August - A quick update

Its been a while since I blogged but that's because not much cycling has happened.  August was a rubbish month for my cycling!

I missed a couple of days whilst spending some time enjoying a trip to Bruge.... which was glorious and great fun.

A bike in Bruge

On our return, as usual the weather played its role in keeping me off the bike. It was either far too hot and muggy to ride, so I'd wait to go on an evening ride, but then get too engrossed in watching the Olympics. Then on every day off it would be absolutely bucketing it down with rain (and as I'd thrown my mudguards off in temper due to them rattling too much) so riding was postponed.

By the 19th of August I still hadn't ridden a bike..... Ooops!  On realising this I quickly grabbed my bike and did a 25miler.  Sadly, then the weather and a hideous week at work stopped me in my tracks again and only 2.5miles were ridden the following week, when we had a quick jaunt down to the beach when Ali and Amy arrived in Cornwall.

Thankfully their arrival injected some enthusiasm back and we did a fair bit of riding; a very WET ride to a cafe, a little jaunt out to christen Mikey's new Belgian jersey (his birthday pressie which finally made an appearance), and a ride to Mousehole, via Penzance where we had lunch in the park.

Anyway, by the end of the month I'd managed 6 rides.... and a grand total of 62.4miles.

Not the best of months for riding, but life and the weather really did get in the way. I can only hope that this month is better.

(Not quite a) Fun Run

Back in mid April when me and my Mum started running. We set ourselves a little goal of doing the 2mile village Fun Run and today was the day!


First things first, it was off to the Village Green to sign on.  I was surprised to see that over 30 people had come out to take part.  Mainly families but some more serious looking athletes too. It was then time to walk up to the start. Yes up! The start was at the top of a steep hill.  Me and Mum stood near the back of the pack, as we knew we'd be among the slowest, as we are still only used to doing interval training - our longest run to date is only 9 minutes. 


After a quick briefing the Mayor blew his whistle and we were off.  Mikey had to weave through the kids and families but by the time he was at the bottom of the hill I could see he was in 2nd position (that was the last I saw of him till the end).  Me and Mum were still near the back with about 10 people behind us.  


Down into the village and the crowds and our neighbours were out in force. Heckling already. Then it was up through the village and down the next dip back out. Things so far were feeling OK but I realised I had forgot to start the Garmin. Oops!


The next bit was a very steep climb. It's not long but its steep so me and Mum had decided (pre race) that we would walk it.  Whilst walking we were overtaken by a man and his young lad.  At the top we started to run again but I soon started feeling slightly breathless and my legs were already empty.  I couldn't maintain the jog. I had to stop.  I told Mum to carry on and I walked behind her.  I glanced at my Garmin. It was stopped.  Noooooo! It was all going horribly wrong!


When I felt more composed I chased her back down, putting on a sprint to catch her.  Thankfully by the time I caught her she was ready for a breather.  We had now overtaken the chap and his son. We walked for a little while, being heckled by the marshalls - one of whom even tried to send us the wrong way! 


A glance at my Garmin.... again it had stopped! Grrrr! 


Another little jog and again we were spent. This was far from fun, my chest felt tight and I was really struggling. I really hadn't prepared myself for this. My lungs have never really been a problem so far in my running adventures, but I was gasping for breath. I guess we don't usually have people to chat to along the way so I wasn't getting adequate oxygen. (I had a chat to all the spectators, marshalls and any other people we passed.)


Right! Now we were back on our usual running patch. I could do this! A concerted effort was made to keep running. But this time my Mum was ready to stop. A brief stop and then it was all downhill to the last field. The marshalls were now doing a great job at encouraging.


The finish line was on the field of the Village Hall - but first we had to do a lap of the field. I have never run offroad before.... but apart from it being long grass with a slight climb, it wasn't too bad.  People were cheering.  Mikey was waiting and he ran alongside egging me on to sprint but I didn't have any sprint in me. My Mum was now about 30 secs behind me. (She had stopped but I had spurred her on telling her we had never run this far).


Just before the line everyone was cheering for me to sprint. I couldn't. My lungs were in serious pain. I could taste blood in the back of my throat. I could only just muster the energy to continue my plod.


I made it though!

Our Medals. (Mikeys shoulda been silver though!)

As my Garmin had been so temperamental and Mum's had failed due to her pressing the stop/start button, instead of lap we have absolutely no idea how we did. All I know is the official timing. 26mins! Double Mikeys time (Who incidentally came an amazing 2nd!) but I had done it. I didn't finish last. In fact there were 10 people behind me! OK, we were probably pretty much last of all the people that actually did any running, but still, we had finished.


At least there is room for improvement next year. ;-)

June Round-Up

June has been another rubbish month for riding mileage. I appear to have let life and miserable weather get in the way.

The wind has been shocking - just too strong to make riding comfortable, with wind speeds averaging over 20mph for the majority of the rides. (There was only one ride that had very little wind.) The wind has also been hideous whichever way we turned. On one 20 mile ride we only 4 miles with a tail wind, the rest of it involved battling against it. Unsuprisingly this has left me very unmotivated to ride.  The last two rides had to be done on the turbo - just so I could get some pedalling in. 

My mileage has also been down due to attending weekend bike events with Mikey. Why was my mileage down when at a bike event?  Well as odd as it sounds, I didn't have my bike at either.  I was just there to keep him company and do the driving on the ridiculously long journeys.   First up was Bristol Bike Fest and then there was Mountain Mayhem.  

Team VeloCake show off their Bristol BikeFest medal - won by junior rider Benji

Mikey  battles with the Mud at Mayhem.

Anyway, overall things have been ticking over slowly.... here's my June stats.

Ride Count: 8.  Distance: 101.18 miles. Avg Speed: 12.0 mph

I have continued running with my Mum and am still rather enjoying it. We are now up to Week 4 of the Programme; starting with a brisk walk - then 3mins running -  1½mins walking - 5mins running - 2½mins walking - 3mins running -  1½mins walking  - 5mins running.  The programme then stops but more often than not as we always do a longer warm up walk than suggested so we can then squeeze in a further 3 or 5mins run before getting home.

The weekends away have sadly also impacted on the running schedule and I missed one run.  We have had to run in some really vile weather, but oddly -  probably as it is all over in 30 mins or so - it is easier to tolerate and the weather hasn't hindered us at all.


Anyway this month we have done 12 runs and covered 33.93 miles (including walking mileage).  For a couple of runs I have worn a heart rate monitor and found that my heart rate isn't too bad either. Averaging around 122bpm and a maximum of 187. Not too bad for a 30 something overweight asthmatic. ;-)


In other news. I don't think I mentioned last time that Mikey purchased a Garmin Forerunner for me to use whilst running. It has made a huge difference.... The autopause on the Edge had been driving me scatty as whatever setting it was on.... whether it was set to "off" or custom set to the lowest setting of 0.1mph, I would find it had often autopaused during a run! My new forerunner is excellent indeed and has made things much simpler, there's nothing extra to carry and doing splits/laps are much easier to quickly press. Highly recommended!


Anyway, lets hope the weather improves and that the wind drops so that I can squeeze in a few more rides this month. With the start of "le Tour" I am sure I will get lots of inspiration to get me out there. =D

May Round - up.

May hasn't been the greatest month for my bicycle mileage as my running has really taken its toll on my legs as they are in pretty much a permanent state of fatigue.  Also, as the running programme calls for three runs a week there isn't as much time to ride. (I tried running and riding on the same day but it was just a bit too much on my legs at this stage.) So long gone are the weeks where I ride 4-5 days a week.... 

But before you all scream for me to stop running I should add that running does have its advantages. I definitely have more strength and stamina (on the bike too) and there has been quite a noticeable effect on my body shape - as my thighs are hips are becoming less flabby. Yay!

Anyway, here are my ride stats for the month.  With only 7 rides under my belt for May I achieved 118.08 miles and an average speed of 11.6 mph. I am pretty happy with that as I did take over a week off the bike and this months wind has been pretty hellish.

As for the running count.... in May we did 13 runs. The majority of these were with my Mum but three were with Mikey who made me run a little faster (my Mum was away). We are still at the early stages of the Couch to 5k programme, but we have moved successfully onto the 3rd stage, which involves 90secs and 3mins intervals.  Our running so far has covered 34.32 miles, but I guess only a third of this would probably be actual running miles. Hopefully as we progress through the programme the walking will get less and less.

In other news May saw the wonderful arrival of a new pair of pink lenses for my Radars which are pretty awesome and a few days ago Mikey purchased a Garmin Forerunner, which I can use for my Running - which seems much more accurate than the Edge. :-)

Pedalling with Polarcherry

Its been a while since I posted but I'm happy to report that things have been going OK. I have been cycling, but not as much as I'd like, but that's mainly due to the fact that I am still enjoying running so there are less days to get a ride in but mainly my legs are well and truly feeling fatigued.

At the start of the month, I only managed a couple of short rides and they were pretty painful on the old thighs. My thighs have never really been much of a problem on the bike - except for on the steepest hills - so I know that it was just probably because I was working new muscles - muscles which have never been used before.

The following week was a great week. Starting with a meet of my old blogger friend Adele who was visiting Cornwall with her husband Rik. We met them at a local village to ours (about 3 miles away), but unfortunately the meeting point was at the top of a steep hill. It is only 0.3miles long but has on average grade of 7.7%.  I was slow up it as I didn't want to be completely dead when we met at the top, but it was still soddin' hard. (Amazingly after getting home I found that I had actually achieved a Strava Queen of The Mountains).

After quick introductions we set off on our adventure. The first few roads were OK as they are my local roads and I know them well, but then we headed over towards St Ives. I also know these roads. The last (and only other) time I'd ridden them  was 2 years ago when I did the Audax.  Back then I suffered badly so as I was riding all I could think off was about how last time I had struggled.  I kinda out-psyched myself at times, but as we were with two new friends it offered a nice distraction.  That is until we got on the up-and-down-and-relentless Coast road.  Now I was shattered and the brutal head winds weren't helping. Thankfully despite me having to stop on a number of occasions we finally got to a pub for a drink and some chips. Mmm!

It was then time to get back on the bikes. With a change of direction, the wind was now with us and with Rik heading up the chain gang we all enjoyed a fast ride back in his slipstream.

The ride back was great fun, apart from a sudden cramp in my right quad. Ouch! I've never had such a bad cramp whilst riding. I actually had to get off and walk for a while. Which comically, when I got home I found again, despite my walking I had got a Queen of the Mountain.  Being one of the only few female riders in Cornwall can be quite useful. ;)

When we were back to their car, Adele offered us a lift home and despite the lingering cramp pains and complete fatigue I declined. I think everyone was quite surprised by this refusal but I just wanted to make this the longest ride of the year... with just three more miles I would make it to 30miles. It was stupid I know, but my stubbornness kicked in. I had to do it!

That week I actually managed to reach that long neglected 50mile weekly total but I started to pay for it as my legs are feeling the strain. So much so, that this week I have given myself a week off the bike. I am still running though. We are on Run 15 now. There is a definite improvement in my running ability and stamina and even the shape of my legs but I just needed a little respite. So the bikes have been having a little rest. Not for too long though!

April Round-Up

This month has been quite a different one, with the introduction of running to my regime.

My cycling has suffered a little but as much as having sore legs from running the weather has also been a major player in hindering my bicycle mileage.

Despite this I managed 11 rides and covered just shy of 148miles.

The longest rides were during the Easter weekend with a 22.1miler on Good Friday and 20.09 miles on Easter Monday. There has also been a tough 15 mile session on the Turbo (as it was too wet and windy outside) as well as the shortest of road rides. (The shortest in a very long time.) It was windy! Far too windy! I was on my way to meet Mikey from work but ended up turning back as in the first few miles I'd been nearly blown off three times. I got back home frustrated and with only 4.64 miles on the clock. 

April also saw my introduction to Strava and Garmin-Connect, which has helped re-motivate me and encourage me to get out there and do something.

So, as well as the rides, I have been running.  So far, me and my Mum have managed to do 8 runs! I use the term "run" very loosely as it is quite a slow jog.  As part of the Couch to 5k plan we did 4 runs at Level 1 which is alternate 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking - eight times (for 20 minutes).  The first few attempts were easy-ish but sadly then we met a wall as my Mums dizziness reared its ugly head and she needed to stop and sit on the floor - before she fainted!

Despite not completely conquering the first stage we decided to move up to stage 2 which involves alternate 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking - a total of 6 interval runs.  Despite the longer runs, it would give us more recovery time.  Surprisingly I found this stage much easier than I expected.  Even more shockingly the last two runs have involved some extra running. Today because our final run was interrupted when passing Mums colleague who wanted to chat - so then to make sure we had run enough, we ran for an extra 90 seconds.  Then a few days ago we squeezed in an extra 60 second run - when nature called and I wanted to get home quick sticks. ;-)

Overall during our running training 19.8 miles have been covered - obviously not all of this has been running but a large majority of it has and it will soon be time to kick it up to the next level.  This however, will not be done until my Mum feels confident to do so - as after all, I am running for her. I only started running to help motivate her.   Without her wanting to do it I wouldn't be running at all. So we run at her speed and we will go to the next stage when she is ready - or maybe when I feel like I need to push her to the next step. ;-)

G-G-G-G-Garminnnnn!

Right, that's my 2nd run complete and I'm happy to report that it felt a lot more comfortable. The first few "one minute runs" were over quicker than I expected and apart from a few twinges in my thighs I felt overall OK.  Of course I still felt like a flat footed buffoon.... but I hope that will come with time and practise and as my ankles get stronger, etc.


The only downside to the run was my Garmins inconsistency!  Practically every time I looked at it, it had auto-paused - which wasn't the case as we were continuously on the move; either walking or running. Then when we got back home and uploaded the run to GarminConnect it said that our moving time was nearly 10 minutes less than the overall time.  Pfft! I know that it didn't take me 10 minutes to do my shoe lace up - and other than that momentary stop -  we didn't stop moving at all! 


Is it possible that my lovely bicycle specific Garmin is absolutely useless for running? Can they not cope with the slower walking and running pace?  Yes, they are impractical as you have to hold them in your hand or pop it in a pocket, instead of having it neatly around your wrist but surely as it works using the same satellites it should give the same reading as a Garmin Forerunner. 


Then to top it off... I really don't understand the statistics.  After uploading the Garmin, it stated my best pace was 7;24min/mi.  It took a lot of twitter peeps (and some controversy) to explain that it meant at that pace - if I could sustain it - I could run a mile in 7mins 24 seconds.  My average moving pace was 11:54min/mi - but how could I trust the accuracy of that when it only had my moving time as 24mins instead of the 31mins we were out for.


Please don't tell me that if I continue running I'll need a different Garmin to run with?