Week 55 Training log

Things are beginning to get a little tricky now that the kids are off school. I am now having to implement a plan which see me getting up for training around five in the morning to try and squeeze in a couple of hours before Joanne goes to work. Then, depending on what I did that morning and through the rest of the day I will try to get some time in when she comes home from work. Fortunately I have her blessing to carry this out because she knows how tough it is having the kids at home. Monday I was at a swimming gala with my daughter all day and we left early in the morning to get there, around six am. When we arrived home in the evening it was about seven and reluctantly I took myself on a one hour run. Tuesday and it was Joanne’s turn to do the gala run, only they didn’t have to be there quite so early. So I was able to fit in an early morning swim concentrating mainly on arm pull I covered about 2500 mts in the hour. I may have said this before but a swim first thing in the morning does wonders for you for the rest of the day. Later that morning I took the dog and my son into the hills. He rode his mountain bike and I run up the slopes. Paddy was way ahead of both of us and had to keep coming back to check on us, before heading off into the undergrowth with his tail in the air and nose fixed firmly on the ground. I was in second place while my youngest struggled with the slopes on his bike. We endured this for forty five minutes before deciding to turn back. The lad on the bike was close to tears by this point. Paddy looked on in disbelief as we turned back down the hill. (what, only half a walk today) Wednesday and my mother in law was kind enough to look after my youngest for a few hours while I got out on the bike. Jo and my daughter were at the gala for a few days and were staying over. This ride turned out to be one of the toughest training rides I’ve ever done. About a week ago I read an article about triathletes training ridiculously hard but were unable to shed any weight. The article went on to say that while you are training in this manner you take on a lot of carbs, for energy, and understandably so. The trouble is this, although the high amount of carbs isn’t responsible for any weight gain while you are training, they do make it a lot harder to lose any weight. This is a trap that I have fallen into. Before training in the morning I would fill up on oats with raisins and almonds, and on big training days I may have bagels as well. Lots of carbs. On completing the session I would sometimes have more porridge oats or rice pudding. None of which is bad food when your training hard but if your trying to shed a few pounds like I am, it’s too many carbs. The article says that lots of carbs or carbing up is great pre event, or before a mega session, but on a day to day basis you should be able to get enough energy from natural proteins and vegetables. Now, I was eating all this natural protein and vegetables, only trouble was, I was eating all those carbohydrates as well. As long as I was putting the hours in I didn’t gain any weight, but Ironman is just over six weeks away and I would now like to start reducing the excess baggage. So, breakfast now is eggs, scrambled or poached on one piece of toast, followed by fruit, perhaps three pieces. I think the reason for Wednesdays ride being so hard is that it was the first big session that I’ve done on the new diet and I missed the early performance benefits that the carbs used to give me. I headed up into the hills and at a few points within the first hour and a half I thought I may have to get off and push. Eventually the energy kicked in and things became easier but that first part was worrying. You wouldn’t want to race that way but I guess for training it’s fine. The ride consisted of a lot of up hills, long shallow ones, short steep one and long steep ones, there were a few down hills but each one of those led to an up hill again. I was meant to be tough and it delivered. I was hoping to get my race day sun tan on this ride but despite being very hot the sun was reluctant to come out from behind the clouds and I came home the same pale rider that I went out as. Thursday turned out to be a day of rest so I took my son and nephew to the beach for the afternoon with the dog. This was perfect, the boys could occupy the dog while I got to work on both resting and my tan. I slapped on the factor 15 and laid out. Cut a long story short, factor 15 was by no means enough and my race day tan is now more likely to be a race day peel. Friday and I was on the bike for 5:30 am, a beautiful morning was dawning and it felt great to have almost the whole road to myself. I enjoyed a fairly relaxed ride just above recovery rate and banked another thirty miles in the legs. Later in the afternoon I did a run of 1.15, partly cross country and partly road. A good combination day of ride, time to recover and then a run. Saturday was a full day of work so it was a rest day as far as training goes with a big day planned for Sunday. 6am Sunday morning I was on the road again for a four hour ride, a really nice ride. I fuelled up on a couple of bagels with jam so as not to have an energy lag early on. The ride felt good from the start and I had plenty of energy throughout the four hours. Like Friday I had plans for the afternoon. A few hours rest after the ride and Paddy and I went into the mountains for an extreme strength running session, 11 miles of hills off road. Just like Friday, an excellent combination day.

Week 54 Training Log

Week 54. Looking back over week 54 it was a bit of a disaster. A bad week of weather was forecast so it was going to be a case of dodging the rain. Monday, it was pouring with rain so I abandoned my 14 mile run and went to the gym for an hour and a half, working on muscular endurance. Tuesday was very much the same. Where I once had a 4 hour ride scheduled I now had another two and a half hours in the gym. One hour on the gym bike pushing a big gear at high cadence followed by one and a half hours on weights. My legs were shot. By Wednesday a pattern was emerging. Again my schedule said 3 hour ride and again I found myself in the gym. Working Thursday so I decided to give the muscles a rest. 5.30 am Friday and I was on the road on the bike for a swift ride focusing on power and speed, time trial mode. Followed this with a short brick run. Later in the day I attended the Masters swim class at the pool where I coach. That was probably going to be it for the week as I was away all weekend, but I found myself with time and energy on Sunday to fit in a 1 hour run. Thus ending a less than perfect week 54 training. There’s always another week. Can’t say that for much longer though.

Week 53 training log

Week 53. As the intensity increases it is becoming harder to maintain volume, never mind increase it. I found myself having to drop 2 hours in mid week but was thankful to get in the two hours that I did. I was having one of those mornings when you just don’t feel like it. I was tired from the early morning start the day before and generally just tired overall. I was due another 4 hour ride, the second of the week. I arrived home after dropping the kids off at school and sat in the car feeling sorry for myself, never a good start to the day. I Gee’d myself up and made up drinks bottles for the ride. I was about to go and get changed and the heavens opened. I ran outside to get the washing in and became almost immediately soaked. Back to feeling sorry for myself. So now I was wet, full of self pity and I couldn’t stop yawning. I thought, this is no good, I’m gonna fall asleep if I ride for 4 hrs like this. Time for plan B. Well actually plan B has always been, go back to bed. I needed plan C. I threw a bag together and an MP3 player and headed for the gym where I pounded the gym bike to within an inch of it’s life to the sound track of AC/DC, Slayer and Electric Six. I pushed a huge gear for as long as I could, then knocked the gears in half and peddled with one leg. After an hour of this my legs were screaming. Into the pool to try and see off the arms as well. I found myself doing timed 100s before slotting the pull bouy between my legs and and pulling for a further 1000 metres.

It wasn't raining on this day, That's just how wet you get on a dry day during a 14 mile run. These early morning run take there toll on you. It’s much harder to run when you’ve been laying down for 7 hours but the benefits are huge. Extra fat burning and completing an hours workout before the day has even begun. This is where it gets hard to fit in the volume. Although I have the time in the day, I’m struggling to increase my volume because the rise in intensity is leaving me so tired. The theory was simple, get up earlier twice a week and get in an extra 2 hours in a week. It simply doesn’t work like that, the body won’t allow it. Maybe over a longer period it will but not right now. I think this is where age may be a barrier. I’m not as young as I once was and as you get older your body tells you to rest more. I believe that if I was the same fitness as I am now but 10 years younger I would find it easier to increase the volume. The fact that after next week the kids are off school for the summer holidays isn’t going to help matters either. They go back to school 1 week before Ironman.

Week 52 Training log (1 year on)

Week 52, Oh my word, it’s been a full year of training and there have been many ups and downs. Week 52 however was mainly on the up side. Despite the weather and many soakings I was able to stick to the week’s schedule. It started Monday with a 14 mile endurance run. It was pouring with rain before I set off and I have to be honest, I nearly didn’t go, but I dug deep and put on my rain mac and off I went. I think the rain had gone through the mac before the end of the first mile. After the first three or four miles you almost forget it’s raining. The actual distance was just a little under 14.5 miles and I made it in 2 hrs 2mins which is a pretty good time for me. Perhaps the rain helped. Tuesday was an hour in the gym on the weights followed by a fast pace 2 hour ride on the bike. Again I was getting wet. Wednesday and it was the longest ride of the week at 3 hours. I had the Coastal Triathlon on the weekend so I didn’t want to burn myself out for that by doing silly mileage on the bike. At the same time I didn’t want to take the week off in preparation for the triathlon, it had to fit in to a full weeks training. Thursday was a bit of a mix up day. With some better planning and a look at the weather at the beginning of the week I could have saved myself some soakings. Thursday was the first dry day of the week and where was I? In the gym and the pool. One hour weights, fourty five minute spin on the gym bike, fifteen minute brick run on the treadmill then half an hour in the pool using upper body only. A chilax day on Friday to preserve some energy for the Triathlon. Saturday July 7th, Pembrokeshire Coastal Triathlon, 1500 m sea swim, 40 KM ride and a 10 K run . I was quite excited about this event, mainly because I felt no pressure on it. I had put it at the end of an eleven hour training week so I was treating it as another training day. The weather settled down in time for race day and it was a beautiful morning, quite a strong breeze but dry. Around 290 competitors lined up for the start on the swim and as the claxon sounded we all ran to the sea. It was a very busy start with bodies everywhere. For the first one hundred metres you couldn’t take two strokes without swimming into someone. It began to even out after the first bouy but still wasn’t as relaxed as I would have liked. I managed to pull ahead of the group that I was battling with and gained a few metres of open space to swim in. The Velcro on my watch strap began to come unstuck and soon it was hanging off my wrist. I had to stop pulling and re-fit my watch which put me back in the middle of the pack that I had just got out of. This happened four times during the swim. (Need a new watch strap). I finished the swim in a time of 27.07 mins. A very clean and swift transition and out onto the bike course. No drama on the route and overall I was very pleased with my pace, finishing the ride in 1 hr 32 mins. Another smooth transition into the run and off across the beach. The first part of the run took us up the coast path out of Broad Haven and it was murder. Up hill, slippy with large puddles. Impossible to get any kind of rhythm and within half a mile I had a bad stitch which forced me to stop for a minute or two. I carried on up the path to the first water station at about 3 K. I took on some water, ignoring the energy drink and the stitch began to feel a lot better. Just after the station we were back on the road and I was able to settle into a rhythm. Still a lot of climbing to go but when we reached the 7 Km mark it was nearly all down hill. Overall it was a really tough run course which I finished in 59 minutes. Overall my time was 3hours 2 mins. I had an hour and a half to get home and changed then I was off to work, how about that.

This diagram shows how the years training has been broken up into the various disciplines. Each column represents the hours in each sport.

Week 51 Training Log

Week 51. Started off on Monday morning with a spring in my step. This was it, the real work starts here, and it was a lovely day. Originally a pool swim was scheduled but as it was such a nice day I decided to head to the beach. 9,am it’s quiet at the beach, just a couple of dog walkers. So it’s no wonder that you get some funny looks when you walk down the beach in a wet suit and straight into the sea. I started steady and from the right hand side of Broad Haven and headed out away from sure for about 5 minutes. I lined myself up between two points, one behind me and one in front to aim at and set off towards Little Haven. The sea wasn’t as clear as it has been recently but we haven’t had the best of weather lately. I got out beyond the left hand point of Broad Haven and was soon in Little Haven waters, this is where the drama started. When you’re swimming in the sea, it’s easy to let your mind wonder and start scaring yourself. Every little thing you see out of the corner of your eye manifests it’s self into something that could potentially eat you. This seemed to be happening a lot today, I was quite twitchy and a little worried about my surroundings. Perhaps it was all a bit too quiet. Then I flinched, I’m sure I saw a jelly fish. I know I know, it’s just a jelly fish, but when you’re already twitchy, it doesn’t help. I watched my arm pull and noticed that I was creating an air bubble that was rising to the surface. Perhaps it was that which I saw. I watched the arm pull a little longer and reassured my self that’s all it was. Less than a minute later I felt something nudge my leg, not hard but just enough to feel it. OMG the mind started going ape. Sharks nudge before they strike, don’t they? Maybe a seal playing, in which case I wish it would sod off and play somewhere else, I was getting scared and at least 4 minutes from any kind of land. I don’t care how good you are at swimming, you aint going to out swim anything that wants to eat you, or for that matter, play with you, or play with you before it eats you. My heart was racing but I was conscious that I had to at least head for the nearest land but I also had to get back. If I headed for Little Haven beach I probably wouldn’t be brave enough to get back in the sea to swim back to Broad Haven, which would mean a barefooted walk in a wetsuit around the road. Almost at the same time that all this was flooding through my mind I took a stroke with my left arm and placed my left hand on something. ##@@#@’’+==#. !! That was it. I shot bolt upright with panic and immediately I could see that I was surrounded by jelly fish. I had to get out of there quick. I tuned back to Broad Haven and swam away as fast as I could. This whole thing must have looked hilarious from the houses on top of the headland. I imagined that they could see the jelly fish before I got there and were just waiting for me to swim into them. Yeah, very funny. I soon burnt out and had to slow down but by then I was well clear. Gonna have to get my head into shape again before I go in the sea again.

I went home and rested for a while before heading out on a two hour run. This was tough, still feeling the fatigue from previous sessions. I’m breaking in some new trainers as well so that may have had some thing to do with it. Tuesday and it was back in the gym for a weights session then rested for the rest of the day. Wednesday and I was off on the bike in the rain for a 4 hour ride. My objective was to perform a negative split. (Complete the second half of the ride faster than the first.) The course was 64 miles so after 32 I checked the time. 2hrs 2 min. All I had to do was get back i9n 2hrs or less. I started off well, then I got to the hills. I eventually returned home in a second leg time of 2 hrs 3 min. Not quite there but I was spent. At least it was consistent. A busy day on Thursday with lots to do, so an early start was needed. In the gym for 6.15am, not my local gym I must add, but one a few miles away. More strength work on my poor legs. They had already stated that they had had enough this week, but my general rul is, as long as I’m sleeping, then I keep going, unless I’ve slowed down to an almost stop. Home then for some breakfast, porridge with almonds and raisins with golden syrup, mmmmm. Take the kids to school then out on the bike in the rain for some hill work for an hour. Stick it in a big gear and grind up the hill several times. After an easy ride home on some shaky legs, a quick dry off then down to the pool to give my upper body a pasting, it only seems fair after the legs have had so much grief lately. An hour of pull with the hand paddles. My shoulders and triceps were aching something terrible after this session. That was it for the day. I headed home after a shower and had some lunch followed by a sneaky half hour snooze. After a hearty meal of two helpings of my mother in laws Lancashire Hot Pot and I think three helpings of Swiss apple pie a good nights sleep was called for. A chance to recharge the batteries for Friday. This consisted of a fast ride for 1:45 hrs followed by a brick run of 30 mins. It was designed to be a kind of race simulation of next weekends Olympic triathlon in Broad Haven, yes swimming in Broad Haven again. That will be it for this week, I’ll give myself the weekend to recover before we start all over again next week.