Day 117 of 210

This was the first time I've actually cycled in and back from work and it panned out quite well. The cycle in was easy going (you don't want to get too sweaty before work) and allowed time to concentrate/experiment on technique whilst the journey back was for proper training. This means that it's now not even 6:30pm and my training for the day is done. Awesome! The extra cycle in will be good extra training as well, I'm sure.

Day 38

50 minute turbo completed, the legs are feeling surprisingly good.

Day 34 - long bike

Thankfully, Siân is all onboard with #OperationIronman2016 and took Rosy swimming this morning in order to allow me to head out on the bike while it was still light.

The session was only an hour and three quarters, and therefore only a fraction of the total time I'll be spending on the bike, but I almost cut it short. Not because I was tired or finding it hard but because I knew I had plenty of other things to do. I didn't cut it short though and it was only because I know that I have to do this training otherwise I will not finish the race in time.

"Respect the training!" is a phrase that keeps going through my mind as the training will be far harder than the race itself.

Long Bike Ride has been completed. An hour and three quarters at an average of 14mph, the minimum speed I need to do.

Day 24 - Full House

Have just about covered everything during this Wednesday. Started of with a 2k swim first thing in the morning which was followed up this evening with a tidy little brick session. The bike was obviously on the turbo again but it all felt surprisingly good.

Bring on tomorrow.

Day 21 - Just how much training can you fit into one day

Due to the sheer lack of training yesterday I had to complete a two hour bike session on top of the hour run I already had to do. This all went according to plan although the bike was amazingly cold on the feet (I really must make sure I get something to keep them warm). The run was great because Sian was also with me and  it's always great to be running with her whilst chatting away.

Once the 5.5 mile run was out the way and I'd defrosted from the 30 mile bike, I realised that I'd also planned to attend a masters swim session  with the Halstead Swim Club. So, today was a very full day and it was also the end of my third week of training. My achilles is good to run on and I'm finding some good stretches to complete after running and cycling.

Time to hit the sack now and get some rest.

Day 19 - Turbo and Swim

Today all started at at 5am, the alarm went off in order for me to complete a 60 minute turbo, instead of a 60 minute run (I still don't want to run too far with my Achilles feeling a little bit dodgy) but like the lazy arsed triathlete I am, I snoozed it until it was too late. Therefore I had to try and fit it in after school and before the swim session. I pretty much managed to do this (45 minutes at about 12mph on the turbo) and then I went straight onto the swim session.

The swim was a coached session by Born2Tri and was really just focussing on the arms and legs. Once my legs were sorted it was straight onto the arms. They were teaching about having your hand enter the water a lot sooner. In fact, pretty much just after your head. It feels kinda unnatural but I'm guessing it makes it more efficient. The other part is about entering the water slightly wider. I really must ensure that I keep going to the pool and practise this in the pool and hopefully the first chance for this is going to be at another coached swim set at Halstead Swim Club on Sunday.

Enjoy everyone. Train hard and race easy.

Day 18 - Love Thy Turbo

Today was another turbo bike session due to the time I got back from work and how dark it was.

I feel that I've been spending a lot of time in there recently due to the achilles issue but I'm sure it'll all stand me in good stead for IMUK.

Anyway, the bike session was good, 45 minutes and just over 9 miles.

Day 16 - Turbo No Run

Being a Tuesday I was meant to be having a run but I have really been feeling my Achilles getting worse recently. As a result of this I kinda felt it was prudent to give the running a rest for a while (the longer runs at least) and instead jump on the bike instead. The only real issue I have with this is the fact that it is far too dark to cycle in the mornings before school and by the time I get home it is also far too dark.

Now then, yes I know that I could put lights on. And yes, I know that I could cycle to school. And yes, I know that I could just go for a bike straight after school and do my school work some other time but this just doesn't work. I don't have any lights that are actually good enough and I don't want to get into school all sweaty and horrible. There is an obvious solution though, even though it isn't quite the same as going on the road... TURBO.

The turbo I have is in the garage and can be a little bit noisy but it works, it efficient, as far as I know, and will do the job. As soon as Siân and Rosy went to swimming I was in the garage peddling as if my life depended on it. After doing a very short video for the vlog and plugging in the music I was on my way. I mixed up the tempo of my cadence in line with the chorus and verses of the rocking playlist (mainly 30 Seconds to Mars and Lenny Kravitz) and tried to keep my heart rate as close to 146 as I possibly could. Bizarrely, it was the fastest turbo session I've done and never once did I really want it to end before the time was up, in fact I went over the 45 minutes I had wanted to do.

In total I was spinning my not so little legs for just over 47 minutes at an average speed of 11.9mph that meant that I would've traveled 9.32 miles. This in itself is not that good a speed but on the turbo for me it is great and I'm sure it will stand me in good stead for later on in the training program.

If you hear strange noises coming from my garage, please just walk on by... I'll be getting all hot and sweaty with my bike. See you all soon.

Day 13 - long bike (2nd Jan)

Well, the longest bike of the week and in-fact of my training so far.

90 minutes equated to 21 miles at 13.7mph and a back that was aching after 60 minutes. I guess I've just got to get out there more.

Day 11 - Mending a Puncture & a Short Bike

Rosy's birthday today so I have to be really quite clever about how I'm going to fit in the training today. She's still asleep at the moment (8:15am) so I'm just going to quickly fix the puncture I got in my front tyre yesterday and then get her some breakfast in bed. Then... when she goes out with Siân to get her hair done, I'll nip out for the 30 minute bike.

Fixing the bike took a little longer than it should and now there's a bulge in the tyre as I think the inner tube is a little too thin.

The bike was a little bumpy due to the bulge but the half hour brought about the usual 6 to 7 miles.

Day 5 - Christmas day cycle

Christmas day this year means a bike ride after breakfast and present opening.

Being a bit on the wet and windy side meant that it wasn't the nicest of rides but it was still an hours ride at an average speed of 13mpg.

During the ride I had enough time to start thinking a little bit more about how I can stay motivated during the next 29 weeks and keep that "Hell yes" attitude. I believe I'll be able to get Rosy to make a monthly motivational poster for me to wake up to and I'll be able to get both Rosy and Siân to send a little good luck text once a week for me to wake up to before going swimming. I must remember to talk to them about this but I reckon this can be done during the journey down to Portsmouth tomorrow.

Day 3 of 210 - Turbo bike

So, with it getting closer to Christmas, time is getting ever-so much more precious.

Today's training required a 30 minute bike but life commitments required me to stay at home till Rosy's friends had left the 'birthday sleepover' and then head to Chelmsford for some Christmas shopping with both Siân and Rosy. Even though it was dark when we got back I knew I needed to do the short ride. Thankfully, with space in the garage and a turbo hardly used, I still managed the 30 minutes. I must not let anything slip during these early days. Training is essential, this 'fatman' wants to be an 'ironman'.

New Bike Routes

The morning started off lovely at just gone 7am with a nice coating of sun lotion as it just looked too good outside not to put something like that on. After all, the last colour I'd want to be tomorrow is red.

I'd decided to take a different route today that would take me over to Dedham. It seemed quite far on the map and fairly straightforward to get to, I just hoped that it wouldn't be too quick a ride or that I'd get lost again. That should have been the least of my worries though as the heavens absolutely opened when I eventually arrived at the furthest point of my route from home.

The rain was actually quite cooling, which was just as well as with it being a new route I had to stop to check the route a few times which in turn made me forget about refueling every 20 minutes. Obviously I wasn't quite as on the ball with it as I thought I was, because by the time I hit the 35 mile mark my legs were pretty tired.

The main thing though, is that I've now got another bike route I can use and won't get as bored during these longer rides.

Only 42 days to go till the race now. Wish me luck.

Day 4 of 233 - BIKE

Once again I woke up before my alarm today but this time I had planned to complete an extra swim session this morning. After deciding that this wasn't going to happen and that I actually wanted a couple more hours in bed I turned it off and didn't wake up until 8:30am, I love the school holidays sometimes.

Anyway, after getting the train tickets for Rosy's birthday surprise (we're heading to Paris on the EuroStar to visit DisneyLand, the Eiffel Tower and lots of good food) there was just enough time for my planned bike ride. I decided that it would be better to use my Claud Butler hybrid, which I decided to call Kate, as it is still wet outside and I'm sure somebody once told me it's good to train on on that while race on the roadie. Unfortunately though, I left the ride a little too late and had to cut it slightly shorter due to lack of sunlight. It was still worth going out and it was nice to get the legs spinning again while trying to keep the heartrate within zone 2 (131-149BPM).

End results
Distance - 8.05 miles
Time - 43:33.87
Avg HR - 149
Avg pace - 5:25

It's not totally bad but it's also not where I really want to be at the moment. 

BIKE - Time to talk training, tactics and targets

Training
During my first pre-base phase bike ride I had plenty of time to think about how I'm going to go about succeeding in the Monster Medium and consistency appears to be the key.

As my mind wandered, while the wheels on my bike turned around the lanes of Halstead, I kept coming back to the same conclusion. That I will succeed if I just consistently train in a sensible way. The last time I was thinking about completing a half ironman I bought a book by Don Fink (an internationally known triathlon and running coach who many have sworn by his training plans) and read it religiously. Even now, while I look through the book for hints and tips, I smile at the number of different bookmarks and turned down corners indicating various pages that I feel are worth noting but scared I'll forget are there.

The main idea that kept going through my mind while cycling though was Don's idea of training to time rather than to distance and to train with effort in mind. Many of my cycling friends, also on Strava, all want to go fast and achieve KOM for the different sections on offer but Don talks about training with a heart rate monitor, working out your maximum heart rate and then training within a certain percentage of it. He explains that in long distance events, like my Monster Medium, it's all about training to effective heart rate control and that anything outside of this could be considered "junk miles". There is no way that you'd be able to keep up a 10 mile  race pace for my 50 mile bike section, especially after completing a 1.9km swim and then having to do a half marathon afterwards. For this reason my heart rate for the majority of the Monster Medium will be quite low (between 131 & 149 bpm) and therefore during my training I have to keep it within the same sort of range. This can be quite tricky especially as it feels quite slow at times.

The other part of consistency is the frequency of rides. My job has it's moments of utter bedlam and then during other times it's just busy. If I can complete a long ride at the weekend with the Born2Tri club and two other short evening sessions then I will do just fine. I've penciled these in and will see later on if I can fit it any more.

Tactics
Going out training regularly and consistently is one thing, but before these sessions I need to be prepared in order to get the full benefits. At the moment this is mainly equipment. Whilst riding today I decided I need to buy a good pair of bib shorts (basically lycra dungarees) so that my top does ride up slightly showing off my more than ample arse cleavage. Next up will be overshoes in order to keep my feet nice and toasty, by the end of my 10 mile session today I was beginning to lose the feeling in my toes! Finally there is the cycle computer, something just nice and cheap to give me a nice and quick idea of how far I've gone and at what speed.

Targets
Inbetween trying to keep an eye on my heart rate and thinking about the extra items of equipment I'd be needing over the next six months I was also thinking about my end game. That being the time I'd want to finish in and what speed/pace I would need to keep throughout the 50 miles. The cut off time for the bike section is 4 hours and 20 minutes which means the absolute slowest I can go is 12mph at a pace of 5 minute/mile. Ideally I would like to be comfortable at an average speed of 15mph at a pace of 4 minute/mile. There is no way I'm at this speed at the moment but with regular riding and a good training program I know I will be there come August 17th.

What A Difference A Bike Makes

Christmas is over and now it's New Year's Eve again. What a year it has been with so many challenges and plans for the future. The biggest change this year has got to be my decision to complete a Half Ironman in June of next year though. And up until a few days ago I was beginning to think it wasn't going to be possible. My ankles were aching, I'd missed a few training sessions and the beer was flowing a little too easily. That was all put behind me though when I finally managed to purchase a new bike. Being from Halfords, I wasn't going to get my hopes up too high but after the one ride on it I can now definitely see myself completing this challenge. 

This bike is so much quicker than my trusty hybrid and I don't have to put in as much effort. Infact there were a couple of moments when I was flying downhill that I was positively scared I was going to come off it. Shoving it into top gear, pegging it downhill after there had been plenty of rain in the week before it and heading into a blind corner probably didn't help but it's still good to see that the possibility of speed is there.

Next though will be the swimming. I need to get into the pool far more but the opportunities just aren't arriving due to the cost. I'm hoping that in the next month that'll all be sorted out.

Anyway, it's Rosy's birthday today so must ensure that everything is ready for her.