Wednesday 8th April

 

OK, so you've read the news section?

 

You've read the introduction to this year's training blog?

 

So you know why I've not done anything significant since the middle of January, right?

 

Well, I said I would 'relaunch' the website in April, and I was hoping to be really fit and healty and about three stone lighter by the time I did that, but nevermind.

 

Did I tell you I am going to be a Dad???

 

Right, I've just got time for a quick first entry before I shoot off to the gym for the first time in goodness knows how long. One thing I Do know is that it will hurt.

 

Mel and I have both been at home today, and I've managed to get a lot of work done. The next few weeks promise to be exceptionally busy, but I just have to get one with it, and I have to get on with the training now.

 

We're off to Mel's folks' tomorrow night for Easter, and that should be good. She's just come off the phone to her Dad - he is keeping his long ride for this week until Saturday so that he can do it with me. Oh dear...

 

John and I are doing the Tour of Pembrokeshire on June 7th. That's the plan at least! John has been going about his training in a very organised and methodical manner, slowly building the mileage up, while I have done nothing like that! I have not sat on the turbo or been to the gym for a couple of months, and have done no training at all during the weeks. I've managed the occasional ride at the weekends, but it's been a case of doing what I can. Last Sunday, with the realisation finally dawning that I have to be capable of cycling 115 very hilly miles in about 9 weeks, I went out out early onto some new roads for me, north of Luton and beyond Bedford. 5 hours later, I was back home. Absolutley shattered and 60 miles covered. Pretty silly really, as I have been suffering because of it all week.

 

At the start of the year, I was so pleased that I had managed to keep my training diary going last year. It was really interesting to see what I had done and where I was at each point of the 6 or so months leading up to the ride to Paris. I think I particularly enjoyed reading how unfit I was last January, and how I was well ahead of that point by the start of this year.

 

Oh how things have changed.

 

Now it is just depressing!

 

I am so far behind, and I don't think I'll make it up, which is a shame as I was determined to be in a lot better shape by the time we get to Paris.

 

But, let's not forget that some things are more important. Mel and the baby fit and healthy are really the only things to worry about it.

 

I'll be busy at work, and busy at home for the next few months, so I'll just have to fit some training in when I can. We need to do a few things to the house before the little one arrives, but that list grew quite considerable when we returned from our holiday in Cornwall last week to discover water cascading down from the cold water tank in the loft. Instead of having just one nursery to decorate, we now have 4 rooms as well as the hall stairs and landing to do. Hey-ho!

 

From now on, I'll try and keep this up to date too.

 

I'm hoping that it might instill a bit of discipline in me and help to make me train. If I go public with this thing I will have to write something about what I've been doing.

 

Wish me luck!

 

 

Thursday 9^th April

Well, I DID make it to the gym last night. That was the first time in about 11 weeks. Not very good, eh?

The good thing was that I enjoyed it, and I didn’t feel too bad. I’ve learnt from past mistakes not to overdo it and to do too much too quickly after a period off, as it only makes it more difficult next time. I actually felt pretty good, considering it had been so long since I’d been on the cross-trainer and the cardiowave, and kept it to just 50 minutes.  I enjoy using the machines, and it’s good to do something different to the bike, plus I can stick my headphones in and make a complete spectacle of myself, headbanging to Metallica and sweating like a fool while everyone else in the gym struggles to look cool. I don’t care. And I am definitely going to be “Embarassing Dad”!

The plan now is to try and get back into some sort of routine, and see what sort of shape I can get in over the next 6 weeks or so. Obviously, the long-term aim is to be fit enough to get to Paris. That means four days of 80-100 miles. Before then, John and I are attempting the Tour of Pembrokeshire on June 7^th, and that is 115 miles of mountainous Welsh terrain. That will be tough. John’s training has been progressing very well though, and after his initial trepidation and doubt at being able to complete the event, I sense that he has been suitably encouraged by the positive results of his training. Not that I had any doubts, of course. John is a lot fitter than me, and he is an experienced cyclist, but the fact that he had not completed a trip of more than 40 miles in all his years of cycling had him a little worried, I think. But, he’s been following the training programme (something that I know I should have been doing too...), and he is already reaping the rewards. I know from my own experience last year (when I WAS very methodical and structured in my training...), that you can quickly get up to covering some reasonable distances. Coming to it as a complete novice last year, the fact that I could get to cycling 20, then 30, then 40 miles and beyond always came as something of a revelation. I have managed to complete a few “longer” rides over the past few weekends, which should mean that I’m not coming to the training completely cold, but a few midweek sessions will have to be squeezed in so that I can start to increase the distances at the weekends.

I did have a really good ride last Sunday. One of the highlights for me last year was when I cycled up to my parents in Stamford. Again, for me as a novice cyclist, that was a big thing. It was over 70 miles, and previously doing something like that would never have occurred to me. But I did it, and Mel drove up, and I was very pleased with myself. Anyway, I’m planning on doing it again this year, hopefully on one of the weekends in May. The only negative aspect of the ride to Stamford was that most of it was on fairly major roads – up the A6 and then along the A43. It’s therefore been my intention to try and find a slightly less busy route, and I think I am more or less there, and I did my first recce of it at the weekend. Basically, I can take a slightly longer but more scenic route north of Luton to Bedford, and then from there I make my way up to Kimbolton before cutting across to Oundle and up to the A43 again, but a lot closer to Stamford this time. Last Sunday I got close to Kimbolton and then made my way back. The weather was great, and there were a couple of Monster Hills (the one coming up to Sundon Country Park was particularly cruel on the way back...). I did get lost a couple of times – missed some turnings that I should have taken – but I’m confident that I can do it properly now and that it should be OK to attempt the full trip in a few weeks. All in all, I managed 60 miles, and I was pleased with that. Although, it was probably a bit too much of a step up in mileage from what I had managed so far this year (the most had been 45 miles, and that was four weeks earlier...). I think it will work out at around 85 miles taking this route to Mum and Dad’s, but I hope to be up to that after a few weeks of productive training. We’re away this weekend, but next week I will probably drive to a point close to where I turned around on Sunday (there was a place on the edge of Bedford called something like Mowbury Park which looked as though it would do), and cycle on for another 30 or so miles from there.

We’re off to Pembrokeshire tonight, to spend Easter with Mel’s folks. I think that her grandmothers are very excited about seeing her since they’ve heard our news! It should be a nice, relaxing weekend, and it means that we can escape the chaos at home that was caused by our leaking cold water tank. I am looking forward to seeing John’s new bike. He took delivery of his Kuota Kharma last week, and he is rightly very proud of his new ride!  I was worried about keeping up with him before, but I will have no chance now. As I’ve said, he has been following his Tour of Pembrokeshire training programme quite meticulously, and this week’s long ride should be three and a half hours. He’s scheduled it for this Saturday, so that we can go together, and I am really looking forward to it. It’s always great to be out on some different roads, and to have some company as well makes it all the more pleasurable. I just hope I can last the distance. I will try and get out for an hour or so’s spin tomorrow, and then see how I get on on the long ride on Saturday. On Sunday it will be 8 weeks until the actual event...

I have a lot to do before then!

Wednesday  15^th April

London really does look wonderful in the sunshine today.

It’s easy to forget, when you’re on a cramped tube train, coming in to work, on a cold and wet Monday morning in January. But if you manage to get your head up from your work for five minutes, and to walk around and see something new, you can appreciate what a great city it is. The sun came out this morning, and it really felt warm when I made a point of getting away from my desk and getting some fresh air and stretching my legs this lunchtime. Out of the office, and down to the river, across London Bridge and along the south side to Tower Bridge, back over and back to the office. (And it all sounded pretty good too, with “Slave to the grind” blasting away in my ears! )

As I said, the sun came out here today, but it was conspicuous by its absence here over the Easter weekend, by all accounts. That certainly wasn’t the case in Pembrokeshire. We had some wonderful weather back at Mel’s folks’.

We had an easy ride back there on the Thursday night, and then basically spent the next three days relaxing, which was very good for Mel, and not too bad for me either. I got out for a quick 50 minute spin on Friday, which was nice. And then John and I had a really good ride on Saturday. As I’ve said before, he has been training properly, with his usual detailed and methodical approach. Exactly the opposite of me! You can see the benefits though. He didn’t need to lose an ounce of weight, but he’s lost half a stone and is looking noticeably fitter. That’s probably because he IS fitter!  He’d chosen a really great route for us anyway, and I really enjoyed the ride.  The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, and the landscape was amazing. Definitely not flat though. The ride took us through some inspirational coastal scenery, which did make all of the pain worthwhile. We went to Stack Rock and saw the guillemot colony, and then on down to the wild beach at Freshwater West, along the narrow road through the sand dunes, and up the steep hill and out the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was ready to stop by the time we’d got home, mind. According to John’s programme, he had to cycle for three and a half hours for his long ride this week, so that’s what we did. 48 miles covered. The prospect of covering twice that distance, and then some, in eight weeks’ time, seems a little ambitious at the minute, but we will see.

(I must say, John’s new Kuota Kharma looks fantastic – very nice indeed, and he is understandably “well chuffed”).

Sunday was a glorious day. Warm and not a cloud in the sky. We went for a walk in the afternoon in an attempt to shift some of the huge lunch we’d eaten, but only made it as far as the next village, where the lure of the bench outside of the pub, and in the full glare of the sunshine proved just too good to resist. We cursed it at the time, but the pub would only take cash and we only had a tenner, and so we had to make our one drink last, but it did taste good and it was probably for the best.

The weather broke on Monday afternoon, but it was still fine in the morning when Vicky and I went out for a quick ride. She’s looking at getting a new bike, but for the time being she was on her old mountain bike which was a little heavier than my road bike. Nevertheless, she still powered up the hills and we had a good ride for about an hour. After that, we had time for a quick ride in the car and a pub lunch (see how my “training” is going??) before returning to the in-laws and packing up to come home.

We were home just after 11pm, a good ride home – about 5 hours, and a great weekend.

 

Thursday 16^th April

After yesterday’s glorious sunshine, we’re back to grey old London today. That meant no nice stroll for me at lunchtime, but that’s just as well as I’ve a huge amount of work to do over the next few weeks. Not ideal, as I’m trying to finally kickstart the attempt to find some fitness, but I’ll just have to juggle everything for a few weeks. Who needs to sleep anyway?! I’ll just consider it as practise for when the baby comes along.

I did make it back to the gym last night, and I enjoyed it too. Typically, the train home was almost half an hour late by the time it pulled into Parkway, so I didn’t do quite as much as I’d planned, but it was worthwhile nonetheless. The random Rush selection on my mp3 player headphones sounded wonderful, of course (“Territories” was particularly fine last night), but my enjoyment of it on the crosstrainer was undoubtedly enhanced by the Pussycat Dolls vs Destiny’s Child extravaganza that was playing on the TV screens above the machines.

(Destiny’s Child won, by the way. Controversial.)

The plan is to make it to the gym again tonight, then a night off on Friday, as we’re out with the neighbours. After planning to go a bit further north on Sunday, checking out the roads up to my parents, I’m now thinking that I might go out really early on Saturday. My brother Phil has his last rugby match of the season on Saturday afternoon, and I wouldn’t mind getting down to watch. That will pretty much take up most of the day, so I don’t really want to be out most of Sunday morning as well. If I can manage 4 hours on the bike, and then get the train down there, that could work out quite nicely. We will see...

 

Friday 17^th April

Another grey and wet start to the day.

Being positive though, it’s Friday, the forecast is looking pretty good for the next few days, and Mel’s made it to the end of week 17 without a hitch.

 It does look as though the weather will be great for a nice ride on Sunday, but I’m thinking that I’ll have to give it a miss this week. I am going to go and see Phil tomorrow, and that means that I’ll be out all day, and I don’t really want to leave Mel on her own for half of Sunday as well. Plus I’ve a few things to do at home, as well as some office work, so I’ll have to do them on Sunday too. So, the plan is to get up around 5 am tomorrow, and hope that it is light enough to get out on the bike around 6 am. I should be doing four hours this week, so if I go hard at it from the off, I should be home by 10.30 and catch my train south at 11.30. I can always sleep on the train.

That’s the plan at least. We’ll have to see how I feel in the morning. We’re out tonight at a quiz with our neighbours, and if it’s not too late a night, I should be ok to get up in the morning. I will refrain from the beer tonight which should have two positive consequences – firstly, I should feel fit enough to manage 50 miles early on Saturday morning, and secondly I might actually manage to answer a question correctly in the quiz tonight.

I did make it to the gym last night. The train home was on time, so I had a bit more time in there, and I managed an hour on the crosstrainer. Unfortunately, there were no Pussycat Dolls on the TVs to keep me going, but I persevered nonetheless. Maybe I need to go a little harder, as I don’t feel too bad today, although it’s always a tough decision between being sensible and going at a pace that keeps my heart rate in a sensible range, or working hard like I want to and absolutely killing myself. I do know that I will get better results with the sensible approach, but it is a bit boring, isn’t it??!