A week of two halves

Not since the infamous episode with David Lloyd gyms have I been so frustrated with certain service providers as I have this week.

This time it was the turn of my Internet Service Providings (Fonejacker fans will appreciate the deliberate mis-spelling) and mobile phone provider who have been the cause of so much annoyance.

My internet at home has not been working for about 2 weeks. I have managed to temporarily get around this by logging on at the gym (ironically) and at friend’s houses (overstaying my welcome, no doubt), but I took the plunge this week to finally try to get it sorted. Generally, I have always had quite positive experiences with overseas call centres, but this time was an exception. After some tests conducted over the phone, I was told to go and buy a new modem and if that isn’t the problem then they will call out a BT engineer to come and correct the line. If it isn’t a fault with the line then I will have to pay their call-out charge which starts at £160.00!!! So I think I’ll go and buy a modem and hope that's the problem.

Next was my mobile phone. I have had sitting on the side a new phone for the past 14 months and the reason which I haven’t used it is because everytime I look at it I think of the mammoth task ahead of transferring all the contact details from one phone to the other. Nonetheless, I decided this week, whilst trying to sort out my internet, to take the plunge and get the pnone sorted too. A couple of phone calls later (again to various call centres), and I was no nearer sorting it. In fact, I was actually further away, because they cancelled the SIM card on my current phone and the SIM card on my new phone did not work when I tried to use it. I phoned them again and all they could do was refer me to their website and have a look at the FAQ’s. Now, as we now know, I have no internet, so I was going round in circles. So I gave up. More news in the coming weeks, no doubt.

A completely different and far more satisfying experience was my first race of the season – the Duston Sprint on Sunday.

I billed this race as a 'B' race to give me some race practice, but also I wanted to compare my time with last year’s time. And I am happy to report that I smashed last year’s time by over 2 minutes, coming in at 1:04:42 in 38th place (out of 449 finishers) and a very pleasing 6th in my age group (out of 68).

Here's a (very bad) picture of my race watch taken after I crossed the finish line to prove my time, and then there's me in action...





To be frank, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. A swim PB at 6:17, two super-quick transitions, 25th overall on the bike and I even managed to overtake people on the run! This sets me up nicely for my next practice race at Bedford in 2 weeks time which also doubles as a ‘compare against last time’ race (last time raced end of 2007). And then of course there's the first World's Qualifier at Grendon the week after.

It just goes to show that all that training DOES pay dividends and it has now given me fresh impetus for more. If I can just lose 7 or 8 pounds then I reckon that will help shave off more valuable seconds from the bike and run. Less beer, more orange juice, me thinks.

As far as training is concerned, this is what I did in what was a rest week leading up to Duston:

Monday – bike – 10 mile TT in 26:10, 50 press-ups and 49 sit-ups
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – bike – gym spin (fixed wheel), swim – 750m TT in 13:12, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Thursday – rest
Friday – bike – transition practice and one-legged drills, run – 6 minute test followed by 30 sec intervals, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Saturday – rest, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Sunday – race – Duston Sprint

Top marks to Paul C (aka Pablo) from the tri club who posted a half marathon PB of 1:39 this week at the Redcar Half Marathon. Great training for the UK Ironman into which he (and other club mates) are entered this year. Also, to Beth (also from the tri club) who managed the 60 mile Hatfield Sportive. Beth came to Afan a few weeks ago and showed us all how strong a cyclist she is, and 60 miles on an undulating course is no mean feat. Well done, Beth.

This week’s *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is another non-sport related website – Freecycle. If you have any stuff you want to get rid of then you place it on the site and people contact you to come and pick it up – free of charge - and likewise if you see anything you fancy which others want rid of then you contact the donor and arrange collection. To be honest, there is a lot of tat, but I have managed to grab myself a few things, including a walker trainer for the garage. I think my David Lloyd membership ends at the end of this month, and so the walker is a very useful addtion to my gym in the garage which is coming on nicely.

Next week I am due to run the London Marathon after successfully getting through the ballot this year after years of trying. Ironically, I am not doing any distance running his year so I have rolled-over my entry until next year. It’s a race everyone says is a must-do race, so that’s something to look forward to after this year’s shenanigans have finished.

Have a great week, and here’s hoping for some more of this lovely sunshine!

Cheers

C