Daz Does Tri

Up early today to pick up the new bike. 5 hour round trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells via Maccy D's on the way back (I took Sawyer). Bless him he played on his DS the whole bloody way! Picked up the bike, did the dirty with the cash and got Jezobel home. Massive spec on the bike and got it for a song.  Really pleased as Im more into looks that performance tbh (Mr Vain haha). Here she is -   Rained when I got back so got a 7 mile trail run in.  Nice and comfy at 145bpm and 7.21/mm pace.  Still a little tired and hilly for me but getting slowly stronger week by week. Went out between a break in thunderstorms for a quick 10 mile spin on Jezzy.  Wow, the TT bikes are TWITCHY compared to road bikes.  Nearly fell off 3 times doing stuid things like forgetting the breaks are on the wings and trying to stand up when in the aero bars.  Also, you need really, REALLY subtle movements or you start swinging over the road. Good ride though, on the flat p...

After my long commute double ride Tuesday, Wednesday was a total rest day. Certainly for now I want to have a complete rest in there. Sunday was rough, Monday & Tuesday easy but very long (5 1/2 hours in 2 days) so it was nice to give the legs a break. Thursday decided last minute to work from home and test out a Strava structured interval session on the bike first thing. Idea from Ian T is to ride very easy between 4 Strava segments and hammer the segments. Total ride was 20.6 miles at 17.1 mph BUT the main segments were - 2.5 miles @ 24.3 mph 2.6 miles @ 21.4 mph 0.9 miles @ 16.6 mph (223 W)  2.2 miles @ 20.4 mph (224 W) Really good workout and an easy hour on the bike without too much to think about. Ian T said Strava was the best structured interval session on a bike and it really is. Recovered well during the day then off to St Ives in the evening for a 3 mile tempo run. After not much quality in the past week or so wanted to nail a day of fast riding...

Today's target was to ride into work and back and get a big bike day in the bag. The driving route into work is down 2 main fast, single carriage way national limit roads (B1198 and A10). Planned the route avoiding these roads as much as possible but the only realistic way for today was to go the main roads to Royston and then back roads to work, only avoiding the A10. Set off 8.30 and gently plodded out of Cambourne at 15 mph. Nightmare at 2 miles the Garmin decided it was full and wouldn't play ball so had to stop, delete everything (including what I had already done) then start again. Ride down to Royston via bassingbourne was OK, not too many cars on the road. It's a hilly route but I was taking it easy. Through Royston and then a mega tough segment through Barley to Barkway. Eased off through to Dassells & Broughing, down to Puckeridge and across the A10 to the old A10. Tough ride up to Thunderidge then a mega quick ride down through Ware pretty much all...

Yesterday th eplan was for 10 miles at 6.40ish pace - a 2 mile step up from the week before with Kye & DC.  Nothing out of hand, should be fine.  However, a mile into the run started to feel dog rough and struggle.  Managed to get to 4 miles on about target when the wheels started coming off.  At 5.5 left DC & Kye and myself trotted back to Fenstanton.  Must have been dehydrated slightly as I was very wobbly all afternoon.  Kye looked worse than me and DC didn't fare much better dropping to 9 miles.  Was very hot and I just chilled all day afterwards. Good week in the bank with a 45 mile bike, 2 mile tempo and 2k swim all ticked. Today was just a recovery day - 10k with Andy in a shade under a hour at lunch time.  Just what the legs needed.  Then a later 3 mile shake out.  Picked pace up towards end same as last week as I got carried away! 9.25 miles and 85 mins aerobic - good start to the week but feeling a little fatigu...

Great old saying my coach had was slowly-slowly-cachee-monkey.  As long as you are getting fitter, stronger and thus faster then everything is good in the hood. In real terms my A race is now the Ironman which is just under 50 weeks away so I have light years to improve and in any case I dont want to be hitting peak volume or load anytime soon.  But, I do have races and targets in between so I am not entirely lapse at the minute and I have PLENTY to work on! After Tuesdays tough ride I rested Wednesday as planned.  Took the family to a hotel just outside Oxofrd and and a couple of nice days just playing with the kids and spending time with the family.  Training was on the back burner and it was nice to zone out and relax. Saying that did get a good pool session in.  1.3k in total working on stroke count and trying to be longer inn the water.  Didn''t eat pretty well so that's the 4th discipline for me at the moment - fuck transitions haha !! ...

Decided to try and get a long ride in today.  Was tired but am resting tomorrow so thought may as well have a go! Route plan was - Cambourne -> Knapworth -> Fenstanton -> St Ives -> Houghton -> Huntingdon -> Godmanchester -> Offards -> St Neots -> Abbotsley -> Gransdens -> Longstowe -> Caxton -> Home Result was 43.32 miles in 2.25 @ 17.8 mph. First hour was great, clipping along at 20's nicely, once I got through Godmanchester and turned into the wind the going was really tough.  The hills into St Neots were the toughest I have ridden then Abbostsley to Gransdens just took the sting out of me.  Really struggled today and had my first doubts.  Been a tough week though and a welcome rest day tomorrow is long coming.  Will recover well and come back strong next week.

Sunday I set off for a steady 8.  Was feeling tired and not expecting much really, hoping for 7.15 pace to be fair. Felt good and was checking pace by the 2nd mile (6.40) and by half way I felt a little tired but was nice to finally run at a decent clip. Finished up the 8 miles in 53.39 for 6.42/mm which is great at this stage.  All about improving daily and that was certainly achieved! Monday was double recovery day - my core marathon training start to the week of a nice easy double.  First up was an easy 10k with Andy at work.  Worked out at 9.20ish pace as he is struggling since Zurich. Legs felt happy at the end of that which is what I need.  In the evening I got an easy 3 done over the trails, think I got excited as I was running a bit quick for a recovery but more than happy with that. First day of the week and 9.2 miles of easy base running in the bank and 17 for day-to-day which is perfect for what I am trying to achieve. Today I am in work but...