Tour de France. The Ashes & The Brownlee Brothers

Ironman Training week 28. Gulp, that means two weeks to go.

Great weekend of sport. Watching the last stage of Le Tour de France as I'm writing this & for the second year running a Brit is going to be crowned champion. Well done to Chris Froome, a fantastic performance over the past few weeks. Who will Sky pick as their main man going forwards now?? More likely, who will say goodbye to Sky first, Wiggins or Froome?

Great 2nd test for England in The Ashes, managed to keep away from spoilers today so looking forward to seeing the highlights later. Unless disaster struck I'm sure it's gone 2-0 to England.

Finally, get those Brownlee brothers & their performance at the ITU Triathlon in Hamburg this weekend. Fantastic race yesterday finishing with the brothers having a sprint battle to the finish. Jonny pipping his brother at the line.

The Slateman i took part in a few months ago was shown on C4 today. Didn't spot myself which was a shame. Still, brought back memories of a fantastic event. You can get a flavour of what it was like here http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4triathlon/4od

Whats happened in my world this week? Won another facebook prize courtesy of Power Horse. Not sure exactly what I've won yet.

Bought some new tyres to go on my bike ready for Ironman UK.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/vredestein-vredestein-tyres-road-tri-track-folding-vredestein-fortezza-tricomp-folding-tyre/vredtyrf250

First time I've not had Continentals but these have been highly recommended by a variety of people so expecting good things.

Training
Not a bad week, taking it a bit easy now. Injury free so don't want to risk any disasters

Calorie burn January = 29,160
Calorie burn February = 34,932
Calorie burn for March = 47,799
Calorie burn for April = 28,453
Calorie burn for May = 23,131
Calorie burn for June = 24,992
Calorie burn for July = 30,561

Training Time - 11 hours 24 minutes (i think)
Monday

Bike 17 minutes

Tuesday

Bike 50 minutes.

Really pleased with this one, kept my average to just under 17 mph. Would take that in two weeks time

Run 29 minutes.

Ran a pain free 5 k again. Will be looking to increase my runs a bit more now. If  i can manage an hour without issues before IM I'll be satisfied with that, considering.

Wednesday

Bike 52 minutes

Open Water Swim - 42 minutes

Nice evening down the lake, just did a couple of easy 800m loops. got a slight twinge in my left shoulder so going to miss a weeks swimming just to be safe.

Saturday

Walk - 4 hours 48 minutes

Go Go Gorilla Trail - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/332553859

Walked all over Norwich with Arleya to spot all the 53 Gorillas. Was quite a trek but considering I'll probably be walking at least that in two weeks time it was handy to do it. Plus it was good fun seeing all the apes.

Obviously my favourite

Rest of the Gorilla pics are on my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/#!/andy.baxter.90/media_set?set=a.10151733591614695.1073741831.826854694&type=3


Sunday

Bike 3 hours 26 minutes - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/333507269

Just under 56 miles at a 16.2 mph average. Again, pleased with that & would be well ahead of schedule if i manage the same pace at Ironman. Average would have been a bit higher had the Garmin not directed me on to Hemsby beach.

That's it, time to concentrate on the TV & Le Tour de France. Cav for another win on the Champs-Elysees. Got to be on the cards.

Next week will be the final blog post prior t the goal, Ironman UK. I will post up link to the tracker & live video link for the finish line for those that are interested. Or those who are still actually awake by the time i finish.

cheers

Andy

Follow me on Twitter @clearseaz

Donate to The Royal Anglian Benevolent fund

http://www.justgiving.com/Andy-Baxter1

The Cycling Norfolk Church Spotter

http://thecyclingnorfolkchurchspotter.blogspot.co.uk/

The allotment Journey Blog

http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journey

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP

Ironman UK 2013 looming

Ironman UK Training Week 27. Only 3 weeks to go.

Not a great deal of excitement this week, although i feel happier than I have done in a long while as
things seem to be clicking into place nicely. Arleya finding a four leaf clover at the beginning of the week may have helped. Not to mention the turn in weather giving us a bit of a UK heatwave. A bit of sunshine always brightens a the mood.

Found out this week I may be going to India with work for 8 - 10 weeks which is great considering my love of travel. Although this will delay the launch of my planned business venture, there was  never any guarantee i would get my redundancy date in time for an October launch anyway. I think Its a blessing in disguise as i will work more months, the longer i work the more redundancy money, shares, bonus & pension contributions i accumulate.

So now looking at a February launch date, redundancy date permitting. Be good to just know what this is as not knowing certainly hinders planning your future. Ive even got my first potential booking for a wedding lined up.

Training (back on topic) has gone a lot better this week with no pain from existing injuries & no new ones to report. I've even started running again, although only a little bit.

Training

Calorie burn January = 29,160
Calorie burn February = 34,932
Calorie burn for March = 47,799
Calorie burn for April = 28,453
Calorie burn for May = 23,131
Calorie burn for June = 24,992
Calorie burn for July = 12,905

Training Time - 10 hours 24 minutes. Not great considering this week would have originally been
21 hours of training. Still, getting into double figures for the first time in ages is a plus.

Monday

Run - 18 minutes. Ran 2 miles with no issues

Cycle - 21 minutes

Tuesday

Bike 1 hour 51 minutes. Cycled just over 28 miles - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/323251111

Wednesday

Open water Swim - 1 hour 38 minutes.

Swam 4 x 800m & 1 x 400m loop at the lake this evening.
No longer concerned about the Ironman swim as based on numerous swims now, plodding along at my
comfortable pace i know i can get around a 1 hr 45 min swim. May even be quicker as i will no
doubt be able to draft other swimmers quite easily

Bike - 52 minutes

Saturday

Open Water swim - 52 minutes to do 1.24 miles

Bike - 21 minutes

Run - 29 minutes.

Ran the Norwich Triathlon course. Left it till evening but it was still really hot. Total run distance
was 3.22 miles, furthest Ive ran in a while, again, no issues. Happy days

Sunday

Bike - 6 hours 12 minutes. http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/327364341

Rode most of the Norwich 100 route I did in 2012, but in reverse. Rode it all non stop, longest ever
I've spent in the saddle without a break. Always been stops on the sportives Ive done so really
pleased I'm going to be to cycle the whole Ironman without stopping.

Kept up a great pace for me too with a 16.2 mph average, that's including having to get across Norwich
& getting held up on the coast road numerous times between Cromer & Sheringham. Think Ive nailed
the nutrition, one gel every 10 miles seems to do the trick.

All in all chuffed with progress after the injuries. If all goes well i could be done with the swim and
bike in under 9 hours which would give me 8 hours to complete the run/walk marathon.
I've also decided to go with a full change in each transition as i don't fancy doing 112 miles in a
trisuit. Comfort over saving a couple of minutes in transition wins.

That's about it, taper time now (as far as cycling is concerned). Will have a bit extra spare time now.

Part of next weekends training will be doing the whole go go gorilla trail with Arleya round Norwich.
http://gogogorillas.co.uk/ I need to get a bit of walk training in.

I have decided to take an event break during 2014. As i will be trying to get the new business up
& running my full focus will have to be on this. I will however continue to Swim, Bike, Run as
and when i can

That's me done for the week, time to catch up on the weekends sporting events. Highlights from the
Test match & Tour de France

cheers

Andy

Follow me on Twitter @clearseaz

Donate to The Royal Anglian Benevolent fund

http://www.justgiving.com/Andy-Baxter1
The Cycling Norfolk Church Spotter

http://thecyclingnorfolkchurchspotter.blogspot.co.uk/
The allotment Journey Blog

http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/
Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journey

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/
Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP

Ironman UK training restarts

Ironman UK Training week 26.

Four weeks today I will be attempting to complete my first Ironman distance triathlon. Few ups and downs along the way, biggest challenge so far has still been learning to swim front crawl.

Most recent issues as those who have followed this journey will know, has been my calf & ankle tendonites issues that have plagued me & severely hindered training since just before the London Marathon. I didn't do a blog update last week as i had taken a couple of weeks off to try cure the tendonites.

Looks like that has succeeded as i have been able to get back into the bike riding and swimming this week without any issues or pain. Pity it's only 4 weeks to go but hey ho. Plan is still now a just finish as the majority of the marathon is no doubt going to be a walk.

My Triathlon club TriAnglia has had a great couple of weeks with some amazing achievements that have helped motivate me again. Last weekend following fellow club members & their achievements gave the same feeling i had on that super Saturday during the Olympics.

Phillipa Rudd completing her first Ironman event in Austria was one, a whole bunch of successes at the superhero event & the creme de la creme, Will Halls epic adventure with the Endruoman Arch to Arc challenge.

Following Will from the Thursday afternoon through till Saturday afternoon on a live tracker took over most of those days. Including waking up at 3am and checking where he was on the run & staying up till gone midnight (late for me) to follow his swim start.

Will completed the 87 mile run in under 17 hours, way ahead of the World Record time. Following a days rest he took to the English channel at midnight. Unfortunately due to the rubbish temperatures we have had to date the water was a miserable 12.5 degrees.

Will still battled with this temperature & crazy tides for over 13 hours before having to be pulled out 2 miles from France due to breathing difficulties. He had actually swam around 39 miles! So, i wont be moaning about a sore ankle during my mere Ironman event.

Training

Calorie burn January = 29,160
Calorie burn February = 34,932
Calorie burn for March = 47,799
Calorie burn for April = 28,453
Calorie burn for May = 23,131
Calorie burn for June = 24,992
Calorie burn for July = 9188

Training time - 8 hours 54 minutes. Still a long way off what i should have been doing at this stage
but all things considered, I'm happy with this weeks progress.


Tuesday

Bike - 1 hour 7 minutes

Wednesday

Bike - 45 minutes

Open water swim - 1 hour 7 minutes - Furthest open water swim i have done this year. 2400 metres. Was really pleased that i no longer experienced the ankle pain that had ended my last swim at just 800metres. Will be looking to swim the full Ironman distance next week

Thursday

Bike - 1 hour 27 minutes - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/319245015

Saturday

Bike - 5 hours 25 minutes - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/320411931

Also put in my longest bike ride of the year as well this week. Felt great to do it with no pain although after 70 miles i was feeling pretty shady. Probably due to the heat. I've got one more long ride to do before Ironman so hoping to get my nutrition bang on with that ride

Sunday

Was supposed to do the Norwich 6 bridge river swim today but it got cancelled at the last minute due to reasons unbeknown. So, i headed down to the Norwich Triathlon to put the new found spare time to good use helping with the marshaling.

So, no running again this week, want to be really sure my ankle is better before doing this. I may do a little jog next week just to test the water.


Gas Hill Gasp came round again in Norwich on Friday. Had a great night down there watching some gutsy performances up the mentalist hill.

Ben from Tri harder

 

Roger & Ben battling it out.

Pete Hargreaves

Pete Hargreaves

Pete is the guy who posted a picture of his bike on facebook in 2011, that gave me the idea to buy a bike to get fit, which has then led to this Ironman ambition.

That's about it then. No news on my Aviva redundancy date yet, bit of a pain due to my plans to go self employed with a franchised business in catering. Wanted to launch it in October but looks like i may miss this window. Really excited about having my own business and being my own boss, although quite nervous about. Will have to start a blog about that journey.

Cheers
Andy

Follow me on Twitter @clearseaz

Donate to The Royal Anglian Benevolent fund

http://www.justgiving.com/Andy-Baxter1

The Cycling Norfolk Church Spotter

http://thecyclingnorfolkchurchspotter.blogspot.co.uk/

The allotment Journey Blog

http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journey

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP