Five months of 2022 down! How have you been keeping?

May has been the lowest mileage month I’ve logged since mid 2020. A combination of factors have kept me from riding as many miles (or kilometres) as I would have liked, but my fitness and form are still progressing in the right direction. The beginning of winter always takes some adjustment! Starting a ride in the cold and darkness of a winter’s morning can be a shock to the system after so many months of warm weather. I’ve had to dig out my long winter bib tights and jacket.

As I’ve been lower on time, I’ve tried to hit each ride at a higher intensity. Keeping the watts high also helps to keep the body warm! I’ve been hitting good numbers and even snagged a KOM or two on Strava.

Part of the mileage reduction was down to a bike-less work trip away and the arrival of some torrential rain periods this month. Another part of the reduction was down to putting additional time into my running (oh the horror!) and building up to a sustainable number of runs per week.

It was a good month for running! I knocked huge chunks off my 5k PB time and am now so close to running a sub-24 minute 5km. Some warm weather during my Melbourne trip helped. The running seems to have increased my cycling aerobic fitness somewhat, but it has definitely blunted my top end power. I feel some sprint training coming up on the bike to get back up to speed.

I did of course clock my monthly metric century ride. I’m glad I knocked that over early in the month before it got too cold and grey. The next few a guaranteed to be chilly as winter properly kicks in.

For all my Northern Hemisphere brothers and sisters reading this, I hope you are making the most of the warm weather and are crushing your summer cycling goals. I’m sure all your hard months of winter training are paying off with big summer smiles.

Ride hard, my friends!