Sweeties, Pies and Ginger

I was browsing the latest issue of 220 magazine this evening, trying to console myself that I made the right decision not to go out for a run; my thighs and hamstrings are still a bit sore from Tuesdays run. I was checking out the calendar at the back of the magazine to see when the second and third Bedford Sprint races are and noticed that they listed a different length of cycle ride.

I'm pretty sure that I thought 35km was a bit long for a sprint and as two of the three entries in the calender were for 25km I guessed that there must have been a mis-print. So I quickly checked the official website and there was a miss print, so the bike leg is 25km, not 35km. So that's difference of six and a quarter miles and will probably make a hell of difference for me.

While perusing 220, I could help but be distracted by the Dolan Pallottola and the Isaac Joule how I wish I could afford something like that. However, it would be a tad embarrassing when passed by kid on mountain bike though...

Also in 220, I noticed that there were a couple of heart rate monitors advertised for under £50, which seems pretty good value. I'll have to investigate further and see if it's worth buying one as a starting point.

As it was Easter weekend and thus I had two extra days (Good Friday and Easter Monday), I decided that it was time to step up the training. I started off with a 19 mile bike ride on Friday, followed by the same 19 mile bike ride and a brick run on the Sunday.

Stupidly I didn't write down the statistics from the first bike ride, but I've got the ones from the second. It turns out that the circuit I do round a few of the local villages corresponds nicely, it's only a mile and a bit shorter, than the 35km leg of the Bedford Sprint Series bike legs.

The brick run was quite interesting as I've not got a clue how far I went or how long it took; I really need to get a digital watch or a cheap heart rate monitor. The first couple of hundred metres were bizarre, my thighs obviously though I was still cycling, but the rest of my body knew I was upright.

I think I need to do quite a few more brick runs over the next few weekends to get used to the feeling. Hopefully next weekend I'll cycle to Elsworth via some of the villages, have a rest at the EARS rocket launch and cycle back.

The thing that got me the most about the two rides was that I used to do this circuit in under an hour, so with an average speed of over 19mph. I knew I was taking it easy so not to injure myself, but I think I'm going to have to speed up a little.

The community mid wife was out to see Karen today and since it was a holiday I was there to see what normally happens. It's more of a quick check up than anything else with blood pressure, urine sample and things like that. The best bit though was when she used the ultra sound Doppler listening device thingie (can you tell I haven't a clue what it's called?) so we could hear the baby's heart beat, that was quite cool.

I was working late almost every night last week, which resulted in me getting to the swimming pool later and later. This obviously isn't good for the training, but then neither is not doing any running or cycling. It all came to ahead this morning when I just failed to get out of bed at all, so I didn't even make it to the swimming pool.

I took my running stuff to work with the aim of doing a easy run over lunch. However, I've still got too much work to get through, so I didn't get the chance to get out. Depending on when I finish tonight I might go for a run when I get home, we'll just have to wait and see.

Karen and I had a major scare last night that was all due to a cup of raspberry leaf tea. Raspberry leaf tea is supposed to help tone the uterus in preparation for giving birth, it can also be used to bring on contractions, so is useful later on in pregnancy. Evidently you can start using it from eight to six weeks to go, so Karen was right in the slot for having a mug or two.

It had been a pretty nasty week at work, so I'd bought myself a couple of nice strong dark beers on the way home and was all comfortable on the sofa half way through the second when things started to go wrong. Karen mentioned that she was having contractions that were quite painful, which in itself wasn't too worrying as she's had Braxton Hicks for most of the pregnancy.

It started to get a bit worrying when she was on her painful third contraction within half an hour. At this point it didn't seem like a good idea to be drinking strong dark beer anymore, it was also slightly worrying in that I'd already had too much to drive safely, so we were in for an expensive taxi ride if things got out of hand.

Luckily for us both the wee blighter wasn't ready to come out quite yet and after a couple of hours and a few funny positions on the sofa to relieve the pain, the contractions abated. So Karen has decided that her uterus is toned enough already and she'll only revert to the raspberry leaf tea again if the wee blighter's late.

It's probably time I stopped drinking, just in case...

Well the snow didn't last long... Just popped out for lunch and it's all gone. I hate Cambridge.

We've been constantly told that there will be loads of snow by weather forecaster for nearly to weeks now and we've yet to have more than the thinest of dusting's. I was delighted this morning to walk out of the house to go to the swimming pool and see that there was an idea combination for having a load of snow. IT was cold, the ground was relatively dry and it was snowing it large fluffy flakes.

When I came out of the swimming pool it had stopped and there was only a couple of centimeters on the ground, so it wasn't looking too good. Just after arriving at work it started snowing again, so you never know, we might finally get a decent dump.