Swings and roundabouts

Swings and roundabouts

It's been a busy few weeks. Not busy like a bee trying to pollenate as many sprouting flowers as possible. Busy like a jumbled children's play pen, full of plastic balls with no end in sight. Every time one thing is completed, another is behind the next door to replace it.

That said, this is typically the time of year that I try to complete everything I missed last summer. My wife has taken over the busy schedule with school and work, whilst training has backed off considerably. A backing off on the energy output similar to a tree's leaves turning a shade of yellow, bowing out for the winter. A part of the beautiful and colourful Minnesota autumn that I enjoy the most. Short, picturesque runs through the parkways and around the calm, cooling water of the lakes. In particular, one of my favourite events of the year, Twin Cities Marathon weekend. Sunday comprises of the marathon and 10 mile races. This year was the turn of the 10 mile, having completed the colour filled marathon last year. As is the norm, a gentle run was unlikely to be the result, with Napoleon also competing. As is also the norm, he snuck ahead of me to finish an agressive 1hr 15min 10 mile, with me closing in a mere 3 minutes behind the Frenchman. Although, thanks to our never ending competitive spirit, my pace was upped considerably and my PR was matched at the end of the day. My proudest moment of the weekend, however, came with my wife finishing off the 10miles, with very little training, in a mere 1hr40mins. Not stopping once along the way, A great achievement!

The coming winter months will bring the passing of the leaves to the street gutter and the first snow of winter. Better fuel up the snow blower! What shall also begin will be the sweaty basement rides and chilly runs through and around the snow filled lakes. Something that should help with distracting me from the frost developing on my eye brows will be my new gadgets. I do like a good gagdet! The first addition of the autumn was my new TomTom Multisport watch. So far it's still in it's infancy, but the first impressions are really positive. My poor old Garmin 405 was showing the signs of age, clocking my HR at 252 at speeds of 200mph. A sign that my Hammer nutrition as working really well or a change was needed, and Tomtom stepped in with the best and most intriguing deal. Next up, are the Jabra bluetooth sport headset, currently awaiting me when I land in MSP in 3 hours. Looking forward to taking them out for a test run tonight. Hopefully I can persuade Mrs P to come along for the casual trot under the falling leaves.

In addition to all this fun and relaxing, we hope to add cross country skies and snow shoes to our list of goodies. Minnesota has a fantastic culture of winter sports and it would be a fantastic cross training experience if could get everything together before the first big storm of the year. Looking forward to changing the landscape a little with skiing and my other cross training in Rowsculpt. Same class I had taken part in during last year's off season, hoping to strengthen up the old body before next year's iron season begins and I start staring down the barrel at Boulder.

Good luck to us all