You start out each week with a shorter run, followed by interval training and tempo/fast runs, and then end the week with a longer, steady run.

Like their Couch-to-5K app, the increases are regular but not punishing. There’s no reason if you’re capable of running around a 30-minute 5K that the 5K-to-10K program should be that punishing. If you do all three runs each week, you’ll easily get into 10K territory by the end of it, and you won’t even feel that you had to push yourself too much.

The Bad

And while all that sounds great in theory, it didn’t work for me. At all. I found myself bored with the program because of one simple fact: each run was time-based, not distance-based.

I was told to run for 20 minutes on the first day of each week. Every week. Which is fine, but for a 5K runner looking to increase endurance and distance, 1/3 of my scheduled runs being 20 minutes long was simply unacceptable. And those shorter, introductory runs continue all the way through the program–with their maximum time being 25 minutes.

On top of that, I mix up my runs between treadmill and outside, so a 20-minute run on the treadmill is between 1.8 and 2.0 miles for me, while outside that more likely approaches 2.5 to 2.8 miles.

That’s a huge difference.

And when you add in that the longer, steady runs and the tempo/fast intervals were also time-based, I couldn’t keep a consistent increase. I was stalling out, even though I should have been steadily increasing.

An average day’s run for me right now is about 4 miles (5 if I have time). And using the 5K-to-10K app, that would still be around 2 miles. And that’s absurd. And it doesn’t help me in the least get prepared for my 10K or half-marathon goals.

Verdict

Overall, the app is fine. It does what it’s supposed to, but it doesn’t seem to cater to the intermediate runner I feel like I am. It’s a great program for someone who’s never run a longer distance than a 5K. But I was running the 10K distance last fall on my own, so the Active app isn’t really geared for me.

If you’ve never run a 10K before, the app is fine. And if you don’t mind time-based instead of distance-based tracking, the app is fine. But if you’re like me and see 5K as the baseline of what you want to run on a given day (and it should be if you are looking at a 5K-to-10K app in the first place), and/or if you mix up your running pace by being both indoor and outdoor during any given week, the Active app probably isn’t for you.

Have you had better luck with other training plans and apps out there? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments!

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I’m an Author! (Again!)

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Birthright by B.J. Keeton - Cropped Cover

I haven’t been blogging as much as I wanted to lately, and a lot of that is because this is what I call deadline season.

I’m a teacher, which means a final push of lesson prep and exams near the end of our semester; I’m an administrator, which means there are reports and budgets due this time of year; and I’m an indie author with both a successful Kickstarter campaign and a co-authored serial novel, which means I have tons of editing, revising, and formatting to do on top of my day job.

And finally, some of that is done.

A few weeks ago, Austin and I published Part Four of Nimbus, the final installment of our serial novel. And today, I sent out the Kickstarter ebook copies of Birthright, the first book in my science-fantasy trilogy called The Technomage Archive.

BIRTHRIGHT

And by finalizing them for Kickstarter, that meant I finalized them for Amazon, too. I’m kind of a nervous wreck about it finally being available for sale after three years of writing, editing, rewriting, revising, and going slightly crazy. But I finally just had to let Birthright go and move on to the next book in the series.

Which if everything goes well, will be out around Christmas.

So just what is Birthright about?

Glad you asked! Here’s the back-cover copy for ya!

Damien Vennar used to be a god. As a technomage of the Charonic Archive, Damien had the power to create entire universes. Then, five hundred years ago, he gave it all up. He suspended the nanites that made up his bloodstream and began to age—and eventually die—like anyone else. For centuries, Damien has lived among those who once worshipped him, his real identity fading into myth and legend.  

Hundreds of years later, when Ceril Bain finds Damien’s old sword buried in his grandfather’s garden, he is put on the fast-track to follow in Vennar’s footsteps. Over the next six years, Ceril trains as a technomage aboard the Inkwell Sigil, a ship with the ability to travel between dimensions. Just as Ceril is preparing to undergo his Rites and finish his training, the Inkwell Sigil loses power. Stranded in space with no way back home, Ceril and four of his classmates are given their final assignment: go into uncharted territory, find a way back home, and bring back the one person who can fix the ship—Damien Vennar himself.

While away, Ceril and his team find themselves in a predicament when they confuse an attempt at first contact with an attack and kill two of the world’s winged inhabitants. They are shortly captured and imprisoned, and the only thing keeping them alive is their angel-like captors’ belief they may be the subjects of an ancient prophecy about a group of magic-wielding messiahs. But that’s impossible. Isn’t it?

Awesome, huh?

So if you’re interested in it, head over to Amazon and check out Birthright. There will be softcover copies available for purchase eventually, but that takes a bit more finessing than the ebooks do.

And now…I’m going to collapse and curl into a little ball of nerves while I wait on people to read and post reviews about my baby–my awesome, awesome baby.