Still kickstarting 2013 and it's nearly April

Training

I'm trying to kickstart 2013. 

Turbo, 1 hour yesterday, moving through the gears, steady riding. 
Workout today, 20 mins continuous effort, no rest, various exercises, bag lifts, burpees, front squats, bench, rows, pull ups, kettlebell swings, press ups. Random order, freestyle. Knackering!!!! 

New Year New Challenges

Well, it's been some time since I have been on here. Main reason is I have been doing very little in  the way of specific triathlon training, not seen a pool in months, gentle jogs now and again and hardly any bike rides( mostly due to rubbish weather!). I've been strength training and lifting weights and pushing in the FOrest Fit sessions so I am in good shape. My diet is very low carb and this is keeping me nice and lean, bodyfat % maintained over winter at a good 11%. 

Just before the festive season I managed to pick up some nasty virus that left be absolutely fatigued and bed bound for the best part of 4 days. SLwoly recovered with a nasty cough and now just about back to 95%. 

I have resumed some more regular training and the body is responding well. Still shorter efforts and each training session rarely lasts longer than 50 minutes. Weights sessions are 20-30 minutes max(twice a week), and turbos at 40 minutes( done 3 since the start of the year). Running between 20 and 40 minutes and that's it. Mostly steady paced with some hard intervals thrown in. 

Today I did 40 minutes on the turbo, and then ran for 25 minutes at a good pace, 6' 30" min/mile pace and at this time of year and with little running in the legs Ill settle for that. More importantly I really enjoyed it!!! That's key, sometimes sessions are tough and you don't feel good and just get through them and move on knowing you've done the necessary work. But when you feel good it's a really nice feeling. And recovering well afterwards. 

As for new challenges this year, this will be mostly work related as I develop my personal training business and promote the way of training, work/life balance and healthy eating, and generally making activity and a balanced lifestyle easy to manage.

But like I always say this has to be FUN!! 

Regarding triathlons, I've not completely given up and I will probably do a couple this year. But it's getting so expensive these days, and at nearly £50 for a sprint tri, I can't justify paying that just to get a t-shirt or a voucher for a shop you'll never go to. Unfortunately I need a bit of incentive to get out and race. Maybe some prize money for the top 5 finishers would be an idea, would certainly get me interested and motivated to get out and train harder. They do this with Cycling Time Trials for amateurs so why not in triathlon. I'm sure with the help of sponsors event organisers could come up with some decent prize funds.

SO back on it now, I'll be posting more on my blog, keeping up to date with training and racing and other stuff, so if you have anything to add please get in touch and let me know. I do provide coaching and training for athletes of any standard, particular focs on strength and conditioning so if any readers want more info just ask!! 

 

Another week

Well, no training since Saturday, feeling under the weather, below par. Not entirely sure what the problem is, I'm not tired or overtrained or fatigued, just feel unwell. So had a couple of days rest and will get back on it tomorrow, Tuesday. Should be ok for Sunday's Swashbuckler duathlon, although not entered it yet. Good night's sleep will fix that hopefully and I'll sign up tomorrow, ready for action come Sunday. 

Last 5 days

Training for Swashbuckler continues, making steady progress. 

Sunday - 1 hour bike into 25 minute run
Monday - 35 minute run and 1hr Forest Fit
Tuesday - 1 hour 20 bike 
Wednesday - Turbo, 35 minutes. Hard! 
Thursday - 3.7k run, 20 min turbo, 3k run

Strength workout tomorrow. Friday
Saturday - Forest Fit and easy ride/rollers
Sunday - 1 hour run or 2 hour bike

Training latest

Friday - turbo for an hour.

Saturday - a tough Forest Fit session, lots of hill running and lifting big heavy logs. 

Sunday - 20 mile bike and a 6k run off it, ran 20' 10" for first 5k, steady. 

Monday - 30 minutes steady paced run at 6' 30"/mile pace. Forest Fit evening session.

Home made protein shake

Had a go at making my own shake, which I've been tinkering with over the last few weeks. 

2 eggs, 1 pint full fat milk, 2 big tablespoons peanut butter, 1 teaspoon of Nesquik choc powder. 
Mix it up good and proper. Very tasty.

I also make my own energy bars/flapjack
Butter, sugar, honey, raisins, mixed seed, peanut butter, oats. melt butter, sugar and honey and then add all the other stuff, mix it up, then on a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes.Yummy! 

Heavy set

Simple heavy set today, nothing else. 

Deadlift - warm up with 80kg, 10 reps, then 3, 2, 1. 120, 130, 140kg. New PB. 60-90secs rest between lifts

Bench Press - warm up with 8 x 60kg, then 3, 2, 1. 70, 75. 82.5kg. New PB. 60-90secs rest between lifts

Squat - warm up with 8 x 80kg, then 3, 2, 1. 110, 120, 125kg. 60-90secs rest between lifts

Very different from my normal workouts, but a great test for me to see how far I've come over the last 6 weeks. Getting much stronger, and leaner!! Happy Days! 



Total weight added for 3 lifts - 140, 82.5, 125 = 347.5kg
Test again in 4 weeks. 

Brick

Session today - combination of turbo and run. Short and sharp(ish!).

5 minutes easy pedalling
2k run - 8 minutes
10 minutes turbo
2k run - 8 minutes
10 minutes turbo
2k run - 9 minutes

Legs tiring a bit towards the end, my first bike/run session since June/July. In fact my legs felt rubbish throughout! But good to mix it up and shock my body into getting prepared for Swashbuckler duathlon on 28th October. 

Training

So, very relaxed weekend, only one session of Forest Fit and then a 2 x 4 min Tabata session involving power cleans and inverted rows on rings, 8 sets of 20 secs on, 10 secs off, done twice with 3 mins rest inbetween. Great HIIT set. 

So strength definitely improving. 
Now at 5 x 5 deadlift 120kg, which for me is a big increase. 
Bench at 5 x 5 60kg.
Squat 5 x 5 90kg.

I have been working the deadlift more, and more power and hang cleans. So when I'm fresher I will add more squats with weight into my sessions. Working on technique for the olympic lifts, and still hitting the olympic rings, working on building up to a muscle up! 

Swashbuckler duathlon at the end of the month, so now I have 2 weeks of biking and running, short quality sessions, get some speed up and get my aerobic system firing. Should be interesting to see how I do as I have completely changed my approach and I've not done any 'endurance training' for weeks. Feel fresh and strong, and definitely loads leaner as I have cut right back on carbs, so will see what happens.