Winter Training

I have been doing some icing along with toughening of my feet as part of re-hab. Used the lovely recent snow to combine the two...

Longest duration of about 10-15 minutes whilst clearing the car's windows felt wonderful, but was probably on the edge.
Didn't run in the snow as for once the usual question 'What if you tread on something?' made sense.
Took great care coming back in to warm up slowly, avoiding chill-blains.

2Mogs - 2Bows!

Now the new bow, and the arrows, are ready, both old and new bows are sitting up on the wall, waiting to be drawn into action.

Seeing them both together feels really interesting.
My self-made flat bow, which i thought looked quite smooth when i first made it, now seems crude in comparison to the Bickerstaffe. However, it still has a weighty and rugged simplicity, even beauty.
The Bickerstaffe itself looks fine and elegant, reserved, yet full off power.

Knowing one was made by myself, and another by a top craftsman also feels good. I have great pride in both cases.
I am enjoying the contrasts very much.

Of course the temptation is to make another (more) to add breadth to the comparison...!

Final flighty touch

i hope to get to a shoot over the Christmas break, so have been putting the final touches onto my kit:
nocks on the string - small rings that get crimped onto the string and act as a mark for the arrow; and putting my name on my arrows.
The arrow naming is not so much so lost arrows can be return, but more so that damage causing arrows can identify the shooter...

Should i have put 2Mogs..?

[update - 16.1.11]

Because of the pegs used in field archery, i have marked my arrows 1, 2, or 3 so i can tell which shot gets the best score if i shoot from all three pegs during practice. 

My first thought was to add a number after my name, but then thought that banding would be more elegant and, in addition, would allow me to tell the number whichever way i look at the arrow.

I used the artificial sinew i have for fixing the flights to my own more traditionally fletched arrows, and used a little glue to seal the band and reduce the possibility of slipping.

I also took the opportunity to finish the ends of the flights with a sinew band to stop the cut ends of the feathers cutting my hand when shooting as there is no arrow rest on a traditional longbow.

Nike’s Flexible Second Skin - PSFK

PSFK Future of Retail shows off an amazing looking concept(?) barefoot shoes (?) from Nike:

Nike’s Flexible Second Skin - PSFK

Would love to try some!

100 yards

had a small jog down the road at the weekend, with strong forefoot landing, and all is good with my tendons today!

i was trying out Kigo shoes, which offer a relatively large amount of protection, but manage to still give a good feel. one thing i have found is that the removable insole slips a bit. it's not too pronounced but did put me off them for a while. because of this, i doubt i will use when i am running above a couple of hundred yards.

i have also been trying these VFFs. they look great and offer more support than the standard one. unfortunately, i have a large third toe (next to the pinky), and the toe pockets on these VFFs are particularly snug. again i'm not sure it will be comfortable running more than a couple of hundred yards in these.

Photos of our son pt3

a few more photos...

Baby Steps

young feet are incredible. 
they are made of cartilage, not bone, which only develops as the child grows through their teens.
gives me serious questions about how to protect my son's feet, and suggests that maybe barefoot is best for babies and children too.

The human foot at birth is not a miniature version of an adult foot. In fact, it contains no bones at all and consists of a mass of cartilage, which, over a period of years, ossifies to become the 28 bones that exist in the adult human foot. This process is not complete until the late teens, so it is crucial that footwear - when worn - is well chosen.
"Most children's shoes ought to come with a government health warning," believes Byrne. "They are like awful little bricks - too stiff, too rigid, with no flexibility at the sole and too much heel raise. This is of particular concern with toddlers learning to walk, because it causes them to bounce and tip forward," she says.
Woodward agrees. "I have in my hand a Nike Air shoe for a three-year-old - quite an expensive item, I would guess. From the heel to the toe there is no 'bend' or 'give' in the sole. Completely rigid, this shoe will restrict movement of the forefoot to zero. Kids this age should be turning cartwheels, skipping, climbing trees, running around. A shoe like this would seriously restrict such playful physicality - make it less fun, less enjoyable."
Full article

barefoot update

it's two and a half months since my last barefoot post, and whilst it has been a busy time, i have done next to no running.
i have tried a few therapies, including massage and physiotherapy, but the biggest improvements have been from just resting my feet, combined with toe scrunching to help build up the strength in my arches.

so - day-today there is now no pain in my heels, and i can run across a road if i need to.
doesn't sound like much but it beats limping everywhere all the time.
and when i do run (across the road), i make sure to fore-foot strike and keep my feet loose and alive.

i have also been walking barefoot outside a little. being exposed to texture and temperature again feels great.
i hope to start running barefoot again in the new year.
and of course i have my son's feet to inspire me now, and i want to be a good example.

*Edit* moved quoted article to separate post.

Growth spurt

so, why the hell did noone mention growth spurts?!
we have just been through the second spurt so knew what to expect, but the first was a nightmare because we didn't know what was happening.
so what was..?
Seems every 10 - 12 days a newborn has a burst of growth. If you are breastfeeding, the first spurt results in a very hungry and upset baby who will take all the milk you have and still want more. Clearly at that point the crying gets worse and, after you have run through the possible cause again, you will realise that (s)he is still hungry.
This was the first time during the whole pregnancy and birth that I saw my wife show fear. She could not feed our baby. We had been told that the milk would be there, as much as was needed, but now it had run out. What were we doing wrong and how do we feed our increasingly unhappy baby..?
I nipped out for some formula and made some calls for advice. My questions were what is happening? and how much formula without ruining the chance of future breastfeeding?
Expert advice (amazing midwife homebirth team) reassured us that this was completely normal, and enough milk would flow tomorrow. All we had to do was wait and endure the tears, which would be more about communication than actual acute hunger.

So, all good in the end. As soon as we had this information the fear evaporated. But the fear could have been completely avoided if we had known this was coming. We did a good deal of preparation, but missed this. If it happens to you, take heart. It's expected, milk flow was better second time. ...and it will happen again, and again, and again, so you can get used to it ;~)

Photos of our son pt2. 2-3 weeks

a few more photos of Noah Bear

New Longbow!

what with becoming a dad and all, the arrival of my new handmade longbow has slipped backwards somewhat in the interest stakes.
however, i am coming up to breath a little now, and the new bow, which arrived the day after Noah, is wonderful.
handmade by Bickerstaffe Bows, it is made from a laminate of Hickory, Purpleheart, Lemonwood, and Greenheart woods, with horn nocks (end bits the string loops over).
i have given it some initial warming up, but have yet to shoot it. however, just stringing it makes the bow come alive - you can feel the power in the wood's tension.

can't wait for a free weekend.

anyone do baby sitting..?

i also ordered some arrows to go with it. nice bright fletching to help find them in the grass whilst i'm learning...

Photos of our son

A small slide show from the first 5 days...



(you can view fullscreen by:
moving your mouse over the images to reveal a toobar at the bottom.
click the square with 4 arrows on the right...)

I'm a dad!

our son Noah Bear was born at 1.52am on Monday, 2nd November.
he is wonderful, and i can't stop gazing at him.
his amazing mum birthed Noah at home, completely naturally, using only focussed pranayama and visualisation.
photos will follow...

Becoming a Celtic Archer

for the last couple of weekends i have been taking a longbow course at the Celtic Harmony Longbow Club.
taking place in beautiful Hertford fields, we were first taught to shoot with familiar round targets, learning how to hold the bow, draw the string, aim and ... release.
then repeat. repeat. repeat ...

the goal of this practice is to start to become consistent not to hit the gold (although that was very satisfying!). any variation in how you hold the bow, or how you hold yourself changes where the arrow hits, and we wanted to hit the same place over and over.

once we could shoot straight (and safe), we tried out field archery, which is altogether much more fun!
wandering through woods you find targets in the shape of deer, boar, fox, etc, hidden behind trees, obscured by bushes. sometimes you have to shoot from a ditch, sometimes crouching to avoid branches. first one target may be close, then the next is at a distance. the course is designed to throw you off, stop you getting used to a pattern.
all very challenging, and as someone pointed out, quite like golf. the difference of course is that we were using lethal artillery!

in addition to practice, we had to do some theory research into the Archer's Paradox: essentially the arrow does not go where you point it. this is because the way the arrow rubs the bow when you shoot causes it to bend and flex.
so, the archer has to compensate for this, which would be more simple if all arrows behaved the same - but they don't. the flexibility of the arrow shaft is its' spine, and you have to match the power of the bow with the spine of the arrow. this is further complicated as longbow arrows are (traditionally) made of wood and so like all organic things, they vary. it wouldn't be fun if it was easy, would it?!
here is a good explanation with a picture, and here to some high speed video, including a bit that shows what can happen if you get the balance wrong...

my membership cheque is in the post. see you there!

The Planets

this is close to being work on my not-work blog, but bear with me...
whilst camping in Norfolk we were star gazing in general wonder at the universe.
this simple past-time soon drew a crowd of fellow enthusiasts, all of us with very little knowledge of what's what up in the sky.
all this changed, however, when Joe joined us, with his amazing binoculars and more amazing knowledge of the stars and planets.
following his guidance we navigated around the milky way, found the pole star, and even gazed in awe at the Andromeda Galaxy, "a faint smudge on a moonless night".

truly amazing.

this wonder filled night brought to mind a wee experiment i thought about a while ago (watching Pitch Black of all things) - i wanted to program an animation of the solar system.

well - here it is.
still a work in progress, but you can zoom in and out (bottom slider), click and drag around, and speed up / slow down time, or even make time go backwards (bottom slider).
there is also a button that makes all the planets, moons, and Sun the correct relative diameters (messes with relative distances though).
making it was pretty simple, but even this simple model gave me a great sense of just how big our solar system is. and showed me just how small the earth is, as part of this amazingly delicate system.

Graffiti walk pt 2

so i have found out more about this awesome work...
it was the London end of the world wide Meeting of Styles street art event this year.

the website's here, and this is the flickr pool....

Science of barefoot running

so barefoot for me is, in part, about finding a simple way of doing things.
However, the health / injury avoiding benefits form a big part too. running barefoot is meant to reduce impact injuries commonly associated with shod running due to a front-foot strike that uses the foot's structure to manage your bodies weight with each step better than the heel strike encourage by all the padding in modern shoes.
obviously these claims meet with scepticism from some quarters, but they are also being backed up by some serious research.

check this video from Harvard's barefoot professor:


if you follow the science try the research site here.

Graffiti walk

some amazing graffiti on the road up to the Holloway recycling centre. Mostly on the buildings along the road, but some real beauties in a locked compound at the end. will have to go back and try to get more up-close with those another time...

took a few pics. some images below, and you can see some more on flickr.

the detail in this huge piece is incredible...

this is the locked compound...

Sunday Afternoon Knap

to celebrate the F1 result in Belgium i spent about an hour flint knapping in the afternoon.

i was hoping to make a big leaf-shaped arrowhead but i missed a strong ridge and split my stone in half...

i used the opportunity to practice making the deep in-cut used to tang and barb, and cut through the oddly shaped larger half to make a much smaller leaf.

the mud coloured flint seemed quite brittle and having not practised for ages i found the balance of power difficult with the copper point, and just crushed the edges with the antler.

in the end i found i could make the flakes i needed with 'nibbles' holding the piece up rather than down between my knees.

the result is ok for shape, but not so thin.

update

as a simple thank you to my archery teacher, i improvised a setting for the point - using a fresh bamboo pole for the shaft, i bound the point on with the inside of a shock-cord, and finished it off with some pigeon feather fletches.

not at all practical, but looked a cool gift.

barefoot : as safe as bare-hand

a wonderful weekend camping with friends in Epping forest meant i forgot i was meant to be resting my feet.

instead, i walked in the forest, gathered wood, stretched and strained putting up the tent, and jumped about playing Frisbee.

so my heels are a bit sore again, but nothing too bad.

however, i did get a cut on my toe (because, of course, i was barefoot), and this raised a host of imagined "i told you so"s in my mind. proof positive that barefoot is not just weird, but dangerous!

which set me thinking...

i and a number of my friends got small cuts on our hands from the wood. there were a couple of minor burns or scolds. one leg was bruised. 

none of which caused any particular alarm.

where necessary plasters where deployed, but for the most part the injured soldiered on without a second thought.

so why are feet any different?
if you use something, it may show a little wear and tear: hands, cars (thanks red car, who dinked our car's door), and yes, even feet.

but bodies are designed to heel, and with sense no real damage is done.

Apparently there is a common risk of enjoying barefoot to much...

...and it seems i have made this mistake.

for the last week i have been hobbling and limping and generally suffering for really sore heels. not the underside,  the soles of my feet are feeling great, but the back, where the tendons and stuff join the bones.

the 'and stuff' there points to the problem in part - i am trying to re-train and strengthen my feet without a proper understanding of what i am doing.
so now i can't run, although i am getting better at walking again.

i think this is a problem that has been brewing whilst i was walking in my VFFs, as my feet started hurting earlier in the year. the extra strain of the running has done the rest.

so - i need to go back to basics.
i have bought this very interesting looking book, which i hope will bring me safely back to the path.
fingers and toes crossed!

morning run

same 1 mile route weaving around my neighbourhood, in 7:50 this morning.

i was running in my VFFs today, and really missed the feel of the ground. however, i was able to concentrate more on technique, and they will help me open out the distance faster than bare feet proper will allow.

so - a bit faster, a little bit softer.

the biggest positive, however, is that i got out of bed for a run on a work day. a first for this lazy bed-head...

also been doing some research about running barefoot, looking for help with style and safely.
birthdayshoes seems like a great resource, so i have some homework now.

Flights of fancy

Last year having decided to try my arm at archery, but not being able to join a club, i took a course to learn how to make a primitive longbow: that is a simple flat bow, with no recurve or other fancy bits.

Three days in beautiful Lakes countryside at Woodsmoke saw me learn how to use an axe and a hunting knife, producing a working bow.

I had never done any carpentry before this, so i was hugely pleased with the result (and not a little surprised) - my 6 foot ash stave was hacked down into an elegant bow, which shot straight and powerfully. 

But still having no club to shoot at, it now hangs on the wall.

The next task was clearly to learn how to make flint arrow heads...

Another long weekend earlier this year, this time with the wonderful tutoring of Karl Lee, saw me turning stone into beautiful arrow points, just like our ancestors, through Europe, Africa, the Americas...

This is white flint transformed into a tang and barbed arrow head.

Karl wasn't just a patient teacher, but also generous with his knowledge, and his stock of feathers - he knew my next task was to make the arrows...

I had made a couple of arrows when i made the bow, but felt uncomfortable at the thought of openly carrying a lethal weapon together with ammunition on the train back to London, so, sadly, i donated them to someone on the course.

But from September i will finally have a place to shoot, so i thought i should make some more arrows...

Clearly i have a retro thing going on, so wanted good wooden shafts, traditional points (the flints are for show for now), and natural feathers.
With supplies to make 12 arrows, over the weekend i made the first 4.
The points are black armour-piercing jobs (think Battle of Agincourt), the feathers are cock pheasant wing feather donated by Karl, held in place with (artificial) sinew. The feathers on two arrows have a twist and two are straight. The twist should create a rifling effect, spiralling the arrow as it flies. This should make it fly straighter. Although, it may be a while before i shoot well enough to properly see which is best...

Again, really happy with the results. The arrows look amazing. Will know in September if they work.

V&A Decode : Recode awards!

Fantastic news!

Recent work for the V&A museum's digital exhibition Decode : Recode was nominated for a D&AD award.
Sadly it didn't win, but it does get into the annual for this year, so i'm really chuffed.



Plus!
The work also won a Bronze Cyber Lion at Cannes!


There has also been loads of chatter about the work, including a NMA site of the week (83/100), and a feature in both Creative Review and Marketing Week.

Here is a nice wee video made by Saint that explains what it was all about.

Scoring for the World Cup

Recently i got to work on a great brief for the BBC, building their interactive World Cup wall-chart, which was coupled with a predictor so you could decide for yourself who deserved to win, and not worry about the actual football.

Here is the link: BBC World Cup: Team Tracker 

You can view match highlights and share links to main BBC site content, as well as sharing your predictions with friends via the usual Facebook and Twitter links.

The work was really challenging: technically tricky, lots of design input, and not really enough time.

Geekily, one of my favourite bits was finding a way to make a compressed encoding of the prediction (which had to have two team names for every match in the tournament, together with who you thought won and lost each match), which i got down to two characters per match. Really geeky, but it was a major issue and an elegant solution using base 32 characters.

There has been some chatter about the work, some liking the design, but mostly just ordinary people using it to share their predictions, which is at least one brilliant result from the competition...

when i was 11 i could run about a mile in about 6 minutes

3 runs this week, and only 2 blisters so all-in-all i'm really happy.

i would never have thought i would be (willingly) running around my neighbourhood barefoot at all until a few weeks ago, so this is a success.

when i was 11 i could run about a mile in about 6 minutes.

stats for the runs:

1 - 1km in about 10 minutes.

2 - 1 mile in about 10 minutes. first blister on ring-toe (are there names for toes?)

3 - 1 mile in 8 minutes 20 - i remembered to check my watch properly. second blister under big toe as i changed the weight on my feet to avoid the first blister...

so, 30 years on and i am running about 2 minutes slower over a mile than my 11 year old self. i was a kind boy, so i hope i would have slowed down a bit for an old man and given encouragement. i was also full of energy and would probably have gladly run on ahead when the (still kind) old man told me not let him hold me up...

i am looking forward to catching me up. or at least drawing closer. but slowly does it. in my first ever race (my first real run) around a village in Cyprus i came 4th and still regret not getting a medal because i raced ahead too hard. the boy behind me just sat on my tail until the last bend, then sprinted past, having saved his energy. i learnt a good lesson that day. timing and patience matter at least as much as speed.

the first run was just around the block, to prove that i could / would do a barefoot run, and it turned out to be almost exactly 1km, according to this site here. having found a way to measure the first run, i wove a route around my local streets that was a mile, as i am a good imperial boy and prefer that distance to the new-fangled metric stuff.

i'm running with my shoes in hand, just in case i need to rest my feet, but no need for them yet, but it feels like a sensible precaution.

i am loving the difference in textures, temperatures, and other sensation.

the pavement feels really hard as expected, but the road feels softer which is down to texture i guess: the road has more texture so my feet have more to yield to and find grip on... maybe.

metal drain covers and such like, which i thought would feel harder again, mainly feel smooth and somehow softer, even those that have a raised pattern.

the streets have been dry, but near a washed car the pavement was wet. the cooling for my feet was good, and lasted longer than i would have expected.

i don't recall any of these variations in sensation when running in shoes. sure there was a difference between concrete and grass, but none of this range and subtlety. a great bonus.

i am trying to stretch after my run, and i'm feeling pretty good really, but i am conscious that i need to find out more about looking after my legs, especially as i extend the range. i'm happy with my small circuit for now, but have plotted a 3 mile route taking in the local park. the paths there are much rougher than the neighbourhood streets, so i'll need to build up toughness and distance first.

Never take the easy route

i haven't run for maybe fifteen years, because my knees just wouldn't let me.
however, the barefoot running thing i found in Born to Run has really called out to me, so this is my ambition...

before i'm 50 (closer than i care to think) i want to run a long way, barefoot.

a long way might be a marathon, it could be an ultra, but it might just be running as far as i can in a number of hours. no particular goal beyond that just at the moment.

barefoot. because it sounds right: we started off without shoes, and ran on both soft and hard stuff. it also feels amazing. i have made a very small test on concrete and my feet and running feel very alive.

first steps:

i have to toughen up my feet. years of shoes have made them soft. i'm walking barefoot on paths, pavements, in the forest. i'm walking until my feet get that little burn that warns you to stop before a blister pops up.

next week i'm going to start running...

3 reasons...

...i want to run again:

an inspiring book: Born to Run.

another inspiring book: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

A wee video full of nostalgia for my school days.