Birthday buzyness

Blimey a lot seems to have happened in the intervening week.

Right,,

Tuesday night gym, just a short session as i went with wifey, who'd been sunday and swim mon. So didn't do too much, but again went round the resistance stuff and did reps.

Wednesday booooring work. All morning meeting and lots to do. Then a spectacular meal out in the eve with wifey and parentals.. Oh and did i mention it was my 30th? I think the maitre got it right with a '79 congac opened especially as it was the closest to my age... lovely!

Thursday the in-laws popped round and i think I was still super tired from a late night so after they left had a quick nap before going out to yoga. Which was excellent as it was quite a lot of leg stretches etc and mine were already super tight!

Friday dawned with packing, driving, and food shopping for a party weekend in the Peak. We also stopped in for a cuppa with a mate in Sheffield and did a quick gear faff. As yet again wifey is struggling with fitting clothes having lost a lot of weight so a quick outdoor shop. Then quick pint and burger before getting back to the bunkhouse and having everyone arrive.

Sat convoy over to South Curbar car park then walkers did a 7-8mile loop to the north, whilst us climbers went south to baslow edge. Had an awesome day, some good bouldering and top rope stuff. Highlight of the day for me was an E2 6a which i did sans rest. Evening was a wicked party, keggage, food and prezzies.

yup that's me climbing

Sunday dawned a bit later and then again partial convoy to Baslow. Climbers to birchen and walkers went south to Chatsworth house, 9-10 miles in all. At the end of the day collect up the sleepy straggler from the bunkhouse (oops - but not me) and head home for bath, food and sleep.

Absolutely shattered.. Still band last night as contest this coming weekend. Gym tonight and possibly something wed as wifey is out for a meal with friends. Although sleep could still be needed by then!

Nevermind drinking pub beer, what about the keg?

images courtesy of chris/claire

Inducted

Yup, me down t'gym, i know unheard of! I got showed around the downstairs stuff quite quickly, then upstairs for the resistance stuff. After all that, i went back round everything doing 3 sets of 10-8 increasing the weight. I didn't overdo it, which was a good thing. It felt pretty weird, especially with the grunty fella in front of the mirror lifting something stupidly heavy. However, i'm not trying to BE that, but want a bit more power in the legs for biking/running/hillwalking plus a bit more in the shoulders for swimming.

 

I then had a run planned for thurs lunch with a colleague, but he was working from home, so got a free pass to blast the short route (been meaning to set a time for it). It wasn't the best of runs as i could really feel the weights in my legs. But I still managed some PB's for 1k, 1mile, 3mile and 3k. 25 min run overall. Thursday night was then yoga, in which i was surrounded by 20+ women, oh it's a hard life. First session of this, it was good fun but harder work than i thought. Although probably not helped by the weights/run combo, Shattered!

 

Friday wifey had off so she went to the gym whilst i went to work, then I collapsed on return home for sleeep. Weekend installing a new radiator in bathroom (successful) if longer job than expected. Mostly due to having to use resin for the bolts (2hr dry time). Which meant no gym/run/walk/activity sunday as I was still at it. grrrrr.

 

Still 3 day week, which might be due to a big-ish birthday coming up. Yay homebrew time!

 

which'll hopefully look like this.

 

Our anniversary

was yesterday and I was actually prepared for once. Flowers delivered to work, evening meal booked and card ready on the mantlepiece. All went down a treat and brownie points galore,, possibly apart from being out the night before with work at a comedy club near embankment. Monday night with work? Ouch i was shattered by the time i got home, which made for a hard day at work tues. Not helped by a royally ducked up install the night before in Spain and another scheduled for tues night with the same engineer, but that's enough about work!

 

Was also climbing last wednesday (ow fingers have suffered), running thursday (5k - 32min, pacing for a colleague) and then drove over to Clyro friday night. The weekend was spent with Bro and family, which mostly consisted of 'uncle dave' being employed as entertainment for my 3 yr old niece. I'm not complaining as it was excellent fun going swimming, but wow, she's got a lot of energy. Probably helped by napping, so i joined in with that too!

 

Anyhoo, gym tonight for induction then I'll have to see how I feel about some weights as i've got to add some power to my legs since i struggle with that on the bike.. Having said that i've not been for a ride for months, but it's prep for tri season next year. Running tomorrow lunch and then Yoga with wifey in the evening, first session, should be fun and hopefully will help keep my back and muscles nicely in order.

 

I've also taken some advice and am eating more, more i hear you say? Yup to help with muscle growth, so....... cake anyone? Fraid no picture tho, cause it's all gone!

Halloween and 5k run

but unfortunately not for me. Wifey has been doing a lot of training and over the past month i've been helping out with pacing and rhythm etc all with a grand plan of her doing a 5k run for charity. Well on sunday she ran round farmoor reservoir, oxford in a very respectable 34mins. A fantastic effort considering it was her first 5k event and she'd only done 40 mins on the wednesday. Something that was later blamed on darkness and being confident with covering the distance. Still awesome work for her and now just a matter of finding the next event, be it 5, 8 or 10k!

 

I wasn't allowed to enter, for fear of being shown up ;-) still I got to see the guy going past in sub 19 mins. Ouch! i might need to run a bit faster to keep up with that..

 

Saturday night was a more ghoulish affair a mixture of a fancy dress/30th birthday party in Reading. Good fun, some excellent costumes and a fair bit of beer for those not running the next day ;-)!



uuuurgh, tasty brains!



Climbing tonight, running tomorrow, swim (with niece in wales) at the weekend. I might try for a quick 400m or more if I can.

Being sensible

As those that know me, it's not something that i necessarily do well. However, over the weekend I was still suffering from a stupid cold so apart from going to sort out new rings (see: loss at bank hol) and popping in on the olds i didn't actually do anything much at the weekend apart from sleep lots! Mind you the work do thursday was slightly messy and i did end up sleeping at the office. Ok,, so perhaps i'm still not that sensible then? Still penthouse suite, views to Windsor castle, 2 showers, concierge, on site chef and restaurant... sounds pretty good doesn't it?

 

More rehearsal monday night, which with a slightly sore throat was harder work, but still enjoyable. Since the contest is over it's onto a few new pieces. Then a gentle 5km run wed with wifey in prep for her charity affair this weekend (poppy run in oxford). I then followed that up with a lunchtime thursday 6km+ in 29mins.. which, looking back, considering the past 6 runs were pacing for wifey and not at my pace was pretty darned good!

 

Weekend will be sorting out various car related stuff sat, then halloween party in the evening to which I am not driving! Sunday i'll be doing the whole support team effort for wifey so she can concentrate on her first 5km ever! I'm seriously impressed...

No mountains

or much activity for that matter.

Had two 30th birthdays at the weekend, one in reading and one in london. Oddly I drove to/from both so was vaguely sober come the next morning (there's always a whiskey at home ;-)). Friends stayed round ours sat night for further natterage post party. So it was a bit of a lazy day sunday, but still managed a run and pancakes and huevos racheros and cake....



which probably looked a bit like these..

 

This plus band on monday proved to be a bit too much so have been feeling under par for the rest of the week. However, it's probably not helped by central heating pending engineer to come fix. Which means evenings have been spent stoking the wood stove. I did get out for a quick blast last thursday with wifey so her 5k training is coming along ok. She was even talking about a 10k next year..

Anyway beer and bowling with some work folk tonight. Possibly the only chance i'll get to use my summer sleeping bag for a while.

The weekend is looking fairly quiet so if i perk up and the weather plays ball i'll try to get out for something!

Oh and to continue the food theme i was munching on this the other day. As has been suggested, perhaps I need to change my blog title to 'band and cake' as i seem to talk a lot about these!

hmmm, chocolatey goodness!

Busy Banding

So this weekend was a hectic one filled with Brass, Friday was the sole evening at home which was spent chilled out and with fire lit.

 

Saturday, an early-ish start to return trophies for section 3 in Folkestone and the loiter round for the rest of the band to arrive. With all of us there and just enough time to spare we all went down to dress, prepare and relax as much as possible. Chivving people to get band cards, be in the right place at right time, fell to me, which oddly meant we were all where we needed to be. The piece was 'Music for a Festival' by Philip Sparke and it was over in a flash. It all sounded good from my perspective. However, I had to dash back to Thame for a 5pm so couldn't stick round for the results. These would have been worthwhile, as not only did we win (our first time in the 2nd section), but we picked up several other awards. Best percussion, best conductor, best soloist (horn) and best tenor horn section. All in all, a very good day.. the band trophy shelf has once again swelled!

 

What with the evening though it meant I wasn't home till gone 11pm.. A long day, with a fair bit of driving involved.

 

Sunday woke later still, went for a very gentle jog for 5km, food shop and lunch out. The afternoon was helping with setting up the stage. As it wasn't just a contest weekend, but a concert one too. It was locally at the Elgiva in Chesham after a afternoon rehearsal, with our soloist, choir backing (finale). It was all too soon that we cleared out, the 250 audience shimmyed in and we, plus choirs got on with showing our best. It was a fantastic night, the soloist, Andy Greenwood (principal trumpet, Wicked, west end) really showed his stuff and helped us to give a fantastic performance. Well worth the effort and certainly one to be repeated if at all possible.

 

I on the other hand was shattered and stumbled home for a well deserved beer and some much needed sleep.. and on to another week!