Back to Full training - 27th April

What a difference a week makes, Shins have settled down and have now returned to running. Trying to be really careful though so nothing serious yet. Continuation of the Bike training with an 80 mile test session, up and down the A6 in Derbyshire. With an average speed of over 22mph including slowing down through the towns, well chuffed. Equally impressed with my max stint in the middle although it did stuff me for the rest of the ride. Followed this on Sunday with a gentle spin session and a run. Middle of the week saw me in the dentist chair for quite a bit of work and a course of antibiotics to follow so have had a quiet few days , although I did manage to sneak a 3 hour gentle bike session in on thurs Eve. Plan for the week ahead is another 70/80 mile bike on Saturday followed by a bike and run Sunday. I have accepted that my personnel goal of 12 hours is now probably not really achievable due to the lack of running and am concentrating on getting to the start line fresh and not injuried. Also struggling to get max hours into the training over the next few weeks due to other commitments so intend to do some quality work instead. I am really starting to dread getting up at 5:30am for the swim sessions, usually due to being knackered from the previous day. Bike overload week is in two weeks time, not sure I'm really looking forawrd to that, hope the weathers nice.

17th April - Total disaster

Total disaster - have now not run for nearly three weeks due to sore shins, with only 12 weeks to go and minimal running in the last 6 months, getting very frustrated and worried about it. (the trouble is its all self inflicted by doing to much running without the back ground - should have known better, but got carried away) Had a very painful trip to the sports massuer so I'll have to see how things settle down this week.
On the plus side my Cyling is going very well with a solid Easter including rides of 115 (can I run a marathon after this?), 50 and 65 miles over the holiday weekend. The 65 mile ride was done immediately after a 2500m swim and so was particularly pleasing at the end of a hard weekend. Since Easter I have continued to pile in the cycling and swimming (now up to 3k and I can't believe the difference a wetsuit makes) and am still averaging 15 - 17 hours a week, but the running!!!!!!!

The year so far

April
14 weeks to go so the next 12 are critical. Still building base and distance endurance. Targets for the month 100 mile bike ride, 4k swim and to consolidate progress made with the running

March
Back running again now albeit slowly and steadily. Training ramping up to about 17 hours a week in total. Which includes 3 swims, 3 runs and 4/5 bike sessions. Maximum bike ride to date has been 80 miles and towards the end of the month managed a very gentle 15m run without any problems.
Going into April full of confidence although tired

Jan – Feb
Having suffered with plantar fasciitis through the winter, run training has taken a severe hit. Therefore I concentrated on the cycling and building my swim endurance. The swimming is definitely my weak area and so I’m concentrating on being good enough to complete the swim and not get timed out. Biking was in 5 sessions a week with the max distance being about 3 hours. (Not bad for this time of year)

The PLAN! - I will not follow a specific training programme as from experience I have found these are hard to maintain, the training I will do will be based loosely around a 4 week cycle of 3 hard weeks which incrementally increases followed by a rest week. This is then followed by another 4 week cycle starting at the midpoint of the previous one. This will be fitted in and around work and family commitments. Personal Target is to finish in under 12 hours