12 weeks to Berlin / 4 weeks to Alpe d'Huez

Following Saturday's ride up to Oxford and the subsequent late night out, I wasn't fit for much on Sunday. I did manage a few not too lazy laps of the hotel pool and covered about a kilometer but, despite having my trainers with me, I admitted defeat to tiredness and mild hangover and opted instead for a lazy Sunday, enjoying a BBQ, great company, a first chance in 3 days of playing with the kids and a not so great game of football on the telly (4 - 1, not to England, although beaten by a rather on form Germany).

Come Monday, I was back to form. Or as much form as a Dad of 2 young children is afforded, at least. I chose to take my kit into work with me with the notion of running home. Leaving the offices around 6pm, I was struck by the heat, it still being 27 degrees. I made it home and felt I'd made up for my lazy weekend, you can read the full post for more.

I took Tuesday as a rest day and Wednesday became a rest day by default as I had to travel to Paris with work, which meant leaving home at ridiculous o'clock and arriving back home at ridiculously late o'clock. Two days' rest then, so I attempted to balance this out with running back-to-back days for the rest of the week, which wasn't too bad.

Saturday saw me lying in, no I mean, leaving the house at 6am to go for a couple of laps of Heron Lake. Even at that time in the morning, the air temperature was quite warm and the water even warmer. I was positively roasting in my wetsuit and, had I had the time, would have done my training then opted for a splash around sans wetsuit to cool off, as this seemed to be the thing to do. No rest, I had to get back...and then go for a little run, and then off to a wedding. So I'm still managing to fit it all in, with a few shifts in plan here and there, just.

Here's a summary of the week's exercise:

Week commencing Sunday 27th June

Total exercise: 5h 04m
Top speed: 31.25 mph
Distance covered: 72km

• 35.8km cycling (all training, one early session in Richmond Park)
  
• 33km running
• 3.2km swimming (incl. 2.2km round Heron Lake in 38 mins)