January 2012 Totals

I need to get back in posting regularly again, it seemed to correlate with increased training.

Below are my mileage totals for January 2012 totals, which has been affected by the recent cold weather and yet to go out on my main bike.

Run 64.2
Swim 3.3
Bike 54.0
Walk 42.3
Cross Train 9.8

A total of 173.6 miles exercised this month. Plus this does not include a distance when spinning.

2011 Stats Review

This is a review of my training stats from 2011 which was the main events were a long distance triathlon and two marathons plus associated build up races and training.

Below is my overall totals fro the year.

	Distance (Miles)	Time (Hours)
Run	946.5	151.9
Swim	54.0	45.1
Cycle	1,195.3	106.6
Walk	435.4	103.2
Cross Train	75.7	74.4

The cross training includes gym kit with distance apart from cycle and run on treadmill , e.g. row, elliptical also football (refereeing)

The cycle distance does not include spin class session but the time does include it. A rough estimated this would include about 300 miles to the cycle based on effort and time but as it is not measurable, so they have not been included in the data.

From this data I need to increase my cycling a lot more and a my swim a bit more, although my running could be reduced slightly to accommodate this.

Comparing 2011 to 2010

In 2010 I did two long distance triathlons, so the race miles may be higher, below is the comparison.

100% = Same, More is an increase, Less is a decrease.

	Distance	Time	Number of Sessions
Run	123.5%	123.1%	106.7%
Swim	124.4%	144.6%	155.6%
Cycle	94.1%	108.6%	180.2%
Walk	131.3%	117.8%	119.2%
Cross Train	31.6%	81.2%	112.4%

All 5 areas I have increased the number of sessions done between the two years.

Run

Both the distance and time increased by about the same amount 23% but the distance was slightly more which also indicates the average speed was slightly higher.

Swim

The distance, time and number of sessions all increased by reasonable amount (24%, 44%, 55%). This means the average speed was slightly lower but there was a lot more sessions.

Cycle   

 

The cycle distance decreased by 6% and the time increased by 8% with the number of sessions increased by 80%. This means there was a lot more shorter sessions but also includes more spin classes in these values (apart from the distance, see above).

Walk   

  

The walk distance increased by 31%, the time by 17% and the number of sessions by 19%. This means the walks were getting quicker and more of them.

Cross Train

Distance decreased by 69%, time decreased by 19%, number of sessions increased by 12%. The decreases are likely caused by the reduced refereeing and referee fitness training this year.

Andover Marathon and Parkrun

The day started early in time for breakfast and then to de-ice the car before travelling to the venue. When leaving it was still -1C (30F) and when I got a few miles in to the drive it start to lightly snow but luckily it was not settling on the ground. It was a tropical 2C when I arrived at the venue.

I got out of my car and promptly slipped on the ice all on the car park and landed on my right gluteus maximus (back side). It was sore but luckily I did not land on part of my car and nobody was around to see me fall. I then went round on the grass to avoid the ice.

For the parkrun it was too icy in places they changed the route to avoid the paths and just on the grass. As I was pacing somebody round running their non stop which we did and 1 minute quicker than their previous best. It was a comfortable pace for me as a warm before the marathon but was glad to have on a few layers to keep warm and avoid the mud.

Then carefully making it back to the car I changed some outer layers as was starting to warm up in the sun but was still cold but would hopefully I would warm up on the marathon. I also had a can of high caffeine drink to get a bit of a kick pre run.

The 35 of us doing the marathon listened to the race instructions and then we started the 105.5 laps!!

I lost count of my laps after about 4 laps in to the run and ignored the advice to disable the GPS on my watch. I was just focussing on and following the line between lanes 1 and 2 as per the race briefing.

The sun was out and clear blue skies but was bitterly cold made colder with the occasional cold wind but looked ideal conditions.



The first part of the race I went of faster than planned, which I think was not helped by the fact that I was being overtaking after 3 laps and there was people always around you. I found that I was trying to catch people up instead of sticking to my own pace, hopefully that would not catch up with me.

I liked the fact that I was only 200m from an aid station. So I had one isotonic drink on the table on opposites sides of the track and one of the sides I had my gels. This allowed me to stick to my nutrition plan of drinks and gels every 15/30 minutes after an hour, as I could tell when I need to get a gel or drink and return the bottle or gel bag the next lap. This meant I did not need to carry any nutrition for more than 400m.

I was glad of the two toilet breaks I took an hour and 3 hours in, especially as the it was the main track building which had a heater in, it was worth the 100m extra each time.

When I got to about 3 hours in my muscles were already feeling fatigued due to lack of training and the distance but my right glute was also sore from the fall on the ice earlier in the day and the fact we were running anti clockwise direction on the track meant more force would be used on my right side, doh!!

When I got a 4 hours in I thought I was nearly at the finish going by my GPS, apparently I was not that was a bit of a blow but I carried on but a slower pace, I should have listened to advice at the start.

Then I was told I had just 2 laps to go and picked up the pace and when the bell went for my last lap I then picked up the pace a bit more. As I crossed the finish line in 4:39 I was glad it was over and even got a great medal.




My average pace for the marathon was 10:40 per mile according to my GPS (some issue on a track) the second last 1/4 mile was at 8:23 pace the last 1/4 mile was at 6:15 pace. It was a bit of a hobble the short way back to the car with my muscles aching.

After putting some warm clothes on and had a sports recovery drink but there was still a few people left out on the track with the lights being on for about an hour.




The race T-Shirt with a Lion and Oak leaf, I found out they are part of the town crest.





Even the medal had a race t-shirt on.




Don't mess with me I survived the first Andover Marathon, GRR.




I just need to do a summer marathon without the swim and cycle warm up "bit" then run a marathon in all seasons. Also a trail/off road marathon would complete the set after doing a number of road and now a track marathon.

Marathon Week 4 of 4 (Taper)

This week was a taper week which had a few christmas bashes to help relax before the the marathon.

This week there was only a few hours of exercise.

Marathon Week 3 of 4

Week 3 and last week of training was a few high mileage days.

Monday was a nice 10 miler at night.

On Wednesday morning I did a 15 mile run before breakfast. Then straight on to a double gym classes followed by a light gym and swim with a aqua jog to relax. After some food and powernap I then did a 15 mile run at night with the last 5 miles being a fartlek session. The last few miles were particular tough but I made it through the session.

On the Saturday I did a Parkrun 5km up north at a new venue for me. It was a bit icy at the start and finish but still managed a fast time for me and beat my brother by 6 minutes. We then went on to 2 hours at the gym/pool, my muscles were aching for the next few days.

Marathon Week 2 of 4

The second week of my marathon training plan is going well and I am in to double figure miles. Now just two weeks left which includes any taper.

The amount of training this week was above average for the last few months and the most miles run in that time frame. Just need to get some longer runs in this week before starting to taper and carb load at various Christmas meals :-)

You have got to like a 4 week marathon training plan.

Back posting

I need to start back with a proper training plan and start blogging again.

Perhaps a 4 week marathon training plan will be a good start.