Today I finished week 3 of the C25K program. Week 3 was harder then I thought. especially this morning. 15 seconds in my first interval and I thought I was dying. I was even considering turning around and call it a day… but I didn’t!

I just plowed through it and finished the session with better numbers then the previous runs for week 3. My legs are still burning but at least I completed week 3! Week 4 will be interesting:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

* Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
* Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
* Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
* Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
* Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
* Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
* Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Last weekend was men boys only (John, Jason and me) at Lake Sonoma. Camp site was Buck Pastures 05 close to the water play area. Since all three of us work in the tech/internet industry it is of no surprise we exchange a zillion links. Without having any sort of connection to the W3 at the time I’ll try to mention a few links/subjects discussed this weekend. Unfortunately I forgot my camera to accompany this story with pictures… (John, send me the camera pics!)

Of course we talked about movies and TV shows, duh… If the list doesn’t make sense to you; you’re right. Pretty random stuff!

• the Dark Knight. Jas, make sure to see this one in the theater!
• Grandma’s Boy
• Twin Peaks
• Weeds
• Idiocracy
• New York - A Documentary Film. Directed by Ric Burns, this eight part, 14½ hour television event explores New York City’s rich history as the premier laboratory of modern life. A sweeping narrative covering nearly 400 years and 400 square miles, it reveals a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.
• The Happening
• Mad Men

Geek talk and websites in general:

• The Couch to 5K Program
• The $499.00 Link Cable
• The M Field: Limitless Potential
• Gottapark.com. Find a parking spot in the City
• cuil.com
• searchme.com
• The Adobe® AIR™. The Adobe® AIR™ runtime lets developers use proven web technologies to build rich Internet applications that deploy to the desktop and run across operating systems.
• io9 is strung out on Sci-Fi. Part adoring fan and part discerning critic, the site appeals to both the hardcore obsessive and the generally curious. An ideal platform for many tech and entertainment brands, io9 bridges the gap between gawking and geeking out.

Totally random stuff:

• Alaskan Beer
• The Bacon Bra
• Now That’s Gangsta
• Flying Manta’s
• Flying Penguins on BBC Documentary
• YMCA Outdone

Last but not least my former employee on Google’s street view. Proof that rural America is being mapped by Google:

And week 2 is a wrap! It was a perfect morning, low 50’s and no wind. I completed the session with ease and I’m ready for week 3! I’ll start week 3 on Saturday morning and after my run I will be camping once again at Lake Sonoma.

This time it’s a boys only trip. Jason, John and me. I’m pretty excited about both events: running and camping!

the numbers:
Distance: 2.07 mi
Duration: 28′’57″”
Pace: 13′56″

Day 2 was much harder then day 1. I wonder if my scheduled time has anything to do with it. I start my morning runs at 5:30AM. The first day of each week is on a Sunday and normally I would start running around 10. We’ll see how I’m doing on Thursday, day 3.

The numbers:

Distance: 2.03 mi
Duration: 28′58″
Pace: 14′15″

Awesome movie and Heath Ledger as the Joker is just phenomenal! For a long time I thought Jack Nicholson was the ultimate Joker but Heath just smashed this into pieces. Such a shame he’s no longer with us…

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From the cuil website: The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.

Now that’s a statement!

Part of their faq:

How does Cuil improve search results?

Cuil’s goals are to index the whole Web, to analyze deeply its pages and to organize results in a rich and helpful way that allows you to explore fully the subject of your search.

So we started from scratch—with a fresh approach, an entirely new architecture and breakthrough algorithms.

Our approach is to focus on the content of a page and then present a set of results that has both depth and breadth.

Our aim is to give you a wider range of more detailed results and the opportunity to explore more fully the different ideas behind your search. We think this approach is more useful to you than a simple list.

So Cuil searches the Web for pages with your keywords and then we analyze the rest of the text on those pages. This tells us that the same word has several different meanings in different contexts. Are you looking for jaguar the cat, the car or the operating system?

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On Sunday I started week 2 of my C25K program. I was using my newly created podcast and my first session was over before I knew it! Interval 4 was the hardest but in the end all was good.

Unfortunately I can’t publish the podcast (yet) since it’s loaded with copyrighted material. I have to find some songs that are podsafe. Stupid music industry… Mel McMurrin (Calypso for the gamers amongst us) offered to compose some techno songs to accompany the podcasts, so maybe I’m able to release it pretty soon.

Another blogger has joined us on the C25K program! Welcome Daisy of I/O Geek. Her link can also be found in the C25K blogroll section. Daisy is on the same schedule as I am so it’s an extra motivator to keep a close eye on her progress. She also Dutch (like me!) so I was double thrilled when she left a comment!

If you running the C25K and have a blog please let me know. I’ll put you on the list and make sure to give some motivational comments about your 5K journey.

I found the voice-over for my C25K podcasts! Hopefully Mel McMurrin has some time this weekend to provide me with some sound bites. More about the talented Mel McMurrin:

A veteran jingle singer in the San Francisco Bay area, Mel has recorded commercials for Nations Hamburgers, Sun Microsystems, Luckys, Glidden, Harvey’s Casinos and others in studios like, Green Street Music, Michael Boyd Music, Ed Bogus Productions and Bongo Bob Productions.

His malleable voice has found it’s way on to a number of video/computer games including Sony’s Twisted Metal, and Cool Borders, Konami’s NHL:Blades of Steel, Lucas Arts’ Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion (for which he also co-wrote the music) and Brøderbund’s Where in Time is Carman San Diego?

He has done commercial voice-over for Schwab, Novell, Gallo, Lincoln-Mercury, Siemens and dozens of others and was a morning-drive radio host for then country-gospel format, KASA in Phoenix.

I finished W1D3 this morning completing my first week! It was the slowest of ‘em all but I was at least moving forward. I’m shortening up my stride just to have a better control of my breath. The numbers:

Distance: 2.06 mi
Duration: 29′12″
Pace: 14′08″

Tip: Use your breathing as your guide when running. You should be able to carry on a conversation while running and your breathing shouldn’t be heavy.

I will have two days of rest, probably doing some weight training for my upper body and start week 2 on Sunday!

I decided to give the C25K a permanent home at mindplunge. I created some pages dedicated to the C25K so readers can use it as a reference or resource: Couch to 5K

I will continue updating these pages since I find every day more information about the subject. I’m also in the process of making my own C25K Podcast! The most used podcasts for the C25K are Robert Ullrey’s C25K Podcasts and DJ Steveboy’s Podrunner Intervals: First Day to 5K. I have to be honest and both podcasts feel kinda outdated to me. They still do the job but the music is not my taste.

So there ya go! New podcasts coming soon. In the meantime I have W1D3 to run tomorrow morning. This will end my first week! More tomorrow.