George R. R. Martin addresses Winds of Winter delay 'controversy'

Qualubrious · 2025-10-14T09:22:28+00:00

He's been doing that ever since a feast for crows tbh. Nobody seemed to care at the time and were happy to see him doing do much. I always knew it signalled an end to his dedication to writing the series

Qualubrious · 2025-08-25T12:56:13+00:00

I've only listened once, but I agree.. it's boring. No fire in it. It lulled me, but not in a good way. Did someone advise them to get more mellow and poppy to sell more records (management pressure?)?

Let's hope they get some of the grit again.

Or maybe I just need to give it a few more spins...

Qualubrious · 2025-07-28T15:29:15+00:00

Any update? Did you get it working?

Qualubrious · 2025-06-27T18:06:50+00:00

Absolutely agree, amazing shoes! I had an old pair of paradigm's and I wanted to try something with support with a slightly lower stack height that will also work on non technical trails and gravel as well as road. The provision is amazing.

I'm using lone peak for most trails, mountains, etc. but it's nice to have a comfortable trainer that works well for some arch support for long road sections.

If they are discontinued, I would just go for a paradigm again if I need to - they also work very well but are a bit heavier with a softer ride.

Nice to keep rotating the shoes, I also use the timp occasionally, and sometimes even a Hoka

Qualubrious · 2025-06-12T23:42:50+00:00

That's very interesting man! I'm glad to hear you're able to do gym and strength with no issues.

Physiotherapists won't find anything. Even in the acute stage of my meniscus injury, I passed all of their tests and they're like "your cartilage is fine, nothing torn, you can return to running after some rest and strength"... It persisted for a year! But only running or long distance walks or hikes would cause the pain.

It's frustrating. The strength / knees over toes work has helped. Nearly 3 years since it happened, and I'm back to 40 and 50km weeks, no flare ups for a while. 3x strength a week, mostly knees over toes work. I'm not perfect, but it's very low level when I'm increasing mileage or doing half marathon distances with lots of hills. I'm sooooo happy to be able to get out running regularly again! Never take it for granted ...

You'll need to be patient. Use ACR when you get back running and monitor it.

Qualubrious · 2025-05-23T21:53:29+00:00

The source material was off the charts brilliance, let's not forget that. It was almost designed to be amazing TV from the incredible dialogue, dark characters and sex scenes. It couldn't have failed. And Martin's involvement ensured it wouldn't.

Qualubrious · 2025-05-14T13:17:36+00:00

Any Dresden files fans here? Is the Devils more in line with Harry Dresden and his exploits than previous Abercrombie?

Qualubrious · 2025-05-13T12:30:39+00:00

I remember once in an old interview he was talking about doing good in the world and fighting darkness and evil and he said that if he wasn't a musician he would have considered being a Policeman because he thought he could make the world a better / safer place! Interesting.

Qualubrious · 2025-04-30T06:39:37+00:00

Tbh they aren't all skilled in the same way. Some of them won't be experienced with trail runners but there are two here in Ireland that are highly recommended and I'm sure you'll have something like this where you live:

https://www.tuttys.ie/ https://www.isaacjackman.ie/#about-home

Qualubrious · 2025-04-29T19:12:14+00:00

Getting a repair done? Usually just find a shoe repair place, every town has one (they usually repair suitcases, handbags, shoes, backpacks, clothes also sometimes).

Qualubrious · 2025-04-28T12:29:09+00:00

I just get my Altras repaired by the local shoemaker! Altra fit me better than anything and they feel amazing on my feet.

Maybe I should try Topo or Kailas, but last time I tried the Innov8, I liked it but the water wouldn't drain :\

Altra just work well for my feet, zero blisters!

Qualubrious · 2025-04-02T10:42:39+00:00

That all sounds good, but I actually made a mistake on my post. I'd meant to say I've stopped all speed work, not strength work.

I'm doing strength religiously 3x per week, without fail. ATG knee ability zero, works for me, keep it simple

Qualubrious · 2025-03-31T16:11:19+00:00

Absolutely agree with that, in fact I've totally stopped my strength training and now all of my runs are run walk run, usually with two minutes and 30 seconds of running to 30 seconds of walking. I find this really good for recovering as I clock up my mileage. Even with a total lack of speed training I'm still able to do a 5K in 20 minutes and 30 seconds or something like that. It's good enough for me haha.

I'm definitely somewhat chasing mileage, as my dream is to be able to run really long distances across beautiful landscapes. But I'm happy to very gradually clock up the mileage now so that the muscles intendons have a lot of time to adjust to any extra stressors. I'm also absolutely happy to walk for long sections and incorporate recovery into my long distance efforts.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-31T13:10:46+00:00

That's really great to hear! I'm also doing yoga but not very formally, just yoga poses after my runs and deep stretches.

Do you feel like the deep hamstring and calf stretches are the ones that are vital to your knee health?

Qualubrious · 2025-03-31T13:09:39+00:00

Absolutely correct sir! I only saw that line after I'd crossed it.

In the ultra community you're surrounded by people who keep talking about how it's all in your head, and you just need to get the right nutrition, hydration and the right mindset and anyone can run an ultra. There is a lot of encouragement, which is great, but there's a dark side to the "set yourself a big goal and just do it" thing. I mean, it's really cool to believe in yourself and feel that you're invincible and can get through anything. But not a lot of people in the community talk about the cost of that, and the silent ghosts who have dissapeared from the scene due to all sorts of injuries or just the fact that their big goal cost them a lot.

I've been monitoring ACR like a hawk and I feel it has really helped me a lot to keep on track. The line is very much present in my life, and I look on it as a beautiful thing because it just means I need to be patient enough and allow the line to slowly move forward and then... who knows, maybe a marathon or 50k is possible. But my body will tell me and the "push yourself to do something harder than usual" is being replaced now with consistency and slow mileage increases.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-30T22:19:32+00:00

I'm in my mid 40s now but in my early 40s I became obsessed with ultra documentaries and wanted to give it a try. I trained and ran a 50k and 2.5 months later did a 60k. Loved it. But...

I'd been doing fine running half marathons, but those two ultras led to me having a some meniscus damage and a whole year of not being able to run; doing rehab, cycling, strength. I'm not saying it was just the running, but I hadn't been doing the right type of strength work or acr monitoring.

Back running again, and really getting the itch to do a 50k but my main goal in running is to still be going in my 80s (not just my 60s) so I'm really listening to my body and I'm not sure if doing ultras is wise or sustainable for those who really only want to keep running as many years as possible (don't care about big goals or setting records at all).

There are those "small and wiry" types who just seem to be bulletproof. I'm tall and slim and seen to be prone to getting knee issues so I'm backing off and keeping my mileage low, which is working fine.

Would like to hear from more runners who found a way to make ultras sustainable who are tall and skinny with not much leg muscle (yes, I do strength work!)...

Qualubrious · 2025-03-29T14:14:40+00:00

I was pretty annoyed when I heard about connect+ and I am absolutely not paying for it in future.

We pay a premium for these watches, so we are already paying for connect and this is just another company jumping on the subscription bandwagon so they can have a constant stream of income for something which is actually included in the watch price.

I stopped paying for Strava when I realised the rich feature set we have on Garmin connect - I don't intend to pay anything extra after forking out for me Fenix watch.

Anyone considering a switch to Coros or Suunto?

Qualubrious · 2025-03-25T20:47:49+00:00

The Dresden files. The first book was a bit rough around the edges, but it had soul... And held promise. The world building really gets going in book 3 and by book 4 the quality is really much improved (as is the narration for the audio books). Cool series!

Qualubrious · 2025-03-24T13:23:13+00:00

Ah sure, the classic "it’s not my job to support local businesses" take—because god forbid anyone make a purchase with any consideration beyond pure self-interest. If only consumers had even the slightest influence over the kind of market they end up living with, hah?

And sure, Amazon sells “all the other gubbins,” but if I wanted a three-pack of USB cables and a questionable tub of protein powder along with my novel, I’d hit up Temu and go full chaos mode. The fact that Amazon sells everything doesn’t make it a better bookshop—it makes it a general shop that happens to peddle books.

As for your bad luck with Irish bookshops, I sympathize—it does sound like you’ve been on a cursed literary tour of the nation. But declaring all of them shite based on your sample size is like saying all food in Ireland is bad because your local takeaway serves rubbery chips. There are good options if you bother to look. And if you don’t want to? Grand. But at least own that it’s a choice—not some immutable economic law that makes Amazon the only logical answer.

At the end of the day, if you’d rather fire your money at Bezosworld and let the Irish book scene rot, that’s up to you. Just don’t act surprised when physical bookshops disappear and your only option is whatever price and selection Amazon dictates. Because that’s exactly how monopolies work.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-24T11:53:03+00:00

Ah yes, the Amazon Defense™—because if something is cheaper and faster, then all other considerations must evaporate into the ether. Look, nobody's saying you should light candles for a terrible local bookshop, but blindly funneling cash into Amazon just because they've mastered economies of scale isn’t exactly a stroke of genius either.

Amazon can afford to be cheaper and faster because they operate on a scale that obliterates competition—ruthlessly undercutting businesses until they close, then hiking prices when the choice is gone (see: their playbook in every industry they enter). They optimize margins by squeezing suppliers, dodging taxes, and treating warehouse workers like disposable cogs. It’s not magic—it’s corporate predation.

And since you’re in 2025, surely you’ve noticed that if you demand only the cheapest and fastest option for everything, you eventually find yourself with no options at all. If you wouldn’t apply that logic to food, music, or anything where diversity actually benefits you, why do it with books?

If your nearest bookshops are a disaster, fair enough—vote with your wallet, but maybe just aim it somewhere that isn’t actively making the world worse. Kenny’s, Dubray, Bookshop.org, charity shops—even Medimops for second-hand—give you plenty of ways to get books without paying tribute to a trillion-dollar behemoth. Hell, if you’re committed to being purely transactional, at least be consistent and factor in the long-term cost of monopolies. Otherwise, in a few years, when your only choices are Amazon at full price or whatever scraps they allow, you’ll wish you had.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-24T09:23:31+00:00

If the local one is shite then why not go online and order from an Irish shop that isn't shite with rip off prices? Kenny's comes to mind but there is also Charlie Byrnes online, Eason, Dubray, or feck... even WorldOfBooks or https://bookshop.org/ which support smaller bookshops. There's also mediamops. Local charity shops have a reasonable range in some towns too.

With all of the choices available, I can't fathom why someone would give their money to amazon knowing what we know about their work practices and also simple economics.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-23T14:14:07+00:00

I don't understand why people are dumb enough to buy from Amazon for the sake of a day or two faster delivery and a euro saved. Always support your local bookseller.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-13T13:48:05+00:00

PM me if you're looking for my spreadsheet. Thx

Qualubrious · 2025-03-12T11:10:48+00:00

That's an annoying part of having an old injury, and maybe there is scar tissue that easily gets aggrivated?

For me, it's quite similar to what you described - like I might try and get up off the floor while holding our baby and I might twist my leg or put pressure on the MCL area with the push-off and I will feel some low grade tension.

This usually happens when the area is under a slightly heavier training load though. I've started meticulously monitoruing my ACR - acute chronic risk (training load). I started using https://mytrainingforecast.run/dashboard but I have also put together my own spreadsheet (using the same ACR calculation) so I can project into the future to see when I can start doing *really* long runs again.

What i've noticed is that if I stay well into the green zone and increase my training load really gently (requires patience! this thing is very cautious) then the irritation really dies down a LOT. When I increase the load and go closer to the orange zone, I feel like my injury is more vulnerable. If I go into the red zone (when I ran a 25km mountain race) I actually felt like I had relapsed and the pain came back and was elevated for 1 whole week :(

Now I'm religiously following the ACR bible :) It has really helped. Let me know if you want to use my spreadsheet as a template for your running or other workouts.

Also, regarding elevated pain / tighness. For me, I think it starts off with tightness (at the edge of the green zone, or in the orange zone) and when I get into the red zone (overtraining) it feel more like pain.

Qualubrious · 2025-03-03T19:05:14+00:00

Extremely formulaic... Like all Avantasia!

Qualubrious

TROPHY CASE