Training Plan - Week 40 - Sept 29 to Oct 5

I was planning to be into just winter training by now, but having entered Huntly twice by accident I got a place transferred into Peterhead Sprint Triathlon. 

Even though the race wasn't on my plan I am still going to take a rest day on the Saturday and in order to fit that in while keeping my Health Challenge numbers I am going to make up the time and miles earlier in the week and to get big numbers without the big impacts, that means trips to the gym. 

Monday - Easy run.
Swim with TPT.
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Gym bike or brick.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Massage.

Thursday - Gym bike.
Core session.

Friday - Easy ride or run.
Core session.

Saturday - Rest day.

Sunday - Peterhead Sprint Triathlon.


Target totals - Swim > 2 miles. Bike > 40 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 200, Run 120, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Training Review - Week 39 - Sept 22 to 28

Monday was meant to be a double session but the sore throat is at least as bad as Sunday and has turned into a full-blown cold, so I just stuck to the swim session. New 100m PB and my first time under 1:30, then 3 more times under 1:30 in the same session. Plenty of good tumble turns (couple of dodgy ones still but even the bad ones are survivable now) and basically another great day in the pool.

Struggled with my cold getting worse through the week so had to take a couple of days off from doing anything at all. 

Thursday I was still suffering a bit with the cold but it was improving so I decided to just ignore it and go to the gym anyway. Sat on the bike for 45 mins just to spin my legs a bit. No major problems from the bug so I will get back on trying to catch up on the week from here. I did add a yoga session in the evening as well. 

Friday I was still a bit sniffly but still managed to drag myself to the gym. Being so far behind on health challenge numbers I had to try and get some running and biking in so that I could do sensible weekend sessions. I started with and easy half hour on the treadmill and then did another 45 minutes on the exercise bike. 

Saturday I had to drag myself out for a run. Felt terrible and was a real struggle to keep moving. Ended up barely making 10km in an hour. In the evening I also did a core and a stretching session.

Sunday I decided to go out and catch up on some of my missing bike miles.

Overall for the week I am slightly behind my running targets and while I did all my bike miles I didn't do all the time I expected to. However, since I lost 3 sessions to my cold and cut both my gym sessions for both time and miles this has actually been a really good week. 

Target totals - Swim > 1 miles. Bike > 50 miles. Run > 15 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 300, Run 120, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Monday - Cold
Swim with TPT 1.3 miles (2,200 m) in 56 mins.

Tuesday - Cold

Wednesday - Cold

Thursday - Gym bike 12.4 miles in 45 mins.
Yoga session.

Friday - Gym brick. Treadmill 3.7 miles in 31 mins. 
Gym bike 13.0 miles in 46 mins. 

Saturday - Jog 6.3 miles in 60 mins.
Core session.

Sunday - Easy ride 38.1 miles in 2hrs 50mins.
Core session.


Actuals - Swim 1.3 miles. Bike 63.5 miles. Run 10.0 miles. 1 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge  - Walk 399, Swim 60, Cycle 261, Run 91, Yoga 30, Core 10.

Race Review - Huntly Standard Triathlon

I woke up in the morning with a horrible sore throat. I had a strepsil after breakfast which took the edge of it but had no lasting effect. After registering and setting up for transition I took a walk to Tesco and got some chloraseptic which at least masked the pain. (Writing this on Monday and it is still just a sore throat and a slight temperature).

As the heat prior to mine went in to the water I got changed and went through to poolside. I had a lie down on a bench next to the pool and realised that I was running a temperature. I closed my eyes for a bit and think I had about a 10 minute nap. Didn't encourage me about how healthy I was but the wee nap did stop me from stressing out. 

The first few lengths were a bit messy as everyone tried to arrange ourselves into an order. The first guy away managed to stretch out a little gap but of the remaining three of us no-one seemed quite strong enough to get away off the front of the group but similarly the two trailers always felt like they were being held up slightly. After about 200m we all stopped with the place juggling and just settled in to a steady pace. 

Being at the back of the group meant I could do my turns without risking bumping into anyone, but actually they were still giving me problems. Huntly has a stupid metal bar along the edge of the pool that I clipped with my heel on a bad turn, and whenever I did manage a good turn I was too close to the feet in front and had to back right off to avoid crashing. It felt like I was going very slowly, but I still felt a bit ropey so I figured I would just get through the swim and see how I felt afterwards. 

Happy with my swim time nonetheless. I wanted to get under 27 minutes and I was out of the water and over the timing mats with time to spare. 

I took my time in transition. It was quite cold so I took enough time to dry my feet and put socks on. 

On the bike I was still trying to decide how I was feeling. The pedals seemed to be turning ok, I was feeling comfortable in my TT position and I was making up places on the flat sections, even passing other TT bikes. My throat was still pretty scratchy as I was breathing but the chloraseptic was still masking the worst of it, and the cold was covering up my temperature so I actually felt not too bad.

That is 7 seconds slower than last year, which is really nothing. I am not quite sure why the time is so similar to last year though. It felt a lot easier, even though the weather was colder and my sore throat was bugging me. When I look at the Strava I was slower on the way out on the TT-friendly segments and barely faster through the uphill segments. I don't remember any of the terrible grinding sections of of working hard but feeling like I wasn't moving forward, maybe these were somewhere in between the Strava segments in previous years. 

My second transition was much slicker. 

So I was out and running in 1 hour 40, with targets to run faster than 51 minutes and to total 2 hours 30 which meant I would need to run faster than 50 minutes. The course is longer than 10k, it comes in at about 10.5km so the times are always slow. I felt much better than previous year's though. On a course with two equal laps I also knew I would get a half way check where I wanted to be under 2hrs 05 as I passed the finish line with a lap to go.

I felt like I was running really smoothly compared to previous races. Maybe taking it slightly easier on the swim and bike was paying off or maybe I am just in better shape than I had predicted. I came past the finish line in 2:04 so I knew another lap the same would get me in easily under both targets. The chloraseptic was starting to wear off, and breathing was getting to be more painful than just scratchy but my legs still felt good so I was able to keep the pace fairly steady. Turning into the last 200m straight I saw my watch just tick over 2hrs 28 but it took me another 44 seconds from there to cross the line. 

My run time was over 2 minutes faster than I have done for this course on any of my previous attempts. And my overall time was a 3mins 35 PB for this course. On a cold day with a sore throat I am really pleased with that. 

Change of format from previous year's results:

Pos.	Bibno.	Finish time	Participant	Category	Club/Company/Sponsor
16	172	2:28:44	Kevin Morice	(M) Senior	Three Peaks Triathletes	26:47	1:37	1:11:00	29.0	48:51

Training Plan - Week 39 - Sept 22 to 28

Slight change of plan. Apparently I had entered Huntly twice, so I have had one of them transferred to Peterhead on October 5th. However, it is 'only' a sprint and I am in good enough shape to get through the next two weeks and be able to race that. 

Monday I have a flexi day so I should be able to get in a double session. It will depend on how my throat feels in the morning though. If I can find a space to put in a second swim session during the week then I will. 


Monday - Easy run or ride.
Swim with TPT.
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Gym bike.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Offroad run.

Thursday - Rest day.
Core session.

Friday - Gym bike.
Core session.

Saturday - Long run or short ride.

Sunday - Long ride.


Target totals - Swim > 1 mile. Bike > 50 miles. Run > 15 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 300, Run 120, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Training Review - Week 38 - Sept 15 to 21

It is late on sunday evening and I have just realised that I haven't written anything more than the numbers for this week. 

It has been a fairly uneventful week. I just kept the numbers ticking over for points and miles. And on Sunday I did Huntly Standard which will get a post to itself.


Target totals - Swim > 2 miles. Bike > 45 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 85, Cycle 210, Run 90, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Monday - Gym bike 13 miles in 43 mins.
Swim with TPT 1.4 miles (2,250m) in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Gym run 20 mins 2.1 miles.
Gym bike 60 mins 17.1 miles.

Wednesday - Kirkhill run 5.1 miles in 50 mins.

Thursday - Vote no.

Friday - Gym bike 12 miles in 40 mins.

Saturday - Rest day.
Stretching session. 

Sunday - Huntly Standard Triathlon
Swim 1500m in 26mins 47.
Bike 22.4 miles in 1hr 11 mins.
Run 6.5 miles in 49 mins.


Actuals - Swim 1.4 miles. Bike 42.1 miles. Run 7.2 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge  - Walk 341, Swim 90, Cycle 213, Run 99, Yoga 0, Core 0.

Race Preview - Huntly Standard Triathlon

Here are the results from my previous 3 attempts at this race. 
2010

Split Name Leg Time Pos Cat Pos Gen Pos Dist Done Race Time Swim 00:31:23 45 19 37 1.5  00:31:23 T1 00:00:59 16 8 14  00:32:22 Cycle 01:24:45 51 20 41 40  01:57:07 T2 00:00:53 32 11 23 01:58:00  Run 00:51:50 30 16 27 10 02:49:50

2012

Split Name Race Time Leg Time Pos Cat Pos Gen Pos Swim 00:28:26 00:28:26 32 14 22 T1 00:29:52 00:01:25 36 14 28 Cycle 01:47:30 01:17:38 42 19 37 T2 01:48:09 00:00:39 27 12 20 Run 02:39:13 00:51:04 29 12 23

2013

Split Name	Race Time	Leg Time	Time of Day	Pos	Cat Pos	Gen Pos
Swim	00:27:30	00:27:30	11:22:45	28	12	23
T1	00:29:24	00:01:53	11:24:39	51	16	39
Cycle	01:40:17	01:10:53	12:35:32	26	12	24
T2	01:40:42	00:00:25	12:35:57	6	2	5
Run	02:32:19	00:51:36	13:27:34	24	12	20

With my new turns I should be comfortably able to beat last year's swim time. To get my annual target of swimming a 1500m race in under 27min is also possible. It would take a good swim but shouldn't take a great swim. A decent lane draw might be anough to take a minute off last year's time.

Over the past three attempts at this race I have carved 7 minutes off the bike each time. I can't see anything like that happening again. I am biking well though so I should be able to sneak under 1 hour 10.

The run on all three attempts has been 51:something. I would like to at least get a time under 50, but I will take something similar again.

So despite having a good year, and knowing that I am in great shape, my target for this race is pretty much just do do something slightly better than last year. If I could sneak under 2hours 30 I would be really happy.

The weather looks like it is going to be as good as last year. 

Training Plan - Week 38 - Sept 15 to 21

Last race of the season this week with Huntly Standard Triathlon on Sunday. Still on with the work's health challenge as well. So I am going to front load the week slightly to try and get in time and miles and then still get a couple of rest days in before Sunday. 


Monday - Gym brick.
Swim with TPT.
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Gym bike.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Offroad run.

Thursday - Rest day.
Core session.

Friday - Gym bike.
Core session

Saturday - Rest Day.

Sunday - Huntly Standard Triathlon.


Target totals - Swim > 2 miles. Bike > 45 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 85, Cycle 180, Run 90, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Training Review - Week 37 - Sept 8 to 14

Monday I was back to swimming with TPT. I was in lane 4 again this week and doing turns about 90% of the time at the deep end. I was tempted to try one in the shallow end but I am still a week or two away from trying that. But I am now comfortable that I can be in lane 4 without becoming an obstacle to the faster swimmers and I was easily going faster than the lane 3 swimmers.  

Tuesday I went for a run round the airport. 

Wednesday I went for a massage and got treated to another set of chinese cups. The cups were a bit more painful this time and they have definitely left more serious bruising. And the massage bits were also more painful but definitely deeper into some of my problem areas. Did some gentle stretching as well.

Thursday I took another long run along the railway. The massages are making an amazing difference. I was comfortably ticking along an easy long run at the same pace that I would have considered hard work for 5 miles a month ago. The downside is that the bruising from the chinese cups is making it hard to sleep but that should calm down as the bruises fade over a couple of days. The bruises also made my core session uncomfortable. 

Friday I had a half day from work. So I took the opportunity to run home from the office. 

Saturday I went out to Alford for the KT Bike run. Not a race, not quite a sportive, more a charity fun bike ride. The route is a nice 30 miles with some little lumps but no massive hills.

Sunday I went out with the Kintore group ride. My plan was to stick with them for an hour or so and then head back. But the route we took didn't give me an easy out at the hour mark and I ended up staying on their plan for longer before cutting off. That meant I clocked over 40 miles rather than the planned 30. Was good to make up some miles on the bike this weekend though. 

This is the first time all year that I have been ahead of my scheduled bike miles target. I am also way ahead of my swim target and just ahead of my run target.




Target totals - Swim > 1 miles. Bike > 50 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 250, Run 100, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Monday - Swim with TPT 1.3 miles (2,100m) in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Long run 6.1 miles in 52mins.
Stretching session.

Wednesday - Massage.
Stretching session.

Thursday - Long run 8.2 miles in 67mins.
Core session.

Friday - Run from work 6.0 miles in 55 mins.

Saturday - KT bike run. 30 miles in 1hr 53mins.

Sunday - Long ride. 40.8 miles in 2hrs 42 mins.
Core session.


Actuals - Swim 1.3 miles. Bike 70.8 miles. Run 20.2 miles. 1 short core,  short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions.  mins of yoga.

Health Challenge  - Walk 457, Swim 60, Cycle 275, Run 174, Yoga 23, Core 24.

Training Plan - Week 37 - Sept 8 to 14

This should be a big week for miles on the bike with two weekend rides. That obviously then has an effect on the rest of the week having to run earlier.  Got another massage booked into midweek as well. 


Monday - Swim with TPT
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Long run.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Massage.

Thursday - Run reps.
Core session.

Friday - Easy run or gym brick.

Saturday - KT bike run.

Sunday - Long ride.


Target totals - Swim > 1 miles. Bike > 50 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge targets - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 250, Run 100, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Training Review - Week 36 - Sep 1 to 7

New Health Challenge started at work today. It gives you points for time and intensity of exercise. Being the overly competitive person that I am this will result in some bigger numbers than I really should do over the next 8 weeks. It is done mostly on times of exercise but you get bonus points for predicting what you are going to do in a given week. This week I had signed up to 300 mins of walking, 180 of biking, 120 of running, 60 of swimming and 30 of strength/conditioning (includes yoga) and 30 of calisthenics (includes my core sets). Then as if that wasn't enough to keep me busy for the week one of my team upped my challenge for cycling to 220 mins.

Monday was an unlimited cinema trip to see Sex Tape (6/10, don't bother) but this clashed with swimming so I also put in a gym session. Had to cut it short so I only managed half what I had planned and clocked 20 mins of easy jogging on the treadmill, and 30 mins on the exercise bike.

Tuesday was an easy run around Dyce and then a full set of wii yoga. 

Wednesday I went to Knockburn. Paddled round one slow lap with a friend and then did three faster laps on my own. 

Thursday was a long run. I had planned to do a mid-length run and then do a running reps session at the weekend but it was a nice evening and I was feeling quite good so I just did a longer run. Went out the railway line and back fairly steadily, but managed somehow to put in 9 miles all at under 8 min/mile pace. The massage I had last week has made a huge difference. 

Friday I went to the gym at work and sat on the exercise bike for an hour. Then before bed I did a short core session. 

Saturday I had a rest day. Got through a lot of gardening and housework and another short core session. Then I had a short run to Asda to get some things in a hurry 5 minutes before they shut. This accidentally filled out my running miles for the week and meant that I didn't need to run off the bike on Sunday. 

Sunday I had a look out the window and decided I didn't want to go out on the bike. Then I had a cup of tea and put on about half of my new winter training gear and decided to be brave. I pedalled out to Pitmedden in some light drizzle then I stopped to take a phone call from work under a nice sheltered tree. Then I had to pedal back through more of a rain storm and a bit of wind. It was wet but it wasn't particularly cold. At least part of this was due to some of my new gear. Fleece lined tights are magical, they were still warm even once they got wet through. new gloves weren't as great as I had hoped but this might have been water leaking into the arms and shoulders of my jacket and running down into the gloves. My proper winter training jacket should hopefully sort that. 

On a more negative gear note I dropped my Garmin 310XT. I have dropped it a few times over the year and it had the odd chip and scratch on it, but this time it made a very wet sounding thud on my driveway and when I picked it up I found the screen like this:

So now I need to decide on whether I replace it, or upgrade to a 910XT or a Fenix2, or downgrade to separate, smaller bike computer and run watch, or just live with using my iphone (or possibly a new iphone in a couple of weeks).

None of them jump out as being great options. In the short term I will use the phone for running and biking and my separate swim watch.







Target totals - Swim > 1 miles. Bike > 50 miles. Run > 15 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20mins of wii yoga.

Health Challenge (mins) - Walk 300, Swim 60, Cycle 220, Run 120, Yoga 30, Core 30.

Monday - Treadmill 2 miles in 20 mins.
Gym bike 9.5 miles in 30 mins.
Cinema - Sex Tape.

Tuesday - Easy run 3.8 miles in 38 mins.
Wii Yoga 36 mins.

Wednesday - Swim at Knockburn 1.6 miles in 55 mins.
Stretching and rollering.

Thursday - Long run 8.7 miles in 70 mins.

Friday - Gym bike 20.5 miles in 65mins.
Core session.

Saturday - Rest day.
Core session. 
Very short run to Asda.

Sunday - Cycle 28.8 miles in 2 hours 10 mins.
Core session.
Stretching session

Actual totals - Swim 1.6 miles (2,600m). Bike 58.8 miles. Run 15.3 miles. 3 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 36 mins of yoga.

Health Challenge (mins) - W 359, S 60, C 225, R 128, Y 36, C 31.