Week 23 - Mark's First Fifty

Monday

I felt rough all day. I was glad to get home from work so I could put my feet up with a recovery ale! I didn't even consider doing any training.

No exercise, beers

Tuesday

After work, Martha and I headed off to the dojo for a kata masterclass with Sensei Ronnie! We helped out with the lower grades' kata until the last 15 minutes when Sensei Ronnie introduced us to Nijushiho. To me, it seems an awkward kata with lots of stances that aren't clearly defined. Maybe I'll get to like it the more I practise it? Sensei Ronnie informed us that he want us (the Black belts) to be able to cross off (or words to that effect) Nijushiho by next Tuesday. That only give us one week to learn it. I suggested to Martha that we spend 10 minutes a day on it for the next 7 days.

Karate

Wednesday

After lessons, I went along to the college gym and did my usual 40 minute workout focusing on bench presses. Amber, one of the other members of staff, was there doing her cardio work. She was playing the Wedding Present on her phone! It turns out she is also a fan of the band. I connected my phone to the speaker in the gym and we did our workout while we listened to Bizarro by the Wedding Present!

Back at home, I made barbeque and chips for the family. I barbequed chicken breasts, pork belly and a few lamb kebabs. It was my best barbecue yet and the first one without sausages - I'm starting to get the hang of it. Obviously, you can't have barbecue without beer...

College workout, beers

Thursday

Lucy and I stayed at college after lessons so we could help interview students for September. After a quick shop at ALDI, we didn't get home until about 7. I set up my weights and then did a heavy session for an hour while listening to the USA defeat Pakistan in a super over during the T20 World Cup!

We had a late dinner, so I restricted myself to one bowl of spicy pasta before a cup of tea and bed.

Weight training

Friday

Work, work, work.

It was another Sensei Ronnie lesson in the Dojo. We went over Nijushiho. Unfortunately, Martha couldn't train tonight. I had a few beers with my dinner.

Karate, beers

Saturday

A very busy day! In the morning, I did a run. It was a good pace (for me) and I was pleased with the effort. I'm gradually building the distance back up. Today I ran 2.6 miles without slowing to a walk at any point.

Then it was a load of jobs - hanging washing out, doing the washing up, staining some planks of wood for an outside table, stuff like that. In the afternoon, I cycled to my dojo session. It was another quietish lesson where I struggled to get the higher grades motivated. The lower grades are still giving it 100% which is just what we need!

In the evening, I was very sensible and restricted myself to water in readiness for the big bike ride tomorrow morning!

Running, Karate

Sunday

When I woke up at 7, it was a bright morning with bright blue skies and hardly any wind. By the time Mark called for me at 9, it was a chilly, grey windy day! Today, the target was to get Mark's first half century ride (50 miles). Mark, stoically wearing his one layer of Lycra, set off at a startling pace and I did all I could to stay on his wheel. As a result, by the time we got through Wootton Wawen we were cruising at a 15.5mph average!

We had a mix up at the Binton Bends. Mark missed the turn off (he hadn't ridden there before!) and we ended up doing some A road work to bring us back to where we should have been. As soon as we were back on track, we put our heads down, shot along Luddington, and then gritted our teeth up the Ridgeway to arrive in Wilmcote with an average speed of 15.1mph.

The cake was fantastic and the chat was even better. We eventually had to drag ourselves back on to the bikes after a lovely pitstop of 50 minutes! We still had 25 miles to go...

We arrived at the Widowmaker with an average of 15.0mph. After we hit the top, we had an average of 14.9mph. Happily, as soon as we got on the A road out of Langley, we got our 15mph back! We manged to keep it until we got to the Two Towers in Preston Bagot. With 39 miles done, we watched our average speed start to drop down and down as the miles and the gradient took their toll on our legs.

We eventually got home after 50 miles with a very respectable average speed of 14.4mph. Mark did fantastically well in his first half century ride. I'll be happy if I can keep up with him for the rest of the summer!

In the afternoon, I vacuumed, polished the floors, did some ironing, and put the gazebo back in the loft. Then it was time to watch India beat Pakistan in the World Cup. Jane came over for dinner and to watch some tennis.

Cycling, 3 beers, junkfood

Week 22 - Half Term!

Monday

Half term! I clambered on to the bicycle and did 15.6 miles at 14.1mph. After that, I decided I had earned a few ales in the evening.

Cycling, beers

Tuesday

Tonight, as soon as the warm-up was done, the Karate lesson was full-on! The black belts started with ippon kumite work with a partner and things kept getting harder from there! Sensei Russell eventually slowed things down with a bit of kata when it was clear that everyone was very sweaty and blowing hard! One chap overdid things a bit and started to feel ill. The karate family rallied round to make sure he was taken care of.

I took over from Sensei Gary and had a fun 10 minutes with the white belts before the end of the lesson!

Karate

Wednesday

After I went for a morning run and had some breakfast, Lucy and I were away on holiday! We travelled to Ironbridge in Shropshire. It is a beautiful place to be, completely focussed on tourism, but still managing to be relaxed and calm with none of the over the top tackiness of some popular destinations. The bridge itself is very pretty, but not as splendid as the river or surrounding countryside. 

When we got there, we did a tour of the shops and bought a dozen books from a charity shop and local bookstore. I even found a copy of Martial Arts of the Orient featuring Master Enoeda! We had lunch at a very relaxed and pleasant cafe. After depositing our luggage (and all those books!) in the room, Lucy and I set off on a walk on the other side of the river through the Benthall Edge woods. We found one track rather challenging because of the steep muddy climbs involved. We turned back and settled on a flat path through the woods along the river bank. We had the place to ourselves!

The view from the other side

Benthall Edge woods

After half a beer and a sit down, we went back to the room to get changed for dinner. We had a lovely time at The Malthouse, with decent portions of tasty food and good service. I enjoyed two pints of Hobgoblin Stout!

Run, beers, junkfood

Thursday

This morning, after loading the luggage into the car, we went back to the same cafe for breakfast. Suitably refreshed, we set off on the Iron Trail. It is one of the best planned walks I've done, with plenty of history for Lucy and lots of winding paths to explore for me! It was quite steep in places, both up and down, and it got the heart pumping!

Following the Sabbath Walk

Steeper than it looks!

Back in Ironbridge, there was time for ice cream (there's always time for ice cream) before heading home to do an hour of weight training and then to watch England defeat Pakistan in a T20 match at the Oval. A few beers were needed to celebrate the victory!

Weight training, beers, junkfood

Friday

At 8:30, I dropped the car off at Halfords for its MOT and major service. Then I walked the mile and a half home.

Today, I had to visit the Post Office and then had some shopping to do. I used the road bike because I had some distance to travel. At the Post Office, I noticed that there was a bald patch on my rear tyre! It was so bad I could quite clearly see the threads! I wondered how long my tyre had been like this! I dashed back to Halfords to buy a tyre. I decided I'd try a 28mm seeing as the wider tyres are now all the rage with the pro riders. I chose a Schwalbe Lugano 2.

Fitting it was a bit of a struggle - it seemed to be really tight going on the wheel - I don't know why this would be. Anyway, I got it on, and continued with my shopping trip. By the time I got home I had clocked up 21 miles of cycling.

In the evening, I helped myself to a few craft ales!

Cycling, beer

Saturday

My Karate session went well, better than it has done recently. It's still the case that my lower grades have more spirit and energy than the brown belts so I'm still wondering what to do about that! This afternoon, we concentrated on helping one of our orange belts who has a late grading tomorrow. We did his basics, partner work and kata. I think he'll do well.

Karate

Sunday

Jonnie, James, Mark and I cycled off into the sunshine and headed west on our Coughton Route. The cakemaker is away and we had a time limit, so I considered it a strange choice of ride seeing as it is one of our most challenging. However, it worked out well, with everyone getting up the climbs and looking out for each other as usual. The only issue was a malfunction on Jonnie's bicycle. The rear wheel was rubbing on the frame. Even though we all had an attempt to fix it, we couldn't find an answer. Jonnie rode the whole route with the sound of the tyre rubbing against his frame!

It was a gloriously warm and sunny day. I had set off in one layer of Lycra on top of a layer of Factor 50!

At a makeshift cake stop (with no cake)

Heading home

We turned north at Aston Cantlow and headed back home, essentially cutting off a small corner of the ride. This was the right decision considering that we had a birthday celebration to get back for!

We got back to base after 42.5 miles at 13.5mph.

Later on, I joined family and friends at Jonnie's place for plenty of barbeque and beer!

Jonnie in charge

Cycling, booze, junkfood