Mid-week menace

I am very lucky to be employed, I know. However, there is no doubt that it is awesome being away from work. Today is mid-week and because I am using annual leave I have been able to do so much I thought I'd share my training happenings in a mid-week round up.

Swimming is going ok. Still only swimming once a week but I think I am improving. My front crawl isn't getting any faster but I am able to swim for 30 mins before I take a rest break (20 mins was my previous max).

Cycling is going great. Have been cycling lots this week, mostly beacause the impending audax looms. Have used all 3 of my bikes. The road bike no longer leaves me with a dirty stripe on my back thanks to it's newly fitted mud-guards. My feet hurt where the cleats attach to the pedal though (and with this in mind have ordered some new shoes which I can't really afford). Cult cycles worked their magic on the specialized and she now has a new lease of life. It only cost £45 to fix her up and now she has a sparkling new chain and brakes that work! Not all the gears work on the specialized but I have a wide enough range to get to work and back in style. Scotty is awesome and is definately a real mountain bike now. Not only has she done over a 100 miles (in less than 2 weeks!) but she has punctured (grr) and eaten dirt on the 'follow the dog' trail at Cannock Chase. Cannock Chase is home to the Midlands first dedicated mountain bike (mtb) trail. The follow the dog route is a 7 mile intermediate mtb trail aimed at competent mtb'ers. Even though I had cycled here before, I found this quite tough this time round and it had certainly changed somewhat. Highlights of the trail included the stegosaurus rock garden (not here on previous occasions), the boardwalk (now has additional boardwalks) and the chainslapper descent. In easter, Cannock should have a new 'phase 2' trail open for experienced riders. Hmmm ...

Running is going ok. Hardest problem with running is getting motivated. My first run was ok, it was with Cody and constituted her daily walk. My friend Natalia provided the motivation for the second run - she said she admired the fact that I keep myself busy (if only she knew..). I ran the Studley 'triangle' for the first time this year, let's hope it's not the last ...

Skipping is still near impossible. I skipped for a total of 2 minutes. Is so hard to skip without stopping - either my rhythm gets out of sync or I run out of puff. My mother talked about getting or borrowing my rope - now this would be fun to watch!

'Loose lips sink ships'.