Jog On...

Ive been a while writing this one.. Nearly 2 years but its still fresh in memory, like it was yesterday, so grab a cuppa as your in for a long one. It's Thursday night and I have finished work I'm making my way back to beautiful Pembrokeshire after spending the week in Birmingham with work. I was getting over the cold I had caught from the kids over the weekend, but I didn't care... It's time to get the game face on get ready it's going to be the biggest race of your life to date. Friday Amazingly I slept like a log I woke up relatively fresh I've made a list of all the things I have to do Friday Saturday and Sunday so I didn't have to engage the brain I heap on more worrying about what race day might bring.I drop my daughter off in Lamphey I made my way to the Friday first race briefing I managed to park the car in the train station which was rammed. I typically forgot to bring change and I car park so I took a picture of the pay and display and pa...

The past 13 weeks have been leading up to this race, I had learnt a lot from Brighton and I wanted to put in practise what I had changed from April. I was really looking forward to this this race.. Until 3 days previous I got hit with a stomach virus (and to save on details) I was sat on the white porcelain phone for most of the 72 hours pre race. Not a great start to my race day weekend, I drank lots of water to keep hydrated and went through my pre-race meals, along with some imodium to help me out, I woke up 05:00 Sunday morning as my wife was running the half marathon so it was an early start for me as my race didn't start till 10:00. I lied in bed, and nearly said I'm staying here, but I thought people run marathons with serious illnesses and I'm complaining about a stomach bug, man up and get out of bed and get into your running clothes.   We jumped in the car, an hours drive and we were soon parked up and walking to the start line, I waiting with my...

The day arrived after 18 weeks of "sort of" committed training since Christmas week I was race ready, I could have been in better shape but its been a long 18 weeks, and by the end of the race I could tell I could have done that little bit more. We (me and my wife) arrived in Brighton on the Saturday, collected our race packs, did a little bit of shopping in the expo and ended getting my name printed on my shirt, if I ever needed support it was going to be at mile 16+... so I got this done.. I didn't want to hang around to long on my feet on Saturday so did the social "hellos and hows sales going" with my mates at Runbreeze & 2XU and then off to check in at the Premier Inn in Crawley. (which was about 25 minutes away) I decided to get out of the hussle and bussle of 16000 athletes and not have to worry about parking fees and queueing all night for a restaurant table. It also was far cheaper than staying in Brighton too. I slept great for...

17/12/12 - Rest Day 18/12/12 - Rest Day 19/12/12 - Turbo Session I found it, I'm back with some more graphs, I found my heart rate monitor chest strap. After a lengthily visit to the dentist on Monday, the pain has dulled down and I thought I'd give the turbo a go. Session Details Duration 00:40:02 Distance 10.75 Miles Calories 638 Average Cadence 91 RPM Max Cadence 106 RPM 20/12/12 - Free Run This is probably my last run until after Christmas. Session Details Duration 00:39:59 Distance 5.19 Miles Calories 739 Average HR 156 BPM Max HR 168 BPM Average Pace 7.40 Best Pace 5.45 21/12/12 - Rest Day 22/12/12 - Rest Day 23/12/12 - Rest Day Week 50 Totals Cycling - 10.75 Miles Running - 5.19  Miles Swimming - 0 Meters  

01/10/12 - House Move 02/10/12 - House Move 02/10/12 - Rest Day 03/10/12 - Free Run New shoes so I used this to break them in. There new off road shoes (Salomon Speedcross 3), I really wanted a high colour pair but all I could find in my size were borring black so I just went with them. As I only had 30 minutes today to run, I got a hardish session in, I put the treadmill on incline 12% and ran at a 8 minute mile pace. I did this for 10 minutes on 10 minutes flat and then the final 10 minutes at 12% incline again. I'm not sure if this was a good idea doing such an intense session, but my legs felt nice and strong. I was beating everything the treadmill was throwing at me, I really enjoyed the session and I think I'll start adding cheeky inclines into the run sessions over the winter went I cant get out in the mud. On another plus note, my shoes fit like a glove! Roll on Saturdays race, I'm sure they wont be this clean for long. Session Details Duration 0...

27/08/12 - Rest Day 28/08/12 - Free Run Cranked the treadmill up to 8 mile pace and off I went for the full 45 minute session. It was boiling in the gym and the sweat was already running down my face after 2 minutes on the treadmill, It was like someone was holding a hose over my head. It was like training in Cyprus all over again. Within the 45 minutes I aim to get over the 5 mile marker, I know I shouldn't really train in miles, and look at durations but that's a target I set myself every time I go out running. I suppose its a fault by me, because if I run under 5 miles I feel (mentally) its not been  hard workout. I know later this week I'm doing hills, and I wont run over 5 miles so will that be a good session? It better be!. This session did get harder the longer it went on, and I noticed my heart rate tipping into Z5, which is a rare thing for me on the treadmill, so perhaps I haven't got over the bug from 2 weeks ago as I am still coughing a bit ...

05/03/12 - Rest Day 06/03/12 - Cycling (Spin Bike) So this is what Ironman training feels like, well I cant say I'm surprised but it is definitely a new pain barrier that I haven't met before. This first session was to spend 2 hours in the saddle, and its been a while since last season and that was the last time I spend that time in the saddle. The session was a T3 ride with 5 x 10 intervals on T5 peddling. I found it really hard getting into T5 for the 10 minute bursts, I think the highest I managed to get was T4.1, so when I come to do this session next time I know I have to work harder. My legs weren't hurting to much after the session, which can only be a good thing, but come the end of the week we'll see how I feel. I also need to concentrate on my recovery strategy, which includes refuelling, stretching and resting after the sessions. Session Details Duration 02 00 00 Distance 40 Miles 07/03/12 - Running (Treadmill) I decided to complete the hour...