Last night I went out on the Sheffield Friday Night Ride. Fiona Harrison came along. She's an Olympic bobsleigh racer who, after years of training as a heptathlete, was turned to bobsleigh. From what I could gather last night, there seems to be a generic athletics programme and those who aren't just groomed or gifted in a particular area are diverted down the various sporting avenues which otherwise present themselves - hence how a girl from Sheffield ends up being an Olympic bobsledder.
I didn't last the whole ride. I went to the pub with my team mates - largely to have pints and giggles but also to corner my friend and ask if I can borrow his daughter to do wedding pics.
The earlier parts of the SFNR were so good for me though. We went to the international sports venue where we saw the gym that the Olympic teams and proper athletes use to train. The plebs gym is next door.
Fiona told us about the lifts that they do and how her strength training contributes to a sport that, essentially, she doesn't get to practice unless she is in the location getting ready to race.
It reminded me that despite all the odds and the way the statistics are stacked in my life, I quite like using weights to train. I'm not the kind of person who goes out and rides up and down hills in big gears just to get stronger. I'm the kind of person who goes and rides up and down big hills in normal gears just to enjoy myself but I'm also the kind of person who would rather get strong by lifting an iron bar in my loft. The outcome is that I am able to ride up the bigger hills faster and in bigger gears.
So now I am motivated to do some weights. Even more so than last week when I moved my bike out of the loft so that I could actually find the weights and then responded by turning my ankle on my run.
And yet, I haven't done any weights at this point. I am being responsible. I am saving myself until after the Hell on th'Ills Duathlon tomorrow because lifting weights is not what I want to be doing the day before a race. In the theme of being incredibly motivated when I'm not allowed to train, I am now incredibly motivated.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Monday, April 09, 2012
Stupidly Motivated for Someone with a Sore Foot
I have bruised a foot or strained some ligaments or something. I went over on it yesterday and it hurt to the extreme. I had to hold on to a tree for five minutes before I could walk on it again. Tentatively I started making steps towards the road, preparing myself for the indignity of phoning for a ride home.
But it seemed OK to walk on and then to run on so I did just that and started to head for home. After 9.3km in 1hr 10 minutes, I tutted in disgust at myself and resolved to run all the way back to the house - in theory this should've totalled 12.something kms. In the end, I resorted to walking and running after 11km as the foot started to hurt again and as a reaction, the hip extensor in the opposite leg started to complain also.
It was a miserable 12.1km when I reached the end of the road, mostly walking.
Since the "injury" - but let's not label it yet - I have done little more than check the details for next week's duathlon, Talk to my dad to persuade myself I can do it. Read my fell-running magazine, put my racing wheels on the bike and become increasingly motivated by the season ahead.
It has led me to set, what some might call "goals" but I prefer the term "targets" for next week.
Let's take Saturday's ride which was much longer than next week's race and let's take the hilliest sections - which will be like next week's race - 2hrs 15minutes for 40km. I should be able to cut that to 2hrs.
Now let's take yesterday's run. About the same elevation. Longer distance by 3km. I'll take the hill climb section as times for both sections of the course since with race face on I'll go faster but without the 12 hours sleep in between the bike and the run, I'll likely go slower.
So, we're looking for a 1:15" 2:15" 40" result.
That's if I can fix the foot in time.
In other motivation, the bike is out of the loft, as is the turbo trainer which means there is room to swing a cat - or lift some weights so (again) once the foot is fixed, there will be weight training to be done to contribute to making me a stronger person when the big day comes. The big day that is now, 12 weeks away.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
March Stats
Swim -Still Nada
Bike - 469.06km, 17.1kph, 6609m el. Not as far but that's more like it on the speed and the elevation is happy-making.
Run -26.2km, 7.6km/hr, 980m
April's targets:
Bike - 469.06km, 17.1kph, 6609m el. Not as far but that's more like it on the speed and the elevation is happy-making.
Run -26.2km, 7.6km/hr, 980m
April's targets:
- To get some swimming in there.
- To get the run distance up to 13km per run.
- To bump the bike speed up.
Being outside.
I am really quite annoyed that I have a stinker of a cold this week.
To be fair, I wished it on myself. With only 13 days left in the office, I thought I might take some as leave and the rest as sick.
In reality, if I take this week off sick, I'm not sure I can get all the work done that I would like to do in the remaining 5 days of work if I were to take the 4 days annual leave owed to me. Leaving me with little or no holiday before the new job.
The new job has also inspired me to get out training. When I start working at BOC I want to be able to ride there - every day - without fail. I want to be able to start swimming again (this is the point of the move) and run to work from time to time. Sod the duathlon on the 15th April - I want to get fit for work!
This week I was going to do more running.
This week I was going to get to the gym to check out the facilities at Hillsborough.
Yesterday I sat indoors all day. Staring at the computer, staring at my knitting, printing out envelopes and packing wedding invites. I am rarely deprived of both daylight and fresh air completely.
The results were a devastating headache at 6pm when TSK came home. He forced me to read the label on the Lemsip packets properly and persuaded me I was allowed one before the one at bedtime. By 9pm I was feeling better so I collected up the wastepaper baskets around the house and stepped outside to empty them before collection in the morning. The night air was still springy. I needed my sweatshirt on but after I hauled the big black bin down the steep garden stairs and through the passageway, I sat in my free plastic chair and stared down the street across my neighbours gardens. I sat there for about 10 minutes. Just breathing. I thought about doing some yoga but my headache was still just there enough to dissuade me. I breathed some more.
I sorted out the recycling bin and took that out the front door. In my slippers, I padded up the street to the top. Ignoring the giggling couple walking home from the pub, I turned and stared out across Sheffield city. The top five floors of the arts tower glowing back at me from the next valley like an old tungsten lightbulb that time forgot.
I breathed some more.
I realised how much fresh air is an important part of my life. It's no wonder I have hated my job in Leeds. The fresh air exposure is limited to 20 minutes per day - 30 if I manage to get out for lunch which I haven't done in over a month.
While Brinsworth isn't a particularly special part of the world and the ride to it is going to involve some fairly depressing town rididng, it has its potential for woodlands and fields access when I am there and swimming pool access on my way home.
If nothing else, this poorly episode has taught me something - that no matter how rubbish anything is, I need to be outside - just for a little while - every day.
To be fair, I wished it on myself. With only 13 days left in the office, I thought I might take some as leave and the rest as sick.
In reality, if I take this week off sick, I'm not sure I can get all the work done that I would like to do in the remaining 5 days of work if I were to take the 4 days annual leave owed to me. Leaving me with little or no holiday before the new job.
The new job has also inspired me to get out training. When I start working at BOC I want to be able to ride there - every day - without fail. I want to be able to start swimming again (this is the point of the move) and run to work from time to time. Sod the duathlon on the 15th April - I want to get fit for work!
This week I was going to do more running.
This week I was going to get to the gym to check out the facilities at Hillsborough.
Yesterday I sat indoors all day. Staring at the computer, staring at my knitting, printing out envelopes and packing wedding invites. I am rarely deprived of both daylight and fresh air completely.
The results were a devastating headache at 6pm when TSK came home. He forced me to read the label on the Lemsip packets properly and persuaded me I was allowed one before the one at bedtime. By 9pm I was feeling better so I collected up the wastepaper baskets around the house and stepped outside to empty them before collection in the morning. The night air was still springy. I needed my sweatshirt on but after I hauled the big black bin down the steep garden stairs and through the passageway, I sat in my free plastic chair and stared down the street across my neighbours gardens. I sat there for about 10 minutes. Just breathing. I thought about doing some yoga but my headache was still just there enough to dissuade me. I breathed some more.
I sorted out the recycling bin and took that out the front door. In my slippers, I padded up the street to the top. Ignoring the giggling couple walking home from the pub, I turned and stared out across Sheffield city. The top five floors of the arts tower glowing back at me from the next valley like an old tungsten lightbulb that time forgot.
I breathed some more.
I realised how much fresh air is an important part of my life. It's no wonder I have hated my job in Leeds. The fresh air exposure is limited to 20 minutes per day - 30 if I manage to get out for lunch which I haven't done in over a month.
While Brinsworth isn't a particularly special part of the world and the ride to it is going to involve some fairly depressing town rididng, it has its potential for woodlands and fields access when I am there and swimming pool access on my way home.
If nothing else, this poorly episode has taught me something - that no matter how rubbish anything is, I need to be outside - just for a little while - every day.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
A really good day at work
A nice long knitting train journey to site instead of the office. Lock up the bike and potter around site measuring sewage with a bit of string tied to a rock. A chat with the maintenance lads. Catkins. Bumblebees. A pheasant and a crow sitting on the wall of the humus tanks like old friends sitting at a bar.
Being laughed at by two old ladies at the train station. What for? Riding a bike? Wearing my hi vis? Not wearing a skirt?
Train 2 stops to Wakefield Kirkgate where a band, complete with instruments, are running for the Westgate train on the other platform.
An hour-long ride to the National Coal Mining Museum for an afternoon safety-stand-down day (running with scissors?). Colleagues have seen me wearing the company vest and ask if I had a nice ride. No-one except the environment manager bats an eyelid at me carrying my Ortleibs into the cloakroom.
A pretty boring safety talk or two. I fix the rack on my bike during the coffee break as a bolt came out on the way over. I guess I didn't tighten it up in the morning. I take my coffee to a bench and bask in the sunshine in my black sweatshirt. Sometimes I like to indulge in being the introvert that I am and not putting on the networking face. I am like a cat.
From NCMM I decide to ride to Barnsley station to get the train home. After a brief navigational misadventure I am cutting across the Pennines like a knife. Not on the main roads but at 90 degrees to uphill and down dale.
I am at Emley moor at 5:20. The cloud is thick enough to obscure the detail of towns in the valleys but is thin enough to shadow overlapping moorland in varying shades of silver and the transmitter looms large like the relic landmark of the foregone radiowave TV era.
At the decision point for Barnsley, it is obviously too nice a day to get on a sweaty train so I continue and am rewarded by lifting cloud, happy walkers, a lapwing flitting in the chill spring air. His wings are like flappy paddles, propelling him left and right in a chaotic territorial display. A pheasant stands on a wall barking and a farmer sits in his tractor cab on a half-ploughed field drinking coffee from a flask and watching the sun set over his land.
I sweep down from Denby to Midhopestones watching a big red disk in the sky disappear behind a cloud bank then set about staying upright crossing the main road into Sheffield and instead wobbling over the potholed road to Stannington.
I give up the ride to Bolsterstones and stick with main roads, only being harassed by a couple of trucks before I enter the cosy 40 - 50 mph speed limits of the city. I am home for dinner y 8pm 62km and 1200m of climbing later.
Being laughed at by two old ladies at the train station. What for? Riding a bike? Wearing my hi vis? Not wearing a skirt?
Train 2 stops to Wakefield Kirkgate where a band, complete with instruments, are running for the Westgate train on the other platform.
An hour-long ride to the National Coal Mining Museum for an afternoon safety-stand-down day (running with scissors?). Colleagues have seen me wearing the company vest and ask if I had a nice ride. No-one except the environment manager bats an eyelid at me carrying my Ortleibs into the cloakroom.
A pretty boring safety talk or two. I fix the rack on my bike during the coffee break as a bolt came out on the way over. I guess I didn't tighten it up in the morning. I take my coffee to a bench and bask in the sunshine in my black sweatshirt. Sometimes I like to indulge in being the introvert that I am and not putting on the networking face. I am like a cat.
From NCMM I decide to ride to Barnsley station to get the train home. After a brief navigational misadventure I am cutting across the Pennines like a knife. Not on the main roads but at 90 degrees to uphill and down dale.
 |
| (Borrowed photo. My camera died) |
At the decision point for Barnsley, it is obviously too nice a day to get on a sweaty train so I continue and am rewarded by lifting cloud, happy walkers, a lapwing flitting in the chill spring air. His wings are like flappy paddles, propelling him left and right in a chaotic territorial display. A pheasant stands on a wall barking and a farmer sits in his tractor cab on a half-ploughed field drinking coffee from a flask and watching the sun set over his land.
I sweep down from Denby to Midhopestones watching a big red disk in the sky disappear behind a cloud bank then set about staying upright crossing the main road into Sheffield and instead wobbling over the potholed road to Stannington.
I give up the ride to Bolsterstones and stick with main roads, only being harassed by a couple of trucks before I enter the cosy 40 - 50 mph speed limits of the city. I am home for dinner y 8pm 62km and 1200m of climbing later.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
This year so far summary.
Not taking a poke at the new job, for once, my bike stats for November, December, January & February look pretty healthy this year, despite many of the bike rides being done in short 8km bursts.
TSK did a lot to bolster my confidence yesterday saying he needed to try to keep up with me and not just potter along behind. Sure enough, at Christmas I climbed Froggat in 27:13. Yesterday I did it in 26:04.
I need to find space in my life to fit in swims and runs. Leeds is not an inspiring place. The pool is too far away from the office and described in google comments as, "disgusting" and the only nice run is along the canal - so pretty flat and it runs out too soon. So it's either going to need to be Sheffield early in the morning or late in the evening. As I'm usually getting home late in the evening - I suppose, early mornings it is. This might be hard.
Still, after this weekend, I am hoping we will be back to full on enjoyment of both days in the weekend instead of sheltering in a pokey house avoiding whatever weathery nasties are outside.
Planning to extend my fell race this morning with some extra distance in the afternoon. Let's see how that goes shall we?
TSK did a lot to bolster my confidence yesterday saying he needed to try to keep up with me and not just potter along behind. Sure enough, at Christmas I climbed Froggat in 27:13. Yesterday I did it in 26:04.
I need to find space in my life to fit in swims and runs. Leeds is not an inspiring place. The pool is too far away from the office and described in google comments as, "disgusting" and the only nice run is along the canal - so pretty flat and it runs out too soon. So it's either going to need to be Sheffield early in the morning or late in the evening. As I'm usually getting home late in the evening - I suppose, early mornings it is. This might be hard.
Still, after this weekend, I am hoping we will be back to full on enjoyment of both days in the weekend instead of sheltering in a pokey house avoiding whatever weathery nasties are outside.
Planning to extend my fell race this morning with some extra distance in the afternoon. Let's see how that goes shall we?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)