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.