A Summer of slacking....

Well – its coming towards the end of the summer now and in 2 weeks, the kids go back to school. I haven’t exactly been active on this blog recently – and that’s mainly down to the fact that I have been slacking and not doing any exercise! I cant remember the last time I went to the gym, or had a swim, or was on my bike! I have done some running – with notable achievements of running up and back down Dovedale in the Lakes, all the way up to Hart Crag at 822m and another run up to Hartsop above How from the bottom of Brotherswater. However, apart from a couple of smaller runs, that has been it.

 

I dare not weigh myself – for I know I have piled on the pounds from the lack of exercise – and I went for a small run this morning to find my Heart Rate incredibly high on such an easy run. So – back to it – we have a race at the end of September – Roade sprint Triathlon – which I need to get in shape for, plus I intend to start the marathon training now as well – I am to complete at least two next year and a number of half marathons as well.

 

I am back off to the Lakes in a few weekends – but not for running this time – but walking with a group of friends with whom I climbed Benn More in Scotland a couple of years back. We are just taking bivvy bags and will be sleeping rough – so should be a hoot!

Distinct lack of directed training!

Well – I haven’t written much for a while – but I have been busy in other ways. I’ve done a lot of running – but not a lot related to my sprint triathlon distance – I’ve even been in a race – the Chase Challenge – or whatever it is know as this year – where I had a terrible race and finished with a time of something over 28 mins – my boss beat me (although I have to say – he was a bit of a dark horse and fair play – he could bloody well run) and so did quite a few others.

5km just doesn't seem to be enough these days and I crave further distances. I actually ran to the station and back repeatedly one week – a total daily distance of 28-30km – clocking up 4 days of this and over 100km in a week. It was amazing. But my legs started to really hurt.

Went running with a friend this morning and did 10km – and I really enjoyed it. I know I said I would never do a half marathon again – but I am going to – in fact I intend to do a few marathons!

In fact – I intent to run the Atacama desert race in 2011 – have a couple of people interested and will see how it goes. Lots to organise as it is a massive undertaking – but what is life for if not challenges?

Along with a few other friends we also set up a Triathlon club – www.trichi.co.uk – which all and sundry are welcome to join – no under 18s is the only rule I am afraid. No charge and we are affiliated with the BTF.

So – after this season of Triathlons – looks like I will do a couple next year – but I’ll also be doing a lot of marathons and off road half marathons etc in training for 2011….

I can see why people hire a coach....

It’s a few months into the season now, I’ve finished a number of running races and three Triathlons and the thing I have noticed most is that my enthusiasm is definitely on the wane. The amount of training sessions is down and the will to get on the bike or go for a swim is pretty much non existent. The only thing I am managing to do is run reasonably regularly and I am having to force myself to do that. So – why is there this mid season slump for me? Well – I can put it down to a few things – but up there in the lists top five are, no training partner, no variation of training and boredom. You can see immediately how you would benefit from a coach who you report to and who is able to vary your training without you having to find time to plan that out for yourself.

Perhaps there are ways of increasing the motivation without this kind of support – I wonder if the online forum communities help at all – but I very much doubt that they are any substitute for someone screaming at you to do that extra push up or sarcastically asking why you failed to swim today, or someone who simply tells you to do 50m * 4 and rest 30 secs rather than just going for a 5km run. There are training programs you can get for free, buy or make yourself – but I am sure the simple act of having to report to your coach what you did this week must make motivation less of an issue.

Perhaps next season….

Two weeks until Northampton Tri – looking forward to that. And I will be joined by a few of my friends from Blenheim at the Roade Tri in September – so here’s hoping they have also caught the bug….

Blenheim Triathlon 2009

Myself, Tom Egan, Rosemary Scott, Alexander Leggeat, James Chapman and Hugh Dowling all took on the Blenheim Triathlon last weekend and we all succeeded.
Tom went from not being able to swim 6 months ago - to swimming 19:13m for the 750m open water swim - an impressive achievement.
This bunch (apart from Hugh) were the result of a pub bet last year that I made - which saw them all sign up for the triathlon and start their training - and frankly a great job was done by all of them, especially since none of them were big runners, swimmers or cyclists previously.
The race times are here:

	Overall	Swim	T1	Cycle	T2	Run
Thomas Egan	01:32:26	00:19:13	00:04:34	00:40:20	00:01:41	00:26:40
Mark Sharrock	01:36:17	00:17:06	00:04:38	00:41:20	00:02:17	00:30:58
Hugh Dowling	01:39:41	00:16:43	00:04:56	00:43:30	00:02:12	00:32:22
Alexander Leggeat	01:59:37	00:27:45	00:06:24	00:47:22	00:02:56	00:35:12
James Chapman	02:01:05	00:22:21	00:06:33	00:49:40	00:03:28	00:39:05
Rosemary Scott	02:18:12	00:22:36	00:06:36	01:06:21	00:02:18	00:40:22

Unfortunately it wasn’t one of my best races – in fact – it was 10 mins slower than my previous worst race – and much of this is no doubt down to preparation.

I had been training with Gatorade – it was available on course and I quite liked it. It didn't cause me any problems and I had used it in the previous race. But I found myself on Saturday morning without any and couldn't find any at the supermarket – so had to get Lucozade sport instead – a silly and frankly schoolboy mistake that would bite me on the ass later.

The start of the swim was relaxed and I was looking forward to it – but as soon as the horn went – the mayhem began. I had my foot dragged by someone behind at the same time as some other bloke tried to swim over my head and while I can hold my own in the water – this still shook me up and I took a lungful of water – not a great start. The swim got worse from there – I was tense, the wetsuit made my arms ache, I just couldn't get my stroke right – I just felt uncomfortable from there on. No idea how much of it was in my head – but a 17:06 swim for 750 is pretty much the slowest I have ever done and it wasn’t exactly trying conditions.

Ran up the steep 400m slope to T1 and the wetsuit came off nicely this time. Onto the bike and power off down the slope and up the next hill. I took on some Lucozade sport prior to the hill and by the time I reached the top my stomach was cramping and I threw up. Managed to stay on the bike while this was happening but it wasn't pleasant – and it left me dehydrated and weak. I carried on and tried to push it a bit more – but the next time around my legs were jelly on the hill. I knew I had to get some fluid inside me – so I chanced some more drink – but the results were the same – stomach c ramps and shortly after I threw up – just as I passed James on his first lap.

Racked my bike and staggered out of transition – grabbed some water at the water station and this stayed down – but didn't get very much. Got some more at the next – but the damage was done – my legs weren't working well and I was dehydrated, getting blisters and frankly pretty unhappy. Pip and Rose were cheering at the side and this kept me going until the end. Boy I was happy it was over – and that was the first triathlon I have felt that on.

Lesson learned – if you cannot get the drink that you trained with – stick to water!

Well done to the other who did a great job.

A half marathon followed by the Big Cow Tri...

I decided to run to work on Friday - essentially to the station (10km), then from St Pancras to Fleet Street (3km) and back again (26km). Felt pretty good and quite enjoyed it - had a few blisters at the end and was fairly sore on Saturday - in fact I had a hard time walking! I was a little worries for the triathlon today - but I woke up this morning in good form with most of the aches and pains gone.

So - we arrived early at Emberton this morning for the Big Cow Sprint Tri - the first open water swim I have done. Wow - the water was freezing - but I was absolutely amazed at how much effort was required to move your arms in the wetsuit - my shoulders were incredibly sore afterwards - and the time was terrible - 16m for 750m. I was so knackered when I climbed out of the water that I started running the wrong way to transition!

Getting the wetsuit off was just a hoot - it wouldnt come off - and it actually took over 2 mins t get out of the suit - meaning T1 was nearly 3 mins long!

The bike was OK - I could have done better - but it was my quickest 20km of the year - it was a great course and the marshals were awesome.

T2 was OK - but it still nearly took me a minute - and then onto the run. I still had the blisters from Friday - but they didnt seem to worry me too much. It was a 2 lap run - and my first lap sucked. Again my legs were like lead and I couldnt do much more than jog along - the first 2.5km taking over 16 mins - the second lap when I was able to push was more in the region of 10-11 mins.

Anyway - all over - 01:26 - so reasonably happy with that - but can be improved upon next time....

A long swim

I've been cycling most days - and ended up soaked a few times - but have mostly enjoyed it - thursday and friday were quite hard work on the bike due to the wind - but the rest of the week was quite enjoyable as the weather was quite good.

This morning I went to the gym for a couple of hours and concentrated on the swimming. I managed about 3.5 - 4km in a single session which was pretty good - had one brief stop in the middle - but other than that - swam continuously without any stops. It felt pretty easy and yet it was definitely quicker than many of my other swims. I guess I was fairly relaxed after the race last weekend and I'm less concerned about pushing the swim - so more relaxed in the water seems to make the swim faster.

Spent the afternoon trying to put a basketball hoop up for my son on the outside of the house and failing miserably - I measured the distance between the holes incorrectly and need to do it again - I couldn't manage today as my arms were simply dead and I couldn't face lifting my friends industrial and therefore incredibly heavy masonry drill again! Will try tomorrow.

Cai wants to go for a run tomorrow - so looks like I am getting up relatively early for that as well prior to attempting to put it up again.

One more week until my first open water swim triathlon - looking forward to it - just hope that the weather is good for it so that the family can come and watch.

Stratford 220 Tri, 10th May 2009

Well, that's the first one under the belt this season and it was both
a joy and a shock and perhaps a bit of a wake up call at the same time.
I arrived bright and early to find a hive of activity at 6:30 am and
quite a few competitors already there. Registration was open and I was
swifty ticked off, handed my Gatorade and written all over with a big
black marker pen. Everything seemed very well organised, friendly and
laid back, something that carried through the whole experience and is
testimony to the effort put in by the organisers.
I did my usual pacing like a cat on a hot tin roof up and down with a
small warm up before it was time to head to the pool for my 8:55 start
time. I'm not sure how we were ordered but perhaps on swim times.
The swim felt a little odd. It was a 33 metre pool and only 12
lengths, again well organised so that you wouldn't miss count, but I
got stuck behind a few people on a number of occasions and struggled
to get past, but I still managed a half decent time of 07:40 for the
swim, an improvement on last year.
Transition was easy, but I was slow and even though I didn't put socks
on (note to self - this is why I have blisters) I didn't get out on
the bike very quickly.
At the start of the ride my heart was going nuts. I could have done
with my HR monitor but had elected not to bother- a mistake I think.
It felt as if I was going far too quickly so I tried to slow down and
drink some isotonic drink. I have fitted the tri bars to the bike and
actually find them rather comfortable, but it is difficult getting the
drink so I will have to think about getting a bottle between the bars.
I caught quite a few people on the bike, but was overtaken by one at
the top of a big climb when my legs were complaining - I was
definately in too big a gear most of the time - but I got him back on
the decent and he didn't get another opertunity. 46 mins for 23km, not
stunning and requires improvement.
The run was awful. Really bad. 26 mins plus for 5km and I struggled,
both from boredom (I hate two laps of the same circuit), blisters (no
socks and wet feet) and what felt like lead weights in my legs. No
where enough brick training I think.

So 01:19 overall - same as last year but slightly longer course. Also
I didn't feel knackered all day afterwards and could cycle today.

Need to do some serious training for Blenheim however....

Thursday aches and pains....

I ran to the office this morning from the station after taking another rest day yesterday. I have some odd pains in the lower half of my left leg – they were there on the 10km the other day as well – but they don’t seem to be going with rest unlike other niggles which is slightly worrying with the first race only a few days away. It feels almost as if the muscle below the calf is about to “Blow up!” So I think there will be little or no training for the rest of the week while I rest it and see how it works at the race on Sunday at Stratford-upon-Avon.

As long as it is better for Blenheim and I can get some more training in before then I will be happy – not too worried about this weekend if I do badly – but Blenheim was always the “A” race and I’d like to be fit and healthy for that.

I am  also conscious of the lack of cycling I have been doing – I need to make a concerted effort next week to get on the turbo trainer and do some more hills. It was on the training schedule this week – but once again that has been blown out of the water. You can see why people hire a coach now in order to keep them on the straight and narrow – I seem to be wandering aimlessly at the moment.

Anyway – rest is the order of the day I think for the leg…..

Swimming the Channel for Charity

Kerys - my wife - and I have decided to swim the equivalent of the channel (22 miles) for the charity Aspire this year. That is 1416 lengths of a 25 metre pool!!!

Aspire works with people with Spinal Chord Injuries. Spinal Cord Injury has a devastating effect on the 1,200 people who become paralysed each year.

The individual affected will lose muscle and sensory control and the vast majority become full time wheelchair users for the rest of their lives.

Its a great charity and its a fairly large challenge. I'd apreciate any donations anyone could give - there is a widget on the blog page as well as on Facebook and the link is http://www.justgiving.com/clansharrock if you want to go straight there. Anything you can give to support this charity would be great, even a few quid.

It is a fairly large challenge - for those of you that have swam distances recently I am sure you understand that this is a decent challenge, and for those that have just run the London Marathon - this is only 4 miles less that you ran!

So come on - this will be my only charity event this year - I won't nag you for anything else. Please support this if you are able.

Many thanks

Mark & Kerys.

Tuesday Run & Swim

Managed a 1500m swim and a 10km run last night. The run was quite nice - all done with the HR below 150 and it took me 54 mins to run - 2 mins outside the racetime I did over the winter which is good. Obviously means I could go a lot quicker if I could pace myself properly.

I have a very sore left leg this morning however - the muscle below my calf and just inside feels very sore - so I think I will rest it today, no point in blowing up just prior to the first race of the season.

Monday run

On Saturday I went a bit nuts at the gym and swam 2.25 km without using my legs in about 45 mins, followed by sprint training on the treadmill heading up to 15 kmph. It felt alright at the time – but in the evening the intercostal muscles on either side of my chest were sore, and today (I took yesterday off apart from a very brief swim in the morning with the kids) when I went running they were very painful after 3.5km.

Still – the run was fun. We bought the kids new bikes today and I spent the afternoon unboxing them and putting them together. Halfords quote 2 days, and I in my infinite wisdom thought I could take far less – obviously! Bloody hell – nearly killed me!

Firstly – I don’t have a bike stand – so everything is done bent over double and after 2 hours of this I could hardly stand. Secondly – I just couldn't get the indexing on my son’s bike right – and that took a further frustrating 20 mins. I must admit – I can see why Halfords won’t build the bikes straight away for you there and then!

So – I took my son on his bike as a pace maker once it was in a ridable state – and he was a lot quicker on this one than his old one. I had to work incredibly hard to keep up and after the first 3.5km I was knackered and had to send him in so I could do the next loop at a nice leisurely pace! Should be good for the future however – have him pace me around.

This weeks training schedule….

Day	Hours	Details	Actual
Monday	0.5	6km Endurance run	0.5
Tuesday	0.5	Early morning run
	0.25	Evening run to station
Wednesday	1	Evening cycle - hill training
Thursday	0.5	Swim 1500m
	1	Evening gentle cycle
Friday	0.25	Early morning run
	0.5	Spinning cycle
Saturday	0.5	Short morning run
Sunday	1.5	Competition - Stratford 220
TOTAL	6.5		0.5

This weeks Training.....

Its been an interesting week this week - and I have oddly enough managed to train every day.

I managed to cycle on Monday both ways, Tuesday one way, Wednesday one way, Swim Thursday and core training on Friday.

I ache all over and that is mainly down to the core work - my ribs are killing as are my glutes. Good swim this week - covered 750m in a little over 14 mins and 1500 in a little under 30 - so was quite pleased with that.

Am planning on going to the gym today and having a run tomorrow as well - so will have trained all days this week.

Next weekend is the Stratford 220 Triathlon which I am looking forward to - and it will be interesting to see what time I set.

My wetsuit came yesterday - have decided to hire one for the season - so have one of the Speedo suits. It is sooooo tight! Almost uncomfortable. Can't wait to try it out and see what it is like. First open water triathlon in 3 weeks at Emberton - Big Cow Sprint Triathlon....

I dont seem to be loosing any more weight at the moment - and this is prompting me to rethink my diet. I think I have been drinking too much lucozade sport and not eating enough sensible food - too much fat - so from next week I am going to be a bit more careful - we shall see if that makes any difference.

Troublesome breathing....

Towards the end of last week , over the weekend and today, I have had some trouble breathing. It started last week during the hot weather with a tight chest and shortness of breath – although I could still exercise – 30 mins on the bike on Thursday and a swim on Friday morning, a simulated time trial on Saturday using my new TT bar extensions – and a run, mountain bike and swim on Sunday! But I still feel quite tight afterwards and I am having trouble at night – I just don’t feel as if I have slept properly at all.

I am wondering if it is some form of hay fever – and hopefully with the start of the rain it will go away – but it is quite worrying.

Rode the creaking Mountain Bike in today. God it makes a lot of noise and needs a good service. It seems to be the cranks that are creaking – so I presume there are some loose bolts somewhere – but not sure where.

I bought some TT extension bars the other day for my Trek Madone. They were pretty reasonable - £80 or so from Wiggle – and I tried them out on Saturday evening. At first they make you feel out of control – but once you smooth your riding style out a bit – they are quite comfortable to use – and rock solid. I’ll do a proper review later….

Full of cold...

I did manage to run today – but after my run yesterday I started feeling pretty rubbish – felt cold, shivery, tired, head ache etc. Typical man flu stuff – without the runny nose. Still have it today. As I said – I managed a run this morning – but really don’t feel up for anything more than that – and all I wanted to do last night was go to bed. Pretty sure that is all I will manage tonight as well. I have to cycle to the station tomorrow as the wife needs my car – so will no doubt not enjoy that given my current state! Still – gotta muddle through.

I am presuming that I won’t be doing myself too much damage by exercising during this period – given that it is essentially a cold (albeit a MANs cold – which is obviously far worse!!! :-0 ) So bike ride for the rest of the week and perhaps if I feel better – a swim as well.

Day off on Monday and a run on Tuesday

Took Monday off exercise as I probably overdid it last week – and I was very tired. I was however itching to get outside as the weather was wonderful – so today I ran into work. Had to run the short 3.5km route as the train was delayed – so I didn’t have time to do anything larger – but hopefully I will get a chance to run back this evening.

I haven’t had a chance to map out the week yet – but the Wife has already said she needs my car on Thursday and Friday as hers is going into the shop for its MOT – so I will be on the bike both those days. It will be the road bike as well as the Mountain Bike needs a bit of a service!

Only a few more weeks until the first triathlon now – and I am looking forward to it. I need to hire a wetsuit, get my race day kit list together and a few other jobs – but really looking forward to it and feeling quite positive.

A hard easy run...

I woke up this morning a little worse for wear - my Father in Law, brother in law and cousin came down to pick the missus up and to take her down to Wembley - and we all went out for a curry and a few beverages last evening. Well - as normal in these situations - I may have consumed a few too many beers and I didn't get to sleep until very late. Hence the bad head this morning....

Anyways - I thought I'd go for a run anyway to complete the week - and it was pretty hard. I was going for 5km endurance - so nice and slow and keep the HR down - but my legs were tired and I couldn't get the  HR much above 140 anyway - so I found it very hard going - and I was exhausted after the 5km when I got home - even now my legs feel pretty sore. Still - it was interesting that I managed it in 30 mins with keeping the HR so low.

Anyway - good luck to Everton today in the match against Man Utd - the wife and family are there today and I hope they enjoy it. Back to work tomorrow and I will have to start fitting the training around work again - so will hopefully work out a plan for this week tonight - but tomorrow will be a rest day - my legs certainly need it.

Saturday and a little bit of Mountain Biking

Couldn't remember what the devil I was supposed to be doing today - and didn't fancy a run this morning - so jumped on the Mountain Bike and headed off to Irchester Country Park in the sun. My Mountain Bike definitely needs servicing - it is creaking like an old man and the gears keep slipping - but I managed about 3 laps of the park and quite a few bits of the single track including a great bit between the trees which includes a couple of 'hairy bits' where I had to swing between two close trees. Really good fun.

Some decent single track on the way home as well - about an hour and a half in total - 1150 kcals.

Interestingly my legs were seriously aching by the time I got back home - really really aching. Far more that on the trainer - and I couldn't have gone much further - so either I have over trained a bit - or I just didn't have enough carbs - will have to watch that in the future. 

Lunchtime Bike power/sprint training

Jumped on the bike trainer and chose a different training route to normal - usually I take the hill training - but this time I took the power/sprint training route - lots of quick sprints with recovery afterwards, a couple of big hills at the end - but generally lots of quick power generation climbs.

I managed a personal best today - 772 Watts. I've never got anywhere close to this before - I think I usually generate about 400 watts on a quick climb for a short amount of time - but today the force was obviously with me (Revenge of the Sith on the laptop infront of me!) - and I managed a couple of pretty big pushes - 602 watts being the previous one and 772 Watts the last push. I am pretty pleased with these - especially as they were at the end of the ride - 32km in 56 mins. I am pretty peckish now - so going to get some grub now....

Not so sure about a run later - might have done enough today now.....

A good morning swim

My daughter, bless her, has chicken pox at the moment - and didn't sleep too well last night and in the process managed to keep my wife (and me a bit) awake quite a bit. A feat - those of you that know me will agree - as I can sleep through Armageddon. So - I was planning on heading to the pool at about 6:30am this morning and going for a run afterwards, instead - I arrived at the pool at about 8:30am and forgo the run. I managed 2.7km in a steady time - about 1 hour 10 mins including a warm down at the end - so not too bad.

My arms don't feel quite as bad as they usually do which is encouraging - so I might jump on the cycle trainer in a bit and see if I can manage a few kilometers on that.

My photos from the Half Marathon at Silverstone arrived today as well - and by golly I look quite tired at the end! I forgot what an ordeal the last 2km were - but my face on the finish line tells the story in its entirety I feel. I don't look too happy to say the least. Oh well - at least I did it, but I probably won't be doing it again. I'm still thinking of stepping up to Olympic distance next season - but haven't gone any further than thinking of it yet. At least I know I can do the distances involved - although I suspect my time will be poor on the more endurance distance event - but I guess that is what specific training is for hey?