2011 Streak 58/365: Marathon Training Runs

2011 Streak 58/365: Walk - 4.12 miles, Time - 1hr 20min, Weather - In the morning it was sunny but by the time started it was raining

I had forgotten all about this.

The local running club, the Gade Valley Harriers, have for several years organised training runs to help the build-up to the London Marathon. There are three, a month apart, that cover 12, then 17, then 20 miles. It is a friendly informal affair whereby you pay £5 on the day.

It is a good institution but I am so far out of the running mindset I had forgotten the 17 mile run was happening today - otherwise I could have gone down to give encouragement and take some photos. In the end I passed the clubhouse just as people were packing up and in the picture you can see a couple of marshals wending there way back.

Irrespective of missing the runners, I was a little irritated with myself for messing about in the morning and being late out. The weather turned form sun to lumpy rain and February grey reasserted itself.

One of the reasons for the delay was that I was sorting out my Garmin as both the watch and footpod needed new batteries. Up till now I have measured the distance of my walks using Gmaps Pedometer but for the next 4 days I will be away from home and have to rely on my foot pod and so I wanted to check its accuracy. Today it was exactly the same as Gmaps. Success! but I had half expected it to flash up with a message saying "Really! I am not going to bother if you can't go faster than that.", but in the end it was completely non-judgemental and I can use it when i am away.

Although that last sentence was a joke but it is based on a mental weakness that has been with me all of my life: I never believe anything I do is good enough. This is actually inhibits doing things in a wholehearted fashion and is the reason I could relate to this TED talk be Brene Brown

Strangely this talk says a lot about why I have found running satisfying - your learn to accept where you will finish in the pack and the sort of time you can make. You do not have to be the fastest; you can take satisfaction from the effort and knowing you have done what you can.

So if any of you reading this are preparing for a marathon - embrace your vulnerability and be wholehearted in all of your efforts.

Good luck.

2011 Streak 57/365: Steady Rain

2011 Streak 57/365: Walk - 7.62 miles, Time - 2hr 30min, Weather - rainy

The canal was actually a very small part of today's walk but I am using the picture to illustrate the rain. There is nothing like the splashiness of water on water to show that it was a miserable day.

It actually affected my picture taking because I did not look around very much. Actually when I have my kagool hood up I can see very little - just what is in front. Inside the hood the pitter patter noises of the rain drops sounded very loud so I felt part of some minor sensory experiment - limited sight and hearing interference.

I began to wonder what I was doing especially as it was the sort of day when you could be walking down an empty road but the moment you want to cross it cars emerge to block your progress. Most junctions were like that: a minor irritant.

I began to wonder whether I should cut things short and now I wish I had.

There are days when you just have to admit that things are not really working and regroup. Joe Henderson has some really good advice based on his own training practices: he runs the first mile to warm-up and get a sense of how he feels and then he will make a decision as to whether her carries on as planned, cuts it short, or goes a bit harder.

I should have followed his example as today was more about endurance

2011 Streak 56/365: Abandoned Digger

2011 Streak 56/365: Walk - 5.04 miles, Time - 1hr 35min, Weather - pleasant and springlike but gradually clouding over

Diggers cost a chunk of change and need to be used to repay the investment. On the whole they do not spend their time lost, beside a little heap of gravel, doing nothing.

I have passed this digger numerous times and it has not moved. There is no sign of continuing activity, it is as if someone, after a half-hearted attempt at moving some earth, has given-up. But they have left a digger behind, abandoned with a coat still in the drivers cab; as if he finished one evening and walked away.

This is not a good plan. It already looks as if the rear window has been smashed and it might not long before it is fully taken apart. There will soon have to be a new warning sign, posted on the fence, telling us that this is not a suitable area for play, or the wilful destruction of equipment. We obviously need to be told these things. Especially as the current warning sign is now out of date. It says: "Danger Men At Work".

Although I have walked along this street regularly, I cannot remember when there was last activity. I do not know how long the digger has been abandoned. This says a lot about memory - you just do not notice when things are not happening. Only after a period of time does it sink in that nothing has moved.

As my 2011 project is as much about observation as it is about exercise, I find that interesting.

2011 Streak 55/365: Cold bath

2011 Streak 55/365: Cycle - 19.6 miles, Time 1hr 31min, Weather - brighter but the wind was still nippy

The weather forecast told me it was going to be almost spring like - sunny and milder. Great I thought I will shed my outer layer and cycle in a thin long sleeve running shirt beneath a T shirt. 

I think they meant that it will warm up during the day because it was distinctly nippy first thing and the sun was still hiding behind some light clouds.  Nevertheless I soon warmed up and I started to think it was going to be a pleasant, invigorating ride. And it was very pleasant - up to a point.

That point was on Windmill Lane, between Markyate and Harpenden, in fact where this photo was taken.

As you can see the road is completely flooded. To the left hand side, behind the verge, is a stream which had overflowed to create the road lake. So in the words of "We're going on a bear hunt":

Uh-uh! A river.

A deep cold river
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it

Oh No We've got to go through it!

Splash Splosh!
Splash Splosh!
Splash Splosh!

I started to cycle through at a gentle pace, mostly keeping the pedals parallel to the ground, trying not to cause a spray. But it was deep and I could not see the road's surface. In particular I could not see an enormous pothole, which my front wheel sunk into. 

Slow speed, stuck wheel! There could only be one result - an undignified tumble into the water. Splosh!

Completely drenched, I had no alternative but to carry on and get home but it was not pleasant. My feet in particular did not like being kept in a bath of the cold water sloshing about in my shoes and when I got home and peeled off my socks my toes were wrinkled white.

Sitting here now, warm once more, I am not at all sure what I feel about it. If I had signed up for Grim I would have expected to wade through icy water getting similarly soaked and thinking it was all part of the fun. But 10 miles from home, by myself, I was not quite so hearty.

If you asked me what today's ride was like, I think I would reply: good in parts.

2011 Streak 54/365: Memory and walking

2011 Streak 54/365: Walk - 4.8 miles, Time - 1hr 20min, Weather - misty grey with spitting rain

Neapolitan cottages! These recently painted artisan cottages, each a different colour, remind me of a block of neapolitan ice cream. Mind you the flavours are a bit confusing: could be vanilla, cool mint, and parma violets (though Parma adds a touch of Italian city confusion).

Now this is not a big thing, or even particularly interesting, it is just something I noticed, which caused a momentary flicker of amusement. 

Flickers of amusement or curiosity are an important part of the pleasure of walking. You not only have the time to notice the little details, your posture is more upright and encourages you to look around and see things (though that might only be me). Also, because you are under no great physical stress, there is no temptation to go into yourself and become absorbed in how the body is coping. The act of walking occupies no great part of you consciousness so you are free to look at everything around you or let the mind free-associate, whichever you prefer.

I wonder if this freedom of attention contributes to findings that walking improves your mental faculties. 

There has been a lot of coverage recently about some research by Kirk Erickson of the University of Pitsburgh which seems to show that walking not only improves memory, it is associated with growth in the hippocampus part of the brain. He divided 120 sedentary people in their mid to late sixties into two groups, one group walked for 40 minutes, three times a week, the other group stretched.

After only a year of this moderate exercise the hippocampus of the walkers grew by about 2%, whilst for the stretchers that part of the brain shrank.

Now the generally accepted pattern for the brain is that it loses cells and shrinks over time. Evidence that the process can be reversed in a particular part of the brain is enormously heartening. The next stage of research would be to find out exactly how this happens, which could have enormous practical implications. In the meantime we are left with more proof that we can all benefit from aerobic exercise. It is another affirmation of  the wisdom of "mens sana in corpore sano" (or if you are a certain Japanese shoe manufacturer "anima sana in corpore sano")

The research has nothing to say as to whether other aerobic activities are just as good, or better, or whether more exercise, or more intense exercise would be better.

For the moment we will have to leave it with walking and, as I am doing quite a lot of it at the moment, I am quite happy with that. 

2011 Streak 53/365: The lure of a new bike

2011 Streak 53/2011: Cycle - 23.2 miles, Time - 1hr 44min, Weather - hazy grey damp (once again)

Time for another bleak misty picture - I have to give some impression of what it is like out on the road. Somehow the mist makes everything quieter and when there is no one else about it enhances the emptiness.

I actually rode quite hard for part of today's route but my average speed does not show this. One of the reasons, apart from a long, slow hill, was that I cycled along the main street of Berkhamsted and this was totally clogged, with slow moving/stationary traffic, where I might even have reached walking pace at some point.

This reminded me of  a paper published in the BMJ just before Christmas, which I knew of but had not read. It was the result of an experiment of one, whereby a doctor recorded his commuting times when riding an old, cheap steel bike and a new, more expensive, carbon bike. There was no real difference and so he didn't think the extra money was really worth it.

When I heard about this on the radio I dismissed it because my experience of commuting was that times were more affected by the traffic than anything else - so it didn't surprise me that the times were the same.

However after thinking about the article today I thought I ought to read it - and it is great fun. I especially like it because it is the sort of thing that I or most people reading this blog might have done (almost by definition runners and cyclist like collecting stats), but it is written-up in the standard BMJ way as if it were a full trial, which add a bit of amusement (especially the bits about funding, competing interests and ethical approval)

My initial rejection of the findings was completely wrong as his route had enough open road to show if the bike would make a difference. The conclusion is quite sound that, providing both bikes are working efficiently, the differences from the bike are small compared improvements that can be made by the rider losing weight or increasing fitness.  Also when, improvement in fitness starts to plateau, the biggest gains then come from aerodynamics not the weight or stiffness of the bike. (However the more streamlined the position, the more uncomfortable it is).

Although I can accept his findings it does alter the reason why one always lusts after a better (or newer) bike: there is a romance in the history of the bike and the social liberation it caused; there is the continuing history of innovation; there is the satisfaction of seeing something both well designed and executed; there is aesthetic pleasure; and finally there is pride of ownership.

The best expression of all this is a book by Rob Penn 'It's all about the bike', which describes the making of his custom-built dream bike.  By visiting all the component manufactures he explains what is special about every bit of the bike and how it evolved. it is both a history of his bike and a history of the bicycle.

Reading that book you are caught up in the romance of it all and you know why almost every cyclist is interested in what is shinny and new. 

2011 Streak 52/365: On boundaries and sheep

2011 Streak 52/365: Walk - 6.98 miles, Time - 2hrs, Weather - dreek

Another day of mizzle. There have been so many this month I think I should be collecting different dialect words for this type of weather. Dreek is Scottish and as it is a near rhyme of bleak, I think it does the job.

Surprisingly my walk was not at all bleak - once I had forced myself out the door. I followed my randomness plan, which is to start off in a direction (in this case west) and then take any footpath. Actually there was very little deviation as I discovered a path that went right to the edge of town.

I rather like the idea of boundaries and for most of Hemel they are quite clear, as we are a town surrounded by a green belt. So this footpath took me to a line of houses, beyond which were fields: a stark divide. From this point it is only 1.5 miles to Potton End.

As I have mentioned before there is a distinct difference in wealth and atmosphere between Hemel and the surrounding villages. The fear for the people of Potton End is that regional plans for more housing will eat into the gap until they become contiguous.

At the moment I think plans are on hold but I am interested in how the conflicting planning pressures will be reconciled. It is true that the area needs more accommodation for a growing population yet there is a natural desire to maintain the character of what we already have. Potton Enders want to retain their independent identity (which is understandable), whilst I, as a Hemel resident, do not want the green spaces within the town to be overly filled. I rather like it that Hemel was purposely designed to have low density of housing.

All I can do on this walk is look at the fields end and think of these things. As I said boundaries are interesting

As I walked further I came to some sheep and thought it was about time we had some more animal pictures and so I stood by the fence and looked at them. What happened next was rather wonderful - most of them turned around and silently looked at me as if to suggest that I was intruding on their privacy. The observer was observed.

So I took my picture and retreated, signing to myself a line from the Bill Callahan song 'I'm new here' - "No matter how far wrong you've gone, you can always turn around."

2011 Streak 51/365: Model Dairy

2011 Streak 51/365: Cycle 21.6 miles, Time - 1hr 35min, Weather - misty grey

The one thing I know is that everything has a natural lifecycle. Everything comes into being, flourishes and then diminishes until it is no more. By exercising and avoiding harmful habits like smoking I may be trying to pushing back at the dimming of the day but that is all it is - pushing back. The trajectory cannot be altered by much.

Surprisingly this post is not going to be a lament about ageing and the fraying of my tendons (though that is always close to the surface of my mind); it is actually about firms i.e. the lifecycle of businesses. I think it is helpful if we see them as organisms as it stops us getting too sentimental when we think of enterprises and activities that are no more.

Hemel and the surrounding area is full of traces of past industries. The major one is paper making and the John Dickinson mills but there are others, for example Ovaltine. It may be still drunk but it is no longer made at Kings Langley

Although this drink originated in Switzerland it actually seemed tremendously British and it seems a shame it is no longer made here. I have rather warm, mental images of inter-war families sitting round the wireless set listening to the Ovaltinies and the ritual of a hot milky drink before bedtime. 

From the point of view of me cycling round the countryside that is neither here nor there. All I can see is what is left of the enterprise, the site and the buildings. The main Art Deco Ovaltine factory has been turned into apartments, with the facade preserved, however I find this model dairy just as interesting.

There are a couple of reasons:  the first is the production model where the company was worried about the supply of raw materials and so provided its own barley, malt,milk and eggs from its nearby farms. It is the exact opposite of today's model where everything comes from far and wide, as much as possible is outsourced and it is all delivered just-in-time. The second is the fancy of building a dairy modelled on on built by Louis XVI for Marie Antoinette.

I like the idea of trying to do things in an exemplary fashion and highlight it by commissioning an elaborate building. I like it when architecture tells a story.

Of course these buildings are now houses.


P.S The BBC history website has many interesting reminiscences; one of them is from someone who worked on the Ovaltine farms in the War - here

2011 Streak 50/365: Balance

2011 Streak 50/365: Walking - 4.65miles, Time - 1hr 20 min, Weather - hovering between wet and damp

Oh no not another abstract photo!  When it rains it seems I am attracted individual drops of water clinging to different surfaces. it must be some sort of reflex.

This is from the local skate park and is a horizontal rail. I am quite fascinated by this place with its metal swoops and curves and industrial look and can see myself returning many times before the year is out. You never know I might even take some photos that show what it actually looks like.

I am impressed by how difficult it looks and the balance and confidence the kids must have to tackle it. I really do not know how they do it. My activities require little balancing ability - perhaps because I don't have much. Cycling is the only thing that requires some sort of balance but that is so instinctive it doesn't feel like anything and I am not very skilled. I am, for example, unable to sit upright and pedal along without hands: I need to cling on.

What I do is pretty one dimensional, low-level exercise. I can find no great virtue in walking about a bit. Today I was passed by runner, who was moving easily, but nevertheless fairly fast I imagined the times he would post in a race and thought they would be decent. Me - I have no bragging rights.

My pleasures and satisfactions are different

For example today is the 50^th day I have been out, taken a picture and written something about it. I am actually quite proud of that. I always struggle with consistency so managing 50 days is not at all shabby

2011 Streak 49/365: Anti-vandal

2011 Streak 49/365: Walking - 6.12 mile, Time - 1 hr 55min, Weather grey and soft edged (and a little bit colder)

I like allotments. They are often in odd corners of land, hidden away so that when you find them there is a slight sense of surprise and pleasure. These cultivated spaces with a variety of plants, lots of effort and usually a slightly ramshakle appearance of make do and mend, are peaceful little corners amongst the houses and streets. I love the improvisation  and the way things like old plastic bottles have many uses.  I also like the heterogeneous mix of styles - everybody seems to go about gardening in a different way.

But they obviously need protection and there is very little to stop somebody from maliciously ruining things or someone else from harvesting the crops.

This allotment has taken action which allows it to feature in my series of warning signs. At first I could not work out what had been painted and then realised it must be the link fencing (I had thought it was merely covered with a standardised plastic covering). My next thought was to wonder how anti-vandal paint worked and what was being protected.

Apparently it is paint that does not set so it is slippy (to make climbing a little more difficult) and leaves a stain that is difficult to remove. So I understand the warning sign on the gate - you don't want to open it by holding onto the fencing. However I wonder whether its use is appropriate beside a footpath where people, especially children, could easily brush against the fencing and ruin clothing or stain their skin. 

What a difficult world we live in where you have to take measures to protect the totally beneficial  and wonderful activity of cultivating crops but those measures might have unintended consequences.

2011 Streak 48/365: Lost glove

2011 Streak 48/365: Walking - 4.74 miles, Time 1h3 30min, Weather - the pale sun felt springlike

I have a lot of sympathy with this photo: I am always loosing one glove. Actually that is not quite true - I have managed to keep hold of my big, waterproof, deep-winter gloves; but running gloves are very vulnerable. 

I hope the runner comes back and finds the glove but if my experience is anything to go by there is no chance - I only discover a loss some time afterwards and then have no idea where I could have gone.

Apart from those fleeting moments of sympathy, today's walk was hugely pleasant. There was sunlight and a mildness that suggested spring could be round the corner. It was a pre-spring day, with the suggestion that it will soon be the season of hope and regeneration - a time to feel stronger.

I have always believed that spring is the time to start New Year resolutions. If you want to lose weight, for example, January is terrible. The cold and the dark make you want to put on a layer of fat and hibernate - deep instincts keep you eating. However when the days start to get longer you have more energy and a zest for doing things and feel more in control. Spring is really the time of beginnings, not winter, which is the time for hunkering down.

All I have to do now is think of the patterns of behaviour I want to change!

2011 Streak 47/365: No diggers

2011 Streak 47/365: Cycle - 15.5 miles, Time 1hr 11min, Weather cool winter light (the sky looked like a watercolour).

Although I cycle along country lanes, with views of open fields or woods, I am only 25 miles from the centre of London. The South east of England is one of the most densely populated areas of Europe and so some form of infrastructure is never far away. Not only large-scale, visible engineering projects like the major motorways,but also  things hidden underground - like pipelines to service the airports with fuel. Buncefield is one of the major hubs of the UK oil pipeline network so underneath the land I pass there must be a lot of big pipes.

I had no idea. I obviously know about the obvious pipelines for water, sewage, gas and electricity that are underneath every pavement but have never thought about the long-distance, trunk, network. I wonder what a map would look like?

Obviously there are now precautions being taken about the pipelines of aviation fuel and little signs have been erected warning people not to use diggers. At the moment they look nice and bright and white (but i don't know how long that will last).

I like this one with its little tin roof - it looks vaguely quirky, ias if it is an incomplete nesting box.

2011 Streak 46/365: Empty Common

2011 Streak 46/365: Walking - 7.23 miles, Time - 2hr 5min, Weather - grey and damp

The picture  is a bit of artificial colour for another grey day - sweatshirts on a market stall.

Today was a Cambridge day. My usual practise has been to drive to the park and ride at Trumpington and then catch the bus. But the current exercise regime required a change: walking, instead of the bus.

Trumpington is only 3 miles the centre of the city, so park and walk is eminently practicable. Going in I put my head down, completed the journey in 45 minutes, and felt quite satisfied that I had done more than amble. Other than that there is nothing more to say - it was walking; that's all.

The journey back was more interesting. Because I explored a little; and found a footpath between Brooklands Avenue and Long Road, that followed the path of a stream. The city melted away, there was nobody else around and for some reason it felt like being in a hidden place. Behind an old iron fence there were allotments and later I found a sign to tell me the area was called Empty Common - a splendid name. 

I could tell the iron railing was old because in one place there was a tree that had grown around a post, squeezing it to death - quite fascinating. 

It is noticing little things like that, that make walking a pleasure

2011 Streak 45/365: a more complete view

2011 Streak 45/365: Walk - 7.65 miles, Time - 2hrs 30 min, Weather - sunny

Before I started blogging each day's exercise I had not clearly understood how much the weather affected my attitude. But now, when I sit at the computer to make sense of what happened, I know the first thing I think of is the weather.

The grey oppression of January that had me feeling that the sky was pressing down on me like a heavier form of gravity. Now there is February with a strange mixture of one day rainy, the next day bright. The changes vastly affect my mood and the pleasure of the expeditions. That is not to say that a wet day is necessarily unpleasant, just that the mood and feeling is different.

Today there were nice blue skies and it encourages you to throw your shoulders back, be more open and take more pleasure in looking around.

It was another walk-out, bus-back trip, this time along the Nicky Line to Harpenden. The Nicky line used to be a single track railway but is now a footpath and cycle way. At the Hemel end it passes through the industrial area and it was here I saw a few of the cars which had been piled-up before being crushed. 

So today's photo is a glimpse of a car graveyard. Although it is hidden away it is only a few yards from two car showrooms. A neat conjunction and the lifecycle of a vehicle: from shiny and desirable to abandoned and broken. 

I have walked, run, cycled this pathway many times before yet this is the first time I have made that connection. 

Rather than giving myself some credit for seeing things afresh I ought to slap my wrist for being blind most of the time. I think what happens is that, on a walk, I look at the surroundings, then my mind follows a train of thought, I look at something else and then my mind  goes somewhere else again. I end up only paying attention to a few visual fragments and put them together as a continuos view.  In reality I see very little. On repeating the walk I see different fragments and it is only through repetition that I can build up a more complete picture.

If the current project has a purpose (and that is a big if) it is that - to build up a more complete picture of my surroundings.

2011 Streak 44/365: Whatever the Weather Sunday is for Exercise

2011 Streak 44/365: Cycle - 16.5 miles. Time - 1hr 13 min, Weather - wet and windy

It was difficult to get out this morning - a swirling wind and patches of rain made the house very difficult to leave. But I had no alternative: not only did the forecast say it would get worse later on, once more I had to go to Winchester. It was a repeat of Friday; ride, shower, sandwich, away.

Once out though there was pleasure in the exercise. Although it was wet it was not harsh and the ride was more than mere endurance.

There were a number of other people taking their sunday exercise. I passed a club run of cyclist (i.e. they were going in the opposite direction), who were split into a few groups of different speeds. The first group were intimidating in the way they hammered along - wow I could not even have got close for even a short time. It is a bit like when I see top marathon runners and realise their average pace is faster than my sprinting.

All you can do is stay in your own bubble. They do what they do and you do what you can.

I also passed a number of runners, as would be expected on a sunday in the prime training period for the London Marathon. Almost all of them were dressed in fluorescent tops, it seems that without me really noticing they have become the de facto standard for runners. When did that happen? and how come I only notice these things after everybody else?

There were three main colours: yellow, orange, and pink. Yellow was by far the most popular but by some odd quirk whenever I saw and orange top (which was only twice) there was someone in pink a little way ahead. "Do not catch them up" I thought, "those colours really would not look good side by side.". 

So my little survey showed there was a good reason to choose yellow - it doesn't matter who you run with, you will not clash.

Today's picture is of some snowdrops. The only reason I took it was that it cheered me up. The day might be miserable but they offer a tiny glimpse of something brighter ahead.

2011 Streak 43/365: ladybird and squirrel

2011 Streak 43/365: Walk - 5 miles, Time 1hr 25min, Weather quite pleasant with bits of sunlight

Time for another animal picture but this time its the smallest of creatures. I don't know what ladybirds are doing out and about at this time of year. I thought they powered down in winter and went into some sort of suspended animation - but here is one quite happily wandering along a twig. 

I must admit I did spot the ladybird when walking along (that would have required powers of observation far in excess of my modest capabilities) instead I was attracted to the pattern of light and shade of a pile of twigs and only then saw the ladybird. Nevertheless it was a happy discovery.

It almost makes up for me being unable to record the most dramatic animal moment of my walk. It happened in a pathway that led to some woods. Either side there were panel fences enclosing trees, with the branches almost forming an arch over the path. When I was passing a squirrel climbed along a branch and leapt over to the opposite branch, right above my head. It then scuttled along the top of the fencing and even slipped down the side, still clinging onto the vertical face. it was so quick, there was no way I could reach for my camera. Instead I was dumbstruck watching the agility and scuttery speed of the legs. 

I then passed three gardens in a row that had bird food hanging off metal poles. A couple of feet from the ground the pole had a perspex cupola, like an open umbrella, to stop squirrels stealing the food. Having watched the squirrel in actionI knew how necessary the defence was.

2011 Streak 42/365: Mizzle

2011 Streak 42/365: Cycle - 16.5 miles. Time - 1hr 15 min, Weather - mizzle

For the first time I have missed writing a blogpost on the day - but there really was no time.

Out for a quick ride, shower, change and then down to Winchester to help my daughter move. By the time I got back at 10 o'clock I was just too weary to think about going through the photographs and thinking of something to say. Instead I had a cup of tea and thought more about what a pleasant town Winchester seemed than I did about my cycle ride.

Nevertheless the ride was interesting because my reaction to the weather was pleasingly conflicted. On the one hand I was fed-up that the greyness had returned and once again there was a blanket of mizzle, which, after a time, can soak in and make you very wet. But on the other hand there was a softness to air and an atmosphere of gentle melancholia that can be quite appealing.

The photograph is chosen to illustrate how empty things can seem when the misty moist air blocks out the view. There is also something lonely about a tree left in the middle of a ploughed field. I have no idea why it is left there - surely it would be easier for the farmer if the field was uninterrupted?  I can't believe a farmer just wants to leave somewhere for birds to perch. There must be another reason.

2011 Streak 41/365: stress and health

2011 Streak 41/365: Walk 3.5 miles, Time - 1hr 10min, Weather - Steady rain

Soon I will write a post about graffiti as recently there has been a proliferation of mindless, ugly tagging as if it was suddenly the 1990s. I know not why.

But that is for another time. Today I will only mention it as the subject of today's photo - where I quite like the colour and texture. The graffiti is actually flat on a rail in the local skate park and because it is wet there is a mistiness as well as little craters caused by raindrops.

Today's steady downpour is a complete contrast to two days ago, when I felt happy and content in the sun. Oh well we can't get too used to blue skies and bright light; in our hearts we know February is not like that.

The thing I didn't write about in my blog two days ago, which I should have done, was the reason I had to go to London, which has a relevance to the public health aspect of this blog.

I am part of a an ongoing study (Whitehall II), of 10,308 people who were civil servants in 1985, to investigate the effect on health of class and the work environment. Every few years I have had check-ups, which have looked at things like diet, general health, mental health, fitness, as well as the normal things like heart, weight, blood pressure. On Tuesday I went to UCL to be questioned principally about my frame of mind but I also took a facial-expression recognition test, which showed that I am much more adept at recognising when people are angry or disgusted rather than when they are happy (I think I saw a lot of happy expressions as neutral).

One of the byproducts of this study is I find out some odd things about myself. But there are things they know about me which I don't. The most significant is that they have tested me for an enzyme which might be linked to alzheimer's. Ethically (and quite rightly) they will not tell me if I have that enzyme. However with such a large cohort, which is probably being followed until we die, it will provide good evidence about the strength of the link.

One of the reasons I am very happy to be part of this study because it is providing important information about factors that influence health, which I hope can influence policy.

Sometimes it seems that it merely confirms what was already intuited but it is crucial to have a survey with numbers to give conclusions statistical heft. One of the the things it has established is the clear link between social status and health. It is not just that the poor die earlier than the rich it is the fact that there is a smooth correlation all along the range.

Because they have so much lifestyle information they can highlight major issues like smoking and drinking patterns and associate them with class and see what effect they have. For example higher status members of the study tend to drink more regularly but stick to one or two drinks and don't save the drinking for the weekend and get bladdered. it is thus supporting the hypothesis that alcohol can have a preventative effect in some circumstances.

The study is probably most famous for dispelling one of the great myths about stress - that it primarily effects higher level staff, who have more responsibilities and more weight upon their shoulders. In fact it is the reverse: the people who suffer the most stress are those lower down the hierarchy who have little autonomy over how they do their work and are therefore susceptible to unreasonable demands. It is not the amount of work you do that causes stress but the control you have over it.

In fact the whole study should be used in management schools to show how good practice (like: giving people respect, making sure they feel effort is recognised, making sure they know what is expected, having clear communications and a supportive environment, and providing a secure environment) has a positive effect on the mental and physical health of the workforce.

People ought to be paying attention to these findings but the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction. There is increasing instability in the workplace as everything is constantly being reinvented, downsized, or outsourced, whilst IT is increasingly used to monitor the performance of staff to make sure they stick to the predefined script (think call centres) - precisely the environment to increase stress and illness (which actually has a knock on in demands upon the NHS).

From the point of view of this blog the I suppose the main interest should be in the conclusions about exercise and health but I don't think it has contributed anything new. It has reinforced the message that exercise is beneficial but I don't think it has, as yet, drilled down in as much detail as it has done for other factors. 

For protecting heart and circulation problems, though, it seems that vigorous activity has a much greater benefit than moderate level activity, though higher level moderate activity like walking or gardening were associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.

Bottom line - we have to get the heart rate up. On its own it won't necessarily solve everything and compensate for other risk factors but it surely helps