4 amazing days in the Lake District

Well what an amazing 4 days I had in the Lake District, its such a beautiful place and we were blessed with amazing weather all weekend which isn't that common up in the Lakes.

Friday morning at 4am I headed up to the Lake District with Dave and John from the Cotswold Veljiden cycling club, we then later meet with 3 others from the club, Neil, Jimmy and Callum. We were staying in a hostel just outside Ambleside, this was a perfect location for riding bikes and running.

We left early to miss the traffic and it worked really well, we arrived by 9.30am and headed straight out on the bike by 10am. I was told we were only going for a nice easy flat ride just to stretch the legs ready for a tough day out on the bike Saturday. However was not the case, we ended up riding up the famous Struggle climb which was about 24 minutes of climbing at times over 20%. I did not think this was an easy ride, however I did enjoy it in a strange way.

Saturday morning we were up early and ready to go recce the Fred Whitton route as this was to see what the climbs were like for 3 weeks time when I try the complete the hardest event I have ever entered, the Ultra X Triathlon.

The Fred Whitton route was pretty tough, I thought when people said it was hard they might have been exaggerating, they were not. It was full of hills and super windy.

It has got to be the toughest bike route I have ever done, the climbs were steep and long, but the views made it worth it!

The only emotional moment was when climbing up Hardknot which reach up to 44%, this was where I couldn't pedal any longer and fell off my bike as the wind caught me. I wasn't the happiest of people when this happened and quite glad I was on my own as we had all split up going up the climb. I defiantly needed a moment on my own to pull myself together.

After 100 miles, 7 hrs and 10,646 feet of climbing, we all finished with a nice cold beer and a bbq.

It was an epic day out, can't wait to do it again in 3 weeks.......

Sunday I decided I wanted to try running/walking up to Scafell Pike to see what the run route was like for the triathlon. This again was tough, but enjoyable. It was very rocky, and some bits were very challenging however thats why I entered this race, I wanted a challenge. I have never tried running up a mountain before so wasn't sure what to expect, although I took all my emergency gear in my back pack I did not have a map which became quite interesting but I was lucky it was a busy day and there were plenty of walkers to bother. It was super windy up at the top of the mountain but so beautiful.

So after the run and enjoyed chilling out for the rest of the day, feeling so grateful that the weather was so lovely.

Monday on our last day we headed out on the bike for the last time, I thought this was going to be an easy 30 miles. 60 miles later after a hard few climbs and racing to the finish, training weekend was completed.

Before leaving to head back home we all decided we would go and jump into the waterfall that was just behind were we were staying, it was cold but so refreshing after the ride.

This had to be one of the best weekends away training I have ever had, there was never a dull moment with these guys, the only way it could have been better is if Trevor could have joined us.

I have learnt a lot this weekend and now have a good idea of what to expect for less than 3 weeks time.

Hope you all had a great bank holiday too!