I snuck in a bike time trial this past week. It had to be done - just to check where I am at and to actually practice doing the darn things. I pretty much knew where I was at - and I was pretty much right on. But it still needed to be done. It was around a minute slower than my best and around 30watts lower on the power, which I think is OK for current fitness. End result for 25km on the trainer - 30:28 and 337w average.
A few days after the time trial I also have my first real explosion. Wednesday morning at the pool I was absolutely dead! Was a bit tired getting up (well, REALLY tired actually, but this is not that unusual on Wednesday morning), and the warm-up felt pretty average, but I don't usually feel good then anyway. Then we had the standard 1500m swim - which we usually do pull. I went out normal steady, and there was nothing there - not even vapours in the tank. I was lapped at 200m (usually I can hold off to 400m on these), so I stopped and took the pull gear off and thought I would just plod along and try to get a bit of recovery going (make the most of the session since I was there). Well, I was almost stalling in the water and was really just an obstacle in the lane. I could tell pretty quickly it was not going to get better, or even not "not get worse" - so pull the pin and went home and ate! You need to know when to cut your losses - and I am pretty sure staying in the pool would have just dug a deeper hole. Then post explosion there is usually a little bit of soul searching - a bad day is one thing, but when it is this bad, it does make you wonder what the heck went so badly wrong. I am pretty sure it was a combo effort - the bike TT on Sunday night, hard bike on Tuesday and not enough food on Tuesday particularly after the harder ride.
The next bigger happening on the training front this week was the first cross country running race in many years. I think cross country is great for running strength - very hard to equal - however, they are also bloody hard work! You cant hide (eg mass start bike races), there are usually hills, soft and/or uneven footing, and competition - you will no doubt have you own little battles within the race, no matter where in the field you are! After really only one week of consistent run training, it was not going to be pretty - and I was really questioning the point of even doing it on the way there (not helped by the fact it was a 70km drive to get there!). I had convinced myself that even an hour on the windtrainer would be at least as beneficial. I was clutching at straws! I was not going to race in spikes for the first couple of races - so as not to risk injury - no need to blow a calf at this point. Of course a week of rain made it ideal for spikes, and not really that good for the old trainers. A very short warm-up, as every thing was pretty sore and I felt I only had 8km of running in my hamstring, so a 1km warm-up would leave me 500m short of the finish line, plus I did not want to start out fast. the plan was to start out slow, build a bit and then survive, with no hard charging finish if it came to a sprint. The gun goes, and so does everyone else! I think there were still a couple behind me at the first gate, but most were in front, although it was still pretty crowded. Then step in something a bit squishy - oh that's right, you have to look out for cow patties when running cross country - forgot about that. The rest of the race was reasonably predictable - build through the fast starters a bit through the middle, and was quite thankful to pass at least a couple of 60+ vets. On the last lap (of three), the hamstring and calves started to tighten up a little, so eased back a fraction, but still kept a solid pace. Down to the last 500m and a couple of "runners" sprint past, but they can have their glory - this time at least! One down...
Some days you wonder why you got out of bed - or you should have just gone back to bed and forgot about the training. Sundays longer ride was going to be a tricky one - the weather forecast was terrible, and I had the school team time trials on early - so the long ride was scheduled for a bit after that (30min later than usual). Just as I woke up it was pouring down, so at that point I decided there was no long ride on the road option (although it was 5am and the ride would be starting around 8am). Do the team time trial coaching thing (which went VERY well), and the road is very wet but it is calm and blue sky (although there are a few clouds and no doubt there will be a couple of good showers). No gear with me, so I have limited my options to a windtrainer ride at home. Later in the day, hop on the trainer, and after 15min the effort feels quite hard for the speed, check the power - OK that is quite high. Which means the tyre is going flat... Two punctures and two pieces of glass removed from the tyre and we are back going again (should have looked for that second piece the first time!). 20 minutes later and the tyre is going soft again. OK, I think it is time to call it quits! It was just not meant to be!
Next week better have a few less hiccups in it!
Here is the cross country. There is a nice hill in there - 3 laps so you got to do it 3 times! I tried to keep the effort mostly even. The HR fell off slightly in the last 10 minutes, as the hamstring tightened up quite a bit and the achillies was protesting on the up hills - but in a good way.
Here is the 25km TT - started off a little conservative, and finished with a little bit in the tank - which is a little unusual - as I usually have little left at the end. So perhaps a little left to give - but not too much. All good!
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