Jog On...

The sun was out, frost in the air but at least it wasn't raining so I took the chance to get outside and get some miles in my legs, I was even lucky enough to run with shades on.. I haven't run for over a week and boy did it feel like it. I waned to keep it an slow paced run but important to keep moving at a decent min mile pace. Its a hilly run so I wasnt going to get any land speed records anyway. I managed to average out under 10 minute miles, but I just wanted to get out and turn the legs over, its out of season so I was just keen get a 5 mile effort in as its probably going to be my last run of 2011 as me and wife are due our baby on Wednesday. I definitely noticed that I hadn't run for 10 days as my lungs were burning, and I couldn't get the air in them quick enough, but I think that was partly due to the cold and the amount of up hills on the run. I nearly slipped over twice due to the ice on the path, im glad no one saw my arms swinging trying to keep b

Stressful day in work and its cold outside can only mean one thing, lets de-stress with some training. I've been enjoying the turbo so why not give it another go. I didn't want to make a complex session so I decided to keep it simple and just ride and keep the RPM above 70. I moved the wife upstairs, moved the coffee table and set up next to the Christmas tree. I looked for a movie on the Sky+ box and off I went. A bit of Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze kicking some butt! At the start of the set, I tried to get out the saddle but I couldn't get the balance, so I decided to sit back down and concentrate on keeping my legs moving. The line was mainly flat with no peaks and dips which was the idea of the sessions. Average speed was just under 14 MPH nothing to intense, but enough to make me sweat and tire out the legs. I found a place to put the TV remote while on the bike to stop it getting wet from the sweat, I attached the tube bag that I put my race gels in so its

The rain is falling out side, its dark and cold, so that can only mean one thing for the bike session, get the turbo out and do some sweating. I setup in the front room, next to the Christmas tree and presents, but more importantly in front of the TV with the rugby on and the Bose Ipod speaker on so I had something decent to watch on TV and some tunes to power me through the hour. My cadence and speed Garmin system is still working so im happy to get the output in Garmin connect. I have put some insulation tape over them so they dont move, not sure how that is going to work in the tri race season. After cycling for 20 minutes I noticed that my watch was in km and not miles, so I had no idea how far I had gone (in miles). I was pretty disappointed to finish up and only see that I had gone 15 miles.    I really enjoyed the session and I didn't loose focus all the way through and I could of carried on, I think the next one could/should be one and a half hours. The last s

Its cold, its wet, its windy, why am I out running in this... Because im stupid that's why. Anyone with any sense would be inside sat on the sofa eating mince pies.After last weeks time trial we were back to the interval training and we seem to have gone up a level in reps, this week it went up to 9 and less recovery time again. 9 x 3min 95% 90 sec 75% Recovery I coped with the first 5 reps of 3 minutes, but then I started to tire, I kept my heart rate up but my my legs started to move slower, I think it was down to eh cold weather freezing my joints. I also didn't eat properly in the day and I only managed to get 2 bangles down my neck at lunch time and I bottle of lucozade before I left for the session so my energy level must have been lower. It was a small group tonight due to the weather so I was out in front on my own, which I didn't mind but on each turn I had someone to chase down so it made me work that little bit harder on each max interval. I made sure I

  If you haven't purchased any compression gear this year, then look no further than Compressport UK, they are the only compression gear you need. Thank you Tim at Compressport for sending me some compression calf guards and some quad recovery to assist me with my sporting events most important the recovery of these races. I have been given the ultra silicon (US) compression calf guards and I have used them for both racing and recovery. The US have little silicon beads just above the lower grey band to help with the stress repartition on the base of the leg (when running). You feel the compression 360 degrees around the calf, there are no panels of material that are stitched together so you don't feel and uncomfortable seem digging into your muscles while you train/race/recover. There isn't compression on the grey cuffs these are purely for comfort and they aren't to tight which stops the blood flowing to your foot which could make them swell and make it really uncom

After yesterday core workout my gluts were hurting just walking to work so I was hoping for a simple run tonight at training. But NO! We ended up doing 1km efforts with a bridge recoveries, the bridge was about 50 steps over the road on the high rise bridge. Each side of the bridge it was about 0.5 km so it was a killer session and thankfully it was on 5 sets. My Garmin battery was flat so I had to plot the run when I got home, the map is below, and as the last Monday night run we finished with a 2 mile run. No sloping off this week for some of the group we went in mass and I led us home. I think I should have worked hard on the 5 sets if I could lead the group. The hat and gloves are out on each run now as the temperature is completely changed and dropped about 4'c degrees. Todays session Duration 00 50 00 Distance 4.64 miles Calories 582

A new month and new core work out, I really enjoyed working on my core last month so why not continue this month with a new workout. 2 Reps 40 side turns 3 x 30 sec plank 20 wood chop (Each side) 14 leg lunge (Each side) 3 x 30 sit up twist with ball The thing that hurt the most was the lunges, and it hurt for 2 days after so I was grateful to sleep in my Quad compression from Compressport helped me recover that little bit quicker. I hope its an easy session at run club on Monday night.

This was a tri club session and it was a5km time trial run to see how we are progressing for the cross country league over the winter. Standard warm up and off we went to the time trial, I decided to sit at the front on my own and lead and after the first lap I didn't see anyone, I knew I had gone out a little to fast but its only 5km so I knew I could go out quick it was just to see how long I could hold on for. When I hit the half way marker I was overtaken by one of the group I saw him kick on and I tried my best to stay with him but he was just to strong and the gap grew to about 20 yards and it stayed at that. I could see the end and I could feel another runner breathing down my neck, I tried to push on but he stayed with me and pipped me to the finish line. I clocked in a 00 21 21 5km time - I want to do under 00 20 00 so I've got a bit of work to do. I really enjoyed the session and its good marker point so I measure were I am in a few weeks. I know my heart rate