Yesterday Forgotten

So I went for a run yesterday. Headed over to Newent Wood again. Wish I hadn't bothered. I just could not get going. It was way too hard work for the pathetic pace and I ended up bringing it to a close prematurely. I felt okay before hand, having had a couple of rest days. Disappointing.

Today was better. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and in the end plumped for an easy 30 minute Zwift ride. That felt okay so I gave it an hour and tried an interval session on the treadmill. I followed one of the Zwift workouts; warmup followed by repeated 40s steady, 30s faster. The faster section got progressively faster pace while the steady pace remained constant so it was run without a normal recovery section. My heart rate slowly increased throughout but didn't top out so all in all much better than yesterday.

The Cummings Effect Was Very Present Today....

So I did my once a week shop on the way home from work - as I have done throughout lockdown. The queue into the store has never been more than two or three..... until today. Today the queue was around the car park. Only one person per household.... there were dozens of couples and more than a few three or more family groups. Yep, folks, Cummings has really fucked this up for us all.... As to why people feel the need to have a day trip out to the supermarket once a day when there are so many other places they could go for a socially distanced pootle is another matter. Anyway, 30 minute bike session tonight. A virtual solo TT steady effort with a couple of sprints. Good session.

Two Non-Virtual Runs in a Row!

What was I thinking? I headed over to Queen's Wood tonight for another change of scenery. It's a pretty nice area for running. There are lots of tracks and paths in a relatively small area but you can run up a decent distance without repeating any of the route - obviously I didn't actually run up a decent distance as I'm not fit enough but I was happy with my 7k. It was slightly (only very slightly) faster than yesterday but a couple of k's longer so all's good. 

A Hot One

but I managed to select a pretty well shaded route. Didn't want a hilly one so I used my instincts to hot foot it over to Newent Wood in the car - can you hot foot by car? and now we can use our "instincts" can we head back to the mountains? It would be good for my mental well being if I did, all my "instincts" tell me that would be good.... but of course I'm joking, not being part of the ensemble of the ruling elite, being a mere unworthy, like 99.9% of the population, I shall continue to keep to the rules. There will be no 60 mile test drives with bad eyesight - which I think, if you knowingly drive with bad vision and admit on national television, is a road traffic offence.... anyway, I've slipped off track - a bit like today's when I stumbled into a boggy section. Wasn't the fastest. Was probably the hottest of the year but it was a nice pootle all in all. Finished off back home with a 10km bike cooldown on Zwift. 

Feeling A Bit More Motivated

Put in a little bit of jogging yesterday after work. Wasn't totally feeling it but felt the better for it after, even if it wasn't really training. Today's 7k on the mill was better. I ran the speed ramps again and felt pretty strong and could have done a couple more - the session was only for seven and ends after you reach that. More tomorrow of something.

A Semi

After the weekend's blip I felt I needed to keep things on the gentle side, at least a couple more days. So tonight I had a semi - a semi virtual bike race. I set off in almost last place... and stayed there! But after a very gentle start I put in a few steady state efforts with a bit more power. Definitely wasn't going to push myself too much. Mentally it felt good. A run of some sort tomorrow.

Back After A Gap

So I came down a bit ill Friday. Fever, light headed, achy and a sore throat. Spent the day dozing on the sofa and generally felt a bit pants. Felt better Saturday but had the test booked and if I didn't I'd be isolating all week. My gut feeling was that it was going to be a negative and so it turned out. By Sunday I was feeling back to normal and tried a bike workout. I felt a bit lacking and knocked it on the head half way through but I felt better in myself for having done something. Tonight I had a good session on the treadmill, repeating the hill session from last week and managed to increase the pace. Knocking three minutes off the time for the 5k hill route.

Right, That's Me Planning A Few Trips To The Mountains....

KIDDING! Calm down, just joking. I shall be continuing to stay home and exercise locally but sadly I think the new Corona message is going to lead to the flood gates on unnecessary trips out and about. On a brighter note, put in a bike workout yesterday and a treadmill session today. Neither were the greatest, my legs felt a bit knackered on both occasions. More tomorrow of some sort...

Not Been Feelin' It

But got out and about today, over to Hope Wood. Ran a couple of sections I've not done for ages. The first section, on the west side was good. The climb up the small wooded path was nice a clear. The other section on the east - missing out some climb, was much overgrown in places. I guess it needs to be run more often to keep it viable. Not that I was going quickly but it was definitely even slower going through there. Pleased to have motivated myself to get out there...

Killed the Sprint or the Sprint Killed Me?....

Yep, definitely the latter. So it was only a group ride tonight for stage 1 of the Tour For All on #Zwift and after the initial argy-bargy I found myself riding in a smallish group and we were going along at a decent pace. There was the odd attack from those wanting to do a Freddie Mercury - and break free, but they mostly came to nothing. Maybe a couple got away during the 28km ride but then it was a ride not a race and I was happy to sit in and recover from yesterday's treadmill session.

Into the final couple of kilometres, as is customary for a group ride, all bets are off when it comes to the sprint and I decided there wasn't anything to be gained from a standard 100-300m sprint so I went long.... Too long as it turned out. I put the hammer down from about a kilometre out and pushed myself to the limit - and just a little beyond. My engine gave up the ghost with about 100m to go. I was spent and more but I managed to get across the line with only one of the group getting there ahead of me. I practically slide from the pedals and onto the floor. I was in some oxygen debt but after a minute I was able to save the ride up to Strava - got to get the important things done.

Two options for tomorrow. Option one, another treadmill session. Option two, sod all. I think we all know....

I "Enjoyed" That One

A medium tempo/speed effort on the treadmill out at 3 to 4 minutes per rep with only 30s recovery between sections. My heart rate was heading towards 170 during the last few reps and wasn't really recovering much during the recovery. Being part of a group session of 60 or so other runners really kept me going though. It's easy to abort a solo session when you've had enough but somehow being part a group session, albeit a virtual one, provides that impetus to see it through. A good 42 minutes training ticked off. 

Legs Feeling A Bit Feeble

So I ran one of the new Zwift training sessions yesterday and it was pretty good. Cooled down afterwards with twenty minutes on the bike. Today I was planning on doing an hours group ride followed by a run. I did the ride but as the hour progressed I knew my legs were toast. The last ten minutes, despite the low power output, was hard work. Suffice to say, the run didn't happen. I wasn't going to put myself into the red and hopefully, by skipping it today, I will live to run another day - or tomorrow as it is know in the trade....