Running in the Heat

After a trip to a car boot sale at Woolpit this morning I left any plan to run until the early evening at 6pm. The car boot had been a success and I bought a woolen hat just what you need in this weather! Actually it was a supporter who could no longer afford to go to games at Ipswich Town selling his collection of badges which I debated whether to buy and then did 35 badges and the hat was £20. I thought it was worth it others might not.

The weather on Sunday was never particularly bright blue skies and wall to wall sunshine but it was humid hot and sticky. When driving in the car the outside temperature meter recorded 30c or 86 f in Bury St Edmunds. The humidity levels were around 75% when I ran.

As a runner the internal battle that goes on in your mind as to whether you can a) get out of the door to run in the first place and b) run a certain distance or time is probably the biggest adversery you will face I find.

However after this as a runner you are always battling the elements, whatever the seasons chuck at you. Running in the cold in mid winter may seem daunting but you can always put extra layers on and combat this. Spring and Autumn are just about the best for me and summer is also wonderful but is an adversery to respect. Two conditions can result from running in the heat overheating and dehydration.

When you start to heat up the body sweats and more blood is sent to the skin surface where it is cooled. However your muscles demand oxygen and blood to run at a pace and as a result less blood flows to the skin resulting in overheating. I find I slow down in heat as the blood tends to go to the skin more than the muscles in an effort to cool down. In humid conditions like today there was no way my sweating was going to evaporate and therefore give me a chance to cool down so running slowly was my only option.

As you sweat and lose fluids from the body dehydration can start to occur. It is the combination of losing both water and electrolytes.

I have never enjoyed carrying water on a run but will now plan to do so perhaps a sports drink with electrolyte replacement.

I do wear sunglasses but not a hat something else to think about buying along with a bandana perhaps.

My concusion is that I could do more myself to combat heat by a little more preparation . Anyone have any good tips on running hats and sports drinks?

The Suffolk Show 2009

One of the highlights of the Suffolk Show at Ipswich at the end of May was the chance to meet John Wark at the BBC Radio Suffolk tent.

Back in the days when the FA Cup was a well respected tournament and both Ipswich Town and Leeds United were two of the top teams in England I well remember an epic replay that took place at Filbert Street Leicester. It happened to be the debut of John Wark for Ipswich Town. The 27th March 1975 was a Thursday night and was the 3rd replay between the two teams. Ipswich winning on the night 3-2 thanks to a Clive Woods banana shot goal still one of the best goals I have ever seen.

Football managers complain bitterly about fixture congestion these days but part of the cup fighting tradition and romance of the FA Cup was lost when a decision was taken by the Football Association to limit replays to just the one game. Having said this after seven hours of football both Ipswich and Leeds had so many injuries that it probably cost Ipswich there chance of winning the league that season and Leeds went on to lose the European Cup to Bayern Munich.

It was a great priviledge to meet John Wark and I of course mentioned his debut at 17 when Bobby Robson was forced to throw him into the side to mark Allan Clarke. He said there is a section of the book that deals with this story and I look forward to reading his autobiography Wark On

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Now playing: Rezillos – I Can’t Stand My Baby
via FoxyTunes

Ipswich Town V Norwich City

Ipswich Town 3 Norwich City 1

At long last Ipswich finally managed to beat our rivals from over the border in Norfolk and things are looking a bit brighter on the football front.

Norwich took the lead through a schoolboy error from Richards in defense allowing new signing Chadwick an easy tap in. Before this Ipswich had started brightly forcing a number of corners and coming close so it was against the run of play that the Norwich goal came.

However Ipswich continued to play the passing football and just before half time a deservedly equalizer came from a flowing passing move with good ball control by Legwinski who slotted home. The crowing canaries were silenced and half time came with home fans in a much brighter mood.

The start of the second half was some what subdued and it was fairly even with Ipswich creating chances but it seemed poor finishing would come to Delia’s rescue.One or two decisions from the ref when he didn’t give a penalty though every one else in the ground could see he was being held down for a Norwich centre half didn’t help and when Billy Clarke limped off I feared the worse.

Enter Danny Haynes the destroyer of all things green and yellow. It only took 2 minutes before he headed in a cross to give Town a deserved lead. This was followed by a lovely curling shot to make it 3-1 to Town. Danny Haynes scored the winner last year at Carrow Road and has scored against Norwich at all levels of football, to think he once had a trial at City and was rejected.

The 3pts were sorely needed by Town we are inconsistent and I would predict a mid table finish.

Jim Magilton is beginning to mold a side but it will take 2 years and if we retain our new crops of Academy youngsters we could be a force in the Championship. It has to be said that there is little difference in quality between top and bottom sides in this league.

As for Norwich the new manager was honest enough to admit that his side were well beaten on the day and that his side have been winning games despite not playing well. If they do start to play then of course there is still the play offs to aim for but if they don’t succeed their parachute payment dries up at the end of the season and they will be 7 million worse off.

I don’t think either side will be good enough to make the play offs this season.

Ipswich Town v Sunderland

A comfortable win against Sunderland by 3-1. The victory represented the first managerial defeat for Roy Keane as manager so will always be remembered by him.

Two goals for Alan Lee changed the game around in the second half after Darren Currie had scored an equaliser after Sunderland had taken the lead from an own goal.

The Cock Inn at Clare Suffolk

It was only the other week I was discussing with Ruby at livinginburystedmunds her visit to Clare in Suffolk and she made mention of the Cock Inn. By a very strange coincidence I picked up a load of second hand football programmes at Ipswich on Saturday and inside was a lovely black and white picture.

I was trying to work out where it was when it twigged that of course it is the Cock Inn at Clare. I can only guess the date but assume it must be from perhaps the 1950’s by the fashion. Look at the girl about 15 people in from the left wearing what appears to be a bowling or teddy boy kind of drape coat.

Not sure what the occasion would be perhaps a wedding as some of the men have flowers in their jackets but then again no bride and groom. It looks more like an outing to the seaside and the group is just about to get on board the buses.

I have copied this picture to the webmaster at clare-uk.com hopefully some relatives may recognise themselves in the picture.

Ipswich v Norwich of the North

Ipswich Town were very unlucky not to have won today against Sheffield Utd at Portman Road. A late equaliser robbed us of the 3pts. the referee wasn’t bad but he didn’t keep up with play and missed the clear foul on Lee which would have meant a free kick to us rather than Norwich of the North.

Oh well I feared the worse before the game and I had predicted a3-1 win to Sheffield. However they were rather disappointing . I have seen most clubs in the Championship now and clearly Reading are the best side. I am not sure about Sheffield they are well clear in 2nd place and should go up but they rely heavily on some experienced hard men . I hope someone else catches them – in fact anyone apart from Norwich of course! What is it with Warnock has he got a screw loose?

At the end of the game he stormed on to the pitch and headed toward the North Stand where he got plenty of abuse for his dirty tactics. In fact I think he may well end up in hot water with the FA for his strange behaviour. Richard Naylor had to be restrained for politely telling him where to go.

Anyway this was a good game capped by a great goal from Jimmy Juan from a free kick – an unstoppable shot went in of the cross bar and bounced up into the net. Look out for this goal it was a cracker. The Sheffield goal they scored was rather fortunate – poor defending and a soft goal to give away. Having said that Sheffield could have been 2-0 up at half time. However second half we finally went to a 4-4-2 formation bringing on Danny Haynes to partner Alan Lee on his debut and we looked on top.

What a pity not to get the three points we deserved.

Ipswich Town v Reading

Ipswich Town 0 Reading 3. I was at Portman Road on Tuesday night for a game I expected we would lose but not in the manner of a comprehensive thrashing. Our formation of 4 – 4 – 1- 1 was a surprise. I really felt this was surrendering our home advantage by not playing both Parkin and Forster up front.

After Reading scored their first goal and Parkin had limped off we changed formation bringing on Wilnis as centre half and sending Naylor up front to partner Forster in a 4-4-2 . For the only period in the game we matched Reading. However throughout the game the side constantly gave the ball away, never got any width and looked slower to the ball.

3-0 was a flattering score line to Town. Confidence after this game must be at rock bottom. There is a real possibility that this side could drift into a relegation dogfight. This is the worst Town side I have seen for many years.

We lack any kind of goal threat. Midfield is full of ponderous slow coaches. I am afraid Jim Magiliton as great a servant as he has been for Town has stayed on one season to much and his legs are gone. Darren Currie is a bit of a luxury player. He has no pace, he can beat a player with some skill but unless you have several workhorses in midfield then he looks lazy. Horlock again is average and he really is part of the dead wood that needs clearing out. McEveley has no ball control plays like a centre back out of position as a wing back and as a result looks like a donkey. De Vos has no pace and is being caught out time and time again.

What assets do we have in the first team ? Hard to pick many out though I would say Sito Castrohas impressed. Both the goalkeepers Price and Supple will improve. Naylor gives 100% .
Both Westlake and Bowditch will return to form we hope! Owen Garvan is going to be a star.

Its not all doom if we can survive this season then the future is bright. There is some terrific potential in the Reserves and Youth side. Billy Whizz Clarke can’t be far away from a first team place even though he is only about 17-18 years old.

Things are desperate at Portman Road it isn’t any fun going there this season.

Ipswich Town v Crewe Alexandra

A win for Ipswich against lowly Crewe thanks to an improved second half performance. In the first half although Town created a few chances they didn’t make the Crewe goalkeeper Williams work that much.

Crewe scored a bit of a fluke after half an hour from a free kick. David Vaughan crossed the ball from near the touchline and no body got a touch on it as it looped in to the top corner. After this Crewe gained confidence and to be honest they could have and perhaps should have gone in at half time 2 up. Steve Jones is a lively centre forward and I can see him being the next player to depart Crewe for a good transfer fee.

At half time Royle made a change bringing off Sam Parkin who had largely been ineffective replacing him with Fabian Wilnis. Wilnis played at centre half and Richard Naylor pushed up front to spear head the attack.

The best moment of the game came on 54 minutes when Darren Currie scored from a free kick sending his shot into the top corner a goal that David Beckham would have been proud to have scored.

Royle then made two further changes bringing of Jim Magilton whose legs don’t last a whole game anymore and Dean Bowditch who is still to reclaim his form from a year ago. On came Juan and Nicky Forster. Less than 10 minutes later Forster scored what proved to be the winning goal. Naylor flicked the ball on for Forster to run on to and he confidently tucked the ball away giving Williams no chance.

Ipswich looked down and out at half time so to turn it around and gain a win was all important. This is a transitional season for the club and I don’t expect much more than a mid table finish. What we are seeing are many of the clubs youngsters being blooded in to the side and again Owen Garvan looks a class act.

Ipswich Town v Southampton

This season is definitely going to be transitional one following the mass departure of our best players to the Premier League.

Tuesday nights game saw us draw 2-2 with Southampton. For me the highlight was seeing Owen Garvan score his first goal for the club. Many people say he looks the spitting image of Stephen Gerrard and at just 17 he is the next bright prospect to come out of the Ipswich Town Academy.

To be fair Southampton should have won comfortably but for bad finishing , good goalkeeping from the young Lewis Price and bad luck.

The game will be remembered by many for the floodlight failure which occurred after about 5 minutes and left the Portman Road stadium in the dark for about 40 minutes.

Fabian Wilnis was the latest Town player to pick up an injury and he joins a mounting injury list. The injury occurred at the only point in the game when we had begun to get on top and put some pressure on the away defense.

Jay McEveley who is on loan from Blackburn made his debut and we also saw the return of the old warhorse Dennis Wise who unfortunately scored a good equaliser for the Saints.

The programme front cover shows Sam Parkin our signing from Swindon. I think he will score 15-20 goals a season but it is hard for him as fans naturally compare him to the departed Darren Bent whose start in the Premier League has made him top scorer.

Famous men and women of Suffolk No 3 in a series

Matthew Hopkins the notorious Witch finder General who was born in Suffolk.He was briefly a lawyer in Ipswich.

In 1644 Hopkins was appointed by parliament to seek out anyone suspected of witchcraft. This was during the time of the English cival war when parliament over throwed Charles the 1st and puritanism was very dominant.

He was paid very well about £1 for each witch found.

In 1645 the largest Witch trial in English history at the time took place at the Shire Hall Bury St Edmunds. Neighbours and self appointed searchers had dragged over 120 old women and a few men to Bury Jail.

One sad case was of a vicar John Lowes aged 80 from Brandeston, Suffolk who had preached for 50 years at his church. After undergoing days of sleep deprivation he eventually confessed to employing two imps to sink ships at sea, having a bad temper, and keeping a ginger cat called Tom. He was compelled to read his own burial service before they hanged him along with 15 others on the 27th August 1645

Anne Alderman, Mary Bacon, Henry Carre, Alice Denham, Thomas Everard, Mary Everard, Mary Fuller, Nicholas Hempstead, Anne Leech, Jane Linstead, Rebecca Morris, Mary Skipper, Mary Smith, Margery Sparham, Katherine Tooley.

You can adopt a witch in memory of those who lost their lives at a web site called http://www.geocities.com/witchofsolstice/Adopt.html

Of course most of these people would have been entirely innocent and Hopkins basically acted on the fears and heightened tensions of this period in history to make a small fortune for himself.