Rest & Recovery

Well I have nothing fitness wise to report since my last post!

I have taken a few days to recover post Henley and then ended up having another ambulance trip on Friday, apparently I had vertigo which completely knocked me sideways.  I think it may have been a smaller attack that took me out of Henley.

I awoke on Friday morning, yes Friday 13th, with a storming headache and no control over my arms or legs.  Getting upright to go to the bathroom brought on nausea and a definite wish to be horizontal rather than vertical!

So I ended up laying flat out on the floor of my bedroom whilst Amanda called for an ambulance, fortunately my eldest was up as he was due to be going to work.  He managed to contact them and they covered his shift so that he could stay and help.

The paramedics arrived and I still had an overwhelming desire to be horizontal despite their best intentions to get me sitting up! I felt sorry for them as they struggled to get all 6ft 2 and 14st 10 of me in a chair down my stairs into the waiting ambulance!  I must loose some weight!

Anyway after a short while we were off to the local A&E with me sweating profusely and unable to open my eyes due to the fact that when I did I was so dis-orientated that I felt that they had put me in a stretcher and raised it up to the roof of the ambulance!

After what felt like an age, but was really quite quick, I was pushed into a cubicle in the A&E department of the Princess Royal Hospital. A few tests later it must have been like a scene from Casualty as I was rushed through to the resus room and the doors slammed shut in Amanda's face.  I could hear lots of people crowding around and being asked constantly if I had pains in my chest, I didn't.

Eventually a Dr managed to convince me to open my eyes and ask me to follow his finger, immediately he was relieved to pronounce that it was vertigo and that the waiting anesthetist would not be required but that I would need to go for the CT scan anyway.

Obviously Amanda had given them some history about my fitness endeavors as they noted that my oxygen levels were showing as 86, the Dr made a comment that I should be in high 90's if I only had 1 lung working so the machine must be wrong! I could hear alarms going whenever I had that little clip thing on my finger, I would later find out that this was due to my pulse going below 50 which triggered the alarm! 1 nurse later that evening would resort to taking my pulse manually due to not believing the machine!

So I have had a pretty good checkup nothing wrong with my Head, Heart or Lungs just a dodgy inner ear!

Anyway this means that I need to take longer off before starting my training for Iron Man UK in Bolton in July which means that Andy King will probably beat me in that race now, I would have beaten him if I had managed to start my training straight after Henley, Honest!!

Challenge Henley

I think this is going to be the hardest write up I have ever done.

Ever since I started challenging myself to get fit I have always said no matter what I will finish the event. Well last weekend I didn't manage to finish Challenge Henley!

Things didn't start too well when on Friday trying to get my car ready to take my youngest son to his Nanny's where he was staying for the weekend, I tripped going out the front door and fell flat on my face jarring my shoulder.  By Saturday it didn't feel too bad and I thought I had got away with it.

So Saturday arrived and we travelled to Henley to register for the event,  rack the bikes and sort our different coloured bags out with the relevant kit.

All sorted, dinner eaten and checked into the hotel it was time to get some sleep!

Sunday arrived all too early! Porridge for breakfast and a cup of tea drunk it was time to head off to the start to meet up with Dave.

As we arrived at the start the Thames was covered in mist all looked very strange. A last minute check of red bag kit and the bikes complete it was time to don the wetsuits and await the start.

Due to the mist the start was delayed by 10 mins but then it was time to jump into the Thames and we were off.

The curse of The Outlaw returned and my breathing was all to pot again in the swim, I started following Dave but soon lost touch. It seemed like an age before the turn buoy arrived, at one point I thought I was getting close as I saw another swimmer going the other way but then realised they had a yellow hat on so was one of the pros! My shoulder started to hurt about 2 thirds of the way out to the turn giving twangs of pain every few strokes.

As soon as I rounded the buoy I was swamped by swimmers in green hats, the age groupers that had started 10 mins behind us!

With the mist over the water I could not see that much so had no idea how long it was to get back to the finish, eventually though I could hear the PA system so knew I was close. Arriving at the finish I was dragged onto the pontoon and on into transition.

A not so quick change and I was off on my bike. Amanda and Jennie cheered us on our way apparently I was only just behind Dave, according to the time sheets after I was only 45 seconds behind Dave at the end of the swim. He did take some more time out of me in the transition so I was just over a minute behind him starting the bike section.

I felt so much better starting the bike than I had at The Outlaw and was soon into my riding. After about 5 miles I had caught up with Dave and had a brief word as I went past, things were looking good.

Then the wheels started to come off, about 10 miles in and my shoulder flared up and was painful enough that I couldn't rest my weight on it as I rode. This pain lasted for a short while before easing off so I thought I would be ok.

Then about 20 miles the pain came back with a vengeance just as I saw Dave coming the other way, he asked if I was ok as I was riding with my arm down by my side, my response was "No"

I carried on resting my hand on my Tri-bars pad hoping the pain would relent like it had 10 miles earlier. As I reached the top of the road there was a right turn at which point I felt very dizzy. It was obvious that I would not be able to carry on and at the next junction I had to stop and lay down. 

The Marshall at the turn reported in that I was in need of medical assistance. Unfortunately the first car that arrived was on his way to a collision between 3 other riders. He stopped to give me a quick check over and ensure an ambulance was on its way to collect me.

The ambulance arrived and I was soon being checked over and transported back to the medical tent at the finish where I was checked again.

I have to say I could not have been looked after better the marshals and medical team were fantastic.

I kept a check on how Dave was doing on the website, it was great to see that he finished in a PB. I felt bad that I hadn't been able to stay to support him to the finish but I was under orders to rest as I looked a strange beige colour!

So now my attention turns to Ironman UK at Bolton next year, I am determined to sort out the problem I have with open water swimming!!

Cyclist Safety

Hi I have not posted anything recently mainly as my training has been a bit boring, I did fit in a swim last night to test out my new goggls for Challenge Henley at the weekend, hence my trip to work this morning was by train!

Travelling in by train gave me time to read an open letter to Laura Trott by Justin Shevlin.

Now I didn't see the article that he refers to so am not really qualified to comment on most of it. I do however have some issues with his response.

Laura is quoted as saying

“Cyclists wonder why they get a bad name. I see cyclists jumping in and out of the buses and people wonder why they get hit…..Cyclists need to help themselves and should not jump red lights. I would ride in London but I certainly wouldn’t ride like that, you just have to be careful. I can understand going down the outside of traffic but you should obey the rules of the road because we’re all road users”

Justin has an issue with this, thinking that it gives car drivers an excuse to think badly of all cyclists. Personally I agree with Laura on this quote, cyclists should obey the rules of the road and not jump red lights etc. Justin goes on to explain that he rode many miles around London including going through red lights. At this point he lost some credibility in my eyes. He goes on to ask is it just weaving if you are on a bike but overtaking if you are in a car, well no, you can overtake busses on a bike but I would suggest it becomes weaving when you go from overtaking one side to undertaking the other and back again without due care for other road users around you.

A quote from Justin is

"I know this wasn’t your intention, but today, as a direct result of what you said, cyclists on their morning commute would have felt more vulnerable and more at risk than they did on Friday morning."

We'll actually no I will not feel any more vulnerable on my cycle home tonight as a result of knowing of Laura's comments but I will as a result of Justin's and I will explain why.

Reading Laura's comments I find myself agreeing with the comments she makes, cyclists do need to help themselves, be aware of other road users around them and obey the rules of the road especially red lights.

Yes I agree with Justin that there is a minority of cyclists that do behave badly on the road but they will affect a drivers perception of all cyclists.  I like to think that I am not one of them, I obey red lights and am careful about how my riding affects other road users.

Justin's comments on the other hand seem to be aimed at excusing cyclists bad behaviour and suggest that as a cyclist there is no need for him to obey the rules. This attitude I feel will play into the hands of the frustrated drivers that he mentions. Now this may be me taking his comments the wrong way and not what he intended.

One comment of Justin's that I do agree with is with regards to the lack of comments about irresponsible drivers. In order to make London's roads safer ALL road users need to play nicely together and take some responsibility for each others safety.

This I believe can only happen if we all obey the rules of the road and don't have certain factions trying to make excuses or reasons for their own side to break the rules. I have heard comments along the lines of

"It is safer for me as a cyclist to jump a red light than wait with all the other traffic"

Now while they may believe this to be true the fact remains that cyclists jumping red lights is illegal, puts the cyclist in a position on the road that other road users don't expect them to be and gives drivers a reason to moan about all cyclists. 

However if, for example, there are junctions where it would be safer for cyclists to turn left on a red light, and I'm sure there probably are, then this needs proper planning including education of all road users to avoid the problems I mention above.

I read an article on the way home last night about lorries being fitted with safety equipment. Whilst I applaud any improvement to cyclist safety I did worry about the stats quoted. They suggested that the devices they were talking about would have saved 5 of 14 cyclist lives lost on the streets. Now I fully agree that these safety improvements are a great idea and if they even save 1 live they will be worth it but I feel it shows that there is still a lot more that needs doing to improve safety on our roads.

There will always be people of all modes of transport that complain about each other but I believe that the irresponsible road users of all manner are in a minority, I have met many polite car drivers on my rides.

I'm sure that just as Justin disagrees with Laura and I disagree with some of Justin's comments people will disagree with my point of view but hey wouldn't life be boring if we all had the same view!  One point of view that I hope we can all agree on though is that there is plenty that can and should be done to improve cyclist safety on our roads.

Throughout Laura's, Justin's and my own comments we have all views on what can be done to aid safety. There are many people and agencies who can assist with improving the saftey of cyclists on our roads and as I highlight above with regards to the lorries there is much to be done. There are also others who can throw obsticles in our way but ultimately there is only 1 person responsible for my saftey, given the current rules and limitations, as I ride to and from my London office!

Ride London 100

All the preparation had been done all that was left was to get to London with our bikes and check into the hotel to be ready for the big day.

My mate Dave picked me up in his van the bikes stowed in the back and we were off. We arrived at the hotel and it was immediately apparent that there was an issue. The guy behind the desk looked through some paperwork and then passed us onto his colleague. This guy was very apologetic when announcing that they had no twin rooms! He was quick to say that they would sort it and move is to a hotel just down the road. This new hotel was a higher price and parking had to be paid for but he went to great lengths to explain that they would pay any extra. He then gave us directions and a handful of cash to pay for the room at the new hotel and we were on our way!

So after some food and an early night the alarm went off stupidly early. Porridge and a banana was breakfast at 5am and then we were off to find our way to the Olympic park. It was quite obvious which way we should be going there was so many cyclists all going the same way.

When we got closer to the park we had to go our separate ways, Dave was at the Blue start and I was at the Black start.

Being part of team Skoda meant that I was lucky enough to have access to the hospitality tent at the start. I arrived and grabbed a coffee whilst overlooking the start line just as the first wave were being sent on their way.  Back to the tent for a bacon roll, I didn't think it was the best breakfast but who can resist a bacon roll at 6 in the morning? So as I was sat at my table with my roll a certain Laura Trott turned up and sat at the table next to me with a roll of her own so if it was good enough for her I shouldn't feel bad!

Skoda were heavily involved with the event and had lots of riders taking part in addition to our own team Skoda. This meant that there were lots of cameras around and interviews being done. I duly did mine worrying that I would say the wrong thing, still they can edit any bits out that they want to! One of the main things I was feeling at this point was a mixture of nerves and excitement, would my legs get up all the hills and would they last for 100 miles? Only one way to find out!

Our wave was called to the start pens but the film crew were still attaching a camera to one of the bikes and we had also not yet seen one of the team. As they finished attaching the camera our final team member arrived and we moved off to the start.

The start process all went very smoothly and we were away at our allocated time I was very impressed.

Having been a bit late to the start line we were at the back of the queue so we were going a bit quick on the 2 mile roll out to the official start. Unfortunately this meant team Skoda became fragmented. I had managed to stay with Chris and Seamus and we were rolling along quite nicely averaging about 20mph according to Chris' iPhone. A number of people were latching onto our wheels as we rotated round as a Skoda train!

All felt comfortable until just before we arrived at Newlands Corner. The other guys needed to stop to make use of one of the portaloos on the side of the road. As we started off again my saddle suddenly felt a lot harder than it had before but after a little while I was used to it again.

Then we hit Newlands Corner and it was obvious that I had left my climbing legs at home as the other two scampered off into the distance.  As I arrived at the top of the hill there they were waiting at the side of the road.  It was a similar story as we reached Leith Hill which is where we passed Boris. As we trundled on towards Box Hill I told the guys that my legs probably wouldn't keep up with them much longer.

I had the same issue on Box Hill although I did manage to keep pace with one on the team freespeed triathletes in her nice Virgin Active sponsored kit.  Once again as I hit the summit the guys were there waiting for me.  We started off again together but once again I lost touch a bit, I was hoping that they would just do their thing and not worry about where I was, they did.

A little while after I caught up with Dave, his start time was a bit in front of me. We had a quick chat and then I carried on, a little further on near Leatherhead another cyclist pulled up alongside and said hello, it was one of the people I had met at the Skoda training day at Milton Keynes we had a quick catch up and then he was on his way.

At Leatherhead I stopped at the hub which provided food, drinks and toilet facilities, having made use of all facilities I was on my way again. This brief stop gave me a bit of a second wind and I managed to catch a couple of wheels and took turns for a few miles. As we went through Kingston the barriers and the crowds gave the road a real atmosphere like being in a race it was fantastic.

The last 10 miles through London were amazing again I had managed to grab a wheel but this time it was all  I could do to hang on rather than take my turn on the front.

Then we turned the corner and rode under admiralty arch and on the Mall, what an experience, the crowds by the side of the road were amazing. Riding up those last few hundred metres was a fantastic experience, over the finish line and I had completed the 100 miles in 5hours 29minutes about half an hour quicker than I had hoped!

Having collected my medal, which is very impressive, my bag back from the lorry and my goodie bag I made my way back down into Green Park to find the Skoda tent. Having a few glasses of ice cold water I was just about ready to talk to the cameras again. I caught up with Chris and Seamus who had finished in a very impressive 5 hrs 7mins well done guys.

Just as I had finished my final interview with the camera crew Dave turned up so after a short rest it was time to find our way back to the hotel and onto home. Thames Clippers were putting on special boats, so we headed down to the pier and quite quickly were on board and away all very slick.

Ride London 100 has been an amazing experience but without so many people would not have been possible. Thanks must go to the following:

• Cycling Plus and Skoda without whom I would not have had the chance to take part.
• Skoda cycling for putting on the training rides before the event which taught me so much about riding in a group. Also for the hospitality at the start and finish areas we were very well looked after.
• Emma for the photo at the start.
• Stefan Wyman and his Matrix Fitness Racing Academy Team who were there on the training days for advice and support.
• Helen Wyman for lots of advice and also making me think about taking up cyclo cross again.
• Dave Hughes for getting me to and from the event, the logistics of this were no mean feat!
• Chris, Seamus, Hayley, Emma and Ben my team Skoda teammates for their support and encouragement over twitter leading up to the event.
• Special mention to Chris and Seamus  for waiting for me at the top of each hill!
• Jonathan Durling for his immense amount of work not just with us as team Skoda but for the event in general!
• And in general all the supporters, organisers and marshals who made the whole day possible!

Now I just need to get the training in for Challenge Henley next month!

www.virginmoneygiving.com/andrewfountain1

#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!!