Of the worst kind of effort, and the best kind of effort.

Saturday 14th was a fixing day I bought stuff off the internet I really do want then loaded the bike, changed its saddle but all that reminded me I still need to change my brake hose to stop frame scuff and I got too comfy and didn't ride. I ran instead. I ran 40 minutes and achieved what 2 hours on the bike would do.

I didn't have an amazing time or any profound revelations. I followed my head torch beams, dodged tonnes of dog walkers and trudged through. I walked up some of the hills, particularly the steep slimy one. Eventually my body settled into a groove that did keep running and then I was back, damp in my coat and a bit sweaty.

The best part was the gratifying shower - physically. Mentally, I was encouraged by achieving 2 runs  of around 5km each in the week... as well as everything else.

I learned last night that if I am to reach 5k I have to follow the bridleway all the way up to the top road + drop back down to get the extra distance in. I wasn't peeved that I didn't last night, but now I know, it's another stepping stone to my 2x 5k. I'm so keen to start including the big Byway but I have to increment towards it, not just sacrifice the bike to running.

 

I ordered my hydro dry lights this week from Spain, no less, so lets see how those improve my wintry motivations.

On Sunday the weather was mercifully clear. I read an article about the benefits of dropping the big ambitions and focusing instead on the small, incremental daily habits that will stick, leading ironically to future endeavours going better. On that theme I went out for a better than nothing Sunday ride which turned out to be a pleasant zip over to the Bradfield side of the valley.

The sunset through just-enough-cloud to keep it atmospheric, though not enough to just make it grey. I left late so I sneaked home under dark. Nothing really hurt, I was just generically tired.

Tired enough to have Monday off? I did, but it felt like a bit of a mistake. My work day was stressful on my pm Q course and I struggled to sleep. Clearly I needed to tire myself out more often.

As the course went on through the week, I stuck to daily exercise but it dwindled from following my plan to surviving the course through stress relief... all of which worked but the entire process has left me feeling exhausted this weekend.  Today, I sat a mock exam and that was it.  Tomorrow I type like my life depends on it and hope for the best.