Bring it on 2014!!!

Well, I'm sitting here reflecting on what an amazing year 2013 has been. I set out to complete my first Ironman race (only my 3rd ever triathlon) and can happily say that I ticked that box!

I've had an absolute blast this year, met some great people, travelled to some fantastic parts of the world and got considerably fitter (and happier) in the process.

I'm really looking forward to The Outlaw next July and it was great meeting up with other members of team ATHelite last night at Virgin Active in Hamilton to review our training plans and pencil in dates for some training sessions next year. There are a number of us doing it so it should be great fun and not in the slightest bit competitive (hahahahaha - yeah, right!!!).

Most of us are using the Fink plan as a basis for our training and this seemed to work pretty well for me in June. I'm going to add in a couple of strengthening sessions into my weekly plan to minimise the risks of injury. I'd *had* to resort to these sessions late on in my training this year due to my ITB overuse injury so I'm hoping that prevention is better than the cure.

Today is the start of the 30 week plan and it's always good to start off with a rest day!!! I'm actually going to give the first week's training a miss *SHOCK HORROR* but only so I can finish my 10 week cycle training plan from The Sufferfest.

So even though I'm slacking off today (Monday is always my rest day), I've been doing a rough plan for each week... all I need to do now is stick with it for another 30 weeks :-)

December has gone really well:

Currently showing 46 activities, covered 1,073km in 41 hours and 33 minutes and burned 22,847 kCalories.

So, goals for 2014?

I'm aiming to smash my IM Austria time to bits - I'd be happy with repeating my previous swim time (anything less than 1 hour 15 mins would be good)... I should be able to take 10 minutes off my transition times without too much bother (just check my race report to see why!) and given the cycle is practically flat I'd like to get round in under 5 hours and 30 minutes... that just leaves the run, 4:39 was ok given stomach cramps but I know I can go a whole lot faster. So sub 12:30 is a must, sub 12 would be great, sub 11:30 would be amazing and sub 11 - I'd be in dreamland :-)

What are you going to do in 2014? Whatever your hopes, goals, dreams and aspirations, I wish you well!

Plan it. Do it. Review it. Achieve it. Celebrate it.  :-)

I'm back!

Hi folks, did you miss me?!  ;-)

Whilst I've not been posting recently, I've still been training pretty hard. Most of my focus over the last 6 weeks has been on the bike and I've just been keeping the runs and swims ticking over.

Just in case you thought I was cheating, here is the evidence...

August stats:

23 Activities, 22 hours, 13 minutes and 18 seconds, covered 353.18 km and burned 14,762 kCalories.

September stats:

24 Activities, 26 hours, 16 minutes and 48 seconds, covered 235.23 km and burned 14,002 kCalories.

October stats:

23 Activities, 25 hours, 49 minutes and 11 seconds, covered 235.23 km and burned 16,868 kCalories.

November stats:

32 Activities, 34 hours, 38 minutes and 23 seconds, covered 773.11 km and burned 21,510 kCalories.




December is currently going well - I've done 4 bike sessions, 4 weights sessions and a swim so far this week, and as I sit here waiting for Domino's to deliver my tea, I'm feeling rather good!

I've been using my Wahoo KICKR indoor trainer, linked up to my PC running a programme called Trainerroad using an ANT+ stick to control how much power I need to output... If I increase the cadence then the KICKR automatically reduces the resistance to keep the power output at the correct level. And if I drop the cadence, then the resistance increases to keep me honest. There truly is no hiding place. It's all clever stuff - you can check out how it works by watching the YouTube video below...

The Sufferfest videos are absolutely fantastic. I'm currently following their Intermediate 10 week plan. Hopefully this will really improve my bike section at The Outlaw next July - keep on reading to find out!