My aims for next year are to get fast, I've had a bike fit (which means I'm considering a new bike ) and have hopefully got myself into a routine to train well - At least until work gets in the way... I managed 5.07 for the Cotswolds113 last yeah and desperately want to get close to 4.30 next year. That is my long term goal for the year, I'm hoping to blog my exploits I trying to get there on here over the coming months ( at least a bit more regularly than the 1 post in 6 years)!]]>
Training wise had quite a light week last week, Had a swimming lesson on Monday with Dave Q from the Manchester tri club, he's really good and very patient... My swimming is terrible, I can swim 1500m easy in 34ish mins of breast stroke but can only just about cover 150 - 200m crawl at the mo, but I am determined that by chester (my 1st oly) i'll swim it all crawl and that this will be faster than my breast stroke time...

Managed to knock 20 seconds off my 5k rowing time aswell last week, this after not touching the rower in 3 weeks, The differences in my abilities now and when I started being coached by Brian are amazing, RPR is now 50, I'm more flexible can hold my pace as I run and see so many other benifits, I highley recomend getting a coach...!!!!

Training is stepped up again this week. Due to RPR getting lower, I've now got higher working heart rates to work to so that should be fun... Christmas parties also start this week, but i'm determined to stay off the sauce and not let it affect my training....


Replies:

Luke: It's been really motivating to see it drop am guessing it will level out soon...

PinkNicky: I've never done a 5k let alone a half before, have entered though so no going back now! Have you entered?]]>

My training is going really well, Had a maximum heart rate test with Brian (endurance UK) which went well...
Resting pulse is down to 52 was 75ish when I started training! Am entering Wilmslow half marathon and parbold duathlon for early events, first tri will be Stratford....

Am seeing real progress in swimming, biking and running now, have run the 10k course at wakefield and did this in 50mins...Will be interesting to see how my times improve over the coming months :?

Can't believe how much I've missed the site whilst it's been down, I dont posty much and rarley fill this in, but spend an hour plus daily on here...

Have fun

Mike]]> it still aches occasionally, but its just a dull ache that i can ignore...
Training wise it's been really good this week, 2 2 hour bike sessions, a brick session and some good runs & swims. The highlight being a Run on Thursday, this was the first time i've everran outside on my own!! in 27 years i've never managed to do this before, It was cold, wet, windy and dark...Yet I loved it, did 6.2 miles in 50 mins, ok not quite Haile Gabrisallassi (sp) but I loved it, am off out later for an other one...

Got the inspectors in at School this week, so might be stressed a bit later in the week...]]> ... The session was harder than I've done in a good while, on a new turbo, with one of my new bikes (hywels old giant) and I guess there were too many new things all at once which caused the problem....

I managed to swim on Monday and rested Tuesday & Wednesday, just stretching and putting ice onto my knee, I used the bike in thre gym on Thursday with no probs and ran ok last night :o :o ...

Hopefully things are back to normal today, I did 2 hours on the bike with no probs and felt really good

I'm now working to different heart rates aswell which are higher than i've used before (karvonen?) which has also taken some getting used to, but I'm slowly getting there. Hopefully a good winter of consistent training will see me lose the last of my unwanted weight and be able to not just complete a couple of Oly's but do so without embarrassing myself....]]>
I met with Brian New (endurance coach UK) and have signed up to be coached by him for the foreseable future. I'm next expecting to be the next Tim Don, but want to be as good as I can and having someone telling me what to do will surely get the best out of me...The fact that Brian is Local and I can meet himin person and do some 1 2 1 sessions with him makes it a bit more personal than a purley internet based coach.

I'd been toying with buying a PX Tri bike for a good while and was on the verge of buying one when I decided I would be better served with a coach than a new bike...Then whilst browsing on Wigle came accross an 05 QR Tequilo in my size, RRP £1500 now £875 with £87.50 worth of free gear, so with a few vouchers I bought it, a pair of specialized tri shoes(100), and look pedals(40) for a grand total of £800!!!! this seams like a bargain to me and I'm really chuffed!! It's been an expensive month with the imagic, Turbo bike and now a full tri bike and a coach...I'm sure darts would've been cheaper...!!!! :o :o ]]>
I'm now the fittest I've ever been in terms of cardio and rapidly improving at swimming, biking and running...


My swimming is getting better, I can now swim 100M front crawl without dying!


Happy Days!!!! :o :o :o :o]]> ...Still was head hunted on the course and may have a job outside of teaching to consider...

I'm on the verge of starting with a coach this week, completed the questionnaire etc but struggle to actually get intouch with him to sort this out, hopefully this is just a teathing problem....

Training wise done a good bit this week, trained 5 out of 7 days which is a record for me!! I've even run with a tri club twice in the past month!! swimming is getting better, I fully expect to be able to swim 1500m front crawl by June and am sure it will be faster than my breast stroke....If i can maintain my training and with some guidance, I'm convinced I can make some really good progress over the winter, I hope so antway.]]>
Am also now down to 13 stone 1, at this rate i'll be 12.5 stone for christmas which will be the lightest i've been in 10 years!!!

training wise things are going really well, I ride to work 3 times a week, swim 3 times a week at the mo and run twice...we have a concept 2 rower at work and i've done 3 5ks on it this month, the fastest being 19.49... I reckon I can lose another 30 seconds from this... Wish I could run it that fast!!!!

Sat up and watched the ironman last night, it was really motivating, maybe one day i'll attempt an ironman, but for the moment I've enough on my plate with trying to attempt an oly....]]>
Well I'm now down to 13 stone 3 and have lost 2 stone 8lbs since starting on the triathlon adventure!

I had my first proper swimming lesson tonight and feel really positive about swimming now. I was concerned about how my shoulder would stand up to front crawl, but it was fine, hopefully i'll be able to compete using crawl next year rather than the breastroke this year...

am going to put lots of effort into training over the winter and will enter my 1st olympic distance next year, am really enjoying all this, just wished I'd started earlier...


Mike]]>