Atlanta Thanksgiving Half-Marathon

Race instead of turkey

"Guys, how are you going to celebrate Thanksgiving?"
"Are you going to celebrate somehow Thanksgiving?"
"Have you decided what you are going to do on Thanksgiving?"

It were "TOP3" questions our colleagues were asking last time. Two days before Thanksgiving, Dug, knowing about my attitude towards running, asked if I know about Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon? "No", I said and opened Google. It was my answer on those  "TOP3" questions - I'm running!

And it begun...

• Registration in the last day...
• Expected time 1:35...
• Searching possibilities to get there in time without paying additional 30$...
• Morning discussion with drunk girl and her strange friend...
• Fail and salvation with clothes...
• Starting wave confusion...
• Start, GO GO GO.......

100 push-ups in 7 weeks

To go out of my comfort zone is something I need, thus I decided not to limit with Ironman only, and remembered my unfulfilled dreams from childhood - 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups! Sounds great, hard to implement, good for health in general and some nice body relief as bonus - exactly what I need!

As it usually happens "bicycle" was invented before, and you just have to use it. So I found a training plan with the same name as my goal - "100 push-ups in 6 week", and started training... The idea is to increase load smoothly, interchange rest and training in the right way and demonstrate willpower. Add to it to my 3 month US trip, and you'll get perfect combination:

• I travel without family, thus I'll have a lot off free time
• US is well known by it's junk food, so I'll have to get rid of extra calories
• Next summer/autumn I'm going to finish full Ironman distance

Spock - framework for Java developers, who doesn't like Unit testing

I'm Java developer! Coding is base of our profession. It's testing is somewhere nearby. Honestly - I hate writing unit tests. Subconsciously I can not accept the fact that I have to write 20 lines of code in order to test 5. You can make mistake in any code, even the one, which intended to test another one, what about them? In addition you have to know bunch of testing frameworks (JMock, EasyMock, PowerMock), testing standards, best practices, etc.

Please, don't get me wrong, I do not belittle importance of testing. I was writing those tests even without excessive passion. I just didn't like the way I had to do it. And apparently, in one one of our projects client insisted on Spock - another framework for testing, but on Groovy. "Happy client!" - is our company mantra, so we are learning new for us framework, and..... HERE IT IS! For the first time testing become simple, logic, intuitive and FAST!

The most boring marathon

Marathon is a dream for runner-beginner! There is so much proud in this phrase "I run marathon!", which is not actually the same what you feel in the process of achieving this goal.

• "8:30 - full tank of carbohydrates, heart rate monitor set on, satellites found..." - imagine your feelings if you don't have corresponding attitude, and, because of your leisure, physical shape too...
• "...I was waiting for start along with thousands of runners..." - what if you are alone?!
• "...I continued running along the quays and bridges of St. Petersburg. There were so many beautiful things around me!!!" - and now switch to the small room without any beauties.
• "...The most sharp-sighted ones could read my name on my number and shouted "Grisha, come on, go go go!"" - what if there is nobody to support you?!
• "...Got out, gave chip, took a towel and went to take the certificate with results I could and had to have better..." - if there is no even small medal or any other paper charter?!
• "...I was recovering so diligently, that over-recovered by 2 kg..." - what if you don't have with whom to celebrate?!

Runner time calculator

km mile
Dist.:	Marathon Halfmarathon 10km 5km
Pace (min/kmmi )
Speed ( km mi/hr)

Once upon a time I decided to play with different distances and paces required for specific time. Plus to this speed, pace, miles, km... - finally I didn't find as good calculator as I wanted and decided to create my own.

For time and pace you can use dot (.), comma (,) and colon (:), we understand.

Enter, ENTER - watch!

I've tried and liked it. Probably it can be useful for you too.

If you've found any bug - let me know, I'll try to fix it.

My first open water swim - Bosphorus 2014

Marathon, Bosporus, Half-Ironman. - This chain of events has to happen this summer, and it's all right so far. Second goal achieved, although with some mistakes, but more on this later.

Pre-history

Let's go back to the beginning. Summer 2013. Triathlon: Swimming, Cycling, Running - absolute zero experience in all those elements :). I was fully aware that it is impossible to get Ironman quickly. I thought that it would be nice to participate in several cycling, running, and swimming races. All of them had to take place next summer (2014) in order to have time for the preparation, and have enough time for recovery. Eventually, I had the marathon in June, Bosporus swim  - July and Half Ironman - August. Right, I know, there is no cycling in this list--I couldn’t fit everything in just three summer months --autumn was planned for another thing.

White Nights - my first marathon!

Marathon, Bosphorus, Half Iron Man - this is the chain of events I planned for the summer of 2014 at the end of the summer of 2013, when my ambitions prevailed over my laziness and I decided that it was time to change. Did I believe then that I could do it - NOT AT ALL, but as you know - If you can dream it, you can do it.

Marathon

Marathon is not something you can plan today for tomorrow. It takes time. In my case it was one year of continuous preparation. During this time I managed to run around 1000кm, preparing myself for this event.

Plan

I realized that it was not enough to just run every day in order to make it happen, I needed a Plan. There were several options to choose from: I could find a trainer, elaborate a plan by myself or use one of thousands existing in the Internet.