More pedalling.......not all mine though

I don't really seem to be a climber these days - mostly due to it making my shoulder hurt every time I try anything harder than a Severe slab - which frankly is just not that enjoyable! Maybe I should be satisfied that none of it makes my back hurt - but actually it's almost as frustrating having a sore shoulder - I'm sort of hoping that it'll sort itself out eventually and it's just done it on purpose to stop me hurting my back at an inappropriate moment!

Anyway - luckily the old bicycling stuff doesn't seem to have too bad an effect on the shoulder or the back (unless cycling into a headwind for too long), so have been trying to keep that up. Now the weekend after the Team Coven Triathlon I did my first cyclosportive called Tour of the Roaches, I did the 75 mile route and Andy went for the 103mile route. I gave him a half hour headstart and just about managed to get home before him so was quite chuffed really - you can read more about that on his blog.

Lately I've been getting  whole lot of inspiration from watching the pro-cyclists on Eurosport - they are completely nails! Can't believe how fast people can ride a bike uphill, downhill, and the flat doesn't matter I can't even begin to ride so quickly. Maybe with about a million years of training ........... but I think I may have left it a bit late in life for that! Anyway Andy, Donald, Mac the dog and I went down to Stoke on Trent last week to catch a round of the Halfords Tour Series, a series of city centre circuit races - not the top flight pros but some big names of British cycling were riding and it was awesome to watch and all quite exciting......... Donald even enjoyed it and he's not a cyclist at all!

Olympic Gold Medal winner Ed Clancy rolling up to the start

Early in the race, on the corner before the start/finish straight

The leading team Rapha Condor Sharp riders wearing the orange jerseys - Dean Downing  nearest, getting close to the end of the race.

After seeing the flashing lycra in Stoke I decided to get involved in the Manchester Wheelers Club 10 (mile) time trial. I did my first one about 6 weeks before with Andy, and well, wasn't very good! Andy was predictably pretty good - despite not having ridden one for about 15 years he still ranked somewhere in the upper middle of the field - I came last! Only just last, but last all the same. I was hoping to show a bit of improvement on this outing.
Things didn't get off to the best start when we arrived and found hardly anyone there - we were early, it all kicked off half an hour later than the previous one! I had already warmed up a bit but not really enough, ready for a 7pm start so it was quite nice to have longer - only then my slow was watch and I missed my start slot at number 3 - ooops! Luckily it's a friendly affair and I was allowed to get shunted back and start at the end - nearly missed that start too after my cycle computer transmitter thingy fell off whilst I was up the road warming up and I had to ride back and find it!
Anyway I arrived at the start as the last person was leaving, had to leave my jacket with the starter and set off, no computer, so no idea how fast I was going, how fast my cadence was or anything useful - did have a clock (not telling the right time) on though so had a vague idea of how my ride was going.
Starting last did mean that I only got overtaken by 2 people - it being a 2 lap course, which wasn't as bad as being overtaken by the entire field which is what would have happened if I'd had my original slot. So I gave it my best shot and pedalled like a loon trying to get inside my previous time of 31min 31 sec. Andy was with me and rode slowly round the course in the opposite direction shouting encouragement when our paths crossed and making helpful comments like - "they're not far in front - go on!" Needless to say I didn't catch the person in front of me (you are set off a minute apart), but I did manage to post a better time than the last outing with a 30mins 27secs and most importantly I wasn't last - woo hoo!!!
Next time I want to get inside the half hour..............

Team Coven Triathlon

Team Coven - Finished!

 The Snowdonia Slateman triathlon took place on Sunday 22nd May and as I wrote a few months ago Team Coven were lining up. We were given the number of 403 and instructed to pin numbers on the cyclist and runner and swimmer got a hat with the number written on. There was also a sticker to go on my bike "just in case you get separated"!
We arrived at the start to be surrounded by people looking VERY professional, exceptionally fit and mostly in neoprene. All rather intimidating, good job we didn't have big ambitions except finishing!


In a slight change from the original thought, Catrin was the teams fish - a very flipping cold fish too - what a warrior the water was a reported 10.4 degrees - brrrrrrr! Looks savage swimming with all those other people around you.

Racing (well sort of) up the Pass

Catrin emerged looking  a bit chilly but still in a speedy time of 18mins and handed over the timing chip thingy to me and the little bike. Not a perfect day for cycling with strong winds and as is always the case around those parts a head wind for a disappointing amount of the time - the ogwen valley was in no way fun! I did discover that I can ride up hill quite quickly but everybody else seems to be better at riding into a headwind - boo! Anyway I struggled home in under 2 hours which was pretty good going I thought and handed the chip over to Naomi.

Competitor Briefing before the start.

Now Miss Fisher has been doing a fair bit of that running stuff this year and is a bit of a whippet - unfortunately she was a whippet that had been suffering from a nasty chest infection and was a bit worried she wasn't going to be able to take part. Luckily she was in good form on the day and disappeared off a impressive speed - appearing back in even more impressive speed - running leg completed in just over a hour.

Total time for Team Coven 3hours 18 minutes - and that turned out to be the 3rd fastest full girl team time. Although the official results might show us as fourth due to a last minute substitution in one of the other girly teams.

A really brilliant day - loads of people got involved, loads of people out around the course cheering us all on and this despite the less than ideal weather.

So the next question is........are Team Coven going to put in another showing at the Sandman Triathlon on Anglesey in September????? Longer swim and in the sea, slightly longer bike ride and run through sand dunes........hmmm not asked the girls yet.

Oh and in case anyone is wondering - I've been pretty much lying down ever since, a substantial protest is being staged by the back at the moment - I put it down to the 10 days work beforehand.

So how is the back???



The scar today.....pretty small huh?



Okay, so not surprisingly pretty much the first thing anyone has said to me in the last 4 months is - "How's the back?" usually only preceded by " Hi, how are you?"

Now I'm not complaining about people being concerned and interested in my welfare and to be fair it's not like I've had a whole lot else to report in that time! But I thought I'd share a few thoughts now that I am over 18 weeks post operative.

I guess the first thing is to wonder whether it has been a success - and probably the trickiest question to answer - I'm still not really sure!  It's really hard to know as it still isn't right but then it's not so long since someone hacked it open and shoved some lego in so I'm not sure what to think.....

Does it still hurt? Well yes, but not in the same way as it did before.  I went back to see my surgeon a couple of weeks ago and did ask whether it should still be sore and a bit stiff and he seemed totally unfazed and said yes that was normal and that he was expecting further improvement and to come back in 8 months when it'll be a year.

I guess the difference now is that the pain has a very different character to it or at least most of the time, although last weekend I was quite distraught to find that it did feel very similar to a "bad" day before surgery. A chat with Andy, who is working up in Scotland at the moment, had me almost persuaded that it may well have something to do with having been packing up stuff in our room in Wales, digging around under the bed etc. But it's still there in the back of my mind, was it worth it??

I now do have moments of time when it is actually completely pain free and that is a massive change - before I never had a single moment when I didn't have a least some niggly pain always gnawing away at me. I had learned to tune it out and ignore it and still did all the things that I loved because it made me even more miserable not too. I'd been assured that it probably wouldn't make it much worse to climb and cycle and go in the hills so I just adapted how I did things. I never made certain movements, I never arched my back and I was constantly being careful when I was stepping down especially with a rucksack full of rack (or ML camping kit). Most people would never have realised I was doing it and I think I did a pretty good job of hiding it most of the time but if I was occasionally grumpy - maybe this will explain it! Sorry!

Next question - can I do everything again now? Can I climb? Can I work? The answer to those is no, no and no! Perhaps I ought to qualify that! No I can't do everything again, not yet and probably not for a while, but on the positive side I can now do loads of things that 2 months ago would have seemed bonkers! I can ride my bike which is brilliant, I had started using a turbo trainer for a while but now I can actually head out on the roads although I'm probably not supposed to fall off it, which so far I've avoided. I got given the go ahead by the physio to try and give running a go. Now running is not something I've ever done much of, my annual run around Llyn Padarn was about the height of it, but I haven't been able to run for the last 2 years or so due to the pain caused by impact. I have started doing some mini-runs on mostly flat terrain but the amazing thing is that it doesn't seem to have any serious effect. I'm not convinced I'll become a uber fell runner but it's kind of nice to be able to do it if I want too.

Can I climb -   hmmmm well as I mentioned earlier in the blog I was allowed to go just before christmas and it didn't feel too bad in terms of the back - but somehow I've managed to injure my shoulder - possibly due to swimming which I've stopped doing for a while and I'm going to get the shoulder looked at very soon!! So climbing is still off the menu until I've got the shoulder sorted! Talk about unfair!!

Work is the next step - now according to the governement I am fit to work, but unfortunately I'm not fit to do the work that I am actually qualified to do, which is awkward! Don't really think I feel fit enough to be responsible for other people yet, not in full on mountain places and I can't climb so that takes out that side of things for a bit longer oh and I'm not supposed to be carrying heavy rucksacks for quite a while so lots of mountain instructor work is definitely off for this summer. I am therefore seeking out a bit of a career change...............................not quite sorted it out yet so meanwhile I'm a shuffling dole-y!! 

I'm still working on the range of movement I have, same old story you get lots back quickly and then the last bit is going to take well........as long as it takes I suppose. I have been trying to be patient and I have tried not to do more than I should be during the recovery (not much chance of getting too carried away with the eagle eyes of my folks and Andy on me). So I guess I just need to stick with it and keep pushing the boundries as much as possible.

Meanwhile I better get training on my bike (which at least doesn't hurt the shoulder), don't want to let the Coven down with a shoddy performance in the Snowdonia Slateman.

What am I doing......?

Think I might be about to sign myself and some of the other Coven members for this

Catrin and Naomi have foolishly agreed to go in with me and be a team - watch out Team Coven will be on the loose!
Nome is an acknowledged fish so she's going to swim, I've been on my turbo trainer so I'm going to cycle and Catrin has been in Ski Mountaineering training, so she's going to run which should be a whole lot easier without the skis strapped to her feet!
Hmmm, better get some training in!