It is All About Being Flexible and Listening to your Body

I enjoyed Sunday's ladies cycle organised by Cyclery Northside so much that I was very keen to get out on the road bike again before returning the loan bike.  Because my "partners in crime" couldn't do Monday morning (which I was really keen to do),  I agreed to restrain myself and wait for Tuesday morning to tackle the Hill of Hell on the road bike and planned to run on Monday morning instead of cycling.

Prawns off the BBQ

My plans were immediately thrown out of kilter by a terrible case of food poisoning on Sunday night.  I can only put it down to the delicious BBQ'ed prawns that we had had for dinner.  The rest of the family are meat eaters and were absolutely fine.  I felt completely shattered Monday morning and quite incapable of  much, let alone going for a run (although Holly made sure I took her on a walk later in the day).  The Cyclist sent me a text during the day saying "STOP WORKING AND GO AND REST". He knows me well.


  Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out to be), it poured with rain on Monday night and when I woke at 5am on Tuesday I realised it was just too wet and unsafe to go cycling, so cancelled that idea and went back to sleep for another hour, waking up later and going for a 6km run (I am not iron woman - I do admit it was nice to snuggle back under the duvet with the rain pouring outside).  As you know I am perfectly happy to run in the rain.

The run was HARD.  No records were broken and each kilometre was a struggle.  I could quite easily have returned home after 3 km but pushed on and came home after 6 kilometres absolutely shattered.  I am so glad that I'd made the call not to go cycling after all, there is no way I could have managed the Hill of Hell on the bicycle and I certainly wouldn't have beaten my time.  That stomach flu must have hit me harder than I thought.  I hate taking time off from exercise and thought that one day was enough recovery, clearly not.

The 3 Bikes that Went for a Ride

Adjusting plans again, The Cyclist, Max and I set out early Wednesday morning armed with 2 mountain bikes (Max and The Cyclist) and a road bike (me), with bright lights on our helmets and on the back of the bikes as it was still dark.( I find daylight saving incredibly annoying this time of year.)  I figured that on a "roadie" I would be able to set a good pace and beat my previous 39 minute time to do the 30 km segment which included nearly 500m of elevation and the previously mentioned 6km climb, the Hill of Hell.

It was still a Hill of Hell, even with the road bike, but so much faster and smoother.  My heart rate was around 160 most of the way so I was definitely still pushing it.
And yes, I did it - the road bike was a real winner (on the road).  It evened the playing field a bit too, considering I lack the testosterone, lean muscle strength and lung capacity that the men have, I was able to set a good pace.  I will not mention who was the strongest on the hill climbs!  Although I will admit to being a bit of a chicken on the downhills.  I improved my time by just over 3 minutes and got Queen of the Mountain on the Strava segment.  Here I am at the coffee shop afterwards:

Holly Needed a Run too

After returning home and having my favourite oats for breakfast, Holly was insisting that she also needed an outing so I took her for a run.  My legs were feeling strong and it is amazing that although yesterday I felt too shattered to run the same distance,  today I was able to do 6km with ease (although slowly) after a long cycle.  A good lesson, to listen to ones body and give it a break if it needs one and maybe take two days off if you have had the stomach flu!


So here are my 2 Garmins (cycling and running) recording my 2 events for the day:

The Cycle on the Left and the Run on the Right

I must say I was quite sad to return the road bike to Cyclery Northside later in the morning, having quite fallen head over heels in love with it.  Mmmmmm I could definitely see myself being the owner of another bike, or at least another set of tyres!



Do you take a break if you are sick or push on?


What are your tips on listening to your body?


What do you think of having more than one bike?