Been a while.

Back to work today after three wonderful weeks. I did manage to get plenty of training done whilst on leave, Sea swims in Lee, Spinning in Fareham and some excellent runs.

Sunday 26th saw me taking part in my first race since LONDON, it was the Southampton Fast Twitch (the first ever Triathlon I did back in 2006). The spinning in Fareham over leave seems to have paid dividends as my cycling has improved tremendously, getting around a 30km undulating course in 56 mins would of been unthinkable a few months ago, it was a clear 20mins quicker than last years attempt.

My running is coming along slowly but my new Garmin 305 Forerunner is definately making a difference to the way I train, so thank you Vanessa for such a wonderful present.

My weekly training plans are at last settling down to decent routine with a number of regular sessions and managing to deconflict the more important sessions. More of that to follow as there is still room for improvement.

London Complete - Happy with that!

What a weekend! Had a fantastic weekend Van and I set of early Saturday morning and arrived at Excel about 1130hrs. Spent the next couple of hours scouting out the setup and checking transition routes etc. Then went on to enjoy the glorious weather and watched the sprints. The swim start looked as duanting as I was expecting and the heat was a bit of a concern. After a good couple of hours milling about soaking up the atmosphere we decided to head into town for a bit of retail therapy. Got back to hotel about 2130hrs and completed all my race preps, checked all my gear to make sure nothing was missing, then prep the bike and mishap one, slipped on a manhole cover in car park and came off my bike landing awkwardly on my backside and its still giving me grief today.

Any race day and an early start for both, I was up and out by 0600hrs with Van up and left to pack room up for us both to be ready for my wave start at 0800hrs. Got setup and ready to start with no dramas. It was then muster for race brief and into the water. With nearly 400 people in my wave space on the start line was very limited and the first 500metres where as manic as I had expected. I knew I had to concentrate on swimming straight line and not my usual zig zag route I normally do in open water. Well that went out the window, if there was a sniper wishing to take someone out there was no way he was getting me, I started the swim on the further left bouy but by about the 600 metre mark I was right out by the canoeist keeping guard on the right. So my swim time was good for a person who swam about 200metres more than anyone else. Note to self - learn to swim in straight line.

Came out of the water in 30mins and got through T1 with no dramas. Out onto the bike and the new tri bars fitted for this relatively flat course seems to be paying off as my average speed was up around 32KPH. Reached the first turnaround feeling really strong and started to think I would have to adjust my timings as things were going really well. As I came passed Excel to start my long bike lap (all the way into Westminster) I knew my time was going to be better than I hoped (if all went well). I got down into my Tri bars and cranked it into a high gear and just put my head down and went for it. All those hours in the saddle and my previous two hilly bike courses at Winchester and Totton appeared to be paying of as actually started to overtake people on the bike leg - (not something I am used to). I arrived back at Excel feeling good and bike of about 1hr 10mins and again T2 went as planned. Vanessa had positioned herself on the run course and my projected timings meant I should of been passing her the first time at about 1010hrs but I got there about 0953hrs to both of our suprise. The heat was no becoming a concern as tempertures where no getting to around 30C. I had probably taken on too much water on the bike a felt a bit uncomfortable at the start of the run but the large crowds made a huge difference and it was just a case of head down and clock of miles bit at a time. I quickly go into my stride and a time of 2hrs 30 was looking possible - I tried doing the maths on the run but the grey matter was working to hard trying to keep my body in check so I gave up trying to be smart and just enjoy myself. A the start of the second lap the legs started to get a bit heavy and heat was really starting to take its toll, my thoughts of a sub 2.30 where out of the window but my goal of 2.45 was well within reach - even if I walked the last lap but that wasn't about to happen. The first run lap was 24.3 mins and a repeat of that for the second lap would give me a 2.35 finish. I didn't notice myself picking up the pace but some how I did and completed the second lap in 22mins giving my a total time of 2hrs 32min 20secs, I am was and am over the moon with.

Thanks Vanessa for giving up your entire weekend to come and support me and of course putting up with my endless training sessions. Next Race Southampton Tri on 26 Aug (this is the first race I ever did back in 2006)

Target Reached

Thank you to all those wonderful people who have dug deep and sponsored me, today I reached my target of £500 as pledged for the London Tri, now looking forward to raising another £100 for my entry into the Great South Run. I am looking forward to my last training session tonight before the big race on Sunday but looking forward more to the 3 days of rest. I am hoping I can control myself not to go out for a little run or bike but the plan is do nothing now until the race.

Once again thank you all for your support and words of encouragement, things are going well in training and I am mulling over taking part in the Ironman next year instead of 2009, but I will make that call in December.

See you again on Monday.