Those 2 seconds.....

          





                    BeyondBlue                                                                               Mind

What a gruelling week.....

Monday – Rest

Tuesday – Gym and track running with Craven Energy...

Couldn't wait for Tuesday to arrive... Back to my strict regime of training... I must say I am quite enjoying all this work... Not the gym work though... By now you must be able to see this... It must be done though and admittedly it does help significantly... All I can say now is I wonder what this week would bring???

At this point I am very happy with both my running and cycling... They are both right on target.... Swimming needs a bit of work but I'm sure I'll get there soon... Anyway its Tuesday and it was off to the gym in the morning... 45 minutes later and I'm out... Fantastic... Got that out of the way...

Evening track with Craven Energy.... This session had no snow, no wind and no rain... A perfect night for training... The program for tonight was 5x1km sets at the same pace... My target pace being 4 min 10 sec for each kilometre...With the warm-ups and warm downs and recovery sets the total distance would be 9.6km... I ran nicely below the target on 4 of my 5 sets... The one above was only by 2 seconds... A great night... In fact a very positive night despite those 2 seconds.. It is somewhat interesting how I can be competitive against myself in the dying days of my fifth decade... There are many more like myself judging by the presence of many “older” people charging around the track... Some running amazingly fast... Great to see and most positive... The track is a great environment with people of all ages utilising it and no doubt gaining many benefits from it...

A little anecdote here... The two words “2 seconds”... Upsets me greatly... My best half marathon time (21.1 km) was 1 hour 40 min and 2 damn seconds set over 4 years ago... I've tackled a few “halfs” since, got very close but never broke the 1 hour 40 min barrier... That's sport though... I have some unfinished business with that distance... That is for the future though...

Wednesday - Cycle and Swim

Morning: Cycled 32 km early in the morning in crisp cold conditions... Anyway cycled to Utley via Skipton, Eastburn and Steeton... There is one totally uncontrollable factor along this route... The railway crossing near Kildwick... There are times when you can wait for up to 10 minutes as all the bells and lights are flashing with trains passing... Very annoying when you are cycling smoothly at a nice rate of knots... This morning was bliss I didn't have to stop and completed my out and back ride in 1 hour and 20 min... Pretty good...

Evening: Down to the pool for the customary dip... Had a simple workout tonight... Warmup... 500m catchup, 500m kick, 500m fists... Then a warm down... Total distance 1.8km... Very good... Job done...

Thursday – Gym and running with Keighley AC

Gym in the morning... Totally slack here.... I'll admit it... Yes I'm human... I didn't go the gym... Oh shock horror...Will it have an adverse affect on me?? Am I tempting fate somewhere here??? Doubt it... Just couldn't face the indoor sterile environment so I thought “Stuff It” and gave it a big miss... Forget it!!!...

Did an easy 6.5 km run in the evening with Keighley AC... Just a few hills doing Chinese relays... It was good fun and the relays were a good way to get everybody going... Also had a nice steady run from one side of Keighley back to the clubhouse... Made me feel good... Great night... The gym was well forgotten by now...

Friday – Cycle and swim

Morning: Brisk return 50km cycle from Skipton to Kettlewell passing through the villages of Cracoe and Threshfield along the way... Great conditions for it... A slight headwind on the way out made me work hard... Absolutely hammered back with the breeze behind me.. Brilliant stuff... I'm actually feeling quite strong on the bike at the moment... What an endorphin buzz!!! Loved it... Time: 1 hour 50 minutes...

Evening: Friday night swim..... An endurance swim... I'm building up slowly to the required distances at this point in time... Tonight's schedule was quite complicated... Total distance being 2100m... Anyway I thought to myself stuff the program...Come on Vic swim the required distance for the Olympic distance tri and the open water swim (1500m) now... So I swam a straight 1500m easily and topped it off with a 600m set (this distance being just short for a sprint tri)... So that made me feel very good... Walked out feeling very positive that night... Swim okay now, Bike going very well, Run pretty good... Everything on schedule...

Saturday – Gym and Run

If ever there was a record to be broken for gym work I reckon I would set it... Did my entire workout in 23 minutes... Did what I had to do and got out... My eternal theory for the place... Actually whilst on the treadmill the television was showing Scotland belt, thrash, hammer Italy in the six nations rugby... I wondered to myself how did the Italians beat France last week?? That was about the only interesting bit of the workout.....

Later that evening I ran about 8.3km total... Ran to a nearby hamlet (Halton East) and back with the head torch in the pitch black... Got into a nice stride, feeling very comfortable... A good run...

Little anecdote: I was striding along nicely when I heard in the dark what must have been heaps of ducks fly and land into a pond which was just over the dry stone wall... It was very close... I must have scared them... Must say it scared me a bit to hear the noise in all the blackness and then have to work out what was going on...Had Martians landed in Yorkshire or something... No harm done though... Oh the fun of night time activities...

Sunday – Cycle and Swim

This mornings cycle: Very cold, no wind but a light sleet/snow/rain to contend with... The snow didn't settle so it was more than safe to cycle... Anyway I set off at 6am and cycled about 75 km in total... Time: 3 hours and 5 minutes... The route I took was from Embsay doing a huge loop to Shipley via Skipton, Utley, Bingley etc... Once at Shipley I headed to Poole in Wharfedale via Menston then back via Otley, Ilkley and Addingham... There were the usual undulations along the route... There were also 2 long hills to charge up... Hollins Hill from just after Shipley and a long drag from Otley Roundabout on the A660 to the junction where you turn left to go to Poole in W... Did them both with ease...

Although the rain/sleet/snow was very light I got totally soaked and arrived home very cold and wet... Must say it was a challenge to get out and cycle the distance... It had to be done no matter what the weather was like and as long it was safe to do so... Sitting here now typing away I'm most pleased with my efforts this morning...

Afternoon swim: After the effort this morning I felt a few 100m efforts at the pool would more than suffice... Anyway I did 10 of these comfortably... The session was quite different as many members of the tri club were in attendance... A lot of socialising was done.. Very nice for a change... Even had about 20 minutes in the sauna..... Relax...

Anyway to sum up... What big week... I'm very weary and tired.. Luckily enough the week coming up is an easy one... So I'll cruise through and relax a bit....

Must forget though about those 2 damn seconds.....

Catchya next week...