30 Nov 2009

Running:
60:00 - 9.8km

4km flat, rest hilly, partly trails. Hamstring still not ok.

Gym: 1 hour

Second induction to the exercises I should be doing to improve core strenght and flexibilily. I have now 2 programs which I do alternately.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT

A new toy has arrived today - will take it for a run tomorrow.


Setup heart rate zones for training program:


Zone Running
Cycling
Z1 130 - 148
123 - 140
Z2 149 - 170
141 - 161
Z3 171 - 178
162 - 169
Z4 179 - 190
170 - 180
Z5 > 190
> 180

27 Nov 2009

Gym: 1 hour

First of two inductions to the exercises I should be doing to improve core strenght and flexibilily. Scary how incorrectly I have used a lot of the machines in the past.

New Gym & Fitness Test

Finally joined a new gym (Sportec). I had to undergo a 90 minute fitness test - results below.



Flexibility and core are the weak areas which is not unexpected.

25 Nov 2009

Bike Turbo:
60:00 - 30.8km

Avg: 123 bpm / 30.8 km/h / 143 Watt / 85 rpm

Much better today. Starting to get the hang of it.

24 Nov 2009

Swim: 2050m

2 * 75m front crawl / 75 medley
6 * 25m long arm  / 25m short arm / 25m normal
6 * 25m 3 strokes arm straight / 50m normal
6 * 
25m arm behind / 50m normal
50m easy
4 * 75m pull buoy

23 Nov 2009

Running:
10km - 55:00

First proper run since Frankfurt. Left leg still not ok - getting a bit frustrated.

22 Nov 2009

Bike Turbo:
30mins - 16.9km

First spin on the new Tacx Bushido which has arrived. Cycling quite different to the road as there aren't any rest periods.


Deep Tissue Massage

Received a 1 hour deep tissue massageby a freaky Austrian on last day of holidays. Very painful.

Feel a bit of a cold and sour throat coming up.

19 Nov 2009

Running:
30mins - 5km (approx.)

Swim:
20mins - 1000m (approx)

Barefoot run in lovely sand at Las Teresita beach (felt left achilles a little bit) followed by an open-water swim in the sea.



My dad got a new camera - hence the video... ;-)

16 Nov 2009

Swimming:
1000m (approx.)


Nice swim in huge seawater pool in Puerto de la Cruz which includes an 300m swim lap!

14 Nov 2009

Swimming:
1000m (approx.)

Easy swim in tiny (12.5m) apartment pool in Tenerife.

10 Nov 2009

Swim: 2100m
300m warm-up
10 * 25m left arm / 25m right arm

50m easy

10 * 25m mormal / 25m breathing every 8 strokes
50m easy

10 * 25m 3strokes pause / 25m normal
4 * 50m pull buoy


Have been upgraded to lane 2!

08 Nov 2009

Running:
45:00 - 7.7km

First run in 2 weeks. Very easy, but hamstring still not ok. Tried mid-foot running - very weird

05 Nov 2009

Swim: 2200m
100m warm-up
2 * 100m / 2 * 200m / 2 * 100m / 50m easy
2 * 100m / 2 * 200m / 2 * 100m / 50m easy (with pull buoy)
1 * 100m / 1 * 200m / 1 * 100m


They are tough sessions, which are getting (a little bit) easier.

Physio

Another physio session. Got work done on various trigger points all the way down my leg. Let's see...

03 Nov 2009

Swim: 2200m
200m warm-up
6 * 25m long recovery phase / 50m normal / 50m normal / 25m long recovery phase
6 * 25m superman / 50m normal / 50m normal / 25m superman (with pull buoy)
200m cool-down

First structured swim session. Very exhausting and my usual calf cramps half way through the pull buoy swims. Will this now twice a week if possible.

Triathlon Magazine

I bought it every month so I finally gave in and subscribed to triathlon, apparently Europe most selling tri magazine. Also just received a little signup present - a big calendar with quite cool pictures.


02 Nov 2009

Swim: 1500m

Easy swim in 25m outdoor pool.

Reflection on 2009

Now that the season is over, it is time for some reflective thoughts.

Well, that was a long and interesting season. It didn’t exactly end of a high, but all-in-all it was a pretty successfully first year doing triathlons. Given that I started with very little swimming and cycling training I managed to finish 2 sprints, 2 Olympic distances and 2 middle distances.

Due to the new training regime things improved significantly. My running got much stronger (10k by 1:30 and half-marathon by over 3 minutes) and my body composition improved a lot (lost 4kg and reduced my body fat by 3%). I really wanted to blast a good marathon time, 3:45 or even 3:40 which I am capable off, but the body wasn’t up for it.
Lesson learned: rethink whether doing a marathon at the end of a marathon season is a good idea.

I started the year recovering from problems with my hip and finished with problems on my back. I started doing core work after the injury which really helped. I stupidly stopped doing it again from July on and the consequence was the injury.
Lesson learned: do core work all year round, even when the races are on.

I also managed to spend a lot of money on kit. I used pretty much all of it, even though some was more of a luxury than needed. I should be pretty much equipped for next season, apart from the usual consumables (running shoes, tubes, tyres, etc).

November will be a rest month with some time to prepare for 2010 where the focus will be entirely on Challenge Roth in July. Foundation training will start in December. Before that I want to check out a few medical things and also get my swimming technique looked at.

01 Nov 2009

Gym: 45 minutes (30 strenth, 15 core)

Upper body stength only to give the legs some more rest. First exercise since the DNF - motivation levels still very low.