Jog On...

Well its arrived, my first club session that started and ended in the daylight on a Thursday evening! No need to for street lights, but it was a killer of a session. The session was 3 x 5 minutes at 90% HR with 4 minute recovery at 80% and then 90 seconds at 98% with 60 seconds recovery. I averaged out at 0.75 miles per 5 minutes which I found really hard, running at that intensity for 5 minutes was a killer. I couldn't wait for for the recovery 4 minutes. This table shows my splits during the session. I had to walk in the recovery zone in laps 8, 10 and 12. I was complete knackered. I put on my rain running jacket as before I left the house we had a heavy shower and the sky looked like more rain was to come. Thankfully no more rain came but my jacket was drenched due to amount of sweat I lost during the session. ...Yuk! It did work hard as my heart rate got up to 190BPM, it hasn't been that high for a while! I only got one more session left this week, Its been a ...

What a busy day in work, meetings started at 8:30 and carried on all day and I finally got home about two hours later then planned. Wednesday is normally my long run night, but it didn't happen, for a number of reasons, my legs are tired and I've decided that im definitely going to have the weekend off so I can rest. The other reason was that I was late leaving work so I lost the light and I had to make dinner for when my wife got home from work. She probably wont like me using her as an excuse but fingers crossed she wont read this part :) I made a lovely curry and it went down nicely with some peshwari naans. I decided to do the same route as I did Sunday on the bike, but I decided to give it some welly tonight, I'm really enjoying my cycling at the moment. Since I changed the wheels its become alot easier, and as we are soon to become a one car family I'll be using the bike a bit more, I hope the wife buys me some lights. I didnt see anyone else out tonight, just...

  Isn't it annoying when people know they are going slow and there is an empty "slower" lane next door but the brain fails on them and they just carry on.  I know im not a pro swimmer but at least I have some pool etiquette inside my head. I don't want to come across rude but this bloke wasn't the smallest thing in the world and thought he owned the pool. It wasn't a problem swimming past him until someone was coming the other way. Why don't people just think sometimes.... Rant over, and back to tonight set, I hadn't thought about the set as I'd had a pretty manic day and and if im honest forgot to think about it. When I got to the pool I decided to keep in simple and go for 400 meters x 5.  decided to swim with a cap on again and unlike last week it was very comfortable, and I forgot I had it on. My new goggles were excellent again, They did fog up a bit at the start of the session, but I gave them a little lick and they were fine.  I would say...

Not a field with cattle, just Swansea University fields, which there are about 8 football pitches, 2 cricket pitches and 2 rugby pitches, so a large field to say the least. We did just over half a mile warm up (0.7 of a mile) and then we decided the set, which was 12 minutes, 8 minutes and 4 minutes, with 1 minute recovery in between each set. Not a very social session, but a good one one the less. On the 12 minutes set, I tried my best not to look at my watch and chase the man down in front of me, I managed to do this for about 10 minutes, then I looked at my watch and for some reason slowed down? Does looking at your watch make you run slower, if it does then I plan to leave it at home from now on. At the 12 minute mark I was welcoming the "STOP" shout from one of the group. I was knackered! And to make things worse I forgot to press lap on my watch making my timings a right old mish mash!. When the 8 minute set kicked off, we turned around and went the opposite way, ...

Well after a disappointing rest day at the international foortball yesterday, today I decided that I would attempted my first brick session. 10 mile and a 2.5 mile run. I took the bike route relatively easy and tried to keep my heart rate low, there were a few hills on the route but they were mainly small inclines so the legs didn't get a massive workout. This was a new route for me, its was lovely, quiet roads, brilliant views and smooth surface for the bike. All right there were a few pot hole, but the road was very quick, which was great for getting some speed up. I've been looking for a new route to run and cycle and I think I've found it! (Thanks Vicki). I was looking forward to seeing how my transition goes, I had cycle shorts on and bike trousers on over the top,  so at the change point I had to take my bike shoes off, trousers off, bike shorts off and put my running shoes and shorts on. I've got lock laces so I don't need to tie my laces up. I think my ...

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My new grab bar ends arrived yesterday so I wanted to get them fitted with my local bike technician, to be fair he's the muts nuts when it comes to bikes, I wouldn't go anywhere else now! Places like Halfords will have cheap bikes and when putting them together they will probably make them worse... so stay clear is my advice! I bought these HERE and to be fair they look pretty good and do the business pretty good to! I noticed the difference in posture straight away. A good investment I feel, thanks to the guys at triathlon world who recommended them. I only had an hour set planned as I had to be home, washed, and ready to be picked up at 17:30 as I was out with some friends in town for a birthday bash. All you could eat buffet in the new COSMO restaurant in Swansea. I had been dreaming about this food all day and I was determined to get my monies worth and of course load up on the training foods like... Chinese food and ice cream :) I cycled to town and back home, a ver...

I missed last week club run as I was nephew sitting so I did the set on my own. This week I was back in work and no nephew to play with so I was back running with the club. I definitely work harder when I run with the club runs, as last week was a killer set but I think I could have gone harder, this week on the other hand I gave alot more. The set was 4 x (4 mins @ 90% HR, 3 mins 80% HR) and then a set of 3 x (90 secs @ 98% HR, 60 secs Recovery) . The dip in the below chart shows the recovery points, I think its a good sign that my heart rate can recovery quickly in the recovery zones. This was a brilliant set I thought, the mix of long endurance and short sprints, this works well with running up hills, and as our house is at the top of one im not complaining. It was also great to be back running with a group, I know I enjoy my training but its always good to team up with other runners. The session started in full sunshine, which was a first for me with the club, but by the end...

Last night was suppose to be my long run night, and I did run over 8 miles, but am I sad now thinking 8 miles isnt really that far, Am I turning into a proper runner and moving on to the next step? The route gets a little "ropey" at the turn for home as I ran past 2 pubs with boarded up windows so I think I may need to look at a new route, I did run past some shady looking people, and with my Oakleys and Ipod on I don't think I would/did feel to safe, but at least it keeps me on my toes and I tend to go quicker through these parts. I doubt I'd run through if it was dark!. The weather has been great recently, I hope it lasts its ideal for running and cycling, I need to get my grab bars fitted to the bike so it will make me go faster on rides, honest! I managed to cram an extra 0.82 of a mile in the run tonight, I was aiming for the 1.5 so I need to find a longer route for my long runs, I'll probably drive down to the sea front and run along there in future. I...

Hurray, my new goggles arrived and today was the day I would test them! I've never worn a swim hat so I thought I would give that a whirl to as you have to wear them in events these days. After the long drive home from Southampton, I was keen to get into the pool for the evenings session at 6pm. I had thought of the set on the drive home, I wanted to swim 2000m meters so... 1 x 400m, 2 x 200m, 4 x 100m, 8 x 50m, 1 x 400m The lane at the pool was once again very empty and this is always a good sign as you can do the sets without interruption or having to wait for inconsiderate swimmers. I really concentrated on my arms at the session, and remembering what my wife said about stroking your hip on the way past so you keep your arms straight and not cross your body when you finish the stroke. I think im getting a little better but I've still got a long way to go. I think the slower I go the crapper the stroke looks, I did one or two sprints over the 50 meters and to be fair I ...

I normally meet my elite chums for a quality session tonight but due to my committed nephew sitting I had to go on my own, in Southampton. I didn't mind as I got to go to Monkey world today and it was amazing! If your ever in Dorchester pop in! Todays session was KM efforts again, I didn't mind as its a cracking turbo session, quick 45 minutes of a hard sprints and then its done for the day. I had run in Southampton common a few times and remembered that they have KM markings on the path so I could kind of gauge the distance of how far I had to run. There were plenty of people out and about tonight, I definitely didn't feel the park was empty like the other day, I think its made up for the past 2 weeks the amount of runners I saw tonight. I had numerous nodes, waves and thumbs up which is a great change from eh Swansea people. Sort it out Swansea! I did work hard in the session today, I did feel knackered from the run, but I have run over 20 miles i...

Today was all about speed and I had the time to complete a six mile run before Sunday dinner, a lovely beef dinner it was too courtesy of my mother in law. I ran a simular route as yesterday, but at the crossroads i went straight over, yesterday I turned right and carried on for another 4 miles. Todays route was all about speed, I tried to keep a high work rate throughout the run and keep under the 8 minute mile marker. I did only just on mile 3. There were again no other runners out on the roads in this perfect weather, I saw 3 cyclists and that was about it. There was a slight chill in the air as my hands were cold as I didn't take any gloves again, surely the other runners out there weren't put off as they had run out of gloves? My wife left at the same time as me but did a smaller route, and as part of the incentive of the run was to chase her down. She ran 4.5 miles and I was only 3 minutes behind her. I was happy as she did a PB and that I managed to g...

Its Saturday and its my long run day, I try and do them 1st thing when I get up as I feel better for some reason, but as im on "holiday" I decided to have a lazy morning, and go out after the Spurs game. Well after that Spurs I wish I had gone during the game! Its been a lovely day, sun is shinning, ideal conditions for running, so I stuck on me Oakleys and off I went. I felt great all the way around the run, I tend to have a shady patch within the first 2 miles but it never arrived. Is this the next step on the ladder of progression, who knows, well I have a run tomorrow so I'll let you know. I took out my new shiny Ipod Nano, I totally forgot to songs on it so I was lucky enough to have a radio function so I listened to BBC Radio 1, and every now and then I got the news updates of the premiership scores. The route has got some cracking views and the majority of the running is on quiet roads, I past about 4 cyclists but no runners today, perhaps they all ran in t...

As yesterday was my rest day, today's set was the club session that I normally do on a Thursday night. The session was: 3 x (1min Hard, 1min Rest, 1min Hard, 2min Rest, 4min Hard, 2min Rest) Hard = 95% Max HR Rest = 80% Max HR. As I'm away, I have to run a little further to the common in Southampton, so this made the warm up just over a mile and the same with the warm down. I went onto map-my-run before I went out, to find a half a mile section in the park so I could go out and turn on the half mile mark so I had a guide of some distance. I definitely felt the pain on the 4 minute sets, I was averaging 0.6 of a mile each turn, that was my target for all 3 sets. Today was the first time in a while I can remember training in the rain, typical English weather, it never rains in Wales... Honest!. It was great to see other runners out and about today, as I've felt quite lonely on my previous runs, and I did notice someone else with the same train...

Tonight was a zonal run, 7.5 miles at a heart rate of 160BPM and I completed failed. I ran the 7.5 miles, but about 6 miles in I went over the 160 BPM and stayed over. I don't know why it did, but I do remember changing pace quite considerably to cross the road as some boy racer in his sported up Corsa wasn't in the mood for stopping to let me cross. This is the last run in Swansea for me this week, as im off to Southampton to nephew sit, so I've planned my rest day for tomorrow, as I'm driving up and I know I wont be in the mood for running after driving 3 hours. Thursday is normally the club V02 max session which I really enjoy, so I have the planned set so im going to run in on Friday morning in the local park. I think this is going to be my local running route for the 5 days. Back to tonights session, I'm back on week 1 so its a zonal run this Wednesday, so as said above its the normal route and stay in the zone. Its great to be back running in the light, i...

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Its Tuesday, which can only mean one thing, its fish and chips for dinner... No.. :( Its a swim day! I had decided that I was going to keep it simple again tonight, just like last week. The set tonight was 5 x 400m with 1 minute rest between sets. As a lot of the sprint triathlons this year are between 400 to 750 meters and I wanted to see ho my body can cope with the distances. Will my arms fall off or my legs seize up? I think I coped pretty well with the distances, as tonights total swim was 2000 meters, I was tired by the last set and my stroke had totally gone to pot, and I found myself closing my eyes on the last 100 meters, so I could tell I was tired and just wanted to finish. My wife just flies past me in the pool, she makes it look so easy, I reckon she cheats.. some how? I ordered some new goggles yesterday as I cant find my old ones, I seem to have miss placed them, but im not to worry as they were about 8 years old and started to leak. My new ones are Zoggs Predators...

I'm really enjoying my running and I am now definitely noticing the difference in my speed for the short sharp sessions. The Monday group is a brilliant session for breaking up my training, as it gives me a wide range of sessions and definitely works my quick recovery lung capacity. This is where I have noticed my best-est gains, when I first started I really needed my long rest between speed sets, but now im happy with 30 seconds! The session today's was 1km warm up, 3km, 30 seconds rest, 2km, 30 seconds rest. 1km, 30 seconds rest, 1km warm down. We decided to set off at separate times, so we would all finish in the same kind times so we could keep the group together so no one was left behind. The first group left 30 seconds before me, and then the last group 30 seconds behind me. We all agreed the so we all knew where to turn.... Well I thought I knew where to turn, and after me running past the turn point but 200 meters I hear a voice shouting "Martyn, The turn po...

What a lovely lie in, I do like the weekends, I wish everyday could be the weekend! Today was a scheduled bike day or possibly a club swim it depended on how I felt when I woke up, as I went to bed with tired legs (still from Wednesday night). The extra few hours in bed obviously worked as I felt pretty good. As I said in yesterdays post I managed to sort out the road tyres for the off road bike so I was keen to try them out. I got myself sorted and off I went. I had planned my route, I try to stay away from the busiest roundabouts and junctions so there is less chance of me having to stop. If I do stop, I have to unclip my shoes and I'm  not the slickest of unclipping at the moment so there is more chance of me falling off the bike so that's the last thing I want to do! Since discovering the cycle shoes I haven't looked back and they have help my peddle efficiency leaps and bounds. I managed to navigate myself down to the turn point in Llanelli no problem at all ap...

After work today I managed to squeeze out a rest run, I do like rest runs, short distance, short duration... why cant every run be like this? I ran a old school route I used to do before I moved offices, it normally runs 5 miles but there are a few options to extend or shorten the run and today it had the chop and I did 4 miles. I already had tired legs so I was VERY grateful I had the option to trim the run down. I was really happy with the time, im still doing under 8 minute miles, well 7:32 to precise, even on a rest run. The route has some cracking urban views and the best one is the run past the Swansea Liberty Stadium, but on the flip side I ran past the local refuse center so I try and hold my breath when I run past as it stinks... YUK! But I suppose to a Cardiff City fan there both the same :) Only more day left of training this week, big bike session or hour swim session with the club.. decisions decisions... as neither is going to be easy! I also managed to get my hy...

When I got home from work my legs were still stiff from last nights run, I could feel the tightness on the walk home, and I was telling myself thank god its a rest day tomorrow, I totally forget we had a massive set on tonight, and my bloody rest day in Sunday and not Friday as I'm on week 2 of the training plan! The set was 7 x ( 2m H, 1m R, 1m H, 30sec R, 30 Sec H, 30 Sec R) H=Hard R=Recovery and with already tired legs I was dreading the session.  I got changed and off we went to the meet the other club runners, We turned up and the numbers looked a little low, we did contemplate driving past the car park and go back home, as 1) I was tired, 2) it was cold and 3)  My legs felt like they were made of wood. We didn't drive past we stopped and I was glad I didn't as it was a great set. After the mile warm up, some of the muscle stiffness lightened in my legs and when the whistle went for the first set, I felt good. Here is the spilt times for the set - Splits ...

Today was my first mid week long run for the March training plan, a 10 miler for the cause. It was a lovely day so I thought I'd make most of the weather. The plan was to leave the house, run down to the sea front, meet the wife and get a lift home. I had planned my route (so I thought) as I ended up doing bloody 9.75 miles! Off I went with my bottle of lucozade in hand and new tunes on my ipod shuffle. For being such a nice evening I didn't notice to many people out a few commuter cyclists but not many joggers, It was Llanelli half on the weekend so perhaps there all resting? The first 6 miles was relatively easy, but when I hit the sea front, the breeze hit me, this did slow me down as it was hard running into it, so I kicked on and dealt with it. Im happy im doing under 7:30 minute miles... Todays session Duration 01 12 34 Distance 9.75 (I did my measurements wrong) Calories 1362 Max HR 174BPM

Last nights set was going to be simple, 2 x 750 meters. This will probably be the furthest I've swam in one hit, non stop for as far as I can remember. The distance of 750 meters is 30 lengths of the 25 meter pool, and I had to do this twice! The session didn't start the greatest, as I left my goggles at home, I knew my wife was good for something as she packed a spare pair which I took, the hippy like pink lenses kept my eyes dry throughout the session. We were a little later than normal getting into the pool, due to the fact I had to go down the post office to pick up my parcels I missed from the postman, my new phone and my new bar ends of the bike, so I'll get them sorted and thats a new place for me to grab when im out on the bike...I hope they make me feel less nackered when riding :) I have troubles counting my lengths in the pool, but last night I managed to stay focused enough to complete the required distances, I did the first 750 meters in about 18 minute...

Happy days, I've gone and won a place Llandudno Sea Triathlon ( WINNER ) Thank you Triathlon World!

Tonight was an excellent, short and sharp session. The group was back to a normal amount of attendance so the banter was great. I worked that hard mind tonight I could give much out as I was sucking up the air in my recovery minutes. The session was 2km, 1km, 0.5km, 0.5km and finish with a 2km. The session also included a warm up, warm down and some stretching. As the "fasties" have been ill or coming back form injury I had the unfortunately task of leading he pace on the group tonight. This was meant to be not a flat out session, but just touching the red on rev-o-meter, boy I found it hard to lead but I enjoyed the challenge and took it on with both hands. The statistics don't lie I worked hard as my Max HR was 181 and 94% of my maximum heart rate, it was a tough one but as I said above it was a brilliant work out. I got up to a 4:46 mile pace, that is the fast i've ever gone on a flat, but on average 5:30 - 6:00 minute mile pace, which is perfect. I have a lo...

I've been tired all week, well my legs are starting to "twang" so my scheduled rest day, turned into a medium bike. This was planned for Sunday but as im off to a wedding tomorrow, tomorrow is now going to be my rest day, so I've got a Run on Sunday when I get back from Stroud... all very confusing. I did set my alarm for 6am this morning but that got turned off and I went back to sleep. I had planned to get up early and get out on the bike and come back early so I have some of the day. I got up at 7:30 instead and logged into my work laptop and address some of the outstanding issues in my inbox from the week. After 3 hours of emails I decided to take an early lunch and get out on my bike for a quick ride. I decided the route would go through the woods so I left the mountain bike tyres on the Felt and headed out. The first thing I noticed was that it was still cold outside so remembered to put on my gloved before I left the house. After cycling for about 10 minute...

This session was a killer last week, the club enjoyed it so much last week they thought we would re run it again! The monster session was: 5x (1min H, 1min R), 1x (2min H, 2min R), 1x (4min H, 4min R), 1x (2min H, 2min R), 5x (1min H, 1min R) H = Hard 95% Max HR R = Recovery 70% Max HR It was definitely harder this week, but I think my legs are still tired-ish from the weekends half marathon, well im pushing that excuse :)  It was another lovely day again, beautiful blue sky, but when that sun set it was cold, not a frosty cold but a dewy cold, when I stopped running tonight I definitely felt the chill. Comparing my same run from last week, I ran 0.01 of a mile further this week, but for some reason I was 19 calories off from last week. This week I burnt 607 in the pyramid session but last week I burnt 626. That's one less tick take for me this week. my pacing was the same as last week averaging 7.53 miles per minute, but there is some difference my laps from last week,...

What a lovely day today was, beautiful blue skys, Summer is definitely on route, its great walking to and from work in the light. Wednesday is my recovery run day, same drill keep the heart rate at 160 BPM and under, I am running the new route well new as in an extra mile, I'm feeling the extra mile in my legs, but its manageable and I'm really enjoying my running so I don't mind. I did pass 2 other runners tonight, unfortunately for them I left them for dust. I tend not to see many people out running and its normally just me and my ipod, I've put the new Ministry of Sound Annual 2011 on it, its probably worth giving that one a miss if your off out to buy it, its tripe. On the run today I left the training zone once on the last 200 meters, which is up hill to my house, I was really disappointed I went above the threshold. The above shows my elevation on the route and the heart rate throughout the run. I wont be doing a zonal run next week as im now on my Ma...

Tuesday is the normal swim night so I geared my self for a tough swimming set. I had planned to do my normal set of: 50m Drag 50m Stretch 50m Catchup 50m 1 arm - 4 x 100m Freestyle 8 x 50m Freestyle - 100m Pull Buoy - 4 x 100m Freestyle 8 x 50m Freestyle= 1900meters And I completed my set tonight, I was chuffed but I know my stroke has got alot worse. I decided to do the 100 sets in 3 and 5 strokes, so all my concentration went all on that, so I already knew it was going to be messy. The pool was once again pretty quiet so it was easy-ish to turn my head and not have a mouth full of water as there wasn't much wake in the pool, unlike last week where I pictured myself as one of those deep sea divers with a big pipe hanging out my mouth so I could get some air in my lungs. I'm going to ask my wife (as she is the swimmer) to do me some more sets so I can concentrate on the simple stuff, which would be my stroke and leave the difficult stuff, which would be different b...

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Monday session with the elite lads is always hard, and it was going to be tough after the half marathon training fun on the weekend. We decided to do our normal route "Around The World" for just a quick paced 7 mile run. I can tell my running has come on a lot since I start as now I tend to be close to the front, when I started I was as the back so I'm pretty happy with my progress. I've got into the habit of leaving my Garmin at home when I go out on a Monday, I have to drive down to the meeting point on a Monday so I find myself driving 10 minutes down the road, "oh bugger" and having to turn the car around drive home, pop into the house, pick up the watch and then set off again. I was a lovely day yesterday, not a rain cloud in sight, it was that bright in the office that I had to close the blinds, so it was a shame I had to hide the sun. I decided to go running tonight with some underarmour and a high viz shirt so I left the rain jacket at home, I ...