Sufficent unto the day is the toothpaste thereof

It may seem rather sad (or obsessive) to look at saving weight on such a small item as toothpaste, but look after the grams and hopefully the kilos will be fewer. I bought a 30ml tube of Crest and kept a record of usage, finding that it lasted for 24applications, so two tubes would do the whole trip. Next on the list will be little bottles of shampoo and conditioner. On one level, it's useful preparation and ensuring I don't over-pack. On another, it's a way of preparing my mind for a challenge so big I'm hardly able to actually believe it.

Sport Relief weekend

I have to confess that for whatever reason - lack of being in touch with the media, or being too focused on my own thing plus general busyness - Sport Relief hadn't really registered on my radar, as I discovered when I popped into Sainsbury's the other day. I was on the way home from work and thus in bike/running gear. One of the assistants asked if I was participating in Sport Relief and looked quite disappointed in me when I said I wasn't. If I'd been less engrossed by the choice of vegetables I might have been quick enough to point out that I was going to do my bit, just not this weekend ... but too late.

And then last night, the TV documentary of the fundraising bike ride from John O'Groats to Land's End in freezing temperatures and through both day and night. Not perhaps the best way to promote cycling, especially showing so many falls, but what we could see of the scenery was spectacular. I think I'm looking forward to Scotland the most, espcially the far north. But there's still a lot of training to do first and more checking of gear. Today was wet, so a good chance to try the new dhb jacket (which performed well) but I need a real downpour to test it properly. Fingers crossed for a wet weekend!

Back on the bike

It seems strange to head a message with this when I cycle nearly every day but a decent distance training run is so different from the daily commute - it really does feel like 'proper' cycling. Did 25.4 miles in under 2 hours on the racer, taking in some decent hills around Cranford and Gt Addington. At some stage, I'm going to have to load up the tourer and do a really long ride, but at the moment I'm just focusing on the triathlon. Although I know I can do each individual element, my main worries are (a) whether I can actually do them all together (so more training) and (b) coming in last, miles behind everyone else, or even worse, being pulled out because I'm so slow and everyone else wants to go home! Even if I can do the whole thing at the speeds I've been doing in training, it's still going to take over three and a half hours to complete. The top people do it in about 2 hours (or less!) and everyone else seems to be done in between 2.5 - 3 hours.

So, LOTS more running and cycling to come! At least the weather is getting warmer. It was still a bit frosty out there this morning, but good to get out.

Half-marathon entered

The only one of the challenges not yet sorted out - the half marathon - has now been arranged; I'm booked in for the Milton Keynes half-marathon on Sunday 18 July, which gives one challenge per month; the triathlon in June, the run in July and I start the bike ride at the end of August. Better get training... since the furthest I've ever run is 6 miles, and that was over ten years ago.