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!

Knee update: 2 solutions

I've rested the knee for a week. I've driven to work with the rest of the cagers for the last five days. I haven't run my usual 6 miles per week. All I've done is lift some weights [avoiding squats, lunges and deadlifts].
I was very eager to get back on the bike today so I leapt out of bed at 6:30 ready for action. By 8am I was at Jonnie's and the poor guy was still in his dressing gown!
On the road at 8:20 we were prepared for a soaking. Happily, the BBC weather got it all wrong and our ride was a dry one! I chose a shortish ride to test the knee - a total of 22 miles through places like Packwood and Henley, finishing with our usual ride through Tanworth and the 3 mile time trial back to Jonnie's.
It was a quick fun ride, with beautiful scenery. In a playful mood, we decided early on that Jonnie was to be Contador and dance up the climbs while I was being Froome with some serious high-cadence stem-staring.
The knee? Today it was almost back to normal. I was so relieved to find that all I had to contend with was a dull ache after dashing up some of the steepest hills in the area. Of course, the resting of the legs must have helped the knee to recover but I also had two not-so-secret weapons with me. The first was a change of pedals: The terrible Toys-R-Us quality pedals that the Specialized was supplied with were hurting my feet and may have been having an adverse effect on the knee. I spent some quality fettling time on Saturday and managed to construct some Frankenstein pedals out of some bodies from Deadly Dan and some French toe clips taken from the Holdsworth. They were dramatically more comfortable and must have taken some of the pressure off the knee. My second solution was to wear an elasticated bandage donated by my mother during a visit on Saturday. It seems to have worked a treat!

22.53 miles at 14.3mph. A fun ride with a good result for the knee! Phew.
Next week, 40 miles heading out to Alvechurch, perhaps?

Kenilworth Castle Knee Explosion

Another Sunday ripe with possibilities.
Jonnie and I made a difficult decision and opted for a road ride rather than joining Gary, Deadly and Craig at the Wyre forest for some off-road fun. The main reason was Jonnie's new Shimano shoes and pedals which he was eager to try out. This would be the first time that either of us had been 'clipped-in'.

As it turned out, Jonnie rode as if he'd been clipped in all his life! I never saw him hesitate at any junction during the whole ride - impressive stuff. He said the Shimano gear was comfortable and easy to use. For a fraction over £100, that's got to be good. [Shotokancyclist is not sponsored by Shimano, BTW].
Jonnie took us out to Kenilworth Castle. On a beautiful sunny morning it was a delightful ride, if a little busy on some of the roads.

The only downside was the fact that my bad knee has started to play up at about the 10 mile mark. By 22 miles, the pain was ruining my ride and I was scared of really injuring myself. I owned up and told Jonnie that I had to head home. Unfortunately, it meant cutting our ride short and we only completed 36 miles. However, the average time of 14.1mph was still Jonnie's personal best and, without my aching knee slowing us down, he could have easily approached the magic 15mph mark.