Apologies for the length of time its been since my last update. It's been very busy at work, and my main computer has once again decided it is an opportune time of year to stop working, so I'm writing this on my laptop.
Things have been going pretty well. There's been plenty of highlights, the main ones being the Filey Beach 10k (4th out of 105 starters in horrendous conditions), a 3km PB on the treadmill (now standing at 10:31) and a 400m PB in the pool - 5:28. i've decided to be more sensible in my approach to running and cycling by building up more endurance at this stage rather than concentrating on flat out speed. So turbo sessions have been in zone 1 in the main, with excursions into zones 2 and 3 occasionally. This weekends ride was a good example. Far too wet and windy outside to warrant a ride in Charnwood hills, so its was 1 hour and 30 minutes on the turbo instead. The session went as follows;
10:00 Warm Up, (10:00 Zone 1, 3:00 Zone 2, 1:00 Zone 3, 1:00 Easy) x 5, 5:00 Warm Down. Good session. Pushing too hard to early is just going to burn me out. I felt close to exhaustion part way through last week for exactly that reason. I backed off, and came back strong, setting two personals in a row. The point - rest works.
Not seeing Sarah this weekend, but after this I see her three weekends in a row, which is something to look forward to that doesn't involve chafing my arse on a bike saddle for hours at a time.
Incidentally, the 1 and a half hours on the turbo was made bearable by the company of Gladiator. I'd forgotten what an awesome film it is. If you haven't watched it, hang your head in shame. Then go and watch it.
14/11/2009
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Personals
There's been a couple of these over the past few days. A 750m PB in the pool on Saturday was a good place to start - 10:35, and 4 seconds better than my previous effort. I went hard but got the pacing spot on - 5:38 at the 400m split, so negative splitting was the order of the day. I've also set a new PB in my 5km time trial on the roads round the house. My previous personal was set just over a month ago (18:14), so it was good to shave 11 seconds off that and post a new benchmark of 18:03. I didn't feel too exhausted after it either, which is a bonus.
I attended the Wednesday night swim session with the club for the first time yesterday. Some different faces there, about 30 of us all told. I was the second fastest behind a bloke called Adam, who was a hell of a swimmer. Good session - about 2700m all told. Was feeling the water well, cranking out 1:19's and 1:18's for 100m as a guide.
Looking forward to the weekend - it's been far too long since I saw Sarah! Two days of work to get through first though, but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel! I've now decided my race schedule for 2010, but more on that later.
Time for my commute, so its out with the mountain bike, which is all but destroyed after 2 years of deprivation...
29/10/2009
I attended the Wednesday night swim session with the club for the first time yesterday. Some different faces there, about 30 of us all told. I was the second fastest behind a bloke called Adam, who was a hell of a swimmer. Good session - about 2700m all told. Was feeling the water well, cranking out 1:19's and 1:18's for 100m as a guide.
Looking forward to the weekend - it's been far too long since I saw Sarah! Two days of work to get through first though, but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel! I've now decided my race schedule for 2010, but more on that later.
Time for my commute, so its out with the mountain bike, which is all but destroyed after 2 years of deprivation...
29/10/2009
Friday, 23 October 2009
Ups and downs
It's been a busy week at work, with quite a few late nights and a lot of stress flying round the office. I'm off to London this afternoon which means I've had to put back seeing Sarah until next weekend, which has left me a little on the irritated side, but there's nothing to be done that grin and bear it. I'm off to London again this time next week too, but fortunately I'm seeing Sarah on the Saturday and Sunday, so it doesn't cause problems.
Training has been going pretty well and I'm continuing to build up a pretty solid base. Stupidly forgot to set my alarm on Wednesday morning, meaning I missed out on my swim for that day, but everything else is going OK. I set a season's best for the hilly 8k around my house on Wednesday evening in a time of 31:34 (previous best for the season was 31:38). Sounds good, but I actually got my pacing hopelessly wrong. I went off far too fast, and was 32 seconds up on the PB at the half way stage. A little simple maths would show that something went badly wrong in the second half, and by the end I was really just hanging on by the skin of my teeth.
More positively, I'm going well on the turbo, spending the vast majority of my sessions after the warm up in mid to high zone 2, with bursts into zone 3 as and when required. I hope to improve on this, and maintain high zone 2 for longer periods of time - it should pay dividends come race season by ensuring I have not only endurance, but also the speed to match. Thursday night swimming with the club is coming on brilliantly too. I'm averaging around 2:42/200m in those swims, which is excellent, and far faster than where I was last season. Long may it continue.
In other news, I really want a time trial bike. And I'm looking for sponsors! Anyone interested should raise their hand!
23/10/09
Training has been going pretty well and I'm continuing to build up a pretty solid base. Stupidly forgot to set my alarm on Wednesday morning, meaning I missed out on my swim for that day, but everything else is going OK. I set a season's best for the hilly 8k around my house on Wednesday evening in a time of 31:34 (previous best for the season was 31:38). Sounds good, but I actually got my pacing hopelessly wrong. I went off far too fast, and was 32 seconds up on the PB at the half way stage. A little simple maths would show that something went badly wrong in the second half, and by the end I was really just hanging on by the skin of my teeth.
More positively, I'm going well on the turbo, spending the vast majority of my sessions after the warm up in mid to high zone 2, with bursts into zone 3 as and when required. I hope to improve on this, and maintain high zone 2 for longer periods of time - it should pay dividends come race season by ensuring I have not only endurance, but also the speed to match. Thursday night swimming with the club is coming on brilliantly too. I'm averaging around 2:42/200m in those swims, which is excellent, and far faster than where I was last season. Long may it continue.
In other news, I really want a time trial bike. And I'm looking for sponsors! Anyone interested should raise their hand!
23/10/09
Monday, 19 October 2009
Another good weekend
Great weekend, but it didn't start so well - I was at work till well after 8! Still, made it to York in time to crash out in bed. Saturday was ace - Sarah was her usual awesome self at her horseriding competition and took away some nice silverware, as well as a rosette. Some seriously high jumping involved.
Good run on Sunday morning - a relaxed 45:00 endurance jobby on 4:10/km - didn't really push it hard, or feel particularly battered by the end - just how long weekend runs should be. I can hammer myself into the ground some other time! 1500m swim in the evening was tough, as I was tired, but yielded a good 14 x 50m session of pull buoy drills on a 39 second average, followed by a good 7;15 for 500m.
The Sunday morning cycle was a beaut - 40km in 1:14:52 on a heavy training bike is good anyway, but it was the style in which I did it that pleased me - steady cadence, steady effort, never really pushing ultra hard - endurance is coming on nicely!
Most miserable part of the weekend - the drive home to Leicester. There's a surprise.
19/10/09
Good run on Sunday morning - a relaxed 45:00 endurance jobby on 4:10/km - didn't really push it hard, or feel particularly battered by the end - just how long weekend runs should be. I can hammer myself into the ground some other time! 1500m swim in the evening was tough, as I was tired, but yielded a good 14 x 50m session of pull buoy drills on a 39 second average, followed by a good 7;15 for 500m.
The Sunday morning cycle was a beaut - 40km in 1:14:52 on a heavy training bike is good anyway, but it was the style in which I did it that pleased me - steady cadence, steady effort, never really pushing ultra hard - endurance is coming on nicely!
Most miserable part of the weekend - the drive home to Leicester. There's a surprise.
19/10/09
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
A hard winter ahead...
Not in terms of temperature, though knowing the UK it won't be great, but more in terms of the tough training that lies ahead. I want to be in absolutely blistering form come my first triathlon of the season, and going through the pain barrier time and time again is the only way to get that outcome. Fortunately, I'm always up for a challenge.
It's been a decent few days training in the main. I was a bit laid back in my Tuesday morning session, getting a 2:51 average for 200m, so pushed a bit harder on Wednesday evening (without redlining) and was pleased to go under 1:20 average for my 8x100m of 1:45. Turbo sessions and running are all moving forward, so things are going OK.
Its not actually that long till my first run race of the off season - Filey Beach 10k on 1 November. Only two and a bit weeks ago. I'm not going to be setting the world on fire, but it'll be interesting to get a base time for the distance (though its an undlating course, so it won't be a 10k personal!).
As usual, I'm running out of evening, so I'll say bye for now.
Dave out.
14/10/09
It's been a decent few days training in the main. I was a bit laid back in my Tuesday morning session, getting a 2:51 average for 200m, so pushed a bit harder on Wednesday evening (without redlining) and was pleased to go under 1:20 average for my 8x100m of 1:45. Turbo sessions and running are all moving forward, so things are going OK.
Its not actually that long till my first run race of the off season - Filey Beach 10k on 1 November. Only two and a bit weeks ago. I'm not going to be setting the world on fire, but it'll be interesting to get a base time for the distance (though its an undlating course, so it won't be a 10k personal!).
As usual, I'm running out of evening, so I'll say bye for now.
Dave out.
14/10/09
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Good weekend
As I mentioned in my last post, I had some hard work ahead of me after Thursday night's semi laziness. First up on the road to athletic redemption was the 3km TT on Friday night - consistently the most painful (albeit short) session I do. The very best thing I could say about the session was that it was over quickly, as I racked up a new PB. 16.8kph for the first km, then 16.9kph for the second, accelerating through 17kph and up to 17.5kph in the final 1km. Heart rate reached 185 for the final 100m, a massive 95% of max. 10:43 on the clock, though that's a few seconds slower than the reality as the treadmill takes about 5 seconds to get up to speed. Still, its 10:43 that goes in the record.
Bike ride on Saturday was good too - first 40km (long-ish) session of the season, in the hills, on my heavy training bike. 01:21:38 was good - I didn't push hard, at all. That will come in time. Swim, Saturday afternoon - again, a steady one, with good technique, yielding 10:45 for 750m. No hard efforts again, though I did up the pace a little after the 400m split (5:45).
Sunday morning - Leicester Half Marathon relay - I did the final two legs for my team, and brought us home in first. 12km in total (11.9), at a 4:05/km pace. Heart rate was kept below 180 (92% max) throughout, and I felt pretty good given the distance.
All in all a good training weekend, but it aint half as much fun as when Sarah is around. Fortunately I'm off to York next weekend to watch her compete in a horse riding championship, and continue my education as an unpaid groom!
Bye for now,
11/10/09
Bike ride on Saturday was good too - first 40km (long-ish) session of the season, in the hills, on my heavy training bike. 01:21:38 was good - I didn't push hard, at all. That will come in time. Swim, Saturday afternoon - again, a steady one, with good technique, yielding 10:45 for 750m. No hard efforts again, though I did up the pace a little after the 400m split (5:45).
Sunday morning - Leicester Half Marathon relay - I did the final two legs for my team, and brought us home in first. 12km in total (11.9), at a 4:05/km pace. Heart rate was kept below 180 (92% max) throughout, and I felt pretty good given the distance.
All in all a good training weekend, but it aint half as much fun as when Sarah is around. Fortunately I'm off to York next weekend to watch her compete in a horse riding championship, and continue my education as an unpaid groom!
Bye for now,
11/10/09
Friday, 9 October 2009
Gearing up for a tough weekend
Felt a little lazy after my swim session last night. Usually I get pushed hard at these, leaving me pretty shot by the end of the 3000m (or thereabouts) set. Last night was a little different – the distances were shorter (sets of 50 and 100 in the main) than usual, with a sole 200m being the only foray into a larger distance (and the warm up of course!). I was swimming pretty well though, with decent times (1:21 and 1:20’s for the 100m’s and 38’s for the 50m’s in the main). Started pushing harder towards the end of the session to get my heart rate up, but will still need to go fast at the weekend on my 1500m session to make up for what I perceive as my laziness.
Mark and I were chatting about Ironman Hawaii – its this week and should be an awesome race, especially from a British perspective. I’m going to make some cheeky predictions;
1. Chrissie Wellington to win the Female race, but not my as much as last year.
2. Philip Graves to break the bike leg record, before fading on the run but still managing a top 10 placing.
3. Catriona Morrison and Bella Bayliss both to manage top 15 positions, with Morrison finishing higher than Bayliss.
4. Craig Alexander to win the mens race, with Chris McCormack to finish in the top five.
If I get all those right, I should consider a betting career.
It’s my weekly 3k TT tonight, probably the most painful session I do. It takes just over 10 minutes to complete, but those 10 minutes are among the most agonising I’ll ever experience. The speed increases over each km, even though, at 2km in, you feel like you’ve got nothing else to give. In the final 1000m or so, my heart rate passes 180 beats per minute (over 90% of my max), and boy do you feel it thumping away three times a second. Do the session well though, and there’s a couple of bonuses – one, you sleep damn well, and two, you feel good washing the sweat off in the showers after. I’m aiming to be doing it in 9:35 before the first triathlon of the season in April, so I’ve got plenty of hard work ahead. I like to give my targets a sense of perspective – 9:35 is pretty fast (sub 32 10km pace), but not compared to the world record – a quite staggering 7:20:67.
In other news, Sarah has started training for the Skipton Triathlon. She’s started doing 3k runs, and 600m+ sessions in the pool, which is comfortably ahead of where she needs to be at the moment, but there’s no harm in being over prepared! She’s a good cyclist, so I don’t think the 20k bike will be too much of a problem come April!
09/10/09
Mark and I were chatting about Ironman Hawaii – its this week and should be an awesome race, especially from a British perspective. I’m going to make some cheeky predictions;
1. Chrissie Wellington to win the Female race, but not my as much as last year.
2. Philip Graves to break the bike leg record, before fading on the run but still managing a top 10 placing.
3. Catriona Morrison and Bella Bayliss both to manage top 15 positions, with Morrison finishing higher than Bayliss.
4. Craig Alexander to win the mens race, with Chris McCormack to finish in the top five.
If I get all those right, I should consider a betting career.
It’s my weekly 3k TT tonight, probably the most painful session I do. It takes just over 10 minutes to complete, but those 10 minutes are among the most agonising I’ll ever experience. The speed increases over each km, even though, at 2km in, you feel like you’ve got nothing else to give. In the final 1000m or so, my heart rate passes 180 beats per minute (over 90% of my max), and boy do you feel it thumping away three times a second. Do the session well though, and there’s a couple of bonuses – one, you sleep damn well, and two, you feel good washing the sweat off in the showers after. I’m aiming to be doing it in 9:35 before the first triathlon of the season in April, so I’ve got plenty of hard work ahead. I like to give my targets a sense of perspective – 9:35 is pretty fast (sub 32 10km pace), but not compared to the world record – a quite staggering 7:20:67.
In other news, Sarah has started training for the Skipton Triathlon. She’s started doing 3k runs, and 600m+ sessions in the pool, which is comfortably ahead of where she needs to be at the moment, but there’s no harm in being over prepared! She’s a good cyclist, so I don’t think the 20k bike will be too much of a problem come April!
09/10/09
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Back into it
It's been a good first two days of full training. And by good, I do of course mean painful. The two are (unfortunately) pretty much synonymous for athletes. The two swim sessions (Tuesday morning - 1600m and Wednesday evening - 1300m), whilst fairly small distance wise, were done at a decent pace. Main set on Tuesday was 10 x 100m off 1:45, averaging around 1:21. Main set on Wednesday, 5 x 200m off 3:30, averaging around 2:50. Negative splitting on each one.
It's just occured to me that most of what I write might mean pretty little to some people - I'll try to translate some of the jargon on occasion. To be going on with, my no frills guide to athlete tech-terms begins with;
Negative Split - To get faster as the session goes on. Why don't we just say "get faster as the session goes on"? I hear you say. Ask someone else who has a plausible answer...
Running and cycling have gone well too, with my 8k run time this morning only 1 minute off a PB, without even pushing that hard.
In other news, I'll be heading on holiday to Wales with Sarah in January, to climb some mountains, enjoy the countryside and generally relax. Portable pool, bike and running shoes are all items which are not invited.
07/10/2009
It's just occured to me that most of what I write might mean pretty little to some people - I'll try to translate some of the jargon on occasion. To be going on with, my no frills guide to athlete tech-terms begins with;
Negative Split - To get faster as the session goes on. Why don't we just say "get faster as the session goes on"? I hear you say. Ask someone else who has a plausible answer...
Running and cycling have gone well too, with my 8k run time this morning only 1 minute off a PB, without even pushing that hard.
In other news, I'll be heading on holiday to Wales with Sarah in January, to climb some mountains, enjoy the countryside and generally relax. Portable pool, bike and running shoes are all items which are not invited.
07/10/2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
A great weekend...
…but it went far too fast. The cry of working men and women down the ages. I spent the weekend in York with Sarah, and had an absolutely awesome time. We fitted an awful lot into two days, and come Sunday evening I was pretty knackered, but it was totally worth it.
We both headed out on our bikes on Saturday, into what turned out to be a seriously strong gale. Accordingly, my 20k time was worse than ordinary (on paper), but I still felt damn good after the session, mainly because I didn’t ever think about giving up and calling it a day, despite the fact I spent a good portion of the bike pedalling like fury into the wind just to stay in the same place. Notwithstanding the massive wind and the heavy training bike, I was still comfortably over the 30kph average. Sarah did a good session too, and again like me, probably took a quiet satisfaction in not giving up.
We watched a film (Twilight) on Saturday night. I enjoyed it. There, I’ve said it. Any macho image I’ve ever cultivated has been instantly ruined. As ever though, I don’t care. Also had a cheeky glass of wine, but I’ve no intention of cutting out the alcohol until after Xmas. That’s my policy and I’m sticking to it.
The other sessions apart from the bike across the weekend were also pretty ace. A decent 25:00 run on Sunday morning (steady pace along the River Ouse), a new PB over the 3km TT on the treadmill on Friday (3.36/km pace), and a decent swim on Saturday afternoon. I carded 10:37 for 1500m, but it doesn’t count as a personal as I kept on having to stop the clock to readjust the goggles. Bloody things.
Words of the weekend; ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and spend the rest of your life as champion’ – Ali.
We both headed out on our bikes on Saturday, into what turned out to be a seriously strong gale. Accordingly, my 20k time was worse than ordinary (on paper), but I still felt damn good after the session, mainly because I didn’t ever think about giving up and calling it a day, despite the fact I spent a good portion of the bike pedalling like fury into the wind just to stay in the same place. Notwithstanding the massive wind and the heavy training bike, I was still comfortably over the 30kph average. Sarah did a good session too, and again like me, probably took a quiet satisfaction in not giving up.
We watched a film (Twilight) on Saturday night. I enjoyed it. There, I’ve said it. Any macho image I’ve ever cultivated has been instantly ruined. As ever though, I don’t care. Also had a cheeky glass of wine, but I’ve no intention of cutting out the alcohol until after Xmas. That’s my policy and I’m sticking to it.
The other sessions apart from the bike across the weekend were also pretty ace. A decent 25:00 run on Sunday morning (steady pace along the River Ouse), a new PB over the 3km TT on the treadmill on Friday (3.36/km pace), and a decent swim on Saturday afternoon. I carded 10:37 for 1500m, but it doesn’t count as a personal as I kept on having to stop the clock to readjust the goggles. Bloody things.
Words of the weekend; ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and spend the rest of your life as champion’ – Ali.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Amazing session
I love it when you get one of these. They don’t come around this often, so when they do, all you can do is sit back and enjoy the way your body is performing. The session in question was the 3000m Thursday night swim session with the club. I was actually feeling halfway to dead when I was getting my trunks on, and not looking forward to the forthcoming swim. My feelings weren’t improved when Mark, one of the guys I train with and an absolute Ironman machine, told me the main set was groups of 200m (8 x 200m of 3:30 as it turned out).
Once I was swimming though, it was a different story. Tiredness fell away, and my feel for the water, despite the presence of nine other people in the lane with me (usually there’s only five of us in the fast lane), was excellent. I can’t remember the exact sequence of times, but it ran along the lines of 2:40, 2:43, 2:42, 2:43, 2:44, 2:41 2:40, 2:40. I was averaging under 2:42, and getting faster towards the end. Sure, I would have been struggling against a steroid fuelled great white, but by my standards I was absolutely flying. I was only doing 17 strokes per length as well, so the efficiency was there as well as the speed. The world record for 200m, incidentally, is 1:42. Read it and weep. That means my personal best over the distance, 2:39, is 57 seconds slower than the world record. And I’m considered a strong triathlon swimmer.
Once I was swimming though, it was a different story. Tiredness fell away, and my feel for the water, despite the presence of nine other people in the lane with me (usually there’s only five of us in the fast lane), was excellent. I can’t remember the exact sequence of times, but it ran along the lines of 2:40, 2:43, 2:42, 2:43, 2:44, 2:41 2:40, 2:40. I was averaging under 2:42, and getting faster towards the end. Sure, I would have been struggling against a steroid fuelled great white, but by my standards I was absolutely flying. I was only doing 17 strokes per length as well, so the efficiency was there as well as the speed. The world record for 200m, incidentally, is 1:42. Read it and weep. That means my personal best over the distance, 2:39, is 57 seconds slower than the world record. And I’m considered a strong triathlon swimmer.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Last week of prep
I’m now into my last week of prep before I start upping the volume and doing proper (or what I view as proper) distances again. Huw, my training partner / rival, is currently gearing up for Ironman Lanzarote in spring 2010, so probably finds my “proper” distances very small. Well, if you will enter the toughest Ironman on the planet, you will get that.
I had a pretty poor swim on Tuesday morning. In all honesty, I was probably still a bit tired from the weekend, which can’t have helped my performance. The main set was a mere 4 x 200m off 3:30, but whilst I didn’t feel exhausted, I couldn’t get any speed up and floated around the 2:54 mark – some nine seconds off where I’d like to be. That said, I felt great once I got on the turbo on Tuesday evening, so it was probably just a blip.
I had a fairly special moment on Wednesday morning when I ran straight into a roadwork’s barrier on my hilly 5k. It stung like hell and left a mark on my thigh which suggested I’d been headbutted by a dwarf with serial anger issues. More irritatingly, my final time was 18:15, only two seconds off a personal. Had I managed to avoid the large, obvious and brightly coloured barrier, I would probably have smashed it, as the impact left me limping for a while.
Looking forward to tonight’s swim with the club – always nice to grind yourself into the ground over 3000m. Hopefully I’ll be a little speedier than I was on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to the weekend even more – a cute girl (Sarah), good food (Sarah’s food) and a warm bed (Sarah’s bed). Who says being an athlete is tough?
Davidovski out
I had a pretty poor swim on Tuesday morning. In all honesty, I was probably still a bit tired from the weekend, which can’t have helped my performance. The main set was a mere 4 x 200m off 3:30, but whilst I didn’t feel exhausted, I couldn’t get any speed up and floated around the 2:54 mark – some nine seconds off where I’d like to be. That said, I felt great once I got on the turbo on Tuesday evening, so it was probably just a blip.
I had a fairly special moment on Wednesday morning when I ran straight into a roadwork’s barrier on my hilly 5k. It stung like hell and left a mark on my thigh which suggested I’d been headbutted by a dwarf with serial anger issues. More irritatingly, my final time was 18:15, only two seconds off a personal. Had I managed to avoid the large, obvious and brightly coloured barrier, I would probably have smashed it, as the impact left me limping for a while.
Looking forward to tonight’s swim with the club – always nice to grind yourself into the ground over 3000m. Hopefully I’ll be a little speedier than I was on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to the weekend even more – a cute girl (Sarah), good food (Sarah’s food) and a warm bed (Sarah’s bed). Who says being an athlete is tough?
Davidovski out
Monday, 28 September 2009
Welsh 3000s
An interesting weekend in Snowdonia. Huw and Dan headed down to mine on Friday night, where, after a review of the route and a quick meal, we got some sleep. We woke early, at half 4, and after dumping my car at the finish car park, headed to Pen Y Pass for the start. We reached Snowdon's summit, and the clock started ticking there. The first couple of peaks were attained without too much fuss - Crib Goch was looking fantastic in the sunlight and shadows. The descent of Crib Goch was steep, but we made it. After grabbing a quick coke in Nant Peris at the base of mountain number four, we started up.
Dan, who has less experience of mountains than me or Huw, began to find this really hard work (it was a fairly steep slog). We made the top before nightfall, with the cloud rolling in, then headed off to mountain number 5. I handled the navigation, which was damn tricky as visibility was about 10 metres. Progress was very slow, but we nonetheless made it to peaks five and six in due course. By then though, the slow pace had taken its toll, and the total lack of visibility was making it dangerous. We decided (correctly in my opinion), that discretion was the better part of valour on this occasion, and decided to get some shut-eye on the mountain side before heading down the mountain and back to the car on Sunday morning. The night was cold without sleeping bags, but we all had proper cold weather clothing and survival bags, so got some disjointed sleep (albeit on an uncomfortable sleeping surface - a rock). At the time of abandoment of the challenge, we were still looking at a sub 20 time, so I was disappointed, but I'll be back.
To cap it all, my hot water wasn't working when I got back, so I had to make do with a cold shower - not the most pleased I've ever been. On the plus side, because the hike was cut short (about 17 miles in total), my legs aren't very weary, and I'm ready for a good week of training.
Dave out
28/09/09
Dan, who has less experience of mountains than me or Huw, began to find this really hard work (it was a fairly steep slog). We made the top before nightfall, with the cloud rolling in, then headed off to mountain number 5. I handled the navigation, which was damn tricky as visibility was about 10 metres. Progress was very slow, but we nonetheless made it to peaks five and six in due course. By then though, the slow pace had taken its toll, and the total lack of visibility was making it dangerous. We decided (correctly in my opinion), that discretion was the better part of valour on this occasion, and decided to get some shut-eye on the mountain side before heading down the mountain and back to the car on Sunday morning. The night was cold without sleeping bags, but we all had proper cold weather clothing and survival bags, so got some disjointed sleep (albeit on an uncomfortable sleeping surface - a rock). At the time of abandoment of the challenge, we were still looking at a sub 20 time, so I was disappointed, but I'll be back.
To cap it all, my hot water wasn't working when I got back, so I had to make do with a cold shower - not the most pleased I've ever been. On the plus side, because the hike was cut short (about 17 miles in total), my legs aren't very weary, and I'm ready for a good week of training.
Dave out
28/09/09
Friday, 25 September 2009
You know it's a good session when...
...you nearly throw up whilst you're swimming. Which is exactly what happened to me last night. I hadn't swam over 1500m since 2nd September (just before I departed for Oz), so the 3000m club session in the fastest lane was always going to be tough. It never occured to me not to finish (in fact, I posted some OK times - 2:44 average for 200m for example), but boy did it hurt. Still, nice to know I can grit my teeth and just go for it even if the endurance isn't quite there. After all, that's probably what I'll have to do this weekend at some point.
I was looking over Leicester Tri Club's forum yesterday. Someone had mentioned that they'd like a cheap as chips triathlon where they don't have to pay for any extra stuff like the goodie bags and t-shirts. Now, I agreed with the goodie bag comment (they're usually full of cr*p), but I really wouldn't want to go without my T-Shirts. You can have too many some people might say - but I've reached 42 and haven't got tired yet. I'll be able to get them out when I'm 90, and brag about how I was once very fit. Likelihood is, no one will believe me, but nevertheless, I like my T-Shirts!
25/09/09
I was looking over Leicester Tri Club's forum yesterday. Someone had mentioned that they'd like a cheap as chips triathlon where they don't have to pay for any extra stuff like the goodie bags and t-shirts. Now, I agreed with the goodie bag comment (they're usually full of cr*p), but I really wouldn't want to go without my T-Shirts. You can have too many some people might say - but I've reached 42 and haven't got tired yet. I'll be able to get them out when I'm 90, and brag about how I was once very fit. Likelihood is, no one will believe me, but nevertheless, I like my T-Shirts!
25/09/09
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Feeling Strong
Morning,
It’s been a good few days training. I’m still in my prep phase, just doing small sessions, but I’m going fast in them and wanting more by the end – exactly how it should be. The plan is, by the time by first full training week comes around on 5th October, I should be chomping at the bit!
I’ve noticed that my swim speed over 100m sets has actually gone down, though my times over longer distances (750, 400, 200 etc) has been consistently improving. I tend to view this as a good thing – it means my stroke is adapting to longer distance, which is of course what you need for triathlon. No use burning 100m in a super fast time just to blow up straight after.
Am looking forward to the challenge of the Welsh 3000s at the weekend too. I haven’t been in the mountains as much as I would have liked over the past few months (save for an excursion up the 3500ft Mount Warning in Oz!), and am looking forward to getting a solid 30 mile hike under my belt with some mates. Critics might point out it doesn’t really sit well with my prep phase, but as the new season is a long way away, I intend to do a few things that I want to do before getting right back into the swing of full on training. Besides, doing an endurance challenge over the fifteen highest mountains in Wales can hardly be bad for my fitness.
23/09/09
It’s been a good few days training. I’m still in my prep phase, just doing small sessions, but I’m going fast in them and wanting more by the end – exactly how it should be. The plan is, by the time by first full training week comes around on 5th October, I should be chomping at the bit!
I’ve noticed that my swim speed over 100m sets has actually gone down, though my times over longer distances (750, 400, 200 etc) has been consistently improving. I tend to view this as a good thing – it means my stroke is adapting to longer distance, which is of course what you need for triathlon. No use burning 100m in a super fast time just to blow up straight after.
Am looking forward to the challenge of the Welsh 3000s at the weekend too. I haven’t been in the mountains as much as I would have liked over the past few months (save for an excursion up the 3500ft Mount Warning in Oz!), and am looking forward to getting a solid 30 mile hike under my belt with some mates. Critics might point out it doesn’t really sit well with my prep phase, but as the new season is a long way away, I intend to do a few things that I want to do before getting right back into the swing of full on training. Besides, doing an endurance challenge over the fifteen highest mountains in Wales can hardly be bad for my fitness.
23/09/09
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Great North Run
Good performances from two of the lads I'm doing the Welsh 3000ers with next weekend in the Great North Run - 1 Hour 54 minutes from Dan Case and 1 Hour 31 minutes from Huw Fryer. Great effort guys!
20/09/09
20/09/09
Saturday, 19 September 2009
New Season
Just back from the World Championships in Australia. A great holiday, and a good race. I competed in the 17-24 sprint category, and came 13th out of 39 starters. Overall position was 132nd out of 538 (top quarter!). Obviously, the competition was a lot stronger than an event back home, as everyone has to qualify (and therefore be a top notch racer) to even stand on the start line. I carded 01:05:54, and was proud to take home my world championship medal. Hopefully it’s the stepping stone to greater things - that's certainly the plan. The Gold Coast was a fantastic place for a world championship, and a holiday. Great training facilities (plenty of 50m pools), and some awesome attractions (sea world, the 3500ft Mount Warning and Brisbane to name but a few) nearby. I’d definitely go back.
After taking a few days off cardio exercise completely, I've began my prep phase for the 2010 season. I'll be doing a few weeks of half distances, and won't begin full training until October 5th. This should leave me chomping at the bit and really raring to go.
So, the first cardio session of the new season officially took place this morning. It was a 20km ride in the Charnwood Hills north of Leicester. The course has three pretty serious hills in it, so isn't one for setting personals. Nonetheless, I timed in with 35:47, which was decent enough.
A little pool session followed - 1000m with a 750m TT as main set. Went far too hard - it’s the beginning of the season for Christ’s sake! But still, was hard to be irritated at myself for not keeping a cap on my effort as I actually posted a PB - 10:39 (5:39 at the 400m split).
A solid start.
19/09/2009
After taking a few days off cardio exercise completely, I've began my prep phase for the 2010 season. I'll be doing a few weeks of half distances, and won't begin full training until October 5th. This should leave me chomping at the bit and really raring to go.
So, the first cardio session of the new season officially took place this morning. It was a 20km ride in the Charnwood Hills north of Leicester. The course has three pretty serious hills in it, so isn't one for setting personals. Nonetheless, I timed in with 35:47, which was decent enough.
A little pool session followed - 1000m with a 750m TT as main set. Went far too hard - it’s the beginning of the season for Christ’s sake! But still, was hard to be irritated at myself for not keeping a cap on my effort as I actually posted a PB - 10:39 (5:39 at the 400m split).
A solid start.
19/09/2009
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