As is tradition (or will quickly become one), in the off-season I tend to start painting en masse, as the weather and lack of daylight keeps me from training. For this year's project, I'm attempting to get a Skaven army painted up in time for a tournament called Winter War...
...of course, I also need to learn to play the game, as this is Fantasy Battle, rather than the altogether different game of 40K. The very scale of the game is different...with 40K my "good" army consists of 31 guys and a series of red boxes (aka vehicles), while the skaven army I have planned has over 200 models, and a handful of warmachines. It's a proper horde, and so I've had to approach the painting a little differently to previously.
I'm using the Army Painter stuff again, and this time I'm going very much to basics. Typical unit sizes are of 30 models, and I'm limiting myself to 4-5 colours on top of the base brown spray-coat. No highlighting or shading at all, not even a quick drybrush, and when it comes to dipping they are being dunked and flicked, rather than paint it on and wiped down with a cloth. I have a strict schedule to keep of at least 10 models a night, and a target time of 1½ hours to get them done. So far I'm keeping ahead of the schedule, with 170 models completed in 14 days. There are another 20 in the queue, and then I'm waiting on eBay for the final 30. Once they are all done it will be onto the more interesting models...characters, warmachines and big beasties.
I'm fairly pleased with the initial results...the dip is doing wonders at turning hastily painted models into tabletop-passable miniatures, and once the bases are done (that's going to be a fun few sessions, just painting green, then glue onto 200+ bases) I reckon they will be fairly presentable, especially given the sheer volume of models.
I'm hoping to have a playable army for the start of January, giving me a few practice games before the tournament. I also need to come up with a way of transporting much a volume of models, with the current favourite being magnetised bases onto movement trays, with a removeable ferrous sheet holding them on tightly. That will be a trip to B&Q at some point, and a bit of fun with a saw. Once that is done I'll get a couple more of the KR Multicases I use, and build up the innards in such a way as I can just slot the various units in.
Fingers crossed that I get a good amount of production done over Christmas, so that I can hit 2011 with my 3rd completed army!
Its Just You!
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Thus endeth the season...
It's been a long, long race season for me this year. Certainly a tough one, and one that finished on a great high with Reading Triathlon, which pretty much goes thrgouh my village. A perfect day, no need to travel (it was a 15 minute roll downhill to the start) and a great course, as well as plenty of people in the race who I knew, giving it a bit of a competitive kick...
This really has been a year of cycling for me...to date I've racked up approximately 7,000 miles in the saddle, even taking into account the atrocious weather conditions in January and February. I've managed to drag myself from being an OK cyclist, to one who can reasonably expect to finish in the top 5-10% of any cycling event I choose to attempt (so long as it's not an off-road one...I've learnt painful lessons regarding that!)
So what have I done this year? It's a fairly long list of events...
1 - Reading Half-Marathon
2 - Merchant Taylor Olympic Traithlon
3 - Fritton Lake Olympic Triathlon
4 - Deloitte Ride Across Britain
5 - Dorney Lake Sprint Triathlon
6 - Bournemouth Olympic Triathlon
7 - London Olympic Plus Triathlon
8 - Woodcote Sportive
9 - Vitruvian Half-Ironman
10 - Reading Olympic Triathlon
Given that last year was my first season of triathlon, and I only did a single olympic distance event (which, in case you're not sure, is a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) to get myself upto half-ironman distance is fairly good, even moreso given that I've had real trouble with my knee.
I'm now officially in my off-season, and I intend to take a couple of weeks taking it easy, and let my body start to repair the various niggly injuries I've inflicted on myself. once thats done it will be looking ahead to next year, and working out the best way of improving my times. The most obvious areas will be my neglected swimming and running, and building up core strength and ability in those areas. I'm also going to give rock-climbing a go, hopefully as a way of improving my flexibility and upper-body strength a bit (which should all improve the swimming). My ideal goal should be to trim 3-4 minutes off both the swim and run legs, while keeping my cycling in it's current form, which should then see me edging towards 2:20 times for an Olympic triathlon, which is normally considered a good time.
For now though, it's a fortnight of laziness, relaxing and (probably) painting models...
This really has been a year of cycling for me...to date I've racked up approximately 7,000 miles in the saddle, even taking into account the atrocious weather conditions in January and February. I've managed to drag myself from being an OK cyclist, to one who can reasonably expect to finish in the top 5-10% of any cycling event I choose to attempt (so long as it's not an off-road one...I've learnt painful lessons regarding that!)
So what have I done this year? It's a fairly long list of events...
1 - Reading Half-Marathon
2 - Merchant Taylor Olympic Traithlon
3 - Fritton Lake Olympic Triathlon
4 - Deloitte Ride Across Britain
5 - Dorney Lake Sprint Triathlon
6 - Bournemouth Olympic Triathlon
7 - London Olympic Plus Triathlon
8 - Woodcote Sportive
9 - Vitruvian Half-Ironman
10 - Reading Olympic Triathlon
Given that last year was my first season of triathlon, and I only did a single olympic distance event (which, in case you're not sure, is a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) to get myself upto half-ironman distance is fairly good, even moreso given that I've had real trouble with my knee.
I'm now officially in my off-season, and I intend to take a couple of weeks taking it easy, and let my body start to repair the various niggly injuries I've inflicted on myself. once thats done it will be looking ahead to next year, and working out the best way of improving my times. The most obvious areas will be my neglected swimming and running, and building up core strength and ability in those areas. I'm also going to give rock-climbing a go, hopefully as a way of improving my flexibility and upper-body strength a bit (which should all improve the swimming). My ideal goal should be to trim 3-4 minutes off both the swim and run legs, while keeping my cycling in it's current form, which should then see me edging towards 2:20 times for an Olympic triathlon, which is normally considered a good time.
For now though, it's a fortnight of laziness, relaxing and (probably) painting models...
Monday, 19 July 2010
RideAcrossBritain - The Epilogue
It's been about a month since I got back from Lands End...a fairly banal train journey from Penzance, and Gill met me at Reading station (still dragging that damn bag!)
The injuries were more painful rather than physically debilitating. A tear on the fascia of the right kneecap, and minor tearing to both quad muscles. I've had a couple of physio sessions to loosen the muscles up...for the first week I couldn't bend my knees past 90', however now they are about 90% there. There are a couple of sore points remaining, but even they are fading. Having access to daily physio and massage treatments definitely kept me on the road. No saddle sore at all (thanks to Assos Chamois cream, a Selle SMP saddle and clean shorts every day!)
The bike came away almost completely un-scathed. 1006 miles, and no punctures. The chain never dropped, and apart from some expected wear on the chain, cassette and brake pads it's been fine...just a quick wash and grease up the drive. Given it was one of the cheaper bikes on display at RAB (there was apparently one bike there in the £10k region, complete with Shimano Di2 electric gears!) I'm really chuffed at how it performed...
...which was to get me in with the 7th fastest time overall, and 5th in the amateur stakes (Sarah Storey and Andre...both amazing pro-cyclists, but they can't be counted in the paying guests "it's not a race!"). 5th out of 600 starters is something I can be more than happy with. Chris and David came 1st and 2nd (and if I was going to be picky the guy who came 4th has a couple of questionable results). An official time of 62 hours and 25 minutes, and from the Garmin 58 hours and 44 minutes of actual cycling over 9 days (taking the results of someone I cycled with on day 2, as mine died). Thats an average moving speed of just over 17mph, with rest stops in the region of 10 minutes each.
The results really do show how effectively cycling in a group is...for my training rides I was doing 100 miles in about 6 hours. Average speed for 100 miles for the ride was about 5 ½ hours, and that includes way more climbing than I could ever do in Berkshire. As the trip went on my average heartrate went down, and average speeds went up, which also shows how the body adapts to stuff like this. I've done a couple of triathlons since coming back, and while the run and swim have been mediocre, I've PB'ed the bike legs both times (at 20km and 40km). Doing my normal training hills I've now got a couple of extra gears spare when I head up them (for example Sulham Hill, the steepest in the area, I can now do with 2 spare cogs, and I have a new aim to get up it using the large chainset).
I'm really glad I did it, and I'm totally chuffed with the result...given that 18 months ago I had never ridden a road bike, and 12 months ago I hated cleats (clip-in shoes) it's been a fairly impressive performance. I did approximately 10,000 miles of training over 10 months, of which about 40% of that was my daily commute to and from work. The rest was mainly long rides in the evenings and weekends, and "hours of power" during my lunchbreaks. It was worth every second, from the cold hours over winter, to changing tyres in the rain. Gill has been sterling support, having to come and pick me and a broken bike up on more than one occasion...she's probably sick of me cycling by now!
Next up I have London Triathon in a fortnight...I've gone for the extended cycle option, so it will be 1.5km swim, 80km bike and 10km run. As such the next couple of weeks will be heavy on the time-trial work, looking to push myself hard for 2-2.5 hours on the bike. I've treated myself to a bit of bike bling for the TT bike (carbon deep-rim wheels and a funky helmet)...they may help a bit with speed, but they certainly make you <i>feel</i> faster!
The photos I do have were from random sources (some stills from the headcam, some from the phone, and some from the end when Rob took over photo duties!). There are some more on FaceBook for those who have me linked up on there...
The injuries were more painful rather than physically debilitating. A tear on the fascia of the right kneecap, and minor tearing to both quad muscles. I've had a couple of physio sessions to loosen the muscles up...for the first week I couldn't bend my knees past 90', however now they are about 90% there. There are a couple of sore points remaining, but even they are fading. Having access to daily physio and massage treatments definitely kept me on the road. No saddle sore at all (thanks to Assos Chamois cream, a Selle SMP saddle and clean shorts every day!)
The bike came away almost completely un-scathed. 1006 miles, and no punctures. The chain never dropped, and apart from some expected wear on the chain, cassette and brake pads it's been fine...just a quick wash and grease up the drive. Given it was one of the cheaper bikes on display at RAB (there was apparently one bike there in the £10k region, complete with Shimano Di2 electric gears!) I'm really chuffed at how it performed...
...which was to get me in with the 7th fastest time overall, and 5th in the amateur stakes (Sarah Storey and Andre...both amazing pro-cyclists, but they can't be counted in the paying guests "it's not a race!"). 5th out of 600 starters is something I can be more than happy with. Chris and David came 1st and 2nd (and if I was going to be picky the guy who came 4th has a couple of questionable results). An official time of 62 hours and 25 minutes, and from the Garmin 58 hours and 44 minutes of actual cycling over 9 days (taking the results of someone I cycled with on day 2, as mine died). Thats an average moving speed of just over 17mph, with rest stops in the region of 10 minutes each.
The results really do show how effectively cycling in a group is...for my training rides I was doing 100 miles in about 6 hours. Average speed for 100 miles for the ride was about 5 ½ hours, and that includes way more climbing than I could ever do in Berkshire. As the trip went on my average heartrate went down, and average speeds went up, which also shows how the body adapts to stuff like this. I've done a couple of triathlons since coming back, and while the run and swim have been mediocre, I've PB'ed the bike legs both times (at 20km and 40km). Doing my normal training hills I've now got a couple of extra gears spare when I head up them (for example Sulham Hill, the steepest in the area, I can now do with 2 spare cogs, and I have a new aim to get up it using the large chainset).
I'm really glad I did it, and I'm totally chuffed with the result...given that 18 months ago I had never ridden a road bike, and 12 months ago I hated cleats (clip-in shoes) it's been a fairly impressive performance. I did approximately 10,000 miles of training over 10 months, of which about 40% of that was my daily commute to and from work. The rest was mainly long rides in the evenings and weekends, and "hours of power" during my lunchbreaks. It was worth every second, from the cold hours over winter, to changing tyres in the rain. Gill has been sterling support, having to come and pick me and a broken bike up on more than one occasion...she's probably sick of me cycling by now!
Next up I have London Triathon in a fortnight...I've gone for the extended cycle option, so it will be 1.5km swim, 80km bike and 10km run. As such the next couple of weeks will be heavy on the time-trial work, looking to push myself hard for 2-2.5 hours on the bike. I've treated myself to a bit of bike bling for the TT bike (carbon deep-rim wheels and a funky helmet)...they may help a bit with speed, but they certainly make you <i>feel</i> faster!
Photos
One downside was that my headcam didn't perform as expected...trouble getting it to charge, and a seeming in-ability to take video meant I didn't capture some stuff I had hoped to... Also the official photos were less than great, typically being taken in the first half hour when we were all wrapped up against the elements and cold, rather thn later in the day when we were in full flow...The photos I do have were from random sources (some stills from the headcam, some from the phone, and some from the end when Rob took over photo duties!). There are some more on FaceBook for those who have me linked up on there...
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