Running Diary 5/12/2011

My reward at 6 km!

I wasn't supposed to run today, but I came in from work, it was a beautiful day outside, and I felt good so I thought I'll have an easy run. It has been nearly 36 hours since my last run, so I'm more or less sticking to the recovery program. And after this I will not run for 48 hours. I put myself under no pressure and ran a different route to the normal ones I take. One of the good things about running longer distances, is that it gives you a wider choice of places to go! I still ran to the bay, but took a more round about trip to get there.

 Elwood Beach with the West Gate Bridge in the distance. My 6 km point today

And I still have to go round the bay to Brighton, about half way on the far prom.

After running this evening, and the other morning, it suddenly dawned on me that there might be better times for me to run. Amazingly, there are, and these have something to do with circadian rhythms....ok, I haven't really got any idea what these are about, but basically the body has natural rhythms which make it function at certain activities better at certain times of the day. There is a great article that explains it better than I can :)

And last, there was a bit of excitement on the run home from the bay, when I was diverted by a policeman from going down my usual road. I ran round the block and there were dozens on police, armed and with protective gear on. Don't know what was going on, and I didn't hang around to find out. I'll check the news later like everyone else!

Armed Police block the road off, but even that doesn't stop me running!

Chess professional and amateur

There are 2 news stories about chess that have grabbed my attention that couldn't be more different. One involves the Super Grandmaster tournament being held in London at the moment, the other a story about 2 primary school boys being asked to leave their school for travelling to Brazil to represent Australia in the World Youth Chess Championships.

The London Chess Classic has the top 4 players in the World playing, along with World number 10 Nakamura and 4 top English players. The Tournament started with a match between the Grandmasters and anyone via Twitter and there is an odd number of players in the tournament so that the player with the bye can provide commentary on the other games. There is something for everyone at the tournament, with the GM tournament great for chess spectators, a FIDE open with 10 Grandmasters and a host of International Masters and other strong players, shorter events, fast chess events, a women's invitational and junior events. There are simultaneous displays, and film screenings and free coaching to schools.

This festival of chess brings professional chess players and amateurs together, and creates great press coverage. When the top players go to battle every chess player takes notice of their games and results. At London this year, ex tennis Champion Boris Becker made an appearance to make the first move against the Grandmasters in the Twitter game.

Unfortunately, chess in Australia is anything but professional. This doesn't mean that there aren't good players, or that it isn't run to the best of the ability of the organisers. However, there are limitations when a game which is considered a profession in some countries, is not considered a profession in others. In Australia, funding for chess has been non existent (at least in the 7 years I've been here). Our top players have to find their own way to the events, even when they are representing their country. Chess players in Australia do the right thing and donate from their own pocket to help our top players travel to Olympiads and World Championships, but mostly the players themselves have to fork out, or do some fundraising themselves.

The funding issue follows on with tournaments. Without decent government funding (chess isn't a sport or an art according to government, so they don't have to fund it via either of those avenues) chess tournaments seek private sponsorship which has created some great events (Doeberl, Sydney International Open, to name just 2) but these are few and far between. And more often than not, tournaments will be funded by the entry fees of the competitors, or may even just accept a small loss.

Of course, when an activity like chess isn't recognised by the authorities as anything other than a pastime, then incidents will occur like the one in Sydney last week. There should be no greater honour for a school than to say that one of their students has represented their country, but alas this was not the case. And things will continue to be marginalised for Australian chess players as long as they are seen as happy go lucky amateurs. If there is one thing that chess players and administrators should be doing in this country, it is working towards getting chess accepted as a sport and then applying for funding from the government. Getting recognition is the first step towards greater professionalism of chess in Australia, and until that is done, tournaments such as the London Chess Classic will sadly not be happening on Australian soil.

Running Diary 4/12/2011

After running a fairly quick 10 km last time (quick for me, anyway) I decided to take it easy with a free run of whatever distance felt good to me at the time and whatever speed felt comfortable. I didn't want to push myself at all. I still managed a bit over 6 km and ran at various speeds, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. I tried to concentrate on a regular breathing rhythm, and running with looser arms than I usually do.

The more I run, and the more I read about it, the more I realise that exercising is as much about recovery and looking after your body when you're not training. Cooling down after exercising can help to reduce, or even avoid sore muscles. A few weeks back, I was getting some pains in my lower back and backside after exercising, but I now ensure that my run finishes short of home, so I have to do a cooling down walk. Since then, I've started feeling better after running.

Today when I started to run, my legs felt a bit heavy which was one reason that I didn't push things too much. Recovery training is an important part of an exercise regime and my last run had come just 36 hours before this run, so I took it easy. As it was, my run today felt pretty good once I'd shaken the cobwebs from my legs. And, of course, if the views are good when you're running, then it is an extra incentive to get out!

Melbourne CBD in the distance on the left. This was taken from the end of North Road near Brighton, with Elwood the nearest beach.

Running Diary 2/12/2011

My first run of December was a good one. I felt really good and was able to keep a steady pace for 10 km. My aim for December is to run 100 km and I've joined the same challenge on Endomondo that I tried in November. Last month I only just made it, running about 103 km. This time I'd like to add a few more kilometres to the tally.

Today I also reached a personal goal running 10 km in less than an hour. However, one end is only another beginning and my next goal will be to run under 55 minutes for 10 km. This will be a stern test as I will have to run at a pace that is quite quick for me for a long period of time. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, and it's not as if I have to do it tomorrow!

Exercise has been for me a combination of fitness gain and weight loss. Besides building my fitness level, I was overweight when I started running, but I'm coming down to my correct level. I have a little bit more to lose, but feel great and am confident that it will happen sooner than later.....of course, Christmas goodies might have something to say about that, but my running will not stop through the holiday period. Reading about disease risk associated with being overweight is enough to make anyone think about their body. When, like me, 50 is not that far away, and diabetes has been in both sides of your family, it is even more important to make sure that your body is healthy and your weight is correct.

Running Diary 30/11/2011

I had set myself the challenge of running 100 km's in November and I achieved that today. Using endomondo I was able to track the distances I ran, and I came out at about 102 km's total. I'm pretty happy with this, and I'm going to set the same challenge in December and gradually build my strength until the next step up is possible, where I might go for 150 km's in a month. I'm not sure I'm ready for that quite yet, though.

Today's run was a bit of a shock though. I decided to go out for a short sharp burst, but surprised myself with the speed I went. I ran 5 km and I have set myself the aim of running this distance in 25 minutes. So far, my best time has been just under 28 minutes, and an interim goal was to get down to under 26 minutes, beating the world record for double this distance, 10 km! My run today was recorded at 25.40 for 5km, which is a lot quicker than I'd run before. I suspect that my GPS was being a bit generous to me, but even so I was running faster than I had ever run before, and even if the GPS was a minute off, I still ran 5 km in under 27 minutes.

I had 2 worries as I was running today. Firstly, there was the natural phenomenon of being short of breath. I sometimes wear a heart monitor with the idea of staying within a zone. I am usually trying to stay within 60-70% of my maximum heart rate. There are many good sites to learn about this king of thing. Obviously, I was pushing a little harder today. The second worry was what we commonly know as a stitch. For most of the last kilometre I was running with a stitch, though it wasn't too bad. After reading about the causes, I guess the most likely explanation for me developing a stitch is lack of fluids. I try to drink before running, but don't drink much on the run itself. Still, it is just a little discomfort that I endure during my fitness program which is helping me lose weight, and get fit! It could be worse

Chesskids National Interschool Championships

The last 2 days have been quite a manic affair for me. I have been getting up in the middle of the night (well, quite early) to drive to the finals of the Chesskids National Interschool Championships, provide lectures and post game analysis, and then driving back. The finals were held in Kyneton which is about an hour and a half from Melbourne by car, and most of the teams (if not all) stayed on site over the couple of days. The Interschool tournament was preceded on the Sunday by our last RJ Shield of the year. These one day tournaments are 7 round 15 minute tournaments for kids divided into age groups. They are a great introduction for young chess players to tournament chess, though there are quite a few experienced players who still love competing in them.

The beautiful countryside around the Campaspe resort provided open air facilities for the kids when they weren't playing

The Interschool tournament started on the next day, Monday 28th November, and was played at a slower rate of 25/10. Players were required to record moves until the final 5 minutes of their game. Although this may not strictly be required by International Chess Laws, this tournament is still an educational event for the players. So the emphasis is on improving a players ability through imitating proper tournament standards, and then analysing games after they've been played. The players could consult a host of coaches who were on hand to look at games and give post mortem analysis. The tip of the iceberg of the coaching staff was Mr. RJ himself, ex Australian Champion, and Olympiad player, International Master Robert Jamieson, but the rest of us are pretty good players as well :)

Mr. RJ, IM Robert Jamieson giving a well attended advanced lecture.

There were 2 tournaments, a Primary Schools event and a Secondary Schools event, and teams from new Zealand also competed. In fact the teams from New Zealand walked away with both titles this year. The Secondary division was won easily by Auckland Grammar School who came over fielding a remarkably strong team: Daniel Shen (FIDE 2182), Luke Li (FIDE 2105), Alex Huang (FIDE 2060), Hans Gao (FIDE 1898). It is no surprise that this team won their division comfortably! The Victorian Champions, Glen Waverley Secondary College finished in the runners up spot.

The playing venue

The Primary section was much closer and with 2 rounds to go, any one of about 5 teams could have won first. But the strongest finishing team was the New Zealand Takapuna Normal Intermediate School who ended up one and a half points ahead of Melbourne team, Doncaster Primary.

The smallest sometimes have to stand on their chairs to reach the far end of the board!

Running Diary 28/11/2011

Today was a tough run. It was very humid and I didn't sleep well last night. However, I came home from work (which involved a 300km round trip today!) and was determined to rum. I had missed out on a work out at the weekend and was itching to get out.

So I started off at a reasonable pace with every intention of getting to 10km. Then the first issue was that my GPS didn't kick in and I ran for about 1.2km without endomondo registering it. So my goal of reaching 100km for the month of November would take that little bit longer (in fact this is the second kilometre I lost this month!). But although it's a bit annoying, it still didn't stop me from running, so I carried on and just tried to stick to a pace. At about 5 and a bit kilometres, I had to stop for a drink at a water fountain, and was more tired than I really should have been for the time I'd run.

A much needed refreshment on this run.

So I had a drink and then ran for about another kilometre and a half and found my legs just turn to jelly, and I felt a little light headed. So I stopped and walked a bit, then took off again for a final kilometre and a bit before I had to just give up and walk home. I stopped at a shop and picked up a Gatorade, but I was pretty peeved with having to quit short of my goal, but was very happy that I take a small amount of money with me just in case of this happening.

It's getting dark as I run by the bay. In the distance the Spirit of Tasmania ferries out of the bay.

Since coming in, showering, and cooling off I've had time to think about things. In reality, instead of regretting not making 10km, I should really be congratulating myself on running about 9km, which is no mean feat. A month ago, this would have been well beyond me, so I've come a long way. :) And another positive is that I forced myself to run when the easy thing was to cry off claiming tiredness. Running is a fun pastime, so I'm going to try to take the positives from it whenever I go out.