Posted Sunday 16 May

Not a good start to the week felt “not right” The big kid’s Dad and his wife had a bug last week which made them take to their beds for 3 days. I was expecting the worse. Thursday had a grumbling tummy all day and alternated between hot and cold. Friday had the cold from hell. Morgan had an ear infection and needed antibiotics. Saturday I woke up feeling absolutely fine.

Came up with a cunning plan for these damn fire blasted pedals. I’m going to do my normal morning bike sessions and then throw in a couple of evening just getting my feet into the toe clips. If that doesn’t work I think I might just bite the bullet and head straight for cleats.

Had my first “proper” session on the new bike today (who incidentally is called Roger). Boy was it windy. I’m used to a triple and numbers telling me where I am gear wise. It’s a bit of a shock to the system just having red lines which remind me very much of a gone wrong pregnancy testing kit. Started off by my front wall and got both feet in the toes clips and pretty much blasted 10.5 miles. Took 10 minutes off my previous pb. Absolutely loved it. Felt incredibly comfortable on the hoods and even managed some nifty cornering.

This afternoon was the first open water training session in Manley Mere for the Deva Diva’s. Loads of ladies on Mountain Bikes –how superior did I feel? (Pride comes before a fall) Armed with two swim caps and my new aquasphere wetsuit with Ironman across the chest I was ready to take on the world. Amazingly it wasn’t that cold. Started at the back and within about 10m I was thinking “I can’t do this! Get me out of here! How the hell did I ever thing I’d be able to do Bala?” Fortunately good senses prevailed and I carried on. I finished near to the back but a long way from last.

I know today was only a training session but it’s as if the race mentality kicks in and I panic. This is something I’ve really got to get over. How? I’ve no idea.