2013

February

A very very frustrating month! The weather is just crazy, can it be any colder and wetter? Outdoor training is getting so hard but at least I have been able to train with Jason Dimmock and Jamie Jenkins on the turbo. Jamie has a great set up at his house with a huge telly showing training DVD's and a computer linked to a heart rate monitor and power meter. I did a test to gauge my power and was really pleased with the average of 253 watts over 20 mins, with an average heart rate of 137. This is very encouraging as I have put a lot of effort into my bike training this year and it looks like I am much stronger now.

It will be interesting to see how much I improve over the year with Jamies's help. He is setting up his own coaching company -Success Cycling - have a look at his Facebook page for more details.

Just as I am getting psyched up for Althorpe Duathlon they postpone it! To be fair the course must be a complete washout as all it has done this year is rain but the weather is really nice at the moment - just a bit cold. It would have been a great day for racing. It was my birthday the day after though so Mark treated me to a lovely night away in a hotel but we got out on our bikes the next day in beautiful sunshine.

According to my physio my knee is sore due to a weakness in my left hamstring so I have lots of exercises to do to strengthen it. Thankfully I can keep on running so I'm ramping up the training now. My lovely training partner Sam is flying at the moment and she is pushing me hard in our weekly 40 minute tempo runs. I do honestly believe this is one of the most effective ways to train - combined with a session of interval training for speed and a longer run for stamina. I love runing in my On trainers - they really promote that forward motion needed to maintain a 6:30 minute mile pace.