Drat! Double Drat!

Over the past couple of years I have hosted a fun (?) run from my house, up, into and around Ashridge, then back again. Total distance about 14 miles. Of course, to the pub for post run drinks. The run has become commonly known as the Wacky Races.

Wacky Races was of course a TV cartoon from the 80’s which starred Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley the Dog. It was basically a race between various characters whilst Dick D and Muttley tried to cheat everybody out of the race and, therefore, win as the last men (or, rather, man and dog) standing. Of course, his plans never worked, and whenever he was foiled he would mutter the words “drat, double drat!”. One thing that always confused me was that in order to set his traps, Dick D had to be out in front, so why did he need to stop and place the traps?

Anyway, these two characters also appeared in another cartoon called Catch the Pigeon, along with Klunk and Zilly who made up Vulture Squadron. They were fearless fliers whose main mission was to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, the message bearer for the enemy, but they never quite managed it. Dick D always ended up falling out of his plane, and it sometimes got very ugly.

Another favourite was the Road Runner. A similar theme, in that Wile E. Coyote would tirelessly chase the Road Runner endlessly around the desert, but again would never seem to catch him. All very frustrating for Wile, no doubt.

This cat and mouse game was of course made famous by, er, a cat and a mouse going by the name of Tom and Jerry. As we all know, the mouse would always just escape the clutches of its enemy at the very last moment.

This week I found out that the BTA have changed their qualifying procedure for the Worlds and it’s made me feel a little like Dick Dastardly, Wile E. Coyote and Tom the Cat combined. I had always realised that my best chance of qualification was via the roll-out procedure, but now the BTA have decided to tighten the rules such that the roll-out procedure has been rolled-in a little. Their motive behind this is to strengthen the team, which obviously is commendable, but it does mean that qualification for me will be like trying the catch the proverbial Pigeon, Road Runner and Mouse in that no sooner do I feel I am getting a little closer then the goal-posts are moved. Just as I feel that qualification is a real possibility, the rules are changed - one step forward, two steps back, it seems.

Not only that, I took a sneaky look at the results in my Age Group from last year’s Worlds in Vancouver and, wouldn’t you know, 6 out of the top 7 finishers were from the GB team. So, not a particularly easy group in which to qualify. Doh...

But no matter. Those of you who know me will know that I am very focused in my training and racing plans this year and this little set-back will just push me to up the anti and get my butt moving quicker. Probably a blessing in disguise really.

Up the anti I did last week where I did as much training as I did in the previous four weeks combined.

Monday – swim - tri club - intervals, and 30 press-ups

Tuesday – run - sprints, and 31 press-ups

Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel) at constant 90 revs/min, run - treadmill at constant 180 strides/min, incorporating 3000 metres (broken) at 4 min/km, and 32 press-ups

Thursday – run - 90 minutes very easy with A-M, and 33 press-ups

Friday - bike - mountain bike, and 34 press-ups

Saturday – run - 400 metre intervals, and 35 press-ups

Sunday – bike - 4 hour mountain bike with tri club (see below), run - easy treadmill run at constant 180 strides/min with Alex, and 36 press-ups

You'll notice a pattern developing with the press-ups, but without doubt the highlight of the week was the mammoth 4 hour mountain bike session over Ashridge on Sunday morning with the tri club, hosted by Jo. For me, it actually turned into an inpromptu brick session because I got a puncture 2 miles from home and so ran back home whilst pushing my bike along. Must have looked very strange to passing motorists, but hey we all know that this sport is not about what you look like, but how fast you go.

In the meantime, I have just returned from a highly enjoyable cycling track session at Calshot Velodrome. My first experience of track cycling and highly enjoyable it was too. As we all know, following the successes of Hoy et. al. during the summer, track cycling includes the individual pursuit whereby racers start at opposite sides of the track and try to catch each other up. I was most definitely the pigeon, except this time I changed the ending by being caught every time!

Bye for now.

C