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.