At the start of this week I was still feeling my back was a bit sore, although nowhere near as bad as it had been. By the end of the week it was feeling almost normal again, and the pain in the arch of my left foot doesn't feel as bad either. Overall, I was happy with a reasonable week of training, although circumstances dictated that I only made it to the pool once this week.
Training this week:
Monday 27th January: Rest
Tuesday 28th January: 1:10 turbo (15 x 2mins hard, 2mins easy)
Wednesday 29th January: 30min fartlek run
Thursday 30th January: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard/drills)
Friday 31st January: 30min hard run
Saturday 1st February: Swim 3km (with 10 x 250m)
Sunday 2nd February: 2 hour turbo (harder every 15mins), 30min run
Swim 3km, Bike 90 miles, Run 15 miles
Although these weekly totals are still quite low, I'm still in a building phase and working on strength and technique, rather than churning out countless miles. My philosophy is to train smart and peak in July - there's no point in biking 200 miles a week and running 30 miles a week at this stage, because I will burn out by April - bringing myself to a July peak is a gradual process.
I'm still a long way off where I want to be though. Today's bike was tough. The first hour passed quite quickly but into the second hour, it got a lot tougher. I was incrementally increasing the resistance every 15 minutes, which over the course of 2 hours is a big jump in effort. For the first 90 minutes, I was able to maintain a pedalling cadence of 90rpm, which is seen as an ideal cadence. For the penultimate 15 minutes, this dropped to around 85rpm, and for the final 15 minutes it was down to around 80rpm. For comparison, in the run-up to Ironman Wales in late August 2013, I was able to go for over 3 hours, getting incrementally tougher every 15 minutes, and I still felt strong after 3 hours.
I took on a few gels and a litre of electrolyte drink on today's bike, and I felt I had reasonable legs on the run that followed. By the end, after two and a half hours of tough effort, I felt quite fatigued and was grateful for the protein/milk drink, banana and fistful of spinach that is my usual feed immediately after training.
I'm still feeling the effects of disrupted sleep from my sore back, so hopefully in the week to come, I will be getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and then I'm into an easier week again. Anyway, I have to be happy that I'm back at it again and that my back seems OK. Over the last few days I have even been getting back into doing my squatting exercises again, which are torturous and tough on the quads and back. For motivation when doing my strength work and stretching in the last few days, I watched this video of the Ironman World Championships in October last year on Hawaii. I still can't help but think I could and should have been there... I might watch this a few times more in the months to come to remind myself of the prize and what this training is all for, if things go well...
Training this week:
Monday 27th January: Rest
Tuesday 28th January: 1:10 turbo (15 x 2mins hard, 2mins easy)
Wednesday 29th January: 30min fartlek run
Thursday 30th January: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard/drills)
Friday 31st January: 30min hard run
Saturday 1st February: Swim 3km (with 10 x 250m)
Sunday 2nd February: 2 hour turbo (harder every 15mins), 30min run
Swim 3km, Bike 90 miles, Run 15 miles
Although these weekly totals are still quite low, I'm still in a building phase and working on strength and technique, rather than churning out countless miles. My philosophy is to train smart and peak in July - there's no point in biking 200 miles a week and running 30 miles a week at this stage, because I will burn out by April - bringing myself to a July peak is a gradual process.
I'm still a long way off where I want to be though. Today's bike was tough. The first hour passed quite quickly but into the second hour, it got a lot tougher. I was incrementally increasing the resistance every 15 minutes, which over the course of 2 hours is a big jump in effort. For the first 90 minutes, I was able to maintain a pedalling cadence of 90rpm, which is seen as an ideal cadence. For the penultimate 15 minutes, this dropped to around 85rpm, and for the final 15 minutes it was down to around 80rpm. For comparison, in the run-up to Ironman Wales in late August 2013, I was able to go for over 3 hours, getting incrementally tougher every 15 minutes, and I still felt strong after 3 hours.
I took on a few gels and a litre of electrolyte drink on today's bike, and I felt I had reasonable legs on the run that followed. By the end, after two and a half hours of tough effort, I felt quite fatigued and was grateful for the protein/milk drink, banana and fistful of spinach that is my usual feed immediately after training.
I'm still feeling the effects of disrupted sleep from my sore back, so hopefully in the week to come, I will be getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and then I'm into an easier week again. Anyway, I have to be happy that I'm back at it again and that my back seems OK. Over the last few days I have even been getting back into doing my squatting exercises again, which are torturous and tough on the quads and back. For motivation when doing my strength work and stretching in the last few days, I watched this video of the Ironman World Championships in October last year on Hawaii. I still can't help but think I could and should have been there... I might watch this a few times more in the months to come to remind myself of the prize and what this training is all for, if things go well...
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