Training Review - Week 22 - May 27 to June 2

Monday was a shit start to this week as well. Had to quit swimming early again. Back and shoulder cramped up for the third week in a row. I don't even know how much I did this week. I was definitely up to 850m when I stopped the session. Then I tried to paddle up and down to try and ease it off and to get some easy distance in but couldn't even manage that.

If it happens again next week then I am going to take a break from pool swimming for a while. This also really bites at my depression. I know I am swimming well, both open water sessions last week were really good. I can't really understand why the pool sessions keep going so badly wrong.

I am not getting anywhere near enough sleep either. So I am exhausted all through the week. This makes me grumpy all the time, which means people behave differently around me and this in turn makes me more depressed.

Tuesday didn't get any better. Didn't have anyone planned to train with, so just didn't bother. Then whilst making my dinner I twisted my knee bending to get pork chops out of the oven. Have it all strapped up and a bag of ice on it now. A handful of pills has taken the edge off but it still aches underneath that and my back and shoulder and hip are all still tight from yesterday as well. This might be what caused the knee to go as it is on the same side.

Being depressed is also messing with my eating habits. As well as missing training days I am eating all the time, or not at all. I eat junk between meals, I eat big meals, and I am still hungry so I eat more junk. Then because I am feeling fat and bloated I get more depressed, that makes me feel empty again and I go and eat some chocolate and crisps to cheer me up. Then other days I just don't eat at all, and don't even notice till it gets to bed time and I realise I haven't had anything.

Wednesday I was still having a crap day. Dragged myself out to Knockburn after work. Did the same run as last week but struggled every step and still went nearly 6 minutes slower. Then swam two laps, each a minute slower than last week. On the plus side, I did drag myself out and do the session.  

The depression and the lack of sleep is messing with my concentration and memory again. Struggling at work sometimes. Have caught myself a few times this week getting to places and not remembering the drive there. That is dangerous enough in the car but could have been even worse when I found myself half way through an open water swim and had no idea what I was doing and would be even worse if it was to happen on the bike. 

Had to go to the Doctor for something else. He said take a month off the bike, then changed his mind to two weeks, then changed his mind to, "just don't be silly about the miles and stop if it hurts". All those changes without any active prompting from me. Either he reads faces very well, or he decided that there was no need in the first place.

Thursday I put the TT bike on the turbo for 15 minutes just to fiddle about a bit with my position and to check everything over before racing it on Saturday. Also checked that the cadence sensor was working with my Garmin. Seems that I have to reset it every time I switch between bikes. Bit annnoying but workable. But for all intents and purposes this was another day off. Did do my core session though.

Friday I kept my planned rest day before racing on Saturday. Did my stretching session.

Saturday I went to Ming the Merciless Duathlon which I will cover in a race report. So just the numbers here.  

Sunday I took the TT bike out again. Moved the seat back to where it was on Wednesday night. Then comfortably roared along at 17mph for 47 mins, despite barely being able to walk up and down stairs this morning. Wish I had biked anything like that yesterday. 

For the week I should be fairly disappointed. I barely made my bike target, and didn't make any of the others. But instead I am really chuffed. The long run on Saturday went better than I could have hoped. The missed miles from Tuesday and the stretching and core sessions were due to depression rather than injury or tiredness and they would have taken me easily clear of targets. The swim target as a bit greedy for just two sessions when I have had recent pool problems and was under time pressure to get to the Doctors on Wednesday.

So targets for last week (Week 22) were:

Swim >2 miles. Bike >45 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions. 

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT, 1,000m?

Tuesday - Nothing.

Wednesday - Run 4 miles, 36 mins. Outdoor swim 1,200m, 26mins.

Thursday - 15 mins on turbo, ~ 3 miles. Core session

Friday - Rest day. Stretching session.

Saturday - Ming the Merciless Duathlon. Run 14 miles, Bike 29 miles.

Sunday - Easy ride on TT bike. 47 mins, 13.5 miles.

Result - 

Swim 1.4 miles (2,200 m). Bike 45.5 miles. Run 18 miles. 1 core and 1 stretching sessions.

Training plan - Week 23 - June 3 to June 9

TT bike position needs some serious work so going to try and get out on it a few time through the week before racing it at Knockburn next Sunday.

Monday - Swim with TPT. Stretching session. I want to miss this session for a week to avoid the risk of having to quit it early for a fourth week in a row. But it is the TPT AGM just before it so I have to go out to Inverurie anyway. If I have to quit early this week then I am going to miss the next two weeks.

Tuesday -  Long run. Core. 20 mins on TT bike.

Wednesday - Open water swim. Short run. Stretching. 

Thursday -  Easy bike on TT bike.

Friday - Easy bike on TT bike.

Saturday - Rest day. Stretching. 

Sunday -  Knockburn Sprint Triathlon. 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run. (12 miles and 3 miles).

Target totals - Swim >2 miles. Bike >40 miles. Run >14 miles. 1 short core and 1 short stretching sessions. 

Training Review - Week 21 - May 20 to 26

Monday - Shoulder and back still hurt. Did about 2/3 of swim session. But had all but given up after 10 minutes and was just paddling lengths instead of doing the prescribed session.

Tuesday - Kwik fit refused to MOT my mondeo because 50 miles of fuel "might not be enough". Then told me I need to rebook, but they can't do it for a month, then tried to charge me for the MOT they hadn't done. Told them to fuck off and had a rant at their customer services. Engine management light came on in the Range Rover. Warranty phone line doesn't get answered. Was meant to go mountain biking but adjustable seat post is broken. Only used it once. Had another rant at Wiggle. 

Wednesday during the day was pretty terrible. Went out to Knockburn anyway with a view to at least doing something. Met a couple of friends there who were about to go in the water. Decided to stick with my run first so got changed and went out for a basic 4-mile loop. That is now over 300 run miles for the year.

Then I had a go in the water. It was pretty cold still, but once I was going it wasn't too bad. Managed two laps, both under 12 mins. Either one of those would have been my fastest lap last year, and neither of them were pushing particularly hard.

Thursday I planned a quick brick before going to the cinema. Cinema got cancelled, but kept the short brick. Did a quick 5k on the treadmill then an easy 5 miles on the exercise bike. Then went to help a friend move house. Feeling much better than Tuesday already.

Friday. Weekend plans have got a bit out of hand, so need to keep my rest day today. Went to Hangover 3, not great, but worth sitting through for the bit after the credits. Then my best friend said she was leaving the country for at least 3 months. Probably not the best week for that. 

Saturday, well I mentioned above that the weekend plans had got out of hand. So Saturday I was talked into going for an 85-mile bike ride. I spent a while coming up with a nice route that should have looked like this.

Unfortunately I didn't quite know it well enough, so we ended up doing this instead: 

Turns out that the route we actually took is 90.5 miles instead of the planned 85. And also turns out that shooting along at 17mph for the first 2 and a half hours has consequences when it gets hilly later.

A couple of weeks ago I did my previous longest ride ever and produced a list of new top performances  but this ride eclipses the biggest ones:
Longest bike ride ever - 90.5 miles, (previous was 81.2 miles).
Longest time ever for a single exercise session 6 hours 28mins, [the 5:54 it shows above excludes stops] (previous was 5 hours 16 two weeks ago).
Second most climbing on a single ride 4,124 ft? Think Strava has this wrong as today was definitely more hilly than the 81 that they think holds this. 

But that is only half a weekend. And it didn't kill me. So Sunday I was talked into going for a ridiculously long run and a swim to finish out my week. The idea was to run about 16miles then swim one. However, the weather and a bit of common sense made an appearance at about the 7 mile mark on the run. I was really struggling with the heat and the tired legs from Saturday so bailed out at 8 miles, and walked the last mile back to the car park. Then managed to go in for a swim but took two easy laps and decided that was enough for the week.

So the totals for the week come out a bit short of targets. Stretching and core sessions are done on my own, when I feel like it, so they were always going to be first to fall off if I had depression problems. But the numbers include a stupidly long bike ride on the Saturday and three swims, including two outdoors. After such a bad start to the week and missing Tuesday with the broken bike it was good to end up so close to the targets.


So targets for last week (Week 21) were:

Swim >2.5 miles. Bike >65 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions. 

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 1,250m in 45 mins.

Tuesday - Nothing.

Wednesday - Run 4.0 miles, 30mins. Outdoor swim 1,200m in 24 mins.

Thursday - Treadmill run 3.11 miles, 24 mins. Exercise bike 5.0 miles, 16mins.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Bike 90.5 miles. 6 hrs 28mins.

Sunday - Run 8.4 in 1 hour 18. Outdoor swim 1,200m in 34 mins.

Result - 

Swim 2.3 miles (3,650 m). Bike 95.5 miles. Run 15.5 miles. 0 core and 0 stretching sessions.

Training Plan - Week 22 - May 27 to June 2

Monday - Swim with TPT. Stretching session.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mtb. Core.

Wednesday - Open water swim. Short run. Stretching. 

Thursday -  Brick. Core.

Friday - Rest day. Stretching. 

Saturday - Ming the Merciless Duathlon. 
Think it is about 12 run and 30 ride. Taking the new bike for a proper test ride. Not counting this against my target for setting PB's in races as I will be doing long-long version this year while I did short-short version last year.

Sunday -  Long ride or long run. Core.

Target totals - Swim >2 miles. Bike >45 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions. 

Back again

So the depression is back.

It has been creeping up for a couple of weeks now but it hasn't been anything like as bad as before and has been coming and going, so I didn't think it was really back, just maybe that I was a bit tired or something. 

I think it is probably related to the back and shoulder pain I have been having that is messing with my training, but not sure which was the cause and which the effect. Pain and tightness affects training, not training properly affects adrenaline and other hormone levels, imbalances cause more stress and more shaking, shaking increase pain and tightness, pain and tightness affects training....

But today is pretty much as bad as it has been for about 18 months. I have had the leg shakes for about 3 hours straight now and they aren't getting any less. This is in turn causing my hip and back and neck to get even tighter.

Being called fat yesterday certainly didn't help either. It has taken me a long time and a lot of hard work to get up to this weight and keep it stable. 

Having both cars and 2 bikes all break in the same day has been the final straw. No idea how I am getting to work tomorrow. Pretty sure that I don't even want to go, which is a bit stupid as I have been fine when I am at work.

Training Review - Week 20 - May 13 to 19

Monday I was having big problems with cramp during swimming and couldn't get rid of it.  Eventually gave up the session early. That is two days in a row I have had to quit swim sessions. For different reasons, but not a trend I want to continue. The cause of the cramp seems to have been my shoulder and back tightening up. So next stretching session I will specifically target back and shoulders

Tuesday I expected to struggle on my run after monday's back problems. And wearing the same shoes as Sunday so thought I might have the same trouble with blisters. But no such problems. The last few weeks have definitely been a step change in my running. 1 hour / 7 mile runs are suddenly feeling really easy. Did my 10-minute stretching session, then did another 5 minutes of back and shoulder stretches.

Wednesday I did a really short brick in the gym. Just had enough time to clear my legs out before going to see Star Trek Into Darkness again.

Thursday I went for an easy brick with a friend. I took the shiny new TT bike for it's first proper outing. Did an easy 17 miles in just over an hour, but 95% of that was just sat up, having a chat and turning the pedals. Even without pushing it or spending much time on the aeros it is still clearly quicker and rolls along the road better than my normal road bike. Then straight off the bike went for a 1 hour run. Covered 7.3 miles in just over an hour. Similar pace to Tuesday evening runs but managing that off the bike was good.

Friday I had a proper rest day. It was properly boring. I did a core session in the evening.

Saturday morning I went for an easy solo ride. Planned 30 miles but the weather was hard work in the wind and the rain was just starting to get worse as I neared home on my loop, so didn't bother with trying to add extras and rolled home in just under 23 miles.

Sunday I went for a long run. Still not quite figured out how to tie the loops around Dyce and the airport so my planned 9 turned into 9.5, would have been 10 if I hadn't taken a last minute shortcut. Some training days you learn new things. I still get a lot of these on bike and swim days but I don't often get these on running days at 22 years in. But I do occasionally relearn old things that I had forgotten. Today I relearned that a big bag of peanuts should not be consumed the night before a long run.

I was planning to round out my week by riding to the pool and grabbing the rest of the swim that I cut short on Monday but the pool was closed. I did put in my remaining core and stretching sessions for the week. And I did a XX second plank.

I am still having some problems with my shoulder and back since Monday, I have been trying to self massage the bits I can reach and stretch the rest but not really making any improvement. So I have given up and strapped myself up with the electric shock machine for an hour to see if that helps.

For the week I am slightly down on bike and swim numbers. But highest run mileage since a similar week January, and spread over only 3 and a bit runs instead of 5.


So targets for last week (Week 20) were:

Swim >1 mile. Bike >50 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions. 

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 1,000m in 35 mins.

Tuesday - 7 miles run in 62mins.
Stretching session, with extra back and shoulders.

Wednesday - Short Gym brick. Exercise bike 12 mins, 4 miles. Treadmill 12 mins, 1.5 miles

Thursday - TT bike, easy 17.1 miles, 1 hr 10. Run 7.3 miles, 1 hour 4. Stretching session.

Friday - Rest day. Core session.

Saturday - Easy ride 22.7 miles, 1 hr 31mins.
Core session.

Sunday - Long run 9.5 miles, 1 hr 24 mins.
Plank 40s
Core session.
Stretching session.

Result - 

Swim 0.62 mile (1,000 m). Bike 43.8 miles. Run 25.3 miles. 3 core and 3 stretching sessions.

Training Plan - Week 21 - May 20 to 26

Slight change of plan for this week. In addition to the normal sessions I considered going to the Highland Warrior Half-Ironman, and then just going round it as a training session. But having discussed with a friend we decided it would suit our wallets and training schedules better just to do our own fake half-ish distance with chances to warm up between swim and bike rather than trying to cope with the cold. Our races should both be in warmer conditions so biking cold and wet is pretty pointless as a training experience.

Monday - Swim with TPT. Stretching session.

Tuesday - *Change of plan - MTB at Kirkhill.* Core.

Wednesday - Swim or open water swim. Optional short run. Stretching. 

Thursday -  Short gym brick or run. Core. Cinema trip to Hangover 3.

Friday - Rest day. Stretching. 

Saturday - Long triathlon session. Open Water Swim ~1 mile, Bike ~50 miles, Run ~10 miles.

Sunday - Recovery day. Easy run. Core session.

Target totals - Swim >2.5 miles. Bike >65 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions.