Thank god today is rest day! Not just because my body needs it, but it also gives me the opportunity to sit down and write about the past week’s training. Every morning when I get to work I always write my ‘to do’ list for the day ahead over a cup of coffee. This normally starts with the items that were not completed from the day before followed by all the rest! Anyway, every couple of days updating my training blog has been on the list, but has never seemed to make it to the top…..until today.
The last week has been very hectic what with training and working hard on the fundraising for the charity as well as fitting everything else in like work & sleeping.
So how has the training gone?
Well since I last spoke to you I have had my first winter brick session! This was planned for Sunday, but I had looked ahead at the weather forecast and it was not pleasant. So, the plan was revised - I would swap around Saturday & Sunday’s training so I could do the brick session on the Saturday instead as the weather was going to be nice. However, I forgot one vital thing…….the Friday beer night that was planned! This was a delayed end of season blowout of beer followed by a curry with my mate and huh hmm our coach! Needles to say, Saturday as a training day ‘went to the dogs’ and I will just leave it there I think. The only training I did on Saturday was a few ‘step up’ exercises up the stairs after I crawled back to bed! What a lightweight!
So, like all good plans…….the brick session was back on the Sunday again and as predicted the weather was horrendous. I pulled back the curtains to thick fog! I had not bought my winter lights yet, so for safety reasons I confined myself to 2 hours on the turbo trainer in the ‘Elite Training Centre’ (shed). It took a hell of a lot of focus and some very good music to sit staring at a concrete wall for 2 hours whilst pushing round those pedals. Nothing can ever prepare you for that moment you ask your legs to run after riding the bike for 2 hours, but I had a good run off the bike and was happy with my pace for this time of year. The bike part of the session was a little annoying as my heart rate kept jumping 20 beats for no reason whatsoever Grrrrrrrr. It does this at times, which when you are trying to keep you HR in a certain target zone can be very frustrating as the stats are not really very much use to me as they are not consistent. That’s training with AF for you…… & a hangover!…….
As I am entering my next training phase I am starting to do 2 gym sessions a week to work on my strength and on Monday morning Chris had upped my gym session to include a few more strength exercises. I knew it was going to hurt as it involved muscles that have not been used directly for a while. After I finished I got to work knowing I had a run session to do at lunchtime and already my Quads & Hammys were tightening up after those single leg squats, jumps and leg weights! I decided to get out as early as possible before they locked up anymore. It was very tough, but I made the pace and managed to drag my body around the course and get back in one piece. Some good stretching and 30 mins of foam rollering those sore muscles helped take some of the morning soreness away……..err no it didn’t.
The 5.30am alarm woke me up feeling tired and sore from the day before. I sat drinking my morning coffee not wanting to get up and go swimming, but telling myself ‘just one more session then it is rest day’. I somehow managed to conjure up the motivation to go and I am glad I did. I got into the pool and I just know in the first 5 minutes if it is going to be a good session and surprisingly this one felt like it was going to be and it was! I had some time paced intervals to do with rest and I hit the target time on all 12 of them. I was knocking out times that I was just before my big race last year and to be doing that now at this time of year is a very good sign.
It was a great end to another good weeks training and I feel that right now I seem to be over my illness and am just….ticking along nicely!
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