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 20.64; Bike Miles 0; Units probably too many!

A couple of runs this week, Tuesday and Sunday, the latter a great long run - just over 14 miles - really feeling back in the swing of things, and ready to book some races now. It was just glorious to be out in the cool but sunny weather - absolute joy! I am finally feeling like I am able to run again. It has also been a bit more of a relaxed week at work, with a couple of days on a training course, and the rest of the time in the office. Also, the throat was gently easing out by the weekend ( I did promise not to go on about it).... ....which is good when I tell you that we went to Hotel Terravina again, this time as a gift for my 40th Birthday from Carol and Huw, to take part in a 'sabrage' event, which means that you chop the top off a bottle of champagne with a sabre! All very extravagant and grand - see me brandishing said bottle in the attached photo. What a great experience that was, really very special. Thanks to C&H for that! Other than the Champagne we also had tw...

Miles: 23.2, Units 22 (hurrah!)

Trainingwise, not a perfect week. I didn't run my intended Frenches session on Wednesday, and opted instead for Cemetery Hill. I was planning for about 30 mins of effort, but at about 25 minutes I came across a cat that had been struck by a car, and was (not to beat about the bush) dying in front of me. Another car stopped and we got it ready to go to the vets, but it had clearly suffered too much. Not a great omen, and pretty horrible. I blew out my Friday run with a bit of a sore throat and a general feeling of lethargy- and so, I aimed on Saturday for a strong 10 miler with the same again on Sunday, to prepare for the 20 mile race on the following week - however, I had to work on Sunday from 7am to 5 and quite frankly a steady 40 mins was all I could muster up. All round a sorry picture - summed up nicely in this pic of me from the Clarendon marathon in 2007 Winewise also not a very exciting week. The most enjoyable drop was a bit of an oddity - Bricco Rosso Suagna Langhe Rosso ...

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...

I Drink, therefore I Run

Search This Blog