Other thoughts – Page 2

December 1, 2013

Fast tempo

I remember being in Mrs Simpson’s class at Woodingdean Primary School, which would make it the early seventies, when I first tasted a Kiwi fruit. The combination of this memory and the fact that I’m a Chinese Wood Dragon meant that Waitrose had a pretty much guaranteed sale when I saw this Pitahaya or Dragonfruit on the shelf. It’s actually the fruit of a cactus called Hylocereus and it was such a new line that the staff hadn’t even had a chance to try it, so we had to look on-line to see how to prepare and eat it.

It is full of vitamin C, antioxidants etc (that is, it’s healthy, so long as you don’t eat the pink outer skin) and is a little like a Kiwi in both taste and texture… close enough in many regards to make the less expensive Kiwi a more appealing prospect. Nice to try though.

I’ve had a couple of manic weeks and didn’t get around to writing last weekend… more specifically as a result of having to mark twenty 3,000 word essays on different aspects of entrepreneurship. I used the same excuse for not running last Sunday, but that didn’t mean that I had no exercise… in fact, I had really stiff legs for most of last week!

The reason for this was Clive’s 50th birthday party on Saturday night. There must have been 200 people there, of all ages, but it was the Falmer class of 1982 who dominated the dance floor with their totally weird gyrations. Still young enough to have the stamina to dance all night, old enough to be really embarrassing to anyone under 30!

It probably counts as the most fun I’ve had all year!

This week I’ve had the first normal weekend since July. Weekends in August & September consisted of recovering from heavy weeks in Cambridge, finalising modules for my Brighton Business School course and then driving off on a Sunday evening. Those in October and November have consisted of reading and preparing for Brighton, UCL or Terbell lectures.

Aside from catching up on sleep, my ‘normal’ weekend has consisted of minor chores such as cleaning the windows with Kim, washing the cars, stretching out a painful shoulder from these activities etc and more enjoyable things like reading, playing guitar and so on.

This morning’s run fell in between these two categories. To build on my good work two weekend’s ago I decided to attempt a tempo run at 8 mph… that is, running at the same speed for the whole duration.

The machine needs a little time to get up to speed, so despite running at 8 for the first two miles I was about 12 seconds behind at the halfway mark. As a result I ran the next mile at 8.1 and the final one at 8.2 for good measure, clearing 4 miles with seconds to go.

It was hard going, but at least the discomfort was balanced in all areas, with nothing standing out to put a stop to proceedings. Whether this training regime will result in a faster latent running speed outside is yet to be seen, but it’s an interesting (if not wholly enjoyable) exercise.

4 miles in 30 minutes, 8mph average.

Next week is looking a little quieter at the moment and although this is ot good, there is still time for new challenges to arise! Have a great week peops!

November 3, 2013November 16, 2013

Slow thinking

I’ve written before about how my thinking seems to slow, running on the machine, as the speed rises above 7mph. Today that didn’t seem to be the case, although it was this subject that I was thinking about so maybe it doesn’t count.

I was thinking that the reason why thinking slows is that the subconscious draws energy reserves away from non-vital organs to focus on those that really need it. I remember from the Michael Mosley’s BBC series about High Intensity Training that that the energy-management programme errs on the side of caution, persuading us that our muscles are more tired than they really are, so maybe the same applies here… especially since the brain is such a power-hungry organ.

I remember from both the marathons I have run, Berlin in 2004 and Brighton in 2010, that I succumbed to what I can only assume is a version of ‘the wall’. My experience was of an increasing internal dialogue, almost voices in my head, trying to persuade me to stop… which I eventually gave in to. It’s hard to get going again afterwards as the conscious resolve has been weakened and the subconscious is more fully in control.

As I ran on I started to think how this related to hypothermia, where signs of early onset include disorientation… I wonder if this is the same mechanism at work. A tragic example of this in extremis is mountaineers, such as those on Everest, who sit down for a rest and slowly freeze to death. It often happens on the way down when their energy reserves are significantly depleted after 12 or 15 hours of extreme exertion at altitude, in sub-zero temperatures.

The intense fatigue prevents the climber from thinking clearly: it is this lack of judgement that allows the subconscious need to ‘maintain energy reserves’ to override the conscious need to keep going. I have read and heard a number of chilling accounts of climbers finding someone technically alive though deliriously unable to move and one, though I can’t find the book in my bookcase, where the account is given in the first person by someone whose conscious fought back from the warm & comfortable seat in the snow. In that case, though being given up for dead by others, he did actually manage to make it off the mountain… a herculean feat of both body and conscious mind.

3.77 miles in 30 minutes is an average speed of 7.5 mph was no such herculean feat. Whilst my cognitive excursion might have it’s roots in all kinds of stimuli, it might also indicate that I’m at least adapting to the speed as a result of the recent fast but short Sunday runs. Something more to ponder on!

June 16, 2013

Playing catchup

As many students will have heard me say over the last few years, the one thing that you can guarantee about habits is that they lapse. The key thing to remember is that when you realise that a habit has lapsed, you just pick up where you left off… with no emotion.

So although I’ve not blogged for six weeks, here I am back at the keyboard picking up where I left off.

Although I’ve not blogged, I have at least completed a few short miles: On the 12th May 5.02 miles in 40 minutes; on the 3rd June 2 miles in 18.31; and on the 4th June 2 miles in 18 minutes. All on the machine.

The lack of running and blogging was initially due to a busy few weeks, with conferences, a ten year reunion at LBS and the marking of 100 strategy papers for a friend at UCL. Then I just didn’t feel like it and found other things to do, like gardening, barbecues, researching or relaxing. Then, when I did do a couple of shorter, faster runs, I didn’t run because I could hardly walk for a week with a pair of wooden calves. [Memo to self, stretch after running!]

Eventually it was due to lethargy, which reminded me why I created this running/writing habit in the first place, way back in 2007.

It wasn’t just about keeping fit and slowly improving my ability to write: it was as an antidote to the tiresome physical and mental lethargy I feel when I don’t exercise.

So three runs in six weeks, totalling 9 miles in 78.5 minutes, average speed 6.88mph and a lapsed habit finally restarted.

February 24, 2013February 24, 2013

Of wise men

One of the benefits of running on the machine is the amount of thinking that I do. Towards the end of my run I started thinking about what made the archetypal ‘wise man’ wise?

On a Strawbs album when I was growing up there was a quote from the Buddha:

As a man of discernment, standing on a rocky eminence, boholdeth those who are below and in distress; so doth the sage, who by his wakefulness hath put to flight his ignorance, look down upon suffering mankind from the heights of wisdom that he hath attained.

It’s from memory, so it might not be strictly accurate, but the question remains: how did the sage put to flight his ignorance?

The curiosity to observe what was going on around him and the humility to do it without judgement? The perception to see behind the obvious and the flexibility of thinking to embrace this new information. The courage to challenge dogma and the resilience to keep going when this got hard work?

These are all relevant sterling qualities, but is there also some reason they often seemed to favour living in the wilderness… even if it was only for 40 days and 40 nights?

I think the reason has to do with the way that blue sky thinking comes to us. To my mind the sky is on the inside, held as one of the millions of life-inputs captured within our subconscious. It is within this entity that ideas happen and all that is required to access them is a quiet conscious mind.

You’ll have to forgive this slightly kookie subject… it’s the kind of thing that happens when I stare at a white wall for half an hour. Along with myriad ideas for how to easily suspend an iPad in front of the running machine to give me something to think about while I’m running.

I ran 5 miles in 42.40, an average of 7mph and I’d like to leave you with something else that has been running around in my mind… if you have time to watch it?

January 6, 2013January 6, 2013

The mud thickens

Aristotle claimed that true excellence comes from repetition and is thus not an act but rather a habit. I find habits fascinating, especially the ones that you create or optimise in a deliberate conscious way.

The whole point behind this blog for example was to create a habit of running and of writing… helping me to stay fit whilst forcing me into the habit of explaining myself in words.

Even after five years though it’s not a fully formed habit as it still requires conscious effort… I don’t yet suddenly notice that I’m leaving the house with my running kit on. In fact, if anything, I’ve got into the habit of getting up late on a Sunday and reading before I even think about running.

Good or bad, a fully-formed habit is like a line of computer code that is run by the subconscious. Hitting the snooze button is a good example of a suboptimal habit. Better to set the alarm later to the point that you want to get up, thus elongating the length of quality sleep. And then get straight up, thus helping develop conscious resilience.

Left to its own devices the subconscious will persuade the body to remain in the current comfortable state until a different motivation causes it to re-prioritise. Only our conscious is concerned with the longer-term benefits of getting to work on time.

Driving or playing a musical instrument is an example of a different kind of habit. Here the task is way too complex for the conscious to handle with its limited bandwidth. Instead. a period of practice is needed in order to show the subconscious what pattern it needs to repeat and under what circumstances. Provided the pattern is learned patiently and precisely, then a high degree of competence is feasible.

Higher degrees of competence are possible when you repeatedly break the pattern as you learn it, each time pushing the performance bar a little higher. This is the power behind interval training, where both muscles and mind learn that they can do more. Unfortunately the approach is also frustrating, as it constantly delays the reward of ‘felt competence’ for a future time.

Three years ago tomorrow I embarked on an experiment. Despite having played the guitar for 35 years, I had not progressed for 25 years and my use of the instrument had slowly declined to zero. I embarked on a series of 52 weekly guitar lessons and forced myself to practice for at least five minutes each day.

I’m still no virtuoso but my ability has improved and with it my passion. This progression has been typically non-linear. There was very little progress for a long time and then everything started to improve at the same time as the subconscious started to take over.

In the last nine months I have composed several songs and learned two short jazz pieces. The experiment continues and is now part of an interesting meta-habit… a habit of experimentation, of creating other sustainable habits.

Meanwhile, I finally relinquished the fascinating Wired 2013 magazine I was reading this morning, climbed into my running gear and set of into a grey day.

The surface water had subsided from last week, but the mud had thickened. When your feet are wet, it’s easy to persuade yourself to run straight through the puddles, but with the glutinous mud today and relatively dry feet I tried to stick to a dryer line. This meant that I was constantly testing the limits of my core stability muscles as my feet slithered this way or that on the steeper gradient at the margins.

I ran the same short route as recently, out to Wivelsfield and back via the magical path, with the latter still being uncharacteristically waterlogged.

At one point I stopped briefly to balance across a particularly wet bit and experienced a Forrest Gump moment… you know, the one where he just stops running and turns his attention to new challenges.

It was momentary, but palpable and that’s where the power of habits really come into their own. Rather than give in to the subconscious feeling (and hit the snooze button) I just started running again.

The time was slower at 55 minutes for the 5.2 mile route and it didn’t have the highs of my last run… as you can see this has made the task of writing more complex, hence my rambling post. But it was still a worthwhile step in the slow pursuit of excellence.

September 2, 2012September 2, 2012

Pull your socks up!

My Mother sent me an email earlier which mentioned Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments from the Andrew Marr Show this morning… which she paraphrased as ‘pull your socks up, satisfactory is not good enough!’

She had taken it as a personal admonishment and though I didn’t see it until I got home, the cognitive essence of the message clearly came straight through to me as I ran the last few steps to the top of Ditchling Beacon.

It was my birthday yesterday (thank you all SO much for the myriad birthday wishes!) and this morning I was reflecting on my chosen career path, which seems to involve a greater number of ups and downs than those of more conventional 48 year-olds.

No prizes for guessing that I’m currently on a down, though, if I remember rightly, Malcolm Gladwell says that the path to excellence in any field is a steep, gruelling, arduous and inordinately lengthy 10,000 hours of lung-busting effort, being forced to stumble and fall at every turn, etcetera… so I’m pretty stoic about it.

It had been flat grey outside threatening rain (likewise in my head) as I downed two quadspressos, and as I changed into my running gear it started raining, so I left in a hat and jacket. The rain was really light though and within half a mile I had removed hat & jacket so that I didn’t overheat… it’s clearly not autumn yet!

My plan was to run to Ditchling Beacon & back and I soon found myself passing Oldlands Mill where there is a lively open day today if you’re interested.

Ditchling was looking pretty, despite the number of houses being redeveloped and for sale boards… I’m sure that sometimes people are so fearful of change that they choose to (in this case) move, so that there is at least the perception of control.

The bare chalk on my favourite steep and gruelling route up the Beacon was damp in the occasional light rain and thus very slippery and I was glad that I discovered this on the way up the hill!

I reached the top in an underwhelming 55 minutes (5.45mph average for the 5 miles) so with little view to appreciate and presumably sensing my Mother’s thoughts, I turned round without a rest for the return leg.

It was not a good day to go quickly down this hill but I wasn’t feeling tired so once I got to the flatter ground at the bottom I started to push on a bit. Nothing heroic, just a little more effort.

I laboured momentarily up Lodge Hill (if you’ve ever seen it, you’ll know why) then resumed my slightly faster pace, passing an already busier Oldlands Mill. When I got back to the tarmac of Ockley Lane (with the rain now coming down a little more heavily) I pushed on a little harder still, though still not beyond a comfortable jog.

And thus I finally returned to the house, 10 miles in 1:41.

The quick mathematicians amongst you will notice that my return leg was 9 minutes faster than the outbound section… 6.5 mph average for the second 5 miles. That gave me something to smile about! Even the combined average of 5.95mph was faster than last week’s (brilliantly enjoyable) run.

Maybe my running mojo is getting its socks on ready to return… and maybe, with a little more effort on steep and slippery paths, that bodes well for my work too! Thanks Mum!

August 19, 2012

FosterRuns.com is five years old!

Earlier today one of the St Francis runners asked me how long I’d been writing my blog and it wasn’t until I was in the shower that I actually thought about it and realised that I had missed its birthday this week! It’s not the only birthday I’ve managed to miss this year either so my apologies all round!

Some hastily thrown-together stats show that I’ve had a somewhat lazy year… a teacher like Dai Thomas (who helped me start this blog in the first place) might mark me down as ‘could do better’!

Following the format from previous years the numbers are as follows:

Number of posts: 66 (83 in year 4, 110 in year 3, 102 in year 2, 156 in year 1 – the numbers below follow this format too). The original aim of the blog was to force me to run and to write in a virtuous, self-supporting circle, but other projects have been taking my attention this year and both body and mind have suffered as a result.

Number of runs: 41 (72, 92, 63, 67) although this doesn’t include the two more involved events, namely the informal Tour du Mont Blanc with Daren last year and the Eye-to-Eye (London Eye to Brighton Eye).

Mileage: 292 (653, 726, 538, 512)… this is the lowest yet, even if I added 108 miles for the TMB and 47 miles completed in the Eye-to-Eye

Hours spent running: 47 (113, 113, 84, 87)… excluding 53 walking hours for TMB (excluding breaks and overnights) and 13-odd for the Eye-to-Eye. Actually, these numbers make me feel a little better, although it seems odd to have spent more time on the TMB than running for the whole of the rest of the year!

Average run: 7.1 miles in 1.10 (9.4 in 1.34, 7.89 in 1.24, 8.14 in 1.20, 8.07 in 1.31).

Average speed: 6.1mph (5.8, 6.38, 6.05, 6.15) or 3.9mph including the longer events

Average minutes per mile: 10.4 (9.4, 9.9, 9.65) Slower than a slow thing!

Worst month distance: 6 in March 12 (31.6 in December 2010, 10.4 May 10, 13.6 Jan 09, 22.3 Feb 08).

Best month distance: 50 in Jan 2012 (68 miles in Jan 2011, 157 in March 10, 62 Apr 09, 68 Nov 07), whilst the average monthly mileage was 24 (52, 61, 40 and 44)

Total mileage to date since start of blog: 2724 miles (excluding the aforementioned 155 miles)

Time spent running since start of blog: 447 hours (excluding the aforementioned 66 hours)

Visitors according to Google Analytics: 1504 (Clustermaps: 1722, 1479, 1496, 2906 for year 1, the first year being higher as a by-product of my work with Qype.com).

I forgot to mention (by way of a vague token excuse) that a number of my posts this year involved cross training, including 8 visits to a circuit training class and 5 high intensity training sessions. Despite the fact that this latter involved a mere 5 minutes of exercise in total, it was actually more exhausting than anything else here!

The best part of running is doing so with friends and strangers alike and here’s to yet another sociable year of it!

Finally, my thanks to all that have stopped by at FosterRuns.com during five years of blogging! FIVE years!

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

John Aubrey Brooks, RIP

The 19th Brighton Scouts was a fundamental part of my life growing up. Both brothers had been Scouts and Venture Scouts there, one later becoming a Scoutmaster, whilst my mother was Chair of the fundraising committee that oversaw the building of its ‘hut’ in the ‘seventies.

I was both Cub and Scout there and one of the Scoutmasters, among many who gave up a considerable amount of their spare time to inspire young Scouts, was John Brooks.

I remember John on a number of different levels. Long-standing family friend, master of camp-fire songs, knowledgeable country-man, passionate motorcyclist. Two of my memories are more unusual.

In September 1987 I enrolled on a one-year City & Guilds evening course in Social and Documentary Photography, part of which entailed finding a social subject to document.

John had been a Traffic Warden in and around Haywards Heath for more than 20 years and he readily agreed to be the subject of my photo documentary. Permission was gained from the Chief Inspector and I duly followed John around during a series of lunchtimes and occasional early mornings, taking photographs of him working.

I must have walked miles following him around and I even persuaded my then-boss to park his car on double-yellow lines and pose as an insouciant transgressor arguing against being ticketed. John did offer to write out the ticket for me to photograph, but said that Ken would then need to pay it!

My efforts over the year were rewarded with a Distinction and a nice letter from the local Superintendent, and since John retired the following year, due to the increasing poor health of his overworked knees, my work really did become a piece of historical documentary.

For many years John had also been part of the annual Pantomime at Clair Hall in Haywards Heath and had encouraged my parents and I to attend. It was always great fun, although the thing that I oddly remember most was the chilly drive home again across Ditchling Common with the impenetrable mist often hanging in the dips in the road.

Around the time of my photo assignment, John asked if I could audition for a role in the pantomime. When I arrived one lunchtime it turned out to be only half a role: the back half… of Daisy the Magical Mrs Cow! Since John was the front half, I was lucky enough to secure the role.

After hours of rehearsals learning to perform hilarious movements with Daisy’s hind quarters, and with the pantomime dates looming, John’s knees sadly became too precarious for him to continue and I was promoted to the front end role!

This was a real step up, not least as I then had air to breathe and different (even more hilarious) moves to make with Daisy’s front legs, eyelashes etc. Under John’s tutelage, my rookie back legs and I had a storming week of pantomime, culminating with a performance with my parents and sister sitting in the front row… seasoned heckler that she is!

As the performance ended and the leading ladies received bouquets, the Director asked if there were any other bouquets to give. My sister, in a loud voice, proclaimed ‘Mrs Cow’, and promptly presented the Daisy team with a bouquet of grass and gorse that she and her partner had collected from the Downs, neatly tied with an elaborate bow by a local florist!

That was a truly memorable moment to end a memorable week, but was not as hilarious as what happened next.

As I staggered home after an excellent end of show party, a Police car slowed to pass me, turned in the road behind and then pulled up alongside me. The Constable wound down the window and asked what I was carrying… the answer left them chuckling and shaking their heads in disbelief as they drove off.

It seems like only a short time after that John and his wife Natalie moved to Wales for a more rural pace of life. He passed away after a gruelling battle with Parkinsons, whilst she predeceased him by a couple of years. I have happy memories of both.

July 22, 2012July 22, 2012

Tempo hour

My life is fast becoming a series of fascinating cognitive experiments.

In the week leading up to last weekend I spent 53 hours researching an alien (to me) commercial sector, first trying to gain a working understanding of it and later attempting to elicit valuable insights and present them in a coherent narrative.

My approach to the fascinating project was based on one of my creativity hypotheses and whilst some time needs to elapse for the client to be able to measure the real value of the exercise, one thing was abundantly clear: it left me mentally exhausted! Such that I wasn’t even able to contemplate a run last Sunday.

A contributory factor might have been a generously hearty dinner at Cliff & Nessie’s… where the combined testosterone from that many serious ultra-runners in one room was probably exhausting in itself!

This week has been fascinating for different reasons. Tuesday I was a participant in a Phd neuroscience experiment into pain at Kings College. This involved surprisingly little pain allied to the interesting experience of being scanned in an MRI machine, twice.

As I have aged so the subject of pain has become more interesting. When I was young I remember my father periodically yelping in agony at various twinges brought on by the gardening which he used as a means to relax. Now I understand those twinges first hand and the only evolutionary modification is that I try hard not to yelp!

Later in the week I had the privilege of helping Brighton Business School to review their new MBA syllabus. It seems to be an increasingly common theme for me to help people look at challenges from a different perspective, even when, as in this case, the people concerned are consummate specialists and way more learned than I.

So after another thought-provoking week and with a fresh back-ache to ignore (brought on by gardening yesterday) I decided that I really must get a run in.

My aim today was simply to run for an hour, so I set the speed to 6mph, covered the distance indicator with a towel (and later the clock too) and just got on with it. 6mph is a great speed for thinking, hence the myriad thoughts above, whilst it is also not too draining on such a gloriously warm summers day.

6.07 miles in one hour, 6mph average.

And now on to my next experiment. My sense is that I either need to strengthen my back by doing more gardening, or avoid aggravating it by doing less… no guesses which one I’ve chosen!

PS congratulations to my niece Kate and her beau Alex, who got married yesterday!

May 6, 2012

Marklighting

I had the pleasure of seeing Mark on Friday in a work context and the incredibly flowery shirt that he was wearing has led me to an admittedly spurious and totally illogical conclusion. I don’t have a photo of the aforementioned shirt so you’ll need to take my word for it, but the material must have been designed in the late 1960s!

I think that Mark was wearing it to distract onlookers from realising that his body was actually elsewhere, masquerading as a mannequin. Fortunately I do have a photo of his body, standing casually in the window of a running shop in Queens Road, easily identifiable by the degree to which… er, I’m sorry to be blunt about this… his nipples stand out.

Mark won’t mind me mentioning this, I’m sure, since it is well known that he buys Vaseline in industrial containers to reduce friction rash in this area when running… and you can see why from this photo.

As those people who know both Mark and I will attest, there is a vague visual similarity between us. It’s as if someone has squashed me from above, goatee and all, forcing my body and legs (yes, etcetera!) to bulge out. This might help explain why he calls himself Mini-me, though the name could work for either of us!

But, for the record (Karen Scott) we’re not actually related… I meant to confess that I was pulling your leg, but got sidetracked… sorry!

Mark is busy competing in yet another marathon today (number 55?) and after my not running last weekend he shamed me into committing to a run today. I decided the fastest way to get back into shape was on the treadmill, so after a couple of quadspressos and a banana this morning I climbed aboard with the aim of completing five miles.

I talk a lot (both here and in person) about the tension between conscious and sub-conscious and here was to be a battle worthy of mentioning.

I decided to do intervals, running every other quarter-mile at 6mph in order to recover. The alternate quarter-miles started at at 6.5 mph and rose in 0.5 mph increments to 10 mph, before reducing again in the same way.

Adapting as the speed increased turned out to be okay, since the recovery period each time was quite generous, but having run a quarter-mile at 10 mph I didn’t manage to catch my breath before having to run at 9.5 mph. This would have been okay if I was just running 5 miles, but by this point I had decided to run further and probably for an hour.

This is where the subconscious starts to kick in, trying valiantly to stop the body from running itself out of energy. In a straight fight the conscious would always lose (you might be able to happily dance along a plank of wood on the ground, but place it between two rooftops and the subconscious will tell you it’s impossible to walk across), so instead it needs to play little tricks in order to get its way.

Strategies that I used today included: deciding that I would stop after the next recovery phase, be it the one following 10, 9.5 or 9 mph (and then not doing so on each occasion); focusing on something else by counting down the distance to the end of each faster quarter in breaths taken (five breaths to 0.1 mile); pointing out to myself that each interval was getting easier; and then by focusing on the pleasure of being able to write this post without having to confess that I wimped out when the going got tough.

There was eventually a compromise. Having successfully got back down to 6.5 mph and run the subsequent recovery interval at 6 mph, I then relented and walked the final quarter to 8 miles as a cool-down. At which point even the machine told me to STOP.

So 8 miles in just under 72 minutes, including the walk, averages at 6.67 mph and just about did me in… as you can see from my face below!

Having chilled my legs with a cold shower and eaten lots of peanut butter on toast I now feel pretty good, but only time will tell how well I will be able to walk come Tuesday morning. All bets are off, but there’s a good chance that I will be walking markedly like a mannequin!