The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

I have really been getting into my training, sticking to my schedule and mostly enjoying getting on with things. Certainly the fact that the Vitruvian is out there waiting for me is enough incentive for me to keep at it. I definitely wouldn't be attempting anything like that without an adequate level of training. So, what is the Vitruvian? It's a half-ironman distance triathlon, the longest race I will ever have attempted by some considerable margin. It consists of the following: Swim - 1900m (in the lake at Rutland Water); Bike - 85km (52.8 miles) followed by a run of 21km (a half marathon). Unsurprisingly this is going to take me most of a day and so will need a very good training base to get me around the course.

So, how am I training for such a thing? Well, for now I'm following a plan of my own devising, but nearer the time I have found a half-ironman specific plan and I will be following that. I've been gearing up for a while and making sure that I kept going properly over Christmas and the New Year, Daniel and I were even out running on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - the joy of other adults in the house and actually being able to go out together for a a change. Anyway, for my swimming I am currently following an Olympic distance triathlon training plan that I've followed quite a few times before - strangely it came out of Runner's World rather than one of the triathlon magazines! I'm planning to use that to get back to my usual swimming level (I didn't swim enough last year) and then embark on what the official plan says from a reasonable base. I've created my own cycling plan for now, my main limiting factor for this race is my cycling ability, so for now I'm just trying to build up time on the bike (indoor trainer right now) and getting my bum and legs used to keeping at it for a long enough period of time. As for the running, I'm kind of following the first half of the Galloway training plan that I used last year for the marathon - once through just thinking about distance, then I'm going to do it again, adding in the speed work and hills ready to begin the main plan when it's time. The half-ironman plan is a 20 week plan, so I'll be starting that in April as the race is at the very beginning of September.

I've got my races planned out for the year ahead too. Admittedly, I usually do have as I like to have something to be aiming for. This year they were all entered with some sort of view to the Vitruvian. It's got to be my overriding goal this year, everything else has to help me get there. With that in mind I will be doing 2 half marathons - I want to get it so that running that distance is just what I do. I know I can run it fine, I've done quite a few before and I did a full marathon last year, but I want it to be something I could just roll out of bed and do without thinking about it, that way it should still be okay at the end of a rather long time on a bike! I'm doing a good few sprint distance triathlon, good for practising general triathlon skills, keeping some idea of making the transitions between the sports and also, just a lot of fun. Then a couple of Olympic distance triathlons, the longest triathlons I've done previously. They've always been my challenge before, but now have to take the place of training races for the main event!

This year's calendar of races is as follows:

Race Swim Distance Bike Distance Run Distance
February
13th Liversedge Half Marathon 13.1 miles
May
8th Leeds Half Marathon 13.1 miles
June
12th Rother Valley Sprint Triathlon 750m (OW) 25.4km 5km
26th Liverpool Olympic Triathlon 1500m (OW) 40km 10km
July
10th Trentham Sprint Triathlon 500m (OW) 20km 5km
31st Leeds Xpress Sprint Triathlon 400m (P) 22.6km 5.4km
August
14th Allerthorpe Olympic Triathlon 1500m (OW) 40km 10km
September
3rd Vitruvian Half Ironman Triathlon 1900m (OW) 85km 21km
11th Derby Sprint Triathlon 400m (P) 18km 5km

In case you think I've taken leave of my senses, racing the week after the Vitruvian - I haven't. I do Derby every year, but this time it is going to be a family affair. I probably won't be up to a great deal, but we are doing it as a relay team (Hey Inept Mad Flyer - an anagram of The Pendery Family). I will be doing the swim, Barry (Daniel's Dad) is doing the bike leg and Daniel is going to do the run.

So, there you have it. The plan for the year ahead! So far this year I have done quite a lot, some of which I wrote up, a lot of which I didn't. Time to get serious about that as well.

This year's totals so far are as follows (the swim being measured in metres and the other 2 in miles):

2011 Totals
Swim Bike Run
17,400 322.96 99.2