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One bit of good news though, the garage has told us it's not neccessary to do anything about the broken exhaust cover as it is only a heat shield, and as (yet again) these covers are made of aluminium but attached with steel nuts they often do corrode and drop off. Apparently the covers are only really necessary in countries with constant cold weather, so we are unlikely to need it. He did offer to replace it if we wanted, but the cost would be £1000. We declined the offer.
Hope everyone is keeping safe and well (how's the cold JB?)
Aquarius, you are wise to keep off the ice. I don't blame you for not paying out £1k for an unnecessary heat shield.
It's bright and sunny today, but very cold. Today is a rest day.
a) Covid cases have (just) begun to fall here
b) I'm not one of them
c) not one flake of snow has yet fallen in these parts (sorry to hear how bad it's been elsewhere)
Still lots of snow here, but it is starting to thaw today. If it continues to thaw then perhaps by Monday all the snow will have gone. However we’re back to Grandma school on Monday, which means no time to fit anything else in, including running.
JB, glad to hear that what you have is man flu, and not the dreaded Corona Virus. Did you have the flu vaccine earlier in the year? Take it easy for a few more days, to ensure that you are fully recovered.
Aquarius, good to hear that the snow is starting to thaw in your neck of the woods, but a pity that you still aren't able to run until Grandma school breaks up.
Conditions were awful this morning, heavy rain, strong icy winds and the forest waterlogged in places, with the mud very slippery and treacherous. Nevertheless, it takes a lot to deter Sarah and I from our Saturday forest 5k's. Today was our 43rd consecutive 5k. It is exactly a year since our last parkrun, which was my 50th, and it is unbelievable how quickly that year has gone.
Aquarius - when my heart rate monitor strap started playing up and giving odd readings it was because the battery needed replacing. The physio visit on Thu went well - but it's every day I have to do the exercises at the moment rather than every other day (and twice a day if I can manage it). I'm the same - by the time I get out running again it will probably be a case of starting over again. I'd seen you had more snow so not surprised to hear it's been icy and some locals on your estate have been suffering falls. Sorry to hear how exhausting the home schooling lark has been. And that you have had more problems with your Land Rover. Reading about poor old Steve's computer packing up and having to transfer stuff to a new one - the air turning blue is a common side-effect! I saw your later post and I'm not surprised you declined the chance to spend £1000 on a pointless-sounding piece of equipment for the Land Rover. Fingers crossed the weather gods are benign when you finally gat a chance to run.
HS - common as muck me .. when I put my heart rate monitor strap on I just lick it first to get a good contact. If your cousin's funeral service was the same provider as with my Aunt, then yes, it should be available online for a few days afterwards. Vimeo is like YouTube - but it's not YouTube (I'm not sure there's a lot of difference to be honest). Well done re your 11k recovery run.
JB - I see the cold lurgy has morphed into man flu ;-) Joking aside, hope the recovery continues apace.
I'm slowly getting into the new job of IT Support for the Arts Together charity. I'm still learning the ropes and have invited myself along (and been accepted) to join the core team's zoom call on Monday to introduce myself and ask a few questions (so I can get to grips with what exactly they do, how they use the system and which bits of software they use).
My physio was pleased the knee seemed better when I saw her on Thu and that I hadn't found the strengthening exercises too bad. So she has upped the ante by replacing the exercises with slightly harder versions. So for example, instead of a basic bridge, I now have to extend one leg at a time while in the bridge position. And with the squat and sit exercise, I now have to hover just above the chair before returning to a standing position.
Re chest HR monitor - there was a slight improvement with it when I replaced the battery, but only slight. I also made sure the contacts were wet when I put it on (usually causing a shiver on cold mornings) and checked that it was tightly fastened. I don't know why it didn't work properly, I think it just may have been too old (unlike us youngsters on here
Hope your Arts Together zoom meeting on Monday goes well.
HS: well done to you and Sarah for braving those horrible cold conditions yesterday. I can't believe its a year since your 50th parkrun, I can remember your post and photo and it just seems like a few months ago. I still miss parkrun, I wonder when we'll be able to go back to it.
(Snow's still here, but slowly melting)
WtnMel, glad the physio visit went well. You must keep up the stretches etc. As I've said before, I'm still doing the ones my physio gave me 3.5 years ago.
I'd never heard of Vimeo before.
I hope tomorrows zoom call goes well.
Aquarius, thanks, the conditions yesterday were horrendous, and if it hadn't been for the fact that we didn't want to break our 100% 5k record, we might have put it off! I agree, the year has simply flown by. I'm sure it's true that time does go quicker as we get older.
I ran a solo 12k on roads this morning. The wind was really biting, so I was glad I was wearing my thermal hat and gloves. I am back in shorts again though, as I find running in tracksters to be uncomfortable.
Tomorrows forest run will be good, as we are going to try and find an ancient well, which was mentioned on our local facebook page. and will probably test the navigation skills again.
Aquarius - I may try putting my hands behind my head on that bridge exercise (have my arms on the floor at the moment). I can certainly feel these exercises working - my abs were quite sore yesterday evening. If you were wetting the contacts of the hrm strap and it still didn't give good readings, then you may be right about it being a bit old and needing replacing. Glad to hear the snow has been melting - but I fear there may be more on the way (unless it stays as rain - which may mean flooding instead).
HS - I plan to keep up these stretches, even after I finish seeing the physio. One useful thing happened yesterday - I found a paperback Margaret was going to throw out after tidying her bookcase. It's one all about joints and common problems and has a whole load of exercises to do to keep fit (Margaret hadn't bothered to look inside herself and didn't know how useful it could be). Well done re your 12k run - I don't have a problem wearing tracksters and being a bit of a wimp, probably wear them too long into the Spring
Had a good meeting with the Arts Together (AT) people earlier. Now have a better idea of what they do and more importantly, what files I need to make sure are being backed up. One unexpected thing - they weren't sure about me having to use my own laptop/external drive to do backups and are going to see if they can get me a new Dell laptop for AT use only.
Margaret went for a walk earlier and said she had to move out of the way of a group of six runners (plus two dogs) running together and making no attempt to move aside for other people on the pavement. What a bunch of ignorant, selfish f**kwits!
Quite slow but expected that. What was good was that each Km was faster than the previous one; what was not so good was that they were all rather slow.
The common denominator for recent threads seems to be stretching! A bit like eating greens and drinking lots of water, I know it's the right thing to do but seldom get around to it.
One thing to report: my first state pension payment came today.
WtnMel, that was a bit of luck, saving a paperback that Margaret was about to throw out. I hope you find it useful.
Good that your AT Meeting went well, and that you might be getting a new laptop for AT work.
Margaret's experience with the 6 runners and their dogs is what gives us runners a bad name. We always give way to walkers, which often means running in the road to give them a wide berth.
JB, glad to hear that your cold is getting better, and that you were able to go out for a run today.
That's good news that your first state pension arrived today. don't spend it all at once😁
Todays forest run was really challenging. It was multi terrain with lots of hills, deep water and plenty of deep mud, including yellow mud which is the most dangerous. The object of the run was to locate the 13th Century Monkswell, which is way of the beaten track, which is just as well, as otherwise the area round it would be ruined by ignorant tourists dropping their litter, masks and poo bags🤬 We did find it and imagined all those years ago, the Monks drawing up water.
A rest day today, but heavy rain and strong winds forecast for tomorrow. Should be fun.
Managed another 5k with short quite sharp hills. Got back home totally wasted.
JB: glad to see you are on the road to recovery, but don't overdo it (and don't spend that pension payment all at once
WtnMel: I have a couple of books I keep referring back to from time to time. One is The Concise Book of the Moving Body and the other, my real go-to book is The Anatomy of Stretching. I find them really useful for targeted stretching and rehab exercises (and, if it works, a lot cheaper than a visit to the physio). Hope that Dell laptop offer comes off. I've noticed a few comments on Facebook recently about people exercising in large groups, and not just exercisers - even casual walkers/family groups are disobeying the rules. It's really frustrating for the rest of us who comply.
It's pouring here today, but at least the rain has washed away most of the snow. I've closed Grandma school for the day and will now try to catch up with some other jobs before preparing the evening meal. Still keeping fingers crossed for good weather on Thursday so we can go for a run, but not that hopeful now I have seen the forecast (breezy with sleet showers
JB - glad to hear that man-flu has gone and you were able to get out for a run. I'm still stretching regularly - will get in trouble with the physio next week if I don't - and even now, several years down the line, I still raise a smile when I see my state pension arrive in my bank account (a "money coming to me rather than going to them" sort of smile).
HS - as you'll see below, I'll be able to make do with my spare laptop .. and Margaret did point out the grant she got was for laptops for users of the charity, not volunteers like me! Apparently Margaret gave those runners a frown and hard stare - think if it had been me (as a fellow runner) I'd have said something. Another muddy, challenging run in the forest I see. Glad to hear you found the Monkswell - reminds me of going for a walk in Savernake Forest (nr. Marlborough) with my sons, looking for the oldest trees there and a folly, both deep in the woods, and both of which we found.
Aquarius - the book I mentioned is called "Body In Action" by Sarah Key and as well as explaining how the joints work it has a bunch of exercises you can do to keep problems at bay. As I mentioned above, have decided that my spare laptop will be adequate and the new Dell can be kept for someone more in need of it (they've been bought for older people who are unable to go to the usual meetings - they can be used to join zoom calls).
Just been re-arranging my (cough) 'desk' in my new (cough) 'office' - in reality a folding table (think pasting table, but much stronger) in the spare room. It's actually working out well and is far better than everything crammed into a corner of a bedroom. Anyway, the re-arranging is because I've got the 'spare' laptop up and running which I'll use for Arts Together work and I've got both of them plugged into my external monitor which, by planning ahead when buying it, is one that has two hdmi inputs and I can easily switch between laptops.
Bird-feeder update btw - we've had no problems with squirrels but the pigeons have proved particularly devious in reaching seeds supposed to be for the smaller birds. I've had to swivel and move some of the feeders to stop a pigeon from perching on the water bowl and craning it's neck to reach a seed tray. It was funny yesterday - there was the pigeon hoovering up seeds, while I counted four other pigeons lurking in the garden doing the pigeon equivalent of whistling nonchalantly while waiting their turn. I'll wait to see what the pigeon's next trick is going to be.
JB, Mondays run was amazing, the well was only about 3 miles into the forest, but most of the course was new to us. We are really lucky because the usual people I run with live near enough to the forest to not have to drive. I'm probably the closest, just about .5 mile away.
Well done for your 5k, which sounds like you gave it maximum effort!
Aquarius, we didn't really find Mondays run to be exhausting, as we weren't running very quickly, and had to do a lot of walking. It was quite a challenge though, trying to navigate without tripping over roots, or stumbling into a pothole. I suppose the most challenging part was having to "limbo dance" under an opening beside a locked gate. Actually, I had to lay flat on my back and wriggle under. Thankfully, the recent improvement to my flexibility through my stretches and yoga, enabled me to get to my feet again.🤬
The Monks Well was very interesting, the steps down to it were still there, and there were "stone seats" each side where the Monks must have sat whilst drawing up water. We will definitely have to take a photo next time we visit it.
I hope you are able to get out for a run tomorrow.
WtnMel, that's good that you will be able to manage with an existing laptop for your Arts Together work.
Thankfully, we haven't had any problems running in the forest with other runners or walkers breaking the rules. We either run solo or in pairs.
There seem to have been fewer pigeons around this year, but we do have crows, gulls and magpies. The gulls enjoy splitting open our rubbish bags when we put them out for collection and they are very noisy.
Heavy rain and very strong winds this morning, and we did the Mara Yamauchi interval session. Two sets of 3 minutes at 10k pace, 2 minute recovery and 3 x 1 minute at sub 5k pace. We were able to do the session on a fairly mud free gravel trail.
I'm watching the Inauguration Ceremony now. Thank goodness Trump has finally left the White House and beginning life as a civilian.
HS - you mean you didn't vault over that locked gate? Tsk tsk
The exercises from the physio aren't getting any easier and continue to be hard work. Makes me realise how relatively weak some of the muscles must have been. Will be doing my daily stretching and exercises after lunch and then have some x-training to do (dusting and vacuuming) with our cleaner Rosie not coming at the moment.
I like to think I'm reasonably technical - but was just flummoxed. Was setting up the satnav for Margaret and it gave me a choice of two routes - selected the one I wanted but it decided to use the other one. I wasn't able to work out why - but Margaret said not to worry as she'll start off driving on the other route and was sure the satnav will quickly re-calculate when it recognises she's not on the road it suggested.
I was able to get to grips with our landline phones though. We have three handsets (hall, kitchen, study) and have had them for several years. It was only yesterday I checked the manual and worked out how to transfer a call from one handset to another. At the same time, I saw you can make internal calls between the handsets. I told Margaret but she said she'll still prefer to shout up the stairs when dinner is ready
WtnMel, my days of vaulting over locked gates are way, way back in the past. You may remember me saying once that I can't climb over gates, having once fallen off one during a club social run and injuring my right side and fracturing my left arm. In other words I'm frit!
I'm sure that you will find the stretches will pay off. I'm certainly more flexible since expanding my range and doing some yoga. I can nearly reach my feet doing the hurdlers stretch now.
That's strange why the satnav selects the alternative route to the one you picked.
That's interesting, you being able to communicate between the handsets in doors.
The wind was really icy cold and strong this morning, but thankfully, no rain. Ran 11k in the forest with Andy. It was wet and very muddy underfoot, necessitating much walking and wading. My right knee niggled slightly, so luckily tomorrow is a rest day.
I've got an appointment for my Covid vaccine next Thursday morning.
I have a pc sound system (Cambridge Soundworks) that used to work with my desktop many years ago. It's been gathering dust but earlier on I checked my external monitor and found there is a 'line out' connection. I resurrected the sound system, connected it to the monitor, plugged in the speakers (bass woofer and two small trebles) and with some tweaking of the sound settings on my laptop, I can finally hear my music 'properly' rather than through the tinny pair of laptop speakers. Yay! \o/
You may remember that some time ago, my Ipod shuffle gave up the ghost. Andy has given me his, as he has moved on to streaming etc. Obviously its got all his music on it, and I don't think there is any way of deleting it. I've got most of my CD's burned onto my Itunes. When I plugged the shuffle into the laptop, it didn't register at all on Itunes. There is an update available, which I might try, or perhaps delete the app and then reinstall. I'm just wondering whether doing this might delete all my CD's.
Aquarius, you make a great point on the home schooling. I'm not an expert (Mrs JB is) but it seems to me that we are putting very young kids through some really testing and technical curricular. I know we tend to think it was 'harder' in our day, but there was no way I was taught English and Maths to this level at those tender ages (or any age TBH). Is it a reaction to the hippy dippy child centred style of previous generations, I wonder? Luckily we don't have to get hands-on delivering this stuff to our g'kids. I can still do the fun things like wrestling with them and watching TV, like Andy's Dinosaur Adventures!
Regarding birds we are very lucky in the numbers we get. Mrs JB spends the equivalent of the GDP of a small country on birdfeed.
HS and Mel, am afraid I can't join in any of the 'tech talk'. I am as near to a technophobe as you'll encounter. The other day, I spent a entirely frustrating 2 hours trying to navigate around a college's 'Virtual Learning Environment' only to find that they hadn't actually posted what I was looking for. In one place I worked I had such a reputation as an IT dummy that the tech people used to use me to trial any new technology on the basis that if I could use it, anyone could. It's nice to be useful!
I've actually been quite busy with bits and pieces of work. I have about 6 contracts with various places and have long periods when they leave me alone,,,,,,,,,,until like buses they all come along at once and I wonder why I still do what I do. (Answer: it feeds the ego.)
Talking of which, a 5k time trial for me. Like Aquarius I realised I've lost a bit of fitness and this proved it as I clocked 24.01. And this was very hard. (There was a strong wind, mind.)
Aquarius, the variations in my training are what makes it enjoyable, but challenging. Having the lovely forest and friends to run with also helps😃
You will see a dip in your pace, having not run for 4 weeks, but don't try to recover it too soon, or you may suffer niggles.
You've been wise to not run or walk on the ice, as a nasty fall could be disastrous. I hope that you did manage to get out for a run this afternoon.
I will be having my Covid vaccination at the Leisure Centre which is just a 5 minute walk from home. They have been giving the jabs for several weeks now to the over 80's, but it is rather worrying that there are so many of them still driving!
Thanks, I'm hoping the knee will be ok for tomorrows 5k, especially as Alice will be running with us. She will run with Mike and I will run with Sarah F. We will set off at different times so that we don't appear to be breaking the rules.
I don't use my landline much either, except for my internet. I've had a lot more spam calls on it during the last 2 or 3 weeks, always around lunchtime. I nearly missed the call from the surgery as I wasn't going to answer it in case it was another spam. However, I did pick up the receiver, and thankfully it was from it. I had been ready to tell the caller to go forth and multiply if it had been another spammer🤬
I seem to remember when I was at Infants School, learning to count using beads, or coloured counters. There was nothing as complicated as those you have mentioned, in fact, I haven't a clue what they are all about.
JB, I'm not much of a tech when it comes to computer technology, most of what I achieve is by trial and error, with a determination not to be beaten. An example is being able to sync runs that I have done, onto my Garmin Watch, so that I can use the navigation screens to do the course again at a later date. It took me ages to figure out how to do it.
It's good that you are still able to work, which will help to keep your brain active.
Your 5k time was still very good, especially in the wind, and the fact that you haven't been running as regularly as usual. I very much doubt whether I will go sub 26 minutes, but I'll keep trying. I could probably do it on the road, but prefer the forest.
Today is a rest day, and just as well, as the roads and pavements were very icy. It was very dodgy walking back from the supermarket with 2 heavy shipping bags in each hand. It made keeping upright more difficult, to avoid taking a tumble.
HS, hope your underfoot conditions were safe today.
By 9.15 it looked like our prom was free of ice and, with it being a windless day, I thought I'd go for it. Cranked myself up to full speed and found a very small patch of ice which instilled a bit of caution, Emerged with a 22.53 5K which was pretty much in line with expectations. One downer today was that one hand was frozen, even with gloves. I must be a bigger wimp than I thought!
Roll on Spring!
Haven't heard from Red Mist lately. Let's hope he's OK.
WtnMel, thanks for your comments re my ipod. I was thinking on the same lines that somehow I would have to register the new device, before it would interact with itunes. I don't know how either, but will try to see if there is any help on u tube.
It was definitely dodgy walking on the icy pavements with 4 heavy shopping bags. They certainly didn't enhance my balance.
JB, thanks, the pavements were quite slippery during our run to the forest yesterday, and the trails we ran our 44th successive not a parkrun 5k on were a bit icy in places, and there were still areas of water and mud.
Well done for another speedy 5k, especially in the conditions.
I was also wondering what had happened to Red Mist. Hopefully he isn't injured. I doubt if we will hear from Scottish Lady who was seeking advise re heart rate again.
I ran yesterdays 5k with Sarah F again, and we were surprised that we ran it about a minute quicker than the week before. We had thought the underfoot conditions, and sub zero temperature, would slow us down.
Today is a rest day.
JB - well done for getting out again and managing your run at the pace you had hoped to. My thermal running top with the fold-over bits by the wrists usually keep my hands warm enough. But I've had cold hands when playing golf if that counts?
HS - I was in my itunes yesterday and had a quick look but couldn't see how to register a new device to sync to. Well done for managing a faster pace with your 5k with Sarah F - enjoy your rest day!
I just checked and Redmist was last active on Dec 20th and Scotwoman was last active on Jan 10th.
My back is slightly sore today - I think I may have over-done the bridge exercise yesterday so I'll just stick to my stretching today.
The new dome-covered feeder for the small birds seems to be working as we saw a robin and great tit using it. A pigeon was unable to get at the seeds with the way I have positioned it. But we felt sorry for the pigeon, depriving him of food, so I went out and put some seeds in the open tray when I refreshed the water bowl.
Dare I say it - the touch-typing seems to be getting slightly easier. I surprised myself yesterday with what I have learnt. One of the exercises said to remember a sentence then close your eyes while you typed it out. I was able to do so without any errors. Still a long way to go - but nice to feel I'm getting somewhere.
I've had a frozen shoulder a couple of times both caused by overdoing exercise. It's pretty debilitating and doesn't add to your sense of mental wellness. Pleased that you've shaken your problem off.
HS, a minute's improvement is to be treasured! Well done.
Mel, sorry to hear about the back. I could bore for England on this topic (among others!) so I'll spare you that torture.
The forecast down here was for snow/sleet mid morning so I got out early for a hilly 5k, Al we got was rain and then sunshine. We really do get off easy here.
Redmist - glad to hear your shoulder has improved. A friend of mine had a frozen shoulder around the time I was using her as a case-study for my massage course. I was just doing Swedish massage (not sports massage or anything fancy) but after working on her back and shoulders, she found the trapped nerve (or whatever had been causing the problem) had gone away. Once this lockdown has finished I really must get my a**e in gear and get my treadmill fixed (needs a new rubber running belt). If I was running at the moment I would have really missed not being able to use it in this icy weather.
JB - my sore 'back' has homed in on it being my glutes being the problem area. I emailed the physio clinic to let Isobel know I'd had a problem. She phoned me earlier and has emailed subsequently with two exercises to do to stretch my glutes. On Thu, she'll be able to take a look for herself and advise what exercises to do to alleviate the problem and more importantly, what I should do to strengthen my hips/glutes/core so I don't have a re-occurrence of the problem. Well done re your hilly 5K.
Needless to say, I was a bit stiff and 'creaky' getting out of bed this morning and had to do some stretching to get myself moving. I went out for a short walk a little while ago - I think that must be the first time I've been outside for over a week.