Building the core

Today is officially a rest day, the first of two this week.  But not a complete rest as I have just completed my core workout.  Strengthening you core is essential as having a strong core will make you a better swimmer, cyclist and runner as it helps you keep your form.  When you tire you lose your form and this can lead to injuries.  It's a bit like building a house or a business on weak foundations - destined to fail.
Work over finished, time to refuel and enjoy the rest of the holiday watching and listening to the rain!

Quality time

This is going to be a week of quality time with my family as it's the school holiday week.  But I was still in the pool at 7am for a good 2,300 m of time working on my fitness.  After smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, freshly baked bread toasted and strong coffee I had a wee rest before deciding I wasn't going out in the lashing rain and strong winds to do a 10 mile Time Trial on my bike - the results would have been pointless due to the wind alone.  So I went on my turbo trainer for 35 minutes concentrated effort and that was real quality training time.  When I finished I followed this with 40 minutes of weights cause that's what my coach wants.
I'll see her this afternoon to go over last weeks results and see if anything needs tweaking.  This "control mechanism" is vital in making sure we get the best from my training and that I am on course for Lanzarote which after all is only 214 days away!  All this completed and still two of the teenagers are in bed!  What a life. :)))

Next event

I have a number of events coming up and my training will fit round them while at the same time be designed to get me ready for them.  The next event is a 16 mile road race around six public parks on the south side of Glasgow.  So today I ran 10 miles and concentrated on the pace.  I needed a negative split which means a faster second half so that you finish strong which I did.  I also took an isotonic drink and a gel with me to make sure I was able to stay hydrated and had extra energy if required.
Later tonight I have a 40 minute core session and that will be me, finished my first week of Ironman training.  So having refueled I am not watching the footie and may have 40 winks to recharge the batteries.
On holiday next week but training will continue with a 7am swim.  The holiday is only from work, not training!

Pacing myself

Today was a double training session.  This morning I went out with new wheels on my bike and did my best time ever over a 16 mile hilly course.  I won't bore you with the technical reasons they are meant to be faster but they are - in addition my bike fitness is starting to come through.  I was only scheduled for an hour and compared to the five or six hours I was doing a month ago it was so easy - I was desperate to keep going.  But I knew that later on in the day I had 2,000 m to swim and tomorrow I will be running for 1.5 hours.
My coach has thought the plan out and it's pointless appointing an expert and then ignoring the advice.  So the swim went well and I feel relaxed and ready for tomorrow.  This shows the importance of having a plan and pacing yourself whether in triathlon training, business or life in general.

It's Friday

What is it about Friday's that makes us feel good?  It's not the end of the week for everyone but it is for me so the 5.40 am porridge tasted good.  The pool this morning was deserted of my normal training pals so I had the lane all to myself.  The drill was 2 x 1,000m (timed) which 4 weeks ago I couldn't have imagined.  But when you turn up with a plan in your head it's much easier to execute it than if you are uncertain about what to do.
Later today I have a 40 minute gym session before going off to watch my son play football.  The weekend will be full on with taxi duties to horse riding and football with training squeezed in between.  Hopefully a quiet night in on Saturday and a glass of wine with a nice meal with my wife and a family meal on Sunday.  Last week we all agreed that everyone was so busy we needed to have a manditory family meal so we could all catch up.  Bit like training really, you need to have targets in order to achieve certain tasks!

Testing times

Last night I was in a group of 10 people doing the same bike workout to measure our "functional threshold".  It was a hot and very sweaty session but what was interesting was that everyone was doing the same workout and putting in a similar amount of effort but with differing heart rate results.  Obviously there were differences of gender, age and level of fitness but it doesn't work in an expected pattern.  It is a great measure of your fitness and allows you to work out your heart rate zones which is so important to maximise your training.
To put this another way you can't work flat out all the time and if you do it will cause burn out.  It's about finding how to achieve optimal performance over a long period of time.  Before the session I went for a 30 min nap as the change in season seams to have affected my energy levels - this combined with my increase in exercise.  However this morning I took a long lie (6.45am) as it is a day off training and I feel the best I've felt in a couple of weeks.  Add to that last night my son has got his first job as a life guard starting next week, and there is a lot of positive energy in our household.  Back to training tomorrow.

Count your blessings

Every so often I get a wee reminder about how lucky I am to be fit and healthy which is something that is easy to take for granted.  But a few situations today reminded me that not everyone is so lucky so tomorrow when I get up I'm going to take some more time to smell the roses, metaphorically speaking, and appreciate what I have.
In the pool tonight it was a tough session, there were certain drills that I found almost impossible and once again my attitude could have been better - work to be done here.  But on reflection I have improved my swim fitness so much following my return that I know the hard work over the winter will pay off.  Swimming may be the shortest part of Ironman but if you get it wrong on the day it can finish your race so it deserves a lot of respect.  So if your healthy and perhaps fit, count your blessings.