Fat Girl to Ironman

7 April 2015

Shinkansen to Kanazawa

Our train for Kanazawa was at 10:30 this morning, so we got up at 7:30am. This gave us enough time to finish packing before leaving our hotel. Getting to Tokyo Station At 9am, Jez joined us at our hotel and we wheeled/carried/dragged our bikes to Ryogoku station. We had to go up a long flight of steps to the platform. There...

Categories Cycling/Travel Comments: 5

7 April 2015

Jez’s arrival in Japan

Our friend, Jez, arrived in Japan today, so we agreed to travel out to Haneda Airport to meet him. Fortunately, Haneda is not as far from where we are staying as Narita is, so we were able to leave our hotel at 8am. Haneda Airport The weather had been forecast to be sunny, so we didn’t need to wear jumpers...

Categories Cycling/Travel Comments: 0

6 April 2015

Monday Morning Motivation – Rise and shine!

“Rise and shine. 6am and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of a bed. Aching muscles lie still in rebellion, pretending not to hear your brain commanding them to move. A legion of voices are shouting...

Categories Motivation Comments: 2

5 April 2015

Vegan food, clothes shopping, Harajuku girls and some Japanese pro wrestlers

Today was the first day since we arrived in Japan that we haven’t needed to set an early alarm. Stu was excited as he thought this meant that we could eat breakfast (a meal we’ve not had yet in Japan). Unfortunately, we were both so tired that we slept until 10:30am and could quite happily have turned over and slept some more....

Categories Cycling/Travel Comments: 0

4 April 2015

Sumo and Sky Tree

.It was another early start today, as we had signed up for a running tour that started at 8am. We’d chosen this excursion as we had read that we might be able to see some sumo wrestling. We weren’t sure how busy the subway would be at that time on a Saturday. We had read that the trip should only take...

Categories Running/Travel Comments: 0

3 April 2015

Tokyo via Helsinki…

Our journey to Tokyo started at 5:45am as we wanted to be on the road by 6:30am. This was a fortunate decision. We had travelled less than five miles before getting stuck in a traffic jam. The traffic was slow-moving for an almost an hour, which gave me plenty of time to ponder what I had forgotten. Every trip, if forgot something. This...

Categories Cycling/Travel Comments: 8

30 March 2015

Monday Morning Motivation – Kilian Jornet

This video of Kilian Jornet made me say ‘wow’. If it doesn’t make you want to go out for a run, then I’m not sure what will! There’s an interesting article about here: Kilian Jornet: the world’s best ultrarunner. What do you think?

Categories Motivation/Running Comment: 1

23 March 2015

Monday Morning Motivation – what’s the hardest step for you?

The hardest step for a runner is the first one out of the front door. I try to organise all of my clothes, food etc for the following day in the evening so that as soon as I wake up, I’m pretty much ready to go. Do you have routines to help make sure that you achieve your goals? Amazingly,...

Categories Motivation/Running Comments: 2

22 March 2015

Winchester Duathlon (aka Hell on the Hills in Hampshire!)

I’ve done Winchester Duathlon twice before: 2013 (sprint) – my first ever multisport event (completed on a hybrid bike) 2014 (sprint) – my second try at Winchester Duathlon and a massive PB for me However, this year the event has moved to the beautiful Lainston House, so it’s a new course. I didn’t really think about this too much in...

Categories Cycling/Kit/Running Comment: 1

22 March 2015

Running with Liz as preparation for my first duathlon of 2015

My weekend started with a lie in. I dithered about whether or not to do parkrun as I’ve got Winchester Duathlon tomorrow, but the lure of my new kit was too much, so I got up, got dressed, admired my outfit in the mirror and then headed off to parkrun with Stu. When I arrived, I chatted with a few...

Categories Running Comments: 0