Licence of amateur radio station in the USA ~ I will try to get it!

   Recently, my son got a licence of amateur radio station.   I do not believe that most of young generation kids are interested in amateur radio since the internet might be much convenient and fun for their communication.  It is probably different from when I was a student long time ago.  However, I do not know why, but he is interested in amateur radio.

   The license is getting changed a lot recently.  There are only 3 classes of license, "Technician", "General" and "Extra".   There is no morse code related test any more.   My son got "Technician" this time.

Licensing Exam

The exam is total 35 questions and more than 74% of correct answer is required.  Each questions has 4 selections of answer and pick one of correct answer.  The questions include regulations and technical questions.   The exam my son took was in a fire station with hosted by volunteers.   If a candidates pass the exam, then the information will be registered in the FCC database with Call-Sign.  Then they can start operating amateur radio right away.  This is very different from the regulation in Japan. 

    He passed "Technician" and he allows to take "General" exam, but he could not pass since he did not study it at all.  In case people wants to get higher level license, they have to pass all exams from "Technician"   It seems that people can take exams in the same day.

I also plan to take exam ...

Here is today's topic.  Since my son got the license, I also want to get one.   I have a license issued by Japanese government about 40 years ago.   Based on the regulation, I could do it with Japanese license.   However, it is probably interesting experience for me and I want to take the exams to get "Extra" license here.    Thus, I just started checking the questions in the past.   Since I study this area about 40 years ago, the contents is changed a lot!

   Regarding the regulation, it is basically the same for international regulation.   However regulation in the USA is different from Japan and some of term in the regulation is not typical words I usually use in the daily life.  Therefore I probably need to learn the term for this exam.   For technical related questions, I learned it before and I probably understand majority of questions.  But the style of question is very different from what I took the exam in Japan.  Also some new technology such as data communications and etc, I probably need to learn more to pass "Extra" class.   I am on the border line to pass "Extra".   I guess I might be able to pass "Technician" and "General" without much extra effort.  However, to pass "Extra" I might need to spend some time to learn some areas.

   Here is a site of ARRL (The national Association of Amateur Radio) where we can find the questions in the past.   It seems that this is a new project and one of my objective for the coming year!

Progress of heart rate based training ~ Comparing result in 4 months ago

Doing a training plan in Garmin Connect!

I have been doing training regular basis for Marathon and hiking.   Unfortunately, I got injured in April and stopped training for 6 weeks this year.  Now, my fitness level is getting better after the injury.   I have done "Full Marathon - Level 1" in Garmin Connect from August till November and I started over the same menu December and this week is the third week.

Comparing the result on the same menu....

I compared two different training menu from the third week.  One is "threshold run" and the other is "long run".
Threshold run is warming up for ten minutes and 4 sets of high intensity (heart rate zone 4) for 4 minutes and resting for 20 seconds.
Long lone is 3 sets of brisk working for 10 minutes and slow jogging for 25 minutes.

Following tables are comparison of the results

 Comparison of threshold run

Lap	Time	December 13, 2017		August 23, 2017		Remark
		Distance	Average Pace	Distance	Average Pace
1	10:00	1.40	7:09	1.36	7:20	Warm-up
2	4:00	0.81	4:57	0.70	5:43	High intensity
3	0:20	0.04	8:07	0.04	9:06	Rest
4	4:00	0.75	5:19	0.74	5:24	High intensity
5	0:20	0.04	8:33	0.04	8:36	Rest
6	4:00	0.69	5:45	0.66	6:04	High intensity
7	0:20	0.03	10:49	0.03	12.50	Rest

Comparison of long run

	December 16, 2017	August 26, 2017
Distance	13.60	12.73
Total Time	1:48:19	1:46:08
Agerage Pace (min/km)	7:58	8:21

Those distributions of heart rate zones are very similar and they indicates I can run faster with a similar heart rate.  Now I am doing the same training plan and my pace is faster than the previous.  I expects to get more improvement with this menu.

This is a good thing for heart rate based training.

I just wonder if I need to step up to "level 2".  But it seems that the same menu (level 1) would be good for now.  Especially, it is better to stay and getting a small improvement without over training.

Brewing Japanese-SAKE Winter 2017/2017 (2) ~ plan to start brewing soon

   Now, it is already mid-December, it is really getting cold in northern California.   It is a time to start brewing Japanese-sake this winter.  I already placed an order for the material.
   As I mentioned in previous posts, I published a Kindle book to share my brewing experience in Japanese, unfortunately, I do not have English edition at this moment.  Although I have a couple items I want to try to see if there is any other improvement or not, I decides I will just try to do the same process / recipe this year to make sure the process / recipe is repeatable.   The reason is one of major items I want to try is how I can process the rice.   As you probably know, I am using a regular rice cooker to process the like instead of “steaming” which is a traditional way to process the rice for SAKE.   Based on the experience last winter, it seems that the rice with a regular rice cooker is too soft if the rice is milled up to 60%.  This is a different result to use a regular rice for a meal.   On the other hand, steaming is a little complicate process and it is not easy to do in a regular kitchen.  Therefore, I postponed this experiment in the future and try to make sure the process is repeatable.

   Thus, the basic direction is the same recipe and materials:

• ·         Rice milled up to 60%
• ·         Raw rice malt (Koji)
• ·         Yeast is #9

·         Recipe is exactly the same as last year’s I have been waiting for the material I ordered and I will start brewing as soon as I get them.  I am expecting to start it before Christmas.   Let’s see how it goes!

Pace management with heart rate (4) ~ Heart rate during hiking

   The previous post was talking about required endurance for hiking.   Without enough endurance, it might be hard to achieve some hard hiking just managing the pace.   Today, I assume a person has enough endurance for a hiking, then how he / she can manage the pace for hiking.

   First of all, a target heart rate which is the upper limit of heart rate during hiking needs to be set.  As the previous posts are talking about heart rate zones to define a target heart rate zone.   Of course, the idea is to maintain the heart rate below the target, however there are some tips.  It is probably better to set an actual target 5 ~ 10 bpm lower than the upper limit since it is typically increasing the heart rate slowly even if a person walking with a similar pace.  In many cases, the intensity of hiking is typically high and it is probably hard to maintain a similar heart rate even if he / she walk a similar case.  Also, the trail slope can be vary and it is hard to maintain the heart rate in some steep sections.  It is probably better to have some extra margin not to reach the upper limit based on my past experience.
   It is also better to slow down significantly or stop if the heart rate reaches close to the upper limit or beyond the limit.  Once it is not immediately lower the heart rate with slowing down / stopped, then it is a time to take a rest with completely stop walking.  You may need to take a rest till the heart rate is get lower than "zone 1".  If it is not getting into "zone 1" in a short period of resting, it is probably better to lower the elevation if you hike higher elevation more than 12,000 feet in general.  If you want to walk without taking reset for a long time, you might need to set the actual threshold to adjust the heart rate much lower.  If your target zone is "zone 2", you might need to close to be lower threshold of zone 2 or zone 1.
   Another tip is to try keeping a constant heart rate as well as you can for easy hiking.   If your heart rate range during hiking is big, it is typically really high intensity when the heart rate in upper side.  In this case, you might feel hard in many cases.

(This is a summary for pace management with heart rate)

For detail, I will be almost ready to publish a Kindle Book about this topic very soon.  It is under review now.   I try to complete this this months and I will be announce it when it is ready.

Pace management with heart rate for hiking (3) ~ Are you ready for hiking?

Fitness Level

   I was talking about heart rate zone definition in the last post.   I think it is probably good to use “zone 2” as a target heart rate for hiking if you are doing training regular basis.   It is probably possible to maintain the heart rate within the range during hiking.   For my case, I may be able to push myself to use “zone 3”.   Based on my experience, a good target zone for hiking would be zone 2 or 3.

   Now, let’s think about people who do not do training regular basis.  I think some people still can be a good fitness situation even if they are not doing training.  I think this type of people are a similar as people who is doing training.  The other group would be people who are not good fitness condition.  I got some feedback that the idea to use heart rate to manage hiking pace.  It seems that the scheme does not work very well for some people.   I think the idea could still help, however, the essential problem is that they are not really ready especially a long hiking.

   Even myself, if I stopped training for a while, it was hard to run even if it was really slow pace.  The heart rate is easy to jump up and hard to continue running.   However, a few weeks after I resumed running, it was getting much better and I was able to maintain heart rate even if it was a little higher pace.

   Therefore, I would say if people who are not ready for a hiking, they need to improve their fitness situation first for a better hiking experience.

Test / Adjust the target heart rate

   So I would suggest people to do “test” once they sets the target heart rate.  Let’s say using one of method to define your heart rate zone.   Let’s pick “zone 2” if you are the first time to use heart rate based pace management.   Then let’s try to do some exercise to check if the heart rate zone is reasonable for you.  Please keep in your mind that “exercise” may have some risk to get injury or the worst case it could be a cause of a critical conditions in your life, especially people who do not do training regular basis, older people and etc.   It is probably better to check with doctor / trainer what type of “exercise” you may start based on your situation.

   Assuming you are ok to do some “exercise”.   You may start with “walking”.   You may try brick pace walking around 30 minutes and check your heart rate.  If it is flat load and the heart rate is over or close to the upper limit of zone 2.  You might need to improve your fitness level.  If you can maintain the heart rate within the range for more than an hour, you might want to do slow jog to see if you can maintain the heart rate within the range more than an hour.   You may use this is an initial target heart rate for hiking.  If it is too easy for you, then you can set a bit higher.  You may want to walk hilly trail to get a similar situation as hiking for further adjustment.

Pace management with heart rate for hiking (2) ~ Heart Rate Zone definition

Heart rate sensor for running

   Regarding a method to define a target heart rate for hiking, I think one of good methods is probably based on heart rate zone.   However, there are a few different way to define heart rate zones and the range of the heart rate zone is vary depending on how it is defined.  For detail, I will plan to publish a kindle book to talk about a method to manage hiking pace with heart rate soon!

   As an example using my data, I am 51 years old now (as of December / 2017).   A typical formula to estimate the maximum heart rate is "220 - age".  Based on this formula estimated maximum heart rate for myself is 169 bpm.   However, based on the past training data, actual maximum heart rate for myself is 178 bpm.

Maximum Heart rate the past 6 months

(Based on the training data)

   If I use this value and calculate the heart rate zone, the value will be different.   To be safe, I assume the target heart rate is "zone 2" which is 60~70%.

• Based on the formula: 101 ~ 118 bpm
• Based on the actual value: 107 ~ 125 bpm

   Thus there is some gap around a several bpm between the two different maximum heart rate value.  Also, there is another method with reserved heart rate range which is using actual range of the heart rate.  The formula will be "(maximum HR - resting HR) * xx% + resting HR".   xx% would be 60~70% for zone 2.  We need a resting heart rate value and based on the training data in the past 6 months, my number is 59 bpm.

Resting heart rate in the past 6 months

   The calculated value for zone 2 would be:

• 130 ~ 142 bpm

   The last method is based on lactate threshold.   The variation is huge depending on how we define the heart rate zone.   Lactate threshold could be estimated the latest running device like Garmin fenix 3 HR.   My number is 165 bpm and zone 2 would be 134 ~ 146 bpm.  (The formula I use is from a web site which is 81% ~ 89% of lactate threshold heart rate)

• 134 ~ 146 bpm

   This method is higher side result.   If people do a training based on the heart rate, this range needs to be reasonably accurate.   Since the strength of training depends on the heart rate, therefore this value is really key for the training menu.   However, it is not really key to define hiking pace and I believe using lower side might be safer.

   Based on my training experience, 134~147 bpm which is calculated based on lactated threshold value, might be reasonable range for myself.  It is also reasonable result for my past Mt. Whitney hiking.  This is just my opinion and less than 120 bpm for myself is probably too low.  I think we must adjust based on the training / hiking data.

   There might be a couple things to apply this method in general.  One is people who are doing training regular bases and the other is people who are NOT doing training regular bases.   For the next post I will try to write my opinion how we need to think about the target value with the heart rate zones.

(To be continue ....)

Pace management for hiking with heart rate (1)

Garmin fenix 3 HR

   Although I am still working on the English edition of heart rate based pace management for hiking, I started thinking about how we can really set the target heart rate for hiking.  I did not post about this topic in the English blog.  However, I published a book in Japanese and posted to the Japanese blog in the past.   The basic idea of this concept is trying keep the heart rate in heart rate zone 2 ~ 3 during hiking.  That is one of my conclusion based on my past hiking data to Mt. Whitney.   This works very well at least my case.   On the other hand, I got some feedback that it might not work some people especially who do not training regular basis.  That is why I am looking into this topic again and looking for a better method.

   I think the concept is still valid and works.  However, the problem is probably those people might not be ready for some hiking or they might not be good enough fitness condition for a particular hiking.   It is a similar idea that running a full marathon.   I think pacing is key to finish full marathon and it is probably true.   However, it is also true that people need to have enough strength to finish a full marathon.  So they need to prepare or train to improve their fitness situation.   Without such effort it is probably hard to finish a full marathon.   I think a similar concept may apply for hiking as well.   If it is a short hiking like up to a few hours walking, then I guess many people might be able to achieve the hiking without training for hiking.   However, if it is a several hours or more, then people might need to prepare for the hiking to achieve.

   Here is what I found out from my training and its data in the past.   If I stopped training for a while especially due to an injury, then I felt it was heard when I resumed training.  After really bad injury like stress fracture on my leg, I had to stop training for more than several months.  Then it was getting really hard when I resumed a training.   Even if I started really slow pace, the heart rate was getting high in a short time and it was also hard to continue running as well.   However it was getting better after a few months if I was continue to train.   The heart rate was getting more stable and I could maintain a similar heart rate if the pace is reasonable.

   So if people who do not do training regular basis, they might not be able to maintain their heart rate in a reasonable range for long time.   Therefore even if we can estimate their heart rate zone from their age, it might be heard to keep the heart rate within the range during hiking.  The heart rate might getting really high in a short time and they need to take a rest to recover from such heart rate.  Therefore, the key is not only finding a target heart rate, but they also need to do some training to prepare their body for a hiking.

  Therefore what I am looking for is:

1. Sets a target heart rate first either based on age or training data
2. Tries the target heart rate for a reasonable period to understand their fitness situation
3. Do some training to prepare a target hiking destination

   The problem is I might not have a good sample data to show.  But I tried to propose a reasonable process based on some my experience.  If anybody give me some feedback for the method I will try to introduce, it would be really helpful for this procedure.

Recovery Time on Garmin Running device

   One of features in newer Garmin running device is "Recovery Time".   fenix 3 HR also has this feature and indicates estimated recovery time from one training.   It is not really clear how it estimate the time.   But I have been using fenix 3 HR for a year and I guess the number is reasonable. 

   I am not sure if it is useful for serious athletes, but I think it is useful for some older people like myself.   I had some experiences to get injured due to some over training in the past.  Therefore it is probably a good indication for such people to have enough recovery time between training.

   Currently, I usually pick a training plan from Garmin Connect and follow the menu.  Therefore, I do not have to worry about the resting time a lot.  As long as the training selection is reasonable, we probably do not have to check this value a lot.   But if people has own plan and see if they have enough recovery time, this feature is useful.

   As an example, in Full-Marathon plan, there are "easy run" which is relatively low intensity training and it usually requires around 24 hours recovery time.  But if the menu is "a long run" or "threshold run" the recovery time is getting longer such as 36 hours to 48 hours in my case depending on how hard I did the training.  After I follow the training plan, I have less problem for the injury due to over training.

   Many running devices from Garmin this feature except really low-end models in their current line up.

Water Treatment - UV light

Water Treatment - UV light

   One of outdoor equipment I got before is a water treatment with UV (Ultra Violet) light.  The idea of this is to kill almost all bacteria, viruses and protozoa.  The advertisement says 99.9%.   They have some data to show it works.  Typically, I am using a filter type purifier when I hike.   Actually, I did not have a chance to use this even if I own it.

   There are a couple reason I did not use:

1. If I camp on a trail, the amount of water I need is not small amount.  It only takes care of 1 litter of water at one time.   Therefore, if I need a few litters and water for the next days.   It will be a several litters of water.   To process such amount of water with this is not really efficient.  The filter type is probably much convenient.
2. I have never seen people who use this type of water purifier on a trail.   I guess the experiment data the vendor shows is probably true.  However, some of my friends had some questions if it really works or not.  Another words, people could not completely believe this product.

   On the other hand, here is the reason I got this product:

1. I thought it would be convenient to get some water other than a camp site.  Just getting some water on the way to a destination.  It won't be a lot of amount and this might be convenient other than using the filter type (pump type) in that situation.
2. The filter type won't be able to cover everything.  Especially viruses might be too small to filter them out.  So it is probably safer to use this type of product if I need to drink without boiling.

   In a reality, I typically have enough water of a day and I do not have to take extra water on the way.  Also, I have been using the filter type water treatment a several years and I did not have much problem in the past.  So I did not really think I really need such extra treatment.  I think people in the United States is safer side and the water treatment is much more popular than Japan.  On the other hand, at least when I was in Japan, the water treatment was not really popular and I had never used it on a trail.  Even though, I had never had any major issue without any water treatment.   I guess it is probably all right most of cases, but people recommend to use it just in case.  It is probably better to avoid any risk on a trail.

   As my conclusion, I probably won't use it proactively in the future anyway.   However I am curious if there is any way to check this is useful or working all right.   Currently I do not have much idea how I can verify this function.   But I just wonder if there is some good way to verify this.

   Does anybody have any idea about this?  

   I started thinking about this because I found it when I clean my outdoor equipment box this weekend.   I found it and I know I have never used.  I might try something in the future.

Resting Heart Rate and Training Progress

Resting Heart Rate last 6 mounts

   I posted about relationship training progress and VO2max and Lactate threshold.   I also think the resting heart late has some relationship with training progress as well.

    It is obvious that resting heart rate shows some conditions in short term.   For long term, it also show the training progress.  The plot above is average resting heart rate trend last 6 mounts.  When I resume the training the resting heart rate is getting lower.   Estimated VO2max and Lactate threshold, I only have data past 12 months since this is a new feature (data) in fenix 3 HR.  Previously, I did not have any device to get such data.   However, regarding heart rate, I had Vivosmart HR and I have a little more data than the others.  Based on my experience, the long term resting heart rate is probably a good factor to watch to see the training progress.

   Last a few years, including Apple watch, those "smart devices" are getting much better and collect various our body data to see many things in different aspect.   As I keep posting, they are good to to monitor our training activities, helping hiking, monitoring the progress, our body conditions and etc.
   I think even some low-end model has various monitoring features and they might be good enough to get some basic data for our daily training and supporting hiking.

   I really want to see what else we can utilize the devices.  I keep watching / looking for more useful way for those devices!

Running form issue .....

wearing out is not even

   Garmin fenix 3 HR has embedded optical heart rate sensor and it can monitor heart rate not only during an activity, but also monitor heart rate 24/7.   However, if people use chest strap type heart rate sensor, they can get some additional data from the sensor, such as running dynamics, running cadence and etc.  With some old Garmin running device, they requires foot-pod sensor to get the running cadence.   Now just chest-strap type heart rate sensor can get more information.

Ground contact time for a running activity

   If I look at my data, my ground contact time is tend to more on right foot based on the data.   Somehow, if I run faster, it is getting close to even.   I knew my running form might not be something really good.   This also shown on my running shoes as well.   The left foot sole is wearing out more than right side and outside is more than inside.

   I think this might be related my previous injury, which was stress fracture on my left leg.   So, it is obviously better to correct my running form somehow.  The problem is how I can do.  I have no idea about this.   Some internet search indicates stretching might help to improve this.   So I just started to do more stretching daily.

Assessment of Full-Marathon Level 1 Training Plan ~ Using Lactate Threshold

Estimated Lactate Threshold last 12 months

The previous posting is looking into improvement of VO2max after the training menu.  Today, I am looking into Lactate Threshold estimated by Garmin fenix 3 HR.

Above plot is a trend of my estimated lactate threshold last 12 months.  This is very interesting result.  Garmin shows two parameters for the estimated lactate threshold.  One is a heart rate and the other is a pace.   This scale is not very good to show the changes.   However, what we can see is the heart rate (red line) is increasing even if I stopped training from April to June due to the injury.  On the other hand, it is decreasing after I started the  training plan in August.   I thought lactate threshold heart rate would be better if the heart rate is higher.   But the reaction of the number is not really matched with my training.  However, the heart rate value in August is 167 bpm and now (November) is 165 bpm.   Because of scale, the change looks big, but it is only 2 bpm between the two.   So I am not sure if this is really changes or it might be within error range.   But the trend is probably decreasing.

The other factor is a pace.  This trend is link to the training.  April is 5:31/km and August is 6:01/km.  Now (November) is 5:51/km.  The trend is a similar as VO2max.   So that it seems to  be the pace as a sort of a performance number.

Overall, I think the training menu helps to improve my running performance and the features in Garmin fenix 3 HR, which is estimating LT (Lactate Threshold) / VO2max is probably useful to see the improvement of the training.

Assessment of Full-Marathon Level 1 Training Plan ~ Using VO2max

Estimated VO2max last 12 months

Full Marathon Training Plan Level 1 is almost the end

I started this training plan in August after I recovered an injury in April.  It is 16 week plan and it is in 14th week now.   Since the current running device I am using for my regular running has a feature to estimate VO2max from the training data and I want to know the relationship between the training progress and VO2max number.  The best number last 12 months was 43 [ml/kg/min] in April which is before the injury.  Then I got injured in the end of April and I stopped training about 6 weeks after the injury.   The number was dropped to 38 [ml/kg/min] when I resumed training in June.

Once resumed training the number was slightly getting better.  It was 40 [ml/kg/min] in July.   

The number was dropped to 38 [ml/kg/min] in August again.  There are a couple possible reasons:

• I took a rest about 10 days due to traveling to Japan in the end of July.
• I started a training plan from Garmin, Full Marathon Level 1 and the initial menu was probably too easy.

 I think I mentioned the reasons in my past posting.  Now the training plan is in 14th week and the number is 41[ml/kg/min].

Previous history of the estimated VO2max

When I got Garmin fenix 3 HR was October last year.  At that time, I was in a middle of the same training plan Full-Marathon Level 1 from Garmin and the number in October in 2016 was 39 [ml/kg/min].   The plan was completed in December and the number was 41[ml/kg/min].  So that the current number is the same as what I have right now.   After that, I moved to Full-Marathon Level 2 which was January to April in 2017.   Then, I got injured right before Level 2 plan was completed.  The number right before the injury was 43 [ml/kg/min] as I mentioned earlier in this post.

Based on the history of the data, it seems that my VO2max number is improved by the training plan.  Also, as I mentioned in some previous posts, the number is probably linked with the training.

Also, the pace (speed) for a similar running is improved as well, especially "Long Run" which is more than 90 minutes.  In the level 1 menu, the long run is combination of walking and running.  So the overall pace including walking is more than 8 minutes / km in the beginning.  The last 2 long run which is more than 120 minutes were better which is around 7:30 ~ 7:40 / km.

The training plan I picked is heart rate based training and the strength is managed by heart rate zone.  So the pace is not how fast I can run.  It is based on a similar heart rate and how fast I could do.  So 8:00 / km is very slow pace, but if I ran faster, then the heart rate is out of suggested range.   So I have to slow down the pace.  Even the training is after the injury, so far I did not see any injury after the recovery and I believe this is a good method for older people.

The data indicates, once people get injured and stop the workout, then the fitness level is getting lower and it is hard to recover the same as before the injury.   The key for older people like me, it is how we can avoid injury due to over  training.  The big problem is even if I do over  training in a short time, I may be able to do without serious injury.   But it may be a cause of injury for long term.  It is very different from serious athletes.  I think serious athletes may need to do high intensity training to improve the performance, but for general people, it might not be very good idea especially older people like me which is over 50 years old.

Last time I switched to Full-Marathon level 2 after Level.   However, I probably want to continue Level 1 menu after the current plan is end.   Even if I take the same plan, it is based on heart rate to define the strength, therefore, if I follow the instruction, I may still be able to get a right level of training.  Maybe in the beginning, it might be too easy again.  But overall, it might be getting some improvement.  Let's see how it goes.  I will continue to report my data and own analysis.

Burst on a highway!

After the incident @ home

This is an incident last week, when I was on a way to back home.  A tire on my car got burst on a high way.  It happened suddenly.  The car lost speed and I felt loosing the power to tire.  I though it might be better not to move further.  At that moment, I was not sure if the care still could move or not.   I pulled the car to the right shoulder and called AAA to tow my car.  I thought it could be transmission trouble that I had an experience with this car before.

It was scare to stop on a highway in a night.  However the towing car was arrived earlier than I was noticed.   I asked the agent to tow my car to a dealer near my home.  For my safety, the agent asked me to get into the towing care immediately and I did not have a chance to look at my care at all.  So I had no idea what was going on.

But.... after arrived at the dealer, I looked at my care and a rear tire on the right was gone!  And finally I got what was going one.   So that I just replace the tire to a spare tire and drove my care to home.   That was a story.

The next day, I went to a tire shop to replace the tire.   The tire is relatively new and I just replaced them early summer this year.  The mileage is about 5,000 miles.  It is a new tire and a person in the tire shop was also very surprised.

I do not know the cause of the problem.  But in general, it could happen in transition of seasons due to a big temperature change.  Since the tire pressure could change due to the temperature.  In my case I did not recognize any sign from sensors.  But it is better to pay more attention especially such time.  If it is not usual it is better to check it to avoid such incident.

I was thinking that when a tire gets burst then it becomes very hard to control the car basically loosing control pretty badly.  However, my case was not that bad.  I still had control and that was reason I did not realize that was a tire issue.

Anyway, be careful!

Sharing Experiences

@ Mt. Tsurugi in Japan

Sharing Experience
I changed profile and some setting of this blog.  There is no major changes, I will continue to post to share my experiences anyway.  In addition, I am looking for a way to share experiences for someone else as well.

I believe there is own story for each experience which includes a success, failure and etc and it is really worth to share the story.   I think it is easy to find out some "information" for any area from the internet search nowadays.   However, it is probably not enough to do something in many cases, it might not work or some unexpected things happen.   One of good example is a project brewing Japanese-sake.

As some people aware that I am posting a project progress for brewing SAKE in my Japanese blog.  I found a lot of information and knowledge about SAKE from the internet.   However I was facing a lot of issues when I actually brew SAKE.  It is not because the information is wrong, but some conditions and assumptions are slightly different for those information.  Therefore the end results are not the same as what the information shows.   I found this doing the project and I tried to share my experience as detail I had done as possible.  I guess it would help somebody else who wants to do a similar thing.

The direction of this blog, I won't change much.  However, I am focusing on story more in the future posting.   Also, I am thinking to re-organize my previous posting.

If you have some feedback, some interesting experience, please help to share your opinion / experience.   I probably want to try to get more information somehow and sharing the experience.

Anyway, I will keep posting some experiences !!

Brewing Sake 2017-2018 (1) ~ Start preparing ....

Home brew Sake!

It's getting cold ....

November is coming.   There were some warm days in October, however, it is getting chilly in the morning and the evening last a several days.   There is still some time to start brewing Japanese sake this winter.  I plan to start sometime around Christmas time.  So, it is time to start preparing now.

Brewing last season
It's been 4th years and I got some tips from my past experiences.   Last year, I used rice up to 60 % milled which is Ginjo-class and raw Koji.  As a result, I think it was the best one in last three years.

The plan for this season, I probably want to try a similar condition to re-produce a similar result.   There is an option to "steam" rice instead of cooking by rice-cooker.   The process is a little more effort for me and I am thinking to stay "rice cooker" method this year.


First of all ....
The first thing I need to do is to get all material for brewing, which is Koji and yeast.
We can purchase them from "Home Brew Sake"
Koji (40 oz.) USD$11 and Yeast #9  USD$6.5.   I also plan to use Koji for other purpose, therefore I might want to buy some extra amounts.  You can also get a special rice milled up to 60% from the site.  The price is 10 lbs USD$24.
Also, it is very good site for the process of brewing and recipe.

The plan is starting around Christmas, therefore I probably need to place order some time in the end of October.   I will post my progress this year.

VO2max Estimation by Garmin device

Garmin fenix 3 HR

which has VO2max estimation feature

VO2max

VO2max is one of performance factor for athletes.  Traditional way to estimate the number without special lab equipment is "Cooper Testing".   It is so called "12 minutes running".  Based on distance people can run in 12 minutes, VO2max can be estimated.
This number is also used for estimated marathon time.

Garmin Device can estimate VO2max

As I introduce a couple times in my blog before, the recent Garmin Running devices have a feature to estimate this VO2max number based on activities.   I think this is very good factor to see the progress of your training.

Actually, I have never measure my VO2max in lab before.  Therefore, I do not know the estimation by Garmin device is accurate or not.  But it seems that the number is close to the cooper test result based on my past data.  At least the absolute value of VO2max is probably not very important for most of people.   I think just having a relative comparison would be very useful.  As long as people using that way, the feature is really useful.  Even if we have some gap between the estimated value and the real value.

Benefit of the estimation by a device

For Cooper testing, people need to run really push to their limit, basically it should be "all-out".  This really high intensity training is probably really tough for many people except some serious athlete.   A good thing estimate by Garmin device does not requires really high intensity activity to get the number.  It requires to see the maximum heart rate and some accumulated activity data to get a reasonable numbers.  However after accumulating some activity data including some high intensity activities, even if an easy activities, we still can get some estimated number and it seems to be a reasonable.   I think this is a good benefit to get the number for each activities and understand the fitness situation.

This is one of features I really like in Garmin fenix 3 HR.

Heart Rate base pacing ~ Update

Switch back in early summer

in Mt. Whitney trail

This year, I did not go hiking to Mt. Whitney.  I do not have much update.  However, I found out some additional thoughts based on recent date for my running activities.   Today, I just share what I found recently.

A good heart rate number for hiking?

As I mentioned before hear rate zone around zone 2 and zone 3 would be a good range for hiking based on my past hiking records.  Depending on how we define the heart rate zone, a good range would be 60 ~ 80% of the heart range, which is really wide range  In a reality below middle of zone 3 which is around 75% of the range would be a reasonable.  In my case, the maximum heart rate is about 180 bpm and my resting heart rate is around 60 bpm.  With those data, 75% of the range is is around 150 bpm.   Based on the past experience, this is really reasonable value for me.

Recent Running training
Here is my recent update for my training, due to a large wild fire around Napa / Santa Rosa area, the air condition is getting really  bad last a few weeks.   Schools started no PE outside and I also did not run outside last a few weeks.   I only did station bike indoor to maintain my fitness level.

Due to my age, which is over 50 years old, I realized the fitness level is easily getting worse if I do not do training a several days.   This is obvious my past training records this year with stopping training due to injury and vacation.

This time I have not run outside for 2 weeks and then my estimated VO2max and lactate threshold by Germin running device was getting worst a little even if I was doing station bike a few times a week.
Muscle for running is different from station bike and load to my body for station bike is much lower than running.  I found out that my heart rate is really easy to get high within a short period.  The estimated lactate threshold is around 165 bpm by a Garmin device.  However, I probably need to keep it below 155 bpm if I need to run more than 1 hour.  In my case, there is no problem since I set my running pace based on the lactate threshold and 155 bpm is in zone 2 with lactate threshold heart rate.  (155 bpm is zone 3 with reserved heart rate zone and zone 4 with a ration of maximum heart rate.

This weekend, the scheduled menu was 3 times of 55 minutes running with 5 minutes resting (walking) .  I could not have enough time for 3 times and I just did 2.5 times with total time 2 hours 20 minutes.  I maintained my heart rate between 140 and 155 bpm.  The average speed was 8:45/km and the average heart rate was 149 bpm.  This is very slow but this is what I can do now.  This value including 5 minutes working in the activities.  Therefore actual running speed and heart rate could be a little better.  (I did not have a separate lap data this time)

A generic target

In my case, I already have a good target heart rate based on my past data.  I have no problem to manage my pace with that number.  On the other hand, it might be heard to define a generic guide line for other people since 150~155 bpm in my case is could be zone 2 ~ zone 4 depending how I define the heart rate zone.
The key point is where the lactate threshold heart late is in.  If you have high end running device which can estimate a lactate threshold, then the number would be a good reference for the target.  People just need to know how much lower they can set as a target.  If people has less training, then it could be better to set 6~10% lower than the lactate threshold.  If people are in a good shape, then it could be enough to set a few percent lower than the lactate threshold based on my past data.

If you do not have any idea where the lactate threshold is, this could apply based on the training activities.   A rough guide line could be using zone 2 if people do not have much training  and using zone 3 if people has a regular base aerobic training (at least more than 1 hour once a week).
Anyway, zone 2 could be a good range for "easy hiking" in general in my opinion.   The definition of heart rate zone could be good using a ratio of the maximum heart rate (220 - age) I think.  In any cases, important things is to collect more data during your training / hiking to understand your heart rate reaction during activities.

I published a Japanese version of book about the heart rate based pacing method for hiking.  I am still working on an English edition.  It will take some time to translate to English and it is not easy job for me....... 

Resting heart rate - Usage of Garmin fenix 3 HR

Heart rate trend on Sep 26

   Today's topic is a resting heart rate.  Previously, before I got a Garmin device which can monitor my heart rate 24/7, I used to check my heart rate right after I wake up.  Recently my Garmin device can monitor my heart rate 24/7 and it is easy to tell my resting heart rate.

   Based on the data, my resting heart rate is roughly 50~60 bpm.  This is also depending on a training progress.  If I stopped the training for a while, the number was going up.  On the other hand, when my training progress was getting good, then the number was going down.  The training I am talking here is an aerobic training.

   The other thing I found out recently is the number after a hard training or when I felt tired, then the resting heart rate is relatively higher.  The data I showed in the beginning is a heart rate trend on September 26 this year.   The resting heart rate right before waking up is about 52 bpm.   I also did an interval training after work.  That is why the heart rate in the evening is getting higher.

Heart rate trend on Sep 27

   The next day, the resting heart rate before waking up is 58 bpm.  The difference is small, but I can see a similar trend in the past.  The resting heart rate is usually higher if I have a hard training a day before.  Probably it is due to my age, I usually feel tired if I do a hard training a day before.  I guess the data for younger people might be different from what I see myself.   However, for my age, I guess it is probably better to take a reasonable resting to recover after a hard training.

   I expected to get a similar data on high altitude during a hiking like 14,000 feet elevation.  However, as I posted I could not go hiking this year and collecting / analyzing the data will be after next year.....   This would be an interesting data to understand my body reaction in high altitude!

Mt. Whitney Hiking 2017 (12) ~ Decided not to go this year ....

Mt. Whitney Trail ~ Fall in 2012

Based on my original plan, I had planned to hike Mt. Whitney last weekend.  However there were many activities for our kids during the weekend and I could not make it happen.  Therefore, I won’t go hiking to Mt. Whitney this year.

It is getting cold, but there might be still good condition in October.   However, there might be a chance to get snowing anytime, actually it was snowing already…   So people who still want to be there need to prepare well for snowing and cold weather.

Regarding my training for this hiking, I am doing a training plan for “full marathon”.  Due to some minor injury I stopped training a several weeks in early summer.   However, the last several weeks, I am getting recovered and it would be a good shape for this hiking.   I was planning to be there till last minutes.

As you can see my last a few posting about VO2max / Lactate Threshold from Garmin Running device, the value shows my improvement last a few weeks.   I think it is a good idea to use a full marathon plan for this long hiking.   It is probably better to run some hill route at least once or twice a week to train muscles for ascending.   Just running on a flat route might not be enough for this hiking in my opinion.

Lactate Threshold for Running last 6 mounths

VO2 max last 6 months

VO2max is recovered to 40 [ml/kg/min] (This year’s max was ‘43’).  Lactate Threshold is 166bpm/around 6 minutes / km.   As I mentioned in the previous posting, the early part of this training plan is a little easy for me and value was drop a little in the beginning.   However, it is getting enough intensity last a few weeks and my number is getting improved.   This data shows probably 3 ~ 4 times a week with one intensive training and one long distance (time) running would be a good plan for hiking.

I will continue this type of training to maintain my fitness level for hiking next year.

Garmin fenix HR feature ~ Estimating Lactate Threshold / VO2max

Lactate Threshold Pace (Last 6 months)

Lactate Threshold HR (Last 6 months)

VO2max (Last 6 months)

Lactate Threshold Estimation on Garmin High-End Running device

   The last posting was talking about VO2 max for a factor of training progress.  Garmin started supporting this estimating feature most of running devices (above Forerunner 35).   My device, fenix 3 HR, supports to estimate Lactate Threshold (LT) as well.

   The devices shows LT with LT Heart rate and LT pace.   I did not have very good idea how I use the both data.  I did not have enough data to talk about my analysis before.  Now I have probably enough data to talk about LT feature.  As I explained my training activities last 6 months in my previous posting:

• April: Just finished "Full marathon level 2" training -- Good fitness condition
• May:  Due to injury late in April, I stopped running about 4 weeks
• June:  Resumed training, but stopped again due to FRU for 3 weeks
• July:   Resumed training, every other days 5km - 10km, rested for 1 week in the last week
• August - September: Started "Full marathon level 1", 3 times a week
• September -- my health condition is not very well last a several days

   Since last a several days in September, my health condition has not been very well, but I did not take a rest.  Therefore, my performance was not very well.  That is why I do see most of factors are dropped in September.

LT Heart Rate

   The range of LT Heart rate last 6 months is 163-167 [bpm].  The delta between the minimum and the maximum is only 4 [bpm].   My opinion, this is not much difference, but I think slightly improved due to the training a little.  Even if I stopped training, it was not really getting worse.  As long as I tried to do something regular basis, this might not change a lot.  Maybe people who does not have training for a long time, it may be improved with some regular based training.

LT Pace

   The range of LT pace last 6 months is 5:31 ~ 6:23 [MM:SS].   The delta is close to 1 minute.  If I stopped the training, the number was getting worse and once I resumed running, it was getting better slowly.  The trend is very similar as VO2max.

My analysis

   I think LT HR is probably not much change as long as people continue to training for long time　and LT Pace and VO2max could be a good factor to see the progress.  Either one could be used to measure the progress of the training.  Many models support VO2max estimation, but LT estimation is limited only some high-end model.   The high-end models have more nice features and the prices is much higher than other low-mid class models.   So if you just need a basic features, I think Forerunner 35/235 would be good.   Also 735 price is getting lower due to some other new models.

   The other factors, VO2max estimates works with the embedded heart rate sensor.  However for LT estimation, chest-strap heart rate sensor is requires.   Also, to estimate LT, people need to do relatively hard workout than VO2max estimation.  VO2 max estimation can be done with a light workout.  I am not sure how it is accurate.  But even I ran slowly, the value is a similar number as I did heard work out.   So with those factors, I would think VO2 max is probably more convenient in my opinion.