I'm flying out to Barcelona today and whilst the bike box turned up without any trouble, my other preparation this week has not really been ideal. My stomach has decided that it is not very happy so I've had to miss a few sessions this week which was not what I wanted but there you go.
I did do a 10 Mile bike timetrial this week. This is the first one I have ever done so wasn't really sure what to expect. Weather was fine and there were over 40 competitors each going off at 1 minute intervals. I was number 38 so had a bit of a wait until I got underway. There were some serious bikers out there doing this, lots of disk wheels and pointy helmets so I knew that they were going to be fast!
The course is pretty tough, the first 4 miles or so are uphill so I set off with the intention of pretty much giving it 100% to the top of the hill and then just try and hold on and pedal hard on the way back down, the course comes back past where you started, down a bit more of a hill before a sharp left turn and then a flatish last mile to the finish.
I certainly gave it 100% up the hill, this was a new form of pain!! When I had some testing done when I was out in Australia, I'm fairly sure that they calculated my max HR on the bike at 184, turns out that it is higher than that as I hit 187 on the last climb to the top of the hill!
It was good fun coming back down, I was in my top gear and pushing hard, I managed to keep the HR high for most of the down hill although there was one part where I couldn't pedal fast enough, speedo had me maxing out at 72 km/h. I then took the sharp left turn pretty conservatively and tried to smash the last couple of minutes on the flat. I was pleased with my time of 24.35, average speed of about 39 km/h (24.7mph).
I was the 19th fastest time of the evening, out of 42 finishers, fastest time for the day was 21.15.
Yesterday evening was spent trying to pack all my stuff for the weekend, there is so much that you need to take it is crazy! I think I am pretty much done now though, we're heading to the airport at about 11am to give me plenty of time to sort out getting the bike box checked in. Erika flies out tomorrow night after her sports massage exams.
My stomach troubles are still with me so I'm hoping that clears up before Sunday otherwise the race will not be much fun!
I have my race planned out with heart rate zones that I will aim to stick to during each section, hopefully that should result in me being able to run strong. I'm confident of a new pb and would like to get close to the 5 hour mark, I think it is unlikely that I will go under that but we'll have to see how it goes, lots of things can happen on race day. The weather forecast looks pretty good, 23 degrees and sunny on Sunday. Will report back after the race.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Recovery / Taper Week
This week is an easier week following 3 big ones. Also gives me a nice chance to make sure the batteries are well charged ahead of the Half Ironman in Barcelona on the weekend.
The weekend just gone went pretty well training wise, the weather was not all that nice, the first 3 hours of the ride on Saturday gave me wet roads and the odd heavy shower but luckily later in the day things dried up a bit, it was very windy though. I misjudged the direction of the wind a bit though, thought I had a strong tail wind on the way out so rode for a little more than half the time expecting to be blown home much faster. That didn't really happen so I ended up with a 6 hour 13 minute ride and 174km. Headed out for my hours run with no major problems, felt ok but was pleased to get home and sit down!
Sunday started with my usual 90 min ride to be followed by a 2 hour 50 min run. As I set off for the ride is was dry but within 10 minutes it was starting to rain, after about an hour it was torrential and not much fun! I was back to within about 5km of home only to find the road blocked by the police due to a burst gas main, luckily the policeman took pity on me and let me through, there was very little chance of me causing any sort of spark, I looked like I had been swimming!
Started the run in the rain but it cleared up after 30 minutes or so, meaning that I was then a bit overdressed so the rest of the run was a bit warm! Having learned from previous runs, I gave myself 3 minutes longer to run home than on the way out (its uphill) and made it back with 30 seconds to spare, about 30.5km (19 miles) covered.
I was pretty much done in after that. I've started to realise that I can be a little bit miserable when I get back from the weekend training sessions as I am so tired (to be honest I think I am tired most of the time), and I doubt that I am too much fun to live with, so will be making a bit more of an effort from now on.
I'm looking forward to a weekend away in Barcelona. I fly out on Friday afternoon with Erika joining me on Saturday night as she is sitting her exams for the sports massage course that she has been taking. Race is on Sunday and I've been doing my homework on the course. It all looks pretty good, the bike and run both stick to the coast for most of the route so it should be fairly flat, will be interesting to see what sort of wind there will be as that could play a pretty big part in the speed of the bike course.
My bike box arrived this morning which is good, at least I have something to take the bike over in now! The only bit of preparation fro this race that has been lacking is some open water swimming. I haven't had the chance to do any yet but will have an easy swim on Saturday morning in Barcelona. We used to swim regularly in the wetsuits in Melbourne so I have had plenty of time in mine so am not expecting any major problems.
After the race we are spending a couple of days in Barcelona which should be good, it's one of the cities that I've always wanted to go to, I had hoped to get to a football match but they had to move is from the Sunday night to Saturday night due to the Champions league final on the following Wednesday so it doesn't work for me. I'll hopefully try and do a stadium tour while we are there though.
The aim for the race is to get as close to 5 hours as possible, pb is currently 5.25.39.
The weekend just gone went pretty well training wise, the weather was not all that nice, the first 3 hours of the ride on Saturday gave me wet roads and the odd heavy shower but luckily later in the day things dried up a bit, it was very windy though. I misjudged the direction of the wind a bit though, thought I had a strong tail wind on the way out so rode for a little more than half the time expecting to be blown home much faster. That didn't really happen so I ended up with a 6 hour 13 minute ride and 174km. Headed out for my hours run with no major problems, felt ok but was pleased to get home and sit down!
Sunday started with my usual 90 min ride to be followed by a 2 hour 50 min run. As I set off for the ride is was dry but within 10 minutes it was starting to rain, after about an hour it was torrential and not much fun! I was back to within about 5km of home only to find the road blocked by the police due to a burst gas main, luckily the policeman took pity on me and let me through, there was very little chance of me causing any sort of spark, I looked like I had been swimming!
Started the run in the rain but it cleared up after 30 minutes or so, meaning that I was then a bit overdressed so the rest of the run was a bit warm! Having learned from previous runs, I gave myself 3 minutes longer to run home than on the way out (its uphill) and made it back with 30 seconds to spare, about 30.5km (19 miles) covered.
I was pretty much done in after that. I've started to realise that I can be a little bit miserable when I get back from the weekend training sessions as I am so tired (to be honest I think I am tired most of the time), and I doubt that I am too much fun to live with, so will be making a bit more of an effort from now on.
I'm looking forward to a weekend away in Barcelona. I fly out on Friday afternoon with Erika joining me on Saturday night as she is sitting her exams for the sports massage course that she has been taking. Race is on Sunday and I've been doing my homework on the course. It all looks pretty good, the bike and run both stick to the coast for most of the route so it should be fairly flat, will be interesting to see what sort of wind there will be as that could play a pretty big part in the speed of the bike course.
My bike box arrived this morning which is good, at least I have something to take the bike over in now! The only bit of preparation fro this race that has been lacking is some open water swimming. I haven't had the chance to do any yet but will have an easy swim on Saturday morning in Barcelona. We used to swim regularly in the wetsuits in Melbourne so I have had plenty of time in mine so am not expecting any major problems.
After the race we are spending a couple of days in Barcelona which should be good, it's one of the cities that I've always wanted to go to, I had hoped to get to a football match but they had to move is from the Sunday night to Saturday night due to the Champions league final on the following Wednesday so it doesn't work for me. I'll hopefully try and do a stadium tour while we are there though.
The aim for the race is to get as close to 5 hours as possible, pb is currently 5.25.39.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Four to go...
I've just been sorting my stuff out ahead of tomorrows long ride (6 hours) and realised that I only have 4 big training weekends left to get through. Whilst I do enjoy the training, there is no denying that the program I have taken on is pretty challenging ad I'll be pleased to get to he point where I start to taper (although this will still involve plenty of exercise).
Next weekend is a recovery week with the half ironman on the weekend and then after that I have 3 more big weekends before the volume will start to drop. The weather forecast is not great for tomorrow but could be worse, looks like I am going to be in for a few showers.
The time trial that I was due to do this week was called off due to the weather, there was too much fog at the top of Wrotham hill, and whilst they were probably being overly cautious, I can understand why as the riders would have been up to 60 or 70 kn/h coming back down the hill so you want the cars to be able to see you clearly rather than emerging out of the fog. I may be able to get to it next week but I'll see how I go.
Starting to feel more organised for Barcelona now, although I am still waiting for my new bike box to arrive. That should be sent out on Monday, but I think I have almost everything else sorted, flights accommodation and car hire are all in place, I'm looking forward to getting out there and racing, as well as spending a couple of days in Barcelona with Erika afterwards.
Off to eat a huge dinner in preparation for tomorrow's 7 hour effort!
Next weekend is a recovery week with the half ironman on the weekend and then after that I have 3 more big weekends before the volume will start to drop. The weather forecast is not great for tomorrow but could be worse, looks like I am going to be in for a few showers.
The time trial that I was due to do this week was called off due to the weather, there was too much fog at the top of Wrotham hill, and whilst they were probably being overly cautious, I can understand why as the riders would have been up to 60 or 70 kn/h coming back down the hill so you want the cars to be able to see you clearly rather than emerging out of the fog. I may be able to get to it next week but I'll see how I go.
Starting to feel more organised for Barcelona now, although I am still waiting for my new bike box to arrive. That should be sent out on Monday, but I think I have almost everything else sorted, flights accommodation and car hire are all in place, I'm looking forward to getting out there and racing, as well as spending a couple of days in Barcelona with Erika afterwards.
Off to eat a huge dinner in preparation for tomorrow's 7 hour effort!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Solid running
I was please to get through my long run on Sunday without too much trouble. I took the 90 min ride beforehand very easy and made sure that I was well hydrated before I started.
Felt a million times better than last week but still kept the pace fairly gentle on the way out, as much as I would have liked to get home in the same time that I ran out for, the uphill run home always gets the better of me and I tend to lose about 2-3 minutes over the last half an hour when it all gets tough. That meant that my run was 2hours 43 minutes and I covered approximately 29.5km.
That was pretty much the end of my biggest week so far, although Erika was on her sports massage course this weekend and my Mum was doing dinner for us so I also rode the 35km over to her house in the afternoon, I thought this would be hell for my legs but they weren't actually too bad. Rewarded myself with plenty of food!!
This week is another big week before a recovery/taper week next week in the run up to Barcelona.
I'm planning to do a 10 mile cycling time trial on Wednesday evening, work and weather permitting. This will be something of a change to my usual slow and steady training but will make a nice change and gives me an excuse to put the race wheels on my bike and check that everything is in order for Barcelona. This is an organised event run by a local cycling club each week, the course is a challenging one with the first 4 miles being uphill but then it comes back down the same hill so should be pretty fast (assuming that my legs haven't exploded on the way up). I'm actually really looking forward to it but hope that the weather plays along as the forecast is not great at the moment and I'm not going to do it in the wet.
The 'May Challenge' is coming along well, I'm nicely on track to beat all of my previous totals, I still need to do the following in the rest of the month:
Swim - 15.6km, Bike 551km, Run 124.8km
Other than that things seem pretty organised, I have ordered a bike box for transporting it to the races, that should be delivered either late this week or next week, flights and accommodation in Spain are all sorted.
Felt a million times better than last week but still kept the pace fairly gentle on the way out, as much as I would have liked to get home in the same time that I ran out for, the uphill run home always gets the better of me and I tend to lose about 2-3 minutes over the last half an hour when it all gets tough. That meant that my run was 2hours 43 minutes and I covered approximately 29.5km.
That was pretty much the end of my biggest week so far, although Erika was on her sports massage course this weekend and my Mum was doing dinner for us so I also rode the 35km over to her house in the afternoon, I thought this would be hell for my legs but they weren't actually too bad. Rewarded myself with plenty of food!!
This week is another big week before a recovery/taper week next week in the run up to Barcelona.
I'm planning to do a 10 mile cycling time trial on Wednesday evening, work and weather permitting. This will be something of a change to my usual slow and steady training but will make a nice change and gives me an excuse to put the race wheels on my bike and check that everything is in order for Barcelona. This is an organised event run by a local cycling club each week, the course is a challenging one with the first 4 miles being uphill but then it comes back down the same hill so should be pretty fast (assuming that my legs haven't exploded on the way up). I'm actually really looking forward to it but hope that the weather plays along as the forecast is not great at the moment and I'm not going to do it in the wet.
The 'May Challenge' is coming along well, I'm nicely on track to beat all of my previous totals, I still need to do the following in the rest of the month:
Swim - 15.6km, Bike 551km, Run 124.8km
Other than that things seem pretty organised, I have ordered a bike box for transporting it to the races, that should be delivered either late this week or next week, flights and accommodation in Spain are all sorted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)