Sweeties, Pies and Ginger

It's the big race tomorrow, 1.5Km swim, 40Km bike and 10Km run. I'm cacking it at the moment as it's a big unknown for me; I knew I would be able to do a sprint, but I had trouble running 10Km a couple of weeks ago, so doing it after a swim and a bike should be interesting. I'm hoping for a time of around two and a half hours, but just getting to the finish in one piece will do me nicely.

Arse. It's looking like I'm going to miss the open water swimming session with the club this evening as I'm still at work. I'll have to go to the pool session tomorrow morning and try it there, as I really don't want to do my first open water swim without having tried swimming in a wetsuit first.

Popped into Ryd:on in Bedford this morning before work to pick up a wet suit for the race on Sunday. I tried on a couple, but a Quintana Roo Hydrofull was the best fit, so I took that. It's costing £25 to hire with the option of buying it for an extra £75, which I'm very tempted to do. I'm going to try and make the club's open water swimming session tonight to try it out.

After yesterdays dismal bike ride I decided that swift action was needed to get me back on track for the race on Sunday. So I went to the club's swimming session this morning and went for it. I now feel a lot better and more motivated, hopefully this will be enough to se me through until Sunday.

My wife says I post too much about Triathlon and not enough about my family. She has a point as I've been very focused lately on training for the Bedford Classic this coming Sunday. To address this I've uploaded a photo of Finlay that I took the other week.

Went out on the bike this morning for a gentle ride as part of my taper for Sunday's race. It was just terrible, my legs felt all heavy and I just had not energy or motivation to get round the route I'd set. I'm seriously worried that I've ballsed up all the preparation for Sunday now...

I decided to try a route I've never been before, mainly to se what the distance was like for future reference. I started off my heading to Rampton and through on to Willingham, rather than going left or right like I have in the past, I went straight on into Over. You can cycle round Over in a loop, which I did and when I got back to Willingham, I was back on familiar territory.

I finished off by going through Longstanton down the back road to Oakington and then back into Cotenham. I don't think I'll be going through Oakington any more as I go against the flow of traffic coming through the traffic calming measures. This puts me directly in conflict with idiotic car drives early in the morning at pinch points that I have the right of way at. I just can't be arsed with the agro any more.

18.18 Miles

I managed to get out for a couple of runs while up in Scotland over the weekend. I knew that if I did nothing it would impact on my performance for this weekends Bedford Classic and since the nearest swimming pool was a bit far away and I couldn't take my bike with me, running was really the only option. I managed to get out twice, once on Saturday morning and again yesterday morning and both runs were really good.

On Saturday I ran to the next village along the coast via a back road and then back to Dalgety Bay via the main road. Once back in the Bay I noticed that I hadn't been running for long enough, so I looped through the industrial estate to add a bit of extra time on.

Saturday

Yesterday I ran round Dalgety Bay twice; this is really easy as the main road around the town is a big loop. I though it was around three miles, but my time would indicate that I was either going slowly, or it's a bit longer than that. The best bit though, is that unlike Cottenham, Dalgety Bay isn't flat, so I got to run on some up and down hill section, which was very nice.

Monday

All in all it was a good bit of preparation for this coming Sunday, I would have preferred to get a couple of swim sessions in as well, but it wasn't to be. Now it's taper time before the big race on Sunday.

Karen, Finlay and I went up to Scotland for a long weekend and got back earlier today. The main reason for going to was to introduce him to his to Great Grannies and the rest of the family. We had a great weekend with glorious weather and the wee man met almost all of his relatives from my side of the family.

We flew up on the Thursday and he was as good as gold on the flight; there were four other babies on the flight and he was the only one who didn't cry at some point. It was a similar story on the way back, he was really, really good, even though the weather meant his poor wee ears were taking a battering.

While we were up in Scotland we managed to pop round for an evening with friends, who kindly loaned us a buggy and car seat for our stay. Other than that excursion we had a quiet stay, which gave his doting Grandma and Papa plenty of time with him.

The big family gathering was on the Sunday afternoon and everyone was there apart from a couple of cousins who live too far away. After being passed round various family members the wee man was a bit on the tired side and Karen had a right job calming him down enough so that he'd go to sleep that evening.

All in all it was a great trip and hopefully we'll be going back at the turn of the year for another visit.

I was forty minutes late for work this morning as I went too far on the bike, after starting a bit later than I thought I had. I was originally going to do the usual twenty mile circuit as my thighs are still sore from the two runs on Saturday. Once out on the bike however, I ended up starting the twenty five mile circuit and then just carrying on to Chatteris rather than turning off at Witcham Toll for Haddenham.

It felt pretty good for the majority of the ride, but as you can see from my heart rate, there was a general dip in the middle of the ride which is interesting. The sudden drop near one hour thirty five minutes is me stopping for a quick piss stop. Other than that it's pretty constant, which on the whole looks good, but I know the different levels of effort I had to put in on each leg, so heart rate alone doesn't tell the story.

It looks like I'll have to get some sort of power measurement hub or cranks or something and marry that with the heart rate data to really find out where I can improve. One thing that does seem to have improved me is using High5 Energy Source eXtreme, but by Jove you've got to use it sparingly...

I think I had a bit too much this morning as I was still buzzing this afternoon at work; it's really strong stuff. I think I'll have to train with it a few time to find out how much I can take with out it making me feel shit; caffeine hangovers aren't very nice.

Since Karen, Finlay and I are off to Scotland on Thursday I've got one more big bike on Wednesday and then it's off the bike for a week. When we get back I'll need to take it easy as the Bedford Classic will only be six days away. I'm quite looking forward to it, but also quite nervous about it at the same time.

34.23 Miles

I decided that I needed to get out for another run this week as I haven't been out since the brick session on Monday. As I was going to the Tri Club's Saturday swim session I figured that it was easily runnable as it's just in the next village. So armed with water bottle and a couple of gels and after necking half a litre of Energy Source eXtreme I set off.

It took just over half an hour to get there and it didn't feel too bad, not sure I would have managed to turn around and run straight back though. Then it was into the pool for a speed session, although I only managed 3Km, rather than the 3.5Km I should have done; I put it down to the really hot curry I had for dinner last night.

After the swim I got all the running gear back on and headed off home. I could certainly feel the legs, although the tightness in both calves passed after about a kilometer or so. My right hamstring got very tight and I was a bit worried that I was going to have to pull up, in the end it was fine and I got home with no real problems. I also managed to get home over a minute faster, which I'm well pleased about.

It was a great a session and one I think I'll try and repeat on a regular basis. I now just need to do a couple of 10Km efforts and I'll be happy with my run for Bedford in a couple of weeks time.

To The Pool

From The Pool

Oh my god that Energy Source eXtreme stuff is stacked! I went for a ride this morning and didn't think I was going that fast and I averaged 19.5mph. When I got back to the house I was totally buzzing, even my wife noticed.

I also found a 25 mile circuit, which I will be using in the future to monitor progress. Basically instead of heading for Hadenham when you get to Wilburton, you go North to the Ely/Chatteris road and go one junction along before heading back into Haddenham; then you carry on as normal.

I was well pleased at the end of the ride as I didn't think I'd been going that fast, I must have just been keeping a really good pace. I also didn't suffer from the glut of lorries buzzing my elbow that happened on Wednesday (I forgot to blog about it), so it was a must less stressful ride.

25.22 Miles

Got home this evening to find that my High5 order had come, so I've now got enough drinks to last for ages. I've got some of their new Energy Source Xtreme stuff; the ingredients read like powdered Red Bull, so it should be interesting.

Went to the pool this morning for the Tri Club session, it had been a week since my last swim and I certainly noticed it. Over all though I was quite impressed with my speed though, I think I clocked a couple of one minute fifteens for one hundred meters, which would be ace f I read the clock right.

Went out on the bike this morning for a quick thrash round my usual circuit. When I got to Willingham, instead of heading for Rampton I carried on into Longstanton and then took the back road to Oakington. This only added about three and a half miles to the trip and I was still short of the magical 25 mile circuit that I'm trying to find.

I wore the heart rate monitor and it was interesting to see how my heart rate fluctuated throughout the ride. I didn't go particularly hard due to Monday's brick session, so my average speed was some where in the mid seventeens. I accidentally reset the bike computer so I'm not totally sure how far I went.

23.19 Miles

I wore my heart rate monitor last night at the works karting outing and also through the night when I slept. I’m going to have to read the manual about what function the watch has as it’s a bit baffling. Although it’s very easy to record all your heart rate data with the recorder, which is quite good.

It’s now totally obvious to me that I am going to have to get the Speed and Distance GPS unit to go with what I’ve got. I will totally take my training to another level to be able to going all that kind of data together, especially for running during the winter.

Karting: first session

Karting: second session

Sleep

I bought a brand new heart rate monitor and data recorder on EBay last week and saved myself quite a lot of money. It arrived in the post this morning and since I had to go home at lunch, I picked it up and brought it back to the office. We’re going karting this evening after work, so I’m planning on wearing during my stints it to try it out.

Instead of going to the pool this morning I decided to do a brick session (bike then run) to see how I’m getting on with the training for the Bedford Classic at the end of the month. I decided to try and do the whole bike leg on the big ring to really give my legs a work out and to try and force the pace a bit of the first five miles when I’m normally just spinning along warming up.

The bike leg was the usual loop from Cottenham, Wilburton, Haddenham, Earith, Willingham, Rampton and back to Cottenham. I stayed on the cow horns until Haddenham, partly to warm up and not blow the legs too early, once most of the way through Haddenham I went onto the tri bars and stayed on them until Willingham.

It was quite hard between Haddenham and Erith as there was the usual head wind to content with, but I stayed on the big ring, which I’m very pleased with. Once I turned from Erith to Willingham I was able to go up a few gears and I fairly zipped along, I even kept the gears high going thought Willingham and onto Rampton as it felt really good.

In no time I was back into Cottenham and a quick change into my running shoes. After the long run I did last Tuesday, I decided to take the bum bag with me as it had 500ml of isotonic drink in it. The run went well, it was a bit strange at first due to the bike, but this is good as I’ve not really experienced the jelly legs you get during the transition from bike to run.

On the back leg of the run, I could fell that both my calves were suffering a bit, especially the outside of my left calf. So I didn’t go quite as far on the run as I would have, but I was still out for twenty five minutes or so. Not sure how far I went as I’ve not taken a bit of string to the map yet.

When I got back from the run I looked at the bike computer and was pleased to see I’d managed to get round the bike leg in under an hour. Earlier in the year it was taking me an extra five to eight minutes to get round, so there’s been improvement there. I was gutted to we I averaged 19.8 miles an hour, only 0.2 away from the magical 20 miles an hour average speed that I know I should be doing at the very least.

The Triathlon Club's swimming session was cancelled this morning as the National Relays were on or something and everyone was away at that. Instead I decided to go for a bike ride that would encompass one of the local time trial courses. For the last few weeks I've been wanting to cycle out towards Six Mile Bottom and the further East as there are more rolling hills out that way.

In the end I decided to go to Bottisham and ride either the E2/25b course or the E3/10 course. I wasn't sure how far it was going to be to get to the courses, so I decided to make my mind up when I got there. In the end I plumped for the E3/10 course I was a bit late in starting and a bit slow in getting there as I was taking it really easy to conserve energy for the main effort.

Once onto the course I got down on the tri bars and got into the big ring and tried to give it some welly. Oh my god, I was absolutely crap! I don't think it helped that I was in not very much clothing and it was overcast and a bit windy, the predicted sun hadn't made an appearance. I'm not sure what time or speed I did over the course as the bike computer can't do laps (I might have to find one that does), but it certainly wouldn't have been near thirty minutes.

The course is surprisingly hard as there is quite a bit of up and down on it, although there is also quite a lot of flat for making up time as well. Once getting back to my starting point I cycled home for a total trip of thirty five miles and one totally trashed pair of legs.

I'm glad I went and did it as it will prove to be a useful training tool to gauge progress over the winter when I go and do it again. It's also not too far away to get there and back, around twenty five miles, so the E2/25b course is also feasible with out having to drive over to it.

I think the thing I learnt the most from doing this session was that I need to increase the intensity when I'm out ion the bike. It's no go just going and doing forty miles at an average speed of 17 miles an hour, I need to get my legs used to going flat out for as long as they can. I might try and incorporate the E2/25b into a training session in the next couple of weeks, we'll see how it goes.