The last few days have been pretty active. On Friday I managed to get to the gym to start the Triathlon Challenge they've been running. I decided to opt for the sprint distance as I only had a week in which to complete it and also I didn't want to put too much strain on my legs by running too far. I thought I'd only do half that evening but by the time I reached 10km on the bike I was still feeling like I had a lot in the tank so I just carried on, and then it seemed silly not to do the run so I did that too. Basically I did the whole thing in one evening without collapsing, although I did become very aware of a pulling in my knee so was glad to stop.
On Saturday Rich, Shruti and I set off for Snowdonia. We were camping at the very beautiful and rather empty
Cwellyn Arms Campsite, near the foot of the mountain over looking a lake. If I were to go back to trek other peaks I'd definitely consider going back. Plus points included a proper wooden walkway through the site, trolleys to ferry your stuff to and from the cars and fire pits and picnic tables. A shortish walk gets you to the pub and a short drive gets you to Beddgelert which has a modest selection of eateries including a cafe that does a great cooked breakfast. We loaded up with one of these before setting off. We tackled the Rhyd-Ddu route up and the Ranger path coming back down. A good circular route with amazing views. It was extremely windy and I did fear that we might get blown off the ridge but we made it and warmed up with tea at the top. Rich is certainly getting the walking bug which is great as I've go someone else to call on when I want some company. And he's not just interested in the peaks.
Last night I dragged myself over to Swinley Forest again to go biking with the boys. I was struggling to keep up more than last time and to my relief this was attributable to my soft tires rather than power or general ability. We flagged down a passing cyclist from Birmingham who loaned us a pump and then we were off. It was much busier over there this time and we followed a few groups of fellow MTBers onto some great singletrack that we'd managed to completely pass by before. No one fell off and we started to feel a bit more like proper MTBers rather than complete novices. It was fantastic fun, tackling things I'd previously have never dreamed of, spotting a deer, claiming "our" log for a break, and I can't wait to get out there again next week. I even managed to cycle up some of the hills that the lads couldn't! My poor bike will be getting some TLC at the weekend.
This morning I had my Physio appointment with Neil. I 'fessed up to all the stuff I'd been doing but as I've been managing to keep up with the exercises he was pretty happy with my progress. He reckons there's at least another 6 weeks of treatment to be done though. After causing me significant pain (before 8.30am! it's just not fair) by "releasing" certain muscles he chatted about holidays in the Alps, mountainbiking, hiking, parkour and luge whilst using ultrasound on my knee. He really shouldn't give me ideas... Anyway it's back again in two weeks time. And he was very pleased with the chocolate courgette cake recipe :)
