It's been a good weekend - both with the weather (just) and with the training and I am starting to feel a lot happier and more positive again.
I gave swimming a miss on Friday due to feeling totally knackered. It's not a particularly good excuse but it's the truth. Went running with the club on Saturday and found that the Hastings Half was very much still present in the legs - but as I was running with Emma Faulkner, who was also suffering for the same reason, we both had to basically just get on with it. After an hour we both finished the set strong and out front - good set.
Sunday - swam 3k in 1 hour (and a smattering of seconds). This is the furthest I've ever swam and am really pleased with the set, especially the time. Dean kept a close watch and reckons that my technique remained really good throughout the whole set - result! Quick bite to eat and then it was out on the bikes with SC, SK and JF. Weather forecast was good - no rain, lots of sun. The weather forecast was also (initially) total bollocks! By the time we all met we were totally soaked to the skin - nice. Thankfully it got better, although we then all had too much on, so started to overheat. Honestly - it's just something else to moan about ...
We went out to ride the Sussex Marathon course, ready for next Sunday. Bloody hell it's gotta lotta hill. Which is a really good thing - yes, I love running hills ...., I know, I know, bloody weird. We then tootled off round the lanes and ended up riding for 2:45. Good training ride with great people. The Iron Man club is a pretty good club to be part of, just need to get my biking up to scratch a bit.
So - easy week with no training, just riding to work. Then, the Sussex Marathon next Sunday ... bring on that bad boy.
Sunday 27 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
Breaking news .. Lazy fat boy eeks out another PB
Well, it's been a little while hasn't it dear reader? Hopefully you've all been out there scurrying around, fitting in training and racing into your hectic lives and generally being the good athletes I know you all are?
Meanwhile, your man here has been feeling very sorry himself in a not at all attractive way. I've used work as an excuse far too many times, that it has slipped way beyond the bounds of the believable now. I have applied myself almost exclusively to perfecting the art of giving reasons why I can't train today instead of just getting on with it. Speaking to a number of other IM Wales entrants from within the club this seems to be a pretty common theme, so may well be a part of the whole IM journey that we just weren't prepared for? I'm sure a sports psychiatrist would have a field day with us lot - perhaps Antonio has some connections that would just love to use us all for a study paper? You can see the headline now - "Mad Sports Shrink Let Loose on Mentally Unstable Athletes - Has Care In The Community Let Us Down Once Again?" Gotta be one for The Guardian surely ....
So - how the hell does today's blog title fit into all this gibberish?
To cheer myself up, to give myself a little kick start and ...., to be brutally honest, ...., to prove to myself that I can still get out there and put the hammer down, I entered the Hastings Half pretty much last minute. I tried to convince myself that I would run it nice and easy, especially as I have the Sussex (full) Marathon in two weeks time. So ..., I turned up yesterday in near perfect conditions, and ran my arse off. I managed a finish time of 1:40:58, which represents a course PB of 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Not bad and it certainly cheered me right up. One worrying point is that it felt decidedly like all gels and water I was taking on board was just slosshing around inside my stomach, and was not absorbing properly! This may be why I got to Ore village and started to die on my feet. I had flown up Queensway like Concorde, ran the Ridge in pretty good form and then all started to go down hill (and yes, I know the course does just that at that point ...). I just ran out of steam. Emma Faulkner caught me along the seafront and was running like the wind. I tried to get on her heels but that thought only lasted for about 10 seconds - that girl was cruising! Still - a PB is a PB.
And then I got up this morning with an absolute onset of the D.O.M.S. extrordinaire. In short my bloody legs hurt like hell, and still do for that matter - which serves me right. All my training has been long slow, base heart rate running. So to suddenly crank up the tempo for well over 1 and half hours was only ever going to end one way. Do I regret this rash decision? Of course not, this is me after all ...
So - The Marathon next, which REALLY will be run sensibly. I need to come off the back of that in a position to start training a lot more consistenly for IM Wales - especially on the bike.
These next two weeks will see me doing a bit of recovery running and a bit of swimming.
And before I leave you today - just keep a hold of this thought .... I am out there making all these stupid, dumb arse mistakes and then reporting back on them, so that you don't have to!
Take care goodly folks.
So - how the hell does today's blog title fit into all this gibberish?
To cheer myself up, to give myself a little kick start and ...., to be brutally honest, ...., to prove to myself that I can still get out there and put the hammer down, I entered the Hastings Half pretty much last minute. I tried to convince myself that I would run it nice and easy, especially as I have the Sussex (full) Marathon in two weeks time. So ..., I turned up yesterday in near perfect conditions, and ran my arse off. I managed a finish time of 1:40:58, which represents a course PB of 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Not bad and it certainly cheered me right up. One worrying point is that it felt decidedly like all gels and water I was taking on board was just slosshing around inside my stomach, and was not absorbing properly! This may be why I got to Ore village and started to die on my feet. I had flown up Queensway like Concorde, ran the Ridge in pretty good form and then all started to go down hill (and yes, I know the course does just that at that point ...). I just ran out of steam. Emma Faulkner caught me along the seafront and was running like the wind. I tried to get on her heels but that thought only lasted for about 10 seconds - that girl was cruising! Still - a PB is a PB.
And then I got up this morning with an absolute onset of the D.O.M.S. extrordinaire. In short my bloody legs hurt like hell, and still do for that matter - which serves me right. All my training has been long slow, base heart rate running. So to suddenly crank up the tempo for well over 1 and half hours was only ever going to end one way. Do I regret this rash decision? Of course not, this is me after all ...
So - The Marathon next, which REALLY will be run sensibly. I need to come off the back of that in a position to start training a lot more consistenly for IM Wales - especially on the bike.
These next two weeks will see me doing a bit of recovery running and a bit of swimming.
And before I leave you today - just keep a hold of this thought .... I am out there making all these stupid, dumb arse mistakes and then reporting back on them, so that you don't have to!
Take care goodly folks.
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Weak Week Fizzle Blurgh
Despite all the signs being there, I haven't totally lost all sense of reason and sailed off into the sunset of insanity ... honest!
Last week felt like the toughest week of my training so far, yet I actually did next to bugger all so probably counts as my weakest. The whole concept of mental conditioning has started to raise it's ugly head. I have definitely under-estimated the mental trauma that this degree of continual training gives out. No matter how much you do and how much you hurt a voice in the back of your head whispers to you that you are slacking and not doing anywhere near enough .... creepy!
I would like to point out at this point that I do not normally have a whole cast of character voices resident in my head, well ...., apart from the normal crew and they're only there to keep me company on the long training swims, rides and runs ..., wibble wibble boing.
Cycled to work but it felt like I was towing a truck. No running and no 'proper' cycling, although I did give my road bike a clean up, a de-gunking of the drive train and a re-lube. Altogether not very impressive. In fact the hardest thing was having a sports massage to try and loosen off my lower back .... poor excuse I know!
However - a small redemption presented itself in the guise of a good solid swim session on Sunday morning. A few warm up lengths and assorted drills, followed by a steady 2km set in 40 minutes. No chance of getting any medals for that time, but not bad for me.
Cycling to work considerably more enthusiastically this week and have endured one of Steph's infamous spin classes on Monday. Tonight I'm going to 'enjoy' one of Tom's torture sessions (stretch and core) and will follow tomorrow night with another spin class.
I'm hoping that I am finally shaking off the demons that have been haunting me about this training?
I think the lighter nights will help and a bit of warm weather never goes amiss.
I would like to point out at this point that I do not normally have a whole cast of character voices resident in my head, well ...., apart from the normal crew and they're only there to keep me company on the long training swims, rides and runs ..., wibble wibble boing.
Cycled to work but it felt like I was towing a truck. No running and no 'proper' cycling, although I did give my road bike a clean up, a de-gunking of the drive train and a re-lube. Altogether not very impressive. In fact the hardest thing was having a sports massage to try and loosen off my lower back .... poor excuse I know!
However - a small redemption presented itself in the guise of a good solid swim session on Sunday morning. A few warm up lengths and assorted drills, followed by a steady 2km set in 40 minutes. No chance of getting any medals for that time, but not bad for me.
Cycling to work considerably more enthusiastically this week and have endured one of Steph's infamous spin classes on Monday. Tonight I'm going to 'enjoy' one of Tom's torture sessions (stretch and core) and will follow tomorrow night with another spin class.
I'm hoping that I am finally shaking off the demons that have been haunting me about this training?
I think the lighter nights will help and a bit of warm weather never goes amiss.
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