EP177: Usurpers

[simplerich]

That's what I was thinking the whole time. I was expecting King to die when he passed the finish line.

Same here. I was more than a little surprised he wasn't dead at the end... like maybe he'd died from his heart exploding at the entrance to the chute and that's why the crowd was silent as he saw the end of the race from the afterlife or something.

Really figured him for dead.

Pleasantly surprised he didn't die.

First post, had to - great story. I sat in the car finishing it off tonight.

[CammoBlammo]

I happened to listen to this one during a particularly rigorous workout at the gym yesterday, so I found myself identifying with King (every time he mentioned the pain I felt it too---and for the first time, I didn't mind it) and Steve in the outro. I too am of the somewhat geeky persuasion who has found himself trying to lose a bit of weight and improve overall health.

And like Steve, I didn't join the gym for reasons of vanity. I was a bit overweight, but still smaller than many of the people around me. I was also quite healthy---the only measurements that would indicate otherwise were my weight and girth. However, I knew my weight wasn't great, and it seemed to be growing quicker than it ever had before.

Like Steve, my geekiness found a way to motivate me. I remember lying in bed one morning thinking that, ideally, I needed to lose about fifteen kilos. I figured fifteen kilos by Christmas wasn't a bad goal. That worked out to about 100 grams per day. That seemed easier. Of course, I needed to keep track of that properly, which meant weighing myself in much the same clothing and at the same time every day. I needed to record that, so I'd need to set up some sort of tabular file on the computer. I like to visualise things, so I'd need to be able to export the data to a graph... hmm, I thought. That gives me plenty of options. Which would be the best? So up I got out of bed and started to look at the various software on my computer which would take a list of numbers and dates and graph them appropriately. I also needed a line on the graph that could tell me how I was going with the 100 grams weight loss per day.

Here's the beauty of it---it was completely useless without data. The only way to get data was to weigh myself every morning before breakfast and record what I weighed. If my weight started to get away from my target line, I had to review what I'd been doing---had I been eating correctly? Had I exercised enough?  A geeky obsession with keeping this graph up-to-date has had the very useful side effects of keeping my weight under control, and a healthier lifestyle all around.

Oh yeah, I liked the story.

[ieDaddy]

Like Steve, my geekiness found a way to motivate me. I remember lying in bed one morning thinking that, ideally, I needed to lose about fifteen kilos. I figured fifteen kilos by Christmas wasn't a bad goal. That worked out to about 100 grams per day. That seemed easier. Of course, I needed to keep track of that properly, which meant weighing myself in much the same clothing and at the same time every day. I needed to record that, so I'd need to set up some sort of tabular file on the computer. I like to visualise things, so I'd need to be able to export the data to a graph... hmm, I thought. That gives me plenty of options. Which would be the best? So up I got out of bed and started to look at the various software on my computer which would take a list of numbers and dates and graph them appropriately. I also needed a line on the graph that could tell me how I was going with the 100 grams weight loss per day.

Here's the beauty of it---it was completely useless without data. The only way to get data was to weigh myself every morning before breakfast and record what I weighed. If my weight started to get away from my target line, I had to review what I'd been doing---had I been eating correctly? Had I exercised enough?  A geeky obsession with keeping this graph up-to-date has had the very useful side effects of keeping my weight under control, and a healthier lifestyle all around.

I think there may be a few people on the board with similar stories, I got one of the new iPod Touches last month for my birthday, and it has this sync software with www.nikeplus.com

Keeps track of your runs, distance and time, and the site has various challenges (run 10 miles a week, person with the fastest mile, etc.) that you can join.  Since it tracks everything with a sensor in a nike shoe, it tends to keep you pretty honest - if you don't walk/run, there is no data.  it's also pretty much automatic since when i sync the ipod it uploads the data at that time and I can see my workouts. 

 I do wish it had a weight chart too, but maybe that will be in the next version.

My main goal is 3 miles a day, which I do during lunch hour in the gym located in the basement of the office tower I work in.  Good thing they've got showers.

[Doctor Thump]

Hi all:

Slow coming to this discussion due to catching up on my EscapePods.....need to qualify my comments...I work every day as an Exercise Geneticist and have worked trying to help people becoming healthier with activity for almost 30 years - so this story hit several nerves with me...

1) The writing style - I've read all of the comments here about the writing style and yep, it bugged me too for awhile.  But then realize that the author is a sportswriter (and is immersed in the sentence-fragment world), this is a sports-story and this is how sports-news is conveyed, and this is how athletes think.

2) The ego of the lead character.  The author nailed that.  To be an elite athlete and to get past all the other junk that happens when you perform, you've got to have a royal-ego.  Most elite athletes, when questioned seriously, would admit that when it comes to 'their sport' they have that type of ego and those types of expectations (e.g. no one will take my turf from me!).

3) As to the genetics side of things....this story may be closer than many think and this almost makes it a horror story for me. And why is it closer than we think (and why might it not be legislated against)?  B/c WADA and all of the other self-appointed guardians of the 'purity' of sport are clueless when it comes to gene-doping.  They've held a couple of high-profile conferences when the biggest conclusion was that they'd outlaw 'anything not in the rules' (an actual quote from a WADA official).  When pressed to explain, this official indicated that he'd outlaw carb-loading, enhanced running shoes, clothing, etc.
      The real scary part about all of this?  Gene-doping done correctly would be absolutely undetectable (absolutely).

4) This story was great b/c it mostly got all of the physiology right (except for the super blood cell augmentation - these guys would die with blood too thick - it has happened in the cycling world several times;  and 'anaerobic' exercise - but that's a huge post).

5) And good for all of you that are more active now.  If this story helped - SUPER!  And since you are all geeks, the really cool stuff that is happening is showing that activity can positively affect your genetic coding.  Roth and colleagues (Univ. of MD) just released a paper showing that people that are moderately active (150 mins/week - geez that's 30 mins/day for 5 days/week) have longer teleomerase regardless of age!  So - another reason for geeks to be active?  To outlive 'em all.....

[Father Beast]

OK, I hated it.

First off, the guy was a total jerk. entitlement off the scale, intentionally rude to those who are trying to be nice, the very picture of bad sportsmanship.

I was impressed by his commitment to training and focus, but even with that, I couldn't bring myself to want him to win, I hated him so much.

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he does have some enhancements, just not ones he defines as being the other guys things.

and then he wins, and it's over. no follow up or results or anything. anticlimactic.

not on my favorites list

[CammoBlammo]

OK, I hated it.

First off, the guy was a total jerk. entitlement off the scale, intentionally rude to those who are trying to be nice, the very picture of bad sportsmanship.

I was impressed by his commitment to training and focus, but even with that, I couldn't bring myself to want him to win, I hated him so much.

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he does have some enhancements, just not ones he defines as being the other guys things.

and then he wins, and it's over. no follow up or results or anything. anticlimactic.

not on my favorites list

You pretty well summed up my reaction to the Olympics this year. Although I had to cheer when a Tunisian beat Grant Hackett in the 1500 metre freestyle.

[sayeth]

Just wanted to say I listened to this story while working out at the gym. It really helped motivate me to finish my run. In fact, toward the climax of the story, I noticed that I was running far beyond my normal pace. Thanks for the cramps, Steve!

[rowshack]

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered" The Prisoner
That quote sprung to mind while listening to this story.

[Coffee_Zombie]

I loved this story, I've just started listening to escape pod and working my way backwards among the podcasts and must say this is one of my favorite so far.  It's current, smart, and has really good flow.  The talk of kings poor sportsmanship is unfair in my eyes.  I would express myself the same way around cheaters.  Personally, I feel strongly against doping, blooding, and the genetic tweaks.  Here's my rule about cheating if a man in Kenya (Ukraine for winter sports) can't do it then neither should you.  What is the point of winning by cheating it's a thing I have never understood.

The real reason I'm posting thou is that the talk about geek fitness made me want to share my creation with the escape pod community.

I call it the Game-a-tron-mill, get fit and play video games even better then the Wii.

[Talia]

Dude. You need to listen to episode 183, like, right away Purely by virtue of your screenname

[Coffee_Zombie]

Did loved it.  Don't mess with peoples coffee a worthwhile lesson for everyone.  Should probably play it for my roomate.

[MacArthurBug]

Don't mess with peoples coffee a worthwhile lesson for everyone. 

+1

[wakela]

Didn't like this one so much.  I didn't care who came in first.  The racism was tired.  And the Big Idea that the wealthy have access to technology that others don't is more than a little worn out.  I mean it's happening now.  People are talking about it now.  It's not thought provoking. 

[Unblinking]

At the core, this was like almost every other sports story I've ever seen/heard read, especially the majority which are about poor kids trying to fight The Man.  But it was made unique by the non-stop sentence fragments which made it very irritating to listen to, and an arrogant dickhead protagonist that I didn't care about at all.

Sentence fragments used in moderation can be useful, but when every single sentence is a fragment it drives me absolutely bugnuts.  And the arrogance of the sentences implied to me that King was speaking of himself, which meant that he was speaking about himself in 3rd person, another thing which drives me bugnuts.

I didn't get the title at first, but then later remembered (after giving up on the story) that his name was King and they were trying to usurp his throne.  This did not raise my opinion of the character.

Am I the only one who didn't realize that John Henry was black?  It seems weird that I wouldn't know that.  I guess it's because I'm mostly familiar with the story from Johnny Cash songs, which I don't think specified white or black, they just said he was poor.