First bike ride in ages with a long way to go

This morning I actually got around to getting my stuff together and getting on my bike for the commute to work. It was so overdue, and in fact so revealing... it was not comfortable! I have always been someone who enjoyed just jumping on a bike, but this morning I found that the combination of my grumbling back, my utter lack of base fitness, and a overly heavy back pack just didn't make for much fun at all.

By Alex E. Proimos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/4199675334/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22535544

Rome allegedly wasn't built in a day, which I am glad about because whilst I may not quite be the size of an nascent ancient city I clearly have a lot of ground work to do. The size of my current task is dawning on me in the form of a huge smack around the face this week.

Sunshine rolling

Feeling good today, I have ridden the bike (my wife's now old bike) to work and back two days on the trot - I am indeed a fair weather cyclist. I haven't exactly been thumping along, between strange bike, busy cycle ways (all those other fair weather cyclists out too, damn it), and the lack of fitness. It has been great to get back into an old pattern and I am already resolving to keep it going in my quest to regain all around on the move fitness.

Happily my knee hasn't grumbled about the cycling, and although it still isn't better I do hope that it will sort itself out soon. Everywhere I look at the moment there is another article on stretching so I have no excuses not to be doing it and getting things stabilised. Not sure when I'll threaten my knee with another run, but I will be on the move and trying to heal it with plenty of active recovery.

Sunny, warm, gentle breeze - perfect day for commuting on your bike here in Wales ;-)

Stop reminding me - lost fitness

So today I got on the bike (my wife's bike actually, mine is in need of major repair) and figured it'd be fun. Now it was fun don't get me wrong, the weather is fabulous this morning and the trail was quiet. However, at the nice long stretch where you can see several hundred metres ahead of you I decided to unleash the canons (arms = guns, legs = canons? never mind), and then a minute later rolled along having discovered another muscular change that has occurred since last year... I have lost, for the want of a better phrase, my 'top end grunt'. My quads, which have been extremely tight of late and implicated somewhat heavily in the knee issue story, are certainly also lacking in sprint strength and general power.

The reflection / introspection of this last week and a bit about the loss of stretching routine and bringing that back with rigour has now extended itself to other forms of exercise. I used to post blog entries about weeks where I had cycled daily, swum, run and rowed in a busy mix. Quite where all that went I'm not 100% sure, though much of it is work and the kids it can't be all of the reasons why I don't do the variety these days. This weekends quest is now to work out where these things can be improved - if only because I love dropping the hammer on the bike and roaring along sometimes.

Sunny, warm, light breeze and the promise from the weather guesser forecaster that it is set fair for the next few days. Right off for another stretch then loads of that afore mentioned work to do.

Footnote - May = a whopping 17.1 km run (!), an injury, a marathon race DNS (did not start), several trips to the physiotherapist, lots of planning for when I am fit again (and plans to get fit in the first place), and so I don't have to do much in June to top its proceeding month exercise wise.

Wittering on Wednesday - 'that guy'

Well as a sports fan I was drawn into watching the interview where a sportsman did his level best to distance himself from, well in the end from, himself. It was almost as if Lance Armstrong was trying to convince the audience that there were 'forces and pressures' that made him do things and that he was not true to his current self, but a victim of a whirlwind of circumstance that he could do nothing about. Well in a nutshell, I was not at all convinced, I was not convinced at all... you can always say 'no'.

There are so many issues surrounding the 'confession' that a debunking of it all would take hours, and from where I sit as a general sports fan it is all just deeply sad. I myself was wow'ed by the sport of road cycling during his run of Tour de France wins, I would leave work early with a very good friend to sit in his lounge wrapped in the wonder of watching 'that guy' storm up an alpine col. It was incredible to watch the drama of those races unfold, and frankly though I will still watch the Tour or other events I feel robbed of something. I watched the cancer survivor apparently defy the odds and blow the world away, it was inspiring and I feel very hollow at the final analysis.

I know that I was not alone in that sinking feeling over the last years leading into this admission, and the bereft feeling now we know the accusations were true. I bought the wristbands for the charity, when I might have spent that money on another charity, because of the feats of the man. Why else would I donate to a charity based halfway around the world (yes, I am very aware they fund global research). I am also the owner of a Nike / Livestrong running jacket that is frankly brilliantly stunning at its job, but lately has made me think twice about going for a run in it.

It is absolutely crazy to take something of this nature personally, but here I don't think I am alone in doing so either. Following heroes and icons has always been a risky enterprise.

At the moment I hope that 'that man' both from the past and present goes on to confess more fully in a more appropriate forum (law courts, some form of court of arbitration for sport clean-up commission). That there is still so much not laid out for further actions to be based upon in cycling and sports around doping is wrong, and 'that man' has not forgotten the machinery that got him around the Tour de France as 'winner' seven times.

Sadly my personal opinion is that sport should not allow Armstrong into any arena even if the total confession is given, it has been the manner and conduct of not wishing to be truly accountable for his own actions that leave me with little doubt a lifetime ban is merited. A truly humbled, repentant, sorry individual would not on balance carry on business in this way, and would likely be granted some form of sporting outlet in the future.

So there, I couldn't bite my insignificant sports fan tongue any longer. Sadly I will likely now be using the story of Lance Armstrong as a story of the bleak side of sports to my kids rather than the story of effort that many of believed not so very long ago.

On the road again?

Today I managed to ride 12.5 miles on my bike and swim for 45 mins, neither of which were energetically as I was taking my daughter for a splash in the local pool basically. It was really very good to be on the move a little today, apart from being a little tired from the effort there didn't appear to be any ill effects for my lungs. One day does not a recovery make but the only way is up from here, I will be trying to do a little each day so that I can think about running in about 10 days time... fingers-crossed!

May Review & the long Bank Holiday weekend

May Review

All in all May was a quiet phase 'on the move' wise, madness in other respects, but that's for another time maybe. Running wise I ticked over after a couple of very light weeks after the marathon exertions. In fact most of the month training wise could be summed up in that same sentence. I don't have numbers on the month but I reckon something like 12 miles running a week.

I now believe I will run another marathon, but for now I have my target is set on the best possible half-marathon time I can muster this autumn. Training started this week, and dreaded 'speed-work' gets included from next :-S

Thanks to some genuine ambitions for our allotment this year I have been pretty busy, digging, planting, watering and so on on our patch too. With the weather being so very hot in the UK of late some session have been pretty heavy work - good outdoor training! The only form of competition in May came from a family pumpkin growing contest, which we hope will be followed by a pumpkin carving contest in the autumn :-)

Cycling has re-entered my 'on the move' portfolio, thanks to commuting with the kids to nursery / work to save a few pennies (well it works out at more than a few). It has been fantastic though it is clear that my bike needs some tender lovin' care as the gears are not terribly happy with the abuse I given them this last week or so.

So May was good for moving, let's see what June brings...

The long Bank Holiday weekend - 'on the move'

In the true style (if indeed there is a style) of 'on the move', a long weekend is ahead with quite a few things planned to make and do over the Bank Holiday Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee celebration weekend. Four days off!

There will be running with my training buddy, a long run where we will undoubtedly set the world to rights. A family bike ride to test out the new chariot for the kids commute (so potential one of us gets to try and take both to nursery on any given day!?!?). Family swimming - more lessons for the kids, and more bad singing by me in the parent and toddler session (I am certain my son will disown me one session soon, hahaha!). On top of that still more work at the allotment as I have seedlings to put out into the big bad allotment, bean wig-wams to erect, and lots of digging to do.

Of course along with all that, and having helped put up the bunting, we are all out in our street for a Jubilee street party. We are looking forward to a fun day out with the neighbours, and lots of red, white and blue cakes (I will not eat too many.... honest!).

Wittering on Wednesday

FreeDigitalPhotos.net - "Tour De France Cycle Race Triaixe France" by Tom Curtis

It is the middle of the week already and time for a speedy witter session. Unlike the pro-cyclists who practice drafting all the time, as a commuter I am pretty alien to such things. Last night on the commute home into a head wind I had the opportunity. A stocky guy came past me powering along, and having watched a bit of the Giro d'Italia last week I caught the idea to see how a draft would feel like. So I turned on a little extra leg and moved into his wake.

Now there are several things to consider in doing this I realised as I felt the different a draft makes - not least of which was that he wasn't expecting to be drafted (unlike the chaps in a Grand Tour). So it dawned on me if he arbitrarily thought "Hey nice view over there, I'll stop for a look", I might have parked my bike accidentally in his. Still all was fine, I got my draft up until the bumpy part of the trail... no, no, no, I could keep up over the bumps... the issue was my bike lock... it rattled like fury and told him with out a doubt where I was! In disgust he hit the pedals hard and was gone, d'oh! Moral of this random tale is not to tail randomly, and if you do do it quietly (or better perhaps ask?!). Note: a quick scan of a certain search engine result list suggests as much of a benefit as 10-40%, interesting, hmmm, might move my bike locks.

In other cycling news, the family are collectively commuting now, one offspring per parent powered bicycle. For our youngest it has been his first experience of riding on mummy's bike (we have a cross-bar carrier for toddlers fitted), and he absolutely loves it - beaming all the way. Our eldest thinks that it is fantastic that we were all on bikes going off on 'trips' together, she was telling anyone who would listen all about it for a good few days. From the grins all round it was well worth sorting both our bikes out, and it will be further worth the fuel saving!

In still other news, check out this page for the lowdown on optimism "What is Your Definition of Optimism?" from the Michael J. Fox Foundation blog. From the list of tips on how to be more optimist I noted just how many sporting (running mostly) blogs in the blogosphere use "The power of positive thinking" approach. I am off to look for a glass so I can see if it's half-empty or half-full ;-)


Sunny, high cloud, moderate breeze, with one random five minute shower!

PS. I feel the need to point out my offspring were not with me commuting when I tried my cycle drafting experiment :-)

New week, new month, new week's training table and new helmet

Well, well, new week (Monday already!), new month (August already!), and a new training table to try to fill up (again already!).

Date	Cycle	Run	Stretch	Row	Ergo	Circuit	Gym
Mon	5.5mi	.	Y	.	.	.	.
Tues	6.4mi	6mi	Y	.	.	.	.
Wed	5.5mi	7.2mi	Y	.	.	.	.
Thurs	5.5mi	.	Y	.	.	.	.
Fri	6.4mi	.	.	.	.	.	.
Sat	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Sun	.	.	.	.	.	.	.

Week beginning Mon 1st Aug.

Happily the new helmet that my wife carefully bought for my daughter went down a treat, she was involved in picking it out and loves it. There was little sign of worries as we cycled into daycare today, at least on her part. Daddy is still not quite over the moment of terror he experienced as he looked down at the crumpled girl before he starting checking her and un-clipping her from her bike seat after last weeks accident. I hope that perhaps she'll retain her strength of nerve as she goes through life. I wouldn't say she's totally fearless but she certainly seems to have a healthy inner 'toughness'.

Please wear your cycling / bike helmet!

My training week has been disrupted somewhat this week... it's a long story (I'll try to abridge a bit). On our way home from nursery on Wednesday evening we had to avoid 'lads' cycling all over the cycle path, one threw something at me, I reacted and in the process of braking violently the bike flipped over. My two year old daughter in her chair landed on her helmet, I crunched my left leg, we were both left stunned.

I was left feeling a pretty stupid daddy for how I reacted (I can never work out the various effects adrenaline has on me), and my daughter was left feeling bemused and in pain. We made it home and reported the 'lads' to the police for what good that will do (I had no description and little detail to offer). After making the call I was left wondering how to perhaps approach the local council about this kind of situation that often arises at that point of the cycle route.

Brilliantly just after the accident some kind people stopped to help us and offered my daughter some water once we'd eased her out of her seat having first checked her neck. In the end I was very, very grateful my daughter didn't end up hospital after our bike crash. She only suffered grazes and bruises, while her bike helmet was broken in three! All in all just bl**dy glad we had helmets on, ever since I've felt like tapping non wears on the shoulder and telling them our story.

Ironically this all came barely a week after I found this video online and posted it up on facebook for my friends to think about. Please view James' appeal if you have a moment, but most of all "Please wear your cycling / bike helmet!".

A personal appeal from James Cracknell - Use your head. Use your helmet

Going the distance

The last two mornings I set off for work and decided to cycle. Fine, well and good. I decided to take a longer route as I have gotten out of the habit and need the exercise. The route I normally take is fairly quick, but worst of all is broken up so there are no nice long sweeps to get a head of steam going.

Thus I have been going past my turning into the park (which is now open after Winter closing - opens dawn - closes at dusk), and doing a long loop around it. Going almost into the heart of town and back again. The route is roughly 4.8 miles (according to the Gmaps Pedometer), which is around double the usual route into work. It really does feel like a bike ride and it is much nicer to arrive in work having 'toured' the views of the park and river in the morning.

It is still in fact quicker than taking the train, even with the addition, and only adds 10 minutes to an often 8-10 minute trip. To be honest its a bit of a drag putting cycling kit on for the shorter trip!! I obviously won't be able to do the route all the time, but variety is apparently the spice so I'll certainly be trying out meandering routes to work when I can ;o)

Back to training...

After the forced break from all things rowing and training brought on by being flaming ill and so weak. I managed two ergo sessions this week and tonight a 30 min run. It's feeling okay, though I can tell the stamina isn't quite there - as expected I suppose.

On my second erg session I hit upon doing a benchmark 2k test to see where I was fitness wise... the result was 7m 17.4s

Splits

7:17.4 Aver. 1:49.3 Aver. 27spm

500m 1:49.3 27spm

1000m 1:48.7 27spm

1500m 1:50.2 26spm

2000m 1:49.3 30spm

Given recent weeks I was pretty pleased, I did manage some consistency (apart from a wobbly last 500m) and didn't fall off the machine at the end so wasn't truly killing myself (probably a symptom of erg'ing alone).

Also, been cycling to work every day this week which has been fantastic to get back to.

Warm, settled weather, no rain in days - watering plants regularly.

Take a brake

Whoops, well it seems I've been rubbish lately, busy doing organising stuff for rowing club entries, actually rowing and training. And a myriad of other stuff to long winded to recap

Suffice to say a few things suffered, I did not make my lose a stone target though I did lose some :o) I haven't been riding my bike all that much because I didn't get around to getting my brakes fixed, I've had lots of meetings to attend which have made the train more attractive on work days, and lots of other stuff.

Still I have remembered my blog and will try to update more frequently again, especially as we now have an allotment to blog about also :o)

Off to make a cup of tea and think about all things work, and how wet I'll get riding home - yes, the brakes are fixed, back on the biking vibe ;o)

Cloudy, windy, showers.

News and more news

Well what a week so far, meeting and presentations a go-go! Back-to-work, back to training, into meetings and probably into coaching. Everything has gone a bit nuts really, and I am suitably shattered... still it is all very much in the spirit of Andy on the Move :o)

Where to start? To be honest the whole thing would be the size of "War and Peace", and I don't consider that I have that much time...

The breakdown...

Work - back to the grind stone, and New Year of hard work ahead.

Rowing - after a quiet phase due to the weather and Xmas, things are all on again, refining the years plans. I have gotten involved with the fringes of some of the clubs committee structure, and worked out that a coaching course would be a good idea.

Personal - I have found a potential counsellor (more by proxy than going and looking, but that's still better than nothing), we are planning our holidays for the year, and we have put our names down for an allotment (lots of blogging potential there I feel!!).

Other - I haven't yet ridden my bike to work, that will come next week, still easing into the New Year ;o)

End of the year summary

Well I can't seem to migrate my blog to the new blogger just yet, but maybe in the new year I'll get hold of those new blogging tools.

This year, delivered rowing ups and downs, very little running, an awful lot of movement (not just cycling to work nearly every day), getting married and posting really quite a bit (a few too often from work probably). My blog began the year getting visitors but a brief dilly-dally with AdSense put an end to that, perhaps they thought I'd sold out... I don't think I was trying to do that I was more curious about it than anything... it was so rubbish I ended the experiment and re-gigged my blog (complete with new title, i.e. "on the run" to "on the move").

The main (and in fact) only regular reader is now my wife... who I seem to entertain with a high degree of success ;o) Perhaps the new year will entertain a few more 'customers'... the blog will continue to chart my activities as I try to get fit and even that little bit slimmer (not sure about that goal, fitter may have to do).

My goal of losing a stone of weight by my birthday had stalled as predicted with the festive feasting, but the damage doesn't look too bad (more on that to follow...).

Sustrans

The entry below reminded me... I am a member of Sustrans is the UK's leading sustainable transport charity. I joined last year but seem not to have mentioned them on my blog before...

What do they do... here are two passages taken from their web pages Why Sustrans?

"Cycling and particularly walking are the most sustainable ways of travelling. They require very little use of the planet's resources, and they are both fuelled by food, a renewable source of energy."

"So Sustrans has set about creating an environment that will actually help people to walk and cycle much more. Hence the National Cycle Network offering a mixture of traffic-calmed streets, quiet roads and traffic-free routes in communities all over the UK, helping people to work, shops, school and play."

Oh look... tarmac... ouch!!!

Yesterday on the way home on the Taff trail we had a collision. Sian and myself managed to get our bikes entwined and so down we came. Sian luckily found the side of the trail and thus the grass, I hope my hand on her handle-bar helped. I found myself looking at the tarmac, my bike had jack-knifed around my left leg and sent me left side first to the ground. I landed pretty well (very, very grateful for my bike helmet), the biggest pain was in my ribs, I think I managed to elbow myself as I crumpled!!!

Unfortunately I deemed myself fit to row, which in the main I was... until we lifted the boat off the water and tried to angle it to retrieve someones keys (which had been misplaced into the bow void of the boat)... then I felt my rib make a popping sound and it started to hurt that bit more. I think I have bruised the bone and pulled intercostal muscles, which apparently take a while to heal!!! Ho-hum, silly things happen :o)

Oil and heat

This morning I spent a very worthwhile five minutes oiling the chain on my mountain bike. The heat of the past couple of weeks, combined with dust from the Taff trail left my gears near enough bone dry and 'clanky'. A few spots of oil and 'hey pesto'... if only there was a simple trick for the actual heat... 31 degree C plus today... British heatwave forecast !!!

Top Gear !!

Well when it comes to being on the run there are certain little victories along the way that to anyone else mean very little... my little victory today was peddling my bicycle (mountain bike) in the biggest gear all the way to work.

What this means to me? - well it might (if repeated) suggest that my leg strength has improved to the point the the bigger (top) gears of my bike are getting easier and easier.

These little things spring from little things like getting on your bike and promising to ride it as much as possible. I ride to and from work every day, rain or shine... from that little thing comes little mental rewards (like today), and better still physical rewards (like being fit enough to do such things).

Top cycling :o)

Busy week

Had a pretty busy week, hence the dip in blogging output ;o) An awful lot of work, one of the highlights was my new bike [Dawes Cycles], one of the low lights was accidently injecting myself with ammonia in work.

Rowing went pretty well, a session in the dark was an experience, we had balance issues in the dark.

Generally, fitness wise the week was much better than previous ones thanks to the cold being banished and getting back to bike riding and such [I won't go banging on about how bad the whole train experience was!!! grrrr].

Dawes Dawn

I pinched the picture from Dawes (www.dawescycles.com)

Over the weekend I received my birthday pressie... a lovely lovely new Dawes Element mountain bike... I was well chuffed and really can't wait to try it out in anger... hopefully tomorrow now I've shifted the cold and infection ;o)