Fussy.

 Mental illness, mental pressure, wellbeing.  All these things (and more) seem to have become relatively 'normal' whereas a few years ago they were not a common affliction/state (delete as applicable).

I sometimes feel a bit guilty when I think that someone with 'mental illness' just needs to get a grip (or similar).  It's obviously my filter that I apply when viewing the world, based on my baby boomer background - my formative years were in the 70's, so I expect that's where it all stems from.  I often hear that it's a 'different world now', which it is, but does that make my view wrong? ...and is it only different because people view it differently?  Applying a different filter?  Anyway, the guilty feeling is because I struggle to see them differently, and surely human beings in the 70's had the the same phycological issues, but didn't make as much fuss?  That's probably upset any millenniums reading (there won't be any, so I'm safe).

Running news, and I have managed a 6.5 miler this morning in the windy drizzle, the first in a week.  I hereby resolve to go out again on Friday and once at the weekend.  Watch this space.

Justin Case.

 Mr Trump continues to say odd things whilst inching closer to his holy grail of another term in high office.   No change there then.  Beats me why so many Americans take him seriously.  We have our own version of Trump testifying at the covid enquiry this week, which is a mix of reputation management and opinions.  Quite a waste of public money in my opinion in that any recommendations will go nowhere unless the incumbent government allocates cash to it.  I'm sure there will be plenty of  'we will do everything we can' type of promises, when they really mean ' we will say everything we can, but don't expect anything to happen'.  Not that I think that's bad, but realistic.  A bit like insurances.   You can insure almost anything for any eventuality, but it will cost you dear, and there will be no appetite to spend money on something 'just in case'. 

Park Yourself There.

 I received an undeserved parking ticket yesterday.  Its a long story (or course), but I tried to pay at the machine but was unsuccessful, then tried the app where it picked up the wrong car park and told me I didn't have to pay, but when I got to my hotel room realised it was the wrong car park and promptly paid my £1.50.  In the morning I had a ticket on my windscreen telling me I had failed to display my pay and display ticket.  Anyway, I have put in a dispute and lets hope the see sense.  I was admittedly 5 or 10 minutes 'late' paying but it would have still been £1.50.  My expectation is low.

Hard Knock Life

The knees continue to give me a bit of concern.  Did a 7 miler yesterday and they were complaining for some time afterwards, although feeling much improved this morning. I don't know what was different yesterday, maybe it was because I was busy earlier on in the day and possibly did something that my knees didn't like.  Anyway, hopefully they will behave themselves for a while.  I have a 10k in just under 2 weeks time, then I can concentrate on the cycling for a while which possibly might build up a bit of strength and improve the situation.  If not, the Outlaw next summer is going to be hard work.

Joint Concern

 Knees.  Quite important if you want to move without any mechanical aids.  Very important if you want to move fairly quickly without mechanical aids.  When it comes running/jogging your knees take quite a hammering (along with many other joints), so I suppose it's no surprise that mine are giving me a bit of grief at the moment, especially when lying down in bed.  I think it's something to do the slight lateral movement caused by lying on my side, but whatever it is they needs to calm down a bit.

Train On Track

 So, 2 x 5 mile sessions on the rollers and I'm feeling 'back on it'.  10 miles is, of course next to nothing in the cycling world, but at least its better that nothing.

I'm in a bit of a quandary over which training plan to follow for the triathlon.  Don Fink has a 'Just get round' plan, an 'Intermediate' plan and a ' Competitive' plan.  In 2014 I did the full on competitive option and managed to just about keep up with it, finishing 3rd in my age group.  In 2019 I kept with the same plan but was down on all parts if I remember rightly, not excessively short, but definitely not what it needed.  The bike was cancelled that year of course so who knows what I would have done although my 6th in what was a swim/run was disappointing, but not unexpected.  Cycling is my strongest part.

I'm tempted to 'drop down' to the intermediate. I stand more chance of sticking to it which would stop any 'lack of training' anxieties as the day gets closer.  I'll update the spreadsheet and compare.  Watch this space.

Spending Time.

8 days since my last bit of exercise, partly down to being in recovery mode after the marathon, but the last few days I've had a snotty cold that is now only just receding.  ..so this note is designed to give me a metaphorical kick up the backside to get on the bike rollers tomorrow morning.  Possibly even this evening, although I have some painting in my diary that I need to start.

Went a bit mad at the weekend, ordering a towel radiator for the utility, a wifi enabled switch for it to connect to and a 'silent' pull switch for the changing room now that it's dark enough to need lights on in the morning.  All three of these things have been on the list for a number of years.  It's a bit odd that sometimes I am quite impulsive, then procrastinate for weeks/months/years before diving in such as yesterday.  I call it prudent, others call it tight.  

For Better or Worse

 3 days after the marathon and my legs have just about recovered.  I'm contemplating getting the bike on the rollers tomorrow and ease myself back into the saddle - its been almost 3 months since I last rode.  The last Outlaw I did, I didn't get enough cycling in (or running, but that's another story) compared with my first.  I had a very satisfactory bike leg then, so I need to emulate that to make up for my slow running leg.  I'm expecting the swim to be as bad as before - no worse, no better. 

Bad Timing

4hrs 45mins for my marathon.  I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get the target 4:40, and I really thought I could get 4:30 so that's brought me done to earth a bit. Could have been worse I suppose.  I had forgotten how much you can suffer when the wheels fall off, and that happened around the 18 mile mark.  8 miles of walk/shuffle is not much fun.

Anyway, onwards and upwards and I can start thinking about the Outlaw now.  I originally planned to enter the Outlaw after this marathon to see how I felt, but don't think it would have changed anything.  My disappointing time is not bad enough to put serious doubts, and in fact is just reinforces the fact that longer runs are important to improve stamina so it's a lesson learned (although I already knew it!). 

No Entry

 5 days to the marathon and my feet are feeling a bit sore.  It's probably nothing, but its enough to make me think about resting a bit more than I planned.  There's also a few folk with colds blowing their germs around the office so another thing to up my worry levels.  Not that I'm a big worrier, despite what my other half says, but I do like to minimise risk wherever I can, and where I can't, well, I worry about it.  

I still haven't told anyone about the triathlon plans, I'll have to let that one out of the bag in a crowded room although she's probably guessed I've entered. 

Rise and Shine!

 I managed to turn my alarm off this morning, and wake up 2 hours later.  Not too remarkable, I know, but quite rare for me.  I can only assume that my body needed the extra 2 hours.  My early alarm call was set so that I could go for a run this morning having missed the last 3 days, so unless I go out this evening (very doubtful) it will be 4 days and with the marathon 12 days away its not the best prep.  We will see on the day I suppose, and I what is done, is done.  Or not done in this case.

Right?

 I haven't felt 'right' this weekend.  I'm not sure what that means, and I can't quite put my finger on what makes me say that.  One of my theories is that a feeling on 'not right' follows a period of 'right', but I can't be sure if that's the case or not, especially as the definition of  'right' in the first place is not really understood (by me, at least).  All I know is that I have felt quite satisfied with most things recently, and I do have a few unsatisfactory musings, but nothing out the ordinary really.  By unsatisfactory, my list includes an aging mother that needs/wants attention; a car that needs an MOT booking (and passing, hopefully); a lack of running for 3 days when the marathon is 2 weeks away; a niggly knee that wakes me up now and again at night, brought on my too much running.  Righto. 

Let it all hang out.

 2 and a bit weeks to the marathon, and I haven't had time/inclination to do that long run I promised myself I would.  I should have done it last weekend, but we had a break away in the caravan and didn't want to rock the boat by insisting on doing it.  I did however get 3 x 9 milers in, and 3 x 8 milers this week so far, so hopefully that's doing me some good even if it's not all in one stretch.  All will be revealed!

Talking of revealing, I haven't told anyone that I've entered the Outlaw yet.   Not sure when I'll let that out the bag, probably when I start going to the swimming pool.  I notice that my local pool is now opening early for lane swimming rather than staying open late which is what they did 5 years ago, so that suits me much better.  It was a 9-10p.m. session then, and now it's from 6a.m.

Iron Out a Few Things

July 2024 will be 5 years since my last iron distance triathlon, so I made the rather rash decision yesterday to enter the Nottingham Outlaw again and booked the campsite.   Bit of a risk, I know but nothing ventured etc. etc.  There's also a bit of the 'you're not getting any younger' thinking to this so I need to do it whilst I can.  Besides, how difficult can it be at age 65?

In the meantime, training continues for the October marathon in York.  The longest run so far is 15.5 miles, so I need to be doing a bit longer really before the big day, which is 5 weeks away.  I feel reasonably confident that I'll manage this OK, one of the reasons I went for Outlaw. 

Dream On.

I was attending a trade fair when I came across an old girlfriend who was selling some type of furniture.  We had a coffee together, had a chat and went back to our respective tradestands, met up again, this time with another bloke.  We found out that this bloke and I had a mutual friend called Sharon Fenton and although I didn't know her well I put on a bit of a show that I knew her well.  Eventually we left.

Sounds like a poorly written AI generated story, but that's my summary of a dream I had last night.  I have no idea why I put a furniture trade show together with an old friend and Sharon Fenton but isn't that what AI does?  What is also interesting is that I can remember most of what I dreamt about, even 8hrs after I woke up. Very unusual.

Waste Time

Where I live, we have a septic tank instead of the new fangled mains sewage system that city dwellers take for granted.  One of the 'perks' of living in the countryside. To improve things, and connect up our new stable conversion, I have installed a 'treatment plant' that treats the sewage in much the same way as a city treatment works but on a much smaller scale of course.  My version bubbles air in one of the compartments, thereby speeding up the 'digestion' and allows the treated water to be discharged into the dyke that runs alongside the house.   Anyway, enough of the technical waffle, I connected it up at the weekend and it was one of the most satisfying things I have done in recent memory.  Not that it was an in-depth technical achievement, but the overall effort I have had to put into digging a rather large hole to put the tank in; 35m of trench some of which was 1.5m deep, some across my lovely lawn where I have had to put the turf back down, but most importantly my waste products flow serenely down to the appropriate place as planned.  Very, very satisfying.

Running Away.

 Sophia Loren is the oldest start still alive according to s headline on Yahoo.  Of course, it's not a headline, just an advert for some crummy company tempting you to click on the ridiculous 'headline.  I wonder how many do click on it?.. and what type of person?  I'm imagining it's a 60+ male who always had a soft spot for Ms Loren in their younger days and hasn't caught onto the fact that this is a totally fictitious bit of 'news' designed to attract your attention.  I'm pleased I don't work in marketing, I'm not sure I could bear to be part of this fraud show.

Marathon training has slowly ramped up with just under 100 miles in July.  The weather has been poor for the last month which has carried on into August but at least I can't blame the heat for slowing me down.  It was the Outlaw triathlon at the weekend and I have one wistful eye on entering next year's, but need to see my performance at the York marathon first in October.

Farewell Wishes.

 My 1st post since May, and so much has happened.  Mr. Johnson has finally been found out as being a ......  Hang on, I'll stop there.  You never know who is reading (almost nobody actually, fortunately).

He went off in a huff after the 'standards' committee thought he had 'mislead' parliament.  My italics.   a pity really, he livens up the news in a sort of minor-Trump way.  There's not many can top Donald, although Boris left us hanging with another 'I'll be back' type of phrase.

I've just had 5 great days cycling in the Dolomites.  Such impressive scenery.  The biggest question is where to next year?  I need to do some research. 

  

Care less People.

 Why are we obsessed by Taylor Swift's love life?  ..asks the article on the BBC website.  Goodness knows, maybe its the pointless articles that so called journalists write, even in the good 'ole BBC.

Local elections are always full of empty sounding excuses for those parties that have missed out.  This time round its the Tories who are generally on the losing side and as usual, no-one really gives a monkeys except for the rosette wearing people. 

Letters Pray.

 The BBC has an article related to the upcoming coronation that tells who who is going to the event, and who isn't invited.  I haven't read it, and wondered where my name is on the list.  I guess it will be in alphabetical order, which in itself is a bit unfair as it promotes Mr Aardvark over Zebedee. Those of us in a mid-table position never get a look in.   

Moral Fibre.

 The most read article in the Guardian (as at 13:00hrs today) was something about eating more fibre and less juice.  That tells us something about Guardian readers methinks.

Top Tips.

 Ways to save motoring costs:  1. Don't drive. 2. Errr, thats it.

Simply Red.

 I should have known better really.  Clicking on the video about the guy who 'invented' square wheeled bike immediately brought up an advert for a portable coolbox-like thing, and after around 1 minute I gave up.  I'll never know about the square wheels now. I blame the cool box manufacturer.

Sporting news.  I have finally managed to get a decent bike ride in this year.  My trip to the Dolomites demands a few weeks of training so here's hoping this is the start.  I'm have 2 nights away at Burnley this week and I have my summer bike in the boot ready and waiting.  There's some really steep hills in that area, so partly dreading and partly looking forward to it.  Lets hope the weather keeps fine.     

Breaking Bad

 Jerry Hall 'bought robot vacuums' during lockdown because she didn't have staff.  That's according to her friends.  It's a hard life for some isn't it?  We didn't have staff either during lockdown, wish I'd have thought of the robot vacuum option.  Could have done with the robot lawnmower as well.

In other news, I've noticed a growing number of 'Person X breaks silence on issue Y....' headlines (aka clickbait) that gives the impression that there has been a long period without comment on subject Y because they are mulling over the implications of any statement, when in reality the elapsed time is minimal, and it's perhaps not even worth commenting on, and if they are asked by a shouty reported 'aye up luv, what about Y?' they will normally say something thereby breaking the silence.  Not that the silence was there in the first place, but don't let that get in the way of an enticing headline.  

Power Cycle.

 A big increase in worldwide wind and solar power in 2022 sounds like a positive thing, and in fact there is a high probability that we have reached a peak in environmentally unfriendly electricity production.  That has to be good news, for the planet and pollution in general.  I'm lucky/unlucky enough to live fairly near the river Trent, where you can usually see 2 or 3 trails of pollution heading off in the direction of the wind for many many miles.  Hopefully this will be getting less now. 

Famous for what?

 I've learnt today that you can buy 'Tik-Tok famous cabin bags'.  Amazing.  In other news, the cheapest supermarket is revealed to be Aldi, or was it Lidl, whoever it was it was no surprise given the quality of some of their stuff.  I'm still wondering what the famous Tik-Tok bags are.

There's another 'news' article about a man who asked a woman to move from a train seat he had purchased which she did.  Crucially, he filmed the 'incident' and therefore provide The Independent with a story.  Phil Space would have been proud.  

SITT

 KSI is a blogger.  Or was it a Youtuber? Influencer?  Content creator?  Probably of the above, but until I delved below the headline, I didn't even know it was person.  I have no idea what it stands for and there isn't enough spare time in my life to invent something, not even to think about Kan't Spell, Idiot.  Except he hasn't got a comma, so I've messed up there.  Anyway, he's admitted to posting some racist content, so 'stepping back' from what ever he does/is.  It was quite high up in the online version of The Guardian, so it must be important.

I other news, I've entered one of my favorite 10K races, the Caistor 'Sting in the Tail' which takes you on a fairly flat 7K before hitting you with a very hilly 'Sting' that sucks the life out of your lungs.  Great fun. 

On the Offensive.

 I might have this wrong, but it looks like 'misgender' is to address someone with the wrong gender.  I can understand how one can quite easily make a misgender mistake give what appears to be quite a range nowadays of different genders.  What makes the headline of course is when someone takes offence to being misgendered, Sam Smith in this particular case that brought my attention to an otherwise part of life that I was not aware of. Taking offence is quite easy, and in fact it seems to me that people don't have to try very hard to do this, but luckily, we have the press to take offence for us, particularly if you are a celebrity.  They can make up the 'Sam Smith takes offence' story without any evidence whatsoever, assuming that they (I'm being careful with the pronoun here) are likely to be distressed with someone's inability to know what gender they have identified with an therefore make a misgender cock-up unwittingly.  Fortunately, most of us couldn't give 2 hoots.    

Security Tags.

 Yahoo's homepage tags articles such as 'News',  'Entertainment', or 'Ad'.  All very useful for filtering out the celebrity rubbish, but a 'news' article today was about a man picking up some dog poo and doing something with it.  It was accompanied by a video (thank goodness for doorbell cameras, eh?) to entice us in but I wasn't inclined to click, preferring another item directly below it about a potential SNP leader who holds strong religious beliefs (which is almost real news).  I guess Yahoo only have a limited dropdown list of tags when the reporters post a story, by which I mean - when an intern  copies something from another website they have found.  

I was 'Livid' when I wrote this.

 There seems to be a marked increase in the use of speech marks in headlines. e.g. person X was 'upset'; or Megan 'fuming' over remarks etc.  They are usually associated with the celebrity type of person, where the headline is designed to get us to click to find out a little bit more gossip. I wonder if it is response to the continuous complaints about the press making things up, so the speech marks represent a sort of 'the impression is that...' (apologies for the speech marks) to avoid the accusation that they are fabricating stories ...but now get away with the same fabricated story (and subsequent clickbait = revenue).

 

A Bit Clicky.

 US Faces New Threat from Intelligent Pig.  That is one of today's headlines.  As it turns out, the pigs are not an armed insurgence force but wild hogs that threaten to cause a lot of damage to crops and wildlife by being a 'super pig' from Canada that can survive harsh winters.  Still, it got me clicking on the article, so the sub-editors can chalk that one up as a success.

In other 'news', Price Harry and his woman are allegedly attending Charlie's coronation 'on one condition'.  I refuse to click on that one, so that's 1 - 1 at the moment. 

Weather You Like it or Not

 Severe weather updates look to me to be a used increasingly as click-bait.   They don't suffer from the other click-bait options such as grossly exaggerated facts about something you were not probably interested in in the first place thereby reducing the potential audience immediately.  Weather warnings can be classified as 'news' and therefore we should (usually) be more interested in them.  The trouble is they eventually get a bit tiresome, churning out predictions that never come true will inevitably lead to a 'crying wolf' scenario.   

It Pays Dividends.

 'Stacy Solomon divides the internet over how she folds sheets'.  Wow, what a headline.  The mind boggles as to how this could possibly divide opinion in such a way.  What could she have possibly done?  Folded them in a coal mine whilst whistling God Save the King?  Put them on a washing line and then had them trampled on by wild elephants to put the creases in?  There's one thing for certain though, I am not going to click the link to find out, so we will all be a little less informed but the better for it.

However, I did get drawn into an article about a big (physically and financially) lottery winner who has sadly died, but the article was simply a regurgitating of his last will and testament.  The clue was one of the final sentences where they revealed he was £37 in credit with his council tax.  Evidently he was spending £100k per week, but I figured that was because he found out he was dying and carried out the 'you can't take it with you' rule.  It also demonstrates that health is probably more important than money.  Both would be good though.

The Nuclear Option

Nuclear powered rockets would 'reduce the risk for astronauts' according to NASA.  This is in relation to the proposed new rocket propulsion system to get to Mars and beyond.  Evidently, it will be ready 'as soon as 2027'.  Using the work 'soon' in this sentence seems a bit, well, misleading, surely they could have just said 'ready in 2027', which says the same thing without fooling us into thinking they are acting quickly.  I couldn't bebothered to read the whole article, but the statement that current rocket propulsion has been around for about 100 years is a bit off the mark, I thought it wasn't developed until the 40s in the second world war.  Still, what's 20 years?  The whole piece is littered with unnecessary adjectives so I'll just have to live with it.

Exercise news: Having had a whole week off due to severe man-flu (mild cold) I've been back on it this week with 2 x 5 milers and a 10 mile turbo sesh so far this week.  Holiday in the sun next Monday, so I'll get out most days although mileage will be curtailed due to the heat I expect.

Early Adopter

 BBC Breakfast is 40 years old today.  When it started I remember it was ground breaking, no-one had thought of viewing TV at that time of the day (although ITV has mooted the idea, BBC rushed to be first) and I definitely switched it on most mornings to catch up with events.  Interestingly, it's now quite a dated idea what with internet access to thousands/millions of news clips available at a click of a button (or touch of a screen) and I think it's probably morphed into being a bit more of a magazine type of program but with a current affairs bent.

Interestingly, I never switch breakfast TV on nowadays, preferring to consume the news via a couple of phone apps and never tempted to watch the news videos, but I'm not sure if I am a typical viewer/reader or not.  It's not that the medium of moving pictures is declining, you only have to watch Youtube of TikTok for a while to realise there is near limitless supply videos to entertain/annoy you for hours and hours.  I'm fairly certain that this is not a good thing. 

It's a Sign!

 'Danger, slippery Floor' signs are used to prevent falls.  Pretty obvious really, but what about the 'Danger, sign in the walkway' signs?  You don't see any of those do you?  What I am getting at is that the slippery floor sign is there for a reason, but it's also obstructing the pathway which in itself is probably a good idea given the state of the floor, but what about when it dries up and is no longer slippery?  I wouldn't have an issue if they were impressively obstructive, but they're barely 18" high and hardly stand out if walking along at a normal pace.  They tend to inhabit washrooms the most frequently, but you can spot them on that day of the week when the floor is scheduled for it's weekly mop.  In order to improve this situation, I always move the signs when it is obviously not needed, but always feel a little guilty in case there's a hidden slippery bit that only the sign erector knows about and I might end up the wrong side of a law suit.

So, I'd like to see bigger signs followed by prompt removal of aforesaid mentioned signage when no longer required. Easy.

Won't you Please, Please Help Me!

 Outgoing, extrovert, life of the party, etc. etc.  These adjectives would neve be used to describe me, and fortunately I don't want them to be.  It's interesting how some people are these things, and I suspect that some do it naturally, whilst some contrive to be like that.  I think you can always spot the unnatural versions and when I do, I have different adjectives to describe them none of which are polite I'm afraid to say.

But this brings me on to our own personalities and how for we can/should/do go to change them.  There are countless number of training courses helping us be better at any number of things.  I happened to chance upon one of these last night whilst whiling away an hour or 2 on YouTube and ended up watching most of it. What it taught me was that YouTube's algorithm kicks in straight after you have viewed something, because I then received a string of similar 'help' videos clogging up my feed.    

Que?

 Blimey, this Prince Harry story show no sign of stopping does it?  I thought he would just disappear back to his mansion leaving us enlightened but relived that he has gone into hiding.  But no, he seems to be doing exactly what any  self-publicist would do, and selling his book via a few carefully scripted interviews to carefully selected interviewers.

I'm not going to comment/quibble/agree on his outpourings, mainly because I'm not too interested in the content, it's the whole marketing aspect that has got me hooked.  I wonder if he has anything else planned.  It's intriguing that they published his book in Spain a whole week early.  I mean, was it easier doing that?  Maybe he wrote it all in Spanish?  That would explain it, of course he did.  Speed up the translation process.  Very odd.

Promises, Promises.

New Year resolutions are a bit odd.  I know the new year is the time you can look forward (as well as a retrospective view I guess), so that's probably why a resolution that starts at the new year takes on a bit of a special significance as opposed to the June 8th resolution (other dates are available).

However, we are all well aware of the number of gym subscriptions that are never used after January, the yoga mats that gather dust and the monthly payment to Peloton that continues to drain the finances until the cancellation time comes round.  I wonder if we should have a 'Resolution Day' where there is even more emphasis on sticking to them, or (preferably) don't have them at all.  I know there is value on saying these things out loud so other can hear them - they then take on a bit more significance and therefore higher profile which (in theory) should motivate you to keep at them.  Real life shows that this rarely happens, but I suppose at least you have tried.

A better idea (based on my own experience) is to by all means make that resolution but don't tell anyone until you are well on the way to achieving it.  You then have the smug satisfaction of being able to announce 'Oh yes, I've been going to the gym for 3 months now, 3 times a week and twice on a Sunday' or similar.  And if you are bitterly regretting taking out the enhanced subscription, keep your mouth shut.  

Planning Cycle.

 Christmas is over, only another three hundred and something days to go.  Can't wait (note: said with sarcasm).  Busy planning my cycling break at the moment though - much more interesting.  Plan A is to go to the Dolomites for 4 days, I just need to get agreement from the rest of the gang and if I don't, then I'll persuade them.  This does mean I need to up my cycling game.  I did 10 miles on the turbo last night, but need to get motivated to bike into the office even if the weather is a bit grim.  At least we're past the shortest day now so there will be an improving picture there.