Gates Analysis

I have just been Microsoft - again.
Hours of work down the pan thanks to Works Not Working.


Meanwhile, back at the blog. It is a year since I began running on 19th August 2010.

Thought I ought to commemorate it in some way. Discovered on Runners Forum a new initiative . A monthly 1 mile time trial.

Appropriate n’est pas?

Using my traditional ruler-on-the-map method I found an exact mile between the outer ends of two bridges on my “Bridge2far” route. Benefits of this are:-

• Easy to identify marker points
• Can be used in either direction
• Familiar territory
• More or less level - no visible gradient
• Proper warm-up of about 2 miles beforehand.

My time - 7min 26.82sec. Or 0:07:27. Not in Seb Coe territory but OK by me. A mile is a long way when you are steaming along flat out.

Now I have to improve on it next month!

The object of this time-trial is to compete with oneself - not with others. Inevitably one makes comparisons.

An arithmetic average of all the times announced is 7min 12sec. There are 13 faster than me and 10 slower. There is a difference of 4 min 39sec between fastest and slowest times. None of the times are faster than 5min or slower than 10. So on a track over 2 miles the fastest would not be able to lap the slowest.

This puts me into the upper part of the third quartile. Happy with that.

I know my place.

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. St Matthew Ch 5 v 41

Steaming Along

Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?

Thou shalt not kill; but need’s not strive
Officiously to keep alive

Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat

Thou shalt not covet, but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.

Arthur Hugh Clough

Earth Tides

In recent weeks my running has had a scientific bent in the spirit of enquiry.

I have got into the habit of running the same route regularly to see how the weather and my state of mind affect my running speed for the same distance.

Only - it is not the same distance.

At first I thought I must be cutting corners - so I carefully stuck to exactly the same route each time I ran. But the distance still varied.

On particularly hot and humid days I have been varying the time of day when I run - sometimes early morning and sometimes evening.

Then I found that the distance varied according to the time of day. Thus:-.

Serial Time of Day Distance Run Time

1. 06-57     10.43 Km     1:01:18
2. 08-12     10.44 Km     1:05:15
3. 12-29     10.46 Km     1:00:42
4. 12-30     10.47 Km     1:03:36
5. 15-44     10.54 Km     0:58:41
6. 16-25     10.46 Km     1:01:11
7. 18-43     10.49 Km     1:03:36

Now my Garmin is pretty accurate on distances. It did match the surveyed distance of the Bath Half Marathon and the 10km distance of the Swindon race.

My conclusion is that I have been measuring the phenomenon known as Earth Tides.

The moon causes tides in the oceans. But the gravitational pull of celestial objects is not just confined to very fluid elements like water but also affects the earth. The largest gravitational pull is from the sun and so this will have the largest effect - much more than other planets or the moon.

So as the sun rises and passes our hemisphere its gravitational pull causes the upper crust of the earth to heave up towards it, slumping down as the sun sets. As with the sea tides and the moon there will be a slight lag - with the highest “tide” occurring after midday. My runs at different times of day record the resulting larger radius curve as a longer distance and the figures reflect this “lag“ with the longest distances - and hence the highest “tides“ after midday.

Except for the run in the evening which shows a bigger figure than the late afternoon run. But this variation could be caused by the gravitational influence of heavenly bodies other than the sun - the figures are not necessarily the same on every day.

For a more scientific explanation, and some mathematics, see CalTech

Or for the rest of us try youtube

There are more things in heaven and earth,Horatio,than are dreamt of in your philosophy - Hamlet.

  

Or - it may just be down to satnav imperfections.

Plods Progress

1960s
Birmingham City Police
Town fringe 4am. Youths hanging around. Officer in panda car stops for a little chat.

Ladywood after midnight. Tipsy students carrying Bath Road sign when spotted by constable on beat carry sign into Police Station. Desk Sergeant notes down details of “find”. When asked if can be kept if no claimants, replies “Op It”.

Warwickshire Constabulary
Small village midday. Large group of lads. Local policeman on motorbike stops to find out who they are and why hanging around there.

1970s
Met
North London. Old banger is making lots of noise from exhaust. Waved down by bobbie on push-bike. Driver told “I know where this car lives - take it home now and don’t take it out again except to get it fixed”

Earls Court 10pm. Little yellow car driven in dashing style along Ring Road trying to keep up with Austin Healey ahead. Blue car behind suddenly sprouts sirens and blue lights. Flat-hatted crime cop gives driver of little car severe ticking off  “40 in a 30 limit, perhaps. 50 in a 40 limit, maybe. But you were doing 50 in a 30 limit! Don’t do it again, sonny.”

Central London. Armed police officer shoots and wounds passenger in a Mini.

1980s
Met
South London. A bored police officer advises home owner to “Move Home“ after the fourth break-in in 2 months. Takes no details and gives out yet another crime number. Surrounded by the evidence of finger-prints on windows and boot-marks on the remains of the door says no forensic examination will be done because break-ins are “routine low priority crime“ and the policy is to take no action.

Greenwich. Police examining burgled house of citizen arrest his son for possessing a traffic cone.

Greenwich Magistrates Court. Case of alleged assault. Accused not present. He had been “out” when police had called to arrest him. Police roundly castigated by magistrate. No Further Action taken.

Natwest Bank in Earls Court. Customer assaulted in full view of customers and staff. Police called at insistence of victim. Assailant admits assault. Police refuse to take action “It’s a civil matter”.

Sussex Constabulary
James Ashley - naked - shot dead in police raid.

1990s
Avon and Somerset Police
Second break-in within 1 month. Police reckon they knew who did it as local villains out on parole over Christmas. Hand out victim-support leaflets.

Met
Harry Stanley shot dead by police whilst carrying repaired table leg in bag.

2000s
Avon and Somerset
Notification of “Failure to stop after an accident” issued. Police refuse to supply any statements made about alleged “accident” or its precise time or location. When requested to examine car for signs of damage, police say “You might have repaired it”.

Force praised for its ethnicity and diversity policy guidance.

Cannabis found growing in concrete pots outside Bath police station.

Met
Jean Charles de Meneses shot 7 times in head.

2011
Sussex Constabulary
10 Feb - naked man shot and killed in Brighton.

Met, West Midlands, Avon & Somerset
The BlackBerry and Apple Riots - postcode gangs co-ordinate rioting, arson and looting across London,  Croydon, Birmingham, and Bristol using smart phones.

When constabulary duty’s to be done
A policeman’s lot is not a happy one. W S Gilbert

He that goeth about to persuade a multitude, that they are not so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and favourable hearers. Richard Hooker