It's been a week since my last post, so I'm back again...

...i've just checked Strava, and realised my last week wasn't as productive as I'd hoped:

Monday: rest (a little sore after Saturday's long run).

Tuesday: rode on the trainer for half an hour in the morning.

Wednesday: again 30 minutes on the trainer.

Thursday: Alarm went of at 5 am, felt like complete crap...re-set alarm...

Friday am: Again, alarm at 5 am, still felt crap...rest is good when you feel like crap...right???
Anyway, I'd had enough of this, so i gave myself a severe talking to.

Friday pm: Swam...felt good.

Saturday: alarm went off at 5:50...ffs, it's Saturday!
Jumped out of bed and headed down to the Tri Club rooms for my first training session with MPTC.  Well, baptism of fire! 20 km hilly run.  First 10k...UP...calves shattered! Second 10k...DOWN...quads shattered!! And just as i thought it was over... STAIRS!!
I finished a broken man...but enjoyed every second of it...

Sunday: alarm went of at 5:30...wtf, it's Sunday! 

Nice, relaxing 2 1/2 hour bike ride.  It was a bit windy, but pfft, it's winter in Melbourne - that happens!  

Also tried out 2 new things on this ride.
First was my new 'king bright light from FYXO - brilliant!!

Second was the aero drink bottle between the bars. Worked well, just need to adjust the position of the straw a little.

So although i haven't been setting the world on fire with my training, i'm definitely heading in the right direction. Looking back, my training time per month has been increasing every month, for the last 8 months.

I'm figuring if i keep that trend going, I should be pretty well positioned for the Melbourne Marathon in mid-October, the Noosa Tri in early December, and have built a great platform for the final 20 week build into Ironman.

I just need to remember, that i don't need to try to keep up with my mates who do single discipline sports (be it running, or cycling), and train 5 or 6 days a week. I'm training in three disciplines and therefore are only doing 3 to 4 sessions of each per week!

And most of all - fingers crossed i can remain injury free.

Cheers!

Starting to tick the running boxes...

After the last nine days, i'm finally starting to feel like my run is getting under control, and feeling almost natural...

To summarise, last weekend was made up of 19.2 km around the hilly trails at Lysterfield, followed by 3 km off the bike on Sunday.

And this week, i managed 59.5 km, comprising:

• Monday - 6.2 km off the bike (in the Vibrams);
• Tuesday - 15.1 km (low/endurance HR)
• Thursday - 8 km (just got out and ran in the storms)
• Saturday - 3km with Jamesy at Kid's Run Melbourne (did the run ahead, take photo, repeat thing - which is getting harder now that he's running 5:05 min/km) followed by 22.2 km around the local, soft, flooded, local trails in the pouring rain... (low/endurance HR)
• Today (Sunday) - 5km Run Melbourne with Claire (easy run in Vibrams)

 The long slow runs are feeling good. Although i was pretty much shot after 22 km, i was feeling like that with a bit more time and a few more km's under my belt i could have kept on going for another hour or two - which is kind of lucky considering what i've got planned.

As i sit here and type this, my legs are feeling a little tired and sore - but nothing a day's rest and a few sessions with the foam roller won't fix!

Also, since i finished reading Christopher McDougall's Born To Run, i've wanted to find out all i could about barefoot / natural running.  I found, and have recently started reading Danny Abshire's Natural Running: The Simple Path to Stronger, Healthier Running and have also got Scott Douglas' The Runner's World Complete Guide to Minimalism and Barefoot Running: How to Make the Healthy Transition to Lightweight Shoes and Injury-Free Running...

No doubt, i'll talk about these two books once i've finished reading them!

It was great to do the Run Melbourne 5 km with Claire. She put in a hard fought run and ended up beating her goal time - i'm so proud of the effort she put in! And to finish off here's a Selfie of Claire and me after Run Melbourne...

Christopher McDougall: Are we Born to Run??

I've been preaching a bit lately about the book Born to Run, barefoot running, and the Tarahumara.  For those who don't read, here's a 15 minute talk by Christopher McDougall, the broken down, injured runner, who set out to track them down and find their secret to distance running... 

Time to drop the "Of course I can eat that, I'm an athlete" attitude...

Since forever, i've pretty much eaten whatever i like. 

And my morning tea, more often than not, resembled something like this...

I've always been fairly active, and when combined with a fast metabolism, i've never had weight issues.

A few years back i realised i'd stacked on a few pounds. Ok, so peaking at 88 kg at age 38 wasn't too much of an issue, but it was 10 kg heavier than i was 10 years earlier and i knew if i didn't get active the weight would keep on adding up...

So long story short, i ended up semi-seriously running and doing triathlon.

Within a year my weight was back down to a more respectable 75 kg.  And it kind of oscillates between the low and mid 70's depending upon what i'm up to.

With my weight back down to a manageable level and training more than every other day i adopted the "OF COURSE I CAN EAT THAT, I'M AN ATHLETE" attitude...

However, now my training is getting more serious, and i'm trying to enter the realms of ultra/endurance events it's time i re-thought this strategy.

I'm trying to become A Finely Tuned Machine...ok, a semi-serious MOP (middle of the pack) athlete, and accordingly i should treat my body as such.

I've been reading about Paleo, Clean Eating, etc, trying to work out what I "should" and "shouldn't" eat...

So it appears that "The Rules" are pretty simple...

1. Reduce Alcohol...yeah, ok...i'm currently doing Dry July, and even when i'm not 5am training kinda sux when you're hung-over... TICK!
2. Reduce Processed Sugars...step away from the sweets jar...TICK!
3. Reduce Salt...don't really have salt, still need to look into salt tabs to reduce those lost during training...can i get them salt reduced ;) ...TICK!
4. Reduce Saturated Fat...main culprits - apart from the obvious "treats" are apparently dairy and meat - don't do dairy (lactose intolerant) and we eat lean meat...TICK!
5. Reduce Refined Grains...steer clear of white bread, white rice, white pasta, and go for "whole" grain varieties...NOT TICK!! Can improve here!!
6. Reduce Processed Foods...not too bad here, eat mostly fresh...Breakfast Cereal...???...PARTIAL TICK!
7. More Fruit and Vege...pretty good here, snacks are generally from this area...TICK!
8. More Water...happy with my water intake...colour chart says i'm well hydrated most of the time...TICK!
9. More Green Tea...generally have Green Tea on the go most of the time...TICK!
10. More Whole Grains...kinda will be taken care of with 5...???...ALMOST TICK!

So looking at that i really don't eat too bad. Just need to:

• swap the white pasta/bread/rice for whole grain alternatives, 
• keep away from the lolly and treat jar, 
• show some restrain when Dry July is over, and
• sort out breakfast!

One thing i'm going to need to see if i can find are some alternatives to energy gels...but on the other hand, if i'm in need of an energy gel, that's because i've used all my stored energy and need the energy from that high processed sugar right then and there!! (Maybe???)

If anybody can help me out here, please feel free to comment. 

Running...Back On Track...

Just a little note to say...woo hoo...my running appears to be back on track.

Last Saturday I decided it was time to hit Lysterfield lake Park again, last time we went there it was absolutely pissing down with rain, this time we were greeted with this...

So off we set. Last time i ran a single loop, this time we were planning to add a little loop to the bigger loop.  The run felt really good, and i even managed to run up the hill that got the better of me last time... (Linky to Strava data).  When i got home i checked my data, and just as i thought - this run was:

• my longest (time) 1hr 45min;
• my furthest (distance) 19.2km; and
• my hilliest (gain) 361m , 

since i injured myself during Two Bays Trail Run, back in January!!

But what was the most pleasing aspect, was my fitness.

While my legs struggled a bit (ok, i'm still sore a few days later), i didn't find myself lacking the fitness to keep on going.  It's a shame that i forgot to charge my Garmin and had to track my run using strava (HRM-less), because it would have been interesting to see what my HR was doing. I know that i some of the rises i was pushing it up, but i was pretty happy with the overall exertion level.

And Yes, i was that annoying person on the trails who appeared to be way too happy; smiling and saying hello to everybody else out there :)

Article by triathlon.competitor.com - Nailing the IM run... Well that's the plan!

As with most people, i presume, who are training for their first Ironman triathlon, i'm trying to absorb knowledge.  Reading whatever i can, and listening to all the advice on offer. 

I remember one of the best pieces of advice we were given when we had our first child - listen to everything and take what you want and ignore (or at least file away) the rest.

Well, it's fair to say that the bit that scaring me the most about the IM is the run... so when i saw this article headline "How to Nail the Ironman Triathlon" i thought i should at least read it.

Oh, and i probably should add that my version of nailing the run, at this stage, means finishing!!

Read it. Enjoyed it. 

Seemed some pretty solid advice. Didn't seem to contradict too much other advice. Seemed to sort of fit with what i was kind of thinking, so it was encouraging to get that "feedback" that my thought processes  were not too left of field.

My current training program has been filled for the next 18 or so weeks, which takes me through my first marathon and to my first triathlon of the season - the Noosa Olympic distance tri.  

Now with the advice from this article i can start to add some key sessions to the 20 week period from the Oly tri through to my first Ironman!!

UPDATE...

Well it's been a week or so since my last update.

In that time i've managed to get my health back on track, have a couple of good swims and get an exceptionally sore leg tendon.

I think i went a little too far and too fast in my first real run in the Vibrams - but thanks to my lovely masseur (aka my gorgeous wife), who has enjoyed inflicting pain and seeing my squirm in agony, my tendon issues appear to be getting under control.

I just need to ease into running in the Vibrams with one short run - and i mean starting at 2km - a week, building slowly as it feels ok, and start to build some long steady km's in my normal runners.

Apparently running on grass is also good for posterior tibial tendon issues - so be it!

As my run begins to get back on track, i need to start to build my ride.  My intense short (up to 1 hr) rides are good, just need to get out of bed on Sunday mornings and go long!!