Time to up the training

With only 6 weeks until we embark on Endto3PeaksEnd, I was very aware last week that I need to be training longer and harder.  And with Row Zambezi following on just 12 weeks after that, my fitness needs to be pretty good all round.  So this morning saw me peddling my heart out towards Windsor, doing a 45 mile round trip, aiming at an average 14 miles per hour.  As most days we are hoping to do an average of around 80 miles, it was good to test whether I thought we would be able to get 50 under our belts before lunch!  Food is obviously always uppermost in my mind, and planning anything has to take this into account.
Luckily Tim, who I do my cycle training with, is like-minded, so we tend to cycle towards a great cafe (about 25 miles away from home) then, after a cuppa and cake, cycle home a different route.  Last week we did the famous Box Hill climb - I was very amused to see all the 'bikers' (as in, those with motor bikes) stay at the bottom of the hill, yet those with only peddle power cycle to the top for their refreshment stop!
This week our pit-stop was Fairoaks Airport, a real find in the middle of no-where, but obviously known to a number of cyclists.  We decided the cakes were not up to the standard of Box Hill, but the fried breakfast looked amazing (or maybe it was just that we had just cycled 25 miles and were starving!).
Next week I will be training hard in Seville, Spain, so there will be no cakes at all (not sure I will last the week without sneaking into the centre between training sessions to buy something naughty!).
As the weekend has been so gorgeous weather-wise, I made a summery lunch of Panzanella, and for the first time this year, ate in the garden.

I had this in Italy last year when I was visiting the Italian boy - but his mother made it with soft bread and it was all quite soggy.  I prefer to have a little 'bite' to mine, so use wholemeal or granary bread instead.

Panzanella 

 

Serves 4

300g tomatoes

125g wholemeal or granary bread

16 olives, stoned

3 tsp capers

½ red onion, finely sliced

300g red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1.     Place the tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl, using the back of a spoon, squash them well to release all the juice into the bowl.

2.     Roughly break up the bread and put into the tomato juice and leave to stand for 15 minutes before transferring to a serving dish.

3.     Scatter the remaining ingredients over the bread, drizzling over the red wine vinegar and olive oil at the end to serve.