Piano, The Dales and Hose Pipe Fun

Well, another action packed week draws to a close. Sarah's Mam and Dad came down for a couple of days mid week. It was great to see them, however the real reason for the visit was to deliver Sarah's new Roland Electric Piano. This has come about from a conversation I had with Sarah a month ago when I suggested she do something just for herself during the week. I was envisaging her playing her Saxophone in the local town band, or something similar. A week latter she announced what she was going to do, and that was to learn to play the piano!! Minutes later she was on ebay and that was that. The ebay piano was a dud (that's another story) so her fabulous parents came to the rescue. My talented wife can play the Saxophone, Flute and Clarinet through to grade 8 and now passes on her skills to a new generation of musicians both young and old, (her saxophone lessons with 65 year young Christine are legendary) So now we can add the piano to her repertoire. How is she doing, well at the rate she is learning it isn't going to take her long to be very proficient. It sounds fabulous, and Ellie and Evie love hitting the keys. I think its great that Sarah has such a wonderful talent for music, for I am seriously lacking the part of my brain that can do it. As a kid my Dad encouraged me to learn the electric guitar, but alas too much time on the football pitch, and not much natural talent meant very slow progress. Sarah's Mam and Dad are extremely proud of her because it was them that saved for the instruments and enjoyed her success doing her grades and playing in various school concerts and bands. Their daughter who they invested all that time and energy in is now thoroughly enjoying her music again and making a career out out of it, great stuff. I look forward to the day when Ellie and Evie begin to learn.

I may not be able to play an instrument but my sporting brain is still firing on all cylinders. In a Year 9 Basketball lesson on Friday I nailed an awesome layup to win the game for my team!!

I have eased back a little on my training this week and feel good for doing so. No chasing the miles and squeezing in extra sessions. I am going to start a new theme this week. It's going to be called "training session of the week" Basically it's the one session during the week when I really feel on my game. It doesn't have to be the toughest session of the week or the longest just the one when you finish you think "yeah that was sweet" and you want to text or face book your exploits. For me it was Thursday's long run. I have yet to do a long run since the Brass Monkey 1/2 Marathon, so this week I set myself the target of a long run to see what sort of shape I was in. It was very Ironman specific, nice and steady, time on my feet. I ran 13 miles at 8.30 pace in 1.50. Pleasing, was that I felt strong throughout the run and comfortable increasing the pace in the final couple of miles. Join me if you like, posting your "training session of the week".

Today was the Circuit of the Dales 50 mile TT. Clearly circuiting the Dales would mean HILLS, something I will encounter in abundance at Lanzarote IM. I had set a target of 2hrs 30 mins based on Tom's previous experiences of the race (I ride very similar to Tom) and also thinking a 20mph average would be pretty solid. I raced out the start and tried to control my urge to attack every rise as a heart rate in the 170's had me thinking I was going a little hard. I felt good though so cracked on, trying to ride steady up the hills and hard down the other side. My new bike was sweet, the SRAM gears are awesome and the Profile handle bars and tri bars are very comfortable. At 36 miles I swung right onto the final road out of the village of Hawes. This is probably the hilliest part of the course but according to Tom I would get a good tail wind and then the final 6 miles would be ballistically fast to the finish. As I turned onto the steepest hill a pretty stiff head wind had me diving for the 39 x 26. Oh shite, tired legs, a head wind and the biggest hills. I died a little but bought it home for a 2:26:59, average heart rate was 171bpm, (not that far away from my 10 or 25 mile TT heart rate zone) I was really, really pleased. I have some work to do on my endurance, but given the level of intensity I held I am very reassured that my bike speed and strength is about where I want it to be. Unfortunately Tom had a mechanical before he even got going. A cracked stem clamp marked the end of his race, still better for it to happen in the car park then descending the Dales at 40mph, scary thought. I was gutted for him, he's raced the Dales in horrible weather and today was a really nice sunny day, unfortunately he missed out. Cheers for the unexpected shouts of encouragement mate. Helen however had a right result. A huge PB, a win in the Ladies Category and a cracking time of 2:40:02. Well done, all those miles in Lanzarote and the Dales have made a huge difference, no excuses now, time to start biking with much more confidence, banish that fear, you are really looking good for a fabulous Lanzarote bike split. Cheers Tom and Helen for a nice chilled Saturday, and a very enjoyable day in the Dales.

This week's photo is Ellie watering my lawn. I have reseeded a section following a very lazy winter where I neglected to rake up the leaves and thus killed the grass. However, why would you want to spray Daddy's grass seed when you could spray yourself? Why do we become all careful and boring when we get older, make sure you don't visit when I have the hose out, you will get wet.....

I am now on my Easter break, I have 2 weeks off and have some long bike and run sessions planned, it's a nice feeling. Right that's it from me, my legs are cooked in a pleasant sort of way and my energy levels are plummeting, bed is a very appealing place. Have a good week, do something child like.....