Quick one...

Yesterday I swam somewhere between 2000-2500m in the local pool - took just under an hour-ish.  I hate counting laps and since I want to do longer events I've been thinking for sometime about retiring the Forerunner 305, my trusted steed.  This watch has been without doubt the best gadget I've owned.  I said before I'd do a review of it/how I use it (not to DC Rainmaker standards probably definitely).  It should be replaced tomorrow by a 910XT (perhaps a tri beckons, although this will mean buying a road bike - I've always wanted to do the Bala half ironman although it's probably a stretch for June/July).  I had a cheeky look at an open water swimming site at lunch, I really fancy it this year - perhaps if I'm good I can ask for a suit for my birthday.  Also dropped the Commencal at the bike shop to get the shifters upgraded from X7 to X0 ready for Llandegla on Saturday.

Tonight I decided to run down the to gym which is just under 5km away.  I did a bunch of chest stuff which I can't be bothered to describe but was pretty knackered after, then I ran home.  I've been suffering with shin splints so I jumped in a cold bath.  I'm gonna try and rub down my calves so hopefully that will straighten it out - it seems worse on tarmac than around the park.  All in all really got into trucking along when feeling tired (I was tired when I got in from work) - its what endurance is about - almost a hazy dream like experience - so relaxing when you get in the zone.

Monkey Trail

My first time on the Monkey Trail.  I've ridden Follow the Dog a few times.  Got their later than I'd planned so only had time for one lap so I went at it about as quickly as I could.  I took my Cube bike which is great for covering distance on but a bit sketchy on technical stuff some times (it's a hard tail).  I'll have to write a review of it some time.

I had to stop 3 times unnecessarily (twice for seat post adjustments and once for a rider asking if I'd seen someone.  Other than that it was balls to the wall and I did it in 1hr 55mins which I was quite pleased with.  Damn seat post slipping slightly mean eventually my back starts aching (which is the only clue it's slipped) and this is because of my hamstrings tightening up.  Overall a great ride and I look forward to doing it in the dry in under 1hr 45 mins.

Back to it!

Well it's been an eternity since I posted last.  Basically I got fatter, just over 17 stones to be precise.  I tried getting back into running and made some progress but it didn't last.  I was reluctant to post anything on here as it's a bit depressing if it all slides again!  Anyway I've been fairly consistently training since before Christmas (maybe November), I'm now about 15.5 stones.

I bought a bike and started riding to work and going out to trail centres with friends.  This resulted in me buying a bigger bike - a Commencal Meta SX.  I love riding it around Llandegla and I'm getting higher with the jumps every time :)

I've also got back into running and I'm down from over 10 minute miles to under 9 minute miles (I can squeeze out an 8 min/mile but not consistently yet!), I'm also cross training with mainly swimming but sometimes rowing or other stuff.  I miss the climbing, but for the time being I'm concentrating on other stuff, the biggest of which is the Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc in 2014.  I've entered a bunch of LDWA events and I'm hoping to get a place in the Fellsman which is a qualifying event for the UTMB.

I read an article in Outdoor Fitness in which a guy (whose name I can't recall) who won the 50s (I think) age group said that he wished he'd started resistance training a long time ago and that he could bench press 100kg.  With this chiming in my ears I've gotten back into weights too and I'm doing 3 sessions a week.

I say this every time I get into my fitness, but this time I hope it doesn't just last a year or two in the usual boom/bust cycle.  In the mean time I'll put it all on here again.....