Heroes Breakfast

Day 4 Janathon Activity:

• Run 8 miles steady – flat roads
• Swim 20 Lengths – 12 Lengths at 1 min intervals, 8 Lengths with pull bouy
• Cycle 22 miles – flat roads

Hot & Cold was the theme of the day. The run & the ride were both on the chilly side; including patches of near-freezing fog to liven things up. By contrast, the water in Tonbridge pool was way too hot, more suitable for boiling lobsters than lap swimming. Still at least there was enough space to swim lengths without having to slalom around people. All activities were completed uneventfully.

The big news of the day, for me, came between the run & the swim. We took a trip out to Kelly Holmes’ new cafe 1809 in Hildenborough for brunch. It’s not every day you get greeted by a double Olympic gold medal winning hero over breakfast! The cafe was a real pleasure. While we were there, a mix of cyclists, families & couples generated a really happy atmosphere & the serving staff were attentive & seemed to be enjoying their work. If you’re in the vicinity, I would recommend a visit.

Back to work tomorrow. The commute should be “interesting” with the disruption at London Bridge affecting all the Cannon Street trains. However, on the positive side, Jantastic starts tomorrow & I’m signed up for the Tonbridge parkrun team.

Day the First

A new day, a new year and the chance for personal renewAl & reinvention. No resolutions from me, but I do have some questions:

• Will 2015 be the year I finally learn how to swim far enough to enter a triathlon?
• Can I stay injury-free for long enough to recover some running form?
• How am I going to reignite my cycling mojo?
• Should I take on a SUP/Bike/Run challenge?

I don’t know the answers to any of the above, but I intend having fun finding out.

Despite some misgiving I have signed up for Janathon. Hopefully I’ll avoid my self-destructive cycle of getting too competitive about the mileage. I am also signed up for Jantastic (starts Jan 5th) and I’ve entered a 10K road race at the beginning of March. Busy, busy, busy.

Janathon day 1:

1. Run 3.1 miles
2. Volunteer parkrun marshal/photographer
3. Run 4 miles

Juneathon

Day 1 of Juneathon got underway with probably my least favourite sporting activity: swimming. Or, as I think of it: the boring bit at the start of a triathlon before the racing starts. Anyway 400 very-boring-metres were completed in an embarrassingly slow time.

After a coffee back home I set off for a 10K run round my usual flat road circuit. It was a lovely morning and I was happy to clip round in under 50 minutes. Hopefully I can do a bit better than that in a couple of weeks time at the Staplehurst race.

In the afternoon I set out on the road bike with the intention of putting in a couple of hours at an easy pace. 32 miles ticked off in 1 hour 42, suggests I should have aimed for a longer route.

And with that, I feel I have earned my pizza tonight.

Death by PowerPoint

There are already some fantastic mileages being logged for Janathon. In these first 3 days: @mrafletch has completed an amazing 40 running miles and tubbson2wheels a stunning 70 miles of cycling.

Time then for a quick review of my own, more modest, totals to-date. If a picture tells a story of a thousand words; then a spreadsheet generated chart must surely be the equivalent of reading the phone-book.

Today’s efforts included:

• 10K run
• An hour of squash
• 12 Miles on bike rollers

Moving targets

Like many amateur sports-people, I try to find some time in the last few days of December to think about goals for the year ahead. I’m not a big fan of New Year Resolutions, but I do think it helps the motivation to have a list of targets to focus the training on.

The only organised event I have already entered for 2013 is the Tunbridge Wells half marathon in February. Oh, and I am also signed-up for & looking forward (in a masochistic sort of way) to the Janathon challenge

So far, my “wish list” for the year looks a bit like this:

• Century Ride – Tonbridge Castle Ride in May might be a good option
• A 2nd half marathon – much later in the year & hopefully at a more reasonable pace
• A couple of trail runs – the Brighton Trailblazer this year was good fun. I’d like to do that 1 again + a longer, maybe 20K+, off-road run
• Take some swimming lessons & complete a sprint-distance Triathlon

I would also like to get back to doing some kayaking, but I don’t think there will be time or budget for that in 2013.

Hopefully I can spread the goals out across the year. That way I will have a significant challenge to aim for every couple of months. Next step then, is to do some Internet surfing to find suitable events & dates.