A week nearer Grizzly run, last preparation.

Wednesday 9^th March

Since my day out on my bike last  week in the wind and rain, I have managed to get another 12 mile coastal run, a 6 mile road run,30 mile cycle and a final 17 mile run across the Quantocks as well as a couple of spin sessions. Do I feel ready for the 20 miles of the tough Grizzly run with the hills, bogs and river crossings? Not sure!! It will still be a struggle despite all my training. My last run across the Quantocks was a bitterly cold day and my pace was 12.04 min miles, my best time yet, my right calf really felt it and I was thinking it would get worse before I finished, I did wear an elastic bandage for support, which is what I will do on Sunday. All I can do is my best, I have already dismissed the thoughts of the Ex to Ax this year and will focus on cycling, there is an Audax on that day down round the Purbecks and Weymouth which I will probably do with my son.

On another note I finally picked up my retro bike, my Gazelle Trim Trophy, 1984. it fits well with adjustment to the stem and the seat moved back a little, rides very well very nippy, the gearing feels high with the 42/52 chain rings and 13 -26 freewheel, so will look if I can replace the chain rings to reduce the size of the gears. More on this later.

I also went to Street and Clarkes village shopping centre, the Asics shop for some new road running shoes as my existing ones have a hole in the uppers where my toe has worn away the material, my 3 wonderful children took pity gave me the money for my birthday. I have gone for the same model the Nimbus 16, but  half a size bigger, as they seemed OK last year after 600 miles! They were reduced from £130 to £71 so felt I had a reasonable bargain. Tried them on a 6 mile road run and they felt really good, its amazing what new shoes feel like, extremely comfortable.

 Ones on the left 500 miles and 1 year old,  ones on the right 6 miles and 2 days old

 There is a hole in my shoe right shoe !!!

So a spin session Thursday night and a short 4 -5 mile run on Friday to finish off my training. Weather is looking OK ,unlike the northerly gales and heavy rain today. my plan is to take a 'tailwind drink' top up with water at the drink stations and take 2 energy bars chopped into small pieces and a gel just in case!! 

Birthday and storm jake

Wednesday 2^nd March 2016

Having run 132 miles and cycled 200+ miles in February I don’t understand why I found my 17 mile run across the Quantocks on Monday so hard, it was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies, frost on the ground and no wind, I parked at Lydeard Hill and by the time I had reached Will Neck, complete with new bright white appearance, the highest point on the Quantocks I knew I had overdressed, even though the ground was hard with frost.It was a lovely run along the ridge, underfoot was quite dry, despite all the wet winter, I summited Beacon Hill at the other end of the Quantocks after 8 miles and met the only person I had seen since I set off an hour and a half before, we had a good chat whilst I downed a harvest cereal bar. The air was completely still, and we listened to the silence!! Not even the A39 could be heard, only an occasional hum of an aircraft overhead.

I bid him a good day and dropped down towards the Staple hill car park, still feeling pretty good. I worked my way back over Thorncombe Beacon another Trig point that’s had a coat of paint, before turning left and heading back through Dead Womans ditch, by the time I got to Crowcombe Park Gate after about 13 miles my legs were feeling it, I downed an SIS gel, I am not sure what effect this had, and by the time I was on the ascent of Wills Neck once again I was really struggling, yet another gel!!!

I descended down through the woods to be met by the local hunt! Horses, very large ones and even larger riders were across the track I could hear the dogs but couldn’t see them, just hoping they weren’t coming my way!!!

The final mile round Lydeard Hill was a struggle, the ground now softened by the sun melting the frost. The car park was full when I got back, hunt supporters I assume.

It was a hard run, 1645 ft climbed over the 16.8 miles at a pace of 12.12 min miles, which surprised me as I seemed to walk a lot. As I said I don’t understand the human body, how do these Ultra runners do 40 miles + I thought I was doing a fair few miles along with my spin and Kettlebells classes. I did expect to be tired, but expected my legs to be better than they were, Grizzly 20 miles is now less than 2 weeks away, Sunday the 13^th March!!!

On the cycling front met my mate Mike for a 36 mile ride across the levels on Sunday and got my, and my sons entry in for the 55 mile Eroica Brittanica event for pre 1987 bikes  in June, campsite is also booked, deciding not to camp on site this year as it was expensive and facilities were not good. I look forward to using my new Gazelle bike, which I havnt seen yet as my son has had a bad attack of flu! Putting his M –in – Law in hospital with pneumonia !! but things are improving so hoping to pick up this weekend.

The other great happening this week is my 65^th birthday! So from the 1^st I am officially old, an OAP!!! So lunch out, sadly my Golf engine management light came on half way there, so we had to limp home and take the car to the menders!! I am still awaiting the outcome, so we changed cars and went to ‘Joshuas’ at Ottery St Mary and a lovely ‘dragon pie’. I even went to spinning in the evening, but decided to keep it steady, I did manage to keep my heart Rate down to 70% and under, always twiddling rather than pushing the bigger pressure when the Instructor told us to increase!! I didn’t!! at the end I felt better, the spin session loosening my running legs from the previous day, so an excellent day.

This morning I was meeting up with my friend Dave, to hear about his India CTC trip, so a ride with a café was organised. As he lives 17 miles away we arranged to meet elsewhere. What we didn’t account for was storm ‘Jake’ which was set to arrive as we were cycling.

I set off in sunshine with a stiff breeze, this rapidly detiorated after about 6 miles into a full blown hail storm, lashing rain and extreme winds, I went down one road and a tree had just come down, you could tell by the state of it, it was across the road between two banks, I managed to scramble under it very quickly, one eye above my head not sure whether it would drop further, risky business this cycling in the countryside. I cycled on and then it started to rain, heavy! With Hail and very big gusts of wind. I had put my over trousers in my bag and a waterproof, I never cycle in waterproof trousers, but, they were needed now. The roads were streaming, the sky was black, all very scary, after 10 minutes which seemed much longer it stopped, the sky cleared, fleeting clouds, but still a strong wind. I met up with Dave and we cycled on to Yandles at Martock, but!! We were flagged down to be told a tree had come down across a bridge so the road was impassable, so a detour through the pretty village of East Lambrook, adding 4 miles to the route. The café was a welcome site, even though it stopped raining, a café tier of Kenyan coffee with hot milk and a hot cheese and onion pasty hit the right spot, normally cake, but not today!! I heard all about cycling in India and we talked about bikes and years gone by. When we left the café, the road that had been closed was now open, so we went in different directions, Dave with a nice tailwind home, whilst mine was 12 miles into the wind!! But, luck was on my side ‘the wobblers’ from Chard were also out so I was able to join on the back of their group, as they were going the same way as me, so chatting, some shelter from the others in the group made the journey home much more pleasurable, the sun was now shining, no rain, but the wind was very strong. I had left my over trousers on to keep my legs clean as the roads were very muddy and wet, the downside was they were very hot! But I didn’t want to stop and take them off as riding with the ‘Wobblers ‘ was more important.

30 miles covered on a very challenging day weather wise, but as usual very enjoyable when you get homeJ and a good catch up with a cycling mate.

This week so far

Wednesday 24th February 

Monday 10.2 miles around town in 1hr 38 mins 9.41 pace, pleasant sunshine afternoon run.

Tuesday hard spin session down the gym.

Wednesday 11.13 miles on my Seaton to Fountains Head Inn run, glorious day, but freezing cold especially on Beer head just over 2 hrs!  no Kettlebells tonight I have decided to give it a rest for a couple of weeks, it seems to aggravate my Ham string and an old broken wrist injury from my teens!!!

Thursday Bikeability at Somerton followed by spin session in the evening

Friday rest day

Saturday will be a short [3-4 miles]  slow run 

Sunday I hope to get a 15 mile run on the Quantocks, weather permitting as it might yet snow  on Friday!!!

I still need to get the miles in though as my longest run is still only 12.1 miles, thats only just over 2 hours,  I need to know I can at least run for 4-5 hours. 

Good weather and bad weather

Friday 19^th February 2016

It seems to yo yo between one good day and one bad weather day at the moment. After a splendid run on Monday down the coast, and a good day clearing out some of the garden on Tuesday, Wednesday dawned very, very wet and windy, not good for the tree surgeon I had coming to trim a couple of trees and cut down another! In the end the weather was so wet that they gave up at lunch time being very wet, at least they managed to trim back my oak a little, back next week to do more.

Thursday in contrast was another cracking start to the day, a little frost, but clear blue skies and sunshine. I decided I needed a bike ride as my arms and legs were still aching from the kettlebells session on Wednesday night, I really struggled in the session, swapping my 5kg weight back to 4kg!

I went round a known route over the levels, I thought I would see how the Muchelney road had been affected by the flooding seeing as it cost millions to put in! the fields either side showed signs of ots of water and crossing the bridge the water was very high, but the road was clear, it did say on the radio the other road to Langport was shut, but I didn’t check!

This is a lovely ride I covered 39 miles and through some of the nicest sounding village names you could come across – Kingsbury Episcopi, Thorney Lakes, Muchelney, Drayton, Hambridge [no Archer connection] Curry Mallet, Beer Crocombe, Crock Street. There was little or no wind and I did stop at Muchelney bridge for a snack.

I also did a 6.1 mile run in the afternoon, I thought running on tired legs would help my endurance!!! So a hard day, hence no spinning on Thursday last week, I don’t know if helped my endurance!!!!

I have decided to give Kettle bells a miss for a couple of weeks, it does seem to irritate my Ham string and an old broken wrist injury from a few years ago.

Monday 22^nd Feb saw me on my 10 mile run, good time of 9.41 mile pace my best time is 9.38 so not to different I did feel comfortable today, the  weather was good, a little chilly, I did take a drink, but the roads were cleaner today!!!!

Should get out Wednesday for a long off road run, can’t decide between coast or Quantocks, as I havnt been to the Quantocks for ages, I could do a good 15 mile off road, weather forecast is good.

Somerton Bikeability on Thursday and Friday so not much chance for a longer run.

A new boiler, a first 20 minute run, a cycle ride and a better run!

Monday 15^th February 2016

After my Thursday sessions, which I found hard, Friday was to be a rest day, also the plumbers would be here to fit our new boiler. They promptly arrived at 8:15, two very pleasant young men and quickly surveyed their job and got to work, Mrs IanB supplying them with a mug of tea! They were efficient in their work and made sure all areas were covered to avoid mess, they didn’t have to turn the water off either! Which was a bonus, meaning we could use the loo and top up the kettle. By mid afternoon they were packing up, new boiler working well and our new remote control seemingly efficient to control the system. So my only trip out was to the local bike shop for a chat with Andy [the owner] about retro bike stuff and to pick up some more gels.

Saturday dawned very wet and cold, but we decided we needed a trip out, so Sidmouth was our target and hopefully the White Horse café would have reopened after a refurbishment. We parked easily at the road side for a change, and walked down to the front. It was a very cold lazy wind [goes through you rather than round!] there were signs of rough weather with shingle all along the seafront, the sea looked very cold and was very brown as the red sandstone clearly being washed from the local cliffs, it was also high tide, so care taken as we walked along. It was nice to get into the shelter of the town, particularly as I had forgotten my gloves [schoolboy error]. Lunch in the Whitehorse, to its usual standard and a I managed to pick up a nice Merino base layer [used to be called vests] from Mountainwearhouse for £15 reduced from £40++.

As the weather improved in the afternoon, staying very cold but with less rain I decided I needed to get out and run. I layered up and set out up Snowden hill once again, the lanes were very wet and muddy, made worse with the local hunt followers in their 4x4 etc. it started to rain half way round, only a short shower. 9 miles covered and I must admit felt much better today, less tired, more energy in my legs etc.

Sunday saw me accompanying my daughter on her first 20minute run as part of her C5K, a really splendid effort saw achieve her goal, so well done to her, I am very proud of her achievement. The weather on Sunday was much better, but very cold, more of a spring day, as nothing was planned for the rest of the day a cycle ride was a possibility after lunch. I dug out my cycling kit made sure my tyres were pumped, and I was well layered against the cold, according to my Garmin it was only 3 degrees centigrade, 31 miles covered around the lanes of North Curry, lots of big puddles, lots of muddy roads and many more pot holes appearing as the winter progresses. A view from near North Curry showed the levels flooded once more. A good ride, my first for a couple of weeks the temperature dropping to nearer 2 degrees by the time I got home.

So a successful couple of days, I seem to have regained some energy, my calf muscle pulls a little so wearing a support bandage, Hamstring only vaguely irritating sometimes and my niggly knee stays as a niggle [ all sound worse than they are, none really causing me real issues, the calf is the worst] My plan for this morning is to do the Seaton - Fountain Inn route along the coast, the temperature at the moment [ 6:30 am] is 0.7 degrees!! So quite cold but a brilliant day forecast. I also have company today the other BLRCC member from up the lane, Rachel, it will be nice to have company, we both need the miles for the Grizzly, now a month away.

UPDATE: Tuesday 16^th February

Monday dawned very cold with the temperature showing 0.8 degrees C. I went out early to clear the van screen and warm it up ready for a trip down to Seaton to run the coast once again, 12 miles planned with Rachel from up the lane.

We got to Seaton safely, roads were icy and at one point we were flagged down as a car had hit ice and parked in the hedge!!

The sea front at Seaton was bright and sunny with a chilly wind, a few people about and as we were to see later quite busy around Branscombe,clearly half term bringing people out.

We set off at a good pace layered up against the cold, the first pull out of Seaton over to Seaton Hole telling on our calf muscles and both our thoughts being ‘this is hard’ so it took a couple of miles to warm up. As we climbed to Beer Head the frost had firmed up the mud, but as we saw later when it melted it was difficult. It was a good run over the top and the descent down Seaside we took carefully as Rachel only had road trainers with no grip in the gloopy mud.

At Branscombe mouth I took a few pieces of a ZipVIT energy bar – banana flavoured and a swig of drink. It was then the pull up from Branscombe, the views were stunning under the clear blue skies and the climb up from the Fountains Head Inn was again very muddy and difficult to grip on the steep ascent. We were soon joining the beach, time for another snack, we ran the length of the beach, which had people on it!! Something I had never seen before, half term escapees! The climb up the stairway to heaven was as hard as ever, but I still felt ok. Rachel had managed to stay upright so far but the descent from Beer Head had her on her bottom! Not managing to control and grip on the now defrosted mud, so a muddy leg was the result, but no injury.

We hit the road into Seaton and ran to the seafront, running the length before returning to the van to ensure we made the 12 miles infact it was 12.04 miles!!! In 2 hours 45 mins. I felt ok, legs a bit achy, but felt I could have gone further if I needed too. Coffee followed with one of MrsIanBs Almond Macroons J a fitting finish to a great run in fantastic weather, and once again I felt a little more confident that I might complete the 20 mile Grizzly.

Hard couple of runs

Friday 12th February 2016

I went for a 7.4 mile run yesterday afternoon after my stint hearing children read at the school. It was a hard 7 miles I intended to do more, but my legs seem to ache and had no power, I think I suffer the day after my kettlebells session, having said that I then went to Spinning!!! tired legs again.
Weather been better this week, after last weekends storms, my two days Bikeability in Ilchester were nice weather, but cold. So after a 6 mile run on Sunday and my 7 miles yesterday I need to up the mileage!! half term next week so should get out a couple of longer runs.
Haven't managed to pick up my new retro bike yet, perhaps this weekend? but still very few miles cycling anyway, most roads around here are very wet and muddy where tractors have been down and broken away the banks, so cycling means a very dirty bike, very quickly!!!

Hard run and a new bike!

Thursday 4th February 2016

A 12 mile run down along the coast again at Seaton this morning was hard, with nearly 2000ft of climbing, the weather was reasonable after some early drizzle, 2.5 hrs, not fast but getting time on my feet and the miles building up. I also managed a spin session tonight which I struggled at times with tired legs, still managing to hit 80% + at times. So a hard days training today over 2000 calories burnt!!!! I also did a hard Kettlebells session the night before so Friday a definite rest day.

I also increased my stable of bikes by 1 with the purchase of a Retro bike the intention being to ride the 'Eroica Britanica' in June, the 50 miler that is.My son is intending to ride the 100 mile again for the National Trust.  The bike is a 1982-4ish Gazelle, 'Trophy Trim' in a nice blue colour with a full Shimano Golden Arrow group set. I will have to look at the gearing to reduce the size so I can get up the hills. The frame is main tubes Reynolds 531 - looks a nice bike for its age. I bought it from these people who specialize in retro bikes

http://www.vintagevelo.co.uk/

Having bought the new bike [delivered next Wednesday] I do need to get out and cycle,as there are a few Audax events coming up, 2 days Bikeability this week got me out doing about 10 miles total and of course spinning twice,but the weather [for me] has not been cycling weather with wind and rain most days. My priority has been to get running miles in 22.5 miles this week so far including my 10. 2  mile run round the lanes on Monday.