No Knee(d) to panic. The scenery is wonderful.

Monday 27th January 2014

Swimming (2200M / 01:00:00)
Technique Session

I am one chuffed bunny.  Part of the session tonight was some effort driven sets at 100M.

To cut a long story short and get to the bragging point, on the last 100M of the night at the end of the whole session, I managed to knock out at 1.43 for 100M.

That is a pretty impressive improvement for me.  Back in October my flat out fresh 100M time trial time was 1.57.  So in the space of a few month I have knocked 14 secs. Off that time and it wasn’t even in full time trial mode.

Forgive me, but to go on about this just a little bit more, we also did 5 x 100M steady during the session.  I am delighted that my 100s came in on 2.00 / 1.59 / 1.58 / 1.58 / 1.58.  That is consistency.

Big Thanks to Oliver whose coaching is clearly paying off for me.

Tuesday 28th January 2014

Running ( 01:00:00 / 6.81 Miles /00:08:48 per mile / HRZ 2)

I ventured back out to test the knee on the run and I’m pleased with the way it held up.  I took things really easy and my average Heart Rate stayed below 80%.  This was more abut getting back to running again and seeing how the knee reacted.  It was positive on both counts and even post run I have had not adverse reaction.

Cycling ( 01:13:12 / 24.55 Miles / 20.10 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 93)

Turbo – Sufferfest – Hell Hath No Fury.

Once again I was in the territory of testing the knee out and seeing how it reacted to being back on the bike again.

I must admit that I could feel it throughout the entire session, not in a painful way but just so much that I knew it was still not 100% fixed but it didn’t really impair me in any way.  I probably didn’t commit 100% to this session as I was holding back a bit on some of the power sections of the video just in case I blew the knee up.

This was a slightly longer video than normal but the extra time was made up for by the fact that the whole video is based on Women’s Pro cycling races. The scenery was wonderful.

So, in terms of getting a couple of days training in across all three disciplines I’m pretty pleased that I have been able to get back at it again and I’m really hoping that the sore knee will fade away completely over the next couple of days.

Something new and the Week 11 IM Training round up.

Sunday 26th January 2014

Cycling (01:23:56 / 8.54 Miles / 6.10 MPH / HRZ 2)
Mountain Biking

Something a bit different today.  In fact it was a first for both me and Ben.
We went Mountain Biking.

I had always sworn that it was not for me as it looks a bit scary and tough.  The prospect of falling off seems incredibly high and the combination of mud, slippery rocks and trees makes it a daunting prospect.  Add that to the thought that for every minute of downhill thrill rush there was probably about 10 minutes of grind upwards.

However, Ben was keen and thanks to my generous neighbour who gave him an old Mountain Bike for free, we were able to hit the trails at Castlewellan Forest Park.  I had to hire a bike because despite the Bike shop-esque look to my garage, I don’t have a mountain bike hanging up among my collection of bikes.

The trails are really well designed and just like the Guy in the shop said, they started out gently and built up in terms of difficulty and therefore confidence building.  He was so right.  I definitely found that we were able to cope with more complex trails and obstacles as we progressed through the ride.

I was genuinely impressed with how Ben handled the bike.  He lacked a bit of stamina in his legs and found the uphill sections a challenge, but then again I’m not exactly a mountain goat myself and I was happy to take it at his pace and he walked a couple of the tougher sections. His stamina will definitely come along as he is pretty fit from Rugby anyway.

His bike handling was good and to the amazement of both of us, neither of us fell off.  I was delighted to see him tackling some of the jumps and rough sections well and obviously enjoying it.

I can really see how MTB would improve your bike handling skills and that in turn builds confidence.

We weren’t exactly cranking the pace, but as a first go it was more about education and fun to se if we really liked it, and I can say that we will definitely be back for more.  It was great craic.

Importantly for me, the sore knee that had put me out of action for a few days held up well enough under the test and I’m hopeful with a few more days of rest it will be strong enough to get back to full training again.

Week 11 Summary

7 Hrs 01 Mins

Swim 4050
Bike 49.20 Miles
Run 12.41 Miles

Another disappointing week.

Although I should caveat that with the fact that at least I managed to get 7 hours in, albeit I should have done about another 50% on top of that.

The main reason for the reduced volume this week is that I picked up a bit of a knee injury on Wednesday and it made me miss out on a few key sessions, notably my Tempo run and long ride.

It appears to be a fairly common cycling injury: http://www.thetritouch.co.uk/cyclists-spring-knee-pain-and-what-to-do-about-it and it is hopefully on the mend.  I will try to build in some muscle work to prevent it recurring.

The week ahead will be dependant upon the knee pain, but I’m hopeful of a good week of swimming and potentially a couple pf light runs – I might stay away from the tempo run until all pain is gone from the knee.  I’m hopeful of being able to get back on the bike fairly soon too.

Three for one.

Monday 20^th January 2014

Cycling (01:04:56 / 15.78 Miles / 14.60 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 74)

Commute to and from work

The usual Monday commute only this time without as much danger to life and limb through frosty conditions.  Sadly still plenty of risk to life and limb from completely incompetent and rude drivers.  No Change there then!

Swimming (2250 M / 00:57:34)

Technique session

Before I mention anything at all about this I will not say that we did a kick set!  Oliver was very clear that 300M of kick drills does not warrant being called a Kick set.  So anyway we didn’t do a kick set but instead did 300M of kick drills.

This was a bit of a ball buster session.  It was a good session as it worked on both increasing the endurance but also the intensity through some combinations of longer pull buoy drills and then short sharp full out sprint sets.

I was knackered at the end of it but felt good, especially as I managed to hold my own on the pull buoy and sprint drills.

Tired but satisfied is a good summation.

Tuesday 21^st January 2014

Running ( 01:30:02 /10.71 Miles / 00:08:24 per mile / HRZ 2)

Looking ahead to Saturday and Sunday I want to rearrange my weekend slightly compared to my usual training routine, so I decided to get my long run out of the way early this morning instead of Saturday morning.

It meant hitting the road for 90 minutes early on but I didn’t mind too much.

The first five miles felt like hard work and I was hoping things would ease off, and thankfully they did get a bit easier, and by the time I got round to mile seven to being my little loop for home I was actually feeling quite sprightly.

Finishing off with an average pace of 8.24 per mile is pretty pleasing and not too far off my Half Marathon PB time from a couple of weeks ago.

Cycling (01:00:03 / 24.88 Miles / 24.90 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 94)

Turbo – Sufferfest – The Hunted.

Time to try out a new video.  The Hunted!  It sounds pretty ominous and it did indeed turn out to be a bit different to the others in so much as thee were longer periods of riding at medium to high intensity without a lot of short accelerations etc.  This would explain the higher average pace and greater distance than we normally cover.  It was pretty enjoyable despite the scary title.

Running (00:13:01 / 1.70 Miles / 00:07:38 per mile / HRZ 2)

Brick – Run

A short run off the bike at Turbo just to get the legs used to turning over immediately off the bike.

I was very pleased at how easy this felt.  I do feel that I run faster of the bike than just on a straight run and this came through again tonight.

The only thing is that I have a bit of a sore knee and I’m hoping that a swim will help ease it a bit

 

Wednesday 22nd January 2014

 

Swimming (00:51:55 / 1800M)

Endurance Session

 

Bit of a shorter session tonight.

I'm pleased with the 5X200M set that we did - my splits for each were 4.10 / 4.12 / 4.14 / 4.09 / 4.11.

That may not be the fastest but at least it was consistent.

 

My knee still hurts a bit so I'm not sure what to do in terms of biking and running tomorrow.

 

Land of Giants, Game of Thrones and the Week 10 IM Training Round up.

Sunday 19^th January 2014

Cycling (01:40: 57 / 27.04 Miles / 16.10 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 80 RPM)

Originally I had planned a ride of about 3 Hours which I hoped would get me towards the 50 miles mark.

Sadly this didn’t emerge as we had been away for the weekend in a lovely Cottage on the North Coast, up beside the Giants Causeway.  It really was lovely.

It was also nice to have a coffee down at  Ballintoy harbour, which people may recognise as the Harbour where Theon Greyjoy returns home in Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones pic.

 

My pic from the other end.

 

This meant getting back on Sunday a bit later and also missing my longer run (90 Mins) on Saturday.

I’m a bit disappointed to have missed the run, but I feel that my running is in a decent place at the moment and that missing one longer run at this stage is no big deal.

As time wasn’t totally on my side I decided to cut the ride a bit shorter and was joined by my Lunchtime running Buddy Brendan.  It was his first ride out for a while so we chose a relatively flat route with just a short climb at the end to stretch the legs on.

He was worried about being rusty but he needn’t have worried.  He rode well and I am sure in a few weeks will be dropping me!

I had tagged on some miles before I met up with him and on the whole I’m happy that we managed an average speed over 16 MPH and that slightly counters my disappointment at being out for about half the time I wanted.

I plan to make up for it this weekend.

 

Week 10 Summary

8 Hrs 41 Mins

Swim: 4550 M
Bike: 75.13 Miles
Run: 14.70 Miles

So much for having a full work of training exactly in line with my plan.
I suppose it is still a decent week and the quality of the sessions was mostly very good, but I am a bit disappointed that I missed a 90 minute run and my long bike ride was closer to two hours than the planned three hours.

I am pleased though that I got my hill session in on the bike and it was successful, I’m also pleased at the quality of the run sessions.

I know I’m saying it again but hopefully this week . . . . . . .

 

Hills and kick. A record for success.

Wednesday 15th January 2014

Cycling (00:53:19 / 11.87 Miles / 13.40 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 75)

Hill Repeats – Pond Park Road - 412 M Elevation Gain

Finally got my Mojo back in shape and I ‘Hit them thar hills!’

It wasn’t easy, but then again I’m no Mountain Goat so it is always going to be a bit of a challenge, especially as I was coming off a tight Turbo session and Brick run the night before.

To my surprise the four sets of climbs actually went relatively well.

Each split for the climb was 8.42 / 8.37 / 8.47 / 9.07.

The last one was a bit slower due to some heavy rain and running water on the Road and traffic – so I’m pretty sure I would have ordinarily brought It in about the same time as the previous repeat.

I tried to have a focus in the approach to the hills this time and it was to stay relaxed in the shoulders, hands loose on the bars and relax and spin easily on the tighter sections.

For the most part it worked pretty well.

It was a decent effort and I know that this will be key to my future strength and climbing ability.

Swimming (2200M / 00:57:51)
Endurance Session

Back to the pool with the Club for the endurance session.

The Set tonight was:

400M Warm Up

10 X 50m Kick

5 X 100 Steady

4 X 200 – taken at average of 100s pace (plus a little bit extra)

Almost to mock me Arran seemed to take joy in announcing the 500M kick set.

It was pretty tough going and once again I was pretty much the slowest kicker there – but I managed to plough my way through it.

The rest of the set wasn’t too bad and I was roughly in the right place in terms of even(ish) splits on the repeats.

Two Runs in the day. OK, so one was prety short!

Tuesday 14th January 2014

Running (00:42:46 / 5.64 Miles / 00:07:35 per mile / HRZ 3)
Tempo Run

Another lunchtime tempo run with Brendan and this time joined by Ian as well.  Just what I needed was another speedy guy to push me along!
The pace felt pretty lively right from the start and I managed to hang in with them although I sensed that they could easily have knocked the pace up a notch and left me at any time.
With about two miles to go, I felt like dropping off and slowing a touch but I reckoned that the purpose of a tempo run is to run when I'm feeling uncomfortable and pressed - and I certainly was feeling both of those.
With one mile to go, I told them both to run on ahead.  I wasn't slowing down but I knew that they wanted to press on.
I managed to hold my pace steady for the last mile and finished only about 45 seconds behind them.

Brick Session
Cycling (01:02:13 / 20.56 Miles / 19.80 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 92 rpm)
Turbo - Sufferfest Angels

Running (00:15:07 / 1.91 Miles / 00:07:54 per mile / HRZ 2)
Brick Run

The Turbo session was a really sweaty affair.  The room seemed to be roasting and I was sweating absolutely buckets.
It was a good session and I felt like I was pushing pretty hard.

The run straight off the bike with Mark was great.  I always feel like I run off the bike well and comparatively faster. Given that this was my first brick run since the season ended I wasn't sure how it would go.  Thankfully it went very well and I felt loose and pretty fast, despite having knocked out a fast tempo run earlier in the day.

A frosty start.

Monday 13th January 2014

Cycling (15.66 Miles / 01:10:27 / 13.60 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 73)

Do you ever make a decision and then regret it about 5 minutes later?  That was me today.

I decided to ignore the frosty conditions on the roads today and carry on with my planned cycle in to work.

Alarm bells should have been ringing for me when I had to wheel my bike down to the end of our road before getting on as it was so slippy that there was no way I could have ridden it down the road.  Things didn’t get a lot better once I was on to the main road as the inside part of the lane was still frosty and I was forced to ride out in the lane a bit more than normal.

It’s funny how at these times you start to think things like, “what would happen if I just slid off and there was a car behind me?” – and other such cheery thoughts.

Thankfully I managed to make it to work unscathed and un-fallen but it was a very slow ride, mostly due to the conditions but also due to the fact that the traffic also seemed to be going really slowly and I had no way through it.

The ride back home again was much better and thankfully I didn’t really encounter any frost on the way back home.

In future I will have to give a lot more consideration to the safety side of winter road conditions, as one little fall could put my whole Ironman training in jeopardy – but on the same hand I can’t wrap myself in cotton wool.  Bad conditions often mean good training and character building.

 

Swimming (2150 M / 00:59:11)

Technique Session

Legs!  It’s all about the legs.

At least that what I was feeling like about twenty minutes in to the session this evening.

The usual warm up was followed by a session that was, for me anyway, really tough.  We focussed on kick drills at increasing intensity and this really exposed my weakness.  I have a very weak kick.

My full out effort at kick is about the same as some of the other guys easy efforts and it completely knackers me.  It makes me wonder should I start to build in a bit of leg strength work such as weights to try and build up a bit more?  It might help my cycling also.

Thankfully we moved off the kick drills and on to stroke drills with the Pull Buoy.  I love these, and it’s quite nice to see that my stroke is relatively strong as I can catch some of the quicker guys when we are just using our arms.  It’s clear to me that the continued focus on stroke combined with increased leg strength and efficiency is the way forward.

 

Has anyone seen our Mountain? And the Week 9 IM Training Round up.

Friday 10th January 2014

Running ( 5.00 Miles / 00:37:21 / 00:07:28 per mile / HRZ 3)
Tempo Run
Lunchtime tempo run.  First few miles with Brendan and then he dropped off to save his legs for Parkrun the next day (which worked as he PBd - well done mate) I then ran on and added another couple of miles to the run.
Not the best of tempo runs for me, although on paper it looks OK and pace is decent, it felt harder than it should have been.  Then again it was my first Tempo run for a couple of weeks so I'm sure I'll get back in to the swing of it.

Saturday 11th January 2014

Running ( 9.00 Miles / 01:18:30 / 00:08:42 per mile / HRZ 2)

I'll be honest.  This wasn't my finest run.  In fact it was out of kilter with the way my running has been going of late.
I've been really confident and comfortable with my running over the last month or two and I seem to me improving every week.  This run was a wee bit of a reality bite and reminded me that sometimes you've just got to run ugly and grind it out.
I have no idea why I felt sluggish and heavy legged.  perhaps it was the 5 mile tempo run the day before or just tiredness but it doesn't really matter.
I a being positive and taking the view that even though it felt crap, I still managed an average pace of
 per mile.  Faster than I used to be.

Sunday 12th January 2014

Cycling ( 35.89 Miles / 02:23:23 / 15.00 MPH / Cadence 79 / HRZ 2)

Has anyone seen our Mountain?
That should have been our call today.
The plan today was to ride with Michael, Mark and James out to Slieve Croob and ride the climb up to the top.
I say that was the plan and not reality because we couldn't find the bloody Mountain!

I was in lofty company with the Guys today as I am not in the same class as them in all aspect of Triathlon.  I was a bit anxious about being destroyed  on the bike and dropped at every occasion, so learning from last week I decided to break out the Carbon framed Specialized bike rather than the rather hefty Flanders Cyclocross bike.
It's fair to say that the ride out to Dromara was pretty challenging. Straight in to a headwind, mizzly rain and a fairly unrelenting upward profile with the odd dip thrown in.
I did my best to hold on to the Boys and I know that they were going easier than they normally would and I more or less hung on ( well, within 100Yards) for most of the ride out.  Except for dropping the chain and having to stop to fix it and the lads having to wait half a mile up the road for me.

Once in to Dromara, neither Michael or Mark could remember the right road to Slieve Croob, and the foggy rain meant that we couldn't actually see the Mountain, so we wound up taking an alternative hill (pretty steep) just because it looked like a decent hill.

Here's what it should look like!

The ride back home again was such a total contrast.  Downward profile with the wind behind we absolutely cranked it back again at literally half the time it took to get out.
So much so in fact that Mark decided we should add in a few more hills on way back to extend the time and the effort of the ride.
As much as I didn't want any more climbing, I thought I really should as this is the part that will build my strength and help my big weakness which is HILLS!

So at the request of Mr V we headed up the Pond Park Road just because we should.  It actually felt OK.  Not brilliant but OK.

I really enjoyed the ride and especially going out with Guys who are so much better than me can only be a good thing - so long as I don't act like an anchor on them.

Week 9 Summary
7Hrs 58 Mins Swim: 4550M
Bike: 51.44 Miles
Run: 19.00 Miles

Hopefully this week will mark the last of my interrupted and disjointed training weeks for some time.  I just feel that with Christmas and New Year and then travelling with work last week that I have let the volume of training drop a bit.
I also have to be critical of myself in so much that I slacked off a couple of sessions such as the Bike Hills session and a Turbo session.
I need to wise up and get the motivation back in shape again.
On a positive note, I think that each of the sessions this week have been of decent quality, so that at least compensates to a small degree.

A lazy start to the day and a Titanic run.

Thursday 9th January 2014

Running ( 5.00 miles / 00:40:45 / 00:08:09 per mile /HRZ2)

Steady run at lunchtime around the Titanic and Odyssey areas in Belfast.
It really is lovely round there and it was a nice new route to explore and very handy for a short lunchtime trot.

Happy with the average pace and it felt comfortable enough throughout.

I do have to confess again that I once again bailed out of my early morning hill session on the bike this morning. The 5:50 am alarm call was just too much and I couldn't do it.
I really have to sort this out.

My stroke feels a bit ragged.

Wednesday 8th January 2014

Cycling (15.55 Miles / 00:59:39 / 15.20 MPH / Cadence 77)

The weather actually held up to be fairly decent today for my commute to and from work.
I managed to get in to a wee bit of a race on the ride home with another cyclist in front of me and one behind me.  The guy in front was too quick and he dropped me after about 4 miles but I managed to hold the other fella off.

Swimming (2100M / 00:59:46)
Endurance Session

My legs felt a bit tired going in to this session after the ride home and quick turnaround before heading out again.
Arran was taking the session and it was challenging but not an absolute killer.  Plenty of leg work and some strength building sets.
I'm not sure that I'm getting any quicker and if anything I felt like my stroke was a bit more ragged than it was on Monday.  It's maybe only to be expected as I get back in to the swimming again.

Arms of lead. That was a really hard welcome back to swim training.

Monday 6th January 2014

Swimming (2450M / 00:59:02)
Technique Session

The first session back after the Christmas break and I knew this was going to be a tough one, and true to form it was pretty hard going.
Apart from being the longest swim set I've done in quite a while it was also mixed up with quite a few hard effort sets.

I think it was a combination of the tougher set and the loss of swim fitness over the last couple of weeks but my arms felt like lead at the end of the night.

Hopefully my fitness will come back fairly quickly or it's going to be painful couple of months ahead!

Wet Windy and Hilly - brought to you by Mark Vaudrey Plumbing and Heating.

Sunday 5th January 20014

Cycling (45.15 Miles / 02:56:20 / 15.40 MPH / HRZ 2 Cadence 78) Elevation 763M

First off it's worth saying that this update is brought to you courtesy of Mark Vaudrey Plumbing and Heating.  All will become apparent.

Myself, Mark and Keith had planned to head out for a steady 50 mile ride today and we agreed that we would go irrespective of what the weather threw at us.
Blooming heck the weather threw it all at us this morning.

Mark was on his trusty Planet X Time Trial bike, even through the winter and Keith was on his lovely new customer built Kuota whilst I was on the heavy old Flanders Cyclocross bike that I am using through the winter.  That decision would come back to haunt me.

It started out reasonably well in terms of weather but it really was just a short reprieve.  Within 15 minutes of setting out we were already well in to the rain and wind.
At the first hill, which isn't really all that bad, on the way in to Hillsborough I was immediately dropped by the two boys.  This is partly due to me not being the best climber in the world but also the fact that my bike felt like an old style Raleigh Grifter bike.  This would become a theme during the ride.

The route (which I picked) was turning out to be a bit more undulating than I had anticipated and it did feel a wee bit tough at times.

Literally every time we got to any sort of slope I was immediately dropped and had to spend the next mile trying to catch the boys.

As we were riding along Mark pipes up and says - " The only reason I'm riding with you is so that I can get a plug for the new business on the blog!"  (it was said with a cheeky grin)
So thanks to Mark Vaudrey Plumbing and Heating PLC we pressed on through the worsening weather to Carryduff where we stopped at a Garage so that coffee could be taken on-board to generate a bit of heat.

Mark in action today!!

At this stage I noticed that my mudguard had fallen off.  I was lucky it just did this at the garage and not when I was riding as it might have stuck though the spokes and created an ugly problem.
I had to take the gloves off and try to undo the stays and stick them in my pocket.
My hands were frozen and I managed to get one off but I had to get Mark ( CEO and Executive Chairman of Vaudrey Global Plumbing and Heating Corporation - offices in London, Tokyo, Paris and Castlereagh,) to get the other one off.

Now the question was what to do with a 2ft long mudguard that needed brought home. I had to stick it down the back of my jersey.  For an idea of how it looked, think Samurai Warrior with sword strapped to is back.  Now add the vision of soaking wet, red faced, snotty nosed middle aged man to the picture and you've a great idea of how it looked.

After the garage I managed to carry on the unbeaten run of getting dropped on the next hill and also had the "pleasure" of watching Keith almost get blown off his bike due to the gusting wind.
In hindsight it wasn't the best day for his deep section carbon wheels!

For the next few miles I could barely operate my gears and brakes as my hands were completely frozen.  They did eventually warm up but just in time for arriving home.

We made it back unscathed by the conditions, just a bit cold and wet and a hot cup of coffee and a biscuit (or about 10 biscuits if you're the Galactic President of Vaudrey Interstellar Plumbing and Heating Contractors) saw us feel a bit more human again.

Thankfully I got sensation back in my extremities after about 15 minutes in the shower.

In terms of performance I am nowhere near what mark and Keith can push out on a bike but I am pleased that I held it together and worked hard on the "Iron Horse" Flanders bike and hopefully pushing the big beast around will held build strength and I'll appreciate it when I can get the fancy bikes out again in the better weather.  760M of elevation was pretty good today.

Once again big thanks to Keith and el Presidente Mark for the company and it says a lot that despite the truly miserable conditions we had great craic and enjoyed the ride.

Blah swim but a best ever time over a half marathon route.

Thursday 2nd January 2004

Swimming (1150M / 00:20:57) 18M Pool at Gym

A pathetic effort at a swim.  I wasn't really committed to this lunchtime swim and it showed.
The pace was actually OK but I just didn't want to be in the pool, so instead of doing the planned 2000M I just got out early.

I'm feeling a bit guilty about it but I am just putting this down to the Christmas malaise and I'll be back to full training on Monday again.

Saturday 4th January 20014

Running (13.1 Miles / 01:49:20 / 00:08:21/ HRZ 3)
Half Marathon Time Trial

As part of my training plan I will be doing the Lisburn Half Marathon route and treating it as a Time Trial every four weeks to gauge my progress and also push myself on a bit over a medium distance.
The aim of this is to improve my endurance and speed whilst still keeping it relatively specific to Half and Full Ironman.

My 10 mile run on Monday was encouraging and I was hopeful of being able to hold a steady pace and get close to my PB for Half marathon which was set in September at the Belfast Half Marathon, which is as flat as a pancake.

My goal was to maintain the pace and try to hold on but stay comfortable throughout.

I won't lie.  I didn't find the whole run easy and at times I felt myself digging a bit deeper than I had expected to but the end result was absolutely fantastic.
My previous best at Lisburn was 01:50:50 which I did just before Ironman Frankfurt when I was in absolute peak shape.
For me to go out today, in not ideal conditions and knock out an overall PB by a minute and knock 1 Min and 30 secs off my previous best time, is really pleasing.
I'm genuinely surprised by my progression and I am now starting to get worried about maintaining it and I really hope that it's not a flash in the pan!

The next run in four weeks time will have a goal of knocking a further minute off this time.  That will require me to go 4 seconds per mile faster.  That sounds easy doesn't it? 

Happy New Year - on the 'Trubo'.

Wednesday 1st January 2014

Cycling (01:00:00 / 20.21 Miles / 20.21 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 89)
Turbo - Sufferfest Angels

So 2014 begins in pretty much the same way as 2013.  Horrible weather with heavy wind and rain saw me turn to the trusty Turbo or 'Trubo' rather than face another battering by the elements.

I do quite like the Angels Sufferfest video and this one was a particularly sweaty session.

It's a good start to a big year ahead and once this week is over I will be able to get back in to the usual structure and routine.  This week and last week were always about getting some training in over the Christmas and New Year break.