A tin pot or two

The George Crouch Trophy

It's been a relatively big week on the bike, and started off really well. A pretty easy 20 miles taking the long way home from work and I felt really good and started to feel that the turbo sessions are really starting to get my bike fitness back. But once that was done, the rest of the week was really hard work and by Friday evening I had my usual scratchy throat which is my 'overtraining' indicator. Well, maybe not in this case as I had actually only done relatively few hours, but the early starts in order to get the sessions done have taken their toll and I don't think I was getting quite enough sleep to compensate. Yesterday, Simon and I went out on the TT bikes for the first time this year and we did 2 laps of the G10/42 course at a tempo effort. It was very hard work going out riding into a stiff southerly and I was well down on Simon on both loops, although I held station with him over the last 5 miles at the end, so not all bad.

We both ended up at the Phoenix Awards and Dinner Dance last night, which was a lovely occasion for us all. As well as the usual ceremonies we took time out to Remember Frank Cubis, and everything that he did for the club. It was fitting that Dale received the lion's share of the trophies including the 12hr trophy in which he also beat Frank's record which had stood for over 40 years. It was nice for me to win a couple of tin pots too. The one I had my eye on all last year was the George Crouch Trophy for the best improvement over 25 miles, and I won it having improved from 1:02:30 in 2015 to 55:49 in 2016. It made all those hours in a damp shed doing the Trainerroad plans worthwhile.

off my feet

So two weeks of solid bike work and quite chuffed that I have not missed any Trainerroad sessions since the first week, which has panned out as three turbo sessions with a long road ride each Saturday morning. Last week was my longest ride in about a year, covering a shade over 60 miles going out to Windsor and then finishing off with a little lap around home. Yesterday I was joined by Simon again and I found it pretty hard going as it was my fifth ride in five days, with the proceeding two being quite long sweetspot turbo sessions which left me feeling pretty battered. I have one more big bike week this week which I am hoping to finish off with a long tt ride on Saturday.

Running has been a bit of a false dawn. I was looking forward to the Hampton Court Half this morning until my foot flared up on Friday evening. It was ok on the bike but quite painful to walk on so there was no way I was going to run 13 miles on it, so today was a rest day. Once it clears up in a couple of days I need to get back on my feet and start to integrate some weekly running properly. I also need to enter a couple of races and see where I stand.

Mr Consistent

So four weeks into my trainerroad plan and I've only dropped one session; result! This was in the first week before I committed to getting up early and getting my sessions done. It's getting easier to get up at 5am and do my turbo sessions, in fact it's now not a factor at all. Everyone wins as I'm not stressing about getting them done late at night after a full day's work and usually some work in the evening too and being a parent. But I'm trying to ensure that I get my long weekend ride in too, as that's where last season didn't work out and I think that the trainerroad sessions in the week with a long road ride at the weekend will hopefully be the magic bullet that will see my cycling improve from last season.

I do get asked quite a bit how I can do two plus hours on the turbo and I think the attached photograph probably explains how. While I miss riding outdoors, punctures and rubbish weather is something I don't miss at all. I went out with Simon to Windsor last week and repeated it yesterday and suffering four punctures in two rides is frustrating in the extreme. The facial mudpack is my own doing however. Sitting on Simon's wheel for 40 miles of a 46 mile ride, without either of us having mudguards is not wise and I didn't realise quite how bad it was. The Windsor route was very much like riding a turbo with it being so flat that one had to pedal all the time with no increased effort up hills and no coasting downhill. The route took us out through Walton, Staines, Shepperton etc; all places that while being local to me I had not seen since the 2012 DW and in particular, the bridges took me back to those early morning hours, sat in a kayak while crying in a pool of my own wee. Happy times!

Running is ticking over. This week has been a rest week on Trainerroad, so I took the decision to only do one short run too. With two weeks until the Hampton Court Half I'm going to get a bigger volume week in this week then bimble my way through the race and see where I am. I did a hilly 9 miler last weekend which went well, and by that I mean I was not injured at the end of it. As far as running goes, that's the most important thing; pace and volume are not important, I just don't want to get injured so soon into my tri plan.