Back In The Comfort Zone

I was back in my comfort zone today, on the bike.  Cycling was what got me into triathlons in the first place so today was always going to be enjoyable.  Or at least it should have been enjoyable, but I was far from looking forward to it last night!  Now I’m not going to have a moan about being unwell and how severe man flu can be.  All I’ll say is that I haven’t been well all week so it’s hardly the best preparation for a bike ride and that coupled with the heave sleet/snow shower that hit Abertillery last night left me feeling far from thrilled at the prospect of hitting the road this morning.  If you have read any of my posts from Christmas time, you’ll know the experiences I had of riding in bad weather and I wasn’t ready for a repeat.

Anyway, once the rubbish weather had passed, there was a bit of good news for me.  My friend and cycling buddy Paul had rung to ask if he could tag along which lifted the spirits, if I was going to suffer, at least I’d have someone suffering with me!

Come this morning, all the worries about the weather had gone and I even regretted not taking sun glasses with me.  As for the cold, it was still there but was a little better so it was good news all round.  The route itself was 46 miles, starting and ending at Caldicot Castle.  We headed out along the Gwent Levels and then (I have no idea where we went or how we got there!) up through Wentwood Forest.

The first 26 miles flew by and we were going at a brilliant pace.  The roads also allowed me to test out my new tri bars which I had bought with some of my birthday money.  Good practice ready for the tri season!  After the 26 mile mark though the real test began as we were presented with a series of hills to climb.  This wasn’t a surprise to us having done a similar course 2 years ago.  In fact, it made it a bit worse because we knew what to expect!  Needless to say the speed dropped but this time, unlike last, we didn’t walk a yard, we cycles every bit of the way which I am very pleased about.  It shows how much we have improved with our cycling.

Overall I was really pleased with our time of 3hours 45 minutes and it was good to get back on the bike and get some mileage under my belt ready for the next event which is an 87 mile ride in the New Forest.

As usual there is a photo from the finishing line at the bottom.  I have to apologise, firstly for the horrific camera angle that makes me look like a baby elephant and secondly for having my one arm behind my back!  I have a load of stuff in my hand and for some stupid reason though it would be a good look to hide it all.  I was very wrong!  Finally, thank you to those who have already sponsored me and if you haven’t yet but would like to then you can at www.justgiving.com/huw2013.  I’ll hopefully have a sponsor form as well sometime next week so if you see me in person and would like to sponsor me that way, you’ll be able to.

 

 

"It's All Downhill From Here"

So today was the first big test for me and what a test it turned out to be!  The City of Newport Half Marathon, to use its full title was set to be my first half marathon and also my longest ever run by a good 3 miles.  I took the “don’t over train” advice very seriously!  Luckily, I wasn’t going to be alone for this test.  Like last week with the Pontypool 10k, I’d drafted in help in the form of my Dad.  We’ve done a bit of training together and it was going to be nice running a new route that neither of us knew, rather than the now overly familiar training runs where we know every turn, bump and hill. 

The route itself was quite a nice one, heading out from Newport’s International Sports Village and essentially following a foot/bike path along the river to Caerleon and back again.  There were a couple of little hills, but compared to Abertillery, nothing too daunting.  Before we started though I was feeling a little nervous as the furthest I’d ever run before was around 10 miles and that was only once.  The doubts as to whether that had been a particularly good day were playing heavy on my mind and it took me a while to settle into a pace and get my breathing sorted.  By the time I’d done that we were around 5-6 miles in but this uneasiness must be a good thing as it was a PB for that distance!  By this point as well, the front runners were already passing us on their way back to the finishing line.  If any of you happen to be reading this, hats off to you because never in a million years would I be able to achieve that kind of pace, let alone maintain it over that length of time and distance.

The return from Caerleon can only be described as bloody hard work.  The final 3 miles were torture with my calves feeling like they were being electrocuted as the crap set in.  In the end, we made it around in 2 hours 26 minutes.  I had aimed for around 2 hours 30 so was really pleased with that, even if it was just under.  I also had a mixture of feelings that my Dad had done it with me.  Pride that we had completed it but also a bit of embarrassment that despite him having nearly 30 years on me, he was still taking it easy to let me keep up!  I’ll have to get some more training in to put that right at the Cardiff Half Marathon in October!  That said, this is how I feel now that the run is over, this is really just a starting point for me in terms of training.  I now need to maintain and improve on my running whilst also incorporating swimming and cycling ready for the half Ironman in June.

In case you are wondering about the title of this post, that became my Dad’s new catchphrase during the run. When I first started running it was “push yourself!” However, today, “it’s all downhill from here” took its place. From the turnaround point Caerleon back to Newport, that is all that Dad said, even when we were looking up a hill!

With that explained, all that is left to do is put the obligatory photograph here:

 And to say that I now have a weekend off where I will be combining Mother’s Day celebrations with my birthday (I can’t believe I’ve got to share it this year!) before the next event, the St David’s Spring Bike Ride in Caldicot the weekend after.

Also, don’t forget you can sponsor me online at www.justgiving.com/huw2013