Week 16 - Weather Plays Havoc with Training

To say this week was the worse ever for training would be an understatement. Here we are in late April into what is suppose to be our Spring and freaking Hail, Snow and Rain is still upon us. This has been very detrimental in my training this week as I have not been able to get my long endurance training in. Even the intermediate tempo training was affected in that I had to do some of my workouts inside which, when lasting over an hour can be excrutiatingly boring. Thus, I have not been a very happy camper this week. But I have tried to do the best of a bad situation and got most of my workouts inside.

Not the best for quality and realistic training but what can I do? I definitely was not going to risk getting an accident on the roads with the bike and possibly ruining the rest of my training that's for sure. I often wonder how those prairie boys do all that training in the winter inside, but have to admire them if they can do that. To me having lived in God's country for the past 40 years and training in light clothing all year around has spoiled me and cannot stand being indoors too much. But hey!! If I did not have that fancy Ergo spin bike and treadmill and a big screen TV to distract me, I would be that much worse off right? So no....I can't complain as I have it better off than most when it comes to decent training methods and variety.

I know deep down that global warming is causing all this, making me determined to be more of an enviromentally consious person who has to do all he can in order to do his little part in saving our earth from the bad things us humans are doing to wreak havoc on this planet. Enough about that though......So what if I have missed a couple of days of good training? Some people are sick or injured for weeks on end and end up recovering and having excellent results. I remember my last Ironman year three years ago with my IT band injury which kept me from running for weeks on end. I eventually bounced back to run better than ever. So for now, it's a pretend injury keeping me out of action.


Actually the decrease in training volume will probably benefit me in the Sprint Tri next weekend...Who knows? For now I am very content in being uninjured, healthy, and fit as a fiddle. Things could be much worse than bad weather right? Time to stop whining and and plan ahead for a good tri this weekend. Everything else will take care of itself. This week is now my easy rest week and will make the best of it to re-energize and re-focus on the big picture. I have to keep reminding myself that it is no use worrying about things beyond my control and the weather is definitely one of them. For now, I am really looking forward to my trip to Vancouver next weekend. Time for fun and friendship with old buddies and a good training Tri to boot! Life is great after all!

Week15 - Longer, Intensifying, the Strength Phase Begins

As we near the 2'nd week build up of this first week of strength phase, my body is feeling it but my mind is still saying yes bring it on but a bit more carefully! I have survived another week of hard training and am starting to feelsome it's effects. Not all bad! My body is responding to the increasing work load and feel confident at this stage of the program that I am right on track with the timing of it and forever ready to forge on.

The swims this week were a bit better but I have to admit that I have hit a plateau in that discipline and really don't think there is enough time to progress with my speed in the pool. However I know I can do much better once we get into open water with my wet suit on so to me it is not a very big deal. My shoulders are getting much better and should be ready to push it much harder in the lake once I get there. The swim is very critical in the Sprint event and I know I will be losing maybe 2-3 minutes there but I will definitely have to make up a lot of time for this in the bike and run portion.

The runs for me this week were a bit more tougher that usual. I have to get into a new pair of cushiony running shoes soon as these ones are almost done for and therefore can feel more shock absorbtion throughout the whole leg transmitting to my back and spine. That is why I think I feel it so much this week. However the muscles seem to be recovering well as the stiffness is gone in no time whatsover. This week I had to work on Sunday which is really my Long Run day but it is a good thing because I had a day off training and did my 18K run today instead. Still felt it though because of my shoes.

The cycling has been all great this past week culminating in my longest distance yet of 105K. I carried 3 and 1/2 bottles of endurance gatorade and one bottle of water with a flask of gels and 1/2 dozen fig neutons. I was drinking every 10 minutes and taking gels every 30 minutes. I absolutely went through everything I had and felt well nourished and hydraded. However I was a bit overdressed sweating like crazy but you know what? Heavily laden with clothes and all those bottles using the training bike, I still managed to average 28.7 K/ph throughout the whole ride so felt good about that. That did not stop me from downing a humongous ice cold glass of thick rich whey protein shake with fruits, berries and almonds. Man did that hit the spot and recovered within a few hours after that ride.

So all in all .....an excellent week of training and looking forward to an easy week off after this next one. Then on with the Sprint Tri in two weekends from now. Ooooh....I am a bit nervous about the swim in this one but I have to remember it is only a training sprint to practice my transitions and to get an overall guage of my condition so far. So what else can I say except keep forging on ahead with caution, and wisdom of what I have learned in the past about such training. Soon it will be sunny and warm Yeaahhhh!

Week 14 - Back on Track

I have to admit that this past week has been one of the best training weeks yet. Except for Monday though. I wasn't scheduled for anything as it was my day off but I decided to go for a relaxing recovery swim just to get my sluggish body mobile again. But the night before, I attended a staff party and had a bit too much wine. The rest is history. After swallowing water and coughing under water, I decided to call it quits after 1000M.

However the rest of the week was great with good tempo runs and bikes and really decent brick workouts. The weather is still playing havoc with us and we had a late Spring snow dump so I ended up doing a few workouts inside on my spin bike and treadmill. Boy the weather sure is cold for this time of year. I am a bit leery of getting in the lake at our normal time which is the end of April this year as it has been very cold this winter and the water will be freezing.

By the weekend I was starting to feel the effects of my hard workouts but still managed to get a good 90K ride in with friends Bob and Julie. Except we seem to stop a bit too often for my own liking because of my friends needing to re-supply with liquids and pee breaks. Oh well what can I do but go with the flow?

Today I had a great long run again adding on an extra two KM just because I felt so good. Excluding my warmup and cool down, I averaged 5:32 min. kms again. L-Glut and an hour power nap and I was fine again with no stiffness in my calf muscles. This next week will be the last week of my endurance phase and overall it has been a good progression in my training.