'Citius, Altius, Fortius'

2011

2011-01-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

I am not exactly sure what 2011 will bring but I do know that the year has begun as 2010 ended with me and my family being very busy with some exciting projects. Me and blogging sort of parted company for most of 2010, I will try to get things back on track in 2011. Whilst I don't think I will achieve the regular weekly blogs of previous years I will make a little more effort to write about some of the going ons. Who knows it may also serve to get me into a bit more training....more of that shortly.

Back in September I started a Level 4 Sport and Remedial Massage course at Selby College. It is a year long course and I have to say I am loving it. I am loving the content, it's been something I have wanted to do for a number of years, but I am also loving getting back into a classroom and learning. I think there is something very satisfying about learning and although I have a decent grasp of the anatomy and physiology learning the theory and practice of sports massage is proving challenging, but exciting. I have just completed the first 20 page assignment, a process slightly different to my University days, because of the Internet. Should I be so bold to say students have it easy these days, well not easy but at your fingers tips is a whole world I didn't have access to in the early 90's, without an armful of books being extracted from the library.....I am looking to develop my massage skills and see where it will take me, who knows?

Sarah is equally busy developing the performing side of her business. She is currently building a new website and getting ready to launch herself beyond 'Caesar's Restaurant' at weddings, party's, other restaurants and really any gathering that would be enhanced with some live Saxophone, Flute or Clarinet tunes. She is loving playing her shiny new Tenor Saxophone, and even if I am slightly biased it does sound pretty sweet. She is currently recording some tunes to put together a CD, I will keep you all posted.

After what seems like many years of let's do it, no let's wait my Mum and Dad have finally taken the plunge and moved from our family home in Stewkley to Cumbria. They do say when it's supposed to happen it will, and around October 2010 they found their perfect home, sold their's and the week before Christmas moved. It is a bit of a new lease of life for them, they are within striking distance of he northern Lakes and Keswick, and are on the door step of the Solway Firth which looks like a beautiful place. Thrustonfield is a nice little village, everybody seems really friendly and things are looking good. So now a trip to see Mum and Dad can include a mountain walk or run or a cycle with my Dad in some pretty special scenery. They are also within striking distance of many of the 7 Stanes mountain bike routes! The only downside is the added bonus of a ride with Jevon when I visited them in Stewkley has now gone. I'm sure some Yorkshire mountain biking will appeal to him....

Ellie and Evie continue to bring so much joy to mine and Sarah's lives. Ellie is becoming a very accomplished little girl, with a huge thirst for knowledge and an even bigger thirst for writing stories and drawing pictures. She is dancing in her dance schools show in March and will take a Ballet exam shortly afterwards. She also did her first running race with me back in October which was really good fun. Evie is still driving us crazy with her eating and sleeping habits, but she is really developing a fabulous carefree attitude and enjoyment for eveything she is exposed to. She might be the little sister but she can certainly hold her own!! I think sometimes we forget she is only 3 1/2 years old, and becasue of her sister have too much of an expectation of her. Oh the joy of parenting, no text book or iPad App, it's all pretty much instinct. Anyway Evie is a bundle of energy a really energetic little girl and a great deal of fun. When the girls are playing nicely together (which is very often) they are amazing to listen to and watch :)

Did I mention iPad....I must have been a really good boy in 2010 because Sarah got me one for Christmas. After seeing friends Ipads I wasn't sure of their use, but now I am totally converted. They are a fabulous piece of kit, I have everything from amazing 3D muscle and trigger point apps for my massage course to photo colorsplash apps to table tennis. I have read a couple of books and done pretty much everything I would have done on my computer. I am sold, everybody in our family have found things to do on it both educational and fun. It is a pretty amazing and I am a lucky boy!!

We got a couple of chickens in September and just before Christmas they started laying. That's pretty cool, fresh eggs most days, good fun to look out in the garden and see a couple of hens walking around pecking everything that gets in the way.

I have just about shrugged off tendonitis in both achilles. This has really affected my running, biking and all physical activity if I am really honest. A combination of an injury, football in footy boots on hard pitches, football in flat trainers in a hard sports hall, a summer in flip flops and bare feet and a desire to run for two weeks in Lanzarote whilst on holiday with the injury that really messed me up. Anyway treatment from Ove and recently some ultra sound seems to have just about got on top of it. I am running again and hope that the rehabilitation work and general adaptation from running and training will see it put to bed. I can then start to enjoy some running fitness and build some more activity into my week.

I am very lucky to be surrounded by and exposed to some very inspirational people. I think this is such a great thing to have in your life and I certainly feel enriched and often invigorated by friends and people I know. I am sure they will continue to have a big influence on me in 2011. Well thats a start, let's see what the week brings, take it easy out there and use the energy of others to help invigorate your week. See ya later....

Happy Birthday Mum...

2010-05-27T10:24:00.001-07:00

It's been a few weeks and as you can see Ellie has finally lost her wobbly tooth, that was refusing to fall out. Much to her amazement and joy her very own tooth fairy visited and left a shiny coin and a nice note....

18th May was my Mum's 60th Birthday. I hope I have inherited all her genes that keep her looking so young!!! My Dad had organised a surprise weekend for her, we just about managed to keep everything hidden and secret from her. We travelled to surprise her on Friday night, then Max and Rachael and Auntie Jan and Uncle Gary arrived on Saturday. Dad had worked so hard. We had a party tea (mainly for Ellie and Evie) and later in the evening he had arranged a meal and all the trimmings. On Sunday Sarah and Jan whisked my Mum off to Ikea. Sarah employed some great delay tactics, Ikea hotdogs, wrong turns, 36 point turns etc etc to keep Mum away until 2pm, mean while.....balloons and banners were organsied, tables appeared from hidden locations, drinks came out from the shed and Waitrose delivered the food. Dad had spread the word and Mum's work collegues and friends from the village started to arrive. Amazingly Mum didn't twig on to Sarah's strange behaviour and when she got home all was revealed.

It was a great afternoon, with particular highlights being Sarah playing jazz saxophone, and my cousin Nathan playing some chilled out tunes on his guitar. The guests were certainly impressed! Mum is off to a very nice hotel in the Cotswolds with her friend to enjoy a chilled out weekend of pampering, very well done Dad and Happy Birthday Mum xxx

This coming Saturday see's me race the Beaver Middle Distance Triathlon, first race of the season, really looking forward to it. If I am honest I think I was training harder 8 weeks ago and in better race shape, however I still think I am in a good place and am intrigued as to how well I will go. Not been swimming for a while but there's no change there. Belvoir Castle is the race venue, it looks like a great location for a race and should be very spectator friendly. We have got Ellie and Evie a pink pop up tent so that should keep them entertained as they wait for me to come through on the bike or on the run. There are plenty of guys from the club racing so it should be a good day.

Finally get a load of this. Tommorow is the start of the half term holidays, between now and 1st September I have 4 weeks of work and 9 weeks of holiday, something wrong there!!!!!

Finally, finally the new Head Teacher at our school is going to be a Head Mistress, she starts in January. Over the two days of interviews she seemed very nice and is currently Deputy Head at a very good school in Bury St Edmunds. I am quite excited, she will bring plenty of new things to our school, have very high standards and high expectations, and hopefully shake the place up a bit.

See you next week for a race report.

P.S Nearly forgot: Huge congratulations to Tom for another amazing Ironman performance at Lanzarote, 10:23:43 He might not have qualified for Kona but he gave it his absolute best during training and on race day, and one can not ask for anymore than that, great work Tom.

Quality not Quantity...

2010-05-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Another busy week has gone by and not much training in terms of volume has been achieved, if I was training for an Ironman I would be a little concerned, BUT I am not....The proof of fitness and performance is in the numbers and today the numbers look pretty damn good. I joined Tom for a session we did last year, multi laps round a very challenging 13.7 mile, 425m of climbing circuit taking in some big hills through Leathley, Pannel, Norwood and Farnley. In addition to the climbing it is usually pretty wind over the top, all in all a tough circuit. Last year I rode 5 laps, in about 48 to 51 mins per lap. I then ran off the bike covering 14 miles in an average of 8.39 min/mile. A perfect Ironman session.

This morning I rode 4 laps in 45.30, 45.37, 46.56 and 47.05. I rode hard, steady on the climbs (as much as is possible when it hits 16%) and then worked hard to ride a high cadence, but with power in the pedal strokes on the descents and drags. After 54 tough miles I spun back to the parked cars and got ready to run. The plan for the run was to go easy for a mile then hit it hard with 10 miles being my target distance. 8.07 for mile 1, followed by 7.39, 7.50, 7.31, 7.48, 7.57, 7.54, 7.45, 7.38. I stopped and took on water and some nutrition at the end of each mile, done at a very leisurely pace taking between 15 and 30 seconds. I went through 8.5 miles at 7.57 average but that was probably more like 7.35 I ran a lap with Tom at 7.25 and a lap with his mate Ben at 7.10. By far the fastest I have run in a brick session. I was working hard but no cramps occurred and after such a hard bike I felt great.

So is there a morale to today's post. A morale no, but I guess two things strike me. Number one; training for Ironman during 2007, 08 and 09 doing lots of long steady riding and running has built a big base of aerobic fitness. Number two; This year doing more quality sessions, faster running and time trial efforts during most rides has got me in a good place with regard to performing hard over 2 to 4 hours. So quality over quantity seems to be working just fine.

Beaver Middle Distance Triathlon is my first race of the season on 29th May, I am excited about it now having landed a great session today. A few more quality sessions, a bit more swimming and get a grip of my diet and I'll be flying round Belvoir Castle.

Sarah has played another Saturday night session on her Saxophone at Caesars Restaurant, once again it went down really well. I think they would have her play every weekend if they could, well done gorgeous, you are a super star.

My legs feel pretty smashed now so I think it's stretch time and bed. Have a great week, enjoy your training and have fun...

P.S Didn't have a photo from this week so here's me in Spain 6 weeks ago having finished a tasty climb...

Spring Explosion...

2010-05-03T09:54:00.001-07:00

Well Spring is definitely here, everything is exploding into life yet I seem to be going in the opposite direction. I remember a spell like this in 2008 during April. I'd trained really well through the Winter and was super excited that Spring, and the warmer weather was on the way, then when it arrived I went into virtual hibernation. Currently I am pretty low on motivation, to train and if I am honest to do much really. I don't know why, but I really must snap out of it!!

My last 3 weeks of training have been rubbish, 6 1/2, 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 hrs what is that all about. However in amongst that I have ridden a great 3 x 8 mile TT session and had 2 of the best runs I have had for ages. A 10 mile off road run as 4 x 2.5 miles (out and back) increasing the pace, where my final 2.5 miles was run at 6.53min/mile. Yesterday I did a 12 mile (out and back) where I the first 6 were at 7.25min/mile and into the wind I returned at 7 min/mile, nor was I busting myself. So although I am not in a great place regarding my motivation and desire to train and do things, I seem to be performing pretty strongly.

Sarah has written her first post on her blog all about her music. We went to have a meal at Caesars Restaurant the other Sunday, and were entertained by a wonderful Jazz Saxophonist!!! I hear Sarah play all the time whilst she teaches, but seeing her on the stage, properly performing was a first. She is super talented, everybody loved her music. She is playing on Saturday, and it looks like a pretty full restaurant....

Evie is doing every bodies head in with her moods and constant answer to anything and everything "I want to", I guess she is only 2....

In 3 weeks time it is Ironman Lanzarote. This time last year I was gearing up to race it, I cannot believe a year has passed (I still have the tan lines on my back where I burnt) . I am enjoying not having to put in the really long training hours this year, but as Lanzarote and the European Ironman race season begins there is a big part of me that wishes I was doing one, hmmm next year????

Right that's enough from me, it's bath time for the girls and then I am going to take the Ceepo for a quick hour to clear my head and prove to myself that I can get out and train in the evening.

Enjoy the Spring time flowers, it really is a beautiful time of the year.....

Circuit of the Dales

2010-04-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Another Easter break draws to a close, I do love my job, well at least the holidays that come with it. It's been an very enjoyable but hectic second week. On the training front I have followed up my 20 hour Malaga week with a nice 12 hours and have included some good honest sessions. I ran a 10 miler on Wednesday in 1.14.15 averaging 7.23min/mile pace. My running feels like it is in a good place, I just need to try to stick in at least a 10 miler each week now leading up to the middle distance triathlons I have planned for the end of May onwards.

Thursday saw another encounter with the A168, alas this time I was alone (missed you Tom) I had planned quite an ambitious session involving a 4 lap (60mile) ride followed by an 8 mile run, but.....With the 10mile run still in my legs and the Circuit of the Dales 50 mile time trial on Sunday I listened to my legs and in the end rode 3 laps, without a run. the A168 is a great road for doing quality work on. Riding between Walshford and the top roundabout you get a 15 mile loop of fairly undulating (although nothing you need to get out of the big ring for) road. The first 10 miles of every loop is the V212 10 mile time trial course where I have a 23.36 PB, this is added motivation at the start of every loop. Anyway, I rode consistent laps and finished with 45 miles at an average of 22.2mph for 156bpm heart rate average, a solid session. I intend to return soon for some more sessions.

Friday morning was so beautiful that I went out for a really easy run along the canal stopping after 15minutes for a stretch and to enjoy the scenery and wildlife. I really enjoy the places I ride and run, and always try to take in the surroundings, but sometimes it's good just to stop and watch.

That brings me to the Circuit of the Dales time trial. It is a 50 mile time trial starting in Ingleton, heading down and around to Sedburgh, on to Hawes and back on the B6255 past the Ribble Viaduct to finish at White Scar Caves. There is 3300ft of climbing and Gethin Butler (super fast time trialist from 90's) holds the course record in 1:57:51 set in 1998. This is a very tough course. I rode it last year and unlike most other time trials you are constantly between the big and small chain ring, and finding any sort of rhythm is practically impossible. On the fast sections you are conscious to get up to speed, and on the hills whilst staying in control you are trying to limit your losses. Today I had the added advantage, or disadvantage (I am not sure which way it went) that Tom was off number 10 and I was chasing him at number 11!!! What I do know is I nailed the first hour trying to catch him, I didn't succeed and think I might have gone a bit too hard early on. However given that I felt good through to the finish (really meaning I was able to maintain some sort of power and concentration to the end, never really felt good, it's a lung busting leg smashing outing on the bike!!!) an alternative thought is chasing Tom hard laid down the foundation for a good time?? Anyway I did 2.25.35, last year I did 2.26.59 over the shortened course (1.75 mile shorter at the start) I held onto 170bpm heart rate average which is really pleasing. I died a bit towards the end but over 50 miles (especially 50 hilly miles) if you have ridden it properly I don't think you should feel strong as you cross the line. The Ceepo Venom felt quick, I topped out at 45mph max speed, I am looking forward to plenty more races on it.

Tom kicked my butt, riding scared not wanting to get caught (I didn't get close!!) He did 2.21.03 which was a great PB for him and a real confidence boost prior to Lanzarote Ironman. He has now done 10 weeks of 16 hours biking a week!! He has been really focused and to maintain this riding is amazing testament to his determination and drive. With 160 hours in his legs it's probably no surprise, but he totally deserves to be going well. The 35-39 age group better watch out on 22nd May, he is going to have a great race.

Ove also raced, he rode 2.35.15 a great time in his first Circuit of the Dales, he is also in a great place with his fitness and should have a strong season.

Right that is enough about me, time for some words about my special wife. Sarah played her Saxophone again last night at Caesars restaurant. She has really immersed herself in her new project, writing chilled out jazz tunes and getting her set lists together. She played a lunchtime session a few weeks ago and then an evening session on Easter Monday, but last night was the first time any real marketing had been done prior to the evening. It was a packed restaurant all night and she went down a storm!!! She has had some amazing feedback from diners and the manager is over the moon at the effect she has had on his business. The local paper did a photo shoot on Saturday and she is lining up the last Sunday in every month for a Jazz Club afternoon. Sarah is super talented when it comes to music and she is loving this new chapter in her ever expanding portfolio. I will be taking Ellie and Evie in a few weeks for pizza and to watch and listen to Mummy play, I can't wait. I am really proud of her, and love the fact that she not only earning a living from her musical talents, but also that she is now playing for her own satisfaction and enjoyment. I think she might be in demand this summer as a number of customers have asked for her business cards for parties and events!!

Ellie and Evie are spending a week with Sarah's Mam and Dad in Newcastle (Ellie's not back to school this week) which will be great for everybody. Elieen and Bernie get to have a nice week with the girls and Sarah and I get a little break, we will make the most of it.

That is all from me, have a great week. It's back to work tomorrow, I might wear shorts! Just have to pack my school bag, cricket bat, tennis racket and athletics spikes that sounds about right.....

Idle Breaks Training Camp; Spain

2010-04-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

A group of girls from my Triathlon Club (Leeds and Bradford) had booked up a week at Idle Breaks near Malaga in Spain. They were taking Frank and Alan, two coaches from our club along, but had a spare place. I spoke to Frank and although I was considerably more experienced and stronger than most of the girls he felt swimming and running would work fine and providing I was flexible the group cycling could be managed, so I was in. I had heard a lot of good reports about Andy's place, I can now confirm it totally lived up to it's reputation. Everything about the place is set up so you can live and behave like a professional athlete. Great food, van support on some of the best riding in Europe, sports massage, ice bath, 3 lane 25m pool, gym and core/stretching area, chill out area's and all beneath the Spanish sunshine surrounded by hills and olive groves. To say I was looking forward to a week away was an understatement!!

Sunday 28th March: The day started on not much sleep, courtesy of the clocks changing and a 4.30am taxi pick up. We soon arrived at Malaga and after a 40 minute drive we arrived at Andy's place. We assembled the bikes and then swam. Although the swimming pool is heated the weather was only just starting to change for the better and so on Andy's advice wetsuits were the order of the day (just) This was actually really good as it provided a great opportunity to practice swimming in a wetsuit, and the extra buoyancy a wetsuit provides allowed for a week of swimming really focusing on technique. We did a 45 minute session with the coaches observing and giving us plenty to work on.

Monday 29th March: My 35th Birthday!! A great way to spend my Birthday, doing all the things I like doing. Sarah and Ellie had organised a party lunch on Saturday with Pass the Parcel and cake so I guess this was Birthday number 2!! The day started with a 2hr steady ride with a special birthday climb just for me. The important thing when you plan to do an extended block of training is not to get carried away and nuke yourself in the first two days. I could have easily ridden a Birthday Century, but I wanted to feel good throughout the week, so settled for a steady start. We did a 15 minute run straight off the bikes. I ran with a girl called Jen. Jen finished 3rd in her age group 20 -24yrs at the World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Australia last year so I was hanging on as she cranked out a 6.30min/mile off the bike. We cruised the remaining mile back to the house. After lunch Frank had a running drills session and some 1k reps to find pace planned. We did 3 x 1k and I ran on 7min/mile pace. We ran back to the house set about on a 45 minute swim set focusing on technique. Total training Day one: 3 1/2hrs.

A really sensible start to the week and a great Birthday. The day finished off with an awesome Birthday cake and an Idle Breaks cycling jersey as a present from the group.

Tuesday 30th March: A longer ride was planned for today, including the Puerto del Sol 7km climb, which I intended to time trial up. A steady ride out to the bottom of the climb and away I went. A stiff headwind made for a tough ascent, but didn't stop me smacking it. I crossed the summit in 26:52 averaging 171bpm heart rate. I wasn't going to the top of the climb all time leader board but I felt strong, pleasing in the tough conditions. We rode home for a 3 3/4hr ride time. A swim session was planned for the afternoon, again focusing on technique. Frank wanted me to work on keeping a high elbow in the water allowing for a more efficient catch, and also a greater body roll. I finished the day with 4 1/4hrs training.

Wednesday 31st March: Frank and Alan had planned a steady day for the girls focusing on transitions. I decided to give this a miss and instead headed out on the bike with David and Anne. David is a triathlon coach who is working with Andy helping him lead rides and run Idle Breaks, he is also a strong cyclist and decent triathlete recently completing Clear Water 70.3 World Championships. I sort of know David through my best Buddy Ben. Anne is a Professional Ironman Athlete trained by David and now living in Spain also working with Andy. David had planned a 50 mile ultra hilly ride, the route didn't disappoint. I rode really strongly, riding tempo on the climbs and leaving David and Anne, one of those days when you feel great! The climbing was long and steady, the descents long, sweeping and fast and very little flat stuff between. We rode for 3 1/2hrs covered 50 miles and did 6400ft of climbing, a tough but great day in the saddle. After a very quick lunch, we headed down to the local lake for an open water swim. A couple of buoys were swam out and the we worked on our technique, drafting and sighting for 30 minutes. Another cracking day came to an end with a brilliant meal and a chat about training, a couple of beers and an early night.

Thursday 1st April: Today was scheduled to be the long ride. I led a group of 5 as we rode through some stunning scenery of Olive Groves and snaking roads, making our way over the hills to the top of the descent leading into Malaga. A real Alpine descent for 20 minutes brought us into Malaga, a quick energy gel, ditch some layers and turn around for a 10 mile climb back to the cafe at the top. I rode tempo for 56 minutes averaging 157bpm. What an amazing feeling to be climbing for that length of time. the gradients were comfortable but with 3 good days in my legs and no respite the back end of the climb was challenging. I was comfortable with a 39 x 26 gear set up, but if you wanted to relax more on the climbing, or were looking for longer days in the saddle a compact chainset would definatley be useful. At the top I turned round, span down until I reached some of our group coming up then turned and did another 3 miles of climbing, well it's not every day you get to play on an Alpine type Climb!!! The wind seemed to be plotting against us all week, and so it was on the return ride home. I finished with 72 miles in 5hrs. Food, ice bath, jacuzzi and chill was followed by a strong coffee and a 5 mile run up through the Olive groves. Total training for day four was 5 3/4 hrs.

Frank and Alan had planned a race situation for the final day. A beautiful morning down by the lake, we soon had an 800m open water swim race set up. There were some good swimmers amongst the girls. I worked hard to draft on some feet and came out just behind the lead swimmers, feeling good. A leisurely transition, in fact as the girls set off on the bike I went for a coffee with David and Andy, nice. I then had a steady 6km climb up from the lake and a further 16km of rolling roads to reach the vans and the run transition area. I absolutely nailed the bike, just to test the legs and see what was left in them. I rode 47 minutes. Predictably for the end of a long week I couldn't get my heart rate up to Time Trial levels but still rode as hard as I could. A steady transition and it was out onto the mile out and back run route. After an 8.47min/mile my running legs returned and I knocked out a further 5 miles in 7.39, 7.16, 7.14, 7.57 and 7.02. It was a joy to be running in my Asics DS Racers (like running in slippers) and just a pair of shorts, beneath the Spanish sun. My totals for the day were 1 3/4hrs. Most pleasing was after 4 solid training days I was able to stick in a high intensity session and run really well off a time trial type bike effort, happy days!!

The rest of day was spent in the ice bath, drinking a cheeky beer or two in the jacuzzi and then sleeping and bike packing.

The training camp wasn't Epic proportions in terms of training volume, (it didn't really need to be not training for an Ironman race this year). Instead the week contained plenty of intense climbing in between steady riding, 5 good swims focusing on technique and 4 good runs including some intensity. My totals for the 5 days; 5 rides, 15hrs, 215 miles, 4 runs, 2 1/2hrs and 4 swims 2 1/2hrs, plenty of stretching and a bit of core work for a total of 20hrs.

I had really great training week. The company was great, cheers Frank, Alan, Khara, Vicky, Lyndsey, Emma, Sarah, Jen, Sarah, Dena and Rachel, you guys put togther a great week of training. Andy Idle, his wife Tracy, David and Anne have a great set up at Idle Breaks, it is a perfect training location and the facilities are exactly what you need. I will definitely be returning for more of the same, and when the girls are a little older also for a family holiday, with a little riding and training! Finally sorry Ellie for not being here on my Birthday (she couldn't understand why I went away for it) and thank you Sarah for looking after the girls and letting me get away for a week to do what I like to do, love you darling.

Static....

2010-03-08T02:22:00.000-08:00

The above photo is of Evie on the trampoline having generated some serious static following a bouncing session. The bright sunshine allowed for some fun in the garden and the static electricity that we got from bouncing made for some giggly girls and a fun afternoon.

What a difference a bit of sunshine makes. Although it is still bitterly cold in the morning to see the sun makes such a difference. It really does feel like spring is just around the corner. I'm giving my daffodils two more weeks before they burst into life. Sarah is not a big fan of the simple daf ,but for me the bright yellow heads at the end of my garden are a beautiful sight.

My training diary has got a big smile on its face also. I have had four really good weeks. Consistently making my long bike rides, swimming every week, weights and core work and although not as much as I'd like, running seems to be in a good place. In the last four weeks I have had just 2 days where I haven't done some exercise. Whilst most days I have 'trained', some days the term 'exercise' is probably more appropriate, with a steady ride to work or a short weights session being done, it all counts though.

I have been working hard on the bike trying to make riding more like swimming. What do I mean. Well in the pool most people plan a their session, warm-up, drills, main set with a specific focus. Out on the bike it is easy to just get out and ride. Worthwhile as this maybe, ride after ride after ride becomes just that, a ride. Usually steady state, bit of work on a few hills, or into the wind with the last part of the ride reflecting how good your nutrition and fluid has been as to whether you finished feeling ok or smoked. Riding the bike at steady state is perfect for Ironman Triathlon training, it's all about the miles, but this year with the focus on middle distance it is time to shake the bottle a bit and mix the flavours. Riding in the morning I have done a couple of 1 min hard, 1 min easy repeat sessions until I have travelled the 30 minutes to work. On my long Thurdsday afternoon rides I have warmed up and scheduled in some 5 min intervals at and around 160bpm (probably just below middle distance pace) This week I rode for 3 hours and in each hour I put in a 15 minute effort where I went hard but controlled. I am feeling strong on the bike and cannot wait for the warmer weather to arrive and for the time trial season to really get going.

I did race two Sunday's ago. A cold 10 mile tt on the A64 near Tadcaster. I had said to Sarah that a 24 min something time would be pleasing for this time of year. Prior to the race the same conversation with Tom he said a 23 something, I responded saying "if I ride a 23 I will do a few miles naked" I worked my socks off during the race, a 23 would have yielded a huge smile and a great photo for the blog....But 24:35 it was. First race of the season, bike felt good, legs felt strong, heart rate was a bit low but to be expected at this time of the year. I was happy and know if I get a few things sorted with my position and my training I will be on for some fast times this year. Tom surprised everybody (especially himself) with a 23:45 (I think that's right) After taking it easy on him in the Dales, holding back in our rides he showed his speed is still there. No more letting him sit in! the next show down is on 21st March, will he take a 2 - 0 lead? of course not, I will get him. It was great to meet Philip Graves, who rode a 20:10. What other sport can you line up and race the same race with a pro athlete, and then afterwards share a coffee as we share experiences and discuss race plans. He is racing Abu Dhabi Long course Triathlon on Sunday, everyone will be watching to see what he does over 200k on the bike!!!

Summarising my week I have put together 14 hours. One good swim. A couple of runs culminating in a strong hour yesterday where I ran out for 30 mins keeping my heart rate at 150 or less for approximately 8 min/ mile pace and then on the return working to the low 160's (or less) for approximately 7 min/ mile pace. I rode on 6 days and clocked up 10 hours of riding, including a couple of intervals sessions. One weights/ core session. Seven days of training for 14 hours. My last four weeks have been 10 hours, 16 hours, 10 hours and 14 hours.

I am trying to be good with my eating at the moment. I have pretty much cut out carbohydrates from the form of pasta, rice and bread from my lunch, having protein (chicken, tuna, fish, cheese, quiche) and then a nice large helping of salad, followed by fruit. The exception being school bread and butter pudding and rice pudding, be rude not to!!! (it's usually every couple of weeks) Sarah and I are now trying hard to eat before she starts work or if it's after her music teaching then it will be a smaller meal like chicken fajitas, roasted veg and Chicken Kiev. I am just trying not to reach for the bread and the toaster, (but I do love it) late in the evening.... I have been reading the literature on supplementing with fish oils and green tea extract to aid fat metabolism, (fish oils also to aid joint health, so am keen to see if my post run knee pain is helped). I must admit that although it's been less that two weeks I do feel and look leaner, so I will keep that going. Supplementing with fish oils was a method that Bradley Wiggins used during his change to his body composition in the 18 months leading up to the tour.

I am really proud of Sarah at the moment. Apart from her usual music teaching, she is planning on a come back to her own performing. She is planning to get a set of jazz and chilled out tunes played on her saxophone together for some lunch time and then hopefully evening sessions at our local Italian Restaurant who are keen to provide diners with some atmospheric live music. She has a meeting this week with the manager to run some ideas his way, exciting stuff.

Sarah and I are firmly into Season 4 of 24. We really enjoy the concept and although similar to previous seasons the plot is exciting and we like Keifer Sutherland.

Dad has blogged again so he is firmly in the blogasphere., check out the Ramblings of my Dad if you have a moment.

I have a busy week ahead with a couple of Rugby 7's tournaments culminating at the weekend with a weekend in Fylde with the 1st team.

Enjoy the sun, and enjoy your training....

Being out there....

2010-02-22T03:43:00.000-08:00

There are many reasons why I love sport and namely triathlon, one of those reasons was reinforced this week on a two occasions.

On Wednesday I rode with my friends Tom and Ove. We set of at 8am from Tom’s house in Leeds and made our way along the busy Otley Road. It was foggy and cold, and along the Otley Road we were all wondering whether our planned 4 hours was sensible given the weather, road and traffic conditions. As we rode out of Otley onto quieter roads our mood lifted and then as we neared Burnsall it happened. The sun broke through, the fog lifted on Burnsall Village nestled in a beautiful valley in the Dales. The light conditions were incredible, the sun shinning on the hillside creating an amazing glow. In Burnsall (cheers Ove great photo) we stopped, got one of the ‘best flapjacks’ in the world. We then took a little time to enjoy the flapjack, the rest and the beautiful location, made even more special by the weather conditions.

On Sunday I woke, opened the curtains and revealed a fresh covering of snow, time for a run. It was still snowing and settling as I ran out through the village and onto the canal towpath. 8.30am on a Sunday morning pretty much guarantees solitude, 8.30 with falling snow definitely guarantees it. I have recently discovered the joys of running with my Ipod. I had chosen Calvin Harris ‘something for the weekend’for today’s run. The snow was getting heavier, the trees were covered, and latter that day Ellie described them as ‘having their wedding dresses on’ What a fabulous description of the landscape. The Swans had found a small section of the canal that wasn’t frozen, and a giant Hare nearly ran into me before seeing me and swerving into the field. An hour later I returned to my house, my foot prints had snowed over, and I had the endorphin high, enhanced by the amazing fresh conditions.

Being able to cycle or run (or even open water swim, not long now) in the surroundings I can is such a great thing. It is often easy to get immersed in the quest to increase one’s performance, to ride faster, to ride for longer, to do more hours, to race harder, that the surroundings we do this in are often taken for granted.

I have had a great week of training 16 ¾ hrs, nicely balanced between the bike, running, swimming and some strength work. I have done some sessions on my own and some with friends.

It has been an action packed half term. Here’s what I got up to. Mum and Dad’s for the weekend, 3hrs riding Ivinghoe, DVD ‘Taken’, Valentines Day, Movie ‘Avatar’, visit Sarah’s Aunt and Uncle in Wendover, 4hrs riding with Tom, Virgin Run Club with Tom and Helen, 4hrs riding with Tom and Ove, Tropical World, Run, Movie ‘Princess and the Frog’, Nando’s, Xcsape Sledging with Ellie, 25 x 100m swim, Run, DVD ‘Zodiac’, 3hr ride, Park with Evie, DVD 'X Men,' Snowy run, Make Snowmen, drawing, painting, sticking with Ellie and Evie, weights/ core session and sleep……..

See you next week when it will be March, is that the start of Spring???

PS Well done to my Dad who is up and posting.

The dog house...

2010-02-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

There are many things that a man, a husband must never forget. One to say "I love your hair" immediately after your wife returns from the hair dresser's. Two, Birthday's, and three, Valentines Day... (I am sure there are plenty of ladies out there that can think of many more to add to my short list feel free to add in the comments box) guess which one I forgot? Well it wasn't really that I forgot, it was more of a case that at some stage I made a momentously wrong decision. I hadn't brought a card, On Saturday afternoon I wasn't able to get to a shop, and maybe, just maybe a card wasn't required because I would be spending the day with my wife and heading out for the evening for a drink and to the cinema. Oh how wrong could I be...

Valentines morning went downstairs made Sarah a cup of tea and returned to find a lovely card with a beautiful poem and a bag of Valentines Chocolates, thanks darling love you. Oh dear, I was in big, big trouble. Even Ellie had made me a card, bigger trouble I could not have been in. "It's just a card" didn't help matters (quite right to)

The trouble was it was just too late, the damage had been done. A late card wouldn't cut it, flowers would not be well received, chocolates wouldn't go down too well. What could I do? Well Diamonds were mentioned on a few occasions during the day, oh my ££££££££?

The reality of the situation was I had COCKED up BIG styleee, so there was very little I could do other than try to be nice, say lots of nice things and hopefully Sarah would accept my rather insufficient attempt at an apology.

We had a nice afternoon at Xscape (Milton Keynes) watched Avatar and had a couple of drinks, whilst my Mum and Dad were on Baby Sitting duties. I of course took the abuse I deserved all night long.

So to my gorgeous Sarah. Please accept my apologies for being a thoughtless husband, for not making the little bit of effort required to go out and get a card. If I could find a set of stocks I would sit in them, I should be publicly shamed. You know that I love you more than ever and that I cannot think of anybody else who I want to be with for the rest of my life. So darling let me say sorry on my blog for all my readers to see. I am sorry.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry I am working on a way to redeem myself, love you 10 gorgeous xxxxxxx

Poised...

2010-02-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

Poised, the dictionary definition say's "marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action" At the moment I feel poised, ready for some serious action. It's been a steady start to the Year, I have not set any all time training best's but have kept things ticking along nicely. I had the usual ambitious thoughts regarding training for the month of January, but like most years I soon realised January is not the most conducive month for long or hard training. However March certainly is.....

What about February? Well February doesn't last very long, and the last couple of weeks are an exciting time, let me explain my thinking. For the first two weeks of February just keep ticking over, when there's good training to be had, get out and have it, if it's not there then chillax (what a rubbish word, it seems appropriate though) and remind yourself "it's only February" Week three for me contains half term, yes sorry folks I am soon to be on Holiday again. This is where I will have a bit more training time, I can access some longer rides, I can run in the light and I can recover properly after training sessions. Then in the final week of February we are under starters orders, "on your marks, set".........

1st March, GO........It will be light in the morning at 6.45am, it will not be dark until 5.30, the early bulbs will be opening, they might get a little shock but give them few more weeks and all their friends will want some sunlight action. The birds will find their voices and the constantly damp roads will once again be dry by mid morning. Overshoes will be saved only for really crisp early starts, and one will be torn between full tights, 3/4 tights, knee warmers or shorts? Just think of that for a minute cycling in shorts!

As I stomp through March I am moving ever closer to the Easter holidays, that marks the end of the Football season and the start of the cricket term. Long sunny evenings, well not quite, but not that far away.

March will also see the proper start to the time trial season with a few 10's and some 'hilly' events, Oh yes the beloved Ceepo will be polished and polished and polished (it definitely goes faster if it's shiny) I can pack away my lights for my daily commute to work, and the additional miles on my way to work can begin with earnest.

This year I have the added incentive of a weeks training camp in Spain near Malaga with some of the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Crew, can't wait.

On March 29th I celebrate my Birthday, (March 29th folks, that's March 29th) and then finally at the very end of March the clocks go forward, it just keeps getting better. That for me is the start of the count down to evening time trials and evening blasts on the country roads on two wheels, or steady runs along the canal listening to the birds, watching the wildlife and the setting sun.

So, if, as you pull on the 3rd undershirt and finally leave on your bike 15 minutes after starting to get changed you are wondering why you do this? the reason my friends is "you do this for March"

If you are in a good place with your training don't move too far away, if you are not quite there don't push it. Keep it ticking over, if you fancy stepping up a little do it, if you fancy a couple of days off, do it, if you can get a grip of your diet, do it, if you want chocolate and pizza, do it, get in a position where you are poised, slightly nervous, holding the position until the starter pulls that trigger. In 22 days time it is March 1st.....

Getting back to normal...

2010-01-25T04:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve been a bit lost for what to write over the last few weeks, I think the mammoth effort for the decade review zapped what writing powers I had. Even this week I don’t really have a focussed topic to express my views on, so I think it will merely be a collection of some of my recent thoughts.

It has been a long time since I have seen so much snow that lasted for so long. Our school remained open so any thoughts of sledging or additional family time soon evaporated. Whilst in some cases school closures are sensible, if the heating fails or if the roads become dangerous, most schools seem to have stayed shut for much longer than was necessary, mainly I think because staff just didn’t travel to work. Anyway the start of the football season was delayed, instead replaced with some great running sessions usually finished off with an organised snowball fight, or paintball type invading game where your ammunition was the snowball, all good fun.

Ellie and I built a huge snowman, complete with left over Christmas sprouts for its eyes, nose and buttons. I also managed to build a proper igloo, something I was always unable to do as a kid. It was beauty, sitting inside drinking a coffee I thought about the Inuit people who live in them in their snow and ice covered landscape, could be quite cosy, but a way of life, guess you’d get used to it. We had a great BBQ and fire in the snow one afternoon with friends, an interesting experience.

My training has been affected by the weather, but more so by a knee injury. I have been getting some medial knee pain on the boney protrusion, only during running and usually as the run progresses. I have seen Ove the Physio and have established that 2 years of long training, recent running races, and a months emphasis on heavy leg weights has tightened my ITB, Hip Flexors, Glutes and Lower Back to a point of no return. Plenty of pain from Ove and Mark coupled with lots and lots of stretching seems to be doing the trick. I have run a few times for 30 minutes without pain and hope to have made some progress. The shame for me was being unable to ride my bike, I was really looking forward to some great off road running in the snow, unfortunately apart from a couple of runs I couldn’t venture out in the white stuff, I also had to bail out of the Brass Monkey Half Marathon. It is incredible how tight my lower back and hip area has become, mainly due to the commuting on my bike and a lack of decent stretching, it is now an area I have to focus on using some good stretches and the Trigger Point Roller and Ball, bloody painful process though….

I did dust off my mountain bike and rode that over the compacted snow to work, I think I got some pretty decent work outs from this ride, short but hard work. I am back to normal with my riding now and I am feeling pretty bike fit. I rode strongly for 50 miles on Saturday feeling good in the latter stages of the ride. I am looking forward to some longer rides with various training buddies, but know the real key to my cycling goals is to up the intensity in the form of intervals and race specific sessions. With no Ironman race this year, I don’t need to execute 4 or 5 hour rides, but if I want to be fast in the TT’s and Half Ironman races then my riding must be more painful!!!

We all went bowling this weekend. It proved to be a good family activity. At the moment the girls are not quite old enough to do too many things independently, that time will come when I become more of a taxi service taking them to sports, music, friends, etc, etc for now it is great to get out as a family. The trick is finding activities and places to visit that are of interest to Ellie and Evie and to Sarah and I. we have some great parks and forest areas that we like to visit when the weather is a little kinder, but winter becomes a bit more of a challenge. Evie is not quite old enough for a visit to the cinema, (and of course their needs to be an appropriate kids film to watch) The phenomena that is the ‘indoor play centre’ is used so regularly for kids parties that we tend to stay away on the weekend. I think we have found a nice alternative in Bowling. Both Ellie and Evie enjoyed themselves, and Sarah and I also had fun. We did have the gutter guards in place, but I bowled straight never needing them (unlike my wife) and scored 156; one of my highest ever bowling scores.

Evie appears to be becoming a bit more settled at night time. She is great at going to sleep, and touch wood is spending more full nights in her bed, sleeping straight through. If she does wake she comes through to our room and stands at my side of the bed. She is quickly dispatched back to her bedroom, but the damage has been done and both mine and Sarah’s sleep disrupted. Although she is still totally unpredictable, it make no difference if she has had lots of food or no food, an afternoon sleep or no sleep, medicine or no medicine, a late night or an early night, there is just no pattern, she does appear to be improving, the little monkey. She has nearly mastered the ‘Big Boy’s Toilet’ as she calls it, it is very funny when she announces that she needs a wee, or when she comes running back into the room pleased as punch that she has done a poo, daughter number two out of nappies…

After battling with Orange Broadband for the last few months we are now finally connected to O2. We have a much faster line speed, no longer having to leave the Itunes album download running through the night. The problem we now have is our pretty basic two year old laptop computer is misbehaving. I sense our patience is rapidly running out and that a visit to PC World is not that far away. We have a few more options to try…..

I have been following Epic Camp New Zealand with envy and admiration for the volume of training that the boys and girls did. I think some Short Epic Camps (is that possible) are on the agenda this season, could be a great way to get some solid blocks of training in with some training pals.

Sarah is working really hard at the moment. Her music tuition is going well, she is up to her capacity without working more evenings, and her students are as always having lots of success achieving their grades in the theory and practical exams, she is getting plenty of repair enquiries and is developing the Wind Instrument teaching at my school. All this in addition to taking Ellie backwards and forwards to school, Evie all over the place to various Nurseries and when Evie is at home dealing with a 2 ½ year old with energy in abundance. Sometimes I wish I had a job where a single income would allow us to live the lifestyle we have chosen, and allow Sarah time to look after Evie, keep on top of house stuff and enjoy her free time doing more of the things she likes to do. But I know she wouldn’t want it this way, and I have yet to see many examples where a single income family spends as much time together as we manage to do. We have various friends and family members where a single large income means very early morning commutes to work and late night returns, regular midweek over night stays and work issues to be considered on a weekend, plenty of money, no quality time to spend it is such a true statement. I do wish I could spend more time with Sarah, but at the stage of life we are in, with the family dynamics we have I think we are both doing pretty well. In order for fitness and performance to progress you have to work hard, relationships are just the same, we have some nice things planned for the weeks ahead, and the day to day living is good.

I have come up with a cunning plan for the next few weeks regarding my training, well it isn’t really cunning but thought that sounded good. Two weeks building with a big emphasis on the Bike volume and overall training consistency, a week where I will back off a little, then a big 10 days to coincide with my Half Term break. That should see me through to the 3^rd week in Feb when it will be time to start upping the intensity and dipping my toe in the early season Cycling Time Trial waters.

Big shout out to my Dad who is gradually building his training up. In pretty miserable conditions last week he successfully completed his first 50 mile ride for 8 months following his inner ear problems, well done Dad, looking good.

Finally to my mate Tom who has now launched and released 2 editions of MarathonTalk, a weekly podcast that he and his friend Martin Yelling are producing. This is a really exciting venture for Tom, it is really good listening. If you like running then check them out on Itunes.

Have a great week, things are getting back to normal, but what is normal????

The Last Decade; Part 3

2010-01-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

2007
Ben had been completing Ironman Triathlons on and off since 2000, and I enjoyed following his training and races and took huge inspiration from his performances. The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.5mile swim, 112 mile cycle and 26.2 mile run it was a race that he had mastered with a couple of performances at the World Championships in Hawaii, but I hadn’t even entertained it. Why I found myself in front of the computer early in the year entering Ironman UK set for mid August I am not sure, but it became a huge focus for the coming year. Training during April, May, June and July was really ramped up to consistently 50 plus hours each month and come August I had ridden in excess of 4000 miles, I was ready......but first.

On June 6th a couple of weeks late Sarah gave birth to Evie Mae Garrard (less than a day old in the photo). She was in a gruelling labour for 24 hours, but eventually Evie came out, she weighed 6lb 10oz. Once again my beautiful wife had given me another beautiful little girl. The next day I took Ellie to the hospital, and I remember some fantastic moments as Ellie watched over and cuddled her brand new little sister. I took all my girls home and although I was seriously outnumbered I was loving every minute of it.

Mum, Dad, Sarah, Ellie and 6 week old baby Evie all made the journey down to Sherbourne in Dorset for the race. We have rented some fabulous accommodation and after a couple of chilled out days race day arrived. I finished the race in 11:08:43 and was elated with my performance. Apart from a puncture in mile 1 of the bike the day went pretty much to plan. Many emotions went through my mind during the race, but the feelings as I ran down the finishing shoot to cross the line were a mix of relief, excitement and joy. It was an amazing experience and especially great that my Mum and Dad and family were there to share the day with me. I think my Dad was as emotionally drained as me as for the duration of the day he had followed me all over the course, he was number one supporter and I was an Ironman.

Just prior to IMUK I hooked up for a ride with Tom Williams. Tom was a member of the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club and I happened to make contact with him. On the phone there was an instant ease of conversation, similarities in our lives, both having done Sports Science Degrees, and Tom now teaching as a lecturer at University Leeds and I knew we would get along great. I am pleased I phoned Tom, apart from sharing a great 75 mile ride we started what has turned out to be a strong friendship.

I was keen to retain my 10 mile TT title, unfortunately Tom took me down by 4 seconds, but we were both destroyed by a very strong, experienced cyclist who put 53 seconds into me, I took bronze.

2008

We started the year celebrating my Dad’s 60th Birthday. A great weekend was had at Center Parcs with Dad's sister Jan and Uncle Gary, Mum and Dad and Max and Rachael. Dad and I went close to winning the Badminton Doubles Tournament, we walked, cycled and ran and had a nice relaxing time. Dad is a real inspiration to me especially when it comes to Sport. Later this year he was to do his first ever 12 hour time trial covering 206 miles. He still cycles, races, runs, lifts weights and coaches football, all in addition to coaching the sport at Swanbourne House Prep School.

I had decided I wanted some more Ironman action, so I entered Ironman Switzerland, based in Zurich in early July. I trained consistently through the first few months of the year and with 3850 cycle miles in my legs before July I felt pretty good. I had tried to be a little more consistent with my long 2 hour runs and felt good. During May Tom and I set ourselves a challenge to complete a total of 1000 miles in the pool, on foot or on the bike, I succeeded with 981 cycle miles and 104 running miles, so knew I was in good shape. On race day I was caught out by cold wet conditions, I shivered my way round the first lap of the bike and was relieved when the sun came out. I ran hard in the final couple of km’s to cross the line absolutely smashed in a time of 11:03:16. At first I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to bike a little quicker and run a bit faster to get a 10 hour time, but with a very solid race and a new PB it didn’t take long before I was overjoyed.

We travelled to Interlaken for a couple of weeks camping on a Canvas Campsite. This was a really enjoyable holiday and the perfect way to relax after the race and spend some quality time as a family.

Inspired by Dad’s forthcoming 12 hour time trial, I set of to ride all day during the summer holidays. I covered 153.5 miles in 8hours 45 minutes; my longest ever ride in a day. I also got back the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club 10 mile Time Trial Championships.

Another highlight of the year was going up to Scotland with Max and Dad. This was a Birthday present from me and Max to Dad. We travelled up on the train to Corrour Station and spent 5 days walking to Fort William, camping and trying to avoid the mosquito’s as we went. Once in Fort William we walked up Ben Nevis before getting the train home again. This was a really enjoyable trip and we hope to plan something similar in the future.

Evie Celebrated her 1st Birthday and Ellie celebrated her 4th, my girls were growing up. They were great fun to be around and Ellie was taking a real interest in drawing, writing, reading and of course playing with dolls.

Sarah continued to expand her ‘Musical Success’ business by learning how to repair and service Clarinets, Flutes and Saxophones. We set up a workshop for her in the loft and repairing and servicing instruments proved to be an excellent additional service to be able to offer.

Work for me was going very well, the sport at the school was in a good place, my GCSE and A Level Students were experiencing success and I was enjoying the daily job of teaching PE. Work has always been important to me but I would be lying if I didn’t place it third in my list of priorities firmly behind my family and my sporting interests. I feel I am committed to the job, I am good at what I do, yet I have always maintained a strong view that it would not become the primary focus for my week. I made a choice to teach partly because it allows me much more time throughout the year to spend with my family and to do all the things I love doing. At Read School I get 16 weeks holiday a year, I have never not had long holidays, as a kid at school, as a student at University and then as a teacher, I don’t know anything different and know I don’t want that to change.

2009

Unfortunately the start to the year was filled with illness and medical problems. My Dad had experienced a severe case of Labyrinthitis.Evie spent a night in hospital with a particularly aggressive vomiting/ stomach bug. I picked up my first ever ear infection, which turned nasty and required three nights in hospital. I needed an operation to further perforate the ear drum so as to remove an infected area in the middle ear. I spent a total of 18 days (and required 2 weeks off work) unable to do any physical activity. I also missed out on a planned trip to Arizona to catch up with Ben for a week’s Triathlon Training on one of his camps, I was devastated. The arrival of Spring seemed to lift everybody’s health and we were all soon back to full fitness.

Lanzarote Ironman was the race for 2009, race day 23rd May, Tom and his wife Helen were also due to race so we pushed each other through the winter into a gruelling training session we like to do in the Spring. Located on the A168, there is a great 7.5 mile stretch of slightly undulating road between 2 roundabouts near Wetherby. The session consists of 7 laps followed this year by a 10 mile run. Tom and I took it in turns to ride on the front with the rider behind maintaining the 10m drafting distance (so not tucked in behind the wheel) I was riding super strongly, but staying in control, we went through 100 miles in 4:21:45 and finished with a great 10 mile run in 1hour 25 minutes. It was an awesome session and left me feeling confident going into the final weeks of training before Lanzarote.

Lanzarote Ironman is considered one of, if not the toughest Ironman race due to the heat, winds and tough bike course which has over 2000m of climbing. I crossed the finish line in 11 hours 53 minutes and 43 seconds hand in hand with Ellie. I was absolutely beaten up, the heat had taken its toll, I was severely sunburned and would struggle to walk normally for a couple of days. I had missed my target time of sub 11 hours by quite a bit but sometimes the outcome is less important than the process, and 23rd May was definitely one of those days. The process of the training, the build up to the race and the race itself, the highs, the lows and sharing the day with great friends and my fabulous family made the outcome unimportant. We spent the rest of a fabulous week in a lovely apartment enjoying the sun, chilling by the pool and visiting parts of the Island that the bike course had passed.

I enjoyed plenty more cycle races getting back into time trialling. I finished the summer riding well and maintained my grasp on the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club 10 mile Time Trial title.
We had a nice two week summer holiday in Majorca, the girls had a brilliant time. Although the resort wasn’t mine or Sarah’s cup of tea we enjoyed 14 days of blue skies and temperatures in the high 20’s and loved seeing the girls excited faces from day to day.

In September Ellie started school. Looking sweet in her new school uniform she just couldn’t wait. A term has passed and she is loving it. She has played her recorder with her friend in front of her class, she loves writing, drawing and is getting a real grip for numbers, she was a beautiful Angel in the Wiggly Nativity Play and above all she goes to school each morning with a big smile on her face.

The year ended with a fabulous Christmas spent with my Mum and Dad and two very excited little girls. Evie is a bundle of energy, with a really bright, cheeky personality and Ellie is becoming a really caring, thoughtful little girl. As the year ends I couldn’t imagine a house without the noise, energy and vibrancy that Ellie, Evie and of course Sarah give it.

The Last Decade; Part 2

2010-01-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

2004

We had set a wedding date for July 2005, and made a decision to try for a baby during the first half of 2004. We were very fortunate to hit the jackpot almost immediately; Sarah was pregnant, expecting a baby in September.

We moved into our new house in May and I set about employing the skills of my Dad that summer to build the foundations and do the brick work for a conservatory. We left the fitting of the windows and glass roof to the experts, and I then finished off the flooring. This was to be Sarah’s place of work. She would continue to expand Musical Success and her private teaching of the Flute, Clarinet and Saxophone. It worked perfectly keeping her work separate from our home.

After a few years of very little racing I decided to enter the Aberfeldy ½ Ironman Triathlon with some of my friends. They had entered and I decided I was missing out so put in a late entry. I loved the race and that proved to be the start of my triathlon racing comeback.

My brother Max and Rachael got married in the summer; this was a really nice family occasion in a beautiful setting of Door near Sheffield.

Sarah, my Mum and Dad and I managed to squeeze a week’s holiday in a Log Cabin near Coed-y-Brennin in North Wales. I scared the crap out of my Dad as we cycled round the technical Redbull Mountain Bike trails in the nearby forest. Sarah was very, very pregnant, it was the Olympics and I remember watching Denise Lewis win her Gold medals on the track.

On September 18th after a gruelling afternoon and evening for Sarah, Ellie Elizabeth Garrard was born (out the sunroof via Cesarean section) two weeks early she weighed 5lb10oz. Sarah was amazing and tiny Ellie looked very happy with her Mum. I remember driving home from the hospital in York late at night, grinning all the way, it truly was an amazing time for us all. The following day my parents arrived to see their little Granddaughter, and as soon as I was allowed I was back across to the hospital. After a week in hospital Sarah and I took Ellie home, she was so little it was unreal, I could put her head in the palm of my hand and her feet didn’t reach my elbow.

2005

Wedding plans seemed to play a big part for the first part of the year (at least for Sarah anyway) I kind of went with the flow, as all good prospective husbands should do.

After a year flying across the Atlantic my best friend Ben had finally decided to make his move to Seattle (USA) so that he could make his relationship with Cindy really work. I was gutted to lose such a close friend, but at the same time could see Cindy was the girl for Ben and that this was exactly the thing to do.

I celebrated my 30th Birthday in style. Sarah had organised a surprise party for me. A few friends came across and we went out for a bike ride, with the view of having a small party later in the day. When we returned soaked to the skin after a wet ride, I opened the living room door to find all my family and many more friends crammed into the room all firing off party poppers and singing Happy Birthday, it was a great day.

I had a really cool idea for a Stag Do, which my Best Man Ben pulled off with great success. Shying away from the popular ‘get pissed in a foreign country for a long weekend’ type affair, I decided, my Dad and my closest mates would like a weekend away at a Farm House in the Yorkshire Dales. We had a great day Mountain Biking in Dalby Forest followed by fish and chips and an evening in Scarborough drinking beer and dancing until the early hours. Sunday morning Cayton Bay was calling for some surf lessons. The waves were good and for those that made it into the water heads soon cleared. Sarah had a great Hen Night in York where the usual antics occurred; she was transformed into Kylie for the evening complete with Gold hot pants.

On 30th July we got married at Brayton Church followed by a fabulous reception at Monk Fryston Hall. It was another amazing day and there was not one thing that we would have changed. My musically talented cousin Nathan played acoustic guitar in the church and at the reception, he then put on his DJ hat playing some great tunes late into the evening. The following day Sarah and I welcomed everybody back to our garden for a BBQ and afternoon chilling in the sun. We had a wonderful weekend, spent with family and friends. A few days later leaving Ellie with my Mum and Dad we flew to Italy for a week’s relaxation on the shores of Lake Garda. On our return we headed north to Center Parcs with Ellie for a long weekend.

We celebrated Ellie’s 1st Birthday in September with a party in our garden.

2006

This year marked a real move forward I got back into consistent training and racing. It was the first year since 2000 that I had kept a training diary and I was training hard for time trials and a season of Triathlons. Over the course of the year I did 22 races including 10, 25 and 50 mile time trials, Duathlons, and a couple of ½ Ironman Triathlons, namely Trentham Gardens and the excellent Big Cow event in Milton Keynes. I joined the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club and took 1st place at their 10 mile time trial event. Over the year I rode 5760 miles on my bike and trained for a total of 450 hours. I am not sure what made me step up my game in terms of training and racing but a lot has to do with realising that these things made me tick and it was what I enjoyed doing.

An exciting start to the year saw us get a loft conversion. Neighbours had just had one and the transformation on their house was amazing. Being inquisitive I knocked on their door to see what they were doing and soon we were doing the same, and they (Paul and Nikki) soon become really good friends. Opening up the loft gained us an extra bedroom and a nice space at the top of the stairs; it really changed the look and feel of our house.

Ellie was really unfortunate when she got Chicken Pox. She had a really nasty reaction around her eyes, ears and on her face which saw her admitted to hospital for a week. Here she was on antibiotics and under close watch just to make sure it didn’t do any real damage. Luckily it cleared up fine just leaving her with a couple of Special Chicken Pox scars on the side of her head.
Ben had proposed to Cindy and in July I flew out to Seattle to be his Best Man. He had a great wedding aboard a boat in the waters off of Seattle followed by a fun evening in Seattle. I spent a week with Ben chilling out, riding our bikes, running and catching up before the wedding took place.

Sarah and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a short break to Italy, this time to Sorrento. Once again my Mum and Dad stepped in, they enjoyed a few days looking after Ellie, allowing us some time to ourselves.

Unbelievably, for it seemed just a short time ago she was being born, Ellie celebrated her 2nd Birthday. Not long after that Sarah found out she was pregnant again, we were really excited and the May due date didn’t seem too far away.

The Last Decade: Part 1...

2010-01-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

My friend Paul gave me the idea of writing a review of the last 10 years. It was pretty amazing to look back on this period in my life, most years have been full of really exciting things, far too many to mention. What I have tried to do is capture some of the special, most significant moments......

2000

I saw in the new Millennium with my best mate Ben Bigglestone at a party. After midnight, fuelled by mucho alcohol we decided to abort the party to go to another celebration at a friend’s house in Rawdon. 2000 started with a very drunk 5 mile run at 1am to Pauls, where the fun and games continued. If I remember correctly at one stage I was performing handstands against a wall dressed only in a cooking apron!!

I celebrated my 25th Birthday in Leeds with Ben. It was a great night as we celebrated not only my Birthday but my success earlier in the day getting a new job, Head of the PE Department at Read School.

Athletically I achieved some great things. I rode PB’s in various distance Time Trials. They are still my PB’s 10 years on. I rode 21.12 for 10 miles, 53.42 for 25 miles (the absolute perfect time trialling morning) 1.55.50 for 50 miles, and I did 37.50 for the Dewsbury 10k run. Will I ever ride the bike as quick? Well I think the 10 and 25 maybe out of reach, but I think I could get the 50.

I was still coaching Soccer for NOGA a company based on Long Island NY, USA, and spent 3 weeks during my summer holiday directing a couple of camps.

I qualified and completed in the World Duathlon Championships in Calais, over a distance of 10k run, 40k bike and 5k run. This was a fabulous event; I loved every minute of it. It was made even more special by the fact that Max (my brother) was also racing. The photo is with a good friend John Trevena, an awesome athlete!

The year finished in style. On 31st December I met a gorgeous girl called Sarah Cullen. We met at Manchester Airport, with a group of mutual friends ready to fly to Andorra for my first ever snowboarding holiday.

2001

To this day we are not sure if the snowboarding holiday was a set up, but either way we had a brilliant New Year’s Eve, and weeks snowboarding (The photo was taken early in the morning on 1st January) I subsequently started 2001 with a new Girlfriend. Sarah got to know me in Andorra with a crazy, blond, curly, surfer hair style and a full goatie beard, When I arrived at her flat in the second week of January I looked like a teenager, clean shaven, with a short spiky hair cut (all the blond locks cut off) I think she was a little surprised, but she still liked me!

Work was going well at Read School, however the travelling from Leeds was proving to much of a journey so in April I took up the position of House Master in the schools Boarding House. This allowed me to save some money and roll out of bed down to breakfast and in to work.
The M62 became mine and Sarah’s road. We travelled it as often as we could between Leeds/ Selby and Didsbury. We took a holiday together in Morocco, enjoying each other’s company but hating the place. I have heard that Marrakech is the City least returned to in the World, it wasn’t our cup of tea!

I spent a few more weeks in the summer coaching Soccer on Long Island.

I decided to make Sarah a new TV table. Five patio slabs were required so we picked some up from B&Q and set to work on the very modern looking table, (straight out of ‘Living’ magazine). Three slabs would rest on their ends, with the two slabs resting on them to form the flat table top. The leg slabs were too tall so needed a trim. We went down to the hire shop for an angle grinder and grinding disks. We had a slight problem, Sarah’s flat was on the 3rd floor, and we didn’t have a long enough extension lead. I confidently said it won’t take long so let’s cut the slabs in your hallway. Well clearly my mind wasn’t working very well, as I made the first cut and brick dust fired out the back of the grinder all over the walls, Sarah freaked out hid in the kitchen drinking wine while I finished what I had started. I think Sarah was cleaning up slab dust for months, but miraculously I wasn’t dumped and guess what? Sarah had a really cool TV table, which we still have.

I represented Great Britain again at the World Duathlon Championships, this time in Rimini (Italy) Sarah, my Mum and Dad came with me. I wasn’t very well prepared, having a fairly low key sort of racing season, but I was there and ready to give it everything. Unfortunately in torrential rain I punctured on the first lap of the bike course so my race ended rather abruptly.

2002

Sarah and I enjoyed a fabulous snowboarding holiday at Banff (Canada), it is definitely a place I hope to return to someday.

Come the Spring we had both decided we knew the M62 well enough by now. Sarah’s work situation had changed and we decided to rent a place together near my School. It was a pretty basic cottage in the middle of a farm....... a PIG farm. I loved it, however Sarah was not as impressed. Leaving her lovely brand new Didsbury flat for a dark, damp, spider infested, pig smelling rented cottage was not her idea of fun, but we had a great time buying stuff and enjoying each other’s company.

I finished off the school year in the Boarding house, giving up this part of the job so Sarah and I could spend more time together.

I did a couple more years in the States coaching Soccer, and Sarah and I flew out later in the summer for a holiday, staying with some of my friends at their holiday home in the Hamptons on Long Island. The Hamptons are a beautiful, beach fronted location at the end of the Island, multi-million dollar homes are the norm. We had a great week.

2003

During the Spring Sarah and I brought our first house together. It was a really nice 3 bedroom semi-detached house in the village of Brayton, a well sought after village just a few miles outside Selby. We spent much of that year doing the DIY and decorating thing. The living room floor boards got a sanding, we knocked down the bathroom/ toilet walls to make one big bathroom and put in a new kitchen.

We hosted some great parties; the cocktail party was one of the best. We built a bar, had every cocktail or shot available and had a gambling gazebo with poker and Russian roulette. It was a great night.

I continued to snowboard, leading a holiday for the school to France and fitting in a New Years trip with Ben.

I changed my car this year. My trusty Fiat Punto was gone, replaced by a 4L Jeep Wrangler Sport. I loved it, with the top off and the roaring 4L it was pretty cool. Jeep Wranglers are common place cruising along the beach boulevards on Long Island and now I had my own. I just wished the British weather made having a soft top car more amenable.

At the end of our garden we had a wooden shed and an old brick built one. I drew up a grand plan to demolish both and build a 5m x 3m brick built one which would become my gym. Having cleared the site, dug and concreted the foundations, my Dad then joined me for a week to help with the brick work. We constructed it from breeze blocks, put on a lean to roof, with exposed beams inside, and put in a recycled barn door into a door frame I had constructed. I spent the following week rendering the brick work and finishing off the inside with wooden panels, a laminate floor and spot lights. Neither Dad nor I are builders, but I have inherited my Dad’s practical skills and enjoyment for this kind of work, we were both really proud of what we had achieved. When I moved my weights and training gear into it, it made a fabulous gym.

The summer finished with even more excitement when I proposed to Sarah. My Dad had just left to drive home, we were chilling in the lounge, I reached into my pocket pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me. She said Yes.

In the autumn we put down a deposit on a new build house that was being built in the field at the end of our Garden. It was due for completion in Spring 2004 and looked like a really nice 3 bedroom detached house. At the time we had planned to buy it as an investment to rent out. However as the build progressed we realised it was going to be a lovely house on a large corner plot, so we decided to put our house on the market and move into the new one.

Sarah made another career change and decided to work for herself teaching private music lessons. As a kid she played Flute, Clarinet and the Saxophone all to high levels and decided that a change of direction could result in a new career. Things took off instantly with the phone constantly ringing with local people wanting music lessons.

It's Christmas Time...

2009-12-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is what Christmas is all about!! It's Christmas Eve and as you can see Evie and Ellie are super excited. In fact the whole house was a bubbling cauldron of excitement. It's traditional for Sarah to have a 'Night before Christmas' present and she could hardly wait this year. Her Mam buys her one and Sarah buys her Mam one, Eileen couldn't even wait until Christmas Eve, she opened hers on the 23rd...

Christmas was great this year. My Mum and Dad arrived on Christmas Eve for 5 days and it was lovely to have them around for a nice long time so we could all really relax and they could spend some decent time with the girls. It was great to spend some quality time with my Dad. I got him a 12 Day pass for the DW Fitness Gym and although we only managed a couple of sessions it was awesome to work out with him, riding the spin bikes, some weights and some core work with the medicine ball. We also had a great 9 mile walk through the snowy fields and woods together before meeting the girls for a picnic in the woods on Boxing Day.

As usual the living room overflowed with presents and for a while the adults presents were untouched as we watched the faces of Evie and Ellie as they discovered what Santa had left, magical. Sarah was the first to dig in! I think I did pretty well and surprised her with a few gifts (every year she gets worried by my lack of shopping and every year I pull it out the bag) Mum and Dad enjoyed their selection of gifts and I must have been a good boy this year because I was thoroughly spoilt by my naughty wife! My big surprise was an iPod Classic! Wowsers I have put nearly 100 albums on it and not even made a dint in the memory. I love my music, but up till now it's a bit all over the place, CD's, Computer and iPod mini, now it can all live in one easily accessible place. Scooters, dolls, battery powered hamsters, Cinderella and Mini Mouse Dressing-up outfits, books, puzzles, crafty making stuff and much much more covered the floor for the next few days, awesome.

Sarah had got us all tickets to see the 'Snow White' Pantomime at the Grand Theatre in York. That proved to be a great present, we all had a fun filled afternoon, "Oh no we didn't", "He's behind you" etc, etc. A really friendly, family orientated production. If you haven't been to the Pantomime for a few years, you've still got time, it really is great fun.

Ellie and Evie have been superstars over the Christmas period. There is so much anticipation and excitement, presents and chocolate where ever you look, yet they still sat down and ate every meal with us, went to bed when they were asked to and played so well together, sharing each others toys and goodies. I have had a great time with them. Ellie is becoming a beautiful, caring little girl. She had saved all her Christmas cards from her school friends, and written us all at least 10 different cards each. She brought down this great big bag of cards on Christmas Eve which we opened, then we played 'Pass the Parcel' with a present she had wrapped up. She worked the music and made sure everybody won a stage and got a treat. Evie is also fabulous in a totally different way. Her energy and energetic manner is great, I love seeing her charge around, jumping and giving me that cheeky little look she does so well. Yet this Christmas her calm side also started to show through as we have sat and made puzzles, read books and watched DVD's. One of the girls favourites and mine on TV was the 'Gruffalo' Did you see it? A really simple, short story with great music and animation, fun.

A common theme ran through one set of presents....

Well, we do have three types of washes in our house whites, darks and pinks!!!! I had a great Christmas, and am enjoying the final days of 2009, hope you are to. Have a great New Years Eve, see you in 2010....

Holiday Time; Week 1

2009-12-21T00:48:00.000-08:00

Most folks are still working hard with a view of taking some time off over Christmas and hopefully between Christmas and New Year, I however am firmly in Holiday mode, yippee. I kind of consider myself fortunate when it comes to holidays, but at the same time it was me who decided to be a teacher, so actually I am not fortunate at all!! By the same token if you don’t like something, then do something about it and do something else, I have a pretty low tolerance for folks who moan about their job, particularly moaning teachers.

Much to Sarah’s amazement I have had a great week of training and chilling. I say to her amazement because she has yet to see much evidence of me shopping and is getting a little concerned whether her Christmas stocking will be slim this year??? I of course have everything under control. Ellie still had a week left at school, Evie was in nursery on her usual days and Sarah had a pretty normal week of work. More carefully planned than the invasion of Iraq (actually that is a really bad analogy) I constructed a week of training around the girls, school and nursery drop off’s and pick up’s and other things that were in the weeks planner. This post will be largely training based because next week there will be far more exciting things to write about; at least I hope so because I have been a good boy this year!! Before we get on to my training a little of the rest of the week.

I spent a really chilled afternoon on Thursday with Sarah curled up on the sofa watching the film ‘Australia’ and munching on Terry’s Chocolate Orange. It was great to be able to spend some quality time together and not a bad film.

We now have a couple of outdoor Christmas lights on the Garage, much to the joy of Ellie. I think this is the start of the slippery slope, more planned for next year adding a couple yearly until we have a house resembling that of the Character played by Robson Green in Northern Lights (a nice film, see it if you haven’t)

We travelled north to Newcastle for the weekend. Sarah’s Dad took me and Sarah out on Friday night to a Christmas Party at his local. Bernie changed his local pub a few years ago and rather amusingly the refurbished Pub he now frequents has become a focal point for the Gateshead and Felling Gay community. The owner (an energetic lady in her 50’s) and most if not all of the bar boys and girls are camper than camp people in a camper van in a campsite. All involved in the pub have been great to Bernie over the years, especially with his various problems associated with his Parkinsons and balance difficulties, they are great bunch and really look after him. Anyway I ‘camped’ it up a bit with my outfit, and we went out. A nice Christmas meal was followed by some live music from a group calling themselves ‘Souled on Sax’ It looked promising and the first song a great version of Santana and Rob Thomas ‘Smooth’ was excellent, unfortunately the music went to a rock place and the Saxophone stayed on its stand (much to Sarah and Bernie’s disappointment) But this said it was still great to be out. The band were good, the Saxophonist and lead Singer looked pretty good in her black catsuit, knee high 6” heeled boots, and their rendition of Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer brought back a few teenage memories!!! Geordie women just don’t care!! Age or size is no barrier to getting dressed up and having good time, fair play to them. There was plenty on show, the main outfitters must have been ‘TopShop’ and the vast majority a size 18, throw in the bar staff and their friends and you get a bit of an idea of what the night was like. We had fun, the wine flowed and it was a good evening, thanks Bernie.

Sarah and her Mam went shopping into Newcastle on Saturday whilst Bernie and I entertained the girls and watched some of the Cricket. We spent the afternoon at his local ‘Gay Bar’ chilling out whilst Ellie and Evie played in the indoor soft play centre. Eileen’s new super deluxe spa bath complete with underwater lights got some action, (nearly fell asleep in it on Saturday night) and as usual we were very well fed and thoroughly spoilt by Eileen, a nice weekend.

Training wise I have had a great week, currently I feel aerobically very fit but I also feel like I am getting quite strong from the recent gym activity. I put quite a bit of emphasis on strength training. I think it is key (along with stretching) to not incurring repetitive injuries from running and swimming, leg strength is important for the bike when the road goes up or higher levels of power are called for, plus in my mind a strong body is a fit body and this is vital for everyday living and more so as we age, finally I really enjoy the variety of being in the gym lifting weights. Recently I have been doing loads of Core work with Medicine Balls with my Judo friend Dane and on Thursday we had a monster session. Not particularly Triathlon specific but a great Power and Plyometric session. Power Cleans and Tuck Jumps, Power Squats and Bench Drop jumps, Power Bench Press and Plyometric Press ups, Rows and Kettle Bell Torso Rotations, Medicine Ball Side Throws and Seated Overhead Throws followed by some really challenging core work. I really enjoyed pushing Dane hard and enjoyed trying to match him in my own performance. Needless to say I was sore and stiff on Friday.

On Monday I hooked up with Ove for a Run. After a steady 30 minute warm up we put in 6 hill repeats each lasting 50 secs, taking it in turns to lead and set the pace. There is something very motivational about being on the front, I think we both upped our game. We then ran home giving us a 7 mile run with some hard work in the middle.

Tuesday was long day in the gym. A steady 2k swim, was followed by an hour on the spinning bike, then the spin class group turned up, so I thought it was rude not to join in. 45 minutes later after some tough fast spinning and high resistance, slow cadence work I was cooked. I had a bite to eat and then met Dane for a 90 minute strength session including heavy squats and leg press. I once read that Gordo Byrn at the end of a long ride or Ride and Run would do a few tyre pull intervals to really work himself hard. His thinking, if he could run some intervals with the tyre pulls at the end of a long day he would easily find the extra effort to push through in the final k’s of the Ironman, also none of his competitors were doing it!! Tuesday was a 4 hour day, nice.

With Ove on Wednesday I had the wettest ride I have had for ages. By the time I got home I had ridden 55 miles, 3 ¼ hours and was soaked through. It was great to ride with Ove, nice and steady and good company, great motivation also, would I have stayed out for that long on my own? I tried to swim in the afternoon, but my arms were pretty sore so just settled for 1500m of chilled out drills. It did all add up to another 4 hour day.

My final session of the week was a Run in Newcastle. Fresh snow had fallen late Saturday afternoon so a nice off road hour’s run at a really steady pace, (dictated by the conditions) Crunching through fresh snow with blue skies above made a for lovely start to the day.

By the end of my first 7 days of holiday I had trained really consistently on 6 of them, including 2 4 hour days. I had managed a really nice balance of all disciplines and pushed myself in the gym, in total I trained for 14 hours, race season seems a way off, but I just love it!!

Christmas is firmly within our sights and our house is gearing up for a good one. I think I am as excited as the girls this year. My Mum and Dad are coming up on the 24th for 5 days, we are all looking forward to seeing them and spending plenty of time together. It goes without saying Ellie’s excitement goes up a notch every morning when she realises the Christmas is a day closer and Evie is mirroring her sister’s behaviour.

Enjoy Christmas week, try not to let the preparations take away from the real pleasures in your life, make some time for those close to you and for yourself, and then kick back and have fun.

P.S. Rage Against the Machine, such lovely boys!!!!

P.P.S This weeks photo is what happens when you let a toddler choose her clothes for nursery?

Family Time

2009-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Chatting to Ove today during our run we were discussing our lifestyles and in particular making the most of opportunities, and keeping things fresh. Recently he has been out quite a lot and talked about how much him and Emma were looking forward to a few weekends at home, I on the other hand was talking about the need, after a few too many weekends at home to get out, mainly for a bit of a change of scenery. It is with similar sentiments that Sarah and I decided to book a 3 night break away at Sherwood Castle Forest Log Cabins a few weeks ago, a change of scenery before the Christmas Festivities kick in.

Since Ellie was born Sarah has been going to Sherwood Castle with a group of friends who all had babies at the same time and met through the children, they have a yearly short break with the kids. When they were babies more a break for the adults, the last few years it has become a chance for the kids to see Santa at the nearby Sundown Adventure Land. Sarah has always said how good it was, so on Friday after my School Carol Service we set off down the A1.

I was quite excited, the cabins sounded great, we had gone for one with a Log burning Stove and a Corner Spa Bath and more importantly it was a chance for some quality family time. We hadn't unpacked the car before I had a huge roaring fire going, a theme for the weekend. We went through three big dustbins of logs and numerous bags of kindling wood!!

The girls had a lovely time at Sundown on Saturday, it really is a great place if you are under 8 years of age. Evie was really excited when she saw Santa, Ellie went a bit shy but soon told him not to come down our chimney because he would get stuck behind the wall, he said he had a special magical key so it would be alright. The weather was a glorious bright, cold day. Back in the cabin, log fire and curry....... and The X Factor. Sorry Folks had to do it, it was the Final and although Sarah had set it up to record, I knew she really wanted to watch it (I read the latest edition of Triathlon Plus, in between checking out Olly's backing dancer's!!!)

On Sunday we had a very leisurely morning. We got a bit carried away with bubbles in the spa bath, much to the amusement of Ellie and Evie. Went for a couple of walks in the woods, a play on the Outdoor Assault Course and a long play in the indoor play centre. We watched a couple of movies, Elf and some ice skating one, then when the girls were asleep me and Sarah flicked between X Factor and Sports Personality. With Ellie's school play "The Wiggly Nativity" taking place on Monday morning we had decided to stay Sunday night and just get up and drive the hour home first thing on Monday. It worked perfectly, we dropped Ellie off at school, then an hour latter went to watch her be an Angel in the play, where she sang her heart out and didn't stop smiling.

We had a lovely weekend. Although we still had to deal with the energy sapping energetic toddler that is Evie, and there were moments when Sarah and I wished it was just the pair of us, the change of scenery and opportunity to spend time with the girls and together as a family was great. We are already looking ahead to 2010 and planning a couple of similar weekend breaks.

I started my Holiday on Friday, three weeks off with not the hint of work, it's a great feeling, have a good week......

#winterswim

2009-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

#winterswim was an idea conceived by Tom, Ove and I during a Skype conference call chatting about 2010 triathlon races. Tom has worked his statistical magic and has designed a wicked challenge to keep anybody motivated, and hungry to put the hard work in through the winter. The basic concept is a maximal swim every fortnight. Week 2 a 400m, Week 4 a 100m, Week 6 another 400m, Week 8 a 200m, Week 10, 400m, Week 12, 800m, Week 14, 400m, Week 16 1500m, Week 18, 400m, Week 20, 3.8k, Week 22, 400m and finally a brucey bonus 10k for anybody Mad, up for a challenge, or fancying some serious lengths. To keep beginners and the super speedy motivated and to add in that competition, Tom is comparing peoples times against World Record Times and looking at % improvements from fortnight to fortnight. (not a job for me, but Tom has it firmly in hand, cheers mate)

My swim performance in Triathlons has always been pretty solid. I have always done very little swimming (a combination of lack of time, lack of decent pools to swim in and to be honest a somewhat smug satisfaction that every season on minimal swim training I have still been able to perform pretty good) I have thus done a little open water swimming pre-ironman races, and some very specific long sessions in the pool for a few weeks prior to a race. What I have done though, is lot's of upper body strength work and muscular endurance work in the gym 12 months of the year. I really enjoy gym work, whether it's maxing out on bench press or hitting some high reps on shoulder and lat exercises. This I feel has been very beneficial and allowed me to 'swim strong' in an open water environment. However with the #winterswim challenge firmly laid down I got myself a membership at JJB gym, which although it is only a 20m pool is 5 mins from my house and very convenient.

I have for the last 6 weeks swam more km's than I did for my entire swim training prior to Lanzarote IM last earlier this year. My #winterswim performance has been very encouraging. 400m = 6.33, 100m = 1.27, 400m = 6.19. Last night I swam 20 x 100m (mixing swim, drill HARD and swim) During the Hard 100m I was touching on between 1.31 and 1.34, and tonight an impromptu session saw a straight through 2000m, feeling strong throughout.

Swimming is such a solid training activity, I am convinced that I will be considerably faster in next seasons triathlons as a result of the hard work through the winter. In addition to the obvious swimming improvement, (measured in better swim splits) I will be getting on the bike feeling fresher, with the swim taking much less out of me. I also expect to see a leg strength benefit from swimming consistently. If I swim a 2k set that is 100 lengths and 100 legs drives off the wall. If I attack the wall and drive hard off it there will definitely be a training effect on my leg muscles, I bet it requires similar leg power to jump squats. Also there is the cardiovascular benefits associated with any form of aerobic and anaerobic training.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Boxing Dinner on Wednesday by some good friends who move in the boxing circles. The guest speakers were Leon Spinks (beat Ali) John Stracey (World Welterweight Champion in the late 60's, 70's) and Brian London (British Heavy Weight) It was a good evening and with photos of Leon and Ali fighting it really brought home how good this guy was. It was a little sad to see Spinks, who in his 60's was in a pretty bad way, his movement was a slow shuffle and his speech was laboured and slurred, however this guy to boxing fans a LEGEND.

Saturday was the end of my schools Rugby Season, we move on to Football in the Spring term. It has been very successful season and given that I am in charge and responsible for the sport at the school it reflects the time and effort I put into it. I have coached the 1st Team this season and it has been a great one. The boys have trained hard, and have played some excellent Rugby. Our record is Played 13, Won 9, Drawn 1, Lost 3, compared to previous seasons this is like winning the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League. I would like to put all our success down to my coaching, but it's mainly due to having a greater selection of good players to choose from, because a large group of decent boys have stayed on into our 6th form these last couple of years. All the other teams have been more successful than in previous years so something must be going right. We are a very small school with just 20 to 28 boys in a year group, we have managed to field teams at u12, u13, u14, u15 and 1st xv this season, playing a combined total of 54 matches. It sometimes takes more of my time than I would like (especially at weekends) but it is a huge part of being a PE teacher and one where I do get a great deal of satisfaction from, here's to a successful Football Season.

The rest of the week has been as busy as usual, the house is now all 'Christmasified' and the girls (including Sarah) are starting to get quite excited. I have just 5 days of work left this year before a decent break until 4th January (holidays always make me excited, more training time and a chance to catch up with friends and of course loads more time with Sarah, Ellie and Evie) I will get to take Ellie to school and collect her.

I was asking Ellie what she wanted to get Mummy for Christmas, her response was great;

"Lipstick, because Mummy is really fussy about going out with out lipstick"

She's absolutely right, one of Sarah's little habits, lipgloss queen I call her....Enjoy your week :)

Three Little Boys....

2009-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

Three little boys went through their school life. Each boy had very similar opportunities throughout their time at school, some opportunities they took, some they didn't, soon they moved on to Year 13 and began the process of applying for Universities. I am a Year 13 (Upper 6th in old money) form tutor and have to write UCAS (University Application Process) references for the above three not so little boys.

Writing the reference for Boy One, who I shall call Arnold is a doddle. He has a tremendous work ethic, too many personal qualities to write in the provided space, has fully involved himself in Sport at school, has excelled as a senior pupil, was given Head Boy Status, raised money to and then participated in a month long World Challenge Expedition, and has shown dedication to pursue his Sporting talents. He achieved a solid set of GCSE grades and last year completed his A Levels also gaining a strong set of grades. His academic achievements have been as a direct of result of some natural talent but mainly huge amounts of hard work, dedication and desire to succeed.

Writing the reference for Boy two, who shall be called Sylvester has also been quite straight forward. Sylvester has been on a steady progression as a pupil throughout his school days. He has taken many sporting opportunities and is currently 1st XV Rugby Captain. Recent hard work and determination have resulted in Yorkshire U19 representative honour's this season. He has passed on some opportunities offered at school, but has gone out of his way to focus on coaching some of the junior sports teams, as a result he is moving positively in the direction he wishes to focus on at University. Around school he is very approachable, friendly with most pupils, a prefect with responsibility and a decent, independent young man who has been on a slow burner throughout school who will be successful at University.

The reference for Boy three, who I would like to call W Astas Pace is proving more difficult to write. Here is a boy who has slowly regressed as he has aged. He is a talented sportsman but has coped poorly with the sporting environment, he failed to take opportunities in the senior school to represent the school and struggles to cope with the playing environment. We are currently discussing whether he should represent the school 1st XI or whether his involvement will upset the balance of the team. He is academically decent however a lack of effort, focus and desire to achieve resulted in a weaker set of GCSE grades, that can only be described as underachievement. His A levels have been a constant battle between said pupil and staff, and now he is finding himself studying just two A Levels and looking at the possibility of a Foundation Degree, in a subject area (Architecture) where in all honestly his chance of success is fairly limited. I am not prepared to extend the truth with W Astas Pace, so can only write a short concise reference, not dwelling too much on his failures.

Writing references and helping students succeed is one of the reasons I teach. I have really enjoyed guiding Arnold and Sylvester through their University Application and I am sure they will continue to be very successful, as for W Astas Pace, I can only hope the passage of time and the contact with new individuals will put him back on the track he has fallen from.

We are all presented with opportunities throughout our days, weeks, years and life, how firmly we choose to take them depends on many factors, many people and often situations we may be in when the opportunity arises.

Sometimes I wonder whether I am always taking the opportunities in front of me, however many, many factors affect whether an opportunity is taken, and the degree to which it is pursued. At the moment there are opportunities to do many things, I am hoping I can take as many of them as possible in the next few weeks.

This week Ellie has left me no choice but to share a quote with you all. 'Ellie's Quote of the Week'

"In the night I heard a little voice and it was a fairy and it wanted to sit on my special plaster on my finger"

My Training Diary

2009-11-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Do you keep a training diary? I have kept one since my University days (1996) and think I have managed to write one every year except the few years in the early 2000's when whilst still training I didn't really have any focus. I find it a really useful 'NOW' tool, and also an interesting retrospective read. It also allows me to look at training progression, and I guess in 20 years I might be able to compare max bench press efforts, or interval run session pace with my Grand Children (oh how they will love visiting Grandpa Garrard's). So this week I thought I'd look at my last 4 training weeks and compare them to this time 12 months ago.

Week 1; 2008 Bike x 6, 6hrs, 120 miles, Run x 4, 3 1/4hrs: Total Training 9 1/4hrs.

Week 1; 2009 Bike x 4, 5 1/4hrs 110 miles, Run x 4, 3 1/4hrs, Swim x 2, 1 1/4hrs, Guy Fawkes 10 mile race: Total Training 9 1/4hrs.

Week 2; 2008 Bike x 7, 5 1/2hrs, 110 miles, Run x 2, 1hr:Total Training 6 1/2hrs.

Week 2; 2009 Bike x 6, 7hrs, 140 miles, Swim x 1, 1/2hr: Total Training 7 1/2hrs.

Week 3; 2008 Bike x 7, 9 1/4hrs 170 miles: Total Training 9 1/4hrs.

Week 3; 2009 Bike x 5, 6hrs 110 miles, Run x 2, 1 1/4hrs, Swim x 2, 1 1/4hrs, Weights x 1, 1hr: Total Training 9 1/2hrs

Week 4; 2008 Bike x 7, 9 1/4hrs 175 miles, Run x 3, 2 1/2hrs, Weights x1, 1/2hr: Total Training 12 1/4hrs

Week 4; 2009 Bike x 6, 7hrs 130 miles, Run x 2, 2hrs, Swim x 2 1 1/4hrs, Weights x 2 1 1/2hrs, Abbey Dash 10k Race: Total Training 11 3/4hrs.

In a summary form;

2008 Bike 30hrs, 575 miles, Run 6 3/4hrs, Weights 1/2hr: Total Training 37 1/4hrs.

2009 Bike 25 1/4hrs, 490 miles, Run 6 1/2hrs (2 races), Swim 4 1/4hrs, Weights 2 1/2hrs: Total Training 38hrs.

What does this show? well I guess the one thing that jumps off the page for me when I look at my diary's is the consistency of my training, particularly over the last 3 years. This year I am trying to train much more like a Triathlete and whilst it is still 'all about the bike' my promise to swim through the winter and to run more consistently is happening. I haven't looked into specific sessions but if I did these 4 weeks would show much more variety, interval sessions on the bike, running intervals and more specific weights/core sessions (currently in a leg strength building phase) In addition there are 2 running races in 2009. This isn't a coincidence or me selecting particular weeks for good stats, but a deliberate desire to do more running races for that ultimate, not possible to replicate in training intensity that only a race brings.

My training diary also provides me with positive motivation, it is great to look back on a week and see a solid set of numbers, or to see numbers missing for a particular discipline and to then sort it out the next week.

So week 4, 2009 was a good one, nicely balanced, some intensity and the Abbey Dash 10k race where I ran 39.10 (6.18min mile pace) today my legs are suffering, but what's the point in racing if you don't hit it as hard as you can, a little DOMS didn't hurt anybody!!!!

Sarah knows that I enjoy the prospect of opening a new training diary on Christmas morning, I wonder whether she will be able to find another Mickey Mouse one?

Spontaneity......

2009-11-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend I have managed to watch some of the International Sport that has been on. I enjoy watching the Rugby, and find it really beneficial to my refereeing and development as a coach. I find football on TV a long occasion, and rarely manage to watch an entire match. I saw some of the England v Brazil match (England 0 Brazil 1), watched England beat Argentina 16 - 9, and then managed to see Ireland v Australia (20 - 20) when Evie fell asleep lying on my chest. Sitting here on Sunday evening am I inspired by the performance of highly paid professional sportsmen? well in a word NO, (although things improved somewhat this afternoon).

Where has the spark gone from team sport? where have the match winners gone? where has the spontaneity and improvisation gone? There wasn't much on show this weekend, particularly when an English team was involved.

I think 15 year's ago (bit of a guess) football started to change, (was that about the time of the Premiership?) I remember hearing many managers say 'if we don't concede a goal we won't lose and we may win'. Team's started to put more and more emphasis on the defence and as a result games became tighter, teams conceded fewer goals and they would often sneak a goal or hold out for a draw. I realise a solid defence is vital in professional sport, but the last time I explained winning to the boys and girls I teach I remember saying if you score more goals, score more tries, score more points you will win, it's still the same. Yes you need to be solid in defence and stopping the opposition scoring or your badminton opponent hitting winners will give you a greater chance of winning, but you still have to score some points for yourself or your team. In my teens I played tennis, and every year we had the village tennis championships. Very often I would come across the same player who had one very simple strategy, get the ball back over the net. He did exactly that, safe, low risk tennis, he kept returning the ball, safe serves, rarely going for a winner, guess what happened? He frustrated the hell out of me, I made mistakes, got wound up by his defensive game plan and quite often I would lose to him. (I don't really think he beat me) Some would argue a pretty effective tactic........anyway back to our overpaid footballers. When was the last time a striker scored a hatrick? when was the last time a midfield player scored a mighty goal from outside the box (not a free kick) when was the last time you saw a attacker take it past the goalkeeper and slot it into an empty net? I think with all this defensive thought, strategies and tactics to keep the opposition out individuals and teams have forgotten how to score goals, and guess what the same thing is now happening in rugby.......

Stop the opposition scoring, let them make mistakes and maybe opportunities will present themselves, enter stage left the specialist 'Defence Coach'. A contrasting thought, be aggressive in attack, outplay the opposition, commit numbers and create overlaps, look for opportunities to score, controversial!!! The England game was dire. Talk about a team devoid of ideas, and individuals scared to make mistakes. Another thing I will tell the boys I teach is to look after the ball. Keep the ball, protect the ball, surely you need it to score goals or tries!! However cue the England's tactics, (and many other Rugby teams), kick the ball back to the opposition and see if they make a mistake, if they don't they will return it to you, and you can have another go. I remember at school practising kicking the ball so that it bounced into touch and you then had the opportunity to win the lineout (guess lineouts are too predictable now so that's a pointless tactic) So mistakes are made, the ball is knocked on. Ok, nice territory deep in the opponents half with the ball at the scrum, surely a perfect position to launch an attack, Oh how wrong I am. Instead, win the scrum keep it tight, set a ruck, set another, set another make some ground and lure the opposition into a mistake that results in a penalty, Bingo, free shot between the posts 3pts yawn, yawn, yawn!!!! Who would want to be a winger with today's tactics. The way we are going, and I don't think we are far away we will have specialist kickers (probably American Football Players) who are that good they will be able to kick from pretty much anywhere. We wonder why today's players can't attack, score goals or tries, well it's not rocket science, they rarely get the opportunity to practise the skills required or create the partnerships with their team mates to build effective attacking positions.

Rooney attacking the Brazilian defence doesn't have the skills, knowledge or confidence to back himself and take on the defender and head towards goal, it's fear of failure, or lack of confidence, so what does he do? He turns back inside and plays a safe square or backwards pass, end result all impetus has gone from the attacking situation. Same on the Rugby pitch. The opposition give you the ball via a poor kick, where's the 15 running with pace and power, initiating an attack bringing in his winger and looking to open up the defence? In an attacking line where's the 15 joining the line, running with pace, looking to outnumber the opposition, looking to commit a dummy runner, throw a miss pass, work a scissors move he's not there, he's sitting deep just in case the scrum is turned over and the opposition attack. Managers are scared of losing, directors in turn put so much pressure on not losing, and as a result this negative approach to winning sport is reinforced in most modern players. Modern players are scared to be do something different, scared to be spontaneous, in case it doesn't work.

Before I move on I have a simple idea that might make the game of Rugby more exciting again. Make the penalty worth 2 points and the try work 6. Teams will still have to behave themselves, but it might just encourage teams to be braver and look for try scoring situations. 3 converted tries would require 12 penalties for the boring, play it safe team, even Jonny's not capable of slotting that may over.

I wonder whether some endurance athletes have also lost the spontaneity and ability to improvise, particularly with our training. Not necessarily just in terms of effort, but also in terms of the type of sessions we choose, where we do those sessions, when we do those sessions, swimming, running or cycling in your comfort zone. Some sort of training plan is probably a must, for me a rigid weekly training plan very rarely works. I usually miss a session and then beat myself up for doing so, if I set a session in stone and then fail to deliver I am often left feeling a bit deflated. For me I prefer to have some ideas for my training but with enough flexibility to change or miss sessions, without it causing World War V in my mind.

How often do you ride the same old routes at the same old speeds, run the same out and back or do the same warm up set, session after session in the pool. In the gym, Bench Press then Shoulder Press then Upright Row then Bicep Curl then Tricep Extension then too knackered for the situps and crunches, sound familiar? Take a look around you, have you ever run a route through the woods near your home or have you ever driven to a challenging wood or park for a run in a change of scenery. Have you ever ridden your favourite route in reverse. When was the last time you left your HR monitor at home and just went for it, or just ran without any timing device.

Unfortunately in Professional Cycling the Rugby, Football theme is occurring. Take for instance the fact that all cyclist are radioed up. Taking directions from their team managers the riders know exactly the time gaps and when to chase and how hard to chase, I hope the UCI ban radios, and we get back to the cyclist racing, taking chances and making there own decisions.

To a lesser extend power meters are having a similar effect in Ironman Triathlon. A superb training tool, but doesn't it take the guess work and spontaneity out of race day. Stick it at 200watts and come in with a 5.30 bike split giving you the platform to run your predicted 4.30 marathon using your Garmin to control your pace, Oh what a surprise my finishing time is exactly as I predicted. OK I know it's not that simple but what about if you were having a 'blinder', your legs feel like you are spinning, and you wonder whether your chain has fallen off it feels that easy, but NO wait a minute, stay in control, Mr Powermeter is too high, slow down, slow down!! Have we lost the opportunity for that monster day when massive PB's are earned?

This week I was spontaneous, and I loved it. On Thursday I rode my bike and slotted in 5 intervals on a steady incline taking approx 4 mins to ride. I hadn't planned to do this, but I rode the hill and felt good so decided to do a few more, I also hit it pretty hard. Then on Friday I trained with My Judo Friend Dane, although I hadn't lifted weights for a couple of weeks sod it, lift heavy, bench press, squats, flys and some pretty severe weighted abbs exercises. After lunch I wanted to run. I wasn't that inspired by my usual route along the river bank so decided on some rugby pitch intervals. I completed 8 laps, holding 68seconds on a 90 seconds recovery. I felt very tired on Saturday morning and had planned to ride to work, but with 2 solid, different high intensity days behind me I was quite content to drive in and take a couple of rest days.

This week I invite you to look for moments in your life and training where you can be spontaneous. Go on do it, it really is quite enjoyable doing something a little different.....I think I might ride where I will sprint max out for every sign post, bring it on...

The photo? I wanted to jump off the steps on holiday in Majorca, so I did......

Citius, Altius, Fortius

2009-11-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

'Faster, Higher, Stronger' the Olympic moto and the name of my Blog, what's that got to do with this weeks thoughts? Well it sort of links in to how I am looking at my training this year. The picture for the last 3 years has been racing Ironman. During the preparation for each Ironman it has all been about preparing my body to endure a long day of racing. This is vital and must be number 1 priority for an athlete like myself, by that I mean an athlete who has just a finite training window each week due to work and family commitments. Each session is aimed at maximising success on race day. It is either a very brave athlete, very confident athlete or very experienced Ironman athlete that is prepared to play around with their training. For me most swimming sessions were long, steady sets, riding was mostly as long as possible, steady state/ submaximal and running was focused on steady 8min/mile or slower with great form. With the hours I had available to train I felt this was the most sensible approach and would give me the best possible chance of finishing my Ironman race as well as I possibly could, it's not the only way but it is where I found myself. I think it worked, I finished each Ironman, went faster at Switzerland than UK and then had a strong race throughout the day on the challenging Lanzarote course. This year however things are getting a bit more spicy.......

I am aiming to race predominantly Middle Distance Triathlons. I know I can complete the distance so it's all about doing so with as much speed as I can muster from my 8.5% body fat frame :) (I am sure it's shot up to 15% thanks to the Guys Fawkes goody bag and my lack of will power and over indulgence!!) This year as many sessions as possible will have an aim, and I will look to vary the aim of sessions from day to day or week to week. Now this sounds straight forward. I have many years of training experience, I have a Sports Science Degree, I teach training principles and I am surrounded by very knowledgeable people......but I reality of change and is quite tough. I am quite motivated by miles in my training diary, comparisons between years for training hours and such like volume related goals. See my keenness to complete the 1000mile May challenge, great for an Ironman athlete, but a direction I have to move away from this year. It is a new direction I am looking forward to moving in and so far I have resisted the invitation from Tom to join him in early August for the 'Outlaw Ironman Triathlon'

So what sort of stuff will I be looking to do. Let me start with swimming. "Hey Ben it's 6 months before your first race, surely it's way too soon to start swimming"? No not this year, I am going to swim through the winter, and I am going to swim properly through the winter. I am going to focus on my technique, I am going to try and bring my continuous swim 100m time down from 1.45's to 1.30's. I am going to swim shorter sets, and I am going to test myself with the added motivation found in the form of the Winter Swim Challenge.

As always my bike training will be consistent courtesy of my daily commute to work. However I am looking at a different approach to my cycling for at least the next few months. I have lowered the gearing on my fixed wheel, I have challenged myself to stay out of the BIG ring on my road bike and I am looking to train at a much higher cadence and improve my pedalling efficiency. I have also realised that my long ride on a Thursday is not all about spending as long as possible out on the bike, aka last few years Ironman training mode. I intend to mix up my Thursday rides. Riding between 1 1/2 and 3 hrs but throwing in some higher tempo intervals mid ride, hard hill repeats, shorter max efforts etc etc. My rides to and from work will also vary, some days 1 min on 1 min off or timed efforts between set points. I might not record many really long rides in the next few months, and I may find I don't tot up as many miles of riding next year, but more riding variety and quality is the song I am dancing to this season.

Running is all about gaining my long lost friend 'Mr Speed'. In 2000 I ran a 17.51 5k on the track, a 37.30 10k and 62.30 10 miler. OK I am 10 years older and may have lost a few fast twitch muscle fibres, but I should be capable of running faster. I am slowly distancing myself from the slow plodding style (great for Ironman racing) and have realised that to do so I need to hurt more when I run. Intervals, short hill repeats, more racing and generally more frequency of running will I am sure bring my fast twitch fibres out of retirement and allow me to see low 7's and 6min/mile splits frequently on my Garmin. I am no longer fearful of running 26.2 miles, and hence have changed my perspective on my run training. So far so good, as I am really pleased with my performances at The Harewood Off Road 10 miler, Sherwood Pines Off Road 10k and the Guy Fawkes 10 miler. I have more races planned and some tough training sessions to do.

I think realistically I can fit in between 8 and 12 hours a week training. This is of course dependent on my work load at school and my energy levels. This sort of time, spent training like I did last year would see me maintain my fitness and consolidate my present bike and run speed, however this amount of time spent at a variety of running speeds, biking speeds and heart rate intensities will I have no doubt see me come out of the winter with more power and speed. As for my swimming watch this space, I can already feel a strange like skin growing between my toes!!!!

Finally motivation, without it the winter is hard. I am surrounded by very motivated people and love the fact that through Twitter and various other means I can influence others and be exposed to their positive influences. I know I have been a great source of motivation for an ex-pupil of mine in the past, now he is also adding to my motivation armoury. Dane Mitchell is a black belt in Judo and this year has delayed his University application to pursue his goal of completing in the 2012 Olympics. I have been training with Dane helping him pack on some muscle to take him towards his 81kg weight limit. (Oh to be 18 again and overflowing with Testosterone and HGH he just looks at the weights and develops) A few weeks back he took bronze in the National Championships and is now firmly in the GB squad. On Sunday he was put through his paces at a GB squad fitness testing session at the EIS at Sheffield. In his group he won every test. He reached level 13.8 in the bleep test (bare footed on a Judo mat) sick on completion due to the level he pushed himself to, he completed level 17 on the press-up test. Start with 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 all way up to 17 (total 153 press-ups) as well as topping the group in a power test, flexibility and various other tests. He is well on his way, and whilst I cannot bench press as much as him anymore I am still doing a regular training session with him, taking inspiration and motivation from his attitude, performance and drive.

This time next week I will be reflecting on a solid training week including variety and a further move away from Ironman training and a move towards training for Middle Distance Speed Performance.......'Citius, Altius, Fortius'

p.s. this weeks picture my DS Racers, built for Speed :)

A Great Week...

2009-11-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

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.

Time for a shake up.....

2009-10-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

'Ben has shown a little interest in the subject of life these last few weeks, but I feel he is slipping and could demonstrate and do so much more. He seems too accepting of some of the difficulties his life is throwing at him at the moment, and is quick to use these as excuses for his poor performance. Like a bottle of Orangina Ben needs a vigorous shake to wake himself up, I expect Ben to turn his underpar performance around with just a little more thought and effort'.

There we go, I have written myself an end of term report. I have been honest and today my friends I will begin to try harder.........

I have been a lazy, tired, demotivated individual for too long now, and today I am gonna give myself a shake and snap out of it. Enough is enough, there are a few things in my life that I am currently finding disappointing and I have no reason to think like this. With just a little bit more get up and go life will once again be fun, and full of the things I like to do.

Blog, or in my case what blog? For a year whilst training for IM Lanzarote I really enjoyed writing my blog, and I know there were a few people who liked reading it. Why no Blog for weeks and weeks and weeks, well I have just been too lazy to write something. There has been much to write about, life in general, training, racing etc etc I have had plenty of opportunities to spend an hour writing down a few thoughts, just couldn't be arsed.

Training, what training. Training and Exercise is what makes me the person I am. I love doing it and I am a little lost without it. Apart from riding to work, I have done very little of what I would call training. I have hardly lifted any weights, I have hardly run, I have hardly swam (ok that's not such a problem but I did say I'd try to swim once a week, and I do love swimming) Why? Well I am not going to list my excuses, they make pretty pathetic reading, too busy at work, rubbish. Too tired once I have put my girls in bed, rubbish. Garage too messy so can't get to my weights, rubbish (tidy it you lazy wan**r) No time at work for a lunch time run, rubbish too easy to drink coffee in the staff room. "My name is Ben Garrard and from today I am going to make more effort to do what I like doing"

I have two absolutely gorgeous girls. Ellie is a beautiful 5 year old full of life, enjoying school, thriving and loving learning. Evie is 2 1/2 years old, she is different to Ellie, she behave's and reacts differently to her sister. Ellie was a perfect little girl, Evie is different, she doesn't do the same things as Ellie did, she doesn't sleep like Ellie. She thinks the naughty step is a game. Six months ago all she would eat is sausages, now she says 'don't like them' It is me who needs to adjust, not Evie. Too often situations occur that upset me, but in hindsight it is not the situation that has upset me, but my inability to react appropriately to the situation in front of me. With Sarah I chose to have children, they are my life and having children is fabulous. I must not dwell on the difficult times, I must cope with the challenging times, but more importantly I must smile and enjoy their company.

I want to spend more time with Sarah. Well my friend sort it out!!!! I am busy, Sarah is busy but there is still plenty of opportunities in a week to spend time with her. I need to look more closely for those opportunities and I need to work harder to engineer time. "My name is Ben Garrard and as of today I will look for more opportunities and make more of the opportunities I have to spend time with my gorgeous wife"

As I write this Evie is sitting on the lounge floor next me making me smile as she tries to eat a Muller Crunch Corner Vanilla Choco Balls Yoghurt. She's been at it for 5 minutes, there is yoghurt on her top but it's not a problem, infact it's fun and her smiling face and cheeky manner make her who she is.

Great stuff, I feel like a new person. I think we have all been through times in our lives when things are just ticking along. My life was just ticking along, don't get me wrong even then there were some pretty great things happen, but like my desire to be the best at my sport, I want to be the best at my life, and for the past few months I have been underachieving.

Winter might be on it's way, it will be dark at 5.30 today, and spring might seem a long way off, but hey there are plenty of exciting months and events from now till then. Life can often be one long list of plans always looking forward to the future. Today and now is the only sure thing and that is what I want to enjoy. Have fun out there, do what you want to do, enjoy being you and enjoy those loved ones that you have chosen to surround yourself with. Must go now, Evie not quite understanding that Poo Poo's need to be done in the potty as well as Wee Wee's, just got to remove it from her knickers and plop it down the toilet...........

Update

2009-08-12T03:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for ages, Why? well the focus of my blog has been training and since Lanzarote I guess that has been ticking along with nothing of real significance to write about. I have enjoyed a bit of a rest from the computer and I guess wanting to write something meaningful each week has left me a little short of inspiration. In reality it has been a very busy 12 weeks since Lanzarote. He's a quick recap of some of the things that have happened.

Majorca: 2 weeks family Holiday in Cala Bona, in a Thompson Family Extra Resort. This was our first 'non race' holiday and we were really excited about the prospect of enjoying 2 weeks in the sun as a family. Overall it was nice holiday, the facilities that make this type of holiday different from a normal apartment holiday were exceptional. Kids clubs for Ellie, Creche facilities for Evie, great swimming pool, swimming lessons for Ellie, etc etc were all very much appreciated for that little bit of free time so that Sarah and I could also have a bit of a break on some days. Ellie loved the evening entertainments dancing, kids games etc, the next few years will be fun as I keep catching her singing bits to songs on the radio and dancing in front of the mirror :) 95% of the people then enjoyed the Reps evening entertainments that went through to 11.30pm. However watching Rod Stewart or Tina Turner Tribute acts and Holiday Reps doing their stuff is neither Sarah's nor mine idea of a good night. Options were a little limited, back to the apartment and sit on the balcony with a bottle of wine, entertainments too noisy, go out in Cala Bona, too late for Ellie and Evie. We were a bit snookered and felt we missed 'our' time when the girls had gone too bed. Thus we are now searching for the holiday that has 'some' provision for children during the day time, but doesn't turn into Butlins as the sun sets, we quite fancy the idea of EuroCamp etc in the South West of France, suggestions welcome.

Broken Ulna: Evie had run, jumped, been a lunatic for 2 weeks in Majorca. The day after returning she is at an indoor play center with her friends and she falls from a little soft step and would you believe it breaks her Ulna. She is now into week 3 with her arm cast, it comes off tomorrow. It hasn't worried her in the slightest. Just terrified me and Sarah as she continues to bounce around and behave like the bundle of energy that she is.

Racing: After Lanzarote I looked at the Triathlon race schedule and time trial race schedule and wondered what to do. There wasn't really any triathlons that were jumping off the page at me, so I decided that a decent couple of months of time trialling would be the way forward. It's been going pretty well so far. I have ridden 1.57.30 (ave speed 25.52mph) for 50 miles, 58.38 (25.58mph) for 25 miles and 23.40 (25.38mph) for 10 miles, I feel my speed and power is consistent around 25 to 26mph average, what I need to do is find some more watts to push performance up and my times down. Has 3 years of ironman training made me slow? have I lost my top end that I had in my mid 20's? or am I just needed more racing and time trial experiences. The arrival of my new bike (an impulsive buy from a club mate at a price too good to be true) has helped fire me up. Check it out!!!!!

Camping: We have had a couple of fun camping outings with friends at a great site in the North Yorkshire Dales and in the garden. Sleeping under canvas and living outside is good fun. Ellie and Evie seem to like it, hope to fit another one in before the summers out.

Jobs around the home: Boring stuff really, some necessary, some done out of a few months of neglect and some done to make training more comfortable. My Garage/ Gym is now looking clean and inviting, strength and conditioning is now back on the agenda in a big way. Oh to be 18 years old? I have been putting one of my A Level Pupils and Family Friend's through his paces on the weights. He is on the verge of breaking into the GB Judo Squad, and has decided to delay his University experience this year to concentrate on his Judo Goals. At 73kg he was just out of the 73kg category but at the bottom of the 81kg Category. Heavy weights, protein and an intense appetite for training have seen him pack on 5kg's in the last few weeks. He is well on the way. I am just about holding my own, but for how mush longer I'm not sure! Oh to be 18 again and have more Testosterone and HGH than the Tour de France Peleton (that's a little unfair it seems to have been a very clean tour) Dane is a very motivated athlete, switched on kid, great support network at home and I think will be there in 2012.

Toast: I love toast! white bread, multigrain, brown, wholemeal it just doesn't matter. I can destroy a loaf over a couple of days no problem. However with toast comes butter, jam, peanut butter, honey, Nutella etc etc. I read an interesting book called 'The Paleo Diet for the Athlete' and have since been trying to cut down on my intake of wheat and grains. In brief a Paleo diet suggests we eat like a Caveman, lots of good meat and fish, heaps of veg and fruit and nothing that they wouldn't have had eg, wheat and grains as well as the more obvious refined sugars and processed food. I have been giving it a go. I have eaten more fruit and veg than before and have not really missed the pasta, rice or breads that would have made up 30% or more of most meals. Breakfast is now fruit, nuts, a little Muesli and a little yogurt or eggs usually in the form of a 3 egg omelet with various ham, chicken, mushroom combos. I have not become 'anal' over what I can and cannot eat but if possible have tried to go for it. I think I need to tweak it a little so it works for me, fitting in with my family and lifestyle but in theory it makes quite a lot of sense to me.

www.ironman.com: I have spent many hours watching the updates from various Ironman Races across the World as my friends have raced their socks off. Too many at this stage to call individually but well done some amazing performances, Inspiring stuff :)

Reading: I have really enjoyed reading this summer. I have Read 'In search of Robert Millar' an interesting read about life as a pro cyclist. 'Thunder and Sunshine', Alistair Humpreys story of his journey by bike around the World, now that's an adventure, made me feel very safe and small in my comfortable bubble. 'The Paleo Diet for Athletes' (see above). 'Mark Cavendish, Boy Racer' this was really enjoyable. I might squeeze one more book in before I return to work, suggestions?

Coffee: Throughout my life I have drunk Tea not really getting the coffee taste, however Tea is a bit boring so I have given the famous bean a go. Finding proper coffee a bit of a shock I have eased in slowly and am now enjoying the Tea alternative of a milky Coffee or when the opportunity arises a Cappuchino. Not yet on the hard 'Black' variety but moving in that direction. Life's about experimenting so lets experiment!

Work: What is that? In a colleges office is a postcard that say's 'the 2 best things about teaching are July and August' If as a teacher that's your mindset then the rest of the year will be tough, but hey July and August are pretty good. So far I've had 5 1/2 weeks holiday with 2 1/2 more to go. I am looking forward to going back to work but being at home is not bad either.

Well that's a very brief over view I hope to get back into the regular blogging mentality, it's been very enjoyable. Take care and enjoy the sun for it is now shining, and before long it will be dark at 5pm:)

Goole Splashers

2009-06-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I have not long returned from Goole Swimming Pool where I have just had a very humbling evening with the Goole Splashers. I went along to their swim session to present them with the sponsorship money I raised from competing in Ironman Lanzarote. It was a warm feeling to be handing Val (the Secretary of the East Riding Of Yorkshire Disabled Sports Association, and organiser of the Splashers Swimming Club) a cheque for £550. What is brilliant is some of the money will go directly to the organisation of the 2009 Swimming Gala for all swimmers from the district.

When I met Val this evening I was instantly struck by somebody whose week revolves around organising activities for children and adults with various physical and learning disabilities. I would guess most, if not all of her work is voluntary. Whilst I was there tonight she was asking who would like to come along on Saturday to the Indoor Curling they had organised. They have got some adapted Curling Stones with ball bearings so they roll along the sports hall floor, sounds like great fun. Her energy, enthusiasm and dedication is clearly in huge abundance. Tonight at the pool there were 70 swimmers. Some had severe physical disabilities and required the hoist to get into the pool, wore armbands and had a helper with them in the water. Some were there independently mixing in and having fun with the others, some were physically fine and excellent swimmers, but had quite severe learning difficulties. Chatting to Val revealed that many had travelled as small groups from local care homes, some had come with their parents, and some had travelled from further afield, all because of the specific session organised by the Splashers. Tonight was a quiet night, apparently when 120 turn up things can get pretty noisy and boisterous!

There were smiling faces to be seen and laughter to be heard all over the pool. The water slide got a great deal of action, I can vouch for it's fun factor as I took Ellie down it a number of times, she loved it! Volunteers were throwing beach balls to whoever wanted to play, and care workers were helping hold and guide those who found floating difficult. The session was clearly a big part of the week for all there. They have access to the pool for 2 hours and I am sure some of the early arrivers were still there as I dried off at 8.15, they couldn't get enough of it.

I have offered my help, and intend to get down on more occasions over the next few months, getting in the water and helping out where I can. I will take Ellie with me some of the time, she did ask why the adults were wearing arm bands, so it will be a good experience for her. Ellie had a great time splashing around and soon made a friend with a little girl who she played on the mini slide with, they then played a throwing and collecting game with some floating foam animals.

It is always nice to give or do something for others. When I drop a few pennies in a collection pot in town and get a small circular sticker I feel good. Giving presents nearly always makes me feel as excited as receiving them. It was great tonight knowing that my efforts in Lanzarote, something I love doing, combined with the generosity of many of my friends, family and work colleagues will allow many there tonight to enjoy a competitve Swimming Gala and further sports activities over the coming year.

Watching all those people there tonight smiling, laughing and having fun reminded me that having fun is what it's all about. Sometimes it's all too easy to get wrapped up in our quests for personal bests or our pursuit for 'more', (more money, more strength, more fitness, more houses, more bikes, etc, etc) that we forget to enjoy the experience. Sure, we will set ourselves targets and goals, we will strive to achieve personal bests, we will want to see progress but along the way we must all make sure we have fun.......

Birthday Girl...

2009-06-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Evie was 2 years old on Saturday, now where did those years go? The change over the last year has been incredible. I wish I could learn and master as much as she has done in a year. All sorts of locomotion skills, walking, running (she's fast), jumping (just), eating with a fork, spoon and knife (sort of), drinking from a big girls cup and glass, communication (although most communication is in a language only understood by Evie, a language Sarah has called Evish) teeth cleaning, sitting on a big chair or kitchen stool and bossing your big sister around, (Jevon, is this normal behaviour from the youngest sister?) Happy Birthday Evie you have given us many sleepless nights in this last year but you have made our hearts glow on so many more occasions.

As Evie progresses at an alarmingly fast rate so does her sister Ellie. My brother and I took Ellie swimming on Sunday morning. After buying her a swimming sausage (6ft long foam swimming aid) and a sinking stick (the equivalent of the black brick) we went for it. Ellie is confident in the water, she spent most of the holiday in Lanzarote in the pool and loves jumping in, face planting (she calls this diving) being launched high in the air, however, all whilst wearing her armbands. After the usual fun and games, playing sharks etc etc, she then wanted her arm bands off to swim with her new sausage. She then wanted to pick 'Fred' up from the bottom of the pool (her name for her sinking stick) with her sausage for buoyancy. She then got rid of the sausage and with some great encouragement from Uncle Max managed to kick her legs and swim down a little deeper for 'Fred', and then finally she ended by really trying to swim between Max and I with her head up kicking and paddling like mad :) She was a STAR, had great fun and has made real progress, it wont be long before she is swimming for real, do they still do the 5m badge. She has now given Evie her armbands, and can't wait to go next weekend. Well done Ellie, you also fill our hearts with so much happiness and laughter.

The Garrard family has joined the world of the garden trampoline, a 10ft beauty. This was Evie and Ellie's Birthday presents from us and my Mum and Dad, thanks Mum and Dad it's ace fun. Needless to say most of the weekend was spent bouncing. 7am on Friday and Saturday we were bouncing, a great way to start the day.

I finally finished marking the 275 pieces of A Level Coursework, a job I do for the exam board each year. It is a small piece of work that should demonstrate the students ability to write 6 short essays chosen from a variety of topics from the 2 year Sport and PE Course. The standard of work from some students is incredibly low, it makes you wonder why they are doing A Levels. Why are they doing A Levels? Well it's a complex issue but I think the pressure from society, teachers and parents to study beyond 16 years is immense. There is also so little else to do. Apprenticeship positions have all but dried up and practical courses still have a stigma attached to them and many students don't fancy that option. So what happens, students stay at school or go to college and study subjects they were fairly successful at GCSE's (not really a true reflection of their intellect) Some subjects, Maths and Science modules can be taken over and over again, and many other subjects have turned to multiple choice style questioning or short answer style questions. Students then stay on at school and find themselves hugely out of their depth, unable to cope with the style of questioning and extended writing required for most A level subjects. They of course will get plenty of opportunities to retake the modular exams they fail to perform in and eventually at the age of 18 will most likely progress to a University (Universities now need to put bums on seats, so anybody will do) to study a degree course that probably won't lead into a related job, and then what???? I think employee's have already started to look at the path taken to get there as well as the end grade. I suppose in some cases it might show perseverance and determination but I still question whether it is the correct route for these students to be taking. It's not all doom and gloom, I have also come across some very clear, concise, accurate pieces of work at very high levels.

I have started training this week. I have ridden to work each day, thoroughly enjoying the weather and the steady no pressure riding. I have laid down the foundations for my 'get strong' weights campaign. Feeling the effects of a Chest session for a couple of days and an over enthusiastic weighted abbs session for a number of days. In also went swimming, an activity I have in the past simply forgotten about after completing my Ironman race. This year however things are going to be different. I intend to continue swimming, working on my technique and putting together some interesting pool sessions, building my swim speed and endurance. It's been a very enjoyable week of training (maybe exercising is a more accurate term)

I have plotted some rough plans for the rest of the season starting on Sunday with a 10 mile TT on the V212 course. This is the stretch of road where Tom, Helen and I have done multiple loops in our mega brick sessions, so I know it well. I hope to get my heart rate sky high and see what the clock stops on. I will then build on this adding in some serious intensity into my training. I am really motivated to take my fitness forward and enjoy some more races this summer and into the autumn.

Dad continues to make good progress and is now on the road to recovery. He has driven the car, ridden his mountain bike down the road a short distance and completed plenty of short daily walks. The specialist doctor doesn't think it is Labyrinthitis, but more likely a small blood vessel in the middle ear that has been affected by a lack of oxygen. The great news is that he should make a full recovery, he must walk, ride, practice balancing and start doing everything that requires balance and locomotion. In other words his progress is in his own hands, which is just where he wants it to be.

Great to see you this weekend Uncle Max and Auntie Rachael . Brilliant to see you having so much fun with Ellie and Evie, they had a wicked weekend with you guys. Fabulous Birthday Cake Rachael (I have eaten so much of it the last couple of days!)

Have a great week, I hope next week to report on a fast 10 mile TT.......

Fun times in Lanzarote

2009-06-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

I don't intend to write much this week, I think I will let the photos do the talking. Following my Ironman experience on the 'Island from Hell' as my good friend Steven Hobson (10 times Ironman Canada finisher) calls it, I have enjoyed kicking back and spending mucho time with the girls. An added bonus was landing at Leeds Bradford on Thursday to be greeted by blue skies and warm weather, this continued throughout the weekend. Making the most of the brilliant weather I started my day at 6am in the garden and didn't really leave it until 9pm, excellente. 8 days of total recovery (apart from walking, pushchair pushing and messing around in the pool with Ellie) was just what the doctor ordered. Anybody out there who struggles to properly recover from an Ironman, and is lost without the training just needs some wee little ones. Perfect for forced recovery :)

My beautiful wife and me

Ellie and Sarah in the Fire Mountains

Pyjamas, rubber rings, sun hats what more do you need to have fun

Kite flying on Puerto del Carmen beach

Holiday hair

Top of Mirador del Rio climb

Ellie launching herself into the pool

Lunch at a great restaurant in La Santa

Breakfast in my Garden

This week I am riding to work, swimming (yep I intend to keep it going from now on) and starting my 'get strong again' weights campaign, the following week I might slot in a few runs. I intend to enter a few 10 and 25 mile TT's, and aid Tom with some time in the 'hurt box' as he ramps up some interval intensity on the bike before Ironman Switzerland.

HUGE congratulations to my best buddy Ben who race Hawaii 70.3 on Saturday. He had a really great race finishing 3rd in his age group, also earning a Kona Ironman Slot. The World Championships will be his 10th Ironman and 3rd visit to Kona, inspirational stuff as always mate, wish you were still here in England so we could train together.

Hope you enjoy the family snaps.

Lanzarote Ironman 2009: Race Report

2009-05-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

I woke at 4am on race morning and quickly ate a bowl of cereal. If I eat quickly I can beat the butterflies before they take off and make eating very difficult. I sun creamed up with Ellie's SF 50 and prepared my water bottles and race kit. We were staying in a fabulous apartment complex in Puerto Del Carmen so it was less than a 5 minute walk down to transition. Entering transition on race morning makes it all very real, BOOM the nervous energy smacks you in the face. Pump up the tyres, check the bike, again, etc etc then find a quiet spot to relax and gather my thoughts.

I wondered whether pulling on my wetsuit for the first time since last August was a sensible thing to do (it still fitted) however a May race doesn't give much open water swimming preparation opportunity in England. I walked down to the beach with Tom, Helen and Sam feeling very excited and just a little nervous. I suddenly remembered that it was a running beach start so no chance for a quick swim warm up...BANG off we go.

The swim was the usual fight for clear water, I tried to stay calm as people swam across me and through my line. A few aggressive wider strokes helped clear some water, and a few narrower tighter strokes avoided a full on water fight. I felt good in the water and exited the first lap in 34.28. Lap 2 also had moments of congested water. Towards the top buoy I started to feel sick. I think this was due to the swell, swallowing some salt water and a general motion sickness, I was keen to get out of the water. I struggled to enjoy the final 10 minutes, however a couple of shoals of fish and the clear water helped. I was very happy to get out of the water in a time of 1:10:30. A solid swim time over a long course (probably 2 to 3 minutes according to most people) I wanted to compose myself and get rid of the sick feeling so walked up the beach and through T1. This, plus the longest transition area in the world didn't make for a speedy transition to my bike.

Out onto the bike I took my time to get my heart rate down and settled into a steady pace. The bike course was a real unknown. I'd had various descriptions from Tom but didn't really know what to expect. I rode nice and steady to a high 150's and low 160's heart rate feeling strong. I went through El Golfo and passed Helen who was looking nice and comfortable. I then pushed on to the first notable climb up through the Fire Mountains. Nothing more than a steady climb, keeping the cadence high in the 39 x 26. So many people cranking BIG gears WHY? Went really fast down the other side past La Santa trying to eat and drink. My stomach was on the edge and it wasn't easy or enjoyable to keep eating bars, gels, powerbar ride jellies or drink water. We turned in land and headed towards Mirador de Haria, it was here where it started to get HOT.

In reflection I don't think I drunk enough water through this section, but I was feeling good still and climbed Mirador de Haria and Mirador del Rio well passing a few athletes. I was starting to clock and pay more attention to the distance markers and things were looking good for my target time of 5:40, knowing the last 50km were pretty quick with a tail wind. I then checked my bike computer and was confused to see a 10 mile difference between my distance and that of the course markers. Convinced the signs wouldn't be wrong I concluded that my bike computer must be not working properly so I cracked on. At 175km (signs) we went up a slight rise and I thought we'd turn left into PDC and I would land a 5:40 bike split, instead we went straight on, and on and on and on.....I was confused, my head was filling with tired thoughts and I was watching the clock tick on. At the same time the heat was taking it's toll and I was feeling dehydrated and running low on energy.After what seemed like an eternity I turned into the final 500m along the beach front. Getting off the bike in 6:07:01, I was feeling pretty smashed, I stroll through transition trying to compose myself and find some energy. Not knowing the course had certainly made the bike harder, how they got the road signs so wrong one wonders, but that didn't really help either. However 6:07:01 was still a solid time so lets get on with this marathon run.
My target pace was around 8:45 min/mile, I'd swapped my Garmin 50 for the 405 so had mile splits from the word go. Showing low 9's I was a little off pace but I carried on feeling pretty good. I clocked my support crew, Sarah, Ellie and Evie and Tom's friends who would also shout me round Andy, his wife and his two girls, and Ian and EK, cheers folks the encouragement came at just the right times and your smiling faces made me pretty emotional during each lap. The run was far from flat with 3 climbs, well not really climbs but definitely gradual ascents each lasting between 100m and 200m. The wind that had blown me part of the way home was now in my face to the turn around point. I was running solid and went through the first lap in 59:24. Lap two was knocked out in 1:02:04 giving me a 2:01:28 first 1/2 marathon. Lap three is always the killer and here was no exception. I tried to drink plenty of water and eat gels and orange segments, and seeing Tom, Helen and Sam giving it plenty really helped my motivation. At the top turn on lap three I picked up Russ. Russ is a really solid IM athlete who has gone sub 10 hrs plenty of times. I followed his progress in Australia where he has been training and his adventures at Epic Camp early this year. Today he was having a bad day, hampered with a huge saddle sore preventing him cycling efficiently and running without pain. I convinced him to run and we knocked off lap three in 1:08:07 It was great to have some company, cheers Russ. Just one more lap to go.

I was starting to melt in the sun, I was turning into a salty mess and my energy levels were dropping very low. We walked through the aid stations taking on water, coke, gels and more orange. The aid stations were great land marks and we eventually made the top turn for the last time. I just had to run back down the course. Did I throw in a couple of sub 9 minutes sections? sure did, Did I stop at each aid station to stretch my exploding hamstrings? sure did. Did I feel great? sure did. As I approached the finish shoot I grabbed Ellie and holding her hand ran the final 25m through the cheering crowds to cross the line elated and smashed in a time of 11:53:36

My Marathon time was 4:20:33 with the final 1/2 taking 2:19:08, however I was still really really pleased. There were people exploding all over the run course, so many were walking from such an early stage. I'd run it all and once again put together three solid disciplines. I might have been an hour outside my prediction, but I always knew it was very ambitious and based a little loosely on what I thought I was capable off. Ultimately times are not what it's about. It's about putting together a training plan, showing commitment and dedication to that plan, taking the training highs and lows, and coming out on race day and enjoying the moments the race throws at you. The feeling at the top turn knowing you only have 5km to go is amazing, it's only surpassed by the one as you go across the line and the commentator shouts,

"Here comes another Ironman, it's Ben Garrard from England" that is me....

Lanzarote Ironman was incredible. Once again I have had a fantastic ironman experience. I loved racing with my friends Tom and Helen, that really added to the occasion, cheers guys. The final word must go to Sarah, Ellie and Evie who also had a really long day out on the course supporting me, and have been fabulously supportive during my training and preparation period, I love you all so much.

Now is the time.....

2009-05-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it is race week. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was entering Ironman Lanzarote. It doesn't feel that long ago that I was pulling on winter overshoes, or waking at 3am in excruciating pain with my ear troubles. On paper 20 weeks or 10 weeks doesn't actually seem that long a period of time, however a long time it is when you are training, focussing, recovering whilst working, daddying and husbanding. I was chatting to Helen whilst we were completing our final long brick session, and I have come to the conclusion that the 12 weeks specific preparation time talked about by many coaches is 12 weeks for a reason. It's not so much a physiological reason but much more a psychological one. For me I am totally ready to race on Saturday. The danger of starting your preparation too far out is when you really want to race you've still got 4 or 6 weeks of training left to do. This happened to me last year with Switzerland. I was ready to race in late May early June, the final few weeks were challenging, holding on to the focus. This year however I'm like a tethered lion who hasn't been fed, I'm like a greyhound in the starting gates, like an energetic kid at the top of a water slide. Let me get at the bad boy Ironman they call the toughest in the barren Lanzarote landscape. I cannot wait.

Back before Christmas I thought about my goal for Lanzarote. I think it's ambitious but realistic at the same time if I can execute a great race. It's based on my perception of where I think my fitness is, based on my performance against training buddies in specific training situations, and based on my experiences at IMUK 2007 and IM Switzerland 2008. So here it is;

Swim 1.08 (1.46 100's)

T1 and T2 10 mins

Bike 5.40 (19.5mph)

Run 3.50 (8.45 min/mile)

Total: 10.48, if only it was that easy.....

It is great to have a goal, but it really isn't the about hitting the finish line in 10.48. Saturday is all about enjoying the occasion, sharing the experience with my family and my training friends who will also be crossing the finish line. Sharing the experience with my friends who will be following my progress on http://www.ironman.com/ and fundamentally doing my best whatever should be thrown at me on the day.

Ironman Lanzarote is also about a bit more this year. I was really moved when I watch an ironman DVD witnessing a Dad completing an ironman race with his son. Dick Hoyt's son has been in a wheel chair all his life since his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck at birth. Dick swims 2.4 miles pulling Rick in a small inflatable boat, rides 112 miles with Rick on a special seat pod on the front of his bike and runs 26.2 miles pushing the wheel chair, Dick allows his son to experience all the emotions of Ironman racing, that is an awesome gift he has given his son for the last 25 years. I have been given the ability to complete physical endeavours, often I take my daily activity for granted. I think further down the line I would like to help others who cannot easily be physical the opportunity to experience the joys it brings. This year I decided to collect sponsorship for a local organisation who help provide youngsters with learning and physical disabilities access sport. They specifically organise a weekly swimming sessison at a local pool, also organising gala's and other competitions. I hope to raise in excess of £500 for them. If you would like to donate please contact me.

Before I sign off I must thank everybody who has wished me well for Saturday and especially my best Buddy Ben who has given me some great Ironman wisdom over these last few weeks. Sarah has packed her holiday clothes, Ellie has packed her swimming gear and Daddy's Best Supporter T shirt, and Evie has nicked my swimming goggles (see todays photo) I've my bike and race gear all packed and we are ready to rock and roll.

Well that's about it from me, next time it will be race report time. An Ironman race to enjoy and a week in Lanzarote with my family to savour, sounds pretty good to me.......

100 variables, well 55......

2009-05-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Bit stuck for what to write this week hence it's Tuesday and I have yet to post. Then I remembered a list I wrote before Christmas. Whilst reading a cycling book (GB track cycling team success I think) I read the foreword written by Clive Woodward. In it he talked about trying to make the England Rugby Team as good as it could possibly be. He simply said that if you could improve 100 things each by 1% the net improvement would be substantial. This is also very much in line with Dave Brailsford thinking with the Cycling team. So I set about creating my '100 things list' I didn't get to 100 but I did manage to identify some potential changes that should progress my racing. I must admit I haven't paid particular attention to the list but it has been in the back of my mind, some of the targets, goals further forward than others.

When I look at my list I have hit some of my goals, improvements, variables, others I have not.

The variables might be ‘Race Day’ Variables or ‘Training’ Variables. If improved they will have a positive impact on Race Day performance.

1. Shoulder and Pectoral Flexibility; more aero.
2. Hip Flexor Flexibility; running efficiency.
3. Ankle Flexibility; running and swimming efficiency.
4. Hamstring Strength.
5. Quadriceps Strength.
6. Gastrocnemius Strength.
7. Gluteals Strength.
8. Core Stability.
9. Triceps Strength and Muscular Endurance.
10. Latissimus Dorsi Strength and Muscular Endurance.
11. Concentration on the bike.
12. Ride a neater line.
13. Stay more still whilst pedalling.
14. Increase cycling cadence.
15. Change Front end of the bike; improved aero position.
16. Use the ‘Drafting Distance Rule’ effectively.
17. Remove a head tube spacer, lower front end.
18. Descend faster.
19. Get a streamlined hair cut?
20. Take Corners faster, be more confident.
21. Pee whilst riding.
22. Ride hard ‘over’ the top of climbs.
23. Ride on the drops during every session, at least once.
24. Reduce the time spent free-wheeling.
25. ‘Pull Up’ the pedal, particularly when climbing.
26. Buy lighter pedals.
27. Research FAST Tubular tyres, change if necessary.
28. Increase speed just prior to a climb, increase cadence 10rpm.
29. Switch from 9 to 10 speed gears; wider gear ratio, smoother changes.
30. Improve fat metabolism.
31. 23rd May; weigh 72 kg’s.
32. Drink more water, every single day.
33. Reduce my body fat.
34. Practice Race Day Nutrition on long training days.
35. Race Day Nutrition, get it right.
36. Eat more ‘proper real’ foods.
37. Each day eat less sugary foods.
38. Eat more food on race morning.
39. Race in a light coloured top to assist thermoregulation.
40. In the water, keep my elbow higher.
41. Start the pull phase earlier in my stroke.
42. Make less splash during hand entry.
43. Run Tall.
44. Increase running cadence.
45. Relax my fingers and hands when running ‘holding a crisp’; visual trigger.
46. Be more relaxed on race morning.
47. Remove negative thoughts whilst racing, think of something more beneficial.
48. Stay positive whilst racing, engage positive experiences .
49. Learn and use some ‘visualisation’ techniques.
50. When it hurts, make it hurt more.
51. Be pro-active to training sessions, not just re-active; USE HR monitor or Garmin.
52. Shave my legs?
53. Learn to ingest 1/4 Nuun tablets neat, followed by water to reduce the need to walk through feed zones as wait for the tablets to dissolve in a cup.
54. Stretch after each run session.
55. Maximise the first 1hour post hard or long sessions, ingest a balance of nutrients.

So what's left to do? Here's a few thoughts. 52. Shave my legs, with a divorce threat if I do I have given that one a miss. 19. Get a stream lined hair cut, worried like Samson I might lose my strength so will give that a miss (Tim Don seemed to do fine) 12. Ride a neater line, done, every time I rode home I'd try to stick on the white line for the 1 mile stretch. 21. Pee whilst riding, not a great thing to practice whilst training, so will decide on race day. 45. Relax my fingers and hands when running, seems to have worked, still got the 'crisp' in my mind (Walkers salt and vinegar work best) 31. 23rd May weigh 72kg's, I'm gonna be closer to 72 than 75.

Having re-read my list I still have 10 days in which to get a few more variables in the bag. Will it work, well it certainly won't do any harm.

Be at your best

2009-05-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

My family has been through a challenging 2009, various members of it have found themselves in hospital. After a prolonged spell trying to fight off a bad case of pneumonia my Grandad passed away. In his mid 80's he just didn't seem to have much fight left, he passed away peacefully having the day before said his good bye's to his son and daughter. It's been a difficult time for my Dad and his Sister. Traditionally families have been really close geographically, times have changed and with Grandad living 125 miles from Dad visiting was made quite difficult. I think losing the old style family network certainly makes tough times tougher.

Since the New Year Dad has somehow (it's cause is still unknown) become quite ill with an ear problem known as Labyrinthitis. After a deliberating few months he was making great progress getting back to his active lifestyle. Last Monday he had another far worse attack, collapsing and as a result he currently finds himself in Milton Keynes Hospital. After a difficult few days he now seems to be making good progress and should shortly be home. Then it will be a really slow build up. That's the difficult part. Dad is a sportsman, he played competitive football into his early50's, he continues to race his bikes, last year for his 60th Birthday he nailed 207 miles in his first 24hr Time Trial, he coaches football to 30 odd children every Saturday morning in his village, and coaches junior school sport each afternoon at Swanbourne House School. However, take it easy he must if he is to get back to full fitness and his busy lifestyle. You'll be back soon Dad, keep setting and achieving those goals.

Dad being 150 miles away has meant I have not been able to get down to see him yet. On the phone all he wanted to talk about was how my training was going. He didn't want me to visit, just wanted to make sure I didn't miss my key training sessions. I know he is as excited as I am regarding Lanzarote. He was with me when I raced IMUK and during IM Switzerland he couldn't let me have all the fun, so between following my progress of the Internet he slipped in a 100 odd mile bike ride. With that in mind I made sure I made the most of this weeks training.

I wanted to recover from last weeks 15 hours, and Sunday's big brick session, so settled for 3 really solid key sessions. Session 1 was a swim. For those that know me you'll be a little concerned by my swim volume, 'overdoing it' some may shout. This was swim session number 4. I settled for a nice even paced 6 x 500m and felt strong.

Thursday I ran long. Bouncing along the canal tow path I felt really comfortable. I wondered if my Garmin was struggling to find a satellite signal when it consistently bleeped out low 8min mile pace. Feeling great I turned at 8 miles and decided to aim to even pace it or negative split the return journey. Not quite bouncing I ran up the drive for a tremendous 16 mile run in 2.07, averaging 7.57 min/mile. To say I was happy would be an understatement. Sarah was working so Ellie and Evie got the brunt of my excitement and happiness. I collected them from nursery and we called in to Frankie and Bennies for Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae's :)

That then leads me to Sunday's session. The final brick session with big session training hunters and great friends Tom and Helen. When I ride the bike I like to stick it in a gear and bang out consistent power and heart rate, hence my excitement for sessions on the A168 (see previous blog) Sunday's ride however was totally different. Tom had decided on a very hilly 425m of climbing per 13.7 mile loop, followed by a long run. I was a little nervous of such a hilly route, and one where there was no one section to relax and tick along. However, I knew I was strong and going well on the bike and thought I'd try to make the hills as comfortable as possible and work the descents that I could (some were too fast and technical to pedal) hoping to match Tom on each lap. Lap 1 was eventful, my saddle bag with spare Tub, tools and cO2 canisters decided today would be a good day to snap off. I stopped picked it up stuffed it down my jersey and watched Tom fly past me on a descent, I somehow managed to empty the bits into my pockets and stay in contact with Tom, good start. Lap 2 was fine except for the wet road descending Norwood Edge. Tom flew past me again as I descended like a cowardly idiot. I'm not great at descending given that I rarely get the chance to practice and the wet roads had messed with my mind. I blurted out some words of disgust at the crappy wet roads to Tom as I caught him up. To which he replied 'it's really not that bad, it could be wet in Lanzarote, just relax'. Good call, a kick up the arse, it did the trick and on the next 3 laps I got my self sorted and come down hill pretty quickly. On the climbs I felt strong, and across the top section with a huge head wind I felt in control pushing out a solid cadence and good speed. We had planned 6 laps, however at the start of lap 5 I started to get a few twinges of cramp in my quads. This I put down to the severity of the climbing, and the changing demands from out of the saddle climbing to head down big gear mashing. So I decided that 5 good laps would be better than a 6th where I leave myself out on the road. I was really pleased with my even paced riding, and felt good as I dismounted, put the bike in the car and set off for the run. We set up another 1/2 mile out and back, along a quiet flat lane. Ticking along nicely I felt super. At this stage Richard Leake from the Tri Club joined me, he was on his bike and happy to roll along beside me chatting away. Thanks Richard the company was great. I'd done 6 miles when Helen rocked up, and she joined us. The miles went by at a quick rate and I was still feeling good. Tom rolled into town, looking pretty smashed, he'd lost his head with 2 laps to go, but managed to get through it. Lose his head he might off but he hadn't lost his run legs, he knocked out 20 solid miles at 7.23min/mile pace, awesome stuff. I called it a day still feeling good at 14 miles for an average pace of 8.39 min/mile. Helen went on to run 20, great stuff. That was the end of another massive session. Big thanks to Tom and Helen, another big brick session, done individually but totally together out there, encouraging and pushing each other on, just what it's all about :)

Not only do I feel as fit and strong as I ever have, I am extremely positive going into the final 3 weeks before race day. I said many weeks ago that I wanted I get plenty of Ironman specific sessions in. I have definitely achieved that. I am feeling strong and controlled in the pool, very comfortable with the distance and clear in my mind that I can ride hard on the bike, and confident that I can knock out a steady run pace. Into the final couple of weeks and that's a great feeling.

Today's photo is of my Garage wall, race numbers, training sessions and inspirational images of Chris Hoy et al. What you can't see is what's written on the mirror for me to see whenever I lift weights or get ready for a training session. It simple say's,

Saturday 23rd May, Be at your best.

I know I am going to be.....

Missing my girls...

2009-04-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Back to work after a nice refreshing two week break..... Well I would have been refreshed if I hadn't done 40 hrs training, including 580 miles of cycling, but I was far from refreshed. I have been really tired all week, not helped by the delivery of our new bedroom furniture on Tuesday which resulted in two late nights building drawers and the bed. However the bedroom is looking good, and Sarah has done a fabulous job painting and sorting it out.

Training wise I had planned a steady start to the week. Sarah was away from Friday with Ellie and Evie and her girl friends for a mini holiday, so I'd planned a big back end to the week. However Thursday's ride confirmed my legs needed a rest, so a change of plan was made. It is at times like this when one needs to be flexible. Race day is only four weeks away, it's no good blowing away weeks of training by pushing and not resting. I canned my long run on Friday instead spinning the legs to and from work. I'd planned a decent ride on Saturday but also settled for a very easy spin to and from work. I chucked in a couple of ridiculously early nights and hoped I was ready for Sunday's session. It turned into a good one. I felt good on the bike and knocked out 92 miles in 4hrs 45mins followed by a 10 mile run. I am feeling really good running off the bike. Along the grassy canal path I just ran comfortable and ended up with 8.18 min/mile pace. I kept telling myself to relax and slow down, which I did but I must admit I felt good. A nice end to another decent week. Over the last 6 weeks I have averaged 16 hours, this compares to 13 last year.

I am hoping for 2 more decent training weeks. During these I will be aiming for a couple more race specific sessions and a couple more long runs, and as much swimming as I can fit in.

I set myself the target of more longer rides, 3hr and 4hr plus rides in the final 10 weeks before race day. Last year before Switzerland I managed four 3hr rides and three 4hr rides. This year with four weeks left I have managed three 3hr rides and six 4hr rides. Things are looking good.

On one hand it's great having a weekend to myself, but it's spookily quiet in the house. I really am looking forward to my girls returning tomorrow.

Ironman Triathlon is going to....

2009-04-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

.....make me cry, make me smile, make me sing, help find me, break me, make me strong........ I could go on. At the moment one things for sure it is taking up a very large chunk of my time, physically and also mentally. I'm still finding time to get some balance (just) between me, my girls and doing everyday stuff, but I think it's the mental side that's taking over. How am I going, how fast will I go at Lanzarote, can I still hit my target times, will I run ok, how long should I taper for etc etc. Nought room for much else in my little head at the moment....

Being a teacher and having nice long holidays provide a great opportunity for large blocks of training, I am glad this Easter Holiday is only 2 weeks long, I'd be broken if it was 3!!

After Sunday's 100 mile effort I rested on Monday in anticipation of Tuesday's session. Myself Tom and Helen did this session last year, and it was a cracker, so gluttons for punishment we returned for more of the same. The A168 is parallel to the A1 it's a nice straight, slightly undulating (probably no where to free wheel) 7.5 mile section between a couple of roundabouts. There is a great little lane to run up and down afterwards and you keep passing the parked cars so water, extra food etc can be easily to hand. 7 laps (106 miles) and a 10 mile run was the plan. Tom and I planned to do 10 mile intervals on the front, with the back man holding a minimum triathlon drafting distance, effectively it was a solo effort. I was quite apprehensive about this session, it's bloody hard, the road becomes relentless in the latter laps, there's no free-wheeling, and last year we nailed it, so the goal posts were set high. As it turned out it absolutely has to be my session of the week and probably my best training session for a while. Banging out 23mph the early pace was set. I had a concentration wobble at 35 miles then boooom I was on fire. At 65 miles I did my turn on the front and then stayed there. Motivated to drop Tom, (but not ruin any chance of running) I wanted to be a little more aggressive on the up's and downs, and controlled on the flats. I went through 100 miles in 4:21:45 and finished strongly in 4:41:45. I was pleased last year, this year I went 7 minutes quicker, even paced every lap and had a slightly lower heart rate, 157bpm (approx 78% max HR) All that was left was the simple matter of 10 miles running. It's great motivation to run 1/2 mile reps out and back, see Tom every few minutes and give and receive a few words of encouragement. I ran 1:25:50 averaging 8.25min/mile, feeling comfortable. What a session, solid throughout and still going strong at the end.

Next up was a very hilly 73 mile ride in the Dales with Tom on Thursday, nice, and a short T1 run.

Friday I wanted to do all 3 disciplines, nice a steady though. 1 hour bike spinning, 2 x 1k swim session and a 5 mile run.

We all headed north, for a few days with Elieen and Bernie (Sarah's Mam and Dad) Recharging my batteries kind of happened, at least regarding day to day duties with my little girls, and I also managed to get a couple of sessions in. A fabulous run along the coastal path from South Shields to Sunderland. Longest training run EVER 18.7 miles. Again felt really comfortable and questioned whether Tom had spiked my pasta with EPO!

Sunday I rode from Corbridge to Stanhope, a lovely hilly route in the North Pennines. Well it would have been lovely if I could have seen something? The lovely day materialised a few hours later, but during my ride the mist and fog made for a cold one. However I managed 50 miles and completed another big week and thus a big fortnight.

I am feeling a bit sponge like at the moment (hence the photo), soaking up all training I throw at myself. That is a great feeling and one I am liking. However, it's now time to back off a little, lose the extra add in sessions, make sure I recover properly from tough sessions, and make sure every session is really Ironman specific.

My 2 week Easter training block looks like this;

Swim x2 1hr

Bike x9 29hrs

Run x4 7hrs

Weights x3 3hrs

Grand Total = 40hrs

Big up to Tom and Helen, I don't get to train with you guys as much as I'd like, but when we do hook up we always have great sessions, and more importantly lots of fun hanging out.

With all this fabulous training the best bits in the week are still as a result of my girls and family. Evie is developing a really cheeky look and manner, and Ellie is just great fun. I caught her at Ra Ra and Pom Poms (Grandma and Grandpa) in front of the bedroom mirror practising some keen dance movers, (she must get them from her Daddy) Magic moments.

Hope you have some magic moments in your week...

The Diary of Ben Garrard aged 34

2009-04-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

This week my writing will take the format of a diary, it's been a full week and this will give me a bit of writing direction.

Monday: Up early for an hour spin on the bike. After 20 minutes the left pedal felt really weird, like the pedal cleat had come loose. A little look revealed it was fine but the crank bolt had worked loose and the crank kind of wobbly. Without an allen key I tried my best to tighten the bolt with a stone a couple of times, it lasted until the last 5 minutes when the crank fell off!!! I rode home on 1 leg. That was seriously lucky in a strange way a day earlier and it would have ruined my Circuit of the Dales Race. After lunch Sarah and I drove across to Kirkby Lonsdale where we were booked in to the Whoop Hall Hotel for 3 nights. Sarah was calling it a second honeymoon, I was calling it a mini break with my wife with some cycling in the hills. I soon checked out the 20m swimming pool. My first swim since IM Switzerland, what to do??? I just decided to go for it. 34.15 later I'd done 2000m and was feeling very good. This has to be my first 'session of the week' I don't think I'm a technically great swimmer, however I am a firm believer in keeping the upper body strong with weights and this I think translates well into swim muscle endurance when I do get into the pool. A few more sessions and I'll be ready for Lanzarote. The day finished with some delicious food in the hotel. Now before anybody phones social services Ellie and Evie were not home alone, my Mum had come north to keep them entertained. Cheers Mum, I know you had a great time and so did we.

Tuesday: After breakfast I left Sarah to get her Aroma Therapy Massage and, Facial whilst I rode in the Dales. What a perfect combination, we were both as happy as pigs in shite! 4 hrs 35 minutes later I'd nailed 80 miles over the hilly (and windy) Dales. My legs were pretty stuffed but with some serious climbing between Ingleton and Hawes out and back I wasn't surprised. Crashed in the afternoon, or tried to. As my wife snored, I was wide awake, buzzing after too many caffeinated gels and goodies whilst on the bike, could I sleep, no chance.

Wednesday: I nice lay in and a late breakfast before I headed out for another ride and Sarah headed to Bliss for another pamper session. Only trouble was it was blowing a hooly (technical windsurfer's term for very, very windy weather) I just didn't think it would be safe over the tops so laced up the asics and went for a run along the river. A really steady pace saw me clock 13 miles in 2hrs including a dozen or so gates and a slippery river bank session. I then hit the Hotel gym for an hour of upper body weights and core work. I did manage an afternoon sleep, nice.... A cheeky curry in Kirkby Lonsdale and an early night, wicked.

Thursday: I left my Honeymooning wife in the land of nod and at 6.15am set off on the Sedburgh road for an out and back 2 hour ride before breakfast. Sarah was still in the land nod when I returned.... After packing our bags we rocked up at Ingleton, to walk up to the Falls. The weather behaved and a very enjoyable stroll resulted in some wonderful views and interesting Waterfall formations. Lunch, drive, tea and apple pudding near Harrogate and we were soon home. It was great to see our little girls, who of course had had a great time with Grandma. They had baked cakes, made Easter Goodies, Easter hats, been to the park every day and had a brilliant time. I think everybody won. Sarah and I had a great break together, I got some great training in, Sarah returned relaxed and pampered, Ellie and Evie had a mini break from us, and a fun filled few days, and Grandma played with, and enjoyed her Granddaughters.

Friday: Up early for another bike ride (6.15am) Felt good for 90 minutes but then bonked, (cyclists term for running out of energy) Simple had a really busy day on Thursday with not enough food. Managed 45 miles and was really pleased to get home and start feeding. A nice afternoon at Lotherton Hall Bird Park with the girls, Sarah and my Mum. We watched '28 weeks Later'. An interesting movie, not my favourite but nice to crash out and relax.

Saturday: We brought Easter forward a day so my Mum could enjoy the girls excitement of the egg hunt around the garden. This was followed by a few hours at Two Hoots Animal Farm, where goats, pigs, lambs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, horses, rabbits, chipmonks, wallabee and an Ostrich? made Ellie and Evie (and me and my Mum) smile. I left Sarah at home playing her piano (she's making great progress) The girls spent the afternoon on their scooters and bikes, whilst I cleaned my bikes. Whilst doing so I managed to get my thumb caught between the chain and the rear sprocket on my fixed wheel bike, Ouch (or words to that effect) luckily it was thumb nail up. Still managed to pierce the nail and get a good bleed on. My best buddy Ben phoned from Seattle, we had a great chat for an hour, mostly about triathlon. I then finished off the day with an hour of weights in the garage. When I got back in the house Sarah had started to prepare our 'love nest' for being decorated. Now it wasn't my idea to decorate, I'm rubbish at painting and I am very impatient even with a roller filling in the middle sections. But I did my bit, tried to shifted the bed, broke it and got in a huff, went too bed.....

Sunday: Spent the morning with Ellie and Evie at the local indoor soft play center, they love these places. It was empty so they had a wicked time. Got home to find Sarah had painted the ceiling (good girl) and placed an order for a new bed and various drawer combinations in a nice dark walnut wood. Should look great when 'my wife' has finished the painting, wish she'd get on with it... I was up for a decent bike ride this afternoon, and was further spurred on by Tom's text messages. On Friday he texted me saying he was going over distance on the bike on Sunday. I texted back saying 'don't go more than 38 miles over distance' Now whether this planted a seed in Tom's mind I don't know, (38 miles over distance would give a ride of 150 miles) His first text came through at 10.30am, breakfast in North Allerton 52 miles down, the next text was lunch in Leyburn at 103 miles. Now Leyburn is a long way from Leeds so clearly Tom and Helen were on for a big day. I set off at 3.20pm and was hoping to do a 100 miles, but with the sun setting at 8.30pm I'd have to ride well. It was a cracking afternoon, just a light breeze and my legs felt fabulous. I was cruising. A bit more text banter with Tom when I stopped to refill with water, (he was still out there) and I rode on. Chasing the setting sun my legs were still feeling fabulous and I was knocking out a great pace. Being really careful to keep fuelled with gels and Power Bar's I was on for PB solo 100 miler, without really trying too hard. Maintaining big gears and steady cadence I finished off the last 3 miles along the Selby Bypass beneath the street lamps. I went through 100 miles in 4:50:15 This was a 20.5mph average. I was stoked. Legs still felt good and if it hadn't been dark I'd have stayed out for some more miles!!! Can I have 2 'sessions of the week' Course I can it's my blog. So today's ride is 'session of the week' number 2, it had to be really. Well done to Tom and Helen 158.5 miles, now that's a big, big day at the end of a big week. Awesome stuff guys. Whilst most of my training is solo, when my mates hit it hard or big the inspiration and motivation is shared. Great stuff. I better sign off now, because I need some more food and want to lay down in my bed.

It's been a great week on many fronts. Just to summarise my training;

Swim: 1/2 hr

Bike: 15 1/4 hrs (280 miles)

Run: 2 hrs

Weights: 2 hrs

Total: 19 3/4 hrs

Next week is shaping up to be a good one, training (hope the legs recover) and family time, enjoy your Easter Eggs!!!!

Piano, The Dales and Hose Pipe Fun

2009-04-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, another action packed week draws to a close. Sarah's Mam and Dad came down for a couple of days mid week. It was great to see them, however the real reason for the visit was to deliver Sarah's new Roland Electric Piano. This has come about from a conversation I had with Sarah a month ago when I suggested she do something just for herself during the week. I was envisaging her playing her Saxophone in the local town band, or something similar. A week latter she announced what she was going to do, and that was to learn to play the piano!! Minutes later she was on ebay and that was that. The ebay piano was a dud (that's another story) so her fabulous parents came to the rescue. My talented wife can play the Saxophone, Flute and Clarinet through to grade 8 and now passes on her skills to a new generation of musicians both young and old, (her saxophone lessons with 65 year young Christine are legendary) So now we can add the piano to her repertoire. How is she doing, well at the rate she is learning it isn't going to take her long to be very proficient. It sounds fabulous, and Ellie and Evie love hitting the keys. I think its great that Sarah has such a wonderful talent for music, for I am seriously lacking the part of my brain that can do it. As a kid my Dad encouraged me to learn the electric guitar, but alas too much time on the football pitch, and not much natural talent meant very slow progress. Sarah's Mam and Dad are extremely proud of her because it was them that saved for the instruments and enjoyed her success doing her grades and playing in various school concerts and bands. Their daughter who they invested all that time and energy in is now thoroughly enjoying her music again and making a career out out of it, great stuff. I look forward to the day when Ellie and Evie begin to learn.

I may not be able to play an instrument but my sporting brain is still firing on all cylinders. In a Year 9 Basketball lesson on Friday I nailed an awesome layup to win the game for my team!!

I have eased back a little on my training this week and feel good for doing so. No chasing the miles and squeezing in extra sessions. I am going to start a new theme this week. It's going to be called "training session of the week" Basically it's the one session during the week when I really feel on my game. It doesn't have to be the toughest session of the week or the longest just the one when you finish you think "yeah that was sweet" and you want to text or face book your exploits. For me it was Thursday's long run. I have yet to do a long run since the Brass Monkey 1/2 Marathon, so this week I set myself the target of a long run to see what sort of shape I was in. It was very Ironman specific, nice and steady, time on my feet. I ran 13 miles at 8.30 pace in 1.50. Pleasing, was that I felt strong throughout the run and comfortable increasing the pace in the final couple of miles. Join me if you like, posting your "training session of the week".

Today was the Circuit of the Dales 50 mile TT. Clearly circuiting the Dales would mean HILLS, something I will encounter in abundance at Lanzarote IM. I had set a target of 2hrs 30 mins based on Tom's previous experiences of the race (I ride very similar to Tom) and also thinking a 20mph average would be pretty solid. I raced out the start and tried to control my urge to attack every rise as a heart rate in the 170's had me thinking I was going a little hard. I felt good though so cracked on, trying to ride steady up the hills and hard down the other side. My new bike was sweet, the SRAM gears are awesome and the Profile handle bars and tri bars are very comfortable. At 36 miles I swung right onto the final road out of the village of Hawes. This is probably the hilliest part of the course but according to Tom I would get a good tail wind and then the final 6 miles would be ballistically fast to the finish. As I turned onto the steepest hill a pretty stiff head wind had me diving for the 39 x 26. Oh shite, tired legs, a head wind and the biggest hills. I died a little but bought it home for a 2:26:59, average heart rate was 171bpm, (not that far away from my 10 or 25 mile TT heart rate zone) I was really, really pleased. I have some work to do on my endurance, but given the level of intensity I held I am very reassured that my bike speed and strength is about where I want it to be. Unfortunately Tom had a mechanical before he even got going. A cracked stem clamp marked the end of his race, still better for it to happen in the car park then descending the Dales at 40mph, scary thought. I was gutted for him, he's raced the Dales in horrible weather and today was a really nice sunny day, unfortunately he missed out. Cheers for the unexpected shouts of encouragement mate. Helen however had a right result. A huge PB, a win in the Ladies Category and a cracking time of 2:40:02. Well done, all those miles in Lanzarote and the Dales have made a huge difference, no excuses now, time to start biking with much more confidence, banish that fear, you are really looking good for a fabulous Lanzarote bike split. Cheers Tom and Helen for a nice chilled Saturday, and a very enjoyable day in the Dales.

This week's photo is Ellie watering my lawn. I have reseeded a section following a very lazy winter where I neglected to rake up the leaves and thus killed the grass. However, why would you want to spray Daddy's grass seed when you could spray yourself? Why do we become all careful and boring when we get older, make sure you don't visit when I have the hose out, you will get wet.....

I am now on my Easter break, I have 2 weeks off and have some long bike and run sessions planned, it's a nice feeling. Right that's it from me, my legs are cooked in a pleasant sort of way and my energy levels are plummeting, bed is a very appealing place. Have a good week, do something child like.....

Birthday Boy

2009-03-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

March 29th 1975, what a special day. March 29th 2009, still a special day, it was party time this year. Ellie instigated my special day a couple of weeks ago. She spent the last couple of weeks wrapping up her teddies and putting them in my Birthday bag. So in addition to some nice 'real' presents from Sarah and the girls, I had a couple of bags of cuddly toys to open, "she's so sweet". We played 'Pass the Parcel' , I won, and 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey', (rather exuberant spinning from Sarah meant I didn't win) I started the day with a 2 hour cycle on my race bike. It was my first outing on the road since the switch of front end and change to Sram. Rode like a dream, I am looking forward to riding it in anger next Sunday at the Circuit of the Dales. I spent the afternoon in the garden, playing and in Alan Titchmarsh style preparing my vegetable patch. All in all, a superb Birthday.

As I started March I had had just a couple of weeks of training after a significant break because my ear infection and subsequent problems, so I was determined to train consistently and push things on a bit. Have I achieved what I set out to do? YES, I think I can honestly say that I have trained really well in March. Having looked at the training data I am really pleased with the outcome.

Cycling: 860 miles, 47 hours, 25 riding days.

Running: 56 miles, 9 hours, 12 run days.

Weights/ Conditioning: 7 hours, 11 strength days.

Total: 63 hours.

This is my second largest month ever (Largest 66 hours, 950 miles on the bike last May during the '1000 mile month' challenge myself and Tom completed)

What is pleasing is the weekly consistency;

Week 1: 15 hours (200 miles bike)

Week 2: 12 hours (155 miles bike)

Week 3: 16 hours (240 miles bike)

Week 4: 15 1/2 hours (205 miles bike)

I have deliberately done a lot of cycling, two reasons. Firstly my Run performance at Lanzarote will be a determined by how I feel when I dismount the bike, I still aim to ride hard and feel good so am putting a great deal of emphasis on riding the bike. Secondly I cycle to work, its a 30 minute journey each way and allows me to build a good weekly milage without too much thought. Throughout March on numerous occasions I also set off earlier making the journey 1 hour. Cycling to work does allow me to build a solid week every week, but it also means if I want to run or lift weights I will do 3 training sessions per day, this is quite wearing (no wonder I crash out not long after 9pm most nights)

How am I feeling? To be honest I am tired. My legs are pretty heavy and I am battling to get rid of another head cold. However this is to be expected and it's nothing an easier week won't take care of. My training during March has probably bypassed some of the traditional training principles, but there are times during Ironman training when volume and pushing on is necessary, March was one such time. I now have 8 weeks before race day. During this time I will aim to maximise the quality, Ironman specific sessions, maximise my recovery time between sessions and minimise the miles that wont really add much training effect.

I have a huge congratulations to give to my brother Max. He has trained really well since setting his target of a couple of 1/2 marathons, and Windermere Marathon, and getting back into some bike shape. Yesterday he ran 1:25:52 at the Liverpool 1/2 Marathon, a new PB for him and a huge confidence boost as he builds towards Windermere on 17th May, well done Bro, keep it going.

This time next week I will have much more of an idea of where my cycling form lies. The Circuit of the Dales is a testing 50 mile TT, I am slightly apprehensive about it, but really looking forward to the race. Have a good week folks.

p.s. In a moment of boredom the other evening I worked out the following. Between now and 1st September when the next school year starts I have 55 working days and 77 holiday days, now that sounds spot on to me..........

Training, Family & Work...nicely balanced

2009-03-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a few photos with you this week, and a simple training log. We had a cracking weekend, made all the better from some excellent weather. On Saturday after Ellie had been to disco dancing and I'd ridden a solid 3 1/2 hours we had a picnic in the garden and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing and tinkering in the garden. I then ran an hour in the evening. Sunday was Mothers Day. Various croissants and pastries in bed followed by a great day out at Sherwood Pines Forest Park.

Monday: am: Bike 1 hr, Run 1/2 hr, pm: Bike 1/2 hr

Tuesday: Bike 1 hr

Wednesday: am: Bike 1 hr, pm: Bike 1/2 hr

Thursday: am Bike 1/2 hr, pm: Bike 4 hr

Friday: Bike 1 hr, Weights 1 hr

Saturday: am: Bike 3 1/2 hrs, pm Run 1 hr

Sunday: Weights 1/2 hr, 1 hr towing the girls around in the bike trailer!!

Total: 16 hrs, 240 miles bike

Plan for this week is another solid week aiming for 15 hrs, and around 200 miles on the bike. I am then planning a steadier week before the Circuit of the Dales TT and the start of my 2 week Easter Break where I am aiming to hit it hard.

P.S. Hardest ride of the week, 1 hour pulling my girls in the trailer!!!

Spring.....

2009-03-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

My training week finished at 5.30pm this evening when I set off for a run along the canal just a short distance from our house. This is my favourite place to run, not because it's pan flat (although that helps :)) but because it's always such a pleasurable experience. Whether it be an early morning, a mid day or an evening run there is always something interesting to take in and something tranquil in the surroundings. Once I get past the first mile which is a more developed path, where the dog walkers pace and the fishermen sit, the path becomes more natural and it's into the countryside. This evening I watched the sun go down, I saw a family of Swans, a Heron took flight and for 40 minutes on the natural path I was all alone. The path itself is quite interesting, watching your footing negotiating the mole hills and climbing the odd style breaks up the rhythm and takes ones mind off the running. Tonight I turned at 30 minutes and even paced it home. It occured to me as I ran how nice the area I live in is. To be able to hit the countryside in such a short space of time is fabulous. This also translates to the roads and cycling. My chosen routes are also very quiet. I might be unlucky to see a handful of cars in either direction in any given hour. My mood was significantly enhanced when I finished my run, was it the endorphins pumping through my veins, the elevated heart rate, or the fact I'd ran a steady hour? I think a combination, but clearly the surroundings add something also.

This week has been another solid training week. I think I had enjoyed a pretty fresh body last week, this week I was defiantly more fatigued and more tired and it was also pretty windy out on the bike. Most folks ride in the countryside, they get some shelter by hedges, and their routes are broken up by some contour lines. In this part of Yorkshire it's different. Firstly it's very, very flat (if you don't believe me check out the terrain profile on Google Maps around Selby) The countryside is great but Mr Greedy Farmer, (ever come across a poor farmer!!) has removed all his hedges to create gigantic fields so he can plant right up to the edge and maneuver his almighty machinery. These two factors, flat terrain and no shelter, seem to magnify the slightest breeze, turning it into a gale (it felt like one on Saturday) The prevailing wind is westerly, and my best routes head East to West or vice versa , so you are either riding head down at 11mph in the 39 x 21, or cruising at 30mph spinning the 55 x 13 :) This week I tried to ride as controlled but strong as possible into the wind and then maintain the same effort levels with the wind. It would be interesting to ride with a power meter but I think there is a clear distinction between riding into and with the wind. In order to maintain a consistent heart rate, say 150bpm, with the wind you must really drop down the gears. It seems (this is just an observation with no scientific evidence behind it) that as you drop down the gears the muscle recruitment is a little different. I have decided that if I want to ride well in Lanzarote where the wind usually blows, I must be able to capitalize and maximise my speed when the wind is on my back. Thus it's no good dropping the gears and finding leg strength/ leg power lacking resulting in difficulty maintaining heart rate, and thus resorting to a steady cruise where heart rate significantly drops. Now, this cruisey state and deliberate drop in heart rate could be a positive outcome allowing refueling and some leg recovery, however although speed may appear high (say 30mph) will it be high enough to counteract the inevitable slow speeds from the climbing. I haven't done the maths but my gut feeling is NO. When the wind is advantageous, and the terrain fast heart rate must be maintained, and I think this requires practice and an increase in leg strength to turn the bigger gears. This is something I am going to do over the coming weeks, no resting with the wind on my back :)

Wow, kind of went off on it, thought I was back at Uni studying Sports Science and writing an essay (no can't be the case it's too early in the evening:), sorry if I bored you non triathletes.

Monday: Bike 1 hr, Run 1/2 hr

Tuesday: Run 1/2 hr

Wednesday: am, Bike 1 1/4 hrs, Run 1 hr, pm, Bike 1 1/4hrs

Thursday: am, Bike 1/2 hr, pm Bike 1 1/4 hrs BIG GEAR Low Cadence

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: am, Bike 2 1/2 hrs, Ref football match, Bike 1 1/4 hrs

Sunday: pm, Run 1 hr

Total: 11 1/2 hrs

Not sure what happened to the weights sessions this week just didn't seem to find the energy in the evenings to get in the garage, and ran at work rather than lift weights. Will try to find a bit more balance, although I am happy that I ran 4 times and totalled 3 hrs.

Apart from the wind, it's been a really decent week of weather. I really feel spring maybe upon us. The clocks change in two weeks, my overshoes have been packed away and on a couple of occasions this week I have over heated. Finally much to Sarah's amusement my fascination with the garden bulb comes to fruition as the beautiful (but understated I feel) Daffodils, regular and miniature begin to flower in my garden. Every year Sarah takes the mick as I try my hardest to squeeze in a few more bulbs. Hey it makes me happy twice, planting and enjoying their colour at this time of year........

Moving Forward

2009-03-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

I've had a great week after being given pretty much the all clear by the doctor on Wednesday. The incision in the ear drum has healed and there is just a little redness and slight bulge behind the ear drum which should disappear, but he wants to keep an eye on it. A hearing test revealed nearly normal hearing at the vocal range of frequencies, but at higher frequencies it was less comparable to my good ear. I have to go back in 6 weeks, but should expect a gradual improvement as the ear drum continues to recover. The doctors advice regarding swimming was to stay out of the pool until it is fully recovered. I intend to stay out of the pool for a few more weeks and then arm myself with ear plugs and swim hat to start my Lanzarote swim preparation (more of this later).

Concerned that Lanzarote is not that far away, and my less than ideal training so far this year I decided to check out last years prepartion for IM Switzerland. I was very pleased I did, the results revealed some very encouraging information. When I think back to last year I remember having a poor training period during March and some of April. With about 12 weeks to go I remember chatting to Tom, and we agreed that if we'd done very little training and started our Ironman specific preparation 12 weeks out we would still be in good shape and have good races. I had a great race setting a PB in 11.03.00. I have inserted a few graphs to compare 2008 and 2009, they show the 20 weeks prior to race day.
Total weekly hours shows 2008 (blue) as only slightly more than 2009 (red). What is also important for me is that in the final 10 weeks I managed a couple of longer weeks but was generally only hitting 10 to 12 hours. I know I have moved my basic training week on from 10 hours so am confident I will be able to put some longer weeks in without too much trouble.

The bike hours graph also makes me feel pretty good. The raw data reveals 48 hours in 2008, compared to 42 hours in the 10 weeks of 2009. Coincidently weeks 5, 6 and 7 were really low in 2008 and this was precisily the weeks when I was out of action this year. I rode solidly last year in the final 10 weeks, but I didn't put any hours in that I don't think I can't replicate this year. A closer inspection of my training diary shows just 4 rides totalling more than 4 hours in the final 10 weeks. This reflected the difficulty I felt staying out on the bike, I was easily tempted last year to cut rides short. This year I am excited and really motivated to ride long, and know I will double if not treble my 4 hour rides over the next 10 weeks.

The run graph shows just how little running I did leading up to Switzerland. I have clearly had quite a long period with little or no running, but I am confident I will get back to where I was quite quickly, and if I make the next 10 weeks very specific to IM running I should be in good running shape. However it is my bike fitness and strength that will govern my run time, not my run fitness.

I produced an excel graph for my swimming but it was kind of pathetic so I decided to delete it. In summary I didn't get in the pool between IMUK (Aug 2007) and Jan 2008. In the 20 week build up I clocked 8 hours in the pool, I swam 1:09:00 in Switzerland. So far I've not got wet this year!!! Even if I don't get in the pool for a few more weeks I am confident with a few specific long sessions I will swim a similar time. Hey, I could always see how I perform with my first swim being 23rd May in Lanza!!! Clearly swimming improves ones swim performance, however I do think a carefully structured upperbody weights program focussing on swim specific muscles will keep me strong and allow me to quickly find my stroke. My aerobic fitness will be built on the bike and out running.

I am now feeling pretty good about the position I have found myself in. Whilst I wanted to really push my performance on this year, particularly my running I don't think the missed training is as bad as I have been thinking over the last few weeks. I have been dealt these cards and I must play with them. I am quite excited to be training again. Back in Christmas I wrote on my training wall in my garage, so that I could see it when I lifted weights or rode the turbo "23rd May be at your best" this still applies. What my best will be will be established on the evening of the 23rd, but I will be at it.

This weeks training looks like this;

Monday: am, Leg weights 30 mins. pm, Bike 1 hour (turbo)

Tuesday: am, Upper Body Weights 30 mins. pm, Bike 1 hour, 12 x 2 mins intervals (turbo)

Wednesday: am, Leg Weights 30 mins. pm, Bike 1 hour (turbo)

Thursday: am, Bike 30 mins. pm Bike 3 1/4 hours (56 miles)

Friday: am, Bike 30 mins, Weights Upper Body 45 mins, pm, Bike 30 mins

Saturday: am, Run 1 hour

Sunday: am, Bike 3 1/4 hours (54 miles), pm Weights Upper Body 45 mins

Total: 15 hours

This weeks photo is of Ellie and Evie playing in the woods at Clumber Park. We hooked up with my Brother and his Wife for the afternoon on Saturday after Max had raced the Clumber Park Duathlon. Well done Max a solid race. We had a lovely afternoon, Ellie was in her element, suddenly she has become really adventurous climbing every wood pile she found and disappearing into the undergrowth whenever she cared. Evie tried very hard to emulate her big sister. We finished a great day off with food at Nando's and a bounce for Ellie on the Bungee Trampoline found at Xscape. Two shattered girls were fast asleep within minutes of getting home. Thanks Max and Rachael, as usual you guys are awesome with the girls, great to catch up.

Well done to my friend Steve Hobson who took his Ironman racing away from Canada (I think he's done 10 IMCD!!) to New Zealand this year, 11:30:00 a solid performance, well done mate.

I feel like I am firmly back on track. My motivation is high and my mind is set on the task in hand. "23rd May, be at your best"..............

sleep deprivation and carpet cleaning...

2009-03-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

Just a short post this week. It's been a strange kind of week and I don't want to write an extended post because I think my frame of mind is quite negative and if I write a long rambling post I might just reinforce my negativity.

So why the negativity? I went for a hospital check up on Tuesday and with a microscope in my ear the doctor announced the infection had not gone and he wanted to either make another incision at the infection site under a local anesthetic, or try another course of antibiotics. Being totally unprepared for this news (I was feeling really good) I opted for the antibiotics and ear drops. With my optimistic hat on I hope the doctor was seeing the back end of the disappearing infection, and when hit by yet more antibiotics it should disappear totally by this Wednesday's visit. That news kind of put a dampener on the rest of the week.

I have managed to ride the bike on the turbo. I rode a couple of hour long sessions and managed a couple of 2 hour sessions. Riding the turbo has its place but I'm starting to yearn for the road again. I need an infection free ear before I think it wise to ride in the wind and cold. I am feeling good on the bike but am not sure how riding the turbo will translate to the road, I hope to find out this week. The turbo is allowing me to ride my race bike on the tri bars. The new set up is feeling pretty comfortable which is great.

A couple of weights sessions, legs and upper body have been the total of this weeks training. Lanzarote is still far enough in the distance to get back on track with some solid training, but in my mind I have to get back into proper structured training, especially running and longer bike rides real soon.

My mate Ben posted some cracking photos from the Tuscon training camps. It looked great but reinforced my disappointment of not making it out there.

Evie thinks her new bed is an extension of an adventure play ground! She loves the game of going to bed and then when your back is turned getting up, back to bed, turn your back and up she gets. At 1am whilst Ellie was fast asleep Sarah found her in her sisters room playing in the dark with her toys!!! We are persevering with the bed but have reinforced her room with a bed guard and a stair gate across her door, yeah... see if you can get out now cheeky little girl! She did sleep through last night which was the first uninterrupted nights sleep we have had for 10 days. It is a well known fact that sleep deprivation is a cracking form of torture, it is certainly making me and Sarah crack.

To top the week off Ellie started doing some finger painting with her little sister, thinking Evie would behave as sensibly as she does. 10 minutes later when I realised what they were up to we had paint all over the dining room chair and on the carpet beneath the table. Needless to say the cream carpet now has a pinky, purply tinge to it. A day that was developing nicely turned into a carpet cleaning, frustrated and angry out burst at the 2 girls. Ellie unfortunately got the brunt of my anger somewhat unfairly. The picnic that I had prepared was eaten in the lounge and we didn't make it to the Bird Park/Adventure Playground until much later than planned. The week we have had, and at times like this one wonders why we decided to have kids?

I am really hopeful that Wednesday's visit to the hospital will yield good results, it has to, my ear doesn't hurt, my head doesn't hurt, I have no discharge and I actually feel like my hearing is improving. I think both Sarah and I need to get a grasp on our reaction to our girls indifferent behaviour. Evie is close to being 2 and all the frustration that this age brings. Ellie is probably getting a bit fed up with her sisters frustrations and subsequent crying, and as a result is not the really well behaved little girl we are used to. Non of this will last long, we just need to bite our tongues and react a little more calmly, easier said than done.

Sarah and I cooked some onion bhaji's on Friday, they turned out pretty good (oven cooked so quite healthy also) We ate curry and watched Blood Diamond. Although I've seen this film before, it is a good story and you can just about live with Leoardo DiCaprio's African accent.

It is the beginning of March and we joked a while ago after our difficult start to the year that our 2009 would start properly from March. So here we go........

Progression...

2009-02-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

It's all about progress this week. Apart from being a vital 'principle of training' progression is something we all desire throughout our life. Take a look at Evie, yep the sides of her cot are off and she has progressed to a proper bed. It didn't make a jot of difference to her sleep patterns though. Still up at 4.30am, then she went in to Ellie's bedroom at 7am.

I have progressed nicely this week. My ear is definitely on the mend and I would be very surprised if the infection hasn't gone (will find out on Tuesday when I visit the hospital for a check up). My hearing is still strange, but until the perforation mends this will be the case. Anyway it is giving me plenty of opportunity for some selective hearing around the house!!!!

I have ridden the bike every day for 1 hour on the turbo. Sessions have been nice and steady, keeping my heart rate between 135bpm and 155bpm (70 to 80% HR Max) It has been great to get back into exercising and training. In the last 4 weeks, courtesy of the sickness bug and my ear troubles I have trained on just 4 days! That is the most inactive I have been for a long, long, long time. Over the next few weeks I will be able to see how much fitness I have retained. I have been really pleased with my 7 sessions this week, feeling good on the bike and recovering fine from day to day. My riding has been on the race bike so I have been tweaking with the position. I think I am getting pretty close to being comfortable and being aero. A few photographs revealed I have an upper back shape that Quasimodo would die for, however my position is looking pretty good. I intend to keep the race bike on the turbo and add in a couple of additional bike sessions focusing on riding in the race position and riding some hard intervals. The interval sessions are going to be important if I am going to maximise the next 11 weeks before Lanzarote.

The past couple of seasons I have trained 'steady' from day 1 to race day, with the odd really long day, and odd high intensity race thrown in for good measure. Given my start to the year I really need to maximise my build up to Lanzarote, this brings me back to the idea of progression. What I feel I need to do is start to target specific weekly sessions that really aim to progress my performance. The current terminology is a 'break through session' (BT session) These sessions have been neglected in the past, but I think they are really important now. This is something I will be giving some thought to over the next couple of weeks once I feel my base conditioning is back.

The rest of the week has been really good. Holidays are a great perk to being a teacher and this 1/2 term (since I didn't make Tuscon) has enabled me to spend some quality time with Sarah, Ellie and Evie. We went up to Newcastle for the back end of the week to see Sarah's Mum and Dad. It's always very relaxing up there with Sarah's Mum taking over children duties. Thanks Elieen, the break is really appreciated. Me and Sarah made it out to dinner and then to the cinema. Slumdog Millionairre, the reviews have been cracking, and quite rightly so. It was one of the best films I have seen for a long time, a very entertaining and thought provoking 120 minutes. We also managed a couple of DVD's. Like Minds was an interesting film, something very different and worth a view. The Weatherman wasn't a master piece, but I like Nicholas Cage and he made it entertaining.

Today we had a picnic to the woods, where Ellie and Evie kept me busy doing 'Daddy assisted jumps' (who needs to lift weights) I then made everybody laugh, (I even managed a laugh once I'd got past my angry stage) when I knocked my soup all over my lap, of course it was tomato soup, it went everywhere!!!

It's back to normality for me this week. It's been a really disrupted 1/2 term at work, the weather causing cancellations to sports fixtures and my health issues. I am really looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. As a Brucey bonus it's now light at 7am until at least 5.30, so I can probably pack away the bike lights for my ride to and from work, yipee. Is Spring just around the corner? of course it is. One things certain, progression of the seasons happens every single year. Have a great week...

Acute Otitis Media, Myringotomy and the Abscess...

2009-02-15T03:10:00.000-08:00

Two photographs, a typical scene from Tuscon Arizona, and a IV fluid bag which one is more pertinent to todays post? Yep you guessed it the IV bag....If things had gone to plan I would be in Tuscon with my best buddy on his Triathlon training camp, probably spinning the legs out after a Trans Atlantic fight. So what did happen?

Let me fill you in on my week. I visited the Ear Specialist at York Hospital on Tuesday where they sucked the gunk from my ear and had a good look around with a microscope. The doctor was concerned with the level of infection behind the perforated ear drum and admitted me where I was prescribed a dose of IV antibiotics. Night 1 passed, I felt quite lucky given some of the Prostate and Kidney problems my 4 elderly ward friends seemed to have. It was back to the clinic for another suck out and inspection and then the doctor broke the news. The infection, which he was calling an abscess had not improved and he was suggesting an operation where the ear drum is cut and the abscess removed/ sucked away. Both doctors who had operated the microscope and suction equipment so far had nicked my ear drum causing me intense pain I really wasn't looking forward to the next 20 minutes. The operation was to be conducted under a local anesthetic and the doctor advised me the injection would hurt. That was a slight understatement. It was then back to the ward and another day and night of IV and ear drops antibiotics. On day 3 the nurse came to see me to tell me the results from the lab had confirmed the infection was highly infectious and I was going to be moved to a separate room on a different ward. Night 3 was quiet in my own room, in fact I thought on numerous occasions I had been forgotten about (but that's another story for later) On Friday morning the doctor was happy the infection was under control, and was happy for me to go home, 8 hours later after the prescription had been gathered and a final blood test analysed I left. I was very, very glad to be out.

The pain has all but gone which I hope means the infection is under control/ gone. I am just left with a dull/ fuzzy feeling, much like your ear is full of water, which I have been told will last until the perforation mends. That is something I need to get used to for the next few weeks, however after 18 days of ear related issues it is starting to feel quite normal.

My best mate Ben informed me of his training camps in Tuscon at the back end of the summer. We haven't seen each other for a couple of years so this presented an excellent opportunity to hook up and also get a quality block of training in before IM Lanzarote. Over Christmas I confirmed my plans and booked my flight, super excited on all accounts. But alas it was not to be. I know there will be other occasions, but that doesn't make me feel much better.

I couldn't write this post without commenting on my experience of the NHS. Being around a couple of wards for 4 days has left me quite worried, so much so that I intend to look for a private health care package for my family. I have mostly good things to say for the doctors and the nurses. They are professional people doing their job to the best of their abilities. The nurses in ward 15 were great. I was fairly low maintenance, but their compassion and care for the elderly gentlemen hooked up to catheters and enduring all sorts of kidney problems was very assuring. Where my concern lies is the chronic under staffing that I witnessed. There were 2 nurses on the night shift to look after 4 rooms of 5 people (I think the rooms were full) During the day there were a couple more nurses and a couple of Health Care Workers. I am not sure if these Health Care Workers are trainee nurses, but they are not much use. They seemed unable to do anything technical (change IV bag) and if they came to your assistance they then had to go and find a nurse if the request was in any shape medically related. For me I just wanted the reassurance from the nurses and the doctors that I was being treated correctly, that I was being monitored and that I was being given the correct medication at the correct time. It was very upsetting, and worrying when you know you are due an IV drip of penicillin (the whole reason I was in hospital and not at home) ear drops a nasal spray and pain relief and you have to ask for your medication. Even then on occasions I did not receive it for a good hour or so after I had anticipated getting it. The IV could be disconnected after the 30 minutes it took to drain, yet it seemed the nurses were either too busy or distracted doing other things to remember. On a few occasions I was still connected (unnecessarily) for at least a further hour, the process of disconnection takes all of 30 seconds. Now I know I can operate with an IV in my hand but it comes back to the point I was making earlier about feeling cared for. There were too many occasions during my short stay that I felt very alone and not receiving even a basic amount of care and attention. On my final morning I had to search out some breakfast, having been forgotten. Those of you that know me well will realise I am not a great person if I am hungry, the nurse soon realised this too. The nurses and doctors cannot operate to the best of their ability in the working conditions they find themselves. As a result the only conclusion that you can reach is they are not able to do their job properly.

I would hate to be in a position where I was in need of some serious medical attention for a serious illness. I felt the system was under so much stress that huge amounts of time were being wasted whilst your order gets to the front of the system. I think time is of the essence in many medical cases. Those of you that have read Lance Armstrongs first book will appreciate they didn't mess around with him. If I remember correctly within a few days he was getting some serious Cancer treatment, this I don't think can possibly happen in the current NHS. If I go back 18 days to my initial ear infection my time plan looks like this. The following day I returned to the doctors, then 4 days later I returned again to the doctors, clearly things were not right. Maybe that was when the level of care should have accelerated. As it was it was another/ different GP who sent me away saying I needed to give the antibiotics a chance. Instead it was a further 5 days before I went to another doctor and 2 more days before they could see me at the hospital. Maybe I should have been more insistent with the doctors, but given that they are the experts they do give reassurance. You leave the doctors not feeling physically any better, but feeling more comfortable with your situation. I have no experience of the private system but have to believe the level of care, speed of care and level of attention must be superior.

So any good news. Well given that I wasn't on a Trans Atlantic fight I got to spend Valentines Day with my wife. We cooked up some nice fillet steak, creamy wine and mushroom sauce, rice and vegetables and started watching 'Collateral' until I fell asleep! I also now have a week at home (Half Term) with my family. I am going to fire up the bike on the turbo and see how I feel at a low intensity. I will also get out and run and see how that feels. I need to get a bit of confidence that I can start to train again.

Sarah has been a superstar this week, juggling her own work, Ellie and Evie, visiting and worrying about me, I know she has had a very tiring week both mentally and physically, thanks darling. So I think top of the agenda this week is to try and have some fun.....

'life'...... hard, or just a challenge?

2009-02-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

'Sometime's life is hard', this is probably one of the most stupidest sentences around. Of course life is hard, if it was easy where would we be? If it was easy to achieve your ambitions, where would the challenge come from? if it was easy to own a Ferrari where would be the challenge to earn one? if it was easy to raise a family where would be the challenging moments that often bring us closer together, or the most joy. However, is it really 'that life is hard'? or is it more the case of how we deal with situations that we perceive to be 'hard'? What one person perceives to be a hard moment in their life might be an everyday challenge faced by another. Do we sometimes make life harder by our own actions? then complain that 'life is hard'. Do we really mean 'hard', or do we mean a 'challenge'? Change the word in the first sentence to challenge, 'Sometime's life is a challenge'. How does that sound to you? does the word 'challenge' set your fight mechanism in motion as you search for a way to overcome the obstacle, or do you say the word challenge and feel fear or apprehension?

I am not going to use the word 'hard' because I am fully aware that my situation is for some people just a minor inconvienience, but I would be lying if I didn't say the past week or so has been a challenge. Now I have faced many physical challenges, most of course are set by ourselves. Now there's another thought, if you set yourself a physically challenging situation can you then come back to it with negative feelings or complaints or unhappiness? surely if you challenge yourself you must face the consequences or I would conclude you should cease to challenge yourself in the future. It's not like you've been locked away in a WWII concentration camp, you have set yourself a challenge. I digress.... So I left you last week with an ear infection and a perforated ear drum.

The week unfolded and I revisited my GP becasue I was concerned how long it was taking to improve, she advised me that it could be up to a week or so, I left feeling reassured, but non the wiser of when it would be back to action stations. I was still consumming painkillers at an alarming rate, until the back end of the week when I seemed to be taking less and feeling more lively. I still had discharge from my ear, although even this was starting to dry up. I felt I was on the mend and had penciled in a return to work on Monday, and recommence my training mid week.

I had a horrible sleep on Saturday night and found myself at 4.30am sitting in front of the computer reading all sorts of triathlon related blogs and Epic Camp accounts, popping painkillers and trying to ease my ear and head which felt like it was going to explode. I returned to bed at 8am and dosed the morning away whilst my ear discharged what can only be described as greeny/ brown gunk the consistency of a quality home grown runny honey. Sarah insisted she take me to the hospital where another doctor (that's 5 now) confirmed I had a secondary infection. He took a swab and as I write this I am waiting for a call from the Ear Specialists at York Hospital where they want to check me out. They are concerned with the level of pain I am experiencing around the bony part deep in my ear. I have been prescribed stronger painkillers and have ear drops which I hope will do the trick, if they can penetrate the gunk that has taken residence in my ear canal.

I have tried to answer all sorts of questions this week, mostly concerned with my imminent departure (Saturday 14th Feb) to Tuscon, USA where I will be joining my best mate Ben on one of his triathlon training camps. I started the week asking, would I be able to swim? maybe an ear plug and a swim hat would work, would I be able to run? would the bouncing make the ear too uncomfortable? would I be able to fly? The first doctor said yes, "given that you have a perforated ear drum you aren't going to suffer from a pressure build up". I have tried to stop asking questions now because it is messing me up too much. Will I be on the flight to Tuscon on Saturday? I really don't know, will I be training next week or convalescing in the Arizona dessert? I just don't know? It's only Monday, only time will tell. But whatever the outcome this challenge has been thrown my way and it is up to me to deal with it. Having said that my amazing wife has been just that..amazing. Yesterday my whole family were superstars, Ellie and Evie were the best little girls in the world, and Sarah in her comforting manner made things so much better, also from a far but over the telephone from Stewkley and Newcastle my 2 Mum's and Dad's, thanks guys it means a lot.

So on to the picture of a sleek looking sexy bicycle. I wanted to change my race bike a little this season. I wanted to go to 10 speed and change to the SRAM Red gear mechanics. This mean't I would also have to change the front end. Over Christmas I delivered a polished frame, clean wheels and a box of sparkling bits to my Dad for him to assemble. He's 'the man' when it comes to assembling or fixing bikes. Yesterday it arrived and this morning I unboxed it (I must have been feeling bad yesterday I couldn't even open the box) and stood back admiring it. I am super pleased with it. It is set up for IM Lanzarote (without my disc wheel) with the 50mm rims given the predicted winds. For anybody that is interested here is the bike.

Frame: Swiss Full Carbon frame and fork.

Wheels: Corima 50mm, TUFO Tubs.

Bars: Profile Carbon Areo Base Bar, Carbon Extensions.

Brakes: Campagnolo Record Skeleton.

Components: SRAM Red, (including super sexy carbon brake levers and gear shifters)

Crankset: FSA Carbon with 54 tooth Chain ring.

Cables: NOKON Red anodised.

Pedals: Look Keo.

It's weighing in at 17.5lbs which is pretty light for a triathlon bike. I cannot wait to get out and put some power through those cranks. I know for a fact that when I am back to normal I am really going to spend some time getting really strong on the bike.

I am sure you will all have a challenge this week in some shape or another, how we shape up to the challenge is what makes us who we are. I am winning my challenge, and real soon will be throwing down some more enjoyable ones, have a good week.

I thought having the trots was bad enough.....

2009-02-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

My week started well and having taken Monday off of work to recover from the stomach upset I got right back into things. On Tuesday I got out on the bike for 4 hours, followed by a leisurely re-fuel and a 90 minute run. Wednesday started with a solid upper body weights session and then out on the bike for 3 hours with some longer hill intervals. Thursday the weather was nice enough to ride in shorts so I got in a nice 5 hours............ Oh how I lie, if only I could write down such accounts without them being totally made up.

I ventured back into work on Tuesday and felt pretty strange. Having had 4 days of illness and low food levels I was a bit low on energy levels. Unfortunately a full day at work, a staff meeting and then a Year 11 parents evening made for a very long first day back. I rode in on Wednesday and felt fine on the bike, I refereed a Football match in the afternoon and felt ok, just a little light headed. Then the fun started.........

On Thursday I got in to work with a sore ear. My self diagnosis was an ear infection, (genius I know, should have been a GP), so I booked a doctors appointment for later that afternoon. By lunch time my head was very painful, and my hearing fuzzy. The doctors confirmed an external ear infection and gave me some antibiotic drops. By tea time my head had exploded, and my ear was discharging a mixture of blood and fluid.....nice. I got through the night on a combination of ibuprofen, paracetamol and cocodamol, waking to find the insides of my head soaking into my pillow. I went back to see my doctor who now diagnosed a perforated ear drum as a result of the infection, I got a course of 7 days lovely yellow and red antibiotics, a huge box of tissues to mop up my ear as it continued to discharge the contents of my head.

So it's Monday morning, I've had 3 days of antibiotics and do I feel fighting fit and on the road to recovery? No I do not. My left hand side of my head is thick, humming and seriously painful, my ear resembles a dripping tap, and I'm consumming painkillers at an alarming rate, I'm back to the docs tomorrow if things don't get much better.

I have not opened my training diary for what seems like an age now. I haven't done a serious run since the Brass Monkey (15 days ago) and I haven't ridden the bike properly for a similar period of time. I was intending to train hard through January and a week into February before easing off for a week before flying to Tuscon to join my best mate Ben on his Training Camp for a really big week of overload. Now it looks like Tuscon could be my first proper training week for a while.

It's hard to be positive at times like this. Consistency is such a big part of training and with IM Lanzarote just 16 weeks away, it is starting to seem awfully close. However one saving grace is even if my head wasn't exploding and I could train, with close to 6" of snow on the ground riding the bike, and running is not going to be easy. I am trying to be positive, I keep telling myself that I'm getting a good recovery, that I won't lose that much fitness and that when I return to training I will be super motivated to hit it hard. It's also important to remember that it's only a triathlon. I think the first thing to do is shift this infection and get my health back, I hope this time next week with only 5 days to go to my Tuscon Training Camp I will be back..............

My turn....

2009-01-25T10:44:00.002-08:00

What a diffrence a weeks makes. This time last week, the jubilation of a solid Half Marathon race at the back end of a good weeks training, today I am sitting here struggling to comtempate an Iron Kid's race let alone an Ironman after being wiped out by a sickness/ diarrhea virus. I guess it was only a matter of time before it would be my turn. Since Christmas all the girls have had various illnesses, and I've ducked and dived, avoiding them all. Ellie had a tummy bug this week, and low and behold the early hours of Thursday morning saw me firmly fixed to the toilet.

I took Thursday and Friday off work, and started to feel better on Saturday. Thinking I was better I had food throughout Saturday and then Sarah and I went out with Tom and Helen for some food on Saturday night. We'd planned this night for a while and with baby sitters organised we were really looking forward to a night out. As it was, my stomach behaved and we did have a good night, cheers guys I really, really hope I haven't given you anything.

I have never had anything like the experience I had on Saturday night!!! I could go on and describe in detail my night but I will save you all the horrid details. I got very little sleep, went back to bed at 8am and before I knew it it was 3pm!!!! So far I have had 2 dry slices of toast and plenty of water. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

I am gutted. Last week was developing into a great training week, I had some ambitious plans for my training, all of which didn't happen.

I am hoping that I will be able to keep some food in me tomorrow, slowly get some energy back and then return to some training later in the week....

Half Marathon Fun...

2009-01-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

You have to check out this video clip, wingsuit base jumping!!! These guys are awesome or crazy, make your own minds up.

Today's photo is of Samuel Wanjiru World Record Half Marathon Record Holder 58:33, (4:30 min/mile) I didn't trouble his record today!!!

I raced the Brass Monkey Half Marathon this morning......OUCH. I had set a target of going sub 1:30 (had 1:28 in my mind). This target was based on last year's 1:29:57 achieved off of very little running. I raced to a time of 1:30:33, and boy did it hurt. As Lance Armstrong once said "racing hurts, and it hurts me just as much as anybody, I just go a little faster". It certainly hurt today, a pain in my side for the last couple of miles (just when you want to dig in and open up a little, rubbish) this really stiffens me up and slows me down. It is a problem I've had on and off when running hard for prolonged time periods. I think its related to being dehydrated, which would figure as I didn't really drink more than a couple of mouthfuls today. Then at mile 12 my Hamstrings started to explode. I had to sneak a real quick stretch, and finished the last couple of hundred meters off feaful of fully blown cramp! My Hamstrings are always the first leg muscle to cramp. I guess that is simply a conditioning factor. They are not weak, but being an important running muscle I guess not so well developed given my historically low running milage? Anybody with any thoughts or suggestions?

I ran 6.57 min/mile Pace average, with a Heart Rate average of 174bpm. However the first 7 miles were quicker than the average, and the last 6 were slower. I think that although I have done considerably more running during Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan than last year not many miles have been done at a fast enough pace to facilitate the necessary adaptations to then hold 6:40's for 13 miles. So although I didn't quite achieve my target I am still very pleased. I am pleased because 1:30 is a solid time for me. The race has got me more focussed on my running, and thus I feel I have a deeper running base to continue my Ironman running preparation this year.

Before I leave the topic of Half Marathon racing, well done Max (my brother) for running 1:28:40 in the 4 Villages race in Cheshire. To Tom for nailing a PB with a 1:19:28 (I think 28 seconds) Ben B for running 1:24:48 in slightly warmer conditions in Phoenix (USA) and to Helen for running a solid 1:35 at the Brass Monkey, given the training load you put your body and mind under just a week ago in Lanzarote. It's great to be surrounded by like minded characters, and I will be taking motivation from you all in the next few weeks.

The rest of my training week has been sound. I've ridden 160 miles, including a 3 1/4 hour session on Thursday, ran 2 hours, and knocked out a couple of weights sessions, 11 3/4 hours in total.

Evie is well on the mend, and starting to eat more food. Sarah is also nearly back to normal, and Ellie has loved her 3 mornings in her big school.

Sitting here drinking a celebratory glass of sparkling pink wine my legs are trashed, and my mind is tired, so its a short post from me tonight because I want a cuddle on the sofa from my coach!! I will leave you with a funny quote that Ellie said to me a couple of nights ago. I was in the bath with her, and suddenly she say's,

"Daddy don't slouch"

I did laugh. I will see you in 7, hopefully with another 150 + of bike miles in my legs!!!!! Be good.

Poor Little Evie...

2009-01-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure if I have many weeks that aren’t busy, but this week has been busy for numerous reasons. Being busy can be both physical and mental, this week has been a particularly busy mental week. I went back to work on Monday, we always start the new term with a ‘training day’. So after a couple of meetings and a session on child protection updates, I had a department meeting, then it was lunch time. Although I could have found plenty to do in the afternoon I decided to get some ‘training’ in and headed home via a 3 ¼ hour ride. That morning I woke up to freezing temperatures and a cm of snow, I gingerly rode in on the crunchy stuff. I thought it would be as much as I could do to get home let alone ride that afternoon. The little snow soon cleared so riding was fine, however unprepared for a long ride I had no food. I grovelled for the last hour in the dark, quite hungry and very envious of Tom and Helen in Lanzarote clocking up plenty of miles in the sunshine. Congratulations Tom for winning the award for Male Single Performance of the Year at the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club Presentation Night, thoroughly deserved.

I managed to catch up with my mate Ben who lives in Seattle on Tuesday, great to chat with him. He’s my best man, a great friend and a fellow triathlete, and is now earning his $$$’s coaching. Sounds like he’s really making it happen in Seattle, after setting up his coaching company VO2Multisport, he’s close to his coaching capacity. Having watched Ben be successful at a diverse range of jobs (financial advisor, gym instructor, Halifax Call Centre, Men’s Fashion Shop Manager, Personal Trainer) he has finally settled (I think) to where his energy, excitement, skills and enthusiasm lies, that of Triathlon. It’s great to see him being successful. I will be heading to Tuscon in February to spend a week on Ben’s Training Camp, can’t wait to see you buddy. We talked about training and he recommended looking at the ‘Daniels Running Pace Formula’. This I did.

I set about putting theory into practice on Wednesday with a tough ‘T’ (Tempo) paced run. Dialling in 1:30:00 for my ½ marathon pace Daniels formula has me running my ‘T’ runs at 6.44min/mile. I was a little dubious as to whether I could hold that pace, even for the short 3 mile session I’d planned. After a mile warm up I picked it up and 20 minutes latter I had held 6.34min/mile pace for all 3 miles, it was tough with a HR average 170bpm, but it’s supposed to be. I was chuffed to bits, and had held on to a big smile as I cooled down. The idea with Daniels is you have an ‘E’ Easy paced run, which for me comes in at 8.24, an ‘M’ Marathon paced run (7.09) a ‘T’ Tempo Paced run (6.44) and then two interval pace’s. Ben has been using it himself and with his athletes, seems to be working for him so I will give it a go. If nothing else it really gets you to focus on the pace of your run and to focus on the outcome of the run session, being more honest when you run. It’s a match made in heaven with Mr Garmin!!

Ellie started big school, pre- school on Thursday with a taster morning. She missed out on going to school proper last September by 18 days, and is really ready for it. Luckily our local school have a January intake for those children in this situation. It’s really only a pre-school available each morning if wanted, but unlike her other nursery it’s on the site of the big school and she gets to wear her school uniform. She is very excited and every time we drive or walk past the school she tells us “that is my Big School”. Next week she starts for real, 3 mornings a week, school uniform and packed lunch, exciting times. When she tried on her uniform both Sarah and my Mum had tears in their eyes, she does look very sweet.

The rest of the week unravelled with Sarah slowly getting well, but struggling to shift her cough. Then at 5am Thursday Evie woke up crying, and on a closer inspection I realised she had Spaghetti Bolognese in her hair and all over her shoulder. A pretty quick clean up act followed with a bath and clean PJ’s. She wouldn’t go back to sleep so Sarah sat with her downstairs. She spent the rest of Thursday being sick, so obviously had caught some kind of nasty stomach bug. Even water wasn’t staying down. By Friday morning she was not any better, and was looking quite unwell, so Sarah took her to the doctors. The doctor gave her some rehydration powder which she would not drink. I came home from work early to look after Ellie and Sarah took Evie to York Hospital. Cutting the longest 24 hours in history down to a short paragraph, the doctors put her on a fluid drip through the night, before letting her come home Saturday afternoon. She is still not herself, but hasn’t been sick and is slowly starting to drink juice, water and milk and eat a little food. Ellie has been a fabulous big sister making cards (see photo above) and trying to get Evie to drink and eat, but it’s been a long few days. This is where the mental tiredness comes in. Not being able to do anything through Friday, and then worrying that she wasn’t eating or drinking much takes its toll. Throw ‘an Ellie’ in the mix who has enough energy to do a Deca Ironman, and a questioning approach to life where ‘Why’ starts every sentence, I’m feeling quite cream crackered.

Seeing your daughter looking so sad and helpless, with her usual zest for life and energy for exploration totally gone is heart breaking. Both Sarah and I had moments these last few days where we feel totally helpless. Knowing she has got to start drinking fluids but getting a total refusal every time we offered a drink is difficult. However on Sunday tea time, after a day of sleep and cuddles she ate a fair amount of Spaghetti Carbonara, and drunk a cup of water, this was joyful to witness. She is now sleeping peacefully and hopefully will wake up tomorrow a little bit better.

Today I needed to get some fresh air and clear my head so I ran an ‘E’ paced 10 miles (bit quicker, holding 8.24 was very difficult) it felt very comfortable. Next Sunday’s Brass Monkey ½ Marathon will provide some evidence as to how far my running has progressed. I ran 1:29:58 last year off of very, very little running. Next Sunday I expect to run faster, and be more comfortable in the final few miles. If I am not then I can only conclude that last year’s race was one of those perfect days, because I know I am in much better running shape.

The start of a New Year brings such high expectations. In some aspects of my life it’s been a good start, but in the aspects that really matter I think I may start the year again on the 1st February. Hopefully then colds, tummy bugs, coughs and flu symptoms are long forgotten, get well quickly Evie, Sarah and Dad and good health for the rest of the year. Have fun at Big School Ellie. Have a healthy week all, see you in 7.

Goals and Plans....

2009-01-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

I have started 2009 running. We saw in the New Year with Elieen and Bernie (Sarah's Mam and Dad) in Newcastle. I participated in the unusual tradition (is it unusual?) of going outside at 11.59.55pm with a piece of coal and a bottle of whiskey, and as the clock strikes and the New Year starts bringing the Coal and Whiskey back into the house. It is supposed to bring good luck, I hope it does.

On New Years Day morning I drove to the coast at South Shields (finish of Great North Run) and ran along the beach and up onto the cliff tops. I ran a nice steady 10 miles in 1hr 20 mins. I thoroughly enjoyed the view and the freshness of the air.

On 2nd January I returned to South Shields and ran 6 miles along the cliffs. I opened up the tanks a little on mile 4 (7.05 min/mile) and mile 5 (6.56 min/mile), feeling good.

On Sunday 4th January I ran my technical 5 miler along the canal, where I aim to run efficiently and hold perfect form. During my 3 weeks holiday I have managed to run 4 hours each week. This is an exceptional block of running for me. It is this sort of consistency that I hope to hold on to for as long as possible in the build up to IM Lanzarote.

Over the break I read 'No Limits' Michael Phelps autobiography (a great read, thoroughly recommended) He talks about setting his goals, and confirms a belief I already have about aiming high.

I have written down some of my goals and plans for 2009, here are some of them.

Ironman Lanzarote, Finishing time 10:45:00. I finished IMUK in 11.08.00 (2007), and IM Switzerland in 11.03.00 (2008) so have set myself the goal of a new PB at Lanzarote. I know it's supposed to be a tougher course, but I am aiming high. I think my splits might look something like this, Swim 1:08, Bike 5:35, Run 3.55 (T1 and T2 7 mins)

Sub 55 min 25 mile T.T. It's been a few years since I did enough time trialling to get consistently fast. I have a P.B. over 25 miles of 53.45, which I set in 2000 on a perfect, perfect Sunday morning on the A1 near Blyth. The past few seasons I have just crept below the hour, riding a long 58 last season. After Lanzarote I hope to do a few more T.T's and some specific T.T training, hoping for the perfect race to ride fast again.

Ride a 12 hour T.T in July. Dad set the tone this year, he is gearing up for a repeat performance and Max is on board, so that just leaves me. A Garrard Family 12 hour, bring it on.

Get strong again. The last couple of years I have let my weight training drift a little. I have become more specific with my weights, lifting lighter and more repetitions for my triathlon. However I would like to get back to feeling strong. Post Lanzarote I will start to lift heavier and build some strength.

Spend Friday Night's with Sarah doing something special together. This is something we did with regularity a few years ago. There are times during the week when we pass like ships in the night, so every Friday we will pull in the main sail and set anchor for a night. Each week we will alternate being the skipper, cooking for each other, watching a movie, playing 'Skip Bo', a pamper night or whatever else we can come up with.

Do something as a Family each Sunday. This is something we try to do anyway, but of course things slip, time to get back to Sunday family time.

Teach Ellie to Swim. It's been quite a while since we went to the pool. She loves swimming and is confident in the water, doing some massive jumps and dives from the side. I will try to get her swimming so that she can then have lessons real soon.

Enjoy my Garden. We have a fabulous Garden and decking, and love 'BBQing' and sitting out in the evening. However the last couple of years we have been a little thwarted by the weather, and on the good days haven't really made the most of it, not this year.

I'm sure as the year progresses more goals will be set and plans will be made. Some goals will be achieved, some will not, but in setting each goal a journey can begin. I am sure that each of my goals will bring me and those around me happiness and excitment, which is ultimately what it's all about.

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it" (Goethe)

I hope you have aimed high with your goals for 2009, and that the journey you take to achieving them is full of happy moments. Catch you next week.

2008: My Training Review...

2008-12-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

Reviewing is such an important part of making progress. It happens throughout your school life (remember those school reports you used to sneak a look at before you decided to deliver it to your parents), in most jobs it happens at least annually and for most athletes that take there training and competition seriously you will find yourself always reviewing. I find the end of season review a real motivational tool. The hope with every review is that you have progressed. In Ironman Triathlon the training is such a big part of the process, you are often only racing one IM a season that seeing training progress gives a sense of excitment and reinforces the thought that you are heading in the right direction.

I am good at reviewing my training diary (it is a regular read when taking a number two!) what I am also quite good at is establishing what I might need to change or aim for, short term or long term, however what I am not quite so good at is actually implementing those plans. To quote from No Limits, Michael Phelps;

'words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality'

I couldn't work out how to attach a table to the blog so have printed and photographed, hence the quality isn't great. In this post I am just going to review, I will make training plans in a future post.

Swimming:In 2007 I swam 1.06 at IMUK (probably a little short), this year I swam 1.09 at IM Switzerland. Those of you that know me know I get into the pool and the lake a few months before the race. I know I could swim faster, and I enjoy swimming but I think to swim significantly faster (say 5 to 10 minutes) would require swimming 2 or 3 times a week. My working day and family commitment really isn't conducive to that sort of commitment, plus the pools around here are not great. I think a big part to hitting those times and feeling comfortable in the water is the attention I pay to upper body weights.

Cycling:

I have taken some of the categories of review from Steven Lord, another IM triathlete who is training full time. I am pleased to have hit another 6000+ miles, two consistent years puts mileage in the bank. I don't think my cycling has advanced far but it has moved forward. When I entered IMUK I trained a 'little scared' in terms of riding 112 miles. I took every opportunity to ride long, I rode 5.50. However I was a little complacent in the build up to IM Switzerland knowing I could pull out a 112 mile ride, so I didn't ride enough long rides. I rode the bike on more days, but shorter rides, I rode a pleasing 5.30, although I'd set myself a more ambitious short 5 hour ride. My family circumstances also changed between UK and Switzerland. Prior to UK I had a 2 1/2 year old daughter and Sarah was pregnant. In the build up to Switzerland Ellie was 3 1/2, and Evie was heading to her 1st Birthday. Anyone with two children knows the change from 1 to 2 is dramatic. I didn't think it right to leave Sarah with both girls for longer than necessary so would get out for what should be a long ride only to cut it short. I also struggled a little to get excited about riding long, instead riding long because I had to. 'Having to' and 'wanting to' are very different things when faced with a 4 hour plus ride, its got to be 'wanting to'. I would ride up to 2 hours before work and up to 2 hours home (some days), great training days, but not the same as a single 3 to 4 hour ride.

I know I was in better shape than 5.30, but horrible riding conditions affected me. In both IM bike legs I have ridden conservatively for fear of blowing 'big style' on the run through lack a deep running conditioning. Watch this space for 2009. I have an ambitious IM Lanzarote bike split, and want no fear of blowing on the run!!!!

Running:

Both in 2007 and 2008 I did just enough running, at the right time. At UK I ran 4.01 (I think it was a tad short) and at Swiwitzerland I ran 4.16. I was very pleased with both run splits, but if I am to feel like I can race the bike, I need a much deeper base of running. Putting my running in context, I ran 1.30 at the Brass Monkey 1/2 marathon in January off the back of jack all run training. I can run well, but have yet to build a deep enough base of running. I need more run endurance to feel more comfortable when the marathon gets into the 3rd and 4th quarter. However 2008 has progressed in all but the biggest week, more 1, 2 and 3 hour weeks.

I have also analysed my training in the final 1/3rd of the year. This will give me some sort of guide as to how motivated I am and how I will start the New Year.

Cycling:

Not much difference here. Both 07 and 08 have similar ends to the year with one notable exception (apart from a great month of Sept 07) I have already started riding longer (3hrs +) At this time in the year this is very pleasing. What it does for me is remove the barrier that seeems to be quickly erected after you stop your focussed IM training a barrier which say's, '3+ hours on a bike is a long long time'. I am entering 2009 having removed the 3 hour barrier (infact I rode through 4 hours last week)

Running:

Now, I like the look of those numbers. How I ran 1.30 at the Brass Monkey 1/2 Marathon I do not know. I know I felt very good and could have had a perfect race, but looking at the numbers I shouldn't have managed it. However thanks in part to 'Mr Garmin 405', and a serious desire to run quicker, and to run more comfortably, I have hit the final 3rd of the year seriously. Apart from a little 'blip' in November where I lost the running plot for a couple of weeks, everything looks good. I have run more often and more hours. I have also run some harder interval sessions, and I ran 15 miles in 2 hours, at 8min/mile pace last Sunday. I should run quicker at the Brass Monkey, but that is not the goal. May 23rd in Lanzarote is where I want to be running quicker and stronger, after I have ridden the bike to my potential.

In summary I am really pleased with my training year. Quantity is dictacted by life circumstances. I would love to, and think I could log 200 miles a week on the bike, I would love to swim 3 times a week, I would love to run 3 or 4 times a week, I would love to be in the gym 3 times a week, however you have to be realistic. I only have a certain amount of time available. I can create a little more time by training early in the morning, or squeezing in a lunchtime run, (and I will no doubt do this on my big weeks) but to do it consistently is hard. I want to be a great Husband and Dad, so must leave some energy for my family. I also have to teach, coach and inspire the next generation (as well as earn a few dollars) I believe we have a limit to our energy reserves. I think it can be improved/ trained, but think it is also genetic. I liken it to sleep, some people can operate very effectively on 6 hours, some people cannot. I have trained very constistently. I have made a number of break throughs, a PB of 11.03.16 at IM Switzerland, a longest ride of 153 miles, I have completed 1000 miles of training in the month of May, I have removed a few psychological barriers like running on consecutive days, like running to work and home again, and I have put in place the foundations for a more consistent approach to my run training.

What I have done all year is enjoy myself. There are many tools for training well, an often under estimated tool is training friends. Unfortunately I don't get to train with mine as often as I'd like, but I get huge motivation and inspiration from chatting, texts and reading blog's. So thanks to Dad (206 miles in you're first 12 hour TT at 60 yrs young, awesome) Max, Tom, Helen, Ben and others who I have had the pleasure to train with and read about, keep it coming, it all helps. Finally to Sarah (much more than just my coach) Ellie and Evie, you guys are always with me when I train and race.

As it say's on my new art of tri Hoodie,

'One passion: Endless Training'

Santa's been.......

2008-12-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

I am frazzled!! A 4 year old, an 18 month old, a house full of new exciting presents and you have a receipe for a tired boy. Sarah is also part of my club, so much for sitting down watching some Christmas films in the evenings, more like crashing out and falling asleep! However I wouldn't have changed the last week for anything, it has been great.

On Christmas morning Ellie opened the lounge door to say 'Wow there's presents everywhere', then when she tried on her new dressing gown she said 'Oh that's so soft, Mummy feel it' Evie has been pushing her new baby and pram all over the house, and every morning still goes straight into the kitchen to where the advent calendar was, expecting a chocolate!

Although the girls got thoroughly spoilt by their Mummy, and two Grandma's Ellie was great on Christmas morning opening presents and looking at them all, then the rest of the day was spent playing.

We had a lovely walk, picnic and play in the woods on Boxing Day, which was really great. We really enjoy the times we go out for picnic's and walks, the distraction of home is removed for a few hours and we just enjoy each others company.

I got a couple of great books from Santa, 'No Limits' Michael Phelps, is proving to be a really good read, I am sure I will share some of it in future posts. I have trained well around Christmas, and my new heart rate strap accessory for my Garmin 405 means there's now no place to hide.

Monday: Weights; Upper Body Circuit (45 mins)

Tuesday: am Bike; 70 miles (4 hrs), pm Run; 5 miles technical (45 mins)

Wednesday: am Run 10 miles 7.45min/mile pace, weights Upper Body Circuit (30 mins)

Thursday, Friday Rest Days

Saturday: Bike; 20 miles (1 hour) including 4 x 4 mins Hill Repetitions, Weights Upper Body + Legs.

Sunday: Run; 15 miles (2 hours) 8 min/mile pace

I love training and exercise, it's part of my life. Whether it's weights, running, cycling, swimming or any other sport is doesn't really matter, whether it's my Birthday, Christmas Day or New Year's Day it doesn't really matter, it's what makes me tick. I have had a great week, I've spent lots of time with my amazing wife and girls and have also managed to do some of the activities I enjoy.

Sarah's Christmas card to me had the following printed on it,

'spending time together is what I like to do, going out or staying in I love just being with you...I think you're really smashing, and I'm hoping this will be...your happiest, jolliest Christmas - with lots of love from me!'

it certainly has been xxx

Mr Hyde...and Merry Christmas....

2008-12-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

I should really let Sarah write this opening paragraph, but I am not going to, so instead I have been warned that my presents will be returned if I don't explain why for 4 days last week I became Mr Hyde from 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

I didn't assume all of Mr Hyde's characteristics, just his sudden change in personality, his long arms dragging his knuckles and his feeling sorry for himself. After a fabulous weekend spent with Sarah, the bubble exploded on Monday morning, when Sarah woke up with the sickness/poo bug that is doing the rounds. This lasted 36hrs, then she replaced it with the flu/cold/ cough for the rest of the week. What I failed miserably to do was behave like a caring husband, instead I became Mr Hyde and felt really sorry for myself. I was fed up that my first week of holiday and a chance to spend some quality time with Sarah had been stopped in its tracks. I had promised that during my holiday I'd stay up late, we'd watch some movies and generally spend more time together, instead Sarah was in bed by 8pm (if she even surfaced) I was eating alone and as a result I was feeling pretty fed up. I know, I know Sarah had all the rights to being fed up, not me, but I was. I guess I don't deal with illness very well, I also (very selfishly) absolutely did not want to get the illness. So sorry darling, I should have been there for you last week not moping around, auditioning for the part of Mr Hyde xxxxxxxxx

Mr Hyde did however manage to get some decent training in...

Monday: (am) Run 8 mile (1 hour), (pm) Weights upper body superset (45 mins)

Tuesday: Bike 52 miles (3 hour)

Wednesday: (pm) Run 3 mile TT 19.59 min, (pm) Weights upperbody superset (30 mins)

Thursday: (am) Bike 52 miles (3 hour) incl 5 x 1 mile hill reps overgeared seated, (pm) Run 5 mile technical (45 mins)

Friday/ Saturday: Rest Days

Sunday: Run 6.5 mile Steady pace 8 min/mile

Run Off road Interval Session 6 x 900m (2 min recovery) HARD pace, 6.42 to 6.49 min/mile

Total: Bike 100 miles (6 hrs), Run 29 miles (4 hrs) Weights (1 3/4 hrs) = 11 1/4 hrs.

'Ellie Helping build the fire'

We travelled down to see my Mum and Dad on Friday and were joined by Max and Rachael for the weekend. My brother has really bucked his training ideas up after a lean couple of years and he is now on track to regaining his fitness and performance. He completed for GB in 2000 in Calais in the World Duathlon Championships, and should be aiming to hit that sort of level in 2009/10. I really enjoyed Sunday's session with Max and my Dad. Dad helps coach all the sport at Swanbourne House School, and has recently developed a 900m cross country course traversing the hill side on one of the lower fields at the school. It is a challenging course where you run down the hill then across the bottom, you then begin traversing the slope making your way back up to the start. He has a PB of 3.45 and the course PB is 3.26. Dad didn't join us for the interval session but ran 7 steady laps, great stuff, (hope to race alongside you at some of the 09 Duathlons)

'Evie helping to stock up the bird feeders'

Max hit the first interval hard and put 10 seconds into me!! Nothing like some sibling rivalry to motivate you. Whilst strictly speaking we weren't racing.......................but I won the next 5 intervals! time for each interval was 3.49, 3.48, 3.48, 3.48, 3.49, 3.47, 3.44, all around 6.40min/mile pace. We made each other work hard and after a 6.5 mile warm up it was the sort of session where you really push through, both running effort and training boundaries. It was good to run hard and not have a performance drop off. On the way home in the car we agreed that you wouldn't normally do a 6.5 mile steady run before a 4.5 mile hard interval session, however it is possible and it pushes ones perceived training boundaries, it also helps build physical and mental strength. (I remember reading on Gordo's Blog how he finished a 100 mile + bike day then did tyre pull sprints, awesome)

Sunday was like Christmas Day (without the presents) after the run I ate like a King, and crashed out by the fire whilst Ellie and Evie raced around making everybody dizzy and worn out just watching them.

'Ellie in her Nursery Christmas Show costume'

We had a great weekend with Mum, Dad, Max and Rachael, and Ellie and Evie were delightful. Ellie is so excited about Christmas, its gonna be fun. Evie is really changing from a baby into a little girl, she loves her sister and runs after her copying everything she does. She is really starting to understand so much more and in her own way communicate back, yet she still needs a Daddy cuddle.

Christmas is just a few days away, have a great one, enjoy yourselves, Merry Christmas folks.

Happy Day's

2008-12-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

What a fabulous week, in fact more like 10 days. I didn't write last week because I was way too tired following the 1st XV Rugby tour to Dublin. As some of you are aware it's been a challenging season coaching the school's 1st XV. Throughout the season the boys have shown potential but injuries, poor performances and inconsistent effort levels from all the players at various times have defined the Rugby Term. Travelling to Dublin we weren't sure what to expect (well except for plenty of Guinness and a warm reception from the rugby clubs) in terms of how we would match up against our opposition. To summarise a fabulous weekend we beat Greystones RFC U16 team 7-3, and then beat Unidare RFC U18's 22 - 7. Two challenging matches and two wins, the boys were great, and proved to themselves that if everybody gives 100% they are in fact a useful team. We returned to school like hero's and I have decided to have just 6 fixtures next season, 2 in Ireland, 2 in Wales and 2 in Scotland!!

Wednesday evening was spent in Leeds with my friend Tom eating some good food, chatting about life and his soon to occur wedding. Tom and I share similar views on many topics and it was great to catch up.

Thursday evening I continued the eating theme with what was supposed to be an end of term meal and a few beers with some of my work mates. They 'were' my work mates, however numerous no shows left me and the junior school sports teacher enjoying a table for 2 and a set Chinese meal for 2. Mates they no longer are! However there were laughs a plenty among many of my other colleagues the following day.

The last week of the school term is always quite challenging. Most pupils have decided lessons should be replaced by games and fun activities, Santa hats start to become the norm, some teachers appear to have already finished, whilst some race around completing last minute jobs. This year I fell into the latter category, but seemed to be adding to my TO DO list, not actually ticking things off. However come Friday it was all completed and I could look forward to a 3 week holiday, get in there!!

The weather this week has been very cold. My morning rides to work have been quite treacherous, however I have managed to get a few miles in. I got out in the sunshine for a steady 2 1/2 hours on Thursday afternoon, logging a few bonus miles during a fairly sporadic few weeks of training.

The week got even better as Sarah and I headed into the Yorkshire Dales to celebrate Tom and Helen's wedding. My Mum had come up to look after Ellie and Evie (thanks Mum we really appreciate the opportunity to get away every now and again) Not only were we excited about sharing Tom and Helen's special day but also the opportunity for Sarah and I to spend some quality time together. We checked into our B&B and returned to the pub to sit in front of the fire and enjoy a pint. Saturday was fabulous, it was a really special day filled with excitement, laughs, smiling faces and emotion all wrapped up in much happiness. Everything about the day was great. The pre-wedding run with Tom and a few other triathlete friends kick started the day. It was a fabulous wedding, the location, the ceremony, the food, the speeches, the dress and suits, the music, the dancing and the fire works, but what really makes these sort of occasions special are the people. What a great crowd, really genuine, honest, interesting, fun people who I loved spending the day with. Although I have only known Tom and Helen for a short time they are great people who I am sure will be our friends for a long, long time. Feeling very happy and with a big smile on my face I curled up with my wife, who I'd re-married earlier in the evening with a Haribo Jelly Ring, for a happy nights sleep.

Waking up to a crisp, clear day I enjoyed a 5 mile run with Martin Yelling who I'd met at the wedding, this cleared a slightly fuzzy head and set me up for a good day, (have you ever felt worse when you finished a run?......thought not). Sarah and I decided to make the most of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and headed to Bolton Abbey. A relaxing walk through the woods along the River Stridd worked up an appetite for a nice lunch in the Abbey Resturant.

We returned home to be greeted by two smiling, excited girls, who wanted to tell us everything they had been doing with Grandma, sounds and looks like they had a good one.

As I write, Chris Hoy has just been awarded 'Sports Personality of the Year', the GB Cycling Team have won 'Team of the Year' and Dave Brailsford 'Coach of the Year', thoroughly deserved. That completes a very enjoyable week. With Christmas just around the corner, lots of time to spend with my family and a bit more flexibility to train I really think I will enjoy the next few weeks.

I will leave you with this quote about enjoyment, have a great week;

"It is essential to our well-being, and to our lives, that we play and enjoy life. Every single day do something that makes your heart sing". Marcia Wieder

Rain, snow, wind, ice and Billy

2008-12-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like Winter is here. With the arrival of Winter my immune system is working overtime. I'm winning the fight, just.....but my throat is really not liking the cold. After a couple of solid weeks my motivation has gone into temporarily hibernation. Motivation is a funny old thing, where does it go? One week I've got bags of the stuff, next week I'm trawling ebay to find a bargin bucket of the stuff! If I'm being honest I am not firing on all cylinders, and am looking for excuses to avoid running, phone calls at work to make, emails to check and bike upgrades to plan. I've indicated in past posts that my opportunity to run is a little limited, I have 50 minutes at lunch time, and on week day evenings I can usually get out once the girls are in bed at 7.30pm. When its light, warm and sunny both opportunities are sufficient, however cold, icy, windy and pitch black, after a long day at work and an evening getting the girls to bed, I am currently finding tough (the last few evening's I have fallen asleep on Ellie's bed whilst reading her a story) I am really looking forward to my Christmas break where I will get a few more opportunities to run in the day light. Spring seems a long way off, but it will soon be the shortest day and then rock and roll, more day light and all those climatic conditions that the Aussies take for granted and we crave.

On Saturday Sarah and I went south to see Billy Elliot. I know London has much to offer and so much to see, but when you live in a small village, near a small town in a rural location the number of people, pace of life and cues is frightening. I think the only way to attack London is with a 'get in, get it done and get out approach'

Travelling on public transport was predictably frustrating, but after a dash from Kings Cross to the Victoria Theatre we just made it. It was certainly worth it. Billy Elliot was a great show. I like going to the theatre but some shows are a bit samey for me, usually too much singing. Well you wally you've gone to a musical what do you expect!!! Billy Elliot however was great, singing, dancing, spoken word and acting. It's a great story, I'm sure you've seen the film and on stage it was fab. Miners vs Police, Cigarette smoking Geordie Middle Class Ballet teacher teaching her girls and Billy dancing around caught up in the middle of it, wanting to pursue his dream. It was an emotional afternoon. The story line is a powerful one. Billy's Mum appearing as a ghost as Billy read's out the letter she left for him for his 18th Birthday, Dad crossing the picket line whilst his angry son shows defiance and is willing to tear the family apart and Billy's families reaction when they find out he's been dancing not boxing.

I think the most powerful factor of the show is Billy. I guess he was between 11 and 13 years old. To see somebody so young dominate the stage and have the audience in his hands is amazing. There was such juvenile excitement radiating from him, yet his maturity handling the occasion and story line was great to see.

If you want to see a show I would thoroughly recommend Billy Elliot.

I will leave you with a quote from a 4 year old girl whose excitement for Christmas is building; Ellie was showing me her advent calendar telling me which one she was opening tomorrow;

"Daddy tomorrow it's the one with the leaf's and strawberries"

So this Christmas make sure you have got plenty of Leaf's and Strawberries and Mistletoe decorating your house!!!!

While the cats away the mice will train.........

2008-11-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

When Sarah had Ellie she was very fortunate to become friends with some really nice Mum's who had all just had their first babies. Now the first babies are all 4 years old and for some number 2 has come along. Each year Sarah, the Mum's and the kids head down to Sherwood Pines where they hire a couple of log cabins and have a weekend away. The highlight of the weekend is a visit to Adventure Land to drop off their letters to Santa Clause (Ellie delivered my letter.......Cervelo P3, Zipp Wheels, Power Tap) This left me with a very quiet weekend, and whilst I miss my girls the break is much appreciated.

I think sometimes I underestimate the draining effect two young girls can have on ones energy reserves. After work I usually come home (actually I always come home) and as Sarah starts her music teaching I take over bath time and bed time duties. If all goes to plan, reading stories, doing jigsaws, drawing and generally having some fun usually finishes by 7.30pm. I can then start to think about some food and chilling out for the evening. My power pack is usually pretty empty around 10pm, zzzzzzzzzz. However on Friday I came home to an empty house, for a moment I was lost. I got some food and wondered what to do. A nice leisurely evening followed. At 10.30pm expecting to see my energy nearing zero I was most surprised to see it still plenty full!! What to do? I was in no man's land, like a fish out of water, like the Wales Rugby Team leading the mighty All Blacks, I was lost. Out came the hoover, whizzed over the lounge, and then still full of energy I got showered, dressed and went clubbing.......Only joking Sarah, I brushed my teeth and went to bed!!! The point is I had energy to play with. I absolutely love having a family, but boy do they zap your energy.....

I have kept to my promise and thrown in a nice balanced training week, and with a couple of extra training days to play with have put in a few more hours. Being a PE teacher my days are quite active. I don't usually consider Rugby Training session's and refereeing as training however my job certainly adds to my weekly training load. This has definitely been the case this week. I have refereed two rugby matches, played a lively 20 minutes of 6 aside football, the staff gave the Year 11's (16 year old's in old money) a lesson in 'total football' 11 - 2!!!! and a 30 minute Rugby session with the juniors (10 year old's) where I played scrum half (I was awesome!!) So my week looks like this;

Monday: Bike 1 hour

Tuesday: Bike 1 hour (20 mins over geared), Run 30 minutes (8.13 min/mile)

Wednesday: Bike 1 hour, Refereed 1st XV 1 hour

Thursday: Bike 1 hour, Run 1 hour 20 mins 10 miles (7.54 min/mile)

Friday: Bike 1 hour, 20 mins 6 aside Football, 30 mins Rugby

Saturday: Run 45 min Run (technical session), Refereed Rugby 1 hour, Bike 1 hour

Sunday: Bike 3 1/4 hours (55 miles), Upper Body Dumbell Weights Circuit 30 mins

Total: Bike 9 1/4 hours (175 miles), Run 2 1/2 hours (19 miles), Weights 1/2 hour, refereeing etc 3 hours, Total 15 1/4 hours.

I've had some good sessions this week, but I am particularly pleased with Thursdays run. With an hour's cycle in my legs I ran nice and steady, aiming to run a negative split (staying steady not racing the last 5). This I achieved, running the last 5 miles in 7.34, 7.46, 7.43, 7.32 and 7.48 all a little quicker than any of the first 5 miles. Sunday's ride was also very positive. Waking up to a sprinkling of snow and a very grey day it would have been very easy to wimp out. However dressed for the arctic I 'chilled' for the first hour then the sun came out, and I had a good ride, finishing off with 10 minutes over geared in the 55 x 13. To have hit another pretty big week of cycling is also very pleasing, in the last 14 days I have ridden on 13 of them, and logged 345 miles, nice...

I managed to watch most of the Rugby on Saturday, (must have spent 4 hours on the sofa, unheard of) Here is my summary. Ireland vs Argentina, whilst Ireland deserved their win, I was a little staggered at some of the players reaction to some of the referee's decisions. Is respect slipping in Rugby? It will never reach the depths of Football but I was surprised to see the referee taking and accepting so much from both teams, Where has the 10m rule gone for arguing and descent. Ironically as the BBC announced Ronan O'Gara as 'Man of the Match' he was seen running back after a successful penalty attempt giving the Argentine Players a linguistics course in obscenities, great example Ronan, just get on with the game you are on the winning team.

What about Wales starring out the All Blacks, great TV viewing, but maybe a little unnecessary. It reminded me of a boxing weigh in. I was willing the All Blacks to start the game, kicking long (unfortunately it wasn't their kick) As with all actions, gestures and talk it means 'jack shite' if you cannot deliver on the pitch. Wales performed really well for 40 minutes, however where were they in the second half? Jeremy Guscott summed it up nicely when he said, Wales were 'hoping' they could hang on to the lead they did not 'believe' they could win.

I did not see Scotland mash the Canadian's, so finally England. Oh dear, oh dear I wonder whether Martin Johnson wished he had bought a nice warm scarf and joined Mr Dallaglio on the BBC commentary team? Building a new team is not an easy process, but I liken it to starting triathlon training after a long lay off. You wouldn't start your training with brick sessions, transition practise, complicated repetitions on the track and difficult cycling hill repeats, you'd just get out there go for a run, ride your bike and swim in the pool, you'd build your fitness, enjoy the process and feel good about yourself. Last week we witnessed repetition of long complicated line out moves that failed, this week there were times when I lost where the ball was there were so many dummy runners, then when the camera did pick it up it had moved at great speed side ways. The players in the England set up are good players, (except Toby Flood, I'm sorry I think he is out of his depth, he doesn't even look like a Rugby Player) but they need to find some cohesion and confidence. Cohesion and confidence comes when you do things that you can do, ie simple forward running rugby with pace and power, it comes when individuals have belief in their team mates (if I was part of the England Pack, at 75kg's quite unlikely! I'd be pretty worried every time Cipriani steadied himself to kick in open play) I think the coaching staff have got things wrong. What is the point fine tuning an F1 car if the wheels keep coming off? Players need to 'bed in', they need to feel good about themselves, do simple things but be awesome doing those simple things, we can then start fine tuning. Next Saturday should be fun. An All Blacks team out to prove a point vs an England team unsure of what to do, lacking a leader and pretty low on confidence. We will see what happens, sport is rarely predictable.

Next week will be a steady one. We have plans for the weekend, drop the girls off at my Brother and his Wife's house in Liverpool, and with no Saturday rugby Sarah and I are London bound to see a show 'Billy Elliott', and spend some quality time together. I can't wait. Do not hope things will happen this week, believe they will happen and even better, make them happen.....

That's more like it.......

2008-11-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to write much this week. I'm gonna keep it short and sweet, with a simple message. After a disappointing last week where I really didn't get close to my training objective, and just seemed to be going up and down, this week has been good. I didn't really set any objectives this week, wanting to confirm I was better, and also to get to Thursday when I planned to ride longer, not feeling smashed. So my week developed and looked like this;

Monday 1 hour bike (1/2 hour to work, 1/2 hour home) (20 miles)

Tuesday 1 hour bike (20 miles)

Wednesday 1 hour bike (20 miles)

Thursday 1/2 hour bike (10 miles), 2 1/2 hours bike (42 miles)

Friday 1/2 hour bike (10 miles)

Saturday 2 3/4 hours bike (48 miles)

Total 9 1/4 hours bike (170 miles)

I know, I know I am supposed to be a triathlete, and you ask where is the weights, swimming and run training? Well my swim story is for another day, and my running? I just haven't managed to squeeze any into a busy week at work, the dark cold nights have mucked up my evening motivation to run, and my Tuesday Lunch Run Club was knocked on the head for a steadier start to the week. I will aim for a little more balance next week, I promise.

I had a typically wet and windy ride on Thursday (keep an eye out for how often its wet and windy on Thursday afternoons!!!!!) I rode really steady and was pleased how I finished the ride. A comfortable 142bpm heart rate for an average speed of 17mph, not gonna break into any Pro Teams at that speed, but a good 2 1/2 hours of pedalling in windy, wet conditions with a few hills thrown in for good measure.

I wouldn't normally ride on the weekend, wanting to spend time with my girls, but Sarah had arranged an afternoon of play for Ellie with her friend, so after the School Rugby Matches I thought I'd make the most of the sunny mild weather and get a few more miles in. I rode nice and steady, a little over geared at times into the wind, 55 x 13..........(only joking, 55 x 19 is more like it) On the biggest hill (It's not very big, only about 5 minutes of climbing) I did 4 hill repeats. I rode these steady rather than as a hard interval session. On the way down the hill I dropped it into the 55 x 13 and pedalled all the way down. I also really concentrated on cornering confidently, and fast. I am also deliberately riding with less food than in past winters, not because of the economic struggle but to hopefully facilitate greater fat utilisation. As expected towards the end of the ride I was running a bit short of energy, but finished off quite strongly.

I managed to watch as much of the Rugby as I could. What should have been an exhilarating afternoon of Rugby was a bit anti-climatic, none of it was particularly impressive. Ireland massively under formed, New Zealand made hard work scoring points, England looked young, and I thought lacked any 'on the pitch' leadership, and Australia did little more than kick penalties and defend with raw power. However one moment defined the afternoon, the New Zealand Haka. I have no doubt that the Haka not only upsets the opposition, but more importantly increases the New Zealand player's focus, arousal, determination, and team cohesion. I also think the simple Black Shirt, Shorts and Socks defines the team. To me New Zealand are the best rugby team in the world. They play a simple rugby game, but whenever they do anything it is done with more power, aggression, speed, desire and intensity than any of the other teams. Next weekend watch their body language, playing as an 'All Black' is clearly HUGE.

My simple message, "whenever you do something this week think of the Haka, and make your performance huge"

p.s my 1st XV won their first game of the season, not a great performance, but we'll take the win, I may keep my coaching job after all!

Up and Down....

2008-11-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

I've been lacking inspiration for the last couple of weeks for what to write, this week is no exception. So I'm going to write about 'up and down'.....

On Monday evening I was really 'Up'. I completed my usual ride to work and on the way home extended the route to give me 1 hour return journey, a nice 1 1/2 hours on day 1. I had set myself a 10 hour cycling target for the week, I was on my way.

Tuesday morning up a little earlier and ready to repeat the 1 hour journey to work. Opened the garage to find a puncture to my fixed wheel bike, shite... quickly swapped some lights over to road bike. Went from being 'up', to 'down' to 'up' in the space of a few minutes. If you are like me a little exercise/ training in the morning wakes me up, wakes up my mind and gets me ready for the day (I wish more of my lazy colleges could find the motivation to get going physically, I'm convinced our working environment would be more productive and fun) My lunch time run club has grown again to 6 members. I thought we'd do some slightly longer intervals. 2 laps of a the Rugby pitch was 0.4miles according to Captain Garmin. We decided on a 2 minute recovery, and completed 4 repetitions, running speed was around 6 minute mile pace...nice session. I rode home and logged another 1 1/2 hours on the bike.

On Wednesday my 1st XV were absolutely dreadful. We were really 'up' after Saturday's fixture where we narrowly missed our first win of the season, final score Read 22 - Worksop 3rd's 31 (We had a fantastic 2nd half winning it 17 - 6) Wednesday's match was a bit of a mis-match but not giving 100% and trying your best is inexcusable. Wednesday late afternoon I was pretty 'down' . My mood improved as I logged an hour on the bike, and ran a really steady technical 4 miler in the evening. My training week was looking good, I was really 'up'....

Thursday rode in to work, lucked out with an extra free period as my Badminton Class were away for the day Orienteering...Without further delay I got changed and out on my weekly long ride. I had planned a nice steady 3 1/2 hours. Within the first 10 minutes I realised that was looking unlikely. I wanted to ride steady, which for me is a heart rate of 140 to 145bpm, I couldn't get out of the high 120's even if I made an effort, I added to that a pair of heavy legs. There was only one sensible decision, ride home the shortest route and chill out. However the mind was right 'up' for a big session, "my big bike week will be ruined" "I'll never hit 10 hours" "this is my only opportunity in the week to ride long" etc, etc. But ride home I did, a long hot bath and a few hours on the sofa I was 'down'. Trouble at night controlling my body temperature (excessive sweating, Mmmmmh, really nice for Sarah!!!) and the low heart rate suggested my body was still ridding itself from the infection, virus, small pox, yellow fever type disease I had picked up a week ago.. now I was 'down' A quick call to Tom, reinforced what I was trying to tell myself. "It's only November", "I'm 'up' on this time last year", "If you need to rest take it", "better to be resting now than in April" etc, etc. Most of us know it's the right thing to do, and we all know it won't last for ever, but we all need reassurance from a trusted friend, cheers Tom. Now I was a little more 'up'

On Friday I took the car to work, a day with no training or exercise, should be 'down', but I'd sorted my head out, a surprisingly 'up' day. Watched "The Streets 2" DVD with Sarah, wish I could Dance, (Sarah insisted we practise our 1st Dance before our Wedding Day, so I wouldn't embarrass her with my high tempo bouncing)

Saturday and the 1st XV should have been really 'up'. We were playing a small independent school, very similar to us, no excuses of more players to select from etc, etc. For whatever reason we couldn't get 'up' and were even worse than Wednesday, a heavy 56 - 0 loss. We were very, very poor. If we were a Football Team, as the manager I'd be unemployed. I'm a little lost for things to say to the boys, at the end of the day, only they can run, tackle, pass, kick and make the right decisions at the right times. I feel I have adequately equipped them with the tools, but it's just not coming from them. Not much time to be 'down', as we have friends coming for food and a few fireworks.

Had a really 'up' afternoon and evening with our friends 'Ironman' Martin (Switzerland 2008), Jo, and their boys Jem and Charlie. Ellie loved playing with the boys and it was great to catch up with Martin and Jo. Unfortunately little Evie didn't like the fireworks, her own screaming added to that from the "singing piranha" and "screaming peacock"......

Sunday was a family day, I ended the week on the 'up'. I had taken 3 rest days, was feeling less tired and seemed to have my sweating more under control. We had a sofa afternoon having brought a Family DVD "Flushed Away", Ellie devoured the pop corn, jelly sweets and marshmallows and then after an hour said,

"can I go and do something fun now"

She does say some funny things.....

I finished the week with 4 1/2 hours on the bike, and 2 good runs, from a training perspective I was 'down', I didn't get close to my weeks training objective, so was 'down'. My rugby team were really 'down'. But these are only the little things in my life. The things that really matter, Family and Friends, all lifted me 'up'.

I think its tough to be 'up' all the time. Don't misinterpret this weeks post, when I use the word 'down' it's because its the opposite to 'up' , it isn't really an accurate descriptor of my mood state. In the grand scale of things I was never really 'down', just not as 'up' as I'd planned to be, or hoped to be. I'll leave you with a quote from Gordo's website http://www.gordoworld.com/

"Do not take life so seriously - no one will make it out alive"

Here's to a week of 'ups' for you all....... (If you haven't experienced the 'up' and 'down' of an assisted trampoline you really must, they are fantastic!!!!)

Run Week....

2008-11-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a day late writing this weeks post, why? well yesterday I was tucked up in bed at 8pm, so I didn't get the chance to write. Following a fun (but rather late) Halloween Party on the Saturday night, and a 3.45am interruption from Evie, and an early wake up call from Ellie, Sunday afternoon became a matter of survival! No sooner than the girls had gone to bed me and Sarah followed. We had a fun fancy dress Halloween Dinner Party on Saturday, I went as a Mummy. Try explaining that to your 4 year old, "daddy is dressing up as a Mummy?" Ellie wanted to know if I needed a wheel chair or to go to the hospital after I got all the bandages on, cute! My body clock seems to tick until 10.30pm then it stops, doesn't matter whether it's Friday night, Saturday night or a rather important late night party, doesn't matter if I'm in a club (can't remember the last time that happened!) at a concert, at the cinema or on the sofa watching a film, 10.30pm BODY SHUT DOWN! In the late evening I am officially Rubbish!!!!

This week I had put a run focus on my training. I wanted to complete 4 or 5 runs and make my Thursday afternoon session (I only work 1/2 day) into a run rather than a long bike ride. I still rode my bike to work and home on 6 days so I guess thats 12 x 30 minutes of riding, or 60 minutes each day, or 120 miles over the week. My riding is really my mode of transport and as such I often don't see it as training. However, I have to remind myself that although it is only a 30 minute journey it is time on the bike, at an elevated heart rate, this deffinately has a training effect. So my running for the week is as follows;

Tuesday; 4 miles at 7.30min/mile

Wednesday; 6 miles at 7.37min/mile, but with a faster penultimate mile at 7.08min/mile

Thursday; 10 miles at 8.01min/mile

Saturday; 5 miles at 8.06min/mile, (this is my technical run that I am trying to do weekly, where my focus is on form and cadence)

Total 25 miles; 3 1/4 hours

Now for many runners and 'triathletes that like to run' this is a very normal running week, however for me it is a very good running week. Putting it in perspective, this time last year throughout October and November I managed to run 3 1/2 hours! Last week was a significant step towards my aim of running to my potential in 2009. I am now running with my Garmin 405. I am finding running with the 405 really motivational. At the moment I am getting a feel for my running pace, but even just using it as a training review tool, it makes me focus on each mile. I have it set to 1 mile lap splits. This gives much more focus to the run, every mile it shows your pace, whether are you on target pace, faster than or slower than it doesn't matter, what happens is it makes you adjust and focus on the next mile. In the next couple of weeks I will use it much more as a training tool and set out to run with a specific pace or session in mind.

I welcome my friends Tom and Helen back into the world of training following their month of rest during October. With Tom and Helen back in the training routine I have gained another motivational tool, come on guys bring it on.

Next week is a Bike focus week. My aim is to do 11 hours (200 miles) on the bike. I will see you in 7 days......