From a training perspective I am very pleased with how things are going. I am going to ATP Personal Training Bootcamp sessions twice a week which are good fun. Don’t be fooled by the term ‘Bootcamp,’ it’s mostly dominated by women having a bit of a laugh at the big rugby guy trainers. I imagined there would be no women and it would be really intense – army style. Thankfully the guys that run it are really decent bunch and you can push yourself as easy or hard during the varied sessions if you please so I would highly recommend. The voucher deal I got only lasts a few weeks but hopefully I can learn a few cross training ideas to do at home.
On the running front, I am increasing the weekly mileage. I was
really pleased with how this weekend’s two long runs went. Did a 20 mile yesterday
followed by 11 mile today. Trying to plan each run a bit better. I am making
sure I get good nights sleep, then when I wake get some food in me first thing
- a banana and crunchy nut
cornflakes / peanut butter and jam
sarnie. During the run I take with me some caffeine tablets and gels and having
left an energy drink at a roughly 7 mile point, I take some fluids at this
stage. After the run I go for a 10 minute session in pool as cool down then as
a reward to myself 5 minutes in sauna to finish off the session. This routine
seems to be working well. During my cool down session today tried aqua jogging which
seemed nice (PS – during same I tried running backwards in aqua jogging –
impossible!)
The Bad
Couple of weeks ago I had to used my bike to get to work as
my car was getting some work done to it. Normally when I commute to work I do
it from the Queens PEC to Bangor which is about 1 hr but in this case my
commute (from home in Carryduff) would take double that – both ways, thus to
say I wasn’t keen to do. Unfortunately the weather too dampened my spirits as
it was pretty cold (around zero) and regular showers. Anyhow I decided to go a
slightly quicker route direct to Bangor via Ballygowan, Comber, Newtownards back
country roads instead of Saintfield, Ormeau, Sydenham route. I got about 7
miles when my chain appeared to lock up. As a novice bike mechanic I played
about with it for about 10 minutes in freezing cold and darkness (apart from my
bike light) before deciding to return home to Carryduff. I ended up walking in
pouring down rain for about 2 mile along the roads in my bike cleats (yes –
bikers you know bike shoes aren’t meant for walking in!) until thank God, a
good Samaritan stopped and gave me and my bike a lift home. To cut a long story
short eventually I made it to work using my trusty mountain bike I used when I was
a teenager although that night I slept like a baby after approx 4 hrs biking on
top of a days work!
Thought I had the long runs well planned – but forgot to prepare for nipple rashes!
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