A bit of a mixed bag ...

Fortunately, I recovered from Friday night's excesses in time to ride with Sags on Sunday morning. Sadly, this was my last weekend ride with Sags as he is racing this coming Sunday and I move house next Monday. :-( It was not good for other reasons as well. As soon as I pulled up at our agreed meeting place at 0730 I was overcome with dread; not only was Sags on his TT bike but he was using his disk wheel and the very deep front wheel. The only thing missing was the aero helmet. And then he muttered those words that would strike fear into the hearts of most mortals - "I want to do a few efforts as well today!" Gulp! As a dedicated roadie now I was riding my trusty Litespeed without any tribars - I was in for a World of Pain. Needless to say, I couldn't hang on to his wheel at all. On his first effort I think I lasted no more than 3 minutes - it was like Chris Boardman on his Lotus bike breaking the hour record against "Dr Hutch" trying the Athletes Hour (for those less knowledgeable about cycling matters, the Athletes Hour is done without any aero aids. As a further aside, Hutch's book about his endeavours to break this record is highly recommended reading). At one point I was on the front riding at a none too shabby 22mph when Sags just cruised past and disappeared off into the distance. I think it's fair to say his cycling is OK. And just to rub it in, he texted me later to say he had ran a number of miles off the bike at something like 6:15 pace. Now where did I put my gun?

Seriously, it was a great ride; I did a little over 92km in 3hrs 5 mins so was well pleased. The speed will come; it's miles in the bank I need at the moment. And wasn't it great to see the sun shining?

Today was fitness test day for me, so I cycled over to Fort Whateveritscalled near Haslar and did my test. I know I'm somewhat heavier than when I did the test last September but managed light blue for the shuttles and dark blue for press ups and sit ups, the result of which, of course, is no further fitness test required for 12 months - RESULT! I also did some stretch and flex and took a scenic ride home to notch up nearly 2 hours of training today. Lovely! I should mention the weight at this point, I was unable to weigh myself this last weekend due to my inability to get out of bed before noon, and only after several cups of coffee and breakfast had been brought up to me. Here's hoping that a good week of training will see me heading towards 11st 10lbs this week.

What else is going on? Well, the moving van arrives at Brampton next Monday and delivers our worldly possessions to our new townhouse on the South Coast on Wednesday. I really like the house and it's location. The house is unusual in that the kitchen and dining room are on the ground floor, the living room, study, toilet, storeroom and 4th bedroom are on the 1st floor, with the other 3 bedrooms and the bathroom on the top floor. There is a small south facing garden, and the living room and the 2 main bedrooms are also south facing, so it should be very pleasant in the summer. There is a large bike storage area as well (I think some strange people may refer to this as a garage!). If you have a good arm, you could probably reach the sea with a suitably aero pebble, and I'm looking forward to running the dog along the coast most mornings, although I expect it can get a tad breezy. It's hard to believe we have lived at Brampton for just over 5 years - doesn't time fly?

It's good to see that the race season is about to start, or has just started for many. Jonny Briggs over in MdS, the IM SA crowd, the British Duathlon Champs etc etc - has anyone had word from Reg "The Silver Fox" about his ultra the other weekend?

Race well and enjoy. This is what we do it for.

Did Some More Tidying Up Last Night

This time it was white wine, and rather a lot of it. Completely shabby today and absolutely no training unless you count a long walk in the park with the dog. Good job it's a recovery week, I need it in more ways than one.

A bit of a strange week

What with work, dinners out, marching in to our new house, travelling etc, it's been a bit of a poor week training wise. But, after 4 good weeks of training it fits quite nicely as a recovery week. I did go out on Wednesday night on my MTB for a recce of dog walking areas around our new home. Unfortunately, I came a cropper in some shingle and suffered an embarrassing comedy "pedal" moment; we've all done it, you come to a stop but can't unclip in time and suffer the ignomy of a slow fall from grace. I got up quickly and looked around to make sure no-one had seen me (they hadn't!) and jumped back on again. The only damage (apart from my pride) was a scratched phone.

Hopefully, I will get out for a run tomorrow (and maybe a quick 25 mile ride as well?) and am planning to ride with Sags on Sunday so should manage about 6 hours or so - an ideal recovery week. Sags has just texted to remind me that the clocks go forward on Saturday night ...

My Litespeed has been getting used a lot over the past few weeks and is suffering in the cleanliness stakes. Bally (remember him?) would have apoplexy if he saw it. I must make the effort to clean it this weekend. Following the article about bike set up in Cycling Weekly last week, I thought I would re-measure the Litespeed because over time things can change, especially when you are constantly putting bikes together and taking them apart for travelling etc. I spent a good amount of time checking the various measurements and was surprised that the saddle height of my Litespeed was 2.5cms less than my TT and Turbo bikes. I re-measured but it seemed to be correct, so I left it. But it puzzled me. It was only later that evening after I had put all the bikes to bed (!) that I realised my mistake; I had done the test without wearing shoes! As Father Dougall would say - "Eedjyat!"

As a bit of fun, I've been "building" my dream bike - the internet is a wonderful thing. Final choice is unusual but weighs less than 13.5lbs and is kitted out with some super kit, although I do insist on alloy handlebars. The cost? Well, it's not cheap but no more expensive than some of the top spec bikes from Trek, Specialized etc. I think Santa in Christmas 2010 may be very good to me. I hope.

Train smart fellow bloggers.

The Good, The Bad and The Mad!

Let's start with The Good. I've entered the Inter Services Cycle Sportive taking place at Highclere Castle on 7 Jun 09. There are 2 choices of distance, 77 miles and 126 miles, and I have committed to the 126 mile route. As well as long the course is hilly but I'm hoping it will give me a good clue as to how my cycling endurance is in preparation for Barcelona in October.

The Bad. I've been at a Conference for 2 days and as well as training being severely reduced my nutrition intake has consisted of just about everything bad you could possibly imagine. Not looking forward to jumping on the scales this weekend.

The Mad. Jonny Briggs. On returning from the aforementioned conference there was a message from Jonny inviting me round for dinner. We had a great evening catching up and chatting about stuff in general and about the Marathon de Sables in particular. I struggle to believe that Jonny is attempting this on approx 2400 calories a day but he has worked it all out and reckons he can do it. I'm sure he has the mental toughness to see it through and he has prepared as well as he possibly could. He flies out tomorrow (26 March) to start this madcap adventure and I wish him absolutely every success. His team are doing it to support Help for Heroes and it's not too late to donate some money - see here: www.justgiving/rafmds09. Best of luck to them all.

Did Some More Tidying Up Today

We tidied up the ice.

We tidied up the brandy.

We tidied up the lemon.

We tidied up the diet coke.

Unfortunately this has, once again, impacted upon my cycling. Build week starts again tomorrow! Honest!!!

And Tonight I Have Been Tidying Up

We had some ice in the freezer that needed tidying up.

So I bought some brandy, some diet coke, a lemon, and tidied up like a good 'un.

Might be lieing in late tomorrow ...

Another Fine Ride

I had limited time this morning so was up bright and early and met Sags at 0730 for a 2 hour ride. It was pretty chilly but we soon warmed up and rode easily with a couple of tempo efforts. Sags was not at his sharpest after some hard sessions this week and I had no problems hanging on to his wheel; a cheeky headwind probably also helped as I drafted behind. I covered 63.7km at an average speed of 30.3kmh so it was a good ride. I've covered over 150 miles so far this week and am hoping to pop out early on Sunday for a quick 25 miles - I've promised to prepare breakfast in bed for Mrs Turbo Man as it's Mother's Day so need to walk the dog and be able to get back in time to prepare breakfast. Can I do it?

Ramblings

Today was a rest day so nothing much to report, so I have a chance to ramble a bit. Like Sags, I've been tinkering with my TT bike position recently and put it on the turbo last night. I think the position is good, but it may be a little too severe for an IM bike leg. I think I need to widen the elbow pads a tad and maybe raise the bars by one spacer. Photos in due course, of course.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Up early for a 2 hour ride with Sags and then home, change and off to collect my "new" car. The new Turbo Man Wagon will hopefully prove to be a bike friendly and reliable beast of burden. And it's green, which is good.

Only 2 more weekends here (not including this one) and then the moving van arrives; am really looking forward to the move and getting the family together again and not have to do that dreadful journey around the M25 every Friday afternoon. The downside, of course, is that there will be no more weekend rides with Sags. I have really enjoyed riding with Mark; we've had short rides, long rides, easy rides and hard rides, had a chance to gossip and put the world to rights. And all the time it's been good training. Occasionally I've made Sags work hard but more often than not he's given me a hard time, especially when the road goes uphill (of course this is entirely due to him being sub 10-stone as opposed to my 12-stone bulk). I've enjoyed it buddy, and look forward to the last couple of weeks and maybe we can get together and ride again somewhere soon. Maybe you will let me pace you on an Ironman bike leg somewhere sometime (although clearly I wouldn't be running afterwards).

Train smart folks.

Sometimes you just have to rest

And today was one of those days. On the programme today was the hard 6 x 6 mins at 105% of FTP session on the turbo. But it had been a hard ride yesterday, my legs were tired and when I finished work my body was telling me it needed to rest. You know the feeling; I'll just sit down for half an hour; I'll just shut my eyes for 10 minutes...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Anyway, 3 hours later when I woke up I figured that my body had needed it so binned the planned session and did a swift 30 minutes of active recovery. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow (which is a programmed rest day) and should therefore be raring to go on Saturday morning.

Rest well folks, because rest is training as well.

And today I ...

... cycled some more; now there's a surprise! Wednesday is turning into a regular training night with Chairman Ed of RAF Cycling. Week 1 was 48km, last week was 60km, and today was 75km in 2:40. Excellent. Started steady with some harder efforts up the hills. Did a loop around the back of Southwick Park and then returned the same way back, but picking up the pace a bit. Ed also pushed the uphill bits reasonably hard (a bit like Sags - I should be used to this by now!). I managed to pull us along for a bit before Ed took charge again. As we approached the end I hit the front a bit earlier - got to keep him on his toes - and although I upped the pace I was pooped and with about 300m to go Ed came passed and I had nothing left to respond with. Another brilliant ride out and some good training in the bank.

The trouble with all this bike riding is that it shows up deficiencies in your kit. I now have a large blister on the sole of my left foot; I reckon my ageing Carnac shoes are telling me they're worn out and I need some new ones. There is a horrible bump on the inside that is causing the blister but my cycling piggy bank is currently empty. Looks like I'll have to use the race shoes for a bit.

Cycling is good - do some more.

Train smart fellow bloggers.

Here Comes The Sun ...

Isn't it great to see the sun? I don't know about you but when the sun shines my whole mood feels lighter and more positive. It's clear from felow bloggers that training in most cases is going well and there's a real enthusiasm for the season ahead.

Despite the nice weather, my coach (that's me) had a "Level 3" turbo session planned. After last week's success I raised the power level by 10 watts for the 3 x 20 minute session. It was still manageable but it was just that little bit harder. No need to rush; I don't need to be fast in May, I need to be fast in October.

Nice to see some new Bloggers, Mat (that is one cool picture for a blog!) and Reg "The Silver Fox", although I reckon I have a better claim to that name! I don't know what's happened to Coach Roy, though, he seems to have disappeared completely from Blogland.

Train smart folks.

Something Old, Something New ...

We're a profligate bunch of people; how often do we replace something that isn't necessarily worn out or broken? More often than we perhaps should I suspect. The other night after being inspired by Mike Masters I was tinkering with my position on my turbo bike (no hint of profligacy there then?) and was looking for that perfect position. Eventually I found it (or as near as I can in the relatively controlled conditions) and guess what? I achieved it using an old set of Profile Century tribars. Yes they're bulky and heavy but for the turbo that makes no difference. When I first started out in tri I bought these for my road bike, the pads are thick and comfortable and the hand hold is spot on for me. Tonight, therefore, I parked The Prince of Darkness next to my turbo bike and took some measurements and made some adjustments. PoD is now as close as possible to the measurements of my turbo bike, albeit with a slightly lighter tribar set up. I have compromised aerodynamics a little bit with the hand position but this has got to see me through a 112 mile TT so I reckon I am allowed a little comfort.

I will post some pics of me on the bike asap.

THE BIG 200!

The BIG 200 is 200 miles of cycling in 1 week. I chose 200 miles for no other reason than it was a nice round number and after my efforts earlier in the week I needed a ride of close to 60 miles today to reach the target. I had agreed to ride with Sags and there was an outside chance that Big Nige might also come along. Unfortunately (but maybe sensibly) Big Nige didn't show. Sags was again riding his TT bike and I just knew there was some pain ahead. But how much?

It was cool when we set off but the sun was soon shining although there was a fairly strong breeze blowing. Sags was most definitely up for a hard ride today and we mixed some Tempo efforts with more sensible steady state riding. After 50km we came to a loop that Sags had planned to ride around doing tempo efforts for a couple of laps. We set off on lap 1 and he set a fair old pace - so fast was he going that I was dropped after about 2km! However, for lap 2 I had a cunning plan. The lap starts with a twisty descent and I had noticed that Sags was a bit cautious through this part of the course. So on lap 2 I set off down this hill like a startled rabbit and kept the pace high as the road flattened out at the bottom. I kept expecting Sags to cruise past but where was? Keeping the pace high was now hurting - where was Sags? It turns out that Sags had decided to do a steady even paced effort and so had made no attempt to stay with me at the beginning. He passed me after about 3km and kept the pace high. Me? I crashed and burned spectacularly as the road went uphill and watched Sags disappear into the distance.

Unsurprisingly I felt those efforts for the rest of the ride but we were now on the homeward leg. Sags, however, continued to see every uphill as a challenge and consequently I saw a lot of him disappearing into the distance! I made it home though, and clocked up 100.19km in a few seconds under 3.5 hours, making a total bike mileage for the week of 203.98 miles. Result!

And if anyone is in any doubt, Sags is looking awesome on the bike.

So, a good week of training and some good motivation to take forward into next week. The turbo sessions will be a little harder this week but still not to the level of last year. Small steps, one at a time.

Train smart folks!

My new Car

After 2.5 years the "Red Rocket", namely my 14-year old 1.4 Vauxhall Astra, has been replaced by the above, a very youthful (in comparison) 8-year old Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia. It seems Mrs Turbo Man could not get on with a car that didn't have power steering and with me taking our other car to and from Gosport every week I was told The Red Rocket had to go. The back seats fold leaving a completely flat floor so it is very bike friendly. All it needs now is a name; it's a pale green colour so something like The Green Goblin would suit it - any ideas?

I'm writing this whilst carbo loading in preparation for my ride tomorrow morning with Sags. I've also just found out that you get half price pizzas from Dominos if you show your ID card - brilliant.

The Weekly Weigh-In

It's been a great week of training so I had high hopes for a positive result on the scales. I managed to lose one pound this week so am now 12 st 1 lb but I was really hoping to have seen 11 st something. Oh well, maybe next week. If I'm totally honest, I have slipped up on the nutrition front a couple of times this week; cream cake on Thursday (we'd had some good news!) and work had a cake sale for Red Nose Day so I felt compelled, yes, compelled, to have a couple. And then a Snickers duo in the car driving home on Friday. I guess I know where I'm going wrong!

This morning I was up bright and early to take Bandit for a run in the park. It was a bit cool but was fine once we got going. The pace was very easy and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Have some domestic chores to do today in preparation for our forthcoming house move but am really looking forward to a long ride with Sags tomorrow. It has been suggested that Big Nige might be coming with us but I reckon there's more chance of Arsenal winning the Premiership this year! We shall see.

Train smart folks.

Rest Day

After a great week of training we should not forget that rest is equally as important to ensure the body can recover and make itself stronger. Friday is now my rest day as I have to drive home (if driving up the M3, M25 and M1 on a Friday afternoon can be considered restful!) and I make sure I am well hydrated on the journey to minimise muscle aches afterwards.

As I find most radio stations dull and boring (until I can get myself an in-car DAB radio) I usually have my ipod plugged into the car stereo. Usually I like things a little more up tempo and ... er ... heavier. But as I was flicking through the menu I thought I would listen to something I had for some time and found myself listening to the Proclaimers and do you know what, I really enjoyed it, singing along like some sort of possessed madman.

So what do I have on the training agenda for this weekend? An easy run on Saturday with Bandit in the park and on Sunday a long bike with Sags and maybe, just maybe, Big Nige. Looking forward to both. I'll let you know how it goes.

Train smart fellow Bloggers.

And More Of The Same Please!

Another day and some more cycling to be done. First things first, though, and after yesterday's ride I was up early for 40 minutes of stretch and flex. I'm finding these sessions essential to ease tired muscles and hopefully doing them regularly will also help towards preventing injuries. As for cycling, this evening was a turbo session and the dreaded 6 x 6 minutes with 2 minutes recovery. However, as I am in the early weeks of my 2009 prep they are not yet full on and were done some 15% lower than my max last year. The plan is to increase by 10 watts every week until my legs venture into new territory. As expected, I got through the 6 reps without too much pain and after an extended warm down had covered another 37 miles in the process, making a total so far this week of 141.75 miles. I've already hit my training target of 9 hours per week so am well chuffed. Friday is my rest day and Saturday I go for an easy run in the park with the dog. Which means I have to drag Sags round for 58.25 miles on Sunday to reach "The Magic 200" unless I can sneak a cheeky little ride in sometime on Saturday. We shall see.

Train smart fellow bloggers.

Sssssssssshhhh! You know who is about ...

No, not He Who Must Not Be Named but the P*ncture Fairy; she paid me a visit on our ride out this evening. As usual with such visits, it happened on a tiny country lane in the pitch black. Fortunately I was riding with someone who was well prepared, and wearing a head torch, otherwise it would have been a right pain in the butt. It didn't spoil a great ride out though and if you've never ridden downhill on an unlit country lane with no idea which way the road is going then I can thoroughly recommend it! Adrenaline? I should say so! (Perhaps not for you though Sags?). We covered a little over 60km in 2 hrs 10 mins, with the last 10 or so km done at a very rapid rate and, once again, I jumped off the last roundabout, half a mile from the finish. And once again, I was caught but this time Ed did not sit up as he went past and there was no chance of me getting back.

I'm feeling brilliant as I sit here with a good ride under my belt and compression tights on. I have 6 hrs 45 mins in the training log that includes 5 hrs 45 mins and 105 miles of cycling (ave 18.2mph) - and it's only wednesday! What's more impressive is that my body seems to be adapting to the cycling quite quickly - I struggled last Wednesday to cover 30 miles at a slower pace than we did today and I felt strong enough towards the end to take the front and push on at over 40kmh, and even when I weakened and Ed took the front and ramped it up a little further (!) I was able to catch his wheel (he pulled a gap but I got back on - just!). I'll see how the legs are in the morning but at the moment I'm feeling really good.

Train smart fellow bloggers.

New Beginnings...

Rome wasn't built in a day etc etc. This single sport stuff is so much easier than having to balance 3 different disciplines.

This morning I was up nice and early for my weight watcher's class; yes, I'm still doing the early morning gentle run. I was a bit over-dressed but it was nice once I was out and I managed some 36 minutes. This evening it was back on the turbo for 3 x 20 minutes at 250 (Tacx) watts. I bailed out of this session after 5 minutes of the 3rd interval last week but sailed through it this week with just a bit of saddle discomfort. Total turbo time was 86 minutes; next week this session will increase to 260 (Tacx) watts.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, it will be back out on the road with the Chairman of RAF Cycling. I believe he has planned something a little longer this week; last week was 30 miles so I suspect something around 40 miles may be on the cards. Hopefully the wind will have died down and there should be another 5 minutes or so of daylight; it will be lovely when we can ride out late into the evenings. My Litespeed is looking like a right dog's dinner at the moment; with all the riding and travelling there just doesn't seem to have been time to clean it. Talking of my Litespeed, I know that I'm a proper roadie now because I've taken my tribars off!

Train smart fellow bloggers, whatever your sport.

Do You Want to be a Triathlete or a Cyclist?

I asked a friend for some coaching advice and this was the first line of his response, and it got me thinking. It's well known that my 2009 plans revolve totally around a fast bike leg at Quelle Challenge Barcelona in October, and that I have already stopped swimming, but what do I want to do afterwards? What will I be doing in 2010?

There are a couple of things I would like to have done in triathlon - race in GB kit, complete the Alpe D'Huez Tri - but that's about it and if I'm totally honest not doing these would not diminish my life significantly. In fact, not at all. But cycling, both sportives and time trialling, appeal to me. When we were out riding yesterday we had a wind assisted downhill stretch that went on for a couple of miles with some fast corners (not the lean the bike over and pray type corners I hasten to add!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even getting my butt kicked by Sags on the Sawtry TT course until I cried "Stop!" was strangely enjoyable.

So the answer was, unsurprisingly, "A Cyclist". And my training over the weeks and months ahead will reflect this decision. Am I lost to triathlon and RAF Tri? No, I don't think so, as long as the Sprint Series continues, I enjoy the friendly atmosphere and there is now even more reason to go out and absolutely cane the bike leg. The difference now, of course, will be that I'll be putting 10 minutes down for my swim time and be back in the changing rooms before the fast boys get started. I might even be tempted out to the IS races as a guest - I still have a decent wetsuit so it needs to get wet occasionally. And if anyone is putting together an IM relay team in 2010 then I would be more than interested in cycling for them. Have I enjoyed triathlon? Absolutely. From where I was 7 years ago to today has been absolutely fantastic, and no-one can ever take away the fact that I have completed an Ironman race, and I have the tattoo to prove it.

At least I can carry on being called "Turbo Man".

Moving on to cheerier things, I was inspired by Tinman today. No, seriously, I was. I was reading his blog and in particular the picture of him on his bike. His position looked excellent and it got me thinking (again - twice in one day - ouch!). When I first met Mike many years ago at Lossiemouth we were both new to the sport and stumbling around the Half Ironman course at Aberfeldy, quite literally in Mike's case, where he threw up in some old lady's garden and she took pity on him and took him inside and gave him a cup of tea. To see how far he has progressed as an athlete, his enthusiasm for the sport and that he gives something back as a race referee and organiser for RAF Tri is really impressive. Anyway, I'm rambling, Mike's picture inspired me to try some new things out on my turbo bike this evening, to see if I could improve my position. Having a number of different length stems lieing around when you choose to do something like this really helps, plus 2 sets of tribars etc etc. Anyway, bottom line is, I tried something new and, from my perspective, it seems better. And all thanks to a picture of Tinman on his bike. Thanks Mike.

Train smart folks.

Making Progress...

... slowly. One small step at a time. This week's small step was to increase the bike mileage and a total of 295km was ridden, with a little over 190km of those being on the road. Pace wasn't important (good job too!) it was simply a case of getting time in the saddle and miles in the legs. Despite it being early March, this is only Week 2 of my 2009 training programme so there is plenty of time for speedwork later in the year.

Today's session was a steady ride with Sags, although there were a few long tempo efforts thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately for me the tempo efforts were at Sags super-fit level (and don't let him persuade you he is in anything other than fine shape!) which meant that I was working very hard and my lack of endurance work caught up with me as we attempted to ride the Sawtry 10-mile TT course at a decent pace (which we started just over 2 hours into the ride). Despite drafting the whole way I called "time" at the halfway point and had to return home at a somewhat reduced pace with jelly legs. A total ride time for me was 3 hours 17 minutes for 91.3km. Great training for this time of year.

And if Sags posts any "dodgy" pictures on his blog then be reassured they are a photoshopped set-up!

The diet was a bit of a disaster this week; training more really ups the appetite and I was the same weight this week as last; not good. I clearly need to give up puddings - whilst living in the Mess has many advantages, 3-course dinners every night with stodgy puddings (no matter how nice they are - Baileys and banana bread and butter pudding anyone?) is not agreeing with my waistine despite in excess of 11 hours training this week. I promise to be more disciplined in future. The evidence will be at next week's weigh-in - target next week is a nice round 12 stone.

Train smart folks.

"My Name is Earl"

One of the funniest programmes on TV, in my humble opinion, but also entirely appropriate for me at the moment. Do good things and good things will happen to you, and (my interpretation) all things happen for the best.

And so it is that due to work commitments I will not be able to make either the Inter Services duathlon or the Inter Services triathlon. "So where's the Quid Pro Quo?" I here you ask. Well thank you for your question and it is quite straightforward. I am now only doing 3 triathlons this year, and these will be the 3 RAF Sprint Series races, so I only have to swim 400 metres, 3 times, and I only have to run 5km, 3 times. Everything else will now be cycling orientated, which is very good news for my Barcelona team mates. And there is more good news (although I may have already mentioned this), in that I now share an office with the Chairman of RAF Cycling and, most unusually for me, we were out on the road and did 30 miles this evening, in the dark, something I would never have done on my own. Yes, I spent a lot of the time hanging on to his back wheel but I didn't disgrace myself and had enough left to attempt a sprint finish off the last roundabout (I was caught quite quickly!). Also, there is the Inter Services Sportive on 7 June (see the RAF Cycling website for details) with distances of 77 and 126 miles that I have pencilled into my calendar (126 miles naturally, although I strongly suspect that I will not be that fit by then so it will end up being a total sufferfest!) but it will be a good indicator of how I am shaping up for Barcelona.

Anyway, it's only Wednesday and I've already racked up 85 miles of cycling this week so I'm starting as I mean to go on.

So, this year I will be mostly cycling and do you know what? I'm really looking forward to it.

This is More Like it!

It's Tuesday evening and the weather down here on the Gosport Peninsula is absolutely horrendous. Cold, wet and windy and certainly not the weather for being out cycling, so it was a good job my programme had "Level 3 turbo" on it tonight. It's been a really good start to the week as well. After a good day on Sunday I usually have an easy day on Monday and gave myself the morning off and had an extra half hour in bed. But in the evening I was out on the road and got just over an hour of cycling done, before bad light and poor road conditions led me back to the Mess, where I got on the turbo for another hour of steady riding. This morning I was up at 0600 for 35 mins of easy running and this evening the cycling racked up another 90 mins. So, 2 days down and 4 hours in the training diary. Things are looking up.

On the downside, I can no longer make the IS duathlon as I have to go away on a course. C'est la vie, although it's fair to say I never bother the scorers unduly at these events!

Tran smart folks.

A Great Day of Training

... following the "Night Before"! We were invited out to dinner last night and had a great night and ate and drank far too much. Nevermind, my penance was this morning. I had arranged to meet Sags at 0800 but was out just after 0730 and got in a few kms before meetings Sags. We then rode for an hour or so before Sags headed off to join the St Ives Cycling Club ride and I headed home having managed a 1 hr 35 min ride. But no, not for the previously suggested hot shower and bacon butties, but for a swift coffee, change and then out for a run with my faithful running partner, Bandit. In truth, we had to go and collect the car we had left at our friend's house last night, but it was a good excuse for a 40 minute run.

Aren't phones with cameras great!

Anyway, and more importantly, today's endeavours took me to a little over 7 hours of training for the week. This was week 1 of my 2009 training plan so I'm quite happy with that. I will aim for a little more in week 2 and progress from there.

Train smart folks.