Keep Calm, only 10 weeks to go!

 

I hope everybody has enjoyed a sunny Bank Holiday weekend :-)

 

I have just begun my 10 week countdown!

Ooh, it's all starting to feel a bit real now :-S

Last week was a tough one. I was tired and a little demotivated by thinking about how far I've still got to go and I missed a couple of spins. I felt really guilty about it because of the generosity of everyone who has sponsored me to date, so yesterday I kicked myself up the bum and forced myself to get out and ride my longest distance yet: 34.5 miles. What's even better is that I know I could've gone further, but it was late in the day by the time I'd talked myself into going out and I didn't want to be riding home in half light (must get new batteries for my lights).

Today is a rest day but I'll be back up and on the bike before breakfast tomorrow :-)

Another positive thing about all this exercise - I can't afford to have a hangover on a training day so I've really cut down on my drinking. Rather than after work drinks several times a week, I'm allowing myself one boozy evening per week but only if I've trained that day and am due a rest day the next. This week I've got a company social on Thursday so I really have to get my training out of the way before then! 

Now, what I'm not spending on alcohol I'm intending to spend on massage. My legs are starting to let me know they've been working hard and tend to take a while to un-tense, de-tense? Hmm...

Anyway, keeping an eye out for a good deal on Groupon so please shout if you see one! 

Right, it's a 4 day working week, people, let's do this! 

https://www.facebook.com/events/511863315518721/

C x

Ouch! 1/3 the distance, with just 11 weeks left!

 

So, this is what I imagine I will look like after I complete RideLondon-Surrey 100. Fresh as a daisy and feeling grrrrrreat!!!

...or, I might feel like I did on Sunday after riding just 32 miles - tired, aching and unable to sit down...

Either way, I will have got round with YOUR support. Thanks again to everyone who has kindly passed on tips and/or donated so far on my fundraising page - you really are keeping me motivated to do this. My legs might also thank you one day!

Well I'm starting to feel quite nervous now. I've managed just about 1/3 of the distance within 1/3 of the time available. Even if I could sustain that pace all the way it's still a lot slower than my target (which I have drastically reassessed since pulling a notional and extremely uneducated 6 hours out of the bag when I registered. Ha!) I think I'd better let the organisers know, or I'll just be getting in the way of faster riders and making a lot of enemies at the start. Causing a pile-up before the start line is no way to get on the news!

My inspirational flatmate, Emma, has just ridden the cycle section of the property triathlon relay. She is really fast. I reckon it's her racing bike (*note - steal Emma's bike) - it flies along while my humble hybrid, quite frankly, bumbles. My bike doesn't like hills either. This course is downhill all the way, right? 

A pleasant side effect to all of this exercise is that I have a limitless excuse to eat. Lots! Healthy nutrition has never been top of my list of priorities, but I'm getting there. It's weird having to count calories to make sure I'm eating enough fuel. Anybody got any recommendations for 'eating on the go' type snacks I can take on the bike - please tell me there are alternatives to flapjacks!???

Ok, it's that time of the blog again - the bit where I beg for your spare change ;-) 

If you'd like to support my efforts to achieve this physical and mental challenge, you are most welcome to do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CathyHyland
Any and all amounts will be super gratefully received :-)

If you want to see where your money is going to go, do take a look at the Mind.org.uk website too.

Finally, if you're on facebook and you haven't already - please join my support group here.

Thanks!
C x

12 weeks to go - Let the Sportive training begin!

Well today is the last day of my fitness training, which can only mean one thing: the hard stuff starts here!

I now have 12 weeks to build up my distance, speed, strength and stamina to a point where I get all the way around the 100 mile course within 9 hours. If today's ride is anything to go by, I've still got a very long way to go...
Today I managed 25 miles but it took me 2hrs 21minutes. My maths isn't great but I don't need a calculator to work out that I'm not going to finish at that rate!

I've never asked my body to do anything like this before so I'm not really sure how it's going to respond! I've taken care to build up my fitness training slowly and surely to make sure I don't do myself any damage, but the next 12 weeks are going to push me harder and harder, and I know it's going to hurt :-/

It will hurt BUT, it will be well worth it!

Every penny I can raise for my chosen charity (http://www.mind.org.uk/) is going to go towards helping people struggling to cope with a mental health issue:

£8.70 gives a lifeline to someone in desperate need of support by letting the Mind Infoline team take their call.

£30 could help Mind work with the Government to promote mental health needs and improve services for years to come.

£150 could fund a local support group and let people living with mental health problems get back their confidence and self-esteem.

£250 could fund equipment for an art therapy group, so that people can express their feelings through art and start the healing process.

£500 could keep Mind's legal advice service open for a day, helping people understand their rights and receive practical legal advice on mental health issues.

If you'd like to support my training and supplement my motivation to complete this challenge, please feel free to do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CathyHyland
EVERY PENNY you can spare is greatly appreciated by me, and will give someone suffering the support they need. Thank you x

This time in 13 weeks...

At the risk of frightening small children - it's too late to look away now - I am making good on my promise to post this picture of my post-work-out 'look':

I'm giving away bonus points to anyone who can explain the reason why only my face turns bright pink. It's a bizarre phemomenon if I do say so myself!
Just to re-cap on why I would even dream of putting this online, in my last post I set a fundraising target of £100 by 21st April, the day of the London marathon, and I'm really happy to say that this goal was not only achieved but exceeded - THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH to those of you who have donated thus far. Your generosity is keeping me well on the road to RideLondon100 in August. For anyone who is intending to support me, you can do your good deed right here. Even better - for every donation I receive over the summer (starting now) I will get entered into a draw to win an additional £500 donation for my charity, Mind.

I've got a long way to go before I can feel confident that I'm going to make it round the 100 mile course on the day, but I've been sticking to my training plan and I'm on schedule to get there in the next 3 months :-) In fact, my training plan for this ride and my desire to reach this goal has been the major thing that has kept me going through a really tough winter. I experience the effects of S.A.D every year, but this year it seemed to go on forever and, unfortunately, evolved into a depressive episode that had me signed off work for 4 weeks. Some days I couldn't even muster enough energy to get dressed, let alone go outside, but having my little foldaway static bike set up in the living room meant I could do a cyling session without it seeming like a huge chore - those days were the good days.

Thankfully I'm now back at work and feeling almost normal - hooray for the reappearance of Mr Sunshine! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather this Bank Holiday weekend. It's fair to say I'm something of a fair weather cyclist and today was just perfect for a jaunt around Richmond Park. Happily, a slight adjustment to my saddle height seems to have corrected my tendency to fall off at traffic lights, and I didn't get chased by a single man's best friend - success!

Don't forget, if you're on facebook you can show your support by clicking 'Join' on the event I created here. I have no expectations of people actually turning up on the day, but just knowing you're behind me makes every training session that little bit easier ;-)

Thanks for reading!
C x