No PBP for me :(

This week was a bummer! I was looking forward to cycling my second qualifying event for the PBP with Chris, Jamie, Andy and Becky but sadly it wasn't to be. 2 days before the event, in classic Chris style, he decided he wasn't going to ride said 300k event. Worse still, Chris said he couldn't be bothered with the qualifying events full stop, so in effect, he had thrown in the towel for any plans of PBP. I knew I could still ride the 300k event with some good friends and potentially have some fun but the PBP was then over for me too. I had booked my 400k and 600k events especially to ride with my buddy Chris and would not want to cycle these events solo style. I had preferred events in mind, but chose these events so I could cycle with Chris. These events all started in Poynton and were far from home (for both Chris and I). If I had known Chris was a 'no go' I would have chose more local events and cycled with Ron, and maybe Jamie and Andy. In addition to that, I paid to do these events and paid for accommodation too! Grr! Chris said he didn't enjoy the 200k event last week and didn't realise I was only cycling PBP because of him. This story might sound a trifle familiar - Chris encouraged me to cycle LEL with him, then he pulled out. I would never have attempted to get a pass for PBP if Chris had not showed an interest. All this guff hasn't been posted to have a dig at Chris, rather to explain the reasons for why I am not continuing with my planned rides. Not completing the PBP wasn't such a big issue for me, I have a PBP medal already and a big tick next to PBP on my bucket list. My frustration was with the fact that I had been training since Christmas for this event and had 'messed my wife's head up' with pleas and plans and nonsense. My mate Ron will be disappointed too.

On a brighter note, I cycled a lovely commute to work and back this week. The weather was great - bright and sunny. So nice was the weather that I didn't have to wear my usual cycling jacket. On this trip I debuted my new Rapha cross country jersey! I had also changed the tyres on my Genesis bike back to my 'summer' ones. I prefer my commute on dry bright days compared to wet dark ones.

On the running front, I ran 3 times! Each run was my usual run to work. First run and I chose to run intervals but instead of walking during the rests, I jogged instead. My heart rate didn't appear to dramatically change in line with my pace. Hmm, I wonder why not. For compare and contrast purposes I have added 2 graphs below which show my heart rate and pace for each of the interval runs I have completed to date.

The graph above shows pace in blue and heart rate in red. I warmed up for 10 minutes, the ran intervals - hard for 1 minute followed by a rest (walking) for one minute. I then jogged to cool down. It looks quite dramatic don't you think?!

The run above shows the data following a 10 minute warm up, then ran intervals. The intervals were a hard run for 30 seconds followed by a 1 minute rest (jogging). I then jogged some more to cool down. My heart rate didn't look quite so dramatic and didn't appear in tune with my pace.

My other runs were just my usual plod from start to finish. I was quite tired on the last run and think I might have over worked my poor calf muscles a little. This was all still kinda new to me.

Now that PBP plans are dashed, I just might invest more time to running. I have no major plans or goals. I'd like to chase something, any ideas welcome....