Training for a shorter Tri

easily amused ST!!!

very annoying though living out in the sticks.. can't do a whole lot.. I have good lights on the bike but just not keen on the idea of cycling the lanes in the dark still ! 

Glad to report 1 hour on bike done, as the sun was shining I had the door open to the garage and did not feel a chill.

Now off to ice the wrist and pop some more pills.

It's just before 6pm right now and it's completely dark. I reckon you'd be best getting back home by 5.30pm. I aimed for that when I cycled to work last week and it was as dark as I was comfortable with at that time.

Well done on the bike rides this morning people! I managed a 6 mile run which was a bit of a chore for the first half but nice for the second half. Kept having random bursts of rain! Lovely and sunny morning though. The rainbows, as well as the snowdrops and crocusses, were out!

Am toying with the idea of doing nothing else but run this week, just for a bit of a confidence boost. But I know I'll then worry about everything else! Plus I have turned into a bit of a fairweather runner too, and if it looks like rain, I'll just go for a swim.

Anyway, I'll worry about that later. Right now I'm off home for some romantic pizza and maybe a little gift from my loved one. I heard him with the sellotape past night!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! x x x

Valentine's dinner for 1 for me! My wife is on a school trip!

Have been for a quick 25min run though - don't usually have time on a Monday.

I agree with you on the wind ST - no matter how much i try, i never seem to get used to it and it's always windy here on the Fylde coast! Always in my face, never pushing me along. How does it know?

Evening everyone

Am very envious of those who went to the show over the weekend. Really wanted to go but had other stuff in the diary - and I don't have any money and I would have seen all sorts of stuff I wanted.

Hope your wrist is okay this evening Steady.

I've been out on the bike too. Did the school and nursery run this morning on the Town Bike. Then did 10 miles of hills on the Hybrid at lunchtime. It is my Smidgey girl's birthday today. She is four. So have also fitted in making a pink fairytale castle birthday cake, housework, a party, more housework and have just done a run of nearly 5 miles. Didn't take my watch and just enjoyed the run.

The bike was a bit uncomfortable on my arm - mainly going over the bumps which vibrated through the handle bars. Am still in two minds about swimming tomorrow. I don't have full movement in the elbow which means i won't be able to do front crawl. Could manage breast stroke but wondering if it would be too much strain. Guess I shoudl probably give it a miss. And yes, the bruise does hurt if anyone pokes it, but otherwise it looks worse than it feels.

Mmm, need to find some more food I think. And a bath.

Night, night everyone.

I'm lucky enough to be able to cycle in the day - so yesterday I cycled from my Mum's house in Farnham to mine in Sarfeast London, across the Downs and the outskirts of London, which came to about 55 miles. Got in at about 5, just before dark.

I felt surprisingly okay, and I don't ache today, but although it was a beautiful day it was pretty cold - which wasn't so bad when I was moving, but meant I got cold very quickly when I stopped for a break. I also get the most horrendous post-exercise chills. I just had to bundle myself up with a hot water bottle and a mug of coffee under a duvet for a couple of hours.

Sounds like you should give swimming a miss, Chilli, unless you have a kickboard and could do some light leg practice?

Yersinia - you have some bike skills there, don't you!?!? I'm jelous! I wouldn't even know where to begin to even think about a route that was 55 miles long, let alone actually do one. And if I cycled that far to my mum's house I think she'd tell me off for making her worry so much...

Nothing for me today. Legs seems a bit sore from yesterdays run still (I'm so out of shape on my running!) and I won't really have time. I have a lot of preparation to do for an interview on Friday so will have to do some juggling to make sure I get evertyhing in this week. Probably do another run tomorrow morning, and maybe make sure I get to circuits too, though that means I have no evening for prep.

Looking forward to parkrun this weekend, but have knocked the idea of 10 mile race on the head. I will however make sure I do get out for a decent length run. Which means my swimming is probably Thursday morning this week, and more than likely, just the one session. Oh dear. Bad week and it's only Tuesday!

My mum is used to my cycling, though she does nag me about not wearing a helmet.

It's just as well I can cycle, cos my running is not much faster than a brisk walk, and my swimming is mediocre. I couldn't claim that I cycled particularly fast yesterday, just keeping up a nice easy pace so I could cover the distance. 

I intended a swim today, but my rear hub and gears were feeling ropey yesterday, and I was worried I had cracked bearings from  taking the bike offroad too much. So I've had to dismantle the bike and give everything a thorough clean. Fortunately, the bearings are fine, and it just seems to be an excess of mud in the gear train. But it takes a long time to clean, and now I've noticed I need new brake blocks too.Gah!

So there might be a change of plan, walking out to a Halfords at the beginning of one of my run routes, and having a bit of a trot instead of a swim.

Yersinia - mighty impressed with the cycling, you must have found a few hills on the way as well.
Also impressed by your ability to dismantle bike, I need to find a bike maintenance course, as hopeless, I rely on Mr Steady but before ever knowing him I had a motorbike and could do routine things with that so can't be that bad really, just not confident in doing things right/safely.

I can understand your mum worrying about lack of helmet, but everyone has their own opinion. I wear one,  but it could be said I need to protect myself as much as possible due to my clumsiness.

Today I went for a private rehab session for the wrist, as 20 mins a week with NHS physio is only making slow progress. In one hour a more detailed assessment and loads of little exercises/ manipulations and massage, my fingers and wrist feel better but still some pain, with more movement possible and she explained why certain bits are misbehaving and what to expect as it gets better. Well worth the money, but not sure I can afford to go as much as she would like.

Heh. I'd gone to Mum's by train, and stayed over the weekend, then cycled home on Monday.

It is moderately hilly - the stickiest being a 16% east of Dorking, which is where my hub started misbehaving, though the 12% near Riddlesdown also gave me problems, as I was beginning to get tired.

Devil's Punchbowl is nice - there are lots of lovely lanes for cycling in that area, and my sister used to work near Burpham.

CJ - I'm sure if you could do maintenance on a motorbike, a push bike should be easy peasy. I've been doing it pretty much all my life.

I got my brake pads and some lube from Halfords, and went for my trot. But it started to rain, so instead of walking home afterwards, I ran to get into the dry, and ended up doing 7km.

Ridiculously, 7km of running is probably more of an achievement for me than 55 miles of cycling.

And you can make motor racing noises as you speed round!

I don't suppose I'd said how I got to mum's. I go down by train every few weeks, but next time I'm thinking of reversing this weekend's effort - I'll cycle there and be able to use my unused return half of Friday's ticket to get home.

See, this cycling silly distances even saves me money!