A quick ride on the Protosonic

Managed to get out at lunchtime for a quick blast on the Proto-Sonic - how light :-O

Hills are soooo easy on it - big chain ring and mid way through the cassette (50-16) up stuff which would have had me on the small ring and the top of the cassette (34-27) before...very easy!

Only downside is the SRAM Force kit needs some playing with - the front derailieur doesn't want to change gear and the rear holds onto the chain too long - by the end of about 12km I was starting to get comfy with it though :-)

I.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Well I managed to do about 2hrs of the IM CH course on the Tacx I-Magic last night. Hard going but very interesting - I attached the Aerotic to the TT and it was realy comfortable, I might have to take it over to Highworth and do a dry run of the course to see if I could use it for that tri - anyway 2hrs of IMCH done - I have now had a go at "The Beast" the first of two large hills - quite a challenge...

Today was a pool session but I might take the protosonic out for a quick road spin to see what it is like :-)

200m w/u

200m kick w fins (50m one arm out/50m on side)

200m drills (25 fists/25 OK/25 open hand/25 f/s)

4x25 sprint RPE 9 on 60s

2x 325m (25m RPE3/125m RPE4-5/100m RPE5-6/75m RPE8-9)

4x25 sprint RPE 9 on 60s

100m b/s c/d

Later

I.

The weekend

A fun weekend - a little light training and time to play with my new toys!

Saturday

Turbo brick time - weather was average, roads a bit damp so I opted for the safety of the turbo with my Isaac road frame (hereafter known as the protosonic). SRAM Force takes a bit of getting used to and the front derailieur is not to happy to change on the turbo....but I did the 20km Highworth tri route and finished the 3rd series of 24.

Off the bike and our for a circular 5km brick run, felt quite good but it has been a while and now the legs are a little sore!

Sunday

First chance to really play on the Isaac Joule-Aerotic - OMFG - what a bike!

Soooo fast and stable at speed - no judder or twitchiness as you push past 40kph - amazing and a really comfy ride too! Despite having an 11-23 chainset (I am used to 12-27) I managed to make it around a 39.29km route in 1:25:24 - not the fastest but it is pretty hilly with a couple of 12% hills and fairly undulating - buy I managed to exceed 40% >25kph and 28% >32kph - maxing at over 48kph (I reckon the GPS flattened this out as I managed to get the 40mph sign to swich on in Tetbury :-)) )

I would love to change the cockpit in the future but at the moment the one I have is fine - just need to dial in the positiona a bit more....

Monday

Recovery swim - stiff legs from yesterday and needed just to do some no clock recovery

300m w/u fins

200m fins kick

200m (25m fists/25m catch up) fins

200m cath/pull focus

100m b/s

Later

I.

New bikes

The Isaac Joule-Aerotic :-))

The Isaac Sonic 2006 (in Impulse paint as it is the 2005 prototype)

Jason and the guys at The BigAdventure Store did a fantastic job building them for me. The Sonic weighs in at 868g for the frame and fully built with SRAM Force 2010 and heavyish wheels/stem/bars weighs a rather svelt 7.4kg (16.3lbs) I reckon with climbing wheels and carbon stem/bars it could get down to 15 and a bit lbs!

:-)

Happy Iain

Now to try and sell the Trek Equinox frame - ebay here we go!

I.

Swimming session last night

Yet again a cracking session from Caroline - Thursday evenings at Malmesbury swimming pool are always challenging!!

In summary:

200m f/s

200m b/s

100m pull

100m kick

4x100m pull (with ankle band) - really tough!

2x100m catchups (with rod)

200m f/s

6x25m kick w/fins on 40s

6x25m kick w/fins on 25s

4x25m kick no fins, descending

100m f/s

and keel over from lactate burn.....

The IM CH bike and run routes

This is what awaits me in Zurich next year -

the bike course has lost one hill in its revamp and the run is flat :-))) a bit different from Wimbleball!!

New bikes!!

Well no training as yet today (probably going to the coached swim session later) but I got to TBA to have a look at my bikes! I couldn't pick them up today as they would not fit in my car but :-)))))

The Isaac Sonic prototype (looks like an Impulse - but is much lighter) looks great with the SRAM Force kit on it :-) and the Aerotic looks amazing - when I pick them up tomorrow I will take some pictures.

Now to try and sell my Equinox frame!

I.

Wow it has been sometime!

Nearly three weeks since I last posted - work has just been uber insane!!

The Hayle Tri went okay - I came in at 2:51 not a great time but I was pretty happy as the weather was shocking - a SW gale and horizontal rain! My first salt-water swim (albeit in a closed in harbour) experience and the taste is horrible when racing....much prefer lakes! I did a fairly respectable time coming in with the top swimmers before doing my usual thing of loosing it on the bike.....there is a lesson to be learnt there! One kind of fun thing to note is that I met a chap called Sascha in transition who actually only lives about 5mins from me but most interestingly he came in about 35places ahead of me and only overtook me on the second half of the run - so maybe I should focus on the run not the bike....hmmm....

Anyway since then I have been busy with work and looking after Anja - school is out at the moment and it is a constant battle of trying to get parents/holiday club to cover her time off...

On the plus side she has now done her 50m swimming badge and really wants to take part in IRONKIDS (tadpoles class 50m swim /300m run) at the IM CH next year - soon we will have a family of triathletes!!

Apart from that I have had an Ebay frenzy recently buying ans Isaac Joule-Aerotic fram and the prototype for their Sonic frame - both have been built up by Jason@The Big Adventure Store and I look forward to seeing them soon!! (probably tomorrow) When I have both of them home I will have to Ebay my old red Trek Equinox and the Specialized Allez - a job I am not entirely looking forward to as it is something I have never done before....should be fun...

Anyway training...I have done lots on the Turbo recently as the weather has been shocking - yesterday I did a 40km TT over rolling hills and that took 1:10 dead...the legs still hurt today - I think I need to do more of that over winter but extend the length...

Also I have the IMCH route GPS on there and that looks good!

This morning I went swimming (partly to wake myself up - too much wine with Lizzie last night!) and covered

200m w/u

200m kick (drils)

200m pull (drills)

200m drill

200m paddles

4x100m build RPE 4-9 (1:15-1:20) go on 2:00

100m RPE 9 1:18

100m c/d (50m b/s, 50m f/s)

Must go now have to get Jules from nursery - need to try and update this more often...

Later

I.