Ironman

Awesome film, loved the bit where they...
Okay I'm not talking about the film here people, we all know where this triathlon training is heading 'Ironman' now the question is do I work my way up the ladder and start on sprint triathlons then standard triathlons, then do a couple of half marathons?

No I didn't think so either, I want to do an Ironman so after the sprint triathlon I will begin my training for 'Ironman' I might allow myself 1 or 2 standard triathlons along the way, maybe a charity event or 2 but my eyes will be on the prize as they say

So what are the facts you ask, well Ironman UK 2012 is almost here, it's on Sunday 22nd July 2012 and it costs £375 to enter, I think thats all the info we need, oh right the distances, well a standard Ironman is:

Swim 2.4 Miles, Cycle 112 Miles, Run 26.2 Miles

I can't see a problem here to be honest and if i'm right the hardest part will be the .2 Mile run at the end so the rest by definition is easy right

Monday Mornings

So how did you start your Monday morning?

Well I went down the gym and done some more training for the triathlon

BORING!!!!

Okay so I flew a space shuttle around the world and saw 2 monkeys arguing over a peanut both in mid-fart, when I saw a flash of light as a giant bouncy castle exploded on the surface of Mars which insidently made a thousand stars implode simultaneously and leave behind exactly 15 versions of the very same puffin book that I read when I was at school

Does that sound more interesting?

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Don't ask where that came from, Had a great weekend went to see my girlfriends uncle get married, didn't get to witness any fights though, sorry

I was caught off my training guard by some Pimms mixed with fruit and lemonade before I remembered about my healthy body and then stuck to water for the rest of the night, wasn't bored though, had a really good time, great company, food and location

I've not done any form of training since Thursday nights swim, I started to notice less and less people coming to the gym in the mornings, there used to be at least 10 people there, i'll put it down to Monday morning today

I'll need to start timing myself on the swimming soon so that I can judge how fast i can swim 400 meters

Why am I not an Iron Man yet?

Oh the struggles we face, I went back down to the pool last night, I got in a half hour earier so that I could get my £3.60's worth

I noticed that after about half hour in the pool I still wasn't up to Iron Man standard, is it just me that when they start to exercise/train they want the results to be as quick as the decision to start exercising/training, hey come on now I started a whole half hour ago why am I not Arnold Swarchenegger yet?

I made some real progress yesterday despite my moans, after making some changes to my breathing pattern and starting to actually kick with my legs when I swam, I was swimming pretty much non-stop for the whole hour and a half, I must have done well over 400 meters, I have to admit that I did get a bit disheartened though when 3 Iron Man triathletes got into the pool fully kitted in Iron Man class wetsuits, goggles and caps and wondered why I couldn't keep up with their pace, I think I overheard one of them say at the end that they had done over 2.2km already

It was the second day of training on my own due to Dani being ill, not that I have that much time to stop and talk during training but it's good to have someone with you to let you know where you're going wrong and provide motivation

I got up this morning ready for the gym but my body told me that a day of rest would be good for me, I was feeling a little tight and thought it would good to let me body recover a little before putting it through anything else

We've also got family over this weekend so training is going to have to fit around them as well, but I figured as long as I get up early enough, it won't get in the way too much

Last years Results

I've found the results for last years Cotswold super sprint Triathlon:

http://www.triferris.com/results/supersprint10.htm

So I'm aiming for a sub 1 hour finish time :)

Lost, Dazed and Bewildered

"...And I wonder...When I sing along with you...If everything could ever feel this real forever...If anything could ever be this good again..."

This is my new intro song when I walk into a room (It's Everlong by the Foo Fighters), much like the "dum-dum-dum  dum-de-dum  dum-de-dum" that Darth Vader has whenever he is close by

Anyway, last night I found myself walking the corridors of a strange building my body ached all over and I was staggering left to right and right to left, I looked the shattered remains of someone left in the desert and who had had to make their way to the nearest oasis, I had just completed an hour of nearly non-stop swimming, all I can say is "Damn that Will Smith"

If you haven't seen the inspirational video of Will Smith on YouTube you need to look it up, i'll see if i can post it on here soon, in the video he talks about work ethic and setting yourself goals and sticking to them no matter what (well thats what i got from the video and i know what you're going to say, didn't you know that already? well yes but he says it in an inspiring way, seriously look it up)

I'm not sure how long i swam for in distance but I definately done over 400 meters, it wasn't easy mind, at the end of every length i had to argue with myself to do "just one more length" following this strategy i managed to keep on going

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Which brings us to this morning, it's strange i used to love lie-ins, the alarm would wake me up at 7:30 and i'd snooze it all the way till 8:00, don't ask me why i didn't just change the alarm to 8:00 in the first place, i guess i liked the feeling that i should get up earlier but "sleeping in" till eight made that extra sleep feel so much better

However when the alarm went off at 6:30 i knew it was time to get up and off down the gym for me, i managed to get a full hour in doing resistance training and then a 10 min power cycle set to almost the highest resistance level, it was hard work and my body told me to stop after a minute had gone by but i kept pushing on, i used the same strategy as i did in swimming the night before "just one more minute"

Had a shake before and after and it's almost time for my third of the day, feeling awake energized and raring to go

I'm back for more

Well my holiday was great, I tried to get some short distance runs in between the opening of the locks (I was on a canal boat for a week) the week started off well with shakes for breakfast and niteworks for my night-time drink but eventually the holiday spirit got the better of me and along came the fried breakfasts and ciders for my night-time drinks, D'oh!

But now that I'm back I've kick started my training off again, an almost hour long swimming session last night and an almost hour long gym session this morning before work, I now get to see 2 x 6:30's in my day

I've hit the shakes again after my workouts, I asked my team of experts for some shake tips (Thanks BIG team) and I'm feeling energized and ready for the triathlon again

I probably should have done my stats before and after my holiday to see what happened to my body while resting but I didn't (Note to Self: do this on your next holiday)

I weighed myself at the gym and I'm showing as 70 kg so I've probably lost some muscle so I'll need to build this back up again

Well it's good to be back and i'll keep you updated as the date gets ever nearer, argh!!

Heritage Motor Museum