Wishing you all a Happy New Year, I hope 2013 is a fantastic year for you all.
Looking back, 2013 has been a busy year; great fun at times and a hard slog at others. However, the hard work is starting to pay off... I'm fitter now than I have been in years and hopefully in a few short months I'll be an Ironman finisher.
Set yourself some lofty goals for 2013, believe in yourself and make it happen!
Monday, 31 December 2012
Monday, 24 December 2012
Festive wishes!
Happy Holidays!!!
Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas 2012 - may all your dreams come true.
Remember, dream big… and make it happen!
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Lies, damned lies and statistics...
Personal bests, goals for the coming year and vital statistics added to the blog - check out the tab above.
Whilst speed work is not what I'm working on at present, it will be interesting to see whether my base level fitness and changes in technique will help to chip away at my current running, cycling and swimming times.
I've lost a lot of mass over the last 9 months (about 12 kg or 1.9 stone in old money!) - although I've stabilised now to around 82kg… Given the ramp in intensity and volume in the training over the next few months I thought I'd post up some vital stats on where I am now and see how this changes up to Ironman Austria, 30th June, 2013!
Monday, 17 December 2012
One proud Dad :-)
Just back from the December Tae Kwon Do Grading Awards for Uddingston Tae Kwon Do club - both my kids passed with flying colours, the youngest being promoted to red-tag and my eldest, passing his 9th successive grading with another perfect A pass, getting his black-tag… the highest belt he can get in Scotland. Next stop (in about 12 months time) will be Bristol for his black belt grading.
I'm really proud of them both! Tae Kwon Do teaches discipline, respect, perseverance and instils an excellent work ethic - you simply cannot 'turn up' and expect to pass. Kirsty has the kids well drilled and sets high standards for them all - if they are not up to scratch, they are told they need to work harder. Don't get me wrong, this is not some Siberian salt mine - the kids all thoroughly enjoy the sessions and have tons of fun but they have a real focus on what they need to do to succeed.
Starting out, they struggled to learn the first basic patterns and probably looked up in awe at students who had earned each kup (belt), now they are close to achieving their own black belts - amazing!
Just goes to show, if you set yourself aggressive goals in life, then anything is possible - IF you keep on working away at it. In these days of almost instant success (X-Factor?!) it's refreshing to see students (of all ages) who recognise that it is hard work that leads to success.
Hopefully on June 30th 2013 my kids will be almost as proud of their mad Dad as I am of them, whatever I have done or have yet to do, they will always be my proudest achievements.
I'm really proud of them both! Tae Kwon Do teaches discipline, respect, perseverance and instils an excellent work ethic - you simply cannot 'turn up' and expect to pass. Kirsty has the kids well drilled and sets high standards for them all - if they are not up to scratch, they are told they need to work harder. Don't get me wrong, this is not some Siberian salt mine - the kids all thoroughly enjoy the sessions and have tons of fun but they have a real focus on what they need to do to succeed.
Starting out, they struggled to learn the first basic patterns and probably looked up in awe at students who had earned each kup (belt), now they are close to achieving their own black belts - amazing!
Just goes to show, if you set yourself aggressive goals in life, then anything is possible - IF you keep on working away at it. In these days of almost instant success (X-Factor?!) it's refreshing to see students (of all ages) who recognise that it is hard work that leads to success.
Hopefully on June 30th 2013 my kids will be almost as proud of their mad Dad as I am of them, whatever I have done or have yet to do, they will always be my proudest achievements.
Friday, 14 December 2012
Successful FUZION at Carluke High School
Congratulations to the students and staff at Carluke High School for raising an amazing £15,288 for charity in 2012!!!
As part of Charities day today at School the pupils got to pay £1 for non-uniform and then £1 per session over 2 sessions today picking things like 5-a-side football, Christmas Grotto, Wii dance, Film clubs and the ever-popular 'waxing session' where they bid to rip waxing strips off Senior Pupils and teachers…
I thought I'd got away with it since my legs are not very hairy… in fact, it has been known on windy days for most of these hairs to leave of their own accord. But no… Mr Haldane was in charge and the wax strips moved upward. I am now the owner of a slightly smoother chest and flabby mid-rift! Maybe the slight hydrodynamic improvements were responsible for my better than average times in the pool this evening but I'm not going to be using any further wax strips to put this theory to the test!
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
200 days to go!!!
Looking at the widget on the blog it struck me there are now only 200 days until I'll be competing in Ironman Austria…
That seems like a long way away, but I've just realised I've already been training for 275 days this year - now it doesn't seem to be that far away at all!
Do I feel 1/2 ready at this stage? No, not by a long, long way. Has my fitness improved over the last year? Dramatically. I reckon I am fitter now than at any stage in my life and I realise I still can make significant improvements over the next few months in strength, technique, endurance and speed. It's great to have challenging goals and an opportunity for continuous improvement. I reckon I've caught the training bug well and truly!
That seems like a long way away, but I've just realised I've already been training for 275 days this year - now it doesn't seem to be that far away at all!
Do I feel 1/2 ready at this stage? No, not by a long, long way. Has my fitness improved over the last year? Dramatically. I reckon I am fitter now than at any stage in my life and I realise I still can make significant improvements over the next few months in strength, technique, endurance and speed. It's great to have challenging goals and an opportunity for continuous improvement. I reckon I've caught the training bug well and truly!
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
I feel like Mike Tyson… well over 2100 hits!
Thanks for coming along and reading this blog - hope you're finding it of interest… it's now had over 2100 hits in the last few months. So, either you like what you're reading or you've not been able to delete the cookies from your browser ;-)
Let me know what you'd like to hear more of, or less of and I'll do my best to oblige! Use the comments link at the bottom of each post...
Keep reading and I'll keep blogging ;-)
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Saturday, 1 December 2012
T-7 months… and counting
November report:
| Count: | 47 Activities |
| Distance: | 342.62 km |
| Time: | 32:41:11 h:m:s |
| Elevation Gain: | 12,497 m |
| Avg Speed: | 13.1 km/h |
| Avg HR: | 119 bpm |
| Avg Run Cadence: | 180 spm |
| Avg Bike Cadence: | 92 rpm |
| Calories: | 15,222 C |
All in all, not too bad :-)
Really focusing on form and technique in both swimming and running rather than simply distance or time spent doing those activities. Making sure that for the next couple of months (at least) the focus stays the same and that I keep on working in heart rate zone 1 - i.e. building muscular endurance rather than speed… After all the Ironman is not a sprint it's a marathon (actually several of them!!). We'll work on speed closer to the race… well, that's the plan at this point...
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