Today was my first running event of the year (well, pure running event as opposed to triathlon), and goodness me, how far I have come since I took up Couch 2 5k 14 months ago. I did the Eynsham 10k in 2011 after running for about 2.5 months, and finished in 1:03:52. Today, with about the same total of running this year (I have not really been running much all year until the Autumn), but with greater fitness from swimming and of course from cycling, I finished in around 54:30 (the exact chip times aren't up yet, this is based on my watch and what the gun time said. I was aiming for sub 1hour so to go sub 55 minutes, I am BEYOND pleased with.
A run event is a bit strange for me. I lacked safety pins so I utilised my triathlon race belt (which is pink!) and only saw one other person doing the same. Unlike a tri or swim start, I positioned myself at the back not to get trampled on. It was pretty chilly waiting to start but at least it wasn't raining and the wind had finally died down.
I thought that I set off a bit too fast for the first 2k. I did have my iphone with me as my Log Your Run app tells you your realtime pace whilst running but in the end, I didn't look at it until the last k. Instead, I looked at my watch and the k signs, calculating my speed using those. I knew that I needed to run less than 6 minutes for each k to make it around in under an hour. It seems that my overall pace was 5:27. After 2k I settled down, and we were running along the main road in single file; I felt that I was stuck behind a few people which was annoying but that probably helped to maintain my pace. By 5k I was really into it and felt that I could go on forever, despite the slight gastric discomfort from a gulp of water at the water station. I did the first 5k in 25 minutesish, so I was confident that unless something bad happened I could get in under the hour. I was a little nervous as had done the first half so fast and had not run more than 6.5k in 2012, but I tried to keep pacing myself. By 6.5k my legs were getting heavy, and by 8.5k I was having to work quite hard to keep pushing on, so much so that I did retch briefly and slowed down temporarily. Kept going, saw the water station again which is 500m from the end, and started wondering if I might make it under 55 minutes (I'd been thinking 56.5 or 57 from about 8k), saw the 400m sign, 200m sign and started to fly towards the finish and then came in, as I said at around 54.30. No retching on the finish line this time!
Collected my t-shirt and 25th anniversary of the race commemorative shoe bag and time to walk back to the car park. Last year I famously LOST my car and it took me 45 minutes to find the carpark in the town that I don't know very well. This year, did better due to my iphone... So back to the car, and off for a brief swim. Breastroke really seems to help stretch the legs out. My calves are quite sore, especially after sitting down for a while, but I've got my compression sleeves on them, and I know that tomorrow and Tuesday will be painful but hopefully it will wear off fairly soon.
WOOP!
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Last week
It's going to be a two-post day today as I meant to post yesterday, but forgot. Here's the first one - a catch up on the last week.
So last week was a bit of an odd one, training-wise. I had Monday and Tuesday off work for "study-leave". I have a professional qualification which has given me Chartered Membership of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which all good librarians should revalidate every 3 years by producing a portfolio. It's not compulsory, and I'm about 6 months over my 3 year period, but I have done a lot of CPD over the last 3 years so this is a good way to record and formalise it. My employer grants two days of study leave. I intended to get in some training around the self-study, but this had mixed success. Although I got a run in first thing on Monday morning, I don't really like swimming at lunchtime as it is busy and I am always too hungry, so my swim on Monday was only 2.75k. Intended to do a longer swim on Tuesday am but slept badly so it had to be lunchtime lengths again and only managed slightly longer 2.8k.
Wednesday was back to work and the routine so that was fine, getting in my commute on the bike as well as an early morning swim even though it was pouring with rain. Thursday was my first day off in about 12 days. I had an interview for a job which I didn't get, which was a shame as the new job had the potential to fit rather well with training. So I was annoyed that I had missed my longer swim session for a fruitless interview (hmm, priorities), and am now working on ways that I can maximise training around my current work. Friday was back to the pool and quite a good session.
Saturday I was originally going to go out with the local cycling club beginner's taster ride. Unfortunately the friend who was taking me wasn't able to make it and I didn't want to go on my own. I then thought I'd do a long swim and save my legs for my 10k run on Sunday, but then a lady from the tri club asked if I wanted to go out for a short ride before it started raining. So, we met up for a ride which was nice. I've finally met someone who is slower than me which really boosted my confidence! We did a rather slow 23 miles and did get wet. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go out with her often as I need to be challenged over speed and distance; I know I am going to have to brave the tri club ride again next week.
So, totals for last week:
15k running (inc 10k running race)
37k bike (1 single ride)
13.6k swimming (across 6 sessions...)
There's only 4 weeks now until Christmas holidays, so hopefully some time to get in some more good swimming and good running, it's only 11 weeks until I attempt a half marathon and only 12 weeks until I hit Tenerife for swim camp. Bring on that sunshine!
So last week was a bit of an odd one, training-wise. I had Monday and Tuesday off work for "study-leave". I have a professional qualification which has given me Chartered Membership of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which all good librarians should revalidate every 3 years by producing a portfolio. It's not compulsory, and I'm about 6 months over my 3 year period, but I have done a lot of CPD over the last 3 years so this is a good way to record and formalise it. My employer grants two days of study leave. I intended to get in some training around the self-study, but this had mixed success. Although I got a run in first thing on Monday morning, I don't really like swimming at lunchtime as it is busy and I am always too hungry, so my swim on Monday was only 2.75k. Intended to do a longer swim on Tuesday am but slept badly so it had to be lunchtime lengths again and only managed slightly longer 2.8k.
Wednesday was back to work and the routine so that was fine, getting in my commute on the bike as well as an early morning swim even though it was pouring with rain. Thursday was my first day off in about 12 days. I had an interview for a job which I didn't get, which was a shame as the new job had the potential to fit rather well with training. So I was annoyed that I had missed my longer swim session for a fruitless interview (hmm, priorities), and am now working on ways that I can maximise training around my current work. Friday was back to the pool and quite a good session.
Saturday I was originally going to go out with the local cycling club beginner's taster ride. Unfortunately the friend who was taking me wasn't able to make it and I didn't want to go on my own. I then thought I'd do a long swim and save my legs for my 10k run on Sunday, but then a lady from the tri club asked if I wanted to go out for a short ride before it started raining. So, we met up for a ride which was nice. I've finally met someone who is slower than me which really boosted my confidence! We did a rather slow 23 miles and did get wet. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go out with her often as I need to be challenged over speed and distance; I know I am going to have to brave the tri club ride again next week.
So, totals for last week:
15k running (inc 10k running race)
37k bike (1 single ride)
13.6k swimming (across 6 sessions...)
There's only 4 weeks now until Christmas holidays, so hopefully some time to get in some more good swimming and good running, it's only 11 weeks until I attempt a half marathon and only 12 weeks until I hit Tenerife for swim camp. Bring on that sunshine!
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Cycle speedo
So, my new toy for my bike is cheap little speedometer. We picked it up from Halfords yesterday, and Mr Tuna set it up on the bike for our trip out today.
[As an aside, I was supposed to be getting a remedial ride with one of the coaches from the tri club today, but he was too busy. Until I get that, I don't think I am exactly encouraged to go out with the "beginners" ride, so I had to persuade Mr Tuna to take me out. Actually, he offered. I feel guilty about needing him to take me out, but I'm just not confident enough on my own. On the plus side, I didn't get as irritable as I sometimes do so he said that he really enjoyed today. And on the double plus side, because I have plans for Sat and Sunday next week he could do TWO rides on his own next weekend if he wants].
Anyway, it was fascinating to see my pace, and a good incentive to try and keep pedalling hard to hit the numbers. Mostly, going along, my pace seemed to be 13-14mph. I slowed down quite a lot to go up hills (down to about 8-9mph, but I was still moving, and I guess that's faster than walking!), but I speeded up sufficiently fast going down the hills and up the other sides to hit over 20mph a few times. My average pace was 12.9mph; I had pushed it very hard though, and I need to be able to maintain that pace for twice the distance that I covered on Sunday (29 miles...).
I can definitely improve my average pace too as I noticed a big drop off in pace for going round corners and approaching junctions (probably don't need to brake quite so much so soon) and I still brake going down hills. Although less. I need to get to first the stage where I don't brake going down hills and then to the stage where I pedal as wel!
[As an aside, I was supposed to be getting a remedial ride with one of the coaches from the tri club today, but he was too busy. Until I get that, I don't think I am exactly encouraged to go out with the "beginners" ride, so I had to persuade Mr Tuna to take me out. Actually, he offered. I feel guilty about needing him to take me out, but I'm just not confident enough on my own. On the plus side, I didn't get as irritable as I sometimes do so he said that he really enjoyed today. And on the double plus side, because I have plans for Sat and Sunday next week he could do TWO rides on his own next weekend if he wants].
Anyway, it was fascinating to see my pace, and a good incentive to try and keep pedalling hard to hit the numbers. Mostly, going along, my pace seemed to be 13-14mph. I slowed down quite a lot to go up hills (down to about 8-9mph, but I was still moving, and I guess that's faster than walking!), but I speeded up sufficiently fast going down the hills and up the other sides to hit over 20mph a few times. My average pace was 12.9mph; I had pushed it very hard though, and I need to be able to maintain that pace for twice the distance that I covered on Sunday (29 miles...).
I can definitely improve my average pace too as I noticed a big drop off in pace for going round corners and approaching junctions (probably don't need to brake quite so much so soon) and I still brake going down hills. Although less. I need to get to first the stage where I don't brake going down hills and then to the stage where I pedal as wel!
A good week's work!
This week has been a departure from the previous weeks where I have struggled to complete the sessions that I wanted to. I've done all of the sessions that I wanted to and completed a total of over 9 hours of training across 9 sessions. My mood has definitely been better this week, and completing all of the sessions helped with that!
This breaks down as:
5 1/4 hours swimming (5x45 minute sessions, 1 x 90 minute session)
1 1/4 hours running (1 x 30 minute run; 1 x 45 minute run)
2 1/2 hours cycling (post to follow on that!)
1/2 hour poolside conditioning (6 x 5 mins)
In addition, I have done 8 x 4.5 mile rides to work (c.27-30 minutes), which I'm not counting, because I don't really push myself hard, and walked around for at least half an hour every lunchtime.
This week ahead is a slightly weird one. I have two days off Monday and Tuesday as study leave to give me a chance to work on revalidating my professional qualification. I hope to fit in a swims both days. However, I have a commitment on my Thursday morning off which means that I won't get my usual long Thursday am swim in. Also, on Saturday, I will be out with the local cycling club's taster ride, and on Sunday, I will be doing a 10k running race, so no swimming then either.
This breaks down as:
5 1/4 hours swimming (5x45 minute sessions, 1 x 90 minute session)
1 1/4 hours running (1 x 30 minute run; 1 x 45 minute run)
2 1/2 hours cycling (post to follow on that!)
1/2 hour poolside conditioning (6 x 5 mins)
In addition, I have done 8 x 4.5 mile rides to work (c.27-30 minutes), which I'm not counting, because I don't really push myself hard, and walked around for at least half an hour every lunchtime.
This week ahead is a slightly weird one. I have two days off Monday and Tuesday as study leave to give me a chance to work on revalidating my professional qualification. I hope to fit in a swims both days. However, I have a commitment on my Thursday morning off which means that I won't get my usual long Thursday am swim in. Also, on Saturday, I will be out with the local cycling club's taster ride, and on Sunday, I will be doing a 10k running race, so no swimming then either.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
I ran home!
The title says it all really! I ran home. Well, not quite home. I met up with Mr Tuna about half a mile from my workplace; he was in town for a blood test follow up and thus was conveniently able to take home my work clothes, my swim kit from this am (kick-ass swim session this am too!), and the dinner (including a large pineapple) which I purchased at lunchtime. Oh and my bike so I can get back into work tomorrow. Would have been a bit tricky to run with those things.
Right up until meeting Mr Tuna I hadn't decided whether to run or not. It had seemed like a good idea when he suggested it last night, but I woke up with a badly upset stomach, felt okish during the day but hit a flat spot around 3.30pm when I felt sick. Nonetheless I got changed in the loos at work into my shorts and t-shirt (a swimming t-shirt, just because I felt the need to assert myself as a swimmer still, despite running), much to the astonishment of the team of blokes that I manage, who have only ever seen me in my librarian version of business casual with minimal skin on display. However, the evening was quite warm, and if I hadn't run home, then I'd either have had to run later or tomorrow night. So I plugged in "Now that's what I call running" into my ears and set off.
It took me a little while to settle down, but after about five minutes I was going ok. I purposefully didn't look at my run app until I'd got over halfway but was pleased when I did look to see that I was running about 6 mins for a k which is about what I'm aiming to do. It got a bit harder after that as there is a downhill followed by an uphill. I was keen to maintain my pace but probably should have eased off a bit up the hill as found myself retching 5 times at the top and had to walk for the only time on the trip home. I did contemplate stopping and walking the rest but managed to get going again, and by the time I hit the top of our road about 1.25k later, I could have kept going. Total distance 6.5k (would have been 7.5 I think from work...) in just under 39 minutes.
When I got home Mr Tuna had just arrived; I'd apparently passed him earlyish on because of the traffic up to the ring road, and then he passed me again just before the retching episode. I thought he was well on his way home otherwise I'd have looked out for him. I could have done with a water station and he could have passed out a cup of water on a stick.
I'm trying to think about ways that I can do this again. Being without my bike is a bit of an issue thought. I need the bike to get to the pool in the morning as buses are few and far between at 6.30am and then very busy at 8.15ish when I'd need to get another to get to work. Running in isn't an option as we don't have showers at work. I guess I can take advantage of my Thursday morning late start, and perhaps get the bus in then, as I usually drive to the pool for my Thurs am swim.
Right up until meeting Mr Tuna I hadn't decided whether to run or not. It had seemed like a good idea when he suggested it last night, but I woke up with a badly upset stomach, felt okish during the day but hit a flat spot around 3.30pm when I felt sick. Nonetheless I got changed in the loos at work into my shorts and t-shirt (a swimming t-shirt, just because I felt the need to assert myself as a swimmer still, despite running), much to the astonishment of the team of blokes that I manage, who have only ever seen me in my librarian version of business casual with minimal skin on display. However, the evening was quite warm, and if I hadn't run home, then I'd either have had to run later or tomorrow night. So I plugged in "Now that's what I call running" into my ears and set off.
It took me a little while to settle down, but after about five minutes I was going ok. I purposefully didn't look at my run app until I'd got over halfway but was pleased when I did look to see that I was running about 6 mins for a k which is about what I'm aiming to do. It got a bit harder after that as there is a downhill followed by an uphill. I was keen to maintain my pace but probably should have eased off a bit up the hill as found myself retching 5 times at the top and had to walk for the only time on the trip home. I did contemplate stopping and walking the rest but managed to get going again, and by the time I hit the top of our road about 1.25k later, I could have kept going. Total distance 6.5k (would have been 7.5 I think from work...) in just under 39 minutes.
When I got home Mr Tuna had just arrived; I'd apparently passed him earlyish on because of the traffic up to the ring road, and then he passed me again just before the retching episode. I thought he was well on his way home otherwise I'd have looked out for him. I could have done with a water station and he could have passed out a cup of water on a stick.
I'm trying to think about ways that I can do this again. Being without my bike is a bit of an issue thought. I need the bike to get to the pool in the morning as buses are few and far between at 6.30am and then very busy at 8.15ish when I'd need to get another to get to work. Running in isn't an option as we don't have showers at work. I guess I can take advantage of my Thursday morning late start, and perhaps get the bus in then, as I usually drive to the pool for my Thurs am swim.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Tridynamic Winter Workshop with Swim for Tri
On Saturday, I went over to Hampton Outdoor Pool in West London for a workshop run by Tridynamic with Dan Bullock from Swim For Tri. I went to Tenerife in February for a week's swim camp earlier this year and gained an enormous amount (as well as having a wonderful time with lovely people), and since I know that my stroke has dropped off recently, I was keen to get a little top up that will tide me over until Swim Camp 2013 and to see where I am currently going wrong.
The purpose of the workshop was two-fold. Firstly to practice some key drills which can really improve FC (if done correctly). Secondly to be filmed from three angles to identify things that can be improved. And I suppose thirdly to have a good afternoon!
Firstly the drills. We were encouraged to use central snorkels and fins. This is pretty new to me because my pool doesn't let you use "toys" for health and safety reasons which is annoying as one particular drill that I've been struggling with since last February was so much easier with them! We practiced the torpedo drill, extension drill, and then built into advanced single arm drill (the one I've been struggling with). I think there may have been some other drills along the way but you can hardly take notes whilst in the pool. As there were 12 of us, in 2 lanes of a 36.5m pool, we were able to swim along the black line, which really helps with thinking about body position.
Secondly, the filming. I was a little bit disappointed with how I looked (despite being told by the other Martin who had come along to shadow Dan that he thought my stroke looked good). My head remains a bit too high (which is something I was aware of). My kick is rather bigger than I thought it was although not as bad as it used to be. So, two things to try to work on there. What was also interesting was with my arms. They look ok at the start but go very wide as they get to the hips. More of an issue on my right side, which may explain why I've been having right-sided shoulder pain again.
Anyway, so you can judge for yourself, Dan has kindly uploaded my video to YouTube! (Everyone on the workshop was going to get a CD of footage with voice commentary sent to them afterwards as with a group of 12, there wasn't really time to look at everyone in detail). I'm not quite sure how to embed a video, but you can have a look here.
I certainly had a good afternoon. It was lovely to see Martin and Dan again, and nice to turn up to a workshop where you know both the coach and the organiser as you feel less awkward and they are both excellent examples of delivering good customer service as well as being really nice. It was fantastic swimming outdoors in November. I'd been worried that the pool was going to be chilly, especially when I arrived and saw the clouds of steam rising off it. The water was a warm 28C and absolutely fine when moving around, although one of the ladies who was far more toned than me looked quite chilly (oh well, body fat has its uses!) as did the gentlemen on the side! The sun even came out for about 5 minutes and one could almost imagine being in Tenerife. The second swim at 5pm was actually in the dark. The pool was closed by this time and it was an amazing experience swimming in the dark with just floodlights. Being alphabetically last, I got to spend time swimming underwater and looking at the sky and watching some nearby fireworks! Perfect, and just the mood enhancer that I needed. Admittedly I was a bit grumpy when I got home because I was tired from the swimming, the drive and being hungry, but I cheered up after some dinner and then slept really well. 15 weeks to Tenerife.
Photo credits: Martin Boddie.
The purpose of the workshop was two-fold. Firstly to practice some key drills which can really improve FC (if done correctly). Secondly to be filmed from three angles to identify things that can be improved. And I suppose thirdly to have a good afternoon!
Firstly the drills. We were encouraged to use central snorkels and fins. This is pretty new to me because my pool doesn't let you use "toys" for health and safety reasons which is annoying as one particular drill that I've been struggling with since last February was so much easier with them! We practiced the torpedo drill, extension drill, and then built into advanced single arm drill (the one I've been struggling with). I think there may have been some other drills along the way but you can hardly take notes whilst in the pool. As there were 12 of us, in 2 lanes of a 36.5m pool, we were able to swim along the black line, which really helps with thinking about body position.
Secondly, the filming. I was a little bit disappointed with how I looked (despite being told by the other Martin who had come along to shadow Dan that he thought my stroke looked good). My head remains a bit too high (which is something I was aware of). My kick is rather bigger than I thought it was although not as bad as it used to be. So, two things to try to work on there. What was also interesting was with my arms. They look ok at the start but go very wide as they get to the hips. More of an issue on my right side, which may explain why I've been having right-sided shoulder pain again.
Anyway, so you can judge for yourself, Dan has kindly uploaded my video to YouTube! (Everyone on the workshop was going to get a CD of footage with voice commentary sent to them afterwards as with a group of 12, there wasn't really time to look at everyone in detail). I'm not quite sure how to embed a video, but you can have a look here.
I certainly had a good afternoon. It was lovely to see Martin and Dan again, and nice to turn up to a workshop where you know both the coach and the organiser as you feel less awkward and they are both excellent examples of delivering good customer service as well as being really nice. It was fantastic swimming outdoors in November. I'd been worried that the pool was going to be chilly, especially when I arrived and saw the clouds of steam rising off it. The water was a warm 28C and absolutely fine when moving around, although one of the ladies who was far more toned than me looked quite chilly (oh well, body fat has its uses!) as did the gentlemen on the side! The sun even came out for about 5 minutes and one could almost imagine being in Tenerife. The second swim at 5pm was actually in the dark. The pool was closed by this time and it was an amazing experience swimming in the dark with just floodlights. Being alphabetically last, I got to spend time swimming underwater and looking at the sky and watching some nearby fireworks! Perfect, and just the mood enhancer that I needed. Admittedly I was a bit grumpy when I got home because I was tired from the swimming, the drive and being hungry, but I cheered up after some dinner and then slept really well. 15 weeks to Tenerife.
Photo credits: Martin Boddie.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
More catching up
In some ways I'd prefer to forget about most of the last 10 days from a Tuna To Tri perspective. Last weekend, I just couldn't get out of bed and for only the third weekend this year, I went without any sport at all. In fairness, Sunday was truly horrible weather-wise with torrential rain, so I shouldn't feel too bad for staying home (the tri club ride was cancelled, but I could have gone for a swim). I also missed two days from swimming this week because of just feeling dreadful.
Things picked up yesterday when I went for my Tridynamic/Swim for Tri winter workshop which I'll blog about soon (when hopefully I may have some photos to share with you). I'd been out for a run in the morning which had been painful, but actually not too far off my usual pace, and although they were somewhat delayed I got some endorphins, which were further boosted in the afternoon.
Sadly, the tuna was well out of super-tuna-ess today. I didn't feel tired this morning when I got up, and my mood was reasonable, so I thought I was all set for an ok bike ride. Mr Tuna decided to stay home so I set off and got to the meeting point in plenty of time and although cold it was beautifully sunny. Unfortunately it all went down from there. We set out to go across the city, and had to take a slightly odd route due to the Remembrance Sunday activities which meant lots of junctions, lots of traffic lights, and meant that I got left behind quite a few times because of trying to clip in. We then stopped so that one rider could get some oil; I carried on because I knew there was a long hill ahead and I wanted to get a headstart. I made it up! And the group caught up with me just as I got to the top. We stopped briefly, and then there was another junction. The group got away and for 3 or 4 miles I cycled behind, struggling to catch up with them (and failing)...they weren't getting further away really but I just couldn't bridge the gap. At this point I was ready to call it a day as I was obviously holding everyone up, and the ride leader seemed keen for me to do so too and started talking to one of the others to ask him to take me back (from where we were, I could have got back on my own). One of the ladies asked me if I was ok, and I shook my head and burst into tears because I'd found it so miserable struggling to catch up. The ride leader insisted that I had been fine on the first ride so why was I struggling now? (Because they were going a small but significant 1 mph faster...). After bursting into tears, the ladies were keen to include me and keep going, so for another 10 miles or so, I had company, but was forced to go faster than I felt comofrtable cycling for the distance, which meant that after that, my legs were tired and spent. I just couldn't keep up. Having another club member shout things like "close the gap" and "use your gears", really didn't help. No idea how he thought I could close the gap or what I was expected to do with my gears. The group got further and further ahead, and the more experienced riders who were sort of acting as sweepers were engrossed in conversation leaving me and one lady behind. Eventually I had to say that I needed a stop. She said that she didn't mind cycling slowly, but I felt so bad that I was holding her, and everyone else up so I said to her to go and catch the group up and I would make my own way home, especially as I knew there was a long downhill stretch ahead. I had a little sit down for a couple of minutes and then rang Mr Tuna to ask him to start cycling to where I was so that we could meet halfwayish and I'll have some company for the last 2-3 miles. Plodded onwards and eventually saw Mr Tuna. Had another good cry at the side of the road and then we got home. I did later discover that
I'm not quite sure where I go from here. I certainly don't have the confidence to go out with the group again now. I posted about this on facebook just for some support from my friends and a former band friend has invited me to go out with his cycling club's "taster" ride on the 24th, so that is something. I don't feel confident enough to go on my own as nervous in traffic, feel that there is solidarity in numbers, and just can't change a tyre yet, and can't always ask Mr Tuna to take me out as he needs to do his own thing too.
Hmm.
Things picked up yesterday when I went for my Tridynamic/Swim for Tri winter workshop which I'll blog about soon (when hopefully I may have some photos to share with you). I'd been out for a run in the morning which had been painful, but actually not too far off my usual pace, and although they were somewhat delayed I got some endorphins, which were further boosted in the afternoon.
Sadly, the tuna was well out of super-tuna-ess today. I didn't feel tired this morning when I got up, and my mood was reasonable, so I thought I was all set for an ok bike ride. Mr Tuna decided to stay home so I set off and got to the meeting point in plenty of time and although cold it was beautifully sunny. Unfortunately it all went down from there. We set out to go across the city, and had to take a slightly odd route due to the Remembrance Sunday activities which meant lots of junctions, lots of traffic lights, and meant that I got left behind quite a few times because of trying to clip in. We then stopped so that one rider could get some oil; I carried on because I knew there was a long hill ahead and I wanted to get a headstart. I made it up! And the group caught up with me just as I got to the top. We stopped briefly, and then there was another junction. The group got away and for 3 or 4 miles I cycled behind, struggling to catch up with them (and failing)...they weren't getting further away really but I just couldn't bridge the gap. At this point I was ready to call it a day as I was obviously holding everyone up, and the ride leader seemed keen for me to do so too and started talking to one of the others to ask him to take me back (from where we were, I could have got back on my own). One of the ladies asked me if I was ok, and I shook my head and burst into tears because I'd found it so miserable struggling to catch up. The ride leader insisted that I had been fine on the first ride so why was I struggling now? (Because they were going a small but significant 1 mph faster...). After bursting into tears, the ladies were keen to include me and keep going, so for another 10 miles or so, I had company, but was forced to go faster than I felt comofrtable cycling for the distance, which meant that after that, my legs were tired and spent. I just couldn't keep up. Having another club member shout things like "close the gap" and "use your gears", really didn't help. No idea how he thought I could close the gap or what I was expected to do with my gears. The group got further and further ahead, and the more experienced riders who were sort of acting as sweepers were engrossed in conversation leaving me and one lady behind. Eventually I had to say that I needed a stop. She said that she didn't mind cycling slowly, but I felt so bad that I was holding her, and everyone else up so I said to her to go and catch the group up and I would make my own way home, especially as I knew there was a long downhill stretch ahead. I had a little sit down for a couple of minutes and then rang Mr Tuna to ask him to start cycling to where I was so that we could meet halfwayish and I'll have some company for the last 2-3 miles. Plodded onwards and eventually saw Mr Tuna. Had another good cry at the side of the road and then we got home. I did later discover that
I'm not quite sure where I go from here. I certainly don't have the confidence to go out with the group again now. I posted about this on facebook just for some support from my friends and a former band friend has invited me to go out with his cycling club's "taster" ride on the 24th, so that is something. I don't feel confident enough to go on my own as nervous in traffic, feel that there is solidarity in numbers, and just can't change a tyre yet, and can't always ask Mr Tuna to take me out as he needs to do his own thing too.
Hmm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)