It's Snowing!!!!!!!

I did my first ever snow run today. It was very cool. it's times like this that it feels pretty cool to be an expat living in Tokyo.
The photos were taken at school and you can see the building I work in. My room is in the top left hand corner of the 1st photo. The playground below is starting to show a good little cover of snow.

fluro

Run Challenge: week 3 of 4 (20/1/08)

Photo
All I can say is that this was an awesome cultural experience. We sat and stared in awe at how big, how strong and how intriguing this wonderful sport of Sumo is.


Monday
Run: (1hr), 12km, av hr 135bpm (Zone1)
10min easy
20min Aet (zone 2)
20min fartlek (short and fast) (zone 3)
10min LS
Good solid run.

Tuesday
Bike: (1:03),28km, av hr 109bpm
That is a new PB for me. 2 degrees was the av temp for this ride. Sooooo cold. Easy spin

Run: (30min), 5.6kmm av hr 121bpm.
Was feeling really good in the legs tonight. If this keeps up tomorrow I'll run long.


Wednesday
Run: (2hrs), 22.1km, av hr 126bpm.
My longest run in 18months. legs held up much better then expected. left foot wasn't the best but it was manageable. Pretty happy with the fact that I can run over 2hrs again.


Thursday
Bike: (2hrs), 52km, av hr 109bpm
Decided to brave the cold and hit the road instead of the W/T this morning. legs were a little tired after last nights long run. Rode easy to LS with the focus on keeping cadence up.
Run: (30min), 5.3km, av hr 123bpm.
Easy recovery run around the canal. made sure I stayed on soft surfaces.


Friday
Run: (1hr), 11.2km, av hr 125bpm.
Easy to lower steady run. Foot felt pretty good tonight. Running form was good. Holding up really well. 18 runs now in 18 days. whoah hoah!!


Saturday
Bike: (3:45), 94km, av hr 109bpm.
easy aerobic ride in very cold conditions again.
Run: (33:12), 7.2km, av hr 146bpm (right on Aet).
ran easy for 15min then will did 1 lap at tempo (3.7km, 13:37) HR was hitting 170bpm towards the end. Finished off with David. We were moving along at around 4:00min/k. Top run
Swim: (45min), 1.5km
300 w/u
5-100 tempo +10 base (1:20, 1:25, 1:28's) Buoy
4-50 breathing 7 up and 9 back
drill


Sunday
Bike: (4hrs), 110km, av hr 110bpm
rode easy to Aet for 2.5hr
2 x 15min TT @ IMeffort (136-140bpm)
30min easy
10min hard (155-160bpm)
20min easy
15min TT @ MSS (145bpm)
Bit flat today but I seemed to get better the more I pushed.
Run: (30min), 5.4km, av hr 121bpm
Felt 100% was very tempted to go for an hour today but then rembered that I must be patient. This has now been my biggest run week in 18 months.
Things are good

Swim 0:45
Bike 10:48
Run 6:04
Other 1:00

Total 18:37
Summary
Another solid week of training. This is my 3rd week in a row now that I have continued to increase the volume. I’ll do one more big week next week and then I’ll have a week off to get ready for my bike focus to follow.
The highlight this week was running 2hrs. While my feet weren’t 100% I was at least able to manage the pain. It was hurting but it didn’t get progressively worse. It still concerns me whether or not I’ll be able to do an IM run with these issues. Once I enter my IM specific preps I’ll have to put my feet to the test then with some longer bricks.
I’m starting to believe now I might have to run an IM with a run/walk strategy in order to alleviate the pressure that builds up under my feet. This helps me a lot with my training. I like to run 9minutes on with a 1minute recovery walk. If I can just develop my pace enough so that I’m covering 2km in this 10minute block then I’ll be on track for a 3:30 IM run even with a 1minute walk. It is getting close. In training when I’m running just below Aet effort I can cover around 1.9km which includes the 1minute of walking.
Next week.
Break 20hrs of training and run over 80km to finish off the Run Challenge. Over the next week or so I’ll post on triathlog the actual sessions I’ll be doing in the bike focus for the entire 6 weeks. Join me if you like.

fluro

2007 Year in Review

Photo
This was a very vocal ride with Eric today and he wasn't speaking too much either.

Photo
This me doing some resistance training. 80kg of rocks in my two shopping baskets. i think I managed to reach 12kph at one point.

Photo
5hrs in the saddle. 2hrs of climbing, -1 degree, minimum temperature and a nice warm train ride home.

Photo
not a great photo, but boy did it feel good to see some mountains again. Thanks Eric, I can't wait to do this again soon.
Year in Review
Where to start.
Stats
Annual hours: 674.75hrs (13hrs PW)
This is a PB for me by almost 100hrs. I’m pretty happy with this considering how much time I needed to take off due to my foot injury.
Swim: 67.05hrs
Bike: 442.55hrs (11863km)
Run: 89.37hrs(1012km)
As you can clearly see most of my hours came via the bike. My run was almost ½ of what I did the previous year and this year I intend to triple those hours and aim for around 2500-3000km as my goal for this year.
Highs!
My Aet pace is at 4:32min/k. This was a bit of a shock to me. I was hoping that I would be able to get my Aet pace down to around 4:40min/k before IM Germany but to be at 4:32min/k just shows you what a little focused period of training can help move you closer and closer towards your long terms goals. My long term goal (3yrs time) would be to get my Aet pace down to 4:10min/k.
On the bike things have been moving along okay. It is very difficult trying to get in quality training while riding around in Tokyo. So much stopping and starting due to traffic lights. Typical 4hr from door to door generally amounts to around 3.5hrs of actual rising time.
My Aet pace on the bike is currently at 34.2kph over a 20km TT test. My goal before IM Germany is to get it up over 35kph. So I have a little more work to do on the bike in 2008. Once I finish my January run challenge this will be my No 1 priority.
Swimming. This is the most I have swum in 1 yr however, majority of this has been doing just 1-2 swim sessions PW to maintain my current level of fitness. My B/L LSD pace is currently around 1:35/100m long course and I’m happy to keep it at that level for now. Over the next few months I’ll begin to gradually increase my swimming back up to 3 sesisons PW. Once I start my IM specific preps I’ll then start swim around 4-5 times PW.
Lows!
My feet are still causing me some issues. I just can’t seem to get completely on top of this one. I’ve have taken every single course of action trying to get my feet back to 100% injury free, however, I have now realized this will never happen. The best I can do is just work around it to the best of my ability. This does concern me as I feel I still can’t run off the bike without pain occurring very early on in the run. I now it will be an issue for me come race day and I’m just hoping I’ll be able to work around or through it for that matter.

In summary, I think this is the fittest I have ever been in terms of my endurance in and around Aet. I’m looking forward to taking on 2008 with gusto and I can’t wait to start knocking out regular 18-22hr training weeks. I feel once I’m at that volume I start getting big returns for my investment. I feel like the last 3 months of solid training has set me up to be able to handle consistent weeks in the range of 18-22hrs.
My goal at IM Germany is to break 10hrs. I feel everything is on schedule and I have no intentions of reassessing that goal until I have reached it. After that I have some big plans for the next 3 years that I have been developing over the last 6months. I’ll be calling on people to join me once I become a sub 10 hr IM’er.
Are you willing to undertake ‘The Quest?’
fluro

Lights!!!!

Photo
if your ever wondering why my average speed on the bike has dropped so much since moving here to Tokyo, this is your answer. LIGHTS!!!!

The photo was taken in Ginza and is a normal route I have to take on my most of my rides


fluro

Week ending 7/01/08. Run Challenge week 1

Photo.
Did this incredible ride out of Tokyo on Sunday. It took Eric and I 2 hours to reach the base of a 21km climb. It then took another 2 hours to reach the summit. The highlight of the trip started with this photo and reading my watch to see it was -1 degree. The average temperature for the entire ride was 5 degrees. Fun at its merry best.


Tuesday
Run: (1:07), 12km, 124bpm
Easy aerobic run. Everything went well. 2 points on the board

Wednesday
Run: (30:30), 5.5km, 119bpm
This was a struggle today. been out and about all day shopping, got home pretty late and had to grind out this run in the dark and cold. Glad I did it though. 3 points on the board
Bike: (1hr), 24km, 110bpm
Easy spin around town

Thursday
Run: (30:19), 5.8km, 125bpm
Very easy recovery run around the canals. Pretty tired. this challenge is really helping me keep on task.
Bike: (2:55), 84km
30min easy
40min lower steady (33-34kph, 53/19)
5min easy
40min Aet (35-36kph, 53/17, cad 95)
20min easy
5 x 2min hard (Z4), 2min RI.
Good strength ride today.
No HR reading so relied on RPE.

Friday
Run: (1hr), 12.3km. 143bpm.
A big PB again 2km W/U
4km @ Aet (av pace 4:32min/k, av hr 145bpm). PB by 17 seconds
1. 4:17, 143bpm
2. 4:36, 146bpm
3. 4:38, 146bpm
4. 4:37, 146bpm
4km @ Aet +10bpm (4:20min/k, av hr 157bpm). PB by 5 seconds
1. 4:18, 155bpm
2. 4:25, 158bpm
3. 4:22, 157bpm
4. 4:15, 157bpm
A new PB at Aet (17sec) and at Aet +10bpm (5 sec). Apart from taking out the 1st km at Aet way too hard I felt like I paced this test pretty well.
I have made most of my gains at Aet and this is because of the specificity of my training at the moment. The gap between my Aet and Aet +10bpm has narrowed to 12 seconds. Previously the difference was 24 seconds. This would then tell me I’m now ready to start inserting some higher intensity work in my weekly training schedule. For the last 3-4mths all my running has been done below Aet with a cap of Aet +5bpm. I think I have my running economy as good as I can get it and if I was to continue to keep training the way I am I don’t think would continue to see improvements at Aet. In other words it is time to change things up.
I’ll keep running as frequently as I can, but now I’m going to lengthen my long run up to 1.5-1:45 and support this with another medium to long run of 1-1:15. I’m going to introduce a weekly interval session where I focus on improving my running economy at Aet +10bpm. By running at this intensity this will also double up as my weekly strength endurance work too.
Apart from that everything else will remain the same.


Saturday
Run: (40min), 7.4km, 122bpm
Very easy recovery run with the buns. Body is holding up well. that is the lowest av hr I have ever had on a recovery run. My running economy must have something to do with this
Bike: (2.5hrs), 63km, 115bpm
easy endurance ride down the the Tama River. Left knee was a little sore when I stood up to pedal.

Sunday
Run: (34min), 6.5km, 124bpm
very tired after todays long ride in the hills. Glad I did it though.

Bike: (5:05), 126km, 121bpm
beautiful ride today. It felt so good to be able to ride. rode 2-2.5hrs out of town to reach a 25k climb. took around 2hr to climb up. Snow along the way was pretty cool. -1 degree was the minimum temp. Caught the train back home

Swim 0
Bike 11.30
Run 4:21
Other 1:00

Total 16:51
Summary
A good week of training. This is the start of my 30 runs in 30days Challenge. I managed to run everyday this week and I have pulled up really well. I've cutback slightly my midweek cycling volume but I have compensated this by increasing the length of my weekend long ride as I slowly transition (4weeks) into my strength phase on the bike. This basically means riding at least 3-4hrs in one direction out of Tokyo to find some long steady climbs. I'll then do 1-2 hrs of climbing, do the descent find the nearest railroad station and catch the train home to make up a 5hr ride with hills.


fluro