Hi Guys,
I have a new computer now, not much different to the last, still setting it up. boring!
The joys of retirement ! I get to train every day.
I recently discovered plyometrics and after one session, noticed an improvement in speed in the following run. so recently my training was Sunday - 25 kms run, Monday - pool swim, Tuesday - 1 hr run Wednesday - open water swim and run, Thursday - pool swim, Friday - 1 hour run, Saturday - open water swim, plyometric session, roman rings and kettlebell session, Sunday - recovery and light swim, Monday - 1 hr interval run, Tuesday - pool aerobic swim 4 x 400 medley, back, breast, and free, Wednesday - 1 hr interval and thresh-hold run, kettlebell and roman ring session, plyo session.
That takes us to now.
The plyo sessions take about 15 mins to do and 2 days to recover from! That is value for money!
Fortunately I can alternate runs and swims. 
I've started an aerobic swimming program of 62 swims, one hour every tuesday and thursday, to be finished by the end of the year. Tomorrow it's 800 breaststroke and 800 backstroke. I'm paying a coach to time me and provide stroke correction. The 5 x 800 butterfly will be interesting. I did 100 fly yesterday and had had enough. Next Tuesday I'll be swimming 200 fly in an 800 medley, and an 800 free. Thursday will be 30 mins of breast and 30 of back. Next month I will be doing 400 and 800 of 'fly, after the 400 and 800 medley.
I was given a magazine about marathon running - how to do it and what you need to know. They say that 4 - 6 months is enough time to prepare for a marathon!
Nice to see I'm on the right track, being a 3 hour run, and 2 x 1 hour interval sessions on a weekly basis. 
I've been doing a little duathalon once in a while, swimming 2kms and running fast back.
The water is 12 degrees at the moment, good for increasing pain thresh-holds.  I wear a wet suit, barefoot runners and 2 swimming caps, not a lot of skin exposed, just ankles, hands and face. I've taken to going in the water and adjusting a bit at a time, painful but bearable.  Recently my legs have felt great relief as they experience the cold water, and it's for my legs that I'm mainly doing this swim. The cold water makes the blood flow out of the legs, reducing the size of and relaxing the muscles.
The hands experience pain and take a while - 5 minutes say, to calm down. dunk them, lift them. I dive in and start swimming briskly - keep breathing, keep moving being the uppermost thoughts in mind.
After about 20 strokes the face becomes too painful to remain in the water,so it's over to backstroke. Backstroke requires quite a bit more thought than freestyle to do well but otherwise is more relaxing - breath more, lean back. 100 metres of free then back and the face is okay. By 400 metres I've warmed up.
Also around the 400 metre mark, the breathing comes online. This is the bit I like, and another reason for swimming to help my running. I've expanded my  blood vessels and lungs.
So after warming up, I can concentrate on my technique and develop a rhythm. Last time the water was calm and the bottom visible. I was breathing bilaterally and occasionally going up to 5 strokes without a breath.
The 2kms passed pretty quickly. I checked my heart rate monitor - 95 bpm, very low, not sure why, maybe because I've been in 12 degree water for 40 minutes! In a summer swim race 136 bpm is standard for me.
I think I've been at my fastest running on the beach after a swim. I tried timing myself with a heart monitor. From a heart rate of 100 it took about a kilometre to reach 140. I went from a fast jog to a run and may have come close to a fast run. I didn't slack off too much towards the end and took the heart rate to 150 without much difficulty. Unfortunately the timing part didn't work . It was fun negotiating the water coming up the beach and the clumps of sea-weed. I ran briefly on soft sand but it was a bit twisty on the ankles.
Now my heart rate is at 53 , not bad for me - yesterday it was at 49. meaning I'm relatively fit.
I love my marathon mag! it tells me to start a taper 2 weeks before my next event, the 'hills to henley', a 30km event. I'll be fine if I can avoid wearing myself out with the plyometric exercises.
That's my main news.
Cheers.