Final long run for the year

Things have been pretty quiet around here. I haven't managed to do a lot of running over the past two weeks due to a sore knee, xmas stuff and a lack of resolve. So with today being the last day of the year and a Sunday, I went out and did one last long run for the year. 27km later I'm fairly tired and sore, but happy I got out for a good long run. My run took me up to the Marino Lighthouse and I got some good pics of the view back across Adelaide.

Finally a cool change and some rain

Probably not enough so even break the parched surface. But it feels nice.
Went for a nice run this morning with the Track Times lads (and girls). It was hot! 32 degrees at 6am! Then we all had a hard-earned (lol) breakfast at the usual place.

Week off

Ran 13km yesterday down to the beach along to Brighton jetty and back. The beach was packed with people walking and running. I took Addi and she only started to lag behind in the last 2-3 km. That was my first run since last Sunday. It took me all week to get over the sinus infection, but it seems to be gone now, so it was worth it. My left knee is still a little sore though. I'll have to monitor that. Looking forward to keeping running over xmas to work off all the extra food and alcohol consumed.

We had a small family house-warming party yesterday which was good. I still haven't posted any photos of the house, but I'll try and get some up in the next week. Just about everything inside the house is completed. We just need to get our fancy light fittings installed. Outside, there is still a lot of work to be done including in the following order: the driveway, paths around the house, a paved area out the back and of course the garden.

We now have broadband internet and Foxtel, so we should be kept busy at work and play. Of course I abused the novelty of having Foxtel by getting very little sleep on the weekend and watching all sorts of crap (and some good stuff). Watched some NFL on Friday night (49ers vs Seattle). I'd forgotten how much I liked American football. I used to watch it on the ABC hosted by Don Lane when I was a kid. Of course my team back then was the 49ers because they were the dominant team. Then they stopped showing it over here and then we didn't get pay TV, so it has been a long time since I've seen a whole game. NFL is the only American sport I've ever enjoyed. Baseball is too slow and Basketball should only be a 5 minute long game right?. I didn't even get ice hockey, even though I played field hockey my whole life. NFL just seems to be the right mix of tactical sophistication, ball handling skill and brute physical force. Anyway, enough of my love for the pointy-ball game. Hopefully I can catch a few more games over summer.

Km for Tibet

So far I've run 220 km for Tibet. You can dedicate your training km to a free Tibet by emailing them to Journeyman Phil each week or month. Check out his blog entry for a Million Km for Tibet and join up. Also, check out the Race for Tibet website and the Australia Tibet Council website.

I might need to take a few days off running to get rid of some knee soreness and a sinus infection that I can't seem to shake. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up my km for Tibet.

Pretty warm today

Make that hot! When I stepped out of the house this morning, I couldn't believe how hot it was already: 30 degrees and I had my tights on! I guess combination of the insulation and the AC in our new house is working. My left knee has been a bit sore over the last couple of days, but I made it into the city OK. The tights don't actually make me overheat too much, but anything over 25C is probably a little too high. Anyway, it's 40 degrees now and drier than a dead dingo's donger, so I can't complain too much.

I've been doing a fair bit of this today.

Evolution of a Mo - Epilogue

Well now that Movember is officially over, the Mo is gone. It was an interesting experience, and I'm very happy that I was able to raise a bit of money for men's health issues. Thankyou to everyone who donated and thanks for all the support and comments. Now it's back to the regular look for me.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 28

Kind of like Russell Hammond from Stillwater (band in Almost Famous) but with longer hair.

I got to looking at more images of Billy Crudup and I was amazed at how similar we look (except he has better teeth and a slight dimple in his chin). Then I found this image from Without Limits, a film about Steve Prefontaine. Freaky hey. Now if only I could run like Pre.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 27

Having a bit of fun with the Mo over the last couple of days of Movember. I think this one looks a bit more respectable than the chopper mo.
Ran home last night then ran into uni this morning to go for a 9 km run with Bay. So 31km in the last 13 hours has left me feeling a little sore and tired, but I didn't get to go on a long run on the weekend because I was digging trenches all weekend. All this hard physical work is building up the muscle in my arms and torso. I hope this isn't to the detriment of my running.

The price of bananas is coming down (apparently). The price will reportedly be down to around $2/kg by February. Woohoo!

Evolution of a Mo - Day 26

Tammy suggested that I was looking a bit like James Hetfield. I had to look him up though (not a huge Metallica fan). I think it looks a bit more like this guy below. Which is to say, Spark-Driver, I'm not that impressed with the the look, and I will be reverting back to the goatee at the end of Movember.


For the international readers, this is Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious criminal and standover man in the Australian underworld. Yes, he has no ears. He chopped them off in prison. You do not want to cross this guy! He has reputedly turned away from crime - probably because he found that he could make heaps of dosh flogging his stories through other media - and is now an author of several dodgy books, had a film about him acted by Eric Bana (of Hulk fame), and wait for it, has written a children's book called "Hooky the Cripple".

Oh yeah, I really want to look like him!

Evolution of a Mo - Day 21

The hiker Mo. Had a postgaduate retreat at Morialta today, so I stayed at my parents place last night to walk around there the next day. Decided to walk up old Norton Summit Rd and then back down through the park to the place where the meeting was held. It was a bit foggy and drizzly this morning, but this is a shot of the city somewhere behind me. Looks like a bit of a bad hair day too.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 20

Getting some volume now. Looking pretty scary too. I'm still not used to it and I don't think I'm ready to maintain it past the end of Movember. The gala partè is on Friday, but I'm too busy to attend. Hopefully I can raise a little bit more by the end of the month. I'm impressed by the amount that the Mo-ray Eels have raised so far. If everybody did such a good job, we'd have a cure for this in no time!

This pic is post-run. Did 9km at lunch with Bay.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 16

This one is for Deege.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 14

Look Spark Driver, no hair on that chin!
Do I look a bit gaunt here?

Evolution of a Mo - Day 13

So I've been a bit slack with the Mo updates, but I have a good excuse. We moved into out new house! And I've been really busy doing all the little things you need to do to get yourself set in the new place, so I just haven't had time. I've only been for one run since Wednesday too! Anyway, here it is the 13 day old mo. Enjoy! Pictures of the new house will come soon, I just need to find the time to take them.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 7

Lookin good!
My mo spurred me on to a third place in today's invitation fun run for the corporate cup. My time for the event was two seconds slower than last fortnight, but it didn't count towards out team's points. I still feel pretty sore from digging etc on the weekend, so I'm pretty happy with that time. Everyone in the invitational got 1 free adult ticket on the the Kangaroo Island ferry which is nice, but I don't know that I'll be able to use it before it runs out at the end of March. It turns out that our team was 3rd fastest in the 4.5km event and 44th in the improvement points, so well done team!

Evolution of a Mo - Day 5

Can you see it now? I've put the details for my registration below. I'm in a team named the Mo-ray eels and my rego number is 39009.

Here's the spiel:

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’ll be growin a moustache. That’s right I’m bringing the Mo back because I’m passionate about changing the state of men’s health.
Male health is a major issue, did you know:
Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 6 years less than females.
Every year in Australia 2,700 men die of prostate cancer – more than the number of women who die from breast cancer.
Depression affects 1 in 6 men…Most don’t seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide. Rates of suicide are more than double the national road toll.
Help me change the face of men’s health by sponsoring my mo.
Please go to http://www.movember.com/au/sponsor/?action=sponsorlink&rego=39009, enter my Rego number which is 39009 and your credit card details. All donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.
The money raised by Movember will be used to change the face of men's health by creating awareness and funding research into prostate cancer and male depression.
Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partè where I’ll be parading my Mo on the cat walk for a chance to be crowned the Man of Movember. If you want to be part of this great night you’ll have to purchase a Gala Parte ticket for $33.00 (inc GST).
\nCheers\nDavid\nMore info is available at www.movember.com\nMovember is proudly grown by Motorola, Polaroid, Remington and VB.\nMovember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

Cheers
David

More info is available at http://www.movember.com/
Movember is proudly grown by Motorola, Polaroid, Remington and VB.
Movember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 3

After a long hard day's work digging a sunken garden/retaining wall out the back of our new house.
Glad I didn't go in the Blackhill Challenge the next morning. Every muscle my body was aching! Went for a "long" run anyway (ca 13 km) and it took me 15 minutes to loosen up!

Evolution of a Mo - Day 2

Can you see it yet?

Not going in the Blackhill Challenge on Sunday. We've got too much to do on the house. Looking forward to racing in the invitational fun run for corporate cup next week instead. Next event after that is likely to be the SARRC Christmas Frolic.

A million kilometres for Tibet

Check out the Race for Tibet website and then pledge your training/racing kilometres to "A million kilometres for Tibet".

China, you cannot brutalise an entire nation and get away with it.

Evolution of a Mo - Day 1

Late starter, blank canvas.

I may be a day late, but I have decided to do the Mo thang for Movember. Here is a pic of the blank canvas (shaved last night, taken today) and a before photo for comparison (complaints about picture quality can be sent to Sony-Ericsson). I'll put up the details of my Mo crew soon, so you can donate your hard-earned to prostate cancer research and other men's health issues (no, not the mag). We have a history of prostate cancer in our family, so I really want them to find a cure.

So, what style of mo am I going for? You'll just have to wait and see!

Smashed PB again

Well I managed to beat my previous time in the corporate cup again. This time I ran 15:46 for the 4.5km. It was not easy. I felt terrible the whole way with my legs feeling really heavy and slow. I also had a sore lower back after my run from the Tram terminus to Pinky Flat. I'm now thinking that the sore back could have something to do with lifting a whole heap of stuff while setting up and packing up at the race for life on Sunday (I did a 21km long run in to the city and then helped with the event rather than running in it). My average heart rate this morning was lower again at 171 bpm, so my fitness seems to be improving despite my tired and sore legs.

Race Time @ Ave.HR

1. 18:10 @ 178
2. 17:33 @ 169
3. 17:05 @ 171
4. 16:49 @ 175
5. 16:22 @ 178
6. 16:12 @ 174
7. 15:46 @ 171

I've got my tights on now to try and help my legs recover, and I'll monitor my back over the next couple of days. Today's run is the last official run for the corporate cup, but there is a fun run and presentation next fortnight. The exciting part is that there is an invitation race for the faster runners as part of the fun run which includes prizes for the winners. Considering I came 3rd overall in the last run and I'll probably be in the top 5 again this week, I think I'll go in it. It'll be nice to go out and race on the course again after all these time trials.

The only other event I am considering at the moment is the Blackhill Challenge. I'm still not sure I'm ready for the hills in this event. I certainly have the speed, but I've been doing little to no hill work all year. In the last two years I have gone in this event, I have been coming off the 50km and 100km Trailblazer events, so I've had plenty of hills in my legs, but less speed. This year will be the opposite. I guess I should give it a go. It might be interesting to see what sort of training has the better result. I might also get out and do some hill repeats at Montefiore hill later this week.

OK. That's enough for now. Happy running people.

I ran with Buster in Adelaide!

Ok not quite. But I was running on the uni-loop at the same time as him just 10 minutes ago. Sure, he was running in the opposite direction to me and it was half dark, but I did say g'day and he and his running partner said g'day back. I was just about wetting myself, I was that excited. Really kicked home in the session after that (so I could get back here and write about it). I didn't see him around the other side of the loop, so he must have stopped, but I was running through my head how I might be able to get his autograph on my CR cap. Alas, it was not to be. Anyone know what he is doing in Adelaide? I think I read that he has finished his season, so I assume he is back in OZ having a well earned break.

Anyway, that's my excitement for the day. Back to work now.

Bodybuilding vs Bold and Beautiful

It has been a week since my last entry which is due to a combination of slackness, piles of work and not that much to write about.

I'm feeling really fit at the moment, although yesterday I felt pretty tired during my run at lunchtime, so I'm not running today. Hopefully I'll get out to Track Times tomorrow morning for a speed session ahead of the Race for life on Sunday. Looking forward to the last Corporate Cup race next week.

Last night I saw a program called Shock Docs on channel 8+1. Not my usual taste in TV, but the two subjects were very interesting. First was a story about English female bodybuilder Joanna Thomas' journey to the Olympia titles in Las Vegas. The second story was about the Bold and Beautiful Beauty Pageant, a beauty contest for women over size 18.

I'm a bit torn over these two stories as I think that both may promote unhealthy lifestyles. I'm not saying that the women in either of the competitions didn't have some form of beauty (although some of the contestants really did have me wondering what could be described as beauty). I actually thought some of them were quite attractive, but the underlying health issues were a real concern.

The bodybuilding girls seemed to be engaging in some fairly risky practices such as fasting, dehydration, extremely low bodyfat %, unnecessary cosmetic surgery, and presumably some form of pharmaceutical assistance. My initial reaction to this story was that many of the women did not look natural or feminine. The weird part is that I've seen plenty of physique and figure competitors who are muscley, attractive and feminine, and seem to achieve this through fairly healthy lifestyles. So are the different divisions two totally different sports, or is the bodybuilding just a more extreme form of the the same behaviour? I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

On the other hand, the BBWs were basically glorifying obesity. I know they are saying that they are happy with the way they are, but it says to all obese people that it is OK to be that way. Well it is not. I accept that we shouldn't discriminate against obese people, but I think it is incorrect to condone it.

I think that despite the fact that I had a stonger negative initial reaction to the bodybuilding women, in hindsight I actually respect that form of lifestyle more than the BBW. The bodybuilders clearly have to work extremely hard and make enormous sacrifices to compete. The BBW really don't have to do anything other than eat too much and then make themselves look beautiful. One group is rewarded for extreme hard work and sacrifice, the other is rewarded for no hard work at all. Or am I missing something here?

Meeting Tesso - PB

I'm not sure what was the highlight of my morning, meeting Tesso or getting a PB for the 4.5km lap of the Torrens at Corporate Cup.

I got there reasonably early this morning to beat the heat (forecast 34 degrees). I saw Tesso running along the other side of the Torrens, so I knew we would cross paths. Went out hard as usual doing the 1st km in 3:27 (ran past Tesso after about 500m), slowed a little over the next 2km but then brought it home in the last 1.5km for a PB over that course of 16:12. This is 10 sec faster than last fortnight and 4 seconds faster than my previous PB on this course set in 2005 during the SARRC twilight race.

1. 18:10 @ 178
2. 17:33 @ 169
3. 17:05 @ 171
4. 16:49 @ 175
5. 16:22 @ 178
6. 16:12 @ 174

Above is my progression during the Corporate cup with average heart rate. Up until last run, I was getting the feeling that I was just improving by running harder and not actually getting much fitter, so I am pleased that my average HR has decreased this fortnight. Can I go sub 16 next fortnight in the last run of the series? We shall see. After seeing me run this morning, Tesso said she expects no less, so the pressure is on!

Went for a few km warmdown and chinwag with Tesso after the run. It was really nice to meet up with her and talk running and other stuff for a little while. I was moaning and groaning most of the way because the run really took a lot out of me, so I hope I wasn't too incoherent. After a while Tesso went back to get ready for work and I trotted back to Uni. I'm feeling a bit better now, although the hayfever is pretty bad now with the hot northerly blowing today.

Anyway, a great start to the day, back to work now.

Surprising quote

"Only through the readiness to accept historical truth can a sound understanding of contemporary reality be reached." - Pope Benedict XVI

First, let me say that although I was baptised a Catholic, I don't really subscribe to any religion at the moment. I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment - given in the context of aboriginal reconciliation in this country - I'm just surprised that the current pope said it. And, is he prepared to apply it to all instances of "historical truth"? Time will tell.

100 things about me - work in progress

1. I don't subscribe to any religion
2. I used to be Catholic, but I got sick of their hypocrisy
3. I am a spiritual person
4. We put down anthroposophy as our religion on the last census, although it is not a religion as such
5. I like the original Star Wars movies and hate the new ones
6. Empire Strikes Back is my favourite of course.
8. I like watching boxing.
9. My body type would be suited to boxing, but no one I know would ever accept me doing it.
10. I played hockey for SA at every junior age group and for the National Hockey League team.
11. I got sick of hockey and started distance running in 2004.
12. I am very competitive.
13. I have never stolen a pig.
14. I am allergic to horses
15. I love bananas and have been very unhappy since Larry hit town
16. I'm vegetarian (lacto-ovo)
17. ...

Not a PW

So I might have been a little hasty with the PW call. I really thought I did better than that in 1999. I do recall however, that I had to stop for a couple of minutes to go to the toilet that day (poor race preparation), so it probably still makes this year a bad result.

1999
00:48:19
254

2000
00:45:03
82

2006
00:47:04
135

Visual onomatopoeia

Ewen's got me thinking now. Are there any words that look like their meaning? Hmmm, I know that there are basically two ways of processing language. Most people see or feel the object/meaning/emotion in their head and then associate a word with it. Less commonly, people actually see words in their head. I have heard that some savants associate letters or numbers as images in their head, so a certain number or word forms a "picture" in their head. But this doesn't necessarily translate to what the word means. I'd love to look into this a lot further, but I don't really have the time right now. If anyone can think of anything, I'd love to know.

I think the onomatopoeic word for "the wheels falling off" is clunk.

I am considering taking up hockey again next year. I'm just trying to work out if the two sports are compatible. Running a half marathon or more the day after a premier league game might not be all that much fun, especially if I play midfield where there is more running. If I play fullback, then there is always more opportunity to get hit by balls/sticks which mightn't be too good for running either. Add to that the fact that I always used to get injured a lot more in hockey than in running and it doesn't sound all that appealing.

Went for a short run last night to loosen up the legs and it seems to have done the trick. The DOMS is a lot better today.

DOMS

:(

Not even close

Did the C2B in a PW of 47:04. It was all going well until about km 3 when I started feeling the heat. Then I missed 3 out of 3 grabs at water at the first drink station and didn't stop to get anything. I made sure that I got heaps of water at the next two stations. I think wearing the compression tights was a mistake too, just a little too hot for them today. My impression is that I just wasn't fit enough to do 45 for 12km. I gave it everything, but it just wasn't there. That's OK. I haven't been doing the miles in training and my intensity hasn't been high enough. The disappointing thing is that my two previous runs in the C2B were before I started running "seriously" when I was a hockey player: 46:30 in 1999 and 45:03 in 2000. I must have been fitter then than I thought.

Splits @ HR
1- 3:29 @ 156
2- 3:35 @ 178
3- 3:39 @ 183
4- 3:42 @ 185
5- 3:51 @ 185
6- 3:58 @ 183 22:15
7- 4:06 @ 180
8- 4:07 @ 181
10- 8:27 @ 179 missed the split
11- 4:10 @ 181
12- 3:55 @ 184 47:04

Anyway, I'm happy to have done the event again. The atmoshere was great, the event was huge, I got a nice massage afterwards, and I went for a cool dip in the sea which was really refreshing. There were 23,500 people there today and I'm not sure how much bigger they can make this event given the crowding at the finish area. Walking back to the tram, there were still thousands of people coming through. Luckily I got to the tram before there was a huge line to get back into the city.

There is a slight tingle in the achilles, so I'll have to monitor that. This may well be my last event for the year, apart from the remaining corporate cup runs. There is the Blackhill Challenge in November, an event that I really love and have done well in in the last two years, but I'm not sure that I'll have time for it and the hills might not be too good for the achilles if it comes up a bit sore still.

So stay tuned for what may be fewer entries about just staying fit until next year.

Edit: Official time 47:04. Equal 135th out of 7000-odd.

False start

Sprang out of bed this morning at 7.30 and exclaimed "oh shit! the race!" to which my wife rolled over and said "David, it's Saturday". Whoops.

I'd been dreaming about getting the bus to the start. so when I woke up, I guess I assumed I had to go. This is odd for a few reasons. 1) I don't normally remember my dreams. 2) I'm catching the tram to the start tomorrow. 3) I'd already woken up earlier when one of the kids woke up too early, so I knew it was Saturday already.

Onomatopoeia

Since Ewen has brought it up, I shall reveal my next word: Onomatopoeia.

The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
From the Greek word onomatopoios, coiner of names: onomat-, name + poiein, to make.
Words are formed in many different ways, but one of the most fascinating is the tendency to create words that reflect the sound an object makes. This so-called onomatopoeic approach has produced dozens of English words, including splash, buzz, murmur, meow, chirp, hiss, sizzle, neigh, whinny, bang and cock-a-doodle-do.

C2B

Lock me in Eddie. I'm entered into the city to bay on Sunday. I'm hoping to go under 45 minutes. That would get me close to top 100, which I think should qualify me for the elite start next year. I was hoping to get into the elite start this year based on a 10km time from early this year, but the elite spots have been allocated already.

The pace I ran for Corporate cup yesterday morning (16:49 for 4.5km) would just get me under 45. Although I was really pushing it, it was essentially an individual time-trial. I'm hoping the racing conditions might pull me along a bit too.

I'll try to get to the start early for a good position. I won't be able to hang around at the end to chat to CRs and SARRC friends because I've got to get back to work straight away.

Supple - part 2

Q: What does this word make you think of?

A: Me - soft leather gloves or shoes.
My female officemate - breasts (I know, I couldn't believe it either).
Others - breasts x3, bendy flexible type person x5 (assuming this is what Ewen meant), strange NZ dialect for imbibing x1.

So I'm weird OK.

Not so supple: me after running 25km yesterday morning. I was intending to run about 15km, but I got a bit carried away with things. It was not easy and I was hurting by the last 5km. The achilles seems to have held up, it's just the rest of the body that's sore now!

OK, make that crazy too.

Supple

Q: What does this word make you think of?

My answer and my officemate's totally different (and unexpected) answer will be revealed next week, but what do my readers think?

Enough entries for today.

Steve Irwin dead

Like just about everyone else in Australia, I was shocked to hear of his death. I must admit that I wasn't a huge fan of his shows, but after hearing of his beliefs and efforts in conservation a few years ago, I admire him for what he has done both directly and indirectly for the conservation of wildlife globally and locally. He seemed like a lovely bloke and a loving and devoted father.

I had the strange coincidence occur that my kids gave me a Croc Hunter card for Father's day then he died the next day. I'll keep it as a reminder to be the best father I can be and to try and involve them more in what I do.

Bravo! to the ABC for showing the interview form a few years ago. It had me laughing the whole time even though it was sad that he's dead. It's a bit cliched to say that he died doing what he loved, but in this case it is certainly true. Thankfully it sounds like it was an instant (albeit intensely painful) death. I wish his family all the best during this time, and I hope his legacy is carried on through the zoo and his other great conservation work.

Kibosh

As in, to put the kibosh on. Not my favourite word but an interesting one, mainly because the origin of this word is largely unknown. There are a few theories as to it's origin, but none have been proven.

Anyway, I'm considering putting the kibosh on my aspirations of going in the City 2 Bay this year, not because I'm injured or because I wouldn't make the PB, but because of constraints on time and money. I may go past the course on my way into uni to watch the leaders go by. I probably would have time to go in the race, but by the time I've finished, cooled down, had a shower and travelled back into uni, most of the day would be gone. The chief financial officer has also expressed concerns about the cost of entry, although I should be able to find $20 somewhere. I'll think about it.

Here is the Oxford definition of kibosh.

[Origin obscure. (It has been stated to be Yiddish or Anglo-Hebraic: see N. & Q. 9th ser. VII. 10.)]
1. In phr. to put the kibosh on: to dispose of finally, finish off, do for.
1836 DICKENS Sk. Boz, Seven Dials, ‘Hoo-roar’, ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, ‘put the kye-bosk [sic] on her, Mary’. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 124 Kybosh on, to put the, to turn the tables on any person, to put out of countenance. 1856 Punch XXXI. 139 (To put the cibosh upon). 1891 C. ROBERTS Adrift in America 9 It was attending one of these affairs which finally put the ‘kibosh’ on me. 1896 H. G. WELLS Wheels of Chance xli, ‘I put the kybosh on his little game,’ he remarks. 1924 Chambers's Jrnl. May 296/2 Standofer's fairly put the kybosh on us this time. 1952 J. CLEARY Sundowners iii. 122 Well, that puts the kybosh on it. 1956 H. G. DE LISSER Cup & Lip xxii. 246 Good for you... You have put the kybosh on them. 1971 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 May 531/2 Not only did the First World War liquidate the Edwardian douceur de vivre. It also put the kybosh on the rationalist's faith in progressive social evolution. 1975 Sunday Post (Glasgow) 10 Aug. 7/3 She'd been looking forward to some salmon fishing, but the heatwave's put the kybosh on that.

PM in AM CC!

That's right, our PM, little Johnny Howard, was out there this morning powering around the Torrens in his tragic Wallabies track suit. Except he was going the wrong way for the Corporate Cup! As much as I don't agree with his politics, I have to say that he is setting a good example by getting out there and exercising, despite a busy schedule.

How did my run go? Well I've raised the bar again with a 17:05 for the 4.5km course. I was really pushing it this morning and only eased off with about 500m to go when I realised that I was well under my previous time. I still think I can improve quite a bit, and I think I probably had a little bit taken away by the half on the weekend, but how long can I continue this sort of improvement. The calf/achilles felt fine during the run, but there is still some tightness there when I cool down. I'll have to keep a close watch on that and keep up the stretching and massage.

I'm now seriously considering a crack at my PB of 45:03 for the City 2 Bay. My pace this morning was about 3:47 and I'd need a pace of at least 3:45 to crack 45 min. I was pushing pretty hard this morning and I don't know that I could have maintained it for 12km, but I am coming off the back of a half marathon and I would have the added advantage of having other runners to pace in the C2B. Anyway, we'll see how training goes over the next 2 weeks. I might use the next CC run as a test to see whether I can manage the required pace, and then enter straight afterwards if I'm feeling OK.

Half marathon report

Well what a great day!

Nice to meet CRs Simlin and Wardman, if only briefly. Sorry guys, everything was a bit of a rush and I had to catch up with so many people out there. Wardman, congratulations on getting through your first half. Simlin, well done on getting through the 10, onward and upward. To the Mystery Sydney Strider CR (or was that Nando, I'm confused now), I called out to you about 200m from the finish as we went past, I hope you're OK because you looked in pretty bad shape.

We went really well. Baden had set a target of 1:45 for the half and we did it in 1:36. We basically went out at a comfortable pace and managed to keep it going til about 18km, then I picked up the pace and brought it home hard with Baden picking up my shoulder. I think for the first time ever, I managed a negative split of about 48:38 for the first 10.6km and 47:22 for the second 10.5km. Baden was pretty happy and I was very pleased that it went so well.
Our km splits were:
4:56 (1.1Km)
4:25
4:35
4:37
4:41
4:34
4:38
4:36
4:37
4:38
4:34
4:20 (a bit short I think)
5:02 (hence a bit long)
4:30
4:37
4:47
4:17
4:26
4:27
4:18
4:14

Total 1:35:58

My wife battled through in 2:20 and paid for not having an energy drink or lollies out on the course, but it was an excellent effort condsidering it was her first half and she has had limited preparation over the last 4 weeks due to injury and sickness. Thanks to the woman who gave her a couple of Jellybeans with 6 or 7 km to go, apparently they were the two most energising jellybeans ever consumed!

The weather out there was perfect for good times, cool in the morning with the sun coming out but not really heating up and no wind to speak of. I know a few people had really good times in the marathon. I'm kind of disappointed that I wasn't able to do the marathon, although I probably wouldn't have gone close to my PB despite the good conditions. Oh well, there's always next year. A little birdy tells me that the organisers WILL have a new course next year and it sounds like it will be a good one. I can't give away any more so stay tuned!

Pace trial

Ran a few laps of the uni loop with Bayden today to get a feel for the pace that we would like to run on Sunday. We went out too fast in the first lap, hit the right pace for the second, and carried that through for another lap. It's a nice comfortable pace for me, and Bayden seemed to be doing pretty well too. Hopefully his legs hold out for the 21km. I think we must both be excited/nervous about the race, because we talked the whole time about it.

Forecast for Sunday is looking good.
Showers 9°C - 18°C

Getting faster

Ran the corporate cup yesterday in 17:33, 38s faster than last fortnight! I know last time I was coming off some illness and only a bit of running, but that is a fair increase. I felt a lot better too and my heart rate was 9 bpm lower. Now all I have to do is maintain this improvement for the rest of the series. I'm feeling pretty good about the half too. Bayden seems to be pretty excited. Hopefully we'll be able to reach his goal of 1:45. We're going to have a run tomorrow to get a feel for pace.

Q: Why are my legs sore?

A: Because I ran 39km in the last week and over 70km in the last two weeks, which is the most running I've done since getting injured in March. I'd forgotten that feeling of tired legs because I haven't been able to do enough running to get to that point. Obviously I'll make the next couple of weeks a bit lighter, tapering for the half, but it's looking OK for now. I'll be pacing a friend named Bayden from uni for the half. I'll do a couple of shorter runs this week including the Corporate Cup on Wednesday. On Friday Bayden and I will do a few laps of the uni loop at race pace to get a feel for what pace we'll need to run to reach his goal time of 1:45.

Save the Australian Lungfish

I don't normally post this kind of thing, but this is too important to miss. Can anyone who reads this post - and agrees with the petition - please go to the site below and sign it. I've also included some background from the petition site below.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/610807318

A Very Special Fish – Australian Lungfish under Threat

The Queensland Government’s surprise decision (5 July 2006) to proceed with a very large dam on the Mary River threatens the survival of one of the most scientifically important animals on earth. Throughout most of its length for most of the year, the Mary is nothing more than a small, meandering coastal creek but it is uniquely important as habitat for several of the country’s endangered species. One of these is the Australian or Queensland lungfish, a ‘living fossil’ that has existed unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. Of all living fish groups, the lungfish are the closest relatives of the land vertebrates – the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including ourselves. Lungfish were abundant 400 million years ago, during the Devonian (the “Age of Fish”) but have now dwindled to only three kinds, respectively living in South America, Africa and Australia. The South American and African forms are weirdly modified larval-looking creatures, but the Australian lungfish is still very similar to those ancient fish that gave rise to the first land vertebrates. It is thus uniquely important to scientists studying the origin of land animals.

Fossils show that the Australian lungfish was alive as it is today already during the Cretaceous, alongside the dinosaurs. This probably makes it the oldest living vertebrate species. At that time it was much more widespread than it is today. Now it only occurs naturally in the Mary and Burnett rivers in SE Queensland. Introductions into other rivers in the past have largely been unsuccessful, with the exception of the Brisbane River, but this population of lungfish is only just hanging on due to extensive damming of the river to provide water for greater Brisbane. Australian lungfish have an absolute requirement for shallow, slow-flowing, densely vegetated riffles as spawning and nursery habitat. These environmental features are characteristic of both the Burnett and the Mary but it is exactly these features that are lost entirely by permanent flooding resulting from the construction of dam walls. Dams thus pose a mortal threat to the long-term survival of the lungfish populations.

A mega dam was completed late last year on the Burnett River. When it is full, it will have permanently destroyed 42 km of lungfish spawning/nursery grounds. Prior to construction of this dam the lungfish were listed as vulnerable on the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. With the destruction of their spawning/nursery habitat on the Burnett and now even greater destruction on the Mary, should this dam go ahead, that listing would need to be revised to ‘critically endangered’. The dam can still be stopped by the Federal Minister for Environment and Heritage, but he needs to be persuaded to act.

The significance of the Australian lungfish cannot be overstated. As a ‘living fossil’ it provides the only opportunity to study the development and physiology of the aquatic predecessors of all land vertebrates, including ourselves. Australia is the custodian of this invaluable information source for the rest of the world. The answer to Queensland’s water problem lies in education on water use and smart new technologies, not in damming a fragile coastal river system and willfully extinguishing a uniquely important animal.

And I have been running too

After being injured, sick and quite busy with work, I have been doing a bit of running in the last week. I ran 18:10 for the first run in the Corporate Cup. A fair way off my best time for that course - 16:15 in the twilight series - but I should be able to improve significantly over the coming months. Half marathon is still looking good after I ran 19 km fairly easily on Saturday. Ran home from uni last night which was pretty hard, but still feeling OK. I'm thinking about pacing someone through the half. I'm pretty confident that I could comfortably pace someone at around 1:40 or more. Back to work now.

Naughty Monkey

"Borrowed" from Tracey

This is bloody hilarious

http://www.cartoline.it/pics/_zoom_flash.htm?immagine=scherzi_150404_01.swf
1. Click on the link above (Coffee Machine)
2. Put the coin in the vending machine
3. Choose your drink
4. Click on the cup when it is ready
5. Click on "APRI"

Enjoy!

Don't forget to click on "APRI" when you see it!

Interconnectedness

This word made me laugh, not because of the meaning found in the dictionary:

"in·ter·con·nect ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ntr-k-nkt)v. in·ter·con·nect·ed, in·ter·con·nect·ing, in·ter·con·nects v. intr.
To be connected with each other: The two buildings interconnect. v. tr.
To connect reciprocally: tried to interconnect the two theories.
inter·con·nected·ness n. inter·con·necti·ble or inter·con·necta·ble adj. inter·con·nection n."

But, because of the definition that my supervisor found in wikipedia:

"Interconnectedness is one of many concepts gaining popularity as part of the terminology of a worldview which sees a oneness in all things. A similar term, interdependence, is sometimes used instead, although there are slightly different connotations. Both terms tend to refer to the idea that all things are of a single underlying substance and reality, and that there is no true separation deeper than appearances. Some feel that 'interconnectedness' and similar terms are part of a contemporary lexicon of mysticism, which is based on the same core idea of universal oneness.
Science is coming to the view that everything in this universe is interconnected. A thing exists because there is an observer. Everything is made up of either energies or particles that flit in and out of existence at the quantum level. These particles can be thought of as events in an endless expanse of possibilities. The very act of observation makes them concrete. The universe seems to be a virtual world where everything exists as waves which assumes particulate forms when observed. The line between the observer and the observed seems to blur at the level of sentient beings like humans which can assume the role of both the observer and the observed simultaneously."

Which is one of the biggest loads of bullshit I've ever heard.

Contretemps

Love this word. 1) It isn't pronounced as it it is spelled. 2) I love english words "borrowed" from other languages (I suppose they are all from other languages, but some seem more recent). 3) It just sounds good, especially if you put on a strong French accent. 4) It's a nice sounding way to describe a stuff-up.

contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\, noun; plural contretemps \-tahnz\:

An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

Mrs. Post was the center of a notable contretemps when she spilled a spoonful of berries at a dinner of the Gourmet Society here in 1938. -- "Emily Post Is Dead Here at 86; Writer was Arbiter of Etiquette", New York Times, September 27, 1960

He looked worried, distressed, more distressed than one should look in the face of a slight contretemps. -- Anita Brookner, Undue Influence

Nathan was a fiercely ambitious and competitive man, as quick to take offenceas to give it in his business dealings, and it is not difficult to imagine him responding impetuously to such a contretemps. -- Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild

So, where was I?

I suppose I'd best update from the beginning.

I didn't run for just over a week after I had the achilles twinge, then I went for a 5km run last Tuesday and a 7.5km run last Friday. The leg felt OK for both of those runs, so I had planned to do a 10-12km run on Sunday until...

I woke up with a bit of a sore throat on Sunday morning, so I decided to take it easy (given my history of prolonging illness through pigheadedness). I stayed up to watch the final stage of the TdF, which with hindsight might have been a bad move. I was feeling pretty crappy on Monday morning at work, so I took the afternoon off. And then it hit. Monday night through Tuesday night I was totally wiped out - dizzy, headaches, felt hot but no temperature, achy, very sore throat, nasal and sinus congestion. Feeling a lot better on Wednesday, but still with a very sore throat, I went to see the doctor. He thought that I'd probably turned the corner, but I could have some antibiotics just in case the symptoms worsened. Took yesterday off as well to try and fully recover, but managed to do some work at home. Was feeling optomistic about getting back into work today, but woke up this morning feeling a little worse than yesterday, so here I am at home again.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow or at least by Sunday, so I can get back into work. I regret not having the flu shot this year now, although it didn't stop me getting the flu in the last two years, so maybe it wouldn't have helped this year either. This may also be a slight blessing, in that my achilles will get another week or more rest before getting back into the running again.

A couple of other things
House update. There has been considerable progress on the house since my last update. The roof is on, the plumbing and wiring have been put in, the insulation is in, and the plasterboard has been put up. The flushing, cornices and skirting should be finished on Monday. Things are looking good. Here's a picture of the main living area at the back of the house (with a strapping young lad posing for the photo).

And finally, Floyd... Say it ain't so! I followed le Tour pretty closely this year, and I was swept up by the performance of Landis. I wanted Evans and Rogers to perform, but I was amazed at the courage of Landis' approach to the race and especially the support of his average team (unbelievable effort by Axel Merckx). I'm going to put the positive A test down to three possible causes: a) His sample or bidon was tampered with; b) there was an error in the analysis; or c), one of the legal drugs that Landis takes for a couple of medical problems (chronic joint pain and hyperthyroidism) has either lowered his epitestosterone or raised his testosterone levels. The other really inpiring ride of the tour for me was David de la Fuente. That guy put it all on the line in his first TdF even though he risked bombing the whole tour. Maybe next year he'll win the Maillot a pois.

That's enough from me. I'm going to sit back and suck down another lemon, honey and ginger drink.

Twinge

Went for my longest run since my injury on saturday. The achilles has come up a bit sore so i'll need to take some more time off running. It's a bit frustrating, but i don't really have any time for running at the moment anyway. Might just have to run for fitness and fun until next year. I'll see how things look in a week or 2. With any luck I may still get up for the Adelaide half or the C2B.
PhD progressing well.

Yes, I'm still alive

Quick update.

I've been very busy with work.

Running is going well.

Leg is feeling really good.

I've built up to over 32km/week with a long run of 13km on Sunday.

15km this Sunday.

House has finally got a roof on it.

Hopefully they'll keep doing more work on it.

Have a great week.

RunDave

Desiderata

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --

--Not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church"! --

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even to the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career,

however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals,

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Just thought I'd throw something completely different in today. I read a lot of blogs that quote inspirational works, so I thought I'd put one of my favourites in. I'm not a very religious person, so this poem seems to sit pretty well with my beliefs, in that it pretty much avoids religion and only mentions God in a fairly abstract and inclusive way. We used to have it hanging in our toilet at home when I was a kid and I couldn't tell you how many times I've read it. One of the remarkable things about it is the ongoing confusion about its origin. This website explains the confusion. I must admit, our copy had the reference to St Paul's Church and I often wondered how someone living in the 1600s could have written something so fitting for the 20th century. When I found out the real story, rather than being disillusioned, it confirmed it's relevance for me. Although not 100s of years old, it was written way back in the 1920s, yet it still holds true for the 2000s, so it is probably more timeless than many give it credit for. Anyway I think it is a good creed for life.

Edit: It should be divided up into stanzas, but blogger isn't letting me do that properly.

Slack blogger

I've been really busy with work stuff, so I haven't had much time to blog. Just a quick update for anyone who is interested. I did my four runs last week, culminating in a 9km run on Sunday. For the first time in months I can say that my leg feels good, and that I'm not just managing it from one run to the next. I'll continue my slow progression so that I don't have a relapse, but at this stage things are looking good for the half marathon in late August. I had hoped to do a 10km race this weekend, but things are pretty tight moneywise, so I may be a no-show. I may just end up running 10 km on my own :( . To the guys at Tracktimes, I will get out there one day soon. I've had a few different circumstances preventing me getting out there, but I should be OK this week.

Happy to be running.

Building companies are f****d!

Want to see the progress on the house? Well, look at the photos from 3 weeks ago because they've done f**ckall since then.

Edit: 16-6-06 still nothing even though they told me they would get some stuff sorted out last week so that the roof could go on this week. Lying bastards.

Sorry about the language, just feeling a bit frustrated.

Getting by/ Dual monitors

A Girl Running pointed out that while my entry about last night's movie was interesting, I hadn't mentioned how my running is going.

I went for about a 6km run on Friday and a 7km run today. The leg is feeling fine while I'm running and most of the time in between, but at times it doesn't feel 100%. This is why I'm taking things slowly. The tingling is still there sometimes and the leg just doesn't feel as strong as it should. There isn't any pain either while running or while resting. I can feel the fitness coming back which is really good.

The plan for this week is to run every second day 5-6km with an 8km run next Sunday if I feel up to it.

Now for something completely different. Does anyone out there have two monitors set up on your PC? I want to set up a second monitor next to mine to make data analysis easier, but I'm not sure what is required. I have the second screen, but I'm unsure about how to connect them up. There is only one female connection at the back of the box, but there is a male connection there too. Do I need some type of adaptor?

Purely Belter

Saw this film on SBS last night. Great film, some really great characters, an excellent story and a great ending. The production values weren't all that good, but the story and characters made up for it. The two boys in the lead roles were great, some of their dialogue was hilarious. The film also showed Newcastle as both a beautiful yet ugly city. The area looked to have quite spectacular scenery, but there was also the ugly architecture and urban decay. 4 1/2 stars from me.

Not pushing it

I was going to run with Tracktimers this morning, but since I ran yesterday and the leg has a slight tingling still, I thought I'd better not push my luck with running two days in a row. I'll run tomorrow instead.

Yesterday's run felt good. I feel like my fitness is returning quite quickly and this is reflected by my heart rate - my laps of the uni loop are getting faster while the average heart rate is decreasing. I did the circuit again and this time my arms and abs aren't so sore the next day. The exercises I did were: Crunches, seated dips (?), reverse incline crunches, chin-ups (still sadly poor at this), incline crunches and push-ups.

PS. The poll results haven't changed much with the dozen or so extra votes from last time. My conclusion? Runners are much the same as the general public in this regard, ie 55-60% sensible (folders), 35-40% crazy (scrunchers), 5-10% eccentric (rollers and other).

Poll update

Update on poll. I think that most people who would have voted have done so now. The topic has just about dropped off the active list and I don't think I'll bump it up to the top again.

I can't believe that there are so many scrunchers out there. Don't you know what could happen people?!! I was surprised at the number of rollers too. Not sure what the "other" was since there was no comment to explain it. Maybe it was someone who does both. Perhaps it was you Ellie? I think my theory about runners being unusually orderly control freaks is looking a bit shaky considering these percentages are about the same as the straw poll on Rove Live.

Looks like pretty good support for the intended orientation of the toilet roll. Can't say I'm surprised at that.

Assuming the 12 people who voted for "seat up" are male, it looks like a majority of male runners are well trained. The lid category looks to have followed male/female voting lines.

Good progress

Saw the physio this afternoon and he said he is happy with my progress. The lump on my tendon is half the original size, the tendon is moving freely and the calf is a lot less painful to his deep tissue massage. He has suggested no more than 4 runs per week for 4-6 weeks and just build up the length of the runs with one run a week up to 45 minutes. No speedwork for at least 2 months. He's suggested to do more slump stretches to loosen up the whole back of the legs which may release the calves a bit. He aggrees that I shouldn't do the eccentric exercises until the calf feels up to it. I just sent him an SMS asking whether trail running with or without hills is OK. So I'm pretty happy with this course of action. I'll run every second day for 20-30 minutes and try building a longer run up to 45 minutes over then next month or so. I'll go back and see him in 5-6 weeks to see how things are going and to get his thoughts about going in a few shorter events.

The poll is getting some interesting responses.

Ava good weekend!

Quick update and poll announcement

Went for a 27 minute run today and also ran on Monday (27 minutes) and Wednesday (16 minutes). On Monday I also did a circuit on some equipment out on the uni-loop eg. chinups, pushups, crunches, dips etc. My arms and abs are still sore from that especially my triceps from the pitiful 5 then 3 chinups that I did.

The leg is feeling OK, not 100%, but getting better and I have been testing it out a bit more than I'm supposed to. Going to see the physio tomorrow. Apologies to the tracktimes guys for not getting out this morning, I slept in.

The Folder/scruncher poll is up on Coolrunning. Go forth and vote people. I'm preparing myself for much ridicule over this poll, but I think it should be fun.

Fold or Scrunch: part 2

Following the response to my previous post, I think this might be worthy of a poll on CR and Ausrun. I have a theory that the incidence of folders vs scrunchers might be higher in the running/fitness community. The ratio on Rove Live last week was about 60:40, but that sample may have been biased by members of the running/fitness community being in the audience, so it wouldn't have reflected the views of the rest of society. My theory is that runners/gym junkies are more obsessive-compulsive or at least strive more towards order and organisation in their lives than the average in our society.

I think three questions need to be posed:

1. Folder or scruncher
2. Toilet roll facing inwards or outwards
3. Seat down or up

Any other pertinent questions?

Am I sounding slightly obsessed with this topic (You don't need to answer this)?
Would I get "Folder" tattooed on my bum for $20,000? Hell yeah, it's $20,000 people!

Fold or Scrunch: the case for folding

This age-old debate has been rekindled thanks to a new advertising campaign from Sorbent. I am a folder. My reason, other than one of familial habit, is one of structural integrity.
Given the same length of paper (although scrunchers seem to use more) there is a predictable and reliable amount of paper between you and disaster. Sure, scrunching may potentially put a thicker wad over your fingers, but, being a randomly formed structure, there is a distinct chance that you may poke through a gap. That's a chance that I'm not willing to take. Folding has the added benefit of the wipe/fold/wipe combination - I can't see how you could do that with scrunching. The only downside I can see is that it may take longer to fold, but I think this is a small price to pay for increased hygeine and may be obviated by a decreased handwashing time in the event of 'exposure' as a result of unlucky scrunching.
I'm happy to debate any valid argument against folding. Despite the fact that I will never change, I may come to accept scrunching as a valid if not flawed method.

This might sound a bit daft...

Especially when you consider what I wrote yesterday. I woke up this morning and my leg felt fine - a rational person would have gone back to sleep thinking how great it was that the leg was healing so fast - so I went for a 15 minute run. The leg was fine. It still feels fine after I've cooled down, got ready for work and iced it. We'll see how it feels later, but I may have been a little premature with my prognosis yesterday.
Stay tuned!

I'm out

The news is not so good. After my last run on Tuesday, I came up sore in the calf the next day and the achilles is sore too. It's not as bad as before, but it isn't good, and it comes from just a handfull of 10-15 minute runs. The achilles is still sore now. I've stopped running and I've done a bit of ice-massage. I'm going to see my physio next Friday to see what he can do and to get his opinion on my next move.

I'm thinking of taking off as long as it needs to heal by itself without treatment. I'll just do the eccentric exercises and other strength work as well as some bike work and then maybe get a checkup after a month to get clearance to start running again. I don't think I could lose anymore fitness than I already have and I haven't put on any weight either, so I should be able to stay healthy. This will rule out any racing for most of this year, but I've got a thesis to write, so the extra time may help in that area. So, what do you think? Sound like a good plan?

As you can imagine, I'm pretty down about this. A fairly simple injury has managed to wipeout an entire season of racing, not to mention the fact that I can't even run just for the hell of it anymore. There might not be much on this blog about running for a while, but feel free to drop in to hear about the house or lexicology or sculptures or any other shit I feel like spinning.

PS. Tesso. My name doesn't have many anagrams. Onlt two: CARD SHARD VIM and CARD DRAM SHIV. And they don't make any sense.

PPS. But Tesso, your name comes up with some corkers and thousands of anagrams. Anyone for some SATAN HAIR BEEF?

Funny email one of my workmates sent me

Did you ever stop and wonder...

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll
squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there... I'm
gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it's bum."

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer? I
have a light in my freezer.

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynecologist leave the room when you
get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs?

Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream??

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests? (This one kills me!!!)

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from
vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from
morons?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have
the same tune?

Stop singing and read on...

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets
mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out
the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive
faster?

Do you ever wonder why you gave me your e-mail address in the
first place?

:-)

Things people have searched and found me

runner massage blog
Joggers World explosion
what to eat before 10 km run
channel 9 suck adelaide crows (too true)
sa hockey (surprised this one came up)
"pull my finger" 1800s (odd)

All pretty benign. Why can't I get juicy RunnerSusan type search referrals? You know, like "porno massage babe" and other funny stuff that gets linked inexplicably to her blog. Maybe I need to put more random and off topic phrases in my blog.

Simpsons dominatrix strategic MTV. See how that goes.

Edit: Failed. Maybe I don't get how this works?

House progress

A couple of shots of the house.

Favourite Sculpture/Fountain

This is one of my favourite sculptures. I guess it is really a fountain, but I really like it. I'm not sure who the artist is. Can anyone guess where it is located?

Bananas $10/kg

I commented on this in Flashducks blog, but I thought I'd expand on my comments. I love bananas. You don't realise what you've got until it's gone. I used to eat at least one banana per day before Larry. Now I rarely eat them because they are just too expensive. It's going to be a long while before they are back too, but I really hope they don't allow imported bananas - it'd just kill the local producers. Over at mum and dad's place yesterday, I spotted an overripe one sitting in their fruit bowl, so I pinched it. Oh, the delightful creamy texture, sweet taste and pungent aroma of the banana - how I miss you!
Now what are the symptoms of potassium deficiency?

Doing a 15 minute run later today. My calf is still a bit sore, so we'll see how the run goes.

Dunlop kt42s

Has anyone tried these? They look and feel the goods, but I'm skeptical. At $50 they may be worth a try. Tim, if you're out there, have you seen or tried them.

Progress

Stepped up to 15 minute run today. My legs felt good and it was great to get out for a bit longer. My calf has been just a little bit sore, but the achilles feels fine. I also did my 10 minute run on Thursday but stretched it out to 12 minutes and felt fine. Stretching and massage have been going well, but I've been slack with the eccentric exercises. Feel free to admonish of for this.

2nd run back

Ran again on Monday. Walked down to the uni loop, did one lap (2.2 km) in about 10:20 and then walked back to uni. Achilles felt really good the whole way, but my hip is still feeling sore. My calves have been a bit sore for the last two days, but I'm not sure if this is from the running or the eccentric exercises. I'll do my next 10 minute run tomorrow with the track timers and see how it feels after that.

Thanks everyone for the reminders. I have been doing all my tasks. Keep on my back lest I become complacent and stop doing them again.

I ran today...

for 10 minutes. And it was over all too soon. I set out walking for 5 minutes then ran for 10 minutes and then walked home. I was supposed to run at an easy pace, but I think I ran way too fast. I was so happy to be running again and I looked at my HR, 145, ok I'd better not push it too much harder. Two minutes later, 155, ok slow down now. Then a moment later, 167, what am I doing, racing or something? So I was a bit keen and my fitness has decreased a lot, but the good news is that my achilles feels fine. I followed with some ice massage and a little later some more massage with Brauer arnica cream. During the run my hip felt a bit stiff and sore still, so I must remember to stretch this area and my back/abdominals.

The delay in running was due to the fact that I didn't get my new blank orthotics until Thursday afternoon and then I didn't get the opportunity to adjust them until today. The orthotics felt fine, so I think I've got them right, although I won't really know until I've used them on a longer run.

Anyway, I'm a pretty happy camper at the moment. Next run will be another "easy" 10 minutes Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, feel free to harrass me about doing my icing, massage, eccentric exercises and stretching.

Spoonerisms

Was talking about spoonerisms with a friend at work today and decided to look a few more up. Anyway, a search on google led me to this web page - Fun with Words - which along with many spoonerisms, had dozens of other language manipulation topics including anagrams, Mondegreens and tonguetwisters. I hope you enjoy it, it really brightened up my day.

Injury update

The good news is that my physio thinks that I can start running again, the bad news is that I'll have to wait until Friday to do so. He doesn't want me running in my old orthotics because they have broken down somewhat. He is bringing me some new Orthotics tomorrow which I'll have to take home and adjust for my feet. So it will have to be friday morning. He has set me a program for the next three weeks, after which I'll go back and see him again. It was to be two weeks, but he will be away with the SA hockey team in the second week.

So here's the program:
Week 1 - 3x 10min light run
Week 2 - 3x 15min light run
Week 3 - 2x 10min light run alternating with 3x 15min light run

- ice massage after each run
-eccentric exercises each day 12 reps single leg/12 reps double leg
-massage soleus muscle each day

Explosion Update

They found the body of a man believed to be the cafe owner inside the building. Very sad.

From the Rupertiser:

Man's body found at blast site
02may06

THE body of a man has been found in an Adelaide cafe destroyed in an explosion early today.Police said the body was located at the back of the cafe following a search of the premises.
Emergency services spent several hours searching the Pirie Street building, which houses the cafe and two other businesses in the city centre, after the man's vehicle was located nearby shortly after the 3am blast.
A police spokesman said the body was yet to be formally identified but was believed to be that of the missing man.
"A short time ago the body of a middle-aged man was located at the back of the premises.

"This brings to a conclusion the tragic circumstances for the family," South Australian police Superintendent Paul Schramm said at the scene.
A post-mortem examination will be held tomorrow.
The blast blew out the front and rear sections of the building and caused a big section of wall to collapse.
It also showered debris across the street and damaged a second building.


Final update on this: This story at the age has most of the current info in it. I won't put up any more about it until there is some new information.

Jogger's World Damaged in building Explosion

Adelaide's only specialist running store has been damaged by a serious explosion in the basement of the building in which it is located. The whole building is closed and will likely be demolished. There are also fears for a cafe owner who may have been in the building at the time of the accident (3am).

Here are a few articles from the internet:

Last Update: Tuesday, May 2, 2006. 10:44am (AEST)

Fears for man missing after Adelaide blast

Adelaide police hold grave concerns for a man who they have been unable to account for after an explosion at a building in the city.
The blast happened just after 3:00am ACST in what is believed to have been the basement of a building on Pirie Street.
The cause of the blast is not yet known.
Fire investigators will attempt to enter the destroyed building to search for a business owner and Superintendent Paul Schramm says there are concerns the man could be injured.
"We have not been able to obviously make contact with this person," he said.
"His business is extensively damaged.
"We do hold concerns but let's not speculate. We will get that information to the relatives as soon as we can."
Former Adelaide Crows player Tom Warhurst says his sporting goods store was damaged by the blast.
"The force of the explosion's come out the front but because of the movement in the building it looks like the two storey back wall has collapsed at the back of the building," he said.
"The building's not in good shape, so I have spoken to the owner of the building who is also in construction and he says that it would be bowled over, it'll be condemned."
Rory O'Neill from a nearby wine business says his shop was also hit by the explosion.
He says a cleaner saw the blast.
"She got quite a shock. There was quite a ball of flame that came out of the building at the time of the explosion," he said.
"She actually witnessed [the blast] so she's been treated for shock I think and been taken to hospital."
Business owner Ben Barletta says his wine bar was damaged but says it is lucky no one was there at the time.
"Not knowing how these things are and that's why they call these things accidents," he said.
"Thankfully it wasn't a crowded day or we were in the building itself at the time, or a late night function, or anything like that so in as much as you can say it was opportune."

Also:

MAN MISSINGAFTER ADELAIDEBUILDING BLAST
02may06
POLICE hold fears for the safety of an Adelaide man missing after an early morning explosion in a central city building.Investigators are trying to enter the building in Pirie Street after an explosion severely damaged the premises about 3am today.
Police said there were concerns for the owner of a cafe, one of three businesses in the building.
Officers were unable to contact him and his car had been found parked behind the building, Superintendent Paul Schramm told reporters.
"So we can't completely rule out the fact that there may be an injured person in the building," Supt Schramm said.
"We don't want to speculate further on that.
"We have been in contact with the relatives. Obviously they are extremely concerned.
"As soon as we can safely enter the building and confirm whether or not anyone is injured, we will do so and notify the relatives.
"We are doing our very best to get in as soon as we can, safely."
The blast blew out the front and rear sections of the building and caused a major section of wall to collapse.
It also showered debris across the street and damaged a second building.
The explosion appeared to have been sparked in the basement of the building which housed a retail wine outlet, a cafe and a sports store on the first floor.
There has been some speculation gas may have triggered the explosion.
Supt Schramm said the situation could have been much worse had the blast happened later in the day in the usually busy retail and business section of the city.
"If it had happened other than in the early hours of this morning, clearly there would have been significant injuries," he said.
Supt Schramm said the front facade of 121 Pirie Street was extremely dangerous and would likely have to be brought down later today.
An area around the building has been declared a danger zone, limiting public access.

PS. A guilty secret. I don't buy my shoes from Joggers World, I get them at Athletes Foot because we have a family discount card there. I do buy my other running gear there though. After I redeem my reward discount next time, I might start getting my shoes at Jogger's World - if they have reopened yet!

Itchy feet

This no-running caper is really starting to get to me. I just want to go for a run. I ran to get over some traffic lights the other day and I felt fine. Surely I can start now. No I'd better wait. A measly 38.5 km for this month. I suppose there is no option but to take it easy, but it is so frustrating. Bring on Thursday. Fingers crossed that I'll be allowed to run then.

Overdue injury update

Well this update is somewhat overdue. I went to the physio (Tim) again on Wednesday. Tim reckons the inflammation on the tendon has gone down quite a bit. He has told me to progress to single-leg heal dips, but continue ice massage (my bad - I haven't done that since then). He really got into the tendon and my calves with massage and I was quite sore afterwards, but the leg is feeling much better and stronger now. I even had to run for a traffic light today and it felt really good (that is to say, I felt no pain or weakness in the Achilles or anywhere else). Tim thinks that after next weeks session, I will be able to do a 1-2 km run the next day and another that week, then build up over the next 4-5 weeks to running 10 km again. It sounds slow, but at this point any run is looking good to me. I assume that if everything is looking good after this then I will be able to start building up a new program.

So let's look at some numbers. I will say it is 5-6 weeks until I can start a new program, which would take me to early June. If I say that I have all of June and July, and most of August until the Adelaide Marathon, then that gives me 12 weeks - the perfect amount of time for a half marathon training program, not so ideal for a full marathon. So there is my dilemma. I guess I'll have to see how the leg feels after the 5 weeks. I'd love to run the marathon, but I'm not sure if I can get enough training done in 12 weeks. What does everyone think?

Brave or stupid?

We are sick of paying private health insurance premiums. It wouldn't be so bad if it went even close to bridging the gap between the service and the benefit, but it doesn't. Furthermore, the cost of insurance has increased rapidly over the last couple of years to the point where we have had to decrease our level of cover. The government 30% rebate was swallowed up long ago.

But what are we going to do about it? Well, we're not going to take it anymore, we are going to self-insure. We will set aside the same amount as we are paying in premiums now into a high interest savings account, only to be used for health related services. This is a scary move for us, but when we sat down and did the sums, we just can't afford a system that sees us pay huge premiums, get little benefits and then have to pay huge gaps to make up for it. Furthermore, most people I have asked have acknowledged that many more people are doing this now. My main concern about this move is that we won't have enough saved up for any short-term medical expenses. I'm afraid we may just have to wear that if it happens. In the long-run, I am aiming to save up a very large health nestegg. With two young children, I'm sure we will need it in the not too distant future.

We did quite a bit of research into this approach, and it seems to be a bit of a taboo topic. Many financial advisers and medical practitioners give conditional approval to this approach, but neither the government nor any other bodies seem to endorse it. It is very difficult to find information about how much you should set aside per year and how much you should save all up. We can only afford to set aside the amount that we are currently paying, and I would like to keep contributing for at least a couple of years before reviewing the amount we put in. Over the next decade I'd like to get it up to around $10,000. I wonder if this is enough.

At the moment we have fairly minimal medical costs but if you add the premium onto the gap payments, we are paying 150-200% or more of the cost of the services that we are using at the moment. For example, my initial visit to the physio cost $55, the benefit was $24, leaving a gap of $31. Future visits would cost I think $36 with a benefit of $16 leaving $20 gap. If I see the physio 4 times this month (which may happen), then it will cost me $91 plus the $187 premium that we pay = $278. If I pay the fees upfront without insurance, it will have cost me a maximum of $163, although my physio has agreed to charge $30 per visit if I don't have private health insurance, so it would be even less (he's a mate). So for this month I would have almost swallowed up our health savings, but that money would have been paid anyway and some. It is unlikely that I will need ongoing treatment for this injury, and I would consider taking extra caution to make sure that I don't dip into these funds on an ongoing basis.

I suppose the point is that we are healthy now and we are used to setting aside money for health, so why throw it away to a health insurance company now when we can save it for when we need it later, but can also dip into it if required?

This entry is unfinished, but I would invite any thoughts about this approach. We have started it. As of Tuesday we are sans health insurance for the first time in my life!

Update

As promised.

I saw my physio on Wednesday. As suspected, I have a small tendonopathy on the inside of my right achilles tendon. He did some work on it and prescibed some eccentric exercises in the form of slow heel dips - 3x20 at 20 sec per dip - and ice massage. All this I was expecting, but I needed to hear it from a professional as well as get advice specific to my condition. He also said that my back soreness is probably due to overcompensating for the achilles soreness, so he recommended my usual stretching regimen to help with that. Interestingly the soreness was located in the iliosacral vertebrae rather than the lumbar vertebrae, further indicating that it has nothing to do with my spondylolythesis.

WARNING: Bodily functions discussed. So to the exercises and massage. The first few days went OK, but then late Friday I started feeling bloated and tired. I think I had some digestive issues resulting in constipation. I felt like crap all yesterday and I've hardly eaten anything all weekend. I've been burping and farting all weekend and haven't felt motivated to do anything. I couldn't even eat all of the lovely dinner my wife prepared last night, much to her dismay (and in shame I slept on the couch until late night when I finally crawled into bed). I'm feeling a lot better this afternoon. I've cleared most of the backlog so to speak, and I'm less gassy, although it is still there a bit. I started eating LSA on Thursday, I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I'll cut out the LSA and eat plenty of fruit and veg - if I can fit it in - and see how that goes.

I'll get in some more dips this afternoon and some more icing. My back soreness has mostly gone away so I can get back into the strengthening exercises soon too. I'll update in a few days or after my next physio visit on Wednesday.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Tesso and Beki, so I guess I should pull my finger out and contribute.

I will preface this quiz with the statement that I am injured at the moment, so these answers are what I usually do and not what I'm doing at the moment. Also, the answers may be tinged with a hint of frustration at not being able to participate in many of the answers given below.

1. What time of day do you run?

Anytime. I usually run to or from work and rarely both. Sometimes I get up early and take the dog for a run, and lately I have been running with the Track Timers on Thursday mornings. I usually do my long run on Sunday morning.

2. What are your favourite runs?

My favorite run is anywhere around the towns of Yankalilla and Normanville about 1 hour south of Adelaide. I just head out and run anywhere through the rolling hills or along the beach. It is beautiful countryside, with little traffic on the dirt roads and clean fresh air.

3. What is your favorite song to run to?

Well I don't run with an MP3 player, so I don't listen to music while I run, but I do get songs stuck in my head that I sing to myself (singing aloud may incite incidents of road rage).

Anything from The Magnetic Fields' album 69 Love Songs, H&C Holy Grail, Cold Chisel Khe Sanh (lately for some unknown reason), Many others that I can't think of right now. Often I'll get a snippet or loop of a song stuck in my head and repeat it over the whole run, eg 'Isaac or Fuzz' by MGF.

4. What book are you reading at the moment?

The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien. I've read this a couple of times before and I've read TLOTR twice too. I lost my copy of The Hobbit a few years ago, so when I saw an old (1973) copy sitting in a second-hand book stall at Myponga markets on Saturday, I couldn't resist and snapped it up for $2. I've started reading it aloud to our 4 year old daughter. Hope she doesn't get too scared by Goblins, Gollum or Mirkwood!

Oh yeah, and The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

5. When did you start running?

I started running seriously in February 2004. Before this I had done a bit of running mainly as training for my hockey career. Before the age of 17, I had always relied on the minimum training and games to keep me fit. After I finished year twelve, I was overweight, slow and unfit. My state sports institute coach took me aside and basically told me that, and if I didn't do something about it I would lose my institute place. He gave me a program of running exercises involving sprint work, resistance training and longer distance sessions as well as some advice on healthy eating. Over that summer I lost about 13kg and reinvented myself as a hockey player. Since then I have always seen fitness as a high priority whether it be for hockey or just for running.

6. What's your post-race/post-run ritual?

Drink, warm down, stretch, eat, collect awards (just kidding), shower then home or home then shower. Sometimes we'll go out for lunch or coffee after a race.

7. What do you eat before you run?

Jam on toast and juice. Sometimes an espresso. Sometimes Sustagen. I can eat most light meals before running, but not milk.

8. What's your favorite running accessory?

Coolrunning hat followed closely by my polar heart rate monitor.

9. What's your motivation for running?

I've written at length about why I race here. So I would have to say that my motivation for running in the first place is so that I can race and hence so that I can test my ability.

10. What are your running shoes?

Rotating three pairs of Mizuno Wave Mustangs.

11. What is your next running goal?

My next running goal is to run sub 3 hours in the Adelaide Marathon. It is a fair way off, but I think I will need all that time to rebuild my strength from my present injury. Along the way I wouldn't mind getting under 36min for 10km. I might also have a crack at the top 50 in the Adelaide City to Bay.

I tag all the people from the Track Timers blog. I'd like to hear more about your running life guys,