Starving and stretching

Boyed on by the success of the Surrey Cycle Surgery Sportive I have started to get serious about training.

Spinning has become a regular activity, I've started a regularish evening cycle (I really want to say ride but I fear that would really make me a spandex warrior), I attempted Leith hill in the rain (OK I bailed but still I started in the rain), and went out with the local cycle team!

I also started to watch what I eat. Last week Monday morning was made even more unpleasant by the realisation that my once respectable work trousers had now become skin tight leggings! The material stretched across my thighs and bum much like the skin on a drum. The buttons only just reached and were perilously close to being converted to mini missiles via any sudden movements. On closer examination in the mirror it was clear to see that I looked 3 month pregnant! This was not good. Hector (my pot belly) was particularly prominent. Now I've been plagued with Hector all my life, even when I had an eating disorder and was painfully thin, Hector was there. Sometimes I think that if I starved to death all they would find is skin bones and an unexplained pot belly. Never-the-less Hector has got bigger. Ordinarily I would put myself onto some ill-advised fast until I could comfortably get back into my cloths. However, said fasts normally make me rather light headed and were not conducive to spin classes. Hmm perhaps I will have to actually research which foods are good for me and have some concept of this thing called a 'calorie'. I decided this would be a good plan, before quickly realising I had no intention of putting that much effort into weight control. In the end I did a blanket ban on obvious sugar. No sugar in tea, no chocolate/treats, biscuits were out.

One miserable week later and I started to re-think this dieting idea. I haven't really put on much weight from all this cycling malarkey. Whilst my thighs and bum are clearly meatier and Hector looks distended, the rest of me is largely unchanged. Dieting did not seem to improve matters. Desperate for an alternative to a sugar free existence I turned to the modern oracle - google. A quick search on 'causes of a pot belly' mainly warned me about the dangers of beer but I did also come across 'Anterior Pelvic Tilt'.

Low and behold I find a diagram of a man with his very own Hector! I compared the diagram to how I stand and yes, we both appear to be doing an impression of a duck - belly and arse out and the pelvis tilting forward. I've never been able to stand up straight, but I always assumed that was something to do with my spine. According to the interweb my posture, and resulting Hector, could have far more to do with the muscles surrounding my pelvis than my spin. Most of this is to due to pre-existing weak muscles, particularly my abdominals. But all of the recent cycling may have also contributed by making my hip flexor and quads tight which will pull my pelvis further out of alignment. Hurray the solution is stretching  not starving (this makes me much happier).

And so I have started a routine of yoga stretches, first thing in the morning and after work. Many of these are bizarre and seem to have been designed for maximum humiliation. For example 'the baby' where it looks as though you are trying to change your own nappy, or the frog which, I think you can imagine what that one looks like. They do seem to be working though. I can now stand much straighter and my guts are no-longer spilling out over my trousers. My lower back also has some movement in it which is a novelty for me.

So I suppose I can add this to the list of things I've learnt from training for the Surrey 100:
a) be positive
b) stand tall.

cycle surgery surrey sportive success

I am in danger of writing a positive blog post! Oh God, does this mean I'm turning into a peddalist?

So Sunday was the cycle surgery Surry sportive - quite a mouthful - Nick and myself had decided this would be a good opportunity to crank up some mileage on the bikes (I can hear the peddalist coming out!). Anyway, I was still feeling tentative on my bike so decided that I would play it safe on the 40 mile route whilst Nick did the 70. This meant doing the sportive alone, which frightened me so I set about cajoling friends into the event.

Chris first drew our attention to the sportive so was a sure bet. However he was keen to do the 70 miles and knowing he is a devout spinner (worships at the temple of spin class regularly) I feared he would rather thrash himself with Nick than baby sit me. So I needed to find me company. Luckily the day before was a friends BBQ, perfect event for coaxing mildly inebriated friends into cycle events. Claire was my unwitting prey. After being sure she had more than one beer and was full of guilty BBQ food I pounced. Her defence of not cycling this year, suffering from a ridiculously hard work out that morning and drinking in the afternoon were quickly overcome by peer pressure. A lift home sealed the deal. I found me my baby sitter.

So Sunday morning arrived far too early. Our preparation the night before went somewhat ary. We had planned to get home early on Saturday, eat a pasta dinner and fix our bikes food and drink for the next day.  Unfortunately the temptation of BBQ food and cake had overcome us and we ended up just collapsing and, rather aptly, watching embarrassing fat bodies. Never-the-less we scrambled to the start line and I was rather pleased to see common sense had not overcome our bullying and Claire was ready to go. A quick few checks to make sure Claire's bike still worked and we were off.

Unsurprisingly Nick and Chris raced off within the first minute. Claire and myself took a more conservative pace. Soon we found ourselves in a group with team sky... I wish I could claim that this was the real team sky but in reality it was a team of armatures that liked the kit. This was quite good for me, I had a chance to practice riding in a group. Claire gave me some helpful tips and I tried to follow them. My terror of ever letting go of the handle bars meant I could not pass on the pot hole signals which I felt a bit bad about. I need to work on that. I'm still a bit uncomfortable riding so close next to another cyclist. I forget most people don't weave about the road like a drunk on the way home from a good night out - that's just me.

We lost team sky on a hill. Claire had gearing issues and wanted to pace herself up the hills as she knew she had sore legs that had not been on a ride for a long while. Fair enough. I think I need to learn some of this self preservation thing. I was pleased that I could pass most people on the hill without getting out of breath. Hurray spin classes clearly are working. I don't know how I would have done had I not waited for Claire. It is possible that I would have flown round, I felt like I could have, but equally I may have bombed it for the first 20 miles then blown up. As is was, having bullied Claire into the rides I was not going to abandon her. Plus I'm still too scared to ride by myself and I could do with some instruction regarding pacing myself. Claire did give me a useful tip for hills - keep your jaw relaxed. At first this seemed bizarre but actually it worked. When you relax your jaw you make sure you can breath. you also relax your upper body therefore making sure that all the energy is going into your legs. So with a relaxed jaw you are able to breath and have maximum efficiency in the energy you put in allowing you to steadily climb those endless hills. Good tip.

About a third of the way round my gears started playing up. My peddles locked when I tried to change up into the big ring and I mangled my front detailer in the process. Bugger no high gears. At least I had the hill gears. At the food station there was a bike mechanic who tried to fix it, but despite he efforts I could still not get the bike to change up. I still managed to get a half decent flat speed on the way home, but probably at the expense of my bike as I thrashed it at the top of the low gear range. I couldn't help myself. I become an oversized puppy when I see other cyclists ahead of me. I instantly have this ridiculous urge to chase them down and overtake. It is completely non-sencical. I have a broken bike, and a broken friend (Claire's I T bands had said enough is enough) and yet I kept powering up to the clearly better riders in an attempt to 'take' them. Silly me.

I managed a sprint up the last hill home and came in with remarkably fresh legs. Claire strava tells us we did it in 2 hours 50 mins, with an average speed of 13.8mph. It also tells us that the max speed was 40mph. I think it could be partial to little white lies.
http://app.strava.com/activities/159425043

Not a bad time for Claire given she has not ridden in a year and started with knackered legs. My legs have not hurt since either which is a good sign. I am reassured that I am OK on a bike. I think comparing myself to Nick has made me feel completely incompetent. I suspect this might be a bit like learning to run with Husain Bolt. Compared to your average amateur cyclist I am alright.

Still reality check. This ride was less than half of the 100. I need to do the 100 an average of at least 2mph faster than the weekend sportive. I have only 5 weeks to go and limited free time to train. I still can't take my left hand off the handle bars or drink and eat whilst moving. It is still going to be tough.

Best get cycling!