The road to nowhere....

The treadmill looked ominously big and imposing this morning. I've been a bit tired the last couple of days so decided that rest is always a good option but with the Loch Ness Marathon appearing like a monster on my calander in a few weeks I needed to get back on programme.

Today was marked as a speed session. Me and speed are opposite ends of the training spectrum (especially since I sold my 530i bmw!!). I'm a plodder on the bike or on my feet, a good old plodder. Like one of those toys you once got in crackers at Christmas - wind me up and I can keep going, not fast but keep going, until I fall off the table...

So my intervals were 1 minute at level 1 followed by a minute at level 4 repeated 5 times with 5 minutes at level 2 and all repeated again....confused - it took me a few seconds to work it out but I got started as the birds started the first shout of the morning chorus. It was fine, I watched the news on my newly wall hung telly and did the stuff deciding that level 1 was 7mph, level 2 was 7.5mph and level 4 was 9mph - not quick but quick enough for a fat lad like myself. I stuck to it and completed in about 35 minutes including warm up and warm down. Long enough to start seeing the same news stories repeating on the bbc...

Off the treadmill and straight on to the spin bike. I decided warm up for 5 mins, then a long climb for 30 mins increasing intensity every 5 minutes and then a 10 minute spin out and cool down. The news was well into it's second loop and I was getting a bit bored of it but I'd left the remote on the treadmill and couldn't reach it. In my head I was on Alp D'Heuz. The spin bike will never replace the real thing but I spend the climb trying to work out the restistance I needed to engage on the bike to get same feeling climbing like the Alp - I'll never know and I suppose that mystery will only be sorted by climbing the hill myself and finding it out first hand. The bigman has been up more alpine climbs than Julie Andrews so I'm hoping he might come round and set the resistance at alpine levels so I can do some proper climbing!

I stuck to the task increasing the restance every 5 minutes making each pedal turn tougher and tougher. In a sense I'm flying by wire with some of my personal training techniques - I have a feeling that working tired muscles will aid development but I've got absolutely no scientific base for this Macca (me) logic!

Moonwalker is walking like spotty dog after an evening on the Pentlands and waverider is basking in a good performance on the cricket pitch this evening despite ultimate defeat - a wee bit like being Freddie Flintstone in the England team!!!!

A good days training all round......

It's not about the bike ....it's about the bat....

I didn't make it out today with the warriors as I was busy on family duty which in the end turned out to be vastly more exiting than the trip round the cold and miserable forth.

The Iron son is still at school and plays for the school cricket 11. They were playing at some ridiculous time which resulted in an early start and long drive into Edinburgh. The game started in the spring sun that seemed to have avoid Fife and after 20 overs the opposition racked up a reasonable 93 runs. Not quite T 20 world cup stuff that's going on doon south but a respectable score that would have had the England batting line up challenged!

Iron son's team headed out to bat. The wickets started tumbling 3 for 3 - a bad start. The wickets continued to tumble, 17 for 7 - a really bad start. Iron son is a bowler, he keeps a good line and length and is keeps the opposition batsmen on there toes and he can bat a bit as well.

Out to the crease batting number 9, hardly a ball faced and the score was 20 for 8 wickets. Realising the game was disappearing away from them faster than Andrew Symonds jumping on a plane back to Australia after a few beers without team orders, he thought 'have a go'. After the he hit his first 4, a wag from the opposition shouted 'that will be your last' - it wasn't. Steeled by the opposition sledging he knocked another 4, then a 6 and then another 4. The runs started flowing from both ends of the wicket as the game turned on it's head. He was eventually out for a glorious 29 that steadied the ship. That left the last pair at the crease - the opposition quite shocked by the onslaught were bowling all over the place, a memorable chuck for 5 runs thrown in and with a tremendous thump the ball was smashed over the boundary for a superb win.

The freedom with which they played was a lesson not to go in and give up when things are not going your way but to stick in and fight back.

Nothing to do with biking, training but a nice sports story which made my day. I'm going to remember this when I labouring up the hills in South Africa. Never give up!

Also I'm one proud dad and I know the iron son will hold his head high in school on Monday!

Back on the bike tomorrow - here's hoping it warms up!!