South Atlantic Man Flu!

Its been a while since my last post as I've been busy sorting my life out down here in the South Atlantic. I've only been down here a couple of weeks so still trying to get into a proper 'heavy' training routine so that I'm ready to hit the ground running when I get back to the UK, hopefully just in time for my first race of a busy season; the Dambuster/RAF Champs in June.

The first week was a pretty good one training wise, racking up 12 hours. I managed to get outside on my bike a few times, doing battle against the strong winds and 'lumpy' roads, as well as checking out some nice run routes around the local hills. And then there's the pool. Its nearly always empty and if there are 3 or 4 other people in the water then that seems like its busy!! It falls into place even better when I start shift work and I get plenty of time to train twice a day and with no injury niggles I was feeling very optimistic. Bonus. It was all going so well in 'training heaven'...then man flu strikes. Great. All the training grinds to a sharp halt before its even had a chance to get going, with blocked sinuses and a sore chest. Not happy.

I'd just sat down and devised my training plan for the whole det and managed to 'tick off' the first session then woke up the very next day with my nose running like a tap and by the end of that day my throat had closed up, I had a raging temperature and my neck and shoulders ached. Not good.

Its been 3 days now since the lurgy struck, and I'm still suffering with headaches and a nasty cough. Its really frustrating when you have time to kill, looking out the window at the sunny weather (no really, the sun does shine down here!) and wishing I was running up along the craggy hilltops. But I know if I push it too soon I will only be out for longer in the end, so patience is definitely the key at the moment. I'm sticking to the rule of thumb that says if the symptoms are from the neck up, then training can continue, but if like me, the symptoms are also below the neck then rest is imperative.

I'm tentatively targeting Monday as a gentle return to training. It will probably just be an easy spin on the turbo but I'm not putting any pressure on myself just yet, I will just see how I feel.

So, its a bit of hurry up and wait for me at the moment. Its a case of keeping my fluids up, eating sensibly (not too much cake!), doing a few stretches (when my head doesn't ache to much) and sleeping...a lot!

Train well.

Lack of Motivation? Buy New Kit!

Having read a few other athletes blogs and comments on various tri forums, we all seem to have been through a period where we have suffered from a lack of motivation recently for either cycling, running, swimming...or even all three! There have even been some folk talking of packing it all in and selling their kit! (welcome back Hussler!). One way or another the vast majority of us seem to snap out of it. Some of us are fortunate enough to jet off to sunnier climes for some warm weather training (nice sunshine pics Daz!), but I usually opt for a bit of new kit; doesn't matter what...could be something as lavish as a new bike (I wish!) or as little as a new pair of running socks, doesn't matter what it is, if it's new, it gives me enough of a boost to keep me going until the sun returns and the racing begins!

This last couple of weeks I've increased my running and biking hours, but swimming has kinda stalled a bit. My own 'motivational struggles' have been with the wet stuff. I just don't seem to have the urge to get in the water, and when I do, I find it a chore to put any real effort in. I think it's probably due to the fact that, in the back of my mind, I know I will be doing a lot of swimming when I get down to MPA. Hopefully the new swim shorts will help!
So, I'm mainly concentrating on bike strength at the moment, trying to convert all those squats and leg presses into more specific biking strength. It's leaving me with heavy legs most of the time and as a result my running just seems to be made up of steady runs, some quite long, rather than any real hard efforts, which is no real drama for this time of year. Once I'm done with so much 'big gear crunching' I will shift more emphasis to my run speed...that's the plan anyway!
But at the moment, I'm sort of got addicted to my strength DVD which has me crunching big gears at low cadence. I'm up to 5 intervals of 15 mins in a big gear at 50-55 RPM, with 5 mins easy spinning between. Feel the burn baby!!

Train smart.

Back To The Great Outdoors

Hallelujah! The snow has gone! Since the weather has improved I've been out on a couple of long rides...isn't it nice when the scenery changes as you pedal! Over the last 2 weekends I have bagged some solid base training. Last weekend I dragged myself out of bed for an early 3km swim on the Saturday, and in the afternoon I went for an easy/steady 10 mile run, which took me 1hr 10. I was pleased with the time, it shows that I still have a decent base level of run fitness to build on after my lay off.

The next day I went for my first outdoor ride for nearly a month - a lovely 60 mile loop over the rolling hills to Pateley Bridge (see the snow free photo!). Unfortunately I am having to use my TT bike for outdoor rides at the moment coz my road bike is a bit poorly - the chain keeps slipping under load. I've replaced the rear cassette and chain but it still slips so the next step is to change the chainrings which should sort it then, hopefully. But until then I will just have to keep giving the 'good bike' a damn good scrubbing after every ride.

Now that I am feeling stronger and have my 'mojo' back after my op, this week I have started to take a more structured approach to my training, managing to train twice a day for most of the week.

I did one of my favourite 'extensive endurance' run sessions on Tuesday (outside!). It starts with 10 mins easy then I up the pace for 10 mins of moderate effort, followed by 10 mins very hard before 10 mins easy and then the last 10 mins of 1 min strides 1 min steady. It maybe doesn't sound to hard but it does the job!

My hardest bike session this week was on the turbo for some strength sets. I use a DVD (Joe Friel) The main part of the workout was 15 mins in a gearing I could maintain 50-55 RPM in zone 3 (no power meter here I'm afraid!), with 5 mins easy spinning, and repeat another 3 times. It's a real leg burner but I find these kind of sessions a lot easier to do with the help of a DVD.

Only managed 2 swims this week. One was a long swim of 3km and the other was an interval session of 6 x 250m on 4min 50sec, followed by a recovery ride home. I really must try and get more swimming in next week.

Getting swim time in won't be a problem soon when I'm on my winter training camp with the penguins! Lots of time for that, but outdoor rides and even runs will be a tad more challenging! I fear a lot more turbo and treadmill sessions coming up....

Train smart.