Sunshine

I'm currently lying in the baking 32 degree heat on the lovely island on Menorca. Jealous?

I'm quite proud of myself, I've managed to actually get out and pound the tarmac a few times so far. It's ridiculously difficult to do, even a short 2 miles is a killer. Not managed to go for a swim in the ocean yet either but Oct still got a week left.

Before I came out here, I discovered there is an Ironman 70.3 in Majorca. I was tempted but after experiencing the heat here, it is definitely NOT a good idea. Think I'm gonna stick with the cold and miserable Blighty, may even hop across to Galway and do a 70.3 there, you never know.

Really gotta get my backside into gear when I get back ad it'll only be 6 weeks til my tri. But for now, I'm enjoying the sunshine break, I bloody earned it. :D

Prepartion

I couldn't find my gloves this morning. My trusted running gloves. I was rather disappointed as I have a rather long run planned for this afternoon.

6 miles with Lorna up the canal to Timperley and back and then a 6 mile set on my own. Should be fun, and by fun, I mean painful.

Had a reasonable cycling session in the gym last night and another good go on my shoulders. Felt good to get some work done after a lazy couple of days. I did manage to do some more exercise last week but I cant for the life of me remember what. I do recall going swimming in the morning before work three times but that's all that springs to mind.

Am concentrating on my cycling and upper body this week as once I go to Spain on Monday all I will be able to do is run and swim. I intend to cover about 70km whilst I'm there. Going to try running on the beach too and see how much that hurts my calves and the soles of my feet. This is also going to be my first proper foray into open water swimming. I hope to try and acclimatise on holiday so it's easier back here. Of course, the Quays and the lake I will be swimming in here don't quite match up to the lovely waters of the Mediterranean but beggars can't be choosers.

Apathy

It has been a strange few days. Had a very strange combination at the weekend.

Firstly, went to see Take That last Wednesday, they were awesome and accompanied by a lovely meal at TGI Fridays. Can't really remember anything about Thursday or Friday except that I did no exercise, couple of nice lazy days.

Come Saturday and I had a great combined morning of a sub 59 min 10k and spectating at a triathlon at one of my local water parks. It was brilliant to watch and I really can't wait to participate in my own. It did, however, reinforce that I am going to need a wet suit for my swim as there was a lot of shivering going on.

Brick session on Wednesday afternoon then swimming in the evening. Nice rest day on Monday, not a planned one but still lacking energy from the weekends exertions. Back into it today with a 1200m swim early this morning before work and then an absolutely glorious run after work, 6.7km in 37 mins. That is my race pace. It was smooth, comfortable and very satisfying. Feel like I've got my mojo back!

The feeling of apathy comes from the rather hefty amount of motivation I had to give myself to actually get out there. Afterwards, especially after my run this evening, I feel better, but that feeling can be very hard to keep hold of.Gonna go for a swim again in the morning then go for a brick session after work. Let's see how that goes.

Meh

I know I've said there is no such thing as a bad run but yesterday was a bad run. I actually meant to talk about this yesterday but was distracted by other thoughts. The plan was a quality tempo 5K. As soon as I set off it didn't feel right. I just couldn't settle at a tempo pace. I felt agitated. I tried to stay focussed and positive but to no end. Then, 1 mile in, my tracker crapped out on me so I couldn't even focus on my pace that way. I was frustrated and wanted to stop. But I didn't. I kept going, kept running, finished at approximately 33 mins. I felt better for finishing but I still wasn't happy. I know everyone has bad days but this felt like more than that. The past few weeks, pretty much all my speed work has been done on a treadmill in the gym, leaving my long runs for outside. I think I've become acclimitised to running inside, have lost the touch to push my pace against inertia. Combine that with some loneliness running on my own and a severe boredom of my route and it is a perfect recipe for a miserable rin. Am gonna need to mix it up as I can't keep going on ones like that and I can't stay on the treadmill. uesterdays

The Three Goals

I got a telling off from Lorna yesterday. We were discussing Conwy and what my goal was.

I should first mention 'The Three Goals' that I learnt about from Ben. So much do I understand this I will let him explain it. Or at least I will once I can find the post he explains it in.

The main point is I told Lorna my comfortable goal for Conwy was sub 2:20. She told me to be realistic and should be aiming for sub 2:05, possibly sub 2:00.

So thats what I'm aiming for. Oh, and depending how this does will determine my goal for Brighton. Currently it is sub 4:30 but we shall see....

Good Intentions

My friend Lorna got me into running. She is quite experienced, a few half marathons under her belt, and now, she has ran the Brighton Marathon twice. I used to think she was bonkers, especially running 7 miles home from work. Off her trolley. She did, however, manage to convince me to come with her on some of her short runs and see what I thought. I still remember the first one vividly. I enjoyed the runs we did, and Lorna warned me that I would catch 'the bug'. I laughed at her suggestion.

She was right.

When I first started my running back in October the intention was to lose weight. I signed up for the Great Manchester 10k to give myself a goal so I wouldn't quit. I honestly didn't think it was something I would keep up with. Lorna was right and I started to love it more and more. So much so I was looking for more races, but interesting ones as I thought I would easily get bored running road races all the time. Then I heard about the Hell Run and thought 'I'm having some of that!'.

Just a couple of weeks before I signed up for Brighton, me and my friend Cat were out on a 9 miler, just chatting away, both agreeing how the prospect of running for 5+ hours, i.e. a marathon, was bonkers and how we would never do it. Cue a week later, Cat posts on Facebook that she has signed up for Brighton after a really bad day at work. I needled her about this, he reply being 'It's ok, since you're doing it with me the training will be alot easier'.

Yes, that's precisely what she said. After a few discussions and some to and fro ing, I signed up aswell. Glutton for punishment I was told.

Then I started reading Ben Does Life after seeing his 120lb journey on le YouTube. He inspired me to think 'If he can do an Ironman, why cant I?'.

So here I am now. All these things planned ahead of me and always looking for more. I'm constantly assessing what I want to do next. Ironman 70.3 2012 is looking like a very tempting prospect at the moment.

The Importance of Rest

Such aspirations I had for yesterday. The plan was to finish work at 1830 and go for a 5K tempo run as planned.

This was shelved after realising I was absolutely knackered. So much so I almost fell asleep in work. I discussed this with my lovely friend Lorna and we agreed that rest is just as important as exercise so I postponed my run until this morning.

Told the Mrs should would have the pleaseure of my company for the evening, of course she was *thrilled*. We have a nice dinner together, I went to the chippy, it was exceedingly satisfying. About an hour after tea I had perked up and didnt feel tired. Then it dawned on me.

The reason I was so tired is that I hadnt eaten enough. Yesterday was a small bowl of cereal for breakfast then a plain sandwich and carrott sticks for lunch. In itself not a wrong amount of food but far too little to cope with the training I've been doing. This was an alien concept to me.

Everytime I've tried to lose weight in the past it has always been through a combination of moderate exercise and diet change. However, the amount of exercise I am doing now should probably be described as more vigourous than moderate. As such I need to make sure I'm consuming enough calories to fuel my workouts without eating too much. There is a fine balance which I sometimes hit but it is still quite elusive.

More to write but going to split it into another post as its easier to digest that way.