Friday, April 13, 2007

"It's me" or so said Lord Braveheart....

I'm back. Twice in a week. Something must be up.... or maybe I'm actually on my training schedule this week..... HURRAH! :o)

Haven't got the pitures of Bettie yet (the car) or blue-seventy - will charge my bats at the weekend for the old camara and see if I can get something on here before my *holiday* next Thursday!

Yes *holiday* is coming around fast - less then a week to go before I jet off with some friends to Lanzarote for my "Beginners Tri" camp. Looking forward to the break from the place they call work and a change of scene. Also looking forward to getting a bit of coaching on all three disciplines too. Hopefully will get plenty of time to train and plenty of time to sleep - perfect!

I should give a recap of training this week but something exciting happened today so I'll start off with that and work back to Monday....

So had arranged to meet a friend after w**k for a bite to eat, but keen not to spoil my action packed training week I cunningly arranged to meet up to give me sufficient time for a bit of a run and a bit of a swim. So off I set for the gym for a 4k run (500m intervals at 8.5km pace then 11.5 (1 at 12.5) km/hr pace)... that was good and felt better then last time a few weeks ago - good then as feel I'm getting stronger! Then quickly changed and got in the pool as figured I could get another 30-40mins in. Have to say felt really heavy in the water, both arms were aching (why was that?? bizarre) and my legs didn't have much in them after the run. So did a warm up then did a few laps of drills... then decided as I've been doing some good 100m laps recently that I'd try a 400m test to see if I could actually get under the magical 9min barrier....

I SPANKED IT!

Yep - I cracked my magical 9mins and got in on 8min 36secs! Nearly a full minute faster then I was capable off before my first sprint tri last summer. WOW. So given I've only been swimming for a month after my 8 weeks enforced break I'm not only surprised but really really pleased. Did a nice steady cruise and tried to keep some good form. I know I know so I'm not setting any world records but a personal triumph none the less... hurrah! Wonder if I could do it again?!?!

So today was good.

I'll do a brief recap then (in reverse order) of the week gone by;

Thursday - good 15km 40min turbo session with Episode 1 of Series 2 of "Alias" - yes I've got the 2nd series, borrowed from a friend. So that'll keep me and the turbo occupied for a while to come :o)

Wednesday - Was up in the big smoke so planned to have a day off from training. Needed a bit of a rest anyhow so that worked out well :o)

Tuesday - Well, wanted to go out for a nice easy run, easy pace, easy breathing etc etc. I actually didn't intend to do much more then 4k however got a bit carried away with it being such a lovely evening.. so I trotted out for oh that would be 7.5k instead. But a lovely evening so I did really enjoy it. Which brings me to a point - now this may be the effect of spring time, but I'm trying to go out and enjoy my running. Rather then going out to train hard and not enjoy it, given I'm building back up again I decided the best way to get the most of my training in was to do it in a way that I could both relax, not worry about times, but just try and chip away a slightly longer distance or time. I will get to some faster running and I do actually enjoy intervals but right now I'm just loving being back out in the open air, feeling the breeze and spying on the wildlife as a jog on by. Lovely.

Back to Monday then. So it was Easter Monday and thus a day off work. This should have inspired me to have planned my training and had a good day. Got to 4.30 and realised I still hadn't done anything - gulp! Quick check with the gym to find there was a spin class at 6.15 so reckoned if I got a wriggle on I could whiz out the door to the pool have 45mins to an hour in that then straight to the spin class....... great idea... well if I had remembered my clothes! So got out of the pool (luckily early enough), toweled myself down to find I had my towel, some legging things and a jumper but no bike shorts, no bra and no top! Doh! So my quick transition stalled as I legged it to my car to whiz home grab the rest of my kit (which I had cunningly left behind on my bed), change and get back to the club just in time for the spin class! Worked myself really hard in that - figure I work harder in spin classes then I tend to on my turbo. So yes a good spin class then to make sure I was completely shattered I jumped on the treadmill for a quick 1k! Phew... slept well that night! and hence I needed the wednesday rest after my monday then tuesday long easy run!

So that's it so far for the week. Am at 3hrs 55mins and 51.8k. My plan for tomorrow is to get on my roadie actually on the road (yes I'm still being a bit of a chicken and not got back on my bike outdoors). Then, given I really enjoyed by 10k run/walk last weekend I think I'll do the same Sunday maybe for slightly longer, but will wait out on that.

Right it's way past bedtime - or so the cat seems to be telling me with that stare.

I may break another record before the training week is out - a third blog in a week!!

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