One of Those Weeks (When Real Life Wins)

 

This was, by any reasonable measure, a shocking week for training.

Not disastrous. Not a collapse. Just one of those weeks where plans look solid on Sunday night and quietly unravel by Wednesday lunchtime.

I managed two rides. That’s it.

Ride One: ROUVY and Damage Limitation

The first was an indoor ride on ROUVY — Drava River Cycle Path, slotted in on Monday before the week properly went sideways.

• Distance: 15.53 miles

• Time: 50:52

• Average power: 137 watts

• Average speed: 18.3 mph

It was controlled, steady, and entirely unspectacular — which, in hindsight, was exactly what was needed. This was less a training session and more an act of damage limitation. The legs turned, the heart rate behaved, and a small box was ticked.

Sometimes that’s enough.

Ride Two: Gravel, Gravity, and Reality

The second ride was at least outdoors, and at least on gravel — which matters more to me than pace ever will.

• Distance: 26.84 miles

• Time: 2:29:24

• Elevation gain: 1,775 feet

• Average speed: 10.1 mph

This was slower, heavier, and much more honest. Mostly gravel, plenty of climbing, and that familiar Peak District feeling that no matter where you point the bike, it’s about to tilt upwards.

It wasn’t a bad ride — it just wasn’t an easy one. The sort of ride where your speed is dictated as much by surface and mass as it is by fitness.

Why the Week Fell Apart

There’s no mystery here.

It’s been a crappy week at work, and December has a special talent for stacking extra commitments onto already full days. Add in kids’ Christmas parties, disrupted evenings, and general end-of-term fatigue, and suddenly training becomes something you squeeze in rather than plan around.

None of this is unique. None of it is dramatic. It’s just life doing what life does.

Weekly Totals

For completeness — and because honesty matters — here’s what the week actually amounted to:

• Total rides: 2

• Total distance: 42.37 miles

• Total time: 3 hours 20 minutes

• Terrain: Indoor + mostly gravel

• Mood: Tired, slightly frustrated, but not derailed

What I’d Do Differently

Looking back, a few things stand out:

• One short, low-friction indoor session midweek would have helped

• I probably waited too long for a “proper” window to ride

• Accepting 30–40 minutes as enough would have kept momentum

• Planning around December rather than pretending it’s April might be wise

None of these are revelations — just reminders.

Real Life Gets in the Way (Part One)

This feels like the start of a recurring theme, so I might as well name it.

Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens around jobs, families, tiredness, illness, weather, and weeks that refuse to cooperate. The danger isn’t having weeks like this — it’s letting them turn into disengagement.

I didn’t stop riding. I didn’t spiral. I didn’t abandon the bigger picture.

And that matters more than any single week’s numbers.

Next week doesn’t need to be heroic. It just needs to be slightly better — one more ride, one more hour, one fewer excuse.

That’s how long roads are covered. Not in perfect weeks, but in imperfect ones that don’t quite knock you off course.