It's not fast - yet!!!

Well the new bike has landed and unfortunately, as is normally the case, it hasn't quite been the revelation that you want/expect. It has however had me out of the door training far more than I expect that I would have been without it.
The week started awkwardly as things at work have had to change for a while. I had to work an odd split shift on Monday but managed to get a 7mile run in (@ 6:32 pace) during my 4hr 'rest'. I was happy with the start to the week, but it soon became obvious that Tuesday was going to be a write off where any training was concerned.
Wednesday on the other hand I had all the time in the world, but as seems to be the case here it was pouring down ALL DAY. It was also the day I'd arranged to pick the new bike up and drop my old bike off for a service. This was the first time that the extra training effect took hold, normally the constant downpour would have had me sat in front of the TV watching the Olympics but there was a tiny break in the weather and I was out of the door pedalling.
When I say 'tiny' break that's exactly what I mean, I was soon doing my best impression of a drowned rat as I pedalled my new pride and joy through a monsoon.
Thursday was another loooong day at work which killed any thoughts of training but by Friday lunchtime I was finished for the week and hitting the local 'Tark Trail' for a 16mile run. The plan was simple, keep the HR below 140bpm and the rest will take care of itself. It started well enough but I knew there was the chance of nutrition problems as I was running straight from work and had no food/drink/gels there. It's nothing new for me to run 2hrs or so without any nutrition so I wasn't worried but trying to run at a given HR made it interesting. At 11miles I diverted past home to pick Rosie (the dog) up for the last 5 miles. I took on a gel as there was one lying about and headed out again with my new partner. Here's (I guess) is where the lack of nutrition told its story. From 11miles on my Garmin was constantly bleeping at me as I simply couldn't keep it below 140bpm without dropping to little more than a jog. I got to 15miles and lost the plot so I ignored the watch and put the hammer down a little. 6:11 for my last full mile and 7:23 pace for a 'mostly' HR controlled 2hrs of running, I had no complaints. After that was a squad swim session where somehow I managed to avoid cramping up, even during the 400m breaststroke kick set.
The Bank Holiday Weekend has been a bit of a (new) bikefest really. Saturday morning I got all depressed when I did a local 20mile lumpy TT course and took over 1hr when I've done 53mins in the past on my TREK. There were slipping gear issues on the QR and I just didn't feel that I could hold the Tri position so I popped it back into the shop to have the gears sorted and the stem flipped upwards. In the afternoon one of my training pals dragged me out for another ride. Immediately the new position felt more comfortable and we did 1h50m including some good climbs that I hit in my biggest gears to give the quads a work out. I was a lot happier on my return than I had been in the morning.
On Sunday I met a clubmate at the local run track (1 mile from home) and we hit the dreaded 20mile TT course again. Once again I was poor and my clubmate took me for 2mins where normally I'd have taken time out of him. Still 57:20 was an improvement on Saturday and I had now clocked up 7hrs of training in the last 48hrs. I had planned another 40miles after the hard loop but in truth I was stuffed so there was some gentle bimbling before I returned home. Late on Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed a run so headed out onto one of my old favourites, a 7.6mile off road loop out to Crow Point and back. I managed to hold 7:02 pace at a 143bpm average but in truth that was all I'd got, it hurt every step of the way. I headed out feeling tired and expected the feeling to disappear as I worked my way into the run, it didn't and both the pace and the HR was all I had in me.
Today I went out with my training pal Phill on a local 40mile loop then added 20miles onto the end of it. The pace wasn't fast but at the moment it feels as though the aim is mostly to get used to the new bike before worrying about what speed I'm doing. Thursday is the last of the local 10mile TT's and there's a chance I may make it there for the first time this year. It's a tough course and on my one attempt there last year I rode 24:42, it'll be interesting to see what time I can post on the new toy, presuming I manage to get there of course.

Happy Training folks.

Iain :-)