Early mornings

Nodding off on Friday night, I fully accepted the fact that I may sleep in on Sat and not get out on the bike until 9am or later (which is annoying b/c of the added traffic).  You can imagine my surprise when I was up at 6.15 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Thirty minutes later I could see the image of a blue sky creeping through the blinds, and my legs were practically begging to get up and out.  Who am I to argue?

Changed, readied my riding kit and off for Richmond Park.  Couldn't believe how smooth my legs were feeling despite the week and to top it off, my fastest lap around the park, sub-22.30 (for reference, Alan does laps just above 21mins and the measure of a true cyclist is 3laps in 60mins, so still a lot of improvement necessary).

Deer X-ing

from the top of a hill

150mins later, home, out of the cycling shoes, into my runners and complete loss of the smoothness I had on the bike.  It seemed my knees had a falling-out as they smacked each other while I moved along the canal.  If that's bad enough, my heels got in on the action, and there were a few moments I thought I'd trip myself straight into the canal!  I shortened the strides significantly, felt like a senior citizen rushing to make the early bird special on time, but was maintaining 4.30km's and just after 3k the session was complete.

Exhausted and exhilarated all at once, I sat along the canal for 20mins taking in the sunshine and attempting a stretch whenever enough energy had built up.

Sunday was standard, 30min low HR/ high RPM bike session followed by a quick rest complete with coffee from nude espresso (great beans!) and finally a moderate 75min run.

Looks like Saturday is going to be the true test with Sunday still long but more recovery than hard effort.