Daz Does Tri

After running with DC on Wednesday evening, I had an easy run with Ian D on Thursday morning.  Really struggled over the trails and calf was not the happiest.  Managed just over 7 miles at 7.31 pace so not a terrible run but bad enough for me to feel guilty at dragging Ian all the way across from Ely! Friday woke up feeling really tired so decided to do an easy hour on the bike.  Aim to just spin the legs and not tackle too many climbs and just keep the legs spinning.  Nice route Through Elsworth, back towards A14, Knapworth then Bourn and towards Gransdens before turning back through Caxton and home.  17 miles @ 16.89 mph feeling pretty easy - expecting that to be my go-to pace for now. Saturday was rest day.  Had last weekend off with the party and recovery from that so not been a big patch of work but upped my running volume.  Took the boys to the Judo at Excel for the Olympics.  I did Judo as a kid and was amazing watching a live Olympic event.  Really enjoyed it but it's a

Todays easy run with DC turned into a progressive tempo for DP !! Had the day off work as Ange had her medical and bummed around all day.  Ready for the run at 6pm - DC was coming here on his way home.  Also have Ian D coming to mine tomorrow so a double home run for me ! Pretty much looked at bike porn all day.  Cannondale Slice tri-bike is favourite with a Di2 gearset so far but a Cervello P3 framset with Ultegra looks nice.  I have fuck all idea what all that means, I just look at whatever bike is - a) Jazziest looking b) got funky sheels, and c) been reduced most Kind of like the wine menu in a restaurant where you ignore all the words and look at the price !!  Light + aero = free speed and I will be needing plenty of that !! Also read some ironman blogs and reviews of Switzerland.  I am in for a good ride by the looks of things.  I need to be 5 hours something on that ride so 18.5 mph and above on the bike which is what I am riding for an hour and 10 right now. Am

Picked my bike up from Massif Cycles today after getting it serviced.  £45 for a good clean up and sorting my grinding gears out - cheap at half the price!  Decided to do a ride as test run went well yesterday and I didn't want to jinx anything.  Also doing a steady 7 with DC tomorrow night. Gave Wenny a shout and hit the usual 21 mile route for some hilly work.  Started easy enough, just trying to keep cadence high and after a slow couple of miles started to work through the gears. Came down the big hill at 32 mph and into Hilton at 22 on the good road.  Nice to feel pretty good just getting the ride done.  Struggled as usual from Fenstanton to old A428 - that's a tough 5 or 6 miles for me and speed drops to 1/17 mph on that part and the long slow hills take most out of me. Into Bourn really quick and slightly slower than normal on the bumpy road to Caxton.  Serious wind in face from Caxton to Cambourne and only done that in around 21 mph when 23 is a good one.  Tired co

As the blog title and the post title suggest - I have entered an Ironman - Zurich on 28th July 2013. Andy, Bob and myself are all in but there's doubt on Mark who may have to work that weekend. So having never done a triathlon of any kind I am going straight in at the deep end :) Training wise it's giving me a real perk up about things - new challenges and all that.  I guess it doesn't change things massively as London 2013 is still my big aim on the horizon.  Most of my training will remain run based and trying to be as strong as possible on two feet. I'll do some swimming once a week up until taper time, just working on technique and distance in the pool but I had planned to do some x-training anyhow. I really want to be strong on the swim and nail that 2.4 in about an hour or so to get on the bike as quick as possible. My bike is weak which I know but I have lots of people to ride with and especially Ian T who is really strong.  My aims for that right now

Did my first swim for a LONG time on Wednesday.  Headed to Parkside pool in Cambridge where the boys have their lessons and knocked out an easy mile.  No warm ups / down / pool buoys etc... just in -> swim -> out ! Took a while to get into it and get my head around it but after half way found it went pretty quick.  Was loads of traffic though and was forever overtaking girls doing breast stroke.  I thought in the medium lane I would be far too slow but there was only one guy overtaking me and he was doing 3/4 lengths and having a rest. Haven't swam since November 29th which is far too long and need to keep my eye in the pool.  Worked out maybe 35 mins of swimming which is OK considering it was more like a fartlek with all the overtaking, slowing down and farting about.  Much prefer it at Manor of Groves where I can just go up and down for 81 lengths with the pool to myself! Out for Anges birthday yesterday on my 'rest' day which involved lots and lots of walking

Decided to join the boys at the track tonight, only to do a 5 mile plod but always good to catch up with the lads.  New young kid Fraiser and Alex have joined the group since I've been on a tartan sabbatical and look like good talents.  Will be good to train with them soon (hopefully).  DC was there and first time I've seen Ed in yonks so nice to catch up.  He's in same boat as me - comeback kid and hopefully we'll be back on the 3 x 3k route soon enough. The boys knocked out easy 600's in about 1.50's which is flying right now and I set off for a plod around St Ives.  Started with a 7.01 mile (wow) and calf was a bit grumbly.  Stopped to stretch just before 2 miles (7.24) and then came back in 7.40's for around 37.30 for about 5 miles. Not bad, HR too high (getting to 162 bpm on the inclines) but to be expected off only cycling and good to be able to work at Marathon HR easy enough. Good stretch afterwards, ice and rolling when I got home and a warm b

As I sat on the sofa this afternoon with my left calf wrapped up in frozen sweetcorn and a towel, I eyed up the foam roller that would agonisingly flatten out my torn calf muscle in 10 mins thinking 'why do I do this to myself' ??? I am an ex-runner, I could have been a contender blah blah.  But now I am a fat 35 minute 10k club runner dreaming of one last shot.  I wouldn't mind if like Stuart Stokes I was going to the Olympics and running 29 min 10ks - I used to beat him ;-) I train lunchtimes at work, book family holidays around racing and training plans.  I miss kids parties and days out are shortened just to get a run in.  All for what ?? Today's run was a hilly 8 miles around Bourn.  The route was flooded and overgrown but I plodded out a half decent pace for this stage of fitness up until 5 miles when the calf started to pull tight.  I nursed myself home where I flaked out on the sofa (after taking a post exercise concoction of protein pills) and had the  th

After doing the same hilly route since last Saturday, finally nailed a ride on Thursday after a total rest day on Wednesday.  Did the  Cambourne -> Elsworth -> Hilton -> Fenstanton -> Connington -> Knapworth -> Bourn -> Caxton -> Home loop in 69.39 for 18.3 mph.  Really pleased with that one and starting to see progress.  No puncture either ! Friday was run day.  Met up with Stevie B and plodded around Somersham trails nice and easy starting at about 9/mm and finishing up with 7.30/mm which felt pretty comfy.  Was all off road and really over grown and slippery for most of the route.  6.7 miles in 55 mins bang on and calf feeling tight but not too bad. Good deep tissue massage from Stevie, really painful on hammys and IT band and quads from the biking.  Also glutes really tight giving me a sore back.  Felt great afterwards but bit sore Saturday morning when I woke up. Saturday decided to get a bike in first thing while I could.  Decided against taking the

Yesterday decided to do the same ride route I did with Ian  on Saturday. It a nice route from Cambourne -> Elsworth -> Hilton -> Fenstanton -> Connington -> Knapworth -> Bourn -> Caxton -> Home. Felt much better and didn't struggle as much on the hills.  Got a puncture somewhere around Fenstanton and spent about 10 mins changing the back. Ended up with 21.3 miles in 72 mins @ 17.5 mph on the Garmin. Felt good and enjoyed it and happy that I managed to fix my first puncture on the go! Ate well again yesterday, lots of fruit & a healthy dinner.  Drinking more water nowadays too which can only be good and laying off chocolate, fizz & crisps.  Also not too much tea / coffee - about half of the usual. Today I had a day off work.  No-one around so pointless going in and wanted to get an early ride in back on the same route.  Set off thinking it would be a struggle to ride on tired legs but went really well. Was averaging 18.5 mph at Fenstanton

First up the eating has been pretty good this weekend.  Saturday was cheat night but wasn't too bad.  Have got the supplements working and am starting to feel really good on them. Saturday - Breakfast - porridge Lunch - Poached eggs on toast with ham Dinner - Chicken steak sandwich with cheese, lettuce, tomato & cucumber Snacks - 2 cans of guniness, 1 small sweets, 1 marmite crisps Sunday - Breakfast - 2 egg plain omelette Lunch - tomato soup with extra veg thrown in Dinner - home made lasagne Snacks - sweets & popcorn at cinema Now that for me is probably the healthiest weekends food ever!  Weight is not dropping off me just yet but I am not putting the hours in. Saturday training was 75 minute hilly ride with Ian T.  22 miles @ 17.5mph.  It was raining and very wet.  Ian did an easy pre-race ride on his commuter bike and I still slowed him down.  I was completely shot by 18 miles.  Quads gave out but I have a nice route and something to work on.  I will tr

Got out for half hour run this morning in the rain.  Felt really good and leg was tight but didn't pull at all so happy days looks like it's recovering nicely.  Also noticeable that I wasn't hanging out of my backside and I think the diet is helping with that.  Didn't wear the Garmin but was certainly sub 8/mm and at this stage I'll take that ! Really positive after that, just what I needed.  Am going to do another 15-20 mins on the TT tonight and some resistance band work to top the day off. Out on the bike with Ian T tomorrow, he's doing an easy one and it'll be good for me to stay off the run but do a good hour cardio.  I'll have a go at a slightly longer run Sunday and hopefully can start tentatively back on Monday then.  At some stage I'm going to have to run on roads and not trails. Suppliments turned up today. My pal Dan has got a programme for me to help with recovery, that's been the limiting factor and if I can pace up on steady r

30 mins on the Turbo Trainer yesterday and the calf felt great afterwards.  Did the same again tonight.  It's been a while but I really tried to keep the cadence high.  It's a tough racket on the TT as it's so hard to get yourself up to hurt yourself.  The legs give out way before the lungs even though I am not fit.  The only thing that keeps you going is making the puddle on the floor as deep as possible so you know you've done something! The diet and early nights have been brilliant.  I am starting to feel good and none of the usual aches and pains.  I've also been doing some resistance band work which all helps. Big thanks to Septic Dan for pointing me in the right direction with the food.  I'm dropping weight and feeling better.  I actually feel like when I start running again things will be OK (ish!) Group is really smashing it at the minute.  Dan & Lee are putting out 39 min tempo runs at 6am and Ian & DC have just smashed out 16.25 & 16.

Out for a half hour jog tonight, only managed about 20-25 mins as calf tightened up half way, but got something in at least.  Started the run with no tightness at all, started to dream about running quick again.  But with the tightness and pulling I end up into more of a one-legged hobble. Glad to be doing something again, just cannot wait to get running relaxed again. Diet is going well.  Just a packet of crisps and a percy pig is all the junk I have eaten today - trust me that's amazing for me!! Interesting to see the Olympic selection and the usual strange decisions.  Women's 800 was a real shocker but I am guessing they knew that when they announced it.  Can see a Lee Merrien style backstep and another 1 or 2 getting selected in that.  Also great to see Stuart Stokes get selected after Beijing, absolute quality shout. Interesting at work at the minute, several good projects coming into fruition and also the on-going saga against Google and SEO wars trying to compete

Had a medical today at Nuffield Hospital in Cambridge.  It was the works, bloods, body type, doctor and then exercise test. Was a really in depth analysis.  Body fat is a little high - 19.2% but after the last 5 weeks that's to be expected!  They left no stone un-turned and it seems that I am fairly healthy. The big issue was diet.  I had done an (honest) 4 day food diary and it highlighted several areas I need to look at - Eat more regularly.  Healthy mid morning and a mid afternoon snacks will stop cravings for crap food. Drink more water. Eat more lean meat. Eat better quality carbs. That's about it really, need to eat better food to fuel the engine. Not exactly rocket science and everything I should already be doing.  So we'll see how it goes. Exercise test was a brisk walk on a treddy at a steep incline to get the HR up to 155 bpm.  Worked ok, calf felt tight but didn't break! Decided to do another 15 mins tonight to test it out and went OK.  Hobb

After popping my calf last week, have rested up since then. Big beer up on Friday night but managed to stay well behaved!  Bit of a hangover Saturday but have just chilled out doing nothing much to rest it up. Have been in the garden with the kids messing about and feels fine to walk about but any time I put pressure on it it starts to feel like it's cramping up.  Have decided to have a go tomorrow night at a short jog on grass. Am also going to look at doing some Boxing training.  Want to do some one-to-one training with a personal instructor.  have looked into it, will be a good way to work on strengthening my core.  I'm not going to go to the gym or do circuits at home enough so this will be a fun way to build up some strength, would also be handy! Have been on eBay this week, the missus and I are known for buying all sorts of crap we don't need and then just throwing or giving it away.  So now we are going to sell anything we don't want / need to save up.