I have been very pleased about how I have done. I did much more on the bike that I expected and am also pleased with my PB for 21.1k on the rowing machine. It’s a shame that I didn’t do anything of two days. But that’s life.
The summary of what I have done is:
Swim: 5:23
Bike: 10:12
Run: 7:54
Row: 2:50
Rugby: 1:00
Total: 27:19
So, that is an average of 2 hours 16 mins over the 12 days (and 2 hours 43 mins over 10 days).
Today I did a 1 hour 20 minute swim. The first hour was spent doing 100s on 2 minutes with a pull buoy and paddles (with 10s – 15s rest). Not fast by any means but a start.
In the afternoon I did 21,097m on the rowing machine in 1 hour 29 mins 37s. That was hard and I spent quite a bit of time shaking once I had finished. Weird. I did well for the first 63 minutes. Then I ran out of music and I didn’t want to get off to put something else on. After that the pace slowed a little more than a fraction.
My previous personal best (before triathlon) was in April 2004 when I did 1:39:44. So, in nearly eight years, I have improved by just over 10 minutes. Not bad.
So, I got out and did a long bike ride. Went to Streatley – which has a steep hill. I got a puncture at the bottom of it and then a huge flint caused another about 10 mins later. Not fun.
All-in-all I did 3 hours 56 mins (plus puncture stops). The power that I put out was pretty poor though.
The afternoon was spent walking the dog in the pouring rain. I quite enjoyed that.
Nothing. That’s what I did. I got up late and then went shopping. After that I tried to get my stuff to work. Then it was too late to do anything. Oh well.
Today I rested. Actually, I felt lazy and completely unmotivated and so did nothing. Well, I did walk the dog for a couple of hours but nothing that counts.
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
Day 5: 4 hours 17 mins (+77 mins)
Day 6: 3 hours 3 mins (+3 mins)
Day 7: 1 hour 50 mins (-70 mins)
Day 8: 3 hours 59 mins (+59 mins)
Day 9: Nothing (-180 mins)
So 20 hours 31 mins (-389 mins)
On the 8th day, I did a 1 hour 37 mins swim (mostly easy 100′s) and a 2 hour 22 min bike ride. So, that is 3 hours 59 mins.
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
Day 5: 4 hours 17 mins (+77 mins)
Day 6: 3 hours 3 mins (+3 mins)
Day 7: 1 hour 50 mins (-70 mins)
Day 8: 3 hours 59 mins (+59 mins)
So 20 hours 31 mins (-209 mins)
So, on the 7th day of my Christmas, I did a 50 minute run with Sparkie (and he ran away, which wasn’t fun). I got home and then went to the track with Jack where after a warm up he showed me that he can absolutely thrash me over 100m. In June he beat me at the start and I caught him up after 50m. Yesterday, he beat me from the start and at the end he kept on looking around to see where I was. So, he can now beat me at chin ups, push ups, sit ups and 100m.
We then jogged over to the rugby fields, just for it to start raining. Fine. Then it rained harder. Oh dear. Then it rained harder still. I wanted to go back but Jack was fine so we carried on for a few seconds. Then the heavy rain turned into heavy hail and so we turned and sprinted back for the car. Then a drive home, get a waterproof jacket before heading back and doing an hour of passing, catching, running, kicking and so on.
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
Day 5: 4 hours 17 mins (+77 mins)
Day 6: 3 hours 3 mins (+3 mins)
Day 7: 1 hour 50 mins (-70 mins)
So 16 hours 32 mins (-268 mins)
I started the morning with an hour swim at the Tadley pool and then going straight out for a 2 hour bike ride. I was dressed up in my winter gear (but I’d forgotten to bring my gloves to the pool). Surprisingly though, my hands were warm throughout.
In the afternoon, I went to watch London Irish play Exeter at rugby. After doing without the gloves on the ride, I was surprisingly cold watching.
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
Day 5: 4 hours 17 mins (+77 mins)
Day 6: 3 hours 3 mins (+3 mins)
So 14 hours 42 mins (-198 mins)
The day started with a long run with Ed around the Winchester countryside. Very muddy.
Then in the afternoon I went for a two hour bike ride. The first ride in living memory.
So, I am getting back on track.
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
Day 5: 4 hours 17 mins (+77 mins)
So 11 hours 39 mins (-201 mins)
Oh dear. No early session as the kids got up late and we had to wait for Christmas presents. A short row, including my first try at doing a 2k in a reasonably quick time. I wasn’t sure what pace to go at so I was quite conservative and did it in 7:46.3. That’s quite a soft time.
Then I took a long walk with the sprouts…
In the evening I got back and got changed to do some exercise when for some reason the sat tv stopped working – no signal. So I spent another long time fixing it, including climbing up a ladder in bike shorts in the dark looking at the sat dish (it was fine).
So, exercise today was 18 minutes. Oh dear. I always new that it would be difficult before Christmas. It should now start to get easier!
Summary:
Day 1: 3 hours 42 mins (+42 mins).
Day 2: 2 hours 22 mins (- 38 mins)
Day 3: 1 hour (-120 mins)
Day 4: 18 mins (-162 mins)
So 7 hours 22 mins (-278 mins)