The painful knee has more or less gone and is now replaced with a tight right calf. I feel I can train through it and over the past few days has eased off without having to lay off the training too much. Didn’t run on monday and tuesday which I think probably helped. Was in need of a rest from running at that point.

Last Friday I was up bright and early for laps of Regents Park. Another beautiful morning. Worth getting up just to see the morning develop as you go round. I really got some ‘flow’ going and the time just disappeared. 51 miles and over 3 hours of cycling on my fixed.

At lunchtime I managed to get out for a steady 10 miler.

I really wanted to try for a monster weekend of training and very pleased that managed it. I got up very early on Saturday and did 12.5 miles run before getting on my bike and meeting Jo at the Brick Lane bagel shop for breakfast at 7.30am. From there we headed out to Wimbledon to pick up Rob and then to Box Hill. Jo went for her bike sizing whilst Rob and I did a loop. Rob was on fixed and still managed to crank it up a 20% hill. Impressed. Rob headed home and I met Jo. Tea and cake at Box Hill cafe and then headed on a long loop home – at pace. Jo really pushed it along, I happily sat in. I ended up with 122 miles in 7h20. Very pleased.

Jo had a long run scheduled for Sunday and was keen to get it done and dusted early. So I headed out with her before the crack of dawn. We did 13 miles and ended at the Bagel Shop again ! It was so good on Saturday. We walked home munching bagels. I hopped on the fixed and managed a 101 mile loop in about 7 hours. It was hard going. I was tired and knew it would be hard mentally to keep pushing it – hence heading out on the fixed as that left little choice but to keep pedalling and working on the hills.

I was on a dash back since I was taking my mum to Heathrow for her long trip to New Zealand. I got back with 30 minutes to eat and shower before heading off. I ate as much as I could in the time and picked mum up. We got halfway to Heathrow before I was massively hungry – mum then pointed out I should have mentioned it at Janes as there was a date slice I could have had … GUTTED. The aim now was to not eat a load of crap at Heathrow. I did well (for me) – we had a coffee before mum went through security and all I had was a superb white and dark chocolate cheesecake. I even resisted getting choccie for the journey back.

I was very pleased to get back in time to cook up an omelette before getting an early night.

Monday I got up early and managed a 90 minute ride before my swim session. 4.1k in 85 minutes. It was a good session though I had to work hard to get the intensity up. The rest of the day was largely rest. I completely cleaned and tidied my flat and had lunch with Jane and Jude. I am so content now my flat is in a very nice state. Makes me more relaxed.

It was important to get enough sleep on Monday night so I decided against a run on Tuesday morning. Instead I had a leisurely breakfast before John arrived at 8.40am for a ride. We headed out Essex way. Really pushed it along aiming to try out a Tea Shop I’d spotted. We’d done 76 miles in just under 4.5 hours when we arrived at the Tea Shop. Looked very promising but inside it was more of a pub. Still tried it. £5.85 (!!) got me a coffee (from a machine) and a delicious slice of cappuccino cheesecake. It was fantastic but not £5.85 fantastic. £3.50 and the tea shop would have got onto the Tri Clubs bulletin board.

We continued to push it and I ended up with 121 miles in 7h10 and just enough to get the supermarket before turbo with Jo.

That turbo was brutal. 90 minutes – after 10 it was just a mental battle to keep going. I was exhausted. I just kept telling myself that this is where my Ironman performances come from – this is where I get the mental toughness to push on the run.

I slept like a log – totally recovered this morning (38 bpm resting HR) which was lucky as I was accompanying Jo on a run. 15 min warm up, 10 min at about 7.15/mile pace, 30 min at 6.45/mile pace, 15 cool down. These paces were based on Jo’s zones I just come along for a decent paced run and if I’m running well can be a good pace maker for Jo. This morning I was running like a dream. Felt totally comfortable at these paces and thus was able to help Jo push it along.

By lunchtime my legs felt quite drained so wasn’t sure whether to head out. Stephen was running so decided to suck it and see. It started as a jog and slowly my legs felt better and the pace picked up. By about halfway I was running really comfortably and felt well chuffed – this is a good sign that I’m getting back into shape. Managed 9 miles in about 70 minutes.

The day will soon be rounded off with a run to and from our club swim session.