who stole the last month??

Blimmen heck - time is flying by!!
Training in general has been reasonably consistent over the last two weeks. I have got in to a reasonable routine for the last month or so, sometimes getting a little caught out with work etc, but on the whole the training is ticking along OK. I am swimming 3 times a week, between 3 and 4km. Have not got over 4km, as it seems to be getting quite hard to do so! The swimming speed is OK, just steady as she goes. Swimming pull is substantially quicker than just plain freestyle at the moment (at least 5 seconds per 100m I would say), and given I am slower with a pull buoy than without, I am guessing the strength is sort of OK. We have managed a couple of long rides on the road in the last two weeks - however it appears we have traded rain for wind! I find riding in the rain quite miserable, and generally avoid it, but the wind can really be quite sole destroying. You always get far more head wind than tail wind, and it is usually just plain un-relenting! A couple of spin classes - one being a hard interval and the other I am taking quite easy. Then the school cycling training session on the road. This usually has some effort in it - as those school boys can actually go quite fast when they put their minds to it. However they can be just plain shocking as well! Stopping for a crash this week I managed to stand in what must have been the biggest dog poop in the world. I now have a poopy shoe, bootie and pedal - and I bet that does not come out either!! Running has been consistent also - 4 runs a week, a couple of easier ones, 30 minutes to an hour, a run interval session - which is a little up and down (depending on the previous day mostly), and a long-ish run - mostly around 1hr30min.
If I was being picky with the training I would say I would "ideally" like to be doing 4 swims, one of at least 4.5km, 4-5 runs with a long one at around 2 hours, and 4 rides, with a longer one on the road each week or 4 hours plus. I am not that far away in reality, and if I take a little more relaxed view, there is probably some benefit to slightly less, rather than slightly injured. Once the school cycling finishes, the training will move to a different phase I think - a little more time, and a little more "me" specific training opportunity as well.
Here are a couple of other training "incidence" from the last two weeks...
Sometimes you just have days that you wonder whether you should have bothered getting out of bed. I turned up for swimming on Wednesday, went to do the togs up, and no string (it had pulled through). Fossac through the swim bag, and finally find the spare pair - so no major disaster. Do the warm-up and start the 1500m pull, and as I push off the left goggle fills up with water - OK, that is a little annoying, not sure I can swim 1500m with one eye closed. Stop and empty the goggle out after 400m, and it promptly fills up again! Sigh... A couple of hundred later and the paddle brakes - darn it - loose 50m re-threading what is left of the strap, and empty out the goggles again. Get going again, and then the goggle strap breaks - OK - so that is probably why it was leaking so much. 1300 out of 1500m done, but off to the gear bag for the back-up goggles... So that just leave the swim cap to break - but it didn't, so the entire world was not against me, just a minor conspiracy! Probably would not have been so bad if I was not swimming quite well, and holding the best pace I had for quite a while...
Last week I had Thursday morning off from the school cycling, so contemplated a test session. I want to build up to a sort-of half ironman simulation. After the school cycling is done, I am planning on Thursday morning being a swim-bike-run session. Initially it will be all easy, but then want to incorporate some efforts in the session. I was in two minds on what to do for this session - either an easy swim, easy bike and an easy run, or a steady bike and an easy run. I opted for the steady bike option, as I wanted to test a couple of things - my pace judgement and if I could in fact hold the relative power I should be able to for a half ironman, given my current fitness. a warm-up, and 3 simulated climbs up the col du Tormulet at a steady effort was what I decided, and I should be able to comfortably ride 90km at 300watts at my current fitness. So on the first effort I tried to focus on the effort I would go at if I were doing a half ironman. I had the powermeter hidden under a towel, so I was just going on perceived effort. I did take a glimpse after about 5 minutes and saw 330w - but was hoping that was just a little flick up due to actually looking at it. The HR was a little up on expected, but it was a little warmer, so I was happy with that. Each climb took just under 30 minutes, and I made a conscious decision that each had to be faster, to ensure I did not start out too fast. Around half way through the third effort the perceived effort did increase quite a bit, as I tried to maintain a slightly higher pace than the second. There were also a few twinges of cramp - not a good sign! I finished the session OK, each effort faster (around 30-40 seconds), and got through 4 bottles of fluid and a few gels in the ride, but I was a bit stuffed - certainly there would be no half marathon run, but I only wanted a 30-40minute easy run. I tried to put the running shoes on and that was not going to happen as the hamstring cramped up severely! Not quite as I planned - the run will have to wait. I downloaded the ride data to see what I had actually done, and my problem was immediately clear!! My normally quite good pace judgement was totally crap! I had started off at well over 350watts on the first effort and continued on averaging around 330 for the first 10 minutes - not the controlled 300 watts I was hoping for!! I am pretty sure that first 10minutes was the source of most of my troubles. Most of the steady efforts after that were a little over 300 watts, and the last 27minute effort was 319watts (required to descend the efforts). So the pacing needs work. The main reason for the test was equipment choice. I have a disc, but with that no power measure. So if I want to race with a power meter for pacing, I either need a new rear wheel or a powermeter in the cranks - either option starts at $3000... re-learning to pace myself maybe cheaper (it may not be too!).
Right - better write a note to stretch more too - even sitting down is hurting at the moment...