Training Plan - Week 51 - December 16 to 21 - REVISED

Strange week this week trying to fit in a 5k swim race on Saturday but still being on holiday all week. Will hopefully manage to fit in a whole week by cramming more earlier in the week and still making it out on the bike on Sunday as well.

May throw in a load of other sessions to suit other people's training as they start to drop off work for Xmas.

Updated for new plans.


Monday - Easy run. Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy road bike. And easy run.

Wednesday - Easy run or mtb. And swim.

Thursday -  Short run. Date night.

Friday - Rest Day. Stretching.

Saturday - 5k swim race.

Sunday - Long ride.


Target totals - Swim >4 miles. Bike >50 miles. Run >12 >18 miles. 2 short core, 2 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 90mins of wii yoga. 

Keep weight under 80kg.

Training Review - Week 49 - December 2 to 8

Monday was a crap day at swimming. Was struggling with my collar bone during the warm up. Was aching before I had even gone 100m. Hoped it would ease off so kept going, but instead it just started pulling my back out of line. Both hamstrings started cramping up and my style got so bad that I was getting mouthfuls of water on every stroke. Bailed on the session at about half way. That leaves me short of the swim miles I need to make my end of year target. Will now have to try and fit in an extra swim somewhere before the end of the year. 

Tuesday, light weights and a bit of stretching.

Wednesday,  light weights and a bit of stretching.

Thursday, date night and a trip to The Family. Not great but not terrible. 

Friday, was cold and wet and I fell asleep after I got home form work. 

Saturday, was another Xmas dinner. 

Sunday, I had a massage, which helped my back a lot. Then got a headache and did nothing. 

No wonder I am still as fat this week. Virtually no exercise and too many fancy dinners. Fortunately on holiday now, so no excuse not to train during the day. 

So targets for last week (Week 49) were: 

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

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 1,300m in 39mins.

Tuesday - Light weights and stretching.

Wednesday - Light weights and stretching.

Thursday -  Date night / cinema day - The Family.

Friday - Day off.

Saturday - Day off. TPT Xmas Dinner.

Sunday - Day off.

Result - Swim 0.8 miles (1,300m). Bike 0 miles. Run 0 miles. 0 short core, 2 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of wii yoga. 
Weight 81.5 kg

Training Plan - Week 50 - Dec 9 to 15

After last week's laziness I need to get back into gear before it turns into a long gap and gets harder to start back. I am not at work for the rest of the year so I can go out and do something every day. 

I am going to try and get 2 extra swims into the week, and to go long on both of them. This is with a view to possibly doing a 5k swim race on the 21st.

May be limited by the weather in terms of long rides. the long range forecast looks fairly tame for the week, but will see how accurate it is.


Monday - Easy run. Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy road bike. Or mountain bike and run brick.

Wednesday - Long swim.

Thursday -  Short run. Works Xmas lunch (Another one of many). Date night.

Friday - Long swim.

Saturday - Long run. Xmas Jumper Party

Sunday - Long ride.


Target totals - Swim >2.5 miles. Bike >60 miles. Run >15 miles. 2 short core, 2 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 90mins of wii yoga. 

Get weight back under 80kg!

Training Review - Week 48 - Nov 25 to Dec 1

Easy start to the week with Monday's swim session. Sets of 100m reps at increasing speeds. Managed to accidentally put in my fastest ever 100m at the end in 1:37 without feeling particularly quick. Will try and sneak a faster 100m time trial in somewhere in the next few weeks. 

Tuesday, I was knackered from not sleeping, and a bit sniffly. Still can't tell if I have a bug or not as it still hasn't come to anything. Did a full stretching session.

Wednesday was running in the dark at Kirkhill. New route, bit shorter and wetter than I would have liked, but still good. Finally got a tour of the infamous standing stones. Tried to garmin them but they are too close together and garmin isn't sensitive enough.


Thursday was date night again. Went to see Hunger Games 2. Better than the first one. Still shot full of holes in the story that make no sense.

Friday, I had a friend round testing my TT bike for size. I put it on the turbo trainer for him, and should really have gotten on it myself after he left, but to be honest, I just hate the turbo, so I didn't bother. The weather outside was much too nasty even to go for a run.

Saturday was the last day of movember. Here is the last of the photos. The full set and the place to leave your donations are here.

Didn't want to do anything too severe in the exercise front as I had my work Xmas ball at night. Went for an easy run in the morning, just round the block of Dyce for 3.6 miles. My running style at the minute is still a terrible shuffling mess. Started to do some work on it during this run. Going to try and makes some changes to it through December. 

Sunday, was a bit of a hangover. Nothing too severe though, so I did manage to go out for an afternoon run. Just another short and slow effort though. Just under 4 miles. Takes me over 10 miles for the week, which at least makes the running numbers sensible. I did stick in some light weights in the evening. 

Not been on the bike all week though. And done nothing on core or flexibility.  

Weight is a problem this week. I have managed to put on 5 lbs through the week. Partly a low exercise week, partly enjoying too many pre-xmas treats. All you can eat buffets twice in a low mileage week is not a good idea. 

So targets for last week (Week 48) were: 

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. 
Keep weight under 80kg.

Actuals were:

Monday - Swim with TPT. 1,700m in 51 mins.

Tuesday - Rest Day.

Wednesday - Run at Kirkhill. 3.3 miles in 38 minutes.

Thursday -  Cinema day - Hunger Games 2. Better than Hunger Games at least.

Friday - Day off. Weather.

Saturday - Works Xmas Ball. Easy run, 3.6 miles, 29 mins.

Sunday - Easy run, 3.8 miles in 32 mins.

Result - Swim 1.1 miles (1,700m). Bike 0 miles. Run 10.7 miles. 0 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of wii yoga. 
Weight 81.5 kg

Training Plan - Week 49 - December 2 to 8

Still didn't make my 2,000 bike miles after not biking at all last week. So should cross that off this week. Doubt I will do the Turkey Trot on Sunday, but it is there if I change my mind. On holiday from Friday until January.

Also need to do something about my weight. As well as putting on a chunk last week I have added over 2 inches to my waist measurement since the start of October. 


Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday -  Easy run or mountain bike.

Wednesday - Night run at Kirkhill.

Thursday -  Date night. Works Xmas lunch (one of many).

Friday - Rest day. - Last day of work for 2013.

Saturday - Long ride or run. TPT Xmas dinner.

Sunday - Long run or ride. Or Lossiemouth Turkey Trot?


Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >30 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 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.