Running hurts

OK I said yesterday that I hadn't run for a while. It really hit home today how out of shape I am!

My thighs and quads still hurt this morning. I went for a 2.5 mile run and it was very uncomfortable. Every muscle in my legs felt like it was screaming at me to stop.

This evening I feel about the same as I did yesterday. Getting up, sitting down, walking, stairs, anything really just hurts.

I'm not sure this is the best preparation for cycling round the clock but it can't do any harm.

I'm sure exercise didn't used to hurt this much :(

Looking forward to another run in the morning........not!

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Running instead !

No time to ride the bike today so went for a 3 mile run instead.

This was my first run for about a year and really hurt ! Not going to have much time all week so plan to run more if my legs can take it :)


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Training in the sunshine - Happy days !!

This morning's ride topped the week off nicely.

The weather was good, nobody tried to run me down, the sun was shining and the scenery was great.

Here's a picture of the wildlife to end the week on.

Ride stats

Parrots, Pain and Stats

Firstly let's get the parrots out of the way. The other week I was sure I saw a green parrot in Richmond Park. I was very tired so doubted what I'd seen.

Today two green parrots flew over my head as I rode along. A quick Google shows they set up home there about 10 years ago. Amazing. They must be pretty hardy to survive all year round.

Todays ride was the third in a row and I've been doing a 9 mile round trip to the office each day. So, my legs are starting to ache a bit. Looking forward to getting another ride out of the way in the morning then giving them a rest.

Finally, there's the stats !! Ages ago I downloaded RunKeeper Pro for my iPhone but never used it until today. It tracks your training session using GPS for running, cycling, etc.

Well I'm blown away. It's really easy to use. Just tell it what you're doing and press Start then Stop when your done. Easy. If you set up an account it uploads your activity to their web site and will post to Facebook and Twitter too if you want it to.

You get a break down of your work out, graphs galore, a Google map of your route, sector splits, height climbed, calories burnt, the lot. Check out this link for my ride today. The map is hidden so everyone on the planet doesn't know where I am. I like my gadgets and this one is really cool !!!!!

Training bike

I took this picture last week. It's my recently rebuilt training bike with commuter mods.

The frame is a Ritchey steel frame I got cheap off eBay ages ago.

The forks are rigid triple butted aluminium Mosso's. Another eBay bargain. I bought these with my heart rather than my head. They're super light but being aluminium have no flex so make for a very firm ride.

Tyres are 1.9" slicks back and front. Fast rolling but with enough bounce to smooth out the ride a bit.

I've fitted a new Alivio groupset as all the old components were worn out after 15 years of abuse on an old frame. Not top draw but plenty good enough for what I want and not too shiny so reduces it's desriability with the local tea leaves.

The seat is super light and thin. Bought it years ago cos it looked cool and had good comfort ratings. Still not sure on the latter but I've got used to it.

The rack is a quick release post clamp model by Topeak as the frame has no bosses. It's a top quality rack that does what it says on the tin.

I've added a top tube bag for stuff I want easy access to like phone, keys, wallet, food, etc. I'll use this on my Boardman for CLIC24 too as it's really useful.

The rest of the stuff is a mixture of bits and pieces from my old builds that are dependable and do the job.

I really need to fix the pedals. Hopefully I'll get time and energy one night this week.

Wheels are turning !!!!

Even though I was very tired, I dragged myself out of bed at 6:15 this morning.

The pedal bearings are still lose but I got on the road and did an hours ride. I've also ridden a 9 mile round trip to the office.

I need to get my computer on the bike or load a tracking app on my phone to find out how many miles I'm covering but it must be around 23 which isn't bad.

I need to reduce my working hours and increase my personal time which I'm trying to do this week. Out of the office at 19:30 tonight which is a record in recent history.

Going to bed soon so I can get up again tomorrow.

Will I get to train?

Last week was insane and I've been working well into the next day over the weekend after Debbie's gone to bed too.

I really really hope this week is better. I need rest and to get training again.


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Nothing happeng

Been an insane week at work so no training :(


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10th March - Back better and even faster

Firstly, my back has nearly settled down. I'm not sure if the exercise is helping or not but it doesn't seem to be doing any harm.

I feel pretty strong riding at the moment . Certainly stronger than I'd expected to be after not riding much for 7 months or so until last week and not exercising since October.

Still carrying more weight than I'd like but I'm trying to cut down on the junk and the training should help.

Richmond Park was a busy day for bikes today. Lots of roadies out and about. I got swallowed up by a mini peloton of about 20 riders today. I managed to stay within shouting distance of them ..................... for about 15 second, if I shouted really loud :(

Seriously though, my pace has got noticably faster even in the last few weeks. So the signs are promising. Endurance riding is about distance and time in the saddle rather than speed though so I need to train right.

More training in the morning if I get up early enough.

9th March - Speeding up

Today was another good ride. I felt strong.

I even managed to overtake someone ............................. unfortunately she was about 60 and had a basket on the front of her bike but you've got to start somewhere !!!!

I've got loose bearings in one of the pedals. It's creaking and losing grease. This'll be a job for the weekend.

Cold but fun

Today I only over slept by 15 minutes which based on last week is pretty good. I was on the road just before 7am.

The weather first thing in West London was bloody freezing. A thick frost was on the cars and within 10 minutes my face and ears were very painful. I should have brought down my beanie. I'm going to head off to Tesco later to get another one.

The ride was really good. The roads were relatively quiet. I've adapted the loop so that I don't have to touch the South Circular and other main roads around Kew. This was much safer and less stressful.

Scenery was great. I'll get some snaps up over the next few days.

The loop took about an hour today which is about right for the first few weeks. I can extend this easily by mixing up the routes through Richmond Park.

All in all it was a good session. I'm taking it easy at the moment as my back still aches a bit. I felt pretty strong when I got back so should be able to up the pace a bit next week.

Ready for a better training week

All packed and ready to head off to west London in the morning.

This week should be less busy at work so I should get more time and energy for training !


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Too sleepy

I had a late finish last night and slept straight through the alarm this morning. So no training today.

I'm hopeful that things will quieten down at work next week and I can get into a routine.

Looking forward to a restful weekend :)

Too cold and white van man !!!

This morning I managed to get out of bed after putting it off for 20 minutes. Had a bit of breakfast and headed out.

I did a loop taking in the minimum amount of risky road riding and the maximum amount of time in Richmond Park. Other than being bloody cold all went well until white van man tried to knock me off on the South Circular :(

The loop took about an hour which didn't seem bad considering the roads to and from the park are very busy.

Back's feeling a bit better today too !!

Bad day to train

Last night I didn't get back until 21:00. The people in the flat above were fighting and sounded like they were throwing dumbbells at each other until 2am. To top it off my back is still sore today and I kept waking through the night thinking about work stuff.

So, I tried to get some extra sleep this morning and skipped the training ride. I'm still doing a 5 mile round trip to the office so it's not a totally wasted day.

Hopefully I'll be in better shape tomorrow...........

First recce ride

No matter where I end up as having my weekly training base (i.e. where I'm working), I need to do some recce rides to find safe, varied training routes.

Well today I struck gold on the first outing. About 15 minutes or so away is the Royal Richmond Park.

It's not huge but it'll be fine for my needs. It's got a few hills, the traffic is relatively light and it has a low speed limit throughout.

It has literally hundreds of deer and other wildlife to relieve the boredom.

I should be able to build in a loop that allows me to spend 45 minutes or so in the park with the minimum amount of adrenalin fuelled traffic dodgy each end.

On the downside, I've spent too much time sitting in rubbish chairs at rubbish desks over the last few weeks and my back's killing me. Must be my age!! So I've got to take it even easier than I would like to start with to let it settle down.

I hate getting old :(

Where it started

Three years ago I was knocking on 40 and wanted a challenge. I enjoy cycling and ride mountain bikes a bit. So it seemed logical to have a go at something around this. I had a look around for something that would be a challenge but would not be too intense.

I stumbled across CLIC24 which is a 24 hour mountain bike endurance event set in Cheddar Gorge and is run in aid of CLIC Sargent. CLIC Sargent are the UK's leading charity supporting children and the families of children who are suffering from cancer or Leukaemia. My wife had a brain tumour as a child and CLIC Sargent helped out her family a lot. So this seemed like the perfect event to tackle.

I teamed up with my mate Aaron and we rode the event in 2008 and again in 2010. We raised a fair bit of cash for CLIC Sargent. It was a huge undertaking that required a lot of preparation and training. I documented the build up in my blog at the time.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do the event this year as I've changed jobs and have been very busy. However, I've entered and am now committed to what will be relentless early morning training sessions, endless event preparations and pain.

To keep up with how I get on, check my blog for regular updates.