Back to work

I have been back at work today. And despite two consecutive strenuous days on the bike, a third would have been more appealing than a 3am alarm call.

Generally I was a little surprised at how (relatively) fresh I felt when I began the bike yesterday. In order to mix the training up a bit I decided to experiment with some interval training. I selected a route around my 'home-patch' of Stradbroke, Hoxne and Eye, which was 13.5 miles in length (about half-marathon distance). I estimated each lap would take me around an hour, with a 15 minute(ish) break between each lap.

It was still pretty windy if honest, in fact I noticed little difference to the previous day. And yes, this meant sore eyes again! Here's how it went:

Lap 1 - 61 mins 07 secs - Fairly uneventful, eased into it. Much of the second half of the lap was into the wind. I swore a little.

Lap 2 - 57 mins 35 secs - Stepped it up a bit, particularly at the beginning with the wind on my back. Was pretty relieved to dip under an hour. Was nearly undone by resurfacing works outside of Stradbroke...winced several times as loose chipping smashed against my shiny new frame. Over my subsequent lunch break I selected a new route of equal length through Redlingfield and Occold.

Lap 3 - 64 mins 22 secs - The least enjoyable lap. From my swimming days I learnt that the third part of any race was always the hardest and slowest (before the adrenaline truly kicked in). This was further compounded by a hastily prepared and eaten lunch and subsequent cramps. A brief minute or two to investigate my clicking chain also slowed me.

Lap 4 - 55 mins 58 secs - Anyone who knows me will know that I'm mildly competitive, at the least. I can even get very competitive with myself. I knew that if I didn't set my fastest time of the day I would consider that last couple of days a total waste of time. So with gritted teeth, a bit of pain and multiple cursing as a seemingly never-ending headwind slowed me to a crawl at times, I hit my target.

Interval training made the cycle a little more interesting, but I came to realise that there is only so much biking you can do by yourself before getting bored. Additionally, I realised that I really dislike the wind. This could be a problem.

Further, it didn't help that the wind had eased a little more today, the day I spend 12 hours indoors working...with John Law and Chris Bell! Maybe I would rather be biking...