2008 - Autumn

[marathondan]

If you persist, I've no doubt it can benefit a runner though it's no substitute for running i.e. it's not aerobic.

Indeed, CV-wise nothing beats running (physically or spiritually). To suggest otherwise would be heresy. I was just thinking about it for upper body strength, as an alternative to the torture machines at the gym. But since EG, Sweder and MLCM all seem to get on well with the gym, it was just a comment in passing.

[Sweder]

After 37 minutes in the gym, huffing on the usual string of cardiovascular machines -- treadmill, elliptical trainer, static bike, rowing machine, stepper -- I was able to produce a decent quantity of that glorious, salty wet stuff.

Crikey, one wouldn't want to read this stuff out of context

Hm Gyms . . . yes, well . . . I think it's stretching a point to say I get on well with these places but I do admit they're a necessary evil (as part of a balanced cross-training regime). In fairness it's only the treadmills I really loathe. I just miss being out doors and resent having to breathe other people's farts as I sweat uncontrollably all over the equipment.

[El Gordo]

I don't think pilates would do an awful lot for upper body strength, Dan. Its focus is the trunk -- the 'core'. I've no doubt that regular pilates would help running performance, general fitness, and toning (especially abs), but it wouldn't build the usual upper body muscles.

What you say about nothing beating running for CV benefit, seems to be borne out by my recent regular use of a variety of CV machines. I don't take seriously the exact calorie loss figure you get on these machines, but relative to each other, the treadmill shows a much higher figure. My current routine is to do 6 minutes on each, and then repeated. The 'calories burned' figure on the treadmill is at least 20% higher than the figures for the others. Next best is the elliptical cross trainer, followed shortly afterwards by all the others around the same mark.

At the moment, I'm quite liking the gym. I don't get any great pleasure from the act of exercising there, but I do enjoy the feeling that I'm doing myself some good. A bit like running for me, where the true reward and satisfaction comes with the post-exercise, post-shower afterglow.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Anyway, you can do pilates at home as you don't need any special equipment - just grab a cheap pilates DVD from a department store (or your library) and try it. Personally, I hate it. I'd rather do domestic chores than pilates any day.

:o

[Sweder]

Er . . . what was I saying about 'anything under 190 lbs'?
Stepped up to the scales this morning - I rarely weigh myself, preferring to go by 'how I feel'. Well, the fat cat is well and truly out of the bag - 207 lbs!
Or 94 kilos if you prefer, 14 stones 12 in really old money

The time has arrived to join El Gordo on the waggon :o

[El Gordo]

Er . . . what was I saying about 'anything under 190 lbs'?
Stepped up to the scales this morning - I rarely weigh myself, preferring to go by 'how I feel'. Well, the fat cat is well and truly out of the bag - 207 lbs!
Or 94 kilos if you prefer, 14 stones 12 in really old money

The time has arrived to join El Gordo on the waggon :o

Yeah, it can be painful, but it has to be done. In times of healthy activity, I weigh myself religiously each morning before breakfast, and record it in a spreadsheet.

Have to say, 207 would be cause for wild celebration for me. I'd break out the sparkling Malvern without a second thought.

I got as high as 239 a couple of months ago, and was 231 when I started the new regime 3 weeks ago. Have lost about 9 or 10 lbs since then, which is good progress. Anything sub-215 by Brighton (4 weeks tomorrow) would be good for me.

You should see your numbers head south now that you're getting back into the running groove. I won't try teaching my granny to suck eggs but I'll mention in passing that I've definitely seen better results since realising that it's pointless doing an hour of exercise then coming home and stuffing myself with malt loaf and peanut butter and sports drinks etc. I used to think "I've deserved this" -- and maybe I have -- but no point in burning off 500 calories then ingesting 600 shortly afterwards.

Keep us updated....

[Sweder]

Ah mate, you certainly received your reward (unsought and unexpected as it undoubtedly was) for what proved to be an admirable deed. You couldn't know at the time that you weren't being scammed - turns out it was something else entirely. What a lovely, life-affirming story. Told you - global vibe

Must admit when I read that line my eyesight got a bit blurry too :o

[SIZE="1"]For anyone baffled by these exchanges this thread refers to diary entries in El Gordo's journal. If you've never been, now's a really good time to visit.[/SIZE]

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I never thought Leonard Cohen could mean so much - I must go back and listen to his stuff again.

Nice post EG - great writing mate.

[El Gordo]

I never thought Leonard Cohen could mean so much - I must go back and listen to his stuff again.

Cohen is a major figure, whether you like him or not. He's a poet first and foremost, and his work just seems to get under your skin -- if you let it. The Manchester gig was one of the best concerts of my life. Fortunately I have the entire thing on CD. Listening to him, I was struck by what a great wordsmith he is, and what a sense of humour he has -- something he isn't often credited with. Hearing him sing Famous Blue Raincoat, live, was one of my own ambitions checked off.

If you want to listen to him again, I would definitely head for his first two classic albums: Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Songs From a Room. His words are glorious, but he's more than that. He creates dark moods, but there are things in there that many of us will recoginse in ourselves.

[Antonio247]

What a beautiful story! I really felt moved, Andy.

[marathondan]

Onto another part of your post... are you convinced of Obama's victory? Or just spreading packets of wishful thinking around the web?

Until recently I was certain that the US would never, ever elect a black or female president. Now they're going to have to at least go half way. I fear a similar result to last time (not that I know that much of the details, but it sure sounded fishy): a late Republican surge, a photo finish, then Republicans pulling enough strings to get a technical victory.

Hopefully I'll be proved wrong.

PS - will it be similar to the global vibe that was experienced when Tony Blair was first elected PM? If so, I might give it a miss.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

It’s like being in a tumble drier (and yes, I speak from experience).

Wooee, that's one big tumble dryer EG.

[El Gordo]

Onto another part of your post... are you convinced of Obama's victory? Or just spreading packets of wishful thinking around the web?

Until recently I was certain that the US would never, ever elect a black or female president. Now they're going to have to at least go half way. I fear a similar result to last time (not that I know that much of the details, but it sure sounded fishy): a late Republican surge, a photo finish, then Republicans pulling enough strings to get a technical victory.

Hopefully I'll be proved wrong.

PS - will it be similar to the global vibe that was experienced when Tony Blair was first elected PM? If so, I might give it a miss.

As David Steel memorably said, "all political careers end in failure", and Blair was no exception. In all probability, Obama's will too but yes, I do think he will be elected. McCain looks like a loser and Obama looks like a winner. It's enough.

I'll be staying up to watch it unfold again, just like I did last time around.

Anyone joining me?

[Sweder]

I'll be staying up to watch it unfold again, just like I did last time around.
Anyone joining me?

I'll be there. It's all strangely compelling stuff and I'm a self-confessed media junkie.

The Beeb do a reasonable job on these things as do Channel 4; I'll probably ride the remote all night. It is of course a fairly explosive night in my home town. The preceeding 24 hours see late-night carousing with SP and Capn Tom on Badge Night, followed by a hung-over round of golf on the notoriously windy hilltops of Lewes Golf Club. It promises to be a testing time for all manner of constitutions.

One of my favorite quotes - from any walk of life - is Yogi Berra's It ain't over 'till it's over. He was speaking about baseball which appropriately enough is another wholly American institution that I struggle to understand. None-the-less, like it or loathe it, the outcome of the US elections will affect us all. If Obama slides home, be it comfortably or with the catcher (the bloke in the fencing/ cricket hybrid outfit) racing in to tag him in a dramatic plume of red dust, I'll be celebrating at least the prospect of a better world. Just as I punched ther air in the Richmond Arms, Houston, on the night they voted Tony in. History will judge Tony Blair. He may be forever tainted by (the decision to invade) Iraq, but if hindsight is anything to go by (and in the face of the current nightmare) he wasn't half bad.

[El Gordo]

I'll be there. It's all strangely compelling stuff and I'm a self-confessed media junkie.

The Beeb do a reasonable job on these things as do Channel 4; I'll probably ride the remote all night. It is of course a fairly explosive night in my home town. The preceeding 24 hours see late-night carousing with SP and Capn Tom on Badge Night, followed by a hung-over round of golf on the notoriously windy hilltops of Lewes Golf Club. It promises to be a testing time for all manner of constitutions.

One of my favorite quotes - from any walk of life - is Yogi Berra's It ain't over 'till it's over. He was speaking about baseball which appropriately enough is another wholly American institution that I struggle to understand. None-the-less, like it or loathe it, the outcome of the US elections will affect us all. If Obama slides home, be it comfortably or with the catcher (the bloke in the fencing/ cricket hybrid outfit) racing in to tag him in a dramatic plume of red dust, I'll be celebrating at least the prospect of a better world. Just as I punched ther air in the Richmond Arms, Houston, on the night they voted Tony in. History will judge Tony Blair. He may be forever tainted by (the decision to invade) Iraq, but if hindsight is anything to go by (and in the face of the current nightmare) he wasn't half bad.

Blair has/had many fine qualities, in particular his communication skills. He was an excellent orator and genuinely inspirational. All that said, I do sometimes wonder whether he actually delivered anything of major significance in his time. As they say, "he talked a good game". An example was transport. Do you recall when elected, he gave John Prescott the job of revolutionising public transport, making more it more 'joined up' and getting encouraging people to use cars less? What happened to that initiative? It was one of many things that just got discreetily sidelined once they got into power. I'm not suggesting it was a cynical ploy to get elected but I think it was Blair all over -- great ideas, passionately and persuasively expressed, but delivered without a plan about how they might be achieved.

I'm still glad he arrived on the scene -- he was a great antidote to Major and the Tories, but ultimately, I'm sad to say that he never quite lived up to his billing.

[Sweder]

Hmm . . . we're damning him with faint praise, aren't we?
Prescott . . . ah yes, perhaps Bair's problems in a rather large nutshell. A well-meaning man (as was demonstrated in his recent TV piece on Class) yet he fell for the siren song that always seems to swell on the edge of wealth and power, accumulating horrible stereotypes as he tumbled from crisis to crisis. He had two jags, he ate rubbish, ballooned to comic proportions and wound up shagging his secretary. Good work fella

[El Gordo]

It’s like being in a tumble drier (and yes, I speak from experience).

I did wonder why MLCM's quote didn't say "drunken experience" which I knew I'd changed it to. Should have checked. I'd uploaded the wrong version by mistake. Now corrected. Not too much different but a bit longer.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I did wonder why MLCM's quote didn't say "drunken experience" which I knew I'd changed it to. Should have checked. I'd uploaded the wrong version by mistake. Now corrected. Not too much different but a bit longer.

You mean I've got to read it again?? Sheesh.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Nice take on the Obama election EG - and you're right; we should take time to make the most of the moment. As you say, he will come under even more scrutiny than is normal even for a US president, and can't possibly live up to the expectations of the planet... this (the elections) could be the pinnacle of his presidency and we should mark it as special.

Nice writing once again. Thanks.

[Sweder]

The only thing - apart from inevitable dissapointment - that troubles me is what may crawl out from under an ugly southern rock to spoil the party. Not, as in the case of the Clintons, allegations of pocket-lining and nefarious activity, but something rather more sinister in the semi-human form of armed white supremacy.

Let's hope the honeymoon period is an extended one. On the global stage Obama's willingness to engage in jaw-jaw (not war-war) brings massive hope even as it's attacked in his own back yard as appeasement. I actually heard some fool describe him as 'the Neville Chaimberlain of our times'. For goodness' sake, he's barely had time to pick out the drapes or call the removal firm, never mind Googling Osama's cell number . . .

I've missed HST more than ever in these past weeks. What would the maestro have made of it all? Should a period of quiet, drug-infused reflection come my way any time soon I'll have a stab at that. Ralph Steadman offered his views on what Hunter might have thought about the candidates and he probably wasn't far off. McCain finally showed in his concession speech what he perhaps should have revealed a little earlier; a quality of statesmanship that rarely surfaced during the ineffectual mud-slinging of the final days. Hats off to true gent, and a farewell too to Mrs Palin. I doubt we'll hear too much more about the governess from Alaska. If we're lucky.