Frustration

Sometimes it just doesn't happen. Yesterday was one of those days. Sport, more generally exercise, can be a strange thing. Every now and again you inexplicably fail to produce. Occasionally it's difficult to explain why. In the case of yesterday the answer probably lies in Monday and Tuesday when I did back-to-back bike rides. Of course this shouldn't qualify as an excuse seeing as I will have to do 12ish consecutive days soon, but when you throw in a subsequent early shift and a sore throat it doesn't really offer the R&R that is needed. Alternatively, it may just be because I'm not made of the hard stuff!

Either way I woke up in the morning not feeling like P Daddy (for those familiar with the 'genius of Kesha), but particularly lethargic. Then, due to a number of reasons, the primary one being procrastination, I didn't actually get on to my bike until 2pm. For the first 10 minutes I felt fine - again because the wind was on my back - but then I hit my first hill. Immediately my legs felt as if they'd done 50+ miles.

From this point onwards I was physically and mentally in the wrong place. Usually I just get on with it. Yesterday I was very suddenly aware of how much further I had to go and how tedious it was going to be. Additionally weather-wise it was what I like to call a nothing day. I began to get very tetchy. I started wearing a fleece top. In itself this was a bad sign as it contradicted my policy of 'be bold, start cold'. So, naturally, I overheated. But within minutes of stripping down to my base layer I was getting cold. I then reinstated the fleece. This cycle continued.

I was stopping regularly. Even a cheese sandwich and packet of crisps didn't bring me rhythm or any life to my legs. It's at this point you have to decide whether to struggle on or stop short of your target. Usually my stubbornness forces the more difficult option, but in this case commonsense prevailed. I decided that it wasn't worth impacting on my training for a prolonged period so called it a day after 20 miles.

Although I felt I had made the right decision, I still ended the day rather grumpy. Somehow I managed to lift my spirits to tell the good people of East Anglia that the Bank Holiday weather was going to be rather uninspiring and the good farmers of East Anglia that they weren't going to see appreciable amounts of rain. All this after a 4am start.

I'm currently on the way to London. My legs and throat still ache. The sun isn't shining. But it will.