Revised Hungerford Tri results

Here are the final results from last week's Hungerford Sprint Tri.

http://www.conceptsport.co.uk/resources/uploaded/web%20res%205th.htm

Finished 18th overall, 4th in my age group category and 10th quickest on the bike.

Lunchtime swim session

Good 40 minute session today, broken down into varying blocks of 100, 200, 400 and 800m.
Timed myself for 400m - best time yet, 7 minutes 11 seconds. Swimming with much better technique now, greater rotation in the water and stronger 'catch'. And I'm much more efficient in the water, a better feel for the water and the feeling of propelling myself through the water, not 'slipping' through it.
Will rest for today and run tomorrow. Legs on the mend, still a bit tired from all the weekend's cyling.

Easter Monday long bike

Took the Plasma out for a spin today. Nice ride, took in Blandford, Dorchester, Weymouth and Wareham in a big Loop. Stopped off in Weymouth and caught some sunshine on the sea front. Very nice day, although still a cold wind. Legs tired a bit after 2 hours in the saddle. In fact, they were really tired and for about 10 minutes I really felt like giving up! However, I got to Weymouth and recharged my batteries. It was 18 miles home from there, with a long climb out of Weymouth for 2-3 miles. Enjoyed the ride back more and managed to do the last 12 miles in 32 minutes. And that's on tired legs. So it's looking good for Sprint tri on 22nd, which has a 14 miles bike leg, over similar terrain.
Today wasn't so much about stats, more about time in the saddle. Was roughly 65 miles in all. Approx 3 hours of riding. No bike tomorrow, just a swim session at lunchtime and a run in the evening. Won't ride to work much this week, maybe only thursday and friday.

Sunday Long bike

Oh how good to get back on the bike for a long ride. And today I conquered my darkest fear. I went back to the scene of my accident and came down the hill where I fell( albeit very slowly) but I'll get a better feel for it the more I ride it, and it felt good!
I can tell the weather is better. I went at a good pace today, but not too hard, and didn't feel as tired , felt stronger on the climbs. Still a cold wind, but the sun was lovely and warm when sheltered.
did 55.2 miles in 2 hours and 50 minutes. Don't know exact average speed as bike computer went a bit screwy, will have to look at that, I think it wasn't mounted quite securely enough. Got the route and distance by using www.mapmyrun.com
Around 31.4 kph(19.5 mph) average for the whole ride, was good and I didn't push too hard. Average hr 143bpm, max 166. Not sure if lower heart rate is down to improved aerobic fitness levels, or just a bit tired. It certainly took me a good hour and a half to get into the ride, my legs felt a little weary up to that point, but then found a new lease of life and I was ok. Recovery was good.
Route - Holton Heath - Sandford - Wareham - Studland - Swanage - Langton Matravers - Kingston - Corfe Castle - Steeple - Lulworth Castle - Coombe Keynes - Wool - Warmwell - Crossways - East Dorset Golf club(via Bovington) - Wareham - Sandford - Holton Heath.
That's a regular ride that I do, roughly Half Ironman distance, mix of long and short climbs and undulating in places, few flat sections. Does flatten out for last 10 miles, can pick up a bit of speed.
Nutrition -
750ml SIS Electrolyte, 750ml Torq Energy and Electrolyte drink. 500ml water. 2 Power Bar gel sachets. 1 banana, 1 nutrigrain bar. Spot on for today's ride, had energy all the way to the end, even if legs tiring a little. 750ml SIS Recovery drink post ride.
More of the same next weekend, and a mid-week ride with Zoom tri club.

Fuel goes in here!

Schedule has been revised with a rest day tomorrow!
Went for a run, and again my own fault, stopped after 15 minutes, no energy. Didn't fuel up enough after this morning's swim and paid the price. Jogged gentle back home. Feel ok, just starving hungry. Came back, ate half a large melon, 750ml SIS recovery drink, 2 nutrigrain bars, 1 pack of jaffa cakes, and 1 large chocolate milkshake.
Will have my tea soon, and go to bed early and sleep the sleep of the dead! Lots of rest and eating tomorrow, let my mind relax more than anything. Body feels great, but I have had a stressful week at work and other stuff has taken it's toll on me.

Positive thing is that I'm recognising when I am genuinely tired and need to recover and when I'm just a bit lethargic and can't be bothered. The former I need to lay off the training, the latter I need to drag my backside off the sofa!

Happy Easter!

Well, my Easter weekend got off to a fine start. This is a good time to get in lots of training, in amongst all the household chores that need doing, not to mention the garden needing a spring tidy up.
2500m swim in the pool, after a 10 minute warm up. Just wanted to do a long swim to make sure I can go the distance. Time not really much of an issue. I still had energy to really push on the last 10 lengths, so I know I can go a lot harder when I do the 1900m for Half Ironman. 53 minutes it took me, 100 lengths of 25m pool. Started to tire a little at around 80 lengths but got it back for the last 10. Good recovery, and a great upper body workout. Some gym sessions needed to really build up my upper body strength.

Will go for a run later in the day, easy run for an hour. Again, it's about going the distance now, and making sure I have the aerobic capacity and endurance strength to go the distance. Long bike tomorrow. Long bike and run on Sunday. Sea swim on Monday and bike. Rest day Tuesday.
So my Easter weekend should be a productive one. 2 weeks to next race, which I am not really focussing on, I'll just use as a high intensity training session.
Happy Easter to all my readers!

Swim at lunch

Back in the pool today.
20 minutes and 47 seconds for 1km. Big improvement, didn't push very hard, nice easy swim. This is the last day of these short swims. Going to do some more structured workouts and build up to doing longer endurance swims.
Generally this week is about recovery from the last 2 hard races and geting my legs back in shape with some shorter workouts. Long distance starts this weekend. Bike rides of 2-3 hours, runs of 1 hour plus and swims of 45 minutes. Will get back to recording stats for bike workouts. Throw in some gym sessions to improve strength.

Back to normal

Back to riding to work now, and planning my next 3 weeks of training.
Got in from work and went for a 25 minute run. Legs feeling good and recovered from Sunday's race.
This week is still a fairly easy week, just recovery and base before the next 2 weeks. Endurance rides on the bike over Easter and a couple of long runs, maybe a sea swim, and a pool session thrown in for good measure.

results posted for Hungerford 'Fast Twitch' Triathlon

Results now online for this race.

http://www.conceptsport.co.uk/resources/uploaded/web%20res%205th.htm

Overall position - 18th out of 138 finishers.
3rd in my age group - 35-39.

Very pleased with result, and fills me with confidence as we step up the training.

Hungerford 'Fast Twitch' Triathlon

First tri of the year, and what good fun it was. 120 plus competitors,, on a very cold and blustery morning. Nobody was looking forward to a revised bike course, which was basically an out and back of 19 miles.
Early start again, set off at 5:30. Hour and a half drive and then got to leisure centre to register. Got myself together, bike into transition easily enough. Went with the shoes in pedals this time, elastic bands on tabs on heel of shoes, attached to bike, to keep shoes in right position for when setting off. Lot quicker, makes a big difference, saved me about a minute in transition. Water and gel beforehand, and then lined up for the swim at 8:35. It was a pool swim, 400m, 4 lanes, two in a lane, 8 in each wave. I was wave 7 of 15. I felt a bit tired really, and not tip top, but I set off first and soon got into a nice steady rhythmn, not at all too fast. After 8 I was caught by a girl behind, who was obviously quicker, but cannily enough I drafted in behind her and the next 8 lengths were easy swimming. I only wanted to get in my goal time of around 8 minutes, so was not all that keen to push too hard, seeing as the bike leg was going to be tough, hilly, windy and cold.
Into transition, I had to put a top on, a nice Scott top, that is close fitting and does cut through the air rather well. Grabbed helmet, glasses and bike and off we went. Well pleased with Adidas clima cool glasses, anti-fog. Was expecting them to mist, coming out of the heat of the swimming pool, but they stayed crystal clear.
Again, very strong on the bike, and was conscious of not going off too hard to start with, as I knew I would be back into a strong headwind. That said, my time back was not too bad. I averaged 22.5 mph on the way out and by the end average speed was around 20.4 mph. Similar speed to last week, but more effort required, so all in all, a good bike. Approx 55 minutes for 19 miles.
Very quick transition 2, picked up a bottle of electrolyte drink off the bike onto the run and left it at a convenient place for when on lap 2! I was conscious of avoiding the cramp episode of last week, because of the cold weather, but all ok today. Run was very good, got stronger as it went on. 4.5 miles in around 31 minutes 30 seconds. For me, that is very good.
All in all a very pleasing performance, raced harder today than last week, which is what I wanted to do. I can rest up now for a couple of days and now focus on some endurance training.
Next sprint tri is on 22nd April in Tidworth and one after that on 29th April in Lymington. Then 6th May and 20th May. These will purely server as racing experience and high intensity training sessions. Focus is Half Ironman UK, I'm looking forward to going the distance, particularly on the bike, as I feel strongest on that. Running is improving loads. Just the swim needs to get better, but that will come in time, and more focus needed on swim stroke.
So far so good, I'm off for a bit of an afternoon nap to recharge my batteries!