July, Not the greatest

July Training Log

Well, after my biggest ever month training in June, July has been a let down. Only managing 25 hours training time. This has been due to real life, in the form of work getting in the way of training. I had 2 weeks where I was out of Auckland for a reasonable period of time (You can see the 6, and 2 day gaps at the start and end of the month) This loss of training time really impacted on my ability to reach the goals I've set for myself.

The plus side of the month, is that somehow I was able to record my highest mileage running for the year. Which I'm quite happy with, I have noticed in the last few weeks that I feel like I'm starting to run well again. We will find out for sure in October, when I aim to compete in a Half Marathon for the first time in over a year.

What this means tho, is that most of my missing workouts were biking, which was well down, and by far the least I've done for the year. I've also been slipping on my diet, and my weight has been creeping back up. So this month, the negatives out weigh the positives.

For August, I want to get back to where I was a few months ago, weight going down, and sitting at 30-35 hours of the month.

And the winner is:

Ironman Auckland 70.3.

Today I officially entered Ironman Auckland 70.3. At the end of the day, having a race like this, based in the viaduct and on that course was too good for me to pass up.

I've modified my training program to take me through to the 20th of January. And as for Taupo, well in all honesty that's highly unlikely to happen. The provisional plan will be to run the people's tri event at mission bay that weekend instead. And possibly the round Taupo cycle in build up, if finances allow.

So for now, its back into training, after a July which has been a bit disappointing in terms of what I have achieved. 6 months till kick off.

A Change in Direction?

Since early 2011 my goal race has been the Taupo Half Ironman. Obviously I missed my first opportunity last year, through my calf injury. But since re starting training this year I have been building nicely towards the 2012 event. And now there is a new fly in the ointment, in the form of a new race, an Ironman 70.3 race in Auckland, in January, 6 weeks after the Taupo event.

This new race is based in the Viaduct Harbor in Auckland, an area where I have spent a lot of time, where I worked for 5 years, almost a 2nd home. The race also goes over the Auckland harbor bridge. Which, at least from my point of view is quite a novelty factor. And I would have the chance to compete in an inaugural event.

So the question is what to do? Do I ignore the new event and continue with my plans to race Taupo? Or should I try to do both? Or do I do what may be the intelligent option, and move my focus to ironman Auckland, which would give me more time to get down closer to racing weight, and to increase my fitness...

I'm leaning towards doing Auckland over Taupo. The extra 6 weeks training could be invaluable, the novelty factor of the location, in the center of the city seem, at this stage, to be too much to pass up. Entries open in 5 days, so I've got a little more time to think things over. But the odds are that this time next week, I'll be locked in to racing my home town.

June Training Log

May, Training Log

Not a bad month really. Nice and consistent. I hit most of my goals for the month.

Positives:

Lots of biking
More consistent running
Started heart rate training on the run

Negatives:

Not enough pool time, either frequency or duration
Still had some trouble with my calf (you can see the no run period during the middle of the month)

Over all tho, I'm quite happy with where I am. Another month like this will give me a nice launching point for Half Ironman training.

Finally, some consistency

Earlier in the year I posted a to do list, and as a part of that said that my number one goal for the year was to build a base for future racing. I've also said, many times that I need to be more consistent with my training. Well We're now a third of the way through the year, and my first of 2 'A' races has come and gone so this seems a good time to look back and evaluate things. And looking back what I've found I think that I might have finally cracked the consistent training thing.

First, we have my training duration from January to April 2011:

And we can compare that to the same period from this year:

Its pretty easy to see the difference. Not only have I been much more consistent, but the volume is up too, with all 4 months being higher than the highest month of 2011. So that's all very positive. The only negative here is that my running is significantly down on last year. That is of course due to my ongoing calf injury(ies?) And it's something that I hope to be able to increase slowly throughout the rest of the year.

The other thing on my to do list was a list of races to do, and I'm happy to say that so far in 2012, I've done 5/5. So exactly what I said I would do. I am unlikely to do everything on the list tho, as I don't think I'll be ready for a half marathon by June. So that may have to change.

So, what's next for me this year. Well I've got a plan (of sorts) which should have me nice and prepared for the Taupo Half Ironman at the end of the year. I"m also planning to invest a lot of time into heart rate training. Everything that I've read says that if you put in the time it works. Well I've got over 30 weeks until another 'A' race, so I have the time... lets see if what people say about it works. I am expecting to be quite humbled, and spend a lot of time running quite slowly... (which should also help protect my calf, added bonus!)

Essentially the immediate plan is a relatively easy month for may, before stepping things up a notch to the 40+ hour/month range for the rest of the year. Lets see how my consistency looks in a few months time...

April, Training Log

It's all about one big day, the northern crossing. Followed by a rest and recovery week.