February

HUSBAND, FATHER, WRITER, PAINTER and ageing athlete who hasn’t quite hung up the lycra.

Week 6

Weight 70kg

 

February 1st Monday

1hr lunchtime turbo 22.5 C

15 warm up steadily increasing cadence and effort.

10x2min max efforts. 1 min recovery in between.

15min high cadence spinning and 1leg drills to finish.

Power numbers still dodgy but a good session and best effort was last one.

1hr evening club swim.

Very tough. Think I swam OK.

Tot 2hrs 1B 1S       

 

Tuesday 2nd Feb

1hr mid morning swim.

Continuous swim with paddles. Concentrating on technique. Very tired from last night.

Tot 1hr S

 

Wednesday 3rd

2hr turbo

20 C, morning. 1bideon (know me cycling me) water.

Steady effort first hour. Followed by 10 x 2min intervals max. 1 min recovery. Reasonable effort. Low power readings are having a negative effect on my training mojo still, need to get over it and recalibrate in my head or just ignore power readings.

1hr run off turbo. 12.3k at 2% Started slowly with intention to negative split. Felt good and finished very strongly.

30min weights late afternoon.

Tot 3:30 2B, 1R, .5S&C

 

Thursday 4th

1hr early morning turbo.

Cool temp. Steady effort.

1:30hr lunchtime run treadmill.

8% incline. No weights. Just tried something a little different. Slow to get into it but as it progressed and got more taxing I enjoyed it more. Av 10kph. Tot 15k, 22C ! 1 bottle water.

1hr Evening turbo 28.2C.

Hard effort Av 250Watt but felt a lot harder. Felt the heat too. No aero bars on bike at the moment so used a towel on the handlebars as a tri bar to force myself into aero position. I used to always train in somewhat of an aero position but the aero bars on my road/turbo bike broke last year and haven’t been replaced yet. The towel works O|K but is a bit hard on the elbows, so I have been avoiding doing it. Must be getting soft. Still, need to get back to training down on the tri-bars all the time.

Tot 3:30 – 2B, 1.5R

 

Friday 5th

30min turbo.

Waste of time. Changed tyre and tweaked a few things. Calibration etc still nonsense. Got annoyed and got off. Decided I had better things to do with my time.

I need to finish a painting that I am struggling with and a deadline looming. When training I feel I should be painting and when painting I think I should be training – so I often fall between the two and check my mail.

Turned into a rest/painting day.

Tot 30mins.

Saturday 6th

1hr turbo only.

Still doing other stuff.

Turbo still reading low. I need to get over the new numbers and accept the lower averages and start working to improve them. I doesn’t really matter what it says once I am heading in the right direction and there is some consistency.

1hr Tot

 

Sunday 7th

Long run. 2:20hr 29k Hilly.

No food or water.

Started well. Good steady pace Av. 4:15 pace. After about 2/3’s wheels came off. Had the fitness to keep pace up but the lack of road running recently really began to show. Not use to the impact, constant changes in slope, camber etc it all took a toll.  Even wearing clothes while running began to annoy me (usually just underwear  – indoors obviously, and in the privacy of my own home). Everything began to hurt and my pace dropped significantly. Finishing Average was 4:40 pace and I was fairly sore after.

Tot 2:20 R

 

Weekly total 13:20hrs, S 2, B6, R 4:50, S&C .5

Not a great week. A few good sessions in there. A few things going on so hours down plus the turbo not reading correctly (hopefully and its not just me) having a detrimental affect on mindset while training.  Need to accept it or maybe work off heart rate zones or just perception for a while.

Week 7

 

Monday 8th Feb.

1hr 20 morning turbo.

Easy moderate effort. Needed to loosen legs a bit for swimming later. Bad case of DOMS from yesterday. Had to stop early for stuff.

1hr tough evening swim.

Felt I went OK but the coach had a different opinion. Need to get serious about my swimming Get to the pool more and some swim specific stretching/weights throughout the week to.

Tot 2:20, 1:20B, 1S.

Tuesday 9th

1:20 hr Morning treadmill.

DOMS still hanging around. Very easy slow treadmill.

Tot 1:20

Wed 10th

1hr Early morning turbo.

Started slow but finished strongly. Last 20mins at 300 watt-apparently. Felt good, better than recently (its all in the head).

1hr Run Treadmill mid morning.

First 30mins easy. 2nd 30 My first interval type session for a while. 6x2mins at 18kph with 2min recovery at 12kph in between. Very comfortable at 18kph lots of recovery too.  Really just a tester to see if the treadmill survived. Seemed OK only one bolt needed to be replaced.

1hr Lunchtime swim. Started with warm up and drills. Main set 15×100 off 1:45.  Managed Ok. Short swim down.

Thursday 11th Feb

1:30 turbo.

20C and a few sips of water.

Spinning 1hr, higher cadence than usual. High 80’s increasing to mid 90’s.

Last 30 big gear intervals 2mins hard 1 recovery x10. Reasonable good effort. Kept power up throughout 2mins and not fading.

 

1hr slow easy run off bike on the treadmill. Picked up pace for second half, but kept it very relaxed.  Resisted the urge to go hard. 11.5k felt very good.

1hr late evening hard consistent effort turbo.

28C Av. 251 Watt. Hardest 251 ever! Had to be 300+ in old money. Lay on the ground in a pool of my own sweat for a while after to recover. Temp and large dinner just before not ideal but still felt like a good deal more than 251Watt. A good session where I had to dig in to hold it above 250 all the same.

Tot 3:30 2:30 B 1R

 

Friday 12th Feb

1:18 Lunchtime Run Bree Hill. 14.82k

3k run to hill easy.

3×1.42k hill repeats. Very steep trail run. Good hard efforts up. Last 30 seconds quicker than first. Solid but well short of my fastest times. Still a tough session but very enjoyable. Nice hilly 3k (3:54 per k) home to finish.

Sat 13th Feb.

5hr Turbo.

Early morning. Steady continuous effort. Done entirely on feel. 20C Ate some fruit and 5 bottles water. Hardest thing by far was the saddle. Could not get comfortable at all. Never use to hurt the ole arse that much.  Need a bit more fat on the bones.

Sun 14th

Had intended to do a long run but worried about a bit of a sore ankle/shin post Friday.

Tried the treadmill and bailed after an easy thirty minutes on the treadmill.

Did 30min on rowing machine and 30mins weights.

Tot 1:30, :30 Run, S&C 1

 

Weekly Total 19hrs.

B 10:50hrs, S 2hrs, R 5:10hrs S&C 1

 

Pleased with how the running is going though may have picked up an injury. Need to make more time in the pool and sort my head out re power numbers on the turbo.  Need to get out on TT bike soon too.  With the longer days coming I hope to throw in some big brick training days – if the legs allow. A week or two away yet.  Need to finish my painting and hopefully flog it and add to the sock drawer account.

 

 

Week 8

Monday 15th Feb

1 hr Morning turbo.

My Rolling Stones – “You can’t always get what you want …” on repeat session. Building constantly to the tempo of the song up to an absolute max out sprint at the end. Recovery is very short as building straight away for next repeat. Can fit in 8per hour. Enjoy this session when ever I do it – its not too often mind you.  A nice change from the usual constant pace and straight interval stuff.  It’s a good one to teach myself that no matter how fecked I am I can recover and build up pace again and again.  Say after a big climb or putting in the big effort to overtake and get away from a pack of drafters. Best results always achieved if nobody is about and I can get away with a bit of shouting too.

1hr Evening club swim. Again hard and sprints the order of the day. Think I did OK. Felt it after.

Tot 2 1B, 1S

Tuesday 16th Feb.

1hr morning turbo. Steady effort. High cadence.(for me) mid 80’s. Felt good. Steady effort.

1hr Lunchtime swim. Continuous effort with paddles and some drills. Felt tired from last night. Concentrated on my current interpretation of good form.  Can’t do it when full on sprinting.

Tot 2hrs

Wednesday 17th Feb.

1hr early morning turbo.

20C. Big gear with long 6min hard intervals c.310 Watts. Steady in between. Reasonably good session.  Felt OK better towards the end.

1hr hard weights session concentrating on shoulders and core. Mid morning.

30min v. easy treadmill run to test the ankle. Not 100% but seemed OK. Am away towards the end of the week and hope to do a good bit of running as wont have access to pool or bike. Should be OK.

1hr Lunchtime Swim.

Solid comfortable continuous swim. Form and pace seemed to stay constant. 3k.

Tot 3:30 1B, :30R, 1S 1S&C

 

Thursday 18th Feb.

1hr Morning Swim.

Warm up and drills

20X100. Took a good break between 100’s. Going off 2mins. Coming in 1:35’s. Wanted to hold a consistent pace and hold form so took the rest. Felt good and comfortable throughout. Could have done it quicker with less recovery but would have been ragged. Will bring down recovery considerably over the next few weeks.

Cool down.

Had hoped to do more sessions today but never got the time.

Friday 19th Feb.

1:20 Early morning run.

Had planned a long steady hilly run. Felt good for first forty mins then ankle went and I had to walk, hobble, jog slowly home. Think it’s a shin splints problem – unlikely to be anything more serious like a stress fracture.  Probably caused by a lot of treadmill and then running hard on the road without being use to it. Its going to take a few weeks to get over (hopefully). I’ll need to be sensible and ease myself back into it. First the treadmill and then this time reintroduce the road gently. It’s a fecken nuisance as I felt I was coming into some good running form finally after a couple of years of next to nothing. On the plus side – it not the achillies – which I must say has been great. Also there is plenty I can be doing on the swimming and cycling front – so I won’t be bored. I need to find a new comfortable saddle somewhere. Its also time to get the TT machine out of its travel bag where it has been since September and put it back together.

 

Total 1:20 R

Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st Feb. 0hrs.

Still away no access to pool or bike. Had planned a lot of running but not possible for a while until foot heals.

Unfortunately the sore leg wasn’t bad enough to get out of a few hours sulking around IKEA though. Don’t get it, they try to appeal to our self righteous smugness by pushing the most boring wooden toys ever on our children, yet the store is full of fake plastic wood effect furniture, plastic knick knacks and plastic kitchen utensils designed by an army of smug looking black T-Shirt wearing Scandinavians.

Still it wasn’t too bad, I got to call into Wheelworx, (where there are some decent toys) on the way home. Thanks to Rob and Co. for presenting me with a new set of clip-on aerobars that will replace the towel on my turbo. Its great to have the support of wheelworx again this year. See the latest blog note for more on that.

Tot 0

Week Total. 10:50 3hrs B, 4hrs S, 2:50hrs R, 1hr S&C

Week 9

Monday 22nd

2:30 Morning Turbo Steady/hard. 22C 2xWater bottles. Good honest effort

1hr v.tough club swim.

Tot 2:30 1:30 B, 1S.

Tuesday 23rd Feb.

1:30hr Turbo morning. Hard continuous effort. Good session.

1hr Tough evening turbo. 24-25C 1st 20min >330watt (still dodgy reading ) 5min easy recovery pushed to finish but faded a bit Av. 280Watt to finish. 260Watt Av overall – felt like an over 300watt session of a while ago but I faded a good bit towards the end. In my defence I had to deal with crying/fighting kids a few times while fighting for breath which didn’t help concentration or rhythm. Good hard effort though.

Wednesday 24 Feb.

45min Turbo, morning. Higher cadence c.90rpm. Easy effort. Legs a bit heavy from yesterday. A good easing out of the legs. Included some 1leg drills and really concentrating on pedalling technique. Trying to keep pressure off knees and using gluts’ and hips, spinning circles and keeping power even throughout.

1:15 Swim lunchtime. Jumped into another’s session. Good warm-up. Main set included 16×100’s coming in around 1:30. Nice swim. Felt I was going OK.

0:30 S&C Evening.

Tot 2:30 B 45min S 1:15, S&C 30min.

Thursday 25th

1hr Early morning turbo. 21C. Started slow and steadily, picked up pace. Cadence Av.80, 40min c.270Watt. Good solid session, felt OK. Bit fecked towards end but held the watts.

2hr Lunchtime Turbo. 22C two water bottles. Had intended to include an interval session but got into a good rhythm and tempo during the short warm up and felt like continuing on. Good (relative) power numbers – probably akin to half IM race pace for 90mins. Finished last 15mins with cool down and 1 leg technique stuff.

Good tough effort. Ran out of water towards end and probably got a bit dehydrated. Was a bit “shook” for rest of the day. Power Av. 270 though again felt a deal harder.

Tot 3hrs -3hrsB

Friday 26th

Got set up for a morning cycle but got off after 8mins. I am still trying to finish a painting for an exhibition coming up soon. I had been painting late into last night but had mucked it up a bit and it was annoying me. I couldn’t settle and got off to make changes. Also it has to be said my arse was killing me and consequently I couldn’t fire myself up for a an hour or two in the saddle.

1:30 Evening swim. Steady 5k concentrating on technique. Pace felt very comfortable and my stroke seemed to hold together.

Tot 1:30 Swim

Saturday 27th Feb.

5hr Turbo. 20C Rear killing me. 3hrs down on my new Wheelworx Tri-Bars. 1hr standing using big gear to alleviate the discomfort from the saddle. Av. Cadence 50. 1hr back down on tri-bars. Overall a fairly easy if uncomfortable effort. Still good to have stuck it out if only to notch up a few hours in/and out the saddle.

Tried an evening run but stopped after 2mins. Ankle not right at all.

Tot 5hrs B

Sunday 28th Feb.

1hr morning turbo. Numb. Reasonable session. Long hard intervals with short recovery. Not maximum all out efforts. 6-8min efforts at 300 of my watts. (kept going a bit longer if the music was good). Intended a longer session but rear too sore to do more than the hour.

An afternoon spent snoring through Alvin and the Chipmunks the road trip in the cinema for recovery.

Tot 1hr B

Weekly Total 19hrs – S 3:45, B 14:45, R 0, S&C 0:30

Week 10

Monday 29th February

1hr Lunchtime turbo. 20C Av. cadence 85. 10mins building effort warm up. 50mins hard >300watts. Calibration -1.7. Av 291watts including warm up. Very hard good effort for the hour. Possibly close to my best 339ftp in old numbers. Drank only a few sips of water, as cooler than usual. Good session v. pleased with effort.

1:10 Very tough club swim. Hard short intervals as usual at the moment.

Total 2:10,- S 1:10 B 1hr