After a few weeks of some slightly lower volume of training (holiday, tapering for half marathon etc) this week was back to 'normal'. The weekend included a 4.5 hour ride followed by a 20 min run and then Sunday was a 2 hour 10 minute run.
The ride was relatively easy, didn't attack too many big hills this week although stil managed over 1100m of climbing over the 130km's that I covered, also convinced myself that I need to get some winter specific bike shoes as it was freezing on Saturday morning. My watch took the temperature as I took the split time for my turnaround, I had already been riding for 2hours 15 minutes and it was still only 2 degrees, I thought my feet were going to fall off!
The run was pretty slow as I had expected but got through the time without too much trouble, weather forecast was for rain so kitted myself up in wet weather gear but it didn't start raining for about 90 minutes so I was a bit too hot! Although I did get soaked by a bus that came past and moved a big puddle from the side of the road into my shorts that was not much fun!
Those two big sessions were punctuated by looking after 2 of my nephews for the day which was like an additional training session in itself!
I've been a bit poor at keeping up my regular swimming but have been maintaining at least the long swim each week, plenty of time to improve on the consistency, maybe one day I will enjoy swimming 170 lengths of the pool but at the moment it does not particularly fill me with motivation!
Totals for this week just gone were:
Swim - 3.4km (2.1 miles) - 1 hour 16 mins
Bike - 345km (215.6 miles) - 12 Hours 54 mins
Run - 36 km (22.5 miles) - 3 hours 11 min
Total time 17 hours 21 minutes
This was my second week of bike focus and involved me spending a few sessions in the garage on the wind trainer. I kept the running pretty light as my legs were feeling the effects of the half marathon from last Sunday.
This week again has a bike focus, am planning a 5 hour ride on Saturday to include riding the course for the Ballbuster duathlon that I am doing on 7th November. From reports that I have read the hill involved is not too daunting, about 2.5km long and not too steep but we will see, given that I have to ride it 3 times and run it twice, I suspect that it may feel pretty steep on the last run up!
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Saturday 25 October 2008
Winter training den
So here's my secret weapon for the winter. 1 garage, 1 tv, 1 dvd player and about 2 degrees celcius. That all adds up to me becoming a human steam machine!!
Erika took this video clip just after I had finished my main interval session so I was actually steaming even more just a couple of minutes before.
Monday 20 October 2008
Maidstone Half Marathon
The last few weeks training has been largely run focused, with about 85km (53 miles) per week on average. My long runs have been up to 2 hours 5 minutes and I've been feeling pretty comfortable on those so I was looking forward to seeing the results of all of this work at the Maidstone Half marathon.
I have run 2 half marathon distance races before, the first was last October in Melbourne where I was pleased with my time of 1.51.53 as I was training with more focus on my cycling at the time as I worked towards the Around the Bay in a Day ride (210km).
The other half marathon was at the end of my half Ironman in Geelong in February, obviously not very fresh for that one after a 1.9km swim and a 90km bike and I ran just over 2 hours!
I was hoping to get under 1.40today but didn't really know what I was capable of as so much of my running recently has been long slow running to build up my endurance ahead of the Ironman next year.
The weather was pretty good this morning, a little cold but nothing too bad, the course was fairly undulating with a a bigger uphill section from about mile 5 to mile 8. My plan was to try and take it fairly steady until about 7 miles and then push hard for the last 6 miles (10km) of the race. This came off pretty well, I kept my heart rate under control for the first half of the run and felt strong going up the hills where I was making up quite a few places. Just around the point where I was intending to push on a guy came past me so I decided to try and stick with him. Did that for a few minutes and then moved past him but he decided to stick with me. This was pretty helpful and I ran with the same guy for the next 5 miles, I was generally in front but if I ever started to ease off he would come past and make me push on again.
This resulted in us both making some great progress through the field and running at a nice fast (for me) pace. I was able to hold the pace right to the end (and managed to make sure that I beat the guy I had been running with!!) and I was thrilled to come in to the finish with a time of 1.32.11, much faster than I had hoped for.
I'm really happy with the time but also with the fact that clearly my training is paying dividends so I really feel like I am moving in the right direction. Legs are a little sore this evening so I'm having a nice recovery day tomorrow.
I'm now moving into a 3 week bike period, I've set up the garage with the indoor trainer in front of a tv with a dvd player so that I can get some extra time on the bike even with the colder weather.
I only have 3 weeks until my next race which is the Ballbuster duathlon, which I'm expecting to be pretty tough.
I also bought a new bike this week for my commute into work. I've been saving on train fares with all of the commuting so wanted to get something that was a bit easier to maintain throughout the winter months. I got a single speed bike which is going to give me a nice workout over those hills every day.
Thanks to the support crew for turning out to watch the half marathon and for the bacon and sausage sandwiches after the race!!
Here's a picture frm the race, I like it as it looks like I'm in the lead!! sadly not though, not sure where I finished, will update once the official results are posted.
Official results have now been posted and I came in 72nd out of a field of 609.
I have run 2 half marathon distance races before, the first was last October in Melbourne where I was pleased with my time of 1.51.53 as I was training with more focus on my cycling at the time as I worked towards the Around the Bay in a Day ride (210km).
The other half marathon was at the end of my half Ironman in Geelong in February, obviously not very fresh for that one after a 1.9km swim and a 90km bike and I ran just over 2 hours!
I was hoping to get under 1.40today but didn't really know what I was capable of as so much of my running recently has been long slow running to build up my endurance ahead of the Ironman next year.
The weather was pretty good this morning, a little cold but nothing too bad, the course was fairly undulating with a a bigger uphill section from about mile 5 to mile 8. My plan was to try and take it fairly steady until about 7 miles and then push hard for the last 6 miles (10km) of the race. This came off pretty well, I kept my heart rate under control for the first half of the run and felt strong going up the hills where I was making up quite a few places. Just around the point where I was intending to push on a guy came past me so I decided to try and stick with him. Did that for a few minutes and then moved past him but he decided to stick with me. This was pretty helpful and I ran with the same guy for the next 5 miles, I was generally in front but if I ever started to ease off he would come past and make me push on again.
This resulted in us both making some great progress through the field and running at a nice fast (for me) pace. I was able to hold the pace right to the end (and managed to make sure that I beat the guy I had been running with!!) and I was thrilled to come in to the finish with a time of 1.32.11, much faster than I had hoped for.
I'm really happy with the time but also with the fact that clearly my training is paying dividends so I really feel like I am moving in the right direction. Legs are a little sore this evening so I'm having a nice recovery day tomorrow.
I'm now moving into a 3 week bike period, I've set up the garage with the indoor trainer in front of a tv with a dvd player so that I can get some extra time on the bike even with the colder weather.
I only have 3 weeks until my next race which is the Ballbuster duathlon, which I'm expecting to be pretty tough.
I also bought a new bike this week for my commute into work. I've been saving on train fares with all of the commuting so wanted to get something that was a bit easier to maintain throughout the winter months. I got a single speed bike which is going to give me a nice workout over those hills every day.
Thanks to the support crew for turning out to watch the half marathon and for the bacon and sausage sandwiches after the race!!
Here's a picture frm the race, I like it as it looks like I'm in the lead!! sadly not though, not sure where I finished, will update once the official results are posted.
Official results have now been posted and I came in 72nd out of a field of 609.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
September training log
Total Training distances and time spent on each sport this month were as follows:
Swim 26.26km (16.4 miles) 10 hours 10 minutes
Bike 960km (600 miles) 35 hours 24 minutes
Run 204.5km (127.8 miles) 17 hours 43 minutes
Totals since I entered Ironman Austria (15 July)
Swim 41.7km (26.1 miles) 16 Hours 10 minutes
Bike 2,155.7km (1,347.3 miles) 78 Hours 50 minutes
Run 437.1km (273.2 miles) 37 hours 42 minutes
You would hope that I am getting fitter and stronger after all of that!
Swim 26.26km (16.4 miles) 10 hours 10 minutes
Bike 960km (600 miles) 35 hours 24 minutes
Run 204.5km (127.8 miles) 17 hours 43 minutes
Totals since I entered Ironman Austria (15 July)
Swim 41.7km (26.1 miles) 16 Hours 10 minutes
Bike 2,155.7km (1,347.3 miles) 78 Hours 50 minutes
Run 437.1km (273.2 miles) 37 hours 42 minutes
You would hope that I am getting fitter and stronger after all of that!
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