Week 3 - Hills & Headwinds

View across to Crystal Palace from Jackass Lane

I know, what happened to weeks 1 & 2? - well it's taken me that long to get this blog up and running, and trust me, they weren't that exciting. So let me explain. On New Years Day, I worked out that I had exactly 21 weeks & 3 days until my London to Paris "adventure" begins. So I worked out a 21 week training programme - well actually I downloaded it off the Skyline website, but my aim is to stick to it as rigidly as possible to ensure I am ready for the 500km my little legs are going to have to propel me - gulp! I already have 2 weeks of travelling scheduled in between now and June, and at the moment, I am kidding myself that I will be able to keep this up somehow whilst I'm away......well that will remain to be seen, and if you are still reading this come the end of February, you will see how I fare!

So, this week my schedule tells me I have to do 1  x hour "activity", 45 mins cycling & 10-15 miles cycling. How did I do?

Tuesday - I planned to do an hours Group Cycling Class at the gym. Unfortunately due to a fatality on the line (what a hideous way to go) my usual train home was delayed and I missed the start of the class. Not to be beaten I decided to do a class of Zumba instead.......fun but I'm not sure I'm cut out for all those pelvic thrusts and I certainly didn't look as cool and co-ordinated as the ladies on the front row. Still 1 x hour's activity - CHECK!

Friday - Group Cycling Class re-match (and my planned 45 min cycling session). This time I get myself there on time, but the class is full. Now this isn't the first time this has happened, and usually I do a little victory dance, congratulate myself for having the intention of working out & rejoicing in the fact that the opportunity has been taken out of my hands through no fault of my own. But tonight I'm a little bit peeved. You see I need to get my exercise in the bank. We have friends coming for dinner and staying over on Saturday night. I'd really like to get all training done & dusted before then so I can afford myself a little lie in and maybe a little hangover on Sunday. I don't think bike riding is going to be an option Sunday. Bugger!

Saturday - I'm up at the crack of dawn (I love not having a hangover on Saturday morning), Irish Stew is in the slow cooker & I'm out on my trusty stead by 10.30am. Check me out! I decided to attempt more hills this week. Hills are something I tend to avoid, they are not my favourite. However, there's been lots of discussion on my London to Paris facebook group that there's more hills in France than we think. It's spooked me somewhat. So off I go to Biggin Hill, where there are hills aplenty. Luckily, the wind is behind me (I'll come onto that later). I attempt a hill that back in the summer I couldn't get up and am so so so chuffed to manage to get all the way up without getting off. I wouldn't say I "raced" up it, but I made it. On my way up I passed a club ride on their way down, I'd like to think their smiling faces were ones of kind encouragement......however I rather think they were trying to supress laughing our loud at the very obvious novice huffing and puffing her way to the top.

The other thing I encountered on Saturday morning was the wind on the way home. Oh my word - why oh why did I decide to do more hills when the wind was blowing so hard. What a lesson that was for me. If hills weren't bad enough, then add a headwind blowing me backwards whilst I'm pedalling as hard as possible to get to the top. I also learned a valuable lesson in gear changing - do it far sooner than you think you're going to need it......and NEVER EVER when there's a double decker bus bringing up your rear!

So I managed to cover 20.81miles in 1.59 hours and I'm chuffed to mintballs with that, home by 1.30pm, ready to cook a scrumptious 3 course feast for our visitors. 10-15 mile cycle - CHECK

Here's the route if you want to see where I covered:- Hills & Headwinds

And today....did I have the expected hangover....amazingly no, but I can't say that's because I absconded. I think I was lucky. So I didn't manage the 45 minute cycle, but we did have an hours walk around Crystal Palace Park (just to remind me of what the starting line looked like) and I did a Body Combat Class this evening. I know it's not "time in the saddle" but I'm going to declare this week's training plan stuck to and followed. Go on, I dare you to tell me otherwise!