I'm not gonna lie. My training schedule for my 100 km charity bike ride hasn't really been going very well. To start with, the weather hampered my training schedule in the early part of the year - as I mentioned in my last post I don't cycle when it's raining or when it's less than 10 degrees outside which meant that training on an actual bike (as opposed to one in the gym) didn't start until early April.
Secondly, I have had so much on recently that I've been working quite a lot during evenings and weekends which means I haven't gone on as many long bike rides or done as many gym sessions as I would have liked.
Thirdly, given the option, I'd rather go dancing than cycling. So all in all, training has been slow going.
However on a positive note, I went for a long bike ride 2 weeks ago - about 40 km - and definitely noticed that whilst I haven't been training as much as I should have, the hills were definitely easier this time around than they were a couple of months ago. Plus, I didn't feel like I might collapse before getting to the top of the hill! Less good was the burning sensation in my shoulders that started about 30 km in...the forward leaning position of the road bike is not good for my already weak shoulder so I think I may need to do some upper body strength training to help with that.
I can't believe there's less than a month to go. Must go cycling every weekend from now on! If you feel you'd like to sponsor me you can do so here - every penny will go to WaterAid to help them provide clean drinking water to the world's poorest people http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JoSouthernwood
