I switched from a novice full marathon training schedule to an advance half marathon one (both by Hal Higdon) for the last three weeks (I did not know whether this was a good idea). However, long runs had been omitted largely due to my biking trips on Saturday. Well, is this a good excuse? I guess so… Weekends had been filled by bike rides, often to a single destination: National Palace Museum. I finished all permanent exhibitions this month (well, except the second floor terrace). One of the longest run was on one morning of the last week training. I ran for a bit more than an hour.
Even though many days of good weather were filled this month air, I decided to run on a treadmill for hill training (I did not get a chance to run up the hill back of Chinese Technology University yet). I also used the step machine to build up muscle.
Yu-Hsiang ran with me on the 1st and the 29th. He was complaining on the latter date that he had not been running that much, but I said that he would be fine for Taroko. For myself, I hope to keep my record but not to make a new one since I will run up hill! Let us see how I will do it!
No stop at the train crossing.
The railway was quickly removed and transformed. Asphalt was filled in to make a road continuous and train barriers were taken down. I do not know what they will transform this into—a biking trail, perhaps.
Workers removing train rail during the night of the 2nd.
Weekend bike rides
Even though the National Palace Museum seems to be the destination of my biking trips, I do had other routes to visit. In the afternoon of the 12th, I biked to visit Dong-Dong, Ya-Wen and her mom. It was nice to bike to Zhonghe under an overcast sky. After a visit, I continued north to the National Palace Museum for a nice look at the two recent new temporary exhibitions—calligraphy and porcelain. The next day, P’ Ban asked us for a bike in the late afternoon. We started with the total of five, which later had become to only two. Planed to visit Danshui, P’Ban did not make a turn on to a bridge along Zhongmei Freeway so we continued down on Shezi Island to Wanhua along the left bank of Danshui River. This section of the city in Shezi has many not-so-pleasing factories and farms, but the river is wide and we can see the city of SanChung very clearly. As the sky became dark, we turned into city streets at Dataocheng Wharf, heading down to Ximen Ding before going back to Nangang on Zhongxiao Rd. A meal at a Japanese bendo style place concluded a nice unexpected ride!
Falling of the bike again.
History repeated itself again on the night of the 19th. Well, I figured out why I fell down last time. It was because of rusty aluminum wall on the side walk near the temple! One of its corners was sticking out, and my handle bar of my moderately fast motioning bike fell into its grasp. Thus, the bike stopped suddenly, resulting in my falling off. Unlike the accident last month, my wrists were fine but the right chin was scratched (not too bad, though).
Eyes need an extra care
Thanks to Li-Ching who helps me with the annual health examination of Sinica Employees (I did not register earlier because being uninformed) on the 9th. The examination showed that my right eye had a high ocular pressure. A following up visit on the 13th was made with an ophthalmologist who suggested me to do a series of careful examinations on the eyes on the 21st. The doctor visit on the 22nd suggested using one type of eye drops to lower the pressure even though the pressures of both eyes on both weeks of the two visits were normal. The drops reduce the production of aqueous by blocking a receptor. The side effects of this drops on me are (1) irritation after applying the drops and (2) numbness on part of my right hand and right leg. However, these effects are minor according to the label. I am thinking of getting a pair of sunglasses for my outdoor activities. Meng-shin kept telling me about this as well!
*****
For the full activity log visit. http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_training?u=368516315439
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