Getting better

My leg's getting better slowly. After meeting the 'can I walk down stairs normally without pain' test, I ran 2k on Friday feeling some pain at the end. An ambitious 5k on Saturday saw me feeling really good aerobic wise but regretting that I'd chosen an out and back route because the leg was definitely complaining from around the 2.5k mark. Still an improvement though and I'm looking forward to getting back into it next week.

I've been spending a lot of time on the cross trainer to compensate for the lack of running. It's boring as hell, but I've recently discovered the joys of watching videos on my laptop while working out. Makes the time go a bit faster:) (But I'd still rather be running!)

I made this weekend a big ride-fest. Rode out to Williamstown in the morning to see my dad finish the Hobo's run, which I was planning on doing with him, in the respectable time of 55:41 (it's great vicariously improving through other people - that was 2 minutes faster than his last attempt). Battling the wind, I went home via Mordialloc, really spanking it along Beach rd. Met my goal of not being passed the whole time:) (All the serious guys had been and gone, but still I was happy with my effort. Probably averaged in the high 30s)

Today I had a fantastic ride out to Kinglake. My friend Jono met me at my place and we rode up to Warrandyte to meet our guide/mentor Ben. He's a very talented cyclist and showed his class by breaking the speed limit going up-hill! (It was only 35kph, but still!) It's a really great ride up there and I'll definitely be doing it again. Kinglake got hit pretty badly by the fires and it was quite spooky riding next to the scorched remains of trees, houses, melted road signs and broken dreams. I was pleased to see that the local economy seems to be doing well up there though. A hoard of bikies had ridden up, and it was quite amusing to see the looks we got at our skin tight bike shorts from a bakery full of tough guys in leather jackets. Thankfully we emerged with both our lives and a fairly decent custard roll thingo (almost certainly not vegan but I made an exception).

Ben had a report to write for uni and decided to go straight back the way we'd come, but I wanted to do 200k and so dragged Jono in the other direction. It turned out to be a good decision. After an initial (quite easy and short) climb, during which Jono requested a break (and was told to htfu:P) we basically had a downhill run all the way back to Melbourne! For 20km, it was literally all descent and the remaining 45k were flattish with a general trend towards decreased elevation. We were both loving it after suffering up 40k of hills to Kinglake and were convinced someone up there was looking out for us especially when Jono spotted a $10 note on the road, which we traded in for some more bakery produce around Northcote:)

After bidding goodbye to Jono, who had a housewarming that night, I headed down Beach rd to make up 200k. I didn't quite have the same oomph in my legs as yesterday and got passed once, but it was very pleasant in the mild temperatures with a barely existent breeze and a lovely sunset. I was nowhere near finished when it started getting dark at 5:30, but intelligently, I'd fitted out my bike with lights the night before so felt ok about keeping on going out to Frankston before heading home on Warrigal road. Finished the ride feeling great but was a little famished!

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Pushups and pullups are going well. Did 100 pushups and at least 25 pullups most days this week. Raised my pullup PB to 14: not too shabby:) I was quite pleased with doing 43 pushups too, though I still have a good 30 to go to beat my best!

Weight was sitting on 68.0kg on Friday. Probably a bit lower after 310k of cycling!