Training begins

January was the start of ``proper'' training, although I'm still not following a race specific training plan I'm trying to establish a good base. With that in mind I've been trying to get into a more regular training routine. In a perfect world, from a training perspective, I could plan knowing every session I write down will happen however other important priorities in my life mean that just isn't going to happen. Inevitably at least one session each week won't work out which means I don't plan in a rest day. One rest day involved my attempt to make a Battenburg birthday cake for Elisa. It tasted really good but I think I need to be more patient with my cake assembly.

Birthday Battenburg

My ideal training for the next few ``build'' weeks looks something like this:

Monday: Swim 400 m or 200 m repeats and an evening run. 

Tuesday: Turbo Intervals and weights. 

Wednesday: BADTri Swim - Speed work

Thursday: BADTri Run - Intervals 

Friday: Long continuous swim 33m pool. 

Saturday: Turbo/BADTri Bike (endurance)
Sunday: Run (endurance)

I think I need to add some flexibility work as I used to do Yoga weekly and I've noticed that my legs are a lot tighter than they have been the last couple of years. Either that or its old age! I think the interval run sessions I'm doing are also taking a lot out of my legs, and there is only so much the foam roller can do to fix that. One thing that does wonders for recovery is pizza!

Delicious home-made pizza!

As a swim benchmark I decided to do a 3 km steady swim. Unfortunately I can't count when I'm swimming so only managed to do 2.8 km. The plan was to go at a comfortably steady pace, to vaguely simulate an IronMan swim, i.e not being completely broken at the end of this. I finished it in 47:30, and felt I'd held a comfortable pace.
My 200s:

3:05, 3:17, 3:23, 3:38, 3:11, 3:24, 3:26, 3:30, 3:28, 3:27, 3:27, 3:27, 3:29, 3:15
these were fairly consistent despite the usual joys of public lane swimming. I'm pretty confident I could hold this pace for another km without too much trouble giving me about a 65 min 3.8 km swim. The last 200m @ 3:15, didn't seem like I was in the red. I'll try and do another benchmark in a few weeks and see if I can hold something a little quicker.  I'd like to think with 8 months to go I can get my average pace closer to 3:10 giving me a sub 60 swim.... Lets see what happens. 

  

  

the whale's vagina?

German Pancake - 300mm+  of sugary goodness

San Diego - discovered by the Germans in 1904 named after a whales vagina...Given the wet weather I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere...

Having had a brutal packed flight from London to Phoenix where my neighbour tried to share my seat with me I arrived in San Diego at the Lafayette hotel surprisingly awake. I was up at 6am the next day and seemed to have dodged the jet lag thanks to my NYE partying. I picked this hotel based on its `full sized' swimming pool, now either the Christmas diet has worked wonders or this pool was a touch short as my pace picked up significantly. I managed a 6 hours walk round San Diego, Balboa park has some awesome trails and I've been kicking myself that I didn't go for a proper run round them when I had the chance. On the Sunday I managed a trip up to La Jolla cove before the conference started on the Monday and my free time dissipated completely.

For the conference week I was sharing an Air B&B place nearer the venue. My hopes of some glorious Californian weather, weren't to be realised as some much needed El Nino rain was pouring in.  The conference was a success from a work perspective. However, being on expenses meant we were eating out for most meals, which although tasty certainly took its toll. I'd hoped to get a few runs in during the evening but in the end it just wasn't possible. I managed to get a 1 hour run in at the end of the week jogging round the waterfront, but the boozing/over eating/lack of vegetables really has taken its toll and I need to get back into the routine of regular runs soon.

For the last couple of days of my trip I've been at the 500 West Hotel San Diego. It was the old YMCA place, so I've had to refrain from bursting into song. I think its better days may have been behind it and although I've stayed in some pretty grim hostels over the years this one has been pretty terrible. Shabby rooms are pretty much a given, but they could at least keep the bathrooms half clean. Though the pissed up guests probably aren't doing them any favours.

Still, with the weather somewhat improved I've hired a bike to explore around the city. I managed a four hour bike although I think I was probably going in circles for the most part. I found it really hard to follow the bike routes mainly because the signage would just stop. But also because I wasn't really sure where I was going. Still random exploring works wonders. The bike I got was an aluminium Giant Defy 105 with disk brakes. Its the first time I've ridden disks on a road bike and I was a bit worried about the juddering sensation under breaking. I've been reliably informed that this is normal, but to be honest I didn't get any sense of improvement over my rim brakes on my bike at home. Anyway, hopefully a quick blast tomorrow morning before I spend the best part of a day trapped on a plane back to London. Bristol is getting snow this week? Not looking forward to the cold.... But hopefully time to get back into training.

West 500 - At least there is space for a bike!

An Xmas Pudding

Pre-Christmas Christmas Dinner with Elisa

With the students away the pool was so much quieter, bliss! This meant less interruptions and chance to do some slower drills, kicking (which I hate) and some paddle practice. I don’t like swimming with paddles when the pool is busy as lane etiquette is pretty terrible and I’m afraid I’ll smash someone in the face. Just ask my friend Sean Baxendale, I took him out doing fly in the team medley at a school gala and I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten.  Despite the emptiness of the pool there was the muppet who got into the lane with myself and another triathlete (I should probably find out who he is) to swim breaststroke in the wrong direction. Why you would choose to do this in a practically empty pool is a mystery to me. Being British I just passively grumbled to myself, but fortunately the other tri-guy kicked them out and we got on with our respective sets.

Anyway, I’ve noticed my pull set times are pretty consistent with my swim which should be a bit of a warning. I think my body position is probably a bit crap at the moment, I typically swim with a minimal effort six beat kick, but I may need to look into something different. I’d rather not just assume a wetsuit will solve all my problems. From Jan onwards I’ll attend some of the BADTri swim sessions on a Wednesday evening, that way I can get a coach to have a look at me and point me in the right direction. Either way, I need to work on my speed a bit, as I’d like to go sub 1 hour in the Ironman swim. This means I need to be hitting 3:00-3:10 for my 200s, I’ve definitely got the pace to do this, but at the moment my endurance simply isn’t up to it. 

Our last Thursday run session left me feeling pretty broken. With a week of work parties and “networking” which involves unavoidable amounts of alcohol I was definitely sweating ethanol. I’m not sure if it was my debauchered state, or that Robbie was trying to make up for a couple of weeks off, but the next day my legs were ruined. As I keep saying here, intervals at the track are really good sessions, and I really appreciate the work Robbie puts into organising them, as I think they’ve definitely helped my form and pacing. I’d like to think I can hit a sub 20 5K and 45 10K, and at a push maybe a sub 40 10K, at some point in the next year. Speed is great, but, I also need to start building up my long runs again to get my body used to being out there for 3+ hours (This may be wishful thinking and more like 4/5). I’m not running Manchester this year, as it cost me a month of training to properly recover, however I’m probably going to build the miles in a similar manner from now until April. 

So Christmas arrived with the opportunity to eat way more cake and chocolate than normal. I know a lot of serious triathletes are super strict with their nutrition and there are plenty of blogs talking about the dangers of overeating at Xmas but where is the fun in that. While I’m well aware of the logic behind this, I’m not competing at a level that necessitates such attention to detail all the time. I eat relatively healthily year round and I’m not going to make any drastic changes to my diet for Ironman, however I might need to keep a watchful eye on the amount I’m eating going into 2016. When I ran the Manchester marathon in 2014 my weight just before it was 88 kg, this is the least I’ve weighed in a very long time. I’m not built like an endurance athlete so getting a BMI close to 20 is never going to happen, I’ve been clinically obese in the past (based on my BMI), but I suspect I may have been a lot fitter than many skinnier people.  Before 2015’s marathon I was 92 kg but I’d been doing much more varied training, more biking, more swimming over the winter and I wasn’t logging the same volume of miles. I ran an overall faster time, although terrible second half, so I can’t see that the extra weight was a sign of lack of fitness.  I seemed to stay about 92 kg until the Cardiff half. However between October and now I’ve put on 5 kg, so I’m currently a touch over 97 kg which is a bit of a worry. I’ve upped my swim sessions and turbo training plus I’ve been doing weights much more regularly, this, together with the possibility of some Christmas podge, could explain the gain. The trouble is, if I am going to stand a chance of getting over the hills in Wimbleball and Tenby I need to get my weight down significantly and at the moment I’m going in the wrong direction. So, my plan, I’m going to start tracking my weight more regularly and see if I can find out what’s actually going on. If I do this with a log of my morning heart rate I’ll have a good idea of what my body is up to over the next year.