Exploding Toilets

Following an easier week, it was time to jump back into training. If, like many in the world, your week starts on a Sunday, the week’s training didn’t start very well, despite my best intentions!

I had originally planned to get up and do a LSR of 17miles, but I woke up extremely sore after a particularly tasty hockey game on the Saturday. So instead of going out straight away it was decided we would pop out and grab some shopping – including a foam roller (more on that in a later post). After a bite of lunch, I got changed, had that last minute pee and flushed the toilet – which kept flushing!

Accompanying the sound of rushing water was a very loud noise coming from the cistern, although no water was coming out of the toilet bowl itself. However one look outside revealed that there was the equivalent of Niagara Falls flowing out of the overflow pipe and into the garden

It was clear that to stop it I had to get into the cistern, however the extremely thorough (read cowboy) builders had tiled the cistern INTO the wall, meaning I had to remove/smash a number of tiles off before getting into cistern. On finally gaining access, it was clear the float device thingy (technical term) was broken and a plumber was needed to replace it, in the mean time I just turned the water off Fortunately (it being Sunday) we rent so all we had to do was phone the landlord who sorted out the plumber to turn up in 40 minutes.

Instead of heading out for the run, I stayed in to explain to the plumber what was happened. 2 hours later it was all sorted, and as the sun started to set I finally departed for the intended run.

15 minutes later I was home. The combination of miserable weather, darkness, a still aching knee and prospect of missing my afternoon/evening’s scheduled entertainment of Country file, Top gear, Ripper Street and MOTD, I found myself considerably lacking in motivation and decided that maybe the fates were telling me to take a day off.

Come Monday, training was back on track with the weekly drowning session at Masters Swimming, Tuesday featured hockey training, Wednesday a ride to work.

Thursday is my designated tempo run and (roughly) takes in 8.3 miles, as I can lack motivation in the evenings, I do this run as a commute before having a shower and breakfast at work. There is no better way to start a day than bettering last weeks time, hopefully reflecting improving fitness (although more likely reflecting the increasing amount of daylight – helping pothole dodging) and being rewarded with a decent shower!

Friday is my designated rest day, and I received an email informing me that the next day’s hockey opposition was unable to field a team, thus giving us a walkover, a 5-0 victory, and my first goal of the season (benefit of being Captain!).

With the prospect of horrendous weather on the Sunday, I moved my long run to the Saturday and did a decent 19-mile run in a little over 3 hours. I normally run 6-mile laps, but for these longer runs I have decided to chuck on my camelback and run a loop – essentially my commute to work with gels/water with me. For those thinking off spending a longer amount of time exercising I recommend podcasts as a way to spend the time. My current favorites are Talk Ultra, IM talk and Marathon Talk, as they give a good insight into training, the running/triathlon communities and any new products available – lets face it who doesn’t want a new bike!  

With a successful amount of training this week, today (Sunday) I see no reason to force myself out into the winds and rain and will be ‘recovering’ – watching the rugby on the sofa.

Its not too long until the minimum sponsorship is due so I will be on a bit of a sponsorship drive now. Remember im putting myself through all of this to raise money for Demelza Children’s Hospice, and any donation is gratefully accepted!