North West Champ again!!!

It was the Parbold duathlon on Sunday and also the North West Champs. I had a good race. A bit heavy in the legs as I didn't really ease down out in Portugal and only flew back the day before!

I didn't have the best preparation as when we landed at Liverpool Airport we went to drive home and the car battery was dead! We had to call out the AA and it was quite late by the time we got home which stressed me out a bit!

The Parbold race is a hilly 5k run, a 3 lap 30k bike with Parbold Hill to go up 3 times, then the same 5k run again. I really enjoyed the race and was especially pleased with my descent! I actually overtook some men! I practiced descending the hill about 5 weeks ago and this really paid off!

I came in first on the run and managed to stay ahead on the bike despite my gears being a bit dodgy on Parbold Hill! On the second run I relaxed as I was quite confident I would stay in the lead.

Next race National Duathlon Champs at Loughborough....

Portugal

We're in sunny Portugal - although we've not seen that much sun! Still better than England at the mo where I had another 10k cancelled due to snow!



I've got some good training in and although we've had quite a lot of rain it is warm. Found a 50m pool to train in which is about 20 mins by bus and have done a few swims in the sea when it hasn't been too rough!



Cycling has been good for the longer rides, once you get out of the busier roads and into the country with some good tarmac! Not so good for the shorter rides with efforts as too many roundabouts, traffic lights and traffic so not too impressed. Running has been quite limited too. A good cross country course down the road but once you have run there a few times its a bit boring and the roads haven't been that great to run on. Oh well just making the most of what there is.



Home in a few days and straight into a duathlon race!!

Telford 10k cancelled again! This time I checked the website before driving all the way over there.

I then did Helsby Half Marathon on 17 January. After the first mile I didn't feel too good. Managed to keep going and finished in 4th in 80 mins and quite disappointed with my time.

A few days later I came down with a cold so maybe this was why I didn't feel too good in the race. I also checked my average HR for the race and it was at the same level as it is when I race 10k and should really have been about 5 beats lower!!

Sunday morning was the Telford 10k - well it was supposed to be.

The weather in Chester was ok so we set off not suspecting anything. As we got near to Telford there was more and more snow on the road and when we arrived at the leisure centre there was a sign to say the race had been cancelled due to the snow! Quite frustrated as I was looking forward to it.

I did the Stockport 10 mile race on Sunday. Really pleased. I came 3rd in 59.49. I wasn't expecting to get under the hour. It was my first 10 mile race and quite a tough course with a couple of undulations and one long hill so a time wasn't on my mind.

I started off a bit too quick probably near to my 10k pace! This got the better of me at about 7 miles and on the hill I suffered a bit and Pete (from my club) came past me. I tried to stay with him but didn't have enough there. A bit later a girl came past me and I stuck with her for a while but then I started to drop off.

Really want to do another one now on a flat course!!

4 weeks of light training, then 4 weeks of getting back into it then a race! Leeds Abbey Dash 10k. I did this last year and enjoyed it and its quite a fast course, being out and back and flat. I knew it wasn't one for a pb for me though as after not racing for over 2 months I just needed a race to get back into it again.

A respectable result of 9th in an okay time.

A break at last!! Its nice to have a week off, going on holiday and not doing any structured training. Dan and I got a fairly last minute deal to Sivota in Greece with Neilson holidays.

I went wakeboarding every morning before breakfast and I learned to sail and windsurf. We couldn't resist and hired mountain bikes on 2 days and I beasted Dan up the hills as usual!!! Although he got the better of me on the technical downhills which I'm still crap at!! I also managed to sneak in a few runs!

Just one minor incident! We went for a swim around the small island and when we were almost back I felt a pain on my leg. First of all I thought I'd been bitten but then quickly realised I'd been stung. It was quite painful but to be honest it was more the shock of it. I freaked out a bit and swam over to a small sandy alcove and refused to swim back!! Dan then had to swim back and he came back with one of the reps on a boat to take me back! By then the sting was showing on my leg - quite an impressive tentacle mark on my left thigh. All I kept thinking was it could have been my face - imagine?!

Luckily this didn't put me off getting in the water again and I was back wakeboarding and swimming the following day! Apparently its very rare for there to be any jellyfish around this time of year and I was just unlucky.

I had such a good time with great weather. I hope we manage to fit in something similar next year.