Monday
After a rest day yesterday, it was another easy day on the legs today, with just a swim. I went to the pool after work and the flavour was speed work. After a short w/up, I did 20 x 100's as 50 sprint/50 easy plus a few easy 100's added in for active recovery. That number of laps does my head in and I have to concentrate to keep my count accurate! After that it was 10 x 50's as 25sprint/25 easy. All up 3.5km in 59min.
Tuesday
Bike intervals this morning. 3 x 15' at z4. I have been struggling to hit my HR targets on these intervals for a few weeks now and wondering, with some concern why. Well I read something that reminded me of the bigger picture and what my program is doing. I have been comparing myself to the hard, short & sharp work I did over the off season, which had me hitting some solid zone 4 HR's. But since then I have put a lot of distance into my legs (both running and riding) and so the cumulative effects of this have taken the edge right off my legs. This is perfectly normal - as it is impossible to keep your top end speed/power up as you add a lot of distance. So I was heartened somewhat by this as I struggled a little to hit even the middle of zone 4. Anyway, I did 1 hr and about 31km.
Wednesday
I had a pretty avg start to my day today. Firstly, I forgot Lisa goes to work early on Wednesdays and didn't allow enough time to do my planned run. Doh! So I cut it short and did just one of the two 1.6k intervals on the schedule. I also coughed my guts up real good, which is starting to really annoy me. Then I noticed that my pace on the Polar was all over the place and obviously wrong. I checked the calibration and it was about 12% out!!! Way out. So I attempted to adjust it on the fly, but it didn't seem to work. I also noticed how it looked like it might need a new battery, as the display was going faint when I started a new exercise. When I got home, I grabbed my iPhone and did a proper calibration check over 1k and it was almost spot on! ? ! What the? So I logged 7.3km and then took my watch in to RW so it could get a new battery (this involves having it sent off to Adelaide!) and so I will be without my watch, speedo, stop watch etc for a week... I ran a few more km's at lunchtime, to finish off my set of 1.6k intervals. So another 5.7km logged.
After work I hit the pool and was supposed to do some sets at RR pace minus 2". But with no watch and being short sighted I had no idea of time. So I did the distances (2x500, 3x300, 4x200 as hard as I could & then 10x50's as 25sprint/25easy. All up 3.9km in approx 1:08hrs (?)
Thursday
Long run - but really it didn't seem very long at all! 18km in 1:25hrs. I didn't even take my fuel belt...just slipped one gel into my tri suit pocket and my iPhone to record distance/time. It was pretty humid, so a drink would have been a good idea in hindsight! I weighed myself after brekky and the scales said 78.5kg! I checked 3 times and got the same number each time. I think I was pretty dehydrated.
Friday
I ran this morning and took the dog along for a change. She hasn't had much of a look in lately. But when I got to the point of doing uphill strides, I tied her up next to the road and she watched as I did 8 x 30" strides. All up 7.3 km in about 37min.
After work it was off to Bold Park and a nice surprise - the mens change rooms were back in business and the demountable was gone! Yeah! Nice new refurbished showers/change rooms to use. I did 3.8k as MS1: 4x400, 4x300 & 3x200, I skipped the last set of 25/25 sprints as I was stuffed, but mostly I was really, really hungry!
Saturday
RW ride today for the first time in ages (7 or 8 weeks?). But first I did a 'reverse' brick run. 5k in 25' with a lucky dog who scored her 2nd run in 2 days! Based on the latest research and results from Endurance Nation - brick runs are now minimised big time. The current theory is that they are largely a waste of time and that you are better giving yourself as many opportunities to get quality runs in (faster, better form etc) than bashing your head against a wall again and again to see if it feels any better (brick run)! No doubt the masses won't agree with this as it is outside the conventional thinking, but I bet if Crowie or Macca came out and said thats what they did, everyone would jump on! Anyway, I reckon it is a great strategy for Age Group long course athletes. So on w/ends you run 1st before a long ride and on week days you run later in the day (lunchtime or late afternoon).
So Rat rocked up and we spun over to Hale Rd and met the crew as they crawled up the hill, with Big Greg well out in front. We slotted in and joined in for the Circuit 2 loop (one of my favourites). It was great to have some more company on a ride, as Rat and I tended to just talk IM race stuff etc etc. We had a few hill repeats and efforts but it felt pretty easy to absorb the punishment during the recovery bits and short re-groups. It was great fun to ride with others for a change. The best part was going to the coffee shop and staying! What a luxury! The banter, the sledging and 2 coffees with a serve of eggs & toast was great. I gave my bike a good clean and degrease this arvo and I will take it into Phab for a 'nervous service' on Tuesday. Tonight I fell asleep on the couch early and then went to bed at 9pm. I was stuffed!
Sunday
Today I got up at 530 feeling very groggy and just a bit slow and hit the road for a RTR ride at 0600. I saw Nick and Butch on Cliff St in Kings Park, after they yelled out to me twice! They mentioned that the Santos Great Big Stupid Bike Ride was on today, but luckily I was going the opposite way to them and had no issues with road closures or anything. I rode with ABP flavour and no idea of my speed. Perceived effort was my only guide. The easterly was a shocker and I was glad to get to Burke Drive and have a tail wind. I ended up getting home in 1:49hrs and doing about 57km.
Surf club was pretty nice this week as it was warmer and sunny and the offshore breeze made the surf nice and clean. I did the masters swim - which was a short one this week and about 300m all up. My handicap was a ridiculous 4:10min! The first swimmers were literally nearly back at the beach when I took off! I had a good swim and caught a wave in for a fair distance, which made me up a few spots! I was sucking in the big ones and blowing a bit after making it up the beach in a sprint. All good fun!
Summary:
So it ended up being a fairly decent week with 5 (mostly short) runs, 3.5 swims and 3 rides. Taper starts this week proper (yeah!) I'm going to do some analysis of the last 20 weeks training and compare to my 2009 campaign and the other 2 Amigos...should be riveting reading!
Swim - 11.5k
Ride - 163k
Run - 44k
Time - 12:18hrs
No comments:
Post a Comment