Another abysmal month

So, October has been and gone and so has most of my motivation.

Yet again the weather has put me off riding pretty much altogether and I can't muster up any incentive to get on the trainer.  So, last month I managed the grand total of 5 rides and covered a measly 64.4 miles.

In all honesty  I just am not feeling like riding any more ... the weather is beyond rubbish, the terrain round here is just too uppy downy and if I go too far a field I will have to contend with too many longer hills, so I just have to stick with the routes I know... but I know them too well so they are tiresome!

I did have a week off work last month and I planned to get out on my bike at least 3 times that week... I managed 2 rides.... but then sadly disaster struck.

In a slump - not the greatest of months...

This month has been another poor month for cycling as I only managed to muster up 80.12 miles. The start of the month was good as I had a lovely ride to Newlyn with Ali and Amy followed by one inspired by my hero Alberto Contador when he won the Vuelta.  =D

Since then though, I have practically stayed off the bike - apart from an occasional short 2-3 mile ride behind Mikey whilst he was running and the very odd ten milers to meet him from work.

I have basically lost motivation to ride now completely.  When I do I am literally forcing myself to do it and usually when I get home I haven't enjoyed it at all. 

There's just nothing left to inspire me;  I hate that I have overused all the local routes so they are becoming very tiresome.  I hate the fact that, if and when, I do try to go further afield, that I then have to contend with longer draggier hills.  I hate the fact that bloody tourists and end-to-enders keep stealing my Queen of the Mountains on Strava - and when I say stealing  I mean blowing my personal bests out of the water. I also hate the weather and that soddin' never-ending headwind.

So as you can see... I am currently in a slump. I want to ride my bike. I love riding my bike. But nothing is motivating me to get out there. Today I even pushed out 6miles on the turbo just so I got half an hour done on the bike and so I don't loose the legs and put on too much weight. 

In fact, if it wasn't for the running.... I would now be the size of a house again.

Please someone inspire me to get back out there.... failing that, I may just have to sell a bike and buy a nice shiny new one to encourage me to ride.

(Couch to) 5k!

This weekend I hit another milestone in my running progress, when me and Mum ran non-stop for 40mins!

We didn't expect to do so well, as the weather was muggy and we'd both had busy days and weren't feeling the greatest... but we just kept plodding along and when we finished 40 mins later... we were even more  ecstatic to find we had managed to do 5k!

I'm so happy! Its odd to think that in under 6mths we have gone from never running - and unable to run for a minute - to running for 40mins.  I'd like to say it's getting comfortable.... but it really isn't.  It's as difficult as it used to be and I always hate the first 10-15 mins- it's like torture - but after 15 mins I find it easier to ignore the pain, esp if I have my iPod on for distraction.

Over the last few weeks, there's been a few breaks from the normal running routine, including a super run in Bruge with Mikey.  Before Bruge me and Mum had been running for 25mins slowly-but-non-stop and averaging a pace of 12.5.  However, with Mikey things were slightly different. He wasn't verbally telling me to run faster, but without Mum, I instinctively and unconsciously did.  It felt comfortable in the short term but I burnt out quicker and had to go back to intervals; just so I had chance to catch my breath. Unsurprisingly, our running pace was considerably quicker.... averaging around an 11minute mile.  Despite being tougher and having sore feet for days after, it was such good fun running around such a beautiful (and flat) city.  I even managed to get a course record on a Strava Segment. 

On our return, I went back to running with Mum and in mid August we completed the Couch to 5k programme! We weren't achieving the 5k - but we were running for 30 mins non-stop. Quite an achievement. =D

As the weather hotted up in late August it started playing havoc with our running.  More often or not it was too hot to run.  Also the humidity really affected my lungs, leaving me quite asthmatic and breathless, making running difficult as I struggled for oxygen.  Anyway we persevered. Often having to do interval runs instead of one big run.... but either way were were still running and feeling the benefits.

During Ali and Amy's holiday in Cornwall, they joined me and Mikey on a run.  Again the pace was a tad faster than I am used to, in fact I had to stop after only 4 minutes.  I thought it was due to the fact that we were chatting as we ran... but when uploading the run, I realised that it was because our running pace had been 10.5.  As the other three are the stronger runners, they kindly let me dictate the pace, etc, so after a short breather... 2mins we did another 4min run. This time at a more reasonable11.2 - which is still faster than my usual pace.  We finished with a 10 min jog at a similar pace.  It was really good fun being with other runners. I'd have liked to have done more running with them, but sadly it wasn't to be so.  I particularly enjoyed having more experienced runners to give me a few tips. =D 

Anyway, that's my running news.... who'da thunk I would still be doing this running malarkey? And who the hella woulda thunked I would ever be able to run 5k!

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. :-)