I'm sure there will be some times over the next few weeks when I'm cursing the weather, but at the moment it seems more like spring than winter! Today the favourable meteorological conditions meant another great day getting the miles in the bank towards this year's goals, and more importantly, having fun.
The first activity was another bike ride - after not riding for nearly 2 months, being able to get out on the bike 2 days in a row was a real treat. Coming along today were my cycling-mad next door neighbour Andy, with his 2-yr-old son Nathan on the back, and my other half Sarah, who was over from Lincolnshire for the day. The ride was lots of fun as always - Andy and I spent a lot of time talking about plans for the rest of the year (I think he could be coming along for a couple of sportives and maybe even a half marathon!) and we managed to set quite a steady pace.
We headed down to the Trent at Hoveringham, one of our favourite routes from last year, and then back through the quiet villages of Gonalston and Epperstone before facing the final climb back up Bank Hill. Andy found the long climb quite tough, which was no surprise as he had Nathan and the seat weighing down his back wheel, Sarah on the other hand made it look incredibly easy, she's made amazing progress on the bike over the past year. Once we got to the top of the hill, Andy was speeding along again for the final couple of miles back home, making it another 18 in the bank and 40 miles of riding for the weekend for me - woohoo!
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| The Trent near Hoveringham |
After lunch, Sarah and I drove up to Sherwood Forest nature reserve, about a 25 minute drive away, and had a great time running and walking around the forest paths. We started with a 5K run, on part of the route that I ran the Edwinstowe 10K on last month, it was pretty hilly in places and Sarah found it quite tough. I thought she did really well to be almost at her fastest pace, despite the hills and having just ridden 18 miles just an hour or so earlier. I was equally impressed with my ability to create a route of precisely 5K (our target distance today) while running it - we hit the 3.11 mile mark exactly as we arrived back at the car! :).
After putting our coats on and loading up with Wine Gums, we headed back out for more exercise, this time at a more gentle pace - walking around the many paths in the historic woodland. We started with a quick trip to the visitor centre as Sarah hadn't been there before, and then wandered around soaking up the history - including the obligatory trip to see the famous Major Oak - home of Robin Hood!
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| The Major Oak - nearly 1000 years on, it definitely needs propping up! |
We were able to stay out much later than expected as the light was still really good - it definitely seemed as though the days are already lengthening, so maybe spring really is on the way already!
By the time we got back to the car for the second time, we'd walked about 3.7 miles, making it another 25 mile day in total, and 50 for the weekend! Just like yesterday it was a really good day - not just getting the miles in towards my targets, but having lots of fun while doing it!
Here's how the numbers for 2012 so far look after a very happy weekend:
Running: 41.8 miles (67.3K)
Walking: 4.9 miles
Cycling: 40.95 miles
Swimming: 0 miles
Total: 87.7 miles (141.11K)
Running streak: 47 days
Have a great week everyone and thanks again for all the great feedback.
Mike
Your weekend activities sound pretty cool! Well done on the miles you've achieved. Nice to see a photo of the Major Oak; I'm doing an OU course at the mo and recently watched a vid on how to establish the age of trees and ancient woodland that featured that particular tree! Good luck with the running and other stuff.
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