New to me.

Tosh masquerading at 'news' hit another all time low today with a woman's TikTok account of her disappointing holiday to Tenerife.  It appeared to copied word for word because it had no news value whatsoever - simply a complaint about the poor weather.  No added commentary or comment to add colour or flavour to it - what a waste of storage space.

Another sub headline on Yahoo's news feed, second line down in fact, was about the most mispronounced words of 2024.  How this ends up as a news item beats me, should be relegated to the middle pages at best.  I wonder how long their news feed will carry on for, I suppose they can just have a few automated links to other news portals to give a semblance of it being their own.  

She's Electric

Electric cars are here to stay, but for how long?  I wonder if the electric drive(!) is only a relatively temporary innovation if the industry finds something entirely different to power our vehicles.  Electric cars have been around almost since electricity was harnessed and piped into every home, which leads me to think that when someone thought moving to electric cars was 'a good thing', they only thought that because it was an existing technology and therefore little in the way of real innovation to get on track.  This decision then empowered designers to improve the electric vehicle technology and in fact are continuing to do so.  Unfortunately, this has restricted development in other methods of propulsion, some of which may well be more suited to the range of vehicles on our roads.  Not that I'm against electrically driven cars, there will a place for those for may years to come, it's just that our (by 'our' I mean manufacturers) resources are so focused on one thing it drowns out other options that might be more suitable, or maybe not even invented yet.  Watch this space (in about 30 years time).

Winning Ways.

 I'm not much of football fan, but I do have some sort of relationship with my local team Grimsby Town and therefore am disproportionately disappointed when they lose, and very happy when they win.  It was a loss at the weekend that put me on a bit of a downer, not helped by miserable wet weather that did nothing to lift my gloom.  However, we had daughter #2 over for the weekend along with grandchild #6 whilst son-in-law #3 is away in Uzbekistan for 3 weeks so that lightened the mood a little giving us something to laugh at as she now manages to crawl at quite a speed.    

Running continues at a rather intermittent consistency i.e. no consistency, with only 2 runs last week mainly due to the biting cold during the week (went out in minus 5 one morning) and a wet weekend.

Having spare time due to the weather (see above) I was at one point during the weekend contemplating if I could ever write a book.  I think this was whilst driving to get the takeaway and listening to some book related program on the radio.   I didn't reach any conclusion about the book, something to do in retirement I reckon.    

Wait and See.

 Mr Trump continues to line up his stooges ready to take their place at the high altar of the US government.  All I can see are a bunch of ar$e licking sycophants, but I must be over influenced by the left wing journos in the UK.  We'll see.

It's been a cold week, with minus 5 yesterday morning reaching a high of around 2 degrees.  It's warmed up a bit today and when I was wandering round the field with the muck picking equipment it was a balmy zero degrees.  High winds and plenty of rain promised for tomorrow courtesy of Storm Bert. Can't wait.

Don't Stop Believing

 I thought it might be a bit awkward, a bloke putting a cold gel on my nether regions followed by moving an instrument around on them.  But luckily, he was quite professional and although I wouldn't say it was an enjoyable experience I guess it could have been a lot worse.  The good news is that he didn't find any sinister lumps or growths, just some 'scarring' due to my vasectomy which was quite a few years ago now.  I should expect to hear from the GP in about a week, so all will (possibly) be revealed then.

In other news, I have to claim for my missing paniers from the credit car company.  I'm not too hopeful getting anything back, but we will see.  Because I have little proof that I didn't pick them up it relies on them believing me, so watch this space.

Hot Date.

 Just after yesterdays update, I had a call advising me of a scan tomorrow (Saturday) and there was an appointment available at 08:20 so that's fairly quick response I reckon.  I like early, then I can get on with the rest of the day 'in peace'.   I have another appointment at 7 in the evening - going out for a meal at the revamped Cross Keys pub that suffered a fire in the Spring (or was it early Summer?) so they will be pleased to get back in business.

 

Bit of a kick in ..

 Lumps in odd places.  Could be a title to a song, or even a name of a band.  In my case, it's a lump where it shouldn't be, or at least I assume it shouldn't be there.  I first noticed it a few weeks/months ago when it felt like I had caught my tender bits on something, and after wondering if they were swollen came across an odd shaped lump.  After a few days it seemed to subside, the pain stopped and although I pondered a call to the surgery I didn't think any more of it. ...until last Thursday when the 'kicked in the balls' pain returned and a quick feel revealed the lump was once again back where it was, possible bigger this time.  Anyway, I took myself off to the GP after filling in some sort of on-line triage questionnaire which obviously triggered a response and they got me in the next day.  The very pleasant GP had a feel and had as much idea as me so has put me forward for a scan to see what it is - possibly some sort of cyst.  She mentioned there is a possibility it might be cancer, 'so we have to rule that out'.  ..so that was yesterday and hopefully the much publicized waiting lists don't slow things down too much.

In the meantime, I'm as 'normal' as I ever have been with no obvious signs of anything wrong apart from the above which I hope is a good sign.

Hot Stuff!

EDF customers have been promised a months free electricity!  Wow!  If only we didn't need to buy a heat pump we would be delighted.  And what's it doing masquerading as a headline in the Daily Express?  Smells a bit like free advertising to me.  Anyway, it sucked me in and they probably won a few internet pennies on the strength of it.  Maybe they are trying a new slant on clickbait where it's a win-win (except for the customers) where the paper gets advertising click revenue and the supplier gets us to see his tempting offers.  I feel I've been conned, even though a) I haven't got a gas boiler and therefore don't qualify and b) I'm not an EDF customer.    

Play It Again, Sam.

 Well, not for the first time my intuitive guessing about the US election was wrong, totally wrong in fact. I find it hard to believe that so many Americans voted the way they did when to the distant outsider like myself, it was obviously the wrong thing to do.  ..and when I say 'wrong' I mean it was wrong for them.  Or so I thought.  I can only hope that the election debating was so biased against the Republicans that I was sucked into that and I didn't get to see the whole story.

I don't like to think that more than half the Americans who voted are thickos. 

Heating Up

 Genius is quite an emotive word.  I would struggle to think of another adjective to 'beat' it.  To me, it describes the extreme end of inventiveness or creativity.  Therefore, to describe a portable heater as 'Genius' is stretching it a bit to say the least, especially if I look closely at the aforementioned device it's simply an electric element with a fan.  Maybe they are being sarcastic.

Trump v. Harris day today and results so far? 3-3 from a tiny hamlet that evidently gets to vote just after midnight every polling day, let's op it's not as close as that or what the polls think.  Interestingly, there has been a few 'Harris just in front' polls in key states so I await the results with interest.

Tomorrow Belongs To Me.

 Tomorrow sees the US election reach it's climax ...or maybe not if it's as close as the polls would have us believe.  I haven't spoken to anyone who thinks Trump getting back into power is a good thing, but none of these have a vote, so I can't see that featuring on CNN Tonight.  My own prediction is that the majority see Harris as the less worse candidate for president, but will off-set that by voting in right wingers into the Senate (or whatever the other house is called).  This will inevitably lead to problems getting laws into action, but small price for keeping Mr Trump out.

On the other hand, I might be completely wrong and it's just my wishful thinking.

Results Please.

 The Trump and Harris shows rolls on, with only a couple of weeks left before the great reveal, or not if the estate legislators have cooked up excuses not to send in the results.  I'm very interested in the results, but will not too pleased if Mr Trump returns to the White House.

On a motorcycling matter, it appears that Pidcock BMW has a prospective buyer, whilst the Triumph and Ducati arms of the business have bitten the dust.   Although I'm relieved that the BMW side will remain (unless the buyer pulls out) and I stand a good chance of getting my panniers it's a shame that 2 decent bike showrooms will disappear.  It looks increasingly like new sales are done via the web, with only servicing bringing the revenue in for the local guys.  Anyway, I'll be having the 1st service done at the Grimsby dealer.  

 

 

Admin Access Only.

Pidcock BMW where I bought my new shiny 1250RS from has gone into administration, along with Pidcock Triumph and Pidcock Ducati.  They are/were quite a big outfit in the motorcycling world, with 3 separate dealerships stuffed full of new and nearly new bikes.  However the biggest issue is that they still have my new panniers that were waiting for me when I had the 600 mile service, so that's a bit of a bummer.  They are not answering the phone (administrator appointed yesterday) but they did reply to my email with a 'we will get back to you when we have more information'.  I expect the administrators will decide who get what and when.  Luckily I paid for them on my credit card, so (hopefully) that's my fallback to recoup about £600.  I'll also have to get the service done at Marshalls in Grimsby, but that was always an option anyway.

Tomorrow marks a year since my collision with a deer, let's hope there's no repeat.

Seconds Out!

 October... and not for the first time in my life I'm baffled how time flies by so quickly.  I'm not sure which word to use here - it's clearly something to do with my perception of time, because time is a one of those fixed quantities that we can do nothing about...but 'perception is reality' is a phrase we often use to describe such a feeling about something.  A bit like 'Tories are perceived to be the party tough on crime', when history does not bear that out, but that is more clever marketing I think.  I'm not being fooled by someone that time is passing quickly, no-one is telling me 'wow, time has really sped up now!'.  'Tough on time, tough on the causes of time' just would not work.  Well, not with me anyway.  It's not as though we can look back over the last week, say that week has really flown by and actually believe it was quicker than the week before is it?  I need to do a but more research on this.

Artificial Misnomer.

 A new automated dear deterrent employed by Network Rail to keep deer away form the tracks uses 'Artificial intelligence'.  Upon reading the article I think we can safely say that they have a very loose definition of artificial intelligence - it detects when a deer is there and sounds an alarm.  

I have a very low regard for anything that calls itself AI.  I know how it uses LLMs (large language models) to 'train' itself, but at the end of the day it's only using a set of rules it has created based on the LLM it is using as the base data.  I did read last week that 'the hype has gone out of AI' - thank goodness for that, but I expect it will not die away completely.  It get an impression that any software that uses a set of algorithms to work out what to do has been renamed AI , mainly (I expect to) for marketing purposes.

   

5 Years (David Bowie)

Molly-Mae and Tommy have split up.  Wow - it's one of the minor headlines in media outlets everywhere.

Hang on, who the flip are they?  It took me about 48hrs before I clicked on one of the articles that revealed they met on Love Island in 2019.  That's impressive - 5 years of being together.

Anyway, it's just yet another example of 'celebrity' that I try and avoid at all cost, and what constitutes as 'news' nowadays.

Never Say Never again.

 1 week on from the triathlon and I need to get down on paper how it went.

The first thing was that the swim was cancelled late on Friday evening round 10 o'clock due to blue-green algae being above safe levels and would be replaced by a 5K run - so we're now doing a duathlon.  In actual fact, I had mixed emotions about the swim cancellation.. happy because I was quite anxious about the swim in the first place, but unhappy because once again it wasn't a 'real' triathlon as in 2019 when the bike leg was deemed too wet to start.  However, it made it a much more relaxed pre-race day without worrying about the swim to run transition and I slept really well.

They started the 5K run 40 minutes later than the swim had been planned for, and set us off in groups of around 50 at 1min intervals.  This seemed to work quite well in that the bike start was reasonably 'quiet' without too much traffic.  I planned on a 30 min run and came in at 29 mins so all well there.

There was little wind on the bike, and slightly overcast for the start so didn't think overheating would be an issue.  However, cramps started about 30 miles from the end and progressively got worse.  I'm not sure why the cramps got so bad - I was taking in plenty of water with and without High 5 electrolytes but I did cover the 1st half much faster than I thought I was going to (averaging 21.5 at one point) so that might have had something to do with it.  Anyway, finished without any dramas but had slowed to an average of 18.5mph at the end.  I got off the bike and quickly got a leg cramp fortunately only briefly and trotted into transition.

Run?  It was a walk/run, with the emphasis on the walk part.  Cramps kicked in almost as soon as I started off, so bad that I had to stop completely unable to move my left leg.  After a couple of minutes of massaging the muscle and trying to get it to respond I managed to hobble on my way.  This continued every couple of hundred yards for the first 3 or 4 miles, gradually getting less severe and able to walk through it rather than stopping.  5 and a half hours later I finished - my worst ever marathon time.  Don't know if I could have run a bit more, but the cramps were so bad at the start I wonder if my fear of stopping overcame my need to run a bit more.  Interestingly, I managed to run most of the last lap of the lake albeit slowly so it's not as if I was incapable.

Anyway, after all that my finish time of 13:16 was enough to get me 2nd place in the 65-70 age category around 20 mins behind 1st place.  Lets hope next time is better. 

  

Less is More

 It's Friday today, and about 200m into my early 7 miler I had to stop.  It felt my heartrate had gone too high, and after about half a minute I felt Ok and carried on so I don't know what brought that on.  All I can think is that I was out and about quite soon after waking up and therefore hadn't acclimatised to being upright - if that's a 'thing'.  Anyway, finished my run OK and all is good.

I'm definitely feeling the affects of 29 weeks of training now - very tired and very hungry.  I'm always tempted by the sweet, unhealthy eating options which cannot be good, but still do it.  Up until now, I mentally offset that by knowing I'll be out running/cycling to compensate but now we're into the taper (2 weeks to go!) it's not so easy to talk myself into that.  This week's total is 2 and a half hrs down on last week, so a fairly easy 3and half hrs to do this weekend instead of the 5hrs +.

Something for the Weekend Sir?

 5hr bike, 3hr run. Simple eh?  I'll be doing more than that in 3 weeks time, but I'm looking forward to this weekend less than that one.  It's the last big week, and although next week is also quite big, it's not as bog as this one, so psychologically 'easy'.  What's not easy is putting the time in on consecutive days.  This weekend calls for a 5hr bike on Saturday, then a 3hr run on Sunday and the run will be by far the most difficult.  I haven't done anything like 3hrs since the York marathon last September so you can understand my trepidation, and yet, and yet.. I need to do it so come 3 weeks on Sunday I will feel like I've given it my best shot. Picking a course is a bit of a headache because I'd really like to do most of it off-road so as to pass the time faster than pavement pounding, so I need to get my thinking hat on.

Tomorrows 5hr bike may well be a bit less than that, I have a bit of time 'in the bank' so about 3 and half will do me, although I will probably do a bit more.  This will reduce the time required on the run, and although that's 'cheating', I can talk myself into thinking it's fine.  Besides, I don't want to stress my knee too much.  There, that's my excuses over with. 

Tiring.

Yesterday was probably the most tired I have felt throughout this training stint since Christmas.  I wasn't sure if I was short of salt/food, so stuffed myself at lunch (inc. 2 packets of salted crisps), but I'm fairly sure I was just tired out.  Safe to say I am feeling much more perky today, and I don't have any plans for exercise (at the moment).

I plan a long bike ride on Sunday and as usual I will struggle to get the 2.5hr long run in on Saturday.  Maybe I will do something this evening after all!

Time is Everything

 4 laps of the lake last night, and thanks to my watch that survived the dunking, I know it was 3,399 yards long.  That translates to around 2.1Km, so only 500m short.  Time was 1hr 20mins,but that did include 2 treading water stops to ease the calf cramps -so painful!  It took a good minute for the cramps to go away, but I figure it was good practice for when it happens in the race having had a panic attack 5yrs ago doing the same thing.  That time, I genuinely thought I would have to give up or drown, but now I know I can recover if I try and relax and let it ease off naturally.

This means I have a good chance of doing the swim leg in around 1 and half hours give or take 5 mins.  Max time allowed is 2hrs I think so I haven't got a great deal of contingency in there, although I would have to have an absolute disaster to miss the timecut.

Lapping it Up.

 This evening's plan is to do the full swim distance in the lake.  I'm hoping my watch is still waterproof after 5 years of use otherwise it will be an expensive one.  In theory, I need to do 4 and a bit laps so we'll see if that holds up, assuming of course my watch keeps going!

It feels like I'm getting to the pointy end of the training now with the race 4 weeks on Sunday.  That means this and next week are the last 2 big weeks, then 3 weeks of tapering (although still training of course).  The last week (all but 3 days) I'm away on hols, so that will mean no cycling just a bit of very hot running (in the Algarve).  It will probably be difficult to keep the diet 'healthy' when I'm away but I will be focusing on the end goal, so should be OK.  I've just been sussing out the bike route and where I can park to do a recce.  There's a 5 and half hr ride scheduled for this weekend, which could be a good time to do it.  I will see what my diary manager thinks about that.  An early start should make it easier to swallow.   

Go Long

 My cough and cold I picked up earlier in the week seems to have petered out fortunately.  I plucked up courage to venture out for a run this morning, intending to only do the village and back.  However, I felt fine and managed 7 miles round by Kelsey Beck (which I haven't been to in about a year) in 1hr 5mins.  This means there's a slim chance I will fulfil the weekly schedule - but no swimming this week will reduce it by quite a bit.  The only chance I've got is if I manage a long bike ride. 

Racing Along

 A night away in Burnley (well, Fence actually just north of Burnley) resulted in 2 hard runs up and down the hills around Pendle.  I can still feel the lactic acid 3 days later.  I also came back with a bit of a mild cold which put me off running today.  Just a cough and slightly snotty nose so hopefully not anything to slow me down too much,  I thought a day off might speed the recovery up.

I cycled into the office yesterday and had my tri bars on for the first time in 5 years and I have to say they felt pretty good - definitely faster.  ..or at least that was my feeling of the situation.  Reality might be different but I managed decent averages both into and away from work - 18.7 and 18.8mph.  If I can get 18mph in the race I'll be very happy with that - 6hrs 15mins or thereabouts.

Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.

Bit of a poor end to the week last week.  Managed a 2hr bike ride, but needed double that really but the weather conspired against me.  Well, that's my excuse anyway.  But today is another week (actually, it's not a week, it's a day but you get the idea).  Started well this morning with an early 26 mile loop round by Brigg, then this evening I should get an hour in running from the hotel near Burnley.  If I get my backside in gear I should also get an hour in tomorrow morning, although might be a tall order depending on how much I put on the expenses tonight. If not, then it will 'rest day' in the spreadsheet.  It's the Lincolnshire show on Wed/Thurs so I need to factor that in, but hopefully get a ride into the office on Wednesday, but a Friday visit to Louth will make an evening open water swim difficult.  Hmm, this triathlon lark needs a bit of planning.

Procrastination? I'll do it tomorrow.

 Well, I didn't drown and indeed didn't even come close to it so I'll take that as a successful swim last night at Activities Away.  3 laps took me to a total of 2400m in around an hour.  I couldn't time it accurately so it's a bit of a guess.  But was it cold!  Much colder than I expected, but maybe I've forgotten what open water swimming is like in the UK, it was 5 years ago when I last tried it after all.  I intend doing 4 laps next week, let's hope the temperature is higher.

My intended run this morning didn't come off, as I was feeling knackered and in fact fell back to sleep for about an hour which I guess proves I was tired. This means I have almost no chance of fulfilling the required hourly amount for this week given my planned non-sporting activities and poor weather forecast.  My 4hr ride will be difficult to fit in.  Still, there's always next week. 

I read that quite a few triathletes taking part in a triathlon in the Thames came down with sickness and stomach cramps etc. at the weekend and are rightly not impressed.  Luckily, the Holme Pierrepoint swim is in a lake, unluckily it is populated by loads of canadian geese that use it as a toilet.

I'll Drink To That

 I have a correction to make, it's 'only' 13hrs I have to get in this week, not the 20 mentioned in my last posting.  Not that anyone reads it, but I needed to put it down in print for my own psychological reasons.  I can't go around thinking I have as much as that to do.

I plan on my first open water swim this evening at Activities Away.  Tried the wetsuit on last night, and what a struggle! I don't think I've grown but it feels like I have.  I thought you shrunk as you got older. I have a 2hr also booked, 20 minutes of which will be putting the wetsuit on.  I'm hoping for at least 2 laps of the lake but can't remember how far round it is, I'll need to look at some old Strava files or similar.  If this is my last post it's because I drowned due to cramp.  My mitigation plan is to have a small can of tonic water just before I get there, and sup the water with an electrolyte tablet on the way.  Watch this space.

Crash Course

 It's been a few weeks since my last posting here.  That in itself is not too surprising, but given that virtually all my spare time is spent training, I should put more effort into recording my thoughts about it. Anyway, I had a week cycling in the Algarve which was really good fun although I did manage to scrape my knee, elbow and hip on the tarmac when I locked the brakes up going downhill.  It also resulted in a broken helmet after a rather hard landing on my head.  Luckily, Met have a crash replacement policy and I will get a new one at 50% off.  The prang could have been so much worse, so very fortunate not to have lost any training time at this stage of the game  Its not a game by the way.

The cycling week meant that I made up all the time I had lost of the first few weeks of the schedule, then last about 4hrs from the week I returned home due to being absolutely knackered.  However, I'm back on it this week with an hour's run yesterday evening and 1.5hrs this morning.  I think I'm due 20hrs total this week, which will be a tall order, but I'll have to do it.  With 6 weeks to go, the next 2 or 3 weeks are crucial.  I've booked a week's hol 10 days before the big event, hopefully that will be a good thing.

Swimming has been a bit lacking overall.  I've signed up online for Activities Away, and (all being well) will get my first open water swim in this week.  I bought a '5 pack', and that might encourage me to use them all.  The weather has been poor though, and not looking good for the next 2 weeks.  Lets hope it's dumping all the rain now, and not at the end of July.

Take The Long Way Home

I lost about 40mins on the plan last week, but had my best running week (28 miles) so I'm not so bothered about that.  My cycling was a bit down mainly because my planned 3hr + trip at the weekend was curtailed due to Chatsworth horse trials being cancelled and therefore had to keep my better half on side by not being away for too long.  I'll be making up for it this evening on the way home - going via the other side of the Trent to make sure I go the long way home.  

The Only Way is Up

 1 minute under the plan for last week.  Not bad, but tempered by that fact that cycling compensated for the lack of a swim.  This week poses different issues with going away for the weekend to Chatsworth where the weather is not looking too good, thereby cycling might be compromised although it's good running around Baslow area even though some of it is uphill!

Get In There!

 3hr and 11mins to get in this weekend.  I'm not sure that's 'doable' (I'm not fond of that word) given my planned caravan pickup and bar-b-que tomorrow, so unless I get a long bike in Sunday I'll be under.  Its a big week this week (just over 11hrs) and with 11 weeks (I think) to go a critical time in the cycle.  I'm pleased to have kept largely to the plan so far, hopefully I'll feel the benefit on the day - or conversely not feel the pain of not doing a structured plan.  The swimming is still a question mark, but the less said about that the better.

Overdone

 Quite a good week regarding the triathlon plan.  The highlights being a 2000m swim this morning, which the most so far this year; 2 rides into work, one of these via the scenic route both ways.  This has resulted in my overall plan timing being met by Friday!  Should get at least one run in at the weekend, probably 2 so I'll be clawing back even more of the time I lost in Jan/Feb.

Next week might be a different picture though - I have a 6 o'clock start in the office Tuesday (bank holiday Monday) with a fairly late finish so I will write that day off as a rest day, then a bit busy Saturday with a pre-cycling holiday barbeque, so will have to make the most of free time.  

Its an Ill Wind

Another half hour or so over the plan for last week, it will be interesting if I can close the gap by end in July.  I'm around 13hrs over to make up from a high of 15:30hrs.  Probably too much, but we'll see.

Biked into the office today and it was a cold strong wind blowing from the South which slowed me down a bit.  Should be a bit kinder going home, but not ideal.  I'll probably head into it for the first few miles, then take advantage of it for the remainder of the trip.

Prop me Up

 3hrs 36mins to do this weekend split almost evenly between bike and running.  I was 5 mins swimming down, but don't think I'll bother with that part.  The last 2 days had a 1hr run each day, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I am not finding it harder, the Mortons Nueroma bothers me less and my knee has not misbehaved (i.e. slowed me down) for a couple of weeks now.  Lets hope I'm not speaking too soon.  I woke with a minor sore throat so this might develop over the next day or 2, hopefully not.

 Next weeks target is slightly less than this week, but after that it ramps up quite considerably until 'the day', well, the taper anyway.  This is week 17 of the 30 week plan, so just over half way.  I won't jinx it by saying I feel ok, because I don't feel ok but I'm not dead yet.

That Friday Feeling.

 Friday, with 1hr 25 bike and 1hr run to get in over the weekend.  'Easy' I hear you say, 'not so' say I, because 1 mile from home on this morning's run I felt my back muscles do something - and I've ended up with a bit of a bad back.  I'm not sure how long it will take to ease up, but getting out the car at the office was not easy.  I've just stood up after 4 hrs in my office chair and in actual fact was definitely improved so I really hope that it will be a relatively short episode.  There are also a few fairly urgent jobs on my weekend task list so feeling fit would help.

Knee Deep in it.

 10 minutes over the scheduled time for last week, so happy with that.  The only issue was I didn't get a swim in so the time was made up by a bit of extra cycling.  I rounded off the week with an hour's run which seemed to annoy my knee more than usual resulting in a restless night where I woke up a few times due (I guess) to the wrong movements with my leg.  However, it seems to have settled down (Tuesday today) so hopefully will be ok when I'm on it tomorrow morning.  I've already got my swim in for the week (yesterday) and cycled into the office today despite the chilly wind so a reasonable start to the week.  Monday is the 'official' rest day, but I'm assuming that because my swim is easy/slow it will count as a rest day.  If not, I struggle to get the hours in mainly because I do fairly short runs to minimise the issues with my knee.  Whether that's a good tactic or not I don't know.

Get a Life!

 A 2 day visit to another site set my schedule back a little this week.  The issue was the amount of travelling time, and my poor planning in that I didn't leave enough time to arrive, check-in and do a long enough run.  As it was, I had a half hour in the evening and another 45 mins the following morning.  I should be satisfied with that, but as this is a 'big' week (in that it follows and precedes a 'small' week) I could really have done with a bit more to reduce my efforts that will need to be done at the weekend.  The schedule calls for a 4hr ride on Saturday which will be a tall order to get in.  The only good thing is that the weather seems to be a bit better over the next few days.  This will hopefully mean 2 days cycling into the office next week which gives me a good step up the schedule ladder (6hrs) without interfering too much with what is know as 'normal life'.

Waterproof.

Finally managed 2 trips in one week into the office on the bike.  That's 6hrs in total, about half an hour more than the week's plan.  I got absolutely soaked on the way home yesterday thinks to an inaccurate rain forecast which advised the rain was coming on around 8 which it actually started at about half past 5, made even worse because it was headwind.  However, I got my hours in and that's the important thing.

After Monday's run where my knee felt quite sore afterwards I was a bit apprehensive about this morning's hour I had planned.  As it turns out it wasn't too bad although I started to feel it a bit towards the end.  Next week I have 2 nights away where I will be running successive days, not something I have done for a while so that will be quite a test.

Long Weekend.

 We have just had Easter weekend, a time of family get togethers and too much chocolate. Oh, and not enough time to complete the training schedule.  I wasn't far off, a 45 min run on Sunday would have been ok, but the guests didn't leave until around 4 and even though we have an extra hour of daylight in the evening it wasn't enough to get me out and finish it off.  However, I did get 1 and half hrs run yesterday and felt OK, or I did until I stopped and the knee really didn't feel good at all. Let's hope it was just a one off. 

History Lesson

 Was just doing some historical research from 2014 and found this blog post around the same date as this..2024 at the top.  The plan is slightly less overall (intermediate v. advanced), but the spikes etc. are remarkably similar.

Resting Place.

 Rest day today...or at least it is now.  That wasn't the original intention as could be demonstrated by my pile of running clothes at the top of the stairs in readiness for an early one, but the rain intervened so I gave up on it and did a few other jobs instead.  I got back in good books by hanging the hay nets and mucking the field out, and off loading the car of flooring materials into the old stable block in readiness for the weekend.  It's also table tennis night, so I do get some exercise at least.

It does leave me with a bit more time to find over the Easter break though, so that might be a challenge but at least I don't have 8hrs + taken up with work so should get the time.  We have a family do on Sunday lunchtime + Easter egg hunt which always goes down well, so I will have to avoid that of course.

Big Overheads

 53 minute run today.  I planned on 1hr, but I just could not kick myself into doing those few extra minutes before I turned round for home.  Odd really, because even though I was a few minutes late setting off (just after 6) I knew I was not short of time.  It's Easter weekend coming up, and even though I don't have to waste (!) time at work, I expect to be busy with other 'stuff' that will curtail opportunities for exercise. I'm also fitting a laminate floor in the refurbished stable block (buying it tonight) so will be under a bit of pressure to get a result there.  I think/hope it's a reasonably easy job but still needs doing.  I can then hang the other internal door and then move onto the kitchen/bathroom area which is potentially the expensive bit!  ..and to start that I have to make a decision about the roof i.e. do I start again on that side?  I will need to get some advice from a roofer.

Its all Going Swimmingly Well.

 Swimming this morning.  Despite my efforts to get there early enough for a good hour, it resulted in just an extra 4 minutes. I must get more efficient at making the sarnies and having a bowl of something.  I could blame the taking the bin down the drive time or the 'filling 2 haynets' for my better half to rest her back, but it was just me being a bit dis-organised.  Maybe I should make my lunch the night before?  Hmm, might try that next time.  Anyway, I managed 74 lengths before my cramp felt too bad.  Not that it was coming on it just felt like it might start, so I stopped before it got 'embedded'.  I did 74 lengths on 48 minutes, which is not very fast, but about my normal pace so quite happy with that.  I shared a lane with another long distance chap for about 20 odd lengths before he departed, then a breast stroking lady (!!) joined me with bout 25 laps to go so not too bad.

Easter Bunny.

 I gained an hour last week on the plan, and even better I found out this morning that my spreadsheet had not been calculating the totals quite right (it was looking up the last plan from 5 years ago), so I've gained even more!  Still 13hrs behind though, so not all good.

Cycled into the office today so that's a good start to the week, and I plan a swim tomorrow to give my legs partial respite.  I hope the weather is reasonable Wednesday then I can get the additional bike ride in without interfering with the Easter weekend

Leverage Support

 52 minutes of running, 1 hour of cycling to do in 2 days.  What could possibly go wrong?

With a bit of luck I should go over plan, thereby getting slightly back on track.  After feeling so bad on Tuesday I'm rather relieved/pleased it was obviously a one-off bad day, and even after an hour's run this morning felt pretty good.  The weather was forecast to be fairly wet, but it looks like an improving picture with just a bit of rain midday on Saturday so I will have options when I get the bike out.  Talking of which, I need to fit the new lever, cable et al before I use it so hopefully get that done early Saturday. 

Go Your Own Way

Well, I did it.  I went swimming and didn't get any cramps in my feet so that's progress.  Whether that's because of the stretching, the extra fluids I've been drinking or something else I'll probably never know but suffice to say I was quite satisfied with the 70 lengths and would have done more if the chap who joined the lane when I'd done 50 lengths wasn't like an express train.  I felt a bit guilty being in the fast lane when he was so much faster.  Mind you, he kept stopping every 4 lengths so obviously a sprinter as opposed to my long distance, very slow pace.

So I need to get an hour's run in tomorrow morning to leave me with a reasonably easy weekend even if it means a bit of cycling in the wet (.it's a poor forecast).  So much for my 'bike into the office twice' this week.  I don't think there's been 2 dry days in a week since Christmas, and next week it looking pretty grim.

Stretching it a bit.

 5 years ago whilst doing my training I seemed to be continually tired and continually hungry.  This time that feeling has kicked in this week, particularly today where my motivation do to anything is lacking.  I hope it's temporary but I have a feeling I will have to get used to it.

A 1hr run this morning didn't feel too bad in spire of 3hrs on the bike yesterday.  I was on Stella yesterday (best bike) due to a knackered gear lever on Cilla.  I'm expecting a replacement tomorrow which will test my installation skills (I've never put a lever on) and probably find out I need another part.  My better half has been fairly patient to date during my training 'journey' but I can tell she is less happy about time away from home the current bike maintenance time. The swim time is also not getting done due to a) limited options for lane swimming at the pool (mainly early mornings) and b) worried about severe cramps such as I experienced last time.  I've been trying get some stretching in, but only ad hoc when I remember, I probably need some sort of routine to make sure I do them so I need brainstorming with myself.

  

Passing Out

 I clawed 51 minutes back on the total last week.  I'm still about 15hrs down overall, and have absolutely no chance of getting that back, but at least I didn't slip any further behind.  I did a 10 mile run yesterday and felt quite tired after it, in fact I would say I haven't felt like that since my last marathon.  My legs were aching, knee as sore as it ever has been and couldn't get comfortable when getting off to sleep.  However, I feel reasonably OK this morning so I won't dwell on it.  Oh, hang on, I just did.

Motorbike MOT today, so I dropped it off at lunchtime and will pick it up at 5.  I can't decide if I should sell it now then 'invest' in something newer, or wait a while and do it after the triathlon.  This is because my free time will be taken up by exercising, but at the same time my existing is losing value and will probably get a better price for it now.  I don't have to invest in a new one immediately, but I expect I will want to.  This assumes it passes the test OK.   

What's The Use?

 It's Friday today, and although I had an hour's run in mind, I woke up totally knackered, reset my alarm and went back to sleep.  I'm not too concerned, the plan calls for a 'rest day' of the week and I'm feeling better for it.  I need a 75 minute run and 45 minutes swim to reach the weekly target, but might substitute the bike for the swim.  I never seem to get the opportunity at weekends to align lane swimming with my free time, and I will do more than 45mins on the bike which might mean I claw back a bit of lost time from a few weeks ago.  I'm also still suffering with foot/toe cramps and I need to get into a bit of a routine doing stretching exercises.  The thing is, they are boring and don't feel like they are doing me any good although I am sure they are. It's not like a run where even if I go slowly I still feel like I've done something 'useful'.

All About Me.

 'I'm a [insert word here] expert, and this is what you should do'...  These are the headlines designed to raise your curiosity and dive into the advert riddled world of news articles, only they aren't news, they're just someone's opinionated rubbish that anyone could spout.  I really do despair sometimes.  They are so desperate to fill all that white space and bring in the advertising revenue.  Todays' upsetting feature was a 'I'm an AI expert, and here's why blahblahblah' I couldn't bring myself to read any further than 'why'.

Anyway, I was an hour running short at the end of last week which was a bit disappointing given that my aim to finish slightly up on the week.  I pulled my back on Saturday morning lifting a bag of plaster and starting the floor laying in the old stables.  I did just over an hour run in the afternoon, hoping it would help and although I finished the run, I'm not sure it did me any good.  I felt better on Sunday, but not enough to do another run, and time was short so it was half an hour on the bike partly to see if would be ok for Monday.  It wasn't too bad so a bike to work and back was a good start to this week at least, followed by an hour this morning round by Rodneys.  I didn't feel so 'fluent' towards the end of the run, with my knee feeling a bit sore, mortens neuroma still there and few twinges but since sitting in the office all morning everything seems to have settled down.  Lets hope it was just an off day.

Nearly There.

 2hrs of running, 45mins of cycling required to finish off the week, so that should be doable (is that a word?).  The run will be the most difficult.   I bottled out of doing a run this morning as I was feeling a bit off colour coupled with the fact I needed to get into the office a little earlier to switch some power leads over before the troops arrived.  The plan calls for a 1 and a half hrs run on Sunday, so that leave about half an hour to do plus 45min cycle.  I might try and get the bike in tonight if possible, then that leaves me with slightly more flexible options.  It's mother's day Sunday so that will squeeze my time a bit, and I have half promised that I would conjure up my slow beef meals in the evening.  In short, I should get the total time in even if it's not split quite accurately between the disciplines.

Stretching it A bit.

It's Thursday and I'm managing to keep to the schedule fairly well so far.  Cycle to work on Monday was pushed back to Tuesday, but I got 2 x half hour sessions on the rollers Monday.  An hour's run Wednesday morning with a 45min swim in the evening, then another hour's run this morning.  So, not so much to do at the weekend.  Last night's swim was cut short though due to foot/toe cramps so I need to do something about that.  I read that stretching is probably key, so if I try and do that between now and the next session I hope it improves.  

Jobs for The Boys

Today's threatened fog didn't materialise, so I cycled into work in the rain.  Mainly drizzle really so wasn't too bad.  I'm hoping everything gets dry before home time, it's not the warmest of days so it's good to start dry at least.  This means I'm back on track for the week after 1hr of rollering yesterday (2 x 30mins) but I need to get a swim in without it interfering with an early run or similar.  I need to check the pool schedules. 

On another matter, I might contact an agency about a job this afternoon.  Salary is 20k more than I'm on now, and sounds interesting. ..but do I want to give up a low pressure local job?  Watch this space. 

Weather I Like it Or Not

 Not a good start to the week so far.  Ok, it's only Monday lunchtime, but my planned cycle into the office was halted due to a rather cold, frosty start to the day so I retreated to the rollers where I only managed 35mins before they got the better of me.  I will need to up my game this evening, which will mean more of the same on the rollers or go for  run outside my comfort zone i.e. after my evening meal.  I would have gone swimming if it was possible, but they seem to be geared up for morning lane swimming rather than what they did 5 years ago which was late evening sessions.  I'll more than likely end up on the rollers, so I need to find something interesting to watch on the laptop i.e. Netflix or Youtube.

However, last week went to plan despite missing a swim session, but made up for it with a bit of extra running.  This week is one of the slightly bigger weeks, so I need to keep on top of it.  Weather forecast is for cold mornings but at least not much rain so should be OK if I can get at least 1 ride into to the office otherwise its a busy weekend.

Overs or Unders.

 I have 2 days to do a minimum of 40 mins and 45 mins of running to fulfill this week's schedule.  I'd like to do a bit over really so I can claw back some time lost in week 3, and the only way I can do that is doing a long bike ride.  There's a chance I can get a visit to my mothers in which should be about 2 and a half hours + about an hour's chat to keep her company.  Anyway, I should get he minimum in.  The good thing about this week is that it's one of the less intensive weeks as the hours gradually ramp up over the plan.  Next week will be more difficult to go over as it's about an hour additional to this week.

Uppers and Downers, Either Way Back Home.

 The plan is not going quite smooth enough so far.  I seem to have alternated good with bad weeks (week 7 at the moment), and gradually getting behind o the totals.  I have a chance (albeit slim) to claw some back this week, but we shall see.  I bike to work (about 3hrs there and back) is a good start, and if I can get another one of those in I would bein credit for the week but that's looking unlikely given the rubbish weather at the moment.  In fact, I could blame the weather for the lack of cycling, buy that's just an excuse - I have my rollers and/or turbo.  Anyway, ask me at the end of the week.

Sounds Like a Plan

The 7 month ironman plan stated 1st Jan, ends 29th July and I'm already into week 7.  I've reduced from the original '2 swim sessions a week' to 1.  I'm no swimmer, and I know from experience that I will never get very much better so if I do 2 sessions, that's fine, but not essential (planning wise).  The swim will be pants anyway.

I had a good 1st week, but overall I'm well down on where I need to be.  The week on holiday in Mexico allowed me to claw some time back, but with the travel back taking over 24hrs, I'm only just recovered really.  This week not so bad, but catching up is very difficult at the plan ramps upwards.   More updates to follow.

Self Diagnosis

First post of 2024, and it's February already!  I've already been on holiday (10 days in Cozumel), picked up an odd running injury (morten's neuroma) and started the 7 month training plan.  

The injury started around Christmas and progressively got worse until around mid-Jan when I realised it was not going away quickly.  A diagnosis by Dr. Google brought me to mortens neuroma, a nerve related issue between the 3rd and 4th toe, commonly brought about by wearing high heels and narrow shoes evidently.  I ruled out the high heels as a possible cause but immediately invested in some wide fit running shoes.  In summary, it's not getting worse, but I don't think it's getting better either.  Seems to me that it probably took a long time getting to where it is now, so will take a long time getting back to where it was.  Time will tell, but it's not putting me off running too much, and after a mile or 3 I can't feel it anyway.