Cycle Power!
Yikes, I actually did it - I swallowed hard and coughed up for a shiny new road bike. I'm really glad I tried the smaller size as it fitted so much better. I realised as soon as I clambered on. I bought it on Saturday and headed out for my first ride yesterday. I was really lucky in many ways as when I got up with Murray, the weather was awful and I really didn't fancy heading out in the wind and rain, however by the time I headed out it was still v v windy, but the rain had abated and stayed off the whole ride. I must admit I nearly turned back home after about a mile as I was terrified!!!! I was on a major road and the x-wind was horrendous - I actually felt the bike leaning from under me several times within that mile. I actually stopped to gather my courage and told my self to toughen the hell up and get a grip. I seriously gave myself a talking to - "You've just spent a fortune on this bleep thing, now at least make it to Crieff!!!!" LOL. When I got to Crieff I took the back road to Comrie which takes a sharp left and so I was then into a strong head wind, but I can't tell you how glad of a head wind I was after that X wind. It helped of course not being on a major road. I got into my swing a bit then. Just like in running I really loved the uphills as I could get some power on without feeling rather afraid. On the way back I was really getting some speed on, but I felt like I had to back it off as I felt like I didn't have the technique to handle it. Quite scary actually. Frustrating too as you know that your fitness and strength could make you faster if you could just take your hands off the brake! I know how folk must feel skiing now! Any how I did 26 miles (hilly miles) in 1 hour 50 so I'll take that as a reasonable start, especially as my bottom was only just a little sore at the end and generally the bike was really comfortable. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was just being outdoors and exercising for longer than an hour and it feeling like a quarter of that time. I definitely think it'll be a good buy.
Feeling a bit wind swept, but happy - Murray loved teething on the rubber end of my water pipe!
My route so I remember was :
Muthill - Crieff
Crieff - Comrie on back rd
Comrie to Culty Braggan up Glen Artney
X over main rd and back to towards Muthill to 'Stinky Farm'
Left at stinky farm and down to Balloch
Right at main rd and left asap to Templemill
Left to join onto triangle route and then work way home. = 26 miles. Av: 14mph T= 1h50
So a good end to a crazy beginning.
No Power!
On Monday the weather was insane. Al and I were eating lunch (he had a random public holiday thank goodness) when the power went out so we thought we'd head out in the afternoon to take Murray swimming to get out of a cold, dark house. All was good until we left the Hydro to come home.The wind had blown trees down in the car park. Eventually once they had been cleared, we headed on our way home. As we drove up the main road, we could see a queue of traffic. We quickly realised it was a tree down and as I felt like we were sitting ducks to the bits of debris being blown around we tried to get home via the back road, but, yep, more trees down. By this time it was Murray's tea time so an emergency call to my mate Liz saw us at her house feeding Murray and waiting until the road had cleared which all things considered was very quick - 2 hours. She too had only just made it back from Comrie with her sis who was over visiting from Canada with her 2 small kids. When we got there Liz's son was just getting home from school with a mate who was stranded as his mum couldn't get through to pick him up, so it was a crazy full house! Thanks Liz!
Anyway we were able to head home about 6pm, but when we arrived we realised that the electricity was still off! Thankfully we were able to find our camp stove and use it to warm Murray's night time bottle and warm up some simple tea for us! All quite amusing as Al was here to help and we were safe and it was still a novelty. Not so funny in the morning when Al had to go to work and we still had no electricity! I packed up Murray's toys, travel cot etc; the entire contents of the fridge and freezer to stop them going off, and headed to my mum's asap! I'm v glad I did as it didn't come back on until 9.30pm. With all this going on I was quite impressed with myself for getting to swim group that evening - well it was definitely a better option than sitting in a dark house! Poor Al was getting just a bit fed up of reading by candle light when I got home and then the lights went back on!
I must say it would be rather nice to have a simple week of looking after Murray, work, put Murray in nursery etc and not have to deal with some form of illness or a ruddy power cut!!!!! At least life isn't dull I suppose!
So to sum up on my exercise:
Mon: 1 hour gym ~ 7 miles
Tues: 17 mins XT + 60 min swim ~ 7 miles + 40 mins pilates
Wed: 10 mins pilates (I forgot my arm weights to take to mum's so did it today!)
Thurs: 50 mins Pilates
Fri: REST
Sat: 55 min Gym ~ 6 miles (God that was a struggle to go - had to split everything into 10 min blocks and then 5 to mix it up!)
Sun: 26 mile bike ride (1h50) ~ 8.5miles + 3.5 mile hike
Total: 32 miles!!!!
This week's swim session was as follows:
10 lengths warm up
4 x 4 lengths 1min45
5x2 1 min
4 easy
4 x 3 1 min 30
12 x 1 30 secs
1/2 pyramid of 4,3,2,1
= 74
I then added 30 lengths on at the end of the session, so = 104 lengths = 2080 m ~ 5 miles
That's a nice ride lady! Oh, and that kids kinda' cute too. :)
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