Well, not quite ;-) Got my longest run ever in last night, 7.5km. I wanted to see how ti felt and use it as an indicator as to whether I’d be able to finish the 10K next weekend. I decided to adopt the “run 6mins, walk 1min” approach popularised by Jeff Galloway since I never really got up to speed with a proper training plan. It worked pretty well last night as I managed to do the 7.5km in 47:40, which would predict a 10K time around 1:04:00. Jacqui is still keen to do the race, so I’ll just run with her if she does decide to enter.

2min @ 6kmh
7 * {
    6min @ 10kmh
    1min @ 5.5kmh
}
2min @ 6kmh
Total: 7.9km

My legs feel pretty good today, though my calves are a little sore.

R: 18km – S: 2200m – W: 2 sessions

Completed a basic light weights session last night. My weights are pretty easy, and I’m doing them because everything else I do (bike & run) only works the legs. At the moment the session looks like this:

2 * {
    Bicep Curls: 12 * 6kg
    Tricep Curls: 12 * 6kg
    Shoulder Raises: 12 * 6kg
    Press Ups: 12
    Sit Ups: 12
}

The plan is to gradually add reps up to 20 and just stay there. No change in actual weight lifted. Maybe I’ll introduce a third set before I get up to 20. That’s about it though.

Got another swim in this morning too.

100, 200, 300, 300, 200, 100 FS with 1min rest
Total: 1200m

R: 9.1km – S: 2200m – W: 2 sessions

Got another run in last night on the treadmill. Felt pretty good throughout, though my legs were starting to feel it towards the end. Aerobically I was fine and could have doubled the distance, not sure about the legs though! Having said that, they feel OK today, so I’m not going to do ay running tonight, then I’ll attempt 7.5km tomorrow evening. That will be the longest distance I’ve ever run, so if that goes OK I shouud be able to handle the 10km (just).

2min @ 6kmh
3 * {
    10min @ 10kmh
    1min @ 5kmh
}
2min @ 6kmh
Total: 5.6km

Got up this morning and got a swim in too. Pretty striaghtforward. Felt shit for the first 500m and was alright, but tired, from there on once I’d warmed up a bit.

200 FS
300 FS
300 FS
200 FS
Total: 1000m

I think I’ll stick to the ladder style of session for the moment, gradually introducing longer swims until I’m up over 2km per session. Then I’ll start more traditional training.

R: 9.1km – S: 1000m – W: 1 session

Woo hoo! Cheeky Monkey are having a Cervelo sale, and the price of a Dual has dropped $650! I’m heading in for a fitting on Sunday ;-)

The only thing I need to worry about is whether I can commute on aero bars. May not be a good idea.

Down in Canberra this week, so runs are on the treadmill. Got 20mins @ 10km/h last night. Easy enough pace, though I was really noticing the heat indoors. Did 2min walk as warm-up, then 10min run, 1min walk so I could drink some water, then another 10min run, follwed by 2min cool down. Did the usual light weights session afterwards too.

R: 3.5km – W: 1 session

Cycled home, then went for a quick run. The first half of the run felt pretty crap, but after that it was plain sailing. My knees were giving off a few twinges, probably from the different movements associated with snowboarding, but nothing serious.

B: 30km – R: 3.5km – S: 1000m – W: 1 session

Biked home last night, did some weights, ate healthy. Got up early this morning and went for a swim.

5 * 200 FS, 60s rest (3:00)
Total: 1000m

I was really feeling it in my arms on the last two 200s, even though the pace is really slow. I’m sitting here in work yawning as well. I now know why most people don’t bother exercising – you’re just exhausted a lot of the time! Being unfit, you might get a bit out of breath after climbing some stairs or something, but you breeze through the rest of the day. Exercising tires you out, and while the long term benefits are huge, day to day it’s can be a struggle.

B: 20km – S: 1000m – W: 1 session

Weighed in at 89.5kg this morning, with 19.1% body fat.

Tom, Sean and Niall have decided to start what has become known as Fat Club. Myself and John have joined in as well. The basic idea is that we’re all carrying a little extra which we plan to get rid of. We have to report in every week with weight & body fat and there will be an “Underachiever Of The Month” award. So far it’s all talk, but we’ll see how things pan out.

Now that the snowboard season is almost over (this weekend will be the last), I hopped back on the bike into work this morning. Next step will be to get back into the pool and stay there this time!

B: 5km

Went for my first group ride with BRAT this morning in Centennial Park. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was all very civilised. We were taught how to ride in groups, what hand signals to give and the two different ways of “rolling over” – doing your turn at the front then dropping to the back for a bit of a rest. The hour and a half went by pretty quickly, the pace was pretty relaxed and I even managed to come first in the two hilly laps at the end, though only because the guy who was way ahead of me had a puncture ;-)

It’s a 7-week course, though I’ll miss next week as I’m down the snow again, which is probably just as well as it’s going to be a hill session next week!

B: 30km

89.3kg this morning, meaning a gain of 1.5kg over the two weeks in NZ. How much is muscle and how much is fast? Well, I’ll find that out this evening.

Just back from a good run. Managed 4.4km in 24’20" at an easy pace. Finished up with a HR of 150, but given that the last bit was downhill forcing me to speed up, average HR was probably close to 144. It felt really easy and, aerobically at least, I could have gone another few kms, but my legs would probably protest a lot.

I’m off snow-boarding in NZ tomorrow evening, so the test will be whether I can continue getting some runs in over there. If I do, the 10km race should be fine. If I don’t, well there may be a few issues…

R: 4.4km

Went for another run this afternoon. Same as before; 3.5km nice and easy. I’m sticking to the ball/heel/ball style which smoother than how I used to run. After the run my quads are a little sore, as are my achilles. I probably just need to do a bit more stretching on my achilles before I head out and my quads are just sore from the downhill sections, as I’m not sure how you’re supposed to run them without jarring.

R: 7km

Got home this evening and decided to go for a run on the spur of the moment. Took it really easy, keeping the heart rate around 144bpm, and just plodded along. In the end I got 3.5km in fairly easily, so I’ll see how the legs feel in the morning.

I’ve got about 6 weeks until the 10K race, and I haven’t run in about three weeks, so I’d better get my act together. Running for a time is out of the question at this stage, so my aim now is to try and run the whole thing, rather than doing a run/walk strategy. If I can run roughly every 2-3 days between now and then I should be OK, though that means going for a run after I get off the slopes in NZ. Easier said than done ;-)

R: 3.5km

Just read a great series of articles on why run training should almost always be slow. There’s a lot of talk about lactate testing, which isn’t practical for amateur runners, but the later sections discuss how you can get a good approximation of your lactate threshold using a heart rate monitor. Worth a read if you like running.

Went for a run on the treadmill in the hotel last night. 2.5km @ 10kmh. I had intended going for 5km, but I still felt a bit tired after the weekend, so stopped early.

Crawled out of bed at 6:50 this morning, after staying up to watch the l’Alpe d’Huez time trial in the Tour de France. Armstsrong hammered everyone as usual, and didn’t appear to be too troubled doing it. Ullrich came second which was good to see. He’s up to 4th at the moment, so there’s still a slim chance he may pull second out of the bag by Paris.

After getting up so early (relatively anyway) I managed a 1000m swim this morning. Not particularly far, but it will have to do since I haven’t been in a pool in over a month.

R: 2.5km – S: 1000m

Well I finally got around to it. After much debate I’m now a BRAT, or more specifically a member of the Bondi Running And Triathlon Club.

I went to join after work yesterday, but got told I had to show up before 6pm, a feat I managed today. $75 changed hands and I’m now in possession of a shiny new membership card, which also includes membership of the Bondi Icebergs.

BRAT have cycling and running training sessions which I’ll find useful, and also their own race series, comprising triathlon, ocean swims and running. Since those races start with the basics, and nice short distances, they should make it a bit easier to get into this sport.

As for swimming, well I’m also thinking of joining Norths Aussi Masters and training with them. I’m going to head over and check out one of their sessions tomorrow night.

Finally, I think it’s time to buy a bike. I’ll organise a bike fit when I get back from Canberra, and then buy one in August when I get back from snowboarding in New Zealand.

Stayed up late watching the Tour de France live last night. SBS are showing it live on Sundays, which is great, as otherwise the only coverage I get is a half-hour daily highlight. Given that the first 10mins of that highlight is a recap of the previous day, and allowing for ads, it ends up being only about 10mins coverage of the day’s stage. Better than nothing I guess.

So, got back on the bike this morning and my knee feels fine. Will see how I go cycling up the hill this evening. If that goes OK well then the knee is back to normal.

B: 5km

Tipped the scales at 88.0kg this morning. Looks like I’ve stabilised at 87.5-88kg at the moment, which, given that I’ve done no exercise in three weeks, isn’t too bad.

Went to the physio this afternoon to get her to look at my knee. It’s not that sore, but it’s not perfect either and still feels a bit stiff. I want to get back to running, as I’m a bit behind in my 10K training plan which is pissing me off a little, and I decided it would probably be best if I got a professional opinion before pounding the pavement.

I rang this morning for an appointment and they enquired about my injury. I mentioned that I’d done it snowboarding, so she said, “we’ll put you with Ashley, she’s a skier as well”. I show up this afternoon and run through exactly what happened with Ashley. She asked had there been any other injuries at the weekend. I related the story of Tom being taken off the mountain by ski patrol, and it turned out that she was one of the members who’d helped Tom out. Small world ;-)

Anyway, after much pushing, prodding and tests it turns out that there’s nothing major wrong with my knee; just some strained tendons & ligaments. I’m allowed to swim, and light biking, but no running for at least a week, maybe more. Between that and the ski season I’ll get bugger all training done before September. Oh well, I’m doing that bloody 10K even if I end up walking it.

Weighed in at 87.0kg this morning, but I was pretty dehydrated, so I reckon I’ll be back to 87.5 or so once I “water up”.