Wednesday 27 February 2008

Swimming Lessons

Just booked myself in for some local swimming lessons in Cambridge. I'll give them a go for a few weeks and see how I get on. Certainly beats the traveling up to Loughborough.

Use it or lose it

After hurting my ankle the weekend before last, I've been taking it pretty easy exercise wise. At least thats my excuse. Up to today, I'd basically done one run, two cycles last week and a couple of dips in the pool, but I was probably using the ankle as an excuse. I'm not saying that it was fine, its not, but it wasn't bad enough to justify my slackness over the last ten days.

So today I go to a physio to check it out. Really should have went sooner, but thought I'd have to go see my GP to be referred so wasn't too bothered. When things weren't quite right after a week (walking was fine, but still a slight dull pain) I sorted it all out and got the physio appointment.

Thankfully nothing too serious done...no ligament damage like I had before. Probably just a slight bone bruise. He was also saying that my cartilage is probably slightly worn as well from previous injuries. Anyways, he worked his magic and it basically feels like I've got a new ankle. Honestly, the difference is amazing.

After a brief weights session, went for a brief run. Wasn't really planning on such a brief run, but I was seriously struggling. Not having done much cardio over the last week was really telling. Ankle was fine, so hopefully give it another (better) bash tomorrow. Went for a swim afterwards, slight improvement, but nothing special to report.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Work cycle

Went for a cycle at lunch today with one of my work mates. Was a pretty easy cycle for the most part, mainly down to his bike I'd say (touring bike with three gears). I kept dropping him anytime I went in front, though I was trying my best not to.

Just looking back at the stats of the ride and noticed that my HR was actually under my average HR for a walk to work that I done at the start of january! Bit mental!

Still, its not a bad little run, I might give it another go tomorrow flat out and see how I get on.

Monday 18 February 2008

Latest Bodystat

Done another bodystat tonight. Bit disappointed about the weight, but despite eating like a horse over the weekend, the results are still better than the last one! Hard to believe I know. My last weigh-in last week on the same scales had me about 2kg lighter...honest. May have been water loss, but still.

I also got the guy to do a lung function test today as well, just to compare against my one when I done the fitness test. The results are more or less the exact same, with a FEV of 3.57 (3.56) and FVC of 4.20 (4.29) today (last one).










































































Acceptable Range18/02/0807/01/0813/09/0720/07/0712/06/07
Body Fat (%)12 - 1823.625.227.226.529.9
Body Fat (kg)13 - 1928.130.032.732.036.4
Lean Mass (%)82 - 8876.474.872.873.570.1
Lean Mass (kg)86 - 9290.689.287.788.885.3
Total Body Mass (kg)101 - 109118.7119.2120.4120.8121.7
Water (%)55-655553.452.152.548.9
Water (ltrs)66 - 7765.163.762.763.459.5

Sunday 17 February 2008

Update

After my monstrous run on Thursday night, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn't in too bad a shape on Friday morning. Got up early and went to the gym for the strength session that I'd wanted to do instead of the run on Thursday.

At lunchtime, I went for my second cycle of the week, around the same route as before. Although the day seemed calm, there was a little more wind than the Monday cycle, but I can't imagine it was anymore than 5mph. But that certainly makes a difference on the open Cambridge roads. The terrain is flat, with absolutely no wind breaks for most of the cycle. I suppose it makes up for the lack of hills in the area to go training on.

Then on Saturday, played in goal for a game. It was bitterly cold and I wasn't really too keen on togging out, so goals seemed like a good idea. However, hurt my (weak) ankle saving a shot and spent the rest of the game hobbling around in goals. Ankle was in agony for the rest of the evening, but thankfully it seems a lot better today.

Friday 15 February 2008

For your sins do...

14.66km! As today is a Thursday and given my feast last night, diet went out the window today (for the most part). The buffet at lunch meant there was plenty of cr@p around to nibble on all day and boy did I nibble.

My sins were great today Father...

I didn't do anything at lunch as I hadn't brought any gear to work, so when I got home I had to decide what to do. I really fancied a weights session but after the debauchery of the day, decided that I really needed to do some cardio. Weathers been quite mild the last few days, so fancied having an outdoors run for the first time in a while.

I've also been struggling with the shorter distances I've been doing of late, with no real improvements to note. I decided to mix it up a bit and go for a longer run, not really caring if my pace dropped a bit, just hopeful that getting some miles into the legs would stand to me in the future. Decided to give the ring road around Cambridge a go, which I'd guess would be around 9-10km.

So off I set, definitely struggling for the first 2km. It was strange...I felt bloated and was struggling a bit with my breathing. Very annoying really, basically meaning that I had to stop earlier than I normally would. This seemed to continue for the first 5km of the run but definitely got better as the run went on.

So after 5km, I definitely noticed it seemed to be getting a lot easier, a second wind if you will. I'm not saying that I ran non-stop from here on in, just that I wasn't struggling as much as I would have been expecting at that stage. So at about the 7km mark, I make a choice to go for a longer route again, but still one which would give me a few short-cut options should I need them.

All's going well at this stage, and I reach the 10km mark in 1h 7m 50s, just under 2 mins slower than my PB! I'm still about 2km from home at this stage but again decide to "lengthen" my trip. My running is still going ok and I'm feeling alright.

I get to about 1km from home and I do start to struggle a little. Think its down to the fact that I know I'm on the homeward stretch and that I try to speed up. Get there in the end, for a total distance of 14.66km in 1h 40m 31s.

Boy was I glad to hit the bath!

Almost bonked again + pigging out afterwards

I've been on a bit of a diet lately that I've been talked into doing. Its basically Atkins with a few extra rules, which I won't really go into. Anyways, I've been trying to eat fruit for brekkie and something like soup and a smoothie for lunch, which is grand. Generally a bit hungry, but I can handle it.

So yesterday I decide to continue my new regime of doing stuff at lunchtime, following on from my bike ride the day before. Its was really foggy in Cambridge so decided to go for a run instead. There's a local lake just up the road from work that a few of the guys run around but I'd never been, so thought that'd be a good session. To cut the story short, not the best run of my life, but was good to get out all the same.

So in the evening I had a turbo session that I try to get to with the local tri club. After missing the whole month of Jan for various reasons, I'm making a big effort to get down there this month. Last weeks session was pretty tough so I'd no reason to assume that this weeks would be any easier.

All's going well until we get toward the last bit of the night, a 40 min endurance session of five sets of 6 minutes at the anerobic threshold followed by two minutes rest. After the first one I'm really struggling, and after the second one I'm not well at all. Decided to stick it out for another one, then dug in for the fourth. Was ready to give up at this point, but just had to dog it for another 6 minutes.

Really had to dig deep to finish the session. The second the 6 mins was up I was off the bike and into the changing rooms where I just lay down to compose myself. Don't think it was a proper bonk, as I've felt worse before but I was getting there.

All that I had all day was some fruit, some soup for lunch and a smoothie. I'd had a run at lunch as well, which would have further depleted the system.

Pigged out afterwards. All I could think off the last few sets was what I was gonna eat afterwards. Was promising myself all sorts of messy stuff. I was pretty restrained in Sainsbury's, but still probably blew my daily intake in one go...snickers & sausage roll (to get me home), 1 full brown bread + butter + smoked salmon, 1 carton of Innocent, 1 banana, 1 ice-cream mars for dessert. Messy. Talk about being bloated afterwards :(

Wednesday 13 February 2008

Training update

Just a quick post to update on my training this week following the duathlon on Sunday. I took Monday as a recovery day, so I just done some strength work in the gym followed by a quick dip in the pool.

Tuesday I realised that most of my bike time on the duathlon was actually caused by the difference in wind conditions...the guy that won it made up about 4 mins on the bike between the two events, so it was reasonable to assume that my time was mostly down to the wind. To this end, went for a quick ride at lunch, a 15km route around the block. Apart from a slight issue with some road works, the trip went well, averaging about 26.8kmph over the trip. I finished it off with a quick 800m run, just to stretch the legs.

Then last night, went to the gym for a 15 min, followed by a 2500m row and a quick dip in the pool.

Today, was thinking of going for another cycle at lunchtime today, but due to fog decided to go for a run instead. Done a 5km lap to and around a local lake. I was going well until I got to the lake, which was a bit cross country. Talk about energy sapping. Made it around the lake and back onto tarmac with a bit of walking.

Then this evening, I done the usual turbo session with the local tri club. It was tough going, and I didn't think I'd last it to the end but I just about got there. Absolutely wrecked now, will have a good snooze tonight I'd say.

Monday 11 February 2008

Race Report: F3 Duathlon - Dorney Lake

Went along to the first F3 duathlon at Dorney Lake yesterday, where my main aim was to beat my time that I set in November. I'd played my first game of football on Saturday as well, the result of which was that my groin was a bit sore and hence cast a doubt for the duathlon on Sunday.

I turned up in Dorney in good time and registered. Weather was absolutely gorgeous for a early February morning, clear blue skies and hardly any wind. There was about 100 people registered, from the look of things seasoned athletes. Quite a few tri club kits on display and some seriously nice bikes.

Coming up to the start, and my groin seemed ok, but just done a few stretches and didn't bother to warmup. Done my usual thing of starting off a bit too fast, which meant that I just ran the first 2.5km non-stop although I'd done 5km a few times before in training. Run felt good in general, despite my stopping.

Done the first 5km in 31.15 (official time, I reckon more like 31.04). Was hoping to get under 30mins but this is still a personal best.

Off onto the bike, which seemed to go well despite people flying by me the whole time. The thing that really got to me was that they seemed to be in middle gears instead of their lowest gear, meaning that they hardly seemed to be pushing. Decided to give this a go and have to say that it seemed to work well enough and I got off the bike pretty "fresh". Overall, the bike plus the two transitions took me 45m 27s.

Off onto the final run, which didn't feel anything like as bad as the last time I tried it. Didn't really have to convince myself too much to do the second lap either, which was a real effort in November. I was well into a run\walk strategy at this part of the race though.

Still, completed the last 5km in 34.02 (official time) which isn't too bad for me.

Overall, my time was about 7 mins faster than November, most of that coming on the bike. All three splits though were faster, which is encouraging.

Next one is in March, which I'll probably be at. If I could knock another 7 mins off my time I'd be well chuffed with myself.

What I've been up to for the last week

Hardly anything. Done a turbo session on Wednesday night and that was literally that. Made it down to the pool for a quick dip one of the nights as well, but hardly worth mentioning.

In parallel with that, I've been eating like a horse. Couple of different reasons, but thats beside the point.

Sunday 3 February 2008

How soft am I?

Wanted to go for a cycle all weekend but didn't get around to it yesterday because of all the rugby and football on the TV. So, I was pretty determined to get out for a spin today, which I actually achieved. However, it lasted all of three minutes...the wind was bitterly cold and I turned around pretty sharpish and retreated back to home. How soft is that?

Saturday 2 February 2008

Training update

Tough enough session tonight. Done W4D5 of the JD red plan. Didn't quite finish it as described, but got pretty close. Done 5 out of the 6 runs, with the rest period as a slow jog instead of a walk. The sixth run I just took it easy enough and finished up with the 10 min warm-down.

Best news of the day though has got to be swimming wise...I actually done a length non-stop twice!! Was struggling a bit towards the end of the length, but still made it. Really happy about that. I've booked in for another session at swimshack on Thursday, so hopefully this little milestone is something to work off.

Besides that, I was also down at the gym for lunch with one of the guys from work. Done about 40 mins of weights, but didn't really get into a routine.

All in all, a good days work. Shame about the pack of biscuits I devoured for brekkie.