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Having secured my place in the summer sprint triathlon race, I was pleased with my brand new road bike.

Having spent the past 2 months training on a bike that I affectionately refer to as "Dad's Allotment Bike" I now feel more like a serious soon-to-be-triathlete.

I've ridden the Carrera a couple of times and can report that it is a lot quicker than my previous bike. I have a target time for the 20K sprint distance ride and can now spend some quality time whittling down towards it. My immediate priority is getting my leg and core muscles used to a new riding position followed by improving my endurance over distance before getting stuck into the speed work.

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I've had some great workouts this week and this led me to clocking up my largest distance since starting back training after Christmas.
The delivery of my new road bike spurred me on to ride a little further this week and the half marathon distance that I clocked today boosted the impressive figures even further.

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Really pleased with the week's training as it was the second complete week where I remained injury free. Looking forward to the next fortnight being same as I head into the Hunny Bell XC on 28th.

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12/02/2016: Entered the SportRelief Swimathon!

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12/02/2016: Entered the SportRelief Swimathon!

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http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/markrunsthepark

I'm going to swim 2.5K at the Bungay Pool on Sunday 20th March 2016 - feel free to come along and cheer me on. I'd really appreciate just £1 ( or more if you can) sponsorship to help me reach my target of £100.

Thanks.

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I can't believe just how quickly this week has gone by! Maybe the speed of it shows just how busy I have been - not missed any training but have not had the time outside of work to write it all up on the blog.

I swam on Monday, ran on Tuesday, bricked on Wednesday and ran again today (had to move rest day because of a work visit to London on Thursday).

Very pleased with the progress I have made so far, particularly today's run as I have certainly improved my pace - made much easier to do so working in Kms rather than miles.

I'm looking forward to volunteering at tomorrow's ParkRun so will not be winning this week!

Big Bike tomorrow and LSR on Sunday to enjoy over the weekend.

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Rather than the run around the park that I have completed the past two Sundays, I tackled a route that I have been wanting to run for some time along Breydon Water.

The run itself was a bit of  battle between me and the head wind and this did cause me to drop off the pace a fair bit.

This was a good run to help me judge my progress towards my target time for the April HM on 17th.

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06/02/16: Out on the bike before the ParkRun!

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06/02/16: Out on the bike before the ParkRun!

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I want to get better at running the 5K sprint distance following the bike element of the triathlon.

In addition to the Wednesday brick session, I have also planned in a ride before the Saturday ParkRun - I don't ride to the run, rather cycle from home on a loop and then travel by car to the run.

I was particularly pleased with this weekends ParkRun as I completed the muddy course in 20:41, just 8 seconds slower that last weekend's 20:33, following the ride.

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So pleased that I've had 6 pain free consecutive days of training. My hip is now allowing me to train at around 80% intensity before I can feel discomfort.

As the hip returns to full fitness I can then step up the intensity and I've been having some thoughts about the year ahead and the training demand that it requires.

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy a physical and mental rest day

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04/02/2016: 10K to Round Off Six Pain Free Training Days!

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04/02/2016: 10K to Round Off Six Pain Free Training Days!

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Despite waking up at 5am to the sound of rain on the bedroom window, I am really pleased to have completed my 6th day straight without any pain in the hip flexor!

I feel that I can now start to push a little harder once my confidence with the hip returns.

I went down to the beach this morning in the rain in my Brooks Launch 2 - they are a lot more cushioned than my trail shoes and I enjoyed the softer ride.

My pace for each KM wasn't anything to write about but then again I wasn't aiming for anything spectacular - just aiming to complete without damaging the hip.

Had a good stretch when I returned home, again though, I was being a little cautious with the hip and know that I can gain extra mobility once I'm confident of a successful recovering.

My next targets are the Hunny Bell XC this month which is apparently quite tough and then the Bungay Black Dog in April. I need the hip to be in a good place for the half marathon.

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This was my second ever brick session and it involved me attempting to ride 20K and follow up with 5K run.

The ride itself wasn't too taxing; think that I have finally reached the limits of my current bike and need to update ready for the summer triathlon.

The run went well given that I held back so as not to disturb the hip and knowing that I have a cold that I don't want to lay me up for weeks.

I jogged round the route in 21:12 whilst the ride was apparently a "best time" according to Endomondo but I'm not pleased with how long it took to complete

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You've probably heard or even seen the film "The Blair Witch Project". Well, this morning at 5:30am I strapped a head torch on and took off around one of my favourite trail runs....in the pitch dark.

The route involved a good amount of woodland trails and it was great fun negotiating the route that I know so well during the day before the sun has risen.

And I got completely lost!

I missed the 'signpost tree' that tells me to turn right and ended up utterly disorientated but having the best time.

Managed to pick up the usual route with a bit of fumbling around in the dark and was soon back into my pace.

Ended up with a decent morning run and a resolve that head torch trail running will be part of my weekly plan until the spring brings early morning sun back to me

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This morning I had another great swim session. I completed 2.5K in just over 44 minutes.

I am only swimming once a week at the moment (quite enough in the local leisure centre, I can tell you!) so it is a workout that I really look forward to.

I had breakfast about 45 mins before I started and a cup of coffee too - did the caffeine help kick start my session?

Very much enjoyed feeling smooth in the water and held good form throughout. This session, repeated weekly, should help me build a good endurance swim-base on which I can develop some nice speed sessions in the spring.

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My furthest run for over 12 years today!

Went to Gunton and added an additional element to the familiar lap by bringing in the beach and cliffs - including a tough sand climb before returning back to the park land.

The time was slow but this was a LSR so not at all concerned.

After a terrible session on the 28th I was extremely pleased with my hip as, strangely, I had no pain at all.

My endurance is in a good place and I know that I am more than capable of completing the HM in April - its just a question of getting my lactate threshold up so that I can attain a decent time

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Received my race number for the Hunny Bell XC on 28th February - really looking forward to it as it is billed as the 'toughest in Norfolk'.

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Despite the agony in hip on Thursday and the impending cold felt on Friday, I still entered ParkRun today. My body must've been in a good mood too as it let me run round the lovely muddy course in a new PB.

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You know when you don't follow your own advice and come to regret it? That's where I'm at right now.

Frustrated at not having run a decent interval session since before Christmas, I took to my park and attempted 400m intervals with a short recovery. Even as I left the house at 5:20am for the session I knew that the top of my right hip was painful.

It wasn't too bad as I jogged to the park and even the warm up felt OK. When I started the fast efforts, however, the agony began. The pain was terrible and at the start of each interval I felt that my leg was going to give out from underneath me. Did I quit and go home? Of course not! Like an amateur I kept going until I was forced to stop.

I limped home deflated and disappointed.

Had the usual "you're not as young as you used to be" comments which elicited the usual denials but inside I knew that I had messed up.

I am frustrated that the injury has not healed properly and at the merest sense that it is recovering I am out the door for a workout.

Well, I now know that the half marathon in April and the cross country at the end of Feb are going to be slow, mid pack events, with my endurance training relying heavily on swimming and cycling in place of running. I can't see me having a decent chance of interval training until at least March....grrr!

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27/01/2016: How does an early morning brick session feel

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27/01/2016: How does an early morning brick session feel

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As I was unable to run yesterday due to having to commute to London (felt like cattle on the train!) I thought that I would put a 5K run onto the end of my 20K ride this morning.

I've read that putting in a "brick" session once a week is good preparation for triathlon so my intention was well-founded.

The ride was pretty good considering the bike that I am currently using to train on. I took over 1 minute off my 20K time - and with strong winds from Storm Jonas on the scence too - which gave me reassurance that training is helping me move in the right direction.

Once the ride was over, a quick change into my Brooks Launch 2, ditched the iPod and changed the GPS tracker from cycling to running.

First 1K had my legs feeling as though they belonged to someone else. I just could not get into my stride, although I went through the first 1K in 4:15 which I wasn't unhappy about.

I did have some gastro issues during the run and this saw me clock 5:05 for K4 but I recovered to achieve 3:59 for K5.

I really enjoyed the session overall. My time for 5K of 22:07 is not bad considering the ride and gastro. I'm certainly going to keep Wednesday as a brick session, not just for the triathlon preparation but also for the motivation and differentiation.

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25/01/2016: Races Entered; Exciting Times

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25/01/2016: Races Entered; Exciting Times

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Despite the right hip not being quite, er, right, I have decided to enter 2 races. The Hunny Bell XC is on 28th Feb and the Bungay Black Dog Half Marathon is on 17th April. Target for the 'Half' is on and I'm really looking forward to both events!

The image below from http://www.break-charity.org/support-us/events/hunny-bell-cross-country/ - looks like a great day awaits me...I'll definitely be going straight through the water!

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I made it to the local leisure centre this morning for my scheduled swimming session. Lots of public there and no lane ropes to separate the different abilities. Disappointing but did manage to establish my territory fairly quickly and the other swimmers soon learnt which parts of the water were mine.

I wanted to swim 2000m which, in this 25m pool, meant that I needed to cover 80 lengths - monotonous but necessary - and I used my 'odd / even' counting technique to accurately record the distance covered.

I felt strong in the water today and I think this is down to eating a small breakfast prior to arriving at the pool. Previously, I had found the swim a bit of a grind but today I felt more able to glide through the water.

The swim was completed in a time that I am pleased with at this stage in my training but does give me some room for growth.

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After yesterday's brick-type session I was looking forward to a run around Dip Farm and Gunton Woods.

I was a little apprehensive as my hip was aching a little but I was excited about the run too much to consider missing it.

I started the first lap slowly as hip was a little painful. As the first and second KMs clicked by I was feeling a little better. I decided to up the pace a little. This is when I noticed that the faster I ran the less my hip hurt - how's that for a double-edged sword?!

As the kilometres rolled by I really started to enjoy the run, getting covered in mud and holding a good threshold pace in places. I did have to go a little carefully over some of the more slippery parts of the lap to make sure that I stay right-way-up.

I limited my run to just over 13K (by the time I'd finished the 3rd lap at the car) as right now I don't need to go further than that. I could have easily carried on for another 8K which brings me to an important point: because of the injury to the hip I have not had opportunity to perform interval sessions to raise lactate threshold. Also, the number of runs each week has fallen, being replaced with swimming and running. It is, however, very noticeable that my running endurance has not suffered; the pace may be slow but I could keep going easily for a half marathon. Whilst swimming and cycling demand different muscle sets I am certainly operating at an intensity to maintain decent cardio fitness across all three sports.

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This morning I rode the 20K bike route of a local triathlon. This was the second time that I have ridden the route but the first time in daylight - usually out during the week at 05:00 but as it's the weekend I could have a bit of a lay in.

The ride itself was OK considering the bike I'm using at the moment, the generally accepted view that Norfolk is flat was often rubbished by what can be described as an 'undulating' course.

Following the ride I went to the Fritton Lake ParkRun 5K with the boys for what I hoped would be a pain free, easy run. I took the boys round together for the first of this two lap course. It was very muddy which always adds interest!

Finished in a pedestrian 29-something but thoroughly enjoyed it...nearly broke 4 mins for the final Kilometre with 4:01.

I was pleased with the morning as a whole but there is no doubt that the right hip is still not 100% injury free.

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22/01/2016 Using Padlet to blog my training

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22/01/2016 Using Padlet to blog my training

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I have today rediscovered Padlet, an application that I used previously as an educator, as a platform that can be used to share details of my training. I had previously considered using Blogger for this purpose but its a bit of a drag having to compose a post each week - let's be honest, who really has the time - so this looks like a much more sustainable option for me.

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Right, I'm down to my target weight of 83Kgs and do not want to lose anymore weight - nor do I want to put anymore on. Now starts the balancing act of calories in vs calories out.

I also need to eat some high protein, low carb snacks during the afternoon at work to keep healthy calories in and maintain muscle mass too. Any ideas about these snacks then feel free to share them with me on Twitter or Instagram

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Friday is the rest day each week - glad that I can put feet up a bit. Hip a little sore and sometimes find myself limping. Look forward to 1 ride and 2 easy(ish) runs at the weekend.