Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
A different perspective on the Highland Fling Race
is given by my Garmin 305 which ran out of battery within last mile or so. It seems to have been very accurate with the distance, but I suggest overestimating by about 2x the amount of ascent and decent.
While the views would be stunning on a clear day, Saturday was a bit hazy and I was not sure I would be capable of holding a camera still, so did not take any pictures. Must try harder in this area, even if I loose a little bit of time.
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
I sent of my entry for the Highland Fling Race in October 2008. It seemed a good idea at the time and I imagined it would be harder than any race I had done before. It was twice as far as I had run before and as such an experiment. I knew it was possible that it was a step too far at this time having only started regular running in January 2008. I set out with only one aim which was to finish last. Anything else was a bonus and if I did not finish I would have learned stuff.
In reality, Saturday extended the limits of my imagination somewhat. It was far harder than any running I have done before.
I am a really lucky boy. My secret weapon is coach Jon who got me to do a ramp test (on the tread mill, start at 5k, 1k increments each minute until you fall off while monitoring the product of your breathing) about 2 weeks prior to the event and pronounced the following wise words:
As to the race at the weekend - DO NOT, 'EVER', exceed 135 bpm, unless you
can see the finish line! Make sure you eat lots, drink lots and walk
before you feel tired.
So I decided to stick with coach Jon's wise words and ran the 1st 25 miles with a heart rate of under 135 bpm. After 25 miles it became academic the bodies natural throttle nicks in and any attempt to raise a heart rate into that region would result in collapse.
There are 3 starts. 6am for female and super vet. 7am for Male senior, Male Vet. and Collie dogs and 8am for the relay runners.
A 7am start at Milngavie with some really pleasant running over about 12 miles with little bits of hill to Drymen to the 1st water stop. Running against the heart rate monitor I ended up last for the 1st 10 miles. This meant I got the pleasure of running with Jim the sweeper who was 67, had run 13 West Highland way races [ The Fling is only 1/2 the West Highland Way ] and clearly very wise when it comes to long distance running:
If it looks like a hill, walk it
so I did. I left Jim after about 10 miles as I overtook a few runners and the relay runners started overtaking us.
I did not quite grasp how much ascent and decent the race would have. I knew it would not be flat, but I had an image of broad paths along the side of Loch Lomond suitable for easy walking with a little bit of moorland. I knew from looking at the
profile of the that Conic Hill had some climb, but it was quite early in the race and by fell running standard it was fine. The 1st bag drop stop in Balmaha I managed to eat quite a lot, I had also had some energy Gel, slaughtered some Jelly babies and some Electrolyte.
The next section was also OK from Balmaha to Rowardennan. Most of this 7 mile section was wide paths running by a road with a few bits of tricky path with roots and rock, but nothing too bad. Weather got a bit warmer. Legs started to feel the distance, but it was OK and still had the energy to run most of this section, though rather slow.
Some people claim to have "out of body" experiences. Between Rowardennan and Inversnaid, I had a an "out of mind" experience where my mind decided it was not too keen on what was happening and had somewhere else to be. I don't remember any of this section beyond I don't think I enjoyed it.
The world appeared a much better place after I bought a pot of tea from Inversnaid Hotel, eat some of the contents of my drop bag and my mind returned.
I actually enjoyed the section between Inversnaid and Bein Glas Farm, even though it was very rough ground. The path was up and down, narrow with rocks and tree roots for much of the way. The West Highland Way web site describes this as the hardest section of the whole West Highland Way. Even fresh there would be sections which would be hard work to run. While my mind was away doing its own thing on the previous section, it had decide we had got far enough that barring getting injured, we might as well put the discomfort to one side and get on with it.
The alternative view is that I was hallucinating as a result of low blood sugar, but I still remember quite enjoying this section.
I got to Bein Glas Farm 20 minutes before the 6PM cut off to be greeted by the sky opening and dumping a full on Scottish rain storm with Thunder and lightening for about 20 minutes. Living it Wales, it did not seem so bad, so I put my thermal and waterproof jacket on, had a bit to eat, drink and carried on. 13 miles to go to Tyndrum.
I did not run much of the last section. I was joined by the sweeper runner after about 2 miles (Mary is the name which sticks in my mind, but I am ashamed to admit I can't really remember, one foot in front of the other was the major challenge, sorry if you read this, I am not sure I knew my own name for much of this section). I convinced the sweeper running that I could string a sentence together and we carried on. I ran where I could, the sweeper tried to encourage me into a shuffle, sometime with success and sometime with a response inspired by my 3 year old lad of "I not!". I still felt quite strong on the hill and was able to still dig in and attack them. The flat and downhill were a struggle to do more than walk most of the time. The last few miles to Tyndrum seems to grind on, over the road, past the wigwams, under the road, along the river, through the woods, eventually finding our way to the finish in Tyndrum as the last of the light was fading. Such was my confusion I had to be told to stop running. I was however no where near as confused as coach Jon who I phoned at 9.30 on a saturday when I was within a few 100 meters of the finish (able to see the lights) and asked him if I could now raise my heart rate above 135bpm. It took him a little while to grasp it was my way of letting him know I had finished and his guidance was spot on and a major contributor to being able to finish. In reality, my computer had switched itself off 2 miles before the end and I doubt I could have managed any form of finish beyond the shuffle.
I was very content with the concept of being last, an honor I seem to have lost in the results. Something has to keep you going beyond the thought of berating yourself for being a wimp and for me it was the Real Food Cafe Magic Mug which magically fills with tea or coffee each time I visit, trivial I know. We also got a race medal and a bottle of race Champagne which I saved for a time when we can enjoy it rather than risk seeing it on the way down and up again.
I will probably remember the next 20 minute after finishing as being some of the most positively intensely emotional of my life so far after the obvious ones of my little people arriving into this world. I have no idea what chemicals your body releases at that point, but it was a heady mix. Murdo, the cheeriest race director on the planet and the 2 somewhat more capable Eryri Harrier runners, Sarah who was the 1st lady in 9 hours 19 minutes and Iain who finished 8th helped me stand up against a fence. A medal, bag of goodies and the bottle were thrust into my hand and I was pointed in the direction of the cottage where I was staying. I have never felt so tired with body parts I did not know could get tired got tired, but it felt great.
Standing up in the shower was a struggle.
I probably won't be a threat to the Jez Bragg, the male winner who finished in 7 hours 19 minutes, in this lifetime, but that really is not the point. I now know I can do that type of event and also have a lot of scope to improve.
A race every ambitious runner should do at least once. I am going back to shorter fell race type events for the rest of the year. I meet a lot of runners who do this type of event most weekends, something that would conflict with the rest of my little world. However, they are in at least the next league up.
I spent the sunday morning in the Real Food Cafe (A fine example of what Little Chef could have been if they had paid attention to what customers actually want, rather than telling them what they should want) making sure my Magic Mug worked in the fine company of Jim and Nick before getting the train back to Milngavie.
Wednesday Apr 22, 2009
This blog on evidence based science and the media mentioned this blog on evidence based science and the media.
I thought the picture was familiar and it took a while to click that I used to be his landlord when he was a PhD student at Aberystwyth. Of more interest (to me at least) is that I was a researcher on a research project about 15 years ago on using the Human Immune System for Machine Learning which would be the great, great, great, great grand father of his PhD work, but I doubt shared any DNA in terms of content.
A blog well worth reading and don 't worry Martin, you don't owe us any money still:-)
Wednesday Apr 22, 2009
A good day in Newcastle for the Sun/Newcastle University Systems Administrators event (Mashup) with presentations
from Chris Gerhard and myself. Rod, the Account Manager, turned up to give a 10 minute perspective on the announcement the previous day.
I spent the monday in the Sun Sale office, so on the drive up to Newcastle I took the chance to explorer some of the moor land around Kirby Stephen and had a run across the moors to 9 Standards Rigg. Weather was great, but a bit hazy. Stunning part of the country, well worth some more exploration.
Sunday Apr 19, 2009
Very fine weather for a return visit to Ras Y Moelwyn in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Run by the community, a great race, both in terms of route and the atmosphere, Soup, Samba band and face painting included.
I was 10 minutes faster than last year which I was very pleased with. Just before the Dam on the decent from Moelwyn Fach, I was swallowed up to the waist by a man eating bog and then spat out again. Note to the many people taking photo's, that would be a great place to station yourselves next year as I was not the 1st or last person to be part consumed by the peat, moss and water.
Next weekend is the Highland Fling Race which should make an interesting experiment and a new experience.
Friday Apr 17, 2009
My leggy blonde running partner has been ill this week. She appears to be on the mend after a trip to the vet.
A side effect is that I have not been out running since Saturday when we had a good run round Nant y Moch and a few of the hills around it. A nice afternoon out at about 17 miles and 5000ft of up. Maybe my body is signaling it wants a rest before the next 2 weekends events.
Tomorrow we return for Ras Y Moelwyn in Blaenau Ffestiniog which I am really looking forward to.
Next weekend is the Highland Fling Race, but I doubt I will be able to outrun the local police for who the force is strong (More interesting in the article is that just under 400,000 people in the UK recorded Jedi as their religion, but got lumped in with atheists by the Office for National Statistics).
I look on the Fling as a bit of an experiment and any outcome finish or not is a learning one. My target time is 13 hours and 58 minutes, so just finishing within the time is all I am aiming for. Anyone know of a tea shop on the 1st half of the west highland way which is open next saturday, let me know please.
Friday Apr 17, 2009
I tripped over this while looking at something else in mdb. My curious mind wondered what it was and might it be useful
at some point in the future.
# zpool scrub pool
mdb -k
> ::help zfs_blkstats
NAME
zfs_blkstats - given a spa_t, print block type stats from last scrub
SYNOPSIS
addr ::zfs_blkstats [-v]
ATTRIBUTES
Target: kvm
Module: zfs
Interface Stability: Unstable
> ::walk spa | ::zfs_blkstats -v
Dittoed blocks on same vdev: 2194
Blocks LSIZE PSIZE ASIZE avg comp %Total Type
1 512 512 1.50K 1.50K 1.00 0.00 object directory
2 1K 1K 3.00K 1.50K 1.00 0.00 object array
1 16K 1.50K 4.50K 4.50K 10.66 0.00 packed nvlist
1 16K 1K 3.00K 3.00K 16.00 0.00 bplist
20 128K 42.5K 128K 6.37K 3.01 0.00 SPA space map
16 64K 38.5K 116K 7.21K 1.66 0.00 L0 SPA space map
4 64K 4K 12.0K 3.00K 16.00 0.00 L1 SPA space map
58 928K 60.0K 124K 2.13K 15.46 0.00 DMU dnode
10 160K 12.0K 28.0K 2.79K 13.33 0.00 L0 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L1 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L2 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L3 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L4 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L5 DMU dnode
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L6 DMU dnode
9 9.00K 4.50K 9.5K 1.05K 2.00 0.00 DMU objset
4 2K 2K 6.00K 1.50K 1.00 0.00 DSL directory child map
3 1.50K 1.50K 4.50K 1.50K 1.00 0.00 DSL dataset snap map
6 65.0K 8.50K 25.5K 4.25K 7.64 0.00 DSL props
1 512 512 1K 1K 1.00 0.00 ZFS directory
1 512 512 1K 1K 1.00 0.00 ZFS master node
1 512 512 1K 1K 1.00 0.00 ZFS delete queue
258K 2.03G 2.00G 2.00G 7.95K 1.01 99.98 zvol object
256K 1.99G 1.99G 1.99G 8K 1.00 99.72 L0 zvol object
2.00K 32.0M 2.52M 5.05M 2.52K 12.68 0.24 L1 zvol object
22 352K 152K 303K 13.7K 2.32 0.01 L2 zvol object
7 112K 10.5K 21.0K 3.00K 10.66 0.00 L3 zvol object
1 512 512 1K 1K 1.00 0.00 zvol prop
1 128K 6.00K 18.0K 18.0K 21.33 0.00 SPA history
1 512 512 1.50K 1.50K 1.00 0.00 DSL dataset next clones
258K 2.03G 2.00G 2.00G 7.95K 1.01 100.0 Total
256K 2.00G 1.99G 2.00G 7.99K 1.00 99.73 L0 Total
2.01K 32.2M 2.54M 5.08M 2.52K 12.70 0.24 L1 Total
30 480K 160K 319K 10.6K 3.00 0.01 L2 Total
15 240K 18.5K 37.0K 2.46K 12.97 0.00 L3 Total
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L4 Total
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L5 Total
8 128K 8K 16K 2K 16.00 0.00 L6 Total
>
Monday Apr 13, 2009
Fly Tipping [ tipping your old fridge/caravan/bin bags in a remote bit of forest or field ] is not as significant a problem as it was 20 years ago, but it still persists. If left, the rubbish blows around or if it is metal rusts and becomes a further hazard.
Great, Ceredigion County Council provide a web site where you can report fly tipping which I 1st read about here. [ Shame our prospective MP has not taken my idea of making fly tipping a capital offense forward as party policy ].
So far only 116 instances of fly tipping have been reported in 6 months. You would expect that many of those were duplicates as multiple people report the same event which is to be expected. What you might not hope for is duplicates because nothing has been done. Of the 3 instance I have reported in the last 6 months, none have been attended to, so I reported them, again. A abandoned caravan on a track near Nant_y_Moch which has been there for over 6 months is now spreading itself across the area or burned out car on a forest track which has been in place for more than 6 weeks.
A Web site to report it is a 1st step, but pointless unless something happens to remedy the problem. If it is not taken seriously, why bother coming forward with information to identify those who dump the materials in the 1st place.
Anyway, you can tell what one man and his dog ran past on Saturday during a training run of 16 miles. In a moment of madness promoted by short days in Norway in January I entered for the Highland Fling on the 25th of this month. Should be an interesting experiment!
Tuesday Apr 07, 2009
I tried Wrexham & Shropshire railways from Shrewsbury to London Marylebone. 30 years ago I was interested in trains as any 10 year old should be, these days I am not, but I was surprised that they have used the carriages from what was an Inter-city 125 which are still very comfortable indeed. A very nice travel experience, but it is slow. Being the curious sort I did ask why it was so slow and it seems to be down to the quality of long lengths of track around Birmingham and the weight of the train. 3 hours from Shrewsbury to London is quite slow. Still, it is a pleasant sort of slow and did give me the chance to work my way through the set of podcasts from its the economy stupid. Mr Thomas gets in some very articulate guests who have a perspective on the credit crunch, its causes and effects. People like Vince Cable and John Christensen. All part of the bigger picture and I found it very insightful indeed. It does contain some adult language!
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i use a number of GPS devices, including a 305 and...
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