Le Weekend

Saturday - I was traveling due to work on Friday so was unable to do my training session on that day. Luckily enough I was able to work from home on Saturday so had the flexibility to catch up on Saturday morning. Done a bike, swim, bike session. I am really getting into the swimming at the moment; it’s one place where you can completely forget about everything. Even when out running, work and stuff can run through your mind, but when in the pool the only thing you can think about is breathing and swimming! Pretty sad though that whilst most people use You Tube to view talking dogs and the like, I have recently been checking out videos on the perfect front crawl technique. J

Had to do 1000m time trial which was 22mins and 43 seconds. I was hoping for under 21 mins but my arms were tired as soon as I started swimming. Maybe it was something to do with the ride to the pool? Not sure. Anyway, also done a time trial for 500m bi lateral breathing (breathing on alternate sides every 3 or 5 strokes); that was 11.43 which I was happy about as I couldn’t even do it 3 months ago.

Saturday night was round a mates house for birthday drinks and food. Stayed off the alcohol.

Total time 2 hours 10 mins

Food  - BF Muesli, lunch steak salad, evening – BBQ chicken, prawns, chips and dips. 2 alcohol free beers.

Sunday – Big bike ride today. Biked from Mannheim out to Weinheim and then back again. It was a bit cold to start off but then warmed up a bit. The Weinheim area is lovely to bike or run through when the weather is nice (have tried to attach a photo of the old town of Weinheim). Lots of people out there on some very expensive bikes. Was pretty knackered when home but feeling all good with the knee and foot!

Total Time – 2hr 50 mins / 57km

Food  - BF muesli and banana, energy bar, evening steak, spargel and potatoes

Sunday weigh in 93.4 KG

Garmin Stats - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/168310322
Total training time this week - 8Hrs 32 mins

Next weekend is RACE DAY!!! First half marathon of the year and my first since I rightly messed my foot up last May… lets get it on! 

Toilet Troubles..

So I was chatting to my brother Tom today. Tom’s been living in Australia for the last few years and has recently taken up boxing. His first real fight is tomorrow night Aus time (good luck Tom!). He has also lost a load of weight in the last few months, which reinforces my theory that there is a finite amount of weight distributed between me and my three brothers, and when one or two lose weight, the others gain it!

Anyway, Tom said that he now follows this blog but said “am I only going to read about what you had for breakfast etc”, so I when I was out running I was thinking about what topic I could write about. And at around kilometer 5 the topic started brewing…

I don’t think I am the only runner that has issues with going to the toilet; its something we have to deal with. I always try to go before hand but sometimes you just can’t do what you gotta do, and just head out anyway. I always carry a pocket of toilet roll “just in case”. (this trick was learned back in the day in England when we used to go clubbing in England!). Anyhoo, around the 5km mark (half way today) I got a warning that I needed the loo…soon. I knew there was a public toilet up ahead so made my way there. As I got close the desperation was building and building and I was gutted to see that the door was locked when I got there! But there was a man sitting outside there on a chair so I spoke to him in German and asked what the deal was. He replied in what I think was German but didn’t really understand him, saying something about it was closed. He then went on for a minute or two, and then proceeded to take the keys out of his pocket and open the door! He was obviously after some kind of remuneration for this kind gesture ( there is a strange custom in this country where you tip the toilet cleaner for cleaning the toilet!) so I rushed in there, overstayed my welcome and left. He talked to me in mad German for another minute until I gave him a euro, to which he smiled at me and I went on my merry way……..a close call!!

So if you are reading this blog Tom, I hope this was more interesting for you! Good luck for the fight tomorrow.

Running info -10km, total time 1hr.07, 883 calories burned

Food – BF muesli, lunch soup and risotto, evening muesli and banana.

Garmin Stats: 10 Run Thursday night by david4dublin2012 at Garmin Connect - Details

Training

AM  - 7 km run done first thing this morning in the forest behind the house. Knee and foot feeling fine, no issues to note today.

Evening - 50 min swim in the pool. 1200m i think. Lost count of the laps. :)

Breakfast, eggs, toast, coffee. Lunch - pork steak and pasta.

Total time 1 Hr 35 mins

Back to work and back training

Back to work today after the Easter break. Also had a rest day yesterday so was back in the gym this morning at 0630, sweating out all the food and chocolate from the Easter break. Done 50 min work out. Had a swim session planned for this evening but couldn't make it as i was on the road this evening. Will have to make it up later in the week as my instructor is wanting 8-9 hours this week!
Finally got the official confirmation of the Dublin Marathon entry this evening. Very happy and excited about that. :)
Been thinking about what charity or cause to raise money for today. Have seen a few things of interest; will keep looking at others too.
Total training time 50 mins.

Sunday Pre Run

Up at 0530 on a Sunday morning and bed last night at 2230 - who is this man!!?? Just had big breakfast and now getting myself together for the long run today. Hope to be able to report back that it was a nice run...

Rest Day Monday

Rest day today. Its actually difficult at the moment NOT to do an activity on rest days. I guess I am just excited that things are going well right now. I am sure when the training gets longer and harder I will be glad for rest days. :)

Sunday Long Run

Made it! 16km and still in one piece! Very happy with myself and managed to up the pace on the back half of the run which is very promising. Here are the stats:
Untitled by david4dublin2012 at Garmin Connect - Details

Foot feels good now as does the knee, so all in all a very good session. Weigh in was 93.4kg so thats 10kg lost since Jan 9th! BOOM!
Total time - 1hr49m, distance 16km. Calories 1424.

Untitled by david4dublin2012 at Garmin Connect - Details

Untitled by david4dublin2012 at Garmin Connect - Details

Rest Day Saturday

So, rest day today. Had a good gym and swim yesterday and big run tomorrow, so nothing planned today. 16km run tomorrow morning though; the most i have ran in a long time! Hope to be in on piece after it. Looking forward to the run though.

Swim Session

2200 meters (88 laps) in the pool today. felt really good and really fast, although i didnt bother timing it. Pool was empty too which helps a lot. Out for dinner tonight again.
LUNCH was cheese sandwich.

Total time 60 mins

Gym Session

Done time on the cross trainer, split tread mill, core exercise and weights. Strange thing in German gyms; people are obsessed with not touching their bare feet on the floor in the changing rooms! They go to very long lengths to make sure that they do not connect their feet with the floor at any time! It makes me laugh but i have to play along so as not to get "the stare" that you get from people over here when you break an unwritten or unspoken rule. :) 

I wonder what its like in the UK, Ireland or Aus for example...

Total Time 90 Mins.

Training

My wifes folks arrived from the UK Thursday evening and we were going out for dinner, so i only had time for a quick 30 min run. kept the pace up and it felt good. The new shoes are feeling great. Forgot to put on my new heart rate band and turn on the GPS for the sports watch though, so only got the time measurements! This Friday AM knee and feet feel fine. Got an hours gym session planned for later.

Running Session

So went out for a run today instead of the bike as i wanted to try out my new runners, compression socks and Garmin 310XT watch! The runners made a huge difference and it felt good. Have to still watch out for knee injuries and my bad foot, both of which will probably haunt me for years but are ok for now. Feels like the marathon training started today. Anyway, 5km in 34mins was what the watch said. Pretty happy with that. I have a longer run planned in the weekend so will see how that rolls. LUNCH was soup and brown bread.

Wednesday AM

Up early, but some work to do first. Bike ride planned today. Set up my new Garmin 310XT last night so will take that on its maiden voyage later. :) 

Training Schedule

Swam tonight. 1500m including paddles, pull B etc. Have to try to get to the pool before the evening crowd kicks in! It was packed and i wasnt able to keep pace. 

On another note, my foot is a little sore but the knee is feeling ok. 

First Blog post ever. Hoping to set up a dairy type area for the marathon i intend to do on October 29th 2012, in Dublin.