14.02.11 - 20.02.11
What can be said about this week except that although I didn't quite manage all my sessions and my hours, I learnt a valuable lesson about nutrition, I hit the wall badly and I enjoyed an unexpected evening bowling with some of the guys n girls from the Tri Club.
Monday was my rest day again and I enjoyed kicking back and doing nothing after a fairly busy day at work. I didn't feel like a cheat or a fraud as I had had a good weekend of exercise.
Tuesday, and I was back in the saddle. I settled onto my indoor trainer and got through the hour relatively unscathed, except for when I tried to reach for my towel and almost ended up tipping the bike, trainer and me onto the floor, however my cat like reflexes saved the day and I was able to carry on cycling, albeit with a relatively higher heart rate then before... The ride over, I slipped on my running shoes and headed off into the rather miserable evening. The rain was falling rather heavily and the road was more like a puddle than anything else, yet I pushed on into the chilly wet night and on a slightly longer route than normal got home in 35 minutes absolutely drenched. I felt fantastic and energised and more than a little cold so skipping the cold bath I opted for a hot bath with Radox Muscle Soak...aaah, a little girly but utter bliss.
Wednesday was down to be long swim day, however I was at a funeral in Surrey and didn't make it back to Oxford until about 8 and was exhausted. I hadn't eaten much at all during the day, or had much of an opportunity to drink and so we ended up going to bed feeling very tired, very hungry and not feeling as dehydrated as we really were... big mistake which I would pay for later on in the week.
Thursday arrived to the awful sound of my alarm clock... and was followed by a headache that should have been caused by vodka. I dragged my sorry self off to work and with the thought of not exercising yesterday haunting me I turned down a bacon and egg roll and then proceeded to have a light lunch. I got home and with no energy what so ever I climbed onto my bike... Oh dear, I managed to get my legs turning at a rather lacklustre pace and eventually after merely 30minutes I all but collapsed off the bike. I hit the showers, cooked dinner and by 9:30 I was in bed, head down and in dream land!!
Friday and again I was rudely awoken by my iPhone shouting at me... I had slept 9 hours and was still exhausted. Work was work and luckily I managed to finish at 2 and so off home I shot. I jumped on the indoor bike and after half an hour was feeling puffed again, but I wasn't going to give in and so into my running shoes and off I went pounding pavement. I struggled around my 10km route in a shocking hour and 20 minutes... What was wrong with me?? I was beginning to get worried as last week I had done so well... I had a shower and slipped into my joggers prepared for an evening of feeling sorry for myself, when Laura reminded me that it was OxTri Bowling Social. I headed off just to watch as I hadn't pre-booked my place, however once there I was able to join in and had a great evening that got me out of my slump. I was chatting to some of the other members about what had happened to me and my energy levels when we hit the nail on the head...nutrition! I hadn't taken on enough calories to keep going and so had bonked...
Saturday, and the sky was grey and the wind was blowing and it was the long ride day. I Headed off for Chipping Norton on the rusty mountain bike and slowly the gears started to jam up until I couldn't change the front gears and eventually I could only use 3 of the 6 rear gears... But after the lack of hours during the week I was determined to carry on and eventually I saw the sign, the light at the end of the tunnel, almost the Holy Grail. I had reached Chipping Norton. I stopped at a service station and bought myself a Powerade, a breakfast bar (blueberry flavour) and a snickers and I was set for the return journey. I got home quicker than it took to get out there and that was probably for 2 reasons. Firstly there was a cyclist out in front of me and I was determined to catch him and so I just kept the legs turning (I didn't catch him...) and secondly I think it was mainly a slightly downhill gradient back in to Oxford. I got back home in the dark after 3 hours, wet, slightly chilly and a little exhausted... I am convinced that doing my initial riding on the steel beast will show some long term benefits when I jump on my aluminium beauty.
Sunday is long run day and after quite a hearty breakfast, 2 blueberry pancakes, a couple of rashers of bacon and a couple of eggs (I was hungry, OK) I set off for the longest planned run to date...One and a half hours. I headed into town, back out of town along the canal, crossed into Port Meadow, crossed the Thames, back along the canal out of town and then past a couple of very inviting pubs till I was back on tarmac and then homeward bound. I covered 13.5kms which isn't bad but I was hoping to manage 16kms, well that becomes the goal then. It was very muddy out along the canal and over Port Meadow and at one point I lost my running shoe to the mud... great, wet muddy shoes slipping and sliding along as if I was on ice-skates. I came out of the run feeling really good, and as of yet (monday eve) I am feeling no serious side-effects or sore muscles.
And so the week in numbers
8:45 hours spent exercising out of a planned 10
173kms covered
I did survive this week, although I could have survived better, but it is a lesson learnt...
Bring on week 8
W
Monday, 21 February 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Week 6
07/02/11 - 13/02/11
WHAT A WEEK, 100% COMPLETION OF HOURS AND SESSIONS!!
Monday was a rest day and I felt like a bit of a fraud as I hadn't done anything on Sunday and as such didn't feel like I deserved a rest. I did choose to have this day as a rest as I was working a 13 hour day and figured that trying to add a workout on top of it would be suicidal...
Tuesday was a brick session and this meant an indoor turbo session and then a run. I managed an hour easily on the turbo with a good heart rate, the only thing that started to suffer was my rear end on the saddle, however I am sure that given time it will get used to hours on a saddle. Jumped off the bike and straight into running shoes and headed off for my usual 5.5km route. I felt really good and the pace was higher than normal but this meant that the heart rate was out of zone 2 and heading to a high zone 3. I finished exhausted but energetic all at the same time. I checked my time and I had knocked 2 minutes off my best time for the 5.5km!
Wednesday has become my long swim day as I go to a OxfordTri swim session at Radley College for a hour and a half. I managed to swim my longest distance to date, 2950m, this included a 30 minute Time Trial and happily I managed to hit 1500m, which is what I was managing at the end of last season. My swimming is coming along nicely, I just need to to work on keeping my legs straight and not swinging out to the side like barn doors. I was also called one of the faster swimmers in the club by another member... I am hoping that by the next TT I will be able to swim a flat 2000m.
Thursday was another brick session and I put on Lance and his 7th TDF win and all the while staying in Zone 2, I managed 1:15 and then shot straight out for a 5.5km run. I did this run in 30 minutes flat which was 30 seconds slower than Tuesday. I was feeling alright but wasn't watching my pace and so could have gone a little quicker. I was running and as I was passing another runner heading the opposite direction, she greeted me by name... Now this confused the hell out of me as I recognised her voice but as she had a cap on I didn't get a good look at her face. I spent the next 15 minutes puzzling over this when it suddenly hit me who she was. It was the club chairmans sister, Caroline, who was is training for the London Marathon. I then passed her again on the return leg of the loop and managed to greet her by name this time... Finished the run feeling good. I would like to be able to get the loop down to 25 minutes and eventually 20minutes.
Friday was a swim session and I decided to give the coached club session a go... Wow did I suffer... The Wednesday session is a swim at your own pace and see how much of the set list you can do. The Friday session sees 7 swimmers in one lane and as soon as you touch the side the coach sends you off again. The emphasis was on kicking with supermans, alternate supermans, torpedoes etc etc. I really struggled and was moved to the back of the group. The Set then change to do some front crawl lengths and I was moved up to 2nd position. I was also told that I have an efficient stroke. I just clearly need to work on my kicking. I was exhausted by the end of this and had only swum 1800m...
Saturday was long ride day and so I put my clipless pedals on the mountain bike, wrapped up in multiple layers and headed out on the road, which was much better than sitting on an indoor trainer even if I was on a heavy mountain bike. I had been riding for about 20 minutes when I suddenly realised that the spare tube I had in my pocket was for my road bike...and as such I felt I needed to stay close to home and so in order to do the 2 hours of riding my program specified I ended up doing 3 laps of a rather dull course. I did manage to spend almost the entire 2 hours in the correct heart rate zone and maintained a cadence of approximately 100rpm... It felt fantatstic being out and I feel much more amped to start doing longer rides. The weather was also nice with the sun pokong its head out and the wind just letting a little breeze flow along the road.
Sunday and the weather looked awful. It wasn't very cold but it was wet and windy and very very grey. I had a hour long run planned and I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic, but that all changed as soon as I hit the road. I set my Garmin to beep when I left Zone 2 and hid my pace. I ran most of the run in the right zone and although I felt slow I managed a respectable 10km in 1hour. I am still having problems with my bowel and bladder wanting to void themselves the moment I start running. I got home and felt really good, so good that I felt as if I could have gone on and run another 5kms. I jumped on my indoor bike and spun the legs for 15 minutes in an active cool down and to try get rid of the lactic acid. By the end of this session I had done it, I had hit my training programs expected hours...YES.
So all in all a much MUCH better week than the previous 2.
Tuesday was a brick session and this meant an indoor turbo session and then a run. I managed an hour easily on the turbo with a good heart rate, the only thing that started to suffer was my rear end on the saddle, however I am sure that given time it will get used to hours on a saddle. Jumped off the bike and straight into running shoes and headed off for my usual 5.5km route. I felt really good and the pace was higher than normal but this meant that the heart rate was out of zone 2 and heading to a high zone 3. I finished exhausted but energetic all at the same time. I checked my time and I had knocked 2 minutes off my best time for the 5.5km!
Wednesday has become my long swim day as I go to a OxfordTri swim session at Radley College for a hour and a half. I managed to swim my longest distance to date, 2950m, this included a 30 minute Time Trial and happily I managed to hit 1500m, which is what I was managing at the end of last season. My swimming is coming along nicely, I just need to to work on keeping my legs straight and not swinging out to the side like barn doors. I was also called one of the faster swimmers in the club by another member... I am hoping that by the next TT I will be able to swim a flat 2000m.
Thursday was another brick session and I put on Lance and his 7th TDF win and all the while staying in Zone 2, I managed 1:15 and then shot straight out for a 5.5km run. I did this run in 30 minutes flat which was 30 seconds slower than Tuesday. I was feeling alright but wasn't watching my pace and so could have gone a little quicker. I was running and as I was passing another runner heading the opposite direction, she greeted me by name... Now this confused the hell out of me as I recognised her voice but as she had a cap on I didn't get a good look at her face. I spent the next 15 minutes puzzling over this when it suddenly hit me who she was. It was the club chairmans sister, Caroline, who was is training for the London Marathon. I then passed her again on the return leg of the loop and managed to greet her by name this time... Finished the run feeling good. I would like to be able to get the loop down to 25 minutes and eventually 20minutes.
Friday was a swim session and I decided to give the coached club session a go... Wow did I suffer... The Wednesday session is a swim at your own pace and see how much of the set list you can do. The Friday session sees 7 swimmers in one lane and as soon as you touch the side the coach sends you off again. The emphasis was on kicking with supermans, alternate supermans, torpedoes etc etc. I really struggled and was moved to the back of the group. The Set then change to do some front crawl lengths and I was moved up to 2nd position. I was also told that I have an efficient stroke. I just clearly need to work on my kicking. I was exhausted by the end of this and had only swum 1800m...
Saturday was long ride day and so I put my clipless pedals on the mountain bike, wrapped up in multiple layers and headed out on the road, which was much better than sitting on an indoor trainer even if I was on a heavy mountain bike. I had been riding for about 20 minutes when I suddenly realised that the spare tube I had in my pocket was for my road bike...and as such I felt I needed to stay close to home and so in order to do the 2 hours of riding my program specified I ended up doing 3 laps of a rather dull course. I did manage to spend almost the entire 2 hours in the correct heart rate zone and maintained a cadence of approximately 100rpm... It felt fantatstic being out and I feel much more amped to start doing longer rides. The weather was also nice with the sun pokong its head out and the wind just letting a little breeze flow along the road.
Sunday and the weather looked awful. It wasn't very cold but it was wet and windy and very very grey. I had a hour long run planned and I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic, but that all changed as soon as I hit the road. I set my Garmin to beep when I left Zone 2 and hid my pace. I ran most of the run in the right zone and although I felt slow I managed a respectable 10km in 1hour. I am still having problems with my bowel and bladder wanting to void themselves the moment I start running. I got home and felt really good, so good that I felt as if I could have gone on and run another 5kms. I jumped on my indoor bike and spun the legs for 15 minutes in an active cool down and to try get rid of the lactic acid. By the end of this session I had done it, I had hit my training programs expected hours...YES.
So all in all a much MUCH better week than the previous 2.
So week 6 in number
207.55kms covered!!
9:03:47 time spent exercising
... and I did more than survive, so bring on week 7
W
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Week 5
I am really down about this week, granted it was difficult as there seemed to be a lot of lifes unexpected situations that reared up but I feel that I have let myself down. I have to make the time for exercise if I even want to finish this, nevermind do it well.
So its early mornings and club training sessions in the evenings to try make my hours up, but not go overboard and injure or kill myself.
Disapointed!
So its early mornings and club training sessions in the evenings to try make my hours up, but not go overboard and injure or kill myself.
Disapointed!
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