Monday 28 January 2013

Training Review - Week 4 - w/e Jan 27th



So targets for last week (Week 4) were:
Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles. XC Race.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 1,775m with kick drills and some fins.

Tuesday - Run round Dyce 3.1 miles. 29mins. Same speed as a fortnight ago despite the snow.

Wednesday - Gym Brick  45mins each on treadmill and bike. 5 miles and 14.1 miles. Bit of a niggle in left knee. Probably from running in the snow in my adidas swoops 4 times in a week. They are too narrow for my orthotics. Also sniffle is back :(

Thursday - Swim at Bucksburn. 650m, 20mins.

Friday - 4 miles at Kirkhill in the snow with Dexter. 46mins so pretty slow, but slogging through thigh high drifts in places.

Saturday - Swim at Bucksubrn. 700m of assorted drills and a few practice turns in 35 mins.
Then 4 miles at Kirkhill again, 42 mins this time through less snow.
Dexter now knows the route better than me so thinks he can run off ahead. Which is fine till he comes back to me and I am too busy watching him charging towards me to watch where I am putting my feet. Took a bit of a slide on some packed snow and twisted my already niggly left knee.

Sunday - Rest day. Partly because I needed one, partly because of the knee.

Result - Swim ~2 miles. Bike 14 miles. Run 18 miles. XC Race.

Disappointing numbers on the bike after dropping Sunday's session rather than risking my knee. First target I have missed this year. And also disappointing to drop Saturday's race out of my plan but that was worth it to have an extra day to play with Dexter. The swim and run numbers are way ahead of plan every week and my bike miles are low this week but still averaging over 31 a week due to the big numbers from previous weeks.

In other news, my improved diet is suffering against my need for increased calorie intake. I am still eating better than I did previously but whilst I am keeping on top of the additional fruit and veg, the sheer volumes are back up and some of the junk snacks are back in. Time and laziness constraints are also meaning that the easiest thing for dinner is often sneaking in instead of the healthiest thing. Not complaining though as my weight is staying pretty stable while the veins on my arms suggest my body fat is continuing to reduce at a sensible rate. As these were the two outcomes the improved diet is aimed at, the extra snacks and treats are probably saving me from losing too much too fast.

Sunday 27 January 2013

Training Plan - Week 5



Monday  - Swim with TPT, ~1mile.

Tuesday - Run at Dyce, 3.1 mile loop (or treadmill if the pavements are still so icy).

Wednesday - Gym brick 45 min run, 45 min bike. (Should be somewhere around 5 miles and 14 miles).

Thursday - Swim 30mins steady, (with turns if the pool is quiet) and core.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Long day. Run or bike. Either a 6-mile or longer run, or a 30 mile or longer bike. Depends on weather and company.

Sunday - Long day. Whichever one I didn't do on Saturday.

First time I have a planned rest day in. Tweaking my knee this morning and generally being exhausted have led me to plan it in rather than leave them till I damage something. It is planned for later in the week but I might push Tuesday or Wednesday sessions to Friday and slot the rest day in earlier depending on how my knee feels.

The weekend sessions I have left out the detail this week, partly for the weather effects, partly to fit around other people. The last couple of weeks I have been off plan on weekends anyway.

Target totals - Swim >1.5 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >12 miles.

Monday 21 January 2013

Training Review - Week 3 - w/e Jan 20th


So targets for last week (Week 3) were:
Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles. 

Actuals were:

Monday  - X-rays at fracture clinic. Swim with TPT. 1,700m in 55 mins. Bit sniffly.

Tuesday - Decided against going out on the slidy, frozen snow and making my sniffle any worse,  so I did my 5k (3.1miles) on the treadmill instead, in 27mins 30.

Wednesday - Brick in the gym. 5.1 miles on the treadmill in 45mins. 10 miles on the bike in 31:26. Slightly faster on the run than last week, but slightly slower on the bike because of it. Still a bit sniffly so stopped the bike at 10 miles instead of the plan to do 12.

Thursday - 25 mins swim. 1,200m (I think but lost count and might have double counted 650m, and 1,000m and 1,050m, ... so might actually have been anything up to 1,350m). Only got to practice turns on the first few lengths before it got too busy.

And then a core session and some physio work for mobility of my shoulder.

Friday - 4 mile run at Kirkhill. Good fun through the snow with Dexter. Started a bit late in the day so the decent was getting pretty dark. 46mins.

Saturday - Same 4 mile run at Kirkhill with Dexter again, but earlier in the day this time so we could see where we were going all the way down. Snow drifts were much deeper near the top though. 43 mins this time.

Then went to the gym and spent 80 mins on the exercise bike, 24.6 miles worth. The change from plan was because sunday's long ride was cancelled for weather.

Sunday - 9.2 mile run at Hazelhead and Counteswells. Was planning to finish off with an easy half hour on the gym bike but the power was out at the office gym. Then in the evening I did another core set and some of the physio stretching exercises on my shoulder.

Sniffle finally seems to have gone.

Result - Swim 1.8 miles. Bike 34.6 miles. Run 25.4 miles.

Another very good week all round. Lots more running than planned, even more than the stretch numbers from last week's plan. No rest days despite the weather, but not overstressed by anything. Only did two sessions on the shoulder, which probably wasn't enough.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Training Plan - Week 4


Have slotted a 'race' into the saturday but not planning to race it, just to jog round it, will quit a lap early if I get lapped by the leaders.

Monday  - Swim with TPT, ~1mile.

Tuesday - Run at Dyce, 3.1 mile loop (or treadmill if the pavements are still so icy).

Wednesday - Gym brick 45 min run, 45 min bike. (Should be somewhere around 5 miles and 13 miles).

Thursday - Swim 30mins steady, (with turns if the pool is quiet) and core.

Friday - Dexter day. Hill run somewhere 4-6 miles.

Saturday - North Cross Country League - Keith, 6-miles.

Sunday - Long ride if weather suits. Gym bike 20 miles if road ride is off.

Again no specific rest days in the plan, but any two of Tues, Thurs, Fri or Sat could be dropped if the weather gets in the way or if I feel through the week that I need a break. Dropping Wednesday is also an option but that turns Sunday into a 31 minimum.

Target totals - Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles.

Monday 14 January 2013

Training Review - Week 2 - w/e Jan 13th


So target totals for last week (Week 2) were:
Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles. And do Westhill Duathlon. 

Full details of my Week 2 training plan here.

Actuals were:

M  - Swim with TPT. 1,700m.

T - 5k run around Dyce, that's 3.1 miles in real money (who needs rest days anyway?).

W - 5 mile treadmill, 45mins. 10mile gym bike, 30mins.

T - Swim at Bucksburn. 1,000m in 20 mins.

F - 14 mile gym bike, 45mins.

S - Rest Day. (Ok, apparently I do need rest days for the shoulder).

S - 6.7 mile run around Westhill, 70mins. 18 mile gym bike, 60mins.

Result - Swim 1.72 miles (2,700m), Bike 42 miles, Run 14.8 miles.

Another good week for miles. Got all my targets in and managed to go beyond my unweighted annual swim target as well. Both pool sessions were too crowded to work on my turns this week.

Westhill duathlon being cancelled changed my weekend plans, I had options for both days and could have gone way over my targets again but decided to stick with the rest day on Saturday and then a bike and run sunday.

Bad week for the collar bone though. Has been getting gradually worse throughout the week. Due in for more x-rays on Monday and I am hoping that they will tell me that I have just been overdoing it a bit rather than saying that something hasn't healed properly. 

Sunday 13 January 2013

Training Plan - Week 3


No races this week so just going to clock some miles. No rest days on the plan but I have overloaded the week intentionally so that I can drop up to 3 days or substitute in shorter sessions.

Monday  - Fracture clinic for Xrays. Swim with TPT, ~1mile.
Tuesday - Easy run. 3-5 miles.
Wednesday - Gym brick. Run 5 miles, bike 12 miles.
Thursday - Swim and core.
Friday - Easy run with Dexter. 4-6 miles off-road.
Saturday - Mountain bike or run. (Or even road bike depending on weather forecast).
Sunday - Long ride. ~40 miles.

Target totals - Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles.

Yes, the targets sum up to a lot less than the plan (2, 50-75, 12-22) but the weather forecast for the next few weeks suggest that training could take a major hit and I may have to adapt a lot of the plan day-by-day. Also might have to adapt for advice from the surgeons after they get another look at my collar bone on Monday.

Monday 7 January 2013

Training Review - Week 1 - w/e Jan 6th

So targets for last week (Week 1) were:
Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles. Half an hour of something else.

Actuals were:
Monday  - Brick at Kirkhill. 8.2 mile mtb 1hr45 (effectively doing intervals) & 2 mile hill jog, 19mins. Running on my own outside, having had people ride the run course with em and check it was empty just beforehand. Bit stressful but no panic attack.

Tuesday - 3.5 mile treadmill jog, 35 mins.
Also went on a mad cleaning and tidying binge for the last day of my holidays. Going to count this against my half-hour of something else, although it was several hours, and was enough to leave my shoulder hurting so much that I had to take a couple of paracetamol.

Wednesday - 4.7 miles treadmill jog, 45 mins.

Thursday - 1,100m swim at Bucksburn. With some attempts at turns. First time going to the pool on my own in over 2 years. Stressful till I got in the water but there was hardly anyone in and I was able to just get on with it.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - 1,000m swim at Bucksburn.

Sunday - 49.6 mile road ride from Kintore.

Also, I did at least one set of my physio exercises every day. And a couple of 10 minutes core and stretching things in between as well.

Result - Swim 1.3 miles. Bike 57.8 miles. Run 10.2 miles.

A very good week all round. Happy with all the totals despite needing 3 attempts to get the running miles.

Already starting to feel that my bike target for the year was more than a little bit lazy. But then I wasn't at work Monday/Tuesday, so I had a lot more time to train, and to rest, than I will have in future weeks. I will give it at least until the end of March till I start reviewing annual targets.


Sunday 6 January 2013

Training Plan - Week 2

I have mulled over when to post plans and when to post reviews. I am going to write next week's plan before this week's review so I am also going to post it first as well. The plan is affected by how I feel through the previous week and I will bend it before I post it as required.


Back into a normal work and training schedule this coming week (Week 2) so the plan is a bit more detailed and structured. It was particularly built around racing on Sunday but then adapted to fit in a dentist appointment on Tuesday.

Monday  - Swim with TPT, ~1mile.
Tuesday - Dentist appointment clashes, so enforced rest day, or easy stretching.
Wednesday - Gym brick. 5 mile run, 10 mile bike*.
Thursday - Swim or core.
Friday - Gym bike 12-15 miles.
Saturday - Rest day or something very light.
Sunday - Westhill Duathlon - Run 2.5 miles, Bike 9 miles, Run 2.5 miles.

*Wednesday is an ambitious session plan for my current running shape. Might have to cut it to run-only  and roll the missed bike sections into Thu/Fri/Sat.

Target totals - Swim ~1 mile. Bike >31 miles. Run >10 miles.