2010
Cycling 1254 miles
Running 168 miles

2011
Cycling 1082 miles
Running 125 miles

Not exactly huge mileage but more than most people do. I’m going to try to see if I can top last years stats anyway.

One very bad aspect to this year has been my poor diet and instead of losing weight I put on 10lb. I’m now trying to get this back on track.

Foor Quantum Wetsuit

Friday: 4Km swim – 5 x (200m freestyle, 200m kick board & 200m hand paddles) + 1000m freestyle
Saturday: 60mi cycle – this was a large charity run – I had a great first 30 ave 20.8mph but the return I had cramp for last 20miles
Sunday: 3.5mi run
Monday: 30mi cycle
Tuesday:  4Km swim – 5 x (200m freestyle, 200m kick board & 200m hand paddles) + 1000m freestyle
Wednesday: 31mi cycle (cold & wet not fun)
Thursday: 6mi run (slow but steady 9:40min/mi)
Friday rest day
Saturday: 34mi cycle

Monday’s ride was nice as there was a few of us out doing it; Dave, Ian, Nev & Jim. On Tuesday Jim tuned up bike gears and it’s shifting better than it ever has, thanks Jim.

I’ve also signed up for an open water sprint triathlon on Saturday week, it’s the only sea sprint this year and I’m really looking forward to see how I do. My swimming is going great and I feel strong in the pool but I’ve never been able to transfer this into open water. I got a new wetsuit so let’s hope that does the trick. I think Ian & Dave are doing it with me.

Nutrition wise I’ve also been doing well, rarely have I manage to sustain training and dieting but for now it’s working.

I cycled to work on Tuesday and returned via Doagh.
Then cycled to work on Wednesday
On Thursday I was doing swim drills before work and after took the bike to get the gears fixed as they ware jumping following a wee fall a couple of week ago.
Then on Friday I hit the gym before work but just did some time on treadmill and the exercise bike.

Since my heel didn’t get any worse on the running machine I going to go for a wee run with Mark in a short while. To get me in the mood I’m watching the Madrid ITU triathlon and have just had some toast with Nutella as a late lunch.

In other new I’m switching my phone an broadband to Sky and as a result I’ll not have any broadband for about 10days. So I’m guessing this’ll be the first month I ever come close to maxing out my data usage on the iPhone. I’m using it now to post this.

The hope is to be able to train loads this summer as I’m off for two months. I’ve loads of work to do while off but I can do it on my schedule so I’ll leave it for the raining days, if we get any LOL.

I’ve been up to my neck in marking. It turns out I’m very slow at it and I’ll probably be at it most of Easter. I should have known this would be the case I’m a slow reader but I’ll just have to work hard at keeping on top of thing more next year.

Speedo Elite Kick Board

Speedo Power Paddle

As for training I’ve been trying to fit in. My swimming has been going great. For the first time ever I’ve started doing drills, as I treated my self to some new equipment for my birthday. Just three simple ones, 200m Free Style, 200m Kick Board (Speedo Elite Kick Board) and 200m Hand Paddle (Speedo Power Paddle). I usually do two set of this with a 200m freestyle to finish off but this morning as I was in no rush I did 5 sets and it felt great. The paddles really make your upper arm work.

Profile Jammer

Yesterday I did 36miles on the bike and got to try out my new tri-bars. They do help you go faster but it’s not that easy to stay down in them for very long. Probably due to my big belly.

The next Tri is 2weeks tomorrow in Limavady. The target is last year’s 1:26. Before that I have a 5miles running race on Monday in Whitehead, last year I didn’t finish so it should be easy enough to beat that (I hope).

Girls' Model School

This was a big week for me as I had a job interview. Not just any job interview but an interview for the job I’m currently doing. I’ve been teaching and managing the websites at the Girls’ Model since September but my job was only a post for the year and it was advertised as a permanent post last month. While I knew it was in my favour that I have been doing the job and I pretty certain keeping everyone happy, in today’s climate there are lots of people looking for a job and they very well could have got the job. Glad to say the interview went very well and I got the job.

On Monday night I was pretty nervous, actually very very nervous. I don’t normal get nervous for interviews, as I’ve said on one of my older blogs, what’s to worry about sitting in a room talking about yourself to a captive audience. However, for this one I was nervous. I tried to easy my nerves by going for a run, it was really good but I’ll not be running along the top from Troupers lane in the dark again, kinda hard to see in parts. I was happy that I managed 6.2mi (10Km) for the first time since I got injured at the start of the year.

Cycling to work

After resting on Tuesday I was on the bike today commuting to work for the first time since last summer. Glad to say my slightly sore calves didn’t bother me and I managed an average of 17mph, my best was just 18mph for that run so I’ll be grand in a few weeks.

All in all a good week, my running is coming back, I’ve started cycling to work and I have a job sorted for after the summer. Praise God for all three!

Happy St Patrick's Day

How are you celebrating St Patrick’s Day?

Since I was off I decided to start my day with a cycle. Dave and I did 30mi up to Gleno, across to Larne and back. I’m very week on the bike at present so need to put in a lot of miles this month. Post cycle the plan was to do some work in the afternoon but I’m wrecked and with running club later, I think I’m going to sleep well tonight!

Right now I’m watching a film and catching up on some jobs I need to do. One is trying to work out to but some sound equipment for X amount of money when it costs X x 1.2.

If you follow the link you can download the picture here for you computer desktop for free – Happy St Patrick’s Day.

Browns Bay with Ian

Today was my third bike trip in the past few weeks, before which I hadn’t been on the bike since September. I’d like to say I have amazing residual fitness and muscle memory but sadly no the 32 miles were tough and as I came up the last wee hill my quads were starting to crap every time I got out of the saddle (which in itself was an effort to ease the pain cause by the saddle).

Over the past few weeks my Triathlon training has started in earnest. I’ve fitted in a good few swims and a few cycles but only the one run which didn’t go great as my calf, which has kept me from running for many weeks, went after only one mile.

I have signed up for my first two sprint triathlons of the year TriLaois, Portlaoise in April and the Roe Valley Sprint Triathlon, Limavady in May. Hopefully Dave and Ian will get into TriLois as they are 4th and 5th on the waiting list and they will both be at Roe Valley if all goes to plan, along with Niall. I also get to race to against my Twitter friend Lisa who has been training hard all winter and will be tough to beat. I did them both last and have the race reports online TriLaois & Roe Valley.

Bike in Bath

It was a wet and dirty road today so I had to give the bike a good clean and in an effort to ensure it dried in time I’m trying the bath method.

Server Move

After a very busy Friday when the pupils were off, but most of the staff wanted a chat with me, I headed home to start half-term by spending the rest of the evening (and some of the next morning) facilitating a server move for the school VLE and sites. The VLE move was smooth but our school site is built on Movable Type and it was playing happy. Thankfully the people who host our sites (Synergy Learning) have great customer support and one of their staff worked with me via email until all the bugs were ironed out, even though they don’t officially support it.

Anyway after finishing off on Saturday morning, I had some lunch and then got on my bike for a ride to Browns Bay. It was only my second cycle of the year and I was happy enough at doing the hilly 30miles even if it was slow and well below the average cadence I aim for. It was good to be out on the bike and hopefully I get out on it loads over the next wee while to get my miles up and toughen my butt which is very sore.

Garman Route

I signed up for my first triathlon of the year, the Try-athlon in Portlaoise in April. Dave & Ian had planned to come but didn’t apply on time so are on the waiting list and will hopefully get a spot, otherwise it’ll be a long trip and boring night in a hotel just like last year!

I also got to watch True Grit on Saturday night (the new version) and it was great. Well worth going to see in the cinema, if you have 2 hours free.

I also managed to fit in 60 lengths on Sunday before church to add to the 60 I did on Friday and the 100 I did on Tuesday. I just need to get rid of this sore calf and get out running again and my training will be in full swing again.

To round off a busy weekend I installed this new theme for my blog and then spent about 10 hours fixing it to show what I wanted. I’m quite happy with the results – do you like it?

That’s the update, sorry it’s not very exciting.