A walk in the woods...

Good morning bloggers. Here's hoping you had a productive and enjoyable last week. Slightly strange here - something of an inverted week. Our good friends Jonny and Alli came to visit on Thursday evening, bringing their two young children Solly and Matilda. Which, of course, meant that in addition to drinking a little too much ale over the weekend, most of my volume training had to be squeezed in prior to their arrival on account of me wanting to preserve:

1. My friendship with them.
2. My Marriage.

The girls were also back from their jaunt to Filey - which they loved (not because I wasn't with them, I hasten to add) but still on their Easter holidays from school - so it was all adding up to rather a hectic week squeezing things in. Fortunately business has abated slightly after a manic time and I'm enjoying the respite and not feeling guilty about getting to grips with this phase of my training.

The highlight of my training week was on Wednesday when spring was truly in the air. You know the thing... a certain warmth which brings out the smell of the newly cut hedgerows and the delight of the countryside and, for me, evokes memories of childhood and a feeling that suddenly, anything is possible and everything is worth looking forward to.

So, with that feeling of optimism and a celebration of the human spirit coursing through my veins I decided to make myself a sandwich and take off on the bike for a long ride. I'd never done anything like this before, with all my rides - in my mind - being 'training'. I figured it was finally time to enjoy the bike and see where my legs and lungs took me.

Northampton. That's where they took me. And, of course, back again. Against the wind. But it was a great afternoon. I clocked up 90 miles in near enough bang on 5 hours on what was quite a windy day, with the wind in my face all the way back. And I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it - which is what it's all about, isn't it?

Other training highlights? Well, I'm no great shakes in the pool and hence have rarely timed myself at 1500 metres or other distances. I'm not too bad in a wetsuit but the pool seems to slow me down. But, buoyed (excuse the pun) by last week's 6'24 400m I figured I'd stick the watch on myself for 1500m in one of my sessions. I've just switched to bilateral breathing for training sessions and although not flat out in this session was pleasantly surprised to find that I'd clocked 26'27" for the distance. That's comfortably a minute faster than I was swimming the distance at this time last year. I guess tumble turns would make a difference but some new tricks are beyond this old dog.

So, last weeks training was as follows:

Monday: 45 minutes swimming drills and broken short distances with Erin and Alice (swimming with me in the fast lane!!), 44 minutes run - 10 mins warm up, 8 mins at marathon pace, 8 mins half marathon pace, 8 mins 10k pace, 10 mins warm down.

Tuesday: Olympic Distance Day! 45 minutes swimming, 1.9km total including timed 1500m at 26'27". Back to back with - 75 minutes cycling, 23 miles at 19 mph average. Evening: 5.8 miles fast run at 6'52" per mile average.

Weds: Long solo bike ride. 90 miles in 5 hours. Evening - Tring Running Club 8 mile run, 61 minutes at 8:22 minute mile pace, 141 bpm average HR.

Thursday: Complete rest day.

Friday: 70 minutes swimming. 3.2km non stop.

Saturday: 45 minutes, 5.8 miles tempo run.

Sunday: 64 minutes tough cross country run over Chiltern beacons. 8:09 mins per mile average, 139 bpm average HR.

Total time training this week: 13 hours 31 minutes

I'm obviously getting soft with my film quotes. Tom and my Dad both got last week's quote:

"Yeah, he's fast! But he won't go any faster. He's a gut runner, digs deep! But a short sprint is run on nerves. It's tailor-made for neurotics."

was from the film 'CHARIOTS OF FIRE' and was spoken by Sam Mussabimi about Eric Lidell.

See how you do with this one:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die."

Who said it and in what film? And yes, I know you can find it on IMDB... but see if you can find it in your mind first.

And finally, the highlight of my week relates to the photo. Spending time with my best mates is always a highlight. And when my best mates happen to be my fabulous daughters it just makes it even better. We do lots of things together, the girls and I ( and Fiona, of course) but on Sunday the three of us went out for a walk while Fiona recovered from the weekend. We had a great time... laughing a lot and enjoying ourselves.

And that, after all, is what life's all about isn't it?

Have a good week.