It's been a while......

Well it certainly has. Things just have a way of catching up with you and after a period of consistency it all fell apart again. Goal setting is all well and good but you need to be able to look out for the bumps and turns in the road as well.

After a period of extreme boredom in work it all kicked off and lead me to be as busy as I've ever been. This caused me to be unable to fulfil my goal of updating the blog once a week. A couple of bad training weeks have seen me unable to fulfil my goal of training in each discipline once a week. To be honest I've also been poor at drinking more water and taking the Omega 3 oils. Only the daily dose of B-Vitamins has been a constant in these turbulent times. These setbacks have only served to make me more determined than ever to get back to doing what needs to be done i.e. training.

I've been looking at my diet over the past couple of days and have come to the conclusion that it is not helping my progress. To that end I have decided to cut out the crap in my diet and implement a new eating regime based around whole foods, fruits, vegetables and lean meats. I will try to supplement with protein shakes where possible to ensure that I'm taking in enough protein (especially on training days). As a reward I will allow myself a cheat meal on Sunday. I once read an article in which the England Rugby squad were given a 90-10 regime in which 90% of what they ate (and drank) had to be healthy with the remaining 10% for treats. This seems perfectly reasonable to me and may be something I will look at in the coming weeks however to start with I will stick to one cheat meal a week.

With the warmer weather and brighter evenings moving in it will soon be time to bid the gym farewell and get outside for the running training. This should prove to be a nice distraction for me following my working day and commute and hopefully as I get fitter it will be something I will look forward to rather than dread!!

See you again real soon.

Same ol' same old....

Well a combination of (more) illness and ridiculously bad weather have combined to knock my training off kilter once again. It's frustrating as every time I think things are going well something knocks me back. Whatever doesn't kill me only makes me stronger though so I'm just going to get back on the horse (or the bike) and keep plugging away. At this stage in my training consistency is the watch-word however I will be looking to introduce a bit of quality in the not to distant future.


I am introducing a phased approach to my training leading up to this summer's race season. My initial goal was to complete one triathlon and get the six pack I've been longing for however I feel that this may not be enough. Although it's still early in the year I feel like I will have to commit to an event soon and once I have registered and paid for it it will become more real. I'm also thinking that I may manage to compete in more than one event.

Sports wise my training is coming along nicely in both cycling and swimming, I have been neglecting the strength training however this is something I will resolve today. My weakest area is the running. I was a sprinter in my youth and the idea of running long distances goes against my build however I think I just need to log the miles for now and try to get some consistency in my training and hopefully I'll soon be doing 10k runs for fun!!!

My new short-term goals are:

1. Train in each discipline (swim, bike, run, strength) at least once a week but add in an extra run to bring up my weakest event.
2. Drink 8 glasses of water a day
3. Take B-vitamins and Omega 3 daily
4. Decide on final list of events for this season
5. Attend at least one training session with Tri an Mhi
6. Update blog weekly

That's it for now. Until next time.....

New Year, new me........

Well a belated Happy New Year to all!!!


Unfortunately I have been ill with Bronchitis for a couple of weeks so it has taken a toll on my training however my bike arrived and I managed to test it out over the weekend on a couple of (very) short rides. I'm looking forward to a 10k ride on Saturday to fully test out the capabilities of both myself and the bike!! I'll also be back in the pool on Sunday to see how the couple of weeks off has affected my swimming.

I spent a bit of time revewing the race calendar on the Triathlon Ireland website and have picked out the following as a provisonal race listing for me for the next 4 months:

15 March; Duathlon, Naas
5th April; Bupa 10k, Dublin
6th May; Duathlon, Dublin
30th May; Sprint Triathlon (Tri-Athy), Kildare (http://www.triathy.com/)

A couple of short distance (3.2k run, 20k bike, 3.2k run) duathlons broken up by a 10k run leading up to my first triathlon and giving me 17 weeks in total to prepare. The May date also means that hopefully the swim (which takes place in a river) won't be too cold!!!

If all goes to plan 2009 is going to be a great year for me both personally and professionally. On a personal note I'm hoping to acheive my twin goals of completing a sprint triathlon and getting a 'six pack', I'm also looking forward to re-decorating my house and trying to win big in online poker after studying and absorbing the three volume Harrington on Hold 'em as well as David Sklansky's Theory of Poker.



On a professional note I am hoping to commence studying to become a Personal Trainer with ACE which can be completed by home-study. I am also in the process of setting up an online retail store, initially on E-Bay but eventually with a stand alone website. I hope that this will eventually become my full-time carreer and will enable me to do the majority of my work from home. This will enable me to spend more time with my Family. Speaking of which, my wife and I will be adding another member to our brood come August so more to look forward to!!

This also means that I'm going to have to try and complete any races that I plan on doing by then as once the baby arrives my available training (and racing) time will be reduced.

I will be updating the blog more regularly from now on as my training moves into high gear.

Bye bye for now.....

More of the same....

Well the training is going well. Looking back over my short-term goals:

1. Train in each discipline (swim, bike, run, strength) at least once a week
2. Update blog once a week
3. Take B-vitamins and Omega 3 oils daily

I have been doing well and have managed to train in each discipline at least once a week. My run today felt really good and I feel like I am progressing. Due to the bad weather (icy roads) I haven't been able to do my run on Saturday for the past couple of weeks but this is only a minor setback as I am making good progress in my sessions on the Treadmill. I am also getting in two days of strength training which I have been combining with my knee / ankle rehab.

The bike fund now stands at €225 and I have been debating whether to risk €50 playing online poker to try and double (or treble) my money. I've been playing a lot lately and have been doing resonably well in small stakes tournaments so it could be worth the risk to try and beef up the fund.

I also ordered a book on Triathlon Training from amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Triathletes-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1931382425/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229447079&sr=1-1

This looks really good and is described as a "coach yourself" manual which is perfect for my needs right now.

I also made some enquiries to the Meath Triathlon Club about training but it appears as though they are not training during the winter so I will look to hook up with them in the spring once I've built up my base fitness.

http://www.trianmhi.com/

That's all for now.........

The Journey Continues....

Well a week has gone by and the training has continued. I was in the pool on Sunday and for the final 10 minutes of my swim I had the whole pool to myself!!! This was primarily due to the extreme weather (-4 degrees and icy roads - extreme for Ireland) but I braved the conditions and managed to get in an interval workout that consisted of a 50m warm-up and then 6 x 25m sprints. I then switched from freestyle to breaststroke and did 2 x 75m just to build up the distance. I've been swimming every Sunday for the last 3 weeks now so I feel like I'm finally getting into a rhythm.

As for the bike, due to the 'credit crunch' I am currently trying to come up with the €500 necessary to purchase a new road bike. Stage 1 was three weeks ago when I won €50 playing poker with a few mates. Today I sold my Sony PSP (which I bought for the commute from Kells to Dublin but wasn't using) for €150 so at the moment my 'bike fund' stands at €200. Hopefully Santa will be good to me and the remaining balance will be mine just in time for the sales.

Ah the run, this could be where I am undone. I have been (fairly) sporty all my life and have played soccer since I was a kid but when I got married and started a family my only sporting outlet was my irregular trips to the gym. In January 2007 I decided to train for and participate in the Bupa 10K Run in Dublin in April of that year.

http://entry.greatrun.org/EventInformation.aspx?StreamId=95

My training was haphazard at best and I only managed to run 5k before I had to start walking then running then walking again until I reached the finish in 1hr 20m. I was not happy with this time and resolved to train more and compete again the following year. To aid this I decided to go back playing soccer and signed for a local team in Meath. Things were going well and I was starting to get fit when disaster struck and I ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament (acl) in October. After a lot of Physio and keyhole surgery I'm finally back running but am really struggling with my Achilles tendons. The physio has given me wedges to wear in my runners as I am overpronating so hopefully these will help. Ran today and didn't feel to bad so here's hoping!!!

Until next time......

In the beginning...

Well I’ve decided that at the age of 33 and with a belly that won’t seem to leave town (despite spending 3 or 4 days a week in the gym) that I am finally going to commit to getting that illusive six-pack that is the barometer of fitness enthusiasts worldwide.

The purpose of the blog is to document my training, diet and lifestyle in order to make myself accountable to the outside world (a bit of worldwide peer pressure if you like!!).

The method that I have decided upon to complete my quest is by training for and participating in one of the fastest growing sports in the world – the triathlon.

The triathlon is a multisport event (swimming, cycling and running) run over various distances depending on the race. The more popular distances are:

Sprint – 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Olympic – 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Ironman – 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run!!!!!

I intend doing a sprint triathlon in early summer 2009 so am looking at a six to seven month training plan. In order to gauge my progress over the coming months I intend to take part in a number of single sport races e.g. 5km run.

When starting out on any training plan it is important to set goals so here goes:

Long Term Goal – Summer 2009

1.Compete in (and finish!!) a Sprint Triathlon (possible Try-Athlone in June 2009)
2.Get body fat percentage to 12% to see abs

Short term goal – December 2008

1.Train in each discipline (swim, bike, run, strength) at least once a week
2.Update blog once a week
3.Take B-vitamins and Omega 3 oils daily

Here’s a link to a good article on goal setting over the Christmas period:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik37.htm

Equipment

Obviously to complete a triathlon you need some basic equipment – wetsuit for the swim (if in open water), goggles, swim hat, bike, helmet, runners. If you look at the web you could go to town buying equipment however I'm only going to buy a bike. I have looked at a few bikes on the web and have decided to wait until after christmas to buy (hopefully pick something up in the sales). This means that I have to train on the stationary bike in the gym rather than on the road but with the state of the roads where I live that's probably no bad thing. I plan on renting the wetsuit for the race and if I get the bug to do more (which I'm told I will!!!) then I will look to purchase one later in the year.

Well that's all for now but stay tuned as I attempt to tri and get a six pack!!!