#backtothestadium

Well this week has mainly been about running rather than cycling, don't get me wrong I have still been out on the bike getting the miles in ready for Ride London but Sunday was all about going back to the stadium.

A year ago the Olympics came to London and to mark this anniversary the National Lottery Anniversary Run was organised. About 12,000 lucky runners got to complete 5 miles around the Olympic Park with the final 300 metres on the track that saw so many top class Olympians compete last year.

So at 9.15 this morning I duly lined up on the start line waiting for the official off. What could be better than the starter to be one of our greatest Olympians ever, Sir Chris Hoy. As mainly a cyclist rather than a runner this was fantastic to see and enjoy being sent on our way by this amazing sportsman.

The course took us around the park including going around the velodrome, I was having a great time! As we came back into the stadium we then were tantalisingly close to the track but had to double back under the stands to join the track further round.

As I ran around the track the atmosphere was amazing, crowds cheering and other runners all lapping it up, the phones were out, photos were being taken! Everything looked different from this angle and I was struggling to pick out my wife and son, eventually I spotted them and managed to wave enthusiastically as I went past.

Then all I had to do was complete the final 100m then I was there I had crossed the famous finish line in the Olympic Stadium! As I crossed the line I managed to grab a quick handshake with Iwan Thomas and then had to dash off to get my goody bag and get back to the stand to meet up with my wife and son so that I could change number and get over to the start again for the family run!

Yes if it was not enough to run into the stadium once I was about to do it again with my youngest son.  The family run was to be started by another cycling star, Victoria Pendleton! What a day I was having.

As Victoria sounded the horn to start our wave William ran off through a gap at a seriously fast pace, having eventually caught him and convinced him to slow down we settled into a nice pace around the park, his little legs did slow to a walk for some of it,

As we entered the stadium he announced that as soon as we hit the track we had to run the rest of the way! After 200 metres on the track we found my wife in the stands and posed for some photos. Once we were sure the photos were down we were off for the last 100 metres, William at a speed that I thought would give Usain Bolt a run for his money, I certainly struggled to keep up!!

We crossed the line, him still in front obviously! As we milled around the fishing line taking in the experience we spotted a certain Paula Radcliffe who was congratulating people and also very generously posing for photos, after a bit of patience waiting our turn I did manage to get a photo of her with William.

So eventually we did need to leave the stadium and wind our way back collecting our medals to the stand and on back to the station, a fantastic day out at the Olympic Park with an amazing opportunity to run on the Olympic track was over.  I will be back there again in a couple of weeks time but this time with my bike as I take part in Ride London100 as part of Team Skoda, I can't wait!!

Lazy Week

Ok so last week was a bit quiet on the training front, the only exercise I managed to get in was my daily cycle commute to work at 16 miles each way!

I’m beginning to think that my blog should be Andy’s Lack of Fitness!

So in the absence of any real news now may be the time to direct you to a proper blog about exercise. If you would like to see this please hop on over to my cousin’s page at lazygirlrunning.com, much more informative and better written than mine!

Alternatively if you are interested in art my Sister in Law has a fantastic blog at  sketch-mad.com where she shows off her amazing talent. She has a whole series of bear paintings which are absolutely stunning!

Meanwhile I need to get my trainers on and get out on the roads to do some running, I have the National Lottery Run coming up this weekend. After running the 5 miles in the morning I then have to keep up with my youngest son as we complete the 1.5 mile family run! Any thoughts on who is going to cross the finish line first?!

Interestingly they seem to have made their shirts on the large size, most race shirts I get are a bit small even in the XL size but for this run the shirt they have sent me actually fits. Although most of the people commenting on twitter are complaining that they are too big, one person’s small apparently fits like a nighty!!

Hopefully next week will have more news, I really need to get more miles in on the bike, running and swimming!!

Busy Week.

Well OK it has been a bit busier than usual for training.

Sunday my wife dragged me to the pool to get some swim training done, having watched my stroke she told me that my arms cross in front of my body rather than going straight forward.

Monday morning my shoulders ached from not having swum for ages, more swimming time must be booked in!

So on Wednesday I decided to forgo my ride to and from work to be fit for a swim session that night. My son on duty and duly gave me a swimfit card for 64 lengths, tis worked quite well and was certainly more interesting than just ploughing up and down for 64 straight lengths.

So then Thursday morning arrived and I duly pulled on my team Skoda kit and headed off to Milton Keynes for a training ride.

I was put in the first group to set off, this was supposed to be the fastest group of the day. Had I put down the right speed on my application?

Anyway as we rolled out behind the pros from Rapha Condor I felt good the pace was about right. It was good to be back riding in a group again trying to remember the etiquette that I learned on the last ride.

We were riding along quite nicely when a siren could be heard coming from behind. We duly strung out in a single line keeping close to the edge to let the Ambulance past. Unfortunately I hit a large stone on the road and a few metres later my back tyre had deflated.

Having stopped to change a tube it was obvious that my fellow riders follow the Top Gear etiquette in these situations and carried on riding.

Having replaced my tube and just starting to pump it up, the second group came past. Thankfully the Team Matrix car that was following them stopped and Stefan came running over with his track pump. Whilst Stefan pumped up my tyre and put the wheel back in my bike I cleared up my tools and punctured tube ready to give chase to the group that had just passed.

After a quick chase I managed to catch up and then sat on the back for a rest, my legs and lungs bursting. My rest was short lived as I somehow soon found myself on the front. Not knowing how fast this group wanted to ride I paced myself to the guy inside me. Then one of the pros from the matrix team came up to ask us to slow down, oops!

Having let someone else take a turn on the front, somehow I found myself back there again shortly after, unfortunately another call came from the back to take it easy I'm not very good at pacing!

Well I need to get back in the pool again, definitely won't be told to slow down there!!

p.s to be fair to my fellow riders who left me behind, I did just slip off the back quietly to change my tube!!
p.p.s Good luck to anyone taking on The Outlaw this weekend, below was me finishing last year!!