Week 28

Evening swim down the river Avon
Lovely sunset behind the hills
Another fab bit of bridleway begins here.....
Who can you expect to find down this track?
Swimming towards Bantham...

One of my favourite bits of bridlewayAnother late summer evening
My evening run home from work - 13miles!
Saturday 4hr ride


It is now the end of week 28 and the end is coming into sight, but also getting scarily close - it's just gone 10pm on Sunday evening and all day I have been saying to people 'this time in 2 weeks I'll be.....' and I realised that this time in 2 weeks I'll likely still be running my first ever marathon!
Week 28 started strong - I'd had to re-jig my training last week with all our house guests over the weekend, with the big swim, plus heading out for my 3hr run to get soaked through within 45mins and not getting very far with flooded roads and requiring a James rescue. So, after a well earned rest day and bellyboard session with the Baskcombs at Bantham on Monday evening I was feeling very refreshed. Tuesday morning we decided to get up early and head to the pool to make sure I got a proper training session in. After Saturday's swim I found this really hard work and took a bit longer than planned to swim the 3.5km, I could really feel it, and felt like quitting, but kept going and actually got a second wind. That evening I ran home from work - this was going to be my 3hr run.
I left work and ran round the back way to avoid the main road, crossed over, and down the hill into the Avon valley behind AG. I took a right at the bottom of the valley and along towards the Loddiswell road, across and up to the old railway line behind Avon mill. This was just luxury - flat, soft and through the woods next to the river - it felt great to finally avoid some hills and I ran on, only a little concerned that I had no phone signal and it was a bit of a grey day, so the light was starting to fade already. I had checked on the map and wanted to run to Gara bridge, but had no idea how far it was or how long it would take, then I'd have to return through the woods in the dark, on my own with no phone signal. I am pretty adventurous, but that just is asking for trouble, so when I reached the first bridge I turned round and headed back. Instead my route took me up to Loddiswell, up a ridiculously steep road, up to Loddiswell Butts crossroads, down into the valley past Alleron house and up Beer hill bridleway. Beer hill is a bit of a long steep climb, so I took my time and whilst having a little breather, saw a deer run across the field, little things like this make it all worthwhile!
I inked up with some other roads and bridleways and ended up on the tidal road and back to the house - all in 3hrs. I covered just under 13miles, so a half marathon home from work, great! It's a pretty slow half marathon time as they go, but it's way hillier here than the run will be in Tenby, so I'll be fine.
Wednesdays quick change session was not great, the crap weather was here to stay, so we ended up getting soaked on our ride. Forgetting our glasses was a big mistake - rain drops really sting your eyes when you're trying to bomb down a hill at speed! the run was okay, just a quick down and back on the tidal road.
Thursday am we had a photo shoot with EL new kit, so were down at Slapton sands again, I had my bike with me, so I jumped on once finished and road home, again, it rained on me, infact at one point it was raining so hard I had to pull up next to a lorry for shelter because it was really painful. I made it from Strete gate to Strete, across to the golf club at Dartmouth and back via Halwell, Stumpy cross, Churchstow and down AG hill in just over an hour, rubbish really, but still a good hard hour!
On Friday afternoon we had another Baskcomb outing planned. We canoed down the river, I jumped out twice and swam sections as a recce to see if it was any good. I had to jump out at one point due to waterskiiers in the river, then again just as we came round to the boat house in Bantham as there was a bit of a chop to sea and we were paddling out through the waves. It was an okay swim, I should have stayed in for longer, but was aware that I was slowing everyone down.
James and I got changed, shoved the canoes into John's van and ran back to AG along the heron valley trail. It was great, there are a few big climbs, but nothing too major from this direction and the cows were in other fields this time. I had to give James my tee shirt at one point as he was cold and I was too hot! It took us just over 45mins and we made it before it got too dark.
Yesterday I had a 4hr ride and a 30min run to fit in. We didn't get up early as we had spent all Friday night in A&E getting James' lip stitched!!
We headed out down to Noss Mayo, back to Yealmpton, behind Ermington to Ivybridge - up to South Brent, across to Totnes, back to Avonwick and back home. I felt okay to start with, I was keeping up my nutrition plan and had added some ribose to my water (aids rapid recovery to stop my legs feeling tired and sore). I managed a few fast cadence hill climbs and practised some new strategies - ie; keeping my head down and focussing on the motion my legs are making, rather than on looking ahead worrying about the hill. This seemed to work well and I was surprised at how easy some of the climbs felt. Unfortunately, James was having a very rare instance for him - he had nothing in the tank, so I had to keep stopping to wait for him, complete role reversal!! I never had to wait for too long and I shared as much food with him as I could spare, but also wanted to go as fast as I could, so I would power down each section, then wait for James to catch up, only to power on some more. The last few hills from Avonwick to Kitterford cross and back to AG always seem unnecessarily harsh and steep, but some how I always manage them, and to pick up speed on them. My right knee has started to be a bit sore on longer rides since slipping on Benjies chewed up biscuit last weekend, but hopefully it's nothing too serious that won't heal by itself, bring on rest day! I got home and headed out for what turned out to be a pathetic run, but still a run nonetheless!
Today I had a 2 hr run to do, I linked up all my favourite bits of bridleway and found some new bits too, I can't wait to get back on my mountainbike during the long winter evenings, and that is what my runs have become useful for, working out what we'll do in the winter!! I felt okay and always now take the longer route rather than the shorter option, and seem to just make it in time, so I must be getting better, hooray!!
Let's see what delights week 29 has in store!!

Burgh Island swim

Lush

James off the furthest point of the island
Catching my breath before swimming on
swimming on
Heading in to swim
Beautiful clear water...


Swimming, swimming, swimming, that's all I seem to have been doing so far this week....
Lovely swim up the river Avon on Tuesday pm with James and several hundred grey mullet! It's very funny swimming as the tide is turning - the river is quite warm when the seas water comes in, but then every so often there are cold patches where the fresh water comes down, consequently we end up getting a chill afterwards and take a while to warm up.

Yesterday we were lined up for a pool swim, so headed into Kingsbridge, only to be greeted by a sign saying 'pool full, next session at 2pm', bugger!! We had a quick pastie and headed home to greet our weekend guests. After a cup of tea and some flapjack we drove down to Bigbury with our wetsuits in the car and were amazed to see a flat calm sea - it would be rude not to jump in and swim round the island thought Jimbo, so we did.....! I popped over to see the Lifeguards and to check on the conditions, an was advised to head round clockwise. We jumped in and headed between the rocks and round to the back of the island..... in a comedy moment I ended up swimming on top of James when he stopped on top of a rock just under the water. We carried on round and the water got deeper and deeper - every so often I saw a flicker of something, but couldn't decipher what as it was so dark - especially with my dark goggles.
We seemed to be going great guns, I think we were assisted a little by the current, I relaxed into my stroke and kept going.
Eventually we got round the point at the end of the island and started heading back - we didn't take the normal detour through the rocks as this can be a bit hairy - plus we needed to make sure we swam far enough. I started to get a bit chilly as we started on the final leg and was glad to see the beach getting nearer - a cormorant was popping up infront of us with a crab in his mouth, then dropping it back in, popping down to grab him again etc... we were fascinated by it and watched for a few minutes. We did a quick spot of filming, then headed on in to be greeted by Lynora and some towels on the beach, hooray, we made it!!!

The most painful weekend of the year...

Well, I feel well and truly b.r.o.k.e.n!! What a weekend! Yesterday, as with most Saturdays for the past 26wks, was another long ride day. I missed last weeks due to Norseman commitments and the weekend before had a long-ish attack on Dartmoor, only to be rescued by Jimbo because my planned route was taking too long!

Friday evening we had a lovely swim in the river Avon, which was lush, then followed by 1.5hr run, which was pretty tiring. Saturday am we decided to have a lie in and eventually, after chowing on heaps of porridge and filling our pockets with gels and bars etc, we headed out about 11.30. The plan was to have a bit of an adventure - so the usual start to the ride, up AG hill on cold legs (killer!) then across to Kingsbridge to head on down to Torcross, along the coast to Dartmouth. This all went pretty well - of course I was a bit pooped as had had a lengthy enforced break from training. We got to Dartmouth in 1.5hrs and stopped to grab a quick pastie before jumping on the ferry to Kingswear, the pasties were very welcome and consumed on the ferry. At Kingswear we headed up the hill (hillariously named 'Slappers hill') then up to skirt Goodrington and Paignton, then along the Totnes rd, to Totnes.
My thighs felt like they were on fire - and not in a good way! All the climbs seemed to take forever - but there were some great downhills - coming into Goodrington, then coming from the top of Paignton where all the holiday parks are to roll back to the top of Totnes - though the wind had picked up and was against us, so not much speed gained. The hill down into Totnes was great, until a taxi pulled across and forced me to break heavily to void ploughing into him!
We popped into Totnes quickly to grab a couple more copies of the Totnes Times for Ma and Pa, then dropped them into Maz and Rem's postbox on the way out of town. Out on the road to South Brent via Avonwick, then at South Brent along the back road to Wrangaton, then Bittaford and Ivybridge. I was really starting to feel exhausted and found myself desperate for the next gel - every 30mins I alternate between gel or 1/2 Torq bar - which seems to work. I also have a bottle of water and 1 of energy - which I alternate too depending on gel or bar. Imagine my alarm to hear that so far James had only consumed a pastie and half a bottle of energy - we were at 3.5hrs and already I had consumed 4 gels and 1.5 bars, plus half a bottle of energy and most of a bottle of water, I must be doing something wrong!!!
At Ivybridge we headed back in to Ermington, then Modbury, at which point I left James to potter on home (amybe not enough fuel consumed!) - I carried on up the hill out of Modbury to California cross, then along to Loddiswell, up to Sorley cross and back down into Kingsbridge to retrace my earlier journey back up the hill, along the top and the best bit, down AG hill, whoopie!!!
I was knackered! And still had an hour's run to do, I played it safe with an easy route, up the short sharp hill by Jubilee corner and into the river valley - about as flat as you get around here! With the return along the opposite side of the river, I did pretty well and I think I ran most of the way - I always get distracted at the bridge and look out for fishes. I started to notice a hot spot on one of my toes, uh oh!! All in I covered 65miles on the bike and about 5 on the run, so a pretty long day in the office for me!

Today I had a 1hr ride to do, followed by a 2.45hr run. We had popped to Totnes, so James kicked me out with my bike there and I rode back. It was agony!! Every climb I would try to get out of my saddle, but there just wasn't enough in the tank. I was overtaken by some slightly more pro-looking male cyclists with their clip on tri-bars and felt all a bit slow and plonky. They stopped at Avonwick to wait for their mate - who had been behind me on the descent, but I realised as I passed them, that we were headed in the same direction, which is pretty hilly. So I pretended to answer a call so I didn't have to have them pass me on another climb, sad I know!!
Then from nowhere, as I was puffing and panting up another climb another cyclist passed me by, I tried to make some joke about hills, but he wasn't very friendly, clearly in the zone!
Eventually I made it to the top of the hill and bombed back down into AG, just in time! 1hr 02mins!
I put off doing my run for as long as possible, in fact, felt so exhausted that I had a bit of a tearful moment, I was achey all over and my blistered toe from yesterday was already smarting like mad, so James got me a cup of tea and some soreen to try to perk me up! Eventually about 4pm I headed out and straight away hit the wall, it probably didn't help that I ran down to the carpark and straight into a steep climb up to Icy park, across the main road, down to the valley bottom, then into a bonkers steep climb out the other side to Drunkards hill (I think aptly named because at the other end it is so steep that people climbing it probably sway alot!) I wasn't prepared for how awesome the lane becomes as soon as you start to descend. I had no idea where it was going to come out and I always like the discovery element with trail running, so I had a good pace on now, not for long!! At the bottom I had 2 choices, a climb to the right or a climb to the left. A bunch of kids were walking a dog to the left, so I went right.........and kept climbing, and climbing..eventually it petered out and I enjoyed the undulating valley for a mile or so, before some more gradual climbs, past a great scenic cottage called spring bank - because a spring comes out of the bank underneath it, of course!! I threw a handful of water over my head and neck and carried on. Eventually the road wound its way back to a lane that I knew, so I made my way back down towards AG, crossed the bridge and headed out to the other side of the valley. By this point I was really struggling to run and to anyone passing my telling off of myself probably would have sounded a bit mental. I was feeling very annoyed that I have had such great willpower so far, yet I couldn't will myself on to run! I decided to take it literally one step at a time and count to 20 - but then realised that I didn't stop at 20, infact I kept going, so I divised a way of counting every 20 steps with a finger, 5 on each hand several times over and soon I was running 500 steps, walking for a bit, followed by another 500 steps, and so on...! By the time I reached the bridge I was doing great - then got distracted again by spotting the fish! After a few minutes faffing I decided to head back to AG, then tag on some bits to make up my time. Along this road with hills and all I managed to do 1000 steps then a breather..... I like this game. To make a bit longer I had a bit of a steep climb up 'hoppy green lane' then back to the village. I still had 30mins to go, so thought I'd head down along the tidal road - but to no avail - the tide was in! Stupidly at this point I decided to faff, I could have taken another route and got an extra couple of miles under my belt, but I walked up to Icy park again and round the back way and cut my run/walk short by a few minutes!
So now I am broken and pretty sore, it hurt to climb the stairs, so at least I know what I'll be feeling like in 4 weeks time! Infact, I'll still be racing!!
Lessons learned from this - I am slow and am now getting extremely tired! Bring on 11th September when it'll be too late to make a difference and what will be will be! I think my rest day is well deserved!

Time is flying by..........!!

James in his new black tee shirt on the ferry back from Eidefjord
Towards the end of my mammoth ride at Clearbrook - lovely weather!
Having just descended the amazing windy road behind we started up another of Dartmoors infamous climbs!
Setting off from home
Jimbo crossing the line on top of Guastatoppen, Norway

AArgh, week 26 already, where does the time go? (I have a feeling that I know exactly where - 3 swim sessions, 4 run sessions and 3 bike sessions a week may be taking their toll!)

So, as you have guessed, I have been superbly busy for the past couple of weeks - obviously training - a mammoth ride at the end of week 24, then week 25 was pretty much taken up with going to Norway for the Norseman - truly inspirational to see James, James, Andrew and Darren getting the black tee shirts for their stonking efforts, I feel honoured to have trained with them and really hope some of it rubs off on me for.......1 month from today, crikey!!
I have also been very busily trying to get as much press coverage as possible to help to raise my pledged funds for the RNLI - last Tuesday I cycled to the Totnes Times office to have an informal interview with Richard about my goal, this is the front page of this week's paper. He also passed my story on to Totnes FM, so after getting a message on Weds am, I promptly headed over to have a quick chat on air. Finger's crossed this will help donations to pick up!!!

So, on to Norway, stunning, stunning place, I LOVE it!! If ever there was a place that was on a par with NZ, this would have to be it, I am definately planning to go back in the snow!
As I was in Norway for work I didn't get to do as much training as I would have liked, and being mega busy with work before leaving meant I was pretty knackered and had missed my quick change session for the week. I did have a lovely early evening run along the valley - which had a real gradual climb to it, when we turned to head back everyone's pace picked up quite dramatically! Back at our campsite we made a bee line straight for the fresh water lake, which was exactly that, very refreshing!
The night before the Norseman Gary and I took an evening dip - we didn't swim far, only about 600m, perhaps not even that, but the water was so cold it felt completely effortless. Next morning we rose at 2am to start a crazily long day supporting the Norsemen and one woman. I did get to escort James and Tobias up the mountain, from 32.5km to the top - which I have to say, was the toughtest 10km I have ever done. The road was lovely and smooth and I encouraged the exhausted but elated guys to keep up the pace, while snapping away to capture the moment forever. Once off the road on the mountain track the terrain was altogether something else, huge boulders and scree, with necessary scrambling to get over. I don't know how the guys kept going, but I guess I'll find out on the big day - though I hope Tenby hasn't chucked in some boulders for good measure!!

So, back from Norway and I am back on it, I only have 1 month to reach my peak fitness, then taper off (I have to say, I am really looking forward to this part!), then its on to Tenby and my big day. From the race day performances of all we supported I have set some new rules for my training:
1) No more pool swimming - unless it's really necessary. Drills can really help, but now it's all about getting used to the water and the sea! And it is imperative to RELAX!
2) I will be finishing at night, even with the fastest legs and the greatest will on earth, this is England and the race is in September - with this in mind, I am leaving my running until as late as possible at least once a week to get used to running at twilight - it'll soon be winter and I intend to keep my fitness up!
3) Although I don't feel any stronger on the bike I have improved - I just have to keep going and keep thinking positive.
4) My new mantra for the bike is 'descend is my friend' I have to practise going downhill faster - it's pretty scary, but also kind of thrilling!
5) When I get tired and can't be bothered I tell myself that I have come too far to give up - backing out is NOT an option, I am not a quitter and intend to remain that way!

James and I just had a pretty amazing swim this evening in Kingsbridge estuary, well, as far up as we could go before it turned to squidge underneath us...... about 45mins, which is a little short, but it's still open water, and was against the current for half of it, so it still count in my books. Some people stopped to ask what we were doing as we got out of the water, we were paid much respect - I like to think that at least one of them will give open water swimming a go in the future!
I followed the swim with a ride - from our swim point to home, via Malborough and against the wind in the fading light. Must remember to start carrying bike lights! Several times cars slowed down and smiled or gave me the thumbs up - maybe they've read the Totnes times? Or maybe they were telling me to get some lights?! Either way, on a grim evening I found it encouraging - if only more drivers were so courteous!
Right, time to get some more sleep - another swim tomorrow plus 1.5hr run - strange, but I am looking forward to the run!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to sponsor me - every little helps......!
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