One of the most inspirational triathletes that I’ve read about recently is John Young who is a ‘little person’ (his words).
http://bethehammerjy.blogspot.co.uk/
If John can achieve a Boston Qualifying marathon time and complete an Ironman, what excuse do the rest of us have?!
If you want to find out about John’s latest adventures, check out his Facebook page. You can also read the official Ironman article about him: John Young breaks barriers in triathlon.
I really like this Audi commercial that emphasises that men and women should be treated equally, however, it was deemed to be controversial when it was first screened.
What do you think?
I’m guessing that first thing in the morning probably isn’t when you have time to watch a 20 minute documentary, but please do yourself a favour, save this link and schedule time to watch this brilliant 20 minute documentary this week.
Ultra Angela tells the story of Angela Shartel who has battled depression and poor health to become an ultra runner.
After a collision with one of the local buses when he was younger, Julian Molina was left with a completely destroyed foot, which later became infected with gangrene, traumatically resulting in the amputation of his entire leg. Most would quit here, but not Julian.
Despite his situation, the man has only looked forward and up, and two wheels has been his vehicle in that journey. Today he’s stomping tricks he couldn’t land with two legs, and riding with a bigger heart and smile than most. This is Julian Molina’s story.
To learn more about Julian, read Meet the BMXer who lets nothing stand in his way. You can also visit his Facebook page.
©Jeff Lewis
I love this video about an amazing woman who took up swimming as an adult – please do spend 3 minutes watching it.
Why Not Now: Vivian Stancil from Riley Hooper on Vimeo.
If you’d like to read more, have a look at this article: Doctor’s weight-loss order pushed her into the pool; now she’s a champ.
I deferred my place in RideLondon last year and had hoped that I would be able to train and take part this year, but things have not gone as smoothly as I had hoped.
I am unable to defer my place again, so I can either take part in the event or keep my fingers crossed that I am lucky enough to get a place again in future. I was erring towards the latter until I read about the launch of the London Classics: “The unique challenge requires participants to run the Virgin Money London Marathon, cycle 100 miles in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 and swim two miles at Swim Serpentine, the open water swimming festival.” I hope that one day I’ll get a place in London Marathon and am now tempted to add Swim Serpentine to my itinerary for 2018.
Today, I planned a training ride. I agreed that I would cycle out into the New Forest and do a loop via Beaulieu and Buckler’s Hard before meeting my husband and in-laws at the Drift Inn.
The ride out of the city is always slow. There are lots of traffic lights and although there is a new section of cycle path, the road is abysmal in places. Finally, I made it to Eling, which is where the enjoyable part of my ride begins. However, just five minutes later, my enjoyment waned…
I cycled across a busy road and was immediately hit by a pungent smell. The road was covered in manure and I assumed that a muck spreader must have recently passed that way.
I cycled on a little further and was surprised to find the traffic at a virtual standstill. As we were not yet into the New Forest, I was not sure of the cause (roaming animals, such as horses, cows and donkeys, often cause the traffic to stop in the Forest). Cars started to turn off and I was able to see the reason for the hold up: 5 pairs of horses and gigs. The gypsies obviously did not want to get split up, so whenever the road widened or there was the possibility for some cars to pass, one of the gigs would pull out and overtake another, which was very frustrating for the queue of traffic. I really didn’t enjoy this part of my ride – the road was covered in excrement and I was stuck behind a car that was belching out hot fumes. I was surprised to see quite a few police 4x4s, so I assumed that they were aware that gig racing might be about to take place.
Finally, at Ipley Cross the gigs turned off and I was able to continue on my ride. I cycled past Beaulieu and headed towards East Boldre before cycling towards Buckler’s Hard and then back towards the Drift Inn.
As I neared the pub, I was able to see that there was an enormous gathering. There were crowds of people in the road, police wearing high-viz jackets, cars parked everywhere and on the scrubland opposite the pub were lots of horses and gigs.
I took my bike into the pub garden where my family were meeting. We had agreed that Baby M would spend some time with her grandparents whilst Stuart joined me for a couple of hours. I had a quick drink and then we were off again.
Stuart had planned a nice route that involved heading back to Beaulieu before heading out towards Exbury Gardens and Lepe beach. I’ve not cycled this way for a long time – I think it was probably back in April last year when I went for a ride with Teri. That time, the road by the beach was covered in sand – fortunately it was clear this time. I’m not particularly familiar with this route, but a lot of it is the same as Solent Half marathon, which I’ve run a couple of times, so it brough back some happy memories.
By the time Stu and I got back to the Drift Inn, the crowds had dispersed and it was as the gypsy flash mob had never been there. We’d noticed a wedding party at the pub when we were there earlier; this time we saw the happy couple having photos taken amongst the trees.
I stopped for a little while to chat with my in-laws and feed M. I also had a quick snack, before leaving to cycle home alone. As I got to Ipley Cross, I noticed some raindrops 😦 This was all the incentive I needed to pick up my pace a bit. Luckily, the rain eased off, but I tried to maintain my pace. I had hoped that I would be able to do my ride without too many hold ups, but the traffic jam earlier meant that I didn’t really have a clear idea of my average pace.
As I got towards home, I hit 110km, just before the timer hit 5 hours. I’ll need to be able to ride another 50km in a fortnight, but am hoping that determination (and a bit of drafting) will get me through.
Have you done RideLondon before? What are your tips?
A few weeks ago, one of my friends commented on Facebook that her 8-year-old son was speeding up and that she felt she was holding him back at parkrun. At the time, he was running at around 27 minutes, so I felt that it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. A date was set… and then the young lad blew everyone away by running just under 24 minutes at a flat local parkrun!
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to pace someone to sub 24 (I’ve only run at that speed once myself), but I still felt confident that I could help the young man to a Southampton PB.
I met up with my running buddy before the start of parkrun and we positioned ourselves towards the front for the start. Although there weren’t as many runners as usual, it was still quite congested. We did a little bit of weaving amongst other runners and also ran on the grass at the side a bit.
At the top of the hill, we moved onto the grass at the side and I told my pacee that if he wanted to go faster then I would make sure that I kept up. He replied that he was saving some energy so that he could have a good sprint finish.
We carried on down the hill and were soon caught by Stuart and baby M. The continued with us as we went up the hill towards the crossroads. We had some support there as my running buddy’s dad and brother were there cheering the runners on.
On the second lap, the young runner pushed much harder on the downhill, so I had to work reasonably hard to keep up and talk to him.
We turned the corner for the final uphill towards the crossroads and ‘mini Mo’ started to kick. I knew that if we stayed together then I would hold him back, so I shouted to Stu to run with him to the finish.
I turned onto the final downhill section and heaved a sigh of relief that my pacee would be able to achieve a good time… and also drew breath as I slowed down to a steady jog.
After I crossed the finish line, I was pleased to see that I had still achieved a sub 25 minute run.
Massive congratulations to ‘runner boy’, who was 30 seconds quicker than me, which is an impressive performance for an 8-year-old!
This evening Stu and I took part in HOWL aquathlon. It’s the second year that the event has taken place and it was my second time taking part. Last year, I was pregnant when I took part, so I was grateful just to be able to do so. This year I was hoping that I would make it through the swim and would put in a good run leg.
Our lovely friend, Jez, has offered to babysit for us several times, so we decided to take his up on his kind offer. We figured that we shouldn’t be away from M for too long and if she was having a bad night then several of our other friends would be around to help out… plus Jez is a sporty guy (and amazing runner), so we thought he might like watching the aquathlon.
We registered at 6:30pm and the event wasn’t due to start until 7:30pm, so there was
As well as the individual competition, there were also team prizes up for grabs. We had assumed that the first two men and two women from each club would count as a team, but were told that we had to pre-register as specific teams. This proved to be a little challenging as no-one was sure of their rank within the club – especially as many people are significantly better at one of the disciplines. In the end, Stu and I were registered in STC’s team 2.
© Darryl Marcus-Hanks
© Darryl Marcus-Hanks
Most of my clubmates were representing Southampton Tri Club in their club lit, but I only own an STC gilet and I wanted to wear my lovely kit from The Athlete’s Palate.
I set up my stuff in transition and then had some more time to chat with friends. Before long it was time for the race briefing. I should have been fully focused, but I suddenly realised that my swimming hat was missing. Panic! Panic! Jez kindly ran over to registration and picked up another hat for me, so I was able to start thinking about the race. [As an aside, it was great that women were given blue hats and men had the red hats – such a refreshing change!]
After the briefing, we were straight into the lake for a deep water start, so there was a bit of a warm up. To my dismay, wetsuits had been banned. I really feel the cold when swimming (because I am sooooo slow) and I also appreciate the extra buoyancy, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I just got in.
I positioned myself towards the back, but was almost in line with the buoy as I didn’t want to swim any further than was necessary.
I found the swim challenging, although I managed to get into a rhythm. I had forgotten how much I enjoy open water swimming as it’s so peaceful. I didn’t see anything strange out of the corner of my eye – usually, I spy my hand a lake monster and get freaked out, but not today.
I knew I wasn’t going quickly and this was confirmed when I got clopped in the head by one of the leading ladies heading towards the end of their swim.
I acclimatised to the water temperature fairly quickly, but was disarmed by some of the extremely cold patches that we had to traverse. I had thought that the water would get stirred up a bit by all of us swimming, but that didn’t happen.
I didn’t have a very quick transition. I tried not to faff, but I did exchange a few words with spectators.
My running is significantly better than my swimming, so I was pleased to see some other runners up ahead who I was able to hunt down. I haven’t seen the splits yet, but I think my run was quite good.
© Darryl Marcus-Hanks
On the second lap, there was a lady in a yellow top up ahead. I chased her for a significant portion of the second lap. In the end, she beat me by about 6 seconds and was 3rd V40 lady. Maybe next year, my swimming will be back on track and I’ll be able to chase her down!
Last year, I managed:
Swim time: 21:47
Transition time: 1:16
Run time: 30:06
Overall: 53:09
Here are my (provisional) results for this year (based on my Garmin):
Swim time: 21:12
Transition time: 01:05
Run time: 24:30
Overall: 00:46:44.274
So, it was a PB 😀
I was 16/21 senior ladies and 19/35 women.
It was also great to learn that Stuart was first V40 finisher – well done, Stu!
Wednesday was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop me from going along to Buggy Mums. I knew that Christine would have planned a session that would keep us moving and I wasn’t wrong.
Unsurprisingly, we were a small group of just 7 people today, but that didn’t make it any less fun. One brave lady came along for the first time despite the weather.
We kept moving around the Common, stopping in various locations to do exercises, including squats, tricep dips and walking lunges. We also managed to run 4km.
© Christine Saunders
Today’s Buggy Mums session was at a new venue: Riverside Park. I’ve run in Riverside Park lots of times, but it was nice to use a new venue for Buggy Mums as there were new options for training.
©Christine Saunders
©Christine Saunders
©Christine Saunders
On Friday, I went out shopping with M. I’ve been struggling with finding enough baby-free time to ride, so I thought I’d better do an hour on the turbo trainer. I have no idea whether I’ll be fit enough to tackle #ridelondon in a month, but I’m not going down without a fight!
Southampton parkrun was cancelled again this week (Pretty Muddy), so it was another chance for me to do some parkrun tourism. Stu and I chose to go to Whiteley parkrun and we gave our friend Rob a lift. It was Stu’s turn to run with the buggy, so I was free to go as fast or slow as I liked. Yesterday, my Garmin told me I was ‘detraining’ after a week of berating me for being ‘unproductive’, so I thought I’d better run hard! 24:22 is 42s away from my PB, but not a bad run considering my lack of training and the humidity.
Hopefully, having put in a decent run will improve my Garmin’s comments about my training!
On Sunday, I went on a lovely sunny ride with Julian Porter Cycling Club. We cycling from Eling tide mill out to Beaulieu before stopping for drinks – I was a bit surprised as that’s only about 7 miles.
We then headed off towards Buckler’s Hard, but didn’t do the loop that I’m used to. Instead we did a very short loop that was being used as part of a triathlon. I cheered a few people on and was able to say hello to club-mates who were manning an aid station.
We then turned towards The Drift Inn where we were to regroup with the faster riders. It was quite warm, so I appreciated a glass of coke, but was aware that really I needed to be doing more pedalling and less drinking!
When we left, Angela, a speedier rider joined us, so Lou and I picked up the pace towards Ipley Cross. At that point, Angela left us and we turned back towards Southampton.
Just a few miles from where we started, we turned a corner and Lou shouted that her chain had come off. On closer inspection, we realised that she had broken her rear mech hanger 😦 I agreed that I would cycle back to the car park, collect my car and retrieve Lou and her bike. What a disappointing end to a lovely ride for Lou.
I enjoyed this social cycle, but think I probably should have gone out on my own for a training ride as although I was out for 4.5 hours, I rode less than 30 miles :’-(
To top off a busy week, Stu and I walked to Sprinkles for an ice-cream sundae.
What did you do this week?
I’d hoped to get my week off to a good start with a swim, but after getting home late on Sunday evening, there was a lot of organising that needed to be done yesterday 😦
However, today turned into a very good day…
First up was a new class: pilates. I’ve done pilates a few times before with varying success. The first time I tried was at Bournemouth Uni. The teacher was lovely, but young and inexperienced. She was extremely nervous and we didn’t seem to cover much in the class. In contrast, the yoga teacher at BU was absolutely fantastic and had lots of experience. I could have chosen to do both classes, but at the time, I enjoyed the yoga more, so I did that and replaced the pilates class with spinning and strength and conditioning.
The last time that I did a pilates class was when I was on holiday with Embrace Sports. One of my fellow triathletes was Nicky Green – an elite marathoner and pilates instructor. One rainy afternoon, Nicky offered to lead a class. It was really enjoyable, but as Nicky lives hundreds of miles away, it wouldn’t be practical to go to her sessions!
Anyway, today’s pilates class is part of Park Lives Southampton. I’ve posted about this initiative before – it’s free outdoor activities sponsored by Coca Cola. I already go to Buggy Mums twice a week and really enjoy the classes led by Christine, so when I saw that she was offering pilates, I knew the class would be good.
I intended to arrive early, but took M along to be weighed first. Unfortunately, the weigh in over-ran, so I ended up being 5 minutes late, and Christine had already started introducing the class. I had brought along my own mat, so I quickly got myself set up and joined in.
After a while, M got a bit bored in her buggy, so I sat her on a mat with some toys (*and my keys – not hygienic, but her current favourite plaything) and she occupied herself for the rest of the session.
A shot that was taken during today’s session – we’re working hard, not sunbathing!
©Christine – ParkLives
Christine explained all of the exercises really clearly and although there were people of varying abilities in the class, exercises were layered so everyone could work to their own level. I’ve signed up for the next three weeks and am really looking forward to doing more sessions.
After the class, I met up with my friend Sarah and we went for a run. It was a bit too muggy for us to run quickly, but that’s fine as it’s a combination of social event and fitness for me. My Garmin disagrees and has admonished me by giving me a training status of ‘unproductive’, which is the first time that has happened since I got my new watch. Apparently, “Your training load is at a good level, but your fitness is decreasing. Your body may be struggling to recover, so you should pay attention to your overall health including stress, nutrition, and rest”. I’ve had a cold recently, which took it out of me and I’ve not been eating as well as I should this week. I can’t comment about sleep as I never have enough. I also think that most of my recent runs have been with M in her buggy, but my watch doesn’t know that! Hopefully, I’ll be able to become ‘productive’ again soon. Anyway, Sarah and I had a lovely run that was about 7.5km.
Tomorrow is Buggy Mums and food planning followed by grocery shopping… and I’m hoping to finish off some blogposts that are missing photos. It’s so annoying to have written most of what I want to say, but to know that the accompanying images are trapped on my broken laptop 😦
What are your plans for the rest of this week?
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