Personal Goals Mini Update

400m 2:11 A segment on my normal run, down hill, wind behind me. Perhaps when the lockdown is over I should look to do some track time and get some more accurate times.

Personal Bests

It's all about personal bests.
Until very recently I didn't run.
At school I walked the cross country and took short cuts. The teachers couldn't monitor the whole class on a run.
Walking, now that I could do by the mile after unstoppable mile but never run.
When I first moved to Surrey, in my 40s, I joined a gym and enjoyed running on the tread mill. I could listen to podcasts and when I got tired I would still be right where I started.
I started street running in 2019, age 48. That biological clock telling me how I should stop taking my general good health for granted and start doing some work on it. But I wasn't logging the exercise, not recording times and distances.
Though I'd had step counters in the past it was getting a watch capable of tracking GPS that has helped most with the fitness tracking.
Step count is something I've covered in other posts and it's the simplest measure but what I'm getting interested in now is getting to a point where I can run 5km and once at that point I want to work on improving my times for that distance.
Towards the middle of last year I set up a spreadsheet which automatically pulls my step count from Google Fit and records it. While Google holds the data itself you have to use the mobile app to view the information and I want the flexibility to browse the information in different ways. The idea behind this was to get some base line numbers so that when I started exercising properly I'd have something to compare with. Exercising to start properly as I turn 49, with a goal to being fit for 50!
Just over a month into doing regular runs and despite the pandemic induced lock down, my running is getting better.
I started running Tuesdays and Thursdays. First I would walk to a local playing field then run two laps around it, then walk back.
When I went to run early one morning and found that the playing field was shut I opted to run the block around the playing field. Distance wise, running the street was just a little shorter than two laps of the field itself, about 2.5km.
About two weeks ago, rather than walking to the start of the run and walking back after it, I started running from the front door and finishing back at the house too. Just over 3km.
Last Sunday I chose to run a circuit that I'd walked several times as I knew this was just over 5km.
The circuit takes me down to the river, along the river then back up before a short run back down to home.
The climb starts at about 3km, roughly where I've been ending my regular runs. On this first attempt I didn't manage to run the full 5km, slowing to a walk at 4km then another run from the top of the road.
Despite not technically running the whole route it's given me a circuit time to beat, which I'll be trying again next weekend.
As well as giving an over all circuit time to beat the Strava site that I've been using to record each run has finally got some sensible distances to register some times with, these are my starting points:

1km - 5:52
1 Mile - 9:35
5km - 33:05

As mentioned above, the route isn't flat but it's one that I'll repeat so the distance is symbolic, though it will be interesting to see the time difference for 5km over different courses and as the weather changes.

Since I started using Strava I've run 45.6km over 14 runs, a total of 5 hours 46 minutes.

Lets see where we go from there.

Reminders Of Better Days

Through March I got reminders from Google "this day in history" telling me I was climbing x mountain or walking y river. And with the weather being just about perfect for walks I'm feeling a little caged. I must not complain though as I'm "caged" in a beautiful house with amazing people and yes I'm saying this after almost three weeks of lock down. I'm also fortunate in that I'm able to work from home with little impact. I have had to go into the office a couple of times but when I have it's empty.

So Close

Well my attempt at 7000 steps per day for March failed, but I have a good excuse! Around the middle of March the world was put on lockdown, yes the entire world, or near enough.
In the UK we were told to limit all journeys to essential only. That meant certain workers, trips to the chemist for prescriptions, essential shopping and one trip out for exercise.
Yes that last caveat should have allowed me to keep up my daily step count but it's not as simple as that. There's still an element of guilt with going outside, a feeling that you're not "isolating" properly. With each day of this situation I feel this less and less but certainly in the first few days of isolation I just didn't feel right leaving the house.
Needless to say I'm not attempting 10,000 steps a day in April, or any other month soon.
I look forward to reading this back in ten to fifteen years time, that time when a virus had the world on lockdown.
I'm extremely lucky to be home with loved ones, have plenty of space and a job that I can do from home. In fact, before this situation started I was already working two or three days a week from home so that aspect of daily life hasn't really changed.
I'm still wearing the step counter and still weighing myself every day.
Interestingly, since isolation started I've actually dropped the final few pounds to reach my arbitrary weight goal of 13st (182lbs). There's a few things I can put this down to; first I don't have access to a vending machine as I do in the office. Those two/three bars of chocolate per day, while not adding to my weight greatly, certainly kept it around the mid to high 13st range. Second, for lunches I'm eating homemade meals. Processed sandwiches, pies or even the odd trip to Subway are my regular lunch when I'm in the office. The combination of fast food and snacking for sure has kept my weight higher.
Perhaps I need to give myself a new challenge. I certainly believe I don't drink enough. Since the Garmin fitness tracker allows for recording water intake perhaps this is what I should record next?   

Goodbye Rusty

There is a likelihood of tears as I type this.
This morning we had to take Rusty to the vet to have him put to sleep.
Rusty lived with Kate's mum and dad in Cornwall. While they owned a pub on one floor, with a big field out back he could run in, all was good.
When Kate's parents moved to a pub where they lived three floor up Rusty started to show his age and struggled with the stairs.
We brought Rusty up to live with us and he was very happy.
Having been raised in pubs and around other people and other animals the lovable temperament of the Golden Retriever was amplified.
In recent years, as he's got older, he'd been taking medication daily to assist with pain in his back legs and hips. More and more often he was struggling to get up and sometimes his back legs would give out on him. The vet said that, given he was 14 years old, pain medication was really all they would recommend.
Last night he collapsed and couldn't get up. Kate and I sat up with him all night. He slept on and off but any time he tried to get up his legs gave way.
We hoped this was just a temporary thing and that on waking up in the morning he'd be bouncing around like a puppy. Hoped but honestly knew this wasn't likely.
We spoke to the vet early this morning and they advised us it was time to bring him in.
Because of the isolation instructions given to the UK just the night before, the veterinary practice, where possible, were asking people to stay in their vehicles in the car park and they would come out and see animals. In a way, this worked out a calmer ending for Rusty.
The vet gave Rusty an injection to sedate him, Kate and I sat with him in the back of her car until he went to sleep.
Lots of people knew Rusty. Kids grew up with him, friends looked after him and anyone that visited got covered in his hair and slobber.
On the odd occasion Rusty would escape and we'd had phone calls from neighbours asking us to come get him.
I have cried a lot today, triggered by little things.
I'll miss you Rusty.

Caffeine Withdrawal

Started the day with a repeat of lat weeks walk. When I got back I had a headache which I thought was due to dehydration. I took some paracetamol and washed them down with a pint of water then went back to bed.
I woke up an hour and a half later still with a headache. Notably not a migraine. Typically headaches I can clear with medication but this one stuck.
It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I realised I'd not had any coffee all day. Typically I'd have at least three.
One coffee later and my head cleared!

22nd March 2014 - No data
22nd March 2015 - 1279 steps
22nd March 2016 - No data
22nd March 2017 - No data
22nd March 2018 - No data
22nd March 2019 - No data
22nd March 2020 - 17724 steps

This evening I fixed the curtain rail in one of the girls rooms and set up a "smart" thermostat in the other. While the thermostat has been replaced I now need to do a little investigation as to how to use it.

What we'd like to do is be able to shut the bedroom radiators down during days when we need the heating on in other rooms but not necessarily the bedroom.

Once I've got this one working as we want to then I can order up the same thermostat for other rooms, potentially then setting up routines and the home assistants to control them.

A Busy Day

Started the day with a walk to the chemist to collect prescriptions. The tiny chemist has a three customer limit during the social distancing state, still people would come in, ignoring the queue out front, demanding attention. Colourful language and gross ignorance. Anyone working with the public right now gets my respect. The public can be a pain to work with at the best of times.

The walk to the chemist was just that, direct there and back. I may have stopped at a poke-stop but certainly this was a walk with a purpose rather than exercise.

Once back at the house I'd wracked up about 3500 steps. Just short of midday and half way through the 7000 step goal.

Once back home I shut the central heating off as I needed to re-fill the radiator in the recently re-decorated front bedroom. While waiting for the system to cool I cut the grass.

A quick brunch after cutting the grass and then spent the afternoon finishing up the front bedroom.

I re-filled the radiator, built a book case, built a table, built a lamp, built a chair, fitted handles to the wardrobe, then to end the day's work cleared up after myself.

The end of day step count was surprising...

19th March 2014 - No data
19th March 2015 - 3625 steps
19th March 2016 - No data
19th March 2017 - No data
19th March 2018 - No data
19th March 2019 - No data
19th March 2020 - 11277 steps

So reaching 7000 steps while not leaving the house may not be impossible. Even if you ignore the 3500 steps for the walk to the chemist I still made 7000 steps. Granted I'm not going to be decorating all day when I'm also working but perhaps I can attend conference calls using my phone and pacing the room, use the standing desk.

Going to walk the 10km route that I walked last Sunday again tomorrow. Again the step count for previous years is very low, I can only imagine there was a technical error or I didn't wear a watch that day! Even if the walk gets canceled, as long as I make my 7000 steps I'm good.

Not The Top Day!

I said it was going to happen and today was that day! In retrospect I should have checked yesterday what the target was going to be.

20th March 2014 - No data
20th March 2015 - 13066 steps
20th March 2016 - No data
20th March 2017 - No data
20th March 2018 - No data
20th March 2019 - No data
20th March 2020 - 8471 steps

As the phrase goes, on this day in history, March 20th 2015, it appears I walked from home to the station to get the train to work, then in the evening I walked from the station to what appears to be a local petrol station, I'm looking at my "Timeline" on Google Maps, then back home.

Today I just did my 5km lunch time walk that, took me over the 7000 steps but doesn't touch the 13000 from 2015. Thinking back, in 2015 I didn't have my own car so would often walk to the station, walk to the shops and walk in to town. There's likely to be more high step count days from 2015.

Meanwhile the country is locked down further tonight as pubs, restaurants clubs, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres all go on lock down. Many other European cities have banned all but essential street use so it's looking likely that at some point I'm going to have to find a way to keep up my step count without leaving the house! This could mean a lot of step ups on either the stairs or a stool. I really doing want to not make the 7000 steps across March because of this crazy situation. Have to safely and responsibly overcome this hurdle.

Learning from today's mistake, checking historical step counts, previous data shows that I didn't make 7000 so as long as I do my 7000 step goal I'm good.

Lots Of Steps

Today's count, 12925 steps. That's a run with Maia in the morning followed by a walk at lunch time. The lunchtime walk was just over 5km, will aim to run that route once we can get the current shorter route quicker.

The Strava app' didn't quit half way through my lunchtime walk today, I think the previous issue may have been due to "gesture" unlock and accidental stopping. I'll report back if this continues to work or has more problems.

19th March 2014 - No data
19th March 2015 - 5446 steps
19th March 2016 - No data
19th March 2017 - No data
19th March 2018 - No data
19th March 2019 - No data
19th March 2020 - 12925 steps

I'm going to eventually catch up with one of the dates of one of my mountain walks, but not today! 

For every day in March I've taken over 7000 steps. Not sure yet if I'll try 10000 for April or maybe switching some of the walking for a different exercise?

1st March 2020 - 12684 steps
2nd March 2020 - 16827 steps
3rd March 2020 - 10051 steps
4th March 2020 - 13038 steps
5th March 2020 - 8941 steps
6th March 2020 - 10019 steps
7th March 2020 - 14745 steps
8th March 2020 - 10687 steps
9th March 2020 - 9130 steps
10th March 2020 - 11863 steps
11th March 2020 - 12424 steps
12th March 2020 - 8011 steps
13th March 2020 - 7687 steps
14th March 2020 - 7218 steps
15th March 2020 - 19450 steps
16th March 2020 - 9770 steps
17th March 2020 - 7020 steps
18th March 2020 - 8711 steps
19th March 2020 - 12925 steps

Highest count so far this month was from Sunday when I went for a walk along the Hog's Back. May repeat that route again this coming Sunday.

Logging Failure

I went out for a reasonably long walk at lunch time and the app or possibly the watch, I'm not sure which, stopped recording half way through the walk.
I've still got data from Google Maps but it lacks some of the data available from Strava.
I've tried disabling the "twist to wake" gesture on the watch to see if this stops accidental wake and app stop.

18th March 2014 - No data

18th March 2015 - 7156 steps

18th March 2016 - No data

18th March 2017 - No data

18th March 2018 - No data

18th March 2019 - No data

18th March 2020 - 8554 steps

I'm running Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Running before 7am, empty streets so still isolated. Alarm set for 6am!

Took Rusty to the vet today to have two "lumps" removed. I was genuinely concerned that this would be serious.
Thankfully at the end of the day the vet was able to tell that one lump was a cyst and the other was not dangerous.

Rusty is very happy to have people home all day.

Barely Made It

7020 steps. As I sat down at my computer to write this I was still 50 steps short of the 7000 required. I went downstairs, made a cup of coco, and her we are 70 steps later. Despite going for a run this morning which got me to well over half way before 8am the rest of the day I've been at my computer or driving.

17th March 2014 - No data

17th March 2015 - 5964 steps

17th March 2016 - No data

17th March 2017 - No data

17th March 2018 - No data

17th March 2019 - No data

17th March 2020 - 7020 steps

It's a good thing that data from previous years was sparse today.

Tomorrow's goal a little higher since the data for 18th March 2018, since that's the only year I appear to have data covering March, is 7156, which would still be a few more trips down and back up the stairs.

The run was good. Sun rise times meant that the sun is now just above the houses at 6:30am and shone right in my eyes. Not a blistering pace yet, still walking to the start point, running the circuit, then walking back. At a little over 3km I hope to increase the distance and run all the way. At the moment we get 3km covered comfortably within half an hour, still giving us time to shower and prepare before getting out of the door at 8am.

Beware Of Scammers

IF YOU GET A CALL FROM SOMEONE TELLING YOU THEY ARE TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING THE CALL, HANG UP.

Especially as so many people are now working from home, please be aware that "Technical Support" scammers will be trying to take advantage of the current situation. Often scammers will phone home numbers which, when we're at work, we won't answer.

Microsoft, BT, Virgin will not cold call you to tell you that your computer is being hacked or that your Internet connection is running slow. Your corporate IT will generally only call you if you've asked them to and will have some means of verifying who they are.

Your corporate IT should not need any of your passwords, typically companies set up "security questions" to verify who you are. To perform our work IT professionals have our own administrator access and do not need to know your password.

Please do not hesitate to ask me via direct message if you have any technical questions.

Upping The Reaction To COVID-19

In The News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51917562

On the day that the action triggered by the COVID-19 virus escalated I was trying to help Jude with medical attention for extreme shoulder pain which she's been suffering with since last week.

Knowing that the NHS services are already hard pressed we first, instead, went to a chiropractor that we've been to in the past. After a consultation he recommended going to the doctor.

As we expected, the doctor surgery is taking emergencies only. Thankfully the triage nurse was able to get a prescription from the doctor for stronger pain killers.

Hopefully the enforced working from home will mean no driving and a more relaxed environment that will help Jude's shoulder settle.

Stepping Up

Various walks to the chemist today put my step count over 9000.

The Google Sheet automatic tracking started in October last year, data before that was from various different phones or step devices.

16th March 2014 - No data

16th March 2015 - 8058 steps

16th March 2016 - No data

16th March 2017 - No data

16th March 2018 - No data

16th March 2019 - No data

16th March 2020 - 9524 steps

Highest recorded steps for 16th March. OK that's not saying much since I only have one other date but I'll take the small victories.

Tomorrows challenge is looking pretty easy too since the highest on record for 17th March isn't even 7000 steps. Once the dates start to overlap more consistently this will get more of a challenge.

Early morning run tomorrow.

Seven Thousand Steps

I've been trying to maintain seven thousand steps per day. Some days I've had to do a short walk before bedtime to scrape in the step count.

Today's count was 17247 following a 10km walk.

I've got a script set up which is pulling step counts into a Google spreadsheet. I've got data from my Android phone that goes back to 2014, though there's some patches missing in the earlier data.

I think I'll re-awaken this blog to record my fitness journey.

With the COVID-19 outbreak I may have chosen the wrong year to try signing up for a sponsored event. The London Marathon has been postponed until October, likely that other events will get postponed or cancelled too.

I'm currently using Strava, Garmin Connect and Virgin Pulse, along with the spreadsheet which is pulling information from Google Fit.

Strava uses GPS on either my Android phone or Android Wear watch to track my walks and runs. I've had varying success with the app and how it works with the phone and the watch.

Garmin Connect takes my step count from a health band that I wear 24x7. This tracks steps and sleep. The good thing about this specific health band is that, having very few features it doesn't use much battery power and runs off regular watch batteries instead of needing frequent charging.

Virgin Pulse pulls in data from Garmin and Google fit. The reason I'm using this is it's a service paid for by the company I work for. There's various "challenges" within groups and a certain social element to it.

Each of the systems has something that it tracks which it won't share with the others, there's a certain amount of manual data entry for some aspects.

I weigh myself every day. I'm not overly concerned about my weight but I do want to ensure that it stays sensible. I use Renpho ES-20M Bluetooth scales which automatically send my weight to an app on my phone. While the app does write my weight to Google Fit that information isn't then passed on to Strava, Garmin Connect nor Virgin Pulse. I enter the information into Garmin and Virgin Pulse manually.

At the end of the March, if I've been able to maintain 7000 steps all month, then for April I'll up the game to 10000 steps per day.

Stay tuned for updates and statistics!

2004 Nissan Micra Not Starting Warm

Warning

!!! Always disconnect the car battery when performing tasks under the bonnet which involve removing parts and using spanners. Especially in this case there can be live cables which would cause powerful sparks and possibly electric shock if the spanner touches engine while you're undoing the cables. !!! If you're not a confident DIY mechanic please take your car to a proper mechanic.

TLDR:

2004 Nissan Micra won't start when warm, doesn't turn over the engine at all. Starts fine with jump start and starts fine with bump start. Replaced starter motor addressed the issue.
Changing the starter motor not as tricky as some descriptions suggest.

History

Looking back at this now I think this has been a problem since I first got this car but I'd not tied it down and had partly addressed it by other means.

Not long after I first got the 2004 Nissan Micra 1.4 I had trouble starting it after a visit to a hospital. With the car being relatively new to me and still having the factory supplied battery I jumped to the conclusion that the battery was at fault and replaced it. Indeed replacing the battery appeared to address the issue. The non-start was a one off thing and I replaced the battery the next day, a reasonably simple task.

Just recently, again the car has had trouble starting. I hadn't pinpointed the exact problem because first thing in the morning and in the evening when coming home from work, the car would start without problem. It hadn't twigged to me that on the increasing number of times that the car had failed to start the engine had not long been turned off after a drive.

Vid01 shows the problem, the various beeps and pings are from the dash cam. The engine isn't turning over at all. It got to the point where even when cold the starting would be hesitant.

I took the car in for it's annual service and frustratingly the car didn't show the starting problem. After that point the issue became more and more frequent.

Most of the suggestions on the Internet were around a faulty heat sensor, suggesting putting a resistor across the sensor or unplugging the sensor to get to the vehicle to start. However, the symptoms reported by other owners suggested that the engine would turn over but not fire, this didn't match the symptoms I was seeing.

With a reasonably new battery I decided the next thing to try, before getting an expensive diagnostic, would be to replace the starter motor.

Changing The Starter Motor

Much of my Internet searching referred to different vehicles, it seems that there are different vehicles branded as "Micra" in different countries and I couldn't find anything specific to the car I have. I bought the online version of the Haynes manual for the car and it suggested that the replacement was a reasonable job to do for a confident DIY mechanic.

The manual suggested that there were two ways to remove the starter motor, either by jacking the car up and accessing from underneath  or by removing the wiper motor and "support panel" to allow access from above.

Initially I tried removing the wiper motor but failed at step one trying to get the wiper arms off.

Looking at jacking the car up and accessing from underneath I couldn't really see a clear access even if jacked up. The starter motor is at the top of the block at the back of the engine, access from the top is more logical.

First things first, when you're going to be reaching around in the dark for the solenoid ensure you've disconnected the battery (see warning above). The starter motor has a cable direct from the battery and if you were to try undoing that lead and were to short it to the engine this could cause dangerous, high power sparks and possibly electric shock.

I reached in behind the engine and used my mobile phone to take some pictures of the starter so I would get a better idea as to how to reach it.

On looking at the pictures I could see corrosion on the cable from the starter solenoid to the starter motor, this gave me a little more confidence that it was the starter motor that was wrong.

The pictures also gave me more confidence that there was space to get my hands and tools in from around the side/top of the engine without the need to remove the wiper assembly.

With the battery disconnected I used a 13mm socket to remove the main feed cable from the solenoid.

Pic 01 shows the solenoid after the main feed cable was removed.

After removing the feed cable I then used a 10mm socket to remove the switched feed, the smaller cable at the bottom.

With these two cables now out of the way I was able to get a 14mm socket with a half bar extension in to remove one of the two bolts. While the ratchet was able to fit without the half bar extension there was no room to move the handle.

The bolt is quite close to the solenoid (just visible in the picture above, below the switched feed). I did initially make the mistake of removing another bolt from the clutch housing, when it was clear that the starter motor wasn't coming off I realised my mistake.

The lower bolt can be fully removed.

The upper bolt is visible behind the battery and threads in to the starter motor from the opposite direction. I was able to reach in and support the starter motor with one hand while undoing the top bolt with the other.

Once the top bolt was out the starter motor could be lowered onto part of the engine allowing you to then withdraw the ratchet, bolt and your hands, then you can approach the starter motor from a more convenient angle to remove it from the engine compartment.

There was a lot of working by feel for this removal but with care and patience it's certainly a job I was comfortable doing.

Fitting the new starter, as Haynes is so fond of saying, is "reversal of removing". However there's a couple of points that I feel are missing from this vague instruction.

It's definitely easier to remove the bottom then bolt, then the top and when fitting the new motor it's certainly easier to fit the top, then the bottom. As always when tightening bolts it's best to do a little on each rather than tightening the top all the way only to then find the bottom isn't aligned.

Pic 02 shows the new starter motor fitted with the switched feed connected.

There's a potential for the switched feed and the main feed to be touching when they are fitted. If these were to short out then the car would try to start the moment you reconnect the battery. Make sure that the smaller, switched feed cable at the bottom of the solenoid points directly down. As you tighten the nut there is a tendency for the cable to move. As I have done above, I'd suggest taking a photograph with your mobile phone after you've affixed the cable to ensure it's correct.

I then attached the main feed and took further pictures to ensure there was no shorting then slipped the rubber cover back over the main feed.

A further step in being cautious I removed all tools from the engine bay in the expectation that the car would try to start, or the at least give a large spark, when I reconnected the battery.

Now fully prepared, I reconnected the battery and nothing happened. It's always good when you plan for the worst but actually things go well.

After tightening the battery terminal I tested the start and it fired straight away. Leaving the car running for five minutes I stopped the engine and tried starting again. Again the car started without fault.

Vid02 the car now starts consistently.

'Twas The Night Before The Night Before Christmas...

... and all through Godalming, the lights were all out!

I had gone out for a Christmas meal at a pub in Chillworth. Having had my fill and washed it down with a pint or three I swayed over to the station to find that the trains had long delays and the level crossing gate was stuck closed. I decided to walk home.

The rain came down, the water level came up.

Walking down the appropriately named Christmas Hill the road was entirely flooded, my dress shoes didn't do much to keep out the water that was half way up my shins.

I stopped at The Sea Horse in Shalford, putting my feet up in the open fire place.

Walking back to Guildford I'd had about enough of the rain and headed for the bus station. The bus that was due at 20 past the hour still hadn't turned up and it was half past, the queue of people were already complaining.

Walking to the taxi rank by  the Friary Centre and there were no taxis and again a long queue of Christmas shoppers all waiting to go home.

The taxi rank at the train station was equally empty with a queue of people waiting.

Walking up Walnut Tree Close, the warmth of the pub fire a distant memory I walked past about half a mile of queued traffic.

When I got home my Blackberry and mobile phone had a collection of missed calls and urgent emails.

The power had gone out in several areas around Surrey just as I'd left the first pub. Apparently the host had problems trying to pay the bill by candle light when the till and card machines were not working.

With help from Steve and Andy, Clive was able to close down many of the servers as they were running on the battery power. By 5:30pm the battery ran out and the Godalming office was dark and silent.

On Christmas eve at 4am I drove into the office. I'd woken up early and once the thoughts of "what do we need to do" started going through my head and I thought that it would be better me trying to get into the office.

The picture above is what the car park entrance looked like once the sun had come up.

The local radio station had tried to reach the local electricity board to find out how long repairs where going to take but with such a large area not having power it was impossible for them to even give an estimate.

I made my way home to where there was power and Internet connection.

It was about 2:30 when the power in Godalming came back on.

It was also at about 2:30 that we got a phone call from the pub that we were supposed to be having Christmas dinner at. The Old Mill in Gomshall had been flooded and we'd be getting a full refund. We had to brave Christmas Eve shopping in Sainsburys!

Clive gave me a call to say that he'd made it into Godalming but road into the car park was now impassable. He helped a few of the local residents with sand bags but it was possibly too little too late for some of the residents with places down by the river.

Unbelievably the shopping in Sainsburys was probably quieter than any normal weekend and we were in and out in 20 minutes, the traffic was the bigger issue. Fallen trees had taken out the control for the traffic lights. Now I got the phone call about the power being back on in the office.

Restoring all but a few of the servers was reasonably painless and simple and I was keeping notes on everything I did.

By about  5:30pm on Christmas Eve I'd got as much up and running as I was going to. I sent an email out to the office and went home.

About 12 hours later the power in Godalming dropped again. It being Christmas day, with nobody waiting on getting the systems running. I had a day off.

On Boxing day, after the power had been up for a little over 12 hours I once again headed in to the office at just after 5am.

Now with the notes from Christmas Eve it was even quicker to restore the systems.

Hopefully the power will be stable now but the news is warning of more storms to come so maybe this post isn't finished quite yet...

The Brecon Beacons Training Walk

On Sunday 20th October 15 of us went up to the Brecon Beacons for a little walk.


The above video is more than just a video, you can pause the player then use the controls on the right to zoom in and out, rotate and drag the map around to see the various parts of the route.

According to the various online sources the weather was going to be awful. Certainly the drive to Wales on Saturday was fraught with shiny wet roads and a bright sun low on the horizon.
Since we can be pretty sure that at least one of the three peaks in the challenge is going to be wet a little rain wasn't going to stop us from training, however we didn't especially want to get washed down the valley as we went to walk by the river and behind the waterfall.
For the tracking I used the "Map My Walk" app and other than a little data loss at the start due to human error it's recorded the track pretty well. The app claims that the walk was a little over 9 miles but if you watch the tracking above you'll see one specific part where we suddenly head in a very straight line, cutting possibly an additional half mile off.
The pace was good, a little too fast for comfort but then you need to be pushed to get the benefit out of training, this wasn't a site seeing ramble.

Walking behind the waterfall was great. I'd overheard other walkers saying that the water level for the river was quite high and that some of the caves along an alternate route were flooded, this did however may a very powerful, quite beautiful waterfall. Looking at the picture above it appears that I'm walking away from the water when actually both myself and the person taking the picture are behind the waterfall, it's a difficult picture to capture.

We didn't stop often, one 20 minute stop for lunch and a handful of stops at junctions to let the tail enders catch up and not get lost.

The pack mixed up a little, most people got their chance to lead or to follow. At one point we even had a brief climb up a rock face, maybe 12 feet high, if that but my first experience in climbing none the less. Perhaps I'll see about a visit to our local climbing wall, it may be a bit more fun without waterproof clothing and a backpack to worry about.

Come the end of the nine mile walk I was glad to see the car park!

It's an interesting mix of emotions, I had a beaming smile on my face throughout the walk but I was certainly being pushed at come points when trying to clamber up loose rock paths.

Hopefully there will be another walk over the Surrey Downs this coming Sunday.

Tech On Order

I've made a contribution to a Kickstarter project to produce a new smart watch. The Kreyos uses a low power screen to enable you to see messages, information and of course the time.
I'm hoping that the watch will help provide information on my training and on the challenge itself, perhaps by not using the screen on the phone so much it will save on battery power.
I don't intend to go on the walks overladen with technology but I do hope to use sufficient tools to measure and improve my training.

Timings 2

Currently using "Map My Walk" which is more accurate than looking back at the Google Location History.
My walk to the office on Monday was 1hr 42min. While that appears to be slower than the first walk it's only by a minute and I believe that the first measurement may have been short.
I like the look of the "Map My Walk" site and suspect I'll be using this from now on. With a consistent form of measurement it will be easier to compare the times.

Today I walked from home to the station in 32min 58sec, that's from the front door to the entrance of the station.

I'll be mixing full walks from home to work with station walks still. I'll probably not use the bike for a while as it's a walk that I'm preparing for.

Bringing The Bits Together

It's looking more and more likely that I will be taking part in the National Three Peaks Challenge.
I attended a meeting of a group that had done the challenge a couple of years ago and we're looking to follow the same training routine that worked for them then.
Following the meeting I've been on a 4 mile walk with the group over the Surrey Downs on Sunday. This coming weekend we're heading to the Brecon Beacons.
For my own training I walked all the way from home to the office on Monday and then back again after work. I'm trying out various apps to see how well they record my progress and whether they are likely to be able to track me for the full challenge and whether I'll need a backup power supply.
I've bought a new waterproof coat, proper walking socks and borrowed wicking shirts, hopefully walking poles will be delivered today.
I intend to go into a little more detail on the aspects of the training and kit in future posts but it most certainly looks like this is happening.