The weather and injury has limited my training quite badly in the last couple of weeks. I don’t need to add to the vast amount of snow related reporting, suffice to say that until yesterday I’ve been limited to a couple of commutes a week.
Many of my training circuits pass through Bollington
Creative Commons image credit j.a.holland
If the weather wasn’t bad enough, then a calf injury really put things on a downer. On my weekly long run my right calf tightened badly and I had to stop after an hour. Ice and Ibuprofen and a gentle commute a couple of days later seemed to sort the worst out, but I daren’t run for a few days yet.
The general lack of training was worrying me, so yesterday (Sunday 8th feb) I decided that I’d go for a long ride. I had no idea how I would fare, and I thought the better of heading up into the hills with snow forecast after lunch. At about 10:15 I set off with the intention of doing 80km around the Cheshire lanes with a wimp out option if a) I couldn’t stand the cold or b) my calf proved not up to it. Prudently, I took the first hour very gently to check everything was working. I picked up the pace a little for the second hour and just as I was going throught the delightful village of Goostrey I picked up a semi-pro cyclist from the Shorter Rochford team. Despite the fact that he was on his commuter bike out for a “leg loosener” we picked the pace up significantly. We rode along at a good solid tempo for an hour, at which point two guys with very expensive bikes decided to prove a point and ride past us travelling at full whack. It was most amusing to watch as the pro eased up behind them and chatted as they rode along with their tongues hanging out trying to keep up their ferocious pace.
The sudden injection of pace really cooked my goose and although I managed to crawl up a couple of hills on the homeward circuit, I was toast by the time I rolled home nearly four hours after I had started, delighted that I hadn’t lost too much fitness over the cold snap.
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