Week 17 (Clowning about)

Monday was probably my most demanding and energetic training session to date. Two triathlon disciplines were tackled - these being a cycle followed by a 'brick' run. The cycle route I chose was the Isoman 2016 full bike route. My bike of choice for this adventure was my winter bike. I figured I would 'test' the route before tackling it on my Ironman bike. I made a few slight changes to the route - I wanted to start and finish close to home and other changes were made just because route finding was not perfect. Locating the actual, 'official start' proved to be most menace. I found Arrow Vale lake alright but could not pin point the start line. I essentially avoided some dual carriageway before I picked up the 'real' route in Webheath. Much of the roads in Redditch were of quite poor quality with many a pot hole or lump - was kinda pleased I wasn't using Kay-O with her lovely minimal spoked front wheel. As the ride continued the roads appeared to improve. The whole adventure covered just under 100k which was a long time to spend on a bike without a break. I did stop once for an emergency pee but that was my only stop. My buddy Chris likes to snack every 25k when he is on a long distance ride and I copied that tact. I ate 2 coco pops cereal bars and a harvest chewy bar whilst sat on the bike. (SJ and I had a sneaky McD's after our breakfast before this adventure too). The route was ok, it covered much of the Avenger route that I cycled previously (thankfully the headwind was not as severe this time around) but was nothing to shout about really.

Ice O'Man route, 97k

Once off the bike, back at my parents, I stripped off my cycling gear and donned my running gear. I clicked 'run' on my TomTom watch and off I plodded. The 'elephant leg' phenomena was in full force. My legs felt tired, achey and heavy. As I ran and ran my legs started to improve. My run took a cross country style and took me over the fields of Studley (retracing much of my Forest of England marathon) and up towards Henley. I never actually reached Henley and ran across fields and tracks that were new to me. My run took me into Mappleborough Green and past where SJ and I had our wedding reception. Legs were starting to feel tired at this point but they successfully took me back to Studley Village and then home via more on and off road running. Must have covered about 15k in all. Was quite pleased with my training session as a whole but had hoped to run for a slightly longer period of time (wanted to run for 2 hours, actually ran 1:38).

Tuesday was a run commute into work on tired legs. I didn't run particularly hard (no intervals), just hard enough to get me to work. Ran just over 10k in just over an hour.

Midweek menace! I had an urgent care meeting to attend which meant I had to take my car (and hence could not run or cycle to work). I figured the meeting venue was located near a swimming pool, so decided to swim and take advantage of this fact. My swim was slow but I made sure I swam 2,000m before getting out of the pool.

My dear wife SJ. Sure, she's a clown...

Thursday was another run commute into work. This was a harder run, interval style. 10k, in less than an hour! This day was also my 4th wedding anniversary. Had been happily married 4 years to the very day! Barbara (old bat on a bike) was also married this self same day too!

Friday was a bank holiday mostly spent with my wife and kids. We went to a park called 'All the Wild Things' (or something like that) in Honeybourne. Just like 'Where The Wild Things Are', this place was awesome! It was an animal park with all sorts of wild things - including dinosaurs, sharks and all manner of wild things. Lunar and I actually held a python and I tapped an armadillo too (don't think I'd ever seen one of those before).

Armadillo

Stroking Monty

Whoa, that was an awesome day. I concluded my evening by going for a short (about 4k) cross country run. It was dark and I got wet feet as I couldn't see the wet muddy puddles as I ran across the fields. D'oh!

Saturday was spent on 'Kay-O' (my ironman bike) where I cycled the Avenger route I cycled on 'Winter' last week. This time around was much faster (by a whole 2.5 kph) but was still windy, though mostly side winds this time around. Despite SJ downloading AccuWeather app on my phone (which assured no rain), it rained and I got quite wet. Hmm.

Sunday was a funny old day. I had wanted to use this day to extend my cycling and swimming activities. I hate swimming but managed to force myself to swim 2,000 metres. I love cycling but didn't find the 'whatever-it-is' to go for another ride or indoor spin. On the whole, I felt I had a good training week, just maybe down a little on the cycling front.

*Some of the pictures in this blog above were from b'day cards that nice folk sent out to me the previous week. Thanks, as ever, for all those who have supported me in any way.