Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Winter Winds

A few days ago I posted a note to our local training group about winter running tips. One of my tips was to always try to finish your run with the wind at your back. Even non runners can imagine what it might feel like to run a few miles dressed to accommodate below freezing temps. It will not be long until you begin to build a sweat and your body's heat clings to you because you are running with the wind.

Now imagine what happens when you stop and turn around to return to where to started. The cold wind is not only in your face it is also working to remove that comforting and perhaps over heated layer of warmth away from your body too! To make matters worse you can add 5-7 mph (your running pace) to the effective wind velocity too!  In no time at all what started as a feel good winter run will end as a nasty chilling winter run regardless of how to dressed to prepare!

There is a similar comparison in architecture. Obviously buildings do not run down any road, but they are exposed to winds and elements of nature everyday.  Careful attention to the placement, siting, or orientation of how a building is located on a piece of property will have a huge and permanent affect on the energy performance of that structure.

Imagine a house designed to take into consideration year around of the evening sunsets over a special view such as a lake. It would likely include a considerable extent of windows or openings to capture the view. The problem is that these same well intended openings will become easy targets for the prevailing winter winds (in Michigan) and without special attention to detail will become cold spaces or at best spaces that are costly to heat and thus waste precious energy.

Beyond winds, sun angles, micro climates, shading devices, material selection, and similar items all need to be carefully considered if a building or house is to take the best advantage of nature and have any hope of becoming an energy efficient structure.

On your next run through the neighborhood take a mental inventory of how many prototypical (or "builder" homes) there are in your neighborhood that fail to take into account basic strategies of design to positively influence the energy performance for the life of that house. Then zip up or your outermost layer and enjoy the balance of your run. :)

Thanks for taking the time to read this today.

Run Happy

Lee





Friday, January 6, 2012

Top 10 Things They Don't Teach You in Architecture School

(This a re-post from The Running Architect blog from January 2011)

These apply to me as a business owner, and the landlord to my own office location.
In no particular order but all surely should at least be near the top:

1. If you own your own firm, there may be days you need to plow the snow from your parking area. (Part two, you will also need to know how to fix the dang tractor blade too)
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2. You will be very embarassed if you forget to keep the toilet room stocked with TP.

3. The "orderly habits" you learned in Studio will stay with you throughout your career.

4. Six years of study, intensive intership, tough licensing exam, and you still get to clean toilets and mop the floors.

5. How to build a fire in a wood burning stove, and keep it going all day.

6. How to accurately predict the future.

7. Knowing when to quit and when to press on.

8. Knowing the difference between a potentially great client and the client from Hell within the first 10 minutes of meeting that potential client.

9. How to read minds.

10. Knowing how to get out the door at the right time and enough times to enable you to properly train for a marathon or major race. 

I welcome other suggestions to this list.

Thanks

Lee

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Cold Michigan Mornings

Congrats to the runners who rise early from their warm bed, gather their running gear, and head into the cold darkness of a January morning to run. I would wager a set of warm mittens that each of you who do so always start with the attitude that you really would rather not have to do any of this. Yet once you get past the act of awakening, dressing, running, and return to the warmth of a completed run, you feel great and glad you took on the challenge!

January is such a critical month to train. It sets up the entire running year. If you do not get out to run you not only loose miles of training but you are much more likely to gain weight too, thus compounding the inevitable return to a training routine.

I suppose I can count myself as among a select group of fortunate runners who are able to be a bit more selective about scheduling a daily run. While I prefer to run in the early morning I will often wait until noontime or an evening run with a training group. Regardless of the time of day you run simply getting out the door to run in Michigan during the month of January is a tough challenge. The reward of conquering the elements during each completed run however are well worth the obstacles we face before we get out the door.

Run Happy :)

Thanks

Lee


Monday, January 2, 2012

Welcome 2012 !

If you have been busy with thoughts of new ideas, projects, goals, and the future recently then it must be another new year!  Welcome 2012, so glad you have finally arrived and I look forward to many new experiences with you during your tenure this year.

This year begins with more than the usual number of unknowns there is much to be revealed and experienced in the coming months. My sense is that much of my 2012 will be defined by events that will occur from now to mid-March. While I have certain  goals a game plans to meet those goals I am dependent upon others to attain those goals. This dependency which is beyond my direct control is what is frustrating at this early point of the year. Thus all I can do is attempt to do my best each day and attempt to gain as much control as possible.

This includes the running part of my life too. I don't plan on racing until the mid spring, so what I can do until then is to do my best to arrive at spring in shape and ready to compete. I have a training plan in place to help assure success with my race. Determining the is easy, the execution of the plan is not so easy. Especially as a runner who needs to overcome the Michigan winter conditions. I do NOT run on a treadmill at all indoors, at any time of the year. I simply believe a short run outdoors in nasty weather conditions is better than a long run indoors on a treadmill. The exception is my speed or intensive training. For these workouts I do make use of the indoor track the University of Michigan via the Ann Arbor Track Club. One night a week during January through February helps to maintain my fitness while building for the new racing season.

The toughest part of any winter time run is the dressing! Gathering the required undergarments, outer layers, and perhaps reflective gear is more of a challenge than the actual run in the snow. But once dressed  and out the door I never look back and am so glad I completed another run.

OK, enough delaying, time to gather my winter gear and get my tail out the door for a run!

Thanks for reading.

Lee