After sleeping in a little later than I wanted to this morning, I finally made a start to the BHF Gower bike ride at 08:15, which was only 15 minutes later than I’d originally hoped.
I’d gone solo this year for one reason and another and as a result took 1 hour 50 minutes 59 seconds to complete the 29 mile course. Ironically, this was an identical time to last year’s ride, bizarrre or what. I averaged 15 mph over the entire course with a max speed of 38 mph, which was clocked up coming down the Mayals I’m sure. I did use slicks this year instead of bobbles, but conversely I hadn’t put the miles in prior to this years event as I had last year. Hopefully next years attempt will be me break the 1 hour 50 minute barrier!!
Perhaps most importantly I raised £60 odd in the process, so thanks to all of you who sponsored me and shame on you those who didn’t 
No Sunday would be complete without a mention of my weighing scales. 16st 12lbs was the reading this time around and I’m still trying to figure out if it was a good psychological move weighing before the bike ride or not!
As if missing the 10k wasn’t bad enough, the tale of today’s weighing scale hit me harder than a Ricky Hatton punch to the stomach (well ok perhaps not that hard). Seventeen bloody stone – I hadn’t been that heavy since July 16th 2006. My confidence and mood was already quite low, but this really hit me hard. I must now do something as despite all the talk, I have yet to reach my target weight of 16st (the closest I came was 16st 4lbs, way back in January). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessed with my weight, I’m just determined to get it off.
I suppose when I look at things a little closer, my problem area is and perhaps always was – my food intake. So I’ve taken the advice of some of the experts on the Runners World website and have started a food diary. Training I have never found to be a problem – I love it, but I also love my food and hopefully the food diary will show just where I’m going wrong.
So with food high in my list of mental priorities, I decided to try and cook something a little different for our supper.
Fillet of chicken breast, filled with grated carrots, spinach and a sprinkling of grated cheese, served with some boiled mild curry rice. It was delicious and far more apertising that what we usually have for an evening meal! For once my dabbling in the kitchen paid off – a rarity indeed – and I will try this little dabble out once again that’s for sure.
We thought we’d check today to see how tall DDWT Junior actually was – as he’s seemed to have shot up lately and we weren’t wrong. He now stands 103cm tall, which means that he’s grown 5.5 cm since the beginning of April. I wonder what the average height of a 35 month old child should be?
My cold is lingering, but I’m still hoping to start final preparations for the Gower bike ride sooner rather than later this week. So I took the opportunity this afternoon to change the tyres on my bike back to the ‘Fat Boy’ (how appropriate!) slicks again and give the bike a darn good clean.
Awwww, today saw Mrs DDWT and I notch up our 7th wedding anniversary and to celebrate we went on a bike ride – with DDWT Junior of course. Ok, I’m joking about the celebrating bit – we’re off to Center Parcs Longleat for a week (starting tomorrow) for the that bit.
In fact ever since, we’ve been married we’ve always made a point of going somewhere to stay as a part of our wedding anniversary celebrations. Thus far we’ve been to New York, London, Paris and Center Parcs a few times (which pales into insignificance I know compared to the former) but we love it in CP’s and so does DDWT Junior!
Thinking about it, I’m quite glad to be off from work this week as I would no doubt be inundated with all of the ‘seven year itch’ – no not the play the old saying – jokes going.
As for our bike ride, well we did a 13 mile stretch along cycle route 43 goes from Swansea to Builth Wells, although we only went as far as Ystalyfera! The scenic canal and riverside route was in full bloom and it was a treat to see nature at its best, with birds and squirrels aplenty along the way. The warm sunny weather made it even more enjoyable, although we were glad to be back home by early afternoon as the temperature had began to soar by then. Here’s hoping for more of the same next week.
In terms of food, we opted to have a home made beef curry as our anniversary supper – and it weren’t have bloody hot!!
I’m not great shake when it comes to hot or indeed very spicy food, so the strawberry smoothies we’d made earlier came in very handy. A big shout out to Nanna DDWT at this point for providing us with an the abundance of home grown strawberries.
On a more mundane note, both DDWT Junior and I went for the weekly weigh-in this morning and we tipped the scales at 2st 10lbs and 16st 10lbs respectively. No doubt a few pounds *should* be shed by moi next week!
Today saw me conquer the 36 mile Three Valleys bike ride for the 2nd year in succession. I was very pleased with my time of 2 hours 37 minutes – especially as this was the furthest I had ridden since October last year! Being the statto that , the key numbers from today was a top speed of 35 mph (probably due to the descent down from Cilfrew) and an overall average of 13.5 mph.
I was the 2nd rider home and my time was also just under 30 minutes quicker than my time last year – so look out next year *grin*
The 36 mile ride starts in Swansea and takes in the Neath, Dulais and Swansea Valleys – mainly along the canal tow paths and cycle route that cover these areas. The downside of this of course is that you have to stop quite often to bypass the various safety gates along the way – which obviously hinders any attempt to fly around the course (a la a road circuit). In fairness though the day isn’t about that as it’s a fun ride, its just that I take it seriously (as with most things).
Unlike last year when the organisers – Swansea Bay Rotary Club – were dishing out certificates, this year to save costs they didn’t. I was glad to hear that really, as it means more of the money raised can actually go to the childrens’s charities supported by the event. All competitors did get a little badge to show for their efforts though!
Before leaving for the ride at 7:30 this morning I popped onto the weighing scales – as per every Sunday – and once again I was 16st 11lbs. So off I trudged to have some breakfast -a banana and two rounds of wholemeal toast topped with strawberry jam – just to set me up for the long ride ahead as is the norm. On a normal day I’d have either 4 weetabix or a bowl of Fruit ‘n’ Fibre.
When I came back from the ride, I decided to weigh again – just out of curiousity (not obsession). I was down to 16st 10lbs. This I found quite amusing, especially as I’d eaten two High5 sports bars during the ride and drank 1 litre of water. Sheesh, I knew I’d been sweating but didn’t think it was that much!
I’ll be honest though, come this afternoon and I was good for nothing – in fact I spent most of it either watching TV with DDWT Junior or helping him make things out of Lego. I guess it just goes to show how much the ride really did take out of me.
Lego afternoon
With the deluge of rain today and over the past week for that matter, I’ve been wondering if the months of April and May have swapped places this year. I mean let’s face it, the weather is more akin to April at the moment what with all of the showers, and vice-versa the soaring temparatures and sun drenched days of April belonged in May. Is it global warming or is that just as common an excuse as the doctor describing every ailment nowadays as a ‘virus’.
There’s is one, well two good things actually about all this rain. The first being that I don’t have to water the garden (and pay Welsh Water for the priviledge) and the second being that I can go out running and thoroughly enjoy myself (as I have a liking for running in the rain – fully clothed I hasten to add!). So in an attempt to shake off the lethargy of last week (and some pounds in light of this morning’s 16st 11lb reading), I went for a 33 minute run covering approximately 4 miles odd. Thankfully the picturesque surroundings of the Swansea Valley canal were more than enough of a distraction from my sweaty huffing and puffing – not that anyone else was mad enough to be out in the bucketing down rain mind you.
Still I felt good afterwards and tucked into our alternative Sunday lunch of fajitas with some gusto.
I’d gone solo this year for one reason and another and as a result took 1 hour 50 minutes 59 seconds to complete the 29 mile course. Ironically, this was an identical time to last year’s ride, bizarrre or what. I averaged 15 mph over the entire course with a max speed of 38 mph, which was clocked up coming down the Mayals I’m sure. I did use slicks this year instead of bobbles, but conversely I hadn’t put the miles in prior to this years event as I had last year. Hopefully next years attempt will be me break the 1 hour 50 minute barrier!!
