Unlucky 13...well no, not really, in fact March has been a very good month really and a step up in training as provided a few breakthrough sessions too - as with everything, training goes in peaks, troughs and plateaus and it is always nice to break through off a plateau and notice some real improvements...so what has this month looked like: -
Swim - 14.4 miles, 10 hours
Bike - 325.8 miles, 18.2 hours
Run - 68.8 miles, 10.2 hours
X-train - 5.5 miles, 2.1 hours
Total - 414.56 miles, 40.61 hours
Swimming -
I won't lie, I can barely remember the swimming I have done this month, despite it being a large quantity, its mostly been steady state swimming, I have been working hard on the efficiency of my stroke and keeping my body high in the water. I am far less concerned with speed now and happier to swim efficiently whilst maintaining a reasonable pace.....14.4 miles is still a very long way to swim! I am confident that in a lake with a wetsuit I can comfortably do 1 hour 5 mins for the swim which is pretty reasonable and won't compromise the rest of the race!
Bike -
ahhh thats what this month has been all about, the nice weather and the clocks going back turn cycling from a necessarily evil in to the more interesting hobby that I vaguely remember from last summer! Up to the beginning of March I was only averaging 40miles per week, that has now been over 100 per week for the last 3 weeks! Being able to commute on a 45 mile round trip also has its advantages!
My previous best commute was to average 18.4 mph and be very tired, now I can do it quite happily averaging nearly 20 mph without overexerting myself - that is a big improvement and provided one of the breakthroughs that I mentioned - I won't be averaging that in the race but its good to get that reasonably easily!
Having said that I have been working on my pacing a lot and calculating how fast I go for how long etc which at the very least keeps my brain occupied on the long rides!
Run -
I had a 20 mile race at the beginning of March which seems an age ago now, it went fine and wasn't too bad! I say this slightly matter of factly but 20 miles is still a bloody long way and really hurts your legs! However I hit my target and it was only the boring scenery that really got to me in the end! I followed this up with a really tough 14.5 mile run down the Avon Valley Path before picking up an injury to my Achilles which I think was caused by a tight calf muscle!
However it seems to have cleared up now so back in the mixer as far as running is concerned...we hope! The London Marathon is in two weeks so fingers crossed I'll be okay for that, with the last 1.5 weeks off running I will continue to train right up to and through the marathon itself. For the marathon I will be doing a run/walk strategy - roughtly 9 mins running, 1 min walking - all of my longest runs have been done using run/walk (apart from the 20 mile race where I ran the whole way!) and not only do I run faster this way, I also recover a lot quicker afterwards which will be important after London as I can't afford to miss a few weeks through recovery.......oh and if anyone in London has some floor space I can adopt for the night of Saturday 16th I would be most grateful???
So where does that leave me right now...well I am 49 hours up on this point last year so I am progressing very nicely, I am starting to feel a bit of confidence that I can at least finish the race....I guess it all depends on what state I will finish in!
Its 12 weeks to go from Sunday just gone and I am now in to a more regimented schedule which I picked up from the internet - this lists out all the key sessions to help me focus on what I need to do and gives me more confidence that I will be in good shape for the day!
So 12 weeks to go and I have a fair bit more to raise so please donate....I really need the motivation now!
www.justgiving.com/timdonell
or
www.justgiving.com/timdonell1
Thanks everyone!
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