Erg 8km + run 11km

AM. Erg 8km/31:21 (1:57.6) r22, steady, HR155(167 )

Got up and did a steady erg before work. I had it in mind to do more, but I was working *way* too hard and had done enough by 8km.

PM. Run 11km/54 steady HR155(165)

Out for a steady plod in the drizzle. My lower legs felt hammered again, dunno what’s up with that. Maybe I should try running in my older running shoes again – the midsoles are more compressed and that might take the pressure off my feet. Heavily cushioned shoes always make my legs ache and this new pair do feel quite soft – softer than the women’s version of them I was running in last year.

73.6kg

Run 16km

PM. Run 16km/1:17, steady, HR152(167)

Out for a decent run after work. My shins stilll felt a little stiff, but not too bad. Traffic gridlocked across the city – an accident on the ring road was responsible – didn’t make for a too-pleasant atmosphere.

74.4kg

Rest day

I felt a bit monged out after last night’s do and couldn’t be bothered to go out for the run I had planned today. It was damp and cold outside and my shins are still a bit sore from the previous week, to be honest. It’s been a bit of an easy week after a fortnight of building up my training following my cold. Better get back to it next week though.

We popped over to Habitat to do a  little shopping for crockery and then bought some ingredients for a beef, mushroom & onion pie I had in mind for dinner. I won a pair of 105 STi shifters off eBay for Jules’s bike today too, so I’ll be starting work on that renovation soon. We watched Spinal Tap in the evening.

73.3kg

Cycle 29km + crash + club dinner

AM. Cycle 29km, easy with Jules HR112(148)

We went out at 10:30am for a steady couple of hours around Otmoor, but it didn’t quite work out like that. On our usual Otmoor loop around Worminghall/Oakley we came across groups of riders heading the other way. This was Flavio Zappi’s Cafe ride. They’d been out since 9am and were heading back into Oxford. I waved at the first group and Neil Pugh shouted hello back. I saw Steve Avery on the back of the group too. As we cross paths with the second bunch (Flavio’s group), a girl speared out of the bunch diagonally across the road towards us. We had no time to avoid her and she skimmed past my left hand, but Jules, riding inside me, caught the full impact. There was a sickening crunch and I braked to a halt to look round and see the pair of them in a heap by the side of the road.

Everyone stopped and we proceeded to gather up bicycles and bodies. Jules and the girl who’d collided with her appeared mostly quite winded and a little bruised, but otherwise they were OK. Jules had come off worse though – her right hand was very badly bruised and cut up. Her bike was a bit of a mess, the right STi shifter was in pieces. I jammed the bike in one gear and used a zip tie (I always carry a few with me in the winter) to tie the shifter up and stop it flapping about. The girl’s boyfriend (they were both in London Dynamo club kit, natch) offered to pay for repairs to the bike, which was good of him.

We pedalled home very slowly, Jules only had the rear brake to stop with, and I picked a route along the A40 cycle path as it had the least hills. Once we’d got back home Jules’ hand had swelled up quite a bit, and she was getting pretty stiff and sore so that was that for the rest of the day. Here’s the broken lever:

I did a bit of work on my town bike in the afternoon – I screwed an 18-tooth BMX freewheel on to the other side of the rear hub and turned it around in the frame. This now means that, to me, the wheel stickers are on the wrong way round in the bike, but I couldn’t budge the fixed 18T sprocket to be able to put the freewheel on that side, so it’ll have to stay that way for the moment. I put a new chain on, and lowered the gearing with a 45-tooth chainring (previously it had a 49).

OCRC AGM + dinner
I went to my cycling club’s AGM and dinner in the evening. We were at a new venue – the University Club in Mansfield road. They had a very extensive choice of beers at the bar (Leffe on tap, of which I had a couple of pints before switching to Wayland Smithy), but the buffet dinner we were served was a little meagre I thought, although we were down on the numbers we said we’d be able to bring along so maybe that had some influence on it. Despite that I had a good time chatting – I was especially pleased to talk to John French, who nabbed most of the trophies I usually win. He’d done some very good rides over the year. I picked up the Trader’s Bowl for the best 12-hour performance and some medals for my five trike records and one tandem record with Marky. The dinner was a reminder to me how hard I’ve got to work for next year.

74.2kg

Erg 8km (10×400m) + Johnny Helms

Lunchtime. Erg 8km inc. 10×400m (2:30 rest)

2km w/u: 7:51.7 (1:57.9) r22

1. 1:19.5 (1:39.3) r34
2. 1:20.6 (1:40.7) r33
3. 1:20.9 (1:41.1) r32
4. 1:20.5 (1:40.6) r33
5. 1:20.4 (1:40.5) r33
6. 1:20.4 (1:40.5) r34
7. 1:20.3 (1:40.4) r34
8. 1:20.7 (1:40.8) r33
9. 1:20.6 (1:40.8) r34
10. 1:21.8 (1:42.3) r34 HRmax 167. Average. 1:20.6 (1:40.7)

2km w/d

We cycled to the pool this morning, but when we got there it was closed because the water level had dropped overnight (how does that happen?). We had a bit of a laugh about it and went back home. There wasn’t time to do anything other training so Jules did a bit of sewing and I attacked the Observer crossword over a cup of coffee.

I nipped home at lunchtime to do an erg instead. This month’s CTC challenge is a straight 400m sprint, so I worked it into an interval session of 10×400m. I guessed a recovery of 2:30 would be about right, and so it seemed apart from the very last rep. where I was still breathing hard when I picked up the handle for that last 400m. That rep. didn’t go so well – I was paddling in lactic acid from about 150m to go. I logged the first and fastest time as my entry for the CTC but might have another (single) go at it another day.

I also rowed a steady 2km warm up and logged the time for the C2 Challenge Series, although I will be doing an all-out time for that later. It’s going to be a very competitive month in that challenge as the distance is 2km and many people will be peaking for the British Indoor Rowing Championships at the end of the month – last year this was (relative to eveyone else) my worst month in the Challenge Series and I’d like to do better this year.

Lower legs and shins still feeling a bit hammered, so no running today. I’ll be able to get out for a decent run in at the weekend, I should think.

Johnny Helms
I heard that the cartoonist Johnny Helms died of a stroke yesterday. He was 85. I always enjoyed his cartoons in The Comic, although I’ve not been a subscriber to it for some years. This was one of my favourites from about 10 years ago, and it shows that people trying too hard on winter clubs is a recurring theme – there’s been a recent thread on the TT forum about it! It’s not a good scan – I’ll see if I can find a better one.

73.5kg

Run 14½km

PM. Run 14½km: 5k with Jules + 9½km, steady easy, HR140(156)

My lower legs and shins were still fairly stiff, but Jules was going out for a run and it seemed silly not to take the opportunity to go out with her. My resting heart rate’s dropped to 48 today, which is more like it usually is, so the last 36 hours easy has given my body a chance to bounce back from the recent bout of training. The run went OK. After half an hour I said goodbye to Jules and went on another longer loop. Saw a fire engine going out on my way back home – only just after 6pm on bonfire night and already people are getting into trouble.

73.9kg

Swim 3200m

AM. Swim 3200m/52 steady

Steady swim this morning. I had in mind to go for a run after work, but wasn’t keen after yesterday’s effort and took the evening off. My lower legs are feeling pretty sore with the sudden increase in mileage anyway. Spent the evening faffing about with various bikes and my trike, but didn’t finish all the little jobs I’ve got to do on them. Oh, for a tame mechanic at my service.

73.4kg

Run 10km + Erg 11km (5×1500m)

Lunchtime. Run 10km/49, steady, HR150(159)

Managed to dodge the showers and head out for a rubbish run, my legs felt like lead, barely 8 min/miling. I’ve noticed that I’ve picked up an annoying dry cough over the last day or so – a leftover symptom of last month’s cold.

PM. Erg 11km inc. 5×1500m (5min rec.)

2km w/u
1500m: 5:35.6 (1:51.9) r25 HR153(160)
1500m: 5:35.4 (1:51.8) r25 HR154(164)
1500m: 5:35.5 (1:51.8) r25 HR156(166)
1500m: 5:35.0 (1:51.7) r25 HR157(166)
1500m: 5:33.1 (1:51.0) r26 HR159(169). average 5:34.9 (1:51.6)
1.5km w/d

Steady enough erg – session nicked from the “Pete Plan” – each rep. started out fast and settled to 1:52 pace. I only pushed it on a bit in the last rep. Nowhere near my recent best for this session, which is somewhere around 1:49 average, but good enough for the moment. Still coughing nicely.

74.5kg

Cycle 28km (turbo)

PM. Cycle 28km/1:01:03 (27.5km/h) Steady turbo, HR144(154)

Lower legs a bit hammered from yesterday’s long run, but other than that I seem to have got away with it. Sat on the turbo trainer for an hour after work, just spinning the stiffness out.

74.5kg

Run 22km

AM. Run 22km/1:46, steady plod, HR156(164)

The weather forecast for Sunday was dire, so I’d pencilled in a long run for today. I’ve not done much running lately (the last six weeks I’ve run 0km, 7km, 0km, 7km, 0km, 18km), but I was hoping that the mileage I’ve done over the whole year would enable me to pick up the distance work quickly.

I think I got a bit spooked by the wind and rain outside, because as soon as I’d run to the end of the road it felt like I was wearing slightly too much – I had on a long sleeve top and 3/4 length tights, when some shorts would’ve been OK. I ran at a very steady plod, it felt like a long time to be on my feet and the wind was very strong at times, but I got round. A good confidence booster. I didn’t have energy to do much else afterwards.

74.6kg