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.