Friday 6 August 2010

Back with a B....Whimper

Hey hey kids, Long time no post again. Getting a bit of a habit. Start off by saying the 2 weeks after the last post 19th July - 1st August have been a nightmare. Those 2 weeks were used as a weight loss exercise which backfired. Commuting was a painful and slow experience and my eating wasn't up to scratch for the amount of cycling I wanted to do. These events also coincided with me raising my saddle post very high which seemed to stretch and strain my legs muscles and could have been a massive contribution to the overall deterioration of my fitness. I ended up in a situation where because I wasn't eating enough I was becoming very tired, but due to the over training I couldn't sleep even though I was shattered. Did about 300miles in the 2 weeks.

Fast forward to the week just about to disappear, 1st - 5th August. The saddle height was changed to roughly what I had it when I kept breaking my commuting records. I changed the Bontrager xxx rear wheel as I thought I had a problem with the rear hub so I changed to the standard Bontrager race lite and kept getting the same 'draggy' feeling which I now think is due to the immense cross winds that have been sweeping my paths. There wasn't any noticeable difference in speeds between the two rear wheels as the conditions being tested where virtually identical. Lowering the saddle meant I could keep a higher cadence, bum not as sore, and muscles not feeling like I've just come off a medieval rack. Also started to do a lot more stretching of my calves, hamstrings, thigh and back as they have been feeling extremely tight. I've never been a believer of doing stretches so it's just another one of my experiments.

Food wise, I have been stuffing my face senseless, very good at that. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are my fav source of energy. I dont usually work Sundays but decided to as it was a 6pm to 2.30am shift so could get done whatever I needed to during day. I set off early to catch a glimpse of the Sky Ride but all the marshalls were going home and I missed it. All my shifts this week were finishing at 2am and I was determined to ride as much and as hard as possible before my weeks break in Torquay next week.

Sunday - 50miles
Monday - 40 miles
Tuesday - 60 miles
Wednesday - 40 miles
Thursday - 45 miles
Friday - 20miles
Sat - ????

Strong Westerly winds made hard work of all my rides, although for some strange reason changed to a light Easterly on Thursday night. Averages were all around the 19mph mark, struggling to get over 20mph but managed 20.5mph overall for Thursday. In comparison, the previous 2 weeks saw my averages go down to high 17's and 18's which I thought was pretty bad. Thursday night was close to freezing! well maybe not that bad but I could see my breath in the chill. Commutes to work were generally harder, probably due to just getting out of bed even though its a downhill trek but coming home I felt great and managed to put 'power to the wheels' I'm still doing all my climbing sitting down, hopefully it wont ruin my very good standing climbing prowess.

Bit of bad news regarding my first 10mile TT of the season....it just aint happening. Supposed to be on 8th August at Levens, TOMORROW! but my and Pantani's application got rejected as it was oversubscribed and I needed a time if around 22 mins. I only have one time to my name and it isn't even an official one...27mins 12secs from last year! Searching frantically to enter a fast one ASAP! Talking of Pantani, he's been out and about, here, there and everywhere getting in lots of miles. I think he really wants to kick my arse at a time trial, lol. His rides have been longer more sedate affairs, hardly tt preparation!!!

As I have been trying very hard this week I'm starting to get tired again but I have one more session to complete before I go to Torquay and that's a 3hr session at the Velodrome on Sunday with a derny bike thingy for an hour of it. Not been track cycling for ages and my bike is in bits so hopefully wont take too long to put right.

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