No bike? Run!

As the title suggests, I'm still devoid of bike. I know that work's started on it, though, because I've been informed that both my brake callipers are beyond repair. Heh. That's two winters for you.

Still, less time on the bike means more time running. I've now run on three consecutive days for what I reckon is the first time ever. Even better, my legs haven't completely collapsed in a pile. Albeit it felt like that was going to happen on Thursday morning :-(

This week's running:

• Wednesday - 30 mins hill repeats on Shetcliffe Lane (bonus meeting with Ian Benn!) straight into 30 mins tempo running - average pace 4:23/km (7:03/mi). Quite a lot of hurt.
• Thursday - 45 mins recovery before work, with some 20-second pickups thrown in - average pace 5:04/km (8:09/mi). Running before work is always a bit shaky, but after a hill/tempo session, major hurt. [Also a hard swim session in the evening.]
• Friday - 60 mins, incorporating a 10km time trial. Managed a quality time of 40:54. Seem to have recovered quite quickly afterwards, which is nice.

It's been a while since I did a 10km time trial, but still 40:54 is faster than I'd been aiming for - I was looking at hitting 42 mins until I was about 3/4 of the way through! What with the accumulated fatigue of the previous two days, and the lack of actual race conditions, I think there's a chance that I could break 40 mins if I entered a standalone 10K race in the near future. Which I'm not going to do, by the way, but a sub-40 minute 10K is one of my training goals this season, and possibly the one I'm closest to achieving (although the 6:30 400m swim would run it pretty close).

All that's mighty lovely, of course, but I'm not a 10K runner, I'm a triathlete. So what does it mean in tri terms?

Well, my run target for Ripon is 43 mins (a terrifying 7-minute improvement on last year). It seems that that time should be well within my capabilities given an extra 3 months' training. Unless, like last year, it's 300 degrees in the shade. Then, I'll be lucky to cross the line...