Cross Country Race in Eton

Today I did the first cross country (XC) league race of the season.

The start was on the Eton side of the River Thames. Despite the fairly strong wind below across the river we could still hear the bugle for the minutes silence at the local Remembrance Day events while we all observed it.

The race started with a lap of about 400m around a field before going along a footpath next to the river for over a mile before going on a road briefly then round the edge of a large field and then along a footpath to the river. It then followed the same route back to the start until near the end which used a different entrance to the field where the start/finish was.

On my GPS device there was only 80ft of ascent on the whole run which was 5.9 miles (9.5 km).

It was flat and the off road sections where following a footpath so you ended up going single file most of the way and occasionally you could (if possible) overtake someone. So I decided to go off fast for me and see how long I could keep the pace for. I ended up doing it in about 46:30 (forgot to stop my watch after crossing the finish line) which is about 7:45 minutes per mile.

This is fairly fast for me especially as I have only done one short (10km / 6.2 miles) running race this year, although I have ran these distances in races at an end of a triathlon.

Now this year I have started and/or finished a race on the Windsor side, Eton side or in the River Thames within a 100m section of the river.

Weekly Update

This week I did nearly 6 hours of training with 90 minutes (25%) of that swimming and the rest running.

I did the swimming sessions in a 20m pool so I decided to do longer than normal reps of 200m. The first session was harder than the normal and I was struggling the last couple of lengths to main correct form but the sessions afterwards I felt I was improving and increased the session form 1 km to 1.6 km.

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I have gained 1 lb (0.5 Kg) with my % body fat down 1%.

More concerning is that in the last 11 months I have steadily been increasing my weight. During this time my weight has increased by 11 lbs (5 Kg).

I think the problem was due to my food intake remaining the same before/after endurance events such as marathons and endurance triathlons.

Hopefully make changes to my diet to take in account of the amount of exercise should stop this trend.

Lasted nearly 2 Weeks on the NFP Diet

I lasted nearly 2 weeks on the NFP diet, as tonight I had pasta.

NFP Diet

I was told about the NFP Diet after the Dublin Marathon, which I have followed since.

No For Pasta (F word changed from an expletive)

After all the carbo loading in the build up to the marathon, it is nice to have something that is not pasta. So far I have lasted 1 week on the NFP Diet.

Weekly Update

This week I have done 5 and a half hours of training. A bit under 10% of this was swimming and the remaining time was running.

This was broken down by the Dublin Marathon and then an easy 30 minute run. I took last run easier and made it 2 miles shorter than planned as I did not want to rush back in to running after doing the 2 marathons in 3 days.

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I have lost 1lb (0.5 kg) and my % body fat has increased by 0.5%.

I did 2 marathons over the weekend which helped use lots of calories (about 7,000 calories) but then there is the gels and sports drinks that I had during the race and followed by the recovery food and drink. The recovery food tended to be the unhealthier kind and some celebratory alcoholic drinks was had afterwards.