Danny's Space

this is the COOSPO HRM H6 a heart rate sensor. The first time I tried this device with my existing running apps it didn't work well. Google fit and Strava doesn't work with it at all. Huawei Health recognizes it but doesn't "use" the data. I had to download Endomondo to at least get some functionality out of it. This was the first week. But I am not quitting that easily. The advantage of a chest strapped heart rate sensor is that its more accurate. Just wear it under your shirt when you run or bike. The solution is an app called myWorkouts downloadable from GooglePlay. Activate your phone's bluetooth and open the app. Go to Settings -->> Bluetooth low energy BLE and choose COOSPO, the name of the device. myWorkouts will use the device as long as you're wearing it, meaning it has good contact with your skin. In my experience, with the warm weather in the Philippines, that will not be a problem unless you have extremely dry skin. The app prompted me to...

I thought to share this bits of information as recorded by my mobile and wearable (watch and heart monitor). 

I missed posting this important upgrade of systemd from 243 to 244 last December 5th. from pacman.log

I think I missed posting this one. The linux kernel used by archlinux upgraded from 5.3 to 5.4 last December 3rd. As of this posting it is now on its 3rd update (linux 5.4.3) in the arch repo - core. from grep command filter of /var/log/pacman.log

To clean the cache and the databases of uninstalled packages, pacman has #pacman -Sc command. pacman does not offer the chance to keep a number of past versions of packages. Keeping these past versions, eliminates the need of downloading them again when you have to downgrade perhaps. The default number is 3 versions of the package. I use #paccache -rk command to help in cleaning the cache. The default is 3 versions of the package is retained. What about uninstalled packages? Well you can use #paccache -ruk0 command to remove all cache for uninstalled packages. And that's what I did. Only I forgot the -u switch. The -u switch limits the scope of the paccache command on uninstalled packages only. I just removed about 5 GB of cache and database from /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ . This mistake prevents me from 1)downgrading a packages without the need to retrieve it from the archives and 2)easily reinstalling a package from the cache folder if I need to. Well, lesson learned.

Phoronix came out with an article about systemd-244 last week. You can check it out in the link. I upgraded to the new version today without any problems. Twitter updated their terms of service. Robinson Rewards also gave notification that they are updating their terms of service. Just so you know.

Mozilla is getting ready to speed up development cadence for Firefox from 6 weeks to 4 weeks. We will soon get a fresh Firefox browser every 4 weeks.

Monday run, 1st time to open Strava app to record. Formerly I use Google fit and my watch. Good run.  Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/rzpm5klJ41 Sent from my Huawei phone

I got the flu last week. It was bad. I lost my voice and I have a runny nose. I decided to rest and not run for two days. The 3rd day of the flu I went out and ran a very easy pace for 3 km. Basically I just went out for fresh air. I don't know how I can rescue the week but I tried. Training Schedule Weekly MIleage The "flu" week yields 40.1 km only. That's a decrease of 20 km from the previous week. The next week I total 65.8 km increasing the base week by almost 6 km. I am a happy runner. Since implementing the Maffetone method of training, I've been recovering from workouts easily, as in less than 12 hours. I can then run almost everyday. Or, run immediately after feeling sick. The Maffetone method recommends running at or below your heart rate goal. It's training by heart rate. I also add the heart rate variability idea of taking rests if your resting heart rate go up above a base line. So the opposite also rings true here, if my resting heart rate is goin...

I had to take a week off I had the flu. Last Saturday I received the delivery of Brooks Glycerin 16. Brooks Glycerin 16 black / orange colorway I have a line up of shoes to try now. All are neutral cushioned shoes from brands that are known worldwide. The reflective logos on the New Balance 880 and the Brooks Glycerin 16 definitely announce so.

I ran a 9 kilometer -ish session today. My wearable lost signal and or just decided to just end the tracking. I didn't bring my phone which serves as my back up whenever one tracker is down. Anyway, Google Fit and Huawei Health have it at 8.49 plus 0.7 for a bit of a walk. I stopped to buy hot pandesal before proceeding home. Adidas Asweego White / blue colorway size 44 I ran in sheepish ambivalence in the Adidas Asweego. I ordered a New Balance 880 online and the seller sent me these pair. I like the ride. The sole is well cushioned, the heel collar is protected and cushioned. I'm not a fan of the high heel collar though especially the pointed ones. Tends to rub my achilles. I like the lacing system. It is secure. There is no tongue. The upper just secures the ankle with a one piece upper which is cushioned. This kind of cushioned upper brings the question of water absorption. I don't know about using the Asweego in a long run. But we'll see.

I was expecting Adidas Adizero Prime knit but today I got Adidas Pure Boost Go instead. APB Go is in black / white colorway. Adidas Pure Boost Go in black / white colorway size 44 I've been wearing it for hours now doing some body weight training. Not bad. It isn't as serious as the Solar Glide or the Adizero but it is versatile. No torsion bars but it holds the heels fine.

Friday I visited Dad's grave and lighted candles in the early morning. It's optional run day so I wore pants and commuted. But the next day is Saturday - Long Run day. I went to Paraiso to visit Dad's grave the 2nd time and lighted candles. Something happened to the tracker in the middle of the run. Oh well. It still tracked the distance and location though. So it wasn't the GPS signal. Could be the heart rate sensor in my wrist. Google Fit gave me this though. Almost the same stats. At least this gets my calories burned right. This is a mostly aerobic run. My pace only went up the last kilometer. Kilometer 8 and 9 is a long sustained climb from Paraiso gate to Kambal. There are more real estate to run around the area of C-6 road, Shotgun and Kambal up to Timberland. I wish to explore it if I can. I overshot my turn to Paraiso and extended my run to Banaba. I went back and found my turn. Ha-ha. My previous 14 km run I burned 1,040 cal. running a different route. This ti...

I've a funny thing that happened this time around in my long run. I got lost. I was planning to turn left after Villa Apolonia at Marang but it was dark. I missed that turn and ended at Patiis. I went with the flow. There was a slight drizzle but the moon came out. I circled via Daang bakal. Somebody at Maly Barangay Hall noticed the second time I passed. I'm using Huawei's Health app with the band pro on my wrist. The image above was created by the app. I think it looks cool. I mostly stayed in the zone. Don't worry about the pace. Just stay in the zone.

I am following a flexible schedule when it comes to running. I am running 9 km on regular runs or days. These are Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I do get an optional run on Fridays. Then a long run on Saturdays. Rest days on Sundays. Flexible because any of those regular runs can turn into tempo, recovery and intervals. I haven't turned any of my long runs into any other than a long slow run, if you're wondering. The goal is to get as much quality from each session. It depends on my physical fitness, general pain free body and the weather. Adidias Alphabounce 2019. Long runs are usually planned routes but I made a mistake and took a wrong turn. I realized after ten minutes that I am in the wrong spot. What do you do when life happens to you? I went with the flow. These pairs were ordered online August 2019. I first used them August 25th. After this long run I have decided that these underrated "bounces" are excellent for long runs and packed dirt. Good j...

This is the first time I used a heart rate monitor to aid my run. Today is October 23rd, Wednesday. I tested this method of running yesterday but not changing how I ran. I wanted to see how I've been running before I let heart rate monitors change how I do things. It is an eye opener for me. Apparently I've been running near my lactate threshold or even in the anaerobic zone. Heart rate graph showing 92% of the time I am running in the anaerobic zone. Two things important to runners are their endurance, strength and speed. To improve speed, this is going to do it. But if I want to train and improve my endurance and strength, I have to run in the low intensity zone. I have to go slow and run my sessions in the aerobic zone. Today's HR aided run proceeded with me wearing the heart monitor and receiving visual information where my heart rate is in real time. I can adjust my effort to put my run in the zone.

Fresh Mozilla Firefox browser, GNOME, Archlinux

I got this device today after searching online for "GPS watches" meaning something that I can use to track my run and heart rate. I want to run aided by my heart rate which tells me accurately how much effort I am putting into my sessions. Huawei Band 3 Pro charging thru the USB dock that came with the box. The pluses for this particular device are its battery and the built in GPS. The battery lasts 7 days most users tell me. The built in GPS means I can leave my mobile device when I run if I don't mind running without my music.

Splits for my long run today, October 19th. Average pace 8:37 Total time: 2:00:55 Distance: 14.02 km

I ordered the Asics Metaride last month. It arrived last September 14th. This shoe is kind of like a sleeper hit for me. The first time I used it was immediately the next day it arrived. And it feels snug and with the rocker in the midfoot it is like someone's pushing me forward. I have since used it in my long runs. I like the stability in the heels and the rear foot.

I purchased a new mobile device after I lost my ASUS Zenfone 5 last October 6. After shopping online and going to tech sites including gsmarena.com for specs comparisons and prices. My budget is the same as always. If I can stay under 25,000 then good. I got the blue one. The rear side contains 4 cameras. The battery is a medium sized 3,700 maH but it has fast charging. I am also getting Huawei's smartwatch for running and health monitoring. It's got a good battery too and built-in GPS. This means I can leave my phone when I go running.

I am happy to share my daily runs on Week 6 - 7 with you. I have progressed to a couch potato to a 7 km. daily runner. I am hoping to run 40 km training runs weekly from here on out. I am looking at that lone 3.5 km run last Wednesday.

I have an issue with the Nike Vaporfly Next% and I have only used it for 28 km. See previous post. So I paid a visit to our local shoesmith. He patched a rubber pad over the sharp heel collar. I'll try to update you once I've tested it.

Nike calls their upper material in the Vaporfly Next% the vaporweave. Last Thursday morning I got surprised with a pain in my left achilles that I tried to brush off but when I saw that red spot, I didn't think it could happen. See the stitching line inside is sharp as a knife there. They had to put a pad to keep it off the skin but it wasn't enough as my achilles found out. This blister is two days old. I had to wear the Adidias Ultraboost 19 so I don't miss today's workout.

I decided on the Saucony Kinvara 10 even if I have to get it a half-size bigger (10 and a half) and I am glad I did. The toe-box is just rich. This shoe is not too fancy so it's great for a daily trainer. I like the color too.

It looks beaten up. The rubber sole is being held by cement glue. It still feels good to wear it on 5k runs. It is going to be retired soon, I'm afraid.

Gnome-shell updgraded today to 3.34 along with other gnome packages. In fact gnome components were trickling the past few days now.  Also today, linux kernel upgraded from 5.2 to 5.3. Yay! Happy about this and no problems after reboot.

The latest addition to my shoe collection today is the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 36 in grey/orange color. I should have gotten it a few weeks ago but the seller shipped the wrong size so I had to cancel and make another order. Finally, I have it. Seller delivered the wrong size. A week later, the item with the correct size arrived. Yay!

This is the Nike Zoomx Vaporfly Next%. This is the next version of the Vaporfly used by marathon runners as race day shoes. This got me pumping. Nike Logo: "Measured in the Lab                   Verified with Medals & Records."

Firefox browser upgraded to 69 from the archlinux repos today.

I use Gnucash for bookeeping and cash management. It is upgraded from 3.5 to 3.6 today.

When I returned from vacation, I did a post summarizing the packages that were upgraded when I was out. I have to clearly spell out that the linux kernel was upgraded from the 5.1 version to the 5.2 version on July 12 2019. Thank you.

The Adidas Ultraboost is the shoe I have been searching for. It is a capable running shoe but also perfectly appropriate for casual wear. This is the Adidas Ultraboost 19.

Every month Arch releases a brand new live media to update their live media. I update my copy of this very important tool for rescuing unbootable systems. To troubleshoot a system that refuses to boot you have to use a live media usually in a usb flash or CD. I have long ago dropped my CD player and so use USB flash to store the ISO. First go to the download page of your favorite distro, I use arch here. Use the torrent magnet link. It's faster. It's about 650 MB download for the ISO. Go get your USB flash. Once the ISO download finishes, change directory to the tar file. You can actually right-click on the file itself and use a GNOME utility called Disks to create a bootable flash usb. Or you can do it the long way: use the dd command: #dd bs=4M if=path/to/iso/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress oflag=sync To find your usb's location or name use the lsblk command. This method uses all the usb space though.

I lost all my video files the last time my sata cables decided to quit. I should have properly backed up the whole thing but it was my fault. I could have fixed the situation by adjusting the connections but I was getting the picture all wrong. I am downloading my top ten films right now. So far I have : Alien (1979) Director's cut. This picture blew my mind when I saw it in theaters alone, maybe the first movie I saw alone. Blade Runner (1982) Another Ridley Scott film. I am a big fan of the director since I was a teen. This is also a salute to Rutger Hauer (1944-2019) who passed away recently. Raiders Of the Lost Ark (1981) Harrison Ford stars in two of three of the films, so far. This is directed by Steven Spielberg. My favorite Spielberg film is Schindler's List (1993). to be continued next post...

There were several updates this month. I thought it is important to say something about these updates before more of them come in this August 2019. Well first the linux kernel is now 5.2.5 Archlinux. LIbreoffice is now 6.2.5-1. Calibre is now 3.46 and counting. Calibre actually updated 4 times this month. That's hectic activity for the developers and maintainers. Gnome-shell is now 3.32.2. A large swat of the journal is "missing". I was on vacation. Give me a break. Oh I was on a break. This post is really a compilation, a summary of this month's activities. So bear with me. I finally did something about this recurrent red message in the journal. I activated the swap directory with mkswap and swapon. It turned out I already have a swap directory when I installed Arch. I also experienced openvpn not connecting to privatevpn. It turned out that when my lvm partitions were lost all the data were lost including the folder containing the ca certificate for the vpn service...

I was prompted to update Android today. There was a service outage early on. It took several hours to finish the download.  DonatoRoque@mymobile    

Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave. (Then he saves Deckart's life.) I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.  Attack ships on fire..., C-beams glittering in the dark... All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.  Time to die.  (Replicants have only 4 years to live.)  -Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner RIP

The first two weeks of July is just hectic. Mina and Jojo arrived one after the other. He came from Australia then my sister arrived later from Houston. They'll spend at least 3 weeks at San Mateo and Boracay. Lino and family (Joy, Patricia, Miguel and Bella) arrived Tuesday early morning from Vancouver. We had a welcome party for all of them with the barkada and family. We had karaoke and drinks. Lino and family spend the night and Mina slept in her apartment. We were back home together. They were back home. At least for a while. SEE.