Jog On...

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I missed out last week on the lake swim and I understand it was a good one to miss, it was cold, dark and the lake even had waves. Todays session couldn't be more different, the lake was really flat, mill pond like and idea swimming conditions. The set was kept simple, 2 laps of the lake and as the lake was nice and flat I was happy with that, I thought that this set was going to be easy. Well how wrong was I.. The first lap went fine, I went off with the faster group and kept on there feet all the way around, which I was really happy with. I'm getting better with my swimming and im already looking to up the distance in my events, and 1500 meters doesn't look that daunting any more. We swam a wider lap in the session, so the spotters could follow us if we came into trouble, but I kept seeing the bottom which gave me the spooks so I kept going into the deeper part of the lake so I wasn't too scared... I sound like a right softy... But I have visions of someone or ...

Well I wish the weather would make its mind up, I walked to work this morning with no coat and Oakleys on, when I sat  at my desk the heavens opened outside. When it was time to go home the sun appeared and I was lucky enough to put my Oakleys back on and walk home in the lovely sunshine. After getting home and putting my running gear on the rain came back... what's going on? We met at the pool of Wales, where the pool was closed as there was a issue with the pool heatings, alarms were going off so they stopped people using the pool for the evening so there goes my after run shower, the call for the shower run was gone, what did we have to look forward to now? The set was called as KM efforts, we did a warm up for about 2km and then we turned, 4KM out and 2Km back. To finish we did 30 second efforts. 5 x 30 seconds hard and 30 seconds recovery... This session hurt! I found myself at the end of each KM I was gasping for air! Which means it was a tough one! Even though they w...

I decided to have a rest day on Saturday, I ran late-ish on Friday evening and after a lie in and looking out the window to still raining I decided to go out shopping and make my way down to Pembrokeshire to see the family. I also decided to take my bike down as the weather man said it was going to be a glorious day on Sunday. I woke up early on Sunday, so I could beat the hottest part of the day on the bike and get some miles in on the quiet roads. The roads were completely quiet, not a sole was to be seen, apart from the over night camping surfers. It was a cracking ride and it was hard enough for me to build up a sweat but easy enough for me not to get completely shattered. It was only 22 miles as well so next time I need to look on how I can extend the route so I can get more saddle time. Although it was a beautiful day on Sunday, first thing it was still a little chilly so I had on underarmour, my short sleeved and long sleeved cycle jacket on but I was in cycle shorts. I a...

Another crap day weather wise so the scheduled bike ride had to be put on hold and out came the running shoes again. After running hard last night I tend not to run Fridays but as my rest day was Tuesday this week I had to go out. I ummed and arred about what route to take and at the last minute I changed the route from 8 miles to 6. I know that's a bit of a cop out but it was raining, it was Friday and I've got a long bike scheduled for tomorrow. Normally after a hard interval session I find it hard walking to and from work so why were my legs feeling great, 1 mile, 2 mile, 3 miles in no heavy legs this is great, why cant every run be like this. I finished the 6 miles as fresh as I started.. Have I broken a new barrier, am I stepping my fitness up to the next stage? I found myself happily on cruise control and clocking in 7 and half minute miles, I wasn't tired I wasn't gasping for breath I felt great.. Have I already said that? I got into the training zone ab...

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A lovely evening for some running, not to cold and not to hot and even the rain had stayed away. I dug out the Oakleys and met up with the club runners for a large interval session. The session tonight was 5 x (4 min 98% Max HR, 3 Min 70% Max HR Recovery) A good turn out for a Thursday night and as its the half Ironman distance race in the Cotswolds this weekend I was surprised. Good luck to all eh club runners for this weekend, infact good luck to all competitors doing the race. I hope next year I can join you. As im not racing till 2 weeks time I wanted to work hard at this session, I did this session last week but only worked at 75% as I was racing on Saturday, but tonight was a different story. I worked extremely hard during each 4 minutes, so hard that for the last minute on each occasion I was clock watching. In each recovery session I would walk the first minute to recover and then jog for the final 2 minutes, to get my heart rate ready for the 4 minutes. Throughout ...

I had an unexpected rest day Tuesday as I picked my wife up from working away in Switzerland for the past 2 weeks so it was lovely to spend the evening with her. I switched the swim day from Tuesday to Wednesday which unfortunately meant it was indoors in the pool.  Its been a while since I swam in the pool so it would be a change from swimming in my suit in the local lake. I decided that I was going to keep the set simple and double up each time on each set. So this worked out as: 1 x 250m, 1 x 500m, 1 x 750m and finished with a 250m warm down = 1750 meter swim The pool was its general empty self as I remember, same faces and same club swimming in the next set of lanes. Those kids must work hard, the make me look im swimming backwards. When I used to get in the pool before I have been completing the lake swims I used to think that 1000 meters was daunting in the pool and how can I ever swim that far but last night seem so easy. Apart from the tired arms I could have kept...

  After my day off yesterday I was ready for a good old run. Even though it was lashing down outside I didnt care, so I put on my running coat and met the lads at the meeting point and off we went. To save stopping and starting with efforts we decided to clock in a long run. It was a good turn out for the a Monday night and and the weather didn't put the guys off, we decided the route in the dry so we knew where we were going if we got split up. For the first 2 miles I think we ran as a group I stayed pretty close to the front so im not sure if the other dropped off. I tend to work hard and keep working hard through all the sessions on a Monday and dont give up until the end of the session. My heart rate doesn't drop below the 160BPM in the session which is my training zone and it peaked at 178BPM its not the highest its been but i made sure I work hard enough to stay in the front pack and have enough energy to kick on at the end. The dip in the heart rate is where we sto...

This was a VERY early start for me, a 05:30 meet in Swansea to get prepared and in the zone ready to race. It had rained all week and I had a feeling it wasn't going to give up on Saturday for the race. On the drive down to the race the heavens opened and a  down poor happened, I though oh my this is going to be one of those days, the sea looked aggressive as the skies. When I pulled up and parked the car I waited for a window for the rain to stop and out I got. Well that was the last of the rain for the race and I was very happy. I decided that I was going to do the super sprint which was 750m swim, 21km bike and a 3km run. The swim was the same distance as the long course so just the bike and run were shorter. I think my swimming is getting better and better each time I get into the water, which I am really happy about. The route for the swim was simple around 2 buoys and back home. It was a very tight channel for the swim so I got a few kicks and arms in the face but im sure...

What a mess I made with my Garmin, wrong buttons pressed, wrong times, a complete parlava! As im racing on Saturday this was my last session, a light one, but a great one, before race day. It was a interval session, a proper one this time with the club. The set was 6 x (3min 95% and 2min 80% recovery) I probably went 75% and % 55% which was just what I wanted. We did a warm up and some work on our striding, I think this is going to be a great help to me as I landing while running just isn't right which I think probably gives me the calf and hamstring issues. It was another small groups at the club run, im not sure why the numbers have dipped it s a great session and I've had massive gains from attending. Well this is where the Garmin went wrong, There was meant to to be six humps as it was a 6 repeat session, but I managed to press the wrong button on my watch and lost/missed the first stage. I fiddled about and managed to get it sorted for the 2nd stage. I wanted to ...

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 I decided to miss the 5k Swansea Bay race to pursue the club open water swim down Glyn Neath, and what a great swim it was. There was a good turn out from the club and twice as many people as last week, which made up two groups. I was put into the faster group which I was pretty please about, only because it made me work harder to keep up with the ace in the group. I would have been very happy going with the other group for an easier swim, but no pain... no gain! The water was just as warm as I remembered from last week, I let a bit of water down the front of the suit, took my breath away and then I was fine. I did a little stroke warm up, put my head under the water and I couldn't see the bottom, I thought "Oh my I cant touch the bottom, Its deep.... Really deep!". The coach called the set of 2 loops of the lake, there were more buoys in the lake this week so we could see where the turn point was. As I was in the faster group I found myself at the back, which wasn...

Run club was cancelled as its the Swansea bay 5k race tomorrow, alot of the guys are doing the event so we decided to knock it on the head tonight. I on the other hand had a session planned anyway, an interval session with Audiofuel. Apart from I put it on my ipod in the wrong order so I had 1 5 minute warm up, then 1 hard and 3 light sets.. totally messed up the evening run. I had clicked by the 2 back to back recovery sets so I just switched it off and carried on with half mile reps. The speed graph above shows how it went wrong, by the end of the session I had clicked that the audio was to blame, well im to blame as I put the audiofuel on my ipod in the wrong order, as it was meant to be a 175BPM max session and I think I stayed to that end of the program if nothing else. As I ran 10 miles yesterday this was meant to be a light session about 3.5 - 4 miles I estimated. It was pretty hot out there so I managed to find a relatively flat route of 0.5 miles so I wanted to k...

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window I saw the rain, it was proper rain coming from all angles up, down, sideways and every angle imaginable. I looked at my training plan and my face dropped, long run.. in this weather... oh bugger!. My wife has gone to Switzerland for 2 weeks with work so I'm home alone, she works for the Wales FA.  I dropped her off at the meeting point and she got on the team bus and off she went. Before we left I packed my running gear in my bag and put it in the boot, I had a route in mind but I was hoping the rain may lighten a little bit before I got out there as it may sway my decision. While driving home the rain seemed to get harder, I was coming closer to the motorway junction and said to myself man up and get out there so I got off the motorway and parked up my car and got out there. The rain was still coming down but after 10 minutes of being out there it didn't bother me anymore and I found my rhythm. I decided to do a rout...

 After my rest day yesterday I was keen to get up early, get out there and get back and enjoy some of the day. My wife forced me to get her breakfast in bed so this delayed me to 10am before I got out, but I didnt mind as its my turn tomorrow. I decided this brick was only going to be an hour out on the road, so I chose a local bike route and a short run. I estimated the bike was about going to be about 10 miles and the run 2-3 miles. I dont know why but I find it alot easier to go training in the morning, I feel fresh and full of beans I've noticed recently in the evening I've felt lacking in energy and in a cant be arsed mode. But enough of the bad vibes, today felt great and as soon as I got on the bike I was ready to take on the world. The roads were relatively quiet and it felt like I was the only person on the road, I didn't have to stop to give way all the way on the route, it felt like the roads had been closed especially for me. It wasn't raining which ...

Ive been ready for a bike session all week so I couldn't wait  to get out there on the road with my still new bike. I've had the bike for a month now so it still new OK.. I got out my yellow jersey and put on my Oakleys and off I went, I had a crap day in the office so this is just want I needed to get the office out my head. I had decided route, a 30 miler one I did last time so I had a baseline time and it was similar weather too, so I knew what was expected. I think im getting a lot better on the bike and my average speed has gone up considerably since the I started road biking. I know im never going to be a pro but every little step is a step better. This route on the way out has a strong head wind and when you turn for home some how it turns into a side wind.. I never get how thats possible? I managed to keep a steady heart rate through the ride, but the heart rate does rise at the end of the cycle as this is the last hill for home, so I get out the saddle and give ...

I had planned to do a long bike session tonight as I haven't been out on my bike for over a week and it was about time I used it. I had planned the route and when I got home I totally forgot that I had a surprise birthday party to attend. I also forgot it was at a curry house! This totally destroyed my bike plans as I had to be at the party for 7pm. So I decided to do a little tempo run in the park. I already had tired-ish legs so I didn't want to go flat out so I decided to keep my heart rate in the lower training zones. I clocked in 9 minute miles on the route, which is mainly uphill, not massive up hills but enough to get the legs working hard and blow away any stiffness from the weekend race. I haven't done a park run for some time, It does have some killer hills but its a nice enough route to give you a break on the down hills. Also there is normally hardly any people in there so they done she you busting a gut to get up the hills. It was only a quick 30 minu...

After my rest day yesterday I was ready to get out there and blow some of the cobwebs away, and is the only way to do this? A open water swim. After walking like John Wayne all day Monday I was happy to leave the cowboy look at home and get out doing some triathlon training. The Club have been trying to arrange some open water sessions and today I managed to get in contact with some club members and meet them for the swim. I normally do a pool session but I'm keen to get my open water skills improved so I can cope with the next events that are in the sea. We got in the and the water wasn't as cold as I was expecting, i let a little bit of water down the neck of the suit, it took my breath away but after that I was fine. I wore my rash vest underneath my suit to try and stop some of the rubbing on my neck from the suit and I also plastered my neck in vass so it wouldn't rub, I know its not good for the suit so I've invested in some Body glide to try out. There...

As races go it was possibly the hardest race I've ever done! The Long Course Weekend, the official Ironman training weekend. The atmosphere of the race was amazing and starting the race with a Zumba band with banging drums got your right in the mood for racing. The weather man had forecasted rain in the afternoon of the race so I decided to wear long sleeved underarmour wit my Celtic Tri vest. Well that rain never came, I think it got hotter throughout the day. I started the race quicker than I should have, I need to remain focused during races and stay at the same speed for the whole race and if I've got fuel left in the tank on the last mile then kick on, but they say you learn from your mistakes so next time I'll know. I started the race at a cracking pace, the normal pace I have been doing my runs at but at mile 8-9 i hit a very large wall which completely knocked my off my stride and destroyed the chances of me doing a PB. There were alot of up hills and down hil...