Julien's fuzzy blog

I've just registered for the UTMB 2006 a couple of hours after the registration started... No waiting list and hope fading away this time ...
In the same time, my hip's still "hurting" 3 weeks after the London to Brighton even though I'm virtually doing no excercice any more. The ache seems to migrate to the thigh. Am I wrong or it starts to look like a kind of sciatica ?

Back to work after a deserved lazy week-end. No paper to focus on now. I can concentrate on long-term objectives again but I guess it's also time to re-evaluate my way of working and interacting with people. I'll start probably by reading again Richard Hamming's talk: You and Your Research. A short quotation to start with:

"You find this happening again and again; good scientists will fight the system rather than learn to work with the system and take advantage of all the system has to offer. It has a lot, if you learn how to use it. It takes patience, but you can learn how to use the system pretty well, and you can learn how to get around it. After all, if you want a decision `No', you just go to your boss and get a `No' easy. If you want to do something, don't ask, do it. Present him with an accomplished fact. Don't give him a chance to tell you `No'. But if you want a `No', it's easy to get a `No'."

Click here to see where science is leading at Imperial College ...

Writing a paper at the moment, an e-mail was suddenly sent to the \LaTeX users:

We MUST move your writing to MS Word for all your future articles.
I won't waffle about the reasons (real or official) (*), but I'm \textbf{really} unhappy about it \includegraphics{sad.png}. First on a technical point of view, I'm going to have to care about the style and so on. Versions won't be compatible on all computers, EndNote never works, I can't work from home as I don't have MS Windows, etc ...
Secondly, this seriously hurts my ethics. Lately I've been more and more reluctant to proprietary software. Should I really compromise and use this shit ? Is that a lab of computer scientists or of businessmen ?

\begin{Huge}\textbf{ ARRRGGGGG }\end{Huge}

(*) Actually, I can't resist to give you the first reason I was told: \textit{MS Word is more compatible} - troll inside !

This week-end Bastien came to London, and that made some Mommas' Club official members (Mommas, Bastien, Fred & myself), a claimant (Ludo) and even a dissident (William ) to gather all together at mine and at Mommas' at Weybridge for traditional but unformal celebration. On Friday we cooked Alsatian flammekueche [1] (including dough) using imported smoked lard [2,3]. That was damn good ! On Saturday, we made some crepes. That was followed by a traditional Internationale [4] "choir", a press ups competition and a fight club [5] for few of us.
On Sunday, Bastien and I also cooked a tartiflette [6] with freshly imported Reblochon cheese. That was pretty good too !

Who said I was not cooking any more ?

[1] flammekueche or tarte flambée: Alsatian traditional kind of pizza made of fresh cream, onions and lard
[2] lard: a kind of bacon (not the refined pork fat !)
[3] Mommas was proud to buy this lard at Rond-Point Sélestat...
[4] The Internationale on wikipedia
[5] Fight club, the movie
[6] tartiflette: kind of potato gratin topped with Reblochon cheese from Savoy (French Alps)

It's now great time for the winter rest. I will (try to) reduce my running volume. At the same time, I start to think about my runs for 2006... Hereafter a couple of ideas:

• UTMB 2006 - that's nearly sure I will try to run this amazing race a second time... This year, a half-race (Courmayeur to Chamomix - 86km - 4500m elevation gain) will also be organised for those interested . For my own, I will try to finish and also to be under 32h.
• My (ex-)secret project: Dover to Cape Wrath (UK diagonal - South-East to North-West), solo, without assistance, mainly on the national trails - 1600km. It would take a month to run that for me (60km/day). I'm not sure I would be able to do it, but ...
• Grand Union Canal race: 145 miles (233km) from Birmingham to London. An on-bike crew would be an advantage for me. If you feel like riding for at least 35h, please contact me ...

All comments welcomed !

This is the speed graph of my run from London to Brighton. Speed was integrated on 500m sections. Slow motion zones can be explained by the following:

• a: first stop at the beginning of Farthing Downs
• b: water stop at Redhill
• c: short rest after Horley
• d: cramps and moment of doubt at the exit of Crawley
• e: water stop at Cuckfield
• f: ascent of Dictchling Beacon

click for larger image
It's interesting to distinguish between 3 main parts: the first third (start to a) virtually always over 10km/h, the second third (a to d) at the constant average speed but with lots of slower parts and the last one (d to the end) slowing down constantly.

Yesterday I went again to Brighton from London, but without my bike this time (as it's been stolen...). I followed the roads, mostly the A23 and the B2036. I had to be at the same time the organiser, the volunteers and the runner. Which means that I had to navigate, to find some water on the way and ... to run !

I started from Westminster at 7am (official Big Ben time). I ran through Brixton, Streatham, Croydon, Purley and Coulsdon (km 23) before I started to see the countryside. Panoramas from Farthing Downs were pretty nice. Then Chaldon, Redhill (km 35) where I bought my first water refill. From this point I started to swap between short walks and longer runs. Salfords, marathon in 4h02, Horley (km 44). I started to feel a bit tired, so I had a short rest in a meadow nearby the road. Some policemen stopped to ask me if I was ok and then chatted a bit. This comforted me again to think that British policemen are much kinder that the French ones (no relation with recent events).
I continued to Crawley and started to have cramps after that. Immediately doubt took my mind, I looked at the map where was the next train station, etc. But, as often in ultras, after 10 minutes walking I felt fresh, running, enjoying the landscape, and never thought about withdrawing again ! Balcombe, Cuckfield, Ansty. On the narrow roads surrounded by hedges, I had to be very careful with cars, and once I was so close to the hedge (the car didn't leave me much space) that I didn't see a branch and fell down. Nice bleeding knee. At Burgess Hill someone stopped to ask me if I was fine. Then Hassocks and Ditchling, just before the ascent of Dictchling Beacon (150m elevation gain on a steep road) where I walked more than I ran. Pain in the legs started to increase and the descent to Brighton was not very pleasant. Finish at Brighton Pier at 4:42pm, just before the night.

I took 9h42 to complete these 90.5km (GPS: 88.6km) and expected around 10h. That's an average speed of 9.3km/h or 4h30 for a marathon, not too bad. During the official race, the time limit is only 9h50 (but the route is 1 or 2km shorter).

I got a nice GPS track of the route, although I miss the end because I ran out of batteries. I just acquired a couple of waypoints from Hassocks, not very precise. I might release a couple of graphs later on.

This morning, after a not-so-good night, my legs are very stiff (not to say painful) especially while going downstairs or sitting down. Even my upper body (abds, shoulders, arms) is quite stiff. Funny to think that I felt better after 35h30 on the UTMB... But yesterday, however shorter, was much more intense.

Playm (I let you discover who's hidden behind that nickname) just released the address of her comics' blog: Et hop, des dessins. Great fun, enjoy !

What is represented by this nice plot ? Answers welcomed in comments below.