Happy New Year

Hello all, it's been a while since my last post so there's a lot for me to talk about. I hope you can get through it all without nodding off. 

I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas and new year. I know we certainly did. It was a quiet one but it was really nice to spend some time with my family.
I tried to keep my training ticking over, during the Christmas break, to try and limit the amount of plumage that I gained. Santa was very good to me and got me a pair of Hoka trainers, a Finis Tempo Trainer and some other goodies.

December 29th saw me run my first ever half marathon. I was just hoping to get round and finish it for purely psychological reasons. I figured that if I could run a half marathon at this time of year, I could manage the marathon distance at the end of the Ironman. I managed to get round in 2hrs 3mins, which I was reasonably happy with. I was holding a 9:32 pace, up until the last 3 miles, when it dropped to nearly 11min/mile. I started to get a lot of pain in the end of one of my toes, were the nail seemed to be getting crushed, which slowed me down a bit. My feet felt great in the Hoka though with no blisters or hot spots.



During the Christmas period I enjoyed some Saturday morning runs with my good mate Matt, who was home for the Christmas holidays. It really helped running with someone and he made sure I didn't give up when it would have been all too easy to stop and walk for a bit. We were only running for 45 mins to an hour or so, which was probably more of a stroll for Matt, but I really enjoyed it and it gave me a good idea of where I'm up to with my running.
 Since then I've been keeping the running going, although I've still been struggling with my sore calfs. So much so that they're really holding me back in my run training now. That being said, I've taken advantage of the company health care and managed to get a course of physio on them. Hopefully this will be the end of the sore calfs and I'll be able to really kick on with my running this year. Especially as I'm enjoying doing the Tri Club Tuesday night "Bat Runs". These are basically a 7.5km - 10km cross country run, at night, using head torches for navigation. It must be the big kid in me, playing in all the mud and coming home filthy :-)

Well, 2014 is finally here, the year that I become an Ironman (I get butterflies every time I say that). Before Christmas I bought Don Finks book, "Be Iron Fit". It's been a fantastic source of reference and has different programs in it, depending on what sort of time a person wants to finish an Ironman in. I chose the intermediate program. Having said that, because I'm already training with the Triathlon Hub and there are a lot of sessions that I enjoy doing with them, I've decided to amalgamate the Don Fink program, with some of the Hub sessions. I think I'll get the best of both worlds that way.

I've been taking a keen interest in Hannah's swimming as well, I think she's got a great talent for it. I could sit and watch her swim all day long. She seems to be really enjoying swimming at Ashton Central A.S.C. at the moment and has already moved up a group. Hannah's also been coming to some of the tri club swim sessions that I've been going to and I think this has helped her a lot. Although I don't want it to become a chore for her. As long as she's still enjoying it, that's the main thing. 
I've started using my Tempo Trainer, whenever I can. I can't get over how much more consistent my swims have been when I've used it. I've been speaking to Phil, my swim coach, and he's hoping to get together with me for a swim session so that he can have a look at my technique and tweak a few things. I'm really enjoying my swimming at the moment and can feel myself slowly getting back to a reasonable level of swim fitness.

My cycling is about where I would expect it to be, at this time of year. I got some full mudguards for Christmas, so I've no excuse for not getting out on it now. Although my mid week cycle sessions are mainly on the turbo at the moment. It's just easier to jump on it for 45 minutes before I go to work. I've been using the Spinervals DVD's that my friend Alex sent to me. I can't believe how tough they are. I look like I've just stepped out of the shower when I've finished them, I'm sweating that much. 
Also, being one that loves my gadgets, I've sold a load of old stuff that I never use any more, so that I can buy myself a Garmin 910xt. Someone let me borrow their Garmin 305 when I did the half marathon and I was impressed at being able to see the different stats on the screen. I know the Garmin won't make me any faster, but it might help with my pacing and race management. Plus, it's a great bit of Gucci kit. One can never have too much Gucci kit :-)



I hope that this post wasn't too long and drawn out, no doubt I've missed some of the things out that I wanted to mention, so I'll probably end up putting those in my next blog. I'll not leave it as long until the next blog, so that it's not quite as tedious.

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