Base phase week 8 "Recovery rules!"

Ahhh, another week of well deserved rest has come to an end today, although the training plan backs off a bit during recovery you still have to stick with all those scheduled workouts.

I pretty much got rid of that cold I had last week, just a few sniffles left now..he he and I hope it doesn't come back!

All this week it was like Christmas around here with new race tires arriving on Tuesday, I thought I'd try out some Continental Grand Prix 4000's, got some for Tammy's bike too, mine in blue and hers in red; then on Wednesday our new triathlon bike shoes showed up , Tam didn't even know I ordered them..I'm such a sneaker! The tri shoes will be nice with just one Velcro strap to do up instead of fumbling with the buckles on our other shoes, who knows it could shave off 10-15 seconds. I have a few more goodies still coming and the shopping never seems to end, thank goodness for eBay it saves me a bit of cash and time which is great.

So we had an interesting start to our day on Friday, we figured that if we switched our 6:00am swim for the run and do the swim after work in Nanaimo it would work better for us;but it was actually starting to snow!, so off we went with icy snow pelting our faces..hard to keep good form...hey wait a minute deja vu this happened to me before!...ha ha; I kind of thought maybe it would be better to be in the pool now instead of running in this spring blizzard, but we toughed it out anyways; You know it snowed most of the morning and we ended up with about 4 inches and by the time we both got home from work we just didn't feel up to our swim and decided to get some extra RR.

And now for today, I did my endurance swim in Nanaimo 2000m in 43:19, although this was not a timed swim and included 500m of warm up /cool down its just nice to keep track of how long your workouts are. Once we got home it was time for our brick and we geared up under partly cloudy skies for a road ride ...no rain..smile....We managed to get in 26.7 km in just over an hour. darn wind again! he he, but the pace was still good at 2:15 per km so we averaged 26.87 km per hour, soon we we're off on the run and did a 4km loop and I felt really good on this run , so much so that I had gas enough to push beyond were I've never ventured to before; on the last km I continued on at my current pace and held it till about the last 800m and then pushed myself up the last little hill and kept on the gas till I reached home, I hit the stop watch and was elated to see a time of 19:52 yes!, a new pr for me and a another milestone to finally do a run in sub 5:00 min. per km, yea so it was only a 4:58 on a short run.. but wait that was after a 26km bike which was after a 2000m swim, wow I've just had one the the most awesome bricks ever!, now I can see the benefits of this recovery stuff!

I had a good week all in all and am now mentally preparing for the beginning of the build phase of our training program, on paper it look a little daunting but hope to do equally as well on this new chapter as I have done on the last 8 weeks, the journey has been great for me so far and I look forward to the up coming challenges with great enthusiasm.

Base phase week 7 "spring arrives"

At the beginning of this week I came down with a cold/virus that is still with me today, despite that fact I persevered through all aspects of training this week, sometimes a little winded at others just no go go.

On Wednesdays track workout I managed to complete my 13 repeats of 30 sec. hard with two min active recovery and for myself this was a stellar performance, everything just felt right. I was fairly tired for the swim latter that evening but was still beaming about my track session but still finished the swim feeling OK. We seem to keep getting dry roads for our bike and run work which is just fine by me, Tammy says there is always an umbrella over us..or maybe it's just plain luck.. he he.

We both had Friday off from work so we didn't have to do the dreaded 6:00 am swim.. yea!, our pool was closed here so we got to head up to Nanaimo to do our workout of 1700m , mostly drills and a new fartlek 1000m total broken up into 200m of 50 easy 50 hard 20 sec rest after every 200m , and this actually went better than I thought it would, I figured with this cold that I have it would leave me gasping for air but it did not...smile!

Saturdays ride was a great first spring ride we stopped off at one of our favorite spots, ( Jack point ) great on the weekends, a definite no no on week days too many big trucks; I think we had a tail wind up to this time and after that we had some light head wind and a bit of cross wind so I did get blown around a bit and we still managed to pull of 2:28 pace over 61km at a steady pace on tired legs from the extra workload this week.

Today we started with a 10:00 am run which lasted for about 1:10 min, I think we both kind of over dressed for it and I was a little hot at the end . The start was a little tough as I struggled with some pain in the front of my calf and ankle...the blood just wasn't flowing yet but by the time I hit the 3 km mark it seemed to dissipate, whew ! that one hurts allot! ; I covered about 11.80 km at 5:53 pace...no not the fastest but it was non stop and this is where I am noticing that my endurance is slowly building a little bit at a time; it is so exciting to see these small improvements. My swim today was the longest to date of 2400m this was another endurance one with a 300m warm up/cool down; I was some what concerned having this cold but I settled right into a groove and finished the workout in a not to shabby time of 57 min.

So this concludes week 7 and next week is recovery! this will be a treat before the big start of the build phase week 9, until next week that's all for now and I do hope to shake this bug!

Base phase week 6 "Bruised but not beaten"

Wow another week gone! and I think I'm feeling pretty good about the progress so far; on Tuesday after work it was hill repeats again and the weather was dry and sunny; we did 10x 1:00 min repeats with 2 min active recovery, I held back just enough to make sure I had enough juice in me to finish the set strong, I actually do really like this workout, oh yea I can't forget to mention the fact that after repeat #7 I feel over standing still on the bike, I was clipped in on my left side facing up hill right foot down on the pavement with my wheel turned to the right.. brakes on and I released the brake the bike rolled back a foot and my wheel got turned all the way to left some how and down I went! ouch! I saved my bike from any damage with my body ha ha. After dinner we headed up to the gym for a change of pace, that was nice ,we usually do this workout at home. I am beginning to see a real difference in myself and that is exciting for me and helps to keep me motivated with weight training.

Wednesdays track work went pretty crappy, I think I may have strained my right leg when I fell over on the bike and by the third repeat it didn't feel any better so I took a break and watched Tammy for a while and then headed home to get ready for a swim so that I got some kind of workout in for the day and besides the swim is low impact and made me feel better about the lost track session.

On Thursday we did our bike ride to Chemainus and back, it was threatening to rain most of the way and on the last part of the ride we got drizzled on a bit but not soaked to the bone! Latter on that evening, actually it was 8:00 pm, we got to the gym for a great workout and at the end we both held a plank for 3:00 min ...it feels. so good when you finally finish and collapse on the floor! he he.

Oh gosh the dreaded 6:00 am swim again, this was to be 2000m of which I did 1700m of it, boy I tell you it's so hard to get going on these swims in the am; the run today was tough for me today because on Thursdays gym work we did some step ups and was really feeling it on the run, my butt was totally killing me from this ha ha .. that darn wife of mine always seems to throw something new in at just the right time .

On Saturday we got to do a great brick workout, we headed for Cedar rd one our favorite routes and road out till we hit our 37:30 min turn around time and then headed for home, total ride time was 1:13 and we covered about 31km; once home we doned our run gear and took off for a 20 min loop, we ran 4km in 20:42 which gave me a pace of 5:10, I was so happy to see this I was was like yea! I rock man! for me the running is what I have a hard time seeing that I'm actually improving on because we are always running on tired legs and this was a small milestone for me.

And finally for Sunday we only had a 1700m endurance swim with a twist we did 350m warm up and 350m cool down with the main set being 1000m time trial, I was so pumped for this all week, and the results are.... well I was hoping for a little faster time than my 20:42min swim but the fact is that we had 50m length and I'm not used to time trialing like that, it always seems to be with 25m lengths, and I seemed to have a full feeling in my stomach?... strange hmm ,but really I am happy with my time and have never trialed that distance so now I have a benchmark to beat and look forward to my continual swimming improvements. We finished of our day and week of training with a nice run around Westwood lake, lots of people out there today as signs of spring are everywhere.

My body is adapting well so far with this hectic 6 day a week training program, although at times it takes a good push to get me out the door and other times I'm just ready to rip, next it all ramps up again for week#7 and it'll be a challenge once again which I shall embrace with great fear! no ha ha just kidding cant seem to find the word for it so I'll just leave it at that.

P.S. the pic above is the fist sized bruise I found this morning on the inside of my thigh from when I fell over on my bike, it actually knocked my bike seat 3 inches sideways, and I had to pull out the allen wrench to readjust it.

Base phase week five " Rag dolls"

Well the work load has certainly risen this week , Tues first workout was hill repeats and we decided Christie rd would be a good site for this and boy it sure was other than the 5:00 pm traffic rush of people coming home from work; we did a loop around the diamond to get warmed up and then proceeded with our workout which consisted of 1:00 min hard effort up Christie and 2:00 min recovery, after the first two I thought my lungs were gonna burst! but it did get better at about number 5; it was only 4 degrees in the shade and I wore my short gloves and froze my fingers off, I figured with this type of work I would be sweating buckets...not; when I finally finished at the 9th one I was happy so we could get going home to warm up, I guess with the two min recovery and low temp it was hard to stay warm, we finished up the day with a good workout in the basement.

On Wednesday it was time for our first track workout and I actually did pretty good, we did 11-30 sec repeats wit 2 min active recovery; I was pretty tired after that but we still made it up to the pool for our 7:30pm workout, the work out was supposed to be only 1825m but I miss counted and ended up doing 1900m... oops no big deal.

By the time I got home on Thursday afternoon my body was rebelling! I was totally wiped out with everything being ramped up for the new base phase,( I may have called some of these weeks build phases but they are base phases) and when Tammy got home she felt the same and we decided not to do our spin session or gym and try to get some rest for Friday mornings swim.

6:00 am Friday morn groggy and sleepy eyed we entered the pool for what was going to be a 1900m workout..well or whatever I could do in an hour , and let me tell you it wasn't much, I was like a rag doll ...beat up, tired and just finished! we both managed to muster up 1500m and call it a morning, and figured we did pretty darn good anyways.

On Saturday we rode to Duncan and back for about a 65km ride , longest one this year so far and we averaged about 26-27km per hour at a moderate intensity and I felt good the whole way. While in Duncan we stopped at the cycle shop for a quick adjustment on Tams bike and then headed for home to beat the rain again, we sure have been lucky with most rides but I'm sure we'll end up getting soaked sooner or latter.

Well Sunday proved to be a tough day to finish of the week. Our day started at 2:00 pm for a swim of 2300m with a 250m warm up and 250 cool down, the main set was 1800m which I managed to do in 39:26 and a total swim time of 51:08 for 2300m total; on the last 6 laps of the main set I was really feeling the impact as I was actually starting to get a little shaky, but I still managed to get into a great rhythm right away and once again I'm happy with the swim progress.

When we got home we slipped on our run gear and headed for the Holland creek trail for one of our favorite runs and after about 2km into the run I knew it was gonna be a tough one and I would just have to hang in there; the run lasted for 1:05:00 and we managed to cover about 9.5 km as we also ran some road at the end to get the time in, and and I was sure glad to see our driveway finally come into view.

So this concludes week 5 of training and even though I missed a few workouts the extra rest was warranted and I am managing fairly well so far as I continue on this journey to my ultimate goal...The half Ironman.

Base phase week four "End of week four I made it! "

Wow this past week has just flown by, of course it has because it was recovery week and like all good things they must come to a end ;I am now preparing for phase 2 week 5 and I'm sure things will get tough again so the rest was really nice and I think my body is ready for bout #2.
We had lots of sunshine these past few days which made for great riding and running , we just love those after work road rides and the days are getting longer now so that in itself is great.
Friday mornings swim I still felt a bit sluggish getting going, I don't know if I'll get used to 6:00 am Friday starts at the pool but I have to do what has to be done and always feel good after the fact.
The week was caped off with a wonderful 1.5 hour bike ride under the sun a bit cool in the shade, we headed for a loop ride down the highway through to Chemainus and back home; it was nice to do that route for the first time this year and makes me want to time trial it again but that will have to wait till after our main event.
Today was loaded up pretty good for last day of recovery week; we headed for Nanaimo pool at around 10:00am and had a 1700m endurance swim to do but with our season opener coming in April at Sooke we needed to do our 700m time trial to see where our times are at; so I did a 50m warm up and then set my stop watch and was off, The trial went really well and I only lost focus a couple of times, once to adjust my goggles (leaking) and also choked on some Flem or something? and that messed up my breathing pattern but I became refocused quickly on both incidences, also no panic either which may have to do with more self confidence. I finished with a time of 14:11 a new pr for me ! I was so happy to see the improvement; (note: last years time at Sooke was 15:30) and I can honestly say that I held back knowing we still had a brick (bike/run) to do after the swim; so I'm kind of wallowing in the fruits of my labour..ha ha.... now if I can get that darn running in shape.
We got home and geared up for our brick with cloudy skies hoping it wouldn't start to rain; the ride was for about an hour and our turn around was at Arbutus ridge. I felt pretty good most of the ride and was so happy no rain. Arriving home a little pooped, after all we just did 1700m at the pool and went at a pretty good pace on the bike too; I quickly got my run gear on and was out the door , my legs feeling a bit heavy but not like they did when I started doing bricks last year, for the first couple of kms my pace was good but started to fade at 3km and I ended up walking for a short time from cramping pain in the front of my shins and ankles but soon refocused to finish with a time I was happy with; I think I was just really done for the day and my legs were telling me so. That was a great day though and felt fairly energised for most of it and just had an awesome week overall ; Monday is rest day and then its back to the grind on Tues. and I look forward to the challenges that phase 2 will bring. Well that's about all for now until next post.