Back in Training
Posted by mkellym on September 21, 2008
Week 15 to 21 September
I spent about 2 hours yesterday organising my training for the next 8 weeks. So this I was meant to get up at 6am and do a 50 min turbo session. Surprise, surprise I sleep in the first morning. I have made the decision that my aim is to improve my run and cycle. So if I have to miss a session, I will miss swimming, as long as I swim once a week.
Monday
I am back cycling to work, so I have my usual 22k commute. In the evening, I go swimming, and swam with Alison and Declan. Then did Colin’s set in Westpark. In all I cycle 4,080m. I did the first full butterfly that I have done in years, and it was great.
Tuesday
Commute 22k, and after work was running with Sportworld. We did 3 2k runs as the main set. After only a few weeks of doing these sessions I can already see that my running speed is improving. I am still no where near the real runners in the club. In all today’s session was 8.5 km.
Wednesday
Commute 22k, after work I did a 50min turbo session. This was 20min at 140bpm, and 20 mins at 150bpm followed by 10min warm down. I think these mid week turbo sessions are the key to improving my cycling over the winter, as there are no elements, or hills to affect my heart rate. Also I CANNOT freewheel.
Thursday
Cycle to work 11k. The plan for this evening was to do the Sportsworld run session, but I had to go to Desiree’s leaving drinks in work. As I could not make Sportsworld I ran at lunch time, and got a 6.5k run in during lunchtime. This could be good for me in the next few weeks, and run at lunch time twice a week as well as Sportsworld.
Friday
Rest day. Not to mention a hangover!! I also went to the Leinster Ospreys game. Leinster won 19 13, if you are interested, but they gave Ospreys a very easy bonus point by letting in a very easy try in injury time!! A real pity because their defence had been very good all game.
Saturday
I was trying something new today, by doing a long cycle in the morning and a long run in the afternoon. As running is my weakness the most important thing here was my run. I headed out in the morning, and found that I was cycling into a deceptive wind. I was worried that cycling too far would mean that I would be lazy and not run. So I cut the cycle short. I did 70k. In the afternoon, I stuck to my guns and headed out. I did 15k in an hour and a half. Faster than I have run in a year and a half. Still not fast, but if I can keep that pace up for a marathon, it is a 4 hours. A hell of a lot better than 6!!
Sunday
Today’s session was annoying. I was late getting out on the bike, and the plan was to do 120k. I was just passing by Russborough house, and punctured. I replaced the tube to realise I only had one tube with me, so I decided rather than risking getting someone to collect me in the middle of nowhere, I would cycle home. So in the end I only cycled 53k. But for my first week back with a proper plan I am happy with what I have done.
During the week I was also talking with John about a coach, and I do think it would be good for me. Last year I kept second guessing what I was doing. By having a coach I would be putting my trust in them that what they are telling me is right. Maybe there will be some news on that this week. We’ll see. There is plenty of time.
I am not sure how next week’s training will go. It is quarter close in work, so I will probably have to work a fair bit of overtime, but hopefully I will make most of my sessions.
