Different places I have run!

Barcelona - on a recent trip with work to EuroPCR - I ran from the HotelArts to the statue of Columbus (pointing the wrong way to America) and back - amazing gin palaces/boats in the harbour!!

London - I was in London at the British Cardiac Society meeting last week and I took the early morning opportunity to run along to the Thames Flood Barrier and back - even saw the O2 arean (nee The Dome)

Weekend training

Well with less than a week to go now the enormity of what I am going to do next week has sunk in (almost).....this is what triathletes call the FEAR...I have started to become a touch obsessive (Lizzie thinks I have been obsessive for some time...) thinking about the route/the transitions/the "how on earth am I going to get around it" - too late to worry now!

Saturday

I did my first full OW swim session (hey nothing like leaving things until the last minute!!) I covered off three laps (each 750m) of Lake 32 at the Cotswold Water Park in 41mins (well from getting in to getting out - a little more than three laps). The water was quite warm and pretty clear - saw a few fish (including one that was longer than my arm!). It felt fantastic - the wetsuit (Orca Alpha) is amazing v v fast and took all the effort out of it - I just need to reach on my stroke as the wetsuit shortens each stroke.

Straight after this I Jumped on the bike and headed off for a 90min route. out onto the main Cirencester to Malmesbury road, to Malmesbury and back with a few loops of the Malmesbury bypass and town. Pretty uneventful excepet for the first time I have been really close to being knocked off my bike in ages - an 18 wheel lorry was about 2-3ft from me doing 50+mph on the phone, not paying attention - great!

Overall a good training day - not aches/pain felt really good.

Sunday

An 80min run was scheduled - the training programme was not specific of the aims so in keeping with the high effort low quantity I decided to come up with my own plan:

10min warm up

6min tempo/4min recover

10min cool down

As I went a little farther than planned it ended up as 95min run - oh well, good practice!

Travel and rest

Finally back from travelling for a couple of weeks! Plus it is a rest day - does it get much better :-)

Swim/Bike ses tomorrow.....bring on Lake 32.....

Going home tonight :-)))

Well I head home tonight :-))

Woke at about 3.30am today but decided not to head to the gym until 4.45.....managed to fit in 60mins on the bike...woohoo

10mins RPE3
10mins RPE5
10mins RPE7
15mins RPE5
15mins RPE3

Feel good but diet over here is awful, I am soooo hungry - how much protein to they eat over here - T bone steak and salmon steaks seem to be the standard - with no side dishes...sometime I would love just a salad...not a 16oz steak.....

Speak to you on the other side
I.

Hello from The US of A

Well flew out yesterday afternoon - drank far too much champagne on the flight (I know hardened IM contenders should have temple like bodies but when its offered and there is little else to do for seven hours....) and I am now living on coffee - an it is only lunchtime....

Anyway...

Yesterday I manged to get a 7ish km run round the Thames flood barrier park and the north side of the river - not bad speed and legs feel pretty good - I think the post race massge really helped on Sunday!

Today I struggled with a fairly awful feeling 15min set in the hotel pool - main problem was it was mostly turns as I could only do about five strokes before I hit the end each time :-((

Hopefully I can fit in a 60min bike session in the gym tomorrow before I fly back.

I.

My last training week before the taper is over!

Well that’s it then…..today marks the beginning of my taper to the race – has the FEAR set in…a little, am I looking forward to it? Oh yes!

For those not of the racing/training persuasion the programme I have been following is a phased programme. It had three build phases looking at developing certain skills – basic skills, endurance and speed skills each a month long. These were then finished off with a build phase (bit of a hit and miss affair for me with work at the moment) of two weeks which honed those skills and the last two weeks before the event are what is termed the Taper. Tapering is a strange experience which I really wish I had known about when I was swimming competitively! Basically you keep the intensity of the sessions high but you reduce hours. This is to ensure that the body has time to recover before the race and you do not injure yourself whilst maintaining fitness. I find it really hard as I feel restrained and frustrated – a bit like rest weeks, the good thing though is if you get the taper right you feel like exploding on the race day – hopefully contained enough to be manageable through the day!! Any way that is currently where I am – a bit apprehensive, but generally buzzing!!

So what have I managed on my weekend off between overseas trips?

Saturday-

First proper Open Water swim (I know leaving it a bit late!!). I went up to Lake 32 at Cerney around 7.30am – very few around at that time but the waterfilled pretty quickly. By the time I left there were over 30-40 people in the water. Lake 32 is one amazing facility – okay the changing rooms are a little basic and rather oddly you can see the bottom of the lake almost all the way across, but the water is nice and clean (and clear) and the feathery lake users do try and get out of your way…anyway…one circuit round the bouys 750m – 12min 45s, very happy, but I need to do more practice in my suit as it limits stroke a bit which I need to get used to….
Later after taking Anja and Jules to a friend’s party I managed to squeezing in a short turbo session – 30 mins over the Wimbleball route – at 115% of normal – my god it makes the hills harder (and the first 5km is all 5-8% hill!)

Sunday – 3rd Westonbirt Tri

Last year this was the first triathlon I ever did and I was bricking it, this year it was a transition practice with an explosive training session attached!

Very happy with the result – I came in 119th in 1:23:54.9 – sub 1:25 and in the top 50% (249 completed it, 1 DQ).

The swim was pretty good – I went out at around RPE8-9 for 100m and then eased off for the next 200m (RPE 5ish) before building for the last 100m to RPE9 – I exited in 5:42.5. The run to transition is really long – over tarmac but I still got through T1 in 4:21.4, before heading out on the bike. The bike was fantastic – a bit of headwind coming from Sherston to the Red Bull but I held off two other guys from the wave to come in at 45:33.3 – a PB. T2 was pretty smooth (1:52.5) although I did struggle a bit to get my watch off the bike! The run did not feel quite as good with the fluid sloshing around in my guts (I never get used to the feeling) but by about 2.5km things were going pretty well. I came in at 26.25.3 – a new 5km PB – all in all an excellent finish to my build phase and a really successful race – dead chuffed! Afterwards I recovered pretty quickly and the superb post race massage from Caroline helped the shins no end, I will be booking in a full hour when I get back from the States before the 70.3!

In the evening I felt a short hill set was needed so I loaded the Wimbleball route again – set it to 120% and went off for 30mins – challenging after the morning but made me feel that I had put a good end to my build phase!

This week is a bit of an unknown as I am at a UK conference Mon-Tue and then in the US for a meeting Wed – Thur or Friday…hopefully I will get the chance to put some hours in…..

Later
I.

Over a week’s worth of update!!!

What a week….last time I updated this it was Thursday last week and I was in sunny and extremely hot Barcelona. This week I am stuck on a train that seems to be as hot, but not as pleasant….

I would love to report a fantastic week of training with only two left after Sunday but alas no…what with work taking me all over the place it has def been a case of fitting stuff around the day job. To save time I shall summarise things:

Friday (last week) – I managed to get 20mins in the hotel pool, a five star lux hotel in Barcelona (Hotel Arts) and was the pool heated……NO! Wow was it chilly!! Still the sun was warm and managed approx 1200m.

Saturday (last week) – I think I managed about an hour on the turbo…could not have been memorable though as I cannot remember!

Sunday - best day for ages – what a session….a long brick session! I set up the turbo with a transition area beside it and the front wheel 10inches off the floor. Programmed a hill repeat program and then started the session.
8x (run 4mins/bike 10mins/run 4mins) All at approx RPE3-4 (last two felt like RPE 8!)
In total it took about 3hrs to complete – I think Lizzie thought I had vanished….

Monday – OFF – Bank Holiday and really needed to spend time with Lizzie and the girls – had a good chilled day

Tuesday – long work day up to Blackpool followed with Manchester before going to the Sqn in Bristol (450miles driving plus meetings), adding in a 5am get up for a quick trip to Lake 32 seemed the obvious choice! Lake 32 is nice and clear, quite warm but at 5.30am deserted so only a quick dip in the shallow end – too much of a scardy cat to do long swims with no other people there…..why did I bother sleep would have been better…

Wednesday – Swim speed focus day.:
3x200m swim/kick/pull
16x50m (odds RPE4/evens RPE8-9)
150m c/d easy
In the evening I put in a 30min hill session on the turbo RPE4-5

Thursday – Another tough day. An early start 5.50am 10km run nice and smooth RPE4ish cadence around 174-5. In the evening I went to the pool in Malmesbury for a coached session, rather annoyingly a bit cut short by a fire drill!
The session was a sprint effort – very handy for the Westonbirt Tri on Sunday (which I entered last week – well a bit of last minute transition practice seemed a good idea and I have to beat 1hr 45):
100m f/c warm up
6x25m kick sprint (on 1min)
400m best effort (5min 26s – 14s faster than 6wks ago)
8x25m f/s on 50s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 35s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 30s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
100m b/s
50m f/s
Finished about 10.15pm – quite late….

Today – Nothing! I had to get up to Middlesbrough (for a work presentation) which required an early train from Cheltenham….a fun 15hr day at work….

Next few days – I am thinking about doing a quick swim up at Lake 32 tomorrow as apparently a lot more people turn up at the weekend….it is also meant to be my last long bike (3hrs) but I have a distinct feeling that will not fit in with family plans (birthday parties, etc) so maybe a long turbo instead….Sunday is the 3rd Westonbirt Tri (400m/22km/5km) and next week in a US trip and my first Tapering…the Fear has set in again…..

Hope you are all well
i.