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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Weekly Update

This week my % body fat has remained the same but I have put on 1 lb (0.5 Kg). This was better than expected due to the amount of party food I had over the weekend and lack of exercise.
I only did 3 hours of training last week, 2 hours of that was swimming and 1 hour was cycling. This was due to the bad weather and deciding not to do the planned long cycling event (325 miles / 520km).

However the swim did include a familiarisation swim at a lake that I will be doing a triathlon in a couple weeks time. This was a good practice as there was a bit of a wind but not much waves but there was a quite a noticeable swell in the water when swimming.
The main swim at the session was the shorter route (400m) but we got to swim from the start to the point when the longer swim which I will be doing (1500m) would continue and then to the shore and the exit to the transition area. We also practiced getting the wet suit off after swimming which was an unusual but useful thing to practice.

This week is on the way to increasing this time also with a long triathlon I am doing at the weekend.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Breakfast after Morning Swim

As I went straight to work after my morning swim I had to have breakfast their. I tried a different breakfast combination to make it easy to carry in small containers.

I had two packets of the small breakfast cereals (about 23 g) which I think are designed for children. In my bowl I had coco-pops (not had them for a few years), then some porridge oats, raisins, whey protein, a multi grain cereal and then over half a pint (300 ml) of semi-skimmed milk poured over the top of it, mmmm.

This has a mixture of carbohydrates, protein plus vitamins and minerals.

Double Swim Day

Today I did a double swim day.

Still early in the morning (8am) I did 1 mile (1.6 km) in a 25m pool, in a fairly decent time for me.

Then at lunchtime I did just under 2/3 mile (1 km) in a 50m pool, in a slightly slower time than the morning. However felt ok and could have continued if I had more time available.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Weekly Weigh In

This week my % body fat remained the same however I did put on 1 3/4 lb (0.8 Kg). This was due to the lack of exercise with just 4 hours.
However I did travel a few hundred miles across the country which did restrict my time to exercise.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Bramley 10 Mile Training Session

I did the Bramley 10 mile route (16 km) tonight in about 36 minutes!!

I should say that I was on my bike, trying to remember the course and keeping my cadence in the correct range (about 80 rpm), which is higher than what I normally did.

Hampshire FA New Article

I have even made it on to the Hampshire FA web site news section.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Training last week

Last week I did over 4 hours of training with 80% of this being running and the remaining being swimming.

This was due to doing the Sheffield Half Marathon at the weekend, which I paced my youngest brother round. Which I did it in 2:14, however I did sprint the last 400m with the last 100m was on the don valley athletics track.

There will be more/some cycling this week due to a cycling event I have entered.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Weekly Weigh in

This week I managed to lose 3 lbs (1.5 kg), this was a shock to me as I was expecting it to be a gain of that amount.
As I had only done 6 hours of exercise in the last week and only 1 hour the week before. Yet in this period I have been eating chips, cakes, crisps and scones plus the normal food I have.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Training Conditions

In the last 3 training days I have not had one day of training without getting soaking wet. Admittedly Saturday it was due to lake swimming. However on Sunday it was 3 hours of cycling in the rain that was refreshing or more like a drowned rat!!!

Then On Tuesday I went out for a run which looked like it would rain, which it did after about a 10 minutes until about 1 minute from my home. There was about 5 mils (8km) of running in heavy burst of rain in between this.

I got to try out my new running hat and jacket, both kept me warm and dry. Although I can see why the hat was more expensive than the jacket (however this site had it a pound less than the jacket). As when cleaning the jacket the red dye was coming of it, luckily it did not do that when running in the rain.



Oh, my training last week I did 6 hours, it was about the right proportion of each and included my first open water swim of the year.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Familiarisation Camp at Ironman UK

I had a weekend away at Ironman UK’s familiarisation camp which was held at Sherborne, using the race days area that is normally restricted access.

On Saturday at 7:15am we already at the lakeside to start the weekends sessions. After an overview and a safety briefing we where split it to small group of one experienced Ironman or Lake Swim to one or two relative novice people, I was in this category and had a very fetching yellow swimming cap. Then at 8am we got in to the lake, trying to avoid slipping of the bank edge. Once in it took me a few minutes to catch my breathe as it was COLD, my hands and feet felt the worst as they where the only non-covered areas apart from my face. I did have a trisuit with wet suit on top of that and two swimming caps. After I was able to get my breathe I was able to swim a few strokes and then put my face in the water to get used to that and the coldness on my face. I was also trying out a new pair of eyewear (swim mask instead of goggles) which had to be adjusted a couple of times during the swim.

The lake was relatively good, there was no weeds that I saw and you could stand in most places on rock as it was generally less than 6ft (1.8m) deep. It was just cold and green and murky water.

This was not a race but just get used to surroundings, so we stopped at the start area which is also the turning point for the second lap. We then continued along stopping a few times on the way to a turn in the lake and then to turn around point. On the way back their was some head wind which produced some small waves in the lake which was good to get used to. Once we reached the turnaround point we instead turned left to simulate the finish section of the swim. This was a good practice as we then found out how difficult it would be to get out to the slippery and step exit point however their should be people their on the day to help with that. This was my first open water swim of the year and also was my furthest ever open water swim of at least 1.3 miles.

We then had a few Q+A session on various topics which was useful to be aware of before the day.

In the afternoon we then did an 8 mile run through the grounds of the castle estate which covered the first half of the run (2 laps) and then through the town to where the second half of the run would be. This will be two laps of a section of undulating dual carriage way.

On the Sunday morning their was another opportunity to swim in the lake but as I was relatively happy with the lake swim the day before I decided against doing two long open water swims on consecutive days plus it was raining!!

However later in the morning we did 1 lap of the cycle which was 38 miles which includes about 3 miles from the start/finish to the cycle loop. This was an undulating route with a few fast bits, including a fast downhill which with brakes on I was doing over 30 mph (48 kmph) and plenty of undulating/hills to cycle up. There was also torrential rain all time we where cycling, this was about 3 hours since we left which included a couple of stops along the way to describe sections the route and to regroup.

Once we got back and in to some dry clothes we headed to the onsite café to get something warm to eat and drink.

That was the last of the sessions for the weekend apart from the trip the Tri shop to buy some essential new kit, which included the same swim mask style but instead of clear the lens are tinted blue to help reduce glare.

I found the weekend really useful preparation for the event, now I jest need to get on with the training as there is less than 14 weeks to go.

There was also a television crew their for the weekend, I believe it was BBC South West, who where there for doing a piece about events in the town. So you may even see me on the TV.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Given the Ok to Swim

I have been given the ok to do some open water swim by my doctors after my blister from a 10km race, yipee!!!

This will be my first open water swim of the year and will be at the Ironman UK familiarisation camp this weekend which is at a more civilised time of 8am!!!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

This Weeks Update

In the last week I have put 1 1/2lbs (0.7 Kg) and up 1% body fat. This was very likely caused by only 40 minutes of exercise while keeping the food intake the same.

This week hopefully should be better as I am on training camp at the weekend, subject to medical advice about taking part.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Week Off training due to injuries

I had a week off training due to the blister and pain in the muscles next to my knees also taking some NSAIDs to help. I believe this problem was caused by the extra load put on my knee's by doing the fast 10km, without any speedwork in the last month.
Also looking back at my training records I have also increased my mileage by about 20% than normal, although it is still under 30 miles per week. In the last few weeks I have also joined another local running group which is the main increase in the mileage although this tends to be at a more relaxed pace.

The last week it has been difficult not doing any training it felt weird sitting and watching television when it was nice outside.

I even missed a local 5km which I had already entered, as a few years ago this event was the first race I had ever done since leaving school.

However this evening I did 3.6 miles (6km) with a few hill repetitions without any major issues. Problems where getting back to exercising again and blister related. I will plan to ease back into training over the next few weeks.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Skipton Sprint Triathlon

On Sunday morning I did the Skipton Sprint Triathlon, this is a 400m swim (16 lengths), 20km cycle (12 miles) and a 5 km run (3 miles) which was based in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

The swim was good an I completed it in 9 minutes which was my target time. However the swim split is over 5 minutes longer as this includes the time from running from the pool to the transition area which was about 200m away With also the time getting the bike stuff on and running about 100m up a grass slope with cycle shoes on pushing your bike.

My GPS shows the cycle route about 1.2 miles (1.8km) further than the race distance stated. However it was nice scenery (along A59 to West Marton, then South and back north east along A56/A59) but also undulating with a few step hills to go up and some bumpy road surfaces. I was managing to use my aero bars where possibly, with my average speed for the course as over 17 mph (27 kmph).

My GPS also shows the run as slightly shorter 0.5 mile (0.75km) but this could be due to when I started the distance from the T2 (transition 2). This was 3 out and back loops within a park. This was mainly running on grass which had some undulations and also a distinct slope to one side plus some along a footpath.

This was the first time I was wearing the distinctive Pirate kit and will be wearing this at Ironman UK, along with a few other people.

I may have some more race photos available next week.

Saturday Football Match plus Incidents

On Saturday afternoon I went to Elland Road, to watch Leeds United FC vs Ipswich Town FC.
Leeds United scored first and then with a few minutes left of the 90 minutes Ipswich scored an equalizer, this with scores from elsewhere made Leeds effectively relegated.
Then their was a couple of pitch invasions by a couple of people from the Leeds crowd. With at least 5 minutes of allowed additional time at the end of the match with the matter of 1 minute left their was a mass (over 1,000 people) on to the pitch from the Leeds crowd. A photo gallery of the match are available on the BBC web site, video footage from people's mobiles is available on YouTube WARNING: This external site may contain offensive language and/or content.

The referee waited 30 minutes for the people to be removed from the pitch before playing the rest of the game, all 45 seconds of it. The match officials and Ipswich Town players where brave to come back on to the pitch in that atmosphere.

This is not what the game is about and is back to games from a number of years ago.

You can understand the genuine Leeds Fans emotions as within 6 years they have gone from a champions league semi final to effectively the 3rd tier of English football (subject to a massive 10 goal difference between two matches on the last day of the season).

The FA are going to be investigating these incidents at the match and the Ipswich Town chairman praised the Ipswich Town Fans for their calmness despite extreme provocation.

I also heard that their was fighting between the Leeds fans who did and did not go on to the pitch and also that some Ipswich Town fans got hurt while waiting for their coaches. I did not see any of this as we decided not to stay after the Leeds crowd on the pitch who where infront of the town supporters and where starting to throw things.

10km Race on Saturday

At Midday on Saturday I did a 10km race at Rother Valley Country Park which is just to the east of Sheffield. The temperature at start of the race was at least 20C (68F) and their was a slight breeze. This meant on the two laps of the lakes some places their was a nice cooling wind and other places it was baking hot.
Therefore it would not be a surprise to know that I got surnburnt shoulders as I was not expecting it to be that warm.
Half way round the run the inside of my left foot started to feel sore but I carried on. I was wearing relatively new running trainers but I had worn them about 3 times and done at least 10 miles (16 km) in them.
However when I completed the race I found that I had a fairly large blister (1cm by 2cm) on the inside of my left foot which had already burst. This required me to get some first aid at the event, this was the first time I needed first aid at any race.

I was quite pleased with my time (considering the above) based on my watch when I started and crossed the lines I was only 15 seconds away from my PB.

I may have some photos from this race in the next week, as I was wearing a distinctive stroke association running top.