Swimming has been a bit hit and miss over the last few weeks. Some sessions leave me absolutely hating swimming but then I did have one or two (or three...) where I feel quite 'glidey'. When I feel glidey, I do like, nay, ENJOY swimming. Andy the coach is still trying to get me to do something with my left arm, which I have been trying but the arm seems to have a mind of its own.
I started my one of many, I'm sure, hill reps up the infamous and slightly torturous Belmont Hill on Wednesday evening. Last year, I'd done all of my hill rep sessions on my own so it was a real treat to have my club mate Andrea come over to the hill with me. I managed 4 reps (it was supposed to be 5 but I had someone coming for dinner!) and the hill didn't seem so bad at all. Progress, surely?
The week's highlights were my BIG ride and BIG run.
I was going to do a Friday morning Cheddar ride (Bank Holiday - thank you Will & Kate) on my own but I put an email out there mid-week to see if anyone fancied coming along (thinking there'd be no uptake). In the end there were 3 of us and it was lovely to have some company. Although the pace was a bit slower than what I would've liked, it was great to catch up and find some new roads and routes. We did go up Cheddar Gorge but I was horrified to find that a new Costa Coffee shop had opened at the bottom of the hill. Ok, they do nice-ish coffee, but Cheddar is no place for chain cafes! Anyway, it was a lovely ascent and of course I had to get out of the saddle at THAT bit where my eyes always seem to almost bulge out of my head. This ride, like most recent others however, was spoilt by my ongoing saddle issues. 3 hours in I had started to whinge and was lifting myself out the saddle to get some relief from the quite acute discomfort! I am still on my mission to find THE saddle. Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow and the Cobb Saddle have been no good, so the hunt goes on. Next stop, hopefully a test Fizik saddle.
Saturday I took part in the Red Kite Challenge which started and finished at the beautiful Nant yr Arian Forest visitor centre. I was a bit apprehensive about this one after reading some scare story reviews. Tales of horror hills but stunning scenery gave me mixed feelings about entering...but enter I did so I made my way up towards Aberystwyth on what was a hot and windy day. 11ish miles, multi-terrain race through woods, over moors and past lakes closely watched by the red kites hovering above. Most of the path was slate scree and I quickly concluded that wearing my Inov8 Oroc was a mistake (they have little metal spikes - ideal for mud and ice but torture on hard surfaces!). There were indeed horror hills but it was all worth it for the views and I took pride in knowing half my family was from this area. Here's the best view of the day:
Looking at the results, I came 5th from bottom (ha!) although I was pleased with my time of 2h21. The best bit about the race was receiving a rosette at the end, instead of a medal. A nice change.
I didn't seem to become as fatigued during this block of training as previous blocks so I'm hoping my body's got over the shock by now. What is shocking, however, is that my 'training' race The Swashbuckler Half Ironman is less than 3 weeks away! 3 weeks! It's odd to think that I spent the whole of last summer training for such an event and this year the same distance is merely a 'training' race.
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