Juneathon 30/30 not a sprint finish

Eell thats it its over. Rest and taper at last. I had planned a sprint finish but that was not to be. Hubby came home a day early so I had to prepare tea rather than do my planned bike ride. Then there were only a few at club and we only did 5 miles. So thsts it I need to rest a bit now to prep for next weeks tri. I did better than Janathon. Janathon stats. Total 290 miles ron 179 miles Juneathon stats Total 365.7 miles cycling 195.55 miles running 161.74 miles Swim 8.44 miles So thats an improvement and I have raced 6 times. Happy with that.Well done everyone who has execised logged and blogged each day for the last 30 days each day for the last

Juneathon 29/30

Got up early to get a run in as I knew I couldnt get one in tonight. . It was one of those runs that just happen. I set off on a dogjog with Jed and it was lovely we went to the deer park and I hadnt planned to go so far but it was quite cool and so we just kept running. We did 10km Jeds first 10km. Then the day was just work work and more work, I did manage to get away about 7pm it was too late to go to Wetherby for the race but I did get to Drama where we cleared the damp wardrobe. We managed to save quite a lot of costumes but lots more and lots of accesseries are on the stage awaiting a skip. A sad day but at least we saved some

Juneathon 28/30 pass it on

Tonight after running club where lots of members of the group are racing tomorrow so just had a gentle one tonight. Unfortunately I cant race tomorrow I have to work :-( Anyway back to the point, after club a group of us met to start the process of setting up a junior group. Lots of the young people I work with have asked if they can come to running club and are dissappointed when I say they need to be 16. Hopefully by September enough of us will be CRB checked and Level1 coaches and we can start encouraging younger runners from our area to come to club.

Juneathon 27/30 just a quickie

A warm start to the day. Just did a short gentle dogjog after not feeling too great yesterday. It went well though legs feeling less achy than they have for days. Jed could not be bothered today, like me, Jed doesnt seem too keen on heat. I have staff training tonight so his walk will be later and hope fully if its cooler I hope to get a short cycle in tonight.

Juneathon 26/30 worst of three

Today was the Rainton 10 km. Part of the Yorkshire dales seies. . Its the 3rd time I ve run this flat . Mixed terrain race. It should be fast but the sun always comes out and beats down on us . With a 11:45 start, you could do without it. This year tru to form the sun beat down and It has been cool for the last couple of weeks. Basicaly it was too hot, my legs were tired and the whole race was hard, i did a fair bit of walking and had to watch people I normally beat pass me. I finally finished in 1:04:00. My slowest Rainton time yet. On reflection I have done alot lately and I need to think about taper for the tri. IMUST DO LESS NEXT WEEK so I dont feel like this at the Tri.

#Juneathon 25/30 Head in the clouds

Got all my phys done by 9:00 this morning. I had wanted to do a decent distance on the bike but ran out of time because I was going with my running partner to Hawes to look at the Wensleydale Triathlon route. We are doing this in August as a realay with another friend who will do the 1.5 mile swim in Semmerwater I am doing the bike part. The clouds were low and it was windy and rainy. Semmerwater looked like a sea with the waves breaking on ths beach. The bike route leaves the lake via a 1in 4 hill going up for about a mile then heading steeply down towds Bainbridge. The whole route was like that, at least 5 1 in 4 hills to clinb and descend. The views could have been stunning if only we could have seen more than 50 m in the mist. Its a pretty tough 42 mile route. I can see me getting off to push in places. My friends run route is 6 miles up the Penine Way to the peak of Shunner Fell and back down into Hawes. We now understand the scale of this challenge. Hope the clouds are higher and the wind stiller on the day because I could be a beautiful but tough Triathlon. Phys today 4 mile dogjog 4.6 mile cycling to and from racecourse 1 mile OW swim

Juneathon 24/30 Always up for a challenge

Well I had wanted to go for a cycle after work tonight but a rotten day at work and stiff quads from last nights hill session made the pub sound better. Pubs are a great place to think things trough and we decided (hubby and I) to do the Great Scottish Swim in September. when we got in from the pub, hubby sorted tea and I entered us into the swim and booked us into a Travelodge. So that's another challenge for the year, this swim is 2 km, a third as much again as the Great North Swim. This morning I ran 6.5 miles in the sunshine.

juneathon 23/30 1 week to go

Well thats it only a week to go and still going strong, although I am looking forwards to a day without running and it coincides with taper so thats good. I feel a little bruised today after yesterdays nassage. This made me feel a bit tired on tonights training session. But mow I feel good, ups and downs in the pouring rain, we were a small group. We have some fair weather runners in our ckub. The midsred a great session

Juneathon 22/30 glad its over

Today has been a bit of a mixed bag, I never felt great at the start of this mornings run, but after photographing a rainbow over the cathedral, it improved. Work was one of those days that you@d rather forget. The students were unsettled, then later at school I was informed that I had to attend a meeting from 16:00 to 21:00 next Wednesday, when I was supposed to be running the fifth league run at Wetherby. Any one who knows me or has read my blog will guess how that news went down, Not good. After tea I headed for Bishop Monkton for my sports massage, This was good Ive worked hard for this and I deserve a treat after the day Ive had. Oh boy it did the job I had knots in my left galf and hamstring, right hamstring, left shoulder and neck. some of these were a bit uncomfotabe to sort out. My problem is my high pain thresh hold, if I get a niggle I ignore it and so there are often a couple of tender spots on my massage, but I wont cry out. I cycled home feeling like a new woman. I have booked a halfhour appointment for the Wed before the Tri to keep my neck and shoulder loose. I got to the Youth drama group where I volunteer and we were sorting the wardrobe out, I discovered that the back wall was damp and it was stinking of damp and mould, so many costumes and pieces of equipment are ruined. this has made me feel very sad as lots of our stuff will have to be binned.

Juneathon 21/30 you cant stop it

I find today a sad day. I love daylight its great to wake up to the sun shine at 5 am and goe to bed when its not quite dark. Unfortunately like all good Juneathoners the earth does not stand still. And as we enter July and stop moving on the occasional day the earth will keep moving and the niggts will get longer again. Today I did another race, it went well Im pleased with the result. On the way to the race we passed signs warning about the up and coming triathlon, its only 17 days away and as the earth will keep turning, that dsy will arrive rather quickly. Anyway the rain put paid to extra daylight and Im shattered do night all. X

Juneathon 20/30 tired but still training

The weekend really took it out of me lack of sleep and not eating usual food saw me wake up this morning feeling tired. Still I forced myself to dogjog and once I got going it was ok. Cycling to work was hard,legs were not very responsive. But finding out that the 2 hr training session after work was actually next week perked me right up so after work I walked the dog and then went for a swim, I promised myself only 1km today, which I did. I got home and cut youngezt sons hair and then headed out on the bike to meet Vicky fo a bike ride, I like these Monday bike ris because they are relaxed and sedate, no pressure wich is lovely. I am still tired so when Ive done this I will have my hot chocolate and go to bed. Night all.xx

Juneathon 19/30 Shattered

It has been a busy #weekend and I am shattered. Yesterday was a quick run amd the Great North Swim, Today I have cycled to support 2 friends in a 10 mile race, then I bricked a run on the end. Its been an emotional time with lack of sleep (Stay in hotel) and lots of phys, therefore I am keeping this very short and heading for a kip. Night all, normal training resumes tomorrow

Juneathon 18/30 Great North Swim

Today started early,couldnt sleep and was awake from before 4 this morning. I challenged myself to run everyday this month so I had planned to run after the swim. Whilst I was lying awake I thought I may aswell go for my run early then ther'd be nowt to do after the swim so I got up an ran round Kendal, just short of 2 miles but a run is a run. The Great North Swim we set off from Kendal to Bowness on Windermere at 6:30 to get he ferry at 7:00. We had to pay for the car park but we didnt have enough change and the card machine was not working so we went to the overflow carpark where hubby could use disabled badge to park for free. This meant we had further to walk for the ferry. We had just missed one ferry and had to w Ait 15 mins for next one. The weather was wet but not cold or eindy . We got off the ferry and got a bus to the start. We got there at about 8:15. The skys were grey and it was drizzley. We got into our wet suits and checked in. There was an acclimatisation pool so we went in that initially it felt cold, especally when I stood up to get out. We than went to the start, did a warm up and then it was time. I felt sick I was so nervous as we walked at the back towards the start line, I reached for hubbys hand for reasurance as we enterd the water. The acclimatisation pool had done its job and entering the water was not too big a schock but I couldnt get my face in the water. Hubby got ahead as we made our way to the edge of the crowd he looked back and I signalled him to go on without me. I had another go at getting my face in the water, it was murky and disorientating so I continued to do front crawl wth my head up. Soon I was into a rhythmn a bit like distance running, I counted off the boys and was determined not to have a break. I knew I was not last and relaxed. I was hwever a bit too far on the outside as the pack spread out. I vounted the bouys off , yellow,yellow, yellow,pink. Halfway still going strong not fast but steady. I worked my way closer to the bouys and counted them down, yellow I was tiring thinking on land Im a tortoise does that mean in water Im a turtle, slow and steady. Yellow, I could do with a rest, yellow, its like seeing the last marker in a race, I just had to go between the orange boys and under the gantry, 100 m to go and I had not rested my arms were killing but I was nearly there. I got out of the water better than normal so was happy with that. I heard my name as I was staggering up the ramp and there was Hubby waiting for me. My watch sait 45:22 and his said 40:09so we were ecstatic. Big hugs. The hardest bit today was getting out of my wet suit. Need to practice that before the tri in 3 weeks. I bought hubby tickets to question of sport live in October as a gift for completing it I got 2 new charms for my nomination bracelet. A lovely day, busy and boozy on champagne. So happy

juneathon 17/30 800 miles run in 2011

Janathon and Juneathon have helped me to run over 800 miles so far this year. I am currently in the car heading for Kenfal, where we are staying so the Hubby and I can do the Great North Swim in the morning. This is the first big sporting event hubby had done and the first time either of us have swum competatively. I have pink champagne for after. This time last year I had not swum in years and then I could only only do a couple of lengths. Looking forward to doing sn event with hubby. Weather looks decidedly dodgy the closer we get. Right will log and blog the swim tomorrow.

Juneathon 16/30

Busy day today. Only got home from work 10 mins before it was time to go to training. Didnt get tea today. Ian the coach could not make training today so as a group we decided to go and run up the hill in the deer park a couple of times. It was surprisingly fun. Now I have got cleaned up Im going to meet hubby in the pub then we are goung for a chinese meal. A good way to end a busy day

Juneathon 15/30 Oh deer!

Thats half of Juneathon completed, its been tough at times and there have been times when I would have welcomed a day off, but in General it has not been too bad. The support from others has spurred me on and thanks to carlag27 for putting together the Google reader bundle. it has made it so easy when I have a spare moment to read a blog and leave a comment, wish I didnt have to keep doing the word recognition thing though. Today I went for a dogjog the aim was to get jed up to 5 miles, it was a sunny warm morning even though it was only 6:30. I decided to go up to the deer park again and as we were running through we were approaching a young stag, he did not move, instead he started to follow us, Jed was pulling on his lead wanting to play. I stopped and took a pic (above)as the deer was so close. when we got going again the deer was still following. Towards us there was a lone man running down the mile sraight, he passed us and when I looked behind the stag was following him. Later on we saw a deer with a crow standing on his head. A strange day. Any way time for some stats at the halfway point; Running 86 miles 6th on table for distance Swimming 5 miles joint 2nd on table for distance Cycling 93 miles 7th on table for distance Total 183 miles currently lying 3rd for distance covered excercising Time 28 hours currently lying 13 th for time spent exercising Over all I'm happy with progress but may not cover as many miles as i did during Janathon, but I had no races in January to affect my training.

Juneathon 14/30 Just a run

Well i was going to cycle to the racecourse for a swim before running club but hubby phoned and said he was on his way home ( normally works away) so I needed to return last nights fab meal rather than be selfish and go off on my phys campaign. I'm not as good in the kitchen as him and decided on Lamb chops, new potatoes and peas, not very adventurous but nice and summery. I cheated and bought trifle for pud, cause it drew my eye in Sainsburys. So just a run tonight. Vicky was late from work so we didnt go to running club, We went out on our own. I set my Garmin for heart rate training. Might as well make more use of its functions. I picked heart rate zone 2 111bpm - 148bpm. It was odd having to change pzce and even walk at times to remain in the zone. It ll take some gettting used to. It was very humid tonight and hard work. We also got nettled and scratched on overgrown pathways. But it was enjoyable, if not fast.

#Juneathon 13/30 I cant do this alone

Well another busy day. DogJog before work. We went up to the deer park the deer were beautiful in the early morning sun. Even though it had rained all night it was not cold it was really humid. Hubby was working from home so he got my bike out for me and fed the dog so I was not late for work. When I got home tea was organised and the dog was walked. This meant we could go for a swim together at the pool. Hubby was still tired from Saturdays lake swim he did 24 lengths and I stayed in for another 30. Tea was homemade steak and kidney pie roast potatoes.and cauliflower cheese. . I am so lucky having a hubby who is such a good cook. While tea was cooking he threw together a batch of mince pies from the minxemeat he made at Christmas. i ate my tea and then it was time to meet Vicky for.our weekly bike ride, just as the mincepies were coming out of the oven so I'd have to wait. I am now home after a loveley 14.6 mile bike ride, bathed and ready for bed. Had to stop blogging for a mo as hubby brought through mince pies and cheese, chocolates and a glass of homebrewed elderberry wine. I am so spoiled. I could not do the things I do without the support of my wonderful husband supporting and feeding me.

Juneathon 12/30 Ripon Rowel walk

I have entered the Round Ripon Ultra a 35 mile race that takes place mainly on the Ripon Rowel walk. The Ripon Rowel walk is a 50 mile walk starting and finishing in Ripon taking in lots of picturesque villages. The walk is apparently well marked so as a rubish navigator I felt I could tackle a session for a long run. I am a lazy runner I prefer road because it takes less effort, Im willing to accept the impact. As a lazy runner I avoid off road but since I entered the Ultra I have been hitting the trsils. The forcast was for rain later in the day so after walking the dog, I set out. I only lost the path once where a bush had grown over the sign and ended up adding a bit on to my run. Thanks to the runner who put me right again. Im glad I went wrong otherwise I would not have seen the beatiful dog fox crossing the field. He stopped to watch me. Above a buzzard was circling it was a lovely day. One field between Bishop Monkton and Burton Leonard had rape in it and it had fallen across the pah and interwoven, I had to force myself through it, wish Id worn long trousers. There was another similar field just after Markenfield Hall( what an awesomely beatutifl building). Approaching and leaving Markenfield hall there were cows and calves in the field so I walked.(dont want to be trampled). As I got to Whitcliffe lane my garmin buzzed 15 miles and I decided to do the next bit of the Roel Walk and headed across the field towards Studley. I headed for the Valley of the 7 bridges and helped 2 children get their bikes through the gate, gave me a chance for a breather,I ran across the bridges and up to the car park where I detoured for the loo before the long climb up to St Mary's Church. I walked this bit. Garmin buzzed for 17 miles at the gate. Then the best bit 1 mile down hill, then through the fields and back to Ripon.. Today was a good run, adventurous and I realised that being a lazy runner has deprived me of some amazing local views and path ways. Incidentally the first 15 miles are the 15 miles that are not part of the Round Ripon Ultra. Next time I'll tackle part of the course

Juneathon 11/30 dogjog swim and cycle

A busy day. Never slept well last night so was up at 5 am this morning. First job was to get Jed out so a jog by the river was the plan. It was lovely and peaceful not s sole about. Loved watching the ducklings of mixed ages bobbing about on the Skell. Next job was to get a swim in the racecourse lake done. The Great North Swim is next week so I needed to get a mile in. I also need to do a cycle as the Black Sheep Olympic distance triathlon is 4 weeks today. So I cycled to the racecourse for a swim in the lake. Hubby drove down with the equipment. The water was cold today 11°c but there were plenty of swimmers in already. Started well got my face in the water. There were loads of fish about I saw a massive perch and a couple of good sized carp. Everything was going well until just after half way I got the breathing wrong and dwallowed loads of water and ended up coughing and spluttering and floundering for a while.but I recovered my composure and set off again. After getting out of the water and my wetsuit I dried off a bit and set off on the bike. 10 - 15 miles was the plan but I was enjoying it and extended it a bit. Almost made my target of 15 mph average so well chuffed. Totals today were run 3.41 miles swim 1 mile cycle 21.08 miles. Today I reached 50 run miles for Juneathon. Totally shattered and had to go fir a kip after lunch

Janathon 10/30 a third through already

Well thats a third of the month gone and a third of the runs. Its gone so fast. Today I woke quite refreshed and took Jed for a DogJog. Today was a lovely morning and the run was one of those when you wish you could just keep going. Unfortunately I had to go to work so after 4.3 miles we went home a After a day at workI had planned a cycle but hubby offered a trip to the pub and me with the breaking strain of a kitkat, went to the pub. Oh well the weekend is here and hopefully I'll be stronger tomorrow and get a decent phys session in

#Juneathon 9/30 Life gets in the way of Juneathon

It has been a busy week this week at work and trying to get my runs in, I havent cycled or swum as much as I aught to with my first triathlon only 29 and a bit days away, but I feel a bit tired, infact I am typing this quickly with one eye shut ( I get double vision when I'm tired)I* dont think that its Juneathon making me tired, just the rest of my life. I really wish I had a super power that meant that I didnt need to sleep, then I would have time to do all of the things that I want to do.

Otley 10 mile road race. Juneathon 8/30

Whoo hoo! What a race. Challenging hills and awesome views with invigorating downs. Was dreading it but decided that if I could keep Vicky in sight on the ups I had Chance of overtaking on the downs. It worked I beat her in by a couple of seconds for only the second time this year. I descovered that I can still push myself tha bit jarder. All of us Ripon Runners had a great race at Otley tonight. Whst a lovely well organised race with lots of lovely friendly marshalls. Looking forward to the HDSRRL run at Otley in 2weeks noe.

Juneathon 7/30 Feeling lazy

I want to do more but I cant. Theres not enough time now that Im back at work. I feel that I should have swum or cycled but there werent enough hours today and I couldnt run furthr than the 4 chatty miles I did at club because I have a 10 mile race tomorrow evening and want to do ok at the very least. I know Im not lazy just addicted to exercise Im sure that Im not alone. Hope everyone else had a great day going to read some blogs now

Juneathon 6/30 Reality dawns

I always knew triathalon would be tough but today I realised that I maybe too big a wimp to be a true triathlete I am improving at swimming but I have heard horror stories about swimming in these competitions where you get dunked and your goggles get knocked of, elbows and knees digging in to you. I intend to swim at the back to avoid all thisAlso on my cycle ride this evening I was tootling along on my heavy old mountin style bike when I was passed by a group of cyclists on road bikes on a narrow country lane, they were flying initially I was jealous of their speed but as they approached the corned they moved onto the wrong side of the road. i was horrified What If there had been a car coming? I really am not brave enough to ride like that. I had to break to take the corner and I was only going about 20 mph. The running bit is the only bit that does not scare me. I know I need to be braver. But then again some one has to be last. May as well be me.

JoggedLogged and now Blogged 5/30

Today is ine of those days when I question my own sanity. Shattered from the recent racing and training, my body was screaming for rest as I put on running gear and trainers, put the lead on the dog and geaded out the door. I walked a while to warm up and let Jed do what he had to. Even as I set off I knew it was gonna be tough.But I persevered until I had slowly jogged 2 miles and was relieved to be able to stop and walk again. Glad its over today. Not enjoyable at all.

#Juneathon 4/30 A Race and a Ride

Had wanted a swim todayyy. It was lovely and warm today and tthere was a lake session but after being so tired at Thursdays race I decided to just go down and watch Hubby do his swim. Hubby and I are doing the Great North Swim in a fortnight. We have never done anything like it before so it'll be an adventure. The weather changed here suddenly it went cloudy and cool, ideal conditions for me to run in. It turned out to be a good race. I started near the back and eased myself into it. I felt good the whole run even the hills. I never even considered walking. Since the Edinburgh marathon 2weeks ago I have raced 4 more times and apart from Thursdays race at Catterick there have been no sign of marathon legs. I finished todays race in 56:36 which is a course PB Last year I did it in 63 mins and the year before I did it in 57:56. So despite the extra races and training I still did a good time. I went out on Tessie after I got hone from the race. Yesterday I bought new shoes and pedals and was itching to try them out. The shoes I had were road shoes and I didnt like the lack of grip for stopping and I always had difficulty clipping in quickly at road junctions. The new pedals are a combination of cleats and standard pedals they are also double sided. So not clipping in is not an issue. The new sgoes are mountain bike shoes, the cleats are inset into the treads of the she. They are easy to walk in and have grip. I rode a flattish course and was happy with the difference in my confidence at junctions, not worrying about getting clipped in.

Juneathon 3/30 A sort of rest day

Started early as I did not sleep well in the heat and I wanted a bit of a rest day. Took Jed for a 2.5 mile jog just after 6 this morning. It was a lovely morning to be out and abou. Knees were a bit sore so slavered them in Deep Relief and they geld up. When I got home I was starving so I had a couple of slices of toast and marmalade. Then I changed inyo my padded shorts and headed out on Tessie. Tessie is my beautiful Scott Contessa road bike. I planned a relatively flat route being tired. The down side was 1 hill within the first mile, O couldnt make it to the top today and had to get off and push. ( I normally dont have a problem with this hill) from thete it was much better lovely and peaceful and lovely views. I did jist over 15 miles. Now that todays phys is done I can rest. Bring on the retail therapy.

Janathon 2/30 HDSRRL Richmond

Just a little update on last nights race. No beating around the bush, I found that really hard. As I said yesterday I felt tiredcall day, the fact that the weather had become suddenly hot again and Im rubbish in heat. All I wanted to do yesterday was sleep. Anyway the race. It left the atheletics track and turned UP to wards the ranges wher it continued UP on a track. There were a couple of steep DOWNS but we were still working our way UP. Eventually we hit the road and the course leveled out afor aa bit. At about 3 1/2 miles it turned DOWN towards Scorton a DOWN it went. I had struggled up the hills passed people walking. I could have walked but refused. Now we were goung DOWN I was being passed by the ones who had walked. ANNOYING. Some people were walking on the flats too, I could have walked, I wanted to walk but I didnt but I couldnt catch the Walkers and eventually they beat me, but I ran it I ran it all . 1 ran a tough 6.48 mile race in the warm with no water stops in 64:34. Ok so its not fast but I have done alot of training for thr tri this week and in the last 10 days I have raced 4 times, 1 marathon and 3 10kms and I have another 10 km race on Saturday.

Juneathon 2/30

Well It started ok yesterday with a swim a cycle and a dogjog. Today I am racing tonight so no dogjog but I went for a swim and planned a cycle but its very warm a that had just made me feel tired so I've decided not to cycle. The swim went well 2000yd in just over 50 mins so Im pleased with that. Tonights race is at Catterick Garrison and its not excsctly flat. Its part of the Harrogate and District Summer Road Running League ( HDSRRL) which the running club takes part in. Tonights race is about 10km and starts around 7:45 hopefully it will be coolet by then. I wont be home till about 10:30 so I'll probably tell you all about it tomorrow.

Juneathon day 1/30

Well its official I cant do hills YET. On one I didnt get the gears right and stalled half way up. On another I just did not have it in my legs an had to walk half of it. Will have to do that route a few more times. I was quite tired before I started, today is a non run day so I did a Dogjog with Jed this morning, I followed this with a swim. I have 5 1/2 weeks to my 1st ever tri and I have spent too long concentrating on marathon training up to now. So now I'm trying to get as much training in as possible.