Training Review - Week 47 - November 18 to 24

Monday, basic swim with TPT. Lots of breathing work this week. Still can't breathe properly to the left.  Also did a few turns. They are gradually improving but still not usable for races.

Tuesday, I had a bit of a sore throat and it was very icy out, so I decided to play safe and take the night off. 

Wednesday was a run in rain. It was pretty stormy and I am still not feeling 100%. Not sure if I have the very edge of a cold or if it is just my immune system reacting to the flu jab. Had a really sore throat in the morning, but a days worth of strepsils and the odd paracetamol were covering it up enough to run.

Thursday night is date night. So another trip to the cinema. Went to see Frankenstein again. But this time with Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch in the opposite roles to three weeks ago. I thought it was better this way round. Johnny was equally good as the monster, but Benedict was a better doctor frankenstein.

Friday was mountain biking in the dark at Kirkhill. This was confirmation that I am not quite fully healthy. Purposefully tried to chase a couple of Strava sections, but despite working harder, I couldn't even match my own times from a week ago. 

I did a big write up for saturday, but then saved over it. So here we go again with a shortened version.

I went out with Deeside for their long Saturday ride. Plan was for 60 miles. First hill we got to and I went straight out the back of the pack. I thought initially that it was the rest of the group being too ambitious with their early pace while I was being sensible, but every time we got near an uphill the same thing was happening. And on the downhills and flats where I can normally chase back on, absolutely nothing was happening. Made it to the toilet stop at 27 miles, but I knew before then that I wasn't going to survive 60. 

At this point I should have bailed and taken the main road solo and gone for 50. Instead I decided to stick with them for the next section. They blew me out the back again on the climb out of town and I lost sight of the whole group, and didn't know where the next turn was. I stuck with going straight on the assumption that they would stop and wait for me if they turned off the main road. They didn't. However, they did spot that I was missing and sent someone back to chase me down and a couple of them then paced me back to the group. Put about an extra half mile or so onto the route.

I was still really struggling back in the group. So the next time we got back to the main road I bailed on them. I stopped in Aboyne to get some soup and a sandwich and defrost my toes. Then I took the main road and solo-ed the last 12 miles back to Banchory. Totalled out at 58.4 miles for the day. This is my fourth longest day ever. Takes me to 1998 bike miles for the year so far.

Sunday was an easy run just to finish out the miles for the week. I say easy but my legs were really suffering from Saturday so it was a bit of a struggle to drag round. Got my miles in for the week though. 

It has been a while since I had a week where I have done decent swim, run and bike miles. Definitely suffering for it on Sunday evening. Did miss my chance for a race today, but not really bothered by it. Roads weren't great for riding on this weekend so wouldn't have felt comfortable pushing the TT bike, and still not sure if I am sick or not. Coughing and sore throat and a bit of a headache this morning.

Weight is back under target. But I have been eating junk all week so not sure how I have managed that.

So targets for last week (Week 47) were: 

Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. 
Get weight back under 80kg.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 2,000m in 56 mins.

Tuesday - Rest day.

Wednesday - 7.2 miles, 64 mins.

Thursday -  Cinema day - Frankenstein.

Friday - MTB at Kirkhill, 5.5 miles in 55mins.

Saturday - Ride with DTCC 45.8 miles in 3 hours 06mins. Solo ride from Aboyne to Banchory 12.6 miles in 47 mins.

Sunday - Run 5.8 miles in 52 mins. 10 mins of yoga.

Result - Swim 1.3 miles (2,000m). Bike 63.9 miles. Run 13.0 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 10 mins of wii yoga. 
Weight 79.5 kg

Training Plan - Week 48 - Nov 25 to Dec 1 - Updated

Short week this week as a couple of things are going to get in the way. Have adjusted what I can to fit in with other people. After this week I am looking at starting to increase the numbers fairly massively as I have most of December off work. Failure to use my holidays through the year means I have to use them all now.

I should pass through 2,000 bike miles some time this week. Currently at 1,998.
I should also pass through 623 run miles. Currently at 619. That may seem like an arbitrary number but it is the total from 2010, which was the lowest mileage I have on record other than last year's non-efforts. Still on course for 700 which would be a really good year.


Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mountain bike.

Wednesday - Night run at Kirkhill.

Thursday -  Date night.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Long-ish ride. Xmas Ball.

Sunday - Rest day (Probable hangover from works Xmas ball).


Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >30 miles. Run >6 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. 

Get weight back under 80kg.

Race Review - North District Cross-Country League, Elgin

Despite it being about half a mile from my parents house I have never actually raced on this course before. The North League race in Elgin has been held on several courses over the last 20 years. It has been on this course for a few years now. Last year it was all I could manage to go there and do a bit of marshalling. For the two years before I couldn't even have managed that much. 

This year I went for a haircut in the morning. Then parked my car at my parents house and mountain biked up to the start line. It is a mile uphill, nice easy 12 minute pedal, gave me a good warm-up. Then I had about 45 minutes to change and warm-up for the race start.

The race is 3 laps around a 2-mile course. The weather was crisp, but dry and not windy.

First lap started with a mass charge downhill and a quarter mile of land rover track in there is a sharp left turn and then it turns gently uphill, still on the land rover track. It climbs back up to level with the start then turns onto smaller rooted tracks and drops downhill again. This was more like what I have been used to at Kirkhill so I was pretty comfortable dealing with it. The rougher surface started to sort out some of the track and road runners and the field settled down a bit. Then the end of the lap the last quarter mile is uphill back to the start of the loop again. Total ascent on each lap is about 200ft, so it is by no means a hill race, but it isn't flat either. First lap done in 15 minutes. 

Second lap I was having a couple of problems. The major one being that I was getting a bit dizzy. I am going to put this down to the cold air, although I also wonder if Thursday's flu-jab might not have contributed a bit as well. This lap took 16 minutes 09 and I lost a couple of places. I wasn't really struggling with the pace or the course, I think I just wasn't working hard enough or wasn't breathing properly in the cold air.

By lap 3, I was able to get going again and I managed to start picking off a few places. There were a group of 5 runners ahead as I came to the end of the land rover track and I set my sights on catching them before the finish. I was gaining on them and I was still picking up the pace mile on mile, even going faster up the last hill. I got three of them but a couple of them had obviously kept a bit in the tank for the last lap as well and managed to hold off my attack. I finished uphill with my fastest mile of the day, and with a last 50 meter sprint to steal one more place on the line. 

Looking at the results I am a bit disappointed. 45:52 for a 6 mile cross country course, on a rough surface, and quite an up and down course is actually an ok time, but I was 56th in a race with only 71 finishers. The top-20 were 'proper' runners, no danger of getting near them. 20-40 were either decent club level cross-coutry runners or ex-'proper' runners, maybe back in the day I would have been in the mix with them but not nowadays. But from 40 down it was into the sort of people that I really should be able to easily compete with, being half way back through them was a bit disappointing. 

Also I had a bit too much left when I finished. I was just finished changing back into my biking gear as the heavens opened. Rather than go to the hall for tea and cakes I decided to just head straight back to my parents. Clocked the downhill mile in 4 minutes. Showing I definitely left too much in the tank.

Good to be able to go to a run-only race and not struggle with anxiety problems. Need to get along to some more of these this year. And at least get into the top two-thirds if not the top-half. 

Next race might be Inverurie Duathlon next weekend. Although it would have to be perfect weather for me to take the TT bike out and I don't want to race it on my road bike.

Training Review - Week 46 - Nov 11 to 17

Started Monday with what should have been an easy swim session. Turned out to be some pretty heavy sprint work. Good for a change though. 

Tuesday was a nice easy road run around Dyce. Nice steady 9 min/mile pace. Was struggling a bit with the cold air, but legs were fine. This session has become pretty much an easy recovery run after heavier weekend sessions. But it is keeping my running miles ticking over for the year. 

Wednesday I went for a run up Kirkhill in the dark again. Was a bit breezy, but good fun. Did my same 4 mile loop. Missed the Strava King of the Mountain on the long climb by less than a second! Slightly frustrated, but also I know that I can definitely have that one in the daylight.  I am definitely running as well off-road as I have done for a long time. It will be interesting to see how I go at the XC league on the weekend.

Thursday was Bikefitting. Then a cinema trip to Thor: The Dark World. Much better than the first Thor movie, and very inkeeping with the whole Marvel Avengers series.

Friday, took a rest day before racing. Did a bit of stretching, but not enough to constitute a session. 

Saturday, I went to Elgin to run the North District Cross-Country League. Parked at my parents house and mountain biked the mile to the course. Ran the race. Separate blog post to follow, probably about Tuesday. Then road a nice downhill mile home, in a sudden torrential storm.

Sunday, I was still a bit stiff from racing. Had a lie in. Then played some wii. Did do my core session and light weights to finish off the week. 

I also stuffed myself full of a massive thai take-out, which put me back over my weight target for the week. Back to the wrong side of the 80kg mark. 

So targets for last week (Week 45) were: 

Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. 
Keep weight under 80kg.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 1,900m in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Run 6 miles in 54mins.

Wednesday - Run 4 miles in 33 mins.

Thursday - Bikefit. Cinema day - Thor 2.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - North District Cross-Country League - Elgin. Race Review to follow.

Sunday - Rest day.

Result - Swim 1.2 miles (1,900m). Bike 7.6 miles. Run 16.0 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of wii yoga. 
Weight 80.5 kg

Training Plan - Week 47 - November 18 to 24

Sunday could be Inverurie Duathlon. That will be entirely based on the weather forecast though. Don't want to take my fast bike out unless the weather is pretty much perfect, and not into racing on the training bike these days.

Everything else is just ticking over for the week.


Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mountain bike.

Wednesday - Easy run or bike.

Thursday -  Cinema - Frankenstein.

Friday - Rest day. Or try to get saturday's session if Sunday's race looks likely.

Saturday - Long run or ride.

Sunday - Long ride or run. Or Inverurie Duathlon.


Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. 

Get weight back under 80kg.

Training Review - Week 45 - November 4 to 10

Monday, I went back to swimming with TPT. Session didn't really suit me. Too much single arm work and kicking. Adapted a lot of the session to suit myself. Did 2,250m and a few turns as well. Kick drills don't seem to have done my adductor problems any harm. If anything the workout has loosened it off a bit.

Tuesday I was planning to go for a short hill run, but decided to give the adductor pain another day of rest. It isn't affecting my walking any more but no sense in damaging it further. Went to visit my granny instead.
Movember is still going well.

Wednesday, I arranged to go mountain biking in the dark. Arrived much too early, so decided to sneak in a quick run first. Garmin says 2 miles, but it was out and back and it says 0.8 out and 1.2 back so something is amiss there. Anyway, it was a good 20 minute warm-up before biking. Then biking was good too. Was mostly just a tootle around the fire tracks on Kirkhill but a couple of quick blasts on the way back down were great fun. 

Thursday, cinema trip. Gravity. Hard one to assess. It is very predictable, but quite well done. No way it its the oscar qulaity performance that the papers are raving about, but it is worth sitting a couple of hours to watch.

Friday, I was planning to do some of my run miles but the traffic home took nearly 2 hours instead of the usual 20 minutes.

Saturday, no sporting as such, but I did borrow Dexter for the afternoon and we went for a trip to the top of Scolty hill. Claiming it against my run mileage as chasing Dexter up and down a hill is hard enough to be equivalent.

Sunday, the Kintore sunday ride group has restarted for winter. Big turnout this week with 21 bodies at the start. We split into 2 groups and set off. plan was 12 miles as easy groups, then 10 miles of team time trial practice, then 18 miles of group riding back to Kintore. Was a bit chilly to start but was actually a nice day once we were moving. Good starter to longer winter training.

Weight was at 79.5 kg on Sunday. Only just under target, but another success. Good week all in. 

So targets for last week (Week 45) were: 

Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >10 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. Keep weight under 80kg.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 2,250m in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Rest day.

Wednesday - Easy hill run 2(-ish) miles in 22 mins. MTB 6.3 miles in 54mins.

Thursday - Cinema day - Gravity.

Friday - Day off.

Saturday - Scolty walk, 2.6 miles. And some wii-ing.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday ride 42 miles, in 2 hours 58mins. And the light weights and stretching.

Result - Swim 1.4 miles (2,250m). Bike 48.3 miles. Run 4.6 miles. 0 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of wii yoga. 

Weight 79.5 kg

Training Plan - Week 46 - Nov 11 to 17

Forgot to write a plan again this week.

Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mountain bike.

Wednesday - Easy run or bike.

Thursday - Bike fitting. Cinema - Thor, The Dark World. (Well it is Thorsday!).

Friday - Rest day. Bit of stretching.

Saturday - North District Cross-Country League - Elgin. Also a bit of mountain biking involved in getting to and from the race.

Sunday - Long ride or mtb.


Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. 

Keep weight under 80kg.

Race Review - Kings Aquathon

I decided that I wanted to get at least some of my bike miles for the week so I decided to ride to and from the race to get a few miles in. This seemed like an ambitious idea in the cold but I got wrapped up a bit and off I went. About half way to the race the heavens opened and it seemed even more like a bad idea. I kept the pedal in fairly calm, saving my legs for racing.

I got signed in. Feeling like everyone's grandad as all the other competitors were students, and most of them were still giving their ages as x-teen. I packed away my biking kit and checked my run and swim gear. I realised I had forgotten my race belt but I let my engineering skills loose on the contents of my bag and pockets and constructed a new one.

Briefing started with an announcement that I hadn't expected (but should have if I had thought about it). This was to be the last ever Kings Aquathon. They are going to be moving across to the new aquatic centre in future. THe name of the race will change, and the run route will have to change as well. They think this is a good thing. I am not convinced that it will improve what has always been a good little race.

I got seeded in Heat 7 of 9. But more than half the field had declared times between 6:45 and 7:15 so it wasn't really a clear cut signal of where I was in the field. I still haven't seen the final results so I can't really tell how I went in terms of the general field. But I had the watches running so I know how I went as compared to me. 

My swim was pretty solid. Nothing spectacular, but well paced and clean. The other guy in my lane was off like a shot and I never got near him, but there were guys in the lanes either side that were only just sneaking away for the first few lengths and from about half way I was reeling both of them back in. 6:59 is not quite my fastest ever 400m swim, but it is within a few seconds, and without anyone to tow behind.

I had a bit of a faff in transition. I had purposefully set up near the door so I could make a last minute decision on clothes. Looking outside the rain was back on and I knew it was going to be cold so I put my cycling jacket on.

I came out of transition behind a few of the swimmers from my heat. But we were all quite close so it was a bit difficult to tell who was where. The first 400m or so is on grass and we had sorted out into a more likely race order. Last year's Aberdeen uni tri club captain was in front of me and pulling away. An Edinburgher was just behind me and tucked in close. 

It is three laps around the University campus. At the end of lap 1 I was starting to gain on the Aberdeen Uni guy in front as he was struggling with a stitch. I figured he had mistimed his run the same as his swim and pushed too early. Made the mistake of cheering/cajoling him to get a move on. He recognised it was me and put in a bit of a push, and once that got him moving again he warmed up and eased off and started to pull back out to about 100m of a lead. On the last lap my shadow from Edinburgh also decided that he fancied his chances. With about half a mile to go he passed me and started to ease out to a bit of a gap. I did up the pace to try and chase the pair of them but couldn't make much of an impression on the gaps. I ran about 22mins 30 according to my watch. 

I was pretty happy with my race. Swim was pretty close to what I am capable of. Run time was better than I expected. Run was more comfortable than I expected. And to top all that I coped with the crowds of strangers much better than I have done over the last couple of years.

Riding home from the race was the toughest part of the day. The weather had gotten really terrible. The drivers in Aberdeen are pretty terrible when it gets wet and grey and it was probably the most dangerous 6 miles I have done in the past few years. Survived it, with a bit of waving and swearing at some of the cars. 

Training Review - Week 44 - October 28 to November 3

Expect this to be a short week with hardly any free time. Going to be tough to find the bike miles especially.

Monday, the TPT swim session really didn't suit me this week, but Bucksburn have sorted out their lifeguards and gone back to their normal timetable. Went down and did a quick warm up and then 3 x 400m reps. Did attempts at tumble turns for the first two and touch turns for the last one. So it looks like at the minute my tumble turns are about 1 - 1.3 seconds slower than my touch turns. But even the slower version with the tumble turns would have been PB swims for 400m races last year.

Tuesday, I had another dull day at work and almost binned my evening run. So glad I didn't! Put my headtorch on and went for a short run at Kirkhill. Trying to rack up some elevation as part of the Strava 'Demand More Vertical' Challenge I decided to run from the main car park to the top of the tower and back. This is usually the loop I do with Dexter, so I figure I know it well enough to run it in the dark. It was still just about daylight when I started and I went off quite quickly, hoping to get most of the way round before having to resort to the torchlight. About a mile in I turned into an avenue through the trees and had to turn on the light. And about 25 metres further on a pair of deer ran across the path just in front of me. Not unusual to see big wildlife in the places I train, but two together is a bit out of the ordinary. And having them trot along just in front of me for about half a mile was absolutely unique and really amazing.

Wednesday I went back to Kirkhill with a couple of other people for another torchlit run. Was nearly as much fun. One of them made the mistake of pointing out a Strava segment that he was KoM on. He isn't any more. Even in the dark I can steal short KoM stages when I am feeling good. Just have to try and turn the good days into consistent days. 

Thursday, day off and a trip to the cinema. Went to se the National theatre production of Frankenstein with Johnny Lee miller as the Doctor and Benedict Cumberbatch as the monster. It is a strange experience to watch a play in the cinema but it was pretty good. Interestingly the same play but with the two leads in the opposite roles is on in 3 weeks time.

Friday was November 1st. I am signed up to do Movember this year. Donations welcome at: mobro.co/kevinmorice . I don't EVER ask for sponsorship for doing sporty things, otherwise I would bankrupt you all. So this is my alternative way of being charitable. And being honest it is entirely selfish. Cancer took my one of my grandad's and had a go at my dad a couple of years back, so the chances are it is coming for me at some point, and the more money spent on fighting men's health problems, the better for me. I will be adding daily photo updates to my movember page at mobro.co/kevinmorice. Here are the first few:

 Oct 31 Nov 1Nov 2  Nov 3


I did do a bit of wii yoga and some stretching to try and loosen off for racing.

Saturday, was Kings Aquathon. (Aquathon! I refuse to use Aquathlon, the added 'l' that is increasingly becoming the norm is ugly and unnecessary). Separate race review post for it. I decided to ride there and back as well. The way there was a bit cold but not too bad. The way back was a torrential storm. Aberdeen drivers are pretty terrible most days but they are even worse in the wet on a grey and dark day.

Sunday, the weather was terrible so road biking was out. Had a think about doing a run or some mountain biking. Legs weren't really having any of it though. Went into town and wandered round the shops for a bit. Was pretty much limping by the time I got home. Tried to stretch it out a bit in the evening but with pretty minimal success. Technically a good sign as it showed that I did race hard yesterday, but could do without that sort of reminder.


Weight at the end of this week is 80 kg. Right on my limit again this week. 

So targets for last week (Week 44) were: 

Swim >1 miles. Bike >50 miles. Run >8 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. Keep weight under 80kg.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim at Bucksburn. 1,200m in 25mins. (400m in 7mins 04)

Tuesday - Run 3.9 miles, 33mins.

Wednesday - Run 4 miles, 45mins.

Thursday - Rest day. Cinema - Frankenstein.

Friday - Rest day. Wii yoga and stretching.

Saturday - Bike to race 5.4 miles in 24mins. Kings Aquathon, swim 400m in 6mins 55 (need to get results to confirm), run 3.33 miles in 22mins 32. Bike home 5. miles in 25mins.

Sunday -  Rest day. Light weights and stretching.

Result - Swim 1 miles (1,650 m). Bike 10.8 miles. Run 11.2 miles. 0 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of wii yoga. 

Training Plan - Week 45 - Nov 4 to 10

The weather is already starting to interfere with training plans so from now everything will get fuzzy depending on how crappy the weather gets each day.

I have laid out my usual plan but will see how it goes each day. I am not riding enough at the minute, but the weather is unlikely to help that any time soon. If it doesn't get too severe I can still run and mountain bike in most conditions. 

Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mountain bike.

Wednesday - Easy run.

Thursday - Rest day. Or catch up with a missed session from earlier in the week.

Friday - Cinema day?

Saturday - Long run or ride.

Sunday - Long ride or run.


Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >10 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30mins of wii yoga. Keep weight under 80kg.