Nov. 4, 2020
Warm Up 3.4 K: 19:58.64
Rest: 30.20
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1st K: 4:01.90
Rest: 1:00.36
2nd K: 4:10.48
Rest: 1:00.32
3rd K: 4:11.74
Rest: 1:00.20
4th K: 4:24.05
Rest: 1:00.36
5th K: 4:07.77
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Warm Down 3.4 K: 20:14.39
Total 11.8 K: 1:05:40
Nov. 4, 2020
Immanuel Kant is known to have lived a very structured daily life. Some of it is said to have been spent on writing. When I learned this habit of the great thinker, I decided to try to make time to write a short essay before going to work. It won't work if I choose a topic totally irrelevant to my work. So I've decided to write about something that directly relates to a lesson I'm teaching on the day of writing.
My topic therefore is Biltong. What is biltong? Simply put, it's meat dried in the sun. It's originally from South Africa. But it is said that all the food shows are raving about it! Of course, that's the case in the US, so I'm not surprised if you've never heard of it, born and raised in Japan where I write this now.
Anyhow, I did some research on Biltong, and discovered a few interesting facts. I'm going to share them.
<Similar to Beef Jerky But Different>
When I say beef dried in the sun, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably beef jerky. You may react by saying, "Hey, what's the different?" In fact, they are not so different from each other, except that beef jerky is cut first, and then dried while biltong is cured and dried, and then cut into pieces.
<Comes in Different Cuts>
Biltong, according to a website, comes in a couple of different cuts. Most typically, it's cut along the grain of the muscle into strips. However, a rump may be cut across the grain into flat slices.
<The Most Interesting Origin>
The most fascinating fact about biltong, though, is who made it. In fact, it was made by Dutch people living in South Africa. Why did they made it? Well, in the early 19th century there was a large migration of Dutch people in South Africa who were oppressed by invading British people. During this great migration Dutch people needed food that lasted during a long journey of survival. That's the origin of biltong.
All foods have some kind of history behind them. You may want to do your own research on some of your favorite foods. You may find something interesting.
Nov. 4, 2020
Ran 5 K on the lawn and 6 K on the pavement to cover 11 K in a little less than an hour. Increasingly getting cold for a barefoot run, but that's not going to be a big problem, because at a certain point my feet become numb and stop feeling anything.
11 K: 56:59.99
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<On the lawn>
1st K: 5:29.69
2nd K: 5:19.08
3rd K: 5:15.45
4th K: 5:03.91
5th K: 5:02.82
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<On the pavement>
6th K: 5:16.38
7th K: 5:42.27 (lap timed a while into 8th lap & not completely accurate)
8th K: 4:38.87 ((lap timed a while into 8th lap & not completely accurate)
9th K: 5:16.37
10th K: 5:22.37
11th K: 4:32.78
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Total 11 K :56:59.99
Nov. 3, 2020
I slept a staggering 13 hours, and woke up a new man.
It was then I realized that I had long been deeply in debt in terms of sleep.
<Lesson 1: Sleep Is Important>
When you've had enough sleep, your mind is clear, and you learn new things more easily. I realized that when I learned Spanish on Duolingo. When I did it in a constant lack of sleep, I didn't seem to learn much, and it was hard to stay motivated. On the other, when I got on with it after sleeping 13 hours, I felt like I could absorb everything like a sponge.
<Lesson 2: Look Up & Say Chunk by Chunk>
As I learned Spanish, I reconfirmed the importance of looking up and saying a sentence, not as a whole all at once, but by chunk. Also, it's important to look up and say it without relying on the written word. It allows you to shift your attention from written words to the meaning of the phrase you are saying. Through this practice, a solid connection is built between sound and meaning of a phrase. When this happens, you get to understand the meaning of a phrase when you hear it, rather than visualize written words of the phrase.
<Lesson 3: Diversifying Food is Key to Survival>
Diversifying food is key to survival. I thought so when I watched a TV program on savannah. In Africa many animals live. Some are carnivores. Others are hervibores. When two animals of different kinds live on the same food, competition arises. The strong usually dominate the weak. The former prosper. The latter decline.
But if you can live on something no other animal wants, you can prosper, because food may be abundant, and there is little competition.
One animal in savannah, in fact, has evolved to live on something most other animals don't care to eat. The animal is a fox with very large ears, and its food is insects. According to the TV program, the animal has evolved to have big ears in order to detect the sounds that small insects make. Its hearing is so good that it can find them from afar!
To conclude, if you want to survive without much competition over food with other kinds of animals, you may want to be develop unique taste buds to eat something that few others want. Diversifying food is key to survival.
<Lesson 4: Changing Game is Key to Survival>
Changing game is key to survival. I thought so when I watched another episode in the same program on savannah. Hernivores were drinking from a pond. Carnivores were resting in a distance. The carnivores don't hunt, because they are full. But once they become hungry, whose time will come sooner or later, they go hunting, and one of those herbivores will be hunted down, and it gets on the carnivores' dinner plate.
Now there were a couple of small birds, picking seeds from the ground. While all the hernivores look vigilant over a potential attack from carnivores, these birds look completely carefree. They don't seem to worry about being attacked by lions and cheetahs. And probably they don't, because they can live on a different dimension. They can live in the sky as well as on the ground. A hungry lion cub may attack a bird if the bird cannot fly and the cub is super hungry. However, it probably won't. Well, it might once or twice. But then it will quickly learn that the bird is no match to it, because the moment it attacks, the bird takes off into the sky, far out of its reach. The bird's key to survival is living an a different dimension from that of its predator. Its key to survival is changing the game of surviving on the ground to surviving in the sky where lions and cheethas have no way to have their upper hand. Incidentally, that's one reason many birds stopped being physically big to compete with these carnivores. I think humans have a lesson to learn from many birds in terms of survival. Maybe many of us are doing what birds did in their evolutionary process in order to survive in this highly competitive global business environment.
Oct. 29, 2020
4 K: 20:42.75
Oct. 26, 2020
4 K Barefoot Jog: 21:25.83
Tire Walk 10 sets by 30 seconds with a 15-sec rest between sets: 9:02.79
You raise the tire in the photo over you head and walk for 30 seconds. Rest 15 seconds. Repeat until you hit 10 sets. Easy at first. But it becomes progressively harder as you go through more sets with building lactic acid making it hard to hold the tire above your head. It hits traps and tri-ceps as well as shoulders.
4 K Barefoot Jog: 21:16.06
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Oct. 27, 2020
3.1 K Jog: 17:30.44
6 K Tempo Run (Target=4:55/K): 28:00.85 (Average 4:40/K)
3.1 K: Jog: 18:48.25
Total 12.2 K: 1:04:19
Oct. 22, 2020
15. 7 K: 1:29:38
