Training rides and runs, and the odd swim over the last two weeks.

A month pretty much off from training prior to now: heat, mojo and circumstances before I left the sandpit; very much felt now; starting from scratch; hoping that progress will come quickly.
Seeing the farmers hard at work, whatever the weather: I chose to get up and out in the rain, they don’t have the choice, necessity dictates; I once liked the thought of being a farmer, not now; certainly not an easy life.

Noticing changes in the fields: one day long grass, the next day cut for winter hay and rolled into bales; cows moved to new pastures; sheep with the winter coats shaved.

Very hilly in la Creuse: my thighs are taking a hammering and need longer to recover; cold shower on the legs after a run helps; heart rate too high; need to sort my breathing out – steady and relaxed is the key; good interval and strength training but little opportunity for speed, not that it is a concern just yet; great views and a delightful change to the flat; downhill is harder than up!

Changeable weather each day: 14^oC, cold for me – need to get used to real weather; wind and gales not for my deeper rimmed wheels; 25^oC the next day and caught out by midday sun and a little heat exhaustion; following day, walls of rain coming across the valleys to toughen the softy, fair weather rider I’ve become; like the famer, necessity now dictates that I get out regardless of the appearance of my favourable sun.

Winter bike clothes: local bike shop has end of stock 50% discount sale; purchases made for the colder months the assistant asks; I’ll probably wear them tomorrow I think.

French country lanes: a handful of cars passing on a four hour ride and always giving a huge amount of distance and respect when passing, except for the black Audi with a GB number plate; hedgerows away from the roads’ edge allow me to see around the next bend on a 70km/h decent and are safer than English country lanes; much more practise on descending is needed before the Alps as still feeling nervous; perfectly smooth road surface makes me wonder if le Tour has passed this way recently; enforced rest on a climb as a herd of cows come the other way.

Off road running: great to have something other than concrete underfoot; care needed not to roll the ankle and bugger it all up; the lugs on the fore-foot of the Newton trainers not ideal for mud; sun on my back as I run with my top off without having to worry about cultural sensitivities of the sandpit.

Birds of prey: waiting nonchalantly on fence posts; I would like to know their names; maybe I will order a book of European Birds of Prey.

Rural French villages: economic downturn and credit crisis is not the cause of the abandoned feel some hamlets have, the buildings have been shuttered up for many generations; bakeries and grocers shut every time I am hungry, no wonder there is no thriving economy – every time I want to spend my money the shops are closed; where is everyone?; where do the older generations and those without cars go for shopping, the towns are miles, or kilometres, away for the daily provisions – how do they survive?; some of the farmhouses are so well cared for and in fantastic condition while others are totally neglected – why?

Cycling and running on these roads: rural farming countryside; up and down hills, through dense forests, around fresh and inviting lakes – not stunningly beautiful compared to other regions of France, but rather just pleasant, peaceful, delightful and lovely; an absolute joy being here and the freedom I feel.

Garmin Forerunner: set a Virtual Race route; 13.9km over rolling hills (every route is rolling hills here!); will race myself weekly to monitor progress; 1:01:31; 20 seconds faster this week compared to the first; much more still to achieve; aim for sub one hour race time within two weeks; 1min30 to take off; I’ll feel ready for Vichy if I can run it in 55 minutes; another personal challenge.

Strava: will upload rides and runs; do I need internet at home to play with this; can it be linked to this blog; to investigate.

Water on long runs: still discovering taps and standpipes on farms for rehydration; one benefit of the sandpit was regular water fountains; may have to run with a water belt as the summer progresses and the length of the run increase.

Hayfever: an absolute bugger!

Swimming:  at the municipal pool with totally irregular opening times; little lane etiquette and so it is better to swim in the main pool and use the weaving in and out of others as good sighting practise; pool swimming has the aim of getting me ready for the nearby lakes; aim to go every other day if possible but to never go more than three days without swimming, in fact – should be no more than two days; must be less than 25m in length as recorded 19min18 for 1km, small pool, far too fast for me at this stage; lots of swimming still to do.

Three weeks back in France have nearly passed: I feel I have made progress but still much more to do; training plan designed, with plenty of colour coding; August will really be the big month; consideration given to other commitments but focussed; aim to keep limiting circumstances to an absolute minimum; to be resolved with communication and planning; desire the goal; want the outcome; no more pissing about. 

The sun is most definitely out this morning and so five hours out on the bike with a smile on my face, and more posts to follow... Bo

Two weeks in Europe after the sandpit...

Two weeks in Europe after the sandpit and Bo writes for the first time – and that is the first point: shall I write as Bo, or as me?  To be decided another time.  Let’s see how it sounds as I go...

In France, home, without internet means that I write on Word to be uploaded at the local library later in the week.  However, I had said that I would update Yalla Bo on a more regular basis and after a couple of days I soon realised that I was not going to keep up with training rides and runs and their write-up daily (notice no mention of swimming – it will be addressed!!), and so my intention became to write after each event of the forthcoming summer but, and I’ll re-write that again: BUT.  And a big BUT – in bold!! – the first event was planned for Sunday 30^th June, or should I write juin?  The semi-marathon de lac de Vassiviere.  A half marathon in the Limousin region of France around a beautiful lake, following the circuit de Raymond POULIDOR (it even has a cycling theme, France after all – more on Poulidor in posts to come; I’ll tell you about the photo, albeit a print, I bought of him shoulder to shoulder with...  Like I just wrote, another time...).  I have known about the semi-marathon de lac de Vassiviere from the paint markings left on the road previous summers but I committed to entering the event when I saw their stand at the marathon de Paris expo and knew then that it would make a good opener to my summer way back in April, before the disappointment of the Paris marathon...

But: I entered and I was detailed at the end of the results published in the paper with the French equivalent of DNS after my name rather than 1 hour 20 something...  The first, and I pledge now, my only event that I will not start, or finish, having paid up and entered.  Circumstances meant that I was unable to compete but I also pledge that circumstances and ready-made excuses will not affect the forthcoming summer.

So now is the time to introduce the summer events:

Sunday 21^st July: Tour du Mont Blanc: 330km cycle around the Mont Blanc with Nick starting in France, via Italy, into Switzerland before returning to the start in France.  Oh boy; a very long day in the saddle...

Wednesday 24^th July: L’Aple d’Huez Long Course Triathlon: I felt it beat me, or at least the weather did, in 2011 and so a return this year in preparation for the next event... Oh dear; L’Alpe, a very hard day, but there is no easy way...

Sunday 1^st September: ETU European Long Course Championships at Challenge Vichy: Ironman distance triathlon representing Great Britain as an age-grouper and aiming for a sub-10 hour.  Oh my; so much training still to do in the next nine weeks...

Sunday 8^th September: Ironman Wales: It is a hilly course in Tenby; am I being too ambitious to aim for a Kona spot and the World Championships in Hawaii...? Oh bugger; two Ironman distance events a week a part, I am exhausted already just thinking about it, and I must be mad, but it will be September and I won’t be working so what the hell...?!

Mid-September: mountain biking the South Downs Way in one day with Toby... Oh joy: this is the big one – re-visiting childhood haunts!

And oh; the Henley half-marathon at the end of September has been mentioned too with Craig before one last go at a sub 2h45 marathon, or didn’t I say earlier, 2h40 (but where?) in Autumn...?  But I will need to consider circumstances before I commit to this one...

But before that, the next post will be about my last two weeks, the first of the summer in France: rides and runs in la Creuse (and I must admit, I have actually been swimming).  I will try and write about the training so far before the green and the trees and the hills and the rain and the countryside become commonplace and I become accustomed to the surroundings and unable to write about the rides and runs, and swimming, without originality.

Tomorrow, a ride then to collect some thoughts...