Sunday, April 22, 2012

Back home - more training

Coming home from Skye might have brought an end to the holiday but it has meant a return to work and a more normal training routine. So if you want to see a week's worth of training read on....

Sunday 15th - flat miles

After the hills on Skye I decided to ride some fairly flat miles. A really enjoyable morning just spoilt a little by the easterly breeze that killed the speed on the way home.


Monday 16th, Tuesday17th

The weather forecast for both of these days wasn't good so I ended up in the gym both days. My gym regime probably merits a post all on its own but for this one I'll keep it brief. Now we are into the last two months of training the workouts are slightly easier. Just a little cardio work and them some weights, core work and I always do quite a bit of stretching and/or foam roller work.
The annoying thing on these days was that I could easily have gone out on Monday morning but not on Tuesday evening when I though I might. A tip; don't necessarily believe the forecast!

Wednesday 18th

I woke up to quite a bit of frost so I was dubious about the conditions. With this in my mind I changed my route to stay on the main road. In the end conditions were just great, if a little cold.


Thursday 19th

Now the schedule was very much ride every day until the next week, so it was out again on Thursday morning. To mix things up a little I forced myself to stay in the big chainring for most of the ride. For about 19 miles actually! It went well and I felt strong. I managed to keep out of the two bottom gears; of course I wouldn't use the smallest cog in any case! No doubt about the fact that I couldn't have done this ride a few months ago.


Friday 20th

Another day, another ride. After some discussion with my trainer I was trying to keep my heart rate low on this ride. And I wondered just how low I could keep it on a flattish route. The answer is quite low, but I have to go slow. In terms of energy conservation (not using all the glycogen) it's a good thing, but sometimes I will have to go into the higher HR zones.


Saturday 21st - Edinburgh

A cycle to Edinburgh. This time I set a flatter route and set off across Fife towards Loch Leven. For anyone reading this blog who thinks they might repeat the ride I would receoomed that they avoid the back road out of Strathmiglo towards Scotlandwell. It's not so much of a road, more a collection of mud and gravel. And as it was wet yesterday, this was not a good combination. The bike was well muddy.
I met my Significant Other at the RSPB reserve at Vane Farm. This allowed me to refuel, get a sandwich and new drinks etc. Very useful. Then off towards Cleish and the only major hill of the day. This hill, along with the road between the Lomond hills, has been on my list of hills to do for a while. It turned out to be much easier than I expected which was a real pleasure.
Then I rode back to Kelty and my usual route into Edinburgh. A couple of miles of fast riding, one more hill and a sprint mile before disaster stuck. I took a drink and put my water bottle back in it's cage when I heard a ping from the back wheel. A broken spoke! Luckily I was able to ride on with the back brake's quick release open and taking it easily I got it to Sandy Wallace Cycles. Thankfully, Sandy himself was able to replace the spoke and get me on my way. My thanks to him and all his staff.
Here's the trip up to Inverkeithing.



The impetus had gone out of my cycling though and when I was back on the road I just took it easily all the way into Edinburgh.


The one thing of note is that once I got there I realised that Edinburgh is now not a long cycle. I've definitely come a long way.

Sunday 22nd - Hill repeats

Another short ride for training purposes and I decided to go for some hill repeats. A hill in Cupar had been suggested to me as a good test so with the easterly breeze I had a quick trip out there and then up and down the Bishopgate hill 4 times.
The easterly then kept the speed down on the way home so I just sat up and enjoyed the scenery. Not difficult to do with the weather as good as it was.


Conclusion

So there you have it. Eight days of training. A lot of this points to huge improvements for me over the last few months. I'm maybe, just about, possibly feel like I'm getting ready for the Lightouse to Lighthouse Challenge. But it's a big maybe.....

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