Monday 24 November 2008

My legs don't work so well in the cold!

I've had a really good couple of weeks of training since the ballbuster. I'm quite looking forward to my total rest week at the start of December before I start the 30 week countdown to the Ironman. I've been trying to focus on my swimming the last two weeks and have managed to do 7 sessions over the 2 weeks which is a vast improvement on my previous dedication!

This weekend certainly posed some challenges. The forecast was for a nice clear day on Saturday but cold, maximum temperature forecast to be 3 degrees, and Sunday had the prospect of heavy snow!

With that in mind on Friday lunchtime I went out from work to the local bike shop and stocked up on some warmer bike trousers, a hat that would go under my helmet and some 'extreme weather' socks.

Friday was relatively mild but I thought I should wear them all on the commute home just to make sure that they were comfortable and it was lucky I did as when I got to the top of the hill about 10 minutes from home, it started spitting with cold rain. within 2 minutes I was in the middle of a torrential hail storm which made staying upright pretty interesting! I was hoping that this was not the way that the weekend was going to progress!

Friday evening was good, I went out for a 30 minute run with Erika, her first outing after the heart op and ll seemed to be fine, I know that she was pleased to be able to get out again after not being allowed for the past few months.

Saturday morning started with the promised cold weather but I wrapped up warm and headed out for my planned 5 hour 15 minute ride. As usual the ride was pretty hilly but fortunately I didn't find the cold weather too uncomfortable. One strange this was that I seemed to be getting through my fluids quicker than I have been recently, with the colder weather I generally don't seem to need too much liquid and usually en up coming home with some left over but for whatever reason I felt like I needed more. I also had a good supply of powerbars and energy gels and was getting through those at a good rate. About 4 hours into the ride I really started to struggle, just felt like I was running out of fuel and the last hour or so was not too much fun. After the last few weeks of improving times and good race results, this brought me back down to earth a bit, realising how hard an Ironman is going to be if I was feeling like that 4 hours into a ride.

I slowed down significantly but battled through and felt a little better for the last 20 minutes once home was in sight! Got back in and quickly changed for my 20 min run. This is always interesting to see how I feel and I was expecting to have a 20 min fast walk rather than a jog but I actually didn't feel too bad and got about as far as I usually do. Was pleased to get home after almost 6 hours out in the cold and proceeded to replace some of the lost calories and have a well earned hot shower!!

This morning I had a 2 hour 20 minute run scheduled, woke up and luckily no snow before I started, headed out with the expectation of getting wet and immediately had some small snowflakes that was actually pretty cool. This got heavier for the first hour and resulted in a nice covering of snow, I would have taken some pictures but by the time I got home, the snow had turned into rain and washed away anything that had settled!

One thing I established is that having hairy legs did not help, the snow was sticking to my legs and then turning into ice! Had to stop for a bit at the turnaround and get a layer of ice of the front of each leg! The last 20 minutes was also very tough today, again I was drinking and eating more than I would have expected to, I'm sure there is some scientific reason for this but its good to know for the future! Managed just over 27km in the 2.21.

I'm pleased with the weekends training although a bit worried about how bad I felt towards the end of each day.

Next week is more of the same, I'm having a video swim analysis done on Thursday to try and help to identify what I should be working on to help me swim less like a brick.

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