Weekly summary (last week)

I've let this slide a little bit for the last week cos I haven't quite had the time to update, what with working a bit later and, you know, actually training a bit :D

So, for the week ending last Sunday. This was a pretty good week, actually, lots of training done, and a nice increase in kilometerage also. Overall for the cycling was 93 km in 4 hours, which is getting back to what I was used to back in the day. I know that makes me sound about 4 times my age, but whatever. There was some running done as well, but I can't remember how much. We'll go with two sessions of 5km...

Something that has been added to the weekly summaries; the target shooting is back :) I went down to the club on the Friday evening to see what the story was and how things worked. I wasn't so much given an introduction, as asked if I had shot before, to which I answered yes. The response to this was to hand me a rifle, some pellets and a target strip... An hour, and some horrendous shooting later, I finished up and was asked to come back the following Friday :)

A quick bit on the actual shooting; I don't think it's gotten much worse, but there were a few confounding factors. Firstly, no kit. I didn't bring any of mine cos I didn't think I'd be shooting. Also, there were no raiser blocks on the rifle (an old FWB 600, which, oddly enough, had a safety catch) and the cheekpiece was bottomed out, and pushed over to the right (i.e. away from me). Anybody who has seen my old rifle set up in DURC will know how much of an issue these things are for me, what with my freakishly long neck and high cheekbones :D These things can, of course, all be changed, but I didn't want to spend the first half hour poking at the rifle with a screwdriver.

However, it wasn't all bad. The hold wasn't the worst, despite not getting my cheek actually onto the cheekpiece, and there was some reasonable grouping. Next week when I go back to air rifle I'll make some changes which will hopefully help a bit. I may go jacketless again, just until I settle back into it and get comfortable with the new rifle. Adding the rest of the kit at that point should solidify things nicely :)

I'll hopefully have more up again soon. This week had some decent cycling and running, as well as some prone shooting. At 50m. Oh yes :)

Weekly summary

This week was better. I'm starting to head in the right direction, at least. I got out for something every day I was here, apart from Friday.

So, may as well crack into the numbers;

Distances;
Saddle; 45 km
Commute; 19 km
Run; 12 km

Times;
Saddle; 1 hr, 45 mins
Commute; 1 hr
Run; 1 hr 5 mins

Monday; Ireland
Tuesday; Travelling
Wednesday; Commute
Run, 5 km, 20 mins
Thursday; Commute
Saddle, 20 km, 45 mins
Friday; Commute
Saturday; Run, 7km, 45 mins.
Sunday; Saddle, 25 km, 1 hr

OK, so, the story with the running on Saturday... I was going well enough, keeping my normal slow crap pace, when my right knee cramped up. I'm not sure if it was a tendon or ligament, but something cramped and wouldn't straighten out for love nor stretching. I probably spent a good 15 mins of that run trying to stretch it out and eventually got bored and just ran home slowly on it.

I was unsure of whether or not it would turn out to be bad news, but said I'd give the bike a go today. Fortunately, the movement seems to have loosened it up, which is good. I went north again, towards my favourite 12% sprint uphill. Decided to cut my losses once I got to the top (one go this time, I'm happy :) ) and turned around for home.

On the way down, I topped out at 48.6 km/hr, which, by my rough calculations and crude assumption of a wheel diameter of 700mm, gives a max cadence of around 140 rpm. Which I find kinda impressive. Now, I was gripping the handlebars to pull myself back down, cos I have terrible technique so I bounce up and down, but still! I think I can do about 100 comfortably (35 km/hr), which isn't too bad. That'd be my normal tipping along pace, which bodes well for further training.

I was wondering during the week why my weight has been so reluctant to drop that much (currently at 62, which is a bit over my target (59/60). However, a quick thought to what I was doing last Summer helps; each week I was doing at least 150 km, including 100 km of commuting. The numbers are starting to come back up, but it won't be till I get my bike with gears that I extend the distances. I'm quite conscious of overtraining on the fixie; knee damage is not where I want to be.

Finally, a piece of news; I got in contact with a rifle club in the town over from here, and I'm heading out there this Friday to have a look at the facilities and see if they like me.. Whoever gets assigned to showing me around will have the misfortune of experiencing my oh-so-wonderful German. Which will be interesting :P I'm looking forward to it. I've been out of it for far too long at this point. Comebacks always have worked well for me, though...

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows

OK, I lied. Just sunshine. But it is pretty nice. Got out yesterday in just a short-sleeve jersey. I got my new merino arm-warmers as well, and decided to try them out; that was a stupid idea :D

Anyway, not to dwell, just said I'd post up that things are actually going well this week with sessions being completed, even in the shortness of the week. I had a bit of a hammerfest home last night while being drafted by another cyclist. Trying to pull away really kept me going :P Settling in behind him for the final stroll home was nice, though, and very welcome!

More from the week on Sunday, with some accurate numbers this time!

Weekly Summary

Yeah, this week kinda sucked so far as getting anything done was concerned :D Last weekend knackered me out, so I wasn't on form for most of this week; a combination of stiff legs and being generally tired didn't help. Also, I gave a little more focus to work this week, which ate into the daylight available. And no, the lights still haven't arrived. Great deal or not, I know one shop I won't be going back to for some time...

Unfortunately, I didn't get in any running this week. The legs just weren't up to it. This means that I'm going to have a tough time getting going on it again next week. That said, the time off could be good for me, and it's not like I've just been sitting around. Total saddle time for the week was two hours, distance 40 km.

The week culminated in a 15 km cycle on Friday morning, which turned into a hammerfest once I got outside Garching. It was basically a straight run through Ismanning and back. Almost totally flat, just one lump over a bridge and that was about it. On the way back, I kept the speed above 30 km/hr, topping out at around 38. I haven't gotten the rhythm quite right in a while to get a faster pace than this. As a test, I tried really going for it on a one km stretch when I was close to home. Kept it above 35 all the way through it, which I was happy with. Now it's just doing a few of these together for an hour...

Next week shall be better. Next week is always better :D