Annoying cold

I've not felt too great for the last couple of days, I ran home from work on Thursday which was ok but I could tell that I was not quite right. Did a short weights session in the gym before work on Friday followed by a swim but didn't feel any better for the rest of the day.

Same story on Saturday morning so with the forecast set for heavy rain for the day and only 6 degrees, I didn't think that spending 5.5 hours out on the bike was the most sensible idea. I did contemplate doing a long session on the indoor trainer but decided that my body could probably benefit from the rest. I'll see how I feel tomorrow before deciding on whether to do my run or not.

Tried to be productive today and put some Christmas lights up, its amazing how much time you have on your hands when you don't spend 6 hours training on a Saturday.

As if I'm not doing enough training, I found something on-line that Erika and I are having a go at, check out http://www.hundredpushups.com both Erika and I are up to Week 3 day 3 this evening. I did 3 more than her on the initial test but she seems to be doing better at the training programs doing more than me on the last set each time. I'm hoping that this is a function of not being well, but I think in reality it is a function of my weedy arms after all of this running and cycling!

30 Weeks to go - The Countdown begins

Today marks day 1 of my official 30 week training plan to get me ready for Ironman Austria 2009. I've obviously put in plenty of training to get to this point and very much enjoyed my week of complete rest last week but am now eager to get going again.

My first bit of training was my commute into work, after suffering on the trains with all the miserable, rude and ill people last week I was not even put off by the thicl frost that greeted me this morning.

However, I hope this is not a sign of things to come as I got a puncture a couple of miles away form the office!! You have to take the positives out of these things I suppose, so I tried to look at that as a bit of practice at changing a tube. I was on my single speed bike so no quick release wheels which slowed me down a bit but managed to change the tube (and remove the offending bit of grit from the tyre) and be back on my way within 10 minutes, amazed a few people at the bus stop with the CO2 cannister to pump the tyre back up again!!

I'm going to wait until after Christmas to push my sponsorship harder but thought I would also say that I have set up a sponsorship page online for people to donate to my chosen charity should they want to. I've set myself a goal of raising £3,000, I have no idea if this is even remotely possible but thought I may as well aim high!

the website is http://www.justgiving.com/robgrummitt feel free to pass on the details to anyone that you know. As I said, I will send out an email in the new year to try and drum up some support.

Swim Video Analysis

I did a swim video analysis in an endless pool last week. As I don't get the chance to train with a squad or get any coaching over here, I thought it would be a good idea to get a few pointers to help me improve my efficiency.

I know that I am fit enough to cover the Ironman swim distance but I am certainly not very fast! So the aim was to try and get a few key things to work on that would mean that I go as fast for less effort or faster for the same effort. Given that the swim only accounts for about 10% of the Ironman race, the main goal for me is to climb out of the water feeling nice and fresh, not like I have just had to fight my way round.

Here are a couple of videos that they took, the first was my swimming when I turned up the second one is at the end of the session. Not vastly different but I definitely got what I wanted out of the session, plenty of tips to try and make me glide through the water rather than sink like a brick!

The key things I am going to take away and work on are my kick which was going much to deep into the pool and therefore meaning that I was dragging my legs along a bit and also the tiing of my stroke which is much better in the second clip than the first. Really enjoyed the session though, is pretty weird watching yourself swimming (they have a mirror in the bottom of the pool!)

November Training

Totals for this month were as follows:


Swim - 25.1km (15.7miles) 9 Hours 35 min
Bike - 1053.4km (658.4 miles) 41 Hours 22 mins
Run - 223.6km (140 miles) 19 Hours 8 mins

Total training time in month 70 hours 7 minutes

Total training since I entered Ironman Austria =

Swim - 82.9km (51.8miles) 31 Hours 43 min
Bike - 3,854.8km (2,409.3 miles) 144 Hours 58 mins
Run - 926.4km (579 miles) 79 Hours 44 mins