I thought that after last week’s cross-country on Saturday
14 February that I would take the Sunday and the Monday off training, and be
fresh enough by Tuesday to start a new 2-week training block. The 2-week blocks
seem to work well for me, as by the end of the second week I’m usually
knackered and in need of a break, physically and mentally. After 2 weeks of
hard training, I always take a much easier third week, with no intense or long
training sessions. These easy weeks are essential to let the body
rest/recover/recuperate/repair. The easier weeks are where the strength is
built: the tough weeks cause the muscles to fatigue and break down, and the
easier weeks are when the body repairs itself to be stronger than before.
Also, the easier weeks help to avoid injury and illness.
Training in a bad state of fatigue is counter-productive and a sure-fire way to
pick up an injury or an illness. So, the two weeks on and one week off seems to
be a good cycle. It means that I stay relatively fresh, and am not going into
the tough training sessions in a bad state of fatigue. The fresher I am for the
tough stuff, the more benefit I get from it. “Keep the easy days easy so that
the tough days can be tough” was good advice I received many years ago, but
it’s only recently that I’ve come to see the value of it.
The cross-country was a big effort and took more out of me
than I thought. The day afterwards, I was knackered. 2 days afterwards, I will
still knackered. 3 days afterwards, I was planning to start a tough 2-week
training cycle, but I decided to put that on hold. I’m getting much better at
knowing how I feel and knowing when to throttle back. That’s not to say that I
wimp out, but rather it’s being smart enough and disciplined enough to know not
to train hard and to trust that the extra recovery will be beneficial. Athletes
always like to train hard, but generally don’t like easing off. However,
knowing when to ease off is essential.
So on Tuesday evening when I’d normally do a 70-75 minute
turbo session with an hour at high intensity, I decided to just get on the bike
and spin the pedals at low resistance for an hour. During this turbo session, I
ate a spicy flavoured energy bar. Yep, a spicy flavoured one. “Eastern Express”
flavour, with pistachio nuts. Nope, it wasn’t very nice! After the ride, I went
to bed early. By Wednesday I was still tired, and had to go out for a dinner
with our suppliers at work. So I didn’t train on Wednesday and it was no bad
thing.
Not sure the spicy eastern express flavour would help in an Ironman...
The highlight of our Wednesday night dinner was finding some
table-tennis tables in the downstairs part of the bar/restaurant we were in,
and getting a quick 10-minute game with one of our Italian suppliers. It was
great fun, I haven’t played since I was in Sydney 5 years ago. I could have
played all night but I had to drag myself away so that I could get home and get
to bed at a reasonable hour. On Thursday my mentality was to just take the rest
of the week nice and easy, ensuring that I gave my body a good opportunity and
a good timeframe in which to recover. I was already looking towards next week
and starting a tough 2-week block again, knowing that I’d be fresh and really
ready for it.
On Friday, after packing up all my stuff at work for an
office move over the weekend, I did a short swim and some single leg drills on
the turbo. I went to bed really early on Friday night, and spent about 12 hours
there. Awesome. On Saturday I did 90 minutes of easy spinning on the turbo
trainer, and a short, easy run. On Sunday I’d usually go swimming and running,
but I decided to take Sunday off. That would give 2 days of complete rest on
Sunday and Monday, and then into tough training again. An added bonus is that any
extra time is spent working on my Chartered Engineer qualification. I was
feeling a bit twitchy on Sunday, wanting to get back at the training, but I
held myself back. The next two weeks should be good, and from a work point of
view it looks quite clear as well, hopefully no trips, so I can totally focus
on training and eating well in the evenings.
I also put some effort into planning a few more races
between now and Ironman day on 19th July. I’ll definitely head up to Aberdeen
at the end of March for a 10k. I might head back to Northern Ireland for the
Titanic 10k in Belfast in mid-April. I’ll definitely do the North Norfolk 100
mile time trial in mid-May if the weather is reasonable. I’d like to do another
100 mile time trial in early June, but the Bedfordshire time trial is not being
held this year which is such a shame. This means I might have to simulate a 100
miler on the turbo trainer if I can’t find another 100 on the road on a date
that suits. I’ve entered the Bristol Olympic distance triathlon in mid-June,
which will be a good speed work-out. There’s also a cycle sportive at the end
of May in south-west Ireland that I’d love to do, but that doesn’t really fit
in with my training/racing plans, nor does it really benefit the overall Ironman
goal, so I’m unlikely to do it. Saying that, if the weather was guaranteed to
be good, this is the sort of scenery in Ireland/Northern Ireland that awaits…
The Bishop's Road, Northern Ireland.
Looking towards Portstewart, Portrush and Scotland in the distance.
Yes I like this road...
Training done this week (not much) was as follows:
Mon 16 Feb: Rest
Tue 17 Feb: 1 hour turbo
Wed 18 Feb: Rest
Thu 19 Feb: 30 minute run
Fri 20 Feb: Swim 2.2km, 1 hour turbo (single leg drills, 10 x 2mins R, L, both)
Sat 21 Feb: 1:30 turbo, 20 minute run
Sun 22 Feb: Rest
Tue 17 Feb: 1 hour turbo
Wed 18 Feb: Rest
Thu 19 Feb: 30 minute run
Fri 20 Feb: Swim 2.2km, 1 hour turbo (single leg drills, 10 x 2mins R, L, both)
Sat 21 Feb: 1:30 turbo, 20 minute run
Sun 22 Feb: Rest
Totals: Swim 2.2km, Bike 70 miles, Run 7 miles
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