I've put this off for too long. I had convinced myself that I would never be eloquent enough to write what I thought needed to be written about Nick. I've finally realised that others have expressed those words for me and the important thing now is to continue as Nick would have done which was always to give it 100% and find ways to push oneself even harder than last time.
For me this has manifested itself in my threshold training, I now do my 5 minute threshold intervals on Edge Hill. I had promised Nick that we would start doing several repeats of the Edge Hill ascent, 5 minutes up and 1 minute down and repeat. I'm now fulfilling that promise, I've done two sessions of 8 repeats in the last couple of weeks and I find solace in the thought that Nick would have enjoyed this session and the resulting bragging rights.
I raced the Victoria Park Criteriums last Saturday, this would have been Nick's first British Cycling Road Race. I rode the race as aggressively and as hard as I could albeit not the most tactical way. Nick would've seen my HR trace from the second race and would have seen it as a challenge to better it next time out (average 181bpm).
Nick's brother Chris is to join the team for the Maratona which is welcome news, I think he will enjoy it as much as his brother would have done.
Tuesday 27 March 2012
Friday 16 March 2012
Return to BCH
This week, we spent a few days back at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Kirsten was scheduled for cardiac catheterisation. On her last check up before Christmas, during the scan, the doctor found that Kirsten's pulmonary artery to her right lung was restrictive which was causing some back flow of the blood leaving her heart.
We had to get to the hospital for 8:00am which meant Kirsten had to have had her breakfast by 6:30am (she's normally asleep til 7:30). We then had to keep her happy until she was due to go for the procedure. Keeping a 15 month old happy when she's hungry and tired isn't easy, but, she seemed happy enough wandering up and down the ward until it was time for her operation (she certainly entertained the staff).
She went down to theatre at 2:00pm. I have to say, having her sitting on my lap while she was given gas to put her to sleep was a bit more difficult then her just having the drugs through a cannula like last time. We were told the operation would take one and a half to two hours, but in the end it took closer to three hours for her to come back from theatre. It turned out that the procedure was a bit more complicated than had been expected as they had to put a stent in her pulmonary artery and use a balloon to dilate the branch to the right lung.
Unfortunately, Kirsten will now need another procedure when she is about double her current weight to adjust the stent.
By 10:00 the following morning, Kirsten was wandering up and down the ward again as if she had had nothing done. We were back home by 4:00 the afternoon following her operation.
We can't fault the care of the staff at BCH. Kirsten was well looked after and many of the staff remembered us from our previous visit. It was nice to see so many friendly faces.
We had to get to the hospital for 8:00am which meant Kirsten had to have had her breakfast by 6:30am (she's normally asleep til 7:30). We then had to keep her happy until she was due to go for the procedure. Keeping a 15 month old happy when she's hungry and tired isn't easy, but, she seemed happy enough wandering up and down the ward until it was time for her operation (she certainly entertained the staff).
She went down to theatre at 2:00pm. I have to say, having her sitting on my lap while she was given gas to put her to sleep was a bit more difficult then her just having the drugs through a cannula like last time. We were told the operation would take one and a half to two hours, but in the end it took closer to three hours for her to come back from theatre. It turned out that the procedure was a bit more complicated than had been expected as they had to put a stent in her pulmonary artery and use a balloon to dilate the branch to the right lung.
Unfortunately, Kirsten will now need another procedure when she is about double her current weight to adjust the stent.
By 10:00 the following morning, Kirsten was wandering up and down the ward again as if she had had nothing done. We were back home by 4:00 the afternoon following her operation.
We can't fault the care of the staff at BCH. Kirsten was well looked after and many of the staff remembered us from our previous visit. It was nice to see so many friendly faces.
Monday 12 March 2012
Difficult Times
There is a saying that God only tests the strong. Now, I'm not really religious, but, this does sound a bit petty. Having said this, clearly the team is strong, because we have all been tested over the last few weeks.
From the previous posts you can see that our training has been going pretty well, with some good progress from the team. We've also been progressing our fundraising ideas and firming up the logistics for the Maratona in July. Team spirit was high.
Unfortunately, this wasn't to last. On Friday the 24th February, after a team meal on the Thursday night, Steve phoned me with some bad news, our friend and team mate Nick had passed away. The next few days were very difficult as we all struggled to come to terms with Nick's untimely passing. Over the last few weeks we have dealt with this loss in different ways, but, in general we have all used it as a motivator for training and improving our Strava segment times during our unstructured rides, just the way Nick would.
Nick was a great bloke and a good friend and if he was reading this he'd be sure to be taking the mickey out of me for being a wimp, so enough of this emotional guff.
As a team we had always planned to ride the Mad March Hare sportive on the 4th March as a gentle introduction to sportives, well at least that was how Steve was selling it. The week running up to the event had nice weather and was looking good for the Sunday ride. Unfortunately, on the Sunday morning it was cold and wet, but, we decided to carry on regardless (it's what Nick would have wanted).
We set off as a team into the Worcestershire countryside and, even though it was cold and wet, we were all enjoying the ride. Half way through the ride, though, it started to get tougher. As we approached the major climb on the route the temperature dropped, then Simon's chain broke, then just to add insult to injury it started to snow. By this point we had become split up. I stopped at the feed station after the climb to wait for Simon and Mark. At this point, I wasn't able to remove my gloves as they were so wet I knew I wouldn't get them back on again. After a five minute wait and, as I started to shiver, I had to carry on on my own through the snow and wind - my Garmin was reading 2°C at this point. For the next 30 miles or so the ride was a battle of mind over body. There were a number of occasions when I considered turning off the route and heading for home, but, in the end I stuck it out to the end.
By the time I arrived at the finish, I no longer had enough control over my left hand to shift gears. However, as luck would have it, my legs were so cold I couldn't turn the larger gears anyway. It took over an hour to fully regain the feeling in my fingers so that I could actually pick things up properly.
We all completed the course and out of 500 people who signed up and the 180 who took part we all got respectable finishing positions. Simon and Mark had an especially tough time, as towards the end they made a wrong turn, which, not only meant they had extra distance to cover, but, also another hill to climb. Add on top of this that Simon's chain broke again and Mark pushed him the final mile to the finish.
Our first team fray into sportives, while not the most enjoyable, taught us a valuable lesson. We now all know how to suffer and we clearly have the mental strength required to complete the Maratona.
From the previous posts you can see that our training has been going pretty well, with some good progress from the team. We've also been progressing our fundraising ideas and firming up the logistics for the Maratona in July. Team spirit was high.
Unfortunately, this wasn't to last. On Friday the 24th February, after a team meal on the Thursday night, Steve phoned me with some bad news, our friend and team mate Nick had passed away. The next few days were very difficult as we all struggled to come to terms with Nick's untimely passing. Over the last few weeks we have dealt with this loss in different ways, but, in general we have all used it as a motivator for training and improving our Strava segment times during our unstructured rides, just the way Nick would.
Nick was a great bloke and a good friend and if he was reading this he'd be sure to be taking the mickey out of me for being a wimp, so enough of this emotional guff.
As a team we had always planned to ride the Mad March Hare sportive on the 4th March as a gentle introduction to sportives, well at least that was how Steve was selling it. The week running up to the event had nice weather and was looking good for the Sunday ride. Unfortunately, on the Sunday morning it was cold and wet, but, we decided to carry on regardless (it's what Nick would have wanted).
We set off as a team into the Worcestershire countryside and, even though it was cold and wet, we were all enjoying the ride. Half way through the ride, though, it started to get tougher. As we approached the major climb on the route the temperature dropped, then Simon's chain broke, then just to add insult to injury it started to snow. By this point we had become split up. I stopped at the feed station after the climb to wait for Simon and Mark. At this point, I wasn't able to remove my gloves as they were so wet I knew I wouldn't get them back on again. After a five minute wait and, as I started to shiver, I had to carry on on my own through the snow and wind - my Garmin was reading 2°C at this point. For the next 30 miles or so the ride was a battle of mind over body. There were a number of occasions when I considered turning off the route and heading for home, but, in the end I stuck it out to the end.
By the time I arrived at the finish, I no longer had enough control over my left hand to shift gears. However, as luck would have it, my legs were so cold I couldn't turn the larger gears anyway. It took over an hour to fully regain the feeling in my fingers so that I could actually pick things up properly.
We all completed the course and out of 500 people who signed up and the 180 who took part we all got respectable finishing positions. Simon and Mark had an especially tough time, as towards the end they made a wrong turn, which, not only meant they had extra distance to cover, but, also another hill to climb. Add on top of this that Simon's chain broke again and Mark pushed him the final mile to the finish.
Our first team fray into sportives, while not the most enjoyable, taught us a valuable lesson. We now all know how to suffer and we clearly have the mental strength required to complete the Maratona.
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