Back up and running

After the disappointment of missing the Staines 10, my bug started shifting the early part of last week. I was down in my home town of Sittingbourne for a night, so next morning I decided I'll test out the body on a slow loop around the local countryside. My first surprise was the only other souls up at silly o clock was my friend Claire jogging past in the other direction (Claire is marathon training. Here's her blog http://marathontrainingfun.wordpress.com/)..... (Still not doing dancing Claire!!)

After a quick hello I carried on and looped round to to local church where my grandparents are buried. I stopped and cleaned up their memorial stones and just had a moment of reflection. I was very close to my grandparents and had to tell them that they were all great grandparents now.

Although the run had gone well I was still not feeling 100% so opted to not open water swim. I did however have a refresher lesson with the lovely Christina from my Tri club. I know my swim stroke isn't good with a weak kick but an ok entry, catch, pull etc. Well, so I thought. Christina thought the complete opposite. My hand entry was too far in front of me and the catch especially on my right arm was poor. And I was breathing too early as well. So we set about doing drills to correct and before long I was feeling a lot better in the water. Will keep you updated on how I progress.

Saturday morning is generally Parkrun morning at Black Park. Without much training the prior week I wasn't expecting miracles but with my improvements from
March I was hoping to get close to my time 3 weeks prior. I again focussed on cadence. Well, I surprised myself coming over the line in 21.09! My 4th fastest 5k ever. Even though it's not a priority I've always wanted to break 20 minutes and now I feel I'm not too far off. My pb is 20.32 in October 2008.

Monday next week is my first Tri of the season, the Thames Turbo Sprint near Hampton Court. It's a
pool swim so need to get in the local pool to practice turns... not the tumble variety just yet but every second counts. I haven't come up with a race plan yet so lots to do. It's only just over 2 weeks until Windsor as well. Still hoping sub 2hr30 is doable. I haven't done enough cycling but feel confident.

In other news, Georgie has had enough of formula milk and has found something far more tasty....



"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it."

T. Alun Armstrong

Blip

After Marlow 5 I was on a high. Running going well, cycling going well and I'm starting to swim a bit better than normal. However after a busy week travelling up and down the country, my body started feeling tired. Saturday morning was open water swimming at Liquid Leisure. Half way round the first lap I was struggling with a lack of energy. The swim back down the lake was even worse. I knew something wasn't right so as soon as I reached the end of the lap I promptly got out. I still had a group ride to go on around the Windsor which went well, but subsequently I started feeling drained. After last years illness I was very conscious not to overdo it so I decided to pull out of Sundays Staines 10k. Didn't like doing it but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't an important race for me.

So as this week has progressed I've managed one 3 mile run and thats it. I think I've just caught a bug that's slowly working it's way through the system. Just wish it would hurry up. That coupled with a very busy workload has restricted me to do more.

I did have one positive experience. Last night I had the swim coach at my Tri club look at my stroke as I knew there were aspects of it that weren't quite right. My kick has always been weak but the front portion has always been ok.

Well guess what? My kick is good and the front portion needs work . My hand entry was too far in front of my body and I was breathing too early. After a few drills and tweaks I started to adapt my stroke. Just got to keep practising.

Weight loss for this week was 2lbs so now down to 11st6lbs. That's a whole 10lbs in 7 weeks. Only 2lbs to go and I'll be where I want.

Next week I'll be preparing for my first Tri: the Thames Turbo sprint near Hampton Court on Bank Holiday Monday. Heard good things about the race.

Off to feed Georgie now. She's got a little cold as well so we're all bunged up. Her highlight this week is she's found out her feet are attached to her and can now put them in her mouth. Daddy does this all the time.

That's it for now. Off you all go and have fun


"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it."

T. Alun Armstrong

It's starting to come together

I had a major boost in training this weekend racing at the Marlow 5 mile race.

This is a race I've done for the past four years that starts down by the banks of the Thames. It always attracts a good crowd.

I decided to use it as a brick session so set out to cycle the 14 miles from home to the start. The rest of Team Elliott followed in the car with my running kit arriving with plenty of time for me to change and get to the start.

Last year I ran 36.33 and this year I wanted to be closer to 36 minutes based on my 10k pace of about 7.10 miling.

Despite early rain when leaving on the bike, by the time the run started the sun was out and the temperature had warmed up.

The start of the race is always congested for the first 3/4 miles but then the field spread out allowing me to get into a good rhythm. I focussed on a good cadence and keeping my posture which helped significantly. There's a slight incline at mile 3 and for the first year I didn't really notice it. I think I posted my fastest 5k time this year during the run as well.

Coming past mile 4 I still felt good, one of my team mates had been on my heels the whole race an with a few hundred metres to go he made his move. I let him go. Today was about pacing not racing. I went over the line with the clock stopping on exactly 36.00. Job well done.

I picked up my substantial goody bag and met up with Mel and Georgie, who Wifey told me had been so excited that she'd slept through the whole race. Ah well, she enjoyed having Daddy's medal as a present.

So I feel all the work I've been doing is paying off. I'm down to 11stone 8lbs now so only 4lbs to go. What I really need to focus on now is strength and flexibility to complement the endurance work. I am looking in to incorporating more Pilates and resistance work. I've been lent a Concept II which I'll also get working on more. The open water swimming has been fun and I've managed to get there a couple of times a week. This Saturday I'm swimming then riding the Windsor Tri route. All welcome to join in, just let me know.

This coming Sunday I'm at the Staines 10k so looking to finish around 44 mins. I don't know much about the course but hear that it's relatively flat.

Have a great week!

(Here's Daddy's little supporter)


"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it."

T. Alun Armstrong

It's been a while

Lots happening recently so I haven't had much time to blog. So I'm going to try and get everything down in a nice short way so not to bore you all.

Georgie: she's wonderful. 13 weeks old now and is developing a beautiful character. We're always greeted in the morning with big gummy smiles. She's booked in for swimming lessons later this month. Probably faster than her Dad

Wifey: we recently celebrated 9 years together. Love her more than ever.

Training: I've been getting more regular training in. It's not very structured. I've managed 2 bike, 2 swims (now open water) and a run at Black Park Parkrun each week. My run times have dropped by 3 minutes since I started training again. Partly due to training and partly due to losing 7lbs in 6 weeks. Really happy with the weight loss and on track to get to where I want by Windsor Tri next month.

I recently had my metabolic test results back and they showed that last year I was training at too high a heart rate for too much of the time. So this year it's more of the long, slow stuff. Must admit I'm not finding it easy as to keep my HR down I have to run really slowly. Still, a few of you guys and gals have said this works so I'll continue and report back.

Cycling has involved some long slow rides interspersed with a couple of local time trials which I've loved doing. Can't make one for the next couple of weeks but have plotted a 10 mile course from home which is a great benchmark.

Up next for me is Marlow 5 mile run this Sunday. Planning to cycle over and. Run as a brick session. Got to do more of those in the coming weeks.

That's all for now. Apologies for those of you who read the unsaved version. Blimmin' technology beat me again.

Until next time.


"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it."

T. Alun Armstrong