Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 update 4 - Finally a break!

Had a bit of change in the weather this week, its been what feels like tropical weather.
As a count down we are now 4 weeks until the P2A reality is starting to set in a little.

I have forced myself to get out as much as I can, its been pretty good this week putting in, for me, some serious Km's I've almost hit 100Km's in the last few days.
I went out Thursday and got in a very snowy 23Km's and yesterday almost 32 with a training partner. As the weather seemed perfect today I thought why not have another go today, I thought lets get over the physiological barrier and do 40Km, the weather was great, 4c and sunny but the wind was tough. After 32Km my kegs were pretty much jelly but I forced myself to push on, either that or walk I guess!
I thought I had managed the route to perfection but disaster, my GPS only logged 39.9 Km's I was happy I managed to get that distance but still didn't manage to hit the 40Km mark!!

One thing I did learn is that in need to do a lot more training, the P2A is 40Km but its a hard 40Km with a tough climb at the end. Today I wouldn't have managed a climb of any sort at the end.

Care of  Endomondo below you can see my progress over the last week, what is encouraging is my speed, even though its mostly all road I'm happy that I'm kicking around 20Km/hr mark.

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 update 3 - The limitations of man and machines.

 

For those who know me I am reasonably competitive and hate failing.

The P2A is in 6 weeks time and I really don't think I am anywhere close enough to do myself justice.

Our weather this year in South Ontario has been truly brutal, its very difficult to get any outside training in and I hate working out in a gym. I have steered away from cycling in really cold weather but armed with new padded pants and a new cycling shirt I thought nothing could stop me today.

 

I have cycled regularly in sub zero temperatures on many occasions so what could the problem in cycling in -12 with -21 wind chill, a piece of cake.

Sadly not as easy as I was hoping, I have now come one step closer to determining my limit, and it doesn't go down to -12!!!

I almost turned back after 1Km but stuck at it for about 10 Km, my feet and fingers felt like they were falling off and even worse was my chin and cheeks. add to that my rear gears wouldn't select it was a miserable 40 mins.

 

But at least I managed to get out and now I know my threshold is not -12c  

 

.. and if your wondering, I'm not sure if the new padded pants worked as it was to cold to feel anything down there!



 

 

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 Update 2

Finally the weather has broken enough to get out on the road, this winter has been particularly tough, very cold and tons of snow.

Race day for the Paris Ancaster spring classic  will be here before we know it its only about 6 weeks to go, yikes!!!

 

I have been watching several YouTube videos to get a better idea of what to expect and also a great account in the blog ill advised racing this is one of the best accounts of what to expect and it looks much tougher than I originally thought.

 

I have managed to get out twice in the last few days, its so good to get out on the road, I decided to take a local route which included a really tough hill and included some mud, well I found the mud!!

The image below doesn't do it justice.

I managed two runs on the same route and good news I did the 17km's in just under an hour, my goal for the Paris Ancaster spring classic is 2.5 hours which will be around 17km / hour. All I need to do is keep up this pace, bad news I that I have only managed one hour and I need to do it for 2.5 hours.

So looking at the weather forecast we have a few more days well below zero Celsius and another few inches of snow, fingers crossed I can get out pretty soon.

 

I mentioned in my last post and feel its worthy to mention it again a great free app I have downloaded on my Blackberry,  Endomondo is a fantastic, and free. It logs all my work outs and allows me to measure distance, time and a multitude of other items, check it out!!

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014

Where have you been?

Well the winter has been long, cold and loads of snow. I can't recall a year as bad since we have been in Canada, every week it seems we have had at least one major snow storm.

Last year I managed to get myself moving and started cycling whenever I could, it started as something to get me a little fitter and ended up where I couldn't stop whenever I had chance.

The winter has been cruel and I barely get out once every few weeks.

This year to make sure I keep going I have set myself an early goal, I have with a few friends signed up for the Paris - Ancaster spring race. its a 40 or 70km race over road, trail, mud and fields. We are attempting the 40km this year, details can be found at the link below.
http://www.parisancaster.com/index.html

So far this year I have just about managed a few short 10km rides on the very slippery and wet roads and maybe 5 or 6 short sessions in the gym, there is a great app which records progress I really encourage anyone who works out to use it, Endomodo is a free app and has kept my interest in fitness by tracking a multitude of information, try it out.
https://www.endomondo.com


And what will I be riding?
Below is my ride, I invested in a decent bike last year after struggling with a cheap mountain bike, the Specialized Crosstrail sorts disc, is a fantastic ride and has helped me keep interest and allowed my speed, distance and duration to move in the right direction.
http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/bikes/fitness/crosstrail/crosstrail-sport-disc


wish me luck!!