Adam.Kahtava.com / AdamDotCom

At the 32km marker a series of signs were staked into the grass along the course. The first sign read “You’re doing it!”, the next “Only 10 more kms!”, and the next “You’re running a marathon! You ARE a marathon runner!” A tear welled in the corner of my eye, perhaps from the pain in my quads, or the reality of still being 10km from the finish, but more likely because it finally dawned on me that I was indeed running a marathon - an event I’d been looking forward to since running the Half Marathon a year earlier.

Training for a Marathon was relativity easy. Basically you run one long run every week, in addition to running 6-10km 4 times every week, then rinse and repeat for 3 months. As boring as that may sound, once I got into a routine, and found a running partner, I looked forward to running. Here’s the schedule I followed (I know, I know, don’t laugh, it’s from the far from reputable About.com): Basic Marathon Training Schedule for Beginners.

My next goal is to qualify for a Boston Marathon (qualifying time is 3 hours and 10 minutes) and run alongside the 20,000 participants in the Boston next year. I’m not too far off the qualifying time, as I managed to finish this Marathon under 3 hours and 30 minutes - look me up in the 2010 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon Results.

Get out there and run! :)

I ran my first half marathon this past weekend. Finding training resources online was difficult so I’m passing on the advice that I found useful.

How to train for a half marathon:

• Ensure you can maintain 30 minutes of moderate running at least a month before your running date (this is the most important step)
• One month before your race, run 18 kms (6 easy, 6 moderate, 6 hard, don’t worry about how long it takes)
• 7 days later run 20 kms
• 7 days later run for 90 minutes hard
• 7 days later run for 60 minutes at a moderate pace
• 1 day before the race run for 20 minutes at an easy pace

The week before the race you should be feeling lazy, lethargic and ready for the race - you’ve tapered correctly. Tapering leads to improvements in running economy and muscle strength. Learn more here Tapering For a Marathon.

Other tips I picked up:

• If you’re planing on taking gels or sports drinks during the race then make sure to take them while training
• Don’t mix sports drinks and gels - take one or the other or you’ll get end up getting sick (like me)
• Bring Advil or Tylenol with you
• Avoid fiber foods 2 days before the race (you don’t want to visit the portables)
• Add more carbs and salt to your meals the week of the race
• Have your last big meal 10 hours before the race
• Have your breakfast 2-3 hours before the race

Running with 3000+ people for the first 16 kms was an amazing experience, after the 18 km mark I was questioning my sanity, and when it was over all the race participants were on top of the world. I highly recommend doing a half or full marathon. I raised some money for Team Diabetes and managed to finished under 2 hours.  Next year I’m doing the full. Look me up in the 2009 HSBC Calgary Half Marathon Results.

I’m running the half marathon for diabetes in Calgary on May 31st . One of my younger brothers has diabetes, so the run has personal significance.

My training up to this point has been terribly lax, I’ve been running 7km in about an hour. At this pace it’ll take at least 3 hours to break 20kms - Ouch!

If you're interested in donating (or better yet, joining the run too), then follow these steps:

1. Visit The Canadian Diabetes Association
2. Search for Adam Kahtava
3. Donate

Anyhow; life isn't just about geeking out. I've got to run. :)

#CalgaryBarCamp was swell. It was refreshing to meet such a diverse group of like minded people that all essentially do the same thing (create software), but do it in different ways using different tools, platforms, and languages. The ad-hoc discussions both in the bar and between sessions were my highlight. A reoccurring theme in our conversations was that technology, tools, and platforms don’t matter that much. What really matters is: people, communication, ideas, taking risks, and motivation.

The topic of our discussions reminded me of something David Heinemeier Hansson said when talking about software development:

You don’t need to be a f***ing genius to make any of this stuff work, it’s not rocket surgery! - David Heinemeier Hansson at Startup School 08

DeMarco and Lister also echoed this outlook back in the 80’s, and publicized: the High-Tech Illusion:

the High-Tech Illusion: [is] the widely held conviction among people who deal with any aspect of new technology … that they are in … high-tech business. [These people] are indulging in this illusion whenever they find themselves explaining at a … party, say, that that they are “in computers” … The implication is that they are part of the high-tech world. [These people] usually aren’t. The researchers who made the fundamental breakthroughs in those areas are in the high-tech business. The rest of us are appliers of their work. - Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams

If we were in the High-Tech business, then we’d be the bottom feeders (the parasites, the grunts), because our daily activities revolve around consuming other peoples research and work (programming languages, platforms, frameworks and the like). We are consumers, we’re not on the cutting edge nor are we in the high-tech world.

Perhaps building software could be much like outfitting yourself for a day in the snow. You head off to the local shopping mall, you acquire the functional items to keep yourself warm, but brands and store choice don’t really matter. Whether we’re buying winter boots or choosing a programming language, technology doesn’t really matter. There are an infinite number of ways to solve any problem, as well as an infinite number of technical permutations to form a solution. If we can solve the problem within the constraints of our problem domain then we’ve succeeded.

The High-Tech Illusion often permeates my world - I work as a Web Developer in the Microsoft realm. I continually see the High-Tech Illusion manifests itself in these situations:

• Colleagues talking in vague opaque high-level metaphors that patronizingly shield you from the inter working of what they assume is beyond your comprehension
• Fixations on specific tools, hardware, platforms, and methodologies while the problem that needs to be solved is diluted and any combination of these items could solve the problem
• Colleagues that assume superiority and can’t acknowledge that knowledge is acquired through research and a continual efforts to improve

Pretentiousness in the software realm (in teams, organization, and so on) is usually the byproduct of someone that’s living the High-Tech Illusion.

I’ve been guilty of subscribing to the High-Tech Illusion. How does the High-Tech Illusion permeate your world? How can we get back to reality?

My blog posts tend to be obscured in programming languages, and techie gibberish, I thought I'd do a normal post on our dog - after all, pets are what blogs are really about, right? :)

Steph (my wife) and I had been toying with the idea of getting a dog, we've been looking at different breeds, visiting shelters, and emailing breeders - I have to give Steph all the credit, she did most of the research. Anyhow, we came across a post on our Kijiji for a mature Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Now we have a dog.

Being a Geek and all, I wasn't sure if I was a dog (or cat person), but Belle is a great dog. Her constant need for a walks is a great reminder to take a micro break while working from home.

Belle, our dog.

This past weekend I attended the Alberta TechFest (an event put on by Calgary .Net User Group). TechFest resembled a code camp, but provides more seminars / sessions geared at a higher level. The sessions were geared towards: project management, the big picture of the Agile process, open source alternatives, as well as some in depth (show me the code type) presentations on Mock objects (using Rhino Mocks), Microsoft’s new Acropolis framework, Test Driven Development (TDD), and Refactoring.

My highlights:

• The session on Agile Project Planning With User Stories, and Refactoring Automated Unit Tests Using Test Smells and Patterns presented by Gerard Meszaros. I’ve been on a couple projects that could be characterized as “Bad Agile”, so Gerard’s presentation hit many chords, one of the comments he made really stuck out. He said something like: “it’s not about the Agile process, it’s about the results, it’s about delivering…don’t be dogmatic”. Sure it’s obvious, but it’s nice to hear it from someone else.  I’m currently in the process of purchasing Gerard’s book: xUnit Test Patterns: Refactoring Test Code.
• Mock objects with Rhino Mocks was another great session (by Shane Courtrille). I’ve been using Rhino Mocks for a couple months now, but there’s always so much to learn from someone with more experience.

I’m trying to make it a point to attend more of these events in an effort to expand my community.

It's always difficult to consistently make blog posts through the warm balmy summer months (in Canada our summer typically lasts for 3 - 4 months), but this summer has been especially busy. Over the past month I've managed to get married, and move across Canada - from Ottawa to Calgary which is about a 2,000 km (1270 miles), a four day drive.

Adam & Steph married!