Training Plan - Week 48 - Nov 27 to Dec 3

Another exciting week. I miss Wednesday's commute as I have to take the car to a business breakfast on the way instead. 

The rest of the week is entirely standard, for the last time this year before I start using up my holidays in bigger chunks.

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 47 - November 20 to 26

Monday was shocking weather for my commute and I had to resort to the mountain bike purely for safety through the puddles and potholes. Despite 5 layers, two of which were supposedly waterproof, I arrived at work drenched. I had to wring out most of my clothes and even hanging them for 8 hours made no difference and they were still soaked through and freezing cold when it came time to ride home. Neither ride was particularly enjoyable but I survived both.

Then I went to swimming, which was crap. 

Tuesday I had a strange day at work which meant it was easier to work from home in the morning. That removed my commute. I did a jog round the block instead just to do something in the morning. 

Wednesday the morning weather was less ridiculous so I took the winter road bike for my commute in. By 4pm it was back to full autumn conditions and a near drowning on the ride home. 

Thursday the forecast was for snow in the morning so I planned to run instead of cycling. The forecast was wrong, again. It was chilly but dry, but I still struggled to run. In the evening I went to bucksburn with the simple plan to swim for an hour. I did just over 2 miles for my longest swim session of the year. 

Friday morning I went for another swim. Struggled to 1,300m in 200m blocks in 40 mins. Less than 12 hours between sessions wasn't the brightest idea. 

Saturday I was beyond exhausted but about lunchtime I dragged myself away from my Punisher binge-watching for an hour to go and collect some pokemon. After watching a bit of the Scotland-Australia rugby (I gave up when it got silly after the red card) I managed to force myself into a stretching session. I also went through a chunk of building my plan for next year.

Sunday I went for an easy early morning swim. Then did a lazy day with a couple of DIY jobs and a bit of yoga. 

Through my end of year swim target with 5 weeks to go. And making huge progress towards catching my swim stretch target. I am also through last year's final run total, so this is now my second longest running year ever. 



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 mtb to office  7.1 miles in 36 mins.
Commute ride mtb from office 7.1 miles in 42 mins.
Swim with TPT 1,300m in 54 mins. 

Tuesday - Dyce jog 2.6 miles in 24 mins.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 30 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 40 mins.

Thursday - Commute run to office 6.9 miles in 72 mins. 
Swim at bucksburn 3,250m in 60 mins. 

Friday - Swim at bucksburn 1,300m in 40 mins.

Saturday - Dyce jog 5.2 miles in 60 mins.
Stretching session.

Sunday - Swim at bucksburn 1,250m in 30 mins. 
Yoga session 15 mins.


Actuals - Swim 4.4 miles (7,100 m). Bike 28.4 miles. Run 14.7 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 15 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 126.7 (115.0) [132.3], 
B 2,266.0 (2,052.0) [2,462.4], 
R 781.6 (739.0) [835.1].

Training Plan - Week 47 - Nov 20 to 26

Nothing exciting planned for this week.

Friday is reshuffled again, so an early swim to fit around a dentist appointment but other than that I match the last couple of weeks with 4 commute days and then a three day weekend.

I have started looking at 2018 and started writing my targets for next year. That reminded me of my plan for this year to carry any of the smaller sessions from weeks where I miss them. I started this year so well, and by the time I started missing them I had forgotten completely about that. If I had been following it the numbers below would be a bit silly. 

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 46 - Nov 13 to 19

Monday I woke with a horrible pain in my neck and no ability to look to the right. That made for an interesting pair of commutes as every manoeuvre required a compete sit up and a big body twist in order to look behind me for traffic. Some hefty doses of ibuprofen made little difference but were enough to get me through work.

I hated the completely pointless planned swim session, so I ignored it and just fitted in a recovery session around it. Not being able to breathe properly to my right side, and not at all to my left side did not make for much recovering. I will need to structure my other swims this week to ensure I get something useful out of them. 

Tuesday I had another terrible run to work. 

Wednesday and Thursday commutes were no better. I dragged myself to the pool on Thursday evening with a plan to simply pile on the miles with a 45-minute steady swim. That was going fine, but not fantastically, until I turned at 1-mile and 30 minutes and my goggles decided to spontaneously split down the middle. 

The pain in my neck is not improving. 

Friday I had another holiday. I had to reshuffle the day to fit in an interview in the morning. That meant moving my run until after a lunchtime swim. For my swim I went for a set of 10 x 200m reps starting every 4:30. Another session of solid, consistent but not spectacular swimming. Averaging about 3:30 each and getting a minute recovery each. That is a chunk slower than my 200m reps from earlier in the year (3:10s-3:18s) but I was only doing 5 or 6 reps in those sessions rather than a block of 10.

In the afternoon I went to Kirkhill for what I had planned as an easy 4 mile jog. Instead it turned into 6 miles of exploring the mud at a decent pace. 

Saturday I dragged myself to the pool again in the morning but the tank was empty and everything was aching. I paddled up and down doing every third 50m as breast stroke for about 20 minutes. In the afternoon I dragged myself out for a jog round the block and some pokemon. When I got home I did a proper stretching session.

Sunday morning I went out with the Kintore beginners ride. The icy road conditions meant we settled on a slightly shorter and safer route than planned. Still managed a solid ride and a bit quicker than previous weeks.

A big chunk out of my swim stretch target, but it was hard work.


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 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 38 mins.
Swim with TPT 1,400m in 51 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute run to office 6.9 miles in 75 mins.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 32 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 42 mins.

Thursday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 37 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 1,650m in 30 mins. 

Friday - Swim at bucksburn 2,100m in 47 mins. 
Run at Kirkhill 5.8 miles in 67 mins.

Saturday - Swim at bucksburn 1,050m in 21 mins.
Jog 2.8 miles in 35 mins.
Stretching and rollering.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday Beginners 24.3 miles in 1 hour 42 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 3.9 miles (6,300m). Bike 66.9 miles. Run 15.5 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 122.3 (113.0) [130.0], 
B 2,237.6 (1,996.0) [2,395.2], 
R 766.9 (725.0) [819.3].

Training Plan - Week 46 - Nov 13 to 19

Another exciting week of commuting and a holiday Friday. I am not going to race Nairn cross-country this weekend but that should free up my holiday Friday for another double session. 

With next year's Aquathon racing in mind I am now going to officially abandon my stretch bike target for the year. I wasn't likely to make it anyway, but I am now going to change focus and try and chase those run and swim stretch targets.

25.4 swim miles in 7 weeks moves me to 3.6 miles per week as a stretch target. I can do that with three swims if I take them seriously. Or with 4 if I want to slot in some easier days.

620 bikes miles in 7 weeks is possible but I am going to let it go.


162.8 run miles in 7 weeks is 23 miles a week. I will look at that again in a couple of weeks. I can do the distance if I want to, but I would rather do some work on my speed and style. With my 4-day work weeks I am probably only going to commute run once a week and then use my 3-day weekends to be smarter.


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 45 - November 6 to 12

Monday I struggled with my commutes to work. I did something to strain my adductor on Saturday morning and while it doesn't seem to be getting any worse it isn't improving either. I went to swimming at night with the intention of taking it easy. Unfortunately the rest of the occupants of my lane weren't happy with me coasting at the back doing my recovery pace and I ended up at the front pulling them under 1:35 / 100m pace on 10 second recoveries.

Tuesday the weather and my adductor convinced me that the full run to work wasn't a great idea so I took the easier version and jogged to the train. In the evening I tried to get the roller on to my adductor and all that did was make it temporarily more painful. 

Wednesday was a pair of easy commutes. My lovely new PlanetX Echostorm jacket is as warm as the previous and some of the upgraded features (the zip-ended sleeves, the additional reflective strips, the slightly better fit) are great. But it is basically black, and despite my red bag, double rear lights and orange shorts the cars passing were noticeably closer. I am going to have to keep it for day rides and use the first generation white version for commuting.

Thursday I ran to work in the morning, slowly. My right hip was bothering me a bit and both quads were too tight, so it was more of a shuffle than a run. I went for a steady swim in the evening. That was interrupted when a couple of slower swimmers arrived in my lane and decided to paddle up and down so slowly that even my breaststroke was too fast for them. 

Friday was the first of my 4-day weeks as I try to burn my leftover holidays before the end of the year. I started the morning with a very short yoga session before going out for a run and swim. 

Saturday I went to the pool for a third consecutive day. I forgot my garmin so had to come up with a session I could track using the wall clocks instead. I went for 50m reps on 1-min starts but only managed 16 of them before I got bored. 

Sunday's Kintore beginners ride was threatened by the weather and my participation in it was further threatened by the state I had let my bike get into through the week. Having ridden it five rides in a week through the rain and just put it straight in the garage or the office bike shed it clearly showed that abuse. I had to go overboard with the wire brush and the GT85 just to get it rideable and mask the worst of the orange. The weather won out in the end and the ride was cancelled.

I decided I would go for a jog round Dyce between storm showers. Then I mistimed that completely and ran into a face-blasting hailstorm and had to hide in a bus shelter. 

Losing Sunday's ride left me short on bike miles this week but I am happy enough with that. As I have decided to target Aquathons again next season I will aim to shift my training to swimming and biking at the start of the year, and there is no harm in getting 8 weeks head start on that with heavier run and swim weeks.

Despite the extra day off I still managed to miss all the extra sessions. I am just too lazy with these and tracking them weekly hasn't put enough pressure on me to complete them. I need to be smarter again next year. 


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 7.1 miles in 37 mins.
Swim with TPT 2,100m in 51 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute run via train 3.0 miles in 30 mins.
Stretching and rollering session.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 32 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 39 mins.

Thursday - Commute run 6.9 miles in 75 mins. 
Swim at bucksburn 1,050m in 25 mins. 

Friday - Yoga session 5 mins.
Run at Kirkhill 4.6 miles in 45 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 1,050m in 26 mins.

Saturday - Swim at bucksburn 800m in 16 mins. 

Sunday - Easy jog 3.1 miles in 29 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 3.2 miles (5,000m). Bike 28.4 miles. Run 17.6 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session.  5 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 118.4 (111.0) [127.7], 
B 2,170.7 (1,940.0) [2,328.0], 
R 751.4 (711.0) [803.4].

Training Plan - Week 45 Nov 6 to 12

No more races this year. (OK maybe two but only little runs for fun and not real races). 

The next couple of months is just bulk numbers for fitness. 

After seeing the photos from the Aquathon, I stepped on the scales last night. Somehow I am 5kg overweight but have matchstick legs. From now till the end of the year I have Friday's off as I try to burn some of the holidays that I haven't taken. I am going to try and put at least some of that spare time in to the gym.


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 44 - October 30 to Nov 5

Another exciting week of commutes but reshuffled slightly to fit racing on Saturday. Monday I took the longer route home purely to make sure I got my 25% badge for Strava October bike miles. 

In the evening I went to swimming and just about survived. By the time I got home my shoulder was aching and my back had tightened up. I tried to stretch it out but couldn't get it to release at all. I have still not adapted to the clock change either and fell asleep on the sofa about 2 minutes later. 

Tuesday was a run though the rain. Nothing spectacular but enough to get me my 50% badge for Strava October miles. In the evening I did a bit of stretching and rollering, and had to deal with my first guisers in the 11 years I have lived in Dyce. Fortunately, since I completely forgot about the haribos we had purposefully gotten in just in case, they were pretty chuffed with a handful of chocolate bars from my stash.

Wednesday I took the mountain bike but my legs were empty again. It seems that on my current plan Wednesday's are just where I run out of gas. Without the Tuesday night swim I didn't have the same ridiculous bonk as last week but I was still falling apart but the time I got home. 

Thursday I switched my run to the mountain bike again to try and taper in to the weekend. I went to the pool in the evening planning to do the next Speedo On session on my plan. I did the long warm-up and the first set of drills but then it came to a set of 8x150m kick drills. I did the first two of those before getting fed up and quitting. I could have just pretended that was to save energy for the weekend but it wasn't. I did do another bit of stretching before bed. 

Friday I had a proper rest day. A bit of stretching and yoga to try and help me recover for Saturday's race. 

Saturday's Aquathon won't get a report to itself. I am happy enough with it. I swam ok, I ran ok. Nothing spectacular for either but about what I expected. 

Sunday I went out with the Kintore Sunday Beginners group again. Another nice easy 26 miles in just over 2 hours. 

Not a bad week. Not the best race, but some solid miles regardless. 


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 31 mins.
Commute ride from office 9.1 miles in 46 mins.
Swim with TPT 2,100m in 50 mins. 

Tuesday - Commute run 6.8 miles in 65 mins.
Stretching and rollering session.

Wednesday - Commute ride to office mtb 7.1 miles in 37 mins.
Commute ride from office mtb 7.1 miles in 45 mins.

Thursday - Commute ride to office  7.1 miles in 35 mins.
Commute ride from office 7.1 miles in 40 mins.
Swim at bucksburn 1,450m in 37 mins. Speedo On 2.1 (most of).
Stretching session.

Friday -  Yoga session 32 mins.
Stretching session.

Saturday - Yoga session 12 mins.
Kings Aquathon.
Swim 400m in 6:42.
Run 5,000m* in 23:11. 
*Actually 5.6km / 3.5 miles.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday Beginners. 26.3 miles in 2 hours 8 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 2.4 miles (3,950 m). Bike 70.9 miles. Run 10.3 miles. 
0 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 44 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 115.2 (109.0) [125.4], 
B 2,142.3 (1,884.0) [2,260.8], 
R 733.8 (697.0) [787.6].