Week 47: Review

Starting to get back into the groove of things this week, although thanks to the unpredictable weather lately my cycling mileage is again pretty pathetic. Will likely end up moving inside to the trainer in the next week, but I've been procrastinating on that front as I'm not looking forward to making that change. Last year's spectacular weather spoiled me a bit, as I was able to comfortably ride outside well into December, but this year is supposed to be much colder so the only reason I've held out so long is my stubbornness.

The one ride I did manage to get in was originally supposed to be 30K, but I ended up cutting it down to just over 22K because of the cold. The temperature was just barely over freezing and the wind made it quite chilly. I wore the warmest cycling clothes that I had (including plastic sandwich bags over my toes), but at cycling speeds the wind just went right through them. I could certainly buy some proper winter clothing for the bike, but given our climate it's hard to justify the costs as there is a very short window where they'd be usable.

As noted in my previous post, I managed to pick up my new Edge 800 this week so getting this ride in gave me a chance to use the unit at least once outside. It worked flawlessly and, at least for my tastes, is a significant step up from the 705 that it's replacing. There are naturally a lot of things I still need to figure out about it, and unfortunately many of them are likely going to need to wait until spring to fully flesh out. I'd still like to compliment it with a 310xt for my races, but after this outlay that will have to wait until summer at the earliest (the upside being that it is due for a replacement, so waiting could pay off with an improved version).

On the running front everything pretty much went as planned this week. Many of the runs were cold and/or wet, but I've run in a lot worse so there was nothing that got in the way. I am going to have to get used to the cold again, however, as my paces are getting a little too fast (easier to do when you're not fighting off overheating) so I need to redouble my focus on discipline. As for my long run, I simply added another mile to bring it up to 12 so it was relatively easy to get done.

Week 47 Totals:
Running: 45.6km (28.3mi)
Walking: 2.2km (1.4mi)
Cycling: 22.4km (13.9mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 79.0km (49.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 2030.7km (1261.8mi)
Walking: 90.2km (56.0mi)
Cycling: 4382.0km (2722.8mi)
Swimming: 305.9km (190.1mi)
Total: 6808.8km (4230.8mi)

Either way, I'll leave this post a bit short as I've already burnt enough time writing up that Edge 800 review this week. I'm hoping to get the bike switched over for indoor use some time this coming week, and once that happens I should be able to get my cycling mileage back on track. I'm not looking forward to it, but one has to do what one has to do.