A Day With Dirt Divas

Long time, no blog. And I miss it so I’m returning to the random ramblings of the Fat Bird world.

I’m such a chicken on my mountain bike – so much so that I needed to be chased up to book the course that Husband gave me last August for my birthday with Dirt Divas. Back to Basics, women only in Crowthorne Woods in Berkshire on Sunday. And I wasn’t alone in having my course gifted to me by a partner keen to get girlfriend/wife more confident on a bike.

Loved that we started off by learning how to get our bikes through a v gate – or into a bike shop – with dignity! Then it really was back to basics – some of which I knew, some of which was new to me. We were in small groups of 5 or 6 which felt about right. I hadn’t really twigged how much keeping the pedals flat affects balance – and how to move my weight over the bars when pedalling up hills. I did know – and already use - the thumbs trick for keeping the bars straight when pushing hard uphill. Probably the best bit was emphasising where we should be looking, which strangely isn’t at the ground just in front of the bike...

After lunch, we got to put skills into practice on single track, taking turns to tag immediately behind our coach Jacqueline and getting feedback. She claimed to have eyes in the back of her helmet! My crimes are staring at the ground and locking my knees.

The terrain was mostly twisty forest stuff that flowed very nicely without many hills. We also got to play in a bit called the Quarry with some steep descents – not my favourite kind of thing, but actually got to enjoy them. The trick is focusing, looking for and look at the exit point.

Only down point for me was forgetting any sunscreen and the very dull drive home.

So, the test will be whether my riding improves! I need to get on some single track soon or I’m worried I’ll forget it all.

Kirkcudbright & Skye

More holiday blogging as I've got internet access again after a few days camping.
Tuesday in Cumbria was spent walking around Arnside Knott - one of Husband & I's favourite spots from way back when we were at Lancaster Uni. Clear blue skies meant that the Cumbrian hills were really visible (for once) from across the Kent estuary. We then drove over Hardknott Pass, stopping for a wander at the Roman fort.
Wednesday was spent with Middle Sister, C and MBIL along the easy going cycle path that now connects Caton with Glasson Dock through Lancaster - more old stomping grounds for us! C looked very contented on th back of MBIL's bike - managing to fall asleep on the way back.
Drove up to Borgue nr Kirkcudbright to glamp in a wigwam for 3 nights. This is a wooden hut type thing with electricity, mini fridge, microwave, kettle and sleeing platform with foam mattresses that can in theory sleep 4-5. Or me & Husband very comfortably! Loved the campsite too - and plan to return.
Rain meant we did sightseeing in Kirkcudbright on Thursday, with a gentle riverside amble.
Friday - we finally got the bikes to one of the 7stanes. Dalbeattie was one of the first to be built & its signature challenge is "The Slab" in the picture. Much too scary for me - it's a kind of vertical drop. As for Husband - well, cameras don't lie do they??
My technique was abysmal as per usual - although I did improve a little towards the end with my very own (patio) slab type drop off. And I've done my first berms! Very little - but hey, that's 2 Top 40s covered in one afternoon (other was mtb-ing somewhere new).
Very excited to see a red squirrel - and Husband saw a pine martin.
Dalbeattie doesn't exactly flow in many places, but it's certainly challenging and the views were fabulous. Again, a return is planned.
Saturday was spent mostly in the car, driving to Skye. We're in a cottage with the Fabulous In Laws for a week.
Weather today was abysmal - apart from a blue sky 40 minutes which we were able to take full flukey advantage of with a 3km walk to Talisker Bay in the picture before a tour of the Talisker Distillery.

Dorset weekends

Our first attempt to go to Dorset for some mountain biking 2 weekends ago was thwarted whilst packing. Husband tried to adjust my brakes and accidentally bled them dry of hydraulic fluid! Luckily, we'd already planned to spend Sunday pedalling along Bournemouth seafront with G - and my commuter bike was fine for this. Lovely afternoon with chocolate ice cream and great company.

My mountain bike spent a couple of days at the bike shop and last weekend, we tried again. Loaded the camping stuff and bikes and headed for Dorchester. Our route was based on one in a

Dorset mountain bike book we've had for a while but hadn't used. It started on the ridge trail from Maiden Castle to Hardys Monument that we did last year. We then went downhill at Hells Bottom to Portesham (cute sculpture was in Portesham quarry) and along a disused railway to Abbotsbury. Pasty to refuel and we decided that rather than follow the book's suggestion of a road route back, we'd simply double back. Big views of the coast and countryside. The path had actually been destroyed by badger excavating at one point! 30km in total.

Camped at Osmington Mills again and attempted camp cooking for the first time in years - successful chorizo pasta storecupboard carb fest! We walked to the beach in time for sunset, then to the pub that does Badger ales on draught. I slept well, but Husband wasn't convinced that his airbed was working for him and being in a grassy field wasn't helping his hayfever.

Slow breakfast. What I love about being away is that I don't have guilty thoughts about what I should be doing and can just enjoy coffee, eggs, papers.

Sunday's ride was from Puddletown Forest, using a Rough Ride Guide route. We lost a turning early on so opted to change the route - the track was a little overgrown as you can see here. Later, we got to do more vegetation ploughing as rape had almost obliterated the bridleway. Quiet countryside with chalk hills. I had to keep pushing my brake levers outwards as the rape kept on catching them, pushing my brakes on! We went past Thomas Hardy's cottage towards the end - a lovely quiet spot on the edge of the forest. Got lost again in the woods, but weirdly emerged right by the car. My legs are covered in scratches, I'm a bit burned (despite sunscreen) and it was a great weekend.

Number 21

Number 21 complete - we finally fitted the water butt. I say "we" but
it was more Husband - although I did instigate it with the old trick
of starting to dig out tools, claiming I was going to fit it all by
myself. Especially as tools included the drill that I am not allowed
to use since destroying several bits on plastic plant pots.....
Great bike ride with G & Husband today along Bournemouth sea front,
admiring kite surfers. She is so much faster - despite not having
pedalled since September!

So much catching up to do

So much that I haven't written about recently! So much has happened - good stuff, bad stuff and I'm sure I can squeeze in ugly somehow.

In no particular order, I'll start with Top 40 progress - and with a picture taken yesterday of my first home grown strawberry (#19 - grow something new to eat). I shared it with Husband & fortunately (as many more are developing), liked it!

Next is #16 - do a dance class. I enjoyed a fabulous weekend with my sisters near Stratford which included lots of opportunities to try classes. All 3 of us did Street Dance - out done by many older ladies! Middle Sister & I also giggled our way through a Bravo Broadway class - jazz hands and a fantastically camp instructor. Yoga was also been revisited and I didn't hate it. Middle sister revisited body Combat for the first time in years with me. V.grateful to Baby Sister for inviting us - memorable and so much fun.

We haven't been cycling much recently - not since South Downs Way. My bike is now sporting new wheels as it was the hubs that had bust, not the bottom bracket - and that takes it's repair bill for 2010 to around £500 - maybe I should have bought a new bike instead at the start of the year. We we did a 20K route from the house on dry tracks yesterday, enjoying a long sunny evening.

I did my first parkrun last Saturday. This is a weekly times 5K that now takes place in parks around the country - and Eastleigh started just a few weeks ago. It's free to register, free to do & is very well organised. It's also a great time of day - 9am means that I still get most of Saturday for other stuff. My time was not my best (29:43), but plenty of room for improvement.

One of my original runners L tripped whilst running with me on Tuesday and was unlucky enough to break her leg - so I spent Tuesday evening in A&E with her. This meant cancelling the 8pm beginners group - but everyone was more focussed on L's injury.

So it's been a mix these last few weeks. Hoping that L recovers soon.

Practise ride done

Next month, I'm doing one of my top 40 - the South Downs Way on my bike. A dodgy tummy meant that I failed to do this in 2008 over 3 days - so this time I'm aiming to do this in 2.... However, this time, it's with vehicle support - including a meat wagon! Goldfish is doing it too and although it's a bit late for serious training, we did a practise route today: 69.13km as a figure of 8 route from Cheesefoot Head, completed in about 5 1/2 hours including stopping time. M joined us for the first and larger loop. We were moaning about it being chilly to start, but all divested layers after we'd been riding for an hour or two.

Very impressed that Goldfish managed to fix a broken chain on the hoof - and relieved that this was the only bike problem on the way. The tracks were very dry, making this a comparatively easy ride.

Today's picture reflects my C&G exam that I'm doing tomorrow - the tutor asked me to send him a photo of traditional Hampshire brick & flint construction as he's not sure about its thermal efficiency!

I was tired at the end, but felt that I could have carried on - good as the SDW days will be a bit longer. Not so good was a cramped thigh later when crouching to plant out beetroot seedlings - I may have to go down the electrolyte drink on the trip for the first time.

Skating yesterday with G, SE and the F clan who were en route between sailing and the Forest of Dean. Enjoyed both that & going on with G & SE to meet Z for an average lunch in a beautiful location in Lee on Solent.

Not much else to report this week apart from running on Tuesday with WRN, Body Combat on Wed and about 90mins walking on Thursday - actually, that's not so shoddy!

Big D was sent on holiday for Friday & Saturday (cooking for guests is not compatible) but is back today. But as I burned at least 2,700 calories on the pedal, I'm eating buckets!

Easter Sunshine

So grateful for the weather deciding to be a little less typical for a British bank holiday weekend on Sunday & Monday. We'd hibernated during the rain on Good Friday & Saturday decorating the hall & landing (another Top 40 is close to completion), but escaped outside on Easter Sunday, spending the morning with Kitty & Goldfish at the allotment, then going for a 26km ride in the New Forest.

We did what I think of Kitty's route - Husband's favourite as it has some more interesting descents than most of the bike trails in the Forest. For the second time ever, I managed to cycle up the steep gravelly slope that's just after a horsey underpass. Completed it in 2 hours with no punctures - although Husband's chain & associated gubbins were demonstrating signs of wear.

I noticed the mosses more than usual - probably because all the usual spring plant happenings are so behind this year.

More sunshine today. Baby Sister came over with the children & we spent the afternoon admiring lambs, piglets and so many chickens at Manor Farm Country Park. J was very taken with a big black stag turkey, murmuring "magnificent" - not expected vocab for him! R still doesn't scream when being held by me - weird. A kept on calling me Grandma - bad enough - but she was aided and abetted by my naughty baby Sister!

Running tonight - I got very muddy checking out suitability of the path next to the Itchen, taking advantage of a no-show 7pm group. 5 for the 8pm group and we did the Bishopstoke hill route.

Brecon Beacons Weekend 3

Much better weather on Sunday and we tried out a blue route from the National Park's Mountain Bike leaflet collection/book thing.

Supposedly 24km, but I clocked it at 20km and from the National Park Visitor Centre near Brecon. Glorious views - as you can see! And plenty of red kites - I know I'm getting accustomed to seeing them now whenever I go to Baby Sister's in Bucks, but still exciting.

We watched a shepherd & dog herding sheep for a bit - although I've never heard anyone on One Man & His Dog yell "will you f***ing come by??".

The route was a good mix with challenging descents that beat me (and one even beat Husband) and uphills where the rocks made pedalling almost impossible in places. Across open moorland and rocky tracks. The road bits were quiet, pretty lanes. The best bit was the final descent, whizzing across the side of a hill (not sure if it qualified as a mountain!). Somehow, I got 3 punctures in one wheel, but all so slow that they didn't materialise until we got home.

We finished in the tea shop with a Black Beef Pie Challenge, undoing any calorific deficit from the ride.

We took it easy at running last night as it's the Eastleigh 10K on Sunday. I could still feel Sunday's ride though!

No drama - fantastic

I felt a bit twitchy cycling today following last week's excitement (slidey then mega claggy mud that stopped wheels from rolling even downhill and then bike collapsed) and took the first descent at a pace that was even more chicken than normal for me. Once I'd warmed up my head and body though, it was fine. It's starting to feel decidedly springlike outside - catkins and snowdrops. Everything seems a bit later than previous years though - a few daffs are out, but not much else yet.

We did a 37km route from Farley Mount that includes the Test Way - it's a variation of one in the Rough Rides book that we don't have.

No punctures, no problems and the bikes didn't require hours of de-mudding afterwards - this is how a Sunday bike ride should be!

Walk free ride

No walking today! But this is a good thing as we were on a bike ride in the Forest. Husband & I did the uber loop - a 39km perimeter of our regular Forest rides, completed in 2:55 of pedalling. I am feeling happy about not resorting to walking on a slippery, sticky stretch where the week's rain had made an impact. And happy about actually pedalling all the way up a slope where I've always resorted to pushing my bike in the past. It's just after the tunnel under the dual carriageway (often full of horses, but not today) with a gravel short and steep stretch just as you come out. Perhaps this compensates for my miserable performance at the gym on Friday - and maybe for the chocolate dessert I had last night with ice cream.

My bike is broken though - front brake was scraping from the outset, making progress a tad more challenging. And about halfway around, my front wheel started making metallic twangy noises. Husband has diagnosed a broken bearing in the front wheel - and I have no idea, so he must be right!

I definitely prefer bike rides where the ride is the point of the day - not just an obligatory piece of exercise to be squeezed in somehow/sometime. I like being able to focus on enjoying myself, not worrying about getting back in time to hit the supermarket. And a mug of tea from the thermos is a lovely way to round off a day in the Forest.

I was in domestic mode yesterday - 7 jars of seville orange marmalade and we cooked for Kitty & Goldfish which was an op to discuss allotment plans for the year. Domesticity may recommence in a sec as I've found a recipe for my spare oranges....

Challenging the little grey cells

Although I love cycling in the Forest, it's really not great for my pedalling skills as it's so easy! We knew that it would be muddy, but Husband and I opted for a route that extends the much-ridden Ellisfield HCC route over to Preston Candover to get our brains ticking again. And it was muddy. Much of the mud was clay on chalk that varies between ultra claggy and ultra slippery and I have to confess to much walking. Having said that, I also did enough to feel that I'd pushed myself.

3.5 hours to do 26.5km! Very grateful we didn't get any punctures as fixing them would have been very messy - and Husband made me go through a deep puddle repeatedly at the end so that tyres rather than mud would interface with our bike carrier.

I was surprised to still see a little snow around - as you can see from this picture. Snow damage was evident on many of the roads with new cracks & potholes.

Snow damaged roads yesterday too as my satnav took me down a very little lane en route to my nephew's 5th birthday party in a village hall Buckinghamshire. I didn't want to repeat Husband's experience so took it very slowly & chose a different route home later in the dark. Very proud of my nephew as he was beautifully behaved at his medieval themed party, looking cute in a crusader outfit. I can't count any exercise for Saturday - but I did make vast quantities of sandwiches!

Very bright new jacket

8km in 50 minutes wasn't quite the pace I was hoping for on Friday evening - but my solo run was my first outside since New Year and did include a fabulously vicious hill (Olympic Way to Stoke Heights) that I've only done downwards before. It was a useful opportunity to try out my new branded convertible and luminously bright windproof- as I was drenched on the inside when I got back, I remain to be convinced on its breathability. I think I had overdressed a little to be fair - it was much warmer on Friday evening than it's been for a while. I pedalled too on Friday so felt reasonably justified in stuffing face with pizza and wine.

Lots of walking on Saturday on a very enjoyable jaunt to Brighton with G. Probably not enough to justify my Choccywoccydoodah chocolate & ginger cupcake! Picked up a pair of leggings that should be great for Body Combat in the Sweaty Betty sale - deep and secure feeling waistband.

I'd been toying with the idea of joining Goldfish in Stockbridge today for a runners vs mountain bikers 8 mile thing but lost my nerve - still aching a little post

Friday, guilty about deserting Husband having spent Saturday without him. paranoid about my shoes slipping and sliding on wet mud and paranoid about ensuring that this week's WRN runs go well after last week's cancellations. Pathetic huh? Goldfish did really well too.

So went for a bike ride in the Forest with Husband instead. We did a 26.73km version of the Portuguese Fireplace ride. I was proud of cycling through the fords - lots of water and a noticeable current.

Anyway, pizza and cupcakes contributed to a weight gain of 2lb this week - so much for getting committed to dropping a dress size!

Fantastic Start to 2010

We spent New Year in Pembrokeshire with friends in a cottage near Saundersfoot on top of a cliff, but a short walk down a steep lane to get to the beach at Wisemans Bridge - and I had a fantastic time.

On New Years Eve, went for a mostly on-road pedal with Husband and Goldfish to Pembroke, following Sustrans Celtic Way. 4 hours to do 53km - with some challenging hills. I loved the stretches along the coast - and some pretty villages inland. Chips scoffed by Pembroke Castle & then back. Husband & I both had to walk up quite a bit of Slippery Back near Tenby, accompanied by a drunk but friendly bloke!

Short walk at midnight to the beach to let off fireworks - to cheers from the pub nearby!

On New Years Day, S & I participated in the New Years Day Swim at Saundersfoot - surrounded by hardier souls in fancy dress. The Simpsons group impressed me - although Lisa's hairy chest was a revelation! There were some mankinis too... a bloke wearing normal swimwear took the p*** out of our wetsuits, but boy I was glad of mine! "Swim" was more of a brief dip with a couple of strokes, but it was a great event to take part in - and I now have a wetsuit.

Husband & I then went west to Solva for a short walk - and as we drove back, the snow started. The lane to the cottage was transformed into a "treacherous" (word of the week on weather forecasts) snow/ice slope. So later in the evening, we played with our sledge on the driveway & had a snowball fight.

S, X, Husband and E joined me for a walk the next day - ostensibly to hunt for razor clams using a technique with a bottle of salt. Not successful - a beautiful location though and a fun fruitless task!

A new activitity on Sunday: land yachting at Pendine which is where various land speed record attempts have been made. A land yacht is a plastic tub on wheels with a mast & dinghy sail - we sat back & let the wid blow us along the beach as we jibed (is that spelt right??). Couldn't get the hang of tacking. It was very much like dinghy sailing - and I think the skills I picked up will be useful next time I try sailing. X looked really nervous at the start, but got the hang of it well. S and Husband picked up the skills quickly.

Ran with X later on - I'd been feeling jealous of every beach jogger we'd seen and I was so glad to get the chance to run myself. We teetered cautiously down the lane from the cottage, but once on the coast path, the route was mostly ice free. 5K and loved it - although X was having some hip pain which was not good.

We planned to go mountain biking at Brechfa on Monday but as it was higher up, too much snow and ice stopped play and we walked instead. -7oC at 2pm! And the walk was ended prematurely by seeing a buzzard caught up on barbed wire - we couldn't work out how to release it without injuring it - or us - so got the Forestry Commission involved. We did get a short walk later on - with Kitty & Golfish to a seafood restaurant in Saundersfoot.

More snow today and forecast to get worse so we headed home a day early. I have decided that I will sub 2 activities from my Top 40 list for the NYD swim and the land yachting - hope this is acceptable to any readers of my blog!

Ice and mood enhancement

I haven't been feeling too good this week - been getting very anxious about a kazillion things that don't merit a high level of anxiousness. So it was great to get out for a pedal today in the Forest - and what a day. Blue skies, sunshine, little wind - crisp and icy. We were joined by Goldfish and did the route I think of as Kitty's route from Milkham. Lots of frozen puddles to crunch through. I'm not very brave with ice (or many other things) but managed to do a few - loved the sound of the ice breaking like glass. And as you can see in the photo, some of the ice wasn't crunchable! The boys whizzed past 3 deer really close to the trail - but at my sedate pace, I spotted them & we stared at each other for a bit before my camera scared them off. The ice meant that I didn't get as wet as last time - so although it was very cold, I stayed quite cozy in my layers. I am really appreciating my merino wool base layer and I put a pair of thermal leggings under therma cycling tights.

The ride did the trick with my mood and I feel much more relaxed now. I had been hoping that the treadmill last night would work - but no. It was a short but quite satisfying session with a nice solid 20mins of intervals. Husband should have been swimming but the pool was shut due to having been vomited in!

Just cycle commuting on Thursday, made a little more challenging by lugging 2 bottles of liqueur in my panniers.

My first puncture repair

Heavy rain through the week meant that choice of bike ride this weekend was restricted to Forest tracks - unless we wanted to spend hours ploughing through bog. Chose a route we haven't done for a while - another Kitty creation which combines classic forest fire tracks with a stretch of "proper" bridle way just south of Brockenhurst. The river you can see in the pic is normally a Husband-ridable-ford - even he didn't fancy it today. Several mushy bits but as it was New Forest silt as opposed to central Hamphire clay, it wasn't too claggy.
Big news is that I fixed my first puncture, with a little supervision. And it was a back wheel one. And I patched it rather than just swap the inner tube. Another Top 40 thing to tick off my list.
No deer, but some pretty birds at the beginning - loads of bluetits and a couple of nuthatches, and a v.handsome fox in the carpark at the end.

Other exercise this week - I tried tempo running with J on Monday. This consists of running faster than's comfortable. The benchmark is speech - normal steady runs have normal steady conversation. Tempo running means mono syllables - but not as fast as sprinting. We did it as a pyramid - after warming up & a steady paced start, we did 1 min at tempo followed by 1 min at steady pace. Then 2 mins at tempo, then 3. Decided that would do for now, so repeated 3, then did 2, finally 1. It went OK & we did the 5km in under 30 mins.
Cycled to work Mon-Thurs, but had a day off on Friday so heaved around 60L boxes of books instead.

Uber Burley Loop

I had the chance to try out Husband's new Forest route today - which takes in some of our favourite sections from 3 different routes. Starting at Burley, old railway line to Brockenhurst, up to Emery Down & over to the Portuguese Fireplace via the hibernating Reptile Centre. Husband fixed puncture and I admired cute pigs. Up to Highland Water towards Milkham, then parallelling the dual carriage way before cutting underneath it, going back to Burley via a pretty bit with a pond. 39.15km and we got back to the car just as it started raining.

We were still drenched though thanks to loads of surface water - and I got cold - esp at the end. My top half was well insulated with a wool base layer and windproof top - but my bum and legs weren't warm after first soaking.

I also managed to burn 140 calories on the wii - not quickly - in between jewellery construction.
My knee and backside have been a bit achey this week so all I did after Body Combat on Wed was pedal to work & back.

Running went well on Monday - and I think I have the sessions scheduled OK for the Christmas break. I do need to do some research and thinking on training plans though - so the group can approach the Eastleigh 10K next year with a measure of confidence.

Dimpsy at the end

Bike ride in West Sussex today. I had an email flyer from Paramo advertising a clearance thing in a church hall in Emsworth - so we shopped for outdoor clothing then drove north a bit to make the most of a beautiful Autumn day.

The notice on the carpark gate stating that it would be locked at 5pm prompted us to review our planned route - still adjusting to the clock change - and we cut back our plans. We should have been concerned anyway - I didn't have any lights & Husband's are very much of the "get me home just about legally" light level.

It still took longer than anticipated - proper hills and some lethally slidy downhills with wet leaves over wet tree roots with that special chalk/chalk mud combo that makes for no grip whatsoever! And a stick nearly brought our ride to a premature end - bending Husband's gear hanger quite impressively. Brute force brought back all bar 2 gears - but it will be going to the bike shop this week.

Stunning scenery though - enhanced by the light and golds/reds/browns of the leaves. We saw a stag run across the path & you could hear them rutting from the track. Husband bumped into a collague he hadn't seen since her maternity leave started in August - and met her baby for the first time. no time to chat though as the light was going.

28.3km in total - but we both feel like we had a proper work out, probably due to the mad dash to get back in time at the end and the proper hills! As you can see from the lower pic, it was definitely dimpsy (fabulous Devon word) with fading light and the moon was out. Mist hugging the lawns around the big house definitely gave an appropriate look for Halloween. Turned into the car park at 4:55pm!

It's been quite a sedate week though - just 3/4 runs on Mon & Tue, pedalling to work & a little wii.

Quick pick sloe

One of my Top 40 is to do something with foraged food. We've made sloe gin lots of times - very good it is too - but I have a hunch that something else can be done with these little plum relatives.
Only got around to picking them on Sunday - right at the very end of their season here in the deep south - on a pedal from the house. And as the ride took all afternoon, the fruit is now sat in the freezer awaiting inspiration... sloe cheese could be on the cards.

Anyway, the bike ride! Just me & Husband on the parched tracks of central Hampshire. Up to Owslebury, over to Cheesefoot head, bit of South Downs Way, back around to the normally mushy Park Wood track then home. 44.3km& a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Husband sustained a really good puncture - big metal staple, part one of which was visible on the ouside of the tyre. Part 2 had completely separated & was in the inner tube. First, tried to change inner tube but it was one with an extra long & delicate valve (schraeders are so much more robust...) & had to be discarded. Super patched the holey tube successfully.
Very confused to see some poppies & cornflowers close to Cheesefoot Head. Crimson spindle berries, dark red hawthorn berries and leaves on the turn to golden, red and brown.


Running tonight & I tried to take it easy as I have the Great South on Sunday.

De-Slugging

I think I made up a little for my sluggish week today. Husband decided we should make the most of the sunshine in the New Forest - and opted to start close to the Portuguese fireplace.

28ish km in 1 hour 41 - predictably fast going on the forest tracks. We did pause to gather some chestnuts - although the pig shown here was more interested in acorns. Lots of deer too.

Followed up with a swim. Husband was pleased with his time, I was just pleased to do 40 lengths - must start upping this if I'm to get to my Top 40 target.

Speaking of which, I have done a couple this week. I completed a crochet pattern - but I'm not showing the output for a couple of weeks as it's for a gift (so 2 goals ticked).

I also completed my first George Elliot novel - Mill on the Floss. Liked it but felt the ending was a cop out. Loved the way the characters developed and the descriptions of the landscapes. My problem is that when I get into a book, I treat it like a rollercoaster ride, and like to roll on to the end caught up in the plot. Which results in reading way too quickly which means that I miss depth/detail/subtle stuff. Pretty much a fault that I exhibit in other areas too!

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.