Ramping it Up

Further to my previous post about gradients I decided to try a little experiment on the treadmill. So after a warm up I did 3 miles at 5mph on a 10% incline. It felt very comfortable to start with. My heart rate was 123 bpm once I'd settled in but it slowly but surely trended upwards over the three miles finishing at 135. At that rate I'd have been struggling after another mile as my rate approached 140. I'm fairly happy with that as it gives me something to work with over the next couple of months.

What I'm not so happy with is that I've got a slight niggle in my right achilles tendon. I can't feel it when I'm running but I can when walking. I once lost a whole years running when I tore that achilles. I don't suppose it helped that I tore it at the begining of a run, finished the run then three days later did a two-day mountain marathon on it. It was a team event so I couldn't let my partner down at the last minute. Not the best treatment though. So, I'd fancied trying a full marathon length training run today but am not going to risk it. I'm off out on the bike now instead.

On yer bike!

Offloaded

Having gotten the previous post off my chest I needed to cheer myself up. Looking through my old photos I came across this one. It's me on my trusty Trek (or not so trusty as it turned out) above Les Arcs with Mont Blanc in the background. I spent a week with my friend, neighbour and foreign beer connoisseur Rod (the only man I know named after a piece of fishing equipment) as guests of Bike Village in the French Alps. I had a great time and learnt a lot about mountain biking on singletrack: namely why drag a lump of metal and rubber round a mountain when you can run it a damn sight easier and faster!? I love biking but there's a limit to what you should try and ride on and for me alpine single track is that limit. I spent ages trying not to fall off my bike down a mountainside on some of the most gorgeous running tracks imaginable.

Regarding the trusty Trek, on the day the above photo was taken the seat pillar bolt snapped. I spent the rest of the day (apart from the few seconds it took Rod to take the photo) stood up on my bike. It also gave me an excuse to take the next day off the bike and go for a long run instead :-)

Talking of running, after my long run on Monday I've only done a quick 4 miler round the golf course near the office. We move office today and apparently there's only one shower in new office for several hundred people. Should be a law against it.

Four weeks today to my birthday.