Cycling for now

As my running has faltered with my calf still not being right, I have taken the approach to cross-train and keep my fitness somewhere I can easily return to running proper!

Last time I blogged, my road bike had just been repaired and enjoyed a long ride with my mate Steve which has been great at keeping my morale up where it needs to be. Running Races are falling by the wayside and no real view as to when they return so trying to turn my attention to cycling and any events that I can enter.

On Sunday I went out for a ride with the local cycling club SIP CC, based out of my local craft ale pub The Secret SIP the pace was good and had good banter on the way round, we headed through Manchester, past Old Trafford and onto Altrincham.

We passed through Dunham Massey and Tatton Park, stopping off for a Bacon Butty and latte in Knutsford.

After the butty stop, we set off and went through Mobberley and Wilmslow and past the Etihad (two terrible Manchester football teams in one ride!)

I had a good sprint up the hill at woodhouses, out of the saddle the lot! and then through Oldham and back into Royton.

We arrived back at the pub and I had a refreshing pint of Hacker Weiss whilst chatting with the lads.

In August I plan to ride with Steve from Coniston (where he is doing a 1-mile swim in prep for his Ironman in October) the route I have made is around 90 miles so planning a break halfway at Lancaster.

So now focusing on cycling to keep my fitness up and have set a goal to complete the Tour De Manc and this I hope to keep me going whilst running races are still being postponed. It is 100 miles of all 10 boroughs of Manchester (and a bit of Cheshire) very hilly and very long.

The big challenge in the last two weeks was a ride with the club with hills and boy did this week have it.

As Garmin is offline due to hackers, life is tricky especially as it is my hub for syncing data to Strava and trainingpeaks, managing by digging the "fit" file from the device and manually uploading it.

We did a good route and was surprised we went up Lumbetts in Todmorden, I raced this back in 2010 when the "Hot Toddy" used to take place. This race was about 5.5 miles and on my birthday in December, setting off from the centre of town it featured "Old Lumbetts" as a hill that just keeps coming until you reach the Sheppard Rest pub, you then have the downhill to contend with which kills your knees!

On a bike this represents as bum clenching braking which the Cayo was struggling to do, the back wheel squirrelling as I tried to slow for sharp bends.

For some time I have wanted to do Cragg Vale which is a long constant climb from Mytholmroyd to the Blackstone Edge Reservoir and arguably the UK's longest climb at 5.5 miles, there are lines painted on the road, counting down the kilometres, for my first attempt, I clocked 30:05  

 

 

The route in full

One cool feature of TrainingPeaks is the ability to "normalise" the elevation, the raw data can sometimes be a bit misleading so this is the "fixed" view.

So with tired legs, I am finishing writing and no searching for better brakes for my bike... haha

Training Resumes

It has been a couple of weeks resting since my calf went pop. Luckily it seems to have been minor so Resting, Ice, Compression and Elevation (RICE) have done the trick, it can be 6 weeks usually to recover but I hope I am over the worst!

I had one failed attempt to run, to be safe I figured on running short loops near to home so if it was painful then a short walk back, as I feared the pain came back and trudged home.

To see if I could keep a bit of fitness I went for a ride on the hybrid bike I have, it is a "Cube Nature Exec Allroad" and effectively a category 2 mountain bike but best for paved road or canal towpaths etc.

The calf felt good and this both boosted my fitness and morale that I could exercise and not further damage the muscle.

 

So this Monday I went for a run with my fiance Debbie who always apologises for her breaks and pace but it really helps me to do the same, especially when I am injured. The calf behaved and my HR nice and low helped shift a bit if the KFC I have been consuming whilst injured!

On Wednesday I dropped off my Focus Cayo 105 for repair at Cycle Addicts in Rochdale, the front wheel needed replacing or spokes replaced, the gears needed resyncing as changing up and down a clunky misfire affair. At least that was my memory from the last time I rode it some years ago!

The Focus is a beautiful carbon fibre bike, German engineered and super light, despite its chunky frame.

I got the bike back Thursday evening and took it for a test ride, the difference to the Cube is immense. With this bike, I use my cleats so that extra energy you can deliver with the feet locked to the pedals really shows.

I transferred the cadence sensor and various bits like water bottle cage, under-seat bag and rear "Catseye" light, everything worked and as went through Royton spotted some friends in my local pub so sped home and "ran" to go for a pint before closing time!

On Saturday I went for a big ride with Steve from work and we used the route he took when he popped to my house the other week (Rochdale - Edenfield - Ramsbottom - Bolton - Walkden) and loop the long way home!

It was a nice morning but as usual, the rain was not far away and little showers plagued us for the first few miles. The route takes you to Rochdale (My strava segments being busted on this stretch due to the performance of the bike) and then through Norden up a steep hill to Edenfield, the route is beautiful and splendid views of the countryside await those tough enough to ride up it. There were some runners doing "the hill" I thought to myself "I would rather be running up here... much easier!"

Along the side of the road were nice signs thanking not jusy the key workers but to remind folks about the pleasures of life, I would have taking a photo but "pushing" yourself up that hill takes some effort... no time for selfies.

As you exit Edenfield it is mostly downhill and tentative squeezing of the brakes on damp roads always a squeaky bum moment!

But the worst hill of the route was after I left Steves house and headed through Agecroft up to Prestwich, many times I have driven up that hill and given it no thought, on the bike it was hell, after nearly 40 miles it was not needed!

But I made it back nearly bang on my predicted time and with a PR on the hill near my house at the end

In fact the last 3 segments I went though including the "hill aka "Speed CAm Short Sprint"

I enjoyed the route and the odd burst of speed getting out of the saddle and will be putting in long bike rides into my training plan from now on.

On Friday 17th July, the Manchester Marathon will announce whether the event will take place or be postponed if it is moved to next year, then I will drop long runs and just do a 10 miler on a Friday, my Sundays will be handed over to cycling.

I finished the week with a 5 mile (well ditched to get back sooner) flatish run. I used the Strava route creator which I have not used for some time and is much better than before. I will dedicate a bit of next weeks blog to using this "premium feature" of Strava.

Needless to say, my legs were achy and in particular my left hamstring was sore from the ride. it is important to remember that if you body gets injured it will auto compensate, so as my left calf is not 100% my left leg is working harder.

So next week I will add a mixture of rides and shortish runs to keep my legs ticking over, have a good week everyone.

Mark