Training for a shorter Tri

ST - no, not doing Outlaw. My current plan is as follows...

May 6th - Cardiff Supersprint
May 20th - Llanelli Sprint
June 17th - Cosmeston Sprint
July 21st - Gower Sprint (possible)
September 2nd - Llanelli Olympic

MA - Did you find a window? Did you get wet?
Mikasa - the constant rain is really irritating! It doesn't usually bother me, but because I'm not following a dedicated plan I don't have the guilt of missed sessions. Must plan harder!
Steady - well toughed out!!!
Oii - 2 spin classes...madness I tell you!! Oh, and good shopping btw!
DK - If I bought one of those from Toys R Us I wouldn't end up using it as a foam roller...I would use it as a battering stick!!!! The temptation is just too great!!

1.2k swim at 6:30am done and dusted for today. Was hard work today and couldn't find the rhythm, but got there in the end. Maybe a run later. 5 days to go...

 Ay up no time to read back at the moment just wanted to say hello and go  Hope your all cool and not to chuffing wet with the constaint rain at the moment.

Ay up Cake where you been hiding?

Ok Alex was unsure

EcoSeal what Olymipic you doing?

Windermere

Ecoseal You like it up the lakes then?

In laws have a boathouse up there so its a free holiday! Going for two weeks and the tri is right in the middle.

It means OH can see me start/finish but doesn't have to hang around in a field all day, tri isn't a very spectator friendly sport to be honest.

st - plans are (so far)

may 6th - triferris supersprint cirencester
end may - local 10k (have yet to find it)
june 24th - birmingham sprint tri
july (entries not open yet but it was 3rd sunday last year) newent half mara
august - ??? any suggestions??? maybe a sportive?
september - sat 2nd sept brat oly tri & sun 9th sept cheltenham supersprint triathlon & sun 16th newent sprint tri
october- stroud half mara

am taking myself and wetsuit to the sandford lido tmrw at 6:30am. its the local outdoor 50m pool. see if i can get all the way across without needing to be fished out by a canoe.

Didn't find window - went out in the rain. Think it stopped at some point, but I was soaked through regardless.

82 miles done. Only downside was backpain came back again after about 60 miles... Back to the drawing board it seems with that...

MA - so impressed with your mileage!!! you are really cracking on with it  I am sorry that your back is playing up again. I really wish you lived near me so you could see my 5* physio....

Cheers Oii! I've found a good physio here, and shes worked wonders on my back - booked in again for next week. Just wondering what to do about this - suffer the pain (maybe take some pain killers on the day?), is it just my body adapting - the pain seems to wear off quicker, or is it treat myself to a new bike (although funds don't really allow, and it might not come through quick enough for Outlaw anyway). Decisions, decisions, decisions....

 Sorry ST was honeymoon and also mischief todays been first day back at w**k in front of a pc. Just read back.

Silver Trucker wrote (see)

Ok probably asking the wrong people here but will ask any way any advice would be good I'm now seriously thinking about doing the south downs Marafun but there's only bout 8 weeks till race have I left it to late to train?

Yes but you could do it anyway.

mathschick wrote (see)

just in the process of joining a tri club. maybe I should hold off and go and visit Evans - there is one in Nottingham - not too far from me.

 Which one? there are three that I know off in nottingham TNT is very much a bisiness not that that's there's anything wrong with that. Just in case I have been a member of absolute tri so I can use prierrepoint for open water training in the past and they are a good club and very friendly but also in part a business. Also nottingham tri club I think but not had any dealings with them. If you ever see a cycleist on the A61 or A63 by the way in pirate kit changes are it's going to be my so please throw a jaffa cake at my head and say hello.

Oii nice one

MA I did the manchester race at the weekend and the weather was hellish there. They shouldn't have done the race. People where coming down with hypathemia so a good call on the tri being cancelled.

If it's any use there isn't that much difference between a olly and a half IM think if it as being the difference between a 10k and a half marathon running wise.

if your doing Windermere you will already know what your letting yourself in for at Hell. In case you listen to the voices after you have fineshed.

Congratulations Cake Hope you had a great day and lovely honeymoon. Any pics to show us?

Well done everyone who is persevering despite this awful rain. we haven't had any family cycling days yet cos it's just too wet and miz to be out.

Steady - great report, great race. Well done

Doing lots of running, pilates, bit of swim and no bike at all. Am planning to run for a few hours along the Ridgeway from Tring on Sat 12th May if anyone wants to join me.

Hi everyone *wave* One nasty bike crash later & 10 night stay in hospital & my season is now down the drain (made a separate thread about it so won't repear detail here!) but am on the recovery road & just have to remain patient & make sure I take the time to recover properly & start back slowly so I don't have to go backwards (a lesson I've learnt the hard way far too many times now to ignore!).

But congrats to all on your training & races of recent times - you've all been very busy!!  Shame the weather hasn't been the best though  (although I have to confess it is making me feel a *teeny* bit better for not being able to do anything!)

Congrats maths on the new bike; have you tried those clipless pedals yet??  I was terrified of them & spent a week hanging onto door frames practising but actually when you're out on the road it is way easier than you think so just go for it!  Oh and you *will* forget / leave it too late & fall over, but it's all part of the experience & something that we *all* do - you generally only do it once though & then you remember

Congrats cake on your wedding!!!

As for gear stuff, I'm old fashioned & carry a spare inner & pump & patch kit but will probably look at some gas when I'm allowed back on a bike again (!).  I've used a plastic crate & bag in transition; personel preference is a crate as you can lose things in the dark hidden corners of a bag, but the downside is that they are bigger than a bag so less room to setup gear etc.

Oh Shas,sorry to hear about your crash and shame it's mucked up your whole season. Hope you recover well!

Cake - Congratulations! Hope you had an awesome honeymoon!

Did my first brick today! Oh why haven't I done them before?! 6mi bike, 1.9mi run. It was ok but definitely confirmed that I haven't trained enough. Still looking forward to Sunday,actually even more now that I definitely know that I can manage the run after the bike.

MA - brill biking! I wish someday I can do that kind of mileage.

Congrats Cake! Hope you've had a wonderful time!
Shas - glad to hear you are on the mend! I hadn't seen your other thread, although I knew you'd had a spill! Will go looking now!
MA - Cracking riding!
Mikasa - Dragon ride next year? Oh, and you've done a better brick than me!
Eco - My in-laws have an apartment in S France...makes IM Nice very appealing!

No run for me this pm. Eating Tapas instead and having a cold beer!

Hi! Again - so much happening!

Oh, the days of wanting a turbo are long behind me! If I ever think about it again, I'm taking my girlie self off to Office to buy some shoes and Monsoon to buy a new dress

Oii - thighs are hurting so I'm hitting the gym and doing lots of squats! .... when I can stand up without squealing at least.
Get your own box - preferably one with a lid so kit doesn't get soaked! If you are certain it won't rain in your absence, then worry less about the lid.
You don't need a race belt, but if you only get one number, then the belt allows you to spin it around from your back when you are on the bike, to your front when you are running. I have a cheap Orca one that has a zippy pocket and three gel loops.
I use lucozade (or asda's own!) diluted with a bit of water for my very long runs, but I guess you are talking about 6 hours or so, aren't you? Gels are isotonic aren't they?
Hope the swim goes well in the lido....

Mikasa - at Try a Tri, you can lay things out on your bike and in the box or alongside the box. There are youtube videos that give ideas about how to set up 'the perfect box'. One tip - DON'T TOUCH YOUR BIKE WITHOUT YOUR HELMET ON!! (it's a rule) - so helmet on the seat with a tshirt over it, so you put your tshirt on, then helmet. Don't put t-shirt under helmet in case you put your helmet on before your t-shirt.....

If you have a puncture, you have to fix it. This is my biggest fear in any tri as I can't do that and I know that if I have a puncture, that is my race scuppered.

Bricks are amazing - I run so much quicker after a bike ride!! Or at least faster than I feel that I should.....

Eco - WHAAHH!!! Ironmaaaaaaan!!!!!.... in two years.....

MA - Mileage! Makes me realise how much i don't want to train for an Ironman....

Canisters, cartridges... never got that far myself. How do they work??

Steady - seems like you enjoyed you run in the rain more than I did. I dread to think what my face was doing at the end - I don't think it was smiling.

Alex - Blimey. That's a list and a half.

Cake - Hurrah! Happy marriage to you and Sarah!

Chili - your training sounds perfect to me. I shall attempt to emulate your every move! (see plans below)

Shas - think I saw your thread, but didn't read it as my current misery of a moaning about my marathon being cancelled is probably nothing by comparison. Might pop over - hope you are doing ok.

Hope I captured something for everyone..... Oh! ST! looks like Rutland might be on after all.....

So..... I've been thinking about it and come up with a plan.

24th June - Half mara. 7 weeks and I'm going to target this, maintaining my mileage and including a couple of 18s and a 20 as part of my training for this. I want. Sub. 1hr50.

July will mostly be spent plodding out 8-9 milers, maybe some shorter hill sessions, a few longer runs, but I'll just be ticking over in July (and maybe having a few beers....).

Aug - Might do a couple of parkruns to inject a wee bit of pace into my plodding, will start to build up to 15 mile long runs again.

Sept - Cardiff 10k another target race. Not sure what to expect. Long runs building up to 18-20 milers.

Oct - Maybe Cardiff half mara? Not sure. It won't be a target race, but I could use it.... 20-22 milers going on this month....

Nov 4th - Rutland Marathon. I want in.

Not that exciting really, but I feel better having a plan.

My training will include 2 circuit sessions a week, pilates and a swim. I have realised that I need the pilates or something because the longer runs really do cause my lower back to ache. I can fit these in by popping into the gym on my run into work, and making Weds and Sunday evenings dedicated gym time.

Of course I also want to get back to river swimming, and should probably do some biking to work and back too......

New kit is definitely in order!

shas - i am so sorry to hear you had a nasty fall, massive get well soons. please let us know how the recovery is going xxx

jevans - cardiff 10k and cardiff half mara- where do you live? Im in Gloucestershire.... one of my besties lives in llandaf.... saw some cheap HUGE transisition style boxes with lids on today (0: Will ring the company doing my tri on sunday and see if i am allowed to take a box!

MA - i read this after London. After taking a nice handful of ibuprofen pre race for my totally hopeless left quad/itb/glute medius.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/

feel very silly now. there is no wonder that i couldnt eat for 24 hours after london without massively adverse effects. bl00dy bl00dy idiot. seems that i am not the only one who does it though?

one of my ironman friends (who i spoke to after reading this article) said that she knew loadssss of people who were at it!

JEvans - that sounds like a great plan!

Alex - apartment near Nice - nice!

I think I'll leave the transition box for now, though it's very likely it'll be raining on Sunday.

What do you think, should I go to spin tomorrow? Thursday planning a 3miler at lunch time and then trying on the tri suit in the pool in the evening. Rest day Friday, but what about Saturday?