Wed 29 June 2012 - Brick by Brick!

Nice little Brick session this evening ( for those who don't know, or care . . . a Brick session is a Bike followed by a Run - usually!)

Cycling
19.44 Miles - 01:37:39 (11.9 mph / HR 125bpm Z1 68% Max / Cadence 66rpm)
Easy bike ride with my Brother-in-law.

Running
2.00  Miles - 00:15:26 (7.43 per mile / HR 163bpm Z3 89% Max)
Run straight off the bike for a couple of miles.  Legs felt very good, probably because the bike was at a nice easy pace. Wish it could be like this all the time.

The bike ride with Nick (B-I-L) was good fun, and it was great to see his reaction when he took a mile or so on my Road bike, as he is used to his Trek Hybrid.  It was a revelation to him how much easier it is on a Road Bike.  He now wants my Bianchi - HE IS NOT GETTING IT!!

Probably just a swim tomorrow and possibly a short Turbo session tomorrow evening ahead of the Belfast Tri on Sunday.

Monday 27th June 2012 - Bike Handling like you have never seen!!

Swimming
1500M - 00:34:55
Steady swim in the 18M pool at the gym.  Felt very comfortale and still enjoying the new Lap counter toy.

Running
6.00 Miles - 8.23 per mile - 00:50:20
Steady run and felt very comfortable throughout and was able to pick up the pace on the hill for the last mile home.  Happy enough after being a lazy slob last week.

Check out this link for an amazing bit of bike handling - this guy is mad and does it all in a suit!!
http://vimeo.com/9970489

Enough Laziness - Back to Training - Belfast Triathlon 2011 Entry

Belfast Triathlon - Sunday 3rd July 2011
I have had enough of the laziness and doing nothing for a week.  I have entered the Belfast Triathlon, which will be interesting as the swim is in Belfast Lough.  Swimming from near the Dirty Duck Pub at Holywood, and then a nice flat bike and run through the scenic Belfast Harbour Estate!  At least it is Flat!!

https://sites.google.com/site/belfasttriathlon/

750M Swim - 22K Bike - 5K Run

Let's see how we get on!

Rory is THE MAN!! Nuff Said

What a result - probably the best Golf I have ever watched - except for my B-in-law driving over the drain on the 14th at Dunfanaghy!!!  C'mon Norn Iron!

Mon 20th June 2011

Swim 750M - 00:17:20 - very slow recovery swim today to freshen up the legs after the exploits of the weekend and chance to use my new toy which I got for Fathers Day.  Seems to work really well and saves me having to use my brain to remember how many lenghts I have done.  Brilliant.

http://www.sportcount.com/products.php?category_id=1



North Down Coast Challenge - 100KM Cycle

North Down Coast Challenge Cycle today, 100KM around the Ards Peninsula. 04:11:00

The weather held well and the cycle went well.  A very civilised way to spend the early part of the day, with a bowl of Irish Stew at 34 miles and cup of Tea in the Pub at 45 miles.  Fantastic.

Excellent company and a great day out - the legs held up for most of the rise despite feeling a little bit tired on the last 10 miles or so.



Glenarm Triathlon Sat 18 June 2011

Glenarm Triathlon
500m Sea Swim - 00:09:08
T1 - 00:03:10
25K Bike - 00:55:42
T2 - 00:00:21
5K Run - 00:17:40 (run leg seemed about 1k short - hence the fast time - for me!)
Total time - 01:25:57

A  great event set in a really scenic part of the Antrim Coast.

The swim went well, and I was pleased as this is my first experience of an open water swim.  It certainly lived up to all the things that people told me about open water swims - I got a couple of kicks to the head and was swum over quite a few times in the geneal confusion as everyone jockeys for place.  To be fair I probably gave as good as I got.  Trying to see the buoys for turning was a lot harder than I had expected and it is something I will need to work on.

Transition 1 went well and I was really pleased to be able to get the wetsuit off all by myself without falling over or looking like a total Gimp. (although some would say that the Tri suit underneath made me look like a Gimp anyway!!)

The bike leg was an out and back affair with a striaght climb of about 4% for around 5 miles, but this was offset with a fantastic downhill back again - I tried like hell to hit 40 mph, but couldn't get past 39.5 mph despite pushing like crazy.  Guess I need to get a bit more aero to increase the speed.

Transition 2 was brilliant - in really quick and straight in to the running shoes then out again.

The Run was bizarre as for the first mile I literally could not feel my feet at all with the cold.  It was like running on wooden blocks.  They eventually warmed up and I was pleased with the pace of my run and even managed a bit of a push at the end. It was nice to have my Brother-in-law Nick run beside me in his work suit in the grass for about 100M as he encouraged me along and laughed at my Tri-Gimp attire!)  I clocked the run approx 1KM short of 5K, but I wasn't complaining about that.

Oveall a great day and looking forward to the North Down Coastal Challenge tomorrow (100K) on the bike and no running or swimming.

I've Just done something a bit mad!! Ironman Frankfurt July 2012.

Today has marked the start of a long time ambition.

I have entered Ironman Frankfurt on 8th July 2012.

For those that aren't sure what it is . . . some say it is the ultimate act of madness, others say it is the ultimate athletic challenge but I just think it looks like a lot of hard work and great fun along the way.

Swim 2.4 Miles - Cycle 112 Miles - Run 26.2 Miles - Total distance 140.6 miles in a cut off time of 15 hours.  Gulp!

A couple of friends are going to be doing it too, so we get to share the agony and hopefully the ecstasy.

I did a practice swim tonight at Glenarm ahead of the Triathlon tomorrow.  Pretty choppy water, and it has given me a real sense of what lies ahead.  So, the journey begins!

Lisburn Half Marathon 15 June 2011

Result

1:59:38 - 00:09:08 per mile - Avg HR 162 bpm 89% of Max - Zone 3
768th from 1301 Overall
357th from 546 in Male Open Category.

Certainly not my fastest time for a Half Marathon - but given a general lack of long distance runs, I am happy enough.  It was extremely hot during the race, but a well organised event as always.

Keara, Erin and Ben did the 3K fun run. Everyone did really well and Ben came home in 16 mins - pretty good going!  I'm glad I wasn't running with him at that pace!

http://www.niathletics.org/download/1/Results2011-LisburnHalf.xls

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Activities on Monday 13 June

Swimming
1500M (5X300M)  - 0:35:52
Fairly easy swim in the 18M pool at the gym
Running
6.09 Miles - 8.57 per mile - 1:01:59
Run with a few of the boys along the Esplenade and Coastal path at Holywood.  Very enjoyable and easy steady pace.

Decent bit of easy prep ahead of the Lisburn Half Marathon - last run before the event.
Hope the weather forecast doesn't emerge for the weekend as it is meant to be windy and raining - nice intro to open water swimming!!

Check out this link to an amazing bit of determination at the 2011 Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgpNzZCqWzk&feature=player_embedded

The opening of the Jelly Mould! Blog #1

The first of the Jellyman blogs.  Let's hope I can keep it up.

Sun 12 June 2012

Cycling: 35 Miles around Craigavon. Slow pace just to get the bum back in the saddle again - literally.  good prep for time spent in the saddle as North Down Costal Challenge is next Sunday.
Felt very comfortable, but need to step up the pace a bit for next week.

Busy week ahead with events - let's hope I can come through them plus a practice sea swim on Friday night.  This will be my first open water Tri and I am not 100% sure what to expect.

Wed 15 June 2012 - Lisburn Half Marathon
http://www.lisburnhalfmarathon.com/sponsors/
Saturday 18 June 2012 - Glenarm Triathlon
https://sites.google.com/site/glenarmtriathlon/
Sunday 19June 2012 - North Down Coastal Challenge
http://www.northdowncc.com/