Managed it

Well I finally managed it, I finally did some training during my brief offshore visit.

As I mentioned yesterday, the plan was to try out the treadmill last night and possibly spend a bit of time on the bike this morning. That is just what I did.

Not all beer and skittles though.

I am not the biggest fan of treadmills, but despite that the run last night was going okay for the first 15 minutes or so. Around that point though my legs really started to seize up. I am not sure if it was the quad or the ITB (it felt more like ITB) but they got really stiff and sore. After 15 minutes I had no choice but to stop and stretch for a while. After that I got back on and took it a bit easier. That got me through the next 35 minutes, but at the 50 minute mark I needed another stretch. I got back on to finish off the hour, but that last 10 minutes was pretty cruisy.

I am not sure what bought on the soreness, but I have some suspicions. I have been walking up and down lots and lots of stairs the last few days. I am fairly fit etc, but that number of stairs is an unusual load for me, so perhaps that has bought on a bit of soreness. Not sure, but it is possible. The other simple answer may be that I was on a treadmill rather than the road. I think most people will agree that treadmills load up your legs slightly differently to running on the road. A good treadmill can be a decent analogy for the road (these were not good treadmills), but they are still not exactly the same. Perhaps that difference was enough to bring on the soreness. Not sure, but all I know was that it was ouchy. I wasn't willing to risk injury for the sake of getting in a single run hence the conservative approach of stopping to stretch. It wasn't ideal, but it got me through the session, so happy with that.

The other session I did was spend 75 minutes of an exercise bike this morning. I say exercise bike, rather than stationary bike, or spin bike etc, because that is exactly what it was. One of those bike things people design for gyms rather than cyclists. Wide seat, upright, you get the idea. It wasn't an ideal arrangement, but still I was impressed just how hard I was able to work on it. I was using my heart rate monitor to judge intensity and based on that I managed to get in a fairly decent session. I wouldn't want to be stuck on there every day, but for a one of session it did the job.

So two less than ideal sessions, but I am happy that I have managed to get a bit of training done. On Monday I said I was not going to put myself under pressure to train and would take it easy for four days if necessary. I was willing to do that, but not keen. The two sessions I have got in will not set the world on fire but they are enough to keep me ticking over and means I haven't spent a week doing nothing. If nothing else the sessions will ease my conscience.

Flying out later today to begin two days of travel back to Perth. Looking forward to getting back into routine and preparation my for Iskanda Puteri.