Early starts...

This week has been the first week of base... the hours have gone up and so has the intensity..

Long session on the turbo kicked off the week... followed by heavy weights sessions with low reps... hilly rides... hil reps and long slow ride to finish.

This would of been a hard enough week but long hours at work and a few early starts upped the intensity.. Grace was on a training course so wednesday morning i got up and out of bed at 4.30 to see her off... that night was spent out on the singlespeed searching the streets of manchester with a local riding friend in search of the perfect hill to rep... anyway this recon ride came under the prescribed 'hilly 1.5hr ride' so that got ticked off the weekly training plan.

Only problem with the hill that was the bet was that at the bottom was a roundabout and junction of the M60 motorway.. only way to get the reps in safely and consistently was another early start so 4.30 am thursday morning i was up and out of bed again changed and out doing my hill reps.. soemthing deeply satisfying about getting up and out while the world is still aspleep.
Thursday night i did a gym session to leave a clear friday night for me and Grace.

Saturday was a long slow road ride... at the moment i don't own a road bike so i train on my old singlespeed with skinny tyres... great for the odd off road excursion too when needed... i did the usual run out up the brickworks climb, long hill, goyt valley, then final big climb up to Cat and Fiddle pub..
The day was clear, no rain.. temperatures were nice for riding... wind was blowing hard though and i caught a head wind all the way out until the final climb upto Cat and Fiddle.. meaning wind on my back for descent.
Road was ice/water free so it was all out attack on the descent..a quick glance behind to check for cars then swinging out to make use of the whole roads width to get in and out the corners as quick as possible then tuck back down to squeeze the most speed out.
I had decided to ride with ipod on... not usually recommended while road riding but i am super cautious when on the roads and always ride still being able to hear what is going on around me... anyway i stuck ipod on shuffle and let it decide the soundtrack.. its didn't let me down.. some like a hard techno, some like thumping rock... for the Cat and Fddle descent my ipod chose Dean Martin!! definately had a good flow through the corners... Downhillers take note... Rat Pack is the future for a smoother run:)

saturday was rounded off by a shopping trip to town buying some discounted Vans half cab trainers, north face slippers and a travel guide for Kyrgyzstan:) then going to see Keane at MEN arena... great weekend so far.