Isoman triathlon, really?!

So whacked again after my tri-session that I didn't even think about training on Monday. That hill running proper pained the muscles in the back of my legs. The weather was real pants too. Hmm, I wonder if I'm becoming a fair weather sports type?

Intervals were the flavour of the day for Tuesday. I ran a 10k route which followed the formula: 15 minute warm up; 6 x (1 minute fast then 3 minutes easy); cool down to finish. Followed my usual commute run from Kings Norton (only added a run around the Church at the start). This run hurt a little with a little burning sensation in the back of my calf muscles. The chart above clearly demonstrates my faster pace (higher peaks) for the 6 intervals.

Mid-week was a great day for adventure. I hooked up with my blind buddy Roger and we took his tandem ('The Beast') out for the day. We cycled a loop we had cycled before which passed through Fladbury and Crowle. My handling skills had definitely improved as I was now able to use all the gears with no major issue (except 1 tiny mishap when I changed up instead of down up a hill climb). We stopped at a cafe and had bacon butties at about the mid-way point which was nice. It was great to pass a random 'other' cyclist who knew Roger and better yet to bump into another of his 'tandem partners' near the finish. Roger is such a legend and I look forward to cycling with him again in the near future.

On Thursday I ran. I ran an alternate route of my 'Run2'. Essentially I followed much of the No.5 cycle route from King's Norton into work. Have cycled this stretch lots so it felt kinda weird running it.

Friday was a cycle commute day. On the way in, part of the tow-path was closed as they were gritting it. Not sure why they do this, the tarmac was a much better, speedier surface. On the return leg my saddle came loose. Easily fixed and onwards I went.

After my cycle commute, I checked out my Facebook account and impulsively signed up for a triathlon event. This event is the 'Isoman' triathlon being held on 18th July 2015. It just seemed to make sense at the time. The event was a triathlon (obvs), I had just joined a triathlon club... I am not doing PBP. The event is local. It's being held on a Saturday (not the traditional Sunday). The advert read 'do something different... do something amazing'. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be amazing. There was only limited places available. I signed up! Most triathlon events are biased mainly towards the cycling (my favourite and best discipline) and to a slightly lesser extent towards the running (my second favourite discipline). Shockingly, the aim of Isoman is to address this imbalance and create a triathlon for which all disciplines demand an equal level of excellence.

They say to excel at Iron distance triathlon you must be an excellent cyclist/runner. To excel in Isoman you need to be an excellent triathlete. An excellent triathlete I am not. Horrors! My swimming is poor, proper pants you might say. However, don't panic too much (I tell myself), I don't plan to do the 'full event', rather just a 1/4 of it. Indeed I have signed up for the quarter event!

This still means I have to swim a very, very long way - 1.75 miles in fact. A swim in open water! I don't think I've ever swam a mile! Not sure I've ever swam in a lake either. This is certainly a challenge for me. I don't even own a wetsuit. Bizarrely, 26 years ago to this day, my parents acquired a wetsuit for me (to use for windsurfing purposes back in the day). Maybe it's a sign...

Saturday was devoted to my long run. I ran an 8 mile (13.1k) course that my wife, SJ had created. This is the furthest I have ran in one stretch, in a long time. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad. My Lunarglide shoes were just fine but I really want to put a pair of those funky lock laces in them.

SJ's 8 miler

Finished the week with a session(s) at my tri-club. Indeed, this was a swim/spin/run session. The swim was as hard as expected and my technique still sucks. I swam endless lengths with a leg float at times, not at others. Attempts were made not to touch the top of the pool as I turned and swam back each time. How am I ever going to swim 1.75 miles open water?! Spinning was so hard too. Never expected spinning to hurt so much and never expected to sweat so much. The bike was awesome, way more advanced than I ever expected with toe straps, and lots of adjustable options. I think I didn't have my bike set up right and boy that was a painful 20 minutes. Quite a shock being a reasonable cyclist but a naff spinner. To finish, we went for a run. Only a short run (1.5k) but this felt kinda weird after using arms and legs so much in the sessions before. We ran around the running track at Abbey Stadium (which strangely I had wanted to do for years), then around the cycle track, then another lap outside the cycle track. Whacked! Boom, what a week!

My eyes looked like my run above after todays tri-session!