How did that happen?

I'll keep it brief as I'm still in shock.....

Got an invite from Leanne for a 60k ride in the hills around Henley-upon-Thames with an offer of a roast dinner after who was I to decline such hospitality, despite the fact I've never gone 60k before and the last "long" ride I'd done was London Oly at the beginning of August.

So off we set yesterday (Sunday) afternoon - Dan (much acclaimed super hero from previous blogs) leading the way..... it was when we were at 45k and the bottom of another monster hill that he said "well ladies - I think we're about half way"..... and then we climbed (again!)... with absolutely no getting out of the saddle allowed!

and as I'm playing with my Garmin - here's the route and the gradient.....

We climbed over 1.1km .... and we didn't get out of the saddle once!

At least the downhills were enjoyable - if a little scary, trusty Garmin says max speed was 60kph... which is about 40mph... and yes I was on the brakes big time and hoping I was going to stay seated!

Average HR was 122 so comfortably Zone 2 which is exactly what I need for half-ironman. So apt "punishment" for not being able/ ready for the half-mary I should have been doing ;o)

In summary - I'm in a state of shock that I've done 85k - wasn't planning that for some time. Managed 4.5hours in the saddle - longest ever by 2.5hours ... nothing like racking it all up slowly (not!).... so all I need to do is another 5k, oh that after 2k of swimming and before 21k running... but hey there's loads of time to go right?!

What of the rest of last week? Well no swimming, 1 session of MTB riding (1.5hrs), 2 runs (30mins and 60mins) and 1 game of hockey umpiring. Not a bad, if completely unstructured, week! :o)