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Just thought it was worth posting a quick comment about today’s session on Bodmin Moor. Started early to get in a predicted 20k run across the moors. We had a rough idea where we wanted to start but made the rest up as we went along. Started in fog but soon cleared to reveal a beautiful, still and clear day over the moor. Aimed for Row Tor which eventually just happened to be our half way point – 10kish. From there we hopped over to Brown Willy and weaved our way back along a similar course to our outward journey. Ended up back at the car at exactly 20k which was a real surprise but very satisfied with the day’s work.

No real concerns although Mike picked up a niggly ankle injury, sure to clear quickly. I strapped up both ankles today and managed to survive any scares after the last 2 runs have resulted in a twisted ankle (both on the right foot for a change!). Starting to feel pretty good although still some way short of Mike’s fitness levels. At some points today he was bounding along like a young buck…literally! Hopefully the next month ahead should take me up another notch and I won’t slow things up too much – maybe my stop start technique is what we need to stop us from burning ourselves out on the first day – who knows?

Anyway, great day, really enjoyed it, looking more and more forward to the big day with every run.

We’re in!

Found out yesterday that we are officially entered into this year’s OMM in Wales. Now the hard work really starts. According to the planner as of today there are 81 days until race day – that’s less than 3 months!

I promised myself I would buy some ‘proper’ kit if our entry succeeded so last night I splashed out on a OMM Classic 32L rucksack and chest pouch, allowing an extra 4L to be carried. I also bought a 2L bladder and a guide to running mountain marathons. Next purchase, and probably my most expensive, will be a decent sleeping bag. I can get through just about anything if I know at the end of the day I’ll be warm and toasty in a dry, comfy sleeping bag!

Going over to Mike’s tonight to discuss training and kit. Exciting times!

This is a stupidly simple idea that I had while in the shower today…What about a little ring that you sould attach to your shaving foam/gel aerosol can that would hold a razor? I would find it really useful for 2 reasons…

1. Easy to locate when you are in the shower with steam and droplets of water everywhere
2. Tells me which is the ‘current’ razor that I’m using. (We don’t always throw used razors immediately!)

So there it is, my latest gadget!

This week’s idea is the iBeat, a special adapter that you add to your iPod which regulates and automagically mixes your music collections based on their tempo.

Ok, how often have you wished you could find the time to trawl through your mp3 collection and create your own mixes based on their tempo so that you can create a perfect mix to run, row, step to? My guess is often!

How does it work? Well you can choose from a range of preset tempo settings around the outside of the dial. These would correspond to common training tempos – 100bmp, 120bmp, 150bmp etc. Once chosen the gadget automatically searches through your songs and picks those which match (or very closely match) that tempo. (Those that are close will just be increased or decreased slightly to compensate. The songs will start to play and will then use the crossfade playback feature that iTunes uses to seamlessly mix the tracks together.

For precise tempo matching there could be a plus/minus clicker which adds or decreases the tempo by 5bmp for each of the settings (all this would do would be to increase or decrease the original tempo of the songs). Probably not enough to distort the songs but enough to make a difference to your workout!

That’s it. Obviously software is the key to this device as it needs to find a way of indexing the files and marking each track’s tempo thus enabling grouping based on the user’s chosen tempo. Should be easy enough for someone to work out.

As always with my ideas, anyone who thinks there is any mileage in them, just remember where you saw the idea and send me a small percentage from your first million! Not a lot to ask is it?

OK, This one is a true winner! This idea will make someone milliions and revolutionise the way bike manufacturers design bicycles. Apologies in advance to anyone who has already patented this device, but I have looked around and can find nothing similar. Here goes…

The latest idea I have is a self gearing shifting bike which smoothly changes the resistance of the gearing depending on whether you are going up, down or level.

Here’s how it works in principle; A special device is attached to the horizontal cross member of the bike. This device reads whether you are going up down or level using a mechanism similar to a spirit level. This reading is relayed (electronically) to the gearing mechanism which chooses the correct resistance that the rider has set ) by a simple lever on the handlebars) depending on his or her fitness level.

So for example if the setting is set to ‘lardass’ (unfit), the cadence will be quite high and the resistance relatively low, especially going uphill, resulting in lower speeds. On the other hand, if the setting is set to ‘superfit’ the cadence will be low but the resistance higher, even on level surfaces, and the speeds attained will be much higher as a consequence. Most people will be able to choose a setting between these 2 extremes.

So that’s it! What’s needed now is someone to take the idea by the scruff of the neck and develop a prototype. Anyone interested? (Just remember to give me some credit when this idea makes someone a millionaire!)