A NEW TRAINING CYCLE?
So statistics from May were not very encouraging. Slack mileage, just one race which didn't go well and barely feeling strong or even comfortable during any run for well over two weeks. It's not all gloom, gloom, gloom though. As the month drew to a close, the hamstring niggle began to fade and a decent day of sessions on the bike has restored some faith in my endurance levels at least. The 21.3 mile commute from Leyland to Clitheroe was completed in 1hr 17mins with an average speed of 16.5mph. Pedalling in to an annoyingly constant head wind, this required a fairly decent work rate to sustain. With the Ribble Valley jetstream on my tail on the return journey home, I was determined to knock a bit of time off and pedalled home in 1hr 8mins at an 18.7mph average. I'm not too clear as to how that rates in the cycling world, but aside from a steady eight mile ride with Sara, I have no cycling in the system since last Summer so I am quite pleased with those stats. I managed to throw a four mile run in as well, so a good day's training was had on the 30th of the month.
Running yesterday on the 31st in the heat of mid-afternoon, I had lofty ambitions of running in to double figures but the effects of the previous day's effort on wheels made for some awkwardness in getting a decent stride pattern together. Not sure about this biking lark now! It certainly wasn't a good day to get a running feelgood factor back and so for the sake of damage limitation, I returned home after forty minutes.
June is here and I'm going to give the cycling the benefit of the doubt. I've noted that a more pedalling than running routine hasn't done any harm to the fortunes of effervescent fellow Blackburn Harrier Andy Buttery these last few years. It's got to be worth a shot. I do find it a bit of a ball ache though to get the bike out, there seems a lot more faffing involved like checking stuff, pumping tyres up... with running it's just shoes on and off you pop. Either way, the purchase of a set of second hand woods is still on hold for the moment.