Training Review - Week 17 - April 22 to 28

Swim session was brutal. Lots of kick-only and pull-only drills. Not really what you want to be doing the day after a race. This was once again my longest swim session ever. Now at 2,150m. Race distance for my half ironman is only 1,900m so am already going 10% over that in 55 minutes with breaks between them. I am beginning to wonder if I can be out of the water close to 30 minutes on race day.

Pretty chuffed with Tuesday's run. Longer than I have been doing but went faster as well. OK, it was a very flat route along the old railway line, but still pretty happy with it.

Wednesday's brick session is turning into something of a nightmare. I can't remember the last time I finished it. It has become much too easy to quit it. I tried switching it back round to run then bike to get through it. My shoelace came undone at the 31 minute mark on the treadmill, so I hit pause, but then when I bent down to do my lace the auto-shut-off kicked in. I decided just to give it up and go do my hour on the bike. But I only managed about 20minutes of that before I was fed up of it and was working out where I could squeeze the rest of the time into my week.

Thursday the cinema timetable worked out well for me so I had an hour to kill after work. Managed to get on the treadmill and finish off my running miles for the week.

Friday I thought about having a rest day before two big biking days. But then I would have been shorting my swim target for the week. So I decided to sneak in a trip to Bucksburn. I like being the fastest person in the pool. I don't like being the second fastest person in the pool when some wee girl turns up and starts lapping me.

Saturday I went for a training ride from my house with a couple of guys from TPT. I was really struggling to go at their pace and thought it was just from trying to breathe the really cold air. So at about 15 miles I told them to charge on and I would cut back on my own. A couple of miles further and I was getting really uncomfortable from how rough the road was. Only looking at the road surface, it didn't look that bad... Once my brain caught up I realised I had a slow puncture on the back. Took me nearly a mile to find a safe layby to pull over and it didn't seem to be getting much flatter than when I first noticed it, so I took a gamble on topping it up with some fresh gas every 4 or 5 of miles to make the remaining 13 miles home. Got away with this trick a couple of times but then hit a pothole and popped it properly. 

Changing tubes with my winter gloves on is a hassle. Changing tubes in the cold without my winter gloves on was worse. As with Wednesday's brick session I was doing maths in my head as I pedalled back trying to figure out how short a route I could take and still make 100 miles for the week.

Sunday I was in two minds about going out on the bike again, but I dragged myself out to Kintore. So pleased that I did. Beautiful day and did 56 miles. That is the first full race-distance ride I have done. Doing a decent average speed, and I was doing more turns on the front than usual. Averaged out over 15 miles an hour with a few fast miles up at 27 and 29 mph. Even had to pocket some of my winter gear part way round because it was getting too hot!

So this week:
First time I have swum 2 miles in a week without a race, ever.
First time I have ridden my race distance in one ride.
Longest single swim session ever.
Longest single ride ever.
Longest weekly bike total ever.
... so despite dropping out of sessions on Wednesday and Saturday, an awesome training week.

So targets for last week (Week 17) were:

Swim >2 miles. Bike >60 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 2,150m in 55mins.

Tuesday - 5 mile run. Dyce railway line. 43mins.

Wednesday - Gym brick. Treadmill 3.6 miles, 31mins. Exercise bike 7 miles, 23mins.

Thursday - Treadmill 6.5 miles in 55 mins. Cinema - Iron Man 3.

Friday - Swim 1,100m in 23mins.

Saturday - 31 miles in 2 hours 29. With a few stops.

Sunday - 56.1 miles in 3 hours 42. Stretching session. Core and stretching session.

Result - 

Swim 2.0 miles (3,250m). Bike 94.1 miles. Run 15.1 miles. 1 core and 1 stretching session.

Training Plan - Week 18 - April 29 to May 5

Mileage for this week is reigned back in a bit as I have volunteered to crew for a couple of friends at Deeside Duathlon on Sunday and that takes a whole day out of my available training options. But the following week I have Monday off work to go for a long ride. Also I have another forced rest day back in to stop me from just nipping little chunks of runs and rides and hopefully this forces me to do some longer ones. 

Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy recovery run.

Wednesday - Brick. 1hr bike and 45 min run is the target but will take 30 and 30. 

Thursday - Long run.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Long bike.

Sunday - Crewing for Deeside Duathlon. Might manage to sneak in a short run at some point.

Target totals - Swim >1 mile. Bike >50 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Race review - Turriff Triathlon

It was spitting rain through the morning but never anything more than a few wee dots. But it was pretty windy, so I decided to leave socks with my bike shoes and leave my bike jacket and gloves at the pool exit.

The swim seemed like it should go well to start with. Everyone in my lane was similar speeds. Unfortunately that quickly got messy as everyone wanted to be out in front so there was lots of tapping and overtaking. The shorter pool made this even worse than it should have been. Honestly I should have fought my way to the front, having lapped the next fastest swimmer from my lane on Monday's time trial I knew I could lead that lane, but it was getting silly so I decided to let them fight it out and save my energy for the bike and run. So from less than 100m into the race I was already switched off from racing mode and just coasting. I let them all pass and just sat on the end of the queue getting a free ride.

My time was 15:36 but this includes the long run to transition. Garmin was misbehaving so I don't have my actual swim time, but last year it took me 2 mins to get from swim to T1 so assuming the same I probably swam about 13:30. 30 seconds or so faster than last year despite the faffing about at the start.

Now, I mentioned above that there was the odd spit of rain in the morning. This was not the reality when we exited the pool. It was absolutely pissing down. My bike jacket was wetter than I was. When I got to my bike I found my towel and socks were soaked through so I scrapped the socks and gave my feet a quick rub on the towel to take off some of the car park grit. Shoes on and then I grabbed my helmet. Quick lesson learned that my aero helmet doesn't have a lot of vents, so the puddle in it had gotten quite large before I tipped it over my face. I was now fed up with the whole idea.

Turriff definitely favours cyclists. The bike route is disproportionately long for a sprint race and is pretty much half way uphill and half way downhill. It was raining and cold for the whole of the climb. It even reached the point where I decided the wet gloves were a better option than the frozen fingers and pulled on my gloves while pedalling. A couple of times on the ride out I thought about just jacking it in for the day.

I was also having problems with my breathing. Seems the lurgie that is going around work is a chest infection. Was struggling to breathe all the way round on the bike. the wet roads and the traffic were not helping either. Some twat in a purple P-reg Range Rover came barrelling along the single track road  on the wrong side and I had to swerve into the ditch to avoid being hit. That threw my confidence on the descents and I completely lost sight of the riders in front. Then a truck driver pulling out of  RJ Milne's decided he needed both lanes so I had to stop and wait for him. Overall the ride felt pretty terrible, but 2 minutes quicker than last year so shouldn't really be complaining.

The last descent into T2 passes the outgoing runners and I was a bit disappointed by the size of the gaps that I was going to have to chase. This was soon to turn into a minor issue though. When I got to T2 there were lovely puddles inside my shoes, and with no socks on and the lock laces set tight I couldn't get my running shoes on. I almost pulled the plug again at this point.

I did finally manage to struggle into them and set of on the run with a wet squelch on every footstep. The wet insoles meant my right one had wrinkled up under my toes but it wasn't as bad as feeling like every step was in a puddle so I ignored it and carried on. The idea of trying to get my trainer off and on again to sort it out didn't appeal.

The gaps in front were too big for me to catch anyone but I kept working anyway in case the times from the other swim heats were catchable. I was caught by a girl (once upon a time that was unthinkable on a run section) and I clocked a slower time than last year, but this may not be comparable as the turn point is a bit random and I can't compare Garmin tracks. I felt like I was running better than last year so should probably be happier with it.

Here are my full set of results.

Split Name	Race Time	Leg Time	Time of Day	Pos	Cat Pos	Gen Pos
Swim	00:15:36	00:15:36	13:30:46	35	21	32
T1	00:16:34	00:00:58	13:31:44	48	27	41
Cycle	01:03:26	00:46:52	14:18:36	36	23	34
T2	01:04:28	00:01:01	14:19:38	55	26	42
Run	01:24:18	00:19:50	14:39:28	25	18	24

I should be happy to go two minutes faster than last year. Looking at the results from both years the average times seem to be a minute slower for the weather as well so overall it was probably worth 3 minutes on last year. But I think that is probably a stretch. Trying to convince myself that going quicker at all on such a bad day was a success but not quite convincing myself.

All in:

Annoyed about the swim time, but had plenty to go faster. Will declare a faster swim next time and get in a better lane.

Frustrated with the weather on the ride, and with how much I lost my nerve after the idiot in the Range Rover.

Disappointed with my own failure to prepare for the weather. (I could have bagged all my clothes as a precaution against the weather without affecting my transition).

Next race:

Probably Knockburn Sprint Triathlon on June 9th.

Possibly Aberfeldy Sprint Triathlon on May 26th.

Training Review - Week 16 - April 15 to 21

Monday started with a time trial at swimming. A 750m time trial in 13min 34, with the first 400m done in 7min 30. (possibly both 50m too long, might have double counted somewhere looking at the pacing). My best 750m in a race is 14:01, and that was being towed along by a lane full of faster swimmers. So really chuffed to swim 13:34 doing all the work at the front. Not intending to work quite that hard in Sunday's race as it pretty much emptied the tank and I wouldn't have been able to bike or run off the back of it, but depending on who else is in my lane I could put in a similar time again with less effort.  

Tuesday was a very hilly and very windy 5k off-road run. Suffering a bit from Monday's time trial. But then came home and did a core session as well.

Wednesday I was feeling pretty terrible. Can't tell if it is lurgie but feeling very run down. Might just be that I made last night's spag bol using quorn mince because I didn't want to wait for the Tesco delivery man, and body has been confused by the lack of calories. Did 30 slow mins on the exercise bike but was really struggling. 

Thursday. Rest day. Went to see Olympus Has Fallen. It is stupid, but in a good way. Also did a mini service on my road bike for Sunday's race, and moved the tribars apart a little to see if that helps my shoulder.

Friday I was still feeling a bit drained from what is definitely a mild lurgie. I decided against the mtb brick that was on my schedule and instead went for an easy run around Dyce to just collect my weekly run mileage. Legs were feeling surprisingly comfortable after a light day and a rest day and rolled in a half decent time.

Saturday I went for an easy ride round Dyce to check out the bike and clear my legs out. 

Sunday was Turriff Triathlon, which will get a race report to itself. But the basic story is it was cold and wet, but 2 minutes faster than last year.

Bit disappointing on the totals this week. Didn't realise how short the time trial session would total out to, but can't complain about either swim this week for pace. The midweek breathing problems that were still hanging around at the weekend were the main reason for not making the bike total. 

So targets for last week (Week 16) were:

 Swim >1.5 mile. Bike >35 miles. Run >10 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 1,400m in 55mins. Including time trial 400m in 7:30, 750m in 13:34.

Tuesday - 3.2 mile run at Kirkhill in 29 mins.

Wednesday - Exercise bike 9.1 miles in 30 mins.

Thursday - Rest Day.

Friday - Run 3.7 miles, 28 mins.

Saturday - Easy ride 9.3 miles in 37 mins. Stretching session.

Sunday - Turriff Sprint Triathlon. 750m swim ~14mins, 20k bike 47mins, 5k run 20mins.

Result - 

Swim 1.3 miles (1,400m). Bike 30.8 miles. Run 10 miles. 1 core and 1 stretching session.

Training Plan - Week 17 - April 22 to 28

Monday  - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Run at least 5 miles.

Wednesday - Gym brick 1 hour bike, 45 min run. 

Thursday - Swim, easy 30-45mins. Do some work on turns if space but mostly just do a long swim.

Friday - Easy run or mtb.

Saturday - Long bike.

Sunday - Long run or long bike.

Target totals - Swim >2 miles. Bike >60 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Back to a longer week. Both on totals and on individual sessions. 

Race preview - Turriff Triathlon

Having beaten my previous best at Knockburn Duathlon I was also looking to take a chunk of time off my previous Turriff performances as well. This would tick off one of my new targets for Q2.

I have done Turriff twice before.

2011 the weather was too dangerous to bike so they turned it into an Aquathon. 

In 2012 I did:

Split Name	Race Time	Leg Time	Pos	Cat Pos	Gen Pos
Swim	00:16:10	00:16:10	49	26	41
T1	00:16:38	00:00:27	10	8	10
Cycle	01:05:54	00:49:16	66	28	58
T2	01:06:51	00:00:57	66	27	53
Run	01:26:31	00:19:39	43	22	37

I didn't do a race report after last year's race. But pretty sure it was a terrible race. I remember I was really struggling to even go to the race briefing and was having panic problems round most of the race.

So basically anything under 1:26 this time out and I would be happy but looking at the results from 2012 there were a load of beatable people all the way down at 1:20 and even a couple I should be racing close to at 1:17 and 1:15. 

I expect to swim about a minute faster, maybe more depending on who else is in my lane, but since Monday's time trial I think I might have declared too slow a swim time and I might get held up by slower people in the pool. Rather than fighting traffic I may just coast the swim so I can push on the bike. The official swim time includes a long run to transition but I should still go way inside 16.

I should ride quite a bit quicker. Maybe as much as 5 or 6 minutes if things go really well. 

The run I would be happy to put in the same time as last year. My fitness level is about the same, but my speed is going to struggle, this might balance out against the panic problems I was having last year. Anywhere near 20 minutes for the run and I will be pretty happy.

Diet Analysis

So taking apart the basics of my diet from last week there are a few things I expected, and a few I didn't.


Not surprises:

• Free lunches are easily abused, but still they need to give me a bigger tray so that I can pile everything on without spilling juice into my soup.

• My cooking is really lazy during the week, but a bit better at the weekend.

• When I am cooking or baking at home, I throw ridiculous amounts of calories into things. 

• I eat a lot of carbs.

• No supplements, no magic potions, no placebo pills.

• The number of calories I put in are very close to the number of calories I put out, hence the general stability in my weight as long as I am eating and training "normally". 

• The number of calories I put in, and out, are ~30% more than an average adult male needs, so no surprise that my weight moves rapidly if I don't exercise, or don't eat.

Surprises:

• Packet "portion" sizes are tiny. What is written on most packets as a "portion" is generally about half of what I would consider to be a portion. Judging by what other people put on their plates I am not alone, and I think that portion sizes that manufacturers write on packets are nonsense.

• Food labelling in general is terrible. I like to think I am smart but sometimes I had real problems trying to figure out what calories were actually in things. Sometimes the labels are really hard to find. Then labelling everything "per 100g" and "per serving (200ml)" seem sensible enough, but on a 470ml bottle are meaningless. Who drinks 42.5% of a milkshake and calls that a portion? How much bread is 100g? How many haribo are 100g? [answers are: no-one, two slices, 11 mini packets]

• I make my "5-a-day", and quite often a lot more. I expected to come up close or short there but I am way clear even before you factor in the portion sizes. I am probably closer to 8-10 on most days. I count about 53 "portions" through last weeks tracker, even allowing for their funny rules that you can only count one glass of fruit juice a day no matter how many you have, and you can't count potatoes if they are the main starch in a meal but you can if there is another (e.g. rice or bread). So averaging almost 8 portions of fruit and veg a day.

• 90% of my coffees are pre-lunch.

• Big training days do not match up with big calorie intake days. Nor are they inverted, I did wonder if I ate more on rest days, or the day after big training days. But there doesn't really seem to be any correlation.

• Not as much junk food during the week as I expected. But plenty of crisps and sweets creep in at the weekends. I think a lot of this is just because I am bored rather than really hungry.

• Not really a surprise to me, but this one will get some people. Health food is not healthy. The 9-bar I had post-ride on sunday was similar calories to a Mars bar, but is about half the size! The homemade flapjacks, are made of oats, honey, dried fruit, a bit of coconut, and some sugar, but they calorie count is huge for their weight.

Calorie Comparison

So in a week I eat about 24,000 calories. And no weight change (within 0.1kg on the scales I have) over the week so everything I put in, I also put out.

An average adult male allegedly burns 2,500 a day just breathing and pumping blood and that sort of stuff. So I score somewhere around 17,500 just for being alive.

The other 6,500 I exercise away. Mapmyrun rates my formal training from last week as 5,523. 

Somewhere through the week there is a 1,000 point mismatch. Some of this is going to come out in the estimates of calorie numbers, both in and out. Some of it is my penchant for intentionally taking stairs instead of the lift, parking at the far end of the car park and walking around to talk to people at work rather than emailing and little things like that.

Changes

So having tracked for a week and done a quick analysis, what changes am I going to make?

Well, none. 

I like what I eat, and I eat what I like. As long as I am exercising sufficiently I am controlling my weight and staying healthy then there is no real drive to change. In fact trying to change is likely to be more problematic as any change I make is likely to drop something critical out of my diet by accident. 

For example, I could cut some or all of the lattes, but at 75 calories each I could quickly end up in calorie debt and start dropping weight again.

This may get a revisit in about June though, once I start looking at what useful weight I want to carry around a half ironman and what I can afford to get rid of.

How much can one person eat?

Nearly missed the start of this as I woke up in the middle of the night and was starving so had an Alpen breakfast bar at about 3am on the Monday morning. Managed to catch myself though and put it in the tracker. And everything else from there...

All calorie values are estimates, but I have tried to give accurate weights and take the calorific values off the packets wherever I can. [these brackets] are subtotals for a particular item (these ones) are for the whole plate or course and anything with a "~" is estimated from the internet.

So here is the fine detail of what I put away in a normal week.

Monday

Alpen bars x 2 (122 calories each)

Monday lunch

Lunch - Cream of vegetable soup, and a sesame seed roll with margarine. [~200]. Mince and skirlie [490] with mash and carrots [~300]. Creme brulee with sticky ginger cake hidden in it [~500]. Glass each of diluting orange and blackcurrant juice. (~1600)

Dinner - Southern fried chicken goujons with oven chips, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes and baby corn. (~890)

And throughout the day:

Latte with semi-skimmed milk x 5 (~75 each)

Green tea x 3 (2 each)

Fruit juice diluted 1:4 in water (25)

Total calories - 3,150 (or somewhere around that)

Tuesday

Tuesday lunch

Lunch started with highland lentil soup and a sesame seed roll with margarine [~200]. Main course was pork loin in hoisin sauce [395 calories], with roast potatoes and sweetcorn [~370]. Dessert was another dose of the creme brulee with the sticky ginger pudding in it [~500]. And the usual glass each of diluting orange and blackcurrant juice. (~1475)

Dinner was the southern fried chicken goujons again, but this time with oven chips [~200], onion rings [285] and mushy peas [230].  A couple of slices of hovis thick white bread [230], with soya margarine on the side.(~1050).

And a pack of pickled onion monster munch. (109)

And then a couple of my home-made honey, coconut and fruit flapjacks (~200 each)

And throughout the day:

Latte with semi-skimmed milk x 6 (~75 each)

Green tea x 4 (2 each)

Fruit juice (90)

Total calories - about 3,680 

Wednesday

Wednesday lunchtime

Lunch was carrot and coriander soup with a poppy seed roll and margarine [~200]. Then goulash [495 and yummy!] with boiled potatoes [~300] and grated carrots [30]. Dessert was chocolate roulade [~300]. Same diluting orange and blackcurrant juice. (~1325)

Dinner. Wednesday is beef day this week. Roast beef [320], mash [350] and baby corn [100]. (~770)

More snacking today.
Homemade flapjack (~200)
Plums x 2 (60)
Banana (45)
Maoam giant stripe (30)

And some other drinks:
Blueberry juice x 2 (45 each)
Latte x 6 (75 each)
Green tea x 4 (2 each)
Glass of water.

Total calories - about 2,815 

Thursday

Thursday Lunch

Lunch was an absolute treat. Mediterranean vegetable soup with a wholemeal roll and margarine [~150]. Lamb koftas [495 and YUMMY!], with rice, roast potatoes [~200] and broccoli [~35]. Chocolate roulade again [~300], hasn't been a great week for desserts. And the usual 2 glasses of juice. (~1150)

Through the afternoon there was a presentation at work and I loaded up on fruit skewers and a selection of mini cakes (~300).

Big coke at the cinema (~150).

Trip to Nandos for a butterfly chicken with chips, salad (691) and another coke [130].

Then home for a Vanilla Frijj (314) and a couple of home made flapjacks (~200 each).


And some other drinks through the day:
Latte x 5 (75 each)
Green tea x 4 (2 each)
Pint of water (0).

Daily total - 3,510 or thereabouts.

Friday

Friday Lunch

Couple of mini cakes in my morning meeting. (10 each)

Lunch started with yellow split pea soup and a wholemeal poppy seed roll [~150]. Then pan-fried haddock [465], (it is under there somewhere in the photo), with chips, salad and sweetcorn [~250]. And a bowl of fruit salad for dessert [~200] and the obligatory 2 glasses of diluting juice. (1065)

And a couple of chocolates in the afternoon. (10)

Two packets of haribo minis before my run. (10 each)

Then dinner I was too lazy to do any real cooking so I turned the left over roast beef into three rounds of sandwiches. Beef, cheese and tomato on hovis thick white [~410 each] with a bag of crisps [125]. And a plum for dessert (30).

And the drinks:
Latte x 6 (75 each)
Green tea x 3 (2 each)

Fruit juice x 3 (50 each)

About 3,086 calories for Friday.

Saturday

No free lunches at the weekend. But weekend training means that breakfast makes a first appearance. Two butteries with margarine and raspberry jam  and a mug of green tea. (~520).

Then a banana (~150) and a couple of flapjacks (200 each) just after training.

For lunch I had a tin of Campbells cream of chicken soup (128) with a couple of wholemeal bagels and philadelphia (~325 each).

Feeling a bit peckish by mid afternoon so I had some home made apple crumble (~360) and a vanilla frijj (315).

For dinner I made chicken and vegetable balti (with a little help from sharwoods) and basmati rice (~900). Then had some more of the apple crumble for dessert.(~360)

And a couple of packets of hula hoops. (127 each)

No coffee on the weekend. But plenty of green tea, and the odd glass of fruit juice.

Saturday about 3,939

Sunday

Two butteries with margarine and raspberry jam and a mug of green tea before going out on the bike. (~520). Bottle of fruit juice and water on the ride (~30).

Then the last two flapjacks (~200 each) just after training.

For lunch I finished off the leftover chicken and veg balti with rice (~900) with a can of cherry coke (149).

A pack of crisps (130) and a 9-bar (222) through the afternoon.

By evening I wasn't hungry, and then I was, and then I wasn't. Eventually I made a couple of tuna sandwiches (~650) and a pack of hula hoops (129).

And then before bed I had the last two servings of apple crumble (~720).

Sunday total was around 3,750

Weekly total is somewhere in the region of  ~23,930. 

As expected the amount of coffee I go through at work is frankly stupid. And the lunches are at least as big as the photos make them look. More in depth analysis to follow in a separate blog.

Training Review - Week 15 - April 8 to 14

Monday was a slightly strange session. The lane 3 and 4 swimmers were in together, swimming fast down lane 4 and then relaxed back up lane 3. Still improving and was probably about the 3rd or 4th fastest

Tuesday's run we went on a new route off-road and uphill at the back of Kirkhill. Good for a change and a nice relaxed pace, longer than a normal week.

Wednesday was my gym brick again. Furthest I have got through this session since I flipped it round to run then bike. Still a mile short of finishing it but closer than I have been.

Friday I had to switch out the mountain bike brick so I could visit the doctor. The nosebleeds I keep getting are not serious, but I do have some enlarged blood vessels in my nose which will need to be cauterised at an ENT clinic. In the meantime I have some lovely cream to rub inside my nose to try and reduce the frequency of the bleeding. I did still have time to put in an easy run. 

Saturday I was going to do an easy run. Instead I got hijacked into doing a bike/run brick. Was good for miles and better for running off the bike.

Went out for a group ride with the Kintore Sunday morning group. The route was cut in half before we started due to the winds. We did 25 miles at a slightly increased pace. Still happy enough despite the lack of miles. I already had plenty in for this week. 

Would have been nice to get a 50-miler in and to have my first 100-mile week, but no accounting for weather.

Diet tracking this week (post to follow tomorrow) has been interesting.



So targets for last week (Week 15) were:

Swim >1 mile. Bike >50 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 2,125m in 55mins.

Tuesday - Run 4.7 hilly miles in 44 mins.

Wednesday - Gym brick. Bike 1 hr, 18.6 miles. Run 4 miles in 36 mins.

Thursday - Rest Day.

Friday - Easy run. 3.6 miles in 31:27. 

Saturday - Ride 13.2 miles in 55 mins. Run 4 miles in 35 mins.

Sunday - Ride 25.8 miles in 1 hour 40.

Result - 

Swim 1.3 miles (2,125m). Bike 57.6 miles. Run 16.3 miles.   core and stretching session.

Training Plan - Week 16 - April 15 to 21

Monday  - Swim with TPT. Includes a 750m time trial.

Tuesday - Run at Dyce, something more than the 3 mile loop. A stretching session. 

Wednesday - Gym brick 1 hour bike, 45 min run. 

Thursday - No plans. 

Friday - Short mtb or hill run. Or off-road brick.

Saturday - Easy swim.

Sunday - Turriff triathlon. Swim 760m, Cycle 20km, Run 5km

Target totals - Swim >1.5 mile. Bike >35 miles. Run >10 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Rearranged this week around racing Turriff triathlon. Back to the targets from the annual plan and a spare day to reshuffle if there is nothing on at the cinema.

Diet and nutrition

OK, so my diet is pretty terrible. And one of my drafted posts that I am sitting on has a dig at the difference between nutritionists and dieticians and at supplement abuse. So in the spirit of not casting stones without looking the mirror I am going to post my own diet to show you what it is like.

I have pretty much just ignored what I eat as long I like what I am eating and it was keeping me fuelled enough to train and not giving me any problems.

So this week I am keeping a diary of everything I eat (and drink cos I have huge amounts of tea and coffee). I am intentionally going to try not making any changes to my normal diet this week. Just trying to keep track of it so that I can give you an idea into what I normally eat.

Unfortunately this plan suffers a little from the Heisenberg observer effect. Simply being more aware of it and especially writing it down is going to make me more aware of what I put away and will probably nag at my conscious to change what I eat, especially when I start writing down the amount of crisps and coffee and sweets. But hopefully being aware of that effect I can minimise it and just stick to as much of my normal diet as possible.

Here are a few things that should show up if I can keep from changing.
 1. I don't have breakfast unless I am going out for a long morning training session. So the only day there should be anything in before lunchtime is if I do a long session at the weekend and squeeze in a couple of butteries or some toast.
 2. Way too much coffee.
 3. I am a carnivore. There will be no meat free meals.
 4. Really, not kidding about the coffee.
 5. There is such a thing as a free lunch, and they are easily abused!

I have set the posting date on this for Wednesday as my weekly training review posts on Monday and my race report from Knockburn Duathlon on Tuesday. I should have an idea how it is going by the time it goes live.

Weight check at 7am Monday morning was 78.5 kg.