Status update

2 weeks gone and it really feels like it is flying past! In just 28 weeks time I will be stood at the start line of Ironman France. The weather is still crap but I have been making the most of what I can and am sort of enjoying winter training in a weird kind of isolation training camp way. Plus some great news this week - X Factor has finished !

This weeks training went well and I managed to clock up an impressive 12 hours, which is actually 5 hours more than I should in my plan. I am a bit worried that the snow will be back next week so I though I would make the most of the opportunity and bag a decent bike ride , outside ! When I started thinking about my training for this event I don't think I really considered how much time I would need to spend on treadmills and turbo trainers. It really does make it all so much harder mentally. I keep telling myself that this kind of psychological endurance is also great training and hopefully will be a benefit in that last 10km on the promenade de anglais, but it still doesnt make it any easier to get through.

Swim

Much better this week, I managed to bring my times back to where they were before I got ill. I am doing more than I planned for but I really enjoy swimming and seem to loose fitness very quickly unless I keep at it. Therefore I plan in sticking with the 3 x 3km sessions per week until the last phase of my training when I'll up it to 3 x 3.5km.

Bike

I've clocked up 2hrs on the turbo this week, plus a really good 3hr outdoor ride over the south downs. I feel like I am carrying my fitness through from the summer but not developing much at the moment. I hope that by the time the days get longer and warmer I will be able to improve my times and build my efficiency to run a marathon off the bike.

Run

Running was tough this week, I found it really hard to drag myself out the door on Sunday, perhaps it was the long bike on Saturday or just a culmination of a bigger week than I should have done. But I did get out and it was a beautiful day in the end - see picture above.

I have decided to start tracking my weight well put it on the blog so I actually remember what it was/is . I seem to have put on 1kg since I started training and haven't even eaten any mince pies yet ? ..

• Weight : 81.5kgs
• BMI : 24.6
• Fat: 17.6%
• Muscle: 40.5%

Not sure how accurate my scales are but I suppose as long as I use the same ones it should show my development.

So another solid week planned, starting to get into the groove now.