Quickie

Very briefly - since my 50 mile ride I've dropped back to 30 and 40 milers regularly and I've been increasing my speed. Although 13mph is still a low average it's going in the right direction.

I've also been sea swimming a couple of times and am managing not to drown. I've mapped out a two mile route from Long Rock to Marazion with a view to increasing my swimming mileage over the Summer.

With both RideLondon and Swim Serpentine places booked and paid for I feel like I'm in the zone...

Interruptions and milestones

It's been a busy and therefore disruptive couple of weeks. I was asked if I wanted a small part in Evita at the Hall for Cornwall and couldn't turn it down even though it meant a full week of commitment and I knew I wouldn't get much training in, if any. Sure enough I missed every session yet, worse than that, some bad news during an MOT on our car meant I spent the week beforehand cutting and shaping panels to save literally hundreds of pounds to keep the beast on the road.

Two weeks later and I've had to pick it up again, starting as ever with the indoor bike but vowing to get on my RideLondon machine at least twice this weekend. I had plenty of notice of the theatrics and so decided I would dedicate my time to the ride afterwards...which is now. I've recently discussed RideLondon with a finisher from last year and he confidently told me that 50 miles on Cornish roads would see me through 100 in London and, given the buzz of the crowd and the adrenaline, I can well believe that.

With that in mind I cheekily thought about a 50 mile ride today having done 20 on Friday, realising that it's too early in my training to really attempt it. I've struggled with 30 milers recently, putting it down to a lack of energy from food and so I packed some Soreen malt loaf, another suggestion from a fellow rider, and some sweets to keep me going and it really did make all the difference this time.

I'd been worrying myself about the route all week as I chose the busiest road out of the county excluding the A30 just so I could get the distance without too many steep climbs and it was definitely stressing me out. I changed my route the night before and mapped out a beautiful trip from Helston to Hayle through Camborne and Redruth and back. I was expecting it to take me around four hours with the distance eating away at my normal 12mph average but I made it almost to Helston with an hour to spare. What to do but go out again...I turned off by Poldark mine and stuck another ten miles on the bike, popping out at Rame for a gentle ride home.

I'm feeling a whole lot better having done it but am wary of how early it is and how easily I can get bored so will scale back the long ride to around 30 miles next week which should also allow me to recover from the extra mileage.

Final Finalised Training Plan Finally

I've joined a gym for the first time in my life. It feels odd as it's not a midlife crisis and really it's just so I can use the pool but as a runner I've always been a bit of a 'the world is my gym' kinda guy. Now the gym is my gym.

I'll admit my main reason for joining was because they gave me a price I couldn't refuse (free) but to be able to pool swim on Tuesdays and sea swim at weekends...when it warms up, at least...is a real blessing.

My first swim was dreadful and felt like a waste of time. I couldn't put my face in the water and got tired after 15 short laps. I was told this is normal though and that buoyed me up (no pun intended) to go back today. I set myself a goal of 20 laps however possible and, as ever, they were slow laps.

On finishing I was offered a sauna or steam room by a young man who turned out to be an instructor, both of which I politely declined. He also told me it was perfectly normal and would get easier so now that I have a schedule I'm on board for swimming (again, no pun intended).

Sunday rides have been non-existent of late for theatrical reasons but after the show this Sunday my training plan is:

Tuesday swim, increasing lap numbers

Wednesday indoor bike, keeping to an hour of low resistance 

Friday short ride, maximum of twenty miles

Sunday long ride, increasing distance if possible

...with as many sea swims as I can. Arms and legs don't fail me now.

That Time I Nearly Died

I was fairly consistent over January apart from one weekend - what happened was the weather report suggested no wind on a Saturday so I swapped my ride from Friday to Saturday and the wind did the same so I hit the indoor bike instead. Keen not to make the same mistake I ventured into the wind last Friday, almost froze on the bike and scraped myself back home. This week I was treated to a calm, semi-warm ride and was counting my blessings before I came across some other people making the most of the good weather.

The first was on a busy roundabout at Penzance. I was crossing during a lull and encountered a guy who approached the junction at full speed and slammed his brakes on just in time to miss my front wheel. He should have been checking for cars anyway so had no excuse for pulling out like he did and almost had a human milkshake to explain to the children in his car.

Lo and behold, on my 28th mile, I came to an easily sighted junction that joined the road I was travelling on. One car crossed my road in front of me and one pulled out of the junction as both realised they had plenty of time to do so. Another car at the junction hesitated big time and went to pull out as I was almost in front of her, again slamming on her brakes just in time. 

What really struck me about both of these incidents is that I went to put my hand up to both which would have looked like an apology, however neither saw this because they both looked away as quickly as possible in embarrassment. I know this all sounds a bit preachy but I will admit, as a driver, cyclists can be annoying. They're slow, can be unpredictable and take time to pass on the road. That said, both of these drivers had to wait less than five seconds before I was out of the way and they could carry on. Five seconds! Is my life really worth less than that? Actually, don't answer that. It doesn't take much to allow cyclists a bit of courtesy, especially since they're possibly building up mileage and therefore knackered.

The good news is that I didn't die; this isn't some American Beauty style post with a big twist. Also, training is still going well.

Into It

What a difference the weather makes.

I made it out Friday and decided to try out a new route, following the road to Hayle for ten miles before opting for the back roads towards Camborne and returning home. I mapped it out to be a 20 mile ride which should have taken under two hours, getting me home just in time for it to get dark. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn, made it back on to my intended route and then came across a closed road, meaning I had to divert a mile or so out of the way. A mile or so turned into a few miles or so and I finally made it back 50 minutes late, well after the sun had descended and the roads were pitch black having covered just over 31 miles.

Today I decided to take it easy on myself and went for a route that I knew well, towards Redruth on the back roads and returning along the same route. While on the course I noticed a massive descent into the village of Stithians (I know, the place with the reservoir...of course there are going to be descents, right?). Having climbed to the top of the hill to go down it I decided to get back on to the road for the return journey so I wasn't doing 20 miles of hill training and this gave me a great idea - I should do this all the time. Thus, I am now planning back routes to neighbouring towns with a nice, fast paced return through the traffic of Cornwall.

Both journeys had little rain and limited wind, although on Friday the wind started to pick up as the ol' sun disappeared. I was on my way home by then though so didn't much care.

I also had a relaxed, almost two mile run on Saturday with my lovely children as we're all working towards a virtual running 10K medal each.

This is my weekends from now on.

Definitive Differences

Wednesday (inside), Friday, Sunday training is going to work really well. However, I've just finished my second outdoor ride of the week and both were considerably different - Friday's 25 miler was very wet with no wind, today's 15 was very windy with no rain. I hated them both. 

I've also noticed some big differences between cycling and running aside from the well documented 'they use different muscles'.

1. Cycling is 100% uphill. There's no such thing as a flat in Cornwall as the whole county has been built on a V or ^ foundation. This means there are downhills but, as Ella Eyre noted, gravity gravity, oooooooh, gravity and even on a bike you can conquer a twenty mile downhill section in four minutes...just in time for the next twenty mile uphill section.

2. Cycles take maintenance. I never once had to check the pressures on my shoes or lubricate my chain, if you know what I mean. Shoe up, bugger off. That's running. Also there's a lot to turn off when returning - I left my lights on after my ride on Friday and, being a very cheap set, they're now good for nothing.

3. Riding takes longer. A 100 mile bike ride is equivalent to a 26 mile run, so a ratio of around 4:1 in London Marathon organiser standards. However, while a six mile run takes me around an hour a 24 mile ride is just over two. I have to put this down to being at the start of my training but I need to get an awful lot faster to make the running/riding ratio stack up. A 15mph average will get me around the course within the eight and a half hour limit so that's my initial aim, though this is still just under an hour and a half for a 24 mile ride.

4. I cannot ride empty. When partaking in a marathon I would have four breakfast biscuits, go to the toilet seventeen times and then run. I'd take on a few gels towards the end but I wouldn't eat much at all until after the race when I would binge on everything in sight. I was knackered after my ride on Friday and put a lot of it down to hunger, meaning I also have to eat before a ride which takes up even more time.

There are plenty of similarities, such as the need for layers in the cold months. I had one pair of socks on in the wet and my feet were numb by the time I got home. Today I put two pairs on because I figured they don't take up much room in the washing machine and hey presto! Warm feet. I'm more than a little looking forward to riding in the Summer, however if I wait until then I will have no stamina so I'm not too concerned with the shorter rides for now.

Incidentally, is this the world's shortest cycle path?

2018

This is it, now. This is the gig. I don't mind admitting I've been a bit slack over December - very slack, in actual fact - however this was a planned inconsistency that was achieved through complex planning and training from previous adventures.

There are many athletes out there who can happily compete in their sports over and over again, a state of mind I have become familiar with when running. I love to plan a distance, nip out and achieve it, get back and know that I've got those miles in the bag. When training for a specific event though I can find very long runs stagnate and I end up resenting my chosen sport for a period of time until the actual event arrives. I found it with the London Marathon, vowing never to do another marathon again as the training needed to do such a distance is so time consuming and gruelling. After a few adjustments to my training plan I then managed to do two marathons within seven months of each other.

The adjustments were things I'd never considered possible during training - relaxing, allowing myself to fail and reducing training to fit in with my life. Rather than doing four 20 mile runs before tapering I did four half marathons and it did the same job as long as I did some faster short runs as well. Applying this logic to my current situation I'll be using the indoor bike to try and increase my speed which should allow me to ride sensibly and get used to being out on the roads, perhaps making 60 or 70 miles my end goal before RideLondon rather than creeping up to 90 miles. It all seems a bit wishy washy at the moment but consistent riding on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays is a concrete plan and the only thing that really matters when training is consistency. I'll also be running on Tuesdays because I can't bring myself to give it up, even for six months.

Today is the first day of this concrete training plan. This is it, now.