Friday and Saturday relaxed before race

Swim on Friday, 1000m sharpener with my 'swim coach' . Good little session, 21 minutes, which is far from fast but good for me, and I'm stroking a lot better and more efficient in the water.
Saturday, 3 mile at easy pace, around 25 minutes. Legs feel good. I'm not biking today, didn't ride yesterday. While I'm doing these short sprint tris, I'm saving my legs for a big effort, at time trial intensity tomorrow.
After tomorrow's race I will be concentrating on endurance, longer distance rides and runs and longer swims. Building for Half Ironman UK now. Once April is gone then total focus will be on that event.

Thursday training

Good to get back to cycling to work, even if short and not much of a workout, but will be good to turn my legs over for Sunday. Legs felt good today, refreshed, which was pleasing after Wednesday's session.
Came home and got off bike, changed into run gear and went out at a quick pace for 30 minutes, around 7 minute mile pace after 10 minutes warm up. Felt strong, legs good. Will do a short swim tomorrow and short bike/run on Saturday. Fresh for Sunday. In fact, I may even miss Saturday out. See how I feel tomorrow.
I want to be strong for Sunday. Short sprint tri, and I feel confident of producing a good time, with a good level of effort. 400m swim (8 minutes goal time) , 14.5 mile bike (40 minutes goal time), 4.5 mile run (32 minutes goal time). 1 hour 20 for the lot. Will have to push on the run, but I'm confident of putting in very good bike time.

Wednesday Training

Good day yesterday, legs in good shape again, nicely recovered from duathlon.
swam 1 mile in the pool, drafting in behind my 'swim coach for two thirds of it, and then just fell away slightly. 34 minutes. Not a bad time, very pleased with my efforts. Felt good after, back, shoulders and arms got a good workout.
And at last in the early evening I went for a training ride with some of the guys from Zoom Tri Club, albeit there were only 4 of us! Took me 45 mins to ride there, met up and did 2 laps of a 7 mile loop from Boscombe to Hengistbury Head, was lovely evening. Had to head off before the 3rd lap as I did not have lights so had to get back home before it went dark. Just about managed it. All in all it was a good steady ride. 2 and a half hours of riding all together, and legs are good today after another massage last night.
Riding into work again now, getting ready for Sunday's tri!

Morning swim

After a day of recovery yesterday, and sore calves, and an hour recovery on turbo, I was back in the pool this morning. 100m and 200m sets and a 400m swim. On target time for Sunday. 8 minutes 17 secs for 400m, and that was me being tired and taking it steady. I'll go under that on Sunday. My projected time is 8 minutes for the swim. Yes, did feel a little tired in the pool and legs still recovering from exertions on Sunday, so another rest day. Will bike tomorrow, with a lunchtime swim, a run on Thursday, swim and bike Friday, then just gentle run Saturday. Race day Sunday, Hungerford sprint triathlon.

Beaulieu Duathlon

Excellent fun, great day out. Well, great morning out!
Haven't got the official times yet, but unofficial, around 2 hours 5 minutes for the lot, which was 5 minutes off goal pace, and 10 minutes off ideal.
However, great fun nonetheless.
Was an early start and did not have great preparation last night, as the clocks went forward, my little boy decided to have a restless night and I couldn't sleep well, plus had not eaten great yesterday either. Up at 5:30, prepared drinks etc, and packed up the car. Ate shreddies, toast, gel and couple of nutrigrain bars and a banana.
Off we went for a 50 minute drive to Beaulieu. Race start at 9am. First lesson learned, must do proper warm up and get my legs moving and heartrate up. 10 minutes into the bike, into a strong and bitter headwind, calves started to cramp up, purely due to the cold. Lesson 2, should have worn leg warmers!! I have been doing in training and they are very comfy, but for some reason, decided not to do so today. There were 45 competitors, some very serious athletes on some very serious machines, and the run set off round a trail, all off road. Two 5km laps, not the most interesting of courses, but nice and undulating, and had to work hard. That said, here comes lesson number 3 - get pace right at start. Actually to be fair, my pace at the start was good and I planned to build it up, but then I got talking to a nice chap who had done Xterra triathlon in Maui last year and had done Half Ironman UK and was out today for a bit of a social, so I ran alongside until the start of the second lap, whereupon I looked at my watch to realise I was 5 minutes down on where I wanted to be! Too slow, too much chat not enough fat!!
So I bid farewell and decided to put foot to floor and make an effort to claw back some time, which I did very well. I think I was through 5km in 28 minutes, very poor, but I ended up finishing the 10k in around 49, so 21 minutes for second 5km pretty good.
Transition was reasonably quick, decided against shoes in bike and just ran to mount line with them on feet, stopped to hop on bike and then off we went, got off to a flyer, felt fantastic on the bike, and felt good the whole way round. In fact I could have gone a whole lot faster were in not for the cramp, really stopped me hammering it. Even into the wind I was passing other competitors. Went passed maybe 12-15 competitors in all and made up a lot of time. My word, the Scott Plasma is a quick bike, and I highly recommend Continental's triathlon tyres, very light and low resistance.

So two 15km laps and back into transition. Lesson number 4, do not take feet out of shoes on bike too soon. Took em out then realised there was a small climb to get up and couldn't generate a lot of speed, which probably cost me almost 2 minutes. Bike time was around 50 minutes for 30km, so very pleased with that time, as the headwind section really slowed me down, and I didn't really get into as higher gear as I should have. But on a positive not my average cadence was good , up at 89 rpm. Excellent, just need to push that cadence in a higher gear and I will be motoring, really getting my bike splits down.

Nice quick change into running shoes in transition 2, but my calves at this point were very sore, and not enjoying it at this point. First time of running off the bike that I felt really out of sorts. But that lasted maybe 5 minutes and I eventually got into my stride and kept good pace, even though legs hurting a bit. Passed by only one runner with 2km to go, and finished strong.
2 hours and 5 minutes, rough estimate as I forgot to stop my watch on the line.

Duathlons are hard. Very hard on the legs, but this will stand me in good stead for June's Ironman 70.3. I know I've got the bike endurance, as I got stronger the longer I was out there. Plus my 3rd run split was still good, around 24 minutes I think. And was good to get that run distance in my legs. Bit of sports massage this week should sort them out. Very easy week ahead into next Sundays sprint tri in Hungerford.

On the whole, was very positive day today, training has paid off, and I can see where I went wrong, where I can improve, what I need to do better for race prep and how to pace myself. I know I can afford to go a lot harder in all areas, as my aerobic fitness is excellent, recovery is very good, and I was very strong on the bike today, ripped up the one hill climb twice into a headwind without getting out of the saddle, always a nice feeling.
Also it is nice to see what you did well, and I can take a lot from this first race of the season and apply it to the rest of the year's races, and training as well.

Nutrition:

1 power gel and 500ml of SIS electrolyte drink 15-20 minutes before race start. Power gel and water when setting off on bike. 750 ml SIS electrolyte on bike( helped with the cramp), 750 ml SIS Energy drink. 1 power gel towards end of bike. Water from drinks table in transition, 250 ml SIS electrolyte. Nothing through to the finish. 1 cup of tea!! ( and I don't drink it, but it was good!) and then 750 ml SIS Recovery drink, water when home. Just about got the nutrition right, but will look at alternative to the power gels, very sticky, sweet and sit not great on stomach. Alright in training, but when at full race pace, not the best for me to take on board. I am trying Torq energy and electrolyte drink in training at the moment, pleasant taste and not at all sweet, will try their bars as well.

Official results http://www.racenewforest.co.uk/Results_Beaulieu%20Duath07.htm

Race day tomorrow!

Very excited about racing tomorrow, first of the season!
50 minutes gentle bike ride today, legs feeling very good, and 20 minute gentle run at 9 min mile pace.
So all prepared now. Bike chain cleaned and lubed, rear cassette cleaned and lubed, whole bike in tip top shape. Tyre pressures checked and tyres checked for debris.
Bag is being packed, sorting out what nutrition and drinks I'm taking, will post a kit list when I have everything in my kit bag.
Carb loading at the moment, all good stuff. That's the great thing about triathlon, you can eat and eat as much as you like, and it still gets burned off!

lunchtime swim

Was in the pool for a long time today, but man, the temperature was far too warm, not at all comfortable for swimming. That said, I did a very gentle swim for 50 minutes, concentrating on technique, balance and rotation and driving myself through the water in the smallest space possible. Coming together nicely, and the more time I'm in the water, the better I feel.
'Swim Coach'( you know who you are!) came along and did 1km, I was keeping up great for first 150m, and then a slower swimmer got in my way, wouldn't move and I had to stop, completely lost my stroke and got left behind. Well, I put my foot down and caught up within 100m, but the energy expended then left me with little to keep up and I drifted back for the rest of the swim. That said, I know I can really push harder when swimming, and from next week onwards I shall work at building my swimming strength.
Really feel in good nick for Sunday, can't wait for race day. Getting myself prepared tomorrow and will do a gentle bike and run. Start time is 9am. Will aim to get there for 8 at latest. Will take turbo trainer to warm up for half hour, then get bike into transition, get myself sorted. Race briefing 15 minutes before start. 10 minutes gentle jog to keep muscles warm and stay flexible.
It is an off-road 10km run and 5km run, either side of an on-road bike. Should be interesting, as I haven't got off-road shoes, but I think it's more of a trail rather than over anything particularly harsh underfoot.
Will post results, photos and post-race breakdown later on Sunday. Fingers-crossed I get there without any hiccups!!!

Taper week

Tapering is oh so painful! I'm feeling great, apart from a bit of a sniffly nose and sinuses a little bunged up. The idea being to reduce intensity of workouts and time/distance to feel fresh come race day. It's really a case of mind over body. Body feels like going for it, mind has to hold it back!

So Monday was a day of rest, Tuesday I went out for a gentle hour on the bike along Blackpool sea front, incredibly windy. My word, thought it was windy down here!! Wednesday I went out and did an hour's running up and down Blackpool promenade and along the beach, which was fantastic in the early morning sun! And then Thursday by contrast I took the bike out in misty rain for an hour of turning my legs over, just to keep me fresh but not to work the legs hard. Will have a gentle lunchtime swim today, and then tomorrow a very short bike and run just as a sharpener for race on Sunday.

Run bike run!

Duathlon time is upon us. Well, upon me anyway!! Before the blurb, here's the stats.
2 mile run, 20.1 mile bike, 2 mile run. Total time 1 hr 29 mins 37 seconds, including transitions.
Time splits for run were 14 mins and 15 mins. Bike split 58 mins 59 secs.

Bike stats:
Ave hr 156, max hr 169
distance 20.1 miles(32.4 km)
ave speed 20.4 mph (32.83 kph)
max speed 32.9 mph (52.9 kph)
ave cadence 87, max 107
kcal 981

I did this at what Tom Holland calls 'JARP', just under race pace. And felt very strong.
But my word, what a headwind on the bike and crosswind, could only get up to 22 mph when on a downhill section pedalling into headwind!! Only a tailwind on last 3 miles, and even then it was blustery and not in a steady direction. Couple of times had to fight to keep Plasma under control. But was a good ride. Would have liked to have run longer, but I'm not overdoing things, as I now will taper nicely for next week's race. Easy bikes and runs this week, practice transition, getting my feet in the bike shoes quicker, while on the bike.
Feeling good for next Sunday, really looking forward to getting out and enjoying the race atmosphere. Should be a great buzz. I'm going to be wrapped up in cotton wool this week, I ain't missing this one!!

two swim sessions

Early morning swim down at Wareham leisure centre. Was going great on 750m when my finger embedded itself in someone's head, coming in the opposite direction. Very wide lanes set out and no reason for the other swimmer to drift over. But I now have a very sore bruised tip of middle finger on my right hand. Didn't wait around to ask how their head was!! So it kind of put me off.
Couple more lengths and out I came.
So decided to swim at lunchtime as well. Did a good hard swim, only 16 minutes and was going great, keeping right up with my 'swim coach' and then I thought he stopped so I did, only to realise it was someone else! And I couldn't get my rythmn back, so I swam gentle for a couple of lengths and then realised I had a meeting to get to at work so had to come out. How dare work get in the way of my training!!
But enjoying being in the water again, and stroking well, and building my strength, lots quicker today.