Well its the last week before the Tour Ride – the weekend was good and i didnt get rained on!!!
Did a 2hr 30minute turbo bike session on Sunday (I really couldn’t face the roads) and then a hilly 10km run monday
Tuesday – 1hr bike followed by 30min run – which felt really good – i could have done it all over again (but instead I decided to consume my own weight in Oreo biscuits)
Rain!! Sideways rain, downwards rain, head on rain, upwards rain, 85miles of cycling in the rain!! The MET Office forecast was for “the weather will brighten up through the day with sunshine in the afternoon” and not “it will be a flood of biblical proportions”. Still we had a good ride despite being very wet and still did the 85 planned miles.
Usual long ride on Sunday – this time taking the route over the top of Dartmoor past the Warren House Inn ( Teignmouth -> Kingsteignton -> Teign Valley -> Moretonhampstead -> Postbridge -> Asburton -> Newton Abbot -> home)
We tackled the hill at Dartmeet again – I almost wiped out at the bottom when the car I was following decided to test his brakes and let someone across the bridge – and again on the decent towards the Holne Chase someone turned across me – it’s no fun locking you back wheel up on a bike at 35mph – the picture shows Roger my cycling partner reaching the top of Dartmeet hill
The rest of the week saw pretty much the usual, swimming at Teignmouth on Monday, although i only managed 1400m as my shoulders been hurting. Also did a great Turbo run session on thursday, with an hour o the bike averaging about 220watts and then out for a relatively fast run – which felt really good.
Just a 30min run to do on friday – and providing my physio say my shoulder is ok maybe a 2000m swim
To keep me motivated, add to the training and raise a bit of money before the big event next year i’m doing the following so far
5th September – 108mile tour of Britain leg from Minehead to Teignmouth
12th September – Weymouth Olympic Distance Triathlon (1600m/40km/10km – swim bike run)
12 th September – Rowcroft 1 mile Sea Swim – Just to make things “interesting” I’m doing their charity sea swim after racing in the morning 
17th October – Dartmoor Vale Half Marathon again for Rowcroft
Probably more to be added soon…
Having recovered from my sports massage and the niggling ITB injury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome), Sunday saw a much shorter bike ride from Teignmouth through Starcross and up Manhead hill (doing 3 reps of the hill) and then loopingback down through Chudleigh. A few people at the top saw me reach the top of the hill saw me and though i was pretty crazy to keep going up and down the hill – and to be honest by the 3rd time so did I!
I would like to say a special thank you to the idiot (actually i think i called him alot worse) in the 53 plate Orange tansit van who tried to knock me off as i decended into Dawlish at 30mph!
Monday – 50minute run in the morning and a 2000m swim in the evening at Teignmouth – as it turned out we only managed 1300m along the entire length of the beach and back as it was really choppy
Tuesday – 60mins spent on the turbo trainer working at about 70-80% of max heart rate
Wednesday – Back to Teignmouth for a 2300m swim – this time lovely and sunny and even the sea felt warm
Thursday – A fast 5km run to Wellswood and then along Meadfoot beach in the sun 
Friday – (and saturday) are rest days
Last year, my company (well mainly 3 of us) took on the Dragons challenge to raise money for the NSPCC – we mainly did this through a raffle – with pretty good prizes (£1000cash, a Sony HD TV, Laptop, Mobile phone, etc). So on wednesday night we got to go to the launch of this years challenge – we got presented with a thank you from Deborah Meaden of Dragons Den for being the company that raised the most (£18000) – I was rather impressed meeting her (as you can see) and i hope that i can get half way to raising as much for my own charities
Had a bit of a break from training on Saturday by doing the Round Robin trip from Paignton to Totnes by bus, then Totnes to Dartmouth by Boat before catching the steam train back to Paignton. It was a great day out, and a good chance to top up on fluids 
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Sunday was a 53mile ride, doing Teignmouth -> Starcorss -> Mamhead -> Chudleigh -> Teign Valley -> Moretonhampstead -> Bovey tracey and then back to Teignmouth – it was good not to go too far, climbing felt quite good as was general speed. We did have an unfortunate incident with a coach which left my co-rider bailing out into a hedge – but fortunately nothing was broken with only a few cuts.
Monday – what a great start to the week – a 6km run the sun was just rising over Meadfoot beach, with clear blue skies – fab!
Tuesday – Was a really good turbo session (no not in a Renault 5) but on my static training bike – 60mins flat out averaging 210watts over the whole session
Wednesday – 2200 meter sea swim at Teignmouth followed by a 6km run – below is the swim course…
Thursday – Was another turbo session and in the evening was a sports massage which concentrated on my ITB, Hip Flexor and Supraspinatous (shoulder rotator) – which meant i didnt train friday as it was a little sore!
