Swimming and cycling!

31 March 2009

This morning's swim was a race specific session:

2x75m warm up (last 25m backstroke)
2x600m (first one RPE4, second one RPE8!)
150 cool down

The second 600m was HARD trying to maintain a consistent pace was challenging, and tring to negative split too...times 9m 15s for 1 and 8m 12s for 2 :-)

I also went out for a solid ride - 16.5km trying to keep on the big ring 53T not 54T!) throughout...challenging on some of the hills..

I.

Swimming and cycling!

This morning's swim was a race specific session:

2x75m warm up (last 25m backstroke)
2x600m (first one RPE4, second one RPE8!)
150 cool down

The second 600m was HARD trying to maintain a consistent pace was challenging, and tring to negative split too...times 9m 15s for 1 and 8m 12s for 2 :-)

I also went out for a solid ride - 16.5km trying to keep on the big ring 53T not 54T!) throughout...challenging on some of the hills..

I.

Wimbleball on the turbo again

30 March 2009

Really challenging session today - still stiff and sore from the reverse tri - aero position for 55mins out of the 60mins I was on the turbo - moved the seat up 1cm to give a bit more flatness on the back without sacrificing power but wow, how much harder did the climbs feel!

A good set but I want to get out and cycle on roads - roll on the longer evenings/mornings!


Wimbleball on the turbo again

Really challenging session today - still stiff and sore from the reverse tri - aero position for 55mins out of the 60mins I was on the turbo - moved the seat up 1cm to give a bit more flatness on the back without sacrificing power but wow, how much harder did the climbs feel!

A good set but I want to get out and cycle on roads - roll on the longer evenings/mornings!


Turbo work

29 March 2009

A simple solid 45mins on the turbo on the new Tacx rolling hills program - 5mins on the small (34T) ring followed by 10mins on the big (54T) ring (regardless of degree of brake on the turbo).

Trying out new nutrition at the moment. Powerbat ride shots (taste like haribo) are nice but their gels - yeuch! Yet to find one I like. However I seem to have developed a taste for Hi5 4:1 drink - last year I thought it was awful.....

Oh well, finished the swim focus week (in Base 2) this week is the bike focus week, 10.5 hours training ahead to fit in!

Later
I.

Turbo work

A simple solid 45mins on the turbo on the new Tacx rolling hills program - 5mins on the small (34T) ring followed by 10mins on the big (54T) ring (regardless of degree of brake on the turbo).

Trying out new nutrition at the moment. Powerbat ride shots (taste like haribo) are nice but their gels - yeuch! Yet to find one I like. However I seem to have developed a taste for Hi5 4:1 drink - last year I thought it was awful.....

Oh well, finished the swim focus week (in Base 2) this week is the bike focus week, 10.5 hours training ahead to fit in!

Later
I.

A hard morning!!

28 March 2009

Today was a really hard session that completely drained me. I did a reverse triathlon following the Westonbirt route from last year.

A nice 5km run through the school grounds and around the perimeter of the next door farm before jumping on the bike for 25km through the south cotswold area. Basically from Westonbirt school out to Sherston and then back along the main road towords Malmesbury. After lots of rolling hills the route turns off through Shipton Moyne before coming back past Highgrove in Doughton to Westonbirt. To end it I did a quick 1000m in the school pool.

5km run - 30m 2s
25km bike - 52m 6s
1000m swim - 15m 8s

Now tired with no real injury issues except the shin splints need icing! A good day

A hard morning!!

Today was a really hard session that completely drained me. I did a reverse triathlon following the Westonbirt route from last year.

A nice 5km run through the school grounds and around the perimeter of the next door farm before jumping on the bike for 25km through the south cotswold area. Basically from Westonbirt school out to Sherston and then back along the main road towords Malmesbury. After lots of rolling hills the route turns off through Shipton Moyne before coming back past Highgrove in Doughton to Westonbirt. To end it I did a quick 1000m in the school pool.

5km run - 30m 2s
25km bike - 52m 6s
1000m swim - 15m 8s

Now tired with no real injury issues except the shin splints need icing! A good day

Race specific session today

27 March 2009

A good hard race specific session today. All done with fins, I was shocked to find that the fins (Alphas from aquasphere) only take off 4 seconds/100m but make swimming a lot harder!

So the session:

4x75m warm up (last 25m of each backstroke)
3x750m at RPE5 (average time approx 10m 45s for each) 30s rest between each
3x50m cool down (50m swim/50m kick/50m swim)

In all took about 46mins.

Tomorrow is a hard one a reverse sprint triathlon (30mins run/60mins bike/30mins swim) - will be fun...

Race specific session today

A good hard race specific session today. All done with fins, I was shocked to find that the fins (Alphas from aquasphere) only take off 4 seconds/100m but make swimming a lot harder!

So the session:

4x75m warm up (last 25m of each backstroke)
3x750m at RPE5 (average time approx 10m 45s for each) 30s rest between each
3x50m cool down (50m swim/50m kick/50m swim)

In all took about 46mins.

Tomorrow is a hard one a reverse sprint triathlon (30mins run/60mins bike/30mins swim) - will be fun...

And some turbo training....

26 March 2009

After playing around with the set up in the garage so I can have twin monitors working one for the Tacx i-magic software (which runs my turbo trainer) and one for the DVD (currently 3/4s of the way through series one of 24) I managed to get in 45 mins of spinning.

I ran the Wimbleball route at full incline so the max wattage out of the turbo was 390W (well I had not got to the big hill which peaks around 450ishW - around a 17% hill), some bits were easy RPE3-4 other were out of the saddle RPE 7-8 (Rating of Percieved Exertion - 1 v v easy/10v v v v hard).

Overall a good day :-)

And some turbo training....

After playing around with the set up in the garage so I can have twin monitors working one for the Tacx i-magic software (which runs my turbo trainer) and one for the DVD (currently 3/4s of the way through series one of 24) I managed to get in 45 mins of spinning.

I ran the Wimbleball route at full incline so the max wattage out of the turbo was 390W (well I had not got to the big hill which peaks around 450ishW - around a 17% hill), some bits were easy RPE3-4 other were out of the saddle RPE 7-8 (Rating of Percieved Exertion - 1 v v easy/10v v v v hard).

Overall a good day :-)

Swimming again!

Yep it is a week focussed on swimming!

Today had a really good sprint session:

400m warm up (as 50m swim/50m kick)
10x100m (as 25m easy/25m build/25m hard/25m easy)
6x25m cool down (each one easier than the last

Pool was a lovely 27.8 degrees (waterbabies not in today) and I did the first 900m with fins remainder without to try and build up the damaged muscles on my left side (from the bike crash).

Average pace/100m was 1min 25secs

Swimming again!

Yep it is a week focussed on swimming!

Today had a really good sprint session:

400m warm up (as 50m swim/50m kick)
10x100m (as 25m easy/25m build/25m hard/25m easy)
6x25m cool down (each one easier than the last

Pool was a lovely 27.8 degrees (waterbabies not in today) and I did the first 900m with fins remainder without to try and build up the damaged muscles on my left side (from the bike crash).

Average pace/100m was 1min 25secs

Sponsorship

Thanks Chris for such a generous donation - only £215 to go!!

...and no if I flake out half way through you don't get the cash back - but remember you can always write off 40% against tax :-)

25 March 2009

Short run (5k) in Manchester whilst staying at The Lowry (www.thelowryhotel.com - nice place but I wouldn't pay full whack to stay there....) the city has change so much since I used to go in shopping with my Grandmother - nice to run around though.

However my shins hurt - I have aggrivated my shin splints again doing the CFT on Saturday :-( hopefully the Newtons (www.newtonrunning.com) will avoid a long protracted problem like last time.

Long swim session today

Covered off 2350m in the pool today - first time in for five days!

4x100m (swim, kick, pull, swim)
1750m pyramid (reducing from 275m - with one mistake in, I lost count - hence 1750m)
200m cool down

Felt good but ribs still sore...

OMG what have I signed up for.....

Thanks for visiting my page.

I must be mad! Some time ago someone suggested that I should take up triathlon as I could swim fairly fast, foolishly I listened to him.

Three years later (and following a lengthy hiatus due to surgery on my legs) I have decided to set myself a challenging goal, I am going to complete the UK Ironman 70.3 on June 14th 2009 (even if I just make it round!!).

What is this strange event? Well, it is a half distance ironman, why only a half I hear you cry? Well firstly I want to set myself a challenge I have a chance of completing. A full Ironman (2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) is possibly a little long…..and secondly I am only mildly unhinged not completely mad! The full monty can wait for 2010...maybe....

The course itself is considered to be the toughest of the 70.3 events on the world circuit. It takes place in the beautiful countryside of Exmoor in starting at 6.00am in Wimbleball Lake (a 1.2 mile swim), on to the bike for 56 miles (and over 53 hills!) finishing with a half marathon of 13.1 miles through the surrounding countryside.

So why am I asking you for money? Firstly if I am going to endure this kind of pain it had better be worth more than just me loosing a few pounds!! Secondly I always seem to be sponsoring other people and lastly (but most importantly) because the charities I have chosen are really worth it!!!

I am supporting three charities:

Rotary (who organise the charity part of the event),

Help for Heroes (a charity set up to support injured service personnel, a cause I believe in)

The Urostomy Association (My mother has been helped by this charity both in the run up to and since she has had her Urostomy and I wanted to do something for them for the help they have given her).

Please be generous if you can but even £1 will help, please sponsor me now!!!
(and if I exceed £500 I will take the scary picture of me in lycra off the website!)
Thanks,Iain.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Rotary-IronmanUK Triathlon Charities gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

Below are a few lines about my two other charities:

Help for Heroes (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/) provides practical and direct help to injured service men and women and their families. It provides the items and facilities that the MOD class as “nice to have” rather than “essential” such as a new swimming pool and rehabilitation gym at Headley Court (the Tri service rehab centre). In addition, it aims to help those individuals injured serving their country in readjusting to their new life. As a member of the armed forces I strongly support their aim and I would urge you to do the same regardless of whether or not you agree with the politics of the current conflicts we are involved in.

The Urostomy Association (http://www.uagbi.org/) was set up to: assist those who are about to undergo or who have undergone surgery which results in a urinary diversion, such as a urostomy, continent urinary pouch or neo bladder; assist carers in the rehabilitation of people with a urinary diversion; improve the quality of life of people who have undergone urinary diversion surgery and those who care for them and to undertake such research as the Membership feels is necessary to enhance the life of members.
 

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