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Training Week Eleven

Training week eleven

Sunday 12^thJune doesn’t feel that far away….. Eleven weeks in and only 8 weeks to go!! I completed three swims and four runs this week. The weather was bad so didn’t get out on the bike; I have no excuses for not going on the turbo trainer…… oops!

On Monday I went for a long run with my friend Katrina and fellow madwife. We ran eight and a half miles up Blackford hill and around the surrounding areas. I really enjoyed running with someone else, it makes a change from running by myself. Kat had just finished nights so our pace was slow but I enjoyed the company and catching up.

On Tuesday I went swimming between my nights. I got to try out my new long hair swimming cap. I swam 3.5 kilometres in sixty one minutes and I only needed to adjust my cap once. The cap is much bigger and able to stay over my ears throughout the swim. This has made a massive positive impact in my training allowing me to swim continuously like I would in a race. I’ve now ordered more and would highly recommend if you have a big head and long hair like me!

On Wednesday I was a little tired but still went out for a run between nights. I’m surprised I kept up such a good pace; it was a usual run of mine and my quickest time to date! I feel my running in the last couple of weeks has vastly improved. My times are quicker and I feel my legs are not as heavy during the run.

On Thursday I had a rest day. I was pretty tired after my three night shifts and sometimes you’ve just got to listen to your body. Sam and I went out to Oregano restaurant on Leith Walk in the evening and I stuffed myself with antipasto and Pizza. It was delicious!

On Friday morning I ran to swim training and back. In total I ran six miles and swam 90 minutes in the pool. As you can imagine my run in was a lot quicker than the run home, but also because it’s up hill all the way back home.

On Saturday I rested, preparing from Sunday’s race.

On Sunday I ran the Great Edinburgh run over 10 miles of hilly running through Edinburgh City centre. I have run this race for the last three years and it is a favourite of mine. I managed a personal best time of 1 hour 13mins and 40seconds, I was very pleased. The race day had perfect conditions, however it was little windy in places. I felt good most of the race, and even managed a sprint finish. Overall I was twentieth woman (crazy) and eleventh in my female age group 20-34!! My full race report will be in my next post.

Overall I’ve had a good week however lacking in cycling and brick training! I shall focus more on this next week.

Jenwaar

Training Week Ten

Ten weeks of training completed and now only nine weeks till race day, it’s slowly creeping up eeek! This week I completed four runs, two swims, one long ride, one turbo trainer session and two gym sessions. On Tuesday I accomplished my first brick session, I cycled an hour on the turbo trainer and a short run straight after.

This is the first week that I felt improvements in all three disciplines. I am now enjoying training much more because of this. My swim, cycle and running times are all quicker and I can now push myself much more in training.

I am now keeping a much better pace on longer distances with swimming. My new long hair swimming cap arrived this weekend so I will be trying it out on my continuous swim session this week. Hopefully it will stay on my head!

I’m now managing at least one long bike ride each week. This week I went out with the triathlon club for 36miles after a swim session. I am feeling much stronger and faster on the bike. I also completed an hour on the turbo trainer. I need to continue increasing my time and mileage on the bike, especially now the weather is getting better.

I’m seeing my best improvements when running…. I completed four runs this week, one short 2.5miles, two medium 5-6miles and one long run 15miles. My short run was after an hour on the turbo trainer; I had that jellied feeling in my legs but after ten minutes of running it was fine. Both the five and six mile distances are regular runs of mine, I had one good and one bad run. My bad run was between nights and I didn’t have any food prior so I had no energy and was really slow and tired. The good run was the following day I ate a banana prior and ran my best time! (Lesson learnt).

On Sunday I went out for a group session with the triathlon club. We ran the seven hills of Edinburgh. This is in preparation for a race in June, seven hills of Edinburgh. We had a mixed group of abilities and we ran up each hill and stopped to admire the view at the top of each hill and wait for the others. In total we ran 15miles and ran up some steep hills including Arthur’s seat! My thighs were burning the next day!

Next week I’ll be continuing my regular training and increasing the distances during my brick sessions.

Jenwaar

Training Week Nine

Week nine has been my best… four runs, three swims, one bike ride and one gym PT session. I felt great this week even after three 5am wake up calls! My main issue this week was my swimming cap. It was rather frustrating when I was trying to do an hour’s continuous swim when every 15-20 lengths you have to adjust your cap! I have bought new swimming caps for long hair so I hope this solves my problem.

Running this week, I managed one long run of twelve miles, a club hill reps session and two four to five mile runs. My legs were a little sore before my long run (after my hills session) so couldn’t really push the pace. I hope that now I’m running more regularly this will ease and I can push more in my longer runs.

Swimming is going well, I’m noticing my times are getting quicker, I can swim longer distances with a stronger pace and I’m starting to keep up with some of the stronger swimmers during triathlon club training sessions. I’m going to do more continuous swim sessions like I would be doing during the race (Once my swimming cap fiasco is no more).

Cycling is getting better… I am managing to complete one long ride per week. I am slowly getting more confident handling my bike and cycling in different weather conditions. This week I went out with my friend Jill, it was a slow ride as it was wet but I’m getting out on the bike, training and cycling. Again, I need to use my turbo trainer more (the story of my life).

I managed to complete my goal this week, increasing my distance on all disciplines. I am going to continue with this next week and also start brick training. Brick training refers to the stacking of two disciplines during the same workout, one after the other with minimal to no interruption in between. It is really essential to practice this prior the race. I plan to practice cycle into run workouts this next week. Changing disciplines from cycling to running you get a strange feeling of heavy legs. It’s really important I practice this so my body gets used to the change in demand, for race day.

Jenwaar

Training Week Eight

Last week was rather good…. Two runs, two swim sessions, one gym session and one bike ride. My chesty cough continued last week. Earlier in the week I found my runs and swim sessions hard and slow but thankfully it’s now gone.

This weeks bicycle ride I went out with the triathlon club (Edinburgh Triathletes). I am now feeling much more confident in handling my bike again. I’m still quite nervous in wet weather and going down steep hills but I’ve just got to keep practising.

Both swimming and running I’m quite comfort with, my main problem is being able to maintain pace after more than an hour in either exercise. I particularly find this hard with swimming as I’ve swam most my life at short distances hard and fast for 50-200metres rather than 750-1500metres or longer in triathlons. I’m going to focus next week on longer continuous swim sessions rather than short sets during the session.

It was Easter last weekend and also the end of my alcohol free lent. I went out on Saturday night and had a few cocktails and danced the night away. It was great socialising with friends as I currently feel like all I do is train and work. On Sunday morning however I wasn’t feeling my best (hungover) and I didn’t train which I had planned (bad Jennie). That’s life and now I feel much more focused and energised on training.

It’s now only eleven weeks till the race, it’s slowly creeping up! Next week focus is on distance, I’m going to be doing longer distances on all disciplines.

Jenwaar

Training Week Six

Training week six

Last week I completed two runs, two gym sessions, one swim, one hour on the turbo trainer, and a long bike ride on Sunday. I’m pretty pleased this week, as I worked five shifts at work and still managed to fit it all in.

My run times are slowly but surely getting quicker, I keep comparing myself to when I was much quicker two years ago. At that time I was pretty much running all the time not swimming and cycling as well. I’m trying to stay positive; hopefully I will be getting close to those times again soon.

I feel I am getting quicker at swimming and managing to keep up with the fastest swimmers in my lane for most or all of the session. I am very good at short sprints but not very good at pacing myself over a long distance. I am completing the 5K swimathon next week so hopefully this will help. I aim to swim it in under one hour and forty five minutes.

On Sunday afternoon, my husband and I went for a long bike ride 56miles in total. We cycled from Edinburgh to North Berwick and back. I was very nervous as this was the first time I had been on my road bike since I fell off my bike in a race last May. I regularly cycle to work using a cyclocross bike. My commuting bike is heavier and uses SPD clip in pedals, whilst my race bike is a full carbon road bike, much lighter and has non-recessed SPD-SL clip in pedals. I sometimes feel like I’m unstable on my road bike due to its light weight. I find it harder to clip in with SPD-SL’s so I can panic when I’m clipping in and out whilst in the city. After a couple of cries and good pep talk from Sam I felt much more confident about cycling on my road bike. Once I was out of the city I was fine, long roads, less cars and less clipping in and out. After the ride I was knackered, it then dawned on me that I would then have to run a half marathon after cycling this distance. This was a massive wake up call. I need to up my cycling time, the weather is much nicer now and I should be able to complete one long distance cycle outside a week on the run up to the ironman.

Next week I am upping the mileage in all disciplines and competing in a swimathon on Sunday afternoon.

Training week four

This week has been good…. Three runs, three swim sessions, two gym sessions and only once on the turbo trainer (oops). My long run this week was twelve miles! I’m pretty pleased with the distance, but the time wasn’t that quick. The last three miles were a killer, cardiovascular wise I felt fine but both my legs felt like ten tonnes each and sore for a couple days later. I’m hoping this will improve as I’m now running regularly.

I’m now starting to feel more at ease with training, previously I was doing six gym weight based session per week with the occasional run. I thought it would quite struggle to get back into running, swimming and cycling however after four weeks I feel like this was always my normal exercise routine. The five AM alarm is no longer a fight but maybe that’s because I’m going to bed earlier as I’m tired from all the training. I enjoy getting up early and getting the workout completed so the rest of the day is mine. I find if I have to wait all day the thought of training lingers and I find excuses so I’m less likely to train.

I’ve found blogging about each weeks training quite useful as I record what I do each week, so I keep a close eye on training and making plans. It also helps keep me accountable and motivated as I know I’ll be writing about it. I don’t think reading about how lazy I’ve been each week would be as exciting a read and I wouldn’t have anything to write about.

Next week my goals are to continue with the regular sessions and use the bloody turbo trainer more!! As you can tell cycling is my least favourite sport in the triathlon, I cycle to and from work every work shift so I feel it’s more a mode of transport (which it is) rather than sporting fun. If I want to improve I must train! I hope next week I won’t be writing this again.

Jenwaar