That's it, Grim Reaper here I come

Not any reference to my imminent doom, at least I hope not anyway, but I have now booked my place on the start line of the Grim Reaper 70 miler in July.

There were also the options of a 40, new for this year and a 100, down from last year's 105.  I though the 40 wasn't enough of a challenge and the 100 was probably a step too far.  I'm having trouble though booking the HM top follow it.  The ultra starts on the Friday, 24 hours to complete, and then the HM on the Sunday.  Last year three people did the double, and received a very handsome trophy for it.

As of last Friday, I now have 19 weeks to the off, which should be plenty of time to build up a decent level of endurance.  Unlike a shorter race, I'm not planning on hitting the full race distance in training, but I will be looking to stretch myself.  I'm acutely aware that it's all about time on feet, rather than miles or km covered. It should also give me time to work out my nutritional plan.  I've got plenty of experience doing that for 6 hours on a bike, but not for a run of at least 12-14 hours.

The basic plan is to be getting in a good number of sessions up to about an hour or so during the week, with increasingly longer sessions at the weekends, likely to be alternating week to week bike and run to give me time, but try and manage the impact. I started two weeks ago with25km in my huaraches, and last Sunday with 56km on the bike

Didn't manage to follow that up so well this weekend though, with Sunday being hit by some vicious early March weather, where it started raining at 8AM and turned into snow in the early afternoon.  On Thursday it had been over 15 degC. 

Still, I've had a good week's training with just over 5 hours total from Sunday to Saturday made up of

Sunday - That 56km on the bike in 1hr 50, average speed 30.6km/h, just about 19mph which is nice for this early in the season.  AHR 147, MHR 157

Monday was a rest day

Tuesday - 10.29km run, on my local loop, in huaraches in the dying light, with the headlamp for the last 4km or so.  Upping the tempo a bit to 4:57 per km, AHR 147, MHR 160

Wednesday - 10km on the rower, nice and steady, AHR 139, MHR 150

Thursday, back home late and tired from a day trip to London and couldn't be bothered to go to hot yoga, plus my shoulder was playing up a bit.

Friday - another 10.29km on my feet, this time at 4:50 pace, using the first 5km for an online challenge league - I'll put in a reall 5km time this coming week.

Saturday - turbo trainer intervals - the TT season starts soon!  2 x 20 mins, HR cappped to 165.
1) 5' at 204W / AHR 118 - Warm up
2) 20' / Average 269W / AHR 152 / MHR 160
3) 5'AR rec to HR 134 / Ave  202W
4) 20' / ave 267W / AHR 158 / MHR 163
5) CD5' / 178W to 140 HR

This time last year, I was doing these at 250W, but with higher average and max HR.  It's good to see an improvement.

That's it for today dear reader.