I became a cyclist this weekend, clocking up a 46mile ride. Not bad for my first proper ride. It was a DMVAC club ride, but there was only 3 of us. Martin, 2 times Ironman, fitness instructor and club triathlon chief. Then there was Robin DMVAC club Secretary, super fast runner, recently back from a triathlon training camp and super fast cyclist. Finally me, first serious ride, bowl of porridge, bottle of High Five 4:1 mix with added Hornet Juice. Get the picture? I'm out of my class!
Getting to Dorking SC was easy enough, its downhill for 4 miles. Met the guys and we were off out of Dorking, chatting about cycling I had not done, my new bike and marathons I had.
We set off to Shere, then onto Cranleigh, and back south of Leigh hill, through Newdigate and Brockham, before I had to climb Boxhill again. We passed through some amazing villages that I knew nothing about and all the time kept up a good pace. I did my best to keep up. The hills were hardest and I quickly got dropped. But they would slow and I would catch up again.
It's incredible how quickly the miles tick off on a bike and after about 30 miles the guys told me they were impressed by my endurance, and I was really impressed with myself. I would not thought it possible to cycle this distance.
It was 10:49 and we were still far from anywhere. I needed to be home by 11:30 and still had to climb Boxhill. By 11:10 we were back in Dorking, Martin said he was going around again, and I set off to conquer the hill.
Didn't quite conquer the hill, everyone overtook me, if I stood to pedal my muscles burned, and sitting was now uncomfortable as I was not taking any weight off my butt. 11:30 and I made it home, arghhhhhh, collapsed on the floor for all of 5 minutes before taking Oliver to his Football Tournament. Life still goes on, sore butt or not.
I think I realised something this week. I realised that if you want to push yourself you have to train with a club or others.
Swimming, I would never be able to swim the distance I do on a Wednesday night if it was not for doing it with the Dorking SC Masters Swim session. Running, there is no way I would give myself the beasting around the running track that I did on Thursday and Cycling, I would never have thought I could have done 46miles, if were not for Robin and Martin on Sunday, I would have gone home much earlier.
What training alone is good for, is, building endurance and maybe training with others is not so good for endurance as you always end up pushing yourself harder than you would on your own and that means you will tend to miss sessions.
Getting to Dorking SC was easy enough, its downhill for 4 miles. Met the guys and we were off out of Dorking, chatting about cycling I had not done, my new bike and marathons I had.
We set off to Shere, then onto Cranleigh, and back south of Leigh hill, through Newdigate and Brockham, before I had to climb Boxhill again. We passed through some amazing villages that I knew nothing about and all the time kept up a good pace. I did my best to keep up. The hills were hardest and I quickly got dropped. But they would slow and I would catch up again.
It's incredible how quickly the miles tick off on a bike and after about 30 miles the guys told me they were impressed by my endurance, and I was really impressed with myself. I would not thought it possible to cycle this distance.
It was 10:49 and we were still far from anywhere. I needed to be home by 11:30 and still had to climb Boxhill. By 11:10 we were back in Dorking, Martin said he was going around again, and I set off to conquer the hill.
Didn't quite conquer the hill, everyone overtook me, if I stood to pedal my muscles burned, and sitting was now uncomfortable as I was not taking any weight off my butt. 11:30 and I made it home, arghhhhhh, collapsed on the floor for all of 5 minutes before taking Oliver to his Football Tournament. Life still goes on, sore butt or not.
I think I realised something this week. I realised that if you want to push yourself you have to train with a club or others.
Swimming, I would never be able to swim the distance I do on a Wednesday night if it was not for doing it with the Dorking SC Masters Swim session. Running, there is no way I would give myself the beasting around the running track that I did on Thursday and Cycling, I would never have thought I could have done 46miles, if were not for Robin and Martin on Sunday, I would have gone home much earlier.
What training alone is good for, is, building endurance and maybe training with others is not so good for endurance as you always end up pushing yourself harder than you would on your own and that means you will tend to miss sessions.
