Jog On...

Week 5 - 9 - Toughen Up Week 9 has arrived and gone when I write this review of my training, time is flying and I'm starting to get nervous about race day. The past 4 weeks have been all about building that lactate threshold and I must say there has been some killer sessions in the plan already. I'm still enjoying it so something must be going right... well when I say enjoying it, one thing I haven't enjoyed was the sea swimming. My wife raced ISOMAN so she has been in the sea plenty of times and seems to smash it every time she goes in, I find myself retching with the taste of the water which is really hard to get a good rhythm on my stroke. I really need to work on this as its given my confidence a real bashing! In this chunk of training we went on holiday to Centerparks for a week, which mean no pool swims, I did ask if I could swim in the lake and I was told no, so I packed extra run kit and bike kit do sneak an extra session in. On an early morning bike ride I...

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...

This is the first time I've swam down Port Eynon so I was looking forward to this race, even though it was another early start. It looked like the sun was going to come out and stay out for the race, so that was great to see, more fair weather racing for me. After not registering the night before we had to stop on the route to get checked off and this is where I had missed something the night before when packing my race kit. I forgot my bloody race belt. Not to worry, I did ask other club members if they had a spare one, no one had one (I dont pack a spare)so I got on with pinning the numbers to my race kit. Transition looked pretty empty when I turned up, I though the race attendance was going to be low, but by the time I was set up and finished bending over my bike doing the final checks, the on the rest of transition was full. Great to see so many Celtic tri racers in club colours too, there is a Olympic distance race later in the year, which I would of liked to do but I...

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...

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 ...

What a tough set tonight and we have been building up to it in recent weeks, its the last workout before Ironman Wales for some of the club members so I wish them luck and who knows I could be doing it next year? Well may be a half Ironman at least. The set today was: 4 x 6min 98%, 3min 85% (Recovery) This was a tough one and im glad I managed to keep a decent pace throughout, the last 2 recovery jogs were the toughest and on the last 6 minute rep I worked as hard as I did in the first, just shy of the mile marker. I reckon If I was give an extra 45 seconds I could hit the mile effort, but I was shattered and I'll sleep well tonight. My heart rate maxed out at 181 BPM which is high for me and its shows I worked hard in the session, and I averaged out at 160 BPM which is also a high mark. I wonder if I'd get that high on the Ironman... I wish I'd stop contemplating doing this Ironman and just make my mind up or get my wife to make it up for me! Todays session D...