Enjoying being active

At the moment I'm really enjoying being active and the fact that I'm able to "yes" to most invitations that come my way.

Since Saturday I've done the Annihilator, been for a 10 mile walk on frozen hills in Edale, gone climbing, gone for a snowy night ride and tonight I'm going to go out with a fell running club!

How fun.

Fell Run!

It goes without saying now that I'm either running or riding to work.

This weekend I did something a bit different - I went fell running! The weather was terrible, a mixture of sleet and hail, howling winds and just very cold in general. I did a five mile circuit around some moderate hills and took immense pleasure in running past walkers, wrapped up against the elements (just their eyes showing as their hoods had been pulled over their heads so tightly). I wore a pair of Ronhill Tracksters and a long sleeved t-shirt so had to keep running just to stay warm.

Although it was a hard 48 minute run, it was truly enjoyable and liberating. I'll definitely be doing it again.

The Hill is Getting Easier

I'm continuing to ride to work as I can't stand my courtesy car and it's actually a lot quicker on the bike.

I noticed last Friday how easy (it's all relative) I found the final hill. In fact, I almost wondered how it was that I'd ever found it necessary to stand on the pedals going up it.

I went on a good long walk on Saturday with a really long stretch of uphill. It was a fantastic day and I felt kindly rewarded by really great scenes - carpets of orange leaves on the fields way below us etc.

An attempt at snowboarding yesterday has left me feeling achey and battered, though. At least my legs still work!

Night ride

Last Wednesday I did my first night ride of the year. It was misty and rainy but incredibly enjoyable. I got back after 2.5 hours on my mountain bike feeling tired but satisfied.

I rode to work the next day and still felt tired from the relatively easy ride.

I've decided to take a few days off hard exercise as I'm feeling a bit worn down at the moment.

Continued Effort

On Thursday night I was given a courtesy car by the garage which means I now have the option to drive to work in the mornings.

I did this on Friday and I was accused of looking bleary-eyed. In fact, I didn't feel on top form all day. This was definitely down to the lack of riding/running in the morning. I usually feel invigorated by the time I go through the doors to my office but on Friday I felt like crawling back into bed.

I was pretty tired last week and felt like I needed a week off exercise. However, the exact opposite has happened: Firday night I went skiing, Saturday I went for a long walk, Sunday morning I went for a run, Monday I rode to work and then did turbo training in the evening and today I've run to work.

Admittedly, last night's turbo training was curtailed by me thinking that there was a burgular in the house when the cellar door popped open for no reason whatsoever. I carried on for a bit but was too freaked out to properly get my head down.

My base level of fitness has significantly improved since last year - yipee!

Duathlon

I've still not got a car so I'm still riding and running to work. Running to work is a lot tougher than riding so I'm trying to make sure I do this at least twice a week. I'm also trying to make sure I go on the turbo trainer for 3o minutes at least twice a week too.

On Monday this week I rode to work and managed to motivate myself to get on the turbo trainer in the evening. It was a relatively easy session but I'm going to build it up with more and more sprint sections.

Yesterday I ran to work and at lunchtime I found a duathlon to enter on New Years Eve. I've had a look at the times and have some targets (tough targets if I want to do well!) so I should be able to be even more motivated on those sprint sections of the turbo training sessions. On the run home I really went for it and did the 4.6 miles in 28 minutes (6:06 minutes per mile) - I was imagining that I was racing the duathlon at the time! Unfortunately, this resulted in me really hurting my leg (over stretching I think) and today I couldn't possibly have run to work (it even hurt lying in bed). I managed to cycle in though - phew!

A worthy challenger

On the ride home on Wednesday I caught up to a lycra clad cyclist on a titanium bike at some traffic lights at the foot of a hill. Naturally, I overtook him. However, as I did so I heard him start to pedal faster (he had a slight creak on his bike). I raced up the hill as fast as I could and was surprised when I got to the top that he was only about 10 metres behind me. My lungs were burning! He changed lanes in the stationary traffic and went round a roundabout before me before racing off down a hill. I raced after him, got onto his wheel and sat in his slip stream. Every now and again he's look behind him to see if I was there and I'd make sure I was sitting up, taking in the scenery. Two roundabouts and one hill later I finally dropped him.

By the time I got home my lungs hurt and I could taste blood. I'd written on the blog that I was going to do some turbo training so I stuck toi my word and made sure I did a half hour session.

Yesterday morning I ran to work. Although, I could feel the exertion of the previous night in my legs I felt pretty strong. The run home was more of a challenge (due in part to needing to go to the toilet!) and I was glad this morning that the weather was ok so I could ride to work.