I have a new blog now for my Ironman training. Check it out at http://www.the3rdwheel.com

My mom on our bike trip

I’m starting week 7 out of 17 training weeks for the NYC marathon.  I’m at the point where every long run is the longest I’ve ever run in my life.  Today I ran for two hours and thirty minutes when only a few weeks ago, two hours seemed long.  I noticed that the concept of time is beginning to change as I go for longer and longer runs.  I find that I’m only thinking about half of the run.  For example, if I have to run two hours and thirty minutes , all I think about is how I need to run for just an hour and fifteen minutes in one direction and then run home.

Why can’t we have these in Israel?

During one run, I got caught in thunder and lightening.  This is me after my run… soaked to the bone.

Here is a hill workout that I did in Bouc Bel-Air.  I think it’s great because you can see how the altitude corresponds exactly with my heart rate.  I found a good hill and ran up it over and over again for a period of time.  Boring? maybe… but I was was running up a hill with trees on both sides (=shade) so I was happy.

This next one I did on the beach front path in Barcelona.  I tried to find my heart rate blip when a drunk guy blocked my way but it must be buried in all that HR data.

Whats in store?

Today I went for a 2:30 long run and I’m giving it my all this week.  After that, who knows how much time I’ll have. I start working next week at Barclays Capital as an analyst.  I forsee long work days in my future

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]]> http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/guadi_and_running_barcelona/feed 0 http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/im-here-now-what http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/im-here-now-what#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:18:33 +0000 anat http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/?p=710 James Bond would have been proud.  I arrived at the Marseilles airport, got a parking ticket from the El-Al desk, found a car with a specific license plate, took the key from under the front wheel, drove to a house somewhere in Provence and voila! I’m home.  James doesn’t need to know that I didn’t understand how to put the car in reverse or that It took me 40 minutes to find the El-Al desk or that after each thing I did or place I arrived, the only thought in my head was ‘Alright… I’m here… Now what??’ .  All that matters is that I successfully swapped houses with another family and that my Orbea is safely by my side.

The day after I arrived, I went on a short 60km ride along part of stage 4 of the Tour De France.  I actually rode from the house, to kilometer 31 in the stage and continued until kilometer 59.  Aside from a few sprayed slogans on the road, there was no way anyone could have known that the tour had gone by only a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately , my polars’ battery is dead and I don’t have any documentation of my awesome ride; however, I found my old Garmin 0.1 in my backpack and used it instead.  Remarkably enough, it did the job quite well and I didn’t even get lost.

Garmin 0.1 - yes , a pen and paper

The next day I went on a longer 80km ride that left from Aix en Provence which is about 15 minutes from the house.  The ride was beautiful and the bike lanes were perfect… the drivers were courteous, views were breathtaking and after it rained butterflies* I couldn’t help but thinking ‘Is this real??’.  With all do respect to every other country in the world, France is better! I am so glad that I took my bike with me.  Being in France without a bike is like being in a bathroom without toilette paper – You manage but something is not quite right…

* May have only happened in my mind

Silly bike... Only people can go shopping

Working out while traveling

I’m on week 3 out of 17 in my marathon training plan towards the New York City Marathon. It’s not going to be easy to train once my family arrives but I’m determined to get all of my hill, fartlek and long runs in while I’m here.  The day that I arrived, I ran 45 minutes around the little city of Bouc Bel-Air, where the house is located.  Running whenever you arrive in a new place, even if it’s not for a long time, is a great way to figure out where you are, know what’s around you and plan your real runs later during the week.  Tip: Make sure that you fly with compression socks so that your legs are fresh.

Since then I’ve done one hill workout and one long run.  The best way to get the runs in is to just wake up early and do them.  If you leave anything for the end of the day, it just doesn’t get done.  On vacation, you never know what time you’ll get back. Tip: Workout according to time and not distance.  This way you’re not stressed about holding other people up; just run half the time and turn around.

Sunflower Field

Something I saw on the way

Maccabiah Half marathon

On the 21st of July, I participated in the Maccabiah Half Marathon.  If you asked anyone who ran the race to describe it in one word, they would say HOT.  It began at 18:30 so everyone was soaked before the race even started.  At each water station I took a water bottle and ran with it.  It was so hot that when I poured the water on my head, by the time it touched my ears the water was warm… It was so hot that about 20 people were sent to the hospital for dehydration… It was so hot that my running clothes were soaked all the way through after the first 20 minutes … It’s hard to describe.  Due to the terrible conditions, I also had a terrible time – 2:03.  Fortunately, I made my coach promise to make me faster so the problem is as good as solved.

Stuff I need

As you know, my birthday is coming up Joking… No one has to buy me anything BUT I have accumulated some things that I will purchase soon for the marathon training.  Please let me know if there is a better product that I have overlooked.

Compression Calf Guards

CW-X Women’s Pro Fit Shorts

Nathan Speed 2 Wastpack

Some More Photos

Today I received an email from TeamUSA letting me know that “you have earned a spot on the Team USA Roll Down list for 2009 ITU Duathlon World Championships because of your finish at the 2009 Duathlon National Championship”.  I blinked a few times, scratched my head to emphasize a thought process, and then realized that this email is the closest I will probably be to competing in a ‘World’ anything.  After conducting further research I found that “The top 12 in each age group, rolling down to 16th place at the Duathlon National Championship, will qualify for the 2009 World Championships in Concord, North Carolina (Sept. 24-26) “.  This means that I just made it to the rolling down point, whatever that means.  If 4 people don’t want to go, I’ll be offered a spot.  I wonder what t-shirt I’ll get if I compete in a world championship? Got to keep things in perspective.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?  The good news is that I got to sleep in on race day (hi five). The bad news is that my wave was at 11:35 and it was going to be 90 degrees outside (cancel hi five from before).  The issue is that, being the amazing team player that I am, I still woke up early to cheer on my fellow team mates who started at 8:30.  That means that my spanking new well-fit triathlon uniform was nice and moist with sweat well before the race start.  This made a 10k run feel like a very hot 10k run (That was a message from Captain Obvious).  This run led me to think about how I need to develop a kind of mantra for my run in order to survive the half ironman in a few weeks.  This mantra has to have a beat to it in order to keep my pace up and it needs to be something more powerful than my “left , right , left” mantra which made sense at the time.

The bike section was nice because I had a team to cheer me on.  In previous races, I was lucky if my friend, Rakefet, was competing because her brother came to cheer her on and I got a courtesy cheer every once and a while.  Not only did the team cheer me on, but they actually waited for me to finish.  Either Well-Fit is filled with great people or I have shitty friends (the ones who don’t read my blog).  In any event, I did feel like I was apart of the team for that weekend.  I had the luxury of roasting in the well-fit tent for a few hours and the Get-A-Grip “in tent” mechanic gave my bike a once over.

USAT thought it would be funny if they gave the duathletes beer glasses instead of medals at the finish line.  It’s a nice thought but all I could think about was opening my suitcase in Israel and seeing my Carbo Pro mixed with slivers of shattered glass.  Then I would have to throw away all of the Carbo Pro that made my bag overweight and cost me $100 to bring over and $20 to purchase.  So was my $65 race worth it?  I did get an awesome transition bag and hat and shirt so… what’s a few slivers of glass anyway.

Overall I really enjoyed myself in this competition and it gave me a much needed boost of confidence towards the 70.3 ironman on the 17th of May.  I can’t say that I was particularly fast during this race but I see it as a kind of intermediate race towards the main goal.  After the half ironman, I will be flying back to Israel and continuing to blog from there.

Some imagery and comments -

This was the well-fit tent -

The transition area -

Coach Sharone and myself :

I saw a bike that looked just like this ! Isn’t it cute?… I need to get a job…

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]]> http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/national-duathlon-festival/feed 0 http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/hancock-hustle http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/hancock-hustle#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:40:46 +0000 anat http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/?p=468 Hustle Up The Hancock

The only thing better than taking an elevator is taking the stairs.  Butterflies and monkey’s with red butts aside, I am proud to inform you that I have successfully climbed the Hancock tower (93 flights of stairs) in 17:28 and placed 40th in my category.

I’ve never done a stair climb before.  There is one famous stair climb in Israel at the Azrieli Towers but I could never understand why one would pay to climb stairs.  I would much rather do something out in nature than climb up a cramped stairwell with a ton of other sweaty people.  There are several very simple reasons why I climbed the Hancock tower despite my preconceived notions about this type of race.

1. Common… It’s THE Hancock tower!
2. What better way to say goodbye to Chicago than from the (tippy) top of the city.
3. I get to say that I did something for a cause (Respiratory Health Association).  I usually just do things for a reason so having a cause is the best reason I can think of.

After an exciting night of pub crawling (see image above), I took the train back into the city.  My climb was at 2PM which gave me plenty of time to have a competition breakfast* and head off to the Hancock.  After arriving, I stood in line and waited patiently for the beginning of the stairwell.  I couldn’t help but think what would happen if there was a fire? Would everybody turn around and run down? It’s a good thing that there was no visible fire alarm because I was dying to find out.
Finally, I arrived at the bottom of the stairwell where a guy said “3,2,1 GO”.  I went.

I didn’t touch the rail the whole way up.  I simply used my arms as much as possible to propel myself and put less strain on my legs. After 17 minutes and 28 seconds I had reached the (tippy) top – Average heart rate was 186 so it wasn’t a piece of cake at all.  The nice part was standing in the open area of the Hancock observatory and cooling down after the effort. What a view…. Goodbye Chicago.  I almost turned my back to the city to throw a coin (like at the Trevy Fountain) but my limited knowledge of physics prevented me.  I know I’ll be back, no need to throw a coin.

• US competition breakfast – Two whole grain Eggo waffles with sugar free syrup and 371 blueberrries (a lot of blueberries).
• Israel competition breakfast – A white bread roll or two pieces of white bread toast with honey.

Just to be brief, this is what happened after that: I finished working in Chicago, said goodbye to my friends, packed my bike, packed my bags, flew to Maryland.  Now I’m in Maryland just training and studying for my GMAT exam until the middle of May.  On the 17th of May… (drumroll).. I will participate… (another drumroll) … in the Ford 70.3 Florida Ironman! Don’t forget to check out my intensifying training log right here.
http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/anatkramer/log.cfm

Breakfast with Sam Zell

On a breakfast note, I had one with Sam Zell and my friend Tal.  Sam Zell is the one who is responsible for the IDC Zell Entrepreneurship program.  To sum up our internships, we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Sam.  We discussed the financial situation for the most part but we had the opportunity to thank him and hopefully, others will follow in our footsteps in the years to come. Thanks Sam! (Pssst, I’m a little bit taller than you)

Next on the agenda – The Suntrust National Marathon (21st March)

Random Photos

Leave comments! Also try out the google widget thingy on the right.

Hello Poly is a nerdy demonstration of programming concepts which is perfect for me.  It was easy to understand, from the Stanford PDF lectures, how MVC works (Model View Controller).  It’s a pretty simple concept actually and kind of reminds me of a puppet show.  The puppet is my ‘model’. It can be picked up, it’s eyes can be changed, it’s movements defined, its type of voice determined and even its range of motion.  Then I have the controller, which is the puppeteer, who has access to the puppet and all of its features and abilities.  It’s not worth changing anything on the puppet if I can’t show it to anyone.  That is where the ‘view’ comes into play.  The view would be the stage.  As a puppeteer, I can arrange the puppet however I want and then display it on stage.  After I understood this, the concept seemed obvious and the connections intuitive.

Watch my demonstration to see it at work.  Also, Download the zip file and try it out for yourself.

Demonstration Video

i2i Review

Remember when I wrote an i2i review a week ago? Well, I wrote the company and told them about my review.  They were kind enough to link to my blog, ask for some marketing advice and offer free products to try out (kind of).  My main advice: Black plastic is out and smooth silver is in, and also to market to gym’s around the US instead of individuals. Click here to see the i2i page linking to ‘In Anatshell’ and other reviews.

New Passport

I received my new United States passport.  It’s not just any passport, its an electronic passport.  It came with a pamphlet which looks like this:

What I have to say about this is – REALLY?

Is the world REALLY mine? Are you trying to say that Cuba is not part of the world? Is that what you’re trying to say?  I mean… REALLY?

And REALLY Department of State, do you honestly think that an electronic passport is that much more advanced? It still has pages out of paper to stamp! Stamp… Like taking a rubber physical thing with a country logo and physically pressing down and making that, oh so annoying, stamping noise.  Now, instead of carrying a passport book, we need to carry a passport book with an electronic card inside. Wow, this technology is really lightening up my wallet… I mean REALLY?….

and also… REALLY? This is what your design team came up with?  I know how to search Google images too… I mean… REALLY…

(The “REALLY” concept is from SNL in case anybody missed that)

On the right, you can join my blog through Google and write comments. Try it out!

]]> http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/poly-hows-it-going/feed 2 http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/my-first-iphone-app http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/my-first-iphone-app#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:49:43 +0000 anat http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/?p=432 This is my first iPhone app.  I know that it’s no Urbanspoon but you have to start somewhere… and where better to start than munchkin land.  I know exactly where to go from here.  I just need to follow the yellow brick road…

I’m not sure Steve Jobs would hire me quite yet.  Until then, I will continue entertaining myself with some fun iPhone development.  I’ve discovered that Stanford had an iPhone course and all of the material is online (Stanford iPhone Development Course). Maybe I should give an iPhone class at the IDC when I’m knowledgeable enough…

When I come up with something more exciting, it will be posted here. Meanwhile I did the very basic “Hello Stanford” homework assignment in Kramer style.

It all started when I first purchased my iPhone arm band so that I could work out with my music and my phone at the same time (fatass note: that’s equivalent to eating pizza and watching cartoons at the same time).  I love my iPhone to death but it really isn’t the ideal running audio device because of it’s bulkiness.  I contemplated buying an iPod Shuffle for a while but I wanted to make use of my iPhone features while I was working out.  Luckily, I remembered a VC convention that I had attended which presented the i2i; however, I didn’t remember the name of the device.  This was the beginning of my mission.

After searching high and low, I finally found the website of i2i and purchased a pair.  It’s about the size of the old nano, but a little bit smaller in height and about twice the width.  It weighs practically nothing and I was eager to try it out. 

My goal : Place my iPhone on the tredmil and listen to my music with a small i2i sitting on my arm instead of a the heavy iPhone.

Another advantage is that now, I could watch movies and shows while I was running, without the worry of my phone falling and of cumbersome wires.  It is also useful while lifting weights at the gym.  I just place my iPhone somewhere in the middle of my workout area and move around the fitness machines with my i2i.  If I move around too much, it may get a bit choppy but for the most part, the sound is perfect when I’m in range.

Since the i2i is a new product which isn’t particularly popular, it doesn’t have enough accessories.  I found myself placing the i2i in my running shorts pocket where the buttons were continuiously pressed (fatass note: like when you can’t find the remote and you don’t understand why the channels are changing… Your sitting on it).  I decided to create my own arm band for the i2i and headed off to ebay.  On ebay I bought a generic arm band and an i2i skin which the company does provide.  For less than $10, I had everythinig I needed to create an armband.  I simply took velcro, attached it to the i2i skin with superglue and stuck it onto my armband and… Voila!  Now the buttons won’t get pressed.

I’ve found other uses for it.  As a “remote” by connecting it to my television speakers and to my iPhone.  I can then control the music from the kitchen on my iPhone and the audio comes out of the speakers.  Two people can listen to the same audio device with the i2i.   A friend and myself can listen to the same music or watch the same movie at the same time.  Also, if you live in a house with roommates, then you can listen to your movies silently from your bed (fatass note: you can listen to your movies silently from your bed).

The disadvantages are that the range is only 30ft (it’s meant for relatively close ranges) and that there are not enough accessories available yet.

Overall, I’m enjoying this product and I can think of another hundred uses for it.  Try to think of some…

The i2i in the palm of my hand

Here is the i2i on the home made armband

How to use the i2i (from the i2i website)

Get-A-Grip bike fitting :

Here is my new poem.  It will help you understand:

My influence is Shel Silverstein by the way…

When I decided that I liked triathlons, I got a bike and helmet.
And wanted to keep the skin on my hands so I bought some gloves, god damn it..

I wanted to keep tires in my shirt so I got a jersey with pockets
And the sun was beating in my eyes so I got sunglasses for my sockets.

I didn’t want my butt to hurt so I got cycling shorts.
I didn’t want to ask for his pump so I bought one of course,

I wanted to be part of a team so I went and got their outfit,
And now its cold and I need more stuff, I just can’t live without it!

Here is a list of what I got:

Gloves – Full finger gloves with a secret pocket that has a cover for my fingers

Socks – They look like gloves for you feet and they go under your cycling shoes

Pants – Thick thick pants so that my legs don’t get red again.

Hat – A scull cap to put underneath my helmet. It also covers ears.

Undershirt – A tight shirt that is breathable to wear under everything.

Here is a list of what I need:
A jacket – The one at the store was too small.  I need a serious one.
Booties – These go over your cycling shoes to keep even warmer

Chicago Marathon

I woke up on the day of the Chicago Marathon and walked one block south of my house to the 21km mark of the marathon.  It was at that moment that I realized how much I miss the competitions.  I miss the training and the nervousness, the freezing mornings, the line to the bathrooms, the heaps of people… Soon after this realization, I met my friend Gil and we walked over to the finish line and then to a friends house that overlooked the stream of runners.  It was an amazing events and I got great photos from the balcony.

My New York City Marathon is officially postponed to next year but my spot is saved.   Meanwhile I’m back to very light running and eventually I will increase the distance and time.

Another Opera – Lulu

Now for my famous synopsis –
Lulu was adopted by an old guy when she was twelve and he turned her into a dancer so she could get guys.  She married a guy and got caught cheating and the husband died.  She married the guy she was cheating on him with and got caught cheating again and the next husband killed himself.  Then, she married the guy who adopted her and ended up shooting him after he caught her cheating with a bunch of guys.  She got sent to prison and a girl helped her escape.  Then she had shares that turned out to be worth nothing and she became a prostitute and got murdered.

Southbeach Diet
I’m finally on a diet (yay).  South beach diet is really easy to follow and there is a lot to eat.  The concept is not to eat any sugar.  No sugar from breads or fruit either.  I’ve been on it for five days and I have a week and two days until the end of phase one.  After phase one, other foods are introduced and when I get to my desired weight, I go to phase three.  The problem is that I don’t have a scale but I ordered one online and hopefully the results will be in. My goal for now is to get back to 123 lbs or around 55 kilo.

Half Ironman
The training has begun for the half ironman. I’m aiming for the Ford half ironman in Florida (May).  You can check out my workout routine whenever you want by going here:
http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/anatkramer/log.cfm
I write comments on each workout so you can glance at that too.  The one great thing about it, is the swimming.  I’ve always just swam 30 minutes of freestyle and now I have kicks and drills and different strokes (for different folks) which makes the workout more interesting.  Also, my stroke is improving so feel free to try any workout or ask me about it.  Sharone Aharon and wellfit (his company) get full credit for everything! Visit their website.

I hope that everyone saw the Country Music Awards!