A surprise from Sillypants

Who would have guessed: a really good run from Spongebrain Sillypants, and from that site behind Gaemling where he and others have set so many atrocities. It measured just 5.4km but took a full hour thanks to a good 300m or so of ascent. Egghead and Stick Insect did the short run, due to a quarter-marathon in the morning and injuries respectively. That left Yardo and me as the only honkies on the long run, and also pretty much the only ones who followed paper the whole way. The circle and post-circle activities were particularly lively, probably mainly thanks to epic amounts of free beer.

Pussy Galore

Variously measured at between 7.2 and 8k, the official track was 7.4k if you managed to avoid the 6 F's (not marked) and didn't search too hard at the 9 (count them!) 360's. First runner in was Sex Sprinter in 58 minutes with Beaver clocking 1hr 1 min and most of the rest of those who stayed on paper a few minutes later. Only one runner completed the whole short run which cut off at the 4th check and rejoined the long run at the dog-leg just before the 8th check. The rest managed to short cut.
Take a good look at the countryside, 'cos we'll be back here again next week for a relay hare run since no one has volunteered to fill the hare's job next week, nor for the full moon run which has now been postponed until July.

Pussy anyone?

Yes? Then you're in luck, dude, 'cos by dint of some creative icing, our pussies have been prevailed upon to strut their stuff, get down and dirty, lay some good stuff on us - y'all get the picture? Ok, so it's a pussy run this Saturday; details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1776, Saturday June 27th 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Crackwurst, Only a Yolk, Meals on Wheels, Handjob and Swings and Roundabouts.
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection, take the New Yala road for 600m and turn right. Follow the road for 1.3k to the run site on the left.

Chronologically next, for those preparing for the half marathon in August, there is a good opportunity to experience the full horror of getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning, driving 25k, then standing in line to register and get your number before (ahhh! ecstasy), you get to run with a thousand other people. There is a 10.5k run in aid of the autistic school (where last Sunday's HH3 run was held) which starts at 6:00 a.m. (registration from 5:00 a.m.) from near the autistic school (across the big intersection beyond Macro, 2k or so on the left). The 10.5k run fee is 200 Baht and there is also a 4k run which will cost you only 150 Baht. If you fancy it, there should be some more details available at Saturday's run, and several of the HH3 runners will be doing the run as well as at least 2 of our crew going to Siam Reap.

There is also, of course, an HH3 run on Sunday afternoon (28th June), and this weeks run will be a celebration of Sex Star's (ok, Silly Pants') 50th birthday. He will be setting at least one run from the quarry behind the Gamling reservoir (from the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for about 20k to the traffic lights at the bottom of Poonakan. Turn left and go past the conference centre after about 2k then look for a sign on the right and follow your nose to the runsite). The run should start at 4:00 p.m. but don't count on it! There may also be a second run, loosely described as a full moon run, after the HH3 circle, but there will be no extra charge for it if it occurs, although if it does, everyone at the run site will get registered as an HFM3 runner even though they may choose the sensible option of staying at the runsite and drinking beer!

Finally, or first, if you want to look at it from a strictly temporal perspective, there is a quiz night at the Office Bar on Friday (June 26th, 2015) when yours truly will be setting the quiz, and with one or two of our regular quiz team off in foreign climes, any assistance to the Hash team will be gratefully appreciated! The quiz kicks off around 8:00 p.m. and all proceeds are in aid of the blind kids.

My best shot

Can't do the fancy stats thing, but it was about 18.9k and took a whisker over 2 hours 15 mins, so just outside 2 1/2 hour pace: 12 k of solid running then 7k of intermittent running and fast walking. Still some work to do in the next 6 weeks but now I know this is do-able. On on to a competitive 10.5k (see above) on Sunday!

June training notes

Here's how fast you have to run to be in the top 1%, 3%, and 10% of 10k finishers in the U.S. More importantly, it shows the insidious effects of age. Runners peak a couple years later in life for the half-marathon, so we're not quite as over-the-hill as . . . nah, we're still totally past it. But we're doing this for fun, right?

Now this is kind of interesting: the faster you run, the more heat you generate, so the lower your ideal running temperature. These times are for the marathon, but clearly most of us belong toward the right side of the graph. Now all we have to do is find a place to run where the temperature is 45F (7C).

Here's what happens when the temperature is above that ideal: you start losing pace pretty quickly. Actually compared to other data I've seen, this table considerably underestimates the impact of heat, maybe because it's not taking into account humidity. In any case you can see that our usual temps are off the chart. But when did we ever "use extreme caution"?

Now add in humidity and you can see that we're pretty screwed, heat-stress-wise. On the other hand, after all these years we certainly qualify as "heat-acclimated" if anyone does.

A little longer but a whole lot slower: So I blame both age and heat for this morning's training run.

Finally, from an interview with a coach for the U.S. Olympic track team. He was asked his three top tips for amateur athletes in training, and here they are:

- Make your hard days harder and your easy days easier. The idea is to stress yourself more, but also get more rest in between.

- Get more sleep. The harder you're working, the more you need.

- Keep a training log.

To which I'll add three of my own, perhaps not as a qualified professional trainer but as a certified pisshead hasher:

- A good hard lay is aerobically similar to a moderate-pace run of about half the time. So if you don't want to go out for a 90-minute run, just spend 3 hours setting a hash for us!

- Never hesitate to shortcut a Sillypants run whenever it starts to head somewhere stupid.

- Remember, 5.3km is one-quarter of a half-marathon, so when you're out training that's all you need to do before you have an excuse to toss it in and go do something sensible.

Sunday's HH3 run

Nice view of the cemetry!

Mission accomplished

Orange is where the paper was, blue dots where I'm guessing Sex Sprinter guided you up the hill.

Muddle advertised, muddle delivered! One of the interesting things about hashing is that it keeps teaching you really basic lessons long after you should have learned them, or maybe just long after you've forgotten them. In this case it was: don't set a check on top of a giant pile of old Lipo bottles. I thought they looked cool. To you guys running they probably just looked like a heap of rubbish.

Anyhow: the long run as set was just short of 7km, done in a bit less than two hours. Highest point was just 268m but total ascent was a generous 535m. The short run took almost exactly an hour. It was also on the short (3km) and high (180m ascent) side. No serious complaints, except about that dog photo. Guys, what happens at Wan's bungalow is supposed to stay there!

Lick it like Beaver!

Looks like Puck's been overdoing the magic dust again!

Who's bottom?

Saturday's run has a Shakesperian theme to it, being a romp in the woods featuring two pairs of star-crossed lovers, a bunch of fairies, and characters with the unlikely names of Snug, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, and Bottom. Those of a literary bent will know that the plot involves the king of the fairies, Oberon whose servant Puck causes Oberon's wife Titania to fall in love with Bottom whom the mischievous Puck has turned into a Donkey.
With Beavershot in charge of proceedings,  he would seem to make an ideal Oberon, which makes Handjob, Titania. and although he is getting a bit long in the tooth for mischief, Stick Insect can play Puck. But who is going to step up into the role of Bottom? (Heehaw! heehaw!)
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1775, Saturday 20th June 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Beavershot
Misdirections: from the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 10k to the Nam Noi traffic lights and turn left for about 3k then turn right and follow signs etc. for about 2k through the village and up the hill to the runsite.
Sunday's HH3 run is being set from and in aid of the Autistic School behind the Chinese temple at Ban Phru: take the old Hatyai road past Macro to the junction of Kanchanawanit road with route 41, then carry on towards Sadao for about 2k and turn left just after Kittiwit School. Follow signs etc. to the runsite in the grounds of the school. The hare is rumored to be Robocop and we are requested to wear the light green T shirt from the last outstation run if possible.

Friday Basil

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The Taper

Those of you planning to join us at Angkor in August may be interested in a question came up at the hash the other day: what's the optimum rest time before running a half marathon?

After wasting I mean spending a hour or two of valuable research, I can tell you that this topic (known as "The Taper") seems to fascinate serious long-distance runners. You could spend weeks reading everything written about it. But here are a few points on which the experts pretty much agree:

* Your last long run (18-20km) should be about two weeks before the event.

* Your last "hard" run, which is to say a run fast and long enough to tire you out, should be about a week before. Typically this seems to be about 8-10km. Most of us will be running SH3 and/or HH3 the weekend before Angkor, which should be just about right.

* In the last week before the race you should go running on the same days you normally would train, but for just a nice comfortable 30-minute or so jog. On the last two days, either total rest or just a bit of walking or very gentle jogging.

Here's a good short article on tapering for a half-marathon. It doesn't give any guidelines for beer consumption, but my recommendation is don't confuse your body by suddenly depriving it of this essential nutrient.

Up the virgin's cleavage

Radical surgery! The virgin's second tit now featuring in the foundations of the old Yala road.

For those who didn't make it to the top of the second hill today. here is what remains of the virgin's middle tit. The quarrying work has got to the stage that it is now impossible to visit all three peaks on the hill without going down to ground level between the first and third peaks (see below) involving a detour of about 1k and adding another 60-meter climb to the run, and the second peak. although it can still be discerned. has a 20 meter deep cleft in it. Still, it'll make a spectacular run site when the diggers get bored and decide to go off and despoil another piece of Songkhla's naturally beautiful countryside!

For the bulk of the pack who followed paper and didn't abuse their position as administrator of this blog, the long run was 6.7k although anyone unlucky enough to have found all the F's and X's would have covered about 8.5k. The maximum height was only 110m and the total ascent was 277m. First home was Beavershot in a time that was not much longer than it took the first runner to complete the 3.4k short run which never quite got within range of the quarry but got up to a creditable 80m or so. The bulk of the short run pack got held up by the final check and arrived a little later, followed not long after by the remains of the long run, who did the decent thing and followed the paper round the whole run - bless 'em, with the returning Perky, who had sheltered from the rain then opted for the short run, bringing up the rear.

Where are they now?

The legendary Bogeh, at one of the last Sadao Hashes, January 3, 2010. (Note the trusty old Fino. It's reportedly still going, helping traffic yaa baa in Isaan.)

A visit to the virgin

Running form? Half meter long stick insects? Orchids? What is this blog coming to? Let's get back to basics, the things that we as hashers should be embracing as part of our core values. I speak of course of tits and cleavage.

Which is why this weekend's visit to the virgin with three tits is particularly apt and will hopefully help to restore a little togetherness after the public airing of our doctrinal schism over the issue of short-cutting. To help to heal the rift, and as a special sop to those who mourn the passing of the weekly ritual of dousing our sinners with ice water, for one week only, the ban on water throwing will be lifted for anyone noted to be willfully off paper by more than 100 meters on this week's run, although it seems only fair to exclude Gan Yao from this since he is only rarely, and quite coincidentally within 100 meters of the paper!

We shall be approaching the virgin from the South, so the details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1774, Saturday June 13th 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead and Harram
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right before Wat Khun Thong, then go 1.2k and turn right and follow the track for about 300m to the runsite in the first quarry. From Hatyai, get to Tha Kham then take the Eastbound arm of the crossroads past Sai Kao Resort, past the big tree and on for another 2.3k, then turn left  for 300m to the runsite etc.
After last Sunday's highly enjoyable Sex Printer-Sex Blackman run,  HH3 will probably be looking to the sex people for this Sunday's outing. Details should be available after this Thursday evening's "meeting" (nod, nod, wink wink, say-no-more!) and will be posted here as soon as they are.

Run 1773

A really quick rehash of Saturday's run; The long run had an overall length of 8.1kms, including the 5 checks, 0 check-back & 10 false trails, with a total ascent of 322metres. The short run (in green) was 3.8kms, with a modest total ascent of 104metres, which was run in reverse to the long run.

Running form

An anonymous hasher yesterday asked for a video analysis of his running form. So here it is. Looks to me like each foot is hitting the ground pretty evenly, without noticeable emphasis on toe, ball of the foot, or heel. What do you think?

Nutbrown Hare to the rescue, part II

For the second time in 3 weeks, Yardo and R2D2, this time supported by newly named Singha, for whom Saturday will probably be his last run for a while, have stepped into the beach to set a run, despite the fact that Yardo is on the point of departing for one of his increasingly reluctant trips to Oz in search of enlightenment (ok, he needs the dosh!)
The run site is the same as that used two weeks ago. The details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1773, Saturday June 6th, 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Yardstick, R2D2 and Singha
Misdirections:From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k, then turn right (at Wat Khun Thong) for 2.7k. Turn left just after the inverted ‘V’ arch over the road, and proceed 1.5k to the runsite (about 500m past the end of the concrete). Anyone coming from Hatyai should get to Ban Tha Kham then take the Eastbound arm of the crossroads past Sai Kao Resort, past the big tree and on for another 800m, then turn right before the arch and follow the road etc. for 1.5k to the runsite.
Before that on Friday night (June 5th), there is a quiz night at the Office Bar when the quiz master will be French Eric. After last months dubiously earned victory, the Hash team will be doing its best to win hearts and minds if not the quiz per se. The fun starts at 8:00 p.m. and coincidentally so does the quiz!
Finally on Sunday, HH3 will be running but the whereabouts and whoabouts of the run are currently not available. More details as they emerge or on Saturday when Sex Sprinter comes out of hibernation.
Update
Sex Sprinter will be setting the HH3 run on Sunday. The run site is on Th. Prutoh-Tungnai which is the road which goes past the Or-bor-tor and the fishing park and comes out on Poonakan near Wat Tungnai. If you are coming from the Poonakan end, take a right (left if you are coming from Hatyai) just before (after) Wat Tungnai and go about 500m then turn left and follow the track to the run site. From the Or-bor-tor end the turning is about 3.5k and is on the right.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it's yesterday's HH3 run ... more or less as the final lower "wing" is a guess after the batteries on the GPS ran out, and most people took one or two liberties with the paper, which did not in any way detract from their enjoyment of the run. Of more immediate concern was the disappearance of the beer stop; but then anyone who entrusts KY/Vaseline with a truck and a map is probably in for a surprise! Happily he eventually made his way back to the runsite with the beer intact, which without the guiding influence of Donkey was always in a little doubt.

Monday notes

Cesar (right) with his good buddy Tyrone Power, who some say was the biggest Hollywood scat fan of all.

Since the question popped out yesterday, the famous Hollywood star who supposedly like to decorate his swimming pool with floating ornaments was Cesar Romero. Hey, don't sue us. That's the legend.

Second, if you own a Garmin GPS watch and haven't done it already, download yourself the Garmin Express software (it's free) and then sign on to Garmin Connect. Suddenly your screen will fill with all kinds of data, graphs, maps, etc. detailing every run you've done. Mapping is automatic and it even gives you the weather and temperature at the time. You won't believe how much your watch knows about you.

And finally, if you're looking for a target time for August's Angkor Wat Empire Half Marathon, the last half marathon in Cambodia before ours was run this weekend in Phnom Penh, and the winner came in at 1:16:51. Story here.