Flying Blind

My otherwise lovely smartphone, my Samsung Galaxy S3, has been playing up of late in the crashing and freezing department. Could it be the alleged Android 4.1.2 bug? Maybe.

Factory reset didn't resolve it.

The last straw was last Thursday when it crashed just towards the end of a 1.5 hour run, thereby stuffing up my Runstatic app stats for that session.

So off to the repairers for my SGS3, and I've dusted off my old HD Desire HD running Android 2.3.5. But there's a problem: the GPS on this is hopeless relative to the same on my SGS3. It has great difficulty in picking up and holding a decent GPS signal - unless perhaps I'm holding it high above my head as I run, which ain't going to happen. Therefore it's wildly inaccurate for tracking my training sessions.

Until I get my SGS3 back, all I can do is to ensure that I'm putting the right training times in, without knowing too much about distance and speed... unless I want to go pre-GPS "old school" and attempt to work it out a bit more manually and after each event. No deal!

Interview with Itomic

AN "Interview with Itomic" has just been published over on the Itomic website. Take a peek!

Ross the Boss raising money for GOSH
http://www.itomic.com.au/ross-the-boss-raising-money-for-gosh/

COMPLETE REMISSION

Yesterday, July 18th 2013, Boris' parents received a copy of letter sent to their GP and oncologist from Dr Peppy Brock. Peppy is one of the world’s leading experts in neuroblastoma, in fact she helped design the trial Boris is on.

In the letter were two phrases:

"No evidence of the disease" and "Complete Remission"

Beyond awesome.

Still over 150 doses of chemo/medication to go, the last planned for December 2013.

 

Confidence builder - speed walking

So nursing a sore back and recovering calf muscle, I decided to give power-walking a go. Here's what I learnt:

1. I'm a slower runner than I thought
2. I'm a faster speed walker than I thought
3. Speed walking feels like it 'bashes' my calf muscle a lot less.

So last Thursday I walked 8km, no problem. Saturday 9km, Sunday 10km. All very good and easy. My fast walking pace? A little under 8 mins/km versus a little under 7 mins/km for when I'm jogging.

Talking on the subject with a few others, I've learnt about people who intentionally employ a "run-walk" approach to long distance running. The idea is that while you're jogging you're giving your walking muscles and break, and vice versa. I heard that some people can "run" a marathon using a run-walk technique in around the same time - and perhaps with less strain and risk of injury - than if they were to non-stop run the same.

Historically I've associated walking on a fun run as a cop out. I've now revised my opinion on this!