Jog On...

 Another late night stopped me running but never fear, the turbo trainer is here! My last meeting overran and the run window disappeared, so what else was there to do, my new flashy turbo was the only choice. Even though I used it yesterday and I've got a spinning session planned for tomorrow I didn't mind. I went to the same site as yesterday and chose a simple set of: 18 x 1 min hard  & 1 min recovery This was a tough one as you dont have time to recover from the previous set, my base gear was pretty high for this session so the intensity was high all the way throughout. Todays session Duration 00 36 00 Distance 18 miles

Its arrived, my new turbo is here and I cant wait to get using it. My biking has been shocking this season so I decided to get the turbo so I have no excuses for next tri season. I've been looking at turbo training sites and found this site - www.turbotraining.co.uk and if your stuck for training ideas or programmes here is the place to look. Its got a decent interface for the sessions with alarms to tell you change intensity levels. I decided to start wit a basic session of: 4 x (1min 90%, 1 min 70%, 1.30 min 90%, 1.30 min 70%, 2min 90%, 2min 70%) I have also purchased a Garmin cadence checker so I can track the distance and work rate (RPM) on each session so I can keep working hard all they way through the session so I dont slack off and get output for my forerunner. After the workout I was soaked through, but I really enjoyed it and I look forward to my next session but I may need to invest in a bigger fan as the current one did not help me in the slightest. Todays

This wasn't a good session for me, I started the session not feeling right and it stayed through the whole session. The warm up didn't even feel right so I knew this session wasn't going to go well. The set was: 8 x (2min 98% 2 min 70% recovery) I probably went 70% and 60%... I normally lead this session and stay at the front but I found myself in the pack and struggling to hold on. I shouldn't have carried on but I decided to carry on, but take my foot off the gas and slow right down, even though my heart rate was high. Not a great set for me but I still completed just under the 5 mile mark. Todays session Duration 00 50 22 Distance 4.80 miles Calories 637 Average HR 167BPM Max HR 187BPM Average Pace 7.59 Best Pace 4.59

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Well I've lost it, and it was a brilliant session! Its new to me and new to some triathlon club members so this was our first experience of spinning, and it happened to be an advanced class! I was really surprised as I thought we would be broken in gently... No chance! The class was for 45 minutes and I can honestly say I worked as hard as I could for the whole session. I was soaked through by the end of the session and the towel I brought with me you could ring out I had worked that hard... YUK!. We had to find our base level, a level hard enough to get the RPM above 60 but relaxed enough for you to catch you breath and give your legs a break. My base level was 8 and most of the session was completed between the gears 10-18, I enjoyed getting out the saddle and finding the rhythm, keeping my heels down and that's something I can remember when im out climbing hills next triathlon season. The session was completed with a mixture of music everything from pure cheese to

Welcome back to a tough Monday night session with the elite group, a hill session in the poring down rain, gale force winds and its the first Monday night session I've done this winter in the dark. I wont forget this one in a hurry. We ran a mile warm up to the chosen hill, the group do this set on a Thursday morning, its a shelter hill from the wind so it made the session a little bit easier for us. The set was a mean hill one - 4 x large hill 4 x medium hill It was a tough session for me as I hadn't run with the group for 3 weeks because its landed on a recovery day for me or I have had to work late, it definitely shows I've missed it. I worked hard and kept my heart rate high. I maxed out at 188 BPM which is high for me and I managed to stick with the group till the start of the 3rd rep but then they just blew me away and my legs just got heavier. On the last hill, even though it was a medium I tried to kick on so I finished on a high and it was the fast rep

I was feeling pretty stiff since last nights run session, Friday is normally my rest day but as the pool was really quite and I think my Friday rest days going forward may be a thing of the past. The session today was great and I had the pool to myself, and on entry to the pool I asked what lane can I use and I was told go for any. Anyway, have way through my session I looked up and and what looked like an instructor said "We need this lane, so move over" No please, No thank you.. manners cost nothing, so I politely moved to the normal end lane. The session was a simple: 7 x (200m freestyle, 200m Flippers) I kept with the every 4 stroke breathing which I found hard at times, as I was concentrating on my arms, but I suppose that will come with training. My tumble turns are coming on really well and I'm confidently doing them at the deep end every time. No Pull buoy this week as it was slipping out of my ankles last week so it totally mess up my stroke, so I w

I was ready for this session tonight, I've enjoyed the days off since the race, I should have done a little swim on Wednesday but due to work commitments it never happened. The set tonight was a good one to get into a rhythm and I get some quality sets in. The session was: 8 x (2min 98% and 2mins 75% recovery) The first 4 sets for me were great, legs felt a little tight but nothing to worry about, lungs we great, I worked at a high intensity. On the 5th set I felt my groin start to tighten, so in my recovery 2 minutes I stopped to do some stretching, it eased some of the tightness so it helped me to carry on but I toned down the speed but kept the intensity high. I managed to keep the pace of under 8 minutes, and I stopped twice to stretch, so this isn't a true reflection of my pacing, but im still happy. My best pace was 04.49 which was great after the half marathon on Sunday. I kept the work rate high, maxing at heart rate of 186 BPM, which is high for these kind of s

I had a master plan for this event and I stuck to it all the way and it worked out for me really well. I submitted a time of sub 01.40 and this was my aim, to finish the event at the 01 40 00 marker which meant I had to do an average pace of 7.30 min miles. Easy enough so you thought... But I through a spanner in works but stopping to do a wee at mile 5 on the side of the road. The event was very popular, I was one of 18000 runners, at the start I was taken over by a giraffe and a Darlek to start with. I was keen not to let the adrenaline kick in and stick to the pacing I had chosen for the duration of the race, it definitely paid off. I had loaded up on my pre race meal of porridge and lucozade sport, I forced it down as my nerves had kicked in after 20 minutes of waking up, I find this happening most of the time before races, but I do carry on putting myself through it so I must like it. I did some light stretches at the start line, my normal warm up strategy and drank a li

Last session before my next race, the Cardiff half marathon. I feel it good condition so the idea of this session was to loosen my legs off and make sure my kit is race ready. The session tonight is a tough on, but I plan to take it easy to stay in the best shape possible. 2 x (1min 98%, 1min 75%, 2min98%, 1min75%, 3min98%, 1min75%, 2min98%, 1min75%, 1min98%, 1min75%, 30sec98%, 1min75%, 30sec98%, 1min75%, 30sec98%, 1min75%) I took it easy on and sat with the rest of the group and talked about race prep for the weekend. I was looking for the fastest time of the group and thats the joys of running a club a mixture of people with all different race agendas. I kept a low heart rate average for the set only 157 BPM, ideal for my race prep. Its definitely getting colder as I took a hat down with me, I didn't wear it but im sure I'll be wearing it the next session on a Thursday night. Todays session Duration 00 47 22 Distance 4.76 Calories 644 Average HR 157BPM Max H

This was just what I needed after my sports massage. I did a tapered swim, just to keep loose and it did the trick. The set was a simple: 1 x 500 fretsyle 1 x 500 flippers 1 x 500 pull buoy The lane was all mine which was great, im sure its only going to get quieter come the Christmas months. I decided to change my breathing technique, I decided that to keep my arms pointing I was going to break on every 4th stroke. This is something I may concentrate on going forward as it felt right and im already looking forward to the next swim session. Todays session Duration 00 40 00 Distance 1500m

Winter is definitely here, this session was the first hat run for the year. I didn't wear the hat to stop the sun, it was to keep the heat in as it was blowing a gale outside and the temperature has dropped considerably in the past week. I did stay warm on my run thanks to the hat but I dont think im ready for the gloves just yet. As im racing on Sunday I decided to do a taper run, my normal route just take it slow and drop my pace to over 8 minute mile pace. I averaged out 151 BPM on my heart rate which is low for me and this is what I wanted to achieve on this run. After having the weekend off from training I was keen to get a good set in and this was just the ticket, the road was all mine apart from the cars but im in high viz now as its now dusk so im looking for anew route again because there are too many nutters out there oblivious to us runners. I want to be in the best shape possible for the race on Sunday, so im not over training. I've got a sport massage arrang

  I missed out on last weeks session due to the triathlon on the weekend, so I was really keen to get a quality session in. The focus has moved to cross country races so the sets are based on them at the moment, which isn't great for me at the moment as im into half marathon training. The local council have decided to switch off the street lights in money saving exercise which is going to effect our training site as we cant training the dark and winter is coming. This was a lovely moon lit session but I think its going to be head torch material next week. The session was: 3x (1min @I, 1min jog, 1min @I, 2min jog, 4min @I, 2min jog) The coach called the start of the set before I had a chance to press go on my watch so I as half way through the first rep before I pressed go on the Garmin. I decided to manually lap this session so I was on the starters whistle for the evenings session. I managed to keep a 7.37 minute mile session which I am really happy about, im due a long ru

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Back in the pool after the race on the weekend with a simple set of 3 x 500m freestyle I took it easy after the bad day in the office, with 2 rest days before I hit the pool. My legs felt relatively good but I couldn't shift my feelings about how poor I was in the last race. In this session the main aim was just to turn the engine over and do some lengths, no speed just simple swimming.. Just like a turtle under water. Todays session Duration 00 40 00 Distance 1500

This was my last triathlon race of 2011 and im afraid to say it was a bad day in the office for me, I really wanted to finish in a high but after a great swim the race only took a turn for the worse for me. I was in the water in Wave 2, and I managed to post a personal best for the swim, 11 minutes, It was meant to be a 650 meter swim, but they buoys drifted with the tide and it felt like closer to 750 meters. I didn't mind this as I found my rhythm in the water pretty quick and was 5th out of the swim from the first 2 waves. My sighting on the swim was good, we had to swim through different 2 arches on the bridge (out and back) and I aligned with them fine without having to swim to far out the way. Up the ramp and out the water, I got my wetsuit off relatively quickly, socks on, shades on, helmet on and off I went on the bike leg... this is where my race changed for the worse. Out of transition and a hill, great not what you need first up and doing a fast swim, I was tr