Grinding to a halt.
Last week was not a good week.
Tiredness meant that Monday night was a no-go. Tuesday, Real Life ™ intruded. Wednesday brought appalling conditions, a lack of mojo and the joy that brings. Thursday is a night to chill in peace.
Friday was a freezing, windy hell. No life in the legs, heart not in it so I bailed. Sometimes you just have to let it go and return to fight another day.
Saturday brought major overnight snowfall.
It also brought a hellish pre-breakfast ride in 5 inches of wet snow. It took two hours to ride half of the loop James and I rode 4 weeks ago in 1 hr 45.
Sunday brought the need to get some miles in but again the weather (along with a broken bike) beat me back. Even the placenames were laughing as I turned back towards home and warmth….
This week will be different though.
The forecasts are good.
I have Thursday off.
I have a plan….
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:56 pm
the snow ‘ll be good training for may though. there will still be snow in may won’t there?
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:13 pm
The way thing are going, yes. :-$
March 4th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
There’s still masses of snow on the pennines and still a little bit round ours. It can go now, I;ve had enough of it.
Keep up the training plan Grant, it sounds raw!
March 5th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I dunno. I blew up horribly yesterday 70 miles into a road century. I still did it, but the last 30 miles were a shocker and I limped home a complete physical and mental mess.
March 7th, 2010 at 9:22 am
The key being you still did the 100. Doesn’t matter how shit you felt you didn’t wimp out and take the shortcut/phonecall home.
March 7th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
And I was >that< close to home at one point.
The 90 mile mark was about 3/4 of a mile of freewheeling down a hill from home but somehow I managed to go straight ahead at the roundabout and not left down to the house….
March 7th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
yeah you did it, that’s the main thing, I nearly gave up loads yesterday, I’d have been super pissed off if I had though, despite feeling like I’d died.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Well that’s it, Matt. I hate myself enough without giving myself more reasons to.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I usually think of having to do all the miles to get to the same point, and finishing is better than starting again
March 9th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I found myself running through ‘excuses’ in my head and none held water.
Partly because it wasn’t my first time……if I managed one in February on the crossbike and limited light, surely I could manage the same in March on the carbon road bike, with more time in which to do it, with more gels etc to consume than the last time etc.
In hindsight, the route was very different to the previous time though and the pace was a tad too high. Maintaining a 16mph average over a hilly road loop with minimal flat sections killed me.
The prolonged cafe stop at the 65 mile mark (prolonged thanks to delays with my food) only helped to stiffen me up and hurt me for the final stretch.