Commuting

I made a decision on the drive home from work today – I’m going to ride my bike to work a bit more often this summer. If the weather looks like it is going to be fine, and I don’t need the car during the day (which I almost never do) and I’m not running with Deb before work – then I will ride my bike. I made this decision today while sitting in the very regular traffic jam that often makes my 10km commute to or from work take 45 or 50 minutes. I seriously can get there in less time via the 14km of bike track.

No run with Deb this morning as she’s nursing a hamstring, and to be honest I felt so crappy with my head cold when I woke up, I was relieved we’d cancelled.

I did get out for a ride after work, just a nice little 20km loop around the local streets, average speed 26.8 km/hr.

Then after tea I went out and did a little more preparation for the next stretch of eaves painting.

Monthly Summary
Running: 74 kms at 5:28 min/km (YTD 768 kms at 5:35 min/km)
Cycling: 490 kms at 24.0 kms/hr (YTD 3841 kms at 24.6 kms/hr)
Other: 16 home workouts

Another big month of exercise, in fact surpassing my previous best (in terms of calories burnt) of August by more than 10%, with 23,140 calories burnt. Less running, but a fair bit more time on the bike, and a good number of home workouts.  I still didn’t get back to the pool – I really must do that!

This is getting monotonous …

Going to Bunnings, and painting that is …. I’m getting sick of it and there is still so much to do! I spent a good 4-5 hours again today, and actually am happy to have finished another section of painting, because to be honest with the weather forecast the way it was I didn’t expect to be able to.

Also I’m coming down with a cold I think, crappy sinuses and throat – I’m going to try and will it away – hopefully it will listen and go quietly.

I went round to see Matt for a massage just before tea and got another battering of my calves and ITB mainly.

Sarah, to answer your question of yesterday about how my legs felt running straight after the bike. Firstly, let me say we had quite a leisurely “transition”, about 10 minutes getting changed, putting the bikes in the cars, having a drink etc, so it wasn’t quite like a triathlon where you’re running on those rubbery legs, straight off the bike. Mine felt ok, until I started to get a bit crampy in the calf (a common problem recently for me, but no doubt exacerbated by the tough bike ride).

Too old, too slow …

At weigh-in this morning, the downward trend is continuing with a result of 72.2kg – the first time I’ve been in the 72s since May 2008.

As Adrienne was going out today we weren’t going to the market as usual so I’d organised to meet some work colleagues for their triathlon training session. Not expecting the weather to be good we fully expected it to just be a run/swim, but had agreed to take our bikes too. Just goes to show you should never listen to the weather forecast, as after the overnight rain it was a stunning morning.

After a couple of late withdrawals it just ended up being Deb, Voj and myself who met at MSAC at 7am. As it was such a beautiful morning we decided to go for a longer ride down Beach Rd and not worry about the swim. We went down to Mordialloc and back, a total of about 54km, with an average speed of 28.7km. As usual, the trip back was harder, into the wind, and I struggled to keep up with the other two. Voj was quite happy with that, he reckoned it was the first time he’d “beaten the old man”.

To be honest, I find the pack riding down Beach Road a little bit stressful. I guess it is because I don’t do it often enough, but riding so close to so many other riders, at fairly high speeds, and the constant need to push to keep up with the pack tires me out quickly.

After the ride, Deb and I ran a lap of Albert Park Lake, the first time I’ve ever run around there. On a morning as lovely as today was, it was delightful. I did struggle with a bit of calf tightness, but a few stretch/walk breaks and it loosened up enough to run it out. 5.2km at 5:40 min/km (including the walk breaks).

After getting home, it was a shower then a quick trip to Bunnings. I also called in to First Choice Liquor to restock on red, I did alright, getting 9 bottles including a few decent ones for under $80.

Then it was painting for the afternoon (just for a change). It got a bit windy, which makes being up a ladder a bit more fun, but I got done the bit I wanted to finish today.

I think we’re having take-away for tea tonight (probably Noodle Hut), then it’s going to be the couch and TV for me I think.

Good luck to everyone running the Great Australian Run tomorrow – hope the weather is like it was this morning for you.

Casual day

Casual day at work today – don’t know why, but wearing jeans and a t-shirt just makes the day seem better – funny that?

After work, a warm, windy and hilly little ride on the bike, just over 24km in almost exactly an hour.

Tired

Up at 5am this morning in order to get to the airport in time to check-in for the 7am flight to Burnie. Avis at Burnie airport upgraded me to an XR6 for my hire car, which was nice. A really long day of meetings, some of them fairly intense and stressful. I really needed the couple of beers at the airport on the way home. Arrived home at a bit after 8pm, so a long day, needless to say an exercise free one. Let’s just call it a rest day shall we, although restful is the last thing it was.

Run and ride

Exercise at both ends of the work day today. Started the day with my usual Wednesday morning run with Deb. BB, to answer your question of the other day, we meet at work at 6:45am, so it is a reasonably early start, but this time of year it is definitely the best time of day to run in my opinion. We ran the usual hilly loop, 8.5km at about 5:20 min/km.

After work I headed out for a short bike ride, completing just over 20km at just over 24 km/hr (just an easy loosening up type of ride).

A busy today tomorrow with another day trip to Burnie office.

Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

For her birthday (from Jackie), Adrienne got a beautiful book called “Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats” by Bradley Grieve, with wonderful photography from Rachael Hale.

If you are a cat person this book is probably not for you, but if there is any dog lovers in your family it would be a wonderful Christmas gift!

Here are some quotes;

• “Dogs are social, cats are sociopaths”
• “The concept of family is vitally important to a dog. A dog will live anywhere and endure anything if it means the whole family is safe, happy and stays together”
• “While cats have a keen sense of their own needs, dogs have a remarkable understanding of ours. Their devotion is pure and sincere. We are foremost in their minds in every exchange. Dogs carefully gauge our feelings, and what they learn is then immediately reflected in their behaviour.”
• “For the record: Dogs are inherently Good. Cats are something else entirely.”
• “One can only imagine how much better the world would be if more people had enjoyed the company of a decent dog early in life”
• “Good hearts love dogs, and dogs love good hearts.”
• “Dogs want love. Cats want fish.”
• “Life without dogs is too awful to contemplate. I really don’t know what would happen to the future of humanity without the dog’s example of unconditional acceptance, eager support and joie de vivre, but I suspect a great emptiness would open up where love and hope used to be.”

A superb evening for a ride tonight after dinner. 33.8km in 1:14 (27.4 km/hr).

Quick post

Another very pleasant run with Deb this morning, the usual 8.5km hilly loop at about 5:30 min/km. Best thing about it? No knee or calf pain at all!

After work a loss at sandball. This week we only had four, and the other team a full six, so we were always going to struggle.

Weekend catch-up

A bit of a weekend catch-up post today as I’ve been a bit slack on the blog the last few days.

Friday
A normal day at work, with the highlight definitely being going to the pub afterwards for a few “end-of-week” celebratory drinks. Then home to be chief barbeque cook for Kate who had a group of friends over for a small party. I managed to squeeze in a short home workout, which was the only exercise for the day.

Saturday
I was 73kg on the knocker at weekly weigh-in this morning, continuing the downward trend of the last few weeks (74.6, 74.3, 74.0, 73.8 & 73.0). Then off to the market for the usual Saturday morning stock-up. Back at home it was back up the ladder for another few hours of sanding, scraping and cleaning the next stretch of eaves for painting.

I fitted a new front tyre on my bike because I noticed a fairly large piece of glass in it. When I removed it there was a significant hole in the tyre. I’d bought two new tyres about 7 weeks ago and fitted the rear one then, but decided to get a few more kilometres out of the front. It had done over 4200km now so I thought it was time to fit the new front one too.

Then a very pleasant barbeque with friends Kerry and Herb. Some marinated chicken and lamb fillets, as well as my favourite BBQ fare, mushrooms. Herb brought round more of his home brew, I think I had four stubbies, then hit the red wine. By the end of the evening I was feeling pleasantly lubricated.

Sunday
This morning was the inaugural social ride of the Hume BUG. It really wasn’t the morning for it, but I sought of felt like I should go, besides I wanted to see how many other riders were intrepid enough to get out in the wet. There were eight of us, if  you include the three young kids that came with one couple. It was dreadful weather, and a very slow ride with lots of “stops to wait for some to catch up”, and whilst good to be out with a new group of people, probably not a good idea. So, a very slow 20km, getting absolutely drenched and very cold, a few detours around flooded bits. Adrienne told me I was stupid, but I told her I preferred “intrepid” – you can form your own opinion.

After lunch we headed out to start our Christmas shopping at Highpoint. Jeez, that place is hell on earth this close to Christmas. We got a few of the things we were looking for, but it wasn’t a particularly successful shopping trip. What is it with “Keep to the Left”. To me, it is a remarkably simple concept, that in my opinion is equally applicable on the roads, footpaths, bike paths and shopping centre walkways, but it is obviously too complex for about three-quarters of the population to understand?

On the way home we stopped off at Poyntons for a coffee and muffin – it just seemed so much more appealing than the food court at Highpoint.

At home I cleaned down and lubed my poor wet, muddy bike – so it is feeling loved again and looking sparkling – but I did notice I’ve got a slightly bent spoke on my back wheel so will have to get that seen to soon.

A big week!

I had a day of training at work today which was a pleasant distraction, but then a late finish to try and catch up with the important things I’d missed.

There’s something really good about exercising in the cool evening of a hot day and that was certainly true tonight. A great, hard ride, 30.6km in 1:05 (28.2 km/hr), average heart rate of 145 bpm. I had that really great feeling of having sustained a good effort when I finished.

Logging tonights ride entry in my training spreadsheet finished off a big week of exercise for me, in fact the biggest for the year, both in terms of time (10.35 hours) and calories burnt (7086 kCal).