Daz Does Tri

Easy 10k run was followed by beers and curry yesterday. Good news that calf held up. Today met Ed & Dan for an easy 50 on the bike. Rode to Hilton to meet everyone. 7 miles for everyone and a nice 20 mph avge for me to warm up :) Set off to Gravely & Offards before hitting Paxton hill. The guys wanted a hilly ride and we certainly succeded!! Over the A1 to Hail Weston was really slow going with the track more suited to a mountain bike! Hit some really good roads through Kimbolton and up to Old Weston. Stopped at 30 for a quick break as Dan was feeling the pinch. Dan split to go back direct via Alconbury and Ed and I headed north to Great Gidding and Gladon. We really poured on the pace and hit some massive climbs at 20+ - really good fun.

Yup, this is a happy blog! After resting with some kind of manflu Sunday and Monday, on Tuesday I did a good turbo session - 50 mins with 10 & 5 mins tempo on the biggest gear. Nice effort session and happy with that. Wednesday I did a swim session in the afternoon but there was definately something in my lungs as I couldn't breath properly. Ended up panicking a bit struggling to breath and session was stressful and completely shit. Did a 30 min turbo session in the evening which was OK but still idn't feel healthy.

Back to back rest days, have been feeling rough since Saturday but that's probably down to my appalling diet! It's just a fact of life that I get down when I can't run and that makes me eat. Constantly :) Good news is that bike and swim fitness does not seem to go after a half day off like running so that is all going nicely. Drove down to Maidstone today for a work meeting and back home early. I will do an hour session on the TT tonight, bit windy outside and I fancy some kind of intervals to wake myself up a bit. Something like 4 x 5 mins in a hard gear. Mancave still not completely done but it's getting there. New wall & paint will go up this week then it's just ifnishing the ceiling and putting down a new floor. But by Friday it'll be where it needs to be for comfortable TT sessions. And there will be many this winter !! So Mojo is a little lost. Have decided to take the pressure off a comeback and target races in December which gives me time ...

Wow, nothing since Tuesday! Well, Wednesday I took as a rest day. The calf was feeling better but Tuesday's swim was very tired and laboured. Thursday got out for a good 40 on the bike. Got a bit lost and it was VERY windy out there but had a good ride overall. Started feeling a little jaded but got into it nicely and settled into a good pace. Absolutely smashed a few miles along the A10 - between 22 and 24 mph which was nice! Stole my Caxton-Cambourne KOM back with a very good 6.12 for 21.7 mph net uphill - NICE !! 18.8 mph feeling pretty good for 2 hours is good right now.

Firstly the sweet - swimming. A game changer in the pool Monday night. A pure technique session with Josh and after working on a better body position (arse higher, head lower) stroke count reduced dramatically. In fact I was averaging between 20 and 22 strokes per length for the 50's I was doing. We spent a long time analysing and tweeking it to get the position right and my kick finally 'kicked' in (pardon the pun). Speed wasn't great, between 51 and 55 per 50 with long recovery but the focus was on a long stroke and I finally nailled it.

The Good Saturdays ride was a game changer!  There are 4 things that helped - I changed my stem on my bike from 100mm to 60mm to lessen the stretching on my arms - not so noticable over 20 or so but on the 90 my back ached. I have a 90 mile ride in my legs which I essentially rested all week between rides. I am working on lower cadence and higher gears to get more power down, have been leg spinning at 95-100 rpm with no gains so far. Most importantly (I think) I raised my saddle an inch or so.

Legs were seriously tired today, general fatigue and sore legs makes me feel right slap bang in the middle of marathon mode! Adaptions in training come from rest and it's picking the best time to rest that counts and means your body will adapt and become stronger.