31st Dec 2007 - Fell Run

Lanthwaite Wood to Mellbreak, Buttermere, Rannerdale Knotts and back to Lanthwaite (effectively 1 lap of Crummock Water along most of the skyline).

10 miles, 2,750 feet of ascent

2hrs 9:34

Best fell run for ages despite bad weather. Probably goes sub-2, maybe sub-1h 50 in better weather and with good nutrition. I took one bread roll and no water/iso, just drinking in streams at about 8 miles.

Splits:

Mellbreak 1st summit cairn 37:54
Mellbreak true summit 9:13
Fence on downhill 3:46
Rannerdale Knotts 38:58
Road beneath 9:36
Lanthwaite 23:16

28th Dec 2007 - Fell Run

1 lap of Buttermere, 5.5km

33:45

With Martha Taylor. Great run in poor weather, v.windy, raining, fell into river up to my neck in the 'stream' that drains Buttermere - excellent.

25th Dec 2007 - Walk

Ladyside Pike from Whinfell Hall with Mum, Dad and Maurice. Easy walk.

22nd Dec 2007 - Walk

Loweswater then back over fells with Mum and Dad. Easy walking.

16th Dec 2007 - Swim

London Fields Lido - 3km (WETSUIT)

52:12.7 - PB

Took 31 seconds off my previous best. Brilliant session, felt fast through the water and was really pleased to stay sub-9 for my 4th and 5th splits. Had had a week off due to colds but felt much better yesterday and am chuffed to get back into the pool and swim like this, hammertime.

500 splits:
8:18.0
8:34.9
8:50.6
8:52.5
8:52.1
8:44.7

8th Dec 2007 - Swim

London Fields Lido - 3km (WETSUIT)

52:59.2

Feeling fast, HAMMER-TIME!

500 splits
8:16.7
8:35.1
8:49.7
9:04.0
9:14.3
8:59.4

Second fastest time (14 secs down on PB)

4th Dec 2007 - Swim

London Fields Lido, 1.5km, morning

30:04.6

500 splits
9:52.6
10:10.0
10:02.1

Feeling ok.

1st Dec 2007 - Double session

30 mins run, Vicky Park with Stu Parkinson
30 mins swim, London Fields Lido with Maurice

Feeling good, pretty easy. Beautiful winter's day!

=================================================
This week I entered 3 races for 2008. Two Half-marathons (Brighton and Tunbridge Wells) in February, and the London Triathlon (Olympic distance) in August.

25th November 2007 - Swim

Birthday swim session!

London fields lido with WETSUIT

3km in 55:54.06

First proper session back in training after 1 month off. Shoulders felt quite tight, probs not enough to eat pre-session, had been aiming for sub-9:30 splits. Overall ok.

500 splits:

8:30.9
9:11.9
9:07.3
9:39.7
9:44.7
9:40.1

28th October 2007 - Swim

London Fields Lido

5km - 1hr 53:29

500m Splits:
9:51.1
10:40.0
11:03.3
11:16.8
11:21.4
11:13.5
11:26.6
11:41.6
12:12.9
12:42.2

Feeling pretty good, found the last K very hard going! This is the furthest I have swum so far in one session.

13th Oct 2007 - Run

Vicky Park laps

1hr 2'

Feeling pretty good.

Splits:

To gate 3'44"
Lap 1 17'50"
Lap 2 18'29"
Lap 3 17'57"
From gate 4'01"

6th October 2007 - Bike

Hackney to Brighton

30' to Streatham (met Warren)

3hrs 40' to Brighton

Total 4hrs 10'

Good ride, pretty easy Ditchling Beacon felt a lot easier than in has before. Stopped a couple of times to wait for Waz, but he rode well.

30th Sept 2007 - Swim

London Fields Lido 3km with WETSUIT

55' 38

500m splits
8:28.9
8:58.2
9:11.2
9:34.8
9:44.7
9:40.5

OK, 2nd half felt tough.

29th Sept 2007 - Bike

Freestyle Central London

1hr 36'

Good

23rd Sept 2007 - Bike

Vicky Park laps

1hr HARD

Good pace, windy day - pushed hard into the wind. Fair amount of good bappage on show in park.

18th Sept 2007 - Run

Vicky Park laps

1hr, 10.17 miles

Feeling good, strong last 20', quick recovery.

13th Sept 2007 - Run

Vicky Park laps

1hr @ 1/2M pace

Feeling tired, tight right hamstring, but fairly quick recovery iro HR.

30th August 2007 - Fell Run

Ran from Les Houches to Col de Voza and back. Straight up, straight down. With Brett - he did very well.

1hr 28' - 700m ascent

Felt easy.

27th August 2007 - Fell Run

Run from Argentiere village up north side of the valley, north to Le Tour then back down to Argentiere. With Maurice and Brett. Was Brett's first fell run.

1hr - 8km, 400m ascent

Feeling good and fairly fit.

24th - 26th August 2007 - Mountaineering

Aiguille du Tour, Mont Blanc Massif

Facile graded route

Great walk up to the Albert Premier Refuge then 06.00h start to climb snow field to Col. Then climbed SW face and ridge to summit. Descended to Refuge same day and then descended to Le Tour the following day.

Intended to use this route as a training route for Mont Blanc, but the second half of the week rendered thunderstorms and v.unsettled weather so we couldn't do the mountain, and had to stay in the valley for the rest of the week. Hoping for better weather for the next attempt - maybe next year?

Climbed with Maurice, Shags and Brett.

17th August 2007 Swim

3km London Fields Lido

1hr 01:39


500m splits

9:38.0
10:12.0
10:15.3
10:28.4
10:37.7
10:28.1


Feeling ok, tired afterwards, pretty tough 4th lap. First non-wetsuit swim for a while and I had to really kick to keep my legs higher in the water.

12th August 2007 Fell Run

Buttermere, Crummock Water, Vale of Lorton
Fell Running with Maurice

1hr 55'

8th August 2007 Run

Hackney, Vicky Park, canals and London Fields

1 hr at marathon pace.

Chest tight, got better after 30', feeling good last 15'

2nd August 2007 Swim

London Fields pool (WETSUIT swim)

2.5km - 43:59.9

500 splits:
8:25.6
8:41.9
8:58.4
8:57.9
8:56.1

Felt strong, good to get back in the pool. Need to work on getting left arm higher on each stroke.

22nd July 2007 Fell Run

1 hr 17' fell run from Eskdale Green, Lake District

Easy run, felt energetic.

I've entered my next Ironman race

In a slight lapse of retarded forgetfulness (the pain having gone) I have just entered my next Ironman triathlon - Challenge Roth in Germany.

Roth (pronounced 'Rote') is the second biggest Ironman distance race after the world champs in Hawaii, and is famous for having Tour de France style crowd support round the course, which, let's face it, has got to help when you're in a World of Pain.

This will take place on 13th July 2008 so at least I have enough time to work on my bike training, buy some porno aero-wheels and get running some fast marathons. I want to be ready to slash some serious time off my new PB.

Bring it on.

14th July 2007 Mountaineering

Snowdon via Crib Goch

Went up to Snowdonia with Lordy+AZT, Hinksy, Tyler+Keren, Nath, Sam Guy, Boon+Clara and Hannah Lord. Dave Gorvett was doing the 3Peaks. We camped in Capel Curig.

We did Crib Goch in moderate cloud, dry weather. Easy and good to strech the legs again after the Ironman. Ready to do some swimming this week.

8th July 2007 IRONMAN Austria

Ironman Austria race - 11:36.05

Swim (3.8 km) 1:11.04
T1 6.43
Bike (180 km) 6:08.22
T2 4:15
Run (marathon) 4:05.39

Very glad with the time and overall race. All sections faster than expected - particularly bike and run splits.

Swim: Felt easy and drafted other people well. Water was fairly warm. Pleased with split and great to be in contention a bit more after the swim section.

T1: Not overly quick - took time to apply loads of suncream which was v.necessary.

Bike: Went through half-way in 2:50h so there was lag but not too worrying. On reflection probably had some room for improvement in the bike leg, but I didn't want to overly hammer it as I wanted to keep some capacity for the run. I would aim to go 5:45h on this bike course without any further training. To gain full advantage, on the bike I need to look into aero wheels. Most other people had these. I took on board 1/2 a Powerbar and 1/2 banana at each aid station (every 20 km), 3 Powergels and approx 5 litres of fluids using water-iso-coke-iso system - this worked well.

T2: Ate some salted peanuts, a bit unorthodox, but these worked well as it had on a few rides to Hastings, and I didn't cramp at all during the race.

Run: Most pleasing section, but also most painful. Had 'difficult' stage in first half of the marathon but kept running throughout. Did one Powergel at 20km but found that I didn't need any other energy solids. Had orange segments and watermelon at each aid station after 20 km - this was brilliant and great relief in terms flavour.

Recovery: Lordy and Anna Z drove me back to Salzburg the following day. Pretty zonked for two days but no major muscle injuries. Toes in a bit of a nasty state but blisters healing well. 4 days later I'm back at work and feeling pretty mobile. Aim to do easy swim sometime next week and some walking this weekend.

Definately want to build on this result by targetting fast full and half-Ironman races in 2008. Would like to go sub-11 which would put me in contention for World Champs qualification. Need to work on biking fast and get marathon down to 3:40 which I think is very do-able.

1st July 2007 Bike

Isle of Dogs and Vicky Park laps

1hr 20' fast

Feeling pretty good.

30th June 2007 Swim

London Fields Lido 3km (WETSUIT)

52:43.8 (PB)

Felt brilliant, really good swim in the rain and a massive PB (wetsuit makes a huge difference), quick recovery afterwards. Eight days to go until the IRONMAN!

500m splits:
8:16.2
8:45.1
8:58.0
9:04.4
8:51.5
8:48.6

24th June 2007 Swim

London Fields Lido 3km

59:44.2 (PB)

First 3km swim session sub-1 hour! Feeling good. Bilateral breathing for first three 500s.

500m splits:
9:30.2
10:06.1
10:21.2
10:12.8
10:06.7
9:27.3

21st June 2007 Run

Vicky Park laps

45 mins easy, probs 11km

Tight calves after race. Had been aiming for longer session.

17th June 2007 - RACE - UK Ironman 70.3 Triathlon

Wimbleball, Somerset

Total time: 5 hrs 55:32 (PB) - - - - - - - - - - -6h 12 in 2006

1.2 mile Swim 35:43 (PB)
T1 5:05
56 mile Bike 3:30:38 (PB)
T2 2:23
Half Marathon Run 1:41:48 (PB)

13th in M18-24 age-group (out 0f 44), 5th Briton. The bike course was v.hilly and I suffered more than last year (although this year I went marginally faster). I passed about 50 people on the run leg and am v.pleased with this time on a hilly off-road course. Overall a lot less tired after the race than in 2006, and it was good to get PBs in all 3 disciplines - looks good for Ironman Austria. Will need to work on bike endurance for hilly courses!

12th June 2007 Bike+Run Brick Session

Vicky Park laps

Bike 35 mins (medium/fast)
Run 20 mins (easy)

10th June 2007 Run

Vicky Park laps

11.29 km (Nike+) in 53:16
Easy pace
Average pace 4:43 / km

7th June 2007 Run

Vicky Park laps

21.56 km (Nike+) in 1 hr 25:19

Good pace, getting progressively quicker, nice evening run
Average pace 3:57 / km
1/2M split time est. 1 hr 23:30

3rd June 2007 Run

Vicky Park laps medium pace

22.93 km (Nike+) in 1hr 39:40

Pretty steady, great weather, v.warm.
Average pace 4:20 / km
Half marathon split est. 1 hr 35:00

1st June 2007 Run

Barcelona

45 mins running medium/fast
15 mins swimming cool down

Feeling easy and pretty fit.

29th May 2007 Run

Vicky Park - 1hr 2:27

14.39km according to Nike+

Easy to moderate pace. Tight calves for duration. Started to get warmed-up after 40 mins.
Average pace 4:20 / km

27th May 2007 Swim

London Fields Lido - 3km

1 hr 00:10 (PB)

Splits (500m):
9:52.9
9:53.5
10:15.5
10:31.9
10:00.4
9:35.8

Swam in the rain. Felt brilliant!

22nd May 2007 Run

1 hour road running - Vicky Park

1st 20 mins medium
2nd 20 mins medium/fast
3rd 20 mins fast

Feeling pretty easy. Sunny evening, nice running.

20th May 2007 Swim

London Fields Lido - 3km

1hr 4:25 (PB)

Splits (500m):
9:59.1
10:13.8
10:42.5
11:02.3
11:17.6
11:10.5

Schweet.

19th May 2007 Bike

Hackney to Hastings (75 miles) - 4 hrs 30 mins

Great day, fairly windy (SW) in face all the way. Sevenoaks split 1 hr 34 mins.

Did this ride on 29th July 2007, today I was 1 minute faster through Sevenoaks and 10 mins faster to Hastings seafront but my nutrition was much better today and I felt a lot less beasted. I think may have gone slightly further today as well as I missed the Robertsbridge turn-off and went on to Hurst Green.

13th May 2007 Bike

Freestyle road bike – Hackney, Greenwich, New Cross, City, Hackney

1hr 9 mins

Feeling good, loads of traffic lights south of the river.

12th May 2007 Swim

London Fields Lido - 3km

1hr 8:18

Splits (500m):
10:20.8
11:17.9
11:25.6
12:22.7
11:59.9
10:51.4

HR jumped massively during 4th 500, slowed to settle it. Otherwise feeling good. Used legs for last two sets.

5th May 2007 Swim

53 mins swimming, Coniston Water.

1.78 km

East bank Jetty to boathouse on west bank, round Peel Island and back to Jetty.

30th April 2007 Bike

30 mins fast round Vicky Park, windy, feeling good.

23rd April 2007 Mountain Run

Arthur's Pass Village to Avalanche Peak summit (1,100m ascent).

Ascent 59' 50 (6.5 km)
Descent 45' 22
Total 1hr 45' 12

Ascent of 1,100m in 59' 50 = 18.39 m/min
(equiv. 1,103.13 m/hr)

April 2007 - New Zealand

2nd April - 1.25 hrs sea kayaking (with Paul Harrington)
3rd April - 2 hrs XCountry running, Taupo Springs
4th April - 40 mins swimming, Wellington
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6th April - 4 hrs walk, Abel Tasman
7th April - 4.5 hrs walk, Abel Tasman
8th April - 4 hrs walk, Abel Tasman
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13th April - 5.25 hrs walk, Mount Aspiring National Park
14th April - 4.25 hrs walk
15th April - 7.75 hrs walk
16th April - 4.5 hrs walk
17th April - 4.75 hrs walk
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19th April - 8 hrs walk/climb, Mount Sealy, Mt. Cook National Park
20th April - 5 hrs walk/climb
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23rd April - 2hrs 17m mountain running, Avalanche Peak, Arthur's Pass National Park
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27th April - 1 hr Hash run, Singapore