Back in May 2015 I embarked on my biggest ever challenge… London to Paris cycle challenge. In 24 hours!
So here’s the deal – Cycling for 24 hours covering 190 miles was epic and recounting it all in this blog will take some time. So not to overwhelm you, I’ve decided to give you bite sized instalments just like my chocolate advent calendar! I’ll try not to keep you more than 5 minutes a day… can’t promise though!
Lets see how we get on… 
On a roll! 2 nights on the trot…
After work did a bit of weeding with my state of the art Fiskars weed puller to rid my back garden of weeds… who knew pulling out dandelions by the roots could be such brilliant fun!
I was keen to make the most of a sunny evening so got out the new Cannondale Synapse to go for a cycle (I haven’t been out on it since 3rd June when I cycled round Arran with my brother while on holiday). I quickly fitted my new swanky Lezyne lightweight hand pump (one of my 40th birthday gifts from my brother and his wife) and headed out for a hilly 12 mile route.
Thankfully I packed a gel as, in my enthusiasm for weeding, I had completely forgotten to eat any dinner and half way I was already out of energy.
I felt ok as I headed out of Neilston up through the village and up the rolling hills past a couple of small dams but near the top of the 2nd last big hill I managed to do a bad gear change and completely jam the chain between the frame and the big chain ring! DOH! Fortunately I saw the emergency stop coming and managed to get out of my pedals before keeling over. (makes a nice change!)
A little metal protector that was glued on to the frame had managed to get caught in the chain and that’s what had caused it to jam up so bad so 2 very oily hands later and 5 mins of wrestling the chain at the side of the road with the bike upside down and I was back in action.
I said to myself, ‘just enjoy this ride, its the first in a long time so no pressure to go fast and get any QOM’s!
Well I went as fast as I could on the downhills but I was struggling to get up the hills.
It was a gorgeous night and I stopped for a couple of photos: I was surprised that there were white mummy sheep with Black lambs! Then there was a nice tree lined route – shame about the lumpy tarmac! And a view of Ben Lomond from the top of the final hill!
Managed 12 miles in 51 min 29s
Average speed 14 mph
Top speed 38 mph
https://www.strava.com/activities/341844739/embed/8cd57452f052a94202a4193009c800596e792460
I’m back…
It took the sun to break through the clouds and for me to say “enough is enough!”. To be honest I miss the running and cycling and with the poor wet / cloudy cold weather recently I’ve not been motivated to get out much and as a result I’ve been feeling cabin fever and putting on some weight!
So…. no more pies and back dog jogging and cycling after a reasonably restful couple of months recovering from the marathon and the London to Paris 24 hour cycle.
Tonight I decided to jog from the house and at 19 degrees (according to the car) went out in a black vest to try and get some vitamin D! The dogs looked smart with their new leads – turquoise with white stars and lime green with turquoise stars… 
just waiting on their new collars to match. It was the usual 3 mins hanging about in my front garden to get a satellite signal for the Garmin.
Run was pretty challenging today as I’m feeling out of shape! First hill was slow, through the village I thought I had lead legs but the real challenge was the run up through the midgie Glen to the high point.. going up hill was pretty slow and out of breath. The run back down the hill through the village was much better although I got a stitch when I was passing the park!
Least that is out of the way and it can only get better! No challenges in the diary yet… thinking about it…
Well I haven’t posted in 5 months and I haven’t been training much in the last month but I’m keen to change all that… !
New blog entries I’m going to write up on wet nights to look forward to…
Watch this space
Well writing the blog on Tuesday was great motivation to get out in the light rain and ‘Just do it’!
Candy and Winnie were over the moon and Winnie did some excited jumps at the door while I was putting on the flashing collars.
I checked Strava briefly for a 4 mile route and chose down to Barrhead, past the train station and Asda then back up the big hill. A PB on the big hill home was sadly only equalled (to the exact second!) but not broken!
After Sunday’s 14 miles on the Dreadmill this was pretty painless and much less challenging! (Thank goodness I stretched and blasted my legs with cold water as that recovery ensured my calves weren’t tight!).
The thought of my mum’s home made chicken and rice soup kept me motoring! Only stops were for the dogs or waiting to cross the road and I’m certain I could run the whole way. Yes! Progress!
Wednesday was 7 miles in plan 0 miles achieved due to heavy snow outside plus I had to do washing and test packing for my holiday.. (To see if all my stuff would fit in the board bag). Thursday’s 4 mile plan was missed as I was tuning my snowboard and running holiday errands but now I’m packed and ready to go there’s no excuses. The Friday plan is 0 miles but I’ll get on the treadmill and put in some catch up miles to avoid the snowy and icy pavements! ….promise!
Don’t panic, the dogs are both alive, well and as we speak are in their baskets having a little nap.
However, the weather has been pretty awful this last couple of weeks with heavy snow, rain, black ice and high winds. I had to resort to some indoor training…
Rollers…
I got Bicycle rollers for my Christmas (thanks to Raymond!) and did a few hours on them as cross training to keep me going.
Treadmill Dreadmill
Despite my love of the rollers they were never going to cut it for marathon training so a very kind and generous friend has leant me her Jessica Ennis treadmill (thanks to Margaret!). However for the first couple of runs on the treadmill I thought it was speed in mph and distance miles BUT turned out to be kph and Kilometres! DOH! Uch well something is better than nothing, yeah?
Dogless
Sadly treadmills do not appeal to my dogs and being out in the snow and ice with lots of grit has been painful for Winnie as she has a very thin coat and easily torn feet and legs. I’ve bought her some cool snow and ice boots so this is not longer a problem.
Outdoors avec dogs!
Tonight will be the first short run back outdoors since the bad weather. 4 miles here we come followed by some food with the folks and our weekly watch of Gold Rush (with dogs on the carpet in front of my parents fire for a well earned rest!).
S’now business like snow business!
Joy of joy’s there is more snow forecast tomorrow!
Last week I achieved 34.3 / 36 planned miles of Marathon training. This week I have 37 miles to do… better get on with it!
After a week of business trips to London, events in Edinburgh. Babysitting my nephew and frustrating work processes the dogs and I had cabin fever. Nearly a whole week without a run!
We headed out with a vague idea of a new route to avoid a skinny footpath in the dark. Candy and Winnie were well prepared with flashing collars and I put on reflective gloves. Just as well as it was already dark at 5pm!
No satellite signal on my garmin 310xt… 3 false starts, Two resets and and a turn off and on fixed the problem, by which time we’d walked quarter of a mile and the rain had started!
Down hill for the first two miles was a doddle but reality kicked in as the path evened out! As the rain got heavier and the dogs were shaking it out of their coats. I decided to go for 5 rather than 6 miles and turned to run back up the hill home!
Two dogs and me in the shower was a must at the end of our hilly climb home because we were all covered in leaf mulch and mud in the rain!
Surprisingly I felt more awake and happier despite the rain dampening the run!
One day at a time!!! Keep on going…
ninety nine, 100! Well that’s what we used to say at School and it’s proving pretty accurate for my marathon training plan thus far!
So what’s been happening? Well… lets get the excuses out early,
‘it’s cold’ ; ‘it’s dark’; ‘it’s too late’ ; ‘it’s too early’ ; ‘I’m tired’ ; ‘I’ve been working late’… etc!
So I’ve painted a desperate picture but actually I have averaged 2 runs a week or 9 miles (some weeks as much as 13 miles! v’s 20 miles plan).
My stats are improving… pace is going up and heart rate / recovery times are coming down… critically I’m delighted to report that I’m finding it a bit easier! (not the dark nights part just the running).
So bear with me… I’ve just got a new iPad from work so should be doing this dog blog more often now… =) only 21 weeks to go… !
p.s. Photos are difficult due to dark nights but I’ll see what I can do!
….and I did! Well done Winnie and Candy for having boundless energy unlike me!
Training Schedule said 4 miles to do tonight. Thankfully my late night work appointment in Edinburgh had been cancelled and resulted in me being home and ready to run just after 5… and still light outside was a total bonus!
It definitely looked like rain so I wrapped up in a wind proof top (I call it the sweating jacket) and long leggings. Just as well as it was chilly leaving the house.
I drove over to the dams, let the dogs off the lead and ran out and back 2 miles. Mile 1 I felt invincible : pace 8:45 was much faster than I thought possible and mile 2 (slightly downhill) was faster still… the return up the hill was inevitably slow and I was glad of some thumping Daft Punk to motivate me back to the road. I put the dogs on the lead after a sprint up the last hill and welcomed the long stream of traffic allowing me to get my breath back!
Steady jog back to the car and an overall pace of 9:11 – slightly slower than yesterday but further so I’ll take it!
And… the weather was most pleasant – it blew through a wee bit of rain but was mostly dry just a bit blustery.. Result!
October 22
Yeah finally its happening… I like a few false starts (only when it comes to training!) and I had sinusitis and ear ache with dizziness for a couple of weeks so I thought it was best to put off the training for the marathon until I stopped feeling like the room was spinning – much safer for road running!
So I did it… I googled many Marathon training plans, I toyed with the idea of being “Experienced” rather than novice, but since I’ve only done 1 marathon I chastised myself and went back to the novice plan… Strictly I should need only 16 weeks but they recommend being a 20 mile a week runner before you start so I’m 25 weeks out from the BIG DAY!
Brighton Marathon 12 April 2015 here I come!
Tonight I laughed in the face of (EX-)Hurricane Gonzalo and went out boldly – ok it wasn’t that hard, the sky had become blue again but there was a cold and gusty wind with which to contend!
Candy and Winnie were overjoyed when I put my trainers on – they’ve been rather bored just going for short walks to the park to chase a ball for the last couple of weeks when I was feeling poorly.
So… 3 miles done!
2 Dogs Jog and I blog 