Tuesday 31 December 2013

Not tonight!

Er, my fault. Went for a bike ride this morning - which wasn't particularly long, especially as I broke my bike (and thanks to Evernden Cycles in Paddock Wood for fixing it there and then when I went in) but I was in such a hurry to get home (to relieve mother from "babysitting") I completely forgot what day it was and took the boys to the café where we filled up on burger/chips (I had an omelette, cos I'm healthy). It was only when I collected the wife from the station and she said "Are we still having a curry tonight .....".

Anyway, will be doing another ride tomorrow eve in the mud and rain, so may not get a run in.

Just started reading Andy Holgate's book and got to admit, I'm going from nervous excitement to sh****ng meself.

Anyway, got to go as curry shop is waiting for me!!

Monday 30 December 2013

Second Run

Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but I was hoping it would be easier than that!

It's only a mile! Any Xbox obsessed 10 year old could probably run it without batting an eyelid.

Still, after a couple of days off I decided that even though my legs were still hurting, I really ought to get out and do another mile. So I did.

Naturally, I wanted to go faster so got a pleasant surprise when I checked the stopwatch - 47 secs quicker; now 10min 6 sec.

Very pleased with that indeed. Sorry, I'm going to have to be a bit sad and say that now gives me an estimated time for the run of just over 35 mins.

I'm going for a "proper" bike ride in some mud for an hour or two tomorrow, so will probably give the run a miss until Thursday as I'm riding Weds night too. Who knows, I may change my mind and go out tomorrow.

I've also heard the pool will be closed for well over a month from the sounds of it!

Of course, whenever I do go out next, I need to be around 9 and a half mins :D

Till the next run !

Sunday 29 December 2013

Another postponement!

Well, I was going to pop out for my second run in four days but we had a family (bike) ride along the coast (Saltdean to Hove and back via a chip shop and the cliff café). It wasn't particularly quick - I logged the return trip at 8.5 miles in 1.5 hours. So, glacial would be the pace, but it was good fun - I did have one blatt at the eastern end of Madeira Drive up to approx. 27mph, but ended up waiting for the rest. The tri is twice that distance in around 40 mins (well, it might be if I had a road bike). 

Anyway, my legs are still aching quite a lot from first run so think it'll have to be tomorrow (Monday) for the next one. Will have to push it a bit I think as I was hoping to have had at least two runs under my belt by now.

As it's been so long since I last did any proper running, I really don't know what my legs should feel like, but reckon pain means I should rest!!

Till tomorrow then!!!

Saturday 28 December 2013

Quickie

Just a quick note to say that following last nights first night of running and that I was going to go for another jog around the block tonight, I have decided tol give tonight's run a miss. I have been hobbling around all day with aching and painful leg muscles.

Tomorrow, we are doing an annual family bike ride from Saltdean Lido to Brighton's Madeira Drive for a snack:D It will be a very gentle affair, so tomorrow night I'll be back on the run so to speak.

And yes, the legs really are quite painful!

Friday 27 December 2013

First Run/Walk

What can I say - I don't think tonight's little effort could be called a run, more a trial to check everything that I needed to run still worked.

I'd marked out a one mile route around the block, set the stopwatch and took off - at a reasonable pace. Went out at 11pm as I really don't want to see anyone who might recognize me.

Anyway, I set off at a reasonable pace (felt like one at least), and was feeling really good for the first 150 yards, then the legs started hurting so I pushed it for another 50 and spotted a walker. I wanted a walking rest anyway and after another 40 yards they went left, so I went right and ran another 200 yards, followed by a walking break and so on for the mile.

The net result was a mile in 10m 53 sec which puts my time for the 3.5 mile run at 39 minutes - better than my first estimate, so I'm quietly optimistic for 30 min time. I know this is only the first run and only a mile and that 3.5 will be substantially harder, but I'll have done substantially more running by then too.

Bit of bad news though - the pool I train in has been flooded (and yes I appreciate that compared to all those unfortunate folk whose Christmases have been well and truly screwed due to weather, it's a fairly minor inconvenience) so that'll be delayed slightly.

Anyway, I had no idea there were so many muscles in my legs and how much they would hurt. Same again tomorrow and the next day, then a rest then more of the same :D

Thursday 26 December 2013

Stranger things have happened!

Okay, a couple of weeks back, we went to my wife's Badminton Club's annual Christmas dinner in a local public house. A great evening was had by all, and on the way out, a poster was spotted (by the wife) about a local triathlon taking place five and a bit months hence.

"You should do that!" she said.

My first Triathlon

Now, I do do quite a lot of cycling, but mtb, so the distances are short, but the pedal strokes hard as I prefer mud to tarmac. So the cycling shouldn't really be a problem other than I will be doing it on a mountain bike. Then there is the swimming, which also shouldn't be a problem as (even though it's been 30+ years) I used to swim for school, and though I'm not as fast as I was, and haven't got the stamina I think I should be able to hold my own (after some training - haven't done any serious swimming for seven months).

Finally, we get to the running. This holds the biggest fear for me as, even when I was at school I struggled with distance running, though was ok when playing rugby etc.

The other thing is that I haven't actually run since I was about 21 - I am now 47 and more than five stone (32 kgs) heavier than I was then.

So, after we got home from dinner, I asked the wife if she was serious to which she replied yes.

So, I signed up. It is now the 26th December and I now have five months to get myself fit enough to swim 400 metres, ride 16 miles and run 3.5 miles. Apparently, it's a race!

This blog will be to show my training results, thoughts etc and hopefully give others a bit of inspiration to do something similar or put then off completely.

Tomorrow, the 27th, it starts. I'm going to try and run/walk/jog/crawl a mile.

I'll also set myself some target times for the triathlon which are (and maybe wildly optimistic!!):

Swim, I'm hoping the 400m can be done as close as possible to 8 minutes - about 30 secs a length. I can do 25m in about 16 secs, but then need to recover for half an hour, so doing the 400m in 4 1/2 minutes ain't happening.

The bike ride is 16 miles, and 16 mph on a mountain bike for an hour might be a struggle especially as I have no idea how flat/hilly the course will be. Usual pace on dry dirt trails is around 9.5mph.

The run, at worst, will be a 3 1/2 mile walk - so an hour and I don't hold out much hope of doing it much quicker than 40 minutes - about 5 mph

I'm also going to try and lose some weight during the training - about 5 stone. Barring any health probs I think I ought to try and improve my overall fitness so the tri dream is the start - get swimming, cycling more, running a bit and lose weight.

By the way, as of today, I am around 16st 10lb (or approx. 106 kg)

I may be a bore and update every day or two, or just after every training sesh.

Wish me luck.