The Plan starts here

 

And good grief, it's looking like quite some plan. Still, start as you mean to go on and all. It's based on rate of perceived exertion (RPE), i.e. things like "moderate" and "speed" rather than a specific pace, so I can ease into it if needed. But all the half-Ironman plans in the book are based on nine sessions a week - I haven't been doing that many lately so I will see how it goes and if necessary start from 2 sessions in each discipline and work up to 3 over the first few weeks.

The thing that's really tricky to fit in is weekday bike rides before the clocks go forward. The bikes in the gym are hugely uncomfortable. Heading out before work means I meet people rat-running on the country lanes. I could go in to work on my road bike and then head out at lunchtime but then it's hard to carry things to the office. But if it's for intervals and building up speed/strength then I reckon training on my everyday bike won't hurt, for one session a week. It may also work out that I just do these sessions on my one day off a week, on my road bike, from home. The second (steady) weekday bike session I will convert to a gym session for core strength.

Anyway, one step at a time. This week's plan looks like this:

Mon: Swim mixed intervals (1300m total) and steady run (35 min)
Tue: Bike 'power intervals' (short sharp speed bursts, within 50 min ride)
Wed: Swim moderate intervals (1400m total) and fartlek run (35 min inc. sprints) / or rest
Thurs: Gym
Fri: Swim long intervals (1500m total) and steady run (45 min)
Sat: rest
Sun: Steady bike (1h15)

Let's see what happens...

Photo: Feb 20 (Day 51): To Do List by dmachiavello, on Flickr

Base building

 

One week left of base-building and then the plan starts. After crisis week the other week, annoyingly things have got more pressured work-wise and lunchtime sport has slipped. I have, however, returned to running club sessions even if Thursday was 'effortless efforts' with fellow returnees from injury, Hannah and Hugh. After next week my schedule at work should get better, but I will be putting my training plan into my diary as more or less immovable fixtures just to make sure.

So where's my base? I'm running reasonably comfortably at about 9:30 per mile for up to 45-50 minutes, and can happily throw in a fartlek session including (if my Garmin is to be believed) under 7 min miling for very short bursts. I'm swimming comfortably, not doing any more than 40 minutes at a time but again playing about with speed and effort. I haven't been out on my road bike yet this year (oops) but am looking to rectify that very soon! And despite the chaos I'm back to 3 exercise sessions per week as a minimum, and even better my ankle is healing up nicely - pretty much healed, I would say.

Nearly time to start building upwards... bring it on :)

Photo: foundation by paul goyette, on Flickr

Un-lost property

 

I found it! My Garmin wasn't lost, it had fallen off my desk on to a little ledge where I couldn't see it. I'm so glad to know I am not stupid enough to leave it in the shower room...

In other news, my manic weekend did allow me time for a walk (!) to work with my camera in hand, capturing the snow we got dumped overnight. My determination not to derail is so far still intact, although I am feeling the pressure. Five days to go. With a repeated thaw-freeze cycle forecast for the week, I think there might be heavy use made of my Sportspark card this week for swimming and gymming - since I'm not keen on the idea of respraining my ankle. 

Photos: 215/365 - Tan Lines by aithom2, on Flickr; UEA sledgers 2 by ermintrude75 (me!), on Flickr

Staying on track

Potential distraction ahoy - a bit of an issue with a work deadline coming up. No point in dwelling on the whats or the whys, just a staement: I'm not going to let this derail me so early on. A week or so and it will all be over (it's a bit of a concentrated crisis, this one), but a lot of damage could be done in a week, mentally if nothing else. If I stick with the plan and keep running, biking and gymming this week as planned, I'll get some important mental space and energy to get me through the deadline. And as an aside, I'm not going to get through it by eating crap either.

The last week's been pretty good and I look forward to building on it. Another mile swum (broken into 4 fast, 4 slow x 8), a good gym session, and two runs - the last one at 9:29/mile for 3.6 miles and feeling pretty good. On the downside, I managed to lose my Garmin :( - think I left it in the shower room at work, so here's hoping Lost Property can help...

Staying on track.. by etgeek (Eric), on Flickr

What a difference...

...new goggles make. Barely knew they were there. So refreshing not to be emptying them every 4 lengths, or have them digging into my face.

I was so happy, I did a mile! Except I didn't. My counting skills failed me and I did 62 lengths. I was hitting the lap button on my watch after each 100m, but either I got super-fast around 500m or I only did 50m that time. D'oh. Multiplied up I would have done the mile in about 38:15, or just under 36s per length. There was a pretty straight fade from 32s/25m to 37s/25m over the session. Anyway, it's not pretty, but it's a baseline.

Right, I'm off to watch Sesame Street now and practice my counting for next time.

Photo: skydiving by dollie_mixtures, on Flickr

Take aim...

Pondering is done. I have a monster in my sights. This one. So, a middle distance/half ironman it is - let's see if I can NOT get a puncture, and beat 7hrs this time. The course is flat, so no hills to slow me down, but on a windy day cycling in the Fens will be a b*gger... but the swim is downstream at least!

I've also signed up to Norwich Tri (aiming again for sub 3hrs, this time I'll remember to refuel on the bike). The 20-week plans I am looking at have an Olympic distance tri at 16 weeks - this one's a bit early but there is wiggle room as I'm starting early. R(ace) minus 20 weeks makes April 2nd for the start of The Plan, or 12th March if I want to hit the oly at 16w and have an extra 3w between then and the full (half) monty, which sounds better.

I've got 6 weeks between now and 12th March to get myself running, swimming and biking to a level that's ready to go. Sounds good. Bring it on.


Hanako! by sally_monster, on Flickr

New year...

OK, so last year kind of went out with a feeble whimper, as evidenced by this blog. Some issues turned up and squashed a lot of things (like enthusiasm and motivation for a start), and winter has been cold and dark so far in more ways than one. What I have learned, though, is that these things do not magically resolve themselves, and happy endings don't just appear because you think you don't deserve any more crap. At some point you have to lend a helping hand to make good things happen - like going looking for them.

If I hesitate to make full-on resolutions, I can at least take stock. 2011 was a mixed year, some good times, but overshadowed in the end by things outside my control - including work trips, neverending colds, back pain, and finally a badly sprained ankle which has me laid off running for a week or two yet, to be followed by a slow comeback. Taking a long, hard look at what I did with the year, I could certainly have done better - both Waveneys were lacklustre, to say the least, and while my 5k time got better within the year, I'm a way off my best. The adventure race weekend was the real shining highlight, though, and if nothing else I am glad I did that. But compared to a year ago I'm less fit, more fat, and I sure as hell don't want to be sitting here next year thinking "could have done better" all over again. I need to train - even if I don't make the start line for whatever reason, time spent training is never wasted, right?

So I'm looking for a race to focus on. Nothing too big, but just the right amount of pressure to keep me motivated. No big trip abroad (i.e. flying) tied up with it, and nothing any longer than I've done before. Ironman 70.3 Ireland (Galway) is a contender, but I'm still checking out options closer to home like the Ely Monster middle distance. Another adventure race is massively tempting, although the only Questar weekenders are Exmoor or the South Downs - not quite as handy as one on my back doorstep in Thetford. A side adventure that's looking good is the ~120 mile overnight Dunwich Dynamo, and I hope I'll be up to running a selection of local races just for fun, but for my main focus I really want something multisport. I'll find out what my buddies are doing, but my main goal will be for me.

Hmm... time to sit down with a cuppa, a laptop, and the training bible, and have a good old think...

Happy New Year 2012! by Creativity103, on Flickr

A shout out!

I've just seen that I got a shout in the Blogger News section of my favourite podcast, Two Fit Chicks And A Microphone! That's made my day, especially as I can now download the new episode to listen to as I fly to Vancouver tomorrow... thanks, Fit Chicks! But how embarrassing to be caught out being a blogging slackarse... *blush*

Photo: a.k.a. Flow by lars_in_japan, on Flickr

Getting adventurous

Something a little different - a Questars three-discipline adventure race weekend, comprising kayaking, trail running and mountain biking. I took part in this along with Clare and Rosie (as Tri-Girls Cubed), and Trish, Debbie and Debbie's friend Birgit (as Adventure Girls), making up two teams of three in the Novice Ladies category. The overall event consists of a number of rounds combining kayak, run and/or bike with a few other activities. In each round you have a map and notes for number of checkpoints for each activity; CPs have a points value attached and you 'dib' an electronic widget to get the points. The route and the number of CPs you do are totally up to you, but there's a bonus for completing a colour set and a penalty for coming back late.

The weekend went like this:

Friday evening: arrived and set up camp. The campsite (ok, field - this was not glamping!) was gently buzzing and the friendly atmosphere was one of the things that really made the whole weekend. Clare, Trish and I got our tents up in the dark, tucked into nachos (pre-race fuel of champions) from the catering tent, enjoyed a fabulous view of the stars in the absence of light pollution, and then retreated for the night as the cold and damp drew in. Well, Trish retreated to her four solid walls at home, while Clare and I toughed it out under canvas...

Saturday morning: a dewy and misty start (and early, with trains whooshing past from 0630), but the temperature soon rose as the sun appeared just in time for breakfast. Our team mates arrived and we prepped the bikes and enjoyed the campsite banter before heading off for the race briefing - thankfully pretty comprehensive, which allayed some of our novice nerves. An hour later it was time for round 1: up to 50 minutes' kayak, followed by running to make a total time allocation of 200 minutes. Paddling straight in a two-person kayak was the most difficult of the weekend's activities, and must have provided much entertainment for those watching. Still, we got a few CPs, returned the kayak on time, and headed out on the run. By now (~11am) the sun was blazing but thankfully the trails included many shady forest paths. We completed about 7 miles of running plus the teambuilding type activity (a compulsory check-in, even if you chose not to complete it) to finish in around 150 minutes - strategic thinking having suggested that finishing early and saving our legs for the bike was better than breaking our necks to try and get to and from just one more CP. Our score of 185 put us in third place for our class, with Adventure Girls ahead on 195.

After a couple of hours' break and it was on to round 2, a 150 minute mountain bike course with the challenge activity being a sample of the High Lodge orienteering course. We found this tough going after a morning on foot, but with 40 points on offer (as much as the highest-value CP) for a couple of miles, we decided to go for it at the start of the round. After that we clocked up around 13 miles on the bike trails around Brandon Country Park, and a rather nice fast stretch of the High Lodge exit road, pausing to help out when we stumbled over Trish dealing with a puncture, but clocking up 190 points to come top of our class in that event.


Another change of kit, some dinner (curry was on offer from the caterers, not ideal but it was that or nachos again!), and round 3 saw a night trail run of up to 75 minutes and the surreal experience of scampering around the forest with a bunch of other people wearing head torches. Feeling pretty weary by now, and mindful of the big final round in the morning, we took it easy and stayed close to home while the Adventure Girls ventured a little further and picked up 20 more points. We weren't the only ones run-walking, with some people obviously limping or otherwise suffering a bit. I managed to twist my ankle on an uneven track, and Clare's knee was also becoming painful, but we both held up well to complete the round and pick up 15 bonus points for coming in under 60 minutes. We sat around for a little while to wind down, but again it was getting chilly so we called it a night pretty early.

Sunday's round was all three disciplines, 240 minutes for novices, with a fixed 60 minute slot for the kayak and then the split between run and bike up to each team. With a couple of injuries between us and some impressive blisters that I seemed to develop overnight, Tri-Girls opted to play to our strengths and maximise bike time.We still had to hit one run CP to avoid a 100-point penalty, but with one about half a mile from transition that requirement was taken care of quickly to leave us three hours for the bike and the challenge activity (a brain teaser this time). We followed our previous successful strategy of heading for the distant, high-value CPs and covered around 18 miles in total, with just one "where the hell is it?" moment and one particularly slow trudge up a tortuous sandy hill (Harling Drove, which some may remember as the old off-road section of RNR stage 13). We came in with 15 minutes to spare and 335 points gained, second in our class just ahead of Aventure Girls with 300. We celebrated our finish with a dip in the river (some dipping more than others...)

All told, we amassed 800 points in just over 9:30 total time, coming second in Novice Ladies, with Adventure Girls hot on our heels in third, getting 753 points in 10:30. Nice job, ladies!

Overall verdict: absolutely fantastic! Of course, the incredible weather helped, and I'm not sure what I'd be saying if it had been pouring all weekend, but we had the most amazing time. We came home tired, sore, sunburned, blistered and bruised but with very big grins! The best thing was that the whole weekend was really friendly with lots of hellos and smiles when you passed other competitors on the trails, and a good buzz to the campsite. The team aspect was also a nice contrast to the often solitary nature of triathlons.

The season's over now, but I would really recommend these races to anyone looking for something different for next year. Entries open soon, and you can enter solo as well as in a team of 2, 3 or 4, and you can do a Duo event if you don't want to kayak. This particular one's right on our doorstep (and uncovers some glorious bits of Thetford forest to boot), but there are others, mostly down south, and including one-day events as well as weekends. The challenge is pitched just right so that you can push yourself a bit whatever fitness/experience level you start from - it needs a bit of thought and strategy as well as speed and endurance, and of course you can have your own little competition going if you're with friends! Here's hoping for more next year...

Heavy, man

I've neglected the blog a bit. Been bimbling along, same old same old - running seems to be a bit of a struggle in terms of getting faster, but it's still enjoyable so I keep getting out there. My niggly hip is not quite so bad at the moment, and doing non-running sessions seems to sort it out. Strange, but good!

The weekly routine is looknig approximately like this at the moment, but how it can be a routine when it seems to vary week by week I don't know!

Monday - club run in the evening
Tuesday - aerobics, provided there's no holiday substitute (as they're never as good!)
Wednesday - swim
Thursday - club efforts session
Friday - Gym
Saturday - parkrun
Sunday - social bike ride

I am making a concerted effort to get one good weights/strength session in per week. I'm feeling the benefit and enjoying the buzz of upping my weights/reps. At the moment I don't want to drop anything else from my week, but I know another session would be good... after Waveney I may give swimming the boot for a bit and really focus on strength. Or maybe aerobics, but that's *fun* where swimming, honestly, isn't really.

Today's session

Row, 5 mins
Plank, 3 x 38s (42s rest) (new time)
Twists, 3 x 15 @ 5kg (not sure what weight the next ball up is - might have to use a dumbbell to increase?)
Half pressups - 3 x 13
Biceps - 3 x 8 @ 8kg (new weight)
Squats - 3 x 10 @ 12kg (first time with weights - 6kg dumbbell each shoulder. Next time: grab an advisor to get the lowdown on the squat rack)
Lats - 3 x 8 @ 35kg
Triceps (cable): 3 x 6 @ 20kg (not so new, but done *properly* today, i.e. elbows fixed. Less rest at the top, harder work!)

So - a few weight increases, pleasantly fatigued afterwards, feeling good :) :)

Photo: Weight & Horoscope by wblj, on Flickr

Quick roundup

Back to normal on the knee front, so a fairly normal week/weekend (sort of):

Thursday eve: crikey. Sprint efforts on the cinder track with Richard in charge. 200m pairs relays, mixed-distance pyramid relays, 50m shuttle runs, all kinds of short sharp delights. The final 400m was about the hardest thing I have ever done. A very slow run back to base (all together, which was nice) with some severe cases of jelly legs. Wowsers. Come back Nigel!!

Friday: feeling the after-effects a bit, but managed a 3.5 mile lunchtime run with Natalia and Alice. Not fast, but not bad at all. My arms ached more than anything, evidence of my amazing sprint technique (and you can take "amazing" in any way you like...)

Saturday: parkrun not happening, uh-uh, no way. I thought the Friday run would loosen me up and leave me ready to at least amble round on Saturday, but no. Two sleeps is the killer for that old friend DOMS...  so, a quiet morning and the off to Essex (above) with the girls for a nice weekend :)

Sunday: "the usual", quick evening bike ride with Clare - biggest achievement, not getting wet! Had a little daft panic moment starting off on a barely-there hill, but no harm done apart from feeling an idiot. It was a good pace.


Photo: Wally, by me! From Mellisa's hen weekend.

Back in the swing of things!

My knee seems fine. Wheeee!

Weekend: no actual exercise (oops) but I did cycle to parkrun (volunteering) and the shops, stand for hours on Sunday volunteering at the tri, and go for a little swim in the river.

Monday: 3.7 mile run with the club - all fine. No problems with my (mostly healed) blisters either.

Tuesday: aerobics, being careful of twisting and changing direction, but again no ill effects during or afterwards. We had a good old cardio set in the middle, which rocked, but I am looking forward to a new routine! Might miss next week due to a school group session in the lab though :(

Wednesday: 30 min steady but strong swim (short because I was fitting it in between classes). My right ankle (I twisted it a while back slipping on wet grass, but seem not to have blogged that...) started to ache, but my knee didn't! The whole swim felt good and today I'm feeling it in my shoulders, which is a pretty good sign of having worked well.

Thursday (tonight) will be efforts, Friday a gentle and probably short lunchtime run (meeting at 1.30pm), Saturday parkrun, and if I can make it (and if clean kit allows), a little run on Sunday morning too (hen weekend away).

Photo: zero gravity by [auro], on Flickr (CC-BY-ND 2.0)

After all that...

...I seem to be on the mend! A day strapped up yesterday, a good night's sleep with my knee on a pillow, and today is almost, well, normal. I'm being careful, and haven't had time to run anyway, but it's looking OK. I cycled in to work and that was fine. Clearly my knee is an attention seeker.

Volunteering at parkrun and then the Norwich tri this weekend, so no epic workouts for me, but I might try a little jog up the lane and back, maybe a bike ride on Sunday evening, and some strength work at home (no squats or lunges, though!).

Photo: Othello Tunnels - Stretching into the Light by That Guy Who's Going Places, on Flickr

*sigh*

Still not able to exercise. My knee can go from being almost normal to making me hobble and sound like a chimp ("oohh! ooh! aahh!") for no apparent reason. Even though I figured it would be futile, I went to the medical centre this morning. Rest, elevate, ice and heat, painkillers, bandage, come back on Monday if it's bad, yada yada. At least I got a free tubigrip, but even that keeps rolling down.

I am going stir crazy. I really hope it's eased enough to allow a swim (with pull buoy to avoid kicking if necessary) tomorrow.

Photo: No Cop, No Stop, I Don't Care *Explored* by Sean Molin Photography, on Flickr