Last few weeks I have felt really tired and had some rough nights sleeping, to the point that I stopped riding, had to cancel my ride with Sam on Sunday, just feel so washed out.
So last night I decided to ride home as fast as possible, felt fresh once home, so tonight I blat ted down the embankment given it full gas into the headwind, just trying to load up my legs and keep my heart rate high without redlining.
Struggle but fun, turned at Putney and came back via the south side of the river with a tail wind, feel less inclined as it is to easy to max out the heart rate, rather have some constant loading, felt good considering, also meant that my ride was over quickly.
Once home I sat on the floor to stretch my legs and then did some press ups and dumb bell curls and shoulder press, overall my body feels quite strong.
Find out tonight if this has snapped my body out of the lethargy that had set in. I know it is a long way before I start racing but to be honest I can't be bothered with long steady training rides at the moment, probably change my mind in a month or so!
Already finding alot of fun event clash with my racing, damn it!!
nevermind
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Monday, 31 December 2007
Last day of 2007
Had a bad nights sleep last night, and to top it off when I was asleep my mum called from New Zealand to wish us a happy New Years at 7am,
So I managed to head out at 12 noon towards richmond park, ridding a little bit quicker, legs feel strong but tired at the same time, rode 3 laps, very peaceful as hardly anyone about at all, road all wet though. I was about 13 minutes quicker than the same ride last week, although no wind at all today.
Have a annoying squeak from left pedal caused from some glop off the road between cleat and pedal body, stops if I wiggle my foot or disengage and clip back in, bizarre as it was my right pedal early in the year, but that stopped after I fell and scuffed up that pedal, have some new pedal bodies to fit and bearings, so I guess at the same time I change my cleats as well I hope to get rid of this squeak, need to be all set up for the New Year, going to record the details of my rides again, ie. keep a training diary, have done in the past but stopped the last few years as it seemed to be for me taking it to serious, but as an aid it is vital.
Will be listing target races for the years and times as well, hope to be doing some time trailing as well.
Just need to sort my body out so I can switch off at night and get a good nights sleep, better sign up with the local GP, so I can check if my body is lacking in anything, minerals etc.
Very sleepy at present, the way I feel I think I will be in bed well before midnight tonight, thats OK as I am a kiwi I can say that we are already into 2008 as it is 13 hours difference at the moment, so at 11am this morning it is 2008 in NZ. I was still in bed even then, very slack!
Happy New Years
heres to a good 2008
So I managed to head out at 12 noon towards richmond park, ridding a little bit quicker, legs feel strong but tired at the same time, rode 3 laps, very peaceful as hardly anyone about at all, road all wet though. I was about 13 minutes quicker than the same ride last week, although no wind at all today.
Have a annoying squeak from left pedal caused from some glop off the road between cleat and pedal body, stops if I wiggle my foot or disengage and clip back in, bizarre as it was my right pedal early in the year, but that stopped after I fell and scuffed up that pedal, have some new pedal bodies to fit and bearings, so I guess at the same time I change my cleats as well I hope to get rid of this squeak, need to be all set up for the New Year, going to record the details of my rides again, ie. keep a training diary, have done in the past but stopped the last few years as it seemed to be for me taking it to serious, but as an aid it is vital.
Will be listing target races for the years and times as well, hope to be doing some time trailing as well.
Just need to sort my body out so I can switch off at night and get a good nights sleep, better sign up with the local GP, so I can check if my body is lacking in anything, minerals etc.
Very sleepy at present, the way I feel I think I will be in bed well before midnight tonight, thats OK as I am a kiwi I can say that we are already into 2008 as it is 13 hours difference at the moment, so at 11am this morning it is 2008 in NZ. I was still in bed even then, very slack!
Happy New Years
heres to a good 2008
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Steady
Well went out on friday night after I managed my 3 laps of richmond Park earlier in the day and got a little tipsy as I forgot that pubs can stay open longer than before, wondered why my wife was calling, but when I looked at the time it became apparent, 1am, made my excuses and left on my long drag of a trip across London.
Basically I wrote myself off so spent all of saturday recovering, so today i went out again to do 2 laps of the Park, nice day, a little cooler but no wind at all, still keeping it on tick over at present, feel good.
Wondering how much a 5 hour ride is going to affect me, find out in a couple of days.
Basically I wrote myself off so spent all of saturday recovering, so today i went out again to do 2 laps of the Park, nice day, a little cooler but no wind at all, still keeping it on tick over at present, feel good.
Wondering how much a 5 hour ride is going to affect me, find out in a couple of days.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Merry Xmas
Been out riding after xmas as I have had a break of two and a half weeks, mainly to do with having a cold and also social engagments etc.
Have been really run down so was prepeared to take the whole xmas break off my bike as well, managed 5 days in total, legs start getting twitchy at night, getting hot etc, so on Boxing day I headed foe Richmond park in the afternoon, took it very easy, managed 1 lap before heading back home, still that is 1.40hr .
Today I managed two laps while still keeping it as steady as possable, ended up having a slow motion race with an old man on a twin tubed Colnago, he was in the big ring and every time I got near him he would get out of the saddle for about a minute to put some distance between himself and I. Maybe all this effort to increase his pace by about 1 mph was taxing, I found it funny. tried to give him some shelter into the headwind heading towards Richmond Gate, he didn't like that, let him get on with it then after the climb from Kingston gate he seemed to take a while to recover so I just resumed at my pace which put me in front. He finally came past by the cafe, just a fraction quicker than I. Oh well. all about self control at this time of the year.
2.10hr riden today, feel good, been out to get some foodbars for the 3 laps I aim to do tomorrow. Take it one day at a time at the moment.
Will be out at a friends birthday party Friday night so not likely to be riding on Saturday, sunday I may do the surrey hills ride, we will see.
Take care out riding as the roads are very geasy!!
Have been really run down so was prepeared to take the whole xmas break off my bike as well, managed 5 days in total, legs start getting twitchy at night, getting hot etc, so on Boxing day I headed foe Richmond park in the afternoon, took it very easy, managed 1 lap before heading back home, still that is 1.40hr .
Today I managed two laps while still keeping it as steady as possable, ended up having a slow motion race with an old man on a twin tubed Colnago, he was in the big ring and every time I got near him he would get out of the saddle for about a minute to put some distance between himself and I. Maybe all this effort to increase his pace by about 1 mph was taxing, I found it funny. tried to give him some shelter into the headwind heading towards Richmond Gate, he didn't like that, let him get on with it then after the climb from Kingston gate he seemed to take a while to recover so I just resumed at my pace which put me in front. He finally came past by the cafe, just a fraction quicker than I. Oh well. all about self control at this time of the year.
2.10hr riden today, feel good, been out to get some foodbars for the 3 laps I aim to do tomorrow. Take it one day at a time at the moment.
Will be out at a friends birthday party Friday night so not likely to be riding on Saturday, sunday I may do the surrey hills ride, we will see.
Take care out riding as the roads are very geasy!!
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Remebrance sunday
I find it a struggle getting out on my bike at the moment, thats why it is good to have someone else to ride with how calls up to see if I am going out. Today I slept in till 9.30am, got a call from Sam at 10.15am from Sam saying that Mark had was driving to his place, had only just left at that point, 30 minutes later had a call saying that wasn't happening as James had phoned mark to say he was on his way to Guildford as per our orginal plans so Mark turned back to go riding with James, so it was sam and I leaving my place at 11.20am
Roads wet but the sun was shining and good tempurture, although hadn't noticed that we had a very strong tailwind on the way out of London, had abit of raod rage with some lady in a red car, saying we took up to much of the road, and this on one of the widest two lane roads in the southeast as well, a few minutes later she must have been fuming when I told her to chill as the road had been closed for the remebrance Sunday, asked the policeman and he let us through, saving us a detour through the suburbs, only takes 30 minutes to get to the country from my place, we headed over the North Downs, through Woldingham, some big fancy houses in this area, down narrow country lanes to Crowhurst then back round and home.
Nice steady pace, Sam had a puncture early on but no problem as it was a nice day out, legs felt strong while climbing, in general felt good, that is my longest ride since NZ, out for 2.40hrs. Was getting cold as we had to contend with the strong headwind and alot of the return journey is downhill.
Start of the regular bike clean as the roads were wet , so bike is getting dirty, glad to have my mudguards, Same with Sam as it stops all the crap flying of the back wheel while following.
Yesterday I went out by myself and stayed on the flat out Richmond way, set a steady pace averaging 19mph, fairly quick for this time of the year, although today was 17mph with lots of climbing, feel like my legs are building up again opposed to winding down, so thats all good.
This week I will be out riding after work as often as I can, so then I can have an easy weekend and relax and catch up with an old friend over cocktails or two.
Roads wet but the sun was shining and good tempurture, although hadn't noticed that we had a very strong tailwind on the way out of London, had abit of raod rage with some lady in a red car, saying we took up to much of the road, and this on one of the widest two lane roads in the southeast as well, a few minutes later she must have been fuming when I told her to chill as the road had been closed for the remebrance Sunday, asked the policeman and he let us through, saving us a detour through the suburbs, only takes 30 minutes to get to the country from my place, we headed over the North Downs, through Woldingham, some big fancy houses in this area, down narrow country lanes to Crowhurst then back round and home.
Nice steady pace, Sam had a puncture early on but no problem as it was a nice day out, legs felt strong while climbing, in general felt good, that is my longest ride since NZ, out for 2.40hrs. Was getting cold as we had to contend with the strong headwind and alot of the return journey is downhill.
Start of the regular bike clean as the roads were wet , so bike is getting dirty, glad to have my mudguards, Same with Sam as it stops all the crap flying of the back wheel while following.
Yesterday I went out by myself and stayed on the flat out Richmond way, set a steady pace averaging 19mph, fairly quick for this time of the year, although today was 17mph with lots of climbing, feel like my legs are building up again opposed to winding down, so thats all good.
This week I will be out riding after work as often as I can, so then I can have an easy weekend and relax and catch up with an old friend over cocktails or two.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Slowly getting back into riding again!
The last two weeks I have been fairly consistent with my riding, doing 45 minutes to an hour after work 3 times a week and doing 2 hours in the one ride on my days off work, which are Wednesday and Sunday, First 2 hour ride I was feeling strong but resisted the urge to push on and just rode at a steady 17 mph listening to my ipod and staying on the flat, still felt like along time on the bike and was tired once home but recovered very quickly.
Last wednesday was just over 2 hours and felt good all the way on a nice sunny day, again recovered enough to manage a trip to Ikea and buy a wardrobe and chest of draws, only just got them in my car even with the back seats down. Tend to have Tuesday and Thursday as easy days, just the commute to work and back, so I head out Richmond way to Twickerham then left to Kingston and back through Richmond and the south circular back to home. Managed this on thursday and Friday, just went a fraction quick on the friday so felt a little tired on the saturday.
Sunday came round and I went out with Sam at 11am and headed to Richmond park, not my initial choice but since I haven't been there much thought it would be Ok, so busy with traffic, Sam was on race bike with deep section carbon wheels and in shorts to get the last of the warm sunshine for the year, I am all kitted out for winter riding with my mudguards and lights on my training bike,
Ended up riding 1-2 mph faster than I would have liked, heart-rate was very high at times but not for very long, I was Ok for about 1 and a half hours but then I faded down to only one pace which was 16 mph, by know Sam excepted the pace, any other time of the year I would have just let Sam ride away and settle at my pace, need to stay in the comfort zone on my winter rides, otherwise I may as well start racing again.
Do enough of that throughout the summer months so feel entitled to just be rolling along at this time of the year. Want to gradually build up my two main rides of the week to 5-6 hours by March, so have plenty of time, just don't want to feel to tired doing it. When I got home this sunday I was blown to bits after 2hrs and 20 minutes of riding. After eating lunch and a shower I thought I would be sleeping but instead I made the most of a sunny day and went and topped up with supplies from Sainsbury and then decided to wash my filthy car, been parked under a pear tree while I was away in New Zealand so stained with the residue from the fruit that had rotted away on the bonnet, had to T-cut as normal polish didn't have any effect, started all this at 2.30 and finished in the dark at 5.30pm, think I was high from the fumes as well as low on energy because once inside I kept walking into the chairs and door-frames as I walked about, sat down and watched the last hour of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and stayed watching TV until 10pm, To tired to move, had a bad nights sleep as my legs were pinging as if I had done a race anyway, had to rub some Born Muscle Relax into them to get them under control, feeling very sleepy now, have a big day tomorrow with work.
2008 product launch for Serotta bikes and our Glider frames, shall be interesting, I shall be on one of the first of it's kind from Serotta new bike frames for next year doing something I haven't done for along time but am pretty good at when I was, can't say anymore than that, except I will be going very fast on this frame! there will be a prototype that Ben Serotta has bought with him to show at the product launch.
Thats me, will try to keep more up to date reports on my winter riding, later.
Last wednesday was just over 2 hours and felt good all the way on a nice sunny day, again recovered enough to manage a trip to Ikea and buy a wardrobe and chest of draws, only just got them in my car even with the back seats down. Tend to have Tuesday and Thursday as easy days, just the commute to work and back, so I head out Richmond way to Twickerham then left to Kingston and back through Richmond and the south circular back to home. Managed this on thursday and Friday, just went a fraction quick on the friday so felt a little tired on the saturday.
Sunday came round and I went out with Sam at 11am and headed to Richmond park, not my initial choice but since I haven't been there much thought it would be Ok, so busy with traffic, Sam was on race bike with deep section carbon wheels and in shorts to get the last of the warm sunshine for the year, I am all kitted out for winter riding with my mudguards and lights on my training bike,
Ended up riding 1-2 mph faster than I would have liked, heart-rate was very high at times but not for very long, I was Ok for about 1 and a half hours but then I faded down to only one pace which was 16 mph, by know Sam excepted the pace, any other time of the year I would have just let Sam ride away and settle at my pace, need to stay in the comfort zone on my winter rides, otherwise I may as well start racing again.
Do enough of that throughout the summer months so feel entitled to just be rolling along at this time of the year. Want to gradually build up my two main rides of the week to 5-6 hours by March, so have plenty of time, just don't want to feel to tired doing it. When I got home this sunday I was blown to bits after 2hrs and 20 minutes of riding. After eating lunch and a shower I thought I would be sleeping but instead I made the most of a sunny day and went and topped up with supplies from Sainsbury and then decided to wash my filthy car, been parked under a pear tree while I was away in New Zealand so stained with the residue from the fruit that had rotted away on the bonnet, had to T-cut as normal polish didn't have any effect, started all this at 2.30 and finished in the dark at 5.30pm, think I was high from the fumes as well as low on energy because once inside I kept walking into the chairs and door-frames as I walked about, sat down and watched the last hour of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and stayed watching TV until 10pm, To tired to move, had a bad nights sleep as my legs were pinging as if I had done a race anyway, had to rub some Born Muscle Relax into them to get them under control, feeling very sleepy now, have a big day tomorrow with work.
2008 product launch for Serotta bikes and our Glider frames, shall be interesting, I shall be on one of the first of it's kind from Serotta new bike frames for next year doing something I haven't done for along time but am pretty good at when I was, can't say anymore than that, except I will be going very fast on this frame! there will be a prototype that Ben Serotta has bought with him to show at the product launch.
Thats me, will try to keep more up to date reports on my winter riding, later.
Saturday, 20 October 2007
back to work!!
Back in London after two and a half weeks in New Zealand in which I only rode my bike twice, enjoyed my time off the bike, so far I have been back 3 days and have been enjoying my commute to work,, does make you feel alive I feel, although air was very fresh this morning but sunny so good to be out, have to be carefull not to draw in to much cold air as my lungs are not ready yet, legs are very fresh though, need to take it easy, hopefully I will be out tomorrow riding, jetlag has caught me up, very tired.
Must leave as there is the Rugby world cup final to watch.
Must leave as there is the Rugby world cup final to watch.
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