Must have Sleep...

Since arriving back from my golf weekend I've been incredibly tired. As my mate, and three times Ironman, Colin Bradley succinctly put it... "you've been training like a nutter".

And he's right. For me... I have... not only have I been training long but I've been training smart and training hard. Gone are the days of junk hours which I don't mind admitting I succumbed to last year. In their place have been structured sessions, each designed to elicit some improvement from my creaking body.

So I decided to have an easy week this week and not be afraid of bringing it all down a notch or two. I did what I wanted and no more and, most importantly, I decided to try and catch up on my sleep.

For too long now I've neglected this aspect of training. An athlete is only as good as their body allows them to be and, when you're training every day, recovery is as important a factor as the sessions themselves. And the finest recovery aid known is, of course, sleep. For many monthis, when I should really have been in bed at ten o'clock, I've been hanging around watching crap TV with a bottle of beer until midnight. And that's not good. So for several nights this week I've forced myself up and got at least eight to nine hours sleep per night for three or four nights.

I'm noticing the difference. Energy seems to be slowly returning and I'm sleeping better and stronger over longer hours than I was over shorter. I think, frankly, I've been a little over trained and under slept. But hopefully I can turn that round.

Another reason for 'easing back' is that I don't want to peak too early. I feel that for last year's Ironman I was 'over the hill' and that I was ready for the event a month or so before. I don't want that to be the case this time. So a week or so with a quieter agenda will give me the rest I need to push on to the final stages of my training.

That said, when I counted my hours this week I was extremely surprised to see how long I'd trained. Take a look yourselves:

Monday - 60 minutes swim 2.4km swim (6 x 400m with rests), 45 mins 5.6 mile run with 35 mins at 80% Heart Rate pace.

Tuesday - Olympic Tuesday (part of my quest to do at least an Olympic distance every Tuesday) 55 minutes swim ( 2.6km made up of broken speed 150m sprints), 1 hour 45 mins very windy bike (29 miles) 45 minutes 5.6 mile run (back to back with bike ride at 7:32 minute miles average).

Wednesday - 50 minute 2.1km swim (including a broken speed 1500m), 70 mins 8 mile cross country hilly run

Thursday - complete rest day

Friday - Olympic Friday (God knows how I ended up doing another Olympic day?!) 45 minutes 2.2km swim, 82 minutes 25 mile bike with Colin and Joe, back to back 10km run with Colin 50 minutes at 8.15 min miles and 130 bpm avg HR

Saturday - 2 hours 45 mins solo bike. 50 miles at 18mph and 122 bpm HR average. 26 minutes off the bike run at 8.14 min miles and 136 bpm Average.

Sunday - complete rest day.

Total training this week 13 hours 18 mins.

I suspect many of you got last week's film quote.

"I could hardly piss straight with fear. He was a man with 3/4 of an inch of brain who'd taken a dislike to me. What had I done to offend him? I don't consciously offend big men like this. And this one's a decided imbalance of hormone in him. Get any more masculine than that and you'd have to live up a tree. "...

was spoken by Paul McGann's character, Marwood, the 'I' in WITHNAIL AND I.

Remember, no internet allowed in searching out these quotes...

This week we're staying with comedies:

Who said (and in what film)

"Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported."

I'm off for a bike ride. Have fun... :-)