New month. Start of a new block of training. Run-focused block with the aim of dropping my time for the run, and being able to run a 4:30 – 4:40/km half marathon. If this is achieved, then hopefully a HM time of 1:45 within a 70.3 tri will be achievable.

It’s always nice to see all green on TP. Of course, this was week 1 after a bit of a break, and I wasn’t traveling. So it’ll be much harder in the coming weeks when the training load picks up, and work/travel start to get in the way much more. But for now, I’ll take this good start.

A few things I learned:
1. Running late in the day (even if my last meal was a few hours ago) tends to give me a heartburn. This probably has more to do with what I’m doing than the time of the day. Also, the motivation needed to get out of the door for an evening run is much, much higher.
2. The tiny brick session (just a 70 min indoor ride followed by a 5km run) was surprisingly hard – because it’s been nearly 2 months since I did such a session. Also, the difference between a straightforward (just turning the legs over) run off the bike and a reasonable tempo run is quite stark.
3. An evening ride followed by a tempo run in the morning is not that easy. It’s probably good to simulate some tired legs, but I definitely hadn’t recovered enough. This likely also means that my overall fitness is low. As I get fitter, I’m hoping my recovery time will also get better.
4. I’ll have to work on dropping some of my excess weight if I have to get better at the run.

On to week 2.