Sledging and bubbles

Training continued this week in spite of the weather, a snowy run through the local town promoted a lovely young girl to pause from her snow sledging and switch to verbal sledging with calls to slip over- like I said - lovely!

Monday evenings involve the weekly drowning session that is masters swimming, which always leave me questioning which sadist created the butterfly stroke and then who is the chap who writes it into the weekly training schedule. I received swim textbook (yes I am a geek) for Xmas and have been trying to work on a few aspects namely breathing, and have quickly discovered I suck at any suggested methods used to increase exhalation underwater. One method in particular involves something called sink downs, where you tread water in the deep end and then exhale to sink to the bottom of the pool. However I discovered that I exhale out of my mouth causing bubbles to go up my nose, prompting much  coughing spluttering! I like to think  the lifeguard gave me at least one sympathetic\worried look! 

I also received a Garmin swim watch (super geek) to help with swim training, I also find it impossible to keep count of lengths. The watch is useful in it tells you pretty accurately about your stroke which when you apply my stats to the graphs in the textbooks lets me know just how bad I am! 

In a bid to help improve fitness and swimming technique I have also started going to the second masters session of the week for a steady/relaxing swim on a Friday evening. The aim of this is for me is purely easy before a weekend of a hockey game and a long run, however the other chaps didn't get the memo when hitting the reps hard in the adjacent lane. Not very morale boosting, although I'm convinced that tumble turns should be banned unless everyone can do them!

Sweet jar for sweet things

The arrival of the snow today also coincided with a delivery of sweet things from the postman - well a website. This lot should keep me going for a while and as the ultra running legend Hal Koerner once said 'a sweet jar for sweet things'!

 

In other events a rare weekend off hockey due to the snow means the possibility of a double run weekend in the snow, however the prospect of sledging (and a looming dissertation deadline) could hinder that.

Floating eyes and Craters

The recent downturn in the weather has unfortunately (for my toes) coincided with an increase in training, specifically running.

With 14 weeks until the Brighton Marathon it was time to begin the marathon training plan, which it being january - meant digging out the running trainers, wooly hat and gloves. Im pretty fortunate in that i live in a fairly rural area which means that the majority of the run is done on country roads with very minimal traffic with only 1.5-2 miles of my normal six mile loop taking place in the town.

This means that my runs are generally quiet, with only a small amount of contact with cars/people, which having adopted a recent plant based diet, means i am free to ... ahem... turbo boost, whenever i please!

I have also decided to do some time saving training with a weekly run to work, which depending on the route generally means between 7-9 miles. Due to leaving at a quite frankly silly time in the morning, it means that most of the route is done in the dark using a head torch (the awesome shower at the other end makes it worth it....nearly).

This is fine for the most part, but the torch has the habit of picking up animals eyes - which in my half asleep state, scares the living daylights out of me as they appear to make a beeline for me (im still not sure of the need of a clearly retired lady to walk her dog in the dark at 630 am!).

As i am running more and both hockey and swimming clubs have restarted after the christmas break (The FA take note), it has left only a small amount of time to ride my bike.

Although having worn tights, leg warmers, cycle shorts, thermal under shirt, cycle shirt, thermal jacket, buff, thermal hat AND two pairs of gloves today when cycling to work, i still arrived at work looking like a frozen smurf, both my body and washing machine will probably appreciate the small break in cycling at this time. It may also allow the local council to stop circling and start filling in the craters/chasms that feature every 10 yards on my route.

Please remember im doing all this to raise money for a good cause, please donate using the links at the top of the page. As one horse-burger-selling supermarket says 'Every little helps!'

Blast on the fixie

The highlight of my week so far (yes i know its tuesday) is the rediscovery of my fixed gear bike.

A couple of years when i still lived in town I commuted to work on a fixie; in my case a much loved Giant Bowery, however since moving a bit further out and the commute dramatically increasing in distance and time, I choose to use my road bike to commute on.
For those foreign to fixes- it's cycling stripped back to the basics and incredibly popular in major cities. The bikes are generally metal and have a sprocket welded onto the rear hub meaning that the drive chain has to be in constant motion to turn the move forward. This means that you are able to (when good) limit or completely get rid of the brakes by applying backwards pressure to the pedals, also helping you develop incredible strength and perform cool trackstands at junctions (check out YouTube).
The rediscovery was due to the car being in the garage and needing to get to the train station, whilst not wanting to take my road bike and leave it over night. instead I opted for the Giant, thinking that it was in single speed mode. (It has a flip hub meaning you can turn the wheel and freewheel on one gear).
Within a few pedal strokes I very quickly realised:
A) it was in fixed gear
B) it was in fixie as the brakes were non existent
C) just how petrifying/ exhilarating fixed gear riding is!
Fortunately I survived the journey, and picked up some new brake pads on the way home. But having rediscovered the feeling of fixed gear riding (and changed the pads)  I'm defiantly going to get out on it more often! If anyone has the opportunity to give it ago then I strongly advise too- it's a brilliant feeling! And no I won't be cycling to Paris on a fixie.
In other news, marathon training is well and truly underway, having playing with a few shorter runs over christmas, the distance has increased to 8 and 11 miles for the last couple of runs..pray for nice weather!

2013 = diet!

2013 is upon us, and with the new year comes a convenient point from which to begin a more determined training/eating plan.

As you can see from my NYE picture, i may (or may not) be carrying too much weight -although admittedly a lot of this bulk could was lost in about 20 seconds at the end of the night.

As most cyclist's and runners already know, shedding extra kilo's generally equates to more speed and after at least one month of eating everything in chocolaty in sight, it is now time to (slightly reluctantly) eat more healthily. Which means no chocolate, processed sugars or more worryingly... biscuits (which means shares in Maryland cookies are about to take a huge hit - cash in now if you happen to own any).

Alongside this ban on processed food - generally considered as anything nice, i will also be attempting to limit my meat intake and embark on a more heavily vegetarian diet. Not completely veggie just predominately vegetable based. My reading of a few ultra-runners/triathletes autobiographies has convinced me that in order for you to develop physically you need to fuel and prepare your body correctly, and that an excess of meat is not ideal.

So im off to explore the delights of vegetables!