AWOL

Suddenly time has passed without much going on. Oops missed the blogging, I have been riding a bit but I think I am hitting a pretty low phase.

I have been getting stats on usage - there are 87 readers of this so far - which I find surprising and somewhat humbling.

Easter is here - the earliest we have seen for many a year so the extra days hols are before the clocks change! The weathermen have delighted in telling us that it is more likely to snow at Easter than Xmas in the UK.... This year we have a greater than 90% chance apparently as we get ' an artic blast across the whole weekend' Great. So its wrap up and hope to bag a few more miles.

Of course this early Easter has really wrought havoc - we have had to cancel the first club TT as the series has normally started by Easter the first race was next week but as the clocks also need to go forward to be able to race in the light it has been cancelled....

Motivation to try and do quality has gone out of the window - give me miles man! Slightly short of the flat rate the last couple of weeks so I need to get my head and legs together and do some riding.
Overtraining issues have blighted me a little, just hope I am now resting enough. I had been eating constantly and having disturbed sleep (2 classic signs). So I am taking two days rest at a time and then hitting a long ride or two each week. Hope it works. The Wednesday afternoon sunshine has helped in this as I use up half days of holiday to ride.

Happy Easter and I'll blog again next week.

Pie Guy - what of your miles? Hope all is well - Marmotte here we come!!!

Slow returns

The cheek of the man - in the office there is a raft of complaint about the geordie boy's cookie munching, that is nicking biscuits and then he posts comments like the one below!

Apologies for the lack of posts been a bit all over the place what with the bad back and son of causing an issue or two!

So just a very quick note to say the back is much better and the rides are getting shorter as the days get longer (not sure about that one!). Trying to do some 'quality' work on the bike its all relative you know, just about fast enough not fall off will be OK! Anyway got my HR up above 165 this morning then promptly had to lie down in a darkened room for a while. This interval work seem far too energetic for me.

Ooh and slow returns? The return on all this cycling - well its obvious isn't it? I'm just getting slower!

later peeps!

Fats and Backs

So the stasis on the weight has been noted! I am afraid although there have been little glimpses of a result on weight loss by the end of any particular week I have been able to gorge myself back to 197lbs. This is a source of woe and pride! After all to be able to be a consummate endurance athlete one needs to be able to consume, so at last I have found one feature where I bear a passing resemblance of an athlete, kind of.

So thats the Fats, the Backs is about the weight training regime, where I have been hitting the gym to get stronger (to carry all that fat up hill). Unfortunately after a go at the leg press I went to get out of the chair and my back let go. Oh the pain! Its the same injury I have suffered a number of times before and it can come on just getting out of the car, so I am not entirely blaming the gym work. The problem is not unlike a slipped disc, just not quite as bad, the physio says its a bulging disc, so now I am on Ibuprofen and am only really comfortable when sitting down. Now that's lucky isn't it? I can still ride - 'tis only painful when I get off!

As the great man said 'Put me back on my Bike'

Holiday Review

Well it was a great holiday. I ended up not being able to post in the last few days its hard to type whilst cycling!
The quiet end we planned when we got back got messed up so I am just puting a quick note now.
I realised with three days to go I was unlikely to hit the 1,000 mile target and then the penultimate night realised I would get to 975 and HAD to find the last 25, as otherwise ina few years time I would be trying again to get this foolishly high target in two weeks. Ended up on the final day completing an extended ride with 90 minutes to get ready for the final time trial. Very unlikely to go better, A quick shower and fettle of the bike and I had to get out and prepare.
The time trial course is 14.8 KM straight up the hill to Tinajo and back again. With the wind it was going to feel like up hill all the time. Amazingly I finished 25 seconds better than the first weeks effort and a massive 85 seconds quicker than last year and that after riding 120Km through the day to get the magic 1,000!

So: 1,006 miles yeah!!! I think its downhill in terms of performance from here. But as Cookey says "Shoot for the Moon, and if you miss you'll still reach the stars"

I'll try and do a proper update in the enxt few days.....