Sheffield Half Marathon

We just arrived at a car park 30 minutes before the start of the race. I just go to the stadium about 10 minutes before the start of the race which was just enough time to find the family to hand my bag to. I then had to go through the stands to get to the track for the start of the race. I got to the end track and was able to spot my brother in 5,000 other runners. The weather was light drizzle and cool so I decided to wear some running gloves in addition to long sleeve top, long leggings and running bottoms.

It took a few minutes to cross the start line on the athletics track after the start of the race, luckily there was chip time so you got your own race time in addition to official race time. We planned to go about 10 minute miles for the race. By the time we got to the first mile I was starting to get warm and took the gloves off for the rest of the race.

We then maintained the pace for the next few miles despite the few inclines. When we got close to the half way point there were a lot more crowds and bands cheering the runners on. When we got to about 10 miles the pace was affecting my brother who then decided that we should continue at our own pace. So for the next 3 and a bit miles I increased my pace by about 1 1/2 minutes/mile. It was quite good to be overtaking lots of people at the end of the race.

When I got to ½ mile to go, which was on the outside of the stadium I picked up the pace a bit more. Then with about 500m I picked up again to get past a few more people before leaving and entering the stadium again. Then with 200m to I picked up the pace yet again, so with just over 100m to go when on the track I was going at a fast pace until the finish line. Luckily my heart rate monitor was not on as it would be near my limit. On my GPS my speed peaked at over 16 mph.

I learnt some stuff about the kit choices and the sports drinks that I used. It was a good 10 mile run with a 3 mile speed session which my legs felt ok.

Although I took a few minutes after I crossed the line to go through the finish line section just to get a medal, cereal bar with water available in cups on the side of the track. Strange for a city marathon there was no other drinks apart from water.

Weekly Update

Last week I did over 8 1/2 hours of training. This did include a half marathon at a slower pace than normal. Below is a breakdown of the time this week.

50% Running
20% Cycling
20% Swimming
10% Gym

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I lost 1/2 lb (0.2 Kg) with my % body fat remaining the same.

Due to the increasing training my food intake had increased but less than what I was burning up in training. This included a couple of slices of a home-made cake and some shop bought cakes.

Training this week

This week I did two days with 3 sessions in each which were made up of all 3 triathlon disciplines, although these were short distances.
One of the sessions was a brick session of about 1 hour cycling followed shortly afterwards by a 50 minute run. This is addition to the triathlon on Sunday morning.

Winchester Sprint Triathlon

This morning at 7:45am I did my first triathlon of the year at Winchester. It was still dark when I got up at 5am to have my breakfast in time before the race. Driving down there it was misty in places and only 10c. The race itself was quite a learning experience.

I had decided to have my cycle shoes clipped in to my pedals to help reduce my transition time. I decided to clip them on my hand rather than push them on using my muscles in my leg. While doing this the bike slipped and ripped my track bottoms and grazed my leg on the chain ring!! This was even before I started the race.

For the swim they said leave some footware next to the pool, as there was some gravel sections to T1. I left a pair of socks and my trainers next to the pool, this was a good decision.

The swim was 400m and I only had 2 other people in my lane. Which I over took them once and I think I completed in 9 minutes which was quicker than expected. The only slight difficulty was getting out of the pool as it was 3.4m deep, luckily there was a ledge on the side of the pool about 1.5m down that you could use to help get some force to pull yourself out.
I then put my socks on and trainers and made my way down the wet stairs. At the end was about a 200m run to the transition area which half of it was on gravel track, I was glad I put my trainers on.

In T1 I think I was quicker than normal. I only had to take my shoes of and put another pair of socks on top of the other, due to the temperature on those were quite wet. I put a long sleeve cycle top and a short sleeve top on as well, as they warned us in the race brief that some of the exposed sections on the cycle can get quite cold due to the wind.

It was about 100m run from transitions to the cycle mount line across some gravel paths, so my decision to have the shoes clipped was not a great one. Once I got my shoes on I just about managing to pedal, the cycle course was an out and back course of 10m (16 km) each way. It was very undulating with about 1,000 ft of undulations (from my GPS) with the highest climb being about 300 ft. A bit of concern was before the turn around point was the welcome to Basingstoke sign!! At this point I was closer to home than the race HQ.

During the ride I noticed that I had also forgot to turn my GPS device facing the other side of the arm plus my cadence sensor was not working.

Once back I changed to the run gear with my T1 and T2 being the quickest I think I have done. Once I was out on the run I only realised I had forgot my sports drink back in T2 with the only drinks at the finish line!! Luckily I had a large bottle of drink on the bike plus a jaffa cake bar and a gel, with just one gel remaining for the run.

The run was also undulating, although managed to maintain my pace at slightly under 9 minute/mile pace. This was quite good due to the course and the cycle beforehand. I think the 5 mile was more hilly than the half marathon next weekend.

I think I completed it in about 2:10, I had forgot to stop my stopwatch until I got back to my car and I did not start my GPS watch until T1. Apart from that I quite enjoyed it.

This afternoon I had some sausage and chips, as I felt I had deserved it after this mornings events.

Weekly Update

This week I did over 9 hours of training. This included a long run of 11 Miles (17 Km) and a longer sprint triathlon. The training was spread out quite well (see below) although I would like the cycling to have been more.


40% run
25% cycle
20% gym
15% swim

New Cycling Shoes

I have set my new triathlon specific cycling shoes up with the clip in attachment for my type of pedals. I then went for a ride down my street in them wearing jeans. They seemed to be ok and even getting them on when they are clipped into my pedals. This should save me a lot of time in triathlon transitions.

I will try them out at a triathlon in the morning.

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I have lost 3/4 lb (0.3 Kg) and my % body fat has decreased by 1.5%.

This is mainly due to the increased training time including some longer running and cycling session.

Long Run

Tonight I did a 11 mile (17 Km) long run.

This was about 5 miles further than I had ran for a few months. However I struggled in the last 4 miles but still managed it at under 10 minute/mile pace.

Just the 5 training exercises today

Today I just the 5 training exercises!!!

They where all under 30 minutes but were in combination mainly due to taking my commuting bicycle to the shop to get its gears adjusted.

Firstly there was a just over 20 minute cycle ride to the shop with the middle gears not operating correctly. Then I ran 2 miles (3.2 km) to work with a full ruck sack on my back, with the first half of the run being uphill. Despite this I had a fast mile split on my GPS which I was pleasantly surprised with. So this was quite a good brick session for me despite it being short it still got the change in leg muscles.

Then later I ran back (without the ruck sack) and was over 1 minute quicker. Then I cycled the same route back to work at a reasonable pace using all the now functioning gears.

On the commute back from work I did an extra 2 mile (3.2 Km) loop near the end of the route.

I think these short cycle rides on a different bicycle have helped my bike control as I am going on different surfaces of cycle paths that I would normally use on my racing bike. The short run surprised me about the pace but it felt ok. Due to cycling and running I also used my training tri suit with a few other layers on my torso due to the cold. This was good as I have tried it out before my first tri this year on Sunday.

Unusual sightings while out Running

After doing a hill session tonight and on the way back to the club meeting point I saw two unusual sightings.

At the top of a small incline was a peacock with its long tail visible, it jumped/flew over a persons fence. Then round the corner less than about 20 steps away was a doe (young dear) in a person's front garden. I think it must of got a bit lost from the nearby fields/woodland area.

Weekly Update

This week I have done over 9 hours of training. That is more like the training volume I should be doing by now.

Swimming 30%
Running 30%
Cycling 25%
Gym 15%

The cycling was one long ride early (8.30am) this morning following a regional cycle route apart from some off road sections. This included a few more hills than I expected but was good to train on them.
The run included a tempo 6 mile run with a few hills. My run distance will need to be increased a bit further. Although I also did do a speedwork session during the week.

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I have gained 1.5 lb (0.7 Kg) and my % body fat remained the same.

I have started to increase my training hours more significantly but had increased my food intake by more than exercising.

Multiple Training Sessions

Today I did 4 training sessions, 2 swim and 2 runs. The first 3 where short 30 minute sessions and the last was a 6 mile temp run. Tomorrow I have only one session plan.

Speed Session

I did a speedwork session on a flat grass area. Which in addition to the speedwork I had to look for my footing due to some wholes and divots in the grass.

This is the first time in a few months I had done this type of speed work so I did 5 reps with 2 minutes recovery. I had all this planned on my GPS device so I just had to press a button at the end of each lap to start the recovery phase.

When reviewing the GPS data I have found out the lap was only 466m which is nearly half the distance I would normally do. However this would allow me to do a shorter lap or a longer just adjusting the recovery and number of reps depending on doing short or longer distance reps.

Weekly Update

Last week I did 5 hours of training which was broken up in to. This was mostly short sessions but were 2 a day sessions.

30% Swim
25% Cycle
35% Run
10% Gym


Due to the cold and snowy conditions at the weekend I decided against doing any training at the weekend.

Weekly Weigh-in

This week I have lost 3 1/2 lb (1.6 Kg) with my % body fat decreasing by 0.5%.

I think this was due to the shorter but faster training sessions.

Trail Run

In between commuting to work cycling I did a trail run at lunchtime.

It was virtually all on trails around work and was an out and back route of 3.2 Miles (5 km). Which I was able to return quicker than going despite the last section being uphill and a tree to jump over. I quite enjoyed this route as I had not been on the middle half before.