Cadence!

What a great day! The scale showed 257 today which if confirmed tomorrow is brilliant. I logged into weight watchers and entered my tuesday weight and had hit my 10% goal. Then I went out for the ride. Another bloody wind. This time I decided to use lower gears and higher cadence. What a revelation! My average speed was above 16 for the first time this year.

On the hills I picked a comfortable cadence and didn't change gear, even when it got a bit easier. I avoided grinding for the most part. What a difference, now don't get me wrong saying cadence above grinding is great to say but when you are starting out just getting from A to B is as important. Well that's my opinion anyway.

This was a top day. I didn't sleep well last night but the mind set was good and everything followed from that.

The swim is back

I ran this morning, the first mile was uphill in my mind. I just couldn't get the cob webs out. I still managed to run a but faster and knocked another 15 seconds off my time so I ran, in 1 hour, 5.550 miles. Its getting better!

I managed a swim as well today it was alright, getting back in the swing may take a few more goes though. No blocked nose or sore ears which is a good thing. I am following level 1 this time as I wonder if the feeling bad is I have a slight reaction to the pool and I'm tired so my system cant handle it all.

The big challenge has been now I'm tired and hungry. I think I gorged, sigh.

Week "2" bike ride.

I'm calling this week 2 as this is where I am on the swim and the countdown has begun. I'm up to 23 miles on the bike but I run out of places to go except up hill! I am going to cycle the other side of Standley lake to get more quick miles in.

There was still a gusty wind. Its been around for 5 days! However I made it.

Weigh in went ok. I'm down 2 pounds but up from Saturday. However I think this is because Monday is my day off and a bit of weight goes on that day!

Is this going to happen

I'm getting worried that this might not happen. Am I up to it? Am I in? Ill be looking for some other routes too as the ones I have a re very hilly and the Ironman course is not.

Ill have to plan a trip to Phoenix soon to try out the course.

Dropped a trouser size

Well the bike ride went up to 35 miles. I had an option to go 40 but knew I might be in trouble. I finished at 8pm Saturday night and was out on the bike 8am. There isn't a lot of time to fuel the body. We had a birthday party at 10 so K took the kids down and I headed out. ETA back should have been 2:10 but I ran out of energy at mile 15! This was a tough ride and a head wind at the end, sigh. However I made and still made some of the birthday.

Now I was in such a hurry to get out the door I grabbed a set of jeans but didn't check the size. I'm down to size 40! They were a bit tight but very cool!

8 miles and a change of plan!

I woke up to high winds. The enemy of a cyclist. As a result I switched days for running and cycling. I had a late night Friday night so that didn't help. I did a lot of family stuff and had taken the kids out for a bike ride. That didn't go well. The wind was so heavy that D couldn't make it back and we either had to walk or get K to come get D and I. Rescue pickup was arranged! I cycled home which was a bit hard. Damned wind!

So the start of the run my heart rate was 20 higher than normal. My target was 9 miles but I would settle for 8 with the cycle earlier and the way I was feeling. I got the eight in but it was hard. 3 miles was hard! I have to sort out eating and sleeping properly this was a killer.

Movie: G.I. Jane: Great movie and moved along fast enough to keep me distracted.

My friend was part of the Trek Release of a new Triathlon bike yesterday. I cant wait to see how it went. I love the concepts of 3 types. Concept 9 is the top of the range but there is a mid range concept 7 and entry level concept. Anyway here is the link and a picture.

Fast run and new plan

I ran 5.5 miles in under 60 minutes! It nearly killed me but I did it. I ran 11 minute miles and added a 10 minute mile for 400 m in every mile. I plan to keep adding on of these a week from now on. I know the first week was the easiest but Ill try and add more. I'm thinking about a sprint slow run once a week too.

Movie: iRobot. A slow start but kept it interesting.

Bike ride increase

I increased my distance slightly today. I added a mile as I am starting to get faster. The weird thing was that I went up the hills a lot slower today. I thought the wind had shifted but on my return the wind was stronger! I guess I have reduced my calories again and its affecting my performance.

I didn't sleep well last night. It was a warm night and no fans. I slept down the hall as much as I could.

swim first

The run went well today. I ran for 60 minutes and got in a 5.5 miles. Things are looking up. Unfortunately the run left me with an upset stomach. I wasn't able to swim as a result. From now on I swim first!

Food = fuel = results!

Today is bike day and weigh in day. The weigh in didnt go well. I put on a pound, that has something to do with the night out Friday, Communion Party Saturday and the BBQ sunday. People say "Hey you have burned the calories" but the truth is you still have keep an eye on the intake.

So that was the downside. Here is the upside. A spectacular bike ride! I havent cycled that fast in a long time. I was annoyed at not having an average of 16 mph. Then I realized I hadnt had a 15.9 this year! So the milage increases are going well and fuelling the body does lead to better results. This is good to know as I drop my calories again. I even went 15mph up a hill I usually only manage 7 to 10 at.

Days like this are the reason I enjoy biking.

A not on heart rate: I noticed it stayed low on the big ride and went up today. Today I woke up in pain at 4am. I think my CPAP may be the cause. So no sleep = higher heart rate.

Run like an animal my ar**

Well today is my day off and I was perusing either my running magazine or triathlete magazine. I come across an "article", well I thought it was but it was a Perl Izumi advert for how they want their brand to be perceived. I have no trouble with an catch phrase "Run like an animal". However when they start degrading people who don't live up to there standard of excellence I have a problem. I'm at the bottom end of the time scale at events and hopefully moving my times up slowly. I am a runner and a triathlete and I don't need permission from some marketing ass who wants to have a go about my times. So what did I do? threw out my Perl Izumi stuff and will never buy their product again.

Morgul Bismark!!!

I am now up to a level where I can now do the Morgul Bismark stage of the movie American fliers! I wasn't very fast which is a worry. I also started monitoring my heart on this one and its just not up at the level of running. In running its my Cardio system that's an issue, in cycling its strength and weight.

Its been a bad weekend all round for nutrition but I think I'm back on course now.

Since the ride in South Dakota I haven't swam. I'm planning on starting again on Wednesday. Ill also be switching training around now soccer is finished.

Im back again

Well blogging has been reflecting my state of mind. Training has been bad since South Dakota I really overdid it up there. I have dropped Swimming and haven't got the full runs and cycles in. I am going to post the rides I have done. I am up to running for an hour at 5.5 and on the long run today I managed 7 miles. Things are looking up.

great top speed

Well I got in a great ride today. I felt great climbing today which was unusual.

Bad Lands, SD

Well another disappointing ride. They have ripped the road up, including the hard back and were wetting the road. It was muddy and slow going for the first 14 miles or so. I wont be expecting big things from rides from now on. The trip to S.D. sucked from a bike and run point of view.

Ouch! Custer state park

I think the words "Bollox to this" were used a lot today. Last night I checked the map for Custer State Park and it said from the Blue Bell are to Coolidge peak was a 1800 feet rise. However what I failed to register was what that really meant. So I started the day at the sign for Wind Cave National Park and headed for Custer State Park.

So its a slight cycle down hill and then a wee bit uphill at the start. So off I went and my legs were hurting by mile one. Uh! Jewel Cave screwed up my legs! Anyway and hour later and 10 miles into a continual uphill barrage and 20 to 30 mph winds I was a tad bit tired. Still no state park.

Before hitting the state park I had to stop and figure out how to deal with some male bison who had taken up grazing on both sides of the road. A polite cough got them to look and start at me. Gulp! One of them relented and moved to the other side of the road. No cars were passing so they weren't spooked away from the road. So I took a deep breath and cycled passed. Very cool, I didn't however take a picture from 10 feet away.

At mile 14 I hit the park and then the Bluebell area. I nearly died. I had about 6 miles left and hadn't started the big climb. Here is how the day went. Strong head wind climbing a slight incline, then a very swift drop into a headwind (Ice cream headache). Then back another slow and arduous climb with a headwind. So by the base of the Coolidge climb I was fried.

The wind did swing round and help me up the 2.5 mile climb. Then it was straight down the hill into another icy cold headwind which was like another brain freeze! At the bottom my wife picked me up and I just sat miserable for a while.

To top it all I did everything with my Garmin except start tracking. So I was bummed to find I had no data. I have since gone onto the gamin web page and found all I did was climb and cycle in a head wind. Bollox to that.

Always cycle from Custer to Wind Cave if you are on a one way cycle. I think my average speed was 9mph (Again Bollox to that).

Just Breath!

The run today was a mixed feeling. It kicked my ass. However it was good to get outside and run. 6 slow miles. I hit mile 5 and was done. However the family was strategically placed along my run so it give me the boost to finish.

One thing to note. I thought I was dying on the first half a mile. However it turned out I had the water pack strapped to my back too tight and it was restricting my breathing. Once I loosened that off I was good to go.

Hot Springs S.D. is great! Today it was windy, apparently a 10% chance of rain in SD means a lot of Wind and rain. It was good running, I ran past deer and the river run is always good.

What I took from this run was I need to start running outside.

Afterwards we headed to Jewel Cave National Monument. Where I was told there were a few stairs. OMG! It was a full on workout, carrying I most of the way too. Talk about a major workout today. It looks like I lost my nail between the hike and run. Sigh.