Burns night success

Nooooooooooo! I am sick. I can't remember the last time I couldn't train, probably cause I normally do, however I am being sensible this time.  I Woke up Friday morning a little bit worse for wear from the previous nights antics in the town, but also with the start of a humdinger of a cold, so I am officially taking the weekend off to try and recover so I can get back to training fighting fit early next week.

But what a good week I had. The Burns night in aid of 'the clubs for young people' was a storming success. It looks like we raised £11,000, so I am chuffed  to bits with that. I felt like the night went really well and everyone seemed to have a great time, with plenty of Scottish dancing happening after they had all feasted on the Haggis.

The haggis being piped in

A few of the tables at the start of the night

Training for the week was mixed , due to being busy trying to juggle everything. However one day last week I decided not to use my car (apart from on the school run) and run everywhere. I must say I really quite enjoyed it. I had various stops at places to do things, but then would just run to the next place, I think I will defiantly do that again.

Tri club was good, with a nice 40 minute time trial after an hours swim, phew! Another achievement of the week was that I taught myself to tumble turn. It still needs some practice, as sometimes it can go horribly wrong, as someone in tri club found out when I accidentally dived bombed them on a turn, opps! Hey, but at least I am trying.

With no training happening over the weekend, the kids and I decided we would go and visit Wallington Hall as they have the best tree to climb, well of course I couldn't resist.

Burns Night here I come!

Where are the weeks going to? In 16 weeks I will race in my first sprint triathlon of the year and 12 weeks after that it will be the ironman. Wow, it really is approaching fast now.

So this week I consumed my first protein shake, ahhh! It is getting serious. Went with the banana flavour, I actually quite enjoy it. However prior to mixing it up after the training session I managed to spill some of the powder in my training bag, then managed to get it all over my face without realising, so walking out of the gym with white powder across my face, probably isn't the most healthy look to go far after a hard training session!! My training partner found it hilarious. Also in addition to the protein shake I have a waxy maize starch powder to mix up with juice, to be honest by the time I have drunk these two drinks, I am feeling pretty full, I think I preferred coming home and eating something.

Next Thursday it is the Charity night I organise with Nick Manson of Mansons (Residential Sales and Letting Consultants, in Jesmond), in aid of the clubs for young people. We have sold 14 tables (140 people), unfortunately we lost 2 tables this week. I think everything is organised and all that is left is to finalise the auction list, which I must say has some amazing prizes on. Got the invites printed and menus done, very happy with these.

The fantastic Finger Print Management did these for me.

                        
I am now just looking forward to the night, if we raise over £10,000 I will be happy. Lets just hope everyone is in a generous mood, and have their dancing shoes at the ready for some good old Scottish dancing.

Again yet another good week training. Tri club, yoga, and 2 decent runs. We had yet another netball match with a  fantastic result, 37 - 21 to us. The whole team played an amazing game, it really came together. However I have decided once the winter league finishes I am going to give the summer league a miss so I can concentrate on my ironman training. I am really going to miss it but there is only so much I can do. I must say the girls are not happy, but I plan on coming to support them at matches, probably by bike so I hope the matches are a decent ride away.

Sunday I was up early once again for my marathon swim, however this week I had a new swim set. Ouch, it was tough, but despite swimming 224 lengths 5600m, I still managed to make it to the bike and do a 30 minute time trial, before chilling out with some yoga, I think I might sleep well tonight.

You are the only one to control your destiny!

My Cheerless Christmas made me realise how short life can be, and that you are the only one in control of your destiny. Life is what you make it and you are the one who can change it.

So I decided to get in touch with a local sports for disabled academy, to see if I can help them voluntary for the time being, with the intention of eventually making a career out of it. I have wanted to work in this field for as long as I can remember, but for whatever reasons have put it off.

So last Friday I sent an email to them selling myself and even risked mentioning I was training for an ironman ( this could of put me in the bracket of being a complete lunatic). But by Monday I had a reply saying when can I come down.
I am so excited..... and one successful meeting later, I am now just waiting for my CRB checks to be done, before I can start.
I can't tell you how good it feels to actually take control and pursue something that I have always wanted to do.

Training this week has been good. I have managed a couple of decent runs, tri club sessions have been as gruelling as ever, but I always enjoy them. We had our first netball practice of the year, so that was good to catch up with everyone. Friday night was yoga again which I absolutely loved, with handstands against the wall, it was brilliant. However I was devastated as Jambo did an amazing demo, but gave no prior warning so I didn't get a chance to video it, next time I will though. Sunday I managed to pull myself out of bed at 6.30am again, and swam 5000m (200 lengths) in 1hour 40 minutes, doing various drills ending with a 15 x 50m sprint sets, exhausting but I felt great for doing it.

The rest of the weekend I seemed to have spent baking, as our youngest turns three on Monday. However if you ask her she is turning 9.

Look at my beautiful make up!

So a big happy Birthday to Evie, aka the Tornado of the family.

Happy New Year, its the year of the Ironman......yeeha!

                                                 
Wow its the year of the Ironman. Well for me anyway, and a few other mental individuals( which include 17 from my triathlon club...... what is going on?) who probably need their heads checking for entering such an event. I have been told it is addictive, well we will see.

So my running has commenced again outside, now that all snow and ice has finally gone. I am loving being back out doors rather than in the gym. The training I have done on the running machine has definitely helped me increase my overall running speed, it is good to know that my training is starting to show some positive results outside, from all the work I have done inside.

Thursday night we had our first netball match of the year. Oh and what a good game 26 - 6 to us nothing like a good thrashing to start the year with. Must say our shooters played a blinder, can't wait for the next match now.
But look out girls looks like I am coaching the session this week, I promise to go easy........Yeah right!

Friday night I went to my first Yoga class with some friends, it was taken by the fabulous Jambo Troung, it was awesome. It was a beginners class, but must say it felt quite intense at times. You could really feel the muscles working, in the various stretches he had us performing. He kept telling us that this was all easy stuff, which I must say is slightly alarming as I definitely had the old leg wobble going on a few times.

Finally I have had a top weekend training with two early morning sessions. Saturday was a  fast paced run outside for 45 minutes, done during my daughters early morning swim session. Whilst Sunday I pulled myself out of bed at 6.30, so I was in the pool for 7am. I swam 4500m (180 lengths) in a decent time and 2 miles of that (128 lengths)  was with just my arms. I then went straight onto the bike, did a 20 minute time trial, followed by a 20 minute interval run and finally recovered by doing 20 minutes of my yoga stretches. I was bouncing when I finished, I can honestly say I am starting to really look forward to my first sprint triathlon.