Well the last 2 weeks haven't gone to plan at all for me. Only 4 workouts (2 x run and 2 x bike) each week. So I'm quite down on where I was supposed to be.
Sailing 2 weekends ago left me with reasonably damaged knees, and feeling worn out at the end of each days racing, so that put an end to any thoughts of workouts after sailing on the weekend. But on the whole that week was reasonable 25km run and 60 biked.
Unfortunately last week was terrible. My first workout of the week, a 10km run resulted in a fall, a damaged knee, a sprained shoulder from the fall and shortening of the run to 5km. So the minor injures from that fall meant a slow start to the week. On the weekend despite felling nasty I tried to go for a long hilly ride, as per schedule. That got abandoned pretty early into the piece and I ended up in bed for 2 days with flu. So at the end of the week I had my smallest week in a long time, only 15km run and 36 biked.
There is now only 1 1/2 weeks till the northern crossing, I'm feeling ok, the gap in my training hasn't come at a good time, but I have a solid base from the last few months, so should be able to cope with it.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
April, Week 2
Nothing much to report this week. I had a solid, without being spectacular week. The goal as I said last week is now to do 5-6 days a week, consistently. And that is what I did this week.
The first thing is the negative. The pool I go to has been hosting the New Zealand national swim champs last week, so that means no swimming for me. Which is a bit disappointing. But not a huge problem as I'm not doing another Tri until next summer, so had been planing to scale back the swimming anyway over the next few weeks.
Running, I only made it out twice this week, both were 10km in reasonable times (total 20km in 1:54). And I went for 3 rides this week (81km in 3:42) which included another attempt at my hilly weekend course. That went reasonably well. It felt terrible for the first 10-12 km, but I ended up setting a new best time, by 2 minutes and only had 1 'pit stop'. So I am getting better at this climbing thing I think...
Next week, I'm yacht racing on the weekend, so there will be no big hilly bike ride. But the goal is the same, 5-6 days a week...
The first thing is the negative. The pool I go to has been hosting the New Zealand national swim champs last week, so that means no swimming for me. Which is a bit disappointing. But not a huge problem as I'm not doing another Tri until next summer, so had been planing to scale back the swimming anyway over the next few weeks.
Running, I only made it out twice this week, both were 10km in reasonable times (total 20km in 1:54). And I went for 3 rides this week (81km in 3:42) which included another attempt at my hilly weekend course. That went reasonably well. It felt terrible for the first 10-12 km, but I ended up setting a new best time, by 2 minutes and only had 1 'pit stop'. So I am getting better at this climbing thing I think...
Next week, I'm yacht racing on the weekend, so there will be no big hilly bike ride. But the goal is the same, 5-6 days a week...
Monday, April 4, 2011
Carters Kumara Triathlon, Kai Iwi Lakes
This weekend, on Saturday April 2 I completed my 2nd triathlon. It was another sprint, slightly longer than Mangawhai from back in February, up in the Kai Iwi lakes, a few hours north from home.
Swim: 700 m, 16:30. I found the swim incredibly tough. Far more so than Mangawhai, I think it was mainly due to the cold, but I had real trouble breathing. For the first 500m or so I was gasping for air, and unable to get swimming smoothly I knew I was thrashing around, but was unable to stop it. The last few hundred meters felt better, but the damage had been done. I wasn’t last out of the water, but was towards the back.
T1: Much better than last time, I had swum with my singlet already on, had upgraded the shoes to elastic laces and was going without socks. So this part of the race, at least, was a huge improvement on last time.
Bike: 21km, 1:00:33. All of my thrashing about on the swim came back to haunt me on the bike, I just had no energy at the start. For the first half I honestly felt like I was riding with one of the breaks on. However I struggled through it and in the end rode pretty much what I was expecting time wise, just over an hour. Yes, I know that isn’t a fast ride, but it was a hilly 20km, and I still suck going up hill. So from what I have been doing in training the last few weeks, it was about what I was expecting.
T2: Same as last week, off the bike, off with the helmet and off on the run, no need to change anything.
Run: 8.6km, 56:00. One word to describe the run, HILLS! It was described as off road for the first half of the course, and it definitely was. The positive was it was a very scenic run, the negatives being the hills and technical nature of the track we were on. The end result was very slow first half of the run, I picked it up a bit in the 2nd half, but still ended up with a very slow run, by my recent standards. The other word that comes to mind about the run is PAIN… Not wearing socks, which had seemed such a good idea in T1 and T2 came back with a vengeance about 3-4km into the run. The end result was a painful 2nd half and decent sized blisters on both feet by the end.
All in all, I finished in 2:15:26, 37th out of 57 finishers. So, proportionally, about the same place as the last one. I learnt a heap more and I made some mistakes that I wont be repeating. And it’s still a great feeling to finish a triathlon.
April, Week 1
A mixed week this week, obviously the big goal was Saturdays triathlon, so the during the week training took a bit of a dip to give me a degree of taper before the race. I ended up with 2 runs (16.7km) 2 swims (2,200m) and 3 bikes (81km)
I'm also planning this week to be a small one too. I'm feeling quite tired / stiff / sore after a few weeks of no days off. In hindsight that was a bad decision, and after a few days rest, I'll be getting back into 5-6 days a week. But no more than that... it seems rest days are important.
I'm also planning this week to be a small one too. I'm feeling quite tired / stiff / sore after a few weeks of no days off. In hindsight that was a bad decision, and after a few days rest, I'll be getting back into 5-6 days a week. But no more than that... it seems rest days are important.
Friday, April 1, 2011
March
And just like that we're into April, the year is a quarter gone. On the whole this month has gone well, Running and Swimming have stayed about the same in terms of distance and time, but Biking has had a huge increase. Which is good, because I have been targeting my biking. Over all for the month my totals were:
Swim, 14km, 5 hours 19 minutes
Bike. 352km, 15 hours 19 minutes
Run, 113km, 10 hours 41 minutes
Grand total of 31 hours 19 minutes, or just over 1 hour a day average.
Overall I'd say I've had a positive month, and am definitely making progress.
Swim, 14km, 5 hours 19 minutes
Bike. 352km, 15 hours 19 minutes
Run, 113km, 10 hours 41 minutes
Grand total of 31 hours 19 minutes, or just over 1 hour a day average.
Monday, March 28, 2011
March, Week 4
Its been an excellent week of training for me this week, I'm very pleased with my progress.
First up the milestones, This week I went past 300km Running, 700km Biking and 30km Swimming for the year. I know they're just numbers, and don't really matter but it is nice, and does represent a lot of training time. To put it in perspective, last year I went past 1000km total (running and biking) on August 14, so I'm 5 months ahead of last year. Which is awesome.
As for this weeks training, well I did all 9 of my workouts for the first time in weeks, as am quite pleased with that. Swimming, nothing special, 3 swims (4000m in 1 hour 32 minutes). Running, I did the same 2 runs as the last 2 weeks, and added an easy 5km to finish the week. (30km in 2:49) Included another PB, by 1 minute, for my 15km long run.
Biking, I did a 30km and 20(ish)km during the week, and tried the same 42km hilly course I did last week on Saturday. This week that was a much more positive experience than last week. My goal was to do it without pushing up any hills, like I had to last time. For the build up I had an easy day the day before (a short, flat bike) ate pasta / rice a few times in the days building up, and had a large (4 slices of toast) breakfast before the ride. And I have to say, that it worked. Despite the fact I weighed in 0.5kg heavier than last week I was able to do the course without a walk break, and finished in 2:08, 4 minutes faster than last time. I did, however, have 3 'pit stops', where I stopped for about a minute at the start of a hill to let myself recover before climbing. All of these occurred in the 2nd half of the ride. So that is the next goal, to do the whole thing without a walk, or a stop....
This week I'm planning on an easier week, no 40+km bike ride in hills, or 15km runs for me. This is partly to give myself a break, but mainly because I have my 2nd triathlon scheduled for Saturday. So I want to be coming into the weekend feeling nice and fresh.
First up the milestones, This week I went past 300km Running, 700km Biking and 30km Swimming for the year. I know they're just numbers, and don't really matter but it is nice, and does represent a lot of training time. To put it in perspective, last year I went past 1000km total (running and biking) on August 14, so I'm 5 months ahead of last year. Which is awesome.
As for this weeks training, well I did all 9 of my workouts for the first time in weeks, as am quite pleased with that. Swimming, nothing special, 3 swims (4000m in 1 hour 32 minutes). Running, I did the same 2 runs as the last 2 weeks, and added an easy 5km to finish the week. (30km in 2:49) Included another PB, by 1 minute, for my 15km long run.
Biking, I did a 30km and 20(ish)km during the week, and tried the same 42km hilly course I did last week on Saturday. This week that was a much more positive experience than last week. My goal was to do it without pushing up any hills, like I had to last time. For the build up I had an easy day the day before (a short, flat bike) ate pasta / rice a few times in the days building up, and had a large (4 slices of toast) breakfast before the ride. And I have to say, that it worked. Despite the fact I weighed in 0.5kg heavier than last week I was able to do the course without a walk break, and finished in 2:08, 4 minutes faster than last time. I did, however, have 3 'pit stops', where I stopped for about a minute at the start of a hill to let myself recover before climbing. All of these occurred in the 2nd half of the ride. So that is the next goal, to do the whole thing without a walk, or a stop....
This week I'm planning on an easier week, no 40+km bike ride in hills, or 15km runs for me. This is partly to give myself a break, but mainly because I have my 2nd triathlon scheduled for Saturday. So I want to be coming into the weekend feeling nice and fresh.
Monday, March 21, 2011
March, Week 3
Another week has come and gone. The year continues to slip away for too fast.
This week, was only a 5 day week as far as training goes, as I said in my last post, I was out of town for work Tuesday / Wednesday, so no training then. I ended up with 1 swim (only 1000m this week...) The same 2 Runs (25km in 2:22) as last week and 3 cycles (92km in 4:12)
The positive here has to be the riding, its the first time I've biked 3 time in a week for weeks. However, its a double edged sword. One of my rides was a 42km ride in the country, a particularly hilly part of the country I might add as shown in the elevation profile below.
In hindsight, I didn't plan things very well, doing my long run (15km) the day before my long, hilly ride. I also don't think I ate enough before the ride, only 2 pieces of PB and honey toast. Anyway, the end result was fairly brutal, I ended up walking the bike (first time this year) up some of the hills. And although I finished the ride, I did it with an average speed of 19km/hr. So riding is also the big negative of the week.
This was a big reality check for me, from now on I am going to make an effort to try to ride 'rolling country roads' regularly (most likely once a week) from now on. I also need to makes sure that I'm biking more regularly, at least 3 times a week... even if that means missing some runs. I knew biking was my weak point, but this just enforced how much work I still have to do. There are 7 weeks till the northern crossing, so there is time, but I need to get cracking on it. The first goal, do the ride without walking the bike.
This week, was only a 5 day week as far as training goes, as I said in my last post, I was out of town for work Tuesday / Wednesday, so no training then. I ended up with 1 swim (only 1000m this week...) The same 2 Runs (25km in 2:22) as last week and 3 cycles (92km in 4:12)
In hindsight, I didn't plan things very well, doing my long run (15km) the day before my long, hilly ride. I also don't think I ate enough before the ride, only 2 pieces of PB and honey toast. Anyway, the end result was fairly brutal, I ended up walking the bike (first time this year) up some of the hills. And although I finished the ride, I did it with an average speed of 19km/hr. So riding is also the big negative of the week.
This was a big reality check for me, from now on I am going to make an effort to try to ride 'rolling country roads' regularly (most likely once a week) from now on. I also need to makes sure that I'm biking more regularly, at least 3 times a week... even if that means missing some runs. I knew biking was my weak point, but this just enforced how much work I still have to do. There are 7 weeks till the northern crossing, so there is time, but I need to get cracking on it. The first goal, do the ride without walking the bike.
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