All Change, loads to do

Well its all change in the Sharpe house. I'm posted to Waddington 1st June, if I get my admin done in time and Beth passes her tests she's off to boarding school after Easter, and Anthea has managed to get her posting with the police changed to the south side of the river Humber. Loads to sort out between now and then, got to find out how to sell a house? never sold one before so need to see the estate agent at the weekend to find out. Only sad thing is I've just spent 10k on renovations in my current house and another 1k on putting in a drive! never mind whilst I know I won't see the return on the investment I hope it will make for a quick sale.

Deeper into depression :-(

Well now 2 weeks since knee injury, managed to continue to cycle in Lanza but last week had a full week off training to help the knee and try and get over the man flu. Sunday knee felt ok so thought I would try a run. Keeping it sensible I thought I would just do my 3 mile loop, didn't even get half a mile :-(
Walked the dog this morning and after a 1 1/2 mile walk knee was very sore and stiff. Off to get the big bad steroid injection in the morning (Tue) hopefully that will do the trick. Really missing the running now, cycled this morning just 20 mile and it seemed ok on the bike but not sure if I'm doing more harm to it. Think it has to be total rest after the steroid injection? will find out at docs. Must be bored as I did an ironman swim in the pool today! still at least its some training.

Injuries, man flu and a new bike

Well Lanzarote didn't really go exactly to plan! The knee injury stopped me running and I'm not sure when I will be running again. I have seen the doc and he believes its patella tendinitis, the normal plan would be a high dosage of anti inflammatory but with my stomach problems I can't take any. The plan is to rest until next week, if it feels OK I can strap the knee and try to start building back up. If its not OK then its back to the doc for a steroid injection directly into the knee joint (ouch) followed by 2 weeks of no training. Hope its better for next week! I also have man flu which Roy quite rightly pointed out on Turbo mans blog is far worse than any other kind of flu or illness!!!! Still get it out of the way while I'm on forced rest which I suppose is the best time to have it if your going to be ill. Paul my sponsor at www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk has come up trumps again with a plan to get me on a new bike this season which I hope to pick up early next week. Until then I will just leave you guessing what it is (Sags and Mat your not to let the cat out of the bag until I post the pics and details after picking it up). I don't see me making the start line for the Clumber Park Duathlon on the 6th March so will now consider trying to qualify at Cambridge in May alongside Mr Saggers. Might be getting a mountain bike to play on as well in the next few weeks :-)
Hope you are all keeping fit and well ready for the season to start and Mat hope your injury heals well mate.

More on the bike next week
Daz

Lanza Day 3

Day 2 ended in disaster. Out on the volcano run and just starting the decent my left knee went big time. Agony, had to get down the hill and back to the hotel, by the time I got back I couldn't straighten my leg. I thought it was going to be a wasted week but this morning although still in pain I thought I would try the bike out. No way I was going to get up the 20% climb I thought so I did the loop in reverse thinking I can turn back if its to painful. It wasn't too bad to be honest and I completed the loop as the climb is no where near as steep on the back of the hill, I would guess at about 14% so I could stay seated and spin the 39/19 most of the way and onto the 39/21 for the last bit as it got a bit steeper at the top. Neadless to say no running tonight, I put the wetsuit on instead and got in the sea for a swim. Can't see me running again this week if i'm honest but should be ok to carry on biking so not a total loss. Fingers crossed its not a major injury as I have Clumber Park Duathlon on the 6th March.

Lanza Day 2

Woke up to glorious sunshine this morning. Coffee and toast at breakfast and then off round the loop. Got a few pics this morning on the way round, didn't want to take the camera yesterday because of the rain. The main climb on the route is a tough one, starts at about 5-6% and gets harder and steeper as it continues for about one and a half miles and once you get to the roundabout it gets harder still increasing to approx 12% and then the last part increases again to 20% which is hard going on a 39/21. Over the top and its fast with a good surface fairly flat for a mile and then the decent starts with some great flowing corners. Later on in the route it passes through the lava fields and then along the coast which nice new tarmac and rolling before the fast road home which is straight and gradual decent of about 2% for 3 or 4 miles. Last night I did my volcano run, a 7 mile loop with the climb up the volcano of about 250 meters from the hotel at sea level. A tough run but loving every minute of it. Running the same loop tonight then might be doing my long ride tomorrow of 3 - 4 hours. As you can see I'm adequetly dressed for cycling in February! although still sporting a british winter tan in a nice shade of milk bottle white!

Lanzarote :-)

Well after a couple of weeks training in snow, ice, and general cold gray and wet weather I decided enough is enough. Wednesday last week booked flights and accommodation and flew Sunday to Lanzarote for the week. Had to drag Beth out of school for a week (she's gutted as you can imagine) and Anthea got the week off short notice but needed to use her holidays up for work reasons (career change - Finally got in the Police depite passing everything and being due to start 2 years ago). Got a nice hotel and upgraded to all inclusive and brought my bike with me. Tired last night so didn't build the bike until this morning. Not planning mega miles as its a family holiday but found a good loop of 29 miles so will do that most mornings and have planned to 3-4 hour ride mid week so should clock around 200 mile bike week and doing some running in the evening too. I have my wetsuit but not too worried about swimming to be honest. It rained this morning for the first 15 mile of the ride but then cleared up but even in the rain I still had shorts and short sleeve top on and was warm. Oh well that's all for now, hope you all enjoy the UK weather :-)