The kids are back to school, work as calmed down a little, so we can get back into some kind of routine. We have an  Arctic team meeting scheduled in the diary with Jock on 10th Oct. His message was “The hard work starts now – the focus is getting to the pole!” Not sure how I am going to fit in more training, especially with the nights and the mornings drawing in. I am already doing my morning walk in the dark! One solution is to start  some pool training …. I did pick up a timetable today!

My last gym session with Tommy was rubbish (not the training – my performance!) In a fit of enthusiasm the day before my training I tried to do pull ups on the door bar as soon as I jumped out of bed … big mistake, I pulled / tore the muscles under my arm. This meant that I couldn’t control any pull downs either with my body weight or on the weight machine. Very frustrating. The boys now do pull ups at home with a ruck sack on their back with weights in … I am sure we women aren’t designed to lift our own body-weight, well not once we get into our forties!

We had a lovely end of summer catching up with the Ridley’s in Plymouth; we got the full local experience! Surfing at Watergate beach in Cornwall, walking up the Tors in Devon (well one of them!), sailing in Plymouth Sound, and walking along the cliffs at Membury

On Top of A Tor

So this week the focus is more effort. I pulled the tyre last night, Pilate’s starts again tomorrow morning, and I have the chance to do better in gym tomorrow afternoon. I have a looong walk next weekend. Fifty miles in 20 hours  – The Sussex Stride on the very hilly South Downs. I did a marathon on the South Downs earlier this year, and that was very tough…. walking through the night is another challenge altogether!

Sailing in Plymouth Sound