For your sins do...

14.66km! As today is a Thursday and given my feast last night, diet went out the window today (for the most part). The buffet at lunch meant there was plenty of cr@p around to nibble on all day and boy did I nibble.

My sins were great today Father...

I didn't do anything at lunch as I hadn't brought any gear to work, so when I got home I had to decide what to do. I really fancied a weights session but after the debauchery of the day, decided that I really needed to do some cardio. Weathers been quite mild the last few days, so fancied having an outdoors run for the first time in a while.

I've also been struggling with the shorter distances I've been doing of late, with no real improvements to note. I decided to mix it up a bit and go for a longer run, not really caring if my pace dropped a bit, just hopeful that getting some miles into the legs would stand to me in the future. Decided to give the ring road around Cambridge a go, which I'd guess would be around 9-10km.

So off I set, definitely struggling for the first 2km. It was strange...I felt bloated and was struggling a bit with my breathing. Very annoying really, basically meaning that I had to stop earlier than I normally would. This seemed to continue for the first 5km of the run but definitely got better as the run went on.

So after 5km, I definitely noticed it seemed to be getting a lot easier, a second wind if you will. I'm not saying that I ran non-stop from here on in, just that I wasn't struggling as much as I would have been expecting at that stage. So at about the 7km mark, I make a choice to go for a longer route again, but still one which would give me a few short-cut options should I need them.

All's going well at this stage, and I reach the 10km mark in 1h 7m 50s, just under 2 mins slower than my PB! I'm still about 2km from home at this stage but again decide to "lengthen" my trip. My running is still going ok and I'm feeling alright.

I get to about 1km from home and I do start to struggle a little. Think its down to the fact that I know I'm on the homeward stretch and that I try to speed up. Get there in the end, for a total distance of 14.66km in 1h 40m 31s.

Boy was I glad to hit the bath!

Almost bonked again + pigging out afterwards

I've been on a bit of a diet lately that I've been talked into doing. Its basically Atkins with a few extra rules, which I won't really go into. Anyways, I've been trying to eat fruit for brekkie and something like soup and a smoothie for lunch, which is grand. Generally a bit hungry, but I can handle it.

So yesterday I decide to continue my new regime of doing stuff at lunchtime, following on from my bike ride the day before. Its was really foggy in Cambridge so decided to go for a run instead. There's a local lake just up the road from work that a few of the guys run around but I'd never been, so thought that'd be a good session. To cut the story short, not the best run of my life, but was good to get out all the same.

So in the evening I had a turbo session that I try to get to with the local tri club. After missing the whole month of Jan for various reasons, I'm making a big effort to get down there this month. Last weeks session was pretty tough so I'd no reason to assume that this weeks would be any easier.

All's going well until we get toward the last bit of the night, a 40 min endurance session of five sets of 6 minutes at the anerobic threshold followed by two minutes rest. After the first one I'm really struggling, and after the second one I'm not well at all. Decided to stick it out for another one, then dug in for the fourth. Was ready to give up at this point, but just had to dog it for another 6 minutes.

Really had to dig deep to finish the session. The second the 6 mins was up I was off the bike and into the changing rooms where I just lay down to compose myself. Don't think it was a proper bonk, as I've felt worse before but I was getting there.

All that I had all day was some fruit, some soup for lunch and a smoothie. I'd had a run at lunch as well, which would have further depleted the system.

Pigged out afterwards. All I could think off the last few sets was what I was gonna eat afterwards. Was promising myself all sorts of messy stuff. I was pretty restrained in Sainsbury's, but still probably blew my daily intake in one go...snickers & sausage roll (to get me home), 1 full brown bread + butter + smoked salmon, 1 carton of Innocent, 1 banana, 1 ice-cream mars for dessert. Messy. Talk about being bloated afterwards :(

Training update

Just a quick post to update on my training this week following the duathlon on Sunday. I took Monday as a recovery day, so I just done some strength work in the gym followed by a quick dip in the pool.

Tuesday I realised that most of my bike time on the duathlon was actually caused by the difference in wind conditions...the guy that won it made up about 4 mins on the bike between the two events, so it was reasonable to assume that my time was mostly down to the wind. To this end, went for a quick ride at lunch, a 15km route around the block. Apart from a slight issue with some road works, the trip went well, averaging about 26.8kmph over the trip. I finished it off with a quick 800m run, just to stretch the legs.

Then last night, went to the gym for a 15 min, followed by a 2500m row and a quick dip in the pool.

Today, was thinking of going for another cycle at lunchtime today, but due to fog decided to go for a run instead. Done a 5km lap to and around a local lake. I was going well until I got to the lake, which was a bit cross country. Talk about energy sapping. Made it around the lake and back onto tarmac with a bit of walking.

Then this evening, I done the usual turbo session with the local tri club. It was tough going, and I didn't think I'd last it to the end but I just about got there. Absolutely wrecked now, will have a good snooze tonight I'd say.

Race Report: F3 Duathlon - Dorney Lake

Went along to the first F3 duathlon at Dorney Lake yesterday, where my main aim was to beat my time that I set in November. I'd played my first game of football on Saturday as well, the result of which was that my groin was a bit sore and hence cast a doubt for the duathlon on Sunday.

I turned up in Dorney in good time and registered. Weather was absolutely gorgeous for a early February morning, clear blue skies and hardly any wind. There was about 100 people registered, from the look of things seasoned athletes. Quite a few tri club kits on display and some seriously nice bikes.

Coming up to the start, and my groin seemed ok, but just done a few stretches and didn't bother to warmup. Done my usual thing of starting off a bit too fast, which meant that I just ran the first 2.5km non-stop although I'd done 5km a few times before in training. Run felt good in general, despite my stopping.

Done the first 5km in 31.15 (official time, I reckon more like 31.04). Was hoping to get under 30mins but this is still a personal best.

Off onto the bike, which seemed to go well despite people flying by me the whole time. The thing that really got to me was that they seemed to be in middle gears instead of their lowest gear, meaning that they hardly seemed to be pushing. Decided to give this a go and have to say that it seemed to work well enough and I got off the bike pretty "fresh". Overall, the bike plus the two transitions took me 45m 27s.

Off onto the final run, which didn't feel anything like as bad as the last time I tried it. Didn't really have to convince myself too much to do the second lap either, which was a real effort in November. I was well into a run\walk strategy at this part of the race though.

Still, completed the last 5km in 34.02 (official time) which isn't too bad for me.

Overall, my time was about 7 mins faster than November, most of that coming on the bike. All three splits though were faster, which is encouraging.

Next one is in March, which I'll probably be at. If I could knock another 7 mins off my time I'd be well chuffed with myself.

What I've been up to for the last week

Hardly anything. Done a turbo session on Wednesday night and that was literally that. Made it down to the pool for a quick dip one of the nights as well, but hardly worth mentioning.

In parallel with that, I've been eating like a horse. Couple of different reasons, but thats beside the point.

How soft am I?

Wanted to go for a cycle all weekend but didn't get around to it yesterday because of all the rugby and football on the TV. So, I was pretty determined to get out for a spin today, which I actually achieved. However, it lasted all of three minutes...the wind was bitterly cold and I turned around pretty sharpish and retreated back to home. How soft is that?

Training update

Tough enough session tonight. Done W4D5 of the JD red plan. Didn't quite finish it as described, but got pretty close. Done 5 out of the 6 runs, with the rest period as a slow jog instead of a walk. The sixth run I just took it easy enough and finished up with the 10 min warm-down.

Best news of the day though has got to be swimming wise...I actually done a length non-stop twice!! Was struggling a bit towards the end of the length, but still made it. Really happy about that. I've booked in for another session at swimshack on Thursday, so hopefully this little milestone is something to work off.

Besides that, I was also down at the gym for lunch with one of the guys from work. Done about 40 mins of weights, but didn't really get into a routine.

All in all, a good days work. Shame about the pack of biscuits I devoured for brekkie.