Time to train (Week 20 - 11 to go)

Back on the Arran trails - and it's sun-shining!

After having the audacity to take a week off on holiday to go mountain biking, coming home to a pile of work did not help with getting back to the training routine.  And to add to the misery 5 days after being home I started with a cold – no doubt from the flight.

But on the bright side the weather has improved significantly, cold, bright and little to no wind.  Perfect for getting out there (if I can find 28 hours in the day).

Sunday I was still travelling home and went straight into a wedding fair in the afternoon and Monday I had no real excuse for not training other than the huge pile of work that had to be prioritised and waded through.  But Tuesday is coaching night, so a good kick start back to routine.  I really thought I should have felt really good, but my legs were sluggish and I huffed and puffed my way through – probably the cold starting to have an effect.

Part of my benchmark route

Thursday I managed a steady undulating 5 miles, on my benchmark route.  It wasn’t my fastest but not too bad considering the amount of Day nurse floating around in my system.

And this morning I did a quick blast on the bike, in beautiful sunshine.  Out on the trails I didn’t see a soul and it was lovely, before heading back to catch up with some more work.

Great mountain bike trail with some 'wake up' bumps

Weeks activity 21 - 27th February :

Sunday – Still travelling home

Monday – No training – no excuse!

Tuesday – Coaching session 5.4k

Wednesday – Rest day

Thursday – Trail run 8.39k / 156m height gain

Friday – Rest day

Saturday – Bike ride 8.15k / 172m ascent

(Goatfell Race 15.5km / 870m)

Mountain biking in Morocco (Week 19 - 12 to go)

Start of the biking, 9 bikes & 2 support vehicles - rocky terrain

I'm back in one piece after an awesome week biking in Morocco.  The week was full on technical trails with slow rocky ups, fast rockier downs, and the odd switch back road to negotiate. The drops off the trails were totally unforgiving and a little unnerving on the first day, coupled with a different bike, new group and my usual anxiety!

One of the lunch stops

The downside of stopping in a river bed is the knowledge that the route can only go upwards!

Bits of me hurt that I had forgotten I had and I've gained a few bruised to go with the stripy suntan.  That’s not to say it was wall to wall sunshine! No we had some particularly vicious headwinds with a 1.7c chill factor and on the last day torrential rain that changed the dust to mud and resulted in a ‘Plan B’ route.

Stopping for a rest to enjoy the view

Fast easy switch back road

Never having ridden a bike for this distance for one day never mind 6 consecutive days, I was expecting to struggle more than I did – so I think the running must be giving me more stamina than I thought. Fortunately I only fell off once, and that was on a difficult technical bit so it wasn't at speed and got away with a couple of good bruises.

Resting at the top of another climb

Looking back down the valley

For those that are getting to know my style, it didn’t change, slow on the ups, fast on the downs. Happy with the technical bits, not so much on the slow slogs upwards but I did better than I expected to and only opted to use the support vehicle once (and I was not on my own).

All smiles when I get to the top.

Time for the leader to find another route as the path is no longer there!

 All in all I clocked up 273km – pretty dam good for a mountain bike!

Top of the gorge, lunch stop.

Wet and cold hugging the fire - we were steaming!

Weeks activity 13^th – 19^th February :

Saturday – No training (flying out)

Sunday – 35k, steep technical trail

Monday – 65k, lovely run but very windy today.

Tuesday – 55k, good mix of terrain

Wednesday – 45k, amazing descent today

Thursday – 32k, lots of technical up today

Friday – 41k, lashing rain and cold.

(Goatfell Race 15.5km / 870m)

Why do one challenge when you can do three? (Week 18 - 13 to go)

Well it’s time for a rest again – not a full week this time just 4 days before I do my first challenge of 3.  Funny how I always seem to manage to add a few optional extra’s into my challenges.  So next week I’m off to Morocco to do some crazy mountain biking over huge distances but more of that when I get back.

Sunday's trail run, picture just doesn't show how bad the conditions were.

As for this week, my ‘quiet’ week started off with a really tough trail run on the Sunday. The weather was promising but soon deteriorated to howling gales and lashing rain. Trying to run uphill against the wind felt like running through treacle but I managed a respectable 9k and the steep downhill made up for the pain.

Tuesday was coaching night, and some fartlek and then into rest days. 

Watson on a walk - a rest day

For me rest days still include a good walk with the dog, so I’m never quite switched off.

And next weeks blog may be a bit late depending on wi-fi access and when I get back. And I really will have to get into gear!

Weeks activity 6^th – 12^th February :

Saturday – No training

Sunday – Trail run 8.9k /231m height gain

Monday – No training

Tuesday – Coaching session 4.57k Fartlek

Wednesday – Rest day

Thursday – Rest day

Friday – Rest day

(Goatfell Race 15.5km / 870m)

Motivation is a must (Week 17 - 14 to go)

Friday's run in the rain with Watson

What with snow, storms and lashing rain for most of the week, I have to say my motivation has been a little lacking.

Sunday's bike ride in the snow - didn't quite go to plan

Sunday was fun when I set of biking and quickly reached snow – I’d forgotten how hard it is to go uphill with the tyres slipping and sliding all over the place and decided to cut through the forest.  Needless to say I missed the path and my ‘off piste’ route resulted in a short bike carry and sinking up to mid thigh in ice cold boggy sludge! Brr.. if anyone was nearby I'm sure they heard my shrieks of laughter (mixed with the odd profanity) and must have wondered what on earth was going on.

Off piste muddiness!

Even on Wednesday when the day started out bright, the rain turned up just in time for my bike ride and the track proved interesting with a few trees down along the way.

Tree brought down by the high winds blocks the route

As always the thought of going out in the bad weather is worse than the reality and knowing I would be listing my weeks activity on my blog spurred me into action as I have to have done something.  And after all I did  start the blog to help with my motivation – so that ploy seems to have worked.

Weeks activity 30^th January – 5^th February :

Saturday – No training

Sunday – Mountain bike 8.03k / 195m height in snow

Monday – No training

Tuesday – Coaching session 3.63km (fast laps)

Wednesday – Mountain bike 7.9k/ 166m height

Thursday – No training

Friday – Trail run 7.1km /136m height gain

(Goatfell Race 15.5km / 870m)