Netball does yoga!!

10 weeks and counting now till the Ironman. In 5 weeks time I will have my first endurance block of training given to me by coach Woody. Just a little concerned as this endurance weekend happens to fall on my first half Ironman race. So I will only of trained hard for 2 days and then will have to race on day 3, oh my poor legs!!!

Training this week has been good, managed a couple of pool swims. I really need to be getting some open water practice now, but where this is happening presently is in a lake called the QE2, which from numerous reports is covered in  geese, swan you name it poo. So I am really struggling to find the will power to submerge myself in their faeces. Going up the coast next week, think I might just settle for the cold North Sea!!

Thursday this week I was back on the netball court, I just can't say no to the sport. It was yet another victorious win 27 -17. After the game I persuaded some of the girls to come and try out one of Jambo's yoga classes. It is definitely a great way to stretch and chill out after an aggressive game.

I don't think this is quite what they were expecting though, when they agreed to come!!!

Managed to squeeze in two bike rides this week, 40miles and approx a 60 mile one. The longer one I did was pretty hairy as it was so windy. The whole ride I seemed to spend battling the wind, which isn't much fun. But as the day progressed the sun decided to come out and what a difference it can make to a ride.

Really it was windy!

Finally I have managed a couple of decent runs this week, all seems to be going well on that front. I am no where near my marathon distance yet but I don't think I do run anywhere near that distance before the race. (ummm, note to self... must check this with the coach, as only 10 weeks left). I think I am going with the saying, 'ignorance is bliss', well until it is a must and that would be on RACE DAY!!!!

WE CAN DO IT!!!

JUST LOOK AT THIS

WE CAN DO IT,YEEHA. IT WAS AWESOME AND DON'T WE LOOK GRACEFUL!

Friday night at yoga we cracked it. The lovely Jambo (our amazing yoga teacher) helped us to get the pose I so wanted to create in the lake, a couple of weeks ago. Well now we know we can do it, there will be no stopping us. I will get that photo of us doing this in the lake. The next available chance will be the weekend of the great north swim where Becci and I are competing in the 2 mile swim on the Friday, I can't wait. The only downside of us being able to this, is the fact that we probably aren't safe to be let out together at night now. There is nothing like a good party trick!!

Training this week has been good. Managed 2 runs, approx 1hr 20m each, the second run of the week I really upped my pace. However I need to get myself out running for 1hr 45 now so that will be this weeks aim.

Managed a couple of intense turbo sessions, ouch they hurt. I actually haven't been out on my bike this week, the wind kept putting me off, hopefully next week will be a bit calmer.

I have had an ace week swimming. I did 2 sessions in my usual pool, of various drills. But on Wednesday Lisa and I took ourselves over to Sunderland to try out the aquatic Centre. This pool 2 days of the week change the lane ropes around and it becomes a 50m pool. I managed to swim 4000m which is over what I need to do in the ironman. Afterwards I felt really good, so pleased about that, I definitely had plenty of energy left.

Finally, the next couple of weeks I want to concentrate on my transitions.  I have to make them quicker. I need to learn to be able to just jump on to my bike with my shoes already clipped in and also jump off leaving my shoes in the same place they started. I have a feeling this is going to take a bit of practise,  it is definitely one for the old bike as I reckon I may have a few mishaps! My next race is June 12th its another sprint, so I want to be able to do it perfectly for then.

Its Beginning!!

For those that are new to my blog, welcome.

The of 16th September last year, I entered an Ironman.  For those who do not know what this is, I shall explain.

It is just a little endurance race, where I will start by swimming 2.4 miles, most likely in a freezing cold lake (I do wear a wetsuit) this however will not protect my poor fingers and toes from the cold. On Completion of this I will move as quickly as I can (could be hard with frozen feet) to my bike, in the process peeling my wetsuit off. Upon arrival at my bike I will quickly (again could be hard with frozen hands) put on my helmet, bike shoes etc and then I am off for a little bike ride. Just a mere 112miles later I will complete the ride, where upon I ditch the bike and biking accessories and put on my running shoes.(This is the part I am really dreading). I then have to preferably run, however I feel walking, staggering, crawling and possibly even rolling, might come into play in this part of the race, as I need to cover 26 miles, in other words a MARATHON. WAS I INSANE WHEN I ENTERED  THIS!!!!!

So 8 months down the line and some training later, I am feeling somewhat more optimistic that I haven't sentence myself to death, but maybe more of a brutal torture session that will last for quite some time. Also I am not ruling out that is quite likely I will be having vivid flashbacks and horrendous nightmare for the rest of my life.

So why am I doing it? That is a good question. I would love to raise over £3,000 for 'Tiny Lives' which is a charity very close to my heart. I know this seems like a vast amount of money, but really compared to the enormous amount of pain I am about to put myself through I think it is worth it. Nearly 8 years ago I gave birth to very premature twins. It was touch and go with both of them a few times but they are both here today, fighting fit and larger than life in personality. If you take a look at my blog entry, dated the 21st November, titled 'What motivates you' I think It  really says it all but here is the slide show taken from it. Please turn up the volume on you computer and watch what it is that motivates me

If this video is not working, please click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hl2njDgM-4

Since the start of this blog I have have been on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, with many high's and  some extremely low moments, babies have been born and loved ones have been lost. But one thing that has remained constant through out it all is that on August the 7th 2011, I will be lining up currently with 2,194 other people from all over the world to take part in my first ever Ironman. (Think maybe I should also be worrying about that mass start, boxing gloves might be advisable at least for the first 500m), Oh what have I done!!!

Finally, today I took part in my first race of the season. It was a sprint held at Alnwick (Northumberland), where I completed a 500m (20 lengths)  pool swim, followed by 18km on the bike and then a 5km run. It was a tropical 8 degrees at 6am and the thought of being wet cycling around Northumberland, really wasn't pleasant.

However 1 hour 16 minutes and 10 seconds later I finished my first race of the season, in 3rd place for my age category. I am so chuffed, my times are as follows:

Swim including transition 9.08 mins 08secs
A windy bike ride:            44mins 18secs
Run and transition 2:        22mins 44secs

Haha, showing my muscles

Kay who I train with at tri club. She came 3rd in her cat and will also be competing in the Ironman along side me.

The medal

Just Giving Page: http://www.justgiving.com/Joanna-Reed0

Handstands Galore!!

Wow it has been two weeks since my last blog entry, I really don't know where the time is going!!

So last week I went down  to Manchester and then Stoke with the kids to catch up with some old friends. We had a great time and I even managed to run in both places 12 and 7 miles, which was an added bonus. Then after the Royal wedding we came back up north.

On Saturday, the kids went with their dad for the rest of the weekend. So I took off to the lakes again. I must say I was very pleased this time to be in a vehicle as the wind in places was gusting up to 35mph, that wouldn't of been fun on my bike. That afternoon I did a small bike/run session, which felt good.

Sunday Becci and I did our first open water swim, which turned out to be a bit of a comedy sketch. I decided a great picture for the blog would be of us doing handstands in the water with our feet touching, in a graceful arc like position ummmmm!!! What planet am I on, as if we really could pull this one off. There was definitely nothing graceful about us trying to perform this pose. I think the people on the boats and the other tourists that happened to be milling around the shore line, were more than a little stunned when two 36 year old's start randomly doing very unladylike handstands and falling on top of each other. On the up side to this activity I don't think I have laughed so much in a long time. Half way through our trusty camera man Jimmey attempted to help us leaving a random 9 year old to take the photo's. It did make a  little difference, but still I really don't think it looked that graceful.  Finally realising it wasn't going to happen, we set off for our swim. This turned out to be very shorter than planned, but very enjoyable all the same.

The Handstand

Laughing uncontrollably

Oh Dear all wrong!!

Really not graceful at all

Nearly there!

Possibly I wanted to enter a wheel barrow race!!

Almost perfection, with a bit of help

There we go

Here I come

 However disaster struck coming out of the lake, I managed to step on something sharp and badly gash my middle toe. A few hours later and the blood still not stopping, it was a trip to Kendal Casualty. I am very pleased we went in the end. I told the lovely doctor what I was training for an ironman, so he decided the best course of action was glue and a tetanus shot. It really is amazing stuff, got told I could bike and run on it, I just had to keep it dry for the next 3 days. FANTASTIC!!

 Before I left the lakes I thought I should test out the glue,so did a quick 25 miles ending on the most enormous hill climb but getting this view of lake Windermere three quarters of the way up, just sesational.

This week the Kids went back to school. So it was back to the training routine. Made tri club, managed a mid week 50 mile bike ride with Lisa and also a 12.5 mile run Thursday night with Laura. However the glue hasn't held and I am now on antibiotics and having to train on a split toe, not the best really.

Friday night was a new one for me I went to a Indian cooking lesson, at Kiran's Curry Kitchen. What a fantastic night it was to. Kiran demonstrates about five dishes and afterwards you all sit down and eat. It was delicious. So I left with some bags of spices ready to recreate the dishes at home, I can't wait to get trying.

Finally Saturday I managed  a three and half hour bike ride, covering 60 miles and then went straight into an hour run, I actually enjoyed it all. I am definitely starting to feel it is coming together, which is great feeling. Next Sunday it is my first race of the year so I am really looking forward to that. I wonder how I will get on?