100 miles in a weekend and all is good

An excellent week if I say so myself. After the tough ride on Sunday I decided to take a 2 day break. I found that it was great way of avoiding injury when I was training hard for a marathon. I have the occasional twinge in my knee and I don't want this getting worse.

Wednesday saw me back in the saddle. I did 30 miles including a couple of laps of Richmond Park. It was fine weather when I left the house but in the park it was really misty with visibility down to 100 meters in parts. I got really cold by the end as I didn't have enough on but I worked hard and was home in good time.

Thursday was a running day. I did a 10K after dropping my daughter off at school. I slowish mile to Battersea Park and then 5 fast miles at around 8 minute miles. I felt fast today and in good form. 6.41 miles in 50:41 which is 7:54 minute/mile average.

Friday was running again. Although my daughter is now at school all day, I still wanted to go to the Dad's play group I've been going to for nearly 4 years. I have lots of friends there and I don't want to lose touch. So I decided to run down there, have a coffee and run back. Its about 4 miles from my house to Wimbledon Park and a nice enough run. I did 8.4 miles in total. Only downside was my left knee that was sore today.

Saturday was our family trip to stay with friends in Cambridgeshire. The girls were driving up there so I decided to cycle. It was just over 50 miles and nothing too hilly so I felt just before 12 knowing I had until around 4 when it gets dark. I set off but the route I had chosen was via lots of small, unsigned back roads and I spent a lot of time stopping to check the map. This made it slow progress so at around 3, I was very worried it was going to be dark before I arrived. It made it worse when I realised that there was a small stretch of dual carriageway I had to go on very near the end. I did not fancy doing that in the dark. I bit my lip and pedalled hard and with a tail wind, go some great speed in the last 10 miles. The dual carriageway was hairy but I made it at around 3:35 in the dusk.

Sunday was the same as Saturday in reverse. It was easier as I had a better idea where I was going but the tail wind I had on Saturday was now a head wind. It was really hard going at times with wide open fields giving no shelter. I made it down into London only getting lost once and I was home well before dark. So that was 105 miles in the bank over the two days.