In hot water.

The heating is back on!!! Last night I had my first bath in nearly two weeks (in this house annyway) and this morning I didn't risk hypothermia just getting out of bed.

I'm feeling a little bit under the weather at the moment and so last night and this morning I only ran 1.5 miles. Nothing serious, I just don't want to make it any worse.

Bike fixing day.

Other than mopping out the cellar this morning, after a frozen waste pipe caused the washing machine to back-up, today was mostly spent fixing bikes.

• I tightened up the chain on my motorbike.
• I fit new brake pads, replaced a cable and straightened the rear mech on my Slayer. The cable had pulled through the bosses and was causing the mech to move with the suspension. The most noticeable effects of this were an inability to switch into the lowest gear and the mech interfering with the spokes.
• Straightened the rear mech on my winter training bike. I rode this bike only twice after getting knocked off it last summer and the main reason was because the shifting was messed up.
• Tightend up the crank arm bolts on my tandem (all four of them). They were creaking horribly last time we went out on it.

With the winter training bike fixed I put it on my turbo trainer and did a 30 minute session immediately before I went for run.

Longish run.

After tiling for most of the day I managed to get out for an 8 mile run just before the sun went down. I took a few snaps with my phone which I've uploaded. One of the sun disappering below the horizon, some cattle in the Duke of Portland's flood meadows, Clipstone Colliery - almost completely demolished now except for the headstocks and finally a frozen lake.
I ran in my fell running shoes because my normal trainers are still wet from a run last weekend on a Welsh mountain, no heating makes it had to dry stuff. The fell shoes have next to no cushioning and by the end of the run I felt like I'd run a marathon. Hopefully, I'll get out on one of my bikes tomorrow...

Tiling.

Spent most of my day sticking tiles to the wall. Much easier than I expected.

Gym Again.

Earlier this year I tried to use the gym but it was so full of people trying to burn off hristmas that I turned around and went for a run instead. On Monday night I tried again and on this occassion I was actually able to get a workout in!

On Tuesday I did an early morning 3-miler and backed it up with 2000 slow metres in the pool. This morning I've done the same 3 mile run and will have to wait to see what the Tri-Club has in store for me this evening at the pool.

Review of Annual Goals.

At the start of this month I thought that I should briefly review the goals I set at the start of the year.

Firstly, I decided to look at what I had actually been spending my time doing and what has been working for me.

• Running everyday.
• Blogging regularly.
• Focusing on the Ironman and looking forward to the training ramping up.
• Practicing the guitar when I can.
• Riding my motorbike to work when the weather is right.
• Revising for the motorcycle theory test.
• Watching my diet.
• Getting more sleep (7-8 hours).
• Preparing the garden to grow veg.

There is no mention of side projects or learning new technologies and if I'm honest with myself that sort of thing is difficult to fit in when you've recently moved house and are attempting to train for an Ironman. The technology goals were borne out of a desire to be more effective in my day job, but on reflection that will be better served by being more relaxed and less stressed about trying to fit everything in. Being fit, healthy and not too tired will also help me get through the work day. I've been really enjoying squeezing in a little guitar practice and whether or not I eventually start advertising as a teacher I will try to play more. I've been eating better but most of the food was quite simple such as meat or fish with a green salad. I think sleep is really important too and so getting enough will be a new goal.

Secondly, based on how things are going I'll write revised goals (less detail this time unless there's a major change).

Sport

• Ironman UK
• Performance Testing
• Run Everyday
• Keep a training log
• Low racing weight for Ironman.
• Get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights - Sometimes this won't be possible but I'll try hard.
  

Life

• Keep up wedding fund
• Blog 'nearly' everyday
• Grow some veg
• Continue to eat a healthy diet - as opposed to cook more. Note : I bet Ann-Marie that I would eat no chocolate until after the Ironman!
  
• Play the guitar more often - as opposed to teach guitar.
• Watch Less TV
• Sort out our new house - tiling next weekend, and finish off the amateur carpentry I started in our bedroom.

Learning

• Pass my motorcycle test - the theory test is booked for early March.
• Learn some Greek - not yet started, nearer the time for this one.

Hopefully, I've made my goals a little more achievable. We'll see.

Another morning in the stone age house...

Still no heating or hot water. It's so cold this morning that our cat has wedged himself between my leg and the laptop to keep warm. He's going to be almost as disappointed as I will be when I have to get up for my strip wash.

Cwm Carn

Today I went to Cwm Carn in South Wales, it's only 15 minutes from where we were staying at Ann-Marie's mums house, and home to some pretty hard core mountain biking. It's the first time that I've used my mountain bike since October last year and unfortunately it wouldn't go into the lower gears which is an issue when you're dealing with the Twrch trail which begins with a massive climb. After much frustration going up, and a maximum heart rate of 183 bpm, I hit the descent with relish. There are some amazing bermed sections of singletrack and a few rocky bits, although no Coed-y-Brenin style rock gardens. The route is only 15 km so if I hadn't struggled so much with the climb I would have probably gone around twice. I followed the ride with a quick run but because I was at the bottom of a valley it was inevitably uphill. I always forget how battered I feel after a tough mountain bike ride, it's a true full body workout.

Stone Age

Our lives are in dis-array at the moment because our central heating boiler, serviced by British Gas not three months ago, has just been condemned by the very same. That means no hot water or heating for ten days at least. This can be added to the growing list of disasters which have befallen our new house including our bathroom fitter buggering off on holiday for a month having only fitted half the bathroom and our plasterer getting knocked off his bike a couple of days before he was due to start work. I went running this morning so that afterwards I would feel warmer during my 'character building' strip wash.

Other than that bombshell it been a fairly quiet week mostly recovering from the half marathon last weekend. This weekend I'm off to South Wales to look at wedding venues and so I should get some quality mountain biking done while I'm there. Cwm Carm or Afan Argoed? Decisions, decisions....

Watford Half

This morning I made my annual pilgrimage to Watford in Hertfordshire for the Watford Half Marathon. It's a tough undulating course but it's where I got my half P.B. back in 2004. Since then I've got gradually slower until this year when I finally saw some improvement and got a 1:48. I started off running eight and a half minute miles and then waited for the slow down but it never came. In fact when I got to the halfway point I felt pretty good and went for a negative split. That's the hardest I've run in years.

Snow & Panic

This morning when I poked my head out of the front door to check for motorcycling suitability the only reason I didn't get on the bike was the wind. It wasn't too cold, there was no rain, snow or even a frost. Then it all changed! The three pictures above were taken over the space of a couple of minutes. My usual route that skirts around the outside of Nottingham was blocked and so I turned around and braved the city centre traffic. It was a good call as it was all blue skies and flowing traffic. The 'city folk' had no idea what was happening a few miles outside of the city limits. I saw several abandoned cars, the aftermath of a crash and lots of emergency vehicles heading in the opposite direction and all because of a few minutes of heavy snow. The picture below is the view from my office window when I got to work - there's a little cloud but the sun is bright. Hopefully, we'll have no more snow until tomorrow when I can take advantage of it with some slippy mountain bike action!!!

Dark Sky

This was the sky as I left work on Wednesday, the picture doesn't really do it justice. Blue sky to the west and then a perfect ridge of black clouds.

Last night I went along to my triathlon club's evening swim session to pay my annual membership fees and to get in the water for the first time since December. My arms ached after the first couple of lengths, but all the running I've been doing has built up my endurance and this was reflected in the pool. It still hurt though!

I haven't written anything since Sunday but I've been consistent with my running having logged a 3 miler on Monday, then 6.2, a short sharp 1.5 and another 3 miler tonight. Both 3 milers were done at a brisk but sustainable pace and averaged 8.5 minute miles. I would like to see that fall to 7.5 minute miles at some point and continued weight loss should help. I've lost around nine pounds since New Year Day mostly down to a reduced carb diet.

Upside down dog.

I ran 3 miles on Friday, 6.2 on Saturday and another 3 miles tonight. We walked the greyhounds today and then went to visit a friend of Ann-Marie's. His dog for some reason prefered to tilt his head right back instead of twisting it around and I managed to catch him in the act with my phone.

Essential Selection

I spent most of this evening catching up on paperwork that had been allowed to pile up since Christmas. Tonight's run was a 6.2 miler with a headtorch and Pete Tong. Funny how much quicker a run goes with the Essential Selection assaulting your ear drums. I think from now on I'll make my mp3 player a regular companion on anything but the shortest runs.

Looking forward to the weekend - it's been a long week!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Today has been hectic, up at 5am and at my desk by 7am. Tonight we had a plumber coming to look at the current state of our bathroom before he fits the new suite that was delivered today. Only at about 10:30 did I manage to get out for a 1.5 mile run. Prior to running I weighed-in and found that I had put on nearly half a kilo since last week, although my body fat percentage was stable (83.2kg & 19%). I can put this down to the huge curry I had on Saturday and possibly the 'salad' I ate in a restaurant on Friday night. In fact I know that earlier in the week I was more than 84kg and the hard line attitude to food that I've taken since then has pushed the numbers back down. Unfortunately, this means that I need to lose about 3kg in ten days to meet my 80kg by Watford Half target which is frankly going to be difficult. I need a 2310kcal deficit per day to achieve that weight loss and even with a combination of calorie restriction and increased training it will still be impossible to create that deficit without ruining my half marathon performance. I'll have to be strict and just see where I end up when I weigh-in Wednesday.

Busy

I've been busy the last few days but managed to squeeze in a 3 miler both yesterday and tonight. I've an early start planned tomorrow and hopefully it won't be frozen so I can use the motorbike.

Spuds

Ann-Marie and I started the day by ripping out most of the bathroom. I left Ann-Marie scraping wallpaper while I changed the spark plugs on my car. The first HT lead that I disconnected revealed that the reason my car had been mis-firing was because the lead was rotted so I got on the motorbike and went to the local independent autofactors. I was chuffed to find that a set of HT leads were half the price of Halfords. Later I layed out my seed potatoes in trays to chit. I've got four varieties to try out; Wilja, Desiree, Duke of York & King Edward which are a mix of early and main crops. They'll chit for about six weeks and then get planted.

Before sorting out the spuds I did a 7 mile run that turned out to be one of the toughest runs I've done in a while.

Daemon

Ann-Marie was feeling ill today and so her daemon was keeping an eye on her (you'll understand if you've seen Golden Compass).

Most of today was spent trawling around bathroom showrooms and then to my parents' house for their anniversary dinner.
Between bathrooms and dinner I did a new run. It was made up of parts of other routes and was measured at 4.5 miles.

Golden Compass

I ran 3 miles after the cinema tonight and I've now run everyday for two months, having almost clocked up 200 miles.
The 'Golden Compass' was good but there were enough gaps to warrant reading the book. I'm sure the witch was the girl from Casino Royale, I'll have to check on imdb.

Knackered

A tough day at work meant that I could only manage 1.5 miles of running last night .

Tonight we're off to the cinema to see 'The Golden Compass' and so my run could well be short again.