Training Log Archive: AC

Afternoon skiing with Freya. Stayed on the baby slope and just went up and down the baby t-bar a gazillion times. She progressed very well and is really enjoying it.

Morning skiing while Freya had her lesson. Great fun to be out, although it was white-out conditions. This made it very disconcerting when you couldn't see more than 40-50m in front, and more importantly, couldn't tell where the snow stopped and the cloud started. Really strange thinking that you are standing still, but you are actually sliding slowly downhill! Suited my very cautious approach to skiing while injured though.

Up in the French Alps for a week of skiing. Pre-broken thumb, the plan was for Freya to do ski school while I tackled some of the green/blue/red slopes. The thumb incident has revised ambition somewhat and now, with the made-to-measure splint and a suitably cautious attitude, I can enjoy mucking around on the green slopes while Freya does her lesson. Beautiful weather and lovely surroundings at Le Tour Balme, up the valley from Chamonix. I am not an experienced skier at all but it was good fun snow-ploughing my way down the green slope here. Got a lot more confident by the end of the session, but will still need to keep my ambition in check for the rest of the week :-)!

C • just catching up 3

Surgery on my right thumb to repair a displaced fracture at the base of the thumb. A couple of pins and a plate now holding it together. Custom made splint fantastic and comfortable, as well as practical for doing sport during the six week recovery period for the thumb. I figure I can still run (as soon as the ribs and back heal) and get on the cycle trainer. Will also use the recovery period for working on core strength and flexibility.

Ouch. That ride didn't turn out as planned. Had been looking forward to the ride all week as the weather was supposed to be dry and we had no commitments for the rest of the day. So the plan was to do a nice long ride and then collapse for the rest of the day. Turned out there was a light misty rain, which did stop after an hour, but left the roads quite slippery. My legs felt very tired and dead and had a lot of trouble getting into the swing of things. Add to that a strong headwind and crosswind and an early scare with a car in the first few kms, and I should have read the signs and turned back home and gone back to bed.

Struggled on anyway but decided to cut the ride a bit shorter. Had to stop a few times and even grabbed a croissant in a boulangerie to try and get the energy levels up. Felt good to turn for home and finally get a bit of a tailwind. Crossing the Seine into Boulogne Billancourt and heading up a curved on ramp to the bridge and the front wheel slid out. I went down heavily (was doing around 40kph) on my back and knocked the wind out of myself. Crawled to the side of the road with my bike to recover, a couple of people stopped but I was okay-ish to continue, albeit very slowly. However, had clearly done something to my right thumb and could barely grip the handlebars. So struggled home the last 5km with one hand.

Off to the local hospital and three hours later the verdict was a fracture on the right thumb and very deep bruising on the upper left back. Will see a surgeon tomorrow to see if the thumb needs pinning. And need better painkillers as the ones from the hospital aren't making much impact.

Buggar, buggar and buggar.

C • Ouch indeed 1

Ballet run in the rain. Cut it a bit shorter this week and was nicely on time for the end of the lesson. Headed across to Ecole Militaire and then through the 6th arrondissement, back across the Seine and through the Louvre before finishing up on boulevard Haussman. Reasonable run. Good to get out after sleeping in yesterday morning and missing my planned bike ride (which was a shame as the weather was dry and it looks like being wet all weekend and so will be a damp ride tomorrow).

The weather was dry but windy and so decided to head out for an easy afternoon spin. Had a headwind for the first half out through St Cloud and Versailles and then a lovely tailwind home. It got darker towards the end and was glad that I had the lights on the bike. Traffic not too bad but a few close calls towards the end nonetheless.

Got out late for a lunchtime run. Grey and cold and damp (apparently it had been lightly snowing a few hours earlier) but good conditions for a run if well rugged up (which I was with three layers and gloves). After the usual slow first km, started to speed up a little and felt reasonably good so kept it going the rest of the run. Same course as Tuesday and 46 seconds faster! Nice run.

Very frosty and chilly morning, but beautifully clear and dry. Steady spin out through Suresnes and Sevres with one and a half laps of Longchamp to finish up. Water bottle was partly frozen by the end, but I was well rugged up and only got a cold nose and cold toes. The sky was actually a little lighter towards the end of the ride, which is a little encouraging. Good ride.

Another gloriously sunny lunchtime (but cold at 2 deg) and headed out for a short run. Took a couple of km to get into it and then started to stretch out a bit. But lungs never felt comfortable and was quite tired and heavy for the last part of the run. Bit of a struggle in the end and was glad to stop. Shame for such a lovely day ...

Started out in bright sunshine thinking that this was a perfect day for a ride. Went on my merry way out through Versailles and towards Chevreuse and Dampierre. But the clouds rolled in and the rain started just after Chevreuse at around 33km. Not too bad to start with but it quickly turned very heavy and the temperature dropped quite a lot. It was a long way home and so had to gird my loins for a tough ride to get back. Wasn't helped by taking a wrong turn through Guyancourt and nearly winding up on an autoroute. Had to backtrack and get on the right road. Started getting really cold and sore over the last 20km and had to really concentrate on hanging on tight to the handlebars as was shaking so much. Was very glad to get home, but it felt like a long ride. Jumped straight into a nice hot shower to try and warm up. Re-fuelled and then watched the England-Italy rugby game (through closed eyelids). Definitely Rule #9 - badass ...

Dropped Freya off at ballet and headed off for a tourist run around central Paris. Pouring rain made it all the more atmospheric :-). I usually take advantage of the ballet lesson to go sit in a Starbucks and have a quiet hour with a cup of tea and a book, having already done a run or ride earlier in the morning. But slept in this week and so decided to try out the ballet run, a la Acejase. Worked out quite well except I was late back from the run and Freya had been waiting for five minutes. The run itself was okay with a lot of traffic and having to wait to cross streets. But nice to see the Place de la Concorde, Tuileries, Louvre, Notre Dame, Palais de Justice, Musee d' Orsay on the run. Lots of tourists out and about, even in the pouring rain in the February cold. Right knee a bit sore towards the end.

C • Ballet run 2

Morning spin with Jared. Cold (-1 deg when we started) but dry and only a light wind. Up through Sevres to Versailles and back through Suresnes. Good ride.

An unusually sunny day and headed out for a lunchtime run in the Bois. After the usual slow start, managed to get into a steady rhythm. Right knee a bit tender during this part of the run, but feels okay afterwards. The sunnier weather (it is now grey and about to rain) bought out the trannies and they seemed to be doing a steady trade ...

Out for a morning spin after a late night - not feeling well after a heavy meal (but no alcohol) nor very rested, so took it easy. Very windy out there which added to the feeling that I would rather have stayed in bed. But a big tailwind home helped to make for a nice finish to the ride.

Lunchtime jog in a howling gale. Fortunately managed to avoid teh worst of the rain, but it was definitely character-building out there. Knees feeling a little tender so took a while to warm up. Felt quite heavy as well - probably the result of over-eating the last few days (not game to stand on the scales!).

Lovely morning for a run - not too cold, no rain, no wind. Heaps of people out running today - the Paris half marathon is on in a month, followed by the Paris marathon in early April. This is always a really busy time of year for the running community here in Paris. Started out slow with the intention of doing 8-9km. Picked up the pace after a couple of km as was feeling okay. Went around Hippodrome Longchamp - first time in a while - and then back up through the Bois. Felt good enough that I decided to try and break 10km for the first time in a long while. Achieved that and even felt okay all the way.

C • well done 2

A busy day lined up so had to squeeze in a short ride early in the morning. Good ride, nothing special, but should have cycled around the block at the end to get over 40km :-).

Cold morning ride. Did 5 X the Mont Valerian hill. A bit boring 5 times up and down, but it is a good 8% climb and I found the going pretty tough. But I do need to get stronger on hills and there is only one way to do that!

Cold and windy for this lunchtime run. Didn't feel great and had to stop a couple of times to stretch out. But got another one under my belt ...

Back into the early morning rides and it was windy but dry for the occasion. Good ride, bt not particularly strong on the few hills I encountered. Days don't seem to be getting any longer yet! Garmin seemed to work fine until the end but then it didn't manage to download the whole ride (just the first 3.5 km). Not sure what is going there and hope it doesn't signal a broken GPS (but then that just provides a good excuse for buying a new model :-)).

Out for a late lunchtime run. Much warmer January day at 13 degrees and drastically overdressed with a thermal and t-shirt, but was glad to have worn shorts. Good run after a slowish warm-up. Actually felt like I was running for a while there! But am drastically out of shape for any sort of hill. Even the slightest rises in the Bois left me breathless. Will have to go and find some hills once I have a few more runs under my belt ...

C • building 1