15 Hours...and Still Smiling!

As I was working nights last week (well, more like 'late evenings' really!) it left me plenty of time to get some quality training in. In fact, despite taking Monday off, I still managed to clock up 15 hours!

Tuesday's am session was max effort in the fitness test (beep test). I was quite pleased to have improved on last time with level 14:6 on the run, 74 press ups and 63 sit ups (for those not in the 'know' you get 1 min for each of the press-ups and sit-ups). Straight after the test I jumped on the treadmill for 30 mins, starting slow for 10 mins and then striding out for 20 mins, before easing off for the last 10 mins. Later that day my bike workout (on my race bike, hoorah!) was intervals of 5 mins hard/3mins easy, repeated 10 times.

Wednesday was a bike/swim/bike. As my nearest pool is just under 15 miles way and 'i/c home' has the car, if I want to swim during the day then I have to bike it. I decided to cycle hard on the way to the pool and took a longer route, which ended up at about 20 miles. I managed to resist treating the pool entrance like a transition area, sprinting through the doors of the pool, throwing off my bike gear as I go!! However, I did try to get changed and in to the water as soon as I could without looking like a madman! The swim was 30 mins of drills followed by 15 x 100m on 20 secs rest. The ride back was a much more sedate affair and was the most direct route home! Altogether, it was a good 3 hour workout.

Thursday morning was run intervals of 5 min hard/3 min easy repeated 6 times. I found this session pretty hard but it was a nice kind of 'lung busting' pain! In the evening I had to resort to the turbo (booo!) for a spinning session, as I had ran out of daylight before I got the chance to get out on the bike. I started on an easy ring at 105 rpm and moved up a gear every 10 mins until I couldn't keep above 95 rpm. Again, it was another 'blast' session but I knew I would only be swimming the next day so I went for it!

Friday was just a 3km pool swim in the evening, in just under 50 mins, which wasn't too bad considering the amount of bodies that got in my way! It was carnage!

I was working on Saturday so I did an early morning turbo ride in the garage before work...a 10 min spin up, 3 x 20 min tempo efforts with 5 min easy spinning between. After work I went for a steady 8 mile run in the evening calm...lovely!

Sunday was long ride day. I've been experimenting with my nutrition in the last few weeks and I am still tweaking. I am trying to find the right balance of food and drink that I can run on after a long bike without cramping up in the first 5 mins of the run! Drink wise, I have found that Gatorade works fine as long as I manage to get enough down me, but I am still trying out different energy bars. This Sunday's ride was 80 miles. For those who are familiar with North Yorkshire, the route I took was from Linton to Ripon (via Boroughbridge), through Masham, up to Leyburn, across to Bedale, Northallerton and back down to Linton. The ride up to Leyburn is pretty hilly but once down into Bedale its pretty flat. It was the last 25 miles or so of flat, in to wind riding which really started to hurt! I was low on energy and had eaten my Go Bar but still had just about enough Gatorade to last till the end. Once off the bike I threw on the racing shoes and ran 5km, and for the first time my quads didn't cramp up! Result! So I know what drink seems to work but I know I need to eat more on the bike....one Go Bar just isn't enough!
Today my long run was pretty slow in comparison to previous weeks. Not surprising really! 13 miles in 1hr 38. My legs were tired but I still managed to finish quite strongly with the wind behind me for the last couple of miles! I had an 'ice' bath afterwards and stuck my recovery tights on but I'm still sore tonight!

A good week in the bag. Happy days!

Train well.