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 17 - lessons learnt

Today was an early start with a great swim session. The pool wasn't too busy, in the hour and a quarter I almost made it through the entire swim set (I completed 2.2km) and I managed to get some good footage on the GoPro.

After work it was straight to cooking and then onto the turbo for the beginning of another brick session. This was not so good though, training so soon after dinner just did jot agree with me and to make matters worse, the HR monitor wasn't working for some reason.

I struggled through the 30 minute bike session, averaging just over 12mph, but whilst on the 1.8 mile run I blew chunks.

I think this session was more about mental training in order to keep going rather than anything else.

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 15 - Rest Day

Even though today was a rest day, it was a little bit of work because it was back to school for everyone after the Christmas break. This'll be the first week of my training with work involved as well and therefore it is essential that everything goes well. As long as everything works well this week, I know it'll work for future weeks as well.

My left achilles is beginning to ache a little more at the moment so depending on how it feels tomorrow, I may well just do a little bike session instead, we'll have to see.

Day 14 - Long Run

May have gone a little fast but the hour went by quickly and the miles were good. Admittedly, my legs are aching more than usual but I do have a rest day tomorrow so I'm sure/hoping that the time will heal them up a treat ready for week 3.

Thinking about it, they're probably aching because I was stopping to take photos/videos of the sunrise and then going slightly faster to catch up with where I should've been. This isn't helpful, I know but the sunrise really was good and I haven't seen one in ages.

Despite all this (59 minutes worth of running during a 61 minute session) I still managed 5.9 miles at an average pace of around 10:22/mile. Obviously, there is no way I could keep this rate up for the full 26.2 miles (especially after a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike) but it is almost a quarter of the distance and I still have another 28 weeks worth of training to go. I read somewhere today that racing the ironman will not be the hardest achievement of your life, but training for it certainly will be. I can definitely see this one coming true, Train hard, race easy.

No swim training for me tonight, instead there was a lovely curry and three beers that meant I was way too full to enjoy it. Next time I must remember not to order so much... I don't need it.

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 12 - New Year's Day Run

A new year and a new training session. Today was just a 45 minute run but it ended up being just over an hour as I also ran up to Colne Engaine, where the party was last night, in order to help tidy up a little more.

Pace wise, I think it was pretty good, under 11 min/mile and I still felt fresh afterwards.