Katherine Walker, UVA track up-and-comer

Yeah, so obviously I'm biased, but this chick can run!!  And she works harder at her goals than anyone I know.
The most inspiring individual I've ever met and my best friend.  Wish her luck as she and the UVA women XC team head to NCAA XC Nationals in Terra Haute, Indiana this coming Monday led by coach Jason Vigilante, Southeast Region Women's Coach of the Year.

 Drop her good luck wishes on her facebook page if you feel so moved.  I'm sure it will mean a lot to her.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Uniquities/61150873442?v=wall#!/profile.php?id=100000302632754

And here is a Katherine Walker feature on the UVA athletics website:
http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=88755&SPID=10596&DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=205032650

Sound Off: Tailgate’s Cancelled

Last night at 10 pm Larry Moneta, Duke's VP for Student Affairs, sent out an email to the student body effectively cancelling Tailgate, forever.

If you don't know what Duke Tailgate is, then watch this…

http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/34359679/college-experiment-hot-girl-duke.htm?q=duke+tailgate

A minor, a sibling of an absolutely moronic, irresponsible student was found passed out in a Blue Zone port-a-john. He is apparently fine, and that's good. But the administration jumped on this as the perfect opportunity to end Tailgate once and for all. They have been trying to end it for many years. Now is the perfect opportunity. Or is it?

Student response to the email was swift. Within minutes, a student had an organized event called "Main Quad Throwdown" up on facebook. Within hours, about a quarter of the student body had RSVP'd as "attending." That is 1250+ students. Within 3 hours. Impressive. The administration potentially has a large problem on their hands.

As of this moment, 1500 people are attending and 4000 are "awaiting reply." This Throwdown could possibly be larger than LDOC and it is going to be right in the middle of the main quad, a crazy, drunken rager right in front of everyone: students, parents, tourists, fans, little kids. And believe me, student response to Tailgate's cancellation has been outrage, but not the kind of outrage that plagues so many "activist groups," where they are appalled but don't do anything about it. No, the students are mobilized, and the administration gave us 5 days to plan it.

There are a few important issues here that need to be put out there:

1. A main reason for cancelling Tailgate, besides the obvious safety concerns, is that very few students actually attend the football game. Most Tailgate ragers go get some food and fall asleep, wake up 6 hours later and rally for Shooters. The football program struggles with attendance so much that they already close the gym on game days to discourage working out during game time. Apparently they feel people will just be like, "Oh, I can't go to the gym so I may as well just go to the game." It doesn't work out that way. Obviously, people don't appreciate a dictator-like move and are repelled. Has game day attendance gone up?

But wait, why the heck is the football team so special??? Attendance is lower at games like soccer and baseball, field hockey and wrestling matches, swim and track meets. So why don't administrators care about those teams as much as our floundering, awful football program? Maybe because they pump a TON more money into the football program and get no return on their investment. They are struggling to rationalize the decision to put so much money into something so bad.

2. OK, you cancelled Tailgate. You got rid of a security-moderated, EMS attended party that brings hundreds of otherwise incredibly independent students together in one place to have fun for a couple hours. The only other events at Duke that are as well attended as Tailgate are the basketball games. There is very little cohesion in our campus culture and you just made it worse. You just empowered the Greek scene even more, and now even larger parties will be thrown off-campus, in Durham neighborhoods, and these parties will definitely not have security guards or EMS on-call. No, do you think kids are just going to wake up on Saturday morning, and instead of Tailgating, go to Perkins and work all afternoon? Or, even go to the game?

No, you should know this by now, but Duke students are smart, and we get what we want. Main Quad Throwdown is a perfect example of a calculated response that was generated within minutes. If students want to party hard on weekends, then they will. We work incredibly hard all week and taking away something like Tailgate may peeve people initially, but I guarantee that very soon, something will be generated to take its place, for the long term. The Throwdown is obviously a one-time deal, but if this "newer, better way to Tailgate and enjoy the game" that admin is "going to be developing during the Spring as an alternative" is lame, the students will create an un-lame alternative very quickly, and if it not supported by the administration, then it will be brought off campus.

Main Quad Throwdown. 11/13/10. Duke University Main Quad. Come, if not to party, then to support a fundamentally democratic movement created and facilitated by Duke Students for Duke Students. I wonder if a news truck will get wind of this ;-)

Bed Intruder song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKsVSBhSwJg&list=QL&feature=BF

Just heard this again and couldn't help myself and had to put it up here.  Reminds me of my little bro :)  and if you haven't heard this and need some context, then watch this first....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzKtPezPsqE&feature=related

Setting the targets for my upcoming training/racing season…

As some of you may know, I will begin training under the guidance of Coach Lisa Colvin (http://www.triathlonacademy.com/public/Lisa_C_Colvin_PhD.cfm) beginning Monday. We have been working together to come up with a general plan that will allow us to keep focus on the larger picture as we continually pay attention to the minutiae of day-to-day training. I've also talked with Nell Stephenson (http://www.nellstephenson.com/), a leading nutrition authority in Paleo nutrition for endurance athletes, about possibly helping me out with what I should consume and when in order to get down to my racing weight within the coming months and do it in a way that will enhance my training and health, not hinder it. You can read about both on their websites. They are both very accomplished athletes and professionals. I'm blessed to be working with them.


One of things that I believe is crucial for pursuing and achieveing goals is to 1.) set them in the first place and 2.) set specific targets to hit along the way. The targets will keep you focused day-to-day yet still ensure you are moving forward under the framework of the goals you've set. With that in mind, I feel today is the perfect time to lay out my goals and targets quickly before I dive head first back into the high volume lifestyle come Monday.

Swim:

My goal for the swim at Collegiate Nationals is to be out of the water in the top-10, requiring a sub 20 minute 1500m open water split. I believe this is 1:20 per 100m which I can do in the pool at around tempo effort when moderately trained. I am expecting to be doing plenty of 100m repeats with little rest to build my race pace fitness in this area after a month or two of longer aerobic efforts to build back into being efficient and fluid in the water. Doing it in the pool is all well and good, but if I cant translate that to open water then all the pool fitness means little. Once the weather begins to warm up again in the spring I will plan to head out to an area lake and do an open water session at least once/week. I also think playing water polo once a week would help out as well with sighting.

Bike:

Lisa and I have agreed that the most crucial place for me to put my efforts is into my cycling for now. I believe this is two-fold. One, obviously the bike portion is the longest during the race and therefore the most time can either be lost or gained during the ride. Two, cycling is the easiest for me to do in high volume. We are going to aim to have me doing around 250-315 miles a week this winter. This will help me lean out well because of the hours of activity and I believe it will make me a stronger runner as well. I've read opinions of people like Gordo Byrn (http://www.endurancecorner.com/g_blog) who believe that cycling can improve your run fitness off the bike. The fitter you become on the bike, the more efficient you are and the less likely you are to waste much needed energy for the run. Therefore, you can get off the bike and run to your potential b/c you're bike fit. My goal is to be on and off the bike in under 59 minutes total for that portion of the race. I have no doubt that a high volume of training with some intensity thrown in a few months out will facilitate this well.

Run:

The run is my favorite of the disciplines, especially when I am fit. Blazing through forest trails on foot is the most primal and amazing feeling I know. I just love it. And I am also gifted with the ability to run high volume without injury. I once knocked out three 100 mile weeks at 215 lbs without an inkling of an injury. I am now much less than 215 but I still have a ways to go before I get back to my racing weight of 165-170 so I will keep my running volume moderate (50 mi/wk) and have the cycling volume high. My running will naturally get faster as my body sheds fat and unecessary muscle through cycling and the moderate running. I have set the goal to be running 32:30 OTB in the race next Spring. I'm going to hit the hills in Duke Forest hard come Spring time a couple months out from the race to gain confidence and power to do this.

Nutrition:

I believe this is the single most crucial element to a training plan. I need to get to racing weight over the next few months. Nell reassured me that I will not need to be counting calories on the Paleo plan (I hate calorie counting) and that I should just focus on recovering properly and providing the body with nutrient-rich foods and the body will naturally move toward low body fat% and higher % of lean muscle tissue. Perfect. 

"Trials of miles, miles of trials." - Once A Runner

Just an awesome, inspiring photo...

Come to the Elevator Pitch!!

Hey all, for those of you at Duke I'll be competing in the Start-Up Challenge's Elevator Pitch Competition for some serious money, in the Undergraduate Track next Thursday, Nov 4^th at 7pm in the von Canon rooms in the Bryan Center, and again on November 9^th over at Fuqua. The prize purse is $5,000 for the overall winner and $1500 for the audience choice winner. So I need as much audience support as possible!

I'd appreciate any support of course. It's always great to hear people in the crowd who actually know who you are. And, as a bonus to those of you who come, I will be revealing the prototype of my new website for Smarticles. It looks cool, if that is any assurance that you will like it J