New shoes…
by Matt on Jan.17, 2010, under Uncategorized
Ran home in the snow on Tuesday – which was great. Conditions had conspired against me over the past couple of weeks and I thought I wouldn’t get the opportunity, but luckily the snow held out (as did my knee). It was a good run, not quick, but very enjoyable. Shame it couldn’t actually snow whilst I was out thought – that would have been fun.
I got a swim in on Friday, just shy of 1600m – I got a cramp in my foot a couple of lengths from the end which was annoying, but what was encouraging was that I could even get that far having not swum for several weeks.
Finally closed out the week by trying my new Mizuno’s out on my Sunday run. I told Laura that I wouldn’t be long as I was wearing new shoes and probably wouldn’t push it (plus my previous knee issues). I planned on doing about 5mi, but whilst out realised that it would be closer to 6 when I got back. Then approaching 6 felt good and put a bit more on to take it closer to 8. Then right near home decided that since I was having no problems, and the conditions were good I’d put an extra final loop of the lake on taking me up to just over 10! Excellent. I hadn’t gone prepared for that though so didn’t take any water, otherwise I could have probably gone on further.
Mental note. Don’t leave it to 500mi before replacing shoes again.
Time to get a (proper) bike..
Quick update
by Matt on Jan.11, 2010, under Uncategorized
Ran 6 miles on Sunday in the snow with no problems (although took it quite easy pacewise). 5 miles is the critical distance as this means I can put in a run home from work this week hopefully without any problems.
Bah! Christmas.
by Matt on Jan.03, 2010, under What
A particularly busy last few weeks of the year at work followed by Christmas conspired to muck everything about. I’d hoped that I’d get some more training in – particularly building back up my running and swimming distances, but the opposite occurred. I’ve gained weight, several potential running days were hampered by snow (so I should have swum instead – but didn’t). Now my knee gave me grief after 5 miles and I had to walk / jog 3 miles back home in sub-zero temperatures. Typical.
So I’ll try and find some good in the bad. My user account has arrived for TeamMK, Focus Cayo 2009’s are now £150 cheaper in Wiggle’s sale, perhaps my current knee complaint will encourage me to swim or cycle instead.
So if I were the sort of person that did New Year resolutions then I’d probably include something like;
- lose weight (original eh? nobody’s had that as a NYR before) get down (and stay below) 75kg. I was hovering around 74-75kg, but Christmas has seen that rise by 3kg and I can feel the difference already.
- Swim more
- Buy some new running shoes.
- Include at least one gym session a week
- Do my stretches and knee exercises every day
These are short term goals. Further on I also need to purchase a proper bike and get used to riding it, get used to consistently swimming 1600m, try to do something even after a long day in the office.
Now that’s better
by Matt on Dec.06, 2009, under What
I finally got my arse in gear and posted off my membership for TeamMK and I’ve also started looking at wetsuits, but have no experience at all in that area – probably a question for the TeamMK forums when I get my membership back.
Two runs, one swim
by Matt on Dec.05, 2009, under What
Good:
I’ve managed two 5 mile runs this week (so far), as I took to the fields twice to get home from work. Maybe I can keep to that and possibly add a bit on to one of the runs to bump up the distance a bit. I’ve still got my long run tomorrow and I’ll aim for maybe 8 miles this weekend.
Semi-good:
However, this week only 1 swim – yesterday. But 1200m in 30 minutes (which I actually roughly timed for once rather than guessing). In my head the plan is to continue to build up this distance, but also maybe to secure some training sessions from a swim teacher to try and improve my very rough stroke.
Bad:
Zero biking – well maybe < 2 miles. So not very good in that respect. Still not signed up with TeamMK either.
Some improvement in knee
by Matt on Nov.29, 2009, under What
Didn’t get an extra run in during the week – however I did manage two swims, 800m and 1000m. I need to get up to about 2000m for the 70.3 (which is actually 1900m – but I figure an extra 100 will be wasted veering off course in open water). For both swims I tried to keep breathing on every 3rd stroke, i.e. breathing on both sides. The second swim I settled much more naturally into the stroke – but was definitely feeling fatigued at around the 900m mark.
I did get a 5mi commute home cross country run in – and built up to 6.5mi today. I felt like I could have gone further but I stuck to my plan of building up gradually following my dodgy knee episode.
I’m thinking I need to start looking for a new pair of running shoes – these ones have done a shade over 400 miles. I could have got some today, but then I remembered I still haven’t signed up with TeamMK and I’ll get a 10% discount from Sweatshop when I do. Also I’ll be able to start bothering them on their forum with dumb questions.
Quick post – a new link
by Matt on Nov.23, 2009, under What
A Facebook friend drew my attention to a Multisport, Triathlon site and I’ve been grazing it for info, particularly about swimming.
It’s good to read a bit more about bi-lateral breathing as it’s an area I’ve been trying to focus on in the pool. It initially felt like a step back from my ‘breath on 2′ approach I used in the Sprint Tri, but after a few sessions I can definitely feel the benefits.
Anyway, www.d3multisport.com has some useful training articles.
Back out.. a slow start
by Matt on Nov.22, 2009, under What
I had hoped to pick up a bit of biking and swimming this week instead – but unfortunately failed to do so. Basically tiredness. This usually happens – if I get slowly into a routine I’ll be fine as it becomes normal, it’s just starting the routine that’s the trick. I did have a fairly long swimming session on Friday, but didn’t do as well as the previous week.
This week I need to try to get at last 2 swimming sessions in and to put in another couple of 5 or 6 mile running sessions. Let’s see what happens.
The Bike Question
by Matt on Nov.16, 2009, under What
Currently I’m riding a hybrid – it’s a Carrera Subway 2. It’s relatively light considering and gets me to and from the pub. For the Roade Sprint Triathlon I basically removed anything that could be unscrewed (mud guards, lights, lock etc.), added thinner slick tyres (Continental Sport Contacts – which were excellent) and Shimano M424 SPD pedals (a compromise SPD pedal as I can use them with normal shoes or my Specialized bike shoes).
This probably isn’t ideal for a 112 mile IM bike stage.. or even the 60 mile Cowman bike stage..
I need a proper bike.
It’s easy to get distracted by bikes. It’s easy to buy carbon fibre bits. They’re cool. But I’m looking for up to £1,000 of bike that I can ideally purchase through the UK Cycle-To-Work scheme (a cunning way of avoiding various taxes and saving up to 50%).
I’ve narrowed my choices down to,
|
|
|
| Carrera Virago Carbon TT Road Bike 09 | Boardman Road Bike Team Carbon Medium 09 | Focus Cayo 105 2009 |
One of the above is a ‘proper’ triathlon bike – the other two a standard racing bikes. Currently I’m erring toward the latter, I can always get a more tri-specific bike next year. I’ll let you know what I do. No hurry for now with the winter season coming up.
Dodgy knee – Set back 1
by Matt on Nov.16, 2009, under Why
Typically as soon as I start I hit a snag. Last Tuesday on my usual commute home run I felt a twinge in my knee around the 4 mile mark. A slight slackening of pace and the problem went away. In the end I finished relatively quickly for me (sub 9 minute miles, in the dark, with a backpack, across muddy fields).
Yesterday on my long run the knee problem came back – I was lucky to happen across the route of a cross country 10K race as this gave me an opportunity to slow up and spectate. So, 9 miles done, but at least the last 3 were no fun.
This happens around this time every year. It may be a combination of mileage on my shoes (always around the 400 mile mark), or the weather (as it turns colder and wetter). But this time I wonder if it’s the rowing I’ve being trying in the gym. My quads still ache today whereas normally I don’t feel a run (especially a sub 10 mile run) the next day. I suspect tiredness from the row on Friday evening meant I wasn’t keeping good form on Sunday morning.
I’m going to lay off the running for at least a week. This is a shame as I quite enjoy my Tuesday cross country runs home from work. Hopefully this will mean I can concentrate more on my swimming, but I’m giving away ‘free’ mileage (the run home is easy to commit to) in exchange for dragging myself to the gym. I would like to bike to/from work – but at this time of year on narrow dark lanes I think it’s suicidal.
So the trick of the next couple of weeks will be keeping up at the gym.. and possibly laying off the Concept II.
-
Matt's Blog
My attempt to record my progress in completing an IronMan event.
GarminConnect- Muddy commute home February 2, 2010
- Sunday Longish Run January 31, 2010
- Another run home January 19, 2010
- New shoes... January 17, 2010
- Snow me the way to go home.. January 12, 2010
Visitors
Visitors (Dev)
