Wednesday, September 17, 2014

10 lessons from My Dog




In life as in Triathlon/Endurance sports, there is a journey of discovery and many lessons to learn and mistakes to make along the way.The often used cliche.

Having a Dog at this point in my life has changed if not skewered the way I see life and  my training , sport and fitness. Even an animal such as a Dog , non communicative , for many a lesser being then humans , can teach us valuable lessons .Lessons they don't set out to teach , but are instinctive in their nature.

These are:

Loyalty and Love Unconditionally

First and foremost Loyalty to the group they are with , her family. They do not know mistrust and hate , but are loyal in their time and  their instinctive ability to know when to be there and to just be themselves to comfort and care. They love unconditionally and repay the warmth of home and family tenfold.


Sleep
Try to have as much rest and sleep as possible .It is good for the body and it is good for the soul . Watching Molly sleep , her lungs inhaling and exhaling air and her diaphragm moving in rhythm is relaxing in itself and it is vital to getting the best out of ourselves.

Food
She loves food and is not a purveyor of all that is good for her. But in retrievers with a very high incidence of cancer in the breed , the lesson is sometimes we have to set the standards of what is healthy and good for her . Being firm and strong is hard and having the discipline to carry through on maintaining a healthy and balance diet is important. It is caring and taking responsibility



Play
We must all have time to relax and play .Downtime and just not having a plan or a goal or doing something is constructive. the world is complicated ,busy and technology filled to the point where every second is driven with absorbing information or doing several tasks on the go. Whilst as wonderful and efficient as it is compared to 20 years ago , just not doing anything probably helps the grey cells recharge. Molly does lots of this and dogs never lose their innocence if owners allow them to be themselves.


Exercise/ stretch/ smell the Roses

Retrievers were born to run , and chase and swim and retrieve .They aim to please but also they love it . She seeks out puddles to sit on them,  she drives towards the waters edge dying to jump in , she chases seagulls on the beach and swims across rivers. She stretches when she gets up and shakes her body and wiggles on her back . She sniffs and picks scents on her walks. She lives life to the full . If only I did more of the stretching and smelling the Roses .

Don't fight
She retreats and is friendly to all other animals . Gets along with all dogs and avoids the ones who growl. Her disposition is to avoid a fight.


Forgive

Dogs forgive. Or maybe they don't harbor anger or ill feeling at all. If only we could cut away the cancer or hate and anger each day from minds and live in the moment and day and move on.
 

Compassion/Empathy

If there was one great attribute it is  Compassion and Empathy .They know when you are sad and unwell and when you are happy . They are alive and tuned to every sound, smell and vibe.

Trust your instincts

We probably  lose ours by the time we are five. Dogs never do.They leap at it as only dogs know how
without fear .They trust their instincts and gallop full on . If only we could live as they do . 

Things don't matter
Dogs don't care about material things .They want your company , your attention and devotion. that is all that matters , being and living in the present and enjoying the moment.

Love unconditionally and you will be rewarded 10fold.



Week 18

Coffee at Metrio after Saturday's ride


The weather has been steadily improving despite a few showers in the morning and I have not totally escaped getting wet. After the sore left knee stopped any serious training for a few days I was keen to get back

Monday

A good easy run at lunch time running 8km @ 6.30 pace and then in the evening swimming at Terry Tyzacks on my own. I did 3 x 1km at just under threshold to medium pace. First time I felt OK in the water but still slow .

Tuesday

Cycled in the evening and did a 1.45 session with high cadence riding around Nedlands and then just riding up and down Lovekin Drive in Kings park. Not too many people about finished in the dark .Rode about 45km with 6 repeats up Lovekin drive.

Wednesday

Ran at Lunchtime doing my intervals .A little slower with a sore knee but managed to do 5 x 1km @4.50 pace . ran about 10.0 km . In the evening swam again with a 500m warm up and then 700m ,500,400m, 300, 200 m swim and a 100m cool down for a total of 2.7km .


Thursday

I did not ride in the morning as planned but ran in the afternoon an easy 6km  and then got to cross fit a little late so ended up doing the last bit of the workout on my own. The pull ups are always the hardest for me.


Thursday's WOD
Friday
Molly and Sufferfest

I ran in the afternoon another easy 8km run @6 15 pace and in the evening rather than swimming did a wind-trainer session for 40km with a Sufferfest  video .It was a hard workout trying to keep my HR above threshold

It is always hard trying to keep the heart rate and legs at that level. Pretty much shattered at the end of the session.

Saturday

I managed to finally get out at 5.30am and rode to the Hills on my usual course
Saturday's Ride up in the hills via Mundaring . There weren't too many cyclist at the start but up in Mundaring there were a few riding the hills. I rode back via Metrios where I had a quick coffee with the Exceed crew and Ross before riding home .Dropped Jonathan off at Karate and then took Molly for a run.It was a short run of 3.5km as she seemed tired and did not want to run the 5km I had planned.

In the afternoon it was a good cross fit work out with 6 rounds of exercises lasting 8 minutes including a work out on the rower . 
Tired after Saturday's run off the bike

Sunday

I managed a really good nights sleep and rode from Deep water point to Wandi for the time trial.it was just enough of a distance to warm up the legs .the time trial was hard as the legs were pretty tired after the Saturday ride and cross fit. I was a little slower than my previous attempt as expected. managed a 33kph average and missed a turn on the first lap. The heart rate was struggling to get above 145 bpm so I knew I was tired and the legs were not firing.

ATTA TIME Trial Wandi 14 September 2014

Wandi ATTA Time Trial Start Line

After the time trial I rode back and had breakfast at Georges with the Boris crew . legs were tired . I was suppose to run in the afternoon but after various family commitments , time just ran out.

Total
Swim: 2 hrs or 5.7km
Bike: 240 km or 9h20m 
Run: 36 km or 3h50m
Cross fit: 2hrs
Total: 17h10m


Monday, September 15, 2014

Week 17 A little Sore



~ September 2014 ~




Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat

1
AM  SWIM



PM RUN
2
AM BIKE !hr Threshold effort Zone 4 142 to 154


PM Cross Fit
3
AM SWIM



PM RUN INTERVALS
4
AM BIKE Hill repeats



PM Cross Fit
5
AM SWIM
6
AM LONG BIKE
4-.5 hr bike with 3 efforts @30m
Run off bike 30minutes easy

PM CROSS FIT
7
AM LONG RUN/MTB
8
AM  SWIM



PM RUN
9
AM BIKE!hr Threshold effort Zone 4 142 to 154


PM Cross Fit
10
AM SWIM



PM RUN INTERVALS
11
AM BIKE Hill Repeats



PM Cross Fit
12
AM SWIM
13
AM LONG BIKE
4-.5 hr bike with 3 efforts @30m
Run off bike 30minutes easy

PM CROSS FIT
14
ATTA TIME TRIAL
WANDI
15
AM  SWIM


PM RUN
16
AM BIKE!hr Threshold effort Zone 4 142 to 154

PM Cross Fit
17
AM SWIM


PM RUN INTERVALS
18
AM BIKE Hill repeats


PM Cross Fit
19
AM SWIM
20
AM LONG BIKE
44.5 hr bike with 3 efforts @30m
Run off bike 30minutes easy

PM CROSS FIT
21
AM LONG RUN/MTB
22
AM  SWIM



PM RUN
23
AM BIKE!hr Threshold effort Zone 4 142 to 154


PM Cross Fit
24
AM SWIM



PM RUN INTERVALS
25
AM BIKE Hill repeats



PM Cross Fit
26
AM SWIM
27
WTF ULTRA MARATHON
(possibly)
28
AM Recovery
29
AM  SWIM



PM RUN
30
AM BIKE!hr Threshold effort Zone 4 142 to 154


PM Cross Fit
Notes:




September Prog

The beginning of September and the start of stepping up the training a notch or two.

I still dislike the cold and wet conditions and try and avoid it for the sake of injuries and accidents.But the week did not go as planned.

Monday

An easy run of just 8km and pretty relaxed.Did not do anything else for the day.

Tuesday

I rode in the morning and there was no rain at least whilst I was out.It was a pretty lonely ride and did see the packs of riders about on Birwood. The HR was jumping a fair bit but did get the Heart rate above threshold for the hour .All up did ride about 50km .

In the afternoon got a massage at lunchtime from Adele Richards at Northbridge. Needed it but with very tight calf's and quads , it hurt a lot.

In the evening it was a cross fit workout with weights .


Wednesday

Again been skipping my swimming and  I do need to begin to be consistent and start swimming regularly.

I did my interval running at lunchtime.A hard session with 5 x 1km at threshold or higher.managed to keep at 4.45min/km pace for the 5 and then did 2 x 500m at about the same pace. Unfortunately at the last run I jarred my left leg as I slowed down ,unfortunately as I have torn the ligaments in the left leg a few times in my previous life as a hockey player it was an occupational risk when training .As I was slowing down I jarred the left knee. The leg was sore and just got worse but I did not think it would prevent any training.

Thursday

Picture of Mount Street : site of many a fitness session
I ran at  lunchtime doing a 7km easy run.In the evening I had a very short ride at Kings Park with  9 repeats of Mount Street .Legs hurt especially the knee.The heart rate jumped a fair bit and I was crawling up the hill. Saw only one other rider doing the repeats as everyone else rode home or were involved in Boot camp work outs .

Unfortunately the rest of the week was a non event with the knee swelling. I managed the cross fit on Saturday but decided not to run or bike  and just have a rest. I did manage to get to cross fit on Saturday.

A little disappointing I did not finish the week of training.

Bike:70km or 3 hrs
Run:   25km or 2.35
cross fit : 2 hrs
Total: 7.35




Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Week 16 Sort of Rest Week



Whilst it was not written into the programme , the last week in August did end up being a easy week.I managed a fair bit of running ,no swimming , a bike ride and 3 cross fit sessions. The lack of sleep and the heavy cross fit sessions and running had taken a toll on the legs and it was good to have slackened off towards the end of the week just to recover from some of the soreness and fatigue.

Monday

Pretty easy day with an 8km easy run .

Tuesday
Rainy Tuesday

I got up early and rode at Nedlands.The Exceed squad had a river loop so i rode on my own clocking 48km with just under an hour at above threshold pace. Finished the set and  got caught in the rain as i rode back to the city In the afternoon an easy 5km run .

In the evening it was cross fit with max weights .managed to dead lift 90kgs and stopped but probably could have gone a bit higher but chose to just focus on getting the technique right .

Wednesday

Did my intervals sessions with 6 x 1km @4.45pace and walked a minute and ran a minute between each 1 km run. Ran just under 10kms.

Thursday

It was raining so I skipped my bike session. I did do the cross fit session and run an easy 7km .
the Cross fit session had a km run at the beginning and end with 50 ring pulls, box steps holding a 10kg plate and 50 push ups.

Friday

An easy day with no swimming and a short easy run of 7km

Saturday

Saturdays Session
I did not ride today an opted to run 15km and then did cross fit in the afternoon.

Sunday

I was going to ride but felt pretty tired and so just had a rest day.

Bike:  48km or 1.40
run: 53km or 5.20
cross fit: 3 hrs

Total: 10 hrs