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.

Need to do longer sessions.

I'm still running and riding to work at the moment and although I feel that my running is really coming on (I'm able to run home a lot faster now and no longer feel unwell after a run).

However, I really feel that the 18 minute blasts on the way to work are too short, even though they are hard. Tonight I'm going to go on the turbo trainer to see how long I can comfortably go for.

Car then no car!

Disaster was averted this weekend - I got the car back on Friday night so I used it to drive to Warrington and back. I'm glad I did too as I did a lot of walking over the weekend and would've been shattered if I'd had to ride back on Sunday.

The car, though, is still not quite right and is back in the garage. This morning I ran to work in record time - under half an hour. I'll need to do another quick time on the way home to make an appointment with a mortgage advisor who I've booked to come round at 6:15.

I really want to find some races to do now to test out how fit I am at the moment as I really have no idea!

Run to work again

I ran to work today as I had to drop the car in again. It felt really easy after the couple of days' rest I've had from the commute.

If the car has to stay in the garage over the weekend I'll have to do something silly. I'm going to Warrington over the weekend and I refuse to pay the rip-off prices on the train. Consequently, I'll be riding 65 miles over the Peak District in the dark after work.

Fingers crossed the car gets fixed!

Annihilator

The weather was really horrible last night and it took some motivation to get out and do the annihilator.

It's been a while since I last did the annihilator and I'd forgotton just how bad it is. I did three laps and evertime I did the hill I gave it everything I had - so much that I could see anything smoothly as my head didn't stay still long enough for my eyes to focus on anything. I made it up each hill in 57 seconds, which I think is a couple of seconds faster than I was doing it before the summer.

It felt really good to do some proper running again, rather than running to work with a rucksack on.

Moving to a more interesting routine

I've got my car back now and, although, I'll still be riding/running to work on the days where the weather is ok (it's so much quicker! - yes, running too!), using the car leaves me with some energy to do things like the annihilator and Grand Old Duke of York in the evenings. Tonight I'm planning on doing the annihilator. I've not done it for ages so I hope my legs still work going up the climb!

Tired

I really wish I had my car at the moment. I'm struggling to walk down stairs at the moment because my legs hurt so much!

Fortunately the sun was shining this morning so I was able to ride to work. I was so tired, though, I nearly didn't have the motivation to overtake another cyclist on the final hill to work. In the end I pulled myself together and rode past him with relative ease but I'm really looking forward to Saturday when I'll get my first proper rest day since the Fred Whitton!

Aching a lot

I'm on my second day in a row of running to work at the moment. Today I'm paying the price for running home too fast yesterday and my legs are really aching - getting up to get a drink of water requires a bit of build up to prepare for the pain.

The good news is that over yesterday and today, I've managed to over take 3 cyclists going up hills - yipee!

I'm very tired now, though. If I could do absolutely nothing tonight I would. As it is, I've got to go out and do some recording.

Fred Whitton Challenge (+3 miles)

Last weekend I did the Fred Whitton Challenge. Definitely the best ride I've ever done. The scenery was stunning and, on the whole, this managed to take my mind off any tiredness.

The worst bits throughout the ride were after we'd stopped for a while and then started to ride again. My legs would feel like lead for the next half hour at least.

The ride went over all of the famous passes in the Lake district and to give you an idea of how steep some of them were, when I went over Whinlatter, I was convinced there was more to come as it felt so easy after the other climbs.

There was one climb that I was dreading on the basis of its name alone - Cold Fell. I had visions of a bleak and exposed climb and turned out to be absolutely right. Definitely the low point of the ride.

After 97 miles of riding we took the turning towards Hardknott Pass (followed very closely by Wrynose Pass) and passed a sign warning of the very steep gradient and informing us that the road is closed throughout the whole of winter as it's so steep. There was an eery suspense as we rode the next three miles on a very flat road. Just as the we ticked over 100 miles we started the steepest road I'd ever ridden up. I was pulling so hard on the bars that the I had to clamp my fingers with my thumb to make sure my hands didn't slip off. By the top I wasn't grunting with effort, I was whimpering with pain.

Incredibly. By the end of the ride I felt fresh again and able to attack climbs. I also only only had two sharp stabbing pains in my legs.

Writing this blog has certainly helped me to become the fittest I've been.

Savin Savage Century (and football)

On Saturday I rode the Savin Savage Century with a friend. It's probably one of the best rides I've ever done. Perfect weather and a good route.

We didn't really take enough food because I took some money to buy lunch. The only issue with this was that I forgot the money and we had to get by on what we had!

Amazingly after 100 miles I didn't feel anywhere near as bad as I expected. I was pretty tired but certainly still felt like I had it in me to attack some of the last climbs.

Yesterday I played football and was a wreck all the way through. Before the game started my legs were tired and by half time I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Unfortunately we didn't have subs so I had to keep running and running until full time. By the end I was tripping over my feet I was so tired!

On the ride to work this morning I came across a cyclist who thought he was faster than me. Oh dear, oh dear. I look back now and pity him. He shot away from the traffic lights like a bullet from a gun and was pedalling furiously up the road. In fairness it took me about 20 metres to catch him but when I did I took a second to compose my "I'm not trying face" and rode past. Hopefully he won't try to mess with me again!

Building up to Fred Whitton

In just over a week I'll be having a go at the Fred Whitton Challenge - one of the hardest one-day rides in the UK. It's 112 miles and takes in 6 of the major passes in the Lake District (including Hard Knot Pass which has a 30% gradient!).

It's going to be pretty tough so on Saturday I'm doing a tester ride that I've worked out around Sheffield (I'm calling it the Savin Savage Centurion). It's 100 miles and takes in 6 of the hardest hills I can find.

At the moment, though, I can't imagine much harder hills than the final hill on the way to work! It's not getting any easier. Ridden in every day this week (still no car) on my new (old) going to work bike. Which is surprisingly fast!

Muscles Popping

Still been riding to work. I'm definitely getting faster but my muscles are really feeling the strain - they feel like something's about to pop.

Today I saw a cyclist up ahead of me who I've seen a few times in the past when I've been in the car or running. I've noticed him because he has exceptionally sinewy legs and always appears to be pushing on fairly rapidly.

Yes, predictably I did glide past him with an effortless expression on my face while inside I was thinking that I couldn't keep the pace up.

Still no car 2

Well, that's another week of running and riding over. Finally, the journey is getting easier.

Is this summer worse than last year's?

The forecast suggests that it's going to rain every day this week. That's a lot of running. I'm trying to shake off a cold at the moment and I'm not sure that running 10 miles a day is going to help! If I had my car, I'd be driving it; as it is, I'm on my second day of running in a row and it's only Tuesday.

This morning I got to work 1 minute faster than previous efforts. This can largely be put down to the fact that (you know what's coming here) there was a runner in front of me who I inevitably had to overtake. He was trying to overtake me back but I not-so-subtley ran faster and faster to prevent him from passing! After about a mile and a half he turned off from my route and I was allowed to slow down! Phew! (my time would have been much more than a minute faster if I hadn't had to slow down so much from my effort!)

Perspiration over precipitation

It was raining when I got up this morning so I decided to run to work. Although it had stopped raining by the time I left the house, it was probably the right decision as the roads were still very wait.

By the time I arrived at work I was pretty soaking. People thought it must have been raining outside but it was actually just the humidity! The run took me 35 minutes again, which looks to be the standard time for me over this route. Not sure how much time I can knock off this without really giving it some stick over the last hills.

On an amusing(ish) note - someone opened a car door into me while I was riding home last night. I nearly ended up in the car with them!

No rain yet today

I was tired running home last night and, to be honest, the 3 mile round walk to my band practice and back was unwelcome!

When I saw the sun streaming through my window I was delighted and despite rain being forecast for this afternoon I rode to work.

The reason that I rode to work is that I'm trying to avoid running 3 days in a row as it's too much really. If I'd run today and it rains again tomorrow I'd be pretty tired!

Did I mention the last hill to work is steep? It's not getting any easier!

Rain means run

I decided last week that every time it rains I'll run to work. This is to save my bike from the damage that riding in wet weather every day will cause.

On Friday it rained so I ran to work. I felt a lot better than I did last Wednesday so I wasn't too concerned about the run home. In the end, though, I was saved this by the fact I was picked up by Elly so that we could go straight to the supermarket.

Yesterday morning it was sunny so I rode to work. I was late leaving the house so I made the journey in a record 16 minutes! When I arrived at work some people who'd passed me in their car going up the last hill gave me a round of applause! I think they appreciated the gradient of the hill.

Today I woke up and it was chucking it down and I was so tired after a very late night (didn't go to sleep til after 1am) that I really didn't want to get out of bed - let alone run. At 7:26 I received a text message from a colleague offering me a lift to save me having to go out in such dreadful weather. Somehow I managed to decline, got into my running kit and ran to work. It was actually pretty pleasant to have a cooling shower while I was running! Although I feel tired from the late night I feel ok about the fact I'll be running again in another 5 hours, which is nice!

Running, tired.

It turns out that running to and from work is pretty hard work. If I'd have run an extra 3 miles when I got back the distance I covered would have been the same as a half marathon.

I rode to work this morning and feel pretty tired - it really isn't an easy ride!

I suppose I'll have to get used to it while my car stays at the garage!

Run to work

When I got home on Monday I really fancied going for a bike ride. The only problem was, after bargin my way through 5 miles of rush hour traffic to get home, the thought of going out again wasn't really appealing. I didn't want to waste the great weather sitting inside so I went for a longish walk up to Graves Park, which was really nice.

I'm hoping that when I get a "going to work" bike the change from the rubbish bike to my good bike when I get home will be enough to put the shine back into an evening bike ride. In the meantime, I'm trying to find another way to get to work so that I don't start to see my road bike as a form of transport rather than a fun bit of sports kit (if you see what I mean).

This morning I ran to work. It took me 35 minutes, which is around 5 minutes longer than it would take in the car. The last hills were predictably horrific, especially as I overtook a cyclist going up one of them and wasn't going to let him overtake me back!

Not sure I'll be able to keep up running 10 miles a day - but if I can I'll get very good at running!

Practical stuff

My car's broken. As a result I've been using my bike and my legs as my only form of transport.

I rode to work from Monday to Friday. It's hard work - there are some huge hills that actually make my bike creak with the torque I have to put through it due to the bike not having a low enough gear (and the bike needing a service!)

I didn't cycle to work on Thursday, though. However, due a to a mix-up with a colleague I had to run to Sheffield station two miles away (I was going to london) at 6:32 mile pace (in my suit!) so that I didn't miss the train.

in the meantime, my team has pulled out of the next 24 hour race so I'm on the lookout for another event to aim for.

Holidays

I've been on holiday for the past 4 days which has given me a break in my routine.

On Thursday morning I went for a run for an hour. I felt really good and if it wasn't for the fact I was desparate to get back to my toilet I think I could have gone on a lot longer.

I then went on holiday to Whitby. On Saturday we must have walked over 12 miles. The day started with awalk from the campsite to the beach and back. We then did a 6 mile walk up the coast. Then we went in to Whitby and did the Whitby Treasture Hunt (there's one available for most places actually) and after that we went on a ghost walk.

On Sunday we went for a stroll around Scarborough which was by no means short! We passed a shooting gallery on our travels too!

Yesterday we walked into town and did some shopping. In the evening my car broke down twice (different problems - I have the kiss of death when it comes to cars I think) so I'm biking to work for the time being. I found out this morning that the final hill to work is an absolute killer!

Grand Old Duke of York (intervals)

Spurred on with your going to the gym in the mornings (and how much better I feel when I've done exercise before work) I got up this morning and went for a run. It was a nice sunny morning so it was a pleasant thing to do.

I did the old interval training I used to do up the Grand Old Duke of York route. Whe I left the house I felt pretty rubbish. My running felt laboured and I felt like I was suffereing from the normal morning lack of real energy when I try to exercise in the morning.

Although, I never felt great I was surprised when I got a lot further on the route (it's done on time, not distance) than I normally did. To be honest, though, I think it's the fitness I've gained from cycling that got me through it rather than any element of good running.

Ride!

My legs are tired today.

I did a ride last night that was a lot harder than I expected it to be. On reflection, I think the difficulty stemmed from two factors: the strong wind and my choice of route out of Sheffield.

There's a road that gets me to the peaks that, in my head, seems like a quick and direct route out of town and not too hilly. However, all the rides I do that use it end being horrible. The second ride I did with Tom on that May Bank Holiday used it and was almost a disaster as I hit "the wall" one third of the way round. That "No Flats" ride I did was indescribably difficult considering how short it was and last night's ride was pretty gruelling. When I got home I went on mapmyride.com to see how far I went (48.19miles) and have a look at the profile of the course. To my surprise I found the top of the road I've been using is only around 100 feet lower than the top of Mam Tor. No wonder it kills me!

When I was half-way up it a guy turned onto the road behind me on a nice bike but just wearing normal shorts and a t-shirt. I thought I would drop him easily but 30 seconds later I had a cheeky glance behind me and he was only 20 metres back. I put in a bit more effort and struggled on against the wind. After another minute I looked back and he was still only about 40 metres behind. So I decided to really put the hammer down and imagined all the phrases the Tour de France commentators use ("he's really putting the hurt into the other riders"/"they're shovelling coal now!"). It really hurt and I felt I was struggling so much I was scared he was just going to cruise past me. I also felt I couldn't have another look back as it would be too obvious that I was trying to drop him so I had to wait until the top of the hill where the road sweeps into a big "C" shape that covers about 600 metres. I looked over my shoulder nearing the top of it and couldn't see him. "He must be right behind me!!" I thought. Fortunately, he wasn't and I'd managed to drop him good and proper. Unfortunately I'd pretty much ruined the rest of the ride for myself and I'd only ridden 8 miles!

As I rode towards Winnats Pass I was genuinely worried that today would be the first day I wouldn't actually make it up. Although, when it came to it, it wasn't too much of a problem my legs felt drained of energy and the wind was relentless.

Then came a revalation. The return journey was great. My bike felt like it had a motor on it! It didn't stop the last hill hurting though. It's 4 miles of nice smooth road that's very satisfying to get to the top of. Especially yesterday.

On the way back to Sheffield I really expected my legs to get those shooting pains but fortunately I avoided them again.

2 walks

Over the weekend I did 2 walks. The first was pretty strenuous and the weather was terrible.

Yesterday's walk was easier (on 5.5miles), half of what we're going to be doing every day on holiday with the tents on our backs.

The weather looks fantastic this week so it looks like I'll be doing some good rides!

Football and Ride

I've been lucky with the weather over the past couple of days.

On Tuesday I played football after work as usual. Yesterday I ached a little more than usual but nothing bad enough to stop me going on a bike ride.

Last night I went on a ride with someone from work. We rode a pretty good pace all the way round and with all the extra bits (ie me riding to this guy's house to meet him then riding home via his house I rode around 45 miles, which is a decent ride.

I was ravenous when I got home - my stomach was actually hurting because it wanted food so badly. (I'd taken food on the ride with me but gave it to my colleague as he started to tire on the first of two long climbs.)

What's thing called, "outside"?

Over the last few days I've actually managed to do exercise outside. Admittedly the rubbish summer meant that I got wet on two out of three of these sessions but at least I was in the fresh air.

Last Thursday night I went on a run in the pouring rain. It turned out to be pretty short (just over 25 minutes) as I went with my new neighbour who struggled a bit as he'd not been out for a while. Still, it was probably nice to have an easy session after the difficult turbo training session I had the previous night.

I went camping in the Lake District over the weekend and did a big walk on Sunday - combining two of the walks outlined by Wainwright (Crinkle Crags and Bowfell). We were out for six hours and by the time we got back the car I was really glad to sit down. And then, after 4.5 hours of driving to get back home, I was really pleased to get to bed!

I was please that I didn't feel too tired yesterday and managed to get out on my bike for first time in ages. In my head I was thinking, "I've not been out on my bike for ages, I'm going to be rubbish" but I'd not taken into account the turbo training I've been doing so it was a pleasant surprise to find that I felt really good. It was horribly wet last night so I nearly shortened the route I intended to do as I didn't want to ride in the rain all night (I was only wearing shorts and t-shirt). However, as if by auto-pilot I turned down the road to do the full route rather than continuing back into Sheffield when I had the opportunity. It added 10 miles to the route, including a 5 mile climb, which is rapidly becoming my favourite climb in Sheffield. The road is really smooth and the scenery changes all the way up. Best of all, the rain stopped so I felt I'd really made the right decision.

Yep, still raining

Arghhh!!!! The weather today is sunny until 4pm then rainy all night! I WANT TO GET OUT ON MY BIKE (but don't want to get wet!)!!

Think I'll go for a run tonight for a change from turbo training.

Last night's turbo training was very hard. Made up a new session (need to introduce some variety in order to relieve the tedium brought on by so much bike riding in my cellar) which involved 5 minute repetitions where half the time was spent on the hardest session on the trainer only three gears from top gear on my road bike. I only went on for half an hour but I was shattered. My legs today feel similar to when I've done a much longer ride.

Stormy Weather

The weather is truly rubbish at the moment. I want to go on a bike ride but it's constantly raining. Looks like I'll be turbo training AGAIN tonight.

Last night was football. As usual I ran and ran and ran.

Ploughing ahead blindly

At the moment I don't really have a specific event that I'm training for and it makes it difficult for me to decide what sort of training to do.

Although I'm doing another 24 hour race in August this isn't with a particularly fast team so I don't have the pressure to train like I did for Mountain Mayhem. I'm debating whether to do the Hathersage Hilly Triathlon but I'm put off by the fact that I'm camping that weekend so I'll need to rush across Derbyshire at 6am on a Sunday morning to get there along with the fact that I'm TERRIBLE at swimming. And when I say terrible I mean terrible - old ladies keeing their hair dry swim past me while I flail about, trying to get from one end of the pool to the other.

I'm going to go swimming one night this week to see how long it takes me to swim 420 metres.

So, with the absence of anything definite to train for I've just been trying to keep up the same sort of level as before the mountain mayhem.

On Saturday I went mountain biking - terriblie weather but a great ride.

On Sunday I went for a long walk. Again, the weather was terrible to start with but then the sun came out as a reward for our optimism. It was on eof the best walks I've done out of my walk book, going past big mills by the river - loads of really interesting history. As usual, the walk left me feeling shattered. I get much more tired doing these relatively low level activities for a long time than when I do bike rides or play football. In the evening I played a gig and could barely keep my eyes open.

This morning I got up and did half an hour on the turbo trainer. Today I got the distinct impression that my legs are definitely getting stronger.

Football and TT

I played football after work last night and ran and ran and ran! It's a running joke (no pun intended) at football with some people how much I run.

When I got home I was shattered - not helped of course by the fact I'd already done some time on the turbo trainer before work!

I'm seeing Beck in Manchester tonight so I got up this morning and did half an hour on the turbo trainer before work again as I'm going to be sat in the car/standing at a gig for much of tonight.

Early in the morning.

I missed out on any exercise on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday! I spent the entire weekend sitting down making a website and on Sunday evening I was in a foul mood from having done nothing else all weekend.

Last night I REALLY wanted to go for a run but I was recording some bits for the new album and it took longer than I expected and I ran out of time.

So... I got up early this morning to get on the turbo trainer for 35 minutes. I felt really good going to work having fully exerted myself before breakfast so I'm going to do the same thing tomorrow.

It was weird doing the turbo training with no specific race in mind that I'm training for. A real motivator for me is imagining myself overtaking people as I'm pedalling but this seemed weird when I'm not sure what my next race will be!

RPM!!!

This week has been incredibly hectic - I've sorting out a new person who's moving into my house at the moment and had band practices and gigs to get to.

Fortunately, I've managed to squeeze in some time on my bike.

On Tuesday I went on a long (duration, not distance) mountain bike ride to test out a circular route from my house. I didn't fancy riding fast I my legs were obviously recovering from the weekend's exertions.

Last night was a triumph in time management! I went to the supermarket on the way home from work, sorted out two loads of washing, did 30 minutes on the turbo trainer (concentrating on high cadence - didn't drop below 110 rpm for the whole time and averaged around 120 rpm), watched House and still made it to meet some friends for 2-4-1 cocktails!

It's really important to me at the moment to carry on fitting in biking and running as I don't want to lose the fitness I've worked so hard to build up since starting this blog in February.

I'm looking for a series of duathlons to enter to make the most of how well I'm going at the moment.

Mountain Mayhem

I can quite honestly say I will never do that again. It's unpleasant enough having to ride at various stages through the night but this was terrible.

There was torrential rain through the night that made 70% of the course unrideable. You could barely push your bike as the wheels wouldn't go round (too much mud) and when I tried to pick my bike up not only did the mud suck it into the ground but the sheer weight of the bike was too much to carry more than a few metres at a time.

Also, I only managed around 40 minutes of sleep on Saturday night then had to drive for 5 hours on Sunday which was a terrible experience.

That said, as expected our team did pretty well. We all put in consistent fast laps and kept trying hard all the way through. Out of our category of 60 teams we came 8th and overall, out of 640 teams (including all the pro teams), we came 35th. Which is pretty good really.

last bit before Mountain Mayhem

As this week is the last one before Mountain Mayhem starts I've been keen to do some really hard sessions so that I have a psychological advantage at the weekend - "I've felt worse than this in training so you suckers are just going to have to ride past you!" :)

On Tuesday I played football and the Wednesday I did the hardest Turbo Training session I've ever done.

The forecast for the weekend is terrible so there's going to be a lot of grinding through mud, which is a lot like riding up hill to be honest.

Last night I did 25 minutes of the session I did on Monday night then did 10 minutes grinding a hard gear on the hardest setting on the trainer. I then repeated the first 25 minutes so that I knew I could still put in rapid bursts after a looooong time grinding up hill.

It was pretty tough and I had to go up the stairs in two goes afterwards because my legs were so wobbly!

I'm really pleased though because I feel absolutely fine today and I feel ready for the onslaught of mud I'm going to have to face this weekend...

Still going...

Last Thursday I came up with a new format on my turbo trainer to simulate the race I'll be doing this weekend. There are no "easy bits", just changes of pace - so I'll either have the trainer on a hard setting or I'll be going flat out on an easy setting in the hardest gear. After half an hour last Thursday I felt like my heart was going to smash my ribs out of my chest!

I didn't get to do any riding or running over the weekend as I was in Cork for a stag do. I did, however do a full day's sea kayaking, which was brilliant. I only had 4 hours' sleep on Friday night and 5 hours' sleep on Saturday then got back home on Sunday at 2am and went to work at normal time! As you can imagine, I felt horrific.

When I got home last night I felt like I would fall asleep while I walked from the car to the house. After sitting down for a minute my nextdoor neighbour came round to ask if I wanted to go for a run. Stupidly I said yes. We did the Dale Winton challenge in a reasonably quick 45 minutes.

While I was running I realised that I wouldn't get many chances for bike riding in this week (Wednesday being my only free night) which concerned me as I have the big race at the weekend.

So, when I got back from the run I put my cycling shorts straight on and got on the turbo trainer to do the same race simulation I did last Thursday.

I reckon it was probably pretty realistic too! Ridiculously hard riding after no sleep when you're already tired will be just like doing the 24 hour race!

Slow Ride

Got back on my bike last night to do the 28 mile Hathersage loop. I went with a friend and we cruised round relatively slowly. It was enjoyable to do a slower ride and probably a good choice, being the first ride after the race.

The only problem was that I pretty much never got going and as a result got very cold. On the uphills my heartrate didn't really go up much so I didn't get as warm as normally would and then going down the hills (which normally cools you down nicely) just got me freezing. By the time I got back home I'd lost all feeling in my feet and my 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers had gone completely white!

6hr solo

I don't think I'll do one of these again. Or, if I do, the course is going to have to be a little less technical.

The course was 70% singletrack and very rooty, rutty and rocky. It was really punishing on your arms and hands and incredibly hard to put up with for 6 hours.

The lack of mountain biking I've done really showed yesterday - I was very average through technical sections of the course. However, all the training I've done also showed - on the uphills I passed people on the climbs only to look behind me 30 seconds later to wonder where they had disappeared to.

My back also hurts today. It took a real battering going over such a bumpy course for 6 hours. In fact, on my sixth lap (I did 9 in total) I got a punture and it took me almost 15 minutes to fix! The ludicrously long time was mainly down to the fact I couldn't bend down to pick my pump up etc. Never had back pain like it!

I'm having a night off tonight.

Big Evening Ride

I found out yesterday that the plan for Sunday's race has changed. We were originally supposed to be doing the 6 hour race as a team of three (I think). Now I'm going to be doing it solo.

I was so excited yesterday that I thought I'd go for a longish ride after work to test my legs. I ended up doing the same ride as I did with Tom the first day that he came up - a 50 mile ride taking in some of the biggest hills in the area. I got round in just under three hours and felt fine.

The ride itself was really nice - absolutely perfect weather and amazing scenery. One of the really nice parts was that as I got to top of the last hill I looked over to see the sun setting over the huge hills I had already ridden up a couple of hours earlier.

One thing I must bear in mind for Sunday, though, is how tired I was once i'd got off the bike. After 15 minutes at home I felt ready to close my eyes for a bit - even talking seemed to be too much effort. It'll be interesting to see how I cope riding twice as long on Sunday.

No Flats

The weather was nice last night and despite my aching legs from the runt he day before I really didn't want to be stuck inside.

I went out on my bike to do what I thought would be a fairly short ride but it turned out to be 1.5 hours which means it just about makes it into "normal" ride length for me rather than being classified as "short".

I'm calling the ride "No Flats". This has nothing to do with the rapidly rising high density housing that is increasingly seen in and around Sheffield city centre. It is more to do with the fact that, even by Sheffield's standards, this is an exceptionally hilly ride - there are no slight inclines, no easy downhill gradients and definitely no flats.

My legs are still aching today so I'm not going to get back on the bike now until Sunday's race to make sure I'm fully fit.

A minor hitch

On Thursday night I decided to go for a bike ride to find some longer hills to do a couple of reps up in preparation for next weekend's race. Unfortunately, about a mile into the ride a car drove into me and my ride was finished!

I was mainly disappointed that my bike had been damaged and that I would (yet again) have a weekend off the bike. Fortunately, I got it fixed quickly and was able to go on the turbo trainer for an hour on Saturday morning (I didn't feel up to going for a ride as my neck was hurting).

Yesterday, I went on a long and difficult run with Elly's dad. It was the first run I've done for ages and my legs are aching today!

Summits, brows, peaks

Did some more turbo training last night. This time I tried to practice getting to the top of a hill then carrying speed over the top.

I often have a tendancy to get to the top of a hill and reward myself a 10 second rest in the form of easy pedalling before I start going fast down the other side (or on the flat). In races you need to keep the same effort going when you reach the top of the hill so that you don't get dropped by stronger riders. It's a killer actually.

Last night I did a session that had two minutes easy, 1 minute hard (changing to a harder gear every 15 seconds), 1 minute easy setting, hardest gear sprinting, 1 minute easy setting hardest gear normal pedalling, 2 minutes easy etc...

I did an hour and felt ok. Though as I was doing each hill followed by a sprint I had to really imagine myself overtaking people to keep my legs going at a fair pace!

Back on it

I had a cold towards the end of last week which knocked me out a bit. It was a real shame as the weather was good over the weekend and I really would have liked to have got out and done something. I felt rubbish, though, so I was forced to sit in which frustrated me no end!

On Monday I could take no more of it and as I was feeling a bit better I decided to take myself on a walk. After a 7 mile walk in the peaks I felt loads better.

Last night the weather was bad so I went on my turbo trainer. I did a fast session for an hour and felt really good. I think I could have gone on for longer but as I want to do the same tonight I didn't want to completely ruin myself!

For 40 minutes of yesterday's ride I listened to an audio book. Spoken word actually seems to make things a lot easier than music!

Back to the Turbo

After missing out on a ride onTuesday due to the football/band practice combination (trying to play football with a trumpet in my hand gets more difficult every week...) I was really keen to get on the bike last night.

I was also really keen to watch the Champions league final so I disappeared into the cellar for a 35 minute blast on the turbo trainer in an attempt to replicate a lap at the 12 hour race I'm going to do. I warmed up for 5 minutes then went pretty much as hard as I could for 25 minutes on a 3 minute top gear, easy setting on the trainer /2 minute 3-gears down, hardest setting on the trainer. I also tried to do a little sprint after each hard section as if I was getting going again after getting to the summit of a climb.

After 25 minutes of hell I warmed down for 5 minutes.

It was a very hard session where I actually almost felt scared of the time ticking away on the easier bit because I couldn't stand the 2 minutes of the hard setting.

At some stage soon I'll try to do the same thing, have a break for an hour then do it again to see how it'll feel in the race.

After work mega-blast

Last night I thought that I would go for a bit of a blast on my mountain bike after work. I'd chosen one out of my new book...

A rode out of Sheffield via my new-found offroad route and did the loop round Stanage Moor. It felt awful. The bike was going so slowly on the roads and it was taking so much effort that I actually stopped at one point to make sure the brakes weren't rubbing! I carried on, thinking that I might start to feel better soon. It was a real grind with some huge hills.

The rewards were great though! There are some seriously good downhills that actually made my three end fingers ache terribly on each hand from gripping the bars (first fingers were on the brakes). Absolutely brilliant fun!

Half way round I stopped for a while to check my route and a couple of riders went past me at a fair pace (joining me from a different route - not overtaking me!) while I was flicking through the pages of the guidebook. After a couple of minutes I put away the book and started off again, my bike feeling like hard work. Anyway, after this things began to come clear.

I very quickly passed these two riders on a steep hill, "hello mate, this is a bit steep isn't it?" and was pleased to hear, "walk in the park for you though!" and left them far behind me on the next hill.

I just about made it home while it was still light (borderline, though - I really didn't want to pass a police car) and had a look in my book.

The ride I had ridden out to was 27.5km and was one of the longer rides in the section of the book called "Enduros" - it said, "These are proper rides: pack your sarnies and your chain lube - you're going to be out all day.." So I'd done this ride plus 11km of the Sheffield off-road link (5.5.km each way) plus the 6k (3k each way) to get to there from my house. So that was 44.5km of mountain biking in 2.5 hours. No wonder everything had been so difficult!

I think the reason I went so fast was that I'm so used to the speed of a road bike. You can cruise along so fast compared with the the fat tired drag of a mountain bike and I just felt paranoid that I was going slow!

Needless to say I was tired last night. Today my fingers are hurting.

A change is as good as a rest

I continued my week off hard cycling right through the weekend and it's proabably done me some good. A walk on Friday and a walk on Sunday will have helped keep my legs moving while they are recovering from the previous week's work.

Not only that, but the walks were fairly long in length and duration which is the sort of thing I need at the moment to make sure I don't burnout too early in these upcoming races.

Easy week

After the difficult weekend I had I've had a relatively easy week so far. On Monday evening I went for a walk to stretch out my tired legs. It was really nice. Absolutely brilliant to be standing on the top of hills on a calm Monday evening!

Tuesday was football and last night I went mountain biking with my old boss from Breeze. It was a good hilly ride and I was really pleased not to have felt stretched despite some really long uphill drags.

Stupid Saturday, Scorching Sunday

This weekend I planned to ride over to see Elly in Warrington. I thought it didn't sound too bad - just over 60 miles each way. I thought that would be around 4 hours' riding.

For some reason on Saturday morning I accepted an invitation to go mountain biking, thinking that if I was back by 12 this would still leave plenty of time to get Warrington. As it turned out the ride went on til 1:30pm which had the double whammy of putting my start time back and making me more tired before I'd even started the long ride! Mountain biking was great, though - I've got some really good trails very near me that stretch right out into the Peaks.

I left for Warrington at 2:40pm. The route I had chosen took me up the infamous Winnat's pass which was so hard in Saturday's heat that a group of walkers gave me a round of applause when I went past them! There was a huge downhill after that where a car drover right behind me all the way down. As I got to the bottom of the hill he drew level with me I wound his window down. I thought he was going to give me a load of grief for holding him up but he actually just stuck his thumb up and shouted, "52 miles per hour mate!"

It turns out that the ride to Warrington is very hard. Crossing the peaks means going up and down a lot of BIG hills. Fortunately, the last 20 miles (across the Cheshire plains) is pretty much all flat. I was tired by this stage though and those 20 miles seemed to last a lifetime (really regretted mtbing in the morning!).

Incredibly ( I thought anyway), I made it to Warrington in 3hrs 40 mins.

The next day my legs were very tired and Elly gave me a lift down the road so I missed the first 10 miles of flat and boring road. I set off in the blazing sun and prepared myself for a gentle start to the ride in preparation for some of the monster hills I knew were happening.

Then my plan was ruined.

As I rode through a place called Wilmslow I got caught up with a string of cyclists racing in the Wilmslow Triathlon. As much as I tried to resist it I couldn't help myself! I raced passed them all at breakneck speed cheerfully saying "hello mate, keep going!" as I passed. I was so pleased to finally leave the race route as I was going hell for leather and I didn't know how much longer I could keep it up!

I was really pleased that when I hit the hills I was still able to attack them with some energy despite expending so much energy so early.

These place names might not mean much to you but after I went down Winnat's pass and into Castleton, then through Hope I thought, "in 5 minutes I'll be in Hathersage then it's one last climb then downhill all the way to my front (back) door". Then I saw the diversion sign. And it was some diversion 10 miles of the hilliest roads ever took me past Tideswell (!!!) then back to Hathersage. I could have cried! All the miles I saved with Elly's lift were added on in cruelest way possible; I'd have taken the flat boring road over these massive hills any day.

I made it home in just over 4 hours, so exhausted that I could barely see!

And I realised this morning that I arranged with a friend last week that I would go cycling with him tonight... Arghh!

PS: I have an incredible tan line from yesterday's scorching sun combined with cycling top.

Mountain Biking

It was really nice weather last night so I decided that I was definitely going to get out and something.

In the end I ended up going for a mountain bike ride with George (next door neighbour). We found that you can get right out to the Peaks off-road from very close to my house! The trails are actually really good too so I was amazed at what a great ride I have so close.

The ride was pretty challenging technically and at one point as George was feeling tired and bouncing over the trail I pointed out the view. "Oh yeah!" he said, "I hadn't even noticed that - I'm too busy concentrating on staying on my bloody bike..."

Really good fun and a nice break from all the road miles I'm putting in at the moment. I was also pleased that I'm still pretty confident off-road despite the complete lack of any mountain biking I've been doing. Plenty of room for improvement before the races though.

Two Loooooong Rides

This weekend Tom came up to do some riding in the Peaks.

On Sunday we zoomed through 50 miles of the toughest hills on the Sheffield side of the Peaks (3400 ft of ascent in total). I felt really good right up until the last 3 miles. By the time we got back to Sheffield I was very glad to see my house.

On Monday we planned a longer ride. We rode out to Glossop (nearly in Manchester!), down to Buxton, across to Bakewell and then back home. It was just over 75 miles in total and had some gruelling climbs (4800 ft of ascent). I really suffered for 2 thirds of it so it was a real test of my will power to even get home!

Today I'm pretty tired. The main thing that shows how hard I was riding is that my arms ache from pulling on the bars so hard while riding up hills.

Back on the Turbo

Last night I went back on the Turbo Trainer for an hour as I thought it was going to rain. This was a shame as it turned out to be a nice sunny evening!

I went on for an hour doing the routine where I do 3 minutes easy, 1 minute fairly hard then 1 minute flat out etc. At 20 minutes I felt very easy so I decided to put a 10 minute hill climb resistance on and pretended I was doing one of the long hills at the 24 hr race (makes it a lot easier). After that I returned to the original routine.

Everything felt fine except for my backside, which I couldn't feel by the end of the session!

Really pleased

Last night I decided to go to Winnats Pass. I wrote it in my blog so thought, "I've got to do it now". I psyched myself at work so by the time I got home I was chomping at the bit.

I rode out to the Peaks entirely against the wind and wondered whether I wasn't being a bit ambitious - a. do I have the energy? and b. is it going to get dark while I'm out?

Whe I got to Hathersage I decided I would definitely go for it. By the time I got to Castleton (it's just after Castleton that Winnats Pass starts) I was feeling a little tired after nearly an hour of riding uphill against the wind (I can't believe it's possible to ride that far with only one descent!). I turned left at a split in the road and started up Winnats. The road itself looks terrifying - a real scar in the landscape with huge crags on either side. It really looks like you're going to ride to Mordor or something. I hadn't even got to the bottom of the climb proper and I was in bottom gear! Anyway, the climb started and I heaved myself up the hill. I was so steep that my bike pretty much stopped between pedal strokes (Have a look at this forum to see what other people say about it - it makes pretty amusing reading http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=12403&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=09213fa961d8257ee6cdc9c2ad2e5fce).

Anyway, I made it to the top and was delighted that I had made it without feeling like I needed to get off the bike. I was tired though and as I was worried about the light I turned round at the top of the road to go back the way I had come. As I was turning round a man rode his bike round the corner (coming from the top of the hill in order to ride down Winnats). I said "I'm tired now". He said, "are you just going to ride back down there? You might as well go to Edale and make a loop of it!". So I did. I went down an insanely steep descent to Edale and started on my way back to Sheffield. by this stage I was very worried about the light. "I'm in Edale and the sun's starting to go down!" I pedalled pretty hard all the way back - all the time waiting for the point where my energy suddenly runs out or I start to get those shooting pains in my legs.

I was amazed and delighted that when I got home (just about in the light) I was still riding hard (rather than rolling along struggling to turn the pedals) and I'd had only one hint of a shooting pain - not even a proper stab. The ride was 2.5 hours and considering I usually start to run out of energy after 1.5 hours I was really pleased with how it went - especially as it had been so ambitious.

Finally, a slower ride!

On Saturday morning I intended to go for a ride that would include Winnats pass - pretty much the steepest mile of road in the Peaks. I was really excited about it as it's a legendary climb which loads of people just can't get up! I sent a message to a friend to see if he fancied going for a ride and he said yes. Brilliant, my first ride with someone else!

The only downside was that he didn't feel too strong and really didn't want to add on the extra 10 miles that the loop to Winnats Pass would add. The upside was that I had a really nice ride on a really nice sunny day at the slower pace that I've been trying to ride at. It was still a reasonable pace - just not "as-fast-as-you-can-go-for 1.5 hours".

Perhaps tonight I will try to get out to Winnats Pass...

My own worst enemy...

On Tuesday night I played football again and noticed that on Wednesday I felt very similar to how I felt last week. I was exceptionally tired - almost to the point of feeling ill. Last week I actually felt like I had a cold; this week wan't quite so bad but I certainly felt completely drained. This was a shame because on Wednesday evening the weather was amazing and it would have been perfect for a bike ride. The thought, of getting on my bike, though, was horrible and I could just imagine what a miserable couple of hours it would be. So I didn't go out and instead just sat in.

Last night I felt a lot better. The weather looked ok (this turned out to be deceptive as a 10 minute downpour meant that I got a reet soaking) so I decided to make up for Wednesday by going out and doing a ride.

When I first left my house I felt slow and lacking in energy and thought it was going to be a struggle. This feeling lasted for about 25 minutes until I saw a rider ahead of me I couldn't help myself but decide that I HAD TO OVERTAKE HIM! This rider was in fact two riders, one faster one overtaking the other. I started pedalling harder to catch them and soon was riding at a pace that I thought I would pay for later in the ride. In that moment, though, I was intent on catching the riders in front of me. God knows why.

I finally caught the fast rider after around 4 miles (10 minutes) of chasing against the wind. By the time I caught him I thought I would be too tired to overtake him and it took real concentration and will power to go past him and say "hello mate!" cheerfully without showing any outward signs of being tired. Then I didn't think I was going to get away from him. He just sat in my slipstream being dragged along by me! I felt like crying (or at least having a sit down). Then, finally, I felt my turbo training pay off. Turbo training is good because you never stand up so you get used to putting a lot of effort in and pedalling big gears while sitting down. Last night, when the man was sitting behind me a changed up into a much harder gear while carrying on sitting down and not changing my pedalling speed - all because I didn't want the bloke to realise I was putting any effort in! The result was an extra 8 mph or so on the speed we were doing so I finally managed to drop him. If only he had been in front of me and seen the pain on my face the facade would have ended!

Worryingly, I still had the worst climb of the ride to come - one that I've been dropped on by a friendly rider saying "hello mate" cheerfully as he passed me last year. I was amazed when I went up it the fastest I've done it.

By the time I got home I felt dead. But it was a great ride considering that I felt rubbish before I left.

Big ole catch up...

Been a week since I last blogged so here's a bit of a round up.

Last Wednesday night I was really hoping to go for a bike ride as the weather was supposed to be nice. It rained. In the end I went into town to watch a silent movie, but at least I walked the 4 mile round trip. Better than nothing!

Thursday was my first snowboarding lesson. Went to Xscape near Leeds to go on real snow. It was great fun! What was exhausting though was trying to make it from the bottom of the slope over to the rope to get pulled back up the nursery slope. As I couldn't be bothered to keep unstrapping my feet from the board I tried to jump all the way to the rope. This was hard given the slippy nature of the thing I was standing on. By the end I was dripping with sweat despite the fact I was in a huge snow filled room! Really gave my abs a workout.

On Friday I was concerned that, although I'm generally active, a lot of the stuff I'm doing isn't going to make me go round these races particularly faster so I decided that I should do a minimum amount of focused stuff per week up to the races. On Sunday I played football but with this thought fresh in my mind I got up early and did a session on the turbo trainer. The 6 hours in between this and the football match was pretty much enough to recover. Admittedly, the other reason I made sure I did turbo training that day was because I wanted to spend an hour watching som cycle racing on TV and thought I would enjoy it more knowing that I had already done some training that day!

Last night I went on the same bike ride I did last Monday, only this time I used my better wheels. What a difference they make! It's so hard not to go sprinting off like a man posessed and tire myself out in the first five minutes. I suppose it's like driving a sports car and wanting to make sure you make the petrol last. It was really windy on the way back and I pedalled really hard gears down the hills (against the wind) back into Sheffield. Normally when I grind hard gears towards the end of a ride I get some sharp stabbing pains in my legs (god knows why) every now and again (just on the insides of my thighs) and I was waiting for them to start as I rode into Sheffield. I made it back without them occuring which was a pleasant change, though, to be honest, I think it was only a matter of time before one got got me so I don't think it's all down to the turbo training I've been doing just yet.

After my shower I decided to retile a bit of the bathroom. Turned out to be a big mistake, much too tired and forgot to schedule in time for eating until late. had to get up early this morning to do grouting - bah!

Rolling along

I'm starting to feel quite good on my bike now - yipee!

I went for a ride in the Peaks last night. To be honest - the ride from my house to where I really intended the ride to start (if that makes any sense at all!) was the hardest bit. I've been trying really hard in the last week to try to exercise in my lower heart rate limits as usually I just go as fast as I can for as long as I can (I just have one speed and that's "eyeballs out!") so I was really careful as I started my ride. The hills as I leave my house to get to the road out to the Peaks are horrific though and the quality of the roads means that my equipment gets rattled around all over the place (and my bike gets knocked around a bit too).

Once I got out, though, I rode really smoothly up and down a few of my favourite hills. I really felt like the turbo training was paying off.

This evening I was a bit short of time so went on the Turbo trainer for a shorter session than I've been doing lately. I went back to doing a 21 minute set of intervals like I had been doing three weeks ago. The pleasing thing was that I was able to keep my legs going round through the "hard" minutes whereas before I had been slowing down significantly.

I think a lot of the improvement I see when I am doing these things is down to psychological factors and confidence - rather than being afraid of getting tired and not being able to continue I know that I can carry on at a certain level for a while and survive the little bit of pain that I use to think was going to be a lot of pain.

Activityful weekend

I got up late on Saturday and was worried I'd wasted the day. I got up and went out to the Peaks for a bit of an explore and stretch of the legs. While I was out I saw a few cyclists going up one of my favourite hills and this made me excited about cycling so I decided to go on my turbo trainer for an hour when I got back home. I didn't have any music on so it was reasonably hard to stay motivated (my cellar's pretty boring after a while!) but I stayed on the bike for just over an hour. It was useful that Elly was in the kitchen making a cake she'd hear the change in tone of the trainer if I slowed down. So I kept going!

On Sunday I went for a good long walk around Edale. It was pretty cloudy so on the tops of the hills there was no view whatsoever, which was a shame because we were on a good ridge.

In the evening I went for a walk probably just under two miles around my area just to have a look at the different front gardens and for a bit of an explore. There's loads of nice stuff I'd never seen before so it was a nice pleasant evening stroll which finished off an active weekend perfectly.

Revolutions

Probably around 6600. I did 1hr on the turbo trainer last night and had the overall aim of keeping my cadence at over 100 revolutions per minute. I reckon I maxed out at near 130 rpm but averaged 110.

It was a surprisingly fun session for an hour basically sitting in my cellar - I was aided by some good music, though!

Round up

I've been busy this week trying to keep up with all my biking and running. On Friday I was supposed to be meeting people in the evening but as I'd awarded myself a rest night on Thursday (which was brilliant!) I really wanted to do some time on the bike to keep the momentum going. I did 30 minutes doing slightly different interval to last time (3:15 easy and 1:45 hard as opposed to 2 easy and 1 hard) which made everything a lot easier.

Over the weekend I was supposed to go on a long run with a friend but this didn't end up working out for various reasons, which was a shame.

On Monday, though I did manage to get out on my road bike to do some actual cycling! On the roads and everything! Unfortunately, though, I did seem to succeed in finding the most impossibly hilly route out of sheffield possible. I must get out of the habit of going everywhere as fast as possible too - by the time I'd been riding for half an hour I was pretty tired. Pace yourself Roberto!


Last night I played football. Afterwards I walked to my band practice (round trip of 3 miles) which was a nice stretch of the legs. My knee did hurt a little though which I hope doesn't continue to get worse. Might just cycle this week to avoid heavy impacts.

progress?

I feel like I'm doing well at the moment. On Tuesday I played football after work. It was on a bigger pitch than usual and there was a lot more running involved. I was really tired but it's amazing how you manage to keep going when there's a football to chase! Maybe if I could get a football rolling in front of me for 5k I might be able to get my time down a bit!

When I got home from football I changed into my cycling stuff and got on my bike for 21 minutes. By the time I was finished I was absolutely shattered and felt like collapsing over the handlebars and eating and eating and eating! Turned out I didn't need to eat the whole house (including bricks) after all and a plate of pasta was fine.

Last night I went on my first real bike ride since I started training. I think I'll need to do another 3 weeks at least on the turbo trainer before I start to feel like it's making a real difference.

Good Walk

Went on a good walk yesterday. Took around 4 hours and there was plenty of up and down which meant that by the end my legs were aching a fair amount.

I don't think I'm going to be doing the 5k I was supposed to be entering any more so I will find another 5k event to enter so my work over the past 6 weeks hasn't been wasted.

Catch up

It's been a short week this week so I feel like I've not done much.

Though, to be honest I don't think I've done too badly. After my run on Tuesday morning I played football in the evening. This left me feeling tired on Wednesday and I didn't end up going out, which I regretted really. I got up Wednesday morning wishing that I'd got myself out of bed and onto the turbo trainer like I'd promised myself.

I made up for it last night, though. I got home from work and got on the bike to do a 21 minute session. I then changed straight into my running gear and did the Dale Winton challenge which took 41.5 minutes. I was really tired when I got back and felt completely drained. I'll try to get a 5k in over the weekend to make sure I keep the running miles up.

Turbo, brrrrrrrrrrr, Run

I was really struggling for time last Thursday evening due to over-committing to things that evening but I really wanted to get onto the turbo trainer for a bit so I squeezed a 20 minute session in. As it was a shorter session I tried to go flat out but after 15 minutes I still slowed to my usual rate. It's really hard work!

Over the weekend I did a couple of long walks in the freezing cold. Although this is probably good for my general fitness I'm not sure how it will help me with my 5k - hence:

This morning I got up to do 5k before I went to work. For various reasons I wasn't comfortable all the way through but I did it in 20 minutes. I'll try to do this before work three times a week and make sure I get faster!

Turbo too!

Did another session on the turbo trainer on Tuesday evening. Got up to 45 minutes which was good.

I have to say, though, my legs were hardly moving by the end of it. It's easy to tell when cyclists are getting tired as their shoulders start to dip a lot. My shoulders where nearly touching the floor when I realised it waws time for me to start warming down!

Don't think I'm going to get any running in this week due to the turbo training so next week I'll start to go before work. I'll need some motivation to get out of bed though!

What has my body done to deserve this?

Saturday was paintballing - an activity that resulted in my calves and thighs feeling like they were on fire (from squatting in paintball fear) and several miniature bruises all over the place. The size of the bruises are deceptive - they still hurt!

I suffered from cramp through Saturday night as a result of the paintballing and I think I would have been aching more but the walk on Sunday really helped to sooth my limbs. The reader of this blog will be pleased to know that I too was pleased to get home from Sunday's walk and it was a nice relaxed and tired feeling I had in the afternoon and evening.

This evening I had a go on my turbo trainer. It's the first proper bit of riding I've done this year and it hurt! I did a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute warm down with 25 minutes of "2 minutes easy, 1 minute hard, two minutes easy, 1 minute hard..." sandwiched in the middle. The only thing being that this gradually changed to "2 minutes hard, 1 minute I think I'm going to have a hernia" somewhere along the way.

After the 35 minute session theres only one way to describe the way I felt: NOT VERY WELL.

Lots of work to do here. What's encouraging is that 20 minutes later I felt completely recovered; so I must be doing something right!

Grand Old Duke of York 3

Did the Grand of Duke of Walk on Wednesday evening. Really enjoyed it! I didn't time it but it wasn't particularly fast.

Was supposed to go for a bike ride yesterday but I couldn't get intouch with the person who I had arranged to go with which was disappointing.

I feel I've missed out a bit by not going so I want to make sure I get all my days in next week.

Football again

Played football last night in terrible weather. Definitely getting accustomed to playing football. I ran a lot last night and am not aching at all today. Tonight I'll do a longish run as I've not done a run over 40 minutes for a while.

Walk and football

Went a long walk in Derbyshire on Sunday and saw a place I'd quite fancy living one day. Ashford on the Water is very nice. I find that long walks really wear me out. Anything over three or four hours makes me feel like I want to go to sleep when I get home!

Instead of going to sleep, though, I drove to Nottingham to play football. The team we played were very good and beat us easily. Being on the losing side you end up running around a lot chasing the ball and it's all even more tiring than usual!

I feel ok today, though, and think I'll go for a run tonight.

The ANNIHILATOR!

This is by far the hardest of all the routes I do. It involves a sprint of approximately 1 minute up a very steep hill (Elly's car only goes up it in 1st gear). Then you get 9 minutes of running round the block to recover and do it again.

Last night I did three laps. The feeling when you get to the top of the hill is a mixture of relief and sickness due to effort that's just gone into the previous minute. I felt ok last night. I think in future I may shorten the lap to get more hills and less recovery. But that's definitely a plan reserved for the future - at the moment the annihilator still annihilates me!

5k Mk2

Had serious motivation problems last night. I was absolutely shattered when I got in from work (at 7pm) and I was supposed to be meeting friends at 8:30 in town.

What I really wanted to do was sit down, have some dinner and relax for an hour before I went out.

What I decided to do was run 5k just to get used to the distance. I deliberately decided not to time myself as I was running just to get used to it rather than go for a good time. This way the run would only take 20 minutes and I wowuld have time to have a shower and a quick bite to eat before going out.

Once I started running I felt fine. Still tired in my head but I actually ran quite fast. Much, much better than the other morning. I think I need to get used to running in the mornings.

I felt deservedly rested when I went to bed and slept very well!

Football

Played a game of football last night. Compared with last October (when I started playing football) I find football doesn't make me feel like I'm going to die any more. It was pretty painful for the first couple of months and I used to dread it but I've only noticed recently that I don't dread it any more. Weird how it got easier without me noticing.

I feel generally tired today but I'm going to have another go at the 5k loop tonight. Not expecting a great deal - just want to get used to running that distance.

5k disaster! (But a better Sunday.)

I worked out a 5k route from my house which is pretty much a 1 mile loop that I do three times then a bit added on the end to make it up to 5k.

I got up on Saturday morning to give it a go. I did one loop as a warm up before having a crack a the whole thing. I'll say at the outset that it was very windy but there's no hiding the fact that the time was very disappointing. I felt rubbish all the way through and felt unable to run any faster than I did as I felt that any extra speed would result in me having to stop. Anyway, I finally finished at 20 mins 54 seconds. I'd run 10k in less than 40 minutes so to run a 5k at an average speed that would translate to a 10k of just under 42 minutes is very disappointing.

I'm going to try again in an evening to see if I can put this bad time down to the wind and "morning effect". Then I'll just have to work on running in the mornings (especially as the race is in the morning!).

Yesterday was much better. I went skiing in the afternoon and although I fell on the first go down the slope and clattered onto my backside ("Gluteus to the Maximus - that hurt!") it was good fun. Tiring on the legs though.

In the evening I played two football matches. I was able to to keep sprinting around the pitch right up to the end of the second game which was great as I normally find 1hr of football hard enough - let alone 2 hours with skiing as a starter. Which, in turn, makes the 5k time even more disappointing!

Anyway, today I'm suffering. I'm bruised from skiing, have a swolen ankle from football (twisted my ankle) and various bumps and grazes (though amazingly I don't have one on my head from where my forehead was used as a brake on one of my many falls playing football).

I'm having a rest tonight.

Not "a walk in the park"

Last night was the first time I did a run in the light for ages. I took advantage by going for a run through the parks, which I remembered from the summer as being a pleasant run. A typical case of your memory having a bias towards only remembering the good aspects of things...

After 4 minutes (in particular, at the top of Meersbrook Park) I felt like my heart was trying to wriggle up through my throat. This in turn caused my breathing to sound like I was in some gas attack or at least lying on my death bed. Oh yeah, and there was a distinct blood-like taste in my mouth!

It's a hard run because it just carries on going up for another 15 minutes after this point so you end up trying to recover going up hill. At the top I wished that someone could put me on a skateboard and roll me back down the road. Though, to be honest, after 5 minutes of running down the road I felt a lot better.

My chest feels delicate today - I must have run particularly hard yesterday. Looking back on it, I do remember thinking when I've done this run in the past, "why am I doing this? - it's horrible."

I have an idea for my 5k course which I'll have look at tomorrow morning.

Dale Winton Challenge

Did a run called the Dale Winton Challenge last night. It's the longest of the routes I do (passing 4 supermarkets) and I did it because I've played 2 football matches this week and thought I should do some running without stopping all the time.

I found the run dragged a bit last night - all the roads seemed to have been made longer since last time I did it!

What I haven't done yet, which I promised I would do is find 5k and run it to find out what my current time is. I'll try to find a route on a map later.

Further Goals

In addition to running the 5k in 16 minutes there are some other goals that I will be keeping in mind over the next few months.

In June I will be a member of a strong team in the Mountain Mayhem 24 hour mountain bike race. I've not ridden my bike hard for over a year so I will need to put in some hard work between now and then to make sure I'm up to the standard. I will be picking up the turbo trainer from home in a couple of weeks and in addition to the running I am doing I will do bike training 2 or three times week.

With all this biking and running I think I should be in good form to do a Duathlon (run/bike/run) so am entering one in the middle of July.

Two weeks before the 5k I am running the Stratford Half Marathon. I'm confident that I'll be able to finish this in a reasonable time but I'll need to do a few long runs in April to make sure I'm properly prepared.

I start my new job in two weeks and will be able to leave for work later. At the moment I leave around 6:30-6:45am and in future I will be able to leave aroun 8:30am. This will mean that I can do a run in the morning (even though I HATE running in the mornings) and biking in the evening. Even doing this, I think I'll have plenty of time to do other things as I'll be able to get the biking finished by 7pm.

I'll see how it all works out anyway.

Varied Weekend

Although there was no dedicated running involved, I had a good, active weekend.

It started on Friday night (when I felt in no shape to do anything due to either my squash game or the fast Grand Old Duke of York - probably the squash) when Elly asked me to do the cycle challenge. This has nothing to do with bikes. Instead you hav to lie on your back and then put Same Old Stuff by The Feeling on. As soon as the music starts you have to cycle your legs in the air. This sounds easy but the angle you have your legs from the floor is closer to 20 degrees than 90 degrees. You also have to extend your legs fully for each cycle. All in all it's exhausting. Same Old Stuff goes on for ages too. The challenge is to cycle your legs all the way through Same Old Stuff and then see how many seconds you can do into the next track.

On Saturday I went for a long walk in the Peaks which was really needed as by this stage (after the cycle challenge) my legs felt terrible! The walk was generally tiring for me as my legs hurt so much and it was so hilly and windy. Having said that it was very enjoyable and did the trick sorting out my legs; on Sunday they felt fine.

Sunday morning I went for a blast for an hour on my mountain bike round some woods a couple of miles from my house. Then I went to play football and felt great all the way through.

I've got a busy week this week but will need to find time to dedicate to running.

Grand Old Duke of York 2

I was curious to see how fast I could do the Grand Old Duke of York after I felt I had run within what I felt I could do last week.

I started off down the road and thought my attempt was going to be pathetic due to a stern headwind that was trying to slow me down all the way up the hill. The wind seemed to find some extra gusto as I turned up the final 400m of the hill where the gradient steepens slightly and by the time I had got the top I felt pretty wasted. I looked at my watch - 15.21 to the top of the hill (I was hoping to be quicker than that but the wind made things difficult). I turned round and ran down the hill with my legs feeling like jelly. Going down the hill I tried to stride out as much as I could and half way down I felt well recovered so put a good effort in all the way to the end.

I finished the run at 28.43, around 9 minutes faster than I did it last Thursday.

I didn't warm down properly, though, and today I'm aching so much I found it difficult to get out of the car.

Tonight, I think I'll go for a walk to stretch my aching legs as I always find that this makes me recover better. Probably something to do with getting rid of crystals of lactic acid or something.

Squash

It was difficult for me to get out on Monday and Tuesday this week due to a band photoshoot, practice and gig in Nottingham.

I was going to go running last night but a friend invited me for a game of squash, which I thought would still be good exercise - especially as one of things I'm trying to work on is running faster, rather than longer. It was pretty hard work anyway!

On a side note, I did manage to get some running in yesterday anyway. I was late to the squash game and couldn't get a parking space anywhere near the place so I had to run some distance down the road. I was just running down the road thinking that I was enjoying this little warm-up and the next thing I know I'm flying through the air as I slipped on some ice and lost contact with ground only to find it again with the heel of my right hand. Ouch!

Tired legs

Went to stay in High Wycombe over the weekend. On Saturday morning Iwent for a run before breakfast. I intended to go out for around 35 minutes and as I didn't know the area I just did an out and back (out for 17 and a bit minutes then turn around and go back).

I'm not used to running in the mornings and ater 7 minutes 34 seconds I felt terrible. I felt tired, sick and dizzy - and I hadn't even been out the night before! I carried on going though and continued to feel awful. Then, suddenly around 23 or 24 minutes into the run I started to feel a lot better. I was able to pick up my pace a bit and stride out for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the run. I got back to base camp after 38 minutes of running.

The next day I was woken up by Elly's mum saying, "I'm putting on some breakfast if you want any?" followed immediately by Elly's dad saying, "are you coming for a run before breakfast?" I reckon at 7:55am I was deep in sleep, dreaming happily and at 7:58am I was running along a frosty path with Elly's dad. Again, unsurprisingly, I felt terrible. The run was hard and every so often Elly's dad would say, "right you run up there and sprint over to that point and I'll meet you over there" and "right, here's a good hill - I'll just run up here then you do a couple of loops." We were out for over an hour and by the time I we got back I was sure that Elly's dad had been trying to kill me!

We went for a walk in the afternoon which nice as it let me stretch my tired legs.

Fortunately, football was cancelled.

Grand Old Duke of York

Did a run I call the Grand Old Duke of York last night (goes 2 miles to the top of a hill than back down the same way). Took just under 38 minutes for the whole thing. I can do it a lot faster but I was running well within myself last night.

I'm away this weekend so it might be difficult for me to find a 5k route to do my first time on. I'll see what I can manage. I've got my running shoes with me though so I'll make sure I get out for a run either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Then I've got 5-a-side football on Sunday evening so that'll be a good active weekend.

The first step of me blowing away the field at the Stratford Triatholon

Here's my first post. Once I've run away with the victory on the run stage of the Stratford Triathlon I will be look back on this and think, "ah, this is where it all started. One day people will fall upon this place as a monument of inspiration, a symbol of hope that all is not lost and that with just a few small steps (running round the block in he evenings) just about anything can be achieved..." Perhaps a tear will drizzle down my cheek. Or perhaps I'll be raining sweat.

What I'm doing here is procrastinating. I'm about to go out on a run and due to my 6am start yesterday, a drive from Solihull to Nottingham, a full day at work training a new member of staff (which I found very tiring), a drive from Nottingham to Manchester to do a gig, a drive from Manchester to Sheffield (the long way round because the main road was closed due to subsidence) and a 1am bedtime, I am very tired.

Still, sitting around feeling tired (I'm mentally tired - not physically tired - driving's hardly tough on the old sticks (legs)) won't make me run any faster. There's plenty of time for sitting around later. And I'll be able to be smug about it then too!

Right, I'm off to get changed...