Where: Ringwood Leisure Centre, Ringwood
When: Sunday 15th April
Organiser: www.resultstriathlon.co.uk
Distance(s): 600m/45km/9.2km
Course details: Pool swim, 1 lap bike course, figure 8 run course (tarmac)
Marshalling: Plenty where required, and some woman in a pink hoodie
Facilities: Leisure centre, car parking, food van
Freebies: Technical tee
The run up to this race was not my OCD prepared self. I was overtrained and fatigued by Wednesday, not even managing 8 minute miles on my evening run, and it took some serious self-control to not do Parkrun on Saturday morning. Allied with the fact I can’t eat fish for 2 weeks before my annual heavy metal test, so my pre-race meal had to be changed from fish and chips. Thought I’d try Jerk chicken and sweet potato French fries. Except I didn’t have any Jerk seasoning, so I made my own. Turns out I put a tad too much chilli powder in out. A little more spicy than planned! I’d also left getting my gear ready until after dinner. All was going well, except I couldn’t find my race bike computer. I was sure it was on one of the bookcases I’d moved during the day. So I spent an hour turning the flat upside trying to find it. After I gave up I went to get my transition bag. Turns out it was in the bottom of it from the last race of 2011. D’oh! Eventually I went to bed, having changed my alarm 3 times.
Morning came and was all going pretty well, fed, watered, car packed and set off on schedule. Then I stopped paying attention and stayed on the Millbrook road passed the turning for the M271. No worries I thought, I’ll just carry on and get on at a different junction. Possibly the longest detour ever, it would have been quicker to go back. I arrived to find some woman in a pink hoodie directing traffic, eventually she recognised me ;-) Managed to make it in time though. It was fecking freezing though, registered and made it back to the car to sort my kit out. Sat in the car sorting my numbers out then got the bike ready. Mark (M005) popped over and said hi, then asked about extra layers. Yep I was going to put them on, it might be a good idea to go home and get them. Then I headed off to rack my kit. By the time I’d made it to transition I’d lost the feeling in my fingers. Not good. The thermometer on the bike computer was steadily dropping towards 2°C. I was going to get soaking wet then go for a bike ride in this. Sanity check? I laid my kit, happy I had everything ready, and then headed back to the car to warm up again. Bumped into Ade and said hi, then found my way into the leisure centre. Watched Mark exit and out onto the bike, then did the same for Ade before standing around warming up. Had a little chat with a woman who I had run behind for most of the September version.
Made it poolside to find I was sharing a lane with a guy that had been in my lane the April before, so we had a chat about Ironman’s again, this time what they were like. The moment came and we were off. I was number 2 in the lane, so set off and tried to catch the feet of the guy in front to make life a little easier. Went through 100m in 1:24, 200m in 2:58 (why can’t I swim like that at Masters?) then lost track of times. Took the lead for 100m then had to drop back. Then the float and it was 24 lengths done. Out the water and lap the Garmin, 9m32. That puts me bang on with my optimistic 9:30 prediction, and 2s better than last year.
T1 was a bit of a farce. Mostly because of my planned attempt to dress for an artic expedition. Mark was just coming in off the bike so shouted some pleasantries, well I think they were. Cycle jersey went on eventually, long sleeves and wet arms don’t like each other. Socks just weren’t happening; too many stones and towel wasn’t drying feet, so abandoned that idea. Bike shoes on, then get the Belgian booties on (comedy 1 legged standing). Number, helmet, glasses, long fingered gloves. After what felt like 5 minutes I was ready to head out for the bike, through a now empty transition. Turns out it was on 2m31, still 23s slower than last year.
Out on the bike and I was absolutely flying. The roads were empty, and I knew there was a tail wind, but I was averaging over 34 kph during the first 5k. Uneventful first 10k down to Burton, then the turn east. It was sheltered to start, but the effect of the wind was noticeable. I saw someone ahead and the chase was on. Turns out it was the nice lady I’d spoken to earlier, who’d paced me last time. Up a little hill into Bransgore then what should have been a lovely downhill through the open plains of the New Forest and up into Burley. Thing was, the open plains allowed the full effect of the nasty cross/headwind. I was going down that nice slope at the speeds I’d been doing on the flat earlier. Grrr. Into Burley and I had to slow for some 4x4 owner out getting a paper or something. A bit of rolling countryside and in a nasty gust leaves got blown onto the road. Somehow my wheel picked one up and jammed it between my brakes and the rim. At first I thought I’d blown a tyre, but then realised for the amount of noise the tyres hadn’t deflated. I tried to carry on but it was far too annoying. No way I was going to put my fingers near a moving wheel so I had to stop at the crest of a hill to clear it. That done an I was on to a nice downhill to the A35 before the turn up through Bolderwood, and the hilly. Realised my legs were wrecked on the hills as I got chicked. Then out onto the plains into the wind again for a bit, then a turn west and the wind was more of a cross tail and I could hold a little more speed. Except now the Wiggle riders were causing havoc. Riding 2/3 abreast on single track roads with no respect for oncoming riders. Then one idiot taking a drink and weaving from one shoulder of the road to another. Back into the trees and the uber fats guys from the last wave were coming through now. One Navy guy wanted the whole road to overtake, forcing me to use to crappy road surface at the side. Still managed to average 37 kph for the penultimate 5k. Last 5k and overtook someone getting his feet out, nearly missed the right turn in the process. Some encouragement from Cheryl as I came in and bike done in 1h29m52, 1m11 slower than last year, but that hides the fact there was an average headwind this time, and my estimated power was actually up by 10% this year at 263W
T2 was the opposite farce. Taking my Artic kit off and getting socks then run shoes on. Apparently it took me 1m45, only a second slower than last year. Out onto the run.
Other than avoiding all the Wiggle riders pretty uneventful. No jelly legs at first, but about a mile in my calves felt all wobbly. Never had that before. I got chicked once, but got the woman that had chicked me on the bike back. A couple of guys passed me towards the end, but I had pulled about 10 places back by the time I entered the finally couple of Km. I knew it was a short course so I could see I was on for a 40 minute run, well almost. I picked the pace up and crossed the line in 2:23:58 (official), with a 40m17 run split so 3m03 quicker than last year on the run, for a PB by 1m27s.
Overall very happy with my performance. Training has been a little poor since the turbo lunacy, so to PB is pretty good. The nice thing was that the bike and run paces were “comfortably uncomfortable” it would be a little rash to actually believe I could hold them for twice that distance. I’m not far of managing it though. If the weather is right. That’s going to stand me in good stead for Swashbuckler in 4 weeks time I hope, a sub 5 isn’t beyond the realms of possibility I think. I need to work on the bike though. I need to correct my lack of hill strength, and I could do with some more run speed. Time to get back on the Sufferfest’s now my hand is good enough to ride. Oh, and start working the hills (or what we have for hills around here) on the bike.
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Monday, 16 April 2012
Friday, 30 December 2011
A year in review
With the end of 2011 nearly here perhaps it is time I should reflect on all that I have achieved, and what I've failed at.
Going into 2011 there was only one thing on my mind. Ironman. Granted that is a big thing to have on your mind. The thing is even though it was at the forefront of most of my decisions I wasn't paying it the respect it deserved. I mean it is only twice the distance of a half right? And that is only a little over double an Olympic? How hard can it be right? Well I got my wake up call in February (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/02/time-to-resurrect-this-blog.html) In a rather training light week when I got a cold I went out for a 50+km. A ride from hell where I realised I couldn't blag IM training like I'd done my half. So I set about creating a plan of epic proportions that would see me do one hell of a lot of training over the following weeks and months.
In February came one of my first races, the MK half marathon (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/03/better-week-with-tough-finish.html). Now in my 'oh MK is flat and I'm fitter now' mindset I'd decided this would be PB territory and a good chance to break the 1:40 barrier. Oh that run went horribly wrong. I learnt a lot about pacing though. You learn from your mistakes as the saying goes. I got carried away in the moment at the start, and held that stupid notion for 10K, and like a true idiot, almost broke my 10K PB, with over half the race left. It was a painful lesson I can still remember vividly, walking up the ramps from the underpasses, the tears in my eyes as I walked up the bridge. If you have a pacing plan stick to it, don't let macho bull**** throw you from it at the start of a race.
The start of April brought the start of the tri season, and I was entered into my first event of the year at Ringwood, the first time the event was being run. All my training was paying off as I managed a 2:25 finish, for an odd distance event, but one that is probably comparable (just short) of an Olympic. I swam well, I biked OK and I ran reasonably well. Training ploughed on and as Easter arrived I took a trip up to Bridgtown Cycles for a bike fit, of course as anyone that has been knows, you often find the bike doesn't fit.
Having spent nearly 5 hours having every last detail checked, including the placement of washers under the cleat of my right foot to account for a minor leg length discrepancy I left with what Dad later termed 'a clown bike'. Yes the bike was too small, so with the largest stem available and the saddle really high, using loaned handlebars Mike had bought me a little time. A couple of weeks in fact, as the next week a new bike was on order. Ready for me to pick up when I returned a couple of weeks later. In the meantime I had a bike I could ride faster.
On the clown bike I did the Randonee, effectively an Audax around the Isle of Wight. Wow that was a tough day at the office. There was one hell of a wind blowing (25 mph) and it made the hill (on my hilliest and longest ride ever) really tough. I did it though, and was pleased as anything to have got around in one piece. The next weekend I was heading back up to fetch the new bike.
What a beauty she is, Maddy madone, my Trek 3.1. Mike had done an excellent job putting her together for me, and after a few tweaks she was ready to rock. What a dream it was riding carbon after aluminium, and the wheels they built are still running perfectly true even after the 2000 odd miles I've done since getting her in May.
Late may brought the BCTTT tri camp out at Les Stables in France. What a great time that was. Some great coaching from Daz, Sibs, and Mark. Plus morale boosting hill sets on the bike with Mark. Can't wait to get back there in 2012 now.
Then it was back into the peak build weeks of June. Wow, the miles really racked up there. 17-18 hours of training, on top of a full time job. Not easy, and clocking up 7/186/40 & 7.5/300/37km of swim/bike/run in the 2 biggest weeks. Tough times, but it was to prove worth it. Early July and I had Bedford Olympic, my last little tester race before Ironman (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/07/bedford-classic-tri.html) It went pretty well, improved over the year before with gains on the bike and the run, suffered more on the swim, but that might have been because I wasn't able to draft as I was a leader in the wave.
The rest of July was my taper, and I had intended to do speedwork, until I gassed myself in the lab and had some respiratory difficulties I needed to sort out if I was going to make the start line. I do not recommend inhaling chlorine. It most certainly isn't performance enhancing. Then of course that brings me to Ironman. I'm not going to say much about it here, I wrote a rather long story on it already (http://issuu.com/jibby26/docs/imde_story). It was tough, I went into it with a goal that was respectful, but not respectful enough. I have to say It is the hardest thing I have ever done. It breaks you physically, then you stop feeling the physical pain as the mental pain kicks in. Still I loved it, and want to get back out there again, guess that makes me a little crazy.
August was a month of rest, every time I tried to train I just felt so lethargic. So I just went with it and did stuff for fun. Competing in the club relays at the end of the month. That was a wild and fun weekend. The BCTTT know how to have fun at a race. I put in a respectable performance too, so more than happy about that.
Coming into September and I was starting to get back into the groove, training was coming back and I was getting strong in the pool. It all went wrong though when I slipped on some mud and rolled my ankle. A proper sprain of my left ankle and the metatarsal ligaments. D'Oh. The day after I entered, and 10 days before, I entered Ringwood triathlon (The Return). A week of rest and taking care of it and the plan was to do pull for the swim (600m of pull hurts), ride the bike to death (weather was grim) then abandon the run (I carried on in the end and ran pretty well). Having spent a week in Italy unable to train, but rehabilitating my ankle I then returned for a week of biking and swimming before my last tri of 2011, Bedford Sprint. The ankle was alright riding, I could walk fine, just swimming that hurt. So I was employing the same strategy as Ringwood.
Swim wasn't good, bike was great, and my run was actually excellent. Almost breaking 1:15 for it, with a 2m53 saved on the bike and 27s in the run (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/10/bedford-autumns-sprint-end-of-season.html). A great finish to a season that could so easily have gone the other way.
October can be characterised by cycling and swimming (pull) I threw a few runs into the mix, but mostly I rode on the turbo. At some I went a little more crazy and decided 2012 was the time to do something for charity. Why I don't know, maybe it was dehydration from the turbo sessions. I went slightly loopy though and decided riding a bike for 24 hours would be a good thing to do. I have a feeling I will never be able to forget what an idiot I have been. This is going to hurt, and hurt good. Please check out http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ to see more about it and the good causes I'm trying to support.
The end of October brought the Minstead stinger, I was back running and this was a challenging 9 mile run through the hillier bit of the New Forest. I seemed to do alright, posting a respectable sub 1:10 and finishing in a pretty decent place. My new love of trail running was founded. Come November and I was back doing all 3 sports; swimming, cycling (mostly turbo) and running trails and road. I think as a result of all the turbo sessions something changed and I put in a supper speedy 10K in training. It was also suggested to me I give parkrun a go, I'm not sure who gave me the final nudge, but I have a feeling it is down to a woman, these things normally are. Of course having given me the final nudge it was suggested I didn't beat 19:49. My first run was good, almost beating it and so nearly going sub 20 for my first ever 5K. I tried again a week later and managed to slash 25 seconds off it with a 19:38. So in good form I ended November looking forward to my annual half marathon in December.
Just to make things awkward I got in in the week leading up to the half. Not the best prep, but a good taper. The race was tough, and far from fun, I suffered a few issues at 4 miles, and ran to the point the world was spinning in the last couple of miles. All to finish a way off the 1:30 I'd been trying to pace to. (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/12/half-marathon-time-again.html) Still, I managed to run a 1:33, taking another 7 minutes off my PB. At this rate I should be on for a 1:26 next year :-D The rest of December has been a bit of a bust really. Got some decent off road running in though. A long run with Gary that nearly destroyed me, and a couple of below performance parkruns. Well, it means 2012 has a better chance of a good start.
I seem to have rambled on for long enough now. So the all important stats for the year:
Total Duration: 437 hours, 43 minutes
Swimming: 104h 11m, 246.45km
Cycling: 175h 27m, 4421km
Turbo: 33h 59m
Running: 123h 15m, 1347km
Total Calories burnt: 388,167 (that's about the same as the energy in 50 litres of petrol, or 1492 mars bars!)
With that I'll close 2011 and stake my claims on 2012. In 2012 I will:
Run a sub 19 5K
Run a sub 40 10K
Ride a bike for 24 hours
Finish a middle distance in under 5 hours
Finish an Iron distance in under 12 hours
Most importantly, I'll have fun doing it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Going into 2011 there was only one thing on my mind. Ironman. Granted that is a big thing to have on your mind. The thing is even though it was at the forefront of most of my decisions I wasn't paying it the respect it deserved. I mean it is only twice the distance of a half right? And that is only a little over double an Olympic? How hard can it be right? Well I got my wake up call in February (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/02/time-to-resurrect-this-blog.html) In a rather training light week when I got a cold I went out for a 50+km. A ride from hell where I realised I couldn't blag IM training like I'd done my half. So I set about creating a plan of epic proportions that would see me do one hell of a lot of training over the following weeks and months.
In February came one of my first races, the MK half marathon (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/03/better-week-with-tough-finish.html). Now in my 'oh MK is flat and I'm fitter now' mindset I'd decided this would be PB territory and a good chance to break the 1:40 barrier. Oh that run went horribly wrong. I learnt a lot about pacing though. You learn from your mistakes as the saying goes. I got carried away in the moment at the start, and held that stupid notion for 10K, and like a true idiot, almost broke my 10K PB, with over half the race left. It was a painful lesson I can still remember vividly, walking up the ramps from the underpasses, the tears in my eyes as I walked up the bridge. If you have a pacing plan stick to it, don't let macho bull**** throw you from it at the start of a race.
The start of April brought the start of the tri season, and I was entered into my first event of the year at Ringwood, the first time the event was being run. All my training was paying off as I managed a 2:25 finish, for an odd distance event, but one that is probably comparable (just short) of an Olympic. I swam well, I biked OK and I ran reasonably well. Training ploughed on and as Easter arrived I took a trip up to Bridgtown Cycles for a bike fit, of course as anyone that has been knows, you often find the bike doesn't fit.
Having spent nearly 5 hours having every last detail checked, including the placement of washers under the cleat of my right foot to account for a minor leg length discrepancy I left with what Dad later termed 'a clown bike'. Yes the bike was too small, so with the largest stem available and the saddle really high, using loaned handlebars Mike had bought me a little time. A couple of weeks in fact, as the next week a new bike was on order. Ready for me to pick up when I returned a couple of weeks later. In the meantime I had a bike I could ride faster.
On the clown bike I did the Randonee, effectively an Audax around the Isle of Wight. Wow that was a tough day at the office. There was one hell of a wind blowing (25 mph) and it made the hill (on my hilliest and longest ride ever) really tough. I did it though, and was pleased as anything to have got around in one piece. The next weekend I was heading back up to fetch the new bike.
What a beauty she is, Maddy madone, my Trek 3.1. Mike had done an excellent job putting her together for me, and after a few tweaks she was ready to rock. What a dream it was riding carbon after aluminium, and the wheels they built are still running perfectly true even after the 2000 odd miles I've done since getting her in May.
Late may brought the BCTTT tri camp out at Les Stables in France. What a great time that was. Some great coaching from Daz, Sibs, and Mark. Plus morale boosting hill sets on the bike with Mark. Can't wait to get back there in 2012 now.
Then it was back into the peak build weeks of June. Wow, the miles really racked up there. 17-18 hours of training, on top of a full time job. Not easy, and clocking up 7/186/40 & 7.5/300/37km of swim/bike/run in the 2 biggest weeks. Tough times, but it was to prove worth it. Early July and I had Bedford Olympic, my last little tester race before Ironman (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/07/bedford-classic-tri.html) It went pretty well, improved over the year before with gains on the bike and the run, suffered more on the swim, but that might have been because I wasn't able to draft as I was a leader in the wave.
The rest of July was my taper, and I had intended to do speedwork, until I gassed myself in the lab and had some respiratory difficulties I needed to sort out if I was going to make the start line. I do not recommend inhaling chlorine. It most certainly isn't performance enhancing. Then of course that brings me to Ironman. I'm not going to say much about it here, I wrote a rather long story on it already (http://issuu.com/jibby26/docs/imde_story). It was tough, I went into it with a goal that was respectful, but not respectful enough. I have to say It is the hardest thing I have ever done. It breaks you physically, then you stop feeling the physical pain as the mental pain kicks in. Still I loved it, and want to get back out there again, guess that makes me a little crazy.
August was a month of rest, every time I tried to train I just felt so lethargic. So I just went with it and did stuff for fun. Competing in the club relays at the end of the month. That was a wild and fun weekend. The BCTTT know how to have fun at a race. I put in a respectable performance too, so more than happy about that.
Coming into September and I was starting to get back into the groove, training was coming back and I was getting strong in the pool. It all went wrong though when I slipped on some mud and rolled my ankle. A proper sprain of my left ankle and the metatarsal ligaments. D'Oh. The day after I entered, and 10 days before, I entered Ringwood triathlon (The Return). A week of rest and taking care of it and the plan was to do pull for the swim (600m of pull hurts), ride the bike to death (weather was grim) then abandon the run (I carried on in the end and ran pretty well). Having spent a week in Italy unable to train, but rehabilitating my ankle I then returned for a week of biking and swimming before my last tri of 2011, Bedford Sprint. The ankle was alright riding, I could walk fine, just swimming that hurt. So I was employing the same strategy as Ringwood.
Swim wasn't good, bike was great, and my run was actually excellent. Almost breaking 1:15 for it, with a 2m53 saved on the bike and 27s in the run (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/10/bedford-autumns-sprint-end-of-season.html). A great finish to a season that could so easily have gone the other way.
October can be characterised by cycling and swimming (pull) I threw a few runs into the mix, but mostly I rode on the turbo. At some I went a little more crazy and decided 2012 was the time to do something for charity. Why I don't know, maybe it was dehydration from the turbo sessions. I went slightly loopy though and decided riding a bike for 24 hours would be a good thing to do. I have a feeling I will never be able to forget what an idiot I have been. This is going to hurt, and hurt good. Please check out http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ to see more about it and the good causes I'm trying to support.
The end of October brought the Minstead stinger, I was back running and this was a challenging 9 mile run through the hillier bit of the New Forest. I seemed to do alright, posting a respectable sub 1:10 and finishing in a pretty decent place. My new love of trail running was founded. Come November and I was back doing all 3 sports; swimming, cycling (mostly turbo) and running trails and road. I think as a result of all the turbo sessions something changed and I put in a supper speedy 10K in training. It was also suggested to me I give parkrun a go, I'm not sure who gave me the final nudge, but I have a feeling it is down to a woman, these things normally are. Of course having given me the final nudge it was suggested I didn't beat 19:49. My first run was good, almost beating it and so nearly going sub 20 for my first ever 5K. I tried again a week later and managed to slash 25 seconds off it with a 19:38. So in good form I ended November looking forward to my annual half marathon in December.
Just to make things awkward I got in in the week leading up to the half. Not the best prep, but a good taper. The race was tough, and far from fun, I suffered a few issues at 4 miles, and ran to the point the world was spinning in the last couple of miles. All to finish a way off the 1:30 I'd been trying to pace to. (http://trijames.blogspot.com/2011/12/half-marathon-time-again.html) Still, I managed to run a 1:33, taking another 7 minutes off my PB. At this rate I should be on for a 1:26 next year :-D The rest of December has been a bit of a bust really. Got some decent off road running in though. A long run with Gary that nearly destroyed me, and a couple of below performance parkruns. Well, it means 2012 has a better chance of a good start.
I seem to have rambled on for long enough now. So the all important stats for the year:
Total Duration: 437 hours, 43 minutes
Swimming: 104h 11m, 246.45km
Cycling: 175h 27m, 4421km
Turbo: 33h 59m
Running: 123h 15m, 1347km
Total Calories burnt: 388,167 (that's about the same as the energy in 50 litres of petrol, or 1492 mars bars!)
With that I'll close 2011 and stake my claims on 2012. In 2012 I will:
Run a sub 19 5K
Run a sub 40 10K
Ride a bike for 24 hours
Finish a middle distance in under 5 hours
Finish an Iron distance in under 12 hours
Most importantly, I'll have fun doing it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Half Marathon Time Again
So December brings my annual half marathon. Since I smashed my 10K PB a couple of months ago on a training run the thoughts of another great HM personal best have been floating around in my mind so I was really looking forward to this. Couple that with two great 5K times in the last 4 weeks and my hopes were high. All was going great until Monday. I had a headache on Sunday night, thought it was just from not having had my cup of proper coffee. Things weren't better on Monday and didn't feel like the turbo I had planned. Woke up on Tuesday and felt like ****, couldn't take the day off sick though as we were on shifts and as the lead I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't get the early run on. By 2pm I was ready to curl up on the sofa. I thought the worst had passed and was feeling better as it morphed into a head cold on Thursday. Moved back to my chest yesterday though just as I'd decided on a pacing strategy.
Last year I had a good idea of what I could do, so my pacing was to target a slightly ambitious 1:40, I missed, but only just. This year the same formula I used last was telling me I could do a 1:30:45. That would be 10 minutes quicker. That seemed to good an improvement, I tried a few other calculators and they gave similar results. The end result: I had my heart set on a 1:30. Pacing strategy was to go out at with 4:20/km and return with 4:10/km. This should play to the course, flattish first 5K, short sharp up&down, then uphill to 10K, down&up over next 2K, flattish next 5K, then nice downhill before a little kick up before the finish. The forecast on Friday: heavy rain, Saturday: heavy rain if I'm slow, this morning: dry. Ignoring the forecast in the hope it would change turned out to be a good strategy. I was also trying something else daring; new kit. My shorts have got a bit loose, so I thought new kit can't do more damage than worn out kit.
Race morning came and I was feeling alright, still had a bit of a chesty cough and blocked nose, but I was coping, I'd just pretend I was in perfect health. What's the worst that could happen? Dad dropped me off at the start with a little under an hour to spare, about enough time to fight into the hall for chip collection, collect my free race memento jacket, take off my nice warm hoodie and drop my bag off, make sure there was no excess weight being carried around then warm up. Tweaked the ankle sprain during the warm up, got me a little worried. Then to the start pen, stood at the front of the 91-100 minute pen, and was a little surprised by how few people were in front of me. Hmm, was I being a little over optimistic?
Walk to the start line and then the gun went off, little walk and broke into a jog on the line, then into a run. Remembered to try and keep my pace in check and took it what felt easy, 4:05 for the first, actually slightly quicker for the second with a 4:03, out onto the open roads and another speedy km in 4:05. Then a turn back into the wind. That was a bit of a shock to the system. There was quite a wind and it was tough going. Pace dropped as I made it towards the water station on the corner, just before the first hill. Got a measly cup of water then assaulted the hill, nice and easy on the way back down. Now my GI system was starting to complain, I'd only had a little water, why? Then just after mile marker 4 it all went wrong. I started getting horrible abdominal cramp, move up into my diaphragm, so bad I couldn't breathe, so I had to admit defeat and start walking. I say walking, I was staggering about like a drunk after 10 pints. I was actually better running, so tried a slow run until I'd regained composure. Things settled down, but if I ran too hard then I started cramping again. I was obviously not over being ill. So pacing strategy was out the window until I'd made it to the 'top' of the course. Maybe I could still aim for a 1:31, there were plenty of entries in the sweepstake from there down. 1:30:xx was the barren ground in the sweepstakes, maybe I could get that 1:30:45?
Reached to second aid station around km9 and got a little more water, that set the stomach off again, but throttled back the effort using the downhill and kept the worst away. The wind was relentless through to km15 though, the realisation that a sub 1:30 set in and I started sinking into a dark place. I was trying to pick runners and stay with them, sometimes it worked, sometimes they were too slow. I was using the sweepstake to keep my mind out of it, who had bet on what time? Who could still win? I'd really been looking forward to this race and it was becoming a little anti-climatic, I was sinking into the hole that I experienced on lap 3/4 in the Ironman run. Eventually I made it to Cranfield and the start of the downhill, I knew I'd broken the back and there was only 30 minutes left I put my mind in the right gear. Enjoying the downhill I put in a 3:57 km, I could see the average pace start to drop and that helped things, and back on the flat I settled into a steady pace. I settled onto a guy that was a good pace and that helped, another little hill around km18 and I held in there, water station just after and I lost my guy as I walked through. Just a few km left, and I tried to up the pace, well the RPE went up even if the pace remained the same.
I was starting to hurt now, my calves were niggling, breathing was hard, and the dizzy staggering was coming back, I could feel the road swaying. Maybe I should have backed off, but the stupid sweepstake had me wanting to run a respectable time, especially after all those quick bets. Turned the corner onto the final stretch, the nasty uphill, man it was hurting, I managed to overtake a guy as my breathing got loud. Summoned the last drop of energy I had and crossed the line. Then staggered about, stood for a minute while my chip was cut off. Then laid in the car park trying to compose myself, didn't even have the energy to call dad over as he walked past.
Made it 1:33:38 on my Garmin, but obviously started early/stopped late as the chip time puts me at 1:33:34, with a Gun time of 1:33:45 putting me in position 234/1523 finishers.
Having crossed the line I was actually a little disappointed, I missed the time I 'should' have done. In reality though it was a PB by over 7 minutes. That is still one hell of an improvement over an already reasonable PB. I shouldn't be disappointed. I am capable of more though, if I hadn't been ill in the run up, and hadn't had the abdominal/dizziness issues then I could have run harder. The other bonus is it gives me a chance to improve on it next year without a huge amount more effort.
Last year I had a good idea of what I could do, so my pacing was to target a slightly ambitious 1:40, I missed, but only just. This year the same formula I used last was telling me I could do a 1:30:45. That would be 10 minutes quicker. That seemed to good an improvement, I tried a few other calculators and they gave similar results. The end result: I had my heart set on a 1:30. Pacing strategy was to go out at with 4:20/km and return with 4:10/km. This should play to the course, flattish first 5K, short sharp up&down, then uphill to 10K, down&up over next 2K, flattish next 5K, then nice downhill before a little kick up before the finish. The forecast on Friday: heavy rain, Saturday: heavy rain if I'm slow, this morning: dry. Ignoring the forecast in the hope it would change turned out to be a good strategy. I was also trying something else daring; new kit. My shorts have got a bit loose, so I thought new kit can't do more damage than worn out kit.
Race morning came and I was feeling alright, still had a bit of a chesty cough and blocked nose, but I was coping, I'd just pretend I was in perfect health. What's the worst that could happen? Dad dropped me off at the start with a little under an hour to spare, about enough time to fight into the hall for chip collection, collect my free race memento jacket, take off my nice warm hoodie and drop my bag off, make sure there was no excess weight being carried around then warm up. Tweaked the ankle sprain during the warm up, got me a little worried. Then to the start pen, stood at the front of the 91-100 minute pen, and was a little surprised by how few people were in front of me. Hmm, was I being a little over optimistic?
Walk to the start line and then the gun went off, little walk and broke into a jog on the line, then into a run. Remembered to try and keep my pace in check and took it what felt easy, 4:05 for the first, actually slightly quicker for the second with a 4:03, out onto the open roads and another speedy km in 4:05. Then a turn back into the wind. That was a bit of a shock to the system. There was quite a wind and it was tough going. Pace dropped as I made it towards the water station on the corner, just before the first hill. Got a measly cup of water then assaulted the hill, nice and easy on the way back down. Now my GI system was starting to complain, I'd only had a little water, why? Then just after mile marker 4 it all went wrong. I started getting horrible abdominal cramp, move up into my diaphragm, so bad I couldn't breathe, so I had to admit defeat and start walking. I say walking, I was staggering about like a drunk after 10 pints. I was actually better running, so tried a slow run until I'd regained composure. Things settled down, but if I ran too hard then I started cramping again. I was obviously not over being ill. So pacing strategy was out the window until I'd made it to the 'top' of the course. Maybe I could still aim for a 1:31, there were plenty of entries in the sweepstake from there down. 1:30:xx was the barren ground in the sweepstakes, maybe I could get that 1:30:45?
Reached to second aid station around km9 and got a little more water, that set the stomach off again, but throttled back the effort using the downhill and kept the worst away. The wind was relentless through to km15 though, the realisation that a sub 1:30 set in and I started sinking into a dark place. I was trying to pick runners and stay with them, sometimes it worked, sometimes they were too slow. I was using the sweepstake to keep my mind out of it, who had bet on what time? Who could still win? I'd really been looking forward to this race and it was becoming a little anti-climatic, I was sinking into the hole that I experienced on lap 3/4 in the Ironman run. Eventually I made it to Cranfield and the start of the downhill, I knew I'd broken the back and there was only 30 minutes left I put my mind in the right gear. Enjoying the downhill I put in a 3:57 km, I could see the average pace start to drop and that helped things, and back on the flat I settled into a steady pace. I settled onto a guy that was a good pace and that helped, another little hill around km18 and I held in there, water station just after and I lost my guy as I walked through. Just a few km left, and I tried to up the pace, well the RPE went up even if the pace remained the same.
I was starting to hurt now, my calves were niggling, breathing was hard, and the dizzy staggering was coming back, I could feel the road swaying. Maybe I should have backed off, but the stupid sweepstake had me wanting to run a respectable time, especially after all those quick bets. Turned the corner onto the final stretch, the nasty uphill, man it was hurting, I managed to overtake a guy as my breathing got loud. Summoned the last drop of energy I had and crossed the line. Then staggered about, stood for a minute while my chip was cut off. Then laid in the car park trying to compose myself, didn't even have the energy to call dad over as he walked past.
Made it 1:33:38 on my Garmin, but obviously started early/stopped late as the chip time puts me at 1:33:34, with a Gun time of 1:33:45 putting me in position 234/1523 finishers.
Having crossed the line I was actually a little disappointed, I missed the time I 'should' have done. In reality though it was a PB by over 7 minutes. That is still one hell of an improvement over an already reasonable PB. I shouldn't be disappointed. I am capable of more though, if I hadn't been ill in the run up, and hadn't had the abdominal/dizziness issues then I could have run harder. The other bonus is it gives me a chance to improve on it next year without a huge amount more effort.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
A Mixed Bag
Last week was a great week for training, and what was meant to be an easy week. This week was meant to be harder, felt harder, but sort of involved less training. A tough week at work has made things hard.
Monday was a well needed rest day. It seems spending two and a half hours running with a 5kg backpack disagreed with my shoulders and upper back. I felt like a crippled old man on Monday. Still it gave me the chance to bake what have to be the best cookies ever; Golden Oaty Carrot Cookies. So good in fact I had to bake more on Friday. Monday also brought the release of Sufferfest: Extra Shot. A painful 20 minute extension to any turbo session. I diligently downloaded it on Tuesday for Wednesday's turbo session.
Tuesday was swimming, actually felt pretty good in the pool, apart from the kick sets where I was the slowest, I actually managed to hold a reasonable enough pace. Maybe I can venture back into lane 2 soon....
Wednesday, well I had one hell of a day at work, spent most of the day in the lab, a fairly hostile place to be working and wasn't in the best of moods by the time I got home having worked an extra 30 minutes. So I decided to take it out on the turbo. I lined up a triple 'fest and set about beasting myself. TrainerRoad released a power profile for A Very Dark Place, I was keen to see what it was like so made AVDP my first order of business. I was able to follow the profile pretty well, in fact I actually ended up riding at an RPE that felt much lower than when I normally do AVDP. Guess that means one of two things, either my FTP is out of date and I need to fit in another test on Tuesday, or I have a great ability to suffer. The latter would be most useful given www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk, but the former is probably the most likely. Second on the menu was Extra Shot. Now it was sold as something to add on, with no warm up and cool down. Well what can I say about it. It hurt. Quite a lot. It is a great little addition, but it is 20 minutes of sheer brutality, RPE 7 is lowest it goes, builds from there then has lots of little attacks and "bergs". Great video though with some good Pro Women's footage and a soundtrack that I quite like. It's really a missing 20 minutes from Hell Hath No Fury. Not that I would advocate attempting the two combined without first seeking medical advice. Last on the 'fest menu was Revolver. The most painful trainer workout experience ever. Fact. Well, my 'warm up' seemed to have got me to the start in reasonable condition. Perfect for 16x 1 min max effort, 1 minute recovery. I was actually putting out a decent amount of power, turning out about 350W for them, except the last where I managed to hold 400+ watts. Pretty pleased with that.
Thursday was another horrific day in the lab, barely got a break all day, so swimming wasn't as much fun. I was just dead, so doing 25s and 50s at max effort was not pretty. Not much to say about that really other than I was hurting by the end.
Friday, well, by the time I finished work and set off for my lunchtime run I was a zombie. Wasn't expecting much from it at all. Idea was a run out to the lakes, run round and back. we set off and then when we got to the new OS building Mike took us on a back route. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd put my calf guards on, but I didn't, and the narrow path was lined with stinging nettles. Didn't feel them at first, but they kicked in a bit later on. Ouch. After that it was across a lumpy field then out to the lakes, multi surface running, but none of it too bad for road shoes thankfully. Once at the lake we did a lap at 'your own pace' I seemed to have plenty of pent up aggression as I went off like a madman, running 4 minute kilometres, I was loving it. Built up quite a lead too by the time I finished the 2.5 or so km. Then we agreed to run easy on the way back, I think my idea of easy ended up being a little harder for the others. Oh well.
Saturday was another parkrun day. Given how I've been feeling all week I went into this with few expectations. In fact I'd pretty much decided it wouldn't be a PB run before I started. As the start gun drew nearer I realised I need the loo again. Great. A second week with a bursting bladder. Only 20 minutes though right? I made sure I was nearer the front this week after last weeks poor start. Turns out the opposition was a little better this week too. The guys started off pretty hard and I followed. 0.5K in and a glance at the Garmin told me I was in danger of overcooking things, 3:32 or so. Still, I wasn't feeling too bad for it, so pushed on, managing 3:38 for the first, the pain started to draw in on the second and slipped to 3:42 Halfway through the second lap and the suffering started to take hold, pace slipped a little more and the elastic was starting to break on the guy in front as he slipped out to 10m, just keep running, looked at the pace, I had about 20s in hand compared to last week's average at this point by my reckoning, so just kept pushing. 3:49 3rd km, slipping now. Onto the final lap and the push. Overtaking people now, making life a little tricky, 3:59 through 4km. Deep inside the hurt locker now, got passed by a guy in a 50 shirt, tried holding on to him, someone came up alongside me, she got a cheer from some 2nd lappers, she was the first lady. Damn, got to old on, avoid being chicked. Glance at the Garmin. I've definitely gone sub 20, can I push on for sub 19:50? Keep holding on, catch 50 timer, first lady finds her finishing legs, I try but just don't have it and Mr 50 passes me in the finishing chute. I'm not bothered though. I've gone sub 20 :-) Sub 19:50, sub 19:49 too ;-). The Garmin reckons 19:38, seems I started and stopped right as that was the official result. Placed 31/233 in the end, 30th male and 2/16 in SM25-29, taking 25s of last weeks PB. Wow. Not gonna have time to do it for a few weeks, but sub 19:30 has to be the goal now, sub 19 would be nice for the new year too. Plan on giving Bedford a try, a tarmac run with shallower bends might make things a lot easier. We'll see about that one... You can see the suffering here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130945533
And finally Sunday, got up feeling surprising perky for 6am. An hour of the day that should only exist when it involves a sporting event in my opinion. Unfortunately it was to go into work for 5 hours again. Plan was to head into the forest afterwards though so I packed up all my freshly laundered, and just about dry, running kit and headed into work. Mid morning break came, and given last weeks epic fail of a trail run based on 3 crumpets for breakfast and no lunch thought I'd join Leigh in a trip to McDonald's for a bacon roll and coffee. How is it possible to get a bacon roll wrong? Even using proper bacon it wasn't great. Felt a bit off afterwards, that'll be another 6 months until I go to McDonald's when I forget again why I don't like it then. Finish time came and I headed off to do the route I did last week, well mostly. I slightly modified it, it was to be a figure 8 rather than a loop, going from the top of the sandy slope where I was mentally broken last week. I headed off for the first loop of the plains. Bit less wet this week, although that meant I got muddier as I didn't pick my way around the puddles so diligently. Picked the right underpass too, after finding a ford to cross a stream at rather than a leap of faith across a steep sided bank. Back through the car park and down into the woods. I was running pretty well and the kilometres was flying by. I even remembered the route perfectly, no map checks required, so pleased about that wasn't quite as short as I'd planned, ended up being 24km in the end, taking just over 2 hours, 23 minutes quicker and only a mile shorter than last week. If I can run trails like that with a pack on my back, then a road half marathon shouldn't be too bad. I'm feeling it now though, legs were pretty sore on the drive home. Hoping my f-likes will hold my legs together and refresh them overnight.
The week was pretty good in the end I think, only managed 8h15m of training, but I needed some rest and the quality was probably better as a result. 2 weeks until Bedford half marathon and I have a lot to think about, what time should I aim for? and what pace to set off at? In theory I should be able to do a 1:30-1:31 based on extrapolation from my 5K time using a few different formulae. Is that too quick? or conversely is it too conservative, parkrun has come out long the past 2 weeks, it's on grass, and has 6 tight bends on each of 3 laps. I shall have to ponder that one. Oh and the toughprint paper I mentioned last week, another thumbs up, I put my parkrun bar code through the wash by mistake, and it came out fine!
Oh, and turbotorment news, apparently mum has secured 50 t-shirts from Mencap for people who want to come and take part, which is a great bonus!
Monday was a well needed rest day. It seems spending two and a half hours running with a 5kg backpack disagreed with my shoulders and upper back. I felt like a crippled old man on Monday. Still it gave me the chance to bake what have to be the best cookies ever; Golden Oaty Carrot Cookies. So good in fact I had to bake more on Friday. Monday also brought the release of Sufferfest: Extra Shot. A painful 20 minute extension to any turbo session. I diligently downloaded it on Tuesday for Wednesday's turbo session.
Tuesday was swimming, actually felt pretty good in the pool, apart from the kick sets where I was the slowest, I actually managed to hold a reasonable enough pace. Maybe I can venture back into lane 2 soon....
Wednesday, well I had one hell of a day at work, spent most of the day in the lab, a fairly hostile place to be working and wasn't in the best of moods by the time I got home having worked an extra 30 minutes. So I decided to take it out on the turbo. I lined up a triple 'fest and set about beasting myself. TrainerRoad released a power profile for A Very Dark Place, I was keen to see what it was like so made AVDP my first order of business. I was able to follow the profile pretty well, in fact I actually ended up riding at an RPE that felt much lower than when I normally do AVDP. Guess that means one of two things, either my FTP is out of date and I need to fit in another test on Tuesday, or I have a great ability to suffer. The latter would be most useful given www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk, but the former is probably the most likely. Second on the menu was Extra Shot. Now it was sold as something to add on, with no warm up and cool down. Well what can I say about it. It hurt. Quite a lot. It is a great little addition, but it is 20 minutes of sheer brutality, RPE 7 is lowest it goes, builds from there then has lots of little attacks and "bergs". Great video though with some good Pro Women's footage and a soundtrack that I quite like. It's really a missing 20 minutes from Hell Hath No Fury. Not that I would advocate attempting the two combined without first seeking medical advice. Last on the 'fest menu was Revolver. The most painful trainer workout experience ever. Fact. Well, my 'warm up' seemed to have got me to the start in reasonable condition. Perfect for 16x 1 min max effort, 1 minute recovery. I was actually putting out a decent amount of power, turning out about 350W for them, except the last where I managed to hold 400+ watts. Pretty pleased with that.
Thursday was another horrific day in the lab, barely got a break all day, so swimming wasn't as much fun. I was just dead, so doing 25s and 50s at max effort was not pretty. Not much to say about that really other than I was hurting by the end.
Friday, well, by the time I finished work and set off for my lunchtime run I was a zombie. Wasn't expecting much from it at all. Idea was a run out to the lakes, run round and back. we set off and then when we got to the new OS building Mike took us on a back route. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd put my calf guards on, but I didn't, and the narrow path was lined with stinging nettles. Didn't feel them at first, but they kicked in a bit later on. Ouch. After that it was across a lumpy field then out to the lakes, multi surface running, but none of it too bad for road shoes thankfully. Once at the lake we did a lap at 'your own pace' I seemed to have plenty of pent up aggression as I went off like a madman, running 4 minute kilometres, I was loving it. Built up quite a lead too by the time I finished the 2.5 or so km. Then we agreed to run easy on the way back, I think my idea of easy ended up being a little harder for the others. Oh well.
Saturday was another parkrun day. Given how I've been feeling all week I went into this with few expectations. In fact I'd pretty much decided it wouldn't be a PB run before I started. As the start gun drew nearer I realised I need the loo again. Great. A second week with a bursting bladder. Only 20 minutes though right? I made sure I was nearer the front this week after last weeks poor start. Turns out the opposition was a little better this week too. The guys started off pretty hard and I followed. 0.5K in and a glance at the Garmin told me I was in danger of overcooking things, 3:32 or so. Still, I wasn't feeling too bad for it, so pushed on, managing 3:38 for the first, the pain started to draw in on the second and slipped to 3:42 Halfway through the second lap and the suffering started to take hold, pace slipped a little more and the elastic was starting to break on the guy in front as he slipped out to 10m, just keep running, looked at the pace, I had about 20s in hand compared to last week's average at this point by my reckoning, so just kept pushing. 3:49 3rd km, slipping now. Onto the final lap and the push. Overtaking people now, making life a little tricky, 3:59 through 4km. Deep inside the hurt locker now, got passed by a guy in a 50 shirt, tried holding on to him, someone came up alongside me, she got a cheer from some 2nd lappers, she was the first lady. Damn, got to old on, avoid being chicked. Glance at the Garmin. I've definitely gone sub 20, can I push on for sub 19:50? Keep holding on, catch 50 timer, first lady finds her finishing legs, I try but just don't have it and Mr 50 passes me in the finishing chute. I'm not bothered though. I've gone sub 20 :-) Sub 19:50, sub 19:49 too ;-). The Garmin reckons 19:38, seems I started and stopped right as that was the official result. Placed 31/233 in the end, 30th male and 2/16 in SM25-29, taking 25s of last weeks PB. Wow. Not gonna have time to do it for a few weeks, but sub 19:30 has to be the goal now, sub 19 would be nice for the new year too. Plan on giving Bedford a try, a tarmac run with shallower bends might make things a lot easier. We'll see about that one... You can see the suffering here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130945533
And finally Sunday, got up feeling surprising perky for 6am. An hour of the day that should only exist when it involves a sporting event in my opinion. Unfortunately it was to go into work for 5 hours again. Plan was to head into the forest afterwards though so I packed up all my freshly laundered, and just about dry, running kit and headed into work. Mid morning break came, and given last weeks epic fail of a trail run based on 3 crumpets for breakfast and no lunch thought I'd join Leigh in a trip to McDonald's for a bacon roll and coffee. How is it possible to get a bacon roll wrong? Even using proper bacon it wasn't great. Felt a bit off afterwards, that'll be another 6 months until I go to McDonald's when I forget again why I don't like it then. Finish time came and I headed off to do the route I did last week, well mostly. I slightly modified it, it was to be a figure 8 rather than a loop, going from the top of the sandy slope where I was mentally broken last week. I headed off for the first loop of the plains. Bit less wet this week, although that meant I got muddier as I didn't pick my way around the puddles so diligently. Picked the right underpass too, after finding a ford to cross a stream at rather than a leap of faith across a steep sided bank. Back through the car park and down into the woods. I was running pretty well and the kilometres was flying by. I even remembered the route perfectly, no map checks required, so pleased about that wasn't quite as short as I'd planned, ended up being 24km in the end, taking just over 2 hours, 23 minutes quicker and only a mile shorter than last week. If I can run trails like that with a pack on my back, then a road half marathon shouldn't be too bad. I'm feeling it now though, legs were pretty sore on the drive home. Hoping my f-likes will hold my legs together and refresh them overnight.
The week was pretty good in the end I think, only managed 8h15m of training, but I needed some rest and the quality was probably better as a result. 2 weeks until Bedford half marathon and I have a lot to think about, what time should I aim for? and what pace to set off at? In theory I should be able to do a 1:30-1:31 based on extrapolation from my 5K time using a few different formulae. Is that too quick? or conversely is it too conservative, parkrun has come out long the past 2 weeks, it's on grass, and has 6 tight bends on each of 3 laps. I shall have to ponder that one. Oh and the toughprint paper I mentioned last week, another thumbs up, I put my parkrun bar code through the wash by mistake, and it came out fine!
Oh, and turbotorment news, apparently mum has secured 50 t-shirts from Mencap for people who want to come and take part, which is a great bonus!
Sunday, 20 November 2011
An Excellent Weeks Training
It seems it has been quite a while since I last wrote something. Funny how life gets in the way sometimes. A lot seems to have changed. Following the post Ironman blues I cracked on and got eventually and started reaping the rewards of Ironman training as my speed and power increased and I smashed my PB at the Bedford Autumn Sprint. Not before I managed to sprain my ankle though after getting cocky on a trail run, slipping on a patch of mud and sprain both the ankle and probably the metatarsal ligaments. Of course having entered a triathlon I rehab'd it for 10 days and (foolishly?) cracked on, then flew to Italy rested it for a week and did another tri a week later. The sprain has kept me from running for a while so I got stuck into cycling instead, getting a lot stronger on the bike, and dusting the turbo off.
Along the way I decided to do something stupid. If you've read this far then you probably already know about http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ an idea that sort of morphed out of a desire to do something big for charity. Not content with just riding the turbo for 24 hours, I foolishly added the challenge of doing all The Sufferfest training videos back to back as part of it. That is probably the most stupid thing I have ever done. There is no backing out now, I still don't know how to train for it, and I still haven't got the hang of going a bit easier to do just 2 of them back to back. I'm left wondering if I'll still be alive in March next year. Please check out the pages, spread the word, and 'like' the facebook page too (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twentyfour-Hour-Turbo-Torment/274568199231603). Oh and if please donate too!
So that kind of brings me to this week, and what should have been an easy week of training. Somehow I was convinced to give parkrun a try, and so I signed up and the focus of the week became maintaining training and getting to parkrun in peak physical shape. So Monday kicked off with a quick 10K run, I smashed my PB on a training run last week, so went out pretty hard, especially considering it was dark, and came home in 45:23 for 10.14 k, 7 days earlier that would have been a PB so I was pretty chuffed I'd managed to do it twice in 7 days, shows it wasn't just a fluke.
Tuesday brought Masters and the one aspect of training that isn't going well for me. My ankle just can't handle swimming and 7 weeks of arms only has taken it's toll on my legs and form, I'm now free of the pull buoy but I'm stuck in lane 1. Having been leading lane 2 the week of the sprain. Quite a fall from grace. The swim started great and I thought I was finally swimming well, then we were split up to do the main set with 75s, and things went downhill. I felt like I'd been hit by a train by the time I got home.
Wednesday was turbo day, opted for "Hell Hath No Fury" from the sufferfest collection. Another one that hurt. The first 20 minutes wasn't too bad, but suffered through the second 20 minute effort. 75 minutes of footage of from the pro women's circuit ought be be enough to motivate any guy on the turbo, I just ground the pedals praying for it to stop.
So at this point it must sound like my week is going rapidly downhill and the title has lured you in on a false promise. well things start picking up again. Thursday's masters session wasn't too bad. I was swimming well in the warm up and started the main set swimming well. Of course I set about destroying myself by going too hard on the 2x75m IM, making the rest of the set tough. Apparently my catch has improved though, so swimming in lane 1 has helped me iron out some of the problems at least.
Had the day off on Friday to get the tumble drier fixed, so did a short run before lunch, the Garmin froze so I was running blind. It was easy, and 6 K in under half an hour. Then, bearing in mind the parkrun I had on Sunday morning I opted for an easier hour on the turbo, and did one of the trainer road workouts. A 3 repeats of 3x 2minutes below FTP, 2 minutes above. A nice set and it did me good, my legs weren't too bad afterwards, possibly as I held a nice high cadence of 100, but I still got a good workout. Looking through my training log for 2011 on Friday night I realised I had got up to 398 hours, 48 minutes. So It was looking like I'd break the 400 hour milestone on Saturday!
Which brings me to Saturday, the best day of the week. So having been talked into trying parkrun by a number of people I opted to attend the one at Eastleigh, and they were holding a newbie friendly one, complete with pacers. I've never 'run' a 5K before, done more, but nothing as short. So wasn't sure if my strategy of holding the pace I thought I could manage would work. So, in the spirit of trying new things I opted for someone else's strategy, go out hard and hang on as long as possible. I thought I'd try this by trying to hold on to the sub 20 pacer. Of course it started all wrong when I got caught behind slow runners, so I nailed it to catch the pacer. Well it does fit the strategy of going out hard. Caught the pacer and hung in there, 1st km in 3:50, 2nd km in 4:00, On the second lap, I decided I got out run the pacer. Looking at my 1K splits as they happened I knew how much time I had in the bank for a sub 20, with a 3:53 3rd km I now had 17 seconds in the bank, well the Garmin bank, as it was coming up slightly short of each marker. Onto the third lap and I was now feeling it, just kept telling myself there was only a mile to go. 4th km in 3:58 and I had 19 seconds. So it seemed the 19:49 I'd been asked not to beat could be in danger. Alas it was not to be, going out hard was really starting to take it's toll, people were overtaking me, and according to the Garmin I slipped to a 3:59 5th km, but the 19:49 was still safe, as there was an extra 100m to run in the real world. Taking me an extra 23 seconds and completely lacking a sprint finish. 20:03 was my official time, getting pipped into 25th spot on the line. So a fantastic performance, far better than I'd thought possible, and what a start to the day.
Have to say it was a lovely friendly event, with lots of nice people and even a few taking (and sharing online) photos. I'll be back next week I think with the aim of starting at the front and going out slightly less hard and trying to hold pace. The other bonus was the option to enter a competition for a London marathon place, I somehow doubt I'll get it, but why not try something else stupid in 2012?
Saturday didn't stop there though, after the run I headed home for a few minutes to change, grab a snack and head out to meet Bob in Fareham to go for a ride. It was a lovely day for it and we had a nice social pace ride out to New Arlesford, a stop for coffee and cake before a nice ride back again. A perfect 68km ride really, and I didn't feel bad for it.
Today was a nice early start, the wonders of Sunday working. Of course that puts a limiter on training. Of course I'd planned a way around this, I took my run kit to work with my pack all ready to sling on too. I figured I might no have the time to make it out to Boldrewood and run trails there, so I'd bought some toughprint paper (great stuff, expensive but worth it), planned and printed a route on OS getamap and tied it to a strap on my pack and hit the trails around Denny wood instead. Now the route I'd planned worked out at 22K, I new I'd cut a couple of corners so expected 23K. Of course I hadn't banked on knee deep mud making parts of the route impassable, carrying on (lost) until I found a river I couldn't cross, doubling back, finding less deep mud and getting back on course. Then running an unfamiliar route took lots of map reading, slowing me further. By the time I got to 22K I was flagging. And I knew I still had 3+ km left to run back to the car and light was fading. Skipping lunch for a long trail run was seeming a bad idea 8 hours after a 3 crumpet breakfast! Still I made it through 25.6 km in the end. So happy about that, the pace less so, but I ought to be able to run it faster next time now I know the turns.
So that concludes a great week. A (well earned) rest day tomorrow and hopefully another great week to come!
Along the way I decided to do something stupid. If you've read this far then you probably already know about http://www.twentyfourhourturbotorment.co.uk/ an idea that sort of morphed out of a desire to do something big for charity. Not content with just riding the turbo for 24 hours, I foolishly added the challenge of doing all The Sufferfest training videos back to back as part of it. That is probably the most stupid thing I have ever done. There is no backing out now, I still don't know how to train for it, and I still haven't got the hang of going a bit easier to do just 2 of them back to back. I'm left wondering if I'll still be alive in March next year. Please check out the pages, spread the word, and 'like' the facebook page too (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twentyfour-Hour-Turbo-Torment/274568199231603). Oh and if please donate too!
So that kind of brings me to this week, and what should have been an easy week of training. Somehow I was convinced to give parkrun a try, and so I signed up and the focus of the week became maintaining training and getting to parkrun in peak physical shape. So Monday kicked off with a quick 10K run, I smashed my PB on a training run last week, so went out pretty hard, especially considering it was dark, and came home in 45:23 for 10.14 k, 7 days earlier that would have been a PB so I was pretty chuffed I'd managed to do it twice in 7 days, shows it wasn't just a fluke.
Tuesday brought Masters and the one aspect of training that isn't going well for me. My ankle just can't handle swimming and 7 weeks of arms only has taken it's toll on my legs and form, I'm now free of the pull buoy but I'm stuck in lane 1. Having been leading lane 2 the week of the sprain. Quite a fall from grace. The swim started great and I thought I was finally swimming well, then we were split up to do the main set with 75s, and things went downhill. I felt like I'd been hit by a train by the time I got home.
Wednesday was turbo day, opted for "Hell Hath No Fury" from the sufferfest collection. Another one that hurt. The first 20 minutes wasn't too bad, but suffered through the second 20 minute effort. 75 minutes of footage of from the pro women's circuit ought be be enough to motivate any guy on the turbo, I just ground the pedals praying for it to stop.
So at this point it must sound like my week is going rapidly downhill and the title has lured you in on a false promise. well things start picking up again. Thursday's masters session wasn't too bad. I was swimming well in the warm up and started the main set swimming well. Of course I set about destroying myself by going too hard on the 2x75m IM, making the rest of the set tough. Apparently my catch has improved though, so swimming in lane 1 has helped me iron out some of the problems at least.
Had the day off on Friday to get the tumble drier fixed, so did a short run before lunch, the Garmin froze so I was running blind. It was easy, and 6 K in under half an hour. Then, bearing in mind the parkrun I had on Sunday morning I opted for an easier hour on the turbo, and did one of the trainer road workouts. A 3 repeats of 3x 2minutes below FTP, 2 minutes above. A nice set and it did me good, my legs weren't too bad afterwards, possibly as I held a nice high cadence of 100, but I still got a good workout. Looking through my training log for 2011 on Friday night I realised I had got up to 398 hours, 48 minutes. So It was looking like I'd break the 400 hour milestone on Saturday!
Which brings me to Saturday, the best day of the week. So having been talked into trying parkrun by a number of people I opted to attend the one at Eastleigh, and they were holding a newbie friendly one, complete with pacers. I've never 'run' a 5K before, done more, but nothing as short. So wasn't sure if my strategy of holding the pace I thought I could manage would work. So, in the spirit of trying new things I opted for someone else's strategy, go out hard and hang on as long as possible. I thought I'd try this by trying to hold on to the sub 20 pacer. Of course it started all wrong when I got caught behind slow runners, so I nailed it to catch the pacer. Well it does fit the strategy of going out hard. Caught the pacer and hung in there, 1st km in 3:50, 2nd km in 4:00, On the second lap, I decided I got out run the pacer. Looking at my 1K splits as they happened I knew how much time I had in the bank for a sub 20, with a 3:53 3rd km I now had 17 seconds in the bank, well the Garmin bank, as it was coming up slightly short of each marker. Onto the third lap and I was now feeling it, just kept telling myself there was only a mile to go. 4th km in 3:58 and I had 19 seconds. So it seemed the 19:49 I'd been asked not to beat could be in danger. Alas it was not to be, going out hard was really starting to take it's toll, people were overtaking me, and according to the Garmin I slipped to a 3:59 5th km, but the 19:49 was still safe, as there was an extra 100m to run in the real world. Taking me an extra 23 seconds and completely lacking a sprint finish. 20:03 was my official time, getting pipped into 25th spot on the line. So a fantastic performance, far better than I'd thought possible, and what a start to the day.
Have to say it was a lovely friendly event, with lots of nice people and even a few taking (and sharing online) photos. I'll be back next week I think with the aim of starting at the front and going out slightly less hard and trying to hold pace. The other bonus was the option to enter a competition for a London marathon place, I somehow doubt I'll get it, but why not try something else stupid in 2012?
Saturday didn't stop there though, after the run I headed home for a few minutes to change, grab a snack and head out to meet Bob in Fareham to go for a ride. It was a lovely day for it and we had a nice social pace ride out to New Arlesford, a stop for coffee and cake before a nice ride back again. A perfect 68km ride really, and I didn't feel bad for it.
Today was a nice early start, the wonders of Sunday working. Of course that puts a limiter on training. Of course I'd planned a way around this, I took my run kit to work with my pack all ready to sling on too. I figured I might no have the time to make it out to Boldrewood and run trails there, so I'd bought some toughprint paper (great stuff, expensive but worth it), planned and printed a route on OS getamap and tied it to a strap on my pack and hit the trails around Denny wood instead. Now the route I'd planned worked out at 22K, I new I'd cut a couple of corners so expected 23K. Of course I hadn't banked on knee deep mud making parts of the route impassable, carrying on (lost) until I found a river I couldn't cross, doubling back, finding less deep mud and getting back on course. Then running an unfamiliar route took lots of map reading, slowing me further. By the time I got to 22K I was flagging. And I knew I still had 3+ km left to run back to the car and light was fading. Skipping lunch for a long trail run was seeming a bad idea 8 hours after a 3 crumpet breakfast! Still I made it through 25.6 km in the end. So happy about that, the pace less so, but I ought to be able to run it faster next time now I know the turns.
So that concludes a great week. A (well earned) rest day tomorrow and hopefully another great week to come!
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Recovery week before the first tri of the season
So I'm breaking tradition and writing this on Saturday, mostly so I can write about the first tri of 2011 without turning it into and epic post with the weeks training. Well this week, it's not been easy, 4 weeks of build have taken their toll.
Monday was a desperately needed rest day, I just didn't have the energy to do a thing, especially as we were shifting at work again. Oh how I love getting up at 4am to go to work, but at least I get extra pay to spend on triathlon for the effort. So Tuesday was an early start and Masters in the evening. I just didn't have the energy in the pool and spent the session at the back of the lane. Just to ensure I felt properly tired there was quite a bit of IM to start, 2x200m IM was not nice and almost had me quitting. Somehow I managed to carry on but it wasn't pretty.
Tuesday was also the day I had treated myself to a new pair of trainers. The worn out Asics 2150's have been replaced with the new 2160's. The gorgeous weather on Wednesday was just begging for me to try them out. So I gae them a 10K blast around The Common. OK, so blast may be a bit of an exaggeration, but given how hard it was to get running and how slow it felt it was actually not a bad time for a steady 10K session. Also on the new shoes I'd stuck my Greeper laces, I'd been saving these for the shoes I think will last until IMDE, well these might, but race season starts this week so I need some anyway. Having spent a while getting the lacing right they were actually quite good. Feel just like real laces but easier to get on. I'll reserve total judgement until tomorrow but initial impression is very good, not that I ever had a problem with Xentex laces.
Thursday was Masters again. This hurt, as it always does, but was slightly easier than Tuesday and I wasn't relegated to the back of the lane either so that was a bonus. a bit of IM in the warm up but then a freestyle dominant session, with less rest than prescribed to! The second 6x75m set was meant to be off 1:45, but an over zealous leader was going off 1:30 again. Still Made it through and that is what counts.
Friday is run after work day. I managed to get my way asking for a shorter interval set as I had a race, far better than the long run that was initially suggested. We ended up doing the same set we'd done a week earlier. 6x400m hard intervals with 500m jog recovery. I managed to hit 1:37 on the first one, 1s off my best from last time, second one I knocked out another 1:37, then a 1:38, then another 1:38. Sensing the end was nigh I managed to go a bit quicker and get a 1:36. Hmm all within +/- 1s, going pretty well here! Was getting pretty pleased with myself, got the pacing right and just holding out, also the secret to beating me in the run was found. I shall not disclose it, but needless to say there is a way to beat me on short intervals it seems. So that final of the 6, buoyed up by the fact they were all so close I wanted to hold that, and went out a little quicker, and held that pace, putting in a very strong finish I looked down at the watch and ... 1:33, damn, there goes the +/- 1s, but 1:33! 3s improvement over my previous one, and I wasn't feeling as strong either. I've come a long way from the 3:00+ it used to take when I was made to do 400m as my track event on sports day at school.
So today, well I was going to go for a swim, but umm, didn't. I'm resting before tomorrows race, or that is how I am justifying it to myself anyway. I've dug all the kit out, dusted off my number belt, cleaned and oiled the chain on the bike, packed my transition bag. Kind of hoping I have packed everything, can't think of anything I have forgotten but there is bound to be something. Going to have to leave at 5:30, so just like shifting this week then, up at 4am to get food in me.
Feeling slightly more nervous about this one than I normally do, I think it is down to the distance. It is in effect an Olympic distance, shorter swim, longer bike, 10K run. Is my fitness good enough to get me around? All this long steady stuff, do I have the speed? Is 10 mins too optimistic for the swim, or maybe a bit pessimistic? Argh, why do I always do longer ones at the start of the season, this always happens. It is like being a rookie again.
Anyway weekly roundup (so far) Swim, 2 hours (5250m), Run 2hr 09m (22.3km)
Mon - Rest Day
Tues pm - Swim 1 hour (2600m)
Wed pm - Run 52min (10.3km)
Thur pm -Swim 1 hour (2650m)
Fri pm - Run 1hr 16 min (12km)
Sat - Rest Day
Monday was a desperately needed rest day, I just didn't have the energy to do a thing, especially as we were shifting at work again. Oh how I love getting up at 4am to go to work, but at least I get extra pay to spend on triathlon for the effort. So Tuesday was an early start and Masters in the evening. I just didn't have the energy in the pool and spent the session at the back of the lane. Just to ensure I felt properly tired there was quite a bit of IM to start, 2x200m IM was not nice and almost had me quitting. Somehow I managed to carry on but it wasn't pretty.
Tuesday was also the day I had treated myself to a new pair of trainers. The worn out Asics 2150's have been replaced with the new 2160's. The gorgeous weather on Wednesday was just begging for me to try them out. So I gae them a 10K blast around The Common. OK, so blast may be a bit of an exaggeration, but given how hard it was to get running and how slow it felt it was actually not a bad time for a steady 10K session. Also on the new shoes I'd stuck my Greeper laces, I'd been saving these for the shoes I think will last until IMDE, well these might, but race season starts this week so I need some anyway. Having spent a while getting the lacing right they were actually quite good. Feel just like real laces but easier to get on. I'll reserve total judgement until tomorrow but initial impression is very good, not that I ever had a problem with Xentex laces.
Thursday was Masters again. This hurt, as it always does, but was slightly easier than Tuesday and I wasn't relegated to the back of the lane either so that was a bonus. a bit of IM in the warm up but then a freestyle dominant session, with less rest than prescribed to! The second 6x75m set was meant to be off 1:45, but an over zealous leader was going off 1:30 again. Still Made it through and that is what counts.
Friday is run after work day. I managed to get my way asking for a shorter interval set as I had a race, far better than the long run that was initially suggested. We ended up doing the same set we'd done a week earlier. 6x400m hard intervals with 500m jog recovery. I managed to hit 1:37 on the first one, 1s off my best from last time, second one I knocked out another 1:37, then a 1:38, then another 1:38. Sensing the end was nigh I managed to go a bit quicker and get a 1:36. Hmm all within +/- 1s, going pretty well here! Was getting pretty pleased with myself, got the pacing right and just holding out, also the secret to beating me in the run was found. I shall not disclose it, but needless to say there is a way to beat me on short intervals it seems. So that final of the 6, buoyed up by the fact they were all so close I wanted to hold that, and went out a little quicker, and held that pace, putting in a very strong finish I looked down at the watch and ... 1:33, damn, there goes the +/- 1s, but 1:33! 3s improvement over my previous one, and I wasn't feeling as strong either. I've come a long way from the 3:00+ it used to take when I was made to do 400m as my track event on sports day at school.
So today, well I was going to go for a swim, but umm, didn't. I'm resting before tomorrows race, or that is how I am justifying it to myself anyway. I've dug all the kit out, dusted off my number belt, cleaned and oiled the chain on the bike, packed my transition bag. Kind of hoping I have packed everything, can't think of anything I have forgotten but there is bound to be something. Going to have to leave at 5:30, so just like shifting this week then, up at 4am to get food in me.
Feeling slightly more nervous about this one than I normally do, I think it is down to the distance. It is in effect an Olympic distance, shorter swim, longer bike, 10K run. Is my fitness good enough to get me around? All this long steady stuff, do I have the speed? Is 10 mins too optimistic for the swim, or maybe a bit pessimistic? Argh, why do I always do longer ones at the start of the season, this always happens. It is like being a rookie again.
Anyway weekly roundup (so far) Swim, 2 hours (5250m), Run 2hr 09m (22.3km)
Mon - Rest Day
Tues pm - Swim 1 hour (2600m)
Wed pm - Run 52min (10.3km)
Thur pm -Swim 1 hour (2650m)
Fri pm - Run 1hr 16 min (12km)
Sat - Rest Day
Sunday, 3 April 2011
The balloon deflates...
This week hasn't been such a good week of training, culminating with my ballon of motivation going pop this morning. It was meant to be the final week of a serious of build phases before recovery next week. Stupidly I thought even though I was going away on a training course at work I'd manage to get enough training in. Ha!
Monday is my traditional rest day, however, after 2.5 hours in the car driving up to Stansted I just wanted to do something, so thought I'd try out the hotel pool. Now I knew it was going to be 10m, but I hadn't appreciated just how short 20m feels when you get in it. I amused myself for a while doing a few strokes, tumble, dolphin kick, 2 strokes, tumble, repeat. Then got bored and went in the steam room, then got hot and did and endless tumble turn thing again. I did notice that the water level in the pool was dropping. I think my turns may have been emptying the water faster than it was getting pumped back in. Whoops.
I had set my alarm to get up nice and early on Tuesday and then go and use the gym. Felt tired though, never sleep too well in hotel beds, so turned alarm off. Thought I set a 0700 alarm. When I woke up at 0719 I realised I had set the alarm for Sunday. D'oh. Scrabbled around and went down for breakfast. Nice breakfast, I actually resisted the cooked stuff as I'd been naughty in slacking off the gym. Naively thought I'd be going to the gym in the evening. Nope, course ran from 0830 to 1800, with a group dinner at 1900 so no time at all to get down to the gym. Wednesday I was good. I got up when the alarm went off at 0615 and was the first person there when the gym opened at 0630. Plan was to do a bike run brick with the gym bike and dreadmill. Man I hate gym bikes, it's like the saddles are made for elephant arses, give me my razor blade of a saddle anyday. Too upright too. OK so I'm a little picky. Still managed to do a 25 minute interval type session doing 1 on 1 off after a warm up. Then it was on to the dreadmill. Reinforcing why I hate the things. So boring, and so uncomfortable to run on. I really don't understand why my dad loves running on his one so much when there are all the lovely fields around there place. I was ready to bin it after 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20. Pushed on and made it to 25 then quit sharpish. 2.67 miles covered - I remember now, I run slower on them too. Treated myself to a cooked breakfast as a reward though. Then in for another 0830-1745 day. Dinner was a bit later so went for a swim. Again more endless tumbling. Although for some reason I didn't really care for swimming crawl. I was a bit of a merman (without the beard...) and just felt at home swimming fly kick underwater endlessly, with some tumble turns thrown in for good measure. The
α male in me came out after a while, some other guys from the company came and used the pool and were doing underwater lengths. Of course I had to prove I was the best. Managed to chalk up 3 lengths before surfacing. Not bad going, won by a few lengths of course ☺.
Thursday I made the decision not to train again, this time because I new I'd be up late. Friday. Hmm, well this brought my usual post work run at lucnhtime. The idea was to do a 7 mile fartlek set. This was going to hurt properly. As per expectations it did, in more ways than I'd have liked. Starting with the "University Run" in reverse we took a little detour. Through a rather hilly part of Southampton. Naturally all the intervals were timed to be up the hills. Good God it hurt, especially the 2 minute effort. The downhill recoveries were so nice. By 8km I could feel the blister coming back on my instep. Damn it. Having hitched a ride, and with all my stuff in someones car I couldn't quit early so perservered through some 'different' areas of Southampton, running is definately the right speed for them. More intervals up hills, and one timed to break me mentally apparently, up a hill and around a bend. the hill flattens before the bend so you would assume it is flat around the corner, but no, it turns into another f***** of a hill. After that came a nice downhill interval, 60s on down the hill. The interval was cut short when I made it to the bottom after 50s. A split speed of 17.6 km/h. I felt totally out of control though, like my legs were getting away from me. Thankfully it all ended after 13.5k and 80 minutes. That just left a painful jog home. Instep blister was back and not pretty.
Saturday was going to be bike day, well the weather looked the best of the weekend days and a long run would have been stupid after 14.7k the day before. Planned out 90km route that took in a few different routes from last weeks 83k ride to lengthen it out and improve on it a touch. Decided to take the roadie out, it was summer weather after all. Of course that meant it needed a bit of work which was Friday evenings job, cue me redoing the operation of the front mech. Hasn't worked properly since I changed it after damaging the last one on the sportive in November. Having indexed it and got it shifting properly it was off to bed. On Saturday morning I went off and got the bottle cages it needed (put them on the cyclox bike) fitted them and by then it was 12. No time for lunch = mistake number 1, lack of energy may explain why my quads decided to die on me. t was nice getting out on the roadie though. Apart from all the little niggles. The spoke magnet was broken and kept twisting around. After 7 K I was so fed up I stopped and removed it, turns out the plastic is cracked and that is why it keeps loosening off. This bit me in the ass later when the Garmin decided my attempt at climbing the hills was so pathetic I'd stopped, and auto paused, I may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey, but I was still moving Garmin! Then my attempt at fixing the front mech failed when the cable slipped and I had to resort to using the STIs as if I were running a triple. An annoyance. Then my back hurt, then my quads gave in. So glad when I finally made it home.
That brings me to this morning, and my ballon of training excitement bursting. Really couldn't be arsed to go out for my long run. I had new socks to try, and a new way of lacing my shoes, but just couldn't find the motivation. Eventually I scooped up what little motivation I could muster and went out. It hurt, my legs hurt, I was sweating a lot, my heart rate was unusually high. All the signs were there that I should bin it. I didn't, after 5K things eased and I settled into my slow, slow pace. Similar route to last week, loops of the common with a large "University Run" loop thrown in to bulk up the distance without getting boring. Somehow I made it around. The price was a run where my HR was 10bpm higher for a 3% drop in pace. Should have listened to the body, high resting HR yesterday, sore legs this morning, salty sweat, then stopped sweating. Should have cut the run short at the very least. Oh well you live and (don't) learn.
The good thing was it was a blister free run. My new Hilly twin skin socks worked a treat, they felt great, and the new lacing method (Lydiard lacing) was also great, feet felt far more comfortable in the shoes, can sort of see why it is recommended for long distance running. Who knew how you tie your laces could have such a difference?
Weekly Roundup: Swim ??? (about 50 minutes, no idea how far), Bike 4hr 07 min (90km + 25min gym bike), Run 3hr 58mins (41.2km) Total 8hours 55 minutes
Mon pm - Swim 25 minutes
Tue - Rest Day
Wed am - Bike 25 min, Run 25 min (4.4k)
Wed pm - Swim 25 minutes
Thur - Rest Day
Fri pm - Run 1hr28m (14.7k)
Sat pm - Bike 3hr 42m (90k)
Sun am - Run 2hr 6m (22.1k)
Next week I'm going to listen to the body and actually rest properly, well almost, I've entered Ringwood Tri on Sunday. Distance wise it looks to be an OD with a short swim so think I can get away with replacing my weekends longer (60k bike, 16k run) sessions with a single event. And I can live with a nice taper too.
Monday is my traditional rest day, however, after 2.5 hours in the car driving up to Stansted I just wanted to do something, so thought I'd try out the hotel pool. Now I knew it was going to be 10m, but I hadn't appreciated just how short 20m feels when you get in it. I amused myself for a while doing a few strokes, tumble, dolphin kick, 2 strokes, tumble, repeat. Then got bored and went in the steam room, then got hot and did and endless tumble turn thing again. I did notice that the water level in the pool was dropping. I think my turns may have been emptying the water faster than it was getting pumped back in. Whoops.
I had set my alarm to get up nice and early on Tuesday and then go and use the gym. Felt tired though, never sleep too well in hotel beds, so turned alarm off. Thought I set a 0700 alarm. When I woke up at 0719 I realised I had set the alarm for Sunday. D'oh. Scrabbled around and went down for breakfast. Nice breakfast, I actually resisted the cooked stuff as I'd been naughty in slacking off the gym. Naively thought I'd be going to the gym in the evening. Nope, course ran from 0830 to 1800, with a group dinner at 1900 so no time at all to get down to the gym. Wednesday I was good. I got up when the alarm went off at 0615 and was the first person there when the gym opened at 0630. Plan was to do a bike run brick with the gym bike and dreadmill. Man I hate gym bikes, it's like the saddles are made for elephant arses, give me my razor blade of a saddle anyday. Too upright too. OK so I'm a little picky. Still managed to do a 25 minute interval type session doing 1 on 1 off after a warm up. Then it was on to the dreadmill. Reinforcing why I hate the things. So boring, and so uncomfortable to run on. I really don't understand why my dad loves running on his one so much when there are all the lovely fields around there place. I was ready to bin it after 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20. Pushed on and made it to 25 then quit sharpish. 2.67 miles covered - I remember now, I run slower on them too. Treated myself to a cooked breakfast as a reward though. Then in for another 0830-1745 day. Dinner was a bit later so went for a swim. Again more endless tumbling. Although for some reason I didn't really care for swimming crawl. I was a bit of a merman (without the beard...) and just felt at home swimming fly kick underwater endlessly, with some tumble turns thrown in for good measure. The
α male in me came out after a while, some other guys from the company came and used the pool and were doing underwater lengths. Of course I had to prove I was the best. Managed to chalk up 3 lengths before surfacing. Not bad going, won by a few lengths of course ☺.
Thursday I made the decision not to train again, this time because I new I'd be up late. Friday. Hmm, well this brought my usual post work run at lucnhtime. The idea was to do a 7 mile fartlek set. This was going to hurt properly. As per expectations it did, in more ways than I'd have liked. Starting with the "University Run" in reverse we took a little detour. Through a rather hilly part of Southampton. Naturally all the intervals were timed to be up the hills. Good God it hurt, especially the 2 minute effort. The downhill recoveries were so nice. By 8km I could feel the blister coming back on my instep. Damn it. Having hitched a ride, and with all my stuff in someones car I couldn't quit early so perservered through some 'different' areas of Southampton, running is definately the right speed for them. More intervals up hills, and one timed to break me mentally apparently, up a hill and around a bend. the hill flattens before the bend so you would assume it is flat around the corner, but no, it turns into another f***** of a hill. After that came a nice downhill interval, 60s on down the hill. The interval was cut short when I made it to the bottom after 50s. A split speed of 17.6 km/h. I felt totally out of control though, like my legs were getting away from me. Thankfully it all ended after 13.5k and 80 minutes. That just left a painful jog home. Instep blister was back and not pretty.
Saturday was going to be bike day, well the weather looked the best of the weekend days and a long run would have been stupid after 14.7k the day before. Planned out 90km route that took in a few different routes from last weeks 83k ride to lengthen it out and improve on it a touch. Decided to take the roadie out, it was summer weather after all. Of course that meant it needed a bit of work which was Friday evenings job, cue me redoing the operation of the front mech. Hasn't worked properly since I changed it after damaging the last one on the sportive in November. Having indexed it and got it shifting properly it was off to bed. On Saturday morning I went off and got the bottle cages it needed (put them on the cyclox bike) fitted them and by then it was 12. No time for lunch = mistake number 1, lack of energy may explain why my quads decided to die on me. t was nice getting out on the roadie though. Apart from all the little niggles. The spoke magnet was broken and kept twisting around. After 7 K I was so fed up I stopped and removed it, turns out the plastic is cracked and that is why it keeps loosening off. This bit me in the ass later when the Garmin decided my attempt at climbing the hills was so pathetic I'd stopped, and auto paused, I may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey, but I was still moving Garmin! Then my attempt at fixing the front mech failed when the cable slipped and I had to resort to using the STIs as if I were running a triple. An annoyance. Then my back hurt, then my quads gave in. So glad when I finally made it home.
That brings me to this morning, and my ballon of training excitement bursting. Really couldn't be arsed to go out for my long run. I had new socks to try, and a new way of lacing my shoes, but just couldn't find the motivation. Eventually I scooped up what little motivation I could muster and went out. It hurt, my legs hurt, I was sweating a lot, my heart rate was unusually high. All the signs were there that I should bin it. I didn't, after 5K things eased and I settled into my slow, slow pace. Similar route to last week, loops of the common with a large "University Run" loop thrown in to bulk up the distance without getting boring. Somehow I made it around. The price was a run where my HR was 10bpm higher for a 3% drop in pace. Should have listened to the body, high resting HR yesterday, sore legs this morning, salty sweat, then stopped sweating. Should have cut the run short at the very least. Oh well you live and (don't) learn.
The good thing was it was a blister free run. My new Hilly twin skin socks worked a treat, they felt great, and the new lacing method (Lydiard lacing) was also great, feet felt far more comfortable in the shoes, can sort of see why it is recommended for long distance running. Who knew how you tie your laces could have such a difference?
Weekly Roundup: Swim ??? (about 50 minutes, no idea how far), Bike 4hr 07 min (90km + 25min gym bike), Run 3hr 58mins (41.2km) Total 8hours 55 minutes
Mon pm - Swim 25 minutes
Tue - Rest Day
Wed am - Bike 25 min, Run 25 min (4.4k)
Wed pm - Swim 25 minutes
Thur - Rest Day
Fri pm - Run 1hr28m (14.7k)
Sat pm - Bike 3hr 42m (90k)
Sun am - Run 2hr 6m (22.1k)
Next week I'm going to listen to the body and actually rest properly, well almost, I've entered Ringwood Tri on Sunday. Distance wise it looks to be an OD with a short swim so think I can get away with replacing my weekends longer (60k bike, 16k run) sessions with a single event. And I can live with a nice taper too.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
A painful return to training
Following on from last weekend half marathon training resumed on Tuesday. The week has been a rather painful one though, the effort of the HM has remained in my legs throughout the week.
Tuesday kicked off with a 0545 alarm call so I had time to do some stretches and foam rollering before work. 20 minutes of lower leg stretches and foam roller action wasn't pretty, but it did the job and I had the use of my legs again. Tuesday evening kicked off the weeks proper training, a 2500m Masters set, finally done without the aid of a pull buoy (well almost - first couple of 200's done with just to check ankle was OK). Seemed to be keeping pace OK, in fact I think a couple of weeks of just pull may have even improved my times, felt much more powerful on the front crawl max effort stuff. The only slight issue was my legs, well my hamstrings really, from about 1500m into the set they were on the verge of cramping. Somehow I dodged a bullet and got through unscathed though.
Wednesday, I set the alarm early again to get up and do some stretching, but, well, umm, I was tired and went back to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course this wasn't to go unpunished. To make up for my very poor show I did Sufferfest's "Local Hero". Eighty five minutes of pure hell. Sufferfest makes Coach Troy look like the coach of an under 12's girls team. I knew it would be hard work, anticpating this I set up two bottles of fluids, 1500ml worth. After 70 minutes I had drunk all of this, my turbo towel was so sodden it wasn't drying the sweat off me, I had to wring it out, twice. The 3x6 minute pyramid efforts were unpleasant, but just bearable, managing to get my heart rate to just under predicted lacate threshold. The 5x3 minute road race efforts were horrible. The sprints at the end, were well, whatever word is a lot worse than horrible. The high cadence stuff was not nice, maxing out at 130. needless to say getting off the turbo came as a relief. What was more shocking was the fact that I weighed less than when I got on, even having drunk 1.5 litres of fluid!
Thursday, didn't bother setting an early alarm, I was only going to snooze anyway. Standard evening Masters session for training. Lots of short stuff, mostly front crawl but some fly and medley. The short stuff wasn't too bad, although the pacing made life very tough as it meant almost no rest.
Friday was a run with some people from work. I had hoped this would be an easier run, normally they are quite short. The session turned into a bit of a fartlek style one, with some hard intervals of varying length. On the way out we had a long interval down by the new OS building, where we did 1/2 mile intervals a couple of months ago. Then on the way out to Testwood lakes we did some further 1 minute intervals. Of course all this was being done in the rain, just to make things a tad unpleasant. When we got out to the lakes there were of course plenty of puddles. These made quite a nice other game, bounding over the puddles. It was actually quite fun when there were a few strung together. On the way back we did some more intervals, starting off with some shorter intervals then we had some intervals of unknown length. Things got quite painful in those intervals. My quads and hamstrings hadn't recovered, man they hurt like something else. I ended up losing the last couple of intervals.
Saturday was to be my epic day, kicked off with an early morning run. Fridays run was a lot further than I'd counted on, and in fact only a few K of what Saturdays run was scheduled to be, still I was going to do it. Having been labelled an 'under achiever' earlier in the week I have to prove I can hit my 33 hour target for training this month. With a stag party to go to for most of the day my long run was going to have to be an early one. Hence the 0615 wake up call, on a Saturday. An hour and a half later after feeding and watering it was time to commence the faff involved in seeing me out the door for a run. What to wear? Sunnies? Where are my sunnies? Camelbak or waist pack? Which bottle in the waist pack? What flavour gels to take? Ankle brace? Needless to say I left a few minutes late, but thankfully dressed appropriately. The start of the run was nice and uneventful, off out to the Common, a snake around it then out up to the sports centre to take in Golf Course Road. Approaching the sports centre and there was obviously something going on as there were coaches everywhere and lots of college/uni girls, netball tournament or something like that. First gel at 5K, lucky dip moment in back pocket, Vanilla! I like vanilla, sort of makes me think of coffee though, not sure why. Everything was going well and I even managed to get up Golf Course Road in one piece, without having to walk. Then back to the Common for a loop of that to finish. Then there was the decision, left right or straight over at the cross? Which way is going to get me to 16K? Lets try right, nice downhill and time for the second gel, Green Apple. Yuk, how foul, I just wanted to be sick. It was horrible and sour, but sugary and sweet at the same time. Urgh, how to get the taste out of my mouth? Sips of water and it was better but urgh. I shall not be having any of those during IM, Vanilla and Strawberry/Banana for me. Onto the final loop and what had been a really pleasant run started to go south. Starting of with do incident number 1. Two dogs that decided to have a fight around my feet why the owner(s) just stood by and chatted idly. Needless to say I was not best pleased.A few hundred metres later and my got much better again. A nice MEDSOC runner to follow, seems my pace picked up a little too much and I inevitably had to pass, shame. Only to spoilt a few hundred metres later by dog incident number 2. This one really hacked me off. If you have a large dog that needs to wear a muzzle in public places why the hell do you let it run a round a busy park off the lead? The flipping dog jumped up at me, paws on chest and nearly pushed me over. There were a couple of dog owners sat on a park bench that found it funny, don't know if it was their dog as no one seemed to want to control the f****** animal. I they had then they would have got a rather unpleasant string of words I think. The anger fuelled me up the hill and soon I was on the way back. 17K done, with 90 minutes to get ready for the stag do. Perfect.
Today was of course long ride day. I was a good boy on the stag do, drinking softs in the pub during the rugby, a few glasses of wine in the restaurant with dinner, softs again at the next bar and only a double in the club, not that we stayed that long anyway. Having go to bed at 2am waking up a 8am wasn't unwelcome. What wasn't welcome was the pain that greeted me as I put my right foot on the floor. It had hurt all afternoon evening, but the blister on my instep had gotten impressive. A glance out of the curtains and it didn't look like it had rained. Might be a nice day for a ride after all. Usual pre ride routine followed and the obligatory what to wear? A trip to the bins confirmed it was chilly but not cold. Club jersey, vest, arm warmers and bib longs then. Of course my blister chose this opportunity to burst, such a good feeling, but really not a good thing. Oh well. Having faffed around way too much I set off at 1030. Surprisingly I sailed across town and soon I was out on Alington lane on my way to Winchester. The plan was to do the Winchester/Hillier Gardens/Upper Sombourne/Ampfield figure 8 loop, around 75K from memory, longer than the plan but perfectly doable. The ride was actually pretty uneventful. Good speed out to Winchester, not so good down in Hurlsey, managed to refuel on the move on the Sombourne loop, swapping bottles and opening Cliff Shot blocks. I'd forgotten how good they tasted. They hills weren't wonderful, my legs are obviously still a touch tired, but no cramping. What wasn't nice was the pain in my right foot every time I climbed out the saddle. A quick pause as I got into Ampfield for the second time to get a gel down. My legs felt great as I set off, almost like new. So heading back and decisions as to which way home, I opted for the route I thought would make 75K rather than the longer or shorter options. Off course all these options would take in the uphill section I hate; North Baddesley to Chilworth. Doesn't look to bad, but it just drags on then goes around a corner and kicks up a bit. I've tamed it, but it is always at a point in the ride when my legs are shot. I managed to get up it with one gear to spare, but I am running a triple so it is a pretty poor show. Just over 3 hours for 76km, not the best speed, but given the week of training a respectable effort I think.
I discovered why it hurt so much when I got out the saddle on the climbs tough, I have blistered under my blister. A trip to the shops and I am now the owner of a pack of Compeed blister plasters, so hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (5050m), Bike 4 hours 34 min (76km + 1hr25m turbo), Run 2 hours 50 min (30km) for a total of 9hr25m training.
Mon - Rest
Tues am - 20 min stretching
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Wed pm - 1hr25 min turbo session
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2550m)
Fri pm - 1hr17 min run (13km)
Sat am - 1hr33m run (17km)
Sun am - 3hr09m bike (76km)
Next week is meant to be another build week. I think with my foot midweek training sessions will be turbo based, hopefully with shift working I can get some sessions in before Masters too. Next weekend should be an 18km run and a 80km bike. Will have to see how things are, but may be able to push them a little more given my over distances this weekend.
Tuesday kicked off with a 0545 alarm call so I had time to do some stretches and foam rollering before work. 20 minutes of lower leg stretches and foam roller action wasn't pretty, but it did the job and I had the use of my legs again. Tuesday evening kicked off the weeks proper training, a 2500m Masters set, finally done without the aid of a pull buoy (well almost - first couple of 200's done with just to check ankle was OK). Seemed to be keeping pace OK, in fact I think a couple of weeks of just pull may have even improved my times, felt much more powerful on the front crawl max effort stuff. The only slight issue was my legs, well my hamstrings really, from about 1500m into the set they were on the verge of cramping. Somehow I dodged a bullet and got through unscathed though.
Wednesday, I set the alarm early again to get up and do some stretching, but, well, umm, I was tired and went back to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course this wasn't to go unpunished. To make up for my very poor show I did Sufferfest's "Local Hero". Eighty five minutes of pure hell. Sufferfest makes Coach Troy look like the coach of an under 12's girls team. I knew it would be hard work, anticpating this I set up two bottles of fluids, 1500ml worth. After 70 minutes I had drunk all of this, my turbo towel was so sodden it wasn't drying the sweat off me, I had to wring it out, twice. The 3x6 minute pyramid efforts were unpleasant, but just bearable, managing to get my heart rate to just under predicted lacate threshold. The 5x3 minute road race efforts were horrible. The sprints at the end, were well, whatever word is a lot worse than horrible. The high cadence stuff was not nice, maxing out at 130. needless to say getting off the turbo came as a relief. What was more shocking was the fact that I weighed less than when I got on, even having drunk 1.5 litres of fluid!
Thursday, didn't bother setting an early alarm, I was only going to snooze anyway. Standard evening Masters session for training. Lots of short stuff, mostly front crawl but some fly and medley. The short stuff wasn't too bad, although the pacing made life very tough as it meant almost no rest.
Friday was a run with some people from work. I had hoped this would be an easier run, normally they are quite short. The session turned into a bit of a fartlek style one, with some hard intervals of varying length. On the way out we had a long interval down by the new OS building, where we did 1/2 mile intervals a couple of months ago. Then on the way out to Testwood lakes we did some further 1 minute intervals. Of course all this was being done in the rain, just to make things a tad unpleasant. When we got out to the lakes there were of course plenty of puddles. These made quite a nice other game, bounding over the puddles. It was actually quite fun when there were a few strung together. On the way back we did some more intervals, starting off with some shorter intervals then we had some intervals of unknown length. Things got quite painful in those intervals. My quads and hamstrings hadn't recovered, man they hurt like something else. I ended up losing the last couple of intervals.
Saturday was to be my epic day, kicked off with an early morning run. Fridays run was a lot further than I'd counted on, and in fact only a few K of what Saturdays run was scheduled to be, still I was going to do it. Having been labelled an 'under achiever' earlier in the week I have to prove I can hit my 33 hour target for training this month. With a stag party to go to for most of the day my long run was going to have to be an early one. Hence the 0615 wake up call, on a Saturday. An hour and a half later after feeding and watering it was time to commence the faff involved in seeing me out the door for a run. What to wear? Sunnies? Where are my sunnies? Camelbak or waist pack? Which bottle in the waist pack? What flavour gels to take? Ankle brace? Needless to say I left a few minutes late, but thankfully dressed appropriately. The start of the run was nice and uneventful, off out to the Common, a snake around it then out up to the sports centre to take in Golf Course Road. Approaching the sports centre and there was obviously something going on as there were coaches everywhere and lots of college/uni girls, netball tournament or something like that. First gel at 5K, lucky dip moment in back pocket, Vanilla! I like vanilla, sort of makes me think of coffee though, not sure why. Everything was going well and I even managed to get up Golf Course Road in one piece, without having to walk. Then back to the Common for a loop of that to finish. Then there was the decision, left right or straight over at the cross? Which way is going to get me to 16K? Lets try right, nice downhill and time for the second gel, Green Apple. Yuk, how foul, I just wanted to be sick. It was horrible and sour, but sugary and sweet at the same time. Urgh, how to get the taste out of my mouth? Sips of water and it was better but urgh. I shall not be having any of those during IM, Vanilla and Strawberry/Banana for me. Onto the final loop and what had been a really pleasant run started to go south. Starting of with do incident number 1. Two dogs that decided to have a fight around my feet why the owner(s) just stood by and chatted idly. Needless to say I was not best pleased.A few hundred metres later and my got much better again. A nice MEDSOC runner to follow, seems my pace picked up a little too much and I inevitably had to pass, shame. Only to spoilt a few hundred metres later by dog incident number 2. This one really hacked me off. If you have a large dog that needs to wear a muzzle in public places why the hell do you let it run a round a busy park off the lead? The flipping dog jumped up at me, paws on chest and nearly pushed me over. There were a couple of dog owners sat on a park bench that found it funny, don't know if it was their dog as no one seemed to want to control the f****** animal. I they had then they would have got a rather unpleasant string of words I think. The anger fuelled me up the hill and soon I was on the way back. 17K done, with 90 minutes to get ready for the stag do. Perfect.
Today was of course long ride day. I was a good boy on the stag do, drinking softs in the pub during the rugby, a few glasses of wine in the restaurant with dinner, softs again at the next bar and only a double in the club, not that we stayed that long anyway. Having go to bed at 2am waking up a 8am wasn't unwelcome. What wasn't welcome was the pain that greeted me as I put my right foot on the floor. It had hurt all afternoon evening, but the blister on my instep had gotten impressive. A glance out of the curtains and it didn't look like it had rained. Might be a nice day for a ride after all. Usual pre ride routine followed and the obligatory what to wear? A trip to the bins confirmed it was chilly but not cold. Club jersey, vest, arm warmers and bib longs then. Of course my blister chose this opportunity to burst, such a good feeling, but really not a good thing. Oh well. Having faffed around way too much I set off at 1030. Surprisingly I sailed across town and soon I was out on Alington lane on my way to Winchester. The plan was to do the Winchester/Hillier Gardens/Upper Sombourne/Ampfield figure 8 loop, around 75K from memory, longer than the plan but perfectly doable. The ride was actually pretty uneventful. Good speed out to Winchester, not so good down in Hurlsey, managed to refuel on the move on the Sombourne loop, swapping bottles and opening Cliff Shot blocks. I'd forgotten how good they tasted. They hills weren't wonderful, my legs are obviously still a touch tired, but no cramping. What wasn't nice was the pain in my right foot every time I climbed out the saddle. A quick pause as I got into Ampfield for the second time to get a gel down. My legs felt great as I set off, almost like new. So heading back and decisions as to which way home, I opted for the route I thought would make 75K rather than the longer or shorter options. Off course all these options would take in the uphill section I hate; North Baddesley to Chilworth. Doesn't look to bad, but it just drags on then goes around a corner and kicks up a bit. I've tamed it, but it is always at a point in the ride when my legs are shot. I managed to get up it with one gear to spare, but I am running a triple so it is a pretty poor show. Just over 3 hours for 76km, not the best speed, but given the week of training a respectable effort I think.
I discovered why it hurt so much when I got out the saddle on the climbs tough, I have blistered under my blister. A trip to the shops and I am now the owner of a pack of Compeed blister plasters, so hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (5050m), Bike 4 hours 34 min (76km + 1hr25m turbo), Run 2 hours 50 min (30km) for a total of 9hr25m training.
Mon - Rest
Tues am - 20 min stretching
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Wed pm - 1hr25 min turbo session
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2550m)
Fri pm - 1hr17 min run (13km)
Sat am - 1hr33m run (17km)
Sun am - 3hr09m bike (76km)
Next week is meant to be another build week. I think with my foot midweek training sessions will be turbo based, hopefully with shift working I can get some sessions in before Masters too. Next weekend should be an 18km run and a 80km bike. Will have to see how things are, but may be able to push them a little more given my over distances this weekend.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
A better week with a tough finish
So on the back of my ankle injury last week this weeks training was a little lighter than planned, and nowhere near what it needed to be to get me near to PB fitness for today's half marathon.
Monday was a complete rest day, thought I'd try and consolidate what training I managed last weekend. Tuesday was swimming time, another pull buoy session. Managing to keep up with people using just my arms though. Thankfully it was another session that could be done quite well as pull with some 'long' (200m) sets and shorter stuff, done as front crawl and #1 stroke, which is conveniently front crawl.
Wednesday I managed to fit in a turbo session, did Sufferfest: Revolver again. It really is a brutal turbo session and put that 'about to vomit' lump in the back of my throat. Hoping it will work it's magic and get me bike fit though, what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.
Thursday and I was back in the pool again. More pull, this time it wasn't as pull buoy friendly with some IM and IMO thrown in, along with some kick (didn't do). Still made it through and even managed some pull buoy less swimming during the sprints at the end. It even felt like I managed a proper dive, my arms definitely went in the water first.
Friday was another rest day whilst I drove back to the parents in preparation for the half. I managed to fit in a little training on Saturday though. After mowing the lawns I went the gym with dad for a swim. Managed to fit in 8 lots of 200m doing various drills and strokes. Even managed to fit in 200m without the aid of a pull buoy.
I suffered for that I think though. Woke up this morning and the ankle hurt quite a bit. Not a promising start to the day. Which brings me to the event of the week (and the month really). Today was the Milton Keynes Half Marathon. We arrived in plenty of time, so spent it walking around Xscape, with everything but the coffee shops and fast food outlets shut, but it was warm and dry inside. There was of course the security guards walking around, that informed a group of runners stretching on the floor out the way that sitting on the floor wasn't allowed. Get a life dude! The time came for the 10K start, Dad was doing this so we headed out. I needed the loo so decided to jog down to the loos. It didn't feel good, I wasn't sure if it was wise to continue. The 10K start came and went and I spotted a few others from the BCTTT so headed over and said hi before dropping of my hoodie with Mum just before the start. Then we were allowed out to the start line. What a cluster this was going to be. No pace groupings. Uh Oh, I was worried I was too far forward but went with it. Turns out I wasn't really and the first couple of miles was a bit of a 'dodge the person in front' game. The road surface was terrible too. I was getting pretty afraid that I was going to roll my ankle, which was complaining slightly. I was also way off target pace. I was aiming to do 4:44 kilometres. I ran the first K in 4:11, next in 4:18, way way too fast. Coming up to 10K it looked like I was on course for a 10K PB (I still need to check the Garmin data, it still might be). By kilometre 14 the wheels were starting to come off the cart. km 13-14 was my first over 5 minute, I pulled it back over the next one, but looking at the limited HR data to hand it appears I was running well over where my lactate threshold should be, not a good thing to do with 6K still to run. That when my quads gave in. They hurt, a lot. every uphill section became a major chore, running was no longer 'fun' it was a matter of survival. Things got worse as the number of underpasses increased. The pain in my left quad started to radiate around my hip into my glutes. 15km in I had looked at my watch and thought, 6K to go, 30 minutes left for a PB, 5 minute kilometres, seemed doable. With 4km to go I could see the snow dome again, it seemed very far away, surely more than 4 kilometres again. The pain kept getting worse and I was now walking up every slope from the underpasses. Playing leapfrog with green jersey guy that was also struggling, I could run slightly faster, but he could walk faster. Then came the bridge. It was so unpleasant. I was so close to crying as I walked up to the top of it. Finally came the signs I had been waiting for 500m to go, 200m to go, people were sprinting past me left right and centre, but I had left everything on the course. I crossed the line 1:42:58 after crossing the start line. A few minutes away from a PB, but all things considered a very good performance. My ankle didn't cause me trouble, and is still fine. Post race wasn't fun, I staggered around the finishing chute, past some poor person that had left everything on the course judging by the ambulance staff. I had to sit down to take my chip off as my legs wouldn't let me bend down. After grabbing a bottle of water and my medal I proceeded to a clear section of car park, to go and sit in. After a few minutes my support team arrived, offered me warm clothes then I tried to walk back to the car. OMG it hurt, my brother, who we always need to wait for looked frustrated I was walking so slow.
Will post Garmin data tomorrow.
Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours 40 minutes (6330m), 48 minute turbo, 1hour 43 minute run (21.1km)
Mon - rest
Tue pm - Swim 1 hour (2450m)
Wed pm - 48 minute turbo
Thur pm - Swim 1 hour (2280m)
Fri - rest
Sat pm - Swim 40 minutes (1600m)
Sun am - Run 1:42:58 (Half marathon)
Next week is going to be a recovery week of swimming and turboing, plus I need to fit the weekends training around a stag party, could prove challenging.
Monday was a complete rest day, thought I'd try and consolidate what training I managed last weekend. Tuesday was swimming time, another pull buoy session. Managing to keep up with people using just my arms though. Thankfully it was another session that could be done quite well as pull with some 'long' (200m) sets and shorter stuff, done as front crawl and #1 stroke, which is conveniently front crawl.
Wednesday I managed to fit in a turbo session, did Sufferfest: Revolver again. It really is a brutal turbo session and put that 'about to vomit' lump in the back of my throat. Hoping it will work it's magic and get me bike fit though, what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.
Thursday and I was back in the pool again. More pull, this time it wasn't as pull buoy friendly with some IM and IMO thrown in, along with some kick (didn't do). Still made it through and even managed some pull buoy less swimming during the sprints at the end. It even felt like I managed a proper dive, my arms definitely went in the water first.
Friday was another rest day whilst I drove back to the parents in preparation for the half. I managed to fit in a little training on Saturday though. After mowing the lawns I went the gym with dad for a swim. Managed to fit in 8 lots of 200m doing various drills and strokes. Even managed to fit in 200m without the aid of a pull buoy.
I suffered for that I think though. Woke up this morning and the ankle hurt quite a bit. Not a promising start to the day. Which brings me to the event of the week (and the month really). Today was the Milton Keynes Half Marathon. We arrived in plenty of time, so spent it walking around Xscape, with everything but the coffee shops and fast food outlets shut, but it was warm and dry inside. There was of course the security guards walking around, that informed a group of runners stretching on the floor out the way that sitting on the floor wasn't allowed. Get a life dude! The time came for the 10K start, Dad was doing this so we headed out. I needed the loo so decided to jog down to the loos. It didn't feel good, I wasn't sure if it was wise to continue. The 10K start came and went and I spotted a few others from the BCTTT so headed over and said hi before dropping of my hoodie with Mum just before the start. Then we were allowed out to the start line. What a cluster this was going to be. No pace groupings. Uh Oh, I was worried I was too far forward but went with it. Turns out I wasn't really and the first couple of miles was a bit of a 'dodge the person in front' game. The road surface was terrible too. I was getting pretty afraid that I was going to roll my ankle, which was complaining slightly. I was also way off target pace. I was aiming to do 4:44 kilometres. I ran the first K in 4:11, next in 4:18, way way too fast. Coming up to 10K it looked like I was on course for a 10K PB (I still need to check the Garmin data, it still might be). By kilometre 14 the wheels were starting to come off the cart. km 13-14 was my first over 5 minute, I pulled it back over the next one, but looking at the limited HR data to hand it appears I was running well over where my lactate threshold should be, not a good thing to do with 6K still to run. That when my quads gave in. They hurt, a lot. every uphill section became a major chore, running was no longer 'fun' it was a matter of survival. Things got worse as the number of underpasses increased. The pain in my left quad started to radiate around my hip into my glutes. 15km in I had looked at my watch and thought, 6K to go, 30 minutes left for a PB, 5 minute kilometres, seemed doable. With 4km to go I could see the snow dome again, it seemed very far away, surely more than 4 kilometres again. The pain kept getting worse and I was now walking up every slope from the underpasses. Playing leapfrog with green jersey guy that was also struggling, I could run slightly faster, but he could walk faster. Then came the bridge. It was so unpleasant. I was so close to crying as I walked up to the top of it. Finally came the signs I had been waiting for 500m to go, 200m to go, people were sprinting past me left right and centre, but I had left everything on the course. I crossed the line 1:42:58 after crossing the start line. A few minutes away from a PB, but all things considered a very good performance. My ankle didn't cause me trouble, and is still fine. Post race wasn't fun, I staggered around the finishing chute, past some poor person that had left everything on the course judging by the ambulance staff. I had to sit down to take my chip off as my legs wouldn't let me bend down. After grabbing a bottle of water and my medal I proceeded to a clear section of car park, to go and sit in. After a few minutes my support team arrived, offered me warm clothes then I tried to walk back to the car. OMG it hurt, my brother, who we always need to wait for looked frustrated I was walking so slow.
Will post Garmin data tomorrow.
Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours 40 minutes (6330m), 48 minute turbo, 1hour 43 minute run (21.1km)
Mon - rest
Tue pm - Swim 1 hour (2450m)
Wed pm - 48 minute turbo
Thur pm - Swim 1 hour (2280m)
Fri - rest
Sat pm - Swim 40 minutes (1600m)
Sun am - Run 1:42:58 (Half marathon)
Next week is going to be a recovery week of swimming and turboing, plus I need to fit the weekends training around a stag party, could prove challenging.
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
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
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.
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, 28 February 2010
A low volume week.
Monday was some sort of recovery run. Turned up the club run session, which was descending sets.5 min run, 5 rest, 4 run, 4 rest....1 run. I didn't run too hard during the ons, and slow jogged during the some of the rest breaks. Calf felt a bit tight, guess that is to be expected. A decent run season all told, felt much better for having gone out and done it. Nearly 8km in total.
Tuesday was my swim session, was the only one in the lane reserved for the club for the first 30 minutes so got quite a few dirty looks from the other people crowded into the other lanes. Oh well. After 400m of crawl and backstroke to warm up a healthy dose of kick sets then some drills. Did some drill sets then, 75m sets of 25 kick, 25 drill, and 25 full stroke with 10s between sets. Quite like these as it gets kick and drills working together without getting boring. Main set of 5x200m on 4:00 and then some more kick to finish off.
Wednesday brought my weekly spin session. Forgot my HRM so felt rather naked during it. Didn't have the benefit of the fan either so ended up rather hot. Felt like I had actually worked hard after it though.
Thursday was to be my rest day, in the end I've had three (Saturday and Sunday too, oops).
Friday was my second swim session of the week at the club session. Reasonable warm up of 4 x 125m then a 10x100m main set. Coming in on 1:43 ish. Not wonderful, really want my shoulder to get better so I can improve on it.
D day is getting closer and my training is suffering badly now, not gonna have much time in the evenings for trainings for a while whilst I try and finish my thesis. Hopefully something good will happen next week.
Tuesday was my swim session, was the only one in the lane reserved for the club for the first 30 minutes so got quite a few dirty looks from the other people crowded into the other lanes. Oh well. After 400m of crawl and backstroke to warm up a healthy dose of kick sets then some drills. Did some drill sets then, 75m sets of 25 kick, 25 drill, and 25 full stroke with 10s between sets. Quite like these as it gets kick and drills working together without getting boring. Main set of 5x200m on 4:00 and then some more kick to finish off.
Wednesday brought my weekly spin session. Forgot my HRM so felt rather naked during it. Didn't have the benefit of the fan either so ended up rather hot. Felt like I had actually worked hard after it though.
Thursday was to be my rest day, in the end I've had three (Saturday and Sunday too, oops).
Friday was my second swim session of the week at the club session. Reasonable warm up of 4 x 125m then a 10x100m main set. Coming in on 1:43 ish. Not wonderful, really want my shoulder to get better so I can improve on it.
D day is getting closer and my training is suffering badly now, not gonna have much time in the evenings for trainings for a while whilst I try and finish my thesis. Hopefully something good will happen next week.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Another weeks training down
Wednesday was a club spinning session. Same session as last week slightly lower average heart rate, but that's probably because my legs were knackered from the previous few days training. Thursday evening brought a run. A few loops of the common, wasn't really feeling it though so done as a gentle L2 effort. Managed a reasonable distance, partly because I needed to work out where the flats I was viewing on Friday afternoon were so it turned into a 11.6 km run. Friday evening was the club swim, 2100m in total, my shoulder just about managed to hang in there. The 100m efforts were fairly average as I wasn't pushing too hard, the kick sets were pretty decent though, under 65-75s for 50m.
On Saturday I went to the TCR show. First order of business wetsuit. Tried on a 2010 Blueseventy Helix. Wow, what a nice wetsuit. After some fitting advice from Dean I had it fitted nicely and it felt really really good. It was so much more comfortable than my Orca S2. You can really feel the isolation of the shoulders and arms. Unfortunately all the retailers were under orders not to discount them, so the best deal I could get was about £40 off. My BCTTT discount will be being used this week or next to seal the deal on that one. Whilst I was there I also had a free 15minute sports massage. Oh my god it hurt. Said I was having some shoulder pain and it was quite bad in the muscles around it, so had it on my neck and shoulders. I can't say it was relaxing, apparently Camilla went easy on me as she could feel me twitching. I felt pretty good afterwards though so it worked nicely. I may have to have a few more of them when I finally have some money. I managed to be quite restrained otherwise, only subscribed to Triathlete Europe, bought some compression tights and a nice lightweight cap for the run in Barcelona. Got a free mini kit bag and technical t-shirt with the cap as well bargin. I managed to come away with an armful of gels as well. TFN were giving away 3 packs of High5 gels, so I managed to acquire 4 bags, plus some other gels so not a bad effort. Managed to feed myself on carb gels, sweets and energy drinks as well. Perhaps not the most balanced diet and it did give me a bit of a sugar buzz. But I know now that the Cliff Bar Shot Bloks are really nice, albeit expensive and I shall be buying some of those come the summer. The Torq energy drinks are bad either.
Today was a sort of rest day. Went sailing for 4 hours which doesn't really count as training, still sport though and it appears we came 4th and 3rd in the two races so not a bad effort. was going to go swimming but my shoulder is disagreeing with the sailing so holding off. Might go in the morning if I can drag my sorry @r$€ out of bed.
On Saturday I went to the TCR show. First order of business wetsuit. Tried on a 2010 Blueseventy Helix. Wow, what a nice wetsuit. After some fitting advice from Dean I had it fitted nicely and it felt really really good. It was so much more comfortable than my Orca S2. You can really feel the isolation of the shoulders and arms. Unfortunately all the retailers were under orders not to discount them, so the best deal I could get was about £40 off. My BCTTT discount will be being used this week or next to seal the deal on that one. Whilst I was there I also had a free 15minute sports massage. Oh my god it hurt. Said I was having some shoulder pain and it was quite bad in the muscles around it, so had it on my neck and shoulders. I can't say it was relaxing, apparently Camilla went easy on me as she could feel me twitching. I felt pretty good afterwards though so it worked nicely. I may have to have a few more of them when I finally have some money. I managed to be quite restrained otherwise, only subscribed to Triathlete Europe, bought some compression tights and a nice lightweight cap for the run in Barcelona. Got a free mini kit bag and technical t-shirt with the cap as well bargin. I managed to come away with an armful of gels as well. TFN were giving away 3 packs of High5 gels, so I managed to acquire 4 bags, plus some other gels so not a bad effort. Managed to feed myself on carb gels, sweets and energy drinks as well. Perhaps not the most balanced diet and it did give me a bit of a sugar buzz. But I know now that the Cliff Bar Shot Bloks are really nice, albeit expensive and I shall be buying some of those come the summer. The Torq energy drinks are bad either.
Today was a sort of rest day. Went sailing for 4 hours which doesn't really count as training, still sport though and it appears we came 4th and 3rd in the two races so not a bad effort. was going to go swimming but my shoulder is disagreeing with the sailing so holding off. Might go in the morning if I can drag my sorry @r$€ out of bed.
Monday, 8 February 2010
A couple of runs
Yesterday morning I got to go and play in the mud. I went for a run in the fields by the river at my parents. It was a nice run, started off a bit quick, but was soon slowed down as the mud got wetter and thicker. I crossed over the river and ended up on an area of wet mud where building work had recently finished. Bedford mud is really clay, London was rebuilt with bricks dug from Bedford. I picked up so much mud my shoes must have weighed an extra 500g each. I now agree with the idea that weight is 7 times worse on the feet than on the body. It was like running through treacle. Looped back and down by the river where I was running at christmas. Managed 13.5 km in 1hr15, not a bad effort considering the terrain.
Tonight's club training was 4x1km reps. It was cold and it hurt. 4 good reps all things considered.3:43 (downhill), 4:04 (uphill), 3:48, and 4:08. Max HR pushing 89% on each set, with average HR about 85%. Good % recoveries during the short rest periods. My calves were burning by the end though. Oww. Swimming tomorrow, a chance to see if another week off has allowed my shoulder to recover properly.
Tonight's club training was 4x1km reps. It was cold and it hurt. 4 good reps all things considered.3:43 (downhill), 4:04 (uphill), 3:48, and 4:08. Max HR pushing 89% on each set, with average HR about 85%. Good % recoveries during the short rest periods. My calves were burning by the end though. Oww. Swimming tomorrow, a chance to see if another week off has allowed my shoulder to recover properly.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Runs, Turboing and Fraudsters
So I've been lazy with the blog for another week. Monday brought the club running session, short sprint sets. Wasn't really feeling speed after the brick session on sunday. Had a little issue with the Garmin as well, the screen locked an the keys became unresponsive, not sure if it was a gremlin or I managed to lock the keys.
Tuesday I got up and went to the pool, my shoulder wasn't up to it though so had to make do with some kick sets. I think the planks in the cool down of the running might be the culprit there, oh well. Tuesday evening I decided to do a Turbo session. An hour set, in front of the radiator. Doing 10mins on tri bars, 5 mins relaxed on hoods/drops. Good workout, although a tad wet.
Wednesday was spinning in the evening, somehow I managed to achieve a decent HR in the session, not sure how but it worked out alright in the end.
Thursday and I did the same Turbo session again, this time I weighed myself before and after. Lost 700g even after drinking 700ml of fluid. Hmmm a tad hot I think. Then training possibilities took a down turn. 2-4-1 cocktails at the triathlon club social + late night + early morning = not feeling good. So when the Friday night swimming session was cancelled Friday became a rest day.
Then Friday evening went bad. whilst browsing the 220 forum I came across a post about the Challenge Barcelona. It seems I have been duped into entering with the former organisers who have been stripped of the contract. This is all rather annoying, having followed a link from the main Challenge site I entered. It seems that this organiser is still selling places for the event, with this years dates even after they have had their contract cancelled. After searching the internet it seems challenge have promised that all age groupers can race without having to pay twice, so having emailed the new organisers I'm hoping my place is guaranteed, although it is a week earlier, so I now have a weeks less training time. All a bit of a mess really, my credit card company should hopefully cover the fee, but as someone that is very careful about ordering online a rather stressful experience.
Tuesday I got up and went to the pool, my shoulder wasn't up to it though so had to make do with some kick sets. I think the planks in the cool down of the running might be the culprit there, oh well. Tuesday evening I decided to do a Turbo session. An hour set, in front of the radiator. Doing 10mins on tri bars, 5 mins relaxed on hoods/drops. Good workout, although a tad wet.
Wednesday was spinning in the evening, somehow I managed to achieve a decent HR in the session, not sure how but it worked out alright in the end.
Thursday and I did the same Turbo session again, this time I weighed myself before and after. Lost 700g even after drinking 700ml of fluid. Hmmm a tad hot I think. Then training possibilities took a down turn. 2-4-1 cocktails at the triathlon club social + late night + early morning = not feeling good. So when the Friday night swimming session was cancelled Friday became a rest day.
Then Friday evening went bad. whilst browsing the 220 forum I came across a post about the Challenge Barcelona. It seems I have been duped into entering with the former organisers who have been stripped of the contract. This is all rather annoying, having followed a link from the main Challenge site I entered. It seems that this organiser is still selling places for the event, with this years dates even after they have had their contract cancelled. After searching the internet it seems challenge have promised that all age groupers can race without having to pay twice, so having emailed the new organisers I'm hoping my place is guaranteed, although it is a week earlier, so I now have a weeks less training time. All a bit of a mess really, my credit card company should hopefully cover the fee, but as someone that is very careful about ordering online a rather stressful experience.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Injury and Laziness
I've been getting rather lazy with updating this blog. A bit like my indifference towards training. My shoulder has still been hurting, so no swimming for me. That translated into me taking the entire weekend off training. No runs, no turbo time.
Monday was club run training. Some sprint sessions involving 1min, 30s and 20s efforts with standing rest. Some good speed work, I actually overtook a cyclist. Now if I was the cyclist I'd be pretty ashamed of that. Speed topping out at 23 km/h. Looking at the data My speed built in the first half of the longer sets and tailed off in the second half. My pacing was obviously off. Succeeded in pushing my heart rate properly into L4 on them, with 1 minute recoveries (on the longer sets) of around 20-25%. Short but sweet session.
Tuesday I went for a steady run, but it just wasn't feeling good. Shortened my plan from 11 to 8 km as there were just too many niggling things whilst I was running. Probably dehydrated when I went out. SO 8 km, 48 minutes L2a heart rate.
Wednesday was a spinning session. Started the evening off with a 2.5K warm up on the treadmill, I won't be fresh when I get on a bike normally, so why do it in training? I don't know what my HRmax for cycling is, but assuming it is 5-10 bpm lower than running then I didn't do too bad on the HR zones compared to usual. A mixture of "hills" and "endurance" sets in the session. I tried to pretend I was on tri bars on the endurance sets, it seems to get the heart pumping a bit harder. The reduced lung volume maybe? I managed to hold out at a reasonable effort level. I really wish the spinning bikes had tri bars though. I have a number of wishes when it comes to spinning bikes, they would pretty much make it a bike on a turbo though.
This evening I decided to get back in the pool. My shoulder has been getting better, the pain has moved from the joint round into the Trapezius muscle, so I figured I could give it a go. My shoulder held admirably. I managed 5 x 200m at an easy effort, only noticing my shoulder mildly on the last length. My speeds haven't dropped too much either, which is good. Consistent 3:30s for 200m, an acceptable pace for an easy evening session. Still need to hold of on the swimming a bit longer, may try again on Saturday. My biggest problem is the inertia of coming back from injury. Training is addictive, but like narcotics, when you have broken the addiction you don't necessarily have the desire to get back into it.
Monday was club run training. Some sprint sessions involving 1min, 30s and 20s efforts with standing rest. Some good speed work, I actually overtook a cyclist. Now if I was the cyclist I'd be pretty ashamed of that. Speed topping out at 23 km/h. Looking at the data My speed built in the first half of the longer sets and tailed off in the second half. My pacing was obviously off. Succeeded in pushing my heart rate properly into L4 on them, with 1 minute recoveries (on the longer sets) of around 20-25%. Short but sweet session.
Tuesday I went for a steady run, but it just wasn't feeling good. Shortened my plan from 11 to 8 km as there were just too many niggling things whilst I was running. Probably dehydrated when I went out. SO 8 km, 48 minutes L2a heart rate.
Wednesday was a spinning session. Started the evening off with a 2.5K warm up on the treadmill, I won't be fresh when I get on a bike normally, so why do it in training? I don't know what my HRmax for cycling is, but assuming it is 5-10 bpm lower than running then I didn't do too bad on the HR zones compared to usual. A mixture of "hills" and "endurance" sets in the session. I tried to pretend I was on tri bars on the endurance sets, it seems to get the heart pumping a bit harder. The reduced lung volume maybe? I managed to hold out at a reasonable effort level. I really wish the spinning bikes had tri bars though. I have a number of wishes when it comes to spinning bikes, they would pretty much make it a bike on a turbo though.
This evening I decided to get back in the pool. My shoulder has been getting better, the pain has moved from the joint round into the Trapezius muscle, so I figured I could give it a go. My shoulder held admirably. I managed 5 x 200m at an easy effort, only noticing my shoulder mildly on the last length. My speeds haven't dropped too much either, which is good. Consistent 3:30s for 200m, an acceptable pace for an easy evening session. Still need to hold of on the swimming a bit longer, may try again on Saturday. My biggest problem is the inertia of coming back from injury. Training is addictive, but like narcotics, when you have broken the addiction you don't necessarily have the desire to get back into it.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Fit for the knacker's yard?
Seems my shoulder is properly damaged and it is time to rest. Feeling good I turned up to swimming on Tuesday morning, did a few 200m warm up swims then the pain returned. Cue stopping front crawl and 1000m of kick drills to avoid completely wasting the session. It seems it is time to rest it properly, a full week off is in order, as hard as it is to take. I haven't stopped training completely though.
Running doesn't cause pain, cue a 10K run before lunch yesterday. I saw a break in the clouds and decided to go for it, luckily I put my decent waterproof jacket on when I went out, 10 minutes out and the sky decided I wasn't suffering enough and unleashed an unpleasant mix of rain and snow on me. Oh well, I pushed through it finishing 10K in just over 51 minutes in L2a/L2b.
Then in the evening I went to the spinning class. My legs have only just forgiven me. A one hour class that was predominantly "hills". I just couldn't get my heart rate out of L1 on them, my quads and hamstrings hurt too much. The sprints were good though pushing my heart rate right up into L3 territory. I felt somewhat wrecked afterwards, I really must buy some compression tights, maybe next week I'll wiggle some and write at home that day...
Anyway, full rest day today, maybe a turbo session tomorrow. We'll see what the weather has to offer before planning the weekned session, it would be nice to get out into the New Forest for a run.
Running doesn't cause pain, cue a 10K run before lunch yesterday. I saw a break in the clouds and decided to go for it, luckily I put my decent waterproof jacket on when I went out, 10 minutes out and the sky decided I wasn't suffering enough and unleashed an unpleasant mix of rain and snow on me. Oh well, I pushed through it finishing 10K in just over 51 minutes in L2a/L2b.
Then in the evening I went to the spinning class. My legs have only just forgiven me. A one hour class that was predominantly "hills". I just couldn't get my heart rate out of L1 on them, my quads and hamstrings hurt too much. The sprints were good though pushing my heart rate right up into L3 territory. I felt somewhat wrecked afterwards, I really must buy some compression tights, maybe next week I'll wiggle some and write at home that day...
Anyway, full rest day today, maybe a turbo session tomorrow. We'll see what the weather has to offer before planning the weekned session, it would be nice to get out into the New Forest for a run.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Rest and a run.
Sunday's brick session never materialised. My shoulder injury caught up with me, I went to the library to get a book and the process of carrying it home (it was 900+ pages, 20min walk) seemed to agravate it again. So I binned all training and focussed on 'the thesis' instead. Likewise I binned swimming this morning just in case, it seems fine this evening so I have a go tomorrow morning.
Not wanting to be lazy for too long I went to the club run session, intervals tonight. They were a set of 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K runs. I was quite pleased with my performance, it's good to have someone to push yourself against sometimes. According to the Garmin I ran all the 0.5K efforts at above 15kph, sustaining 17-18 in the final one! My HRmax was a bit disappointing, only getting 172, but hey that is something to test a bit harder one day, the RPE was 9-10 though. The other bonus of the Garmin is that I can analyse my HR recovery, with 1 minute figures in the region of 25-30% of what I think my HR max is. Now according to coach Troy figures of 20-30% are "Awesome". It also seems figures in that ball park mean i'm unlikely to have a heart attack, which I'm a bit young for anyway but hey.
So 7K run all in all today, a good session, and back to the pool tomorrow.
Not wanting to be lazy for too long I went to the club run session, intervals tonight. They were a set of 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K runs. I was quite pleased with my performance, it's good to have someone to push yourself against sometimes. According to the Garmin I ran all the 0.5K efforts at above 15kph, sustaining 17-18 in the final one! My HRmax was a bit disappointing, only getting 172, but hey that is something to test a bit harder one day, the RPE was 9-10 though. The other bonus of the Garmin is that I can analyse my HR recovery, with 1 minute figures in the region of 25-30% of what I think my HR max is. Now according to coach Troy figures of 20-30% are "Awesome". It also seems figures in that ball park mean i'm unlikely to have a heart attack, which I'm a bit young for anyway but hey.
So 7K run all in all today, a good session, and back to the pool tomorrow.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Running at last!
Today started off with another swim, not as far as i'd planned (2750 not 3000m) as I was performing badly, mostly due to to spinning last night I think. It wasn't the most enjoyable swim, the lane was quite busy and halfway through my 4x400m set two meatheads from the swim team joined the lane. They obviously had ideas about owning the lane as swim etiquette was lacking, I got hit mid calf 4 times by one guy. Tap my feet and I'll let you past, hit me in the calf and it'll piss me off and slow me down. Doing fly down the middle of lane is not particularly friendly either. Anyway, finished off with some more kick, my legs are hurting less now which is good.
This evening I was in for a treat, the snow and ice is gone, so I can go running. It may have been dull laps round the dark paths of Southampton common, but it was nice to be running again. Timings weren't exactly wonderful at 45mins for 8km, but it was a reasonable zone 2 workout. And it is good to be training again.
I think a gentle swim is in order tomorrow morning, nothing too taxing before evening training.
This evening I was in for a treat, the snow and ice is gone, so I can go running. It may have been dull laps round the dark paths of Southampton common, but it was nice to be running again. Timings weren't exactly wonderful at 45mins for 8km, but it was a reasonable zone 2 workout. And it is good to be training again.
I think a gentle swim is in order tomorrow morning, nothing too taxing before evening training.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
A reasonable run and a good swim
Today was a day of decent training. It started with a nice 12km run through the fields before lunch. It wasn't entirely comfortable though, the ground was still quite frozen which made it a bit hard to run on. Never mind, put in a decent time though doing it in 63 minutes at 70-80% HR Max. I think it is time to retest that though. If the weather is good I may make a trip to the hill on Golf Course Road next weekend and punish myself. Still it is all good base training.
A few hours later my dad arrived back and wanted to go swimming, my calves and Achilles were sore, but never mind off to the pool. A nice 2100m in the pool and I had forgotten those aches and pains. My underwater kick has got quite good, I managed a few lengths of 15m before surfacing, the maximum allowed. Hopefully that will make it easier so I can take a few strokes before needing to breath upon surfacing. I worked on my stroke too, I think I'm bending my arm less, when I concentrate on it it actually feels quite natural. I also had a go at some turn practice again. Not sure the other pool users appreciated it (specifically the woman who got in pushed off doing "front crawl" and after 10m almost came to a halt, it seems the push off was where she got her speed), but what the hell. I put in a few decent turns, hopefully I'll do a proper tumble turn soon.
A few hours later my dad arrived back and wanted to go swimming, my calves and Achilles were sore, but never mind off to the pool. A nice 2100m in the pool and I had forgotten those aches and pains. My underwater kick has got quite good, I managed a few lengths of 15m before surfacing, the maximum allowed. Hopefully that will make it easier so I can take a few strokes before needing to breath upon surfacing. I worked on my stroke too, I think I'm bending my arm less, when I concentrate on it it actually feels quite natural. I also had a go at some turn practice again. Not sure the other pool users appreciated it (specifically the woman who got in pushed off doing "front crawl" and after 10m almost came to a halt, it seems the push off was where she got her speed), but what the hell. I put in a few decent turns, hopefully I'll do a proper tumble turn soon.
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