Hate To Exercise

“The dishes in front of him where now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he’d like to eat on one table.”
Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling

Sunday evening

The aftermath of Session 4 is not pretty. My legs are absolutely killing – especially the left one. My eyes can barely stay open, and it’s only 7:10pm; and I could eat for England. I’m trying not to, but absolutely could.

I went out cycling without having eaten anything – ok, that’s a bit of a lie. I had 3 pieces of mozzarella cheese, couple of pieces of sun-blush tomatoes and a coffee. After finishing the session, a bottle of water (I need to fix the darn bottle!!!), and an energy bar. Since then, once I got home:

Chinese takeout
2 hot cross buns with butter and marmalade
3 jaffa cakes
Chocolate wafer
Half a large packet of Crisps
Big portion of juevos rancheros (yeah I know it’s breakfast food, but who cares)
Bagel with way too much butter on it (loooooove Lurpak)
And marshmallow teacake…………..

2 teas with soya milk and topped up with evaporated milk (!) – yeah, I know. I’m trying to be green and /or healthy and then I totally counteract that with half a can of evaporated milk. Ok, maybe it’s not that much, but that’s irrelevant – evaporated milk is not great. I can’t remember when I acquired that habit and now find it difficult to shake it off.

Actually, that’s not that much food – but that’s not for want of trying. I would like this whole training malarkey to help me lose a few pounds, so eating stupid after is probably not the greatest idea.

Ooh, and I had another thought. Perhaps it’s not so bad that my my Chinese adventure – also booked with Exodus, is now due in April after the Cambodia cycling craziness. I might end up looking slim and pretty for that trip……..hmmmm…….then again perhaps not. I’m most likely going to quite the cycling as soon as Cambodia is over and done with. I know me. I’ve done months of cycling before and it’s never become a life-time habit for me. The only thing I haven’t quit in my life is CHOCOLATE.

More importantly…………..how on earth am I going to get on a bike this Wednesday, the day I’ve designed as my mid-week training session from Feb onwards. The way I’m feeling right now, I’m not sure my body will recover enough. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to walk tomorrow. Yeah…..I knew trying to do more kilometres today was a bad idea. Still did it though. Idiot!

So going to go to bed, sooooooooo early.

Monday

OMG I am surprised by my ability to walk today, especially considering the amount of pain and discomfort I was in last night. I know I felt the pain after that first 32km cycle, but last night as the evening drew on, my legs just got worse and worse. Not so much painful, as incredibly uncomfortable. I’m not quite sure how to describe the level of physical sensation I was feeling, and it didn’t get much better when I lay down in bed.

Yet this morning, I was surprisingly fine. Once again there was slight discomfort – muscle fatigue after so much exercise, and few challenges during the day, like walking up the steps. That was very uncomfortable and something I tried to avoid, after stepping up on few curbs. The action of lifting my leg, that thigh muscle stretching or contracting or whatever it was doing – really quite uncomfortable. Not painful exactly, just uncomfortable. There is no way, I would have been able to get on a bike today though. And not quite sure whether I will be able to do so on Wednesday – time will tell. That’s the reason why I should not have pushed myself so hard this week. It’s supposed to be slow and steady wins the race.

Tuesday

Too many words in the diary entry from the training day itself – but I realised as I was cycling through the paths of Hyde Park, that I was enjoying it for other reasons. These days work has taken over my life. I have plenty of hobbies, but they’re all very solitary activities; and as much as I’d like to go and socialise with my friends several times a week, I simply cannot afford it. The cycling is fulfilling my human need to be around other people, whilst also satisfying the Introverted & confidence lacking part of my personality, the one that struggles to socialise and engage with strangers. So I get to be out and about, among people, without having to talk to anyone. Win-win for everyone.

By the way – legs feeling much better. There’s still fatigue residue, but I think I should be ok for tomorrow’s session. That’s providing I can actually drag my sorry arse to the cycling station and make myself do it. I hope it rains……………..

Wednesday – The Dress

It didn’t rain; and I, with a great struggle, got on a bike and did the session. One little loop around St Jame’s Park, and 2 mini loops around Hyde Park lake. Part of me was tempted to do a little bit more. I was aiming for between 10 & 15kms. I got 13.24. Just as well I didn’t push harder. About 8kms in, I started to feel my left leg ‘breaking’. Clearly I haven’t recovered as fully as I thought from Sunday’s session.

I know exactly why I cycled 42kms on Sunday. It’s because of that bloody dress. I saw a dress in Oasis over the weekend. Tried it on, and true to expectations it was showing up all sorts of lumps and bumps. However, with some careful breathing manipulations I managed to make it look half decent in the mirror. I didn’t buy it, but subconsciously I know I still want it and now that I’m doing a little bit of exercise I figure that with a few work-outs I can possibly lose a bit of a tummy and make myself look more presentable in that dress. That’s why I cycled 42 kms on Sunday. Vanity – sheer vanity. Maybe I should add Vanity to my score keeping 🙂

Thursday

Feel absolutely fine. In fact, it doesn’t feel like I cycled at all last night. Almost feels like a waste of cycling session. Almost.

Friday

Nothing to report. Ate too much. Didn’t drink enough liquid, gave me a migraine. Considered cycling again in the evening, but talked myself out of it. Had a search on Amazon for some high-vis armbands and little light I can mount to my helmet or jacket because the flickering light on the Boris Bikes is useless in a dark park.

Days left: 349
Weight – shhhh
Distance travelled: 13.01
Total distance travelled: 154
Stupidity Level: No comparison really!

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!

Session 4 – aftermath – Food