Frustration!

I am a frustrated man! I ran and completed some swim drills on Monday of this week but since then I have not been well. I can't seem to shift the flu-like symptoms that I have at the moment. I have managed a couple of swim drill sessions since Monday, but that is all I have done. I don't want to train when feeling rotten as I know that my body will react in a very bad way. However, mentally, when I can't train, I am not a happy bunny! My frustration grows day by day and my bike sits in the garage ..............unused and ready to go, complete with new race blade mud guards to fend off the ever present rain.

I am posted back to RAF Wyton on Monday. This means that I will have to re-work my training routine. This should not be too difficult and the change will probably do me good. I will, however, maintain the short and sharp methods.

i hope to make the Sunday ride with the club but if I am not 100% I will join the more leisurely group to ensure that I do not push myself too hard.

Train well bloggers

Frostbite? Not Any More!

After my finger numbing frost bite ride last Sunday, I am trying these serious winter gloves!

Pincertastic!!! report to follow ............................

Weather Blues!

Wow! The weather was so bad yesterday - long ride day. I peered out of the window at 0730 and there was a thin covering of snow and a brisk wind blowing. Undeterred, I prepared for my 3 mile spin into St Ives to meet the rest of the St Ives CC members. I have joined the club now and can call my new cycling buddies team members! The weather didn't improve much as I gingerly rode onto the rather slippery roads. The snow did stop. However, sleet and rain soon replaced the snow. The wind was very icy and I was numb before I arrived at the meeting point!

I recharged my enthusiasm by thinking of how many competitors may skip training due to the weather. Off we set. I can honestly say that the conditions were the worst that I have ridden in. There was a coffee stop planned at 33 miles but it seemed to be taking an age to get there - it was slow going! We started off as a group of 14. We were down to 6 by the time we stopped at the Little Chef (they do a nice cappuccino.....but any hot drink would have tased great!). The other guys turned round way before the stop, and that left 6 of us to crawl into the Little Chef to cry as our hands thawed out - that was painful. My hands were so cold I could not change gear; even breaking became difficult. After the stop the weather did improve and the sun even came out! Even so, I was tired and the 65 miles in total seemed far harder than the 73 of the previous week. Does anyone make a glove for cycling that is actually half water proof and keep your hands warm! I bought some dhb gloves for £16 and they are no better than my Aldi gloves that cost me £2.50!

Well that was 2 paragraphs of whinging! No sympathy required, as it was all self inflicted - that's what I tell Julie and she happily agrees with me!

Friday's training was ok(ish). My legs were still too sore from the conditioning session I did on Wdnesday to complete a decent 2 x 20 min turbo session. So I selected the same Wattage of 270W and completed 2 min effort and 1 min recovery continuous. After that I did 3 x 1 mile in cold and windy conditions. I eased into these and opened up on the last rep - 6:08, 6:00, 5:41.

Now that I seem to be struggling to recover within the limitations of a single week, I am discarding the number 7 from my training week! No more squeezing everything into a week. I will now complete the scheduled workout when I feel that I am completely rested. This should avoid this fatigue that I have started to wake up to!

Later bloggers.

Conditioning

I'm not talking about hair treatment here!

Over the past 2 years I have attempted to complete a full winter of conditioning - strength training to work those neglected body parts for overall conditioning. However, I have always ceased strength work before Christmas because it got in the way of training! I was either too sore to run or felt like I was missing out on biking! This winter I want it to be different. So, I have incorporated running and biking into my conditioning routine! No excuses to stop conditioning before Christmas now!

The routine follows a small circuit that is repeated with no rest apart from changing bike shes etc:

10 mins warm up on turbo

Stretch

20 rep squats

3 mins tabata intervals on turbo

5 min run as 30 sec fast feet/30 sec jog

Press ups

Abs

Lat pull downs

Abs

I make sure that I use high reps for all exercises. Weight is added slowly. For squats, a key exercise, I am nearing body weight so it is getting harder. But it is the combination of squat/tabata/run that is really lung busting. I maintain 30mph for the tabata intervals but increase the squat weight. Many years ago I used to be big into weight lifting (you can tell eh!) and squatting comes quite naturally to me when I get back to pumping iron. I have squatted 140kg for 20 reps but I am not going to get any where near that at my present bodyweight! Anything beyond bodyweight is decent lifting for 20 reps, especially when completing 2 sets with tabata intervals inbetween! anyone else doing strength stuff?

So, again, I am doing something different in the hope of stimulating speed gains. Each week I am running off the bike at least twice after hard bike stuff. If I can't get into my running quickly in races after this winter, then it will never happen!

Changed the structure of the blog slightly over on the right of the page. My training buddies have all left me so they are history - sorry guys; it was good while it lasted but I have new buddies now 8-)

Also, check out the link to Calvary Chapel Cambridge. if you are in the Cambridge area check in with Joey. There must be few people with gifts that this guy has when it comes to understanding God!

Catch you later bloggers

Eureka Moments

Ever heard of Eureka moments? It's that moment when things come together and suddenly 'click'! At my Swimshack session today I had my very first Eureka moment - way to go! The session started by checking previous drills and balance work. I had brought in a couple of bad habits that were soon rectified but boy did mastering these tweaks make a difference! That wasn't the Eureka moment though. That came as I moved onto skating drills - this is the position shown in the water on my previous post. It's not as easy as it looks; maintaining balance is the key. The next move is to rotate and switch to the opposite side by utilising your core (not by pulling through with a swim stroke). The arm that is hanging out in front does stroke as per a normal swim action but it does so gently, not as an anchor to pull the body. Sounds weird eh?! However, it is the first step to bringing a new swim stroke. It felt smooth and balanced and I have so many focus points that I can't list them here! Five more months and I am much more confident that I will make improvements over a 1500m swim.

Yesterday I rode with St Ives CC again and covered 72 miles. The ride out was quite sedate and I found it difficult to keep warm. On the return leg a few guys were keen to liven things up a bit. Initially, I let them go, not wanting to ride to hard myself. After a while I decided to test the legs but be mindful of not going mad. I was able to cruise the hills whilst the guys around me were blowing rather more vigorously! This is good and shows that I am on track. What I need to do is not push myself too hard and hold back sufficiently so as to ensure recovery takes place. I am really enjoying these rides, despite the bad weather recently!

Suppose I had better get some running done! I sometimes wish there were 28 hours in a day and 10 days in a week!

On a different topic, I was speaking to a Christian friend of mine, David, who had visited my Blog. He is interested in ultra racing. The concept of ultra racing is totally crazy to me; however, it is fascinating to see what these guys go through. David recounted the fact that his son believes that running should be barefoot! Respect! I can't climb out of the bath without my feet hurting! Suffering during ultra racing seems to be at opposite ends of the body - feet and mentally! I would like to hear more about ultra racing and I know that Phil McNeil and Russ Watson have moved in this direction. Anyone out there happy to recount their experiences? I suppose Ironman Triathlon counts as ultra racing in my book!!

Must go - too many things to do!!

Training Moves On!

It's been a while since I detailed my training; so here is an update with the experiment! if you remember, I was attempting to train short and sharp and make small incremental improvements throughout the winter. This approach is different to what I have done in recent years, where I completed a base endurance phase bla bla..... the normal routine! The experiment may work, or it may make me over-trained and stale come race time next May!

Swimming

I attend my 4th Swimshack session on Monday. So far my balance drills are going well. However, I have deliberately reduced my fullstroke swimming to bare minimum; the idea being that I learn a new stroke. I just don't want to fall back into the old habits. So, I will continue to drill 25m, swim 25m until my Swimshack course ends in Jan 09. Then I will slowly build the distance and swim fitness back. The plan sounds logical! However, I worry that I am now unable to swim more than 100m without feeling wiped out! Time will tell whether I will be faster but I sure hope so! When i swim back the 25m I feel much better balanced and my legs are in a better position - get rid of that scissor kick when I turn to breath!

Biking

My biking seems to be going ok. I ride every Sunday with the local bike club, covering a consistent 70 miles. I do need to learn to not get sucked into race mode during these rides though! there have been some very hard rides that have wiped me out. I do one turbo interval sessions per week, alternating long and short efforts. I am up to 2 x 20 mins at 260W for long efforts and 4 x 60 mins at 305W - just completed this session today....ouch! i always run of the bike. If it is a long effort on the turbo then it is long efforts on the road; anything from 1k efforts to 1 mile. Today was short efforts on the turbo, so short efforts on the running of 6 x 400m with 1 min recovery. With a wind in one direction I covered the runs in 1:26, 1:20, 1:24, 1:19, 1:20, 1:15. I include 6 mins worth of turbo tabata intervals in my conditioning session...... 6 mins is enough......very hard!

Running

I am slightly concerned about my running as I am not doing that much. I run up to an hour steady on Monday and include some fast feet work in my conditioning programme. Then there's the run efforts off the turbo session and that is about it. i do plan to squeeze some cross country races in on Wednesdays when the Lincs Services Cross country League starts.

Conditioning

I continue with my conditioning and core work, but only once a week. It is a hard session, particularly the 20 rep squats/tabata turbo/fast feet run combo with zilch rest.

that just about summarizes the training. the key is to make small gains on the strength work in the conditioning, and small gains in power on the turbo efforts. Hopefully the short sharp run efforts will be enough to give me a decent run come race time.

C'mon bloggers, lets see what you have been up to!

Henlow 10

Today was the RAF Henlow 10 Mile Road Race. I have competed in this race for the last 2 years but this year I was organising the event. With 250 runners participating I knew that the task was not going to be easy. Oh how right I was! I now have a renewed appreciation for any race organiser! In fact, I would say it is easier to physically race in the event than organise it!

Thankfully, the event went well and everyone seemed to be happy with the race. The weather was sunny and cool, with a light wind. There were loads of RAF Triathletes running but I had little chance to catch up with anyone. I did mange to see Daz 'fast man' Sharpe finish in the top ten. I also saw Mike Masters come tearing round the final bend having a sprint finish with a female runner. It was neck and neck for about 70 metres and then Mike pulled ahead. Suddenly he remembered that he was a gentleman and he pulled up to let the lady finish in front of him - nice gesture Mike. Also in attendance were Jamie 'I'm not podgy' Elliot, Doug Malcolm, Simon Almond and Kelda Spratt. Si Almond was a great triathlon find a couple of years ago. He now seems to be in form and ready for a comeback. Also, Kelda raced well to grab second female overall. Sorry if I have missed anyone!

Must dash now. The pic shows Daz 'fast man' Sharpe (I call him that because I know that he hates it!) looking quite fresh after his sub-hour 10 miles! He obviously didn't try hard enough!

Cadence is Slow!

Completed 2 x 20 mins effort on my turbo today; followed that with 4 x 1k run efforts at ‘tempo’ speed. I am at 260W for the 20 min efforts. During the summer I was doing these at 290W. So I have some progress to make over the winter to hit at least 300W by race time. The 260W did hurt but getting into a groove is the key.

In a previous post I mentioned that I have taken to pushing a bigger gear at a low cadence. Today was the same. I felt much better pushing out 85 rpm in a bigger gear. Not sure if this is good or bad. Maybe by the summer I will need a larger chain ring! Incidentally, did anyone else see the article in last week’s Cycling Weekly about the guy who uses a 72 tooth chain ring!! His bike must look like it is carrying a spare wheel on the side! Anyway, I am now in search of a 55 tooth chain set for my race bike ……………..lovely!

My run efforts were ok but my legs are still aching from the conditioning session last Wednesday. I was consistent with 3:42 per kilometre which is ok since I had just stumbled off the bike. I feel nice and ‘worked’ now and ready for a rest day tomorrow before hitting the St Ives CC clubrun on Sunday – another 70 miles coming up.

Next Wednesday is the Henlow 10 mile road race. I have competed in this for the last 2 years but somehow I got roped into organising this years’ event! Hence I will not be running this year but I will be dashing around with my head on fire making sure all runs smoothly! Hope to see some of you bloggers at Henlow on the 12 November.

Train well. Blog well.

Why do we Like to Hurt Ourselves?!

It looks painful doesn't it? That's because it is. But why do we perversely enjoy it?! Is it the challenge of overcoming the race? who knows! I just know that I feel better if I hurt myself! That seems to cross over into training, where I am continually telling myself that I am weak. I completed my conditioning session yesterday and am slightly.....er.....ok.....very stiff today. This is wierd because I only increased the weights for squats slightly and kept the turbo efforts the same as previous weeks. Either way I can be satisfied that I hurt myself and I will adapt and be stronger!

What drives you bloggers to dip into the hurt zone....to pull funny faces in pain.....to dive into the hurt box?!! I'll let you into a secret. My motivation at the moment is improving enough to challenge:

a. Team Reardon. with all the high tech training approach young Andy has (not to mention the expense!), I would love to be at least close to him using my experimental, illogical over training methods!

b. Mat Stephenson as he makes a comeback attempt (though with all Mat's problems I would be more than happy to see him back to his best....where I would be no where near him!).

c. Beat......ok, realism....... get close to Daz 'fast man' Sharpe.

d. My aging process!

If I think that I am wimping out in a session, you guys are on my mind. Scary thought eh!

Bye!

The Lurgy!

Well, what was I saying about how things can change quickly when going well! I spent most of last week recovering from a flu type lurgy that my kids generously decided to share with me! I managed a run on Monday but knew that all was not well. I had to take Tuesday off work, which is very unlike me. needless to say, I had to rest the training also. So, with just a very easy session on Thursday, I returned today to ride with St Ives CC. I bagged another 70 miles and stuck to my plan of taking it easy. Lucky for me nobody else felt like putting in any big digs in and I was able to complete a relaxed ride.

Hopefully, I can get back to normal training this week. That said, I will have to concentrate on wrapping stuff up at work because I am posted back to Wyton in a few weeks. Not having to commute to Henlow will be nice but I will have to see how that land lies with training. I may have to rely on some early morning sessions to begin with. Swimming will be back at Huntingdon so no more personal pool time, like I had at Henlow! More news on the power levels during my bike sessions coming up.......

Train well bloggers