8/5/12

I've been remarkably productive today and am now in dire need of a break from revision so thought I might do a proper blog post tonight!

I want to talk about cycling.  As you know I am a bit (well a lot...) limited as to how much I can do on a bike at the moment, and have been for some time.  I really miss it, it's something which had been slowly filling up more and more of my time as I was taking it more seriously with training and what not.  So I was always out on my bike.

I often find my mind wandering to those times...certain sections of single track always come to mind, as do a couple of specific road rides (one of which being a very damp 20 miles, split in to 2 10 mile TTs, racing myself.).

It has been suggested (and quite insistently by one person) that I should just get out and pootle one-handed 'cos I could go as far as I liked then, because it's still cycling.  I obviously don't know how other people feel about this, but to me that doesn't hold the same appeal.  Even now, however many months since I've ridden "properly", I don't want to go out on a bike and do that.  Maybe because I got into cycling through mountain biking.  Definitely can't do that one handed!  Mountain biking is a combination of speed, technique, and adrenaline.  Great fun! The road riding really started as a method of training - and therefore is about pushing myself and really working hard, and I guess therefore still getting a buzz from bikes.  So yes, I could go and ride 1 handed, just using the other hand to brake/steer/change gear when needed, but I know I wouldn't enjoy doing that, and I expect by forcing it upon myself it would just kill my desire to ride.  So for now I'm happy to dream. At least while I've still got hope of being "fixed" (seeing new consultant a week today!).  I do wonder how aforementioned insistent person would feel, and what he would do if faced with the same situation... 

In the mean time I need to get some exercise (I am becoming increasingly aware of how unfit I'm getting!) and I need to go outside because I don't do cooped up very well.  So a couple of weeks since my first run I thought I'd go out again today.  Did 3 km (I'm going to have to get used to metric now I'm using Strava!).  I felt a lot better about it than last time, although don't think I was much faster (difficult to compare because it was almost the same distance but a different route).  I'm definitely not someone that "does" running, but it seems like it might fill up a bit of the hole.  It's just you and your legs so you can push as hard as you want, and like cycling it's an outdoor activity which is always good, and still gives you time to think.  Watch this space, I'm going to try and work on these short distances (as I end up walking half of it!), and then I'll start working on distance/speed.

I think it's fair to say that the sun has had an impact on my mood as well today, but I definitely feel better for getting out and running (even if stairs might prove challenging for the next couple of days!).  Really needed something as the sheer volume of work I need to do before exams is starting to make itself more apparent and the time left to do it is rapidly disappearing!  Having been for a run I also feel a lot less guilty for the 2 packets of smarties that I have so far devoured whilst revising today!

Here's a picture of the canal from my run (I needed an excuse to stop and catch my breath!):