May Summary

Wow talk about blink and you miss it. All things considered it was a pretty solid month of training,

Other than moving my workouts around to fit them in it’s been a case of just follow the plan! As expected my Training is balancing out across the three disciplines.

My swimming is getting consistent, that’s all I can ask for really, it’s my weakness and while I am a firm believer in working on your weaknesses I could spend 20,000 yards a week trying to improve my swim by 5 minutes or take the 15 minutes off my run time to reduce Becca’s head start by working on intervals on the road.

Now I am back on my Slice I need to get comfy for the 2+ hours of aero plus a couple of hills, time to dig out those Tri shorts and hang up my plush cycling bibs for a while.

My running is a bit hit an miss, I am going out too fast and fading on my faster runs so I need better discipline to stay at the same pace, that means dialing it back some and keeping enough in the tank. It’s still 13.1 miles at the end of the day!

Here are the numbers for the month;

 

Total; 41 workouts. 319.28 miles in 32:50:37

13 Swims; 20,739 yards in 7:46:44

11 Bikes; 250 .53 miles in 13:24:55

15 Runs 76.97 miles in 11:05:21

2 core workouts! #SMH

The small gray one is a Transition for Chrysalis

Review; Saucony Kinvara 5

It seems somewhat inevitable and clichéd that following up from the Mirage IV (too hard) and my review of the Virrata 2 (too soft) that the Kinvara 5 was a’la the Three Bears…just right! Well they were so deal with it! With a quickly accumulated 50+ miles, the longest run of just over 10 miles, here are my thoughts.

The Look; I was sent a Black/Gray pair. My immediate thought was ugh, but they have grown on me and I brightened them up with some contrasting Yankz Laces. Having looked online these are definitely on the better end of the color spectrum IMHO for sure, see below for other options. I expect more colors to follow in the future, that’s what has happened in the past!

 

The Upper; Best described in a factious way as snug, roomy and light. There is enough support for your foot, they don’t slop about. The new Flexfilm is melded to the upper and contains your foot, but is not restrictive. There have been reports of the uppers tearing and I have had issues in both Kinvara 2s and 4s albeit on retired shoes that were being used for dog walking, once the start to go they just split! The Flexfilm is strong but light but flexible enough to give without letting your foot slip about. Additionally there is inner an sleeve which contains your foot and is included into the lacing pattern, this is the contrasting green section. Saucony call this ProLock, I can’t say I noticed if it creates the more snug fit that I think they are trying to achieve but it adds a nice splash of color! They are not seamless on the inside so triathletes may need socks which adds time to T2.

The Fit; For me they are perfect out of the box, I really don’t like laces having made the switch to Yankz several years ago and that’s all I had to do. Some people have had issues with the toe box in the version 4 of this shoe being narrower and report this is wider, personally I didn’t notice any real difference between the two versions. The tongue is slightly more padded as is the cuff…no problems from either of those changes.

The Sole; 12mm of sole with a 4mm of drop. Again no issues for me, the drop is enough to get you off of the flat foot feel you can have with zero drop shoes. They prompt me to run light and stay on my midfoot. They have added iBR+ rubber on the outsole to create a longer lasting sole. I estimate that these should last 200-250 miles.

The Ride; A very plush ride, enough to cushion you on the road without feeling like you’re on marshmallows! If anything a little softer than the version 4, but softer than the Mirage IVs and harder than the Virrata 2s Most of my running has been on the local roads and sidewalks with a smattering of treadmill miles for both speed work and steady Zone 2 runs but nothing longer than 10 miles.

Overall; The Kinvara remains my go to shoe, it’s light enough to keep you running fast and yet has enough comfort to avoid that feeling that you are running with boxes on your feet! These will be waiting for me at T2 at Vineman next month and will be my staple shoe through the rest of the year.

Available for men in Boston green/yellow, flouro green/black and white/blue as well the black/gray shown here. For the ladies in Boston green/yellow, pink/white. Yellow/white and turquoise/white, these retail for $100

These shoes were provided free of charge by the good folks at Saucony. See previous gear reviews in the menu above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

6HAT and Vineman; Week 4

Rest week…this is late posting so I will keep it short.

Monday; Threshold Swim. Quick late night dip having me getting out the pool at 8:30pm! WU 3x100 300 pulling MS 6x100 Hard 10 RI 1x100 easy CD 200 easy, messed up second warm up interval. Working on consistency all the time and slowly getting swim fit

Tuesday; Drills and interval run on the treadmill. WU 15 minutes warm up, 10 minutes of drills and striders MS 12x60 seconds hard 90 rest (6:40/10:00) miscounted and did 11 CD 10 minutes easy

Wednesday; Brick ride/run. Sufferfest Wretched. 49 minute ride with 30 minutes of solid bike work followed by 30 minutes zone 2 running

Thursday; off

Friday; Endurance swim, squeezed it in during lunch and worked on my tan; I really need to learn backstroke to work on tanning my front!

Saturday; off

Sunday; Brick Sufferfest Chrysalis. Happy with this as! Compared to the last time I am getting faster for less effort…that’s a good thing!

That’s it!

Review; Saucony Virrata 2

Following up from the Mirage IV review we now move to the other end of the Saucony’s minimal spectrum, the Virrata 2.

The Look; Well despite being a slave to Black/Red/White. I like the green version of these. They definitely asked to be looked but that’s so much better than white shoes with a splash of color that get dirty after one run.

The Upper; I had a pair of the original Virrata’s and just didn’t get on with them, the uppers were very sloppy and after a few runs I gave up using them, these are much improved and feel much more solid in their construction as a result they hold your foot better. I think this is a function of the material being more robust rather then there being more material. Like the Mirages’ these are not seam free on the inside. They are finished off with a nice toe bumper and heel counter but everything is kept to a minimum.

The Fit; Now with the improved upper the fit while running is better, the toe box is roomy enough and as usual for me I size up to a size US11/UK10/Euro45. I fitted Yankz quick lace which is just for preference and had no issues with them.

 

  

The Sole; 18mm of sole all around, these are a zero drop shoe. This does take some getting used even the 4mm drop of the Kinvara’s or Mirage’s is noticeable by comparison. I am not going to get into the mid-foot discussion but I would say that these, in my opinion are better suited to someone who is a lighter-on-their-feet runner. The soles are constructed from EVA+ with some rubber on the high wear areas; the heel, toes and strangely under the big toe, anyone who supinates is going to wear there out pretty quickly, given the lack of protection on the sole I estimate that these should last 200-250 miles.

The Ride; These are poles away from the Mirage’s the ride on these is a little soft, not feel the cracks in the pavement soft but these are very different by comparison. Most of my running has been on the local roads and sidewalks with a smattering of treadmill miles for both speed work and steady Zone 2 runs but nothing longer than 8 miles. On the treadmill which has a little flex to the deck there were awesome. Overall I had no issues but I wonder if they would start to have issues at the 10 miles to Half Marathon distance?

Overall; These are a big improvement over the original Virratas’. The improved upper structure makes this a very comfortable shoe to wear and run in, certainly at the shorter distances, only time for longer runs will tell as my mileage increases. As mentioned they are on the minimal side and so expect them to wear out on the sooner rather than later side. Of course, as they say; your mileage may vary!

Available for men in black/orange, flouro yellow/white and white/blue as well the green/red shown here. For the ladies in orange/green, black/pink, blue/white and white/aqua, these retail for $90 which is at the lower end of the today’s price range for shoes and goes someway to offsetting the expecting quicker wear…if you shop around you can find them for $80!

These shoes were provided free of charge by the good folks at Saucony. See previous gear reviews in the menu above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

Review; Saucony Mirage IV

So this Spring Saucony updated and released new versions of three popular shoes, the Mirage IV, Virrata 2 and Kinvara 5. I was lucky enough to be sent a pair of each and have put on enough miles on them that it’s time to put down some thoughts.

This is not a “vs” review as the shoes are aimed at three different markets/types of runners but some comparison is inevitable, if you have been running for a while you should have a pretty good understanding of what shoe works best for you and if you are new to running my advice is to go to running specialty store (not Big5, Sports Authority etc) and have someone look at your gait, try a few shoes and go from there. This is also not a heel striker, mid-foot discussion piece. For the record I try to be as efficient a mid-foot striker as I can and revert back to a bit of a heel striker when I get tired. I have progressed over the years from the Asics 19/20XX series through Brooks to Newtons to Saucony and for the last few years have predominantly been wearing Kinvaras with a smattering of Newtons. So with all that said on with the show. First up is the Mirage IV.

The Look; I love the look of this shoe. I seemed to have evolved into a runner whose wardrobe is filled with red/black and white and these fit right in, they are red, very red they make it look your feet are on fire! This I like!

  

The Upper; Saucony redesigned the uppers to include FlexFilm to reinforce them, this is overlaid onto the mesh so it’s seamless. The shoes bend nicely when you run, there are no folds in uncomfortable places. The heel counter extends round to the upper laces, it’s supportive but a little unusual in the extent of how much it encroached into the uppers. The inside is not seamless so these may not appeal to triathletes and there are seams where the tongue and heel uppers join.

The Fit; I always size up half a size from regular shoes and I received these in a size US11/UK10/Euro45 and had no problems with the fit The toe box is plenty room enough and caters to my Morton’s toes without issue! Nicely padded and soft heel lining in contrasting colors finishes them off.

The Sole; First the numbers, 24mm heel and 20mm sole gives you a 4mm drop. Not overly thick, but by no means a racing flat. The sole is stiff and firm. It’s a pretty harsh ride and my preference is for something that is a bit softer. The is a plastic medial post, I didn’t feel it (or not feel it) so for me it’s just there. Saucony replaced the ProGrid with PowerGrid in the midsole, which according to the website offers 15% less weight & 30% more durable cushioning than standard EVA.

The Ride; As mentioned I found the ride a bit harsh. This shoe is positioned as a lightweight stability shoe and having run in Neutral shoes for so long I was struggling with the fact that they wanted to put my feet where they wanted to put them rather than letting me work that out. Combined with the stiffness of the sole it just didn’t make for the best of experiences for me.

Overall; I really wanted to like this shoe…if nothing else for the color and styling alone but the bottom line is that they need to work when you are running in them and not just have them looking awesome in the bottom of your closet! Like I said my advice is try them…they may just work for you.

Available online and through your local running store these come in the red shown here, black/lime and as well blue/white for men, for the ladies there are black/pink, purple/white and gray/lime, priced at $110 if you hunt around you’ll probably find them priced closer to the $100 mark.

These shoes were provided free of charge by the good folks at Saucony. See previous gear reviews in the menu above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

Review; The Sufferfest Steam-Roller

I was lucky enough to have been given a preview version of the latest and greatest from the twisted mind of The Sufferfest; “Steam-Roller”. Steam-Roller is a major departure away from the typical rubber-side down on a Trainer cycling videos and takes you off of two wheels and puts you firmly onto two feet on a Treadmill! Yes it’s time to give that runner in you a good ass kicking!

As with other Sufferfest you’re provided with two things; a pumping soundtrack and series of instructions. The instructions taunt, tease and test you, they are overlaid on top of some great motivational video footage. There are 13, yes unlucky for some, intervals! With a nice easy warm up for the first 5 minutes followed by a minute to recover you then have 13 intervals over varying distances/durations/intensities with a combination of recoveries lasting between 0:30 to 1:45 and then a cool down for 3 minutes…soup to nuts 47 minutes.

I had to jump on the skids at the end as I couldn’t get the treadmill to slow down fast enough! 

Cadence…get some!

The intervals are based on a RPE with the longer intervals at a lesser effort. Rather than prescribe a pace or speed which would vary greatly there is a simple scale which most runners should be familiar with ramping up from Easy Jog through Marathon Pace to 5k Pace to being chased by a TRex Pace….no I am not joking! Additionally there are prompts for incline angles.

The video is taken from the Melbourne Marathon and from the IIAF Diamond League Track and Field meet in London in 2013 with footage from varying distance ranging from 100m to 3000m with some notable appearances by the likes of Martinez, Farah, Bekele and Bolt! This is so fresh off of Final Cut Pro that there is not even a teaser reel….so here is some actual included footage that I found online.

As always the quality is constantly improving and long gone are the grainy days of 2009, this is HD all the way! As mentioned this is a quality soundtrack (sorry no words) with some great high cadence music to keep your feet light, turnover up and your knees high.

One additional side benefit is that I learned how potato chips/crisps are made…and that’s all I have say about that!

Yet to be priced I expect this will be in the $13-15 range which is much the same as the other available videos.

Just remember…  
Available mid-June this is definitely one to have on your Mobile device or PC to avoid another dreary treadmill run!

My 2k!

Rolled 2000 miles for the year tonight…so far so good!

Training is much more balanced across Swim, Bike, Run so the rapidity of accumulation will slow for a while.

Just over two weeks to the next race!

#honeymoonhijinx

Yeah we had our own hashtag!

So in lieu of a proper honeymoon due to Becca changing jobs and a whole bunch of other stuff and in the same fashion as we tend to do things; married in January, Reception in April and Honeymoon in May we had our Honeymoon!

Two days off work volunteering at the Amgen Tour of California, a big workout day, see earlier post, and VIP Tickets at the Amgen Tour! What’s not better than doing what you love with who you love.

Stage 5 Pismo to Santa Barbara. We had been given a spot 4kms from the finish. We were posted at road junctions making sure that nobody pulled out into the race. The junction had a nasty pothole in the middle of one of the lanes and I was given a Whistle and told to direct the riders away from it! And yes I ended up on TV! Fast forward to 7:00 minutes in and you’ll see me on the right in a yellow shirt. We hit the expo at the end were lucky enough to see Taylor Phinney coming out of Doping Control, Becca swooned and snagged an autograph on her Volunteer shirt!

   

 
Taylor Phinney in red and me in Yellow!

Stage 6 Santa Clarita to Mountain High. This time we were at the start and right by the 0km which was a couple of miles after the riders actually started. Again I was stuck in the middle of the road directing traffic so I have no photos. Most people were ok with detour and some less so and were very happy to tell me about it…I just smiled!

Stage 8 Thousand Oaks. Becca and I picked up a couple of VIP tickets to the Michelob Tent off of Living Social and it was our Honeymoon so what the hell! We got there early and saw the riders roll out. The route was the same as we had ridden at L’Etape last month prior with the addition of three short loops to ramp the sprinters up for the finish line. Here is some more onboard footage of them coming down the final descent at 80kph…that’s 50mph and 20mph faster than me!

The race was awesome and it was great to see fellow Brits win both the Stage (Mark Cavandish) and the overall (Bradley Wiggins). We hung around at the end and got our groupie on, I had brought a couple of books to see if I could get them signed. I scored lucky with Cav’ and Wiggo signing theirs for me! A word of advice; please and thankyou go a long way, Brad was not happy signing as he was with his wife and children and the people surrounding were getting pushy. I seriously think that asking nicely won him over, I was one of only three or four folks to get an autograph!

I also got John Degenkolb’s autograph on a route card;

And a photo of us under the finish banner…

And that was that but of course I took a million photos which I am sifting through!

You can read Becca’s version of events here.

Back to reality!

6HAT and Vineman; Week 3

Another week, more miles, roll on, roll on!

That about sums it up. This was a solid week of pretty much all quality training

Monday; The Sufferfest Blender. Started the week of with a bang riding;an hour and three quarters of hills sprints and time trial, it’s nice to start the week with 32 miles before 7am!

Tuesday; a double. 50 minutes Zone 2 run in the morning and a threshold swim in the evening. As I have said numerous times my swimming is slow so the best I can hope for is consistency and that’s starting to show through, the set was WU 6x50 20 RI w/PB MS 10x100 10 RI 1x500 w/PB CD 100 alt 25s BS FS

Wednesday; Brick; The Sufferfest Long Scream followed by 30 minutes Zone 2 running, some transition practice which is never a bad thing! The purchase of the Treadmill is paying off in spades right now!

Thursday; swim. A pyramid swim WU 2x200 w/PB MS Pyramid 100, 150, 250, 500, 250, 150, 100 CD 100 w/PB. It was done on the way to volunteer and the Stage 4 of Amgen Tour of California in Santa Barbara, more on that later.

Friday; Run. Buddied up with Becca after volunteer at Stage 5 of Amgen Tour of California in Santa Clarita to get a long run in, left it very late as it was such a hot day and finally got out around 8:30pm and run just over 10 miles in the 90 minutes. This is by far my longest run this year and it was not with some aches and pains but I was pleased to get it under my belt!

Saturday; Brick. Again buddied up with Becca and added more time to the ride to match her plan. We headed out to the coast to avoid the inland heat and instead battled the winds! Just under three hours and 51 miles later we tied our laces for a 30 minute run. Overall I was pleased with the ride and it puts me in reach of my Vineman time from 2012 and gives me some indication if I can get a 2:40 – 2:45 bike split this year, which is something I need if I am going to give Becca a run for her money!

 

Sunday; off. Another day at the Amgen Tour!

So totals for the week;

• Total 10:56:05
• Mile 122.25
• 3 swims; 2:06:30/5600 yards
• 3 bikes; 5:21:17/96.94 miles
• 4 runs; 3:24:41/22:13

Next week is a rest week!

Go! Go! Go!

Crazy footage from Day 1 of Amgen Tour of California!

Here's some more of the same...

Can you tell who won?

Cav did!

6HAT and Vineman; Week 2

Week 2 in the bag. As is usual the week’s workouts had to be thrown in the air and the pieces organized so that Becca and I can get all the required training in. The pressure on the schedule will ease off post Vineman as my race calendar thins out and her focus becomes laser like on Ironman Arizona. The focus of this week was six straight days of workouts. Typically the plan has Monday as the day off but that wasn’t to be and the week shook out like this;

Monday; Bike. The classic Sufferfest Hell Hath No Fury

Tuesday; Swim. Fail…well kinda. I headed to a different pool but got the open and close times muddled up and got there with 30 minutes to go so I ditched the planned swim and decided to spend the set working on upper strength so I donned my paddles and pulled for the session, after I had reset my Garmin Swim to 50m as the pool was laned off for long course. That night I jumped on the new treadmill and 45 mins Z2 run, no problems.

Wednesday; The Sufferfest Chrysalis video, I have reviewed it without a treadmill here, this time I got to see the running portions of the video!

Thursday; off. I didn’t make the six days, as this would have been it.

Friday; Swim. This was the set from Monday; WU 12X50m FS W/PB 20secs recovery MS 5x100m FS 20secs recovery 4x150m FS 30 secs recovery 4x25m Hard FS 30 secs recovery CD 100m easy FS. Of course I had forgotten to reset my watch back to 25 yards! I am actually pretty pleased with my swimming which really hasn’t lost that much since January which was the last time I was in the pool.

Saturday; Swim. Yes again! This time I spent too much time Instagraming my work out that I left it in the house…at least my watch had the right settings! Managed to pull 90% of the set out of my failing memory and the better news was I made the main set harder, not easier! WU 6x100m FS W/PB, 2x100 pulling,  20secs recovery MS 8x100m FS 10secs recovery CD 200m easy FS.

I also got a preview of a brand new Sufferefest Video but I have to keep that Top Secret for now! Oh and my new Kinvara 5s arrived which I love, love, love! Having ran in the Mirage 4S, Virrata 2s and Kivara5s over the last month these are by far my favorite, review to follow!

Sunday; not quite as planned. After returning children to their parents after a Saturday night Birthday sleepover Becca and I headed to Ventura so she could get her first open water swim in. The plan had been for her to then ride home as she had a 3.5 hour ride on her schedule. It was not to be as one of her tires started leaking four miles in and with tubular tires it’s not quite so easy to fix on the side of the road. So I rescued her and we finished up the day on the trainer which for me was the first hour and half of ISLAGIATT followed by a 30 minute run on the treadmill…it certainly got some use this week!

Sunday night spent planning again! There's no "finding" the work/life balance...you have to plan the shit out of it! 10 hours for me and 13 hours training for Becca plus three days volunteering at the Amgen Tour of California later this week!

 

And that was that…my workouts are starting to represent Triathlon Training with a balance across the swim/bike/run each week and the distances are increasing slowly but surely! Eight weeks to go!

Challenge on!

Both Becca and I are heading to Vineman in nine weeks, it’s the third time for her and the second for me. We were last there in 2012 and for me it was a work up for IMAZ, Becca is following the same plan this year with IMAZ in November.

As I have mentioned in the past she is by far a better swimmer, we’re both pretty good runners and up until recently I was a stronger cyclist but she is closing in fast!

This year I start two waves behind her in the swim, that’s 18 minutes. She will pull away even further in the swim from me and gain another 10 – 12 minutes exiting the water in around 35 minutes. Conservatively that puts her nearly half an hour ahead! In 2012 I finished the bike in 2:52:21 and Becca was finished in 3:22:48 (in 2011 her finish was 1:51:10). Potentially we could be neck and neck but I know this year she will be faster…a lot faster on the bike…looks like it could come down the run!

I hope mine goes better than in 2012 when I really suffered in the heat finishing in 2:06:06, Meanwhile in 2011 Becca ran a 1:51:10!

 

My 2012 finish in 5:58:39 and Becca’s in 2011, a kick ass 5:32:10

Either way a couple that trains and races together…well you know!

The Devil is in the details!

Minor rant time.

So after L’Etape I stopped off at the LBS to get a new chain and out of sheer laziness I decided to ask them to replace the inner tube in the tire that blew. Pretty vanilla fixes really. Later that day I picked up the bike. It was only when I got it home that I noticed this…

Can you see it?

Let me point it out…

Can you see it now?

Here’s a comparison to the other wheel…

See it now?

You see there is a rule “Tires are to be mounted with the label centered over the valve stem. Pro mechanics do it because it makes it easier to find the valve. You do this because that’s the way pro mechanics do it. This will save you precious seconds while your fat ass sits on the roadside fumbling with your CO2 after a flat. It also looks better for photo opportunities”

Here is another take on the same issue; “Most good bicycle mechanics pay attention to the orientation of labels. The most usual custom for tires is to locate the label right at the valve, facing to the right. Some justify this on the grounds that having a standard tire mounting orientation can make it easier to find a thorn or glass sliver in a tire, once the hole has been located in the (removed) tube. While there's an element of truth to this, placing the label consistently is really more about pride of workmanship and attention to detail”.

Ok you may think of this as sheer roady snobbery and you may be right but consider these two points. That 48mm threaded tube is probably $1-2 cheaper than the one I wanted; a 60mm smooth stem tube, the LBS just short changed itself. More importantly, if they don’t pay the attention to detail when changing an inner tube what else are they ignoring…brake service anyone!?

I follow Doctor D on Facebook, if you want to see how a bike can be maintained check out his Facebook page…he is a man who has learned to dance with the devil and where the details are for sure…unfortunately for me he lives in the UK!

New addition to the family…

No not another dog, or bike, or dear god a child…a treadmill.

Becca and I decided to get a treadmill. Like a bike trainer it’s a great tool to have in your toolkit, I did a bit of research and decided that we really didn’t need to have all the bells and whistles, but have decline (the opposite of incline) would be useful and I posted as much on my status on Facebook looking for suggestions/ recommendations. Later that day a friend posted that she had one to sell! That weekend we went to see it, paid for it and set it up…job done! 

So I present our new (to us), Nordictrack Commercial 2150 I am sure we will be spending many miles together!
All set with new treadmill in place in front of the Roude Léiw...and now all the better to do Chrysalis...oh and Cali seems to like it too!

6HAT and Vineman; Week 1

Well here we go another round of training starts, this time balancing training for 6 Hours at Temecula (6HAT) a crazy looped Mountain Bike race in June and Vineman in July. As mentioned before I am using The Sufferfest Intermediate Training Plan. I like the plan as it’s the perfect length (10 weeks) to fit in before the race and it’s a known quantity, I followed the Intermediate Cycling Plan last year with pretty good results and it utilizes a lot of the videos I already own. I am going to mix it up to cover the MTB training and to that end my weekend bricks will be, when possible, on my Mountain Bike and then on the trails, this should double down a bit on working on my running and improving my off road skills.

So the first week of training was “Test Week”.

• Bike FTP (Functional Threshold Power), I decided to forgo this test as I had only tested two weeks ago which resulted in an increased FTP of 230 
• Swim CSS (Critical Swim Speed)
• Run Threshold Test to determine Lactate Threshold HR (LTHR)

As well several individual workouts and a Brick, this is how it all shook out;

Monday; Threshold Run Test. 10 min warm up, 5 min drills, 30 minutes test and 10 min cool down, work out the training zones based on your average HR for the last 20 minutes of the test. Result 163bpm

I also added a swim in the evening. Should have been an Endurance swim but arrived late so just in and got on with it. Four months since my last swim! WU 300 w/PB MS 2X300 Steady CD 100 w/PB. I am never going to be fast but I can be consistent.

Tuesday; 40 minutes Aerobic Endurance run at Z2, check!

Wednesday; Swim Threshold test. Not pretty but done. WU; 3x100 FS 4x50 FS Build MS; 400 TT, 400 Easy, 200 TT CD; 150 Easy Well it's a starting point! Oh and left my Garmin on on the drive home!

Thursday; easy TrainerRoad ride to keep Becca company and give moral support as she retested

Friday; off…beer!

Saturday; Aerobic Endurance Swim. Warm up 7x 100m FS, :30 secs rest. (RPE3/10 secs below CSS). Main Set Repeat the following 2x at RPE4/5-7 secs below CSS. :30 secs recovery between each effort:100m FS, 150m FS 200m FS 150m FS 0:30 recovery 5:00 min – Cool down 150m easy…phew!

Sunday; Brick 90 min ride and 30 minutes run, off road! It took a bit of co-ordination but I managed it. Just over 10 miles on the ride for 2000’ of gain.

Followed by the run where I met up with Becca for a mile or so as while finished up her training brick. I got to try out my new Saucony Peregrine 4s and take a bunch of photos on the way!

 

As expected it took some co-ordination and moving workouts around a bit but Week one is in the bag!