A Great Week...

After my ramblings last week, I can report a great week and a return to my old self. The week has been helped by being on Half Term, but I do feel I have turned a new page and started a new chapter. Whilst it's been a long 7 week first half term it's hardly an eternity, I am very happy to have a week's holiday however I have very little time for the teachers at my school who just cannot hack a few weeks work before claiming illness and then moan about how long the term is. Come on guys don't moan about it, if you don't like having 16 weeks holiday a year, working at most 7 weeks before a weeks break then please get out and get yourself a job where you have to book your 5 weeks with your boss!!!

It's been a full week, lot's of family time, some relaxation time, plenty of training and mucho weather. Spring felt like it arrived on a couple of days, perfectly timed for a couple of bike rides. Then on Sunday the wind and rain came just in time for the Guy Fawkes 10 mile running race. I actually love running in the rain and once we had run the first mile I was quite warm. However my supporters remained stranded in the car in the flooded field where they did very well to amuse themselves with all the usual in car games, including eye spy and singing. The Halloween Chocolate and Sweets came in handy but really the patience and inginuity of Sarah was the real reason 2 hours in car can be so much fun. This was a real shame as the race venue was Ripley Castle which has some fantastic grounds, a great tearoom and looks pretty Castley so Ellie would have been fascinated (she asked if Kings and Queen's still lived there) It will be a good location for a picnic in kinder weather.

The picture's were taken at Tropical World in Leeds. It was nice to have a day out with just Ellie. Recently Evie has sort of taken over, she is at that very awkward 2 1/2 years age where communication is developing more slowely than understanding and the desire to be involved. At times she is certainly a terrible two. Anyway me and Ellie went to Tropical World saw all sorts of exotic animals and got up close and personal with some lovely butterflies. We hit the gift shop where Ellie bypassed the soft toys instead wanting a book and animal pen to draw some pictures, and practice her writing. So often I forget she has only just turned 5, she really is an attentive, caring, intelligent little girl. We then headed up into Headingley and had lunch at Gusto's. Ellie got to make her own Pizza and I got a hugely overpriced, miniature Caesar Salad, (should have had a pizza) but the food was secondary to the time I got to spend with Ellie.

On Friday I took myself, Ellie and Evie (Sarah was fixing Saxophones) across to Liverpool to see my brother Max and his wife Rachael. It was a visit with a two pronged attack. Auntie and Uncle get to spend a bit of time with their nieces and Daddy gets ride a stationary bike to exhaustion whist bro is stabbing his finger taking copious amounts of blood for lactate analysis. Max lectures Sports and Exercise Science at Liverpool Hope University, I wanted to a do a Maximal Power test on the bike to establish some training zones and Max wants some more subjects for his BASES accreditation. I got a body analysis in the bodpod which gave me a body fat of 8.5%. Although Max is quite happy with it's accuracy I think it may be a little low, however I was super happy with the result. Onto the bike and I maxed out at 390 watts for 2 mins, reaching 180 bpm heart rate. Lactate was sky high so Max will be able to plot an accurate Onset Blood Lactic Acid Accumulation profile against Heart rate, and then give me some advice for some subsequent training zones. I was more then happy with my bike performance, it is great to do and fits nicely with my desire to train more scientifically and move away from the long steady training I have focussed on for the last 3 Ironman filled years. Speed and quality is where it's at this year my friends!!!

The rest of the week was far from empty. Swimming with Ellie, pumpkin carving, Trick or Treating, tree surgery in the garden, leaf clearing, a shocking DVD 'Shoot em up' with Sarah, Nice Sunday lunch post race with Ove, Emma and 6 week old Eva and of course the usual day to day fun and frustrations that two little girls bring. I managed to give Sarah a bit more free time than her usual week so she could get to the gym and pool, where she is really enjoying herself. This weeks post wouldn't be complete without some attention to my training, given that when it's happening I am a much nicer person to be around, more balanced, more contented and generally happier. In a summary form my training week looked like this.

Mon: am RUN 5.5 miles, Steady 8min/mile.........pm BIKE (Ceepo) 1hr steady spinning 139bmp HR.

Tues: am RUN 5 miles including 8 hill rep hard intervals........pm SWIM 400m TT 6.33

Wed: am BIKE 47 miles 2 1/2 hrs high cadence riding (min 100 rpm)

Thurs: pm BIKE (Ceepo) 1hr steady spinning 132bpm HR Brick RUN 3.5 mile 8min/mile

Fri: am Max Power Test 3/4 hr

Sat: pm SWIM Drills set 1600m 3/4hr

Sun: am Guy Fawkes 10 Mile Run Race 1:10:50 ave HR 170bpm

Total: 9 3/4 hrs nicely balanced between swim, bike, run.

The challenge now is to maintain the balance between each discipline and the balance between intensity when I return to work. I know it's possible and I am going give it a good shot.

Oh yes nearly forgot, my new Asics DS Racers were the 'dogs danglies' on Sunday in the race, and finally....I have booked my place on the Leeds Bradford Triathlon Club Training Camp departing 28th March 2010 to Malaga for a week, will be awesome.

Let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes,

'if you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not constantly demanding more from yourself expanding and learning as you go you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip'

Have a great week folks, see you in 7.......

p.s. nearly forgot, Best of luck to my best mate Ben Bigglestone in his latest coaching adventure, his VO2 Performance Center nr Seattle where you can crank out some serious cycling watts in one of his organised group cycling sessions. You don't need any luck Ben it's going to be very successful, just wish you'd not moved so far away, miss you buddy.