A long weekend and a new running partner

  Dan and I were extremely excited to go to Devon on the weekend. My parents own a holiday home on a caravan park in Devon (we have a running joke in the family that we have to call it a holiday home now as it is a brand new caravan and therefore too good to just be named a caravan). I have been there with my parents since I was little and am making good use of it on my own now. It is in such an idyllic part of the country. Time and worries seem to standstill.
My Mum and I call it our happy place and Dan and I have gone there every summer since being together easily spending weeks there at a time.

  Anyway, before we could get there I still had two days of work. I went spinning as scheduled on Wednesday straight after a very busy 'Budget day' at work. The pain in my ankle was still niggling away at me, however the only positive from this was that it forced me to do the correct cycling technique therefore making sure I was pushing down from my heel as opposed to pushing my toes forwards. On Thursday I also went to the gym straight after work, as much as I didn't want to, and did an interval session on the treadmill.

  Friday was a busy day as it was the day we went to the caravan. We both slept through our alarms which meant we left late. Dan and I always seem to have a barney when getting ready to go on holiday and today was no different. Apparently this time it was my fault because I didn't help put the bikes on the car, but in reality there was nothing I could've done anyway! Our arguments are never serious and we had laughed off our silent treatment with eachother within 20 minutes of driving. We had to stop off at my parents to get some stuff for the 'holiday home' as we were the first ones to go down there this year. However, because we were late I had to go straight to my hairdressers, Tammie in Andover. After my hair had a new lease of bright blonde we stopped off at our old work where the majority of my family and some friends work. I had a quick chat to my old colleagues, gave my mum and sister a hug and was on the way home to see my Dad and collect the stuff for Devon. I also spent 15 minutes seeing my eldest niece who has recently been in hospital.

Our Friday night at the caravan

  We had a pretty clear run on the roads down to Devon and were unloaded and in the caravan by 7.30pm. We got some fish and chips (it is the law to have them on the night you arrive) and chilled out ready for our adventure in Exmoor on Saturday. The TV wasn't working due to the relentless rain and wind so we really had to enjoy life without technology and enjoy eachothers company. We began playing Monopoly with a cup of tea and a chocolate yoghurt. When I posted the picture on Facebook of our night one of our friends commented on how rock n' roll our lifestyle is on a Friday night! By Saturday night when the game finished we remembered why we don't play very often. I am a very bad loser in Monopoly due to my competitiveness and get stressed and angry when I have to re-mortgage in order to pay Dan. I ended up losing and not gracefully!

Wimbleball lake and me posing for the shot

  I was having an amazing sleep on Saturday morning before Dan woke me to tell me we had better get ready for the half-Ironman recce in Exmoor. We continued playing monopoly for a bit in the morning, moaned about the weather and just when I thought Dan would give in and we could just chill out for the day, we were out of the door in full lycra on the way to Exmoor. The weather was pretty miserable and very cold. However, it was only evident how bad it was when we were driving through the hills (mountains) in Exmoor. We could hardly see other cars headlights as the fog was so thick. This meant that it would've been impossible for us to see and virtually impossible for anyone to see us on a bike making it a very dangerous ride. Therefore we unfortunately had to abandon the idea of cycling the route today. We did however drive the majority of the route on our way towards Wimbleball lake. This is the base of the Ironman, were the swim and transition will take place. Even though I am a swimmer and love open water swimming the lake looked huge and it was very daunting. (On this particular day it must've been freezing). I was pretty overwhelmed when I thought in 12 weeks time I would be jumping in there to swim over a mile in it.

  The cycle route was however, even more harrowing. Every time I went up a hill immediately after there would be a a downhill and then soon enough I would be climbing again. It was relentless. Even my car was struggling to get up what seemed like mountains. I was just looking in awe and shock at the small amount of flat roads there were. We were constantly in the fog when driving round due to the altitude we were at. What also suprised me was how long the course was. When driving one lap it seemed to take forever. I drove away feeling pretty scared and one part of me wished we hadn't bothered at all because at least at home I still had some positives in my training.

  The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing. After getting back from the seemingly unsuccessful trip in Exmoor we walked to Otterton Mill were we bought some cider, scones, clotted cream and jam. We then had a nap, got some more fish and chips from the BEST chippie in Devon and finished our game of Monopoly. Tonight we had cider and wine instead of tea, but were bitterly disappointed when our favourtie cider was undrinkable. We put it down to a bad harvest.

Not quite how we envisioned our return journey going

  On Sunday we did nothing and slept in until 12.30; such a treat! Dan was then lucky enough to have the F1 on in the afternoon (he must be on holiday for me to allow that). We started the 3hour journey back home at 6pm.We did not however, anticipate breaking down on the M4 just 40 minutes from home due to lack of diesel. I take the blame for this one as although Dan was driving it was my car and "I should've known my cars fuel tank limitations". After getting the AA to tow us to a garage to fill up we were home at 11pm and it was straight to bed ready for a 5am start for work.

  

  It was tough getting out of bed this morning so much so I missed my alarms and luckily woke up at 5.50am by which time I leapt out of bed. I began rushing to get ready and then remembered I was meant to be running with a work colleague at lunch today so had to pack some gym kit. Andy looks like a runner and from what I had accumulated when talking to him was pretty good runner too. He has been out of training due to being knocked of his motorbike last year. He was doing four marathons in four days or some other ridiculous ultra running thing the weekend just gone but didn't recover in time to get the training in. Instead he is doing a 106 mile run and cycle over 2 days with a friend in June. That still sounds bonkers to me, at least my events push my body to the limit during one day and know that I can relax the day after! I hate the idea of waking up in a tent and having to do the same thing all over again. Anyway, he asked me on Thursday how fast I ran. I was instantly daunted but was honest and said not very fast, averaging about 7mph or 9minute miles. He is, as I suspected a lot faster at about 7minute miles. He reassured me that at the moment I am more endurance as he hasn't run for a while due to his injury, so therefore we can help eachother out.

  After all this chat he inevitably asked me if I wanted to do a 3.5mile run around Osterley Park during Monday lunchtime. I couldn't and didn't want to say no, although was worried about my slower pace. However, we would be helping eachother out. Despite seeing myself as a lone runner he may make me push myself more making me faster which is inevitably what I want and need, and I may help his endurance training by slowing him down. 

  The run actually wasn't too horrendous however it was instantly obvious I was a lot slower than Andy. I didn't want him to hold up too much to accomodate my pace as I didn't want to ruin his training. I was going a little faster than I would be comfortable alone but never have been a naturally fast runner as he seems to be. He just reassured me that it was nice to be running with someone and I admit it is quite enjoyable chatting to someone and enjoying some nice surroundings. I may not be a complete convert but I would like to do it again. I do however like my own company which is not a bad thing when training for an endurance sport.

  On a negative note, although my ankle seemed to heal from little exercise over the weekend, after my run today I began to get the sharp pain again. It was beginning to become a very horrible pain to put up with especially when driving. Dan told me it is probably tendons as I said it is the most painful when my muscles are cold ie. when not exercising. Hopefully with some RICE; Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevate it will get better again.

 

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