running

Yesterday [04.02.09] Second bridge along the canal. Some snow (in the shade) and some slush, but was great to get out there running. Seriously need some new headphones as the left headphone is just distortion whenever there’s any bass. Fortunately I have ordered a pair of Grado iGrado phones which should arrive this week!

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New css3 selectors in Fx 3.1
Acid Test
New Look BBC Radio Online

How to grow chili from seed. Yes we’ve got a small chili plant bought from a garden centre and it’s growing quite slowly so this article could provide the solutions.

Rob’s Birthday Present + Card – yes I know bro that you’ve still not received it but at least I am thinking of it!

Open DNS – see what websites are being accessed from your network.

French – learn new words, verbs, basic sentences, practice with M;

Running – One foot in front of the other, run!

Website – Update and add new content;

In this insipid war-ravaged world writing has become something of a relic of the past when we have excellent music and, with the excellent viral video chart, excellent viral videos, huzzah! Yes so what am I getting at? To be honest I’ve no idea. Have you? Viral Video Chart currently has pork and beans at #1.

and this one too

Yikes have you seen it? Walking with one humpy mud-yellow sock hanging out of his jeans rear pocket and the other smouldering in the sweat of his right wellington boot (itself caked in last years horrific glastonbury festival boogie mud), stepping one foot before the other and working through the stages to getting up. Up up UP he gets and grabs reluctantly unsuccessfully at the biscuit jar crammed with rockie bars, he wants them so much to dunk into the grisly scank-tea discovered earlier in the microwave (it must have been left over from last night’s poker smoking session he recalls).

Rock en Seine 2008 August 28/29; Paris, France. Having been previously to Rock en Seine 2006 I can say it’s an amazing festival to goto! Wow yes and what a line-up! Amy Winehouse, Tricky, Racounteurs, Serj (from SOAD), The Roots, JSBE… yes seriously considering this one! Get your tickets from FNAC.com.

Yes new camera at last arrived at work in time for the blue skies and sunshine! It’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500. 10Mpix; 5x optical zoom; touch-screen control. Looking and feeling very tasty!

Yes it’s almost the weeeeekend and next week we are off to Turkey!!! Have you heard the new song by Weezer “Pork and Beans”? Doing the serious viral rounds, great music nice vid too.

It’s Tue afternoon and the rain continues to fall from the blackish grey sky falling for a few more hours on what should be a sunny and warm June day. This week I am going with M on holiday to Turkey: for 1 week in the sun on the sand in the sea on the beach, soaking up rays of suntan inducing sun enjoying being a tourist in a foreign land! I cannot wait, the last 6 months since Christmas/NY have been long and tiring and I need a proper break. Shocked by the price of diesel last Thu when I filled my car up: £73.59 for a tank of 125.9/litre of diesel, up 20p/litre since when I bought the car back in November last year. Shocked. Where is the alternative to using my car? I use my car to get to and from work every day 65 miles a day, 325 miles a week, plus some weekend trips. That’s a lot of money to pay. Option 1. travel to work by train. Yes more cheap (i think it costs £60 a week) but takes 3 hours there and back rather than 1.5 when driving and large number of connections mean that if any train is delayed I am very late home or at work. Option 2. Move closer to work. Not realistic at the moment. Option 3. Move job closer to home. Not realistic at the moment.

Running: Last night I went out with M after work. Felt initially very low energy from day at work but glad went out. We did the same course apart from the final section. A new [Uni PP - 3.9miles] route. M did 3.1 miles and I did 3.9 in 25 and 30mins, respectively. Last week went out with M once (Woodley) and myself (2laps of PP). Have stopped taking the vitamin tablets since beginning (7th) of May and seeing what this makes to us. So far have less energy and more tired, but this could be to do with the amount of things that we are doing. So. Will give it another month or so and see how feeling then!

Back from 6 days of rest. Been for 6days in Lyon and Nuits St Georges in France for wedding of M’s friends Armelle and Guillaume, to see M’s uni town and meet friends new and old. Had great time, lots of sunshine and good food and wine, now recovering at work breaktime almost hometime and wishing I were back in France. Not going running tonight as it’s my Mum’s b’day and we’re going round for a cuppa tea.

Friday! thank fuck for that, Friday has finally arrived. I woke up this morning slightly hungover from last night, bah.  Yesterday I went running after work, a new route through Woodley inclusive of a nice hill to start with! Sunshine blazing and wind ripping into me I did the Woodley 2.8miles route in ~20mins (much quicker than I imagined) and then jumped into the shower and started cooking for the party. I made banana and apple crumble, then chocolate cookies, and M made quiche and dips and aperatifs. People arrived and we ate talked listened to music and catched up, ate some more and drunk more, then played Jungle Speed (crazy French game). Lots of newbies so not as fast but really funny. Going home now it’s Friday!!!

Last night I had zero energy thus no running. Bah what a poor excuse, eh, I will try to go out tonight. Have party round our house tonight, and I am cooking cookies and crumble. Yesterday the lab was full of fumes from the painting that was being done to the chemical stores next door to the lab, thus the headache the lack of energy. I enrolled onto the Masters CIW course, had dinner and then watched the first half of “Before the Devil Knows you’re Dead” before catching the zzz’s.

Wow yes it’s wonderful sunny outside, just been outside to walk to the newsagents. Had to get out into the fresh air after being trapped in here all day. Party at our house tonight, cooking cookies and crumble will try go running and get legs moving towards the 1/2-marathon on the 27th. Adios Amigos.

Friday::: Yes, end of another fast-paced week shortened by Easter and ended by rain and wind. On Monday I went biking with Alejandro and his friend Ramiro to the Look Out. Weather was cool-cold and intermittant snow showers with sunshine bursts what a crazy day! Marion was in Macclesfield at her friend’s Hen Weekend. With A and R we rode for 2 hours on single-track and off-track I getting used to my new Specialized RockHopper and Alejandro still recovering from breaking his arm last year. Ramiro ex-trials was on top form although many of his front spokes came loose. Muuuuuuddddd!!! So much mud! Wheels clogged brakes jammed rims rubbing on the brake blocks. So much water mud splattered everywhere in eyes foot mouth!!! Wow great fun! Will buy proper pedals and shoes for biking as only have flat pedals and old trainers atm. Last night I practiced balancing without moving and wheelies yes. Need lots of practice though could see improvement already! Need to work on this! Is not really nice weather out there now have an hour till I leave for home then either I go running or biking or to sleep. Am really knackered not really getting enough sleep last weekend didn;t help. Right. Rain rain rain falls from the skies. What a crappy day to be a bumble bee. This week: went to cinema tuesday saw The Counterfeiters, last night knackered but I went riding.

Hi Hello Good Afternoon! It’s Friday sunshine dazzles the outerworld while in the innerworld I get ready to go running for the first time along the Thames from Walton Bridge (near work). Since March began I have run Reading Half-Marathon, been to Nottingham and the Peak District, went running with Marion, been to see “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” at cinema, “Shoot ‘Em Up” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” on DVD. Huzzah just now they have announced the draw for the 1/4 finals of the Champions League: Arsenal/Liverpool; Roma/ManU; Schalke/Barcelona; Fenerbahce/Chelsea. Wow I cannot wait to see it! Have entered a 10k race in April and going to enter a half-marathon in April. Going to get changed now. See you.
[... at home. 1500]
Heavy legs, didn’t find the route that I wanted to do… But I feel Great! Great that I went running, that I went running before driving home to a hot shower, great that I tried a new route. I have just entered the Bracknell Half-Marathon on 27th of April to add to the 10k race I am doing on the 13th. Now It’s really the weekend and Marion and I are going to a party tonght then tomorrow into London to have a test of some new bikes, watch the rugger and get some art for the housewalls. Ment to piss down all weekend so w/e will prob involve cinema or DVD too. Yessah!

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Running:: Just back from the first run of the week. Monday I was ill and Tue Marion and I went to see “4Months, 3Weeks and 2Days” in Oxford. Wednesday I had zero energy or motivation and Thursday Marion and I played 1.5 hours of badminton! With still aching legs courtesy of the badminton last night I ran through Palmer Park to London Road then Kings Road past the Prison and right at The Rising Sun roundabout under the railway; over the next roundabout and before crossing the bridge turn right along the River Thames until it meets the Canal when go over bridge follow canal and then turn left up Cholmeley Road before taking Liverpool Road back to Palmer Park and home. I’ll Call this “River Cholmeley” and it took 36 minutes. I have lost my running watch so I have to use the clock on my mobile for timekeeping. I check it before and when I get back. Not the best accuracy in the world. Was very windy out there. The Thames is very high although there was no water on the footpath this week.

Yes so I am back running, three times this week so far and it feels great! With my new Polar Heart Rate Monitor watch I can see how much I am killing myself and exactly how long my runs are (rather than using the clock in the kitchen when I get back through the door as I have been using). Sunday in bloody freezing weather I did WC in 24m20s (Max HR: 200; Av HR: 183). Tuesday I made up a new route comprising lots of hills: Mickle Hill, the road route to Crowthorne and back, through Sandhurst to Rackstraws XR and then double back to home via Wellington Road. I call this “Sandhurst Night Hills” and it took 32m26s (Max HR:203; Av HR:184). Tonight in the horrible drizzle and rain I did another new night run comprising of my running clubs’ Handicap route and the to and from home. This I name “Crowthorne Handicap Night” and it took 44m18s (Max HR:185; Av HR:171).

Marion (coucou mon amour) is in France, I am doing a clinical trial, I have started a new job, Marion and I have found a new place to live, I am looking to buy a car. Life is extremely hectic at the moment. The travelling is killing me. I travel in the morning to the clinical trial lab to deposit blood and urine, get weighed; then I travel to work via train (35mins) and walking (8 minutes) then I work a full day until 5.30 and walk to the station and catch a couple of trains finally arriving at home at 7pm. Have dinner according to the food diet that I have to follow and then speak to Marion on the fone. Knackered knackered knackered. I need a break. I need to go running. I did go running on Tuesday, 1hr at 11.7kmph on the treadmill for the study. Not proper running outside but hard work running on the treadmill. Never done that before, preferring more to go running in the outside world and feeling the freshness of life on my skin (rain, wind, snow, sunshine, etc!). I have to follow this controlled diet so I am not allowed certain foods, and NO ALCOHOL, I cannot wait until Saturday when I can drink and eat as much of whatever I want to, and go running too!!! Yes!!!
Tomorrow night I will go to Reading and meet up with the boys to watch the England footie game vs Austria. No booze for me but it will be good to get out on the town and see friends. Marion and I went to Paris at the start of the month, taking the Eurostar on a Thu evening and arriving at her friends’ house via another set of friends. We had a great time, I met with lots of her friends and saw much of the sights of Paris by foot. Here are the fotographs::: . Great food too, I love French food!!! Especially love patisseries, chocolateries, supermarches, creperies (crepes and nutella are simply devine!!!), and so on We stayed at Helene’s place first (she was on holiday) and then were shown the sights of Paris by Line, Jalabert and their 9mth-old baby Lisa. The Eiffel Tower by night is simply stunning (see the fotos!)
and lisa is soo entertaining! Marion and I went to a restaurant and had simple delicious food. Next day Marion and I went to Monmartre and had crepes for brunch, found Line, Jalabert and Lisa and did more touring. In the evening Marion and I took the sardine train to see another set of her friends Didier and Lucie and we had the most amazing chocolate fondue ever, preceeded by salad and duck. It was great, with fresh fruit just dipping the stuff into the molten chocolate and eating it.!. Choco-holics heaven Following morning Marion and I stocked up on French goodies, then to Paris central again via a chinese supermarket for essential foods! We did a walk along the Seine and then had chocolate crepes for lunch. Marion and I then went to see Line Jalabert and Lisa one more time and taste their amazing food. Jalabert owns and runs his restaurant and the food was as you’d expect, sumptious!!! Lisa was very entertaining too!!! Had to get up really early on Mon am to catch the Eurostar back to UK, with just made croissants and pain au chocolat for our brekkies. The best I’ve ever tasted
Im knackered and will continue the tale next time!
Best Wishes, Andrew.

“Kings of Leon – The Runner” on current listen, torrential rain on the glisten outside wow what a nice sound they make! Had a couple of job interviews today, now really tired, have another tomorrow. Started doing situps and pressups but skin a little sore on back as have been doing a lot of them and skin not used to it, hah! Situps good for posture, core stability and also for running form, while pressups are good for the musle, yes! I went running with the running club last night, was slower than last week but we did manage a few fast reps and up some hills too, reason why other people were not up for fast running was that they were racing over the weekend and were tired. Have been invited to the Weds sessions so may check them out in the future! The Weds sessions are longer, 8-10 miles and a continueous pace rather than the looping that happens on the Monday nights. Am very tempted, although will have to do more running and get even faster first! Something to aim for!!! Last week I did the VO2max test (as part of this running trial I am doing) and got a figure of 63.75. Bloody hard work. Went walking with Marion on Sunday, looking for a long route that’s exactly what we did. From here to beyond the Look Out in the woods, then back again, we did 25km (saying the distance in km is much better cos the figure is larger!) and Marion almost killed me when we worked this out! “Were you trying to kill me” she said,,, it’s excellent preparation for the GR20 I think!
England are through to the Rugby World Cup Final after narrowly beating France on Saturday. Wow, amazed to think that this is the same squad of players that we watched just last month playing so poorly. Come on England!!!

Running: Thurs: “Lakes Dell Lane” in 53mins. Damn nice weather out: blue skies and sunshine, not too hot bit of wind perfect. Legs felt heavy from 2 previous days of running but kept going pace slowing a little (IMHO) in the final quarter. Weds: “Devil’s Highway Nature” (Crowthorne end first) in 43mins. Steady pace, with Underworld on mp3. Fantastic sunset, blue skies, quite cool [departure time:1644]. Tue: “WC” in 24mins. Steady pace, damp and cool. [1200]
Overall I am feeling in better shape than last week. Tomorrow (Fri) I will take a medical for a clinical study for which I will write about more in the next weeks. But it does mean that there’ll be No brekki for me

Yeas so I have been running again this afternoon. I died plenty of times, where has the energy the motivation to go running gone? Or am I going at it in the wrong way? Without a clear objective I go out running for the sake of running, say three or four times a week. And solo too. In the summer it was easy, relatively speaking, because the blood was flowing quickly and it was great to go outside for a deathly run through the sunshine. Now winter is on its way and the temperature is a mere 10 degrees, the sunshine ain’t there and there is rain hard blissful plentiful rain to put the lazy section of the brain off. Yet I am still going out running, and this is the positive that I must take from this change of seaesons, change of spirit, because summer is not coming any quicker if I stew and think up excuses for not going out in the cold glorious rainy grey gloom of September in Sandhurst.
Running: Tuesday: “Hills + WC” in 29mins. Rained and was cold. Wednesday (Today): “Nature + Crowthorne” in 32mins (half of Broadmoor Nature, half dying on way back to home). Windy, cold and wet.
Solutions: (1) Running Club; (2) Enter some races; (3) New Routes; (4) Evaluate Training Plan;

Running: Yesterday: after an interview and before meeting Marion I had a small window to go running so I grabbed it; I went for a usual Monday run: “reverse WC” in 23mins. Still have lung butter but at last no cough! Nice conditions for running, although a tad windy.

Running: yesterday: “Broadmoor Devil’s Highway” in 44mins. Really struggling with breathing because of lung butter, and coughing too. Great afternoon run nontheless in fantastic weather. I would like to enter some races in the next month(s) to test myself.

Hi news just in Klaxons Scoop 2007 Mercury Music Prize and wow what a great band they are not. Sure I like their music, went to see them live in Reading. But surely they are not the best band on the list.

Running: Today: Dell Lane Lakes in 53mins; Yesterday: WC+ (in the dark so had to walk sometime) in 25mins. Running session today: I took my Learn French mp3 and listened to the first lesson. Great stuff, learnt some new words and phrases, great! But not the best accompanyment to go running with, not fast enough. Nose full of lung butter, top of chest hurt a little. Have had a nasty cold the last week and now getting almost over it.

Running: Monday 27.08: “Wellington College+” 23 mins. Had to alter route cause the gates at the far end of the kilometer driver in WC were closed (as it was a bank holiday). Set off on a flier and would have knocked off more time from record if had been the usual route.

Suffering from a sore throat I didn’t go running today, opting instead to sleep sleep and read Harry Potter.

I have not written on this blog for the whole month of June so far so now’s the time for some catch-up. Life is great. Still running a lot, playing footie, going to gigs, and so on. I will write more later but first I will tell you about today.

Running: absolutely throwing it down, as had done for the last 3-4 days, so ground was supersaturated and rivers of water were along the roads, paths and elsewhere. Steve, Paul and I did “Stables”, I left Steve on the decent, and Paul at base camp (the start) so had to keep going going going or Steve would (might) catch me up. Got supersoaked, only had shorts and a couple of t-shirts (red England shirt over HH base top) and sunglasses, latter really useful keeping water from eyes until woods where too dark. Final running through field soaked to bone and weighed my frame with soo much water it was challanging to run;)

Running: Tuesday: “Stables” solo in the hard blast wind. Wednesday: “Extended Long Toll” effectively solo (only 3 of us: B + E took it slower than me), in the rain (drizzle). Legs felt heavy, especially thighs.

Went to cinema with Marion and Marielle last night, we watched “Flags of our Fathers”. Quite liked, the second of the diptych “Letters from Iwo Jima” is on Thurs so will be good to compare the representations of the US and Japanese armies, the way their homelands viewed the battle.

After dunking my old digital camera in a pint of cider at The Maccabees gig in Feb I finally got my arse into gear and ordered a replacement. Today it arrived at work and I very am happy! It’s a Canon Ixus 70 (replacement of the Ixus 55 which I drowned, but 7 mp instead of 5). Can use the old batteries, charger, memory cards and so on… It’s great. Now I need subjects to point my foto skills at. Roll up, roll up!!!

Running: tried another new route today:“The Other Side”. Never run on the South side of the river so this is what I did: down the hill, along the river bank until Mapledurham lock, turn right and keep going until hit A329, turn right and follow A329 on pavement until Pangbourne, turn right and continue over bridge, then up up up the hill. I managed to keep going until I got back to Pangbourne (about 5 miles in) then had to stop running because I had bad stomach cramps and I would have exploded unless I stopped running. Walked the remaining distance arriving back at work just in time for a meeting.!.

Distance: 7.25 miles. Time: 1hr 10mins.

After work I walked along the river with Alejandro to Tilehurst and then went drinking with him and his flatmate Jo and got slaughtered. Yipeeee!!!

Running: “Reverse River” solo. Went out too fast, suffered on the uphill flint-path and managed to get back okay but not speedy after this. Time?? Dehydrated since drinking last night with chums from work while watching the ManU vs. AC Milan Champions league semi-final 3-2!!! And not drunk much this am. Need to eat more fruit/veg in am, drink the water before going running next time:)

… I too got up bloody early and went running! This morning I drove to the Look Out where usually my running club (sandhurst joggers) do their Sunday morning long run. Ahah. I knew it was the marathon this morning so I wasn’t sure that anyone else would be there from the club – NO – but I had a plan of a route that I could do myself. Until I met another runner by the name of Paul. He usually runs here on a Sunday (either with SJ or Bracknell Forest Runners) and I joined him for 7 miles of single track. I will never know the route but I did occasionally recognise places that I have been through before. Got back after about 50 mins, where BFR were warming up for their run (they meet at 10, SJ at 9am). After driving home and getting showered I turned on the TV coverage of the London Marathon to see Zhou win the women’s race, and a little later Lel win the men’s race. It’s still going on, the fun runners (haha!) are still struggling through the record heat (max of ~25C) as I write this. Will find out tomorrow how well Paul and Liz from work did. 7 miles of off-road singletrack running in ~50 mins.

Running : “Mapledurham” is a new route that Mike and I ran this lunchtime for the first time. The Route is 6.71 miles and it took us 51 mins. The temperature was hot and it was a good even pace (although if I were doing it solo I think I would have gone faster.) Average Pace = 7.36 min/mile.

Running: easy recovery after yesterday’s long run, 5 miles in ~40 mins. Actual distance and time may vary! “Walters Wood” was the route and i felt good this afternoon having done the run in comparison to the morning when I was sloggy.

Film: I went to see “The Blades of Glory” after work this evo. Wanting a no-brainer entertaining comedy that’s what I got. Averagely funny, quite entertaining. Okay film.

Running: One thing that I have noticed after looking back at my running journey (i started running Aug 05) is the lack of variety, if I go out running then I go as fast as I can. Today I tried something different. I purposely tried to run slowly, taking it easy, if I had to ask myself “am i going too quickly?” then I was indeed and I slowed down a bit. What is the purpose of this you may ask. I have been reading “The Competetive Runner’s Handbook” by B. Glover and S-L. F. Glover and even though I admit at this stage I am far from the fastest runner in the town it does have excellent advice to all runners, including me. I’ve read a few chapters so far and I get the message that if you mix your training up, thus keeping it interesting, then your running benefits, as do your race times. It also recommends more days per week, and an increased per-week mileage. So this is what I will be doing. From 3 times a week to 4, then see how I feel before increasing further. Obviously now that I have done an “easy” run I will have to do a “hard” run. Whoa hahahaha! What fun this will be!!!

ManU thrashed, demolished, annihilated, took apart, erased… Roma 7-1 tonight in the quarter-final of the champions league.! What an exquisite game, one of the best I’ve ever seen. Goals from attack, defence, mid-field, all-over. And such class too, not just “goals” (as scorred by mere mortals) but divine wonder goals (the kind gods dream about scoring). Chelski also manage to sneek through. Two out of 4 Semi-Final berths are taken by English teams, can Liverpool fill a third tomorrow when they play the home-leg versus PSV (having won the first leg 3-0 in Holland)?

I am going to Sziget Music festival in August.!. 8 days of mutherfucking excellent music, great beer and cheep sunshine, did I say 8 days? In Budapest Hungary in the sun, with 100s of bands, woot I cannot wait! Sziget 15

Friday: legs like lead weights all morning before the run, like heavy weights during the run and in the afternoon after work I could hardly walk up the hill to home. I ran “Stables” on my own (the others are running in tomorrow’s (Sunday) Reading half-marathon so had the day off) but I did see Roger who ran the same route but in the other direction. I felt that I had more energy for the final hill compared with recent efforts and felt good when I got back. It was quite cold in the wind and overcast and cool throughout.

Today – ~5 miles in ~45 mins (reverse long-toll, got very lost but made out of woods alive; next time I take a map;)).

Last Week: Fri – River Route; Weds – Stables; Monday – “flat woods”.

in the middle of the night I write this. For the first time in 3 weeks I went running (at lunchtime) and now I am feeling fucking knuncked. In the ferocious wind, in the howling gale, the rain was blown forcefully into our souls (and faces). Yet this didn’t dampen our minds, nor darken our spirits, because we were out running and little else mattered. Of course it was bloody difficult to stay upright, with the slippy sloppy mud (result of supersaturated earth from last week’s snow and rain) and buffeting wind. Feeling as though I needed to blow away 3 weeks of cobwebs I strode ahead of the others on the “Flat Woods” route and promptly got lost, eventually doubling back after losing Steve at the 3/4 point and then going through some of the earlier section of the route and making it back just after Steve and Dan (but before the others). I reckon it took me 45 mins to do the 5-6 miles (highly approximate!). Fantastic to get out again

• Self Esteem (lifehack)
• Get up, Jump up (lifehack)
• Amazing Dans.Photo – Taiwanese Photographer (flickr)
• Taipei (flickr)