Tour of Qatar - win for Cavendish

Cycling back on eurosport with the Tour of Qatar. Happy days for me, not for the other Baxters in the household though.

Started reading David Millar's autobiography 'Racing through the dark', great book, one of those that hooks you straight away.

So, training wise. Did a 2.5 mile walk on Sunday, deep snow & wife in tow equalled the shorter distance.

Took the mountain bike out on sunday, rode 10 miles, deep snow, nearly ended up in the river a few times

Manager happy for me to leave off at 3pm once a week so i can knock out a mid week ride. So, turbo trainer in the shed. Did an hours ride this afternoon, 13 ish miles. Will be able to go further as the daylight lasts longer.

Bike computer packed up yet again so just ordered a Garmin Edge 800, can switch between bikes as well which will be handy

Struggling to upload pics with the ipad so heres a link to my facebook album from Sundays fun

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150588289089695.410537.826854694&type=3

Saturday 4th Jan

Blimey, a week since my last post. Havent done too much during the week though.

Wednesday 1 hours swimming

Today - Park Run, no pb today & then a 16 mile bike ride. Knee & calf held up well today, best yet so hopefully getting better conditioned now.

Weather is not good at the minute, freezing today.

3.5 mile walk tomorrow then a 15 ish mile mountain bike ride hopefully.

Planning an early leave from work once a week so i can do a 2 to 3 hour ride.

Tour of Qatar starts tomorrow so will be good to watch some tour cycling again. Just wish it was summer here.

Norwich Park Run +

Thursday & Friday, no exercise for me, calf muscle is still feeling ropey from the Dualathon.

Decided to do Park Run anyway today

PB for me - 27.29 mins, something popped in my calf after the first lap and nearly stopped, pain went though so carried on. Really stiff this evening.
PB for Arleya - 33.30 mins (told her i'd buy her Manga pens & paper when she breaks 30 min)

After that did a bike ride out Holt, turned into a 67 mile mystery tour of the North Norfolk. Great ride though. Furthest ride for 2012. Heres the route:

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/90049384

Also booked the time off work for The Great Barrow Challenge. Not sure if i'm going 4 days max distance on Bike or splitting it with the walks????????

http://www.greatbarrowchallenge.co.uk/

Dont forget. Help for Heros!

http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

weight loss update

Great news today. Have lost more weight and broken the 15st barrier. Now down to

14st 9lbs

First time i've been under 15st in at least 10 years, :-)

Exercise this week

Tuesday, 11.5 miles on the turbo
Wednesday, 0.78 mile swim

Remember, my exercising and event participation is also trying to raise money for help for heros.

http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

Tri Anglia Dualathon

So, what have i done since Wednesday

Friday - 11.66 mile Turbo session
Saturday - Took Arleya to park run who managed a new PB - 34 mins. Missed it myself due to the Dualathon. However, went out for a bike ride when i got home to familiarise myself with Sundays cycle route. What a mare, blowing a gail, wet & cold. ut did 16+ miles.

On the plus side I had my overshoe covers which were absolutely fantastic. Heres the route:

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/88448400

Sunday 22nd Jan, my first ever multi discipline event.

Went with the long socks, Tri suit, Thermal top & wind jacket, was just about right. Big learn though. Dont do tri-suit up till last minute in case needing the toilet.

First run - 2.2 miles went ok for me as i know i'm shite at it, but felt bloody knackered & was glad to get to the bike.
Bike also went well, feel really comfortable on it, skinned a few people on the way round making up for my poor run, pretty sure my bike time was under 40 minutes but the T1 & T2 times had been added t the total for this stage.

Lost a good few minutes in transition as i didnt really know what i was doing. Got a few tips today from the vetterans, like getting elasticated laces & dont sit down to change, lol.

I was slow compared to the rest of the club but didnt expect anything else. Just managed to beat my estimated time of 90 minutes.

Heres the link and my times

http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/events/clubduathlon?q=club-duathlon-13

Club Duathlon 1/3 (22nd Jan 2012)

Start time: 10:15
Location: Whitlingham
Host: Tri-Anglia
View related Club Duathlon 1/3 forum topic.

A great start to the series of 3 events with 29 people keen to get going. Some back from last or previous years and some new to the club, so welcome to them!

A windy day and the first run brought on a bit of drizzle, but this was blown away by the end of the run for some bright sunshine giving some nice pictures taken by Andrew Baxter's daughter:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.329555737079315&type=1

The runs were inevitably owned by Sean Watson either side of the bike, but the day was taken by Tony Robinson who just won't give up that bike leg even if he did declare it isn't his favourite ride.

Time keeping was by Mark Philo and Paul Scibilia.

Hethersett 30/60 & TriAnglia Dualathon

So, got my first dualathon on Sunday.

2.2 mile run
11 mile bike ride
2.2 mile run

Not vast distances for the experience but plenty for me, bike ride wont be an issue, just the running as usual. Going to skip Park run though, takes the best part of the week for my shins and knees to settle down as it is.

Not sure what to wear though
Was going to go with long running socks, tri suit & a thermal top. Then bung a jacket on for the cycle ride. Temperature is supposed to be 8 degrees. Will just wearing shorts be ok on the bike???? Could wear running tights over the top i suppose.

Hethersett 30/60 website http://www.hethersett3060.com/ has added my charity page to their site.
Hopefully get some contributions to Help for heros.
Not had any yet. Heres the link if your interested
http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

On the exercise front. Did a 1.09 mile swim tonight, first swim of the year. Pool was packed though so just did breast stroke to avoid looking like a complete goon.

16th & 17th January

Two days on a course done, decided to walk each day which covered about 6 miles over the two days. Burnt as many calories doing that as an hour on the turbo.

Knees are quite painful after weekends exercise & i'm necking Ibruprofen at the minute.

Decided to bin the turbo tonight & going to do it Friday instead, give the knees a bit more rest.

Ordered some bits and pieces off Ebay.

HTC Highroad shirt and trousers
Cycle shoe covers, feet have been frozen on last two rides, hopefully be here before the weekend.