The Project

Its been a while since I last posted so I have missed a few sessions on here... I'm not going to do a long catch up because it would be a bit much.

Had a great week this week - Monday I went to the Tri London swim club which is always a challenging set and always feel like a great session. Tuesday was the running session in Springfield park, we were working on Muscular Endurance, hill repeats, and trying to keep the same pace on every hill repeat.

I did a 22km (5 laps of Regents Park) TT, came in at 39:53.... I love doing this TT, especially early in the morning when there is no traffic and the weather was glorious. Here is the Garmin link ---> 22km TT
I'm going to do this TT every week for the next 3 weeks, noting down all the variables and looking for improvements.... hopefully in time/speed.


This weekend I will fit in a swim, long run and the a bike/run brick too.

The New Project

I have decided that I want a Time Trial / Triathlon specific bike. I bought a frame from ebay, got a great deal! Its a HED V04 TT frame, its a beauty. Over the next few months I plan on building this bike up, making it a real machine and hopefully get it up and running for my race in September. Im going to try and get all my stuff second hand and keep the cost down. Ive added some pics for you to drool over... or not...

The first pic is of my frame, the second pic is of what it could look like..... I WISH.

Long Ride - Richmond Park

I did my 'long ride' today. Normally my rides take me up to Hertfordshire on a loop I know well and like, but today I decided to find my way to Richmond Park and see what all the fuss is about.
The journey down there was a bit of a nightmare, not knowing where I was going and getting lost a couple of times made it hard to enjoy. My route took me across Blackfriars bridge and through south London down busy roads and dual carriage ways. Once I made it there though, it was worth the hassle. Richmond Park is something else, its beautiful, large, busy and full of wildlife. At one point there was a large (30 or so) herd of Deer just chilling in the fields which was a nice sight and unexpected considering the hustle and bustle outside of RP. A loop of RP is about 10km, maybe a bit more and is mostly flt but does have a couple of short sharp ascents too. I did 3 laps of the park.
The journey back was much better but still not great. I decided to cross the river asap and just ride all the way along the embankment until I got to St Pauls Cathedral area then headed north to home. All can be seen on the Garmin link. I pushed it harder than my last rides, or I intended to but with all the traffic lights, getting lost and horrid roads it turned out to be a quite slow ride.

Garmin link ---> Long Ride

First Real Brick Session

I have done no swimming this week as yet, I may be able to fit some in tomorrow at some point but either way it isn't ideal! MUST TRY HARDER.....

Thursday I did a hard turbo session, should have been 1hr 15min session but I pushed it hard and stopped at 45 mins. It was a session building on speed, so you can see on the Garmin link where I did the intervals as my HR spikes and so does the speed. Garmin link ---> Speed Turbo Session

Yesterday I went to the gym after work and did 30 mins rowing, a steady pace, then some conditioning work... quite an easy session.

Today, on the other hand, was not an easy session, it was my first proper brick session. I did an hour on the turbo, a decent effort, not pushing hard but not taking it easy either then hopped straight off the bike and went for a 10k run down to St Paul's Cathedral and back. All in all a great session.

Here are the Garmin links:

Bike -----> Turbo Session

Run -----> 10k Run

Mid week long-ish run

I didn't do any run session on Tuesday as I said I would in my last post, instead I slept in (to 7:30, if that counts as a sleep in) and worked late. I did my run on Wednesday instead, a nice long run in the early evening light down to the Tate Modern Gallery and back. An 11km run dodging cars, pedestrians, cyclists and stop start at most of the traffic lights. But, even with all this, it is a favourite run of mine, one that I used to do regularly but haven't for a while, I have been favouring the Hampstead Heath / Highgate Westhill run instead but maybe that is to change.

Here is the Garmin link ----> Tate Modern out and back run

Back in the UK

Had a good week in France, plenty or R & R and training too. Monday and Tuesday I put in 30 mins on the rower and some gym work followed by 30 min runs. Wednesday I went to the beach with the wetsuit and did some OW swimming, under estimated how hard this was going to be as I haven't done any OW since last June. The Mediterranean was a lot colder than I had expected and it was a windy rough day. So, 20 mins in the sea. A nice reminder of what it is like and that I need to do some more OW swimming, which I will be doing from May time.
Friday I went on a long ride, up the Col De Vence ( a cat 1 TdF climb) and then down to Cagnes and along the sea front to Nice and then back. Here is the link ---> Col De Vence Ride

Back in the UK now and back into training. Today is Bank Holiday Monday so a good chance to put in a good effort and get back into my usual routine, if I ever had one?! I went to RP to put in a Med-Hard 40km timed effort, not a TT or all out but not far off. I had hoped for a better performance but the real test will be in a couple of months when I have done a lot more speed work. The link includes the ride to and from Regents Park, if you want to see my 40km effort click on the 'Splits' option and click on the middle split. Here is the link ----> Regents Park 40km effort

The coach who normally does the run session on Tuesdays at Millfields Park is away for a couple of weeks so I will be off out running tomorrow to do my own running session.

Spring is here

The weather seems to be getting better, the clocks have changed, so I declare that Spring is here! About time too.

Tuesday - I went to the run session at Millfields, another great session. Up at 5am and cycled over for 6am. So stretching to warm-up and wake up then the main set consisted of 7x1km laps, again looking at RPE, HR and Pace, looking at how they are linked and how to judge them. A good session and very beneficial. Its not totally clear from the Garmin link what the plan was but here it is anyway ---> Run Session Garmin Link, click me.

Then, following this, I was struck down by illness.... taken over by blocked sinuses, coughing and an all round feeling of fatigue. I didn't manage another training session until yesterday. I'm in France now, here for a week and its a great opportunity to fit in those missed sessions and get some good training.

Sunday - Long run. I was prescribed 2.5hr but due to the terrain around here and the route I took I only ran for 1hr 45mins. A good run though, and faster than any other time I have done it. Garmin Link -----> Long Run Click Me

10km TT

I did a 10km TT run yesterday, just to see where I am with speed and to set a bench mark. My previous PB is 47:30, I did this at last years Bupa London 10k. I went out with the intention of pushing as hard as I can for the whole 10k, eyes bleeding or whatever, I wanted a PB. Given all the gains I have made in my endurance I was confident I could get a PB, actually hoping for sub 47. Well, this wasn't to be, I came in at 47:54. Slightly disappointed.

Here is the garmin link ---> 10km TT click me

I attribute my slow time to a few things:

1. I went out way too fast - strategy was very poorly thought out. You can see from the splits on the garmin link that my first 2km were ran at an average pace of 4:13/km, I should have been cruising more at 4:30 pace. Grave error.
2. Given the stage of my training I'm at, speed work is only just creeping in and I shouldn't expect too much (obviously I do).
3. My running shoes are worn and don't give me the comfort and support they used. After this run I promptly purchased a new pair - Adidas Adizero, the same as Haile Gebrselassie, so can't be bad!

Still, its a good bench mark and a good target on which to improve.

Today I went to the gym after work for some conditioning work, but when I go to the gym I feel guilty for not doing any cardio so I went on the rower first to do a 2000m TT. Set a PB, 7:15.5, pretty happy with that. Thats an average of 1:48.9/500m.

I then did some conditioning work working abs and core, this is something I should do more of and intend to do more of.

This week

Its been a week since my last update and even though it has I don't have much to write.

Last Sunday I did a long run. The same run as the week before, around Hampstead Heath and back, and this time I was faster - nice to see progress.

Here is the link ----> Hampstead Heath Run, Click me.

Following this run I got a massive blister on my foot, this has left me limping all week and unable to walk or run. Even though I had this blister and shouldn't have been running I still tried to. On Tuesday I did some intervals (1km intervals working on RPE and looking at pace and HR), but due to my blister and the pain I think I must have altered my running form which has led to a stiff calf all week. So, I have been limping because of the blister and now a sore calf!! I decided, given that it is a 'rest week' and my calf issues I would ease off the training until I feel back up to it. Might do something today, if I do Ill update.

Catch Up

Friday - I missed my turbo session on Thursday so decided I would do it on Friday instead of swimming. A good session, hard and making progress.

This was the session:

Warm-up: 5 mins steady

Main set: 6 intervals of 10 min each: 2x 7 min @ 60% and 3 min @ 85%, 2x 6 min @ 60% and 4 min @ 85%, 2x 5 min @ 60%, 5 min @ 85%.

Cool-down: 5 mins steady. Aim to spin 100rpm through all gears.

Average speed was up t 25.2km/h, which on my turbo, I think, is pretty good considering it is much harder than riding on the road.

Today - I planned to go to Box Hill, Surrey, with the Tri Club but due to a massive balls up by me I wasn't ready in time and missed it. Went on a ride on my own instead. I planed to ride up to Potters bar (20km) then do a loop up to Hertford and back to Potters Bar (33km) twice. Half way round the first loop I realised I had forgot my wallet and money, meaning that if I have any technical issues I wouldnt be able to get a taxi or train! Due to this I only did one loop and headed home after - 75km ish in total. Not a bad ride though, pushed a decent pace and felt strong, I could have easily done another loop at that pace and next time I will.

Here is a link to the ride ---> Today's Hertford Ride, click me.

Hopefully going to London Fields Lido tomorrow for a decent swim (as I haven't done any this week) then a long run.

Its all coming together...

On Tuesday I should have made it to the run session but due to plain laziness (and tiredness) I couldnt get out of bed. I contacted the coach though and asked him about the session so that on Tuesday night I could do the session on my own as to not fall behind in the 4-week plans the run coach sets out.

We are still working on endurance intervals, looking at pacing. Similar to last week but with longer intervals.

The run session group used a loop of 1km, I used 1.6km (1 mile) just to make it a bit more painful!

I jogged the loop first as a gentle warm up, get the blood flowing.

Main Set

1 loop at a pace which felt comfortable to me - I aimed to just run on feel and see what time I had at the end. The time was 7min 17secs, not a bad speed but a hard one to keep up for the remaining intervals.

I then went on to do 2 loops timed then rest, then 3 loops timed and rest. The idea is is that each loop with be the same speed as the first. Again, this is to teach us about pacing and not going out too hard at the start.

I managed to hold this pace for every interval and actually posted a PB for 5k.

See the garmin link --- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26556881

A gentle jog to cool down too.

Yesterday was meant to be my rest day, I'm supposed to do a little conditioning work and thats it but conditioning work is boring, it involves weights and the gym and considering I would have to go to the gym at 5pm when its full of all the pumped up posers I didnt fancy it. I decided a nice solid row was called for. 10k again. Posted a better time than last week of 40mins 30secs. A harder effort but I still feel I had some in the tank for a better time.