Week 13

Sunday's easy run with Molly along the river followed by a swim for Irondog

With Training Partner

Ironman Busselton Training Programme August 2014

Start of Ironman Training begins with a 16 week plan .The first 4 weeks or August have been drawn up and the training begins in earnest.

the past few months have been a general preparation and keeping fit . It is a long build with a few races and adventures to add some variety and spice to training.


Monday:

Swim in the evening .First swim in several weeks . I followed a Sara McLarty plan with a 400m warm up and then 400 with breathing every 3 strokes (could not do 5 just yet) , 16x 25m with one fast and one easy , 125 x 4 with the last 25m fast , 75m x 4 focus on swim stroke , then 300m recovery and 100m any stroke .total 2.4km . Slowly finding my swim legs but it felt tough getting back into the water.

Tuesday:

A long day with morning bike at Birwood Avenue , riding with Exceed. Did a 30 minute session at threshold.I got dropped at the turn around and then joined the group of riders on the second lap and then got dropped again catching up after a 10 minute recovery . Did another 10 minute threshold and a five minute recovery before a 5 minute effort . The HR was definitely high and I was gasping for air. Not quite the session on the programme but it was close. The data on the Garmin will show the efforts and the HR and the effort expended. In the afternoon I ran an easy 7km along the river in East Fremantle. It was actually a really nice and surprisingly warm day for a Perth Winter . In the evening it was cross fit with max weights for the bench Press and Dead lift. I managed to do a PB for the bench press at 60kgs. That was a tiring day.

Wednesday

The legs were very sore and I skipped swimming. I ran at Lunchtime with a hard session of interval running. A 1.3km warm up and then 4 x 1km @4.30 to 5.00 minute pace and 2 x 500m at similar pace. i managed the first two kms at 4.30 and 4.45 pace and the third at 4.49 and the last at 4.57 so I kept within the range. The legs were still tired from the Tuesday ride. Did about 8.3km


Thursday

It was raining in the morning so I skipped riding. I ran at lunch with an easy 7km @ 6.30 pace and in the evening instead of Cross fit opted for my bike session. I did a 40 plus minutes with high cadence and then rode up Lovekin drive in the big ring trying to keep 70rpms , doing 5 repeats before the darkness , drizzle and pain got the better of me. kings park is a scary place after dark . no cyclist about a few runners with torches and a few cars driving through .

Friday
Just too tired for a swim session in the morning and the right hip was sore. I had a massge in the late morning which whilst painful was I presume good for me.In the evening I ran an easy 6km . I was going to do the evening swim session but decided to just have a rest.

Saturday's Session

Saturday

I was going to ride this morning but with a sore right hip decided to run in the morning and do my ride on Sunday. I took Molly for a 5km run and then ran a further 12km for a total of 17km 9just under) .Then in the afternoon , I did my Cross fit .It turned out to be the Walsh ...and it was a hard session especially 4 rounds of 22 burpee Pull-ups. I slept well that night.

Sunday

Very sore from the previous days work out but managed to get on the bike. rode to Tim's house an then rode to roe Highway and came back through the Freeway Bike path and South perth with coffee at a Cafe on the way back . It was a slow small chain ring ride and I felt it but managed to finish with 80 kms.

In the evening I ran a short 4kms with Molly and JJ.

Week
Cross fit 2 hrs
Run: 50 km (including 800meters with the15kg plate at cross fit)  or approx 5.15 hrs
Bike: 164 km or  6.5 hrs
swim: 2.4 km or 1 hr

Total: 14.75 hrs

Weeks 8 to 12 Where have all the Training Days Gone

A long overdue summary of the past few weeks of training or lack of. 

What was supposed to be the preparation for IM Busselton Training descended into 2 weeks of not being able to do much and a further week of travel and a week of rain. But the lessons learnt in campaigns past is that it is early days and flexibility is key to great preparation.

It isn't great getting sick and thankfully I managed some cross fit and did not have a really bad dose of the flu. It was just enough to know it would not be good to aggravate the condition. The freezing temperatures in Perth in July did not help.

Hot and Humid Rides in Singapore

View from Mount Faber looking out to Sentosa

Breakfast at the Food court at Adam Road after a ride , Prata and Curry $2

 

 My Bike for the week in Singapore

The 3rd week of July was spent in Singapore and I did manage a number of runs and rides accumulating about 230km on the bike grinding out rides around the island with lots of traffic and heat and humidity so it was a good block even though I did not do any specific training rides.
The runs in the forest around Bukit Timah were oppressive for me and I was pretty much just slow .

Enjoying the Evening run by the Beach

Run with Molly Burns beach

The return to Perth meant for the last week trying to get back into a proper block of training. The rain ended that idea. I was not prepared to ride in wet weather having learnt how long it takes to recover from a fall was not worth the risk.  I did manage my crossfit sessions and a few runs which set me up in the past month for the base training starting in August.

Week 12

In the week of 28 July , I managed to get my Watt bike fitness testing which showed some improvement in my VO2 testing. The week was:

Monday : Run at Lunch 7km and in the evening Watt bike session 20km (45 minutes) and a short run of the bike of 3-4km

Tuesday : Run at Lunch 7.5km with intervals of 4x 1km @4.45 min per km .Evening 40minutes high cadence and 4 x hill repeats in Kings part and cool down for 38km and 1.5hr session

Wednesday : Run at Lunch 7km and a further run in the evening 7km slow and easy

Thursday : Skipped ride and did Cross fit in the evening.Hard session of 40 minutes repeating a series of exercises with 2 minutes rest for an hour session.

 Friday: In the morning I did a 1.5hrs on bike with warm up and cool down and 40 minutes at Threshold .Done at Birdwood in Nedlands alone. At lunch ran 7kms slow and easy

Saturday: A ride of 3 hours down to Fremantle and back  with a stop at Metrio for coffee with the Exceed Crew after their ride. In the evening Cross fit which was an hour of 9 exercises done to a maximum of 50 repeats .

Run between Mount Henry Bridge and Canning Bridge

Sunday : I ran 14km late morning at 6.30 pace and a further 5km in the evening with Molly all at about 6.30 pace.

The week:
Cross Fit  2 hrs
Run: 57 kms or 6 hrs
Bike: 171.5km or 6.45 hr
Total:14.45hrs

Week 7 - KOM WEEK

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

 

 Dolphins in the river chasing fish Run

The last week before a more concerted effort in training despite the cold weather conditions.

Monday was again a rest day after the weekend of activities as work and a talk in the evening prevented any training.

On Tuesday , I ran at lunch time and managed my first 5min pace run for 7kms in over a year . Did the 7km in about 36minutes with  a stop to take the picture of the dolphins in the river chasing a school of fish .It was a cold but clear cloudless day in Perth. In the evening had Cross Fit focusing on back squats and snatches. The quads were really sore.

Wednesday , a 7km easy slow run at lunchtime and watt bike session in the evening. Had a 12 minute warm up with 5 x 3 minutes @ 265+watts and 100 cadence with 3 minutes recovery. At the end of the session the Heart rate was at 95% of max heart rate.

Thursday I managed to get out of bed and do a ride at Nedlands with 3 rounds of about 5km at threshold pace with another 2 kms recovery . The legs were pretty sore but held the pace on the slight incline. Still pretty slow but got the heart pumping .Then back to the city for breakfast .In the evening it was cross fit .Interesing session called sugar crush and had to do 150 Push press and 100 burpees. I used a 30kg bar for the Push-press . After the session on the way home I actually threw up .a first after a cross fit session but the intensity in a short period tipped it into the chucking category of routines. the quads were pretty sore.

Friday , i had an easy day at the office with Lunch at Fremantle so I rode to work and then to Fremantle and back home. total distance was 77kms but at a very slow average as there was a bit of wind heading to Fremantle but heading home was quite nice. After Thursday's session the legs did hurt on the ride and hence my speed was just slow.

Saturday , I decided to skip another long ride but did the cross fit session. it was a little better with 150 hollow rocks , 75 cleans and  50 Turkish Get Ups  .

 

Saturday Boris fit

Borisfit Crew at KOM 2014

Finish Line KOM

Sunday , after a less than ideal night with Molly being restless at 1am , I got up at 6.30 and got to the start of the King of the Mountain (KOM) A great 16km race from Helena Primary school to Mundaring. Last time I raced it in 2011 after Ironman Lanzarote with minimal training I managed a 1.28 .This time round with more weight and just trying to get back to fitness , I ran a 1.35 about 30 secs a km slower. But pretty happy with the progress. I managed to pass a few runners in the last 1.2km uphill and besides the quads I felt good. I have lots of weight to drop and hopefully will be able to get back to the 2011 pace.

The Perennial Issue

Cycling Accidents Rising In Australia ...Guardian.com article by Nick Evershed

LiveLeak.com - Cars v Cyclist

The perennial issue for cyclist is the danger cyclist are exposed to whilst on the road by other road users  . More importantly , driving in a manner that endangers cyclist.

This is more so in Perth with the number of deaths on the roads last year rising . I am super vigilant when on the road and I ride defensively .But there is little I can do if a driver just comes too close or hits me from the back.   The number of cycling deaths has increased (Death Spike ) (Cycling deaths double )

I don't wish to play the blame game , I only want to be safe. I see aggressive drivers mainly young male drivers racing to work. Just the other day riding in the suburban streets , I could hear a car fast approaching and took a position a meter and half from the kerb just to ensure he had to take a conscious effort to pass me rather than come within inches of me if I was hugging the kerb. But riding on the main arterial roads leading into Perth can be dangerous in the morning and evening traffic. I avoid it for that reason .The phenomenon is occurring everywhere. On wednesday night riding home in the evening I was pleasantly surprised when a motorist suggested I adjust my lights on my back pack as I may not be as visible .I thanked him and did just that . For all the bad drivers on the roads , they are still a minority but the chance of a collision with a cyclist is always critical and deadly for the cyclist .Hence the need for education , mutual courtesy and continuous vigilance. (Outside Magazine Bicycle deaths explained)


Every other day on facebook there is news of another cyclist being hit by a vehicle. In todays paper there was an article of a man who was charged with causing death by dangerous driving when he hit a young girl riding to school .He was acquitted and that prompted the WA Government to amend the law  ." The case led to major changes in WA's criminal law where drink drivers who cause death are automatically charged with dangerous driving in what became known as Jessie's law."

In Hong Kong , a cyclist was killed yesterday evening .Tragically he was someones son , a husband , a father , a talented cyclist ( British cyclist dies after colliding with Van )

The sad reality at least in Perth , until there is serious enforcement and education , our roads are getting deadlier as more people take to cycling.  I hope legislation requiring motorist to keep a distance of at least a meter from cyclist as in Queensland eventually become law. It is a small chance but I believe given the increasing fatalities and serious injuries it is inevitable ( new law to leave a metre for cyclist ) Like Jesse's law , it will take the death of a cyclist possibly a few before the State Government realizes that in our crowded stressed cities , some regulation is needed to separate cyclist and motorist .

Six cyclists died on WA roads last year and more than 1300 cyclists required hospital treatment for injuries suffered in accidents.

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-drivers-facing-new-law-to-leave-metre-for-cyclists-20140320-354wr.html#ixzz33rq9Tyrg

Week 6 Wet One

SHEPPARD  LET ME DOWN EASY

Training about to become Well ...Not so easy

John Forrest National Park Sunday 22 June 2014 MTB Ride

Time is slowly but surely ticking by. It has been a very wet week and so no rides on the road but lots of wind-trainer sessions .Monday was a rest day after the long run on Sunday and I decided to just take it easy. Tuesday was a cold and rainy day so I did a run on the treadmill managed to run 7km with 5 x 600m@13kph .It was hard given how slow I am at present but managed to get through it. In the evening I could not get to cross fit with the traffic and rain so opted for a wind trainer session for just over an hour.

Wednesday , again a run fortunately outside at lunch for 7km and in the evening a watt bike session with 9 x 30secs at max pace and 120 cadence followed by a 2.30 minute recovery . That was hard .
Fortunately I did not ride there. Thursday , just had the cross fit session and Friday I ran at lunch doing 7km slow and a further 5.5 km in the evening with Molly. Saturday , expecting more rain I opted for a wind trainer session although the weather turned out to be good till noon. It was 2 hours with a hills session for the first hour and threshold efforts for the 2nd hour .Found the last hour hard as the legs were pretty much hurting by then. I felt Irondog Molly's paw biting aptly demonstrated how I felt at the end .

Iron Dog Molly found the Wind Trainer Session Paw Biting

Saturday's Cross Fit Session

In the afternoon , I had a cross fit session which we did as a Team but it was again hard on the quads after the morning training session. I slept well that night accept for Molly seeing shadows in the garden at 1 am and had to let her out to investigate and bark at before she came back in satisfied . Up late on Sunday  with the intention of Mountain Biking at Kalamunda but opted for a trail ride by myself late morning . I did not avoid the rain though. It was nice and quiet for the most part .An hour into the ride I rode with another rider recovering from knee surgery . An experienced mountain biker I rode with him for the rest of the ride till he turned off to head home at Hovea and I rode back to Guildford. It was a good 45km ride and the legs were tired.

Training for the week
Bike: 4 hrs or 118km
MTB: 2.45hr or 45 km
Cross fit : 2 hrs
Running: 2.30 or 26kms
Total: 11.15 hrs

Week 5 Why I am a Wanabe triathlete

Why I am a Wannabe Triathlete

This week was cold and I did not manage any training in the morning. It has been a little bit up and down but this early in the build I am careful not to do too much. I do want to get back into a morning routine but my sleep has been uneven. This is when the true Triathletes are separated from the Wannabe or after several seasons I have learnt that for me at least more isn't necessarily better but getting a balance right has been extremely hard. I kind of like being a Wannabe.

Monday I had a rest day and pretty much decided to skip all training.The leg was sore from the mountain biking. On Tuesday, managed to get to cross fit and it was a good hard session . I rode there and so Tuesday was always a hard day . After cross fit rode home and then on Wednesday rode in to work , had a run at lunch time and in the evening did my wind trainer session. Surprisingly just had 3 x 2 minutes at 300 watts and 103 rpm but found it really hard even with an 8 minute recovery between each session. On Thursday , just did a run and cross fit . Friday another rest day and Saturday did not ride but just did my cross fit .

Sunday , I ran with Nimal and Jenna , doing a total of 21.5 km and in the evening ran with Molly for a further 5.5 km. It was a slow run although the first 10km was a little faster . I was happy to be able to run the distance without any real difficulty . The quads were a little sore from cross fit.In the evening I ran with Molly with stops along the way at a very easy pace for another 5.5 km making a total of 27 km for the day at a slow pace so that the legs were not too sore.

The week was not as intense .

Bike : 75km or 2.75hr

Run: 41km or 3.6hr

cross fit: 2.5 hr

Total: 8.85 hrs

Week 4

Mundaring weir

Picture of Perth City from Zig Zag

Still a slow start with not too much volume but just trying to get into a routine. The weather has been steadily getting cooler.

Monday I ran 7km at Lunch time with a hard pace and first time doing 5.15 pace and had a good rest day .Tuesday ran at lunch time , again a bit quicker and averaging 5.30 pace and then had cross fit in the evening. Wednesday again a short run of about 8km and then a wind trainer session .I rode from work and then again on Thursday morning . In the evening did cross fit and rode about 20 km from Boris's place and back to the car . On Friday another slow run of 8km .

Saturday , a really cold morning and had a late start.Rode into the hills alone and did 3.5 hrs with a 90km circuit through the hills of Helena valley and Darlington to Mundaring and then Kalamunda , returning back via Zig Zag . Went for Cross fit in the afternoon.

On Saturday , I had a short run of 3 kms with Molly and then mountain biking with Kevin Chua and a few north Coasters at Mudaring. Took a few tumbles and the legs were really sore after the Saturday ride .Took over 1.5 hrs just to ride 14kms  with a lot of climbing . I was slow and hesitant and had a sore left knee after a tumble but no damage.

Overall, a good week of training .
Bike: 5.5 hrs or 190kms
Mountain bike : 1.5 hrs 14 km
run: 33kms or 3.2 hrs
cross fit : 3 hrs
Total : 13.2 hrs