Celtman, Coffee, Cake and a Collie

  Cheap gag, sorry… 😁 I got a set of Tri-bars, or Aero-bars for Christmas, but haven’t been brave enough to try them out yet.  So with the warmest day of the year so far coinciding with a day off work, I had no more excuses. I’d been warned they would feel a bit strange at first, and being ‘clip-on’ bars, there’s no access to brakes or gears whilst in the aero position. So, I was a little nervous to say the least! My Brownlee plan session wanted me to do a 1-hour hilly aerobic ride today, so I chose a local loop with a good climb and descent in the first half, with the second half almost flat, giving me the chance to focus on using the bars. I was a little wobbly at first, but after a few minutes of use, and a few goes at getting on & off them, I started to feel more comfortable. Turning for home, I really began to notice the difference when the headwind kicked in: there’s the free speed I’d heard they would provide! By the time I arrived home I was feeling really delight...

Warning... Whinge alert (only a short one, I promise) I’ve been struggling a bit recently. I’ve felt fat, the number on the scales has gone up a bit, I’ve struggled to complete training sessions fully and enjoyably for a few weeks, and the weather feels never-endingly cold & wet.  My work portfolio is taking up a lot more brain space than it should, and my hormones seem to be giving me a bit of rollercoaster ride.  Blimey, that’s a lot of negative thoughts… more than normal, for me.  So let's get off that particular fast train to nowhere, and sort it out.   Feeling fat & gaining weight - I've been wearing the ZOE continuous glucose monitor for the last two weeks, and experimenting with a few food combinations to test my blood sugar response.  Perhaps stuff I wouldn't normally eat so often.  So first things first: diet.  I have 13 weeks to go to Celtman Solo Point Five, and it's time to double down on training & nutrition.  Ti...

 Test out all your normal/ favourite foods… Oh, ok then! I completed my first day of ZOE program testing yesterday, and for the next two weeks will be doing something that many Type 1 Diabetics do routinely: wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor. The next two phases are about trying out food I eat normally, along with different combinations, timings, and juxtapositions to see how they impact my blood sugar response.  I’m already fascinated… in fact, mesmerised by it! Yesterday’s trace… Risotto for dinner followed by a ‘threshold’ bike session: And then this morning… A walk to Muir of Ord for coffee & cake. Check out the different gradient of the peak! Does exercise flatten the blood sugar curve? I’m going to be fascinated to learn over the next wee while how different foods work in my body specifically, and how I can use them, along with the timing of eating, training sessions, work and sleep, to manage my health & wellbeing better- and maybe even to lose some weight. A...

  We’re on holiday this week, and the weather’s… well let’s just say it’s not quite what we expected on the west coast of the Outer Hebrides. I’ve had a couple of lighter training weeks than normal, due to my work roster last week and this week’s weather oddness; I start the ZOE nutrition program this coming week; and there are 15 weeks to go to The Big One. So it seems like a good time to take stock of where I am in relation to Celtman Solo Point Five.  First of all, a quick summary of what I’m training for: 5am start, in Shieldaig, West Coast of Scotland, on June 24th: 15 weeks from now. 2200m open water swim around Eilean Shieldaig, approximate water temperature 12-14 degrees. Ish. Cut off 1hr 10. 92km bike, with around 2000m climbing. One big hill (Bealach na Ba: 664m in an oner, max gradient 20%), a few gentle rolling bits, and a succession of steep bits. Cut off 6hrs from race start. Half marathon run: 15km on a rough mountain path, most of the rest on the road...

 I hate being injured. I imagine I’m no different to any active person on that front. It makes training difficult, it’s frustrating not being able to do the things you enjoy.  I’ve had Plantar fasciitis in my left foot for around 4 months now. I’m not sure where it started: increased training mileage, unforgiving work boots, or perhaps just one of those things…  Having one leg longer than the other and hypermobile joints means that my body is subject to some pretty uneven forces, and being heavy makes it work even harder. So injury happens… it’s part of life.  So, injured? Rest up, right? That used to be the advice.  But more recently…  In my ‘paddling for work’ days whilst nursing a shoulder injury I remember a physio teaching me that tendons & ligaments have a poor blood supply, and as a result they need to be worked to recover & repair; they need stimulus to feed blood to them to allow them to rebuild.  But the trick is, just how much. ...