Category: post

Listening to the body

Despite the worries (which all turned out real), I ended up having a decent day yesterday. I wrote to Axc, but never heard back from them. I’m trying to make myself accept their decision. I also failed the blood test—joint lowest ever score of 131 g/l. On the other hand, I did end up getting a fair amount of work done. I also enjoyed the run in the evening—35 mins of easy run finished with 20 mins of fartlek. I ended the day very tired, slightly disheartened (I’d expected the reply from Axc at end of day), but fairly satisfied. I even finished reading a book in the bed before sleeping.

Today began well—woke to Chewie snuggled up between my legs. Worked for a couple of hours, then went downstairs for a bit of stretching, refreshing, and to pick up Dudley—today is Dudley Wednesday :)

By the time I returned back upstairs, it was already over 3 hours since I’d woken up. The morning coffee had worn off, and I was feeling surprisingly drowsy. These are usually my freshest, most productive hours. This could be due to the hay fever tab, or an effect of the run and foam rolling last evening.

I could have made another coffee, and warded the drowsiness off. But, for once, I decided to listen to the body and give it a break. I had no immediate deadlines, and I had already done over 2 hours of productive work. So, I went downstairs, drank a lot of water, got under the covers, called the boys onto the bed, set an alarm for 90 mins, and we all went to sleep1 :)

It was a beautiful, warm sleep with both boys snuggled on either side. I woke up refreshed. Not just the mind, even the legs and body felt a lot recovered. We drank more water, and went for a walk. Followed it up with lunch, another short rest, and then back to work2. It’s been another super productive 3 hours now, and I am back to being satisfied. And happy. Mostly.

Continue reading Listening to the body

90 seconds

That’s how long1 I continuously balanced on the wobble board just now.

From barely managing 10 secs on the first few tries, to celebrating a 20+ seconds balance yesterday, to a minute-long balance earlier today, and 90 secs now—it’s been a surprisingly quick improvement.

The law of diminishing returns will strike sometime. Then I’ll have to find a way of turning that plateau into a local maxima, rather than a global one. Till then, I’m enjoying the successes :)

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My new toy

It’s a wobble board—a circular board with a small round base. I have to stand on it while using my the foot, leg, and core muscles for balance to keep from toppling over (or prevent the board from touching the floor).

It helps develop a better sense of balance, and with building strength and coordination for all the muscles from core down to the toes.

The proficiency targets are (largely subjective):

Level 1: Stand with both feet without touching the floor for 30s.

Level 2: Same as L1, but bouncing and catching a ball off the wall in front.

Level 3: Same as L1, but standing on a single leg.

Level 4: Same as L2, but standing on a single leg.

Level 5: Standing on both legs, squats.

Level 6: Single legs squats.

I can’t even do single leg squats on the flat, steady floor, so there’s no hope of me ever doing that on the wobble board. Completing level 3 is the ultimate target I’d love to achieve.

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Maths for fun on run

Doing simple maths is one of my favourite things to do on solo runs1. I try to calculate my pace based on distance and time on the watch2, or I try to calculate the time it’d take me to the finish, or most commonly, I calculate the pace I need to run to finish a race in under a certain time.

Today’s schedule had an easy 55 min run, so distance and pace weren’t very relevant. I was instead thinking whether I’ll complete 15000 steps by the time I got home.

I had about 4500 steps after the boys’ walk. I walked around the house a bit—changing, procrastinating, feeding the boy, warming up, etc. So, I could assume I would have had ~5000 steps when I started the run. Here’s a simplified version of how the calculation went:

My metronome was set at 182 beats per minute, so I could assume I’d have an average cadence of at least 182 steps per minute. Total steps would thus be…

= 182 * 55
= (180 + 2) * 55
= 180 * 55 + 2 * 55
= 180 * 55 + 110
= 180 * (1.1 * 50) + 110
= (180 * 1.1) * 50 + 110
= 198 * 50 + 110
= 198 * (100 / 2) + 110
= (198 / 2) * 100 + 110
= 99 * 100 + 110
= 9900 + 110
= 10010 steps

That should get me past the 15K mark :)

Later, on the way back up the hill, the watch buzzed to tell me I’d completed 10000 steps (for the day). I’d run ~27 mins at that point. It was the cue for the next mental maths for fun. Here’s how it went (again, grossly simplified):

Starting with total run time of 55 mins, steps I expected to get in the remainder of the run were:

= (55 – 27) * 182
= 28 * 182
= 28 * (180 + 2)
= 28 * 180 + 28 * 2
= 28 * 180 + 56
= (30 – 2) * 180 +56
= 30 * 180 – 2 * 180 +56
= 30 * 180 – 360 + 56
= 30 * 180 – 304
= 3 * 18 * 100 – 304
= 54 * 100 – 304
= 5400 – 304
= 5096 steps

Still on track to make it to 15000 steps.

Here’s what the watch said when I got home :)

Continue reading Maths for fun on run

A random post

tldr: Add ‘?random‘ to any WordPress based blog to see a random post from it.

I have long wanted this feature to visit a random post on my blogs. It’s a lovely way to revisit the past—see what was happening then, what I was thinking, and how I was thinking and writing at some random point in the past. It’s also a wonderful way of—as Matt put it—breaking out of ‘now’.

For a few years, I have had a todo in my list to surface random posts at a click of a button/link. It’s fairly low priority, so I never got to it.

Today, Matt mentioned it as an aside in his conversation with David Perrell. WordPress has had this feature all along! I was walking in narrow woods so didn’t have much space, but I was jumping in excitement. This was what I’ve wanted all along!

I immediately upgraded the priority and due date for the random posts link task in my app. ‘A random post’ link is already here on Speak Easy (main menu on the left on desktop, click the ☰ icon up top on mobile). I’ll add it to Converge, Middlering and others tomorrow.

The only question I have is ‘why doesn’t WordPress communicate this beautiful nugget way more prominently?’.

Give serendipity and melancholy a shot :)

Farewell, mug.

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My favourite coffee mug is no more :'(

R1 dropped it ages ago—breaking the handle, chipping the lip, and cracking the body. I superglued back the handle, and kept using it. The glue is good for regular use but comes off every few weeks, specially when using warm soapy water to clean.

Last night it broke again while I was cleaning it. This time it won’t be stuck back. With a heavy heart, I’ve decided to say my thanks and put the mug to rest.

You served me well, señor mug. We had many good times together, all involving that great drink we both love—coffee. Thank you for your service. Thanks for the company. Thanks for the coffee. Rest in peace.

Continue reading Farewell, mug.

Achievement of the day: meals without screens

Ate both meals without screens.

No phone, no TV, no laptop, no kindle,… nothing.

Yesterday’s lunch—the first fully screen free (alone) meal—was a bit of a mess. I was anxious, itching to either pick up the phone or switch on the news.

It took a bit, but by the end of the meal I was calmer. I also took longer to finish the meal—spending more time on every bite, chewing better, putting the fork/spoon down between the bites,…

Today’s lunch was easier. Yesterday’s experience comforted me that any anxiety was unwarranted.

Dinner was harder in the usual aspect—R was home and watching TV1. It was easier in another way—there was a beautiful sunset outside. I placed the rocker facing the sunset (back to the TV), and slowly ate my dinner watching the orange sky and the green canopy.

It was quite pleasant. Slow, tasty, pleasant 🙂

Continue reading Achievement of the day: meals without screens

Knackered. Happy knackered.

Saturday morning: 50th parkrun. Maddie remembered. Thank you Maddie. Paint pickup from Screwfix on the way home.

Got a happy S for company in the afternoon.

Spent the evening on the road behind the house, painting the fence. It took nearly 4 hours for 8 panels. The wood hadn’t been painted in at least 7 years, if ever. It was drinking paint. A 9L can didn’t finish a single coat on the 8 panels.

A late dinner, some Glastonbury on the beeb. Late night.

Today began late, with an aching body.

Took boys for a short walk. Then went for a 70 mins easy run.

Showered, ate, washed the dishes in the sink, made a coffee, and read a book.

Around 7pm, I returned to the rear fence with the second can of paint. Spent the evening clearing the ivy at one end of the fence, then giving the fence a second coat (first coat for bits under the ivy and the bottom fifth).

Finished at 21:30. Cleaned the brush. Fixed (correctly this time) the shower holder. Took a shower. Shaved.

Now, having a pre-meal of peanut butter toast with red wine. Chicken schnitzel is in the oven.

It’s been a productive, happy weekend.

The only area of improvement is that I didn’t get to spend much time with Duds 🙁