Phew….what a month.  Along with the training for my upcoming half iron distance triathlon I had a very quickly arranged work trip to the UK. Lots of hours of training and traveling. My training total was almost 396 miles (136 miles running, 252 miles cycling and 8 miles swimming) but you can add 6,980 for flying (but someone else was the pilot).

The intensity of the double workouts stepped up and my weekly training hours got into the double-digit realm. Interestingly enough in all the training cycles I have done for marathons it has been mileage based but this training plan is time based. Not focusing on exact mileage requirements has been a lot of fun but I have definitely racked up distances without needing to specifically plan out routes. It was kind of liberating. At the height of my marathon training I’m probably putting in 7+ hours a week and running into the low 40s in terms of mileage. For this training plan I’ve been putting in 10 to 12+ hour weeks. It’s exhausting but hopefully making me ready for the big event.

The unexpected work trip to the UK was a nice surprise. My parents and sister still live in the UK so I extended my work trip with a couple of vacation days on each side of the trip. My only issue with this was having access to a pool so I could continue my training program and also the ability to cycle. I took my swim gear with me on the chance I could find access to a lap pool (not so easy in Central London) but didn’t take any bike gear as I figured I could just use a hotel bike (and I had no desire to cycle through the streets of London).

As it happened I didn’t get the chance to swim and I had one bike session in the hotel…but I did a heck of a lot of running. Since I didn’t run when I lived in London and I was just sightseeing on our last family trip with the boys I took the opportunity of travelling alone to explore.

I tried to map out a couple of runs in advance of the trip based upon the distances assigned on the training plan but pretty much ended up winging it and had a lot of fun doing so. I was based very close to Tower Bridge in London and got the opportunity every day to run along the Thames and across the bridges and when time allowed to explore some of the more famous sites when time allowed.

 

 

 

Here are a few of the highlights from my trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After my work was done in London I went up to visit my parents in Leeds (in the north of England). I tried to map out a route for a long run but it had been years since I have lived there and I ended up finding a route without any sidewalks so this involved a few miles running cross-country style along the side of the highway. I also didn’t consider how hilly it was. However the countryside was beautiful and I earned plenty of dessert calories.

 

 

 

 

 

I did take the opportunity to do some shopping for a few or my favorite items from the UK…mainly chocolate. I ended up having to take an extra suitcase home with gifts for the kids and chocolate for…well, mainly me.

 

 

I arrived home on Father’s Day so I got to spend the morning with my Father in the UK and the afternoon and evening with my boys back in the USA. It was a little like Phil Collins at Live Aid (okay…stretching that one a bit). Either way it was a nice weekend and I was delighted with my Father’s Day gift which was tickets to see Paul McCartney in Philadelphia in July. Happy days.

 

 

My wife had to travel to San Francisco the day after I got home so I wasn’t able to get back in the pool for a few days (all in all about 2 weeks with no swim training!!) and combined with the jet lag I was a little behind in my training but luckily the weather was great towards the end of the month so I was able to get back on plan with the triathlon coming up in the second weekend of July.

As I said, a very busy but rewarding and fun month.

Thank you for reading.