Why does Strava tease me?
I’ve had quite a relaxed week so far in terms of training. Outside of training everything has been quite manic. On Monday, I was involved in an important conference at work. It was accompanied by an evening lecture, so I didn’t get home until late. It was an interesting day, but its planning and organisation have taken up a lot of time at work. Everyone is now heaving a sigh of relief that it’s over!
Photo shoot with Julian Porter Photography
I had originally booked to go to the SUTRI spin class yesterday, but then I remembered that Stu had booked us in for a photo shoot with Jules and Sue from http://www.julianporter.com/ Jules and Sue are both runners and Jules has recently been lured into cycling. They’re so fantastic that I’ve already had a sneak preview of what they shot:
Thank you, Team Porter! 😀
Today, I went along to Lordshill training to help Ben out. He didn’t have any specific tasks for me, so I quite happily ran 6km at a conversational pace with Lou. It’s ‘Bonfire Night’ here, so there were plenty of fireworks to light the way (and stop our conversation!) It’s getting a bit cooler, so I wore a long-sleeved top, but it was paired with shorts as I definitely can’t face tights yet!
Strava’s lies
This evening, I received an email from Strava
I would love for those figures to be true, but I’ve checked Garmin and have only run 1068.36km so I have no idea where Strava got its data!!! I’ve cycled 2067.14 km this year (not including my daily commute, which is probably another 1800km).
What have I been reading?
There was an interesting article on the BBC news website today: ‘Would these five changes actually help cyclists?‘ The five changes that are discussed are:
- use of helmets
- wearing high-vis clothing
- banning headphones
- riding in the middle of the lane
- using bike lights
The article includes a reminder of the Highway Code as it applies to cyclists – I wish cyclists would follow the Highway Code and not cycle on pavements!
I also read an interesting article on ‘Nine reasons why Wilson Kipsang won the NYC marathon and you didn’t‘. It’s worth a read although nothing in it is new or surprising. Of course, it also omits to mention that fact that I just wasn’t in New York as I didn’t want to embarrass Wilson by beating him – he needs $600 000 more than I do 😉
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Thanks for sharing the Kipsang article, well worth a read 🙂
I’d love to be able to spend a year as a full time athlete to find out how good I could be… although if this article is true http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2014/nov/04/does-childbirth-improve-athletic-ability then maybe I just need to have a few children!
My jaw dropped when I saw the running total! 5000 km would have been very impressive, but you likely would not have had extra time this year to work or sleep! The real totals are still very impressive numbers. I have no idea what my year to date totals are, but I did a 30 week IM training plan this year and I completed 1000 running miles and about 2800 cycling miles. Sounds like you are approaching that range, and this is not your Ironman year. The base fitness that you are developing is phenomenal, and you should have no difficulty conquering your goal!
Thank you. I’m hoping to pick up my speed next year, so that when I finally go for an Ironman the training and the race won’t take as long! I’m still planning my goals for next year, but I am tempted to put in a running streak (maybe 4 weeks) and also maybe aim for greater distance totals for swimming, cycling and running.
Great photo! Is that a trisuit, or top and shorts? I was looking on the SOAS website after seeing your kit, might have to treat myself to a few pieces!
Hi Lucy! It’s a tri tank and shorts, which makes it more convenient for doing longer tris. Also, SOAS shorts are the most comfortable shorts that I’ve ever worn on my bike – I won’t wear anything else now – so it’s easy to pair them with a cycling jersey. If it were a trisuit, it would be as inconvenient as wearing bib shorts.
SOAS have some gorgeous kit coming out for 2015 – they’ve posted some previews on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/soasracing/timeline I want ALL of the kits! 🙂
Ooh nice! Does the top ride up though? I just worry that it wouldn’t stay in place while I was racing, and I’d be yanking it down all the time!
I’ve never had any problems with it. I have a few SOAS tri kits and they’re all the same quality and cut. The tri tanks are quite long and the shorts are not low cut, so I’ve not had any problems with gaps when I’m cycling or running. I was a bit nervous the first time I swam in my tri kit (without a wetsuit), but there were no wardrobe malfunctions! I guess that if you are very tall, you might end up with a gap, but I’ve never heard anyone say that – I’m 5’5″/1m66, so I’m short-average height.
I have a couple of one-piece trisuits with front suits and I had problems with wearing both of them under my wetsuit – I ended up with cuts on my chest where the zip finishes 🙁
I wish my 2014 Strava stats were as impressive as yours. Great job!
If only they were real! 🙂