Lazy sundays

 
Despite hoping that the kit would somehow test itself, Nick left for work again this morning just before eight. We had a late night last night so I didn't surface until sometime after nine, with Jnr following shortly after.

A little more snow overnight but nothing spectacular and in fact, it seemed to be melting before my eyes as I gazed out over the hills and tried to shake off the morning blur.

So, determined to make most of the remaining snow today....we built a snowman! First one this winter as the previous snowfall was powder. This time its proper cohesive snowman making stuff. Very proud of our efforts. We've also made gingercake and some shortbread for Nick and went walking in the forest for a couple hours. Jnr is well into tracking at the moment. Given that he is only four years of age and can successfully distinguish 'rabbit, um...maybe a squirrel' poomp-prints (footprints) from 'definitely a puma mum' poomp-prints, I think it bodes well for a future as a naturalist. We (I) also dragged home a couple of fallen Scots Pine limbs for cutting up. Nothing like the smell of Scots Pine burning.

First weekend without scheduled running or cycling or anything. To be honest I thought I would go mad but snows falling thick and fast again, I'm about to light a log fire and kick back with a glass of warmed  Rekorderlig. Apparently I can do dossing :)

 

New tyres

Nick is working this weekend so I am at home with Jnr and a large mug of coffee watching the blizzards outside. Winter is back, the temps have dropped way below zero C once again and we have 6+ inches of snow on the ground again. I'm happ(ier). It was getting too warm for a while. I need more snow and ice to test my new tyres anyway which I picked up from the shop yesterday -  Schwalbe Snow Studs. Kind of like the Ice Spikers but with only two rows of studs (instead of four)

I was planning on waiting and putting them on the new wheels when they arrive, but I want to play so  James is getting his first lesson on how to change out bike tyres today.

Inherent laziness has prevented me from changing my CityJets (which I had put on for the snowless trail and/or road commute and which do fine except for the 2 mile mud section where I just pray and go very slowly) for my original Panaracer Cinders (which I put on the bike when I got it, intent on playing in mud but never did and took them off back in the summer as on the road or well compacted trail, it was like biking through glue). I'm kind of enjoying this foray into a new world of bike bits and parts and tyres. Lots of information to process and memorise but its really interesting and making me smile. Who knew!

So I'm hoping to get out for a moonlight ride tonight after the Family Meal and hopefully tuesday afternoon after work I'll get to  take them for a test run up the 3 hills trail through Durris Forest and to the top of Cairn Mon Earn. I want to plot the trails anyway on my Garmin Forerunner for running - I need new ground and new inspiration.

Pass me the Fairy Liquid..

Head down, keep going

Its been a fairly crap few days but there you go. Head down and keep going. Rides like this morning do something for the soul though and make everything seem a lot better. Snow falling, well below zero, even my frozen gear cable didn't annoy me - much.

Normal service will be resumed shortly I think.

I don't like Mondays

Should be banned. Still, warm and almost sunny this morning on ride this morning. 8 miles in 41:06. Still ploughing through deep mud and with more rain forecast am considering putting chunkies back on.







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Been and gone and done it.

...I've joined a hillrunning club.

Oh god.

I've been struggling to find people to run with locally (ie I've not found anyone to run with who likes going offroad) and as I begin to plan longer and more challenging runs, I'd really like someone to share it with and running with someone else or a group also adds a certain additional safety element and, quite importantly, adds to the whole social aspect :) So after much deliberation (very nervous of clubs and the whole people thing) I decided I should get over my rather childish fears and I did some looking about and found an Aberdeen club that looked welcoming and phoned them up. Lovely people! Sooooo my first training session is this Tuesday night in Aberdeen at the Uni playing feilds. They're apparently something of an 'intense' experience. (read: I'm going to die) Hill runs are done mostly saturday mornings. I'm very excited though could puke with nervousness.

Today has been a quick day not helped by sleeping in till 10am. 3 miles done (short and easy), bike cleaned to an inch of its life, climbing/running/cycling/surfing kit cupboard cleaned and neatly organised, 3 cakes made and have just had curry. I hate one day weekends but I guess as I have tuesdays off I shouldn't complain :)

Bugs Bunny Day

8 miles on the mountainbike early this morning on the trail. Pretty unremarkable - was definitely just a cardio ride - but am still loving being able to ride! Its been a grey, damp and cold day here on Deeside.



I have a peculiar sound in one gear...I need to learn more about diagnosing and repairing bikes..

Actually I have a plan on that front.

And that's all folks..



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Plans and Other things

It was a rest day today. I think I'll rename it 'Pig Out' Day as I've had the most serious craving for Selkirk Bannock (thats a type of 60% dried fruit and not much else type cake in Scotland) and to be honest, I've given in. I gave in about half a bannock ago and am currently trying to convice myself that obviously my body is just craving carbs and that in fact I am doing it good! This is of course a load of b****cks and I shall be be paying for it in the form of flab.

Went for a walk this afternoon for about an hour after work (the pic was taken then on my phone) just to stretch out the legs and got home to find central heating oil has run out and the house is now -5C. Thankfully we have open fires too so we're putting them on tonight and I shall mostly be laying on the floor in front of it and stretching (not unlike an ageing, slightly rickety and bad tempered cat) after I've finished drawing up my next running mileage plan.

Red Kites and randomers

23.61km/14.67 miles run (with occasional walk breaks!) today along the River Dee. Took the backpack with me and camera and spent the best part of 3 hours just toodling along and stopping now and again to watch Red Kites or gaze into the river and scan for fish. Or talk to randomers who stopped me to ask if I was in a race (?!?). I explained I wasn't and was just out enjoying the day. There was a fair bit of scrambling up steep slopes too (trail finding) and I've returned home beaten, bloodied (literally - had a fight with a tree and some rocks) and bruised but sleepily happy. Thankfully I have to take the bus tomorrow as have a shed load of stuff to take in to town - I think my thighs may be on strike in the morning.


Stripped, cleaned and lubed the bike this morning too - in the shower - keeps all the mess in one place and I did clean the shower afterwards! Probably won't mention it to N though :)

Need to get arse into gear ref diet and sleep too. Been blase last few days  - quite a bit of junk in the form of orange trifle and two G&B's mini choccy bars plus late nights (blame Stephen Fry in America :) and its showing in reduced energy levels and recovery. Though I guess going back to 8 - 16 miles of MTB'ing most days on top of running isnt going to be easy and just need to go canny.

Heading for shower now to defrost - it was baltic out there - I've some Loch Sunart smoked salmon and gorgeous granary loaf from Newton Dee for supper - then an early night tonight. Its been a good Day Off :)

Coasters GB - Round Britain Relay.

I post occasionally on Runnersworld.co.uk and got interested in this http://www.coastersgb.co.uk/. Basically, we're running a relay round the coastline of Britain. I'm doing the stretch south of Stonehaven to Inverbervie. All kicks off in May this year.

Go check out the website and sign up if you're interested or fancy keeping me company! We're also on Facebook

Its raining, its pouring..

I did a couple of hours on the MTB today. 24.13km/15 miles - through the woods for first 7 or so miles then over the back hill and home. Nice ride but miserable day with howling gales and constant stinging drizzle. Its now progressed to sleet and hail but hey, thats January in NE Scotland :) Fixation with stuffing face with honey sandwich once home got me through the worst bits where I swear to god I was being blown backwards.

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm going to sit in the bath for an hour, defrost and ponder my options :)

Sausages, studs and sunrises

12.36km/7.63 miles on mountainbike (offroad) and 7.00km/4.35 miles trail/road run with 695ft ascent today.

Feeling much better. Have ditched vegetarian diet as despite making sure I was eating right amounts of carbs and proteins etc, I felt weak and rubbish. It could easily have been a transition period where my body was attempting to get used to being a veggie again and yes, it may have passed in a few weeks/months but quite frankly, I don't have the time for that  - September 2010 holds one standard marathon and one 140km trans Dolomite-y jobbie and I HAVE to be at my all time fittest for those - and I hated feeling weak. So last night we broke open the chicken breasts and I had one with a pile of couscous, carrots, broccoli and chicken gravy. Couscous and gravy not a traditional dish I know, but of all the things I missed in my 18 days of re-vegetarianism, Chicken Gravy was the most sorely craved for! As I type this I have two mini sausages hanging from my mouth too. Just in case I come over all weak y'understand :)

So a great day kicked off with a magical sunrise. Martyn Bennett on the ipod as I walked the mile to the bustop this morning (left bike at work yesterday) with that (points at photo) all around me. I was borderline emotional.

The other time I got emotional today was when I went to the local cycle shop to inspect my new studded ice tyres and order my spare wheel set etc for the mountainbike. Oh my, I was hysterically enthusiastic (read: weeping with joy) I know the ice has gone but the recent weather's been an extra, not the norm. The norm has yet to come! And there is no way I am missing another 3 weeks of riding! I have had to mortgage the cat, house and Nick to afford them but ho diddly hum. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do :) I've got the tyres set aside and the wheel set should be here within the month. I cannot wait to try them out!

..If we do not have time to stand and stare

I forget the whole quote but it was a definite stop and stare morning.



11.09km on mountainbike this morning. Started off on road but swung onto trail about 10 mins in as would rather take chances with ice than idiots in cars...took 47:33 in the end inc stop. Ice slowed me to a crawl in places and deep mud and tree roots aren't much fun on road tyres. Still, bloody good fun overall.



Amazing morning, bitterly cold but astoundingly beautiful. An orange glow picking out the snow covered tops of the hills was icing on the cake. I stopped at a viewpoint for a few mins and just had a moment to take it in.



Now at work with a grin :)



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Sunset run over Hill of Park

 12.97km/8.01 miles with 1363ft ascent over Hill of Park today at sunset. Gorgeous it was. Felt better today - still a bit weak and throat really sore but the hills didn't present too much of a problem. And any stomach gripes I did have were purely self-inflicted (we went for lunch at Mitchells in Inverurie - not that the foods bad, its just they do rather large portions).

Still icy in bits but its a nice change to be able to run on earth and grass again.

Water, water everywhere!

7.3km/4.5miles with 1389ft ascent. 

On top of the thaw, we had a massive storm last night - rain and gales beat the house for the best part of 18 hours and stripped the remaining snow from the surrounding hills so this morning woke to a very swollen River Dee. Its continued to rise, reaching a peak around 2pm this afternoon and when I took the photo (sorry for quality its on my phone), it was 4pm and already twice its usual width and a completely different river in character. The midstream was a crushing, grinding, screeching torrent of ice blocks coming down from the Cairngorms, a few escaping to the new shoreline - reminded me of the Norwegian ice floes. Theres a fair bit of structural damage to some of the estate buildings and some trees down from the wind too and some of the lower laying [sitka] forests are under water.

My usual trails are under water, both the high and the low ones! So todays run, once everything had calmed down, was just a run around boggy feilds, bits of trail and even some road. Didn't feel great at all and struggled to keep going - felt leaden and throat is sore (but as the results have come back negative for both the blood and swab tests taken recently, I guess I'm just going to have to live with it!)

However, all negativity is about to be erased by diving face first into a plateful of homemade veggie lasagna :) Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

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Wet

Didn't post yesterday as some laptop security issues meant I was attached to the damn thing till 2330hrs last night.



Only 4.5 miles trail with 300ft ascent done yesterday. It was just miserable and blowing a gale, I was tired, just one of 'those' runs. Never mind :)



Try to get out tonight after daughter and grand-daughter have left (came to say goodbye) for another 4 or 5 miles so can keep mileage up.





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On your bike mate!

Cycled in and out of work today - on the road but on mtb as trail just sheet ice and I'm on skinnies. Was happy though just to be be back on two wheels. Lit up like a lighthouse but still one works van decided I needed less than 3mm clearance. Still, feel better for it though right knee is a wee bit sore again but from past experience, that passes the more I cycle. Heres hoping the weather doesn't turn to snow again for a while down here so I can keep adding to the Christmas maintenance routine and build up for spring.

Total 23:30km/15 miles, 500ft ascent/descent.

PS thats not me on the bike but as it was pissing down both journeys, I wasn't stopping to take photos - thats all you're getting :)

From snow to rain

Torrential rain today, howling gales and an average temp of 3 deg C has stripped most of the snow away. Only 2-4 inches left and that is sat on top of the ice with large patches of just ice and puddles. Not great to run on.

Wasn't going to go out at all but as am thinking of starting to cycle to and from work again now roads are clearing, needed to assess general surfaces as only got road skinnies on. Be ok to bike I think so maybe tomorrow.

Night run again (prefering these now). Kept pace right down and ran cross country and trail mix of 11.31 km/ 7.02 miles with 1106ft total ascent in 1:32:54 inc two stops to sort out shoes which I'd laced too tight and gave me numb feet and a couple bits where I went arse over tit/had to shelter from wind.
Gradually increasing time on feet which is all good.

Felt ok for not having run since thurs. Need to watch diet though as concious been slacking and heading for 'quick but crap'. This is day 12 of return to vegetarianism so watching strength, stamina and mood very carefully.


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Schwooshing

 Schwooshing is when you stop and kick up a shit load of snow with your edges while skiing and yesterday I was in full schwooshing mode. I usually don't *get* downhill skiing (probably as I've done it as many times as you can count on two hands and have not exactly loved it any of those times - the last of which was some years ago) and I've certainly never schwooshed before but yesterday when we hit the Lecht for a full day (Nick, Ady and I) something clicked. Don't know if it was the expert tuition of Ady the Great [skier] who skied backwards in front of me when I screamed for help and rescued me from the horrors of the poma but by my third time down the run I was doing it on my own and grinning from ear to ear and racing for the chair lift like a thing posessed (after having a near death experience on the Poma which I swear I will never go near again). So a full day on the slopes and I can even walk today though left calf is again really stiff so not running till tomorrow. Nicks not been on ski's since 2001 and looked like he'd never been off them. I was mightily impressed!

It was sunny and/or blizzard, it was quiet, it was bloody brilliant and I can't wait to go again. Hangover today tho :)

 

...and still snowing

Been snowing heavily again most of the day. Daughter and grand daughter left this afternoon so once I'd said my goodbyes, took myself off out and ran a few miles through the forest and over the hill to the next village and back. Some x country, some trail, some road. Makes little difference as all snow covered anyway. Dark by the time I got half way and thick patches of freezing fog made field crossing a bit tricky as visibility down to about 10ft. Really gorgeous night though higher up.

Slight niggle across arch of right foot on roads. Eased off once off road again.

9.79km/6.08 miles. 1026ft total ascent.

  

 

 

 

 

Still snowing...

I really needed to get out today so took off just before lunchtime cross country following as many tractor tyre or deer/sheep/cow tracks in the snow as I could. They were the only things you could run in really other than some sheltered patches running through the forest and some shallow patches on the wind scoured tops of fields - the rest of the area is under 2 - 3ft of snow.  Blizzard all the way for the 10.5km/6.5miles (200ft absolute ascent/1461ft ascent if you count all the ups and downs) and bitterly cold. Good fun in parts. Still snowing.

Alternatives to running in Scottish Winter #1 - Sledging.

Another 8 inches or so fell last night, and intermittent blizards throughout the day added another 3 or 4 so running anything other than a mile has become something of an impossibility even at low levels.

So we turned to sledging. Daughter and grand-daughter came over from Germany for Christmas/New Year and are here until 17th January so as James school was closed today, we all set out for an afternoons relaxing sledging.

Not so relaxing though in the end really. Ended up swapping out nice, light baby who weighs in at 8kg to carrying a 25kg toddler in the backpack so definitely aiding my arctic sledge pulling abilities. Then pulling sledge with toddler and baby in it at a steady trot for a mile to escape a blizzard. Then a final mile dash home in full winter kit to get Landrover to 'rescue' rest of party who decided they couldn't walk any further.

Drumoak to Banchory night run

Been feeling pretty ill all day but didn't know if it was running withdrawl symptoms or a bug so, when we got back from Nicks parents late this afternoon, thought I might try and blow it out with a quick run. Threw on the racepack need to get used to running with it as have some multiday fixtures ahead. After 3 miles cross country it was dark and cold and I felt absolutely brilliant so phoned Nick who agreed to pick me up from Banchory if I wanted to carry on along the Deeside Way. So 7 miles and 1 hour and 22 minutes later (01:17:15 exc stops to phone husband..) after shin deep razor sharp icey crust snow, deep icy slush and ice, I met him in the car park and got chauffeured home. As soon as I stopped running, I felt awful again and its only been since stuffing half a bagel, a banana and two ibuprofen down me along with 43 gallons of hot tea and standing under a hot shower for 20 mins, that I've felt better. Better in fact than I have all day.