Almost complete ...

The flat-bar commuter is almost complete. Mudguards are fitted, new brake blocks fitted and brakes adjusted, new chain fitted (although may need a couple of links removing), a bell with integral compass - a gift from my daughter - has also been fitted to ensure I know which direction I'm heading (as distinctly different from actually knowing where I'm going!), rear light fitted, need to rob the front light off the PX and fit that, gears need adjusting, need to fit a new rear inner tube. And that's about it.

Pictures soon. I bet you can't wait!

Not so much 'new', as resurrected!

As mentioned a little while ago, I was going to transform my Planet X Superlight Pro Carbon bike into a fast commuter. But after last weekend's ride I have had a change of heart; the Planet X is now going to stay as a winter/training bike and I have dusted off my old Scott frameset to be my 'new' commuter. The Scott was the bike that I used when I first started triathlon, and is now almost 10 years old, although it has had very little use over the last few years.

I needed flat handlebars, gear shifters and brake levers and Planet X duly provided a lovely set of On-One blue bars and Shimano levers. I've put the bike together over the last couple of evenings, and I'm quite pleased with progress. It has 105 chainset (53-39), front and rear mechs, Ultegra brakes, Shimano 16-spoke wheels, carbon seatpost and Body Geometry saddle. I reckon it should be a reasonably swift commuter!

I'm waiting on a final delivery from Wiggle for a chain, new brake blocks and cassette, and then super-fast commuting shall commence. Unless its raining! It doesn't have mudguards so will be a fair weather commuter only. I may splash out on mudguards in due course but its not a priority at the moment.

Train smart folks!

First Bike Ride in a Very Long Time

This morning I was up bright and early, took the dog for his early morning walk along the coast, had a hearty breakfast of eggs & bacon accompanied by a glass of water and a strong coffee, and then got changed for something I haven't done for many months; a long bike ride. OK, it was planned to be 2.5 hours that I know isn't very long for some of you, but I haven't ridden a bike for more than 2.5 miles since April (I think) so this was, for me, quite a big deal. I was quite pleased that the weather was OK, as I had arranged to meet a ride buddy and so there was no pulling out.

I had prepared all my kit last night, so wasn't scrabbling around looking for stuff, and at 0730 I headed out the door. I was riding the Planet X on what was supposed to be it's last ride before becoming a flat-barred commuter, but I think there's a change of plan coming there! I was late meeting my ride buddy, partly because of the wind but mainly because I no longer have 'bike legs', and it took me longer to get to the meeting point than it did last year. Anyway, we headed out and rode fairly easily, a few efforts on the hills but overall a fairly gentle and steady effort. We had to cut a few km off towards the end because I was tight for time, and after dropping my ride buddy off at his house I headed home, but my lower back was aching which suggests that I need to become more familiar with my bike. I think we did about 65-70 km this morning, in 2 hours 45 minutes; nothing spectacular but it's a major step forward for me.

When I got home, I went upstairs, got changed into my gym kit and headed straight out to the CrossFit gym. If I hadn't promised my son that we were going I certainly wouldn't have bothered, I was knackered! The session was: 100 pull-ups, 100 press-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats. Sounds easy, but it was quite painful, and I wasn't exactly overflowing with energy! But I did it (although I did cheat on the pull-ups!).

My legs are very tired this evening and I've tried to ease the pain with fresh scones, clotted cream and raspberry jam.

Train smart folks. Unlike me.

SAD

SAD, as in Seasonal Affective Disorder, rather than sad, not being a happy bunny. The dark mornings and evenings seem to have dragged the enthusiasm for fitness training out of me. But never fear, I have a plan!

I've started cycling to and from work, it's not far and I'm especially enjoying the ride home. I'm using Mrs TM's non-electric powered commuter bike so it's not ideal, but it's good fun. I reckon this is saving me a gallon of petrol a week so I've decided to use the money saved to change my PX from a drop bar race bike to a flat bar commuter speed demon. The parts have been ordered and should be here early next week. The PX will then be converted and hardcore commuting will commence, along with lunchtime bike rides. The rides will be short but fresh air and a slow build up of miles in the legs is the aim. The CrossFit will help build strength and endurance.

Pictures to follow when the conversion is complete. Feeling positive.

Getting Started Again!

It's been 3 weeks since my course finished and I have spent this time easing myself back into a CrossFit regime. After 8 weeks of very little activity plus the 7 weeks or so before that with my knee injury it has come as no surprise that my body has not accepted getting back into a training regime lightly. I have had sore shoulders, arms and legs for several days now and have become very well reacquainted with our old friend 'DOMS'.

But its great to be getting back into it, and I will add the cycling back in slowly over the next few weeks.

Train smart folks.

Marco Simoncelli

I was watching the MotoGP and saw this 'live'. Extremely shocking and hard to believe that one of the most exciting young riders to arrive in MotoGP in recent years has been taken from us before reaching the heights that he was undoubtedly capable of. He was just 24 years old.

RIP Marco Simoncelli.

A clean sheet of paper ...

I've now finished my course and am looking forward to getting back to a reasonably healthy lifestyle. I managed to put on 12 pounds in just 8 weeks so have some work to do just to get back to where I was 2 months ago. I have given myself a 10-week plan starting this week to ease myself back into it gently and hopefully by Christmas I will be back at the lower end of the 11 stone scale rather than the upper end that I am now. I plan a nice mix of CrossFit, gym bike/turbo training, the odd road ride and plenty of core, stretch and flex as well as some healthy eating.

I've been in touch with my Desk Officer and we are currently discussing where I will be moving to in 2012. There are some good jobs on the table but no doubt there will be plenty of interest in them because of that. More news as and when I know it!

We had some sad news earlier this week; one of our chickens died. We didn't know the cause of death so couldn't eat it. The other 2 chickens are still laying one egg each per day but with 5 of us currently in the house (it's half term) I may actually have to buy some eggs this week!

Train smart folks, and enjoy the winter break.

I'm a Physical Mess

On the positive side, the knee issues seem to be completely behind me. No issues whatsoever for several weeks now.

But my right calf is in pieces and I managed to rub my 'buttocks' raw doing last weeks CrossFit session (3 x 75 sit ups seemed to act upon my delicate skin like 400 grade sandpaper!). Added to this, I have had 3 days in France on a MASSIVE carbo high that has left my digestive system in complete overload (or should that be breakdown?). I fasted on Friday that helped and have been very good over the weekend so hopefully I am back on track now; I just need to ease back in to the exercise regime and eat better, hard when I am living in a mess that is most definitely non-primal.

Only 2 weeks of the course to go and then I can start riding my bike again.

Well done to Frank for a sub 18 min km run. For everyone else, rest well, recover properly and look forward.

All the best.

2 Weeks of Progress

2 weeks since my last blog post and for the first of these weeks I was making very good progress. I managed a gentle 6km run in a little over 30 minutes without any immediate issues. The knee was a bit stiff the following day but not painful. Earlier this week I decided to do the same run again on Monday of this week (Week 2) but to run it slightly harder. For 5km I felt great and was running much better than the previous week, but in sight of the finish my right calf suddenly went very tight. I hadn't twisted or turned anything and wasn't sprinting, but it just went. I finished the run (yes, I know, I should have stopped) and by the end the calf was very sore. The following day was, fortunately, a rest day. Work commitments prevented any more phys until today, and I headed off to the CrossFit gym for the planned session. It promised to be a tough one:
200m run
20 pull-ups
400m run
20 pull-ups, 50 press-ups
800m run
20 pull-ups, 50 press-ups, 75 sit-ups
1 mile run
20 pull-ups, 50 press-ups, 7 sit-ups, 100 squats
800m run
20 pull-ups, 50 press-ups, 75 sit-ups
400m run
20 pull-ups, 50 press-ups
200m run
This was an absolutely nails session, but the calf let me down as early as the first 400m run. Maybe I should have stopped but found that the Ironman Shuffle style of running allowed me to plod on without too much difficulty. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty but it got me to the end. I can't remember the exact time but I think it was a little over 55 minutes to complete. Very disappointed about the calf so will lay off the running for a while. On the positive side, I had no adverse reaction whatsoever from my knee - I'll take a positive from anywhere!

Looking ahead, we're off on Tuesday for a 3 day visit to France to visit some of the WW1 and WW2 battlefield sites and memorials; should be very interesting.

All the best.

Another Week of Progress

3 weeks ago, when I started my 8 week course at Shrivenham, I set myself the target of running a mile before the end of the course. After a couple of weeks of good progress I decided that this week I would see whether my knee was up to running. So on Monday I went out and did 25 minutes of gentle jogging, with no ill effects. I backed this up on Thursday with a 6km run in a little over 30 minutes and whilst I had no ill effects at the time the knee was very stiff on Friday morning. Today I was back at the CrossFit gym for a session of 4 minutes of squats tabata (!) followed by a one mile run. Coach Michelle thought I should use the rings to assist with my squats, taking a bit of weight off the knee whilst maintaining proper form; it was a good call as my squat form was (I am told) much improved. After the squats I started the run very easy, waiting for the legs to loosen up after the squats, and fell to last place in the group of 4. After a quarter of a mile or so I felt good and relaxed into my running and worked my way to the front of the group. I could hear one of the runners just behind me (my eldest lad, a mere 30 years younger than me!). About a quarter of a mile from the end there is a sharp left turn before an uphill run to the finish, and I worked hard up the hill and was surprised as I made the last turn to see I had opened out a gap of some 30 seconds or so. My one mile time was 7:17, so still some way off the 6 minutes I was recording before the injury, but proof that I am returning to fitness.

We followed this up with an 8 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) of 4 handstand push-ups, 8 kettlebell swings and 12 sit-ups. All in all a very enjoyable session.

Train smart folks.

Still Improving

Another good test today, the 'Fran' WOD at the CrossFit gym. Fran is:

21 thrusters
21 pull-ups

15 thrusters
15 pull-ups

9 thrusters
9 pull-ups

I used a 15kg bar with no additional weight, and am still on the thin purple band for the pull-ups. No issues with my knee and my form was apparently quite good.

Very happy with progress.

Proof of Progress

Rehabilitation progress that is. Today I was back at the CrossFit gym and managed:

37.5kg shoulder press
60kg back squat (I did cheat a little on this one by not doing a full, deep squat, but squatted down until I touched the top of an 18" box)
100kg deadlift

I managed all this without any aches or pains from my knee and so feel even more confident that I am now well on the road to recovery. I had set myself a target of running 1 mile before I finish my course at Shrivenham on 14 October but I now reckon I will do this within the next 2 weeks. I just need to make sure the progress of steady and don't try to do too much too soon.

Almost forgot, I took my youngest son to see The Mighty Seagulls on Saturday at the superb Amex Stadium as they beat Peterborough to go top of The Championship. Happy days!

Getting Better

I've had a good week. I've done loads of press-ups, sit-ups and squats and yesterday I managed 10 minutes of very gentle jogging. I had no pain at the time of jogging and although there was some stiffness this morning I don't seem to have suffered as a result.

Shrivenham is keeping me busy, lots of reading at the moment. It seems they also want me to write an S A. Or something like that!

Rehabilitation Time

I'm off to Shrivenham tomorrow for 8 weeks and hopefully I will be able to work some quality rehabilitation into my daily routine. Stretch and flex, walking, maybe even gentle jogging, cycling and some strength work; a mix of everything really. Hopefully by the end of the course I will be well on the road to recovery.

Good luck to all those fellow bloggers racing over the next couple of weekends.

Progress

After last week's setback I've had a good weekend. I went to CrossFit on Saturday and Sunday and used the time to do lots of stretching and also managed the WODs, but scaled back accordingly, and made sure that I did the exercises with good form and only going as far as was comfortable when squatting. Today I am walking again which is about what I was doing this time last week, so it may only be a one week setback not the 6 or 7 weeks that I had feared.

A bit of a rest day today, just walking. Tomorrow I will try the bike again for an easy 30 minutes.

Portsmouth 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

After a few beers last night I decided I would try and get tickets for today's Championship local derby game between Portsmouth and Brighton. Well I managed to get 2 tickets (the other being for our second son) but being a Brighton supporter I would have to curb my enthusiasm as our seats were not in the visitors end but in one of the Portsmouth stands! Brighton won and we survived, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. On this form Brighton should be comfortably in the top half of the table at the end of the season, and maybe even contenders for a play off place. Portsmouth, however, are definitely relegation contenders unless they sort themselves out.

Almost forgot, the knee is slightly better today and it is less stiff with more flexibility. Fingers crossed for a similar improvement again tomorrow.

Sporting Greatness

I'm not a huge cricket fan, but I enjoy watching sport, any sport, being played out at the highest level. And it seems that the England cricket team is just that at the moment. And today they declared at 710-7 with Alistair Cook (see above) scoring a quite reasonable 294. I can't recall a test side scoring more than 700 before in my lifetime but stand prepared to be corrected.

After the week we've had in England maybe we should take stock and enjoy something positive, even if it is just cricket!

Excellent News, Good News, Cr@p News!

I'm going to ignore what's going on in the rest of the country as there is more than enough written about it elsewhere.

The Excellent News. Our eldest lad scored sufficiently well in his UK Clinical Aptitude Test to be eligible to study Medicine at all his preferred universities. All he needs now is 3 As at A-level in Maths, Chemistry and Biology; how hard can that be?

The Good News. Last night I was back at the CrossFit gym and completed the WOD, which was:
5 rounds for time of:
25 kettlebell swings
25 sit-ups
25 dorsal raises
25 knees to chest
My only scaling was a reduction on the kettlebell to 50% of what I was lifting before to ensure I didn't strain the knee. A hard session that I really enjoyed, with no after effects whatsoever.

The Cr@p News. This morning I was doing a few odd jobs in and around the car, when I knelt down to lift something off the floor of the car. I experienced a huge shooting pain in my knee, that I can only liken to a red hot poker being stuck into the joint (although I can't be sure as I have never actually experienced this!). The knee was immediately extremely sore and stiff, and moving it was very painful. I headed straight to my favourite chair, with a strong coffee, painkillers and the ice pack, and watched a couple of episodes of Top Gear whilst applying RICE principles and hoping it was something that only required the 'Magic Sponge' treatment. I'm writing this some 4 hours later and the icing appears to have prevented any significant swelling but the knee is still very sore and stiff. I'm really, really miffed. I was (IMHO) making good progress, I was walking over an hour a day, flexibility was almost back to pre-injury levels (ie not great as I've had 2 major ops on this knee), and I was slowly becoming more active and even contemplating trying to jog sometime in the very near future. Now, though, I seem to be back where I was 8 weeks ago just after the injury occurred.

Hope my fellow bloggers are having a better day than me. All the best.

Another Good Day

Another positive day today started off with an hour of walking. I followed this by heading off to the CrossFit gym for today's WOD. Today it was 21-15-9 of overhead squats, press ups and running (150m, 100m, 50m); obviously I'm not able to do this at the moment so I scaled it accordingly. I did the overhead squats with just a plastic tube (ie no weight whatsoever), doing the squats slowly and going only so far as was comfortable. Interestingly, I have a good range of movement to the bottom end of the squat but cannot straighten my leg fully at the top. Press-ups were no problem, and I walked the run. All in all, I was very happy just to be participating again.

Getting Back in the Game ...

Yesterday I managed to complete one of the sessions I was doing regularly last year, the 30-minute gym bike test completed at Level 12 on the Hills programme. Last year I peaked at 21.75km in the 30 minutes, yesterday it was 16.5km, so some way to go to match my peak, but the fact that I was able to complete it was good enough for me. This will now be my benchmark test on my journey back to fitness.

Getting Better

Today I have:

Walked for 40 minutes
Gym Bike (Level 10 Hills) for 30 minutes
CrossFit session for 60 minutes; this included some press-ups, pull-ups, gentle squats (kept knee bend greater 90 degrees), handstand (against a wall), sit ups. I also did some fast walking and tried jogging with very small steps.

We are getting there very, very slowly.

Slightly off topic ...

We have 3 kids, a large dog, bees and now 3 chickens! We collected them yesterday, a Sussex White (as above), a Rhode Island Red and the other we can't quite remember. We were going to get the small and easy to look after Bantams but their eggs are equally small so went for the full size version. They are really friendly and should give us up to 18 eggs per week and have a laying life of 4 - 5 years making them excellent value for money (providing we can keep them, our dog and the local foxes apart!).

Can't wait for eggs and bacon using our own eggs and the bacon cooked in our own honey. Now where can we keep a pig ...

I was back at the Physio today and for the first time since I injured myself my knee was sufficiently relaxed to allow him to do all his tests. So after pulling and twisting in several different directions the assessment was that he doesn't believe anything has snapped or been torn. So that's the good news. He had a theory that has something to do with age and wear-and-tear but I can't remember the exact name, but it involves wearing of a groove or hole in the cartilage and somehow whilst exercising something has caught in the groove/hole. It's still swollen but I am now encouraged to ride my bike, building up to an hour a day, and then icing for 20 minutes to get rid of the swelling that is still present. Hopefully, when the swelling disappears I will regain the full range of movement in my knee.

So, despite everything, I'm feeling quite positive at the moment.

British Sportsmen to be proud of

We seem really good at putting our sportsmen and women down, so today was a great day for Britain.

Lewis Hamilton


Mark Cavendish


Both were utterly awesome today.

More Improvements, but ...

Today I managed 2 x 10 minutes on the bike, 5 mins on the treadmill focussed on heel striking to stretch the hamstrings, and also did some sit-ups and press-ups. Getting off the bike my knee feels much stronger but it doesn't take long for the stiffness to return. Worryingly, I was doing some mobility exercises and noticed that when I squatted down an ominous bulge appeared on the outside edge of the knee, maybe half an inch tall. I'm hoping this is just the fluid being pushed out to the side and not part of the meniscus that has broken away; there was no pain associated with this movement so I believe it is fluid (well you have to think positive!).

Glad to see the TdF kicking off today, with Contador taking the fight to Voeckler and Evans. Evans responded brilliantly to Contador's attacks and Voeckler did well to minimise his losses after appearing to be beaten towards the top of the climb. Great to see Cavendish do well, rolling in a little over a minute behind Andy Schleck. You would have thought the Schleck's would have learned how to descend by now!

Feeling Better?

Yesterday's 6 minutes of cycling seems to have really helped. Target today is 10 minutes.

We had a technology upgrade day in our household yesterday; new notebook computers for my daughter and I, and a smartphone for Mrs Turbo. The HD screen on my Samsung machine is simply amazing and the speed that it loads stuff from the net is a vast improvement. I'm going to have to try watching sport on the net now; Moto GP coverage starts in 10 minutes. As for smartphones, it seems they are almost giving them away if you look around. Mrs Turbo got an HTC something-or-other free on a monthly contract of £15 per month with £150 of gift tokens thrown in to sweeten the deal.

The weather outside is frightful (sounds like a good line for a song!) so today I will be mostly staying indoors watching Moto GP and Le Tour. I have become a bit of a fan of Thomas Voeckler who is riding way beyond expectations in defending the yellow jersey. I'm not sure what his time trialling is like but the way he is going in the mountains he could very well wear it all the way to Paris. The other main contenders appear to be so busy looking at each other that they have missed the point of the race, that is to win!

Heal well folks.

Start with the first small step

This injury malarkey is beginning to get me down, as although the knee is improving it is doing so very, very slowly. The physio said I could ride my bike providing it didn't hurt, so this morning I cleared all the stuff from in front of the turbo (that's right, I haven't used it this year at all!) and climbed aboard. With no resistance at all and in a very low gear I managed to turn the pedals, pain free, and did about 5 minutes. I did get a bit ambitious and got a stab of pain so I do have to be careful, but at least this means I can start doing something.

So cycling, press-ups and sit-ups plus loads and loads of hamstring and calf stretches will be my routine for the next few weeks. I can't say that I'm looking forward to it but it sure as Hell is better than nothing.

All the best.

16 Days and Counting

It's now 16 days since I sustained my knee injury and I am still unable to walk properly. The physio is convinced I have damaged my hamstring at the knee end but the only way to confirm this would be invasive surgery that I am, at the moment, unwilling to put myself through. Mobility is restricted and the joint is very sensitive to any twisting; I have a thorough stretch and flex routine that really helps but it only takes a few minutes for the severe stiffness to return. It is very frustrating and I have cancelled all my remaining events for 2011.

Looking ahead, this weekend will see me dust off the turbo trainer to start my rehabilitation. Easy cycling, walking, squats, stretch and flex are the order of the day for the foreseeable future. Until I can do this without pain then there is nothing else on the agenda. Fingers crossed that things start to improve soon because this is beginning to really get me down.

But there is the Tour de France to cheer me up. I have been a fan of Mark Cavendish for many years but this year he seems to have taken it to another level; always recognising the support from his team, recognising when he hasn't got it quite right, acknowledging when his rivals have performed really well, being genuinely upset when his mates get injured and have to withdraw. Yes, I really am a Cav fan. The race for GC is absolutely fascinating, with no-one having made a play for the No 1 spot. I reckon Frank Schleck or Cadel Evans will be No 1 come the finish in Paris, after Cav has, once again, led them home of course!

And finally, Mrs T and I were back in Yorkshire on Tuesday for our daughters Junior School Prize Giving and to bring her home for the Summer Holiday. I am delighted to say that our daughter collected the following awards: Best Violinist, Academic of the Year (Year 5), Star of the Year (Year 5), Star of the year (Junior School). To say we are proud parents is probably the understatement of the year - we are glowing!

:-)

A Real Mixed Bag of a Week

I missed Monday's CrossFit session as we attended a lecture at our son's college about going to university; it was very interesting and the presenter was very witty making a potentially dry subject quite interesting. On Tuesday I headed off to CrossFit and we had a good session, all upper body (pull-ups and handstand press-ups (or variations thereof)) but then I managed to damage my knee whilst we were doing the 'extra' session into the cool-down. On Wednesday I was at the Med Centre first thing and after an initial examination by a medic and a review by the physio I was whisked off to the local hospital for an x-ray to confirm there was no one damage. There wasn't, which in one way is good but in another is very bad, as it means it is a soft tissue injury that may take a lot longer to heal/fix. The x-ray also confirmed that the 3 staples in my knee from when I had my anterior cruciate repair in 1986 were still in place so I think that is another plus point. It is now Sunday and I still can't walk and am unable to weight bare fully, and any twisting force appled to the knee is VERY painful; I suspect medial ligament damage. I am at the physio Monday morning so will hopefully have a better idea after that, but the knee is still swollen and my leg raises and knee bend exercises just seem to make the swelling worse. Maybe it's time to slow down a lot more than I already have?

On Friday, we headed up north to see our daughter perform as the Mock Turtle in 'Alice', her school performance of Alice in Wonderland. Our daughter has always been a confident performer and has appeared on stage several times singing as part of a group and dancing, so it was no surprise when she delivered her lines with great emotion and enthusiasm. What we were not prepared for was the way she sang her solo; we have no idea where her ability to sing comes from, it certainly isn't her parents! Can't wait for the DVD so we can re-live it again (and again!). It was one of those occasions that make you, as a parent, glow with pride.

All the best

Simple Session

For time:

70 burpees
60 sit-ups
50 kettlebell swings
40 pull-ups
30 handstand push-ups

I'm not yet lifting the prescribed weights but I'm getting closer; I managed 20kg on the kettlebells today when the standard was 24. I only used 1 of the very thin purple bands on the pull-ups instead of my usual 2 and the next step is no bands. Handstand push-ups is aomething else though, I was doing push-ups with my feet on a box so my body is at a 45 degree angle, rather than vertical; but we will get there.

Weight is slowly coming down and I'm feeling really good about myself, I do need to get out on the bike more although it's more a sadlle comfort thing rather than fitness that I'm concerned about, and the IOW ride has 2 natural breaks on the ferry to and from the island.

Train smart folks.

How hard?

Today's CrossFit session was:

1 mile run
21 thrusters
21 pull-ups
800m run
15 thrusters
15 pull-ups
400m run
9 thrusters
9 pull-ups

And for the first time since I stopped doing intervals on the turbo, I hit the vomit threshold! Just a mouthful but even so, proof I was working very hard.

AM very tired now but have lots I want to do so must get on.

Train smart folks!

Is it really almost 2 weeks ...

... since I last blogged? Apparently so. But never mind, not a great deal to report really other than I really enjoyed the Odiham sprint and am looking forward to more in 2012.

I've not done any swimming or cycling since Odiham but have done a lot of CrossFit and things are certainly getting better, focusing on technique before adding weight.

I must start cycling again soon as the IOW 100-mile sportive is only a month away!

Odiham Sprint Distance Triathlon

I haven't completed a triathlon since 2008, so was looking forward to today's event with mixed emotions. On one hand there was no pressure on me to perform but on the other hand there are so many things that can go wrong in a tri and make it a thoroughly painful and miserable experience.

I arrived nice an early (Odiham being just over an hour away for me), registered, set up my kit, listened to the race brief and was getting myself into race mode when the heavens opened and all manner of cats and dogs descended. I quickly rearranged my kit so my shoes were upside down (I learned that the hard way many years ago) and covered my bike shoes with a towel to keep the worst off them. There was little I could do for my helmet and tri-top, I just had to accept that I would be putting on cold wet kit at T1.

I haven't swam in 2011 so estimated my swim time at 8 minutes; seemed reasonable enough. 5 minutes before my wave started we went poolside and received a swim brief and put on the coloured swim hat. 30 seconds to go and into the water. 10 seconds. Then the whistle announced that we were off. With a complete lack of swimming in the last 6 months I started off steadily, trying to focus on making the best of my poor technique: stretch; glide; push; blah blah blah. Yes, I forgot it all! 400m = 16 lengths and I got to the end before the 2nd wave after mine set off, so sub 8 minutes - woo hoo! A gentle stroll into transition and I pulled on the cold, wet kit and headed off on the bike. It was a bit chilly so I worked the first km quite hard to get some heat into me, and I quickly overtook the other 3 members of my wave and dropped them. The route was undulating and very enjoyable to ride. I took the first lap steady as I hadn't done a route recce so was not sure what to expect. There was plenty of wind on the first half of the lap that made it tough, but it was the same for everyone. I caught a couple from the previous wave before the end of the first lap and then rode the 2nd lap a little harder, catching more riders in the process. I know I started quite early but but no-one overtook me. Unlike at the IS duathlon, I felt I rode well today.

Into T2 with a fine running dismount and a steady if unspectacular transition, taking a little extra time to grab a mouthful of water as I had that horrible taste in my mouth that tells you you are working hard. Onto the run and there were plenty of people to chase, but after 100 metres or so my calfs gave me the tell-tale signs that they wanted to cramp, so I slowed down until they eased off. I then ran steadily all the way to the finish, passing several people on the way but, again, not being passed by anyone. I don't know why but I am really pleased about this. Over the finish line in a little under 1 hour 18 minutes; I had no expectations for this race and the different bike route to the previous years meant that comparisons with previous years would be pointless.

I really felt that I performed to my best today, nothing spectacular compared to the quick boys and girls, but I feel really good. My legs are not in great shape, they seem to be telling me that I gave this sort of thing up 3 years ago! I really enjoyed myself though and can see me doing more sprint distance races in the future.

And it was great to meet up with the Old Skool RAF Triathletes, although our numbers are diminishing as the New Blood (and there is plenty of it) start taking over.

Rest well folks.

Pre Race Taper

Ho ho ho, haven't done that for a while, and guess what? I haven't done it this time either!

I'm participating in a sprint distance triathlon tomorrow (I won't say racing as that might attract the Trades Description people!) and back in my racing days I would have tapered towards the event, reducing my training load to ensure optimum performance on race day. Well those days are now behind me and I'm really looking forward to catching up with a few mates and enjoying the event for what it will be - a fun day out of the office doing something that I will (hopefully) enjoy in the great British sunshine (am I asking too much?).

In preparation I hit the CrossFit gym tonight, the WOD was not too bad:

50 Wall Balls
40 Double Unders (or 120 normal skipping)
30 Kettlebell Swings (note to self, not all black kettlebells weigh the same - check first. By golly the one I chose was heavy!)
20 Weighted Lunges
10 Box Jumps

This was good, but it didn't take very long and so we added another session on the end:

1 x 1 mile run, followed by AMRAP of 'Ground to Overhead' to take overall time up to 12 minutes. I completed the run in 6:08 and then added 56 lifts in the 12 minutes - by heck that was hard work.

On the way home we stopped off and collected dinner - chicken breasts and fillet steak on bed of green salad with some chopped carrots and red onions. And our eldest lad is about to prepare primal pancakes with greek yoghurt and a variety of berries. Delicious.

See (some of) you tomorrow.

Endurance

As a triathlete, even a fairly ordinary MOPer or BOPer as I was, who competes at standard, middle distance or beyond, you develop a useful base of endurance, maybe without even realising it. Today at the CrossFit gym the session was:

100 pull-ups
100 kettlebell swings
100 double unders (or 300 single skips)
100 overhead squats

That is a lot of reps, and takes the advantage away from the strong and gives it to those who have developed a good level of endurance. For example, I am far from the strongest person there, and on the overhead squats I used nothing more than a 15kg barbell yet managed 100 reps (broken down into 5 sets of 20 taking a break inbetween to stretch out and have a mouthful of water). Interestingly, by the end of the session, there was no-one lifting more than a 15kg bar for this exercise, even though they may have started with a far larger weight.

I smashed through this in less than 22 minutes; it was over 10 minutes before the 2nd person finished! Plus 1 to the triathletes!

Train smart folks.

Oh Dear ...

You may recall that yesterday I blogged that I had been stung by one of our bees, but that it hadn't swollen up too much? It seems I spoke a tad too soon!

This morning I woke up, grabbed my glasses and put them on. That's not right; I looked in the mirror to see the right hand side of my face had swollen up alarmingly. Never mind, it wasn't sore and I was confident that once I got up and started moving around the swelling would go down. Another mistake. By the time I got home this evening the swelling had increased; my eyelid was flappy and the swelling was such that the arm of my glasses had left a trench in the swelling. The swelling now stretches from the side of my mouth, up my cheek to my forehead and back to my ear.

I'm sure I read that red wine helps such things, so ... :-)

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

The bells, Esmerelda, the bells!

General Update

After Wednesday's efforts I made another trip to the CrossFit gym on Thursday for another excellent session, I'm certainly getting stronger and my body shape is changing slowly.

On Friday I had to drive to Leeds and back to collect the kids for half term; it was also the Friday prior to a bank Holiday so the traffic was quite busy, and we got stuck in one of the many incidents on the M1. This made for a long and tiring day and no doubt contributed to me waking up on Saturday feeling quite poorly; aching muscles, very bad headache and all-round general malaise. I ended up doing something I haven't done for a very long time, and lay in bed until early afternoon while my family brought me hot drinks, medicine and eggs & bacon (not all at the same time, of course).

This clearly worked and I felt much better on Sunday, and after a walk on the seafront and seeing the USS George H W Bush (see above, apparently the most powerful warship in the world) anchored in The Solent I headed off for another CrossFit session. Afterwards, I cooked dinner for the family and enjoyed a couple of glasses of red wine. Sunday dawned not that bright but I was up early again and Mrs TM and I headed off with the dog to see the USS George H W Bush; the dog wasn't at all impressed. When we got home Mrs TM wanted to have a look at her bees so we took the lid off and whilst Mrs TM did whatever beekeepers do I took notes and photographs. And got stung on the side of my face for my troubles! Fortunately my previous history of bee stings means that I no longer have an adverse reaction to them so am not currently looking like the Elephant Man.

We were supposed to be having a family day out today but our daughter was complaining of feeling unwell with symptoms remarkably similar to my own of Saturday, and when she threw up her breakfast (that I had cooked!) we decided that going out was probably a bad idea. So I headed off to the CrossFit gym instead for another excellent session!

I'm now sitting comfortably after a long soak in the bath and a very pleasant dinner (cooked by me) and a gorgeous fresh berry and yoghurt pudding (prepared by our eldest son) with a glass of red wine. The side of my face is still sore and my shoulders and arms hurt. Isn't life great?

Fitness Test & CrossFit

After the hard weekend I've had a couple of easy days and today I had my annual fitness test. I wasn't sure how I would do with my change of training regime but the results were actually not too different. Light blue on the MSFT (same as last year but a few extra shuttles) and dark blue on press ups (60) and sit ups (58); both of these scores represented small improvements on last year.

And tonight I headed off to the CrossFit gym; the session was very simple, as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

5 pull ups
10 press ups
15 squats

No weights involved, just bodyweight. This is actually a very hard session as the fatigue accumulates. For me, it was the shoulders that suffered most, making the press ups exceptionally difficult as the rounds built up. In the end I managed 14 complete rounds and the 5 pull ups of the 15th. I expect my shoulders will be very sore tomorrow!

Train smart folks.

Seven

Seven exercises; seven reps; seven times.

Easy!

Handstand push-ups
Thrusters
Knees to elbows
Deadlifts
Burpees
Kettlebell swings
Pull-ups

Another tough session but I felt great afterwards; my fitness is still greater than my strength.

I fancy a rest day tomorrow.

Bull

Today's WOD, going under the name of 'Bull', was extremely tough. Two times through of:

200 double unders (or 600, yes, 600 of normal skipping)
50 overhead squats
50 pull-ups
1 mile run

Age makes one wise and I set myself a reasonable weight on the bar that I could manage 50 reps of overhead squats. Many others found them selves taking weight off as the WOD progressed. I'm afraid I can't tell you what weight I used, but I confess that there was one lady there squatting more than me! As for the pull-ups, I ended up back on the blue band again; I'm not yet capable of 50 reps on the purple. But I will get there. The run was OK, I tried to keep pushing myself but on the 2nd set a truck went past me going in the opposite direction and the draft from it almost stopped me in my tracks! I put another effort in and made it to the end in a little over 40 minutes. Absolute nails session.

Train smart folks.

WOD-tastic!

Today's WOD was short and sharp:

3 x (400m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups).

My kettlebell has now increased to 20kg and pull-ups are now on the purple (thinnest) band. Hopefully, in another few weeks, it will be no band at all! I smashed through this in a little under 10 minutes and altough tired felt really good. It seemed that I was not alone in feeling good, and we agreed that another set of exercises was required, and eventually we settled on deadlifts and burpees for time. The first set would be 10 deadlifts and 1 burpee, and on each set the deadlift would reduce by one as the burpee increased. After finding the 65kg deadlift the other night somewhat easy I upped the deadlift to 75kg, completely missing the point that I had done just 21 reps the other night in groups of 3 reps, and tonight would be 55 reps! This was chuffin' hard, as witnessed by the pools of sweat that each of us left on the floor afterwards. Overall, an excellent workout.

Girls That Do CrossFit ...

Look like this! :-)

Cycling Seems to be Improving

I know I'm still some way off where my cycling peak was last year, but I seem to now be in that very pleasant place where I am really enjoying my cycling and I feel that I'm moving along at a reasonable pace. This evening I rode to the CrossFit gym for tonight's strength session, and once on the top of the hill there was a nice tailwind pushing me along at a fair old pace. So fair a pace, in fact, that the group of teenage scooter-ists (is that a real word?) were only travelling 1 or 2 mph more than I was! The looks on their faces were priceless! And I smashed my home to gym PB (41 minutes)!

The WOD was AMRAP in 5 minutes of 3 x deadlifts (65kg for me, a bit too light in hindsight) and 7 x push-press (32.5kg, probably just about right). I managed 6 rounds with 3 deadlifts and 1 push-press of the 7th round. After a few minutes recovery I had a very pleasant ride home, the wind was not too bad and with the downhill assistance I managed the return journey in 41 minutes. Proves how fast going there was!

Train smart (take note Roy!).

First BBQ of the Year!

Recovered the BBQ from the garage this afternoon, gave it a clean and fired it up - woo hoo! We had some burgers in the fridge so we had these with some cold chicken and a big pile of salad - delicious.

Check out Mrs TM's Bee blog - see Top Bees link on the right.

Monster CrossFit Duathlon

After a day off yesterday, and with the sun shining, it was going to be another CrossFit duathlon day, but with an added twist. Rather than simply ride to the gym I decided to take a detour, adding a whole bunch of mileage. I did in fact underestimate the distance and arrived 15 minutes late at the gym after a 1 hour 40 min ride, but fortunately they hadn't started the WOD. The WOD was a tough one - the Filthy Fifty. 10 exercises, 50 reps of each (box jumps, jump pull-ups, kettlebell swings (16kg), walking lunges, knees to elbows, push press, back extensions, wall ball shots, burpees (gotta love 'em), double-unders (skipping but 2 turns of the rope to one jump - I can't do this so had to do 150 normal skips)); I managed all this in just under 29 minutes. I then got changed back into my cycling kit and headed home. There was a bit of a headwind on the top of the hill and I was a little tired so the journey home took some 47 minutes. Overall a great day's training.

When I got home from CrossFit Mrs Turbo Man was opening up the beehive to see how the bees were doing. And they are doing really well. They have made a mass of cone, some with honey and some with brood, so hopefully we will have some of our own honey to eat before the end of the summer.

We watched the King's Speech last night. I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to the film industry as I think most that are involved in it are a bunch of pompous, overpaid and talentless chumps, and so when the industry says that something is really wonderful I take it with a very large pinch of salt. We did, though, thoroughly enjoy it.

And on Friday he rested ...

I like Fridays. No phys and a relaxed view of eating and drinking!

Never Miss An Opportunity

I um and ah'd about riding at lunchtime today as the weather was looking somewhat ominous. But I'm glad I did as although it was a bit windy I stayed dry and had a good ride.

I was due at the CrossFit gym this evening with our eldest son, but he texted me just after 5pm to say that he had studying to do and wouldn't be going to the gym tonight. So, Woo Hoo!, I can ride to the gym as well! I leapt onto the Litespeed (this was a mistake, I'll explain later) and had a good ride to the gym; the wind was, unsually, in my favour on the way there and that certainly helped. The WOD for today was AMRAP in 20 minutes of (5 x chest to bar pull ups, 10 x wall ball and 15 x kettlebell swings). This was a tough session and I was hooped at the end. But I could not rest. The mistake in choosing the Litespeed was that it has no lights, and with the sun about to set I had no choice but to change quickly and head home. Quickly. But this time the wind was in my face and so it was a tough ride home in the fading light. But I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Tomorrow I take it easy. Rest well folks.

Oh The Pain!

Today's session:

5 x (15 x thrusters, 15 x bar-facing burpees, 200m run).

Thrusters. Hold barbell and do a front squat, as you stand up keep the bar moving straight into a shoulder press. I started with a 30kg bar but could only manage 2 rounds with this weight, and by the last round was struggling with a 15kg bar!

Bar-facing burpees. Squat down and kick legs out into the press-up position. Do one press-up. Complete the squat by bringing the feet back to the hands and stand up. Do a feet together jump over the 12" log in front of you You can twist in mid-air if you want, or land and turn round. That is 1 rep.

The thrusters exercise just about every muscle group, as do the burpees. This is a hard set.

Glad I did it, though.

Edit: Just found this quote on the web:

The Most Important Thing About The Thruster
If you don't feel a little nauseous after a set of Thrusters....you aren't doing it right.

Yet More CrossFit

Today's session was a beast! As follows:

21 reps of box jumps, power snatch (30kg for me) and pull-ups followed by 15 reps and then 9 reps.

And then, just for fun, we did 10 minutes AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) of 50m sandbag carry (25m uphill; 25m down), burpees and kettlebell swings (20kg). Certainly felt like a good session at the end of it.

The good news is that I'm getting much better at pull-ups and I may be able to dispense with the band completely in the next couple of weeks. I've recently increased the weight of the kettlebell to 20kg so my skinny cyclist's uper body is clearly responding to the new stimulus, which I'm really happy with. I need to sort out my eating regime as I'm allowing too many 'naughty' things to sneak under my primal rader so I'm not getting the full benefit of my new 'strong' (again, it's a relative term!) physique.

Train smart folks.

To Bee or Not To Bee ...

We've got a bee hive (or, more accurately, Mrs TM has got a bee hive!):

First impressions are that they are very calm, and are quite happy for us to sit in the garden with them. They are currently very busy building the inside of their new home and we hope that we will have some honey before the end of the Summer.

Bike - CrossFit - Bike

Had a busy day at work so was unable to train at lunchtime. But not to worry, as tonight was another Bike - CrossFit - Bike session.

I rode moderately hard to the gym, and had to overtake a moped at one point that was taking up space in the cycle lane - what's that all about?

Today's session was 5 sets of (5 x power clean; 10 x front squats; 5 x jerk; 20 x pull-ups), with 90 seconds rest between each set. Being a weedy cyclist I was doing this with 'just' 35kg on the bar and I'm still using the thin, blue band on the pull-ups. But I smashed through the first set in 1 minute 27 seconds, and was particularly chuffed that I managed 20 pull-ups straight off; a first for me. No surprise that I slowed down after that, mainly because I was unable to do the pull-ups in one go and need to take a rest, and by the last set it was more than one rest! A damn fine session though.

And it was a very enjoyable ride home again. I fully expect to be very sore tomorrow!

All the best

Stress, Rest and CrossFit

Following last week's excellent training, I needed to take my foot off the throttle a little this week. On Monday I had to take 2 of our children back to school that involved some 10 hours in the car for me. Although not as physically stressful as a full-on training session, this is still extremely tiring and brings its own stress that requires a similar need to rest as the physical sessions. So on Tuesday I did an easy 40 minutes that included a warm-up on the rower, core, stretch and flex and finally an easy 10 minutes on the gym bike. And that was it. Today I hoped to get out on the bike but work intervened and I didn't get out. I did, though, get to the CrossFit gym for an excellent session. After a good warm up that included some interesting stretches, we did the WOD; 5 x 5 reps of front squats. The idea is to start at a weight you know you can do and to increase it until you max out. I started too light and so I ended up doing 7 sets and eventually maxed out at 55kgs. It's not a massive weight but it is more important for me to get the technique right at this stage; the weights will no doubt go up once I get this locked in. Once this was over we did an extra session, 15 minutes of a mixture of exercises that included lots of bodyweight exercises, kettlebell lifts and 100m runs. An excellent evening's work.

That Was Some Week!

As part of my new lifestyle I've stopped keeping a training diary so I'm not tempted to chase hours, but this has clearly been quite an intensive week for me.
Monday: Bike and CrossFit
Tuesday: Bike
Wednesday: Duathlon
Thursday: Bike-CrossFit-Bike
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Bike-CrossFit-Bike
Sunday: Bike-CrossFit-Bike
Today I took the Litespeed out and rode to the CrossFit gym; there was plenty of wind that made it a hard ride but I continue to be impressed by the wheels. They are just so smooth. Today's WOD was 4 x (100 feet of weighted lunges, 30 box jumps, 20 wall ball and 10 handstand push-ups (I'm not yet able to do these so have to do an alternative) and was chuffin' hard. Legs are now very tired and so I'm taking some medication to ease the pain. :-)

New Event - Isle of Wight Sportive 24 July 2011

I was browsing the internet this morning searching for a new cycling challenge to inspire me, and came across this one - it's part of the excellent Wiggle series of events so I know from experience it will be well organised and will take riders from the New Forest across to the Isle of Wight, do a clockwise tour of the surprisingly hilly island, before returning to the mainland and a short ride back through the forest to the finish. Naturally, I've gone for the 100 mile option, and I am already really looking forward to it. This should be enough to keep me motivated through the next couple of months.

As an aside, I know that Fast Daz is planning an IOW ride in mid-May and am hoping that I can make that as well, but I can't be sure just yet.

Must dash, have another Bike-CrossFit-Bike duathlon to complete!

Bike - CrossFit - Bike; the new duathlon!

Or at least it is my new regime for the foreseeable future; hopefully I will be able to do this 2 or 3 times a week, and back this up with a couple of standalone CrossFit sessions and some more bike miles, including a hardcore turbo interval session.

I measured my bike route to the CrossFit gym this morning; 12.5 miles door-to-door. The outward leg seems to be into the prevailing winds and there is the big hill to get up as well. But it makes the ride home very pleasant, especially after a hard session. Talking of which ...

Today was:
100 Sumo deadlifts (I think that is what they're called) - 16kg kettlebell for me
50 Thrusters - 15kg bar
30 pull-ups - blue band for assistance

So a good session and 25 miles on the bike as well. Legs are somewhat sore now. Hopefully I can get another Bike-CrossFit-Bike session in tomorrow before my rest day on Monday when I have to take the kids back to school.

Train smart folks.

The years have not been kind ...

Sags has just sent me the results from the 2008 IS duathlon, that was the last time I did this event, and on the same course. The first run this year was a bit longer as the start line had been moved back down the start/finish straight by a couple of 100m or so, but the comparison makes interesting reading:
Run 1 + T1: 2008 20:08 2011 22:33
Bike + T2: 2008 31:55 2011 38:15
Run 2: 2008 10:23 2011 10:40
Total: 2008 1:02:26 2011 1:11:28
So, 9 minutes slower overall! Eek!!! The run is a relatively minor slowing down but my bike pace is massively slower. I think I know what I need to work on for 2012, but I should not underestimate the effect of a full on TT bike with disk wheel, aero helmet etc that I rode in 2008, compared to a standard road bike, helmet etc this year.

As I said, interesting (at least for me!).

Duathlon Photos

Thank you to Ben Lonsdale for the photos; he's made me look not too fat and even made it look like I was enjoying myself! Why the mixed dress? Because after 2 years of not needing it I couldn't find my RAF Tri top!

Penance

The day after a race I would normally rest, maybe some stretch and flex to ease off sore muscles, but nothing too strenuous. But today was different. Today I was reflecting on a very poor race even by my general MOP standards. So I could mope about and say to myself 'What do you expect, you're not getting any younger you know' or I could take the first step to improving. I chose the latter.

At lunchtime I headed to the gym, did a 10 minute warm up on the rower, 20 minutes stretch and flex and finished off with 10 minutes of high cadence work on the bike. Excellent.

This evening, though, it was back to the CrossFit gym because (as they said in 'Fame'), 'this is where you start paying ... in sweat'. But not even that was enough, oh no! I decided to cycle to the CrossFit gym; it's about 15 miles away and, if you know Fort Purbrook, you will know it's at the top of a chuffin' big hill. And there was a significant headwind as well. An excellent 55 min effort before the session started. And then we did the Filthy Fifty session. This is a very simple session; 50 reps of 10 exercises, as follows:

Box jumps

Jump pull-ups

Kettlebell swings

Walk lunges

Knees to elbows (or Hanging Baskets)

Push press

Back extensions

Wall ball

Burpees

Double unders (or 150 of normal skipping)

It took me a little over 27 minutes to complete that; it was very hard work.

And then I had to cycle home; predominantly downhill with the wind behind me and I was home in 42 minutes. A quick shower and something to eat and I feel really good now, although no doubt I will feel it all over tomorrow morning.

So there you have it; Turbo Man is going to redeem himself at the Odiham Sprint Tri (where a road bike without tri bars will not be such a disadvantage). You have been warned!

Train smart folks (unlike me!).

Duathlon

Today I was at Hullavington for the Inter Services duathlon. I haven't done this race for 4 years, if my memory serves me correctly, and I recall that it was a world of pain, which is one of the reasons why I haven't done it for so long. I have been out of the RAF Triathlon circle for a couple of years so it was really good to meet up with some old mates. What was more surprising, though, was the number of new faces - RAF Tri seems to be thriving at the moment, and they are not all old duffers like me; indeed, several are very able athletes. And it was great to see a full Ladies team as well! No doubt a lot of the new faces were looking at me and thinking 'What's that old man doing here?', and the answer came more or less as soon as the gun went off - I was following them all!

The race was a sprint distance duathlon, meaning 5km run (2 x 2.5km laps), 20km bike and, finally, a 2.5km run. It was a bit windy, blowing directly into your face along the start/finish straight but was warm(ish) and dry. At the start I positioned myself behind Coach Roy, but as the plane went overhead I looked up, the gun went, and when I looked back Roy, and most of the rest of the field, had gone. I didn't see Roy again until I finished! I started off steadily and found myself running alongside or just behind Queen Bev. Bev continues to amaze me with her ability to continue to race at a very high level, year after year (and all fuelled by red wine apparently!), and I was happy with the pace she was going at. We were towards the back of the field but, as usual, many had started too quickly and we slowly started to overtake one or 2 strugglers. Towards the end of the 2nd lap I was feeling good and eased passed Bev and found a clean run into T1. I glanced at my watch - 21:53, much quicker than I had anticipated! Helmet on, trainers off, shoes on, grab bike and away, T1 done and dusted in 38 seconds, quite content with that. I started the bike leg easy and planned to push a little harder each lap; as it turned out the effort level went up each lap but the lap times were strangely consistent. And slow! Bev passed me out of the first corner and then rode away from me, and it wasn't long before the leaders came passed going very quickly indeed (and it was great to see so many RAF riders going well). I felt OK, I was working moderately hard but was not in any particular distress, but the speed just wasn't there, no doubt a symptom of my lack of bike miles over the winter and having done no speed work whatsoever this year. I arrived at T2 after 37 mins 48 secs of cycling (19.7 mph), executed a fine example of a running dismount (even if I say so myself, I've still got 'it'!), racked bike, trainers on and out of T2 in 26 seconds. Very happy with that, too. Out on the second run and for about 100 metres I was OK, and then I felt the first twinges of cramp and so eased back until they went away (maybe 30 seconds or so) and then picked up the pace again (pace is, as always, relative). I was passed by a couple of people but also picked off a couple of stragglers myself. I was working hard and finished the 2nd run in 10 mins 40 secs for an overall time of 1:11:28.

I hadn't set myself any particular targets (other than to finish) but my times provided me with plenty of food for thought. CrossFit is definitely improving my running; I haven't run this well for many years, but CrossFit (and consequent lack of bike miles) has had a significant, and detrimental, effect on my cycling. I need to get a better balance in my training programme, and maybe introduce a turbo session at some point each week.

I left before the awards ceremony so have no idea how the RAF Teams did; can anyone enlighten me?

Lonsy was there taking plenty of photos and I was good enough to be going sufficiently slowly that he should have several excellent pictures of me.

When I got home I had a nice soak in the bath and, in hindsight, I actually quite enjoyed the event. Now if I could just get my 5km run time down to sub 20 minutes, and get my cycling back to the level it was at last year, I might just be able to not be the last RAF male finisher next year (and most of the ladies were in front of me as well!). I'll post some pictures when I can get them.

An interesing sub-plot (or maybe not!). As we chatted at registration I recognised a member of my CrossFit club was also there, representing his Army unit, and after a bit of banter the gauntlet was thrown down and picked up. I had experience on my side, he had youth, being some 25 years younger than me. Needless to say, he pulled out a reasonable lead on the first run but this disappeared completely in T1 while he dilly-dallyed like the novice he is, and I was just a handful of seconds behind onto the bike. I passed him halfway round the first lap but he re-took me at the end of the lap, although this must have taken a lot of effort and after I overtook him again shortly afterwards I pulled out a comfortable lead that I held to the end of the race. Chalk one up for the wily old fox and bragging rights when we next meet at the CrossFit gym!

Nice to see you all. My next race is the Odiham sprint tri; see you there.

Tabata

I was up bright and early this morning for another moderate-paced hour on the bike. I then followed this with some 'moving about slowly' by washing both cars. And then tonight it was back to the CrossFit gym for today's WOD - Tabata. A relatively short word but one that can strike fear into the hearts of those who know what it means. The CrossFit Tabata session was 32, yes 32, x 20 seconds effort with 10 seconds rest. The first 8 20 second bursts were pull-ups, followed by 8 intervals each of press-ups, sit-ups and squats. The 'joy' of this session is that 8 intervals of pull-ups leaves your upper body (or at least mine!) exhausted, and when I attempted the first press-up I almost face-planted the mat as my arms and shoulders failed to obey the messages sent by my brain. Needless to say, the press-ups were extremely painful and I was grateful to get to the sit-ups; but not for long. And then the squats, no weights invloved, just body weight, and again by the time the 8th interval arrived I was in some distress. Needless to say, I was grateful when the end came.

With the duathlon on Wednesday I'm not sure what to do tomorrow (Tuesday). I have packed my bike in the car to take to work and if its sunny I will go for an easy 45 minute ride along the coast, if nothing else this will help develop the tan lines!

Looking forward to seeing a few of you on Wednesday; all the best.

Pros and Cons ...

I made it to the CrossFit gym for an interesting session, but more of that later. On the way there I was reminded how vulnerable cyclists are. As I went round the roundabout to join the M27 from Fareham the exit slipped road was closed, an ambulance with blue flashing lights was blocking the sliproad but it was clearly a cyclist lieing in the road, and it seemed to me that he was lieing exactly where he had landed after the car (or whatever it was) had hit him (I'm putting 2 and 2 together here and it is quite possible it may be adding up to 5). I could see gravel rash on his legs but that seemed to be the least of his problems. I sincerely hope that whoever you are you are OK and make a full and swift recovery.

As for the CrossFit session the requirement was to do 3 lifts and to record the total weight lifted. The lifts and the weight I managed were as follows:

Back squat - 60kg
Shoulder press - 45kg
Deadlift - 110kg

This was the first time I had done this session so there was a bit of trial and error whilst I found my limits. I was happy with my shoulder press and deadlift but thought I should have managed more in the squat, maybe its a technique thing but I'm surprised that I could only squat 15kg more than I could press above my head.

This afternoon I prepared my bike for the forthcoming duathlon. First, though, I had to clean it following the sportive of 2 weeks ago - very bad skills. I swapped the seatpost again after the slipping I experienced last time out, and fitted new pedals. It's ready. But am I?

Its Easter Sunday so we have had the obligatory Easter eggs, but I have been good and am sharing a single egg with Mrs TM, and there will be plenty left over for tomorrow as well.

Tomorrow I ride again! Train smart folks.

Realisation...

Reluctantly, a little bit like a prisoner heading to the gallows, I approached the scales this morning. I knew the news wouldn't be good, although I don't feel to lardy I know I have added a few pounds of late.

11 stone 10 pounds. Oh dear! I raced Barcelona last year at 10 stone 12 pounds so that gives an indication of the added bulk. Some of it is no doubt due to my new-found love of CrossFit but I doubt that's more than 1 or 2 pounds at best, the rest is all down to red wine and cake I suspect.

With those numbers ringing in my ears I went out on the bike for a brisk 50 minute ride, and I'm hoping to get to the CrossFit gym later on, although I'm not sure whether there's a session on today as it's Easter Sunday - fingers crossed. Bottom line is that I suspect I will be mixing it at the back of the pack on Wednesday; no shame in that, the nicest people tend to be at the back! How about a quick sweepstake on what my weight will be on Wednesday morning?

Holiday = Cream Teas, Ice Cream and Sunshine

Just back from a week away in the Isle of Wight, and what a glorious week we had for it. Rather than holiday park or B&B we had chosen to rent a house, and a very nice house it was too (that's it in the picture above), with 3 double bedrooms, a south facing lounge with a view down to the sea, and located on the south-west of the island, away from the madding crowds, and some 4-500m from the beach. I made the point of getting up at 0700 every day and runing on the beach, including some basic exercises along the way (press-ups, squats, sit-ups, dorsal raise, burpees etc), except for Thursday when I had a real ale induced hangover and only managed a brisk walk.

The weather was fantastic, with brilliant sunshine every day. The house was just over half a mile from a pub with an award winning restaurant that we ate at regularly and we did the tourist bit in the mornings (Osborne House, Roman villas, Carisbrooke Castle as well as tourist places like Blackgang Chine), usually arriving back at the house mid afternoon to sunbathe on the lawn.

The house didn't have an internet connection; once we got over the shock this turned out to be quite pleasant, and I listened to music and read. The book was 'Life', the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards; I've not quite finished it but it's been a fascinating read. I've also re-discovered a number of albums I've not listened to for many a year, such as 'The Kick Inside' by Kate Bush, the early Undertones albums and some of Morrisey's early solo stuff. Not everyones cup of tea but it was nice to be able to sit quietly in the sunshine (did I mention the fabulous weather?) and listen.

And yes, I did fall off the primal wagon a little, as I indulged in one of my favourite holiday pastimes of samplig as many cream teas as possible; fresh scones, clotted cream and jam - DELICIOUS!!! And of course no holiday is complete without the odd '99' thrown in for good measure, so we also had a few of them.

The upshot of all this is that there are 5 days to the Inter-Services duathlon and I'm am a long way from being fit and lean, let alone race fit and at race weight. So I'm looking forward to the social side of meeting everyone next Wednesday, and expect the race to be a whole world of pain for me.

All the best.

Holiday

We leave this morning for a week away in the Isle of Wight. It was supposed to be all 5 of us but No 1 son is at Nottingham University this week for potential Medical Students learning about the different aspects of medicine. Never mind, the 4 of us will enjoy a relaxing week away from the pressures of everyday living; nothing much planned except for a visit to Osborne House, the holiday home of Queen Victoria, and we have packed a bundle of board games, cards etc for those rainy days and evenings. Have a good week; see some of you at the duathlon in 11 days time.

Another 'Proud Parent' moment

Our No 2 son is coming towards the end of the first year of his GCSEs and yesterday received the results of the exams that he took a few weeks ago. He managed A* in Maths, Physics and Chemistry and a B in Biology; needless to say that Mum and Dad are very pleased. :-)

More CrossFit

Today's WOD called for 400m of lunges, but we decided that wasn't hard enough (!) and so agreed that we would do lunges up the hill that is conveniently located adjacent to the gym. And, for good measure, we would do 20 kettlebell swings at the top before running/jogging/walking back down the hill and starting again, with the aim of doing as many sets as possible in 15 minutes. Ace! My legs are somewhat sore now. Tomorrow I hope to get out on the bike at lunchtime before packing for our holiday on Saturday.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Not having a major event to train for has been somewhat of a relief, and means I can train more or less as I please. Sunday, for example, I chose to have a lie in, watch the Grand Prix, then have a family trip out enjoying the sunshine and a piece of cake. Monday I was back at the CrossFit gym for a nails session. The WOD called for 10 x 2 reps of 'Press'. Stand with feet close together, barbell on the chest and press straight above your head (remembering to move your face out of the way of the bar as it moves upwards of course!). The idea is that you lift the maximum weight you can manage for 2 reps, and this is very likely to change as the sets progress. After that we agreed that we didn't feel like we had worked out, so decided that we would add a little 'extra', as follows: 3 x (30 kettlebell swings, 30 burpees, 30 sit ups) This was hard, very hard, and brought out the competitive edge in all of us; I thoroughly enjoyed and certainly knew I had worked out afterwards. Tuesday, with the sun shining, I headed out on the bike at lunchtime for a hard 50 minute ride. I had to work hard to get warm as despite the sunshine there was a definite chill in the air. But once warmed up, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Last night I had a night out with some colleagues, no real reason but I thoroughly enjoyed myself, had way too much Guiness and jumped about like a mad thing when the news came through that the Mighty Seagulls had beaten Dagenham & Redbridge and guaranteed themselves promotion. Go Brighton! Today, as you might have guessed, I did no phys!

A few abstract thoughts ...

I saw the photos this evening of me riding at the Meon Valley Riser last Sunday; no wonder I struggled, I seemed to be carrying rather a lot of ... er ... excess baggage, if you know what I mean. Black can be such a cruel colour my dear!

Tonight I ordered the final bits to finish off my Litespeed; new pedals and a 12-25 cassette will do just nicely I think. The gears will be sorted this weekend and I am actually looking forward to the IS duathlon, maybe not for the event itself but certainly to catch up with a few buddies.

Today I had a very pleasant session at the gym; 10 minutes on the rower getting progressively harder, then into the weights area to practice my technique, then onto the bike for a 10 minute effort. Training is, as you may imagine,a bit haphazard at the moment. CrossFit is my guide and if I can't get to the CrossFit gym I will try and do the WOD in the gym at work, if at all possible. And if not, I will improvise.

The next couple of days will be difficult from a training perspective; work is very busy at the moment and tomorrow evening will be spent tidying up ready for the kids coming home for Easter hols. And on Friday I head off to Leeds early in the morning to collect the kids from school. I don't mind the journey and I've recently purchased an ipod that now lives in the car with my favourite tunes, all controlled through the car stereo's remote control that makes the miles seem to pass a lot quicker. And if I get bored with my ipod I also have DAB radio as well as normal radio. Unfortunately, DAB radio reception can be a bit hit or miss with the windscreen mounted aerial so I really need to get a proper roof mounted DAB aerial.

I've been very good on the eating front this week, so I'm hoping that by the time of the IS duathlon I will have shed some of the excess baggage I winessed last Sunday.

All the best folks.

Onwards & Upwards

The results of Sunday's sportive have been published and I finished 61st out of 159 male finishers over the 88 mile route. The organisers have readjusted the standards meaning I was in the Bronze category, but only just. My ride buddies did really well; Andy IM got gold, Jockey John and Hamish got silver. So well done guys, I promise to HTFU! I had a rest day on Monday and at lunchtime today I did a 15 minute easy session on the rower followed by some core, stretch and flex. This evening it was back to the CrossFit gym for today's WOD, 3 rounds for time of: Run 800 meters 50 Back Extensions 50 Sit-ups I managed this in 18:55 that I was very pleased with (especially as I whooped my 17-year old son's ass by over 3 minutes!). I also had a piece of cake this afternoon to celebrate being free from oppressive long distance sporting commitments. As I said in the title, onwards and upwards! Train smart folks.

Realisation...

I had many titles for this blog but none seemed quite appropriate. Today was my first event of the year, the Meon Valley Riser sportive. This is a new event run by the people that do a number of events I have attended in the New Forest, so I expected slick organisation. What I wasn't expecting was a completely nails course. I met up with my ride buddies at the start, including IM Andy, Jockey John (he's not a jockey but is built like one!), my Titchfield Terriers buddies Hamish and Chris, and Tinman.

I was struggling almost from the off, not helped by needing to stop early on and adjust my seatpost that had slipped; I had ignored one of the golden rules of not changing anything on your bike the day before an event and had swapped the seatpost over. Lesson re-learned! Andy had very kindly waited for me and paced me back to Hamish, Chris and Tinman. John was off the front and Andy went after him; we never saw either again until the finish line. The course had some brutal climbs in its 86 miles; Old Winchester Hill, Butser Hill and twice over Portsdown Hill to name but a few. Chris was soon struggling; he had had an accident whilst out riding last week when a Land Rover braked immediately in front of him and he ran into the back of it hard enough to break his titanium frame, and the injuries were clearly bothering him and he called it a day after about 30 miles.

I am clearly not bike fit and the hills were taking their toll. Hamish broke away before the first feed station and although Tinman and I caught him up there was no way I was going to keep up and we let him go. Early on, I thought Tinman was struggling, but into the second half and he was powering up the hills leaving me in his wake, so maybe he was pacing himself sensibly early on. But I would always make up ground on the descents; Tinman must be the most cautious descender I have ever ridden with! After the 2nd feed station we met up with an old boy and then a younger chap and we rode to the finish as a 4, with Tinman usually at the front into the wind as we headed back towards the coast. I was struggling on the hills but had the legs after the last hill for a head down TT effort that saw a couple of the guys drop off, but we re-grouped before the finish. About half a mile from the end we passed Andy who was just coming to the end of his post sportive run! And Tinman won the sprint to the finish line!

So how hard was this event? The organisers had set gold standard at 4 hours 40 minutes; Andy had ridden it in 5 hrs 5 minutes and was fairly close to the sharp end of the field, as no-one it seemed had hit the gold standard! Ouch!!! I think my finish time was about 5 hrs 48 mins but will have to wait to confirm.

This was supposed to be one of the tests for me to see whether I am going to be up to doing The Outlaw in July. And my conclusion was a resounding 'No'! So I'm out. Yes, I have withdrawn from The Outlaw. And do you know what, I feel relieved and happy at this decision. I will still do the IS duathlon and Odiham will be my last triathlon. I won't say last ever because I might still turn out and support the RAF series because they're quite good fun. I can now focus on CrossFit and doing a hard turbo during the week with a 2-3 hour ride at the weekend. This is me now; CrossFit Man!

In case you were wondering, the wheels were AWESOME today, they have transformed the bike and are a significant improvement over the Mavic Ksyriums I was using before. They are just so smooth and comfortable to ride.

All the best to you all. And train smart.