27 days till Christmas

Today was a cycling session day held by my coach but for the tri club. He holds it in Finsbury Park, he does it about once a month but only two of us turned up!! Although it was bloody freezing.

We started with some single leg drills on a slight incline then some bike handling skills, this consisted of learning to turn in small places, also passing a bottle across the three of us.... I learnt that I have poor handling skills, ooops. Need to work on that!
Then we head off towards Crouch Hill, Alexandra Palace and Muswell Hill, using these hills for repeats which was a nice way to warm myself up and get some blood flowing.

It was so bloody cold!

Swim - First TT20

I had a Time Trial listed for this morning, 20 minutes all out, see how far I can go. Its to set a bench mark and to look for improvements over the coming months.
I was up at 6am to get to pool for 630am, didn't feel like it though as I was so tired, still, I dragged myself up had a nibble and headed out into the FREEZING dark morning.... why oh why do I do this to myself??? The pool was busy and people just don't get the hell out of your way and swim bloody slow in the FAST lane... pricks.

Overall it went well, covered 1050m in 20 mins, about what I had expected. Hopefully next time I will improve on it otherwise Ill be bummed.

As can be seen from the countdown on the right of this page my main aim for next year is Monaco Half Ironman, but there is a massive possibility there might not be one. This info is all from the net, nothing concrete but there isn't smoke without fire.....
However, silver lining is that it does say that a triathlon will take place but it may not be an 'Ironman' related event, hopefully it will still be the same distance though.

Fecking Winter

Very simple turbo session, nothing special and nothing to report. Out.

West Hill

Tuesdays are normally reserved for the run session with Tri London but unfortunately the coach who takes that session is away, I decided that I would venture to new areas for something different. London isn't famous for its hills, there are not many and those that there are are pretty poor, I know of 3 decent hills; the first being East Heath Road hill which is on the west side of Hampstead heath, I haven't been there but I hear it is ok, the second being Muswell Hill, this I have both run and cycled up, it is a short hill of about 500m but is quite steep and would be ideal for reps, cycling or running, and finally there is Highgate West Hill, this is where my pavement pounding took me this morning and apparently was used in the Tour of Britain cycle race.

I was up at 545am and out for 615, I stayed at a steady pace keeping the HR very aerobic. Unfortunately the path to West Hill takes me up Holloway road and Tufnell Park road, both of which are uninspiring, especially when there is traffic. Following my google map I found the hill and steadily conquered it, as this is the closest of the 3 hills I feel I will be re-visiting more frequently. All in all I covered about 11k in just over an hour (very slow) with a decent hill in the middle.

West Hill profile

Back to life

It's been 2 weeks since I last posted. I have been super busy and very ill, I had flu and I have only just got over it.

At one point I felt as rough as this guy --->

This morning I dragged myself up at 5.45 and went to the pool, this week is listed as a recovery week but as I haven't worked out for nigh on 2 weeks I was considering swapping it with a non recovery week but advice from my coach is to leave it as it is and use it as a steady introduction back to working out and allowing me to get back to 100% health.

So today was just 30 mins steady swimming with a few drills, nothing special but a nice gentle way back.

Le Sud De France

My wife and I arrived here on Sat for a long weekend. The weather is colder than expected but at least it isn't bloody raining as it does all year round in London.

Yesterday went for my long run, 16km in 1hr 32mins. I did keep it at a steady pace with a steady HR but the biggest reason for the slower than normal pace is the fact it was all up hill for the first 10km and when I say up hill I mean up hill..... on the plus side, it was all down hill for the last 6km. Once I'm back in the UK I will try and attach the profile of the run.

Leeds won this weekend too, all in all pretty good.

Finally Friday.

I went to the Tri London swim session this morning, a nice 5am get up for the 6am session. Its held at Cally pool which is nice because its a warm pool unlike Highbury pool which is always cold, everytime I get out of I'm shivering.

I ran there, only about 1.5miles so a nice little warm-up before I have even got in the pool. I also ran back afterwards.

The swim session was excellent, is a while since I have been to one. Started off with7x50m of drills, fists and running finger up side, then a main set of 600m w/ pull buoy followed by 6x100m with 20seconds rest in between at 400m pace, 400m w/ pull buoy followed by 4x100m with 20seconds rest in between at 400m pace, it did go further than this but I had to go at 7:10 to get to work early. I didn't push it and kept it slow and steady. All in all, including the warm-up I covered about 2800m.

They have a coach there who gave me a few pointers about my stroke, hopefully with a bit of work I can improve my technique and improve my times.... swimming is all about technique.

Its getting darker...

Yesterday I did a turbo session, I started off with single leg drills and some high cadence (100/110rpm) for warm-up then just did 45mins at a aerobic HR followed by 5 mins spinning for cool down. Nothing too glamourous or strenuous.

Today I had a long day at work and jut want to eat and sleep.... and maybe watch some Lost season 5, which, by the way, is a bit crap.

Going to Nice for a long weekend though (Early Saturday to late Tuesday), so that will be nice. Get some nice running in. Also going for 3 weeks at xmas... can I be arsed to take my bike? They bloody well charge you on BA now... the cheek.

Dimanche, Lundi et Mardi

Sunday - Long run day today. Aiming for a straight run steady pace with a average aerobic HR for 1 hour. I started out with 10 mins on drills to get warmed up. The drills consisted of lunges, high cadence and knees up, get some funny looks in the park when doing some of these. I did 1 hour of steady running, I felt like I could have kept going for a good 30 mins or more.

Monday - I took a rest day, wasn't feeling up to anything.

Tuesday - Went to the run session today, horrible weather and I got soaked. Today it consisted of a 4k run out, stretching and lower body work. The lower body work consisted single leg work like hopping around cones, lunges and explosive lunges, this left me with aching legs and it was just the bloody warm-up! We then ran 4 loops of 1k looking at high cadence, trying to up our cadence for more efficient running. Generally a cadence of 180-190 steps/min is recommended, mine was at around 175, so a bit low. High cadence gives better technique and promotes mid-foot and fore-foot striking rather than heel striking which can be bad for the joints and also gives a 'braking' effect. Following all this it was a 4k run back, needless to say it was a slow run back as my legs felt a bit punished!