But I retired years ago ...

Looking to 2015

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:43:11 +0100

Lemme see, since I was last here: new job, new marital status, and much water under the bridge.

Been a sparse time for sports, only did the World Masters Swim Champs in 2012 and a few local races (swimming & running), but hoping to limp back to some kind of fitness for 2015. Did my first 5K in ages on my birthday last weekend, and now back to nearly daily training. Lesson I always forget - never stop training, it is really bad for me.

Windsor fear

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:08:24 +0100

Thanks to the people who said hello to the last update. Funny how soon things come around when you are fixated on new job, wedding plans, etc.

But anyway, in 3.5 weeks I'm doing Windsor. Mostly I get the swim as a free pass, and I did a 6 mi run last weekend. But I'd better get on the bike soon. I feel very silly that it is so close to a race I've been dying to do for 3 yrs, and I'm so badly prepared. But rather than pull out, I think I'll treat this one as a learning exercise. And put this one down to experience. Ho hum. Idiot.

2010 Goals

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:48:10 +0000

Its been a bad 18 months or so. Been very ill with stomach problems, capped by losing 20 kgs (84 to 64) in the last 4 months. Easing back to running - have to carry a lot less weight now - but the swimming is very tough, as a chunk of the weight I've lost is upper body muscle.

I'm enjoying the Finsbury Park parkruns - getting a timed run in every week helps to keep you focused.

On the horizon are Windsor Oly in June and the World Masters Swim Champs in August (Gothenberg). Not looking for great results in either, due to on-going health problems, but just getting there is a step-up from last year.

Quick Update - Results from Worlds, Oz

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:52:43 +0100

Had a good time at the FINA World Masters in Perth, Oz. I only got back into the pool in Mid-Jan, but in the 400 & 800 I clocked the second fastest times I've done since coming out of retirement, only bettered 2 years ago when I was unemployed, getting lots of training and rest and coming off of 8 months of training. Was rather rusty in the 3K O/W, but managed to get my drafting sorted out nicely and finished in under 45 mins, my fastest avg. speed O/W swim to date. Would have had another 20 sec off that if my sighting had been better in the last 500m.

Results:
200 FC: 2:22.4 - slowish time, but wasn't focused on this - 26th
400 FC: 5:00.6 - good time, second time I've missed 5 min by < 1 sec - 20th
800 FC: 10:37.7 - good time but felt terrible during it - 22nd
3K OW: 44:35 - very happy with that, no O/W prep at all - 23rd

All-in-all, great results and I'm looking forwards to the GB Nats in June. Training solo is working, at least for now.

Kicking off the running training this weekend, as have a 10K quite soon, and have been missing it. Quite a few good runners at work too, so hopefully do more events this summer. Going to ease into weights work too, as I need to bulk up a fair bit.

LSD in the pool

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:38:21 +0000

Beginning to get back into something of a routine with training. With the big swim meet now 5 weeks away I'm doing a minimal amount of running, just once or twice a week for 5-10K at an easy pace, whilst the swim sessions have been dialed up to 4-5K+. Training less with the Masters Squad and more on my own, as I can focus on long sets of FC at a steady pace. Having the best pool in the Square Mile right next to work, where "busy" means 2 per lane, really helps. Last night was a long swim; tonight, if studying allows, will be shorter but faster. Takes a real mental effort to do the distance FC training solo, but I'm getting my head around it. A handfull of medals at the Welsh Open was also a nice motivator, silverware still gives me a buzz even after all these years.

Wore my Longest Day 2006 swim cap in the pool last night. Happy memories.

And have signed up for first running events of the year - second half of the summer Regents Park 10K series. Really looking forwards to those, something to focus on post-April.

2008 planned meets and events

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:06:26 +0000

Here we go again - time to get qualifying times for the big event, the FINA World Masters Swim Champs in Perth, Oz. Meet is in April, with qualifying times to be done by 23 March. I've several meets lined up, and I'm entering 200m, 400m and 800m if I make the grade, along with the 3K OW swim. Fewer events than last time, but the 100m and 50m aren't going to do anything for me - I don't place well in the UK in those, let alone against giant Aussies and Kiwis. Hoping for at least one Top 20 finish in the event tho', despite broken training.

After April, aim is to ramp up running and cycling for a crack at some Oly distance events later in the year.

Meets
Rotherham Open, Sheffiled Pond's Forge (50m)
Feb 10th
100m, 200m, 400m FC

Silver in the 400, qualifying times in all 3 (100, 200 and 400). The 400 was the best swim, 5:16, lot slower than 2 yrs ago but good first race back

Isle of Wight (25m pool)
Feb 23-24th
prob 1500m, 800m, 400m

Had to scratch, as g/f was moving into the flat she just bought

Welsh Open, Swansea (50m)
early March
prob 1500m, 800m, 400m plus several others (3 day meet)

Pretty good meet, took 2 golds, 3 silvers and a bronze. Best swim was the 800m, less than 10 sec behind my best time of 2 yrs ago in full time training, but only got bronze. Huge motivator for sticking with the distance training

World Masters Championships
Perth, Aus
18-26 April
200, 400, 800m FC; 3K O/W.

4 PBs from 4 swims; the 400m and 800m were both second best times since coming out of retirement, the 3K was the fastest O/W swim (on avg 100m pace) I've done ever. Placings: 200=26th; 400=20th; 800=23rd; 3K=23rd. Very happy with results

Next up:

GB Swim Nationals: June

Regents Park 10K series: July onwards.

Don't want to tempt fate too much

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:54:43 +0000

Easing back into training again. 3 sessions with the masters squad and 6 sessions in the gym & pool on my own at the health centre next to work last week. Felt a bit of a twinge in my left knee after doing a couple of 5Ks on the treadmill at an easyish pace, so have backed off the running a bit (and avoiding breastroke kick in the pool) and have started on glucosamine. Seems to be working OK.

Its been hard getting back into training, with several false starts in the last 6 months. But I've tried to keep the swimming going at a low level rather than stop altogether, and thats been far better than previous times I've had extended breaks. Its coming together in the pool a bit these last few days, and this morning I clocked a 400m and 800m inside the World Masters Champs qualifying times. Was far from flat out too, so barring any mishaps I should qualify for my events (200m, 400m, 800m and 3K OW) in the next 6 weeks, ready for Perth in April.

I'm going to watch the running between now and the big meet. I was lucky to not end up with any injuries (just a few bruises) from an Xmas snow-boarding trip, so I'm going to give that a miss for the rest of the season too. Having �1000+ to blow on a new bike care of Ride-to-Work should keep me perked up tho'. Have to line up several late-season tri events as something to aim for, along with some longer runs in the autumn.

Nice to find there is another TTer training with the swim squad (savaloy). Should help me out a bit when I'm too lazy to write up the swim log for a few days :)

First Race Back

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:43:53 +0100

Swam the Brighton pier-to-pier on Sunday. Bit of an eye-opener, it was much harder than last year. I finished 48th in the men's race, compared to 17th last year, with a 32 min swim vs 21 mins last year. And last year was one of my worst races of the year, with me so badly hungover that I almost had to scratch halfway thru the race. (I'm off the sauce completely these days, which is a huge positive.) So, it was a bit of a pointer as to how much fitness I've lost, and how far I've got to go to get back to where I was last summer. Of course, last year I'd also done a lot of OW swimming, inc. TLD and the UK 3K Masters Champs. OW swimming takes a bit of getting used to after pool training.

In the pool this morning, as I'm aiming for 3-5 swim sessions/week for the next couple of months. Looking forwards to finishing my degree and getting back to work, as a fixing a schedule for the week will help with slotting in training for the bike and running.

6-7:30am, Swiss Cottage

0400 2x(100 FC, 50 BK, 50 Fly s/a) warm-up (late)
0800 8x100 25 BR pull, 75 FC pull @2:00
1500 6x(3x25 Fast @45s, 200 Easy @3:45, 75 Fast @1:30)
0400 400 FC drills
0300 6x50 FC kick @60s
----
3400

Shorter session (cf 4-5K last 2 weeks), with a bit of speed work. Leading off Lane 3.
200s: 2:47, 52, 53, 56, 57, 57
75s: 52,53,53,55,53,55
Times OK for 75s, cf 1:08-1:10 100m pace from last autumn.

Back ...

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:27:12 +0100

Its been a while. Where have I been? Well, the clue was in the last Blog entry I made, back in Oct:

Been a bit sloppy with the old 'blog, but work and Uni are now both in full flow so it is tough to keep up to date.

Yup, working full-time, doing a full-time MSc and training weren't all going to fit, so I cooled my heels on the training front. Was meant to be a 3-4 month break - turned into 8 months.

Still, got the job done - passed the MSc exams, and now just have to finish the dissertation to get the degree. Pity I missed out on the UK and European Masters Swim Champs, but there are other events coming up. I'm interviewing for jobs, having taken a study break the last couple months too, and it looks like I've got one in the bag already.

Been back in the pool for 3 weeks now, and I've done a bit of running as well. Building up to 10K on the running front, I'm going to be looking for a few races in the next month or so. I've had fun at the Nike 10K and Regents Park 10K winter series before, so I'll make sure to get entries in for those soon.

First swim race is the Brighton pier-to-pier this Sunday, where my club is going to be trying to retain the men's team trophy. I was third man on the team last year - with only a few weeks back in the water I might not even be one of the four who count this time around, but as long as the club gets the trophy it'll all be fine.

On the horizon:

* a few UK swimming events this year. Ended up in the top 5 in the UK rankings (800m and 1500m) last year, and a couple good swims towards the end of the year might see me there again.

* World Masters Swim Champs - Perth, AUS next Spring. Training is going to focus towards this; hopefully pick up some places from my 19th in the Open Water last year. Have to get the pennies saved up for flights, etc.

* longer runs - really want to get a half marathon under my belt soon, and do a full distance early next year.

* get out on road with Tri-London - this winter I *will* get serious bike mileage in. One of my closest friends has also been bitten by the cycling bug in a big way, and is doing 200K audax rides, so I might join her for some longer rides

Might start blogging my training here at Tri-Talk again. It'll be very heavily swimming dominated tho', and I'm keen to find other places to write it all up.

Regents Park 10K, race 1

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:00:50 +0100

Been a bit sloppy with the old 'blog, but work and Uni are now both in full flow so it is tough to keep up to date.

Quick write up of last Sunday. Now, I've been very lazy with the running training - took almost the whole summer off, and have only run a couple of times recently. So I was taking the 10K as a gentle easing back into racing, and not contrasting it with last year - altho' 12 months ago it was my first running race ever, I had been doing a lot of training in the lead up. So, altho' the time was almost 4 mins slower than last year, it wasn't too disappointing.

Splits:

4.51 1
4.53 2
4.50 3
4.46 4
4.55 5
4.55 6
4.50 7
4.50 8
4.49 9
4.37 10
----
48.17

Look at Mr Consistancy. I really held back until inside the last K, then kicked a little bit - nice to move past a few people in the run up to the line. Felt extremely comfortable after, and after a nice shower and some stretching (the new facility, The Hub, in Regents Park is top notch) I was off home with a spring in my step. No real pain afterwards, which I was very happy about.

Nike 10K this weekend. I'm going to attack that quite a bit harder, and see how I get on.

Must write up my swimming sessions, as I'm back in training properly now, and I have 2 weeks jotted down on scraps of paper.