Sunday 31 January 2010

Swim Thugs and Brick Sessions

I had another swim yesterday, the shoulder is getting much better. Managed 1750m, 200m warm up then 550m of kick drills split either side of 5x200m.  No pain, and acceptable effort levels (3:30 dropping to 3:45 on the 200s).  Well I say no pain, I mean no shoulder pain.  I left the pool with a headache and a sore spot on my head.  Forget "Swim Nemeses", I discovered a new breed of swimmer, the Swim Thug. 

Doing my kick sets at the end in the free swimming section (not too many people in it so no point holding up a lane), minding my own business doing FC kick, I saw a learner swimmer heading towards me.  I moved right up against the lane rope, should have been plenty of space.  Well not for this guy.  He seemed to be doing a new variant of finger drag, lock the elbow and swing the arm out wide, dragging fingers in the water for the recovery.  I got hit full force on the head.  It hurt like hell.  I'm used to a few bumps and bruises swimming, but people normally have the courtesy to appologise if they hit you that hard.  Didn't even appologise in the changing room afterwards either.  Thug.  Swimmers like that should have to pass a proficiency test before using a public pool. Hmm... rant over

After all the discussions of brick sessions on 220 and BCTTT, I got the crazy idea to do one this afternoon.  90 mins on the turbo whilst watching a film on sky (Live!, I wouldn't recommend it).  Not bad going, based upon my speed and gearing it didn't feel too much unlike a flat road.  Spent some reasonable time on the aerobars, although I really need to get some new extensions, those draft legal short things aren't wonderful. A 1:46 transition while I put some more clothes and shoes on.  A poor time but, in my defence I was so hot it was like getting dressed in T1 and I did have to tie my shoelaces.  Then an even more despicable 28 minutes for a 5.2K run, didn't even have serious jelly legs.  I'm gonna need to work pretty hard on that.

Not a bad week in all, 3 runs, 2 cycle sessions and 2 swims (the 5hrs 40 it took isn't sooo good).  I can start bringing some more swim sessions in again next week at last.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Injury and Laziness

I've been getting rather lazy with updating this blog.  A bit like my indifference towards training.  My shoulder has still been hurting, so no swimming for me.  That translated into me taking the entire weekend off training. No runs, no turbo time.

Monday was club run training.  Some sprint sessions involving 1min, 30s and 20s efforts with standing rest. Some good speed work, I actually overtook a cyclist.  Now if I was the cyclist I'd be pretty ashamed of that. Speed topping out at 23 km/h.  Looking at the data My speed built in the first half of the longer sets and tailed off in the second half.  My pacing was obviously off.  Succeeded in pushing my heart rate properly into L4 on them, with 1 minute recoveries (on the longer sets) of around 20-25%.  Short but sweet session.

Tuesday I went for a steady run, but it just wasn't feeling good.  Shortened my plan from 11 to 8 km as there were just too many niggling things whilst I was running.  Probably dehydrated when I went out.  SO 8 km, 48 minutes L2a heart rate.

Wednesday was a spinning session.  Started the evening off with a 2.5K warm up on the treadmill, I won't be fresh when I get on a bike normally, so why do it in training?  I don't know what my HRmax for cycling is, but assuming it is 5-10 bpm lower than running then I didn't do too bad on the HR zones compared to usual.  A mixture of "hills" and "endurance" sets in the session.  I tried to pretend I was on tri bars on the endurance sets, it seems to get the heart pumping a bit harder.  The reduced lung volume maybe? I managed to hold out at a reasonable effort level.  I really wish the spinning bikes had tri bars though. I have a number of wishes when it comes to spinning bikes, they would pretty much make it a bike on a turbo though.

This evening I decided to get back in the pool.  My shoulder has been getting better, the pain has moved from the joint round into the Trapezius muscle, so I figured I could give it a go.  My shoulder held admirably.  I managed 5 x 200m at an easy effort, only noticing my shoulder mildly on the last length.  My speeds haven't dropped too much either, which is good.  Consistent 3:30s for 200m, an acceptable pace for an easy evening session.  Still need to hold of on the swimming a bit longer, may try again on Saturday.  My biggest problem is the inertia of coming back from injury.  Training is addictive, but like narcotics, when you have broken the addiction you don't necessarily have the desire to get back into it.

Friday 22 January 2010

It may have been wetter on the turbo than outside

Since I can't swim at the moment, tonight was a turbo session.  Having got changed and ready to go, seems my rear wheel developed a puncture over the last week.  Cue a race-esque tube change.  The old one seems to have split open, no damage to tyre so must just be age.  With a bike ready to go it was time to start.   Tonight's main entertainment was the Top Gear Africa special.  An hour of L1/L2 cycling, in a hot room  later and I was virtually dripping with sweat.  Then onto the next set, Spinervals 23, a half hour tempo/TT sprint workout.  I was pretty wrecked after that.  Top tip, white cycling jersey + hot room + buckets of sweat = bad idea.  Suitable for use in a private home only, it was so wet I could wring sweat out of it.  I'd call that a successful session.

A good session, the 1 1/2 hours went fairly quickly, seems the hour TV + spinervals to finish combo worked out pretty well.  Next time three bottle of fluids, or a cooler room.

Thursday 21 January 2010

Fit for the knacker's yard?

Seems my shoulder is properly damaged and it is time to rest.  Feeling good I turned up to swimming on Tuesday morning, did a few 200m warm up swims then the pain returned.  Cue stopping front crawl and 1000m of kick drills to avoid completely wasting the session.  It seems it is time to rest it properly, a full week off is in order, as hard as it is to take.  I haven't stopped training completely though.

Running doesn't cause pain, cue a 10K run before lunch yesterday.  I saw a break in the clouds and decided to go for it, luckily I put my decent waterproof jacket on when I went out, 10 minutes out and the sky decided I wasn't suffering enough and unleashed an unpleasant mix of rain and snow on me.  Oh well, I pushed through it finishing 10K in just over 51 minutes in L2a/L2b.

Then in the evening I went to the spinning class.  My legs have only just forgiven me.  A one hour class that was predominantly "hills".  I just couldn't get my heart rate out of L1 on them, my quads and hamstrings hurt too much.  The sprints were good though pushing my heart rate right up into L3 territory.  I felt somewhat wrecked afterwards, I really must buy some compression tights, maybe next week I'll wiggle some and write at home that day...

Anyway, full rest day today, maybe a turbo session tomorrow.  We'll see what the weather has to offer before planning the weekned session, it would be nice to get out into the New Forest for a run.

Monday 18 January 2010

Rest and a run.

Sunday's brick session never materialised.  My shoulder injury caught up with me, I went to the library to get a book and the process of carrying it home (it was 900+ pages, 20min walk) seemed to agravate it again.  So I binned all training and focussed on 'the thesis' instead.  Likewise I binned swimming this morning just in case, it seems fine this evening so I have a go tomorrow morning.

Not wanting to be lazy for too long I went to the club run session, intervals tonight. They were a set of 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K, 1K, 0.5K runs.  I was quite pleased with my performance, it's good to have someone to push yourself against sometimes.  According to the Garmin I ran all the 0.5K efforts at above 15kph, sustaining 17-18 in the final one!  My HRmax was a bit disappointing, only getting 172, but hey that is something to test a bit harder one day, the RPE was 9-10 though.  The other bonus of the Garmin is that I can analyse my HR recovery, with 1 minute figures in the region of 25-30% of what I think my HR max is.  Now according to coach Troy figures of 20-30% are "Awesome".  It also seems figures in that ball park mean i'm unlikely to have a heart attack, which I'm a bit young for anyway but hey.

So 7K run all in all today, a good session, and back to the pool tomorrow.

Saturday 16 January 2010

A long run

This afternoon the rain stopped.  So I decided to go for a run.  I made a slight mistake in wearing one two many layers but it was a pretty good run all in all.  I started off with the aim of doing two big laps of the common (~10km).  Even though I was slowly boiling away inside my jacket I was enjoying the run so I added an extra loop in.  Then I extended it further taking another detour on the way home and made it 15km, in an hour 20.  A pretty reasonable zone 2/3 run.  Only spoilt by dog walkers.  I don't mind well behaved dogs off the lead, but if you have an unruly dog, please, please, please keep it on the lead.  Each time a dog runs up to me and stops in front on me making me stop, as cruel as it sounds, I get more and more inclined to carry on running through the dog.

A good run, maybe a brick session tomorrow, I'm thinking of a 45min turbo then a 5k run.  I find out in the morning if I can be bothered.

End of good weeks swimming

Yesterday capped of a good weeks swimming.  I got two sessions in, the first not as long as planned, and club training in the evening.

In the morning I mananged to do my warm up in a very crowded pool, seems everyone wanted to swim on Friday morning.  the plann was for a 7x200m  main set.  Did the first 200m, coming in on a respectable 3:15.  Started the second 200, got the wall after the first length, pushed off, took a stroke with my left arm.  When I took the next stroke with that arm I realsied I must have pulled something as whenever I tried to push against the water it hurt a lot. Finsished did two more lengths and realsied the pain wasn't going away so binned the session. Rather annoying really.

I went to club training in the evening in the hope it was better, it was mostly although my shoulder joint wasn't going to let me forget it was there with a dull ache.  The session went reasonably, some good 75m FC/25 backstroke kick sets to warm up, some 150s and 50m kick sets then a 400m effort.  Having been quite pleased with my 6:52 earlier in the week, I was hoping to match it, and I did.  6:37 and I wasn't giving it my all because of my shoulder, things are looking up on the swim front.  That 30 minute 1.9km I have in mind in just 126 days time now looks like it is a reaslitic prospect.  Now if I can just get my bike and run fitness in suitable order I may have a good race and season ahead of me.

Thursday 14 January 2010

Running at last!

Today started off with another swim, not as far as i'd planned (2750 not 3000m) as I was performing badly, mostly due to to spinning last night I think.  It wasn't the most enjoyable swim, the lane was quite busy and halfway through my 4x400m set two meatheads from the swim team joined the lane.  They obviously had ideas about owning the lane as swim etiquette was lacking, I got hit mid calf 4 times by one guy.  Tap my feet and I'll let you past, hit me in the calf and it'll piss me off and slow me down.  Doing fly down the middle of lane is not particularly friendly either.  Anyway, finished off with some more kick, my legs are hurting less now which is good.

This evening I was in for a treat, the snow and ice is gone, so I can go running.  It may have been dull laps round the dark paths of Southampton common, but it was nice to be running again.  Timings weren't exactly wonderful at 45mins for 8km, but it was a reasonable zone 2 workout.  And it is good to be training again.

I think a gentle swim is in order tomorrow morning, nothing too taxing before evening training.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

A good day for training

Well today started off as a good training day.  After walking to the pool in the snow (which unfortunately didn't deter as many people as last week) my warm up started off with a nice couple of quick 200's.  Then one of the clubs didn't turn up for their lane so I moved into that for some kick sets.  Then onto 5 x 400m off 8:00.  Looked at my watch at the end of the first one, 6:52, a new PB for a training swim (7:00 previously).  Two more sub 7:00 400's and the lack of carbs in my drink caught up with me and fatigue set in, still managed sub 7:15 though.  Finished off with some more kick sets, which my legs didn't mind so much today incidently.  All in all a very nice 3000m swim that left me feeling pretty good for the rest of the day.

This evening was a Spinning class, involving lots of 'hills'.  As spin classes go it wasn't too bad for me, although my legs hurt like hell.  I may sleep in my calf guards, and I really should buy some compression tights.  Hopefully a few more of those and the turbo will seem like the easier option.  Coach Troy may have to work his magic at the weekend though looking at the weather forecast.

A good day overall, 2 1/4 hours of training, 3000m swum, a gym warm up, and an hours spinning.  Bring on tomorrow

Tuesday 12 January 2010

The straw that broke the camel's legs

I'd started getting use to a lie in over the last 3 days.  That was pattern rudely interrupted this morning at 6:20. In the pool for 7:15, supposed to be a club session but I was the only one there for the first half hour.  So I made it up as I went a long with a big session in mind.  1000m of warm up including 350m of kick drills and 300m worth of fists and float touch drills.  Then the main session, this didn't go too badly, a 10x200m set going off 4 minutes. That might have been a bit generous on the timing front.  For the first few I came in on 3:20, slipping to 3:30 ish towards the end.  Seems my speed is coming back again, which is quite nice as the focus on distance should be better.  I think my stroke is improving too, I'm pretty sure that I'm bending my arm less now.  I was feeling pretty good after this set, so I thought I'd do another 150m kick set.  I didn't feel to bad getting out the pool, well relatively.  Walking up and down the stairs at work however was a different matter.  Today was dead leg day, that last set was the proverbial straw.  Hey, ho, what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.  Tomorrow is another day and will more than likely be just as tough. 

Sunday 10 January 2010

Turbo Time

Today was time for some punishment on the turbo.  I set up 2 hours worth of video on the laptop in front of the bike with a view of slogging it out for as long as I could.  Well, I managed 90 minutes at HR zone 2.  Not a bad attempt given my lack of bike training recently.  I need to work on it if I'm going to survive 3+ hours on the bike in May but the turbo and us are likely to become mortal enemies if this icy weather continues.  I am hoping it either snows tonight, or warms up a lot, as I would really like to get out for a run tomorrow, especially as they are closing the pool and gym due to the weather tomorrow.

Friday 8 January 2010

A big swimming day

So this morning I had my punishment for not doing a turbo session last night; a 2000m session on my normal rest day.  I mixed it up alternating sets of pull and normal to save myself.  Turned out to be a reasonable swim in the end.

Then this evening was some proper punishment in the form of club training.  The 4x200m warm up was good, I managed a first set of 3:08, and the others on about 3:15.  Those timings I'm pretty damn pleased with.  The punishment continued with a 2x100m on 1:55, 1x50m side kick on 1:35 repeated 4 times.  Not particulary pleasant, but again happy with the splits.  An easier 7x50m pull followed then a 300m cool down.

Total daily swim 4450m, three day total 9700m!!

On another note I got an email from VO2 about the 3.8km swims this year, now I'm getting ideas about which ones to do. Details at http://www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?v=2&c=1&i=123.  I also have to commend Garmin customer support today.  I rang up this morning after my speed/cadence sensor broke, after a couple of minutes on the phone they said they would send a new one out, no need to return the old one, just email delivery details to them along with the order receipt. 30 minutes later confirmation through.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Another Day, Another Swim

I made it out of bed for a morning swim again, after a rather treacherous walk on sheet ice.  The pool was pretty quiet again.  A bit of distance was the aim today, after 500m of warm up I managed to knock out 5 x 400m on about 8:00 (coming in on 7:05).  I was quite pleased, consistent times that were about the same as my last (and not wonderful) sprint tri, about the training times I was putting in when I was nearing peak fitness in the summer.


I slacked off from evening training. I shall make up for it with 2000m in the morning as well as an evening swim.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Proper Training Again

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep. Back to Southampton and and back to the 6:20 alarm.  A step on the scales, and it seems Christmas was kind to me, I actually lost a little weight.  A nice slow walk in the snow and then time for a dip in the pool.  The snow was good, it meant I pretty much had the lane to myself.  So after a 500m warm up a main set of 10x200m on 4:00.  Going back to a 25m pool I was able to see that the video analysis has paid off, my times have already dropped by 5s / 200m.  A good session of 2650m in all.

On the way home I saw the type of cyclist that gives others a bad name.  Well I call him a cyclist, it was really two kids on a BMX.  They rode straight from a side street in front of me onto the snow covered main road without even looking at the oncoming cars.  Idiots.

This evening I got the turbo out.  After replacing my garmin speed sensor and setting it up I hopped on and started pedalling.  After 10 minutes the wheel started slipping.  After getting off I seems it has got another flat this inner tube seems a bit crap.  Put the road wheel on to finish the session, 45 minutes.  By the end the room had warmed up nicely. I was knackered though, 90km sweating like that could be interested.

1 hour 40mins proper training. Bring on tomorrow.

Sunday 3 January 2010

A reasonable run and a good swim

Today was a day of decent training.  It started with a nice 12km run through the fields before lunch.  It wasn't entirely comfortable though, the ground was still quite frozen which made it a bit hard to run on.  Never mind, put in a decent time though doing it in 63 minutes at 70-80% HR Max.  I think it is time to retest that though.  If the weather is good I may make a trip to the hill on Golf Course Road next weekend and punish myself.  Still it is all good base training.

A few hours later my dad arrived back and wanted to go swimming, my calves and Achilles were sore, but never mind off to the pool.  A nice 2100m in the pool and I had forgotten those aches and pains.  My underwater kick has got quite good, I managed a few lengths of 15m before surfacing, the maximum allowed.  Hopefully that will make it easier so I can take a few strokes before needing to breath upon surfacing.  I worked on my stroke too, I think I'm bending my arm less, when I concentrate on it it actually feels quite natural.  I also had a go at some turn practice again.  Not sure the other pool users appreciated it (specifically the woman who got in pushed off doing "front crawl" and after 10m almost came to a halt, it seems the push off was where she got her speed), but what the hell.  I put in a few decent turns, hopefully I'll do a proper tumble turn soon.

Saturday 2 January 2010

Video Analysis

A bit of a christmas treat this afternoon.  My dad did not want all of his swim coaching session so he managed to arrange a 1 hour video analysis session for me.  Well it was my first time in an endless pool, and it was odd at first but I seemed to get on with it pretty quickly.  It's a bit like trying to draft someone really.

After a brief warm up and initial anaylsis it was time to critique my stroke.  Apparently I'm wasting a lot of my power.  I'm bending my arm by pushing my elbow out to the side, which uses the shoulder muscle and not the stronger pec and upper back muscles.  Also my very catch-up style stroke is not that good, so I need to work on reducing the time spent gliding.  So I was given a pull buoy and a set of hand paddles to work my arms, and got better by focussing on pulling deeper.  Although that then highlighted the fact that I wasn't completing my stroke.  My elbow was leading my hand out the water and a bit to the side.  So it was time to swim concentrating on brushing my legs with the thumb as it came past. With that done it was time to address the fact I was wasting the first bit of my catch by brings my hands out.  So a focus on pushing down was required.  This also had the effect of cementing the deeper, less bent elbow.

I've got a couple of drills I should have a go out now, fists and shark fin/float touch, and a whole load of things to think about while swimming:

1. Push down at the start of the catch, this felt easiest by dropping the wrist initially.
2. Don't bend the arms so much, stop wasting the power, use fist drill to get the feel for this.
3. Complete the stroke, push right to the back so the hand exits first, use shark fin/float touch to parctice this
4. Relax the shoulders, especially on the right side
5. Move away from catch up style, this should improve my body role too.

So it will be back to the pool to get practising next week.  This will no doubt involve a fair bit of discomfort as I build up some muscles, hopefully it will make me faster though.  Video analysis is well worth it though.  If i'm lucky I may get another go at it some time.