No Power; Cycle Power!

Well despite another crazy week last week, it turned out to be quite positive.


Cycle Power!

Yikes, I actually did it - I swallowed hard and coughed up for a shiny new road bike. I'm really glad I tried the smaller size as it fitted so much better. I realised as soon as I clambered on. I bought it on Saturday and headed out for my first ride yesterday. I was really lucky in many ways as when I got up with Murray, the weather was awful and I really didn't fancy heading out in the wind and rain, however by the time I headed out it was still v v windy, but the rain had abated and stayed off the whole ride. I must admit I nearly turned back home after about a mile as I was terrified!!!! I was on a major road and the x-wind was horrendous - I actually felt the bike leaning from under me several times within that mile. I actually stopped to gather my courage and told my self to toughen the hell up and get a grip. I seriously gave myself a talking to - "You've just spent a fortune on this bleep thing, now at least make it to Crieff!!!!" LOL. When I got to Crieff I took the back road to Comrie which takes a sharp left and so I was then into a strong head wind, but I can't tell you how glad of a head wind I was after that X wind. It helped of course not being on a major road. I got into my swing a bit then. Just like in running I really loved the uphills as I could get some power on without feeling rather afraid. On the way back I was really getting some speed on, but I felt like I had to back it off as I felt like I didn't have the technique to handle it. Quite scary actually. Frustrating too as you know that your fitness and strength could make you faster if you could just take your hands off the brake! I know how folk must feel skiing now! Any how I did 26 miles (hilly miles) in 1 hour 50 so I'll take that as a reasonable start, especially as my bottom was only just a little sore at the end and generally the bike was really comfortable. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was just being outdoors and exercising for longer than an hour and it feeling like a quarter of that time. I definitely think it'll be a good buy.


Feeling a bit wind swept, but happy - Murray loved teething on the rubber end of my water pipe!

My route so I remember was :
Muthill - Crieff
Crieff - Comrie on back rd
Comrie to Culty Braggan up Glen Artney
X over main rd and back to towards Muthill to 'Stinky Farm'
Left at stinky farm and down to Balloch
Right at main rd and left asap to Templemill
Left to join onto triangle route and then work way home. = 26 miles. Av: 14mph T= 1h50









So a good end to a crazy beginning.



No Power!

On Monday the weather was insane. Al and I were eating lunch (he had a random public holiday thank goodness) when the power went out so we thought we'd head out in the afternoon to take Murray swimming to get out of a cold, dark house. All was good until we left the Hydro to come home.The wind had blown trees down in the car park. Eventually once they had been cleared, we headed on our way home. As we drove up the main road, we could see a queue of traffic. We quickly realised it was a tree down and as I felt like we were sitting ducks to the bits of debris being blown around we tried to get home via the back road, but, yep, more trees down. By this time it was Murray's tea time so an emergency call to my mate Liz saw us at her house feeding Murray and waiting until the road had cleared which all things considered was very quick - 2 hours. She too had only just made it back from Comrie with her sis who was over visiting from Canada with her 2 small kids. When we got there Liz's son was just getting home from school with a mate who was stranded as his mum couldn't get through to pick him up, so it was a crazy full house! Thanks Liz!
Anyway we were able to head home about 6pm, but when we arrived we realised that the electricity was still off! Thankfully we were able to find our camp stove and use it to warm Murray's night time bottle and warm up some simple tea for us! All quite amusing as Al was here to help and we were safe and it was still a novelty. Not so funny in the morning when Al had to go to work and we still had no electricity! I packed up Murray's toys, travel cot etc; the entire contents of the fridge and freezer to stop them going off, and headed to my mum's asap! I'm v glad I did as it didn't come back on until 9.30pm. With all this going on I was quite impressed with myself for getting to swim group that evening - well it was definitely a better option than sitting in a dark house! Poor Al was getting just a bit fed up of reading by candle light when I got home and then the lights went back on!

I must say it would be rather nice to have a simple week of looking after Murray, work, put Murray in nursery etc and not have to deal with some form of illness or a ruddy power cut!!!!! At least life isn't dull I suppose!


So to sum up on my exercise:

Mon: 1 hour gym ~ 7 miles
Tues: 17 mins XT + 60 min swim ~ 7 miles + 40 mins pilates
Wed: 10 mins pilates (I forgot my arm weights to take to mum's so did it today!)
Thurs: 50 mins Pilates
Fri: REST
Sat: 55 min Gym ~ 6 miles (God that was a struggle to go - had to split everything into 10 min blocks and then 5 to mix it up!)
Sun: 26 mile bike ride (1h50) ~ 8.5miles + 3.5 mile hike
Total: 32 miles!!!!

This week's swim session was as follows:

10 lengths warm up
4 x 4 lengths 1min45
5x2 1 min
4 easy
4 x 3 1 min 30
12 x 1 30 secs
1/2 pyramid of 4,3,2,1
= 74
I then added 30 lengths on at the end of the session, so = 104 lengths = 2080 m ~ 5 miles

A Good Week + Road Bike

What a difference it makes when I have a healthy baby and hubby! Last week was a disaster - came home from Northern Ireland with a sick Murray. He had a rotten tummy bug which lasted a week and which he passed onto both his daddy and his nanna ( my mum). As my mum looks after Murray on a Wed when I go to work I was stuck home holding the baby as well as looking after sick hubby. It also meant exercise went out the window. However, in good old determined Kazza stylee I've bounced back this week to do the following:

Sunday: 70 mins gym (8 miles) + 10 min abs
Tues: 35 mins X - Trainer (4) + swim group - 70 lengths (4) = 8 miles + 50 mins pilates
Wed: 50 mins Pilates
Fri: 60 min spin (6)

I plan to do at least 60 mins at gym tomorrow so my min miles should be 29.

I am going a little crazy not being able to run. I went to a try a road bike last weekend and I kind of fell in love. The only prob is that they only had the second smallest size in the more expensive model (too expensive) so I need to get both the smallest and 2nd smallest sizes ordered in so I can try them both. Even then it is a lot of money to part with. That's another thing I love about running - it doesn't have to break the bank. Coming from a ski racing background it was a refreshing change not to have to spend a fortune on equipment! I'm sooooo torn. I'd looooooove to buy the bike and have something to train for, but even more importantly people to train with. It sucks so much being injured - you are so out of the loop. Life is bit lonely at the mo' actually because of the hours I work I can't meet up with mum friends - they work on opposite days and local baby groups are on the days I work too. I can't run so my sport friends are hard to meet and then because I'm the boss at work, my staff are fun, but it isn't the same. Ah well, that's life I suppose. It does make you uber efficient at work though. I worked like crazy all week so I could knock off at lunch today and go for a play date at Murray's friend Struan's house which was really fun.

Cracking Swim!!!!

I'm just home from swim group. It was really good and I want to write it down while I still remember it! I did 35 mins on the xtrainer (~4 miles) before the swim and then we did the following session:

Warm up: 6 lengths

4 x 3 lengths timed (under 1.30 including rest)
5 x 2 lengths timed (under 1.15 including rest)

2x recover lengths

6 x 1 length timed (under 45 secs including rest)

2 x recovery lengths

4 x 6 lengths timed (under 2.30 including rest)

Cool down : 8 lengths

Total = 70 lengths = 1400m (~ 4 miles)

I worked really hard - much harder than if I had been on my own and it was so nice to workout with others as I'm pretty lonely training at the mo'. I miss my running buddies so much, but at least this group gives me something to look forward to every week.

Crawling + Hiking + Wedding

Murray started crawling 3 days before his 10 month birthday. 2 day before that I caught him sort of shuffle crawl out of the corner of my eye, but as he wouldn't do it again, I wondered if I had imagined it. he did the same thing the next day and this time I think he made the connection between what he had done and what that meant (ie - get that toy over the other side of the room) and then before I knew it he was OFFFFFFFF!

Boy do I ever need 50 sets of eyes now, and I am even more glad of the play pen we had bought!

Hiking

Last holiday weekend we went hiking up to Glen Tilt. It was a great day out and Murray really enjoyed his first picnic lunch. He had a enough by the end right enough so the last 20 minutes were spent with me jumping out from behind the backpack carrier, shouting Boo. Exhausting, but he found it hilarious and so helped to take his mind off the last bit!

Right, off we go!

My first picnic!

 

Nearly Home 

Wedding

This weekend just passed we all headed over to Belfast for Al's cousin's wedding. It was a lovely day and Murray was a wee star. The Bride and Groom looked just lovely and it was a great chance to see family. I think Murry looked just gorgeous in his wee linen suit!

The happy couple!

Al and I with the new Mr and Mrs Nicholl

Above = The cousins! (L2R: Pip (groom), Emma (groom's sis), me, Al, Fe (Al's sis))

The First Dance - AWWW!

Unfortunately the poor wee mite has picked up a wee bug and was really poorly on our return journey. He slept practically the whole journey - which was a relief in many ways as he really wasn't a happy chappy when awake. He's only managed about 14oz of milk for the past 2 days and no food at all. Oh and the nappies -OMG!!!!!! I took him to the doc today, but as I had to tell him that 1000 ml (35 oz) wasn't the recommended amount for a 10 month old, I'm not sure what good it was! He did say that it was OK to keep giving regular calpol for the next 48 hours so I will be doing that, but it is a bit worrying the lack of fluid.

Random Pic of Murray petting a pony. When he saw it walking by his whole body shook with excitement and he nearly jumped out of my arms to go see it!

Exercise

I had a good week last week, which definitely helped me feel generally a bit more positive. I even went to a swim group which I really enjoyed, as it was nice to have other to exercise with. I've signed up for the next 10 weeks so I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.

Mon: 1 hr Gym + 10 mins abs + 3 mile walk (~10 miles)
Tue: 1hr Spin + 10 mins pilates (legs) + swim class (50 lengths - an easier first week) (~9 miles)
Wed: 35 min x-trainer (~4 miles)
Thursday: 1 hour spin (~ 6 miles)
Saturday: 50 mins Pilates
Total = 29 miles.