Saturday May 31 |
 | Cycling 5:00:00 [3]87.0 mi (3:27 / mi) | |
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| Harie Holiday:
I was going to go in a car and watch the Laggan 10km, but it was an amazingly sunny day so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to top up the tan. And my legs were feeling surprisingly fresh considering what I did yesterday. So cycling it was. Took the back road, through Loch Vaa, Rothiemurchas, Inshriach and Uath Lochan. It felt good to be home. The road to Newtonmore was closed for bridge repairs, however I'm a cyclist and rules don't apply, so straight through it was (plus there was the National Cycle Network parallel with the road). Watched the race, EUHH P&P cleaned up. Then off to Loch Morlich for a swim. I didn't swim. DC then challenged me to cycle up to the Caringorm Ski Center, so off I went. It's a steady uphill all the way from Coylumbridge but it really kicks in after the Glenmore Lodge turning for 5km. It starts steady, then kicks up to +15% for about 500m, which was enough to take it out of my legs, then the last few km's are steady again, in the saddle to the top, jersey fully unzipped and sweating like crazy. It actually felt like I was riding away solo on a mountain stage of le Tour. Awesome. Then it was the cruise back home, just taking it steady. Got back to Nethy Bridge and the lads were playing football, Youth vs. Experience. Experience won, even without my silky Le Tissier skills. I did an expert job stirring the chilli. Then normal service was resumed in the bar (which was in our accomodation).
Nethy Bridge - Laggan: 35.5m, 1:40, 21.3mph average on rolling roads, nice!
Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/highland/8841985...
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| C • That's some impressive ridi... 1 |
Friday May 30 |
| Cycling 5:45:00 [4]88.5 mi (3:53 / mi) | |
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| Harie Holiday:
Got the train to Pitlochry, did a few miles on the flat to get the legs warmed up, got some supplies from Scotmid and then headed into the hills for a beasting. The plan; cycle from Pitclochry to Nethy Bridge, the long hilly way. The route was pretty simple, if in doubt keep left. Simple doesn't mean easy though. Straight out of Pitlochry was a long climb, with a 1km long 10% section. It was hear that I realised I probably didn't have the best gears for the job, 39/53 up front and a 11-25 at the back. Anyway, on we go. A few rolling hills on the way to the Spittal of Glenshee, then 5km drag followed by 2.5km of 10-15%. That was seriously bitchin' but totally worth it when I got to the top. Not for the view, because the cloud was in and it started raining, but just to know that I've done it. After a wee chat to DC on the phone it was a really long descent into Braemar, a quick resupply at the village store and then off to the next hilly section. This was the tough part, 3 big hills in quick succession. The first one wasn't too steep, a steady 5km climb in the seat the whole way. The next one was quite harsh, the first section was 2km long, getting up to over 15%, thinking this was the top I went quite hard, only to reach the "top" and to discover the actual top was another 3km at 10%. Then down the other side, a few km at the bottom of the glen and then to Cock Bridge (ha ha). This was the beginning of one of the toughest things I have ever done. The Lecht (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=325500&y=8... It's an absolute beast. It started at 20% for 1km. Anyone who does cycling will know that that is seriously hardcore. But the fact I only had 39/25 to get up it was what really made it hard. There was no way I was going to stop though. I was wearing a Flanders jersey with Eddie Mercx across the front, it would have been an insult to the cannibal to do so. I was already knackered at the bottom, and it got to the point where I was barely turning the pedals. I just had to look at the floor, think of Tommy Simpson and grind it out. At the top of the first section there is a few hundred meters of downhill, but then it kicks back up again for another 3km at 10-20%. I got up some of that in the saddle, thinking of Jan Ullirch and saying "Ich bin der Kaiser" to myself. This was the last big one (or so I thought), with a long descent down into Tomnitoul. Some truck went past me as was having my banana at the top, I let him have a bit of a headstart before dropping down like it was hot. No speedo, but I was spinning out on 53/11, so something in the range of +50mph. There was a short 2km climb out of Bridge of Avon, followed by a 20% descent into Bridge of Brown, including an unsigned hairpin bend, in the rain, on 21mm tires. I didn't quite hit the barrier, but it got to the point where I did actually unclip a foot just incase. This took all my momentum for going up the 20% switchbacks on the other side, never mind, I was going to go up them in the granny ring anyway. This slowly flattened out over a few km's, and then it was a nice gentle roll down to Nethy Bridge. Job done. Got there just as the first few cars were arriving. My bag arrived shortly after I did, which was nice. The rest of the Haries turned up, the music was turned on and the beer began pumping...
THE Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/pitlochry/401983... |
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| C • great effort 1 |
Thursday May 29 |
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| Switched the bars over on my bikes, taped up, and then went out for 3 laps of the seat to check it out. Nae bother, although should have taken the tape a bit closer to the stem. Never mind. |
Wednesday May 28 |
| Running 42:00 [4]10 km (4:12 / km) | |
| ahr:167 max:198 |
| It seemed like I aint been running much recently, so went out for a blast round the meadows. |
Tuesday May 27 |
| Static Cycling 1:00:00 [3] | |
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| Slept in and missed my aquatic date with the CK. Watied for Ruth's poster and my pedals to arrive. Decided to go for an easy spin to losten the legs. Also decided that the weather was far to inclement to do it outside, so I got out the old rollers, put my Lance Armstrong DVD on and set about my buisness. In retrospect, probably should have put a towel down or something, as there is still a quite destinct sweat patch in the hall.
Massive congratulations to Scotia, 4th yesterday in the European Sprint, top stuff. |
Monday May 26 |
| Strength & Conditioning 2:00:00 [2] | |
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| Strength and conditioning with the Gunshow (aka DC). The usual nautilus stuff, then up to the circuits gym for some core, stability and plyometrics. Not much to report, other than CK's sunburn on the top of his head. |
Sunday May 25 |
| Cycling 1:30:00 [3]22.0 mi (4:06 / mi) | |
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| Went up to Arthur's Seat and sat on the grass behind pollock enjoying the sun and doing some reading for my dissertation. I have a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow (John Underhill*), so though it would be good to know a little bit about it first. Anyway, did some reading, then decided that what would be even better than reading would be cycling. I was going to have a rest day, but seeing as how Cavendish managed to haul himself over 4 category 1's and 2 category 2's, a few laps of the seat was the least I could do. I did 5. If Cav survived that then it looks like he will make it to Milano. Another awesome thing, the last stage is going to be a time-trial. So none of this boring million laps of the Champs-Elysee with nothing actually happening accept for the occaisional battle for the green jersey. This grand tour there's actually going to be excitement. And at the moment it is pretty close. Contador, Ricco and Di Luca are all really close. Di Luca won last year, bus since being is in a crap team. As is Ricco, but he is in damn fine form. Contadors Kazakh Postal Service are an awesome team, but he only found out a week before that he was going to be racing, which doesn't leave much time to prepare... we shall see... |
Saturday May 24 |
| Cycling 3:00:00 [3]50.0 mi (3:35 / mi) | |
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| Wasn't really feeling it today. I've managed to narrow it down to a few possible causes. It was either due to a inexplicable catastrophic loss of aerobic capactiy, or the Big Cheese.
Went down a beast of a hill into Gorebrigde. Decided to go back up in it honour of the Giro's first mountain stage.
Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/edinburgh/959016... |
Friday May 23 |
| Swimming 30:00 [3] | |
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| First time back in the pool in a looooong time, in anticipation of the Club la Santa triathlon in June. I'm going to be last out of the pool, but I want to keep the damage to a minimum. Finally I managed to perfect breathing on both sides, so no longer shall I have spinal issues after lots of swimming. Hurray. |
| Strength & Conditioning 1:30:00 [1] | |
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| No strength, just conditioning. Did some core stuff down stairs whilst waiting for the Low Impact Granny Circuits to finish. Then did some more core and a lot of plymetrics. Bumped into Duncan "The Gunshow" Coombs on the way out. Arranged a romantic date for two next week. |
| Running 1:00:00 [3]12.5 mi (4:48 / mi) | |
| ahr:160 max:183 |
| Term is over, so I went up to KB to give my library books back. I forgot the books, so took some more out instead. Met my DOS to sort out my dissertation. Watched stage 13 of the Giro (Cavendish is the man!). Then went for a cruise round Blackford and Braids. The stingers are starting to grow up, I might have to spend a day havking them back with a big stick. |
Thursday May 22 |
| Cycling 2:05:00 [4]40.0 mi (3:08 / mi) | |
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| Cruised out to Musselburgh with Tom and Bobby, then we got into line and beasted along 3 up TT style, out past Gullane and back. Had a nice headwide on the way out, which should be a bit unusual, but the winter winds seem to have gone... for now. I got a bit of a shock on the way out when I looked down and saw what gear I was in. I didn't have my computer on, I ride by feel and use the force, but we must have been going pretty damn fast into the headwind. Which meant when we headed back I actually ran out of gears, because I'm a big homo and only have a 51 up front. Not a very long ride really, but bloody hard work.
Once again, training with other people reminded me why I don't like training with other people. Today it was the classic of lateness, and having absolutely no knowledge of what warming up-down is. Other reasons for me not liking to go training with other people is that they tend to be either lazy, or want to do what is obviously to much. To be honest, it's very unlikely that there is going to be someone who wants to do exactly the same as you at the same time as you, so someone is going to have to comprimise, or as I prefer, just crank it solo. |
| Running 30:00 [4]7.6 km (3:57 / km) | |
| ahr:166 max:180 |
| A brisk tour of the Meadows, 3 laps. Once again, some fences and mats are going up. It seems a bit early for the Lady Boys of Bangkok, there was no sign of a giant pink tent, so it probably isn't the breast cancer thing, which leaves the gypsie fairground. Great. And by great, I mean rubbish and I hate pikies.
Actually got hassled about my tan lines today, my work is done. |
| Stretching 30:00 [0] | |
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| Stretchy time, whilst listening to A-Teens. Classic. |
Wednesday May 21 |
| Strength & Conditioning 1:00:00 [3] | |
| rhr:44 slept:10.0 weight:156lbs |
| Seems like ages since I've given the guns a work out, so popped down to CSE for a sesh. I wasn't planning on doing much on the legs due to vast amounts of cycling, but they felt fine so I did them too. I was even impressed at my Chris Hoy-esque thighs when doing the leg extension. |
| Jogging 1:03:00 [3]13 km (4:51 / km) | |
| ahr:144 max:190 |
| Jogged to the bank, then jogged down to Meadowbank to calibrate my new watch (via Holyrood park for a wildy). Did a few laps to get the footpod all sorted out. Ran a kilo fast, which turned out to not actually be very fast at all. Then jogged back to the gym. |
| Stretching 30:00 [0] | |
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| Stretchy time in the gym, followed by a sauna.
I was reading some training tips from the man who was Kenya's national cross-country coach for about 15 years, through the 90's and 00's, a man who clearly knows what he is talking about. And this is what he said (amongst other things)
"If you only have 1 hour to go training, run for 50 minutes and stretch for 10. This will make you a far better athlete than those who run for 60 and do not stretch at all"
Luckily, I have a bit more than an hour to go training, so I can do lots of training, lots of stretching and lots of sleeping. And prepare my dissertation. |
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| C • Interesting 1 |
Tuesday May 20 |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| Did some tidying, some washing and watched a lot of Arrested Development. Started to sort out my dissertation (due in January, go me!). And by that I mean look at it on a map and go "oh, that's nice". |
Monday May 19 |
| Cycling 2:20:00 [3]40.0 mi (3:29 / mi) | |
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| Went out on Sunday night, end of term party at GHQ (If you know what that stands for, it wasn't their normal night with normal cliental (which is a word, despite being highlighted to suggest otherwise)). Anyway. Went back to the halls near my flat for an after party, got to be at about 5. Woke this morning with an ever so slight hang-over. Only one way to cure that, have no breakfast and go for a nice long ride with a lot of water. Worked a trick, I didn't fall off once. Had a few wobbles, but no one noticed. |
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| C • GHQ? 3 |
Sunday May 18 |
| Cycling 5:00:00 [3]82.0 mi (3:38 / mi) | |
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| It's nice not to be woken by an alarm in the morning. It's not nice to find there is no milk in the fridge though, that just sucks. Waited around and till the unscattered clouds became slightly more scattered, then headed out for a long ride. I've become aware that my right arm is disticntly more tanned than my left. This is not a good situation. The sun always seems to be on my right. I though long and hard about a route to maximise left arm exposure, unfortunately the sun was never really out for that long, but the route was cunning none the less. I'll put the route up when I'm on a less rubbish computer. Went on a lot of nice new roads today. The wind defintely changed direction later on. Git. |
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| C • Route 1 |
Saturday May 17 |
| Cycling 2:00:00 [3]34.0 mi (3:32 / mi) | |
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| Woke up at 5:30 in the afternoon. Nice. Went to a party last night, but was so knackerd from exams that I didn't stay late. A week of exams, revising and getting 4-5 hours sleep caught up with me. Fortunately, all that rubbish is out of the way. Yesterday saw 2 new PB's, the epic ride was one, but also got marks back for the Highlands field trip, 95%. Thankyou please.
Went out for a wee spincycle, nothing special, along the coast into the wind and then back along the coast. I'd like to think that on the way back there was no tailwind pusing me along, I was infact just a powerhouse. This is, however, quite unlikely. Spent the evening watch films on tv, "Bring It On" followed by "Commando". Amazing. |
Friday May 16 |
| Cycling 6:00:00 [3]107.0 mi (3:21 / mi) | |
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| A victory spin after my last exam. Was going to do a lap of the Pentlands, then I though it would be nice to go up the hill near Peebles, then I thought it would be nice to go up the hills north of Innerleithen, then I thought it would be nice to make it 100m, then I thought it would be nice to make it 6 hours.
N.B. This was a training session. I felt pretty good at the end (had low point from 3-4 hours). This wasn't an adventure race, or hill walking, or excessice "cycling to school/work/gym".
Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/edinb... |
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| C • impressive... how many calo... 4 |
Thursday May 15 |
| Jogging 35:00 [4] | |
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| Run round meadows. Exams still on. Hurray. |
Wednesday May 14 |
| Cycling 1:50:00 [4]33.0 mi (3:19 / mi) | |
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| It was sunny. It was not warm. Several female drivers. Easterly wind, which was nice for a change. Starting to over develop the tan line on the right arm though. Need to train in the morning, or to the West more often. |
Tuesday May 13 |
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| 3 x Arthur's Seat. Noting to report. |
Monday May 12 |
| Note | |
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| 4 exams in 5 days, this is a week of my life I am never going to get back... |
| Jogging 45:00 [3] | |
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| Banter jog with the Haries. Preceded and succeeded by learning the history of everything ever. It's a tough course. |
Sunday May 11 |
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| Queens drive, 3 times, plus warming upwards and downwards. Lots of silly barriers across roads. Went past some guy in full Lampre kit going up the hill. Wearing a team top is one thing, but wearing the matching bibs is just too far. Only the guys in the team should wear full kit, otherwise it's just false advertising... |
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| C • maybe he is in the team, bu... 3 |
Saturday May 10 |
| Running 35:00 [3] | |
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| Banter jog around the Meadows in the morning. Calfs über-tight. Ran quite fast, sweated quite lots. Then some weetabix for breakfast and away we go.
The Giro d'Italia starts today, with a 23.6km Team Time Trial. There are 6 Brits in it this year, which might be a record for a Grand Tour. And we could be up for a couple of stage wins. Millar's Team Slipstream certainly have the best squad for the opening TTT, as captain he may even be let to cross the line first and get the pink leader's jersey. Cavendish could also be up for a sprint finish, although it's a pretty hilly giro this year. Early on stage 3 looks like it may come to a full peleton sprint. Stage 4, 6 & 8 could do, but they are a little hilly. Stage 9, 12 and especially 13 are perfect for sprinters. I doubt he will continue after that. Stage 14 is in the mountains and stage 15 is one of the most brutal mountain stages I have ever seen. |
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| C • Giro 3 |
Friday May 9 |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| Calfs tighter than my wallet, due to barefoot last night. More barefoot = stronger calfs = man.
Spent today doing Igneous Petrogenesis. That's magama and stuff. |
Thursday May 8 |
| Running hills 1:00:00 [4] | |
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| Harie Hills, up the grass slope on Arthur's Seat, barefoot and skins. All the girls were clearly loving it. 10 x 1min, jog back down. Job done. |
Wednesday May 7 |
| Cycling 2:10:00 [3] | |
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| Post exam spin, out to Gullane and back. Clammy. |
Tuesday May 6 |
| Cycling 2:30:00 [3] | |
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| That was nice.
Back to Global Tectonics. |
Monday May 5 |
| Strength & Conditioning 1:00:00 [3] | |
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| Dawn raid on the gym. Not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind; cycling perfection. Unfortunately some arse has decided that it would be appropriate for me to sit 5 exams in the next 10 days. So I aint going to be tapping it out and topping up the tan today.
Today I will be mostly learning about Platinum Group Element Deposits. |
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| C • go on 1 |
| Jogging 45:00 [3] | |
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| Despite Tullie's awesome powers of persuasion, I managed to not go out on the bike. Instead I went along on the banter jog with the Haries. A bit of off-roading round the seat, up radical road and then hem. A lot of people out tonight, including some gits who have already finished exams.
I have not finished exams. It's half eleven and I have just finished trying to decipher the worst hand-out in the world ever. It basically contains nothing of use except a few diagrams which are so fuzzy they aint of any use anyway. It basically took all day to go through one sodding lecture about Chromium ores. I hope Xzibit appreciates all the hard work that goes in just so he can pimp a few rides. |
Sunday May 4 |
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3] | |
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| Three cheeky laps of the seat, followed by chips, followed by the main library. Joy. |
Saturday May 3 |
| Jogging 35:00 [3] | |
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| Three bantersome laps of the Meadows. Felt pretty heavy. Probably due to the fact I'm pretty heavy. Hills on the bike yesterday probably playing a part as well. Had a shower and headed straight for George Square Library. I shalln't be leaving until I've nailed metamorphic structure to the wall. Joy. |
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| C • Good lad! Hope the ecams go... 1 |
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| C • Good lad! Hope the ecams go... 1 |
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| C • Exams 2 |
Friday May 2 |
| Cycling hills 1:15:00 [4] | |
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| Metamorphic Petrology in the morning, lunch in subways, a nice nap at home and then some laps of the seat to top up the tan and to work on the buns of steel. Pulled the classic maneuver of overtaking someone, uphill, no handed, whilst texting. Brilliant. |
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| C • It doesn't count if she was... 2 |
Thursday May 1 |
| Jogging 45:00 [3] | |
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| Went out for the ever interesting Tour de Prairie, got to the far ended an noticed a familiar group of Harie joggers. Decided to tag along for the banter and the views. Job done. |