Marathon Week

Posted on April 20, 2007 by lord_lordy

No I don’t mean a big week, though it was a pretty decent weeks training, I mean the week of the London Marathon. My preparations are going to plan though far from what you would call a taper.

On the running front the plan was to get to a 100+ mile wtd total at the end of Tuesday and then ease off. Monday I got 18 miles done through a variety of runs: 10 miles before swimming, 3 miles to and from the bike shop and 5 miles two and from my sisters. On Tuesday I got a 13 mile run done down in the Surrey Hills. This brought my wtd to 107 miles. Jobs a good en ! On Wednesday I did a steady paced 7.5 miles in the morning with Jo and then 3 miles to and from swimming. Since then I’ve not run at all and don’t intend to tomorrow.

The other part of the plan was to maintain relatively high swim and bike mileage this week and then do a big ride tomorrow. Big ride is planned and I will report back tomorrow night hopefully. Other riding this week included 139 miles on Tuesday, 53 miles Thursday and 39 miles this morning. Swimming saw a little over 14k on Monday, 4.5k on Wed, 4.2k Thurs and 4.5k today. Not bad at all. Swimming is going really well at the moment. On Wednesday night I was hitting 1.17 for 100s and yesterday and today I did a 3.8k timetrial in exactly 60 minutes. Really getting close to the sort of pace I’d like. Target is 55 minutes by Kona.

Monday and Tuesday were both great training days this week. Here are the details:

MONDAY.

So manic and non stop. Up early ran 8.5 miles to swimming for a 4.5k 1.5 hour session then 1.5 mile run home for breakfast. Took bike to bike shop and then ran 1.5 miles to pool. Did a 7km session in about 2 hours, then home for lunch. Back to pool, 2.5k technique session before running 1.5 miles to collect bike. Dropped bike off home. Ran 2.5 miles to my sisters. Cooked dinner and spent time with mum, jane and jude. Then 2.5 miles run home and into bed.

As if that wasn’t manic…

TUESDAY

Up bright and early and drive down to Box Hill. Head straight out for a beautiful 2 hour run. Back at the car I have a narrow escape when my beautifully prepared tupperware of breakfast is knocked into the back of the car and I just manage to catch most of it on the lid. Phew ! John arrived at around 8am just as I was starting my breakie. We got on the road by about 8.30am and did 3 laps before I dropped my bike off at the bike shop for a check up ! Spent an hour in there before meeting John again and did a whopping loop round Surrey. We ended up in Cranleigh for some snap. I discovered the butchers does pork scratchings so i munched 200g of the stuff- delicious. We then looped back to Box Hill cafe for coffee and cake (in my case, the usual rock cake). Back to the bike shop where Jo had just finished getting her bike checked over. By now I’d done about 90 miles at an average of 15.5mph. John headed home whilst Jo and I headed out to find a time trialy section of road to do a race pace session one. We managed to sort out a fantastic 20 minute or so loop where all but one short climb could be done on the Tri Bars … we belted round there at pace for over 90 minutes. By the time we got back to the car I’d done 139 miles and my average was up to 16.6mph. Awesome. We went out for dinner before heading home.

My race bike set up is finally complete. I ordered a pair of Xentis quad spoke wheels on Wednesday morning which arrived on Thursday. Last night I must have changed tyres on about 6 sets of wheels as I set up my TT bike and sorted out the old TT ready for sale. My P3C looks absolutely awesome with the new wheels. I’ve no excuses this year when it comes to the quality of my equipment ;o)

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Beautiful Weather

Posted on April 15, 2007 by lord_lordy

The weather has just been awesome recently and today just topped it all. I was out in a sleeveless cycling jersey and it’s only mid April – can’t remember wearing such kit so early in the year before.

Today I lead a club ride out to the Surrey Hills. It was really successful – good group, decent pace and a lovely route (even if I say so myself). We had a lovely long break at the Box Hill café laid out in the sun. It was nice, I bumped into Rob and got to show him my new road bike ! An Independent Fabrication XS which I picked up on Friday night. Today was only it’s second ride. We ended the ride bang on 100 miles in 6h 42.

I managed to get out for a run first thing before the ride. Legs felt heavy initially but eased off after about 30 minutes. Managed a good 2 hour run.

Saturday was along similar lines. Got up early and did a 2 hour run. Felt great from the outset. Along embankment 2 young lads (probably about 13 or 14) ran along with me. Note it’s about 4.30am. “You been running long mate ?” , “about 25 minutes”, “where do u live?”, “about 25 minutes back that way”, “that’s lucky”. “what do you do ? You a fed ? or u a computer consultant like my dad” … it went on until “I’m knackered” and they stopped.

I had a rapid turnaround to get out to Jo for a 7am start. She had a 4 hour ride (30 min warmup then 3.30 at race pace) followed by a run. I would accompany her until she got back towards Epping. The pace was kicked up as we approached Epping – we were going well. But by matching green I was suffering and Jo pulled away. At the turnaround as Jo saw me coming the other way she said “see you later” – she’d clearly not understood where I was planning to leave her. I thought if that’s not the case then cheeky buggar suggesting there’s no way I can catch her. As it turned out I couldn’t. By 3 hours in I was starving – not normal for me to start a long ride with a couple of hours balls out riding. I eased off the gas abit and got into a steady aerobic pace. Ended up with 136 miles in just over 8 hours.

May as well fill in the missing day: FRIDAY. Took it relatively easy – 5.3km swim in the morning and a steady lunchtime run with Stephen.

In a week I should  be reporting on the London Marathon!!

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Milestones & Goals

Posted on April 12, 2007 by lord_lordy

This blog has been going for a while now and I’ve never really explained why I’m doing all this training. Partly I’ve not explained because I don’t really know why – the long bike rides are just the way I am – I love it and would do them even if I didn’t do triathlons. The real focus came about in 2005. I’d qualified for the GB team for the World Champs in Honolulu. It was the weekend before Kona so I booked a trip to the Big Island to at least watch the Ironman World Champs. Since I was going out there anyway I decided that I may as well try and qualify at my first Ironman – UK. Long story, short and all that – I raced well, qualified and was hooked. Kona was the best sporting experience I’ve ever had, managed sub 10 hours and was buzzing. That night watching the last finishers I decided I had to compete again and train properly for it. I hatched a 2 year plan – enter Florida IM in Nov 2006 to get an early qualification for 2007. This I did last year and I must admit I’m already hatching the next 2 year plan.

Anyway… so I’m training for the Ironman World Championships. I’ve gone part time at work (only work wed to fri) in order to focus fully on finding out just how good I can be. This gives me a key focus and something to visualise during sessions but I also feel a pretty fundamental urge to find out just what my body can take endurance wise. I realise this is perhaps a tricky feeling to have since it ultimately means u will push out the boundaries and it seems sometimes that it is inevitable that overtraining will happen. I am aware of this and feel pretty good at cutting sessions or training if I feel that I am getting drained.

Talking of getting drained – I felt I was this morning but decided that I should test out a lunch time run – good training ? (I thought so) but also see how I’m adapting to running off tired legs. Also, Stephen was heading out so that provided an extra motivation and company. The first 10 minutes were like torture – my legs were so heavy and making insistent signals they didn’t want to walk let alone jog or even run. Once we hit the towpath though it was a transformation – I felt awesome. We flew along – did 10k in about 44 minutes before jogging to finish. Pretty decent pace and more importantly I felt totally comfortable. it felt like Ironman pace and that is awesome.

Why so tired ? This morning headed out to Regents Park on my new TT bike (a Cervelo P3C). I was so keen to get on it that I was on the road by 4.05am. I managed 12 hard laps before Jo arrived. After a couple of laps warm up and collecting a good bunch of Tri Londoners we headed off on the session – a 40k time trial (we did 9 laps). I let Jo go and decided to try and reel her in. I made no impression at all !! In fact reviewing it after she was pulling away from me. I did the 9 laps (~40k) in 70 minutes. Very pleased – it meant I’d done 3h15 of cycling (including the ride there) at 19.8mph average. I also hit a new milestone – by the time I got home I’d done 70 miles at an average of 19mph ! Achieved a milestone and discovered another – must get average above 20 mph one morning. I was hoping to follow this with a swim this evening but there is no way. I am certain extra sleep is much more important.

Wednesday had been a good training day as well. In the morning I did a steady 9 mile run, lunch time a steady 11.5 mile run and then ran to and from swimming. Was swimming well and feeling the increased swim volume is paying off. The focus over the next weeks is to get consistent high swim volume (20+k at a minimum per week). Over the next 5 days the aim is to get to over 100 mile week to date run mileage before easing off running ahead of London marathon. Throughout, bike mileage must remain consistent: ideally 500+ per week but ultimately would be happy with 450.

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Easter Weekend

Posted on April 10, 2007 by lord_lordy

What an awesome Easter weekend down in Somerset staying at Jo’s mums. Great weather, great riding, great food and great company. On each of the four days I explored a different quarter of the surrounding area. The raw facts:

Friday – 108m / 7h07 Bike
Saturday – 6m / 47min Run & 123m / 8h bike
Sunday – 151m / 10h02 Bike
Monday – 15m / 1h58 Run & 134m / 8h11 bike

We drove down to Taunton on Friday morning. Jo’s mum did us proud with a great cooked breakfast when we arrived. Then we headed out on the bikes. Jo had a route she wanted to take me on. It went out North and West to Porlock where we went up the Toll Road – this was the perfect 30-minute climb. Same gradient the whole way and the guy didn’t even charge us the £1 toll! We then went across Exmoor and back home. A great day.

Saturday we did a short run before another full cooked breakie. Then we headed down to Abbotsbury (next to Chesil  beach) to the “Big Cake Café” – my name following finding it during a Ironman UK recce weekend. This place has the biggest cakes you’ve ever seen ! It lived up to my memory – awesome. We’d thought this ride would be easier but it proved not to be the case. With a tummy full of cake we had to get up a 1 in 3 hill! Another great day.

Sunday had always been planned to be mammoth day. Jo wanted to show me a route across Dartmoor that she normally does from Exeter. I suggested we shouldn’t drive to the start but just cycle from Taunton. This made it a lot longer. We got up bright and early and made good progress. The climb onto Dartmoor was nowhere near as tough as I’d expected which was a good surprise. We made it to Tavistock for lunch after about 5 hours riding. Coming back we skirted north of Dartmoor and across to Tiverton. We belted along some awesome roads. My right pedal had been clicking all weekend, on Friday I’d tightened it but that only seemed to fix it briefly so I assumed it must be the bearings or my cleat. Anyway… coming through Bampton as I turned coming out of a junction out of the saddle the pedal disconnected from the crank and I went flying. Luckily I wasn’t going too fast so the road rash isn’t that bad but boy oh boy did it hurt. Gashed and bruised my right hip, right elbow and right knee and shin. I guess the pedal hadn’t been tightened enough. Following this we ended with an 11 mile section from Wiveliscombe to Taunton – this was out of this world. Jo kicked off at pace and I slowly pulled her back in. I then took the front and kicked the pace up to about  25mph … managed this for about 3 or 4 miles before I was wasted and had to ease up, Jo hit the front and continued the effort with me on her wheel. In under 30 minutes we were home !

Monday morning I got up and accompanied Jo on her long run. Then I headed off on my own on the bike. I decided to explore the one quadrant we’d not ridden – ie north east to the Somerset flats. Had a great time – did just over 8 hours riding with just one brief stop after about 6 hours for some food. Managed a great pace most of the time to cover 132 miles. Great end to the weekend.

This morning I really dithered around. Went out for breakie and then a coffee just so I could read my book. Once I got started on my training I really got into it. Managed a good strong 3km swim and then headed out on my  new Time Trial bike. I tell you it’s a rocket ship. It’s amazing what a difference a good bike can make. I headed out to Essex to do some repeats on the road between Leaden Roding and Great Dunmow. It’s an old Roman road so more or less straight and relatively flat. You can just get down on the Tri Bars and work hard. It’s 5.7 miles long.  I did out and back along it 4 times. I was flying. I ended up back home having done 107 miles in 5hours 44mins. Well chuffed considering the first and last 16 miles are through London.

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Pre Easter

Posted on April 5, 2007 by lord_lordy

Completed a monster week ahead of getting away for easter down to Somerset for some serious biking. The week to date has been my biggest hours of the year totalling more than 53 hours including 529 miles of biking, 90 miles running and 23km swimming. Despite this volume I’ve felt strong throughout all disciplines.

On MONDAY I had a ‘leg rest’ day – ie only swimming. I finally did my 10km continuous swim. not fast – did it in 2h59 … yes a long two hours ;o) This was a mental exercise more than anything. After lunch with my sister and nephew I followed it up with another session. I did a warm up into a 3.8km swim. This took 65 minutes. Then did 1500m pull / drill. It seems to have done me good as on Wednesday night I was starting to swim well. Comfortably making the main set based on 1.30 100s including knocking out some 2.42 200s which felt in control. Still a little ways off the old days of sub 2.30s but they are now in sight and perhaps I’ll even get there before IM Lanzarote. That would be awesome.

TUESDAY was an important day as I went down to Box Hill to collect my new Time Trial bike. A lovely Cervelo P3C decked out in Campag Record. It’s a beauty and felt stable and fast the instant I got on it. I managed to push the pace up Box Hill clocking speeds of 15.5mph – very pleased. The day turned out awesomely. I got up really early to get out there before the sun rose. I went running along the North Downs Way as the sun came up and came back up over Box Hill. A good 2 hours run. Then out on my road bike. I met John and we took in various climbs before getting to Cycles Dauphin for me to sort out the final set up. This done we headed out for another 90 minutes why the bike was finished up. I ended up with 90 miles in just over 6 hours. Then it was out on the P3 for laps around and up the zig zags. It was awesome – so fast, so much fun. I did 6 laps. The only other cyclists were a group doing training reps on the zig zags. I chatted with the coach afterwards who invited me to join them if I’m down in future weeks. Managed a further 51 miles on the  P3 in a little over 3 hours. Had some tea and headed home a very satisfied camper.

WEDNESDAY morning was the usual – out with Jo for a tempo run. I was running fast and comfortable. I felt light… probably cause I am. Approaching the weight I was for IM Florida in November but still about 7 lbs off my Longest Day Weight of last year which is my target for both London Marathon and IM Lanza. I went out for another run at lunchtime. Normally following a tempo run I feel very jaded at lunchtime but not today ! I knew almost immediately that I was flying. I’d done the same run last Thursday in 90 minutes and at the time had felt I was running well. Today I managed it in 83 minutes and this was at an aerobic effort – ie just a say panting for breath. This was comfortable and fast. It really feels things are coming together: the long patient aerobic base build up for 3 months, the run tempo work on Wed mornings and the gradual reduction in weight. Fingers crossed this feeling isn’t arriving too early. Rounded the day off with a run to and from swimming. Again running well.

At the moment I seem to be so motivated for THURSDAY morning cycling. This morning I was wide awake 10 minutes before my alarm. Got out earlier than usual and had an extra lap before the others turned up. We had 6 Tri Londoners out and then another guy joined us. We did laps in a pace line doing spells on the front before pulling over and dropping to the back. Not as much fun as last week but good fun all the same. I managed 63 miles in just over 3h40. Even with a decent breakfast I ended up eating all morning. Unfortunately alot of it was crap.

After a busy morning and lunch at work I managed to get out for a 12 miler mid afternoon. Same route as yesterday, felt pretty good again but didn’t push along as much and found it very tough for last couple of miles. Still managed it in 87 minutes so very pleased.

The days training really caught up with me towards the end of work and I had an incredibly lethargic walk home. I felt so tired that I decided not to swim. Swimming was a bonus (ie unplanned) session so knocking it on the head wasn’t a problem. Decided it’s much more important to get home, get packed and get an early night so I am fully rested to make the most of the Easter weekend.

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Exhausted

Posted on April 2, 2007 by lord_lordy

Another early Monday morning. not quite as early as last weeks entry. I got to bed early enough last night to be up in time to do over an hours run before swimming but I felt so tired I initially knocked the run on the head and then the swim as well. So instead, it’s 6.22am, I’m wide awake, feel refreshed and am writing this.

Last night I felt the most exhausted I’ve felt in ages. I could hardly pluck up the energy to get a second helping of food or even to go to bed. I’d managed a hard weekends training off the back of a solid week.

To give an idea here are my week to date totals as of last night:

swim – 24.7km

bike – 491 miles

run – 86 miles

hours – 50.8 hours

Here’s the detail of the week:

Monday

Did a 10 mile run to swimming and then a 3.8km  session. Following breakfast I went to the pool and did a straight 8km time trial followed by 600m pull drill. The rest of the day was rest.

Tuesday

Too tired to get up and run first thing. So had a sleep in and managed to get out on the fixed by 7.50am. Did a tough 105 miles on the fixed. Managed to forget my spanners to remove my tyres so had a nervy ride to Ongar and then Chelmsford looking to buy a spanner and praying not to get a puncture. An unknown distance from Chelmsford I realised I had a slow puncture so ended up cycling as hard as I could to get there quickly. I entered Chelmsford on a completely flat front tyre but luckily the first shop I found was a bike shop !

    It was a windy day so I ended up spending the first 4 hours into the wind before having a fantastic ride back with the wind. Super quick turnaround got me to the pool for a 4.8k session. In the evening whilst Jo Turbo’d I got out and did my run. I managed 12.5 miles struggling at a very slow pace – it was a massive mental battle to just get round it but well worth the effort as I’m sure it increases my mental strength for the Ironman marathon.

Wednesday

First thing joined Jo on her paced run. I was concerned about this based on how slow I’d  been the night before but shouldn’t have been. I was able to kick out a decent pace very comfortably. At work I missed my lunchtime run due to work stuff, I felt it was a good thing getting the rest. In the evening it was the usual run to and from the club swim session. Am starting to swim well knocking out some 1.18 100m – still a ways to go though.

Thursday

Now it starts getting good. I was wide awake bright and early so got up and was out on the bike (fixed) by 4.20am. It’s a good sign when I’m on my  12th lap of Regents Park when Jo arrives. Not only that but I’d been really pushing it along. Once we had all met up (Jo, Gabriel and Luis) we started the session – we took it in turns to go as hard as we could from the SE corner of the lap to the NE corner. We managed 2 laps like this each. It was awesome fun. On my laps I did everything I could to drop the guys but wasn’t able to. When others were doing their laps I got on their wheel and shouted encouragement whenever they eased off. I thoroughly enjoyed my breakie afterwards having done 61 miles ! Managed a along steady run at lunchtime. I was in bed reading my book by 6.45pm and asleep by 7.15pm !

Friday

Again up bright and early and went and lapped Regents Park – not as fast as yesterday. Was out the same length of time but only got 58 miles done. Another long steady run at lunchtime. Then a 3k swim set after work before running to and from Janes for my dinner

Saturday

Managed to get up early and run 14 miles first thing. I was running really well and thoroughly enjoyed it. Had some breakie then got out on the fixed. I headed into the wind and it was a tough old ride. Ended up doing 115 miles in 7h45 and I felt exhausted. Luckily Jo was cooking up tea for us – it was delicious.

Sunday

Well chuffed I managed to get out for a run. Had to be quick as Jo and I were planning on starting our ride at 6.30am and I’d need breakfast after the run. I was belting along and managed 8.5 miles in 63 minutes. Breakfast and change in 25 minutes and we were on the road on time.

    Jo had said this would probably be an easy ride as she’d done a hard run on Saturday so her legs would probably be tired. Well… they weren’t and combined with her being on her new TT machine meant we went at a fair old pace. Managed best part of 5 hours riding before  we stopped in Great Dunmow. Then we covered the next 20 miles to Epping in 61 minutes – we were flying along and it was awesome fun. The usual Costa Coffee in Epping before Jo headed home and I headed back in the wind. I was going well but about 2 hours from home I started to feel it and it became pretty hard work. In the end I managed 152 miles in 9h48.

Hopefully that explains why I felt so knackered last night !

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Mammoth Week

Posted on March 26, 2007 by lord_lordy

It’s early Monday morning and I’m about to head off for a run before the club swim session. Not that I’m putting off starting but thought I’d make a start on this entry. It’s been a huge weekend of training. Here’s the raw figures:

Saturday – 16 mile run, 135 mile bike

Sunday – 5.5 mile run, 155 mile bike

Back from my swim now. Managed to do just over an hours run ahead of the swim. Felt very tired in the legs but it eased a little after about 30 minutes. Running back after swimming felt very good. The session itself went well. Main set of 5 x 400m on 6 mins holding your stroke count. For the first time in ages I felt in control when swimming fast and I had some power in my arms and shoulders.

Back to the weekend. Saturday morning I got up early and headed out for a long(ish) run – I felt great and did it at pace covering 16 miles in 2hours. Back home it was a very rapid turnaround as I’d agreed to meet Jo at Box Hill cafe at 9.30. During the run it dawned on me that getting there on time certainly wasn’t a ‘gimme’. I got set off at a little after 7am having not had any breakie. Just beyond Putney I ducked into a bakery and got two sticky buns and ate them as I rode. All fueled up I was able to crank up the pace. I pushed like mad, ending with a spell maintaining 12-13mph up Box Hill – arriving bang on 9.30am. I’d had to average 17mph to make it.

Jo went to sort out her new Time Trial bike and I headed for more miles now at a more steady pace. 5 minutes in I bump into Henry and we cycle together for a while. So much for easy pace – Henry’s easy is hard work for me. Was good to have a natter though.

The set up of Jo’s bike was troublesome so i ended up doing lap after lap of Box Hill popping in each time to see how it was going. We finished with 3 laps at pace together before heading to a local american diner for an awesome (and massive) tea. I ended with 135 miles in 8h48.

Despite the hour going on I still managed to get up and get a short run in Sunday morning before joining Jo and Kevin to ride out to Hemel Hempstead where they were doing a 21 mile run. I continued and did a massive loop out towards Milton  Keynes and back in through Potters Bar. Very pleased that I cycled just over 6 hours before having any food ! It ended up an exhausting 10h23 ride of 155 miles. I fell to sleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

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Rest Day

Posted on March 23, 2007 by lord_lordy

Took it easy today. Went for a swim and did a steady 5.1km. I woke early to my alarm (never a good sign) and though my HR was 43 (only slightly high) I felt tired so set the alarm for another 2 hours and rolled over. I was wide awake in 90 minutes and my HR was down to 36. It’s possible I only needed the extra sleep but decided that only a swim today was the safest choice allowing some decent recovery. better to ensure a great weekend of training than try and squeeze an extra few miles running in.

Yesterday was a great day. My alarm went off at 4am and I jumped straight out of bed totally motivated to get out on the 78” gear and hammer out some laps of Regents park. It was bitterly cold so I really pushed it early on. I’d done 9 laps by the time I met up with Jo, Luis and Gabriel. Jo had a session:

3 x ( 3 laps – 1st at LT+10watts, 2nd at LT, 3rd at LT – 10watts)

We decided to join in – sometimes on Jo’s wheel others pushing on the front. The 3 guys generally just having fun changing pace and staying near abouts Jo to give her company and some motivation. On the first lap of the second set I hit the front and was feeling great. I managed to jump off slightly and normally would ease off to let the others get back on. This morning I guess I felt a little mischievous or perhaps just wanted to push hard for a bit but whatever the reason I kept pushing and got well way. I hammered out 5 laps getting myself completely out of sight and getting my average speed to 18mph ! Well chuffed. Ended with 59 miles. An extra lap would have got the 60 but the weather had turned, it was sleeting and we were getting cold so headed for breakfast.

At lunchtime my legs felt wrecked and was close to knocking the run on the head but decided to at least give it a go. As soon as I started running it felt like I was must be using completely different muscles as I felt totally fresh. Did a 9 mile run and after the first couple of miles warming up I was comfortably cruising at 7 minute miles. Got me thinking that I seem very lucky (especially as a triathlete) that I seem naturally to run very well off the bike. My best runs are often following hard bikes. Will be interesting to see how the London Marathon goes since my plan is to do a run taper the week before but crank up the swim and bike mileage so as to mimic the fatigue that would be present in an Ironman marathon. Off the back of this the hope is to still get a sub 3 hour marathon.

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Tough Tuesday

Posted on March 21, 2007 by lord_lordy

Tuesdays seem to be my best days training. I always manage to be efficient and pack tonnes in. Here’s how yesterday went.

Up early and out running. Legs felt tired but managed 9 miles. I bumped into Tilly halfway and ran the second half with her. This really helped and it was nice to catch up. My plan had been to set out straight on the bike and get some breakfast in Epping I was too hungry after the run to execute this plan (a good sign that I’m heading towards my race weight) – I knocked up a lovely omelette and was on the fixed by 8am. Still running the 78″ gear so was looking forward to an interesting (tough) ride. There was a bitterly cold northerly wind which was a head / cross wind for all but the last couple of hours of the ride. The aim was to ride 5 hours non stop and get a total of 6 hours in. Very pleased with

my discipline as I considered extending it and knocking my swim on the head but resisted. It was hard work – the gearing meant out of the saddle for fairly easy inclines (especially into the wind). Only hit by hail / sleet on one occasion. My lunch of coffee and toffee crisp cheesecake was awesome in Epping.

Back home by 2.50pm. Managed to have some soup, pineapple, pink grapefruit and cottage cheese before heading to the pool and swimming by 3.30pm. Did a 3.8km timetrial. I started a warm up and felt good so just continued for 3.9km to see how long it took. Was feeling strong and fast so very disappointed that it took 66 minutes. I guess that the first 1km was pretty slow as I was warming up. Followed this by a 600m pull focussing on long stroke and strong pull. All done – back via supermarket. Home – prepared dinner for Jo and I – got it in the oven to slow cook. Prepared salad for next couple of days lunch and was sat watching the news with a cup of soup for a quick relax before Jo and I did a 90 minute turbo at 7pm.

What a day. As you can imagine I slept massively well. Was pleased – wide awake at 5am (an hour before my alarm) with a relatively low heart rate. Went out with Jo for her run session. Warm up, 40 minutes at pace, cool down. Out for 65 minutes and 9 miles. Initially I felt tired – my legs didn’t feel up to it though aerobically I was suffering not at all. By about 20 minutes in I settled down and felt strong. I was able to act as a rabbit for Jo. Works well for me as it gives a change of pace – I push it to pull away then ease off to give Jo a target she can work hard to catch. Once she’s back with me we run together for a few minutes then I do the same again. Really enjoyed it.

Managed a lunchtime run. Felt hard for about 15 minutes but then I felt comfortable and pushed it along nicely. Just ran to and from the bike shop to collect my wheels – now straightened following the Lanzarote crash.

Just a run two and from the club swim session to round off a good days training.

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Post Lanza

Posted on March 17, 2007 by lord_lordy

It must have been a good weeks training as I couldn’t help but rest on my return. Sunday was complete rest, as planned, and thoroughly enjoyable I must say. Monday was just the club swim session and tuesday just a turbo in the evening. I decided to make the most of my time on Tuesday and invested in a drill and some bike racks and attached them to the wall in my spare room, better described as the bike storage / workshop. 3 bikes are now off the floor and it makes a massive difference.

By wednesday I was getting back into it but didn’t manage a lunchtime run. Ran before work and then to and from swimming in the evening.

I replaced the chain on my fixed and bought a selection of gears. On Thursday morning I had a go with a 69” gear (for reference I’ve been riding the fixed on a 72” for nearly two years). This allowed me to spin more and made cycling in traffic nicer – I’d definitely commute on this gear. It did  mean I had to spin more on my loops of Regents park. I met Luis there and we pushed it along. I must admit I was looking forward to a few easier loops once Luis headed off but then Craig joined us, the pace upped again and I left before him. Chuffed though as I got my average speed up to 17mph and managed 55 miles. Managed to follow this with a run at lunchtime

For Friday morning I upped the gearing to 78” – this was noticeably hard and forced me to work throughout my laps. However – it did mean I got my average to 17.9mph and managed 58 miles in the time it took me to do 55 on Thursdays. My legs seriously ached. Even so, I will stick with this gear since it’s outright strength I’m lacking – I naturally spin at a high cadence. At lunchtime I was all changed to head out running when I noticed I hadn’t brought a towel. I took this as a sure sign I must need more rest and it was probably for the best so that I was fully rested to get back into full training on Saturday.

Headed down to surrey hills with Jo on Saturday. Gorgeous day – nice and warm. I wasn’t as hardcore as Jo. On arrival at Box Hill she  locked up her bike and did a 16 mile run before joining me on the bike. I just did more cycling whilst she ran. We bumped into Henry on the way up Box Hill – he was looking incredibly fit. Managed 117 miles in a little under 8 hours.

Sunday morning I was wide awake very early, so I got up and got a 90 minute run in. Jo then joined me to head out north on the bikes. We were on the road by 6.40am so real potential for a long ride. Much to my surprise I was feeling fantastic on the bike. On every hill I felt I could just push the gear and not change down. Not often I feel that good. We did a big loop through Hertford and down to Epping. Getting 75 miles done before stopping in Epping for coffee and cheescake. It was very windy so we were pleased with an average of over 15mph. I continued after this. Made the gutsy decision to head with the wind initially so that I would have the toughest riding at the end. I headed east and was belting along with the wind. Got hit briefly by a hailstorm but other than that it was great. The wind was excellent training for Lanzarote. My strength remained throughout and I ended with 146 miles in 9h25. Over the moon managing to get my first 9+ hour ride so early in the year.

Today has gone well so far. This should prove my best mondays training. Got an early night so had 9 hours sleep before getting up and running to swimming. Did an enjoyable 3.9km session. Following breakie I did a 6 mile run loop to the gym where I did another 5.6km swim. Did a very steady 5km straight swim followed by 600m pull concentrating on some technique pointers Wayne had pointed out this morning. Top lunch at Peoples Choice – now letting it settle before doing my long run ending at my sisters for my tea.

It’s going well.

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