Well they’ve finally started pulling them out. The Chilean miners that is. It’s all very impressive stuff and something actually worth turning the TV on for. It’s amazingly what the rescuers managed to do. Not only the final rescue but the way they’ve fed, clothed and entertained them through a tube for the last couple of months. I believe there’s even a Burger King and a Starbucks down there now. It’s just a shame someone didn’t apply all this technology to the mine in the first place, then they probably wouldn’t have got stuck down there at all.
It’s a shame to have to switch over to the cycling, where there’s gold for David Millar and silver for Alex Dowsett in the time trial. Whilst my hero Michael Hutchinson comes in 4th, again, for the second games running. Gutted for you Michael.
There’s success in the women’s too and as I cycle to the pool I contemplate Julia Shaw’s bronze medal for England, at the age of 45. So there’s hope for me yet.
I’ve been meaning to sign up again for the £50 cash back offer than Nottingham’s leisure centres are offering again. I just haven’t got around to doing it. OK, so perhaps it's because I haven’t been to the gym or the pool for ages. Then when I make it to the pool tonight, they tell me that the last place on offer was filled at 1pm today. Sob sob. So no £50 then. I suppose it serves me right for not going often enough.
To compound my misery the swimming pool is packed, which makes swimming any number of lengths without stopping to get out of someone’s way or to overtake is difficult. Mind you being crammed like sardines in one of the lanes isn’t too arduous as most of the swimmers seem to be from Nottingham University’s female swimming team. Then just as I’m about to give up and get out, the pool empties and I feel duty bound to swim a few more.
Its Doggo’s monthly training session tonight, which means MD’s had a totally lesson free week. He’ll start thinking he's at University if I’m not careful.
The session is good, we practice tight turns tonight, something the old man is good at but tonight’s training shows up just how much I’ve let things slip with him. All my fault, basically I’m not doing the handling right. I need to be more focussed on Doggo at our final outdoor show of the year on Sunday.
(Wednesday 13th October)
Showing posts with label Michael Hutchinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Hutchinson. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Man After My Own Heart
Having delayed L getting up, I volunteer to walk the dogs. Though it’s not too icy today, I bet she wishes I’d volunteered yesterday, when it was truly hell on ice. The skittish one, as L calls him, was relatively good, although I did have to remind him how to behave a few times but I think he took it on board.
More news on the campaign to keep Victoria Leisure Centre open, at least until planning permission for a replacement has been granted. There is now an online petition.
Originally the council agreed to fund the centre until March 2011, by which time it was hoped a replacement would be close to being available. However now the council has changed their mind and the centre will close on April 1st. They have been trying to close the leisure centre since 1993 and it looks as if they may get their wish this time. Whilst I'm not great fan of Victoria, closing it and not replacing would put an intolerable strain on the other centres, some of which are already heaving.
I also think the proposed redevelopment plans are a mess and will do little to enhance sport and leisure facilities in Nottingham but that’s another story. If the council for once actually put together something that people wanted and would use then they might find that they'd actually make some money from their investment rather than forever having to subsidise it, as is the current case.
Squash is called off at the last minute as my opponent cuts his finger loading the dish washer...
So I have to hastily rearrange my fitness schedule and I meet L at the Tennis Centre gym, where I do 16km (10 miles) on the bike. I’ve recently started reading a new book about cycling called ‘The Hour: Sporting Immortality The Hard Way’, it’s written by a chap called Michael Hutchinson who is a rather successful British time trailist (that’s cycling by the way). In it he decides to have a crack at the ‘hour’ record, which is how far you can ride a bike in an hour, which was at that time held by Chris Boardman.
Well Hutchinson likes the science side of the sport, a man after my own heart, and mentions that he reckons he can generate around 400 watts of power for an hour and that should put him close to Boardman’s record. Wrong. When he attempts the required pace in training 400 watts is nowhere near enough, turns out he needs to generate over 500 to get even close, which caused him to have a bit of a rethink. Anyhow, my point is, as I sit pedalling away, at a furious pace, generating a lot of power... I see the power readout on the bike reads 200 watts. Ouch. So I’m no Chris Boardman nor Michael Hutchinson nor even half a Michael Hutchinson for that matter. As I draw to the end of my session I see what I can push it up to. Eventually I reach 300 watts, for about two minutes. Hmmm. No ‘hour’ attempt for me just yet then.
It’s been lurking in the freezer for nearly a week now but tonight we finally bite the bullet and cook the conger eel, well L does anyway. I’m always up for something new but it’s possibly the boniest fish I've ever seen. So not sure we’ll be having it again.
More news on the campaign to keep Victoria Leisure Centre open, at least until planning permission for a replacement has been granted. There is now an online petition.
Originally the council agreed to fund the centre until March 2011, by which time it was hoped a replacement would be close to being available. However now the council has changed their mind and the centre will close on April 1st. They have been trying to close the leisure centre since 1993 and it looks as if they may get their wish this time. Whilst I'm not great fan of Victoria, closing it and not replacing would put an intolerable strain on the other centres, some of which are already heaving.
I also think the proposed redevelopment plans are a mess and will do little to enhance sport and leisure facilities in Nottingham but that’s another story. If the council for once actually put together something that people wanted and would use then they might find that they'd actually make some money from their investment rather than forever having to subsidise it, as is the current case.
Squash is called off at the last minute as my opponent cuts his finger loading the dish washer...
So I have to hastily rearrange my fitness schedule and I meet L at the Tennis Centre gym, where I do 16km (10 miles) on the bike. I’ve recently started reading a new book about cycling called ‘The Hour: Sporting Immortality The Hard Way’, it’s written by a chap called Michael Hutchinson who is a rather successful British time trailist (that’s cycling by the way). In it he decides to have a crack at the ‘hour’ record, which is how far you can ride a bike in an hour, which was at that time held by Chris Boardman.
Well Hutchinson likes the science side of the sport, a man after my own heart, and mentions that he reckons he can generate around 400 watts of power for an hour and that should put him close to Boardman’s record. Wrong. When he attempts the required pace in training 400 watts is nowhere near enough, turns out he needs to generate over 500 to get even close, which caused him to have a bit of a rethink. Anyhow, my point is, as I sit pedalling away, at a furious pace, generating a lot of power... I see the power readout on the bike reads 200 watts. Ouch. So I’m no Chris Boardman nor Michael Hutchinson nor even half a Michael Hutchinson for that matter. As I draw to the end of my session I see what I can push it up to. Eventually I reach 300 watts, for about two minutes. Hmmm. No ‘hour’ attempt for me just yet then.
It’s been lurking in the freezer for nearly a week now but tonight we finally bite the bullet and cook the conger eel, well L does anyway. I’m always up for something new but it’s possibly the boniest fish I've ever seen. So not sure we’ll be having it again.
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