A welcome rest day (I think!!!)

I HATE REST DAYS!! , after yesterdays race so motivated to go and train today, but I`ve got to see sense and rest. So buzzing round the house tidying a bit, and even played a bit of warcraft this morning which I haven`t done in ages. Gonna try for an early night tonight and aim for pre work run mayb 5 miles easy pace , before heading for the swim session in the evening with my tri club. So going to go back to putting my feet up and try and enjoy the rest of my rest day...:-)
I know I`m back at work tomorrow and by the end of the week I`ll be wondering what the hell I was complaining about ...and wishing every day was a rest day!!

Whitwick 10k and Rugby sprint triathlon

Well I`ve been a bit slack on my blog lately,as a nooby to the blogging world finding it difficult to get on here and write, also been really busy at work and with a couple of races recently it`s been pretty full on.
On the 23rd August raced the Whitwick 10k in Leicestershire, great race really well organised and great value for money, only 8 quid to enter and with a t shirt and nice goody bag at the finish. Also for those lucky enough some nice trophies and cash prizes.
Apart from a trail run earlier in the year this was my first 10k of the year, pleased with my result 13th overall and 5th in my age category, my time wasn`t amazing 40.23 but the course was very hilly especially the first half.
The weekend after took part in my first triathlon in Rugby Warwickshire, had a great time. The race was brilliant with great organisation, atmosphere, I definitely recommend it especially to virgin triathletes like myself.
To be honest the day before wasn`t sure if I was going to make the race, came down with a really bad stomach bug, come the morning of the race felt a little better so decided to risk it.
The swim comprised of a 400m pool swim, went ok, but swimming is definitely my weak point...decided to breaststroke most of it, didn`t want to risk swallowing half of the pool especially with a very dicky tummy! As it turned out I probably swam it quicker than i would have done freestyle (a sad indictment on the proficiency of my front crawl!) Came out the pool time of 9 min 20secs, flapped around in transition for a couple of minutes, then off on the bike.
The bike leg went pretty well overtook people steadily throughout the course and my health was okay at this point with T2 took about 34.20 secs, for what was described as 20k route, although i think 18.5 k was probably more accurate, still very happy with the time.
The run was a 5 k two lap route, through the grounds of the school, nice and flat and all grass, fast run although a little uneven in parts so had to watch footing. Just after T2 my stomach started to cramp up really badly so ran the 5k with a bad stomach ache but my legs felt ok and finished run in about 20.16. I`d like to think mayb i could have squeezed sub 20 if i would have felt better , but pushed hard to the end so really happy with my effort, so my final time for my my first tri was a very satisfying 1.06.16, finishing about 8th in my age group and 47th overall .
Hopefully next year i can improve on this with a year more training under my belt, and hopefully a vastly improved swim leg

hard hard run!

After a relatively lazy day on Tues, managed a meagre hour on the bike but felt pretty tired after work so thought i deserved a rest!
Today though ..back to it with my longest run of the year so far 16.5 miles split in to 30 min segments 30 min easy 30 min half marathon pace, for a total of 2 hours , absolutley shattered when finished and for the last two miles had to hang on for dear life! Really chuffed though with the result though, hopefully should sleep well tonight, back to work tomorrow after weds off.

lofty goals and ambitions!

Well where to start?! , I`m new to this blogging so i`m guessing for a while my posts will be somewhat disjointed, but hopefully will improve in time.
Well maybe its a classic case of midlife crisis, but after a few years of occasional running (between several injuries!) at 42 years of age I`ve decided to enter an Iron man distance event next year. OK OK I know I haven`t had any real triathlon experience.. although I have joined a club and have my first sprint distance at the end of Aug, also my injury history is not ideal(dodgy knees mainly) but this Ironman ambition has been with me for several years so I`ve decided next year is the year!!
My training started about 3 months ago, although mainly has involved training for several running races i`ve entered through the summer, my next one being the Nottingham half marathon in September, also I`m probably going to enter the Kenilworth half marathon in October, so I`m trying to juggle between improving my rather hopeless swimming and getting endurance training on my bike with also trying to run a decent time in a half . My PB for a half is 1.31.50 set at Gloucester in 2005 so anywhere near that would be great, but I have to be realistic and probably admit I haven`t the speed in my legs at the moment.

Training today 3.10min (51 miles) easy on the bike(longest of the summer so far)
Quick change then 30min run (4 miles)