So as mentioned
in my previous post week 10 of my 20 week lead up to Barcelona 70.3 is going to
be a home-made training camp.
The objective
is really to train like I have been doing in my heavy training weeks but take
full advantage of having 3 days of the week off from work and make sure I rest
and recover.
This post
is going to run through each session I did, if you want to know more then
please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Monday
Run
Run to work
– this is 10km on the nose and a great way to kick off the week. My target was
to stick to about 5:30min/km pace and keep my HR below 135.
The run
went well and I hit the numbers above. I definitely felt some tightening up in
my left hip but on the plus side no knee pain.
Gym 1 –
before work
Straight
after the run I popped into the gym before starting work.
Upper body
session
1. Lat pull down 4x15 – 39kgs
2. Shoulder Circuit with 4kgs –
60repsx4
3. Cable pulls, slight bend in arm –
4x12 each arm continuous
4. Reverse cable pull – 4x12 each arm
continuous
Gym 2 –
after work
Lower body
blitz
1. Single leg calf raise
(standing/smith machine) 4x15 each leg – 50/50/52.5/55kgs (bloody hard)
2. Single leg calf press – 6x6 each leg
(hold each rep for 6 secs) – 85kgs
3. Split leg lunge into deadlift – 4x15
12kgs kettle bells
4. Hamstring curls on ball – 4x20
Tuesday
Swim
Main set –
5x200m & 8x100 Pull Buoy – total 2.5km
Shoulder
feels good and no pain or niggling when swimming.
Physio
30 min
session @ Foursides LDN
Weekly
session to monitor progress with my rehab on my left knee.
FTP Booster
Day 2 – HIT 45secs
January (1st time)
|
March (2nd time)
|
|
Average
Power (watts)
|
161
|
189
|
Average
HR
|
127
|
129
|
The table above
shows the results from the two attempts I have had at this session.
It shows
that for basically the same average HR I was able to average 28watts more for
the session.
Although with
my new FTP being used to calculate the wattages it’s worth noting I did
struggle with this work out, holding 500watts for 45secs was tough and I only
managed it on 4 of the 6 sprints.
Work to be
done on leg strength!!!
Wednesday
Swim
Target swim
session for the week – Swim 4km!!
As a friend
said by hook or crook, instead I used a combination of Fins, Pull Buoy,
Paddles, drills and just swimming
Longest
swim to date and very happy to complete in a time of 1hr 3 mins. A good sign if
I was going to repeat an IRONMAN swim again…
In Wales I
swam 3.8km in 1hr 9 mins, so based off the above session I would be just under
the hour mark.
FTP Booster
Day 3 – Subthreshold into Sprints
Absolutely
horrible session. After holding 230watts for 15 mins the sprints were
· 1min @ 435
· 30secs @485
· 15secs @570
· 10secs @570
The session
is repeat this twice. I have to admit on the 2nd set of sprints I
bailed out after 45secs of the 1 min @435. Just about managed to redeem myself
on the last 3.
January (1st time)
|
March (2nd time)
|
|
Average
Power (watts)
|
165
|
209
|
Average
HR
|
135
|
147
|
Post ride and
reviewing the table above I can see that this session again showed my
improvement since I last did this session. I was just under a 40watt average
increase. So on reflection worth the pain.
Track
session – running
First
introduction to Yasso 800’s. For those of you who don’t know what that means,
essentially you run 800m at a set pace based off your desired marathon time.
You then take the same amount of time recover before repeating.
As an
example if you wish to run the marathon in 3 hours, you would take 3 mins to
run 800m.
I was
fortunate enough to join a friend of mine who is training for the London
marathon. He is aiming to break the 3hr mark AGAIN.
Therefore,
we set ourselves the goal of running between 2:53 – 2:58 for 800m. We also set
ourselves a minimum of 5 and maximum of 7 reps.
The session
looked something like this…
2:50 – 800m
3:00 - walk
2:57 – 800m
2:53 - walk
2:54 – 800m
2:53 – walk
2:51 – 800m
2:53 – walk
2:54 – 800m
2:53 – walk
2:56 – 800m
2:56 – walk
Absolutely,
loved this session and it’s fair to say Dom and I will be repeating this over
the next few weeks with the aim to build up to 10 reps.
Average
2:53 per 800m!!
Could I go
sub 3 one day in a marathon only event?
Thursday
A day in
the saddle.
I skipped
my planned swim in the morning, my fatigue levels on Training Peaks had spiked
and with 4 days left I decided to not push myself. I had no planned swim
session so it seemed like the obvious session to drop.
Spinning
So yet
another close friend of mine is leaving the country. So as a departing farewell
I agreed to join Emma at a spin class at Core Collective.
This was my
2nd ever spin class and in comparison to the first it was a lot less
intense. The class it’s self was relatively easy..... even when I added 10-15%
to the resistance for each stage…. What I did learn though was I really need to
do some work on my cadence.
Between
85-95 I’m pretty good at holding a wattage. Which makes sense as most of my
work on the turbo has been sustained pace efforts. However, it was evident when
the 55-65 work was introduced or the 115+ I wasn’t as good at sustaining the
desired pace.
With the
session done I was able to enjoy some rather awesome Vegan Waffles!!
Turbo
session
So the initial
plan had been to get out on my bike on the open road…. However, with some
fatigue kicking in and the high chance of rain all afternoon I opted for the
turbo.
I kept it simple
work on the base.
I did
75mins @160watts. This is the top of my Zone 1 for power based off my FTP.
Friday
Swim
Nice and
easy swim to start the day, to mix things up I made every set 150m. I repeated
this 14 times and finished up with 2100m. This set me up nicely to break the
10km mark on Sunday.
Gym
Although I
was off work, after my swim I made the familiar trip on the northern line to London
Bridge, instead avoiding the office and heading to my gym. One down side I
suppose to being a member to a gym close to work and not home.
Either way
I took full advantage of a Vegan Chocolate Protein shake from Joe & the
Juice which I can’t get closer to home.
1. 4x15
50 kgs 1 leg calf raise
2. 90kgs
6x6x6 1 leg calf press and hold
3. 3x45sec
adductor plank each side continuous
4. 3x45sec
crunch and hold 15 sec rest
5. 4x20
hamstring curls on ball
6. 3x20
plank on ball
7. 4x15
split leg lunges into deadlift each leg 12kgs KB
8. 4x15
lat pull 39/39/42/42kgs
9. 3x12
each arm swim pulls continuous
10. 3x12
each arm reverse cable pulls continuous
11. 3x8
bicep curl into shoulder press 12kgs
I would normally only do the first 7 as a gym session but
with the luxury of time I dropped in some of my upper body work.
Brick
So after returning
from my gym/swim and taking some time out to rest/eat/sleep I set myself up for
the first brick session of 2018.
For this
session I aimed to hold 195watts which is about mid-way in my Zone 2 for power.
Then make a quick change out of cycling lycra and into my running kit for a 3km
run around the block.
I’m not
going to lie… my legs felt really heavy on the bike and in my head I was
thinking I would go for an hour before jumping off, but as soon as I hit the 30
minute mark I jumped off and changed.
Rather
surprisingly my legs felt amazing when running, I wasn’t clock watching I went
out at what I thought was a steady pace and slowly built up towards something respectable
by the last 500m.
Very happy
with this as an opening BRICK session and I’m looking forward to increasing
them slightly and repeating over the coming weeks.
Saturday
Long ride
So I woke
up bright and early and headed to meet some fellow Chasers for my 1st
Saturday club ride. The route was 100km in total and went out to Kent and back
over some nice hills. I had planned from the start to go in a steady group as
this ride was more about putting miles in the legs/time in the saddle rather
than racing around at a fast pace.
In fact, I
was more excited to have a loaded route in my new Garmin and for once actually
know where I was going.
As we
headed out of Brixton the rain was looking like it would hold off till after
lunch by which time I wanted to be back in bed with a cuppa tea and the
6Nations on TV.
Instead
after making a couple of friends at the back of the pack I was struck by yet
another puncture. This was after spending time on Friday swapping out my tyres
and making sure everything was in working order. I know punctures are pot luck
(pardon the pun) but I have had one every time I have ridden outdoors in
2018!!!
Anyways, I’m
now quite good at fixing them and after a quick inner tube change and some gas
I was back on two wheels chasing down the group. I managed to catch one young
lady and we plodded on from there.
After about
40km we hadn’t caught the group and decided to head back to London.
In total I
did about 65km, disappointing as I was in the mood to go over 100km. On a
positive note though I did manage to make one friend on the ride and we made it
back to the coffee shop before the rest.
Run
I had
always planned to head out for a steady 5km once home and off the bike. By finishing
up a little earlier than planned and with time still to kill before the Ireland
vs Scotland game I headed out for my usual trundle around Wandsworth common.
Once again
I was surprised at how good my legs felt while running. I manged to run about
7km at a steady pace and more importantly I was showered and fed before kick-off.
Sunday
Ok last day….
After a
much deserved lie in till about 0800 (yes that’s a lie in) I got up and made
myself eggs & mushrooms for breakfast. The plan today was to complete a “long
run”, cycle on the turbo if my legs were good and then head out to the Chasers
social swim session.
Run
The plan
was to run for about 75mins. In that time, I ended up running just over 14km. Following
the theme of the week my legs felt really good while running. I also was
adopting my new approach of trying to run off feel and only checked my watch
now and again.
I was
pleasantly surprised to see my HR below 140 but my pace was strong and
consistent averaging about 4:45min/km.
This 14km
tipped me over the 43km mark for the week which by far has been the biggest achievement
of the week. This is the furthest I have run since July last year pain free!!!
Long may it
continue and from now on I’m going to be upping the mileage at a steady rate
for these types of runs.
Cycle
So the legs
felt good and filled with confidence from the run I decided to hop on the turbo
during the Wales vs Italy game.
At this
point I was sat at 280km for the week and I really wanted to break the 300km
mark. I know I mentioned in my last post I needed to try and cut out the “garbage
mileage” but in this case I felt I was making up for the long ride which was
cut short.
Swim
Last but
not least I headed back to Clapham leisure centre for my last session of the
week. In my head I knew what was coming….. 50m off 60secs repeated….. I had
requested this in advance and as I sat on the tube I was regretting it.
After the
usual warm up of various drills the main set was announced and it was 50m off
60secs.
Although, I
hated it to start with once you get going its probably my favourite main set activity.
The aim was to get faster for each one and then when you couldn’t get faster
complete and easy one and start again. In the allotted time I did 25x50m.
Over the main
set I averaged about 1:30 pace. Although, this isn’t amazingly fast. I reminded
myself that this time last year I couldn’t swim, in fact it’s only been 10
months of learning to swim and I have come a long way.
The session
was 2300m. Now before the session I made a deal with myself. If I topped up the
session to 3000m I would cook a curry when I got home, so for that reason I
took my Pull Buoy, I felt good after the session so I cracked on and did 700m
and made a curry.
Review
So my rough
goals for the week were as follows;
· Swim 4000m in 1 session
· Swim more the 10km
· Ride 100km outside in 1 ride
· Run a total of 42km in the week
(marathon)
· Learn to make my own granola/protein
bars
· Rest, chill out, drink coffee, eat
well and relax
A side from
cycling over 100km outside I achieved all of the above. I am particularly proud
of my 4000m swim session and running 43km in a week.
Looking
back at pre IRONMAN Wales training my biggest run week was 36km. In fact, the
only time I have run over 43km in a week is the week of the IRONMAN race itself.
This has filled me with a lot of confidence going into my first A race (Barcelona
70.3) which finishes with a ½ marathon.
3 weeks
till my first warm up race and 10 weeks till Barcelona!!!
Thank you
again for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, please don’t
hesitate to get in touch via Instagram.
Thanks
Ross