Run 9km + Erg 6k (inc. 2k test) + OCRC dinner

AM. Run 9km/42, steady, HR153(165)

Set the alarm early and headed out into the freezing cold. There was a light dusting of snow and a few flakes still falling from the sky. I worked a bit too hard to be honest, but it was good to be out before the world was properly awake.

We nipped into town, did a bit of Christmas shopping, went to a craft fair, that sort of thing, and then headed back home to read the paper. We’re starting to think about decorating the kitchen/diner. Most of the work is finished – it needs some paint on the walls. It looks like a couple of days work – there’s some prep to do and so on – and I’m keen to get it done as soon as possible. We’ve noticed our super-dooper new floor has a couple of errors in it, so Kennington Flooring won’t be getting paid until they come back and fix that!

I hopped on the erg again, second time in two days – my own one this time – to get a time on the board for the Concept 2 Challenge 2km.

PM. Erg 6km inc. C2 Challenge 2km

2½km w/u
2000m: 7:11.8 (1:47.9) r27 ___ HR163(170)
1½km w/d

First time I’ve used the new PM3 in anger. I was pleased to see that it works OK, and the Polar heart rate interface works OK too with my coded chest belt (the old PM2 never did). As for the 2k test itself, the less said the better! I set off at what I thought was a conservative 1:46/1:47 pace, but got quite close to blowing up with 600m to go and had to row a couple of hundred metres at a steadier rate before picking it up again for the 200m sprint to the line. I reckon I might have to have another go at that before the month’s out – I’m going to be busy!

OCRC club dinner
We went to my cycling club dinner in the evening. Yet another new venue – Kirtlington Golf Club. The meal was excellent and the venue ideal (I see they also have a cafe – it might make a nice cafe stop for a summer ride). We had a great time and didn’t get away until just after 11pm. I’d picked up a few trophies for my year’s efforts, very happy with that. There were plenty of people to chat to and plans were made for the coming year.

It was pretty late by the time we got home. I had a glass of wine and Jules a sobering cup of tea before we headed for bed – Jules will have to watch Strictly on Sunday (I’d recorded it for her)

Rest day – Jonquil

Another day off training.

We went to see Jonquil at the Jericho Tavern in the evening. I didn’t know much about them, save for a couple of good reviews in Nightshift, the local music rag, and that they’d recently been on tour supporting Foals. There were a couple of quirky support acts, and by the time Jonquil made it to the stage the place was heaving. I thought they were pretty good – some nice jingly-jangly pop, although Jules wasn’t so keen.

Rest day – hip problems again

I woke up with my right hip (the one I’d bashed falling off at Aston Hill four weeks ago), very sore and swollen. I popped into town at lunchtime to get a replacment spoke from BikeZone, but it was very sore and “hot” and I started to feel like I had a fever – pins and needles in my fingers and a fuzzy head and so on. This was not a good sign – I’d had a secondary infection in 2003 when I broke my arm, and that ended up being very serious.

I rang my GP surgery to try and get an emergency appointment, but they couldn’t get me one until tomorrow morning and I wasn’t feeling too good – tired and fluey, so Jules got me to ring NHS Direct instead. After a couple of calls, they decided my situation was serious enough for me to see a GP and arranged and out-of-hours appointment at the surgery on Manzil Way.

Jules drove me over, and the GP there explained that my hip had probably flared up because I’d used it so much lately. After the bruising had died down, there would probably have been some residual fluid floating around outside the joint and in the Bursa around it. This had become mobile and the enzymes and so on that were attacking  it were causing the inflammation (Bursitis). I’m feeling rough because my immune system is having to deal with all this inflammation. He gave me a prescription for a week’s antibiotics and advised me to stay off my feet for a bit and take a few paracetamol.

We got my ‘scrip filled at the nearby chemists and then bought pie and chips for dinner on the way home. (Work on the kitchen has stalled at the moment, we’re waiting for an internal window and door and the tiling – we have a working fridge, oven, microwave, cooker, sink, but we couldn’t be bothered to cook.)

Rest day – Gorrick

Early start this morning. Jules was racing her mountain bike in a Gorrick Autumn Classic at Crowthorne woods. I’d deceide I wouldn’t bother – I’ve done enough racing this year. Jules was racing in the “Fun” category, they were off at 9:15 and she wanted to be there early enough to get a bit of a practice in.

After a foggy drive to Crowthorne, there was a right rough track to get to the parking, but once we’d negotiated that, we unpacked and Jules collected her number. We hung about a bit until her Dirt Divas team mates turned up. They practiced starts and then went for a ride together while I hung about and had a coffee from the fast food van.

Shortly after 9:15, Jules was off in her race. There were 6 riders, so she wouldn’t be faced with to much crowding on the course! I found a good vantage point near the finishing loop, but  it was under the trees and a bit bad for photography. After just over half an hour, Jules came into sight, in 3rd place. She made a slight directional error (although she’d ridden this bit in the practice), and got overtaken, rolling into the finish 4th. I think she did OK for her first MTB race, and it seemed like a fun thing to do. I think I’ll probably ride in another, spring, event once I’m ready to race again.

We hung about a bit for J’s brother Graham to start his race and then went home – it was just starting to rain and we were getting cold. [Results] [Jules: Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo, Graham: Photo ]

After washing Jules’s bike and having some lunch, I spent a bit of time working on my winter bike. I’d broken a spoke in the rear wheel in yesterday’s ride, and although the rims are so strong the wheel (it’s a Miche RX5) was hardly out of true, I needed to strip it down and remover the offending spoke so I could take it to a bike shop and get a replacement the same length. I also fitted a new Campagnolo Centaur compact chainset. I’ve had such problems with the FSA Team Issue one coming loose that I’ve decided to sell it on. I’d bought a 50/34 combo, and expected to be able to fit my Campag 36 chainring  (I prefer 50/36 as a combination – there’s a smaller jump between them), but of course, the innner faces of the crank spider are slightly different and it doesn’t fit! Bah! I’ve either got the choice of buying new compatible chainrings (expensive – they are upwards of £30 a piece), or trying to grind down the insides of the rings. I’ve got several compact chainrings, 52, 41 and a couple of 36s, that I use to change the gearing for road racing and so on, so I’m going to try and grind them down, they need about 0.5mm taking off the inner faces. Annoying!