Consistency

I dream of consistency...of putting together two weeks of solid training, even hitting over 10 hours in a week would be a dream right now...and I have no real idea what it is that is causing me to be unable to do this!

After being ill in November, I built back up nicely with a 7 hour week, then an 8 hour week and started last week with a bang - putting in some quality turbo time and some nice runs........then I get a chesty cough - it coincided with a couple of parties so I eased off on the training before having a big session this sunday - my first full 3.8km swim - it went great, I broke it down to 50 lengths then 40/32/20/10 with a minute in between to break the monotony - time excluding rest was 65 mins 9 seconds which I was happy with - I can certainly go faster thats for sure, I then hit the turbo for 90 minutes and then ran 2.5 miles off it, I never felt tired or pushed and felt fine the rest of the day.....yesterday I felt awful, the cough which had nearly gone is now a cold and its no better today even with 9 hours sleep! I don't believe I am a sickly person, in over 15 years of working I have only had 4 days off and they were proper 'can't get out of bed stuff'!

Since I have been in my current job a year I have had around 6 seperate colds, I make sure that I clean my desk, I take vitamins everyday as a top up with extra iron, I use that hand cleanser stuff....WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME! Anyway moving forward I am going to eat more of the antioxidant stuff like pomegranates, berries and green tea and try to focus more on getting fresh air during the day rather than sticking in a stuffy office! From January the diet will be more ruthless anyway what with shedding the kilo's ahead of June so it should all match together (I hope)!

For the mean time I am going to sulk......a lot...and dream of my summer training!

Go time..

Exam is over...at last! My exams are weird, they are every six months and thankfully after 4 years and 14 seperate exams, they are all done...I hope - I've never failed any of them but I have a nasty feeling about this one! These advanced ones are all opinion based rather than fact so there is no knowing what the marker may decide! Any way regardless of how much work I did or didn't do there is always that pressure on my mind of what I should be doing and therefore my training time was reduced - the relief of knowing there is only training to focus on (wedding/work/christmas etc aside) is a great feeling!

I am therefore trying to make the most of this free time to get some good sessions in and really attack it pre-christmas! With all this chocolate and drink around its needed too! I'm certainly not losing any weight thats for sure! To encourage this I have sorted the turbo out and put in a 90 minute and 75 minute session on consecutive evenings which was good to do - only problem I find is that sitting down for that long can be really uncomfortable when just spinning!

I have also bought some proper bib tights so on the non-rainy days I'll get some proper road miles in - with my running going well, its time to focus back on building cycling mileage - big hours through January should set me in good stead for the remaining six months of this challenge! I must remember to use the foam roller though - I really don't want to aggrevate my knee issues again! So keeping up the turbo for a few hours per week and sticking with the running and swimming I do already should keep me looking good - its important to stick with the mental feeling that my mind doesn't have to be elsewhere!

Going back to the weight issue, I have added a couple of kilo's since the summer and can only seeing that saying the same through Christmas so I am averaging about 97kgs - I would like to drop to 90 by June so will be more strict with diet and booze come the New Year (won't we all), there is so much good (bad) food and drink around at the moment, it seems a waste to let everyone else eat it!

Anyway more to come -I'm purposely ignoring the sore throat....its just a tickle!

November Update...

I was toying with the idea of not doing this November update because there isn't a great deal to say really...but then I remembered that some people literally can't wait for the next update in this relentess pursuit of perfect athletiscm (ahem), so this is for all of you most ardent supporters!

Basically the day after I sent the last one out, I got ill again details here: -

http://ironmantd2011.blogspot/2010/11/apology.html

Long story short: - I get dizzyness which means I am pretty much useless for a week or two!

Anyway that meant for the first two weeks of November I managed a paltry 3 hours of training! Soon I was better though I was flying and managed to fit in a total of 19 hours in total including a fast (for me) 10 miler and lots and lots of running and swimming! Also did a great brick session (two sessions back to back) in the forest - mountain biking in to a run!

Thats it, thats all I am saying regarding November - its in detail on my blog!

So looking ahead I have booked in some races: -

January 16th - Rough 'n' Tumble 10 - a 10 mile x-country race over big hills
March 6th - Mad March 20 - a 20 mile race near Christchurch
April 7th - Wiggle Sportive - 83 mile cycle event that I will time trial again
May 1st - Neolithic Marathon - race between avebury (I think) & stonehenge -
May 9th - Try a Tri - first triathlon I did last year....again
June 26th - Forestman - the big one!

I may add a half marathon to that this sunday but that depends on whether there is any rugby on Saturday! If anyone fancies joining me on any of the above then please do!

I need to start doing some more cycling, I've been casting odd sideways looks at both bikes while wheeling out the mountain bike as this is the key to Ironman racing however the weight loss and general fitness that I am currently getting from swimming and running will only help in the long run!

In the meantime, thank you for all your continued support and please keep the donations coming in :-

www.justgiving.com/timdonell & www.justgiving.com/timdonell1

Just need a little bit more to hit £1,000 before Christmas!