Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no

"No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." - Samuel Johnson



Pictured above is Richmond Park - the greenest area in Central London where I've spent few hours riding this weekend. So three yeahs for that :-) It was lovely - it is just so nice to be able to ride outside without the cold and the wind and, obligatory English rain. This was my first proper ride outside this year and I loved every minute of it. I wasn't actually planning to ride in Richmond Park, but to ride through it on my way to Box Hill where I would meet few friends who were doing a duathlon simulation. But somehow, when I entered the park, I thought, maybe I can do few loops. And so few loops turned into 3 hours of riding the loops (I must have gone mad). But it was really nice, early Saturday morning, there were some runners doing their group long runs training for London marathon and there were a lot of riders. I don't think I've ever seen that many riders in Richmond Park. And as I got passed by the fast group of London roadie club London Dynamo

I thought that I have just bagged myself another goal for this year - to be able to ride with these guys by the end of the year. Hard work ahead I can see. But I think I can and will do it.

After the ride I decided to run for 30 mins straight after I got back and those 30 mins were awful. I could feel this horrible, sharp pain on the inside of my right ankle and towards the calf. I was actually doubting that I would be able to finish the run. 30 mins!!!!! Anyway, that afternoon it didn't actually feel too bad and although I could feel some discomfort it was OK. So you guess what I did on Sunday?! Yes, what a very stupid person would do - I went for my long run even though I could feel the pain. I have finished the run but needless to say, it was not a good idea.

On Monday I swam and rode to work and I also went to the gym and I could do all these things without any great pain but I was determined to see a physio asap as I didn't want to aggravate anything. So yesterday I went to see Mark Saunders at Physio4Life http://www.physio4life.co.uk/. They are Chrissie Wellington's physio when she is in London so I knew I would be in good hands. Mark was really good and straight away I was told off for running on Sunday. I like the directness because even though he says what most of us don't want to hear, he is right. I am now banned from any training for at least 2-3 days and he hopes to get me back to training and running by the end of this week. I am seeing him again tonight and on Friday. I know, I really have only myself to blame. And oh my God, is life booooring without training. But I am going to use these few days to relax, see some friends and do all the chores that I normally don't have time for. And of course, be miserable and feel sorry for myself.