22 Oct - 28 Oct

Swim

2 sessions

Time: 2:00:00

Distance: 6200m

Run

 2 sessions

Time: 1:08:56

Distance: 9.9 miles

Run 1 - 4.9 miles, 33:35

Run 2 - 5.0 miles, 35:21

Cycling

 3 sessions

Time: 6:18:53

Distance: 108.2 miles
  Bike 1 - 37.6 miles, 1:58:40

Bike 2 - 48.3 miles, 2:50:13
Bike 3 - 22.3 miles, 1:30:00

Week Totals

  7 sessions

Time: 9:27:49

Distance: 121.9 miles

Not a bad week in all.  Ended up missing the LSR I had planned on Sunday because of a particularly good night out for a friend's birthday on Saturday (oops), which would have tipped me over 10hours for the week and made my run volume closer to 20miles.  I also really need to get to my local ParkRun so I can (finally) race a 5km and set new training paces.  I've been working on a guestimated time of 20min for a 5km, but I should really be closer to 19mins - I just need a free Saturday morning!  Went out for a spin on Tuesday evening on the Kingston Wheeler's winter training loop.  It's a 22.8 mile loop which is nearly all lit by street lamps and small groups blast round it regularly throughout the week.  I had arranged to meet up with some guys who are roughly the same fitness as me, but one of the very quick guys turned up and we ended up doing the loop with him.  The other two dropped off the back fairly early on, but I decided to try and hang on.  He ended up dragging me round the whole loop - I tried to do turns on the front, but only just had enough to stay on the back!  Great fun and he was kind enough to wait for me when I did get dropped on the hill.  I'd really like to make these sorts of training sessions a staple of winter biking.  It could replace/complement the turbo and seems like perfect training for Olympic distance bike leg, as it's nearly the same distance.  It's done at threshold+.  On Tues we averaged 23mph which included some slightly slower sections when we were stuck behind slower groups and at traffic lights and it was just the two of us.  In a larger group, with more people to share the work, it would have almost certainly been faster again.

This week I've been listening to.....

15 Oct - 21 Oct

Swim

2sessions

Time: 2:00:00

Distance: 6200m

Run

 3 sessions

Time: 2:15:31

Distance: 19.6miles

Run 1 - 5.5miles, 40:02

Run 2 - 5.0miles, 35:00

Run 3 - 9.1miles, 1:13:29

Cycling

Nothing.

Week Totals

  5 sessions

Time: 4:15:31

Distance: 23.5miles

What a disaster of a week.

Since the LCL race at Parliament Hill, I felt fatigued and generally a bit rubbish.  Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but coupled with the return of a large dose of man-flu and a really important deadline for Uni work I ended up missing 2 planned days of training completely and only doing half of 1 days planned sessions.  I was a bit lax at the start of the week, leaving all my double days until the end of the week and it really came back to haunt me.  Lesson learnt.  Next week, I'll plan my week and stick to it.  I'm far too liable to re-arrange my training because I feel a bit lazy that night and it leaves me trying to cram too much training into not enough days.

What I've been singing whilst training this week...

LCL Parliament Hill

On Wednesday, I did the London Cross Country League (LCL) race at Parliament Hill.  I hadn't done anything resembling cross country since I was at Primary School and to say I'd forgotten it's joys is an understatement.  I wasn't feeling great going in to the race, as I sit here typing this I have a dose of man flu that has never before been survived, but I still thought it'd be good training and I needed to go for a run that day anyway.

Warming up, I jogged half a lap and knew I was in for a tough time.  Slippery underfoot, an ever present gradient of some sort and a field of far more experience X-Country runners meant just finishing in a respectable time became the goal of the day.  The course was a 2.5mile loop which the men did twice, so a total of around 5miles.  Given my 10km pace is around 6:20min/mile, I thought something approaching 7min/miles would be achievable, given the course and how I was feeling.

The first lap was misery.  Unfortunately, my HR belt died on Monday so I have no HR data from the run, but it must have been seriously high.  It felt like threshold and above the whole time.  I thought I wanted to quit.  I hated the mud.  I questioned why on earth I was doing this to myself.

The second lap was worse.

Now I just wanted it to be over.  I thought about just jogging it in, but I couldn't do it.  I kept telling myself the last little rise was the one before the dip to the finish line.  Eventually, it was.  I came bumbling down that last hill, grateful for it to be over.  Then I heard it.  Someone was sat just behind me, waiting for their chance to out-sprint me at the finish and steal a precious place back.  Well, I'm not going to lie, I didn't like that idea.  If I wasn't competitive, I wouldn't be in sport.  So I waited until I heard him slightly pick up his cadence, then went for it.  He tried to keep with me, but I have a decent finishing kick on me and he was history.  I think he vomited.

Then I vomited.

Official time was bang on 35:00 giving me average mile splits of 7min/miles.

In the middle is me.  Pain face on.

Cross-country is awesome.  There's no doubt, it's way outside my training and my abilities at the minute.  I've just not trained for that style of running.  But that's not going to stop me turning up each week to get covered in mud.  I think it'll bring my running strength on no end - something I perhaps lack.  It's also an excellent hard run once a fortnight, in race conditions.  Something I know I lacked experience of last winter.  So I'll be back to try again.  The courses apparently get easier from now on, which is just fine by me.

Lesson learnt:

• Pacing.  I should have listened to a friend who said that the good guys take the first lap as a tempo run, then nail the second lap.  The adrenaline got to me and I did it the other way around.
• My Salomon Speedcross' were awesome.  I almost didn't wear them, but the grip they provide is just biblical and I was very grateful for it.
• Garmin in the back pocket was a great call - I can't remember the last time I did a stand alone running race at 7min/miles and I think I would have found it demoralising to have seen it mid-race.

Garmin was messed around a bit by all the tree cover I guess and only recorded 4.85miles. 

8 Oct - 14 Oct

Swim

3 sessions

Time: 3:00:00

Distance: 9200m

Run

5 sessions

Time: 2:55:43

Distance: 23.2miles

Run 1 - 3miles, 22:58

Run 2 - 5.1miles, 36:16

Run 3 - 8.0miles, 1:03:25

Run 4 - 4.9,iles, 0:39:00

Brick - 2.2miles, 0:14:04

Cycling

3 sessions

Time: 5:11:28

Distance: 75.3miles

Bike 1 - 61.0miles, 3:30:48

Bike 2 - Turbo, 0:50:00

Brick - 14.3miles, 0:50:40

Week Totals:

10 sessions

Time: 11:07:11

Distance: 104.5miles

Pretty good week all in all.  Bike 1 got cut short by a duet of punctures and the bike part of my brick workout was abandoned due to the truly horrendous traffic clogging up Richmond Park.  I won't be going back there on the weekend on the bike any time soon!  Swims felt good.  Re-calculated my CSS with times of 5:42 for 400m and 2:51 for 200m - a little slower than I did at the end of summer, but that may have been due to a lack of tumble turns (I seemed to have lost the knack!) and a fairly crowded public pool.  Nice to see a >20mile run week - going to try to build on that this week with a 10% increase, so around 25miles.  I'd like to build up to around 30miles/week which, as long as I introduce real quality at a later date, should see me make some gains next year.

What I've been singing whilst training this week.....

Motivation

Motivation is fickle.  Some days I can't wait to jump out of bed at 0600 to go swim in a too warm, overcrowded, hairy pool with bits floating in it (not just the frankly impressive number of plasters, but also the old boys who like to come down in the morning for a paddle).  Others, I have to drag myself out of bed after a minimum of 25mins snoozing my alarm and grumble about how unfair life is and wondering why on earth I think this triathlon lark is a good idea.

It's not surprising motivation is so variable.  As anyone who trains regularly in any sport, it's tough.  It physically drains you, leaving you with that persistent ache in your legs that never, ever, ever seems to go, no matter how much you'd like it to.  Thankfully, I've never been struck down much by injury.  Injury is something I live in fear of.  I know that I would a be a miserable, irritable mess if I was forced to sit and watch my fitness disappear in a blur of biscuits, the sofa and poor quality day time television.  Injury is something which would break me.  I don't know whether I would come back from an injury fighting to get back on track, clawing back those lost days and weeks.  I don't know if I'd be so appalled by how sloth-like I had become, I'd struggle to get the sessions in.

The mental fatigue is also huge.  When every session you do seems to leave you a broken mess, stumbling back into the house, it's not surprising the idea of repeating the experience becomes less and less appealing.  When you throw in a demanding University course, it seems all your life consists of is sleeping, lectures and training.  Television becomes something other people do.  Going out?  I don't drink sorry and I have training at 0700 tomorrow.  Dinner happens when everyone else is about to go to bed.  Sunday lie-ins?  Ha.

But despite all that, when it's good, it's oh so good.  Looking back at your week and noting that you did every session planned, smashed every interval and got your hours in you cannot help but be proud of that.  The look on people's faces when I tell then I tend to get between 9 and 11 sessions a week of training in is frankly priceless.

I'm looking forward to Winter.  I'm only 3 days in to my winter training, after a lovely fortnight of "off season" but I'm loving it.  I'm genuinely excited to see what happens after this winter.  I'm undoubtedly stronger than ever and with a winter of training behind me, next year is promising.  I'm nervous to set goals, but I have ideas of what I'd like to achieve next season.  I'm going to keep them to myself for now, as they will undoubtedly be influenced by how successful this winter is.  Things can only get better.

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

The Reasoned Decision

"This document, therefore, sets forth USADA’s reasoned decision describing evidence of Mr. Armstrong’s rule violations....the 'Reasoned Decision'."

George Hincapie's affidavit is very telling...

96.  In making this statement I have endeavored above all things to be truthful and accurate.  Although I know that my testimony is painful for some, including myself, it is not made with animosity and, in fact, is made with some regret.

97.  While I ultimately came to the conclusion that I needed to be fully truthful and transparent with USADA, I continue to hold many with whom I cycled, including Lance Armstrong, in very high regard.

98.  I continue to regard Lance Armstrong as a great cyclist, and I continue to be proud to be his friend and to have raced with him for many years.

99.  I have witnessed many important things that Lance has done for his fellow man through battling cancer and being a role model for many.  My testimony is not intended to take away from, or diminish those things.

100.  Lance and I, and our teammates, raced on the Motorola Team and on the US Postal Service Team and on the Discovery Channel Team during a time period when our sport was inundated with performance enhancing drugs.  The doping controls were not very good and we came to believe that we needed to use banned substances to compete at the very highest levels.

 101.  While I understand that the choices we made were wrong, I understand why we made them and why, at the time, we felt justified in making them.  I do not condemn Lance for making those choices and I do not wish to be condemned for the choices I made.

I still have a plan....just a slightly different plan...

So after getting some great feedback on my proposed winter training plan, I've slightly altered my plan to this....

                                       AM                                                 PM
Monday                           Swim                                            Run #1
Tuesday                                                                              Run #2
Wednesday                      Swim                                        Bike Ride # 1
Thursday                                                                             Run #3
Friday                             Swim                                            
Saturday                         Run #4                                     Turbo Session
Sunday                        Bike Ride #2                             Stretching/Massage


Run #1 = Longer sets of intervals (100m, 1200m, 1600m)
Run #2 = LSR of up to 11-12miles, done at a "comfortable" pace which will allow me to build time on my feet
Run #3 = Tempo run of 5-7miles
Run #4 = Threshold run, along the lines of 1mile WU, 3miles at threshold, 1mile WD

Swim sessions will be following the Swim Smooth Level 3 Olympic plan (approx 3100m a session, mix of technique, endurance and speed work)

Turbo session will be concentrating on VO2Max sort of efforts, done on TT bike.
Bike Ride #1 is a threshold session with the Club I ride with (Kingston Wheelers)
Bike Ride #2 will be a solo ride on my TT bike done at pace, but a touch easier than #1.

Days aren't fixed at all, week by week my run and bike schedule will change dependent on when rides are going out, the weather forecast, my Uni timetable etc. etc.  The swims are pretty much set.

This plan has a lot more intensity, but should bring my fitness along nicely.  I'll be following this plan until Jan/Feb when I'll lose the longer run.  It'll probably be replaced with a threshold bike session of some sort - either another turbo session or a session such as 2x20min on the road.

I have a plan.....

                                       AM                                                 PM
Monday                           Swim                                            Run #1
Tuesday                          Swim                                       Turbo Session
Wednesday                                                                          Run #2
Thursday                         Swim                           Shorter Bike Ride on Tri Bike
Friday                             Swim                                            Run #3
Saturday                       Long Run                          
Sunday                         Long Bike                                Stretching/Massage

Run #1 = Short Tempo Run (4-6miles) (5km pace + 20secs)
Run #2 = Long Tempo Run (7-8miles) (5km + 50 secs)
Run #3 = Short Tempo Run (4-6miles)
Long Run = Long, slow run (9-12miles) (8min/mile-ish, but taken as easy as needed)

As I begin to sharpen up for the season, one of these short tempo runs will become a track session.  The reason I've included the "long run" is to increase the amount of time on my feet.  I don't come from an athletics background and my thinking is that my running will be improved by including just some basic mileage.  I may look to do a half-marathon early next year, just for a change and to have something to break up the training.  I am in no way training specifically for a HM but racing is fun after all!

Shorter bike ride = 40miles or so
Long bike ride = 60-80miles
Turbo = 1 hour

Pretty simple I think.  The shorter bike ride on my tri bike is just to try and ensure I'm used to the position - no nasty surprises on race day!

I will be following the Level 3 Olympic plan provided by Swim Smooth for the swims.

I'll also be having every 4th week as an 'easy' week, where I'll slightly take down the mileage/drop a run.  For the first 3 weeks I'll be building up to this plan, so won't really be following this plan until the 1st week of November.  Although I've highlighted Sunday PM to stretch, I'm going to try and do some stretching after every session, to try and stay as injury free as possible.

James