Week 8 update, half term but no half measures

The year is whizzing past, there often don't seem to be enough hours in the day, so half term is generally a good time to catch up on stuff that gets put off in the house. So this week I've been having a massive sort out and tidy in the house and garden as well as keeping the training going.

I also took my vest to Ripon Business Services to be printed up. I bought the vest in the sales before Christmas for £2, a right bargin. Looks good don't you think. Tracey always does a great job on printing my t shirts.

Training this week has been the usual routine, a daily run, 2 watt bike sessions, 2 swims and Ripon runners Tuesday and Thursday. 

The weekend is all about endurance. Saturday was a 2 hr 30 walk followed by a 3 hr 30 run. Unfortunately Billy is injured at the moment and we usually walk Jed for the walk section. This week Billy said that he would walk Jed, so I decided to do a long steady run, based around the Rowel walk. The Ripon Rowel was a spur, hence the spur (I think it looks like a sun) on the footpath signs.

As the sun was rising I set off along the River Ure and enjoyed the fact that it was a hard frost which made running easier because the mud was hard rather than slippery. My Heartrate monitor wax playing up trying to tell me my heart rate was in the 170's so Ignored it and just ran to feel.

Ripon Cathedral looked lovely in the early morning.

As I ran along the Ure I spotted a heron, who flew off when he spotted me.

The hard frost made running along the canal a real pleasure in the early morning light, it was so peaceful.

At this point my phone/camera started to play up so I turned it off to conserve the battery which it was saying was at 13% when it was at 100% when I had set off less than an hour previously. 

So no more pictures for the run.

I ran along the Ure then around the back of Bishop Monkton then into the village via Ings Lane, along to the caravan site and across the fields to Burton Leonard. As I always do when my training takes me through the village where I spent most of my childhood, I visited my dad's grave before carrying on, up Burton Hill and then down the Limeys. I crossed the beck where I spent many hours as a child fishing for sticklebacks and bullheads, before running up to the Roman Road (as we called it as kids) towards South Stainley. The sun wax well up now and so as I crossed the field to the A61 my trainers got wider and heavier with craggy mud. I crossed the road and ran along the lane to Markington. I saw a red kite soaring along side me as the rabbits played in the fields. I thought that was very daring of them. At Markington I ran around the sports fields and to a farm where I turned up a little pathway through Holly bushes. The first time I ever ran up this path It was on a Ripon Runner excursion where we got the 36 bus to South Stainley and ran back to Ripon. I remembered a conversation with Penny whist running up this path. She had just completed the Ripon Black Sheep Triathlon, I was thinking of doing it, she encouraged me. That was back in 2010 I've done it 4 times now. 

It's a couple of years since I've run this route, and I soon made a wrong turn, It wasn't long before I realised my mistake, instead of running back I turned my phone back on, found where I was on Google maps and worked a new route to Whitcliffe Lane. I was soon on Whitcliffe Lane and heading for Howe Hill. I ran down the hill and turned up to Sawley, this is quite a long climb and the road was really busy. Most drivers were considerate, I tried to get off the road where possible. But one driver did not move out at all, he drove so close and I couldn't get off the road. Shaken I carried on up to Sawley and enjoyed the run back down the lane towards Fountains Abbey West Gate. It was muddy in the woods, yuk.

I then ran up to a Studley church and down the drive, turned up Plumpton and headed back to Whitcliffe Lane via Mackershaw. I had now covered over 23 miles so I walked up Mackershaw, 2 ladies stopped me and asked if I was ok. I said I was but they asked if I was sure. I must have looked rough hobbling with my sciatica up the hill. I explained that I had been running miles and wax just too tired to run up the hill.

So I ran down the cow field and down Whitcliffe Lane and home at last. 26.35 miles in 5:55:05. Tired but happy. Another 2500 calories burned.

Nutrition was 2 x Soreen lunchbox loaves, 2 x high5 citrus gel and 3 Powerbar cola chews..

I saw this on Facebook and really liked it, it's similar to my tatto I suppose.

Today was supposed to be a 4 hr 45 min cycle. The weather forcast wasn't great and I was a little tired and achy from yesterday's run. I walked the dog to loosen off and got my kit ready. I'll be so glad when the weather improves and I don't have to wrap up like a MichelinMan to go out on the bike. As I was putting my Outlaw jacket on the zip misaligned and opened from the bottom. I took a while to put if right. I set off, and realised my brakes were sticking so came home to sort it. After a load of faffing, it was sorted and I set off again. I headed for Leyburn. It was cold and breezy but there were plenty people out and about, mainly in cars, I only saw a couple of cyclists travelling in the opposite direction to me. The hills were hard on tired legs and coming back from Leyburn the wind was a real hindrance, then there was a flurry of snow, definitely time to get to lower ground. I fought the wind and rain showers back to Ripon. I had done around 4 hours, I could gave gone home, I was cold wet and tired, but I decided to keep going, I headed into the wind towards Bishop Monkton, at least then I'd have the wind behind me on the way home. By now it was raining quite heavily and my hands were really cold. I wax glad to get back to the bypass and head home. 

I cleaned my bike off with numb hands, had a coffee then went out for my runstreak mile. It would have been so easy not to do it but I have run everyday for 52 days and was not letting bad weather stop me now, so I went out bringing my runstreak to 53.