Sunday, June 26, 2005

The week that was

It was an interesting week...

Went for a slow peddle on the single speed on Wednesday, then got home to an empty house and a daughter sitting on the back step wondering where everyone was. Well it turned out that numbe 1 son had broken a knuckle at school, apparently in a skateboard accident, and is now in plaster for 4 - 6 weeks.

Well that is a ride at Rotorua out of the way then, so I didn't get a ride in.

I have been offered and accepted my new job, so I am did dead chuffed, still have a bit of minor negotiation to do before I sign the contract. Then I get to resign.

I am looking forward to the new role, but am a little bit apprehensive about starting something new - new role, new challenge, new people. It is going to be interesting anyways.

The training plan reviewed

Well the training plan was a good idea, but....

When you look at a plan that has 19 weeks of running with ever increasing distances you start to realise that 42.2 kms is a hell of a long way. The first thing I did one I saw the plan was spend the next 4 days eating, drinking the odd scotch, beer and wine and doing nothing.

Well I got off my lazy ass on Saturday afternoon and went for a run, it wasnt a bad run, no idea of the distance but I guess it was about 15kms or so. Took an hour and half had a few nice hills (up to BHB, along BHB road, down Rosebank, Rata St, Titirangi rd and down Godley to home), I started slow and the legs felt OK. With 3 weeks to go to the next half it wasnt a bad start.

I hope to now get the plan back on track.,

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

The Training plan

Well I put together my training plan on Monday night, and promptly ignored Tuesdays session. I was using a 20 week plan but had 19 weeks to go, but I am at the week 2 stage already. When I looked at 20 weeks of training and the amount Km's I have to run in the latter stage of the plan I realised how far a marathon really is, the training alone is going to kill me.

The plan will be made more complex by doing a half marathon in 3 weeks, so this weekend I wam going to have go out for quite a long run, though there is a plan to go to Rotorua for a days biking.

The weather has also turned again with rain and 80km winds which makes pounding the pavement a hell of a lot tougher. Though I am planning on taking the afternoon off work and heading up to the forest for a bike ride.

Monday, June 20, 2005

A beautiful day in Auckland city

Well it was one of those classic running days today. The sky was clear, the weather was cool, there was no wind. It was perfect, shame it was a Monday ! I did an hour run today, ran from the office to Kelly Tarltons. It wasn;t a perfect run, not bad, I got a bit of mild stitch that was tough to shake. Still it was nice to be running along the waterfront, the forecast for the rest of the week is not good.

I started putting together a marathon training plan tonight, the one I have from a book (Marathon running for Mortals) suggests a 20 week training program, there is 19 weeks till the run, so I am a week down already, though I am a bit aheadof the schedule, though I do need to get the miles in.

I have found 2 half's to do next month, consecutive weeks, so I will aim to do at least 1 and see how it goes and maybe do the other.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Not such a good run

Well I did an 8ker at lunch time today. it was damned windy (50k NE) and the run did not flow as much as the run earlier in the week. I guess I didnt expect it to. I did try the new running jacket though and it seemed Ok.

Not sure if the music choice worked today, a bit of an ecletic list of pop and alt rock. I think I need to redo the mp3 player.

Went out and got Dom's new bike. We have bought a 2003 Ac2 off of a biking friend for a very friendly price. The bike is a lovely machine, I would like it myself. I have lent Dom the money to buy it under some strict behavioural conditions as well as the promise to pay me back.

I still haven't heard anything more about the job, apparently I am still in, neck and neck with the "other" guy. I am expecting to hear on Monday. be nice to get it out of the way so I can focus on either handing over my tasks or get stuck into a 3 month project.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Todays run

Had an awesome run today, I ran up through the museum to Parnell and back round through the Parnell pools to work, only 50 minutes but a good 50 minutes. Once I got to the museum and was warmed up the run just flowed, I felt good, felt like I could have done a 20km run easily.

I dont often have a run like that but when it happens it is wicked, my mind was clear, focused on nothing, listened to music that seemed to fit the pace well, odd combination of old Killing Joke, Stevie ray Vaughan, Kinski, just the right BMP for my pace. If only I didnt have my 12 Oclock catch up with my boss I would have just carried on.

Find out about the job I applied for tomorrow I hope...

Woodhill 12 hour

Well I have decided not to do the Woodhiil 12 solo. None of my riding crew are doing the event at all and now it appears I will be working on the Friday night and Saturday before the race. 12 hours of riding after moving a server room will be too much. I cannot even bother with the 6 hour. Which does mean I can focus on the running even though the MARATHON is 4 months away. I might do a couple of bike races in Rotorua over the nxt couple of months though.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

10km run

Did a 10km run this morning. It went OK, I did my fastest time for the circuit at 54:48. Though the circuit through Green Bay, New Lynn and up Titirangi road is hardly flat.

I am not a fast runner ! I only cracked sub 5 minute km over 8km late last year, so I was reasonably pleased with the time this morning as I found the run quite tough, it certainly didnt flow. I started off quite cold and it hurt to breath for the first couple of K. I ran in a polyprop for the first time under a long sleeve shirt. I don't think I will do it again as I got quite hot after a while.

I was planning on running home from work one night this week, but I may delay it I dont think I am ready for a 16.5 K run yet. I am also thinking about only doing the 6 hour solo not the 12 at the Woodhill 12 hour in July. I can't train for running and riding at the same time...

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Psych testing

Well I seem to be doing OK in this job interview process.

I am down to the final 2, the client couldn't decide between us so we were asked to do sit some pysch tests. I did mine today.

The tests were not particularily "psych", 1 was numeric reasoning, which I found tougher than I expected, 1 was verbal reasoning, which was fine and the last was looking at sequences of diagrams and finishing the set, that one got quite tough at the end.

I then answered a series of questions on-line about what I liked least and most, which I have completed before and find kinda odd. Not sure how this helps to evaluate people but they do seem to work. I have had them done on people I have employed and they do give some clues.

Anyways the client gets the results on Monday and I dont get to see them for a couple of weeks.

Shopping

Today I went shopping, 2nd time in a week.

Last weekend I took Mel to Dress Smart and I bought a pair of dress trousers and a couple of business shirts from Barkers. Seems to be cheaper than the retail shop but as I never buy dress clothes it was an expensive trip. I needed something decent for the interview.

I went shopping again today at the Warehouse, NZ;s leading discounter, I wanted a long sleave shirt to run in and heard that they had some good non-cotton shirts which they did, I also ended up buying a new windbreaker/shower proof jacket for running and riding in as i ripped the sleave in my old one hitting a tree in Rotorua a couple of months back. I got a damn good jacket for $25, heaps better than the $250 jackets I saw at the weekend. I plan to do a 10k run this weekend and run in the shirt.

Had a pretty crap ride on the trainer tonight, legs were a bit tight and they never really loosened up so I quit after 50 minutes. Was listening to Kyuss tonight, not bad to train to, nice repetitive beat, nothing complex.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Todays run - first in a while.

Well I had my first fun for a while today.

Did my normal 8km circuit from my office on Quay St near Auckland's Viaduct Basin along Auckland's water front to Ngapipi Rd. It is not a bad run, flat and about half of it is along the harbour front. it rained a bit on the run, but I was pleased to do a sub-40 minute 8km. I am not a fast runner so 39.45 was a good sign. The body felt OK and my knee has not bothered me this afternoon so that is a good sign.

Heard from the recruitment consultant tonight, he left a message on my voicemail, The client could not decide between me and the other person so we are both going to by psych tested at some point soon. I havent been tested for years so it will be interesting to say the least.

2nd interview

Well I went for my second interview yesterday, with the 2 CEO's. I didnt think it went as well as the 1st interview. The recruiter warned me that one of the CEO's would talk a lot about strategic planning and he did. I was just not really as well prepared as I should have been. yesterday was just one of those days I guess.

Anyway I should know by tomorrow how it went and I have applied for another job as well. Funny that there has been no interesting jobs all year and then there was 2 at once.

Nice day today so all being well I am going to go for my first run in ages, apart from a sore shoulder I am feeling pretty good. I was talking up doing a marathon with a friend at the weekend, she did the Rotorua a couple of years back and maybe interested in this one. It would be good to have someone to train with later when I startt clocking up some longer distances.

Rotorua Mountain biking

It was the Queens "birthday" last weekend so to celebrate the country has Monday off. As we had had the extra day I decided to take my 15 year old son down to Rotorua for the day to do some biking. A few Vorbii had shown interest in going so it was worth the 3 hour drive.

As always the riding was superb, I love riding in the Whakarewarewa forest, it is the best custom built biking in in NZ. It is all fast, flowing well groomed single track. Most of it is perfect for the single speed, though there were a couple of hills I walked up and having decent brakes would have made some of the decents more fun. There was 6 in our group, various ages and skills, we did Repco, bit of Diamondback, Gunna Gotta, A trail, Tickler, Hot Cross Buns, Be rude not to and I cannot remember the name of the last trail back to the car park. Be rude not to, has to be one of my favourite tracks anywhere.

It was a great day.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Job interview

I am the new Zealand IT Manager for a global recruitment company. I have been here for over 8 years, through acquisition, through company mergers, de-mergers, restructures etc. I have worked for 3 CIO's, 5 general managers and and with about 7 CFO's/finance managers, under 4 different brands . It has been like working for 4 different companies so I do not feel bad about staying here so long. Last year I got pissed off with the place and started looking for a new job. I didnt have a hell of a lot of success, had a few interviews which got me excited, but for various reasons I never nailed a new job.

I then decided to stay here for the next couple of years and then just quit corporate life completely, work was OK, so it wasn't too bad.

I have now seen a job that interested me, IT manager with a strategic focus, local company, none of this reporting to New York via Sydney crap that does my head in. I have had 1 interview and have been knocked down to the final 2 and have a CEO interview next week. Wahoo....

Weather is still crap but I aim to do an 8km run today, I have run for a few weeks now so it will be good to stretch the running muscles. have been spending time on the trainer bike inside, but I think thatnis making me soft.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

October 30 2005

Is the date for the Auckland Marathon. The email arrived this morning.

Now I know I have 4 months to train for it, which seams like a long time , but I know it will disappear really quickly.

I am aiming to do a 12 hour solo mountain bike race at the end of July so my focus will be on riding for the next 2 months and then I will need to start running. I can just finish a half marathon so twice the distance is going to be a real challenge.

Music is the food of the Soul

I had a good hour session on the trainer bike last night. The weather has really turned to crap in the last couple of days and winter has finally set in, so the trainer bike is going to be handy. I used the mp3 player on the ride to keep me sane.

I love music, I have always loved it, and I am highly opinionated about as well, as most people who love music are. In general my music has to have guitars and there should be little or no long hair, I found punk rock in the late 70’s and have stuck with it through thick and thin ever since. I have had brief affairs with other genres over time, but we always get back together again.

Lately I have been experimenting a bit and have dabbled with some reggae and old hip hop, and have found some artists that I do like. But then I will hear a punk band for the first time and then be drawn back the comfort of yelled vocals and 3 chords. My latest discovery are The Unseen, been around for years but I have never heard them, they are the best old school punk rock band I have heard in a long time.

Last nights session on the trainer was spent listening to some old metal though, Kyuss and Metallica’s Master of Puppets. I had forgotten what an awesome song M o P is.