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.