It must have been a good weeks training as I couldn’t help but rest on my return. Sunday was complete rest, as planned, and thoroughly enjoyable I must say. Monday was just the club swim session and tuesday just a turbo in the evening. I decided to make the most of my time on Tuesday and invested in a drill and some bike racks and attached them to the wall in my spare room, better described as the bike storage / workshop. 3 bikes are now off the floor and it makes a massive difference.

By wednesday I was getting back into it but didn’t manage a lunchtime run. Ran before work and then to and from swimming in the evening.

I replaced the chain on my fixed and bought a selection of gears. On Thursday morning I had a go with a 69” gear (for reference I’ve been riding the fixed on a 72” for nearly two years). This allowed me to spin more and made cycling in traffic nicer – I’d definitely commute on this gear. It did  mean I had to spin more on my loops of Regents park. I met Luis there and we pushed it along. I must admit I was looking forward to a few easier loops once Luis headed off but then Craig joined us, the pace upped again and I left before him. Chuffed though as I got my average speed up to 17mph and managed 55 miles. Managed to follow this with a run at lunchtime

For Friday morning I upped the gearing to 78” – this was noticeably hard and forced me to work throughout my laps. However – it did mean I got my average to 17.9mph and managed 58 miles in the time it took me to do 55 on Thursdays. My legs seriously ached. Even so, I will stick with this gear since it’s outright strength I’m lacking – I naturally spin at a high cadence. At lunchtime I was all changed to head out running when I noticed I hadn’t brought a towel. I took this as a sure sign I must need more rest and it was probably for the best so that I was fully rested to get back into full training on Saturday.

Headed down to surrey hills with Jo on Saturday. Gorgeous day – nice and warm. I wasn’t as hardcore as Jo. On arrival at Box Hill she  locked up her bike and did a 16 mile run before joining me on the bike. I just did more cycling whilst she ran. We bumped into Henry on the way up Box Hill – he was looking incredibly fit. Managed 117 miles in a little under 8 hours.

Sunday morning I was wide awake very early, so I got up and got a 90 minute run in. Jo then joined me to head out north on the bikes. We were on the road by 6.40am so real potential for a long ride. Much to my surprise I was feeling fantastic on the bike. On every hill I felt I could just push the gear and not change down. Not often I feel that good. We did a big loop through Hertford and down to Epping. Getting 75 miles done before stopping in Epping for coffee and cheescake. It was very windy so we were pleased with an average of over 15mph. I continued after this. Made the gutsy decision to head with the wind initially so that I would have the toughest riding at the end. I headed east and was belting along with the wind. Got hit briefly by a hailstorm but other than that it was great. The wind was excellent training for Lanzarote. My strength remained throughout and I ended with 146 miles in 9h25. Over the moon managing to get my first 9+ hour ride so early in the year.

Today has gone well so far. This should prove my best mondays training. Got an early night so had 9 hours sleep before getting up and running to swimming. Did an enjoyable 3.9km session. Following breakie I did a 6 mile run loop to the gym where I did another 5.6km swim. Did a very steady 5km straight swim followed by 600m pull concentrating on some technique pointers Wayne had pointed out this morning. Top lunch at Peoples Choice – now letting it settle before doing my long run ending at my sisters for my tea.

It’s going well.