Love is...

This weekend Tom & I had some serious time out, not a pool, a bike or a pair of trainers in sight. Originally it wasn't planned that way but after two hard, heavy weeks of training it was definitely time to take a step back from it all and just take our feet off the gas. This weekend we have spent two glorious sunny days in Robyn Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire at the wedding of our good friends Pete and Kim.

I managed to clock some heavy hours up this week and last and got some good swim, bike and run volume in. Wednesday gone our fellow Ironmate companion Jevon came to play and boy did we make the most of it. We met Jevon in the pool at 7.30am for a 5,250km swim straight off and then we popped home for a slice of toast before hopping on our bikes and rambling for 50miles around the back roads of Harrogate, Otley & Ilkley stopping for an infamous Betty's Fat Rascal. When we got home we ran straight off the bike and took Jevon on the not so scenic Leeds Half marathon route. By the time we got home we were spent but after re-fuelling we had 15mins before getting ourselves ready for the first Pool Triangle (20km Time Trial) of the season. Not expecting much out of my legs I rode like I expected (not disimilar to a donkey without legs) but it was good to get back onto the course and I'm ready to nail it next week. Spending time with Jevon was brilliant and we all talked non stop Ironman. Jevon's heading back to Klagenfurt and tackling Austria again the week after we do Germany so we can't wait to be standing by the road side, ice-cream in hand having done our 'A' race and screaming Jevon and a few other friends of ours on. Wuhooo it's nearly here!!!
Consequently having such a hard Wednesday meant that Thursday was a sluggish day, we all swam in the morning and then in the afternoon I bimbled out in the sun for an 8 mile run. The big tell of how hard I've been working was when I did my 100 miler on Friday. There was just no way I could get my heart rate up at all and that's a common sign of fatigue. Time for the step back.

Pete and Kim's wedding was always in our diary as a rest day but the Sunday was going to be a longish run. In fact what we did do was REST. It's no good flogging an already dead horse and had I ran long this morning I think I would have only been fit for the knackers yard. Instead we had an amazing time at the wedding, spending quality time with each other and enjoying life away from triathlon.

This weeks photo sums up two very important things that I've seen this weekend...love and friendship. The little boy is Pete and Kim's youngest, Finlay playing with his friend. Spending the day with his bum out, running around in the sun and playing with his mates. It just doesn't get better than that. And this week Tom & I have spent some quality time with our mates both in the triathlon world and out and also spending that non-exercise time together doing 'normal' things like lying in and wandering round shops and gardening. I hear a few people choking on their morning tea at the gardening line. Alright Yve & Jackie Barlow not quite the kind of gardening that those really 'normal, clever' people do but the kind that Tom and I are good at. I mowed the lawns and pulled the weeds out of the ground and ignored the bushes at the back of the house trying to make a bid for freedom. But basically we pottered in the sun and it was lovely. Two full days of rest and I'm already looking forward to getting into the pool tomorrow.

The time is ticking away far too fast and it's scarily close having seen all of our weekends taken up with races that are going to sharpen and prepare us for Germany. This weekend I'm riding a cycling sportif in the Dales called Etape Du Dales, a 110 mile very hilly ride. Then the weekend after it's Wetherby triathlon, the weekend after that we fly to Vancouver where we'll be for the following weekend. we get back from Canada and race ni UK 70.3 then we have one weekend before we leave for Germany... holy cow!

So kiddie winkles Summer's finally here and Germany is peeping round the corner :)

H. x

P.s Huge congrats to the Eekster, Emma Kate who raced like a demon in the European Champs this weekend in Portugal and won by a country mile, go on girl!!!

x