Wednesday, 31 August 2011
I didnt call for a taxi
Tonight spin was an eye opener - literally. Nearly home from a quick 7.5mile, 100+ rpm spin, when a taxi decided to let me know that he was behind me on a single track raod by virtue of his car horn, he was about 6 foot behind me and i was only about 20 or 30 foot from the layby, i think he could of waited the few seconds it would have taken me to get there. Turned out he was a very nice man, when i asked him what the feck he was doing, ( he pulled over half a mile ahead to pick up ) i got a load of agression and threatened to get a taste of some wood as he pointed to his car boot, lovely man. Boston taxi services - you just cant beat them - or they'll beat you :)
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
A little swim
Had an informal mini aquathon tonight at the lake, - about 400m swim and 1.75 mile run, i hate sprint distance stuff, it shows up my lack of swimming prowess for what it is. I came last out the water but finished in second, not bad you might think but there was only 4 of us :) I could nt see a thing by the time i got to the first buoy, i forgot to use any anti fog . Hot face and freezing water are not good swimming partners.
Not much to comment on as it my taper week, just idling around trying not to overdo my calorie intake. im sure Saturdays post will be more lively, or maybe sundays, depending on if am able to move.
Not much to comment on as it my taper week, just idling around trying not to overdo my calorie intake. im sure Saturdays post will be more lively, or maybe sundays, depending on if am able to move.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
go on then ...one last long one
I squeezed a cheeky last 2k swim this morning, definately my last long session before the vit. The water seems so much colder in the morning even though it was 17°C but I thought I better have one morning OW swim before hand
Friday, 26 August 2011
last long run .....done
As the title so simply says, thats all my Vitruvian prep done, what happens now is anyones guess. A taper week with a few easy runs, rides and swims ( and a night sleeping in the car ) is all that stands between me and my next hurdle.
If any of the PSOF are reading - its been a great comfort knowing that im not going to be the only one racing the cut offs and the support and advice from the pirates is always helpful and mostly amusing.
If any of the PSOF are reading - its been a great comfort knowing that im not going to be the only one racing the cut offs and the support and advice from the pirates is always helpful and mostly amusing.
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Last big ride before the Vit
today has been eventful - having a tyre blow out in a car is bad enough, having one at 29.7mph, according to my garmin, on a pushbike is another thing. having the car behind you nearly wiping you out - quite scary.
at last i have got the correct course sussed out for the Vit, and today did the 2 loops clocking up about 50 miles. first loop 1.22.50, the second 1.47.55 due to the near miss. without the puncture i reasoned that it would have been about 1.27.00 which is within my 3hours 10 minutes bike split target.
With quads that seemed twice the size a recovery swim needed - only did about 1000m as the pool had the granny brigade in full force tonight. At one point it looked like the D Day landings from the shallow end.
at last i have got the correct course sussed out for the Vit, and today did the 2 loops clocking up about 50 miles. first loop 1.22.50, the second 1.47.55 due to the near miss. without the puncture i reasoned that it would have been about 1.27.00 which is within my 3hours 10 minutes bike split target.
With quads that seemed twice the size a recovery swim needed - only did about 1000m as the pool had the granny brigade in full force tonight. At one point it looked like the D Day landings from the shallow end.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Open Water
With the Vitruvian Tri coming up fast I had my last chance to get in an open water swim session at Tattershall Lakes tonight.
The Vit requirements are 1.9k(1.2mile) swim, 85k(52m) bike and 21k(13m) run, otherwise known as Middle Distance or Half Iron Distance. The bike is going to be hard, the run should be bearable but before tonight i had never swam more than 500m non stop in open water so this was, and still is an unknown. Any way 1600m was done in around 36 minutes which will hopefully make a 45 minute swim split - which I'll be very pleased about if I can pull that off in 10 days time.
The Vit requirements are 1.9k(1.2mile) swim, 85k(52m) bike and 21k(13m) run, otherwise known as Middle Distance or Half Iron Distance. The bike is going to be hard, the run should be bearable but before tonight i had never swam more than 500m non stop in open water so this was, and still is an unknown. Any way 1600m was done in around 36 minutes which will hopefully make a 45 minute swim split - which I'll be very pleased about if I can pull that off in 10 days time.
Monday, 22 August 2011
The story so far..............part 1....
......One year and five days ago a package arrived at my house, a box that would change me, my outlook, my future, my family and certainly my belief that anything is acheiveable given the right tools and the right knowledge.
Just over a year ago i weighed in at around 17 stone, not too bad for a 6 foot 5 inch rugby player you might think, but i wasnt. I was a 5 foot 9 inch shop keeper with a BMI figure close to my 38 years of age.
Inside the box was an electrically mechanised energy converter, it could be used to transfer fat to heat via the power a humans legs. It was a treadmill.
A few weeks previous i had tried to run down the road, within 50 metres i was gasping for breath. This was a shock. In my younger days I could run for miles. Time had indeed taken its toll and action had to be taken and the order for my machine was immenent. I felt too ashamed to run down the road and despite the old saying that you shouldnt care what people think, for me, the act of roadrunning at that weight was never on the cards.
I wish I had more data for the records but i started out with the slow runs of less than 1km. Everynight I would hit the tready, gradually increasing distance and pace. The earliest records I have are from the 7th September 2010, I did 5k on my machine in 35.16. I remember the first time i did 10k so vividly, around the 25th Sept 2010 in a not so lightning quick 68.59. That was THE moment. From that euphoric feeling of completing that distance, only a few weeks before would have seemed impossible, I was captivated by the fitness bug.
I knew i would need a focus so entered the Lincoln 10k, its close to me and pretty flat so that was my goal for the next few months. Even before i had ran the Lincoln event I was signed up for the London BUPA 10k. This method of pressurising seems to work for me as you can see from the races I have done upto now.
As my times came down on the treadmill my confidence grew and eventually in January 2011 I had the motivation or bravery to go out to the road. Running on the roads is a lot harder for me than the treadmill. Reassessing my times I was going for a sub 60 minute 10k at Lincoln. In the back of my mind I thought I had a chance of a sub 55 but never admitted it to anyone. Race day came and with it a sub 50 minute, not bad for a fat bloke!
Since then a steady flow of races have come and gone, getting that little bit longer, little bit harder ( I now had the confidence to tackle hills and trail 10ks ) and ever more diverse. Running 10km events was never going to be enough for me. The amount of miles I was putting into the treadmill and roads was silly, and knowing what I know now was totally the wrong thing to do. Luckily i never got serious injuries, just a few niggles. Days after my surprise results at Lincoln I bought a road bike and within 22 days had completed my first novice dualthlon. Coming in 5th was nice, especially nice considering that first place went to a local triathlete who runs as an age grouper for GBR, second, third and fourth went to local cycling club people using the event as a warm up. There was only about 20 people in the event but to come just behind people that have been doing it for years was a great ego boost. There was only one thing left to do. Swim.
On May the 11th, just under 2 weeks after the duathlon I ventured to the local swimming pool. I couldnt swim a length, I can laugh now but at the time it seemed swimming was going to put an end to my goal of doing a triathlon.
Just over a year ago i weighed in at around 17 stone, not too bad for a 6 foot 5 inch rugby player you might think, but i wasnt. I was a 5 foot 9 inch shop keeper with a BMI figure close to my 38 years of age.
Inside the box was an electrically mechanised energy converter, it could be used to transfer fat to heat via the power a humans legs. It was a treadmill.
A few weeks previous i had tried to run down the road, within 50 metres i was gasping for breath. This was a shock. In my younger days I could run for miles. Time had indeed taken its toll and action had to be taken and the order for my machine was immenent. I felt too ashamed to run down the road and despite the old saying that you shouldnt care what people think, for me, the act of roadrunning at that weight was never on the cards.
I wish I had more data for the records but i started out with the slow runs of less than 1km. Everynight I would hit the tready, gradually increasing distance and pace. The earliest records I have are from the 7th September 2010, I did 5k on my machine in 35.16. I remember the first time i did 10k so vividly, around the 25th Sept 2010 in a not so lightning quick 68.59. That was THE moment. From that euphoric feeling of completing that distance, only a few weeks before would have seemed impossible, I was captivated by the fitness bug.
I knew i would need a focus so entered the Lincoln 10k, its close to me and pretty flat so that was my goal for the next few months. Even before i had ran the Lincoln event I was signed up for the London BUPA 10k. This method of pressurising seems to work for me as you can see from the races I have done upto now.
As my times came down on the treadmill my confidence grew and eventually in January 2011 I had the motivation or bravery to go out to the road. Running on the roads is a lot harder for me than the treadmill. Reassessing my times I was going for a sub 60 minute 10k at Lincoln. In the back of my mind I thought I had a chance of a sub 55 but never admitted it to anyone. Race day came and with it a sub 50 minute, not bad for a fat bloke!
Since then a steady flow of races have come and gone, getting that little bit longer, little bit harder ( I now had the confidence to tackle hills and trail 10ks ) and ever more diverse. Running 10km events was never going to be enough for me. The amount of miles I was putting into the treadmill and roads was silly, and knowing what I know now was totally the wrong thing to do. Luckily i never got serious injuries, just a few niggles. Days after my surprise results at Lincoln I bought a road bike and within 22 days had completed my first novice dualthlon. Coming in 5th was nice, especially nice considering that first place went to a local triathlete who runs as an age grouper for GBR, second, third and fourth went to local cycling club people using the event as a warm up. There was only about 20 people in the event but to come just behind people that have been doing it for years was a great ego boost. There was only one thing left to do. Swim.
On May the 11th, just under 2 weeks after the duathlon I ventured to the local swimming pool. I couldnt swim a length, I can laugh now but at the time it seemed swimming was going to put an end to my goal of doing a triathlon.
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