Inspirational People

Since my last post I have managed to add another 52miles to my training. A day off work on Monday meant I was able to head out on my trusty stead for a 37mile ride with a fellow Celtictri member. My legs felt quite tired  from the previous weeks exploits but I surprised myself by climbing much quicker than I normally do. I even felt reasonably OK by the time I reached the summit. The last 5 mile or so were not great however and as such I took full heed of the message my body was trying to get through to my thick skull and decided upon a rest day on Tuesday.

I find rest days frustrating, even though I felt great I know that a day off was much needed. Normally on these days I like to still go to the gym and have a relaxing swim, Sauna etc etc but as I was away with work this was not possible. Settling for a film about some guy making his own tri suit I was disappointed to learn that Ironman with Robert Downey Jr has nothing to do with triathlon, pretty glad actually as I was starting to think that the dodgy florescent colours witness on many a tri suit in the 80's were making a come back!

So, anyone wondering about my title for this blog? Well first let me tell you about my spinning session tonight. I am willing to wager that every single one of you reading this has gone for a workout and within Ten minutes have wanted to rap it all in. This happened to me today, I just could not get going, legs felt like lead, could not find any music to excite me and lift the moment, it was terrible. I will now refer you back to Monday's ride and the fellow Triathlon Club member who accompanied me.

This is Mike and I after our ride on Monday (I am the good looking one on the left!). Mike has a form of Muscular Dystrophy, he has also signed up for this years Ironman Wales, I have never heard him moan about his condition, he just cracks on and gets on with it. Taking Mike's lead that's what I did today, I put my head down and cracked on.

Mike does not like a fuss, I don't think he is that type of guy, he has kindly give me permission to tell you all about his condition, some of you may be inspired to go for a bike ride this weekend, some the gym, some will don their trainers and hit the roads for a run. I challenge anyone to say they are not inspired at all though.

Cake, flatulence and old man injuries!

Its been a good couple of days for training, a trip to the gym yesterday saw an hour on the spinning machine followed by a half hour run. A total of five Celtictri'ers in there at one stage meant there was no loafing, guaranteed that if I had one of them would have caught me and at the end of the day I would have only been cheating myself.

I have however a little confession and an apology to make. Before I do however a question; have you noticed that when there is a 'bad smell' in the Gym everyone looks at the fattest person within sniffing range? It is now that I should hold my hand up and say that it was I that was responsible for the foul smell. I was having such a good run that I did not want to stop, get off and go to the toilet and thought that no one would notice a sneaky 'love puff'. So, if you are over weight and were in the gym yesterday with loads of people looking at you in disgust, I am sorry :-/

Today's run with Paul my brother-in-law was a bag of mixed emotions. I have a circulatory problem in my legs and am due to go under the surgeons knife on the 28th February to rectify. The Nike running tights I have are a bit too tight around the ankles if the zip is pulled tight. This strangulation caused my left 'Cankle' to swell and the first corner I went around I experienced a sharp pain in that area and had to pull up. Leaving my running partner continue with his run I turned for home but after 100m of walking the pain subsided and I was able to run again. Like a game of Fox and Hounds I ran like the clappers (for me anyway!) for a mile and a half in a bid to catch up with Paul. I had him in my sights after Ten minutes but my lungs could not continue, the good ideas club held a quick meeting inside my head and decided I should take a short cut in a bid to meet him.

In hindsight the boggy field was not such a great idea and the 200 meter sprint through the Gipsy camp even less of one. I don't suppose its often that a middle aged, slightly overweight.........ok, ok, heavily overweight man in Lycra runs though Gipsy camp and the look of one female inhabitant suggested I could expect to have cats and curses hurled at me at any minute. It did however get my heart rate up and keep my pace at a high threshold. Just over 4 miles with a average pace of 9m 30s per mile, no pain in my knee and no back pain = Happy bunny.

Never been a big fan of cake, always preferred to eat takeaway as a treat after a good workout but I realise that this is wrong. Mothers home made fruit cake topped with almonds was just the boy after today's run, washed down with a strong coffee, problem is trying to stop my youngest son from eating it all.

Not lost any weight this week, can't say that I am depressed though as it is the first time in 7 weeks that I have not (Taking protein in the form of KFC and eating half my body weight in Chinese does not help). My logic is that if you lose weight every week then the body will suffer, after all, we all need something bad in our lives to keep us going, life would be pretty boring otherwise eh!

Well the 30 mile ride went right out of the window within 5 minutes of meeting the mad South African that is Wayne. I almost doubled the distance that I wanted to do but I am really pleased with how it went.

As a fat bloke its always quite scary cycling with guys that are really good at it. The minute a hill appears I normally struggle but the weight that I have lost coupled with amount of spinning I have been doing in the last couple of months paid off today.

Todays ride profile

I am also happy with my average speed even though busy streets at times slowed our pace. I must thank Wayne for the tips as we went around, I wont however thank him for my aching legs tonight........

is Chinese food good for recovery?

Ticking over

Right, hopefully the first of many posts. Hope you will enjoy my blog, I will endevour to inject some humour along the way.

Off out on the bike for a 35 miler, from Swansea to Glynneath, up over the inter valley road and back home. Weather is not great and its the first time I will be using my SPD pedals rather than my Looks.