Saturday 17 May 2008

£1,200 to Spinal Injuries Association

Following the £700 all you chaps donated on line through www.justgiving.com/roblines to the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) in support of them and my efforts in Ironman South Africa, I've just been able to post to SIA a further cheque for £500 from my employer. Grand total to the charity is £1,240.
Thank you

First Open Water Swim 2008

The 2008 Open Water Swimming Season started this morning when Tri-Anglia took to water of Whitlingham Lake at 8.30am this morning. I managed to be the first to dive into the water, was first to the 750m turn buoy and just managed to be first back to the outdoor centre ahead of Matt Spillman. I can't say that we were the first to exit the water because we turned for a second shorter lap.
Normally for the first swim of the year I can't contain an exclamation of how cold the water is. No such problem this year the water was actually quite comfortable, so not only did a full 1500m loop get completed but an additional 400m one was added in for good measure.
Can't say that I was as warm on the bike afterwards. It was wet and windy and our planed 50miler was curtailed to 30 miles.

Thursday 15 May 2008

Lotus Cars Cycle Race League Race 2 of 10

For some weird reason I'm happy with last night. Was never on the pace, found it hard and average speed wasn't much better than the Ironman.

A friend Chris Guy was joint first, and his technical diagnosis of my performance is that I'm "f***ed".

Photos on Mark Cozen's website, specifically:

These are of me :-)
http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4938238_bVNWy#295355454_XTH7m
http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4938238_bVNWy#295361842_SQrUB
http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4938238_bVNWy#295367343_RxT6i

This is the sprint for 1st place involving Chris Guy http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4938238_bVNWy#295369965_Xgo9d

And this is Ben Nicholson who on occasion has also been a training buddy and training advisor.
http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4938238_bVNWy#295370109_UWrRp

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Waveney Tri Report in the Press

The Waveney Triathlon took place on Sunday and the Evening News ran a story in todays edition. They also put this on their website.

Eating Biscuits

Just been eating biscuits - bourbons and fruit shortcakes. I would have liked highland short bread. Bourbons were second choice but there was only one packet of them.
Why was I eating biscuits? I had just given blood for the 22nd time.

First week back in training - WK7 (-18)

First week back to a full training schedule and clocked 170miles cycling, 28miles running with a long run of 15.4miles and 10k worth of swimming. Generally feeling okay - though there is no sprint speed there. Wednesday evening was the 2nd of 3 5mile runs on Yarmouth Prom, pulse was low at 159-160bpm as legs were protesting, but they still yeilded 7min miles, so pleased with that.

Wednesday 7 May 2008

And it starts again....

... summer weather.
... evening riding.
... riding in shorts and t-shirts in the UK
... vivid colours and bluebells and the promise of a good summer
... and as of Monday - the training schedule for Ironman UK. Starting at week 7 of 24.

Friday 2 May 2008

Morning Swim

For the third morning in a row my alarm went off at 6:15am. This morning come 6:35 I wasn't able to fall back to sleep so made it to the UEA pool for a swim, and I actually enjoyed it. Was good to see Mark Philo, Andy Atthowe, Karl Sherry and Oliver Milk there too.

Wild Deers


Saw a herd of wild deers on my detour ride home last night.

Worn out Armadillos


Think I may have worn through a pair of Specialized Armadillo tyres on my bike. Only taken 2 winters.