Yeah, been pretty lazy, right. Yeah, proper not good man.
Lazy English, lazy Englishman, sure suits me lately. Well, just over 3 weeks since the race and I have been very relaxed in my approach. The weekend saw a cycle ride and Monday morning I went for an early morning run (Birthday present to my self) and I sit here muddy and a little sweaty after a bike ride this evening. Rubbish night really, I totally sabotaged the evening by dropping my phone so I went back to look for it and very graciously my comrades followed me. Cheers chaps and once again sorry.
Have some pics from Sat ride....but you guessed it, I cant be bothered to put them on. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to go and admire my 2pack in the shower.
20.2.07
9.2.07
Thursday cycle
Doubly good day for cycling yesterday. Got out for the usual Thursday night ride with Nick and actually took the map with us which enabled us to discover a few new bits. We only covered about 13miles in the 1hr 40mins that we were out but it was one of the best rides we have done. Great to broaden the horizons a little and the map has shown us some great options for some longer efforts when a spare weekend presents itself.
One of the cool things about last night was that because the trail was covered in snow it kind of lit itself up. Meaning lights were not needed. Looked great.
Wish I had taken my camera again but never mind.
One of the cool things about last night was that because the trail was covered in snow it kind of lit itself up. Meaning lights were not needed. Looked great.
Wish I had taken my camera again but never mind.
8.2.07
Wonderful world
What a way to start the day! I set my alarm to get me up this morning. Why? Because we were due a heavy snow shower and I wanted to see it before all the cars turned it into chocolate slush puppy. So glad I did, it was fricking beautiful out there. On the trail there was nothing but animal tracks and did I mention it was beautiful?
Why is it so satisfying to know you are the first or only person to see something beautiful? Humans seem to be obsessed with first place.
I gave my friend Charlie a call in Australia because I knew it would be so different to the weather he was having. He was in a bar playing pool and it was 35degrees outside! Some parts of the ride were fairly bleak but I am so glad I did it.
6.2.07
what else is there?
All this thought of 'what next' has got me thinking. I wondered if there is a list of super hard events that is somehow acknowledged as great collection events. I don't think there is so I over time I wish to compile one, to that end please add ideas/events to the comments (no one will, but no harm in asking).
I guess this list will evolve around my personal tastes but i would like it to encompass all great feats. Here we go in no particular order.
1. Marathon des Sables
2. Ascending Everest (with or without oxygen)
3. Rowing the Atlantic
4. Sub 3 hour marathon
5. Ironman
6. Various ultra marathons
7. Tour de France
8. 24 hour cycle race
9. Badwater ultra marathon
10. Sub 8 minute lap of the Nurburgring (not quite in the same vein as the others!)
11. Unsupported trek to the North Pole.
12. Sailing the globe
I know there are a lots others but I do not know the names of them! I recently read about a long hauls through Canada that lasted for weeks......please offer some information if you know more!
I know there is a polar marathon, and a special club of runners who have run marathons on all continents so this list is flawed from the outset but it hopefully has a smattering of some of the challenges available.
Its funny I look at that and there is nothing there that I would not attempt. Doing any of them in a competitive way is unlikely but as a personal, physical challenge I would with the exception of Everest, absolutely have a go. What scares me more is the prohibitive costs. To row the Atlantic you are looking at £60,000. To make a sensible attempt at Everest with an experienced group/guides you are talking at least £25,000. Sailing the globe......I know nothing about sailing but I even if its possible to buy a place on a boat with experienced crew then I bet £10,000 would be needed....probably lots more. Nurburgring, tricky one to tie down. Cost of multiple trips, car, training, laps etc etc but certainly it is not as onerous as the £60,000 for rowing the Atlantic. Even £60k is prob small change for what it probably costs to trek to one of the poles.
As for Everest, it is the only one that I have said previously that I would not attempt. This is simply because 1 in 8 people who attempt the summit perish. Before I was a Dad, I would of gladly had a go but I am not so sure now. However, I listened to a radio programme a while back about a guy who successfully ascended Everest on his artificial limbs, an amazing feat. He spoke of the summit and ascent in such honest and intriguing terms, it was pretty captivating. he said that he remembered the seeing the curvature of the earth and it was remarkable but he also said that there was a very real sense that humans did not belong there. God that got me fired up! What an experience! He spoke of the fact that previous climbers who died acted as landmarks along the route. This surprised me but apparently many corpses litter the mountain as removing them is just too difficult
I am clearly waffling now so will shut up.
I guess this list will evolve around my personal tastes but i would like it to encompass all great feats. Here we go in no particular order.
1. Marathon des Sables
2. Ascending Everest (with or without oxygen)
3. Rowing the Atlantic
4. Sub 3 hour marathon
5. Ironman
6. Various ultra marathons
7. Tour de France
8. 24 hour cycle race
9. Badwater ultra marathon
10. Sub 8 minute lap of the Nurburgring (not quite in the same vein as the others!)
11. Unsupported trek to the North Pole.
12. Sailing the globe
I know there are a lots others but I do not know the names of them! I recently read about a long hauls through Canada that lasted for weeks......please offer some information if you know more!
I know there is a polar marathon, and a special club of runners who have run marathons on all continents so this list is flawed from the outset but it hopefully has a smattering of some of the challenges available.
Its funny I look at that and there is nothing there that I would not attempt. Doing any of them in a competitive way is unlikely but as a personal, physical challenge I would with the exception of Everest, absolutely have a go. What scares me more is the prohibitive costs. To row the Atlantic you are looking at £60,000. To make a sensible attempt at Everest with an experienced group/guides you are talking at least £25,000. Sailing the globe......I know nothing about sailing but I even if its possible to buy a place on a boat with experienced crew then I bet £10,000 would be needed....probably lots more. Nurburgring, tricky one to tie down. Cost of multiple trips, car, training, laps etc etc but certainly it is not as onerous as the £60,000 for rowing the Atlantic. Even £60k is prob small change for what it probably costs to trek to one of the poles.
As for Everest, it is the only one that I have said previously that I would not attempt. This is simply because 1 in 8 people who attempt the summit perish. Before I was a Dad, I would of gladly had a go but I am not so sure now. However, I listened to a radio programme a while back about a guy who successfully ascended Everest on his artificial limbs, an amazing feat. He spoke of the summit and ascent in such honest and intriguing terms, it was pretty captivating. he said that he remembered the seeing the curvature of the earth and it was remarkable but he also said that there was a very real sense that humans did not belong there. God that got me fired up! What an experience! He spoke of the fact that previous climbers who died acted as landmarks along the route. This surprised me but apparently many corpses litter the mountain as removing them is just too difficult
I am clearly waffling now so will shut up.
5.2.07
First run
Good evening foxy ladies (I wonder if any read this? Ooh actually, I know at least one does) First run since T2T was had this evening and I was mightily impressive. OK, so not really but I felt pretty good and I certainly enjoyed it. I used the notorious hilly lap around town, the one that everyone at running club fears when used for the winter time trial. I did 4 ish laps and it came in at just over ten miles, it took me 1hr 14minutes.
I have only timed myself over ten miles once before (long time ago) and I did that in 1hr 15 over a flatter course. So I guess that makes it a PB. Bravo to me. If I had not had a huge McDonald's at lunch I would of run quicker-silly sod. The other downside though is that (this is disgusting, so stop reading if your eating) where the air is so damp I seemed to breathe in so much dirt that I was coughing up black phlegm when I finished. Smoking probably healthier.
Must write a bit about the bike events that we are planning to do this summer. One is an all night 125mile effort from Hackney to the Suffolk coast. Its called the Dunwich Dynamo and last year over 500 people did it! I found out about it when, last summer upon leaving the pub in one night in July....... 500 people on bikes rode through our town! It looked awesome and this year we will be a part of it! It finishes with a jump in the sea, a fry up and then some snoozing on the beach!
The other is a 24 hour non stop race where you cycle a large lap continuously for 24 hours. I found out today though that it is not quite the case. Well, it is if you enter solo but most people do it in teams and you take it in shifts. Not quite the Ultra endurance event I was hoping for. Still, 4hours on and 4 off will be tough I reckon but if you have a team any bigger than 2 it gets a bit pointless.
Well that is pretty much it for the day other than to say I have found another event I want to run, it is a Marathon starting at 6pm then another starting at 6am the following morning. So basically two marathons in 24 hours.....and its local to me! Trouble is, I plan to spend as much time at the Nurburgring as possible this year and this race is held on the only weekend in July that the 'ring is open all
weekend. Decisions, decisions.
I have only timed myself over ten miles once before (long time ago) and I did that in 1hr 15 over a flatter course. So I guess that makes it a PB. Bravo to me. If I had not had a huge McDonald's at lunch I would of run quicker-silly sod. The other downside though is that (this is disgusting, so stop reading if your eating) where the air is so damp I seemed to breathe in so much dirt that I was coughing up black phlegm when I finished. Smoking probably healthier.
Must write a bit about the bike events that we are planning to do this summer. One is an all night 125mile effort from Hackney to the Suffolk coast. Its called the Dunwich Dynamo and last year over 500 people did it! I found out about it when, last summer upon leaving the pub in one night in July....... 500 people on bikes rode through our town! It looked awesome and this year we will be a part of it! It finishes with a jump in the sea, a fry up and then some snoozing on the beach!
The other is a 24 hour non stop race where you cycle a large lap continuously for 24 hours. I found out today though that it is not quite the case. Well, it is if you enter solo but most people do it in teams and you take it in shifts. Not quite the Ultra endurance event I was hoping for. Still, 4hours on and 4 off will be tough I reckon but if you have a team any bigger than 2 it gets a bit pointless.
Well that is pretty much it for the day other than to say I have found another event I want to run, it is a Marathon starting at 6pm then another starting at 6am the following morning. So basically two marathons in 24 hours.....and its local to me! Trouble is, I plan to spend as much time at the Nurburgring as possible this year and this race is held on the only weekend in July that the 'ring is open all
weekend. Decisions, decisions.
The stunning and intimidating 'Exmuhle' or a local Ultra?
Answers on a postcard please!
here we go again
A little over a week has passed since t2t and I have taken in a few brisk walks and several quick cycle rides, the weather has varied massively on these and so have ideas about what other events I should aim at. This morning however this idea that I needed something else to aim at really hit me, I definitely need a new focus other than the hardcore cycling events that are planned for the summer. This morning I also started to think about being able to run an Ultra like T2T faster. I know there is a lot more within me and think I might attempt a quick one in the future. These 'what next' thoughts have coincided with me taking a shine to a few road bikes, or racers as we always use to call them.My elder Brother has always been a strong advocate of road bikes/cycling and whilst I would like one and I love the romance of the Tour de France I fear that I would ruin one. This is more to with the horrific state of the roads in this country and not the fact that I would take a road bike on a half pipe. However, what with summer coming and the fact that I could afford one I am sorely tempted to get one. What is making the decision easy is that some of them are seriously good looking! I mean wow! This coupled with the fact that I now realise my orange Mountain Bike is extremely ugly and the road bike idea becomes pretty intoxicating.
What I am trying to figure is what came first; the desire to enter a Triathlon or the desire to own a gorgeous carbon fibre road bike? Oh no.....I mean, eureka! Just remembered! I cant do a triathlon because the blokes wear those daft crop tops! Phew, just saved my self a pretty penny.Running. Isn't that a nice word? Well, I have been gagging to get out and run all week. Even the Monday directly after the race when I went for a walk it was all I could do to not burst out in to a trot. By Wednesday I felt totally recovered and all stiffness had passed. However, my sensible head made me hold off from attending running club that night.
I think its all in the mind but as the week progressed I noticed little odd feelings in my feet, or in my knee or under my right buttock. Nothing painful or even uncomfortable just unfamiliar little sensations, I believe that these are/were part of the heeling process and vindicated my reluctant choice to take a few days off from running.Yes, that is ice on the front of my hat! Riding through cold fog certainly woke me up early Sunday morning. 
All pics taken on Saturday (bright) and Sunday Morning (foggy).
1.2.07
Me looking cute
This was taken about 10 seconds after finishing. Looking rather pleased with life. If you look really closely you can see the mark on my forehead from my head torch! Twas a good day.
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