I am no good at navigation

Today I set off for a bike ride with only half a half baked plan of where to go. In my half baked mind with its half baked plan I thought I would see what the route to work was like. So with half baked google map in my pocket and a half baked idea in my head I was off.

I was OK for the first 10 miles, I knew the way to Esher, although I did go the wrong way in Leatherhead! Esher came quicker than expected and I headed right, through Esher towards Bushy. Wheres Bushy gone? Can't see a large park, ohhh wheres this road go? Ahhhh, I seem to not be in Bushy, this is Kingston. Hey ho, turn left head for Feltham. Ummm Elmhurst, ohhh horrible traffic queue in Sunbury. At least I'm over the river. Now head for Heathrow. Urghhh, SAP HQ? Turn right. Well this is the Heathrow perimeter road, must be as there are loads of people standing around looking at airplanes and police on mountain bikes cecking them out. Wel not too far off track then. Arghhh over the M4, round the corner and there it is, well not actually, but I know the way! Eventually arrived in Stockley Park. Must try harder on the way home. Quick text to wife. 'I was lost but now I am found'. Off again, out the back of the park, right, right, no, back, right, straight, ahhh bike lane. Where am I? carry on, see anything recognisable? A mosque, community centres with loud music playing, women in purder. Ummm it's not the Surrey villages then, it's ........ Southall. Southall, what am I doing here? Isn't that where they had riots once? Keep going Surrey boy. Now where am I? in some housing estate, left, right, left, right, that looks like a main road, head or it before you end up on one of those ghetto estates. Hounslow, head for that. Ahhhh Feltham again, ohhhhh, going again. Kingston bridge. Back on the right side of the river then. Thats where Bushy is then.

The lesson here is, if you have only a half baked idea, go the other way, away from London.

Weekend Training

This weekend was a full weekend following on from a poor week where I missed quite a few sessions.  So on Friday I added on an extra 3km to my lunchtime run.  Saturday morning I went to the lake and met Andy Fay.  Andy was full of joy to tell me he had swum 5 continuous circuits to make a 3750m swim after hearing I had done 5 x 750m loops with a rest in between.  I had planned to try and do 2 or maybe 3 continuous loops this weekend and then a couple more to keep up with the 3750m that I want Saturday mornings to be.  I got my wetsuit on and slipped into the water.  Swum out to the start point, hit the watch and started.  It's always a positive start when the goggles don't leak so I was happy.  I swam and I swam right over the dam.  Ended up doing 5 laps continuous.  Yeah, I thought to myself, 'well if Andy can do it I can too'.  It was a good swim, I just kept going, never thought I was going to need to stop and completed 5 laps in 1:14:50  Happy or what?  I expected to do it in 1:40:00ish, so this time is great by me.  Climbed out of the water and saw Andy again.  He asked what my time was and looked impressed!  We then arranged to go for a long, 100mile ride on Sunday.

In the car driving back home I started to have stomach cramps, which was strange, nothing bad, just strange.  Back home, Sarah was taking the kids off shopping(!) and I needed to go and pick the car up from a friends house where she had left it on Friday.  I turned this into an hours run through the woods and Surrey hills.  I felt good that I had done a decent bit of training.

Saturday night 3 kids and I slept in a 3 man tent in the garden.  So I woke up really early, hopped out ate a load of porridge, muesli,  coffee (get that caffeine in) and a bagel, filled my pockets with gels and bars, put 2 bottles of energy drink on the bike and headed off for Andy's house in Bookham.  From there we set off towards Ripley, Aldershot, Farnborough, headed south to Tilstead, and turned back through Elstead, Godalming, Cranleigh, Ewhurst, Ockley, Newdigate, Brockham, Pixham, and back upto Boxhill.  93 miles in all and I was surprised at the amount of hills on what I thought was going to be flat!  What did I learn from this ride? 

1. this saddle is better.  
2. I got sick to death of energy drinks, gels and bars
3. I started well but lacked endurance
4.             Snickers bars are a nice change from gels and energy bars
5.             I probably still did not eat or drink enough
6.             2 bottles is a lot of weight
7.             When it comes to navigation I am useless
8.             Coke is good
9.             Drafting is good
10.             Right knee seems to give a bit of pain, keep an eye on that

I am so glad that I did not try to do this on my own, I would have been totally lost and would have lost the will to continue.  It is strange on a bike, you can go through periods of having loads of energy to feeling broken and exhausted and back again.  We did stop a lot, even joining a group of Hells Angels at their barbeque in Newdigate!  (some people have balls and I just follow!) After the frequent stops I had the energy to push through Brockham (great bit of road) and get back up Boxhill. 

A good weekend, building my confidence in some ways, but highlighting my weaknesses in others and I still think the Ironman 112 mile ride is going to be very difficult to complete, I just don't think I have the endurance.  This I saw early on in the ride (first 30 miles) I was strong, upto about 56 I was OK, then from 56 through to 85 I was hanging in but dropping off on the hills/inclines.  The last 5 was fine, in fact I felt good going up Boxhill, strange!  But when I look at someone like Andy Fay, who has been running all his life, I can see I just don't have that accumulated endurance.  The ability to recover from a hard push up a hill, and this could be my downfall.

 

Hey ho.  Onwards maybe 1 more month to go before I need to taper.

 

lunchtime run

Went for a run at lunchtime with another couple of guys here, one of them is a multiple Ironman and trains like I can't believe.  He is always cycling enormous distances and swimming really early in the morning.  Shame on me.  I've been resting since Monday as I just felt wasted!  So at lunchtime 3 of us went off, I started to think it was a fast pace, half way around I was feeling good but one other chap was starting to fall behind, leaving me and Ironman going.  I pushed up a hill and saw him dropping behind, slowed up for him and then pushed on again.  It was a fast pace for me and was feeling chuffed that Ironman was struggling a bit, but he kept with me as I got the finish in sight and thought thank god for that, he looks at me and says, 'good pace today then Andy', 'yeah, I'm rested and your not', I replied thinking thank god it's the end.  See you tomorrow he says as I stopped and he carried on for another 3km! 

 

No really I'm not competitive!

 

continuing on ..........

For the last two years I have had a thought - 'think I'll do an Ironman'. There is my problem. I have these thoughts but don't actually think too much about what it means. What I now realise it that it means having a single focus for about 6 months, stamina and commitment to the training above all else. That means fitting in about 10 hours training / week. Week after week. That, I believe is too much for most people like me with work and family. I'm not saying, don't have a go, after all thats what I am doing, I'm just saying it is difficult and don't under estimate it.

My training the last couple of weeks has been run at lunchtime each day, swim 3 times/week and try to fit in some biking between kids homework, bedtime stories, picking up and dropping off, having a social life. Biking has had to give and I feel guilty for it, I also think I need to get a lot of miles in on the bike. Somehow I need to get to being able to sit on that bike for 8hours and at the moment, I can't. It hurts.

Still a few more weeks to go ........