Pedal Power

So I am trying to get fit at the moment and with battling long days at work I am struggling to find the time or motivation.

I do however own a bike and I do live a "commutable" cycle distance away from work. So we have collected my mountain bike from the garage at my grandparents and I have participated in some all important bike maintenance lessons from Husband.

Lesson 1: Changing a Tyre
This was a bit of a hard lesson for me. Well to be honest it was starting to feel like we were being given a sign from above that this was a very bad idea.

On our first attempt we filled the flat tyres only to discover a slow leak which caused them to be flat the next morning.

Our second attempt didn't go much better. We sought out the leak with a basin of water and repaired and reflated the tyre. Only to discover it was flat again the next morning.

On our third attempt we had some success. First of all though we exploded the inner tube rendering it utterly useless. Inner tubes make a really loud BANG when they blow up. Apparently not having the tyre fully fitted to the rim will cause the inner tube to start making an appearance and from then on, if you haven't caught it in time, its like a massive black swelling worm!

We didn't have another inner tyre so re-tested the patched inner tube from our second attempt. There was no leak to be found. So we re inserted and re-inflated.

It was fine the next morning. Neither of us can explain why it didn't work originally.

See what I mean about a sign from above?

Lesson 2: Wheels, Gears and Speed
On a mountain bike I have a heavier frame and a much smaller set of wheel gear thingies (the rings where the gears are rather than the actual wheels of the bike) than Husbands road bike which is much lighter and faster than my bike.

For every one rotation of Husband's pedals I am having to do about 4 to cover the same distance!

So I can't carry any speed and just about every 5 minutes I have to change gear to maintain some kind of steady rhythm. I believe those in the know would call it a cadence.

We went for a test ride to assess the route between the flat and the office. Every 5 minutes I would get a shout telling me to change gears and make like easier for myself.

We also realised that my knobbly tyres weren't helping either so tonight we changed them to slicks i.e less knobbly.

Husband reckons this will take 10 minutes off my current time.

I have to do 13miles in the morning and at the end of the day and have done this twice so far. It has taken me an hour and a quarter. In order to do this and miss most of the traffic I leave the flat at 5.45am and have the best nights sleep that night.

My First EVER Marathon- Pre Training Schedule

and possibly my only ever marathon.

I am two weeks from starting a 16 week training programme which culminates in The Snowdon Marathon.

I have had the best reaction to this and it has pretty much consisted of "Wow you are going to run up Snowdon?!" There is a huge amount of respect in the delivery of that remark.

Too much, so I quickly re-assure them that I am going to be running 26 miles around this beautiful Welsh mountain. But having seen the profile and driven the route I can assure you the inclines certainly look, and I suspect will feel, like I am running up the mountain.

I have only ever run 6 miles and racked up an array of t-shirts from my various 10k runs so I am taking this marathon very seriously. Hence the swim and the personal training sessions. And the alcohol.

This is a strange one for me. For at most 12 years I have enjoyed at least a glass of wine every week, if not a smidge more at the end of a particularly tough week! Not a huge amount of alcohol and there may have been the odd stint when I didn't have any alcohol but nothing like this.

As I write this I am at 21 days of being totally alcohol free. And I am quite proud of this feat and plan to make it to the 29th of October on the wagon as it were. However I have Lil Sis's Hen, followed 7 days later by their wedding, 2 weeks in Greece and my own 30th birthday. Peppered throughout with the occasional works night out where cocktails and glasses of wine tend to flow freely.

I am also slightly disturbed at how I have at times obsessed about how much I have longed for a rioja, chilled white wine or G&T. And by obsessed I mean I have had to find alternative ways to "relax" of a Friday/Saturday evening. Hot baths are quite good, reading and blogging of course seems to take my mind off it and the level of pride I am feeling is almost a bit scary.

If I can keep this up and stick to my training schedule then I am going to be at my absolute fittest. Things can go down hill after then if they like I'll still be able to hold my head high and say I have run a full marathon and that has included 5 months of being alcohol free.

I can't not toast my Lil Sis future happiness at their wedding but other than that this little girl is going to be T total for as long as possible!