Weekly round up (15 weeks to go) (including a breakthrough bike ride)

Before I write this week's round up, I want to mention today's bike ride which was definitely a breakthrough one for me.  Out with the club today, lovely warm sunny ride.  Annoyed early on by the suggestion that we split into a faster and slower beginner's group, I was determined to keep up when I argued for us keeping the group together.  Without further ado, here's the vital statistics:
I cycled 50.9 miles in 4h02; I hit the 50 mile point in 4 hours.  3h 30 was moving time, which gave me an average speed of an amazing 14.5mph (previously I've been lucky to hit 13mph).  I even hit a maximum speed of 25mph on one downhill bit.  At one point, I was leading off the front of the group at 18mph!  I obviously had legs of steel today, although I came home, ate, and collapsed.  Subsequently have revived enough to plant some vegetables in the garden.

What did I get up to this week?
A solid 11.5 hours of training, excellent bike ride, 15k of swimming and an ok 13k of running AND a pilates class.  WIN.  (Although, I was supposed to bike on Tuesday and it was pouring with rain so I didn't...)
Monday: 2.5k swim, 5k run
Tuesday: 2.5k swim
Wednesday: 8k run, pilates
Thursday: 5.5k swim (!), 20 minute turbo
Friday: OFF
Saturday: c. 1k swum helping beginners; 3.5k pool swim
Sunday: 80k bike.



What is the plan for this week?
Sadly, insufficient people are coming to pilates to keep it running over the summer; I am very sad about this as I love the class.  I'm going to try a class at the local leisure centre meanwhile, it will be quite a tight turnaround from work, and I suspect it won't be quite as hardcore, but it's better than nothing.  Also, with pilates, it can be as hard as you want it to be right?!  This week is mainly a swim focussed week, finishing with a swim race on Sunday, so, having rocked today's ride, I'm going to allow myself a little bit of leeway with cycling this week.  It'll only be a total of about 6 hours of training this week so hopefully then I'll be ready for another hard week following and going back to the 70.3 plan.

Monday: am 2.5k swim, pm 1k outdoor swim (sans wetsuit???)
Tuesday: am 9k run (determined to go a bit further this time!), pm short bike/turbo or OFF.
Wednesday: am 2.5k swim, pm pilates
Thursday: am 5k swim, 5k run
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Help with the beginner's OW session.
Sunday: RACE.  (3.8k)

Weekly roundup (16 weeks to go)

eeek!  16 weeks to go until I toe the start line of my first 70.3!  Time to start proper training this week, according to The Plan, although it's my modified adaption of it.  This makes me a little anxious as actually I've only got 12 slots for long bike rides available to me left, and what happens if the weather misbehaves?!  Today's bike ride was pretty good, I pushed myself hard to keep up with the pace for the first half and did a pretty good job.  Unfortunately, the last ten miles were a bit of a struggle and I wasn't able to keep up.  But I enjoyed the first bit of being out and the sun that we had here this morning.

What did I get up to this week?
A good week for swimming (15.75k), an ok week for running (13k) and a bike ride.  No pilates.  But 3 wetsuit swims:
Monday: 3.5k swim am, 1k openwater swim pm.
Tuesday: 8k run am
Wednesday: 2.5k swim am
Thursday: 5k swim am, 5k run am
Friday: OFF (but not v restful as hectic day at work)
Saturday: 750m openwater swim am, 3k wetsuit pool swim pm.
Sunday: 70k bike

(Total = 10.5 hours training)

What is the plan for this week?
Monday: 2.5k swim am, 6k run pm
Tuesday: 2.5k swim am, hopefully a bit of bike pm
Wednesday: 8 or 9k run am, pilates pm
Thursday: 4.5k swim am, 40 mins turbo (with 4 x 30 second sprints, scattered)
Friday: OFF
Saturday: help with beginners openwater swim am, second swim am or run.
Sunday: Bike ride (at least 20 miles)

In which I go swimming.

I've been meaning to post all week, but just not managed to get around to it.  But the title will cover all of the things I wanted to write about, four swims especially in the last 6 days.

1. Aquathlon last Sunday.  I still feel a bit grumpy about that, hence not giving it its own blog post.  You'd think that by removed my most tricky discipline from a tri, I might do rather better.   I didn't.  The 5k run hurt, and what I thought was a good 750m swim time was marred by two people I knew telling me that they thought it was quite a bit short of 750m.  Added to that, it was an uncomfortable swim and I just didn't feel very happy about the event.  The final thing I struggled with more than usual was how good all of the other women's bodies looked compared to mine; I don't usually feel like this, and it took a lot of saying to myself "you buy small calf size fitting boots online because you can't get any on the high st to fit" and "you are still a size 8" to try to get over it.  Tricky.  Not something that really fits into this blog, but body image definitely plays a part in why I'm here doing all of this stuff.

2. Openwater swimming on Monday night.  This was a much more positive experience and I felt ever so good after it!  It was a beautiful evening, and although I'd been at work all of the beautiful bank holiday day, going for a swim with Mr Tuna and Claire the Crayfish (as Cycling Claire will henceforth be known) entirely made up for it.  I was determined, although didn't say, that I'd get Claire around the 1000m loop this time and I felt that the lovely evening was very auspicious.  So auspicious that when I opened the car boot, I realised that I had forgotten my wetsuit!  Fortunately, this lake allows you to swim skins (ie wetsuitless) and as it was a warm day, I thought I'd risk it in my cozzie.  I briefed Mr Tuna on my plans re Claire since I wasn't sure that I'd get beyond the second buoy and then got in.  It wasn't actually too bad - must have been about 16C in the water and 20C out of the water, and brilliant sunshine.  So I was able to do my breastroke around with Claire, and yes, we got around the 1000m loop, which felt like a big achievement for me too, sans wetsuit.  I didn't let her complain about the cold this time since she was encased in neoprene, but actually she said that she was feeling hot.  So big boost to confidence there.

3. Openwater swimming on a cold Saturday morning.  Our tri club provides "Pre-Blenheim Swims" for people new to triathlon at this time every year - Blenheim is a major triathlon nearby that attracts a lot of first-timers.  These organised sessions rely on club members turning up and informally coaching the huge numbers of people that signed up.  I wanted to get in a double swim Saturday and this was a free way of getting in the water a second time to my later plans (see below), I also felt that I wanted to give something back to the club having had people be patient with me on the bike rides, and finally I would love to train so that I am able to coach openwater swimming at some point.  Also, Claire the Crayfish was in need of a lift, so we picked her up en route, not that any of us were really feeling sociable at 7.30am on a Saturday.  We split off into coaching pairs (I went with Mr Tuna) and I purposefully chose to help the "not confident in water" swimmers so that Claire could swim with us if she wanted to.  We had 6 people in our group  who managed the swimming pretty well, although everyone was complaining about the cold (water temperature was only 13C today, and air temp 8.5C), but most of us managed around 30-40 minutes in the water.  It was good fun passing on the knowledge that I have accumulated by swimming myself and reading lots of tri magazines.

4. I then went over to Uxbridge lido where I put in a lot of km last season training for my 10k and 14k swims.  I was meeting up with my friend Emily the eel, who kindly swam with me last year there.  Unfortunately she was coming down with a cold, but fortunately there is a nice heated indoor pool there too and she said she'd swim in that for a bit.  It was also my chance to test out my new wetsuit (finally!) but tests were a little inconclusive as a) it was very cold in the water and b) inexplicably, the pool was about 6 inches short of water, which made it impossible turn at the shallow end.  But early estimates suggested that it might be faster (although, difficult to tell as I have worked a lot on my technique and pilates too).  It was pretty comfortable and I felt sleek in the water in it.  The water was freezing.  Ok for lengths 3-29, then getting very cold, and then really cold for the final 500m.  It was nice to swim in an empty 50m pool though!


5.  I'm finally reading an interesting book called Fearless Swimming for Triathletes, which I hope to get through in the next week or so to see if there are any tips that I can pass on next Saturday.  If there's anything I find especially interesting, I'll try to put a blog post up.

Weekly roundup (17 weeks to go)

This week was intended to be a fairly light week - I have a short race tomorrow - and I was tired at the end of last week.  In fact, I packed an awful lot of training into the first 5 days.  Consequently, I decided on having a rest today (instead doing some clearing out and tidying up at home, which always feels productive!).

What did I do?
Monday: 2.5k swim am, 15 minute openwater swim pm
Tuesday: 4.5k swim am, osteopath visit pm
Wednesday: 8k run am, pilates pm
Thursday: 4.5k swim am, 30 minutes turbo am.
Friday: 2.5k swim am
Saturday: rest
Sunday: aquathlon (750m swim, 5k run).

Totals:
13k run
15k swim
7.5 hours of training

I'm not sure how I feel about the race tomorrow.  It really doesn't align with my season's goals (sub hour for 3.8k, finish my 70.3), and I'm a little bit gutted that if I'd been doing the race I originally intended to do at Bedford today, I would have won the 1500m or come second in the 3.8k.  Why is it that sometimes racing is just about who's entered rather than how well you do on the day?!  I'm entering because the chance to qualify for the World Championships is so tempting, even if in reality my swim time will cut it, but my run just won't.  It should be a good fun event though, and I'm promising myself that if I do well in the swim, then I might just enter another couple of swim races this season as I've identified a couple of possibilities (only if I'm prepared then to go out on a run when I get home!!!).

What's lined up for this week?
Bit of a strange week this week one way and another what with the Bank Holiday and a couple of appointments that change the usual patterns.
Monday: 4k swim am (start late due to the Bank Hol!); openwater swim pm
Tuesday: run am (have appointment near home first thing so not time to go to the pool!); working late pm
Wednesday: 2.5k swim am, no pilates so hopefully 1h bike?
Thursday am: 4k swim am, then run (if not bike on Weds then turbo then)
Friday: OFF
Saturday: run, 3k swim at Uxbridge lido
Sunday: long bike
Not quite sure how the week will work out with totals

April roundup

What a good month April ended up being.  I’ve just totalled up my training and I’m really pleased.  Helped along by a week off work at the start and two very long bike rides, my totals are pretty good.  I had my second highest running month this year (second to February), with 31.2k run.  I had my third highest swimming month with 61.4k swum (after January and February, where I was training for swim camp and where weather precluded other training options); not bad given that I wasn’t able to swim as much as I would have liked on my week off due to shoulder issues.  And I had my highest ever cycling month (doubling any amount ever cycled in a month before) of 425k!!  Obviously, the Quattro Sportive and Westminster to Islip bike ride boosted the figures, but I did also do a couple of bike rides on my own on my week off, and two club rides.

It also saw my first triathlon of the season, at Thames Turbo, a 7 minute Swimathon PB, and my first openwater swim of theseason.

What a good month.

First UK openwater swim of the season

Last night was my first opportunity to hit the UK openwater this season.  Along with all of the other triathletes, I’ve been waiting impatiently for the lakes to warm up, which has been a lot slower this year.  There seems to be quite a disparity in the temperatures of lakes around the country.

This year I wanted to investigate the lake next door to the lake that my tri club uses, partly because I can’t easily make the tri club sessions (Thurs night clashes with a late night work shift, and Sat am, at 8 o clock?  No way…), and partly because I don’t like that lake very much.  I needed to get into the openwater this week ahead of my first openwater race of the season on Sunday (an Aquathlon), but I had also promised to take along Cycling Claire (I need to give her a better name as she swims and runs just as much as she cycles) to get her ready for her first proper tri at the end of June.  I’ve suggested that it might be a good idea to do a standalone openwater swim race first to build her confidence up a bit without having to worry about the bike and run, and as we’ve identified one at the end of May, we needed to get going.

It was an absolutely beautiful evening, and putting my feet in the water it didn’t feel cold at all.  I’d been told that the lake was between 12C and 14C but in my opinion it was definitely nearer 14C than 12.  It had been fairly sunny all evening so obviously had a bit of a chance to warm up.  It was pretty busy, and there must have been around 20-30 people in the water (maybe more, I didn’t have my glasses on) and a nice lady signed us in.  Claire was a little bit nervous so we stayed fairly near the edge and practiced swimming and sighting between the shore and the first buoy, with a little bit of breastroke to begin with.  I am very lucky to have always felt confident in the water (as long as it’s not a swimming pool with huge drains) so I hope I was able to pass a little bit of that confidence on.  Claire asked to do another trip out to the buoy when I suggested getting out, so I think that is a fairly good sign, and we've planned our next trip to the lake.

What I took from the session was that the water is not that cold and I will be absolutely fine for my race on Sunday as long as I am nice and warm to begin with.  And I’ll be fine hanging around for the deep water start, but if I can keep moving, that will help.  And I took away an excitement for the coming season of openwater swim racing (amid a little bit of sadness that I only have 3 standalone openwater swim races in my calendar L)

Weekly catch up - 18 weeks to go

Last week's catch up post was full of optimism and excitement after a good training week.  This week, it's hard to feel that.  I've been absolutely shattered for most of it and quality sessions just haven't happened.  It's difficult to know where to draw the line and maybe take more than one rest day.  After yesterday's rest day, I still found myself struggling on the bike today, came home and cried for an hour and then slept for two.  But, it's important not to let the tiredness cloud two good things that I've achieved this week.  Firstly, the excellent PB on the swimathon.  And secondly, learning to use clipless pedals.  Yes, after yesterday's experiment, I managed to last the 41 miles of the group ride in them without falling off, and only a minimal amount of faffing trying to get my right foot clipped in.  So that's a win.

So what did I get up to?
Monday: 2.5k swim
Tuesday: 2.5k swim
Wednesday: 8k run (ditched the swim I had planned as shoulder was a little sore and wanted to rest before my longer swim Thursday and swimathon Friday, and also I'd not managed to get a run in after work).   Pilates in the pm.  Was so tired that I did the bare minimum of exercises.
Thursday: 4k swim (2k drills, 2k continous).  30 minutes on the turbo trainer practising clipping in and out
Friday: 5k swimathon
Saturday: half hour spent practising clipping in and out on bike, not on turbo
Sunday: 41 mile bike ride *using clipless pedals*.  Not the best of rides.  Both myself and Cycling Claire were pretty tired (CC had done the Swimathon 5k on Saturday).  There was quite a large group and everyone else was in a faster frame of mind, so eventually we split off into two groups, "the fast and furious group" : "that's not us?" said Claire "did you need to ask?" I said.  Our route was a little shorter than the other group and once the wind was behind us we got up to quite a pace.  Once we were back to where we knew, the coach with us went back to find the other group.  We cycled on half a mile and then I begged for a little rest.  I had some water and a little stretch and Claire finished her banana.  To our mortification, the rest of the group then came past.  We averaged 12.7mph which isn't bad as the route started and ended through town with a lot of stop starting.
Total of 10.5 hours training for the week.  Not bad, but not as good as last week.

Plans for this week
Monday: am 2.5k swim; pm first openwater dip of 2013 (I'm discounting the OW I did in Tenerife in February).  I doubt we'll be in long but it's my only chance to practice before the race on Sunday.
Tuesday: am 4k swim [on a course, so should get a bit longer in the water!].  Hoping to get an osteopath appointment in the pm.
Wednesday: am run, pm pilates
Thursday: am 4.5k swim, run or turbo
Friday: am 2.5k swim (may be ditched for rest)
Saturday: 30 mile bike (may be ditched for rest if Fri am swim happened)
Sunday: Bedford Aquathlon (750m swim, 5k run) [oh how I wish that it was the other way around, 5k swim, 750m run would be so much more fun].