Saturday 30 January 2010

And then again there was Snow - Turbo Brick wk 18 Saturday 30th January 2010

Had a relaxing massage from Jude Durrant Thursday lunchtime and then received the following text message from the coach:
"Saw your blog today don't do the swim what you missed on tuesday tomorrow."
I had been planning on squeezing that missed session in on the Friday morning. Then due to working late and then it snowing by the time I got home I was too late for the Tri-Anglia Committee Meeting and definately too late to get a recovery ride in before the meeting. Instead I just spent the evening chilling out at home with the cats.
I can't get over how much snow we've had. We've had the third dose. Good job today's session involved the turbo trainer in the garage, but again run efforts are a bit restricted due to slippery surfaces under foot. The session involved a fifteen minute warm up, then a hard 20minutes (280 watts) on the bike then straight into a 2400-3000m run at 6:30-6:45mpm pace (I did 7mpm thanks to the conditions) a quick breather then 10 mins recovery spin before repeating the run and bike efforts. Then a 10minute cool down.
This evening I'm heading for a swim. The session I have in mind is 4k comprising 800m warm up, 4x 300m with 30s rest, 8x 100m on 1:40-1:45 (we'll see how I'm going), 16x 25m on 30s then an 800m warm down.
Had been planing to treat tomorrows easy ride as a social ride. With snow and ice, I think I'll change that to a turbo recovery ride and then a second good swim.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Turbo Wk 17 Wednesday 27th January 2010

4x 10minutes at 300watts on the turbo this evening as my first bit of excercise this week. Went a whole load better than expected and feared. Numbers from the session were pretty similar to when I previously did this session on 14th January.
Massage tomorrow, and perhaps if I can get up early enough a swim to make up for missing Tuesdays.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Week 16 review and Wk17 + Lanzarote Preview

Week 16 was billed as a hard week. I certainly found it hard even with softening a couple of sessions and missing a few, though work assisted with those ommisions. No swims this week. Struggling because I'm tired, though can't help wonder with the number of bugs going round if I'm fighting something off. But as negative as I was with my rides at the weekend, and you'll note how slow I've been with updating the blog, I have to conceed that I did get out there and those miles are in the bank. Certainly the running is strong which is the main aim. Just need to get over mental set-backs and get out there again for some more. Fortunately this week is a recovery week as per the schedule below, and I'm being allowed to take the first half of next week easy so that I can get in some quality bike sessions whilst in Lanzarote for a week from next Thursday, the current schedule for that is included below.

Long ride Wk16 Sunday 24th January

Was meant to participate in the VC Norwich Reliability ride with strict instructions to latch onto and hang onto the fastest group. I really didn't feel up to that and didn't get out of bed in time to join in.
Instead I went for a solo ride with the aim of 3 hours at 18mph. I was barely able to average 15mph. My body just didn't want to work harder than 70% of heart rate max and the legs didn't want to turn over faster than 80rpm. The mind was not in a good state. Thought about stopping at my Mum's and asking for a lift home. Felt like pulling over and laying on the road side to cry. Can't recall ever being so keen to get off a bike.
Not a bad little 45 mile route and discovered that the Carrot Cake Clif Bars are jolly tasty.
Decided against doing the 30minute timed swim in the evening that I'd asked my mother to lap count for me. Instead I treated her and my brother to take away curry.

Long Ride Wk 16 Saturday 23rd Jan

Was very fortunate to have the company of Gary Wootton and Jonathan Briggs for a long ride. The schedule nearly put them off riding with me. The target pace was "too rich" for them. As it turns out it was too much for me too. I felt tired and it was hard work. We went upto the North Norfolk Coast to find some hills and devised a twisty route.

Immediately followed that up with a 16 minute run. A transition run (t-run). Aim had been 2 miles so without a measured route to follow decided to run for 8minutes then turn round and run back. The legs really didn't want to know and it felt awful. Was pleasently surpised to discover I'd covered 1.9miles.

Friday 22 January 2010

Mile efforts - Wk 16 Friday 22nd January 2010

Following the long run home on Wednesday I jogged back into work yesterday Morning. It was only 1.6 miles, but fairly hard work. Thanks to a full day at work that spilled into the evening (admittedly the last bit was a meal and beer with new colleagues) I didn't get to do the scheduled turbo session. As my legs were tired I really didn't mind. In fact to be honest I was glad of the excuse to skip training. Must be a sign that I was tired.
Another early start at work meant I missed the scheduled swim. I did get out for a quality run session though. 5 x 1 mile efforts with company from Lynn Emmett, Paul French, Danny Mann and Simon Black. Okay, so they didn't all do all 5 of the mile efforts, but it was good to have company, support and encouragement.
And yes I was tired, and each effort was hard, but I was really pleased with the consistency. I'd been aiming to run each at 6:15 - 6:20, though the target was 6:26 which is 20minute 5k PB pace. My splits were 6:19, 6:20, 6:20, 6:24 and 6:23. Haven't done this session since 10th November when the splits were 6:23, 6:25, 6:16, 6:42 and 6:33. Definately an improvement and this time round I've done more running in the lead up to the session. In 4 days I've run 33.5 miles. In fact I've run 100 miles in the last 3 weeks.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

My Legs Hurt - Long Run Week 16 Wednesday 20th Jan

No two ways about it my legs hurt. I really don't expect any sympathy. In fact feel free to tease me. Legs were tired before I even started the 18mile run home from work this evening. 8.5hrs in a meeting with no drink before wasn't the best preparation. Was perhaps also wearing too much, but being warm when I've got runs in warm climates coming up is probably a good idea.
The aim was 18miles at 8:20mpm pace. The first mile was on the pace even with a delay to cross Queen's Road. But it wasn't long before the legs started to feel heavy and protest. It's at times like this when you're mind starts getting negative. Training when on form is easy. Everything is positive. But when it becomes hard work it really becomes hard work. When it's easy you feel confident and have a "bring it on" attitude, but when tired the self-doubt creeps in and thoughts like "what have you signed yourself up for you prat" enter your head.
To try to cope you convince yourself your going okay and actually going further than planned (wouldn't have got away that that one if I'd pre-measured the route). I was telling myself the route was going to be more like 18.5 - 19 miles. Turns out it was 17.9miles but once I'd worked out that equates to 8:35mpm I'm content baring in mind how heavy the legs felt. Average pulse at 73% is pretty similar to the 74% of last week when I averaged 8:25mpm. So it is just the legs being heavy and not me being slack that is the cause of the slower pace.
To be completely open and honest, I'm not relishing the thought of the next 4 days of training. In fact I'm a little nervous. I'd quite like next weeks rest week to be starting tomorrow. Oh well, it's the hard work now that will make the difference and we don't do these things because they are easy.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Tired Tuesday. - Wk16 19th Jan 2010

Did not want to get up this morning to go for a swim. Felt tired even though I'd gone to bed early. Admittedly I'd read the chapter on Ultramarathon Running in Tim Noakes book "The Lore of Running". Really good book I must get my own copy and return this one. I then started a new novel Azincourt by Bernard Cromwell. Even so I put those down at 11pm so ought to have been able to get up at 6am. Took until 8:30am to get out of bed which is the latest I can leave it to get to work (sort of) on time.
Laying in bed probably did me some good, though racked with guilt that wasn't 2 hours of quality sleep and means I'm behind schedule before the week's routine even starts.
Did manage to get out for the 10x 400m run efforts at lunchtime with Paul French. The head was still groggy, the legs were protesting and a busy week at work was on my mind. I was meant to be targetting 80-85 seconds for the 400m efforts. I was struggling to get under 90 and on the 7th with my mind thinking how I was going to get the long run in tomorrow, the swim I've missed and the mile efforts in on Friday that effort slipped to 95. Each effort started fresh enough thanks to the 90s rest, but 'sharp' wouldn't be a way to describe how ever Paul or I were feeling. Legs didn't feel quite like jelly. They didn't feel like they were going to give way. Rather, they felt obstanent and unco-operative. Wasn't as out of breath on this session this week as last, I'm blaming the legs because they just wouldn't go round fast enough to stress the heart and the lungs. I'm sure a comparison of the heart rate trace to last weeks will show that. I did absolutely nail the start of the 10th and final effort. Got to 300m absolutely flying (well as near to it as possible for me) but then faded significantly, though even slowing over the last 100m posted a time of 80seconds. Maybe there was some subconciousness thoughts trying to preserve the legs for what is to come over the next few days, though I did feel better for that blow out.
Now need to work out how to fit in an 18mile (2.5hour) run into tomorrow's schedule around meetings solidly from 9am through to 6pm. I suspect trying to get a swim in as well is being just too optimistic.

Monday 18 January 2010

Week15 Review and Week16 Preview

Week 15 was the first of two harder weeks. We still had some snow and ice laying around to be cautious with, but that only really had any effect on the Wednesday evening long run. Of course rain and wind added character to the long saturday ride (shortened that one a little). The diagram above shows what I did compared to what was on the schedule. Of the 9 sessions in the week, 6 were done exactly as planned, 2 were off the pace and one was done late and over distance. In all I'm happy with the week, it was always going to be a tough week and if I'd done it we'd be thinking that it ought to have been harder.

Week 16 is now upon us and that's due to be another hard week. The schedule is in the graphic below. It's pretty much the same as week 15, with a couple of modifications - a 30 minute swim competition on the sunday evening rather than an additional run and 1 mile efforts on the Friday rather than 1km efforts. Also included in the graphic is a preview of what might be in store for the recovery week 17 and then a sneak at what will be happening in the week leading up to the training camp in Lanzarote, were we can expect a lot of cycling (must get the brake cable fixed on the tt bike for that).

Sunday 17 January 2010

Ride, Cinema, Run

Rode with the VC this morning, well, at least to their cafe stop at Bressingham. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3417398 I then rode back on my own as I needed to get back for a trip to the cinema to see "Up in the Air". Found my legs were quite tired to start with, and then completely shot at the end. Getting up the hill to join the group was hard, riding with the group was fine, even when they speeded up for the final couple of miles to the cafe, though the average speed was lower than the target. Once on my own I made an effort to get the speed back up and made some headway getting it from 16mph to 17mph, but was then tired for the rollers along Stoke Road and the average dropped again.

I really enjoyed the George Cloony film "Up in the Air". I found it really quite engaging, interesting and funny. A little sad perhaps at the end, but to my mind he did the right thing.

Then in the evening a run. Really wasn't looking forward to going out. In fact the legs didn't want to do anything. I was sat there in a muddled state of mind thoughts switching between "I'm going to be sore and not enjoy it" and "I'll feel guilty to dipping out". So, I let fate decide, I let my friends cat Pushkin decide which coin to toss and it came up heads, the run it was. The schedule said 6 miles at 7:30 - 8:00 mpm, and finding a route that was going to be pleasent to run in the dark on a sunday evening had been part of the procrastination, but in the end the inner city ring road was an okay option - fairly quiet, just a couple of drivers making turns without indicating. As I was feeling tired I attacked the first mile as I feared I was going to be slow and was pleasently surprised to knock it out in 7:12. After that tried to settle into a rhythm but could feel that I was getting progressively tired as the run went on, and grapes hill wasn't a thrilling sight in the fourth mile. Ended up covering 6.1 miles in 45:38 which works out to 7:28mpm. So pleased with that, makes up for being off the pace on the bike earlier in the day.

Saturday 16 January 2010

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Finished the million selling number one bestseller today. Took a little time to get through it, but it was interrupted by 2 other books that I was lent. Found it very hard to get into, but once I get to half way it started to get more compelling.
Managed to read something like 17 books last year. Its a close call between "Girl with the dragon tattoo" and "Girl who played with fire" for the best one. I'm looking forward to the third and final one of that trilogy coming available in paperback in April.

Today I've mostly been getting wet. Saturday 16th January

When I was given the schedule for today the directions were 4hours at 18mph average with intermediate sprints (sprint for village signs) and attack the hills. No where in there did it say find a 20mph head wind to ride into, nor did say spend 3+ hours in the rain and it certainly didn't say find flooded roads to ride through where the water comes up to your ankles.
But then again, they are the things that add to the richness of life. I was joined by Angie Thorp, Will Hall and Russell Clarke with the intention of following a 72mile that Will had plotted, but with the wind we decided to see how we got on over the first 20miles. Will was tired before we started and Angie was struggling from not doing anything for the last 3 weeks and they both turned round and headed home before we got to 15 miles. And by the time we got to 45miles Russell was questioning the wisdom of not having breakfast. The idea there was to encourage the body to use fat stores for fuel rather than carbs.
We altered the route to 58miles and found the road flooded at 30.5miles just after crossing the A140. Averaged 16.1mph but the conditions took their toll on that. Heart rate averaged 72% of HRM.
I hadn't appreciated how cold and wet I was until I got home. Headed straight to bed to get some warmth. Really not the day for the boiler to be playing up following the plumbers visit yesterday to fix a radiator thermastat. (Fingers crossed might have fixed it now.)
So once warmed up I headed to UEA pool for a shower and to make up for missing yesterday's swim session. I'd expected to only get 55minutes due to the pool closing to switch between 25 & 50m mode. When I discovered upon arrival that it was staying at 25m all evening I opted for a longer steady session comprising 5x 1k with 1minute rest between swimming full stroke on the odds and pulling the evens (arms only with a pull buoy between the legs).
Figured I'd earned a beer and curry following that lot (sssh don't let on about the two slices of christmas cake after the ride).

Friday 15 January 2010

5x 1k Run Efforts Wk 15 Friday 15th January

Was later than hoped getting to bed last night after the turbo session and writing up the blog. That and needing to be at home by 8:30am for the plumber ment that I missed my morning swim. I'll have to make ammends for that tomorrow evening.
I did make the 5x 1k run efforts at lunchtime and was again joined by Paul French. The aim of the session was to run each of the 1k's at a target time of 3:50 (m:s) with a 2.5 minute rest between each. We've done this session a few times now and have our unofficial 1k course on Whitlingham Lane. The last time we did this session, which was Tuesday 15th December 2009, our times for the efforts were: 3:49, 3:54, 3:54, 3:58 and 3:52.
Today our times were: 3:48, 3:53, 3:46, 3:49 and 3:45.
A definate improvement. Heart Rate trace and split analysis in the attached graphic.

Thursday 14 January 2010

Turbo Session, Wk 15 Thursday 14th Jan 2010

After yesterdays run the legs have been feeling a bit tired today. They were certainly moaning about walking between the offices at work today. The didn't seem to mind the bike ride in or home, so following a consultation with the coach (at the coach's request) I went for the planned turbo session.
For those of you not know what a 'turbo' is, it's a trainer that enables me to ride my bike indoors. Mine is a Tacx Flow (click the link to see it on wiggle).
The session involved 15 minute warm up, four 10 minute efforts aiming at producing 300watts throughout with 5minute recoveries and then a 10minute warm down. I found it hard to constantly produce 300+ watts thoughout the efforts, particularly on the 2nd, 3rd and first half of the final effort. You can see that in the heart rate trace as the heart rate is higher to maintain the same workload. Also in the graphic is a summary of the session, shows how I use the variable resistance of the turbo, plus the resistance from different gears to get to desired power outputs. Also in there are some numbers recorded by the turbo's display unit. When riding your body remembers rate of movement and effort. That means power and cadence are the important numbers and generally over time I want to see these increase while the heart rate to drop, that would mean I'm getting more efficient. Miles and speed are largely irrelevant because you can setup on the turbo to give some impressively high numbers which won't be repeatable in the real world.
The numbers today were 80minutes at an average heart rate of 126bpm (69%) with a peak of 153 (84%) with the power being an average of 230watts and a max of 333. Cadence (speed the legs are turning over) of 109rpm max and an average of 94rpm. The power is the important one. Justin Rapp who won Ironman Canada 2009 was aiming to ride at 260-269watts for the 4.5 hours of his bike ride. So I've a bit of a way to go for that. Michael Hutchins when he went for the hour record was aiming at sustaining 400watts which is what the tour riders sustain on the big moutain climbs. Chris Boardman has the hour record and still holds the record for highest average speed on le Tour prologue could sustain much more than that 400watts, but was teased because his peak output didn't break the 1,000 mark. The top sprinters can deliver a peak of 1,600watts. Not that I'm looking to get anything like that. I'd like to get to 230watts (perhaps 250-300) for an ironman ride.
To help me through the session this evening I had the Prodigy and then the Fratellis for company.
Oh, and the legs. You know, I think they might actually feel better now post ride than they did before, but we'll have to review that tomorrow.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Long Run wk15 Wednesday 13th January

To enable two long bike rides this weekend my long run for the week needs to be done today. The distances are now building and today's is 17 mile. These long runs will now extend by 1 mile week (except for the rest weeks were I'll get a reprieve).
The plan is to do the run afterwork. Originally the idea was to run home. I then thought about doing the run early this morning from home, but stayed in bed. My plans now are to do the run from work, then cycle home. The route I've chosen is shown in the graphic and can be seen at gmaps pedometer here. Have tried to keep away from too many quiet country lanes as it is still a bit icy. Figured that quiet city paths might be wisest, though it is now snowing again (13:09)

Post Run Update
Right, so the run is done. The target pace was 8:20mpm (minutes per mile) which is the pace from my best marathon. The conditions were a mix between slushy and icy. That means I found things a little soft under foot or a little slippy under foot at times. It was dark, the batteries in my headtorch look like they need replacing, oh and it drizzled a bit. It sounds like I'm trying to make excuses. Which I guess I am, though I suppose the other take is that I'm showing off because I managed to achieve 8:24mpm. I'm very pleased with my early evening's work.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Tuesday wk 15 - 12th Jan 2010

Up early and at UEA for a swim. A solo 2mile session taking 57 minutes consisting of:
warm up: 600m f/s (freestyle), 600 pull
main: 7x 200m repeating on 3:15. swam them all in 2:55 - 2:58.
16x 25m repeating on 30seconds. Some I did in sub 20seconds.
warm down: 200m.

Effort run session comprising 10x 400m. Aim was to do all of them as near to 80seconds as possible and certainly sub 85s for all of them. Achieved that for at least 6 of the efforts, though was that tired at the ends of them it sometimes took two or three attempts to press the button on the watch. You can see the splits on the attached graphic. The heart rate curve is nice and smooth and pretty consistent. You'll note that the first effort was the slowest and correspondingly has the lowest heart rate peak. You'll see that the pulse drops nicely between efforts though after each effort doesn't go quite as low as the previous one.

17 mile run for tomorrow. Best I crack on with plotting a route.

Weeks 11-14 Summary

The above is a snap shot from the Polar Training log showing what I've been upto for the last 4 weeks.

Been in touch with the coach and this is the schedule for the upcoming Week 15:

MTB introduction wk 14 Sunday 10th Jan 2010

Aim and aspiration was to ride with Russell Clarke, Iain Johson and Roger Slee on our Mountain Bikes in the snow on the Marriotts Way to Aylesham and back. All started out okay, albeit slow but before we got half way to Reepham we found the conditions awfully slippy. Persevered a little further but turned round struggled some more then rode back on the road. Would have been quicker running than riding. Still opportunity to get out doors on the bike. Found a nice cafe in Drayton and saw several runners out including Tim Topper, Karl Sherry and Andy Walpole.

Went swimming in the afternoon. 4k in 66minutes as 5x 800m, odds as full stroke, evens pull.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Running in a Winter Wonderland - Saturday 9th Jan wk 14


Was shown a new route today. The River Yare hugging Wherryman's Way. I joined Philippa Rudd and Chris Groves on a snowy out and back route. Took the camera with me and got a few pictures. The others ran for an hour before turning back. I opted to go a little further, getting to the Ferry House in Surlingham before heading back and added a couple of detours at the end to build the mileage a little. Had hoped to get in 15 miles, but with an off road route running in snow I'll have to be content with 14 (especially as it was several hours ago now).

Will definately use the river path again.


Photos can be found on facebook just click the link, you should be able to see the album whether you are registered on facebook or not.

Followed this up with a swim at UEA. 3.8km in 63 minutes consisting of:
600 warm up with every 3rd length fly drill
800 pull
800 as 25 drill, 25 swim
800 pull
16x 25 on 30s
400 warm down as 100 fly drill, 100 b/c and 200 f/s

Short Lunchtime Run - wk 14 Friday 8th Jan


Just a short (ish) run at lunchtime with David Archer, Phil Smith and Lynn Emmett. Had to be a bit cautious as the pavements were a bit slippery. Found it hard work.

Used the (new) mountain bike to get in and out of work. It's first outing, as I'm sure you can't count wheeling it home from the shop it's christening. There was a nasty red mark on the slipway down into the work's bike shed.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Frozen week 14 Thursday 7th Jan 2010

Can't help but wonder how many others training for Ironman Australia or Comrades for that matter are also suffering with severe wintery conditions. Oh and a sore throat too. Had another bad night last night and couldn't get up this morning. Stayed in bed all morning. Aches seem to have gone, but can't talk.

Figured I'd have a really easy spin on the turbo in the afternoon to test out some new aero bars. Thought I knew how to setup a front derailer but I'm struggling to get this SRAM Force to work properly. I used the Tacx Recovery session BRR03 opting for a 39x13 rather than 53x17 gearing seeing as I can't get up onto my big chain ring. Recovery session means high(ish) cadence, low power, low speed and low heart rate. I've done this session 4 times now over the last couple of years and succeeded today in having the lowest heart rate on it.

I then ventured outside for a short t-run (transition run). By transition run I mean straight off the bike and out to run, well pausing long enough to put adequate layers on and trainers. Means I'm running within 5 minutes of finishing on the bike. Took the phone with me again and took some pictures. I paused the watch when I took photos of a frozen small Whitlingham Broad and also when I took photos of swans on an almost completely frozen large Whitlingham Broad. If I'd stopped the watch when taking photos at the ski-club I'd have done the 2.35 miles in 18:32 which is 7:47mpm which I'm pleased with. It felt comfortable. Running in snow is nice even if you don't really go for it. Technique is feeling better. Feels like I'm getting my running into a form that is laying the foundations for some good progress. However as I didn't stop my watch I'm down as 21:22 which is 9:20mpm. But the heart rate trace does show where I paused.

Todays photos can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176250&id=602602194&l=0de209fbda

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Week 14

Week 14 has gone pretty well so far, despite the snowy, icy conditions.

Monday went for a 6 mile run at lunchtime with Jeff Lansdell and Paul French. Even with icy footing on the Eaton6 route we managed 7:52mpm pace. We've been encouraging Paul to consider doing a race and on this run he started talking about doing one. He is thinking of the Norwich Half in November, so as to give himself plenty of time to prepare. I reckon he is capable of a sun 40min 10k right now, so by then I believe we'll get him to a sub 90 half.

In the evening went for a massage with Becky Schofield. As she is due her second child in 6 weeks this will be my last massage with her for a while. I'll be booking sessions with Jude Durrant now.

Yesterday, Tuesday 5th Jan I managed to get up and go for a swim. Due to the conditions I drove rather than cycled. Makes the journey between pool and work a bit difficult but at least I make my swim. A solo 2 mile session in a 25m UEA pool that took 55 minutes.
A warm up consisting of 300m where each 3rd length was one arm fly and then straight into 400m as altering 25m f/s drill and 25m f/s. 200m pull. 1500m steady counting strokes per length, most were 19, a few 18 and a few 20. The 1500 took 23:40. Not a great time, averages 1:35 per 100 and would make a 59:57 3.8k swim. Really ought to be at 4,000m per hour pace or faster (sub 1:30 per 100m). Think I may have done 50m too much but not certain of that.

At lunchtime it was particularly slippery and we opted for a route that gave us as much off road as possible. The route totaled 6.8 miles and took us 56:30 so that's 8:20mpm, but we were held up crossing roads in a few places. Seven of us went out and Simon Black challenged us to make an anagram of our surname initials. I made BAGELLS which I think should win, but then I do seem to think with my stomach.

Went home via Pedal Revolution. Bought some different aero bars to try on the time trial bike and also a mountain bike. This bad weather does seem to be set in and the forecasts say that we've got it for the next couple of weeks. Yes a bit extravagent, but money I got for Christmas covered more than a third of the cost (fortunately there was a sizable discount because it was a 2009 model). At least now I can ride on some off road routes and have something that has more grip in the snow, plus I've got something should the inclination arise to do Dusk til Dawn.

Once home I attempted the week 14 turbo session from the "24 weeks to Ironman" book. Not sure if pumping up the tyres to 100+psi on a cold evening was a wise move as 54minutes into the session the power I was producing dropped by 10%. The session involved 4 efforts at 300 watts. A 10 minute effort, then 8 minutes, then 6 minutes, then 4 minutes. The first one was 300 watts at 95-100rpm. The second and third was more like 280-290 at 95rpm, but come the forth, whilst still in the same gear and at the same cadence the power was only 250-260watts and when reving up at the start of the effort I could feel the tyre slipping on the roller. I quit the session at this point and inspected the equipment. The roller is now worn where the tyre presses against it, but more noticable was the lack of air in the tyre. There hadn't been a bang, and no indication of previous flints in the tyre. The tyre, a race spec one, is a couple of seasons old, so getting on a bit and the inner tube almost certainly the same age.

Wednesday, today, I had hoped to get a good medium length run in (8-10miles). But didn't do anything. In fact didn't go to work or anything at all. A sore throat last night stopped me from sleeping. Then this morning in addition to the sore throat I generally felt achy throughout especially in the stomache. Stayed in bed until afternoon. Stared out the window at the falling snow for a short while and was impressed with how much needed to be brushed off the car before I good go to the supermarket for a food shop and to buy some throat medicine. A lazy evening writing this blog report (took a while, I'm still trying to learn a new graphics package) though I did do some sit ups, press ups, tricep dips and functional stability exercises. Monday remains the only day so far this year that I've missed on this resolution. Feel much better now, will have to see how I feel tomorrow, hopefully good enough to train and to work.

Sunday 3 January 2010

Sunday 3rd Jan 2010

Yesterday was icy so did a 2hour turbo session followed by a 5.1 mile run with a 2 mile swim session in the evening. Had hoped that the weather would clear to be able to get out on the road today, but nope it's snowed again so it's back to all the white stuff. So a 2:20 turbo session with a frozen 4.5 mile run taking pics of the conditions. Keeping the bike off the road was a wise move.

Had the forcast today that the sub zero temperatures will be with us for another 10 days. Two years ago we had a mild winter and training for Ironman SA was easy. This year it looks like I've got a 5 week icy disruption to my training.

2009 A Summary

Numbers in for 2009. Swam 149.1 miles, cycled 5,830.7 miles and ran 1,027.5.

That compares to 151.1, 7508.5 and 1072.6 for 2008 and 135.9, 7344.2 and 1200 for 2007.

Oh dear

It really is a long time since I updated this blog. I fear that this item could become rather long as I play catch up on over two weeks modified exercise.

It's been cold and snowy. I can't remember having such a long sustained period of winter in my 40 years in the UK.

Early morning swim sessions have been adversly affected due to the cold. Either it's too cold for me to get my arse out of bed and/or the roads are that icy it's not wise to cycle to the pool.

A lot of the cycling sessions have become turbo sessions. Which isn't all bad seeing as it is giving me an opportunity to train on the time trial bike I wish to use for Ironman Australia. I can't see me getting out on the roads to test it before March. I will be in Lanzarote for a week in Feb and had been planning on taking the bike there, but taking to people today, I'm now not sure of the wisdom of a tt bike on a hilly island. Oh well, got a couple of weeks to decide.

Running though has been good. Some of the effort sessions have been put off, but I am still getting out and running. Typically tempo sessions and heading off road. Running on fresh snow is lovely. I'm being very cautious about my foot strike and I may be getting away from my heal strike which is a very good thing.

Anyway I need to provide an update on what I've been doing. But not right now. I will be back.