Wednesday 31st of March 2010

Won't actually be doing any training today (Except ride to work on back with breaks rubbing on disk! nice). Tomorrow however I plan to ride to our weekend holiday destination in Denmark. It will be around 160K and it looks like I will have a nice 9m/sec head wind the whole way! yummy.
Below is the rout. Should be quite nice as I get to ride along the coast and then over a couple of bridges (In Denmark they make big bridges!).
I think its going to take around 6 hours. If it goes ok I may ride back Saturday but we shall see about that!
Happy Easter

Monday 29th of March 2010

What a weekend - kids sick, me sick and rubbish weather. No training done at all.
Still didn't feel great this morning but up I got, stole the car and drove to work (sorry Bex) and then ran 24k in 1 hour 50 minutes. Felt pretty terrible to start but finished strong so quite pleased.
This week we some days off (Thur, Friday and Monday) so we are off for a short family break - normally bad new for training but this time I am going to cycle there! 150k ride Thursday morning and maybe I will do the 150k back Sunday (I am not sure about riding back though).
Tomorrow I may swim and do a short blast on the bike (depending on weather). Wednesdaty some speed work (running).
Lets see how it goes.
Have a nice day!

Friday 26th of March 2010

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday. Cycled to work on my new bike at uber fast speed (for me). Had a day at work relaxing and then (as it was such a nice sunny day) I did a 50k ride home. This rout takes me up and accross to the coast and then down the coast to near where I live. It was fantastic weather, quite windy but that was good too as it made me use my aero bars. The bike felt really fast and I had a very quick ride. There were loads of other cyclists around (lots of roadies in big groups) to pass and then have mini races with - for the first time ever I did all the over taking! very nice feeling for a change.
Anyway, my bike ride yesterday left my legs feeling a little week but I was up at the crack of dawn this morning and cycled to work at slightly less uber speed. 3 of us started out for our 24k rout BUT Jesper (the Dane I run with) was feeling strong and we started off at 4:30 pace then picked that up to 4:15 pace! that is way way faster than usual. I managed to stick with him until around 18k. We lost Jan (the other Dane) as he was feeling not great. Jesper then went on ahead and I just kept plugging. Managed to beat my personal best for the half marathon by 1.5 minutes to bring it down to 1 hour 34(and some seconds)! I then had to drop the pace quite a lot for the last 3 k so in the end I did it in 1:48 which is around the 4:30 pace for an average! very very happy but now I am totally knackerd! my legs will need a really decent rest tomorrow!

Here is my 50k rout. As you can see I spend a good few k by the sea which is great. This is also part of the Ironman rout (just the other way!).

Wednesday 24th of March 2010

Cycled to work as fast as I could on old bike. Did a 10k interval training run before lunch (2k warm up, 1k asap, 1k slow etc for the rest of the way. Managed to get the asap 1k's done in under 4 minutes so was quite pleased. Legs tired by the end but no twinges or anything so all good.
A mate of mine here is part of a round table group and they had a guest speaker in (Jimmi Larsen I think was his name). The guy is a loon! He has won the Sahara race, done a 400k run, done 130 untra runs. Wants to do Marathons in under 2:30...Cycles 16 hours a week, run, does wiegths! Is a carpenter, mechanical engineer and studied medicine!! Oh and he is my age! how does someone fit that into their lives!

Tuesday 23rd of March 2010

Rushed home after work yesterday, so much so that I somehow managed to get the wrong junction on the motorway! nice action there Johan. So after swaring at myself for a few minutes I managed to get home. Play with the kids and pull the part built bike out of the box..wow it looked great. Then my kids decided that the box it came in would become a new addition to our lounge and is now their den! I have to admit that it did make a pretty great den. So I finally managed to really get stuck in at around 7pm and build the bike. A couple of hours later and it was all done and prepared for an early morning adventure! It looked great and sooo new. I havent actually ever bought my self such a nice bike before so it was quite cool. It wieghs nothing! I thought my last bike was lite but this one really is soo lite. Then I add two bottles of water, my fat arse and a rucksack and it goes back to being heavy!

So I got up at 5am and got ready. Left  the house and the weather was looking ok. 30k into my ride and the weather goes from ok to really really sh?t! I did 80 km much faster than ever before. My avg was around 4kph faster! I got soacked through and now my bike looks like its done 20000k! doh. Will have to clean and prep again! I need make some adjustments if I want to use the aero bars but appart from that its great.
I will now really focus on the biking and try to build up some serious ks on the beast!

Monday 22nd orf March 2010

So I ran home quite hard on Friday afternoon. I felt so tired Friday that I just crashed out when the kids went to bed. Same on Saturday and Sunday. I just had no energy at all. I think resting 2 days has done me the world of good though. Up early this morning. stole the wifes car and drove to work and then did the usual 24k run, however, today we did it in 1 hour 48 minutes which is an avg of 4:31 per k! that is 5 to 6 sec per k faster than I have ever run!! woo hoo. A choc milkshake, 2 cups of coffe and I feel suprisingly ok! I also have all my fingers and toes crossed that my bike will arrive today! (making work quite tricky but I am getting by!).
Also very pleased that I have so far managed to raise over £400 (inc tax benefit) for Help for Heroes charity! http://www.justgiving.com/challengecopenhagen only £2100 to go and I will reach my goal!


Edit - 13:00 22/03/2010
I dont know how else I can put this so: MY BIKE HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am however stuck at work so cant get home to make sure its really really shiny!!!

Friday 19th of March 2010

Woke up a little late. Didnt do anything except ride to work today, ate lots of pies and cuaght a climbse of myself! was very disappointed with the way my glasses were looking. Will work on that asap. Appart from that its pretty aero.

will run home tonight as my back wheel broke on my MTB again. New wheels have been purchased.

Thursday 18th of March 2010

Very exited that I now have 2 followers on my blog! Wow now I know how celebs feel!
Anyway....My daughter very kindly woke me up at 2am and decided that MY space in MY bed is where she wanted to sleep! So after a whimper and a very pathetic attempt at fatherly decipline I moved over and proceded not to sleep any more...So I got up 2 hours later than planned and did my cycle ride. Did 60k and had a good race near the end with an over keen commuter. Managed to track around 36kph and even up to 40 on some bits of flat road so I was quite smug about that.
Plan to do some run sprint work tomorrow and for the rest of today just chill. Will cycle home at 110% but thats just because I am sooooo bored with the rout to work and back!
I am still planning to get some photos in and will ask my training pals to take some shots next time we do some big runs or cycle rides.

Have a fun day!

Wednesday 17th of March 2010

Up at 5am, left the house at 5:30 and was out running from work by 6:30am. Did our normal 24k run this morning at a nice 4:45 pace. Felt very good the whole way. I can feel my legs now but its is getting much better. I will have to start shifting my focus to the bike soon as I have to deal with that area of my training too! keep saying it, now just got to get on with it!!!

Tuesday 16th of March 2010

Was away for a stag week end this weekend which is why there were no posts. I met up with some friends, one of which is in the military and decided to go for a "nice n easy" 10k run with him...herm...one way to destroy your confidence! I have been reminded that I am very far from being super fit BUT I did better than I would have a few months ago so all in all quite pleased. We went off road for much of it which is also a big change for me as all of my running recently has been on the road due to ice. Sunday did no phys, Monday no phys so this morning I was up and ran to work. Tomorrow morning I plan to do 24k. I hope my new bike will arrive this week and then I am going to start to really focus on my cycling!

The sun is out and I didnt get covered in ice running this morning so things are looking up!
One area of fitness that I am getting worse in is beer drinking fitness! a few pints and I was mashed. May just leave that area for a while and work on that post ironaman race!

Thursday 11th of March 2010

Good morning...

Went for my 60k ride yesterday evening and I actually had a great ride. Managed to clock up some good speed on the flat sections with no wind at all. I think if I could find a nice flat loop with no damn traffic lights I could average over 32kph (just). By the end my legs were quite tired and it was getting dark and cold. The weather is still quite an annoying factor as its too cold to just wear a cycle top but its not cold enough for my warmer gear as I get very warm! Same with gloves, mine are warm enough (just) but after a while I get hot, then they get wet and then I get cold again!!!!!!! doh!

Anyway that was yesterday, today is, as it usually is, a brand new day. Slept really well and was woken by my alarm at 5:30. Its the first time its woken me in months so I guess I was tired. Anyway, I have the car today and so was at work by 6am and then by 6:30 am 3 of us were running our 24k rout. We ran at an average of 4:36min per k again (for 21k of it anyway) and we did the whole lot of 1 hour 50 minutes. My legs are now very tired and the muscles are ....lets just say well used! I had a few 'dark' moments today where I thought about how easy it would be to stop, I didn't though and was soon back into a lighter mood. I keep thinking of all the rediculous phrases I keep seeing on forums and blogs..here is one a read about a pro athlete from her coach:
"Chrissie wins because she trains really f'ing hard and races really f'ing hard and was blessed with a huge f'ing motor" Jordan Rapp
Its like this Jordan Person is related to Gordom Ramsey!
Also love this one:
"If you have a body, you are an athlete"..if only it was so easy.

Wednesday 10th of March 2010

Again a bad night! was meant to be up at 5:30am for a 60k ride but that just wasnt going to happen! So I will be doing that this evening! feel tired and not really up for it but I guess I may get a 2nd wind when I start. Ill let you know how it goes.

Tuesday 9th of March 2010

Son is sick so not a great nights sleep was had! Cycled to work, cycled back and my trusty workhourse mountain bike broke!! Its now in bike hospital having the rear wheel fixed. Its been a hard winter so I wont hold it against CUBE!
Swam in the evening. My normal coach was sick so I took on the role for 3 other guys, all in all went very well and we all made some progress. Did an hour and a half of swimming.

Monday 8th of March 2010

Up early again. Cycled to work and then did 24k run at an avg pace of 4:36 min per K. Very happy with the run. feel tired now but Im sure it will be ok in a few hours. Then cycle home this eve and maybe take the kids for a swim.
Great start to the week and the weather was cold but appart from that perfect!

Sunday 7th of March 2010

Up at 5:30 and out the house by 6am. Cycled 90k, got a puncture and almost froze! but did an avg of around 30kph and was home with the family and changed by 10am! great to be out on the bike. Was going to take some pictures but the puncture ruined the moment a little!! was sooo cold trying to change a tyre!

Friday 5th of March 2010

Cycled to and back from work. Did 10 k run split into 4k warm up, 1k at 3:50, 1k 5:30, 1k at 3:40, 1k 5:30, 1k at 3:45, 1k at 5:30 and then 1k at 3:59 then juts a warm down. Was a great work out and glad to get some interval work in.

Thursday 4th of March 2010

Well, I cycled home the long way yesterday...was a good ride,55K but quite hard work. I can tell that its been weeks sinse I last did some real long cycling! Great start though to a cycling come back. I cycled into work this morning and then did 1 hour of hard spinning...now my legs are a wee bit waisted. I was thinking of swimming tonight but Ill wait to see how I feel later. Tiredness is creeping up on me.
I plan to do some running speed work tomorrow.
The good news for the day is that by the middle of next week the weather here will be up above 0 so I can do some cycling!

Wednesday 3rd of March 2010

Had a great swim last night. Did 3 * 500m in around half an hour then did some speed work. Managed 100m in 1:36 so very happy with that!

Got up at 5:20am this morning and went cycling! was quite cold at -2c but was a beautiful morning. Sun came up over the water as I was cycling...ahhh I know. Anyway...back to business. Did just over 53k in around 1 hour 50. Not fast but there was some wind an some hill work. I did enjoy it though and I can feel my legs. If the weather is good I will cycle back that way and add 100k to my cycling plan this week!

As I mentioned yesterday I have now parted with cash and am waiting for my new bike so I now have to make sure I am going to get quicker and not be the slow fat guy on a "nice bike"!!

Woo hoo feels great to finally get back on the road...bad news is that for the rest of this week its going to dip to -10c at night......:(

Tuesday 2nd of March 2010

Internet down so am forced to use mobile! Just cycled to work and back and will swim tonight. BUT I am now the owner of a planet x bike!! Woo hoo can't wait for it to arrive!

Monday 1st of March 2010

Had a pretty chilled weekend. Rested mostly on Saturday except for running aroun a forest with my daughter on a hourse! quite good fun. Sunday I got up and went for a 1 hour swim which went well. Then went to the gym with my wife and did some cycling, running and upper body. All nice a easy. Legs still didnt feel quite right. Did no turbo trainer work at all as I was just tired. I am planning to focus on the cycling in the coming week if the weather allows!
Up really early this morning. Cycled to work and was ready to run by 6:30am. Set out with Jan (my running buddy and swim coach). Started off with slight rain and quite cold and by 9k we were running on snow again with snow coming down is sheets! damn this winter weather!! Anyway, we had a good run and did 24k. 21k was done in around 1:40ish so again not too bad.
The really good news is that my wife has given the thumbs up to the bike so I will be looking into that this morning! woo hoo