I don’t want to go on my road or tri bike when it is below or so close to freezing so realistically, I am not going to be able to ride to work for at least a week. There is no way therefore that I can catch up on days that I have to miss.

I could change the challenge in to a running one but the whole point of it was to make sure that I went on my bike more.

I also did a swim today.  It was very different from yesterday’s in that I put the effort in and hurt.  Actually, I didn’t hurt all the way.  I just did 15 x 100′s hard.  Then I eased off a bit for the rest of the session.  Not sure how far I went as I didn’t plan it.  

Yesterday, I was disappointed with my swim speed.  I got a new toy that allows me to time how quickly I swim (a bit like a stop watch).  As I haven’t swam properly since May, I was pretty upset to see how slow I was.  So, I decided to turn over a new leaf and start swimming a bit more… vigourously!  And regularly.

I also decided to reset all my pb’s.  I am living in the past.  My 400m pb used to be 5:55.  Yesterday I did it in 7:12.  Oh, dear.  Yesterday’s time was at the end on 90 minutes swimming, was at a low intensity and so is not a real pb.  However, it gives me something to start from.

Anyway, tomorrow will be another swim, an hour run and perhaps a short bike session.

So the plan is to do some of the following:

- 30 min and 60 min steady paced rides

- 20x (1 min hard resistance, low rpm intervals + 1m easy)

- 6 x (5 min moderate, 50 rpm + 2 min easy)

- 6 x (3m fast, 60-70rpm + 2m easy)

The idea is to get me into it easily and gently.  I want to ride indoors regularly.  If I do it regularly then that will be a success!

I think I was the only person there to do it on a tri bike so I felt a bit out of place.  The weather was glorious.  The 131k  route well marked.  Most of the route was good to ride with quite a few hills.  Some of the steep downhills through narrow tree-lined, pot-holed, gravel-littered roads were a bit scary and so I would prefer a bit of a route change for next year. 

The plan was to ride without power (I’ve “lost” the bike computer) and go quite a bit harder than ironman pace.  I did.  I averaged 31 kph for the first two hours.  Then I slowed a bit.  Then at 75k I ran out of water and the second aid station turned out to be at 110k.  A long ride in the heat.  Because I was going faster at the start I ate less than I wanted.  Actually, that’s not true.  Because I brought powerbars with me I ate less than I wanted to.  Those things are horrid on a hot day, especially without water.  So, I think I slowed because of the early pace, the lack of a powermeter to tell me I was slowing and the thirst/energy food.

I came home in 4 hours 52.  1 minute from “gold” standard.  I spent 3 minutes at the second aid station drinking and less than one minute massaging my left quad up one of the hills.  But I did not draft anyone because of the tri bike.  I did have two “shadows” who drafted me for the first 70k (and which helped me go too fast to start with).

It then seemed a bit silly not to attach them to my bike when I do the Windsor Triathlon next weekend.  So I got some elastic bands and had a go at practising on the path in front of my house.  The kids came out to help as well!

All was going well.  I could take my feet out of the shoes and dismount.  Easy.  I could run and jump on to the bike.  Not as easy.  I get a little scared jumping on to the saddle!  I aim to land my right thigh on the saddle as there is less scope for unexpected pain!  That went well.  Putting my feet in shoes while moving was a little harder but do-able.

I was then down to my last two elastic bands and so I thought that I would have one more practise.  I ran.  Fine.   I jumped.  Fine.  I landed on the saddle.  Fine.  I started pedalling.  But unfortunately, my bike was in a big gear.  My foot slipped off the shoe.  The shoe hit the ground.  The pedal stopped going around because of the shoe was still hitting the ground.  Then I fell off.  I fell to the left and kind of fell on top of the ground.

Afterwards, my daughter said that she thought I was going to cry.  I said that I was too busy trying not to swear. LOUDLY!

The bike was fine but I’ve got blood coming from: little finger on my left hand, palm of right hand, thumb of right hand, two places on my right knee and two toes on right foot.  I also have a sore right foot, sore right knee and sore right thumb. 

That never happened when I trained for Ironman.  Olympic distance training hurts…

After the run, I took the dogs for a walk.  Then went to a forest with the son and one of his friends.  They enjoyed it, especially when we found this animal sunbathing!

It’s a slow worm.  It looks a bit like a snake but is actually a legless lizard.  One of the great things about having a phone nowadays is that we can take a photo of it and also check the internet to see what it is – “looks like a slow worm – oh, that’s a lizard – has it got eye lids – yes – definitely a slow worm – look at its tail, a bit less pointy than a snake – oh, the tail comes off if a predator catches it – wow”.  Then two minutes later some other people walk up the path and the kids are all knowledgeable – “look a slow worm, it’s not a snake…”

Today I’ve got a 90 minute easy run planned.  I like this taper business.  But I can’t wait to just go out for a run in the country side with the dogs, not caring how long or what intensity I run for.

I am feeling good and confident about things.  Bike is going to be serviced on Wednesday so I hope that goes well.  Only problem is the continuous feeling of tiredness.  I know that is going to be sorted soon though…

Friday:

- 4k wetsuit swim in pool, including a new PB of 5:22 for 400m

- 40 min negative split run

Saturday:

- 6hr 50 bike (plus some time working out how to get un-lost)

- followed by a 40 min run

Sunday:

- New Forest Triathlon (2hrs 14 mins)

One interesting thing was that I weighed myself before and after Saturday’s bike/run.  I lost 3.8lbs.  But between weigh-ins I drunk around 3.5 litres of water and had a load of powerbars, gels and a couple of mars bars.  So, I lost around4. 5kgs of fluids on my ride.  Wow! 

Part of the reason for this is that I left early in the morning in my full winter gear.  I froze on the first part of the ride, especially in the fog.  But it warmed up and turned into a beautiful sunshiny day.  And then it got quite hot.  And I felt like a boil in a bag.

This makes for interesting thoughts about Lanza though.  I need to make sure I drink when thirsty on the bike.  That should be easy.  The difficulty is going to be on the run. In short triathlons/runs, I don’t normally take any water.  However, I had ago today in the New Forest and found it very hard to drink from a cup on the run.  I think I need to bring my fuel belt to Lanza.

I am so tired at the moment.  I sleep really well when I sleep but have been getting to bed too late (after a late training session, it takes me a while to settle) or being woken up in the middle of the night by one of the dogs barking.  Today, I felt completely shattered.  Not good.

Training has been going well even though work is doing its best to make things difficult.  Highlights of the weekend were a 2hr 30 min run on Saturday and a 5 hour bike ride on Sunday.  The last hour on the bike felt really hard.   Next week will be a 6 hour bike and a 2 hour run.  I am probably going to go to Sherborne to re-ride the old ironman UK course to see how I am doing.

I have noticed a difference at the end of the long run compared with a long bike.  At the end of the run, if I sit down it is quite hard to get back up and my legs ache big time for ages.  At the end of a long bike, I am very, very tired and achy.  But after 5 minutes or so I feel fine (if a little tired!). 

I’ve been thinking about Lanzarote and what might happen.  So one day soon I will write down my race plan.  That will help me think things through and get my head straight.