Books

Epic reading month continues

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Three weeks to go before the vacation and two massive hardbacks down – I’ve just finished ploughing through all 800 pages of the latest Wheel of Time novel disappointingly quickly. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I finish it – I’ve been reading the series since the mid 90s, waiting for each new book to come out.

It may be sacrilege to say so, but I actually think Mr Sanderson (commissioned to finish the series when Robert Jordan passed away in 2007) is a better and more efficient writer than RJ – there’s been far less smoothing of Aes Sedai skits in his novels so far – but then Robert Jordan left a lot of story left to be told as we inch closer to Tarmon Gaidon. Only one book left in the series, depressingly, then I will need to bid farewell to another universe… unless, of course, the estate commissions some prequels… and I’m not sure how I feel about that!

Next two hardbacks to read, before I go on vacation and take only digital books with me, are Peter F Hamilton’s Evolutionary Void and the latest novel in Stephen Donaldson’s Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Any tips on what to dip into next? Is there any epic sci-fi or fantasy I’ve missed on offer in the Kindle store?

Thoughts on a comment appreciated Smile.

I’ve now got a strange hybrid image of Rand Al’Thor sitting in a multi-purpose hab unit within an abominator class GOU heading to blow the hell out of Shayol Gul. It’ll be very weird in my head by the end of the month….

Injuries

Pain in the neck

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We’re in London this Friday/Saturday so I’ve brought my running kit down in the hope I can get a good run out on the canal on Saturday morning…

BUT – I woke up yesterday (well, woke up would imply sleep – I got up…) unable to turn my head without sharp, shooting pain. I’d heard of pinched nerves and the like, from sleeping funny but never experienced it so I took to the Doc. Her advice? Move it as much as possible, take painkillers and apply heat. Frustrating as a set of remedies though that may be for a speedy recovery…

It’s significantly better today (I can turn my head) but who knows what state I’ll be in tomorrow. Fingers crossed I don’t have to make up distance in my 10km/weekly minimum running distance (which really needs upping) another day/weekend.

I still need to find a race as a stake in the ground for my training. Any thoughts on an early April half marathon in the UK?

Books

Seeing as I’m ploughing through epic SF/fantasy at the moment…

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It’s ‘Looking forward to Feist‘ month. By posting the embed below I’m in with a chance of winning the new hardback, out – you guessed it – early next month. Although given that Voyager sent me his entire back catalogue a few months ago, I can’t help but think I might not have the best chance of winning this one…

Whilst the various Midkemian adventures have in some ways got increasingly more ridiculous (how many more levels of bad can there be – they keep facing off the ultimate evil!) – it’s still a wonderful universe and I’m looking forward to the next instalment – which I gather may be the beginning of the end…

Update: the embedded countdown ticker below doesn’t seem to render in Chrome. Sorry! It works in (shudder) IE.

Personal

Commuter math

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Whether it’s because of the mental arithmetic my Dad used to make us work our way through as a child, my own obsessive compulsive inclinations or because of Donald in Mathemagic Land, I tend to set myself little arithmetic challenges all over the place. It’s a useful thing; every now and then it applies to a business or investment decision.

On the commute, though, it’s a way of killing dead time. On the drive in, I work out my average speed including traffic lights (35 mph). I estimate the potential total mileage the car can cope with on the commuter run (about 150 miles), and what that means for fuel consumption (75 days of there-and-back to Basingstoke station, or about three working months between refuels if I don’t use the car for anything else), and what that costs (currently about £52 or £17ish a month).

On the train, I try to work out its average speed (just under 80 mp/h for the longest leg of the journey), although mostly these days I read and worry that I’m going to get to the end of the novels I’m reading too quickly and end up in search of another fictional universe to devour on the trip. Of course, many days the iPad comes out and its time to get through email and work, but the last couple of weeks the train has been too crowded for much of that…

How do you deal with your commute, long or short? It’s certainly a far cry from the days in London when I tried to beat the record for my 16 minute bike ride across the park…

Running, Training

Running technique–the stride

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Another run today, thinking a bit more about running technique.

Before this recent bout of running hit me, if someone had talked to me about running “technique” I’d have been somewhat cynical. One foot in front of the other, and all that.

When the ITB injury hit me last year I learnt how much I was doing wrong from Sudhir, and it became apparent that I needed to put much more thought into the way my feet rolled off the ground, the length of my stride, etc.

On Friday, Amanda was watching the One Show (before Eastenders rather than through deliberate choice) and they were doing a feature about rabbits – and how they run quicker than people. A big part of this, they said, was because the proportional stride of a rabbit was equivalent to a full grown man striding three meters with each footfall as they run. My running stride probably varies between 60cm and a metre, at a guess, due to rubbish hamstrings, poor fitness and disciplines. So on the run today, I gave it more thought and was amazed at the difference in pace I achieved when making a conscious effort to lengthen the stride. (Incidentally, the One Show tried to extend the stride of a man by extending his legs with those running stilt things – silly, but fun)

It makes sense, after all. 1000m is 1000 steps with a metre stride, and 600 odd more with 60cm strides. Effort wise, it stands to reason that the smaller effort in lengthening the stride is proportionately less than the effort needed to take the extra 600 steps. So I plan to spend a bit more time focussing on my hamstrings and my stride in the runs to come.

As an aside, another bit of random telly we had on whilst Emily was feeding was some athletics. During a 3000m race, people were finishing in 8 minutes, with a 2m 30 odd second split per kilometre. Given my best time for 3 km is about 17 minutes, this was pretty awe-inspiring. Their stride was immense. No idea how big but a damn sight bigger than my meter / 1.2m at best running stride.

More effort / training needed. Need to give that running coach thing a bit more thought…

Uncategorized

Vicious cycle of unhealthiness

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I nearly didn’t make it out today. It was literally freezing, snowing slightly and I’d had another week of unhealthy eating and stress that left me feeling far from prepared for a run of any distance.

Amanda, as ever, was my saviour. When I started to make my excuse – “I just want to spend the morning with you and Emily…” her response was simple. “We don’t want you here. We want you healthy!”

Suitably incentivised, I headed out for an hour and, as ever, was warm enough within the first 3-4 minutes despite the chill.

Another 10k, marginally better time that my previous effort but given the mid-week binges on food (the opposite of what I was managing when my diet was going well) progress feels slower. It’s frustrating as breaking out of this cycle is proving very difficult but I think I need to do it, and my Dailyburn updates may resume in February as I try to clamp down on the eating.

Gotta break the cycle!

Racing, Training

The routine continues

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Days 2 and 3 of running with the new shoes went well, although gathering the willpower to make it out this weekend was properly hard – for a few reasons.

1. It’s still cold enough to be miserable and cause me to completely misjudge what to wear. “Sweat runs” as Sensei Paul calls them are a regular appearance.

2. My fitness is still down after my September heights, although the ITB rolls at least are getting easier.

3. I’m still eating like a mentalist, far too much, and am heavy and not feeling the grace of my earlier lightness

Hoping to resolve this in the weeks ahead… But still ahead of my distance target and hoping to continue this into the month ahead. Wish me luck…

Books

Reading again

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With all the busy-ness, Emily’s arrival, new house, running training and crazy time at work I’ve been rubbish about reading. It’s been hard to get into something new, but finally, sparked by a Christmas present from my sister, I’ve started reading again. Admittedly the specific book, Rupert Thomson’s memoir, wasn’t quite my thing, I’ve now finally gotten into the new Culture novel, Surface Detail, and so far it is *awesome*. Standard Iain M Banks imagineering, which is to say inventive, mind-bending, original and enthralling. The last books I was properly absorbed by was the Ender Saga, which I read through August and September so wonderful to be back in someone else’s crazy universe.

I have a few more books to read in the weeks ahead as when I go on vacation in March I have no intention of taking any hardbacks with me – all my reading will be on the iPad. So have a few books on my list, with space opera and epic fantasy the flavour of the month for the rest of Jan and Feb – with the latest in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the newest book in the Wheel of Time series awaiting me in giant, glorious hardback…

I had planned to buy fewer massive sci-fi and fantasy novels but its hard to stop when you’ve got the first 12 books in a series…

In another book related update, some friends who are getting married have set us the challenge of giving them a book that means a great deal to us. Given the diversity of reading interests between myself and Amanda (and now Emily), it might take some doing to get a book we all love… But is a lovely idea and will enjoy the hunt!

Current affairs, PR, Sport

Spurs and the Olympic stadium–tactical bid?

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2012stadium

So I’m possibly the world’s worst football fan. When my classmate Bozza explained the offside rule to me in 1994 I decided I supported Spurs, and when, at college and beyond, it transpired that Damo and Jimbo were also Spurs fans, it somewhat invigorated my ‘interest’ and I’ve paid some attention to the team – over the years – and particularly over the last two or three.

Now as a general rule (which I intend to break a bit over the weeks ahead) I don’t write about “comms strategies” and suchlike on here, but this has been an absolutely fascinating story. Other than submitting the application and speaking in controversial theoreticals (smashing down the stadium / getting rid of the athletics track etc), Spurs has held relatively quiet on the whole topic, with Redknapp in particular focussed on getting his team to the top of the table. As well he should be.

But of course, the negative outcry has begun. Football in the UK, despite its internationalisation, and that of the Premier League in particular, has ever been a local thing. The “North London Derby” galvanises the residents of different parts of the city into a neighbourly frenzy of competitive spirit. I’m brought to mind of the episode of “Life on Mars” in which Man City and Man United fans started to wage war on each other, and of course of Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel…

So the move to Stratford makes little sense. Except that its a fantastic story, and despite the outcry, it seems as much flack is hitting the Olympics Legacy company as Spurs itself – which makes sense. After all, if the legacy of the Olympics should retain something of the Olympics (which makes no sense to me – after all, no country needs four velodromes running at 1% utilisation!), then it’s unsurprising that the global athletics wonks are getting upset about it all.

Of course, if I’m right in thinking the whole thing is just Spurs going after some profile-raising publicity, and in trying to eke out some regeneration money – then when they step magnanimously away from Stratford and commit their £500m of redevelopment to their local neighbourhood, local residents will be relieved and it’ll just be the Olympic legacy company that has to contend with the fallout of ever having considered such a thing. And odds are, Spurs chairman Dan Levy will get the “regeneration monies” he needs to invest in his local neighbourhood…

What do you think? Tactical bid vs. genuine interest? Comms / negotiation strategy vs. club migration? Be interested to hear.

Armand David's personal weblog: dadhood, technology, running, media, food, stuff and nonsense.