Ironman training in progress !

And so the knuckle down training has started for my Ironman adventure at the start of July, by following Don Fink's 'Be IronFit' book which has three plans in it all based on a 30 week training plan.

There's 'just get round', intermediate , and a faster one which I can't remember ( which is likely that I looked at the volumes and then sellotaped that section shut ! )

I'm loosely following a large proportion of 'just get round' and using some of the intermediate programme and so far its working reasonably well. I have just finished week 10 which means that the initial base phase is completed and that we have now moved on to the build phase.

To give some idea of the volumes so far, the longest swim has been 45 mins, longest bike 2hrs 30 mins and longest run 1 hr 30 mins. These volumes are now increasing slightly and I will be expected to regularly swim 1 hr slots and run to about 2 hours.

The good thing is that already I feel ready to race shorter tri's but have to wait until 27th March - still though, there is the Duathlon to look forward to in a couple of weeks and that should give me the fix that I think I need !

Race Report - No Walk In The Park 5k - 25.35

Over the past couple of days it has been bloody windy to the point where it wakes you up in the middle of the night. I could hear it again this morning as my alarm went off at 5 something and I was left with a choice - stay in bed or travel the forty miles or so to Chesterfield for a windswept and wet 5k.

N'ah, the bed was always gonna lose !

The No Walk in The Park 5k takes place around the grounds of the Chesterfield Cricket Club within Queens Park in the centre of Chesterfield. In fact to navigate all you have to do is head for the Crooked Spire and you'll stumble across the Cricket Club in no time !

I did this race in February last year and posted a personal best time of 27.08 and can remember that I found it very hard going as it was my first attempt at running without an ipod. today with the wind and rain I just wanted to hit 26 mins as I've also got one eye the standings of the UK Netrunner Grand prix which I'm currently top of league two. A good result today would give me some extra points and help me keep my place for a few more weeks before being inevitably replaced !

All the details of this race can be found here : http://northderbyshirerc.jimdo.com/our-races/no-walk-in-the-park-5k

So, down to race time ! For this race I had a new plan being run balls out for the first lap, and then keep going for as long as possible. At 9.30 a marshall sounded a klaxon and we were away, and Plan A was put into action and the first lap went by in a flash. This was good news because I didn't have a Plan B !!!!!

The rain was really winding me up, but on laps two and three around the park I just stuck at it and started overtaking the odd person here and there. By the last lap, I really was knackered and it was a case of bearing with it. There was one runner that I stayed about fifteen metres behind for the last two laps as I just could not catch her. All too quickly the finish line approached, and I was chuffed to get across in well under 26 minutes which meant further Grand Prix points for me !

I totally recommend the monthly No Walk 5k, because at £3 its an absolute bargain !

For me, that was my last run race for a while, as my next event will be the Clumber Park Duathlon at the start of next month, followed by the East Leake Triathlon at the end of it !