Training Plan - Week 44 - October 29 to November 5

Last planned race of the year this Saturday at the Kings Aquathon. (I may yet sneak in an unplanned run-only event before year end).

I am going to use that as an excuse to have lighter days Thursday and Friday. 


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. 

Training Review - Week 43 - October 23 to 29

Monday was nothing spectacular. A pair of bike commutes and a trip to swimming in the evening. I felt a lot more comfortable after a couple of easier weeks. 

Tuesday was my first time under an hour for my commute run since the 3rd of July. Of my 51 run commutes so far this year this ranks (just) in the top-10. Certainly an improvement on my recent running form. I need to learn this lesson. A couple of lighter weeks makes a big difference and when I start losing performance to exhaustion I need to heed that lesson. I have to wonder now what the second half of my season might have looked like if I had just taken an easy week or 10 days after Bratislava rather than just trying to pile more on top. 


In the evening I went to the pool with the first of my planned session from Speedo On. It was not an easy session and Tuesday's lane session only gave me 45 minutes to cram it in. I managed, just, to get through it but at some cost. 


Wednesday that cost became evident. After 3 great days I felt heavy and lethargic on the mountain bike on the way to work. The trip home was another story altogether. I had a massive bonk about half way home. I should have stopped for some food but I didn't have my wallet with me and I had used my emergency cash for lunch. By the time I got home I was screaming for energy. I had an energy gel to try and get over the worst of it. Followed that with a large plate of chicken nuggets, chips, a side salad of lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes and a whole avocado, four slices of bread, followed that with two bags of crisps a flapjack and a chocolate bar, a pint of orange juice, a glass of milk and 3 large mugs of tea. 


Thursday I woke up still hungry and empty. My failure to recover from the big start to the week became evident in mile 1 of my run to work. 9:12, and that felt like flat out. By mile 7 I was out to 10:50 and still felt like I was giving it full gas. In the evening was Thor : Ragnarok. I love Marvel but that is a mess of a film, the ending saves it and lots of people are raving about it having had a good laugh through the middle and coming out fresh on the back of a good ending. I suspect the future is going to be less kind about it once viewers get time to reflect on the vacuous first hour. 

Friday was easy rides to work again. No energy issues this time as I took it a bit easier. 

Saturday I started in the morning with a yoga session and then an easy jog round the block. 

Sunday was a ride at Kintore, this week covering over 25 miles in the same time that we took for about 20 last week. 

In the evening I did core and weights sessions. First complete week for a while. (I think the last week in June).


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 ride to office  7.1 miles in 30 mins.
Commute ride from office 9.1 miles in 44 mins.
Swim with TPT  2,050m in 50 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute run to office 6.8 miles in 60 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 1,900m in 40 mins. Speedo On session 1.1.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office mtb  7.1 miles in 34 mins.
Commute ride from office mtb 7.1 miles in 45 mins.
Stretching session.

Thorsday - Commute run to office 6.8 miles in 70 mins.

Friday -  Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.0 miles in 40 mins.

Saturday - Yoga session 34 mins.
Easy jog 3.1 miles in 30 mins.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday 26.3 miles in 2 hours 2 mins.
Weights and core session. 


Actuals - Swim 2.5 miles (3,950m). Bike 70.8 miles. Run 16.7 miles. 
1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 34 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 112.8 (107.0) [123.1], 
B 2,071.4 (1,828.0) [2,193.6], 
R 723.5 (683.0) [771.8].

Training Plan - Week 43 - October 23 to 29

Well that is annoying. I wrote an extended post about what I was going to do with my last 10 weeks of the year and I seem to have lost it.

Training Review - Week 42 - October 16 to 22

Monday I started with standard commute rides on my winter bike. There are lots of annoying little niggles with it at the minute and it needs a full and proper service.

I arrived home from work and my new pedal spanner arrived. And about 3 minutes later it was dead. It rounded off and buckled against the rusted-on pedals that I had planned to change out. In hindsight, 8 years and ~8,000 miles was probably a bit much abuse for them. 

In the evening I went to swimming but I was struggling with the continuing pain in my shoulder after last week's bike crash. I had to skip a lot of the planned session as it was heavy on paddles and shoulder work. 

Tuesday I jogged my commute. Much better than last week's disastrous long run but still the best part of 10 minutes slower than what I should be doing. 

Wednesday was just commuting rides again but for the first time in a while I actually felt really comfortable on the bike and was putting some sensible effort levels in. 
On the ride home I took a detour to Evans Cycles to get my old pedals removed. They also recapped the threads and fitted the new set that I had brought with me. Excellent service, especially considering I hadn't bought the pedals from them. New pedals are amazing, should have changed them sooner. I also wonder if my TT and summer bikes could do with a pedal refresh.

Thursday I had a much better run to work, much closer to what I should be doing despite a heavy drizzle and headwind. In the evening I went to Bucksburn planning a set of 200m reps. On arriving I realised I had forgotten my garmin and at the effort levels I wanted to do there was no way I could count and keep track of times on the wall clock. I shifted instead to doing 15 x 50m reps starting every 60 seconds. 

Friday was commute rides again, but on the new pedals it felt like a completely new bike. After a brace of faster commutes I am starting to feel like I have recovered from my end of season exhaustion. When I got home I spent a while giving my winter bike a proper clean.

Saturday I took an early morning jog to the pool. I only did half a set, it was more about getting back in to a winter training pattern. I did include a 5-minute swim test for the new Speedo On app that I have added to my fast collection of training tools. 310m apparently is good enough for Speedo to rank me as an "advanced" swimmer. 

Sunday I went through to Kintore for the first Kintore Sunday ride of the new season. A sensible (ok, fairly slow) 20 miles. I also managed a bit of stretching and rollering during the Strictly results show. 

Sunday's ride took me through 2,000 bike miles for the year. On top of passing 700 run and 110 swim miles through the week. I could stop now and be happy that I have had a decent year. 10 weeks to go to turn the numbers into something crazy. 



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 ride to office  7.1 miles in 35 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 36 mins.
Swim with TPT 1,850m in 54 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute run to office 6.8 miles in 69 mins.
Stretching session.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.2 miles in 54 mins.

Thursday - Commute run to office 6.8 miles in 61 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 750m in 15 mins.

Friday -  Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 29 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 36 mins.

Saturday - Run to bucksburn 2.6 miles in 29 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 800m in 20 mins.
Run from bucksburn 2.6 miles in 29 mins.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday 22.1 miles in 2 hours.
Stretching session.


Actuals - Swim 2.1 miles (3,400m). Bike 64.8 miles. Run 18.8 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 110.4 (105.0) [120.8], 
B 2,000.6 (1,772.0) [2,126.4], 
R 706.8 (669.0) [756.0].

Training Review - Week 41 - October 9 to 15

Monday I planned to run to work. I woke up almost unable to breathe as my cold has worsened again. I jogged around to the train instead. In the afternoon I managed to get a massage, which was long overdue, and subsequently very painful. I dragged myself to swimming in the evening but having read the session in advance I already knew it was too leg-oriented and my legs were not going to manage that after my massage.

Tuesday to Thursday was just simple ride commutes. I switched between bikes to confirm that my winter bike was operational now. And Thursday I managed to crash into another cyclist on a blind corner. My plated collar-bone took a bit of a whack and I had a bit of a pain that I might have done something serious to my shoulder. In hindsight I think it was just the lack of flex in the bone and possibly the sharp edges of one or more of the screws. 

Friday I jogged in to work. First time I have run the entire trip in over a month. It was slow. 

Saturday I had a rest day. My shoulder is still bugging me from Thursday's crash.

Sunday I slept late and then did nothing all day. I am still not recovering properly even after a second light week. I did a bit of stretching in the evening just to make sure I had done something complete this week.

Short on everything again this week. Between the cold that I still haven't shaken and the damage to my shoulder I can live with another easier week. It is just getting a bit worrying that I am not recovering at all.



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 to train 3.0 miles in 33 mins.
Massage.
Swim with TPT 1,000m in 48 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute ride to office mtb 7.1 miles in 34 mins.
Commute ride from office mtb 9.1 miles in 71 mins.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 32 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 40 mins.

Thursday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 33 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 36 mins. 

Friday - Commute jog to office 6.9 miles in 74 mins.

Saturday - Rest day.

Sunday - Rest day.
Stretching.

Actuals - Swim 0.6 miles (1,000m). Bike 44.6 miles. Run 9.9 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 108.2 (103.0) [118.5], 
B 1,935.8 (1,716.0) [2059.2], 
R 688.0 (655.0) [740.2].

Training Plan - Week 42 - Oct 16 to 22

No idea what I will do this week. My shoulder is still annoyingly painful after Thursday's bike crash, I still haven't shifted my cold, and I am exhausted all the time. 



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. 

End of September / Q3 Report

Race season is basically finished now. I still have a couple of fun races to do. The Kings Aquathon still counts for Club Championship points and hopefully I will manage to get to one or more of the North District Cross-Country League races in. 

I should be at 99 swim miles, 1596 bike miles and 625 run miles. Or if I am pushing on towards the stretch targets 113.9, 1915 and 706

I should also have logged at least 39 each of weights, core and stretching sessions and 20 hours of yoga. 

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Swim

Swimming has been a bit poor for the quarter. Only 29 miles for the quarter, but against a target of 26 I should probably be happy. This is the midst of race season though and if I had been sticking to Monday Club nights and a midweek swim then races should have put me well in to the 35’s. Only 8 miles in August was particularly poor. I am still smashing previous years and have surpassed any other annual total with 3 months still to go. The stretch target is starting to look like it might actually be a stretch though.

Here are the graphical versions, for Q3 and then for Year to Date. The green line is actuals red and dotted red are target and stretch target. 

Previous end-of-year totals are already left well behind. 

Bike

The bike continues to be way above plan as well. I was meant to be doing less on the bike in Q1 as I focused on Bratislava, that went a bit wrong through Q2 as I used the bike as the default for an 'easy' commute rather than taking the train and getting a more complete recovery. That has resulted in being over miles but under-rested and my bike performance is erratic at best.

My 10-mile TT PB at Drumoak in May was a good sign, but then I missed my last shot at a 10-TT once I had the new disc wheel. I did manage to smash my 25-TT target. Also biking to work for 16 days straight and riding 25 days and 325 miles in September has pulled me right back up to my stretch bike target for the year.

Prior to May I was aiming for  30 miles / week and a stretch target of 36. Since May I have been aiming for 56 miles per week with a stretch target of 67.2! Despite that big jump in targets I am still managing to chase the numbers, although partly by sacrificing run miles in September.

Run 

Running I have started to lag a little as I have run out of gas through a long race season and I have given more time to the bike. 

I am still well on course for a record year but it is built almost entirely on plodding along. I am going to finish out this year on the big numbers to build a big fitness base but next year I absolutely must be smarter about it. Volume is meaningless if it is all this slow. When I moved from the track I only counted miles that averaged faster than 8 minute pace. If I was to apply that rule to this year's numbers I would be counting less than 100 miles rather than 673. 

The graph shows how much I am running. The steep blue line is from marathon year and can be ignored. So I am above target, just behind my stretch target now and way above any other previous year.

24 weights and 29 core sessions puts me about on schedule. Well behind on both targets now. One weights and two core in the quarter is an appalling record. 

I am at just over 22 hours of yoga. This is starting to fall behind and I only logged 5 hours in Q3. 

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As it is end-of-Quarter I also am due for a check in against other targets. 

Targets by numbers

Represent GBR age-group at an international event. - ETU Aquathon Bratislava.

Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for the 2018 European or World Sprint Champs. – I have gone for an orange as I did the Aquathon qualifier instead as I just couldn’t fit my calendar and travel arrangements around the others. There is going to be one more qualifier at the start of 2018 which I will try to race if I can. And I have been offered a job as a support official at the ETU sprint if I don't manage to qualify.

Swim 124 miles. - Not yet, but well on target., and already way past any previous end-of-year swim total.

Swim under 6:15 minutes for 400m. - 6:38 mid-session training.  6:30 at Westhill Aquathlon. 6:29 at Alford Novice triathlon.*

Swim under 12:00 minutes for 750m. - 12:04 for 760m at Turriff.  12:04  again at Loch Lomond.*

Swim under 26:00 minutes for 1,500m. - 26:26 during a 30-min training swim. 26:35 (pool PB) for my only race swim this year.*

*I still feel like I have all of those within my capacity on a good swim day. I have only one official race left but if I can find the time and a clear lane I will make solo attempts at all of these. 

Ride 2,332 miles. - Not yet, but on target. 

Ride a 10-mile TT in under 26 minutes. - 26:23 (PB) at Drumoak.
Ride a 25-mile TT in under 1 hour 14 mins. – 1:10:58*

*possibly 0.3 miles short, 1:11:49 pro-rata adjustment.

Run 802 miles. - Not yet, but well on target.

Run a 5k in under 19:10 or 10k in under 41 mins. - Moray 10k in 39:58.

Run another 5k in under 19:20 or 10k in under 42 mins.  - 19:31 5k at North Champs is still my closest second run attempt so far.

80 Yoga sessions - Not yet, but on target

52 & 52 Core & weights sessions.- Not yet, and falling behind target. 

I have left the stretch targets off for now. They are increasingly looking to be slipping out of range, which is actually a good sign as they were too heavy.

Training Plan - Week 41 - October 9 to 15

Back to work and back to the numbers this week. On the back of my cold means this week could be a disaster but we will see what happens. 

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. 

Training Review - Week 40 - October 2 to 8

Monday I started with a gentle jog with Dexter. We did a bit of exploring from our cottage starting with some farm tracks and then a bit of off-roading through the forest. In the afternoon I went to try out the pool. I did a bit of front crawl, then a bit of breast stroke, and even a bit of butterfly. Garmin doesn’t like the idea of an 11m pool. It doesn’t like anything shorter than 20m. I set it to 22m so that I could just cut the distance in half but the small pool and regular turns really confused the lap counter.

Tuesday my cunning plan to enjoy the week ran into a brick wall as I caught a savage cold. We went for a walk to Dog Falls in the morning when it was just a sniffle but by the time we got to lunch I was struggling. We bailed on doing anything else useful but we did take the opportunity to catch up on the first couple of episodes of Star Trek Discovery.

Wednesday we took a day trip through to Beauly for lunch and back through Drumandrochit to try and take it easy. In the afternoon we decided to take a short walk to Plodda Falls.  As well as being a much shorter walk, which I thought I could manage with a couple of Lemsips, it also comes with some amazing views. Mrs M described it as ‘probably the most amazing view in Scotland’. I am not convinced it is out on its own but it certainly come in as a contender, and in terms of the view you get for minimal physical effort it is definitely somewhere near the top of the list.

After that I felt a bit more human again so I decided to be ambitious and headed back to the pool in the evening. I managed an easy 20 minutes, half each of front crawl and breast stroke. Then I spent a while in the games room, trying to teach Mrs M the basics of pool, fussball, table tennis and air hockey.

Thursday I took Dexter out for a jog in the morning. My cold still hasn’t cleared but I was able to jog along comfortably with him. I even managed to add a core session when I got back to the cottage. Before lunch we went to visit the Corrimony cairn and standing stones. But that was enough for all three of us. Mrs M and I were struggling to fight off the cold and Dex just ran out of gas for the week. 

Friday we started the trip home with an extended stop in Inverness for the day and then Elgin in the evening.

Saturday was meant to be a detour via Keith Cross-Country on the way home but when I woke up in the morning I was struggling against the cold again and decided to just be sensible and head home.

Sunday was no better so I took the last day of holiday as another total rest day to try and recover. In the afternoon I went to see Bladerunner 2049 on my own as Mrs M was too sick, and correspondingly grumpy, to leave the house. Her loss, it was amazing.

So basically I have done very little this week, much of that I can blame on the cold that I have been fighting and the rest I can blame on my holiday. 

Targets - Have fun. 

Monday – Jog with Dexter 2.3 miles in 32 mins.

Swim 30 minutes ~1,160m.

Tuesday – Cold.

Wednesday – Cold.

Swim 20 minutes ~930m.

Thursday – Cold
Jog with Dexter 2.9 miles in 38 mins.

Friday - Cold.
Travel day.

Saturday – Travel day.

Sunday - Rest day.

Actuals - Swim 1.3 miles (2,100m). Bike 0.0 miles. Run 5.2 miles. 
1 short core, 0 short light weights and 0 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 107.6 (101.0) [116.2], 
B 1,891.2 (1,644.0) [1,972.8], 
R 678.1 (637.0) [719.8].

Training Plan - Week 40 - October 2 to 8

This week I have a completely new plan. To just enjoy myself for a week. We are on holiday in Tomich this week. I brought a Dexter, a wetsuit, two pairs of running shoes and my mountain bike and there is a small pool and a big loch here so I can train if I want, but I plan to just enjoy myself without worrying about the numbers. I am not even going to write the numbers in my training plan this week.

I do have an option to race at Keith XC on Saturday if I feel like it.