Has the Corporal exploded yet?

...we hope not. That would be extremely messy.

I had a major handlebar fail this afternoon! After being told that hairspray would fix my duff handlbars, in the absence of said spray in my cupboard, I tried L'oreal Manga Head. Result: fail. The grips were even slippier than usual. So, I had to turn back or risk losing teeth in a handlebar /grip/speed fail. Bah.

I need to buy hairspray. :(

30 mins/3 miles

...and no stitches.

Definite running breakthrough this evening, made possible by my second straight run without a hint of a stitch. This enabled me to see for the first time in a while exactly what my legs could do. I'm crediting a combination of slow starting (very, very slow) and core exercises (a clear pain/gain scenario).

If only my shoulder worked properly, then I could train at 100% capacity. That'd be lovely.

And no, I didn't try the energy gels. Although I'm thinking of testing them on Saturday, to check that they are compatible with my stomach (eek).

Brand New Toe...the future of rock and roll....

...or maybe not. The truth is that the dedicated 50% cycled to Saltaire and back this morning - requested timespan for the journey being 79.5 to 81.5 and coming in (not including wheely
time) at 80.54. Rah!

Not much else to report apart from the cracking cup of tea (first one of the day) and the fun that was had playing with tri-bars (pretending we were on a spaceship, hidden behind a column where nobody else could see). Funky Saltaire bike shop has some good stuff. When we're rich...(sigh)

By the way, Nom seems to have passed on his illness to me and therefore will not be long for this world. -_-

Aaargh; my thighs!

I went ice-skating on Tuesday night, and I can say with a clear conscience that I burned off the curry that I ate beforehand. Oh, and the half a naan bread. And the two glasses of red wine. Funny really how I have no idea how to stop when having a good time, and I completely forget about the fact that I had to get out of bed and stagger up to work the following day.

Last night I went for a run with the Corporal. Ran out of Veg/Nom Towers, to the park, for a couple of minutes and something was wrong. Very wrong. I headed home and changed into the sports bra.

Suitably attired, I met the Corporal for a 25 minute mud run; I can confirm that the battle against stitches was ON...RRRRRAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! and he did not succumb. Well, not entirely, although his form was a little off.

But then again I didn't go swimming this lunchtime. The Corporal wins. Nom is full of cold and shouldn't be let near exercise. Fromage is AWOL, presumed in bed.

Wet. Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet.

Wet.

Actually, wet probably wasn't a strong enough word to describe it. It's funny how cycling in mild drizzle results in head-to-toe soaking. Good workout though.

Actually, not much more I could say about it. Except, wet.

Also, wet.

Running without a stitch? Surely not

Yes, they thought it couldn't be done, but today I really did manage a 25 minute run (2.6 mi) without succumbing to side stitch. I'm not sure whether it was the ab crunches I did yesterday (oh, the agony. Seriously. So much pain.) or the posture (slightly hunched over, essentially the opposite of proper running technique) or a combination of both, but it was very welcome. Combine this with a nice sunny day (but not warm enough to cause overheating), and a personal best in terms of distance covered, and we have a very successful and enjoyable session. And my legs don't feel shot!

Bike day is probably February 13th, mildly scared by the amount of choice I'll have. Guess I'll just go for the best 2008 model I can afford. That isn't a ridiculous colour, anyway. With a triple chainset. Ack, it's still complicated. This is why I'll need a chaperone.

Yesterday the Corporal tried to kill me...

Busy, busy day! So glad that today is my rest day or my legs may have fallen off.

So let's see:

Accidentally cycled 11.6 miles doing various errands; supermarket, swimming pool, tile merchant, etc.
Swam at lunchtime with the Corporal, when he announced that we'd be doing 200m sets in under 5 minutes each and "ooh, look, I've set my watch to 6 minutes per interval so if you get back fast you'll get a rest!"
One set of core exercises as I need to get back into doing them and I had a spare 10 minutes to be filled with pain.
Bendy lessons in the evening. I swear the instructor knows when I've over-cycled and tailors her sessions to match the relative bandiness of my legs as I walk through the door.

Short run tomorrow.

Ooooooo! Mk II

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/id46755.html

I. Want.

New object of desire

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1664

Nom???? :D

Oooooooo!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/

Brick win, swim fail.

Today actually was the maiden voyage of the whole heart-rate monitor, GPS, speed and distance shebang, hence me standing in the back garden for five minutes waiting for the box strapped to my arm to connect to a satellite. How exciting. Yay, gadgets.

Massive fail on the part of my cycle computer however, as my front wheel had one of its occasional hissy fits of squiff and tried to tell me that I'd only cycled five miles. Hmph.

Consulting my readouts on the shiny new heart rate monitor (how incredibly dull to everyone but me!), here's how the brick session, comprising 9 mile cycle, 15 minute run looks in terms of my average heart rate:

Heart rate 110-132: average rate in this zone 119, time spent here 5.58 minutes
Heart rate 132-154: average rate in this zone 143, time spent here 2.58 minutes
Heart rate 154-176: average rate in this zone 168, time spent here 12.42 minutes
Heart rate 176-198: average rate in this zone 178, time spent here 2.06 minutes
Heart rate 198-220: average rate in this zone 0, time spent here 0.00 minutes, thank goodness

Average heart rate below zone 1 - 89, average time 9.30
Minimum heart rate 71, peak 181, average 135

Yay, new toy!

Things then went extremely rapidly downhill, as first Nom, then Fromage ducked out of swimming. Undeterred, I trundled off, only to meet a children's party fail for the second time in two weeks - this time the whole pool was closed. Mega-grrrrr. Why can't they use the kid's pool? They're kids! Grrrr and still more grrrr. So much grrr, in fact, that there will have to be chillies for tea again.

So now my schedule is borked. Bleh.

...BABES IN TOYLAND...

Yep, a dramatic day yesterday. With bonus baked potato (I'm sure the waitress at the Wickham Arms thinks we're on day release from some local kind hospital) or panini, depending on...BEN FOLDS FIVE...aversion to side-salad.

So what to do now? It's a quarter to brick and I need to finish the post here, figure out the heart- rate monitor thingy and...er...do something else and I can't remember what that was. Oh well. That's one less thing.

A big group of men just ran UP the road past my front window and they could still speak. I have some serious running to put in.

Hmm...time to work out the heart rate monitor. One last thing...Google havingatri. Go on; I'll wait.

...
...
...

Did you see the first result? How amazing is that?!!

The worrying thing is that said medical procedure may be needed in mid-September!

Last night a Stonehouse saved my life!

Hmm. Pretty eventful cycle.

Wasn't supposed to be, should've been...BRITISH SEA POWER...a fairly flat trundle down to Leeds, however it soon turned out to be an maintenance endurance session of truly epic proportions. I might have set the record...SPIRITUALIZED ELECTRIC MAINLINE... with two punctures in one day, as well as the culmination of my brake problems with an almost total brake fail at speed.

Luckily for me, I was accompanied by a Nom, who may...LOVE AS LAUGHTER...have spent over half the day attending to the wreckage which constitutes my bike. Elevated to the pantheon of angels, he be. My bike currently both goes and stops, which hasn't been the case for at least 2 months...

In fact, I was so hacked off with my bike fails today, if SpenVelo had contained one of my objects of desire, my credit card might have...ATARI TEENAGE RIOT...felt my pain.

Good panini, though.

PS. Need to waste your life? Play this game!

Planning a plan,

Making a training plan tonight, as I have been put to shame by Mr 'Swimming at Lunchtime' Odd. Was going for a run tonight, but Nom has a puncture to fix.

Speaking of which, Corporal...

Swimming success

Best swim yet, though only by 50m. Still it's a small improvement, or a massive improvement if you base it on yesterdays fail.

Congrats to Ian who managed to really put me to shame. Now to enjoy the white chocolate chip cookies I made, if people are lucky I might just bring a few to work tomorrow and throw everyones training back a few weeks

Swimming Fail

Massive swimming fail tonight, Ian was tired so we didn't even leave the house. We are apparently going to make a second attempt tomorrow.

Beginning #2: with bonus ice!

Yes, I started my 'proper' 'regime' today. Under strict instructions not to go anywhere exciting for the next three weeks, I trundled along the roads between East Bowling and Odsal. The ice was quite tremendous fun, especially with my almost entirely ineffective brakes (they're actually worse than before? How can this possibly be?)

Nevertheless, such inauspicious beginnings shall not divert me from the most important task facing me over the next 9 months - namely, avoiding swim drills. (Surely "following the training plan"? - Ed.)

Exercise for everyone! Ow.

Urgh. Busy day. 14 mile bike ride on the Greenway this morning (stopping for panini, or in my case, jacket potato, cheese and beans). We averaged 14mph and returned still alive, which has to be a good thing.

An hour's recovery, then I decided to do my usual Sunday afternoon swim, despite nobody else being up for it. 500m front crawl and then out, as I wasn't expecting a children's party to be taking place in half of the pool, with the fast lane right next to it. Grrr. Some fool had given the kids water pistols which they were merrily firing at the swimmers. Swim fail. However I did manage 500m in 20 minutes whilst zig-zagging up the pool out of the way of everyone else.

Home, quick bath, hour's rest then a 20 minute run with Nom up through the park, past the tip (lovely) on to New Work's Road, along Brighouse Road to Cleckheaton Road then back home.

Soooo, a productive day. My legs ache. Zzzzzzz...

Planning for training: now it's serious! (Grrrrr!)

Poor Corporal. Glad he's booked in to have a squiffy foot expert check out said squiffy foot. The unfortunate Corporal seems to have been overwhelmed with squiff so far: hope it doesn't continue.

As for me; I just can't type. I lost Internet access for a while and the subsequent loss of keyboard skill seems to be terminal.

Yay! I bought a GPS heart-rate monitor triathlon stylee thingie today! I can't give you any more clues until I read the manual, but it's very exciting. And cheaper than the one I originally planned to buy which in truth would have been too wide for my sparrow-sized wrist.

Nom bought a road-safety top thing which is very...er...bright. Incredibly visible. In fact, I looked at the display for five minutes and my eyes went the way of the Corporal's toe. (I got better).

Well, back to the instructions. I have I bike ride tomorrow, I believe. Not sure where as my navigator is playing Oblivion and can't be disturbed (Nom)!

My foot still hurts.

Gosh darn it.

Luckily, my training plan doesn't start until the 5th January. Although I don't expect it to be fully better by then. Still, I've got 4 hours to put in next week, and 4 hours will be put in, regardless of my physical or mental states.

Think I could cycle with a bag of frozen peas strapped to my foot?

New Year, new training plan

And so it begins...

1st January 2009, the day that it starts in earnest. I have a training timetable to prepare. I have healthy meals to invent and log. I have shopping lists for said healthy ingredients to write.

In fact, what am I doing on here? Things to do, things to do.

Just cycled to work and back today, with a mini-run (15 minutes) but I'm not telling you where. Nom and Fromage know.