Bike/Swim

30 minutes bike, 20 minutes swim.

Finally made it to the gym this morning in the hotel (Hyatt, Lisle, Il.). Had a really excellent exercise bike with touch screen, heart rate monitor, and even a TV. Did a variable program cycling 9 miles and using up about 275 calories.

The pool is about 15-20 metres long, and I did 40 lengths.

All before breakfast too!

Bike/Run

12K Brompton bike commute. (Went to Carol's so missing 4K there)

43 minute, approx 8K run in Richmond Park. This is my first night run there of the winter, and we're on the road only route and carrying torches to avoid getting run over by cyclists. Taking it easy tonight as my legs are sore from Sunday's race. This course is definitely shorter than the summer one, we did that in 48 minutes last time and I think we ran at a similar pace tonight.

Bike

16K Brompton normal bike commute.

Legs suffering again from yesterdays race.

Event - Princes Trust 10K

Another Sunday, another 10K; this is becoming a bit of a habit.

Went to Windsor with the family this morning for a run through Windsor Great Park and bits of Legoland. The children also ran in a 4K and did very well, finishing together.

My 10K was through a lot of woods, and I wasn't really expecting the rough terrain. I started off quite well, but the rough, muddy paths played havoc with my left ankle so I had to be really careful. It's hard to concentrate on the horizon to try and forget how tired you are when you have to watch your feet all the time.

Unlike last week's quite level course, there were many small hills on this one. I'm just not used to running on hills, something I hadn't really realised. The final 500M are all uphill, quite steep near the end. I let a few people overtake me just before this last bit, and managed to retake my position with a sprint which was good - it hurt though.

Top 50 placing! - 49th with an official time of 44:37. (860 finishers)

Bike

1 hour - Z1 - Z2

Even though I have a 10K run tomorrow morning, I couldn't resist having a proper go on my new Elite turbo trainer.

Got all dressed up in my cycle gear and pedalled away for one hour at a fairly moderate pace. Listened to podcasts on my Nano, and got really hot from the cooking in the kitchen. Will definitely setup a fan and a DVD player for future longer sessions.

I liked it though, and think it will really aid my winter Ironman training.

Equipment

Finally, after wanting one for nearly two years, I went out and bought a Turbo Trainer.

It's a Elite Crono Mag ElastoGel Turbo Trainer and I got it at my local Triathlon shop - SBR Sports in Windsor. In the end, it wasn't a very scientific decision. I needed to be able to pick one up in my car, and they are very near a carpark. I didn't really care whether I got Elite or Tacx, and SBR only had Elite. I wanted a model with a resistance adjuster, but didn't want all the digital gizmos. I expected to pay about £100-£150 - and got it for £130 minus 10% for being a regular customer.

I got a very overpriced piece of moulded plastic for under the front tyre too (£12.95) and a band of sweat catching towelling (eeugh), also a bit of a waste of money really.

[time limited link to details of the turbo here ]

Bike

16K Brompton normal bike commute

Bike

16K Brompton normal bike commute

Bike/Run

16K Brompton normal bike commute

10 minute warmup on the rowing machine, then a 30 minute treadmill run at LA Fitness. Legs just recovering from Sunday's 10K in Hyde Park, and I've got another coming up this Sunday too.

Swim/Bike

16K Brompton normal bike commute

900M swim in LA Fitness pool

Did 50 lengths (750M) straight off in 21 minutes.
After a suana break, did another 10 lengths (150M) as a cool down.

Bike

16K normal Brompton bike commute.

After yesterday's run (or maybe it was the really painful massage) my legs are aching very, very badly today.

Event - RunLondon 10K

10K run in 44 minutes and 01 second. This is actually a new personal best for me.

It was a really nice day for running in my opinion, bright and only very slightly chilly, so that I wasn't cold before the start, and didn't overheat too much running around.

Due to iPod problems, and a very poor analog watch, I was only vaguely aware of how fast I was running. Well, that's not actually true. I've done so much running in the last two years, that I can now feel my pace quite accurately. I knew I was having a fairly good on target first 5k at a very even pace. I knew I really struggled from 5.5k - 8k after picking up my water and as usual getting some up my nose while trying to drink it on the move. I really picked up the pace and knew that my last 2K were pretty good. I knew I'd done quite a good time, and was expecting a match of my 45 minutes from last year, so was really pleased though not too surprised to get 44:01.

Run training has gone really well over the last few weeks since I got back from Cuba. I started slow, and have done well to keep away from injury. I'm pretty fit from cycling to work, and this shows where I need to inject pace briefly. I'm so used to pushing off fast from the traffic lights on my bike, that those muscles can get me past a small group of people in my way, or propel me up a slight incline. So I was feeling quite confident about doing well in this race, as I was feeling quite fit.

I'm not so good with longer hills though. I think the period when I ran slowest from 6-8k was mostly uphill.

Nike measured some split times, which is really nice. Here they are:

2k  08:46  08:46  4:23
4k  17:33  08:47  4:23
6k  26:26  08:53  4:26
8k  35:42  09:16  4:38
10k 44:01  08:19  4:10

As you can see, my sprint finish was pretty impressive :-)

Bike/Swim

Commuting by Brompton - 10 miles.

Swimming in LA Fitness. 60 lengths of 15M = 900M

Blocks of 10 lengths as usual, one block was breaststroke; the final 10 was done as a cool down after going into the sauna.

Bike

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles - plus Bank - Belgravia via the Apple Store on Regents street, and then back down to Vauxhall. This was due to me buying an Applle Nano MP3 player, and then going to the Star Tavern for a London perl Mongers meeting.

Bike

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles + (Bank - Oxford Circus - Waterloo) - approx 5 miles, to pick up Nike RunLondon T-Shirt. I also bought some new trainers. I got Nike Plus Air Zoom Special Edition 10/2 Lance Armstrong ones on grey/yellow. Very nice, £65.

12 miles in total, some very fast as I made it from Oxford Circus to Waterloo in 13 minutes.

Bike/Run

Commuting by Brompton - 9 miles

LA Fitness Gym - treadmill - 40 minutes and exactly 7km

Bike

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles. (no ride home as picked up in Datchet)

Bike

Early morning cycle, with a day threatening rain so I wore my blue rain jacket, but it never materialised so I get really hot.

Circled around from Ascot to Virginia Water, Chobham and Bracknell for a near 70K ride.

Didn't look at my average speed at all, I think I concentrate too much on that. Still managed over 28km/h average.

Goals: Ironman

I have entered and been accepted to compete in Ironman France 2007

This is a pretty big step, and a big jump from my previous triathlon, an olympic distance at Windsor.

Nevertheless, I've decided that it's now or never, and I have Jonathan also doing it with me, so that will help a lot with moral support.

Today I'm officially starting my training, though a proper plan will be drawn up over the next few weeks.

Summary

Since the last post (14th August) I've still been exercising fairly regularly, but not recording the results here. So here is a quick summary, though I know I have some bike times written down that I can hopefully upload later.

Went to Cuba for a holiday, and swam in the sea every day. My swimming really improved, perhaps not in technique, but in arm strength.

I also cycled on a stationary bike in the gym maybe 6 times, for 30 minutes a time. There were no readouts, and I was checking just my calories from my polar heart rate monitor, and this ranged from 320 to 360.

I didn't run at all. My ankle sprain really scuppered my running this year.

Since returning back to work I've been doing weekend cycles of between 50 and 90 km. I've been going to the gym and cycling shorter times obviously. I've done a few treadmill sessions, trying to get my legs working again without crapming up my calfs. I've done a run in Richmond park with Carol and Jon which was very slow at 48 minutes, and left me very sore for two days. However, I think I've gotten over the pain now and am back to almost normal running.

I've been swimming about once a week - 30 - 60 lengths in the LA Fitness 15M pool. Once I went to Windsor Leisure Pool and managed approximately 1500M of mostly crawl, but this took me nearly one hour.

Of course, I've been cycling to work as well on my Brompton, and along with various other journeys, am averaging about 50 miles a week on that (two trips to the passport agency in Victoria in the pouring rain being particular high(low)lights.

So, all in all, I've been maintaining fitness in a rather haphazard way, and need to get more structured for the coming winter.

Swim

Thinking it might help my back, went for a non-impact swim and a bit of a stretch in the sauna/steam room at LA Fitness instead of a lunch break.

Did 4 * 10 of the 15M lengths, then had the stretch break, and finished off with another 10 lenghts to cool down a bit.

Did feel a bit better by the end.

Total 750M

Bike

From Datchet - the cycle3 route.

Trp - 43.11km
Rid - 1:25:50
Avg - 30.14

Started off with a light drizzle and the wind against me.

Fared much better speed wise when the rain got heavier and the wind was on my back on the way back through Dorney.

First day wearing my blue coat for a long time. -Soaked when I got in but felt I had a good ride.

Row/Run/Bike

LA Fitness, mixed session.

10 minutes rowing 2000M

10 minutes running. Quite pleased I can actually run a bit now. Didn't push it very hard, only 8.5km/h

10 minutes bike, where I tried to push really hard while watching my power output. Watched my heartrate too, and realised I never actually push enough on the bike. Only managed at the peak today to get up to 161bpm - when running this is easy to do. Aim to try for more short power sessions on the bike.

Row/Run

Fairly disappointing session in LA Fitness gym.

15 minutes rowing used up ~175 calories.

My back is still sore from trampolining, and I only managed a slow 4 minute jog on the treadmill before I had to stop.

Bike

I have been training regularly the last few weeks, justnot filling in the details here. Will tryand backfill.

Today I set off from Ascot at around noon, and headed over to Henley. Was feeling quite good, and went up the steep hill there ending up at the top near Nettlebed, and then hammering down the A4130 back into town. I reached a top speed of 66km/h.

Back the usual way to Datchet.

Only half a banana before I left, a Go bar and 500ml of PSP en route - not enough really for this long ride.

Lovely warm day though, really enjoyed still being quite strong at the end.

---

Trip	Ride	Average
85.3km	2:48:46	30.34km/h

Event - RunLondon 5K

Last autumn Nike started their "I will Run a Year" campaign with a 10K race in Hyde Park. They have followed this up with 5K races every two months, and I've only missed one due to a sprained ankle.

Today was the final race and it was up in north London, in Finsbury Park. I elected to go at 11am instead of running in the first wave which is what I usually do. This was lucky as the aerliest train from Ascot was 8.22am, and once I'd got to Waterloo and cycled up to the venue it was spot on 10am. I just missed seeing the first lot start.

It was a swelteringly hot day, but I quite like running in the heat. This was my first race since the Windsor Triathlon, and though my left calf has recovered now, I haven't trained enough to be confident enough of it to go all out. I decided to try for 4 minute 15 second kilometers. This is a pace I'm fairly comfortable with and should return a 21:15 time. If I'm feeling good and manage to keep up that pace, then there would be a chance in the final half kilometer sprint to beat 21 minutes.

The course was a loop which started about 600M from the finish, and from there continued on for two full laps. This 600M section therefore had to be run three times, and it was uphill. I made good time though for the first km, wasn't far off the mark for the second one, and it was only on the second ascent that I think I slowed a little.

Paula Radcliff was running - not at her serious pace though, she ran in the first wave too, and she's just announced that she is pregnant. I got a good position near the front for the start, and she must have joined a bit behind me, because she overtook me at about the 3.5k mark. We were actually running at not too dissimilar a pace, and we finished about 100M apart, with only three other runners between us. I did manage a pretty strong last 500M.

I felt good throughout the race, so I obviously wasn't trying hard enough, and sure enough, my time of 21:52 bears this out. It's still not a bad time, but quite far from my best time in March which was 21:05.

I walked down to the Nike stand an exchanged a few words with Paula. I got my T-shirt signed, and got a signed postcard for the girls too. She was very pleasant and generous with her time.

I had a good day out, and got some good cycling in as well as I had to race back to Waterloo (about 6 miles) because of an semi-emergency at home

Bike

Another week of biking to work on the Brompton.

[Bike: 60Km]

Swim

Back to LA Fitness' 15M pool.

I've decided that endurance swimming is something I don't need to do quite as much as I did before. I know now that I can swim 1500M (even if half of it is breaststroke).

But I need to be able to swim faster.

So I swam 3 lots of 20 lengths today, putting a lot more effort in so that I was really tired by the end of each session. I know this isn't perfect training, but it's a start.

[total 900M)

Row/Run

Went to LA Fitness for a treadmill session.

I finally found my HR monitor which has been missing for a while, and used that. (it was in the pocket of my winter cycling jacket)

After a 5 minute rowing warmup (58kcal), started running and gradually speeded up from 10km/h to 13km/h.

Stupidly lost my HR history so can't put it here.

Ran for 21 minutes, and playing with Excel, make it approximately 4km in total.

It's really hard to go fast on the treadmill. My HR only went up to 154bpm at 13km/h which felt very fast, whereas on the road I find it difficult to stay below 160bpm so I must be running faster there. Maybe the treadmill is just reporting the speed/distance incorrectly. I should do a trial running the same distance each at the same HR and seeing if the times are the same.

Bike

My bike was in Datchet, so drove over and managed to get on the road at just after 9am.

Went to Windsor, and did the majority of the Windsor Triathlon course, veering off at the end over to Old Windsor and back to Datchet. I would have had a longer ride, but it was raining a bit, and there was some wind resistance, and after yesterday's run I thought this would be enough. Rain cleared near the end, and it was never really cold, so I got home quite dry.

???Approx stats???
Time 1:40
Diatance 48k
Average speed: 30.5 km/h

Run

Decided to risk a longer run for the first time since hurting my leg running in Richmond Park.

Went on the clockwise reservoir route, which is about 5 miles. There is a slight extra bit now where Thames Water have built a new road around a big hole, so I cannot compare my time exactly with previous runs.

It was a really hot day, and I rain at lunchtime. I felt really quite good, especially in the last 10 minutes where I wanted to go faster, but held back.

Time - 41 minutes

Run/Swim

Went to LA Fitness planning to swim really, but it was busy, so I had a run first.

I ran at a sedate 10km/h for about 20 minutes, legs felt fine.

Decided to check the pool, and there were only two people in there, so went in and knocked out 20 lengths (300M).

So, with my usual cycling commute to work, I almost did a sprint triathlon today :-)

Planning

My plan all along, since starting triathlon training, has been to do an Ironman event.

Last year was the sprint, and this year I did the olympic distance. Originally I thought a Half-Ironman would be the next logical step. But the training required would be very similar to the full Ironman training, and as I'm not getting any younger, I think now that it makes sense to go straight for the full distance event.

This logic may be flawed - I don't care!

So I thought that maybe a half marathon would be a good mid-term goal to get me on my way. And I discovered one in Windsor, in September. Perfect. Except that it's closed to 'normal' entrants now. I have to pay £125 for the pleasure of a Charity Golden Bond. This is crap. I can understand closing entries when capacity has been reached, but reserving places like this is just rubbish. This is as bad as the charity muggers you see on the high street, manipulating people into signing direct debits to charities they probably don't even care that much about.

The charities involved here are not ones I would ever give money to. Yes, I can't even nominate a charity I do care about, I have to give money to the homeless (CRASH) or to The Prince Philip Trust Fund which last year paid for a church kitchen to be refurbished for gods sake!. It's not cheap either - £125.

It annoys me a lot that this seems to be the case for a lot of running events. The London Marathon is practically impossible to get into unless you wear a chicken suit and say it's for 'charidee mate'. These events have big name sponsors, and every runner pays too, so why do they think they have to play the charity card? Does Madonna refuse to sell you a ticket to her concerts unless you give an extra £100 to charity? Does Manchester United have a compulsory charity tax at their grounds? No, that would be ridiculous. By all means use some of the profits from a race as donations to charity - everyone will contribute equally and still have a fair chance of competing. If the entry fee is too large the event will attract too few runners and not continue in following years, so that should keep things economically priced.

Just open the registration on a certain date, and when you've sold out your capacity, then close it. This is how triathlon works, and I really hope as it becomes more popular they don't go down the charity route too.

So I'm now looking at Humanrace and considering the Kingston Festival instead. It's not 13 miles, its either 8 or 16, and I'm leaning towards the longer distance today.

Events

I've signed up for another 5K run from the Nike RunLondon lot. It's on 16th July, and if I manage to make it there, I'm not going to try for a PB. I'm more interested in the chance of a free T-Shirt, and a preferrential place at the front of the 10K race later in the year.

Row/Run

I really wanted (needed) to swim today, but the pool at LA Fitness was packed, probably due to the very warm and humid weather we're having.

So I warmed up with 10 minutes (110kcal) of rowing, and decided to see if my left calf could stand a bit of gentle jogging.

It did!

I ran at a very sedentary 7 km/h (I think it's set to km on those machines) for 20 minutes and my legs were fine. Great news. I'll try a little faster/longer next time.

Bike

Set off very early this morning as I knew it would be a really, really hot day.

Left Ascot at 7:50am and headed out to Bracknell and around from there to Twyford/Henley (Regatta today)/Marlow/Bourne End/Maidenhead/Eton and home to Datchet.

Interestingly, met Martyn in a group of (presumably) SBR riders as I was approaching Eton Wick. It was after 10am, a bit of an odd time for them to be setting off.

I was still a bit tired from last night I think, and struggled to maintain my target 30km/h pace. At the lights in Eton it dipped below to 29.3, but I managed to push it back up before reaching home.

Riding in this way is quite good I find for short distances (~40k), but on longer rides modifying your pace upwards to try and raise the average gets harder and harder and more frustrating.

Wore my new jersey (bought yesterday in SBR, actually wore last night too). It's a Giordana in Black/Orange/Grey. I wrote a review of it on the new SBR website, but it hasn't appeared (Note - it has now), so I'll put it down below in this post too. It cost £40 - 10% - and as it's £34.99 on the website, I could have saved a quid!)

Average speed - 30km/h
Time - about 02:30
Distance - about 75km.

[note, watch out for Powerbars, one took a bit off my tooth off this morning)

---
Review: Giordana Tecnical Blend Jersey in Black/Orange/Grey: £40

I wanted something a bit brighter that would make me more visible to motorists, so the orange stripes on this jersey appealed to me.

A benefit I hadn't considered was the zip - unlike my other jerseys, it goes all the way down and opens at the front like a jacket. This means that when you take it off you don't have to pull it over your head spilling your keys/wallet/mobile phone/spare tube all over the floor! There are the usual three open rear pockets, but inside one is a small extra pocket which has a velcro fastening. I can't really think of a use for this - if it was waterproof it would be great to put a phone inside.

It's comfortable, wicks away moisture, and also feels like it's performing some wind protection in the front.

So overall, a great jersey.

Bike

Did what has become my usual Saturday evening ride over from Datchet to Ascot. Went round through Wraysbury, Staines, then Egham, and up the A30. Turned right before reaching Sunningdale this time up round the edge of Windsor Great Park and into Ascot.

Approx 52 minutes, at 29 km/h

Swim

After yesterday's disaster, I thought today wouldn't be too hot either.

I was wrong.

I went swimming in LA Fitness, and did 60 lengths easily in their 15M pool. 900M. I was trying to swim faster, but was still slow. 20 of those lengths were breaststroke, and I had to stop and demist my googles every 10 laps It took about 30 minutes altogether.

Left calf muscles are feeling a bit better actually.

Goals: Part 2

So I've decided I need some goals. Short term goals are fine, but I need som medium and longer term goals to really get this thing going. I need to work out what I really want from this sport - what would make me happy, after all, isn't that what doing this exercise is for in the first place.

Having done two triathlons now, what I most enjoyed about them was being out there on the bike racing loads of people, and passing a lot of them. Once was a closed road, almost like a racetrack. The other did have traffic, but it was early on a Sunday morning, and the police were on hand waving us through junctions. Both days were bright and sunny.

I just wanted to finish those races, to say I'd done it, but the good weather definitely enhanced the experience a lot.

So I think I'd like to do more races in nice weather, preferrably on roads with little or zero traffic. I think I'll have a better chance of this if I do them abroad, in a warm country. This will obviously cost me more in time and money, but maybe I can make mini holidays out of it.

I thought I'd found a good one here - Seattle Escape From the Rock. The cycle over that bridge looks awesome. But it's not a dry place - some of the photos on the Brightroom website for this event from previous years look a little grim.

The search is on though.

Goals

I have far too few goals. Now I've done my Olympic Distance Triathlon, I don't have anything on the calendar. I think this is a mistake.

I've been doing some searching on Blogger for triathlon, and found a community of people who seem to know each other and all have training blogs. They are all in the US - here are a few I've read a bit of:

http://curlysu.blogspot.com/
http://lanasmarathonjourney.blogspot.com/
http://tri4ever.blogspot.com/
http://trirunning.blogspot.com/

There is a very positive, upbeat feel to these blogs. Very American in the "Have a nice day" vein with a lot of mutual support and back slapping. I like it really, and the blogs are all very readable, almost addictive. It would be nice to find a similar group in the UK to join.

Another thing they all have in common, is a list of goals for the coming year. 10K races, sprint and olympic triathlons, 1/2 Ironmans and Ironman races too, with dates and estimated times. Some have a nice table of these dates, some keep weekly and monthly training summaries. It's all a lot more interesting than my blog, but of course, a lot more work. So I'm going to try and get myself entered into some more events, and put a calendar online, to see if I can structure my training better and achieve more.

Talking of goals, would *love* to be able to do this http://www.envirosports.com/events/displayevent.php?eventid=1547

Run/Row/Swim

Sounds like a tough session from the title, but it really was a bit of a disaster.

Went to LA Fitness gym, and walked on the treadmill for a few minutes, trying to warm up my left calf. Took the speed up to a jog, and after only 2 minutes, my leg was throbbing and I had to stop.

So I gave up and did 100kcals on the rowing machine. Unsure what to do next really, and not having swum for a week, went to the pool and did 20 lengths. I tried to put more strength into my pull, but I'm still going far too slowly. Ran out of time.

Really must book more sessions with SwimForTri

Bike

Yes, Bike again.

Decided that I need to build stamina, and a 3 hour ride was in order. Despite making up the route as I went along, I managed to do almost exactly that.

Started in Ascot and finished in Datchet:

Time 3:02:??
Distance 89km
Average 28.34 knm/h

I didn't have any food, only one gel and 500ml of PSP22. This was a mistake. After 1 hour my average speed was 32km/h, but it gradually waned as I got more tired. I did a series of big hills outside Henley too, which slowed me down, though the ride back down the other side was pretty fast. In the last hour I just couldn't keep the pace any more even on the flat. I haven't done any rides this long for ages though.

On finishing, I could hardly get off the bike - back a bit stiff. Also, the suncream on my forehead had some flies stuck in it.

(Route, over to A30, then zig-zag up to Drift road. Over to Twyford and up to Henley. As mentioned, went up big hill there for a change and to add distance, past places like Rotherfield Greys and Shepherds Green and turned around at Nettlebed for a long downhill back to Henley. Then round to my usual journey home to Datchet through Marlow, Bourne End, Maidenhead, Dorney and Eton. Must do that Henley bit again soon.)

Bike

After a whole day spent ferrying family around, and seeing all the cyclists out enjoying themselves in the sunshine, I just had to get out there.

So as Dr Who was starting in Datchet, I got on my bike and cycled round to Ascot. Went via Old Windsor, Egham, A30.

Went up through South Ascot, and into the town which was full of drunk people trying to get home from the last day of the races.

Was careful with the tightness in my left calf, though there wasn't that much need - cycling doesn't affect it that much.

Bike/Injury

Another week of commuting, another 45 miles or so on my Brompton.

Arrived in Datchet this evening, and pedalled really hard back to the house.

Feeling OK, I started running up the stairs, when suddenly my left calf exploded, and I was brought to my knees just like the scene in Terminator 2 where the silver terminator gets frozen and tries to keep running and his legs fall off. I'd thought this injury from last night was feeling a bit better. It doesn't really hurt when cycling.

Put an ice pack on it and did some stretching.

Admin

I'm messing with the Blogger template - expect some things not to look right on here for a few days...

Run

Went over to Kingston for my regular run in Richmond Park with Carol and Jonathan.

Started OK, though feeling tired for some reason - too many late nights watching American TV dramas perhaps. It was a lovely warm sunny evening, with deer walking across the path in places, and people flying kites.

By about 3/4 way through my left calf was really throbbing, and I had to slow down, and even walk for bits of it.

Nevertheless we did a commendable time of about 42 minutes (4.8 miles)

Row/Run/Swim

A bit of a mixture. I really wanted to swim, but the pool at LA Fitness looked too full, so I did 10 minutes rowing (111 kCals), followed by 20 minutes of cycling (9km). I finished off with 10 lengths of the 15M pool as fast as I could go.

I measured my HR on the bike at 100 watts, and it was almost exactly 100 bpm. I know this means something, but can't remember where I read it now.

Bike

Got up nice and early and left the house in Ascot at around 8.05am for a cycle.

Headed over towards Drift Road and did that part of the Windsor Triathlon course. Then headed over to the A30 and Virginia Water/Chertsey/Staines/Egham/Old Windsor and home to Datchet.

Felt quite tired and only averaged about 30.5km/h for the 56 or so km.

Saw the Hounslow Wheelers out doing a time trial on Drift Road.

Row/Run

Went to the gym at LA Fitness and started with my fairly usual 10 minute rowing warmup.

Set the treadmill at 10.5km/h and managed 20 minutes of this (around 3.5km). My left calf is still hurting a bit, and I decided to stop there.

Bike

Another week of commuting on the Brompton - another 45 miles.

Swim

Thought it would be a good time to go swimming during the England World Cup game. Unfortunately, a lot of women decided this also. There was even a lane roped off for a swimming lesson. I struggled through a few laps, trying to swim 15M fast with good technique then waiting for a gap in the crowd and doing it again. Probably only managed 20-30 lengths.

Row/Bike

Spend 10 minutes on the rowing machine (110 calories) and then 25 minutes cycling at LA Fitness this afternoon.

Was trying to find my heartrate as a certain power. Did it wrong. Will need to try again.

Windsor Triathlon 2006

Well, the day finally arrived, and I was as prepared as I could be. Over a years training for this event, so no excuses. The Windsor Triathlon is one of the most popular in the country, and gets a great crowd. I'm lucky having it in my back yard.

Arrived with family at the ungodly hour of 5.35am and went into transition to get my bike ready. Pumping up the slightly deflated tires, suddenly the rear tube went 'pfffttttt' and deflated completely. Not the best news, and so a panicky replacement was required. Many thanks to numbered competitors near me in the 426-430 range (I was 428), who helped me take my time and not pinch the tube. Maybe next time I won't buy new tires and fit them two hours before bike racking.

Checking the tyre later, I found that the problem was really pretty bad - the whole valve had broken away:



Just found out actually that number 430 was Laurance Harding, a friend of Jonathan's, and he was the eventual winner of the whole age-group race. Karma!

Carol and Jonathan didn't make it in time for the swim start, but Vivienne, Olivia and Gina are witnesses to me taking the plunge and just jumping right in. The water was surprisingly warm, though of course I wouldn't have liked to be without my wetsuit. It didn't even taste much of anything.

Start was 6:35am. I breaststroked a bit to try and find some clear water. Then I alternated breathing to the right, breaststroke, breathing to the left, breaststroke, for the rest of the race. My pace was terrible, and I would breaststroke all the way as it would probably be as fast, if I didn't know that it would tire my legs too much. At least with crawl I can rest my legs quite a bit.

I seemed to be swimming for hours, and just when it got nicely uncrowded, a pile of swimmers from the following wave race overtook me. This happened a couple more times. Got to the bridge for turnaround, and headed back downstream into the sunshine. Kept pace with someone who wasn't wearing a wetsuit, and I was thinking "well, this complete amateur must be very far down the field, so I could actually be last." People in our wave were wearing light blue swimming hats, but even so, it wasn't really possible to get a good look behind me to see if there were any other competitors likewise attired.

Finally the steps appeared. I was feeling relatively good, and expected to be close to my 45 minute estimate as I'd swum at my normal pace, the one that I can maintain with no fear of getting exhausted and panicking in the water. I spotted Carol as I exited the water, but could only find breath so say one syllable - "God!'.



A long run down the grass to my bike is followed by quite an inefficient wetsuit removal. Maybe drying my feet and putting socks on will be somewhere I can shave 30 seconds off next time. I don't even notice as I mount the bike hat my trisuit is wet, and thinking back, still cannot recall any sensation of water dripping off me at all.

For the first time, I get to look at my watch and see I'm pretty much on target, maybe even slightly ahead. From experience, I know that a slow start on the bike, even for the first couple of minutes, gives you a low average speed. It then takes a long, long time to raise that average. So I'm standing on the pedals past SBR and I'm flying round the roundabout (overtaking two people taking it easy) and am going at 35km/h down to the A308. Lights are all green, and there are policemen waving us through too. Up towards Maidenhead I maintain my pace, slowing a little to maybe 33 or 34 km/h. I'm watching my average speed the whole way, and know I need 30km/h by the end to make my 1 hour 20 minute target.

Amazingly, I feel really good all the way round. In fact, I get a little worried that I'm going too fast and will burn out, so even on the flat where I could push a little harder, I stay at 35km/h or so. My hills are good, much better than usual. I am going to thank all my commuting cycles to work for this. I play a little cat and mouse with some other riders. They overtake me, and to avoid drafting, I let them go a few metres ahead. Then I realise they've slowed down, and now I'm going too slow, and so I have to overtake them again. Repeat.



It really pays to know your course, this was proved after one climb. One of the riders I'd been battling with overtook me near the crest of the hill. I knew that there was a steep drop coming up. So as soon as the upward gradient started to lessen, I stood on the pedals and went flying past the other guy at 50km/h before he even realised the hill had stopped. That felt great.

I hit the halfway mark at Drift Road, and my average time was still about 33.5 km/h. Here I overtook a huge number of women from the previous waves. I was worried about getting a drafting penalty, and I think this prevented me from pushing harder sometimes. Nevertheless, the steady riding was probably good for me. The dead turn at the end of Drift Road didn't slow me down much, and I continued to be surprised that my legs were fine for the fast acceleration needed to go from 0 back up to 35 km/h.

Straight along now towards the final climb up to Windsor Great Park. I didn't mind the hill really, but I think I can improve on this section, as I slowed down quite a bit.

Then finally I'm pushing down the big hill through Windsor Great Park, hitting 60km/h and trying to push even faster. As expected, this feels great - I always love this stretch of road. The weather is perfect, and all the way around I've hardly noticed any headwind. This air resistance is the most breeze I've felt, and I let if cool my head through my new Giro Atmos helmet. Some people are overtaking me as the slope evens out and turns back upward. This always happens in training too. But I'm also overtaking others. It's really difficult to know whether I'm making headway in my age-group race or not. I've passed quite a few people, but quite a few have passed me (were they the same ones?).

Into Windsor, and again the police wave us through the lights. Annoyingly I have to slow down at one roundabout as some riders are in front of me and are in the left lane when they need to be in the right one where I am; a car comes through the middle of us, and then has to brake to let them across, which means I also have to brake. Doh! I can see my speed is still averaging arounf 34km/h - amazing, I'm way ahead of schedule. I could easily keep on cycling, but can I run?

Into transition, cycling as fast as I can through the 200M inside the park, which isn't really very fast at all as other riders are also nearby. Rack bike, change shoes (carefully, remembering last years near cramp episode at Dorney). I take a big drink of PSP22, and then I'm off. I notice Olivia near the exit, but my tunnel vision doesn't reach anyone else.

I start running, and pretty much instantly realise that I'm not going to be able to go fast. I practically sprinted out of transition last year in the shorter Dorny race, but therer is no chance of that today.

I take a cup of water from the water station just before the climb up to the castle, and try to drink it on the move - it goes up my nose rather unpleasantly instead. The next two laps I also take water, but stop a second to drink once big gulp.

I'm feeling tired but OK, until about 2km into the 10k, when my left calf starts to ache. I have only had one run in the last 5 weeks, since I sprained my ankle. I'm worried again about cramp. I don't really have much choice about going faster, as there just isn't any pace in my legs, but this doesn't help much. Looking at my watch, I see that if I can just keep going as close to my 10k rate as possible, or even as slow as my training rate, I should still break the 3 hours target I've set myself.



I was hoping for a 45 minute run, but this gets more unlikely as I get tireder and tireder. I expect to see my supporters, but it isn't till the third lap that I spot Carol. I'm going to have to brief them better if they come again! It's starting to get hot, but not unbearbly so. I feel OK, I'm just annoyed that I just can't go any faster, and keep plodding along.

And then I hit the finish line, and it's over. My watch says it's 2 hours, 47 minutes since I set off. I've done it.



Not your normal Sunday morning, it's still not even 9.30am.




Results


991 428 Shiels, Robert 40-44 190 male  00:40:41 00:02:46 01:12:26 00:02:29 00:49:33 02:47:55

Preparation

Today I had to take my bike to Windsor to rack it for tomorrows triathlon.

I decided that I didn't want to risk the rear tyre, so cycled into SBR in Windsor and bought two new tyres.

Had great fun putting them on (not), but finally got the knack by utilising the tyre levers properly.

Cycled back into Windsor again, met up with Jonathan, and racked up.

Bike

Following last night's trip over from Datchet, this morning I left the Ascot house at 6.30am and cycled back. 16.6km or so, again around 31 minutes.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and there were a couple of other mad cyclists on the road. I think I'll do this again.

I was really going well, average speed up to 32km/h due to a great run through Windsor Great Park, but as I left Old Windsor I noticed my rear tire was starting to go deflate. I leaned forward, still pedalling fast, but being very careful not to hit any bumps, and managed the last 2km before going completely flat.

That's the second puncture in a month, where previously I'd had hardly any - I think I may get new typre for Sunday's Windsor Tri.

Admin

I've forgotten to fill this in for a couple of weeks, will try to backfill, but I'm sure there will be a few inaccuracies.

Bike

After work, went over to Datchet and did a bit of gardening.

Left the Brompton there, and cycled on the Ridley over to Ascot.

16.6km, averaging about 31.5km/h, so around 32 minutes.

Was trying to follow some hints I read in 220 Triathlon magazine about acceleration out of climbs, and maintaining momentum following descents.

It was a nice evening, just shorts and t-shirt weather, and I arrived in Ascot at 8.40pm.

Swim/Bike

A nice early start and another trip to Heron Lake for some open water swim training.

Met Jonathan there just after 7am, and swam round twice.

Yet again, my times were 23 minutes, and 25 minutes. still no real idea how far it is. (somewhere between 800 and 1100 M)

Following this, we went back to Datchet, got changed, and reccied the Windsor Tri bike course.

We kept a fairly consistent 30km/h pace, and finished the 40k in approximately 1hr 20min. This is my aim for next Sunday's race.

Bike

Cycled over from Datchet to Ascot this evening.

16.6km in just over 30 minutes, averages something like 31km/h.

Swim

Timed it not too badly at the LA Fitness 15M pool today. Entered the water at 4:37 and got out at 5:20. That's 43 minutes, and I did the full 1500M (100 lengths).

(10C, 10B) * 4 then finished off with 20C (C = crawl, B = breaststroke obviously).

Even felt quite strong at the end.

In case you haven't noticed, that's the Windsor Triathlon swim distance. Yah!

I've started breathing differently for front crawl. I breath left and right on alternate lengths, so always turn to face the same wall. Every third stroke is unrealistic. This is working well for me as I now always have enough oxygen and do not get exhausted.

Bike

As I said,m I missed my bike ride at the weekend. So I went to the gym at LA Fitness, warmed up with 5 minutes on the rowing machine, then did a 25 minute session on the bike.

Did an alternating hard/easy program. Burned 270 Kcals.

Swim

After a particularly wet weekend when I did no exercise at all (ankle means I can't run yet), I finally made it back to LA Fitness 15M pool this afternoon.

10C, 10B, 10C, 10B, 10C, 5B, 5C.

Pool filled up around 5pm and I made a hasty exit after the 60 laps.

Bike

Weekly Summary.

Have cycled on my Brompton to work every day. It's approximately 9 miles a day, so that's another 45 miles clocked up.

Swim

Third swim this week at LA Fitness.
Alternate 10 * 15M lengths of crawl and breaststroke - no stops.

70 lengths = 1050M

Feeling confident that I can swim 1500M, but only if it's in a swimming pool!

Swim

Did 50 continuous lengths of front crawl in the LA Fitness 15M pool.

Alternately breathing to left and right each length, so therefore always facing the same wall.

I cannot sustain breathing every third stroke for long, but this seems to work.

Swim

Did 60 lengths in the LA Fitness 15M pool.
10 lenghts crawl, 10 lengths breaststroke. And repeat.

Swim

Got up early and went to the Windsor Leisure Pool for opening time at 9am.

Quite frustrating doing lengths as I'm too fast for the slow lane and too slow for the medium lane.

With frequent stops to let people past, and alternating 50/50 breaststroke and crawl, completed the triathlon distance of 1500M (60 laps) in around 50 minutes.

Bike

Biked over to Dorney Lake from Ascot to watch Jonathan competing in the Eton Supersprint. Afterwards cycled back to Datchet on a slightly flat tyre and had to put a new tube in. My mileage was approximately 40K for the day.

Ankle still sore; I had a massage and some advice in a tent at the event. Hopefully it will be better in a couple of weeks, but I still cannot run on it. Windsor approaches at speed.

Jonathan won his age group and I got a few photos.

Bike

Had yesterday off running, due to Ikea trips and theatre visits (Chuckle Borthers!). Perhaps that's why my cycling was a bit better than usual - less tired.

I went out and finally found the correct Windsor Triathlon route. At the end I veered off towards Old Windsor and home.

So, total distance 47.51km
Time 1:40:01
Average speed 28.52 km/h

Nice bright day, wore my tri-suit to get a bit used to it, no leggings, and to be honest, it's a bit cold yet for that. Wore my blue rainproof jacket though - it didn't rain, but later in the afternoon there were hailstones, so now you know it was actually quite cold.

Run

Went over to Carol's this evening and surprisingly we did our run in sunshine the whole way. Surprising, as last time I was over it was dark. We did the summer route around part of Richmond park and took it quite easy as Jon has a bit of an injury. Time was 42:30

Swim

Went to the Windsor Leisure Centre with Gina and swam for about 45 minutes. Mixed breaststroke and crawl. I think this is going to be the way I do it in the triathlon.

Row/Cross

Went to LA Fitness and did 20 minutes on the rowing machine. Followed it up with 10 minutes on the cross trainer. Neither of these make me sweat as much as running or cycling, so maybe they aren't as good exercise.

Bike

Recently my sunday morning rides have been a bit of a struggle. I don't seem to have much pace at the beginning and spend the latter half trying to play catch-up on my average speed.

Thus it was today. Went out to Windsor Great Park, then up to Bracknell on a scary dual carriagway and back again the way I came. Weather was clear and bright, not too windy.

49.23km in 1:50:32 - average speed 26.73

Got up to 60.06km/h downhill past the park on the way back, which was nice.

Run

Ran the extended reservoir clockwise (6.5 miles) - weather a bit changeable, started raining at the Honda building, stopped, then started again five minutes from home. Was only wearing my long sleived Nike top and shorts, no waterproofs.

Feeling tired, and only managed a time of 52:30. Also, my left heel is quite sore.

Wore my heartrate monitor and averaged 158 bpm.

Run

Got home before dark and went for a run round the extended reservoir route at 7.15pm.

About 6.3 miles, and exactly 50 minutes. It was dark by the time I got home.

Felt quite good, and in the last couple of miles increased my speed quite a bit.

Bike

Went to LA fitness and set the bike for a 25 minute session this afternoon.

It reports about 11km and 250 kcals.

Did a quick 5 minutes rowing to finish off the 30 minutes, with the usual 55 kcals.

Run

[click image to see times]

Nike Runlondon timed 5K event in Gunnersbury Park today.

Not as cold as Crystal Palace or Regent's Park were.

Started off fast near the front of the field at 10am, and tried to keep going. It was very hard to keep up the pace, but I managed it and came in with another PB at 21:05 - 35s faster than January. Quite a flat course, but a very uneven surface.

Couldn't find my HR monitor strap, but used my Polar watch to try and keep time anyway. This completely failed - the watch went bonkers at 11 minutes or so and switched to a completely different time. I couldn't trust it after that at all.

My first kilometer was ~4:15 - if I want to reduce my time to 20 minutes, I need to do 4 minute kilometers. This is going to be really hard as I feel I'm almost going as fast as I can already.

Bike/Run

I've ben resting a bit prior to my 5K race on Sunday.

Today I did 15 minutes on the bike at the LA Fitness gym, followed by 15 minutes on the treadmill. A sort of mini-brick session.

Swim

Went to the Windsor pool with Gina again this evening.
We did quite a few lengths, practicing my technique again. Swam for about 1 hour.

Brick (Bike/Run)

Went out most of the Windsor Triathlon bike route and back through Old Windsor. I still haven't found the right roads so my distance was a bit short. It was annoyingly windy, and on the long stretch past Windsor Great Park where I usually get up to 45km/h, I was pushing hard to get to 30km/h.

When I got back I had only cycled about 37K (average speed ~26.9km/h) so decided to try a short run.

Did the Honda 3 mile run. At the beginning I had very tired legs, but gradually they became accustomed to running again. Did a very slow time of around 24 minutes.

Glad I tried it though.

Run

Extended reservoir run, anti-clockwise, at lunchtime.

Bright, sunny, cold.

I think my time was 50 minutes for the 6.3 miles.

Swim

LA Fitness. 40 lengths only (600M) practicing technique really.

Swimming hat tore as I tried to put it on, so I was expecting to be chucked out at any moment.

Bike

Had a session on the exercise bike in LA fitness this afternoon.

Tried to set it for 30 minutes, then 29, but it would only accept a maximum of 25, so did that.

Level 5 (it's a Technogym machine by the way, and looks very much as if it is this one - the Bike 600.

Did a varied program, and maintained about 95rpm, ~ 280kcals

Run

Went out for a run after work at about 7.30pm - still very dark at this time.

Did a new route up to Old Windsor and round towards Windsor Castle and back via Datchet Road. About 5.8 miles according to the GMaps Pedometer, that's nearly 10K, in 48:37 mins.

I'm finding the Gmaps Pedometer to be a very useful tool for planning my runs. If I think I need to run about 6 miles, I can very quickly track a route, and I can include off road portions. In this one I ran up a section of the Long Walk, which Autoroute probably wouldn't have allowed. I like the way it now shows elevations also, for an estimate of how much hill climbing I will do.

It's quite anoying on some sections of this route where there are no street lights. I'm either risking stumbling along in the dark and potentially tripping, or I'm being dazzled by car's headlights. C'est la vie.

On the fitness front, I'm running less quickly than I do obviously on the 3 mile Honda route, and never really get out of breath. I usually feel pretty good, though my feet and ankles suffer a bit from the added impacts. I try to take really short strides to minimise this and I think it's helping.

Swim

Went to the Leisure Centre in Windsor tonight for a swim after work, to try and practice the new techniques I learnt at the weekend. It's pretty difficult unlearning my habits. I took Gina, and was swimming behind her for a few laps. She was easily going faster than me!! It was fun though. I need to put more power into the strokes, but getting the timing right, and breathing, and kicking my legs properly confuses me so much I almost forget that part completely.

Didn't do any continuous lap repetitions, but probably swam about 800M in total in 50M stages.

Row/Run

LA Fitness, at lunchtime. Busy but not as bad as I thought it might be.

Did 2500m in 11.11 on the rowing machine. nearly 150kcal)

Ran at 10kmh/ and a bit at 11km/h for a 3.5k, 20 minute total on the treadmill. Wore my .5kg wrist weights too. Felt quite good, could have gone on longer but ran out of time obviously.

Bike

It may be snowing up north, but in the south it was a nice sunny, if a bit chilly, Sunday. Didn't actually get out till 11am today, so maybe it had warmed up a bit from my more normal 9am start, and my feet were cold, but not quite frozen. I made up my route as I went along, and this turned out to be much further than I'd planned.

Went through Eton/Maidenhead/Bourne End/Marlow/Henley and then criss-crossed the back roads around White Waltham looking for a way into Windsor avoiding the A4. I was a bit lost I guess, but I never like retracing my steps and so soldiered on. Nearly ended up in Bracknell!

After my poor speeds over the last few weeks I decided to try a bit harder today, and seem to have managed it.

distance 70k
Average speed 27km/h
Time 2:30:00

approx. (15 minutes into the ride, my speedo was all over the place, and I had to stop and adjust the little magnet. Not sure how much this affected my times, but probably not a lot)

Swimming Lesson

Trekked way over to Essex with the girls on tow and met Jonathan for swimming lessons with Swim For Tri in their endless pool.

Annoyingly, I woke up with a sore neck which I can only turn through about 60% of my normal rotation. Makes driving tricky, but swimming wasn't actually affected too badly
as you rotate your whole body to breathe.

It was interesting and quite fun, though the water temperature was probably a bit chilly considering I wasn't swimming continuously and was standing around a lot listening to the instructors.

I've got some video on DVD of me swimming during the lesson, which I find interesting, but other people only seem to be able to watch for a few seconds before becoming bored :-) I'll try and post some of it, or a few stills, once I work out how to do it!

Row/Bike

Went to LA fitness, and showed Roy where it is today.

Rowed 2500 metres in about 11:30 (should be 120 kcals or so)

Set the exercise bike to a program of easy/hard on level 5 for 20 minutes. Maintained 90-95 rpm though the dopey machine kept telling me to slow down to 70-80. About 200 kcals expended on this.

Bike profile looked like this one:

        ** **
     ** ** **
  ** ** ** **
****************

Run

Did the 4.5 mile Richmond Park winter run with Jon and Carol. Still dark at 7pm, but the heavy rain stopped just before we set out. Quite a warm evening really, relatively.

time 41:36
Average HR 147
calories 472kcal

apparently I was 'in the zone' for 31 minutes. This probably means that my HR was above 152 (the current high limit on my watch) for about 10 minutes. If there are 10 minutes of hill climbing, and I guess there might be, then that makes sense. I'm quite pleased with this average really.

(http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=55558)

Swim

Another afternoon session at the LA Fitness 15M pool.

This time I tried for a new record, and completed 40 lengths of non-stop crawl.

I followed this up with 10 breaststroke, 10 crawl, and another 10 breast stroke. 60 lengths in all. (900M). Ran out of time really as I had to get back to the office for a meeting.

When doing crawl I normally breathe every third stroke. This is fine for a while, but when I get a bit tired I find I can do every second stroke more easily instead. This feels more robotic somehow, less relaxed and flowing, but I just need the oxygen!

Bike

Had a flat back wheel this morning so had to change the tube before going out at around 9.10am.

Went round most of the Windsor Triathlon route, with a detour into Windsor Great Park. Felt as if the wind was against me a lot, and if it wasn't windy, then it was uphill. Ended up with another quite poor time.

Time 1:47:16
Average Speed - 25.11km/h
Distance - 45.91

This is even slower than last week :-(

I'm sort of thinking that maybe my long runs on Saturdays might be tiring me more than I realise.

Run

Went out again this lunchtime for my long run. It was nice and sunny and bright, cold of course, but shorts were ok and my cycling skullcap kept my head warm.

Didn't monitor my heartrate, just tried to keep it slow and steady. Measured the route on the very useful google maps pedometer site, same as last week, with a supplement near the end, to make a total of:

distance 7.2 miles
time 1:01:00

Wore my knee bandage, and listened to my MP3 player, and really quite enjoyed it.

Swim

Another long session in the LA Fitness 15M pool.

30 lengths crawl
10 breast stroke
10 crawl
10 breast stroke
10 crawl

70 altogether = 1050M

Row/Run

A quick 5 minute warmup on the rowing machine (55kcal) and then a 5K session on the treadmill at La Fitness.

I work the 0.5kg weights on my wrists, and set a program for easy start and finish, and medium hill for the middle section.

Ran at about 10km/h and finished in around 30 minutes.

Definitely felt the difference with my wrists, but like the idea that I'm strengthening my arms at the same time as my legs - I hate weight training.

Swim

Monday (yesterday) is turning into my unofficial rest day now.

Today I went swimming, with no real plan, and as I started and found myself in a good position in LA Fitness next to the wall, I decided to see how long I could keep going.

I alternated 10 lengths (15M each) of crawl and breast stroke. Instead of stopping for a breather between the sets, I just kept going. The 2nd set of crawl, and the 3rd set, were quite challenging, but suddenly I found I was up to 60 lengths and tried another 10 of crawl. Surprisingly, they were the easiest yet of the session, and I completed them easily. Time to go back to work so I stopped. I wonder why my swimming was better at the end, when it should have been worse.

I think the 1050M total was completed in around 25 minutes. Very pleased with this performance, I don't think I've ever swum this far before.

Equipment

Bought some wrist weights in John Lewis today. 0.5Kg each. I've read that this might be good strength training when running.

Bike

My cycling has been suffering recently. Finally got out today and really struggled to find any pace.

Dist - 45.91km
Time - 1:47:59
avg - ~25.52km/h

this is really poor. It was quite cold, but not as bad as I've been out in before, and there was a light breeze.

Run

I've decided that long runs are now necessary. I want to work up having a run of around 2 hours every weekend, probably Saturdays. There are many reasons for this, according to a book I bought today coincidentally (The Runner's World Complete Book of Running, exclusive to WH Smiths apparently), but the main one is to build stamina for ironman distances. I'm also hopeful that the 5K and 10K races I do will seem easier if I'm used to running much further.

So today I did a new route. It's like the reservoir run, but the circle is extended up to Poyle. Rough measurements say it is 6.5 miles. Took my MP3 player, and ran slowly, watching my heartrate.

Distance - 6.5 miles
Time - 55:49 minutes
Average HR - 151 bpm
Kcal - 667

Enjoyed it actually, though had to keep crossing the road quite a lot to make sure I was on the pavement and not in the road.

Swim

LA Fitness 15M pool this afternon.

Did 40 lengths in groups of 10, had a break, then another 10 lengths. 750M altogether.

Run

Didn't really want to go for a run this evening when I got home from work. Cold and dark and even a hint of a light drizzle.

However, took my torch and flashing armband and did the clockwise reservoir route of about 4.5 miles. Trying to do my long runs at a more moderate pace, so did it in about 40 minutes.

Row/Bike/swim

Still at the hotel this morning, so did a bit of rowing for 5 minutes warmup, then 25 minutes on the exercise bikes. Setting wasn't adjustable, and it was pretty hard going. Swam quite a few lengths afterwards - maybe 400M again.

Row/Run/Swim

Went to a hotel (Dolphin Hotel) for the weekend and had a session in the fitness suite.

Rowed for 10 minutes.
Ran 5K in around 29 minutes on the treadmill.
Swam about 400M in the pool, though slowly, with lots of breaks.

Row/Cycle

La Fitness again this afternoon.
Changed the usual row to a set 2000M distance. Completed it in around 9 minutes 30.

Wanted to run again, but decided that as I haven't been on a bike in a long time, I should try that.

Set the bike to a up and down hill course for 25 minutes and varied the difficulty from 3-5 (very easy really).

Monitored my heartrate at a fairly steady 135-140, and my cadence at 90-95. Cycled something like 11.5K

Pleased with my recovery. By the time I reached the changing room I wasn't tired at all.

Swim

My cold has finally gone and so I headed back to the pool at LA Fitness. One lane was roped off for a swimming lesson which is really annoying as it is small enought there already.

But there were only 3 of us swimming so we just about coped.

I did 4 lots of 10 lengths of 15M (600M) . Only took short breaks to clear my goggles. I seem to be fairly consistently doing 150M in about 5 minutes. A 1500M swim like, say, the Windsor Triathlon, at that rate would take me 50 minutes. That's not very impressive really, but I think it's a realistic aim.

Need new goggles actually, and new prescription ones too as the plastic holding the strap is broken on my others. I'm using cheap goggles with half their strap broken actually.

Row/Run

Back in LA Fitness this afternoon. 10 minutes rowing to warm up, 125 calories.

Set the treadmill for 5K and started running at 10.5 going up to 11.5. Around 26.45 minutes and 364 calories.

Row/Run

My cold is right up in my head, and my sinus's are puffy and making my face red. (hey, that rhymes). I feel terrible and am not sleeping well.

But would a bit of exercise really make me feel any worse? Unlikely. And it might even help.

Did 10 minutes on the rowing machine as a warmup at LA Fitness. (120 cals)

Set the treadmill to 5K and gradually moved speed up from 10 - 11 km/h. 1% gradient, with a small hill of 4% for a couple of minutes. Completed the 5K in 28 minutes.

A stint in the sauna and steamroom afterwards really raised my temperature, but I don't think it has cleared my head at all. Not feeling any worse though :-)

Run

The kids have been ill, and I feel a cold coming on, so I decided tonight to get one more good run in before it takes hold.

Dressed up warm, took my new Nike flashing armband and a torch, and headed clockwise round the reservoir route at about 7pm.

Trying to not get too breathless, my time was just over 40 minutes. (40:10).

Coming back into my road, my left knee started to hurt a little. This is unusual, and probably symptomatic of me doing two 5 mile runs close together - my knee usually only hurts afterwards :-)

Swim

Went to LA Fitness and did 20 lengths, then a break, then another 10 lengths of the 15M pool.

There were too many people today, and also, last week when I went swimming and did a lot more lengths I strained my back, so was trying to take it easy today.

Run

Bought a new armband to wear in the dark recently at Niketown and put it to the test in Richmond Park on the traditional Wednesday night run with Carol and Jonathan. The flashing strip is really bright.

Felt really strong tonight for a change, and hardly noticed the one big hill climb.

The time of 40:27 was pretty fast too.

Run

Nike continue with their RunLondon series of events.

This time it's a 5K run in Regent's Park on a frosty January morning.

Took the kids who waited in the car while I puffed my way round the two lap course, past the frozen lake, but at least in the sunshine.

Felt much better than I did in November's 5K race, and kept a steady pace - no hills this time either.

Time was 23 seconds faster at 21:45 which I'm really pleased with considering my lack of recent training due to having a cold.

Swim

Recovering from my cold now, and finally went back into the pool at LA Fitness.

Did alternate sets of 10 laps (15M each) of crawl then breaststroke. 40 lengths in all. Only stopped long enough to clear my goggles.

Looking back at a year ago, I struggled to even complete 27 laps at all, spending about 30 minutes on them, and yet I can now do this with no breaks and in about 15-20 minutes.

Perhaps I'll manage 1000M soon.

Row-Run

After over a bit of a break with a nasty head cold, I went back to the gym again today at LA Fitness.

10 minutes on the rowing machine (125 lcal), and 20 minutes on the treadmill (at 10.5 km/h - ~270kCal)

Really horrible cosmetic surgery program on the TV (some woman getting a bit of flab removed) - wonder if this is a cunning plan by the gym to encourage people to renew their memberships :-)

Run

I was in Northern Ireland this weekend for a party, and took my running kit.

Carol shamed me into running on Sunday morning with Jonathan, in the rain (well, a light drizzle), but I really enjoyed it.

We ran from George's house in Woodland Park, Kilrea, out to the farm. Then up to Granny's old house and around the Moss Road back to Kilrea.

Total time running was about 50 minutes. The first stretch was an amazingly short 12 minutes. I used to cycle this every day, and seem to remember it taking not much less than that :-)