Cycle then run - wrecked!!

Last night I  headed out for a hard cycle, similar to what it will be like at next week's triathlon. Very hilly, about 12 miles. I pushed hard and was seeing bright flashing lights at one point! It was tough going.

With about 1 mile left to the finish, I took a real bad cramp in my troublesome right calf muscle. Ouch! Got home ok and then headed out for a run.

This is my first real run straight after a cycle - and boy was it weird. The legs just were like jelly and running was very difficult. I ran about a mile, as my calf was still giving me bother.

With one week to go, this has shown me that even though it is a short triathlon, it is still going to be very tough! Oh boy...

First open water swim

I headed out along with a very, very good triathlete this evening to Camlough Lake for my first ever proper open water swim! Peter has years of experience and is one of the top in the sport here in Ireland and I have to say that his calmness and encouragement were greatly appreciated.

I was quite nervous - not so much of the swimming part but more so of all the unknown. How much will I be able to see? How cold? How will the wetsuit feel? How will I cope with sighting and staying on course.

Peter took me around for my first lap (750m). It wasn't as cold as I expected, but cold enough to affect my breathing. Visibility is basically zero in the water - you can barely see your hand in front of you. It's just green. I really struggled the first lap and had to stop quite a few times. Breathing, currents, sighting, the cold, getting used to the wetsuit etc all took their toll.

I took a breather while Peter went on to do his second of three laps. Then I went in and did a whole lap myself without stopping once - well, I had a brief pause just to get lined up with the buoy marker again. I felt much more comfortable this time around - breathing and sighting improved a lot. I still am quite slow compared to most others but I'm happy to have got around - twice.

Thanks to Peter and Paul for their advice - it was greatly appreciated! Although, I wish they hadn't taken me around the bike course....I think I was better off not knowing how hilly it is!! :)

A very warm cycle

Headed out for a cycle today. Shona and the wee ones headed to my in-law's house while I cycled there, taking the long way around: Dromore-Lurgan-Waringstown-Banbridge. Wasn't going for speed - especially a day like this. Nearly had another 'junction incident' - but managed to get a foot unclicked just before falling below the point of no return!!

Some stats from cyclemeter:

Ride Time: 1:15:03
Distance: 18.60 miles
Fastest Speed: 25.55 miles/hr
Climb: 705 feet
Calories: 1339

Early long run

Up early this morning and out at 6am for an 80 minute run. Covered
about 9 miles. A beautiful morning.

Feel my calf strain coming again so applied cool patch.


Some stats:
Avg HR = 153
Calories = 1500





Two weeks from today until first race!!

Another timed swim

Headed today for another 800m swim, straight with no breaks. Timed it and came in at 20m 37s - 50 seconds quicker than earlier this week. I did the 750m (the distance of the first triathlon swim) in just over 19 minutes. Happy with how the swims have went this week. Encouraging, especially remembering back to how tough I found it a few months back.

First cycling fall!!

Headed out for a cycle last night - a 16 miler to Waringstown and back. On the way back I stopped at a junction as there was a car passing, and forgot to unclip my foot from the pedal. My brain just froze and I just keeled over to the side, hitting the ground and lying in a sprawled heap!! It was quite funny - definitely will remember to unclip the next time!

Anyway, I did the 16 miles in 55 minutes and did the 12.5 miles in sub-40 minutes, which was a good indication for the race in 2 weeks.

Swim today at lunchtime.

A timed 800m swim

Headed to the pool and did a straight 800m. That's all it's going to be now until the first triathlon on the 5th June. It's actually only 750m, but I have been informed the water is VERY COLD!!

Anyway, I did the 800m in 21m 23s, which I am happy enough with. I reckon I can go maybe a minute faster, so we'll see next week.

My first open water swim is penciled in for Monday evening!!

Three mile tester

The first triathlon (in less than 3 weeks!) is a short distance race, with the run element covering 3 miles. I haven't had a good go at a 3 mile route for a while now, so I was curious to see how it would go tonight, especially after the interval training over the last couple of months. Over the next 3 weeks in the lead up to the first race, I plan on doing three 3 mile testers - the first of which was tonight.

I was aiming for a time sub 23 minutes and came in at 21m 27s which I was happy with. I would love to get into the 20s and think I will be able to shave perhaps a minute off over the next week or so.

The question is: how quick will I be able to do the 3 miles after having completed a swim and a cycle beforehand??!!

Run & swim yesterday, cycle today

Headed out for a long, slow run yesterday morning. Don't know the distance but ran for 70 minutes, so reckon I did around 8 miles.

I then headed to the pool and swam half a mile (800m), all without a break. I did it in around 23 minutes, so was happy enough.

Out for a cycle this morning. I wanted to increase the distance a little so headed out to Waringstown, then Banbridge and back to Dromore, about 22 miles in total. I used the cyclemeter app on my iPhone. So here is its summary:

Route: New Route
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/e5dd/c2f9/4bc4/5152/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20100516-0932.kml
Ride Time: 1:18:53
Distance: 21.23 miles
Average: 15.55 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 25.49 miles/hr
Climb: 361 feet
Calories: 1485

Swim yesterday & run today

Headed to the pool for the first swim of the week yesterday at tea-time. Did a short 800m session (2x100m, 1x600m). Just trying to keep things ticking over until the first Tri in a few weeks time.

Out for an early morning run this morning - the last interval training session before the first event. It was tough going this morning as I pushed a bit harder, especially up the hills. For the next 2 weeks, instead of interval training I will be running a nice short 3 miles in preparation for the sprint triathlon.

Just as a reminder, the first triathlon is a short distance one, called a sprint triathlon. It is a 750m swim, 12.5 mile cycle and ending with a 3 mile run. I've a target time in mind, but the object of this one is just to get used to the whole setup and environment. Looking forward to it!!

Out on the new bike

Headed out this morning for a sunrise cycle - the second outing on the new road bike. I covered 14 miles and shaved between 3 and 4 minutes off the time that I was doing it on the mountain bike. It feels good and responsive. However, the hills are a bit harder due to the difference in the gearing. Definitely easier gearing on the mountain bike for uphills - which makes sense! But on the new one I can stand up and pedal which definitely powers me up the hills quicker. So all-in-all, I am happy with it. Just need to up the miles a bit more to get some more endurance into the cycling. But as the first triathlon is only a 12 mile cycle, I'm not too worried about increasing it straight away.

Been a bit lazy with the blogging over the last week. With only three more weeks of full training before the first triathlon, I'll try and keep the updates coming thick and fast!

Back to the pool

It's been a couple of weeks since I last had a proper swim, so was a bit nervous about it today. I went for a short 800m session (4x100m, 2x200m) and it went ok. It took a few lengths just to get back into the breathing patterns again, but after that it was fine. I experimented with some bilateral breathing as well.

I'll hopefully be picking up the new bike this evening and will try to get out on it for a spin later! Excited!

I have a road bike!

A couple of evenings ago we had a visit from a couple from church and they have kindly let me have the loan of a very good road bike that I can use for training and for the three triathlons! It is a carbon fibre bike which means that it very lightweight, which means potentially faster.

So to Ray and Vivienne - THANK YOU!!!

Back to routine - Interval training

Out for an early morning run today. 4.8 miles - various speeds to keep the heart rate moving up and down. Time is not important here as the speed is different, but just for the records I completed it in around 42 minutes.

It's been over a week since I had been out for a run and my legs felt fresh at the beginning. But the big hill in this 2 lap run really zapped me on the second lap! But it's good to be out again.