+Ice. 10 mins on 20mins off whenever possible.
Once its settled (5-10 days?) sort your posture out and get someone who knows how to do kettlebell swings to teach you them (activates posterior chain muscles, mostly hamstrings, so your back isn’t over compensating all the time and (re)creating an injury time bomb.)

This has worked for me, have avoided spasm episodes for last 2 years.

A foam roller is not sufficiently hard for Achilles / calf. This is the toughest most fibrous parf the body. I use a simple metal bike rack out side the office whenever a tight spot occurs in the area of shin, calf or achilles. A barbell is also an option. I started doing this based on Dr Kelly Starett’s advice in his book and am successfully without running injury for last two years.

An anecdote which might help in your current situation was how I recovered from a plantar fasciitis problem in the past:
-Calf raises alone eccentric nor concentric worked
-Stretching didn’t fix it
Was getting frustrated by this but ‘cure’ came from doing the raises after running after a 20 minute cycling warm up. Without the warm up the fasciitis would strike early in a run. Without the run the muscles wouldn’t ‘loosen’ enough.
but if I warmed up then ran for 10-15 minutes then did calf raises it worked like magic. Keep at it!

Great thread I’ve picked up a few tips even though have been commuting for ages. Will try that shine-back-on-yourself.
Might not be for everyone but key features on my commuter:
– SPDs with those clip on plastic flats one side. Much nicer to use with running shoes if I’m mixing it up.
– 1×9 MTB gearing – but with the 44t in the middle of the chainset (triple). Low maintenance but good for varying intensity / speed to suit mood / training requirement / recovery unlike single speed.

Tried panniers but prefer backpack (40 litre!) as don’t like the weight on the bike, less maneuverable.

Interesting approach hooli, 2/3 seems harsh but possibly wise. Just adjusted my weight down on Strava as it seems to take the calorie data direct from that. Also just found this http://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1350959101 ….looks scientific and calculates 75-80% as many calories as strava so I will try that as my rule of thumb now.
ta

Kryton I agree, have been using for a few weeks for just that. Turns out 100g of Brazil nuts a day really adds up!

Request is more about discussing the finer points…
Is the running calorie estimate accurate? How do you account for a heavy backpack when cycling? Is it better to carry over 1-200 calories on some days or just stuff in food late in the evening? When is it at its hardest for you to stick to target? Should I have drop a meal completely on no-exercize days or just shrink them all? How can weigh ins be most consistent? Is muscle atrophy inevitable? What mitigation techniques for muscle atrophy have you heard of?
…I know the internet has these questions answered already but someone like-minded could form a into a beautiful internet-MFY-bromance!

My top bro-science tips:
– Eat / drink recovery food / drinks DURING a ride / session. And after. Sometimes before too. nom nom.
– 10 * Slow lunges (more psoas) and 10 * slow split squats (more glute) and 20 * slow calf raises on a step immediately after. This is quick to do and makes more of a difference to me than foam rollering and stretching combined.

Thanks for Lomo tip that might do it. I have hump covers already but dont like the faff of them. I’d prefer a 40l to 30l but dont see such an option.

OP: Running is good for you but ‘dangerous’ if done wrongly.
I’m from the ‘exercise is regenerative’ philosophy camp. Problem is most of us do it wrong to a greater of lesser extent. The injury incidence of new runners is well documented, sadly very high. Big fan of Dr Starrett – here’s a 3.5min video on preparation for running https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyh5ZCLbSSk
I would also advocate minimalist shoes until you have reached the, say over 10k, pace you are satisfied with then cushioned shoes might help you run further. I have poor mechanical flexibility for running however have run up to 60km / week without injury.

get the correct house insurance, i.e. your home contents policy is not valid if a tenant burns your house down. Buy2let insurance is not noticeably more expensive in my experience

When I say riser…
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/35-oversize-raised-stem-id_8298466.html?iv_=__iv_p_1_g_48899121011_c_199194851915_w_aud-308557095093:pla-324214887278_n_g_d_c_v__l__t__r_1o1x_pla_y_15177021_f_online_o_1791662_z_GB_i_en_j_324214887278_s__e__h_9045635_ii__vi__&gclid=Cj0KEQjwp83KBRC2kev0tZzExLkBEiQAYxYXOmf9DGmyv0nvyzlYRqfAAbC3aHnPrj6DMe3XsXLyitMaAq0P8P8HAQ

Have been using it for ~1 year. I like the long fixed peak as keeps rain off my glasses better than other helmets. Also great winter commuter helmet as its warm. The main thing about it is its for round heads not long heads. My mate couldn’t wear it as it wedged front to back and had too much room side to side. Our heads are the smae circumference. Not sure how to determine what shape head you have without trying it…

Snap on height and leg inseam! Agree above comments reach is the key measure, not sure on mine accurately:
Scandal v1 XL
620 ett
Whyte t129
610 ett
Fit both with a 120mm fork and 75mm riser stem + riser bars. This makes bars approx same height as saddle therefore a comfortable position, fairly neutral spine when seated. If your ‘general trail use’ is more about fast corners & descending then you would probably go for a smaller stack / flat stem to lower your centre of gravity.

I have lived in 3 places in North Bristol and comment on a micro level about Brentry, Southmead, Filton, Horfield, Westbury on Trym and Henleaze. These are all between Aztec West and the city.
It is true that south Bristol is better for instant access to country side – its 10 ish miles to get to ‘great’ road riding territory but there is a variety: Mendips south, Cotswolds North, Wye Valley over the bridge into Wales.
We are going to move to Chepstow but that’s for family reasons.

I’m delighted with my raptor tri shorts off ebay. Quite a thick pad for triathlon not much thinner than a bike-only pad.

Rather than suggest a ‘solution’ as many have already been offered, I will suggest you please consider this book / Audio book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chimp-Paradox-Management-Programme-Confidence/dp/009193558X (note the 2,250 review score)
The benefit this book offers you IMO is:
1. Guilt relief on ‘Why am I so greedy’ type thoughts.
2. Understanding / perspective on why anyone would struggle with any food addiction / disorder. Or more precisely it will explain why people are sometimes ‘good’ and sometimes ‘really bad’ with their behaviour and what explains the inconsistency.
Best of luck in any endeavor.

I’ve taught myself as an adult from a starting point of can’t-do-the -breathing messy front crawl to ‘easy’ 17.47 for 800m at a triathlon last Sunday (was about average swim time) with minimal (2 swims) swim training this year. You need the run and brick training time the most.

So it is possible without a coach but not easy. A couple of Tri club sessions and various tips from experienced swimmers (not proper coaches in my case) were helpful boosts in an otherwise very slow process of improvement.

Open water swimming – don’t wait till you are ready just choose to get in and swim to the first buoy. It’s quite a different experience to a pool and is preferable in many ways…fun…18deg lake…type 3 fun?

As per Fifeandy and badlywireddog I think you are looking for this sort of info:
Run for your life! At a comfortable pace, and not too far: James O’Keefe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U728AZnV0
Its about the cardiovascular effects so no different to cycling volumes. I manage to get 10+ hours a week cardio some weeks and feel better for varying the heart rate (OF each session, not IN each).

Trello has ‘due date’ function for the cards. It has a lot of great functionality / flexibility which might be of interest.

Bristol Bike Centre – Frenchay area near M32 underpass.
Gary has done good work for me on re-threading a bb shell and a crank pedal hole, a proper mechanic.
http://garyharriscycles.com/

We sound similar in at least: Tall, had back pain from MTB. I did core excesize and stretches, loads of, reduced back pain maybe 5% – 10%.

Try a more spine-friendly bike position: lower your seatpost, bring the saddle forward, raise the bars. I did these 3cm, 4cm, 4cm respectively and it made a positive 80% difference. Strava PRs followed.

You might want to step the changes, 1cm at a time say, or its going to feel completely wrong (and it takes 4+ rides to adapt anyway)

Do report back.

I’ve not paid for a fit but have used an online one / read up on spinal alignment / over thought the topic.

I see the headtube on the XL knolly is 20mm taller than the size S. Think your legs are only 20mm longer than a 5″7′ rider’s?

[resists urge to write essay on bike fit philosophy from armchair.
….ok not an armchair, am writing from a kneel-chair thingy]

The details of real life tubeless experience in this thread are what is missing from most ‘should you go tubeless’ chatter.

+1 for panaracer flataway kevlar strips. very effective thorn blocking, no tubeless mess or garage tyre wrestling, can change tyres for different conditions easily. Don’t do anything for pinch flats so if you want low psi / more grip then yes tubeless absolutely.

Thread stalker.

Did I miss it or has someone pointed out this is precarious for a company to offer good shared parental leave as it will encourage Dad’s to take bigger chunks of parental leave if that pays better than the mother’s (stingy) company statutory policy.
I don’t really believe this is how company decisions are being made but it is a factor, right?
Luckily for us both me and mrs D get just stingy statutory and earn about the same so its purely a parenting choice on who has the leave. We’ll probably overlap at least a month and go abroad. Better start saving.

Caffeine is not a diuretic so much as a bladder-irritant. This means more visits to the urinal but not necessarily any more volume. Point is if you stop drinking it yes you will need some other liquid i.e. council pop.

https://www.strava.com/activities/69508812/segments/3383281406
Dave’s time is 58~. This segment is 21km so if its 22 now 1 hour is going to be really tough. GFI.

Here it is, my July 2013 lap, 1:10:52. I had to unhide the segments to get this “Full loop”. It wasn’t the fastest back then but crucial to me was it being 1 minute quicker than my mate. Pain is long gone but glory continues, gleefully reignited by this thread. I’m no xc whippet, the smoothness of the fresh trails back then probs saved at least 5 mins off what i could manage today.
My mate Dave is KOM for that segment now, he might be a contender for fastest swinley rider as gets there fairly often as its near his work.

I’d use a heavy lock or two light locks of different types (so the thief needs hack saw and bolt cutters) for peace of mind.

I think Aasics have kept a consistent shape across most their range. They definately changed the trail attack 6 from the previous trail attack 5 (which was narrower) but the 5 was the ‘odd one out’.

A mate recently forked out £140 for a running assessment. He learned a lot about his running and perceived it good value – relevant only becasue all of the assessment was done outside. A treadmill is apprently inadequate as a place to asess you running properly.

Kudos to lots of the big loswers on here, average is now 8.1LB. Also struggling with balancing heavy training schedule. Have not achieved balance; training (running) going to plan but weight stubbornly static, -1 lb total. Replenishing every calorie burned it seems. Should I consider drastic experiement…anyone ever done 5:2 with 7-10 hours of training?
Running on a low cal day would be good for fat-burning endurance, right?

Lunge – all your sessions add up to about 5.5hrs + anything over the 2 hours on Sunday. That’s less than an hour a day so isn’t normally what causes ‘over training’ symptoms. That said, you can’t be too carefull and the only cure to over training is enforced rest – nightmare.
Measuring heartrate first thing in the morning is supposed to reveal over-training, if its over 10bpm higher than normal resting you are in trouble.
A mix of intensities is good for feeling fresh I find – maybe keep one of the lunch runs at 7.15 or slower.

Another possiblity, albeit unlikely, saddle-bb position? Different on your MTB and road bike?
Muscle recruitment is different when on a steep climb, e.g. glutes and hamstrings. I notice this most when at low-cadence with no more gears on a nasty climb. Measured via a plumb line from nose of saddle to bb 2cm makes a vast difference to what muscles get engaged, particularly on climbs.

Illegal weigh-in yesterday showed my first loss, but really it was dehydration, however there is cause to celebrate: 42km run this week. Double my average week in 2016. Expecting to see start of steady fatloss next week as high intensity training increases.

Nailed it.

Lols.
189 > 189. :x. In theory there could be some muscle gain there. Need to start copying other people’s tactics, 187 target still well achievable by 27th.

Just raided Lidl and came away with peppers, carrots, beetroot (cooked) and sugarsnap peas. Enjoyed the Yellow pepper eaten like an apple. Thinking is eating these raw will be filling and take up some bread and cheese stomach space?

I think most people when they read “eat less” don’t just eat 3/4 of a pie instead of a whole pie, they just cut out pies and replace it with something else. I could be wrong but I just don;t think the majority of people are so stupid as to think that by eating 80% of a mars bar they’re doing much good (mind you, some people are extremely stupid, even the smart ones).

I would agree and disagree. Nutritionally, swapping whole pork pies for chicken salad ofcourse is virtuous. On the psychological / habit / association side of improving eating, leaving out some food is a surely a valuable new habit.
When you are munching through said pie or(insert meal/treat) and reach 80% of it you might well feel quite full. What do you do? Most people plough on habitually without taking notice of the fullness feeling or, even if challenged (by themself or another), with justifications coming quickly to mind ‘Don’t want to waste any food’, ‘I should finish my plate’.
The trick is to form a new association with leaving food unfinished, to celebrate it as a behaviour. One suggestion is to play your favourite piece of music whenever you leave something on your plate. By March perhaps the celebration won’t be needed – it will become a new habit to stop eating when full.
I believe this is a useful long term tactic, quite different to revved up early January heroic dieting feats. I think it helped me avoid a fair few hundred surplus calories over Christmas.

Interesting thread with lots of resources! Re avoiding injury / plodding I have found doing ~1 hour run with a focus entirely on ease, lightness, quietness of foot strike to be a good idea. ‘Plodding’ suggests clumping along as if you would rather be somewhere else – very injury inducing I expect. For reference a ‘light/easy’ run for me is around 6min/km, race pace is 4min/km for 10k.
Another resource for intervals

Curve ball velocipede – would a conversion be compatible with a power meter, e.g. a crank based one?
It would offer the perfect data overload for lazy atheletes – how much I am putting in next to the screen showing the motor input!

I’ve got a Claud butler explorer 600 (hybrid 29er) c2013 – any issues converting it?

Electrolytes aka sodium with a little calcium magnesium potassium selenium. Aldi do them in some stores. Nuun, High5, Powerbar, Sis are popular brands. Put table salt in your orange squash if desperate!

@hungry monkey

at the very least I’d try one out before buying, on the road. i find them pretty frustrating.

Interesting to hear this, definately need to demo.

@briselbrus

My commute is a hilly 40 mile round trip. On a proper bike I average 14mph, on the ebike it’s 21mph

…so over 25kmph is deemed dangerous and your rocketing down hills probably double that!? Disc or rim brakes? I don’t think I will get to 34kmph average as looking at the profile I think only 10 minutes could be saved (7.5km of slow/up). . The effort saving appeal is still winning me over even with 45-50 minute journeys. Working in Bristol means the car would be painfully slow for the last few miles.

@velocipede

brand new with a Bafang 36v pedelec motor for £1350……

It does sound like a good solution and great price. I curently commute on something fairly similar and keeping the disc brake option open would be good. I guess the appeal of the Giant is it’s a big brand with a dealer network…I wouldn’t expect any e-bike to be 100% reliable.

Just rounding back in case this thread gets read again.
A Men’s normal daily anount of carbs is 375g (1500 calories)
If you look at any food packaging with the % in the traffic light label it can be used to calculate the 90g ish daily recommended amount of sugar. I aim for 30g sugars and 30g fruit sugars, not easy at Christmas.