w/c 18/03/2013, does the bear sh!t in the woods?

w/c 18/03/2013

Its been a while updating this so thought I'd crack on again!

Training has been following relative mediocrity following my previous update. There seems to have been umpteen reasons for not completing sessions, or missing sessions each week. Probably because I appear to be seeking out the excuses thanks to waning motivation. The drawback of having nearly every hour of the day following work on Tuesday Friday, is that the merest social event, or unscheduled event results in a missed session at the moment. Also having had a few social events in the last few weeks (and missed sessions) has left me questioning the reasons for my routine of sacrificing them to satisfy my usual unending dedication to training. ho-hum

Attempting to get back on track and completing a full week is not being helped by the UK being gripped by a nuclear winter, increased time spent at work (recent new job), and increased expectation from don fink! (I'm currently following Fink's "Be Iron Fit" competitive training plan). Enough excuses though, I'm beginning to sound like a racing driver!

This week began as most others do with a pleasant rest day on Monday, its always good to let the legs rest, and I usually feel great for it come the first session of the week on Tuesday. I managed to hit both swim and run sessions on Tuesday, and sprinting in heart rate for the second time in a long time at heart rate Z4 felt amazing (170bpm+).

Moving into the later stages of the week I missed Thursday and Friday's planned swim, and Friday evenings run as well. I'm beginning to think I really need to make a habit of getting my swim sessions down before work in the morning to ensure their done.

As mentioned earlier the UK appears to be in the grips of a Siberian winter so on waking Saturday morning I was greeted with horizontal snow! So I spent the afternoon on the turbo, watching repeat stages of the 2012 Tour-de-France for motivation. After a few weeks of struggling with my TT position, I've really got it locked in now, and am happy to spend that amount of time in the position. Me being me, and a man, the default starting position a couple of weeks ago on the bike was obviously the most aggressive. But on the stark realization that I couldn't actually hold it for more than 10 minutes, and that I am not in fact Pete Jacobs, I've reverted to a more sensible position by moving the bars up and the seat back a bit. Following the turbo, I managed to hit my first brick session of the year, and went for a 15 minute run after two and a half hours monotony on the turbo. I wasn't expecting to feel quite so good in all reality. Quite an empowering feeling to belt out a couple of sub 8 minute miles straight after pedaling non stop  for two and half hours. That's when the feeling of proper fitness hits home. If I could bottle that feeling and sell it I'd be a rich man!

Sunday morning was spent getting ready for a steady run, for which I managed 50 minutes steady pace. Again the conditions cutting me 10 minutes short due to the loss of feeling in my hands, even with gloves on (excuses!), that and having to go all caveman with a nature shit on my outward leg, (yes I carry toilet roll :embarrassing: and yes, I thought, f*ck it, time to go home after that). Does the bear sh!t in the woods? Not in the UK, but I do, so watch out fellow runners! I'm thankful I live somewhere that most of my runs are trail runs too! Positives coming from this though were that I felt so much faster than before at the same effort level. Revving the engine on the short amount of Z4 work I've done over the last two weeks, after having done months at Z2 only, appears to be paying off already. That's pretty exciting as hopefully another few months of it and hopefully I can be faster than I've ever been.

Consistency in training has to be one of the main aspects of Ironman training, and at the moment I'm dissapointed in myself to not be achieving this key to what I would call success (finishing IMUK!), so I'm really hoping I recover some more motivation, the weather improves, and the clocks going forward should help get there.

I've never really been one to excessively plan things, so to have every week mapped out, with minimal room for error either side of each session is a struggle, and not something I've experience before. I've no doubt in my ability to finish the race, but know I'll be down on myself if I don't do so in a reasonable time. So I'm hoping writing about it will help me get my sh!t together!

On a more positive note, I've entered a 10 mile TT for two weeks time, so will be looking forward to that, as I've never tested myself over that sort of distance before.

To summarise, I really hope the weather improves, and I can get some motivation back. Actually getting out on the bike of an evening and running in the light after work should nudge this on!

Summary:

Monday:        REST
Tuesday:        45 min Z2 run with 5 mins at Z4 10 mins in. 2700m swim.
Wednesday:   45 min Z2 ride (turbo). 15 min Z2 run
Thursday:       1 hour Z2 ride (turbo).
Friday:           unscheduled rest day
Saturday:       2 hours 30 ride (turbo) and 15 min run
Sunday:         50 min run and 30 min 100+ RPM spin ride

Training week 18/02/13

Training Log W/C 18/02/2013

So, after last weeks debacle, I was hoping for a week much more conducive to decent training, which was largely what I got!

Those of you that are following Fink's program will know that the week starts on a Monday with a solid rest day, which I have come to love. This week was no different.

Tuesday was scheduled to be an hour heart rate Z2 run, with a 2500m swim broken into quite a few different efforts. Both of these went well, and the new running shoes are now working so much better. Broken in, and really comfortable. I was blowing a bit after last weeks lack of running, so took it pretty easy and just plodded round my local loop for 6 odd miles.

Wednesday was a 45 min cycle, again Z2, followed by a 15 minute Z2 run, as a transition effort. Both felt pretty decent, although I wasn't making too much power on the turbo on the TT bike. Using my TT bike all the time now, as I really want to acclimatize to making power on it.

Thursday was a pretty tough hour on the TT bike at 100rpm in Z1. I find it quite difficult to remain over 100rpm for any sustained period, but I can feel the benefit of it on any ride. Pedalling technique has come on leaps and bounds since I've been practicing high RPM stuff. Especially the one foot work. Another 1 hour 2500m swim felt pretty decent, although the arms/shoulders were hurting a little due to the TT position. Will get used to it I'm sure.

Friday's scheduled run got missed unfortunately. I recently was successful in applying for a new position at work, and was starting on 25th Feb, so had a leaving do on the Friday night. Alcohol and all, which is pretty rare for me. A good fun evening but I was in bed by 12pm which I was more than happy with.

Managed to be up fairly early and on the bike in the afternoon as well. The weather was nice enough to get a fairly steady 50 miles in.