Turning Back Time

Decided to turn back time today. As you do! I am two weeks into my 20 week plan for the half ironman BUT I built in a three week 'break' in September for when my parents come over. However after a third consecutive Sunday long ride with a puncture (and missing a long run on Friday) I have decided to start again and loose 2 of the 3 week gap in the middle. Just means I will have to try to train as much as possible when my parents are here. Early morning runs and rides will sort that out. So today, Monday 20th August has now become Day 1 of the plan. My puncture Sunday was really annoying. I had two brand new kevlar protected (puncture resistant - yeah right!) tyres and tubes and still on about the hour mark of a 90min ride the front tyre punctures. Lovely piece of glass has ripped a hole in my expensive tyre! Wonder if i can super glue up the 'flap' each time. Only good thing is that I'm getting lots of tube changing practice and my confidence in being able to deal with one on the day is much higher. I obviously don't want it to happen but I don't think I would see it as the end of the world like what I was thinking in last year's race. I just prayed throughout the ride not to puncture. Saw lots of people at the side of the road and I really felt for them.

So ... Day 1 (again) - Good swim at lunchtime. 4 x 200m warm up    4 x 400m main set and 4 x 50m warm down. Have to admit cut short the warm down cos I really needed to pee. Don't mind in the sea to warm up the wetsuit but not sure about in the pool. Weather is getting a bit warmer now so I wonder how long I can continue to use the wetsuit in the pool. Ran tonight for 35mins. Should have been 40 but I am protecting my calf ... that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. Not a perfect re-start but I'm happy with that.

Current weight 194.5lbs 20% fat .... no real movement there I don't think. Must give more thought to my nutrition. On that note .... ran my figures through a nutrition calculator for Half Ironman and it spat out the figure of 500 cals/hr. That's the amount I need to eat for the time on the bike and run to finish with the same amount of glucose (I think) that I started with. If I want to make sure I don't go into deficit I need to eat more. Currently I have (and this was the case last year) one gel (100 cals) every 40mins and bottel of sports drink every hour (roughly). This is nowhere near 500cals/hr.

Eeeek! I'll need to up my intake. Maybe some solid food on the bike. Will try it out on my long rides. I can eat while I'm fixing my punctures!