Allsorts

Just cycling to work on Thursday & Friday. I have decided that panniers are the way to go - my laptop is just too heavy on my back & I'm not sure it will fit in my bag now I'm wearing more clothes at work (that sounds like I've been working semi naked - please be reassured I haven't been!).

Our new tradition of No Cook Friday (which I'm really enjoying) resulted in a little walking in high heels in Winchester between pub & cinema.


And next to no exercise on Saturday bar the wii.



Sunday was more active - I saw off P, K & L who were cross country running in Hursley (their first race) then went mountain biking with Goldfish, X, S and Husband. S & X were curious to try the South Downs Way to see if doing the full thing in May would be a good training goal. Unfortuneately, X wasn't well so we changed our plans slightly - which pleased Husband as it meant we were able to do one of his favourite impossible downhills. It's been tamed a little though which means it's just steep now as opposed to lethal. Beautiful weather- golden autumn light.

I swam quite well later on - up to 50 lengths now & the breathing is so much easier! I tried to think "hands are paddles" - still got some work to do...

Running tonight. Did some speedwork with the 7pm group then 5K with the 8pm group.

Top 40 list progress

1. Get into size 12 jeans - hmm, gained 2lbs this week, so not so good so far!
2. Follow & execute a crochet pattern - will probably be baby bootees - thanks for the patterns K!
6. Inflict something homemade on all female relatives for Christmas - I have a commission from Mum for a green based necklace - and I feel inspired to attempt baby proof stuff for my sisters.
10. Finish a George Elliot novel - ordered Mill on the Floss today
13. Do a press up - vaguely tried tonight at Body Combat but reverted to boxed after just one failed half hearted attempt!
14. Swim a mile with proper breaststroke - getting better at swimming so may attempt this soon.
16. Use my wii fit - success, enjoying it!
29. South Downs Way - have signed up for this on a mountain bike in May
30. Try somewhere new for mountain biking - looks like this will be Portugal in May
31. Do level 2 coaching training - have attempted to sign up for a course at the end of Oct, but have bee thwarted by Run in England's web site!
33. Great South Run - feeling really confident about this now that I know I can do the distance.
34. Half marathon - this will probably be the WRN women only one at Castle Combe in April
36. Go somewhere new - Portugal planned for May - learning to sail
38. Try out a different spa or gym - plan is hatching to try the Bath one in November...
39. Sleep in our tent -yup, done!

So, two completed so far. Not amazing progress, but I'm not panicking yet. The goals I'm most concerned about are 1 (getting thinner), 13 (press up), 27 (berms) and given my lack of speediness, 32 (10k in under 55 mins).

Juliana was back as Body Combat instructor - good reminder of how good she is. Her control is so sharp and she motivated us really well. Had a spot of walking too as I had another London meeting.

Bloke Flu

It's probably a good thing that I didn't blog much last week as I was in hypochondriac mode - I had the world's mildest cold & whinged & whined like a bloke about it!

Very grateful that I didn't pass the virus over to Eastleigh WRN's Z who completed the Great North Run on Sunday in a very creditable 2 hours 33mins - impressive stuff, especially as she ran it all and raised over £500 for the Alzheimers Society.

Due to my life threatening illness, I didn't do much apart from cycle to work on Wed & Friday and some wii-ing. Gym on Friday was kept gentle - 5 mins running on the treadmill and I was dead, so switched to x trainer!

Lots of walking at the weekend at the Boat Show and at the Goodwood Revival - I especially enjoyed the latter & plan to go in costume next year. The pic is of Rowan Atkinson going around the circuit on top of a mini...

Camping Revisited

Quite a few years ago, Husband declared himself "too old for camping" following a rather soggy experience where trenchfoot seemed a real risk. So I was surprised when he declared himself ready to try it again - but with conditions:

• Only in sunny weather
• Only one night at a time
• Adjourn to pub for eating

This weekend qualified on the weather front & I found a couple of appealing bike rides in Dorset that were a tad too far away for a day ride. Found a campsite at Osmington, rechecked forecast & packed the car with vast quantities of stuff.

Saturday's ride was 14.5miles, starting from Maiden Castle south of Dorchester with 490m of ascent. Real mix of terrain & scenery - loved a stretch along a chalk ridge at the beginning with sweeping views of the coast - and then Hardy's monument (that's kiss me not far from the madding crowd Hardy). Foresty bit, heathland and some fields, finishing up with a strtch of tarmac. It was surreal at the end seeing HRH's toytown of Poundbury on the left and the giant earthwork of Maiden Castle on the right.

We got the tent up fine, showered and headed for the beach where we watched the sunset. Pub - which did my favourite Badger ales - and Husband discovered their cider. As we walked back to the tent, we had one of our occaisional "wouldn't it be great to live somewhere where we could see the stars instead of an orange glow" conversations - kicked off by seeing the milky way.

Later, we discovered that we hadn't chosen the best orientation for the tent - our feet were above our heads and Husband got cramp. But apart from swivelling airbeds at midnight, a reasonable night's sleep. Bacon rolls for breakfast & successfully tried out my new expresso maker - thanks C & M!

This may be our only camping this year as I was struggling on the warmth front - duvet thing that's with my air bed, sleeping bag, fleece blanket & PJs and I was just about warm enough. But it's my first Top 40 big tick.

Sunday's ride was a bit longer (22 miles) and a bit higher (730m) starting from Ringstead. Loved the coastal views - and again, there was a real mix of tracks. We did have a few navigational glitches - guess where the bridleway moments across fields, and we managed to do a stretch of footpath by mistake. Guilty pleasure as it was good singletrack.

Back to car for malt loaf & the drive home.

Longer than usual commute today as it included a store visit. Running was good tonight - but my legs are feeling a little spent still after the 10 miler last week.

My first 10 mile run

I was so pleased when Z agreed to do a longer run with me tonight. She has the Great North Run coming up so it fitted pretty well with her training. Agreed on 10 miles - 16K and further than I've ever run before. One of the reasons I was chuffed is that Z is the Queen of Pacing - she is incredibly consistent so I figured she'd be the ideal partner. I was pleasantly surprised to get a a note from L who I hadn't seen for a few months saying that she'd be coming too. And J, despite feeling a little sore from her first ever 10K on Monday, decided to join us for part of teh route.
We did a figure of 8 route - starting off climbing up through Stoke Park Woods as it would have been criminal not to on a beautiful evening! The rest of the route was road - and comparatively flat - so we did the hard bit first.

And we did it! 110 minutes which I'm pleased with - esp as the aim was to simply do the distance, not to push speed. J did the first 7.5K as she'd planned. So good to have Z, J and L to chat to which made it enjoyable rather than a slog. And the Queen of Pacing's skills were much used - my knee was starting to declare its presence after 9K, but all I had to do was slow slightly to Z's perfect speed and it cleared.

Best of luck to Z - I'm convinced she'll be fine with the half marathon based on tonight's run. And I'm no longer dreading the Great South - just need to watch my pacing!

Pedal, wii, mackerel and mixed feelings at running

Bike Ride on Saturday to celebrate S's birthday. X organised a gentle pedal along the Test Way with lunch at the Mayfly. It wasn't quite as sunny as we'd hoped - but it didn't rain. Phase 2 of birthday celebrations was later on - I demolished vast quantities of sparkling wine and some of Kitty's very good pizza - and we adjourned to S & X's dedicated wii room (very jealous!) to play tennis. G is no longer a wii virgin. Finished the day with some fabulous cheesecake.

On Sunday, Husband made good on an offer he made a long time ago to take our godson H fishing. He headed over to Hengistbury Head with H, his brothers & dad whilst I attempted crabbing with K & W. Boys caught 1 fish, we failed miserably to get a crab. The mackerel provided lunch for H's semi veggie brother A whilst we had burgers - love beach bbqs. I figure that we walked a couple of miles at least - so a bit of exercise.

Running was a bit mixed yesterday. I was really impressed with J & N achieving their first 10k, but I felt really bad about D who had to cut back early with hip problems. Mystery injuries are so frustrating. The later standard group did well on their first hill. Running tonight was just me & L - beautiful evening jog in the woods with light best described as golden!

Does technique make a difference?

No cycling today as I was in London - not as much walking as this normally entails as Husband kindly dropped me at Winchester station which gave me a very painless train journey.
Following a fruitless search for my goggles, we went swimming tonight. I'm finding the head-in-water thing much more natural and I had no half drowned moments - a result!
Less successful wer Husband's spare goggles which dug into my eye area quite painfully - I now know why they are his spares.
I really appreciated Husband giving me some coaching at the end - my arms haven't been contributing very much to my stroke which I now know is more down to lousy technique than my lack of upper body strength. So next swim will require:

• Not drowning - still getting my breathing better!
• Using my hands as more definitive paddles (as opposed to vague ones)
• Not letting my hands come further back than my ears when pulling back.

Did some wii sport later - he beat me at tennis again & I attempted the boxing game which exhausted me as I didn't worry about technique and simply pummelled my opponent!

Soggy Wednesday

Yesterday was the first time in ages that I got thoroughly drenched whilst pedalling home. I was in a better position than my colleague B who'd forgotten his waterproof trousers - however, my smugness was repaid by karma as I got even wetter at the gym entrance later on (canopy suddenly off loaded big amount of water onto me - so I got to do Body Combat wearing very wet cotton leggings - nice!).

I haven't rambled about kit for a while - so here goes - essential cycling wet weather gear:

• Waterproof socks.
• Waterproof overtrousers. I dont bother for showers or drizzle, but these make a big difference when it's pouring.
• Bicycle clip to prevent overtrouser/chain interaction. I never have one and have been using a reflective snap on band instead which performs quite well. None with me yesterday so I tucked overtrousers into socks - not a good move as water then trickled down the top of the sock....
• Waterproof bag. My Crumpler is pretty good at keeping my office clothes dry, but it struggles a little with very heavy rain and puddle spray, hence:
• Carrier bag(s). Anything I don't want to get damp gets an extra barrier.
• Wateproof jacket - ideally with zip pockets so I'm not scrabbling in my bag for keys etc, getting contents of bag unecessarily soggy.

Shoes were still wet this morning as were my gloves (my waterproof ones are winter only) so have switched to drier alternatives for the day.

Staycationing in Northumberland

Our final summer staycation was in Northumberland, staying with my parents. I've been very keen to try the new Lonesome Pine trail at Kielder as we'd enjoyed the Deadwater Trail so much last year. Mum & Dad arranged a walk up in Kielder so we were able to travel with them (and cadge afternoon tea afterwards in Bellingham).

The trail was 12 miles long. Deadwater has had its red rating disputed by some as it has black leanings in places - Lonesome is also likely to be discussed but more in the other direction as it seemed more blue in areas - not esp technical (yay!) but enough challenges to keep the little grey cells ticking over. They seem to be in the process of adding more bits to it so I'm hoping that it grows more comfortably into its grade. All a bit academic really as I still chickened many sections! I did manage the north shore at the summit - a rarity - but it is a whopping 2m wide apparently to counteract the strong windy gusts across the exposed hillside. Husband did very well. I loved the views - especially with purple heather contrasting with red rowan berries (the latter is the sign of a hard winter apparently).

Middle sister, BIL and my nephews D (4) and C (nearly 1) came over so we spent the day at Cragside where we all got the chance to try adventure playgrounds - their trim trail is designed for 10-adult. I still can't do monkey bars! Fair amount of walking around the grounds - landscaped hillside, lakes providing HP power to the innovative house, formal gardens all surrounded by Northumberland hills. Pleased to discover that it takes much more effort to allow D to just about win running races now!

Coast on Sunday - 22 mile bike ride from Dunstan (should have been Craster but we couldn't get a parking space) whilst my folks walked again. Easy bridleways and byways. There was a scarecrow fete thing at Rennington which was entertaining - never seen an ostrich scarecrow before! Stepping stones across the river Aln were non existent so we took off shoes & socks to wade across. My favourite bit was along the stunning coastline - views to Dunstanburgh castle to the north, sand, rockpools, seabirds, fabulous! We took the bikes onto the beach at Boulmer to try out the hard sand. Very different to Friday's ride, but just as memorable.

Very grateful to parents for hospitality - which included packed lunches which are a novel addition to our bike rides.

We got back in time for a little allotmenteering before running.

The Beginners are no more - they all ran 30mins non stop so are now Intermediates. I also enjoyed the earlier standard run (soon to be renamed the advanced run I think!).

Big achievements tonight as well - 5K in under 40mins which I know is a milestone for L - both she and J ran really well.

30mins wii-ing tonight, 15 last night. Have discovered that I can't do shoulder stands.