There Comes a Soggy Burger

关于吃的几个感想：
Burger配薯条比较精确地体现了美国草根的审美。

Chipotle的实质不过是一high end墨西哥taqueria，主要是装修和食材不同，这种飞跃类似于马路早点摊到永和豆浆。

The Slanted Door (SF一高端越南/法国Fushion)经营或许代表了近来的潮流，通过The Slanted Door的高端食谱获得口碑，然后通过副属品牌Out the Doors卖fast casual，增加利润率和口碑；restaurant+food truck也可以属于这种潮流。

粤式点心算是fast casual的处女地，高端的dim sum很多饭店在做，但是缺乏类似fast casual的广泛影响力，只是每家饭店各自维持一个niche而已。

肠粉，虾饺，叉烧包等等，缺点是需要更高技巧的劳动力，但是烹饪方法干净简便，而且serving size非常灵活，通过和别的菜系杂交(墨西哥牛舌肠粉，或者咖喱小笼包),很容易显得hip，作为fast casual便于常常推陈出新。

中餐馆一般和taqueria都有严重的同质化倾向，一般以低价的$/scoop（类似国内盒饭，自己搭配）形式最多。最让人心痛的中餐馆大多有优秀的性价比和口味，但是厕所极肮脏，装修毫无美感（或者没有装修）。

外表和内容同样重要，中餐馆似乎注意节流不注意开源，或许因此丧失不少定价能力。

Training Journal 01-06-12

Read about the negative effect of starch-rich/glucose-rich food again. Should cut down on food such as pasta, refined wheat, and rice products. With that, one can have less risk of developing insulin resistance (cause of type II diabetes) and stay lean easier.

Today is 7 min bike warm-up and 3m on the mill at around 7:30/m pace. Getting better controlling inner voice while running. Following the run is front planks (50s+40s+40s+10s+40s+40s)*2. I am not feeling a stronger plank, probably because this is the first I have done in about a week. Doing plank is miserable, which is precisely why I should keep doing it. Then it's the enhanced crunch with knees in the air. I ended with 3 sets of jumps (thighs wobbly towards the last sets.) I should add a bit more strength work on the legs and upper body (back and shoulder).

Also, placed order on swimming goggles and trunks. Will first check the pool in Mission District, then go look for triathlon books in the public library tomorrow. Exciting and busy weekend.

做最好的分析师

今天华尔街时报网站出了个关于Mark Mahaney的文。文章大意是，牛分析师的好处很大，可以帮公司吸引到大生意。这里大生意指的是投行承销的IPO，分析师指的是写研究报告的给投资者的那群人。一般上市公司喜欢机构投资者持股以维持上市后股价的稳定，而机构投资者的投资决定常受到那些分析员报告的影响，牛分析员说买，那么一般机构不太愿意冒风险去卖（contrarian investor另说了）。

Mark Mahaney被誉为现在最好的互联网分析师，一查背景，原来师从“互联网女王”(中文其实应该翻译成师太LOL)Mary Meeker。这就叫名师出高徒啊。另外一个例子是Meredith Whitney和Steve Eisman，这对和第一对相反，徒弟更加出名。看来我现在除了自己要拼命，也还得保佑顶头上司能有一天进化成大牛。

---离题---

今天开始把每天训练量减下来一点，每周只是1-2天去做超大运动量来提高极限，剩下的时间，更多是小心翼翼的maintenance work。运动的时候，避免受伤比获得好成绩重要得多了。距离9月还有大半年，如果按计划来，这无疑是我最长的一次训练，而且暂时没有搭档，开头不能冲得太猛，得循序渐进，稳扎稳打，现在先让身体做好接受正式训练的准备，毕竟，不是要证明什么给别人看。

之前听说做瑜伽受伤的，今天再看纽约时报一文，再次提醒自己，不受伤才是第一位，动作到不到位先不管了。

今天换跑步为骑车，期望给膝盖放松一下。感觉不如跑步累，同样的距离做比较的话，卡路里消耗差不多只有跑步的四分之一，不过不同器械卡路里的测算也可能会差非常远。

---再次离题---

今天开始看一本牛书的中文译本，有双重痛苦:1.翻译生涩，感觉就是把要你的语感揪出来拧成麻花；2.因为译得不顺，徒增一种“就连母语文字都看得这么慢你还混不混了”的羞耻感。

Self-glorification

...they made a big ego thing out of the whole outdoor experience. A proof-of-manhood thing....It made the kids at camp much more enthusiastic and cooperative when they had ego goals to fulfill, I'm sure, but ultimately that kind of motivation is destructive. Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster...when you climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it. And even if you do it's a hollow victory. In order to sustain the victory you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driven forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true and someone will find out. That's never the way.

---Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace

说得太好了，基本切中我思考的一些问题的要害。昨天想如何纠正自己跑步时候的心理活动，上面引述的这段话恐怕可以帮忙。最开始的练肌肉，打篮球，到后来跑步，游泳，Insanity，都有不同程度的虚荣心包含在动机里，也都希望通过那些活动获得认同，这是条死路。现在对于以前的长进在于已经不关注身体的外貌，因为我相信对内在机能的调理更加重要。现在要思考的问题是，我到底为什么要参加三项比赛？“证明我可以。”不是一个合格的答案，“证明我可以通过持之以恒的训练达到一个既定的目标。”作为答案看上去不坏，但也不够直接。接下来的几天，恐怕我要每天拷问自己，直到找到真正的答案为止，否则，还是不要做梦参加三项了，一定没法坚持到九月的。

Tuesday is the Yoga Day

The yoga instructor is man with short hair, dyed burgundy. He spoke softly. His gait is equally tender. By the look of his round but fit muscle tone you can tell the muscles are flexible, warm, and soft.

I was sweating so hard in the first 10 minutes that my yoga mat must have felt it was a surf board by destiny. It was suddenly all 4th grade for me again...I was such an awkward, constantly sweating being among the skilled, the beautiful, and the professional.

拉磨感想

今天试了一下8迈的距离，感觉比较简单，最大的障碍还是在于耐心。体能基本没有问题，跑完也没有小腿抽或者特别疲惫的感觉。主要是心理活动太多，不够淡定。4-5迈的时候是个坎，前面的路程因为体能充沛而且有新鲜感很快就过去，4-5迈的时候首先体能上会遇到一个小坎，然后开始觉得时间过得慢了，开始胡思乱想，比如“这短裤卡着蛋了”， “什么破衣服沾了汗变这么重”， “随身听泡在水里到底能用多久呢”， “这水泡这么快起后面路程如何是好啊”。这个坎过去以后，6、7迈是纯机械运动，靠自己数呼吸过去，差不多60呼/吸=1迈，后面的2迈类似于冲刺，因为很有盼头，精力再次集中，很快就过去。

今天买袜子时候看到一双Faas 250，基本是马拉松鞋那种简单超轻的配置，买来就跑了8迈，鞋面的mesh比较多，起支撑作用的合成材料少，导致右脚ball的位置有水泡，但不是特别严重。很奇怪的现象，明明左脚比右脚小，按理说左脚的移动会更加厉害，但是左脚没水泡，初步猜想还是跑步姿态的问题，下次问教练。

每周要抽出时间去看跑步和三项的书，先想办法把胡思乱想的毛病改掉，另外研究一下跑步姿势问题。

一个有趣的现象，每次最后1迈，好像都多出不少力气，可见疲劳只是心理上的，要学会用身体控制大脑，不要被感觉所欺骗，下次试探下自己的极限，好定标准，不再因为“感觉”而慢下来。

What I can't give

I can promise my future better half a modern, comfortable life - with enough food (bought organic, or from a co-op I invested in), enough shelter (a two-bedroom perhaps, not cold, not hot, in a convenient location), enough financial security for children's education and our retirement. But I won't (even if I can) provide luxury. A nice Italian-made, hand stitched leather product, maybe, occasionally, but a mansion with space more than we need, a car with seats for an army, accessories with no but aesthetic value, no.

I feel there are too many more things that I can do if I terminate some of the distractions. A modest material subsistence to support my well-being does not require a lot of resources. I have to much to give, time, brain power, money. I have to live a life where my ability and self are not defined by my wealth or any other possessions, but emotion, spiritual, and intellectual capacity. I want to understand others' pain and suffering.

---the end---

Endurance sports are mind games. Like life itself, they have rules. All games are bound to be cracked under scrutiny. You spend long enough time, invest your patience and persistence, you crack the code eventually. I think my goal to successfully finish a triathlon will ultimately require some mental adjustments - a kind of meditative process to accompany my physical readiness. I need to train my thoughts while I run. I must fill the time-space continuum with images -  a treadmill, a county road, or a running trail for the mind to progress on.