April

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

Friday 1st April

1:30 Turbo. Just going through a turbo session for a class I am giving up in North Co. Dublin on Saturday morning. A mixture of some of the different intervals, big gear etc I do on the turbo. Not a bad stand alone session in itself though.

Chest crap.

Sat 2nd April.

Early morning turbo. Same as yesterday. Coughed and wheezed my way through but a nice class.

Late afternoon 30min v.easy run on grass and pavement. Foot felt OK but I am sick.

Sunday 3rd

0 Wanted to get out running but too sick.

Week 16

4th April Monday
Very early turbo. Mixed session similar to last two. Finished with 3 good builds to “Stones” sprints. Good session though chest still rough.

1:10 Mid morning swim. Steady effort with and without paddles. Swam OK.

Evening run 50mins 12.5kph 2% incline. Foot felt OK for 50mins then had to stop.

Tot 3hrs 1B 1:10S :50R

Tuesday 5th April
1hr Turbo.High Cadence – for me (90rpm) turbo. 23C A few sips of water. Felt OK. Not a particularly hard effort just wanted a good rhythm before a brick run. Power 250’s. Not at all reliable.

55min treadmill brick. 2%incline 11kph. Foot OK but still very weary.

1:05 Club Swim. Deferred from yesterday to Tuesday session to give chest more time to improve. Good session chest cleared about half way through.

Tot 3hrs. 1B 1R 1S

Wednesday 6th April
1:15 V.easy morning turbo. Majority high cadence 95rpm. Warm up 1leg drills. Finished with 3 ‘Stones’ sprints just to build up a bit of a sweat.

45min lunchtime swim.
Warm up.
15×100 with 15 recovery. All in around 1:33-35.
Cool down.

40min evening treadmill. 12kph for 1st 30min then leg hurt. Getting worried this is still a problem. Considering a stress fracture a possibility. Can’t really get it checked as trying to get hernia sorted at the moment. If out of action with an OP leg will be rested completely too so might sort that out.

Total 2:40 B1:15, S:45, R:40.

Thursday 7th April
2:30hr turbo mid morning.
Good effort. Highish mid 80’s cadence. Tempo effort included 6 randon
7min build to sprint “Stones” intervals. Pritty tired after. Coughed and wheezed throughout.

1hr late evening turbo. 27C and one bottle.
Fiddeled with motordrive and calibration seemed more accurate.
30min at 300watt steady effort. Blew up and needed 15 recovery pushed again for last 15 but below 300watt. Started session tired from earlier but still shouldn’t have blown up. Need to work harder on turbo. Probably not being totally honest with myself. The shorter intensity sessions are not what they used to be even with the dodgy readings.

Total 3:30 B

Friday 8th April

1:15 Lunchtime swim New Ross.
Good steady continuous effort.

1hr late evening turbo. Warm 27C !bottle of water – not enough ran out.
Good hard effort building from start then faded again at 45min. Av 275Watt.
Coughed all the way through.

Tot 2:15 1B, 1:15S

Saturday 9th April
2hr morning turbo.
1st hour felt bad and chest was at me a lot. 2nd hour much better. Reasonable tempo effort. Reckon the combined effect of hall my ailments. (Chest. Toe, shin and hernia) are having a bit of a detrimental effect on training quality and even mojo. A bit pissed off about it all really.

Tot 2B

Sunday April 10th
1:45 early morning turbo. Mixed effort felt rough. Cool temp just a few sips of water. Stopped to get the kids breakfast and for a chat.

1:15 hr turbo. Back on at 9:15 for a good hard hour and a bit effort. Felt better. Cadence AV 85 Power 280Watt.

1hr Late evening turbo.
One leg drills and big gear work. Cadence in low 50’s.

Tot 4hr B

Week total 20:25

B13:45, S4:10 R2:30

Week 17

Monday 11th April

Chest bad so held off doing anything until it cleared a bit for the club swim in the evening.

1hr club swim. Coughed my way through.

Tot 1

Tuesday 12th April
1hr Swim
Warm up including drills.
10×100’s all between 1:29 and low 1:30’s
5X50’s sprints

2hr low gear v.late turbo.
Steady effort. Not feeling great and coughing a lot.

Wednesday 13th April.
1hr continous swim.
Used pace clock. 100’s between 1:34-1:40. Felt good. Adjusted technique as went along and checked how it affected times.

Thursday 14th April.
45min early morning turbo. Started feeling poorly but picked up second half. Good steady build to sprint finish.

1hr Swim New Ross.
Included an 800 TT. Probably not a total max effort as trying to pace/encourage another swimmer to a PB. Held 1:33 100’s for first 4, but faded a little towards end. 12:57 for 800m. Used a new tempo beeper to help pace. Hopefull going to get a lot from this over the summer.

1:15Watt bike New Ross. Power reading not working but still showed a 10% difference between left and right leg strength. Knew left was weaker but surprised by hoe much. Got a bit better with considerable concentration. Need to be aware of this on turbo.

Friday 15th April.
Saw Specialist re operation. Confirmed for Monday morning. No exercise for six weeks post op. Aghhhhhhh!

Had planned turbo for evening but ate some cake instead.

Saturday 16th April

3hr Steady turbo.

Sunday 17th April
30min early morning easy swim and long sauna to clear chest.

Weekly Total 11:30 hrs  

S 4:30, B7 R0.

Week 18

Monday 18th April. Operation. Survived.

19th, 20th No training.

21st Drank protein shake.

Friday 22nd 30min “downhill turbo” Sitting straight up. V.V. easy. Just moving legs through pedal stroke without any effort.

23rd,24, No training

Monday 25th 30min turbo very easy as above.

26th, 27th28th No training.

Friday 29th 30min turbo. Nerves growing back so was a little sore on the bike. Still an easy effort. Tried to get a swim in but pool closed.

Saturday 30th April. First ever professional bike fit. Quite a few small changes. Interesting. Looking forward to getting out and trying the new position properly.