Sucka'...

You know how it is... training is going well again there's a warmth in the air, the sun is on your back, you're suddenly getting the bike miles in and your TT bike is staring at you from the rack where it has hung all winter.

What shouldn't you do? I'll tell you what you shouldn't do... you shouldn't take it down, stick it on the turbo, and completely change the saddle and bars position. That's what you shouldn't do.

Of course, that's what I did.

Suffice to say that my introduction to duathlon at yesterday's National Duathlon Championships was a painful one. True, it would have been painful anyway as a 10k run, 40k bike and 5k run isn't something you'd do to relax. But I knew something was wrong when I got off the bike. My glutes were stretched and sore, something I've never experienced in three years of cycling and the 5k run was a bit tricky to say the least. A bit of ice and massage helped and things aren't so bad today but Coach K will be round this week to put my saddle back to its proper position.

I was a little disappointed with my biking in the duathlon, I felt my power output would have resulted in a better time. I'm going to put much of this down to my incorrect positioning and also the fact that these 'middle' distance events are not my strength. My huge engine means I can go long with relative comfort and I can hold my own in the sprints with a decent range in explosive power. But Olympic distanc events are always tricky for me. It's hard keeping a frame my size going at near sprint pace for between two and two and a half hours. But anyway, I had a decent enough day, 40 mins for my 10k, 1 hour 09 for my 40k bike and 21 mins for the 5k run (actually it's apparently 5.3k)... for a total time of 2 hours 12 mins. I placed about one third of the way down the field which I'll take for a 46 year old doing his first duathlon in the National Championships.

My week's training had eased back a bit once I knew I was going to do the event (I entered on the Tuesday of last week) but still I managed a respectable amount of time in the saddle whilst juggling the demands of a busy week at work.

I've been finishing off a series of ads for a client which have required much to-ing and fro-ing with Clearcast, the regulatory body that approves ads as being legal, decent, honest and truthful. It went to the wire but we managed to get our ads on air in the form that we wanted. I'm not gonna jinx anything with my writing by saying any more that it continues to go well. I'm still on the long form version of the story which I will then develop into either a book or a screenplay or both. Watch this space.

Oops.. maybe I just jinxed it. What the hell. Life's too short.

The girls have finished for easter so it's great to have them and their laughter around the place. Alice had her buddies around on Saturday and they 'walked' the rabbits (believe it or not, you can buy leashes and harnesses for rabbits so they can be walked around the garden). They also then played 'mums and dads' where the rabbits played the part of the family dogs! Needless to say, Rosie and Tinkerbelle spent the afternoon cream-crackered, snoozing in their run under the warm springtime sun.

And, speaking of the girls... I have to make a fulsome apology. Fiona tells me that I must make it clear that last week's photos of the girls were not representative of how they normally look seeing as how they were slathered with make up. I fully accept it might have looked like we were presiding over a village-based Lolita factory and my intention was solely to indicate how they had grown up rather than trying to make them appear like wannabe Miss Junior America winners. Erin was actually going to a fancy dress party which accounts for the Tiara and strange dress, and Alice was going to take part in a dance performance.

There... apology complete. I'm a good dad again.

I'm currently waiting to see if I can get tickets for Macbeth tonight in Manchester. If I can then Erin and I are going to drive up tonight, watch the play, stay overnight and I'm going to take her to see my old Drama Department at Manchester Uni.

This week's training was

Monday 75 mins 3km swim sets, 45 mins tempo recovery run
Tuesday 75 mins endurance 3km swim sets
Weds 5 hour 85 miles Team MK ride - easy/medium pace. 5.5 km run off the bike. Strong
Thurs 45 minutes 15 mile ride on Time Trial bike (first of the season). 1 hour Team MK swim session
Friday 45 minutes 15 mile ride on Time Trial bike
Saturday 75 minutes 40km bike ride, 15 min run off the bike
Sunday National Duathlon Championships, 10k run, 40k bike, 5krun - 2 hrs 12

Total time training 15 hours

Swim 7.8km
Bike 165 miles
Run 20.5 miles

Big ups this week to Helen for her fantastic 50 mile TT time and to Ben G for the same. Also to Thomas Peoples, aka Tri Talk's Poet, for a fantastic sub 2 hour duathlon time. Top work fella.

And so we must depart... I haven't even had time to catch any movies this week. Hopefully, Tom and Helen are coming down on Wednesday for a training day so we'll have a long ride, long run and short movie.

More next week...

Toodle pip...