Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working with Fetchie ♪♫ Synge ♪♫, who asked me if I fancied creating a virtual long distance challenge for Fetchies to complete. After a few months of me faffing about - during which time Synge (please take the musical notes as read) was very patient - I agreed 
The challenge is free to join, and begins on Friday 2nd April. You will then have until the end of 30th September (just shy of six months) to complete the distance. All runs and walks in your training log will count towards your progress along the route (although if there's enough interest, I could add a 'walk only' option). You are welcome to join late, but your mileage will only count from the day you join.
Synge has worked hard to create an awesome 600 mile route. There are twelve stages, each one *exactly* 50 miles long, and each one starting and ending with a castle. The route begins at Cardiff Castle, and finishes at Fetch Towers! Thank you Synge for working so hard to produce such an interesting route!
If you'd like to join in, just follow the link and click the green 'Join The Challenge' button:
fetcheveryone.com/virtualrace.php
The page shows you the complete route, and the positions of all the participants. We'll all be bunched up for the first few days, so it might look a bit messy until we get going! You can click the markers on the map to see who is who, or you can click the little target icons on the leaderboard to show you exactly where each player is.
As well as that, you can click the little glasses icon against each player to open up the Google StreetView image for where they are. Your starting point is right in the centre of Cardiff Castle, complete with some disembodied tourists; and if you spin round, you get a lovely view of the Millennium Stadium
We need a name for the challenge! A nice cheesy pun would be best - leave a comment with your suggestions, and I'll let Synge pick his favourite!
There'll be a virtual badge for completing it inside the deadline. We also discussed whether there should be a memento for those that complete the challenge, and thought it would be best if this was an optional part, if and only if there's enough interest. By all means play along for free, but if you fancy something like a commemorative mug (other ideas welcome), then leave a comment to say so.
EDIT As much as I like "Who's fort is this castle?", I've gone with a very simple 'Castle Challenge' for now, so I could crack on with doing a bit more publicity for the event.
The challenge is free to join, and begins on Friday 2nd April. You will then have until the end of 30th September (just shy of six months) to complete the distance. All runs and walks in your training log will count towards your progress along the route (although if there's enough interest, I could add a 'walk only' option). You are welcome to join late, but your mileage will only count from the day you join.
Synge has worked hard to create an awesome 600 mile route. There are twelve stages, each one *exactly* 50 miles long, and each one starting and ending with a castle. The route begins at Cardiff Castle, and finishes at Fetch Towers! Thank you Synge for working so hard to produce such an interesting route!
If you'd like to join in, just follow the link and click the green 'Join The Challenge' button:
fetcheveryone.com/virtualrace.php
The page shows you the complete route, and the positions of all the participants. We'll all be bunched up for the first few days, so it might look a bit messy until we get going! You can click the markers on the map to see who is who, or you can click the little target icons on the leaderboard to show you exactly where each player is.
As well as that, you can click the little glasses icon against each player to open up the Google StreetView image for where they are. Your starting point is right in the centre of Cardiff Castle, complete with some disembodied tourists; and if you spin round, you get a lovely view of the Millennium Stadium
We need a name for the challenge! A nice cheesy pun would be best - leave a comment with your suggestions, and I'll let Synge pick his favourite!
There'll be a virtual badge for completing it inside the deadline. We also discussed whether there should be a memento for those that complete the challenge, and thought it would be best if this was an optional part, if and only if there's enough interest. By all means play along for free, but if you fancy something like a commemorative mug (other ideas welcome), then leave a comment to say so.
EDIT As much as I like "Who's fort is this castle?", I've gone with a very simple 'Castle Challenge' for now, so I could crack on with doing a bit more publicity for the event.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
I've had a couple of feedbacks about this, so I thought I'd share it.
For both running and cycling, watches record cadence as the number of complete revolutions per minute.
For runners, this means they store the total number of "left-rights" that they do - i.e. a value typically in the range of 80-90. However, most runners prefer to think of cadence as the total number of steps per minute i.e. double the stored figure, or typically around 160-180 steps per minute.
To give runners what they want, I just double the stored figure. Easy peasy.
But... I naively didn't figure on cyclists preferring things to be displayed differently Just like they prefer mph, rather than mins/mile; and shoes with clacky bits on the bottom; pockets on their shirts instead of their shorts; cake in the middle of a ride instead of at the end; I could go on, but I'm not qualified
I've amended the 'view activity' page now, so that it will show cycling cadence as the number of complete revolutions per minute - which should hopefully make cyclists a bit happier too.
As you were
For both running and cycling, watches record cadence as the number of complete revolutions per minute.
For runners, this means they store the total number of "left-rights" that they do - i.e. a value typically in the range of 80-90. However, most runners prefer to think of cadence as the total number of steps per minute i.e. double the stored figure, or typically around 160-180 steps per minute.
To give runners what they want, I just double the stored figure. Easy peasy.
But... I naively didn't figure on cyclists preferring things to be displayed differently
Just like they prefer mph, rather than mins/mile; and shoes with clacky bits on the bottom; pockets on their shirts instead of their shorts; cake in the middle of a ride instead of at the end; I could go on, but I'm not qualified I've amended the 'view activity' page now, so that it will show cycling cadence as the number of complete revolutions per minute - which should hopefully make cyclists a bit happier too.
As you were
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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hahaEvilPixie10:56am, 31st Mar 2021
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Ness10:57am, 31st Mar 2021
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Do you have to wear the watch on your leg to get bike cadence? No, that wasn't a serious question.CogNoscensme AHA11:04am, 31st Mar 2021
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That might actually workfetcheveryone Might be dangerous to check your splits though 11:05am, 31st Mar 2021
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The splits splits?!Angus Clydesdale11:07am, 31st Mar 2021
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So the number stored is precise even though it's only for one limb? Hence we can still have odd number cadence?SPR11:11am, 31st Mar 2021
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I have an intriguing thing about how my *rowing* cadence shows up. I use an app called SmartRow which shows me doing, say, 25 strokes per minute. This gets auto-fed toMcGoohan
strava(sorry - that's just how the app works) and then I load up onto Fetch ... and the cadence is generally about 1.7 to 2.5 times the recorded stroke rate. I reckon it must think me pulling back on the handle is stroke 1 then the return bit is stroke 2 so it's counting two for every single stroke I do.
You can file this comment under 'there's always one...'11:50am, 31st Mar 2021 -
I think your summary of cyclists is very fair...Autumnleaves11:57am, 31st Mar 2021
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merry minardi *hic*12:18pm, 31st Mar 2021
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I do like the cyclist summary 🤣SPR12:26pm, 31st Mar 2021
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ExcellenteL Bee!12:58pm, 31st Mar 2021
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errr - you missed the "coffee" bit of Coffee and Cake mid ride......eL Bee!12:59pm, 31st Mar 2021
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LindsD2:08pm, 31st Mar 2021
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Part way round my run today an alliterative name came to me ... Fetchies' Forts 🏰ThunderFeet3:10pm, 1st Apr 2021
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Perhaps you could give runners a setting to show Roman paces? (One cycle)Nord Rundeer 🦌9:54am, 2nd Apr 2021
I'm hoping to do a new batch of Fetch kit next month (rainbow stuff, plus some normal stuff I think). The cupboard is nearly bare, but I do have a few unsold new items that it would be great to find homes for. Here it all is:
Ladies
£5 rail
1 Black 'Standing On The Shoulders of Fetchies' Vest in XS
1 Red 'several batches ago' vest in Small
1 Red 'several batches ago' vest in 2XL
£10 rail
1 Black '15th Anniversary' vests in size 10.
1 Red '15th Anniversary' vest in size 12
Mens / Unisex
£10 rail
1 Black '15th Anniversary' Vests in Large
1 Black 'Normal i.e. yellow and white side panels' Vests in Large
Also
16 Fetch swimming caps - £5 each.
If you'd like anything from the list, leave a comment stating what you want. If it's still available, I will put it aside for you, and send you an fmail with payment instructions. Cheers!
Ladies
£5 rail
1 Black 'Standing On The Shoulders of Fetchies' Vest in XS
1 Red 'several batches ago' vest in Small
1 Red 'several batches ago' vest in 2XL
£10 rail
1 Black '15th Anniversary' vests in size 10.
1 Red '15th Anniversary' vest in size 12
Mens / Unisex
£10 rail
1 Black '15th Anniversary' Vests in Large
1 Black 'Normal i.e. yellow and white side panels' Vests in Large
Also
16 Fetch swimming caps - £5 each.
If you'd like anything from the list, leave a comment stating what you want. If it's still available, I will put it aside for you, and send you an fmail with payment instructions. Cheers!
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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what's the swim hat like? not seen it! Is it thick? My hair has got sooooo long I need a strong hat to hold it in place! LOLEvilPixie3:22pm, 29th Mar 2021
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fetcheveryone3:25pm, 29th Mar 2021
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They seem fairly thickfetcheveryone3:26pm, 29th Mar 2021
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They are quite thick.LindsD3:32pm, 29th Mar 2021
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I’d like the men’s Red anniversary vest in large please if it’s not been nabbed already.JustTony3:41pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Could I buy a swimming cap, please Fetch?Lynn1013:42pm, 29th Mar 2021
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I'll have one of the large vests, please, don't mind which!Goofee3:52pm, 29th Mar 2021
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swimming cap pleaseMetro_Nome3:55pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Swim cap please!Lizzie W4:09pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Size 12 ladies 15th anniversary shirt please. (Red)runnerbean4:20pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Swim hat x 2 please!EvilPixie4:25pm, 29th Mar 2021
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May I have a swimming cap please? I've lost mine.RichHL4:28pm, 29th Mar 2021
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I swum in ones of these very hats today. Never OW smim without itSpanners994:28pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Could I have another Fetch swim cap please. They are lovely and bright in dingy conditions and I've spotted them from the other side of the lake.Helegant4:34pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Size 12 15th anniversary shirt pleaseSarahWoo4:46pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Size 10 black anniversary vest please if still availableJEB6:07pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Large Normal Man Vest pleasecerid6:57pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Swim cap for me too if you still have any leftCorrah8:05pm, 29th Mar 2021
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Swim caps are nice and thick as well as a good colour.LittleDonkeyDaisy8:14pm, 29th Mar 2021
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I would like a swim cap, if there are any left, please.Angus Clydesdale8:58pm, 29th Mar 2021
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fetch hat and size 14 ladies tee pleaseweebiddy10:30am, 30th Mar 2021
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Could I have a swim cap pleaseSnoot10:37am, 30th Mar 2021
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Do you have the red xs vest left? Do you have a pic of it if available? Thank you 🙂.Lesley C5:52pm, 30th Mar 2021
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Hi Lesley, yes I do. I will post a pic in a min.fetcheveryone6:00pm, 30th Mar 2021
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fetcheveryone6:03pm, 30th Mar 2021
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fetcheveryone6:04pm, 30th Mar 2021
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Any swim caps left? If so, could I take one please? 😊MovingAlong5:57pm, 15th Apr 2021
Most of the messages in my inbox this week have been relating to people noticing interesting new phenomena with their elevation data. I thought I'd put together a blog to point people at, where I can hopefully answer all the common queries.
Back in February, I blogged about how I was switching back to using the imported elevation data from watches: fetcheveryone.com/blog/3/2021/2#blog419566
There are two negatives to this approach:
1) sometimes, the elevation data from the watch is pretty rubbish.
SOLUTION: if you're not happy with the watch elevation data, you can revert to using our old system (where a sample of your route is sent to a lookup service to generate an elevation profile). You can do this by going to Training > Your Log, and clicking the Settings button. Within the settings you can untick 'Use Watch Elevation'. Under the old system, you'll notice that 'double load' when you first view a training entry, and your ascent and descent are not calculated UNTIL you have viewed the training entry.
2) my calculation of ascent and descent needs some work to bring it in line with other sites. For example, my 3.4 miles yesterday morning was about as flat as flat gets, and yet Fetch calculates total ascent (and descent) at 34 metres. Garmin Connect gives me an elevation gain of 4 metres. I tend to agree with them. Why the discrepancy?
One second into my run, my elevation was 32.0 metres above sea level. Two seconds in, it was 31.6. I've checked the pavement outside thoroughly, and I can't see that 40 centimetre step. Five seconds later, it does it again - and then suddenly at 21 seconds I am back up at 32.0 metres.
The code is just summing all these changes. Positive ones go into the ascent pot; negative ones go into the descent pot. So it looks like the Garmin site is doing some filtering to smooth out these small bumps in the data. I wanted to see if I could do the same.
I started by just rounding all the altitude figures. But this actually increased the elevation gain!!! For every 0.4 it smoothed out, it turned quite a few 0.5's into 1.0's.
Next I tried two similar approaches to filter out small changes. For every point along the route, I calculated ascent per second, and ascent per metre travelled. If an ascent change was greater than a certain threshold, it would get included in the sum total.
This was pretty exciting - I thought I had some nice round numbers for my thresholds, based on the data from my nice flat run. But when I tried the same approach with my March 7th bike ride (which *did* have some hills), the outcome was way off [Garmin reckoned 137m of climb; basic summing gave me 186m; and my filtering approach gave me just 43 metres unless I completely changed the thresholds].
The problem seemed to be that small changes do and should add up! There's a very gentle little uphill as the road climbs a little toward the bridge over the river, about 100s into my ride. The elevation increases by 4.4 metres over the course of about 300 metres. My threshold filtering wiped out virtually all of this. You could climb a mountain and get zero ascent, if the path to the top was shallow enough.
The trick then perhaps, is not to pretend that small changes didn't happen - but to store them up. If that 40cm altitude gain on my pavement outside is completely isolated, then we can ignore it. But if it's followed by another 40cm gain, and then another, and then another - things are starting to get significant.
The best approach I've come up with so far is to examine each point in relation to its two neighbours. If a jump in altitude is nestled between two other gains, or sitting next to a nice fat one, then we can have more confidence in it.
Using this approach, here's how I fared for elevation gain with my three test sessions:
Flat 3.4mi fetcheveryone.com/t-18873110
Garmin = 4 metres, old 'sum the changes' = 34 metres, new algorithm = 7 metres.
Flat 5mi canal run (just a few locks, and a railway bridge) fetcheveryone.com/t-18761627
Garmin = 15mt, old 'sum the changes' = 54mt, new algorithm = 19.8mt.
Hilly 18mi bike ride (over the Greensands Ridge) fetcheveryone.com/t-18805690
Garmin = 137mt, old 'sum the changes' = 186mt, new algorithm = 137.2mt!!!
I will do some more testing over the next few hours, to see whether this method holds up - but I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I think that Garmin, with their superior firepower, probably do some big data stuff to fine tune their elevation profiles - so anything close feels pretty good.
Follow Roads
On the up side, reducing the number of elevation lookups I do means that I can spare a bit of capacity for Google's directions service, which now powers the 'Follow Roads' button when our free quota runs out (which it has been doing, quite consistently). I will have to keep an eye on whether this pushes us into Google charges, but it feels like a reasonable compromise.
Must dash - time for lunch and an episode of Parks & Recreation with my lovely Katie.
Back in February, I blogged about how I was switching back to using the imported elevation data from watches: fetcheveryone.com/blog/3/2021/2#blog419566
There are two negatives to this approach:
1) sometimes, the elevation data from the watch is pretty rubbish.
SOLUTION: if you're not happy with the watch elevation data, you can revert to using our old system (where a sample of your route is sent to a lookup service to generate an elevation profile). You can do this by going to Training > Your Log, and clicking the Settings button. Within the settings you can untick 'Use Watch Elevation'. Under the old system, you'll notice that 'double load' when you first view a training entry, and your ascent and descent are not calculated UNTIL you have viewed the training entry.
2) my calculation of ascent and descent needs some work to bring it in line with other sites. For example, my 3.4 miles yesterday morning was about as flat as flat gets, and yet Fetch calculates total ascent (and descent) at 34 metres. Garmin Connect gives me an elevation gain of 4 metres. I tend to agree with them. Why the discrepancy?
One second into my run, my elevation was 32.0 metres above sea level. Two seconds in, it was 31.6. I've checked the pavement outside thoroughly, and I can't see that 40 centimetre step. Five seconds later, it does it again - and then suddenly at 21 seconds I am back up at 32.0 metres.
The code is just summing all these changes. Positive ones go into the ascent pot; negative ones go into the descent pot. So it looks like the Garmin site is doing some filtering to smooth out these small bumps in the data. I wanted to see if I could do the same.
I started by just rounding all the altitude figures. But this actually increased the elevation gain!!! For every 0.4 it smoothed out, it turned quite a few 0.5's into 1.0's.
Next I tried two similar approaches to filter out small changes. For every point along the route, I calculated ascent per second, and ascent per metre travelled. If an ascent change was greater than a certain threshold, it would get included in the sum total.
This was pretty exciting - I thought I had some nice round numbers for my thresholds, based on the data from my nice flat run. But when I tried the same approach with my March 7th bike ride (which *did* have some hills), the outcome was way off [Garmin reckoned 137m of climb; basic summing gave me 186m; and my filtering approach gave me just 43 metres unless I completely changed the thresholds].
The problem seemed to be that small changes do and should add up! There's a very gentle little uphill as the road climbs a little toward the bridge over the river, about 100s into my ride. The elevation increases by 4.4 metres over the course of about 300 metres. My threshold filtering wiped out virtually all of this. You could climb a mountain and get zero ascent, if the path to the top was shallow enough.
The trick then perhaps, is not to pretend that small changes didn't happen - but to store them up. If that 40cm altitude gain on my pavement outside is completely isolated, then we can ignore it. But if it's followed by another 40cm gain, and then another, and then another - things are starting to get significant.
The best approach I've come up with so far is to examine each point in relation to its two neighbours. If a jump in altitude is nestled between two other gains, or sitting next to a nice fat one, then we can have more confidence in it.
Using this approach, here's how I fared for elevation gain with my three test sessions:
Flat 3.4mi fetcheveryone.com/t-18873110
Garmin = 4 metres, old 'sum the changes' = 34 metres, new algorithm = 7 metres.
Flat 5mi canal run (just a few locks, and a railway bridge) fetcheveryone.com/t-18761627
Garmin = 15mt, old 'sum the changes' = 54mt, new algorithm = 19.8mt.
Hilly 18mi bike ride (over the Greensands Ridge) fetcheveryone.com/t-18805690
Garmin = 137mt, old 'sum the changes' = 186mt, new algorithm = 137.2mt!!!
I will do some more testing over the next few hours, to see whether this method holds up - but I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I think that Garmin, with their superior firepower, probably do some big data stuff to fine tune their elevation profiles - so anything close feels pretty good.
Follow Roads
On the up side, reducing the number of elevation lookups I do means that I can spare a bit of capacity for Google's directions service, which now powers the 'Follow Roads' button when our free quota runs out (which it has been doing, quite consistently). I will have to keep an eye on whether this pushes us into Google charges, but it feels like a reasonable compromise.
Must dash - time for lunch and an episode of Parks & Recreation with my lovely Katie.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Sounds promisingRosehip2:30pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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As always, stunning that one runner and his talents can match the might of Garmin /larkim
stravaetc in solving the same problems they must be encountering. Really interesting; I've long wondered about how they prevent "arm up, +20cm, arm down -20cm" recordings on watches accumulated into a boat load of elevation change.2:34pm, 22nd Mar 2021 -
Great figuring!JCB2:35pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Hope this isn’t going to mess up my running up and down Mount Everest 😂runnerbean2:36pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Could it just be an optional correct "elevation button" rather than an all-or-nothing setting. I usually don't care but occasionally want to fix and see it accurately. Fanks.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G2:41pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Not a big deal, but is there any way to go back and recreate the elevation graph for a training run that happened between when you made the switch and now? My watch doesn’t do elevation and I hadn’t realised there was an option to untick watch elevation.Fragile Xmas Ornament2:57pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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If you untick, and then go view the entry, it should grab the elevation sample.fetcheveryone2:57pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Also, I agree with Happy’s comment above, for most runs I’m not fussed but it would be good to turn on the elevation data for a few of them.Fragile Xmas Ornament2:58pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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In response to your comment Fetch, I was going to say I’d tried that and it didn’t work, then I realised the elevation graph was just minimised. So it did work after allFragile Xmas Ornament3:00pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Sounds positive. I have some hella bumpy towpath runs recorded on FetchDvorak I reckon that Garmin tends to underreport elevation. Another problem can be when the gps veers slightly off track - eg my "park lap" has a section of path along the base of an escarpment which can result in some pretty wayward elevations. Although I'm not sure what you can do about that.3:43pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Not sure if it's in the calculations already, but it can take a while for a barometric altimeter to "acclimatise" after leaving an indoor environment.flanker3:54pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Sorry I clogged up your inbox on this matter, but glad it's proving a useful exercise.TeeBee3:59pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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As you know Mr AL & I have had some weird elevation data recently - Sunday morning was another one where he appeared to plummet off a cliff at one point. I shall point him towards ignoring the watch data! I just find the new numbers are suspiciously high for what is pretty rolling terrain on the whole, however I don't make much use of it so I'm not too worried.Autumnleaves4:14pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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Have you thought of or tried a simple rolling average, eg over 30 secs(or 20 or 40 or 60) to rule out arm movement?um4:17pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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I second TeeBee's apology.theOtherRichard
It really doesn't look straightforward. Looking at the raw FIT file data, my watch is just supplying you complete rubbish to work with. It's a shame that GPS can only triangulate in 2D. (Or maybe it's just the device that can only triangulate in 2D.)5:18pm, 22nd Mar 2021 -
Thanks for working on this. No matter how much processing / programming power Garmin et al have, they'll never have The Power Of Fetch.Fitz5:54pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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I have raised feedback which may have been lost in all the other feedback, so apologies if on your to-do list, but in case not, then point 5 from your February blog, ie "5) because the elevation data arrives separately, it always has to be 'mashed in' with other stuff to create various graphs" has broken the elevation graph and elevation figure in monthly summary infographic, no elevation recorded in either of these since the day you made the change. Thanks.K5 Gus7:37pm, 22nd Mar 2021
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I had an interesting one with follow roads this morning which I was wondering about putting a bug report in for. When plotting a route to catch some WSW squares and following routes that have plotted ok in the past follow roads either refused as if I was at a dead end or put in a sweeping detour? Wonder if it's due to the alternate services??Snoot11:38am, 23rd Mar 2021
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Poss because there are two different services, and when you switch from one to the other, it has a different set of potential paths at its disposal.fetcheveryone12:02pm, 23rd Mar 2021
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I've not adjusted my training settings, so is set to use watch elevation, but all my activities in the training log entries list, if you choose Terrain from the drop-down list, all show as zero (with red exclamation mark). Note if you view the individual activity then you do see the elevation and the elevation profile.K5 Gus
So now nothing in the monthly summary infomatic, nothing in the weekly elevation graph, and nothing in the training log entries list ☹️
Is the only way to get any elevation data to show in these 3 places to change my settings to have Watch Elevation unticked, or is this still work in progress using Watch Elevation ?6:41pm, 5th Apr 2021 -
Meant to say all entries since this latest change, ones pre 22/2 still show elevation in the Terrain listK5 Gus6:42pm, 5th Apr 2021
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Although, doesn’t this differ between watches that use gps elevation and those with altimeter? I one with altimeter and it seems pretty accurate. But if I check gps height, it does not really show accuracy.Frosty The Bowman 🇸🇪5:37pm, 30th Jun 2021
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Yes, that’s why I introduced a training log setting that allowed you to ignore the watch data on import.fetcheveryone5:42pm, 30th Jun 2021
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Ok, so I should let box “use watch elevation” be ticked?Frosty The Bowman 🇸🇪5:45pm, 30th Jun 2021
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Yes it sounds like the best option if your watch elevation is accurate.fetcheveryone5:55pm, 30th Jun 2021
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Ok cheersFrosty The Bowman 🇸🇪5:57pm, 30th Jun 2021
In case you didn't know, Fetch is not just a website. FE Running Club has been an affiliated England Athletics Club for the last 12 years, with about 185 members. It's £26 per year per person - of which about £16 goes to EA (£15 + ~£1 on admin fees), leaving ~£10 for the Fetch coffers.
When I set it up, there were some concerns that it would take members away from local clubs - but our ethos has always been to encourage and support runners - including encouraging them to join a local club when the time is right.
There are reasons why some people don't feel like they can join a local club. Sometimes the sessions aren't at suitable times. Occasionally the runner doesn't feel ready for the level of commitment, or the advertised "minimum standard" that I've seen some clubs touting (*rolls eyes*). Some of you feel like Fetch really IS your club - which is awesome But it really is nice when someone takes the plunge and joins their local club too.
Being a member of FERC or indeed any EA affiliated club comes with benefits. If you enter lots of races, it's a no-brainer - you can claim a £2 discount off each race entry to recoup most of your investment. And there's a half-decent chance to snag a VMLMLMLM place, with clubs getting guaranteed race places each year [still waiting for news on 2021 places]. We have a ballot every year for any FERCers who are interested in claiming a place.
But there are also warmer, snugglier benefits - like getting people who will support and encourage you in your training, and cheer you on at events. Currently, we have a FERC forum thread where members can hang out ('club night' is usually Tuesday evening) - and then there's all the other stuff on Fetch (but of course you don't even have to be a club member to get all that). Not quite the same as physically meeting up - but we do our best, and there's usually a few Fetchies at most events.
ENGLAND ATHLETICS GRANT FOR £500
Back in December, England Athletics announced a series of £500 grants for clubs to help and encourage their members. I applied for one of these, and was surprised a couple of months later when told me I'd been successful!
My application explained that I wanted to use the money to fund two FERC members to gain some running qualifications. The 'Leadership in Running Fitness' course is a one day entry level course, currently priced at £140, and the 'Coaching in Running Fitness' course is a four dayer, and is approx £350. Perfect! Well, almost - we'll have to wait until the C-word permits courses!
I thought it would be great if the two chosen FERC members could commit to using their new found skills to help other FERC members on the site; to hang out on the FERC thread, and engage with the other members to discuss and support their training goals. And if this goes well, perhaps the site could support you in getting further qualifications, or you might decide to do this yourself anyway!
HOW TO APPLY
If you'd like to apply for the courses, please can you write an application of no more than 250 words explaining why we should choose you, and email it to ferc@fetcheveryone.com by 5pm on April 15th. I will share these applications with all registered FERC members, and they will vote for their preferred candidates, with the winners announced on April 22nd.
JOINING FERC
From April 1st, I will be sending out club renewal emails to existing members, and will also be sending a wider email to the rest of the site to invite folks to join the club. If you already know you'd like to join the club, here's where you can submit your details (NB I won't process your application until April): fetcheveryone.com/ferc
When I set it up, there were some concerns that it would take members away from local clubs - but our ethos has always been to encourage and support runners - including encouraging them to join a local club when the time is right.
There are reasons why some people don't feel like they can join a local club. Sometimes the sessions aren't at suitable times. Occasionally the runner doesn't feel ready for the level of commitment, or the advertised "minimum standard" that I've seen some clubs touting (*rolls eyes*). Some of you feel like Fetch really IS your club - which is awesome
But it really is nice when someone takes the plunge and joins their local club too. Being a member of FERC or indeed any EA affiliated club comes with benefits. If you enter lots of races, it's a no-brainer - you can claim a £2 discount off each race entry to recoup most of your investment. And there's a half-decent chance to snag a VMLMLMLM place, with clubs getting guaranteed race places each year [still waiting for news on 2021 places]. We have a ballot every year for any FERCers who are interested in claiming a place.
But there are also warmer, snugglier benefits - like getting people who will support and encourage you in your training, and cheer you on at events. Currently, we have a FERC forum thread where members can hang out ('club night' is usually Tuesday evening) - and then there's all the other stuff on Fetch (but of course you don't even have to be a club member to get all that). Not quite the same as physically meeting up - but we do our best, and there's usually a few Fetchies at most events.
ENGLAND ATHLETICS GRANT FOR £500
Back in December, England Athletics announced a series of £500 grants for clubs to help and encourage their members. I applied for one of these, and was surprised a couple of months later when told me I'd been successful!
My application explained that I wanted to use the money to fund two FERC members to gain some running qualifications. The 'Leadership in Running Fitness' course is a one day entry level course, currently priced at £140, and the 'Coaching in Running Fitness' course is a four dayer, and is approx £350. Perfect! Well, almost - we'll have to wait until the C-word permits courses!
I thought it would be great if the two chosen FERC members could commit to using their new found skills to help other FERC members on the site; to hang out on the FERC thread, and engage with the other members to discuss and support their training goals. And if this goes well, perhaps the site could support you in getting further qualifications, or you might decide to do this yourself anyway!
HOW TO APPLY
If you'd like to apply for the courses, please can you write an application of no more than 250 words explaining why we should choose you, and email it to ferc@fetcheveryone.com by 5pm on April 15th. I will share these applications with all registered FERC members, and they will vote for their preferred candidates, with the winners announced on April 22nd.
JOINING FERC
From April 1st, I will be sending out club renewal emails to existing members, and will also be sending a wider email to the rest of the site to invite folks to join the club. If you already know you'd like to join the club, here's where you can submit your details (NB I won't process your application until April): fetcheveryone.com/ferc
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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5pm on March 15th. Shurely shome mishtake?! Good luck with training courses though - great idea.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G4:08pm, 18th Mar 2021
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D'oh! Ta. (Successful candidate does NOT need to be able to manipulate space time).fetcheveryone4:15pm, 18th Mar 2021
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Oh this looks fab!EvilPixie4:24pm, 18th Mar 2021
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And now my comment looks sillyMerry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) Like I say great to see FERC progressing. There are numerous online running clubs and they all add to the UK athletics strength I would say - UKNetRunner, Vegan Runners etc. Go FERC! G4:29pm, 18th Mar 2021
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The courses look like a great idea.Ness4:32pm, 18th Mar 2021
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BrilliantSerendippily4:49pm, 18th Mar 2021
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Ps I’d love to have access to a physio perhaps you should go local with your grant givingSerendippily4:50pm, 18th Mar 2021
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What a great idea - well done Fetch!!Autumnleaves4:52pm, 18th Mar 2021
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great idea and looking forward to seeing who and where it takes themDingDocMerrily5:24pm, 18th Mar 2021
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Agreed, what a really great idea to have our own "coach" at the club! Nice one.Strutbrother5:48pm, 18th Mar 2021
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Being able to manipulate spacetime is easier than finding the breath to blow a whistle if you've been trying to keep up with the speedies on a three-minute rep.RichHL6:15pm, 18th Mar 2021
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Ooh, this is exciting! You've got me thinking now!Pegg8:32pm, 18th Mar 2021
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great idea and good luck to the applicants.ageingtractor9:15am, 19th Mar 2021
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Brilliant. Good luck to all applicants.JogWalker2:15pm, 19th Mar 2021
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well done to fetch everyone organiser and good luck applicants...psycho12:26pm, 19th Mar 2021
As of today, it *looks* like the TomTom import is not available. This might be because they've changed something, but my suspicion is that it's maybe been withdrawn, as they've been out of the sports watch market for several years now.
I am trying to get clarification from anyone and everyone at TomTom.
UPDATE: No response from TT, but the problem appears to have gone away overnight
I am trying to get clarification from anyone and everyone at TomTom.
UPDATE: No response from TT, but the problem appears to have gone away overnight
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Aaaaaasrgghhh!!!!!Diogenes5:17pm, 17th Mar 2021
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It’s still possible to upload to Tom TomDiogenes5:18pm, 17th Mar 2021
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Can you export a file?fetcheveryone5:20pm, 17th Mar 2021
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It looks like I’d still be able to if I connected my device to a pcDiogenes5:28pm, 17th Mar 2021
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nightmare. Mine is starting to not hold a charge so might be time to let the moths out of my wallet.iRicey5:32pm, 17th Mar 2021
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It’s still allowing you to sync to other apps. I wonder if there are any Tom Tom users in Fetchland who could test? Could it just be the API interface down?Diogenes5:38pm, 17th Mar 2021
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I have managed to download from Tomtom a fit file, then upload to Fetch, works fine.peegee5:44pm, 17th Mar 2021
To help me rank the albums from the 1993 list, I attempted some listen-throughs. Some I had to stop, after skipping multiple songs. Others I devoured with a smile. It got me thinking that when I finish this quest, I should round up all the 'good' ones, and make my own top ten. Anyway, here we go:
Good
Deacon Blue - Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
This is my favourite DB album at the moment. It felt livelier and a bit more oomph-y than Fellow Hoodlums - Ricky and Lorraine doing a great job. Hadn't listened to it for a while, but I will be back for more.
The Breeders - Last Splash
The bass line from Cannonball is synonymous with the summer of '94 - we got Sky TV for the first time ever. And that meant my first chance to explore MTV. So I didn't get hold of this until I made friends with some American students at university - but I love it. Gets a semi-regular play.
Paul Weller - Wild Wood
I came to this via Stanley Road, so I'd guess this turned up some time around '96. Nice mellow stuff - another throwback to all-night sessions, and early mornings. I hadn't listened to it for ages, but it was all as I remembered, and pretty damn good.
Björk - Debut
This album takes me back to those early breaks-between-terms from university, back at my parents' house. As much as I enjoyed the comforts of home, I was really missing everything that university had on offer. Björk kept me good company. A fairly regular listen.
World Party - Bang!
I remember listening to this in sixth form, and feeling like I'd found something special, and something a bit more 'serious music' than most of what I'd listened to before. I love how it's essentially just one bloke (Karl Wallinger), and 'All I Gave' is absolutely gawwwgeous darling.
It's one I come back to pretty regularly.
Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish
I thought I only had one 'Good' blur album in me, but I like this one a lot too. It feels very close to the stuff on Parklife. I think I bought this after Parklife, but it's my forgotten favourite. Hadn't listened for ages, but will do so a bit more now
Orbital - [Untitled]
A *very* recent joiner - thanks to HowFar. My other experiences had been a bit hit and miss - but I really enjoyed listening to this one. I find it pretty difficult to write code when there are lots of lyrics in music - I tend to save that sort of thing for when I'm Photoshopping - this is a great album to get lost in the depths of logic Bonus points for the Paul McGann samples!
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
The stereotypical go-to angry album from start to finish. Frick the system! Picked up in Y1 of university from a friend.
Fond
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
I got on well with this at the time, and there are still some tracks I enjoy. But outside of those, it's all a bit samey.
Utah Saints - Utah Saints
Trouble is, the singles have been overplayed, and outside of those, it's quite dated. But ironically, I probably like the whole thing more now than I did back in the day.
Shrug
Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth
I could maybe bump this up to 'fond', but I listened to it this morning, and found it all a bit limp. The singles are still pretty happy - but it's a bit repetitive.
INXS - Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
I clearly must have liked INXS quite a bit, as I seem to have had quite a few of their albums - but I couldn't really be bothered to revisit this.
Spin Doctors - Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Um... ok so I still like Two Princes, and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong - but this experiment was over pretty quickly.
WTF
En Vogue - Funky Divas
Sorry. I liked a couple of the singles, and they seemed confident in what they were doing. But let's leave it there.
M People - Elegant Slumming
I think this is one of those albums, like Morcheeba, where every track has been used on an advert. HS has a lovely voice, but it's synonymous with cheesy uplifting sporting montages now - and I'm searching for a... reason why I bought it.
--
And that's it for another year. I think at least seven of these were bought in later years. 1993 was the year that I discovered going to the pub, so there's every chance that my money was not being spent on music. But hey, let's hope for a sweet spot, as October 1994 sees me head to Bristol for the first time.
Good
Deacon Blue - Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
This is my favourite DB album at the moment. It felt livelier and a bit more oomph-y than Fellow Hoodlums - Ricky and Lorraine doing a great job. Hadn't listened to it for a while, but I will be back for more.
The Breeders - Last Splash
The bass line from Cannonball is synonymous with the summer of '94 - we got Sky TV for the first time ever. And that meant my first chance to explore MTV. So I didn't get hold of this until I made friends with some American students at university - but I love it. Gets a semi-regular play.
Paul Weller - Wild Wood
I came to this via Stanley Road, so I'd guess this turned up some time around '96. Nice mellow stuff - another throwback to all-night sessions, and early mornings. I hadn't listened to it for ages, but it was all as I remembered, and pretty damn good.
Björk - Debut
This album takes me back to those early breaks-between-terms from university, back at my parents' house. As much as I enjoyed the comforts of home, I was really missing everything that university had on offer. Björk kept me good company. A fairly regular listen.
World Party - Bang!
I remember listening to this in sixth form, and feeling like I'd found something special, and something a bit more 'serious music' than most of what I'd listened to before. I love how it's essentially just one bloke (Karl Wallinger), and 'All I Gave' is absolutely gawwwgeous darling.
It's one I come back to pretty regularly.
Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish
I thought I only had one 'Good' blur album in me, but I like this one a lot too. It feels very close to the stuff on Parklife. I think I bought this after Parklife, but it's my forgotten favourite. Hadn't listened for ages, but will do so a bit more now
Orbital - [Untitled]
A *very* recent joiner - thanks to HowFar. My other experiences had been a bit hit and miss - but I really enjoyed listening to this one. I find it pretty difficult to write code when there are lots of lyrics in music - I tend to save that sort of thing for when I'm Photoshopping - this is a great album to get lost in the depths of logic
Bonus points for the Paul McGann samples! Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
The stereotypical go-to angry album from start to finish. Frick the system! Picked up in Y1 of university from a friend.
Fond
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
I got on well with this at the time, and there are still some tracks I enjoy. But outside of those, it's all a bit samey.
Utah Saints - Utah Saints
Trouble is, the singles have been overplayed, and outside of those, it's quite dated. But ironically, I probably like the whole thing more now than I did back in the day.
Shrug
Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth
I could maybe bump this up to 'fond', but I listened to it this morning, and found it all a bit limp. The singles are still pretty happy - but it's a bit repetitive.
INXS - Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
I clearly must have liked INXS quite a bit, as I seem to have had quite a few of their albums - but I couldn't really be bothered to revisit this.
Spin Doctors - Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Um... ok so I still like Two Princes, and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong - but this experiment was over pretty quickly.
WTF
En Vogue - Funky Divas
Sorry. I liked a couple of the singles, and they seemed confident in what they were doing. But let's leave it there.
M People - Elegant Slumming
I think this is one of those albums, like Morcheeba, where every track has been used on an advert. HS has a lovely voice, but it's synonymous with cheesy uplifting sporting montages now - and I'm searching for a... reason why I bought it.
--
And that's it for another year. I think at least seven of these were bought in later years. 1993 was the year that I discovered going to the pub, so there's every chance that my money was not being spent on music. But hey, let's hope for a sweet spot, as October 1994 sees me head to Bristol for the first time.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Confession time - I bought that Spin Doctors album (on cassette!) and played it a lot. I can sing along to the two you mention and I recall my favourite was Jimmy Olsen's Blues but IIRC that sounded almost exactly like Two Princes.McGoohan4:44pm, 16th Mar 2021
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I think I taped it off someonefetcheveryone4:45pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Wowsers, 8 last time, this time, 1.....what was I doing in 93?Ocelot Spleens5:12pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Bigger confession.FergusG6:00pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Kim & Kelley from the Breeders are IMO still doing some superb stuff now (and they turn 60 this year).Cerrertonia6:14pm, 16th Mar 2021
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I love Utah Saints, that album is class...Tazsedai7:22pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Spin Doctors were better live than recorded... Some on there I've forgotten all about. Starting with Last Splash; right nowflanker7:38pm, 16th Mar 2021
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My faves from '93 were the third album by the Levellers, Some Fantastic Place by Squeeze and Aerosmith's "Get a Grip".Sigh7:58pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Some Fantastic Place is one of my favourite ever songs. That Spin Doctors album is one of the few I’ve ever got rid of soon after buying.Diogenes8:45pm, 16th Mar 2021
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(All your good ones are good 😌)Diogenes8:45pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Debut is a true classic. Spin Doctors rings a bell but I can't recall any songs.sallykate8:57pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Agree with DioLindsD9:00pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Was thr Bjork album really 1993? My memory is really playing tricks- I'd left uni by then but can still see me playing it in my room.MabelMoonface9:33pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Thank you for reminding me about World Party....MazH10:51pm, 16th Mar 2021
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Can't help being a little disappointed there's not even a mention of one of my all-time favourite albums, Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream!I saw ishep come sailing in5:26am, 17th Mar 2021
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Absolutely, Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream is a belterBoingy8:26am, 17th Mar 2021
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A third vote for Siamese Dream. So many amazing tracks 🤪depeche_mould9:34am, 17th Mar 2021
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Ah, The Breeders and Bjork - very happy memories of both of those. I have the Utah Saints album, but can’t remember the last time I listened to any of it. Sitting right het to The Breeders in the NME top 20 for 1993 is Star by Belly, which is still one of my favourites - Gepetto, Slow Dog, Feed The Tree... just magnificent.HowFar?9:55am, 17th Mar 2021
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Bjork is a great shout. I loved Two Princes by the Spin Doctors. A big record in the early days of MTVDerby Tup3:30pm, 17th Mar 2021
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Interesting list! Love the World Party and Paul Weller albums and also like Bjork's one. Utah Saints rang a bell and when I checked my iPod I found I've got Lost Vagueness by them which is a gorgeous trackLittle Nemo7:16pm, 17th Mar 2021
Last week's graphs showed that our quicker runners pick up lots of their miles at about 100s/mile slower than their race pace. If you missed it, here's a link: fetcheveryone.com/blog/3/2021/3#blog420521
This week, I wondered how far we all run when we set out each day. For a long time, my default 'tick in the box' run would be a three miler round the local lake. But more recently, I've upped that to make five miles my default. There's a nice graph that shows this in the collection on the training home page. It's titled 'Runs By Daily Distance'.
This week's first graph (below) shows daily distance along the bottom, and the average number of days during the ten weeks pre-race that our runners will complete this distance. The distances are rounded, so a 7.49 mile run will show in the '7' pot, whereas a 7.51 mile run will show in the '8' pot.
In case you're struggling to read this graph... look at the big spike at three miles. That means it's a common distance for folks to go and run. The sub-65 (dark green) runners do an average of eight of these during the pre-race 10 week period, but the sub-35 (dark blue) runners only do a couple. The most popular distance among the sub-35's is shown by the dark blue peak at 10 miles.
It's interesting to look at all the peaks in this graph. There are definite bumps for everyone at 10mi and 13mi - I haven't checked whether these correspond to races, or whether they are nice milestones that attract attention during training. There's also a bump at 20 miles, which suggests that 10k PB attempts are often nestled in before or after marathons - which makes sense.
We can make that graph a bit more readable, by grouping the runs a little bit. I've put them into three categories - less than 6mi; 6-10mi; and 10mi+. Here's what we get:
We established a few weeks ago that our quicker runners tend to run more miles - and that they run more days per week. The total height of the columns illustrate this nicely. Our sub-35 runners have trained on 57 of the 70 days; whereas the sub-65's train on 24 days.
But the colours tell the story in more detail. Nearly every other run (47%) of our speediest group is 10 miles or more (the yellow chunks). Remember last week? They're clocking up big miles at a relatively easy pace. Less than 20% of their outings are less than 6 miles. When it comes to running 10k, it's almost literally an every day occurrence for them. It's nice to be able to use 'literally' without preceding it with it "I was like", and following it with something that I'm not doing literally
The ten milers, and 6-10 mile runs drop off consistently as we work down through the pace groups. The sub-65's average two 10mi+ runs in the ten weeks pre-race, and four 6-10mi runs.
We can't all be fast - but we can stop and consider the shape of our training. A word of caution though - if you change things, don't expect your body to catch up straight away. Extra effort of any kind = extra stress that your body has to deal with. If you're enjoying things the way they are, then remember how lucky you are!
That's it for this week. If you want more of these, please leave a comment with your suggestions for the pot. It's great to get your feedback!
This week, I wondered how far we all run when we set out each day. For a long time, my default 'tick in the box' run would be a three miler round the local lake. But more recently, I've upped that to make five miles my default. There's a nice graph that shows this in the collection on the training home page. It's titled 'Runs By Daily Distance'.
This week's first graph (below) shows daily distance along the bottom, and the average number of days during the ten weeks pre-race that our runners will complete this distance. The distances are rounded, so a 7.49 mile run will show in the '7' pot, whereas a 7.51 mile run will show in the '8' pot.
In case you're struggling to read this graph... look at the big spike at three miles. That means it's a common distance for folks to go and run. The sub-65 (dark green) runners do an average of eight of these during the pre-race 10 week period, but the sub-35 (dark blue) runners only do a couple. The most popular distance among the sub-35's is shown by the dark blue peak at 10 miles.
It's interesting to look at all the peaks in this graph. There are definite bumps for everyone at 10mi and 13mi - I haven't checked whether these correspond to races, or whether they are nice milestones that attract attention during training. There's also a bump at 20 miles, which suggests that 10k PB attempts are often nestled in before or after marathons - which makes sense.
We can make that graph a bit more readable, by grouping the runs a little bit. I've put them into three categories - less than 6mi; 6-10mi; and 10mi+. Here's what we get:
We established a few weeks ago that our quicker runners tend to run more miles - and that they run more days per week. The total height of the columns illustrate this nicely. Our sub-35 runners have trained on 57 of the 70 days; whereas the sub-65's train on 24 days.
But the colours tell the story in more detail. Nearly every other run (47%) of our speediest group is 10 miles or more (the yellow chunks). Remember last week? They're clocking up big miles at a relatively easy pace. Less than 20% of their outings are less than 6 miles. When it comes to running 10k, it's almost literally an every day occurrence for them. It's nice to be able to use 'literally' without preceding it with it "I was like", and following it with something that I'm not doing literally
The ten milers, and 6-10 mile runs drop off consistently as we work down through the pace groups. The sub-65's average two 10mi+ runs in the ten weeks pre-race, and four 6-10mi runs.
We can't all be fast - but we can stop and consider the shape of our training. A word of caution though - if you change things, don't expect your body to catch up straight away. Extra effort of any kind = extra stress that your body has to deal with. If you're enjoying things the way they are, then remember how lucky you are!
That's it for this week. If you want more of these, please leave a comment with your suggestions for the pot. It's great to get your feedback!
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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That's neat (I think I'm in the sub-40, regular '5-mile' peak, which is a nice length run to fit in before I go to work)Oranj4:14pm, 15th Mar 2021
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That's very interesting, thanks Fetch, and accords with a piece of advice I've always tried hard to ignore ie get enough runs in which are longer than your race distance, and the race will see you with capacity to spare.LittleDonkeyDaisy4:15pm, 15th Mar 2021
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More fascinating analysis!Sigh4:25pm, 15th Mar 2021
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Great data analysis thanks.Ness
I’ve been wondering about post race recovery and how many days rest I should give myself after a race (when we restart real races ). I know some of our Fetch cohort have done things like the Brathay 10 in 10 so there’s been no recovery between races. I vaguely remember being told ‘a day for each mile raced’ which seems excessive for a marathon in particular. Mr Ness says that he felt a short recovery run the day after his marathons helped him. So... is there any data on Fetch that can help with considering what the best amount of time for post race rest and recovery is? Please ignore if this is an impossible question. Thanks 4:39pm, 15th Mar 2021 -
I think that's likelyfetcheveryone5:04pm, 15th Mar 2021
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Really interesting. 3 miles has also been my 'default' run for a long time. Back when I was faster, I used to more 6/7/8 midweek runs so I can 'literally' see the correlation (like).Homer5:11pm, 15th Mar 2021
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Excellent, thank youRaptors claws are coming to town
I enjoy racing 10k, which may have something to do with my training being just a string of easy over-distance runs because I like going out and running for 90-ish minutes.5:15pm, 15th Mar 2021 -
Just checking, you said daily distance, so that isn't necessarily one run eg I've done 10 today split into four runs. In one run I find it slightly surprising but then it's probably a 70 min run which is manageable especially as I'm guessing most of the group are runners that target longer distances and are maybe doubling.SPR
As someone just outside 35 but who targets longer distances, I count 9 miles plus as long and I've only recently started doing two long runs a week.
This type of analysis could be great for individual use with configurable distances at the three levels.7:06pm, 15th Mar 2021 -
Golly, I'm still struggling to GET to sub-65 for 10k. But I've done at least 10 miles/HM every month bar December for year. I may plod but I'm getting there. 67 mins at last attempt...Rullsenberg7:30pm, 15th Mar 2021
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*As someone just outside 35 but who targets SHORTER distances, lol.SPR7:39pm, 15th Mar 2021
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Fascinating analysis again, thanks fetch!WayOfTheDodo8:33pm, 15th Mar 2021
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I wonder if the 3mile peak is actually a 5km peak... Would be interesting to know the proportion of fetchies who measure in miles and kmmbolt8:53pm, 15th Mar 2021
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This is such a great analysis, thanks for sharing!!vava8:13am, 16th Mar 2021
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Just following on from my comment earlier, looking at my log and the graph for daily distance for the current period it looks to me like it is daily distance as my four run 10 mile day yesterday shows up as 10 miles. If the graphs here are on the same basis, I'd expect many parkruns to be hidden by WU/CD especially for high mileage groups. I'd also be interested in how many of those 10 mile days are single run days.SPR8:18am, 16th Mar 2021
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Further great analysis, thanks Fetch. Management summary - there's no substitute for lots of miles! And be careful, of course, important disclaimer! And most important part of your blog - enjoy! We are all lucky that we can run at all!Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G9:25am, 16th Mar 2021
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Very interesting. Clear message: MORE 10mi + RUNS NEEDED!depeche_mould9:44am, 16th Mar 2021
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How do you find the previous threads? ThxDaveyBrains7:57pm, 4th Apr 2021
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Despite the aim being in kilometres the training is all analysed in miles. I’d argue that the three mile run is more likely five kilometre and three miles coalescing together in a round grouping of kilo runners and mile runners. Would be interested to see data around the five mile run and the ten k runs as there you see the two groups pulling apart.mrmedia6:52am, 5th Apr 2022
Shock, horror! My policy of using the Wikipedia album lists for each year has an obvious flaw - in that if an album didn't make the top 10 during any week of the given year, then it isn't included. So I've also been looking at NME and Melody Maker top album lists, to pick up any stragglers. I have a few 1991 albums to add:
Good
The Orb - Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
If there was an absolutely amazing category, I would put this in it. I didn't hear this until 1994 when I was a student, but I just loved it. One of my fondest plays of this album came much later though - we were on a night flight back from our summer holiday, and I think I was the only one awake. The plane was pretty dark, and in the distance, there was a beautiful display of lightning. And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt...
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Another for the 'Absolutely Amazing' category. Again, I didn't find Massive Attack until I got to Bristol. But pretty much all their music helped cement my love of the place. Give me a massive pair of headphones with this playing on loop, and a walk down Park Street for a rummage in the record shops, before a few pints and a dozen games of pool in Durty Nelly's, and I'd snap your hand off.
Fond
Nirvana - Nevermind
I can't claim to have gotten much into this at the time - it was more my sister's thing - I think I sponged a copy off her. I quite liked the singles, but would tend to leave the rest. There was a lot I didn't understand in my sheltered little life
1992
Good
The Orb - U.F. Orb
Nothing has quite hit the heights of ABTU for me, at least not until their most recent outing (Abolition of the Royal Familia) - but I like pretty much everything The Orb has produced (although I'm a bit nonplussed by the Lee Scratch Perry stuff).
Crowded House - Woodface
My main memories of this album are from my second year of university. I recall a long period where I would stay up most of the night doing revision (goodness knows how effective that was), before nipping to the corner shop when the sun came up.
Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists
These were more my sisters thing in 1991; and I came to this album relatively late (like within the last few years, which might be seen as breaking Welsh law). There's a lot to like about it, and it's one I like to play in the car to give me a bit of a boost; or when I'm feeling a bit cross. Fame story - my sister went to Crosskeys college with them; and they came to my house and ate toast in our kitchen.
Was (Not Was) - Hello, Dad... I'm in Jail
Lots to like here - I like how each song seems that bit different from every other. I liked their quirkiness, and Somewhere In America (There's A Street Named After My Dad) still makes me cry. I arrived at this album via the fabulously surreal I Feel Better Than James Brown:
Fond
The B52s - Good Stuff
More joy. Not as good as Cosmic Thing, and doesn't get so many replays - but still a mouth-corner-lifter. Bonus point for having a song called Hot Pants Explosion.
REM - Automatic for the People
Lots to like on this album, but I don't think I've got through a whole listen in quite some time.
INXS - Welcome to Wherever You Are
Worth it entirely for Baby Don't Cry and Beautiful Girl. Probably my favourite INXS album - sponged a copy off someone in school.
Prince & The NPG - (Symbol)
More filth from the man in the spangly knickers
The Beautiful South - 0898
I really wanted this to feel as good as Choke - but it didn't. I stuck with them for a few more albums after this one, and even went to see them live in Cardiff in (I think) 95 - but they were a bit of a fading star for me.
The Shamen - Boss Drum
I like it a lot more now. Back in the day I took it back to Woolies for a refund
Shrug
The Cure - Wish
Friday I'm In Love was such a pig in a poke My sister was massively into them. I could probably do a 'Best Of' these days, but not the dark recesses of Robert Smiths mind
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - 1992 – The Love Album
Everyone in school liked Carter - so I gave it a try. I *sort of* got it, but I can't imagine this reaching my playlist any time soon.
Prefab Sprout - A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout
Whilst I played this quite a bit at the time, I haven't been able to face it since Daisy's party in Spaced.
Tears for Fears - Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92)
Um...?
Madness - Divine Madness
I don't think it's possible to *dislike* Madness - but it all feels so meh. Probably lots to do with overplaying and overhyping of their big hits - but feels a lot like novelty music.
Shakespears Sister - Hormonally Yours
Bought on the strength of the singles - and I think I played it quite a bit - but quite nonplussed by it now.
1993 coming soon
Good
The Orb - Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
If there was an absolutely amazing category, I would put this in it. I didn't hear this until 1994 when I was a student, but I just loved it. One of my fondest plays of this album came much later though - we were on a night flight back from our summer holiday, and I think I was the only one awake. The plane was pretty dark, and in the distance, there was a beautiful display of lightning. And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt...
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Another for the 'Absolutely Amazing' category. Again, I didn't find Massive Attack until I got to Bristol. But pretty much all their music helped cement my love of the place. Give me a massive pair of headphones with this playing on loop, and a walk down Park Street for a rummage in the record shops, before a few pints and a dozen games of pool in Durty Nelly's, and I'd snap your hand off.
Fond
Nirvana - Nevermind
I can't claim to have gotten much into this at the time - it was more my sister's thing - I think I sponged a copy off her. I quite liked the singles, but would tend to leave the rest. There was a lot I didn't understand in my sheltered little life
1992
Good
The Orb - U.F. Orb
Nothing has quite hit the heights of ABTU for me, at least not until their most recent outing (Abolition of the Royal Familia) - but I like pretty much everything The Orb has produced (although I'm a bit nonplussed by the Lee Scratch Perry stuff).
Crowded House - Woodface
My main memories of this album are from my second year of university. I recall a long period where I would stay up most of the night doing revision (goodness knows how effective that was), before nipping to the corner shop when the sun came up.
Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists
These were more my sisters thing in 1991; and I came to this album relatively late (like within the last few years, which might be seen as breaking Welsh law). There's a lot to like about it, and it's one I like to play in the car to give me a bit of a boost; or when I'm feeling a bit cross. Fame story - my sister went to Crosskeys college with them; and they came to my house and ate toast in our kitchen.
Was (Not Was) - Hello, Dad... I'm in Jail
Lots to like here - I like how each song seems that bit different from every other. I liked their quirkiness, and Somewhere In America (There's A Street Named After My Dad) still makes me cry. I arrived at this album via the fabulously surreal I Feel Better Than James Brown:
Fond
The B52s - Good Stuff
More joy. Not as good as Cosmic Thing, and doesn't get so many replays - but still a mouth-corner-lifter. Bonus point for having a song called Hot Pants Explosion.
REM - Automatic for the People
Lots to like on this album, but I don't think I've got through a whole listen in quite some time.
INXS - Welcome to Wherever You Are
Worth it entirely for Baby Don't Cry and Beautiful Girl. Probably my favourite INXS album - sponged a copy off someone in school.
Prince & The NPG - (Symbol)
More filth from the man in the spangly knickers
The Beautiful South - 0898
I really wanted this to feel as good as Choke - but it didn't. I stuck with them for a few more albums after this one, and even went to see them live in Cardiff in (I think) 95 - but they were a bit of a fading star for me.
The Shamen - Boss Drum
I like it a lot more now. Back in the day I took it back to Woolies for a refund
Shrug
The Cure - Wish
Friday I'm In Love was such a pig in a poke
My sister was massively into them. I could probably do a 'Best Of' these days, but not the dark recesses of Robert Smiths mind Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - 1992 – The Love Album
Everyone in school liked Carter - so I gave it a try. I *sort of* got it, but I can't imagine this reaching my playlist any time soon.
Prefab Sprout - A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout
Whilst I played this quite a bit at the time, I haven't been able to face it since Daisy's party in Spaced.
Tears for Fears - Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92)
Um...?
Madness - Divine Madness
I don't think it's possible to *dislike* Madness - but it all feels so meh. Probably lots to do with overplaying and overhyping of their big hits - but feels a lot like novelty music.
Shakespears Sister - Hormonally Yours
Bought on the strength of the singles - and I think I played it quite a bit - but quite nonplussed by it now.
1993 coming soon
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Obvs Generation Terrorists is MASSIVELY better than anything else hereMcGoohan However, I have struggled to find that Was Not Was album anywhere. It is superb. Not on Spotify nor nuffin. I must have a copy *somewhere*10:57am, 12th Mar 2021
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McG - I think the only option is to piece it together with YouTube. I've got Apple Music, and it's not on there, and neither is IFBTJB.fetcheveryone10:59am, 12th Mar 2021
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The Carter and Cure albums aren't the best they have done. I prefer Disintegration and 30something.chunkyblizzard11:02am, 12th Mar 2021
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Crikey - right Prefab Sprout album to love is Steve McQueen. I'm older than you. 1985! I didn't get into the Manics until 1996. Yes to Woodface - that was a gaming album for me (again, older than you, I was working by then and living in flat with partner, staying up playing games on my home PC. Built it myself - cost nearly £2000!) All INXS and REM is good, but again Kick 1987 and Out of Time 1990 respectively! Err... one could go on! Loving this, good reminders of albums to revisit. Thanks.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G11:10am, 12th Mar 2021
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I have 8 of those, I would move Carter up a notch, Wish not their best but up again. Park street indeed, I used to really like The Boston Tea Party, better still The Bag O' Nails.Ocelot Spleens11:11am, 12th Mar 2021
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One of the coolest 'fame stories' I've ever seen - that's brilliant!Albert O Balsam
Attending a gig in Portsmouth for Carter's Love Album tour was the sweatiest and most out of puff I've ever got. As in 'I can't catch my breath' levels - took it down a notch for the last half hour of jumping about. #memories11:29am, 12th Mar 2021 -
I used to like the record shops on Park Street too. I remember hearing an interesting tune in one shop, asked what it was, and bought the CD on the spot...much to the chagrin of some of the other customers who wanted it!Garfield11:50am, 12th Mar 2021
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I saw Crowded House live in Durban in 1993. They were amazing. Also saw the Finn Brothers at Hammersmith Apollo around 2004. Woodface is a superb album.God Rest Ye Merry Pothunter11:50am, 12th Mar 2021
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The Manics ate toast ... in your kitchen! WowDvorak
Whereas I would say that Jordan: The Comeback is THE Prefab Sprout album. Spiritual.12:05pm, 12th Mar 2021 -
Nice Manics toast storyBoingy I saw them play at the Astoria in London in 1992 when Generation Terrorists had not long been out. A mate of mine was seeing a girl who worked for columbia records so managed to scam some access all areas passes. Free bar afterwards with the crew and band. Blew my young floppy fringed and tiny mind at the time. Still a favourite gig and album to this day. Oh, and yes to the Orb & Massive Attack.....and I'd promote Prefab Sprout12:11pm, 12th Mar 2021
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Manics for the Win out of that lot. I didn't rate that Shakespear's Sister album but their first album ("Sacred Heart" from 1989) was ok.Sigh12:35pm, 12th Mar 2021
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Glad I came back in here for Dv's recommendation of a later Prefab Sprout album. Will give it a try. Didn't enjoy them by the time it got to Cars and Girls and King of Rock and Roll. My ex was a bit Carter fan. I thought they were much earlier than 90s. My wee sis's brother was in a band that supported Finn brothers / Crowded House in New Zealand (early 80s?) and got propositioned by one of them. Not sure which. May have to investigate!!Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)1:37pm, 12th Mar 2021
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Not my wee sis, what am I saying. My WIFE. How could I forget! D'oh! :-:Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)1:38pm, 12th Mar 2021
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I'm glad someone was feeding them, they looked a bit malnourished around the time of Generation Terrorists.becca71:55pm, 12th Mar 2021
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Condemned to Rock&Roll is an absolute banger.gambrinus
Little Baby Nothing is a gem of a song. The video would give those Men's Rights Activists dickheads an absolute conniption.
Repeat is fantastic, the remix is shit.2:56pm, 12th Mar 2021 -
We have a lot less in common this year!Angus Clydesdale3:11pm, 12th Mar 2021
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A great list of albums there. I loved perusing the record shops in Park Street when I was a student (about 10 years earlier than you).Dibble3:57pm, 12th Mar 2021
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I saw The Orb in 1992, with Primal Scream. They did a benefit gig for miners at Sheffield Arena. I had a seat, rather than a ticket for the floor area and was not as happy as I should have been. It was still a great gig though. Future Sound of London - Accelerator makes it into the NME top 30 albums of 1992. That had Papua New Guinea on it, which was enough to make it worth buying.HowFar?4:47pm, 12th Mar 2021
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I loved that Orb album, (Adventures)- I played it to death. Most of the others formed my soundtrack for my final year at uni (Bristol!)- Was (not Was) , Prince and The Shamen are particularly memorable.MabelMoonface6:39pm, 12th Mar 2021
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I liked Boss Drum and the Shamen but not Shakespeare Sister. They were one of those "I hate but everyone else loves" things.Minnie Mince Pie Mad9:51pm, 12th Mar 2021
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More in common with me this year. Mostly excellent.LindsD10:01pm, 12th Mar 2021
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Wrong about Madness Fetch. I loathe them and their stupid jerky dancing that literally make me feel ill.Joopsy1:55pm, 13th Mar 2021
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I was in a bit of a slump in 92 and lost my way back to a heavy Doors/Love period. From this list I can see why, there is little to temp me to revisit it.Joopsy2:02pm, 13th Mar 2021
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How could I possibly forget The Sundays album 'Blind'? I'm sure that was 1992. Everything by that band is absolute gold.Boingy8:24am, 17th Mar 2021
Last month, I blogged about how Google Ads accumulate revenue day by day; but then at the end of the month, there's a shock when they don't give it all to you, because it's been deemed 'invalid': fetcheveryone.com/blog/3/2021/2#blog418275
The January payment was the worst to date - they cut what I was expecting by 45%! So my February blog was all about trying to establish and eradicate the cause (TL;DR = bots). I'm pleased to say that it worked really well - although I am not a penny better off It's all about removing that false optimism, and the slightly crushing feeling that follows
Thanks to my bot-sniffing tactics from 11th Feb onwards, the gross amount of ad money in Feb was 30% less than January. But this time, Google only invalidated 22% (most of which, I hope relates to the first 11 days of Feb). At the end of the day, the final ad revenue was pretty similar between Jan and Feb - so it looks like I've made progress. If there's anyone even remotely interested in any of this, I will report the March invalidated figure next month
--
By my calculations, we have had 69 complete blogging days this year (today is day 70, but there's still time) and there are currently 57 people still on the daily blogging wagon (which I fell off a long time ago):
eL Bee!
McGoohan
fraggle
ChrisHB
HowFar?
northernslowcoach
D2
Ness
Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)
phal
Purps
cathrobinson
Fizz
Ultracat
minardi
Sharkie
HellsBells
Velociraptor
geordiegirl
SarahWoo
Winniefree
Sporty2010
PenW
GlennR
becca7
Autumnleaves
laterunner
westmoors
Ocelot Spleens
MarkyMarkMark (3M)
WA
TheScribbler
richmac
Corrah
GimmeMedals
Alice the Camel
LazyDaisy
um
RichHL
MisterTea
Rosehip
Groundhog
DrPhleecingD
Funky Chicken
Spanners99
Lip Gloss
CogNoscensme AHA
MsG
idle_wilder
Sampson
Fenland Flier
chunkywizard
jabberknit
NDWDave
TBR (TheBeardRunner)
Naughty_nickers
FenlandRunner
The January payment was the worst to date - they cut what I was expecting by 45%! So my February blog was all about trying to establish and eradicate the cause (TL;DR = bots). I'm pleased to say that it worked really well - although I am not a penny better off
It's all about removing that false optimism, and the slightly crushing feeling that follows Thanks to my bot-sniffing tactics from 11th Feb onwards, the gross amount of ad money in Feb was 30% less than January. But this time, Google only invalidated 22% (most of which, I hope relates to the first 11 days of Feb). At the end of the day, the final ad revenue was pretty similar between Jan and Feb - so it looks like I've made progress. If there's anyone even remotely interested in any of this, I will report the March invalidated figure next month
--
By my calculations, we have had 69 complete blogging days this year (today is day 70, but there's still time) and there are currently 57 people still on the daily blogging wagon (which I fell off a long time ago):
eL Bee!
McGoohan
fraggle
ChrisHB
HowFar?
northernslowcoach
D2
Ness
Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)
phal
Purps
cathrobinson
Fizz
Ultracat
minardi
Sharkie
HellsBells
Velociraptor
geordiegirl
SarahWoo
Winniefree
Sporty2010
PenW
GlennR
becca7
Autumnleaves
laterunner
westmoors
Ocelot Spleens
MarkyMarkMark (3M)
WA
TheScribbler
richmac
Corrah
GimmeMedals
Alice the Camel
LazyDaisy
um
RichHL
MisterTea
Rosehip
Groundhog
DrPhleecingD
Funky Chicken
Spanners99
Lip Gloss
CogNoscensme AHA
MsG
idle_wilder
Sampson
Fenland Flier
chunkywizard
jabberknit
NDWDave
TBR (TheBeardRunner)
Naughty_nickers
FenlandRunner
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Good news on the bot sniffer (insert childish snigger here)Corrah10:08am, 11th Mar 2021
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We're doing well with the blogging. Surprised I'm still in since quite often I haven't made my blog entry visible, mainly on the grounds of it being even more trivial than usual.Raptors claws are coming to town10:22am, 11th Mar 2021
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I thought I’d blogged every day, I’ll go back and check.Diogenes10:22am, 11th Mar 2021
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You missed 22nd Feb, sorry Dio :-/fetcheveryone10:32am, 11th Mar 2021
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There's a lot of us left! I'm impressed. I am having to remind myself - definitely not an ingrained habit yet.Autumnleaves10:36am, 11th Mar 2021
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wow, well done to the 57 - more than I expected. I'm feeling smug as I've done day 70 already - Mars Bar Brownies anyone?chunkyblizzard10:39am, 11th Mar 2021
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I thought I’d blogged every day, but just checked and I can see on the 26 Feb I thought I’d saved a blog I hadn’t quite finished writing as a private blog, but obviously didn’t save it, and was then a couple of minutes late in posting when I did finish it -doh! 🤦🏻♀️jennyh10:51am, 11th Mar 2021
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I had a faint hope that I might have accidentally fallen off. Only another 308 to go 🤯.CogNoscensme AHA
LOL at Corrah. See my blog!10:51am, 11th Mar 2021 -
Blast, and I didn't even realiseDiogenes I was quite distracted, and then very happy that evening.11:20am, 11th Mar 2021
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Glad the ad monitoring is working so you at least have a better idea of what you’re going to get money wise. The blogadaw list is interesting.Ness11:23am, 11th Mar 2021
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Would it make a difference if I turned ads on occasionally? Say one day a week for instance?Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)11:41am, 11th Mar 2021
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Not really Mrs J, but thank you. This really wasn't aimed at making anyone feel they should contribute more - it's entirely about me sharing the process I've gone through - I was super-pleased to get to the bottom of it.fetcheveryone11:44am, 11th Mar 2021
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OkMrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)11:50am, 11th Mar 2021
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I have never sniffed a bot, no matter what you might have heard elsewhere.RichHL12:07pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I fell off ages ago, but I'll live....and try again next year!Garfield4:30pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I don't know long I'll keep it going for - some days I'm definitely more stuck for ideas than others. Currently wondering what my collective word count stands at for the year so far - probably a lot higher than any fiction I've tried to write lately!Funky Chicken5:44pm, 11th Mar 2021
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Were bot-sniffers dogs in a previous life?McGoohan6:38pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I'm very surprised I'm still on it!idle_wilder7:48pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I blogged for all of January and felt I couldn't inflict dullness on the Fetchiverse for another 11 months. Plus the thought of stressing over when I was going to get a blog written on days that it would potentially be difficult made me realise that I didn't really need that kind of stress. I might do another run of a month later in the year though and I've still written more blogs in this year so far than the whole of the previous two put together!BaronessBL8:45pm, 11th Mar 2021
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Yeaa I've managed to blog! This is a new thing for me. Boring for everyone else but I'm liking getting something out every day!Naughty_nickers9:47pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I fell off cos I couldn't tell the time 😂Qwerty10:51pm, 11th Mar 2021
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Qwerty - same here 😂jennyh11:58pm, 11th Mar 2021
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Well done all of you who are still in. I don't think I've even ever blogged 2 days in a row...TeeBee8:42am, 12th Mar 2021
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It’s trying to rhyme everyday I find the hardest...the rest I can speak shit for the sake of itMerry Lip Gloss11:02pm, 12th Mar 2021
I've made more updates to the user profile page, so I thought I'd do a quick compare-and-contrast so you know what's what.
Here's the old one, for contrast:
EDIT: You can see the old version of your profile for a limited time at fetcheveryone.com/old-userprofile.php
And here's the new one:
One of the aims was to be a little bit more compact - you can see that the new one is quite a bit shorter, but with more bits of content. I've also standardised the little boxes with the black header bars at the top of each one. If you don't have much in your profile, I've also tried to leave blank boxes in place - in the hope that it will encourage folks to fill in the gaps.
I'll try not to repeat any of the stuff I've mentioned in my previous blogs on the subject - but there are a few new bits to tell you about.
Recent Blogs
There's a little list of your latest blog titles, so people can dive straight in.
Recent Training
Rather than having to dive into the training tab of the profile (which still shows about a month's worth), I thought it'd be nice to have the most recent handful of entries on the main profile page. This section won't show any data if you've turned your training log sharing off.
Planned Races
Some people had zero, one or two future races listed; and other people had *dozens* Rather than display all of these on the first bit of the profile, it will just show a handful - but you can see more if you go to the 'All Races' tab on the profile.
(GPS) Benchmarks
These will only display if you've set your permissions up to share 'everything' or 'stats'. They're pulled from your log, and represent your fastest times over the last 12 months. With no racing at the moment, I've personally found these to be pretty motivating.
Recent Threads
I thought a lot about whether to include this or not - because it does throw a bit of a spotlight on where you like to post. But with every profile that I looked at, I couldn't see a single thread highlighted that made me go "ooh, my goodness, they don't post on *that* thread do they?". Because with fingers-on-Captain-Hook's-bad-hand exceptions, all our threads are pretty wholesome, I'd say. So I've added this for everyone BUT I would be more than happy to remove it for anyone if you want me to - just drop me a line. A quick note on how it works: it looks at all the threads you've posted on within the last 30 days, and highlights the ones where you've made most posts.
Followers
Another new bit. Now you can see all the people who are following your training.
--
That's all the new stuff (along with the other bits mentioned in my last few blogs). I hope you like it.
Here's the old one, for contrast:
EDIT: You can see the old version of your profile for a limited time at fetcheveryone.com/old-userprofile.php
And here's the new one:
One of the aims was to be a little bit more compact - you can see that the new one is quite a bit shorter, but with more bits of content. I've also standardised the little boxes with the black header bars at the top of each one. If you don't have much in your profile, I've also tried to leave blank boxes in place - in the hope that it will encourage folks to fill in the gaps.
I'll try not to repeat any of the stuff I've mentioned in my previous blogs on the subject - but there are a few new bits to tell you about.
Recent Blogs
There's a little list of your latest blog titles, so people can dive straight in.
Recent Training
Rather than having to dive into the training tab of the profile (which still shows about a month's worth), I thought it'd be nice to have the most recent handful of entries on the main profile page. This section won't show any data if you've turned your training log sharing off.
Planned Races
Some people had zero, one or two future races listed; and other people had *dozens*
Rather than display all of these on the first bit of the profile, it will just show a handful - but you can see more if you go to the 'All Races' tab on the profile. (GPS) Benchmarks
These will only display if you've set your permissions up to share 'everything' or 'stats'. They're pulled from your log, and represent your fastest times over the last 12 months. With no racing at the moment, I've personally found these to be pretty motivating.
Recent Threads
I thought a lot about whether to include this or not - because it does throw a bit of a spotlight on where you like to post. But with every profile that I looked at, I couldn't see a single thread highlighted that made me go "ooh, my goodness, they don't post on *that* thread do they?". Because with fingers-on-Captain-Hook's-bad-hand exceptions, all our threads are pretty wholesome, I'd say. So I've added this for everyone BUT I would be more than happy to remove it for anyone if you want me to - just drop me a line. A quick note on how it works: it looks at all the threads you've posted on within the last 30 days, and highlights the ones where you've made most posts.
Followers
Another new bit. Now you can see all the people who are following your training.
--
That's all the new stuff (along with the other bits mentioned in my last few blogs). I hope you like it.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Looks much betterDiogenes3:13pm, 9th Mar 2021
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I like it.Ness3:14pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Looks good!! The blog list also includes private blogs, presumably they are not generally accessible, or are they only appearing to me as I have permission?Goofee3:21pm, 9th Mar 2021
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They are only visible to you G.fetcheveryone3:24pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Excellent, thanksGoofee3:26pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Wow!♪♫ Synge ♪♫3:30pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Looking good.um
Just one comment on the threads - and thank for the display criteria up there ^^
But it's different to the list of 'recent contributions' on the thread page. Different criteria, I suspect (forum thread is latest chronologically?)
Just saying.
Have yet to decide if I think it's better or worse or just different having 2 different lists.
Aargh .. can't pull a pic in here like blogs or threads
3:33pm, 9th Mar 2021 -
I like it. Is there a way of find out what training session my benchmarks came from? Mine are way out (thinking about it it'll probably be a duathlon where the whole thing has logged as a run) but it would still be nice to click the benchmark and get taken to the training log entryBattlecat3:47pm, 9th Mar 2021
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I very very much like the addition of seeing who is following your trainingElsie Too3:53pm, 9th Mar 2021
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@um - my feeling is that as a user, viewing the forum, you're most likely to want to see the absolute latest conversations you've been involved in; whereas someone coming to see your profile might be more interested in a more general flavour of where you hang out.fetcheveryone
@Battlecat - if you go to Training > Benchmarks, they all link through to specific sessions.3:56pm, 9th Mar 2021 -
nice additions, thankschunkyblizzard4:03pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Looks great! Much neater.Alice Navidad4:23pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Looks good!Sigh4:23pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Oh I like this!! Much tidier and I didn't even know my old profile wasn't - thanks fetch. I was wondering what you were going to be doing when I listened to this weeks podcastgeordiebells5:41pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Love that 😁 great update!panad5:41pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Minor point, it’s a bit monochrome. Maybe a hint of colour in the backgrounds of some of the boxes?Fragile Xmas Ornament7:01pm, 9th Mar 2021
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At last, I can see who's following meOranj
7:43pm, 9th Mar 2021 -
This is all great. Nice work!roberton8:45pm, 9th Mar 2021
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I like all of this... except the lack of profile pic on portrait mobiles, though 'tis a minor pointI saw ishep come sailing in9:09pm, 9th Mar 2021
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Cool.Nightjar8:42am, 11th Mar 2021
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I like it except that it's a bit harder to see what the badges are without clicking on them one by one. Can they be a bit bigger?Nord Rundeer 🦌3:56pm, 11th Mar 2021
Last week, I started looking at the training pace of 10k runners. It was interesting to see the typical difference between race pace and training pace - but there was also a lot of variation amongst the data.
As I hinted at towards the end of the blog, the average pace of a runner can hide all sorts of stuff. It doesn't tell us whether a runner does all his or her training at exactly the same pace; or whether they mix it up with a mixture of speed work and long slow runs. Both could yield the same average figure.
Here's the graph I ended on last week:
Flatlander pointed out that width of all the curves was not that dissimilar. I didn't say anything at the time, but I knew I had the follow-up graph So here's that same graph, but I've adjusted the x-axis, so that you can see each curve with respect to race pace.
The vertical line shows the race pace for each group, so that you can see how their training pace is distributed. The bit to the left represents 'quicker than race pace', and the bit to the right represents 'slower than race pace'. The sub-65 group (the dark green line) do the greatest percentage of their running at quicker than race pace; and the sub-35 group (the dark blue line) do the lowest percentage.
The graphs above show percentage of mileage, not total mileage. This next one shows the total mileage of our runners, and I think it's pretty cool:
Like we've seen in previous weeks, the faster runners have a tendency to do more mileage - the curves show this, with the sub-35 (dark blue) as the biggest curve; and the sub-65 (dark green) as the smallest curve.
There are two things that really stuck out for me on this graph. Firstly, the actual total mileage at 'quicker than race pace' was not that different across all our pace groups! Because secondly, it's training volume at slower paces where we see a real big difference. The peak in that blue graph is at about 110s/mile slower than race pace. You can almost draw another curve through the peaks of all the different colour curves, which would bring you back to something like the average figures we've spoken about in previous weeks.
In my view, this offers some good take-home advice for all of us. We'd all like to be a bit quicker, even if we're just chasing this year's best times, rather than our all-time bests. And the answer is not all about speedwork and pace effort. Those speedy people don't go around at full throttle all the time. It's about consistent, focused mileage.
Last week, I suggested that maybe the volume of 'quicker than race pace' mileage for slower runners came down to a tendency to do shorter runs. On these shorter runs, it's more fun to throw all the logs on the fire. Next week I will look at our speed groups, and the typical distance that they achieve on a given *day*. How often do each group cover 10k in one sitting? Tune in next time
As I hinted at towards the end of the blog, the average pace of a runner can hide all sorts of stuff. It doesn't tell us whether a runner does all his or her training at exactly the same pace; or whether they mix it up with a mixture of speed work and long slow runs. Both could yield the same average figure.
Here's the graph I ended on last week:
Flatlander pointed out that width of all the curves was not that dissimilar. I didn't say anything at the time, but I knew I had the follow-up graph
So here's that same graph, but I've adjusted the x-axis, so that you can see each curve with respect to race pace. The vertical line shows the race pace for each group, so that you can see how their training pace is distributed. The bit to the left represents 'quicker than race pace', and the bit to the right represents 'slower than race pace'. The sub-65 group (the dark green line) do the greatest percentage of their running at quicker than race pace; and the sub-35 group (the dark blue line) do the lowest percentage.
The graphs above show percentage of mileage, not total mileage. This next one shows the total mileage of our runners, and I think it's pretty cool:
Like we've seen in previous weeks, the faster runners have a tendency to do more mileage - the curves show this, with the sub-35 (dark blue) as the biggest curve; and the sub-65 (dark green) as the smallest curve.
There are two things that really stuck out for me on this graph. Firstly, the actual total mileage at 'quicker than race pace' was not that different across all our pace groups! Because secondly, it's training volume at slower paces where we see a real big difference. The peak in that blue graph is at about 110s/mile slower than race pace. You can almost draw another curve through the peaks of all the different colour curves, which would bring you back to something like the average figures we've spoken about in previous weeks.
In my view, this offers some good take-home advice for all of us. We'd all like to be a bit quicker, even if we're just chasing this year's best times, rather than our all-time bests. And the answer is not all about speedwork and pace effort. Those speedy people don't go around at full throttle all the time. It's about consistent, focused mileage.
Last week, I suggested that maybe the volume of 'quicker than race pace' mileage for slower runners came down to a tendency to do shorter runs. On these shorter runs, it's more fun to throw all the logs on the fire. Next week I will look at our speed groups, and the typical distance that they achieve on a given *day*. How often do each group cover 10k in one sitting? Tune in next time
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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That last graph is ace, because I am always telling everyone I coach your easy/long recovery runs want to be 90s to 2 min slower than your 10k pace. I had no real proof other than I kept looking at people's runs on here and over there, and you can see it. Also that if you want to improve your time, tearing around on a track is all well and good, but actualy, you just have to go out do more easy runs.Ocelot Spleens3:45pm, 8th Mar 2021
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Brilliant analysis!Sigh3:57pm, 8th Mar 2021
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I wonder if you fit gaussians to them, then plot the mean versus "race pace" whether that relationship will be linear. Doesn't look quite linear, but might be close. Happy to do it if you want to bung the data over (if that's allowable)rf_fozzy4:04pm, 8th Mar 2021
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Just to be a little contrary...Rosehip
What if the faster runners are doing that volume of (much) slower than race pace mileage because they're fast and want to get faster and that's what the lore/science (?) says that's what they should do? rather than what they're doing having the effect of making them faster?
How do we dig out cause and effect from the data and use it to prove causation?
That would be really cool since the numbers and timeframe on here must be quite large compared to an academic study
Is there a way of digging deeper into the sub 35ers data?4:07pm, 8th Mar 2021 -
A questionnaire for the sub-35 runners could be cool.fetcheveryone4:13pm, 8th Mar 2021
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More training volume at aerobic pace = better conditioning. It's fairly well understood and I don't think a questionnaire would dig that detail out anyway. There's a reason why Farah et al run miles and miles a week (plus as you run faster, you can cover more distance in the same time).rf_fozzy
Doesn't work for everyone, but generally the more volume you do, the faster you get. For a (just) sub 40min 10ker at my best, I found that I needed a minimum of 30miles per week (~5-6hrs training) just to stand still. I didn't start improving until I went to 35-40mpw. Then saw more improvement at 50mpw.
Then got injured falling off a rock/got busy with stuff and never quite managed to find the time to get backt to that volume.4:22pm, 8th Mar 2021 -
Do we know how total training time compares? Faster runners obviously cover more miles in the same time, so is it possible that all groups are putting in similar hours, just the faster runners go further in that time? Might be interesting to control for that in some way?WayOfTheDodo5:07pm, 8th Mar 2021
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bja - Similar hours is 'less' training if you're going to be racing the same distance but you just take longer. Appreciate it isn't 'fair' and means faster runners can do more training but training has to be built around the event you're doing.SPR
Agree with Fozzy, the basics of training are well known. When I ran my 10000m PB most of my mileage was closer to 160 secs slower than race pace IIRC.5:47pm, 8th Mar 2021 -
I had a feeling that running slower but with more volume was the way to go so May last year I bought Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 book which explained the logic behind this training regime. Since then my weekly mileage has increased and my 10k race (virtual) times have improved.dobbers7:06pm, 8th Mar 2021
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That 6a curve tells a story. Nice statsOranj7:45pm, 8th Mar 2021
If you have an un-fixed *public* injury in your injury list, it now shows up as a little plaster icon on your user profile.
For an example, you can see the icon in the status bar on my profile: fetcheveryone.com/userprofile.php?id=3 thanks to my right calf.
What I noticed, when I was looking at the data, is that quite a few folks have injuries from ages ago that either (a) they've been struggling with for ages, or (b) they've forgotten to close
For an example, you can see the icon in the status bar on my profile: fetcheveryone.com/userprofile.php?id=3 thanks to my right calf.
What I noticed, when I was looking at the data, is that quite a few folks have injuries from ages ago that either (a) they've been struggling with for ages, or (b) they've forgotten to close
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Will check that out. Thanks.Ness1:33pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Haha love that plaster.runnerbean1:35pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Can't see a plaster, does that mean I don't have an injury?Bob!1:42pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Yes, good for youfetcheveryone1:57pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Plasters added 🤕 Hoping to rip them off soon!Mince Pikelet2:01pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Yes I see. Hoping mine gets ripped (gently) off soonNight-owl3:16pm, 6th Mar 2021
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Oops, apparently I’ve had a hip niggle for 15 months.Fragile Xmas Ornament5:14pm, 6th Mar 2021
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I was expecting a plaster and there wasn't one, tempted to add one for the pleasure of getting rid of it - I make lists of things I've done for the same reason....Autumnleaves7:57pm, 6th Mar 2021
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I leave my long term ones like my pelvis injury fro. 11 years ago as 1-Mild doesn't impact training because I can still feel it and I am aware it is a chronic weakness.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G7:41am, 8th Mar 2021
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Is there a way we can add an injury now?angelrose5:22pm, 11th Mar 2021
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It's not a new feature, but you can find it under Training > Injuries: fetcheveryone.com/injuries.phpfetcheveryone5:28pm, 11th Mar 2021
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Thanks, I knew I'd logged some before.angelrose5:37pm, 11th Mar 2021
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I've got some long term injuries which may never clear up, so I don't want to mark them as resolved. However, I am getting daily reminders to deal with them, and I can't see a way to turn off receiving these particular notifications every day. Help please?Flatlander2:52pm, 3rd Apr 2021
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Daily? It should be once a week at most. Send me a feedback and I’ll tackle it when I’m back at my desk.fetcheveryone3:18pm, 3rd Apr 2021
Another small report The old profile page felt like it had quite a few itty-bitty pieces - like the whole box devoted to the 'Add sticker' button.
I've moved that into the header now, as modelled by Katie:
There's an added bonus that if you visit the profile of someone who is already in your sticker book, like Katie is for me, then it displays 'In stickers', rather than 'Add to stickers', so you can see straight away whether you've collected them already.
Losing that bit of explanation in favour of a mystery button could cause new users to misunderstand the purpose of the sticker book. So I've added a little check - if you have no stickers in your collection, it will pop up a little confirmation box, attempting to explain what they are all about.
Another chunk tidied
EDIT: I couldn't put you through another blog for the sake of one further change, so I've added it here for the folks who are hanging on every word It's the 'Race Standard', which not many people have at the moment (just four so far in 2021, thanks to virtual races). Modelled by Sigh:
I've moved it out of its own box, into the profile header. It's clickable, and takes you to the standards page. Hopefully we'll see more people getting these as the lockdown sods off.
EDIT2: I CBA to add another image for this but I've added a 'Pics' tab to user profiles - so you can see all of a persons public uploads, not just the most recent ones.
The old profile page felt like it had quite a few itty-bitty pieces - like the whole box devoted to the 'Add sticker' button. I've moved that into the header now, as modelled by Katie:
There's an added bonus that if you visit the profile of someone who is already in your sticker book, like Katie is for me, then it displays 'In stickers', rather than 'Add to stickers', so you can see straight away whether you've collected them already.
Losing that bit of explanation in favour of a mystery button could cause new users to misunderstand the purpose of the sticker book. So I've added a little check - if you have no stickers in your collection, it will pop up a little confirmation box, attempting to explain what they are all about.
Another chunk tidied
EDIT: I couldn't put you through another blog for the sake of one further change, so I've added it here for the folks who are hanging on every word
It's the 'Race Standard', which not many people have at the moment (just four so far in 2021, thanks to virtual races). Modelled by Sigh: I've moved it out of its own box, into the profile header. It's clickable, and takes you to the standards page. Hopefully we'll see more people getting these as the lockdown sods off.
EDIT2: I CBA to add another image for this
but I've added a 'Pics' tab to user profiles - so you can see all of a persons public uploads, not just the most recent ones.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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What, you mean you’ve actually met Katie????HellsBells2:56pm, 4th Mar 2021
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LOL @ HBwestmoors3:15pm, 4th Mar 2021
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LOL @ HBNess
Think it’ll be a while before I get an update on my race standard.4:22pm, 4th Mar 2021 -
"In stickers I walk with you,McGoohan
In stickers I talk to you
In stickers you're mine
all of the time
We're together in stickers,
in stiiii-iiiickers!"
as Roy Orbison sang4:24pm, 4th Mar 2021 -
Are we counting virtual races for standards? I've run a couple this year which aren't included.jabberknitmas4:45pm, 4th Mar 2021
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They should count, assuming they meet all the usual requirements of standards. Drop me a feedback and we can check.fetcheveryone4:46pm, 4th Mar 2021
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Nice improvements, thanks!Sigh5:16pm, 4th Mar 2021
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Doh, sorry, idiotuser-error! There is no problem, my races are all the same distance!jabberknitmas6:28pm, 4th Mar 2021
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I love the pics button, really useful to be able to look back in that kind of quantity.D25*xy4aXma5name!6:59pm, 4th Mar 2021
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+1 for the Pics button. (Although shouldn't it be called 'Gallery' to match with other usage hereabouts)Oranj7:33pm, 4th Mar 2021
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Lovely. Nice move with the picture tab.Bright Strider7:53pm, 4th Mar 2021
Today I've moved past the header stuff, and into the main content of the user profile. Like I said yesterday, it felt like there was no sense of priority stuff being *given* priority, and tall columns were pushing other stuff down the page.
It's a slow process, but I've adjusted a couple of elements.
The five question Q&A was something that pushed other content down. I've put 'About Me' above it, and also changed from all five questions to one random question. Later on, I will do something to handle very long 'About Me' sections - probably by truncating it and adding a 'show all' button. I know that in threads, some folks like to see the whole thread description, even when very long - but it feels like that's because it has relevant and frequently updating content. About Me boxes are probably much less likely to change so quick.
I've also remade the Fitbit MOTM box as a bar that goes the full width of the screen - but it now appears at the bottom of the profile. The solid colour feels like a nice finish to the profile page, and if you're looking at someone's profile, it's that 'one last thing', like Columbo It's one less thing to clutter up that central portion of the page, which I'm aiming to be a nice little overview of what that Fetchie is all about.
Again, not big changes - just nudging stuff until it feels like it makes more sense.
It's a slow process, but I've adjusted a couple of elements.
The five question Q&A was something that pushed other content down. I've put 'About Me' above it, and also changed from all five questions to one random question. Later on, I will do something to handle very long 'About Me' sections - probably by truncating it and adding a 'show all' button. I know that in threads, some folks like to see the whole thread description, even when very long - but it feels like that's because it has relevant and frequently updating content. About Me boxes are probably much less likely to change so quick.
I've also remade the Fitbit MOTM box as a bar that goes the full width of the screen - but it now appears at the bottom of the profile. The solid colour feels like a nice finish to the profile page, and if you're looking at someone's profile, it's that 'one last thing', like Columbo
It's one less thing to clutter up that central portion of the page, which I'm aiming to be a nice little overview of what that Fetchie is all about. Again, not big changes - just nudging stuff until it feels like it makes more sense.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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I like the changes. Thanks, Fetch.Ness12:57pm, 4th Mar 2021
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Looking good.westmoors1:07pm, 4th Mar 2021
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Groovy.Angus Clydesdale1:35pm, 4th Mar 2021
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👍Festive Flier2:29pm, 4th Mar 2021
I've been working towards some improvements to the user profiles. Full disclosure - some of you might find this to be a mixture of nerdy and tedious, so please don't feel you have to say something nice at the end. Ultimately, I'm just enjoying myself, and there are plenty of juicier blogs to choose from
The first job was to make myself a list of all the things that go towards making the profile page - and I counted over thirty different chunks of information. Every single user has a slightly different way of using the site - and therefore those 30+ components all need to come together nicely, no matter whether the user logs training or not; races; blogs; photos; descriptions; is a subscriber; collects badges; has won MOTM... I could go on, but I'd end up listing the lot
I try to always think about each page from the perspective of two audiences. One audience is the people who have been here forever, who know what they want, roughly where it is, and how to achieve what they want quickly. For these people, the main thing is not to move stuff around TOO MUCH, because then I'll get chased out of town by gangs of angry Fetchies with Fetchforks [FUN FACT: the first use of the word 'Fetchforks' that I can find dates back to November 2015. The first instance of someone saying that the site used to be better in the good old days probably dates back to day 2 ]
The second audience are the people who have just arrived, and don't know much about what goes where, and why they might want to do so in the first place. For these folks, the emphasis is on obviousness! To quote Harry Hill's big brother Alan, "If it's too hard, I can't understand it!".
The reality is that there's a whole spectrum from the new to the experienced; from the cowering to the confident; the noobs and the superusers. But those two extremes cover most bases.
Another thing that drives updates is the need to un-knot code. Each small addition or tweak ruffles things up a bit, until the code becomes difficult to work with. Imagine twisting and turning in a fever dream, and then that feeling of calmness that comes after your helper smooths out the sheets and helps you back to bed and puts a flannel on your head. That.
The whole thing is a useful audit. All in all, when I started looking, there were at least 35 different scripts* relating to doing things with your user profile. I've deleted seven of these that weren't getting used or had been superseded by simpler ways of doing stuff.
This next pic shows some of the visible changes I've made to the user profile header. The bit above the purple line is 'before', and the bit below is 'after':
Of note:
1) I swapped out the gold supporter background for the green one, and incorporated 'Fetch Supporter' just below the username. And the username is a wee bit bigger.
2) I've actually ditched the big version of the avatar. But I've made the small one about double the size.
3) All the 'settings' stuff over on the right (only viewable when looking at your own profile) is now hidden away behind the 'Your Account Settings' button, which I've tried to make a bit more obvious by making it into a button with a little icon. It's there if you need it, but most of the time you probably don't.
4) I'm gonna try having the 'status' bar back up top. If it gets little use, I can deprioritise it again - or (the other route) is to make all the elements on the profile off- and on-able, so you can get it out of your way. When viewing other people's profile pages, it doesn't show up unless they've added a status.
5) I've compacted the list of PB's etc down a little, so that more fit on the page. I think they look decent enough without the little trophy graphics, and it is hopefully pretty obvious what they mean. I hope also that it's obvious that you can drag the list left and right to see the whole lot. Is it?
This isn't a big list of updates, nor I hope are they ground-breaking changes. Next steps are to move on to the chunks of content below the profile header. The tabs (Race Times, All Races, Mileage and Training) are actually pretty decent, so I can't see me wanting to make more than cosmetic updates to those - but the default stuff below the profile header feels like a right mess. It doesn't feel like there are any priorities, and the layout is a mess of whitespace and tall columns pushing other stuff down the page.
There's other stuff I'd like to show off here - much of it has been mentioned in feature requests. Like a list of threads where this user hangs out; current injuries; snippets from public blogs; Fetch game scores; season's bests; benchmarks; kit lists; and maybe follower count. NB I feel like a lot of this *might* be stuff that some people don't especially want plastered in one easy-collated place, so I will see if I can add some options for you to control what goes on your profile. As always, I hope you know that I listen - so if any changes I make go beyond "I'm not so keen on that" to "I'm outraged, dammit", then do just get in touch.
Right. Time to crack on.
--
*a 'script' is a fancy name for a bunch of code that performs some action. A script can generate a page that gets sent back to you as a user, or it can just do something on the server, like make an update to the database. Most of the scripts that make up Fetch are triggered when you request a page; or click a button on a page. But some just live on the server, and get called automatically and regularly, like the script that finalises the results of the Who Squares Wins matches every Monday at midday.
The first job was to make myself a list of all the things that go towards making the profile page - and I counted over thirty different chunks of information. Every single user has a slightly different way of using the site - and therefore those 30+ components all need to come together nicely, no matter whether the user logs training or not; races; blogs; photos; descriptions; is a subscriber; collects badges; has won MOTM... I could go on, but I'd end up listing the lot
I try to always think about each page from the perspective of two audiences. One audience is the people who have been here forever, who know what they want, roughly where it is, and how to achieve what they want quickly. For these people, the main thing is not to move stuff around TOO MUCH, because then I'll get chased out of town by gangs of angry Fetchies with Fetchforks
[FUN FACT: the first use of the word 'Fetchforks' that I can find dates back to November 2015. The first instance of someone saying that the site used to be better in the good old days probably dates back to day 2 ] The second audience are the people who have just arrived, and don't know much about what goes where, and why they might want to do so in the first place. For these folks, the emphasis is on obviousness! To quote Harry Hill's big brother Alan, "If it's too hard, I can't understand it!".
The reality is that there's a whole spectrum from the new to the experienced; from the cowering to the confident; the noobs and the superusers. But those two extremes cover most bases.
Another thing that drives updates is the need to un-knot code. Each small addition or tweak ruffles things up a bit, until the code becomes difficult to work with. Imagine twisting and turning in a fever dream, and then that feeling of calmness that comes after your helper smooths out the sheets and helps you back to bed and puts a flannel on your head. That.
The whole thing is a useful audit. All in all, when I started looking, there were at least 35 different scripts* relating to doing things with your user profile. I've deleted seven of these that weren't getting used or had been superseded by simpler ways of doing stuff.
This next pic shows some of the visible changes I've made to the user profile header. The bit above the purple line is 'before', and the bit below is 'after':
Of note:
1) I swapped out the gold supporter background for the green one, and incorporated 'Fetch Supporter' just below the username. And the username is a wee bit bigger.
2) I've actually ditched the big version of the avatar. But I've made the small one about double the size.
3) All the 'settings' stuff over on the right (only viewable when looking at your own profile) is now hidden away behind the 'Your Account Settings' button, which I've tried to make a bit more obvious by making it into a button with a little icon. It's there if you need it, but most of the time you probably don't.
4) I'm gonna try having the 'status' bar back up top. If it gets little use, I can deprioritise it again - or (the other route) is to make all the elements on the profile off- and on-able, so you can get it out of your way. When viewing other people's profile pages, it doesn't show up unless they've added a status.
5) I've compacted the list of PB's etc down a little, so that more fit on the page. I think they look decent enough without the little trophy graphics, and it is hopefully pretty obvious what they mean. I hope also that it's obvious that you can drag the list left and right to see the whole lot. Is it?
This isn't a big list of updates, nor I hope are they ground-breaking changes. Next steps are to move on to the chunks of content below the profile header. The tabs (Race Times, All Races, Mileage and Training) are actually pretty decent, so I can't see me wanting to make more than cosmetic updates to those - but the default stuff below the profile header feels like a right mess. It doesn't feel like there are any priorities, and the layout is a mess of whitespace and tall columns pushing other stuff down the page.
There's other stuff I'd like to show off here - much of it has been mentioned in feature requests. Like a list of threads where this user hangs out; current injuries; snippets from public blogs; Fetch game scores; season's bests; benchmarks; kit lists; and maybe follower count. NB I feel like a lot of this *might* be stuff that some people don't especially want plastered in one easy-collated place, so I will see if I can add some options for you to control what goes on your profile. As always, I hope you know that I listen - so if any changes I make go beyond "I'm not so keen on that" to "I'm outraged, dammit", then do just get in touch.
Right. Time to crack on.
--
*a 'script' is a fancy name for a bunch of code that performs some action. A script can generate a page that gets sent back to you as a user, or it can just do something on the server, like make an update to the database. Most of the scripts that make up Fetch are triggered when you request a page; or click a button on a page. But some just live on the server, and get called automatically and regularly, like the script that finalises the results of the Who Squares Wins matches every Monday at midday.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Back in the day when I was a bright and bushy-tailed software engineer, little did I realise whole years of my life would revolve around tidying up knotty little bits of code. I think you are right to have some stuff as optional, the profile bit wants to be simple unless you are nuts.Ocelot Spleens4:07pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Cleaner - thank you!3FrenchMs4:11pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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What..!? .. you can log runs and stuff on here..!?Mushroom4:12pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Apparently so - I had completely forgotten!fetcheveryone4:15pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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First impression is that I like the new layout - but I miss my gold banner...Andy ClawS Is Coming To Town
Still, you know what they say - nostalgia isn't what it used to be.4:22pm, 3rd Mar 2021 -
Looks much cleaner... however, when I click on "Your Account Settings" I don't appear to have access to Clubs, Kit, Charity, Goals or Buddies, from the previous list of individual links... I'm not sure I need access to any of these from this page, but just an FYI to let you know.Nelly4:23pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Nelly - the clubs link is in the 'clubs' bar when viewing your profile, titled 'Edit your club list'. Kit is under Training > Kit, Charity just isn't getting used (it's still there for the folks who have made any amendments within the last six months); likewise Goals was a very old page, so it's in the training menu for the folks who have recent goals; and Buddies is under People. By and large, they were not seeing heavy use.fetcheveryone4:29pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Having the best run times in red on a red background looks a bit weird to me, any chance to change it? Black might work (if you changes the race count colour!)chunkyblizzard4:52pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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forgot to say, good work by the way, looks much nicerchunkyblizzard4:53pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I've made them a bit redderfetcheveryone4:56pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I love your fun fact around Fetchforks and when people started saying it used to be betterBaronessBL4:57pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Ow, my eyes hurt!chunkyblizzard They stand out better now, but maybe darken the background a bit and lose the luminosity? To be honest I'm not expert, see what others think!5:00pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Maybe intentional, but I lose the end of the red bar in portrait mode on my iPad (and a bit of the Fitbit logo). It’s ok I’m landscape.Fragile Xmas Ornament6:08pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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It’s just occurred to me to check that it scrolls, and it does.Fragile Xmas Ornament It could be more obvious though.6:11pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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This is interesting. I’m starting to use my mobile to access Fetch more, although not at the moment, I’m using my iPad. I’ll check things out on my phone later. The changes look good to me.Ness6:17pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I just made a minor edit to the about me, and all the formatting has gone.StuH6:20pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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and Edit your club list - "This isn't the page you're looking forStuH
If this problem persists, please send me some feedback and I'll have a rummage."6:21pm, 3rd Mar 2021 -
1. Have I got any money in my account?Nightjar
2. I don't like it.
3. I do really. Can I be a long standing user who likes things to be obvious?6:47pm, 3rd Mar 2021 -
I can’t see how to edit my status.Fragile Xmas Ornament7:14pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I've added a 'Click to edit' link to the status bar; and fixed the edit club list bug (typo).fetcheveryone7:26pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Same as StuH - especially the Return/line break. Otherwise excellent!♪♫ Synge ♪♫7:59pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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~ sighs resignedly ~Angus Clydesdale
~ reaches for trusty Fetchfork ~8:30pm, 3rd Mar 2021 -
Srsly, looks ok to me.Angus Clydesdale
My Gold background has been replaced by blue, not green as promised. And my winky-smiley-face in the status update hasn’t translated into a cutesy picture.8:34pm, 3rd Mar 2021 -
Using my iPhone.Angus Clydesdale8:35pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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WHY DOESN'T THE FETCH SHOP HAVE FETCHFORKS?Dooogs8:50pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I've always wondered how some people have their Twitter on their profile page and assumed I'd be informed when I reach some sort of milestone.Sampson9:41pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Shop links are a good idea I missed all thatSerendippily9:47pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I liked the gold banner!Minnie Mince Pie Mad5:28am, 4th Mar 2021
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I like it. When viewing someone else’s status it says ‘click here to edit’ next to their status. It is greyed out and you can’t actually click it but it looks a bit strange.God Rest Ye Merry Pothunter6:49am, 4th Mar 2021
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(I’ve added a status on my profile so you can see)God Rest Ye Merry Pothunter6:50am, 4th Mar 2021
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OK, now I'm on the computer I've looked a bit into it and it's the skin that changes the background colour. When I go to default skin my wasGold background is Green but in Redmond it's Blue.Angus Clydesdale9:20am, 4th Mar 2021
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It looks as if it takes a double return to create a line space when editing the "About Me". And it doesn't like the percentage symbol - it just seems to ignore it!♪♫ Synge ♪♫11:15am, 4th Mar 2021
*probably not part of an ongoing series.
We were just coming back from our dog walk this morning, and there was a lady with her dog on the pavement just outside the house. Katie and I did the usual Covid wide berth to get by, and we said a cheery hello.
She was waiting for her young son who, it turns out, is besotted with next door's cat. The cat has no tail, following some mystery accident - and we discovered that the boy calls her Stub. And here's the cute bit. He loves the cat so much that he'd made her a graphic novel all about her adventures. He sat on the wall and read it to her whilst we watched.
That's it really. Have a nice day, you superheroes.
We were just coming back from our dog walk this morning, and there was a lady with her dog on the pavement just outside the house. Katie and I did the usual Covid wide berth to get by, and we said a cheery hello.
She was waiting for her young son who, it turns out, is besotted with next door's cat. The cat has no tail, following some mystery accident - and we discovered that the boy calls her Stub. And here's the cute bit. He loves the cat so much that he'd made her a graphic novel all about her adventures. He sat on the wall and read it to her whilst we watched.
That's it really. Have a nice day, you superheroes.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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awwwEvilPixie9:52am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Sigh9:52am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Aw that is cute! 🥰Ness9:52am, 3rd Mar 2021
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JamieKai *chameleon*9:53am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Fetch badge to that boy!TheScribbler9:53am, 3rd Mar 2021
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😃fraggle9:53am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Awwww!Garfield9:54am, 3rd Mar 2021
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I appear to have something in my eye 🥲Mince Pikelet9:54am, 3rd Mar 2021
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That is very cuteElsie Too10:05am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Aww just lovely ❤Corrah10:08am, 3rd Mar 2021
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BrillDiogenes10:08am, 3rd Mar 2021
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merry minardi *hic*
10:25am, 3rd Mar 2021 -
cathrobinson10:27am, 3rd Mar 2021
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That is just too lovely.GimmeMincepies10:28am, 3rd Mar 2021
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If somebody here can make a short film about this, I will give them all of my money to do so.Sampson11:18am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Awwwwww 🥰Merrymoo11:32am, 3rd Mar 2021
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That's so sweetCarpathius11:35am, 3rd Mar 2021
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BrilliantTeeBee11:50am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Made me smile.PK11:53am, 3rd Mar 2021
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Alice Navidad12:07pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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That's smashing (and surprising of the cat to play along!)LittleDonkeyDaisy12:21pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Festive Flier12:37pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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A film, yes. That is wonderfulLindsD1:12pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Great story!jelly1:16pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Aw so cute!.B.1:49pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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❤️forest plodder2:06pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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So sweet. I need to know what adventures the cat got up to though.Elfpint2:40pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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That's lovelyMabelMoonface3:03pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Too cutenorthernslowcoach3:54pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Can we publish the book? Get Dermot O'Leary on board?Lizzie W5:28pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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I interpreted graphic novel in an entirely different way *hangs head in shame*runningmumof3boys6:52pm, 3rd Mar 2021
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Little things like that are what you need to fill up your heart.XB7:10pm, 3rd Mar 2021
In this week's analysis, I promised that we'd start looking at training pace.
We all have our day-to-day not-a-special-occasion regulation run-of-the-(tread)mill training pace. For me it's about 9:10-9:20/mile. I can trot plenty of those out. My best ever 10k was run at 7:05/mile, and right now, I'd be very happy to clock 7:45/mile.
The questions follow... what's the typical difference?
I took the 3,500 runners from my previous study - the ones who had a full training record on Fetch, and who had also indicated that they were aiming for a 10k PB. I looked at all their training in the 10 weeks before they raced. I turned them into this lovely swarm of Fetch bees:
As the graph states, 56% of runners were in the '1-2 minutes per mile slower' bracket. On either side of that big clump, about 21% trained 1-60s slower than race pace; 17% were 121-180s slower; 5% were more than 180s/mile slower; and just 1% of runners trained at a faster pace than they ran their 10k at.
If you've not raced a 10k before, this doesn't necessarily mean that you should aim for a time that is 2 mins/mile quicker than your average training pace. It could also mean that your average training pace is too quick!
Let's shuffle that data, and take another view. For each race pace, from 5mins/mile right down to 10mins/mile, I calculated the number of runners who fell into each bracket. NB there wasn't a lot of data for >10mins/mile, I'm not aiming to excluding folks in this bracket.
The yellow section tells us that a large proportion of 5minute milers tend to average out at 61-120s/mile slower than their race pace. Or in simpler terms, their average training pace is between 6 and 7 mins per mile.
That yellow section fades as we head towards the slower runners. Instead, we see a greater proportion of runners who are much closer to their race pace (the green section), and the arrival of the runners who have an average training pace that is quicker than race pace.
My guess, based on evidence so far, is that runners towards the slower part of the scale are doing shorter runs - making it more feasible to go quicker than 10k race pace.
--
But all we've talked about so far is average pace, and that can mask a whole range of behaviours. Someone who does their long runs at a leisurely pace, then runs intervals like a lunatic might well end up with the same overall average training pace as someone who runs a metronomic pace on every outing. And somewhere between these extreme approaches, there's probably a decent training methodology that targets all the right bodily systems to produce great 10k times.
This final graph is something I want to come back to in a bit more detail next week. Using GPS data, it's possible to get past those averages, and see the distribution of pace that each runner is producing. The graph shows the average distribution of pace for runners in various 10k groups:
Interestingly, the distribution curves for quicker runners are taller and narrower, whilst it looks like a slightly wider distribution for slower runners. On the face of it, this seems to contradict the advice for good training plans and speedier runners to include more sessions at different intensities. However, there's plenty of variation within all these distributions to include all those quality sessions. For example, the sub-40 runners appear to do most of their mileage at about 8 mins/mile, but the graph shows a decent proportion of sub-6 and sub-7 minute mileage.
Like I said, I'l have another hack at that next week - but I wanted to end with a pretty one
Have a great rest-of-today! 🏴
We all have our day-to-day not-a-special-occasion regulation run-of-the-(tread)mill training pace. For me it's about 9:10-9:20/mile. I can trot plenty of those out. My best ever 10k was run at 7:05/mile, and right now, I'd be very happy to clock 7:45/mile.
The questions follow... what's the typical difference?
I took the 3,500 runners from my previous study - the ones who had a full training record on Fetch, and who had also indicated that they were aiming for a 10k PB. I looked at all their training in the 10 weeks before they raced. I turned them into this lovely swarm of Fetch bees:
As the graph states, 56% of runners were in the '1-2 minutes per mile slower' bracket. On either side of that big clump, about 21% trained 1-60s slower than race pace; 17% were 121-180s slower; 5% were more than 180s/mile slower; and just 1% of runners trained at a faster pace than they ran their 10k at.
If you've not raced a 10k before, this doesn't necessarily mean that you should aim for a time that is 2 mins/mile quicker than your average training pace. It could also mean that your average training pace is too quick!
Let's shuffle that data, and take another view. For each race pace, from 5mins/mile right down to 10mins/mile, I calculated the number of runners who fell into each bracket. NB there wasn't a lot of data for >10mins/mile, I'm not aiming to excluding folks in this bracket.
The yellow section tells us that a large proportion of 5minute milers tend to average out at 61-120s/mile slower than their race pace. Or in simpler terms, their average training pace is between 6 and 7 mins per mile.
That yellow section fades as we head towards the slower runners. Instead, we see a greater proportion of runners who are much closer to their race pace (the green section), and the arrival of the runners who have an average training pace that is quicker than race pace.
My guess, based on evidence so far, is that runners towards the slower part of the scale are doing shorter runs - making it more feasible to go quicker than 10k race pace.
--
But all we've talked about so far is average pace, and that can mask a whole range of behaviours. Someone who does their long runs at a leisurely pace, then runs intervals like a lunatic might well end up with the same overall average training pace as someone who runs a metronomic pace on every outing. And somewhere between these extreme approaches, there's probably a decent training methodology that targets all the right bodily systems to produce great 10k times.
This final graph is something I want to come back to in a bit more detail next week. Using GPS data, it's possible to get past those averages, and see the distribution of pace that each runner is producing. The graph shows the average distribution of pace for runners in various 10k groups:
Interestingly, the distribution curves for quicker runners are taller and narrower, whilst it looks like a slightly wider distribution for slower runners. On the face of it, this seems to contradict the advice for good training plans and speedier runners to include more sessions at different intensities. However, there's plenty of variation within all these distributions to include all those quality sessions. For example, the sub-40 runners appear to do most of their mileage at about 8 mins/mile, but the graph shows a decent proportion of sub-6 and sub-7 minute mileage.
Like I said, I'l have another hack at that next week - but I wanted to end with a pretty one
Have a great rest-of-today! 🏴
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Ooh.... pretty. And interest3FrenchMs
Please publish full details of "a decent training methodology that targets all the right bodily systems to produce great 10k times" as soon as you identify it!!!4:42pm, 1st Mar 2021 -
I like thisRaptors claws are coming to town4:52pm, 1st Mar 2021
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I am not sure average pace will give the whole story. Perhaps look at interval or tempo runs if possible. It does back up my favourite saying, you are all running too fast. Probably.Ocelot Spleens4:55pm, 1st Mar 2021
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OS - no of course, as I pointed out.fetcheveryone4:58pm, 1st Mar 2021
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Again, fascinating stuff! What made a huge difference for me, was when I started doing my 'run of the mill' runs based on heart rate, and keeping it below 150bpm as much as possible (now lowered to below 147bpm). I don't do this religiously, if it creeps up I'll look to control it back down again rather than walking, but it's really helped me; after that, my training pace for bog standard runs is what it is.Sigh5:08pm, 1st Mar 2021
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Echo that, Sigh.CogNoscensme AHA5:31pm, 1st Mar 2021
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In your last graph Part 5c, if one looks at the training pace distribution as percentages instead of pace, the results for each group are actually very similar.Flatlander
E.g. looking at a representative 6% of training miles (y-axis)
for the sub-35 runners, the training pace (x-axis) spreads from 6mm to 8mm, an increase of about 1/3rd,
for the sub-65 runners, the training pace spreads from 9:30mm to 12:30mm, an increase of also about 1/3rd.
I think that these similarities show that the speedier runners *are* training at different intensities, it is just that, for example, their 1/3rd slower encompasses a narrower pace band than 1/3rd slower does for the sub-65 runners.7:49pm, 1st Mar 2021 -
Having to try and convert every figure into KM in my head. I know the miles and KM folks are binary and that both groups are of equal size, but I can’t 'feel' a miles pace the same way I can a KM pace when I’m reading the piece.mrmedia
Still, onto commentary. Would be interesting to see the difference between a club runner (one who attended training sessions) and the non-club runner. I’m aware that with clubs out currently there’s a distinct lack of variation in training. No one is doing 12 times up and down Bedford's cemetery hill without a group to provide motivation! Cheers for the analysis.5:51am, 2nd Mar 2021 -
I like the Reggae-Reggae sauce vibe of the 5b graphicDiogenes3:18pm, 2nd Mar 2021
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I really like this. I'm sort of training for a 10k currently. I'm training to run that distance on the day that I would usually race it. It will be interesting to see how my training pace (around 11 min/mile) translates into a virtual race pace.TheScribbler4:15pm, 2nd Mar 2021
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If we wanted to be properly scientific we could do a randomised controlled trial and compare different plansroger, may be the faster brother ag7:40pm, 2nd Mar 2021
About Me
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!Blog Archive
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2024 (124)
December (3)
Pics for 2024 :-)
Counterintuitivityness
Progress at the flood house
November (10)
Spam Audit
Granville... fetch your cloth
Orange is not the only fruit
Saddle Up
Beat that, Andy Dufresne
On the train
m
Swittle's Bench!
Escape to Meriden
Secret Santa
October (16)
New KML export button
Triathlon Loitering
Tagging in blog comments
New blog buttons
Disaster Strikes!
New badges!
Bat renovation
HQ
Up-stickering
It's not magic, it's you!
Join us for the Doctor K Cup
The sun was shining...
My dear old things...
Copernican Revolution
A polite no
Pass the spanner
September (6)
The Doctor K Cup - 19th October
Big Scary Project! :-)
Tea towels on their way
Please excuse the lag
I'm back :-)
It was 20 years ago today…
August (12)
DESIGNS REVEALED: Fetch 20th anniversary shirts and vests
Schrödinger's Holiday
Look what I've got!
Finally, a bit of progress
May UCAS be fruitful
Get your pre-orders in :-)
13 spots left...
26 spots left...
Filling up nicely :-)
20th anniversary commemorative tea towel :-) GET IN QUICK :-)
Morienteering Badges :-)
Wheat Intolerance and Barr's Strawberryade
July (16)
Would you do it for a Scooby snack?
Play Along
Pilgrimage
Site down for a short while this afternoon
Attention Chrome users
Pace Analysis
Picture Usage tracking
Nice beats per mile graph
Thanks for the donation Jeff Bezos :-)
F'laps 2024 is done!
F'laps - three laps in
Me in Women's Running magazine :-)
Add A Race - Usability followup
#dogsandwivesatpollingstations
Cadence Filter - a little tweak
F'Laps Leaderboard - help me kick the tyres
June (11)
Today’s Task
Here's something cool
F'Laps - get togethers
Forum tagging
F'Laps - broken delete link :-/
F'Laps - your opportunity to withdraw gracefully :-)
Usability - look what's changed
RW Refugees welcomed
Oscar's Everyone Day
New training entry view is live
Snap Poll :-)
May (7)
Easy Street
Track me on Sunday
V2 Training Beta
New Training Log Beta
Five Noahs
Diamanté Celebration Spatula Kit
Marmite Excalibur
April (13)
In case you haven't cancelled it yet...
Weasels and spiders
Blog Listings Change (nowt major)
Six New Badges! Adding pics to Conquercise zones.
Night Races - Can you help?
Sifting Chunks: Gradient versus Pace
Audible Free Trial - You get free audiobooks, I get five quid!
A donation from JH
Andy Townsend :-)
GCU50: Citizen on Patrol
Fetchpoint: The Game - Where I'm Headed
Fetchpoint: The Game - a consultation
Heavy Roller please
March (11)
I can eat fifty eggs
Oscar the Grouch :-(
If a Fetch fails in a forest...
Trialling a new weekly update email
Lasting Power of Suspicion
Fetch Virtual Challenge 2024 *bunting*
Swittle's Funeral
Cadence
Tea & Trails Podcast
Down to my last pen
A bench for swittle
February (8)
The Lightning Struck Tower
Swittle
Cholesterol
This year so far in pictures
Three Noahs
Fetch is as strong as you make it.
100k - what do I need?
Paywalls are BS: I'm on a podcast!
January (11)
Chasing Round Numbers - A Cautionary Tale!
MOTM - Decision Made (and a competition for EVERYONE!)
MOTM - a chance to rethink
Training Home Page updates
How much walking will I do?
Training Plans - Further Updates
Training Plan List
Butter Police
Why no app?
Useful Chat!
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
2023 (136)
December (6)
Nearly forgot...
Jam today
Removing another bit of Google's invasiveness
Fancy an extra challenge over the next 12 days?
Chewie, we're home!
Two tips for today's advent challenge
November (13)
Spammy McSpamface
40 days and 40 nights
EfM confirmed!
New Training Log Beta! 😲 (aka Change Is Not Good)
Escape from Meriden
Waiting for your training?
Route of the Century?
I didn't know I owned a nutcracker
Design our anniversary shirts/vests!
Holiday Reading - plenty of fiction :-)
Swimming in a metaphor
Hello
Off World
October (11)
Fl'update
To think I tried to mop it up!
Vote Please: How many F'Laps will you try to do?
F'Laps 2024
Long Run
So it still needs a name...
Front Garden Ultra?
The Boy is a man!
Festive Fetch Calendar
Creative K's
Signs
September (7)
Training Edit Screen - time to ditch it...
Stock check
The Doctor K Cup - October 7th!!!!
Removing the training edit screen
A Happy Applecart
Happy 19th Birthday!
Forgotten pictures
August (14)
Just in case
Weekly Total Hours
Dim Brys Dim Chwys
All hail our robot overlords!
Your local parkrun
Fool on the hill
Survey Follow Up
A survey?
Did you know?
I made a thing
VC Day
FBI Agent
What keeps you going?
Be careful what's in your paste buffer (and July training update)
July (13)
Delight
Respecting your eyeballs since 2004
Hot Stuff, coming through
Ocean Colour Scheme
18 years, 10 months, 13 days and counting...
Ooof #fail
Our listings need you!
Pics from the end of the swim
A whispered, half-remembered dream
Try the Heatmap!!!
Teaser
100 Running Words (and my June summary)
July Virtual Mile
June (8)
Last Big Swim
I can't be the only one...
Which is the real me?
#EveryoneDay
The legendary sixth samosa!
WSW Main Page Layout Changes
May Summary (contains swimming!)
Hoodies pre-order closes at 10am
May (17)
A new WSW challenge
Tagging images
Hoooooooooooooodies!!!!!!!!!!!
Another Sweatshop Competition
Did you get an email?
Fifty Years Ago - Part VIII
Fifty Years Ago - Part VII
Fifty Years Ago - Part VI
Help on a slippery slope
Fifty Years Ago - Part V
Fifty Years Ago - Part IV
Fifty Years Ago - Part III
Chuck-off: Round 2
Not my king?
Fifty Years Ago - Part II
Fifty Years Ago
And that was April
April (10)
Centurion Safari!
Sheep treats (and a routes feature)
And I’ll sail her up the west coast, through villages and towns.
15,746 places to 💩
Track Your Blood Pressure
A couple of quick fmail updates
Rusty Metal and a Cycling Grudge Match
Please help me kick the fmail tyres!
Onset of Summer Watch. Have you got Onset of Summer? +fmail!
Premium?
March (10)
And that was March
Try the new fmail system
Can you help my boy?
Tell A Friend?
Some Sweatshop Competitions
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Review: FORM Smart Goggles
UTMOST vs Treadmills
33,258
Embranglement!
February (13)
And that was February
This year's Virtual Challenge
What does Points make?
Automatic Everything Collector
Peaky Finders
FAO Fitbit users
My favourite training graph
You've got this.
Coffee Survey (for my stepson)
Access all the tips
Tiny Usability Changes
Cod science
Hot Tips
January (14)
Monthly Infographic Bug Fixes
No, but really...
Have a play with the monthly infographic
It's not ready yet, but...
Introducing Fetch Premium
Help me design a new Monthly Infographic...
Still following?
Fettle
Definitely Not Betting
Do you follow? (plus burp chat)
Advance warning for stalkers!
I'm back (and the Fetch LS, SS and NS shirts preorder is open)
Attention Fitbit Users
Review 50 albums in 2023 (badge!)
2022 (144)
December (8)
Treasure Hunt Day 1 - the best gift
Important updates to the Fetch Relay
Introducing the Fetch Relay 2023
Who Am I? (Solved, thanks) And How Am I?
Confessions :-)
12 Days of Christmas Treasure Hunt
Chewie, we’re home!
A few pics from the Foffice :-)
November (24)
Yesvember - Day #30 (and Festive Fetch Calendar Eve!)
The Fetch Festive 160.934 :-) [Yesvember #Day 29]
You'd better watch out... (plus Yesvember Day #28)
Brace Yourself (and there's one spare bobble hat!) and Yesvember - Day #26
Hats in the post! Plus Yesvember Day #25
Look what arrived!
Yesvember - Day #24
Training Graph Manager - usability update (Yesvember Day #23)
Yesvember - Day #22 - Cheating?
Last chance to enter the Advance Performance comp
Yesvember - Days #11 thru #14 (plus Jumpy Boy)
Weather on the training home page watch. Have you got weather on the training home page? (Yesvember - Day #10)
Oh, and... it's Yesvember - Day #9
Another bit of the internet fenced off
Yesvember - Day #8 - taking steps
Yesvember - Day #7
Yesvember - Day #6
Yesvember - Day #5
The curse of swimming GPS
Yesvember - Day #4
The Les Mis effect
Yesvember - Day #3
Yesvember - Day #2
Yesvember - Day #1
October (15)
October gives way to Yesvember!
Anyone fancy a threeway?
More thoughts on races
Racing, post-pandemic
Contracts exchanged!
Competition Time!
Last call for Flobble Hats
A record year for swimming?
Woburn Lido
Order your Bobble Hat! If you like.
I appear to have entered a race! (plus new Garmin import queueing system)
Eric the Eel
Get your hobbit on
The Doctor K Cup: Saturday 8th October!
I felt the touch of the kings and the breath of the wind
September (16)
Take This Bus To Cuba
Fetch Bobble Hats
Trumpeting
Training View tweaks (switch maps, game overlays, mile markers)
Training View tweaks (and a play button bug fix)
A long ride and a cold swim.
Play Button
UTMOST Wava & Bike Division Rebuilds
New UTMOST leagues for cyclists and WAVA fans
The Doctor K Cup
Chance encounters
Do I ditch our Facebook stuff?
A keeper, from my feedback inbox...
Ultra distances - update
Adding ultra distances to Fastest Fetchies league.
Try the new Training Groups pages
August (11)
Training Groups Update - Coming Soon
Garmin Queue Issues
Donations without reference numbers :-)
New Elbow Laws
No longer the 3398th fastest Fetchie over 10k!
Pulling counties into league tables
What was I thinking?
County Champion?
Just bear in mind that you asked for this.
Wahoo and Coros users
How to make half a million quid (batteries not included)
July (6)
Club Listings
Book giveaway :-)
Updated Race Portfolio
Updated Targets Page
Exactly ***1*** Spare Ladies L Cycling Jersey
Search All Blogs :-)
June (10)
Imagine you could search all the public blogs...
Banking Scandal at Fetch Towers!
7pm on Baker Island #everyoneday
#EveryoneDay - Sunday 26th June 2022
Spare Challenge Coasters
The North West Passage
Feature Request Voting - Know Your Limits!
UTMOST Division 8: YIKES!
Shepperton Weight Gain Programme
UTMOST Division 9! Sub-50 10k :-)
May (16)
Four hours left :-)
Division 10: No hope of escape?
Book giveaway :-)
Division 11: No place left to hide
New HR Analysis
They're here! Well, not exactly *here*, but...
A quick Darth Mode update
Darth Mode! And a few biscuits for the hyperdrive.
Division 12: Two hours of pushing broom
Dark Mode: Beta
PB Potential? Fancy a quickie? ;-)
Division 12: Running Out Of Road?
Thank you everyone!
Making UTMOST moves :-)
Do you want a Fetch shirt?
I did my UTMOST :-) (plus new sharing infographic)
April (7)
Today's plan
NEW UTMOST BADGES!!!!!
A plug for some races
Raspberry Pavlov
Win a book :-)
United Colours of Cross Training
A little Streetview adventure
March (11)
The lockers are a pound.
Advice for Gym Noobs!
Feedback made easier
#EveryoneDay June 26th 2022
Fetch Virtual Challenge 2022 🎈
Thanks Chunky: parkrun routes!
Sniffer Dogs
Yikes!
Fetch Cycling Jerseys - Update
Route Plotting tweak
The Crow: A Pipedream!
February (7)
Fetch Kit Spares
Updated Race Listing Pages
Introducing Rundle!
I appear to be training for an OWS event!
Fetch Cycling Jerseys!!!
Does you wantz free shoez?
Post Office tomorrow - kit spares
January (13)
Updated Flanci Design (now with more Fetchness)
Badge Collection Graphic!
Updated elevation trace
Book Lists :-)
Updated sharing infographic - do you like it?
Spare Fetch Kit
Badge page refresh / feature requests
Flanci / Fetch Leggings
New Badge Pages
New hill badges
Join me on my fitness journey!
Are you the farmer?
Blog every day challenge - finishers
2021 (187)
December (14)
Book List
Ten years ago today...
A big slobbery elephant snog.
If you don't like hills, this must be getting tiring :-)
When does a hill end?
Hill finder - prototype v2
Hill Finder - prototype
2022 Targets
Chewie, We’re Home! Happy Fetch Independence Day!
Embed badges, plus a new badge :-)
Updated people page
Seeking map
Streak Watch
The new Fetch buffs are here…
November (23)
Almost there...
The Fetch Library
Update your thread titles
Ascent dissent
Mute a thread
Shortcuts
Training Import Queue
I fell off (but not really!)
Croeso i Fetcheveryone. Ydych chi'n siarad Almaeneg, Swedish neu Eidaleg?
New mobile nav
Last call for shirts
@
Just a trim please
Brought to you by wind power
300 miles later
Golden Ticket Shocker!
Banjobax (aka KOG)
Home and Away kit preorder - with long sleeve option
A little competition - win a copy of Daniels' Running Formula
Garmin testers - thanks
Add your grub stops!
Points Of Interest: Grub Stops
Garmin-owning testers wanted
October (19)
New home and away shirts and vests
Benchmark league - a few more updates
Benchmark league table
Hill areas
Preorder is now open!
'b'uffs then
Necktube design #1 & #2
Buffs (well, neck tubes)
Report dodgy GPS stuff
An apology for people who follow my training
New cycling and swimming badges
New Conquercise Feature: Grids
Sprouting a tiny biking antler :-)
Have a try of the cycling gradient analysis
Struggling with my big ring
Cycling: gradient vs pace
A question for cyclists
For Doctor K
Shan't.
September (14)
New comments (FID 1212)
Forum post previews
Garmin imports with a snippet more info
Gallery upload options
Golden Tickets
"No need to panic donate", says Williams
Forum Quotes
Spoiler Alert!
20th of March and all that.
Have you signed up yet?
This bit of crappy Upminister nearly cost me my f***ing life.
A guide with no pages
To steal a catchphrase from a wise lady...
Multiple choice polls
August (11)
Pre-Race Training - Updated
A connection!
New Member of the Month sponsor
Best Weeks - bug fixes
Your Best Week Ever
Rainbow Kit - preorder is open
Age Bests - filtering out the mistakes :-)
Sign up, sign up, for the Doctor K cup
A message from my lovely wife ❤️
Another batch of rainbow kit?
Spares: Event Clips, Swim Hats and a few rainbow tops
July (10)
A bunch of site goodies :-)
Hello kitty
Holy Simmering Mercury Batman!
Settings
A heart rate question
Sleepy Shuffle?
365 graph
Slipping on ma noob shoes
Meatronomes
World's Sexiest Bridges
June (11)
Benchmarks - a *tiny* little improvement
Race Leaderboards - some small improvements
Race Finder - Update
Up there ^
Routes - more updates
Last call for FE Event Clips
Server update
Minor code problem
Some little updates to your route list
Feature requests - two years on!
More than just a rainbow
May (8)
Rainbow Kit - update on delivery time...
Fetch Ron Hill Cycling Jerseys
Pre-order your rainbow kit now :-)
Jimi Hendrix vs Run DMC
The return of parkrun - a poll
Something in the woodshed...
Default to walk
A tour of the Fetch Office
April (11)
Instabanned :-)
I has Instagram
Fetch Event Clips
FERC
Castle Challenge Coaster!
My chess rating
Jab - symptom watch
This just in...
REVIEW: XMiles selection box
Let FE pay for your coaching qualifications :-)
Castle Challenge - A Quick Blog
March (18)
The Fetcheveryone Castle Challenge
Running vs Cycling Cadence
Fetch vests and shirts (and swim caps)
Elevation vs Follow Roads
£500 of England Athletics courses up for grabs!
TomTom users
Music by year: 1993
10k Analysis: Part 7 - Length of Training Runs
Music by year: 1992 (plus some 1991 additions)
Bot sniffing win :-) plus daily blogger count!
User profiles
10k Analysis: Part 6 - Training Pace Again
Time to update your injuries :-)
User profile - sticker button.. EDIT and race standard
More user profile adjustments
User Profile tweaking
Cute story of the week*
10k Analysis: Part 5 - Training Pace
February (17)
Year on Year mileage comparison
Elevation graphs
It's all kicking off in chess club!
Music By year: 1991
10k Analysis: Part 4 - Weekly Training Habits
Tagging virtual races
Chasing rainbows
Rainbow Shirts
Lance!
Blog writing improvements
10k Analysis: Part 3 - Accuracy of human predictions
Music by year: 1990
Smacking bots
29 slices - my seven days of dinner
10k Analysis: Part 2 - Age and Performance
Pass it on
10k Analysis: Part 1 - Distribution of best 10k times
January (31)
January
Mobile Usability Team Helping All Fetchies...
Salmon Ramen Recipe :-)
Salmon Ramen (for TBR)
Backup dog
The best GPS watches in the world... volume 1
Pick it...
People who liked...
Obscure bugs
Zen & The Art of Heart Rate Training
FIT file import - temporary issue
Keep the change, ya filthy animal
The honeymoon is over
Dirty data
Mobile Usability
Oops
Readership!
Stay sticky
It's Hip To Buy Squares
Related Threads - Exposé :-)
The Batshit Association
Jobs
Tag Team
Feed the monster!
An ad for Fetch Chess Club :-)
Estimating VO2Max
Three little birds
A not uncommon swelling
Church Mouse January
Honey, where's my super suit?
Not here.
2020 (128)
December (6)
Blog A Day 2021?
9 years ago today
Chewie, We're Home! Happy Fetch Independence Day :-)
Be Prepared
Becoming an effluencer
A few Fetch Mugs left
November (10)
The Festive Fetch Calendar is back!
FIT file import
Mugs!
Thank you, mysterious Fetchie!
Chess
UTMOST in the age of COVID-19
This'll cheer you up for sure...
Lost in translation?
Annual Infographic... updating now.
In theory...
October (11)
Training Plan Analysis
Mini plans with the training plan
5k with The Boy :-)
Welcome to tomorrow
Thank you
Become tradeable!
Pre-Race Training Volume
Doctor K Cup Week
Last orders
Advice for a friend
Trader Makeover
September (6)
The shop is open!
Hoodie Colour!
New Fetch Hoodies
A big up/holler!
VO2max
A benchmark derailed by GPS data *nerd*
August (8)
10k analysis
Officially a Sheepy Shuffler!
Pi Watering
Pre-order Avoid Everyone Face Masks
I got sent these...
Other sites? :-O
Benchmarks - an infinitely configurable set of ladders.
Try the monthly infographic :-)
July (10)
Update on Monthly Training Infographic
New Infographic
Monthly Summary (with a little tweak)
A quick Garmin update
Open Water / Wild Swimming Database
Avoid Everyone - spares
OWS Locations
Thread-level search
New Sharing Graphic & New Pastures
My first lamp post
June (16)
Replacing the Who's Training page
Combining some pages
In pursuit of the Gridmaster Ultra
15th Anniversary Kit - Spares
Shoelaces
A new How To video
Training Plan Updated
Black Lives Matter
Avoid Everyone Spares + Second Batch
Wikipedia page
Another YouTube video for sharesies :-)
Getting data to Fetch from **other places**
Feature Voting - some further updates
Feature Voting - speeded up
Another How To video - this time, Conquercise
Fantastisches Tweeten
May (13)
A video for sharing
Bees!
Fetch Introductory Zoom Presentations
A promise to all Fetchies
Fetch Virtual Weekend: Replacement Bus Service
How has Fetch use changed?
Fetch Weekly Virtual Races
Zoom Meeting - Thursday 9 til 10am
WAVA Standards Update
WAVA Standards + Poll
Fun with Age Grading :-)
New Badges Day
The test shirt fabric has arrived :-)
April (14)
Zoom Podcast - watch the video
What is WBC?
If you did the free Amazon trial...
Some small amends (and shirt version)
Pre-orders open
I was only joking, but...
If Fetcheveryone did lockdown merch
Site outage - Thursday 16th April 11pm
On exercising responsibly
My Sports Quiz - how would you have scored?
Your creative thinking required
WBC My Favourite Teacher (a bit later than the deadline)
Updated Training League
Server Downtime, Thursday 9th 00:01BST to 04:00BST (and thank you!)
March (13)
New Fetch Game: Hide and Seek
Free trial of Audible
Do you have a good memory?
New Opt-In for Fetch Miles
New Badges for Fetch Miles
The Fetch Five: Don't Let CV19 Win!
Amending event dates and notifying of cancellations
A green light comes on over your head, and you can get on with life
Most Popular Shoe Brands 2019
A review
Android: Session I
Compare Your Training
Book Now to avoid disappointment :-)
February (10)
Imports from Suunto, Fitbit, Polar and TomTom.
Plot A Route - mobile improvements
Happy tugging!
Something to play with
Adding A New Feature
February Treasure Hunt
Server Downtime
Miles = Smiles
Build Your Mile
Pop Will Eat Himself: Update
January (11)
Clarence the Cadence Kitten
Trim your trails :-)
Seven Day Leaderboard
Let's try that again
Some minor blog amendments
Try the new Forum Search Prototype
Pop Will Eat Himself
A card from HowFar?
Thank you HowFar? (Statement, not a question)
Take the red pill
Climb every mountain
2019 (134)
December (7)
The Christmas Poem
Where your treasure is...
Listen to the dog breathe
Chewie, We're Home
Thursday's Challenge
Which GPS?
Fetch Shop (of sorts)
November (12)
The zeroth challenge
Polar users - auto import
Calling all Polar users
Mobile Optimisation
Calling all Android users
Did your ads disappear?
Pin that sucker down :-)
Easier tagging
Category now editable from VIEW
Kit now editable from VIEW
Working towards tagging
Manual Add Training bug
October (16)
Boring Cricket Blog
Books Part 2
Books :-)
42
Training tags Part 2
Training tags
Let's Jazzercise
My precious
Cricket Week 4: Footage :-)
Forum Training Threads
Benny Neutrino Returns
Cricket Week 3: Wingardium Leviosa!
Benny Neutrino's Filter Tips
Cricket Week 2
Continuing Amazon Affiliate Saga
In case you haven't seen...
September (11)
Updated: Spare Anniversary Kit
Affiliate links
I did a cricket!
Fetch365 - enjoy responsibly
Filth
My dear old things
Buddies vs Follow
Server Invoice Day
Our new MOTM sponsor
Fetch Power!
Race Listings: Please Read
August (5)
Everyone *rainbow*
Almost there...
Quick blog
Country Badges
A new set of badges
July (6)
Pre-orders open
Anniversary Shirts v2
Fetch 15th Anniversary Shirts
Fetch Fest 2020
Shout Outs
Missing imports from Garmin yesterday
June (13)
Who Squares Wins: 64 screenshot
Who Squares Wins: 64 Player Edition
Training summary - older pages
Training sub-menu rejig
Try the infographic
Steady Edina
Annual Summary Infographic
The height of daft things
The training summary - the morning session
The training summary - a wordier blog
Try the annual summary thing
How to listen to the Fetch Podcast
12 month summary mega-graph!
May (15)
£79.99 off the bottom line
Competition
parkrun reviews - now with routes
Fix It Friday; Project Joker Week 2; and some shout outs.
Fetch Kit Cupboard Sale
The bonus ball
Project Joker - Week 1
Fix It Friday
A quick update on the server
Fetch 15th Anniversary Kit
There is a good service operating
Oof.
In case you're wondering...
Trouble auto importing from Garmin?
Fix It Friday: Stuff that came to me in dreams
April (12)
Feature Voting - now with virtual badges :-)
The moment of triumph!
New Feature Voting
Fix It Friday: What would your horse be called?
Marathon Pacing: tyre-kickers required
Fix It Friday: Back to Basics
Podcast Poll
Fix It Friday: The League Of Everyone
Dom, dom, dom, I've got DOMS, I've got DOMS!
Crouch, Touch, Pause.... longer pause... what am I doing again?
Training Log - Update
Site Update: New Font
March (15)
Fix It Friday: An Endless Mission
Naming and faming :-)
2nd in my age category!
Fix It Friday: Brought to you by Surprise Inset Day
New training log
Route Matching - Ready :-)
Fix It Friday
What's your unit of measurement?
Ciderthon competition
Fix It Friday: Stroopwafels of Doom!
Route Matching - Update
This week's cool list
Me in the river
Big Fetch Miles 2019
Fix It Friday: Fingerprints!
February (13)
A Maths Challenge
Fetch Legends: Activate!
Whose coat is this jacket?
Fix It Friday: The Fix Awakens
Joining the awesome list...
Fix It Friday
Naming and faming :-)
Fix It Friday - Monthly Summary
Training Month Summary
Podcast Q&A
If you can't read this, don't panic.
*redsaber* The force is strong with these Fetchies!
Fix It Friday *bluesaber*
January (9)
Some shout outs :-)
Fix It Friday!
Podcast Ep 3, plus some naming and faming :-)
Fix It Friday
Fetch Chaos
Oooh! Second chance Berlin trip! And new subbers, podcast episode, and Trader.
My week of running
Naming and faming - this week :-)
Naming and faming :-)
2018 (138)
December (8)
A Christmas Message (in podcast form)
Rungeon :-)
Hey, Everyone!
France Trip Vote
Happy Fetch Independence Day
Actual free trip to France (incl. flights)
Litter
Sombrero's Lovely Cards
November (14)
Hoodies + other spares
Spare Fetch Kit
Festive Fetch Calendar 2018
Avatars
Book Giveaway - Can We Run With You, Grandfather?
Fix It Friday
Bedford Harriers Half - place offered
Updated Kit Bag
Family Fortunes :-)
Any adidas experts out there?
No Fixes Today - just two challenges
Big Fetch Mile Cardiff
Fix It Friday
Festive Fetch Calendar 2018
October (14)
Hello landlubbers
Embedded polls
Member of the Month
Fix It Friday
Spare Fetch shirts and vests
Abingdon
Fix It Friday
My Fetch Mile
One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner.
Fix It Friday - 'Ave It!
Automatic route matching
Automatic route matching
One last reminder for those cycling jerseys
Fix It Friday - Forensics and User Experience
September (14)
Fix It Friday
Server Downtime 2.30pm 26th September
Never Again
Fix It Friday!
Handling your weirdness
Cards ordered :-)
Just wondering...
Fix It Friday :-)
Try the Fetcheveryone Tutorial
40 days and 40 nights
Fix It Friday
ARION insoles - review part 1
Fetch Shirt - Black Ones, and sizing
Shirts and Vests Pre-Order
August (14)
Fix It Friday
Blog Height squished
Site Outage Last Night
New Mobile Nav
Fix It Friday
New feature - how you doin'? :-)
Sunflower spread
Fix It Friday
A new pre-race mileage graph
Fetch Social: Draycote Water September
Fix It Friday: The Supermarket Analogy
A run with _andy :-)
Suunto 9 Review
Fix it Friday
July (5)
Fix It Friday!
Five Get Wet In Devon
Big Glasgow Weekend - Part 1: Gies A Cwtch
Tom Williams Interview - Final Part
Glasgow Big Fetch Mile Results and Pics
June (17)
Abingdon Week 17 - P&D Booster rockets
Interviewing Tom Williams: Part III
Walking League (and one just for Nellers)
Follow Roads - continued
Week 18 in the bag
Tackling turds
Abingdon Marathon Training: Week 18
Interview with Tom Williams - Part 2
Server
Five Questions (ready for serious answers)
Kick some tyres for me
Interview with Tom Williams - Part 1
Five Questions
Follow Roads saga
Google maps progress, plus Abingdon plans
Training Summary - Infographics
Who Squares Wins - ranking update
May (10)
Training log maps converted
More mapping updates
Who Squares Wins - The Wizard's Hat
De doo doo doo... another one bites the dust...
Invisible changes
Silverstone 10k
Three year throwback
Why your support makes the difference
Some high mileage Fetchies
dryrobe winner
April (14)
Interviewing Tom Williams
Swimming Caps!
#finishformatt
New batch of shirts and vests
You make big mistake my friend
Fetchpoint
Glasgow Big Fetch Mile announced
Two tickets to the Running Awards
Pics from Dudley Big Fetch Mile
Notes for London Marathon Fetchpointers
Results from today's Big Fetch Mile
Who Squares Wins - prototype board
Attention London Marathoners!
New game - coming soon
March (9)
Intervals, Solidarity, Swimming and Fmail
Ready to give the new fmail a try?
More on fmail
New fmail system
Win a dryrobe :-)
For jabberknit...
Updating the Training Home page
Pics from Bedford Big Fetch Mile
Sledgends :-)
February (13)
Buffs On Sale
Big Fetch Mile Bedford
Vlog :-)
Marathon Talk
Important GDPR stuff - PLEASE read
A page of historical importance
Vlog :-)
Road Rash, Marathon Prediction and T-Shirts
This :-)
Capturing the dog
It's BACK!
Enter Wilmslow Half Marathon
An advertisement
January (6)
Local Fetchies - Opt In
Revealed: World's Best Shoes
How I chose the Big Fetch Mile venues
Big Fetch Mile 2018 - Venues & Provisional Dates
Try adding an image to your training entry
Mileage Targets 2018 - Update
2017 (147)
December (12)
Mileage Targets 2018
Thank you
Brownie Recipe :-)
Phew
Fetch Hoodies + Buffs SALE Update
Chewie, We're Home
Fetch Hoodies SALE - what's left
Fetch Hoodies! SALE!!! (and Buffs available too)
Chewie, We're Home
Sharing pics
Fetch Jingle Mile Cambridge photos
Glorious Failure: Bedford Harriers Half Marathon
November (20)
Serpents, hamstrings and inversions
A special anniversary approaches...
Hamstring and prototype updates
Training Log Prototype - Today's Improvements
Red Venom sale
For what it's worth...
Training Log Prototype - Update #2
Training Log Prototype - Update
Big Fetch Mile - venue hunt
RT for a Garmin
Training Log Prototype - To Be Fixed
fetcheveryone.com/amazon
The Weekly vLog (by me)
Thanks :-)
New Training Log Prototype - Available Now
Thanks for following
VLog - footage from the Cardiff Big Fetch Mile
Big Fetch Mile[s] 2018
Win a place in the Surrey Half
I vont to scan your barcode.
October (12)
Big Fetch Weekend :-)
Fetch Mile Results
Festive Fetch Calendar :-O
Calling Parkers everywhere!
In which I decorate a cake.
Regent's Park Fetchie Discount
Elevation in colour
"I didn't come here to walk to Sparta!"
New elevation info
Chicken Ballot-ine, with a side order of beef
New training log headers
Ballot day tomorrow - help needed
September (19)
Weekly vLog - COCONUTS!!!
River Thames Half Marathon
The lollipop update
On failing gracefully
Doctor K Day
Fetch Kit Sale - Updates
Weekly vLog
Fetch Kit Sale
Training Log View Update
Fetcheveryone Weekly? Vlog?
Fetchie Race Discount - Regent's Park 10k
Training Log Tags - Live
Training Log Tags
Weekly vLog - Derby Mile, and a pause to salute the legendary Doctor K
24 hours later
Doctor K donation page
Doctor K
Fetch Weekly vLog
Derby Mile - tomorrow!
August (8)
Race Prices; and an alien earworm
Straight outta Cromford - the Fetch Weekly vLog!
A Fetch vLog! With prizes!
Quick search location for sharing
New WAVA graph
Weird FIT file thing
Back from me 'olidays :-)
Linking race results to training log entries
July (12)
Race Pricing - crowdsourcing
Appdate for Android and iPhone
Inhalers
Fetch Mile - Cardiff?
Bookends
Race listing omelette
Coding and town planning
Please review your races
A2B winners
Motivational Sounds - the final 10
Two more Big Fetch Miles? :-)
Bedford Fetch Mile Results
June (19)
Big Fetch Mile
Motivational Sounds
Fetch fug - updated design
Fetch fug (available at the Fetch mile)
I've done the naughtiest thing ever.
Donating Blood - my Vlog
Fapp In the App Store :-)
Can I kick it?
A***biscuits
This just in...
For Bean
Your app status is Waiting For Review
A2B
Fetch Caps
Garmin Communicator Plugin
Fetch App - strong and stable testing
HTTPS is here
Fetch App progress
https access to the site
May (14)
Fetch App
Apostrophes
[Untitled]
[Untitled]
Site down at 11pm
Round and round the garden
Try the new home page layout
Server down tonight @ 11pm
Browser testers wanted
The Big Fetch Mile!!!
Site *NOT* down tonight. [cough]
Bluffer's Competition - Winner
Bedford parkrun timelapse
Return of the cap
April (8)
Fetchpoint (London and Milton Keynes!)
Base camp, VMLM
Bronze!
Just for D2
Off to the awards
Bloodvlog
Hoodies - it's on!
Updated Training Home Page
March (6)
'Train' page
Project Joker
Hoodies and Londons
Hands up, hands UP! Draycote Water 10
Bluffer's Competition
Project Joker
February (12)
Draggable?
Running Awards shortlisted
Route Plotter now with OpenStreetMap
Plan for Bluffer's comp
Update to Route Plotter
First update to the route mapper
For Angus
Virtuous Circles
Competition coming soon
Race Guide Ads
Club La Santa vLog
Fetch Fixtures
January (5)
Word Clouds
Buckets Ready
New Home Page
Do me a favour...
Limited Companies, filing accounts, that sort of thing
2016 (128)
December (11)
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
Five Years Ago Today
Pantsfest! May the stains be ever in your favour!
#FEXIT
Photoshop SOS
Attention: Fitbit users
Bedford Half 2016
Luton Fetchmob: Breaking Point
Vote Fetch!
Breaking news: Paris Marathon
November (21)
How to end a LiveChat.
Define wrong
TomTom Runner 3 Review - Any Questions?
Deliveryman
Movember: Project Beard: Day 24: Beardraggled
Festive Fetch Calendar 2016
We're gonna be in the Hudson
Hey Chiefy
I've written summat
Going Postal
A special mention
Training Log Beta
Spare Hoodies
Updates to Training Beta
Movember: Project Beard - Day 8 (The Seven Day Itch)
Vote for Fetch
Training Log Detail View - Some Changes
Aberdeen University Study
Consultation V2
[Untitled]
Fetchpoint - October Winners and November Prizes
October (16)
Alien nuggets!
Keeping a tight lid on the biscuit tin
Training Log Beta
100 Running Words
Pssst....
Fetchmob, December 3rd
Where to mob?
Little things
That All-Time Mileage League
The sudoku that keeps on giving.
Sub-25 for 1km :-)
Fetchmob - December 3rd
New Training Log Preview
Fixed the overlap...
Why the new training log isn't ready yet...
vLog
September (12)
Doughnut or Donate
Training Log - Sneak Peek
Fetch Shop Sale! Old stuff clearout!
vLog!!!
The consultation system...
Garmin support for timezone info
The GMT/BST/Timezone problem
Training Log Consultation...
Training Log - Consultation
Fetch Social Runs
Subscriber shirts, vests and hoodies, and determination.
Fetch Voluntary Subscriptions
August (3)
Ze Gryndylows! My first #OWS :-)
Testing Fetchpoint exclusion zones
Fetchpoint scoring system
July (7)
Conquercise Prize Draw?
Fetch Games: Checkpoints (and what's wrong with them)
More owls...
Your Favourite Fetch Game?
Even More Utmost Than Before...
Chiswick!
15 days later...
June (10)
Five days on...
[Untitled]
A quick thank you...
What do you think?
If you'd be so kind...
Poised
Which watch?
Run Bedford 10k
Import from a TomTom
Attention TomTom users
May (10)
Race Distance poll
An ungainly fish
A five year plan
What Club La Santa can learn from parkrun
Cream Me Up, Scotty
Greetings from Club La Santa
And a quick poll...
Club Charter
A poll about intervals
More owls!
April (11)
Robin Hood and his Merry Dad :-)
Warning: Dull - some screen res stats
Responsive Design Update
For all you marathoners
A Poll
Fetchpoint
Ditching the forum categories?
Moving to Responsive Design
Sandy 10: Be Kind To Horses
Owls!
For Adam and Jamie
March (11)
Bacon Smoke!
Benchmarks Update
Bath - Race Report
PB!!!!!!!
An annoying eight-year-old.
Let's Cook and Cut and Paste :-)
Let's Cook :-)
RIP Gramma
Book Winners
Dog farming
Site header update
February (5)
Book Giveaway
Pi Club
Pi Project Update
Because I'd like to check the blogging badges are working...
Crapruary
January (11)
Snooker Freak
Badges - Another Update
Unlockable Badges - Update
Unlockable Badges
TomTom Runner 2 Review
Gallery updates
Snowball coding and Fetch Unlockables!
Achievement Medals - what do you reckon?
Run The Sum
2015 Book List (and a bit of a review / plan)
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
2015 (175)
December (7)
Red Red Wine
A Poll
Gis a job!
Bedford Half
REMEMBER!!!
Vote for Fetch
Now you've hopefully got the idea...
November (13)
The Festive Fetch Calendar
Don't get excited or anything...
Slightly Dismal Friday
Pre-order your Fetch Buff now :-)
A message from our sponsor
Dr Fetch will see you now
Only the grumbliest, achiest chocolate... :-)
The Stanford Experiment
Buff Design
Snugs - Review
Love, Commitment, Support
The pre-wedding blog!
Good morning Fetchers, good morning Everyone
October (9)
Monthly Totals
Did you write a blog yesterday?
The First Rule of Web Server Maintenance
The gain line
Fectch
The zipper challenge!
Sugar daddy
Now in colour!
Competition Time!!!
September (14)
Teach your kids (or yourself) to code
Sticky Training Choices
Goodies: GetMore water and the Alcatel OneTouch Watch
Shirt size guidelines
This nearly made it...
Subscriber Shirt Design
I've got wood!
Humbled
New Beginnings
Some more questions answered
Swimming
Some responses to your comments
Standing on the shoulders of Fetchies
Funtleks
August (8)
24 hours in the south
24 hours in the north
Fetchies Assemble!
Thank you
Better knowledge than riches
Fitbit Urge
The villainous Mr Fetch!
Uncomfortable rear
July (8)
Why don't you play Conquercise?
Another week of strange training
Book Giveaway - Winners
GPS Reviews
Criteria for reviewing a GPS
Auto-bike-detector :-)
Win some bookses :-)
Half Way!
June (13)
Time Lapse Clouds
TomTom Bandit - very QUICK first impressions
My wings are like a shield of steel!
Running plus Cycling update
Embarrassingly...
Stalkers Paradise!
Recommend me a bike :-)
Holy Steamrollers Batman!
Rest day (no such thing)
Sqveeeeze!
We will now imitate the flight of a goose :-)
You made me ink! Snorkel safari :-)
Good morning from CLS :-)
May (10)
Club La Santa :-)
The AWESOME Power of Fetchies!
Home Insurance Shaftage :-/
Editing Forum Posts
The Future!
Some London Marathon stats
Walking On The Moon
Hardest parkrun?
New found wisdom
Week 1
April (11)
Marathon vLog
I owe some hugs!
And that concludes the voting from the Danish judges
Adventures in geocaching
Your video clips wanted!
Jelly with no spoons
Random Ultra
Suncream in my eyes - a review of 'Running and Stuff'
Books what I've read this year
Measuring the effect of wind
Wind Roses
March (18)
Watching the tide roll away
A great week of running!
Happy Jigs Wisdom!
Mobile Fetch
I don't do this very often...
Breathless Optimism
20 miles yesterday
This Week's vLog
Decision Trees and the sub-4!
Democracy Street
Mayan Maths
Bath Half (at last)
Still a chicken
Costume Drama in Bath
TomTom importing
Updated 'Train' page
Zonked
Nearly
February (29)
Pheasant
An Unexpected Journey
Wind picking up...
An unplanned kit alarm
Race Pace Test
2nd place
Week ends
Bounceback
Barking carrots
Bedroom pizza
Top of the mountain
Blogs get the mobile treatment
Supersonic Katie, and a marathon pace question
Back home
Racing parkrun ;-)
Unblocking the sink
Start in Darkness
Some times I'd like
Mobile Site - Forum Section
All-Time Leaderboards
Batteries
Sword fighting
PB Attempts
Duct tape and WD40
Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants
Lessons
Shoe horning
Training vLog Week 13
Big February Project
January (35)
Cake, invalidated
Small sips
LiRF, award shortlist, beginners, books, boy.
Dog Available :-)
Cutback
New Recipe Section
Lazy
Another threshold run
New Beginnings
Blah
But far more importantly...
Fetch Beginners Programme
Give it a go :-)
Training vLog - Week 11
Threshold Run (a running blog)
Long day, short blog
(Lack of) Pump Action
A thread to follow
This Boy Can
Local Leaderboards for Checkpoints
Choking.
February 18th
Godzilla!
The Travelling Checkpoint Salesman
Acorn Antiques
Bearing Up
Deleted Bridges and Dodgy Lasers
I'm Batman!
Healthy and Appy
Punch O'Clock!
The plan, then.
Ten mile toes
On Parliament
[Untitled]
Bold Claims, and a Challenge for 2015
2014 (262)
December (9)
A trip to Wales (vLog)
Christmas Messages from Fetchies
Various
FERC London Marathon Places - Draw
It's gone in my sock...
Festive Fetch Five
This Week's Training
To the Post Office!
Training vLog - Week 4
November (12)
I Am Groot!
Slightly Dismal Friday
Week 3 - in which I nearly drown my wife!
I said yes :-)
Free Daps! aka Test GORE-TEX® footwear this winter!
Training vLog - Week 2
More chances for VMLM entries
Marathon Talk
My first training vLog :-)
Second place?
In :-)
Questionnaire about personality traits amongst runners
October (16)
Adidas API
Horseplay minimiser
Running with the big dog
Flat and Windy
Who'd like to test the Garmin API then?
Advantage Borg
Deal?
Jumble
Milk Tray Reps in the Rain
Geneva
Quote
Hatfield 5k, and some other running thoughts
Site layout changes
Vote for Training Plans
Maths help
3-2-1
September (8)
A quick device poll
Garmin Connect API
Cake at the lake :-)
Empowering Women
This Week's Training
Tick :-)
Article help
First outing with the Harriets
August (7)
Book club and Harriers
A treasure trove for bookish types
What I did on my Summer Holidays
Local decoration
The Fisher King
Mojitos and no mosquitos!
Cake-athlon
July (26)
James Mason
Missing Week
Camping View
Wild Camping
Quick
Transalpine Race
In brief
Urgent! Pair of runners wanted!
Fetch Kit Available to Pre-order :-)
Fetch Anniversary Kit - Preview
API and FAK!
That dog has a puffy tail
More books
Reverse Moses
Zombies vs Plants
Shovel required
Nightfever
Dayfever
Catcher in the Rye
My sister the psychologist
Drink your strong limey drink
Keep me in the loop
Bread knives, hedgehogs and the dog in the night time
Whoops
Pinteresting
Q&A?
June (34)
Checkpoints video
Walden
Happy boys and giggly imps
Spring loaded
Elbow grease
Fetch 10th Anniversary Kit
Fetch YouTube Tutorial - Race Guide
Finding the Library folder on a Mac
Stoat!
Sonic screwdriver
Live wires
Wiring help needed
Garmin Express Experiment
Scalded sloth
Garminge
Potching
New Forum Layout
Further updates to the blog layout
New blog layout
First woodpecker
Beastin' parkrun
Pantoball
All was well
USA! USA! USA!
Marking Territory
The People's Poet Is Dead :-(
Holy Water
Throwing shapes
Life moves pretty fast
Recursion is beautiful
Win an OS Explorer / Landranger map of your choice
Intervals with a Suunto Ambit 2S
Tick
Economy done two ways
May (31)
[Untitled]
Vorsprung Durch Lego Technic
How do I liberate my boy from his XBox?
Questions?
Life in the Woods
Lazy
MovesMissed
Intervals with a TomTom
Electioneering
[Untitled]
Tree fluff
More camping
Zen and Camping
Not eaten by bears
Bear food
Camping List
Camping Venn Diagrams
Floppy dog
Routes but not Rathbone
Illustrator wanted
Masking
Highlights
The Cosmic Ballet Goes On
Silverstone 10k :-)
Quick one
[Untitled]
Superhuman snooker
Dogturdflagman
Numbers!
Whittlin'
Chapter 1
April (29)
King Bin
Quiet day on Feedback Mountain
Listing
42
Go directly to parkrun. Do not pass Godzuki.
A day in Wales
[Untitled]
Spanner
The Lost Diadem of Fetchbook
Falling asleep in my dinner
Egg
Sofathon
God gave rock and roll to you.
Sugar Mule
Not bad, consid'rin.
Tinkering
Can U Dig It?
A weekend in Wales
Looking forward to Oliver!
Thank you, and more App talk
RIP Nan
Blah
Appy
Pyjamas at both ends.
Thump. Saturday has started.
Sore tum :-/
Zombies aside... first impressions of the new TomTom
TomTom Runner Cardio Press Event
Am I pregnant?
March (31)
Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes
Sandy 10
#bedfordhappy
Me on YouTube
New graphs live
Follow the dot
Only the best for the Captain's table
Mrs Diahann Wagner is GOING HORNY
Sport Relief Win
Hot dogs, quick blogs
Toton Sidings
A sign!
Owen Farrell visualisation technique
Kebabs!
Booster fails to ignite
Myton Rugby Run (5 Miler)
Rugby before rugby
Sweetcorn antidote
Custard factory
Pooped
I did some intervals :-)
Speed work?
Many things
A bit cabbagey here.
Angry Wasp
Minty
Rainbow's End
Core Dump
Bath Half (in detail)
A quick overview
Down to business in Bath
February (28)
Made it to Bath
Unexpected hugs
Slider
I like to go a-wandering
Spring cleaning
Tongue-lolling
Because We're Worth It
I don't know what!
Thanks Jim
Enough now
Clearing the pipes
Crouch, Touch, Pause...
Medication, that's what you need.
Symptom Tour
Hello FBI
Dazed day
Why I'm an optimist
Mobius birds
Snotty knuckles
In this house...
Retch Everyone
Carrots
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
Ultrahalfmarathoner
Angry Birds
Belching
Clarkson averse
Good day :-)
January (31)
*bunting* *cake*
Bigger Boys
Zombies!
Pretending to be Saga Norén
Waiting for the AA
Ship shape
Readthrough
Technology takes you further
Love Garden
Cushions
High Heel Striker
Bit of a rubbish one
Ta
Hot Re-fills
Coding Grinch
An august prediction
Some Running Goals for Q1
Wipe-clean dog
Breaking it down
Snakes and Ladders
Bigger Ponds
Drink Your Weak Lemon Drink
All in All
Panning the pancake
Does JK Rowling own a dog?
Back to the kitchen table
Steve Davis shoes
Pigs on a water slide
Sloshing
Protocol
19 books :-)
2013 (29)
December (3)
Oh...
Engine Management Light
Hannibal Vector
November (3)
Speed skating
Stew-pendous
Cool Hand Grandpa
October (3)
Bookish
Minecraft Cake
Random dump
September (2)
Blog by Email!
Catchup blah
August (3)
Big Green Caterpillar
Questions answered - final CLS blog
Last Days at Club La Santa
July (10)
A nice morning of swimming and tennis
Please Read: Questions for a sports coach
Snorkeltastic
Hitting the straps
First Impressions at Club La Santa
Mile High Blog
Clocking off
For the second week running...
Another Club La Santa catchup
The Floor In The Plan
June (3)
Club La Santa
Bulk Uploading, and win a book
FERC Charities 2011-2012
March (1)
Bath Weekend
January (1)
Meet Steve
2012 (39)
December (2)
Tired Now Boss
Bath - Week 14 + Foodbank
November (3)
White Level Reading
Bath - Week 15
Bath - Week 16
October (2)
Onwards!
C'mon Dave
July (1)
RIP Arnie
June (2)
Rub some bacon on it
18 weeks
May (9)
Techy not tetchy
Time for a techy blog
Time to walk the dog
Stevington 12k
Properly coldy
Still a bit coldy
New blog design live
A bit coldy
Blogs Redesign
April (2)
Easter
SERIOUSLY LORD FETCH, SORT IT OUT
March (8)
A long run up
Running Tick
Weekend
Sport Relief Mile
Back once again
Swimming sweetcorn and other vegetables
Joy Rides, Sticks and Medals
Training Tip
February (9)
And...
Katie, ICT, and some more MySQL
May The Ground Force Be With You
Functions
Well done Batman.
Optimisation Crossword
Snow Days
Gallery, and parkrun
Pleased
January (1)
There Are Some Really Sexy Girls On Fetch
Comments
I would walk/run/crawl 500 miles and I would walk/run/crawl 100 more
Count me in - I've signed up to cover 100 miles in April anyway
- Or the Fetch DC Challenge?
- 600 in 6 months
- Nearly a Megametre
(or, and not meaning to hi-jack or force anything or anyone, something sheepy, a bit longer than a shuffle, and maybe even, for a voluntary donation a real memento?)
(other good causes may be available, but again, not wishing to add admin or pressure or change)
The Crenellation Game
Push the Moat Out (I have no idea what that one means)
Keep Up
Towering Runferno. The Fetchcastle Chronicles. Castlerunia. Runcastle Funcastle. Fort Fetchard.
I won’t be there though as I’ll be running too
Bute-iful Bedford/ Bute-iful to Bedford, King of the Castle are the only names I can think of so far. (Cardiff Castle’s in Bute Park)
I'm in, goes past/through/around so many places I know and love!
Fetch a Castle?
Joust do it
I think a mug would make a nice memento to buy.
I’m late to the party but thought of “Castlevania” and then “Castlemania”
(Helps to employ Dracula to announce “Welcome to Castlemania”)