Alcohol free alternatives

I still like the actual taste of lager or ale and have tried many alcohol free alternatives. Ones you can drink in company, in a bar or at home with friends round. The following are in my opinion the best of the bunch so far

Bavaria
By far my favourite lager. They also do a wheat beer which is equally nice. Very inexpensive at £2.99 for 6 bottles/cans.

Becks Blue Price average £3 for 6
Becks blue is a lager and is very refreshing especially when freezing cold..hits the spot on a hot summers day !!

Bernard ale 99p per bottle available in Tesco...havent found it elsewhere yet.

Lee loves a cider and these are his two favourites
Sainsburys £1.09 a bottle
This says low alcohol at 0.5% still less that a shandy bass.

Westons cider...£1.20 a bottle from Morrisons.
A very tasty cider..tastes just like the real thing !

Entering into the world of clip on shoes !

Well I decided I needed to invest in a pair of clip on shoes, my feet keep bouncing out of my toe clips and my feet are so cold in my trainers.Also I have just entered my first sportive...the Cheshire cat 45 miler. I'm sure this set up will be beneficial and enhance my training.
Went to JE James today and got the best customer service I have ever had. The guy knew everything there was to know and spent ages with me going through all my various options, which shoes fit which cleats and which pedals... and on and on it went...so much choice. I tried on a few shoes and finally plumped for a pair of Shimano RO85. There were more cleat options with this shoe, with the other types I was limited to a much more expensive pedal/cleat. The pedals I went for are shimano M520 SPD. They are actually listed as mountain bike pedals but are aparently used just as much by road cyclists. They are fairly light too at 380g a pair, you can pay up to 4 times as much to gain just 50g (not of too much importance to me at this stage) One thing I really liked is that you can clip onto either side of the pedal which I thought would be useful, theres also lots of tension ajustment !
I was telling the guy in the shop how much I suffered from cold feet...he said wait there...and scurried off to fetch me something. He brought me a pair of socks that he swore by ..they are called seal skinz,(www.sealskinz.com)windproof and waterproof socks that he said he wouldn't go out without. I must admit they were very expensive but to me worth every penny if they do the trick...I will let you know !!

Follow up......

Pleased to say I have just had a trial run and they were fab(not tried the socks yet) pedalling felt much better and clipping on and off wasn't nearly as scary as expected.

About me 2010

I have always hated to run declaring that I couldnt do it, which to be fair, I couldnt. However spurred on by my Brother who seems to get stronger all the time, not only with running but also cycling and swimming, I think I am at last improving. I have been running on and off for a few years and after entering a 10k in Dronfield 2009 and getting a time or 1.06 I finally decided I was indeed rubbish and needed to train harder.
I have been running more regularly including plenty of hill work. I intend to start a little speed training incorporated into my normal runs. It all seems to be paying off after just finishing reasonably well in a 10k race in Chatsworth. To keep be motivated I have now entered the York 10k in Aug and the Robin Hood in October. Watch this space !
My goal is to complete a 10k...any 10k... with a sub 50 time...I wont stop pushing until I acheive this.

Bolsover 10k 23rd Jan 2011

Well.... race done ! Really enjoyable event starting and finishing in Bolsover castle. The course description was "a flat route" not strictly true there were a few long inclines but nothing too tough ! I missed my PB with a time of 52.16 by only 36 seconds but considering the York route which I obtained it on was a flat route then I'm really pleased with my time. Lee did exceptionally well too as with no running prep he finished unscathed in 59.26.
All in all a good race ! Great T shirts at the end too as shown on image :-)


Next event is Clumber Park duathlon on March 5th...need to get out on my bike !

New Year...New goals

Had a good 2010 training wise. Enjoyed the 10k's I entered many of which I aim to do again this year.
Race calender for 2011 is as follows

Jan 23rd Bolsover 10k (completed 52.16)
March 5th Clumber park duathlon sprint.
March 20th Dronfield 10k(would LOVE a PB but no chance lol)
March 27th Cheshire cat sportive 45 miles
April 3rd Derby 10k
May 1st Southwell tri sprint (scared !!)
May 22nd Chatsworth 10k
July 31st York 10k
Oct 16th Robin hood 10k

Need to get some serious swimming in and more on the bike . If poss would love to do an easyish sportife...if not a couple more trips to Jens in Macclesfield or out and about in the peaks...fun fun fun !

Next big focus is my first duathlon in March followed by the tradition of Dronfield 10k.

Looking forward to my first triathlon in May and hoping Lee and Sis Em enter too.

Robin Hood 10k October 10th 2010

Robin Hood 10k in Sherwood Forest Notts. You couldnt really get a nicer location than this, its a trail run within the forest. The 10k is 2 loops the 5k race is run at the same time and they just do one loop. It was quite strange doing the same loop twice..it made the race feel longer somehow. Nice place for a picnic too afterwards.
My time was 54.16 not too bad considering the stitch that plagued me again