Training update

First day back doing stuff since last Thursday. I was supposed to have a game on Saturday but it was called off, which was a pain since I could have entered a duathlon that morning. Its pretty annoying to be honest. Was out Friday and Saturday nights so the whole weekend was pretty much a write-off, especially when I slept for most of the day on Sunday.

Can't really remember why I didn't do something on Monday night, but I was out again last night which meant no training. I really need to start getting up early in the mornings or doing stuff at lunch.

So today, I jumped straight in, starting with a game of 5-a-side at lunch. Tough going as it was really 4 v 5 and I was on the team with 4 for the most part. Was actually a bit stiff after it and my ankle was a little sore! Not good.

Went to the gym then this evening, mainly to get into the pool for a while. Before hand I done a 35 min run consisting of four sets of 8m runs followed 1m rest. Tough going, but bet my previous time around the route by just over a minute.

So thats that. I'll try to do the same drill again tomorrow at lunch time if I remember to bring my kit in.

Weight update

Following on from my previous post, my weight loss is heading in the right direction again. Long may it continue. Didn't particularly keep an eye on what I was eating over the weekend and with zero exercise to report, its sometimes strange how these things go. Anyways, long may it continue.

Talk about restraint

We normally get a buffet in at lunch time at work as one of the perks of the job. It usually involves a massive shop at Sainsbury's, with a load of bread, meat, cheese, some fruit & veg, soft drinks, snacks, cakes, etc. Its pretty awesome and there's generally no end of stuff left over, which gets used up during the course of the week.

Well anyways, as there's so much and its all good (I love fresh bread that you've to cut yourself), it can be pretty tough to show some restraint. Half the battle is at lunch-time, where I'd generally have a sandwich or two, with a portion or two of crisps, coleslaw, etc. All good stuff. The next part of the battle would be in the afternoon, where any cup of coffee would be accompanied by a cake or bun, etc. Basically Thursdays are a disaster for me.

If you look at the graphs on the right hand side, you'll see a slightly cyclical element to the data, that look like they're almost weekly...well they more or less are. It all starts on Thursday and continues over the weekend! So, I'm good for 3 days of the week and ill-disciplined for 4! Hardly ideal. Weekends are always tough for me, generally cause I'm always up to something be it travelling, watching sport, playing sport, etc.

Well, today was not like any other Thursday...I was very, very restrained at lunch. Just one sandwich (half a baton, with beef and cheese), a handful of cherry tomato's and a handful of crisps. I then succeeded in resisting all the cakes and buns in the afternoon (there were actually more of them today, as there were a lot of people out due to half term).

So, I'm definitely giving myself a good pat on the back for that. Lets hope the weighing scales are friendly in the morning.

Sore legs

Had planned on doing a 4x8min run with 1min recovery last night but couldn't really get into it, probably due to the lunchtime cycle I'd done. So started doing 30s - 45s strides (periods of fast running, not sprinting but at a pace that I'd only be able to keep for that amount of time). Between each stride, I was talking one minutes rest.

I made it around my normal lap about a minute slower than my PB, which I was suprised at, given the amount of time I'd spent "recovering". Which then got me thinking, why not try to push the times out in future runs and try to build the running sections up to a few minutes! Seemed like an obvious idea at the time.

That was until I got up this morning. I'd felt the familiar aches in the legs that I'd become accustomed to before I got my heart rate monitor, where my training usually consisted running as fast as I could for as long as I could, recover for a while and repeat. The result of this was that I was so sore the next day that I could never train two days in a row. That had a knock-on effect that it became easier to miss days, hence a poor training regime.

So where does that leave me? The thing is that these strides are still a valid way of training and indeed, the training plan that I'm doing at the moment calls for them to be used in the next level, albeit no-where near as many as I done last night, or for no-where near the times!

I'm just going to take it easy for the next few days and let my legs recover :)

Weight

I've had a very bad trend on my weight graph since completing the rowers revenge the weekend before last. I probably took 3-4 days off after the event and eat what ever I wanted (I'd expended the guts of a days worth of calories during the event) but have been relatively good with what I've been eating since then. However, the weighing scale is showing some disturbingly high values and my moving average weight is definitely going in the wrong direction.

I've also missed a good few weigh-ins this week, mainly due to the fact that I'm on a training course all week and need to be there for 9am, which is causing my trouble.

This situation need to be rectified ASAP!

Training Update

Had a pretty productive day today. Despite my run plans going to hell due to my treadmill issues (see previous post), I done a nice handy 4k row in 17m 7s. Also got a few laps of drills in at the pool, which was good as I'd been unable to get a nice quiet session there at all this week. Still seem to be struggling slightly with my balance, but its definitely a lot better than before.

Treadmill Trouble

I made a conscious decision over a month ago to do most of my running training off the treadmill, mainly because I was suffering with road running during events as I'd only really trained on the treadmill. The result of this decision is that I haven't actually been on a treadmill in ages. So tonight, I decided to have a go doing my training run on one.

What a disaster...it was a complete and total failure! Ended up cutting the planned session way short. I just couldn't handle it. I don't really know what the problem was, given that I wasn't really doing anything that different from before, but I just couldn't keep up with the pace (a measly 10kmph), which I'm pretty sure I'm doing while out on the road (give or take).

So where does that leave me? In one way, I'm not too bothered as I've got on fine on the road the last month. However, its definitely a lot easier to go for a run on the treadmill even if you don't feel like going for a run outside! I'm going to have to have a think about this and see what happens...