Tag Archives: audax

31 days of biking

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There are a couple of streak challenges out there that have caught my eye over the years. One of these is “Every Day in May“. The aim of this challenge is to complete a physical activity every day for the month of May with the option of raising money for charity while doing so. The challenge is designed mainly for walking and running 5 or 10K each day but in 2017 I decided to do it as a cycling challenge. I completed the challenge with a total of 1500km for the month.

That was the year when I was at my fittest and strongest on the bike. I did my first 200km Audax that May and went on to complete the Four Provinces Challenge and a total of five 200km Audax events for the year starting a four month streak for RRTY that unfortunately died when I missed December. RRTY remains an aspiration for me as does the next level challenge of Super Randonneur.

may 2017 © strava

I had the Four Provinces medals framed by one of my friends who is a photographer and it is one of my favourite possessions.

I originally came across Every Day in May when I saw a reference to “30 Days of Biking“. By then it was well into April so I went looking for something similar. I completed Every Day in May in 2019 again, mostly with walking activities, but I’ve never gone back to do 30 Days of Biking. I looked at it earlier this year but with Covid19 restrictions I couldn’t build up enough motivation to ride my bike at all never mind every day.

My running has been going well and I finished the None2Run program at the end of June.

graduation day 5k

Since then I’ve played around with a number of 10K training plans and ran a further four 5Ks while trying to find a good progression plan. Eventually I settled on a modified version of N2R that was suggested by another member of the N2R Facebook group. It involves slow/fast running intervals instead of walking/running for the 25 minutes. It’s the perfect program for me as I eventually worked out that I don’t really want to run 10K, I like intervals, like running early in the morning and don’t want to give up more time in the morning before work. Unfortunately, I’ve managed to pick up an injury after completing the first week when I ran a 5K. It was my fastest 5K ever and I think that was the problem.

27:27 5K pb

The injury is the same as the one that stopped me in my tracks in December. It’s a strained left calf muscle and I worked out in November that it was caused by running too much, too quickly in the program. I figure I’m once again running too fast, too quick and have aggravated the same muscle. I need to slow down and build speed and distance more slowly but first I need to rest and heal.

Initially I decided to walk on my run days but that’s taking a full hour and isn’t really resting my calf. Instead I’ve decided to take on the 30 Days of Biking challenge for the month of August, making it into a 31 Days of Biking. I’m going to keep getting up before work for a 25km/1 hour spin and keep up my longer spins on my days off. In 2017 I managed 1500km and I’ve only hit 1000km three times ever, with the last time being May 2017, so I’m also setting a distance target of 1000km for August just to keep me fully focused each week. It may seem odd to increase my cycling activity to rest my leg but cycling and running use quite different muscles or at least the same ones in different ways.

So far I’m off to a good start with an early morning 25km yesterday and a 74km spin this afternoon to the Ghost House. Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so I’m planning to add another slightly longer spin to keep me ahead of schedule for the month.

ghost house spin

The plan is to be a lot fitter and stronger by the start of September and ready to get back running again.

metric challenge: february

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A few years ago I read a tempocyclist post about his old club in England and the metric challenge they ran. The goal is to ride a 100km cycle at least once a month for a calendar year. Since then it’s something I’ve been attracted to especially as Strava also use the same distance for their monthly Gran Fondo.

Audax Ireland have a similar challenge, but taken to another level, to complete a 200km “Brevet” every month for 12 consecutive months. This challenge is called “Randonneur Round the Year” (RRTY). Having completed the “Four Provinces Challenge” in 2017 I’ve always had a goal of completing the RRTY. I started twice but for various reasons was unable to keep the run going. I cycled so little in 2019 and lost so much fitness that it seems like a fading dream but I’m hoping that a metric challenge this year will help me get there. At the very least it will be motivation to keep cycling.

My first 2020 metric challenge ride was near the beginning of January and with the Club. February has been such a terrible weather month with a number of bad storms and very wintry weather I’ve been cycling very little and thought I was going to run out of time. I managed to squeeze in a 50km spin on Sunday with the plan to cycle a solo 100km today.

I had a number of errands for today and at least one that had to be done early this morning which pushed the spin back later than normally suits me. That kind of worked out today though as it was very cold overnight and the delayed start meant the roads were properly thawed out. Snow caps on the hill tops convinced me of my plan to stick to the easier low ground and the same route as Sunday but doubled up.

Weather today was similar to Sunday with long bright spells. Thankfully less windy but definitely much colder. Dry all the way except for a heavy shower for the last 8km that turned into a snow shower for the last 4!

It’s a relatively easy route when there are lower windspeeds but lack of fitness made it difficult enough today, especially the second return from Strabane and into the headwind. Lack of time in the saddle also led to aches and pains that wouldn’t normally bother me from shoulders to ass and even in my feet as tiredness set in.

Two rookie mistakes didn’t make it any easier. A much needed tea break in Lifford at 63km was taken outside which led to me getting quite cold. It took a good 20mins to get back to a comfortable temperature and sapped energy I should have been conserving.

tea break at daley’s

I also badly underestimated food intake, leaving the house with just two small bars and was feeling the effects all the way from Castlefinn on my second loop. By the time I got to The Crossroads at 83km I needed to stop or I was in danger of “bonking“. Another cup of tea and a chicken and bacon wrap and I was good to go again.

Coming out of Ballybofey I realised that I wasn’t in the shape to make it up the 1.6km climb to the house. It’s tough enough at the end of any ride but I felt today that it would be a step too far. I decided to arrange for Catriona to pick me up in Castlefinn and get a lift home, avoiding the hill climb and maximising the benefit of the tailwind to finish. Turned out to be a great idea when the rain/snow arrived for the final section!

click the image to view on strava

All in all a tough day on the bike but I’m very pleased to get it done and hopefully March will see better fitness and an easier time.