Marathon

What an event! I only wish I could have ran in it myself. Such a colossal mass of human strength streaming through the streets. 12,000 runners, £3,000,000 raised.

There has been some confusion among my friends as to when or why I pulled out of the marathon. Indeed, on meeting Captain Feld this morning at breakfast he asked why I wasn't in the race, expecting that I would be doing it today. I don't think he was teasing me either!

Well here's what happened:
8th February - last run, feeling on walk back that I had left too short a gap between it and the previous run - calve injury develops

about a week later - recover from injury just in time to get a chest infection, probably caught during all that running I did during, what was, a bitterly cold winter

Doctor orders me not to run, although in reality I would have pulled out anyway, due to the fact that I had missed out on crucial training weeks and could not get myself up to marathon strength in time for the big day

(Mind you, looking at some of the stragglers at the back of today's run, I'm sure I would not have been the only one who had not prepared adequetly!)

Without going into the details of diagnosis, I'm basically fine now, and the Doctor says I can run again

so I will, probably on Friday morning as I have a pretty busy schedule up until then, including going up to Essex for two nights (yah!)

I won't try anthing too fancy obviously - just a 3km jog, literally getting on my feet again
not that I have been entirely off my feet anyway - Yesterday I took a mammoth walk through London, starting at Victoria Station, then to Westminster, then to Leicester Square, the National Portrait Gallery and Foyles, and then up to Oxford Circus before turning East, taking lunch in Holborn before walking all the way to Canary Wharf, from where I took a tube back to Victoria, my feet now dead

and this morning I took a fairly long tour of the seafront marathon route, walking from my house two thirds of the way to Portslade and then down to the Marathon finishing line well past the pier

needless to say I took the bus home, though it was a hardly a direct route as there were not many places to cross from one side of the seafront road to the other

I was not jealous of the marathon runners, but nor did I pity them. Nor did I pity myself. I will be in their shoes in a years time and Friday will mark the start of that, and hopefully a return to those good old days where I posted a new running time every few days.

A little anecdote from London. Was walking down Petticoat Lane. I saw a van pull up to a building and a Bangledeshi man taking some luggage out of the back of the said van. I thought to myself "settling in here? good luck. I'm sure you'll feel right at home [as the entire street is basically Bangledeshi]". It was then that I saw that the building which the luggage was actually being taken into was a luggage store! I laughed pretty hard. Because, let's face it, how often do you see luggage being loaded into a luggage store like that?!?!

ELECTION

I hadn't forgotten

I should clarify that my previous post isn't an attack on the Lib Dems. It's an attack on those people who unthinkingly jump on whatever political cause is easiest to support without really giving any real thought to it. If I want to attack the Lib Dems it will be after a thorough study of their politics. I have downloaded the three party manifestoes

As for my prediction? It's veeeery interesting at the moment, but I don't think the increase in Liberal Democrat support will i) be as acute on polling day as it is now or ii) result in that many more seats. It's still concievable for Liberal Democrat support to roll down to 2005 levels, though I do think it's unlikely they'll stumble any lower than that, as I had been suggesting might happen before all this post-debate polling.

I think I'm not alone in saying I never expected this at all. Still, if it turns out to be good for democracy I won't argue!

Bad News

What was a mere tension on Tuesday is now, eight days later, an injury. I've basically recovered from it now, but I lost a week in training, a week I could not afford to lose. As a result, I am deciding to be hyper rational and pull out of the marathon rather than chase what has become an impossible dream.

Will still keep running though; aside from this injury it's been doing me the world of good.

It was better to take this decision now rather than a month down the line. Fortunately I have not publicised my marathon yet, so I won't have to return too much in the way of sponsorship money. All my eggs in one basket they are not!

Notable dearth of blog posts recently. Will ammend shortly.

Tired

27/01/10 - 5km, 37 minutes (8.1km/hr)

29/01/10 - 6km, 42 minutes (8.6km/hr)

01/02/10 - 6km, 43 minutes (8.4km/hr)
04/02/10 - 7km, 48 minutes (8.8km/hr)
07/02/10 - 9km, 64 minutes (8.4km/hr)

Running schedule for the upcoming week:

Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - Run 8km, but with the intention of speeding up for the last 1½kms
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - Run a varied route with hills for about fifty minutes. Won't worry about measuring the distance.
Friday - Rest Day
Saturday - Run for about forty-five minutes. Focus on speed, vary the pace.
Sunday - Run 10½km.

Will post some non-marathon stuff (i.e. my much-delayed review of The Story of Maths and some other adventures) when I have the time; am genuinly busy at the moment.

Blupdate

Or 'blog update'.

Actually Blupdate sounds terrible, and I will only use it once. Expect many more ugly hybrid words (hybwords) over the next few months, as I can't be expected to think of a witticism for each and every update, especially as, during my marathon training there will be a lot of updates with nothing but running statistics.

And yes, I do have a new statistic for you!

27/01/10 - 5km, 37 minutes (8.1km/hr)

29/01/10 - 6km, 42 minutes (8.6km/hr)

01/02/10 - 6km, 43 minutes (8.4km/hr)
04/02/10 - 7km, 48 minutes (8.8km/hr)

A good result. Also, is in line with the running schedule which I posted earlier; the aim for today was the run 50 minutes. I won't be running on Saturday as I am going to London early, and I know that mixing a morning run and a day walking around London is not a good idea. Sunday's run will be the most ambitious yet, and to be out there for seventy minutes will probably require a 9km or 10km run. I could settle for 9.5km, of course, and given my current pace this is the most likely amount. Still, the numbers are getting pretty hefty and just a little daunting. Well, that's what I signed up for!

On my walk back home I passed the Mint Casino on Preston Street. What fond memories I have of that place. Back in the Second Brighton Rack (July 2008) my friend and I came first and second respectively in a NLHE £10 Rebuy. Of course, there were only eight people playing (including ourselves), but the victory was one for the ages. Not as good as the time when three of my friends and I came 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th in a 15-person tournament in Coventry, of course. That was just the epitome of sick.

Later today I plan to write a review of The Story of Maths, a recent four-part documentary series. Stay tuned.

Some schedules to drool over

http://www.grosvenorukpokertour.com/leg7.shtml

The GUKPT is coming to town and laying out some quality tournament poker. Of course, this isn't for another seven months, but if I am going to have a decent bankroll and play a fair few of these events (as I would wish to) I have to start earning the money now. Fortunately, I have recently been given a decent batch of work and promised more. Let the earning begin!

Of course, I am likely to play some live poker before September anyway. On the 29th of March I plan to go up to The Vic to mark the 1 year anniversary of my tilt session. For those not aware, that is when I went down to London on a complete whim to sweat the GUKPT final table where one of the ex-Warwick professionals was playing. The fact that I don't remember who it was tells you something; I only really went down there to gamble myself. And so I did, £160 on a 1-1 table. I lost it all, and on the train journey home I desperately tried to convince myself that it was good for me, and that my newfound poverty would be liberating. Not that I was bankrupt or anything. All I had to do was cut back on a few luxuries which the average third year couldn't afford, like having loads of meals at pubs.

As I am an extremely arbitrary person, I insist on returning to the site of the crime exactly one year on. However, hopefully I will play a 1-2 game instead. I no longer flinch at getting it all in (so to speak) at 1-1, so I know I can play my best there. But at 10% rake? For those unaware, a 'rake' is an amount the dealer takes from each pot of poker played at one of their tables. 5% is acceptable, but 10% is not.

Also, I expect to play up in Nottingham (DTD) at some point in the summer.

Also also, I will try and play a few UKIPT side events when they come to Brighton in July. I'm not as excited about this as I am about the GUKPT, especially as the casino in question is the Rendezvous, which is not as charming as the Grosvenor and twice the distance from my house. But I'm not ruling anything out.

The other schedule I should mention is this one: http://brightonmarathon.co.uk/images/BEGINNER.pdf

If any fluid emits from my body from this schedule, it is likely to be the sweat of fear rather than drool. As you can see there are fewer distance runs than I have been planning to do and more cross-training. So this means I won't have quite so many times to post. But that doesn't matter. As I said, I shall do what is best for my body, not what is best for my blog.

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

27/01/10 - 5km, 37 minutes (8.1km/hr)
29/01/10 - 6km, 42 minutes (8.6km/hr)
01/02/10 - 6km, 43 minutes (8.4km/hr)

Cardiovascular system had no problems with the 6km run today. Lungs were alright, feet didn't stop. Lower legs got a bit worn out though, which is why I didn't try for 8km. I have to listen to my body when it gets tired. Though it would be nice to post a nice little 8km time (say, 57 minutes) I shall have to wait till I have actually done it. In any case, I run for myself not for my blog readers.

But I'll get there eventually; just keep watching. *WINKS*

Hopefully can run 6km again on Wednesday and Friday, and then 9km on Sunday. This is quite demanding but should be possible, and if I can do this I will be on track with the recommended schedule presented by the Brighton Marathon website.

No point planning too far ahead at the moment though. Although the general idea is to steadily increase how much I run each week (especially my 'long runs', which I shall try to save for Sunday), I must do what my body tells me to do.

Election game is going well; all the ideas are in place now and the donkey work is done. Can't wait for the real thing though. Same can be said for the marathon.

oh btw, HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!!!1

Running out of time

In eleven weeks time I am due to run the Brighton Marathon. This isn't as much time as it sounds. As the last two weeks are intended as something of a warmdown, or taper as they call it in the business, I only have nine weeks to build myself up to marathon level. I was hoping to do an 8km run today, but I don't think my legs have fully recovered from my previous two runs, and so while the romantic thing would be to run through the pain, as so often is the case, the romantic thing is also the stupid thing. The clever thing is to wait until tomorrow, so this is what I shall do.

No one said this would ever be easy.

They want you to fail

because they don't want to be alone.

Can't think of a good title for this blog post and have already used 'Running Updates' for the previous update.

6km in 42 minutes. This includes a 2 minute break at the halfway point and a 1 minute comfort break. For consistency, I should report that on Wednesday I took a 4 minute break yesterday at the halfway point, and so even if the running bit had only taken 33 minutes, the total journey time was 37 minutes.

As the occasional breather/rest break will feature in the marathon itself, I feel it would be good practice for me to measure the total start to finish time from now on. Thus the results so far:

27/1/10 - 5km, 37 minutes (8.1km/hr)

29/1/10 - 6km, 42 minutes (8.6km/hr)

I will keep this tally up in all my future posts.

I must say, it's fun to tally up lists of numbers for things which actually matter for a change. Not that I'm saying there's anything at all pointless about my accountancy work. But running makes me healthy and happy.

Am very satisfied to have done the full 6km. Am still not sure precisely what my plan for Sunday's run will be. It depends a lot on how I feel on the day. By 'feel' I mean physically, not emotionally. There are fewer things better at moderating ones emotions than a good bout of mindless exercise.

  

I am ambitious to try seven or eight kilometres. Again, the route will be along the promenade, though I shall have to go East of the Peace Statue at some point, as there is no practical way or running past Hove Lagoon, the westernmost part of the promenade.

It really is a brilliant place to run.

Running Updates

Just ran 5km in 33 minutes.

To the more experienced jogger, this may not look too impressive.

And to the non-runner, it may make no sense at all as they have nothing to compare it to.

Either way, it's a start, and I'm finally embracing the transition to distance-running. I know it's 5km because I was running along the Hove promenade, where they have markings every 1/2 km. I know it took 33 minutes because I have a stopwatch. That makes my average speed 9km/hr which, incidentally, is twice the speed I walk at.

What's my plan for Friday then, run 5km in 30 minutes?

No, my plan is to run 6km in however many minutes it takes. The focus at the moment is on distance, not speed. That's what a marathon is all about.

I say 'Friday' rather than tomorrow because the current recommendation on the Brighton Marathon website is to practice distance running every other day, whereas at the beginning of training, I was doing short sessions almost every day.

It seems ironic, then, that as my runs are getting longer and less frequent  my blog posts are getting shorter and more frequent.

Heey

Heeeeeeeey.

As I had a little spare time tonight, finally cleaned up the blog a little. As I'm here, I may as well update y'all as to a few things.

Christmas was good. A friend reminded me that what you give is more important than what you receive. Ironically, the sermon of the Christmas Day service I attended at All Saints, Hove told us that to receive was more important than giving, as there is no way with competing with the gift God has given us in his son. Well, I prefer to listen to my friend than a priest. The best thing I gave was a 12-pack of 300ml Inca Kola glass bottles, which I bought from a store in London. There was no way any of my family could have expected a present like this, and I'm pleased to say they voted with their mouths and all twelve bottles have been drunk. Two of them by me.

New year's eve was spent with friends. The drinking started at 2pm, a nice early modern time, although admittedly the first drink was only a half-pint of bitter shandy. Over the course of the evening I drunk the equivalent of six pints of beer, although I was never really drunk at any stage as the drinking was interspersed with meals and often with soft drinks, as we crawled from Kemptown to the centre of Brighton. Midnight was spent at a two-storied (yet cosy) little pub in the South Lanes. My finishing drink was a bottle of Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer, perhaps the best drink I have discovered during the year 2009. There was a little countdown downstairs, and I felt at peace with the world, and more grown up, certainly compared to this time last year. I already look back at the eleven-hours or so that group meeting encompassed as a very fond memory of a truly classic group meeting. I hope for a repeat performance next year.

New year's day was spent at home. Had meal with grandfather, Joan (grandfather's girlfriend) and the rest of the family, six of us in all. It was really like having Christmas a second time; the mixture of good food and formality. There was also good film. In the evening, watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the Gene Wilder version, far superior to the Tim Burton one which was dark without being sinister) and the Italian Job, for which I have not seen the remake.

Peru Report nearing completion, and it will be complete before I go North on the fifteenth. Still set for around 70,000 words, which makes it by far the longest thing I'll have ever produced.

Haven't really been playing poker except for a Heads Up series versus a bit emo, who is 6-4 up after 10 games and the final is tomorrow. So basically, he's already won. He's a good player, by the way.

Nor have I been learning Italian as there have been no fresh plans for going to Rome, though I am sure it will happen sometime this year.

Marathon training has been going very well, especially since I splashed out on some new trainers. When they saw my old ones at the JogShop, they were astounded that someone could punish themselves by attempting to exercise on such a worn platform, although they didn't say it in those words. Alas, due to a fresh bout of snow have had to take to running indoors, although that's gone pretty well too, although it's only been jogging on the spot. Still, tomorrow I will be doing that for forty-five minutes in one stretch. I do feel slightly fitter, but it's quite annoying being so constrained by the weather. Today I took a bus into town. It had difficulty getting down the steep station road, which was far too icy. When I tried to get home not long afterwards, it turned out the uphill service had been cancelled, so I had to walk.

I don't think I'll be making a repeat venture tomorrow. As long as I can walk as far as the shops in Seven Dials, I might just be able to stay sane.

Hope the new year finds you all well, whoever you are. Feel free to comment, by the way. The few people who read this occasionally comment over MSN or, in the case of my brother, in person. But it will get a nice dynamic going if you use the comment feature.

Cheers

I often said, and still I say
'Drink up!' Like me, you'll soon be clay.

Running Good

Marathon training really isn't easy. As the Brighton Marathon website warns, it's basically the hardest physical task available to the common man. But I've now committed myself to it. Yesterday I received notification from the Alzheimer's Society that they had no places left, and that I would be notified again sometime in January as to whether they would be able to accrue any more places. Obviously I can't wait that long. Training has begun and I want to start raising funds as soon as possible. So I phoned Cancer Research UK and got a place with them. It's official. I am going to run the Brighton Marathon.

At the bottom of this post is a little poem from Phil Hellmuth. Not sure if it was written by Phil Hellmuth Sr. or Jr. But I often repeat that last two lines to myself when running. Have always been a fan of Hellmuth, not because of his 'PokerBrat' persona, which is pretty contrived anyway in my honest opinion, but because he wins. As for my own winning? Well, MTT variance is a bitch. Roll currently $503, and the only reason it's that high is that I've had a decent run in STTs and cash, where your edge doesn't take quite so long to reveal itself. But I already know I have a large edge at low stakes MTTs. It's how I got my bankroll to where it is in the first place.

Watched Alistair Cooke's thirteen-part 1972 series America recently, in rapid succession. Was the visual equivalent of a book/puppy you don't want to put down. Will write some more detailed thoughts on this, along with other series I've watched/books I've read recently, in separate, more detailed blog posts. Bought Matt Mattros's The Making of a Poker Player yesterday, in Borders, who are currently on a 30% sale. I go there quite frequently, and might be commissioned to snap up a few shelves once the going gets really tough. I missed the opportunity last year when Woolworths collapsed. Also, Harrington on Cash (Vol. 1) arrived today. Beautiful book.

Here is the poem, I mentioned:

The Universe Conspired to Help

The man had a dream He knew what he wanted, it seems- Once he was sure in his heart this was it He vowed Someday that he would achieve it- He Wasn't quite ready to do his thing But he felt pretty certain what the future would bring- When one day the time was right When he was ready to fight the good fight- He conquered all his excuses and set forth To take the risk-fraught first step without any remorse- Once he took the first step down the line The universe conspired to help make sure he was fine- He never dreamed he would accomplish so much That the universe would give him such incredible luck- Now older and wiser he understood the hardest part Was convincing himself it was time to start. -Phil Hellmuth-