I have even more respect for those that finished the London Marathon in three hours

Like many other people I enjoyed watching the highlights on the London Marathon @ the weekend. The furthest I've ever run is five miles so I am impressed full stop when anyone finishes a marathon @ all let alone in three hours. I have signed up for the London Parks half marathon in October and have no idea how I'm going to manage to run the whole way.

In an effort to reduce my personal carbon emissions I tried cycling from and to work yesterday and this morning. By coincidence it's a journey of thirteen miles each way - a 1/2 marathon! I hadn't ridden any distance in fifteen years. I bought a road bike at the weekend (pictured below) and took it to work yesterday by car leaving a change of clothes et al in it to wear today. I cycled home and I must say it was fairly hard work. I woke early this morning to make the time to cycle back to the office and still make my 9:30am meeting. I found the journey more difficult on the return leg as I clearly hadn't recovered from last night's outbound journey.

I know that thirteen miles is no distance for any self respecting cyclist - for me it's a long way!

The reason I have even more respect for those that finished the London Marathon in under three hours is that's how long the return trip took me on a racing bike!!! Goodness knows how I'm going to run a half marathon but this is a start at least and I have time to improve my fitness in the meantime.

BTW: I bought "last year's" model from my local bike store - nothing fancy - reduced from £225 to £150 - it weighs a fraction of the bike I rode as a teenage - hardly surprising as this one had an aluminium frame and my previous one was made of steel!

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Mike> Thanks for that!!!! I WAS sat "behind a keyboard" when I signed up for the 1/2 marathon AND YES cycling it really helped me realise quite how far 13 miles was. I AM really sporty though (White Water kayaking, climbing, windsurfing, snowboarding, diving, surfing, skateboarding) so I'm in with a fighting chance BUT I CERTAINLY need to get on with some serious running training!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  I didn't sound very encouring considering it was my first post so to balance things out - with your sporting resume I'm sure you'll easily do it. Although I would definitely recommend getting a bit techie with your cycling - get a nice wireless computer - Cateye's are pretty good. They are great for monitoring your training progress and excellent bragging rights can be yours once you click over the 1,000 mile mark. On another positive note nobody died last year in the  Great North Run!!!!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Steve If you struggled to do 13 miles on the bike - boy are you going to struggle to run a half marathon! Too much time behind a keyboard me thinks!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Mike> I didn't take offence. Thanks for the suggestion about a wireless trip - I hadn't heard of them. I bought a mountain bike a year ago, used it once for a 5 mile ride and then not at all until Sunday when I did 10 miles off road and thoroughly enjoyed myself - hence getting the roadie. I also finally got around to fitting my wired trip computer and lights. I was planning to move the trip from one bike to the other as it's more relevant for the roadie - perhaps I'll splash out for the one you recommend instead. I'm under no illusions though - a 1/2 marathon is a serious undertaking for me and I need to train hard if I'm going to make it.

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2008
  Well done Steve! If I didn't live and work on opposite sides of the South Downs I would seriously consider doing the trip by bike. But I'm just a wimp, and I cave in at the sight of a hill!

• Anonymous
  May 06, 2008
  Nice one Steve you will need to run as well cycling uses different muscles.  Just start doing little and offten.  This will prevent injury.  Build up slowly over time. Mel Good Luck