Back to Work.

I am off to Denver tomorrow for a few days of meetings. Denver is around 1600m above sea level which means I will have been at altitude for around 2 weeks by the time I get home on Sunday, I wonder if this will benefit my fitness at all? My training programme has been very poor recently, I reduced my training week before going away as I was feeling tired and with a week skiing that makes it 2 weeks since I had a good bike or run session. I have elected to stay on my Base Training for 3 more weeks before moving on to Specific Conditioning, I hope I have not lost much fitness whilst being idle. I should have some spare time in Denver so will be able to get some proper training in although I understand that the intensity will necessarily be lower due to the altitude. Three weeks to go before the Fleet Half Marathon. Some hill sessions are needed or there will be no PB for me.

All Present and Correct!

The week away was great, loads of snow, sunny days and plenty of Off Piste to keep me happy. All 18 of us got on well and the mix of beginners to advanced skiers was about right. Back to the grindstone today and I am in Lisbon again for the 3rd time this year, the weather is wonderful, 20 degrees and bright sunshine, we had lunch outside which I guess I have done every day this week but this time just in shirtsleeves as opposed to full ski wear! No chance to train today as I have 5 hours on a plane, an early start and a late return.

Offski!

I am off snowboarding. Will post when I get back!

Week Off

Rest is an oft neglected component of any training plan and I think my body is telling me that I need some. I struggled last week with my high intensity sessions and couldn’t finish any of them properly so I have opted for a complete rest this week. My last training day was Saturday with a spinning class immediately followed by 75 minutes on the turbo. I may try and get in a couple of easy swim sessions Thursday and Friday and possibly an easy ride on Saturday but otherwise that will be it. A full week of Skiing next week!

Stop Press: I couldn't resist and went for a quick 30m run and a weights session. Felt good and am now gagging to get back to it. I will be even more keen after a week off skiing.

Nutrition

It is time to address the nutrition issue that has been nagging at me like a bad itch: I must work out how to consume enough food to see me through l’etape; I estimate that I will need around 4000 calories or the equivalent of 5 meals. I am trying “Maltodextrin” , a high carbohydrate powder which when combined with fruit juice and water is a good source of energy; a combination of slow release and fast release carbohydrate which is what you need. I bought it from a body building website which in itself is a bit worrying. My research leads me to believe that most common high energy sports drinks are Maltodextrin based so it cannot be too bad, in fact the only real benefit in buying it pure is that is it significantly cheaper than a readymade sports drink. I made up around 80g (320 calories) and tried it during my Saturday session, it wasn’t too bad and I was still full of beans after over 2 hours so I think it may work. I shall try it on my next long ride and see how I get on. If that works then I will need to plan how to take it during l’etape, I don’t want to be stopped at customs with a Kg of white powder in the car!

Compact vs. Triple?

I am still desperate to get my new road bike out, I have had it since the beginning of December and we have had rain and snow ever since so I have only ridden it once. It is a full carbon bike from Planet-X who appear to be highly rated, I bought the bike direct from the manufacturer through a special sale they had; the sale price compared to competitive bikes was too good an opportunity to miss.

The gears are set up differently to my old bike; it is a “compact” as opposed to a “triple”. A compact has two chain-rings at the front as opposed to three on my triple which means that the range from top gear to bottom gear is not as great. The result is that the top speed is slower and the smaller gear for going uphill is not as small as my triple. This will take some getting used to and I need to know if I can actually get up Mt Ventoux on a compact, I will train on it for a while and see. I think there is an option to change the rear gears (or cassette) to make it easier to get uphill; I shall probably explore that route depending upon how my training goes.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

I went out with a friend on my Mountain Bike for a few hours on Sunday in the snow flurries, it was great. I have not been on it for ages and I missed it, we went over to an old quarry with some man-made tracks, no mud and a hard dry base to ride on. Some of the hills were pretty sharp and I was happy to get up them easily without using my “Granny” chain-ring; I guess all that training is paying off. There is another XC race this weekend which I may enter for a bit of fun.


We had loads of snow on Monday; over 7” in the garden, all the trains and schools were cancelled so I had to work from home. The kids played at snowball fights all day in the village and we walked over to the pub for a drink by the fireside for lunch. After a tentative start the dog loved running around in it and came home with “snowballs” built up around her legs and feet. I had a rest day as I was sore from playing rugby again, I need to start playing less as it is affecting my training.


Training Done: - Rugby; Bike: Mountain Bike 2hrs; Bike: Z2 75’; Run: 60’Z2; Run 4x5’ Intervals; Swim: Drills.

Not enough time

I am currently in my “Base Training” period (AKA the General Preparation Phase of my Mesocycle!) This is the time to put base aerobic fitness sessions in the bank in preparation for strength and speed sessions later in the year; all planned to peak for my key events. One challenge with Base Training is that as it progresses it requires more and more hours per week before moving onto the shorter more intense sessions. This brings in planning problems as it becomes more difficult to train during the lunch break and hence eats into family time and requires training in the dark. I will start to get up early and plan my long sessions prior to work, this will get easier as it gets light in the morning, and my plan to cycle into work will also help that.
I have decided to take a break from Cricket this year as Saturdays will be dedicated to long rides in the summer. Midweek games may be OK as they are shorter and more of a social event.

I keep checking L’etape website for more up to date info but nothing! Nada! Rien! Very disappointing, I am not sure what they should be putting there but I check with anticipation every now and then anyway. I received my free entry to the London Triathlon this week which I may not bother taking up, I won it in a competition last year and successfully requested a deferment; I just don’t fancy swimming in a mucky dock in East London, getting into Central London for a 7am start would also be a pain.

Training Done: - Rugby; Bike: 60Km Z2; Swim Drills; Bike 70’ Z2; Weights Session.

Bah Humbug

Injured again! I have a sore leg after playing rugby on Saturday. It just appeared near to the end of the game, I think it may be a fatigue problem caused by going for a 60Km ride immediately before the game and playing on a very heavy mud sodden pitch. I do not recall getting a knock on it and it just appeared whilst I was trying to run. The back of my knee has cramped up which makes it hard to walk. No running for a couple of days I think which means the focus will again be on Swimming and Riding.

We had a great group ride on Saturday morning but it was cold and it turned out that there was some black ice lingering on the road which took out 4 members of our group. One poor girl has fractured her elbow and will require surgery on it to ensure it heals well. I feel very sorry for her, she did look in pain and went a bit white to boot. We managed to get a good speed up and kept the group together on a few of the long drags which was great to see. We decided that we shall try and get closer to each other riding next time out and rotate the head which will be good practice and will help me for next time I am out with the cycle club!

How Much?

I was planning on entering a X-Country Mountain Bike Race last Sunday organised by Gorrick MBC, they put on some great races and organise the Enduro event in May that I plan to use as a training ride. I ended up opting out of the ride for a couple of reasons: firstly I was pretty sore after rugby and secondly we had a heavy downpour on Saturday night and I didn’t fancy lugging my bike through the mud all morning. As it turns out, the race organisers cut short the route as the mud was causing problems so I feel vindicated in my laziness! Instead I dithered between swimming and a long run and ended up doing nothing, or shall I say “having a rest day”. We popped over to the pub for a drink at lunchtime and parked next to an old Ferrari, apparently it was worth over £3m and the owner is some kind of “Oilman”, glad to see some people are coping OK with the credit crunch.
Missing out on the race did make me want to plan a few more over the next few weeks; Gorrick have one planned for the 8th Feb so I shall enter that hopefully. With a bit of luck it will have dried out by then and we can have a bit of fun.

Training Done: - Run: 30' Z2; Bike 30' Z3