December Training Update & a broken finger!

I'd planned this month to make the most of the dark nights by focussing on improving my swimming. All was going really well until the 8th December when whilst something as innocuous as getting changed after swimming resulted in me rupturing the extender tendon on my ring finger and breaking it too!? No pain but an instant disfigurement. I'm now facing six weeks in a splint in the hope of it mending but the prospect of an operation at the end of it if not... It also put paid to swimming until at least the 21st Jan 2013 :-(

I've also not been able to ride the bike with the limited finger movement so been concentrating on Gym work and have finally had a go at Spin classes... Great fun but really hard!

Here's the training update for December to wrap up the year!

01/12/12 ~ 1000m pool swim training at Total Fitness in 25.57 (SWOLF ~ 56)

               ~ 10 mile winter bike loop around Bradwall in 36mins 29 Secs averaging 16.7mph

03/12/12 ~ 800m pool swim at Total Fitness in 20mins (SWOLF ~ 54)

               ~ 30mins Weight Training

06/12/12 ~ 1000m pool swim training at Total Fitness in 25mins 13secs (SWOLF ~ 53)
               ~ 30mins Weight Training
08/12/12 ~ 6mile bike ride to Total Fitness in Crewe via Haslington in 25mins averaging 15.2mph
               ~ 800m pool swim at Total Fitness in 19mins 03secs (SWOLF ~ 51)
               * Ruptured extender tendon and broken ring finger whilst getting changed after swimming :-(

09/12/12 ~ 30mins weight training at Total Fitness and recovered the bike from the lock up after having to

                  abandon it yesterday with my broken finger!

12/12/12 ~ 30mins weight training and 10km on the cycle machine in 19mins 25secs

14/12/12 ~ My first ever Spin class session... 45mins of 'hard' at Total Fitness gym! Really enjoyed it!

16/12/12 ~ 10km bike machine, 3km treadmill and 30mins weight training at Crewe Hall

22/12/12 ~ 1 hour Spin Class at Total Fitness followed by...

               ~ 1 mile treadmill run and...

               ~ 30minutes Weight training

27/12/12 ~ 3mile post Xmas run around the Wheelock Rail Trail in 30mins and

                  16secs in my new running gear... Thanks Karen, Dave and Katie!

28/12/12 ~ 45mins weight training at Total Fitness

All in all it's been another good year!

The London 2012 Olympics were also an amazing experience, and watching British riders take 1st and 2nd place in this years Tour de France a week before hand brilliant!

Another £2,522 raised for the Abersoch RNLI... £1,872 from the coast to coast bike ride and £650 from the Findel Ed boys v girls team Triathlon. Also £120 raised from the Liverpool Triathlon for the Isaiah Trust... All of which I know will be put to excellent use... Thanks again all for the donations, support and genereal goodwill!

The coast to coast bike ride was a great experience, stunning scenery, a fantastic route with a great mate... Thanks Dom!

The Capesthorne team Tri was also a great day out and a laugh with the folk from work. Thanks Nick, Kev, Marwa, Joanne and Lisa for agreeing to raise funds for the RNLI and an extra special thanks to Lisa for organising it!

The Livepool Tri also saw me hitting another of my goals for the year getting under the 3hour milestone for the Olympic Distance of 2hours 53mins.

A huge thanks also to Karen and my daughters for all their continued support! I really don't know what I'd do without you!

I'll be continuing BLOG'ing my training and fundraising exploits next year so watch this space!!! And thanks for following!

Happy New Year!

Dave.

Movember Training Update: 1,000miles and a bad back!

Started the month well with a bike ride around the country lanes of Sandbach which tipped my training and event mile balance for the year over the 1,000mile mark about a month earlier than last year :-)

Also started with the best intentions of supporting Movember but an absent minded shaving accident on the 11th Movember saw the moustache getting an early bath :-(

I've taken up golf! Have I mentioned this? I've been having some lessons which have been going well but after a mid month session strained my back which has impacted the training considerably. That and struggling with motivation to get out on the cold, dark, winter nights!

On a brighter note the RNLI fundraising from my coast to coast bike ride earlier this year is now complete with the final total reaching a whopping £1,872.14 !! Thanks so much to everyone for their donations and huge support!

So... The Movember training update is as follows...

03/11/12 ~ 10.2mile Autumnal bike ride around the country lanes of Sandbach and Bradwall averaging

                  16.5mph

04/11/12 ~ 3mile run around the Wheelock rail trail in 28mins 43secs

10/11/12 ~ 4mile run around Pwllheli Marina in 41mins 17secs

18/11/12 ~ 4.3miles around Moston and Ettiley Heath with a bad back in 46mins 23secs!

24/11/12 ~ 1,200m swim at Total Fitness in 32mins 11secs

               ~ 40mins weight training

28/11/12 ~ 1,500m swim at Total Fitness in 38mins 20secs

October Training Update

After last month's leisurely pace I could already feel the 'winter plumage' spreading around my waist so have tried to pick up the training again this month (always difficult with no event in mind)! Slightly disappointed that the RNLI aren't running their Reindeer 10km in Knowsley this year which has traditionally been my last event of the year... Another victim of the RNLI closing their Northern Regional Office it seems :-(

Instead I've been concentrating on trying to improve my swim technique at the Crewe Tigers Tri Club Swim training sessions.

October training summary...
01/10/12 ~ 3mile run loop around the Wheelock Rail Trail in 27mins and 51secs
03/10/12 ~ Another 3 mile run loop around the Wheelock Rail Trail in the same time of 27mins and
                  51secs!?
07/10/12 ~ 22mile Bike loop around Sandbach in 1hour 19mins averaging 17.1mph
09/10/12 ~ 1,550m return to pool swim training with Crewe Tigers Tri club... Pool swimming is Soo hard!
11/10/12 ~ 700m swim at Vale Royal Sub-Aqua Club dive pool session
12/10/12 ~ 27.2mile bike ride around Crewe, Haslington, Arclid & Sandbach averaging 16.4mph in 1hour
                  41mins
15/10/12 ~ 45mins weight training @ Total Fitness Gym
16/10/12 ~ 1,900m pool swim training with Crewe Tigers
20/10/12 ~ 400m Tri swim pool training in 9mins 37secs
               ~ 12.4mile Tri training bike ride from Crewe to Hassall and back in 44mins 24secs avge
                  17.1mph
               ~ 5km Tri training run around Crewe in 27mins 10secs
23/10/12 ~ 6mile cycle to Crewe Tigers Swim training in 23mins averaging 15.4mph
               ~ 1,800m Pool swim trainin session with Crewe Tigers
               ~ 6 mile cycle home in 22mins averaging 15.9mph
30/10/13 ~ 1,000m Pool swim trainin session with Crewe Tigers Tri swim club.

September Training Update & A BIG Anniversary!

Another great month even if the training has subsided somewhat... Always difficult to maintain with no event to train for. Our coast to coast bike ride has so far raised an amazing £1,845! Roughly £10 for every mile cycled with a bit more to come in from the good folk at Gimblet Rock caravan site! Thanks all!!!

 Karen and I also celebrated our Silver Wedding anniversary in style with 10 days in the Seychelles which was absolute bliss! We took our gym and running gear with us but I think there was never any real intention of using it with a well earned rest taking it's rightful place!

So, training excuses done here's a summary of the September training! :-)...

02/09/12 ~ 14mile cycle sprint around Sandbach averaging 18.7mph in 45mins 37secs

05/09/12 ~ 10mile cycle to Holmes Chappel and back averaging 17.9mph in 33mins 37secs

08/09/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim @ Uswim Salford for the last time this season - 38mins 49secs

13/09/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim @ Uswim Boundary Water Park in 35mins 30secs

27/09/12 ~ A final 1150m Open Water Swim in 25mins 27secs @ Boundary Water park to mark the end

                  of the open water season in a very cold 14'c lake :-(  

29/09/12 ~ 8.3 mile bike around Sandbach averaging 17mph in 29mins 39secs.

Way of the roses ~ Day 3 ~ Dunnington (York) to Bridlington!

 Third day saw us setting off on a bright day with patchy cloud on a predominantly flat run on quiet back lanes through Stamford Bridge and Pocklington.

The lane from Pocklington ran through a country park valley alongside a dried out river bed which was lovely. Midway along this lane we came across a herd of special breed cattle, one of whom had just given birth minutes earlier to a calf! The calf was still being cleaned by it's mother but already trying to stand on very wobbly feet.

A short hill climb through Huggate and then some blisteringly good roads where we were at last able to motor to reach Driffield in time for lunch having done 33 miles.

The last time I was in Driffield was about 25 years ago to record a couple of tracks with a band I used to play with at 'Lambs to the Slaughter' studios. Thinking about it, we're still waiting to hear back from them but I've not given up hope yet of getting signed up with a major record deal...

The final 20 miles to Bridlington were great knowing that we'd almost done.

More single track lanes around acres of flat fields around arable farm land and criss crossing the railway line via level crossings.

Two miles from Bridlington with the sea in sight Dom got a puncture... Unbelievable!

A short delay whilst we got it fixed and then a victory lap through the narrow streets of Bridlington Old Town (where we later went to celebrate :-).

We arrived at the finish line about 4.30pm having completed the route and covered 184miles in total!

A huge sense of achievement! :-)

The map below from my Garmin GPS shows our full route and this link should give the full details for those interested ~ http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215676135

All in all the Way of the Roses coast to coast route is fantastic and one I'd definitely recommend ~ http://www.wayoftheroses.co.uk/

It's well sign posted and with the accompanying map an easy route to follow (apart from our detour to Ingleton on day one! ;-)

We met some great people en route including a few cyclists we kept bumping into along the way... A couple of German guys on road bikes who spoke better English than us! A couple of guys on Mountain bikes from Oldham and a group with a tour guide on mountain bikes. The group were great we got covered in mud together on one stretch of road between Ripon and York, but the guide was a bit pretentious and obviously felt he had something to prove. I hope his dashing off and leaving them to catch up didn't spoil it for them.

As well as being a right royal expedition for us, my main reason for doing the challenge was to continue the fundraising for the RNLI. As things stand I'm well on track to raise about £1,800 which is way ahead of my initial target. The donation page will remain open until November so not too late to add to that total if the mood takes ~ http://www.justgiving.com/Daves-RNLI-Coast2Coast-Cycle

I can't thank everyone who supported me enough... But a special thanks to Dom who I had a great laugh along the way with... A true mate!

Way of the roses ~ Day 2 ~ Grassington to Dunnington (York)

 After a full English breakfast at the Old Hall Inn in Threshfield we set off in a light drizzle via Grassington to pick up the route again in Burnsall and climb through thickening hill mist/low cloud (down to less than 100m visibility) up to the highest point of the route at Greenhow (402m). A shame really as the views would undoubtedly have been stunning but for the thick fog!

The descent in the rain into Pateley Bridge was a white knuckle ride down 20% hills with hairpin bends and rutted roads... Glad to get that over safely!

The rain stopped and from there we climbed again running past Brimham Rocks with their unbelievable stacked rock formations!

Onwards through the beautiful grounds of Fountains Abbey complete with Main Hall, it's own church, lake and deer grounds.

Lunch Saturday was in Ripon in a coffee shop in the main square and a well earned rest with the last of the major climbs behind us :-)

The Cathederal in Ripon was again a work of Art!

From Ripon we travelled mostly on single track roads barely seeing a car for miles through Boroughbridge, Dunsforth (along some very muddy lanes). Just after Linton-on-Ouse the heavens opened and we got a thorough drenching!

The rain stopped (leaving us soaked) as we headed in to York along a couple of miles of tarmac towpath along the River Ouse itself.

The route popped us up right in the middle of York city centre barely touching a road en-route!

I'd forgotten how impressive York Minster is! How did they build such things!?

Our Saturday night stop over after our 66mile ride for the day was at a small but homely B&B East of York in Kexby near Dunnigton. The owner was good enough to run us to the local pub for dinner after we'd showered both us and the mud off the bikes! Another great day cycling!

The map here from my Garmin GPS shows our full route and this link should give the full details for those interested ~

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215676116

Way of the roses ~ Day 1 ~ Morecambe to Grassington

An early morning cycle to Crewe train station to catch the train via Lancaster to Morecambe enabled Dom and I to start the route about 10.00am on a sunny Friday morning after the obligatory picture with Eric Morecambe (I'm the one with the short fat hairy legs to his left!) and a quick shirt change to save my RNLI logo shirt for the final day and we were off! A massive thanks to Studio, Davies Sports, Kitbag, Perfection Beauty Brands and Involve for all donating £100 each for their logo inclusion on the shirt!

We packed light and carried everything we needed for the stay with us.

The route out of Morecambe was along a tarmac path on a disused railway line but as soon as we got to Lancaster it was on to the proper roads and immediately into the hill climbs! A lovely route round Aughton, Hornby, Wray to Clapham where unfortunately we took a wrong turn and an unplanned 5mile detour over a hill and down the other side almost reaching Ingleton before we realised our mistake... Oops!

Returned to Clapham (I never thought it would happen ;-) and a pit stop to re-fuel. The route signage wasn't clear and we ended up spending a long time trying to find the right route through Austwick around Wharfe to Settle but ended up back on the main road and so conceded and took the B6480 into Settle which was busy and VERY hairy!

By the time we got to Settle for a late lunch we were knackered and had cycled 45miles instead of the planned 35!

Settle is very picturesque and we had a great lunch at the 'Naked Man' cafe before tackling the steep 375m climb out of Settle towards Kirkby Malham. Very pleased to say we cycled all the way, albeit with a few breath catching stops (the plains of Cheshire are not really good training for these sorts of hill climbs!)

Spectacular views from the top of the hill back down towards Settle 'almost' made it worthwhile ;-)

On the home run from Cracoe we missed the turn off the route to our digs for the night at Threshfield and I ended up paying for it with a front wheel puncture after hitting a pothole! The spare inner tube used, we got to The Old Hall Inn for a fabulous evening stopover!

The map below from my Garmin GPS shows our full route (and the extent of our detour!) and this link should give the full details for those interested ~ http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215676081 

All in all a great start to our coast to coast cycle!

The cherry on the cake was undoubtedly the news from work that the cake bake, raffle and dress down day had added another £369 towards the RNLI fundraising!

Thanks Jules for taking the time to organise it all!

London 2012 #ourgreatestteam & August training update

Wow! What a month! After all the anxiety as to how the hosting of the London 2012 Olympics might go, and all the nay sayers casting doom and gloom... What an event! THE greatest show on Earth!

We were very fortunate to get down for the weekend of 'Super Saturday', catching the rowing at Eaton Dorney on the Friday and seeing Katherine Granger and Anna Watkins win gold in the rowing which was magnificent... The noise and the atmosphere unforgettable!

We were also fortunate to catch the Ladies Triathlon on the Saturday morning... A stunning performance by the much maligned but outstanding performance of Lucy Hall who lead throughout the swm and bike acting as 'domestique' for Kathrine Jenkins who just missed out on a medal with a stunning fourth place position. Next up for us was Katherine Driscoll on the Gymnastics trampoline. Jaw dropping skills! and then after an evening watching Jess Ennis and Mo Farah win Gold via the big screens in the awesome atmosphere of the BT London Live event at Hyde Park we finished up in London with the Ladies Marathon... What a weekend! Proud to be British!!!

The Olympic BBC TV coverage, events, Games Makers, organisation and general feel in London were amazing and we were so pleased to be a part of this once in a lifetime experience!!!

All this lead to a lull in the training during the early part of August but it picked up during a family break in Abersoch for a week to enable me to get plenty of miles in on the bike, now equipped with my new Planet X Carbon clincher wheels! :o)

My RNLI coast to coast cycle ride fundraising presently stands at £1,058 which is amazing given that corporate dress down days, raffles, cake bakes, etc. are still to come! Thanks all for all your support particularly Perfection Beauty Brands, Studio (EGL), Davies Sports (Findel Education), Kitbag and Involve (a Blue Ducks thing!) for each pledging a £100 to include their logo's on my sponsored cycle shirt... Very much appreciated all! 

August training update (prior to the Big Bike Ride) was as follows...

~ 09/08/12 - 1500m swim at Uswim Boundary Water Park in
   34mins 37secs

~ 12/08/12 - Pwlhelli, Cricieth and Abersock 37 mile bike ride loop

   averaging 16.8mph in 2hours 18mins

~ 13/08/12 - Pwllheli Triathlon Bike course, 13.5 miles in 45mins

   53secs averaging 17.6mph

~ 14/08/12 - Pwllheli Triathlon Bike course, 13.5 miles in 48mins 19secs averaging 16.3mph

~ 15/08/12 - Gale force winds blowing in Abersoch so 35mins weight training and 25mins 'spin class'
                    at the Warren Gym

~ 16/08/12 - Bike ride from Pwllheli to Abersoch (to pick the car up after a great night out with the
                    Fox's!) in 34mins averaging 14mph

                  - 35 mins weight training and 25mins 'spin class' at the Warren Gym
~ 17/08/12 - 35 mins weight training, 25 mins 'spin class' and a 1 mile treadmill run at the Warren Gym.
~ 20/08/12 - 22mile bike ride from Sandbach to the top of Mow Cop, returning in the dark in 1hour 47mins
~ 24/08/12 - 5mile cycle to Crewe train station to kick off our Way of the roses cycle ride!

The RNLI have also done a press release about my ride here which will hopefully promote a few more donations? ~ http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/Fundraiser-from-Cheshire-set-to-cycle-170-miles-for-RNLI.aspx             

So far it has been used here ~  http://www.llyn.info/news/ and here ~ http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/local-crewe-news/2012/08/22/sandbach-cyclist-plans-fundraising-ride-for-lifeboat-crew-that-saved-his-life-96135-31669140/ 

Thanks again for the continued support all!

July Training Update

What a month of sport!

First a fantastic achievement by team SKY at the Tour de France. An inspirational win by Bradley Wiggins with fellow Brit Chris Froome in second! The first time the tour has been won by a Brit in it's 108 year history! Brilliant!

Followed up quickly by the start of the 2012 London Olypics and further inspiring performances every day since it's start and another couple of weeks yet to come! :o)

A good month for me too. I started the month achieving my target of getting under that previously elusive target of 3 hours taking over 14.5 minutes off my previous best to finish in 2hours 53mins! Still elated with that performance :o)

Training and fundraising for my next RNLI challenge is also going well.

My Coast to Coast Cycle challenge along the Way of the Roses will take place from the 24th to 26th August 2012. 170miles from Morecambe to Bridlington.

Pledges of £589 received so far with a few weeks to go and corporate dress down days, cake bakes and raffles still to come. Thanks so much everyone for your support to date! Tried a new tack that seems to be working well this year too in shirt sponsors of my tour cycling shirt. Three definite and one 'maybe' corporate sponsors so far and a mock up of how it will look to the left. Two spaces left if any corporate sponsors would like to add their support?

Training summary for July was as follows...

01/07/12 ~ Liverpool Olympic Distance Triathlon ~ A new PB of 2hours 53minutes flat :-)
03/07/12 ~ 1200m swim training session with Crewe Tigers Tri club
04/07/12 ~ 6 mile bike sprint around Sandbach in 19mins 49secs averaging 18.2mph
05/07/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim session with Uswim at Boundary water park in 35mins 21secs
10/07/12 ~ 7.5mile bike sprint around Sandbach in 25mins 17 secs avge 17.4mph
14/07/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim @ Uswim Salford in 37mins 58secs
               ~ 5mile bike sprint in 17mins 8secs avge 17.7mph
17/07/12 ~ 14mile bike ride in 49mins 18secs avge 17.6mph
19/07/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim @ Uswim Salford in 34mins 46secs
22/07/12 ~ 9mile MTB bike slog from Pwllheli to Abersoch in 49mins
25/07/12 ~ 11.7mile bike ride around Sandbach in 41mins 54secs avge 17.6mph
26/07/12 ~ 1500m Open Water Swim @ Uswim Boundary water park in 35mins 51secs
28/07/12 ~ 6.6mile steady run around Pwllheli marina in1 hour 8mins

Liverpool Triathlon ~ Swam it, biked it, ran it, smashed it! ~ 2:53:00

Had a great day at Liverpool Triathlon beating my previous best time for the Olympic distance by 14minutes and 34seconds, achieving my goal for this year of getting under 3 hours... Elated!

Had a trip down to Liverpool on the Saturday to register and a look around the course. The swim course at a 1500m single loop of the Kings Dock looked huge and quite an intimidating distance (even though I swim the distance regularly it's always in 750m loops).

Didn't get a great night sleep the night before feeling slightly wired but the adrenalin buzz paid off by keeping me going, along with the three SiS energy gels along the way! The Aero drinks bottle on the bike also helped!

The swim started in driving drizzle and quite a strong wind. It was cold before getting in but the water at 18'c was good.  

Over 200 people in the swim made for a very frantic, close to brutal swim. I had folk on both shoulders, in front and behind for the first 500m at least. Despite this I felt quite calm on the swim and knew the pace was good. Born out on the exit time of 32mins 34 secs for the 1500m... A new personal best!

Swim to bike transition (covering over 400m) was 4mins 6 secs.

Bike too felt great and another personal best! Four 10km loops along the waterfront managing to keep tucked in the Aero position the majority of the way (except for the slight hill climbs at either end of the loop), averaging 17.7mph over the 40km to finish in 1 hour 22mins :-)

Bike to run transition was 2mins 25sec and total time out of the transition was just over 2 hours leaving me just under an hour to complete the 10km run in order to get under the target 3 hours! I regularly run 10km well within that time but couldn't take anything for granted!

With legs like jelly I stumbled into the 10km run. The first mile felt awful but only took me 8mins 15seconds so I knew if I could just keep up that pace I'd be ok!

Battled shin splints (which I never get) and cramp in my right achilles to finish the 10km in a very satisfying time of 51mins 42sec!

Total time for the Tri was 2hours 53minutes exactly... Never felt so good!

Just as satisfying was raising another £120 for the much needed work of the Isaiah Trust! The donation page remains open for another couple of months so hopefully might be able to add to that total before it closes ~ http://www.justgiving.com/Daves-IsaiahTrust-Triathlon ...

Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes... Hugely appreciated!!! :-)

June Training Update

This month the training has been focussed around preparation for the Liverpool Triathlon, a 5150 European Championship event where I'll be doing the Olympc Distance Triathlon... 1500m Swim, 40km Bike Ride and a 10km run.

Hoping that I can squeeze under the 3 hour mark which has eluded me on my previous 2 attempts last year at Tatton (3.07) and Capesthorne (3.09). It's going to be a challenge! I've been working on improving the bike pace, even to the extent of investing in an 'Aero drinks bottle' which when slung between the Aero bars means I can stay tucked down whilst grabbing a drink. It seems to work well improving my speed by about 1mph on runs out with it so far. Here's hopeing it makes the difference!

A summary of this month's training below...

02/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim with Uswim at Salford Quays in 34mins 55secs
06/06/12 ~ Bike to Run Bricks session. 13mile bike ride from Sandbach around Hassall Green, Winterley
                  to Haslington and back in 46mins 41secs avge 16.6mph then...
                  1.5 mile run around the block in 12mins 11secs :-)
09/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim at Salford Quays in driving rain and wind. 36mins 19secs (am)
                  25mile bike ride with my mate Dom from Sandbach, through Middlewich, Church Minshull,
                  Nantwich and Crewe at a comfortable pace averaging 16mph in 1hour 34mins (pm)
10/06/12 ~ 3 mile (5km) cross country run at Capesthorne Tri as part of the Findel relay team in 25mins
                  and 13secs
12/06/12 ~ 3.7mile 'cool down' run with Karen on a figure of 8 circuit around the Wheelock Rail Trail
14/06/12 ~ Bike to Boundary Water Park, 8miles in 29mins 7secs averaging 16.4mph
                  1500m Open Water swim in 34mins 58secs
                   Bike home from Boundary, 8miles in 31mins 25secs averaging 15.1mph
16/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim at Salford Quas in 37mins 28secs
19/06/12 ~ 8mile bike ride loop around Bradwall and Brereton trying out my new 'Aero drink bottle'!
                  31mins for the distance averaging a good pace of 17.1mph
20/06/12 ~ Up early for a pre-work bike ride, 6 miles to Bradwall Green and back in 22.5mins averaging
                  16.4mph
23/06/12 ~ Dragged myself out of bed on a morning of wind and rain for a 1500m open water swim at
                  Uswim's Salford Quays session. 36mins 30 seconds for the distance.
24/06/12 ~ An 8 mile steady pace run around Bradwall Green, Elworth and the Wheelock Rail Train.
                  average pace of 9mins 23secs/mile and 1hour 15mins for the whole run.
25/06/12 ~ 14.3miles on the bike this evening on a lovely sunny evening. Through Bradwall to Holmes
                  Chapel and back averaging a good pace of 18.3mph in 47mins 30secs.
28/06/12 ~ 7.8mile steady pace cycle around Bradwall and Brereton Green averaging 16.1mph

Not a great success on the Isaiah Trust fundraising for this event, only £20 so far but here's hoping some more funds come in ~ http://www.justgiving.com/Daves-IsaiahTrust-Triathlon

Capesthorne Triathlon RNLI Relay ~ Done!

A great day and some superb performances pulled out of the bag by both of the teams we put in to the Capesthorn Triathlon to raise funds for the RNLI!

 

Nick and Jo went first in both teams in the swim in pretty awful

conditions, finishing with only 15 seconds between them!

Next up Kev and Lisa on the bikes on a 20km circuit around the grounds and local roads. As the boys had started in the wave before the girls it was impossible to tell who was in the lead at this point.

Kev handed over to myself for the run and then Lisa off the bike ran around with Marwa on one of her first runs over this distance. The cross country course wasn't easy and torrential rain for the previous few days made the going very heavy! My time for the 5km circuit was respectable at 25mins 13 secs.

 It was then a nail biting wait for Marwa and Lisa to cross the line and then to the finish computers to reveal the boys had just scraped a win from the girls... Not that we ever doubted it!? ;-)

A really good day and one of the most enjoyable Triathlons I've competed in.

Another circa £650 raised for the RNLI too! A huge thanks to all involved, particularly Lisa for taking the time and trouble to organise it and cajole everyone in to joining in!

May Training Update & The Olympic Torch Relay!

The last day of May and the Olympic Torch relay passes through Crewe near where we live. It was worth the early start to see this once in a lifetime experience! Can't wait for the Olympics to start now!

My events are coming up thick and fast now. The Great Manchester Run is done for this year and I really enjoyed it (see the post below).

The Findel Team triathlon challenge at Capesthorne is a little over a week away and I'm optamistic of doing circa 23mins for the 5km run although whether we'll beat the girls or not is a different question! £50 raised for the RNLI so far for that but I'm sure more will follow ~ http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/FindelTri  

The Liverpool Triathlon is also only a few weeks away and so I'll be uping the training in June in the hope of getting under that elusive 3 hours! I'm raising funds for the Isaiah Trust on that ~  http://www.justgiving.com/Daves-IsaiahTrust-Triathlon

The training in May has been ok, here's the summary...

01/05/12 ~ 1500m swim training session with Crewe Tigers Tri club at Total Fitness

03/05/12 ~ 1600m open water swim with Uswim at Boundary water park

08/05/12 ~ 8 mile run through Sandbach, Hassall Green, Wheelock and back in 1hour 9 mins

10/05/12 ~ 2000m open water swim with Uswim at Boundary water park

12/05/12 ~ 7 mile run from Sandbach, through Moston and Ettiley Heath and back along the Wheelock rail

                  trail in 60mins and 42 secs.

15/05/12 ~ 4 mile run with my eldest daughter training for her first 10km this weekend. 48 mins 45secs for

                  her first none stop run! :o)

16/05/12 ~ 7.8 mile cycle around Bradwall and Brereton Green in 27mins 56secs averaging 16.9mph

17/05/12 ~ 1600m open water swim with Uswim at Boundary water park in 35mins 51secs

20/05/12 ~ Great Manchester Run. 6 miles in 47mins 11secs with the 10km done in 49mins 25secs :-)

21/05/12 ~ 9 mile cool down cycle run as a leg stretcher after yesterday's 10km... 13.6mph average plus a

                  few more tweaks to the bike position to try and get more streamligned.
24/05/12 ~ 1500m swim on the long course at Uswim's Boundary Water park session in 33mins 55secs
31/05.12 ~ 40 mins Weight Training at Total Fitness (am)
                   25 mile bike ride around Cheshire in 1 hour 37mins averaging 15.3mph
                

Great Manchester 10km Run ~ Done! (Time ~ 49mins 25Secs)

Another excellent Great Manchester Run event and once again managed to get under my 50minute target but having done so was a little disappointed with the 49mins 25secs time as for the first half of the race I was well ahead of my splits last year when I did a PB of 46.36 and so thought I was going to finish considerably better. Time for the 6 mile mark was 47mins 11secs (a best for the year so far)... The difference this time was that without last years late stages of Marathon training I wasn't able to sustain the quick pace I started out at.

My overall position was 5167th out of circa 40,000 runners (445 in my age group) so not bad at all even if I do say so myself :-)

My eldest daughter did her first 10km to raise funds for her charity expedition to Madagascar next year and I was immensely proud of her grit and determination in finishing (after a few tears at circa 7km) in 1 hour 11mins. She also raised around £480 which is brilliant!

Karen did a very respectable 51mins flat which at only 20 secs slower than last year after her marathon training was excellent!

And the beers in town afterwards? Oh they never tasted so good!