Challenges, coughs and colds

Well, it's been a while.

I've been.......dead......

Training was going fairly well, so well in fact that when the chance to take a challenge presented itself I took it! I'd taken my bike to work as it had a puncture and I couldn't find my puncture kit or tyre levers. Mooey, one of the lads at work lent me his so I took the bike to work and fixed it up there. I then had a daft idea. I wonder if I left my bike at work whether I could run in the following day and then ride it home after a nightshift? Course I could...Imean...it's only 21 miles. Silly sod.

So that was it. The bike was left at work and the next day I was to run in. I'd had a grumbly headache that day but I shrugged it off and besides, I was committed. My bag and bike kit was left at work so the following day I had to pack what I needed (which was a lot more than I thought!) into a draw string bag and then fashion a way to tie it off on my back. I also took a drinks belt. Sunglasses on and I was off. I'd not gone further than a few hundred metres and the drinks bottle pinged out and rolled along the floor, feck. Not a good start. I picked it up, put it back in the belt and ran on. It wasn't the only time it fell out. The final time saw me retracing my steps and picking up a broken bottle which then had to be carried in my hand throughout the run. Bloody awkward but as it was sunny I just couldn't do with out it.

As it was a long way I'd brought a few energy bars and managed to chomp my way through them fairly well so felt OK on the nutrition front. The first 10 miles or so felt alright and even heading down from Ripley it wasn't too bad. Psychologically, it was tough to keep going as the route was...well...boring! Once I hit Coxbench area, about 16 miles in?, my hips starting screaming but this was exactly what I needed a tough run. The kind of run where you want to stop but you find yourself locked in that internal battle to try and keep yourself going no matter what. It was this I needed to practice in. It's this that I'll be needing during Celtman.

Surprisingly, apart from the aching hips I was surprised by what came next. No DOMS!?? No soreness in my legs but strangely a headache I just couldn't shift? Which was strange as I'd ensured I was hydrated and was obsessively inspecting the colour of my pee on a regular basis. All was good except that bloody headache. Unluckily for me, we had a busy night at work so rest was a no go. The ride home was tough to start but quickly I was back into it and was surprised to find it pretty easy. I think this was part of the reason for no soreness in my legs as it was a gentle movement for my legs which I think helped (That and the compression kit and recovery drink).

Although the body felt well after the run/ride, it wasn't. What followed was quite possibly one of the worst nights of my life. It was a night of hot and cold sweats, aching limbs and a pounding headache similar to the soul destroying headaches found at altitude. 8 days later and I'm still suffering. Gone are the achey limbs, headaches. The mouth has been filled, and then emptied, of ulcers. The nose blocked with blood and the agonising ear ache has now taken the place of the sweats as interrupter of sleep. I still feel rubbish but I'm due to run with Wingerworth Wobblers on Sat and believe it or not I have a race on Sunday (Duathlon). Hopefully, everything will settle by Saturday and I can get myself back on track.....I hope....

Another added decision has been made also, I've now made the major decision to leave MAD swimming club and return to my 1 to 1 coached sessions with Gary. The first of which is also...Saturday! I've just GOT to be better for the weekend!

4 seasons....one week!

This week has been a wee bit mental weather wise and we've seen Hot temperatures, sun and clear blue skies one day, A clear crisp spring day and even almost blizzard conditions another when the snow hit Beeley Moor!!

It was the day after the snow had hit and the sun had returned so off I went again determined to do the route I'd planned a week or so ago but missed a bit out.

I'd decided to use a drink on this run as we found Claire's drinks belt and I'd just bought some 'Nectar Fuel' to try out. I'm not sure if it was the drink or just the lovely day but I was feeling good and strong throughout the run. The only downside was the bit of the run I'd missed out on my previous attempt. The snow had worked its magic and it was a bloody quagmire throughout Walton wood which brought things almost to a standstill. I was slipping a sliding all the way and even went on my ass at one point!

Once out of the wood I managed to get back into some sort of stride before hitting Bolehill. Now, seeing as Celtman is.....hilly....Bolehill, I think, will prove to be a good training hill for me. This time round it was a classic training section, deeply psychological!

As it was still sunny the hat's peak came down partly to block the sun but more importantly to block my view of the top of the hill. I had tired legs from the quagmire of Walton wood and this hill is steep and goes on for a fair distance so it was most definitely a case of head down, rhythm going and plug away regardless of what the head was telling me to do! This paid off as, looking at the figures afterwards, the mile lap still came in under the 10:30 min/mile pace which may not mean a lot to others but put into the context that when I started running my pace was 10 min/mile and now I'm running up Bolehill, 6 miles into a run and I'm almost hitting that pace!

All in all, it's a great route varied in both vista and gradient so offers great variety in training.

I can tell the training is becoming better quality as this run was the first time I've felt the need for a recovery drink (FGS) and recovery tights!

Good signs..

Yesterday was the day that Andrew (Bea's dad) and I had put down in the diary to do a century ride.

I'm not sure if Andrew sensed the fact that my riding legs are still a way off or if it was the limited time we had before I needed to get back for childcare duties but either way we settled on a time rather than a distance.

I'd travelled up to Whitely, Yorkshire, to ride in Howden's country as historically Andrew had come to me to sample the beauty of the Peak District and the hard work of them thar hills! This time was my time to visit Yorkshire.

He'd told me it was flat but bugger me...it was unnerving!

The ride itself was interesting, not so much the scenery as a fair bit of it was on busy roads, but just in the psychological aspect of a longer ride. There's something difficult about the sight of a long straight road in front of you. Obviously the wind whips around, in fact the return leg seemed to be directly into a head wind! I liked the challenge of maintaining the ride over a longer distance, the challenge of having to continually pedal, hills you can power up and then coast down if you want to. But what surprised me more was that after the 90km ride I still had more in my legs and feel that I could have continued to the 100mile mark. In fact as I write this my legs feel no more sore than if I'd done a 5 mile run. Brilliant!

All in all this was a great ride for me and it's got me thinking...it's about 100 miles to the east coast from my house.....fish and chips anyone? ;o)