2015

Well, there goes another year in the blink of an eye! The beginning of the year seems so long ago, we have fit so much in and our lives in December 2015 are just worlds apart from where we were in January of 2015.

We have ended up in a much better for our careers and life experience which has led to being in a much better state of mind.

The year started / last year ended with the adoption of our beloved dog Clooney. Over the year he has become so engrained within our family. He is very dear to us and I can't imagine not having him around. He is a beautiful spirit to have in the house with us, and just brings constant joy!

January, February and March were all Iron Man related! I need not write more about this. That led us to a holiday in Melbourne for Iron Man Melbourne in March. This has ended up being a very special race as only a few months ago, IM Melbourne was cancelled and will never occur again! This is. Ashame as it was an amazing race in a perfect location. Two weeks later I raced the Silver Sands multisport festival! What an amazing weekend. Sat saw a 10km run followed by a 2km ocean swim! One of the most amazing swims ever! Sunday was an Olympic distance tri. If I can remember correctly the 10km was about 40mins, the 2km swim was about 37mins and the Tri was about 2hr18.

Following Iron Man life settled into mundane 9-5 with a lot of training.

I set a PB half marathon at the Adelaide Greenbelt half marathon-1hr24.

A solid injury stopped me in my paces in May I think. This lasted a good 14 weeks before I could run again. So I swam a lot, only pull bouy though as I couldn't kick. Adelaide set into a miserable cold winter so I swam at Marion indoor pool a lot.

Kate raced some great trail races including the first Belaire Challenge, run by the Adelaide Running Company. She also raced the 25km Mt Crawford trail race and smashed it. I was injured so I volunteered!

This all led to June, at which point we confronted a momentous decision to make. The opportunity to move to NZ presented itself and we had about a week to make the decision! We wrote out the pros and cons of making the move on paper! The pros to move to NZ far outweighted the cons! Needless to say this led to some sleepless nights wondering if we made the right decision!

At this point we had a month to move our lives OS! We packed our lives into a shipping container and became landlords-something that we never thought would happen!

On July 22nd we landed in Wellington. It was windy and cold! But we were loving it. That night we ate at the Laundry on Cuba st! Already feeling a lot happier.

A week later we had found a house with a huge yard for clooney, and over the following month we set up our lives in Wellington. We bought a car early in August. On Aug the 8th we moved into our house in Ngaio. It was a bloody expensive process, but it is the best thing we have ever done! Welly really feels like home and a really nice place to 'settle down'.

I started working at Weta early in August! The immense satisfaction I get from working there is amazing! I realised how much I need inspiring work to maintain work satisfaction. I found I was so driven to learn and give my best to try and produce the most amazing work I could! I have now been there for nearly 5 months and am absolutely loving it! I can't believe how amazing the projects are that I am getting to work on!

In september we travelled back to Adelaide for my sisters wedding which was such an amazing opportunity to see all the family and was a very proud moment as a brother.

The next months were very busy at work and flew by! Kate excelled at her job and iss thoroughly loving it. We purchased a lot of camping gear and went for an amazing camping weekend at Kaitoke campound! It is dog friendly and Clooney was great to camp with.

By mid september I was running again, and happened to bump into another trail runner who has become a good friend! We often go out for two to three hours running on the trails in Ngaio and surrounds each Saturday! I also managed to get the odd run to work in, although 16kms before work is a bit taxing!

Funnily the last time I swam was in Marion pool in mid July! I havent swam since then.

In December I decided we beeded a second car! I found an '86 Mitsubishi Mirage with only 66000kms! She is in mint condition and is such a fun car to have as our 'a to b' car.

Finally we were invited to our good friends place for xmas day! Tim and Tahlia were nice enough to have us over to share xmas lunch. It made it really feel like xmas.

I am excited about the coming year! I love work and we both love living in Welly! We have proven that we live a bit of a spontaneous life so Who knows what the coming year may hold. I do know for sure that it is going to be a busy one!

Catching up on lost time

I'm flying from Auckland to Wellington. As you may have read in a previous post, we just had a great weekend in Auckland. I started writing some posts in the airport, and then figured that I have a hour of flying to catch up on missed blogging over the last three months.

So we've moved to Wellington a few months ago and then all of a sudden the posting stopped - mostly haha. We just got super busy. Moving countries is time consuming. Starting a new job is also time consuming. Finally after having been here for three and a half months we are starting to have enjoyable weekends where our spare time is not full of chores!

Ok! This move is the best thing we have ever done, after moving to Canada. Wellington is such a beautiful city to live in. The views are always inspiring, the suburbs interesting. It feels like we are always in the great outdoors.

Career wise we both made amazing moves! Kate is loving her work. She is learning a boatload and is so inspired and driven to learn and excell! It is great to see her so inspired! I don't think I've seen her this determined at her career before! It's exciting!

For me, woah! It couldn't be better. What an amazing career opportunity. I didn't realise how much I missed being in an amazing team working on high end film work! I feel driven to push myself so hard. Work days fly by before I know it, I'm trying to ingest so much information as quickly as I can. I'm getting to work on such amazing content. I have to pinch myself and continue commenting to Kate that I just can't believe that I have got to this point of my career! I'm utterly stoked and inspired to make the most amazing content I can and to contribute to my new team as best I can.

Ok, career stuff down! Now the next most important thing in our lives - our dog! It has been so great having our dog here with us! Clooney has really become a beautiful loved part of our family! The move here has really helped us bond with him and Kate and I are totally smitten now :-) social outings, holidays sporting events are all pending compatibility with Clooney :-) thankfully everyone seems to love him so he gets along well in most places!

We also have some good friends from Weta that live nearby, and they too have a dog, but not a really secure yard. This has led to Clooney having a play mate on work days. Flinn comes and visits most days and the two hang out all day long keeping one another entertained! It has been really nice having friends nearby with a dog! We take turns minding dogs if we go out at night, go for walks together and have beers in the garden so the dogs can have a play date!

Our neighbour wants to use our run down chicken coop for chickens! Hell yeah, we' down if we get some eggs! I've always wanted chickens but never really been ready to commit to the time needed to care for them! Now I get to feed and enjoy the calm nature of chickens, as well as reap the benefits of the eggs, without having to really care for them :-) definitely win win!

Trail running! As I have mentioned there are amazing trails near our house! Really amazi trails. A few weeks ago we found Otari Wilton Bush! An amazing botanic garden and national park with the most amazing natural bush that is full of amazing trails. There are three loops, red, yellow, blue. If I loop all 3 it gives me about 1hr 20mins of running on amazing trails. 

From here I can jump onto the skyline trail and run back to mt Kakauh making probably a good -15-20kms. Or I can just run to Mt Kakauh from home and the hit the skyline trail to Karori and back making about 24kms. Best of all is I can run from home with Clooney and make half of our morning run on trails. It is so good running with Clooney! He is getting fitter, we can now hit about 30mins with almost no stops-other then the odd turd and whiz! But what a great way to start the day or end a long work day by going for a run with my dog!

Bike riding! From our place we can jam across the top of the ridge to Karori, and then descend to Makarua Beach, then jet across the back of the mountain range to Jhonstonvill and home the back way making a nice 40 km ride full of kick ass descents, solid hill climbs and amazing views!

We went to the  world of wearable art in Wellington! What an amazing show. It was a fashion parade with a twist. As I like design I love cool fashion design, but I don't dig catwalk shows. This show mixed fashion with drama and amazing stage sets and lighting! Kate and I were both really impressed and had a great night out!

There have been other little catch ups with friends. But I'm pretty pooched and can't think of anything else to write right now. We've settled in and are loving our new pad and the surrounding location.

Pics to come once I get off the plane and have Internet access :-)

Camping finally

I just realised I am writing these recent events all out of order! Oh well-deal with it!

A few weekends ago we finally got camping. We purchased some new camping gear, and invested in a tent that had enough room under the front canopy to fit Clooney.

We headed to Kaitoke which is just north of Upper Hutt, about a 40 min drive from home. We figured a short trip first time around for Clooney would be the best.

It was a beautiful camp site! We got a beautiful location right on a river with a view over to dense rainforest.

The afternoon comprised of a beautiful 2 hour walk with Clooney around the river and through the amazing rainforest! Funnily enough we also heard past Rivendell from Lord of the Rings.

It was fun camping again and cooking up dinner! You always end up making compromises and cutting corners blue to lack of utensils and ingredients-but it always tastes amazing! We cooked up a classic we do of Asian I letter with white rice, soy sauce and some steamed green veg! Almost like a donburi bowl. Always delicious. 

That evening Clooney was such a good boy! He curled up on his pillow and just went to sleep. The only time he stirred was first thing the next morning when he heard ducks at about 5:30! He was off like a rocket :-)

That  morning I hit a great little trail run. One of e steepest trails I have ever run! I think I ran for 50 mins- of which 30 was climbing. I think the run was prob only 5kms! The view from the top was amazing though-well worth the pain.

All in all it was a great camping trip. We realised that it is going to be really easy to camp with Clooney, the weather was amazing and it was just a nice little relaxing day away, while still being close to home and easy to fit in while being super busy at work!

Can't wait to get back there again :-)

Auckland

A few months ago we bought flights to Auckland with some air points. We decided that we would head to Auckland for the Auckland Marathon! This was meant to give us a goal to train towards.

However training did not go as planned and about a month ago we downgraded to the half marathon distance. We then realised how expensive the half marathon was - $135! Lame. So we decided to not race, and seeming we've been working super hard lately and not getting a lot of time together we would just go for a nice weekend of r & r instead.

So what we decided to do was find a super nice reassuring to go to. Something super fancy that we had never done before. I guess we had the cost of two marathon entries to spend :-)

Kate discovered Clooney! This had three appealing points. 1-fine dining, degustation menu and it was rated in Aucklands top restaurants. 2-there was a vegetarian degustation menu. Something I do not see often! 3-The restaurant has the same namesake as our dog! So done deal.

Pretty much the dining experience was amazing! The best dining experience we have ever had. The food was amazing. Staff were knowledgeable and super friendly. The cocktails were amazing. So the serves were generous and so amazingly constructed. It took vegetarian cuisine to a place that I had never previously experienced.

On top of the 7 courses, they also brought out an amazing little starter and bread with the most amazing blackened butter! And to really tie up the experience, they gave us each a little take home brioche with chia jam for breakfast the following morning, really trying together the whole culinary experience.

Auckland was amazing. A beautiful city with nice views, great public spaces and great food. We were also blessed with beautiful weather, which also helps with exploring a new city. After arriving on Saturday we headed to a quaint little farmers market out by the Domain Park where we purchased some fresh sourdough, amazing strawberries and blue Brie cheese! We then munched this sitting on a grassy hill in the sun overlooking Auckland! Amazing start to the holiday! Following this we wandered around Parnell, visiting some cool stores and markets. By now it was early afternoon, so we made our way back downtown for a beer at Brothers Brewing and some retail therapy on Queen Street. We took a nap on the grass in Albert park and then headed to the hotel for a hot tub and swim.

This left just enough time for a nap and some chillaxing, and then we were off to Clooney! See above!

On Sunday we spent some nice time lying in the sun at some cool downtown public space, explored Davenport and the bunkers that tunnel under two hills around the town and played giant Jenga over some beers at a downtown bar/cafe. The fortifications in Davenport from WW1 were really interesting and kind of spooky. They were used to protect the naval base in Auckland harbour and are still open to wander around! Many of the bunkers go pretty deep and are really dark. Un unexpected meeting with some other tourists on a blind corner caused an amusing moment with Kate :-) We also visited the Marathon finish line! This provided some much needed motivation to get back on the sub 3 hr marathon horse! It's on for Wellington marathon next year! Training starts now!

We ate at many cool places, and all offered great food and fun dining experiences! All up it was a great weekend of relaxation, and we are returning inspired and refreshed to kick start some running and to really smash out some amazing work for the coming busy months at Weta! Kate and I are loving life right now :-) Enjoy it while you can and make the most of it all! It's all to short to look back and wish you'd done it differently :-)

Photos to come :-) Thanks for reading!

Windy Welly!

This morning was meant to be a nice morning for a ride! Instead we wok up to wind and rain. Classic Wellington. So instead of a rid a morning of lazing about, coffee, museli and music ensued! The dog is curled up on his pillow, showing absolutely no interest in confronting the elements!


This is probably one of the most relaxed Sundays I've had in a long time, which is funny as I am working the longest hours I ever have, but now my weekends are actually feeling like weekends. They are fun and relaxing! Mixing up some running or riding when I feel like it!


Anyways, we have been getting out and about a bit, exploring this amazing city, a lot of the time with our dog! So I thought I should update my blog with some pics :-) Enjoy!

Looking back a year and a half

I Was just looking over my failed 2014 photo a day series, and it made me realise what a crazy year last year was! It seems like so long ago, and I'm not sure why, but it was probably one of the bleakest years of my life. For some reason I never felt settled in Adelaide. At the time I just figured that was the way life was. 9-5 job, paying the bills so you can make it to the next day.

But that aside, the year was jam packed. We travelled to Seattle and Montana before we left Vancouver, using honeymoon money to get a first class sleeper train across america and an amazing hotel in Whitefish ski resort. We holidayed in 5 star Hyatt accom in Hong Kong, also courtesy of honeymoon money :-) We then finally returned to Adelaide after more than 3 years in Canada. Not long after returning my dad underwent major surgery which unsettled the whole family significantly.

Following this we settled into the daily grind for a good 8 months. Working and house hunting. This period sucked! I was training hard, really as a means to escape from the shitty monotony of everyday life. I started racing road bikes which was fun, but that quickly moved back to triathlon. I also trained for Adelaide Marathon but sustained an injury about 4 weeks out so had to skip the race.

I signed up for Iron Man Melbourne in July, and Kate signed up not long after. We then trained for Murray Man as an intermediate long distance triathlon en route to Iron Man. My first big run after my marathon training injury was 20kms at Murray Man. It went really well. I think Murray Man was completed in about 4hrs 36mins. It was amazing-one of the best events I've done!

We bought a house in November, then went on a week long road trip in Western Australia. We returned on Xmas eve, and hosted the family Christmas on Christmas Day! Yep we keep busy.

On Boxing Day we adopted a dog, totally unaware of the events that would happen in June of 2015.

The next 3 months was hard Iron Man training. It was fun, and such an experience training with my wife. Life was starting to get a bit more fun. We had a house and training was great.

Iron Man weekend was early in March. We stayed for a long weekend with the parents! This was one of the most amazing things I've ever done! We returned on a high, so motivated to do more and more Iron Man events.

My training obsession continued, now almost worse than before Iron Man. As I didn't have an event to look forward to I just filled that purpose or lack there of with more training. Two days after Iron Man I was training again, starting with 4kms in Unley pool. Two weekends later I competed in the silver sands long distance multi sport festival. On the sat was a 10km run and a 2 km swim. On the sun was an Olympic distance tri. I did all the events! Yep, injury here we come right.

Training continued, probably 10 hrs per week at least. Life continued on it's dull path. The house was nice; Kate and I were "loving it", and our dog was awesome, but I just continued sinking deeper and deeper into nothingness. On paper everything was perfect, but it really didn't feel that way.

I started training for long distance trail runs, and I was commonly running 3 half marathons a week, possible a few before work and then one long trail run on the weekend. I raced the green belt half marathon and set a PB. 1:24.

I continued running and riding and swimming...lots! It is now a few months after Iron Man and still no break. I started helping with training some Adelaide Running Crew sessions...and then the injury finally happened.

I am now, 14 weeks later, finally able to run pain free. This injury was a blessing. It snapped me out of my obsessive cycle, almost. I still swam a bit, but cycling and running was totally off for a good 8 weeks. All I could maintain was some careful core work, and a bit of light stretching and yoga. I couldn't kick in the pool, so I did full sessions with the pull bouy.

At this point I got pretty bleak. I couldn't really see where to go next...then out of the blue an opportunity arose. Jobs presented themselves in Wellington. 4 weeks later we were on the plane to Wellington!

It is now 8 weeks later. I just went home for my sisters wedding, and immediately when my sis and mum saw me they noticed I was the happiest they've seen me in years. And I am! Time is flying by, we are so busy learning new things and exploring our new home. Work is amazing and so inspiring! I am challenged all the time and am loving every moment of it!

The move was hard, but it's the best thing we've ever done. I didn't realise how much I needed to leave Adelaide until I actually did it! I guess what I'm saying is, life is too short to think that you have to put up with the daily grind just cos you have a mortgage and a dog! 

Life tells us we have to do these responsible things in order to be "successful",but man, these so called life goals made me freaking unhappy! If you're hating it, go out and make something cool happen. Do something that re-inspires you to live again; something that makes hobbies fun; something that makes getting up each day exciting. I forgot what that was like for a year, to be truly happy. I now realise that the life I was living was not a prerequisite of growing up, of being "successful".

Falling into a monotonous life of bills and pay slips doesn't really sound inspiring to anyone...I hope; it is just too often that we think it is the right thing to do, but maybe it isn't? Maybe it is often for lack of anything else better to do, or lack of motivation to go and do something amazing! But remember, you only live once, it may as we'll be fun!

Ngaio, Our New Home

We are finally settling into our new home! We rented in Ngaio, out in the 'burbs, somewhere that we could house our dog:-)

Our place is nice, it has an amazing view over a beautiful housed valley, with a backdrop of some amazing mountains, in which are some amazing trails to run on!

It really is so beautiful here. Within a 10 minute run we can be on the most amazing trails I've ever run on, with beautiful streams and forests to entertain while running or walking the dog.

We have some great neighbours and it is relatively easy for us to get to work. I drive sometimes, and other times I ride, when weather permits. It is a tiny commute for Kate to work at the moment which is nice. We have also ended up halfway between Welly City Centre and Lower Hutt. This is great as Lower Hutt has nice markets and food shops, whereas if you lived in the city you are stuck with supermarkets and higher food prices.

Work is amazing. It is so inspiring to be working somewhere challenging and with such amazing people. I am learning so much and can't believe it's already been 3 weeks of work. The next year is going to pass quickly!

Anyways, that's enough, but I'll finish with some pics from some recent walks around Ngaio. Enjoy!

Tattoo

Never thought I'd get one...

Random daily dribble....

So it is WET today. I had to drop Clooney to doggie day care and got so soaked doing so. When I dropped Clooney off there were two beautiful dalmations that he seemed to get along with really well! I hope he has a good day. He must like it cos he just zonks out afterwards.

I was up at 6 today so thought I'd do a bit of a run. It is coming along well. There is still some pain, but there is now pretty much no lingering pain within a few hours of the run. Each session it seems that I'm able to run a bit further. Today I sustained maybe 20mins with a few little walks. So I'm feeling good.

Day 4 at Weta today. Man it's fun working somewhere like Weta. It is just inspiring to work with such a talented team. There is a boat load to learn, I feel a bit like a sponge at the moment, soaking up all this new knowledge. Needless to say my brain is feeling fried each day :-)

The public transport here is pretty good, and as I catch the bus either side of rush hour it's pretty quick.

Other news-we bought a car! It has only done 65000km and looks in freaking schmick condition. It is a Mitsi Colt, 2005. Dual airbags, tiny 1.5lt engine. She runs on the smell of an oily rag, as my dad would say.

And I think the final news i I finally manned up and got my Iron Man tattoo. I'm super stoked with it. It looks exactly like I wanted :-) getting it is a reminder of the amazing time that kate and i had leading up to and doing Melbourne Iron Man and it isnspires me to keep up the exercise :-)

Till next time :-)

Commute Time....Blog Time

Well I have finally started at Weta. I'm on the bus for day 2. The plan was to ride, however 140kmph wind gusts made me think the ride may be a bit unsafe :-/

This presents a good opportunity to post some updates. We've been busy for the last two weeks. It's been fun and stressful, but once again, Kate and I have proven our ability to team up and work together in stressful situations.

We found a house in the suburb Ngaio. A little away from Weta, but it splits the difference between our works and has a rad yard for Clooney. We bought a nice little fuel efficient car :-)

Food here is amazing and we've been having brunch out with friends often. There are so many cafes and it seems that all coffee is great. There is good vegetarian cusine which is awesome.

The bike riding here is a lot of fun. I've been on some of the most beautiful rides I've ever done and they are all so accessible from Wellington. Our new house will have amazing rides and trail runs straight out of the front door.

I have started running a bit, and slowly but surely it's getting better. Hopefully a month away from some longer runs, maybe even in Adelaide for my sisters wedding.

Commute over...tbc

Custom MPxCommand

Wow this API stuff is really cool. As I'm picking it up it is like learning a language. I'm getting more fluent and understanding the power of it more and more. So I have written a few dependencyNodes now, so I thought I'd make a custom MPxCommand.

I built a command that searches the dependencyGraph for a given node type. You specify the node type to search for and the direction to search in. YOu then call it just as though it is another maya command. So rad as this can now be built into my code as if it were just part of maya.


So my command is: findConnectedNodeType. You call it like:

node = cmds.findConnectedNodeType('blendColors','up')

The return value is either False or the found node name. The command looks through the upstream dependencyGraph until the first instance of that node is found. It then stops the iteration and returns the node name.

Cool stuff I learnt.

To return from a MPxCommand you must use the public function of MPxCommand setResult.

self.setResult(return value goes here)

This comes at the end of the doIt() function.

Enumerators are also making a bit more sense now that I am using them more. For example I had to use MItDependencyGraph. You can specify the direction to search, up or down stream. The help docs show this for the direction.

MItDependencyGraph     (     MObject &      rootNode,
        MPlug &      rootPlug,
        MIteratorType &      infoObject,
        Direction      direction = kDownstream,
        Traversal      traversal = kDepthFirst,
        Level      level = kNodeLevel,
        MStatus *      ReturnStatus = NULL
    )

and this:

enum Direction

Search for all occurrences

Direction within the DG relative to root Node or Plug.

Enumerator:

kDownstream	From source to destination. Search for all occurrences
kUpstream	From destination to source. Search for all occurrences

A bit cryptic at first if you arent familiar with how to read this. So To insert this correctly into the MItDependencyGraph class call you need to do this.

OpenMaya.MItDependencyGraph(OpenMaya.MItDependencyGraph.kDownstream)

So because this enumerator is a child of the class MItDependencyGraph , it must be specified in context of this class hierarchy. (OpenMaya.MItDependencyGraph). You can then set any number of the enum options that the help displays, in this case kDownstream or kUpstream and the class call will know to look for that enum if you set it (you don't have to specify anything and maya will use the default)

Ok. Hope that is a bit clearer than mud. Till next time.

  

Thats what lifes about....

I just met a guy, he's a barrista at a cafe at the start of willis st. He rode 5000km accross Canada. I asked if he was a cyclist? His answer was 'no, it was a drunken idea and i went through with it'. He rode Montreal to Vancouver. What an amazing trip that would have been.

If that's not living life, i dont know what is.

Stretch Node Maya API Plugin Comparisons

As mentioned in a previous post I had some woes querying the matrix data in my plugin. I did some simplified tests and have no implemented these tests into the node. The video below demonstrates a comparison between the matrix plug node and the transform plug node.

Stretch Node Python API Plugin demo from Tim Forbes on Vimeo.

Test stretch node plugin using matrix connections rather than channel connections. This video compares two test plugins briefly. One plugin using Matrix connections, the other using Transform channel connections. This is a test purely to look at different types of data handling and how I can use Mayas API to simplify node graphs for common rigging techniques.

Wellington - our new home

Wow. What a whirlwind the last week and a half has been. We have done so much in such a short time, and we have loved every minute of it. Setting up again in a new country is always a hard task. This is our second time at it, and I do think it makes it a bit easier having done it before, but each country is different so there are always different curve balls that are sent your way.

However NZ has been really nice to us. I get this feeling, unlike in Australia, that everyone isn't out to screw you. It just seems a bit fairer here. This may be due to the smaller population, there's still a bit more personal care. I've found companies here really helpful and transparent, at least more so than their counterparts in Australia.

Anyways, we found a nice house. After being scared that we wouldn't find a dog friendly property, we really hit the rental market hard and got offered a few properties. In the end w chose the on that felt right, and in the end it ended up being perfect to split the difference between my work and Kates work! Some things just work out right.

We are now going through the painful task of finding a used car. I hate looking for cars. Anyways, we'll get there, but it is growing tiresome sifting through all the crap on trademe.

Kate has started working and is absolutely loving it which is just the best news, and we have been catching up with good friends from Vancouver which has been really nice.

What an life change Clooney has gone through! 8 months ago he was in a cage, no where to go. Fat forward 8 months and he's getting lots of walks and now has his own Wellington registration number. We have really given him a second look at life and it is just beautiful to have him around. Although he now associated plastic bags with walks (we always grab a few to collect his business). So now every time I grab an apple from a bag, he gets all excited and thinks it's time to go and starts whining, so that lucky dog is getting walked A LOT!

I start at Weta next Monday and am so excited. It's going to be so amazing to be part of a team that is creating such amazing work. I am feeling very inspired and pumped to create some amazing work.

Maya API Matrix Research

So after my last post I have delved into Maya to test out some Matrix data queries to determine where my node was going wrong. The test I set up in Maya was simple.
Build a locator. Move it somewhere other than the origin (origin is fine but the data would just read 0.0,0.0,0.0. I wanted something in there as it makes it easier to verify that the data is returning correctly.

I then started writing some API code that would:
#get the active selection
#loop through selected nodes and for each node
     #find the plug for the matrix attribute
     #get that plug as matrix data
     #extract the transformation data
     #print the x,y and z coordinates.

I chose this test as that is exactly what is going on in my stretch node. In the node the .matrix attr is connected into the node, and from that plug I try to retrieve the x,y and z position. However it is returning incorrectly.

So the code in my Maya test scene is working, so the error must be in the creation of the node attribute, or the way in which I extract the data from the data block. Anyways, here is the code I used to the the t.x,t.y and t.z of a selected object from the matrix plug. I hope you find it useful.

import maya.OpenMaya as OpenMaya
dagPathFn = OpenMaya.MDagPath()
#get active selection
mSelList = OpenMaya.MSelectionList()
OpenMaya.MGlobal.getActiveSelectionList(mSelList)
selItr = OpenMaya.MItSelectionList(mSelList)
#iterate through selection and get the world space positon from the matrix plug
while not selItr.isDone():
     selItr.getDagPath(dagPathFn)
     nObj = dagPathFn.node()
     #we got the node from the dagPathFn#now we get the dependency node
     objDepNodeFn = OpenMaya.MFnDependencyNode(nObj)
     #find the .matrix plug
     mxPlug = objDepNodeFn.findPlug('matrix')
     print mxPlug.name()
     print objDepNodeFn.name()
     #get plug as MObject which we will attach MFnMatrixData to.
     mxObj = mxPlug.asMObject()
     mxDataFn = OpenMaya.MFnMatrixData(mxObj)
     #query the transformation, returns MTransformationMatrix
     trfnMX = mxDataFn.transformation()
     #get the translate in world space
     v = trfnMX.getTranslation(OpenMaya.MSpace.kWorld)
     #print it out!
     print v.x,v.y,v.z
     selItr.next()

Positon From Matrix

I am currently switching my stretchNode over to work on a matrix input rather than a vector input. I was having issues when querying the dataBlock of the MPxNode to return the matrix data. Pretty much I wasn't getting the correct information. The way this connection was made was the ".worldMatrix" attribute was connected to the '.inMatrix' attribute on my stretchNode. I accesed this with:

startMXDataH = block.inputValue(stretchNodeMX.aStartMX).asMatrix()

Now this was not playing nce with me. As I went further down the track I was not getting the correct information returned.

So here's what I have..I'll delve deeper tomorrow...

def compute(self,plug,block):
#method 1
#get matrix and translate from finding the dependency node and working from there
#returns the correct t.x,t.y and t.z
#-12.0540640814 5.6978884254 7.7806477623

sNode = self.thisMObject()
plugArray = OpenMaya.MPlugArray()
depNodeFn = OpenMaya.MFnDependencyNode(sNode)
startPlug = depNodeFn.findPlug(stretchNodeMX.aStartMX)
startPlug.connectedTo(plugArray,True,False)
stObjMx = OpenMaya.MMatrix()
if plugArray.length()>0:
for i in range(0,plugArray.length()):
stObj = plugArray[i].node()
stDagNodeFn = OpenMaya.MFnDagNode(stObj)
stObjMx = stDagNodeFn.transformationMatrix()
stP = OpenMaya.MTransformationMatrix(stObjMx)
vec = stP.getTranslation(OpenMaya.MSpace.kWorld)
print vec.x,vec.y,vec.z

#method 2
#get the matrix data from the input plug and work from there
#returns the incorrrect t.x,t.y and t.z
#5.26354424712e-315 0.0 0.0078125

startMXDataH = block.inputValue(stretchNodeMX.aStartMX)
startMX = startMXDataH.asMatrix()
#just print the "translate" parts of the matrix - does not return what I'd expect.
print startMX(0,0),startMX(0,1),startMX(0,2)

#method 3
#returns the incorrrect t.x,t.y and t.z
#0.0 5.26354424712e-315 0.0

#get the transformation matrix to query the translation from there. Once again it returns the incorrect imformation
mxData = OpenMaya.MFnMatrixData()
mxData.create(startMX)
stPTransformationMatrix = mxData.transformation()
stPTranslation = stPTransformationMatrix.getTranslation(OpenMaya.MSpace.kWorld)
print stPTranslation.x,stPTranslation.y,stPTranslation.z

block.setClean(plug)

Obviously something's going screwy with my coding here, and my use of the API. But anyways, it's all about digging through it and working out whats wrong...to be continued tomorrow. Something's going wrong with either my creation of the matrix attribute and the kind of data there..but I'm pretty sure thats good. So it must be in the way I am querying the data from the dataBlock...hmmm.

TBC...

Stretch Node

This afternoon I have been working on a MPxNode. As mentioned in previous posts, I am planning to learn the Maya API, and as a part of my studies I am going to build some tools that will make my rigging workflow more efficient. So I have started somewhere simple. We all build stretchy joints into our characters for one reason or another. The standard setup is as such: two input points have the world position connected into a distanceBetween node. The output of the distance between node is divided by the full length of the joint chain before it starts stretching. This is normally done in a multiplyDivide node. Now if you want to build global scalability into your rig, you need to divide the initial output from the distanceBetween node by a global scale parameter. This requires another multiplyDivide node.So here we have 5 nodes to calculate something very simple. What I decided to do was build a node that would require two input points only. Therefore the setup will use 3 nodes, 2 inputs and the custom node.

The node is really very easy to write, and the longest part of it is actually setting up the attributes on the node and how they affect each other. Once you have a template for a MPxNode you can just copy and paste it as a starting point. However it is always nice to write this out and make sure you understand it rather than just copying and pasting it.

So this stretch node has 3 inputs. the startPoint and endPoint, as well as a length attribute which the user sets to the length at which stretching will start. There are then two outputs. Distance, which just returns the distance between the two in points at any given time (useful for determining the point at which stretching will occur), and the main output which outputs the final stretch value which will generally get piped into the scaleX of the necessary joints.

What awesome things did I learn when writing this plugin. The attribute that enables MPoint to return the distance between two points.

posA = OpenMaya.MVector()
posB = OpenMaya.MVector()
p0 = OpenMaya.MPoint(posA)
p1 = OpenMaya.MPoint(posB)
distance = p0.distanceTo(p1)#returns double

Next awesome thing.In the initialize() function we call this:
plugin = OpenMayaMPx.MFnPlugin(obj,'Tim Forbes','0.0','Any')
We then register the plugin type. Now this is different depending on what plugin you are creating, and will require different input data. Somewhere to get caught out, especially if you copy your template from a OpenMayaMPx.MPxCommand type plugin...like I did :p
The differences here are below:
OpenMayaMPx.MPxCommand will be plugin.registerCommand('command name', creator)
The command only requires the command name and the creator function, however the node requires a few extra things as seen below.
OpenMayaMPx.MPxCommand will be plugin.registerNode('stretchNode', stretchNode.kPluginNodeId,creator,initialize)

Because we are creating a node that will be connected to the dependency graph we need a unique node ID, we need the node name, the creator function and also the initialize function. The initialize function is where all the node attributes are added. The creator function is where our pointer is created to access the plugin within maya.
The unique Node Id is created using the inbuilt maya function: kPluginNodeId = OpenMaya.MTypeId(0x00000882)
For home use I have generated an arbitrary ID, however in production you would want to make sure you used an ID that would not clash with in house node IDs.Currently I built the node to take on the translates of the two input points. This was for ease of building and proof of concept. My next version will take wither the world matrix or transforms, thus making the node more adaptable to different rigging scenarios. Anyway, I built this node into a rig and you can view it working below.

Stretch Node from Tim Forbes on Vimeo.

Maya Python API Stretch Node

Next Up. Add in matrix connections to the StretchNode. Following that I'm going to make a MPxCommand plugin that traverses the dependency graph to find connected skin clusters. This will be useful in a convoluted node graph if you need to manupulate the skin cluster in a specific way, or really any specific node I guess:-)

Interesting Things with the Maya Python Api

I have found the API becomes a lot easier to understand as you realise how attributes are inherited between classes. Also, if you read this and see that I am incorrect, please correct me. I am writing this as I learn and this is being written down as best as I understand. Writing it almost helps unravel my thought process and break the concepts and problems down into their raw data. Thus making the information easier to understand.
So I was writing a default dependency node template. As I am writing this I am trying to understand why each of the pieces of a node are there, and what they do. Each time I need to use a piece of code, I will refer to the API guide and understand where the command or attribute had come from and how it is returning the data.
The interesting one I just came accross was when working with a MFnNumericAttribute class. I was using this in the initialize() function where the different attributes are built for the dependency node.
What I found was when I came to set the attribute to keyable, storable etc, I could not find any information relating to these attributes in the documentation for MFnNumericAttribute. This is where I realised that these attributes were being inherited from the parent class, MFnAttribute. So by creating a MFnNumericAtribute, I had access to all the attributes associated with this command, but I also had access to everything above. So:

nAttr = OpenMaya.MFnNumericAttribute()
nAttr.create('longName','shortName',OpenMaya.MFnNumericData)
#now you can access attributes from MFnAttribute
nAttr.setKeyable(True)
#or attributes from MFnNumericAttribute
nAttr.setMin(1.0)

Ok I know this is super novice. But one thing I realised when I was starting to learn, is these little things can really help learn how to read the documentation, and I couldn't find that info anywhere out there, a lot of it was assumed knowledge. That being said, to find the information for yourself means that you will always remember it and understand how to apply that same knowledge to different scenarios.
Once I'm done with my default node template I'll bang it up here. Cheers.

Learning the Maya Python API

This is something that I have been meaning to do for some time. As always I haven't found the time, or need, to do so. I have constantly been so busy with work that hasn't really required the development of API tools, or that I haven't been able to justify the time expense to convert the work to an API based toolset.
I think that a time comes when you realise it is time to learn some things. Coding is like learning a language. Without the right mindset or need, it is very difficult. But when offered a good practical reason to learn, new concepts and knowledge seem to be learnt a lot more fluidly. I feel this is where I am now. My python coding has got to a certain point in Maya, and I now see a use for the power that I can harness through the API. Although slow, I am picking it up a lot better than last time I started reading the API.
I find one of the biggest things is realising how to read the help docs, and being able to read the C++ documentation and convert it to python. This will prove useful when delving into C++. For the moment I am learning the Maya Python API so I can focus on learning the API toolset, and not have to worry so much about syntax. Once I have that sorted I will start moving accross to C++.
For the time being my goal is to work though David Goulds Maya Programming Books, and as I do so to build some simple nodes and commands that package up some commonly used rigging node graphs that I often build.
Keep checking back for my progress.

The road to recovery!

It is happening! Slowly but surely I'm starting to run. Twice this week, making a total run time of 10 mins this week :-) It's a darn sight better than it has been. Baby steps, nothing stupid and just easing into it. Today is a lot better than earlier in the week. The pain hasn't come back the same way, and what pain did come back has subsided really quickly.
In a few weeks we move to our new home! The commute to work is about 13kms. My plan is to be running that a few times a week in a couple of months. like I said, baby steps, but the will is there and I know I'll get there. I just need to be smart about it!

First Days In Wellington

I can't believe it's already been a week in Wellington. It has been so much fun and so inspiring to be in a new city again. We have done so much exploring, met so many cool people and really just tried to immerse ourselves within the city. This morning I hit up Lulu Lemons free yoga class which was nice, and then followed it up with brekky with our friends from Vancouver Jonathon, Evelyn and their new bubs, Mara. We headed to Loretta and it was amazing!
Last night we had pizza and beers at our pad with Nick and Emma. Some more friends from Vancouver. It is so good to catch up with our friends that we made when we were overseas. It's like we never left!
Having Clooney here has been a blessing. It has really forced us to get outside. We have been walking him a lot and he has been charming everyone. We took him on a big walk through the Botanic Gardens last night, and then he just chilled like a good old dog when Nick and Emma came over for dinner! Funnily enough, he is such a pleasant dog, he has been getting loads of comments while walking around the city. Everyone loves him :-)

Interesting Blog Written By My Uncle!

My Uncle wrote a very interesting article, in which I feature. It was nice to read and happened to sum up my career so far, which was nice to read, as I feel you never take a step back and acknowledge your own successes as someone else may. So reading this article made me realise that I have been lucky and have worked hard to enable myself to work on some amazing work, at some great companies, with amazing artists all over the world.
Life is good and I am blessed to be leading the life I am. Check the article below.
My nephew just got a job with Weta

Creature TD Reel

Tim Forbes Creature TD Reel 2015 from Tim Forbes on Vimeo.

My latest Creature TD reel with my favorite work. Latest additions to the reel are Chappie and TMNT. I hope to add some more updated personal work soon.

Big props to all the crew at Image Engine for the amazing work.

Music By Arcade Fire. "Sprawl 1" from album "The Suburbs".

Moving To Wellington

WOW. About a month ago Kate and I landed jobs in Wellington, NZ. It was such a bizarre scenario, that both parties of a relationship landed amazing opportunities in the same overseas city. We would have been stupid to not jump at the opportunity. And jump we did. From discovering we had jobs to leaving Adelaide it was literally 4.5 weeks. In that 4.5 weeks we had to get our house ready to rent, get our house rented, pack up everything in our house and store it somehow, deal with 2 cars, deal with a dog that had to somehow get to Wellington, resign from two jobs, tell our parents we'd be leaving...again, and leave the house we just bought and absolutely love.
Needless to say, that 4.5 weeks was brutally busy, but as Kate and I always do, we smashed it out and got everything done. I worked up to the friday (3 days before we left), which made it difficult to do a lot, so my weekends and after work hours got really busy, but it was fun and finally gave me something to do!
What helped....well, Go Box helped for storing our stuff. Pretty much Go Box delivers a shipping container to your door. You fill it with your stuff (see 3D Tetris Post), then they take it away. Filling that box sucked. I think I am looking forward to unpacking it even more. Gum Tree helped a lot. The amount of shit we sold / gave away is amazing. The saying "One mans trash is another mans treasure" is truly accurate. I feel sorry for the dude that took our lawn mower. That bad boy weighed about a tonne and would have cost a boat load to ditch. We stashed a shitty old clam babies bath on the footpath...it was gone in like 10 mins???
We smashed the cleaning, got the house looking gleaming and employed Toop and Toop to rent our beautiful house. They were onto it and found a tenant within a week of advertising it!
The last few nights in our house were spent on a blow up matress. We had to stay with the house as Clooney needed somewhere to stay up until his departure (about 5 hours after us) on Monday the 20th. So we vacated on the 20th at 3am to the airport and left Clooney in the backyard. Kates parents then came down to make sure that Dogtainers Adelaide picked him up at 9am and took him on his merry way. We arrived in Wellington later on the 20th, after some delays and running to the plane in Melbourne due to a huge delay due to iced up planes...yes, iced up planes in Melbs!
Koa from Weta was there to pick us up, hook us up with a car, take us to the phone dealership to get sim cards and then drop us to our accom. Clooney flew on Tues the 21st, spent the night in Auckland and then arrived in Wellington on Wed the 22nd in the afternoon to a relieved Kate. He's loving it and I don't think he misses Adelaide.
Now we have found a place and are searching for a car. I have another week off and Kate starts on Monday. It has been a hectic week and we have seen a lot of Wellington while looking for housing. This city rocks! It is so beautiful and vibrant. It feels way bigger than the population leads you to believe. I'm now eagerly awaiting starting at Weta. I am so pumped to do some amazing work and to work with an amazing team.
There have been some stressful times, but we are so stoked to be here. So far the move has been so worthwhile and has broken us out of a rut that we had got into in Adelaide. Good times!

Lizzy Hawker-Runner

I am currently reading the book Runner, A short story about a long run. Written by the dominating female Ultra Runner Lizzy Hawker, it looks into her amazing career, and delves into the psyche of an ultra runner.

She quotes famous people throughout the book, and one quote that really stood out to me was from extreme skiier Andreas Fransson.

"You can choose to create whatever reality you like! Life goes on and how we want it to go on is a choice.....so we might as well make right now awesome."

Happy saturday!

On the road to recovery.

Injury has offered salvation. As an endurance athlete, injuries suck. They make your life feel like it is falling to pieces and you're just not sure how you are going to be able to continue! Very melodromatic I know, but if you are a fellow athlete, you'll know what I mean.

However, all that being said, this injury was one of the best things to happen to me. It forced me to break out of a bad rut that I was in. An endless cycle of exercise to maintain some unknown level of fitness that I had set myself as a goal to maintain, for no particular reason.

In hindsight, this was waiting to happen, and all the signs were there, I just had tunnle vision and and avoided listening to any warning signs.

Now, 10 weeks later, or there abouts, I can still barely run, but I can now cycle, which is a blessing. It feels great to go for a ride again, especially with the garmin turned off. No caring about pace, time or distance. Just doing it because it is fun.

I am starting to try run/walk sessions, with little success, but atleast the pain afterwards now subsides fairly quickly. Hopefully it's only a month or so until I can start running properly.

3d tetris!

Moving again! I thought we were finished with doing this. I guess once a nomad, always a nomad!

I feel my life for the past days has been one frantic game of 3 dimensional tetris. However if you lose, all your posessions end up broken, damaged, dank and smelly or just not packed. Not packed isn't really an option, and the other consequencs aren't really preferable either.

At about 11:30 today I find out if I won the game! I teally hope I did!

Still Injured

Yep, I well and truly ruined myself this time! Still unable to run, and only able to put in a half arsed kick in the pool. However I have discovered that bike riding is OK so that has been a saviour to be able to get outside and enjoy some activity again.

So I tried running on Sat morning. The aim was a run walk session. 1min on, a fee mins off repeated for say 20 mins. I lasted 1 block! Boooo. I'm gonna guess a good month of rest yet.

After this failed run however I decided to do some different exercises. As i was in my gear i was in the mood to work out. So some core was followed by jump rope and burpies. I have to say running training never made me almost puke. Two days later and my legs are nailed! I know it seems strange I can do jump rope but csnt run. On the spot is fine, it's the push/pull part of the foot strike that is causing the issues as the hammys engage.

Anyways, when I can finally start running it's gonna be pretty sweet!

Beginning of a new era.

When one door closes, another one opens. Kate and I have opened a new door, started a new chapter, turned over a new leaf. Sorry for all the cliched phrases.

Exciting times lie ahead for us. I think we have truly cemented our nomad lifestyle now. We have well and truly rejected the status quo, which i had thought we has fallen into in a big way. Big opportunities don't present themselves all the time. You only live once and it's the opportunities that you don't act upon that you'll always remember.

What do I remember about whistler....a lot of good things but i'll always remember that I didn't hit Air Jordan! I missed that boat now. 

My good buddy Heisler has just stepped well and truly out of the corporate rat race and is now pursuing a fewardi g wholesome lifestyle. I have such admiration for this move and it was a huge inspiration for me. No Regrets.

End of an era

I remember back in 92 when my dad bought our subie! What a work horse she was. Such a great car. Beautiful to drive, reliable, so many great adventures.

Anyways, after being in the family for 22 years it finally became time to pass her on. Our NZ reloction is requiring us to sell our car and declutter a bit. Otherwise it just costs too much to store everything.

Subie was passed onto a very eager lad. He said it was the best GL wagon he'd seen. I hope that he continues to have rad adventures in her. 

Subie, we'll miss you! Thanks for the good times.

Journeys and Adventures!

Life is a big long adventure. It is what you make of it, and we only live once, so it should be fulfilling.

I always tell myself this when I step out of my comfort zone. Take risks and hopefully you reap the rewards, but if you don't you will have a richer life for the experience.

We have recently chosen a path for a new adventure. It's very exciting for us both. Who knows where the journey will take us, but i have no doubt it will be a enthrawling and rewarding one.

SA trail running mt crawford challenge

25 kms, freezing cold, beautiful clear skies, good turn out, what more could you want!

Trail Running SA put on another stellar event at Mt Crawford last weekend(june 21st). Unfortunately I was unable to race due to injury, so I volunteered to help with timing. I had a great day! The other volunteers were all well seasoned ultra runners, all taking time out due to injury LOL. I felt like quite the newbie chatting with these guys. They have all done Yurebilla numerous times, most just came back from North Face 100 Australia and they all have numerour races on the horizon! I need to step up and get an ultra under my belt i think!

Anyways, kate raced on the weekend and did exceptionally well. She hasn't done too many long runs recently, but non the less smashed out the 25kms easily. She has really taken like a duck to water with trail running!

Following the event a feast of fruit and delicious snacks were put up be Trail Running SA and a whole lot of free kit and wine was given away thanks to salamon and the running company. 

All up another amazing event. Its great to see the sport growing so rapidly in sa!

Blender....broken!

Well this put a spanner in the works of my morning green smoothie ritual! However I'm a clever guy, I'll always try to make the best of a bad situation. I roll with the punches :-)

A food processer can totally do a smoothie right.....wrong. It can do a chunky salsa-esque blend of fruit and greens. What you end up with is a glass of something that would probably go better beside a taco! Oh well, it's still tasty and healthy, you just have to 'drink' your green 'smoothie' with a spoon!

The things we do in the name of a healthy brekky!

Why?

Humans are strange!

Yes, stating the obvious, I know. We are strange in many ways! So let's discuss a few of the many ways that we are so.

The notion of 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'. Yeh, that makes total sense. How about 'the grass is always greener on the other side'.... Well it always is, right?

So i'm as bad as everyone. I see the sense in these statements; accept the lessons that the sayings aim to teach, however I am the first person to admit that I choose to pay no attention to these lessons. Sigh!

I think if we were able to take lead from these lessons we'd find it much easier to make peace with ourselves and to be more satisfied with our lives. I think it would make us appreciate the small things a lot more, and maybe make us realise that we shouldn't take our blessed lives for granted. 

Coming from countries like Canada and Australia we are really very fortunate and have endless opportunities to chase our dreams. Maybe if we take a moment to realise how lucky we are we'll realise that we're already living the dream!

Giving Something Back

Seeming I can't partake in running events at the moment, I figured I'd volunteer at some events. This lets me immerse myself in the sport and with the people while getting that warm fuzzy volunteerin feeling. Trail SA run some great events and as we all know, events would be nothing without the hard work of the volunteers, and it's going to be nice to be on the other side of a race to see what they do. It will probably give me a different apprecition when I next enter a race!

It will also be fun seeing Kate race and just being there to support her! She is running so well right now and it's going to be quite excitin to see where she manages to go with trail running. She's fast and fit and I think the lower impact of trail running is really going to suit her. 

Nikki Kimball watch out :-)

Subaru GL Wagon 1992

In the attempt to fill some time in I decided to start tuning up my Subaru Sports Wagon! It's a bit of a classic and I have had a lot of nice comments regarding the state that she is in lately.

I figured I'd start with a solid clean pass and paint touch up on any rust. I'm in he process of this and it's a big job. However once thats done I'll be able to assess bigger tasks and work out what I want to fix/add/upgrade. Overall I'm really happy with the condition of the car and I really dont think i'll need to do too much unless I want to.

Firstly I think some better speakers that don't look so crap and are actually mounted in the door correctly! I'm thinking just some nice little round ones that match the current trimming and sit nice and flush. The current 6x9's are crap and not mounted well/hanging out of the door. That should be an easy fix. Following that I think I'll get some paint and touch up all the shitty bits of paint and then work from then. 

I think I'll just take this project slowly and do a timy bit whenever I feel like it and just make sure that it is done really well! 

Pics to come soon!

Train Time - Blog Time

Yay, my moment to write something creative. The train home is pretty auick so it's gotta be short and sharp.

Whats been going on this week.

Last night I took the coaching duties of Adelaide Running Crew. It was a great session of hills and everyone smashed it for a solid 25min effort. Coaching is a great way to stay intouch with running while recovering from this annoying injury. It is also noce to be getting involved with a not-for-profit organisation. I feel like I 'm giving something back to a sport that I've taken so much from.

To teach is also to learn. Teaching forces me to re evaluate why you run the way you do, what training works and why so I can give the correct info to everyone.

I've been good this week. Avoiding anything which is pissing off my injury! That means no swimming either :-( but I've been enjoying abs and core workouts to fill in a minor part of the void that remains after removing running, riding and swimming.

Week Off...

So last week was my first full week with no running, cycling or swimming since well before I left Vancouver. Now I think about it, that is ridiculous. I honestly cannot think when I last had a full week off those three disciplines.

My last 'big' injury was in Vancouver after the Victoria marathon, but that injury did not stop swimming or cycling. Then before that my achilles put a holt to riding and running, but that didn't stop swimming. So all that being said, I think the last time I had a week totally off was when Kate and I went to New York for Christmas 2011 or when we went to Montreal in 2013. Either one, that makes 2 weeks of total rest in 4 years...wow.

But to the point at hand, I'm starting to feel good now with some rest. The leg still hurts, but I can finally feel some improvement and I am starting some leg stability work now. Fingers crossed this week reaps some good rewards for the rest and I can test out some skipping and run-walk training maybe next week.

Until then I'm being well restrained and keeping up the core stability work and getting back into yoga which has been really nice.

The free Lulu Lemon classes have been great as they are just below my work so are super convenient for a nice Tuesday evening yoga session.

Namaste :-)

Team Bloke

The June long weekend ended up with a last minute commitment that turned the weekend into one of the most wholesome camping trips I've had for a long time.

A mate of mine was nice enough to invite me to partake in Team Bloke! Hosted at harrys block of land on the Yorke Peninsula. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of land i've ever seen. 

Team Bloke is a yearly event in which a bunch of top blokes get their leave card stamped by the missus so they can have 3 nights of wholesome bloke time.

I was a bit unsure en route to the trip. I knew no one, and being a vegetarian that doesn't drink too much i wondered how i'd fit in with a group of Aussie blokes :-) what i found was a group of rad guys. It was such a great time and no one had any expectations or attitude. It was just chill bloke time.

My tent was set up so the door would look over the most amazing sand dunes ever. Each morning i'd open the tent and lie in bed looking at the view. The stars at night were un believable. Such clear skies; the milky way was absolutely stunning.

It was a much needed chill weekend and i am thankful to all the blokes for making me feel so welcome at team bloke. It's been running for 11 or so years and hopefully I'll make it each year from now on.

Waiting!

As I stand on my lonesome by a pedestrian crossing in the evening I start wondering what all the passers by think I'm doing.

I create different scenarios that they could be imagining!

Obviously in the coolest one I'm waiting to go for a run :-)

List!

This week I had a list! On that list were 3 things to do! Of the things on the list I've only done one of them, two days in the week left.

I think i should be able to get it done :-)

Update: Done two of them :-)

The train station

Commuting on public transport the first time in a year and a half! It does bring back memories of the Skytrain in Canada, although far less convenient :-)

It's interesting though that taking the train does offer a bit more chill time, and although I miss the bike commute, the time spent wandering to and from the train is relaxing!

The commute offers interesting opportunities for people watching! For example, four rows ahead of me, facing me is a dude with an epic mustache! I don't know him, but well done sir! I just noted i am one of the plebs that can't put their iPhone down! As I look around everyone is tweaking with their phone. Its such a different image to what would have been even only 10years ago.

I gaze aimlessly down the aisle, contemplating. I see all the other commuters. I wonder whats going on in their lives, what they do, what hardship or joys they are experiencing. Ahh, Waterpolo SA, i can tell that's what that dude by the ticket machine does. How? Its written up his trouser leg! I guess though to an alien, thy may see 'Nike' written up a trouser leg and make the assumption that they do 'Nike' :-)!

It's June 5th, I'm commuting to work and this is my random train of thought! Have a good day, the train has almost arrived!

Reflection

Writing is enjoyable, I find it helps pass time and allows me to vent thoughts, let a stream of random thought pass out of my mind into the written word. I'm not sure why I like it, it seems therapeutic for some reason.

Its funny how in our already nuts busy lives, finding a past time that helps kill time is enjoyable. But I guess it helps kill time because it is enjoyable! You are not required to do it; you don't have deadlines to meet. You just write to write.

Writing seems to especially interest me at times that require reflection, introspection, self analysis. If you hadn't guessed I'm at one of those stages now. Injury bites and is always a moment for me to get all moody like this. I think about why injury makes me feel so bleak. I'm sure all athletes go through this many times in a career, and at least mine is very minor and I also don't rely on my sport for my income. All things I tell myself to make myself feel better, but they never do!

I heard an interesting interview on a podcast the other day, ultra runner podcast I think, in which the interviewee recalled a time that one of his athletes won a 100 miler, and her reaction was totally negative, a view point of the glass being half empty. You just won a 100 miler with a course record, you should be over the moon! But I think it definitely is a trait of people that like endurance events, is that element of being super critical and wanting to push the hardest out of yourself, and therefore you're always looking to get more out of yourself.

This trait must be one of the reasons we deal so poorly with injury. We feel like we've failed, or that the setback will cause us to fail or not achieve what we aimed to achieve. Needless to say it probably happened because we needed to rest the body, as a result of being to stubborn to take proper rest days during training, thinking that the more we train the better we'll be! Wrong! This time I'll try to be good!

Injury strikes again.

I knew that things were going too well. I got through Iron Man training injury free, and have been pushing it a fair bit since. Not to mention a year straight of training before Iron Man almost injury free and not really giving the time to rest my body properly

My training of recent has been ramping up distance wise with about 50kms of running a week. Throughout this training  over the past few weeks some groin area tightness was building up. I ignored this as it felt no more than fatigue and the kind of muscle fatigue you would expect from a lot of running.

This is where I broke a key rule. Listen to your body. On Saturday I did 22kms through Belair on trails, and then although the muscle pulled up fairly sore I went for a 60km bike ride on Sunday. Damage done! Now I'm looking at weeks of rest and no riding for 6 weeks.

When will I learn!

Since writing the first few paragraphs of this post, I have been back to the physio to discover that it is not an adductor strain, but tendonosis of the adductor origin tendon. Not good as it is a very difficult place to treat and to minimise use, as you use it a bit every time you walk.

I can however continue swimming, so the next few weeks of recovery is going to mix swimming and some vital core and functional strength work. Hopefully with being smart I can still get back on track for the Yurebilla trail 56km, but unfortunately Adelaide Marathon will be off again :-(

For more info:http://physioworks.com.au/injuries-conditions-1/adductor-tendinopathy

Killer New Shoes...

So I love running and therefore I love running shoes! My old trail shoes were starting to lack on the support side of things and were giving me a pain at the inside of my foot arch where my arch meets my heel. So new trail shoes were a must.
Next on the list were new road shoes. My current and beloved Saucony Verratas are getting worn after a lot of miles of Iron Man training. I don't 100% need them now, but seeming the Verratas have been discontinued I figured it would be best to find a new shoe to ease into while the Verratas still have some life rather than just get a new shoe and go for it without any transition period.
Off to the Running Company Unley store to see what they had on offer. A quick gait analysis showed me my first video recording ever of my foot strike. I was really happy other than a bit of foot crossover which caused an injury a few years ago, it was looking good.
I tried on a lot of shoes. First the trail shoes. I tried the Saucony trail shoe, Salamon SLab, Nike and I think that's it. The Nike felt horrible, like the was a big cylindrical air bag running down the centre of my foot. The Saucony felt good, but I think the reason I liked it was because they felt very similar to my Verratas. The S Labs felt great. After jumping between shoes a few times I chose the SLabs because they just felt more stable than the Sauconys. The Sauconys just felt a bit high and floppy. Potential ankle rolling material so I decided against them.
Now the road shoes. I have been running recently in a 3mm heel to toe drop trail shoe (Inov8 Trail Roc something) and the 0mm hel to toe Verrata. So I specifically wanted something in this ball park. The Slab met these requirements for the trail shoe, but funnily enough it was hard to get a road shoe in this realm that wasn't a racing flat. I specifically wanted a marathon shoe and wasn't super enthusiastic about running a marathon./..or training for a marathon, in racing flats.
Bring on the Hoka One One. TBC....

Chambers Gully Challenge 10km

Last Sunday (17th May) saw the running of the annual Chambers Gully Challenge. I had signed up a few weeks ago with Kate knowing full well that it was a hill climb trail race up Mt Lofty. Kate did not realise this.
The race left from Chambers Gully Road at Waterfall Gully Road. The first 3kms are all uphill, the first km being a steady grind, and the next 2km being a hard calf burning ascent. Not so steep that I had to walk, but very close to. As I was running this steep section I was concerned about how Kate would be feeling. Not only was this unlike anything she had ever run...ever, but the air was cold and I was aware she hadn't brought her asthma medication.
It's interesting running a race like this. Only 10kms. I ran 27 kms last week, descending this exact trail. I knew how steep it was but you never really appreciate it until you run up it!
At the top of this grind, the next 5 kms is a beautifully flowy trail called the Wine Shanty Trail. It meanders along the contour of the ridge, providing a nice even running surface and beautiful scenery through Sclerophyll forest. At the end of this 5kms, is the final 2kms which is once again a steep climb to the summit. Given it was a race you always push yourself a bit harder, and I hit the summit in 51mins, about 9 mins faster than I normally run it. The second I hit the top I turned around and ran down to meet Kate.
She was doing really well given her absolute lack of race preparation. I met her as she was about to start the final 2km ascent. I ran it with her, her calves were burning but she persevered and smashed it in 1hr4mins I think. Obviously I was super proud of her achievement and laughed at the fact that she just rocks up and runs a steep as trail race with almost no trail running experience.
This race taught me a lot about trail running. I felt like a total newbie compared to road racing. I have no issues with pacing myself for a road race, however on the trails I had no idea how to tackle the race. Also 10kms is super short for me and I haven't been training for short bursts, and especially not short bursts with this kind of steepness. t also taught me to pay attention. First tail race, first wrong turn! I started chatting to someone and zoned out and once they backed off I continued to run my usual route. Next thing I heard someone yelling at me, I turned around to realise I had overshot the turn off by about 100 meters, and luckily someone had seen me before I went out of sight. I quickly turned around and when I caught up to the other competitor thanked them greatly. That could have really ruined my race!
In the end Kate finished with a 3rd place for her age group, very proud :-) All in all a fun race and I think it has inspired Kate to get out on the trails a bit more.

27 km Weekend Trail Run

Yeeeh!

Running, Trail Running, Yurebilla Trail, Buffalo Stampede

Running is awesome! I am having the most fun running in a long time. Just running for the sake of running. How could it be better.

A bit over a year ago I was ramping back up from an injury that I sustained in the Victoria, BC, Marathon. I learnt a lot from this injury. Don't force speed. I always end up injured. Instead I am now focusing on running because I like it, not because I want to go fast. I am running a lot of miles and speed will slowly come with experience. I'm not pout to prove anything, but what I do want to achieve is to be able to just run for as long as I like.

This is a goal as I love running everywhere I go. It is such an amazing way to spend time with friends, meet new people and see a lot more than if you walked! For example, I could run the Yurebilla Trail in one day. If you walk it, you need to allocate 3 days.

Aside from loving running, I am also living Trail Running. Being out in the hills I just forget that I am running. The views are beautiful and ever changing. The air is fresh. It is a perfect time for meditation, delving deep into your mind and investigating all sorts of interesting thoughts or just finding a total point of clarity in which your mind is empty, free from the weights that we impose upon ourselves in this hectic life.

Running has inspired me to take on a few different challenges in the coming year. These two events will pose a new challenge and replace the challenge that Iron Man presented itself. The first is the Yurebilla Trail 56km. This race will take me the length of the Yurebilla Trail in hopefully 8ish hours.

The second is the Buffalo Stampede. A 76km Ultra that will take me and hopefully my great buddy from Colorado, Ty, from Bright to the top of Mt Buffalo and back to Bright in who knows how long. Since talking about this with Ty I have been so pumped. Running with buddies is amazing, but running with buddies that share a passion for being outdoors and running as much as we both do will be a once in a lifetime opportunity! The 76kms has a LOT of elevation gain and is going to be a great physical and mental challenge for us both, and it is going to be really interesting running together and seeing how comradeship helps pull us through the hard times of the race!

I guess this blog post is a random dribble of why running makes me stoked! I'm just so pumped right now that I had to write something!

Get out there and get running! It's awesome. Till next time, happy running!

Greenbelt Half Marathon

After opening my mouth a few weeks ago at one of the ARC Wednesday night sessions and saying that I "might" race the Greenbelt Half, and then backing that up with a few more statements the following Wednesday at ARC, I figured I should sign up. So a day before registration cutoff I signed up. Impromptu half marathon. I was pretty excited though as I've been running some long Kms and had no expectations so it was just going to be a fun run. I obviously hoped for a sub 1hr30min time, but if not I wasn't going to cry

By race day, Sam has signed me up for a 1hr24min race through a coaching app that I am testing, so game on! This little spark set me a new goal. If I raced this it would be a PB. I woke to a beautiful day. Crystal clear blue skies. No wind. Amazing autumn day, perfect day for a run.

The race started at 8am at Athlestone Primary School and headed to the river Torrens and then down the Linear Park trail and into the city. Sam and I had previously discussed our goal pace, and in the end we ran together, talking endlessly about events and training. We stuck to our goal pace and time flew by.

With 5 or so kms to go we managed to open up as we had preserved the legs by not going out too hard and shaved a few more secs off our avg pace. We finished with 1:24:44, Sam crossing the line about a meter ahead of me. I can't remember my old half marathon PB, but I think this shaved off about 3mins. I was super stoked to have set a PB in a race that I wasn't planning on running until 4 days ago. A good re introduction to speed work and a good basis to my Marathon training.

The rest of the ARC killed it, with PBs all around! We backed up a solid race effort with brunch at "The Deli" with the whole crew! Amazing eggs! It's been really great running with the ARC again and meeting a lot of great like minded people. The group is so cool and Kate and I have really found that we are getting pushed, but also making some great new friends!

Till next time, happy running!

Melrose

Wandering around the quaint little town of Melrose, SA. It is a beautiful location and was a really nice little town full of history to wander around and take photos :-)

Alligator Gorge

We were at a wedding last weekend in Melrose, SA. It is always a great opportunity to head to Alligator Gorge and get some photos. It is a truly beautiful part of the world to go hiking.