August 2017

[Sweder]

10.77 kms in 62'46" - Bike with Rob running (off road)
5.0 kms in 31'12" - ParkRun (off road
9.86 kms in 25'58" - Bike home (road)

A leisurely cycle through Moyleman country, chatting to OATR from Lewes to Bevendean, arriving ten minutes before the gun. Just time to swap padded cycle pants for running shorts. The terrain was challenging enough; up the Big W, across the top of the Downs and down behind the AMEX Stadium, were Brighton host Man City this afternoon in their first match of the new Premier League season.

Mercifully Rob was taking things steady after the Mother of all Track Sessions on Thursday, so I was able to burble along at a nice pace.

Parkrun was tough. I set off at an easy pace, stopping to re-tie a flapping shoelace. As I bent down I realised my lungs were high in my chest and I was sweating profusely. I set off again, easing off the pace on the uphill climb. I felt knackered, drained after a week of road cycling that has seen me exceed 200 kms inside two weeks.

I thought I might pick things up on lap two, but no. I has happy enough to trundle round in 31 minutes. My legs felt weird, a bit floaty and not really engaged in the running process.

After a coffee at the Bevy, a beverage that took longer to make than the 5k did to run and carried all the flavour of warm milk over which a hermetically sealed coffee be a had been waved, I set off for home. This time I stuck to the cycle path that runs from Brighton to Lewes. Aided by a fair tail-wind I flew home, legs apparently happy enough to be pedalling rather than running.

The upshot of all this appears to be
1) I need to factor in recovery time if I'm going to cycle 30-40 kms per day
2) I also need to get out and run more often

These two don't sit comfortably together, yet somehow I'll need to make this work. I'll be bike-less from Friday to Monday next week, again the week after (when I have 48 hours in Abu Dhabi) and yet again the week after that, away for an event in Singapore.

Running opportunities will knock soon enough.