Mission Accomplished

This week was all about the bike, getting out and riding it. In both the Bala Middle Distance and the Cowman races I was conscious of my legs lacking strength endurance towards the end of the bike course and with the Aberfeldy Half Ironman coming up on 16 August and the hilly nature of that course I am determined to be able to ride hard all the way. The hilly nature means I will be leaving the Prince of Darkness at home and taking my trusty Litespeed, so all the road riding this week has been on this bike. I've throughly enjoyed riding on the road this week (the great weather has helped) but the turbo sessions have not gone so well, so hopefully I can build these up over the coming fortnight. I also need to increase the swimming and running as well. A look at this week's training stats will explain:

Swimming - 40 minutes
Running - 1 hour 16 minutes
Core, stretch & flex - 30 minutes
Cycling - 7 hours 49 minutes
Total - 10 hrs 15 minutes (compared to an average of 7 hrs 27 minutes so far this season)

So this week I will reduce the amount of time cycling, add in another swim session and a long run and hopefully get a better balance in the programme. This week was all about cycling, so Mission Accomplished there.

The second aim was to lose a few pounds before Aberfeldy, and I'm pleased to report that I am going well. I raced Cowman at about 11st 9lbs and yesterday morning I was 11st 7lbs. Target weight is 11st 4lbs and if I can get close to that it will make getting over those Scottish mountains so much easier.

Train smart folks.

Fat Mick

You're a cruel lot. 70% "of those who expressed a preference" reckon I deserved Chairman Pete's "Muffin Top" comment. That's it, I will retreat from all forms of gluttony and subscribe to the super model diet of water and thin air until I am leaner than a very lean thing. Unfortunately I will probably lose all my strength and be a lesser person, but that's OK because I will be thin. And Lonsy will probably beat me and then there will be nothing left for me but to slope off into inglorious retirement, but no-one will notice because I will turn sideways on and be lost to you. I hope you're pleased. And thanks to all those who voted "foul", even though I suspect my Mum voted more than once!

For the sensitive souls out there please note that the above was written with TVFIC!

It's Still Not Happening...

I got on the turbo last night and after a 10 minute warm-up got stuck into the 6 minute reps at 330 watts, with 2 minutes easy recovery at about 200 watts. Again, though, I just didn't seem to have the heart for it. It was hard (as you would expect) but whereas in the past I would just grit my teeth and get on with it I found myelf once again contemplating climbing off. I battled with these demons for a while and not even Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" on the ipod could dispel them. In the end I did 3 reps of 6 minutes and just to confirm the strange state of mind I currently find myself in I dashed inside, put my trainers on and went for a run. Now this is most unlike me! It wasn't quick and it wasn't long but for me to run instead of ride my bike is almost uheard of.

So today I have taken a rest day and taken the opportunity to review my training diary. I have done 7.7 hours of training over the last 4 days; in comparison my weekly average has been 7.3 hours this winter. The last 4 days consists of 40 minutes of swimming, 30 minutes of running, 30 minutes of core and 6 hours of cycling! Am I really traning for middle distance races?

The good news is that I have a late start tomorrow so plan to take Bandit for an early morning run in the park; will hopefully be out for at least an hour. Which leaves Saturday and Sunday for a couple of long bike rides; Saturday will be a steady ride out to Cambridge and back and Sunday will be a couple of hours of hill efforts. This will hopefully give me some confidence in my bike endurance that was lacking at both Bala and Cowman and allow me to balance my training a bit better over the next 2 weeks.

It's the Trentham Gatorade Big Half (or whatever its called) this weekend so best of luck to Reg, Sags and Jase.

The Meanderings of a Turbo Man ...

It's good ... It's bad ... It's good ... It's bad ...

What is? Training. Since Bala training has been somewhat sporadic and completing 3 races in 10 days recently meant I was either trying to recover from one race or not wanting to overtrain prior to the next race. So last weekend I tried to ease myself back into a decent training programme. I had an enjoyable Sunday morning on the bike but on Monday went to the gym to swim but the pool was closed. OK, flexibility being one of the keys of Air Power I did a 30 minute core, stretch and flex session and in the evening headed for the garage for 2 x 20 minutes on the turbo. However, halfway through I climbed off. Legs were good, breathing was OK, but my heart just wasn't in it. Was I listening to my body that needed a rest, or should I have just HTFU'd? In the past I have been in both camps but this time I didn't feel that, physically, I needed to rest, so perhaps it was just a case of HTFU. Tuesday, though, I decided to commute to work on the bike; just over 25 miles each way and really enjoyed it. And this morning I went to the pool (open now) and had a really good 40 minute session. So all seems well, although I think the crunch will come this evening when it's back on the turbo for the 6 x 6 session.

Train smart folks.

Getting back in to it

After my exertions on Wednesday and Thursday my legs just weren't up to doing anything on either Friday or Saturday, so instead of training I rested and got my Litespeed sorted into "Aberfeldy LD" spec - this included adding clip-on tribars, seat bag with puncture repair kit, one bottle cage and handlebar box (for gels and energy bars).

Today I went for a short(ish) ride just to get my legs moving again; I did 2 hours and 10 minutes and 65km. I did some repeated hill efforts (or at least the best hills that Cambridgeshire could offer) and it was nice to be out in the sunshine, although it was well windy; struggling to do 25kmh into the wind and then 48kmh+ with it. Legs were tired afterwards so I've worn my calf guards all afternoon. Legs feel good now.

Looking ahead I now have 3 weeks of training before tapering for Aberfeldy. Plan is to do some serious bike mileage and get a half marathon in at some point every week whilst keeping the swimming ticking over. There are some work and social commitments that will mess things up a bit but the key will be flexibility, and do what I can when I can. I also plan to try and get the weight down and lose one pound per week; by Aberfeldy that would see me very close to my IM race weight of 2006 and will certainly help on the hills of Scotland.

Train smart folks.

"Fat Mick"

This is the picture of me at the Inter Services that prompted Chairman Pete to make the "muffin top" comment.

Fair or foul?

Please vote now.

Now that was a really good idea ...

Wednesday I raced at the Inter Services standard distance triathlon (see below) so a day of rest would be well deserved on Thursday. Or so you would think. Instead, I had arranged to do my fitness test followed by a "friendly" game of unihoc. Unsurprisingly, I didn't record a PB on the fitness test and only managed 11.10; my legs were feeling a bit leaden and tired. I did manage 52 press ups and 53 sit ups though, which I think is OK for a 44 year old. The unihoc game was great fun, but after 40 minutes I was absolutely knackered and dripping with sweat. Am very tired now and will have a rest day tomorrow. I'm working Saturday but should have time for a long run first thing in the morning and will hopefully get a long ride out on Sunday. With Aberfeldy my next race on 16 Aug it's all on the road bike now, and I need to find some hills as well.

Train smart folks.