Starting with the inside work - Headspace

A footnote was added on the 17-04-2016.

I have a future event that I mentioned in my last post, the autumn 2016 Cardiff University Cardiff Half marathon, is now definitely my fitness 'target'. Over the last days my thoughts and feelings around getting back to where I was (lighter, stronger, faster around 13.1miles of running), have really crystallised bringing with it a sense of growing purpose. It is easy to suggest that I might be putting all my eggs in the one basket ,but a clear the distant enough goal works for me and I will be aware not to over endow the half marathon as the 'be all, end all' of my focus.

So I have a point on the horizon, and again there was somewhere else to start from my last post - the realisation of nutrition issues. Here is where the core of the work has to begin, my body will absolutely tell me what it thinks of running this heavy (with body fat) with likely feedback in the form of injury. To tackle the issue I tried the old approaches only to come to realise that I had to smarten them up. How? Well with some specific inside work on my brain itself - I had a lobotomy - I got some Headspace.

What is that?
Headspace is a system / app / technique for mindful mediation in a busy life{1}. It sits on my phone and I tap the app once a day to follow a series of 20 minute meditations{2} led by one of the founders of the company, a former Buddhist monk and circus arts graduate, Andy Puddicombe. Web search either the app or Andy and you will easily find / read a quite unique origin story to Headspace from multiple sources and outlets.

This time I am using mindfulness to recognise and be comfortable with my thoughts around eating. Looking to be more aware of what and when I put things in my mouth. No, it is not a diet app and I am not aware of any packs (series of sessions) on nutrition / eating specifically, I am simply using it to remind myself to be present in the moment and monitor my reactions to my habits. In fact I have had the app for a long time on my phone and revisited it periodically to try and form a habit of doing it (I had a PB of around 7-8 consecutive sessions), always seeing benefits but not managing for a string of 'reasons' to stick with it.

Thus far I have set a PB for sessions days completed (not that it is ever about notches on a post) and found that being generally more mindful has indeed benefited my eating... it has been several days since a chocolate binge (or similar). It isn't fitness work in the mechanics of running sense but in every other sense it is absolutely about fitness - fitness of my grey matter, fitness of my habits, fitness of my nutrition. Long may it continue, as 'doing the inside work' really should be at the foundation of most endeavours. Getting out of your own way is often the key to getting started. The balance that I am beginning to pull together (I have much still to do), is the base upon which I look to build good things.


{1} nothing in this aside about the Headspace app was inspired by anything other than my own meandering experiences, trust me a search for info on them will quickly show you that they don't particularly need my endorsement.
{2} the entry to Headspace is via 10 free 10 minute sessions, so don't let the sound of 20 minutes put you off trying it.

Footnote...
Somewhat coincidently Andy tweeted this on his twitter account a few hours after my post, and got me thinking about the tone of my original post. I was not in any way implying that I was using the app to become something I wish to be. The purpose of the meditations I tried to explain here are to simply be more aware of my thoughts through any given day and observe how they are impacting my choices and decisions around food. Basically noting the noisy habitual clutter of busy thinking that I am in the habit of using to shroud and ignore in the moment day-to-day choices. I am clearly not quite skilled enough to describe quite what I am getting out of mindfulness practice, but please don't let me put you off of your own discovery experience...

	Andy Puddicombe (@andypuddicombe)
17/04/2016, 20:01 Headspace: less about projecting who we wish we were, and more about becoming comfortable with who we are. #mindfulness

Cardiff Half marathon 2014 - my race review

A much overdue race report that I found in my drafts folder during some pre-end of year housekeeping....

 Cardiff Half marathon 2014 

Cardiff city centre - October 5th 2014 - website

My impressions from the day -
Course: 10/10 - simple, flat, quick, well set out.
Marshalling: 6/10 - quality great, quantity not enough - particularly around the start area (more on that in my report below).
Facilities: N/A - as I work near the start / finish I used those facilities for baggage, toilets, and so forth.
Organisation: 10/10 - The start / finish area was fabulously laid out, and the facilities great.
Fellow runners: 6/10 - not a lot of care for fellow runners shown at times, otherwise a great atmosphere.
Crowd: 9/10 - brilliant and vocal support almost all the way round, obviously the barrage was a quiet spot but the city centre was packed.
My performance: 10/10 - given my lack of consistent training I couldn't not have asked much more of myself realistically.
My time: 2:05:41

Pic from the Cardiff Half facebook feed - I can find myself, I don't expect anyone else to ;-)

My race :
I got to the start right on time having cycled to work changed and walked down the the well organised start area. There were lots of signs in evidence and good numbers of marshals shepherding us towards our appropriate time bins in the start chute. The start in fact being right in front of Cardiff Castle was good and spacious, though it was very quiet when I arrived it filled up quickly. I hung out right at the back of the bin knowing that my injury hit preparation had not left me in the shape I had predicted way back when I entered.

Just before the start of the race as we moved toward the front of zone a woman came walking back and collapsed in front of us. I was saddened that so many simply turned their gaze away and carried on towards the start - everyone is chip timed a few moments to help would do nothing to their eventually run times. In the end a small group did congregate around to help her, I was stood nearer the barriers and so yelled will my not inconsiderably loud voice to the marshals who were a very long way in either direction. She was helped to the side as more and more people pushed passed desperately ignoring the situation in their lemming-like desire to get to the start line. In the end a marshal attended and I hope told her not to run. I set off feeling a bit dis-chuffed with my fellow runners.

First three miles - I spent my time trying to work out what pace my body might reasonably be able to hold for the distance and plumped initially for a just sub-2hr pace. As you can see from my GPS graph that ended up being a lofty goal. In mile 3 there is the only long hill of note, and it was there that I realised I needed to cool my pace a bit.

Mile 3 to 6 - keeping up the effort level became my goal, as I knew by then that sub-2hr was not on. From here I relaxed a bit more having had the distractions of the start area on my mind, and through half way a major pinch point on the course (as it enters the barrage) was negotiated with no mishaps.

I think my overall pace trend is fairly self evident

Miles 6 through to 9 - were where I started indulging in a fuel gel and the water stops, neither of which proved successful as I had not practiced either enough and I ended up with a bloated sore tummy for a couple of miles. It was around here that I began digging in to make sure of being around the 2:05 mark. The crowds really did begin to build through this section. It seems that I missed waving at my wife and kids because they were weigh-laid for a newspaper interview (about why daddy was running today) just as I went by. I didn't make it into the newspaper, but I did chuckle at the expert timing and was super pleased that they had made the effort to get out to the halfway mark to try and catch me.

Mile 9 until the end - this is where I had the most familiarity with the course as it was where I started running 'properly' many years ago. Especially the course went around the park that I had struggled to run/walk as a much lardier novice runner trying to get 10K fit. Knowing that the finish was coming and be able to picture every lump and bump in the road to get there helped no end. Feeling that my pace was really suffering through the 11th mile I focused on just letting my legs roll and being not too far from 2:05.

The finish line was right outside the Royal College of Welsh Music and Drama (which is a fantastically striking piece of architecture), and as usual I pulled out a last minute dash for the line. Happily this time being more careful and not clattering into anybody else. The area afterwards was brilliant, the best laid out of any welsh race I've attended and very much on keeping with Cardiff's ambitions to be a major UK half-marathon.

Overall I was very happy with my levels of efforts if not my base fitness, and aside from the start area misfortune was massively impressed with the race organisation. My cycle home with my medal was a good one, with the entire day topped by the delight on my kids faces when the saw my new metalwork - I still haven't the heart to really explain that everyone gets one not just the top three like in the Olympics!! ;-)

Runaround! Now!

A friend has started a new blog about his experiences with running, training, racing, and all the things he gets up to in the world of fitness. I have been enjoying a read, and if you find this you might like to go look too...  http://www.runaround.london

I have to say that I love the title to the blog - Runaround! - a simple statemnet which sums up so nicely what a lot of us spend our spare time doing :-)

One post titled "Running Form" really has made me think, in it Karl outlines his adventures with a Kinetic Revolution run clinic. His experience was extremely positive and has even seemingly produced a half-marathon PB at the Bournemouth Marathon Festival recently. The journey through changes in running form and technique is one that I hope to emulate this winter, as a result I am checking when there is a clinic session running nearby so I too can avail myself of some useful insights.

Kinetic Revolution - 30-day challenge

So now the half marathon is out of the way I am really getting on with shaking up my running before the winter so that I can get a really good training block under my belt. If you have read this blog (and to be fair why would you have) you will note the number and frequency of injuries and niggles ruining this run or that, so I have taken up the Kinetic Revolution 30-day challenge as an injury preventing, form adapting, run improving strategy.

Who? - basically in my wanderings around the interweb I came across the Kinetic Revolution site (headed up by James Dunne, a sports rehab therapist) and their run training video offerings.

What? - I'm only on day 2 so I don't know exactly what it will all be about, but it is clearly designed to strengthen runners around common areas of weakness / injury. It claims to be 10-15minutes a day following a guided set of drills, exercises and stretches. Given my inability to single leg balance for 20 seconds last night, I'm taking it that I need this more than I thought.

Where? - wherever I can fit in the sessions, probably at home on the yoga mat I pinched from my wife.

When? - probably each evening, though to be fair 10-15minutes shouldn't be too hard to fit in earlier in the day.

Why? - having dabbled and never really followed up on the videos and well written short articles I thought it would be sensible to see where more structure to my run training would take me. After all I have never really (ever) done enough stretching, core or mobility work around training sessions.

I will try to report back with how I get on.

Swansea Bay 10k 2014 - my race review

Swansea Bay 10k 2014 

Swansea coast road - September 21st 2014 - website

My impressions from the day:Course: 9/10 - simple, flat, quick, well set out, great start area.
Marshalling: 8/10 - I didn't see many, which isn't to say there weren't any it just says they were doing an absolutely great job :-)
Facilities: 8/10 - after years (43 in fact) of organising and running the race the facilities are really good.
Organisation: 10/10 - Couldn't fault the overall organisation, like I said above they have good event pedigree.
Fellow runners: 8/10 - great atmosphere, people listened to the time binning in the start area,
Crowd: 8/10 - not the biggest crowds all round the route but they were very vocal and encouraging.
My performance: 8/10 (& 0/10) - pleased with my time and application. The second score was due to my apparent error of judgement in the last 200m (more of that below)
My time: 54:48

The start line - borrowed from the Swansea 10k facebook page

"Dude, can't you see me?? I am like right in the middle!" - borrowed from the Swansea 10k facebook page

My Race:

It started with a quick 2km - and so goes many a race failure... happily this one didn't end in a complete pacing mess. The start area was great, I managed the usual pre-race nerves induced loo break without much fuss (I was amazed the queues weren't too bad when I got to the toilet blocks), and got to the right start zone with no problems.

So I was ambitious, I figured go out at a target pace and then see if I can hold it. That was simply not going to happen, and so as the sunshine beat down on a huge field of runners my targets were beaten down too. The first two kilometres are nice and wide so there were no bunching issues meaning that I could try my plan without fear of blocking anyone off if the wheels fell off. Into the 3rd kilometre the bite began and it was obvious I had to reign in my pace and finishing target time, by the end of the 4th going into the Mumbles I knew the second half of the race would require a pretty big effort.

The turn around and drinks station come at or around the halfway mark, and so does the disappearance of the shade. The race starts at 1pm, so if there is sun then it is pretty fierce (for the UK at least). Going into the return leg along the prom the heat and the feeling of having put in too much effort in the first third of the race got into my head and started a bit of negative dialogue. Happily my pace didn't fall off horribly and I began ticking off the kilometres to the finish.

Telling yourself you can hit the final 2k and actually hitting the final 2k hard are two different things, the effort I was hoping to rediscover in the closing stages didn't appear and I simply held the pacing where it was. I managed to speed up a little, and going into the last 500m I thought I was on for a reasonable time after all. In the last 200m there is a rise and the path narrows slightly and as I gathered pace towards the line I suffered my lowest ever racing moment. I looked at the course, saw no space and opted to move onto the grass verge. This was fine, what wasn't fine was that the verge was of a sharper gradient than I realised and as I rejoined the tarmac I tangled with another runner.

Avoiding the near face plant to the gasps of the crowds, and seeing that I hadn't floored the other runner I carried on utterly red faced. I crossed the line in a good time, but felt completely hollow - had I ruined someones day? Waiting a short while in the finish funnel I saw them limping through with a friend, my heart sank even further through the ground beneath me even though the limp didn't look especially horrible. I apologised with a simple "sorry", there seemed nothing else that I could really say and from the look on their face nothing else that they would really want to hear. I can only hope that in the end their day wasn't as bad as I felt, I did not enjoy the aftermath of the race at all even though it was fabulously arranged. My wife and I went for a Joe's Ice Cream afterwards (kind of a Swansea race ritual), but even that didn't take away the feeling of a spoiled race.

I think the look on my face at the finish line said it all really - not my greatest day!

In the days after the race I began to unpack my thoughts around the race and the event in my finishing dash. Friends comforted me with sentiments along the lines of "these things happen sometimes", which I know is true but it only helped a little. I learned a valuable lesson in my 11th 10k race, and it is not something that will happen again in any race I enter. It was striking how one brief moment changed an entire day, especially when I was happy with every other aspect.

On a more up beat note, I suspect I will be signing up again next year as the event and its organisation is just awesome.

Progress?

So I have another new 5K parkrun PB, whoop whoop!

I don't take it as a huge sign of fitness progress though, I am taking it as a sign of tactical awareness. I went out at a speed I felt I could hold for the 5K, and tried to work a tiny bit harder as I went on. So there was not only a hefty negative split, but in fact a Royal flush** with each kilometre being faster than the previous one. The new course helped, not that it was any flatter or any less bendy, it was simply wider over the first 1-1.5K so it was easier to find my rhythm and hold on to it. Which means I have to say thanks to the summit being arranged in the city for the change of route.

There is so much wrong with my running in this picture (borrowed from the Cardiff Parkrun flickr feed - credits to _NiallS). Apart from the fact I was chasing red t-shirts and two decided to overtake me at this point (knew I should have chased purple shirts, there were less of them! Better odds!), I look leadened legged, flat footed, overweight... need I go on?

From there I set about recovering and will get a couple of runs in this week ahead of the Cardiff 10K this coming Sunday. For the race I will again try and deploy the same plan - find a comfortable pace, hold it, and then see if I can squeeze a small progression of pace (with a negative split overall). To be honest I will be chuffed with any time under the hour at this point, and look for it to be another stepping stone to more (and better) running.

** - listen to a number of recent episodes of MarathonTalk and you'll hear all about Royal flush runs - happily they have absolutely nothing to do with Royal toilets or anything else of that nature.

Friday Fun - "It Doesn't Matter" - Wyclef Jean, The Rock, Melky & Sedek

Today I just thought I'd share the song that is guaranteed to make me smile... the title says it all... enjoy :-D

Wyclef Jean, The Rock, Melky & Sedek - "It Doesn't Matter"

WoW: Racing nervous? I can recommend a blog post for that

Rather than wittering on Wednesday I have swapped in a recommendation Wednesday (which isn't as catchy, but might be more informative).

I saw this post by Amanda on her blog / website RunToTheFinish this week....

9 Best Ways to Manage Race Day Nerves 

My most noticeable race day nervous sign is yawning! I start to yawn to get more oxygen probably as a result of not being very relaxed in the start pen. Those around me must think I've either just popped out of bed or actually find the whole race thing quite dull.

While I'm at this recommending thing an older post that caught my eye a while back that encompasses a lot of what Amanda's blog is about...

61 Lessons from 2000 Blog Posts 

Some blogs are just a mine of information, advice, good vibes, and so are worth recommending.

I am finding my way back into my blog after quiet a while away, and trying to find a bit of computer / life balance. So my next mission is to track down some images to brighten the place up again.

Very quick three things thursday - without pictures or hyperbole

No pictures - sorry, I am out of picture fodder and need to go around capturing some stuff. It probably stems from an overly busy work schedule of late, but I will try harder.

Hyperbole - reading back my through my blog of late I have notice my predilection for hyperbolic post titles (which at times are let down my the ramblings they lead to), and more than occasional over use of exclamation marks!!!!!!! I hereby promise that neither of things are likely to change, oh okay I will be trying.

Marathon talk - more substantial than any of the above and a great source of material to boast your running IQ.

Running - I seem to have found a new groove, Thursday I rest - tomorrow I Friday Fartlek!

Only when I'm planking

The New Year brought many things and one of them was planking, I have even been chased a few times by the plank police. Right around now you might be wondering, "What the heck is this guy on about?" or alternatively you might be feeling the spark of recognition of the social media meme that is #Plankaday

Its a challenge to do a plank at least once a day and tweet about it. Core strength is often overlooked as we go about our daily lives, and a strong core can be aided by using the simple plank exercise (as well as many other exercises). The beauty is that a plank is simple, and that Twitter keeps you accountable (and likely to keep doing it).

Really?..... Who? What? Where? When? Why?... go really see what it is all about go see Sherry Pagoto's page at -  http://www.fudiet.com/plank-a-day-revolution/

I like my life simple and straight-forward so laying down with a timer is hardly difficult to organise on any given day. It seems to be paying off and my times are improving - follow my Twitter account to see the stream of (almost) daily efforts - https://twitter.com/AndyHollins  [there's a link over there on the right too].

Next years plans (?) and the VMLM

VMLM? Ah, yes the new acronym for the catchily titled 'Virgin Money London Marathon'. I am strongly considering throwing my hat into the charity ring in order to get a place in next years London marathon. Why? Well because I have been ridiculously unlucky on ALL of the occasions I have applied before and because I ran into a charity close to home that may actually have spots available. Also, having paid out quite a bit of money to go to Berlin I figure I could have paid for my entire charity spot with an equivalent amount (!!) - although NO I absolutely wouldn't do that as it would run contrary to the spirit of charity berths. Plus, anyway I am the kid of fool who sort of likes chasing people for sponsor money.

In the time it took me to commit this post to the blog I had word back from the local charity that they don't have any places for 2014, but I can express interest for 2015. And so I will pursue that and see where it leads. Although with all of the above said I did manage to get into the draw this year by staying up past midnight to be one of the first in the queue once they opened the online entry system. In the end I was kind of glad I did stay up late as the public ballot closed in record time [follow the link to read about the speedy fill-up http://lrn.london-marathon.com/2014-virgin-money-london-marathon-ballot-closes-re/ ].

So really it looks like I don't actually have any major plans for the start of 2014 event wise, and it does look in all likelihood like I will be casting around for other runs next spring. It is funny that I have such a strong urge to run London, it must be a very British thing to want to run the "big British marathon".

Talking of big British marathon things (in a fame sense of course as she is actually extremely trim and not at all big in a size sense) I saw this on the web from the Express Newspaper yesterday (14-8-2013)...

Athletics: Paula Radcliffe vows for one last shot at London Marathon glory
PAULA RADCLIFFE has vowed she wants to end her career with one last shot at the London Marathon.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/othersport/421789/Athletics-Paula-Radcliffe-vows-for-one-last-shot-at-London-Marathon-glory

I was amused by peoples reaction to the news that she might run London again, most were waving the London Olympic spirit and wishing her well, whilst others were carping about her strolling in and getting a spot in the race that is so hard to get into. Hmm, now people, she is still an elite athlete and holds a pretty decent good for age qualifying time (or as its also known - the current women's marathon world record time). Some were groaning that she would only be doing it for the money, hmm yes she probably is in some small way as a professional athlete whose profession is sport. I myself regularly head to a large busy building and pass through security checks, health checks and the like to do something I love doing and get paid for it - as a 'professional' scientist. People really do love nothing more the a good whinge somethings... speaking of which if you're the people spamming my blogger tracker / stats please give it a rest... ##climbs down from soapbox and heads for the "Publish" button before he goes on## ;-)

Berlin's 12-week plan - here we go!

Right, here goes, with the 12 week to go threshold crossed I am building my training around the plan sent to me by the organisers with a reminder that there are not many weeks before the event (!). It is a pretty progressive plan and so I will base my next 12 weeks activity solidly around it, the link to the page is below...

http://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/en/training-and-sports-medicine/the-marathon-training/training-plan.html

So that is it - a plan - now it is time for the action!

Ps. I've just made the above link 'clickable'.

Tuesday tightness - more power to the stretches

"Right, okay, right that's it!!"... I am going to go stretch crazy and from here on, I could well be found randomly at any time stretching. My knee has not responded at all well to my running on it, and was better for rolling and stretching yesterday before deciding to make it's big protest felt this morning. It used to be the case that I would go through a stretch routine a couple of times a day when I was rowing, then somewhere along the way I fell out of the habit.

Looking back on it the drop in stretching came initially when I managed to exacerbate a calve injury by over doing it, and then was compounded by reading those articles decrying certain forms of stretching before exercise (seems I must have subconsciously read it as "all stretching is bad" - dumbo!).

I will be bendier than a bendy Yoga person - ahem, perhaps not that bendy I am a lanky 6ft2 after all
"Silhouette Girls Doing Yoga" - Image courtesy of sattva / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So I am just going to stretch until I get all bendy again and hope that my knee decides shut up with the pain when it has everything around it super loose. I have to say that the very first time I went through my old routine again this morning I could feel tightness and pulling where I don't ever recall feeling any, which of course tells me something pretty major. My quads were like rocks and took the longest time to ease off under tension and I used to have great mobility through that stretch (it used to be the back of leg stretch that would leave me whimpering). Somewhere along the way an adaptation for the worse has happened and I need to put it right.

In a timely twist of fate an excellent blog that I read "50after40" posted a great video called 'Hip workout details and my first video' - which for a first ever video outing was awesome and contains some great moves that I hope to build into an expanded stretching / strengthening regimen. I reccomend you go take a look and enjoy the rock out to the soundtrack too :-)

Overcast, breezy, persistent rain, and a complete reverse of yesterdays weather. Now where is a quiet spot in the office I can go stretch?

Note - I should of course once again heed my own previous advice - 'Joys of stretch' - if I was so wise back in July 2011 what happened?

Big change of my plan - the hard choice

Well I have had to do it, I have had to pull out of running the Milton Keynes marathon. On a training run last night I 'tweaked' something in my left knee, and managed to turn my intended pre-race sports massage with the physio into a diagnostic session. Good news, nothing huge is torn or broken - bad news small ligaments or some cartilage is likely damaged and will need time to heal (or be investigated further even) over the coming weeks - the bad news making running a marathon in three days time foolish. I can walk slowly just fine, I can run just fine, but the transition causes pain as does particular changes of direction of travel. So with other runs in mind, not wanting to do any major damage, and not wanting to DNF a big organised run I've had to take the hard choice.

I really wanted (somewhere in the quieter recesses of my brain) to make Milton Keynes that thing I do every year having attended their first ever marathon last year, but that ambition didn't get much past the starters pistol. I wanted to run for the enjoyment, the challenge, the fulfilment of crossing that line at 26.2 miles. I feel pretty empty just now and can't quite believe how close I came to getting there after the ups and downs of the last few months. Training hasn't been perfect, that I admit, it has not been consistent enough or in all actuality varied enough (with respect to strength and flexibility - hence perhaps the injury).

After a good long chat with Leon the awesome physio things were in good perspective and I have already armed myself with a plan towards the biggest challenge of my running 'career' Berlin this September. That plan is alive and vital (knee injury permitting of course) but it is the loss of the Milton Keynes plan that makes me feel heavy hearted and down beat. I will now be contacting the kind folk who sponsored me or were going to, and in some cases offering refunds where they have paid already... marathons become much bigger than the long distance and much more part of your thinking than you realise. I will learn more lessons and I will roll forwards it is just that in this particular moment 42.2 km or 26.2 miles seem an awfully long way away.

If you did still want to donate to my chosen charity then please follow the link below...
http://www.justgiving.com/AndrewHollins

I'm going to have to find something else to do with my intended blog post on Tuesday (post-marathon day) and indeed something else to do with the day off I booked for a day of solid recovery (pampering)... I think I'll write that Berlin plan down make it real and bring that 42.2km a little closer.

Happy running and race well if you are going to be  in the next few days / weeks.

A tale of two podcasts

The number of podcasts that I regularly listen to has now doubled, to the princely sum of two! Yes, that is right I now listen to literally a couple of podcasts. Which two and why?

The first one I have listened to for a while now (and have mentioned before) is the Jillian Michaels podcast - not because I'm a closet north american, not because I'm a huge Biggest Loser fan, and not because I am a woman of a certain age... just because it is generally silly, but informative, and benign whilst insightful. I am sure many people have said many things about the 'show' and I am certainly not going to critique it here.

The second one I have been downloading has been a revelation - Marathon Talk - for me at the moment simply perfect listening and simply perfect content. As someone hoping to run two marathons this year it has been a brilliant find for tips and training ideas / guides. The running advice is coupled with some absolutely brilliant interviews, and since I started listening over the New Year I have heard some crackers with Kelly Sotherton (former GB heptathlete trying her first marathon after retiring from elite sport), Mike Tomlinson (event organiser and husband of the late Jane Tomlinson), Amby Burfoot (RunnersWorld guru, and lifelong runner), Prof John Brewer (sports physiologist), Brett Larner (the guy behind Japan Running News), and Kurt Fearnley (paralympic athlete) this year, and I haven't begun dipping into their archive yet.

I have taken so much from the Marathon Talk podcasts that I would recommend a listen to any runner. It is true that the podcast it is supported / funded by Adidas but it is not by any means an ad driven enterprise it comes across as genuinely about running community, and the two hosts (Messrs Martin Yelling and Tom Williams) are warm and engaging. I have yet to find time to root around the website but I have the feeling that when I do it will be similarly rewarding.  

Both of these are available through iTunes just stick something relevant in the search do-da :-)

Diary - very busy in work (not a bad thing), very busy at home (also not a bad thing), not getting many miles out on the road (not a good thing). I'm 10lbs lighter than at the end of December, and moving towards fuller training. Weather - cold, windy, and possibly bringing more snow our way.

Four random ffotos Friday

So I have had a bunch of photos knocking around that I just haven't gotten around to posting this week, so here me are...

I must explain that last weekend I did a lot of fitness work and so I got to feeling that I deserved a good big treat for my efforts. The treat was a big full English breakfast for lunch, though I did concede to making it a veggie version ;-)

A really really tasty breakfast even though the bread wasn't buttered that well

 As a guest in our house of late we have had a fairly handsome piece of workout kit, a Concept II ergometer (indoor rower). It is interloping in our dinning room and making occasional visits to our kitchen for sessions, not of rowing training but of rowing analysis system testing - all to do with my wife's PhD studies. She is doing so well doing it part-time as within and as part of a demanding job. I have nothing but the uttermost respect for her efforts, as I studied from my doctorate full-time as a paid student I know all the hopes, fears, highs and utter lows of thesis producing that must only be magnified by working as well. I have every faith and now she is testing out her efforts it seems the home straight is in sight. By the well I am the willing crash test dummy for the tests, and it has actually been good fun.

It seems odd to have such a large piece of exercise kit in the house 

So it is November, or as it is known to some men (and women) Movember. The idea is that you strive to grow the best Mo (mustache) that you can in the month of November for cancer charities. Go see their website if you are interested or just plain curious Movember. As part of the run up to the month I took a drawing package to a couple of pictures of myself in an effort to work out what kind of Mo to go with. I still haven't totally decided but I have a few more days until my stubble gets thick enough to actually shape :-)

Ah ha! Trying out a drawn on beard seemed like a good idea at the time

Finally for four random ffotos Friday, my first ever (yes, I have lead a sheltered life) carved pumpkin lantern for Halloween. The last time that I had one was as a youngster in Berlin when my family made one for a lantern parade around my first school in Charlottenburg. My first actual carving effort was inspired by creative direction from my wife I set about a small pumpkin with a melon baller and a kitchen knife - it turned out pretty well I reckon.

Properly scary witch on my pumpkin lantern - though actually we copied it from one of the kids books

For a friend - Rest in peace Jake-e-boy

Our dog, Jake, passed away this weekend just gone at the ripe old age of thirteen and a half , he suffered a stroke and so for reasons of his quality of life we choose euthanasia as simply the best thing for him. I was immediately hit by grief at his passing, flooded with good memories, and left at a loss at what I would do with out his company for daily walks. It is a true mark of a quality life of any living thing that they are remembered so fondly when they go and no one who had met him had anything but good words for him.

Jake, aged 13, stood looking all noble New Years day 2012

There are some things that come along in life that are hard to describe to those who perhaps haven't been in a similar situation, and I guess having a large pet in the house is one of those. Some people don't have cats or dogs (or any other pet) in their space for many reasons, those that do find their time changed by their presence. I had never really been sure about dog owning, I have a respect for them that borders on a mild fear. Having spent the last years with a greyhound in my life I am a convert to keeping dogs appropriately - we spent our time making sure we set good boundaries and reaped the rewards of treating our dog so well.

So thank you Jake for showing me what dogs are really all about and educating me properly in what it means to share your time with a non-human animal. We miss you, but we thank you for being the most lovely, faithful, cheeky, handsome greyhound a family could ever have.

                                        ================

Notes - my wife took Jake in from the lovely people at Greyhound Welfare (a registered charity that specializes in re-homing abandoned greyhounds in the South Wales area of the U.K.).

It seems odd that by coincidence it is Dog Week in the U.S.A.*, please remember rescue animals if you are thinking of a new pet this week or any week.
* I noted this mentioned on the blog Shut Up + Run and then found another reference link - http://www.petplace.com/dogs/national-dog-week/page1.aspx

Wittering on Wednesday - including Tennis, legacy, heat, blogging and ice cream(!)

Special bit of wittering this Wednesday, Andy Murray has cracked it, in case you missed it (how could you) he won the US Open in a thrilling five set final against Novak Djokovic. The summer of shear joy for British sport just took another level step up, just when we all thought there was nowhere else it could go after Bradley Wiggins triumphed in the Tour de France, and the GB and NI team excelled during the London 2012 olympics. Phew, as a huge sports fan (aka TV sports-aholic) I am just about out of steam - I stayed up until gone 2am to hear Murray win on BBC radio.

Olympic bounce - local rowing legacy?

I ran into a former rowing colleague the other day who told me all about the apparent effect the Olympics has had on our local club, Llandaff Rowing Club. Each year an event called the "Pub and Club" is run which encourages teams of four from local workplaces, clubs and pubs to get together learn to row for a month culminating in the "Pub and Club sprint regatta". There were, I was told, queues down the stairs and out of the clubhouse door coupled with cars parked all over the place apparently during the initial sign up evening. As an event I know they will love it, it was my introduction to rowing and left me totally hooked.

Any sign of an Olympic 2012 legacy, or an inspire a generation, sports effect near you?

Bring the heat

I am trying, and I am not sure how I am doing, to mix up my running a little. Yeah I know my training log looks pretty much as it always has, but it belays a change in approach which is seeing more speed-work. For me speed-work is a relative term of course (closes mind to how fast the Olympians covered such distances), but having spent a very very long time running at and just below 10min/mile pace for greater and greater distances I have needed the change and gone looking for it. At the moment it is not especially structured with me doing one session a week (at a mid-range distance) with sprints or sustained bursts within it. Like I said I don't know how I am doing but I am certainly less 'bored' with working my way around every course at 10min per mile.

Wales Blogger awards

I have seen on other blogs mentions of the awards for Welsh bloggers (I first noticed it on the very professional http://www.girlontheriver.com/ blog via my twitter feed), unfortunately I don't read enough of them to give a real judgement about their merits but the short-list is a fun way of taking the temperature of blogs in this part of the World. Some I think will be retained as regular reads - more on those in another WoW perhaps.

Take a browse of the 'Peoples choice' nominees list if you like at http://www.walesblogawards.co.uk/peoples-choice-award/

Swansea next...

Not long now until I tackle the Swansea Bay 10k. I have to say I am looking forward not only to the course and a lovely day out by the sea with Mrs. Taffi but I am also looking forward to my Joe's Ice Cream. This is a family thing inspired by my wife's love of the ice cream that they concocted in their ice cream parlours, when we go to Swansea or the Mumbles (or anywhere vaguely close actually) we have to 'pop' in for an ice cream. Very good stuff it is too, and I am looking forward to a well earned scoop or three ;-)

Diary - sunny, shattered showers, modest breeze. I am feeling inspired by all things running at the moment, and reading loads of great blogs and magazine articles. Job interview later - which should be fun.

Wittering on Wednesday - obesity

The Food Programme on BBC Radio4 this week presented the debate around changing / stemming the progression of obesity across the 'Developed' world, and I can recommend a listen...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01ky5gx/Food_Programme_Can_Andrew_Lansley_change_your_diet/

Given what I have seen on my travels through day to day life whatever tack they take we are facing an uphill challenge. The people that I rather rudely snapped with my mobile phone camera in a local cafe were essentially a super-sized family. They sat down across from us and tucked into lunch followed by an excited round of cakes.

As a group I have a feeling these people were contributing to their own weight issues - "Oh , go have that half of the cake with me!"

To me the changes have to come from simple non-judgemental education starting in schools and spreading out through adult groups. Education about menus, meal times, food options, food flavours, essential nutrition, exercise, movement, lifestyle, not simply pushing the message of ill-health and disease as if a big scary stick will have long term benefits. The strategies that rely on companies and industry to help drive change present such a monumental conflict of interest (they need to sell product to justify their existence, shareholder dividends, company bonuses and so forth).

Sure the education approach will take time to achieve, but it could be one of the few ways that could create appropriate obesity avoiding life long habits.

Globally fat?

These things come around with increasing regularity in the mass press, and are in fact more worrying each time I see them. All the time the waistlines of the world (specifically particular subsets / nations) seem to be on the inexorable rise. Today Mrs Taffi showed me a link to a global BMI calculator...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328

Where do you come out?

A little sadly (though not unexpectedly), I came out above average globally, but happily I know that I am fitter than my BMI might imply [in fact if I'd done the calculator back before I ran the marathon I would have been all but globally 'average']. The truth remains that this is one statistic where I would really rather prefer to be below average(!)... within my country of origin (the U.K.) it turned out I am below average, whoop whoop!

More on weight challenges in the next few days... I am aiming to get this blog rolling again after a quiet patch.