More mud, a ditch & lots of scratches

19 mile bike ride on Saturday - from home & it took over 1 hour longer than a similar distance in the Forest last weekend - a little tougher!

We went up Watley Lane which was still an unridable quagmire on top. Dad called when I had just pedalled up the steep first bit (by accident - he meant to call Mum) and I subjected him to some dodgy sounding heavy breathing as I tried to muster enough breath to talk to him! We we went through Twyford & headed up Cheesefoot Head on a track that's been in accessible due to red flags on previous rides. It was a much easier acscent than the Fawley Down track we've done before. Then headed down Kings Way and Warren Lane - love that downhill! From Baybridge, we hit tarmac as we were in danger of not making our planned night out...

Good boogy at the Dungeon later on - they seem to have covered up the dancefloor smell problem with increased smoke machine usage! M & I came closer to haveing a long walk home, but after half a mile or so, finally got a cab.

Picked lots of beans at the allotment today then aimed to get teh garden looking less neglected as it wasn't raining. For once!

Streams are easier than bogs....

Bike Ride from the house on Thursday night - not as long as planned as Husband was having chain/derailleur trauma which is not entirely resolved!

I was not exactly enthusiastic when Husband suggested a route including Thomsons Lane as it's been too muddy recently - lots of pushing my bike & lifting it out of sticky bits. But I was proved wrong - there's been so much rain now that it was more like cycling up a stream - much of the mud's washed away. It's interesting doing the same route & seeing it change as the weather & seasons change. Came back on a bit of bridleway we've never cycled before that links Stoke Woods with the farm track we normally use - nice fast downhill bit.

Husband wasn't feeling great - trapped wind and cramping toes!

He's out tonight so I was at the gym on my own - lovely and quiet on a Friday evening. I added in more 11k time to my treadmill sesh, taking it up to 5.1K in 30mins. Also did 30 mins x trainer and used 2 weights machines. As I'm alone, I'm being bad & have the central heating on atm - so not right in July!

Mountain Bike Lite

19 mile route on Sunday - very easy forest circuit from Burley but Husband & I kind of hurtled around it. We only realised afterwards that we hadn't stopped except to open gates.... there was a weird bright yellow thing in the sky (which was a weird blue colour) - what's all that about?

It was the first outing for our new bike carrier - clips on quickly without faff & bikes stayed on. It does have a number plate but I have doctored the photo.

Skating yesterday - back at Gosport even though the lessons don't start til next week. G & I reckoned we skated more than usual as we weren't spending time staring at coach in disbelief thinking "she wants us to do that??!!". It was lovely & quiet - I enjoyed being able to practise skating backwards without risk of injury although G doesn't seem to think that waht I think iis a chassis is anything like. Ah well!

Ran with L & V after work in the forest - we need to work onthe route as there was way to much gingerly negotiating puddles & boggy bits. Saw that weird yellow thing again though. Not enough rain. There'll be drought soon...

Justified my dhansak!

Ran this morning from the house and loved it - took the off road route up through the woods, bit of rd up to the Fox & Hounds, them back via the farm. It didn't rain & I had my new playlist blasting in my ears (Scissor Sisters r good to run to). 5.6k in 34 mins - fairly respectable. I love off road - more for my brain to do & it's great feeling as if I'm in the middle of the countryside byut being so close to home.

Husband scored major brownie points this afternoon, helping me to navigate Monsoon sale (got a gorgeos embroidered kaftan top & a very classy linen dress).

Went to the gym later as Husband was keen to swim - short visit so just 25mins x trainer followed by rowing resistance machine, lat pull downs & incline press.

Any mud will do

Bike ride this evening with husband M & A. That's AS who works with Husband as opposed to AR.

Husband selected very muddy route so that M wouldn't whine about not being able to utilise his mud tyres properly and because A has a new bike to get muddy.



So we did the muddiest of the circuits from the house, getting back just before dark and just as it was starting to heave down with rain. I definitely held the boys up at the beginning - I am so rubbish at mud! Less so at the end - one of my few natural physical attributes is being able to keep going....

Husband saw a hare - but he blocked my view! Some bats in the twilight at the end.

Day 4 of Big D went OK - I ate too much this evening but I was ravenous after the ride! Didn't go above calorie allowance with exercise added in though - so not too bad.

Flushed with over enthusiasm

[Assume geordie accent] It's day 3 of the Big D and FatBird is in the diary room...

After 6 weeks of being not-very-well-behaved (to be honest it all wemt to pot end of April), I'm back on the Big D, happily obsessing about calories in vs calories out again. Rediscovering the joys of cherry tomatoes and finding a few new pleasures (free melon wedges at work are a huge help!). Husband is being very supportive, weighing butter & measuring oil when cooking tonight.

Exercise - really enjoyed the jog after work in the forest last night. 33:15 which included 2 gates, 1 stile and a very boggy bit. I guess that if L, V & I were proper trail runners, we'd have ploughed through the middle with no regard for getting cars muddy afterwards! No show from the boys - how not surprising.

Gym tonight - felt really good on the treadmill to the point where I'm going to play around with the speed next time. 15 mins on the X trainer and the incline chest press machine.

Flushed with over enthusiasm post RFL, I've signed up for a 10K in October at Beaulieu:
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/10k/venues/beaulieu/

BIC skating - no good!

It was such a good plan - as there's a 3 week gap between skating lessons because Gosport rink's been taken over by Planet Ice & the lessons now need to align with their other rinks, G & I decided to try the temporary rink at Bournemouth's BIC instead.

Not impressed by the temporary rink at all - it's swimming in about a cm of water & you can see the matting under the (thin!) layer of ice. Skate blades didn't cut into the ice - just sloshed about in water. Very uneven - don't think they recut the ice between sessions.

More subjectively, we didn't like the music as it hindered our conversation...gave up & went to Wagamama's for noodles.

Gosport next week!

Race for Life Southampton 2007

Done!

Ran with V & we completed it in 32:45 - not my target, but given that it's only the second run I've done since I turned my ankle 2 months ago, I'm happy! V's target was to beat 35mins - so she's well & truly achieved her objective. We were the fastest of the team - not that that's the point.

C's still got knee problems so she ran/walked - still managed a creditable time.

10,000 women did the Southa,pton race this year - very impressive seeing a stream of women ahead of us on the Avenue.

Gimme Some Lovin'

Just got home after a good girls night out in Bournemouth - organised by G (who was looking very cool and very gorgeous in her skeleton top). Pizza followed by bouncing around in O'Neills to a soul/rock band who played lots of what G described as middle aged music that we thoroughly enjoyed - James Brown, T Rex, Santana, Van Morrison, Stones, Primal Scream covers....
Managed to get lost going home though & ended up in Christchurch!

Gym tonight. 10 mins x trainer, just over 5K on the treadmill then some lat pulldowns. It was hard work!

Running again - yeh!

I was delighted to run 5K in the New Forest tonight without even a hint of ankle pain - my first proper run sice hurting my ankle ages ago. It was almost sunny - which given the weather atm is the equivalent to a barmy summers evening! Good company as well - V ran the full 5K despite having stitch twice on different sides. Our time was 35 mins - but this did include climbing over a stile and edging gingerly around boggy bits. I guess a "real" trail runner would have just stomped through.

V wasn't happy afterwards as her car's roof is playing up. Again. After repeated visits to the garage.

Passed level 5 skating tonight - but no badge pic here because the ice rink were out of stock!

Off Piste

I thought today's ride was going to be quite easy with the exception of a muddy patch or 2 towards the end as it was mostly New Forest - but it took us 3:38 to ride 27.5km!

This did include quite a bit of navigation discussion and a few u-turns. There were some gorgeous bits of woodland just north of the National Park boundary - including a very attractive bit we weren't supposed to be in (1 of our u-turns).

X managed to fall off in style - she was attempting to bypass a muddy puddle and in doing so, pitched herself sideways off her bike and landed in a very smelly wet ditch! Not hurt - but the impact punctured her rear tyre. M's getting very adept at quick inner tube changes.

S was being very manly today - not even wincing when C gave him some very stingy antiseptic spray after he cut his shin with his pedal. Biggest shock was S & X arriving to our start point in Fritham early!

Went to the Royal Oak afterwards with Husband, S & X - summer lightning and a fab ploughmans with local cheeses and home baked bread.

Gym & Digging

Gym on Friday - treadmill was hard work. Also did 20 mins on the x trainer and used all 3 of the upper body weights machines.

Dug up potatoes on Saturday - about an hour of hard labour!

Weekend-Wednesday Activity

I had to take last Wednesday off work as I had a stomach bug - pain everywhere , out of control temperature and a close relationship with the loo. My resident Environmental Health Officer reckons I may have picked up a bug from teh preceding Saturday's ride - there was an awful lot of mud including lots of animal poo! So no exercise on Wed or Thurs apart from dashing to the bathroom! C reckons she may have picked up something similar from the same ride.

Walked down to Easteligh for pizza at M&A's on Friday night.

Pleasant wander in the woods on Sunday with Baby Sister, BIL, A and J. J had a whale of a time jumping up & down in puddles & comparing sticks with Husband - nice to see the woods being appreciated from a 2 year old's perspective!

Another short walk on Monday - I was in Utrecht for work and my hotel was in a v.pretty country park. I think I did more walking though at Amsterdam airport - very glad I got chaged into trainers for the return journey.

25km bike ride this evening from the house - very muddy, but good to get some fresh air. I switched to road at the end with C&M as it was getting dark but Husband & M stuck to the route. 2 punctures - 1 for each M.