November 2007 Archives

Today's 10k was much more fun than I expected and I managed to get round in just over 52 minutes. Fifty two minutes - Woof! Woof!  I was expecting to take 56+ minutes, so I'm really delighted with 52.  I even managed to speed up a little bit for the second 5k which was nice.

Firstly, I have to say that the race was really well organised and marshalled, so thanks should go to to everyone at ERR for their hard work.  The weather was just right too (I don't think they organised that): mild, wind-free and a little bit sunny at times.  The two-lap course of Eynsham is very flat and easy underfoot, with only the odd leaf-covered or grassy bit.  As far as I could tell nobody fell on their arse or injured anything through slips.

This was my first mass start on a run - previously I've only done runs in triathlons which are never 'mass' run starts because everyone hops off their bike at different times - so it was interesting.  I met up with Ollie and Liz on the start line and we discussed tactics and weather. Then in not time I was in the middle of the 'start line shuffle' that I've seen in the London Marathon so many times.   Within a few seconds though I was jogging along at an easy pace and trying to work out what 56/10 was (maths is not my strong point!).

I'd agreed with Ollie that I didn't want any company on the way round - I didn't want to either slow him down on his 45-50 minute pace or go too fast in trying to keep up with him that I blew up at 6k. So we had a quick 1 minute chat and then he dashed off through a gap of slow-moving runners. 

I'm in Eynsham this morning for my first 10k run - at least my first one outside and with other people.  Eynsham Road Runners describe it as a '10k Road Race', and the fact that there's a £100 prize for the first person to finish in under 30 minutes suggests that other people see it as a race too. I see it more as another milestone (10k-stone?) in my ongoing efforts to work up to an Olympic distance Triathlon.

It's a cold but calm looking day, and the sun is just poking through some wintery clouds. Looks like it should be a good morning for it.

I've had my porridge, got my kit ready, studied the route and I think I'm ready to go.  I'm very nervous. Normally when I'm competing I know I have a good chance to outperform other people on the swim and bike but today I know I'm competing against serious runners.  I understand that I have no chance to really compete, and honestly I'll be happy with just finishing (although 55 minutes would be a dream!).  But at the same time I want to feel I'm doing my best, so not having a swim or bike to fall back on is a bit worrying.  I don't want to come last!

Sophie tells me I always feel a bit wonky on race days and she's probably right, but I still feel like this is time it's worse than normal. 

Ah well, at least it'll be over in an hour. 

Like everyone else, I get a lot of spam. Google mail generally does a good job of filtering it out, but even so 2 or 3 items of spam get into my inbox each day, and on bad days I'll find 200 emails sat waiting for me.   I also keep getting grief about the amount of spam generated from websites I help manage, so when I heard about reCAPTCHA -  a system that's designed to reduce website spam and help digitise books at the same time - I was interested.

Since most spam is automated - spammers send millions of emails at the same time - a good strategy to avoid spam is to try to prove that the person sending it is not a computer.  CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Tests) are designed to do exactly this. You'll have seen CAPTCHAs all over the place - they're the warped, sometimes colourful text at the bottom of the page which you need to identify before you can sign up to the latest and greatest website or post comments on your favourite blog.  The idea is that the website offers you a word which is designed to be hard for a computer to read.  If you can see the word and type its letters into the box accurately, you're more likely to be a human than a computer.  Although spammers can occasionally beat CAPTCHAs (e.g. if the word is not warped or disguised in some way, a computer can use Optical Character Recognition to decode it), they're generally pretty effective at stopping spam.

The Eynsham Road Runners are a busy and highly organised bunch.  Each year they take part in many events and organise many of their own.  I've been privileged enough to take part in their triathlon, the 100 mile relay and various of their more social activities.  Even though I'm not a member, they still welcome me with open arms and a motivating word or two.  Although they're all stronger runners than me, I tend to get involved in cycling or triathlon events with them so I can more or less hold my own in these events.

Over the last couple of years the ladies of the club have organised a team for the Three Peaks Challenge where the aim is to get a team of people up and down the three tallest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in just 24 hours - including travel time between them.  They've now "been there and done that" so this year they've opted for something slightly different.

Lesley has hit upon the idea of an Eynsham to Paris bike ride.  The ride will take about 4 days at a steady pace (70-100 miles per day), including a ferry from Folkestone. 

The first training session last weekend was surprisingly tough. We went at a very steady pace - perhaps 15 miles per hour - but in total I cycled about 80km so was pretty knackered by the end of it. I obviously need to do some serious work before next July...

Compression technology has been popular amongst serious athletes for quite a while, and has now started to become more popular amongst less serious athletes like myself.  A lot of athletic clothing claims to be designed by boffins with the sole aim of improving your training and racing performance, but I think most people just buy fancy "technical" clothing because it looks good or has a swish on it (I know I do).  The fact that compression clothing  does appear to be backed up by 'science' really appealed to me - I can look good and get an easier life when exercising!

Nike are just one of many companies that produce compression clothing.  I chose this Nike Pro Vent Tight top when I was I was in the Nike outlet store in Manchester's Lowry shopping centre.  The tops were on offer at around £15 rather than £25 so I decided to give one a go.  As you might know, I am much more motivated when I have something specific to work towards, so the fact that the tops were tight was also a great incentive for me to lose a few more pounds.