Week 14 - Riding as a Team

Monday

Back to work!

I cycled in this morning. I thought it was colder than it actually was, I put on too many layers, and was sweating heavily by the time I cycled the 4.6 miles to college! The cycle home wasn't as bad - I left off my balaclava!

At home, I set about doing some weight training for an hour before having dinner with the family. It was nice to have Tilly with us too.

After the washing up, I sat down to wrap Mouse's birthday presents while watching the final day of the New Zealand/England test. I went to bed at 11pm but found myself dreaming about the cricket! I woke up regularly to check the score until Lucy and I ended up watching it at 3am! It was so disappointing to see England lose by 1 run - it even hurts to write about it now...

Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Tuesday

I woke up very, very tired... Lucy convinced me to go to work with her in the car.

We got back home to see Mouse on her birthday. She opened her presents and then went off up town with her friends.

I set about lifting weights for an hour and then stuffed myself with two huge bowls of homemade beef chilli.

Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Wednesday

I woke up with a soreness in my right upper trapezius muscle. This must be because of the amount of weight training I'm doing at the moment, and the fact that I'm trying to increase the weight or volume of lifting each time. After work, I dropped off Lucy and Mouse at the train station and then went home to have some dinner with Martha. I didn't try to do any training - I declared today a rest day.

Later, I drove up to Birmingham City Centre to collect Lucy and Mouse after they had seen a musical. 

Late to bed!

No exercise, no alcohol, no junkfood

Thursday 

I cycled in to work. I had an enjoyable afternoon with the sports group - we did some warm-up exercises, then a self-defence drill followed by some indoor cricket. I didn't push myself hard (I had planned to do some circuit training with them) because of my shoulder strain.

After cycling home, I set off on my weekly 10K run. As usual, it was hard, uncomfortable, boring and seemed to go on forever. In fact, it went on for 64 minutes and 49 seconds.

10K run, no junkfood, no booze

Friday

I cycled in to work and back. As soon as I got home I set about slinging the weights around for an hour. I was relieved to find that the rest day had done me some good and the pain/stiffness in my neck and shoulder didn't stop me from completing the workout.  After that, I wolfed down as much of my dinner (chicken and pasta bake) as I could before driving Debbie and Lucy out to Kings Heath to take part in a pub quiz raising money for Breast Cancer Research. James and a couple of other friends made up our team. It quickly became apparent that Debbie and I were useless. The vast majority of our answers were supplied by Lucy and James. I think I contributed 4 correct answers in the whole evening: Julius Caesar, Othello, Zelda, and 10 Things I Hate About You.

The quiz didn't end until after 11 and I didn't make it into bed until 12:10...

Weight training, no junkfood, no booze.

Saturday

I got up at 7 to eat loads of breakfast and then I met Roger, James and Jonnie for our weekly bicycle ride. We are currently training hard for the Mad March Hare sportive at the end of the month. Today's training target was to ride 50 miles with 2500 feet of climbing and an average speed of 13.8mph. Before we set off, I suggested we try something different: up until this ride, we pretty much rode along however we wanted to. This normally meant that there was a man off the front testing his legs, a couple of chaps having a nice chat, and a bloke suffering at the back, half way up a climb. Today, I suggested that we ride together, at the slowest man's pace, protecting each other  - basically riding as a team.

I'm pleased to report that it was a great success. As in previous years, riding at this point in the training plan is usually done without much chit chat - we are working hard from the start and saving our breath. Working together like this meant that at least there was some banter as we went along. It was a good experience.

As usual, the cake was excellent. The lanes were dry but the wind was cold and against us on the way home. However, working together meant that we were able to get back to base with a 14.0mph average after 50 miles. I personally had more in the legs and I'm sure the lads did too. I rolled back home feeling good about this year's Mad March Hare.

After three fried eggs for lunch (protein!), I took the dogs for a walk. Later, I picked up Lily and we had dinner with the family. We watched A Quiet Place part 2 which is a worthy sequel to the original. The best part was seeing the first day of the alien invasion and how the family survived. For pudding I helped myself to ice cream and some chocolate!

50 miles of cycling, loads of junkfood, no alcohol.

Sunday

It was so strange to have a lie in on a Sunday! I'm ashamed to say that I didn't open my eyes until 9:05. Almost 10 hours of sleep!

Lucy and I went shopping and then I made us bacon and eggs for breakfast when we got back home. After that, I immediately had a second breakfast of muesli! 

After the evening's Karate session, I got back home to crack a few beers (the first of the week) and to watch Liverpool hammer Man U 7-0! Cheers!

Karate, no junkfood, 3 beers

Training Targets for 2015

As some may know, I've had some injury problems recently :
A suspected broken finger, a painful right knee and a VERY painful right shoulder.


After today's gentle 32 miles in the muddy lanes.

These injuries eventually stopped me training (except for a few road bike rides) and no weight-training, no Karate, no running and no mountain biking made me rather frustrated. I substituted training with beer and junkfood and set about being a happy slob for the last month. I even ended up getting amazingly drunk one Friday night and making an idiot of myself on social media...(Note to self: I must make sure I don't get left alone in the house on a Friday night ever again.)
I'm now happy to report that, although the finger and knee are still a little sore at times, the shoulder seems to have righted itself!

With this in mind, I did an MOT on myself to assess the damage done:

Start of September:

10st 2 lbs

Blood pressure: 125/76

Resting heart rate: 51

 

Today:

10st 1 lbs 

Blood pressure: 127/75

Resting heart rate: 40 [checked twice on both arms!]

Erm, so what does this mean? That cake and beer and no exercise lower your heart rate? Isn't a low heart rate an indication of fitness? Why have I lost weight? Could I have lost muscle mass through lack of exercise?
Confusing stuff. I suppose that 6 weeks of inactivity isn't long enough to have an adverse effect on the body.

Anyhoo, the serious training starts tomorrow and I've got a simple plan:
Cut out the sugary foods, dramatically cut out alcohol (aiming for 2 or 3 ales per week), and exercise every day. I'll be emphasising the running and cycling and cutting back on the weight-training in an effort to keep the shoulder happy. At least until Christmas.

So what am I training for? I have 5 definite targets with 2 others that I'd like to do:

• The Cannock Chase Winter Classic - a mountain bike race that hasn't got a date yet. This year it was in February but I didn't ride it.

• The Mad March Hare - 65-75 miles of road riding on 1st March. It will be cold and probably wet. With a massive hill somewhere along the route it has been a challenging but enjoyable ride for the last 2 years!

• The Dynamic 100 - I enjoyed riding this road cycling event with mates this summer and raising over £200 for Macmillan. As the name suggests, it's just over 100 miles long!

• Race the Train, Tywyn - My biggest challenge this year will be running 5.5 miles off road in Wales, chasing a steam train!

• 3rd Kyu - A brown belt in karate. I'm sure that Martha will be able to achieve this with me next year.

My 2 other targets are both mountain bike races:

• The Cannock Chase Summer Classic - a great race with a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed it this year even though I was badly (and painfully) hampered by injury.

• Forest of Dean Enduro - I've entered this race twice and enjoyed it both times. Quite possibly my favourite thing to do on two wheels.

If anyone would like to do any of these challenges with me, get in touch! The more the merrier. I'd love to train together with you too.

So that's the plan. I'm aiming to complete at least 5 of these 7 next year, but to do that, the serious work needs to start now. I'm in my forties and living on beer and cake. Things have got to change!

Frustrated at the Dojo

After Sunday's huge effort at the Mad March Hare, I discovered that I have a very tender right knee. When I woke up on Monday morning it was so stiff and painful that I was limping. To make matters worse, I had to abandon my usual ride into work and turn back to use the car!
The biggest concern, however, is the fact that I'm due to run in a charity assault course on Saturday morning:

The Major Series

This means that I have to look after the knee and give it time to heal. This in turn means that I couldn't risk aggravating it by doing karate tonight. I had to be a spectator - one of those dour-faced parents, sitting on the benches at the side of the hall flicking through a phone for an hour or disrespecting the dojo by talking to a friend for the entire lesson.

Martha was very brave and went ahead with the lesson even though I couldn't take part. I made sure my phone was switched off, politely ignored the woman sitting next to me who tried to talk to me, and focused my attention on the karate. Martha's karate is STRONG! She was by far the best orange belt there tonight and her confidence is growing every lesson. I was very proud of her. Every time she came over to our kit-bag for a drink or to put on her training mitts, we exchanged a few words - mainly encouragement and discussions on improvement.

I felt sorry for the other young people whose parents were present but who were staring glassy-eyed at mobile phones, newspapers, books or chatting away to each other and popping out to smoke cancersticks. They should try to take a little more interest in their child's fantastic new interest - Shotokan Karate - and they would probably find that the hour would fly by, just as it did for me.

I was desperate to join in tonight and even considered volunteering when Sensei was demonstrating a technique - even though I was wearing jeans! I can't wait for the knee to heal so I can strap a gi on and get stuck in once more.

The Mad March Hare 2014

The Mad March Hare, organised out of Cult Racing Cycles in Earlswood, is an annual sportive that travels down to the edge of the Cotswolds and back, taking in some breathtaking views and some literally breathtaking climbs.
Uncle Jonnie, Fast Ant, Dangerous Dave and I decided to sign up for the event a few months back, and I for one had been looking forward to the ride all winter. Jonnie and I used it as our inspiration to do some rather challenging training rides, in weather when we wouldn't normally venture outdoors. Jonnie started his training on one of my other bikes - a steel-framed 1979 Holdsworth Mistral in cracking condition. However, the weight of the machine and the limited gears were holding him back and he eventually upgraded to a fine Trek Madone 3.1. Carbontastic!
On the day of the sportive, we arrived at the starting line to find Dave on his new racing bike and Fast Ant on his 26 inch wheeled touring bike complete with a pannier! The ride started off very pleasantly, with the weather initially being kind to us. Jonnie and I lost touch with Dave and Ant at around about the 15 mile mark. We continued to battle our way down through Snitterfield and past Stratford, sometimes tucked in behind a group of seven female riders who had a strange habit of suddenly stopping en mass at various points along the route! The weather took a turn for the worse about now and both Jonnie and I (due to a natural break I had to take at the 20 mile mark) found ourselves exposed and battling against a ferocious headwind. After that, we were reunited but desperate for the feedstation.
Instead, there came Ilmington and a 14% category 3 climb with a photographer lying in wait at the top. I rode side by side with Jonnie and I was extremely pleased to see him, a man who had recently given up smoking to take up cycling, ride the whole climb. He rode past people half his age who were pushing their bikes up this hill. I smiled and gave the cameraman a thumbs up. Jonnie, so much more professional than I, kept his gaze firmly locked on his stem - a la Froome.
As chance would have it, we caught up with Dave and Ant at the feed station. Our happy reunion was cut short however, by the sudden and disappointing realisation that, after queuing for around 10 minutes, the feedstation was without food! Daydreams of bread-pudding, toast or pasties vanished in a soggy puff of weak tea and bottled water. It should have been named a drink station...
Back on the road, Ant sped off into the distance, legs pumping stoically in some monstrous gear. Dave, who had been fighting cramp, tucked in with Jonnie and me and we turned our handlebars Northward for the final push.
Fuelled by magic formula (Hi 5 summer fruits energy drink) we tackled the worst that Ullenhall could throw at us, including the climb from the farm that Jonnie, as a beginner, used to walk up - but not today.
After 5 hours and 33 minutes, Dave, Jonnie and I rode over the finish line together, found Fast Ant, and indulged in coffee, bacon butties and photographs.
On the ride home, legs turning to jelly beneath us, Jonnie punctured and we changed the tubes in the rain, exhausted but determined to get back home under our own steam. Two hours later, our families together at his house, Jonnie fed us homemade beef stew and I poured some fine ales.
Cycling may not be the best hobby/sport/way of life ever, but, right at that moment,  it was hard to think of something that can compare...