Puncture!!!

A puncture last night put paid to my thoughts of a 10 mile cycle. However I used the situation to force my hand. With no bike for getting in and out from work I'd either have to pay £6 a day in taxi fares until I replace the inner on my bike, or find another way to get to and from work. The temptation to be back running was now so great that this was all I needed to tip the balance.

So this morning I laced up my H streets and ran the 1.64 miles from my house to the factory gates. Concentrating on maintaining a good pose technique I focused on pulling my ankle up quickly with relaxed lower legs, and quads. A quick cadence, although I'm not sure what sort of rate I'm getting at present, and a good lean from the ankles.

I'll be honest, I've no idea how close I was to running with good pose technique, but I'm convinced that there must be varying shades of grey in between running poorly and running well. Pose is after all not the only "correct" way to run.

The proof is in the pudding as they say, so I strapped myself into my garmin 301 to keep an eye on myself. At first I felt awkward and slow, but the further I went the more I was able to correct what I felt were errors and once I got from the shade of the trees and out where the gps could get a signal it became apparent that I was fairly motoring on, although it felt relaxed and steady. At times I was in the low 6 minute miles range. I kept good focus on my form and did the distance in 11:12:. Not bad for my first decent attempt at a run using this technique. I'm going to stick with the drills, but I don't see any harm in doing some runs in the meantime. I'm confident now that I can be ready for the half marathons I'd like to do in August and September, and what seemed like a shut door on the Loch Ness marathon, has creaked open a little.

Postives from the run were my speed at what seemed quite a relaxed pace, and the fact that I have had no flaring up of the hip problem I had been getting. Considering that was in flat shoes with zero cushioning I'm very happy. A 10k in my Nike Air Pegasus a few weeks back left me in agony, but I feel I could easily have gone further today at that pace with no problem. I'll have to run back home tonight after work as well and I'm looking forward to that. I may see if I can increase my pace a little with a bit more lean. Falling is the new running. (",)

Today's training:

• 1.64 miles run to work
• 1.64 miles run back home
• TI Lesson 2 drill session (1 hour)

Another weekend by

I'm starting to feel a bit better about pose running. It's still frustrating not being able to get out and do some miles and I actually feel like I couldn't manage much distance now anyway. However I've stuck to the drills and they seem to be coming along nicely. On Friday I started with some more balance (pose stance) and then change of support. I'm still not sure of pony at all. Then I tried a few 100m runs just to get moving. All of this was barefoot at the park. After this I got out the stretch cordz and did some more drills before swinging the cords over my shoulder and running with tension in them. That was interesting. Suddenly you feel how your legs should be moving and you have to go with a high cadence and low range of motion. I was still barefoot and yet was able to run at speed on grass with no pain as my heel wasn't landing.

I look forward to some more drills now, but the temptation to just go out for a run is very strong. I got my letter from Loch Ness with race info and it really brought home that I'm now missing out on vital training if I want to race. I can't help feeling that I could just start building up some mileage with as close to pose technique as I can manage. Surely with the knowledge of how to lift my legs and land under my centre of gravity I can now build the relevant muscles with some distance training and hopefully get quickly up to high mileages? I'll need to see if my temptation fades soon.

I had hoped to do some more swimming drills over the weekend, but only managed a few. It's not helpful to attempt training on the first Saturday of the school holidays, especially when all the kids have been given free pool access for the next 6 weeks. Hopefully it's quieter on Tuesday when I go back. I have a drill plan to follow when I go this time, and plan on doing at least 3 or 4 of these sessions before I move on to the next lesson.

I'll need to get back out on the bike tonight for my cardio/aerobic workout, so...

Today's Training:

• 10 miles cycle
• Pose drills

TI Lesson Two

As taking my Triathlon Swimming Made Easy (TSME) book to the poolside would be a bit daft I have tried to memorise the drills I'd be doing in advance. So once I returned from the pool last night and checked up on my book it turns out I've spent an hour doing lesson 2 drills after warming up on lesson one. Luckily that was listed in the book as a good drill session. So I'm quite pleased with that.

Lesson 2 introduced "switching" via the underswitch. This involves using rotation of your whole body as you switch arms under water. Starting with one switch at a time and then progressing to double, and triple underswitches. It was quite an amazing feeling, up there with the feeling of balance from the first lesson's drills. I ended up doing an hour of drills and found doing 25 yard reps of triple underswitch was becoming quite easy.

I'll spend a few more pool hours practising these drills before I move onto lesson 3. That brings the switch out of the water and looks much more like a swimming stroke. From there it should be a quick step to full stroke swimming.

Today's training

• 13 mile cycle (did it at 5am this morning!!)
• Pose drills

Slow Monday

After a tiring day at work yesterday I didn't really feel like doing much training. My planned cycle went out the window and I concentrated on some running drills instead. I think my pose stance is fairly good, so I'll get a decent video together and get it off to the pose forums for analysis by the coaches. I'm getting there with the change of stance, which is basically about removing your support foot when you're standing on one leg. I'll do my own video analysis of that soon just to check. I still don't get the "pony". It seems very easy, but I don't know what it's meant to achieve. I think I'll send a video of that very early to make sure I don't imprint the wrong movement into my muscle memory. So that was my Monday night's training.

Today I have my swimming gear in my work bag so I can stop in at the pool straight after work. I think this'll be my last session on lesson one drills. I'll do 45 to 60 minutes just to get it completely nailed and then I can move onto lesson two this weekend.

After I've been to the pool I'll do a few more practices at the pose drills.

First Lessons in Total Immersion

This past weekend saw my first attempts at learning to swim a nice efficient stroke that I can use for a triathlon and I must say I'm VERY impressed. I've read the book through and there are 4 basic lessons with a few drills relevant to each one. The drills progress and each one leads on to the next so that you develop the correct perception and movement.



The first drill involved simply lying on your back but it all about balance. It turns out I have never had balance in the water, but now I do. The way to tell is to lie floating on your back and if your feet and legs drop into the water you ARE NOT balanced. The solution is simple, you need to lie nice and straight and lean on your head and shoulders. Your legs and hips come up naturally and before you know it you are floating with ease to the point where the front of your thighs are actually out of the water. It's an amazing sensation, and a small kick propels you through the water as you are in a perfect streamlined position. With that out of the way I worked my way through the drills to get to the end of the first lesson.



The session filled me with confidence, so on Saturday I returned to the pool to practice the drills some more. I plan to continue practising these drills until they feel completely natural, and then I'll move onto the next lesson. With enough pool time I should be ready for full stroke sessions in a month or so. Even at that point I'll keep with the drills to hone the technique and hopefully I'll develop a good efficient stroke. I have high hopes for my swimming now.



Also over the weekend I continued with my stretching, flexibility and drills for pose running. I'm finding it quite frustrating, as I have to fight the urge to just go through the drills and then get out for a run. I've stuck with it so far though. I'm hoping I'll reap the rewards. It hasn't had the instant hit that I got from the swimming drills though.



Luckily I still have my bike to allow me to get some long active sessions done. Saturday morning I popped out for 10 miles and tried to keep my speed slightly faster than I usually would. I wore my garmin and for the first time in ages the heart rate montior that goes with it. It rarely went above 150 so I could maybe have worked a bit harder, but it will have been a good aerobic session. I completed the 10 miles in 38 minutes so I'm happy enough with that for now. In the coming week I'm going to introduce some interval sessions and hills to my bike training just to work myself a bit harder. I'm still clinging to the hope that I can compete in the Loch Ness Marathon later this year and I'm hoping that all the cycling will substitute the early running sessions I'm missing out on just now. This should be week 2 of a 16 week training program for the marathon.



Today's training:

• 10 mile cycle


• Running drills - including some barefoot on grass.

Early Drills

So it turns out the drills were a bit harder than I expected last night. Balancing on the ball of one foot for a minute at a time was quite difficult. I gave a it a few tries and was happy enough with the results, but I think I'll keep at it for a week before I make any videos for public viewing. Also I did it topless and was quite embarrased at the wee pot belly I spotted. Evidence that my complete lack of aerobic exercise is kicking in already, but it's given me impetus to learn the drills and get on to runing asap, and I'll also be watching what I eat more carefully.

I also tried changing feet in the pose stance, again it's very difficult but this time it's more of a mental barrier. You're standing on one foot and have to lift that foot away from the ground BEFORE you let the other foot drop naturally to stop you falling into a heap. I think I can do it, but I won't know until I video myself and watch in slow motion for the lift happening first. If it isn't then I've got a big mental perception to overcome.

Lastly was a "Pony" drill. It's much like the change of support, but you don't lift your non-support foot clear of the ground. I found this one very difficult. I'm not sure what it should feel like, or what it's purpose is. I'll read back through the section of the book covering it.

This morning I was up early and decided to do a few more pose stance drills, before moving onto flexibility. I'm worried that the hip injury I'm carrying will affect my ability to drill properly, so I want to do as much as possible to avoid that. Especially given that a full chapter of the book focuses on the hips. I began with some general flexibility exercises that are also covered in the book. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sure that Dr Romanov hasn't just put this section in to show off!! Haha!! But after a few of these it is clear that I have some work to do on flexibility. Worryingly though, my right shoulder lacks a serious amount of range of movement, especially compared to my left. I've had trouble with this shoulder in the past and there is a constant niggling pain in it at all times. This became apparent as I tried several of the flexibility exercise. By the time it got to my legs and back I was sure that I'll need to do a lot of work in this area, and hopefully it'll pay off. I'll be doing these exercises as often as possible from now.

Onto the specific hip exercises. I managed to get through quite a few of these, and again I think working on these will be a huge benefit. I wish I'd had more time to work on these, but I could feel an immediate benefit especially on the side that has been injured.

After work today I'll be going back to do some more of these exercises and work up a bit of a sweat. Then it's off to the pool this evening to begin my adventure with TI swimming. The first lesson is learning balance in the water. From what I've read I'll either get it straight away or I'll struggle to get the perception. The lack of underwater video facilities at my local pool means I'll have to rely on being honest with myself as I work through the early drills.

Today's training:

• More flexibility and hips
• More drills (Pose stance, COS, Pony)
• First attempt at TI swim drills.

1st Day of Training

OK, so not technically my very first day as I've made a few half hearted attempts at the first few drills from the Pose book. Today I'll make a concerted effort to do 30-45 minutes of training and video the results for the Pose coaches on their forums to dissect. I've got a spanking new Sony DSC-W35 to video myself with as well (",)