Stumble status. March 2009.

Sitemeter tells me that there are still some of you out there keeping an eye on my RSS feed. So here an update on whats happening in my life:

Running. I've had my longest ever injury free period of running. So that's sure to jinx that! Strangely, this has coincided with starting to use the Nike+ Sportband I bought back in September 08, so maybe there are some other secret protective whizzy functions in there (now that would be worth paying money for). Alternatively, it might just mean that I'm taking things relatively easy and not overly worrying about it all.

My pace has improved over that time, from averaging 9:44 pace in October in averaging 9:08 pace now, all without doing very much new. However, my last run did include something new - I've started adding in some short 100 to 200 meter bursts of speed - something like a 7:30 pace - to see how that helps and to add in a little more interest to my regular circuits.

In terms of distance, I've really just kept it at 3 to 3.5 miles over winter, aiming for a weekly total of 10. And I've managed that in the main - a few weeks I've only done 2 runs rather than 3, but they have been the exception. However, I've now got a couple of goals in mind, the Stourbridge Stumble 10K in June of course - how could I miss that - and a half Marathon as part of the Wolverhampton Marathon in early September. With both these in mind, I'm increasing my circuit distances very gradually, starting Friday last week with a 4 miler.

As work has me in London for a couple of days each week, the weather is now a bit better and mornings lighter, I've started sampling the delights of running in some of Londons large parks. Last week was in Hyde Park and next week I've a run scheduled on Tuesday in Regents Park, which is pretty close to my hotel. All assuming that all-hell doesn't break loose early in the week with the impending G20 and its counterpart demonstrations.

Work. Just really, really busy. And it looks like remaining so for the next 9 months. On the plus side, this should see me through the worst of the recession. On the negative, it would be nice to get some respite from it all, having worked at a sustained higher pace - 22 months now - than ever before.

GTD and other fads. I'm still interested in GTD as a means to just trying to keep my head above water. I'm partly implementing it, but I know my rate of input of tasks exceeds my ability to complete those tasks. At least I have a better idea about which of the balls-in-the-air I'm letting fall. Blogging, sadly, has been one. I have replaced it to a degree with Twittering though. Got Steven Covey's "Seven Habits ..." as an Audible freebie about a month ago, and although I found the man's voice initially annoying, there's probably a fair amount I can take from those habits. I aslo found, strangely, that he was no longer annoying once I knew what he looked like. What's that about?

Current Podcasts listened to / watched (generally as an accompaniment to some other chore; driving, early trains, washing up ...):

• Dawn and Drew
• Phedipidations
• You look Nice Today
• Macbreak Weekly
• CryptoGram
• Robert Llewellyn's Carpool
• Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews (my favourite)
• Friday Night Comedy from the BBC
• Rocketboom
• Running from the Reaper
• 4 Feet Running
• 43 Folders
• GeekbriefTV

Tech. Still hanging on to my old Palm 750V phone. It was a nice freebie from Microsoft and still does what I need it too, especially as I now am playing around with Evernote mobile and some Twitter clients. Still, a little under powered now. Lovin' my MacBook, which is now nearly a whole year old. Bought a second hand Canon 350D SLR off eBay a couple of months ago and am enjoying taking higher-def crappy photos with that. Some day, I will improve.

My iPod shuffle 2G remains a constant companion, but has started to act wierd with podcasts. It started putting them at the end of my playlist, rather than the start which is a real pain in the *rse - and no end of resetting and synching in different priority orders has worked. So, I'm listening to more music as a result and I think a replacement for my old 20GB iPod 4G brick may be in order, with a new Nano over the coming months.

Other. Need a new car, but am also saving for that rainy day - just in case. We'll just have to see whether the-right-deal emerges alongside the-right-finances. Am taking up sailing again this year and am looking for a 2nd hand Lark dinghy. Should be dusting off the wetsuit again fairly soon though.

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So, that about wraps this update up. I'll try to keep more up-to-date with your own goings on over the next few months.

Mr Stumble.

Leg Calibration.

First run with my Nike+ Sportband thing this morning. I have to say my experience with the thing has been a little mixed. When it arrived, there was of course that jolt of excitement about a new toy to play with. However the instructions that come with the thing are somewhat basic and it's one of my delights with new gear to eke out (perhaps geek-out) those hidden features from the manual - non of that joy here.

Essentially, the instructions are "install software", "stick unit in computer", "charge for a bit", "go take a run", "stick unit in computer". There's a bit on how to press buttons too, but it does look designed to be as idiot-proof as you can make something with 2 buttons. My Garmin is not idiot proof, as I've proved on more than one occasion.

I think my main complaint so far would be that it has no screen backlight, and the display - gold on black - is difficult enough to read under overcast skys 52°33´North, and impossible in the dark before sunrise. However, on the plus side, this does encourage you to just start it up and then ignore it, just to enjoy the running.

I also found that it's not a perfect fit into the USB slot on my Macbook - there is a small locating pin on the bottom of the recording unit that is used to lock it into the strap on your wrist, and this means it puts a bit of strain on the USB port unless you put a book underneath the computer. Minor niggle.

I always knew the thing would need calibrating, and I found that it was quite optimistic about distance. If I were 6'2" it would probably be right, but with my 29' inside-leg pins it was about 10% out for the run. The software allows some calibration, so I've told it that what it thought was 3.45 miles was actually 3.11. We'll see how it does with my next run. I suppose the alternative is to re-calibrate my legs somehow. Stilts?

The real bonus though is the completely automatic upload of the run data, which is what I wanted it for. That worked a treat, and the Nike+ site allows you to link a graphic for the run, and here it is:

So, on balance, now that I've used it properly and have some data captured, I'm very pleased with it. I'll probably post some more about it once I have a dozen runs with it under my belt.

Mr Stumble.

Erratic schedules

My job continues to take me up and down the country, so that running is getting a bit like a guilty pleasure. However, I am trying and now have a regular set of hotels in London, the various Radisson hotels dotted through London, and they all seem to have a gym with a treadmill.

I've been trying to run from home on Monday's and Fridays, and on the 'mill Wednesdays - and this worked for a few weeks, but my schedule has got more and more erratic since July, so I take what I can.

Keeping motivated has certainly been a problem. The main two things that are keeping me going are:

1) weight control - I managed to shed a few pounds in Nigel Runner's 10-in-10 challenge a couple of months back and I'm trying to keep them off.
2) I know that when I stop for more than a couple of weeks, the likelihood of crushing migraine attacks increases 10-fold.

So as I write this, I'm again in my hotel, and aiming to get 3 miles in tomorrow morning. And I've also just bought myself (via Amazon) a new gadget to try out - one of these Nike+ Sportband things. I always find gadgets are good for at least a few weeks motivation (simple mind, easily pleased) and I'm hoping that this one will also give me low-effort access to the Nike+ community, which itself acts as a sort-of running club/community thing.

And two more feet on Nik and Dan's Million Feet Running challenge can do nothing but help.

Mr Stumble

Update
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When I got to the hotel gym at 6:30 the following morning, I found it closed - they had the decorators in and it was full of paint buckets and dust cloths! Bah.

After March - 2008 Stourbridge Sumble.

Thanks for the prompt Phil. Almost every week since my last post I've thought "I really must update the blog" but the whole weight of time since my last post just got heavier and heavier. I'm sure only a couple of people will actually see this now, most having subscribed to stuff far more interesting and regular.

However, regardless of it's size, I have a duty to my audience to respond.

When I last posted, there had been no running, only training on the elliptical. I was beginning to get concerned about my ability to run my "signature race", the Stourbridge Stumble, a race I really have no real claim over, having only done it once and finished about half way down the pack. Still, it gave the blog a name and, to my embarrassment, if you search for Stourbridge Stumble in Google, I appear on the first page.

This must annoy someone.

Back in January or February, I had visited my GP and got a referral to a physio requested on the NHS. I was too shamed to use my medical insurance again for a self inflicted injury, so I just got on the list. March and April passed with no sign of an appointment and work more or less consumed me - although I did manage 3 times a week on the elliptical. The Stumble itself was scheduled for 14th June, so as May dawned, I hit the road to see if I could get some sort of form together in the 6 or so weeks to the race.

The first big change in my training is that I was to take set walk breaks whilst training to relieve the impact on my various ankle tendons. Initialy, I set out and run for 5 minutes and walked 1, quickly went up to 8 minutes and then settled at 1 mile run / 1 minute walk. In 2 weeks I was back to 4 miles and starting 2 miles run / 1 minute walk reaching 5 miles per run by the beginning of June.

Whilst training, I roped a collegue of mine, also called Andy, into doing the race. He has been running for around 8 months having been started on a get-healthy-kick by someone else we had both been working with. A group of us had been running on and off from a hotel we all used when we gathered for weekly project meetings. Andy happens to live on the edge of Stourbridge and fancied a go at entering and completig a 10K.

Meanwhile the longest I had managed to run before 14th June was 5.5 miles, so I can't say I was that well prepared, but I couldn't not run the race.

I met up with Andy and his family about 15 minutes or so before the race started and gave him as good an intro as to what to expect as I could remember. It wasn't long before we were trying to find the right position to start from - not too forward as to get our heals trodden on, nor too far back to get delayed by the few people who would be slower than us.

Then we were off, me trying to keep an easy pace at the start and ensure we didn't both burn it all up too early. Fat chance.

We covered the first mile, including a rolling hilly grass section in 8:46, about a minute faster than I had wanted, considering I knew I was going to pick up an injury. We were soon out into countryside and at a pace that allowed us to chat about stuff without too much difficulty finishing mile 2 in 9:47. The course rises up over miles 2 and 3 and the tracks are of rock and dirt, ocasionally through fields and across a golf course. Soon enough, we passed the half way marker having completed mile 3 in 9:57 and through mile 4 - the whole race meeting some people walking their dogs along a narrow country track - they weren't best pleased.

Then, having passed along a narrow downhill path with nettles on all sides we entered a bridlepath and suddenly our section of the race ground to a complete halt. A horse had been ridden out onto the bridlepath (despite the fact that about 80 runners had already just run past) and had promptly got panicked by a cohort of approaching neon clad mad people.

The lady riding had to then control the rearing horse and settle it enough to return to it's field, not particularily helped by shouts of frustration by some of the runners. Some harsh words and bad language was exchanged.

The delay here probably cost us about 2 minutes but I think my Garmin noted that we'd stopped and automatically stopped the clock, and we tried to make some of that time up, finishing mile 4 in 9:33. However, this is where things started to get unhinged for me as my right calf started cramping as we were waiting for the horse to turn around, and the increased speed only made it worse. A commented to Andy about this and then we just pushed on and I did my best to ignore the warning signals. This next section was a long uphill section, first along a muddy track in trees (last year there was a huge pool of water we had to clamber around - not this year) and then up the neverending sandy trail to the top of the course.

I kept us running and Andy just followed looking, there was no chatting now as this was the most difficult part of the course, and he later commented that if I hadn't kept running, he would have stopped and walked. I think I would have stopped and walked if Andy hadn't been there!

Finally we completed mile 5 in 10:20 and began the downhill return across the golfcourse and back into town. My calf really started burning as we went downhill and I hobbled on, somehow managing 8:44 for mile 6. As we got back to Mary Stevens Park Andy and I were shoulder to shoulder and I called to him to go for the line. I couldn't sprint this time (probably a good job) and came in 2 seconds behind Andy.

Out of 259 finshers, we placed 191 and 192 (joint with 3 others) in 59:08 and 59:10 respectively. My 59:10 beat my PB of last year, 59:36. So I'm pretty pleased with that.

As it happens, my physio appointment came through just before the race scheduled for the following week. So I took my new injured calf and sore tendons in for assessment and got some good advice, ultrasound therapy and stretches to do. My last appointment is schedued for Monday. Next year, I'll probably go get request a physio appointment again in March and I'll probably get it through in time to fix me up after the 2009 Stumble.

Having taken several more weeks off to repair my legs, I've now just about restarted running regularily in the mornings. this week, 3 x 1 miles on the local roads on Monday, on a hotel treadmill on Wednesday and planning a further 3 x 1 tomorrow from home.

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Well, having got all that off my chest, I'll try to post more regularily again. I've some Holiday photos from the English Lakes to post; it was overcast most of the time, but there are a couple of nice shots. And let you know how my autumn training goes. It'll still be with walk breaks but that's the best way I have to reduce the risk of injury, and keep me running more consistently.

Hope all is well with you.

Mr Stumble.

March

Bah. Leave a blog for a month and all these weeds start growing. Not a lot to report since my last entry. There has been no running, unless you count the half mile dash through Southwark to get to London Bridge tube station, only to find all trains out of London from Euston were cancelled. Very late home that day.

I've kind-of kept up with training on the elliptical. The past 2 weeks though have been not so good as I've been away on business (I did get one session in a hotel gym) and then the Easter holiday and the kids home. I restarted this morning and certainly felt that two weeks off plus chocolate eggs had taken their toll.

My Achilles remains not too good. I have been icing and stretching, especially over the past week, and got a doctors appointment last week to get yet another physio referral. The tendon still has some thickening, which I know has been reduced by ultrasound before, and still aches in the morning until it gets warmed up. We'll see how long an appointment takes.

On the home front, my five year old daughter has had an ear infection resulting in a perforated eardrum. A couple of weeks ago, I sat with her and told her I wanted to do a little test of her hearing, I'd whisper a number in each ear and she had to tell me what it was. I started with the good ear, the right one and whispered "eight". "Eight", she says straight away. I try again - "two". "Two", she says. Then I switch to the left ear. "Four". "I can't hear that", she says. I try again, "Nine". "I can't hear you", she says.

I start to panic. I go through a couple more, to each she says she can't hear what I'm saying. So I say to her, "You must tell me if you hear anything, because if you can't we'll have to take you straight to the doctors". She waits a moment then cracks a huge smile and says "I was only tricking you dad!" Total poker face all the way through. She can be so cheeky sometimes.

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We've been on a few local walks over the past couple of weeks - having joined the UK National Trust, we're working our way through as many places as we can get to. Certainly had our money's worth already! I'll grab some of the photos and post them up over the next week or so.

All the best.

Mr Stumble.

Elliptic Curve.

February already? Where does it go? Time for a quick status report.

Achilles injury: there is still a dull ache in the tendon in the morning before it warms up a bit from walking around. I can feel that there has been some thickening of the tendon, so it must have torn and now needs a bit of care.

This has meant I am still not running, but did buy myself a nice elliptical trainer off eBay a few weeks ago. This is now installed in my downstairs office and I’m now using it three times a week. The model I got is a pretty solid, robust monster, which thankfully folds up so it doesn’t block up doorways when not in use. It has generated some interest within the immediate family, and my son has had a brief go on it – he likes the display which tells him how fast he’s going – and D has even mentioned (in a non-committal don’t-even-think-about-pressuring-me kind of way) that she might give it a go once she is through her current spate of colds.

We have all had a series of colds over the past month brought in mainly by D from a local school where she does some volunteer work at the moment. Schools are just factories or pestilence, especially this time of year. The teachers tell her that after a few years you build up a resistance to it, but in the meantime we get everything that passes through that school.

So, the Elliptical is working out fine, and when I’m working away, I’ve found a hotel with a similar unit to maintain the schedule. Currently, I’m simply aiming to maintain a 30 minute session getting my HR to around 145-150. Two months off running plus Christmas had left me in a sorry state. And so far I'm keeping to schedule.

The first couple of sessions were not too easy. I managed to go for 10 minutes, then staggered off for some fluids and a short sit down before getting back on for another 5 minutes. but pretty quickly, within a week, I was handling 30 minutes of consistent exercise and was fiddling with the various settings. I tried a programme that sadistically increased the tension for the equivalent of 5 hills over the exercise period, and decided that it was too soon for that sort of thing.

Now having completed week 3 on the elliptical I've started racking up the tension a bit so I get an easy start and finish, and build towards a 5 minute section at a level 3 or 4, admittedly out of 8. However, it's fine for me, and as my very cheap HRM chest strap transmitter is magically compatible with the elliptical, I can adjust the tension as I improve to keep me in the right HR zone.

What else is going on? Just bought a big family tent and am planning a couple of camping excursions with the kids this summer. Looking forward to that! Ben doing a bit of walking. Got a couple of photos to share with you here.

A Spanish Chestnut tree near Croft Castle. This is one of a line of trees reputedly grown from nuts that came from the wrecks of the Spanish Armada in 1592.


Kingswood Park, near Kinver, Staffordshire.

Also, trying to get my life a bit more organised with this Getting Things Done thing. It does actually seem to be working for me (must add "do blog" to my todo lists though!) and am enjoying listening to Merlin Mann over at 43folders, who has an interesting take on all this.

Hope all is well with you.

Mr Stumble.

Review of 2007

2008 hasn't started as I'd hoped, what I'd hoped being with a nice refreshing run through empty streets. My ankle is still not up to the pounding, and I wouldn't be surprised now if this remained the case for another 4 to 6 weeks. Looking back at my last lay off, 8 to 10 weeks was the recommended time my physio advised me as needed to heal this kind of injury.

This said, I am now considering buying a elliptical trainer to sit in the corner of my home office. I might even use it. This would give me at least some means of running-like training, and prevent further decline. I shall be consulting my Financial Director (the wife) on this shortly.

Looking back over the past 12 months, it's been a mixed bag. My efforts don't really stand any comparison with many others I read about in the blogosphere. I entered a single race and broke myself. I recovered and got back on the road, then broke myself. And then went through the whole thing again in November.

However, I did really enjoy participating in the Stourbridge Stumble 10K, and so at least that is something for me to aim at again for 2008. A couple of 5Ks wouldn't be a bad thing either.

As far as what the stats say, this is what I pulled off RunningAhead.com earlier about 2007

Entries: 99
Distance: 306.0 miles
Duration: 48:22:17

So that's two solid days of running from the whole year, covering a distance equivalent to travelling from Trafalgar Square in London to the centre of Carlisle in the far North West of England. Almost corner-to-corner of England, using the shortest corners possible.

It would be nice to get into Scotland by this arbitrary means of measurement for the running year, 2008.

Thanks for sticking with me.

All the best.

Mr Stumble.