I'm pretty bloody terrible at keeping logs, so I'm calling this an update log.
Basically, I'll probably end up not putting in every session, but will try and keep updates on progress and my feelings throughout...

Right now, I'm feeling fairly good... I'm now running between 8-12 miles on my longer runs (2x per week) I'm cycling to work and back twice a week (22miles each way with some killer hills), and am on the backburner with my swimming due to the fact that the next race is a duathlon.

Upcoming races entered so far:
7 November 09 - Winter ballbuster Duathlon (8mile run, 24mile bike 8mile run).
May 2010 - Spring Ball Buster Duathlon (8mile run, 24mile bike, 8mile run).
July 2010 - Wimbleball IronMan 70.3 (1.2mile Swim, 56mile bike, 13.1mile run)

I've been struggling lately with my pre run/bike nutrition timing... basically, as the routes have goten harder and longer, I seem to be having trouble keeping it down. This is bad, but I'm trying to get it in about 1h-45mins before the route, but every time lately I've been at the side of the road puking it and the lucozade up after about 2miles. not as if I'm pushing myself overly hard at this point, but more that my body knows it's going to be needingthe energy and is just storing it in the stomach...
This doesn't seem to be affecting my endurance tho, I'm pretty much able to complete it everytime, and quite often with more in the bank.

Aims at present (with 8 and a bit weeks to go) is to complete the BallBuster in under 4 hours... I'm aiming for about 70mins each run with about 80mins for the bike, and a good amount of time for transitions. I reckon hopefully come day of the race, if nothing goes wrong, I'll be able to hit sub 3.5hours, but it's the first long distance race I've done, so experience is the main aim.

Times right now:
8mile run - 64minutes (8min mile). generally feel pretty good after this, with more in the tank... Feel like I could get this to sub 60mins.
22mile Bike - 72mins (18mph average). should be picking the new lighter bike with much better groupset in the next week or so, this is the bike I'll be using for races, and should be adding tri bars onto this, so times should come down!
Swimming - Focusing on technique/breathing. no times or distances relevant.

Maybe try to eat 2hr30 before instead of 1hr45?

Sounds like alot of fun - I'm considering doing a marathon in march/april-ish.

Ye eat further away from the even, your digestion is poor anyway so its too much to ask on your body.

Will be following this one with interest Rich.

Good luck Rich!

Told you I was shit with training logs.

Right, the past two odd weeks of training have been up and down... Mainly down right now.

Running was going well and generally feeling good after a 10-12 mile run whilst still getting quicker pretty much every time (depending on route).
Swimming is still on the backburner right now until after the Duathlon in Nov, so only using that as a relaxing activity to keep the body moving.
Cycling. Well, I picked up the new bike today and haven't had chance to take it out for a spin yet... Tomorrow!

Last week I was on a course in the south of france, Dune Du Pilat (just outside Bordeaux) learning to paraglide, and on thusday I came down pretty heavy and fast and am struggling to walk much at the moment... Knee is an agonising mess, no swelling or bruising, which is a bit nerving, but still... Booked in for Physio & Sports massage on monday, so hopefully there will be a pretty young lady that's able to make me feel better!

Apart from that, everything was going in the right direction... Feeling better after every session, little by little more intensity every week, generally upping it by 5% every three sessions, which runs in well with my routine, and I'm definitely putting a decent little amount of fitness down to using the powerbreathe! I reckon it's a smart little thing. I've got the IronMan model with heavy resistance, and after about four weeks of use (week off due to paragliding trip) I'm still only just able to use it up to 6/10 settings, so still some power to come from that!

8mile run - 62min avg, fastest just before break 59:26... route with some smallish hills, nothing major.
22mile cycle - 69:30min avg, last ride on the old bike was 67:15, early morning ride with some pretty decent hills towards the end.

Thanks for the advice about food guys, I've started eating about 2h+ before the longer runs, and so far so good... Think I was fooling myself into thinking that if it wasn't eaten within the hour-ish before a run, it wouldn't be sent to the places needed... Wrong!

Right, off to try and stretch the knees so I can walk for more than 2mins without gritting my teeth.

Partial tear of the quad ligament = problem training at the moment.

Shit news really, can still only walk for about 5-10mins before the pain really kicks in... Cycling I'm finding I can do to a moderate intensity, but any hills are killing my knee.

I think the plan for the next few weeks are some moderate rides on the bike, a lot more swimming, and a fair few sessions on the x-trainer at the gym to keep the fitness up.

Sorry to hear about that Rich. Try not to do too much too soon.

Argh!! Gutted for you Rich. Take it easy..I do hope you can get going again soon.

Yeah take it easy mate. Swimming is probably a good call as it's not weight-bearing

Sorry to hear that Rich. As said above, take it easy mate. Sounds like a good time to work on your swimming

Thanks guys (and girls)!

Yeah bit of a bummer with laying off the running and hill cycling, but went out and hit a decent 20mile flatish ride this morning, felt pretty stiff after, but nothing too bad and during the ride I had no real pain.

Swimming will be my saviour (as well as getting back into the gym more for some x-trainer as well as bulking up a little again as I've been neglecting that over the past few months after upping the cardio... My chest is leaving me and I don't like it!)

staying positive and working around injuries is the way forward!!!

After just over a week off running, the knee was feeling ok, so I decided to go for a short(ish) run... planning on about 4mile max, but that just ended up at 12miles. Finished that in 1h 42min. Not bad really, considering there were some pretty hefty hills around the mid part, and there was no upping the pace much towards the finish (hey, I'm doing more than I should with running anyway, can't be silly and sprint finish on top). Knee feels good tho... yeah a little sore, but less than expected.

That was also after an hour on the static bike this morning, some training I'm doing for Red Bull (testing out a new sports orientated drink). Burning 600cals total

For the past week, I've been taking it moderately easily with most exercises, and just trying to build up speed over the hour-two hour rides.

Weights are back on a twice a week routine, it will be a full body workout over the next month or so, but right now I'm having to leave squats/leg press/full deadlifts/lunges etc.

Now... after a burn of 2000+ cals today, I'm off for a slice of cake and a curry.

Great to hear your knee is holding up.

Workload must be getting pretty high now and you're no doubt eating like a horse!

Seems everyone is jumping on the Sports Drink bandwagon at the moment.

There others around here doing sports drink things???

Yeah, the eating is great! I'm currently burning between 1500-3000cals on training days, that's only for the exercise, not taking into account higher metabolism after etc. I think I'm eating pretty much enough... get's tough at times, but I'm fairly steady on the scales (currently around 72kg) and 13%bf, so I'm fairly happy with that.

Hopefully the knee stays good from now on, as I know I need to up the amount of training days (currently only two intense cardio and two weights per week), I'm hoping to get that into four high intense cardio with two full body weights per week (at least one of the weight sessions on a cardio day).

Was getting really nervous about the race coming up in november, but today has made me feel more confident about it!!

I meant as in companies...

I bet you'll be close to needing from 6000 cals upwards when you're in full swing. Thats some hard work eating.

Oh shit... I never thought of it like that... I'm gonna be eating like Coleman!

xRichx wrote:Oh shit... I never thought of it like that... I'm gonna be eating like Coleman!

As long as you don't look like him, you'll be fine!

Just catching up with this....

Agree you'll be eating a lot - When I did that stuff I used to eat like mad contantly and I still lost weight.

And good luck - never did the ballbuster series but gather they're good events - Am I right in thinking they're at Boxhill?

They are yeah, pretty brutal apparently as the hills around the course are fairly heavy!

I've managed to keep my weight constant for the time being, but the training will be getting more and more, so I'm sure I'll be finding it harder to keep it that way... I'm eating about 1.5g protein per lb of body weight, so hopefully keeping it at that at a minimum will stop too much muscle wastage.

I'm thinking of adding in a fair amount of aminos to my sports drink... Cardio for 3+ hours I'm getting the feeling that a shake beforehand isn't going to last?!

So Saturday was the BallBuster race...

First off, I managed to lave my runners at home, so had to run about the carpark asking anyone if they had a spare pair of size 9 trainers... Luckily someone did!

Onto the race.
Run 1 : 68mins - Not a bad pace, knew I still had a fair amount left in the tank after that. First time running up the zig zag at box hill tho... man does that fucker go on and on and on and on and on and..... You get the picture. 2.6 miles at average 6% gradient.

Cycle : 1h 43m - First lap went fine, until I got to the top of the hill and my calves had cramped up forcing me to jump off the bike and stretch them out. Managed to drop a few of my energy gels too grabbing one out of the pocket. Missed a water stop on the second lap too. all in all, I went too hard on lap 1. should have been in a smaller gear up the hills to allow the legs to stay 'fresh', but didn't. Knew about it on the ascent of lap 3 I can tell you.

Run 2 : 1h 26m - Bad bad run. lower back was cramped to feck after the cycle, and not being able to get in the necessary electrolytes/carbs from the gels. Stopped and nearly gave in about 5 times within the first mile and a half. but after a few mins of stretching at the side of the road I got back into a decent stride. until I hit the Zig zag for the fifth and final time... had to opt for running one section, walking the next etc.

Ended up with an overall time of 4h 28mins...

Overall thoughts:
Having never seen the route before, I really underestimated how long the hill was.
Knee held up pretty well throughout, which is great.
always make sure you have gels in more than one pocket and possibly taped to the bike.
I'm pretty happy I finished, even if it was 373 out of 500.

Bring on next year and getting under 4hours. Should be easily do-able if I get the pace right!


Upcoming races for 2010:
Weymouth Middle Distance (Swim:1.9km /Bike 56m / Run 13.1m)
Vitruvian Middle Distance (as above)
Bath Half Marathon
Bristol Half Marathon

Sounds like a really tough event Rich.

Well done Rich - Box hill's great isn't it - As you say on and on and very winding you can really lose monmetum on some of the corners which makes the cycle really difficult. Going down is fun though

A great place to train round there - And there are worse hills than Box Hill!

Well done again