Too hot for me today

A year to the day when I fried in the Garburn race I ran another hot one, but at least I learned some lessons from last year and backed off the pace early enough to not end up like one lad I saw passed out at the side of the road (he did not look in a good way). I hoped for 4 hours but finally crossed the line at 4:16 on my watch.

One the plus side I had no blisters, no chafing, all toenails are still there, my hamstring was fine and I actually almost enjoyed the last five miles (just miles 15 - 21 were really awful and sun baked). The only real worry was I thought my upper abs were going to cramp in the last 3 miles which made breathing shallow, weird. I also managed t get some suburn despite the factor 30.

The crowds at the finish were excellent and I pushed hard for the finish - then felt quite ill once I crossed the line. I managed to get myself together after about 25 minutes of sitting on the grass without visiting the medical tent. More later...

Relocation, Relocation Part Deux

Well, all that planning out my commute over the lovely Fylde lanes was a waste of time, we are still being located but to north Preston.

It is actually the best solution for me really but I feel quite miffed for my colleagues, particularly as the parking/public transport situation is pretty dire. As its about 6 miles from me I will be cycling there everyday though it will be across Preston town centre rather than the lovely fast lanes. The Spesh will be the ideal tool for the job (boo, no fancy road bike) and my waterproofs and panniers are will pay for themselves a hundred times over I think.

I had all sorts of plans for running and there was a sports centre less than a mile away from the other site. So need to think all that out again but don't think my lunchtime run routes will be very inspiring...though may be able to get to track to do intervals etc.

It does now give me the option of being able to to get out towards Longridge (and hills, eek) if I want to take the road bike in I suppose.

6 Miler

I had planned some intervals yesterday, nothing serious 2 miles easy, 6 x 400 metres no faster than 8mm, 2 miles or so easy but the wind was so silly I didn't think running along the prom was worth it. I nipped into St Annes centre at lunchtime and got sand blown in my face in the square, never mind on the prom.

I decided to head into Cuerden Park when I got home and do an informal fartlek type session and also check out some tracks in there. An easy couple of miles then some varied pace running including some hill efforts which feel really difficult now. I found some fantastic tracks in there to add into my runs and really enjoyed myself. Legs felt pretty good, left quad a bit tight which I think is from the cycling so I will be stretching that out over the next few days. Not long to go...

Relocation, Relocation

We are being relocated to a new site next year, in Thornton near Fleetwood. Its not ideal but it could have been a lot worse (Warrington, Cheadle or somewhere else horrendous to get to with no chance of cycling there). I need to sort out a new commute route so I headed out there on the road bike today for a bit of a spin.

I had measured it at about 23 miles so it is another 5 miles on top of what I am doing to St Annes (think the Spesh is going to be too slow). I have a pretty good idea of the route all the way to Singleton and I have to say thought of riding across the quiet Fylde lanes of a sunny morning is something to look forward to.

I have no idea about anything beyond Singleton really. I took a drive out that way last week to get an idea of what the roads are like. I was warned that Amounderness Way would be a bit of a nightmare on a bike and I had to agree. Very fast, very narrow and very busy too. A very different route to the one I would drive was needed.

I printed out an O/S map of the area and a street map of the centre of Poulton which as it turned out was nowhere near detailed enough. D'oh. I had a pretty good ride out to Singleton, it was very warm if I stopped but there was a nice breeze when moving to cool things down a bit. The Fylde lanes were as lovely and quiet as they normally are but it will probably be quite exposed on a very windy day, particularly when the hedges die back over winter. When I arrived in Singleton I was averaging 17.5 which I was pretty pleased about as I wasn't pushing. I did think the section across the Fylde had the potential to be fast.

There are a choice of routes I could take, I went for the slightly shorter one on the larger roads. The roads were wide but had a few sets of traffic lights on which slow things down a bit then its through the centre of Poulton. There is a really faffy one way system in Poulton and I got lost in it totally. It has really narrow roads and if you don't know it its not always immediately obvious which roads go in which direction.

I kept cycling round and round trying to find the road I needed to be on, as I hadn't printed a detailed enough street map out this proved difficult. The O/S map reckoned there was a church right in the centre (and there is, I've heard people talk about it) and I kept looking for it as a landmark but could never see it! Eventually I got lucky and managed to find the road and get to the new site. 26 miles, I'd added three on by riding round the bliddy one way system! Still, I think I've got to know it better (probably not knowing me).

From there I decided to head to the beach, it was only about 2k away by the direct route, which I didn't take as I headed down to Bispham. I fancied an ice cream but by the time I got there I was hungry and couldn't resist some chips. I don't normally eat much on a ride so I hoped they wouldn't make me feel queasy. A bit of riding up and down the prom then I decided to head back to Singleton a different way. Apparently there is a route through Blackpool to Stanley Park then out to Staining. I found a leaflet on Lancashire councils website and printed the rather sketchy map out.

It started opposite North Pier so I headed down there, weaving in and out. My average speed had taken a hammering after all my getting lost and dodging people on the prom so I was just going with the flow. I found the start of the route then headed up Talbot Road aiming for the square. Missed the turn, faffed around Blackpools one way system (another one!). I got back on track, luckily traffic was reasonably light. Talbot square was completely dug up so I had to walk the bike round the narrow paths trying not to hit people with the bike.

Back on the road, still struggling to find my way. I had kind of expected some signage, possibly some ASL's or on road cycle lanes, anything to indicate this was a recommended route for cyclists. There was none of that, however there were a few right turns required at some large junctions which were less than entertaining. I finally saw my first cycle way sign at the entrance to Stanley Park. The Park was heaving but I expected that and it was also signposted.

Once I got out the other side I'd had enough of the "cycle route" and got on the main road back to Staining and Singleton. I rode along the other route I wanted to check out, it is slightly longer (0.3 of a mile) but has no traffic lights on it and will hopefully be quieter. Just got to hope its not a rat run in rush hour traffic.

Back into Singleton then across the busy road then on the lanes again. It was fast progress back towards Preston, I managed to pull my average speed up towards a more respectable 15 for a while. It had been steadily clouding up on the way back and it started raining as I left Roaseacre. It didn't last long, thankfully as I had forgotten to bring an extra layer. I was starting to get an attack of hot foot here, my shoes felt like they were too small, I'm sure all the running has made my feet bigger. As I crossed the M55 I was glad I wasn't driving it today, it was absolutely rammed. I got back home just in time for it to start lightly raining.

In the end it was 60 miles in 4:06, which may be a litte excessive during taper but I felt like I could have gone on all day. Apart from the hot foot, that was really annoying. It was also the longest ride I have done on the road bike, not surprising a few niggles would surface.

Saturday "Long Run"

8 miles on Saturday and legs felt even better than they did on Thursday, there may be something in this taper lark. Found it hard to keep my speed down to 9mm, partly because my legs had perked up and partly because in my head it was a short run.

8 miles at 8:50 mm even though I did keep slowing myself down apart from where the Garmin started under reading the speed in some heavy tree cover, I was practically sprinting trying to maintain speed by the time I popped out of the trees. I'd forgotten it did that.

For some reason on Sunday I had a complete attack of the CBA's, it was too hot for doing intervals but I never managed to get on a bike either. Think I was possibly taking taper a bit too far.