Back to BUSiness

Ah Bristol buses, the reason I commute by bike. Well why I did until my bike got flattened. Having taken my bike to the shop the Bianchi is no more, a crack in the fork and frame means I am without something to commute on which SUCKS! Rather than a 25 min commute my journeys into work are now at least 1hr. I don't mind running home, but running in is a pain in the arse. When will I get my bike replaced, who knows? I'm not eligible for a replacement as its not a vehicle ... apparently, even though I commute and if I buy something without an agreement in place I could end up without getting my money back, or two bikes (n+1)? Hopefully my case will be sorted soon but with an estimate of 3-6 months I probably shouldn't hold my breath. In the mean time maybe I should just buy a replacement. 

Replacement Bike?

Having begun to feel closer to normal following my bike accident I've been trying to get back into the swing of proper training.  I'm still not 100%, I'm having trouble getting comfortable on the tri-bars, which is annoying as before I was quite happy sitting on them for extended periods. I also noticed I can't do squats without my knee hurting, so I've had to cut that out of my weight training for the time being, no point pushing it. Hopefully these things will resolve themselves soon, unfortunately it's not going to be in time for my first race next Sunday.

The race on Sunday is a super-sprint at Burnham-on-Sea, whilst this isn't an "A" race for me I'd still quite like to put in a half decent effort. I've bought some tri-shoes and elastic bands, so we shall see if the flying squirrel mount works or, more likely, I just end up making a tit of myself. Either way it will be a bit of fun. I just hope the weather warms up a touch before hand. Hopefully I'll get my splits and an idea of where I'm at. 

Last Thursday I got a pb for 5000m but only because it's not a 5k. 12.5 laps of the track... Sounds easy enough. I'd hoped to run sub 21, ideally sub 20, but in the end I only managed to scrape under 22 min. My splits were fairly consistent, 

0:46 - 200m

1:40

1:44

1:44

1:44

1:48

1:49

1:47

1:46

1:48

1:49

1:46

1:39

much more even than the fast 5k in November but a touch slower. I don't think I was ready to race as my legs felt pretty rubbish even at the start. The next fast 5k is coming up soon so I might try and run that again to see if I can actually get under 21. I've also bought a Sufferfest FTP video, so I'm hoping to have a crack at that sometime soon, then I can compare after more solid cycle training.  I got my first bit of silverware for the year having won the Engineering Departments Watt-bike Challenge 5 mins maximum distance, I think I averaged 330 Watts. I'd like to think I can get this quite a bit higher with some training. I need to do it when I'm not tired or planning to race which seems like never at this point in time.

First silverware of 2016