Daz Does Tri

After my recent moans and groans and despite the shite weather I have actually managed to string some decent training together. Paris marathon is rapidly approaching and despite not feeling particularly fast I am feeling fitter than I ever have with all the X training I have been doing. Run wise, a couple of 10-12 mile runs at sub 7's feeling easy and a couple of 8's at 6.30s feeling comfortable on top of the 24 I did a couple of weeks ago point to a 2.50ish run being in the right ball park. Don't think I've done enough tempo work to run a 2.45 BUT Paris was always supposed to be a stepping stone to Ironman.

So, after Saturdays nightmare ride it was suffer Sunday !! 24 miles with Stevie B and the monkey boy. Really dreading this having not done nearly enough long runs. But I swear by this in marathon prep and it's never let me down the last 3 marathons I've done. Well, they've all been shit but running like a twat and not distance was the problem! Set off nice and easy from Godmanchester. Blah blah long story very short. Easy opening miles, hold back pace, farmers field, shitty trainers, Kye fucks off with Lucozade, big hills, car drivers being twats, wind, torrential rain, avoid puddles, more hills, give up avoiding puddles, lots of mud, feel better, smash quads on downhill, big laugh at previous en-route shit stop, bad patch, big hill, co-op stop, cramp, couple of easy miles, torrential rain, hail stones, done. 3 hrs 4 mins for 7.39/mm avge. Not fast but route was not easy so over the moon with that considering the running I've done.

So, today was the Wiggle 'No-Excuses' epic sportive. 80 miles with a nice 30 commute there and back from Cambourne to make my first century ride. Or not, the excuse given was bad weather so only the standard 40 mile route would be on today! Up nice and early, rode to Mr T's house then blasted with a fierce follow wind to Huntingdon racecourse at 20 mph avge feeling pretty easy. Find out the route is down to 40, bollocks, wait for Ed and we're off!

Head's been down this week. After nailing a pretty good run/ride last week (18 mile run and 78 mile ride) I went and got absolutely shit faced watching Spurs beat Arsenal on Sunday :) Great game, but not used to drinking and excelled myself by having both a pre-match and post-match Kebab (sit down mixed before the game, walkabout dirty donna after the game). Nice! So Monday was hangover day and true to form felt god awful tired all day. Had the best intentions of swimming but meetings at work overran, swimming lessons with the kids, Ange out, kids to bed and only headed out for a very tired late run. Went OK considering, couldn't push myself bur 8 miles at about 6:50 pace. Tuesday woke up with a stinking sore throat. Really bad and had to go into work. Came home and monged on the sofa before going to bed at 7pm.

So, this week has been fairly standard up till now. Monday just a 45 min endurance swim for about 2.3km. Tuesday (am) 4 easy (pm) 8 steady @ 6:37 pace feeling heavy Wednesday Spinnervals DVD - always a tough workout Then today was long run - 18 miles at around 7:30 pace (although probably quicker). Long runs are a bit of a mind fuck at the minute so plan was no Garmin, no time, no iPod just head down and run. Started with a lap of the nature park (4 miles) easy enough. Then headed towards Broxbourne on the river. Loads of choices from here but headed to the 12 mile route turnaround which left me at 10 miles. Planned to do same again in reverse but a good wind really tired me out in the 6 miles back to Abbotts and deamons had set in already. Managed to jog up to the next lock heading towards Hertford and back along the relief channel for 18 miles total.

Wow, what a lesson in cycling today was. A 2 up TT with young Tom, really showed me how much work I have to put in on the bike and where. First up - I am pretty damn happy with how I rode. Tom is only 15 but far stronger than me on the bike so riding in a race with someone better than you is only going to make you feel a bit more shit than you actually are! And in fairness if it had been a 10k running race the boot would have been on the other foot (for now) :) Downhill and on the flat I held my own. Even on the second lap when my legs were on fire I could still pick up a turn at the front and keep it at a decent clip. What really highlighted the difference today was purely the hills (whats new) and bike handling. Uphill I loose far too much pace, quite simply I am weak. But, I am improving, that was clear on last weeks club ride and recently I've been pb-ing hills. I need to get out and do them - simple fact. In a 12 mile TT you can't be doing 12-13mph on hills you ...

Friday was my hard ride day this week, plan from now (how many times has this changed!) is a hard tempoish 40-50 mile ride and a longer ride each week. Anything extra is the bonus ball. So Friday I cracked out the usual 40 mile route at a promising 18.8 mph avge. Some brutal winds in there to be fair but I made most of the following wind pushing my fat ass along at 20 mph for the first 50 mins then struggled like a bitch for about 50 mins into a bastard wind before riding the last 10-12 mile like a boss (well, as much as a boss who rides just about 20mph on his own can). job done, 2 beers earned for the night and the first 'on plan' session for the week. Nice day for it, even managed to get a sweat on. Saturday was an easy run day. Aim 12 miles, result 7 miles on the trails. Properly fucked and glad to bag it. 35ish for the week. Up and down with the running, 9.30 pace one minute, 6.10 the next. Oh well, maybe a couple of longer runs and some tempo this week. May eve...