Are they hanging up the stockings on the wall?

I find it interesting that most Christmas songs have stood the test of times extremely well, from the classic Big Crosby's White Christmas through Slade, Wizzard and Wham until the present day.  But it's the current dearth of Christmas songs that I find a bit puzzling.  Have we run out of ideas?  ..or is it my generation thinking there's been nothing decent created since 1979?  That last bit is true, of course.
One of the local bands in my area has released a Christmas song, and I'm told that it's quite good.  Will it be around next year?  I doubt it, but Noddy Holder might have thought the same in 1973.
I wonder if the fear of failure puts bigger music stars off releasing a seasonal song.  There would be so much hype built up that if it was deemed a 'flop' then it might terminally affect their career, and of how do you define a 'flop' in the world of downloads, streaming and pirated copies?  The 70's were a whole lot simpler in that area, although I figure that Slade would have been as popular on any form of social media.

It;s clear there's only one thing for me to do - write a Christmas song.  I remember that Bing Crosby took a number of years to perfect White Christmas so I'd better start now.

Lifecycle

We all do it, but not many of us like it because generally, it's not a pretty sight.
Ageing, that's what I'm talking about.  Supposedly someone has already been born who will live to 130 years old, and this morning I heard that someone thinks we can prolong life almost indefinitely.  How we do this is due to undiscovered technology that will develop over the new 10 or 20 years.  I'm not convinced on that theory although I remember that the project to put a man on the moon made the assumption that certain technology would be ready in time for the mission.
I can't help but think that our bodies have a finite lifespan.  The clue is in the word 'life' I suppose, and if we project that forward then a longer life = longer lifespan.
A bit difficult for a mere mortal (or am I) to get my head around.

Car Chase

A German chap allegedly reported his car missing 20 years ago and has just been reunited with it.  Sounds a bit far fetched to me, especially as the car was found in an old warehouse due for demolition.  More likely it was stolen and dumped, or maybe he 'lost' it to reclaim insurance money or similar.  Not that I'm stating that as fact, but it's possibility.  Whatever the real story, the newspaper dressed this up as 'news' and leave it as that.  Maybe the would get into some legal hot water if they speculated, but they seem to do that all the time.
I lost my car once in St Tropez.  When I say 'lost' I mean was looking in the wrong car park that looked identical to the one I left it in.  I even phoned my pal up who was with us (in his car) that we would be a while whilst I sorted it with the police.  After a few minutes it became apparent I was looking n the wrong place and all was well and only had to endure a few moments/months/years of pi$$ taking.

Shout, Shout, let it all out.

Yet again, I feel compelled to say a few things about Twitter comments, or rather the use of Twitter comments in other news items.
If I was penning a newspaper article and added commentary based on what I heard in the pub last night, readers would be quite surprised and probably never read another piece again.  However, it is becoming almost normal to add selected Twitter comments by Mr Shouty Person to any old article, somehow assuming it adds something to the article rather than diminishing it.
We also see this at the end of every local news bulletin, the broadcaster somehow kidding themselves that these people represent the views of the masses and 'are involved'.  What a load of tosh, they are just the opinionated shoutys from the pub.

Screentest

Have we all got a book in us?  Not a physical book, of course, a book that lives within us waiting to turn itself into wonderful words on a page or 2, or 356 or whatever the published thinks is enough.  That's not to imply that it should be published, but surely one of the reasons anyone would write a book would be to have it read by others.
My father had started a book, although I have no idea when he started writing.  He sadly died at the age of 63 from an industrial disease which slightly scuppered his longer term plans so I'll never know what his intentions were.
I have in mind a sitcom, or at least that's my current incarnation of my writing.  I've been through the book stage and now, after some serious contemplation (as I went off to sleep last week) sitcom it is.
Saves someone doing the screenplay I suppose.

1st Earlies.

1st early run of the season today -  I got out just after 5 o'clock for 4 miles, but it was hard work.  I'm not sure which was harder, the getting out or the finishing.  Getting out was made easier by me getting my gear ready the night before, and because it was a warm shirt it felt better with it on than off (note to self - do that again).  My hamstrings were complaining a bit though and considering I've hardly done any running in the last few weeks that's not a good sign.
However, I need to do more because my weight is going slowly up.  Dieting is definitely harder work than all the above, so watch this space for more sweaty early mornings.

Now Departing From Platform...

Self-publicising and the need to keep everyone informed of what you are doing seems to me to the real driving force behind the rise of most social media platforms.  It's 'who shouts loudest wins' type of platform.
When Facebook first appeared I signed up quite enthusiastically, but within a year it was clear to me that the idealistic 'friends' and posting on each others wall were soon overtaken by the 'look at me' type of person who soon had a nice easy to use platform to shout at everyone.  My conclusion around 2010 was that Facebook was OK until everyone else joined.

Anyway, I'm sure there have been many doctorates earned on the merits, theories and downsides of social media so I don't need to go on too much.

If I could walk 50 miles then I could walk 50 more.

It's been well over 25 years since I last did a long run/walk/shuffle, but I managed to complete 50 in 14hrs 47mins without too much hardship.  I had a couple of blisters on the soles of my feet that threatened to spoil the party late on but they didn't seem to get significantly worse as the miles wore on.  I walked for the last 20 miles, after I caught up with another bloke who seemed to be intent on walking all of it.  I had started on a walk/run strategy with the emphasis on the walk part, but this soon became a walk only strategy with only s small reduction in overall pace.
I found someone to talk to really helped to make the miles go by although I was ready for the finish a couple of hours before it actually arrived.  Now to think what to do next.
According to the data, my pace dropped gradually over the whole 50 miles so I'm intrigued if my earlier jogging knocked back my finishing pace by much i.e. can I maintain a moderate pace for the whole distance or will I slow down just because it's such a long time?  My companion seemed to think that a steady pace was key to achieving a good time, so that's my next target I think.  Just need to find a suitable event.

Lucky For Some

Friday 13th.  What could possibly go wrong?
Well, quote a lot according to some strange people.  I can never understand superstitious people, the ones who always have their 'lucky jumper' on when their football team wins, the 'lucky socks' when they get a good golf score.  Come on!!! how the heck are they helping you?
I'm sure someone will have an accident today and blame Friday 13th, as if the accident couldn't possibly happen on another day.
Oh, and another odd phrase: 'everything happens for a reason you know'.  Yes, you're careless and you slipped.

A bit of RRR

I've signed up for the Round Rotherham Run on Saturday.  Rotherham as you probably know, is not so big, but someone created a 40 mile loop around it 35 years ago and it's still going strong every year.  It looks like some of it has been swallowed up by housing estates but there's enough greenery to make it 'rural', or at least that's what the website says.  I'll tell you about it next week.
Its called a run, but in actual fact it's also a long distance walk association (LDWA) event so my shuffling job/walk should fit nicely.  Last year's wining time was 6hrs 29mins whilst last one home was about 16hrs so there's room for me in there somewhere.

Web Enabled.

Its been a couple of months since I last poured out my heart to the online community, even though I know that the dozen or so hits every day are automated searches looking for goodness knows what.  I wonder how many robotic tentacles there are on t'internet? ..and they much be increasing every day to some extent.  I don't know, but I suspect the majority are advertising related 'bots hovering up data to use for targeted strikes against the innocent.
How long before we all our life is sucked into the web?

I read yesterday that the song intro is dying out.  What used to be an average of 20 secs is now 5 secs to try and stop us fast forwarding on Spotify (or similar) before the 30 second payment milestone is reached.  I didn't realise that this threshold existed, its just another web enabled part of our lives (well, some people's lives anyway) where the web has a direct consequence on something and thereby reduced the creativity as a consequence.

I'm listening to my first audible book.  Well, it's not my first one, that was a few years ago when it was a novelty, but my first book that I might have purchased in the paper format but decided to go for an 'Audible' version as an alternative.  I wonder if they suffer from the Spotify treatment and dumb down the first couple of pages to make sure you don't skip it entirely?

Medical Band

I finally got round to going to the physio last night and she confirmed what I thought - my sore hamstrings are sore hamstrings, and I need a few weeks rest and exercise to get them back into shape again.  So, I have a thick elastic band type thing where I lie on my front and raise a leg as the elastic is looped around both feet.  This makes my glutes work and after 4 to 6 weeks I am miraculously cured.  Well, I made that last bit up but I'm hoping it will be something along those lines.  The only problem for me is doing the exercises.  I'm not good at that sort of thing, but I have reconciled myself to not running for a few weeks so I'll have a bit of free time at least.

One good thing, cycling is not off the agenda.

You Spin Me Round

Did my 29 mile Peak Skyline race last Sunday.  What a course!  Far too hilly for an old man like me, and although the organisers stated there was a generous time cutoff, I didn't make the last check point in time (8 mins short) so was out the race but I managed to walk/jog the last 5 miles to get a hot drink as they were packing up.  There was no way I was going back in a van.

Anyway, it hasn't put me off completely and I've now entered a 50 miler - the Round Rotherham Run.  Its also a walk, so I don't think there is a prescribed cut-off so which is good to me.

Watch this space.

Catchphrase!

1. '....for sure'.   
2. '...super fast.'
These are phrases (they're probably not phrases, but I don't know what they are, more like adphrases which is a word I just made up) that are tacked onto sentences if you are 1. any person involved with formula 1 and 2. any person involved in pro cycling.
What's interesting is that even new people into the sport soon get dragged into using these same words as if it actually means something, for sure.

I haven't noticed any other sport with this type of language, although footballers tend to start with 'as I was saying..' when that would only make sense if you were the same person they said it to originally.  I assume this is to do with most footballers' intellect is not that high up the scale although I now there are exceptions...  as I was saying.

Whatshisname.

Beyoncé and her spouse (Jay-Z) have allegedly copyrighted their new twins' names - Rumi and Sir.
Very odd, and sums up the strange world that celebrities inhabit, removed from real life and perpetuating the belief that their world is different, remote and downright weird.

I wonder if I can copyright Rebecca, Sophie and Felicity?  ..and if I did, what would it get me?  Do I get exclusive rights on the name?  Do others have to pay me royalties for using it?  Hmm, suddenly it's sounding like quite a good idea.

Painful History

I genuinely can't remember when my hamstring first flared up.  I think it was in February, but I'll have to look back at my old logs to check.  Its still a bit of a pain, and shows no sign of going away - very frustrating.  I'm a good minute down on my pre-injury pace/mile although fortunately doesn't seem to affect longer distances, but they're that bit slower.
Also, the cycling is unaffected and although I get a twinge or 2 it hasn't stopped me doing anything yet.  The company have entered a few of us in a 100 mile sportive on Thursday so here's hoping it doesn't deter me much.

Adapting To Survive

I often use the phrase 'Its all relative' if someone makes a comment about another comment another person has made.  The point I'm trying to make is that one's perspective is often (but not always)  affected by your most recent experience of something similar.  There are many examples of this, such as 'my mobile phone is rubbish', when you are used to an iPhone costing 3 times the price; 'the quality of this shirt is poor' for when you usually buy more up market stuff to wear, and the most common one we hear now is 'it's too hot to do anything' when all it means is that we are not used to it being this hot and therefore struggle to adapt.
Its the adapting bit we struggle with.

Softop Software

Back to one of my favourite topics, self driving cars  - the ultimate lazy mans driving machine.
It seems that Apple have 'finally admitted that are making autonomous vehicles'.  Actually, they didn't admit that, but that was the headline.  the head line should have read something like ' Apple are making software to go into autonomous vehicles, which makes much more sense for a technology company.  I can't see Apple, or even Google for that matter stepping into the car manufacturing market and being a success, so they have to concentrate on what they do well.
Interestingly, Apple seem (in my opinion) to have lost the plot with their consumer electronics lately, or maybe all their rivals have caught up which is probably more like reality.  They seem to be trying unsuccessfully to lead us into things like 'wearables' (a word that should never have been allowed to be created) just so they can sell something new.  I look forward to a range of automotive devices that have similarly bad names.  Their marketing department must be very proud.

Cross Times

Its voting day today which of course is very exciting.  I'll be putting my cross in the box later on, hoping I will remember to go.  Not that it make any difference in my constituency which has been bright Tory blue since time began so can't see it changing.  It has the occasional few protest votes going to the greens and that's about it.

As for the bigger national picture, Mrs. May appeared to be coasting, but then she made a couple of errors with manifesto announcements followed by a good showing from Mr. Corbyn on the campaign trail and has never really got her mojo back.  The polls still show her with a healthy lead but nowhere near what she had a few weeks back so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I'm not a big fan of Mr. Corbyn with his idealistic policies cut and pasted from the 70s, but the main thing is that all his ideas rely on spending money, money that we haven't necessarily got.  How he squares that one I don't really know, but rest assured I'm sure it will not be successful without a great deal of pain somewhere.

Planning Cycles

Went for a run yesterday and for the first time since Feb, I felt OK as I set off.  Unfortunately, it didn't last and my hamstring came back to nag me, but maybe not as bad as previous.  Or was it?
Anyway, my conclusion is that the cycling that I've been doing has helped wit the healing process, or at least strengthened up muscles around the complaining ones.
Therefore, I now plan more cycling to see if this does really help or if it's just a coincidence.

Say it Loud!

Are batteries way to go to solve the fluctuating energy supplies form wind and power?  Discuss.
Probably not, because they cost so much to produce and are rather large.  I'm thinking a version of what they currently do in Scotland where they pump water uphill when they have surplus power, then let gravity do the generating as the water runs through turbines on the way downhill again.  However, I haven't a clue if this economically viable, generates enough power etc etc so it's just me spouting off in the pub (or this blog, anyway) about something I think I know about. 
This spouting off about all sorts of subjects can be typically seen in the comments section of news articles.  It must take a brave editor to open up comments on some subjects given the large number of 'experts' to be found around the country.  Some of it is entertaining, whilst some make me want to reply - but fortunately have sufficient will power to resist.

The End is In Sight

Subway advertise 'burnt ends'.  I think there's a bit more to it than that  - maybe beef burnt ends or similar, but whatever I saw on the poster did not appeal to me.  Having said that, when we have a roast joint of beef or lamb I tend to select the 'burnt ends' so don't know why I'm so surprised at a commercial outlet advertising that.
I was trying to think of some other product that on the face of it should be off-putting, but in reality quite tasty.  Pork scratchings might also fall into this category.

Running news now, and my hamstring niggle is still niggling, but not getting worse as far as I can tell, but it's not getting better either.  It seems to have stabilised into an annoying ache just below my buttock and is at it's worst after 20 minutes of driving.  I'm hoping it will slowly go away.

Lend Me Your Ear...

The 'bank of mum and dad' are slated to lend about £6.5 billion in 2017.  That's a rather large house.
...but I'm not sure why it's headline news, and newspapers appear to have a problem over what type of news this is - good, or bad.  Most resort to the 'shocking statistic' but don't actually reveal why its shocking.  A bit like the shocking 'there are literally billions of fish in the sea'.  OK, it's a great deal of fish, but loosen up, it's not that surprising is it?

Running news, and I set off intending to do a 13 miler yesterday, hit some sort of wall at 9, took a wrong turn and looked like I would do 16 or 17 only to be fortuitously picked up by my wife in the last mile or so as she went past.  Must try harder.

Driving Miss

More on driverless cars today.  There are 3 different article in the Guardian concerning driverless cars.  One is about unmanned 'pods' at Heathrow, a fairly low risk arena to test them I would have thought.  Another is from the USA where a town in Arizona have been selected to test 500 of Google's vans.  You volunteer to have one, then 'drive' it, well, you actually sit next to another person who is employed by Google (actually a subsidiary called Waymo) to oversee the software.  This means you don't need a driving license, be physically able etc. so quite an interesting development on the road to tarmacadam utopia.  The 3rd article was the ambition to drive a fleet of autonomous vehicles from London to Oxford by 2018.  Evidently they will have reached Level 4 by then.
So now we know.

Smiles All Round

If I chance upon an article about running, it is nearly always accompanied by a setup photograph of 2 or 3 happy, smiling runners effortlessly jogging down a leafy lane.  Well, sometimes a leafy lane, but you get the picture.  The point is, is that they convey a state of ecstasy that must be linked to running itself.
However, after my 22 mile epic yesterday, I can assure you that no happy smiling face could be seen until I was sat in my car driving home and even then it was tinged with pain as my muscles started the slow painful recovery.  It was never intended to be 22 miles, but 2 errant turns of direction extended the planned 15 to 22 miles.  The good thing is that I don't feel half as bad as expected to today, so that's a good thing.

Flight of Fantasy?

A Dutch engineer/student/nutter (delete as appropriate) has come up with an idea for a circular aircraft runway.  I find this quite intriguing, groundbreaking and potentially useful but in reality it will never make it to full use.  ...but what do I know?  Obviously I am a bit conservative when it comes to things like this and although flying has not been around that long (was it 1920 or thereabouts?) I know enough about flight theory to be quite skeptical regarding this.  ..but time will tell.  I didn't think I would live to see driverless cars on the streets.

Left, Right.

As usual, another of my predictions was wrong.  This was that sitting Labour MPs would be upset by the snap election because they would be up for reselection.  No reselection will take place because of the short timescales, so no left wingers will get the chance to take over the more common centre-left type of Labour MP, otherwise known as Blairites.  This will give us another 5 years of Corbyn battling the established parliamentary Labour party to no avail.
Still, they'll be plenty to have a laugh about I'm sure.
UKIP will probably come out of this the most worst off (unless this prediction thing of mine carries on).  They only won one seat in the 2015 election, and has gone back to the Tories so I can only see them picking up the extreme conservative right voters with the rest going back to Conservative.
The Lib dems vote will be interesting to analyze because they are firmly against brexit, the only party to have come out with that line.
Watch this space.

Voting Rights

Mrs May has today surprisingly called for a general election in the UK.  I expect that will have got Labour MPs groaning into their cornflakes as the local parties rub their hands at the thought of getting rid of established centrist MPs to be replaced by more left leaning versions.
We will have something to entertain us over the next couple of months anyway.

Racing Along

I've finally found a longish trail run worth entering without being over the top.  It's the Peak Skyline - a 29 mile trek across the Peak District.  It has the advantage of not being too far away from home, is long, but not very long and was only 32 quid. 
Mind you, even though its not a proper ultra, after my 9 mile race last Sunday over the Lincolnshire Wolds its clear that I need quite a bit more training between now and then.

Meanwhile, in the strange world of politics, UKIP continue to wrestle with their inner demon of  'We won it, now what?'.  Such a problem.  I was trying to think of anything that could match it and the best I came up with is that particular species of spider that mates, then crawls off the female and dies, it's sole purpose in life been satisfied.

Fly Me To The Moon

More on driverless cars today in the paper.  A luminary (or more likely just someone who drives cars) suggests that we need driverless roads, rather than cars.  His point is that vehicles need to be helped on their way rather than helping themselves, and I can see his point.  Competing commercial interest might stimulate technology, but will it be for the benefit of all of us?  Autonomous vehicles competing for road space is going to take some sort of co-ordination definitely, so why not build some of the technology into the infrastructure, a sort of road-traffic control centre like we have for airspace.  Just imagine if air travel didn't have air-traffic controllers and they relied on collision avoidance systems.  Carnage would ensue I'm sure.

Driving Around.

Uber, the upstart taxi company shaking up the traditional taxi businesses, state the it's future relies on self driving cars becoming a reality.  Unfortunately, they have had to recall their test vehicles due to excessive 'interventions'.  An intervention is where a backup driver has to take over if they think there is a problem of any variety. 
So there's 2 interesting discussion points.  One is that the aggrieved taxi companies that Uber has trampled on see fit, they will  do everything in their power to prevent or at least delay driverless vehicles hitting the high streets.
The other, is that the commercial future depends on rather dodgy technology which is (surely) way off from being used.  There seems no point at all in having a 'standby' driver just in case of interventions, when the business case demands no driver at all.
I watch this space with interest.

Power Time

16 minutes so far.  That's the time I have been listening to music on hold whilst trying to contact my electricity provider. I have no confidence that I will ever get through to anyone, and although they do have an online form I could fill in I'm not sure it will the required result.  They have calculated that I need to increase my monthly payments, whilst calculations recommend a reduction...hence my trying to contact them. I'm sure I will be able to talk to a rational logical customer service person who will be able to help i.e. see my point.

20 minutes now.

Success at 22 mins, but now back on hold as the kindly customer service person goes off to find someone to explain why my 'personal projection' is £200 more than mine.
On hold again as she finds a 'lead advisor' as we did agreed somewhat.

37 minutes total time, that's 15 minute call time.

I wait with bated breath.

Ok, we have a compromise - I stay on the same direct debit and we review when we have to.

That's 58 unnecessary minutes wasted.

Bike Post.

There's an interesting article in The Guardian today about bike hire in some cities.  Evidently they have the 'standard' docked hire bikes where you pick up from a docking station and leave it at another, but they also have 'dockless' bikes with GPS trackers on them so you can find our where your nearest is and go to it, then leave it somewhere for the next customer to find.
It all seems a bit haphazard to me, and they are starting to have problems with piles of bikes lying around, especially if one of the providers goes bust.
..but maybe that's the way it will be in the future.

Casual Dress.

I'm a bit confused about this 'Gig Economy' we're supposed to be living through nowadays (not the capital letters, its that important).  I think it's just another way of describing contract work - short term jobs that come and go as the employer seeks fit.  As an ex IT contractor when you're never sure when your contract will end and the next one will start, it's not a good place to be depending on your current financial situation.
In the good old days, contract work was always better paid than someone with full-time employed status, or permie and as we used to say, but that's not the case nowadays with more and more work taken by contractors, and some even have severe penalties if you fail to show up as in the case of delivery drivers where the one not showing up has to find (and fund) an alternative.  I'm pleased to hear that the government is looking at the employment regulations to restrict these practises, but as usual they are too late for those already hit by it.  Let's hope they do something about it.

Grammar!

I had never heard of an 'Oxford Comma' until I read an article today about how it's absence from some wording in a contract made it ambiguous and therefore some workers won a rights case.  I now what it does (I'm a grammar school lad after all), but never heard it called by that name.  It was just a comma until now.  My life is immeasurably enriched.

As for my running injury - namely the strained hamstring that I have been going on about for the last few weeks, it is definitely improving although not as fast as I thought, and the after effects are giving me some grief, specifically when sitting in my car for more than half an hour.  I get a severe ache in my right buttock, only eased by shifting my weight as much as possible onto my left one which is no mean achievement in a car whilst driving I can tell you.
Anyway, cycling hasn't suffered and I managed a ride to and from work this week as well as 2 lunchtime runs.  I'm having a rest day today (still feeling the commute in my legs) and I'll probably get out tomorrow lunchtime.

What you see is what you get.

There's a celebrated BBC TV interview of a bloke in a suit and his children come into the room in the background.  A few moments later a lady scoots them up in a rather haphazard panicky way and beats a retreat out the room.  The lady in question looks and acts like a nanny, not a parent and an article in the Guardian questions why we think that Asian looking women in such a situation are immediately assumed to be the nanny, not the spouse.
I can only assume that The Guardian have a 'fill as much space as possible' drive by resorting to such class related articles.  'What does it say about you?' it asks in a 'make you feel guilty' sort of way, I mean why did you think that a younger Asian person scurrying about frantically rounding up high spirited children would mean she was a nanny?  I am obviously a bad person.

In other eye-rolling news, Nicola Sturgeon announces she will set up a new independence referendum.  Ho hum, play it again Sam.   An interesting debate but I don't think anyone has the stomach for it really.

I'm almost human

It wasn't long ago that I would scoff at the suggestion that driverless cars would become a reality, but I have to admit that I was way off from reality and now expect these to be on our streets much quicker than I thought.
The technology is relatively simple - plan a route and get there safely.  I think we have cracked the planning part, it's the safely bit that is more tricky.  As well as 'normal' obstacles such as road furniture, roundabouts etc., the vehicle has to watch out for a myriad of potential things that might happen as it traverses our roads.
I don't have any data, so this could be a bold statement; On my daily commute I encounter at least one type of incident for the first time ever every day, and it's only by my built in preservation programs that keep me in one piece.
I guess they have already decided to go with a 'good enough' approach to implementation where they will gradually improve the monitoring and avoidance technology and live with the consequences leading up to a full blown 'almost human' version.

Progressing.

2.8 miles at lunchtime - and no bad after effects on my hammy hamstring.  It was a bit sore whilst running, but it's looking good.  No more comment needed.

Sore Trifles

I feel like I'm on 'the road to recovery' with my hamstring, but it's a bit unclear which way to turn on the road.  The theory is that a level 2 hamstring strain needs around 3 weeks to repair itself.  I gave it 2 weeks before trying it out on a soft, wet field for 2 miles first (Saturday).  This didn't seem to aggravate it, so I then did a very steady 2 mile tarmac run which also did not seem to make it much worse (although it was a trifle sore).  Therefore, I'm torn between steady short runs as it (hopefully) improves, or rest it a bit more and try again.
Psychologically, it's difficult.  I feel much better than last week when I was doing nothing, but because it hasn't miraculously healed itself (shock, horror) and still feels sore, I'm worried it might set me back again.

Good Taste

So that's 2 weeks of rest for my hamstring, and the book says 3 weeks.  I have been doing my exercises twice a day (almost), but this morning's session felt like it was the same as last week.  Very frustrating.  Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but although I'm tempted to try it out to check out the progress, I need to rail that back and stick to the resting option.

Marketing has always been in interesting subject to me.  How do you sell something? ..and then, when it's old how do you keep them coming back for more?  This went through my head last night as I was selecting a freshly baked bread loaf for the next couple of days.  I could have gone for one of the many standard sliced options, but instead I was perusing the various 'baked in house' varieties.  Eventually I was drawn to an olive wholemeal version, based mainly on it's look.  I say 'mainly' because I had already filtered out the white, the 'wrong size' and the 'wrong shape'.  I needed it to last for 2 days (select: right size) for today's pack up lunch (select: right shape) and suit my palette.
To get that returning customer, the proof is in the eating of course and it wasn't bad although not as good as it looked, but that was only because it looked good - very good.

Scan Scam

I don't often make predictions, mainly because I hate being proved wrong - which will probably happen in most cases, but I predict that we will have some sort of body scanning device(s) that inform us of a variety of ailments without intrusive tests.  Don't know how long we will have to wait for this, but probably in the next 20 years, so I am looking forward to getting scanned and it telling me I'm almost dead.
It is also highly likely that this will turn out to be completely false, but as usual with predictions, there is an element of hope superimposed on the statement.

Talking of hope, I'm hoping for a positive outcome to my twice daily exercises to sort my hamstring out.  Its not getting worse, and I have managed to transfer next Saturday's 26 mile race entry to someone else, so no real financial impact.  Just psychological.

Sweat Free

I've never taken to regular, tedious stuff.  One job I had involved daily repetitive jobs that seemed to me to be simply a box ticking exercise, but if I had looked harder I would have realised that there was a reason for doing what I thought of as a waste of time.  I have since read/been told that some people are more cut out for repetitive stuff, whilst some are not.  This is a handy for me to justify my apparent laziness, although I'm not overly convinced that this is based on hard facts.

Anyway, this leads me into the daily exercise stuff I have set myself doing to overcome the sore hamstring issue.  It involves carrying out numerous exercises at least twice a day to strengthen certain muscles leading to a speedy recovery and less likely recurrence of the injury.  If these exercises were a bit more difficult to do, or more arduous leading to a sweaty conclusion it would make it easier, but no, they are easy to accomplish, sweat free stretchy sessions that don't feel like they are doing any good at all.  If it resulted in sweat and tears then I would relish them, but as it is I just can't be enthusiastic.

Let's hope the theory is correct.

Funny Routine.

As I write this, I can feel my hamstring bugging me which cannot possibly be a good thing.  I tried a few miles yesterday after a week's rest and it was almost as bad as the previous week, so rest by itself is obviously not the answer.  This means some sort of exercise/strengthening plan has to be put in place which is not my cup of tea at all.  It relies on regular sessions, something that I am not good at.
Anyway, I started last night with some easy 'lay on your back and do stuff' type of exercise and managed to remember to also do it this morning.   Ideally, it would be good to spend a bit of my lunch hour doing it, but not really practical unless I want to take up some office floor space and put up with verbal.
Let's hope it improves, but my 26 miler next Saturday is all but gone.

All The Best Laid Plans

I'm still in 2 minds over should I try a couple of miles or not to see what the hamstring feels like.  I set my alarm clock early today to get out before work, but switched it off - so much for that, and my plan B to go at lunch was scuppered by an over running meeting.  Plan C is to go after work, but it's Valentines day today so that might be seen as a 'problem' by 'er indoors.
What a quandary!

Hammy Hamstring

A sore hamstring has kept me away from my shorts since Thursday.  I'm hoping it's only sore rather than anything more serious, so a bit of reset seems sensible although my 26 mile off roader is less than 2 weeks ago so can't afford to take too long off.

I'll maybe try a bit of cycling this evening and see how that goes, and I'm trying to improve my glutes and quads to counter what I think is an over stretched hamstring, but not finding enough time to make it feel like it's doing any good.

The Towpath.

More on the long distance running stuff today.
The Ancholme canal near me is hardly used, but I had read of a newly laid footpath heading North that the council had commissioned, so after consulting the map to find out how far I could go I ventured to the starting town with my trainers on.  The plan was to go directly North until I reached the Humber then simply head back the same way.
There were plenty of folk fishing along the part in the town where I started, but the car park was relatively empty so I'm guessing they were all locals.  It was a bit cold, but no wind so a double t-shirt would be OK without having to resort to the jacket.  I set off on the grandly named 'Ancholme Way' which a graffiti covered notice board told me about.  I didn't stop to read the detail, but there was some guff about local points of interest.  The path was a well laid 10ft wide cinder type of surface which was ideal for me with my trail shoes on.  However, after 2 miles if abruptly ended and I found myself on a grass path - what would have been the towpath I guess.  A mile or so later and it's a rutted grass path, deteriorating further into a very rutted, sticky, slippery grass path which slowed my down considerably.  However, eventually this returned to a 'normal' grassy path where (I believe) tractors had no need to use it.  It squeezed in between the canal and a miscanthus field for a couple of miles before the last mile or so of decent grass path as I reached the lock gates at South Ferriby.  My Garmin informed me I had travelled 8.9miles, so with that in mind I turned and headed back.
The miscanthus path had not been to my liking due to overhanging hedges as well as some of the fallen miscanthus itself, so I decided to take a detour into Horkstow and Saxby to extend my route a little thereby avoiding the jungle.  I estimated this would add another 1 or 2 miles at most.  I felt reasonable good all the way back, although it was a relief to eventually get on the gritty footpath and put the slippery grass behind me.
All told, it was 19.3 miles without stopping so I'm happy with that as my 26 mile race looms in less than 4 weeks time.

Page Turner.

There was a program on the radio about opening lines to books, how important they are and how the authors arrive at them.  I feel the same way about each blog post I write here.  Not that anyone reads them, but you never know.
I also feel that I should write a book, thereby confirming the theory that everyone thinks they should write a book.  It will probably confirm the other theory that most people never do.
When my father died and I was helping my mother clear out his things, we came across a part finished book.  My mother knew it existed, and he had actually tested a few paragraphs on her.  It was mainly autobiographical but had not got very far.  Maybe I should pick up where he left.

Update.

Running training is progressing with a 13 + miler every weekend for the last 4 weeks - so that's not bad, but I maybe need to do a bit more cycling to reduce the impact on the legs.

Update over.

Running Commentary.

So, the previous post was actually started back in November, and because I have been running at lunchtimes the chances to update this blog have disappeared.  I even have to do work during the day!

Anyway, there's much to report on the ultra front.  I've been doing my research of course, and am formulating a plan.  So far, I have increased weekly mileages a bit (did quite a lot over Christmas) and trying to get a weekly long one in.  Furthest is 14 miles so far but I hope to do a bit more this weekend.  I did  9 mile off road run Christmas week and really enjoyed it, so I'm now erring towards trail type of runs, and to this end have entered a 26 mile trial run around Belvoir Estate in February, which is only in about 6 weeks.  This should give me a springboard to tackle the next milestone, which is s 50K (30 miles) and I' a bit torn on when to do this.  I have to plan a family holiday in, so need to fit it around that, and then the next step is a 50 miler which I have partly penciled in as the Round Rotherham trail race in October - it's fairly local and is really a walk which runners can take part in so no pressure.  This means I need a 50K probably in June or July but might consider one earlier.  I suppose it depends how I feel after the 26 Belvoir outing.

I say!

I say catalogue, you say catalog.  Actually, they both say the same thing, but the spelling is quite different.  Its not much of a problem, but one of many slight oddities between the UK and (mainly) the US.  I watched a Youtube channel yesterday, and they had a problem with 'jumper' in the US where it means something else, and there's countless other different meanings of words - Pants spring to mind for trousers (US) v. undergarments (UK);  vacation is the default US word for the UK's holidays so it can be quite confusing sometimes.  On my first visit to the US, I struggled to find the toilets because I should have been looking for the restroom and I don't think anyone can argue that 'restrooms' is a suitable word to describe somewhere you go and relieve yourselves... or is that just me being a stuck up limey?  Of course I'm not.

Anyway, on more personal news.. I'm contemplating extending my running skills into the 'Ultra' running arena.  Not that I've really been a marathon runner, although I have done a few and the thing that attracts me is the physical challenge of doing it rather than anything else.  There's no way I can compete, and I'm well experienced in being in the middle of everything - not too bad, but not too good either.  I did once win a trail 10K in Willingham woods, but it was a local race organized by a local charity with a few fun runners taking part, (although I tell everyone it was a stellar field).
So, back to the ultras.  It appears that anything over a marathon distance is classified as an ultra, and the advice is to start with a 50K which is only a few Ks longer than the 42K marathon - easy eh?  50 milers seem to be the next target with 100 milers thereafter.  As with all sports, the ideal is to gradually build up distance, time and pace not necessarily in that order, but you get the picture.  A golden rule that is often repeated s the 10% rule - never increase your mileage by more than 10% per week, although its more like a guideline as practical aspects always get in the way.
Watch this space