Modified Fartlek and stuff

Pick a stretch of road between two points. Run from A to B at a normal pace. Run back from B to A in the same time. Repeat, but try to make the return trip quicker and quicker. Don't rest in between - the "Recovery" is A to B at a normal pace. You might have to progressively inject a few short spurts (about 3-5 seconds) to improve the return time.

It's been a busy week but I managed to do about three of the above on Friday evening and five today. My A-to-Bs today were 2:20-2:30, and the return trips were 2:30, 2:20, 2:20, 2:15, 2:10. I wound up with about 5K in 23:50 - nothing spectacular, but it was nice to do something different rather than just run an out-and-back. I'll try doing some 2:20s, 2:15s on the "outs" over the next few runs.

Interjecting the run with a few short bursts of less than 5 seconds doesn't tax at all and gains me a second or two every now and then. It seems a lot easier to run at a normal pace and up the speed (for a very short while) every now and then, instead of running at a faster-than-average speed and pausing to walk for a minute or two every now and again.

+

Every day is a rain day here. This sort of weather is early for this time of year. Usually it only starts like this when the tennis at Wimbledon is in full swing - the finals are almost always rain-delayed. The rain is collecting on the kitchen window sill, much to my annoyance, but the $2 sill covers I made from bits of wood and vinyl floorboards work very well. The Mrs gave it the thumbs down for looks. Next stop - temperamental washing machine. I mustn't have a good karma with water-related stuff.

++

I'm incorporating at least one set of exercises for legs, abs and pressups every day. You'd be amazed what you can get done waiting for the kettle to boil or while cooking. I do hamstring curls while washing up. The bicep curl/dumbell press combo - keep doing proper curls and press only when you can't curl any more, then go back to curls and repeat - I only do one side each day. Some days it becomes one set of 120, 130 reps (I don't count reps for presses). By the time I put the weight down I don't want to think about the other side, nor do I have the mental tenacity to properly do it all over again.

Well today I did three sets of those, all for the same side (left). My left side has about 250+ reps over my right side. I'm probably going to feel like this tomorrow.



Happy running!

How not to set up a business

My colleague Mike is a spammer, but he doesn't know it yet. We're all too kind to tell him. He spends his free periods in school emailing jokes to everyone else, whether you like it or not. It's all becoming a bit too much, so I'm taking my chances and filtering all his mail (legitimate and otherwise) to Trash. No more!


Find the agent of a celebrity at "Who Represents"
www.whorepresents.com

Online information and resource portal: "Experts Exchange"
www.expertsexchange.com

The best pens on the island! "Pen Island"
www.penisland.net

Find a therapist
www.therapistfinder.com

IP computer software
www.ipanywhere.com

Perhaps the Italian branch of the utility company Powergen?
www.powergenitalia.com

"Speed of Art" Design
www.speedofart.com

First United Methodist Church in Cumming, Georgia
www.cummingfirst.com

Call me Maria

I have to clarify that the last line in the previous post was typed tongue-in-cheek. But while you'll need a brain bigger than mine to create an eco-friendly treadmill, it is possible to make a bike roller using two old rolling pins, some nails, and an unused plank. Depending on usage, they last about six months to a year.

Thanks to the wonders of flexi-time, I managed to get in a short run on Friday morning before work. It was only just over twenty minutes, made up mainly of running intervals of 1km in around 4:30. I particularly like intervals of that length - anything shorter than an 800 doesn't seem to do much for me, and I think I need to work more on speed/endurance than just speed. I am satisfied with my speed in shorter distances but would like to make it last. I hope to do the intervals of 1km again in around 4:20 or 4:15, which I think is possible considering I ran those at about 80% effort. The best thing about those intervals was that the route was all flat - thank goodness!

This morning I ran the hilly route to the palace and back. It's 4.5km up and down three hilly parts to get there and the same on the way back. The first hill starts immediately as I turn right from the front door and I tend to keep at 8mins/mile for just over the first mile and a half, which takes me past the first two hills and to the park entrance.



There is usually a farmer's market on Sundays there and this morning when I got there they were setting up as usual. They sell homemade produce and organic stuff - worth a look if you like that kind of thing.

Usually it takes about 13 minutes to get to that point but today I ran it in about 12:10. I was briefly tempted to think I might be in for a fast run today but I had my reservations. It is the next 0.75 miles of continuous uphill climb that I consider to be one of two make-or-break sections of the run. It is a long winding road with no respite. When you finally get to the top of the hill you can get good views of London. This is the Canary Wharf building 8 crow-miles away.



The BBC makes a programme called "The Apprentice" and Canary Wharf is where Alan Sugar (the Donald Trump equivalent) has his office. Canary Wharf contains many offices and is one of the pinnacles of East London.

You can also see the Swiss Re Tower.



It is known more by its other unofficial name, the Erotic Gherkin.

It takes about 18 minutes from the start to get to the top of the third hill and from there it is all downhill. I reached the halfway point in 20:10. Which is nice, except that - to state the obvious - the two minutes of downhill running takes about five on the way back to get to the same point - and it is less than half a mile. I had to alternate seconds of walking and running. 10 seconds run, 5 seconds walk. The feeling of finally reaching the top again was priceless - that is the second make-or-break section and I have previously lost a lot of time there.

From then on it was a matter of keeping my feet moving while conserving energy to tackle the last hill leading back home. I had to do a bit more run/walking up that last one but got there eventually. A hilly 9km in 42:15, or 5.6 miles at 7:33 per mile. I jogged up and down another mini-hill to finish up with 10k in 47:00.

I'll go practice "Climb Every Mountain, Ford Every Stream" in my soprano voice now.

A parent asks to discuss her daughter's instrumental lessons with me.

Instrumental lessons within the school day are a bit of a unusual thing, I suppose. The student comes out for about 20 minutes of whatever class they are having to attend their instrumental lessons. At some schools, the Music Department Head requests that the timetable (planned by the instrumental teacher) varies from week to week, so students come at different times and do not miss the same lessons and develop difficulties in those subjects.

This parent expresses her dissatisfaction that her daughter has missed - by her count - six lessons. I explain to her that the room I teach in at that school is a little room within a big room (where class lessons take place), and that I'm aware on two occasions, the door to the big room was locked by the teacher, so that students in that class couldn't run out, or truanting students loitering outside wouldn't come in to disturb (it's that sort of school). So student D turned up for a lesson, found the door to the big room locked, and reported my absence to her mother as I waited inside, in the little room, for her to show up. I think we'll have to come to an agreement on how to settle those two lessons.

Mrs X disagrees that on the other four, it's her daughter's fault for not remembering to come for lessons and demands that individual timetables be provided. I mention that there is a timetable on the notice board outside for students to check their times. I further explain that I used to provide a copy of timetables for students, but no longer do so, because over the course of the term, last-minute changes do sometimes arise, and students would turn up at the wrong times (or not at all) if the main timetable said something different from the timetable they had in their possession which was printed half a term in advance.

In any case, student D has been scheduled for the same time for 24 out of 25 lessons: 12:15 on a Thursday. Not exactly rocket science, is it?

Mrs X continues to absolve her daughter of all blame - normal, I suppose - and tells me how she has "trained" her daughter to remember she has instrumental lessons. On the day she has lessons, Mrs X gives her a watch to wear. On other days, D does not wear a watch. I don't want to comment on this style of parenting but tell her that even when D does remember to come, she doesn't come on time, nor have her music books with her.

Anyway, we keep getting back to the stage in the conversation where we have a disagreement over the missed lessons which, as I see it, are the responsibility of D. I suggest to Mrs X that her daughter should look at the notice board and write the times down in the student diary so she'll remember to come. After all, there are other students in her year who are on times that change from week to week, and still remember to do so.

"But she's only eleven years old. You cannot expect an eleven year old to remember ... (blah blah blah)..."

I think I'm starting to see a link between Expectation and Result.

**

I don't like morning runs. Well, I actually I don't mind them, it's having to make the runs short, rush to cool down and get ready to leave for work quick that I don't like. Working backwards from the time I have to get out the door (at 7) - I can't say running at that time is enjoyable. I don't know how some of you rise at 4, 5-ish to get some miles in. That's why I'm the pig. But I did manage running 800s on a flat one morning - a break from hills. You can see one or two people looking out their windows to see what all that running at that obscene hour is. They think you must have broken into someone's house or nicked a hubcap.

***

I like spreading weights and exercises out over the course of the day. I did one superset of bicep curls and presses while watching TV. At work I've done dips on a 2-foot loudspeaker and deadlifted bass drums. Calf raises on Yellow Pages, and bicep curls with an orange juice bottle seems rather eco-friendly. My next project is to accumulate enough toilet rolls to build a treadmill.

Naked, firsts, failure to perform

Warning: You may find some of the language un-PC and objectionable. That's what the "X" at the top corner is for.

I walked 5 miles along the Parkland Walk on Saturday morning to pay an estate agent a visit. This particular agent owed us some money from the previous property but had been dawdling over returning it – by law they have 10 days, although they say their company practice is to despatch cheques within two or three days. His receptionist, the little lying vixen, said a long time ago that she would send a cheque off. The short version is that she told us numerous lies, and had I not mentioned that I would file a complaint with the ombudsman, it is unlikely she would have sprung into action. This receptionist has proven herself to be a little neurally-challenged on various occasions: you write her a letter asking for cheques, she calls to say she will send them off later that day, and after a few days when you call she asks you which address to send them to (duh?). She calls you to say people are viewing the property after they have unexpectedly turned up. So I wasn’t pleased at all, nor surprised, to see that while she had got my name correct on the envelope, she had got it wrong on the cheque. In addition, the address was misspelt, like some seven year-old had written it. I know people make mistakes from time to time, but this level of continued inability to do the basic tasks right is really maddening. The only reason I walked the 5 miles there is because I didn't trust that they could do any more things right.

Ran along to Ally Pally in the afternoon – it was quite hot so I had to get out in the shorts and show off my jerboa* legs to the world. I might as well have been naked. (If I were a woman I'd probably be wearing tights all year round to hide them.) I did manage to pace myself better this time and did 9km in 46:15 (8:13 miles, if my Brainmin is correct) – it took me 22:10 to get there, and 24:05 to get back. But at least the hill at the end of the run is less of a stigma now. For the first time I ran it at the end of a trip to the Palace. It's do-able now.

Saturday evening: Bicep curls supersetted with shoulder presses - I did the bicep curls until I couldn't do any more with proper form, then did presses, returned to bicep curls, did presses etc. While it was only one set, I got over a hundred reps in total. Same thing with tricep kickbacks, lateral raises and bent-over raises. Calf-raises: 2x20.

Sunday: Had a rehearsal for a gig we're doing at the end of the month (billed as "double the fun"), laundry, school work, tidying up, more paint on sills, remainder of the weights. A bit of everything done. All in all a satisfactorily productive weekend.

*The Pig is a representation of my attitude towards running, particularly at certain times of year, as well the middle-age spread around my waist. Stature-wise, though, the jerboa is probably more appropriate.

I didn't feel like attempting hills today, so instead of going up and down one, I ran around it on a slightly elevated route to the other side. It was a lot cooler than the last time I ran it, and I was thankful for that. I'm morphing into a cool-weather freak. Previously I'd wear two layers, but now at 50F I'm wearing just shirts. When it's mildly warm I can feel the heat bubbling beneath the surface of my skin and it makes me want to scratch like mad, like a dog with fleas. It goes away after a while, but is terribly inconvenient. I think it might be some allergy to the dust from painting, so even though the sills need another coat I'm off the brush.

I reached the other side of the hill clocking 2.64 miles in 19:10, or 7:15 per mile. So that's why it felt so hard. Coming back I lost momentum and eventually covered 4.53 miles in 35 minutes flat, 7:42 per mile. I suppose I should be happy I ran under 8:00, but I'm somewhat envious of the times when I ran 5 miles at 7:06. Age.

On the weights front, instead of doing two sets of everything I'm sometimes trying just one set per day - particularly for bicep curls. One set of 50 with ten to twelve pound weights seems to work better results for me. And it's easy to fit it over the course of a day.

Nothing much else - maybe another run on the cards tomorrow. Happy running!

Painting window frames

It is the
layer upon layer
that defends
the wooden core
from the elements
from all
nature hurls at it
scorching sun, driving rain
so it remains
protected and unchanged
unwithered by the
hand of Time

The layers
we place upon
ourselves
we must periodically
tear down

and expose
our core
to the elements of Life
its trials
its challenges
its experiences
so we
do not remain
wooden
protected and unchanged
but grow stronger
with Time's passage

Bring on the heat wave

Yesterday was hot - it spiked up to the high 60s, 70s. It isn't really that bad when you think about it, but it was the sudden jump over the previous day's temperature that made it seem uncomfortable. I ran to Ally Pally again but this time decided, on the out and back, to take the scenic route - the long winding path that snakes around to the top, instead of the shorter and more direct route. I was overdressed and felt it, especially on the long exposed strip of road at the top. At certain stages it became "Run 10, walk 10" - we're talking seconds here. Maybe it is time for shorts again, but I'm hesitant about showing off my matchsticks. Total distance was about 5.1 miles, in a very unflattering 44 minutes. That hill running better translate itself to faster times on the flats, darn it.

I'd like to run that route faster but I suppose I need to do it a few more times in order to pace myself well. The route on the out is slightly more inclined than on the way back, but one thing I am reluctant to do is to push a little more on the out for fear of "tanking" on the hilly parts on the way back. I've always been more of a cautious runner anyway, and I suppose the same can be said of other aspects of my life, so maybe it's something to address in the head first.

In the afternoon I ran another 3.25 miles. I suppose you could say those were GROW miles, run for the sake of ticking the box and getting them out of the way, but at least I head into the weekend knowing I only have 1.75 miles to plod to achieve the target I set the previous Friday. Totting up the miles, I have run 18.25 in 7 days, which is more than the weekly mileage my knees and I agreed on (13.1), but they didn't seem to complain this time, so neither will I. Those phonebook calf-raises and hamstring curls must really be working. Yellow Pages are good for something after all.

I'm a little behind in the abs, stretching and weights department, but I can do those today in between stripping the paint off the windows and repainting them. Yesterday we got someone in to replace a rotten window sill (somehow cheaper to do that than to buy a whole length of hardwood for a 2-feet sill and do it ourselves - also better workmanship, of course) so I'm going to get high on the smell of Dulux for the next couple of days while the dry weather persists. Our kitchen window overlooks the road from a distance and sometimes people look in as they're walking by. Maybe today I'll give them a double-biceps pose or two if they're nosy - that'll teach 'em.

Happy running and have a good weekend everyone!