Reflection and future view

As I reflect on the main event of last week, the horrendous weather and early finish to the Velo29 Tour of the Pennines, I had to pick myself up and get back into training.

Usually, races and events are on Sundays to take advantage of the quieter roads, but this was a Saturday, so I decided to meet the runners at the club Monday night and go for a run. There was only one turn up and this is the new norm since lockdown, runners have got used to training on their own, we hope more will come back soon.

I made a hilly route, not the ideal after going through what I did but wanted to push myself a little and other runners are training as well, we merged with the top group to make the numbers up and that helps push us along a little too.

It was a good pace all things considered and overall managed 8.9 miles at 8:12 pace.

On Thursday I chose a mostly flat route, my legs were tired, and my left hamstring seems to be lingering with a niggle, Owen who ran with me is only just back from injury so the pair of us set off with a little trepidation and headed off towards Middleton. 

Being in Oldham you are never far from a hill, so if you want to have a flat route, you best head towards Manchester, we had a real good natter and he was talking marathons, having never made it to the start line he is reticent about this and stated he probably never will do one. I talked to him as best I could at the pace we were doing and assured him he could, he worries about the commitment of training, which is huge for a marathon!

I will speak with him over the next few weeks, trying to get in any running event is tough with what's been going on and it may take some time for things to settle.

This put me back into my own thoughts of my training plan for the rest of the year, there are still 3 big events I am trying to complete, raising money for SarcoidosisUK and the next one is a week away now.

On the 23rd of May, I attempt the medium route of the Tour of the Peaks, a beautiful route but gruesome with two huge climbs. Winnats Pass is steep but I don't mind as long as it is constant with sudden 20% spikes, they sap me!

The second KOM (King of the Mountain) is the Cat and Fiddle, this is a hill that takes you out of Macclesfield and there is a pub called the "Cat and Fiddle" which gives its name to the ascent, not that I will have the time nor inclination to stop for a pint!

The route itself is hilly and this will my biggest cycling challenge to date, I have done longer rides but on very flat routes.

I hope very much to finish the event, in the last few miles, you pass through Youlgreave, which I recently discovered that my 3 times great grandmother was born there in 1807 (Family History is a passion of mine) so just an extra motivator to pass through it.

My training is a bit hit and miss so took a few days off and on Sunday we visited Moel Famau in North Wakes for a walk up the mountain, I love the ascent up through the trees and the views from the peak are stunning

In the evening I set the bike up on the turbo and did a favourite session in Zwift, there is nothing now I can do to get my legs ready for next Sunday's Tour of the Peaks, there is a simple notion that it is 3 weeks before you see any adaption from a tough session. So for the week ahead, I will use the turbo to just keep my fitness ticking over and be ready. 

So my challenge now is to plan my training to get the graph to smoothly show an increase in fitness until the Manchester Marathon in October!

I am nearly at 50% of my target to raise £500 for SarcoidosisUK, if you can donate please visit

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Thank you for reading, keep safe

Mark

VELO29 TOUR OF THE PENNINES 2021

It was Saturday 8th May 2021, the 5am alarm rang out and a grumpy Mark Kelly was struggling to get up, all the prep had been done for the day, just get dressed, load the car and head off!

Easier said than done, but we set off on time at 6am and headed North to Barnard Castle for the Velo29 Tour of the Pennines, the forecast was for light rain till 10am and then moderate with about 14mph wind, gusts at about 25mph for the rest of the day.

If I was quick enough I could do the medium 41-mile route and be back before the worst of it,  I had the option of the long route as that was what I paid for and had decided to see hows things went as I got to Stanhope for the feed station. 

My start time was 08:21 and had a few minutes to spare so got an expresso for a caffeine hit and rolled to the start.

Getting ready for the off

I am trying to raise money for SarcoidosisUK so even though the weather not suited to cycling I soldiered on and in the picture above you can see the screen giving the time, this is important now as to be Covid Secure riders go off in groups of 6, once every minute, this way you can't miss your time slot!

After the cycling is done, various cycling events are shown, on this occasion, it was a Zwift event and I can tell you after what I went through, I would have been better off on the turbo trainer!

The route is full of hills and up I think the second hill before the feed station, these photos show how steep they can be...

My Garmin Varia RTL515 which is a radar and light, came into its own today as you need as much notice as possible a car is coming, on the bike computer I see how ar the car is relative to me if the car is going very fast my bike computer goes red, the light on the back also goes very bright and flashes more.

By this stage I was wet and a little cold but soon after the deluge started and the wind picked up, what goes up must come down, the side winds and wet roads are a nightmare and I was starting to hate being out.

I arrived at Stanhope, sodden, freezing and miserable, I struggled to eat and get my soaking "deep winter" gloves back on, the next photo shows the best pose I could muster.

I spoke to some of the other riders and all now seemed to be heading back via the medium route, it is here the long route riders head north and the medium head south, straight to Unthank Bank.
I could only get a few fingers into the gloves so made changing gears and braking a little bit harder, I trudged and made my way up the hill I would rather never go up again!

The blue line is the segment, if you look on the gradient plot, there seems to be a step, this is a very steep switchback, which is super hard to get speed up for, turn the wheels and power back straight on. "Do Not try this at home" should be painted onto the floor!

It was soon after this the slow fell, then horizontal sleet, at times I could not see and the snow was hitting my eyeballs, glasses are no use. there is a steep descent and the brakes were useless, at one point I was only able to continue following the tail light f the ride in front.

I was frozen, couldn't see, the gloves were doing more harm than good, I dug deep and prepared for the next climb up over Bollihope Common. The snow and sleet were getting worse and at times I could not tell what speed I was doing, the last segment I managed is named "B6278 Climb" how these guys do in 5 minutes beggars belief and to be fair I cannot remember doing it, as I reached the top, I staggered to a halt, the bike fell from underneath me and my legs cramped up.

Somewhere on the common, this photo was taken, it shows the blizzard, grit and determination and a wonderful beard, which would have been handy to keep my face warm

Riders stopped to help me and it seemed almost immediate, that the Velo29 support van arrived, the bike was bundled into the back, make into the front. The van itself had around 9 people in it so very cosy. 

At this point, I was going hyperthermic and they assisted in getting my wet stuff off, a foil blanket over me and getting food and drink down me, my fingers and lips were blue. One of the riders was a paramedic and took care of me, when the actual paramedic got in the van, he tried to take my oxygen levels, but the oximeter could not work as my fingers were too cold.

The van took off and we picked up more people on the way back to the event HQ, I have never been so cold in my life and it took an age for my shivering and teeth chattering to stop.

When my bike crashed to the floor, the bike computer detected it and it sent an alert to my wife, who was parked up back at Barnard Castle, she could not reach me (the bike and phone being in the bike with other bikes all over it) so unbeknownst to me, she was driving to the GPS co-ordinates looking for me. 

As soon as we got back I got my phone and rang her, we got back to the car and headed home, I felt so ill, upset she had worried and headed out looking for me, it was a sombre and emotional drive back.

I got all my wet stuff off me and climbed into bed to warm up and recover from the physical and mental distress that nearly wrecked me, vowing myself, never to get back on a bike ever!

On Sunday I got the bike and all my gear washed, somewhat reticent of the day before and will get back training and ready for the next challenge on the 23rd May, Tour of the peaks, 61 miles of much the same hills, no offence if the weather is not forecast "good" then I will do something else to challenge me, maybe long run!

If you can sponsor me, you would be helping the wonderful charity SarcoidosisUK and give me a boost to continue!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Keep safe all and a huge thanks to Velo29 and Ryan for getting me back.

Mark

Nutrition made simple

With one week to go till my first big challenge and fundraising event, it has been days with setbacks and a cutback in training.

This week I had planned mostly to talk about nutrition and specifically the energy bars I make and eat all the time, they are great tasting granola bars but jampacked with extra goodness.

What's best is they are homemade, quick n' easy, organic (where I can find it) and store in the fridge for a few days, except the family also eat them, my wife to sustain her through a 13.5 nurse shift, the kids to counter the chocolate rubbish they like so never last long.

So as I take you through the making process I will call out the nutritional benefits, not just for people doing exercise but anyone suffering pain in joints but mainly my Sarcoidosis family, who get awful pains absolutely anywhere in the body!

A great deal of the ingredients are anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant which you should look to incorporate anywhere in your cooking! This article at Healthline.com will give you a better explanation than I will attempt, I reference this website many times!

I am in no way linked to the website other than signposting, other resources are available, I am just being lazy and they talk good sense!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/anti-inflammatory-herbs

Now the amounts of each ingredient can be up to you and I typically use what I have to hand but the core Ingredients, the links will take you to a specific article that gives you more detail.

A wide variety of ingredients

    

    

Granola (2 Cups) - Makes the base for the bars

Walnuts (Chopped and about 85g) - very good for you and anti-oxidant

Honey (3 tablespoons). - Adds sweetness and much better than refined sugar

Orange Zest and juice (orange) - The orange makes the bars yummy and Vitamin C loaded

Eggs (2 medium) - used to bind the ingredients

Rapeseed Oil  (splash) - helps keep the moisture and bake to perfection

The following I add, again with whats ever in the cupboard but will put my favourites to the top

Flaxseed - I add this at the end, the health benefits are superb, to say the least, also add to thicken the mixture so that's why I put in last.

Gogi Berries - an anti-oxidant, taste best to me when cooked!

Blueberries - Sweet delicious and super anti-oxidant 

Raisins - Sweeten the recipe and moist, also anti-oxidant 

Hemp Hearts - Incredibly nutritious 

Ginger - This has been used in medicine for thousands of years nuff said!

Turmeric - Your biggest friend in the anti-inflammatory space (I take two super loaded tablets a day)

Chia Seeds - Put these in porridge, sprinkle over cereal, invisible in the bars, great anti-oxidant

Cinnamon - anti-oxidant on another scale and adds a bit of flavour

Black Pepper/ Cayenne Pepper  - Now black pepper is proven to help you absorb the likes of turmeric in bucket loads, it's whether you like a kick to your bars... Now Cayenne is a favourite of mine I have Psoriasis and this is pepper is shown to reduce the inflammation 

Dark Chocolate/ Cacao Powder - If you like a chocolate taste, then either use chopped (up as high % dark chocolate you can find) or Cacao Powder, which can make the bars a bit bitter... though!

Now onto the method

1) Preheat the oven to 190°C  (375°F) 

2) Line an 8-inch square baking tin with greaseproof paper and lightly coat it with rapeseed oil.

3) Chop Walnuts into small pieces add to a plastic bag

Chop the walnuts as small as you can

2) Add granola to the plastic bag, Smash and roll the granola and nuts into smaller pieces, add the contents of the bag to the mixing bowl

Smash and roll the contents of the bag

Empty the content into the bowl

5) Chop Goji Berries and add to bowl

6) Chop Raisins and add to bowl

7) Add to bowl any ingredients you fancy from the list above

8) Mix two Eggs in a separate bowl, then add to the mixing bowl

9) Add zest and juice of an orange

Use a grater to get the zest and squeeze the juice

10) Add honey

11) add a splash of rapeseed oil

12 mix thoroughly with a fork

13) check consistency, if too sloppy add flaxseed as it quickly thickens and you can never have too much flaxseed

14) slop out onto a greaseproofed tray (lined with rapeseed oil) 

15) flatten and shape the mixture with a spatula

Prepped for the oven

16) pop into the pre-heated 190c oven for 12 minutes

17) allow the bars to cool for at least an hour before cutting into 10/12 bars

18) package in thin foil or airtight Tupperware and store in the fridge.

Wrapped in foil, two bars to a pack!

As for the training this week, 3 days in bed and not so good until Sunday when I did a 9-mile run which went well, nice to be out after an enforced break!

Hopefully, I can get some more running in this week Saturday will be an early start, as will have to set off at around 5am and though I haven't been able to cycle much my running should keep the fitness there!

If you can sponsor me at all, SarcoidosisUK needs all the support it can get, the link is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Keep running and keep safe!

Mark