I got a 20 mile walk in yesterday. But honestly I suspect it was a mistake. I’m still not properly over the Xmas/New Year cold and it did feel like it. Furthermore I left it a bit late setting out, so by the time I got to the stretch of the Thames Path from Shillingford to Little Wittenham I was losing the light fast. I caned it to avoid having to get the torch out and I really paid for that over the last 5 miles.
5k run at lunchtime- playing around with fartlek type intervals (snigger snigger)
Interestingly, I was able to hit a much higher heart rate than I was able to before. When I tried to run 5k as fast as possible I could only get my heart rate up to 180’ish whereas today I got it up to 194
I’ve got it into my head that I want to run a sub-20 minute 5k (whilst fully recognising that it’s daft). I did a couple of 1 minute intervals at >10mph where my heart rate was 190-194 which would take me under 20
My news this week is that I picked up a nice Garmin running watch (forerunner 410 plus separate HR monitor) off eBay last week for £35 delivered and have spent the last three or four days understanding how to use the touch bezel; it’s tap, touch, hold and touch and drag controls. Finally I have sussed it and was able to verify it is fully functional and that, very pleasingly, the battery appears to holds a charge far longer than the spec suggested. The main two reasons I wanted a watch is that the map my run phone app is difficult to use accurately as a GPS timer and was not very helpful in getting me to understand the right running pace for any run. I can also report my first Yoga session went well enough for me to try again next week.
103 miles done in 7 days, with no riding yesterday. A good three hour ride off and on road today. Faster than last Sunday, I can feel my form returning.
Good going as it’s hard to keep going over the winter.
I’ve only been doing my commute to work miles as I can’t shake the cold I’ve had since New Year - really missing getting some miles in especially since the weather has been quite calm.
It’s definitely helping having a riding buddy to hook up with at the weekend. We used to meet at least twice a week for off-road rides, but parental responsibilities put paid to that years ago!
I don’t really go for organised events. We are discussing a return to Snowdonia in Spring for a long weekend of riding. We did ride up the Llanberis path to the top of Snowdonia a couple of years ago, which was great fun. We have tended to base ourselves in Dolgellau where we know a great MTB-friendly guesthouse run by a slightly mad mountain climber. When I started cycling more as a teenager, it was to get out of the city into the peace and quiet of the countryside. The health benefits, while welcome, have not been my prime motivator.
Edit: I also love fettling and tinkering bikes.
Edit2: As a former rugby player (front row), I’m not your typical cycling build…
When I bought the road bike a few years back it was primarily to get fit again.
I went through a period of doing loads of sportives but as my fitness increased I’ve scaled back on them as I can now ride the same roads for nothing and without a hoard of other cyclists.
Generally only do sportives that are a bit different from our norm now and I agree with you there’s nothing quite like really getting away from the rat race.
We’ve a few ideas for this year but need to see how it pans out as far as timings go.