Thought I’d give an idea of what a training weekend looks like on a full volume training week. Some people might think it’s pretty light, some might think its pretty intense. For me it’s an excellent mix of activities, that leaves me pretty tired at the end of the weekend and well set up for a good night’s sleep on Sunday. This particular schedule constitutes what I’ll be getting up to this weekend;;
FRIDAY NIGHT; 3km Time Trial. This is all over very quickly, but hurts like hell. It’s maximum effort on the treadmill for 10 minutes. My heart rate will spike to about 185 beats per minute (95% of its maximum), and lactic acid build up in the latter stages will be excruciatingly painful. I’ll sweat an awful lot, and be very close to collapse at the end of the session. A workout that’s all about speed.
After the run, it’ll be home for some food, and a bit of rest and relaxation. The only other session I’ll do is a very brief situp group, of around 50 situps. After that I’ll be taking it easy until bedtime.
SATURDAY; 2 Hour Ride. This is done from 10:00 – 12:00. The course goes over the upland Charnwood Forest, and encompasses some serious hills, with a couple of thousand feet of ascent involved. The pace will be moderate, it’s all about time in the saddle rather than speed over this distance. I’ll keep to an average speed of just over 17mph. My heart rate won’t go much above 164 (84% of maximum), and for the most part will be around 140 (72% of maximum).
After the ride, I’ll have a swift shower, get some food on board and put my feet up for a little while before heading out to the gym.
1800m Swim. This is a technique and time trial session. I’ll do a 400m warm up, then technique work, and then a time trial. I won’t go flat out in the time trial, but will push myself hard, trying to incorporate some of the technique work I’ve done earlier in the session. Not a huge swim, but my big volume swims are with the club on Wed and Thursday (3000m and 2800m respectively).
After the swim it’s a rapid turnaround, more food on board, before loading the car in readiness to depart for Wales. Just before I go I’ll work in a swift pressup set (50 all told). In my car will be a rucksack full of my mountaineering kit, some food, and a running pack. I’ll get to the Youth Hostel for 19:30, get a bit more food on board, and then hit the rack at 9.
SUNDAY; Early start at 5. I’ll (quietly hopefully) leave the bunk room, and get some breakfast in me. It’ll be then time for the first session on the day at 6.
90 Minute Run. This is a steady run, across mountainous terrain. I won’t push the pace at all, but will instead grind out the distance at a moderate speed, probably watching the terrain a bit more than usual as it’ll be icy at height. Running kit will be a bit more technical than for my weekday runs. I’ll have a running pack with a water reservoir, a map in the bag, a headtorch on, a waterproof outer jacket over my base layer, and waterproof fell running trainers on. Always a bit uncomfortable at first, these runs are made worthwhile when you get to be one of the few to see the sun rise over the mountain tops.
6 Hour Hike. After the run it’ll be back to the car to get changed into my hiking kit. Ice and crampons will be a must at 3000ft in the Snowdonia winter. I’ll cram in some more food, and then set off up the mountain. The hike will be a good 6 hours, covering three mountains in total (two of 2500ft + and one monster, Glyder Fach, at over 3200ft). Forecast isn’t good, so good navigation is a must, otherwise it gets dangerous. I’ll have a rucksack on with full safety kit, and a couple of weights tossed in for good measure. It’ll be a good low intensity high endurance workout, which will complement my earlier run nicely.
After the hike I’ll load up the car, and head back to Leicester, eating my lunch along the way and stopping for a 30 minute kip along the way if needed. Once back in Leicester I’ll unload, unpack, and have another snack, before cracking out 50 situps and working through some Takewondo patterns. After a long shower, I’ll put my feet up, crack open a beer and put a film on, a good weekend of training in the bag.
That’s the plan anyway…
25/02/2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
Birthday weekend
Excellent weekend, seemed to fit a lot in! It was a rest weekend, though I still got a fair bit of exercise in. Headed into the Lakes on Saturday morning to do a few mountains with Sarah. We did the first part of the Kentmere Horseshoe, eight miles in total, with three 2500ft-ish mountains into the mix. Stunning views of Windemere and the Eastern Lake District, and plenty of snow on the top. We ascended from Kentmere up the Gaburn pass, then followed the ridge route across the summits of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick. The only problem with the day was the descent from the final mountain, Froswick. It was a very steep descent into Kentmere valley, and Sarah ended up coming down it far too fast, through no fault of her own. She hammered into me, but I couldn’t break the fall much, and we eventually came to a rest about 200 metres down the slope, with Sarah having taken a hell of a knock on her arm from a rock. Fortunately a trip to A&E subsequently confirmed it was just bad bruising as opposed to a break. Still, quite a hairy moment, especially once a rock had jarred by ice axe from my hand as I tried to self arrest us both.
I got some great photographs from the day, and will load a few of the best up when I get a moment. Leicester seems more than usually ugly when you’ve recently spent a day staring at views from over 2000ft up in the sky. Didn’t do a big run on Sunday as it was my rest week, though I did go for a short 30 minute steady run through the snow in York at just over 7 minute mile pace. Felt fine, probably due to the slow pace.
This week is much more of an epic. The weekend in particular should be a good test. 2 hours of cycling in the Charnwood Hills on Saturday morning, followed by a 1800m swim in the afternoon. In the evening I’m heading to Capel Curig in Snowdonia for a kip at the youth hostel. Up bright and early (5 o’clock) on Sunday morning for a 90:00 fell run, and a 6 hour hike up the 3200ft+ Glyder Fach (with a couple of 2500+ peaks thrown in for good measure), before returning back to Leicester for food and a huge, huge sleep. All good.
22/02/2010
I got some great photographs from the day, and will load a few of the best up when I get a moment. Leicester seems more than usually ugly when you’ve recently spent a day staring at views from over 2000ft up in the sky. Didn’t do a big run on Sunday as it was my rest week, though I did go for a short 30 minute steady run through the snow in York at just over 7 minute mile pace. Felt fine, probably due to the slow pace.
This week is much more of an epic. The weekend in particular should be a good test. 2 hours of cycling in the Charnwood Hills on Saturday morning, followed by a 1800m swim in the afternoon. In the evening I’m heading to Capel Curig in Snowdonia for a kip at the youth hostel. Up bright and early (5 o’clock) on Sunday morning for a 90:00 fell run, and a 6 hour hike up the 3200ft+ Glyder Fach (with a couple of 2500+ peaks thrown in for good measure), before returning back to Leicester for food and a huge, huge sleep. All good.
22/02/2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Rest Week
Time for a rest week again. It's been a good three weeks of tough training, and my endurance is definitely where it needs to be, though I could use a little top end speed on all three disciplines. That should come over the course of March / beginning of April as I tune up for race season.
Good few sessions at the weekend. I did a 2 hour bike ride from York, heading towards Helmsley, including one leg sapping climb for about 5km up to the village of Brandsby. Felt fine other than the usual numb backside that afflicts anyone stupid enough to hop on a road bike for over fifteen minutes. 1800m swim on Saturday afternoon went well too, a decent 5:33 for a 400m (obviously not flat out), which followed some 800m of technique work. An 80 minute run on Sunday morning rounded the weekend out training wise, and this felt good too (a multi terrain flattish x country route), though of course it should have done since the pace was laid back (7:15/mile).
Spent the rest of the weekend watching the Winter Olympics with Sarah. Which idiot/brave soul looked at a giant cliff and thought it would be a good idea to jump off it with a pair of skis (thus inventing ski jump). Similar questions could be asked in relation to skeleton, bobsleigh, luge, curling...in fact, most of the sports there.
16/02/2010
Good few sessions at the weekend. I did a 2 hour bike ride from York, heading towards Helmsley, including one leg sapping climb for about 5km up to the village of Brandsby. Felt fine other than the usual numb backside that afflicts anyone stupid enough to hop on a road bike for over fifteen minutes. 1800m swim on Saturday afternoon went well too, a decent 5:33 for a 400m (obviously not flat out), which followed some 800m of technique work. An 80 minute run on Sunday morning rounded the weekend out training wise, and this felt good too (a multi terrain flattish x country route), though of course it should have done since the pace was laid back (7:15/mile).
Spent the rest of the weekend watching the Winter Olympics with Sarah. Which idiot/brave soul looked at a giant cliff and thought it would be a good idea to jump off it with a pair of skis (thus inventing ski jump). Similar questions could be asked in relation to skeleton, bobsleigh, luge, curling...in fact, most of the sports there.
16/02/2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
X-Country - Mud and Hills
In a huge shock, I now have a tidy flat. Genuinely tidy, not ‘everything crammed into areas where I don’t usually look’ tidy. It’s quite a novel feeling, and almost certainly won’t last more than a week, but in the interim I intend to enjoy the feeling of not thinking I’m going to trip over and fall every time I head to the loo in the night.
Last weekend was good, even if it was spent mainly in Leicester, a place which becomes more and more aesthetically displeasing the longer you stay here. I had a solid ten hours sleep on Saturday, more because I wanted a lie in than because I needed all of it. It was a bit of a struggle to get on the bike if truth be told, and at thirty minutes in to my steady, very hilly ride, I was not feeling remotely enthusiastic. As time went on the situation improved, and by the end I averaged 17 mph for the two hours I spent in the saddle of my heavy(ish) training bike. Obviously this is pretty slow going, but the terrain was serious (a couple of thousand feet of ascent), and it was an endurance ride, not a time trial.
Had a good swim on Saturday afternoon too, though the presence of a one length wonder in the lane next to me got on my nerves. He’d wait until I was midway through a 100m pull buoy set, then storm out a length, finish at the same time as me and brag to his girlfriend that he’d done something impressive. Any moron can crash out 25 metres in 20 seconds, but it’s keeping it up, length in length out for long periods that counts. I took it easy on my 8 x 100m Pull Buoy set, concentrating on technique alone, and not going for any kind of speed. I averaged 1:21/100m, which was pretty tidy. The 500m time trial followed, and I felt good, despite the kilometre and a bit of swimming I’d already done. I timed in with a very pleasing 6:54. Would be quite interesting to know what I could get going absolutely full tilt, but there’s little point in a triathlete doing that – we need something left in the tank for the bike and run.
Race day on Sunday morning. Decent weather – an overcast five degrees, good running conditions. The course was very hilly, with thick mud in places. A proper multi-terrain cross country. Ten miles was the nominal distance, though the GPS equipped runners reported 10.35, so that’s the time I’ll use for stats. I set off at a comfortable pace, with about 40 of the 400 strong field in front of me. Every time I race I’m amazed by how many people, decent club runners included, over estimate their own speed. Very strong field, and a lot of people clearly thought they were Olympic beaters, as they went off at a rate of knots only to be hammered by better club runners. I settled quickly, and made up a lot of places. Eventually finished 17th, not a bad day at the office for a triathlete taking part in a run race. Averaged about 6:52/mile, pedestrian on the flat, but for a very hilly, muddy x-country ten miler, I was happy.
It’s been a decent week too, with a personal set over a hilly 9k tempo run, and the usual disgusting sweat fest on the turbo trainer. Swimming has been tough, as I’ve lead the fast lane out on Wednesday and Thursday night – always more tiring than sitting on someone’s heels. I’m getting in just under 10km of swimming a week at the moment, together with about 100km cycling (not including the 30km of work commute) and about 30km of running, so endurance wise I’m in OK shape. It’ll soon be time to start upping the speed though, which’ll be a pain fest.
Leaving Leicester for York this evening, so it’s from the sublime to the ridiculous in terms of aesthetics.
12/02/2010
Last weekend was good, even if it was spent mainly in Leicester, a place which becomes more and more aesthetically displeasing the longer you stay here. I had a solid ten hours sleep on Saturday, more because I wanted a lie in than because I needed all of it. It was a bit of a struggle to get on the bike if truth be told, and at thirty minutes in to my steady, very hilly ride, I was not feeling remotely enthusiastic. As time went on the situation improved, and by the end I averaged 17 mph for the two hours I spent in the saddle of my heavy(ish) training bike. Obviously this is pretty slow going, but the terrain was serious (a couple of thousand feet of ascent), and it was an endurance ride, not a time trial.
Had a good swim on Saturday afternoon too, though the presence of a one length wonder in the lane next to me got on my nerves. He’d wait until I was midway through a 100m pull buoy set, then storm out a length, finish at the same time as me and brag to his girlfriend that he’d done something impressive. Any moron can crash out 25 metres in 20 seconds, but it’s keeping it up, length in length out for long periods that counts. I took it easy on my 8 x 100m Pull Buoy set, concentrating on technique alone, and not going for any kind of speed. I averaged 1:21/100m, which was pretty tidy. The 500m time trial followed, and I felt good, despite the kilometre and a bit of swimming I’d already done. I timed in with a very pleasing 6:54. Would be quite interesting to know what I could get going absolutely full tilt, but there’s little point in a triathlete doing that – we need something left in the tank for the bike and run.
Race day on Sunday morning. Decent weather – an overcast five degrees, good running conditions. The course was very hilly, with thick mud in places. A proper multi-terrain cross country. Ten miles was the nominal distance, though the GPS equipped runners reported 10.35, so that’s the time I’ll use for stats. I set off at a comfortable pace, with about 40 of the 400 strong field in front of me. Every time I race I’m amazed by how many people, decent club runners included, over estimate their own speed. Very strong field, and a lot of people clearly thought they were Olympic beaters, as they went off at a rate of knots only to be hammered by better club runners. I settled quickly, and made up a lot of places. Eventually finished 17th, not a bad day at the office for a triathlete taking part in a run race. Averaged about 6:52/mile, pedestrian on the flat, but for a very hilly, muddy x-country ten miler, I was happy.
It’s been a decent week too, with a personal set over a hilly 9k tempo run, and the usual disgusting sweat fest on the turbo trainer. Swimming has been tough, as I’ve lead the fast lane out on Wednesday and Thursday night – always more tiring than sitting on someone’s heels. I’m getting in just under 10km of swimming a week at the moment, together with about 100km cycling (not including the 30km of work commute) and about 30km of running, so endurance wise I’m in OK shape. It’ll soon be time to start upping the speed though, which’ll be a pain fest.
Leaving Leicester for York this evening, so it’s from the sublime to the ridiculous in terms of aesthetics.
12/02/2010
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Feeling better
What a difference a day can make. Or a night in this case. I slept
really well, and got over nine hours, and it's flooded my enthusiasm
back. Actually looked forward to my run this morning, a fartlek
(different bursts of speed randomly interspersed) 9km. It showed too, I
finished only 8 seconds off a PB, and felt like I had stuff left in the
tank. Hopefully when I do my tempo (constant relatively high speed
running) session over this distance next week, I'll set a new PB.
Provided, of course, that I get my sleep the night before. Hopefully my
enthusiasm will translate into a good swim session with the club tonight
(3000m and more I hope, I'm at a work event tomorrow night so can't make
the Thursday night session, and as such want a punishing one tonight!).
I was doing some statistic work on my mountaineering earlier, and
realised something. Raise, the final mountain I did on my hike on
Sunday, was the 100th mountain I've ever climbed. Admittedly, I've
visited peaks far more than 100 times, but sometimes that includes
redoing a peak I've already bagged. Raise was the 100th individual and
separate summit. So a fairly big moment, and one that I didn't realise I
was doing. If I had to decide on my favourite hikes, I'd probably list
my top five, in no particular order, as;
- Skiddaw in winter, from Longside Edge, including Ullock Pick,
Longside, Carlside and Bakestall (see photograph). A good number of
peaks, brilliant views of Skiddaw Forest, and some decent winter
mountaineering work.
- Mount Warning in the Great Dividing Range in spring, Australia. One of
the most unique looking peaks I've climbed, with amazing views from the
top and lush sub tropical rainforest on the way up. Big too, by UK
standards (3800ft).
- The Yorkshire Three Peaks in winter. Clear views in the main, and a
long and demanding hike across three very different mountains, finishing
up with a great pint of Theakston's Old Peculiar in a local pub in
Horton in Ribblesdale.
- Rannerdale Knotts in winter. A long time ago, but a good family outing
in thick snow up a small but attractive mountain on the shore of
Crummock.
- Catstycam in winter. A proper mountain, pyramidcal in shape with steep
drop on it's north side. This one require ice axe and crampons skills,
as did the ridge of Swirral Edge linking it to Helvellyn. A good
challenge.
03/02/2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Danger in the mountains
Morning all,
I need to be careful. Whilst the weekend was a fantastic endurance challenge, it’s taken quite a lot out of me. I got about nine and half hours sleep on Sunday night, and another nine last night, yet still feel very tired. I’m going to try and get another nine and half tonight after my turbo session, which will hopefully put me back on an even keel in preparation for the run up to next weekend’s race (more on that later).
The reason why I suddenly raise the issue of being tired is one because I was yawning none stop this morning and two because my first session of the week, a swift 1700m swim, yielded disappointing times. The main set was 5 x 250m on 4:00, and I really struggled to get my times down. I was feeling the water OK, and to be fair not going too slowly, but I was a long way off (maybe 8 seconds per set) where I should be. Disappointing. I was beginning to speed up to where I would expect to be by the final set, but that was too little, too late.
The race at the weekend is the Stourbridge Stagger, a cross country ten miler in the West Midlands. Last year there was 400 entrants, and a lot of those were pretty high calibre athletes from the looks of last year’s results. The winner last year is a multiple marathon victor, who won the undulating Shakespeare Marathon in 2009 in a fearsome 2 hours and 39. His time in the 10 mile stagger was 1:03:19. If I can finish within 10 minutes of him, I’ll consider it a very strong race for me. So that’s my target – 1:13:19 (provided of course it’s the same course as last year!). On last year’s results that’d place me in the top 25, which I’d be satisfied with. Anything more than that would be a big bonus, of course, but only race day will tell what sort of shape I’m in.
Right now I’m not actually very enthusiastic about the race – I’d rather be heading up to York to see Sarah and spending the weekend there. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things have panned out, so to Stourbridge I must go. I think a bit of overtraining hasn’t helped my enthusiasm levels, so hopefully I’ll feel better after a good rest.
I think I’m feeling a bit sober too because I found out that a young lad my age who was climbing exactly the same mountain as me in the Lakes on Sunday (Catsycam) fell 600ft and smashed his leg up - http://www.mountainrescue.org.uk/news/2010_004/
It’s definitely dangerous out in the snow and ice, but always a bit of a shock when something like that happens right next to you. I never saw the fall, but he must have ascended from the Keppel Cove side about two hours after I was on the top, judging from the time I saw the Sea King rescue helicopter. I would have been coming down Raise at the time, less than a KM away, and I didn’t hear a damn thing. If I’d be looking in the right direction, I would have seen the fall. Unfortunately it’s a compound fracture, meaning it went through the skin. I suppose after falling 200 metres, the plus side is he’s lucky to be alive. Must have been terrifying. I never even thought about falling when I was on Swirral Edge, but there’s always a danger. Someone died on Great Gable in the Western fells on Sunday too, and another guy was seriously injured. Not a good day for safety.
02/02/2010
I need to be careful. Whilst the weekend was a fantastic endurance challenge, it’s taken quite a lot out of me. I got about nine and half hours sleep on Sunday night, and another nine last night, yet still feel very tired. I’m going to try and get another nine and half tonight after my turbo session, which will hopefully put me back on an even keel in preparation for the run up to next weekend’s race (more on that later).
The reason why I suddenly raise the issue of being tired is one because I was yawning none stop this morning and two because my first session of the week, a swift 1700m swim, yielded disappointing times. The main set was 5 x 250m on 4:00, and I really struggled to get my times down. I was feeling the water OK, and to be fair not going too slowly, but I was a long way off (maybe 8 seconds per set) where I should be. Disappointing. I was beginning to speed up to where I would expect to be by the final set, but that was too little, too late.
The race at the weekend is the Stourbridge Stagger, a cross country ten miler in the West Midlands. Last year there was 400 entrants, and a lot of those were pretty high calibre athletes from the looks of last year’s results. The winner last year is a multiple marathon victor, who won the undulating Shakespeare Marathon in 2009 in a fearsome 2 hours and 39. His time in the 10 mile stagger was 1:03:19. If I can finish within 10 minutes of him, I’ll consider it a very strong race for me. So that’s my target – 1:13:19 (provided of course it’s the same course as last year!). On last year’s results that’d place me in the top 25, which I’d be satisfied with. Anything more than that would be a big bonus, of course, but only race day will tell what sort of shape I’m in.
Right now I’m not actually very enthusiastic about the race – I’d rather be heading up to York to see Sarah and spending the weekend there. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things have panned out, so to Stourbridge I must go. I think a bit of overtraining hasn’t helped my enthusiasm levels, so hopefully I’ll feel better after a good rest.
I think I’m feeling a bit sober too because I found out that a young lad my age who was climbing exactly the same mountain as me in the Lakes on Sunday (Catsycam) fell 600ft and smashed his leg up - http://www.mountainrescue.org.uk/news/2010_004/
It’s definitely dangerous out in the snow and ice, but always a bit of a shock when something like that happens right next to you. I never saw the fall, but he must have ascended from the Keppel Cove side about two hours after I was on the top, judging from the time I saw the Sea King rescue helicopter. I would have been coming down Raise at the time, less than a KM away, and I didn’t hear a damn thing. If I’d be looking in the right direction, I would have seen the fall. Unfortunately it’s a compound fracture, meaning it went through the skin. I suppose after falling 200 metres, the plus side is he’s lucky to be alive. Must have been terrifying. I never even thought about falling when I was on Swirral Edge, but there’s always a danger. Someone died on Great Gable in the Western fells on Sunday too, and another guy was seriously injured. Not a good day for safety.
02/02/2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
