Jog On...

2 weeks back in training and I feel great... even more importantly my knee feel great! I the last 14 days I've turbo trained 9 sessions and all have been more intense than the last. I've gone from 20 minutes to 45 minutes and gone from a minor/none resistance to the top ring with a cheeky mid resistance. I'm happy to start recording my training sessions from now on so I've dug out my brand new Garmin 910 XT that I had for my 30th birthday in April and get testing it out. I'm also going to invest in trainer road software to see what kind of wattage / power I'm pushing on the bike. It looks like something good to invest my money in as I love stats. Other Good / Bad news is that Ironman Wales has now been fully booked up so there are no spaces left for me to enter. Its good news that I wont over train and feel that "inch" to enter and cut corners with my training, but bad news as I have to wait till 2015 definitely now! Looks like another event wit...

Once again the nice people at Compressport UK have sent me some more kit to test out and on first looks the kit looks amazing. I couldn't wait to test it out even though the weather has been so poor in the UK. As a triathlete I was really looking forward to using the first compression specific triathlon race kit on the market and as the previous product released by Compressport this had high standards to reach. I'm happy to say its another amazing piece of kit released by them. Triathlon Shorts Just like bib shorts, bit so much better than bib shorts.. I currently use the quad compression supplied by CS and I can only say how good they are and when I found out that same technology was going to be used in there shorts I couldn't wait to test them. I've used the shorts on the bike on the turbo most of the winter and they are unbelievably comfortable. There isn't to much padding on the rear of the shorts so there is no uncomfortab...

10/09/12 - Rest Day 11/09/12 - Spin Session Simple easy spin session which was 10 minutes in the saddle and 10 minutes out and repeat twice (40 minutes session). I was feeling a little low on the energy front as I was down on my calories, but I still went to train and as I'm on daddy day care I forgot to pack my lunch before I dropped my son into crèche. I think the Spin bike is due a service, as the brakes were rubbing quite badly when I upped the resistance, not that I minded as it just made the session harder but I was banging out a quite high pitched squeak for the full 10 minutes so I was lucky it was only me and the gym instructor working out. I could hear it just over the music pumping in my ears. Not sure how much training I'll get in the rest of the week as its Ironman week and I'm working at the expo for Compress Sport, a little thank you for all the support they have given me this year. Today's session was a easy session but it was good to give ...

Its arrived the main race of my season, Cotswolds113 Half Ironman distance race, it takes me a step closer to my ultimate goal of a full Ironman distance race, which fingers crossed will be in 2013. Race day started with a 4 am wake up call for breakfast, this consisted off a massive bowl of porridge and 2 pieces of wholemeal toast. As the nerves kicked in from the moment I woke up I had to force the food down as I felt sick with nerves!. As I was in Wave 1 for the swim I wanted to get to transition early, so I could get everything setup just the way I wanted and I knew that I had everything sorted before the race. As we arrived at the venue, the traffic was a nightmare, there was a massive queue just to park the car so I decided to leave the support crew (my wife & son) take the bike off the roof and grab my transition box and walk to rack my bike and this left my wife to go and park up. After 10 minutes of setting up, and faffing I noticed that I had left all my gels and h...

14/05/12 - Rest Day 15/05/12 - Rest Day 16/05/12 - Brick Session (National Pool of Wales & Swansea Sea Front) After have 2 days off this week already, I had no drive to get out for this session, but when I did finally get the Speedo Jammers on I was really keen to get into it. I decided to hit the 50 meter pool and complete a 4 x 500m set (2000 meters) and get a 60 minute run under my belt. The weather was lovely and I was keen to make the most of it. I was lucky enough to have a lane to myself and so it was a interrupted set and and a quick change into some running gear I was out the door and on the sea front listening to my ipod picturing myself running the last 7 miles of the Ironman race. I felt good, really good and could have quite happily kept on going on the run! Session Details Duration 01 40 00 Distance Swim (2000m) Run (7 Miles) 17/05/12 - Cycling (Spin Bike) I was still feeling it a bit from last nights brick and the alarm clock went off far to earl...

The lovely people at CompressportUK  have sent me a pair of arm sleeves to try out and and review. Compressport keep on produced top quality products for all athletes and a must for the training essentials to keep you warm this triathlon season. As soon as you take them out of the box you can see how good the quality of these are, they are made with the athletes needs in mind. They are well fitted (They come in a number of sizes just like there other products) and are really easy to get in to. As soon as you have them on you can feel the 360 degree compression all the way from the grey band at the top of your arm, all the way to the wrist. I always worry about over heating while training, so I have tried to put on as less layers as possible, so when I got the arm sleeves I was worried that I was going to sweat more, this meaning that I'd have to take on more liquid for my training. This is NOT the case with these, the thermo technology that goes into the arm sleeves is...

02/04/12 - Rest Day 03/04/12 - Brick Session (Swansea Pool of Wales & Swansea Sea Front) This is the first brick session that I've done that is from the pool to the road, and it went pretty well, there was some stiffness in he arms when I first started but that soon went, and as I was still wet from the pool I didn't have a chance to get on my tights so it was a cold one for me.It was great to swim in a different pool, it felt like a completely different swim, and I had to fork out for new goggles as I left my predators at home. The session was an endurance effort swim, a full 2000 meters in one hit and then straight out for the run (I did have to change first though). I managed to complete 8 minute mile pace run, and maxed my heart rate out at 176 BPM, it was a flat run, but a cold one, so I pushed hard to get out and back as it was sushi for tea. I can see from the training plan there are more of these to come so I'm keen to get another one under my belt. Ses...

  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...

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.

  My last race of my 2011 calender has arrived and I can still remember writing my first report of 2011 back at Cardiff Try-a-Tri. The weather up to the race had been wet so the ground was already soft so I was hoping the sun would be out for my first off road half marathon. Lucky for me it was, and it wasn't to cold either, an ideal day for running. I arrived at the start line in time to see the ultra marathon runner leave and there were about 30 runners, They have a long day ahead of them as their race was about 35 miles, I'm hoping to get a marathon under my belt in 2012 but that depends on how much training I can get done in the new year, but back to today's race. It was easy and simple to check in at the race, picked up my wristband and timing chip and there were some free samples of Cliff bar so I helped myself to them for after the race as I didn't fancy eating something now that would effect my race and make me stop for the loo half way round the course...

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...

To celebrate Chrissie and all of the athletes taking part in Hawaii this weekend , we're giving a 15% discount on all products* at our online store until the end of October! To take advantage of this offer visit our store here: http://estore.compressport.uk.com and enter coupon code KONA2011 before you check out - and don't forget to tell your friends! To hear more from Compressport UK and follow the progress of our athletes in Hawaii , join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CompressportUK and follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/compressportuk