Sunday 27 February 2011

The less glamorous side of distance training

So my big finale to the week is done, not without incident however. The day got off to a good start, the sun was shining, the wind was good, perfect for a mornings racing out on the water. This blog isn't about my exploits sailing, so I'll leave the details for another time. We didn't do too badly though, narrowly missing first place by <10s in our first race and coming 5th in our second race, only 5s separated the 3rd place boat and us. The second race wasn't picture perfect for another reason, the rain. The nasty front of rain came across for the duration of the second race, it bought wind too, so I spent 1/3 of the time grinding the spinny sheet, good upper body workout though. Still it brigthened up as we came back into the marina, ideal for the run I had planned. Just to make life better though having had a light lunch of penut buttre on toast and given it an hour to settle it started hailing on and off. D'oh. Still, 40 minutes later the sky looked like it was clearing more permantly so I headed out on my run.

It was feeling quite good as I headed out, running easy at a gentle pace. By 2K I was getting the impression it might be a tough run. 5 hours on a boat isn't exactly equivalent to a long bike ride, but it sure as hell took some energy out of me. So why I opted to turn left at the top of The Common and head up to the sports ground is beyond me. I mean what kind of idiot knowingly opts to through a few hills into a long run when they are not even feeling strong? Well this kind did. By the time I had run up the gentle drag to the pro's shop on the golf course I was regretting every footfall of it. Golf Course Road was still to come, an ~8-10% slope that lasts about 500m. It wasn't pretty. I made it to the top in one piece and had my brief respite while the traffic light changed. It was time for my first feed at 6K as I was now on a nice gentle downhill all the way back to the entrance of The Common. As I embarked on what I had intended to be the first figure of eight rumblings were occurring, Rumbling of the gastrointestinal kind that have been plaguing me all week. I guess this is in part down the recent changes in my diet. I've practically cut out the junk I like to eat in the evenings and now snack on apples/carrots/dried fruit/nuts. It's made me more regular, regularly inconvenient that is. Anyway back to my run, and the less glamorous side of distance training. I made it halfway round my figure eight when the rumblings became groanings. I knew then it was all going to go wrong so at 13K I made the decision to head home, by 14K I knew I'd made the right choice. After a brief interlude I was in good form again. And I managed to find it in myself to go back out and finish the run I started. So I knocked out a 5.8km loop. I managed it at a quicker average pace than the first 14.5K too.

At home with my feet up typing this and I feel knackered, but not broken. It has been a good week. Just under 9 hours of training shoehorned into this week (excluding the sailing, worth about 2 probably, but I don't log it). Swim 2 hours (5km), Bike 61km, & Run 49.3km

Mon pm - 6.6km Run
Tues pm - 6.8km Run & 1 hour swim (2300m)
Wed - Rest day
Thur pm - 7.1km Run & 1 hour swim (2700m)
Fri pm - 8.4km Run
Sat am - 61km Cycle
Sun pm - 20.3km Run

Saturday 26 February 2011

A busy start to the weekend

So I've managed to cram plenty in to the past few days. I managed a swim, run, and decent bike in the past 48 hours and the weekends not over yet.

Thursdays swim went much better than Tuesdays. The use of and energy drink certainly kept things moving. It was a pretty hard set in fact. The warm up included the requisite amount of IM to make it brutal. 6x75m of IM drill/swim with no crawl. The kick in the teeth came next, 2x200m of IM done as 100s, except the time we went of meant it was more like 4x100m IM with no rest. To make things even better then we moved on to lots and lots of pull. My shoulders we ready to fall off by the end.

Friday bought the runners club at work, the slower runner had a cold so I had a feeling it might be a hard run. Time wise it wasn't too bad, but with the faster guy I normally pace off going easy for a half marathon he's got this weekend I was holding back a bit. Still, the pace I managed might have been a bit too much for the coach, he had to walk /slow jog the last mile as his calf gave out. Oops. That drew the 'is the pace of these runs too slow for you' question at the end. Thing is, the pace was what is normally just right for me and it might have felt a little slow.

This morning I did my usual checks, resting heart rate is up to 46 and BP is a little higher than normal. Guess this means I'm getting a bit overtrained. Oh well, Monday can be a rest day. Today was a 'long' bike. Long in this sense meant 60k, not really that long, but tough enough given last weekends attempt. My usual route of this length was a bit crap last weekend, too much traffic. So I decided to plan a route in 'hills' to the east of Winchester. The weather was looking rather good as I got ready. Of course when I walked out the door the clouds came over. It was actually quite a good ride, I had no power on the hills but my legs weren't rebelling so that was a bonus. About halfway in I got a little drizzle but then the sun came back and the ride finished quite nicely. My plan to cross the top of Southampton on the way home almost back fired. Having had a rather uneventful ride one driver had his go a killing me. Why the hell he felt the need to look back at me then pull in hard to the curb is beyond me. I stopped soon enough to stay out of danger, but reminded me how much I hate trying to filter through traffic.

Once home I had a go at cramming as much as possible into the afternoon. After a quick lunch, hair cut and shower it was off to Tesco to buy some food for dinner. Got back with just enough time to spend 30 minutes getting my bike cleaned up, start cooking dinner and then sit down to watch the England match. I'm now filled up with one of my excellent chillies, with a couple of portions for after training tomorrow and on Monday night. Tomorrow could be an interesting day. I shall be attempting a jam packed morning of sailing combined with 20K run when I get back from it. Hopefully it will all go well. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Back in the groove, hopefully

Having sat down and worked out the schedule of pain I tired to jump feet first into training this week. After a bumpy start things are looking good and hormone release from exercise has hit and even a rubbish week at work isn't getting me down. Hopefully it will last better than my single good week earlier this year.

Monday didn't get off to a good start. I'd planned on doing my three loop 16K run as some long distance run practice for the impending half marathon.  Things didn't go so well. 5K in and I started getting some GI discomfort. By kilometer 6 I was on an all out sprint home. Who would win? Me or my GI tract? Well, by the narrowest of margins I did. Needless to say the effort involved in winning the 'race' left me feeling less than optimal about going back out, given the time and the 0415 alarm the next day I decided to think of the big picture. Wise move I think.

Tuesday was a pretty good day. The light at the end of the tunnel when starting work before 6am is that you finish just after 2pm, providing plenty of training opportunities in daylight hours. Having attempted a turbo session before Masters swimming a few weeks ago I thought I'd try a run. This run turned out to be a little quicker than planned, I ended up getting around the 6.7K loop in a time that would translate to an acceptable 10K time. Oh well. Come 1930 and time to get in the pool and I managed to hold on, well enough at least. Having refused to lead during the warm up knowing I would burn myself out I managed to finish the 2300m (including a 300m IM drill/swim set) having only dropped halfway through the group in the lane. Given my choice to fuel with water/Nuun 'as it's only an hour' I'm happy. Fueling with water/Nuun was a stupid choice.

Part of me had intended to do a Turbo session yesterday afternoon, but I talked myself into a rest day. I think this was a good idea. Well, it meant I was well rested for a tough day at work today. The weather was gorgeous this afternoon, so I decided to make the most of it and headed out for 7K run. Pleased with that one too, without trying managed to hold a decent pace, calves are a bit sore but hey ho. Masters tonight and I will be taking Powerbar Energize in the vain hope I'll be able to hold my speed better.

Hopefully my spirits will remain high, lots planned for the next few days, work run club tomorrow lunch, might squeeze a swim in in the evening, 60K bike Saturday, sailing Sunday morning and a 20K run for Sunday afternoon/evening. At this rate I may even stand a chance getting that little bit closer to race weight. Here's hoping.

Sunday 20 February 2011

Time to resurrect this blog

So it has been far to long since I last wrote about my training. Since then I have completed many races (which I have blogged about) and become somewhat deluded into the fact I can get around an Ironman course. I won't go into how deluded I have gotten about the time I can do it in. Today I had a major wake up call (more later) and have decided to attack this problem head on. I have formulated a plan, and part of that plan will included an, at least weekly, reflection on my training.

So I guess I'll start with reviewing the events leading up to this point. This week has not been a wonderful one in training terms. As ever we are working shifts, which means the oh so joyous task of getting out of bed at 4:15 to go to work Tues-Thurs. This of course meant the 15K run I wanted to do would eat into far too much of my evening. Still I went out and, when the heavens opened 10K in, I manged to stick it out and do a third loop, I was so ready to quit after 2 though. Needless to say by the time I got back showered and fed myself it was already bed time, but I had to paint a living room wall. D'oh. I'd much rather shift everyday of the week when we have to do it. 

Tuesday started far to early, still I finished earlier. In future I shall use this to my advantage a bit more and try to stick in a 5-10k run or a short turbo session before an early dinner and Masters. Not doing something before Masters was actually a good move this week though. My speed was there but I had naff all endurance. On the second 300m set I had to stop as I cramped in my foot, but I was also feeling a bit nauseous. Still, I persevered and made it through the 2350m session. Tuesday night was not good though, kept waking up as my throat hurt. Uh oh, I'm ill. The 4:15 wake up call bought confirmation, swollen throat glands, blocked nose. Yep I'd got a cold. Balls, Wednesday I had hopes of a cheeky little Turbo/run brick session. Cue rest days on Weds, Thurs, and Friday. Wasn't feeling too bad on Friday night, so if the weather cleared, I could try an easy ride on Saturday.

The rain gave way to a fine mist on Saturday morning and I opted to go for a gentle ride around my 54k loop. 3 drivers tried to kill me in the first 10k. Why overtake if you are going to turn left immediately after overtaking? Why do buses always pull out before indicating? And my favourite, what is the point in overtaking and practically doing an emergency stop before you've finished to let someone walk a horse across the road? How the hell am I meant to see the horse, and how the hell is the rider meant to see me? Well after all those shenanigans the rest of the ride went OK, I got around the 54K in 2:10, an acceptable speed, if not a little faster than planned. Whilst out on this ride I decided that I didn't want to push things too soon, so another, longer, ride would be more suitable on Sunday than a run.

Well, I learnt what a plonker I was on the ride today. My legs didn't feel good going up hills. At 34k when the turn onto the 20k loop appeared I told myself to man up and take the pain. I survived the loop, just about. Had to stop a few times to refuel, and my lower back hurt, but my legs just about held out. I was starting to worry I had remembered the distance wrong, I had, but a crafty shortcut would later fix that. There was a nasty little hill on that shortcut though, with a handily placed cyclist at the top to witness the pain on my face as I summitted the poultry 10m, 5% slope. 65 kilometres in and my world was about to fall apart. It was my nemesis hill, it is only a measly 3%, but it drags on for over a mile, and has a nasty sting in the tail just as you think you've done it. I knew things would be bad as I dropped down to the 30x20 early on. I was ready top cry as I reached the top, I had to stop and stretch.To make matters worse there was still over 8k left to get home. That was one of the more painful 8k rides I have ever made. My quads had blown big time. All I could manage as I walked through the front door was a stagger to the living room and lie on the floor. A few stretches and the pain would not budge. I looked at the foam roller, tried it but only got halfway down my leg. A touch of heat therapy and I was walking again. Great, enough movement to reheat the remains of the curry I made last night, and a couple of hours on the sofa in compression tights.

This ride was actually a good thing. It broke the cycle of delusion that I can do an Ironman of the junk training I have been doing. SO I sat down and applying a 3 weeks build, 1 week recovery, I have formulated a plan for my long rides and long runs over the next 4 months that will see me able to get around Frankfurt, at least I hope it will. Build weeks will go up 10k on the bike, and 2k on the run each week. The real scary thing is, that means 350km of running, and 1710 km of cycling over the next 4 months. This doesn't even account for training during the week, or the France training camp. It also doesn't pencil in any events between the MK half marathon and IMDE, and I really want to get a few sprints and some open water events in. Some hard decisions will have to be made, and that includes my social calendar too. Even though I've been tee total since new years eve, I can't see the opportunity for social drinking any time soon.

The road to IMDE starts here, hopefully I can hang on to the pain train for long enough. Let's hope the next week goes better than the last.