Training Review - Week 27 - July 3 to 9

Monday was an easy run to the office in the morning. From somewhere I have stumbled into some slightly better running form again. Maybe just my injured calf finally recovering or maybe just time since Bratislava, not sure. Anyway I managed to get in under an hour for the first time since April. At least my Zombies, run app and my fitbit both registered times in the mid 58's. Garmin on the other hand weirdly reset itself about halfway through the run. 

For some ridiculous reason I have gone more than half way through the year, covered over 1,000 miles and yet the longest ride I have logged all year is only 17.9 miles.

As I write this on Tuesday evening I actually have no idea how it went as Garmin only saved the last 2 miles. It has developed a fucking ridiculous new habit of resetting itself at random. I know I started well and was through the first 5 miles in 13:40. Shortly after that garmin died and restarted, much like Monday. The next 5-mile block that it successfully recorded was 14:00. Then after a whole series of consecutive resets it decided to stay stable for a just under 10-mile block in just under 29 mins. 

Results are now out; Official time 1:10:58, although the course was possibly 400m short, awaiting confirmation. Actually fairly pleased with that. Well inside my previous best of 1:14:25, and well inside my target for the year of 1:14.

Distance update; tracks uploaded to Strava from people with working gps systems suggest the turn point was in the wrong place and the distance was about 0.3 miles short. If I pro-rata my speed for that extra distance I would get 1:11:49, still well inside my targets.

Also turns out that despite the annoying garmin issues I didn't have the worst of it. A rival club had a TT with a course that ran straight across ours and several riders were directed the wrong way by marshalls from the other event. In hindsight, I do recall spotting a couple of marshalls on a crossroads that I didn't expect, but having made a mistake on this course before I just ignored them and stayed on the route that I knew. 

Wednesday I rode to work and garmin worked fine. Then I rode home from work and it reset itself halfway through that ride. I have had enough of that shit so went to call garmin support, only to find that their entire Europe support only works UK office hours. For a modern tech company that is fucking ridiculous. I already know their online support is completely pointless but I logged a ticket anyway so that I have a number to quote when I shout at them on the phone tomorrow. For a company that produces really great quality hardware, their software is a complete waste of time. 

In the evening I went to bucksburn and did a steady 30-minute swim. 

Thursday was a steady run to work as the highlight of my birthday. After resisting the urge to punch any of my co-workers for another 8 hours I went out with Mrs M for a birthday dinner and the new Spiderman movie. 

Friday I rode my nice bike through the rain since I still haven't sorted the bearings on my winter bike. I took a pokemon collecting detour on the way home. Somewhere earlier in the week I had managed to pick up an ear infection. I ignored it at first thinking it was just a symptom of allergies but it was affecting my hearing all of Friday and was severe enough to be affecting my balance and making me feel nauseated on the ride home. In the evening I put every swimming ear plug I could find into a bath of sterilising fluid in case they were the cause. 

I did a bit of rollering during the TdF highlights in the evening. Since #Sagangate the sprint stages are hardly worth watching. 


Saturday I had a rest day, prepped my kit for Sunday's race, did some yoga and a bit more stretching.

Sunday was the Scottish Sprint Triathlon Championships at Monikie Country Park in Arbroath, which will get a write-up to itself. It may contain some rude words and be unsuitable for younger readers. 

Despite the slightly shortened course, I am going to claim my 25-mile TT target for the year. I am also going to claim my stretch target of 1:12 based on my pro-rata calculation to for the missing distance. That was the only good thing this week. 

Monikie was an utter waste of time, I should have gone to Huntly instead. Pulling out of it after the swim means I miss my run target numbers this week and fall behind my bike stretch target for the first time all year. I also missed my chance to score some Club Championship points for finishing, and the chance to score a lot of points if I had gone to Huntly instead. Still I should be happy I didn't die or get a serious injury on that utter disaster of a course at Monikie.  


Target totals -  Swim 2.0 miles. Bike 56.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 
1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga. 

Monday - Commute run 6.9 miles in 59 mins.
Swim with TPT 650m in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Warm up ride 1.1 miles in 6 mins. 
DTCC 25-TT 25 miles in 1:10:58, PB.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office 7.1 miles in 27 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.3 miles in 34 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 1,650m in 30 mins.

Thursday - Commute run 6.9 miles in 62 mins.

Friday - Commute ride to office 7.1 miles in 27 mins.
Commute ride from office 9.2 miles in 58 mins.
Stretching and rollering.

Saturday - Yoga session 32 mins. 

Sunday - Scottish WTF! Champs at Monikie.
Swim 0.6 miles in 14 mins. 
DNF


Actuals - Swim 1.9 miles (3,150 m). Bike 56.8 miles. Run 13.9 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 32 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 79.8 (75.0) [86.3], 
B 1,116.0 (932.0) [1118.4], 
R 522.2 (458.0) [518.7].