Category Archives: Karate

Creativity, advertising genius and a bit of flexibility

Every so often I see an ad that is so mind-blowingly clever, and it can be for something I might have no plans of ever purchasing!  Case in point last week with the Volvo advert with Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCDV) that went viral (31 million views of the video as of today – 5 days after it was released; that’s viral at a whole new level).

Volvo trucks

Most of us know JCVD from his martial arts movies – some good, some not so good.  It was “Bloodsport” (in the late 1980’s) that got me hooked – and not just because it was set for part in Hong Kong (my home town).  JCVD’s martial arts skills are somewhat impressive and he’s extremely flexible.

I can remember some shots from “Bloodsport” of some unbelievable high and targeted kicks.  I’ve studied karate for a few years since those days and know a bit more about how the body works and what static and dynamic flexibility is all about, and know even better how difficult things like this are to master!

If you’ve not seen the video yet watch it before reading further…

Epic split doesn’t do it justice!  It’s unbelievable.  It took me 2 takes of the video to realise the trucks were going backwards!  The skill of the professional drivers is amazing as well – they’re not driving that slowly but in a perfect straight line!

The genius of the advert for me is on so many different levels.  The music is perfect – very relaxed and almost mesmerising.  It’s “Only Time” by Enya and all of a sudden the track is up in the charts on iTunes and conveniently a whole £0.20 higher in price than all the other tracks on the album (that’s 13 years old).   Yes I’ve downloaded it through iTunes now and listened to it a lot.  Even the little Nobles know the name of the track.

I also now know a bit about Volvo Trucks and their amazing dynamic steering control (2000 readings per second for the steering goes into the trucks’ on-board computers) and have even watched a few YouTube videos showing how it works – and it is very impressive.  A hamster can even steer these trucks with a bit of help and a fan case!  Some of the ads Volvo have done for these trucks are pretty cool – do take a look at Volvo Trucks on YouTube and check out the others.  Did JCVD know what he was letting himself in for when he signed up for this?

A very very clever ad.  Sure most of the people viewing the viral ad won’t be buying a truck but they will know about them and are sure talking about them.  I was only helping on a school trip today for my little girl’s class (7 to 8 year olds) and telling them about JCVD and his splits!  Viral marketing at it’s best.

Why testing is important…

Another Olympic post – this time on the genius (not) that is the London 2012 Olympic ticketing system.  This will be a vent of sorts, as I’ve spent too much time messing about trying to buy tickets as have millions of others.

The games themselves have been nothing short of amazing and what all the athletes have accomplished is incredible, but sport is also about people watching it.  And for an event of this scale you need a good mechanism in place to get people to see the sports they want to see.

Before we get started on the main theme of the post, Royal Mail have done it again.  We managed to get tickets for the Paralympics that start in a couple of weeks time.  An e-mail from LOCOG confirming we’d got them arrived (and we’d paid £6 for super delivery rather than picking them up at the event).  But no details on when they’d arrive, even roughly – so a black hole and left hoping they would arrive in time.  Then an e-mail from Royal Mail telling me the tickets were ready to be delivered…

Followed by another to tell me the tickets would be with me the next day.  And then one to confirm they’d been received by me, literally within seconds of me electronically signing for them with the local postie.  Now that is real service and great to see the Royal Mail – that great British institution – as a shining beacon in the whole Olympic ticketing fiasco.

The actual ticketing system went live around April 2011 – so over 16 months ago – and in that time it hasn’t changed one bit (as in problems fixed, updates done etc).  That’s a year with no new development.  How can that be right?  Was it perfect when first released?  Had all the testing that was done shown it to be perfect?  No and that’s one big no.

Rather than go into all the issues myself there is a great post on BuzzFeed Sports by Alex Rees that very nicely gives you all the juicy details – see below (it’s worth a read)…

It is very apparent from this that virtually no real testing on how the site or service works can possibly have been done.  User acceptance testing?  No – why do we need to do that, it’ll work.  Load testing?  Will many people be wanting to use the site at the same time?  Surely not.  Performance testing?  It’s just a web site.  Problems identified by the public (the users or customers), should we fix them within 16 months?  No, what’s fixing all about?

Any of these are part of computing for beginners 101, and to get onto building a web-site 101 you have to have got the first certificate already.

So why has this happened?  Good old outsourcing.  LOCOG clearly aren’t a software house and don’t build ticketing or e-commerce sites.  So they put together an RFI and get it out with all the big boys in the market place, including ticketmaster (who won it and built the site).  And it will have come down to money – ticketmaster will have bid and bid at a price they could win at and LOCOG will have picked the cheapest so they keep costs down.  Now I may be making some assumptions here, but I’ll bet they’re right!

The site will have been designed to some brief specs (or even an Agile type user story) – we need to sell tickets for the Olympic events for the public – it couldn’t be simpler.  They will have been paid to build it and maybe run it for a little bit but future development, fixes, upgrades etc?  Never – why would we need them, it’s only the Olympics and it’s only on for a short known period.  It’s not an Amazon type service that will keep running.

That’s the key here.  This has never been built to improve or do the job well, it’s been built to just (almost) do the job and no-one’s re-visited it (the design) since and has no intention to.

Testing before we go-live?  Why would we possibly need to do that?  Testing with our actual end users and listening to what they say?  Surely not, you only get…

  • Empty seats
  • Bad press
  • Frustrated British public

But like I said at the start it has been an absolutely awesome Olympic games, the best I’ve seen – and we did get some tickets (for the rowing) and saw some of the free events (road cycling) and today we’re off to see the men’s marathon in London.  And my favourite bits –  the men’s 100m, 200m, 4x100m and the men’s 10,000m and 5,000m.  Mo Farah – a local Teddington man who went to St. Mary’s University in Twickenham (where we do our karate now) and a Bushy Park Parkrun runner – is my hero of the games!  What an athlete.

The little Nobles doing the Mobot after his 5,000m win last night and the man himself with Mr. Bolt…

London Marathon mileage count

My 22 week training programme started on 21st November officially – and I’ve been doing 3 or 4 runs per week, plus 1 or 2 karate sessions per week (my cross training).  Up until mid-September my running schedule was 8 x 3.2 mile sessions per week (my commutes) at a slow pace – all the same, nothing pushing me; not great.

As of today the marathon training total is just under 368 miles, an average of 28 miles per week.  By a complete fluke, my total for the same period back in 2009 was virtually the same – literally to within a mile or 2.  Very different plans – far more focused on quality runs this time, and less just on mileage.

Longer run breakdown so far:

  • 1 x 18 miles
  • 1 x 17 miles
  • 1 x 16 miles
  • 1 x 13.1 miles
  • 1 x 12 miles
  • 1 x 11 miles
  • 10 x 10 miles

And my favourite distance is 10 miles – by a mile!

Can’t feel my fingers

It’s getting to that time of year again when running gloves are a must-have accessory, if you like to be able to use your hands after running!  Starting a run and then after 2 miles having completely numb hands (plus the rest) is not fun.  I’ve managed to collect a nice all-weather set of running clothes over the last few years – for sun, rain, wind and snow (all thicknesses and all lengths).  And got a nice pair of Nike running gloves from my little sister for Christmas last year.  Running hats also very important – particularly when running into wind.  Cold wind on your forehead also not fun.

3 good runs this week, with interval training yesterday over 5 miles.  6 sets of 400 metres at 80-90 seconds faster than planned marathon pace, with 6 sets of 400 metres 80-90 seconds slower (plus 1.5 mile warm-up and the same cool down at the end).  Great run – really enjoying the speed work.

The next piece of running kit that comes out soon is the high-visibility jacket – bright luminous yellow, for late runs in the day.

The vast majority of my running kit over the last few years has come care of the guys at Sweatshop in Teddington.  And no doubt a few more visits coming over the next few months – new shoes next on the list (and some more decent multi-layered running socks).

Weekend resting from running – with karate for the cross training tomorrow.  Calf now back in order (and not hurting) after last Sunday’s training session!

Let’s do some karate cross training

All the theories say that cross training is a key part of marathon training, with suggestions of swimming, cycling, rowing and weight training being some common ones.  For me it’s Shotokan karate – my other passion.  The challenge is (a) fitting all the running in around the scheduled class times at our dojo and (b) training hard at karate but remaining injury free.

A great session yesterday morning but took a hit on my right calf – think dead leg in your calf that lasts 2 days!  Took it easy ish on the 8 mile run today and all good.  It hurts more when moving from sitting or stationary, but fine when actually moving around.  A bit more ice on it tonight and a massage later.

As strange as maybe it seems, karate provides great cross training.  Balance, core stability work, strength exercises, stretching and breathing.  Just need to go easy on partner work and sparring.  The plan is to reduce the karate training in the run up to the marathon next April, to avoid injuries full stop!

Interesting post here on cross training in karate on KaratebyJesse, though more geared to cross training in other martial arts or styles.  Principals the same!

And do feel free to take a look at our club website or even pop along to train with us, one Friday evening or Sunday morning at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham.