Today I had some students away on a trip to France (let's hope it doesn't come down to "Bon jour, one Big Mac, merci") so I was able to come home early in the afternoon. On the way back I stopped for some insoles and settled for Sorbothane, because they seemed to be at a fair price. I only got the heel ones, and not the whole insoles, simply because I had no intention of buying a new pair of trainers at a size larger. My Nike ACGs, while not exactly running shoes, have served me well and have been very durable - they've lasted a lot longer than others, which usually get worn out within a year.

Anyway, why the insoles? Occasionally I've had some knee pain after a run - especially runs that have been at a quicker pace. I think when I run fast, I tend to misuse myself and "end-gain" - lose form. When I've gone at a slower pace, even for longer distances, things have been fine. The other day after I did my 11K in the park (1.13K per round, and hence 11.3K in total, to be anal) my knees didn't give me any bother at all.

So before I had to teach Max this afternoon I gave my new insoles a test drive - initially they felt like they'd been placed too far back in the heel (duh?), and I didn't really think they'd absorb much of the impact at all. I was even worried that the slightly higher heel would cause me more knee pain.

A few rounds later, though, they seemed to have settled nicely. I didn't really feel that they were in the wrong place or anything like that. The real test, of course, is tomorrow, and whether that knee pain resurfaces or not after the quick-pace run.

My time? 22:10 for 5K, which is probably the best I've ever done it. I'm very pleased. I completed 5 full laps in 24:29, which - if I could have kept up the pace - would have amounted to a 45 minute 10K. But I'm being too greedy here.

On Friday I'll probably just try to walk-run an easy 10K, just to experiment with pace, and see how I can work up to a half-marathon distance by varying the pace, so I get an easy lap after a few hard ones. But I will be careful about pushing myself too hard, too fast - I've really only started running properly since the last month, and have to be conscious about not doing myself an injury just because I wanted to rush myself back to fitness.

So for now I'll just be content with my new 5K time.

Just completed a simple twenty minute-ish run. Originally I'd planned it for this afternoon after I got back from work, but this morning I was awakened by the sound of our neighbour's pigeons feeding their young (yes - I heard the flapping of wings announcing Daddy's / Mummy's arrival followed by the screaming of the kids) so I thought what the heck. The weather was nice and cool, and the coffee might have helped - the twenty minutes didn't feel all that bad, and I ran straight through them. A month ago, I would have had to stop to catch my breath after ten minutes. The park was still closed so I ran on the perimeter and did a slightly quicker pace at one stretch.

Off to get ready for work now. When I come back this afternoon my aim is to use it productively and wisely, rather than mindlessly surfing the internet.

It was raining a bit today on the way to work, but thankfully quite cool - a welcome change from the past few days. Today's afternoon workout: 20+ minutes on the stepper, at 60-80% MHR. I divided my minutes as follows: 1st minute: 60% MHR. 2nd minute: 65-75% MHR. 3rd minute: 70-80% MHR. 4th minute: 80% MHR. That seemed to be quite effective. I also did some weights for arms and shoulders, and a couple of squats; about 3 or 4 quick sets each until I couldn't maintain the form - pointless to go on after that just to rack up the numbers.

Next scheduled activity: Probably TV pressups! No, I'm not using the TV as a medicine ball. I'll get some reps in while in front of the TV.

Next scheduled cardio: Going to give my slightly sore body a rest day. Either steps on Monday evening or a run on Tuesday - probably the run, for a change from doing steps.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

“Happyslapping” is a growing craze popular among teenagers in the UK. Like its name suggests, it started off as slapping someone for the fun of it. (Duh?) One teenager in a group would whip out a camera phone and film another crony doing the deed, and then send the footage to as many people as he liked. The “slapping” part of it isn’t really a proper description anymore – I’ve seen a documentary where a cyclist was clotheslined, and a woman suffering from cancer was kicked and set upon by a gang of boys, while a girl was raped and filmed - sick pack of rats.

After my run on Thursday I walked a lap around the park to cool down and passed by these three boys on a park bench. I could hear snippets of conversation like “I’ll give you £5 to do it. £6. £7.” and “Quick! Get the phone, man!” By the time they had mustered up the balls to even think about it I presume I was out of range of the camera. I thought about going back, in a show of defiance; ready to see if the unarmed combat skills they taught me during National Service really worked. But I decided not to. Why not? Because, judging from things, it would have probably come down to this:

Camera Boy: OK! It’s on! Go for it!
Happyslapper: Alright! Watch me be a real man now! (Flings big bag of water - note: they had one ready)
Tag-Along: Alright!
Me: (splattered) Brmphwf!
Slapper: Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Camera Boy: Good shot man! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Tag-Along: (high-pitched voice) Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Did you see that! Man!
Slapper: Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Look at him! Just ... loooook at him!
Me: Is that all you can do? The only job where people get to throw things at others is “Clown”. That’s what you are. Clowns.
All three goons: (as if they heard nothing) Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! (They continue talking as if the victim is not there) Did you see that? The bag just went Boom! on him. Heh-heh-heh-heh (a la Beavis and Butthead)

So I didn’t bother. What’s the point? The people that engaged in that sort of thing aren’t interested in logic or reasoning. They just want a reaction from you – they want to see they’ve needled you, got under your skin, provoked you; then they can laugh further at you trying to explain what must be metaphysics to them.

When I encounter anti-social behaviour towards me I often just ignore it, believing myself to be dignifying the act by even giving it a response. I’ve often disagreed with others who feel that by walking away, I’m not standing up for myself and showing I can be pushed around. But what’s the point in trying to explain things to people that are so lost, so warped in their reasoning, that they won’t understand? In any case, I walk away with head held high, not tail between the legs. I believe myself to have won by not reacting.

When I’m at one of my schools, walking down the corridors, I can hear groups of boys sniggering, making comments behind my back like “Ching-chang-chong”, "Hello Jackie Chan!", “Egg-fried rice” or making noises as if they were trying to get the attention of a dog. Sometimes they go “Whasssup!” in your face and expect me to flinch. I blank them. The moment I pay any attention to that, they’ve won. (It's like the old playground trick where you shout "Hey, Idiot!" and everyone who turns instinctively to look becomes an idiot.) But the times I’ve just carried on with my own business, I’ve made the poor jokers look like what they are: attention-seeking no-lifers.

So just why am I ranting on about this? It’s simply quite sad to see people trying to find meaning in their lives by being nuisances. You want something in yourself to be proud of? Put on a pair of shoes. Get out there and move. Do it at least every other day. Surely there’s more meaning in that.

Yesterday I finished lessons early, and good transport connections meant I was home before 1. Perfect conditions, then, for a long run. Originally I had planned to do it on Friday after I had got off work, but it was forecast to rain: I don't fancy running in the rain, so I chickened out and opted to do it in 32 deg C (90F) heat instead. I unearthed my hibernating Camelbak ("But Master, I've probably got algae lining my innards," it cried) and set off after lunch.

Despite being warmer in terms of temperature compared to the previous day, it was cool when I first set off. My grumpy Camelbak made few sloshing noises, to my relief. The plan was to go 10 laps around the 1K-ish park, aim for a 6-min lap time, then hopefully go under an hour for 10K. "Hang on," I hear you say, "I thought this was supposed to be a long run." For an out of shape person, it is! The last time I ran that distance was over a year ago. Having done little running over the colder months, 10K wasn't just going to be long, it was going to be uncharted territory.

I decided that after every 2 laps I would run in the opposite direction around the park. This wasn't so much for the change in scenery as to help me with the counting. I mentally drift off or long runs, swims, etc, and didn't want to be wondering how many laps I'd done in the middle of things. I decided every two laps I would also stop and take a drink and pause for a breath: I guess I was trying to divide my distance into smaller manageable bits.

I checked my watch after the first two laps: 10:30. Ahead of schedule. Hmm. If I went under 6 minutes for the first few laps I would have a few extra seconds for the later laps to slow down a bit. The first 5 laps were relatively alright.

Laps 6-8 was when things started to unravel. By this time I was sipping water two to three times per lap, pausing each time to do so, and losing valuable seconds in addition to the time I was spending walking to catch my breath. Lap times dropped (6:35s, 6:45s) and going into the last two laps, I was disappointed to see I couldn't just keep up this languid pace and hope to finish under an hour.

One of the good things about running, I feel, is that the mental discipline developed when you are forced to dig deep carries over to other aspects of your life and makes you a stronger person, less frazzled by things that might get to others. Two laps to go, I tried every trick I could to keep going. Run 50 paces, walk 10. Run 30 seconds, walk 5. Keep going, keep going, the only reason why you're here is to go under one hour. Run 30 seconds, walk 5. How will you feel when you miss it by a few seconds? Run 50, walk 10. Don't forget to drink - no time to stop now, just grab the tube and sip on the fly (sounds gross, actually). Somehow through all that mind-blitzing I found enough to make myself plod along. I ran past my marker and clocked 59:46.

So I achieved my aim of doing 10K under an hour, and I was very pleased with that. It's not a world-class result to crow about – judging from the blogs, many of the other triathletes could do it in their sleep - but it’s good enough for me. An even more pleasant surprise awaited me when I got home. After going over my route using Microsoft Autoroute, it seems, even by the most conservative estimate, that I'd been doing 1.1K per lap, so I'd actually done 11K in under an hour. For someone who has only recently returned to running after a 6 (7? 8?) month hiatus, 11K in an hour can't be all that bad, right?

I DID IT! But I'm tired, and have to get ready to go out and teach, the full details will have to come at a later time...

WOO-HOO!!!

Today I had a couple of absent students at the school, and was able to reschedule those supposed to have lessons later on in the day into the empty time slots, so I got off earlier at 2 and have just squeezed in a run before Max's lessons. The school I am at on Wednesday is among one of the worst secondary schools in Britain, ranking 3200-ish among 3600-odd schools. Attendance in normal lessons is pretty bad - so bad, they have a staff of two working in what is called an "attendance room", dealing with matters of attendance. Anyway, what irks me is that despite having fixed times each week, some pupils don't bother to turn up. Despite notes sent home, and through reception (if they are late or might have forgotten), some don't bother to come. I remember when I was at school it was the student's responsibility to tell the teacher if he or she was not going to make the time the next week for some reason or other. Today I had a student surface after 7 weeks of absence and her excuse was “I’ve had exams”. Hello? Exams for the same subject 7 weeks in a row? Even if that really was going to be the case, why didn’t you come and tell me so I could reschedule your lesson for a different time?

Anyway, it wasn’t all bad today. One of those who did show up was a girl called Tajmina, who hasn’t enjoyed lessons very much because the repertoire she wants to learn is too difficult for her. Today we seemed to have hit jackpot – my simplified version of Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful was simple enough, yet still had the tune, not too many difficult notes and chords… after 15 minutes she had done the tune for the whole song and the melody and chords for the chorus. Beautiful indeed – she seemed pleased with herself and I was pleased too. Good for her.

I managed to do 4 laps around the park at a 5:15 per lap pace, then slowed down so I completed 5 laps in 27 minutes. On Friday I’m intending to do a long run, but that will depend on things really – how hot it’s going to be, and how I’m going to get hydrated. I used to do my long runs with my Camelbak, but finding the correct amount of water to carry so that it doesn’t end up a hindrance is tricky. Today it was boiling and I couldn’t have gone more than 2 more rounds without drinking… gives me something to think about the next few days, I suppose!

Got to get ready to teach Max – mental toughness required!!!

I managed to get my 20+ minutes on the stepper last night. When was the last time I used it for stepping? I’d have to think hard about that. On the occasions I’ve used it it’s acted more as a weight than a stepper. Ever tried bicep curls with a stepper? Or pressing it like a dumbbell? The “klunk” of an unseen bit on your head can be very enlightening.

It was very hot last night, so I was drenched at the 2 or 3 minute mark. I only got my heart rate into the 140-160 bpm mark, so it's not like I was found collapsed in a puddle on the floor or anything like that. Having said that, my main aim was to get some cardio done, so I should be happy with that.

This week at St John and St James is Art week, and the children had been arranged into different groups in different classrooms, so I had to do a bit of hunting around for them. A piano or keyboard lesson in a 15 minute time slot sounds reasonable, but factor in the time to go and pull them out of lessons, to-ing and fro-ing, then it's not much! Sometimes I get a bit stressed having to fit everything in within that time, and having to spend the lesson listening to them play while filling in their weekly report book, comment on their playing etc. Then repeat the same thing for the next pupil, and do that over 6 hours… Oh well, still, I enjoy what I'm doing and it's much much much! better than teaching in a classroom with 40 kids and trying to cajole them into working, or occupying them with a meaningless task - I never want to go back to anything like that again. One-to-one teaching definitely seems the thing for me - doesn't pay as much as a teacher in a school gets, but the sense of control I have over my life is wonderful.

Enough rambling anyway, as I am wont to do. In addition to my stepping yesterday I lifted for shoulders, and did some pressups as well, so today it will be my favourite workout - arms again. I'll grudgingly do some abs and I guess I’ll be Kate's Alexander Technique practice dummy in the evening.

Tomorrow I should have time to do a run in the evening and I was thinking of running again on my way home on Friday. The thing though, is that I hate to have to run with a sackload of books and an extra change of clothes on my back, so I’ll have to find some way to do it if I’m going to.

Writing this on my trusty Acer N30 and testing out the character recognition software. It seems pretty good although I have to write a bit more legibly than I'm used to! Today I only have a few lessons and can leave slightly earlier- yippee! I was thinking about doing some steps on the step machine because I don't really fancy going out in the heat. It's a lot cooler today than it was over the weekend though - yesterday was so hot and I caught too much of the sun, I think. Coming back on the bus which had been delayed didn't help either. What normally takes 40 minutes took 2 hours in a heated environment. Phew! I was toasted when I got back and in a crappy mood. I'm still a bit burnt - can feel the heat in my skin.

It's approaching end of term at Bedford although I'm still at Enfield until the middle of next month. At Bedford I've had quite a number of free days off since half term, and I'm trying to use the time more wisely, by preparing work I can use either at summer school next year or at Bedford itself, and of course by finding time to exercise more. I think I have to aim also to spend less time in front of the computer - which is why I got my handheld in the first place. Previously I found whenever I turned on the home computer, I would end up surfing too much and wasting too much time. Hopefully just typing on my handheld - I really just need Word and Excel - will prevent me from switching on the computer and surfing too much. Sibelius for handhelds would have been good too, but they don't do that. Shame!

Anyway (this point onward I'm continuing from home), enough rambling for now. I'm off to do my steps and pressups and all that. My step machine has often been neglected, but that's because I can't generate anything more decent than 140bpm on it. I'm considering buying an elliptical, but don't know if it's any use at all, if we have the space, or if it's going to end up a white elephant...

Phew! It’s been a busy week, and I’ve wasted a lot of the day pratting about, so here’s the quick recap.

I’m getting into the pattern of running every Tuesday and Friday and doing weights in between. Tuesday is fine because I have most of the day free after teaching Rebecca piano, and Kate’s at the studio until 6, so I can squeeze in a bit of last minute work and a run. Friday is fine, too, although I’m so tired sometimes that I either miss my run, or end up waking up on Saturday morning wishing I hadn’t gone.

Last Tuesday I stayed in to watch football – the Women’s Euro 2005 was on. It was England v Norway and it was a brilliant game. Norway were trailing for most of the game, but mounted a spirited comeback to eventually triumph 2-1. The equalizing goal was a beauty! A freekick among the best of the best. I was quite happy that Norway won, just so the English press had to do a dose of reality reporting – it was quite sickly sweet, over the top, after England’s win in the first game. Anyway, the England captain was interviewed after the Norway match and said “it’s quite difficult to win when the referee’s giving free kicks away for little things”, and I knew at that point that this sort of blame everyone-else-except-us attitude was going to cost them the following match. Puh-lease! Just get on with it! A lot of teams get penalized for fouls and still win anyway. If there weren’t the referee, she probably would have blamed the wind direction, grass, or relative humidity for their loss.

Wednesday – usual work at the school. Pressups and weights in the evening. I seemed to have the perfect formula for teaching Max – get him to do two compositions and play them with both right and left hand.

On Thursday there was a bit of a f*** up because one of my students meant to be taking exams had been incorrectly registered. I don’t know how that happened, but at least it gives him more time to practise his scales, which had been awful. This student knew when his exam was about three weeks before it, but somehow forgot on Wednesday it would the next day.

Friday at Bedford, and I did the run on Saturday because I didn’t have to go as there were exams.

This week has gone by pretty quick – nothing unusual. Did my run on Tuesday and felt better for it, and on the rest of the days I’ve been pressups and weights and all that.

Today I had a free day again as the boys were away on a school trip. In the afternoon I did 4 laps around the park at my usual 5 minutes-ish per lap, then trotted 3 more laps, and “moved” the last one. Yes, it was literally plop-plop-plop. It was quite hot and even when I got back into the relative comfort of the cool house I was still sweating for about an extra half an hour.

I got up at about 2am today after an early night last night and didn’t get back to sleep until 5. I felt weird all that because of the funny sleeping pattern – it’s always like that when I don’t get out of routine for some reason or other. Tomorrow I’m travelling four hours just to teach 45 minutes at the school, but I didn’t ask anyone to take over because I felt I really needed to get out of the house, and force myself to do some work – each time I have a free day I end up wasting it, surfing endlessly on the computer, playing games (still fascinated with the demo version of Madden NFL 2003!), feeling guilty and just being depressed. Anyone else ever feel like that?

P.S. Collected my wedding ring today! Fits perfectly, and notably, it’s easier to slip on than off! LOL…

This has got to be a quick post as I’ve got an hour to type and get ready for work.

Back from Yorkshire! The trip down was very smooth. Train came in early – how often does that happen? – by about fifteen minutes, and we got the tube and the bus almost one after another. Very good. A lot better than the trip up anyway. The bus took ages to come, and there were delays on the central line. Note to UK tourists – the central line is crap! I was a bit annoyed with Kate because she’d left me with a rucksack and a sling bag to carry for her while she sauntered off in the morning to Alexander school with one of those mini rucksacks – about the size of a handbag. I had to carry those two big bags and consequently I was hot and fuming when the bus didn’t come and when we had delays, noisy kids, and all that. To make matters worse there were these giggly girls next to me in the train station playing a video on their phone over and over again. All I could hear was “Wooooooooooo!” over and over again and them giggling. I was in such a bad mood I would have socked anyone who tried to pick an argument with me or jostled behind me onto the train. Thankfully I arrived late at the school before that could have happened.

Spent Thursday watching telly and discussing what to do on Friday. Did about 100 pressups while folding the order of service for the wedding. Kate’s dad and I spent quite a while trying to work out how to align a border for the front page, as it would misalign once we got to printing 2 pages on an A4 sheet. We traipsed around, trying to mess about with borders, even tried Publisher, and after about half an hour or so I suggested using a text box instead of a page border which allowed us to drag in into shape. Brian would probably criticize me for taking “so long to come up with the solution when he uses Word and Publisher frequently” to his friends in the pub.

The plan of action for Friday, according to Kate’s mum, was to go to Young’s in the morning to get the suits sorted, then go to the flower lady to work out the flower arrangements, then to Lord’s for the photograph arrangements, and then to see the cake decorations. We managed to squeeze all in one day. I made a mental note to thank Marlene at the wedding and to mention how things run smoothly when someone’s in the background sweating it out to make sure that they do.

I went upstairs to bed early on Friday night. Brian went to the pub, came back later than usual and was drunk – not violently, but he came back drunk and in that sort of mood; talking for the sake of it, saying things to provoke people, making an absolute arse of himself and being proud of it. I was trying to watch the news and gave up.

Saturday – I did bicep curls with my luggage and managed about 100 per arm before Matthew the munchkin came to visit. He looked – well, he was – twice the size since I last saw him in December. He was a lot more alert and responsive too. Whereas in December he was a little tot that occasionally made noise and vomited and looked at you, he was bashing things against the floor, holding things firmly by the hand and was more aware of people. We had a great time playing with him, and he must have too, as he refused to go to sleep at his usual times during the day. He particularly likes it when you roll your lips back and make the explosive “perk” noise. I did it several times and each time he would stop whatever he was doing and look at me. He is cute! Kate was so sad when he left.

Sunday – just a trip down to the Geordie Pride to settle room bookings and stuff like that. We went in the morning and spent the rest of the day pratting about and waiting for the train. It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy a break from London, but I was glad to get back. It’s always nice to be on your own turf, I think, doing the things you like, being comfortable in your own home. I feel a bit out of place sometimes when I go to Yorkshire, because the only things to do seem to be to watch telly, talk about DVDs, broadband and download rates, drink, and not much else. I have different interests – I love watching American sports like NFL, NHL and MLB and things like fitness appeal to me. And Kate’s dad can sometimes say things dismissively about people as well – “he reads the Guardian… whenever he picks it up on the train” or “256MB Compact Flash – ‘Pretec’…hmm” which is sometimes quite annoying. And he goes on for no end at times about the things that interest him – drink, download rates, broadband, DVDs – and looks down on people who don’t have much interest in those.

Enough rattling on – need to get ready to leave for work. Today it’s just half a day at Bedford, so I’ll try to get my music photocopied for the week ahead.

Did my usual rounds around the park again. It was a little more difficult than it was on Tuesday, but for an out-of-shape-and-trying-to-get-back-in runner, I don't think it's worthwhile trying to draw any conclusions from the run. I ran. I gave my heart a bit of exercise. That's it.

Lifted arms yesterday and will do legs / pressups while we're away until the weekend. We've already ordered our wedding rings and will start to finalize the rest of the preparations while we're up in Yorkshire.

Wasted a lot of time on the computer surfing yesterday. I always feel like that when I get a break in teaching. I spend my free time surfing and end up feeling like I've wasted it. One of the things I feel is true, is that how you use your time is, in a way, a reflection of what you think of yourself - if you feel yourself to be valuable, you will feel your time to be valuable and want to use your time wisely. What does my wasted day say about me?

I've been reading some interesting books whose central themes appear to be about how the human race is increasingly being de-humanized. I think human beings are increasingly losing the essence of themselves. Who am I? To my ex-bosses, I was a statistic; one of the many teachers (read lackeys) who were supposed to do as they were told. To my bank, I am not me, but a log-in name and password. I am the same thing to many other people; a faceless name, a credit card number, a user-id. One thing I find interesting is the thought about how, decades ago, people wondered if computers would be smarter than humans. Growing up in the 80s, I remember all the things like Kasparov vs Deep Blue etc, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and how people thought a computer would never take over the world because there needed to be a human being to program it to do so, and hence humans would still be in control. Yet if we think about how much of our life is influenced and shaped by technology, and how dependent we are on it - can you live without your computer - it's frightening to realise that computers have, indeed, taken over our lives. Technology is invasive - can you live without your computer? - and it forces people to use it. I read that Britain is abolishing analogue within the next 10 years. Everyone will have to resort to Digital TV, like it or not, or not use a TV at all. There's this interesting thing about Digital TV - press the red button to vote etc - do people realise that information is being collected about their viewing choices and profiles? Or when you flash that supermarket club card - do you realise information about you is being collected? It seems to me that I am no longer me, with personal information about me being collected like this. The other day my Norton Antivirus updated itself when it wanted (slows down my 56K immensely) in the background without letting me have a choice. I'm glad I don't watch TV on the computer, or have broadband - goodness knows what information about me would be collected in the background and sent to who knows where!

Anyway, enough ranting - time to get some breakfast and I've got loads of chores to do before we leave at noon.