12.84 miles - my bad

I hate to admit it but the 12.84 miles is my months total of outdoor biking i have done. Shameful i know, but i bet i can beat it in November. But while some things are bad - some are good, a PB half mara today of 1.46.24 and an increase in my monthly swimming mileage are all good for building on.

Although the outdoor cycling has taken a back seat this last few weeks I still have plenty of time to get some long rides in and the turbo has been keeping the house warm.

lazy week

Its been a lazy week with less than 9 hours training, and thats including the half mara i have to do this coming sunday, but makes a welcome change from the 12 to 14 I have been doing. Looking forward to the marathon and the rest that will come after it but not the weight that will be accumulated in the off period. Weight is a sore point a the minute with only a pound loss in a week but maybe that because of reduced exercise too - or just that fact that i ate too much

Long SLOW run

I was determined to get one half decent run in before my attempt at a marathon and Sunday I actually did a 20 miler - 19.4 to be precise but close enough. Funnily enough it didnt feel as bad as a 15 miler the week before so I'm in a pretty positive mood about finishing - maybe not in a super fast time but i know for certain it wille be a PB ! 

So today i had a recovery day - a nice easy spin for 45 minutes and then on the way to work a 1600m swim.

my fitness fiend

no... i didnt get the title wrong - i do mean fiend. The first day done logging my meals and munchies on My fitness Pal has left me hungry a few times but better in the knowledge that im never going to see 12 stone - it was close. A nice little 5 mile tempo run and a 2k swim throughout the day have kept me busy and 30 minutes of 100rpm+ spinning tonight has earn me the right to eat ....... a yogurt, wow :)  well i know i could have more but if i can lose 4lb in a fortnight i know it will make race day a lot easier.

For some reason i always feel better when i have a new goal that requires data input and statistics.

stop eating biscuits!

I must stop eating crap. Over the last year i have worked so hard to get rid of around 6 stone and starting triathlon has made me take up biking and swimming which is good but - i ALWAYS feel hungry unless i have stuffed my face within the last 2 hours!

 Well its only 2 weeks until rutland mara now and i have actually put on weight - this is calling for serious action. A food log is how i managed to cut a lot of weight off so im going to resort to the tedium of that again. My Fitness Pal - my fecking nemesis, more like. I know i should be eating to fuel to train, not training so that i can eat but after a year of mostly restraint something had to give. I know my first mara is going to be hard and being in less than optimal shape and size isnt going to make in any easier.

People that have know me for longer than a year look in amazement (or maybe not) with the transformation i have made but the truth of it is that for all the training i do i should be doing better times than i am. Sure, last year even doing a mile run would have been ludicrous, and if some one said i would be doing an ironman in july i would have replied "whats an ironman" but it still isnt quite enough. I finished the half ironman in a little over 5 and half hours which i was pleased with in whole but a sucky swim split and less than swift transition times sit as sore points in the back of my mind. i know that the full iron distance is going to be an altogether different challenge - theres no winging it - i have got to train, got to sort out my diet and get the mental focus needed for a decent finishing time.

Done the distance - well the swim at least

Today I took the plunge in more ways than one. I decided to do the full Ironman distance swim, albeit in a pool which is normally slower for me anyway. 4050m of wetness in 1hour 41 now reassures me that i wont be dragged out lake come July 1st 2012. Even if i dont improve that much from now till then it should still give me a 3800m time of 1 hour 35. 

Now just to get some serious bike mileage clocked up.

after moaning about my leg before and even moreso after the great eastern run, the run may have been a blessing in diguise. My knee hurt so much i decided that i would skip my monday morning run and go to the pool instead, 3650m laters and a day after i cant even feel any pain, even less than before the run. So even though i havent got any long runs in up to now it looks like ill be able to get at least 2 in before rutland - happy days :)

4 Weeks left!

4 weeks to go until the rutland mara and finishing in a half decent time seems fairly unlikely, with the injuries i have had over the past month getting in long runs has been near impossible. But ... i paid for it so im gonna do it.

Today saw a sorry attempt at a half mara, even though it was probably a PB it wasnt alot faster than what i can do in a half iron distance race. The way i look at it is that i needed something to jolt me in to running over 6 miles again. This certainly gave me the jolt, after laying down for a while at home I tried to stand and failed miserably. My knee locked out and took a few minutes of gentle easing to actually get it to even move. i think im going to leave the distance training as i know i am aerobically sound for the 26 mile run and theres no need to temp fate and make my knee worse. Im sure people have done a mara on 7 mile runs before - if not theres always a first - after all its the way of the pirates :)   JFDI