Training Review - Week 11 - March 13 to 19

The improving weather meant Monday commutes were a bit quicker and the lighter evening commute gave me a chance to test sunglasses with my new TT helmet. They are not a great combination so I need to consider tinting my existing visor or getting a tinted one. 

I went to swimming but was having problems with my depression and the session had too many sets that I can't do with my pinned shoulder. I did a bit of paddling up and down trying to stay out of the way but after 1km I quit. 

Tuesday my depression was no better but I didn't want to waste a holiday. I faffed for most of the morning but eventually dragged myself out to the park before lunch to do some reps. They were shocking and I I felt terrible. I quit, after 4 of my planned 8 were all slower than my jog to work pace, and walked home. 

At lunchtime I was in two minds about going to swim. After Monday night's horrible swim and my run disaster I seriously considered scrapping the swim but then having taken the day off work I felt guilty about wasting it on just a shit run session. I dragged myself to the pool to just do a steady 30 minute swim. That went much better than expected and I went through 1,500m in 26:26 (PB for a pool 1,500m) and 1,700m in the 30 minutes. 

Wednesday I was back at work but some really quiet traffic and green lights made for a pair of fast commutes. Then I went to the pool which was a bit busier than normal. It turns out that a bit busier means slow as fuck breast strokers moving in to the fast lane and paddling up and down at 2min / 50m keeping their hair dry, is considered acceptable by the lifeguards as there were two of them and only one of me. There was no way I could work around them and after 15 minutes of getting pissed off at them and not even managing to get in 50m of breast stroke without them getting in the way I had to give up. 

That not only fucked up that session but also ruins the rest of my week. I would need to run 9 miles and swim 2 on my Thursday holiday. The only way to do those sort of numbers would be to do two huge distance but slow sessions rather than my planned faster sessions.

Thursday I started my holiday with half an hour on the foam roller and stretching. I went out to do some running reps in the morning. I found a new hill to do some short reps on and continued round a loop of Dyce to get me to 6 miles.

At lunchtime I went to bucksburn for a set of 3 x 1km swim reps at 1,500m pace. That makes 5 swim days in a row, 10 in the last 13 days. 

Friday I rode in to work at what felt like a steady pace but turned our to be my third fastest time. Some of that was down to good luck at lights but some was just that I am just riding faster at the minute. In the afternoon I snuck in a run round Duthie park before going to see Beauty and the Beast in the evening. I was planning to do something close to my 10k race pace but just didn't have that in my legs after Thursday reps and the ride in the morning. I did manage to get to 7min/mile pace for a chunk in the middle and 7:26 average. At least heading in the right direction.

Saturday I had a proper rest day. A lie in, some easy yoga and a bit of stretching and a trip to town for a haircut. It is not a huge taper into Sunday's race but it is at least a bit of a recovery from the rest of the week. 

Sunday I did some yoga in the morning before going to Aboyne Duathlon, which will get a post to itself. Then in the evening I did core and stretching sessions in the evening just to finish off my week. 

Considering the two terrible swim sessions this has been a great week. First real speed running sessions done. First race done, came 3rd overall and 1st Vet. Caught up to my swim stretch target. Swam a pool 1500m PB by accident.




Target totals - Swim 3.0 miles. Bike 30.0 miles. Run 18.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 3 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Commute ride to office 7.1 miles in 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.0 miles in 35 mins.
Swim with TPT 1,000m in 36 mins. 

Tuesday - Park reps 3.5 miles in 31 mins. 
Swim at bucksburn 1,700m in 30 mins. 
Rollering session.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office 7.1 miles in 28 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.0 miles in 34 mins.
Swim with at bucksburn 300m in 12 mins. 

Thursday - Stretching and rollering session. 
River reps 5.9 miles in 70 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 3,200m in 65 mins.
Core session.
Weights session. 

Friday - Commute ride to office 7.1 miles in 30 mins.
Duthie Park run 4.1 miles in 33mins.

Saturday - Yoga 28 mins.
Stretching and rollering session.

Sunday - Yoga session 24 mins.
Aboyne Duathlon Run 1 - 2.7 miles in 17 mins.
Aboyne Duathlon Bike - 9.5 miles in 29 mins.
Aboyne Duathlon Run 2 - 2.7 miles in 18 mins.
Warm-up / Cool down - 1.2 miles in 12 mins.
Core session.
Stretching session.


Actuals - Swim 3.9 miles (6,200 m). Bike 44.8 miles. Run 20.1 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 3 stretching / rollering session. 52 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 36.8 (32.0) [36.8], 
B 410.4 (320.0) [384.0], 
R 245.6 (203.0) [229.4].