Training blog - The Pyrenees - page 4

Day twenty two: Friday 13 April 2007

Rest day.

Day twenty three: Saturday 14 April 2007

Rest day.

Day twenty four: Sunday 15 April 2007

Bike.  A glorious day (weather wise), just the right temperature for me; not too hot not too cold.  I wish I could say the same about my legs feeling hot today.  Quite the opposite really.

I was very surprised to learn that I had covered 42.6 miles on my Trek Madone at an average speed of 17.6 mph.  My legs felt so unresponsive and weak at most times during the ride.  Initially I put this down to dehydration but some checks proved this to be an unfounded concern.  Many cyclists will agree that some days you just don't have the legs.  I guess today was a prime example....

Day twenty five: Monday 16 April 2007

Rest day.

Day twenty six: Tuesday 17 April 2007

Gym.  No niggles to report on any part of my body today, so I was able to do eight very different workouts:-

Leg extensions:  3 sets of 10 reps at 65kg (0).

Tricep pulldowns:  2 sets of 20 reps plus 1 set of 16 reps at 20kg (0).

Hip flexor raises:  3 sets of 15 reps per leg at 36.2kg (n/a).

Inner thigh squeezes:  2 sets of 20 reps at 165lbs (+5lbs).

Outer thigh push:  2 sets of 20 reps at 105lbs (-5lbs).

Dorsal raises:  2 sets of 20 reps (0).

Oblique crunches:  2 sets of 30 reps (0).

Total hip kickbacks:  3 sets of 15 reps per leg at 52kg (n/a).

Day twenty seven: Tuesday 24 April 2007

Bike.  Firstly, having yet another dormant week, I decided to give myself a severe talking to yesterday evening.  Back problems have persisted and this with other things has affected my motivation.  I have now regrouped and have decided to exercise and prepare myself for the Pyrenees regardless of back pain and use my inner focus to block out most of the physical pain, like I did in the French Alps last August.

Today, I cycled 35.3 miles (not a lot but I have to gradually build up mileage again) at an average speed of 18.6mph.  The speed at which I rode was very satisfying and my legs felt very good, I suspect all the better for a week's break.

Day twenty eight: Wednesday 25 April 2007

Bike.  For the second day in a row, I decided to take advantage of the super April weather by letting my new bike see the roads again.

Today the average speed dropped to 16.4mph as I found myself consistently caught up in the rush hour traffic.  I rode for 36.4 miles and my legs felt reasonably good following yesterday's effort.

                            Page One | Previous | Next