Resting my brain...

Wouldn't it be great if like meat you could just remove ones brain and pop it on the side, leave it to rest (have a rest yourself) and then pop it back in when said rest was done?!  I say this mainly because my brain is in overdrive, clunking, whirring, spinning, and most annoyingly thinking and thinking and thinking.  Yes, yes, I know that's what it's there for, but sometimes - and not even that often- it would be nice to turn the bloody thing off.  There is no such thing as having a blank mind (unless you sat me in the Mastermind chair-maybe this is my answer!) and so all day every day I have to hear my own thoughts being processed and as much as I need it to continue to do so for me to keep growing and developing and learning as a human, this morning I wished I just had quiet.  So while I was out on my long ride I took some time out.  Normally when I ride long I'm wishing I was back before I've even clipped my foot in for the first pedal stroke out of the street. So instead of racing to get back so I could enjoy the rest of the day I stopped at about 45 miles, got off the bike, found a very quiet spot (the top of a wall over a river) and just sat and stared at the blue sky, the green grass and the silence.  Wonderful and no brain whirring, just me and ... nothing ... 

And then it was back on the bike, back to the brain whirring, over zealous thinking and streams of mindless inner chat (maybe I'm actually schizophrenic!)  I'm guessing that just like your muscles need rest and recovery so does the brain but it's not as easy as that is it when you still have life living in there, but those ten minutes on that wall were all I needed to switch off and maybe it's something I'll do every now and then to give my head a break.

I've had a good week of training.  My legs were smashed after last Saturday's duathlon so early in the week I took it fairly steady with some good swims, a treadmill session and a couple of 2 hr turbos and then on Thursday I did a 20 mile run which saw me suitably tired on Friday and Saturday and then on my 80 mile ride today (should have been 100) I decided that my legs were knackered and as you've just read so was my brain so I ditched the 100 and came home early.

Tom and I have his mum and step dad Ray here to stay until Wednesday and it's always nice to kick back and enjoy their company and their infinite garden wisdom (they're going to help us fix our broken fence.)  We don't know what we'd do without you both :)

And so without further a do, I must go and entertain our lovely house guests and leave you to look at my week in pictures :)  Here's Week Eight, enjoy.

H. x