HPU Training Camp and start of race season

Mr Regular Updates returns. April has definitely had some positives....

Good Friday Bungay 10k
As per my last update I was aiming for a sub 36.30. Certainly nothing spectacular but it's not a fast course and my previous best there was a low 37. So what did I get...? 36.29 by my watch and 36.30 officially! At least my predictions match my leg speed.
Timewise I was pleased, but the splits were a bit disappointing - whereas last year they were almost to the second on the way back (out and back course) this year I really dropped off. Points toward some longer runs required....

HPU Training Camp Girona
All in all what a bloody great week. Highlights are too numerous to mention but I had an excellect week. Total of 340 miles biking (including a 97 and a 102 - never done a century before) plus a few k of swimming and a little running.

The facilities were superb and the riding and the roads were really a lot better than I had hoped. I rediscovered my mountain legs and dragged my oversized carcass over the Pyrenees in pretty good style.
N.B. A climb up Rocacorba in 38.02 is a pretty good time, despite the fact that Dan Martin's record is 28.15 (and Will Clarke esq did it in 35....)!!

All in all a great week, great company and fantastic location. Huge thanks to Dave, Tom (for never quite letting me get away on the climbs) and Anna.

25 mile TT PB
Very pleasing result - on my local course. Had given myself a scare earlier in the week with a godawful performance at a local 10. Proved later in the week that it was hopefully a freak incident (possibly caused by 15 miles pretty hard running the day before....?) though with a PB of 35 seconds over the 25. 56.54. Not mind blowing, but good.

Wattisham Triathlon
First tri of the year - when will I stop getting a fluttery tummy before these things??!! Done this one for the last 2 years so it's a good chance to gauge current form. Last year I did 52.28, 20 seconds outside the winner who'd done a course record. This year the aims were:
- Win
- 51 minute course record
Pleasingly I did both, despite the fact that the course had had to be extended with a little windy section - 30 to 60 seconds extra possibly?
Finished in 51.20, so that's over a minute up on last year with the potential for more based on the course differences. I would say that the wind was certainly kinder than last year, but my 5k was 30 seconds up, so definite improvements there.


Cycling - baby steps, but 30 seconds up on last year for a 25
Running - not feeling fantastic, but the times are coming despite a lack of speed work
Swimming - eurgh


Upcoming races
Kings Lynn 10k - 2nd May, a target so scary I can't even bear to type it....
10 mile TT - 3rd May
Grendon Sprint Tri World Qualifier - 9th May
Newmarket Sprint Tri - 16th May
Fritton Oly Tri - 30th May

April fool

And so we enter the month of April - that time of year when lazy weekends (as if) get replaced with competition and all that it encompasses.

March was the month when I can say that my training actually clicked into second gear and started to cruise a little. I'm pleased to say that I stayed illness free for this block, and just have the slight worry of a hamstring niggle which has been hanging around for the last month. I've chosen my usual tactic of attempting to ignore and hoping that it will go away - although I'm dreading the first time that tactic backfires properly...

This week has been a rest week. I break my training up throughout the year into 4-5 week blocks, building the intensity and reducing the volume through the block with the last week being a chance to recover a little and have some easy training with some time trials in all disciplines to check on my progress. I didn't employ this tactic for my first couple of years in competition, and ended up a complete mess by August each year. Building in the rest periods allows more recovery and the chance to come back stronger. However, I always find it strange that the easy week seems to leave me feeling the most tired and lethargic!?

I had my swim TT this morning - timing myself from a push for 400m, then after a little rest a 200m. Certainly didn't come out of it with times to set the world on fire, but have progressed since last time - and that, as they say, is the aim of the game. Tomorrow is my first real 10k of the season - I've done this race for the last 2 years (possibly even 3) so have a definitive marker on where I'm at at this time of the year. My best is around 37.20 here as it's a tough course (35.19 elsewhere) - I only ever like aiming for times in my head, but here goes - aim is sub 36.30. We shall see - hamstring and awful weather forecast will attempt to play their part I suspect.

Then on Saturday it's a week in Spain with the HPU guys. Hadn't really given it too much thought but now it's arrived and I'm really looking forward to it. With so much seemingly going on on a daily basis it will be great to have a week with just training on the mind and no distractions.

Mid-March already

It's that time of year where I'm watching the calendar fly along at a hectic pace, but still can't decide quite where the time is going.

My last update was back the wintery wonderland of January (although Feb turned out to be just the same). The intention since then has pretty solely been to build the miles - my usual scarily late build faze only really commenced around the middle of January, so I've given myself the feeling of playing catch up.

The last 3 weeks have given me cause to relax a little into my training. February was a large "anti-Milk" conspiracy with a variety of illnesses and ailments thrown my way, but everything is settling now and recent training has been good. The swimming and running have been consistent, and I'm now starting to bring the biking online.

Got my fixed wheel baby out at the weekend for it's first jaunt in a few months!














It was the usual white knuckle affair with a couple of out of the seat moments when I forgot I was fixed, but other than that a nice ride in the warming weather. More to come.

Very much looking forward to the Girona training week at the start of April with the HPU team. I'm never someone who does huge miles on the bike, but the last couple of Saturdays have been very good and given me some lovely niggle free cycling. Looking forward to getting away from the stresses and strains for a week and get some good mileage under the belt.

Hoping to slip a 10k in before I go. There's a Good Friday 10k I've done for the last couple of years and I always like to repeat previous year's early season races to get a good gauge of where things are at. Training times are one thing, but it's always a reassurance to have some good race times under the belt.

Wymondham 10k 24/01/10

This race was a re-run of the New Years Day 10k which had to be cancelled due to the rather white Christmas and New Year that we suffered. I wasn't due to run the original race as I was out of the country, but bearing in mind that the race start was half a mile from my house running on my usual training routes I couldn't really do a no show!

My running form has been lagging a bit over the last couple of months. I've been working with some new running drils from HPU and have been trying to incorporate the new techniques into my running. Whilst I can feel the benefits, it's amazing how difficult it is to force yourself out of bad running habits. Consequently I've done plenty of easy running and drills, but very little high intensity work also (a reflection of my training schedule at this time of year).

The weather was good although chilly, and the turnout was very high for this well run event from my club Wymondham AC. My PB is a very low 35, but I've never actually gone below 37 minutes before April as that's when I start ramping up the intensity on the training.

I started out quite hard averaging around 3.32 for the first 2km and managed to get space to run on my own. Although I felt that I was dropping off all the way after that my times didn't reflect the same and I held fairly steady between 3.35 and 3.43 per km all the way. It's a bit of a lumpy course, but as I run it day in day out I knew exactly what was coming.

Finished in 36.34 - target had been a mid 36, although I didn't think that was realistic - so was pretty pleased. Finished 7th overall, 1 place ahead of a chap who beat me by 30 seconds when I PB'd last May in 35.19. Hopefully that's a reflection of my training rather than his - gives me a little bit of confidence now that I've started full training for the year.

No cliches, but new year new start....

And so it begins - training and blog. After rather an enforced hiatus on the training front I have nothing else now lying between me and a rather large stack of races this year.

The intention from November had been to get a solid 3 month block of endurance training in to form a solid building block for the year. However, with a change of work circumstance and a bit of a change in priorities over winter it's meant that Wednesday 13th January constituted official day 1 of this year's logged training.

The last week has given me a chance to plan out my races for the year, and get a little bit of fire in the belly to finally get the ball rolling.

The main priorities are the European Championships in Athlone in July and the World Championships in Budapest in September. Will also get a chance to finally race Dambuster this year and overall to build on what was a pretty pleasing 2009.

Change of work circumstance means that I'm not now working for anyone else, but giving a real go to making a success of our business importing and wholesaling. This will probably mean I'll be working very long hours, but will also give me the chance to have a bit of flexibility with my training schedule. Will have blocks of days where I can't train at all, but compensated by times I can get out during the day - when this was never ever an option before.

Roll on fitness, and roll on good weather!