tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54281285057053353952024-02-07T16:44:12.712-08:00andy from embsay's bike and run adventuresA record of what I get up to whilst cycling and running round the Yorkshire Dales. And elsewhere.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-1708073489327697702014-05-21T15:03:00.001-07:002014-05-21T15:08:08.396-07:00Did itNot written much recently - new job (commuting on my single speed in Birmingham most weeks - fun), but also a bit of trepidation about the first couple of weeks of May - Fred and Etape week, to be accurate.<br />
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Well the Fred was bloody extraordinary. I went up the night before to not-sleep at the Sally - the thoery being not-sleeping 15 minutes from the start is better than not-sleeping 90 minutes from the start and having a long drive there - moot point, but 5:30 saw me out of bed eating instant porridge and pulling on lycra.<br />
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A massive queue to get into Grasmere show field meant that G arrived before me, having driven over in the morning, and once we'd fettled bikes, registered, G had had a poo, gone back to the car for his number and generally buggered about, it was 7am before we left.<br />
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Actually 7am was useful, as it gave us a a clear idea of our "total time" as opposed to ride time that I have on my Garmin.<br />
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Gareth has serious labrador pup tendencies, so was pushing things from the word go, but I'd decided that I was going to be sensible, so as he disappeared up the road in Kirkstone I let him go. In a precursor to several of the climbs I gradually overhauled him, and then he came bloody flying past on the descent.<br />
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We got in a good group along the A66, and Borrowdale was a bit stop-start due to two and four wheeled traffic. Honister mirrored Kirkstone, and was enlivened by meeting a guy I'd ridden up Crag Vale with on the Skylark ride a few weeks ago. Gareth was dropped, and then flew past on the way to the first feed at Buttermere.<br />
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Newlands was ok, apart from a slightly unnerving back wheel slip on the steep bit at the top, then we hit Braithwaite and the climb up Whinlatter - where my GPS said we went through half way.<br />
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I'd 'fessed up to G that I was thinking I may get under 8hrs total time, and at this point it looked doable - I was doing the usual mental maths to see what the average speed needed to be, and must confess that on Cold Fell (it wasn't, thankfully) I left Gareth and started to think that if he blows up properly I'm leaving him.<br />
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I stopped at Calder Bridge and was about to set off when Gareth came in, only a few minutes down, so we set off together, although I could tell he was starting to feel it a bit. By this time we were definitely on for sub-8, and I'd worked out we only needed to average 12mph to hit it - my thinking became "for every mile at 20mph you can do one at 4..." (Hardknott hangs over you all day!).<br />
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I rode all the way up Eskdale on my own, but then the world and his dog appeared as I went past the phone box at the bottom of Hardknott. The bottom bends were as steep as ever, but once I'd got up those I was pretty confident I'd ride all of it, despite the increasing number of people walking.<br />
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The top section loomed overhead as I tried to recover as much as possible on the "easy" bit, and almost before I was ready I was on it, looking for the outside of the bends and trying not to get too close to other riders. There was amazing support on "that bend" with hooters, cowbells and shouts, and that gave me the energy to get out of the saddle and pass a few people on the inside - the increase in volume was like a booster rocket and that carried me half way up the final ramp, before I slumped back down in the saddle and ground it out to the top.<br />
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Wrynose was, as usual, a bit of an anti-climax (once I'd stopped for a bit of double-leg cramp past Cockley Beck) and soon I was giving it full beans to the finish - I found myself at the front of a little group of riders, none of whom seemed to have the energy to help out, so I led the happy band back into the show field with a ride time of 7hrs and 20 seconds, and a total time for the event of 7:24 and a bit - well over half an hour quicker than I'd thought I might just do with favourable conditions and good luck. G was ten minutes later at 7:35, but had also absolutely smashed his planned time, and looked well set for his epic charity ride week.<br />
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Then it was on to the Etape - of which later...andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-31448315644884596532014-04-03T00:13:00.000-07:002014-04-03T00:13:48.926-07:00A better March...After February's skiing affected mileage drop, I was determined to get "back on it" in March. Longer rides at weekends have started to become the norm, and I managed four 100m+ weekends on the trot. Weekday mileage has been patchier, with one pretty poor week, and one of over 200 miles.<br />
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The poor week was mainly affected by work/beer/travel - including a night in Ripon at the gala dinner to launch the 100 days til the Tour comes through Yorkshire. Thackray and I met Bernard Hinault, Brian Robinson and a poet called Kate - and drank a substantial amount of beer (me) and beer and wine (Rob).<br />
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We rode the Petit Depart route one Sunday, which was a battle into the wind up to Newby Head, then last weekend we did the southern bit of the Etape du Dales route, with Fleet Moss, Coal Rd and Dent Head, all before a last climb over Pen y Ghent to Halton Gill. Glorious weather saw me in shorts for the first time this year.<br />
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Total mileage for March was over 800, and was (I think) the 4th highest I've done.<br />
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Main concern now is shedding a bit of weight before the Fred in six weeks - I'm probably 10lbs over what I was at my lowest, and would like to get half a stone off - it's actually relatively easy (if a little tough on willpower) as I know what to do - I can cut out c500kcals a day pretty easily just by having a more sensible breakfast and lunch (however as I type this I'm about to dig into an East Coast full English...).<br />
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I'm also changing my job at the beginning of April - this will involve more travel, mainly to Solihull, and doing some days in north Leeds at Scarcroft. Scarcroft is just under 30 miles from home, so I'm thinking of making it a "one way" bike commute a couple of days a week. My Solihull days will involve a night or two away, so the options for keeping fit there are either to rent a flat (assuming they'll pay) in Brum and commute by CX bike (singlespeed, maybe?) along the canal (my preference), or to find a friendly hotel that'll let me keep a bike there - or failing that I'll just have to go running!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-66966970480250184712014-03-21T05:15:00.000-07:002014-03-21T05:18:56.209-07:00Getting better with the weatherAfter Feb's rather disappointingly low mileage, I decided that March had better be "back to normal", so I've forced myself out after work whenever possible. I've been doing a bit of travelling, so that accounts for one and sometimes two evenings off, but I've also been trying to up the mileage of evening rides a bit. Often this will be just extending the ride by two or three miles to make it a 25 instead of my "standard" 20 - riding over to Ilkley is good for this, as the main road towards Burley has a number of turning points and gives a fairly painless extra 5 miles or so.<br />
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I've been out with the Ilkley chaingang for the last couple of Saturdays - Skipton tried to organise something similar but as usual with SCC a good idea quickly died a death due to lack of interest. Ilkley's chaingang has around 20-30 people, and rides along the valley to Otley as one group, then splits in two. On both occasions I've got myself on the fast group (this involves hitting c35mph on the flat!) and have hung on for a few miles before dropping back.<br />
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Even with the "ride of shame" back to the second group you still get a seriously quick (average 20mph+) 30 mile ride, and home before 11am.<br />
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Sundays have been given over to longer rides with the club, and last weekend we rode the route of Skipton CC's sportive, Le Petit Depart. 80 miles long, it takes in the TdF route for its first half, then cuts back from Hawes to Ribblehead, Settle and back to Skipton via Airton.<br />
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We used a "two stop strategy" as after the battle from Hawes to Ribblehead we were in need of a brew - this inspired us to ride the very steep climb over to Airton and even rode my least favourite road in the Dales between Winterburn and Hetton to finish.<br />
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Last week was a far better 200m+ week, although this week will be less due to a beery Paddy's Day night in Derry with the resulting "delicacy" of constitution the day after.<br />
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Video of Le Petit Depart <a href="https://vimeo.com/89253072" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-77577769274032610612014-03-04T13:06:00.000-08:002014-03-04T13:06:32.263-08:00Still at it, but low mileage monthFebruary ended up as the lowest mileage month for yonks - well, since May last year - a mere 265 miles. However given that it's been wet, windy, and worky, as well as having a week off for skiing I guess it's not too bad.<br />
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The chain gangs were going great guns, but with so many things to do with Skipton CC they started, then fizzled out. I've decided I'm going to give Ilkley CC, where I'm still a member, a go.<br />
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Skiing was a bit of a mixed bag - I liked Vallandry, where we were based, but it is chock-full of the sort of ghastly middle-management, pushy dickheads you dread when skiing. Said people's kids were as bad, leading to M & L ditching ski-school after one day. The downside was almost no off-piste action for me, the upside was I really enjoyed skiing with them - so ski-school has now been dumped permanently and they'll have a couple of hours of private lessons instead.<br />
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Once back from skiing I had another week of a couple of rides then a couple of days off - motivation seems quite low at the moment, although every time I go out I enjoy it.<br />
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This weekend saw me out with Tim Edward, which is always an effort, but despite nearly three weeks with very little bike-time, I almost managed to keep up with him over Langbar, Askwith Moor and back up Kex Gill.<br />
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Then Sunday was the Eden Valley sportive, a pretty mild affair but one which young Gareth (half-man, half-labrador) boinged his way round and encouraged me to go rather faster than I (and certainly Herb) would have liked. Herb had one of his mega-bonks and ended up riding the last 15 miles or so on his own. G and I finished with an average speed of over 17mph, which is respectable for 60 miles.<br />
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Little vid of the day here:<br />
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This week started positive, with those nice chaps at Stages sending me yet another replacement crank - this will be the fourth Ultegra crank they've sent me - hopefully this one will work. Their service is amazing, but their product seems to still suffer from teething problems.<br />
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I've managed to start the month better than Feb, with a ride every day, and have gone through 1,000 miles for the year so far - which means I've ridden more miles in the first two months (and a day) than I did in either 2007 or 2008 (both pretty fat years, to be fair). The next target is to get past 2010's total by the end of March, which will require a 600+ mile month - with 135 on the clock in the first 4 days we should be ok!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-29668902373017035812014-02-13T14:02:00.001-08:002014-02-13T14:02:25.514-08:00Another super low (well, no) mileage weekLots of travel with work this week - London, Glasgow and Burnsall - combined with a couple of nights of beer has meant no time on the bike since Sunday.<br />
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The weekend was, however, surprisingly not bad. We're still having a series of massive low pressure areas blasting off the Atlantic, which has meant very strong winds - generally westerly or southerly. Saturday in preparation for the Fred, Herb and I rode over Carleton Moor and over towards Haworth into a block headwind. Hard going, but a good workout for just under 40 miles. Then on Sunday we went with the club over to ride the course of the Pool Triangle 10m TT - but of course being at Pool the ride was actually over 50 miles. The wind was howling out of the west, so we averaged about 22 mph for the ride over, then battled back at nearer 14 mph. <br />
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I might get out briefly tomorrow, but as I'm off skiing again on Saturday I may leave it and get back on it when we come back.<br />
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Either way, we're not under 90 days to the Fred. I'm still about 5-7lbs heavier than I'd like to be, but with a very posh chalet and really good food next week I'll worry about that when we get home!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-4507714697642116712014-02-06T07:12:00.002-08:002014-02-06T07:12:47.594-08:00Low mileage monthsJanuary was my lowest mileage month since I started this getting fitter lark - mainly on account of a long weekend skiing, but also the crap weather and if I'm honest a bit of a fall in motivation. Once I'm on my bike all is well, but with this being the third month of coming home from work in the dark and with an endless series of Atlantic storms pushing wet and windy weather through, it has got a bit hard at times.<br />
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Weekends have been ok, and compared to the people I ride with I seem to be holding my own fitness-wise - Herb has been toasted nicely a few times, and with the exception of Rich Sutcliffe from SCC, I seem to be able to get up hills as fast as most.<br />
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Skipton CC has now started a chaingang, and whilst I've only been three times (which is as many times as it's happened) it's a really good, fun way of getting a decent effort in and getting home for elevenses.<br />
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I've got a mount for my Garmin Virb camera, so have knocked up a little film of the last one - Herb's really earning his nickname of "The Meat" when pushing big gears on the flat - 28mph along Bingley by-pass...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/85601126?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
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January ended up being 610 miles for the month - which would be easily the biggest mileage month prior to last May, but is actually the lowest in about nine months. February's likely to be a low mileage month too, with a full week away skiing, as well as work getting in the way a bit. Once March is here and we start getting lighter nights, I should be able to increase my Monday to Friday mileage, which seems to have stabilised at about 75-80 up 100, which I regard as "par" these days.<br />
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I'll need to, as we've now had confirmation we're in the Fred Whitton on May, which is followed a week later by the Etape du Dales. Tough old seven days...<br />
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The next event is a sportive up in the Eden Valley, which will be Bob's comeback event - he had his hip replaced just before Christmas, so he'll be doing really well riding a 60 mile sportive this soon.<br />
<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-61115910182142587592014-01-20T04:34:00.000-08:002014-01-20T04:34:19.668-08:00Low mileage, good quality (and a new toy)The lowest mileage week for yonks last week - I was away overnight Tuesday then didn't get out Wednesday as I was a bit late home and the weather was grotty, so I hit Thursday with just 20 miles in the bank. My rule of thumb is I like to do the best part of 100 miles Monday to Friday, then depending on what I do at the weekend it's either just under, or just over 200 for the week. I've not had a lot of 200 mile weeks recently, mostly on account of tending to do 80 or so in the week.<br />
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However this week I was not going be anywhere near 100 for the working week - I did a very pleasant, and reasonably brisk, 25 on Thursday, then I revisited the Gargrave/Hetton loop on Friday, to give me 60-odd for the week.<br />
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Saturday was chaingang time again - I'd got a bit grumpy as I quite like a 9:30 start, but Iain and Sean both wanted an earlier one, so the group agreed to a half eight start. The weather was stinky-wet, and Iain decided against it, but a hardy group of 9 set off from Dave's at about 8:40. The wind was out of the south-east(ish) so going out was harder than last week, but with The Herb and Stu Cowperthwaite (a bit of a beast from Appleby) we made decent time, and dropped a couple of people before the turn at Cottingley.<br />
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With the wind behind and on the dual carriageway the hammer really went down, and before long we were down to five, with Herb and Stu pushing the pace along at about 25mph. The trick with these paceline sessions where you do a turn then signal for the group to overtake (as opposed to a chaingang where the line's constantly rotating) is not to do too long on the front. There were a couple of times people did a bit too long and the pace dropped a bit - I reckon with 5 of you a minute's plenty - that way you can bury yourself and then get a rest for the best part of two miles before you have to do it again.<br />
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We were quicker than last week, and the exhilarating nature of these sessions means you don't mind the wet as much as you would in a longer, steadier, ride. The Herb, of course, bloody loved it - hitting 30mph on the flat at one point. Animal. And the 8:30 start had the definite benefit of getting us home for about 10:30, so extra brownie points at home for a dog walk with K and Izzy in the afternoon!<br />
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The Sunday ride was planned to be a flat ride to Wetherby. As we found out this week we've got into the Fred Whitton (gulp) I wanted to do something a little hillier - and in the end the rest of the lads agreed.<br />
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Over to Otley on the back roads (with the usual tutting about the state of the Nesfield road) then over Norwood Edge. I've not been up there for a while, and certainly not with a strong group, so I wasn't surprised to see a "PR" on my Strava track afterwards - but being such a popular climb even my best puts me a long way down - I think I might squeak into the top 15%. <br />
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A nice run down to Pateley, during which the decision was made against a cafe stop and then up Peat Lane, the alternative way up Greenhow Hill. Brutally steep at the start, it eases off to just "very steep" for about half a mile then undulates its way up to the main road. Most of the lads hadn't been up there before, and I described it to Iain as "about half a Hardknott", which as the steep bit's just over half a mile is about right!<br />
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We had considered a finish over Black Park, but we were all a bit tired by this time, so we opted for a fast finish via Burnsall and Linton.<br />
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We even managed a half-decent chaingang down the Grassington Road, with a Strava time of 8:17 for the "Blast Down South" segment - which whilst nowhere near our quickest, is pretty respectable.<br />
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The new toy mentioned in the title is a bike mount for my Garmin Virb video camera. It's got GPS in it, and I can import the .FIT file from my Edge to the video (hence the gauges). It was a bit dark and damp yesterday, but I've had a go at a bit of an edit:<br />
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<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/84542604" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></pre>
andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-50690446234839336952014-01-15T12:28:00.001-08:002014-01-15T12:28:18.564-08:00Tsk, tsk, slippery slope and all that...Monday was the usual - go to work, come home, ride about 20 miles have tea. I'm riding with a different front light this week as my current favourite, my Exposure Six Pack has had to go back as it's not charging properly. I'm favouring it as I have a Redeye back light that plugs into the back of it and weighs a lot less than my Hope District rear light. Exposure are a bit like Hope in that they're UK based, make superbly engineered lights and back up their products with excellent after sales. They rang yesterday to tell me they've updated something or other and the light's on its way home.<br />
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Anyway - 20 miles along the back road to Ilkley then back through Addingham and back up the gated road. Steady away as I was feeling the weekend's efforts a bit.<br />
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Then I was away last night over in Derry with work, so travelling, a couple of beers and an unhealthy tea meant no exercise and a fairly substantial overload on the calories in/out balance sheet. Then after a longish day today I came home to find myself a little short of mojo and so I've had another day off - the first time I've done nothing for two days for yolks - hops this isn't the start of a period of fat laziness...<br />
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So - tomorrow is a "must ride" day - to quite literally, get back in the saddle - hopefully my fave light will have come home!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-80285375925338824482014-01-13T07:39:00.000-08:002014-01-13T07:53:38.081-08:00A weekend of effort and not a few miles...There's a few of the lads at Skipton CC who are intending to race this year - I've not really made my mind up, because even though racers tend to look down their noses at mere sportive riders, I rather enjoy them - and being a bit fitter this year I've entered a couple of toughies.<br />
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Nevertheless, this means that said lads are "training" rather than "going for a ride", which means a new ride has entered the regular schedule - the Skipton CC Saturday chaingang. This is a 30 mile ride which is ridden hard, with riders taking turns on the front - with the rule being that "if you're dropped, you're dropped". It's an out and back route, so the idea is you can have a rest, get back in the group on the way back and the presumably get dropped again.<br />
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Ideally you want 10-12 riders, so you can run a constant loop and not spend too long in the wind, but for this first one we had four of the normal A group riders (me, Sean, Iain and Steve) plus a guy called Phil who's just returning to cycling after having a baby and then Rachael, one of the B/C team who decided to see how she got on - chapeau to her for trying.<br />
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We set off towards Cross Hills on the A629, and didn't bother with changing the rider on the front, as we were taking it relatively easy - 18-20mph and HR down around 120. Rachael dropped off pretty soon, and then we picked up Craig, another A rider at Cononley Lane Ends.<br />
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Once across the railway we started to rotate the lead and put the hammer gently down - speed and HR increased to maybe 24-25mph on the flat, with Sean complaining of "bleeding lungs" as we stopped at Steeton lights!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUY9czI3_oh4RYh5ryXClXDvQ6V6XbvPG1LOQyLL-Q1mWLKdE-DtRM6Ft0QUR5R2UIjJCe7z3p9w7VMwz6Vfv9JTWqMf5b3yF_wIJFGlw0mdqhohYrM4qbffk-ksqjVTZ_z8rHPD7wyzA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-13+at+15.35.43.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUY9czI3_oh4RYh5ryXClXDvQ6V6XbvPG1LOQyLL-Q1mWLKdE-DtRM6Ft0QUR5R2UIjJCe7z3p9w7VMwz6Vfv9JTWqMf5b3yF_wIJFGlw0mdqhohYrM4qbffk-ksqjVTZ_z8rHPD7wyzA/s400/Screen+Shot+2014-01-13+at+15.35.43.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HR output from the Chaingang - can you see where we turned into the wind??!</td></tr>
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Through Keighley and Bingley we lost Craig and Phil, so as we turned at Cottingley we were down to four. The wind was now in our faces, and we'd decided to ride back along the dual carriageway, with it being flatter - but flatter often means more exposed, and it was decidedly hard going. Sean eventually dropped off, and Steve went back too - so by the time we were on the last bit of dual carriageway after Steeton it was just Iain and I. He flicked his elbow to wave me past, and before I knew it I was on my own - which was not really the intention! However, I decided to crack on and see how long I could keep going.<br />
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I got back to Skipton in about 85 minutes having ridden just under 30 miles, so a respectable average that I'm sure we'll beat when we have more riders.<br />
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Sunday dawned very frosty, but Karl was keen to go to Clitheroe to suss out a new frame, so seven of us set off down the A59 to see where we ended up. After a stop at the bike shop we carried on round Longridge Fell, returning via Cow Ark to Waddington for a brew and a sausage sarnie. Lovely rolling roads with just the occasional patch of slushy ice to keep you concentrating.<br />
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After Bolton-by-Bowland Stuart put the hammer down up the climb, and of course I felt honour bound to chase him. We rode it fairly fast, and then waited for the rest at the end of the road, and received a sound bollocking from Iain, our Hon Sec, for leaving Dave behind as "he might have had a puncture". As Dave runs a bike shop, I suspect he'd have been ok, but suitable chastened we set off, only to have said Dave ride past and inform me that "if anyone passes me on a hill I'll smack them in the face". You'll have to catch them first, Dave...<br />
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That rather spoilt a grand day out - both Simon and I were slightly bemused by how grumpy Iain and Dave were, having only been left by about two minutes, especially as the previous Sunday we'd left our club president rather further behind on a very snowy Fleet Moss! Anyway - one for a debate next week. 72 miles for the day game me over 100 for the weekend, and a respectable 193 for the week.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-87248177648448173372014-01-10T03:27:00.001-08:002014-01-10T03:27:44.343-08:00Nine months? NINE MONTHS?? Where have I been?I've always been a bit of a hit and miss blogger, and usually get enthusiastic when I'm "doing" something - either running or cycling. So my long-term absence from here would suggest that I've been eating pies and getting humungously fat. Well (as Bill Beaumont used to say on Rugby Special), nothing could be further from the truth, Nigel.<br />
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I've been cycling. A lot. More than I've ever done before.<br />
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In my last period of writing this thing I was doing some running with The Reverend Hinsley, who had dropped a significant amount of weight and was spanking my bottom on the track. He'd been using what he described as "a revolutionary weight-loss technique consisting of eating less shit and doing more exercise". And in May, always one for a faddy diet, I gave it a go.<br />
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I've been using an app and website called <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/" target="_blank">MyFitnessPal</a>, which simply allows you to record what's going in and what you're using up. It gives you a calorie allowance depending on how much weight you're looking to lose and how active your job is. Mine is "sedentary" and I was looking to lose 2lbs a week, so I only got 1200 calories a day - but what made the big difference for me was that you can "earn" extra calories by exercising. The website has some calories usage calculations in it (so 8min mile running for 30 minutes earns you about 600 calories) that are reckoned to be a bit generous, but I was taking every one I could get.<br />
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So what this meant is that I went from doing almost no exercise to doing something pretty much every day - and by June I'd lost about 15lbs and my calorie-earning exercise of choice had become almost entirely bike based. It was a really virtuous circle - riding my bike helped me lose weight, and losing weight helped me ride my bike, and as it got easier (and, if I'm honest, I got faster and started to keep up with and eventually drop people I'd struggled to ride with) it got more fun - so I did it more. A twenty mile ride after work became a pleasurable way to wind down rather than an effort. My mate <a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bob</a> has also lost a shedload of weight, and got miles quicker on his bike, which is also a real help.<br />
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Herb and I did the White Rose medium route in about 5 hours 30 on a mega hot day - got a Gold standard and were in the top 30 times out of over 300 riders. I did the Coast to Coast in a day, 127 miles at an average of over 16mph. I hired a bike every day we were in Mallorca in the summer and rode over 300 miles on holiday. And then went to Mallorca in September and absolutely smashed (and I mean out of sight) my times on all the main climbs, including taking nearly 25 minutes off my time up the biggie of Puig Major. I had a blast on Sa Callobra, chasing about forty city-boy charity riders, and generally had a fabulous time.<br />
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And then it got to the autumn, when I traditionally "rest", drink too much and generally go massively backwards. Only this year I didn't. <br />
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A new winter bike, some inordinately expensive lights and a determination not to lose what I've gained (well, gain what I've lost, but you get the picture) has seen me maintain pretty good mileage (never less than 150 miles a week and usually nearer 200) and keep most of the weight off.<br />
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I actually hit my low point weight wise in September and October, when I was around 12st 4lbs (78kg) - which is a full stone lighter than I was in 2009 when I got a glowing report at my medical. Over the festive season I put maybe 10lbs on, but a week into the New Year and I'm back at 12st 8lbs, and back to eating sensibly and of course still riding the bike.<br />
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The weather's been vile recently, but there is a perverse pleasure in getting out in the dark and the rain and the wind - this week's mileage will be pretty low - it's Friday and assuming I get another 20 or 25 in this evening I won't have hit my magic "100 miles for the working week", and as it's Skipton CC's inaugural Saturday Chaingang tomorrow (which will be about 30 miles or so) then I don't expect to be much over 170 for the week. But that's still almost inconceivable mileage from a year ago, when if I did 75 miles in a week I'd think I'd done well.<br />
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I've been running a bit - I'm trying to do one run a week now, but if I'm honest I don't enjoy it as much as the bike, although it's a good thing to do when time is short or I'm travelling.<br />
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So - what am I going to do with all this fitness? Well I've entered the Fred Whitton AND the Etape du Dales - we find out about the Fred this weekend. They're only a week apart, so that'll be an interesting seven days, assuming we get into the Fred. I'm going to do some time-trials, and might even have a go at road racing. Mallorca 2014 is booked for September, and my bike's booked on the flight to summer hols in July. But before any of that I've got another half a stone to lose.<br />
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Best get back to it...andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-44040764099002151112013-03-11T06:23:00.000-07:002013-03-11T06:23:01.754-07:00Another week, another not been out on my bike...This not getting out on the bike is getting serious. I've only done abiout 150 miles all year, whereas proper roadies will be pushing 1500+. Poor. Must do better. <br />
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So I've been running.<br />
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London this week did see me do a massive 2.5m on a Boris Bike at a blistering 8mph, then a very stuttering, wobbly run along the river and back. A combination of commuters, tourists, sailing boats and detours saw me record probably the slowest 4 and a bit miles ever, but at least it was something.<br />
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Home again Friday night then a delightful (and easy) 8 miles with Izz and The Herb Saturday morning. Unfortunately Mothers' Day got in the way of a bike ride on Sunday, and my lunchtime run today was scuppered by not having any shoes with me - however an early dart will mean that at least I'll get summat done later.<br />
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But bike. BIKE!!!!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-17613081704164403242013-03-07T07:31:00.000-08:002013-03-07T07:31:20.370-08:00Whoops, sorry readers...Off we went to France and then sort of forgot the blog. You might even think I'd done bugger all exercise...<br />
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Well you'd be wrong.<br />
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A belting week in the Portes du Soleil, with tons of snow on piste, but quality off-piste a bit scarce, saw M & L come on leaps and bounds in their skiing - both got 5* with "merit" (whatever that means). I managed to tick the Couloir de la Morte (and that certainly doesn't mean death - it's more the Couloir de la Fairly Mild with a Few Steep Bits).<br />
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Back home on the Sunday and it was back to it with a decent 5x1k with Hinsley on the Tuesday. We aimed for 95 second laps, which is 6:20miling, and we managed that without too much trouble. Then a couple of road sessions after work before heading off to the lakes for our anniversary weekend in a posh hotel. Now posh hotels invariably mean beer, but I managed to remain reasonably steady on nthe Friday night, and set off for a bike ride Saturday morning. Initially I'd intended to go over Kirkstone, up to the A66 then back via St Johns in the Vale and Dunmail - however K wasn't keen on being left alone for 4 hours, so I rode up to Troutbeck, then up to the top of Kirkstone (which is a right long way) then back down to Bowness, over the ferry and back to Ambleside via Hawkshead. A nice 26 miles and a feeling I'd done "something".<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up to the Kentmere Horsehoe from Troutbeck</td></tr>
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Lily and Anna came to the track again this week, so whilst they knocked out speedy 300's, Rich and I did 8x600m, which we increased the pace on to 93 second laps, again without too much stress. Rich is getting a bit ambitious though, so next time he wants to try to get closer to 90 second laps. We'll see...<br />
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On my way to London now, so once my 5pm meeting's finished I'll hopefully get out for a few steady ones before tea.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-61962668538050513512013-02-16T12:50:00.002-08:002013-02-16T12:50:58.913-08:00Last one for a bitOff to France tomorrow so today was the last chance for a run before my legs get tired from skiing rather than running or cycling.<br />
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Saturday morning so Herb and I set off with Izz to Silsden for a long slow one. Ten was the appointed distance, so me, Herb and a rather unenthusiastic Izzy set off down Holden Lane towards the canal. Lovely day, and one that couldn't make its mind up whether it was cold or not. Gloves, no hat and jacket were the clobber of choice, and a very steady pace of about 8:20 was the level of effort.<br />
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It was grand - Izz was remarkably well behaved, and entertained herself by racing ducks along the towpath. Legs were ok, but felt it by the end.<br />
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Job done - now for packing, skiing and a cheeky beer or two.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-79205963442961539462013-02-14T11:33:00.002-08:002013-02-14T11:33:58.843-08:00Steady lunchtimeJust the 4 miles today - weather warmer, legs better.<br />
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Off to Portes du Soleil next week so no running - best do some skinning uphill instead.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-48408559431965634832013-02-12T13:34:00.000-08:002013-02-12T13:34:49.812-08:001k reps. They hurt.Sunday is Cycling Day! Although this week it was Not Cycling Day. A threat of snow, and a possibility of being called out to rescue K from her perilous journey to Sheffield to see Strictly Come Ice Diving Get Me Out Of Here Live meant me and Herb decided on a second run of the weekend. It's nice having Herb and Izzy along for a run.<br />
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Canal route - plan to do 7 miles in about an hour, but improving fitness meant we chucked in a couple of 7:30 miles so our planned hour came in at 56mins. Nice.<br />
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A steady 5 yesterday, including me finally getting round to running round the Carleton "triangle", which makes a nice 5 miler from Gateway House. New clever headtorch was good too.<br />
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Then tonight to the track with Lils and her mate Anna. Hinsley got stuck at work so I was on my lonesome (apart from the occasional wave to Vic, who was doing some bizarre hour long warm up thing in a huge luminous (and voluminous) hat). Slimline Hinsley seems keen to do our old 6x1k session off 200m recoveries, but until my stamina is back to old levels I'd rather make the efforts 3 miles or so, so 5x1k was the plan.<br />
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Pleased with the pace and consistency - 3:56, 3:56, 3:55, 3:55 and 3:57 with about 76 second recoveries. Again the HR never went through the roof so as I get stronger (and lighter) I should be able to go a bit quicker.<br />
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The Reverend seems to be on form - 20:22 at Parkrun this weekend - I think I'll wait for the John Carr races to make my 5k comeback, but it might be Lils fancies a run out one of these days.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-25791475296093966232013-02-09T03:41:00.001-08:002013-02-09T03:41:16.906-08:00Back off the road againHerb and I have settled into a nice routine of an early(ish) long(ish) run on a Saturday morning, and we've decided to alternate flat "on road" (well, on towpath) weeks with off-road runs up on the fell.<br />
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Plan today was a 9am start, and I was grateful of my continued abstinence from alcohol - I was hosting/compering an awards thing at work last night with a free bar and lots of very drunk people. I did my bit (comedy gold in case you were wondering) then drove home for about 10:30.<br />
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I did get a call from Herb at 8:45 n he was up to his ankles in poo as their drain's blocked again, so it was half nine before me, him and Izz set off to Halton East.<br />
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The pull up the green lane was slippy, and Herb struggled gratifyingly, so even if Hinsley gave me a bit of a spanking last week I can at least rely on Herb to make me feel better. Through the gate Izzy disgraced herself by having "an incident" with a sheep, so it was back on the lead for the rest of the run. I think I need to start taking some treats with me, as whilst she behaves immaculately off the lead on the road, when there's sheep or (worse) birds about she shoots off and can't seem to control herself - I wonder if a pocketful of smelly goodies might help.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elevation - have we run over the Eiger?</td></tr>
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Anyway, we did the public footpath route over the fell past the shooting butts, and got home wet, muddy and slightly sweaty after just over an hour. This is a great run - and one I should start doing after work some times - the pull up onto the moor is good for the legs, and it's just about long enough to feel like a decent effort.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-55803968129697460632013-02-05T13:02:00.000-08:002013-02-05T13:02:11.737-08:00Back t'TrackAfter trying but failing to get to the track every Tuesday since Christmas, this evening finally saw me and The Reverend back at Greenhead and, whilst not raring, at least willing to go. Sadly Lily's indoor athletics finals were cancelled today because of snow, but things had "warmed" up by this evening so apart from an arctic wind all was well.<br />
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Hinsley was keen to do 6x1k, but as this is my first time on the track since September (where <i>does</i> the time go?) I suggested 6x800m. Hinsley was looking worryingly slim compared to the blob that we cycled with last September, and sure enough he was well up on our first rep, even though I was almost bang on the agreed pace of 1:35 per lap.<br />
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He did slow down a bit, but even though I was ahead on reps 4 and 5 by the time the last one came he was ahead and in the last 100m left me for dead. I clearly have work to do...<br />
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He did confess to having lost a stone and a half since last September, which explains his sprightliness, but even so he's doing really well to be running just about as fast as he did when we were running a lot. I, meanwhile, am running about 8 or 9 seconds a lap slower than at my fittest - but then again I suppose I'm a stone and a bit heavier than that - still, the weight's still coming off and I reckon I'll be at fighting weight by the end of March.<br />
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On looking at the watch, we did pretty well considering the target was 3:10 per rep - 3:06, 3:07, 3:08, 3:08, 3:11, 3:08 - all off 200m recoveries of c75seconds. My heart rate wasn't right up, so I suspect there's more speed to come if we keep it up regularly - plan is every Tuesday as long as work doesn't intervene.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-34803585293351524522013-02-03T05:28:00.003-08:002013-02-03T05:28:42.620-08:00Back in the saddleAfter the snow went I've had a decent week - although with travelling I was limited to three midweek runs. getting quicker though, with sub-8 min miling feeling pretty comfortable.<br />
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Herb, Izzy and i went out for our "long" run yesterday - we debated how long all the way, and ended up turning just short of the Tesco road as Herb had to get back for a luncheon appointment. Izzy was exceptionally well behaved - she seems to have grown up all of a sudden - you never know, perhaps K will like her soon!<br />
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We got back to the car with a small amount of time to spare and only quarter of a mile to make it a ten miler, so we jogged down the road and back to the car, much to Izzy's bemusement. Anyway - 10 miles in a tad under 85 minutes - slower than last week's snowy effort, but a much pleasanter experience with Herb to chat to.<br />
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Then today was pencilled in for a return to cycling. We'd decided our leggy weggies would be tired after yesterday, so dispensed with the Skipton CC 50 miler, wise in light of the weather. We just did a bimble up Wharfedale to Linton then back via Rylstone - very hard work in the wind, and felt to be an effort all out of proportion to a fairly gentle 18 miles. Still, the bike's out of the shed.<br />
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Difficult to believe it's February. Weight loss os going ok - still no beer outside the Alps, and I've discovered turkey mince as an alternative to beef, so my red meat consumption is way down. I think I've lost 9lbs or so in just over 4 weeks, so the 2lbs a week formula still holds good. Just got to keep it up for another 10 weeks or so!andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-40964828044792780342013-01-31T12:38:00.001-08:002013-01-31T12:38:28.316-08:00Snow goneSunday dawned warm and windy - all the snow gone overnight, as if it'd never been there.<br />
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I was supposed to be getting out on my bike, but the wind and rain made me decide that maybe I'd earned a day off - so January ends with just the two bike rides but plenty of running.<br />
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This week I've been travelling a couple of days, so just a couple of steady lunchtime four milers so far, but the pace seems to be improving all the time - I seem to have gone from 8:30 being the comfortable pace-of-choice to just under 8's - which is pretty reasonable.<br />
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February's objective is to keep the 4 runs a week pattern going, with a regular 10-12 miler at the weekend, but to try to get some decent bike miles in. This won't be easy with half term and a trip to the Portes du Soleil involved, but as we're not in the Fred then maybe 200 miles a month isn't quite so essential.<br />
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I'm still doing ok on the beer/food front - last Monday's weigh-in had me 8lbs down on new year's day, so my 2lbs a week plan seems to be working.<br />
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Another steady lunchtime one tomorrow hopefully, then Herb (and hopefully Izzy) will be out Saturday for a longish run - the canal awaits...andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-5611349566805504292013-01-26T05:25:00.002-08:002013-01-26T05:26:59.140-08:00Still snowy, still running...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two years after buying a pair of 4WD vehicles after we'd struggled to get to work for a fortnight we've finally had a reasonably protracted period of snow (during most of which I went to the Alps...).<br />
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However my other purchase from that previous mini-ice age has come in handy today - a set of Kahtoola Microspikes. I bought them because I was running a lot on the canal, and once a few people have been along the towpath it gets very slippy - as it was in places today.<br />
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K decided that the snow might be a bit tiring for Izzy (she's about 98% border collie - I'm sure she'd be fine, but hey ho...), and Herb's away, so I was on my own today.<br />
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I ran in trail shoes, and I wasn't really aware of slipping a lot for the first 3 miles, but once I'd put my spikes on I made better progress. In fact looking back at my stats I speeded up by a good 15-20 secs a mile after I put them on.<br />
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I turned at the Tesco road near Crossflatts with 5 mile and a tad over 40 minutes on the watch, then running back was slightly harder work - hardly surprising when I look back I haven't run 10m since May 2011 - and explains why I'm so unfit!<br />
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I started feeling like I was getting a bit of rubbing on the ball of my left foot after 8 miles or so, so I stopped a couple of times - I think it's my shoe/sock combination rather than the spikes though.<br />
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Anyway - 10m in the bank in just under 82 minutes. I'm thinking if I can keep getting a 10-14 miler in most weekends, along with a selection of midweek runs I should be in decent shape to maybe do some racing later in the spring.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-26773484438514860802013-01-23T12:46:00.000-08:002013-01-23T12:46:02.648-08:00Back from the snow to the snow<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh deer, oh dear...</td></tr>
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Well after last week's mileage high, I set off to Chamonix on Thursday quite regretting the lack of exercise I was heading for - little did I know...<br />
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A steady old day on Thursday up at Grands Montets (apart from a specular drop off an 8' cliff onto a road in completely flat light) led to some proper Brevent-Flegere mileage on Friday. Saturday was going to be my Pas de Chevre adventure, but unfortunately my guide, Neil, decided that it was all a bit windy and avalanchy so we were off to Switzerland for some transceiver training and a bit of a day tour.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Rob at Brevent with MB behind</td></tr>
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The transceiver training was in a car park, accompanied by the bizarre spectacle of me setting up a crevasse rescue in the same car park, belayed to a ski stuck in a snow drift. Still, useful...<br />
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However once we were up on the road to the Lac d'Emosson I was soon skinning up the road like a good 'un. Slightly disconcerted by the lack of "lifts" though... Two and a half hours later it had sunk in there weren't going to be any lifts, and I was utterly knackered. Skiing uphill is hard work. Skiing uphill with 800m of climbing is very hard work. Still, I thought, you've "earned your turns" as they say! Only I couldn't really do any turns - it was avalanchy, scary, deep and in places, steep. And I was goosed. So after a bit of gorgeous powder that I really couldn't take advantage off due to my feeble legs, we just skied back down the road on the whole. Still - I had no qualms that I'd had a hard day, and that it would be paid back in fitness and weight loss (despite beer and chips).<br />
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Sunday saw us at a much tamer Les Houches - we went because the forecast said poor vis, but as we looked at the GM sparkling in the sun I was slightly regretting not dragging everyone up there. However as Tim and Rob had decided it was my "birthday" I spent the morning dressed in a reindeer suit, much to the amusement of most of the lifties. A nice day was had by all, and after an afternoon of introducing Rob to the joys of off piste bumps we headed off for my "birthday meal" at Maison Carrier.<br />
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Home again and back to running - in the snow! Leeds airport was closed for large parts of Monday but we got home 4hrs delayed and then straight back into work and running yesterday. Running's definitely getting easier, and the scales suggest I've dropped about half a stone since new year - which is a reasonable 2 or 3lbs a week. <br />
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We've not got into the Fred, so my spring challenge is yet to be decided - may try for a late entry, or possibly the Etape du Dales, which I know Bob's having a bash at. Alternatively I might just make the White Rose long route the main event for the year.<br />
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Just a 5 and a 4 miler so far this week - but given the conditions I'm not unhappy with that.<br />
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<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-66911036354476912292013-01-16T11:37:00.002-08:002013-01-16T11:37:47.610-08:00Last one before the snowStill snowy here actually - so that's a pretty dumb title. Ho hm.<br />
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Anyway - we're gripped by the arctic here - -5ยบ this morning and forecast for freezing fog tomorrow. Hopefully Jet2 can get us to Geneva as conditions in Cham look A Bit Good. Bag's packed, including new avi airbag just in case the Pas de Chevre decides to drop on my head on Saturday.<br />
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Whilst gripped by the arctic I decided to make up for last night's failure to do anything by going out at lunch. The novelty of running home and just over half a mile along my normal Halton East route is still there, so I quite enjoyed it. I enjoyed less the fact there's only one shower at work - a poor do compared with the luxuries of UKAR with 6 showers and Tomes' ubiquitous nob.<br />
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4 miles, a bit quicker than last time - 8:01 pace. Getting better...andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-6416927910216445152013-01-15T11:40:00.001-08:002013-01-15T11:40:16.793-08:00Sunday, Monday stuffOut with the club on Sunday, in very cold conditions. Plan was to again ride with the fast boys then cut off - our plan being to retire to the caff in Settle as the A-Team headed off to Feizor for long-tailed scampi and amazingly attractive waitresses. In the event Tim, the strong man of the club, couldn't wait to show us all how feeble we are and sped off, taking two or three guys with him.<br />
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Herb and I, partly out of chivalry but more out of an inability to keep up, stayed with Fiona and Bob, as Skipton is starting to get a bit butch in its tendency to drop people. I mentioned this a few rimes, as we'll have trouble attracting people to ride with us - I've been a new club member at both running and cycling clubs, and one of your worries is always "will I keep up?" - with Skipton CC of late the answer seems to be "you'd better, or you'll spend a lot of time on your own".<br />
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Anyway - our happy band made its way (via a "deflation incident" for Herb) along Littondale and up the climb from Halton Gill where we found Iain, who'd stayed with the fast lads until they announced "no cafe stop - haven't got time" - so he turned back and rode with us.<br />
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Up to five of us now, we wended our way to Settle where we had beans on toast and much tea. The ride back through Wigglesworth and Gargrave was cold but those beans (and possibly some slight weight loss) made the ride home infinitely more pleasant than last week. We stayed together pretty much all the way back to Embsay, as Fiona lives in the village too.<br />
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53m in the Bank of Fred (entries have closed but we don't know if we're in yet...).<br />
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Then yesterday I used my new psychological insight that running after work is much easier if you do it from work instead of when you get home - just 5m to carleton, but it's getting easier and I'm getting a tiny bit quicker.<br />
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I intended to get out after work tonight (track was a bit hopeless considering the snow), but I had several parcels arrive (including my new avalanche airbag - useful as it's going to hoss down in Chamonix this weekend) so needed to go home to play.<br />
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I'll try and get another lunchtime one in tomorrow then it's a few days off running, back on beer and hopefully knee deep in powder snow. Chamonix awaits...<br />
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And I finally seem to have lost some weight - about 5lbs has gone - 23lbs to go...<br />
<br />andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-35275599757633678142013-01-12T04:25:00.001-08:002013-01-12T04:25:22.925-08:00Saturday dog walk...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We were out for a posh meal last night (Box Tree, Ilkley - not really us) so as the diary was more spread out than usual I nipped out for 4 at lunch - slightly quicker than of late where 8:30 miles seem to have become my pace of choice - through the park and out towards Carleton in daylight. Pace crept under 8 min miling, so whilst not even brisk it's faster than normal.<br />
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Today I'd arranged to go for a long(ish) slow(very) one with The Herb. Silsden again, but we took Izzy with us this time, as she's got a lot better off the lead. She disgraced herself immediately after we set off by zooming around, but pretty quickly got into a rhythm of trotting and sniffing.<br />
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We were (I think) slightly slower than last week to the 3.5m point where we turned round, but there was a definite headwind today. However we hit 4m in about 34 minutes and headed back. It all felt a lot easier, and apart from expending a fair bit of energy shouting at the dog (road crossings mainly) it was a classic easy run - chatting with a mate, enjoying the movement and feeling pretty good.<br />
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Back at the car with just over 8 miles done at a tad over 8:30 pace. Away skiing next weekend so I'll go back in a couple of weeks and try to do a 10 miler - which'll be good to get done less than a month after starting.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5428128505705335395.post-9176446847552303512013-01-10T05:24:00.002-08:002013-01-10T05:24:35.978-08:00Weird lunchtime runI'm working a mile and a half from home this week, so my lunchtime run consisted of running home, half a mile past home, turning round and running back past home to work. All very steady, but another four miles and hopefully another couple of hundred calories burned.<br />
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Good news last night (apart from the increasing likelihood of snow in the Chamonix valley) is that one of Lily's friends has expressed an interest in going to the track for some training - so Lils has agreed to give it another go. <br />
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This is Good Stuff - it means I'll get to go down there and run a bit faster than i have of late. Looking back at my blog from the Days When I Was Fit I was running steady runs at 7:30 pace. Not busting a gut these days by any means, but I'm running a minute a mile slower than that, so it'll be good to do some faster stuff once a week.andy from embsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548229088398854179noreply@blogger.com0