Archive for the ‘Birmingham’ Category

Red point climbing centre

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

As well as running I have also been climbing at Red Point in Birmingham with my friend Becky who is staying with Gayle and me. Becky has been climbing for a while and has her own kit. We headed to Red Point and met up with a number of her friends who have been climbing for some years and quite literally showed me the ropes. I learnt how to tie a figure of eight knot and the crucial elements of how to belay as well as taking my first footholds and finger grabs in climbing. It was really great fun and I was able to climb a grade 4 wall after a couple of attempts on a grade 3. The tiredness you feel from just a few climbs is really punishing. I used muscles I didn’t know I had and could tell it would take more than a few sessions to build some handgrip strength.

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Tags: belay, bouldering, climbing, red point
Posted in Birmingham, climbing | No Comments »

Professional running shoe advice with Nike+ gadget

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

Yesterday I visited the Sutton Runner to get some professional advice on purchasing running trainers. If you are beginning running I thoroughly advise you to speak to a professional. I read it would be important do this to know what type of feet I have. I learnt at the Sutton Runner I am flat footed and would therefore require some cushioning in the arch and more solid and higher sole on the inside of the trainer to prevent my foot rolling onto the flat every time I made contact with the ground. This keeps the ankle straight which in turn keeps the knee straight, preventing unnecessary injury. This was learnt by firstly wearing a neutral trainer and running on a treadmill with a digital camera positioned behind to capture the feet and ankles on contact with the treadmill. Sutton Runner showed me in slow motion playback how my ankles were not straight and highlighted the amount of roll to the inside foot with the neutral trainer. The difference with the cushioned trainer was remarkable. I also learnt that running trainers need to be a size larger than regular footwear as the foot expands during running. Without this advice I would’ve bought a neutral pair of trainers in my regular size. Most likely a few months down the line I would be complaining of knee and ankle problems and decide running wasn’t a sport for me.

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Tags: iPod, Nike, Nike API, NikePlus, running, running shoe, sutton runner, Tom Nixon
Posted in Birmingham, running | No Comments »

Birmingham blogging bug pandemic

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

There is a bug going around Birmingham at the moment and I have caught it. It’s the blogging virus and it is spread through close contact, speech, hearing and touch. Yesterday evening was the second Birmingham bloggers meet up and it was a much more interesting dynamic than the last. Not to say the first was bad, I got a lot out of it and we discussed some very interesting topics but this time with around twenty people and with such a mixed bag of styles and genres of blogging it really had a zing about it. Without meaning to exclude anyone’s particular style of delivery, to give you a flavour there were political bloggers, press bloggers, social media analysts, Birmingham promoters, personal bloggers, rant specialists, podcasters, creative and design promoters and a cartoonist. Such a vibrant bunch of people, such diversity, and so much alcohol consumed. I must say I was feeling a little worse for wear this morning and from what I gather from some of the Twitter profiles going around, I was not alone. You know who you are!

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Tags: Birmingham Bloggers, birminghamuk, Nick Booth, upYerBrum
Posted in Birmingham, Blogging | No Comments »

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