Bike-Run-ICK! BRICK

Objective; OD brick at easy aerobic pace..
Session.
35km bike, 10km run.
Bike session here was off road but on good quality (fast) by-way. Used the Hi Fi for this as that is the machine I plan to race on.

Session felt good, due to being a bit frayed (overstreatch) I was very disciplined about pace and kept the whole session in zone 1 and some Zone 2.

Bike to run transition went well, but feels awful! Left knee (pat-fem joint,medial and proximal) was sore just coming off the bike but settled down after I got my running form back.

My neck is hurting a bit on the right side, but I but that down to having to sleep on the boys bed last night for over an hour to get him to settle.

Big session to end a big week for me. Next week is scheduled to be easy, which is just as well otherwise I think I would blow.

Session stats were as follows;
Bike
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:00:12 3:25 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:54:16 3:15 pace
Distance (km) 35.15
Moving Speed (kph) 18.5 avg. 41.7 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +336 / -337
Avg. Heart Rate 122 bpm Zone 2.6 (zones set wrong here)

Run
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:05:03 6:20 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:02:16 6:04 pace
Distance (km) 10.25
Moving Speed (kph) 9.9 avg. 15.4 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +107 / -107
Avg. Heart Rate 141 bpm Zone 1.5

Progression Run

Objective; 10k running, building from steady to fast tempo pace;

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:05:56 6:02 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:05:10 5:58 pace
Distance (km) 10.92
Moving Speed (kph) 10.1 avg. 16.0 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +124 / -124
Avg. Heart Rate 141 bpm Zone 1.5

This session proved difficult as the legs were very tired and I was pretty much unable to get my heart rate up to anything my normal LT. A sure sign I am on the ragged edge of overtrain.

I did manage to increase the effort slightly over the course.




I had planned to do a bike ride on Saturday, but this now seems to be counter-productive.

Note: Right hamstring again not-happy-bunny

Fartlek Swim (kinda)

I had intended to swim drills and then do a mixed pace set but Friday morning crowding of the lane made that impossible. Therefore I switched into the fast lane and spent the session trying to keep pace with the faster swimmers over short bursts.

Overall session was 200m wu, drills and then 30 min or so of mixed pace swimming, 50 min all in. Note: Left shoulder gives me jip in the warm up.

Nowhere, slowly

Turbo session;
Objective, Easy spin set on the turbo with a focus on cadence.
This was a light session as its been a heavy week thus far. Simple set, 30min spinning on the turbo. Get a sweat on and boost the HR a bit.

Legs felt (O-K) at best. Knees are behaving themselves at least.

Tempo Swim (uck!), Run Later

Morning session.
In pool at 06:50, which now seems like a civilised start to the day as opposed to it feeling like a mighty effort.
Swim set;
200m wu
Drills
25 left, 25 right X2
25 cu, 25 sw x2
25 side swimming, 25 swim x2
25 fists 25 swim x 2
25 Chicken wings, 25 swim x2
Main Set
100 tempo
Rest
50 pull
5 times.

200m wd

Tempo lenghts were pased so that I was bushed at the end of each. Hard set, but good.
Overall, 50 min swiming, 1650m

Evening Set;

Endurance Running, mixed pace.
Objective; 1. Get out for a run with headlamp, 2. Endurance with mixed pace and effort

Total Time (h:m:s) 0:51:45 6:23 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:49:30 6:07 pace
Distance (km) 8.08
Moving Speed (kph) 9.8 avg. 14.1 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +88 / -88
Avg. Heart Rate 139 bpm Zone 1.4

Interesting note was my resting HR was 47ish bpm while standing around waiting to start, which is very low! Couldn't really get HR up to normal levels for RPE even on climbs. It seems that leg fatigue is the limiter at the moment.



Lovely evening for running. Good fun running offroad with lights. Also found sombodys mobile on my run, so droped that back when finished, brought overall run time up to 1 hour.

Swim and Core

Morning Session;
Swim Endurance.
Objective; Swim 1500 to build confidence and to get my head into the distance.
Set.
1500m straight swim at steady pace. 33 min.
20 min drills, pull, warm-down.

Nice to swim the distance and not feel knackered at all.

Evening session;

Core stability plus arms and chest.
Made a conscious effort to work on my breathing as per the Pilates DVD. Makes you feel the burn of the exercises a lot more. Very effective. Good set. (interrupted slightly by Rory kicking off and not wanting to stay in his bed! The scamp)

Bank Holiday Bike

Objective; 3 hour endurance bike, offroad.

This ride involved quite a bit of navigation as well as pedaling, as the routes were completely new to me. That being said it worked out very nicely, just the outward leg was a bit slow, and prone to me getting lost!

Majority of route was offroad, with much of it being on sand, as in this area as soon as the surface layer is broken by a track the underlying soil is almost entirely sand!

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:59:52 4:51 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:29:54 4:02 pace
Distance (km) 37.06
Moving Speed (kph) 14.8 avg. 46.8 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +610 / -604
Avg. Heart Rate 128 bpm Zone 2.9



Overall 2:30 riding and 30min standing around sweating, trying not to drip on the map. Also did a bit of running with the bike shouldered. Worked out a nice technique for that one.

Legs felt good on ride, but the old bod felt tired later on in the evening, so early to bed.

Running The North Downs Way

Sunday run, down at the outlaws in Surrey. Legs were feeling v.tired on Saturday after Fridays interval set.

Objective; 2 hr run at recovery pace (greater than 6min/km)
Summary
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:50:27 6:47 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:43:07 6:20 pace
Distance (km) 16.27
Moving Speed (kph) 9.5 avg. 16.4 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +267 / -267
Avg. Heart Rate 140 bpm Zone 1.4



The run route was the tremendously scenic North Downs Way. 90% off rod through a mix of woodland and open country.

Legs felt ropey for the first 10 min but really eased out as the run progressed. Right hamstring remained a bit tight throughout. Very effective as a recovery run as legs felt excelent afterwards.

And set me up nicely for some of Rory's birthday cake!

Rest day

..and boy do I need it!
Weight this morning was 86.8, which is a bit of a marked drop.
Legs are TIRED. They didnt loosen out until I had a bit of a walk about while running some earrands.

Coupled with how I felt on last nights interval run I would say all the pointers are indicating that I am on the edge of overcooking myself.

This weekend's sets are scheduled to be an OD run and an OD bike on the Monday (bank holiday)

I am going to really go handy on the OD run, and cut it short if I dont loosen up over the first 20 min.

Its a fine balance this training lark.

PS the youngest boy is two tomorrow.

No Sleep till Bedtime

On Friday morning our bed was like bloody Paddington station. Our two boys thought that 4 am was a good time to come and join us! So not exactly a quality nights sleep. Given this, getting up at 6 am and out for a swim set was not an option really.

Evening Set;
Interval running.
5 min wu,
Interval runing on grass.
1u,1d,2u,1d,3u,2d,4u,2d,3u....
5 min wu.
The 2 min interval on the way down was built up to maximal effort.

Intresting notes;
Legs are v-tired and slightly sore.
Soreness/tiredness did not abate after 1st intervals.
My LT was at about 158, 10bpm below normal!
Couldnt get my HR up to anything normal levels on interval or on the maximal effort.
Mmmmmm...
Bed. Saturday a rest day.

Big Thursday

Morning Session:
Swim set as per previous.
1 arm drills feeling much better and I am praticing bi-lateral breathing on the pull sections. I am having occasional breakthrough lenghts where the swiming fels fluid and easy with good speed. Neck does get stiff on the long (400) stints and left rotator cuff gets tired.
2000m 1 hour set. Felt good.

Evening Session:

Turbo intervals.
10 min WU,
intervals, 1u, 1d, 2u, 1d, 3u, 2d, 4u, 2d, 3u....
Out of saddle climb. 1min standing, 1 min siting, 1 stand, 1 sit, 1 stand
1 leg, 20 rev each leg.
warm down 10 min spin.
52 min all in. Big set! Felt good.
Left knee giving jip again, patella and vastius medialius.

Intresting note, I can never get the same HR for an equivlent RPE on the turbo as I seem to get on the bike proper?

Pop goes the weasle!

Evening set on the 19th was ment to be turbo, but this had to be abandoned due to absolute cracking headache! (sinus and vertical through the right eye). Crashed out at about 18:00 and slept through until morning. I also binned off the morning swim set as I still felt knackered.

Did a core session (core and arms only) on the evening of the 20th. Felt good after this easy session.

Swim Set

Objectives;
1. Balance and glide again
2. Get the yards in

Swim set much as before,
200 warm up, drills and 200, 400, 100, 400, 200 main set.
Overall 2000m.

Balance is improving water grip in left arm getting much better.

Monday was a rest day but I did do a bit of pilates off a DVD my missus has, could be useful to put into the mix. Also did a bit of band work on the legs to try to head off pat-fem problems.

Bike at Recovery Pace

Objectives;
1. Time in saddle (there is no substitute)
2. Recovery ride
3. Tweak bike setup

This was 2 hour ride, over a mainly (easy) offroad route. Staying soundly in zone 1 and 2. Did some tweaking to saddle height (up a fraction) stem height (down a spacer) and rear shock pressure (topped back up to 145psi)

Legs were tired from previous days run. Nigles from the previous day were knee pain (left patella pain, proximal and medial) and tightness under right scapula running up to the base of the neck. Hammys felt ok!

B

Pics of April Marathon

My Ma just mailed me some pics of the marathon in April.

Check them out if you get a chance Hollywood!

Marathon in the West of Ireland


B.

Big run set.

Its been a fairly big week so far in terms of ramped up training (volume and intensity) and in continuing the ramp up this was a fairly big run set.
Objective; Endurance and Race pace speed
Goal; 12km with a significant negative split.

I ran out at zone 1/ zone 2 effort, 35 min and then ran the return leg at or around my LT of 168 bpm.

Time Dist Avg HR
1 35:03 5.90 148
2 30:29 6.00 163
3 2:04 0.16 147

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:07:37 5:35 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:07:33 5:35 pace
Distance (km) 12.08
Moving Speed (kph) 10.7 avg. 16.7 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +134 / -128

Avg. Heart Rate 154 bpm Zone 3.2




I was plum tuckered out upon my return!
Right hamstring threatened to tie up a couple of times on the return leg

Mixed route bike ride

Objective: Short and Sharp bike Ride
Goal: 45 min at sustainable race pace

Total Time (h:m:s) 0:45:47 2:56 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:42:41 2:44 pace
Distance (km) 15.54
Moving Speed (kph) 21.8 avg. 45.3 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +187 / -188




Route is mainly on road with just a couple of off road sections. Ride was done on the HiFi. Good short "after work" ride. Kept the work rate high, particularly on the off road sections. Legs felt quite strong in the hill climbing.

Morning Swim

Same session as earlier in the week, again the concentration on stroke length and balance.
Session:
200 WU
25 Left arm, 25 Right X2
25 CU 25 swim X2
25 Long recovery 25 swim X2
25 Chicken Wings 25 swim X2

Main set
200 swim
400 swim
100 pull
400 swim
200 pull

100 Warm Down

2000m overall, approximately 1 hour swimming.

Made progress with the "grip" on the water with my left arm. Concentrating on a good hand shape and getting that "over the barrel" shape on the pull by keeping a high elbow.

Core Lite

As the old hobbit said, today I felt a bit like too little butter spread across too many slices of toast!

Therefore I didn't have the planed early start and instead just did a cut down CORE set later in the evening.
Just did abs and stabs and stayed away from too much by way of legs and arms.

Wuss? maybe
Wise? Almost certainly

Running with style (or not!)

Objective: 45 min mixed pace endurance running with drills.

Session.
10 min WU
15 min drills
Twice through:
High knee every 3rd step.
Bounding (long stride)
High heels
High knees
High kick every 3rd step
20 min mixed pace running

Good session.
Feeling a bit tired as the return to 2 sessions a day is a bit of a bump, but otherwise good.

Swim Drill

This morning was another early start for swiming.
The objective; Focus on good stroke length and glide phase.
Session:
200 WU
25 Left arm, 25 Right X2
25 CU 25 swim X2
25 Long recovery 25 swim X2
25 Chicken Wings 25 swim X2

Main set
200 swim
400 swim
100 pull
400 swim
200 pull

100 Warm Down

2000m overall, approximately 1 hour swiming.

Tuesday? It must be Turbo!

Objective:
Easy turbo interval set (not to hard on the on the up sections)

Set was as follows.
10 min WU
1 min up, 1 down, 2 up, 1 down, 3 up, 2 down, 4 up, 2 down..3,2,1

5 min WD, including 1 leg drills.

The only hard part of the set was deciding to get changed and go and do it ( as usual)

Core (no legs)

Core strength session:
Didn't do legs as short on time, but did try back dips to work back and triceps.

Warm up:
20 knee blocks
20 knee block + kick
2 X 10 side kicks
General rotations

Core:
30 raised leg crunches (legs on ball)
2 X 30 sec side plank over ball
30 sit and twist standard situps
2 X 20 side crunches
30 sec front plank over ball
30 crunches on ball
2 X 30 sec side plank
30 sec front plank
30 leg lifts
Hyper extensions


Chest/Arms:
10 X Back Dips
3 X 10 press up
2 X 10 Fly press + 10 Benchpress
20 Bicept Curl

Back in the swim of things

Back in the pool today for the first time in years.

Pool opens at 6:30 so it was up at 6:00 and out the door at 6:15. This got me in the pool at 6:40, which is really rather painless considering!

For the first session I just wanted to get a feel of the pool and also get a feel for how my swimming is at the moment, being very untrained at the moment.

The aim was to get a feel for my balance in the water and to concentrate on swimming "long" in terms of keeping a long body line .
Set:
100
200
400
100 pull
400
200 pull
100

Which is a handy 1500m total.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well I faired and the fact that I had not completely forgotten how to swim. Felt tired later but not knackered, as I had feared.

10k run at OD pace

Objective: Re-establish running style
Target: 1 hour at 6min/k pace with an emphasis on style and good posture.

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:05:46 6:17 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:02:40 5:59 pace
Distance (km) 10.46
Moving Speed (kph) 10.0 avg. 15.7 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +118 / -118
Avg. Heart Rate 148 bpm Zone 2.0



Good run. Felt very comfortable after first 10min or so. Concentrated on running tall and keeping my foot alignment straight.

Off Road Triathlon

I have signed up for an off-road triathlon in Surrey in the UK. The race is on the 27th of September, which doesn't give me too long to get myself back up to snuff. The main area in need of attention is of course the swimming, which was never really the best to start with. The training will therefore focus on getting some quality pool time in.

I will be posting a training plan shortly.

This week, while on holiday in Ireland I did a little bit of prep work as follows;
Sunday; Sea swim with wet suit. Just 10 min to get me back in the drink.
Monday; 10 min open water swimming
Tuesday; Bike ride, semi off-road on the cross bike 1hr 30min, HILLY!
Thursday; Short open water swim plus a 40 min hill running set later.
Friday; Quick brick. 20min bike ride and 13 min run, at pace over a hilly course. Just to get the feel of the transition again.

The only real worry I have is making it round 1500m swim! So its the early swim session for me.

I love the smell of the pool in the morning, that chlorine smell. Smells like...Victory.