Training Review - Week 35 - Aug 25 to 31

Monday I was having problems with my hip and back through the day so I decided to do my yoga and core sessions before swimming to try and ease them off a little bit. Seemed to work. Swimming was a lot smoother than it has been and no problems with cramp or back pain, despite swimming in lane 4 and tumble turning all night long.

Tuesday took the TT bike out, it was shit. 

Wednesday my hip was too sore so I skipped running and just helped someone clean their bike, and did a quick check on my TT bike. 

Thursday I had a flexi day and planned to do a big session in the morning and go to the dentist in the afternoon. But my hip and back have gotten too bad to do anything with so I went for a massage instead. Went to a new place where I got a bit of a sports massage and a 'cups' session. Google it. Looks stupid, feels stupid, scientifically probably is stupid, but seems to have helped more than I would have expected just from the massage.

Friday I went to the gym and sat on the exercise bike for long enough to finish off my bike miles for the week. No problems from the hip. Massage has definitely made a big difference, although the bruising from the cups are still pretty horrid looking.  


Saturday I went with the sensible rest option rather than try to catch up on some of my missing run miles. Went to the cinema to see Lets Be Cops. 

Sunday was Alford Triathlon which will get a report to itself. 

Very short on running this week. But the massage was worth sacrificing two training days.




Target totals - Swim > 1.5 miles. Bike > 40 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20mins of wii yoga.

Monday - Wii Yoga 36 mins.
Core session.
Swim with TPT 2,100m in 52 mins.

Tuesday - TT bike 7.7 miles in 33 mins.

Wednesday - Rest day. 
Stretching session.

Thursday - Massage.

Friday - Gym bike 25 miles in 1 hr 18 mins.

Saturday - Rest day.
Cinema - Lets be Cops.
Long stretching session.

Sunday - Alford Novice Triathlon.
Swim 400m in 6mins 25 secs.
Bike 10.1 miles in 32 mins.
Run 1.9 miles in 15mins.

Actual totals - Swim 1.5 miles (2,540m). Bike 42.8 miles. Run 1.9 miles. 1 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 36 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 34 - August 18 to 24

Monday was the usual swim session. Moved up to lane 4 again and put lots of turns in this week. They are now consistent enough that I can use them regularly and the odd bad one is now survivable without taking a huge flap and losing all my momentum.

Tuesday I just did an easy loop around Dyce to see if my legs still work. 2 weeks of no running has not done them much good but it has done less harm than I expected. 

Wednesday the weather was a bit grim so I decided to go to the gym at work and do half an hour on the exercise bike. 

Thursday I went to help out and spectate at Bert's Tri. I managed to squeeze in a short run first and as I came back thy were dishing out jobs. Since I had my wet suit I got volunteered for the job of standing in the water and helping people in and out. The water wasn't as cold as I had feared and being half way in the water gives you a very unusual view of the swim section. Having finished fishing people out I had planned to then do a lap myself but I had had an hour or so of standing in the water and it was beginning to get dark so I decided it would be safer to just go to the pool on Friday evening instead.

Friday I decided to run to the pool, do a long steady swim and then run home. Unfortunately the website for the pool hadn't been updated with new opening times so they have put a club session into Friday evenings and I didn't get to swim. I did manage to get all my run miles for the week though. 

Saturday was down as an easy day so no planned sessions. In the evening we went to a ceilidh and ended up getting more of a training session out of that than if I had planned one. Much more fun than a run in the rain though.

Sunday I dragged myself out for a solo ride. Just took an easy roll out towards tarves for an hour then turned round and realised how much I had been pedalling into the wind. Came home in under 50 minutes for no extra effort.

Then a cinema trip to see Lucy. 

Overall not a bad week back after my rest week. Slightly under the swim and bike targets that I set and my hip is still bothering me. But the swim I could easily have done on Thursday if I had known the pool was going to be closed on Friday. Also my out and back ride on Sunday I turned thinking that my target for the week was still 35, in hindsight I should have known before I left the house and I could easily have gone another mile or so before I turned for home. 



Target totals - Swim > 1.5 miles. Bike > 40 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20mins of wii yoga.

Monday - Swim with TPT 2,000m in 49 mins. 

Tuesday - Jog 3.7 miles in 28 mins.

Wednesday - Gym bike 9.6 miles in 30 mins.

Thursday - Run 3.6 miles in 28 mins.
Marshalling at Bert's Family Triathlon.

Friday - Run 5.2 miles in 43 mins. 

Saturday - Rest Day.
Ceilidh dancing.

Sunday - Easy Ride 28.2 miles in 1hr 49mins. 
Cinema - Lucy 

Actual totals - Swim 1.2 miles (2,000m). Bike 37.8 miles. Run 12.5 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and  short stretching sessions.  mins of yoga.

Training Plan - Week 35 - Aug 25 to 31

Back to a race week this week, but not making any huge changes to the week as it is 'only' a novice distance. I also have a flexi-day on thursday which allows me to put in a long bike this week even though it is a race weekend.

During the week I also want to get in a faster ride on the TT bike somewhere. Plan is to put it on Tuesday but there are options to reshuffle the week depending on the weather. 


Monday - Swim with TPT. 
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Easy run or TT bike.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - TT bike or easy run.
Core session, Weights session.

Thursday - Flexi day, long bike ride. 

Friday - Easy run.

Saturday - Rest day.

Sunday - Alford Novice Triathlon.


Target totals - Swim > 1.5 miles. Bike > 40 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 33 - August 10 to 17

Strange week as I tried to take a rest week. Went to swimming on Monday, but forgot my goggles. I have a handful of spare pairs in my swim kit but it turns out that I have become reliant on the clear glass and wide angle view afforded by my Zoggs Predators that I can't handle any of the smaller or darker sets. I did force myself through about half of the session. But I was having to twist my neck to see and was still suffering badly from the exhaustion that I had to quit early.

Through the rest of the week I did a few yoga and rollering and stretching sessions. Friday I was going to go for an easy run but on my way down the stairs from work I felt a twinge in my knee and decided it would be safer to stay off it.

Saturday I stuck to another rest day. But spent the whole day doing other things which meant I actually racked up 10,000 steps for the day anyway.

Sunday I went to ride with the Kintore group. I was struggling still and bailed on them at the 13 mile mark and rolled back on my own. Then a trip to see the Expendables 3. Best of the three of them, more comedy than action, and Antonio Banderas is hilarious.

For a rest week I have done ok to get out for some miles on the bike without doing anything too serious. 


Target totals - None

Monday - Swim with TPT 1,150m in 40 mins. 

Tuesday - Rollering and stretching.

Wednesday - Rollering and stretching.

Thursday - Wii Yoga - 36 mins.

Friday - Yoga - 30 mins.

Saturday - Rest day

Sunday -  Bike 26 miles in 1hr 42mins
Expendables 3 - 6/10


Actual totals - Swim 0.7 miles (1,150m). Bike26 miles. Run 0 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 3 short stretching sessions. 36 mins of wii yoga.

Training Plan - Week 34 - August 18 to 24

Back to a real week this week. With a slightly strange shape as I am going to go out to Knockburn on Thursday to help out at a race. Hopefully I will also manage to squeeze in a run or a swim while I am there but will see how it goes. 

Back to the full weekly targets as well. 



Monday - Swim with TPT. 
Stretching session.

Tuesday - Easy run.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Rest day.
Core session, Weights session.

Thursday - Run or swim at Knockburn. 
Marshall at Bert's Tri.

Friday - Easy run.

Saturday - Rest day.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday ride


Target totals - Swim > 1.5 miles. Bike > 40 miles. Run > 12 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 20 mins of yoga.

Race Review - Westhill Triathlon

Swim was actually not too bad. I started with the tumble turns, at both ends because Westhill is a strange pool with two deep ends. I then switched to touch turns at about 300m and started to move away from the adjacent lane swimmers who had been going the same speed as me until then. However, having looked at the data garmin did collect it made no difference to my pace so it must have been them slowing down rather than me speeding up. Garmin stopped at 525, possibly got kicked as I tapped someone for an overtake which means I don't have data from there. 

I didn't get tapped by the lane counter so I actually started an extra length before one of the marshalls told me I had finished. Then they also stopped both the guys that I had lapped. I got out and across the mats in a time of 12:55. With the extra 10m swim and the time to get back to the mats I was probably actually about 12:45 for the swim which would be a PB again. Judging by the time I probably did the right distance (plus 10m) so the two people I had lapped must have been 50m short.  

My transition was a bit rubbish. I was chatting away all the way through it. Nothing horribly wrong but nothing too slick either. Avoided the mistake I made a couple of years ago when I fell off trying to mount my bike. 

Onto the bike I wasn't feeling too great and it took me a few minutes to get into my rhythm and it was a lot colder than I had expected. I was fine for the first couple of miles, then we turned onto what should be a fast section. And I lost place after place. I took a long lead into the braking zone and still felt twitchy as the brakes on my TT bike were a bit dodgy. Then there is a turn and a short climb and I lost another place to someone who never beats me on bike sections. And that was it for me. 

With nothing in my legs even on the flats never mind the hills and feeling nervous on the corners of all the descents I let common sense take over and I just pedalled round the rest of the first lap and got off. It was cold and I felt utterly exhausted by the time I got back.

Hopefully just fatigue from too many races over the last couple of months. 

Race Review - Knockburn Standard Triathlon

Knockburn is the first of two standard races I have on my plan for this year. With Huntly coming late in September expected to be the cold and wet one, Knockburn at the start of August is actually meant to be nice weather, warm water to swim in, nice dry roads to ride on, maybe a bit of a light breeze. The weather forecast all week was suggesting anything from lightning storms to the end of the world. And the night before the race it seems like they were all going to be delivered as it bucketed down through the night. But by morning it had cleared. It was still a bit cloudy but it was nice.

In my race preview I set a few targets for this race based on my previous performances here. 
Swim < 28, Bike < 1:20, Run< 50, Overall < 2:45.

I also have in my Annual Targets that I wanted to clock a new PB at this race which would be 2:48:03. 

I was well organised and arrived early. I had prepped for rain  the night before so I already had everything bagged up and waterproofed for each transition and a spare bag of things I might need if the weather turned nasty. 

I got suited up and listened to the briefing. Then the race start was held up by a technical issue. In that technically someone had told the first aiders to turn up at the wrong time so we had to wait for them to arrive. By the time we did get in the water the weather had changed, but not in the expected direction. It was bright and sunny and the temperature was up. 

The water was really warm and I coasted out to the start feeling really comfortable. I took a space near the front but off to the side so I could see what was going on. The start was a bit less frantic than last year.

The swim was as uneventful as I could have hoped for. At one point I did get kicked in the wrist which ached for a bit but nothing serious. Apart from that it was smooth, and about as fast as I could have expected. I was managing to get into groups and draft on the straights but also getting plenty of space around the tight turns. I came out of the water in amongst the same sort of people I expected to. 

I got stuck getting out of my wetsuit and that meant T1 was pretty slow.

The bike section I had planned to write a lot about, but I have then sat on this blog for over a week and I can't remember all that much about it. It felt really fast, and felt like I was working hard all the way. The garmin power estimate says I was pushing over 200W average again (just) so I should be happy again. The wind must have been different to last year though as the time was less than a minute faster despite the extra effort I was putting in and the people I was passing. The results say I only made one place but I actually passed about 7 people and lost to about 6 different people. 

T2 was very slick and I was straight out and running and with a string of people ahead of me to chase I was looking to start making up places. 

I shouldn’t have skipped the first water station though. At the time I thought I had hydrated enough on the bike, but I hadn’t allowed for the next water stop being 3 miles and it turned out to be 30 minutes away. I started fine but within about half a mile my hip started to tighten up. I managed to ignore it until the uphill section but then I was having to walk/jog/walk up the hill. This got continually worse until I got to the next water station and at least got a drink and splashed some water on myself, but by this point I was really suffering from the heat and the pain in my hip was getting bad enough to think about quitting. I convinced myself that it was almost as far to go back as it was to go round and kept jogging into the forest section. 

About half way through the forest section the pain in my hip was superceded by a panic attack. I ran through a cloud of flies and midges and a few of them started buzzing round my head. Normally when I am running this wouldn’t bother me as I just run on and wave a few swipes at them and they would all be gone, but this time I was going so slow that they weren’t leaving me. For some reason this started to get into my head that it might be a serious thing and it felt like I was being smothered in bites. In hindsight it was probably more caused by a combination of my scalp burning from the sun, and sweating into my eyes, and a few annoying flies, and already being on edge about how bad my hip might get. I think it was probably triggering thoughts of the hip/back problems I had at Edinburgh marathon which in turn loops into the start of my breakdown and so on.

Then as I was on the verge of stopping for a cry I went over the top of the hill and just in the middle of the track there was someone's timing chip lying in the middle of the track. I walk/jogged a few steps past it then managed to engage enough of my brain to stop and go back and pick it up. 

That petty little distraction was enough to clear my head of the panic attack. I managed to get back to at least jogging on the downhill sections from there. My hip and back were such a mess that it was ridiculously slow, but it was consistent forward movement so I managed to get from there round to the end, although I lost a few more places on the descent. 

Overall I did manage to beat my PB for this course. I also managed to beat my swim target. I then set a PB for the bike leg but missed my target by a long way. Then I ran like a donkey, but still actually faster than previous triathlon runs on this course. So 2 of my 5 targets and of the three I missed I still set PB times on the bike, and run. So a little bit disappointed with the time, but maybe just a bit too ambitious with the targets. 

More disappointed with the panic attack and the sunburn.

Split times
	Total time	Pos. male	Senior	Split time	Speed split time
Swim(Time: 27:56) - Pos. 34
Swim	27:56	34	22	27:56	1:51 min/100m
Transition 1(Time: 2:13) - Pos. 59
T1	30:09	38	22	2:13	-
Bike(Time: 1:22:08) - Pos. 40
Cycle	1:52:17	37	23	1:22:08	29.22 km/h
Transition 2(Time: 29.0) - Pos. 11
T2	1:52:46	37	23	29.0	-
Run(Time: 53:22) - Pos. 60
Run	2:46:08	46	26	53:22	5:20 min/km