Training ride 13 – distance: 31.5 miles
Training ride 14 – distance: 23 miles
Training ride 15 – distance: 8.5 miles
Total training miles: 201.1
Days left to challenge – 334
Sorry for the ‘radio silence’. I realise it’s been a few days since I made an entry but thankfully, as you can see from my ride records above, I have got a few rides in so I haven’t really been slacking. I’m also very proud to have tipped over the 200 miles training mark.
The reason for the lack of posts is that we’re currently putting our latest magazine to bed. It goes to the printers tomorrow and I have a very late night ahead of me as I do the final proof read but, as we have hit our busiest week of the month, I have been grateful that I have made the commitment to do this ride and am therefore getting out on the bike.
Normally this time of the month is when I physically feel my worst. As much as I love what we do bringing all elements of a magazine together has it’s difficulties and with it ‘stress’ levels. The result is generally too much caffeine, too little time away from my computer and as a result very little exercise.
I’m not suggesting for a second that in the grand scheme of things publishing a magazine is important (what the St Elizabeth nurses do is important) but whatever our roles in life there are times when there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day and it is much harder to see the woods for trees.
Ironically at the time when you feel you have the least time available and therefore are at your most stressed the advice of those in the know is to exercise and, like most good advice, it really does work.
Paraphrasing a vague recollection of a Chinese proverb that states “It is easier to chop down a tree with a sharp saw/axe than a blunt one” I often think I am too busy to take time out and ‘sharpen my saw’ (in this case exercise and go for a bike ride) but the reality is I feel much better and have been far more productive for doing so.
If a perceived lack of time is stopping you from getting out on your bike or going for a walk or whatever your ‘anti poison’ may be once you start to exercise regularly the energy you gain far makes up for the time you feared you were unable to invest.
I still haven’t quite mastered exercise, work and regular blog but I’m sure with a few more rides I will figure it out…