Miles 20.15; Bike Miles 10; Units 27

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." (Mark Twain).

So, here I am commencing my first week of my 40th year with a bicycle - a present from Janet, and what I really wanted. I last owned a bike in my 2nd year at University, which was of course a "Brideshead Revisited' type bike (did you expect anything else?) with wicker front basket and 3 Sturmey-Archer gears. It satisfied a need to throw coursebooks in the basket, don the cycle clips on my tweed suit (yes I did sometimes used to wear a 3-piece green tweed suit and tie at Uni...oh help me someone...) and then afterwards partake of a glass or two of Shepherd Neame's finest on the way back home. I seem to recall that I sold it to my landlady for £15 when I moved out. Since then I have eschewed the 2-wheeled form...though I have always been keen to get back in the saddle.

My, how bikes have moved on! So, this 'city hybrid' model, as they call it, is made of oh so light aluminium, 21 gears with paddles for up/down, and a rock solid seat! It has very direct steering and feels nimble. My commitment was to ride to work one day a week provided the weather was ok (I'm not mad) and to use it to pop into town and the like. Hence, 10 bike miles, 5 each way to work, on Wednesday. A little scary but we made it! The sense of freedom and exhilaration is intoxicating, I think I'm going to like this. The jury is still out on the saddle..

Doubly proud of myself for a 'brick' session, as the triathletes have it. I jumped off the bike on Wednesday and ran just under 5 miles. That is a strange feeling. The legs, unused to this style of exercise, are a bit jelly-like and uncertain. I don't yet believe I am ready to embrace fully this world of multi sport. Still unfinished business in running for me...London 2011 maybe?

Wine of the week would have to be another excellent bottle of the Hess Allomi Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. A classic bordeaux blend, but with that much bigger fruit of the US of A. All ripe blackcurrants and green wood. Lovely!

Comments

miles 30.46; Bike miles 0; Units 27

A good running week. I planned for 4 runs, however only 3 resulted as the Saturday run fell to the combined demons of ice, cold and shopping (!). I thought I might be able to nip in a cheeky 3 or 4 miles after we had returned from the delights of the first batch of Christmas shopping (oh, and buying a new telly...so it was not all bad) but it was not to be. And a rather nice bottle of La Tour du Mons 2000 (Cru Bourgeois Margaux) called too.. This week, I managed a hill session in the cold on Wednesday, which did not tax me too much, a steady 7 on Friday, and then a challenging and hilly 18 on Sunday. This was a great run in the cold air - just splendid to be out there when it is so quiet and cold. Just really wonderful. The temperature hovered between -1 and +1, no snow in sight, and a bit of occasional ice. Just really good. I was reflecting as I ran on one significant change in my attitude since running - and that is my approach to artificial fibres. Before running, it had to be c

Miles 33.84; Units 27

Exercise-wise, a back end loaded week. I had to miss three training days through pressure of work. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, as it gives you a chance to recover. All too often, we runners can run ourselves into the ground, if we are not careful. However, after two days you start to feel the lack of exercise, and imagine that you are ballooning up in weight. This of course is not true, though that is little comfort. This may also be a personal thing, however I usually find that when I take more than one day off, a number of niggles emerge - in this case a touch of plantar fasciitis (for you non-runners, a pain like a drawing pin being lodged in your heel - see the gloriously Heath-Robinson picture of the necessary stretching to help the recovery). Maybe the body is just seizing the day and bringing the bad stuff out that it has kept under check whilst you are exercising - clearly 3 days is enough for it to think "oh good, we seem to have stopped all this mad runn

miles 21.08; Bike Miles 1; Units 20 excluding Saturday which was far too many!

"a happy weekend is one with more miles on my shoes than my car tyres" Another week of just two runs - but both good quality, including some tough hills. So I am not unhappy with that - would have been good to crack 30 miles this week, though! The Sunday run was out with the running club, as before from St Catherine's in Winchester. It was crisp, dry, and everything that makes a wintry run truly great. You do just feel absolutely alive after that. It also included a rather random piece of pathway that was covered in cows, which needed shooing off the path..slightly worrying. It was along the water meadows at St. Cross - always feels very medieval at that spot, as if you could be seeing a scene that a monk would have encountered 500 years ago. There is something about these old towns that embody and then exude the years of history. I have included a photo of these meadows at St. Cross because I find it truly enigmatic, evocative...and frankly all a bit Cadfael, if you reme

I Drink, therefore I Run

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