Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

We did used to have a Citroën but not any more - this was the Yaris. I think a heat shield? Looked quite tray like but went over the top of a pipe. Kind of feel like they wouldn't have put it in without it being necessary... Internet is inconclusive - lots of people saying you don't need it, others giving dire consequences if you don't have it...

Hey ho. Literally had MOT last week so I'm going to assume they would have noticed if it was on the verge of dangerous, and if you can't trust the AA, who can you trust?? 

Anyway, in other news - the IronMay swim is finished!! 30 lengths done today, 156 altogether 😃😃😃

Just the swim and run to finish now 😂

EssexHebridean

Oh yep - I think it was my last car lost one of those at one stage - we were assured it made no difference, and certainly in the umpty-thousand miles it covered afterwards it didn't give me any issues! 

Well done on the swim - that's a lot of swimming!  how much more running/cycling do you still have to do? 

Cheery_Daff

Glad to hear you had no heat shield issues! 

Still lots of running and cycling to do... 🙄 66 miles cycle, 17 miles run 😱 Which, considering I'm meant to be training for a 15 mile RUNNING race in June is ridiculous 😂😂

Decided against another bike ride tonight. I'm meeting the running ladies early tomorrow for a couple of (very) gentle miles, and then it's the epic bike trek - I'm aiming for 35-40 miles (will count it properly tonight, I know where I'm going). All off road, and with at least 2 potential cafe stops, very happy for it to take the whole day, not in a rush 😊

The rest will have to be done on Saturday - meeting my sister so I'm planning a good few miles around where we're meeting for a change of scene (there's a signposted route round some country lanes apparently) and then if there's any left, which there might be, I'll be hitting the trails near home to finish off on Saturday evening.

I feel great though, and several people this week have told me I look really healthy 😂 possibly just because I've caught the sun on my face a bit from being outside so much 😂

Karmacat

Have a great time tomorrow, Cheery, it's obviously doing you good on all sorts of levels  

beanielou

Enjoy your day tomorrow 

Cheery_Daff

Thank you both

Gosh, that was a VERY long day!

Met the running ladies at 7.30am for a couple of miles round the park. Scrambled to get my cycling stuff together so I didn't have to come home before going back out - forgot helpful things like a map, and sunscreen Run was nice, then I drove off to the reservoir.

Hmm, I had been led to believe, or perhaps just assumed, that the path round the reservoir would be flat... But no, there were some quite steep inclines, and I had to get off and push several times Not a good start to my epic trek! Also not a good start -the cafe was closed when I got to the reservoir, so I had to do the first 18 miles without a single cup of tea!

Still, I finally arrived at an open cafe after 18 miles, and after tea, a veggie sausage roll, and some cake, I felt considerably more cheerful Added on a four mile loop, and arrived back at the same cafe where I had an ice cream

12 miles later, another cafe, and another ice cream. And then back to the car, doing an extra bit alongside the reservoir (relatively flat, thank goodness) to eek it up over 40 miles. 

Goodness me. Very warm, my arms are rather sunburnt, face less so as my helmet was shading me a bit and I had sunglasses on. Wish I'd thought to bring the little gel seat topper thing from the exercise bike - my bottom is NOT thanking me for today! 

Still, that's 40 miles ticked off, and only 26 cycling miles left - which I'm apparently meant to be doing tomorrow Jury's still out as to whether I'll even be able to MOVE tomorrow, let alone get back on a bike

Took me just over 7 hours all in, including three cafe stops And I had another cafe stop at the end too before I got back in the car. So not exactly a cheap day, and I should have been organised enough to pack a picnic, but I can at least justify most of the calories I consumed on the way round...

Tomorrow I have a little supposedly signposted round around the town where I'm meeting my sister. I was going to try and do all 26 miles before I met her, but the rate I was cycling today, I'd have to set off about 6am Might do some in the morning, and go back out in the evening... 

Right, tea, and bath. 

Starlight_at_Sea

Just popping in to say that your IronMay has been really motivating to follow. Life isn't quite stable enough for me to commit to an intense month, but I am contemplating adapting. I would love to get out on my bike again and swimming. The running might be a little harder on my body...one can try! What are the total distances you set yourself? 

Cheery_Daff

Starlight_at_Sea said:

Just popping in to say that your IronMay has been really motivating to follow. Life isn't quite stable enough for me to commit to an intense month, but I am contemplating adapting. I would love to get out on my bike again and swimming. The running might be a little harder on my body...one can try! What are the total distances you set yourself? 

Thanks 😊 I didn't decide the distances - it's a set challenge using IronMan distances, but over a whole month, not a single day like people usually do an ironman 😂

So

Swim - 2.4 miles (in my case 155 lengths of a 25m pool)
Cycle - 112 miles
Run - 26.2 miles

If I'd spread it out more, it would have been a lot easier! But May has been a tough month, so I've ended up with over half of both running and cycling distances to do in the last 9 days of the month 🙄

Speaking of which... meeting my sister at 11.30, and it's about 45 mins drive. Ready now, so I'm heading over and going to just cycle about until it's time to meet her 😂 Should get a couple of hours in, leaving time to get changed.

I won't manage 26 miles in that time, but whatever left I think I'll finish on the exercise bike in the garden tonight 😊

Cheery_Daff

So. I did 11 miles yesterday morning, 7 miles on the exercise bike last night - but that was as much as I could manage, so I finished the final 8 miles this morning.

Gosh. 112 miles cycled in May, 76 of them in the last week 😮 Not ideal!! But I did it! 

Just 15 miles to run now 🙈😂 Not today though! And there will be a lot of walk breaks...

beanielou

Awesome 😎