30/30 - What Juneathon did for me ...........

Todays exercise - Swimming 2000m in 51 mins.

This is my last addition to Juneathon and in all means that my totals were :

Running 72.58 km

Cycling 435.34 km

Swimming 16.4 km

When I look at those, I think shit, was that really me, and I don't think I could have kept that up if I didn't have to blog everyday, so that has really helped.

During juneathon I have :

Fought off a tropical infection !

Completed an Olympic distance triathlon !

Caused an accident !

Been attacked by toads and cats !

Astounded training partners with futuristic nutrition !

Lost 3 kgs !

Trained hard for 25 days, did some exercise the other 5 !

Blogged everyday !

............and farted in a wetsuit !

I also got to read some great blogs along the way ! Roll on next year......

29/30 Did I cause that accident with my odd shaped legs ?????

Todays exercise - Running 8.03 miles in 1.23.48

Boy, was it warm tonight, but I had no fear because I remembered to wear my water belt !!!! Hoorah !!!

Not only that, but I made sure that I had some powerbar gels with me and 40p in change so that if the going got too bad, I could make a phone call for Heidi to come and pick me up - all in all, I think I had all bases covered tonight.

The run itself was the same as usual,starting with the usual uncomfortable first 10 minutes. I soon realised that I had something in my shoe rattling around as well, so it was stop to empty that, then I had to stop at the crossings for a minute or so, and had to jog on the spot a bit ( must have looked like a was busting for a pee !)

Eventually though I got going properly and as I got to the halfway point I heard some brakes screeching and then there was a bang as a Golf smacked another car right up the arse. As it was a long straight road, I can only think that they must have been distracted .........lol ( I have been told that my calves are wierd, one side looks athletic enough, whilst the other looks like it lives in the pub!) - maybe it was the sight of these and the disbelief that distracted the driver !!!!

That aside, the four miles back were not overly tough, and I think that was down to both the fluid and the gels helping replace those lost salts.

So that was the penultimate day of Juneathon. Tomorrow I will add it all up and see how I've done, I'm certainly a lot fitter !

28/30 Back in the gimp suit... I mean wetsuit !

Todays exercise - Open water swimming - 1500 metres

It was time to return to the lake at South Hykeham tonight to do a couple of laps of the lake. the wetsuit seemed tighter which means I've been troughing a bit since Dambuster, so I need to knuckle down a bit the the old calorie counter.

The water was was lovely and even though I was in a sweaty sticky wetsuit the cool water made it all worthwhile ! When I had tootled round a couple of times I got back to the jetty to see other swimmers having a go without their wetties on.

Balls to that I'm not that brave....

27/30 and the peleton rides again !

Todays exercise - Cycling 16.25 miles in 1.04

Todays get out and go was a very easy circuit which we used to try and get me used to the tt bike as its still all a bit ' bambi on ice' at the moment.

There is now less than a calendar month to go to Antwerp and I will need to be comfortable getting down in the aero bars and be ok with getting up quickly, and generally swapping my position around on the bike.

Due to a problem with training partners back wheel which had begun to wobble noticeably, we cut short todays ride, but know that over then next four weeks that there will be lots of hard work put in to bring me up to scratch !

So here it is.... Juneathon is winding down and the countdown to Ironman is hotting up...

26/30 Splish Splosh ! I was trying to save dosh......

Todays exercise - Cycling 8.32 miles

This was supposed to be a rest day and for most part I suppose it was. I had a couple of things to do and one of those things was to try and fix the dripping kitchen tap. Rather than ask a plumber to come round and scratch their heads and tell me sincerely that this was gonna cost me, I thought I'd have a go myself.

I took the tap apart and then thought I'd ride down to the local hardwear store to get new seals etc. Turns out its not the seal , you have to replace the whole inner working unit, and theres 130 odd different types of these. I then rode around different parts of town to try and get one without any luck, hence the 8 miles or so.

I ended up back at the start, the tap is still dripping, and I will need a head scratcher to sort it out....

Ummmpph !!

25/30 and in my mind I'm Haile Gebrselassie !

Todays exercise - Running 8.03 miles in 1.22.31

Tonight I decided to go out for a long slow run and to see how far I could get. To help me, I planned to wear my water bottle get up again so that I could replace my salts on what was and still is one of those very muggy evenings.

It all started very sedately, at a nice steady pace and then two miles in....shit...I realised that I was not wearing the water belt !!!!!!

Right, carry on, try not to think about it, try not to sweat etc etc, and to be fair that was going nicely, but my legs started to tighten up very quickly and I found myself going slightly slower then slightly slower still.

I'm still feeling pretty hardcore to be honest cos that was my first eight miler of the year, and in my own mind, I feel like a professional runner, its a shame I don't run like one !

Massive step towards my half marathon goal and I think I am deserving of tonights pint.

24/30 A greasy fast time trial !

Todays exercise - Cycling 17.23 miles in 53.15

From the depths of my bike store (conservatory) , and from behind my normal road bike came my Focus Culebro TT bike for only its second airing of the year.

Now the problem with these types of bikes are that they are only bloody fast in a straight line, they corner like battleships, and to get the very best out of them you have to ride them in a crouched position which is difficult to maintain.

So, with all of my excuses safely out of the way, I decided to have a crack at what I know as the 1 hour route. In fact, the fastest that we had ridden this course was 59 mins 10 secs, and Kev pulled me around on that occasion.

I decided not to wear my ipod as well because I'm still pretty wobbly on it, and wanted to be able to hear the traffic coming from behind.

Apart from some wobbly handling early on, I soon had a go at settling down into the aero position and held that for a good mile or so, it felt a little easier than last time and it is true that you expend less energy in that tuck position. Still, it felt a little unnatural and I alternated between sat up and tuck. I knew the time was a fast one at the end of Brant Road where over a minute had already been saved, and with that in mind I found myself more willing to spend longer down in the bars.

The whole route seemed to be over before it really began and at a cracking time of 53.15 which is a whisker off being six whole minutes faster than that course had been done before.

Now thats greasy fast !

23/30 Pool gives discount to stupid people !

Todays effort - Swimming 1800m in 45 mins

It was back to daily training today and a nice dip in the pool to start things off as we reach the final stretch of Juneathon.

I noticed that there were not as many people at the pool as normal, but with England playing (and thankfully winning), I suppose that's not too much of a surprise.

However, I do think to compensate for this, the pool decided to offer a 2 for 1 specials for dorks today cos I got stuck behind a premier league one for a good few lengths !

Just f*****g stop and let people through you mug ! Every time I go, theres one who doesn't understand common courtesy, has overestimated their swimming speed and goes on to piss off everyone in their wake !

Still, once I got round him, I swam very well and the blood settled, and I seemed to swim quickly. I got cramp in my feet on a few occasions which then slowed me down, but happy with todays efforts overall.

Tomorrow I'll be all aero dynamic as I have a go at time trialling for only the second time this year.....

22/30 A fruitless search....

Todays exercise was another walk around town at lunchtime - I am really

going for it at the moment cos thats about two miles in the last two days ..

Whoa watch me go !

Anyway, today all I needed was an allen key so that I could attach a tool bag to my road bike and I couldn't find one of any real quality so I gave up.

After this monumental walk, I was so tired I couldn't do anymore training this evening, so I spent my time switching things around on my bikes and swearing a lot. I did manage to take my aero bike for a quick spin though.

Todays exercise - 1 mile walking, TFI wednesday tomorrow and I can resume my proper training.

21/30 Pull down your pants and paralyse the ants in an english country garden !

After yesterdays mega long ride I decided not to do any exercise today.....

Apart from a mile walk in total at lunchtime to the cycle shop to pick up a seat bag to keep my tools in and then when I got home I still forgot that I was doing nothing tonight and went out and mowed the lawn and did some general gardening gubbins as well.

The picture I have attached is not my garden, it is what my garden would look like if I lived in America, and was anal about lawns and shit.

Todays exercise 1 mile walking and some mower pushing !

20/30 The day after..... and its a 44 mile bike ride !

Todays exercise - Cycling 44.17 miles in 3.30.15

You would think that I would be taking it easy today after the exertions of yesterday, but I felt fine this morning and had no stiffness in my legs.

As a precaution though, it was decided that todays ride would be on mountain bikes (mostly because my padded seat would give welcome protection for my sore arse!).

We set off at 2.00 and by 2.10 I had a puncture ! So with that changed we had to go back to my house to pick up more spare tubes and some more CO2 for the pump.

Then.....we finally headed out on todays adventure, where we followed an old train line from Lincoln to the north of Newark, taking in the views of Lincolnshire's countryside as we went. Then we couldn't get off where we needed to and ended up going past a derelict power station before coming out thankfully in the middle of nowhere. We rode to Newark, through Newark and then up a bloody great hill where I swear two ten year olds were climbing it faster than I was !!

It was then hard work back to Lincoln against the wind , but in the sunshiiiiiiiiiiine, so not too hard really.

Tomorrow I'm gonna do nothing, nada, zilch, zero, well maybe a walk at lunchtime, but I am looking forward to an evening on the sofa !

The Dambuster Triathlon

Dambuster Olympic Distance Triathlon - Race report
- 1.5km Swim
- 42km Bike
- 10km Run

Todays race would be my very first at the olympic sized distances as my previous triathlons had all been at the shorter sprint distance. It would also be a good barometer for the training undertaken so far and would give me a good idea of what was missing if anything for Antwerp.

So, alarm set for 3.30 check, ringtone set as Black Sabbath's Ironman, check, manage to get up without waking wife to be, check ! I made myself some porridge and then put my OCD to good use by checking that I had packed everything about fifty times. It was out the door at stupid o clock and then an hour or so drive to Rutland Water. I arrive at just before 6, which gave me some time to go to registration, pick up my race number and then head down to the water for a look around. It was stunning and I wish I'd taken some pictures now just to show what people really are missing. I managed to rack the bike and change into the wettie before the race briefing at 6.45. By 7am I was in the water with my wave of 34-39 year old nutters, and this is how it went...

Swim 33.41

I was aiming for around 37,38 minutes, so obviously delighted with that time. In the water, I could tell that I was swimming well as I could see plenty of white swim hats (my wave wore all white, other waves blue etc) still behind me as we swam around the bouys and turned around. I swam off line a few times too , mostly as on the first straight the sun was very low and I couldn't see the swimmers half the time in front of me, net alone the orange bouy.

T1 2.47

Not bad, considering I always do a zombie shuffle from the water into the transition area, I also chose to put socks on for this ride, and had to cram my nutrition (including my asda bake bar) into the back of my tri suit.

Cycling 1.33.21

I set off into a head wind, turned left into a headwind, turned left again into a headwind... by now you're getting the picture, it was just one of those days. I did set off like a bat out of hell and rode the fearsome Rutland Ripple very well (mind you after all the hills Kev has had me up over the past few weeks these held no fear), I was out of the saddle and really moving even overtaking on the worst of the climbs. At about the halfway point I was well ahead of schedule and going well. Then, my chain fell off during a change down and once I had fixed that and got back on, it seemed to be a bit of a struggle from then on. Maybe I'd gone out to fast I don't know, it was certainly hard work from then on in, but I managed to get the bike home with no further problems.

T2 - 2.01

I'm great at transitions me.....usually !!! I still don't know what happened but I got completely lost in transition and just stood there looking like a dork, trying to find my station ! I must have lost a minute before rediscovering my bearings.

Run 55.11

The run is an out and back, around the lake and crossing the dam four times, (hence the name Dambuster), my plan was to keep to an even pace and watch my breathing. I also always run with an ipod, so to do a whole 10km without was going to be challenging.

I set off at a good even pace and held it together as I tackled the dam for the first time. I crossed some fellow Lincoln Tri peeps across the dam, coming back the other way and we all spurred each other on which really helpmed me. I also had my race nemesis of the day to track - Great Olmond Street Man (GOSM) who I had battled hard on the bike section. Having lost my time in transition, he had again gone ahead of me, but now I was reeling him in and by the last length of the dam I was on his shoulder, which is where I stayed until I kicked as we left the dam and built a small lead over him. GOSM probably thought the same and for a while he just stalked me at a safe distance and I thought uh-oh the gits gonna scream past me in a sprint finish. With just a kilometre to go though I looked back and he was done, all the race pressure disappeared, and I coasted home the rest of the way.

My time in total was 3.07.04 and well within my target of 3hrs 15mins. As distances go, it was OK, far better than anticipated, and gives me renewed confidence for next month. the dambuster by the way is an excellent all round event, and very well organised, well worth entering.

17/30 They think its all over....

After 17 days, I think its time to call time On Juneathon as I'm about to start some anti-biotics to treat the amoebic dysentery that I picked up in Tunisia.

I'm still doing the Dambuster tomorrow morning and will still continue to train hard, but I have really have missed rest days and this has had a big effect on how I have been feeling.

I still managed a mile of walking this lunchtime which really doesn't count.

Thankyou Juneathon, I don't think I've ever been fitter or lighter, cheers !

17/30 A glorious spin on the bike....

Todays exercise - Cycling 26.53 miles in 1.48.00

The plan was simple, have an hours cycling tonight, to keep the legs moving, nothing strenuous, protect everything, and remain ready for Saturday.

Apart from the timing everything else went to plan, it was a glorious british summer evening and it was a real joy to be out there in this weather.

Even though its day 17 and I'm still peaky, this is how I will remember Juneathon.

However, as I said I was only going to be an hour, I got in trouble when I got home....

16/30 and beginning to feel like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV !!!

Todays contribution - Swimming 1500m in 45 mins (60 lengths)

Its day 16 of Juneathon already and over halfway there,these but in truth its beginning to feel a bit like day 60 !

These are my training totals so far this month...

Running - 36.8 km

Cycling - 225.7km

Swimming - 9.6km

I'm beginning to feel how Ivan Drago looked in that massive training montage from Rocky IV - I must break Juneathon lol!!!!!

Tonights swim was a leisurely affair to be honest, and because I am starting to feel tired, I didn't push things too hard.

Tomorrow night I will be out on the bike , and then friday I will have a big walk during my lunch hour so that I can rest a little before Saturday mornings olympic distance triathlon.

14 days to go and counting......

15/30 Do I look like a camel ?

Todays exercise - Running 6.17 miles in 1.03.55

I really really did not want to go running tonight and laid on the bed hoping to fall asleep before accepting my fate grudgingly and getting my shoes on and getting my carcass out of the door.

As my runs are going to be progressing in length now up to a half marathon distance, I thought I would at least make tonight interesting and do the run with a water bottle and holder.

Well, this was a massive joke for a start as it was bouncing up and down as I ran and I must have got 300 metres or so before I took the bloody thing off and shoved it around my shoulder. This lasted approximately another 300 metres before I stopped in a bit of a strop, tightened the thing and put it back round my waist where it stayed for the rest of the run.

Camels carry water easily, I don't !!!!

The run was a reasonably slow affair and the time showed it - still considering how I felt before I went out it was a minor miracle that I polished off 10km tonight.

14/30 Why you shouldn't fart in a wetsuit.....

Todays effort - Swimming 1500m in open water, again !

It was back to the lake that I went to last Monday, to have another stab at the old open water swimming tonight. Truth be told, all I wanted to do was confirm that I could do it and that last week was not some sort of fluke. I was also bouyed on by last nights pool swim.

When I got to the lake it was quite windy and the water looked choppier than last week and cold and all of a sudden I didn't fancy it ! I did however get in eventually and it wasn't as bad as it looked, in fact I enjoyed a first out and back swim without any incident.

However on the second lap I was just approaching the turnaround bouy when I couldn't help but fart in my wetsuit ! ( Any man will tell you that its dangerous to hold it in !!!)

Anyway, this fart just stayed in my wetsuit and I could feel it moving around trying to escape ! It is a very creepy sensation and I can only compare it to having something crawling around under your skin, its that bad !!!!

Eventually an escape route was found and I finished my swim in relative comfort.

Day 14 of Jueathon completed and nearly half way !

13/30 Finally.... a 1.9km swim !!!!!

Todays Juneathon contribution - Swimming 1900m in 50 mins

On the 25th July, I'm having a go at the half ironman triathlon distance in Belgium.
That's a 1900m dip in the water, a 90km spin on a bike, and then a jog for 13miles to finish. I'm talking about it in this language because if I stopped to think about the actual distances and thought about it seriously, I would get bozz eyed and have to lie down !!
So my training has been about getting up towards those distances, and then to treat the whole day as one big training day.
Last week I tried to do the 1.9km swim in the pool at the leisure centre, but was foiled when with only 200 metres to go, they started to pull the lane ropes out. This week I was determined to stay in if necessary to get the job done !
Today, I nearly had an entire lane to myself, probably because there may have been a fair few people who partied a little hard yesterday and have decided to skip exercise today, hopefully this will help my Juneathon challenge. I left the pace nice and steady, didn't swallow as much water as usual, and kept an eye on the clock for the removal of those pesky lane ropes.
I was on my final 76th length when the lane ropes started to get reeled in, but I didn't care, because that was another of the scary distances ticked off.

12/30 Another 50 mile bike ride squeezed in before a World Cup BBQ!

Todays exercise - Cycling 50.27 miles in 3.21.28

I had a total conundrum this weekend where I wanted to keep up my Juneathon efforts up but also wanted to go to my friends World Cup BBQ where I'm sure I will eat and drink far too much.
The solution was to go for tomorrows scheduled cycle ride this morning, thus earning an extra 3000 calories that I could 'spend' at the BBQ - Simples !!
I also wanted to test out better nutrition on the bike and took with me an Asda bake bar and two Lucozade gels as well as SIS drink in my bottle. I'm sure my training partner was secretly in awe of this superior and advanced nutritional programme as he again took his slab of Jelly.
We rode very well and I was pleased with my own efforts after he had pretty much carried me round on Thursday. I felt a lot better too, and the Ibuprofen that I took half way round certainly helped me through the knee pain that I had left over from last nights run. We again took in the same hills as on Sunday, but I swear they were a little better this time around.
In all, our pace was nearly 10 minutes quicker than Sundays circuit without the feeling that we were pushing it the whole time, and the progression is certainly there for both of us.
Highlight of the day was the squirrel or rabbitt, couldn't tell which, that did a kamikaze dive past the front of us and almost becoming cycling roadkill !
Now wheres that cheeseburger with my name on it ?

11/30 A dead heat run and a visit to the Docs !

Todays exercise - Running 4.25 miles in 41.28

Following last nights fast bike ride where I didn't feel too good, and on top of the fact that since I returned from Tunisia 3 weeks ago I've had the daily trotskis, I decided that I would finally go to the doctors to get checked out.

He asked me to hop on his couch and he felt my stomach, I'm happy to confirm that I'm not expecting, although some old holiday snaps would suggest otherwise !

I've got some tablets now to calm things down and I managed to take a couple before I headed out on tonights run.

Now, I have not been feeling to good all day, but Juneathon being Juneathon I was not going to let a small excuse like not being medically fit get in the way of going out, so at 6.30 I duly slipped on the old trainers and headed out of the door.

It was harder work than Tuesday for sure, and I think that most of that was down to the sun being out, and I don't tend to run very well in direct sunlight.

It was an uneventful run, barring some kid letting go of his bike right in front of me, and another super hard cat that just slept in the path as I ran by.

The time ? 41 mins 28 secs, exactly the same time as I took for the same route last Tuesday - spooky eh !!!!

10/30 A fast and windy bike ride..

Todays exercise - Cycling - 17.23 miles in 59.10

After yesterdays massive workout it was time to get back on the horse tonight and put in some miles on the bike. It was windy too which is always good news because it meant that for half of the ride the wind is behind you which makes things easier.

However what goes around eventually comes around, and then its hard work all the way back. I don't mind admitting that tonights ride was tough, but at 59 mins for 17 miles it was also a best for that distance.

9/30 They're behind bars, they're on Mars !

Today bloody work sent me to Leicester for a full days seminar complete with breakout groups etc which meant that by the time I got back home to Lincoln it was late and there was no time to make it to the pool for lane swimming as planned.
Oh bother !
I ran last night, and I'm cycling tomorrow night so I had to think quickly, I also wanted meatballs on toast for my tea...
So my masterplan was to walk two miles to buy meatballs ! Super plan and well executed.

Todays exercise - 2 miles walking in 39 minutes.

8/30 - A slowish 5 mile run ...

Todays run - 5 miles in 50.26

Tonights run of 5 miles is the longest I have done since I had that little problem with my calf back in the last week of April. Before this I was completing this route in about 49 mins and change.

Tonight as I set off I was mindful of how bad I felt on Fridays run and made a conscious effort to slow down a little bit, this would also help me as I now try to lengthen my distances in readiness for the half marathon distance.

The run went well and I felt ok and in the end was only a minute slower than my last 5 miler.

Only thing of note was a double hard cat that just sat in the middle of the path and did not move as I ran past it !

Day 8 of juneathon and I'm getting fitter.

7/30 - an open water swim in the rain !

Todays exercise - 1500 metres open water swimming.

Oh that felt good, that felt brilliant !
I headed down to the lake at South Hykeham tonight for a spot of wetsuit swimming with Lincoln Tri.
Previously, the furthest that I had swum open water was the 750 metres at the Mallory Park Tri early last month. Since then, it has all been pool based fun.
Tonight, all I wanted to do was about 1000m and then work my way upwards next week. When I looked out onto the lake and saw the 750m bouy well into the distance, I set my sights a little lower and planned to give up after one circuit.
The water was cool but not freezing cold and the lake was quite clear meaning I could see the bottom for the most part. After about ten minutes of swimming I began to enjoy it, and once I had got round once , I decided to to go again. The second circuit took a little longer than the first, and as a bonus I enjoyed a massive rain shower for the last 400 metres !
My kit bag was soaked when I got back to it, but it didn't matter, I had had a blast!

6/30 - A 50 mile wet training ride !

Todays exercise - Cycling 50.27 miles in 3.30.28

Yesterdays weather was lovely and warm, but good things never last, and indeed the thunder storms came over last night and washed it all away.
I was really looking forward to the ride as I had changed my blebbed bike tyre and swapped both over to the super sleek Schwalbe Blizzards, this was going to be a maiden voyage for them.
Todays ride was going to be a re-run of the 42 miler that we did on Monday and the hills that we rode up back then. We did follow roughly the same route, but with some extra miles thrown in and a couple more hills. To paint a more hardcore gloss over this, it truly pissed it down for most of the first hour and at one point we had to literally stop and dive under a tree it was that bad !!!
The hill climbing was a lot better than Monday as well and I think I might even be developing some climbers legs ! (Lance Armstrong look out!) At one point today we were even in danger of overtaking horses on a hill, but they got a bit of a spurt on and beat us !
One thing I got wrong today was my refuelling as all I took was water, whereas my friend took a block of Rowntrees Jelly and ate that. Next ride I'm going to take along some Custard and Cream so that he can make himself a trifle !!!!!
On the home leg, a suicidal cat decided to have a go at being a spokey dokey by diving out in front of me, but was OK, thankfully.
So that was it, a first of many 50 mile plus rides, and seven more hills tamed. I really feel confident now that Antwerp in achievable.

5/30 A big long Swim with no roadblock !

Todays exercise - Swimming 1700 metres in 45 mins.

I went back to the same pool I visited on Tuesday, with the intention of swimming 1900m , this is because thats the swim part of my half ironman in just over eight weeks time. The lane swimming is only open for an hour, so by the time I had queued up, bought a ticket, and changed, there was about 50 mins left which is perfect really because thats my target time for the distance.

This was going to be the longest swim of the year and if I was eight years old, I would have been given my mile badge ! But, alas, I'm 37 so no badges for me.

I enjoyed tonights swim as the human roadblock wasn't there and I'm happy that he doesn't do Saturdays. With my path unhindered, I swam well and was on course to reach the 1900m mark when with five minutes to go, they started reeling in the lane ropes and I had to get out.

Day 5 of Juneathon and I'm still standing.

Melting in the Sun !

Running 3.17miles @ 9.48 miles/hr.

Boy it was hot tonight ! The car showed 27' on the way home so I knew it would be warm, but I set off none the less aiming to cover the same route as Tuesdays 4 miler. I felt good and seemed to be covering ground very quickly. By the second mile however, I was definately overheating and by the time that I reached the crossroads to either head home or head left for another mile or so, my body was telling me to walk. So, I walked for a bit and managed to make it home ok, even though all I wanted to do was crawl.

Day 4 of Juneathon and I'm pleased its raining this weekend.

Ah ! Spokey Dokeys !

Todays exercise - Cycling 22.47 miles in 1 hr 25 mins

Juneathons exercise so far has been Run, Swim, so next up was the Bike !

On Mondays mammoth near three hour ride, we took in some hard climbs which had left me with sore muscles, so I made damn sure that tonights ride was gonna be flat, flat and then flatter !

But alas it didn't matter cos it was hard work, and to cap it off I had picked up a bleb !

The last time I had a bleb was when I had a Raleigh Chopper when I was 9, and my front tyre had loads of them, and lots of spoke dokeys !!!

So day 3 of Juneathon and my legs are starting to feel it...

The problem with municipal pools.....

Is that you get all sorts of nutters using them. This is my own fault, if I wasn't so tight fisted, I know where theres a great health club pool and its nearly always empty.... but no, I go to a council run pool cos its only £3.10 .

Tonight I decided to go for 1500 metres because this is the distance that I'll be swimming at the Dambuster in just over two weeks time.

I was going along reasonably well , when the human roadblock decided to enter the pool ! I'm not the fastest of swimmers but I've picked the right lane for my ability, not like this numpty, who I think takes great pleasure in just causing a big long procession of carnage behind him !

Meanwhile, other than that, it went well, I'm happy with the progress in the pool and am becoming more confident that i will be able to crack the distance and not be last out of the water.

1500 metres in 39 mins

My Juneathon starts off all hardcore like !

There is an unwritten rule in running that any run that you do in the rain is automatically 50% more hardcore - well it was truly pissing it down tonight so I'm feeling doubly hard !

Tonights run was 4.25 miles @ 9.45 min/miles.

I also chose to wear my shorter shorts for the run which because of the wet weather rode up my legs giving the appearance of a mankini - epic fail !

I did notice that there seemed to be a lot of snails on the paths tonight, and me, with my new tree hugging attitude for insects and the like, took great care not to bound all over them.

Oh and finally, extendable dog leads should be banned. Rover does not need that much freedom and consequently I'm knackered enough without having to run the extra wide berth metres !

Day one sorted, 29 left to do....