I survived!!!

Reasons to be thankful….

Survived Zombie apocalypse at Carluke High School and the first ATHelite swim session of the year! Result!

The Biology department and special Zombie expert from Glasgow Uni enjoying lunch!

Don't let them fool you - they dress like that every day...

ATHelite swim session was almost pale in comparison but Nic put us through our paces and after 48 mins I'd covered about 2550m in an average pace of 1:58 min/100m… about 11 seconds faster per 100m than last weeks solo sessions. Just goes to prove you push yourself much harder and have more fun training with others!

If I don't go to bed early tonight I suspect people will think I've arrived for the Zombie day 24 hours late ;-)

Great finish to the week - bring on the next one!

Well Sunday afternoon is here already and I'm felling pretty pleased with my training this week.

I've managed to squeeze in 11 hours, 18 minutes and 46 seconds, covering 111km and burning 6,990 kCalories. Not too shabby at all and a decent start to training in 2013.

Inspired by my pal Derek Stewart who is competing in the Marathon des Sables this year - (listed by Yahoo as number 1 of 7 of the toughest outdoor challenges) I've set my alarm earlier and got a training session in before work most days this week. Not only has this increased my training volume, but I'm feeling more awake and ready for each day.

I ran with Derek and Calum today around Chatelherault Country Park - a couple of loops through the trails, totalling just over 15 km. We kept up a fairly steady pace of 6 mins 15 seconds per km, not bad - and even more impressive when you're carrying a 5kg rucksack!!!  Big kudos to Derek! 

Right, time for food shopping, dog walking and marking Higher Physics homework… the fun never stops!

Mobbed!

Got to the gym this morning and the car park was totally mobbed! I thought it was all down down to new members and their New Year resolutions but in the end it turned out to be a girls under 12 tennis championship.

I've always laughed when I see members driving round and round the car park trying to get a car park space close to the entrance… What are you doing???  You're going into the gym to exercise - surely walking an extra minute from the back of the car park isn't going to kill you?!!!

Managed a decent run on the treadmill, some leg weights (leg press, calf raise, leg extension, adductor, abductor, leg curl) followed by stretches and a 1500 m swim. I've said it before and I'll say it again… I really need to work on my swimming technique but at least my swim fitness hasn't totally abandoned me. I'll be back to swim training on Tuesday night where Nicola will no doubt be trying to cash in my life insurance premium - bring it on! I'm (almost) ready for it!

Back home, polished off a vanilla flavoured protein shake and then started tucking into a massive salami and rocquito pepper pizza but soon discovered that my eyes were (thankfully) bigger than my belly… I'll keep the other half for later - possibly after the monster dog walk we have planned whilst L and Z are at badminton. I like busy Saturdays :-)

Happy Belated Christmas!

This dropped through my letter box today:

A little bit late for Christmas - but I appreciate the sentiment! We're looking forward to taking part in the 15th Ironman Klagenfurt Austria… only 24 weeks to go.

Training is, dare I say it, going pretty well. I've discovered that I can train in the mornings before school which is helping to significantly increase the volume of training without killing my evenings. I took this morning off - the luxury of a lie-in until 6:45 a.m. cannot be overstated!

Off to swimming now - the first time in a few weeks… hopefully it's like riding a bike in that you don't forget how to do it - I'll report later.
...(wait two hours!)

I'm back! 
Thankfully I remembered how to swim, unfortunately not how to swim as fast as I'd like, but I'll take not drowning as a good start.

Took my youngest to swim club for the first time this evening after she moved up from her previous swim class - great to see so many young-uns thrashing up and down the pool, most (if not all) considerably faster and more stylishly than me.
I was bumped out from the swimming lanes into the other section of the pool where I had to contend with people walking about, swimming across my path and generally paying no attention whatsoever… All good practise for the mass swim start in Austria I guess.

Reminder: updated training logs showing all my training sessions available in the tab above!

Even if I don't update my home page with ramblings every day I generally updated what training I'm up to in the training (b)log page… If you're really keen you can look at the Garming training logs page and click on the link to see all the data in all it's glory; heart rate, speed, cadence, maps of where I've run, elevation etc.

Go on - I dare you to click on it  ;-)

Get up - get active!

Beep! Beep!

Alarm set for 5:50 a.m. all week and I've been dragging my carcass out of bed and exercising before work. Must admit my head tells me to hit the snooze button but I've been getting up anyway and so far, so good. Helping to up the hours for all my training sessions and get me back on track following a great festive season.

Sweaty work!

Decided to figure out how mush sweat I lose on a turbo training session on Tuesday… Normal swimming was cancelled, probably just as well since I haven't swum for a couple of weeks and I'd like to get into the pool before one of the more challenging club sessions! Decided to substitute with a bike session since most of my training has been running on the treadmill. Turned on Lord of the rings: Return of the King on Apple TV and set about a muscular endurance workout. I weighed myself before and after the session and found out that in just 1 hour 15 minutes I lost 1.5 kg of sweat! I would have been drier in the swimming session!!! Re-hydration will be the order of the day in Austria, especially if the temperature is as warm as last year…

Sweaty work this turbo training!!! 

Monthly / Yearly totals...

December 2012 Statistics:

35 Activities

Run / Swam / Biked: 391.76 km

Total time spent exercising: 26:08:00 h:m:s

Average speed 17.1 km/hour

Average heart rate 123 bpm

Average bike cadence 90 rpm

burned 15,744 kCalories 

Lower than I'd hoped for this month but not too surprising given the Christmas holidays. Too much good living has seen my mass increase by 3kg back up to 85kg!!  Time to drop the chocolates, put away the mince pies, Christmas puds and get back on the treadmill, turbo trainer and into the pool... not all at once, for obvious reasons!

2012 Full Statistics (March - December):

338 Activities

Run / Swam / Biked: 3,725.4 km

Total time spent exercising: 262:32:38 h:m:s

Average speed 15.7 km/hour

Average heart rate 127 bpm

Average bike cadence 80 rpm

burned 152,834 kCalories - the equivalent of 587 Mars Bars!!!

Been quite a busy year - even though I didn't actually start logging my exercise until the 8th March. I suspect these numbers will be smashed in the next 6 months… check back at the end of June 2013!!!

24 hours...

Saw this in a shop on holiday… 

It reads:

This bright, new day…
complete with 24 hours of opportunities, choices and attitudes. 
A perfectly matched set of 1440 minutes. 
This unique gift, this one day, cannot be exchanged, replaced or refunded. 
Handle with care. 
Make the most of it. 
There is only 1 to a customer.

Not a bad sentiment to start 2013 :-)