5000/365 | Peter Fletcher

The Jacob’s Ladder 5000 lap challenge update

April 24, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

If you’re a newcomer to this blog my challenge is to climb Jacob’s Ladder 5000 times and write 365 blog posts this year.

Since my last update I’ve made great progress on my 5000 Lap challenge. Here are the highlights.

I completed 210 laps in one week. That was a few weeks ago.
I strained a calf muscle about two weeks ago and that caused me to drop a day. The following days were slow as I allowed the injury to recover.
I’ve had a few hard workouts where I pumped out 15 laps in 42 minutes.
The change of weather has been welcome. It’s now much cooler than a month ago but the last couple of days have been hot.
We desperately need rain in Perth. The vegetation on Jacob’s Ladder look like they need a good drink.
The inaugural Legend of Jacob’s Ladder is Greg Williams. If you want to nominate someone as a Legend of the Ladder please let me know in a comment below.
I’ve changed my routine to include other exercises such as pushups, dips and arm curls during the last 5 laps. My average lap times have increased as a result.
I’m currently at 2245 and will be at the half way point early next month.
A more detailed progress report is in the table below.

Thanks to everyone who has offered encouragement and support. It’s much appreciated.

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A day in the life of a social media manager

March 31, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

When I say I provide social media marketing services for real estate agents I’m often met with a blank stare followed by “Oh right, that sounds interesting”.

What I do for a living is especially hard to describe to people who don’t use Facebook and Twitter. Often these people just blink twice before changing subject.

There are plenty of times I just say “I get paid to play on Facebook all day”. It’s often easier.

But for the sake of those who really want to know, here’s one of my typical days.

4:30am Sleep rudely interrupted by alarm. Have a glass of water. Check Facebook red notifications and Twitter @replies while pulling on the running shorts. Quickly scan emails for anything urgent.

5:15am Climb stairs

7:15am Coffee. Catch up with the latest social media news using Flipboard and Zite apps on my iPad. Tweet out interesting articles.

8:00am Breakfast and get ready for “work”.

9:00am Update clients’ Facebook business pages. Respond to questions, delete spam comments.

9:30am Send tweets and @replies

10:00am Blog customisation including posting new content, theme customisation

11:00am Respond to Facebook comments, more @replies

12:30pm Lunch, usually at 868 Gourmet, in East Victoria Park. That’s where I’m writing this.

1:30pm Reading and research. Tweet interesting articles.

3:00pm Blog writing including image search and editing

5:00 Check back on Facebook pages. Respond to comments.

There are some things that get done throughout the course of the day.

Responding to @replies on Twitter
Responding to Facebook comments
Using Facebook as a Page to Like and comment on other Pages
Liaise with my VA
Work on new projects
Try new social media software
Experiment with new WordPress plugins

And for those who still don’t understand what I do, here’s a pretty picture that does the job of explaining pretty well. Click on the image to see a larger version.

LinkedIn still dominated by older males

March 23, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

LinkedIn, while not as “sexy” as Facebook, may be a far more useful tool for professionals. At least that’s the picture painted by LinkedIn’s latest infographic.

The headline numbers from the world’s number three social networking site are:

There are over 100 million registered LinkedIn members. That many business cards stacked up would be 98,425 feet high or about 3 times the height of Mount Everest. Of course they’d blow over in the wind, but that’s another story.
The second most represented industry represented on LinkedIn is finance. Real estate agents take note!
The most common job functions are sales, administrative and academic.

According to Vincos 61% of members are male. That’s the reverse of what’s experienced on most other social networks, where the majority are female.

72% are 25-54 years old split evenly between 25-24 and 35-54 age groups.
Tweet
There are almost 2 million members in Australia, more than Italy at 1.7 million users.

Legends of The Ladder – Greg Williams

March 22, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Jacob's Ladder Legend Greg Williams with friend Mark

My first Legend of The Ladder is early morning regular, Greg Williams.

Greg started on the ladder in the early eighties. Since then he’s racked up an estimated ninety thousand laps over the course of thirty years.

Now in his early sixties Greg is an early morning regular and usually starts his first lap before 5am. On most days he completes 8 laps plus a couple of laps of Mount Street and a pile of sit-ups. On Sunday’s he knocks out twenty before downing a well-deserved coffee and then heading to the beach for a surf.

Greg has a track record of athletic performance at the elite level. He’s finished the City to Surf in 43 minutes and, before a bad knee injury slowed him down, completed 23 laps of Jacob’s in an hour. By any stretch of the imagination that makes him a super athlete.

A champion squash player, Greg has played against legends Dean Williams (no relation) and Geoff Hunt. While working as a teacher in Geraldton Greg won the Sportsman of The Year Award for his performance on the court. By his own admission he was never the most skilled player but relied on his superior fitness, much of which he achieved on Jacob’s Ladder. He won the Australian Masters Squash championship in 1985/6 and 1989.

Along with his good friend, Tony Beard (another Legend of the Ladder), Greg was a regular participant in the annual Heart Foundation “Climb to the Top” challenge. For each of the years between 2003-07 Greg won – against all comers and all ages – the individual award for the most number of steps climbed. On average there were 10,000 entrants each year.

Greg’s style is unique. He’s one of the few ladder regulars who climb three steps at a time. It allows him to work with a slower cadence but increases the distance he covers with each step. What often goes unnoticed is his downhill speed. When he’s not talking to one of his growing entourage of friends he descends comfortably running two steps at a time. That reduces his lap times significantly and makes him one of the quickest on the ladder.

Greg’s one of the most well-regarded and a well-liked athletes on Jacob’s Ladder. He’s a maths teacher at PLC and was actively involved with education watchdog PLATO (People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes) lobbying successfully against the introduction of outcomes based education in Western Australia.

Greg takes great pride in the achievements – athletic, scholastic and otherwise – of his 7 children and of his wife Kerry. And it’s these achievements he cheerfully recounts to his many Jacob’s Ladder friends.

Anyway you count it Greg Williams deserves his place as a Legend of Jacob’s Ladder.

Sore shins and a new 15 lap PB

March 21, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Last week was dominated by soreness to my right shin. It’s not like the pain is killing me but it’s there and it’s annoying.

On Tuesday night Rita suggested I have the next morning off then do the ladder in the evening. I wondered how that would change anything and dismissed the idea. But I woke Wednesday morning with some discomfort and decided to give the ladder a miss. I then did 20 easy in the evening. With the 20 next morning I’d done 40 in less than 24 hours, but I’d also given my shin a break of nearly 36 hours. And suddenly I started to feel normal again.

Saturday went OK then, on Sunday, an Olympic rower turned up. Man he wound the pressure up! Mark (one of the Legend’s of the Ladder) went after him. At first they were on par with Mark’s superior downhill speed giving him a slight advantage, but then the big fella started to pull away. Mark had already done 20 laps when the tussle started and was feeling the pinch.

Just when it looked like Mark was going to crack he lifted a notch. A lap later they were back on level terms. Two laps later Mark was in front.

Meanwhile I was cracking out a fair pace of my own. They began gaining ground on me but I knew the pace was unsustainable. When I looked at my watch at the end of lap 14 it read 2:38. That’s a seriously quick lap. Someone had to blink.

I settled into stride and did enough to not let the big guy past. I wasn’t turning myself inside out but I wasn’t far away from max. On the next lap the Olympian called it a day and left. That left me with 5 laps to run and I thought I’ll keep going as was feeling ok. At the finish of 20 I’d set a PB for 15 laps of 42:03. Being that my first 2 laps took over 10 minutes I can see that cracking the hour for 20 will happen soon.

From now on I’m going to start my watch at the end of the third lap. That way I’ll be able to check my time at the end of lap 17. If the time is less than 52 minutes I’ll crank out an extra 3 for a lash at the 20 laps in an hour. If it’s less than 51 I can pretty much cruise through for an easy win.

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Super moon brings out more than just looneys

March 21, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Picture of the Super Moon taken with an iPhone

By that I mean it brought out a bunch of great photographers. Of course I’m not one of them. But I try.

At the appointed hour I scurried out, camera in hand, ready to capture all the beauty of our silver orb when, alas, I found my camera had died. The screen was nothing more than a series of sine curves and squiggles. Almost crushed I grabbed the iPhone and pointed it heavenward. I waited, then waited some more. Nothing but a black screen, blacker even than the shadows cast by the moon.

Still unwilling to let go of my dreams I found an exposure adjustment setting and cranked that to the far right. The moon, once soft and silver turned into a giant start burst of light. All it’s beauty and softness had disappeared. In it’s place was a giant white cross in the middle of thick black nothingness.

But I was still unbent by this technological damnation. I uploaded the pic to Instagram and applied a filter. And that, folks, is what I present to you above. Soft, silvery moon turned into something more akin to the landing of an alien space craft in an even more alien environment.

Enjoy.

And for those not satisfied, I include a couple of shots that capture the essence of the super moon.

Photo of super moon over water

Photo of super moon through trees

Image credit: Shot over water by Shayne Kaye and shot through the trees by LadyDragonflyCC – Michigan Weather,,,,,,WOW!.

Last week on Jacob’s Ladder

March 7, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

Jacob’s Ladder was again my playground last week. I managed 150 laps and a new PB for 15. There was a break in the hot weather on Friday and that brought a welcome cool change. It’s so much nicer to be working hard when it’s not hot.

Breaking things up was the start of my new photo of the week series. Yesterday I took the time to grab some pre-dawn photos of Jacob’s shadows. In the coming weeks I’m hoping to capture some of the characters of Jacob’s Ladder in a series I’m calling Legends of The Ladder. I hope to include people like Mark Bailey, Greg Williams, Tony Beard, Gavin, Adrienne and Toni, and a number of others who are on the ladder almost every day. I’ll include a photo and a small story about what makes them so unique. Perhaps it’s their style, what they wear or some of their previous Jacob’s Ladder exploits. If you know someone you believe should be included as one of The Legends, let me know in the comments below.

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The Jacob’s Ladder 5000 lap challenge update

LinkedIn still dominated by older males

Legends of The Ladder – Greg Williams

Sore shins and a new 15 lap PB

Super moon brings out more than just looneys

Last week on Jacob’s Ladder

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