Bike

69.55
2:41:27
28.85

met Jonathan in Windsor Great Park and went around the Windsor Tri bike course.

Bike

1:46:20
24.61
43.62
stop 16

Bike

Distance 75.07 km
Time 2:46:10
Average 27.11 km/h

Very long, for me, cycle up around Henley.

Run

Went to Crystal Palace on a cold November morning for a 10am start in the Nike 5K race.

My time is a respectable 22:08. I've only been running once in the last two weeks, and been so busy at work that other exercise has been scarce too.

There were a couple of hills that I wasn't expecting, but not as many people running as expected so the crowds didn't slow me down in the same way as the Hyde Park 10K

Annoyingly, as I was putting in my contact lenses, I dropped one. So I had to run half blind. Nearly twisted my ankle on one rough bit of path - reduced depth perception.

Listened to my MP3 player to see if it helped - but it didn't really. Left ear kept falling out and cord flapped around annoyingly. But maybe these distractions kept me from realising quite how knackered I was :-)

Swim

Been really busy at work, so this is the first swim for ages.

LA Fitness.
3 reps of 10 laps of the 15M pool with short rest between.
Sauna break, then another 10 laps.

Bike

Very cold Sunday morning. For the first time this winter my feet were completely frozen. I cycled all the way down to Camberley today, and then didn't recognise any roads, so had to turn around and make my way back. It was very tough, I was very tired.

Average 26.89 km/h
distance 58.03
Time 2:09:30

Bike

Working at home, so went out for a lunchtime bike ride.

Nice bright chilly day with a clear sky and ice in the corners where the sun hadn't got to it yet.

1:03:56 mins
27.8 km/h average
29.61 km distance

Nice route. Up though Datchet, Old Windsor and up the Ascot road to Windsor Great Park. Then through the park past Guards Polo Field, out of the park and turn left to the A30. Left into Englefield Green and down the hill to the Bells of Ousley and straight back home.

If I can get my avarage up to 29.61, I can do it inside the lunch hour :-)

Run

Went to Carols for the first time in a long time. Dark and cold and we didn't get out till about 7.40pm. Usual run which is 4.5 - 5 miles (one day I'll measure it).

Haven't been running for over two weeks to rest my left calf which really hurt at the end of my last run.

Felt good tonight - the fuul moon was out and it was very calm. Thought we were going really slow but it was actually under 41 minutes.

Bike

Sunday morning cycle after a hefty break of about a month.

Took it easy. Up through Old Windsor and Windsor Great Park, Ascot, Waltham, Maidenhead, Dorney Eton.

52.83 km distance
1.57.28 time
27.03 km/h average

Run

After work evening run clockwise round reservoir - 8.4k.

Difficult in the dark, with a sort of fine mist/rain, making my glasses hard to see out of. Went on the path through the field (first time in the dark - with little cycle LED) to avoid running in the road, which I think contributed to my slightly slower time of 37.58s as I had to slow down through that stretch.

Swim

Went to LA Fitness, still on the BP ticket.

Did 4 sets of 10 lengths (15M) - total 600M

Swim

Went to Windsor pool with Gina. We did a few lengths together, and she is almost as fast as me! Not sure how many, just a few hundred metres.

Run

reservoir anti-clockwise during the day as working at home.

Very windy on last stretch from Honda

time 37.02

Swim

Another nail in the LA Fitness coffin - they took my badge number today. Contractors are going to be banned any day now.

Did 3 lots of 10 laps (15M), then sauna break, then 20 final laps, with the last 4 being as fast as I could go.

admin

This blog isn't really convenient for me for when I'm on holiday or not working. I seem to never get time on those occasions to actually fill in my training. I can usually find a piece of paper to write down my cycling comnputer results, or those of my heart rate monitor (HRM), but these quite often get put in the recycling box, or don't have a date, so are fairly useless.

There are two answers as I see it. One is to get a better HRM that stores data for more than one session and allows uploads to a conputer. These definitely do exist, but cost > £200. The next is to get a small notebook and just write it all in there, and maybe transcribe to a blog.

The previous entries from today back to 26th August will all be entered after today, hopefully my imperfect memory will be good enough, but I'll definitely miss out some training sessions.

Bike

I was in a real quandary this evening, whether to swim/bike or run.

Left work promptly at 5pm to be home for 6.30pm. Wednesday is late adults only evening in the Windsor pool, so that was tempting. The weather was too good to be indoors though. Wednesday is normally my midweek long run day, but that's usually in the park with Carol and Jon, and the thought of pounding the tarmac alone didn't appeal.

I've sent off my entry form for the Tour of The Hills 110km bike ride in 11 days, so with that in mind I decided to get some more miles in on the bike.

I did my usual cycle3 route, and once more tried to make good time at the beginning. This worked, and I also sprinted along past Dorney at 37km/h which I wasreally pleased with. Eventual time was

Time 1:22:??
Average 30.89km/h
Distance 42:??

which I think is another new record.

Only one sour incident - some idiot decided it would be fun to pour water at me from a moving car. RF52 YCB, blue hatchback, probably a Clio, you're a tosspot.

Row/Run

My usual 15 minutes of rowing followed by 15 minutes of running at LA Fitness. Calories burned according to the machines were 187 and 200 kcal

Swim

LA Fitness this afternoon, and started off with two lots of 10 lengths of the 15M pool. I was struggling at the end, and had a break in the steam room.

When I came back, my swimming was much better, I did another 10, and then did 20, and felt good enough for more though my shoulder twinged a little so decided that 50 was enough.

It's really odd that the final lengths are always the easiest. I was reading about the Olympics recently, and the swimmers have a practise pool they use before a competition. I think this is to give their bodies time not only to warm up, but to rehearse and relearn the strokes. 10 minutes swimming followed by a short rest seems to do the trick for me.

I've always worried about getting tired warming up, and therefore not being able to compete properly. This may still have an element of truth for running, but for swimming it seems to be a positive thing to do.

Bike

Went out at 8.40am again this Sunday for a nice longish ride - the weather was sunny and only a little breeze. Went to Windsor and did the White Waltham ride and up past Wargrave, Henley, Marlow, Bourne End, Maidenhead and Eton Wick, which came to ~70Km.

Felt much better than last week, and my average speed increased to ~29km/h for the ~2:25 hours cycle.

[exact times/speeds when I'm later.]

Swim

Tried a morning swim today at 11am at LA Fitness. I was alone for the first 10 minutes, which was nice.

50 lengths (15M) in groups of 10. And as usual, the final 10 were actually the easiest. I seem to take a while to get into my stroke.

Row/Run

Feeling a bit tired from yesterday, so took it easy with 15 minutes rowing and a 10 minute jog at 10.5 km/h. LA Fitness.

Run

Went for our usual run in Richmond Park (4-5 miles) - ~43 minutes today, it was really warm and sunny. We actually managed to start at 6.20pm. I am feeling quite strong at running, though knees and ankles were suffering a little at the end.

Swim

LA Fitness.

Did 40 lengths (15M) in groups of 10.

Bike

Got up early and was on the road by 8.30am. Headed out towards Chertsey and around the back of Virginia Water and Ascot etc.

I know I need to be able to ride far, so htis was a bit of a test.

After 2 hours I was really getting tired legs, and finished a long 73.6km in 2:38:24. (average 27.88km/h)

Happy that I didn't get any real pain, and recovered quite quickly too.

Thinking of doing a 110km friendly race, maybe I could actually finish it.

Swim

LA Fitness on a quiet Friday afternoon.

Did aproximately 4 lots of 10 lengths of the 15M pool.

Interestingly, I was actually getting faster and better by the 4th set.

All front crawl of course, well, a couple of breaststroke.

Bike

LA Fitness stationary bike. Haven't really done any of this, but I need to increase my bike training too.

Did 30 minutes worth, on a varied up hill and down hill program. It reported ~280 calories, and I think about 12.5Km.

Machine kept trying to tell me to do between 70-80 rpm, but I stuck with 90 as that's what I've been recommended by everyone else.

Swim

Windsor Leisure Pool on adults only Wednesday evening.

First time doing 25M lengths since my 'breakthrough' session last week.

Can now easily do 50M - even 100M isn't that hard. Didn't really pick up any rhythm as my goggles kept leaking and steaming up.

Did about 40 minutes of swimming, not sure how far, but probably about 800M

Row/Run

LA Fitness. 15 minutes rowing, 15 minutes run. (187cal/200cal)

Even though I had yesterday as a rest day, still felt pretty tired doing this today. And my knees are sore too, and my right calf has never fully recovered from the tightness feeling from the cramp I got in May.

How on earth can I train for an Ironman if I can't even manage this without risking injury!?

Swim/Bike

Still at the hotel this morning, and had quite a nice swim, though again didn't actually count the laps. at least 400M though.

The rain cleared up in the aternoon when I got home and so at 4pm went for a cycle. Made it up as I went along Staines/Egham/Engelfield Green/nr Virginia Water/Ascot/Sunningdale. Finished off with a very fast stretch down past Windsor Great Park reachine 60Km/h.

~52Km in ~1hr 52. Av speed ~29km/h

Felt fine tiredness wise, but knees suffering a little by the end.

Run/Swim

At a hotel today, Hanbury Manor. Did a quick 15 minute warmup running on the treadmill, then some swimming. Didn't count the actual lengths, and I'm not even sure how long the pool was, though it felt longer than 15M and shorter then 25M.

Still able to swim for a reasonable length of time, though didn't push it.

Row/Run

LA Fitness - 15 minutes rowing and 20 minutes on a treadmill program.

Swim

LA Fitness - 1200M

Because of the travel delays due to more bombs, I decided to have a swim after work instead of rushing home. Very glad I did.

Did the same session as yesterday, with 400M crawl punctuated by frequent rests, then 400M of alternate 15M lengths of breaststroke and crawl. Then had a rest in the sauna.

No rush home, so decided to try 10 lengths of continuous crawl to finish off and cool down.

Swam as slow as I could to try and not get tired (people doing breaststroke beside me were overtaking me), and it really worked. Afer 10 lengths, was still feeling fine, and after 15 decided to go up to the full 28 (~400M). This is about 3 times further than I've ever swum front crawl in my life. Considering that this time last year I was struggling badly to do even 25M, I'm really really pleased. I think I may have finally cracked the problem I've always had of getting too tired to breathe. I'm twisting my body way sideways every third stroke, and breathing out on the stroke before so that once my mouth is out of the water I only have to breath in. The slow speed means I don't actually need so much oxygen too, so can keep it up longer. And the increased rowing and swimming schedule I've followed the last few weeks means my arms and shoulders are stronger.

I can't wait actually to get back in the water for another go.

Swim

LA Fitness - 800M

OK, I'm giving in, and wearing a swimming hat at this pool. I think it's a waste of time, and effort on my part, but it's annoying waiting to be told off for not doing it. In triathlon events you have to wear a hat, so I'll use this as my personal justification of getting used to swimming with it on.

Did 400M of crawl in 30M (2 length) stretches with short breathers at each end for warmup.

Then tried a new technique - 15M breaststroke up the pool, then back down the pool doing crawl. Found that this way I could do the whole 400M without stopping. Was really pleased and felt my crawl is improving. I'm swimming remarkably slowly, but my stamina is increasing.

Row/Run

15 minutes on rowing machine.
15 minutes run

Getting into a good habit with this for when I have a one hour break to go to the gym.

Rowing machine is set on medium (No 5) and I do 5 minutes at 600 rate, then 5 minutes at 700 or over, and finally 5 minutes at as close to 800 as I can. 30-34 strokes per minute. ~180 calories.

Set the treadmill to some kind of program where it varies the speed/incline. Currently using level 4 and today was course 4 I think. Slow build up and down. Speed ~11km/h but down to 10.2km/h for the 6% section. Exactly 200 calories according to the machine. Really ought to bring my HR monitor.

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Need to see if this kind of session is doing me good; I've been reading about people who's training is not really making a difference to their fitness.

Run

Honda 3 Miles: 21.37 minutes.

McDonalds Big Mac meal weighing heavily on my mind (and my stomach) since eating it at 7pm and sitting in the car from Tamworth for the next two hours, I took advantage of the warm summer evening as the sun had just set and made good time. Almost exactly 11 minutes at the turn-around point.

Bike

Route3: 42km - 1:23:33 (approx) - average 30.63

Early morning 8.30am start as I know I won't have time tomorrow; going to Tamworth.

I'm trying to make better time in the first section and it seems to be working - over a minute faster than last Sunday.

I think this warm weather really helps the times too.

Swim

LA Fitness: 400M

Standard thrashing away at front crawl to improve stamina.

Row & Run

Row: 15 minutes - 180 calories, can't remember the rest
Run: 15 minutes - 190 calories, running at 2% incline.

La Fitness.

Swim

La Fitness: 400M inermittent, then break, then 10*15M continuous.

My new front crawl regime is to try and swim a bit faster, and have shorter breaks between laps. Need to work out how to keep swimming even when I'm tired.

Bike

Route3: 42Km: 1:24.30 approx

Nice early start at 8.20am, in the summer sun - hard to remember now the leggings and gloves and freezing feet. Mum is staying so even if the SBR lot are meeting, didn't want to be away till 11:30 or so.

Haven't been out on the bike for 3 weeks, which is really bad. I was feeling sore by the end, and could hardly walk up the stairs afterwards. Not going to let that happen again.

Still, it was a pretty good time - keeping my average over 30km/h is the current aim on this route.

Swim

LA Fitness: lots.

After the events of yesterday, the office is empty today.

Did as many laps in an hour as I could, it was good not having to rush back so fast. I do feel as if I am getting stronger in the water.

Run

LA Fitness: 30 minutes; 5.5km; 11km/h

Set the machine for program 1 which varies the hills and speeds. Really hard at times on incline 6%. Not sure how the speed decides itself, but it moves around a lot. There are no hills near the house to run up, so I think this practice is valuable. My feet are suffering a bit at the moment though from the pounding they take.

Swim

I'm still a rubbish swimmer, but I've had an idea about why this is. I've never developed my upper body strength enough to allow me to swim any distance without getting tired. Consider running and other land based exercise. The first time you go out, you run far too far, and the next day (and the one after that especially) your leg muscles really ache. This is because they are torn, and are repairing themselves stronger than before.

When I go swimming, after about 50 metres, I'm too tired to coordinate properly, and so cannot breath, and so I have to stop for a rest. So my swimming exercise is in small intervals and I never really build up any stamina. I've never suffered sore arm or shoulder muscles after swimming.

So, new plan. More rowing and strength training for upper body in the gym. More swimming when tired to push myself to the limit. Only last year I was incapable of more than about 15M front crawl. Now I can do 50M. With some proper effort I hope I can learn to keep going even when tired, like I can when I'm running.

General

I've been away from the blog for a while, which is understandable I guess, as I was on holiday, and busy at work, and had finished my triathlon. I'm back now, and deciding whether to continue on this site or to set up a sister blog on my proper page - I still want to keep the triathlon posts separate.

I haven't actually stopped exercising, this has been going on apace. I may fill in some times I've recorded, but I'm not sure whether this is necessary. The weekly sunday morning bike ride as slipped, but I'm going running and swimming just as much. The general trend is that if I haven't done anything for two days, then on the third day I definitely exercise.

I've decided to give myself a new goal, a full triathlon in Windsor next July. I'm going to do a proper training plan for the winter, but will do general training and maybe a few shorter events until then.

Bike

Just found some times I noted from a while back during the blogging break, but never put in here. Both for cycle3. Guessin the dates in June and putting this blog entry on the 1st

time 1:24:37
average 30.14
max 48.31
distance 42.49


time 1:23:22
average 30.63
max 50.06
distance 42.55

I think that second one might be my current record.

Triathlon

Finally the day arrives.

I'm planning on writing a long essay about this day, and will probably put it in my 'proper' blog at http://se71.org/blog, but in the meantime here's a few highlights.

Cycled 10k nice and slowly to the course at 8.30am.

During registration, trying to hold the pack and my bike, dropped the bike and cut my leg - nice start.

Helmet only just passed muster. will need a new one if/when I do this again.

Set my bike up in the rack, people near me all very friendly. All of us wondering why we're mad enough to do this. Breakfast was two Weetabix and a cup of coffee. Had a protein bar whilst waiting and a sip of PSP22. (for the record, had pasta last night, crisps, and a couple of glasses of red wine)

Went out onto the jetty in my wetsuit, jumped in and had a swim around. The water is actually nicer than Heron lake last week. My official photographer arrived (Carol) and I got out and posed for shots in my wetsuit.

Got back in the water and then we were off on time (10.15)

Stuck to the back and tried to swim breaststroke calmly - not panicking about being left behind. There were people around me so I knew I wasn't completely last, but I couldn't really look behind to see just how far back I was. It really is quite tiring, but the 400M came faster than I expected. It's a lovely sunny day and I concentrated on just getting to the end and trying to make sure I enjoyed the experience as much as possible. Saw the bottom and tried to stand up, but it was still too deep, so had to start swimming again. Then I was out and running for my bike.

No idea of my place except that there are a lot of people in front of me. Transition went really well - my wetsuit came off quickly. Had a half-hearted stab at drying my feet, put n my socks and shoes, helmet and sunglasses. Grabbed the bike and ran for the start. More people than just me had a short wobbly moment mounting the bike, but I quickly settled and was off. Saddle a bit slippery as I'm still all wet obviously.

Throughout the bike, I felt I was overtaking a few riders each lap, but it was really difficult to tell. There are four laps, and I know faster swimmers actually were overtaking me too, being already a lap ahead. Saw a few bikes at the size of the road, must have been some kind of crash. I cycled alone mostly, trying to keep my speed in the 30-35 range. No chance of any drafting as I either overtook people or was overtaken. From my weekly cycles, I knew I could maintain this pace easily for the 40 minutes I expected the 20k to take. I didn't try to go faster as I was worried about the run to come.

After 4 laps, and still feeling pretty good, I went back into the transition area. Tried to put my trainers on but forgot to loosen the laces and the act of pushing my foot really hard into the shoe made my right calf threaten cramp. This was a bad moment. Sat on the ground and stretched the leg for 10 seconds. Loosened the lace and got the shoe on. Then loosened the left lace too much and it came out of the toggle thing. there was no way I could get it back in so had to tie the ends together like a normal lace.

Started running, and my legs felt OK. Had the usual odd feeling you get going from bike to run - it's a bit like you're running in slow motion and the tendency is to go too fast. This was the first time I really needed my heart rate monitor. I let it go to 174 bpm and maintained that kind of rate for the first lap and a quarter. After that I tried to speed up and it reached about 180bpm I think.

I was pleased on the run as I appeared to be overtaking quite a few people, and only 2 or 3 went past me, and I think they may have been people on their second lap during my first. Again, I was alone most of the time, not being in any kind of pack with similar speed runners. I just set my sights on the guy in front, and sometimes this was as much as 50M, and tried to catch him. Though I was really tired, I wasn't as bad as I expected. It is quite difficult to pace yourself properly in a triathlon.

Passed the finish line feeling not too bad, eventually remembered to stop my watch which was set at what looked like 1hr 12 - my first thought was that that couldn't be right - far too fast. but then I checked the actual chronological time and saw that it was before 11:30 so reasoned that I had actually done a pretty good time.

My actual result was 1hr 11 mins 52 seconds.

Swim 12:46
Bike 37.42
Run 21:22

Very pleased, I came 63rd out of about 130 people. My swim was slow leaving me in 111th place, but I still had lots of energy after it and gained a whopping 48 places during the bike and run (20 and 28 respectively). If you have a trumpet, you've got to blow it sometimes, and I think now is a good time for me to give my lungs some exercise :-)

Swim

I don't want to swim for the first time since the cramp episode in the actual competition - that would be too nerve-wracking. So I went to LA Fitness this afternoon to try my legs out.

I didn't push too hard, but managed to swim for about 15 minutes, both breaststroke and crawl, without feeling any pain. Had a nice sauna too.

Bike

After work it was still light when I got home so I went for a spin on my bike to test my legs.

I cycled up to Wraysbury and then back through Horton ( ~10K ), and gradually increased my average speed up to about 30km/h to make it a 20 minute trip.

My cramp wasn't a problem, it's mostly only sore if I press the muscle. Quite pleased.

Fitness

My legs are very sore from the cramp yesterday. I can hardly walk, espacially down stairs.

Had to give the weekly cycle a miss.

I know I planned to take it easy in the last week before the race, but doing nothing at all wasn't really what I had in mind :-(

Swim

Total disaster today. went swimming at 7.30 in Heron Lake. first short lap went OK, but really struggled breathing and my old Aquasphere goggles steamed up.

Switched to the new Speedo goggles and attempted a full lap of the lake. Found that my breathing was much better now, perhaps I'd gotten used to the water, or maybe my suit was warmed up.

Half way round, did a long kick, and both calfs went into spasm with cramp. Luckily my wetsuit meant I stayed buoyant, but it was really painful.

Managed to get back shore again OK, even did a bit of front crawl which is improving after last weeks wash-out.

Worried about my legs though, this could take a while to get better, and my race is only a week away.

Run & Gym

LA Fitness gym today.

Did 15 minutes on the rowing machine to simulate swimming.

Then ran for 5 km, gradually increasing the speed, for a total of under 24 minutes. Stupid running machine stops after 20 minutes and you have to restart it.

Race

My first race rapidly approaches.

I am trying to remain calm, but really I'm quite nervous about it. I've been training since last August - nearly 10 months, and if I can't even finish the race I will be desperately disappointed. I'm reasonably sure my body will hold out. I'm scared of getting kicked in the face in the water, and of falling off my bike if the corners are wet. My time is going to suffer as I do everything I can to avoid these disasters.

I'm rereading my book, "The Triathlete's Training Bible" by Joe Friel, and reminding myself that this first year is a practice for a proper season next year. This small quote is particularly worth writing down:

"You do not, however, need a goal time for your first race. The objective of this one is to merely finish comfortably with a smile on your face. Once you accomplish that challenge and know what your capabilities are, realistic time goals can be determined for the next race. Every time you race, something is lerned that makes you a wiser, and ultimately more fit, athlete".

I feel better already!

Bike

Bank Holiday Monday. Did a ride in two halves, meeting Vivienne, Gina and Helen in Windsor for a picnic at the midway point. First time I've been out since I got the bike wearing only shorts and a shirt, and I've actually dirtched the gloves now as well. I actually got a little sunburnt.

distance 52.4
Time 1:47:15
Ave 29.41

So slower today than yesterday with the group. No wind protection I guess, and also I guess no pressure to keep up.

Bike

SBR bike ride. Thought it was just me and one other, but we bumped into another couple as we headed through Windsor.

It started out looking like it might rain, I wore my small black showerproof jacket which of course meant that the sun came out and it was really warm.

We went really fast, and I averaged my fastest time ever.

distance 67.32
time 2:01:30
Ave 33.23km/h
Max 54.95

That max speed is pretty high too. It was down the usual fast bit on my Cycle3 route.

Swim

Got up nice and early and went to Heron lake for the first time to try my new wetsuit out. I met Jonathan there too.

The water wasn't as cold as I expected (except when sticking my face in for the first few times), but swimming front crawl was beyond me as I couldn't get a breath without drinking eau de lac.

Did two short laps, which are somewhere between 400-500M, with a 10 minute break. This at least proves I can swim the diatance using breaststroke, but the triathlon time is looking like at least 15 minutes. I might be able to swim a bit faster, but I know that would totally exhaust me for the rest of the race.

Run

Went to LA Fitness and did 30 minutes on the treadmill. Again, my legs were a little delicate after the sprint training on Tuesday, but I gradually increased the speed from 10 to 11.5 km/h and was OK.

Total distance a bit over 3.2 km.

Run

Went to Datchet Dashers straight from work. Haven't been since starting this job in January. It was speed training. We went to the Long Walk and ran intervals down to the traffic lights, resting 2 minutes, then back again. That's 6 sprints of approximately 800M each. I was quite pleased to be about the second or third fastest there - though it was a girl was easily the best :-)

My time was approximately 2 minutes 40.

Bike

SBR, four of us only again. I think I'm going to try and find a more popular group.

One rider was actually slower than me, so we spent quite a lot of time going slowly after hills to let him catch up, and so only did about a 28km/h average. This was OK for me for a change to not be constantly struggling.

Did about 58Km including the cycle home from Windsor.

Equipment

Finally bit the bullet and went and bought a wetsuit and tri-suit. I like the Sugoi stuff a lot so got their tri-suit. Went for Orca for no real reason on the wetsuit front. Tried various sizes from 7.5 right down to 5 which still just about fitted, so I got that one.

Only 3 weeks to go - I'm really not ready, but at least my equipment is :-)

Run

Went down to the gym at LA Fitness and had quite a restful 30 minutes on the treadmill running about 5km. Legs a bit sore from Tuesday's swim actually, hence the slow time.

Swim

Another swimming lesson in Windsor pool. I'm worried that doing the crawl will completely exhaust me. I should really have been doing more stamina swim training. I concentrated on breaststroke today and at the end of the lesson did 200M non stop. I could feel my arms getting really tired, but I know I can do 400M that way. I'm quiet slow, and I'm estimating a time of about 11 minutes for the swim now. Open water training starts soon, so I'm buying a wetsuit and will head down there to see how that feels.

Bike

SBR on a bright sunny morning.

After about 58km we got back to the shop and had averaged 32km/h which is faster than I've ever managed.

Total stats

dist 62.98k
time 1:59:20
av 31.67

Apart from a sprint over the last 2k I managed to keep up with the pack today.

Run

Set the treadmill up at LA Fitness this afternoon for a 30 minute run at 11km/h at 1 degrees. Completed it quite easily, 5.5km the total distance.

Run

It's daylight in Richmond Park when I get over, and it's full of cars as predicted. Went out with Carol and Jonathan and did a similar route as before, except on dirt tracks near the road. First 45 minutes at an easy pace here we could easily talk, then Jonathan and I did an extra 20 minutes at a little faster rate.

My knee and ankle started to suffer a little, so I should probably have stopped earlier, but I finished OK and was pleased to get in such a long run - about 7 miles.

Swim

I'm sure I must have missed a recent swim from my blog.

Anyway, had a refresher swimming lesson with Joan Nunn at Windsor. Forgot my goggles so bought new ones, which are a bit rubbish.

My swimming is much better, she didn't have much to say about my technique really, so that's quite pleasing. Being in a 25M pool is much better, and I think I can now do 100M crawl without stopping.

Timed one length of breastroke and one of crawl to compare: 32s vs 28s. However the crawl makes me very tired. As the difference is not massive, I may well do most of the triathlon 400M as breaststroke.

Bike

Didn't really fancy killing myself on the SBR ride today, but felt guilty in the afternoon and did my standard short cycle to Staines. Wasn't going to push it, but once again found myself hovering around the 30km/h average and trying to maintain it.

distance 23.34 km, in 47.01 minutes. Average 29.80

Run

Treadmill again in LA Fitness this afternoon. Did 5k building up quickly to a 12.5km/h pace.

Definitely a difference at that speed, quite tired. Took ~ 24.5 minutes.

Run

Tried out the treadmill in LA Fitness this afternoon. Did 5k building up to a fairly constant 12km/h.

Didn't feel too tired at all, took ~ 26 minutes.

Bike

SBR bike ride, quite a ncie day. The pace was fast to begin with, but I was maintaining my speed and not feeling too bad. About 35km in there was a huge downhill into Marlow, and I lost the pack. I'm not happy going much over 50km/h. Made my own way home.

Correct times later, estimate of 60k in about 2 hours as usual.

Run

Really painful left hamstring after Sunday's cycle, so taking it easy this week.

Went with Carol and Jonathan for 4-5 miles in Richmond park in the dark. Quite leisurly pace, walked up the hill, about 45 minutes. My leg didn't get too sore, so maybe the rest helped.

The clocks go forward at the weekend, so cars might be back in the park next time, and it might even be daylight. We might have to start running a different route.

Jonathan mentioned he did the Adidas Breakfast run in Kingston last weekend. He came 19th in a time of 51.08 which is really good for 8 miles.

Swim

LA fitness this afternoon - about 30 of their 15M lengths.

Run/Swim

Just a run on the treadmill in the Briston City Center Marriott this morning. Ran about 3km in 20 minutes. Slow start, then a steady 10km/h.

Did a few short lengths in the pool trying to avoid random Joe Public getting in my way.

Bike

Nice morning so went for a cycle at 9am. Did route 3. First time out without gloves on my Ridley - ever. It was a bit odd to actually feel the handlebar grip. May get some lightweight gloves for summer riding to protect my hands if I fall off.

Broke my record at 1 min 26.31. Wasn't trying to break the record, just trying to keep my average speed at as close to 30km/h as I could. (actual 29.62 average, distance 42.67k)

Was worried about my hamstring, but it's feeling much better.

Bike

SBR bike ride only produced three of us today. Even though we complained about the unreasonable pace of previous rides before starting, for the first 15km or so we kept up an average of about 34km/h. We swapped leader with me usually leading up the hills and struggling on the flats as usual.

Calmed down a bit, but still finished very quickly.

Total about 1 hr 50, with about 55K, average speed ~30km/h in the end.

Felt pretty sore by the end.

Swim

LAFitness pool after work. Did my usual 28 lengths of 15M, then decided to give it a bit of a harder push for a few. Trying to twist more in the water to get my arms working more. It definitely works, I think I'll try and book more lessons to see if I'm improving.

Bike

LA Fitness spinning class for 30 minutes this lunchtime.

Swim

LA Fitness 28 lengths of the 15M pool. Very tired today, 8-4-4-4-4-4

Swim

LA Fitness. 15M pool, 28 lengths. 12-6-6-4. Good start. Still aiming for all lengths with no break one day.

Bike

SBR 9am cycle today. Only 4 people again. Maintained a manageable 30km/h average for the first hour and 20, then the other's went up to 38-40km/h, and again I still cannot maintain that speed.

Total of 2 hours 12.11, with 66.86K completed, average 30.35.

Not as cold today, even a bit of sunshine. Will I get faster in the warmer weather the way most people seem to say happens?

Run

Honda 3 mile run at about 6pm today, and it's the first time in months I think that I've been outside running in daylight.

I felt tired all the way round, but my time of 21.34 is fast.

Swim

My usual 28 lengths of 15M each at LA Fitness

10-6-6-6

Either my technique is improving, or I'm getting stronger, but I can swim longer now without stopping.

Gym

This afternoon just had a 10 minute session on the bike, and 15 minutes on the treadmill at LA Fitness.

Bike

Went to LA Fitness at lunchtime with a couple of guys from work, and did my very first spinning session. It was a 30 minute workout, and about as hard as I expected it to be, which was very.

Didn't have my Polar on, but Ronny did and he managed to expend 555 calories.

Will definitely go back, once my T-shirt dries out!

Bike

Only 4 people today on the SBR cycle, with the bike expert actually turning out for the first time. Guessed this would be a bad experience, having a real competitor taking the lead, and only managed to stay with them for about 15 minutes, and eventually lost sight after 30 minutes, even though my average speed was over 30km/h.

Really pissed off with SBR now. The ride is supposed to be a social training outing, not a race. I'm not planning on going back.

Not counting the 4k to the shop, my total for today was:

51.19k
1.50.59 minutes
av 27.68
max 48.31

Run

Honda 3k run tonight. Thought my 11.22 out was a bit slow, then realised I'd been going against the wind and got back faster

total time of 22.05
average HR 164
Calories 325
whatever this other setting means - 23.9

Swim

LA Fitness this afternoon again, 30 laps of the 15M pool.

10-4-4-4-4-4

Not bad.

Run

Went over to Carol's and even though it was dark and cold and windy and raining, we did our usual 4.5-5 mile run in Richmond Park. Actually, the rain stopped after about 10 minutes.

Not too many runners in the park tonight.

Didn't do an accurate timing - was about 44 minutes.

Swim

Went to LA Fitness this afternoon.

Did 27 lengths of the 15M pool, in groups of 6-6-4-4-4-3

All front crawl. I really am improving.

Bike

Went out with SBR on a very cold morning, and with only shorts on too as my tights got left at the office. My legs were red when I got back, and took quite some time to recover.

Overall I did 60K in 2 hours (this includes the 8K roundtrip to Windsor)

This is a high average - more than 30Kph for the actual ride, and there was some wind too. One person actually dropped out; I think it's getting a bit too competitive and not as much fun as it should be. I got dropped coming back into Windsor past the Great Park as everyone sprinted to the end.

Gym

Early Saturday morning visit to the gym - first time in a long time. Pool not available which was annoying.

After a short warmup on the rowing machine, really thrashed the cross trainer for 10 minutes. The cycling has really improved my performance on this.

Cycled 4.5 miles in 15 minutes, only average.

Ran 2.8 miles in 20 minutes. Really wanted to do 3 miles, but started running too slowly at 6.5mph, and even increasing to 9.0 for the last 5 minutes didn't do it.

Swim

15-20 minutes in LA Fitness this afternoon, mixture of strokes.

Bike

It's really quite annoying having to work for a living.

Missed my cycle last week, and so this weekend after about an hour and a half in the saddle I'm feeling really quite stiff. Opportunities midweek are small, so maybe I will have to look into a turbo trainer.

Did Cycle 3 today in 1.33.23

I was windy, and cold; I'm sure I've said it before but how does the wind manage to be in my face quite so much. I only had cycling shorts and my legs decided it would be a good idea to send all the blood to the surface. Had my new gloves which Carol finally gave me for my birthday though. Interestingly my left foot got really frozen, but my right was OK - odd.

Run

Went over to Kingston, and did a run with Carol and Jonathan in Richmond Park after dark.

It's about a 5 mile route, and we did it in about 42 minutes, taking it fairly easy.

Here's a photo of us after the run.

Run

Felt pretty fit on the Honda 3 mile run tonight, and it wasn't windy or too cold.

11 minutes out exactly
10.40 back.

Total 21.40

I could have gone faster too.

Run

Saturday night Honda 3 mile run. Not bothering with heart rate monitoring. It was really windy with the wind on my back on the way out, so 11 miinutes, and running against the wind on the way back, so a commendable 11.20 minutes.

22.20 mins total

Swim

Went at 6pm after work for a swim/sauna at LA Fitness. About 15 minutes swimming again. The pool is crowded with only 5 people.

Swm

Simply a lunchtime swim in the LA Fitness 15M pool. about 15 minutes swimming.

Brick

Went on my first proper brick session this morning. Vivienne was away so couldn't leave the kids alone for 3 hours for the SBR cycle.

Bike was 23.34k in 47.56 minutes, averaging 29.23kph.

Took my Polar and average HR was 154 (and it says that's 658 calories)

After getting changed and a quick drink, went on the 3 miles Honda road.

22.03 was the time, average hr 163, calories 322.

This is quite interesting, as on Wednesday night I ran a bit slower; perhaps mornings are better than evenings.

It was odd running after the cycle, it felt very slow over the ground. I'm really quite pleased with my performance though.

Run

Did the Honda on another dark evening after work, Not too cold though.

Time - 22.12

Swim

Went back to the little pool at La Fitness and did about 20 minutes swimming at lunchtime

Bike - 60K

Went out with SBR for their Sunday morning ride, about 10 of us today.

Interesting ride, quite relaxed for the first hour or so. Went up a huge hill, and my legs were very strong, I was easily 2nd to the top, not that it's a race, but it still felt good.

Coming back, Martin from the shop was late for work, so the pace picked up. I couldn't maintain the 40kph they were doing today btween Dorney and Eton Wick, which was disappointing. I was close though at around 37kph.

Distance - 64.33K
Time - 2.21.02
Avg - 27.37

(route was Eton,Eton Wick, Maidenhead, Marlow, and back a similar way)

Swim

In a stroke of luck, the office I'm working at has free membership of a gym round the corner.
Went there today at lunchtime (LA Fitness) and got inducted.
They have a 15M pool, and I managed approximately 30 lengths before running out of time.
They provide towels and shampoo, so I will hopefully find it easy to get some swimming training done there.

Run

[geek note - using lynx to write this entry]
Another cold dry night, so went straight out
after work for another 3 mile Honda run.
Again, this was not a time trial, so took it
quite easy.

Time 23.11
Average HR - 157

That's still a really good time, and I wasn't
particularly tired at the end. My only concern
is a bit of a dodgy knee.

Run

First run in quite a while - did the usual Honda as I am working now and getting back to Windsor for a 7.15pm start with the Datchet Dashers is going to be difficult for a while.

Took my Polar, but it seemed not to work on the way out. The return 1.5 miles was timed like this:

Time 11.41
Average HR - 157

I was actually deliberately going slow, so this was quite a pleasing result.

Bike

Went out with SBR, and though there were only 6 of us, managed ~4 punctures between us. Witnessed a bike going right into a big pothole and both tubes getting punctured. The route was out around the A308 and down the A330 too along some of my Route 3.

Distance: 52.18
Time: 1.51.27
Average: 28.1
Max - well, this isn't really right, is it? 76.47

This compares in an interesting way to my solo rides, the average speed is slower. I think there are some fast sections where I struggle, then the group slows down for a bit. When alone I'm more consistent on the effort.

Equipment

I've been keeping my mountain bike at the side of the house, and noticed this morning that it was gone. It cost £109 a few years ago, but it had lights fitted, and my D lock too. Luckily I removed the speedo only last week.

Will need a 'new' mountain bike now :-(

Bike

Due to impending return to work (next Monday) today was my last chance for a midday/midweek ride. So even though I still have a bit of a cough, I had another go at route 3.

Distance: 42.65
Time: 1.28.36
Averge: 28.91
Max: 46.02

So I even beat my previous time. I had the usual slow start mostly into the wind up past Windsor Great Park. Things improved, and I managed to keep above 40kph between the two cattle grids of Dorney and Eton Wick for a nice quick finish.

Health

My cold went to my chest, and I've done some quite depressing coughing. I went to the doctor and the pain in my ribs he says was probably me straining muscles when I coughed.

So I'm now sitting around waiting to get better, not able to do any decent exercise, which is very frustrating.

Got a confirmation email though, from Humanrace telling me I've been accepted into the Eton Supersprint on 15th May.

Swim

Feeling a lot better today.

Went to Windsor Leisure Pool with the kids and rejoined the gym (4 months for the price of 3). Didn't actually use the gym, but had a bit of a swim, around 10 lengths. The upper front part of my leg (must learn the names of these things, quads I think) began to hurt a little so even though I was doing quite well considering my absense from the water, I decided to stop.

Fitness

Completely wasted today, coughing and sneezing and suffering odd temperatures. Stayed indoors all day and fell asleep a couple of times.

Yesterday I know I had a cold, and I'm wondering if the cycle made it worse, or whether I'd have felt this way anyway.

Bike - Computer

Attached my bicycle computer to the Ridley (it's been on my old mountain bike up till now). It a wireless model from VDO called a Cytec C10+. Picture here. The manual says that with my wheels (700X23C) I should program the circumference size as 2133mm, but I measured it as 2120mm, so I'm using that.

Decided that a time of around two hours for 26 miles is a bit on the slow side. Went on the same route as Wednesday (26.5 miles according to Autoroute) and really tried to push harder.

Stats:
Trip - 42.48km
Time - 1.30.02
Avs - 28.34
Max - 54.49

So my trip computer and Autoroute are roughly in agreement (42.48 *.62 = 26.34), which is nice. Only really tried to go fast at one place, down an incline, and got that pretty fast speed.

Bike

Went for a ride around 11am even though my knees are feeling a bit dodgy.

Looked like a nice bright day, but when I got out there realised it was really quite windy, and somehow when you're cycling the wind always manages to be against you.

Here's the route.

It's only 26.5 miles, but took nearly 2 hours - I'm blaming the wind, and the stop for a phone call from BP about a job.

Run

Honda run tonight at about 6.30p; this is of course pretty much exactly 3 miles. Took my Polar heart rate monitor and just carried it in my hand (strap broken of course)

Stats here:

Time: 21.51
Average HR: 161
Calories - 312l

So, even though I didn't quite expect it - that's the fastest time so far. Actually met another runner just by Honda at the half way stage (which I times at 11 minutes) and followed him back, maybe that kept my pace higher than usual. Remember, I started off doing this in 26 minutes.

Bike

Went out at 9am with SBR in Windsor. Took Jonathan too as he was staying with us last night.

No one from the shop turned up, but we had about 8 riders and we headed out to Bourne End and back for quite a fast 2 hour cycle of probably around 35 miles. One big hill which I managed better than I have done in the past.

Got a flat tyre just as we were approaching the shop - my first one - it was a small piece of glass. Replaced the tube with a bit of help from Bruce in the shop and came back home.

Run

Last night went for my usual Honda run. It was quite mild at 6.15 pm. Did the whole distance without stopping and can now do it pretty comfprtably in 22-23 minutes. Must get my Polar watch strap fixed so I can time myself better.

Day One

Well, not really day one, as I started training in August of last year, but it's day one of the blog.

Today I went for a cycle. Went into Windsor and bought a new pump (Truflo HPX3) for £19.99. It slides under the bar and fits with no physical changes to the bike, so is really easy to take off/transfer to another bike. Used it to put some pressure into my tyres, as they were a bit flat never having been pumped since I bought the bike.

Rode up through Windsor onto the Bracknell road and the round Windsor Great Park, out the Virginia water exit and down through Egham/Runnymede/Old Windsor and home. The last leg took about 70 minutes, it was moderately windy.

Run

Honda run in the evening. not too cold even at 8.30pm.

Time - 22.12