Yesterday I decided to go for a ride.... and rode the 15 miles to Rutland Water.... then did a lap of the Vitruvian course before riding home again!
So that's two rides of over 40 miles this week!
And what about the Vit course?
Yeah.... its a pussy cat!... well sort of...
OK... its got 24 miles per lap of nice steady rolling hills that are great fun to ride..... and then 2 miles of sheer bloody hell...
There are two hills, one straight after another that are steep and reasonably long... perhaps a 1/4 mile each of climbing.... my legs were screaming in agnony half way up the second..... and i'll be doing 2 laps of this!
My only consolation at this stage is that i've still only ridden just short of 600 miles on the bike in total, and if I look at how much i've improved in that short time it's remarkable... i've gone from finding 10 miles at 13 mph tough to riding 45 miles at 16 mph.... so there is lots more time to get them legs better at handling the lactic acid overloads!
Another mental hurdle ticked off the list... and my legs are getting better... will be doing the long runs again soon I feel
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Monday 22 March 2010
Great few days
I've been concentrating on the bike for a few days to give my legs abit of a break from the pounding of running.... and its working well...
They are still sore, but much much better.... cycling is such a great complementary exercise to running...
I'd been invited down to Ipswich on Sunday for a ride out with a few of my sailing friends who are also keen cyclists.... and so went down and stopped on my own boat Saturday evening.... this did give me the opportunity to do my first run in over a week... and what a cracker it was... it was a warm quiet evening, so I slipped out and ran along the path that threads alongside the river Orwell.... there was masses of wildlife there, and not another human being to be seen... absolutely lovely.... I stopped several times and just stood and admired the scenery.... marvellous!
Sunday, I managed about 50 miles on the bike under blue skies and with the sun shining nicely... what a great day out, visiting many of my favourite sailing destinations, but by road.... I even had a short ride on Helen's recumbant bike... what a strange feeling that is!
So... here I am Monday afternoon, after another short run with tired legs.... only i'm skipping my rest day tomorrow and going out on the bike again to do a lap or two of the Vitruvian course.... will rest Wednesday, or my legs will fail me completely!
Have fun out there folks.... I am!
They are still sore, but much much better.... cycling is such a great complementary exercise to running...
I'd been invited down to Ipswich on Sunday for a ride out with a few of my sailing friends who are also keen cyclists.... and so went down and stopped on my own boat Saturday evening.... this did give me the opportunity to do my first run in over a week... and what a cracker it was... it was a warm quiet evening, so I slipped out and ran along the path that threads alongside the river Orwell.... there was masses of wildlife there, and not another human being to be seen... absolutely lovely.... I stopped several times and just stood and admired the scenery.... marvellous!
Sunday, I managed about 50 miles on the bike under blue skies and with the sun shining nicely... what a great day out, visiting many of my favourite sailing destinations, but by road.... I even had a short ride on Helen's recumbant bike... what a strange feeling that is!
So... here I am Monday afternoon, after another short run with tired legs.... only i'm skipping my rest day tomorrow and going out on the bike again to do a lap or two of the Vitruvian course.... will rest Wednesday, or my legs will fail me completely!
Have fun out there folks.... I am!
Wednesday 17 March 2010
oh and....
My new 'Pirate' Tri-suit turned up too.... so now I can do a Tri with the pirate gang recognising me.... which is great.... i'll need all the support I can get!
getting the miles in
My leg has proved to be somewhat more sore than I expected.... (its my right Illipsoa for anyone interested and has any idea of what i'm talking about)...
I can still ride the bike without any prob, and I could probably run a bit too, but i'm parking the running until the leg is better.... I can still get the miles in on the bike...
It does mean however, that the 100 miles in a month target looks dodgy...
On the upside, I'm off this weekend on a longer bike ride to get a good few miles in, so hoping for a new record month in terms of distance covered.
I'm also toying with the idea of joining the local cycling club, Fenland Clarion, partially because they meet up for a summer series on Wednesday evenings, which fits well with my other commitments, and secondly, I just like the ethos of the National Clarion association and its great history....
So, back to the stretching, and the turbo in the garage until the clocks change!
I can still ride the bike without any prob, and I could probably run a bit too, but i'm parking the running until the leg is better.... I can still get the miles in on the bike...
It does mean however, that the 100 miles in a month target looks dodgy...
On the upside, I'm off this weekend on a longer bike ride to get a good few miles in, so hoping for a new record month in terms of distance covered.
I'm also toying with the idea of joining the local cycling club, Fenland Clarion, partially because they meet up for a summer series on Wednesday evenings, which fits well with my other commitments, and secondly, I just like the ethos of the National Clarion association and its great history....
So, back to the stretching, and the turbo in the garage until the clocks change!
Sunday 14 March 2010
good weekend
Managed to get 40 miles in on the bike over the weekend, which was great...
But, while riding to protect my right leg, my left knee twinged a bit.... with classic ITB pain on the outside of the knee...
I'll try a few things, such as lowering my saddle a little (I raised it a couple of inches recently), and take a look at the cleat alignment on my shoes.. it hurt a little, but not enough to stop me riding, so not a disaster, but clearly, I need to stop this, as it could develop into a problem.
On the positive side, I fitted tri-bars (oe aero bars if you prefer) during the week (another eBay special!) and I got on really well with them. I'd read stories of people finding them very difficult, but I didn't struggle at all, and found the position really quite comfortable... they absolutely help with speed too... I reckon I was at least one MPH faster with them than without...
But, while riding to protect my right leg, my left knee twinged a bit.... with classic ITB pain on the outside of the knee...
I'll try a few things, such as lowering my saddle a little (I raised it a couple of inches recently), and take a look at the cleat alignment on my shoes.. it hurt a little, but not enough to stop me riding, so not a disaster, but clearly, I need to stop this, as it could develop into a problem.
On the positive side, I fitted tri-bars (oe aero bars if you prefer) during the week (another eBay special!) and I got on really well with them. I'd read stories of people finding them very difficult, but I didn't struggle at all, and found the position really quite comfortable... they absolutely help with speed too... I reckon I was at least one MPH faster with them than without...
Friday 12 March 2010
well hello there!
Its been a while!
Let me explain whats being going on in my life...
On Oct 19th, I decided after many years of failed attemps, that it was time for me to REALLY stop smoking, so, for a few weeks after that I was no use to man or beast, while my brain adapted to a life without nicotine...
And somewhere along the way, I decided that I needed a substitutional activity to replace the smoking.... and don't ask me how, but over the course of about 6 weeks, that turned out to be entering a triathlon!
So, i've been training like mad, and captruing my efforts on another blog... which can further bore you if you are so inclined by clicking here.
That, and the combination of pretty rubbish weather left me feeling somewhat dispondent about 'Mishaps and Memories' and so it has languished, unloved in a dark corner of the internet somewhere....
But, all of a sudden, the weather is perking up, the smoking seems a long way behind me (5 months now!), and my enthusiasm seems to be reappearing!
Soon, we're off for a weeks sailing, up to London hopefully, which will be great fun, with our good friends the captain and crew of Mr Tinkle (whose problems of the last few weeks have made my disinterest in blogging seems completely and utterly trivial - now fortunately looking like its behind them) and which the whole Morgana clan are looking forward to enormously....
Here's to 28° and force 4 across the beam... summer is coming!
Let me explain whats being going on in my life...
On Oct 19th, I decided after many years of failed attemps, that it was time for me to REALLY stop smoking, so, for a few weeks after that I was no use to man or beast, while my brain adapted to a life without nicotine...
And somewhere along the way, I decided that I needed a substitutional activity to replace the smoking.... and don't ask me how, but over the course of about 6 weeks, that turned out to be entering a triathlon!
So, i've been training like mad, and captruing my efforts on another blog... which can further bore you if you are so inclined by clicking here.
That, and the combination of pretty rubbish weather left me feeling somewhat dispondent about 'Mishaps and Memories' and so it has languished, unloved in a dark corner of the internet somewhere....
But, all of a sudden, the weather is perking up, the smoking seems a long way behind me (5 months now!), and my enthusiasm seems to be reappearing!
Soon, we're off for a weeks sailing, up to London hopefully, which will be great fun, with our good friends the captain and crew of Mr Tinkle (whose problems of the last few weeks have made my disinterest in blogging seems completely and utterly trivial - now fortunately looking like its behind them) and which the whole Morgana clan are looking forward to enormously....
Here's to 28° and force 4 across the beam... summer is coming!
Thursday 11 March 2010
double figures!
The Long Steady Run hit 10 miles this evening!
Double figures at last!!!!
Although now i'm paying the price... my legs are really suffering... after sitting down for 10 mins, I struggled to get back up...
I reckon that a few days of taking it easy on the running front is probably a good idea.... i've been neglecting my cycling anyway...
Once again, I recognise the signs... my right leg is sore, and in places hurts a little.... time to ease off a bit
But regardless... progress is still being made!
Double figures at last!!!!
Although now i'm paying the price... my legs are really suffering... after sitting down for 10 mins, I struggled to get back up...
I reckon that a few days of taking it easy on the running front is probably a good idea.... i've been neglecting my cycling anyway...
Once again, I recognise the signs... my right leg is sore, and in places hurts a little.... time to ease off a bit
But regardless... progress is still being made!
Friday 5 March 2010
LSR
Last night I built my weekly long steady run up to just over 9 miles... very much on track for my goal of 12 miles in one go by the end of the month...
I am also on track for pretty much all the other targets... so, as we stand, things are looking good..
The one that I wasn't sure about, the 85Km ride, seems to have resolved itself, in that a couple of my friends have organised a ride around the East Coast, which should do it nicely...
So, all in all, bar achy legs (achy, not painful - eg just tired, not damaged - huge difference), i'm feeling pretty good about all of this at the moment.
Which is a good thing, as today I entered the Great Eastern Run on the 10th Oct, which is just over a month after my half ironman, so I need to be continuing to push the training boundaries.... I'm doing really well, but there is still a long way to go...
I am also on track for pretty much all the other targets... so, as we stand, things are looking good..
The one that I wasn't sure about, the 85Km ride, seems to have resolved itself, in that a couple of my friends have organised a ride around the East Coast, which should do it nicely...
So, all in all, bar achy legs (achy, not painful - eg just tired, not damaged - huge difference), i'm feeling pretty good about all of this at the moment.
Which is a good thing, as today I entered the Great Eastern Run on the 10th Oct, which is just over a month after my half ironman, so I need to be continuing to push the training boundaries.... I'm doing really well, but there is still a long way to go...
Tuesday 2 March 2010
3 out of 5...
Not too bad, given that I was close to a fourth!
Done! - Smile when training!
Done! - Build long run up to 8 miles
Done! - Run 30 miles in one week
Ride 16.5 miles in an hour or less
Ride 85Km on a bike non stop
Some new goals for March going up shortly!
Done! - Smile when training!
Done! - Build long run up to 8 miles
Done! - Run 30 miles in one week
Ride 16.5 miles in an hour or less
Ride 85Km on a bike non stop
Some new goals for March going up shortly!
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