May

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

Sunday 1st May

No training.

Week 19

Monday 2nd May.
20min Swim.

Very easy breaststroke without kicking. Tried front crawl but hurt.

1hr Turbo. Easy – sitting up, no effort.

Tuesday 3rd May
1hr Easy turbo. Still sitting up. Chest has finally cleared and I am breathing easily again. Looking forward to pushing things again.

Wednesday 4th May.
No training.

Thursday 5th May.

Swim 30min easy front crawl.
Deliberately shortened stroke and dropped legs a little to keep pressure off abdomen. No pain/discomfort. Encouraging.
30min Aqua jogging. Reintroducing running again slowly. Going to hopefully introduce a few elliptical trainer sessions too.

Friday 6th May.
No training.

Saturday May 7th

1hr Steady/Easy turbo.
Had planned a little longer but got a bit sore so stopped at one hour. Spent a bit of time on the hoods.

Sunday 8th May

1hr Steady/Easy turbo. Felt more comfortable than yesterday. Even pushed it enough to bring up a reasonable bit of perspiration and needed a few sips of water. Chest felt great. Possibly even turned a corner and can start to push the effort on from here.

Weekly Total.
5:50hrs. Mainly very easy turbo with a little gentle swimming and aqua jogging.

WEEK 20

Monday 9th May

1hr Morning turbo.
Av Cad. 95, Power 250watt. 25C Played around with the turbo – power readings now similar to what it was in previous years. 250watt is a good/stready zone 3 effort for me.
Felt v.good. Didn’t plan to push quite so hard. High cadence felt comfortable too. Not sore but sitting very upright still.

45min Swim -Lunchtime.
Easy continuous swim but probably overdid it a bit – stitches were a little sore after.

1B 45S tot 1:45

Tuesday 10th

0 Still sore from swim. Been sensible.

Wed 11th

Mid morning 45min upright turbo. Good steady effort. High cadence again. Will be a few more weeks before I try to push any sort of a big gear.

45min swim lunchtime. Very careful and made sure not to stretch in stroke. Went easy. Not too sore – just a little.
15 mins aqua jogging.

:45min B :45min S :15 other Tot 1:45

Thursday 12th May
1hr Easy turbo. High cadence steady effort.

Friday May 13th

1hr easy continuous still compromised (reach) swim. Felt OK.
1hr easy Turbo similar to Thursday.

Sat 14th May

1:30 Turbo – High cadence steady effort. Had hoped to go a little longer but repair got a little sore so stopped.

Sunday 15th

Although had 1hr hilly walk.

Weekly Total 8hrs

Good to be doing some regular “sessions” again although none of them could ever be called training. No adverse affects on the op recovery either I think. Although it is still sore but is improving every day. I am increasing the effort very slowly every swim and turbo, and might even introduce a few short treadmill jogs next week if all feels OK.

I know I was told not to do anything for 6 weeks; but honestly looking after the two kind and getting in and out of a car has hurt more than any of the swimming and turbos I have done so far. Its the sudden random movements and constant bending compared to the controlled movement of training that I need to be watchful of.

WEEK 21

Monday 16th

45 min steady morning swim. Could lengthen the stroke a good bit today without it hurting.

1hr turbo lunchtime.
A little jump in the resistance and even managed some time in the aerobars. Av.250watts.
Included a couple of slow builds to a decent hard effort. Felt good. Broke a decent sweat too.

30min slow treadmill run off the bike. 1st run in over five weeks. Felt OK no pain anywhere but I was very very slow.

:45min S 1B :30min R

Tot 2:15 hrs

Tuesday 17th
45min swim, easy – morning.

1hr easy lunchtime turbo. High cadence effort.

30min v.easy treadmill off turbo.
Similar to yesterday. No real discomfort/pain. Even so it’s alarming to feel the amount of stress and pulling there is around the scarring when I run. It feels like a metal bar under my skin jumping around. But its great to be able to do some jogging again (Don’t tell my surgeon though!)
Its actually very relaxing and even at the slow pace the rhythm is very satisfying.

:45min S 1B :30min R

Wed 18th May

0
A bit more sensible healing time planned. Did a bit of painting today which involves a lot of twisting, bending and standing. I was actually quite sore after that so had to knock it on the head too after a while.

Thursday 19th

1hr Run Treadmill. Easy effort 2% incline but picked up the pace over the duration. Av.9kph. Finished last 30 around 11kph. Everything felt good. Comfortable but my legs knew I have not been running properly for a long time.

30min swim New Ross Lunchtime.
Steady effort. More of a technique session trying to get back to the longer stroke I was doing before the op.
1hrR :30min S – Tot 1:30

Friday 20th May

1hr morning swim.

Upped the effort a bit. Session included 11×100’s . 1st 3 at 1:32, 20 second recovery The remainder between 1:36 and 1:38.
The 1:32’s were not easy, but I pulled back after the three because it was putting a deal more stress on my core than I was prepared to risk. The others were very manageable and less risky. That said, I am far from swim fit and may not have been able to do the 10 in and around 1:32. Still it was nice to put a bit of effort in at last and survive.

1hr lunchtime treadmill run.
Again av. 9kph. Risked 12.5kph for last 10mins without any side affects. Strangely enough running seems to exert far less stress on my repair job than I would have expected – at these easy efforts anyway. it would be very different if I was pushing it. But I am on the mend and hopefully I can continue to build the intensity and duration relatively quickly. Swimming is probably the riskiest at the moment – if I stretch too much I know about it. Cycling on the tri bars is uncomfortable too but sitting up has been relatively comfortable and manageable from the start. Again, I am not putting any great pressure through the pedals just yet. Its all been about increasing the cadence.

Sat 21stMay

Morning treadmill 1hr

Av 10kph, finished at 12kph 2% incline.
Legs actually a little stiff to start. Repair a little tender but improved as I went on too. Enjoyable jog might bring it outdoors next week.

Turbo 3hr . Evening.

Easy effort. just about getting some time in the saddle and testing out the hernia recovery. Felt OK.  Not too sore but conscious of it. Sitting upright on road bike.

Not at all fit though.

3hr B 1hrR Tot 4

Sunday 22nd May

2hr Turbo Steady c.240?Watt

1hr Run treadmill. 11k 2%. Not sore – felt comfortable.

2B, 1R, Tot 3hrs

Weekly total 15hrs 7B, 5R, 3S.

WEEK 22

Monday 23rd

1hr Run Morning. 10k’ish. Very slow but nice to be outside running. Everything seemed to hold up though- very nervous.

1hr Swim Evening. Club session. 1st for a good while. Swam OK and managed to hang on for most of it. Stroke still a little compromised to avoid stretching the abdomen and kicking very easy – even with that, quite sore after.

Tot 2, 1R, 1S

Tuesday 24th

1hr Turbo early morning. Easy/steady.
First day in a very long time actually suffering from sore legs. Doubt I have ever had DOMS after a very slow 10k before.

1hr Turbo mid morning.
Went harder than earlier. Felt better too.

1hr run treadmill brick 2%.
Had intended a very slow jog. Managed to pick it up to 12kph for second half. Was tempted to go harder too but common sense prevailed. Need to come back slowly and patiently.

Tot 3hrs- 2B, 1R

Wednesday 25th

45min Turbo evening. Legs sore just spinning them out.
Cut the grass today which involved a bit of lifting. probably shouldn’t have done it but… Sore now, so just the easy turbo.

Thursday 26th

1hr Turbo morning
10min easy, 40min moderately hard 10 easy. Numbers still meaningless it seems and I am way off being any way near completing an IM at the moment scary…

1hr Swim lunchtime.
Warm up plus 15×100’s in on 1:36 overtime. Good rest between. Feeling good about my swimming but fairly sore after.

Tot 1B, 1S

Friday 27th

45min Swim
Warmup and 10×100’s in on 1:36. Stopped after ten and swam easily to finish as hernia too sore.

30min Run treadmill evening. Very easy treadmill. A little conscious of ankle after last run. Probably OK just a twinge possibly not related to original injury – just a little paranoid I guess. Seemed to be OK after.

Tot 1:15, :45S, :30R

Saturday 28th

1hr Run. V.slow 10k hilly run in Skerries. Very nervous. Felt hernia, but foot fine. Had to consciously hold back on pace. Ran an old favourite route of mine on a nice morning. Nice to be out but probably slowest ever on that route.

1hr Swim Open Water Afternoon. First sea swim. From my parents house to Springboards and back- probably a good bit over 3k. One of my favourite swims and the water was as warm as Hawaii!
My position with the wetsuit on pulled on my core more than without which hurt the hernia a good bit. Had to consciously drop legs and abandon kicking all together. Still thought I swam well and really enjoyed it.

Tot 2hrs 1R,1S

Sunday 29th

1:30 Run. Hilly Run Skerries. 18k. Sunny morning and pushed a little harder than yesterday. Felt good so went a bit longer than intended too. All ailments behaved well. Still not real running but getting there.

1hr Sea Swim Evening. Same as yesterday, just as warm and a little faster too. Feeling good about stuff but still a lottery at this stage that I can finish this race.

Tot 1:30R, 1S.

Weekly total 13:30hrs   R 5, S 4:45, B 3:45.

WEEK 23

 

Monday 30th

2:15hr Morning turbo outside on TT. New position. Cheep old turbo so no data and no resistance. Consequently very high cadence. Just hoping to get used to the new more stretched out lower aero position. Position was quite sore so bailed after 2:15hrs. It will be a while yet before the stitches heal enough and I am able to stay down on the aerobars for any length of time. Sitting up is ok though.

Tuesday 31st

2:10hr Run morning. (loop to Edermine) Started very slowly. Quads v.sore from the start. Got better towards the end and pace increased a bit.

1hr Swim with club.
Deferred from yesterday as I was still quite sore from the weekend swims. Felt good and thought I swam quite well.

2R, 1S Tot 3hrs.