The short ray of hope – that she might find in this good-natured, lazy individual a valuable friend and adviser – had vanished as quickly as it had come …. ‘ The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy
Sunday – 9:05 am
I so dooooon’t want to do this. After yesterday evening’s little ride (and the 3 glasses of wine I consumed throughout the day), I was rather tired, and allowed myself extra sleep this morning. Hence getting up later. Now, still feel tired – both just generally and a little muscle fatigue after yesterday’s cycling, and I just don’t want to do this.
I’m sitting on the sofa, half dressed in my training gear, sipping on a mocha, writing this, and at this moment in time, there is no guarantee that I will actually get my bum out of the house to train. Especially when I think about the fact that I’ll have to do it again this evening, if I don’t hit at least 30km in the morning’s session.
If I don’t want to be in pain again for half a week, the best option is to split the training into 2 sessions. But if I don’t do it all this morning, I really feel that any cycling this evening is highly, no………extremely unlikely. Bugger!
Sunday – 5:15pm
Two things:
- I am totally amazed, both by the fact that I actually dragged myself out of the house and went cycling after all; and by the quantity of kilometres traversed today
- My stupidity clearly knows no bounds
When I set out this morning – slightly later than usual, I decided to take a different route. Battersea park is not too far from where I’m staying, and I thought it would add a little bit of diversity to the cycling. Doing the same routes over and over again around Hyde Park gets a bit tedious, even though it’s only been 3 training sessions so far. Besides, I figured that by adding a different park to my route, might add a few extra kilometres. I was right.
Secondly, I decided not to put on the Voice-over on the tracker app. I figured that by not focusing on how many kilometres I’ve travelled, and how many more I have to travel to hit that 30kms that I’ve set myself as a goal, I might both enjoy the ride a bit more, and also journey a little further. I am trying to take away the focus from what I’m doing and the reason why. Again, I was right.
The strategy paid off. I’ve travelled a distance of 42.25kms. All in the morning’s session. Great. And it certainly shows that I can do big distances. If only once a week! I just wanted to get the distance out in the morning, because I simply wouldn’t do it in the afternoon. Nope. Wasn’t gonna happen. I’m too lazy.
But just because I can, doesn’t mean I should. After all, the purpose of training over 12 months is to slowly build up to the 70kms per day I’ll be travelling on the holiday. Not push myself to the limits early on and put myself out of action for weeks or worse.
By around 29km (I had turned the voiceover on), my legs were beginning to feel the usual exercise fatigue. Due to the route I took from Battesea Park to Hyde Park, there were sections of the cycle highway on main roads. Thus with traffic zooming around me, I would take out my head-set, to ensure I paid full attention the road and my surroundings. This was helpful again by not focus on the distance travelled. Combination of that, and the fact that Battersea Park is fairly flat, compared to that bitch of a hill at Horse Guards, I felt like I could keep on going. But I can’t. I’m not a seasoned cyclist, nor am I in my twenties. I’m a Sunday cyclist, at least for the moment; and if I’m not careful I will do myself more damage than good.
By this point in the afternoon, I’m totally shattered and my left leg is really feeling the pain. Not for the first time, either. For some reason, the left leg seems to be impacted by the exercise more. I’m not sure whether that’s because of the way I cycle or a as a result of an injury I sustained in my early twenties. Either way, the left is in more pain, particularly at the lower part of the thigh. It’s actually uncomfortable even now, as I sit on the sofa with my legs propped up against a chair.
So…….I will have to limit my Sunday cycling sessions to 30kms – whether that’s all a mornings ride, or split into 2 – give or a take a mile either way. I think that’s going to be especially important now, as I’m about to add a mid-week session to this training regime. It shouldn’t be hard, as long as I don’t get some crazy ideas in my head. Perhaps from March onwards I can increase that to 35kms on Sundays. But I need to be smart about this.
- Days left: 349
- Weight: not telling
- Distance travelled: 42.24 kms – talk about stupid
- Total distance travelled: 148.14
- Stupidity Level: No comparison really!
Hate To Exercise 