Wednesday, May 25, 2011

In Bruges

Well, I am.  And Belgium is not hugely conducive to training.  The beer, the chocolate, the frites...not to mention the kamakaze cyclists trying to kill me, the swans and themselves, and the nastiest street cobbles yet (I really should wear sturdier shoes, my feet are so sore!).

But rest easy, Icelandic Volcanoes permitting, I will be making my home on the weekend, hanging out to get home and back into proper training.

Until then,
love
Ironmaiden

Friday, May 20, 2011

Strasbourg, Switzerland and knees...

Hello!

Sorry, it has been a wee while, but I've been exploring the world in which I live.  And enjoying the spring sunshine but lets not go on and on about that.  Too much more.  But it is just so nice...

Anyway, I did my 10k race in Strasbourg - I say race, I mean wheezy shuffle, successfully. I was not (quite) last, and I enjoyed the experience.  Lots of French people lined the street calling out encouraging things in French that I couldn't understand (I suppose some of them may have been saying "You look like your are going to collapse, you should stop!", but I couldn't tell the difference). It was very amusing to hear the very excitable French commentator call my name as I galloped (shuffled) towards the finish line.  Strasbourg is a very beautiful city and well worth visiting.

I have to say recovery for my old bones was fairly slow, I've just spent the last three days in Switzerland with Juliane who looked after me magnificently.  Training took a back seat while I soaked up Swiss ( and French) sunshine, cheese and chocolate.  I promise I still got lots of incidental exercise as I wandered the streets of cosmopolitan Geneva and its more picturesque medieval neighbours.


I went for a run this morning though, and feel terrific for it.

Enough for now!  I'll post a photo when I figure out how.
A bientot
Bisous
Fer Mademoiselle

Thursday, May 12, 2011

La Piscine Olympique

Bon jour à tous

France is treating me very well indeed - perhaps a little too well?  Either gravity exerts a stronger force here or I have been a little too eager in my patronage of the local fromagerie et boulangerie.

My hosts, Sarah and Matt, have landed themselves in a fabulous part of the country, and turned on some superb spring weather for me (including a dramatic thunderstorm early this morning that I diligently slept through).

My coach has emailed me to "remind me" of my goals for March, so cheese, pastries and bread cannot completely dominate my attention.  I've been for a couple of runs, no easy task on ruggedly cobbled streets (dodging the traffic that insists on coming from the wrong direction), and this morning I ventured to the other side of town for a swim in Dijon's very new, very impressive olympic swimming pool.  I was so impressed I left them my watch to remember me by.  Opps.  Don't worry, I have a spare.  My arms had the jetlag so it as like trying to swim with two pieces of over cooked spaghetti dangling off my shoulders, but the beauty of an olympic pool is that you do seem to clock up the ks quite easily.

So there you are - my training perhaps isn't as focussed as it was, but it does continue.

Sarah and I are off to Strasbourg in the morning, we have a 10km race there, then she has convinced, me we should enter another here in Dijon the following weekend.  So it will be good to have a couple of events under my belt.

A bientot,
bisousFer madamoiselle


 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Au revoir!

My last blog from these fair shores for a few weeks!  But don't worry, I'll be back!

I'm off to visit friends in the Old World for a little holiday.  The weather forecast is looking good and to be honest I am excited about a little bit of time off.

My training is continuing, I am resting my sore calf muscle but it is feeling really good now, so I am looking forward to doing some running again.

My first event of the Ironmaiden Campaign will be a 10k "foot race" in Strasbourg, France.  Or somewhere near there.  I just really hope the course is easy to follow, I am not so good at understanding directions in French!

I'll let you know how I get on, there might even be photos!  Hopefully I will also be able to find a swimming pool to train in from time to time as well.

Stay cool till after school!

love
Ironmaiden