Cycling (01:04:18 / 15.83 Miles / 14.90 MPH/ HRZ 2 / Cadence 72)
Technique Session
The
normal commute in and out of work today.
Vague
sense of paranoia as I kept expecting to get a puncture and every bit of rough
road surface had me convinced I had a flat. Luckily none of it came true
and it was rather uneventful. Which is good on a commute.
Swimming
(2050M / 00:58:27)
Now,
I know that I have lost a bit of swim fitness over the last couple of weeks,
but it has been a long time since I have felt so physically stretched in
swimming session.
It
wasn’t even a long session but I just found the combination of hard intervals
and speed work really hard to handle, plus I was in a lane with faster swimmers
than me which made me feel even slower.
One
particular set almost did for me entirely. Swimming with bands on and no
Pull Buoy. For non swimmers this me and having your legs bound at the
ankles and not being allowed to kick and not having a float between your legs
to aid buoyancy. The net effect for me was basically not being able to
swim more than half a length without putting my feet down to try to avoid
drowning and a deep rooted fear of the deep end developing as I couldn’t put my
feet down there. Not a pleasant experience and one that showed up my
complete lack of core strength to hold up my body. Really really tough!
I’m
not going to get demoralised about it, just suck it up and look forward to eh
next session as I hopefully will have gained a bit of strength back from this
one. I better had, as I would hate to think the experience was for
nothing.
Tuesday 25th February 2014Running (00:32:55 / 4.30 Miles / 00:07:39 per mile / HRZ 4)
Back
on the lunchtime Tempo runs. No Brendan to run with this time as our
meetings overlapped at work and we couldn’t co-ordinate a suitable time, which
to be honest I thought suited me as I didn’t think I was up to his speed at the
moment.
Within
the first ¼ mile I was thinking that I had bitten off more than I could chew as
I felt horrible running at pace. The feeling settled a bit after about
half a mile, but I never really felt comfortable throughout the whole run.
I suppose though that is the point of tempo run. To have
controlled discomfort. Mission
The
wind made things a bit tougher but I actually surprised myself by running this
loop only 25 seconds slower than the fastest time I’ve recorded on this route.
That was pretty pleasing and worth the discomfort.
Cycling
( 00:53:10 / 17.43 / 19.70 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 92)
Turbo – Sufferfest Fight ClubThe first rule of Fight Club…. Is to expect a sweaty pasting!
A
really good session tonight. This video is such a good mix of climbing,
power, sprints and recovery. Odd as it sounds the Tyler Durden in me
really got a good kick, and slap out of this one.
Wednesday 26th February 2014
Cycling
(00:41:55 / 8.94 Miles 12.80 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 74) 324 M Elevation
GainHill Session –
“Here
we go again” was the thought going through my head as the alarm goes off at
5.45am so that I can get up and get back in to the routine of doing the early
morning Hill session on the bike. It’s fair to say that I hate the idea
of the session and always harbour a hope that the reality of it will be much
better.
What’s
not to like about heading out on to an unlit road climbing over 100M in about
1.3 miles with the odd Lorry for company? Who wouldn’t love it?
I
know that this session is a key one for me and I had left it until this stage
of my training to build it back in again as I really want to reap the benefit
of the strength that it builds.
So,
off I go, into the blackness and knock out three repeats. Not my fastest
or longest set on the Pond Park
Road
My
aim is to repeat this each week, gradually building the number of repetitions
and hopefully the speed and strength alongside that.
For
this week the time for the three repeats were (9.02 / 9.07 / 9.16) – fairly
consistent but about 30 seconds off where they had been last year.
Thursday 27th February 2014
Running
(01:07:17 / 8.00 Miles / 00:08:24 / HRZ 2)
Unusually
for me, this was a commuting run. I came up with the brainwave that I
would use the commute to work as an opportunity to get miles in and free up my
evening a bit. So, run to work and get the train home. Save the
planet and get fit! Well get a bit fitter anyway.
I
don’t know whether it was heavy legs from the hill session yesterday or the
early morning start, but I felt sluggish and the Heart Rate was a bit more
elevated than I would have liked. I was still within my HR Zone, but a bit
higher up it than desired.
Anyway,
it worked out OK and I hauled my heavy legs in to work at a steady enough
pace. Training for the day done by 8AM. Not too bad.
Saturday 1st March 2014
Running (01:41:17 / 12.014 Miles / 00:08:26 per mile / HRZ 2)
An early start for the weekend run as I had to leave Ben down to Rugby so I just decided to go for my run along to Tow Path at Lisburn.
It was a beautiful crisp and frosty morning and it really was a delight to be out running.
I enjoyed it and was happy enough with the way it went.
Sunday 2nd March 2014
Cycling (03:41:17 / 57.52 Miles / 15.50 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 83)
As usual I was looking at the weather forecast and hoping for the best. Heading out to meet up with Mark I was rewarded with a clear morning and not much wind. Result!
The route today saw me head over to meet up with Mark and then through Belfast and up the Crumlin Road to the hairpin bend at the top and then along towards Antrim. Heading along Seven Mile straight we averaged over 23 MPH - even though mark later informed me that it is actually only 6.5 miles long. Only in Northern Ireland!
Where I thought there was no wind I was very wrong. on the turn back towards Templepatrick it became clear that the high average speed was aided by the tail wind. It was a bit of a slog in to the wind alright.
Sadly the forecasted rain that was promised arrived bang on time. Things got pretty bloody miserable from here in and the rain, wind and cold started to bite and by the time I got to within ten miles from home I was really suffering. My hands have never been so sore and frozen.
Mark was freezing too and he still had a longer way to go home than me so he decided to crank up the pace and head on home himself. I think my pace slowed him down a bit and once he cranked it up I think he warmed up and got home safely.
Once again, another tough ride on a Sunday. please bring on the Spring and Summer.
Week 16 Summary
10H 40 Mins
Swim 2050M
Bike 99.74 Miles
Run 24.31 Miles
Not a bad week and the only disappointment was missing the second swim session during the week. This was entirely my fault and I just was too lazy to do the session.
I'm pleased with the week and my running has come back a little bit and the cycling was decent. The hill sessions are back again and I'm sure I will start to see benefit from that on my cycling strength.
My biggest week of training time for quite a while and I enjoyed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment