Cartilage Free Captain

Good morning everyone - FITZIE IS BACK!!!!

Boy it feels good to be back too.

For those of you who have been following along my marathon training with me for the last couple of months, thank you! And I did see your messages of support over the weekend - thank you!

Fitzie’s marathon time — 3:02.57

Average pace - 6:59/mile

When I began providing updates on my marathon training, I partly did so to break down some of the misconceptions about running a marathon that I see flying about the interwebs. I cannot stand running influencers and I believe they are creating unrealistic expectations of what it is like to run.

What I rarely see captured are the darkest moments a runner faces in a race. Self doubt manifests itself in myriad ways. Some call it “The Wall”. For me on Saturday, I didn’t so much run into it. It was more as if The Wall found me and repeatedly punched me in the face. That’s how it felt.

I wanted to share a few of some of those doubts and negative talked that crept into my mind in the final handful of miles on Saturday:

Everything you trained for was pointless.

You’re a total failure.

Count this one as another failed attempt at the marathon.

What’s the point in all that training if you’re just going to biff it in the final six miles?

Oh, so you talk about Tottenham Hotspur not performing? Look at you, you loser.

You’re going to let everyone down.

Look at this guy. His fourth marathon and he still can’t run the whole thing.

You’re not going to finish.

These are some pretty negative thoughts. This is how self doubt manifested itself on Saturday - through a torrent of negative self-talk. That’s unusual for me because I’m pretty dang good at self talk and pumping myself up when things get tough.

I began to hurt a little earlier than I would have liked to on race day (there was some knot in my left glute as early as Mile 2, actually). I kept wondering what - if anything - I had done wrong. I was running around a 6:45-50/mile pace, which is about where I wanted to be. I felt comfortable. Anytime I felt my pace was going a bit too fast (under 6:40/mi) I eased up a little. So I was surprised when the pain kicked in at Mile 18.

Then a small incline at Mile 20 tore apart the remainders of my legs. From there the Self Doubt had fully crept in, so I tossed away my sub-3 aspirations and focused on survival. I don’t know how I did the final six miles without stopping. I guess deep down I knew it’d be game over.

The out and back twice was a challenge. Six-and-a-half miles felt so much further than I thought it actually was. Perhaps it was the fact it was a straight line. It was difficult. I thought I had trained myself enough to know the difficulties in an out-and-back (and perhaps I am accustomed to it), but to do it twice with little crowd support is difficult.

I went back to my training - those difficult stretches during the winter months. I took it a half mile at a time. When that seemed too far, I cut it down to a quarter mile at a time.

I also thought of the Grateful Dead, of Haruku Murakami, of Harry Styles (the latter two will make sense eventually). I also thought of Carty Free, who I didn’t want to let down.

I didn’t stop running.

Eventually I made it to the finish line.

After the race:

I immediately went to the medical tent. I didn’t even collect my ribbon at first. I went to medical and collapsed on the cot. The woman at the tent handed me a powerade, which I drank quickly. I must’ve had two or three bottles after the race.

Everything was cramping badly. I could barely walk. Both of my quadriceps and shoulders began to cramp. My body temperature plummeted and I put on a hoodie, jacket and knit cap. I felt like I was going to pass out.

I know what you’re saying: Stretch! My dear hoddlers, I could not stretch. I could barely stand, let alone walk or stretch. This was by far the most pain I ever felt after a race. It was awful.

What’s next?

It’s been a few days since the marathon. I’m still very sore - walking up stairs hurts. Walking down stairs hurts more. I had a massage and that was nice.

My biggest challenge right now is facing these mixed emotions. I am disappointed I didn’t hit the sub-3 on this run. I thought I could.

At the same time I achieved a new personal best, beating my previous record by 35 minutes. I fought back against the darkest thoughts running through my mind, and this was the first marathon in which I didn’t stop once. That is a hell of a big deal.

I will be spending the next few weeks recovering and going over what went right and what went wrong. I have a few thoughts on my pre-run meals, and I still think the weather preventing me from doing target-pace runs interfered with my preparations.

I’ll lace up the running shoes again either today or Thursday. I love running. I’m excited to get back out there. Even more so when it’s beautiful outside. I’m going to follow a return-to-running guide to make sure I’m in tip-top shape.

Then it’ll be another half marathon sometime in May.

But soon I will have to determine whether the Marine Corps Marathon beckons. I think it might.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Promised Land, by the Grateful Dead

And now for your links:

The Guardian: “Harry Kane gives Bayern Munich edge despite Real Madrid fightback in thriller”

The Athletic ($$): “Can the Premier League do more to combat violence against women and girls?”

AP via The Independent: “Mircea Lucescu, Romanian football legend and coach, dies aged 80”

“I didn’t laugh it off by the way, I told a true story. I spend a lot of time in London, not working but socially and I just happened to be here at the same time the Tottenham job opened. Once you’re in the city, people put two and two together and it was never about getting drawn into the rumours.

”I’m telling the truth, there was a lot of speculation and talk and I was playing it down correctly so. It’s no disrespect to anyone, it’s a brilliant club and I’ve said that but it’s nonsense to pre-suppose an outcome just because you’re in the same city.

…

“Obviously in the career I have, it does pay well but I wouldn’t go in there looking for money. They could offer me a massive amount of money, I’m sure they’re capable of it and allegedly they’ve offered [Roberto] De Zerbi a massive amount of money.

“It would have been about what are [Spurs] going to help me gain as a human being. What would I gain? Let’s say you go in there and get the job done, then next season if you’re not in the top four and the football’s not what they want, then you’re rubbish and they want you out.

“So you’re not going to gain a lot there, are you? And that’s if you get the job done, because it’s not easy. If you don’t get the job done, then somehow it’s on my neck that I took Tottenham down. That ain’t good for me as a human, this isn’t even about football at this point. Then you get some money and I go, I’m not thirsty for that. I’ve got some money.”

Kia ora! Matty Flatt here again; Fitzie will be back on board tomorrow.

Some of you know (or at least, I’ve referenced it before, but nobody reads the articles - does this count?) that I am a musician. Mostly for fun, but occasionally I do some paid work on the side, either gigs or session work.

End of February I played a gig for an event. It was a lot of fun - 26 cover songs with a great band, and a theme of “Back to School: High School hits through the years”. We smashed out everything from Cyndi Lauper to Kenny Loggins; Backstreet Boys to Black Eyed Peas.

When doing a gig like that you always try and create a great energy throughout, engage the crowd, and choose songs that will build an atmosphere and the ebbs and flows that entails. You try and make it mostly for your audience, but a little bit for you as well.

You don’t always get the right balance. Sometimes you pick a song just because you think it will be a bit of fun, and don’t necessarily expect to get much of an audience reaction - but then it explodes! You get the inverse situation as well, whereby you choose a song expecting it to be a guaranteed hit only for it to be a flop.

So here are my surprises from that gig - both good and bad! Note that given this was in NZ, what was popular here may be different to that which went big in your home countries…

Unexpected flops:

Stop - Spice Girls: on the face of it, seems like a fun, poppy song; really though, it’s mid-tempo, repetitive, and lacks a lot of punch

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper: this started well - but started flagging partway through, as the song isn’t really very dynamic and is the same parts over and over again. Singing “Girls… just wanna have fun.. girls…” probably gets old after a bit, and our energy probably flagged as well!

Feel So Close - Calvin Harris: one that works well in a club / DJ context; but we just couldn’t quite give it that same energy. Again, a lack of dynamics in the song (apart from some massive sub-bass that’s hard to reproduce live) means it feels like it doesn’t go anywhere

Unexpected hits:

End of the Road - Boyz II Men: this one was a real surprise. The crowd basically screamed the chorus at us. It’s short and sweet, and that chorus just lifts things.

What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction: just one of those songs that live carried a different energy. The crowd were practically moshing, which isn’t what you’d expect from a One Direction song.

Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus: oh boy. This one was HUGE. None of us expected this to go off the way it did, and we ended up doing it again unprompted at the end of the set as an encore, as it just absolutely ROCKED. It’s reasonably midtempo, so we were kind of 50-50 as to how it would go, but the big chorus guitars and vocal melody just invites people to go hard. Really, really fun! I mean, we should’ve known - have you watched the percussionist in the music video? He’s having a ball!

What are some of your most fun songs you’ve either played or experienced live?

Matty Flatt’s track of the day: Teenage Dirtbag, by Wheatus

And now for your links:

A round-up of Spurs’ loanees, courtesy of Football London

Tottenham Hotspur Women exited the FA Cup against Chelsea yesterday; here’s the official round-up

The Athletic ($) with a deep dive into yet another Italy World Cup qualification failure

Here’s an interesting tactical piece from Total Football Analysis (also $, sorry) on unlocking a mid-block

“I was playing really well, starting to find my feet in the first team, then I think it was just before the Galatasaray game. I trained a couple of days before it, I think I was set to start or make an appearance in that game, then went for a driving lesson that night and all of a sudden I just felt a pain in my chest.

“The doctor called me and just said ‘forget about football for now’. It came back that I had myocarditis, which is a virus and it went to my heart, gave me the pain in my heart. I’m lucky I caught it early because I’m not sure what could have happened after that. I think I was in bed for six weeks. I wasn’t allowed any exercise.

“There was a lot of rumours at that time and it was tough to deal with. That six weeks was not six weeks of improving in the gym like with a usual injury.

“Right now, I feel at my best. I feel kind of what I felt like when I first started playing at Tottenham. That’s all done now. Put it behind me. That’s it, really.”

As the current season winds down (or heats up), we often get the fun little tidbit that is the leak of next season’s kits as designs get locked in and marketing materials start to be disseminated. For some reason, Footy Headlines consistently have the inside channel on these, and next season’s kits are no exception:

Nowadays, we have to be a little more careful with Footy Headlines posts, as they have taken to generating their own “interpretations” based on some of the marketing materials (such as color schemes, etc); but these appear to be the real deal, as over the last couple of weeks, Footy Headlines have leaked both Spurs’ home kit AND their away kit for the 2026/27 season (pictured below):

Alrighty then.

Now I am no barometer when it comes to fashion. I am a deeply uncool Millennial whose fashion sense can probably best be described as “business casual wannabe rockstar dad”. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions.

Let’s start with the home kit. My first thought on this is it’s boring. And my use of the bold font there is more exciting than the kit itself - the fact that font usage generates more of an emotional response kind of says everything. My hot take is home kits should be boring, tried and true classics in the vein of the 2013/14 kit, with maybe a simple design embellishment here or there. These though don’t do enough. The subtle texturing is a nice touch (why, hello Patrick Bateman), but the lack of any trim on the hemline or collar just makes the whole thing feel a little flat.

The away kit on the other hand goes way off in the other direction. One of the most popular kits (and one of my personal favorites) in recent years was the 2021/22 “Galaxy” kit, and it seems like they’ve tried to replicate that beauty with this latest attempt. It’s a deep navy-blue base (described as “obsidian”) with stripes? flashes? chunks? of pink, purple, and orange, and it’s just a pure visual assault. There’s an implied line where the design changes just above the AIA logo where if they maybe kept that which is above (or below) that cutoff it might carry a bit more consistency, but instead it just feels confused.

I could see it running into the same problem as the Galaxy kit as well, whereby Spurs were forced to include a plain patch of fabric on the back for squad numbering in the matchday kits due to the design making legibility difficult.

All in all, the kits are pretty uninspired; some would say perfectly so following such an uninspiring season.

What are your thoughts on these kits? Sound off in the comments!

Spoiler alerts incoming for a 30-year-old book series, but Animorphs was a core part of my childhood. Immediately hooked by cover visuals of kids turning into animals, I eventually had a bookcase filled with the entire series by my early teens: 54 regular series books (each from the perspective of one of the characters), 4 Megamorphs books (which had chapters from each character’s perspective), 4 Chronicles books (spin-offs outside of the main series continuity that added to the lore), and 2 Alteranimorphs books (non-canon Choose Your Own Adventure style). And looking back, I wonder how I was ever allowed to read them.

My parents probably just saw the fun transformation covers; what they didn’t see were the pages filled by teenagers battling a covert alien invasion by “morphing” into animals, complete with themes of body horror, cult indoctrination, the brutality of war, suicide, genocide… and I could go on. Amongst the pre-teen prose, jokes, and 90’s pop-culture references were deep character studies in what a guerilla war could do to young minds. Were the readers part of that study?

So given these books were a huge part of my adolescent years, I AM excited by the announcement of a TV show in development; but also VERY nervous, for a couple of reasons. Firstly: who is this show for? In a preteen book series, you can get away with passages about limbs being ripped off, or characters being disemboweled. You can’t really do that in a TV series aimed at the same age group. Secondly: can they get the audience they need to offset the cost? It’s important to note this has been attempted once before, as an ill-fated Nickelodeon adaptation lasted two seasons but was never really a success: the CGI to produce the animals, transformations, and extremely non-humanoid aliens was either prohibitively expensive or didn’t exist - and the former problem is a very real concern today as well. Will they be able to show what they need to show without it costing an extreme amount (or if it does, generate a large enough audience) to prevent it getting cancelled before it even gets going?

Spurs have another week before they play football again, but there IS football on — the international break is over but this weekend is the Quarterfinals of the FA Cup, and there are three games on for your viewing enjoyment.

Oh, and England is back on DST now so we’re back to a five hour gap between Blighty and the Colonies.

This is your open thread. Happy Saturday!

FA Cup Quarterfinal Schedule

Manchester City vs. Liverpool

TV: ESPN (USA), TNT Sports 2 (UK)

Stream: ESPN Select

Chelsea vs. Port Vale

TV: not televised (USA), BBC One (UK)

TV: ESPN Select

Southampton vs. Arsenal

TV: not televised (USA), BBC One, TNT Sports 1 (UK)

TV: ESPN Select

”I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women, or violence against anyone more broadly. In my life I have always stood up for those who are more vulnerable, more fragile.

I’ve consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk. Those of you who know me well, will know I’m not the type of person who makes compromises to win more games or to win an extra title.

“I’m sorry if this offended anyone’s feelings with this subject matter - I have a daughter and I’m very sensitive to these things, and I always have been.

“I hope that over time people will get to know me better and will understand that at that moment I didn’t mean to take a stance.“

I hate international football.

But sometimes, just sometimes you need an escape from football, and international football (being barely football itself) can provide that! It’s an escape that those following Tottenham Hotspur desperately need, thanks to *gestures vaguely at everything*

It is not, however, an escape Spurs’ squad need, given many of them have played a LOT of minutes this season and the ongoing injury crisis that has torn the Lilywhites to shreds (to shreds, you say?). Tired legs do not need more football, and every time Spurs’ players head away on an international break I cross myself, touch wood, throw salt over my shoulder, and spin around three times to try and ward off any bad injury luck.

Those rituals are clearly not working, because 1) the football gods have already repeatedly demonstrated they hate Tottenham Hotspur, and 2) we have more injuries! Mathys Tel received a perhaps surprise call-up to the French squad, but was immediately sent back to North London with a thigh injury; while Pape Matar Sarr saw 10 minutes off the bench for AFCON Winners Senegal (yes, that’s right) against Peru before missing their subsequent match against Gambia with an apparent shoulder injury.

There was better injury news elsewhere, though, as Lucas Bergvall made his long-awaited return to Sweden’s national team, coming off the bench in both of Sweden’s matches as the Blue and Yellow qualified for the World Cup with wins over Ukraine and Poland. Radu Dragusin also continued working his way back to full fitness, albeit with less success on the pitch, as Romania fell to both Turkey and Slovakia, Dragusin starting both fixtures. The loss to Turkey ensured Romania will not compete at the World Cup in summer.

Elsewhere in Europe, Pedro Porro got something resembling a break compared to what he is normally used to, sitting out Spain’s 3-0 win over Serbia before going the distance in their second match, a goalless draw against Egypt. Kevin Danso also got a bit of a rest as well, subbed at half-time as Austria ran out 5-1 winners over Ghana, before reuniting with his old captain Son Heung-min via the bench, as Das Team narrowly defeated Son’s South Korea side as well with coach Ralf Ragnick using the break to experiment somewhat.

He wasn’t the only coach to treat the matches that way, as Thomas Tuchel brought in an expanded squad for England (sans Arsenal players who all picked up mystery injuries) resulting in perhaps surprising call-ups for Djed Spence and Dominic Solanke. Both started the first match, before Solanke came off the bench in the second fixture, neither able to make a significant impact in two disappointing matches against Uruguay and Japan, the former a draw in bizarre circumstances after Manchester United midfielder Manuel Ugarte was shown two yellow cards but somehow not sent off. Randal Kolo Muani was the other Spurs forward seeing international play, keeping a watching brief as France defeated Brazil before featuring off the bench in a win over Colombia.

There was unfortunately little rest for Spurs’ starting center backs. Cristian Romero played the full 90 in both of Argentina’s friendly wins against Mauritania and Zambia, while Micky van de Ven did the same for Netherlands in a win against Norway, before coming on as a half-time substitute against Ecuador following a red card to Denzel Dumfries. Xavi Simons also featured in both of Netherlands’ matches, coming off the bench against Norway before starting against Ecuador but unable to impact either match.

See? Couldn’t it have been worse? It can always get worse.

I still hate international football.

Spurs International Appearances:

Pape Matar Sarr (10 mins, sub; absent from squad): Senegal 2-0 Peru; Senegal 3-1 Gambia - Friendlies

Lucas Bergvall (21 mins, yellow card, sub; 13 mins, sub): Ukraine 1-3 Sweden; Sweden 3-2 Poland - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Radu Dragusin (90 mins; 62 mins): Turkey 1-0 Romania (UEFA World Cup Qualification); Slovakia 2-0 Romania (Friendly)

Pedro Porro (unused sub; 90 mins, clean sheet): Spain 3-0 Serbia; Spain 0-0 Egypt - Friendlies

Kevin Danso (45 mins; unused sub): Austria 5-1 Ghana; Austria 1-0 South Korea - Friendlies

Djed Spence (69 mins [nice]; unused sub) & Dominic Solanke (56 mins; 31 mins, sub): England 1-1 Uruguay; England 0-1 Japan - Friendlies

Randal Kolo Muani (unused sub; 27 mins, sub): Brazil 1-2 France; Colombia 1-3 France - Friendlies

Cristian Romero (90mins; 90 mins, clean sheet): Argentina 2-1 Mauritania; Argentina 5-0 Zambia - Friendlies

Micky van de Ven (90 mins; 45 mins, sub) & Xavi Simons (21 mins, sub; 77 mins): Netherlands 2-1 Norway; Netherlands 1-1 Ecuador - Friendlies

Fitzie’s note: Your hoddler-in-chief will be traveling for the next few days, which means you’ll have a substitute hoddler-in-chief on Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

Marathon Day is almost here!

Fitzie will be traveling later today for his race this weekend, where his primary goal is to achieve a sub-3 hour marathon. That’s a mean feat (especially considering his previous personal best was 3:37). But that was a couple years ago, and fitzie is a much stronger runner today both physically and mentally.

The race-day kit is complete: Nike Alphafly 3s, Balega mini-crew hidden-dry socks, Asics 5” running shorts, a Rabbit raceday singlet and a cornflower blue Rabbit running cap. Plus a handheld water bottle, three gels and some body glide (look it up).

I’ve spent much of the week on break and doing my best to relax - a trip to the DC Zoo, a matinee showing of Project Hail Mary (review to come), and some time reading my book at the coffee shop (details also to come).

The nerves have arrived. Still, I’m looking back on my 16 weeks of training and taking lots of confidence in that. I also look back on all those long Sunday training sessions where I faced brutal conditions and completed my runs only to come home to Tottenham absolutely stinking it up on the television. At least one of us hasn’t let you down.

Meanwhile, I’m looking at the forecast: Around 6-10 degrees celsius (39-50 degrees Fareinheit), cloudy and with a small chance of rain. Those are really good running conditions.

And we like that because that helps us achieve a sub-3 marathon.

There’s not much else to do but sleep, relax and then race day on Saturday.

Let’s rock and roll baby - New Hampshire here we come!

Fitzie’s track of the day: Rock and Roll, by Led Zeppelin

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): “How Spurs convinced Roberto De Zerbi to become their head coach and how close they came to Marco Silva”

The Telegraph: “Roberto De Zerbi should not be cancelled for calling Mason Greenwood a ‘good guy’”

BBC: “Defoe ready to ‘earn his stripes’ with Woking”

The Guardian: “Skinner urges investment as Bayern end Manchester United WCL run in quarter-finals”