snow shoes

I finally gave in to temptation and had a short run in the snow at lunchtime.... well I say snow... its now more like hard packed ice... and in places shiny...

I'd been putting it off with the excuse that it wasn't safe to run, and then an article at Runners World made me get off my butt... in so many words it said, if you want to run, then go running!

So I did... and it wasn't that slippery...

I kept it short partially because of the weather, and partially as I hadn't run bar the one attempt in a fortnight, so didn't want to push anything too hard...

I feel good afterwards... no aches, no pains...

I reserve judgment as I felt like this after the last run, and woke up the next day feeling extremely sore.... but my gut feel is that it is different this time... we'll see!

Anyway... not sure what training i'll be doing over the festive break... i'll certainly get some in... my cousin and partner are threatening to take me running....that could be interesting... as three times Ironman finishers, and with a couple of ultras under their belts, I suspect i'll be holding them up a bit!.... they also want to me to cycle the Vitruvian course with them... just one lap... i'm keen.

I did work out earlier that in order to make a 3hr time for the cycling, which is realistically what I need in order to make the overall 6hr slot, then I need to average just over 17mph.... thus far, i've done three rides on the road at about 14mph, and the rest on the turbo starting at 12mph, and gradually increasing up to 13.6mph.... i'm certain that at the moment, a sustained 17mph is impossible... and not at all confident that it will be easy in 2010 either... better keep on training!!!!

Have a great xmas and new year

snow way...

Its a good job I did buy the turbo trainer.... after snow fall 5 days ago, its remained stubbornly cold, and snow hasn't melted.... add to this, the occasional flurry to keep it topped up, and both cycling and running are impractical...

I have however, banged out nearly 100 miles on the turbo, including a rather pleasing 19 miles last night.... i'm really looking forward to getting out on the road again, and have been planning a few nice rides...

Still hoping that the weather will improve sufficiently that I can ride the Vitruvian course over the Xmas break...

I can't however see me meeting the '30miles in a week' personal challenge.... I don't want to resume running too hard and immediately aggravate the ankle that is so much better.... so I may well fall short on that one... ah well... I need to think about my Jan challenges.... i'm thinking:

Run 100miles in the month
Swim 48 lengths front crawl
Ride 50km non stop

Lets see!

getting better

Ankle feels fine again now.... in fact better than when I previously tried a run....

A bit more sense this time on my behalf... so I rode on the turbo instead.... hard work, and a good Aerobic workout.... it'll all help...

I also managed another swim.... an easy mile again, but I am still struggling with any decent amount of front crawl... its not the stroke that is my problem... that I find quite easy... its the lack of breath.... I struggle to get enough air in... and after 6 or so lengths, find that I am getting a bit short and need to pause for a breather....

I'm sure things will improve... I have a little bit of a cold which I am sure isn't helping.

I'm very conscious that this blog is starting to sound a bit like a series of moans about health realted issues, and i'm determined not to let it go that way.... I am afetr all making cracking good progress.... after just 2 months, i'm running for 50 mins, swimming a mile and riding for an hour on the bike.... and all at paces appropriate to getting round a triathlon before the cut off times.... I just need to keep developing the distance... which I am sure will come.... 1 hr on the bike today felt OK.... a month ago that was a huge challenge....

spoke too soon...

Got up this morning, and my ankle was stiff as heck, and hurt quite a bit....

Crikey.... listen to me.... I sound like an old hypochondriac!

I can't quite place exactly where the discomfort is.... I initially thought it was my achilles... but some good stretching of my calf seems to have resolved that.... and now its generally tender around the ankle bone on the outside of my foot, which would suggest ligaments.... but its all round... so unless i've stretched both peroneal tendons, i'm stumped!... especially as I didn't go over on it at all, and it came on gradually... would suggest tendons.... ah well... lets see how it goes

I'm guessing that I need to concentrate on cycling for a few days at least, and let the ankle sort itself out properly.. I need to nip to the shop and get some more Ibuprofen gel as well!... if its still sore after xmas, i'll have to visit the doc!

good day

A quick blast on the turbo at lunch time, and the ankle felt great....

So good that this evening, I ran again for the first time in a week....

and that felt great too... I ache a little, but nothing too serious...

And as for running in hat and gloves while it snows.... there's dedication for you.... actually it felt absolutely brilliant.... I only ran for 45 mins.... but would have liked to have kept going... that can wait...

Its been quite eye opening how hard this has been on my legs, ankles and feet.... I forget that I am the wrong side of 40, and that what I did at 20 can still be done, but needs a little more care and caution... I've been surprised how easily i've injured myself, albeit nothing too serious... well nothing that a few days of rest hasn't dealt with.... but its good to keep reminding myself that I must take care to build up to my targets gradually, and not JFDI !!!!

back on the turbo

Another turbo session....

ankle felt better today.... not 'right'.... but better.....

and not better enough to risk a run... so I turbo'd again instead....

Only this time, I used one of the 'Spinervals' DVD's...

Boy... that Coach Troy is a mean bugger!...

I only did the 30min timesaver session.... and it nearly killed me.... and that was on the easiest resistance setting on the turbo.....

I've suddenly realised what a very very very long way I have to go....

turbo 2

Another turbo session this evening.... 45 mins this time.... dripping with sweat again... only this time I remembered the towel....

These turbo miles are all on the easiest setting.... it'll be murder on the 'hard' setting!

My ankle... specifically my achilles.... ached like hell at work today.... in fact, i'd go as far as to say, hurt rather than ached... for the first time, I was limping slightly again.... but by this evening, it was fine.... so still resting from the running.... the bike doesn't seem to affect it at all... so I can keep on building up a good sweat without going running.... although I do miss going out in the dark for a run.... and am not building up the mileage as much as i'd like.... I haven't run now for 4 days.... another day off tomorrow potentially, and then we'll see.... If it doesn't hurt at all tomorrow and isn't stiff when I get up in the morning, I may try a short run....

Turbo training

Well, I did say I was getting one....

I ended up buying a Minouri M70 with a remote brake adjustor....

And after setting it up in the garage, along with an old telly and an old DVD player, I peddled away, watching the first 30 mins of iRobot....

I intended to watch the whole film, but I can know confirm that time on the TT is harder than out on the road..... after 30 mins I was literally drioping with sweat....

I will have to take a towel out with me next time... both to stop the sweat going in my eyes, and to keep it off the bike....

My legs still seem to be appreciating the mini break from running... I'll see how they feel tomorrow and perhaps a run... or maybe leave it until Wed.... (Tuesday is scheduled to be a rest day)

I haven't got one of the DVD's that you ride to yet.... couldn't afford one on top of the turbo and bike computer....

ride out

Determined not to run and turn a niggle into an injury, I decided to get on my bike today.... and what a pleasure!

The sun was out, and it was a real treat to get out and ride out into the countryside...

What felt like a comfortable pace turned out to be 15mph, so well pleased with that...

I reckon I need to get some tri-bars though, as when I got my head down low and used the drop bars, I could feel myself moving into a more powerful position and was able to pile some additional speed on...

They'll have to wait... my next acquistion is a turbo trainer... and when I get that, i'll need a small bike computer as well, otherwise i'll not know how far i've ridden... as i've been using a GPS based system so far....

I've abandoned the idea of a VR turbo trainer... they look good, but i've read a lot of feedback that the software is unstable and akward... and so i've found a set of video from Tacx that follow a cycle route, and just advise you when to up the resistance... a poor man's equivalent, but not a lot to go wrong....

OK... so I couldn't resist

...going for a run, despire saying I wasn't going to....

and I'm glad I did.... It felt OK... a little stiff maybe in my ankle, but no hip pain...

and as I sit here an hour after running, I ache a bit, and maybe I am stiffening up a bit... but no worse than yesterday... ie i'm not making it worse....

For me that implies that I just need to adjust a bit still... keep building the mileage slowly, and take the rest days as they come... no doubt Xmas and New Year will enforce a bit more rest than normal, so that should help me recover completely...

One other question that is rattling around.....

As I build the mileage, should I do so evenly through the week?.... ie, do I keep gently increasing the mileage on all 5 days that I run, or should I start plateauing out on some days, and then using the 'capacity' to develop the long run day a bit quicker (to keep within my 10% increase a week rule)... otherwise sometime in the new year i'm going to be running 9 or 10 miles 5 times a week, which seems a bit excessive...

My instinct is that I should stop increasing the daily runs at about 7 miles, and add the extra onto the Saturday or Sunday run... until that hits 2.5hrs, and then start working on pace rather than distance.... giving me more room to start working on the other disciplines, especially getting on the bike... and perhaps doing a bike-run brick or two...

Any of you old hands care to comment?

swimming progress

Went for a swim last night, and was pleased with the progress....

I swam 76 lengths again, as that is the 1,900m of the Vitruvian triathlon swim... I didn't swim them non-stop, but think that I could have done....

I did however, do a set of 6 lengths of front crawl, several sets of 4 lengths, and then the last 30 laps non stop with with alternating one length breastroke and one length front crawl....

I'm more confident now that i'll meet my goal of 10 lengths front crawl by new years day.... and if I make it, i'm going to set myself the ambitious target of swimming 76 lengths front crawl non stop by 1st Feb

On a seperate note... my legs are still aching... or more precisely, my right ankle, which ironically isn't the one I twisted at the start on November... and this seems to have also caused my left hip to be a bit sore... obviously compensating somewhere in my running style...

I'm supposed to be runing today, but will give it a rest, and then i've got my planned rest day tomorrow anyway... so a couple of days will help a lot...

I wish I had a turbo trainer now, as I could get on that instead.... but xmas expenses mean that'll have to wait until after the festive period

reasons to be positive

I've found on previous attempts at giving up smoking that its pretty easy to find reasons to be negative.....

"i'm not feeling like....."

"i'm not able to..."

"it was much nicer when......"

And I nearly caught myself out yesterday....

This stop smoking attempt (the final successful one!) has been so much smoother than previous efforts, simply because i've found the perfect substitute for nicotine..... exercise.... that and the idea of facing up to something as tough as a triathlon....

so, I was with hindsight, rather cross with myself when I yesterday started to think negatively..

I had previously mentioned that my legs were feeling pretty tired, and so I set out on my evening 40 min run feeling a bit stiff..... after a few mins, things seemed to have loosened up OK though.... and so I plodded on.... the pace was gentle... i'm back to 10min pace....

But after 20mins, my legs just seemed to be made of lead.... they didn't want to do the work at all....

and my mind started to agree....

so... it took a huge stiff talking to myself...... "how on earth did I think I was going to complete a bloody half ironman if I stopped running after 20 bloody minutes just because my legs ached?"

And I plodded on....

... and ran the full 40 mins....

I was really really chuffed with myself.... my real reason to be positive....

I was walking like an athritic 90 year old... but...... i'd not given up... i'd kept my head up, and kept on going!

To add to the self satisfaction, my legs ached like hell, but the tendon that had been troubling/worrying me just didn't figure.... i'd been right to gently run through the discomfort... i'd found the right balance between discomfort and pain, and made a good call....

now.... my legs... that's a different matter.... they feel like they've just run an ultra marathon... but thats only aches... and they'll recover quickly.... a rest day on Tuesday... and maybe another on Wednesday if they still feel tired...

But overall... a huge victory for me in the battle against smoking..... and my reasons to be positive

balancing the training

I read in various places that one of the hardest challenges for any newcomer to Triathlon (I can't bring myself to call myself a triathlete until i've done an event) is balancing the training between the three disciplines.... this kind of seemed logical as a problem but didn't ring true properly until this week.... when I suddenly realised that I am doing a lot of running, but not much swimming or biking... now this may be partially down to the lack of a turbo trainer combined with the dark mornings and evenings, and the cost of going swimming..... but its also down to the fact that running is 'hard work' and as a consequence, I feel like i've done some worthwhile exercise...

So i've been wrestling with how to get this balance sorted out when I read a great article on Runners World about base fitness

Now it's not so much that I found the comprehensive suggestions for programmes to develop base fitness useful, but more a reminder that I should stop worrying about mixing up my training.... I am so far from having anything resembling a decent level of base fitness that in essence anything I do that ends up as Aerobic exercise is a good thing, and I should balance out the activity more for variety and maintenance of enthusiasm rather than specific training goals at this stage...

Besides... I immediately related to those pirates rather than any great triathlon club... and I can hear them crying right now...... "JFDI.... and for gods sake don't take it too seriously"..... so I wont!

bike

During the week I bought myself a small saddle bag, a pump and a spare inner tube.... which gave me the confidence to go off cycling a bit further...

And how great was it!

I ended up riding nearly 16 miles (26 km) and it felt really good... I could have kept going to ages... but decided that discretion made sense... I managed to average over 14mph, which is my target speed, so was happy with that....

And have discovered just how much difference riding into the wind makes!

some progress

I swam on Wednesday night, with mixed results...

The positive side is that I managed to swim 50 lengths non-stop, which is a good distance, but they were mostly swum using breaststroke... when I move to front crawl, it feels great, but after just a couple of lengths I am feeling short of breath.... I guess I need to work on both my general CV fitness, and also my breathing... I am trying to breath properly, ie 3 strokes and then breath, and then repeat with breath the otherside... but I may have to admit defeat and breath more regularly, and to one side in the short term.... I hate to admit it, but this is definitely the impact of too many years of smoking... Maybe it will improve with time... I hope so.

Secondly, I went for a run... felt OK (ish), but my legs are noticeably tired... I have a rest day on Friday, so perhaps after another short run tomorrow, things will feel better...

Addendum: Thursday run left my legs feeling just as knackered... lets see how the rest day goes... I don't really have a huge problem with the sore tendon... its there, but not painfully so... this is more a general set of aches and stiffness in my legs... I may need to slip in a second rest day on Saturday... its hard to listen to your body when you feel that you are making so much progress...

I managed to go out for a long slow run last night.... it was remarkably difficult to run slowly again after a good few runs at 9min/mile pace.... I really had to force myself to run at 10min 30sec per mile.... I felt very self conscious at running so very slowly...

On the positive side, my foot didn't really hurt too much, and after the run certainly wasn't any more uncomfortable than prior to the run...

I am increasingly convinced that this is a tendon issue, and i'll just have to let it work its way through.... if it was a sprain to a ligament, then the run would have made it much worse... as it is, I can walk on it without any real discomfort at all...

Another rest day today... I suspect not a bad idea....

I'm itching to get out on my bike, but sadly its dark before I got to work, and when I get home, so unless I can get a turbo trainer, then i'll be restricted to weekends for the foreseeable future... i'm following a couple of the Tacx i-magic trainers on eBay.... not really neccessary, but the inner geek in me is intrigued by the VR element!