Quality not Quantity

During last week I only managed to train once a day (apart from Sunday) as I was on a course which started early; too early for me to squeeze in a morning sesh, which was probably not a bad thing as I will be racing at the Inter Services Duathlon Champs on Weds 29th, and the week long course prevented me from pushing things too hard!

Monday, (day after last weeks race at Skipton) I felt pretty good, no soreness, so I went out on my bike for about 90 mins, pushing hard for the last 30 mins.

Tuesday was a 10 mile 'negative split' run, backed up with some core stability stuff.

Wednesday was a long swim and on Thursday I did a 'quadruple brick'. I wanted to do this quad brick session since Roy B gave me the idea whilst at the TriUK team launch. It didn't involve any massive distances but I worked hard and enjoyed the pain! After a warm up, I biked hard (turbo) for 15 mins, then straight into running shoes and ran hard for 10 mins, then repeated it 3 more times, without any real rest, apart from the time it took my legs to get up to speed on the bike! By the last one I was shattered!

Friday I was in the pool where my main set was 10 x 200m on 3:30mins.

Saturday was an hour of running incorporating short efforts of 1 min hard / 1 min easy.

The weather was fantastic on Sunday morning so I went out for a 40 mile bike, mixing some 'race efforts' in, and ran for about 20 mins off the bike. Went to the pool in the evening and was pleasantly surprised to find it pretty empty. I'd never been on a Sunday night before, but I think it will be a regular slot from now on as I had a lane to myself...that just doesn't happen in York!

So, not much 'quantity' this week, but at least there was a decent amount of 'quality'.

Once this Duathlon is out of the way on Weds, I have about 4 weeks until my next race (Brize Sprint) so I will be able to ramp up the 'Ironman' mileage again. Hopefully, by the end of the next 3 weeks, I should have a 100 mile ride in the bag and my 'long run' should be a 20 miler....fingers and toes crossed!

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Overall I'm pleased with the progress I'm making with my IM training, and the support I'm getting from all over the world really helps....no it really does....just take a look at this photo which turned up in my inbox...this is my Dad, at his home in Florida...and he thought I wouldn't put this photo on my blog!

Looking good there Dad, but I'd loose the bell if I were you, it'll only slow you down!!

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Stay in shape (yes, round is a shape!)

Training in Fog, Racing in Sunshine!

This last week has been pretty hectic really.

I had Easter week off work and spent most of it with the family, in the chilly fog, on the east coast near Scarborough whilst the rest of northern England was basking in sunshine! I managed to get quite bit of training in though, especially long running and long swimming. I had a particularly interesting 10 miler whilst on our mini break. The fog was the thickest I've ever seen..I could barely see my hand in front of my face but I had been looking forward to running up into the coastal hills and decided to press on regardless. I thought, as long as I run out and back along the same route, I wouldn't get lost...oh really...I was lost after about 20 minutes! It is scarily easy to get disorientated in a real 'pea souper'! In fact, I only realised I had gone over the top of the hills when running started to feel easier! So I turned round and headed for home, but, because I was running quite fast downhill, I missed my turn off. I was running for quite a while and was starting to think I needed to retrace my steps, when I almost ran into a sign post which read "DANGER CLIFF EDGE"! No fence line, just a 4 ft high post! I now had to decide whether to follow the cliffs to my left or right in an attempt to find my family! I could hear the crashing waves but could not see a flipping thing! Spooky. Suffice to say I chose correctly and was relieved when I eventually started to see civilisation slowly appear from the gloom!

The next day I managed to squeeze in an early morning swim at a local pool, which was simply a 3km steady plod followed by 10 x 25m fast/25m easy.

On returning home on Friday I went out for my last training sesh before my race on Sunday...a 90min steady ride with several short sharp efforts.

Saturday I was up at the 'crack of sparrows' to travel down to TriUK in Dorset for the team media launch. I was on the road at 0415 and got to the shop in Yeovil at about quarter to 9 (after seeing more of Bristol town centre than I should have...I really could do with a satnav!) I spent the day with TriUK 'stalwart' Roy Brunning and the rest of the team, in the TriUK shop being photographed, briefed and clothed and had the opportunity to wander around the largest tri shop in the world...I have never seen so much triathlon gear under one roof...awesome!

I got home to York at about 9pm, totally shattered, got my race kit together for the next morning and crawled into bed!

Sunday..race day..Skipton.

First tri of the year and it was a great race to kick off the season; well organised, a good route and a chance to give my new kit an airing, including my Craft trisuit, Oakley Radar glasses, Met Inferno helmet all of which performed extremely well! My race start was 1200 so no early starts and by this time the sun was shining and there were loads of enthusiastic spectators around the transition area, which was in the middle of a huge park. I wasn't expecting a fast race due to my build up to it (training through and driving nearly 600 miles the day before!) so I hadn't put myself under any pressure really. I ended up having a pretty good'un in the end. I finished 12th overall and 2nd in my age group!

Timings wise, there was a slight faff though. The results had me down at 5:16 for a 400m swim! Very nice of them to knock a minute off, but unfortunately my watch was probably more correct at 6:16! However, they stuck a minute on to my bike split, so it was a case of give and take! My 5km run was 18:17 which I was pleased with. I stopped my watch at the same time as the organisers had for me, which is always a bonus!

So, an eventful week really. Looking forward to the Interservices Duathlon next week...come on the RAF!

Train well.

Does Chocolate Count Towards My '5 a Day'?

I had to work hard this week as I knew, at the end of it, I would be stuffing chocolate down my face like my life depended on it!

After Mondays 14 mile run my quads and lower calves felt a tad sore, probably due to wearing a brand new pair of trainers, so Tuesday was just a swim sesh: 250m warm up and drills, then 10 x 250m with 30 secs rest, 250m cool down. As this was my only workout today I pushed quite hard.

Weds morn was an early turbo ride of about 45 mins. It was supposed to be longer but I slept in a bit...the alarm went off at 5am...I blinked, and it was 5:45! Doh!

That night I went to the pool for lots of drills and a bit of speed stuff; 10 x 25m at max effort/25m easy.

My legs finally felt less 'bruised' by Thursday. The old legs seem to be taking longer to heal these days but they are hanging in there, just!

Having been on earlies at work, I finished at half one so I opted for a bike/run brick. I hit the turbo for a 'up and down' sesh. This self titled workout simply involves keeping the same rpm for as long as poss whilst shifting up the gears every 10 mins. At the point of total leg and lung failure, I start shifting down again. This took an hour, then I slipped into my run shoes for an interval session of 7 x 3 min tempo/2 min easy. The whole workout lasted about 2 hours.

No work on Good Friday so it was an early 4 km swim and a tough turbo in the evening. I was hoping to get some hill efforts in but the weather was shocking so the turbo got another bashing. It was another interval sesh but I tried to simulate hills by raising the front wheel up quite high and pushing a hard gear for 2 mins with 3 min easy spin in in the lower cogs. In the hard gear I was just managing to make 60 rpm, so it was a flipping good leg burner!


Saturday was a long 'breakthrough' run. For the first time in a LOT of years I ran for over 2 hours, albeit only just! I've yet to check the distance but I reckon it was about 17 miles which I did in 2hr o4 mins. I'm chuffed with that time as I'm aiming for an Ironman marathon time of 3hr 30mins, so I'm on course for somewhere near that! Nutrition worked ok too; felt great on 2 Go gels...no nasty tummy problems!


3 hour ride on my race bike today...in the sunshine...no wind...bliss. Nutrition on the bike was an Eat Natural bar washed down with 750ml of Gatorade. I think I'm getting to grips with what food works for me too, so all in all, a pretty good week really!


Looking forward to the TriUK 'media launch' on Sat followed by my first tri of the season on Sunday at Skipton. I will be 'training through' this race though so not expecting any fast times!

Time for more chocolate! Train smart..Happy Easter...mmm chocolate...

Puddings and Topsoil!

Since my boys have been home from school for the last couple of weeks, they have taken over ownership of the computer so I've not been able to get near my blog...until today!

I seemed to recover fairly quickly after the Stokeskey duathlon so I managed to get some decent long sessions in, including a bike/swim/bike brick (2hr 30mins) on the Friday of that week and a 12 mile run on Saturday. I finished that week with a long ride on Sunday of just under 60 miles on my race bike. I totalled 12 hours that week and felt good, due in no small part to getting plenty of early nights and a good 8 hours sleep almost every night!

This week was a planned hard week. It all started well but I had to have a little re-jig at the weekend due to a wee hangover!

Monday- a hard run session of 10 min warm up, 7 min hard tempo with 3 min easy - repeated 6 times, 10 min cool down/stretch

Tuesday- am: a 5am turbo workout. Starting on an easy gear at approx 105 rpm, then move up a gear every 10 mins until I couldn't maintain a min of 95 rpm, then back down the gears, picking up the revs again.

Tues pm: Swim. 8 x 250m on 5 mins

Weds- Swim. Drills and speed work. Working early so just one session today.

Thurs- am: Long brick. 2 hr ride on a pretty windy day backed up with an 8 mile run.
pm: Core work and stretching.

Friday was a rest day and an evening of fun and frolics at a leaving do for a couple of good blokes who are leaving the mob. Although I admit I did eat and drink a little too much, it's just a vicious rumour that I finished off 3 puddings!

Sat- this was supposed to be a long swim at 7 am followed by a long bike. However due to the fact that I was feeling slightly dodgy (that last pudding must have been off!), after the swim I had a large brekky and collapsed on the sofa! To help ease my guilt at not getting on the bike, my better half had me shifting a ton and a half of topsoil from the front of the house to the back...a wheelbarrow full at a time! How I regretted not escaping on my bike!

Sunday- Made up for Sat by going on a 4hr 30min ride on my race bike. Stayed in the tuck for as much poss but finished with a sore neck. I tried to run off the bike but my left knee felt quite sore too so decided not to push my luck and left the run until Monday.

Today, Monday was a 14 mile run. Felt fine energy wise, just my legs feel a bit tender. Thankfully my knee feels fine, with no repercussions from Sundays long ride.

Another hard week planned for this week....hopefully!

Train well, eat better!