I learned the other day where the phrase Indian Summer comes from. Apparently it comes from the North East of the USA/Canada where summers were typically swelteringly hot and humid precluding much work being done. The Indian Summer relates to a period of warm weather in early autumn where the temperature and humidity dropped, but the weather was still good enough for the native Indians to bring in their harvest and prepare for winter.
The Indian summer here has certainly helped with that and I’ve now bought in the last of my pears and apples, both of which have cropped heavier than ever and with very good tasty fruit. We also had a good success with the gooseberries this year, and the autumn fruiting raspberries are still going. I couldn’t even try and stop the rhubarb. The surprise was the strawberries, which were only planted this year, so nothing was expected, but they’ve produced a very few small, but extremely sweet fruit.
The veg have been a comparative failure, with the main exception of the garlic and chard which both produced great crops and the surprise of the year being the cucumber plant that I bought at the village fete and cropped from July through to October with very tasty cucumbers about 6” long. The leeks are also looking good for the winter. Germination was very patchy this year with only a handful of carrots, although very tasty. Same with the parsnips, those that germinated are looking good for the winter with some good firm roots.
The beans were a disappointment, as were the courgettes and squash which germinated poorly and then got smashed by some very heavy rains. The jury’s still out on the romanesca which look like they’re heading, but not quickly. Next year I should have my first asparagus available as both crowns I planted seem to have done well.
I was due to be in Algeria this week and next, but a delay meant that the visas would not be issue until next week and we had no room in the calendar to push the whole thing back by a week so had to cancel. I’m mildly disappointed as I had looked forward to going, but in retrospect it will allow me to get a lot of admin done and prep work for the next few weeks instead.
In the meantime, I’ve been continuing to follow Maffetone’s principle, building by aerobic base and getting humbled by how hard it is to keep my heart rate within the prescribed zone. Since I last posted with my weird goings on on the road ride, I’ve had two turbo sessions and an erg session. I’d planned to run, but the winds have just been too strong. Seeing what was going on in my garden, I know how bad it would be out on the exposed Fen roads round here.
One thing I am learning rapidly is that this is very much going to be a long term process, and also how much you need to concentrate to succeed at it. An example of the impact of lost concentration was the other day when I was sneaking an afternoon turbo session and Rekha came home and seeing the garage door open, started to talk to me. I was also monitoring e-mails and two phones whilst keeping an eye out for news of my visa. Before I knew it my HR had shot from a steady 145 up to 157 as I just lost concentration for less than a minute.
The sessions
Monday – Erg – I think the data speaks for itself and shows how out of training I am on this piece of kit.
T) 40min / 9025m / 2:12.9 / 19 / A144 / M 150
Ten minute splits
1) 2343 / 2:08.0 / 21 / A135 / M147
2) 2277 / 1:11.7 / 19 / A 147 / M150
3) 2221 / 2:15.0 / 19 / A147 / M150
4) 2185 / 2:17.2 / 19 / A148 / M150
Tuesday – Turbo – distracted and stressed by visa type issues
Tacx 721 cals / Max 229 W / Ave 209W
Garmin 18.05 mi / AHR 145 / MHR 157 / cad 93 / 472 cals
Weds – Rest
Thursday – Turbo -
Tacx 723 cals / Mac 236 W / Ave 210W
Garmin 18.1 mi / AHR 144 / MHR 150 / cad 93
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Evening run. Starting to get dark now, and it was also raining steadily, so I went for huaraches rather than barefoot. That was a first, running 6 miles in soggy huaraches, but it’s all good prep for the 70 miler I’m planning to enter in July next year on the same course as the HM I did. I’m intending to run that in huaraches if I can.
1) 7:32 / A135 / M146
2) 7:49 / A146 / M150
3) 8:05 / A146 / M150
4) 8:12 / A146 / M150
5) 8:48 / A145 / M149
6) 8:22 / A142 / M145
7)0.39mi / 3:08 / 8:03 / A141 / M143
Total) 6.39 / 51:56 / 8:08 / A143 / M150
1:30 outside the target zone
That’s actually faster than the first 10km road race I entered which had AHR 172 and MHR 183. My running’s improved a bit since then.
I know I’ve not had many photos in here lately, so how’s this one?
How big is your fruit / vegetable garden? That's quite a harvest you've mentioned there.
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