They say that when you’re training the main problem with the booze is the effect it has on your next days training. I can confirm this effect.

    Tuesday night Jo, mum, Jane and I went to the Oxo Tower to celebrate mums 70th birthday. It was a great evening and I felt in the mood for a drink. So a couple of pre dinner drinks were followed by a glass of champagne, then red wine then port over a delicious meal. To be honest I didn’t really feel that drunk and certainly had no hangover Wednesday morning but it was a late night. Wednesday morning I made no effort to head for a run and at lunchtime felt quite lethargic and knocked the run on the head. I like to blame this on drinking last night but it could just be I’m tired.

    Then Wednesday night after the club swim we had quite a large group head to the pub for some drinks. I had a couple of glasses of red wine which meant I’d drank 3 nights out of the last 4 – unheard of this year and probably more than I’d drunk in the whole year to that point. This didn’t stop me getting up for a ride first thing Thursday morning. I was wide awake. Surprisingly it was raining but I still got out for a 60 miler round Regents Park. Our group still got together but this small amount of rain stopped any other cyclists from training … wimps.

    Plan of attack is now in place for the final preparations for IM Lanzarote – it’s 3.5 weeks away so I’m going to hit the next 10 days hard and then taper. This means by mid next week I want to get my run week to date miles over 100 and by the end of the 10 days my bike week to date miles over 500. Throughout swimming to be maintained at 20+km per week. It’s all planned out so just need to get it all done.

    This week has gone well post marathon.

MONDAY

Easy running to and from the pool proved my legs were AOK following the marathon. Cally pool was freezing – I never fully warmed up, was shivering during rests and felt cold the whole time I was swimming. I just had to keep persuading myself to stay in the pool. We did a main set based around 200s and my times fell away dramatically – down to 3.30s by the end. To put this in perspective I should be able to knock out 2.45s. I was concerned that this was fatigue from the marathon but swimming later in a warmer pool confirmed it was the cold. After the session the temperature outside had dropped and I ran home in a daze. Once at home I had to put on trousers and fleeces to warm up !

    Following breakfast I headed to the gym and did a 6.5km session. I then headed to Janes for my lunch before back to the pool for a further 4+km. In total I managed 14.6km of swimming.

TUESDAY

The mornings are now light enough that I can attempt to get out of London on the bike before the traffic. This was the plan this morning and I got on the road by 6.10am. I didn’t feel great initially but it eased after 30 minutes. I got to Box Hill for 9am within minutes of Johns arrival. The traffic had been pretty bad in places and I really think I need to be able to get on the road an hour earlier. I was out on the P3 (my race bike) really just looking for some steady miles. Luckily this was in line with what John wanted. He was in post marathon mode and viewed today as a ‘holiday’. All this translated into coffee and cake at Box Hill before heading off for about 90 minutes of steady riding before some snap at Cranleigh, then about 2 hours back to Box Hill for coffee and cake before i headed home by my usual 50 mile / 3 hour loop. It turned into a gorgeous day and the cycling was great. The P3 is so awesome to ride. I was also looking forward to dinner in the evening which all added up to a fantastic day. Managed 142 miles in 9 hours ride time and was pretty darn chuffed.

WEDNESDAY

Had a lie in and rested through lunchtime. Headed to club swim. Had a good session and continue to swim well.

THURSDAY

Up early and got lots of laps done. Pushed it for 11 laps before the others turned up. Then continued with steady sociable laps before heading to breakfast having covered 60 miles in just short of 3h45mins. Lunchtime got out for my first run of reasonable distance. Headed out with Stephen and felt great on the run. Wish I’d felt this good Sunday !! Finished the day off with a 4.6km swim session focussing on my stroke and not crossing under my body. Had my new hand paddles which I used and seemed to help alot. Ran over to Janes to babysit Jude where I russled up a delicious supper.

FRIDAY

Was determined to get enough sleep last night so set my alarm for 8 hours after I went to bed. When I woke this still didn’t feel like enough so I slept longer. By the time I got up Jude was awake and he was on top form so spent some time with him. By the time I left I’d hatched my plan – just run home (2.5miles) and then go to the gym for a swim. I continued to focus on my stroke and use the hand paddles – managed 3.4km before a mad dash to get to work on time. Went running at lunchtime with Stephen. Was wearing my new racing flats which are the latest candidate for my race shoe this year. Was running really well – felt light on my feet and comfortable. We ran at a good pace and for the last mile or so along the canal I pushed all out. Felt bloody brilliant. Reckon these are the shoes to race the season in! Finished the training day off with a shortish swim – 2.1km focussing on my stroke again. Did mean I’ve completed my biggest weeks swimming: 28.8km