Thoughts

Summer School is over. Overall, it's been great. One of the teachers said, "It's over! Think of not having to get up on a Monday morning!" My reaction was, "Are you kidding? Teaching summer school is why I get up on a Monday morning!" But I'm a freak. I know.

An influence of summer school is that I count my daily reps - bicep curls, pressups and all - in Russian. By the end of this week I'll be able to count up to 1000 (tysyacha).

We've been running together for the past four or five times along the parkland walk, at a pace sustainable for twenty to twenty-five minutes each time, just enough to get Pork Chop hooked on the running bug.

We're off to visit the in-laws. Until September!


I'm too nice to tell the eight-year-old who designed the shirt that I thought a squadron of pigeons overdosed on laxatives had flown overhead. See, I'm so nice.

Roundup

Not much to recap in terms of running. Yesterday I did a short 25-30 minute run and did two 400s under 75 seconds each. After the 2nd I ran an immediate 400 to get an overall 800 time of 2:46. Considering the lack of running, I was satisfied with that. The in-laws stayed most of the week and unlike serious runners I was willing to put running on the backburner on this occasion - at least it's way easier than converting my in-laws to the Law of Running!

This evening we ran for a short while together for another short 20 minutes. I also managed about 15 sets of 30 pressups, bicep curls, calf raises and shoulder presses over the last two days.

This week the goal is to run three days or more and also do more weights, particularly abs. I aim to do a few set of crunches every day.

Summer school is approaching its last week and while it's been busy it's also been fun.



I like this photo because I think it's representative of the types of students I have in the class. Those in the back row are independent learners who can get on with the work unsupervised. Those in the front row are the little kiddies who can get a bit clingy and childish. Those two in the right - well, they're always in a world of their own.

Weekly Roundup

Thursday morning I ran for about 30 minutes. If you don't know by now, morning runs are not exactly my favourite because of time constraints, but they're gradually becoming a necessity as the summer warms up. I included two 400s - the first in 75 seconds, the next in 70. I was supposed to repeat this yesterday morning but a toothache that kept me up for part of the night (later requiring a root canal - nice) scuppered things up a bit, so it was Sunday Sprints instead - a mile and a bit of warmup, and 4 sets of 400s on the road. For the earlier sets I jogged back quickly to the start to get an 800 time; I didn't do that for the last for reasons that will soon be obvious.

1st 400: 75 seconds
jogged back to get 800m in 3:02

2nd 400: 73 seconds
jogged back to get 800m in 2:45 (okay, this was more like a run back)

3rd 400: 75 seconds
jogged back to get 800m in 3:00

4th 400: 82 seconds
can you tell I'm flagging here?

Overall I am happy with this - on the next run I would probably try for a better 800 time, or vary it and do 600s, or something like that. I seldom plan - I just get out and do whatever feels best.

Happy running!

for goodness sake, teacher

... if the kids in your class misbehave on the way to museums, have a word with them.

If they continue to pluck flowers and leaves off plants in front of the hotels to put in their hair, or to throw at other students, have a word with them again, and tell them why not to. If you had done that, you would have pre-empted the situation where your student had a handful of pebbles cupped in his hands for possible ammunition.

If they push each other when they are walking, step in.

If they still continue to be stupid, MAKE them behave.

Don't just walk ahead of your class and forget to monitor them. Don't just say "I told them not to, but they still did it" and leave it at that.

We still have two weeks of summer school. If you leave such behaviour unchecked you will have more problems over the next fortnight.

Just do your flipping job. It might not be in your character to be stern, but you have to grow into it.

And if you don't do what you should, and think that you are carrying out your responsibilities, you WILL find others will leave you in the lurch to face the consequences.

Or maybe it's just me that's old-fashioned.