No More Excuses

A Better Swim

Only one question really - what on earth went wrong on Monday? We did lots of sets of 50’s and 100’s tonight, and right the way to the last 100, I was able to hold my goal paces - 1:01 for 50m, and 2:02 for 100m. So how come on Monday I was down...
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Posted in No More Excuses, Swim | 3 Comments »

Steps & Hills. Tough Combination

For this morning’s run with Shana, we did the steps between here and Tynemouth. Basically you run along the promenade, and every time you get to a set of steps, you have to use ‘em. I think she found this pretty hard going, so for the return, we just ran along the flat. I’m...
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Posted in Cleveland Steelman, Hill Repeats, No More Excuses, Run, Whitley Bay | 2 Comments »

Training Plan For Cleveland Steelman

Training Plan For Cleveland Steelman

Remember the kid at school who spent ages putting together the perfect exam revision timetable? The one that was colour coded, with each subject highlighted, and every hour of spare time between now and the exams planned out in meticulous detail? That was me. Of course, the knack is to schedule the time to plan out...
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Posted in Cleveland Steelman, France, IronMan?, NE31 Tri Club, No More Excuses, Swim, Training Plan, Triathlon | 9 Comments »

Freaky Wind = Hard Ride

Freaky Wind = Hard Ride

I did a ride this morning to test the new TT-style setup on my road bike. For the race season, I’ve replaced the handlebars with a Profile Airwing and mounted a pair of Profile T2+ aerobars on these. I’ve replaced the integrated Tiagra shifters & brake levers with Crane Creek brakes, and Shimano Dura...
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Posted in Cycle, No More Excuses, Wind | No Comments »

Stretch Marks - Not Just A Woman Thing.

The weather forecast was right for today - frequent snow, sleet & hail showers, with agood strong northerly wind to drive it all in you face. The trouble was that the plan had an 80 minute run session for me today. So I could Bunk off, claiming that the schedule had been put together when the...
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Posted in Motivation, No More Excuses, Run, Wind | No Comments »

“You’ll Need EVERYTHING

Yet another tough session in the pool tonight - one that involved the full range of toys at our disposal. After the warm-up, we did 400m of hand paddles, which I’d never used before (did I mention that I’m quite new to ‘real’ swimming?). Interesting things - you get to really feel it when you...
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Posted in NE31 Tri Club, No More Excuses, Silly Stuff, Swim | No Comments »

Getting My Excuses In First

Tomorrow is the North Tyneside 10k - from North Shields to the Lighthouse. It’ll be the fourth year for this race, and I’ve done ‘em all so far. It’s a great event that goes right past my front door, so I get ‘home team’ advantage, with a huge crowd to cheer me on. And I...
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Posted in Climate Change, Goals, Motivation, Newcastle, No More Excuses, Whitley Bay, Wind | 4 Comments »

Am I A Masochist?

Yet another tough session under the NE31 Tri Club’s coach’s sadistic gaze. A 250m warm-up, followed by 800m alternating between level 6 & 7 on each hundred, and then 200 kickboard, 200 pullbuoy, 200 kickboard and another 200 pullbuoy. There’s obviously something badly awry with my kicking though - it was like I was stationary...
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Posted in NE31 Tri Club, No More Excuses, Silly Stuff, Swim | 3 Comments »

I Couldn’t Get Wetter Running Underwater

After this morning’s “run” I had to put in another effort this evening. Otherwise I’d have effectively bunked off ANOTHER session, and now that I’m a grown-up (I recently came of age - 38), I can’t just do that. As it says on my blog’s title now - no more excuses. The trouble is that...
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Posted in No More Excuses, Run, Whitley Bay, Wind | 3 Comments »

Running: Resistance Training

Running: Resistance Training

I remember when I was a student at Loughborough (famous for sports and engineering geeks - I was in the latter group, though Steve Backley was in my Hall in the year above me), looking out at the field behind my room, and watching a guy doing sprints. He had a rope round his...
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Posted in Family, Goals, IronMan?, No More Excuses, Run, Silly Stuff | No Comments »