First things first. I promised pics from yesterdays race. I promised I wouldn't forget my camera again.............. Guess what???? Ooooops, Iain's hopeless.
Today I'm mostly feeling trashed. At the end of my smallest weeks training this year I'm hurting more than I have done for a long time.
On Thursday I had a nice steady 1hr run and on Friday I had my normal swim session. So why am I so tired after a week of only 4.5hrs???? It could have something to do with the last 2 days.
On Saturday it was payback (part 1) for my free VO2 test, a 10k maximal effort run on a treadmill. No time, distance, speed or HR showing, just me and a bit of Guns'n'Roses smashing ourselves into oblivion until I was told to stop. You don't realise how little pace judgement you've got until you remove all of your training aids and stick yourself in a totally alien environment. I've no idea how fast I was running early on but it was waaaay to fast. I felt good to start with and pushed on, but it wasn't to long before I found myself having to drop the pace a little. Soon I was dropping the pace again and again and again........ it was readlly disheartening. Finally I had a card held up which said 9k on it, that was the only indication I'd get all run. It was well needed because I felt on the verge of slowing down to a walk but now knew that I'd only got to tough it out for around 4 more mins. Finally the test was called to a halt and I'd run 10k in 37mins flat which I was quite happy with considering how badly it had gone. Damn I must have been running at a stupid pace early on.
Yesterday was Taunton Aquathlon. From the start we were batttling for 2nd place. The winner swam 70secs quicker than anybody else and never looked back.
First off was the 1k swim. I've been swimming quite well lately so was hoping to get a time quicker than my normal 14mins. I had a good swim, there were 3 in my lane and the other two went off like lunatics while I plodded along at my own pace. After around 8 lengths my lane buddies were a length up on me, they stayed there until half way when I'd settled into my stroke and started to pull them back to me. At the end of the swim I was back on their toes, then I hit transition hard and left it ahead of them. Swim time - 13:38.
I started the 10k (actually 10.8k) run fairly hard to make sure nobody got any ideas above their station and pulled one of the lads along with me until he decided better of it and dropped off. The gap slowly started to increase as I got into my stride and I was feeling good, there appeared to be no hangovers from Saturdays treadmill test. Then all of a sudden, from nowhere, my quads just seemed to seize up. Damn they hurt. Not injury pain, just a big wash of tiredness, it almost felt as though someone had turned a tap on and washed them out with Lactic Acid and there was still 3k to go. Suddenly it was a struggle just to keep moving, within 400m all of the time I'd taken out of my nearest rival in the first 7k was gone and he was past me. Now I just had to get round as best I could and hope nobody else caught up. Thankfully nobody did.
Limping around to the finish I'd managed to hold onto 3rd place and even with the explosion I'd averaged 6:15 pace so I can't complain. First podium of the year, lets hope there are more to follow :-)
Today I just feel beat up. I've just got back from a steady hour in the gym, but it wasn't the best session I've ever done. By a long way!
Monday 25 February 2008
Wednesday 20 February 2008
Bday, VO2 & races
Well Phills Bfitday Tri is all done and dusted, you can see the write up here. Pop over to the site, read the report and have a browse. Maybe then you can sign up and do your own Bfitday Tri.
After the excess's of the 5k/34mile/4mile Tri on Sunday I had about 24hrs to recover enough for Mondays VO2 Max test at Exeter University. I've no idea if Sundays session affected my performance but the huge great pipe thing I had to breath through made it very hard work even at a low speed. I was quite disappointed with the speed I ended up stopping at as I should have been able to run faster, but my HR was pretty high and I managed a VO2 max of 69 which I think is reasonably good.
A bad nights sleep on Monday night followed by a 15hr day at work meant that I was far to stuffed to train on Tuesday night and the same was very nearly true for tonight until I got home and the dog twisted my arm into taking her out for a 4mile blast along the Tarka Trail.
The rest of the week will probably be pretty standard until Saturday when I pop back to Exeter Uni for a 10k treadmill blast (part of my VO2 pay off), that's followed on Sunday by my first multisport race of the year (Taunton Aquathlon) a 1k swim/10k run where I've a title to defend. Should be fun and hopefully this time I'll remember the camera and come back with some pics. Fingers crossed.
After the excess's of the 5k/34mile/4mile Tri on Sunday I had about 24hrs to recover enough for Mondays VO2 Max test at Exeter University. I've no idea if Sundays session affected my performance but the huge great pipe thing I had to breath through made it very hard work even at a low speed. I was quite disappointed with the speed I ended up stopping at as I should have been able to run faster, but my HR was pretty high and I managed a VO2 max of 69 which I think is reasonably good.
A bad nights sleep on Monday night followed by a 15hr day at work meant that I was far to stuffed to train on Tuesday night and the same was very nearly true for tonight until I got home and the dog twisted my arm into taking her out for a 4mile blast along the Tarka Trail.
The rest of the week will probably be pretty standard until Saturday when I pop back to Exeter Uni for a 10k treadmill blast (part of my VO2 pay off), that's followed on Sunday by my first multisport race of the year (Taunton Aquathlon) a 1k swim/10k run where I've a title to defend. Should be fun and hopefully this time I'll remember the camera and come back with some pics. Fingers crossed.
Saturday 16 February 2008
Pre Bfitday Tri
It's been and odd week, I've been mostly feeling trashed after last weekends race, I've had 2 days off from training, but I'm still likely to break through the 10hr barrier for the week.
On Monday I was totally smashed and my legs felt like concrete blocks so I just sat around like a vegetable all day. Tuesday was a little better and I managed 1h20m of running with one of my running clubs doing some Yasso 800's along the way.
Wednesday was another lazy one where I couldn't be bothered/thought better of training, but on Thursdat I was back with a 1h20m run. Then along came Friday...........
Fridays squad swim session was a beast! We quite often do Timetrial swims of reducing distances but on Friday we had our normal 800m warm up follwed by a pyramid of TT's. 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m. Never the sprinter but with plenty of endurance I got beaten on the 100m & 200m but by the 400m I was cruising along and after the 800 I was 50m clear of anybody else in the pool. Then the 400m was polished off before I gave a couple of the lads a taste of glory when they found their speed again for the last 2 efforts. A nice solid 3k swim and a very happy Iain.
Today for only the 4th time this year I headed out for a bike ride. 4 miles to the Gym where I did a 1h20m session and then I took the scenic 24mile route home. It wasn't nice, it wasn't flashy and it certainly wasn't fast, but it was a bike ride and damn I need some of them.
Sooooo, 6h50m for a week with 2 rest days and my Tri buddy Phills 34th Birthday Triathlon tomorrow likely to take up to 4hrs I'm on for another decent week where it's actually seemed a bit slack. Here's hoping that when I need to start cranking up the hours they come along as easy.
Birthday Tri report next, watch this space.
On Monday I was totally smashed and my legs felt like concrete blocks so I just sat around like a vegetable all day. Tuesday was a little better and I managed 1h20m of running with one of my running clubs doing some Yasso 800's along the way.
Wednesday was another lazy one where I couldn't be bothered/thought better of training, but on Thursdat I was back with a 1h20m run. Then along came Friday...........
Fridays squad swim session was a beast! We quite often do Timetrial swims of reducing distances but on Friday we had our normal 800m warm up follwed by a pyramid of TT's. 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m. Never the sprinter but with plenty of endurance I got beaten on the 100m & 200m but by the 400m I was cruising along and after the 800 I was 50m clear of anybody else in the pool. Then the 400m was polished off before I gave a couple of the lads a taste of glory when they found their speed again for the last 2 efforts. A nice solid 3k swim and a very happy Iain.
Today for only the 4th time this year I headed out for a bike ride. 4 miles to the Gym where I did a 1h20m session and then I took the scenic 24mile route home. It wasn't nice, it wasn't flashy and it certainly wasn't fast, but it was a bike ride and damn I need some of them.
Sooooo, 6h50m for a week with 2 rest days and my Tri buddy Phills 34th Birthday Triathlon tomorrow likely to take up to 4hrs I'm on for another decent week where it's actually seemed a bit slack. Here's hoping that when I need to start cranking up the hours they come along as easy.
Birthday Tri report next, watch this space.
Sunday 10 February 2008
Torrington Torment = ouch!!!
Geez that was hard work. Today was a local Half Marathon called the Torment and yup, the name suits it. With legs that were already smashed from a few daft sessions during the week I lined up in Torrington alongside a small field of like minded lunatics. The ideal target was to break 1h30m for the first time on this course, if I could do that I'd be well up the field because with over 3,000ft of climbing this is one slow race.
The first 3 miles went well enough as I ran along in and around a group of 6 runners, quite quickly but easily under control. Then my legs started tying up and with nearly 10miles to go I was already in trouble, not good. There was only one option, ease off, so I did. Luckily I can cruise along at a fair old lick so although the group ran away from me I managed to keep some of them within sight for a good while as they fragmented. The next 7miles were tough going and I seemed to be just plodding along, then at 10miles I noticed someone ahead of me, obviously other people were hurting too. I picked the pace up to see if I could catch them and I felt suprisingly good. At 10.5miles I caught and passed them only to see 2 more runners ahead, now I was back in my stride and feeling strong so I pressed on.
A mile later they to were behind me and another runner had appeared on the horizon, could I catch him???? Yeah, why not. The hammer was dropped as I realised that not only could I pull a decent finish position out of the bag but that 1h30m finish was also on the cards. Onto the last big climb and my target was in sight, I almost sprinted the hill to make sure that I got past and put some distance into him before the last half mile which was one of the only flat bits on the course. Over the top of the hill and it was job done, I could see 2nd and 3rd place ahead, but they were too far ahead for me to catch. My legs were screaming now, that last hill had been a killer, but the time target was on and I had to carry on pushing it. Finally I crossed the line in 1:29:25 and 4th place. Demons exorcised and even though I'd been in a world of pain for over half the race I'd still achieved the target, that can only bode well for when the suffering starts in Florida (I hope so at least).
Next up it's the 3mile/34mile/4mile Birthday Training Tri for my clubmate Phill (http://www.bfitday.com/) on Saturday. There could be up to 10 of us doing this so it may well be a fun day out. We'll see :)
The first 3 miles went well enough as I ran along in and around a group of 6 runners, quite quickly but easily under control. Then my legs started tying up and with nearly 10miles to go I was already in trouble, not good. There was only one option, ease off, so I did. Luckily I can cruise along at a fair old lick so although the group ran away from me I managed to keep some of them within sight for a good while as they fragmented. The next 7miles were tough going and I seemed to be just plodding along, then at 10miles I noticed someone ahead of me, obviously other people were hurting too. I picked the pace up to see if I could catch them and I felt suprisingly good. At 10.5miles I caught and passed them only to see 2 more runners ahead, now I was back in my stride and feeling strong so I pressed on.
A mile later they to were behind me and another runner had appeared on the horizon, could I catch him???? Yeah, why not. The hammer was dropped as I realised that not only could I pull a decent finish position out of the bag but that 1h30m finish was also on the cards. Onto the last big climb and my target was in sight, I almost sprinted the hill to make sure that I got past and put some distance into him before the last half mile which was one of the only flat bits on the course. Over the top of the hill and it was job done, I could see 2nd and 3rd place ahead, but they were too far ahead for me to catch. My legs were screaming now, that last hill had been a killer, but the time target was on and I had to carry on pushing it. Finally I crossed the line in 1:29:25 and 4th place. Demons exorcised and even though I'd been in a world of pain for over half the race I'd still achieved the target, that can only bode well for when the suffering starts in Florida (I hope so at least).
Next up it's the 3mile/34mile/4mile Birthday Training Tri for my clubmate Phill (http://www.bfitday.com/) on Saturday. There could be up to 10 of us doing this so it may well be a fun day out. We'll see :)
Friday 8 February 2008
End of the week.
It's been a poor week off work really. Far to much sitting around infront of the TV and computer thinking about jobs and training I could be doing rather than actually doing stuff. It almost feels as though I train better when the pressure is on to squeeze some training in between work, food and sleep. I'd imagined 20-25hrs for this week with most of that being much needed bike miles. I'll be lucky to hit 15hrs now and as yet I've had a paltry 30mins spinning on the turbo to my name. I've done a couple of tough run sesions in the last 3 days which will no doubt help me in the long term but my legs are feeling shot at the moment and I've got a killer Half Marathon (1800ft of climbing) to do on Sunday. Presuming my legs are in one piece I'll be aiming to break the 1h30m barrier which I've failed to do on my last two attempts. Anywhere else 1h30m would be a disaster, here it'll be cause for celebration.
I've actually got round to properly entering some multi discipline races this week, so many are marked off on my calander without me having actually entered them. Now I've officially got a couple of 1k/10k Aquathlons in Feb and Apr, a Middle Distance Tri in May and a Sprint Tri in June. That'll do for starters although there will no doubt be plenty more as the season progresses.
Today there will be a gym and swim session which will help my paltry training totals, there may even be a short run or a turbo session thrown in alongside them (don't hold your breath though).
Soon I'll be back at work and cursing my slack holiday training habits. Plenty of time to go though.
I've actually got round to properly entering some multi discipline races this week, so many are marked off on my calander without me having actually entered them. Now I've officially got a couple of 1k/10k Aquathlons in Feb and Apr, a Middle Distance Tri in May and a Sprint Tri in June. That'll do for starters although there will no doubt be plenty more as the season progresses.
Today there will be a gym and swim session which will help my paltry training totals, there may even be a short run or a turbo session thrown in alongside them (don't hold your breath though).
Soon I'll be back at work and cursing my slack holiday training habits. Plenty of time to go though.
Tuesday 5 February 2008
No work - hooray!!!
I'm off work this week so should be able to update this guff a little more often. Pity I'm not doing the training to justify any updates so February isn't having the flying start I expected.
On Friday I did my normal squad swim session but my regular swim partner wasn't there so as I was the quickest in the pool I grabbed a tee shirt from my bag and did most of the session with some extra drag.
Saturday morning I hit the gym for 90mins but then failed to do anything else for the rest of the day (bad lad!).
Monday I pottered around the house moving stuff from one place to the next in an 'attempt' to clean up a bit, then feeling guilty because my clean up had lasted most of the day I had a rare venture out to a Monday night squad swim session. Always the easy option because it's less like hard work.
Today I've sent my entries off for a bunch of races, 2 x 1k/10k Aquathlons, 1 x Sprint Tri and 1 x Middle (Half IM) distance race. The Middle Distance will be an experiment in pacing and nutrition. Hopefully I'll manage to run the run without any cramps or walking breaks. The aim will be to get out of the sea without freezing my bits off, then bike round below 135bpm 'trying' to feed myself properly(ish) and then to take some scalps by knocking out a good solid half marathon. The other 3 races will be trained around/through and will be purely for fun, although I'll still be smashing myself once they're under way.
Tonight I'm off for an all to rare session with my running club. Normally I work away on Tuesday nights and only see them at running races. It'll be good to catch up and have some banter.
I've finally had the results of my VO2 test I had back in December (figures here). I can't admit to knowing what they mean other than telling me I've no cycling strength. I'm lined up to do some more testing in the near future followed by some sessions where I'll be a guinea pig cycling in a heat chamber. It'll be just like riding the course at IM Florida, hot, humid and quite monotanous. It should suit me down to the ground.
I think that's it for now, sorry there's not more to report.
Iain
On Friday I did my normal squad swim session but my regular swim partner wasn't there so as I was the quickest in the pool I grabbed a tee shirt from my bag and did most of the session with some extra drag.
Saturday morning I hit the gym for 90mins but then failed to do anything else for the rest of the day (bad lad!).
Monday I pottered around the house moving stuff from one place to the next in an 'attempt' to clean up a bit, then feeling guilty because my clean up had lasted most of the day I had a rare venture out to a Monday night squad swim session. Always the easy option because it's less like hard work.
Today I've sent my entries off for a bunch of races, 2 x 1k/10k Aquathlons, 1 x Sprint Tri and 1 x Middle (Half IM) distance race. The Middle Distance will be an experiment in pacing and nutrition. Hopefully I'll manage to run the run without any cramps or walking breaks. The aim will be to get out of the sea without freezing my bits off, then bike round below 135bpm 'trying' to feed myself properly(ish) and then to take some scalps by knocking out a good solid half marathon. The other 3 races will be trained around/through and will be purely for fun, although I'll still be smashing myself once they're under way.
Tonight I'm off for an all to rare session with my running club. Normally I work away on Tuesday nights and only see them at running races. It'll be good to catch up and have some banter.
I've finally had the results of my VO2 test I had back in December (figures here). I can't admit to knowing what they mean other than telling me I've no cycling strength. I'm lined up to do some more testing in the near future followed by some sessions where I'll be a guinea pig cycling in a heat chamber. It'll be just like riding the course at IM Florida, hot, humid and quite monotanous. It should suit me down to the ground.
I think that's it for now, sorry there's not more to report.
Iain
Friday 1 February 2008
9 months to go!!
It's 11:30pm here which means that in 9 months time the IM Florida race clock will be showing 11h30m. I want to be finished, massaged, fed, showered and celebrating finally nailing an Ironman by then. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, nice thought, some hope, fat chance!!!!
If January is anything to go by then I'll be giving myself a fair chance, it's been my biggest month of training since August 2006 (although counting the gym sessions still feels odd).
Swimming - 3 sessions - 3hrs - 8.5km(ish).
My swimming will never change. I know that I can let it plod along and swim as little as once or twice a month if need be and I'll still be comfy come race day. I'm never going to be the fastest swimmer out there, but I'm safe in the knowledge that the 2.4mile 'warm up' can be knocked out in an hour without any great problems. It's a nice position to be in because it's one less thing to concern myself with.
Cycling - 7 sessions (4 turbo) - 10h50m - 170miles
This is always the big drawback, I'm no cyclist and it's something I don't really enjoy. As with a lot of people I spend to little time on my weakest discipline. It's to easy to wimp out when the weather is rubbish, it's to convenient to go for a run instead when the weather is ok. My job doesn't help, Tuesday - Friday are pretty much non-starters where the bike is concerned so I should really be putting in the big miles between Saturday and Monday, it's easier to rest up though. I'm sure that as the lighter nights and milder days draw in I'll get myself out more but I can't help thinking that I'm losing out on some valuable base training by not being out there now. Unfortunatly my lazy genes regularly over rule my guilt genes and I'm spending far to little time in the saddle.
Running - 14 sessions - 17h55m - 143miles
Well my running seems to be coming along ok. My training logs only go back to the 'Great Data Loss' in 2004 and it's my highest monthly total in my recent records. There's no great speed there but I feel as though I could rock up on the start line of a Marathon with a moments notice and cruise around it quite comfortably. Just a pity I can't ride 112 miles first. Next weekend there's a stupidly hilly local Half Marathon, it'll be an acid test to see how I'm getting along. I've never managed to break 90mins there so now the challenge has been laid down.
Gym - 8 sessions - 10h30m.
The big difference this year and hopefully the difference maker! I can't comment on previous years because I've never done Gym work before. It's the main reason my monthly training hours are so much higher than normal and I'm hoping that as it's not aerobic it won't affect me too much. I keep hearing talk of 'burn out' especially with Florida being so far in the future (It'll soon be here though) and it's quite concerning to see such an increase in hours but the aerobic section (Swim/Bike/Run) hasn't changed a great deal so I'm hoping I'll be fine.
Onto February then and it's fingers crossed for more of the same, with more cycling though of course. I'm off work this coming week so hopefully things will get a bit frantic as I battle to get extra training in and Shell tries to get me doing some jobs around the house, there simply aren't enough hours in the day. This time next week we'll know which one of us has got the best deal or if the weather has closed in and put its curse on everything.
Until then :)))))))))))))))))))))
If January is anything to go by then I'll be giving myself a fair chance, it's been my biggest month of training since August 2006 (although counting the gym sessions still feels odd).
Swimming - 3 sessions - 3hrs - 8.5km(ish).
My swimming will never change. I know that I can let it plod along and swim as little as once or twice a month if need be and I'll still be comfy come race day. I'm never going to be the fastest swimmer out there, but I'm safe in the knowledge that the 2.4mile 'warm up' can be knocked out in an hour without any great problems. It's a nice position to be in because it's one less thing to concern myself with.
Cycling - 7 sessions (4 turbo) - 10h50m - 170miles
This is always the big drawback, I'm no cyclist and it's something I don't really enjoy. As with a lot of people I spend to little time on my weakest discipline. It's to easy to wimp out when the weather is rubbish, it's to convenient to go for a run instead when the weather is ok. My job doesn't help, Tuesday - Friday are pretty much non-starters where the bike is concerned so I should really be putting in the big miles between Saturday and Monday, it's easier to rest up though. I'm sure that as the lighter nights and milder days draw in I'll get myself out more but I can't help thinking that I'm losing out on some valuable base training by not being out there now. Unfortunatly my lazy genes regularly over rule my guilt genes and I'm spending far to little time in the saddle.
Running - 14 sessions - 17h55m - 143miles
Well my running seems to be coming along ok. My training logs only go back to the 'Great Data Loss' in 2004 and it's my highest monthly total in my recent records. There's no great speed there but I feel as though I could rock up on the start line of a Marathon with a moments notice and cruise around it quite comfortably. Just a pity I can't ride 112 miles first. Next weekend there's a stupidly hilly local Half Marathon, it'll be an acid test to see how I'm getting along. I've never managed to break 90mins there so now the challenge has been laid down.
Gym - 8 sessions - 10h30m.
The big difference this year and hopefully the difference maker! I can't comment on previous years because I've never done Gym work before. It's the main reason my monthly training hours are so much higher than normal and I'm hoping that as it's not aerobic it won't affect me too much. I keep hearing talk of 'burn out' especially with Florida being so far in the future (It'll soon be here though) and it's quite concerning to see such an increase in hours but the aerobic section (Swim/Bike/Run) hasn't changed a great deal so I'm hoping I'll be fine.
Onto February then and it's fingers crossed for more of the same, with more cycling though of course. I'm off work this coming week so hopefully things will get a bit frantic as I battle to get extra training in and Shell tries to get me doing some jobs around the house, there simply aren't enough hours in the day. This time next week we'll know which one of us has got the best deal or if the weather has closed in and put its curse on everything.
Until then :)))))))))))))))))))))
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