Half term!
No work!
I did my usual Monday MOT and got some pleasant results:
Weight: 10st 4lbs
Blood Pressure: 124/63
Resting Heart Rate: 54bpm
This means that I've continued to lose weight and have now lost all of the 8lbs I put on over Christmas!
I then did a good, heavy weight-training session which was ruined by a day of unhealthy eating and then beer and a single malt in the evening. I don't know why! I enjoyed today though...
Tuesday
Rest day.
I ate healthily all day and didn't drink a beer.
Unfortunately, due to a having a heating engineer working in the house, a family day out, and travel arrangements, I didn't get to go to the dojo.
So no exercise for me today.
Incidentally, the plumber did an excellent job and is a very friendly bloke and a pal of mine. If you've got some plumbing/heating work to be done, contact this guy:
Ron Knight
07973204534
coachronknight@gmail.com
Wednesday
A good day for training: a long walk with the dogs, another heavy weight lifting session, healthy food all day (including protein-rich lamb's liver) and no booze.
Thursday
I drove over to Dan's house with the mountain bike in the back of the car. We were both wrapped up against the cold and we cycled off towards the Lickey Hills. We met up with our mate Gary on the way and headed off in to the mud!
Dan was on a very new On One hardtail fat bike and Gary was on a very, very new steel-frame Ragley hardtail 29er. I was on the same Halford's bike I've been riding since 2010!
My bike was suffering today:
I think I need to put some new pads in the front brake, it was very spongy.
The bike wouldn't shift up into the large road ring without making a horrible grinding noise.
The headset is terribly stiff which means steering is a very 'jerky' affair.
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| Dan and Gary in the Lickey Hills
Still, I was determined to get out and enjoy myself and that's exactly what we did. After mucking about in the Lickey Hills, we dropped down to Lizzie's Farm for tea and cake. Dan and I had huge slices of Chocolate and Guinness cake. It was a great taste but didn't necessarily remind me of the drink. However, sometime later, I did a Guinness burp and was satisfied!
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| The NMAlps are big fans of Fast and Loud - check out the Stun safety glasses! |
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| The chocolate and Guinness cake (and Deadly Dan.) |
After a welcome sit down and a chat in the warm sunshine, Dan came up with the splendid idea of riding the Waltonberg! The NWAlps' previous efforts on this climb have been documented here.
When we reached this cobbled, rutted, very steep ascent I snapped into my smallest gear, settled into the pain, and watched Gary and Dan scamper up the climb ahead of me! The Waltonberg seemed a lot shorter than I had expected but I was glad I was riding it in the dry. Do I think I could ride it on a road bike? Probably not, but I think I'm going to give it a go!
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| This is me dropping down from the Clent Hills after the Waltonberg. Photo by danielphillips.co,uk |
After the Waltonberg, we stopped off at a pub where I drank water and watched my friends sip what looked like smashing pints of Butty Bach. The weather was still warm and dry enough to sit outside in the beer garden/car park.
Then it was simply a matter of following Gary back to base. Sometimes he took us on to some interesting off-road sections, but it was mainly a tarmac slog. Still, it was great fitness training for me just trying to keep up with the guys! They are a lot fitter than they give themselves credit for.
According to Dan's Garmin, we rode 27 miles today, a lot of that in thick mud, on damp roots and wet grass.
Friday
The first thing I did today (after a healthy breakfast) was use my Halford's vouchers to put the mountain bike in for a new headset! After a mile and a half walk home, Eric and I set about replacing a fence panel that had blown down in the recent windy weather.
This evening, I managed to make it to the dojo for the first time in 10 days! It was a fast-paced, intense kumite training session.
My fighting still has a long way to go - I'm nowhere near as fast as the other guys. I was the lowest grade fighting tonight, but I'm just using that as an excuse...
No beers, no junkfood.
Saturday
I got up feeling like it was Christmas morning!
Jonnie cycled round at about 9am and Dan and Gary arrived a few moments later. We jumped on our road bikes and headed out into the lanes, determined to ride 50 miles and have a good time. Dan was riding his brand new GT Grade bike - an awesome looking machine with disc brakes and 28mm tyres! It has Sora transmission and a carbon fork, just like my bike, but he managed to get his £300 cheaper than my Specialized! What an absolute bargain. And with its wide tyres and disc brakes it looked right at home in the wet and muddy lanes.
We took my oldest route down past Claverdon and into Snitterfield (where we stopped to refuel with Lucy's homemade flapjack.) As expected, the NWAlps boys were able to stay with daredevil Jonnie when dropping down the treacherous descents, whereas yours truly was doing my best Bambi on ice impression. On the few descents where I didn't feel the need to brake, I couldn't keep up with them anyway! Something to do with bodyweight, apparently.
35 miles in, a lot of that spent tucked behind Deadly Dan, we arrived at our cake stop. Jane provided a choice of 2 cakes (ginger or coffee) and piping hot tea. We had a sit down and a chin wag and then headed back out. The rest of the ride was generally uphill. Good friends chatting in the lanes meant that the time seemed to go quickly and before we knew it, we were back at my place after 51 miles at an average of 14.0mph.
Lucy fed us her fabulous homemade frittata, and the lads helped themselves to some ale.
What a fantastic way to spend a Saturday!
Later that day, Lucy and I headed back to Wilmcote for the annual quiz and raffle at the village hall. I didn't win anything but I did get to eat loads of fish and chips and drink 3 ales!
Sunday
I woke up in the middle of the night having some sort of dramatic coughing fit. I staggered downstairs for a Lemsip and watched recorded highlights of the Tour of Oman. I felt terrible. About an hour later, I managed to fall asleep on the couch.
Lucy, who is ill with a bad cold herself, found me at 4:30 in the morning and convinced me to get back into bed. I rested fitfully until 9:30am.
I got up to some more Lemsip, resigned to the fact that I was ill and my training was on pause. However, I made sure I ate healthily and tried to ignore my aching limbs. By the afternoon, I was feeling well enough to go to the dojo with Martha and we took part in a fast and fun basics lesson with Sensei Ronnie Christopher. I kept expecting to have another coughing fit, but I didn't!
As soon as I got home, I changed into my running gear and went out and jogged for 56 minutes without stopping or walking. I felt very tired when I got back, but not ill!
How strange - is there such thing as a 12 hour cold?
Another successful week of training - maybe a little too much cake, but at least I'm progressing in the weight training and running, getting some good cycling miles in the legs, and developing as a karateka!
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