• Two of Us

My training progress
achieved during the last three weeks while on holidays: 117k. I was going to run at BRRC on Sunday morning 5 October, but it was too hot for a long road race!
year 2008 total to date: 3197k in 41 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 66kg ▲ That's high. Well, although I have been burning the midnight oil at both ends, as usual, I have not been running as often as I would have liked. I confidently predict down arrows for the next week or two.

Results ACTMA Handicap 28/9, Parkwood
8k 95 finishers
5 Christopher Lang M55 42:58 66.8% silver
12 Mick Charlton M55 45:12 62.8
33 Bronwyn Calver W35 39:17 70.3
41 Kathy Sims W55 41:49 79.0
42 Alan Duus M60 41:53 71.0
53 Rod Lynch M45 33:59 77.9
55 Tony Booth M70 45:27 72.8
63 Roger Pilkington M45 39:37 67.2
68 Colin Farlow M45 34:56 74.9
94 Adam Robinson M35 52:11 45.3

4k – 44 finishers
6 Jodie Sims W30 19:22 64.3% bronze
13 Amanda Walker W40 19:09 70.6
14 Jodie Davis W40 25:04 54.2
15 Neil Boden M55 19:35 71.4
43 Geoff Barker M60 24:28 59.5

More news from recent races, and results, to be published this week as I clear the back-log.

Two of us: Olivia & Alex on holidays



Some of the gang at the beach again

I'll Be Back

I'll Be Back for training tomorrow, Monday. At Parliament House at 5:30pm as usual. And for those who can arrive earlier and would like a long warrm-up, I will continue running 7.5k at 4:30pm, same venue.

I will keep posting with Beatles titles, "I'll Be Back" is still one of them! Would you believe there are still roughly 155 titles I haven't used, and that does not include all the solo work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney/Wings, and George Harrison, which is substantial. So until I tire of this, it will keep on going. Persistence is my middle name. I will be doing it until the fat lady freezes over.

At Uni I did mathematics & philosophy. and ran. and watched footy. That’s all. So this is a favourite video clip.



Yesterday I picked up my chest numbers for the AACT 08-09 season, so that I can officially compete for North Canberra this summer. I officially registered only once before in the last twenty years or so but didn't end up competing that year. The plan is to tag along at the back of the last division of the 800m and 1500m on Saturday afternoons and beyond. I watched Saturday's 800m and was delighted to see that the last division was also the first division: boys ran one race, girls the other. At least now I know what I am in for, and at least in the 800 I won't be lapped!

It would be nice to recruit some friends who could come along and join me at the back of the middle distance fields on Saturdays. Takers? There is no pressure out there like there was twenty years ago when only fast runners competed; everyone is slow these days.

Splish Splash


Five of our grandchildren enjoying the waves at Scarborough, Brisbane last week.

Across the Universe

Like the posts that have gone before, I started typing this way in advance. But all went to plan, we have returned after our voyage across the universe and back, safe and sound as they say. So I am amending this post for publication.

The backlog is horrific. But keep your ear to the grindstone and you will receive from me updates on more recent events very soon.

We have been seeing relatives and I am sure to find some suitable photos for display. Here's a photo stuffed with relatives. The photo was taken on 29 September 1909, so I doubt that any of these particular relatives will feature in any of the photos I have taken. Descendants of them will, though.


(clicketh to enlargeth) (note the appropiate use of ye olde englishe)

Footnote: A power surge took out my home phone answering machine while I was away! So any messages left there in the last three weeks have disappeared into the ether.

When I Get Home

Hopefully soon, I will continue to assist as many runners as possible.

Whether you do Fun Running, like the Spring Series:
Tue 4 Nov Weston Park 2/5km
Tue 11 Nov Black Mountain Peninsula 2/5km, John Cardiff Close
Tue 18 Nov O'Connor Ridge, Masterman St East (Bruce) 2/5 km
Tue 25 Nov Boathouse 2/5 km, Menindee Drive, Parkes
Tue 2 Dec Stromlo Forest Park 2/5km Uriarra Road

... or track, or just getting fit, I will try and listen to you and give you healthy advice.

Although, "you can beat a dead horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Anyway we are geese, speedy geese at that, not horses,


and I am looking forward to getting back into the flock.

Happiness is a Warm Gun

How to run your way not everybody else’s.
It is amazing how people who train together often develop the same running style. We need to make sure we do not make our running style rigid and inflexible. Yeterday I suggested we would do well to run like a child, with the same physical freedom and relaxation of a child. But this doesn't mean "running around like children with their heads cut off." It does mean using our adult wisdom as to how and where we run.

There is a massive amount of pressure to conform, pressure to buy into other people's ideas. Consider the evil of consumerism for example. The following advertisement is very persuasive and very evil. Beware what others say to you. Ask yourself first, what are their assumptions? What are their motives?



The above assumes we are all part of the competitive consumerism rat race. And it suggests that yet another credit card is the answer! Very evil indeed.

So don't just take any advice at face value. Work it out, in the company of like minded people, for yourself.

I like the idea of re-discovering child-like flexibility, because that can become a starting point for establishing new and better patterns of training. Starting from scratch is sometimes a lot easier than making minor corrections. To style, to attitudes, and to training habits.

An example of this is the person who "hasn't missed one" of a particular racing series so has to run the next one, despite being seriously under-prepared for it. We need to break whatever pattern of thinking is causing such irrational actions.

Sometimes a shock is just what is needed.


This is the final shocking despair poster.

Mother Nature's Son

How to run naturally.
Run like a child. Barefoot, free, like the wind, relaxed, arms and legs working furiously, no tension, laughter on the face.

It's not regimented, it's not a stilted learnt style. Watch a young child, one who has not been shown how to run and is not copying someone else, and see how it's done! It's instinctive.

Find some sprinklers to run under, or some puddles to splash, or some contours like the ones below to play on.


Wouldn't it be nice if all our running tracks were gently undulating and had lush green grass to run on. Wheeee!

I see myself in a year's time being able to run barefoot at Stromlo. I am working towards it already; "Frees" were the first step; it will happen. It will require patient adaptation, but it will happen. I have had NO calf or ankle problems this year, due to work on flexibility and strength combined with moving down from DS Trainers to Frees. The last running shoes which were good were the Tiger G9, since then every running shoe ever made has had too much "protection" until the Frees came along. In particular, too much heel lift.

I ran all my fastest marathons in Tiger G9s.

"It’s not rocket surgery!"

For You Blue

Geese who don't whine (1) Joel



Geese who don't whine (2) Yelena



That's because, even though they cannot run Masters Track, they are going to go out and enjoy Athletics ACT track on Saturday afternoons. I will join them, this season, all being well. And I will not whine, wherever I come and whatever time my race is run.

You Know What To Do

Just when you thought the walking jibes might be over...


My worst fear would be losing my speed and becoming a slow walker.

How to run further
Relax, and run with quick steps.

How to run faster
Relax, and run with quick steps.

I have said all this before in detail. (Use the feature which seaches this blog if you want to read or re-read it.) One thing that worries me in yesterday'slink is the talk of "running with stiffer legs". What is that all about? If we tense them deliberately, how can we simultaneously relax them? Maybe they will be "stiffer" if they are stronger through appropriate training. But isn't it really important that each leg be relaxed as much as possible in its recovery stride, ie while the other leg is connecting briefly with the ground?

speedygeese is our name and speed is our game


The down side of all this is, the faster you run, the slower the pedestrians are. Yes, I predict we will never be free of slow walkers.

Good Day Sunshine

Daylight Saving means no more dark runs at Parliament House, and we can return to the paths on the eastern or western side of the building for more varied training sessions. Or run down to the lake. (Or run up Red Hill or Mugga Way, which we won't do anyway because of the traffic).

I do like daylight. Bring it on.

Watch out for lawnmowers!



How to run faster over longer distances
I was reading up on some of the debate about the advantage of a high back-lift with the legs when you are running fast. This may be this season's theme; last season the theme was "180 steps per minute". So to get you into the swing of things, have a look at the cool-running thread at http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=20642. "The jury is still out", in fact I think the trial is still on, or possibly the jury hasn't even been selected yet. (Stupid metaphor! Get back to the point!) The suggestion is that a high back lift is an essential ingredient in running quickly and economically over a long distance. Without doing much research - yet! - my guess is that certain runners should really work on this - others may not need to - some may not be able to initially because of limits in their strength and flexibility, meaning they should work on that first - still others just won't be able to adapt because their running style is so ingrained. However - worth a look, and we will see how adaptable some of us are.

Running at 180bpm works. I think if we are to run fast at this tempo, we cannot let our legs drag behind us, nor can we stride out with good hip flexibility unless our legs have a very short and high back-lift. I have emphasised trying to skim over the ground so that the feet stay on for the minimum time. This new back-lift challenge looks like just another component of the same speedy style. The trick of course is to integrate all these style components into one fluent whole.

Any thoughts?

Cats rarely exert themselves, until set a challenge ...


Cats however never use a high back-lift, except when expelling dogs.

"The swing of things" - ha ha, that was an attempt at humour.

Octopus's Garden

Last time we were in Brisbane, June 2007, we went to Mooloolaba and visited underwater world with its fantastic array of aquatic animals. And the live entertainment was sensational. I don't know if we will go there again this time but it was great value. It was pouring rain and we had to endure hazardous driving conditions to get there, but outdoor activites were out of the question. The link above is well worth checking out!




We took many photos; there were seals, otters, fish, sharks, and every variety of sea creature.

But it was pouring rain and the roads were treacherous. How to stay out of trouble when out driving? Here's a very old driving joke: The other day I went into the local religious book store, where I saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I bought it and put it on the back bumper of my car, and I'm really glad I did. What an uplifting experience followed!

I was stopped at a light at a busy intersection, just lost in thoughts of the Lord, and I didn't notice that the light had changed. That bumper sticker really worked! I found lots of people who loved Jesus. Why, the guy behind me started to honk like crazy. He must really love the Lord because pretty soon, he leaned out his window and yelled "Jesus Christ" as loud as he could. It was like a football game, with his shouting, "Go Jesus Christ Go."

Everyone else started honking, too, so I leaned out my window and waved and smiled to all those loving people. There must have been a guy from Florida back there because I could hear him yelling something about a "sunny beach", and I saw him waving in a funny way with his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked my two kids what that meant, they squirmed, looked at each other, giggled and told me that it was the Hawaiian good luck sign, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back.

Several cars behind, a very nice large man stepped out of his car and yelled something. I couldn't hear him very well, but it sounded like "mother trucker" or mother from there. Maybe he was from Florida too. He must really love the Lord.

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and were walking toward me. I bet they wanted to pray, but just then I noticed the light had changed to yellow, and I stepped on the gas. And a good thing I did, because I was the only driver to get across the intersection. I looked back at them standing there. I leaned way out the window, gave them a big smile and held up the Hawaiian good luck sign and I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful people!

Good Night

One's heritage is fine but tradition can be a pain in the abdomen. Institutionalised tradition hinders innovation, advance, improvement. What is it that we are doing that we no longer need to do? Once over-valued tradition is put aside we are free to engage the new, creative, and progressive.

For example, our exercise routine. Mine is based on decades-old knowledge. So I am going to have to set aside some time to research and became adept at newer and better exercise techniques. This is something I have been promising myself for some time, yet but the transition is always problematic.

And of course I will share such knowledge with you. As I invite you to share any knowledge you have with me.

Good night old routines which are past their use by date. Good morning to the new, NOT necessarily the same as the old.

Are blonde jokes still in vogue?



Surprisingly this cheerleader is not blonde.



I think I will get her to hold this on Thursday nights



Good night.

Let's Dance

We speedygeese are a team. Meaning - social skills are important. These include:

Listening. It is important to listen to other people's ideas. When people are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas.
Discussing. It is important to discuss your ideas with your teammates until you agree.
Questioning. It is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the objectives of the team.
Persuading. Individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.
Respecting It is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas.
Helping. It is crucial to help one's coworkers, which is the general theme of teamwork.
Sharing. It is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork.
Participating. All members of the team are encouraged to participate in the team. (usually consist of three or more people)
Communicating. For a team to work effectively it is essential team members acquire communication skills and use effective communication channels between one another e.g. using email, viral communication, group meetings and so on. This will enable team members of the group to work together and achieve the team's purpose and goals.

Source - wikipedia!

I always intended this blog to be a forum rather than my jornal. This year it has become more of a journal because there is an interst in what rtraining I personnally do and why. But I would be happier if there was much moe partyicipation and interaction. This blog continues to be my primary communication mechanism. Both ways. Thank you to the few who regularly take advantage of it. I wish more would.



I deliberattly left thetypos and grammatical blunders ib the above paragrah to show you how badl ny fusrt draft looks! Don't worry how your communications via this blog look to anyone else, just do it! I just type very fast & fix it up after.

If the speedygeese group becomes VERY LARGE then this brings challenges to do with how a team working environment operates. However we are small enough that the wikipedia list of principles generally applies.

I remember in my workplace before I retired, managers knew all this stuff but had no idea how to apply it. That was just a nightmare better forgotten. But we choose to train together, we have many common interests. Hopefully we can apply it.

What do you think needs to be done first?

Meanwhile
Let's sing! let's dance! let's all wear fancy pants!

The above rhymes with an eastern austrlian accent but not with a southern one. OK, I won't write any more poetry. But let's go into print even wjhen we are in a funny mood!

Working as a team gets much more effective results than working alone does.

p.s. happy birthday mother 83 today (she reads my writting)

Don't Let Me Down

Don't Let Me Down and stop training in my absence! It is October and the Track Season is upon us!



I have had several attempts at defining success. I think personal success is something along the lines of "setting achievable goals which will stretch you, coming up with a plan to achieve those goals, then sticking to the plan". Perhaps more words are needed, words which mention other people, but preferably not in a way which wishes "failure" on them. I am sure to think of something.

I am of course enjoying myself in Brisbane the land of the cane toad.



What goes dot-dot-croak, dot-dash-croak?
Morse toad.

Everything you ever wanted to know about frogs and toads is here. There is enough reading for the rest of your day. Make it a good one!

Good Morning Good Morning

It all depends on how you define winning I suppose.

Words are the strangest things.... I like playing with words and phrases where slight ambiguity can be found. I don't know why; and it must annoy or confuse the occasional reader.

Or perhaps what I think is subtle is not subtle at all. I don't know!

On firmer ground, as a diversion try playing with triple letter words.... there's:
"weeest" [superlative of wee],
"Wiiitis" [a term for shoulder pain caused by excessive playing of the Nintendo video game Wii],
"Hostessship" is found in Shakespeare, Act 4, Scene 4, "Winter's Tale", and you could also have Goddessship, Postmistressship, Headmistressship, Governessship etc. in the same vein.
How about the quadruple letter word "Brrrr"?
All these words are found in dictionaries, somewhere!
If you are into such things, the reference is http://jeff560.tripod.com/words7.html

The full picture


Strewth uncropped. (see "Followers")

Here, There and Everywhere

I should be in Brisbane by now... assuming no hold-ups. It's a wonder others don't follow us up here for a few weeks. Especially in Canberra winter when the running is so good away from the cold.

Speaking of "following", I wonder if my "followers" pictures are still being cropped? It so it is not a problem with my blog design, because when I "manage followers", or look at them via dashboard, blogger too shows them cropped. I have had time to look at only a couple of other blogs with followers but theirs were OK. Later on if it's not fixed I will probably end up registering on blogger help and posting my bug report there. Or someone could research it for me...? Of course "following is still experimental".

With blogger, we'll never run out of problems. But I like it.

Too Much Monkey Business

Granddaughters Liana and Amelie wanting to be taken on holidays, I guess.

Variation on a theme
Sitting together on a train, travelling through Victoria were a New Zealander, an Australian guy, a little old lady, and a stunning blonde (as they are in all such stories, eh?)

The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a loud slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, the New Zealander has a bright red hand print on his cheek. No one speaks.

The old lady thinks: The New Zealand guy must have groped the blonde in the dark and she slapped his cheek.

The blonde girl thinks: That New Zealand guy must have tried to grope me in the dark, but missed and fondled the old lady and she slapped his cheek.

The New Zealander thinks: The Aussie guy must have groped the blonde in the dark. She tried to slap him but missed and got me instead.

The Australian thinks: I can't wait for another tunnel, just so I can smack the New Zealander again.

I Forgot to Remember to Forget

I remembered to forget to set the tape for today's grand final. Go Geelong! I couldn't do it as I didn't have enough tape! I remembered to set the tape for tomorrow's last episode of Series 4 of Doctor Who. That's the important one. Although the DVD will be out any day now anyway. What brilliant writers Doctor Who has! It makes me think, perhaps I should attend a "Creative Writing" course, given my current interests.

Running is one of those things which helps memory. So does WALKING apparently! Now the problem is to remember to do some every day. "A West Australian research team says it has proved for the first time that 20 minutes of activity each day can improve memory function." - read rest of article at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/03/2353910.htm . This is good, because I have been told by a usually totally unreliable source that I am going to get dementia. Of course, this person is away with the fairies, but a good prophet is hard to find. And the advice was free.

Look, if you have to walk, at least do enough to make a difference to your fitness. Installing one of these in your workplace might just help.



You have to make sacrifices to do what you know you should be doing, to keep fit. They don't have to be BIG sacricies!

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Aaahrrr you'll miss me. Today's post and many following after it have been prepared WELL IN ADVANCE. You will notice a slight reduction in quality; or you will if you thought there was quality already. Nothing changes so doing these in advance is no problem. Should anything serious happen here, like the whole training group defecting to WALKING, or the sun forgetting to rise, I am sure EWEN will write a goof post for me. I hope he spell checks.

Loneliness is one of the BIGGIES these days. Hey I miss STREWTH already and she's only over in Italy watching Coldplay. I miss the 799 RUNNERS who each turned up to training once on some occasion or other and we didn't see again. I DO like Mondays and will miss the Parliament House training sessions the most. But it is great to head off to Brisbane to see Nathan, Lisa, Jackson, Tyler & Charlie. And there are no races on the horizon!

Racing will take a back seat but I so look forward to the training runs I am planning, in WARM weather, hurrah!


Strewth & Mr Strewth

Do rack up those points on Sunday in the monthly handicap, and make sure you all run well enough to be re-handicapped for the next run, giving me a better chance of a place in October.

Three Cool Cats

One Mick and two Rogers

I don't know that Beatles song, but it seemed appropriate, with the Cats bound to win on Saturday.

Mick


Kelley tells me Mick is a worry. I am surprised she just realised that!

Roger #1
Today's BBQ Stakes saw me run ~25.30, Roger ~27.30, and Helen ~29.00. Roger and Helen are picking up form, but I was very disappointed with my time, especially as it was probably my last run there for a while, as I start to focus on track.

Check page 14 of the latest R4YL magazine for Roger's picture.

A curious goose.



Roger #2
ACT election candidates will be announced later today, if anyone is interested. I believe an old friend, Roger Nicoll, is a Ginninderra candidate. Each year I look at the list of candidates, cross out the hopeless ones, and see who is left. Last time no one was left! This time I expect only Roger will be left. But we will see.

Roger used to specialise in Orienteering and was quite a good runner, competing in cross country and road races as I recall. Which may not of course be any sort of recommendation. But he was never as pushy and arrogant as today’s representatives seem to be, and so I quite like him.

Actually I know personally quite a number of the candidates including current members. But it usually doesn’t mean I want to vote for them!

Field events anyone?



I guess I will stick to track.

Please Mr Postman

Having Ewen’s statistics stored on his blog means he keeps for posterity fascinating historical data which might otherwise disappear into the mists of antiquity.

A postman knows how to post! I hadn't thought of that before.

I should do the same. No, not become a postal person like Ewen. I should post more historical stuff.

In retirement I should be able to go back through all my old diaries and construct something similar.

Meanwhile I have a pie chart, which should be enough for now to keep you armchair statisticians happy.



retirement



This Sunday’s (last) High Noon Meet program, track component.
12:00 noon 3000m (run and walk) hand timed only
12:02pm Long Hurdles 200m/400m
12:10pm 100m
12:30pm 1500m
12:45pm 1500m walk
12:55pm Sprint hurdles
1:05pm 200m
1:20pm relay 2x100m
1:35pm 400m