Shake down run

Four and a half mile jog this evening through the valley to Wheelock and back in 46 minutes 53 seconds.

Long run... 10 miles.

Switched our long run to Saturday today as our younger daughter is competing in a gymnastics competition on Sunday.

Planned on doing 9 miles but ended up doing just under 10 (9.9miles to be precise). Out from Sandbach in crisp but clear blue skies and sunshine towards Middlewhich through Elworth, the country lanes of Moston & Ettiley Heath, along the Wheelock rail trail and home again. A lovely route completed in 1 hour and 36 minutes. Averaged around 9 mins 15 seconds per mile and picked up the pace for the last 3 miles leaving the legs a bit jaded towards the end.

Bricks!

"A brick is doing a training session where you go from a bike ride straight into a run. The idea is get your body accustomed to the feeling of transitioning from one to the other, so that come (Triathlon) race day you know what to expect! Expect this - for it to feel like your feet have bricks strapped to them!" (Source: Uberfit Events).

My 'Brick' session this evening was in the dark at zero degrees centigrade! The bike ride felt REALLY cold! Cycled just over 5.5 miles in 24 minutes. Returned home and stashed the bike and straight out for a 1.5 mile fairly fast paced run (12 mins). Total session lasted 38 minutes. Actually felt great afterwards... The Marathon training must be paying off :-)

Triathlon Swim Training Session

Went along to the Total Fitness Triathlon swim training session again this evening for another excellent session. Swam 1,450 metres in total... 400mtr warm up, another 200 mtr 'any stroke' (which means more front crawl ;-), 6 x 100mtrs with 25 second intervals followed by 4 x 50 mtr 'golf' sessions (decreasing the number of armstrokes with each 50 mtr session) and finished up with 50mtr leg pull. A lot more gruelling than last time but really feels worth it.

Three mile easy jog

Shake down night after yesterday's long run. A gentle 3 mile jog in 30 mins 40 Secs. Really does the job in easing out the aches and pains from the legs!

Long run day... 8 miles

Just back from our marathon training 'long run'. Ran out towards Middlewich, back along the Wheelock rail trail up to the Romping Donkey pub in Hassal and then back through Malkins Bank to Sandbach. 8 miles in total in 1 hour 18 mins (average pace of about 9mins 50 secs per mile). Perhaps a bit fast a pace to maintain for the full marathon distance but felt fairly comfortable today. New running gear, particularly the twin skin socks, held up well (no signs of blisters which is good).

Quick bike ride

Managed to grab a quick ride out on the bike early this afternoon. 12.5 miles through Sandbach, Hassal, Winterley, Crewe and back in just under an hour. Loving the new bike!

Fogging Freezing Fartlek!

Second pass at Fartlek training this evening in Freezing (-2'c) fog. Had to really push myself to go out but glad I did. A good 3 mile session in just over 26 minutes with some prolonged fast running intervals between jogs.

Followed up with 32 x 25 mtr lengths of front crawl in wetsuit at the sub-aqua club session later this same evening.

Swim training session with Total Fitness Triathlon Club

Been threatening to do this for some time now but in honesty have always felt a bit intimidated by swim clubs bashing up and down the pool and so had been putting it off. I wish I'd done it sooner! A really good and friendly session hosted by a great coach, Danielle, who spent a lot of time with myself and another 'new swimmer' on stroke assessment and improvement. An hour very well spent. Only did 22 lengths but this included various improvement techniques (skulling, tag, bi-lateral breathing, etc).

Three mile easy jog

Sticking to the training plan went out this evening with stiff legs for a 3 mile easy jog (24 minutes). The plan suggests this is good to help work out any lactic acid on the muscles and it certainly seems to have done the trick, as well as loosening up a stiff achiles. Felt much better for getting out.

Long run in the rain

Sunday's are our designated 'Long run' days on our Marathon training plan and sods law it's rained heavily all day! Gave up waiting for it to clear late afternoon and braved it anyway running just under 7 miles from home to Total Fitness gym in Crewe where I met Karen who decided to do her long run on the tread mill. As it happened the rain stopped after 3 miles or so but not before I got a good soaking! A good run despite, at a comfortable pace... 1 hour 5 mins 33 seconds.

Followed up with a shower and a few lengths cool down swimming in the pool and 10 mins with my feet in a cold water foot bath to ease a slightly aching achilles... Feels ok now.

Playing out on bikes :-)

Out for my first proper bike ride on the new cycle this afternoon with my friend Dom who's also planning some first time Triathlons this year.

Covered a route from Sandbach, through Warmingham, Crewe, Middlewich and back... Just over 19 miles in 1 hour 29 minutes. Felt good on the bike with no major aches and pains... Quite pleased for a first time outing :-)

Fartlek'ing about in the rain!

Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of conditioning which puts stress on the whole aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. Most fartlek sessions last a minimum of 45 minutes and can vary from aerobic walking to anaerobic sprinting (source ~ Wikipedia).

Decided to keep my first Fartlek session fairly modest and so this evening in steady rain and after 10 mins warming up jogging had 4 x 1 minute sprint sessions seperated by 4 minutes jogging to recover. Cooled down with a 2 minute walk home. Covered 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. Not as bad as I thought it might be! I'll increase this over the next few weeks...

Cross Training Swim and Gym

Swam 32 x 25 metres Front Crawl at the pool this evening followed by 35 minutes weight training in the gym

Easy jog

Home late from work tonight but went out for a 'slow run' anyway just doing 1.5 miles in 14 mins 'around the block' rather than the 3 on the training plan... Leg muscles feel better for the stretch.

Start of the marathon training plan & a spin on the new bike!

Karen has found quite a few Marathon training plans on the net and we've decided to use a few of these as a basis for our own training for the Edinburgh Marathon. Most of the training plans are 20 weeks and we just realised we've got 19 weeks to the Marathon!

• A long run at a comfortable pace on a Sunday (progressively more miles as the weeks go by up to about 20 miles).
• An easy 3 mile recovery run the day after (Monday).
• Cross Training on a Tuesday (Swim training with Total Fitness Triathlon club).
• Rest day on a Wednesday
• 2 to 5 mile 'race pace' mixed in with some Fartlek training on a Thursday (jogging, walking and fast running cycles).
• A 4 to 6 mile run on a Friday
• Cross training (Cycling) or rest day Saturday.

You can click on the training plan below for the full plan...

Today's 'Long Run' was just over 5 miles at a comfortable pace (56 mins) along the country lanes between Middlewich and Sandbach in crisp sunny weather and felt great.

I then took my new bike out for it's first spin... An amazingly effortless ride :-) 6 miles in 25 minutes.

A run along the coast and my birthday present :-)

Another quick run along Pwllheli Sea front this morning... 2.7 miles in 23 minutes and 19 seconds.

Also... Picked up my newest toy and birthday present today... Thank you Karen and the girls! xxx

A BMC SSX01... For those interested, A triple butt aluminium smooth weld frame, Full Shimano 105 gear set, Shimano Compact chainset, Shimano R105 wheels, Skor mkiii Handlebars, seat post and seat and only 9.5kg in weight :-)

Got home a bit too late to take it out for a run... Perhaps tomorrow :-)

Bring on the Triathlons!

A cold run in the dark & one mile swim

Went for a quick run straight after work this evening, 2.5 miles in 18 minutes 28 seconds... Followed this up with 64 x 25 metre pool lengths of front crawl (in a wetsuit) at the Sub-Aqua club training session in 39 minutes which I was quite pleased with.

First run of the year!

We've been spending the New Year on the Llyn Peninsular so went for a run this morning along the sea front at Pwllheli.

A cool still day and a short but fair run. 2.7 miles in 24 minutes and 32 seconds.

Abersoch RNLI New Years Day Dip!

After the excesses of New Years Eve on the Llyn Peninsular, managed to get ourselves to Abersoch a few minutes after the official dip had finished!

Oh Well!

Not to be outdone we had our own :-) Still hundreds on the beach and the Lifeboat in cover. Burining cold water but what a way to blow away the cobwebs!... Happy New Year all!