Week 16 - Working as a Team

Monday

I woke up tired and unmotivated after a bad night's sleep. There were howling winds in the morning so it didn't take much for Lucy to convince me to use the car for work today. For some reason, only half of my class made it to college. It was a quiet lesson.

Back home to cook dinner for the family and to do an hour of weight training. The right trapezius muscle is still sore, but not enough to stop me lifting.

Weight training, no junkfood, no booze

Tuesday

I cycled in today. It was cold but I was wearing several layers. Only my fingers suffered.

I wasn't much of a teacher today - I did my best, but both apostrophes and probability remain mysteries to most of my students.

I cycled home for a shower and then Martha and I headed off to the dojo.

It was a slow, stop-start session at the deep end. I enjoyed doing kata, but because we had a little trouble hearing/understanding the instructor in charge, we ended up performing Bassai Dai wearing our sparring gloves! We finished with a tiny bit of attacking/blocking practise but it was over far too soon.

Karate, no junkfood, no booze

Wednesday

I cycled in to work, I tried to inspire young people, I cycled home.

I did an hour of weight lifting which left my neck and shoulder muscles aching mightily, then I made dinner. I watched Narcos, did some work on my eBay and then read some Terry Pratchett in bed.

Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Thursday

At college, I did a warm up with the Sports lads, played a bit of football in goal and then umpired some cricket. Tonight was another night of weight training. 

I had 3 beers with my dinner!

Weight training, no junkfood, 3 beers

Friday

I cycled in to work and back. I decided not to go to the dojo in favour of this week's 10K run. It was a strange run tonight - I absolutely hated it as usual, but it didn't seem to completely drain me as other runs do. I managed to hobble around in 63 minutes and 42 seconds. Still desperately slow by anyone's standards.

After a shower, I felt it necessary to refuel with three bottles of ale...

10K run, no junkfood, 3 beers.

Saturday

In the morning, Mouse, Marth, Lily and I went bowling!

Lily won the first game and I won the second. It was a very nice time, especially as I managed 3 strikes in a row to get a total of 141!

At the dojo, I was the instructor in charge. I had a great time working with the young people, and I even subjected them to a 60 second lecture about Master Funakoshi and the need for respect in the dojo. We did some basics followed by kata followed by pad work. It felt good and I hope the students come back next week.

Once again, I ended the evening by sipping some beers with dinner!

Karate, no junkfood, 3 beers

Sunday

Our final bicycle ride before the Mad March Hare. Today's target was The Coughton Route: 54 miles with 2500ft of climbing at an average speed of 14.0mph.

We got it right, right from the start. We worked together for the whole ride, putting the strongest riders on the front and making sure everyone was at a pace they could handle while keeping the pressure on. As usual, my descending was my weakness, but I felt I was useful on the climbs. For the first 33 miles, I was having trouble keeping the bike in gear. When we got to the cakestop, Roger and I set about examining my rear derailleur - the ten year old part had finally become loose and there was no way to tighten it up (I looked it up later that day - the only solution is a replacement.) I dialled in my gears as best I could and I'm pleased to report that my transmission behaved itself for the last 21 miles. There was some discussion about replacing the derailleur before the MMH next week, but I decided to leave it now that it was working properly again (sort of.)

Back as base (Jonnie's place) we agreed that this was the first year of MMH training where we had managed to achieve the target average on every ride. I'm convinced that this is because we are all working together as a team this year.

I scoffed some lunch, walked the dogs with aching legs (mine, not the dogs') and finally cracked a beer.

Cycling, junkfood, 3 beers.

This week could have been a great one for training were it not for the fact that I consumed a total of 12 bottles of beer! Must do better...