another 5000ft climbing day completed.

Today was a change from the hilly sportive in Yorkshire as previously planned, a lot of circumstances made it not the right option for me this weekend, so I opted for a hilly ride out from home.
A super strong headwind for 26miles accompanied the hard climb up to the the top of the days route, along with a super slow average speed! which although hard, was at least better at the start of the day rather than at the end.
The next 45 miles was very rolling with climbs up to 21% but these tended to be short in length, but there was some nice longer climbs at 8-10% where I could sit in and think I was in France for a short while?
This part of the route was in Rutland and followed the route of the recent cicle sportive and had some cracking views over Abbeys, reservoirs and a 82 span viaduct, which made the riding very rewarding.
The last 14 miles was a decent/flat run all the way back home, with the benefit of a cracking tailwind pushing me, and the pace never really dropped below 20mph with the minimum of effort from my now tired body.
So after last weeks 100 miler this was good to get a good climbing route done without wrecking my body before next weekends 100 mile sportive in hilly Norfolk?

the first 100 miler in the bag.

Well I now have done my first ever one hundred mile bike ride, rode out early on Saturday morning, to do our local cycling clubs autumn sportive route, and added in another 25 miles to get up to the ton.
I rode with a friend for 65 miles until he had to head off for other commitments and then I carried on to the finish at home, the morning was misty which cleared after an hour, then it was glorious sunshine all the way.
The route was not flat and had just over 4000ft of climbing up to 18% on the biggest climb, and the cafe we planned to stop at 45 miles was closed when we got there,so had to ride another 15 miles, until I could find a shop and fill up my water bottles again, not so good.
I did tire over the last 20 miles in places that I did not expect, to like my core, so I ended up putting lots of weight onto my wrists.
So at the end a finishing time of 6 hours and 19 minutes was very pleasing although I have been starving all day today.
So onwards and upwards to the next long ride.

A spanner in the works?

Well the planned week off after the marathon, was then taken out of my hands by a very nasty cold, which because I was determined to train in the second week? turned into something nasty on my chest, which as I write is still being treated with medication!
But I have tried to do the best I can, and still got in a good 84 mile ride to watch the pro`s race at the Lincoln grand prix, which was awesome seeing how hard those guys worked and the shear effort and determination , was inspiring.
My weekly climbing training session on the turbo was still done, as was my running club speedwork day, and a few recovery rides thrown in where i could.

Derbyshire was postponed until this weekend, and I had a cracking ride there Saturday, doing 6500ft of climbing, over 56 miles, including the winnats pass 28% max gradient(not nice at all), and finishing off on the classic, cat and fiddle climb, which was a fantastic experience, and which I felt more comfortable on, albeit slowly, but riding it well within my abilities and this was right at the end of the ride, so pleased with that.

Sunday was a nice ride out with the local club riders and we covered 43 miles which was a nice way to unwind the legs from the hilly ride on Saturday.

So what have I learnt from Saturday session? a quadruple chain set would suit me just fine, a new rear end with more padding would be advisable, get rid of my fear of heights and speed and have all my cycling routes re-tarmaced with a smoother surface,
no it really did show up just what a massive challenge the etape really is, can I do it? I don`t know yet, but I will continue to train as hard as I can, and hopefully with some bigger sportives, coming up in the near future, then I can learn more and improve my chances of getting up to the top of the tourmalet in July.

London marathon done and in the bag!

Oh well, that is the two marathons done and out of the way, it`s cycling all the way now.
This weekend just gone, was the virgin London marathon, my second marathon in two weeks, and on a humid day with absolutely packed roads, I managed to run well again finishing in 3:46:22, just outside the 3:45 I wanted but on the day, and with the crowds as big as they were, I am well pleased with the time.
It felt as though I must have overtaken about 10,000 slower runners who had started to fast or who had got into the wrong pen at the start, or more likely, overestimated there finishing times?
But never mind, London is always a special race and we had a fantastic weekend with 7runners from our club taking part and I even got to chat to Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson at kings cross train station!

So now it is full steam ahead for the Etape and only 1 or two runs a week just to vary my training and give the muscle groups a change. hopefully the time that I have missed off the bike during the last few months, has not been wasted, because i feel that I have built up a solid base endurance level, which now should carry over to the bike, and I won`t feel stale after months and months of single discipline training?

Today is a recovery day off work, and I will soon go outside to fit my new 13-29 rear cassette, which I felt was needed to give me the best chance along with the triple chain set, recently fitted, to get up the cols come etape day.

A club ride out this weekend hopefully. then it is off to derby shire next weekend to start the proper hill climbing training, doing routes which pick out all the famous climbs, I do feel nervous about tackling them as we have nothing hilly where I live and have been basically doing my hill climbing on the turbo! but I need to up my game now and start doing it for real.

Paris marathon done, and in the bag.

Last weekend I was in Paris and running down the champs-Elysee in the Paris marathon,
although not a lot of running mileage in the bank due to injuries, I managed to run fairly well and got to the finish line in 3:44:33 which was pretty close to the goal time of sub-3:45 that I had set myself.

A full week off running, and trying to recover before this weekends attempt at the London marathon, resulted in a recovery week of only cycling. yippee!

A 20mile ride out with a friend ended up a bit quicker than ideal, so still feeling tired meant another rest day was essential.
A good hill climbing session done on the turbo went well on Friday, and this was followed by a ride out with the local cycling club, again a bit quick, but a solid 54miles was a nice ride out and I felt quite strong within the group.

Another recovery week concentrating on rest and running and hopefully a good run at London, then that`s it, running out of the way and then I can concentrate only on the Etape and the challenge that it will pose.

Things are starting to come together more now.

At last with the injury subsiding, I have been able to up my training, and things are starting to come together more now.
The running has gone well, doing two 20mile road races, on consecutive weekends and yesterday, I completed a 83 mile sportive which was done on a windy and undulating course with nearly 4000ft of climbing!
It all went OK, and although only done at a steady 15mph pace, it felt comfortable throughout and today I feel fairly good and nothing feels damaged or too tight.
It was also the first time that I have rode out on my new triple chain set which was purchased in preparation for the Etape, It was a big improvement over my old standard 39/53 set up and I found it more comfortable spinning up 13% climbs at 90rpm but still think a big rear cassette will be needed for the Etape, maybe a 13/29? Because a short UK climb of a hundred metres or so, will be a lot different from the Tourmalet after 90 miles in the legs and then a 25 kilometre climb to contend with! That is without factoring in the possibility of the summer heat?

This weekend I have got the Paris marathon to run and I need to be sensible and run that as a long slow training run, that is providing, I can recover well enough this week, and look after myself and steer clear of sickly people!

LONG TIME NO SPEAK?

It has been too long since I last posted, so many apologies for that,



Early February was a carbon copy of January with a leg injury striking again in exactly the same place.

This was due to racing cross country in a club hosted running event, and although I knew that I should have stopped? I foolishly ploughed on causing more damage.



Most of February was spent trying to get better and yet still keep up the hard work.

I managed fairly well and was able to do a 65mile sportive which had a few hills? one which was 16% and made the leg tighten up, but I survived and kept the mileage up.



March was a good improvement with the running now up to 16 miles and although not enough long rides done yet a 60 mile sportive felt surprisingly comfortable and felt OK at the finish and I recovered well over the next day or so.



I have been able to stay committed to the turbo though,and particularly a hard hill climbing session devised by Lance Armstrong's coach ! So hopefully that will pay off come July.



A few cyclosportives have been looked at and the next one that i have entered,moves the distance up to 82 miles in distance.



I then have a 2-day peak district weekend planned with 3 very hilly sportives planned in the 100 mile distance bracket in the Peak district, north york moors and snowdon so hopefully that will prepare me for what is required.



So after a good start, a big 2 month hiccup, things are now coming together again and looking more positive.