Monday - After writing my last post I've decided to challenge myself. Can I train for 6/7 days this week? Can I crack the magical 15hr barrier that I only managed once last year. With those thoughts ringing in my ears and helped along by a rare early finish at work I hopped onto the turbo trainer and knocked out the Spinervals Week 8 session I have sitting in a folder on my computer. 50mins later and I've successfully kept up my target of hitting the turbo at least once every week and I've also trained on a Monday, traditionally one of the days I struggle with so much.
Tuesday - Already work is looking to throw a spanner in the works of this weeks training challenge. For every short day at work like yesterday (it was still 10hrs) there's payback. Today was payback with a nice 14.5hr stint and the knowledge that I'll be back at work just 9hrs after I left there. No training!!!!! The 7 day week is already dead in the water.
Wednesday - Oh dear, dear, dear. What a disaster! All day I've been planning my training and working out how I can get these remaining 14hrs done in 5 days. It's another 13.5hrs at work but I've got tomorrow off to rest and train. Then it all goes wrong............ "Any chance you can work tomorrow?" "I wouldn't ask, but we're desperate." - Aaaaaargh!!! I can't really afford to turn it down if it's offered, money is money after all and living takes precedence over training. So as I type this it's another day of no training, just 10hrs off work and I fully expect that tomorrow night will be just 9hrs off work so there will be no training going on then either. So much for pushing towards a big week, things are going totally the opposite way. Grrrrrrrrrr.
Thursday - Blasted around Dorset today for work and managed to sneak out of there before dark. I'm used to having two days a week off but my concience starts playing up when it stretches to three, so I grabbed the pup and headed out of the door for a swift 5 miler.
Friday - Finally the working week is over (although I found out it's another 65hrs+ next week :-( ). Back nice and early I had time to test out the new Asics Hyper-Speeds on my regular Swing Bridge 7 miler. After that it was off to see the Doc and be fed more BS about why I've had a cough for 10years+. I'm sure they think it's in my imagination. I managed to come away from there with a hospital appointment for a chest x-ray but it seemed more a way to get me out of the surgery than a genuine hope for a solution. Later than night was my normal squad swim including a handy (for me) 5:15 for a 400m TT, not my fastest ever, but my fastest so far in 2010.
Saturday - I managed to put in my longest ride of the year so far today. 50miles on my old hybrid shopper. Was supposed to be meeting a clubmate but I was late (as normal) so I missed him. Still a decent session and the first time I've been out on the bike and not frozen. Is Spring on the way? Followed the bike a couple of hours later with a run over Braunton Burrows with my clubmate James. It was a nice easy tester for the Walsh PB's that had turned up on Friday morning. Thankfully all was well as I'll need them to be on form for Grizzly next week.
Sunday - Taunton Aquathlon! As I type this the final standings haven't been put online and I think I might do seperate posts for race reports so I'll tell you more about that at a later date (I won by the way!!!). The day was soured by Man Utd beating Aston Villa in the League Cup Final :-(
Think that'll do for now. I never really know how to finish these posts off!!!!!
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
Inspired by @ZenTriathlon
Well it took me exactly 2 weeks to mess up on the new 'foolproof' blogging plan. No suprise there then. As always my ability to write anything down took over, I'll use the excuse that I put in 65hrs at work between Monday and Friday although that's clutching at straws really.
While I was out driving last week I was catching up on episodes of Zen & the art of Triathlon (one of the many podcasts that find themself on my ipod) when I heard a chat about just how much Kona Qualifiers can train. I know I'm pretty lucky and seem to get away with a lot less training than others, which is a good job considering how often I simply can't be bothered. I can't remember the exact conversation but I heard 20hrs a week mentioned and it stuck in my head. Over the weekend I decided to dig out my training log from last year and see just how close to that 20hrs a week I came when I was training for IM Florida. Hmmm, not very close at all it seems.
The Ironman fell in the 45th week of 2009, so I looked at weeks 1-44 using Monday to Sunday as my week. The results were interesting/scary/worrying, I'm not sure which.
I seriously doubted that I'd ever hit the magical 20hr figure and I was right, what was quite shocking was that I only crossed the 15hr barrier once (yep ONCE!!!) and out of 44 weeks I only broke into double figures 12 times. I know that because of the way my job is and the hours I work I quite often end up doing no training on a Monday or a Tuesday but it was still a shock to the system to find that on 38 out of 44 weeks I trained for 5 days or less. The plan for 2010 is to change those figures for the better - slightly, especially if I'm to stand any chance of putting together a decent race at Kona in October.
If you haven't seen my pictures taken by the magical cameras of Peter Stephens then where have you been? Click on his name for the full interactive experience :-)
So to the last weeks training :-
Monday - Knowing that this was going to be a full week at work I took advantage of the spare time a mere 12hr day gave me and jumped on the turbo trainer for 45mins. Yet another Spinervals session, but at some time in the past I've lost 'Week 7' so picked another at random.
Tuesday - A shocking day at work followed by no training.
Wednesday - Knowing that training on Thursday was likely to be a non-starter I forced myself out of the door with the pup for a short run. Only 4.5miles, but I needed to do something.
Thursday - No chance!!
Friday - The weekend starts here. It's a long day and it starts with a 1am alarm call, but that means I'm finished by late afternoon and can persuede my body that all is well. I took Rosie pup out for a steady 7 miler trying to hold my HR below 140bpm and then headed off to my squad swim session.
Saturday - I'd advertised my Saturday training and invited clubmates to come join me. I really didn't expect to see anybody but it makes me accountable and I have to do the promised sessions 'just in case'. The 10am bike ride soon got cancelled though when I woke up to a good layering of snow on the floor, it was replaced by a 90min turbo trainer session during which my bike computer decided that it didn't want to play any more and promptly died on me. By lunchtime the snow had all but gone and my afternoon run over Braunton Burrows was still on. Ireally didn't fancy it, but my spirits were lifted when I got there and one of my clubmates was there waiting for me. Yay!!! Nice one Trev :-)
Sunday - This was the killer. Rosie pup woke me up at 4:30. so after being up and about for a couple of hours I decided to take her for a run. We repeated Fridays run but rather than keep 140bpm or below I raised the bar to 150bpm, still easily achievable. Not today though!!! By the time I got to the turnaround I was shot to bits, I just had to back off and I felt pretty much that way for the rest of the run. The pace was reasonable, but I was shocking.
Then it was off to the pool for a Tri Club swim session. Here was the total opposite, I was simply cruising up and down the pool and swimming pretty decent consistent times. I even did a 4x100m IM in 6:18 without really pushing myself.
After the swim was a Track Session and it was still only 10:30am. The plan was a pyramid session 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m but by the time I got to the 1600 my legs were in pieces and it simply didn't happen. I managed to work my way through the rest of the session but my times were well off. Then for the rest of the day I just mooched about the house like a lazy thing.
Just shy of 8hrs for the week. I'll take that, especially considering the 65hrs at work. Well shy of the previously mentioned 20hrs per week though. It's early days though :-)
While I was out driving last week I was catching up on episodes of Zen & the art of Triathlon (one of the many podcasts that find themself on my ipod) when I heard a chat about just how much Kona Qualifiers can train. I know I'm pretty lucky and seem to get away with a lot less training than others, which is a good job considering how often I simply can't be bothered. I can't remember the exact conversation but I heard 20hrs a week mentioned and it stuck in my head. Over the weekend I decided to dig out my training log from last year and see just how close to that 20hrs a week I came when I was training for IM Florida. Hmmm, not very close at all it seems.
The Ironman fell in the 45th week of 2009, so I looked at weeks 1-44 using Monday to Sunday as my week. The results were interesting/scary/worrying, I'm not sure which.
I seriously doubted that I'd ever hit the magical 20hr figure and I was right, what was quite shocking was that I only crossed the 15hr barrier once (yep ONCE!!!) and out of 44 weeks I only broke into double figures 12 times. I know that because of the way my job is and the hours I work I quite often end up doing no training on a Monday or a Tuesday but it was still a shock to the system to find that on 38 out of 44 weeks I trained for 5 days or less. The plan for 2010 is to change those figures for the better - slightly, especially if I'm to stand any chance of putting together a decent race at Kona in October.
If you haven't seen my pictures taken by the magical cameras of Peter Stephens then where have you been? Click on his name for the full interactive experience :-)
So to the last weeks training :-
Monday - Knowing that this was going to be a full week at work I took advantage of the spare time a mere 12hr day gave me and jumped on the turbo trainer for 45mins. Yet another Spinervals session, but at some time in the past I've lost 'Week 7' so picked another at random.
Tuesday - A shocking day at work followed by no training.
Wednesday - Knowing that training on Thursday was likely to be a non-starter I forced myself out of the door with the pup for a short run. Only 4.5miles, but I needed to do something.
Thursday - No chance!!
Friday - The weekend starts here. It's a long day and it starts with a 1am alarm call, but that means I'm finished by late afternoon and can persuede my body that all is well. I took Rosie pup out for a steady 7 miler trying to hold my HR below 140bpm and then headed off to my squad swim session.
Saturday - I'd advertised my Saturday training and invited clubmates to come join me. I really didn't expect to see anybody but it makes me accountable and I have to do the promised sessions 'just in case'. The 10am bike ride soon got cancelled though when I woke up to a good layering of snow on the floor, it was replaced by a 90min turbo trainer session during which my bike computer decided that it didn't want to play any more and promptly died on me. By lunchtime the snow had all but gone and my afternoon run over Braunton Burrows was still on. Ireally didn't fancy it, but my spirits were lifted when I got there and one of my clubmates was there waiting for me. Yay!!! Nice one Trev :-)
Sunday - This was the killer. Rosie pup woke me up at 4:30. so after being up and about for a couple of hours I decided to take her for a run. We repeated Fridays run but rather than keep 140bpm or below I raised the bar to 150bpm, still easily achievable. Not today though!!! By the time I got to the turnaround I was shot to bits, I just had to back off and I felt pretty much that way for the rest of the run. The pace was reasonable, but I was shocking.
Then it was off to the pool for a Tri Club swim session. Here was the total opposite, I was simply cruising up and down the pool and swimming pretty decent consistent times. I even did a 4x100m IM in 6:18 without really pushing myself.
After the swim was a Track Session and it was still only 10:30am. The plan was a pyramid session 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m but by the time I got to the 1600 my legs were in pieces and it simply didn't happen. I managed to work my way through the rest of the session but my times were well off. Then for the rest of the day I just mooched about the house like a lazy thing.
Just shy of 8hrs for the week. I'll take that, especially considering the 65hrs at work. Well shy of the previously mentioned 20hrs per week though. It's early days though :-)
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Me on a bike!!
Results of the Thursday photoshoot I mentioned in the last post are here - http://bit.ly/9UNRUG
Have a look, tell me your thoughts :-)
Have a look, tell me your thoughts :-)
Friday, 12 February 2010
Diary start.
Monday
A good start to the new Training Diary format of the blog. I did no training. It's rare that I'll ever have anything to write on a Monday or Tuesday because work and a lack of sleep at the beginning of the week tend to wipe me out. Today was helped along by my legs being trashed after a stupid track session on Sunday where I ran 3 x 10 x 200m and 1 x 400m. The session itself wasn't stupid, it was the fact that straight after I just jumped in the car and drove home, not even a couple of steady laps to shake the legs out. Lactic Acid Legs Ahoy!!
Tuesday
Every bit as slack as Monday. Another 13hr day after a 4am start at work was simply enough.
Wednesday
Seem to have been a bit injury prone today. Firstly I jumped from the cab of my lorry and before my feet hit the ground my ass cheek hit the step with me in full flight. The immediate pain was excruciating but now that it's calmed down I suspect I've just bruised myself. A few days of uncomfortable sitting lie ahead.
After work I took Rosie out for a run along the Tarka Trail into town. Half way around the town (4miles from home) I put my foot on the edge of a kerb stone and turned my ankle through some rediculous angle. Again the pain was sickening but after a few mins of swearing, and checking I decided that it's probably only bruising and continued the run. It'll be uncomfortable for a week, but I've got very strong ankles and expect everything to be fine in the long term.
Thursday
An odd day today. I was off work as I quite often am on a Thursday (silly European rules) and Shelly was off work sick and in bed. I'll blame her for my lack of training because she's an easy target :-) but in truth I just had a lazy streak in me all day. I did manage to complete Week 6 of my Spinervals turbo trainer workouts and then I got a message from Peter Stephens asking about meeting up to take some pics. Click on his name and check out some of his amazing Panoramic work, this guy really knows his stuff. He wanted to take some bike style pics and it gave me the perfect excuse to get out of any planned training, all I needed to do was take my Tri bike out of the box it's been in since IM Florida and put it together. Ooooooh dear!!!!! If ever you're going to pack your bike away for the winter then CLEAN IT FIRST!!!!! My bike is a mess. It's last ride was IM Florida where it had energy drink sprayed over it constantly for 5hrs. Energy drink goes mouldy when sat in a box for 4 months. It wasn't/isn't a pretty sight and will take an age to clean properly. A quick phonecall later though and I was heading over to my LBS and borrowing a £5,000 Ceepo bike off them. Sweeeet!! We then spent an hour or so on a beautiful (but freezing cold) day on the Tarka Trail taking pics and no doubt causing some tongues to wag as people using the trail came past wondering what the hell was going on. After the photoshoot there was just time to go home and eat, shower and sleep before my 1am Friday alarm call.
Hopefully the pics will all turn out well and I'll put a link up to them as soon as I have one.
Friday
Today I've just been a total wreck. I managed to struggle through my day at work and got home around 4pm. I'd popped into a running shop in Exeter while I was out and had hoped to leave there with a new pair of racing flats (to replace my beloved Brooks T6's) and/or a new pair of serious off road shoes in readiness for The Grizzly. They hadn't got either in my size so I came away empty handed and this seemed to put any thoughts of training right on the back burner. I was now feeling totally wiped out and when Shelly got home from work she insisted that I went to bed for an hour. I managed to get out of the pit (just) for my squad swim session at Northam which was a bit of a beastie but great fun. Then home for food and hopefully bed before midnight. We'll see.
Saturday
A good start to today when Shelly let me sleep in, which meant she was up with the mutt at 5am. Woke around 8:00, had breakfast and got ready for my 10am bike ride. Quite often I tell folks in my Tri Club what I'm up to at the weekend and invite them to join me. This of course has benifits all round, my benifit is that it then commits me to go out and do what I've promised. Most times nobody will show but today I had the company of Stevie D (otherwise known as Havoc) for the majority of my 40mile bike ride. Today was cold and I was under dressed for it. I felt fine when I left the house and even wondered if I was wearing too much, but the wind was pure evil and when you rode into a headwind it cut through you like a knife. By the time I dropped Steve off we were both freezing so I 'rode it like I stole it' from then on in a bid to get my heart pumping and warm my extremities up a little. It worked ............. after a fashion.
Once I'd thawed out I set about a massive bike cleaning session. My QR needed sorting out after 4 months sat in a bike box had turned it into a fur bike. My shopper also needed a damn good clean, just to stop it looking like something I've picked up from the scrap yard.
At 5pm it was time to take Rosie for a run over the Burrows. Again I broadcast my intentions to my Tri Club but this time nobody showed. I didn't really expect company but it made sure that I went down there myself. The Burrows are tough and that showed in my time, but I got 6.5miles in so it was all good. Tired now though.
Sunday
Up at 6:30am this morning I decided I'd pop along the the Tri Club swim session as it's warmer in the pool than it is out on the bike. Today was a nice steady technique type session with a little 12x100m set thrown in for good measure. Nothing over exciting, probably 2500m maximum. After the swim it was off to the track to see what treats Tim had in store for us. There was a nice little gathering today and we all did 5x1600m (4 laps) with 1mins rest in between them. The 1600m's were completed in 6:01, 5:45, 5:50, 5:48, 5:48. The total session was 6.6 miles and we were quite happy to average 6:30 min/miles especially when there were 7mins just strolling around recovering during the session. Once that little lot was over it was time to spend an afternoon in front of the TV watching the football.
Totals for the week
Swim - 2hrs - 5700m
Bike - 3h55m - 56miles
Run - 2h46m - 22.9miles
I know what you're all thinking ..................... Where do I log my gym work, my strength work, my core work, my stretching/yoga/pilates etc etc etc? Let me tell you that if I 'EVER' do any of that stuff then I'll let you know. I promise ;-)
A good start to the new Training Diary format of the blog. I did no training. It's rare that I'll ever have anything to write on a Monday or Tuesday because work and a lack of sleep at the beginning of the week tend to wipe me out. Today was helped along by my legs being trashed after a stupid track session on Sunday where I ran 3 x 10 x 200m and 1 x 400m. The session itself wasn't stupid, it was the fact that straight after I just jumped in the car and drove home, not even a couple of steady laps to shake the legs out. Lactic Acid Legs Ahoy!!
Tuesday
Every bit as slack as Monday. Another 13hr day after a 4am start at work was simply enough.
Wednesday
Seem to have been a bit injury prone today. Firstly I jumped from the cab of my lorry and before my feet hit the ground my ass cheek hit the step with me in full flight. The immediate pain was excruciating but now that it's calmed down I suspect I've just bruised myself. A few days of uncomfortable sitting lie ahead.
After work I took Rosie out for a run along the Tarka Trail into town. Half way around the town (4miles from home) I put my foot on the edge of a kerb stone and turned my ankle through some rediculous angle. Again the pain was sickening but after a few mins of swearing, and checking I decided that it's probably only bruising and continued the run. It'll be uncomfortable for a week, but I've got very strong ankles and expect everything to be fine in the long term.
Thursday
An odd day today. I was off work as I quite often am on a Thursday (silly European rules) and Shelly was off work sick and in bed. I'll blame her for my lack of training because she's an easy target :-) but in truth I just had a lazy streak in me all day. I did manage to complete Week 6 of my Spinervals turbo trainer workouts and then I got a message from Peter Stephens asking about meeting up to take some pics. Click on his name and check out some of his amazing Panoramic work, this guy really knows his stuff. He wanted to take some bike style pics and it gave me the perfect excuse to get out of any planned training, all I needed to do was take my Tri bike out of the box it's been in since IM Florida and put it together. Ooooooh dear!!!!! If ever you're going to pack your bike away for the winter then CLEAN IT FIRST!!!!! My bike is a mess. It's last ride was IM Florida where it had energy drink sprayed over it constantly for 5hrs. Energy drink goes mouldy when sat in a box for 4 months. It wasn't/isn't a pretty sight and will take an age to clean properly. A quick phonecall later though and I was heading over to my LBS and borrowing a £5,000 Ceepo bike off them. Sweeeet!! We then spent an hour or so on a beautiful (but freezing cold) day on the Tarka Trail taking pics and no doubt causing some tongues to wag as people using the trail came past wondering what the hell was going on. After the photoshoot there was just time to go home and eat, shower and sleep before my 1am Friday alarm call.
Hopefully the pics will all turn out well and I'll put a link up to them as soon as I have one.
Friday
Today I've just been a total wreck. I managed to struggle through my day at work and got home around 4pm. I'd popped into a running shop in Exeter while I was out and had hoped to leave there with a new pair of racing flats (to replace my beloved Brooks T6's) and/or a new pair of serious off road shoes in readiness for The Grizzly. They hadn't got either in my size so I came away empty handed and this seemed to put any thoughts of training right on the back burner. I was now feeling totally wiped out and when Shelly got home from work she insisted that I went to bed for an hour. I managed to get out of the pit (just) for my squad swim session at Northam which was a bit of a beastie but great fun. Then home for food and hopefully bed before midnight. We'll see.
Saturday
A good start to today when Shelly let me sleep in, which meant she was up with the mutt at 5am. Woke around 8:00, had breakfast and got ready for my 10am bike ride. Quite often I tell folks in my Tri Club what I'm up to at the weekend and invite them to join me. This of course has benifits all round, my benifit is that it then commits me to go out and do what I've promised. Most times nobody will show but today I had the company of Stevie D (otherwise known as Havoc) for the majority of my 40mile bike ride. Today was cold and I was under dressed for it. I felt fine when I left the house and even wondered if I was wearing too much, but the wind was pure evil and when you rode into a headwind it cut through you like a knife. By the time I dropped Steve off we were both freezing so I 'rode it like I stole it' from then on in a bid to get my heart pumping and warm my extremities up a little. It worked ............. after a fashion.
Once I'd thawed out I set about a massive bike cleaning session. My QR needed sorting out after 4 months sat in a bike box had turned it into a fur bike. My shopper also needed a damn good clean, just to stop it looking like something I've picked up from the scrap yard.
At 5pm it was time to take Rosie for a run over the Burrows. Again I broadcast my intentions to my Tri Club but this time nobody showed. I didn't really expect company but it made sure that I went down there myself. The Burrows are tough and that showed in my time, but I got 6.5miles in so it was all good. Tired now though.
Sunday
Up at 6:30am this morning I decided I'd pop along the the Tri Club swim session as it's warmer in the pool than it is out on the bike. Today was a nice steady technique type session with a little 12x100m set thrown in for good measure. Nothing over exciting, probably 2500m maximum. After the swim it was off to the track to see what treats Tim had in store for us. There was a nice little gathering today and we all did 5x1600m (4 laps) with 1mins rest in between them. The 1600m's were completed in 6:01, 5:45, 5:50, 5:48, 5:48. The total session was 6.6 miles and we were quite happy to average 6:30 min/miles especially when there were 7mins just strolling around recovering during the session. Once that little lot was over it was time to spend an afternoon in front of the TV watching the football.
Totals for the week
Swim - 2hrs - 5700m
Bike - 3h55m - 56miles
Run - 2h46m - 22.9miles
I know what you're all thinking ..................... Where do I log my gym work, my strength work, my core work, my stretching/yoga/pilates etc etc etc? Let me tell you that if I 'EVER' do any of that stuff then I'll let you know. I promise ;-)
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Such a Slacker
I've come to the conclusion that I'm bloody useless at this blogging thing. I've never really got anything to say, when I have got anything to say I'm either nowhere near a computer or I haven't got time to write it down, then when I do get infront of a keyboard I generally forget anything that I'd thought about writting. Also, as I'm not really the sort of person who bares their soul to the world it's a bit of a lost cause really, so I've decided to go back to basics.
I don't tend to have as much time on the computer as some people think and when I'm am here then I'm filling in training logs, checking my Twitter and various run/Tri forums that I belong to. Small short sharp pointed messages are my sort of thing. I read magazines because I can skim through them and pick the bits that I headlines that I want to focus on, I never ever read books because they just don't interest me even if the subject matter ticks all of my interest boxes.
A similar sort of thing applies with computer generated things. I listen to podcasts, lots of them, but then my job means I've got plenty of time on my hands to listen to spoken word. Admittedly not everything I listen to will sink in, if I'm driving through a town or village that requires full concentration or something happens that sends my mind off on a tangent then whatever I'm listening to will become background noise. I'm a man, don't expect me to multitask ;-). So if podcasts are my magazines then blogs are my books, I just never really read any. Occasionally somebody will post an interesting blog title on Twitter and I'll click it for a quick look, if someone comments on here then I might click their name to see what they're up to - but that's about it. I actually feel a bit guilty sometimes writing this guff when I think that people might waste valuable minutes of their life reading it, especially when it's normally as dull as dishwater. I also feel guilty that people come and read this stuff when the chances are that I won't repay them by reading theirs.
So what should I do with it?
Well it's not going to die, but it's basically just going to become a training and race log. I quite enjoy writing long winded race reports and occasionally there's something worth mentioning when I train (not often though). I know there are a few folks out there with a vague interest in what training I'm going to do on the way to Ironman Hawaii if not just to see if it's true that the laziest most disorganised Triathlete on the planet is as slack as he claims to be and to sit there and wonder how fast I could actually be if I followed a structured plan (never likely happen).
So...... the new plan will be to spend 5mins updating it every night, just writing in what (if any) training I've done and log any thoughts on just how tired/fit I feel at the time. There may even be a couple of nuggets of nonsense that spring to mind when I'm typing. Then (hopefully) I'll click the 'PUBLISH' button on a Sunday evening and the weeks worth of training/thoughts will appear for anybody that gives a monkeys. I've no plans to go announcing on Twitter every time I make a new post because popularity isn't a great concern. If I get 2,000 hits a week or just my Sister reads it (she'll read anything) there will be no difference. Of course if you're reading this then I'm not asking you to go away and leave me alone, just warning you that life might not be very interesting unless you're interested in the facts and figures of a Lazy Ironman. Please stay and feel free to make comment and/or abuse as you feel.
Race Reports I'll probably try to write over the space of a couple of days. They tend to be long drawn out affairs because once I get started you never shut me up (this post is proof). The current idea is to publish them midweek so as not to overlay a training post and I will probably stick a link to these on Twitter because they're a bit different and there may be people out there that either did the same race or are thinking of doing it in the future.
That's about it really. I could probably spout more rubbish for another couple of paragraphs but your cuppa is going cold so I'll leave you to it.
Next post will hopefully be on Sunday in some form of training diary format. Lets see how long it lasts ;-)
I don't tend to have as much time on the computer as some people think and when I'm am here then I'm filling in training logs, checking my Twitter and various run/Tri forums that I belong to. Small short sharp pointed messages are my sort of thing. I read magazines because I can skim through them and pick the bits that I headlines that I want to focus on, I never ever read books because they just don't interest me even if the subject matter ticks all of my interest boxes.
A similar sort of thing applies with computer generated things. I listen to podcasts, lots of them, but then my job means I've got plenty of time on my hands to listen to spoken word. Admittedly not everything I listen to will sink in, if I'm driving through a town or village that requires full concentration or something happens that sends my mind off on a tangent then whatever I'm listening to will become background noise. I'm a man, don't expect me to multitask ;-). So if podcasts are my magazines then blogs are my books, I just never really read any. Occasionally somebody will post an interesting blog title on Twitter and I'll click it for a quick look, if someone comments on here then I might click their name to see what they're up to - but that's about it. I actually feel a bit guilty sometimes writing this guff when I think that people might waste valuable minutes of their life reading it, especially when it's normally as dull as dishwater. I also feel guilty that people come and read this stuff when the chances are that I won't repay them by reading theirs.
So what should I do with it?
Well it's not going to die, but it's basically just going to become a training and race log. I quite enjoy writing long winded race reports and occasionally there's something worth mentioning when I train (not often though). I know there are a few folks out there with a vague interest in what training I'm going to do on the way to Ironman Hawaii if not just to see if it's true that the laziest most disorganised Triathlete on the planet is as slack as he claims to be and to sit there and wonder how fast I could actually be if I followed a structured plan (never likely happen).
So...... the new plan will be to spend 5mins updating it every night, just writing in what (if any) training I've done and log any thoughts on just how tired/fit I feel at the time. There may even be a couple of nuggets of nonsense that spring to mind when I'm typing. Then (hopefully) I'll click the 'PUBLISH' button on a Sunday evening and the weeks worth of training/thoughts will appear for anybody that gives a monkeys. I've no plans to go announcing on Twitter every time I make a new post because popularity isn't a great concern. If I get 2,000 hits a week or just my Sister reads it (she'll read anything) there will be no difference. Of course if you're reading this then I'm not asking you to go away and leave me alone, just warning you that life might not be very interesting unless you're interested in the facts and figures of a Lazy Ironman. Please stay and feel free to make comment and/or abuse as you feel.
Race Reports I'll probably try to write over the space of a couple of days. They tend to be long drawn out affairs because once I get started you never shut me up (this post is proof). The current idea is to publish them midweek so as not to overlay a training post and I will probably stick a link to these on Twitter because they're a bit different and there may be people out there that either did the same race or are thinking of doing it in the future.
That's about it really. I could probably spout more rubbish for another couple of paragraphs but your cuppa is going cold so I'll leave you to it.
Next post will hopefully be on Sunday in some form of training diary format. Lets see how long it lasts ;-)
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